Acts 17:15,22b 18:1, Psalm 148 Heaven and Earth are full of your glory; John 16:12-15
today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, she who was sent as messenger to us to three shepherd children continues to speak o us about the necessity of conversion and prayer.
Mary is not unlike the rest of us disciples in the sense that she is always on mission. She continually seeks to bring the good news to world. From the beginning, Mary, pregnant with child, goes to Elizabeth and her presence brings joy to all in the home.
From then on, Mary has continually brought the same good news and joy to people of each generation as she did so in Fatima.
Pope Benedict reached into this missionary zeal in his visit to Fatima.
Here are a few Words of Pope Benedict upon visiting Fatima, "He must seek truth by means of his cognitive process, tend toward the good in the sphere of volition, be attracted by beauty in the aesthetic dimensions. Consciousness is Christian to the degree it opens itself to the fullness of life and wisdom that we find in Jesus Christ."
In other words: We must seek the truth with our minds, do good with our wills, allow beauty to enter into our hearts and then we shall begin to fully open up to the person of Jesus as the fullness of life.
Every time we say the rosary we seek the truth with our minds as we think about the life of Christ, his ministry, his service, his teaching. He is truth himself. We learn to do as he did as we conform our will to his and truly understand goodness seen in action in the life of Christ. We learn to love what is good for us from goodness himself. We let the beauty of such a life, the God man who brings grace and redemption, to enter into our life and heart and show us what true beauty is all about, "no greater love then to lay down one's life for one's friends." Is there anything more beautiful?
We see the same missionary zeal resonate in the life of Paul. He is on his second journey and finds himself in Greece. Like a good missionary, he uses his surroundings and the culture of the people to create a bridge to introduce Jesus to them.
We too are invited to be bridge builders. We must be creative in using the things around us, the cultural phenomenon, to introduce Christ to others.
Mary did it. Paul did it. We must follow their lead.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Thursday, May 7, 2015
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
Acts 15:7-21; PS 96 Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations; John 15:9-11
Think about these words that begins today's gospel passage for the Mass:
"As the Father loves me, so I also love you."
Think about again. Let the words filter into your heart.
Let the meaning of each word begin to take hold of that heart and mind.
As the Father loves me. How does the Father love Jesus? Can we imagine such an exchange of infinite freedom and goodness offering and receiving love from infinite freedom and goodness?
Imagine a love that knows no bounds or limits! Imagine a love that has no walls or hiccups! Imagine love that is pure an unadulterated, unsoiled by time or experience! Imagine a love that is the source of all there is and was and ever will be!
"As the Father loves me, so I also love you."
Now imagine all of that laid at our feet. Imagine that gift wrapped for you and me!
As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Stay with that today. Think about it often. Think about more than often. Let it become the center of today, the gravitational pull that holds it all together and sets it all free.
Think about these words that begins today's gospel passage for the Mass:
"As the Father loves me, so I also love you."
Think about again. Let the words filter into your heart.
Let the meaning of each word begin to take hold of that heart and mind.
As the Father loves me. How does the Father love Jesus? Can we imagine such an exchange of infinite freedom and goodness offering and receiving love from infinite freedom and goodness?
Imagine a love that knows no bounds or limits! Imagine a love that has no walls or hiccups! Imagine love that is pure an unadulterated, unsoiled by time or experience! Imagine a love that is the source of all there is and was and ever will be!
"As the Father loves me, so I also love you."
Now imagine all of that laid at our feet. Imagine that gift wrapped for you and me!
As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Stay with that today. Think about it often. Think about more than often. Let it become the center of today, the gravitational pull that holds it all together and sets it all free.
FLINT KNIFE OR NOT
Acts 15:1-6
We continue these easter days by following in the footsteps of the apostles as the early church finds itself.
The Jewish converts and the gentile converts are at odds as far as answering the question, "how is one saved."
The Jewish contingent is clinging to the old prescripts of the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants, where circumcision is necessary as entrance into the family, household of God.
Circumcision was a badge of Jewish Identity as connection to the roots of Israel as the chosen people of God, a reality that found its culmination in Jesus, the Messiah.
So what was one to do? More importantly who was going to decide what to do? Who is the spokesman for the church? How would discernment take place?
"The Apostles and Presbyters met together to see about the matter."
All hope is not lost. Jesus foresaw such a need for direction and guidance. He had already determined where direction and guidance would come. The Apostles and presbyters were to be the voice of reason. Jesus himself said in the gospel, "He who listens to you, listens to me."
Who rises to front but Peter himself, the one who Jesus in Mt 16:18 gives the keys to the kingdom and the authority to bind/loose on earth and in heaven, "Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father, and i say to you you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church…"
Peter takes his position as appointed by Christ as the first amongst Equals, the servant of the servant of Christ and begins to guide the church to a decision,"Peter got up and said to the Apostles and Presbyters, 'my brothers, you are well aware that from early days God mad this choice that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of Gospel and believe…On the contrary we believed we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus…"
It is not by the flint blade but by the free gift of Jesus Christ.
Salvation is a gift offered and received.
Thus the church begins to move forward on the seas of time, its anchor firmly dropped upon the gift of Salvation in Christ.
We continue these easter days by following in the footsteps of the apostles as the early church finds itself.
The Jewish converts and the gentile converts are at odds as far as answering the question, "how is one saved."
The Jewish contingent is clinging to the old prescripts of the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants, where circumcision is necessary as entrance into the family, household of God.
Circumcision was a badge of Jewish Identity as connection to the roots of Israel as the chosen people of God, a reality that found its culmination in Jesus, the Messiah.
So what was one to do? More importantly who was going to decide what to do? Who is the spokesman for the church? How would discernment take place?
"The Apostles and Presbyters met together to see about the matter."
All hope is not lost. Jesus foresaw such a need for direction and guidance. He had already determined where direction and guidance would come. The Apostles and presbyters were to be the voice of reason. Jesus himself said in the gospel, "He who listens to you, listens to me."
Who rises to front but Peter himself, the one who Jesus in Mt 16:18 gives the keys to the kingdom and the authority to bind/loose on earth and in heaven, "Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father, and i say to you you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church…"
Peter takes his position as appointed by Christ as the first amongst Equals, the servant of the servant of Christ and begins to guide the church to a decision,"Peter got up and said to the Apostles and Presbyters, 'my brothers, you are well aware that from early days God mad this choice that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of Gospel and believe…On the contrary we believed we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus…"
It is not by the flint blade but by the free gift of Jesus Christ.
Salvation is a gift offered and received.
Thus the church begins to move forward on the seas of time, its anchor firmly dropped upon the gift of Salvation in Christ.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
HOLY YEAR OF MERCY
Here is the prayer penned by Pope Francis for the Holy Year of Mercy
Lord Jesus Christ,
you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,
and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.
Show us your face and we will be saved.
Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money;
the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things;
made Peter weep after his betrayal,
and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.
Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman:
“If you knew the gift of God!”
You are the visible face of the invisible Father,
of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:
let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.
You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness
in order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:
let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.
Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing,
so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,
and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,
proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed,
and restore sight to the blind.
We ask this through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy,
you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ,
you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,
and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.
Show us your face and we will be saved.
Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money;
the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things;
made Peter weep after his betrayal,
and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.
Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman:
“If you knew the gift of God!”
You are the visible face of the invisible Father,
of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:
let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.
You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness
in order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:
let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.
Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing,
so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,
and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,
proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed,
and restore sight to the blind.
We ask this through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy,
you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
WHEN JESUS
John 13:16-20; Acts 13:13-25
This is the beginning of today's gospel reading for us to meditate on, "When Jesus had washed the disciples' feet, he said to them…."
Imagine in your mind this scene once again. Don't hurry past it. Picture Jesus on his knees tending to the dirty soiled feet of his followers.
Imagine what will unfold in a just a few moments. When Jesus rises from the floor, he shall be betrayed, denied, abandoned by those whose feet he just washed.
How often does he get the same response from us?
How often does he do more than wash our feet and yet we continue to treat him with ingratitude.
Go back to that image, "When Jesus had washed the feet of his disciples'"
All of those feet resting in the hands of Him who was about to receive the nails of the crucifixion.
All of those feet that stand in stark contrast to Him whose feet shall be blood stained and bruised from the path to Calvary.
All of those feet that will flee from harm to seek safety, while His feet remain bound on the wood of the cross.
When Jesus had washed the feet of the Disciples'.
"No messenger is greater than the one who sent him." These are his words once had washed their feet.
How often do we think ourselves greater than Him who sent us?
How often do we forget our role? How often do we forget the example he set before us?
How often do we forget we are the messenger? We are sent by another!
This is the beginning of today's gospel reading for us to meditate on, "When Jesus had washed the disciples' feet, he said to them…."
Imagine in your mind this scene once again. Don't hurry past it. Picture Jesus on his knees tending to the dirty soiled feet of his followers.
Imagine what will unfold in a just a few moments. When Jesus rises from the floor, he shall be betrayed, denied, abandoned by those whose feet he just washed.
How often does he get the same response from us?
How often does he do more than wash our feet and yet we continue to treat him with ingratitude.
Go back to that image, "When Jesus had washed the feet of his disciples'"
All of those feet resting in the hands of Him who was about to receive the nails of the crucifixion.
All of those feet that stand in stark contrast to Him whose feet shall be blood stained and bruised from the path to Calvary.
All of those feet that will flee from harm to seek safety, while His feet remain bound on the wood of the cross.
When Jesus had washed the feet of the Disciples'.
"No messenger is greater than the one who sent him." These are his words once had washed their feet.
How often do we think ourselves greater than Him who sent us?
How often do we forget our role? How often do we forget the example he set before us?
How often do we forget we are the messenger? We are sent by another!
Sunday, April 26, 2015
GOOD SHEPHERD
Acts 4:8-12; Ps 118; 1John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18
Just a few things of note.
As Peter speaks to the leaders of the people and elders he says these words, "if we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, namely, by what means he was saved, then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, who God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed."
Just notice what Peter says first. Before he speaks of healing he mentions salvation. First things first. Salvation, being saved, is always the priority. Everything else including healing is secondary.
How often do we focus on second things or third things in our life and let the first and most important thing slide down the list of importance.
First things first. When we are properly ordered, everything is harmony, then we truly begin to experience salvation here and now. When we put other things first such as health, wealth, prosperity, job, hobbies and then everything is lost and life is in disarray.
What is salvation? Too often we think of salvation in material terms: eternal delights, eternal disney land of sorts; 72 virgins if you are muslim. But salvation is simply this: to share the life of God, participation in the divine nature, to be children of God, truly and wholly.
No other religion besides Christianity promises sharing in the very life of God. This is big. Jesus says clearly: I have come that you might begin me and I in you and in the Father.
Secondly, Peter in his defense of Christ, quotes Psalm 118, "the stone rejected by the builders, as become the cornerstone."
Psalm 118 is an important hymn. It is one of the Hallel psalms, the psalms used in the passover ritual. Every year the jews get together and celebrate the passover meal and recite the Hallel psalms as part of the ritual meal they partake. The psalms are psalm 113-118.
These would have been the very psalms Jesus and his apostles recited and sung on the night he gathered in the upper room prior to being betrayed, arrested, thrown in a dungeon, condemned, crucified, put to death.
In fact, psalm 118 would have been the last psalm recited and sung as Jesus stepped out of the upper room and made that mile mile and half journey across the rocky terrain, through the Kidron Valley, to the Garden of Gethsemane.
As he walked in order to prepare for that moment when he was going to embrace his identity as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, he had psalm 118 pressed upon his lips, reverberating in his heart and mind. This psalm was forming in his attitude as he prepared for hard times to come.
We see great athletes before games wearing headphones to cancel out the noise, to get hyped, to put their game face on. I wonder what they are listening to to help them get ready. If Jesus was wearing head phones the night before he died then psalm 118 would have been playing in his ears as he stepped on the field of play that night.
If we look at Psalm 118, we discover that it is very upbeat and positive. It is filled we hopefulness.
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his mercy endures forever" is a refrain in the psalm. Then is goes on to say, "in danger I called on the Lord and he answered and set me free...The Lord is with me, I am not afraid...I was hard pressed but the Lord came to my help...The joyful shout of deliverance is heard...I thank you for you have answered me...you are my God I give you thanks, I offer you praise...give thanks his mercy endures forever."
These are the words Jesus incorporated in his life as he prepared to become the Good Shepherd who lays down his life.
Imagine if we were to do the same thing when we face hard times in our life. Rather than complain and moan and gripe, we followed the Good shepherd's lead. What if we took Psalm 118 and let it become our hymn of preparation and let it transform our attitude and our response to difficulties in life?
Lastly, Jesus uses a comparison between the hire hands and the Good shepherd. He basically says the hire hand treats the sheep as a commodity: they focus on what they can get from the sheep. Rather, the good Shepherd focuses on what he can give to benefit the sheep, the sheep are not a commodity but a object of its affection. This is quote a difference.
Let's suppose as sheep we did the same. We stopped treating Jesus as a commodity, seeking only what we can get and start treating him as an object of affection seeking what w might give.
It might just change our life. It might just open the path to truer experience of salvation, here and now.
Just a few things of note.
As Peter speaks to the leaders of the people and elders he says these words, "if we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, namely, by what means he was saved, then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, who God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed."
Just notice what Peter says first. Before he speaks of healing he mentions salvation. First things first. Salvation, being saved, is always the priority. Everything else including healing is secondary.
How often do we focus on second things or third things in our life and let the first and most important thing slide down the list of importance.
First things first. When we are properly ordered, everything is harmony, then we truly begin to experience salvation here and now. When we put other things first such as health, wealth, prosperity, job, hobbies and then everything is lost and life is in disarray.
What is salvation? Too often we think of salvation in material terms: eternal delights, eternal disney land of sorts; 72 virgins if you are muslim. But salvation is simply this: to share the life of God, participation in the divine nature, to be children of God, truly and wholly.
No other religion besides Christianity promises sharing in the very life of God. This is big. Jesus says clearly: I have come that you might begin me and I in you and in the Father.
Secondly, Peter in his defense of Christ, quotes Psalm 118, "the stone rejected by the builders, as become the cornerstone."
Psalm 118 is an important hymn. It is one of the Hallel psalms, the psalms used in the passover ritual. Every year the jews get together and celebrate the passover meal and recite the Hallel psalms as part of the ritual meal they partake. The psalms are psalm 113-118.
These would have been the very psalms Jesus and his apostles recited and sung on the night he gathered in the upper room prior to being betrayed, arrested, thrown in a dungeon, condemned, crucified, put to death.
In fact, psalm 118 would have been the last psalm recited and sung as Jesus stepped out of the upper room and made that mile mile and half journey across the rocky terrain, through the Kidron Valley, to the Garden of Gethsemane.
As he walked in order to prepare for that moment when he was going to embrace his identity as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, he had psalm 118 pressed upon his lips, reverberating in his heart and mind. This psalm was forming in his attitude as he prepared for hard times to come.
We see great athletes before games wearing headphones to cancel out the noise, to get hyped, to put their game face on. I wonder what they are listening to to help them get ready. If Jesus was wearing head phones the night before he died then psalm 118 would have been playing in his ears as he stepped on the field of play that night.
If we look at Psalm 118, we discover that it is very upbeat and positive. It is filled we hopefulness.
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his mercy endures forever" is a refrain in the psalm. Then is goes on to say, "in danger I called on the Lord and he answered and set me free...The Lord is with me, I am not afraid...I was hard pressed but the Lord came to my help...The joyful shout of deliverance is heard...I thank you for you have answered me...you are my God I give you thanks, I offer you praise...give thanks his mercy endures forever."
These are the words Jesus incorporated in his life as he prepared to become the Good Shepherd who lays down his life.
Imagine if we were to do the same thing when we face hard times in our life. Rather than complain and moan and gripe, we followed the Good shepherd's lead. What if we took Psalm 118 and let it become our hymn of preparation and let it transform our attitude and our response to difficulties in life?
Lastly, Jesus uses a comparison between the hire hands and the Good shepherd. He basically says the hire hand treats the sheep as a commodity: they focus on what they can get from the sheep. Rather, the good Shepherd focuses on what he can give to benefit the sheep, the sheep are not a commodity but a object of its affection. This is quote a difference.
Let's suppose as sheep we did the same. We stopped treating Jesus as a commodity, seeking only what we can get and start treating him as an object of affection seeking what w might give.
It might just change our life. It might just open the path to truer experience of salvation, here and now.
Friday, April 24, 2015
PLAN V PROVIDENCE
Acts 9:1-20; Ps 117 Go out to all the world and tell the Good news; John 6:52-59
"Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains."
This was Saul's plan. He wanted to round up those christians and drag them back in chains. He was angry. He was determined. His will and mind was made up. He was stern. He was ferocious. He was relentless. Nothing was going to get in his way. With letters in his hands and fury in his heart, he journeyed toward Damascus.
"On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
This was God's providence.. He wanted to break open the heart of this man that his light might penetrate the darkness that had become so much a part of his life. God was determined. He was relentless. He was ferocious n getting his point across.
Saul's plan encountered God's providence. Then a conversation ensued. A conversation that became the tipping point for a conversion of heart and mind.
"Saul said, "who are you, sir?" The reply came, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do."
This is what happened when our plans meet God's providence.
Pope Francis reminds us continually that God is a God of surprises. His providence is always butting up against our planning.
The Horizon of infinite love can do that.
What will we do with it? Saul comes around, he is changed and transformed from the inside. So much so, he becomes Paul. He gives us the most profound theology of the church as the body of Christ.
A chosen instrument he was chosen to be; a chosen instrument he became as he surrendered his plans to God's providence.
Thus the invitation belongs to us as well, each day a new.
"Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains."
This was Saul's plan. He wanted to round up those christians and drag them back in chains. He was angry. He was determined. His will and mind was made up. He was stern. He was ferocious. He was relentless. Nothing was going to get in his way. With letters in his hands and fury in his heart, he journeyed toward Damascus.
"On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
This was God's providence.. He wanted to break open the heart of this man that his light might penetrate the darkness that had become so much a part of his life. God was determined. He was relentless. He was ferocious n getting his point across.
Saul's plan encountered God's providence. Then a conversation ensued. A conversation that became the tipping point for a conversion of heart and mind.
"Saul said, "who are you, sir?" The reply came, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do."
This is what happened when our plans meet God's providence.
Pope Francis reminds us continually that God is a God of surprises. His providence is always butting up against our planning.
The Horizon of infinite love can do that.
What will we do with it? Saul comes around, he is changed and transformed from the inside. So much so, he becomes Paul. He gives us the most profound theology of the church as the body of Christ.
A chosen instrument he was chosen to be; a chosen instrument he became as he surrendered his plans to God's providence.
Thus the invitation belongs to us as well, each day a new.
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