Here are the Pope's words on Good Friday:
"I do not wish to add too many words. One word should suffice this evening, that is the Cross itself. The Cross is the word through which God has responded to evil in the world. Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil, as if he is silent. And yet, God has spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the Cross of Christ: a word which is love, mercy, forgiveness. It is also reveals a judgment, namely that God, in judging us, loves us. In judging us, he loves us. If I embrace his love then I am saved, if I refuse it, then I am condemned, not by him, but my own self, because God never condemns, he only loves and saves.
Dear brothers and sisters, the word of the Cross is also the answer which Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that continues to work in us and around us. Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the Cross upon themselves as Jesus did. This evening we have heard the witness given by our Lebanese brothers and sisters: they composed these beautiful prayers and meditations. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to them for this work and for the witness they offer. We were able to see this when Pope Benedict visited Lebanon: we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others. That occasion was a sign to the Middle East and to the whole world: a sign of hope.
We now continue this Via Crucis in our daily lives. Let us walk together along the Way of the Cross and let us do so carrying in our hearts this word of love and forgiveness. Let us go forward waiting for the Resurrection of Jesus, who loves us so much, who is all love."
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
awful, awe-filled, Good Friday: atonement
"We have entered into the three most sacred days of the year. By these three days all the world is called to attention. everything that is and ever was and ever will be, the macro and the micro, the galaxies beyond number and the microbes beyond notice-everything is mysteriously entangled with what happened, what happens, in these days. This is the axis mundi, the center upon which the cosmos turns. The alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the life of all on this day dies. Stay awhile with that dying."
Thus wrote Richard John Neuhaus in a not so little book entitled "Death on a Friday Afternoon" as he begins a series of reflections on the seven last words of Christ.
He goes on to invite us to linger a little longer on this Friday's events. "on the cross we find out who we most truly are, because here on the One who is what we are called to be...we like to hurry on to Easter, but we will not know what to do with Easter's light if we shun the friendship of darkness...he bows his head and breathes his last. Here is a synopsis of what Fr Neuhaus has to say:
These three days are about Atonement: at-one-ment. Whatever the theory of atonement, at the heart of it, forgiveness cost.
Atonement involves a few simple truths:
1)Something very bad has happened. Something has gone wrong with us and with the world of which we are part. The world is not and we are not what we know was meant to be. Something is awry and we know this by the long history horrible realities from death camps of Auschwitz to the slaying of innocent children in Connecticut, from human trafficking and slavery to the holocaust of killing babies in the womb, we know something is not right with us.
This reality of something gone wrong shows up daily from the habits of compromise, loves betrayed, lies excused, dreams deferred, marriage beds defiled, promises forsaken, lawsuits and liabilities, sexual exploitation, fraud, running a stop light and excessive speeding, to drinking and driving, and the list go on and on. Something is not right.
2) We are complicit in what has gone so terribly wrong. It is easier to look at world class criminals, murders, drug traffickers and point the finger and and exclaim we aren't that bad. Yet, we too have ownership in the problem. It is difficult to face up to our complicity because the confession of sins does not come easy. Only the dulling of moral imagination prevents us from seeing how we are implicated in the complex web of human evil. We rightly condemn the great moral monsters of history-hitlers, stalin and the like. But we must not forget the words of Christ, 'he who looks at a woman with lust commits adultery in his heart. The line between good and evil runs through every human heart.
All the trespasses of all the people of all time have gravitated here, to the killing grounds of Calvary.
What ever the measure of guilt, we are all responsible.
3)Something must be done about this that has gone awry. Things must be set right. We can not go on this way of destruction
4) What ever it is that needs to be done, we cannot do it. Each of us individually, the entirety of the human race collectively-what can we do to make up for one innocent child killed, not mention the death camps and slaughtering grounds that have plagued the pages of history.
If things are to be set right, if justice is to be done, somebody else will have to do it. It cannot be done by just anybody, as though one more death could somehow "make up for" innocent deaths beyond numbering.
We need a scapegoat. And history is filled with scapegoats. Lord commanded Moses that Aaron should bring the goat before the Lord and Aaron should lay both his hands upon the head of the living goat and confess over him all the sins and iniquities of the people of Israel and then send the goat away into the wilderness.
The goat must die. Something must be done, But forgiveness isn't cheap because then our trespass wouldn't matter at all. Forgiveness coat-it must cost-or our trespass doesn't matter. But our history tells us every sin matters, every trespass counts, every iniquities afflicts the human race deeply.
But we cannot set things right, we cannot set ourselves right, never mind the world-who then?
The act must be done by someone not responsible fro what has gone wrong; it must be done by an act perfectly gratuitous, perfectly free; the cat must be done by one who embodies everything, whose life is not one life among many, but is life itself-a life that is our life and the life of all who have ver lived and ever will live. Who is this one?
"In the beginning was the word, and the Word was with GOd, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with GOd; all things were made through him, and with out him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
He who is light and life plunges headlong into darkness and death and does so in perfect freedom. It is his mission as he tell us, "no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord, "he said, "I have power to lay it dow, and I have power to take it again, this charge i received from my father."
In perfect freedom the Son becomes the goat, the lamb of God condemned by the lies to bear witness to the truth. GOd does not just take our part, he takes our place.
As st paul reminds us, "for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might becomes the righteousness of God." God must become what we are in order that we might becomes what God is. To effectively take our part he must take our place. Thus God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
This day we realize it is the world in need of reconciling to God's justice not God to the world's justice.
The true Crisis is not in justifying God's ways to us, but in justifying our ways to God.
"he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.:
Atonement:at-one-with. What has been separated by an abyss of wrong has been reconciled by the deed of perfect love. What the first Adam destroyed the second Adam restored, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." We knew not what we did, but today we come to our senses.
Today, here at the cross, our eyes are fixed on the dying one who is the Lord of life. We look at the one who is everything that we are and everything that we are not, the One who is true man and true God.
In him, God and man are perfectly one. At-one-ment. Here, through the cross, we have come home, home to the truth about ourselves, home to the truth about what God has done about what we have done. And now we know, or begin to know why this awful, awe-filled Friday is called good.
Thus wrote Richard John Neuhaus in a not so little book entitled "Death on a Friday Afternoon" as he begins a series of reflections on the seven last words of Christ.
He goes on to invite us to linger a little longer on this Friday's events. "on the cross we find out who we most truly are, because here on the One who is what we are called to be...we like to hurry on to Easter, but we will not know what to do with Easter's light if we shun the friendship of darkness...he bows his head and breathes his last. Here is a synopsis of what Fr Neuhaus has to say:
These three days are about Atonement: at-one-ment. Whatever the theory of atonement, at the heart of it, forgiveness cost.
Atonement involves a few simple truths:
1)Something very bad has happened. Something has gone wrong with us and with the world of which we are part. The world is not and we are not what we know was meant to be. Something is awry and we know this by the long history horrible realities from death camps of Auschwitz to the slaying of innocent children in Connecticut, from human trafficking and slavery to the holocaust of killing babies in the womb, we know something is not right with us.
This reality of something gone wrong shows up daily from the habits of compromise, loves betrayed, lies excused, dreams deferred, marriage beds defiled, promises forsaken, lawsuits and liabilities, sexual exploitation, fraud, running a stop light and excessive speeding, to drinking and driving, and the list go on and on. Something is not right.
2) We are complicit in what has gone so terribly wrong. It is easier to look at world class criminals, murders, drug traffickers and point the finger and and exclaim we aren't that bad. Yet, we too have ownership in the problem. It is difficult to face up to our complicity because the confession of sins does not come easy. Only the dulling of moral imagination prevents us from seeing how we are implicated in the complex web of human evil. We rightly condemn the great moral monsters of history-hitlers, stalin and the like. But we must not forget the words of Christ, 'he who looks at a woman with lust commits adultery in his heart. The line between good and evil runs through every human heart.
All the trespasses of all the people of all time have gravitated here, to the killing grounds of Calvary.
What ever the measure of guilt, we are all responsible.
3)Something must be done about this that has gone awry. Things must be set right. We can not go on this way of destruction
4) What ever it is that needs to be done, we cannot do it. Each of us individually, the entirety of the human race collectively-what can we do to make up for one innocent child killed, not mention the death camps and slaughtering grounds that have plagued the pages of history.
If things are to be set right, if justice is to be done, somebody else will have to do it. It cannot be done by just anybody, as though one more death could somehow "make up for" innocent deaths beyond numbering.
We need a scapegoat. And history is filled with scapegoats. Lord commanded Moses that Aaron should bring the goat before the Lord and Aaron should lay both his hands upon the head of the living goat and confess over him all the sins and iniquities of the people of Israel and then send the goat away into the wilderness.
The goat must die. Something must be done, But forgiveness isn't cheap because then our trespass wouldn't matter at all. Forgiveness coat-it must cost-or our trespass doesn't matter. But our history tells us every sin matters, every trespass counts, every iniquities afflicts the human race deeply.
But we cannot set things right, we cannot set ourselves right, never mind the world-who then?
The act must be done by someone not responsible fro what has gone wrong; it must be done by an act perfectly gratuitous, perfectly free; the cat must be done by one who embodies everything, whose life is not one life among many, but is life itself-a life that is our life and the life of all who have ver lived and ever will live. Who is this one?
"In the beginning was the word, and the Word was with GOd, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with GOd; all things were made through him, and with out him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
He who is light and life plunges headlong into darkness and death and does so in perfect freedom. It is his mission as he tell us, "no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord, "he said, "I have power to lay it dow, and I have power to take it again, this charge i received from my father."
In perfect freedom the Son becomes the goat, the lamb of God condemned by the lies to bear witness to the truth. GOd does not just take our part, he takes our place.
As st paul reminds us, "for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might becomes the righteousness of God." God must become what we are in order that we might becomes what God is. To effectively take our part he must take our place. Thus God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
This day we realize it is the world in need of reconciling to God's justice not God to the world's justice.
The true Crisis is not in justifying God's ways to us, but in justifying our ways to God.
"he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.:
Atonement:at-one-with. What has been separated by an abyss of wrong has been reconciled by the deed of perfect love. What the first Adam destroyed the second Adam restored, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." We knew not what we did, but today we come to our senses.
Today, here at the cross, our eyes are fixed on the dying one who is the Lord of life. We look at the one who is everything that we are and everything that we are not, the One who is true man and true God.
In him, God and man are perfectly one. At-one-ment. Here, through the cross, we have come home, home to the truth about ourselves, home to the truth about what God has done about what we have done. And now we know, or begin to know why this awful, awe-filled Friday is called good.
holy thursday: go lower
Words from Pope Benedict:
"Jesus represents the whole of his saving ministry in one symbolic act. He divest himself of his divine splendor; he, as it were, kneels down before us; he washes and dries our soiled feet, in order to make us fit at table for God's wedding feast."
Over the past year I have been teaching the sixth graders religion. I have enjoyed it tremendously. What I have discovered, is that the students have a thirst for fairness.
What they want more than anything else is to be treated fairly, however, they also want the privilege of defining what "fair" means.
So not only do they want life to be fair, but they want it only inso far as it benefits them them most.
It is a unique perspective on fairness.
But let's face it, when it comes to love we are no different. We want love's give and take to be fair.
We especially want it to be fair in regards to its favoring us, making our life easier, more manageable, less difficult.
We all want fairness; we all want to receive what we give: reciprocity is what we hunger for.
Yet, Jesus shows us another way, a more freeing way of love; he shows us a love no longer hindered by our notion of fairness or reciprocity.
He stoops down and washes the feet of his disciples: these are men who will betray him, deny him, abandon him, forsake him, run far from him.
JEsus washes the feet of those who don't deserve it. In doing so he shows us a love that is not limited to our desiring, not focused on our wanting, not bound by our notion of fairness, not engineered around our demands, but rather a demeaning love.
It is a love that refuses to be held captive by any notion of fairness. It just loves.
Think about our life: how often have we said those words: they don't deserve "my" love. But it is exactly in that moment when true love can finally be understood, received, and given.
Love never ask what we think others might deserve; love simply recognizes that we have been loved beyond what we deserve and we are simply returning the favor, for while we were sinners Christ died for us, so says St. Paul.
In the words of Jesus, "what I have done for you, you must also do."
Think about the first part of the gospel we read John 13. John tells us that all power is handed over to Jesus. Think about power for a moment. Our culture and our society hunger for power and control.
We see Jesus' power throughout the gospel as he multiplies the loaves and fish and feed thousands, makes the leper whole, the bold the see with a simple touch, or raises the dead with a word of command, or calms the storm by his presence.
JEsus has power over the created world, the gospel makes this clear and leaves no doubt.
What would we do with power? What do we do with power?
Would we have the courage and strength to do what JEsus does, stoop down and become like a slave to wash the dirty, soiled feet of faithless friends.
The fact of the matter JEsus reminds us and shows us that when it comes to love, w can always go lower so that love can be higher on our priority list.
"Jesus represents the whole of his saving ministry in one symbolic act. He divest himself of his divine splendor; he, as it were, kneels down before us; he washes and dries our soiled feet, in order to make us fit at table for God's wedding feast."
Over the past year I have been teaching the sixth graders religion. I have enjoyed it tremendously. What I have discovered, is that the students have a thirst for fairness.
What they want more than anything else is to be treated fairly, however, they also want the privilege of defining what "fair" means.
So not only do they want life to be fair, but they want it only inso far as it benefits them them most.
It is a unique perspective on fairness.
But let's face it, when it comes to love we are no different. We want love's give and take to be fair.
We especially want it to be fair in regards to its favoring us, making our life easier, more manageable, less difficult.
We all want fairness; we all want to receive what we give: reciprocity is what we hunger for.
Yet, Jesus shows us another way, a more freeing way of love; he shows us a love no longer hindered by our notion of fairness or reciprocity.
He stoops down and washes the feet of his disciples: these are men who will betray him, deny him, abandon him, forsake him, run far from him.
JEsus washes the feet of those who don't deserve it. In doing so he shows us a love that is not limited to our desiring, not focused on our wanting, not bound by our notion of fairness, not engineered around our demands, but rather a demeaning love.
It is a love that refuses to be held captive by any notion of fairness. It just loves.
Think about our life: how often have we said those words: they don't deserve "my" love. But it is exactly in that moment when true love can finally be understood, received, and given.
Love never ask what we think others might deserve; love simply recognizes that we have been loved beyond what we deserve and we are simply returning the favor, for while we were sinners Christ died for us, so says St. Paul.
In the words of Jesus, "what I have done for you, you must also do."
Think about the first part of the gospel we read John 13. John tells us that all power is handed over to Jesus. Think about power for a moment. Our culture and our society hunger for power and control.
We see Jesus' power throughout the gospel as he multiplies the loaves and fish and feed thousands, makes the leper whole, the bold the see with a simple touch, or raises the dead with a word of command, or calms the storm by his presence.
JEsus has power over the created world, the gospel makes this clear and leaves no doubt.
What would we do with power? What do we do with power?
Would we have the courage and strength to do what JEsus does, stoop down and become like a slave to wash the dirty, soiled feet of faithless friends.
The fact of the matter JEsus reminds us and shows us that when it comes to love, w can always go lower so that love can be higher on our priority list.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
betrayal and denial
John 13:21-33,36-38
Yesterday we read the above reading and it detailed the act of betrayal by Judas and the the prediction of denial of Peter.
It is important to remember before we point to blame at Judas and Peter and swear how we would never do such a thing that we have already been complicit in the act of betrayal and denial of Christ.
We are all guilty. None of us can stand innocent before the Cross of Christ. All of us stand silent before crucified love.
As we ponder the act of betrayal and the reality of denial I direct your attention to the last words of Christ on the Cross: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
Think about those words for a moment, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
It is good to remember that forgiveness is not limited to sins that we know.
Think about that one more time: it is good to remember that forgiveness is not limited to sins that we know.
Father forgive them for they know not what we do.
Yesterday we read the above reading and it detailed the act of betrayal by Judas and the the prediction of denial of Peter.
It is important to remember before we point to blame at Judas and Peter and swear how we would never do such a thing that we have already been complicit in the act of betrayal and denial of Christ.
We are all guilty. None of us can stand innocent before the Cross of Christ. All of us stand silent before crucified love.
As we ponder the act of betrayal and the reality of denial I direct your attention to the last words of Christ on the Cross: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
Think about those words for a moment, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
It is good to remember that forgiveness is not limited to sins that we know.
Think about that one more time: it is good to remember that forgiveness is not limited to sins that we know.
Father forgive them for they know not what we do.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
holy week
Luke 22:14-23:56
every year we begin holy week with the proclamation and participation in the passion narrative of JEsus.
this year we here St. Luke's version of the passion of Christ as he journey through the city on the path to Calvary and beyond.
Has you meditate on the passion the one thing that jumped out to me was the realization of the way the apostles behaved at the supper that night of nights.
As JEsus tells them that one of them was going to betray him, as they let the info sink in all they apostles could do was argue about who was greater or more important.
How typical of us all to try to make everything about us. How typical for us to think that our life is about our selves. How typical like the apostles we focus on our wants, our desires, our plan rather than on God's will, God's wants, God's desire, God's plan for us.
Yet it is JEsus Crucified that exemplifies what it looks like to keep God at the center of our lives no matter the circumstances. Every step of the way JEsus is focused on one thing, God's will for him. Jesus gives and perseveres in giving all the way to the end. JEsus never says he can't take it any more or he has had enough, he just gives.
IF we are going to make this week holy, then we too must move beyond ourselves. We must allow the circumstances of our life regardless of what they are to stretch us beyond our comfort zone.
We are invited to take all of our annoyances, irritations, frustrations with life and those around us and unite it to the redemptive work of Christ.
Here we realize that suffering endured for the sake of the other offered to God becomes life giving, it brings about a true transformation.
Only in this way, the way of Christ crucified, does goodness, peace, love, forgiveness begin to reign in our lives and only this way does the proclamation of the kingdom echo forth not with words but with the very lives we lead.
every year we begin holy week with the proclamation and participation in the passion narrative of JEsus.
this year we here St. Luke's version of the passion of Christ as he journey through the city on the path to Calvary and beyond.
Has you meditate on the passion the one thing that jumped out to me was the realization of the way the apostles behaved at the supper that night of nights.
As JEsus tells them that one of them was going to betray him, as they let the info sink in all they apostles could do was argue about who was greater or more important.
How typical of us all to try to make everything about us. How typical for us to think that our life is about our selves. How typical like the apostles we focus on our wants, our desires, our plan rather than on God's will, God's wants, God's desire, God's plan for us.
Yet it is JEsus Crucified that exemplifies what it looks like to keep God at the center of our lives no matter the circumstances. Every step of the way JEsus is focused on one thing, God's will for him. Jesus gives and perseveres in giving all the way to the end. JEsus never says he can't take it any more or he has had enough, he just gives.
IF we are going to make this week holy, then we too must move beyond ourselves. We must allow the circumstances of our life regardless of what they are to stretch us beyond our comfort zone.
We are invited to take all of our annoyances, irritations, frustrations with life and those around us and unite it to the redemptive work of Christ.
Here we realize that suffering endured for the sake of the other offered to God becomes life giving, it brings about a true transformation.
Only in this way, the way of Christ crucified, does goodness, peace, love, forgiveness begin to reign in our lives and only this way does the proclamation of the kingdom echo forth not with words but with the very lives we lead.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
let us make this week holy
Here is a note from Sister Bowman now deceased, but the words continue to inspire as we gear up for holy week, so much unfolds, so quickly, may we give it all a chance to penetrate and soak in the "all" of our lives.
"Let us resolve to make this week holy by claiming Christ’s redemptive grace and by living holy lives.
The Word became flesh and redeemed us by his holy life and holy death. This week especially, let us accept redemption by living grateful, faithful, prayerful, generous, just and holy lives.
Let us resolve to make this week holy by reading and meditating Holy Scripture.
So often, we get caught up in the hurry of daily living. As individuals and as families, reserve prime time to be with Jesus, to hear the cries of the children waving palm branches, to see the Son of Man riding on an ass' colt, to feel the press of the crowd, to be caught up in the "Hosannas” and to realize how the cries of acclamation will yield to the garden of suffering, to be there and watch as Jesus is sentenced by Pilate to Calvary, to see him rejected, mocked, spat upon, beaten and forced to carry a heavy cross, to hear the echo of the hammer, to feel the agony of the torn flesh and strained muscles, to know Mary’s anguish as he hung three hours before he died.
We recoil before the atrocities of war, gang crime, domestic violence and catastrophic illness. Unless we personally and immediately are touched by suffering, it is easy to read Scripture and to walk away without contacting the redemptive suffering that makes us holy. The reality of the Word falls on deaf ears.
Let us take time this week to be present to someone who suffers. Sharing the pain of a fellow human will enliven Scripture and help us enter into the holy mystery of the redemptive suffering of Christ.
Let us resolve to make this week holy by participating in the Holy Week services of the church, not just by attending, but also by preparing, by studying the readings, entering into the spirit, offering our services as ministers of the Word or Eucharist, decorating the church or preparing the environment for worship.
Let us sing, "Lord, have mercy," and "Hosanna." Let us praise the Lord with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength, uniting with the suffering church throughout the world -- in Rome and Ireland, in Syria and Lebanon, in South Africa and Angola, India and China, Nicaragua and El Salvador, in Washington, D.C., and Jackson, Mississippi.
Let us break bread together; let us relive the holy and redemptive mystery. Let us do it in memory of him, acknowledging in faith his real presence upon our altars.
Let us resolve to make this week holy by sharing holy peace and joy within our families, sharing family prayer on a regular basis, making every meal a holy meal where loving conversations bond family members in unity, sharing family work without grumbling, making love not war, asking forgiveness for past hurts and forgiving one another from the heart, seeking to go all the way for love as Jesus went all the way for love.
Let us resolve to make this week holy by sharing holy peace and joy with the needy, the alienated, the lonely, the sick and afflicted, the untouchable.
Let us unite our sufferings, inconveniences and annoyances with the suffering of Jesus. Let us stretch ourselves, going beyond our comfort zones to unite ourselves with Christ's redemptive work.
We unite ourselves with Christ's redemptive work when we reconcile, when we make peace, when we share the good news that God is in our lives, when we reflect to our brothers and sisters God's healing, God's forgiveness, God's unconditional love.
Let us be practical, reaching out across the boundaries of race and class and status to help somebody, to encourage and affirm somebody, offering to the young an incentive to learn and grow, offering to the downtrodden resources to help themselves.
May our fasting be the kind that saves and shares with the poor, that actually contacts the needy, that gives heart to heart, that touches and nourishes and heals.
During this Holy Week when Jesus gave his life for love, let us truly love one another."
"Let us resolve to make this week holy by claiming Christ’s redemptive grace and by living holy lives.
The Word became flesh and redeemed us by his holy life and holy death. This week especially, let us accept redemption by living grateful, faithful, prayerful, generous, just and holy lives.
Let us resolve to make this week holy by reading and meditating Holy Scripture.
So often, we get caught up in the hurry of daily living. As individuals and as families, reserve prime time to be with Jesus, to hear the cries of the children waving palm branches, to see the Son of Man riding on an ass' colt, to feel the press of the crowd, to be caught up in the "Hosannas” and to realize how the cries of acclamation will yield to the garden of suffering, to be there and watch as Jesus is sentenced by Pilate to Calvary, to see him rejected, mocked, spat upon, beaten and forced to carry a heavy cross, to hear the echo of the hammer, to feel the agony of the torn flesh and strained muscles, to know Mary’s anguish as he hung three hours before he died.
We recoil before the atrocities of war, gang crime, domestic violence and catastrophic illness. Unless we personally and immediately are touched by suffering, it is easy to read Scripture and to walk away without contacting the redemptive suffering that makes us holy. The reality of the Word falls on deaf ears.
Let us take time this week to be present to someone who suffers. Sharing the pain of a fellow human will enliven Scripture and help us enter into the holy mystery of the redemptive suffering of Christ.
Let us resolve to make this week holy by participating in the Holy Week services of the church, not just by attending, but also by preparing, by studying the readings, entering into the spirit, offering our services as ministers of the Word or Eucharist, decorating the church or preparing the environment for worship.
Let us sing, "Lord, have mercy," and "Hosanna." Let us praise the Lord with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength, uniting with the suffering church throughout the world -- in Rome and Ireland, in Syria and Lebanon, in South Africa and Angola, India and China, Nicaragua and El Salvador, in Washington, D.C., and Jackson, Mississippi.
Let us break bread together; let us relive the holy and redemptive mystery. Let us do it in memory of him, acknowledging in faith his real presence upon our altars.
Let us resolve to make this week holy by sharing holy peace and joy within our families, sharing family prayer on a regular basis, making every meal a holy meal where loving conversations bond family members in unity, sharing family work without grumbling, making love not war, asking forgiveness for past hurts and forgiving one another from the heart, seeking to go all the way for love as Jesus went all the way for love.
Let us resolve to make this week holy by sharing holy peace and joy with the needy, the alienated, the lonely, the sick and afflicted, the untouchable.
Let us unite our sufferings, inconveniences and annoyances with the suffering of Jesus. Let us stretch ourselves, going beyond our comfort zones to unite ourselves with Christ's redemptive work.
We unite ourselves with Christ's redemptive work when we reconcile, when we make peace, when we share the good news that God is in our lives, when we reflect to our brothers and sisters God's healing, God's forgiveness, God's unconditional love.
Let us be practical, reaching out across the boundaries of race and class and status to help somebody, to encourage and affirm somebody, offering to the young an incentive to learn and grow, offering to the downtrodden resources to help themselves.
May our fasting be the kind that saves and shares with the poor, that actually contacts the needy, that gives heart to heart, that touches and nourishes and heals.
During this Holy Week when Jesus gave his life for love, let us truly love one another."
Friday, March 22, 2013
rocks and stones v hugs and kisses
JEremiah 20:10-13; Ps 18 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice; John 10:31-42
"any of those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine..."
How often are these words of Jeremiah a fitting description of our own sorted mind? How often do we seek to catch others doing something wrong and ready to pounce?
Yet, this isn't the only way. THere is a better way. We can actually doing it differently. What if we started to catch people doing something right and praise them for it.
What if we started each day with that determination that we were going to catch people red handed doing good and being good.
what if we started looking at the world differently.
I am reminded of the coca cola commercial that uses security cameras to show people doing good and enjoying life rather than just catching criminals in a misstep.
Here is the link watch if you like, but know i am not supporting Coke but i do like the twist on things that is presented and the slogan: look at the world differently.
"Sing to Lord, praise the lord, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked" even and especially if the wicked is in us.
**************
Look at the gospel it goes right along with the first reading and it begins, "jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus."
This is certainly an intense way to begin the gospel, "the good news". We are invited to enter right in the middle of the plot twist that is going to lead to Jesus death.
There is so much hostility, and anger, and violence, and frustration. The opening lines begs for us to experience in full force, "picked up rocks to stone him."
They had blood on the brain and were ready to exercise the violent thoughts of their hearts.
WHy? They wanted to defend God. That is right they wanted to defend God with violence.
What an awkward and distorted way to show honor to the one who is the source of life, goodness, and grace!
How many times have we done this in our history. How often has the name of God in whatever religion has been used to bring forth bloodshed upon bloodshed, violence upon violence?
The complaint was that They thought jesus, "you a man, was making himself out to be God."
How ironic that they were almost correct. It isn't man that was making himself God in the person of Jesus but rather God who has become man. They were almost correct, but almost didn't count and led to violence.
JEsus is being bullied and quickly the plot turns toward the paschal mystery: suffering, death, and resurrection.
There is only one way this can resolve it self and it is with goodness absorbing the heat of violence and anger, nailing it to the cross, only to restore it to new life and new goodness in the victory over death itself: by his wounds we are healed.
The best part of the gospel is JEsus walks away. He knows which fights to pick and how to pick them.
If only we knew the same!
"any of those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine..."
How often are these words of Jeremiah a fitting description of our own sorted mind? How often do we seek to catch others doing something wrong and ready to pounce?
Yet, this isn't the only way. THere is a better way. We can actually doing it differently. What if we started to catch people doing something right and praise them for it.
What if we started each day with that determination that we were going to catch people red handed doing good and being good.
what if we started looking at the world differently.
I am reminded of the coca cola commercial that uses security cameras to show people doing good and enjoying life rather than just catching criminals in a misstep.
Here is the link watch if you like, but know i am not supporting Coke but i do like the twist on things that is presented and the slogan: look at the world differently.
"Sing to Lord, praise the lord, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked" even and especially if the wicked is in us.
**************
Look at the gospel it goes right along with the first reading and it begins, "jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus."
This is certainly an intense way to begin the gospel, "the good news". We are invited to enter right in the middle of the plot twist that is going to lead to Jesus death.
There is so much hostility, and anger, and violence, and frustration. The opening lines begs for us to experience in full force, "picked up rocks to stone him."
They had blood on the brain and were ready to exercise the violent thoughts of their hearts.
WHy? They wanted to defend God. That is right they wanted to defend God with violence.
What an awkward and distorted way to show honor to the one who is the source of life, goodness, and grace!
How many times have we done this in our history. How often has the name of God in whatever religion has been used to bring forth bloodshed upon bloodshed, violence upon violence?
The complaint was that They thought jesus, "you a man, was making himself out to be God."
How ironic that they were almost correct. It isn't man that was making himself God in the person of Jesus but rather God who has become man. They were almost correct, but almost didn't count and led to violence.
JEsus is being bullied and quickly the plot turns toward the paschal mystery: suffering, death, and resurrection.
There is only one way this can resolve it self and it is with goodness absorbing the heat of violence and anger, nailing it to the cross, only to restore it to new life and new goodness in the victory over death itself: by his wounds we are healed.
The best part of the gospel is JEsus walks away. He knows which fights to pick and how to pick them.
If only we knew the same!
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