The Visitation of Mary: Its Effects

Today we celebrate the Visitation of Mary, who following the Angel’s announcement that she has been chosen to be the Mother of the Savior, leaves, in haste to visit her elderly cousin,  whom she learns from the angel is also pregnant and is in her sixth month.   All is part of God’s plan to bring about the salvation of the world. God is coming to earth, becoming a human being in Mary’s womb, in  order to make holy what was made unholy by our first parents’ disobedience to God original plan for humankind.  His Plan B would not be thwarted by pride and covetousness of divine nature, of humankind wanting to be God!  Reconciliation between humanity and God would be accomplished through the Son of God showing God’s absolute love in the giving His life for our redemption.  The price of our ransom from Satan’s snares, from sin,  would be paid by the unblemished Lamb of God pouring out His blood for us once and for all upon the cross—an accomplishment of purification that no animal sacrifice, as in the Old Testament or any human being  could have accomplished. Only a member of the Trinity could reconcile us to God.

Mary, conceived without sin, carries Jesus, the Son of God, the Creator of the Universe, in her virginal womb to  visit Elizabeth.  John leaps for joy in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary greets her elderly pregnant cousin.  John, in his mother’s womb, is baptized with the Holy Spirit and freed from all sin by  Jesus in His mother’s  womb. What a visit!  What a sacred moment!

You and I also carry God in the core of our bodies. We, too, have the same power of God within us. When you and I visit or encounter others, are we aware of the power God has given us to transform each other, as John and Jesus did, as Mary and Elizabeth did?  Or is our ability to make holy that which is and can be negatively affected by sin paled by our own lack of faith?  Mary believed! What you and I?

Challenged to Love Intensely, Thoughtfully, Soberly

In today’s first reading, 1 Peter 4: 7-13, St. Peter reminds us that “the end of all things is at hand.  Therefore be serious and sober-minded.”   In other words, pay attention to that which is important and vital to your well- being spiritually and to the well-being of others—do not occupy yourself with that which is trivial or of minor significance.  Live thoughtfully! Live a life full of meaning.  Peter then looks at what that kind of life would entail. He says:  “…[L]et your love for one another be intense…Be hospitable to one another without complaining.  …[S]erve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”  Do all of this “with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Imagine what the world would be like if we followed Peter’s instruction. But, so that we do not escape our personal responsibility, let us ask ourselves some personal questions: What am I doing—not what is someone else doing or what is the world doing—but what am I doing? To what am I paying attention  each day? How intense is my love for God, others and myself? How hospitable [friendly, welcoming, generous, open, cordial]  am I to those whom God puts on the path of my life each day?  Am I serving others as a “good steward [a good guide,  director, attendant, teacher, parent, mentor] of God’s varied grace”?

Claiming our Royalty at the Foot of the Cross

One of the meditations I reflected upon today stated “The world is under the bondage  of sin and evil” (Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, p. 153).  In today’s first reading, 1 Peter 2: 2-5, 9-12, St. Peter says    “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of [God’s] own, so that you may announce the praises s of [God] who called you out of darkness into [God’s] wonderful light.” One statement describes why we needed redemption and the other the effect of redemption!   O, the greatness, the generosity and the mercy of our God, as described by Peter: “Once you were no people  but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy  but now you have received mercy.”

Being God’s people, Peter invites us to “long for pure spiritual milk so that through it [we] may grow into salvation…”  May we grow into the salvation that is ours: being “a chosen race, a royal priesthood,  a holy nation, a people of {God’s] own.”  Yes, we will, in fact,  grow “out of darkness into {God’s] wonderful light.”  We might not realize that God is always at work in the world, transforming its darkness into light, its sinfulness and evil into holiness  and goodness anymore than persons watching the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross realized that the world was being freed from its bondage to sin and evil or that the Crucified Jesus truly was the One sent by God to save us, not condemn us.

 As we listen to the news every night and are fed “food” poisoned by ways in which people are “under the bondage of sin and evil” may we thirst and hunger more and more for God’s righteousness, for “pure spiritual milk” that St. Peter talks about in today’s first reading!  May we also, at times when we are faced with this world’s sinfulness, recall Jesus’ words: “Be not afraid. I have conquered the world.”  Jesus, who resides within us, will conquer the world of evil that we face and or experience within or with-out ourselves.

This is my belief! What is yours?

Discipleship: Being of Service, Not being Served

In today’s Gospel,  Mark 10: 32-45, Jesus is on His way up to Jerusalem.  Jesus knows what awaits Him there, as voiced by Him when he says to the disciples:  “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed  over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.”

Walking with Jesus, James and John approach Him wanting favors in His Kingdom.  And the other ten apostles are indignant with them. Jesus rebukes all of them and reminds them that they are off track:   “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.” I came, He says, “not to be served but to serve and to give [my] life as a ransom for many.”

Are you a “James,” a “John” or one of the other ten angry at James and John, wanting to be first yourselves and wanting to secure a place of honor? Or, are you another Christ, serving others quietly, being obedient to God even to death on a cross—not necessarily physical death but death to the ego, to pride, to selfishness?

At times in our lives, even at times each day, I believe, we are any one of those persons: James, John, one of the indignant ten or Jesus Himself, serving others quietly, sacrificing our pride, disciplining our selfish tendencies to be of service to others.  That is human nature, taken up by Jesus who shows us the way to the Father, who lives an other worldly life in accord with the Father's will.  What choices are you willing to make today?

The generosity of a Caring, Omnipresent God

The generosity of our God!  “…[N]o one [in any walk of life], ” Jesus says, “who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel ….will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and brothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.”

Whatever "persecution" we endure or whatever pain involved in leaving that which is dear to us as we follow the Spirit's lead to live according to the Gospel or as we follow our vocations in life—marriage, religious life, priesthood, the single lifestyle—is richly compensated for by a generous, loving God. Jesus says that we will receive “hundred times more now in this present age…and eternal life in the age to come.”  There is never a time when we sacrifice for another—be it volunteering at a homeless shelter, teaching a CCD class, aiding the homeless, getting involved to stop human trafficking and other acts of violence toward humanity, assisting our children in homework challenges, reading to our children,  taking time to play with our children, taking them to a park or to the beach, picnicking with our families,doing household chores, taking time to comfort a grieving family/community member—that the “pay” is  not “a hundred times more” than we ever imagined.

What, today, am I willing to do to live my vocation to the fullest and nip narcissistic tendencies in the bud?

An Imperishable Inheritance Kept in Heaven

In today’s first reading, 1 Peter 1:3-9, St. Peter blesses the Lord, our God, for his great mercy toward us, namely, giving us “a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for [us]  who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time.”

Wow! God’s unsurpassable mercy  was revealed in the Garden of Paradise when  our first parents disobeyed God by succumbing to Satan’s deceitfulness and false promises—something we do over and over again every day of our lives!  We are sinners who prefer our will to God’s, sinners who easily get caught in Satan’s lying strategies and his efforts to lure us away from the inheritance God has promised us and, in fact, secured for us by His Son’s death and resurrection, that is,  by His obedience to the Father unto death.

God held nothing back to guarantee us the inheritance of adopted daughters and sons—an “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven” for us.  God eagerly awaits the moment of our “salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time,” the time when each of us will leave this earth through the door of death and rise to new life, eternal life, in Christ Jesus!

That is my hope! What is yours?

"Forget Not God's Benefits" (Ps. 103)

In today’s responsorial psalm, Ps. 103, we bless the Lord and are asked not to “forget…all his benefits.” God “pardons all  [our] iniquities,…heals all [our]  ills. [God] redeems [our lives] from destruction,…crowns [us] with kindness and compassion….For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is [God’s] kindness toward those who fear [reverence] him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has [God] put our transgressions from us.”

Wow! There is no God as great as our God! None! As we pray in Psalm 97: “…all gods bow down before [the true God].”  The author of Psalm 97 also prays:

“O God, you reign! Let the earth rejoice;

 let the many coastlands be glad!

Clouds and thick darkness

are round about you;

Righteousness and justice

are the foundation of your throne.

Fire goes before you

consuming your foes.

Your lightning illumines the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax before you,

before the God of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim your justice

 and all the nations behold your glory.

All idol worshipers are put to shame,

who boast in worthless idols….”

What consolation Psalm 97 and today’s responsorial psalm (103) give us.  All who worship “worthless idols” will be put to shame!  Idolaters will not triumph. Evil will not survive. God does—God’s will cannot be thwarted, that is, His will to bring about our redemption as we learn obedience from what we suffer, as did Jesus, our Savior.  Those who worship God, serve God, and become one with God’s way of thinking, loving, being in this world will not be put to shame!   We have died and rose with Christ in our baptism and continue living the Paschal  Mystery every day through the power of the Spirit at work within us who believe and live by faith!

The Choice of the One True God or a God-substitute

In today’s first reading, James 5: 1-6, and in Psalm 49, we are challenged to not get caught up in that which does not lead to eternal life and is contrary to the way Jesus lived.  We are invited to eliminate negativity and any other behaviors that block us from growth in holiness, that is in becoming poor in spirit, charitable and humble disciples of Jesus Christ.  Christianity, in short, is not about becoming rich, though wealth in and of itself is not evil.  When  wealth is chosen as one’s ultimate goal, when it is worshiped or when  it becomes a substitute for God, it is pursued relentlessly. Relentless pursuers of wealth as a "must have," as a God-substitute, are  likely to grow rich at the expense of the poor, cheating others of just wages and the means to support, shelter, clothe, feed and provide education for  family members. Bent on getting rich, some people exploit others, as in the sex trade, human trafficking, slave labor, and drug trafficking. Idolaters of wealth are willing to do whatever it takes to be among the richest people in the world, caring not at all whose spirit and reputation is destroyed by their climb to the top! And the wanna-be-rich  have a tendency to worship the millionaires and billionaires among us.

The psalmist proclaims the behaviors listed above as “the way of those whose trust is folly.” Wealth provides a false security and when “worshiped” leads to destruction.  Our only salvation is the Lord, God. God alone redeems us. God alone is God; there is no other.  Security rests in God and in being disciples of Jesus, in living as Jesus lived. the truly wealthy are those who are kind and loving, merciful and forgiving, and generous in responding to the needs of the poor and oppressed, those who  right wrongs and  live justly.

Upon what or whom do I place my security? For what, in this life, am I looking?  Whom am I following?

In God's Service in All We Do

In today’s first reading, James 4: 13-17, St. James addresses those of us who say, “‘Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit’—you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears. Instead you should say, ‘If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.’”  Wow!  St. James might as well have asked us “Who do you think you are? You have no idea whether you will be here tomorrow. And where is God in this plan of yours?”

As I reflected upon James’  message, the thought occurred to me of the greatness of our God. God is in charge. And, yes, God does want us to be planning for tomorrow and the next day, the next month, the next  year, and so on. The key is that we acknowledge “If it is God’s will I will do such and such tomorrow or the next day or the next month or year.” We want our wills to be in harmony with the will of God. We want to be doing what the Spirit leads us to do. Imagine—no, realize—that God is in charge. It is God who directs us and with His direction comes the power to do what is right and good, to make a difference, to bear fruit that will last forever. It is when we allow ourselves to be agents in the hand of Almighty God and when our wills are  in harmony with the will of God that great things happen, that people of faith encounter God in us and are drawn to God. That is why God put us here on earth! No other reason!

Right Focus

In today’s Scripture readings, we are encouraged to “throw [our] cares on the Lord, and he will support you.”  St. James reminds us to “Draw near to God and God will draw near to you.” These messages follow the questions:  “Where do the wars and where to the conflicts among you come from? Is it not your passions that make war within your members?”  In the Gospel, the apostles are arguing about who will be first in the Kingdom.

How easy to get caught up the worldly matters and take our focus off of Jesus or to forget to “throw our cares on the Lord,” or to “draw near to God.”  St. James asks: “Do you not know that to be a lover of the world [and of secular goals] means enmity with God?”   When I am interiorly disturbed or not a peace, when my sole focus is success as proposed by the world, it is that turmoil that I can easily project onto others. It is that “muddy” thinking that blocks me from seeing as God sees and that depletes my trusting the Lord.  In those times I am seeking my will above God’s. 

The argument that broke out among the apostles occurred right after Jesus told them that “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” Jesus is about doing His Father’s will.  Nothing else!  He was not enmeshed in worldly, secular goals and neither should we be focused on such. Whatever we are doing here on earth—personally, vocationally, professionally, socially, as a parent, an employee, an employer, a friend, a relative—should be in response to God’s call or the Spirit’s lead in our life.  We are on a journey of dying and rising with Christ, in getting to know and imitate the Lord. Nothing else! Or is there?

In today’s Scripture readings, we are encouraged to “throw [our] cares on the Lord, and he will support you.”  St. James reminds us to “Draw near to God and God will draw near to you.” These messages follow the questions:  “Where do the wars and where to the conflicts among you come from? Is it not your passions that make war within your members?”  In the Gospel, the apostles are arguing about who will be first in the Kingdom.

How easy to get caught up the worldly matters and take our focus off of Jesus or to forget to “throw our cares on the Lord,” or to “draw near to God.”  St. James asks: “Do you not know that to be a lover of the world [and of secular goals] means enmity with God?”   When I am interiorly disturbed or not a peace, when my sole focus is success as proposed by the world, it is that turmoil that I can easily project onto others. It is that “muddy” thinking that blocks me from seeing as God sees and that depletes my trusting the Lord.  In those times I am seeking my will above God’s. 

The argument that broke out among the apostles occurred right after Jesus told them that “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” Jesus is about doing His Father’s will.  Nothing else!  He was not enmeshed in worldly, secular goals and neither should we be focused on such. Whatever we are doing here on earth—personally, vocationally, professionally, socially, as a parent, an employee, an employer, a friend, a relative—should be in response to God’s call or the Spirit’s lead in our life.  We are on a journey of dying and rising with Christ, in getting to know and imitate the Lord. Nothing else! Or is there?