"Come after Me"!

 In today's Gospel, Matthew 4: 18-22, Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee and spots two brothers, Simon and Andrew, professional fishermen, busily fishing, engaged in their arduous profession. He says to them: "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of [people]".   Jesus continues walking and spots two other men, brothers James and John, "in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him."

Who was this man? Four professional fishermen immediately leave their profession and their families and follow Him when He simply says to them: "Come after me!"  Would you, would I, immediately leave our jobs, our families--leave everything behind--and answer Jesus' call? Would we immediately stop what we are doing and follow Jesus into an unknown life, an unknown profession, an uncertain  future?

And what did the father of James and John think? His two sons, copartners in his fishing business, simply get up and abandon him. They seem to be following a stranger!  Are they crazy? What came over them to immediately walk away from him and their family?

Being a disciple of Jesus, following God's call, demands that we leave everything else behind. God wants our all: our total commitment, be that marriage, parenthood, religious life, priestly life, the deaconate, or the single life!  Are we willing to sacrifice everything to be in sync with God's will for us? Simon and Andrew, James and John were! And they did not turn back!

May you and I recognize who is calling us to a lifetime of faithfulness as a married person and a parent, a single person, a woman/man religious, a priest, a deacon! May we, in cooperation with the Spirit at work within us, embrace a life of sacrificial love in which we leave the past behind and forge a future with Him and for Him and through Him.  

"Rouse your power, and come to save us" (Psalm 80)

 In today's first reading, Isaiah 63: 16b-17, 19b,; 64: 2-7, the prophet Isaiah asks God why He allows us to "wander from [His] ways,  and harden our hearts so that we [no longer] fear you"?  As we wander away from God, Isaiah says that "our good deeds are like polluted rags". We have become "like unclean people."   "[W]e have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you; for you have hidden  your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt.  Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands."

Each of us is an unique masterpiece of the Divine Potter. We belong to Him! And, in no way, is God going to abandon us, though God will allow us to wander away from Him. He is watching! He waits for the moment when we realize that we have departed from the right path. He waits for the moment when we realize that we have become like  "polluted rags"  in need of cleansing, purifying, restoring in the winepress of Jesus' blood and reconciled to God in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist, in which we are fed with  Jesus' body, blood, soul and divinity! In those sacraments, in the Holy Scriptures, in repentant and humble prayer--personal, communal or liturgical--we are cleansed, brought back to the Lord, aroused to cling to the Lord, delivered from our guilt!

St. Paul, in today's second reading, 1 Cor 1: 3-9, says, on our behalf, "I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are  not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of Our Lord Jesus Christ."  What a restoration in Christ Jesus, through the outpouring of Jesus' blood upon the cross to redeem us from our wayward ways, our wandering away from the right path, our being carried away by the wind into pits set up for us by Satan! Our Father/Mother God would have none of it! We belong to Him/Her, the Holy Almighty One!

Hoping in the Lord and Waiting upon the Lord to Come and Save Us

 In today's first reading, Revelations 22: 1-7, St. John is again visited by an angel. The angel shows John "the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of the Lamb down the middle of the street. On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produced fruit twelve times a year, ....[In this place] nothing accursed will be found anymore. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship hm....Night will be no more,... for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever and ever."  The angel then tells John that "Behold, I am coming soon."   In today's Gospel, Jesus also speaks of  the day of the Lord's coming and says to us:  "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth."   

An assault is scary. Darkness can be frightening! Neither a sudden assault nor sudden darkness are situations for which we are usually prepared.  We know, in faith, that on the other side of persecution or traumatic events that lead to death is eternal life.  Sufferings on this earth are not forever! That is how Jesus entered his passion and crucifixion. He believed in the resurrection, in God's power over death and He kept His focus on His Father!

Every day,  somewhere in the world, individuals face the threat of violence--be it violence from other nations, the violence of a terminal illness, the violence of being persecuted for one's beliefs, the violence of rape, the violence of the loss of a loved one, the violence of a divorce, the violence of losing a parent or a son or daughter or a sibling or a friend, the violence of losing a job--the source of one's livelihood--the violence of being driven from one's homeland, the violence of extreme poverty, the violence of nature's raging storms,  and so on!

"Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus,! we pray in today's responsorial psalm. And in today's first reading, God responds:  "Behold, I am coming soon!"  May we never lose that hope! 

The Battle between Good and Evil: The Good Triumphs

Today's first reading, Rev 20: 1-4, 11-21:2, St. John has a vision in which he sees an angel coming down from heaven," holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a heavy chain." He sees this angel seizing "the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil or Satan."   Satan is tied up and thrown into the abyss and is no longer able to "lead [nations] astray."  He also sees saints in heaven "who had not worshiped the beast [Satan] or its image nor had accepted [Satan's] mark on their foreheads or hands. They came to live and they reigned with Christ..."   St. John  also has a vision of "the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne [of God], and scrolls were opened," one of which is the book of life. Each person was judged "according to their deeds....Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the pool of fire," a second death. Following these aspects of the vision, John "saw a new heaven and a new earth..." He "also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

What a description of the acts of redemption: Satan is locked up so to speak. And is so to this very day. Satan may be roaming the earth looking for someone to devour but, so, too, is Christ roaming this earth, protecting us from Satan's snares, from Satan's lies and corrupt ways, as the Devil endlessly attempts to lure us away from that which is right and pure and holy and sacred!   The Strong One, the Cosmic Christ, the Holy One, our Redeemer, a Warrior God is on our sides! God is at work, here and now, making all things new, forging a new heaven and a new earth.  "The former heaven and the former earth," St. John tells us in this passage from Revelation, has "passed away, and the sea [is] no more."

May we have eyes--eyes of faith, that is--to see God at work in our world battling Satan. God will win! Satan will lose, whether that is in our individual lives, the lives of our community, family or nation!

Today Salvation Has Come to Us!

 In today's Gospel, Luke 19-10, Jesus is entering Jericho. Zacchaeus, a tax collector, a wealthy man and a cheater, is eager to see Jesus but, given his short stature and the size of the crowd, there is no way that he can accomplish that by staying on the ground. He decides to climb a sycamore tree in the area and watch for Jesus. Jesus is also looking for Zacchaeus,  knows where Zacchaeus is, looks up into the tree and says: "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house."   Zacchaeus immediately comes down from the tree and, without hesitation, says to Jesus: "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over" and Jesus answers him: "Today salvation has come to this house."  Jesus receives Zacchaeus with joy. The crowd is furious.  Does Jesus not know who this guy is? A tax collector? an extortioner? An unjust man who has built his wealth by stealing from the people, overcharging them? How can he go and "stay at the house of a sinner?" they ask. In response to their objections, Jesus says:  "...[T]he Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

What a story! It is your story and mine!  We, too, are looking for Jesus and, more importantly, Jesus is looking for us! We are persons in need of salvation always! We may not be extortioners. We may not have built out wealth in dishonest ways. We may not be as corrupt as this tax collector was! But, still, we have, from time to time, intentionally or unintentionally, sinned against another or other people. And we certainly have sinned against God, choosing our will over His, rejecting His redemptive plans for our lives. There have,  no doubt, been times throughout our lives when we have been angry at God for the the difficulties we've encountered, the tragedies that  suddenly crashed into our lives, or the  various losses we have endured.  Jesus is saying to you, to me in whichever "tree" we are perched in our search for Jesus:  " (Your name/my name), come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house...[I have] come to save what was lost." 

Will you/will I come down quickly and, like Zacchaeus, immediately express our willingness to make amends? Or will we make excuses? Will we, in fact, stay up in our "trees," too proud to admit any wrongdoing? 

Let us "come down quickly, for today," Jesus says to us, "I must stay at your house."

What do you want of Jesus?

 In today's gospel, Luke 18: 35-43, a blind man is sitting by the roadside.  He hears a big commotion and asked what is going on. He is told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. The blind man yells out: "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me."  The crowd is annoyed and tells the blind man to shut up!  The more they rebuke him, the more he screams: "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"  He gets Jesus' attention. Jesus stops and asks that the blind man be brought to him. When he approaches Jesus, Jesus asks him: "What do  you want me to do for you?"  And the blind man says: ""Lord, please let me see." Jesus replies:  "Have sight; your faith has saved you."   Immediately, the man can see and begins glorifying God. The crowd, as well, praises God.

Who am I in this story? The man who is physically blind? A person who is spiritually blind?  A member of the crowd who finds the blind man so annoying that I want to shut him up? A member of the crowd who is so embarrassed by the handicapped man that I want  him silenced? Am I someone who is closely following Jesus, wanting to hear His every word and touch the hem of His garment, so as to be healed? Am I Jesus, one who wants the blind and the lame and the crippled person to be healed, respected and given the assistance he/she needs?

And finally, what do I want of Jesus?

Bringing Good into Life All of Our Days

 In today's first reading, Proverbs 31: 10-13, 19-20, 30-31, the author of this texts speaks about one who finds a worthy wife: "her value is far beyond pearls. Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize. She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life."    And the same can be said of a wife in finding a worthy husband: his "value is [also]  far beyond pearls."  In entrusting her heart to him, she has found "an unfailing prize," one who  "brings[her] good, and not evil, all the days of [his] life."  In both cases, "[c]harm is deceptive and beauty fleeting: the woman  [and the man] who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give [both] a reward for [their] labors, and let  [their ] works praise [them] at the city gates."

In today's world, we are bombarded with examples of persons who could be characterized as opposites of the persons described in this passage from Proverbs.   The important thing, though, is that we listen to the Spirit speaking to us personally in this passage.  Each of us, in Christ Jesus and created in the image of God, is a person whose "value is beyond pearls," beyond diamonds, in fact.  Each of us, through the Spirit within us, through God at work through us, is able to bring good into other people's lives, "and not evil, all the days of our lives!" Good has also been brought into our lives by others, as well! All of us are here on earth for one reason: to bring good to others with whom were live and pray and play! As we pray in the Collect of today's liturgy, it is "full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy the author of all that is good."

Faithfulness

 In today's first reading, 3 John: 5-8, St. John affirms those who are faithful in all that they do for others, especially "for strangers."  He encourages them to continue helping  others in ways "worthy of God to continue their journey."   Why?   Because  "they have set out for the sake  of the Name [Jesus' Name] and are accepting nothing from the pagans." Support them John says, "so that we may be co-workers in the truth."

I ask the Lord for the graces I need to grow in faithfulness:

• To my vows as a woman religious
• To my love of the Church and what it asks of me
• To the Sacred Scriptures
• To the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the little things of each day whereby Jesus' Name is praised
• To growing in holiness
• To growing in compassion for others and myself
• To growing in patience with others and with myself
• To helping others in ways "worthy of God to continue their journey"  to their eternal home
• To growing in honesty with others and myself

I asked myself what I need from others in order to remain faithful and the answer within me was: I need love, understanding, forgiveness, encouragement, truth and patience.  Others need those same gifts from me.

Water Flowing from the Temple of God, Which Each Is

 In today's first reading, Ez 47: 1-2, 8-9, 12, Ezekiel is brought to the entrance of the temple and to various other entrances. He sees water flowing out from the temple and is told:  "This water...empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh. Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh. Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine."

In today's Gospel, John 2:13-22, Jesus cleanses the temple from those who were using it as a place to sell their products. Jesus, seeing this abuse of the temple,  "made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, 'Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace.'"  The people challenged Jesus and asked Him: "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus says to them in response: "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."  The people thought that they had destroyed Jesus on the cross. But death had no power over Him and three days later He rose from the dead.

On the cross water flow from Jesus' Body, the Temple of God! It is from the water flowing from Jesus' side that we are cleansed, refreshed, restored to health, empowered to bear fruit that will last.  Every day, we have the opportunity to receive the Eucharist, Jesus' body and blood, soul and divinity,  the living Christ and thus our "leaves shall not fade, nor [our] fruit fail...[Our] fruit shall serve for food, and [our] leaves for medicine!"

Truly, everything is of God, for God and exists through God: the water flowing from the temple to which the angel brought Ezekiel, the water we drink every day, the water in our oceans, lakes, rivers; the water in the atmosphere, the water in our very bodies! God/the Cosmic Christ is in all! It is God in us who is the Source by which we are able to restore life, refresh life, heal life in another or within ourselves. It is the Cosmic Christ in us who provides "food" for the journey of faith, who enables us to bear fruit, fruit that will last!

Today's Magnificat!

 Today,  given all that has taken place in the U.S over the past few days, we might pray the following prayer:  

Our souls proclaim Your greatness, O God!

 You have looked with favor upon us, your lowly servants! 

 From this day, we rejoice because You, O God, have done great things for us.

 You have shown the strength of Your arm.

You have scattered the proud in their conceit. 

You have cast down the mighty from their thrones and have lifted up the lowly.

 You have filled those hungering for truth and justice, compassion and integrity with good things.

The rich You have sent away empty. 

You have come to the help of those seeking goodness, justice and humble service; of those wanting leaders who are concerned for all people and are committed to the common good. 

You have remembered Your promise of mercy, the promise You made to our ancestors--our forefathers and foremothers-- forever! 

Thank You from the bottom of our hearts!

Learning How to Live in Humble Circumstances!

 In today's first reading, Philippians 4:10-19, St. Paul shares his secret with them of how to survive in any circumstance of life:  "...I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself, to be self-sufficient. I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also  how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through  him who empowers me. Still, it is kind of you to share in my distress."  He also thanks them for being generous with him in the ways that they have shared in his distress, promising them that his  "God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

We certainly are living in stressful times right now as the coronavirus rages in our country and around the world. Many of us have lost loved ones or have, ourselves, contracted the disease. Persons living in assisted living facilities or nursing homes, in most cases, are separated from their loved ones. Family members and friends, in most cases, are not allowed to visit. In the facility itself, residents often find themselves quarantined to their rooms! 

The question we face is:  In what ways are you, am I, relying on God to "fully supply whatever [you or I] need, in accord with [God's] glorious riches in Christ Jesus" to take responsibility for our lives and the lives of others, to the extent that we are able.  St. Paul became self-sufficient in times of scarcity and need. What are you/am I, doing to care for ourselves and others, trusting that God will give us the strength we need to step up to the plate, so to speak!  In times of restriction on our moving about and doing what we normally would do, it is easy to fall into the pit of self-pity and complaining, blaming others for difficulties we might be experiencing instead of engaging in behaviors and attitudes that promote fullness of life for ourselves each day and enhances the lives of those with whom we live!  During this time, may we learn "the secret of being well fed and of going hungry"--hungry for a previous normal, perhaps--"of  living in abundance and of being in need."

Living in abundance, while quarantined, could be achieved by making choices that bring life to others and to oneself:  living a reflective life, that is, taking more time for prayer--personal, communal, liturgical--engaging in spiritual reading and journaling, enjoying creative activities that utilize skills we have developed through a lifetime. Abundant life could also be attained by calling family and friends and community members; responding to correspondence, and, at times,  participating in activities that another suggests for us to relieve stress and build relationships!

All Souls' Day: May our Deceased Loved One Rest in Peace!

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Souls and, rightly so, today's first reading, Wisdom 3: 1-9, speaks about our deceased loved ones.  The author of Wisdom reminds us that they "are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them."  What consolation for all of us left behind! Whatever hardships they endured here on earth, they are now enjoying the peace of the Lord in the land of peace, heaven itself. And we are grateful to the Lord for that!

 We may think of "their passing away [as] an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace." They left us with a heart of "hope full of immortality."    I think of my mother who suffered from years of cancer.  Her leaving young children without a mother certainly seemed like "utter destruction,"  a harsh, cruel fate for a wonderful woman! But cancer or disease of any kind has no feelings, just a way to strangle life out of its victims!  Any kind of death may seem cruel for those left behind but it certainly brings relief to those ravaged by a painful illness.  I pray that God's mercy, love and strength take possession, though,  of each member of a family suffering the loss of a loved one!

The author of Wisdom goes on to say that our loved ones may have seemed to have been "chastised a little,"  but are now,  "greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself."  I thank God for His generous blessings pour out upon our loved ones who, truly, have been "found worthy of himself."  May they rest in peace!

Sealed as God's Servants!

 In today's first reading, Revelation 7: 2-4, 9-14, John has a vision of an "angel...from the East, holding the seal of the loving God."  This angel cried out in a loud voice to four other angels who were given authority  "to damage the land the the sea...Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God."  Are you, am I, serving God? Are we God's faithful servants or have we abandoned God to serve another who pretends to be God and is jealous of God and of those who are faith to the Lord!  This one does everything possible to lead people astray!  Have you, have I, been led astray? Are we serving wealth/money, material things, consumerism, hedonism, or any other God substitute?