Champions of God

The responsorial psalm, Psalm 89, speaks of God's faithfulness and mercy toward David. Of David it is said: "On a champion I have placed a crown; over the people I have set a youth.  I have found David, my servant; with holy oil I have anointed him, that my hand may with him, and through my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand upon the sea, his right hand upon the rivers."

God has also made you and I champions, champions, that is, of grace, of the faith, of  redemption. Those gifts from God were mediated to us through many people, beginning with our parents and grandparents or other faith-filled men and women that God put into our lives: teachers, friends, school counselors, fellow employees.

God found us, as he found David, and anointed us through the Church's sacraments. God laid His hands upon us through these sacraments and through sacramentals, signs of God's presence: another's person's love, compassion, understanding, forgiveness, and concern for our well-being and our success in school, in marriage, in business and so on. We, in turn, are meant to be sacramentals for others, that is, signs of God's love and mercy. We are exalted in many ways and each of those through the name of Jesus! And, yes, God sets our hands upon the "seas" of life by which we sail  into successes that lead us to God's love and into rivers that wind our ways through rough currents into God's gift of salvation.  God is always at work in us and through us, making us "champions" on our race to eternal life where we will be crowned for all eternity.

Jesus' Mission Statement and His Anointing of Us

In today's Gospel, Luke 4: 16-30, Jesus is attending the synagogue service, as He always did on the Sabbath.  He stood up to read and opened the Scriptures to the passage in Isaiah that spells out His Mission Statement:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the  oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord!

Let us hear Jesus' message to you and me:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon  you, (insert your name), because I have anointed you at your baptism and every time you receive the Eucharist, the sacrament of  the Anointing of the Sick or any other sacrament. I also anoint you every day with love.  Why? So that you become a Good News person and are able to make a difference in the lives you touch. I anoint you so that My love grows in  you and you can be a blessing of love to those I send into your life each day or to those to whom I send you.  I anoint you each day so that you can be a person who empowers others to know freedom from oppression, negative views of themselves and know that they are loved.  I anoint you with the oil of the Spirit, an oil that never dries up but multiplies when you anoint others with love and they anoint you."

"I anoint you because I have chosen you to go forth and bear fruit that lasts and that fruit is love."

How great is the Lord, our God!

Champions and Warriors

In today's responsorial psalm, God says to us about David:  "On a champion I have placed a crown; over the people I have set a youth.  I  have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him, that my hand may be always with him, and that my arm may make him strong. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him." 

God has also found you and me, His servants and His handmaidens!  To God, we, too, are champions upon whom has been placed the crown of redemption. Like David, we have been singled out and anointed for God's purposes. When? at our Baptism and in the sacrament of Confirmation. Many of us have also been anointed in the Sacrament of the sick. Why has God anointed us? For the same reason that He anointed King David: to assure us that His hand is always with us and that His arm is making us strong and, most importantly, because His faithfulness and His mercy is always with us!

David grew as a military leader and king.  How? by co-operating with God, following God's instructions!  On our way to God's Kingdom, we, like King David, are also warriors,  fighting a war against Satan, who wants to keep us out of "the Promised Land" of heaven. Like David who, in  his journey to the Promised Land, encountered Israel's enemies,  we will encounter enemies.  We will win our battles over Satan if we listen to the Lord, seek the Lord, let the Lord lead us, acknowledge our need for guidance and wisdom, recognize our pitfalls, and trust the Lord to lead us through the darkness and around the traps set for us.

We will be champions, as was David, or is any athlete, if we practice and practice and practice the skills needed to become successful spiritual warriors!  Practice what? what is needed to win our battles: humility, repentance, honesty, forgiveness, spending time at the feet of the Lord on a daily basis, acknowledging where we are weak and seeking reinforcements from the Lord on a regular basis,  and praying for courage and wisdom!

God's Kindness is Forever and Ever and Ever, Amen!

“My kindness is established forever; ….I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him, that my hand may be always with him, and that my arm may make him strong,” we pray in today’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 89.   At our baptism and at confirmation, God found us, His servants. You and I were anointed with holy oil when we received both of those sacraments.  God’s hand is always with us. God’s arm is always strengthening us, the arms stretched out upon the cross for us, the arms stretched out to us at every Holy Mass, inviting us to eat His body and drink His blood, the bread and wine consecrated by the hands of the priest. 

Truly, God will never leave us; His “kindness is established forever.”  “My faithfulness and my mercy,” says the Lord in this psalm, “shall be with [you], and through my name shall [your]  horn shall be exalted,” that is you will be victorious over your enemy, Satan who prowls this world seeking someone to devour! So, with King David, we say of God: “You are my father, my God, the Rock, my savior.”

"As is he [Christ Jesus]. so are we in this world" (1 John 4: 17)

In today’s first reading, 1 Jn 4: 11-18, John says to us: “…as he is, so are we in this world.”  What, I asked myself, could this possibly mean?  As I reflected upon this phrase in prayer, I asked Jesus to enlighten me. What came through the prayerful reflection was the following:

“Jesus was God’s Anointed One,”  the Spirit said to me in prayer. “You, too, have been anointed in your baptism, anointed in the Spirit that enables you to accept the gifts of salvation, of being freed from sin and set apart for a divine purpose. Like Jesus, you are anointed to be Good News, proclaiming the Kingdom of God on earth.  You are in the world as my ambassadors, as holy persons, to confront sin with goodness, weakness with strength, deceit with honesty, fear with courage.  As my Son is, so are you, one with God and one another—a union of love by the Spirit’s anointing, by the reception of the sacraments, by receiving the Eucharist, by immersing yourself in the Scriptures.   As my Son, so, too, you:  you are endowed with the capacity to grow in love, in forgiveness, in patience, and  in hope to realize fully who you are in Christ Jesus, my Son, your brother and Savior.  

Lord, I believe that each of us is called to live in such a way as to honor our anointing with the Spirit, that we have been set apart to serve you, to be in the world but not of the world, to be imminent in responding in love to those in need of love,  understanding, compassion, forgiveness and mercy, including ourselves. I believe that we are called to transcend, by the power of the Spirit within us, the allurements of Satan whereby we are tempted to live selfish lives, perpetuate injustices and embrace inauthentic freedoms, deadening our consciousness of God. I believe that through the Spirit we are empowered to say “No” to invitations to live godless lives and  to say “yes” to centering our lives in You. “…as he [Jesus] is, so, too, are we in the world” (1 Jn 4: 17).

What are your beliefs?

Jesus, the Strong One, who Walks beside Us

In today’s Gospel, Mark 3: 22-30, Jesus, the Son of God Incarnate, is accused by the Scribes that he casts out Satan by the prince of demons, Satan himself.   They refuse to recognize that Jesus’ power over Satan is of divine origin and does not, in any way, originate from Satan.  Satan delights in causing division upon the earth. He is permanently cast out of heaven and will not re-enter the reign of God. Neither does he want us to be one with Christ and certainly not for all eternity.
Jesus tells the Scribes that “…[N]o one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man.” Jesus is that strong man who ties up Satan, not allowing him to “plunder” the property that belongs to God.  Oh, the   greatness and the love of our God, who comes to this earth to take on Satan, a force too powerful for us, on our own, to overcome.  Left to our own weaknesses, we easily fall into the traps Satan sets for us.  God will not allow it. Through Jesus’ obedience to the Father to the point of death on the cross, Satan is rendered powerless over those who seek the Lord above all, who recognize their sinfulness, repent and believe in the Gospel. With Jesus, in Jesus, and through Jesus, we are one with our God and destined to enter His reign for all eternity.
The Lord says to us in the responsorial psalm of today’s liturgy, Ps. 89:   “I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him, that my hand may be always with him, and that my arm may make him strong. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and through my name shall his horn be exalted….”   This can be reread as follows:  “I have found you (insert your name), my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed you, that my hand may be always with you, and that my arm may make you strong.  My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with you, and through my name shall your horn be exalted….”

Thank you, Lord, for your mercy and compassion. Thank you for your companionship, for always being at my side to make me strong!