Food for Thought---III

The Psalms certainly contain food for thought as we navigate through the threat of the corona virus. Here are some possible helps:

Come back, Yahweh, rescue [our] soul[s] (Ps 6:4).
Our strength,come quickly to [our] help (Ps 22:19).
Rise, Yahweh, save [us, our] God (Ps 13: 7).
Our soul awaits Yahweh; he is our help and shield       (Ps 33:20).
Now, break your silence, Yahweh....Do not let them     say, 'Now we have got him down' (Ps 35:22).
Assign your Love and Faithfulness to guard [us] 
  (Ps 81:7.
Verily,God is our shelter, our strength, ever ready         to help in time of trouble (Ps 46: 1).
I rely on you, do  not let me be shamed (Ps 25:2).
Relieve the distress of [our] heart[s], free [us] from     [our] suffering. See [our] misery and pain 
   (Ps 25:17).
Up,wake up, come to [our] defense, Lord, [our]          God, side with [us] (Ps 35: 23).
See, Yahweh is a stronghold when times are hard.       Those who acknowledge your name can rely on         you. You never desert those who seek you,               Yahweh (Ps 9-10: 9-10

The Seriousness of Our Covenant with God

In today's first reading, Deuteronomy 26: 16-19, Moses reminds the people that they have made a covenant with the Lord. "Be careful, then," he reminds them, "to  observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the Lord; he is to be your God and you are to walk in  his ways and observe his statues, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the Lord is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the Lord, your God, as he promised."

Take note of the seriousness of this covenant and that it is a mutual agreement between the Chosen People and God Himself. You and I have entered into that same agreement with God at our baptism. It was then that we were made "sacred to the Lord," our God.   If we are faithful to our part of the agreement, that is, keeping God's commandments, statues and decrees and heeding God's voice, then, God Himself " will...raise [us] on high in praise and renown and glory"  now and when we enter eternal life. Note: God does the raising, not us in boastful pride of our accomplishments. Furthermore, it is not about our accomplishments, though those please God, but that we are made children of God and rich in grace, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who took our sins upon Himself and restored us to our right relationship with God.  We rose on high with Him in His resurrection from the dead.

Set Apart by the Lord for a Special Vocation and a Special Ministry or Profession

In today's gospel, Mark 2: 13-17, Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector, to follow him.  At table dining with Levi in  his house, Jesus hears scribes outside the house asking why is eating with sinners and tax collectors.  His response is that he "did not come to call the righteous but sinners." And furthermore states: "Those who are well do not need a physician."  Sinners, not well spiritually, do!

Many are called be that to marriage, to single life, to religious life, to priesthood,  or to the deaconate. All of us need a physician to stay well, to remain faithful to the Lord, as Levi had even to the point of being martyred for his faith. You and I most likely will not face physical martyrdom but a spiritual martyrdom, dying to sin, to selfishness, to anything that is an obstacle within us to following the will of God for us, especially when the choices God calls us to embrace provoke others to say: Why has the Lord called this person to that way of life, to be involved in that ministry, to marry that person, to be involved in that profession?

Samuel, unlike Levi, was highly praised: "There was no other child of Israel more handsome than Saul; he stood head and shoulder above the people....When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord assured him, 'This is the man of whom I told you; he is to govern my people'...[Saul anointed him, saying:) 'The Lord anoints you commander over his heritage. You are to govern the Lord's people Israel, and to save them from the grasp of their enemies roundabout."

Saul, unlike Levi, does not remain faithful to the Lord or to his calling, but get lured into evil ways with others around him.  You and I need to know that fidelity to the Lord is not a given.  We, like Saul, may face challenges to follow others paths. Without keeping our focus on the Lord and remembering that we are sinners dependent on the Lord for our salvation, we, too, could succumb to temptations all around us. 

Lord, help us remain faithful to you in whatever calling you have given us. May we stay close to you and remember our dependence upon grace to do the good  to which you have called us.

Blessed by God with an Abundance

Today's first reading calls us to "fear [reverence] the Lord, [our] God, and follow his ways exactly, to love and serve the Lord, [our] God, with all [our] heart and all [our] soul, to keep the commandments and statues of the Lord...for [our] own good."

Yesterday, August 11, I had the privilege of celebrating my 60th jubilee as a vowed member of the Sister of the Sorrowful Mother!  Sixty years of being blessed by God with an abundance!  Truly God gives a hundredfold to those who follow Jesus in their respective vocations: consecrated life,  priesthood, marriage or the single life.  God is never outdone in generosity to those who reverence Him and strive to "follow his ways exactly, to love and serve the Lord, our god, with all our heart and all our love, to keep the commandments and statues of the Lord."  The majority of us can thank our parents for this gift of reverence of our God!

The gifts I received are truly that: gifts freely given and which found their way into my life because of my parents. Mom and dad passed the faith on to me and my siblings and modeled living their faith in God, in one another, and in themselves.. What gifts they were in their faithfulness to one another, their love of their children and their willingness to sacrifice for us!  Nothing was too much for them! I am grateful to them for all of this and especially for teaching us children that "if there is a will, then, there is a way."   Self-pity was not in the bag, so to speak!  "Just do it" was a motto we were taught long before Niki ever existed!

I never realized as a child that Jesus''determination to do whatever the Father asked of Him was what guided my parents, though this was not put in words.   They followed Jesus' way "as exactly"  as a human being is capable.  They knew their dependence upon God, as evidenced by their faithfulness to weekly worship with a community of believers, their involvement in their parish, weekly confession and daily prayer at home, especially the daily praying of the rosary.  They carried "the cross," as life was not easy for them, by any stretch of the imagination. Nor has life been easy for any of my siblings. Following the example of our parents, all of us persevered  through the tough times of our lives.  We are who we are, strong Christians, as a result of the way we coped with the "Calvaries" of  our lives over time.

God be praised and thanked and glorified!

Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers

In today's first reading, Acts 13: 14, 43-52, Paul and Barnabas urge the converts to Judaism to "remain faithful to the grace of God."  Both Paul and Barnabas, in turn, are remaining faithful to God's call to them to bring the good news of Jesus to Gentiles. "The Lord has commanded us," Paul and Barnabas tells the Jews who are jealous of the crowds following them, "I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth."  Because of the spread of the Christian faith to all the ends of the earth through the power of the resurrection of Jesus,  you and I know Jesus Christ. In turn, we share the faith with our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, grand nieces and grand nephews and so many others to whom God has "made [us] a light [unto]"!

Today is Mother's Day and it is through our mothers [and fathers] that the majority of us, if not all, have been given the faith!  The strength of our mothers is phenomenal and no wonder it is so because a mother's model is Mary, the Mother of Jesus!   At least, Mary was that model for my mother but I believe that any mother is strong because of Mary's example of motherhood!

Praise to all mothers and to Mary, Mother of God, whom Jesus gave to each of us from the cross when He said to Mary: Mother, behold your son.

Happy Mother's Day to my mother in heaven and to all mothers on earth. May God and Mary shower each of you with blessings beyond all measure.

Christ Comes to Set Us Free

The Entrance Antiphon of today's liturgy reminds us that "Christ our King is coming, he is the Lamb foretold by John."  In the Collect of today's liturgy, we lift our voices, saying: "Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we, who are weighed down from of old by slavery beneath the yoke of sin, may be set free by the newness of the long-awaited Nativity of your Only Begotten Son." 

Each one of us, every day, experiences the "slavery beneath the yoke of sin" that weighs down upon us.  We may do things or say things that we regret having said or done, or regret not having said or done things that we knew needed to be done or said. Also, our thoughts may be anything but kind. We, as well, may find ourselves grumbling or complaining about something, resentful of what is being asked of us as a committed responsible member of a religious community or as a father/a mother, a child, a student, an employee.  We may even tell God that what is expected of us is too much to ask of us.

Let us turn to the Lord and ask to "be set free by the newness of the long-awaited Nativity of [God's] Only Begotten Son."  Let us acknowledge our  weaknesses and/or our complaining about the challenges we face in our lives, knowing, in faith, that because of our humanity we need God's help. In graciously, humbly and courageously meeting our responsibilities in life, we need God to infuse us with the graces of the Holy Spirit to be faithful and committed, to hold nothing back, as Jesus held nothing back for us as He gave His life in self-sacrificing love on the cross. On the crosses of our lives, may we do the same for others as Jesus did for us--pour ourselves out for the other's sake, "bread" shared and broken as at every Eucharistic sacrifice of the Holy Mass!

Consequences of Worshipping Idols

In today's first reading, Ezekiel 24:  15-23, the Lord prophesies to Ezekiel that his wife, "the delight of [his] eyes" will die and that he should not publicly mourn her death.   The people want to know what all this means to them and the prophet tells them that they, too, shall lose the delight of their eyes, the Temple in Jerusalem. They, also, are told not to mourn: "[Y]ou shall rot away because of your sins and groan one to another." 

The rationale for the destruction of Jerusalem is given in the response to today's responsorial verse, Dt. 32: 18-19, 20, 21:  "You have forgotten God who gave you birth." We are given a further  explanation in the verse itself:  "You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you.....When the Lord saw this, he was filled with loathing and anger toward his sons and daughters. 'I will hide my face from them,' he said, 'and see what will then become of them.  What a fickle race they are, sons with no loyalty in them! 'Since they have provoked me with their 'no-god' and angered me with their vain idols, I will provoke them with a 'no-people'; with a foolish nation I will anger them."

This passage, it seems to me,  applies to the world of today with its "no-gods" and "vain idols."  Many races, today, have become fickle, disloyal!  The questions I need to ask myself, however,  are:  Have I become fickle, that is, undependable, irresponsible concerning my relationship with God and my service to others?  Am I worshipping 'no-gods,' that is, am I putting my sole security in accumulating money beyond my means,  seeking pleasures above all, clinging to my own whims at the expense of others, seeking the gods of consumerism and materialism? Am I running from one relationship to another and another, being unfaithful to my marriage or religious vows?  Is success my god? Is being in control and having "power" my god?

I am called to love and be loving, as modeled by Jesus in the Gospels. Jesus was obedient to His Father unto death?  To whom am I obedient?  Whom am I serving: God in loving faithfulness and right relationships with my wife and children; God in faithfulness to my vocation in life?

"Put Your House in Order" (Is 38:1)

In today's first reading,  Isaiah 38: 1-6, 21-22, 7-8,  God sends the prophet Isaiah to Hezekiah to say to him:  "Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover."   Hezekiah, we are told, "turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord: 'O Lord, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!' And Hezekiah wept bitterly."

What if, tonight, God sent you and me a messenger who informed us that we are about to die and, therefore, we should "put [our] house in order, for [we] are about to die."  How would we react? What would we say to the Lord, our God? Could we, as did Hezekiah, say to the Lord: "O Lord, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you"?

What would we need to put in order, if we had only a short period of time to live?  Could we say to the Lord: "I have been faithful and I have served you wholeheartedly as a husband/a wife, as a student, as a member of my religious community, as a parishioner, as a citizen?

What changes would I, would you, need to make so that we can say with Hezekiah at the end of our lives: "I have been faithful and have put my whole heart into my marriage, into my role as father/mother/grandfather/grandmother/aunt/uncle/son/daughter? What do I, do you, need to do differently so as to be faithful to my vowed commitment, my baptismal vows, and in carrying out my responsibilities to my parish, my civic community, my county?

In today's Gospel Acclamation, Jn 10:27, the Lord says to us: My sheep hear my voice,...; I know them and they follow me." Hezekiah faithfully followed the Lord!

Faithfulness to the New Covenant

In today's first reading, 2 Kings 22: 8-13; 23: 1-3, the High priest Hilkiah, found the book of the law in the Temple. He gave the book of the Law to the scribe, Shaphan, who read it to the king of Judah. He was appalled that the Covenant had been violated. "The king then had all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem summoned together before him." The book of the law was read to all of them, as they gathered in the Temple of the Lord and listened to the reading. "Standing by the column, the king made a covenant before the Lord that they would follow him and observe his ordinances, statues and decrees with their whole hearts and souls, thus revising the terms of the covenant which were written in this book. And all the people stood as participants in the covenant."

At every Catholic Sacrifice of the Holy Mass, we gather before the altar, where bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God. In our Amen, standing before the altar,  we recommit ourselves to obey the New Covenant sealed in Jesus' blood.

How faithful are we to the New Covenant to love the Lord our God with our whole heart, our whole soul and all our strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves? How faithful, that is,  are we in bearing good fruit in each choice we make throughout the day in our relationships with family members, co-workers, community members, and any other persons with whom we do business? Are we patient, forgiving, kind, just, merciful? Do we love tenderly? Do we sacrifice our time and energy and talent for the good of others?

With today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 119, may each of us pray: "Give me discernment, that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart. Lead me in the path of your commands, for in it I delight. Incline my heart to our decrees and not to gain. Turn away my eyes from seeing what is vain: by your way give me life. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your justice give me life."  I ask fir these graces, as well, Lord, for all world leaders and especially for the leaders of this country in which I live.

Living according to God's Commands

In today's first reading, 2 Chronicles 24: 1-25, we learn that another king of Israel departed from the Covenant made with the people that there is only one God and that they are God's chosen people called to be faithful. No strange or alien gods were to be worshipped or served in God's place. Under King Joash the people "forsook the temple of the Lord, the God of their [ancestors--Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), and began to serve the sacred poles and the idols; and because of this crime of theirs, wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem. Although prophets were sent to them to convert them to the Lord, the people would not listen to their warnings." When "the Spirit of God possessed Zachariah, son of Jehoiada the priest," and he confronted the people's transgressions, asking them why they have been abandoning the Lord, he was put to death. As he was dying, he prayed: "May the Lord see and avenge."

Is it possible that people who are being treated unjustly anywhere in the world, who are victims of wars of any kind, who are being oppressed, abused, hunted down as"prey," treated as animals,  pray" "May the Lord see and avenge"?

May our eyes, and the eyes of world leaders,  be open to times when we abuse others, deny them their rights to be heard and treated with fairness!  May our ears be open to the prophets that God sends to warn us of wrongdoing and to challenge us to return to the one true God, our Lord and Savior.  When we go astray, may we return to the right path, knowing that God, as we pray in today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 89, has "made a covenant" with us, his chosen ones, and that this covenant to love God above all and our neighbor as ourselves stands "firm forever."  The psalmist, a prophet of God, so to speak, warns us that if we "forsake [God's] law and walk not according to [God's] ordinances, if [we] violate [God's]  statues and keep not [God's] commands, punishing consequences will follow as the result of our violations of justice, mercy and not loving others as God loves us.

Faithfulness

In today's first reading, 1 Kings 8:  22-23, 27-30, begins with Solomon "stretching forth his hands towards heaven, [praying:] 'Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you keep your covenant of mercy with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole hearts.'"  We then encounter a story in today's Gospel of persons who were not "faithful...with their whole hearts"--the Pharisees who disregarded "God's commandments but [clung] to human traditions." Jesus confronts them: "How well you have set aside the commandment of god in order to uphold your tradition!  For Moses said, 'Honor your father and you mother and whoever curses father or mother shall die.' Yet you say, 'If someone says to father or other, 'Any support you might have had from me is qorban,' [that is dedicated tho God),  you allow him do do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition."

It is easy to fall into the trap of nullifying the word of God in order to follow man-made traditions. It is being done before our very eyes by those who dismiss taking care of the poor and needy in favor of the rich and following "party lines"--it's a tradition to do so, some argue.  God's commandments are ignored in favor of the party. The right thing to do is ignored in favor of peer pressure. "Everyone does it," some say and thus justify their actions to break the commandments and love as Jesus loved.

When and how do I fall into this trap, going along with whatever when I know God is calling me to faithfulness to the Commandments and to the teachings in the Gospels!

The Hand of God Was with Them and Is with Us

In today’s first reading, Acts 11: 19-26, we learn that those who had been scattered by the persecution that followed the murder of Stephen did not cowl in fear but went forth to other places to proclaim “the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them,” the author of Acts, tells us, and “a great number who believed turned to the Lord.” Barnabas was sent to Antioch and, when he arrived, he “saw the grace of God,” and  rejoiced and encouraged the people to whom he had been sent to “remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart.”

Wow! What testimony! What courage! And what a commitment to the Lord God! Would you and I, I ask, after witnessing a disciple of the Lord being stoned to death and fleeing persecution continue to “proclaim the Lord Jesus”?  Would we, in arriving at a new city/town/country recognize “the grace of God” working in strangers? Do we recognize God at work in those with whom we live? Within those with whom we worship each Sunday? Within our co-workers? 

May we, every day, take time to reflect upon the Scriptures of the daily liturgy, or any other Scripture or spiritually-uplifting reading. Doing so, we will grow in our awareness of God at work in others, and in ourselves. We will awaken our ability to rejoice and encourage others in their faith development and in using their faith to bring others to Jesus!

Making Right Choices

Choose life, we are asked in today’s first reading, Dt. 30: 15-20, by turning your hearts to the Lord, listening to God and not allowing yourself to be “led stray and adore and serve other gods.”  Moses reminds the Israelites that he has “set before[the]  life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.  For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land that the Lord swore he would give to your fathers/[mothers] Abraham [and Sarah], Isaac [and Rebecca], Jacob [and Leah and Rachel].”

The questions you and I need to ask ourselves are: Am I choosing life? Am I choosing blessing? Am I choosing to love the Lord, our God, with my whole heart, mind, soul and will?  Am I heeding God’s voice and holding fast to the Lord? Or am I making choices that are not life-giving? Am I holding fast to promises that are not in line with what God is asking of me?  Am I serving idols, non-gods, God-substitutes? Am I seeking security in wealth, money, an accumulation of material things, sex—running from one relationship to another and another and giving sacrificial love to no one? 

In today's Gospel, Luke 9: 22-25, Jesus says to us:  If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily..."  Am I refusing to take up the cross of serving others, making sacrifices for others in my love for them,  of being faithful to the vows I have taken in marriage or in religious life?

God's Message through Amos

Today’s first reading, Amos 2: 6-10, 13-16, speaks of how offensive it is to God that we worship idols and forget the commandments of love, justice and mercy; how offensive to God that we renege on the commitments we made to God through the sacraments of baptism, First Communion, First Confession, marriage, ordination or first profession of vows as religious.    You “sell the just…for silver, and the poor…for a pair of sandals.  [You] trample the heads of the weak into the dust of the earth (through physical  death or abusive behaviors in word (gossip) and deed)  and force the lowly out of the way. Son and father go to the same prostitute, profaning my holy name….”

That reading applies as much today as in the day of Amos. Children and women are sold for sex, for body parts, for slave labor in sweat shops; babies are slaughtered in the womb—their aborted fetuses “trampled” upon, so to speak.  Those labeled “lowly,”—minorities, handicapped, chronically ill, the elderly, immigrants, the homeless, the mentally ill--are pushed “out of the way,” some are  put in nursing homes and forgotten by many. Members of the LBGT community are gunned down. 

 Some ‘fathers and sons” continue the same promiscuous behaviors before or after marriage.  In today’s responsorial psalm, God says to us: “When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it. Or do you think that I am like yourself? I will correct you… Consider this, you who forget God.”

“Beware,” God says through the prophet Amos, “I will crush you into the ground as a wagon crushes when laden with sheaves.  Flight shall parish from the swift, and the strong [person] shall not retain his strength; the warrior shall not save his life, nor the bowman stand his ground. The swift of foot shall not escape, nor the horseman save his life. And the most stouthearted of warriors shall flee naked on that day, says the Lord.”

All of what happens in our day is a message from God, as in the day of Amos. Will Jesus say to you as he said to the disciples:  “You know how to read the face of the sky, but you cannot read the signs of the times”  (Mt. 16:3)?

What is God saying to you through the suffering and pain in your life or through the joys and satisfactions of your life? Both contains a message from the God who saves you

Mary: A Model of Faithfulness

“Blessed is the Virgin Mary who kept the word of God and pondered it in her heart,” is the Gospel acclamation for today’s liturgy.  The grace to ponder God’s word day in and day out  and adhere to it comes to us through Mary, a model of faithful obedience to God's Word and God's Word alone. Once Paul encountered Christ, the Word of God, on the road to Damascus, his life was changed forever.  From prison, he writes to Timothy: “…the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, Jesus, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.”

Will we be able to say at the end of our lives “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith”?  Paul warns Timothy:  “…the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will be diverted to myths.”  None of us escapes Satan deceitfulness. He has ways to divert our thinking, our longing, and our pursuit of “myths,” to untruths about Jesus and His teachings, to “myths” about the Catholic Church and its teachings as well.

O, how easy to be deceived. We are not unlike Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden:   “God caused to grow every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…..The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye and that it was enticing for the wisdom that it could give; so she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it”  (Gen.2: 9 and3:6). 

How many people are seduced into sex before marriage, into aborting their child, into selling children into slave labor, into using drugs? How many people are enticed into achieving wealth dishonestly because these activities, at the moment, are  “enticing for the wisdom that [they promise to] give!  So, too, of entering into gossip or telling lies!

What “tree”  do I perceive as “good to eat and pleasing to the eye and that it…[is] enticing for the wisdom that it could give”?  About what "myths" am I curious and which are "enticing to look at" and which are luring me into tolerating them "for the wisdom that [they promise to] give"?

O God, open my eyes before I fall into accepting and tolerating "myths" that lure me away from You and Your Truth, Your Way, and Your Life.

Firm in our faith

I return to this ministry after an extended medical leave resulting from having  a "brain bleed" in four areas of the brain.  God spared my life for many reasons and one of those reasons, I believe, is to continue sharing faith with all of you.

In today's first reading, Maccabees 2: 15-29, we encounter Mattathias, a Jew who does not give in to the pressures to worship idols, that is, to obey the king's decree to abandon the faith of his ancestors. He risked his life by confronting "the officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy [and who] came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices" to foreign gods.

Every day, like Mattathias,  we are given opportunities to stand firm in the faith of our ancestors. We may be challenged to profess Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior by not lying, cheating, gossiping about our neighbors, berating those who we do not understand, refusing to respond to the cry for help of those fleeing persecution and the violence in their homelands and so on.

Another way to look at this faith challenge is to realize that we might be asked, at any given time, to do for others what we would want others to do for us or to take the time to listen to someone we may prefer to avoid, or, in fact, to go out into "the desert," as Mattathias and those determined to "live according to righteousness and religious custom" did.  It is in that "desert," alone with God, that we are more likely to hear God speaking to our hearts, strengthening us to choose righteousness and reject Satan's temptations to fit it with whoever and whatever is inviting us to "worship idols" or to choose false gods.

Loyalty

As I reflected upon today's first Scripture readings, Ruth1:1, 3-6, 14-16 ,   I am touched by Ruth's loyalty to her mother-in-law.  Naomi, from Judea,  and her two sisters-in-law, Moabites, are on their way back to Judah when Naomi says to them: "Go back home and stay with your mothers."  Ruth says to Naomi: "Don't ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live.  Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.  Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried.  May the Lord's worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you."

Wow!  Have you and I, in following our vocations in life, be that marriage,  religious life, or priesthood not said the same thing. We all left our homes to carry out what we know is God's will for us. Husbands and wives have said to each other: "Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried." "Nothing but death [will] separate me from you!"  We religious and priests say the  same to our religious communities/dioceses, to our vocation, to God's call to serve in the way we hear the Spirit calling us through our superiors, our Church, our community's charism and mission in the world.

What  a God who leads us in the path to salvation: surrendering to God's will as it is revealed in the  circumstances of our lives, as it was revealed to Naomi and her daughters-in-law.

Obedience to God's Requests of Me

In today's first reading, Gen 22: 1-19, God asks Abraham to go to Moriah to sacrifice his only son, whom he loves.  Abraham obeys and sets out for Moriah. As they reach their destination, Abraham places the wood upon Isaac's shoulders and they proceed up the hill. Isaac says to his father: "Father, where is the lamb to be sacrificied?" Abraham replies: "God will provide." As Abraham is about to sacrifice his son, God intervenes. "Do not harm the boy." Abraham looks around and in a nearby bush a ram is caught. He sacrifices the ram. God says to him: "I now know your faithfulness and commitment to Me." Isaac, of course, symbolizes Jesus, who will be the unblemished Lamb sacrificed for our sins, the sins of the world, as Jesus will carry His cross up the hill to Calvary. The cross is the altar upon which Jesus gives His life, pours out His blood, for our freedom from the slavery, not of Egypt, but of sin! How obedient am I to what God asks of me? Jesus was obedient to the point of death. What about me? To what is God asking me to die in order to be free in His grace?

Delighting in the Precepts of the Lord

In today’s first reading, Rev. 10: 8-11, John is instructed to “…take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” He was told to eat it, that it would be sweet to the palate but sour in his stomach.  God’s decrees, in the honeymoon stage of our faith development tastes sweet. In the early stages of being married, being incorporated into religious life, in the beginning of our careers, we will do anything for the Lord, anything for our spouses, anything for our employers. Nothing is held back. Eventually, what tasted sweet to the palate turns sour in our stomach. We may begin to hold back, lose our fervor.  In Chapter 3 of Revelation, the angel of the Church in Laodicea, told the people that “you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Satan delights in our wavering faith, in our lukewarmness, as he prowls this earth seeking souls to destroy. Will I be deceived by Satan’s allurements and lose my original fervor? What do I need to do be reigniting my fervor, my love, my delight in the Lord? What efforts am I willing to take to fall in love with the Lord again, to rekindle my love for my spouse, to recommit to religious life and its total giving of self to loving God, loving other and serving without counting the cost?

Faithfulness

Today we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of our Blessed Mother, born without sin! Before her birth she has been chosen to be the person through whom God the Son, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, would take on human nature, identifying totally with human beings except for sin. Jesus is the promised Messiah; Mary the promised  Mother of the Son of God.

God is faithful to his promises.  It is through Mary that the promise of God would be fulfilled. Mary says “yes” to being the Mother of God and conceives Jesus through the Holy Spirit on the day of the angel’s announcement. She in turn is faithful, as God is faithful.  Joseph says “yes” to an angel in a dream to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The child to be born of her, Joseph is told, is to be named Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. Joseph is also faithful.

How faithful am I to God’s promises? How believing am I? When God sends me a messenger today communicating a direction I am to take to bring about some good, will I believe? Will I trust the messenger? If God communicates to me through my dreams, will I take time to listen? Mary and Joseph show us the way to be faithful. The choice is mine and yours to make.