The Explosion of Grace through Jesus Christ

Today's first reading, Romans 5: 12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21, explodes with the awesomeness of God's grace and the gift of salvation. Paul states that "death came to all...inasmuch as all sinned,"  when Adam, the first human being, sinned.  That may appear incomprehensible to us. However, let us think of the body of Christ--one body, the Body of Christ. We know that if any part of our personal bodies is diseased, the whole body is diseased. So, too, with the Body of Christ. If one body of the Body of Christ is diseased by sin, that is, by disobedience to God, each member of that body is, in fact, diseased by sin, as we are one body in Christ.  Paul goes on, however, to remind us that just as, through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death,..." so,too, through one man did grace and righteousness enter the world:  "If by that one person's transgression [that of Adam] how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many....For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous. Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Think of what Jesus gave us by His obedience to the Father unto His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection, His triumph over death and His nailing of sin to the cross!  On that cross, where Jesus poured out the last drop of His blood for our salvation, Jesus tricked Satan and all of us. Satan may have believed that he had won the war in his seeking our demise and his efforts to block us from ever knowing eternal life with Jesus. He is the one who failed, not Jesus! And for us who may look upon Calvary as a failure, we, too, have been fooled. What looks like failure to the naked, human eye, is, in fact, our salvation. It is from the cross that "grace overflowed all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace, also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Partnering with God, as Mary Did

It is not even a week since Christmas and we are encountering what living the Christian life is all about: surrendering to the realities of life.  In today's Gospel,  Mary and Joseph present Jesus to the Lord and themselves  undergo the purification rites "according to the law of Moses".  They are to "offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.....[W]hen the parents brought in the child Jesus...[Simeon] took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: 'Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of  your people Israel.'"  Simeon then prophesies, saying to Mary:  "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce)..."

Imagine a young mother and father being given dire news about their child either at his/her birth or at  his/her baptism and also told that their hearts will be pierced with sorrow because of the destiny of their infant.  Now, Mary knows that Jesus is the Son of God, conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit, not by an earthly father but a heavenly one.  Shouldn't everything be rosy for Mary? Not so! How did she manage the sorrows of her life? Mary surrendered to God, trusting Him throughout her life: at the Annunciation,  at the birth of Jesus, the Presentation in the Temple, the flight into Egypt, the wedding feast of Cana, his public ministry, Calvary, the Resurrection, the Ascension and Pentecost. She let go and let God be God and she always "the handmaid of the Lord"--God's servant!

Life here on earth, as it was for Mary, is like a rose bush: it's beautiful and brings much joy but it also has thorns!  The thorny side of life is what we sometimes resent!  The thorns in a rose bush, however, I think,  keep hungry creatures from devouring it. So, too, the thorns of life are a protection for us, as it is those very difficult times that have the power to turn us away from evil toward the good, away from relying upon oneself alone to partnering with God.  The sufferings of life, I believe, are filled with graces that empower us to rely upon God, not upon ourselves alone. God is a powerful protector and helper as we deal with life's thorns and climb the mountains we encounter on our way to eternal life as God's servants here on earth!

Transformation through Emmanuel with Us

In today's first reading, Isaiah 41: 13-20, the Lord speaks through the prophet, saying to us:  "I am the Lord, your God, who grasp your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.' Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the Lord; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and double-edged, to thresh the mountains and crush them, to make the hills like chaff. When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off and the storm shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel."

Reading this, I am, at first, offended by the Lord describing Jacob and Israel as worms and maggots. What? a worm? a maggot?  Then the thought came to me of the transformation of each of us when, as Isaiah says later in this passage, we are made "a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and doubled-edged, to thresh the mountains [of sin] and crush them, to make the hills chaff."   What are we, in Christ Jesus, threshing and turning into chaff which the wind blows away?  Mountains of pride and selfishness, of deceitfulness and corruption; in short, sin in us is transformed, by grace, into holiness! All of this leads us to "rejoice  in the Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel."

Through the shedding of His blood on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, Jesus clothed us with a mantle of justice and put a robe of salvation on us. In our baptism we died with Christ and rose with Him; hence the "mountains" are crushed and the "hills"turned to chaff, rough ways are made smooth and the heavens are opened for the redeemed!

That is why God became human!

Things that Cause Sin Are Inevitable But So Is Grace

In today's Gospel, Luke 17: 1-6, Jesus tells the disciples that "[t]hings that cause sin will inevitably occur but woe to the one through whom they occur."   Children watch adults intently, especially their parents, but others as well. Children imitate the good and the bad we do! A child is proud that he/she is like mom or dad.  Adults themselves will engage in evil because a leader--the president, a sport's star, a popular actor/actress--does so. A popular argument is that  "everyone does it."

Jesus issues a warning to us in today's Gospel:  "It would be better for [those who lure others into wrongdoing] if a millstone were put around his [her] neck and [that person] be thrown into the sea than for [one] to cause [another] to sin, [especially a child]."  Am I luring others into sin? Am I being lured into sin by others?  All of a sudden, do I find myself joining group gossip or am I the one being joined?  Am I teaching others to tell "white lies'? Am I cheating and teaching others to cut corners, as well! What example am I giving to others? Let me remember that where sin abounds grace more abounds, because Jesus comes to my aid always!  May I call upon Jesus' name when I am being lured into temptation.

Jesus' Call to Repentance

In today's Gospel, Luke 11: 29-32, Jesus says to the crowd: "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah,"  that is, the preaching of Jonah and the subsequent repentance of the Ninevites.

The generation of Jesus' time and our current generation are no different from one another.  There is an abundance of evil in both generations.  In Jesus' generation, people plotted for Jesus' death and, out of jealousy, murdered him on Calvary between two thieves.  In our generation, people also plot to kill others who get in their way. People may be killed because they are about to expose evil or because they are blocking others from fulfilling their lustful desires or from acquiring properties by illegal, unjust schemes.

Where evil abounds, grace abounds as well. Jesus' death and resurrection brought about our redemption and, for that reason,  it is possible for evil to be transformed into a good. People committing evil are offered the grace to repent of their wrongdoing.  Eyes of men and women in actual or virtual prisons are opened. Hope is restored. Hatred destroyed. Evil does not triumph ultimately!

However, if people do not  heed Jesus' call to repentance and, thus, do not follow the example of the Ninevites, they will remain in the pit that Satan sets for those who follow the ways of evil spirits.

Where am I/where are you in this scenario? Are we following good spirit or bad ones?  Are we even aware of sin in our lives and our need for Jesus?

Sanctified in Christ Jesus and Clothed in Holiness

In today's first reading, 1 Cor 1: 1-9, St. Paul refers to the people of Corinth and us,  as persons who "have been sanctified in Christ Jesus," persons "called to be holy with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Grace to you," Paul prays, "and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."  Paul tells the people that he always thanks God "for the grace bestowed [upon them] in Christ Jesus, that in him [they] 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." In today's Gospel,Matthew 24: 42-51, Jesus asks us to "stay awake" for Jesus' coming, be that our personal dying to this world and returning home to heaven  with Jesus or Jesus' second coming at the end of this world as we now know it!

What blessing is Paul, perhaps, talking about?  First of all, God's grace and  peace, a peace the world cannot give and what is ours when we seek God in solitude, in prayer, in being true to our call as children of the Most High. Furthermore, Paul speaks about our being enriched in every way and not lacking in any spiritual gifts! What might those be?  The opportunities, I believe,  for discourse of things that matter concerning our faith, our growth in love and in trust; all knowledge necessary for 1) walking with the Lord God through this world in which we now exist and 2) for growing in love!  WOW!  For what else can we ask?

Heeding the Voice of our God

In today's first reading, Isaiah 58: 9b-14, the Lord says to us through the prophet Isaiah:  "If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness and the gloom shall become for  you like midday; then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails...."  In the responsorial psalm we acknowledge our human situation, saying to the Lord: "I am afflicted and poor....Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call upon you all the day....[Y]ou are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness to all who call upon you...[A]ttend to the sound of my pleading" for all enslaved by sin, selfishness, greed, lust, leveling false accusations at others, engaging in malicious speech, and oppressing the poor and needy of this land --all who are enslaved in Satan's lies, who have fallen into his traps!

In the Gospel Acclamation, God says to us through the prophet Ezekiel, "I take  no pleasure in the death of the wicked,...but rather in his [her] conversion, that he [she] may live!"  May each of us be open to being converted by God's grace to abandon evil and do good and to know when we are being deceived by Satan and embrace the truth.

The Gift of Grace

In today's first reading, Romans 6: 12-18, St. Paul instructs us on the difference of being "under the law" or "under grace." He speaks of being obedient slaves either to sin or to grace. St. Paul warns us that we become slaves to the one we obey, whether that be sin or grace.  Sin leads us to death. Grace leads us to righteousness.  The incredible gift of Jesus' passion and death--the ransom paid for our salvation--is that, "although [we] were once slaves of sin, [we] have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which ]we] were entrusted. Freed from sin, [we] have become slaves of righteousness."

But how do we know whether we are slaves of sin or slaves of grace, you may ask.  When I am a slave of sin, I exist in darkness, so to speak.  I am then naked before God, as Adam and Eve were. I am then blinded as were the Pharisees, a finagler as was Peter, a traitor and schemer as was Judas, an adulteress or adulterer or one accusing/judging others of sin when I myself am a sinner and any other form of walking away from God.  I may be entertaining sinful acts, wishing harm to someone or rejoicing in harm that comes to another. On the other hand, if I am a slave of grace, I stand before God as did Abraham, Moses, David; as did Mary and the beloved disciples in the Scriptures. As a slave of grace, I am engaged in acts of love, in being just in my dealings with other; in being forgiving of self and others, in being humble and merciful. As one who is an obedient slave to grace, I am relieving the sufferings of others or supporting others in their suffering as did the disciples standing beneath the cross of Jesus, as did Jesus in healing the sick of a variety of diseases, welcoming others into His presence, calming "stormy seas" and restoring hope and life to others, in offering help where assistance is needed.

Who was I today: a slave of sin or a slave of righteousness?  Who do I want to be tomorrow? What do I need to change in  me if I am following erring ways and not co-operating with grace?

The Power of the Gospel That Is Ours Each Day

In today's first reading, 1 Thes 1: 1-5, 8b-10, St. Paul, praises the Thessalonians for their "work of faith and labor of love, and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,...knowing...how [they] are loved by God, how [they] were chosen."  The Gospel, Paul says to them, has come to them "in power and in the Holy Spirit."  He thanks God that they have "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven,...Jesus, who deliver[ed them] from the coming wrath" of Satan and Satan's followers.

May you and l also praise and thank God for the "work of faith and labor of love, and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ"  that has been given to us through our parents and so many other faith-filled men and women, who to this very day, lead us to Jesus.  Like the Thessalonians, we, too, have been given the "Gospel...in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction." That conviction grows as we stand in awe of God each day,  pondering the readings of each liturgy or seeking God in the events of our lives as they unfold each day.  Through grace, as with the Thessalonians,  we are given the choices each day to turn "to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven,...Jesus, who delivers [us] from the coming wrath" of Satan and his followers!  Every day, God is at work in  our lives, delivering us from Satan's lies. How aware are we of this gift of God's love, this concern on God's part, to redirect us to the right path--the path that Jesus modeled for us while here on earth and to this very day.

THANK YOU, JESUS!

Being Cherished by the Lord

In today's first reading, Acts 16: 11-15, we meet Lydia, a woman who worshipped God and listened intently to Paul and his companions proclaim the Lord Jesus. As she is listening to Paul, the Lord "opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying." Graces poured into her heart and she and her household asked to be baptized in Christ Jesus.

As you and I listen to the Word of God that comes to us in the Scriptures, in our participation in sacred liturgies, or through others witnessing to the Lord, our hearts, too, are opened by Jesus.  Graces pour in and, like Lydia, hopefully, graces pour out onto others with whom we interact throughout the day!  Triumphantly, through the Holy Spirit operative in our lives, we live the Pascal Mystery as the day unfolds, having sat at the Lord's feet in prayer.

Because of the mercy and compassion of the Lord, we experience what the psalmist in today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 149, says to us; namely, that the "Lord takes delight in his people, and "adorns the lowly with victory."

Jesus' Obedience Saves us from our Disobedience

In the opening prayer of today’s liturgy, we pray “to attain the grace of the resurrection,” a grace secured for us by Jesus’ obedience to the Father unto death. Jesus submitted to death for our sake. He accepted His passion with all of its sufferings: submitting to being arrested with chains and clubs, to being betrayed by one of the apostles, to being falsely accused, of being scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked, being hit in the face and spit upon, to His beard being plucked, to being insulted while dying upon the cross for our disobedience.  Jesus did all of this in order to show God’s love and determination to redeem us from our sins against humanity and against God. Jesus did whatever it took to reconcile us to God and to one another in accord with the Father’s will!  Jesus suffered, died, was buried and rose from the dead. Death and Satan had no power over Him.

In Christ Jesus, we, too, will overcome satanic forces in our lives and rise from the dead with Jesus at the end of our trial here on earth.  In gratitude, we offer Jesus’ body and blood in the Sacrifice of the Mass, praising God with all of the angels and saints in heaven and on earth for the "grace of the resurrection,"--the gift of our salvation--and, yes, begging for God’s ongoing mercy upon all of humankind, especially as we choose to worship other gods, ignore the needy, falsely accuse others of wrongdoing they did not commit or let those engaged in evil go scotch free, allowing leaders to enact corrupt decisions that will bring harm to ourselves and others, especially innocent children.  

How appropriate the prayer over the gifts of bread and wine that we prayed today at the liturgy:  “Receive, O Lord, we pray, the offerings made here, and graciously grant that, celebrating your Son’s Passion in mystery, we may experience the grace of its effects. Through Christ our Lord.

Salvation from a Merciful God

In today’s responsorial psalm, Ps. 37, we pray that “the salvation of the just comes from the Lord.” St. Paul, in today’s first reading, Titus 2: 1-8, 11-14, tells us why this is so.  He says:   “For the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.”

You and I have had nothing to do with this. Salvation is a gift freely given.  It is ours to reject or accept. God eagerly awaits the moment when He will open the gates of heaven to all who accepted deliverance “from all lawlessness.”   God eagerly awaits the moment when He will swing open the doors of heaven to rescue us from Satan’s determination to devour us in disobedience.  For those of us who humbly repent and recognize our total dependency upon grace, our “cleansing” is secured by the One who became sin for us. O, how great and loving and caring and merciful is our God! 

 Everything about our being “eager to do what is good” is a gift from God, for “the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope” of our eternal  salvation .

I accept this gift from God and want to live it humbly, knowing that, apart from God, I can do nothing that is good. And when I experience my sinfulness, I pray for the gift of repentance.

What about you?

Honesty with the Lord

The Gospel for today, Luke 6: 36-38, opens with the challenge to “[b]e merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.”  The image comes to me of Mary of Magdala washing the feet of Jesus and Simon, the Pharisee, thinking to himself: “If this man were a prophet, he would know who this woman is that is touching him and what a bad name she has.”  Jesus immediately confronts Simon and says to him, among other things, “…I tell you that her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love.”  The situation in which we find ourselves is no different from the woman who washed Jesus’ feet, as acknowledged in the first reading of today’s Mass, Daniel 9: 4b-10.  Daniel says to the Lord: “ Lord,….we have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.” Yes, each of us has transgressed against the Lord. We have done so individually as well as collectively, as we are one Body in Christ, brothers and sisters in the Lord. The sin of one is the sin of many and the repentance of one is also the repentance of many.  In Christ Jesus we are all one.  We rise with one another in God’s mercy and grace and we fall with one another in dis-grace. And thus Daniel says so rightly: “O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers [and mothers], for having sinned against you…[W]e [have] rebelled against you and paid no heed to your command, O Lord, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets.” And, so we pray in today’s responsorial psalm: “Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins”   and help us to be merciful toward one another as you are merciful toward us,.

Finding Grace in a Timely Manner

In today’s first reading, Hebrews 4: 12-18, St. Paul encourages us to “confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.” Faced with devastating losses, however,  such as those resulting from natural disasters, terminal illnesses, or chronic diseases (alcoholism, drug addiction or any other kind of addiction, including the addiction to experiencing the adrenalin rush of being violent), we may conclude that it does not pay to prayer. After all, our prayers seem to go unanswered.  In our pain, we may  cry out in anger: “What’s the use. God doesn’t answer our prayers anyway. I’ve lost everything when the tornado struck , when hurricane-force winds struck our village.” Or “My loved one still died.” Or “Why pray? The abuse continues. My loved one refuses to go for help.” Yet St. Paul says: “[C]onfidently approach the throne of grace.”  

The help we receive in prayer, our own or that of others, might be intangible, elusive.  We may find the strength to endure, the wisdom to help a neighbor, the courage to share our pain with a caring, non-judgmental  friend, healthcare provider or a compassionate clergy person.  Prayer empowers us so that  we don’t get stuck in self-pity or in anger. Instead of becoming  ranting, raving critics of the events of our lives, we become active doers,  looking for possibilities to make a difference in the midst of disappointing circumstances. Prayer empowers us to bring significant changes in our attitudes and behaviors, whereby, as we pray in the Serenity Prayer,  we “accept the things we cannot change, change the things we can [ourselves and no one else] and the wisdom to know the difference.”

The Fullness of God shared with Us

“From his fullness, you have received grace in place of grace” (Jn 1:16).  This reality of receiving from God’s fullness is repeated in other parts of today’s liturgy. In 1 Jn 2: 19,  we are told that we “ have the anointing that comes from the Holy One, and have all received the knowledge.”   John in this first letter is talking about the end times, a time when antichrists surface in many parts of the world.  “Children,” John says, “it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour.”     We know what is and is not of God—that knowledge is given us by the Holy Spirit, the “Holy Anointing” we received when we were born again through the sacrament of baptism and when we also received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of Confirmation.  In today’s Gospel,  John 1: 1-18, the blessings announced in 1 Jn 2: 19 and Jn 1:16 are spoken of in the following ways:   “…[T]o those who did accept him [Jesus] he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.”  

How conscious am I of having received  of God’s fullness or that the people I live and pray  with at every liturgy, those I  encounter throughout the day, have also received “grace in place of grace”?  Would I treat people differently if I were aware that they, like myself,  have been given “power to become children of God”?

Reflecting on John 1:16, 1 John 2:19, and John 1: 1-18, I am not surprised that the angels present at the birth of Jesus, and joining us at every Catholic Mass, shout God’s praises both in the Gloria and in the Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.  What a privilege during Mass to join the angels and saints praising God for sharing His fullness with us.

Seeing Others as Beloved, as Brother or Sister in the Lord

In today’s first reading, Paul writes to Philemon, asking that, in his name, he receive a runaway slave, Onesimus, as a brother, not as a slave. “Perhaps,” Paul says, “he ran away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved, especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord.”  Paul’s perception of Onesimus has been transformed from  looking down upon him as a slave, as less than non-slaves,  to a brother,  to a man and to one committed to Christ Jesus. 

Think of the "Onesimus’es" in our world--those lured into the sex trade by human traffickers, those lured into the labor force as slaves, those who are slaves in any way and being violated  and treated unjustly by others.  Think of how pimps treat their victims, human traffickers their “slaves”, laborers those forced into service with them.  Think of those who, like Onesimus, have managed to run away from those who were enslaving them.

Who are the "Onesimus’es" in our lives, the “runaways,” those we disdain, think little of, perhaps? Who do you and I treat as slaves, as less than human, as beneath us?  Who does the world treat as less than a man/a woman  who have been created in the image and likeness of God, one with Christ Jesus--redeemed, sanctified , made righteous by the Lord and equal in dignity to ourselves, worthy of all of the blessings we have been given, worthy of being treated with respect, as one who is our brother and sister in Christ Jesus, loved and cherished by the Lord, chosen as His own to achieve God's purposes in their lives just as we have been chosen? 

In what way does our perception of another need to be changed by grace, as was Paul’s?