God's Beloved Servants: Jesus and Us

In today's first reading, Isaiah 42: 1-4, 6-7, the prophet speaks of the coming Messiah, a person of whom God says:  "Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my  spirit...A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall  not quench."  The  Incarnate God, Isaiah prophesies is called "for the victory of justice,....[will be] set as a covenant of the people, a light for the  nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness."

Fast forward to the New Testament and meet Jesus, who sets prisoners free, gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, the ability to walk to those who are crippled; He raises the dead to life, freeing them from confinement, the dungeon and the darkness of death and cures every kind of disease with which He is confronted.  And, yes, He casts out evil spirits who have taken possession of individuals.

In baptism, we became one with Jesus in his death and resurrection.  We were made servants of the Lord and entrusted with the same mission that Jesus modeled for us in the Scriptures.  We, too, are called to be a light in the world of darkness around us, to bring sight to the blind, deaf to the hearing and wellness to those who are sick.   We are also asked to respect all persons, especially the poor  and marginalized of our societies, as Jesus Himself reached out to those ostracized in His culture.  As with Jesus, we, too, are to be persons who do not break "a bruised reed" or stamp out "a smoldering wick".

As important is that we realize that God is a compassionate God toward us as well. When we are bruised, Jesus does "not break" us but pours His healing "oils" into our bruises and make us whole again.  When our wicks are going out, He does not stomp them into oblivion but reignites them and  makes them bright and strong so, once again, we are able to penetrate the darkness within ourselves   and around us. 

God Has Done Wondrous Things for Us--Alleluia!

In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 98, we proclaim that the Lord "has done wondrous deeds: His right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm. The Lord has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice [Christ the Lord]. He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God...."

God has done wondrous things for us in sending Jesus, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, to take on our human nature. God stooped down to earth to lift us up to heaven literally! God could not hold back His love. He loves us so much that He sent His son to reveal that love. Jesus is the fullness of God in human form. He is fully human but also fully divine. Jesus is like us in all ways except sin, beginning with taking on human nature in Mary's virgin womb, being an infant and a child totally dependent upon His parents, to being an adolescent and learning a trade from his foster father Joseph to  encountering the best and the worst in humankind and to even being put to death on a cross, crucified as a criminal by jealous, evil persons. And Jesus triumphed over death--death had no power over Him. And in Christ Jesus, with whom we live and die, we, too, will triumph over death!  "His right hand has won victory for him" and for us who believe in Him and live for Him.

God held nothing back for us. What am I holding back from God? What holds me back from giving God my all in giving my all in sacrificial love for my spouse, my children, my grandchildren or, if I am a woman/man religious, a priest, what holds me back from giving my all to others with whom I live and work and play and pray?

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."

Victory in and through and with Christ Jesus

Today’s first reading, 1 John 5: 5-13, opens with the question: “Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”   In the Gospel, Mark 1: 7-11, St. John the Baptist baptizes Jesus. When Jesus came “out of the water [John the Baptist] saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon [Jesus].  And a voice came from the heavens, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”  In this same passage, John the Baptist proclaimed:  “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus, truly, is God, the Son of God who took on human nature to save us from sin. I encourage you today or anytime to ponder deeply that the babe at Bethlehem is truly God. Imagine the humility of the Almighty to come to us as a helpless infant, totally dependent upon human beings—one’s parents--to provide for all of his needs, like any other infant.  God, in His love and humility, stays with us: “I am with you always until the end of time.”  God dwells in the consecrated hosts at every Eucharistic celebration. God dwells with us in the core of our beings. O, the greatness of our God, the humbleness of our God, the intimacy of our God, the gentleness of our God, the omnipresence of our God!

Believing and trusting in the Son of God makes us victors over the world! What a gift!

I believe! Do you? And if we do, what difference does that belief have in how we encounter the challenges of any given day?  Do I lose it, so to speak, when I meet roadblocks? Or do I “keep it together,” so to speak when the going gets rough, when I enter “turbulent waters” or encounter “stormy weather”?

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.”

Faith in the Son of God and in God's Testimony

In today’s first reading, 1 John 5: 5-13, we are told that those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God are victorious over the world and all its evil, its apathy, its denials, its prejudices and injustices. Those who believe that there is One who saves  us, guides us, protects us, directs us, enlightens us, empowers us to do good and avoid evil experience the victory of Jesus on the cross, where evil was destroyed.   Those who  believe that Jesus is the Son of God seek His counsel, depend upon Him to show them the Way, lead them to the Truth and restore them to life when they are skirting death. Those who believe realize that without God they are nothing, that all good has its source in  God and that God alone leads us to Truth, empowers us in the Truth and reconciles our differences, forgives us our offenses, and leads us to seek forgiveness, God’s and that of those whom we have offended. 

“Whoever believes in the Son of God,” John further tells us, “has this testimony (God’s testimony on behalf of His Son) within him[her]self….And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.”  God has given us eternal life and that eternal life exists in Jesus, who, John states,  “ came through water and Blood,…not by water alone, but by water and Blood.”   You and I have come into this world through the water in the womb, were reborn through the water  and the Spirit in baptism, and restored to life over and over again through the Blood of the Son of God poured out on the cross and received in Holy Communion.   All who eat of this bread and drink of this wine that is consecrated at every Catholic Mass and becomes the Body and Blood of Jesus have eternal life (John 6:24).

Lord, I believe! What about you?

The Crown of Victory

The entrance antiphon for today’s liturgy reads:  This is the one who was not deserted by God on the day of struggle and now wears a crown of victory for faithfulness to the Lord’s commands, alleluia. Obviously this One is Jesus Himself but also all of those who have gone before us and were faithful to what God asked of each of them on their journey of faith.  I think of my own mother and father, both of whom were faithful to what they believed God was asking of them as individuals, as husband and wife and as parents.  Yesterday Pope Francis I canonized two popes: Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul  II, both of whom also were faithful to what they believed God asked of them  as priests, bishops and popes.

What is God asking of you, of me, on our daily walks with Him, in our interpersonal relationships,  in our ministries (careers), as Christians, in our particular vocation in life, be that marriage, religious life, priesthood, or the single life?  How do you and I become the best version of ourselves physically, spiritually, emotionally, interpersonally, as a family or community member,  in our parish and civic communities, as a responsible citizen of the U.S.?  In all of these dimensions of our lives and in all of our struggles God does not desert us.

Let us remember in prayer today the 16 people, our brothers and sisters in Christ,  killed in the tornadoes that ripped through Arkansas last night and all of those families who lost absolutely everything. 

Triumphantly Victorious in Christ Jesus

In today’s first reading, Romans 8: 31-39, St. Paul raises several questions:   “If God is for us, who can be against us?  Since he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for the sake of all of us, then can we not expect that with him he will freely give us all his gifts? Who,” Paul asks, “can bring any accusation against those that God has chosen? When God grants saving justice who can condemn? Are we not sure that it is Christ Jesus, who died—yes, and more, who was raised from the dead and is at God’s right hand—and who is adding his plea for us. Can anything cut us off from the love of Christ—can hardship, distress, or persecution or lack of food or clothing, or threats or violence….No; we come through all these things triumphantly victorious, by the power of him who loved us.”

Those words are deeply consoling for me following a recent conversation about the afterlife and the belief of many that we will be separated from God for awhile because of the punishment due our sinfulness and our need for purification following death.  I have a difficult time perceiving God as a judge preparing meticulously to hold our sin against us, just waiting for us to enter eternal life so he can punish us as we deserve.  This is not my God.  And furthermore, I believe that I will come through this life “triumphantly victorious, by the power of him who [loves me]!”

What if, however, I do Ieave this life unprepared to enter into God’s presence? How will I become purified, since, after I die,I am no longer able to prepare myself. That is part of my mission here on earth. Once I die, I am then totally dependent on the prayers that are said for me by the church militant, those still on this earth on their way to heaven.  I do believe I shall be purified—however long that purification period is after I die. It is not God punishing me, however; it is the choice I will have made if I leave earth unreconciled, unrepentant of my sins and not trusting in God’s infinite mercy and unconditional love.

Saved by Faith in Christ Jesus

In the first reading of today's liturgy, Romans 3: 21-30, St. Paul reminds us that we--Jews and Gentiles alike-- are saved by our faith in Christ Jesus, not by faith in laws or by the works we do.  Jesus is our Savior.  "God," St. Paul proclaims, "...will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised through faith."  Without exception, "all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God."  However, all have been restored to "the glory of God" by Jesus' death and resurrection, when sin was destroyed and Satan's power crushed.  God belongs to all of us--the power of the resurrection is now at work in all believers because, as today's responsorial psalm proclaims, "[w]ith the Lord, there is mercy, and fullness of redemption."  God has been victorious and all of us--Jew and Gentile, peoples of all nationalities and cultures--await the victory that will be ours, in Christ Jesus, for all eternity and that is ours, here and now,  when, on a daily basis, by grace, we overcome sin, dying to our selfishness, our pride, our hopelessness, our lust for power and control; in short our efforts to be like God, as Adam and Eve did in original sin.

May each of us know the power of the resurrection at work within our lives.  May we have the courage and the wisdom to stop long enough from frantic activity to listen in the stillness of our hearts to God quietly at work in our personal, familial, communal, civic, political, and ecclesial dimensions of the world in which we live.

Seeing the Victory the Lord Wins for You Today

In today’s first reading, Exodus 14: 5-18, the Israelites are triumphantly leaving Egypt when the Egyptians regret letting them go and pursue them with their armies.  Seeing their pursuit, the Israelites are terrified and complain to Moses: Why didn’t you leave us alone? We’d rather be slaves to Pharaoh than perish in this desert!  Moses replies: “Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the Lord will win for you today….The Lord Himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”

How often is that not the case for us, namely, that we need to remember that God takes our side when we are oppressed in any given situation, being taken advantage of, being abused, mistreated.  Rather than obsessing about something that, in no way, I have the power to change, I need to surrender to the Lord. In that surrendering, the Lord Himself will fight for me. I have only to keep still.  The temptation is to keep obsessing about the issue, proclaiming my anger and voicing my fears.  “Fear not! Stand your ground (when you are innocent and powerless to change what has happened or is happening), and you will see the victory the Lord will win for you today….The Lord himself will fight for you; and you have only to keep still.”  Do I turn a situation over to the Lord when, in truth, I have no control over it? When I am helpless—I’ve done everything in my power--to change something that needs to be changed or to address something that needs to be addressed, do I turn it over to the Lord and ask for His help, knowing that I “will see the victory the Lord will win for me,…[that] the Lord Himself will fight” for me?

Jesus: God's servant

In today's Gospel, Mt 12: 14-21,   Jesus withdraws from the area where He had been doing ministry because the Pharisees were plotting "to put him to death."  He continues elsewhere quietly going about the work His Father had given Him to do.  "I have come, not to condemn the world, but to save it,"  Jesus tells us in Jn 12:47.  As quoted by Matthew in today's Gospel, Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah, saying that He "will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.  A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench,  until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope."

Jesus comes as our servant, showing God's love, compassion and mercy as we see in His response to the woman caught in adultery, in the parable of the prodigal son, from His first words on the Cross ("Father, forgive them"), and his response to the good thief ("This day you will be with me in Paradise") as well as through His total ministry here on earth.

You are I are called to follow Jesus, to do as Jesus did, to serve others, to show others God's compassion, mercy, love and forgiveness; in short, to carry on His mission of reconciliation.  Do I protect the "bruised reed," the "smoldering wick," show mercy to the sinner (including myself), welcome back a prodigal son/daughter (including being welcoming to myself when I make a mistake), bring "justice to victory," and hope to the situation in which I live?

The victory of justice

In today's first reading, Is. 42: 1-7, Isaiah prophesizes that Jesus “shall bring forth justice to the nations, [shall] bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness….I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice.” 

 

As yesterday we celebrated Palm Sunday, we read about the people loudly proclaiming Jesus as King, praising God for all the good that He had done in their midst. On Good Friday, we will hear those same people shouting for His death. He has disappointed them, as they were expecting a king who would restore their nation to greatness.  They felt betrayed and in their grief abandon Jesus to His executioners.

In today’s Gospel, Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with “a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard” and dries them with her hair” (Jn 12:1-11).  Amid Judas’ protests that that costly perfume should have been sold and the money given to the poor—proclamations to cover up his hypocrisy and intent to steal the money later for personal use—Jesus tells Judas to leave the woman alone, that she is preparing his body for burial.  Jesus protects Mary, who, in her poverty and lowliness and out of great love expresses reverence and gratitude to the Lord for His forgiveness of her many sins.  That same reverence and love is shown to each of us by Jesus on Calvary, where “our feet” are washed in the blood and water that flows  from Jesus’ side. And as Jesus tells Peter when washing his feet that he is clean all over, so, too, He tells us that, "though our sins are scarlet, they will be white as snow" (Is 1: 16-18)!   On Calvary we will witness justice being done to the nations of the whole world, as we watch Jesus surrender His life to His Father.  In that act of obedience, we will be restored, not politically or according to worldly desires, but spiritually to friendship with the Father.  On Calvary we will witness  Jesus crush the head of Satan--the principalities and the powers of Satan that we will see at  work in Judas this week,  shall be destroyed for us forever.   We truly will witness “the victory of justice” as we commemorate Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection.

O, the humility, the poverty, the reverence, the love of our God for all of humankind!

Winning the Victory Jesus Secured for Us

Today’s first reading, Revelation 15: 1-4, shares with us more of John’s vision. He sees “something like a sea of glass mingled with fire. On the sea of glass were standing those who had won the victory over the beast and its image… They were holding God’s harps, and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb [Jesus, the Lamb of God].

‘Great and wonderful are your works,

Lord, God almighty.

Just and true are your ways,

O king of the nations…

….You alone are holy.

All nations will come

and worship before you,

for your righteous acts have been revealed.’”

 

You and I, as Christians, participate in the works of God. The prayer that opens today’s liturgy asks that the wills of the faithful be stirred up so that we will strive more eagerly to bring God’s “divine work to fruitful completion.”  What a grace that has been earned for us by Jesus’ shedding of His blood and surrendering His will to the will of the Father, which is that we are victorious over the beast!  Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit so that we have everything we need to reverse the tendency within us to rebel against God, to choose our own will over God’s will, to make a name for ourselves as Adam and Eve attempted to do by eating of the fruit of the tree of good and evil in the middle of Paradise, what the people attempted to do in building the tower of Babel, what the Israelites attempted to do in worshipping the pagan gods of the countries that they had conquered on the way to the Promised Land.  We face the same temptations of those who have gone before us. We also are armed, however, with the same graces with which others have been armed and through which they  “won the victory over the beast and its image.”  If we cooperate with the graces we are given today,  we will “bring [God’s] divine work to fruitful completion.”  Yes, we will win “the victory over the beast and its image” because God’s work in us is “great and wonderful.”   I believe that! What about you?

Hope that is Eternal

In today’s Gospel, Lk 20: 27-40, Jesus tells us that those who have passed through the door of death “can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

That is the hope to which all believers cling. It was the hope to which the 130,000 Vietnamese martyrs clung (we celebrate their victory today) when they were tortured and killed for their faith.  No matter how difficult or horrifying life becomes for those who believe in God, adhere to the values of the Gospel and stand up for what they believe, we know that our “crucifixions,” our dying with Christ is followed by a rising with Him.  Throughout this sojourn on earth, the Lord, as stated in today’s responsorial psalm, “trains [our] hands for battle, [our] fingers for war” (Psalm 144).  It is God at work in our lives who will give us the same victory He gave to David, his servant, and to Jesus, son of David and Son of God, who assumed human nature and was obedient to God even unto death for our sakes. 

What sacrifices am I willing to make for my faith, for the wellbeing of my family, my religious community, the good of the country, the civic and church community in which I live?

Happy Easter

What a glorious day!  Imagine the women rushing to the tomb early this morning. It is still dark. They are distraught over Jesus' death and wondering who will roll back the stone for them, as they went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus (Mark 16: 1-3).  Matthew tells us that "all of a sudden there was a violent earthquake, for the angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. His face was like lightening, his robe white as snow" (Mt. 28: 1-4).

The women expected to anoint a dead body, say their goodbyes once again, and leave the tomb as hopeless and downtrodden as they had come.  Is that not what often happens in our lives?  We face the same distressing, hopeless situation deprived of life, depleted of joy, nothing new!  We may have been hoping for some kind of miracle and none came; nothing happens.  Then "all of a sudden" something "rolled away the depression, changed the hardened heart of a loved one or our own; a tragic accident averted, transformed paralytic limbs restored to movement, or a phone call comes for the needed transplant and life is changed forever.Out of nowhere, so it seems "...the angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat on it"!

At last night glorious celebration of Jesus' resurrection,  I wondered where my Easter joy was. I seemed so blah, not the usual exuberance about Easter. Did I lose my faith? It was alive on Good Friday. What happened?   I shared my concerns with the Lord.  He seemed awfully quiet.  This morning, I went to Easter Sunday liturgy and felt somewhat renewed but not to the extent that I usually experience Easter.

Then it happened as I was going out for an afternoon stroll. I met someone with whom I have been at odds for about six months. I knew she was angry with me. She would not make eye contact with me, would say things within my hearing range that were hurtful and stopped dropping in for quick visits.  Today, Easter Sunday, we met as I left the building for my daily walk. We talked out our differences, as she, too, felt my anger--yes, I was angry with her also for several reasons. We shared the reasons for our anger.  The "stone" had been rolled back; the anger dissolved with forgiveness and reconciliation.  I had met Jesus! Truly He had risen from the dead debris of my life.