Holy Saturday: Where is Jesus, for you?

 Today is Holy Saturday--a quiet day!  Jesus has been crucified and buried. Everyone has left Calvary: some perplexed, some angry, some depressed, some rejoicing that Jesus has been done away with, as He was perceived by the leaders as a threat to their power and to their very nation continuing to exist and by others as obnoxious, threatening their beliefs and way of living, challenging their unjust and sinful ways. These individuals sighed a sigh of relief when he was arrested and condemned to death! Many of Jesus' disciples were frightened and went into hiding lest they too be arrested, imprisoned and put to death!  With Jesus dead, this was a scary time back then!

What about now?  Do we attempt to bury Jesus? to hide from Jesus? do we keep our faith in Jesus private? Do we ourselves go into hiding? Are we like Peter in the Courtyard who vehemently denied knowing Jesus? Or, worse yet, are we like Judas, selling Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, for a life of licentiousness and narcissistic endeavors, wanting God dead, declaring religion foolishness?  

Recently, there was a message on Facebook that read: "This little girl (around four years of age) has got to go"--the woman's boyfriend or fiancé would have nothing to do with her! Another recent Facebook message was that the groom's daughter around the same age was not to participate in his wedding. Who, in our lives, do we want banned from being a part of the most significant events of our lives?

Jesus was about inclusivity, not exclusion! Jesus came to bring fullness of life to everyone, not just a select few!  Jesus said to those wanting children banned from His presence: "Let the little children come to me. Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven!"

May we learn from Jesus, our Teacher, Master and Savior! Let's not exclude Him from our lives. Let us not bury Him!

Today's Good Friday!

 It is Good Friday and we are living at a time when what happened to Jesus is happening to innocent people, especially in Ukraine. Innocent civilians are being  put to death, thwarted in their efforts to flee to areas that are safe from Russia's invasion and Russian's efforts to destroy this nation and its people. Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy!  Lord, have mercy on us.

May Putin's genocidal efforts be stopped!  May Putin's disregard for human life, and ours in whatever way it shows itself,  be met with the truth of the sacredness of life, including his own and ours!  May the falsehood within him, and within us, be transformed into truth. May the evil within him, and within us, be transformed into goodness!

Lord, have mercy on all of us!  Innocent lives are being destroyed, gunned down, not only in war-torn areas of our world, but in our streets and homes, in the wombs of women who kill their unborn child. Besides the unborn, some of those innocent lives are those of children  who are victims of domestic violence and street violence. Some of these innocent lives are those mistaken to be a criminal at large! Lord have mercy!

Every day, Lord, you are crucified and buried when an infant, a child, an adolescent, an adult is put to death here and now! Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy!  Lord have mercy!

Freedom from Oppression

 In today's first reading, Deuteronomy 26: 4-10, Moses reminds the people that his "father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien.  But there he became a nation great, strong, and numerous. When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw out affliction, our toil, and our oppression. He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders...."

We have similar situations today  throughout the world where people are being oppressed and are crying out to the Lord, our God, seeking to be freed from their oppressors. As with the Israelites, whom God brought out of a nation that was oppressing them, I pray that God  frees the Ukrainians from Russian oppression, that Putin is defeated in his attempts to destroy the Ukrainian nation.  

We also have individuals crying out to the Lord, our God, to be freed of abusers, those who are oppressing them sexually, physically, emotionally, spiritually and psychologically.  May the cry of these afflicted individuals be heard. May the oppressors be brought to justice and never be allowed to repeat their crimes against anyone! I ask this in Jesus' name.

Persons may also be oppressed by mental or physical illnesses. May they also be cured in Jesus' name!

Prayer for Oppressors, Great or Small, Rich or Poor

 In today's first reading, Isaiah 58: 9b-14, the Lord says to us: "If you remove from  your midst oppression, false accusations 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 the midday; then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land."

I pray this prayer, not only for myself, but for those in our world who are oppressing others, who are mouthing false accusations and engaging in malicious speech against other persons and/or other nations. May God forgive these people and grant them the grace of conversion. In the Gospel  acclamation of today the Lord says to us in Ezekiel 33: 11, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion, that he may life."

We may want the wicked of our world to be destroyed by some means--natural or intentional--but that is not the will of our God or theirs, the one true God of us all!  Let us, therefore, pray for the conversion of all men and women, especially those oppressing others persons and/or other nations.

How We Use Our Tongue and How We Spent Some of Our Time

 Today's first reading is from James 3: 1-10. He paints a very negative picture of the tongue, describing it as "restless evil, full of deadly poison."  He goes on to say that "with it we curse men who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth," he says, "come blessing and cursing." And then proclaims: "This need not be so."  What if we spoke positively of the tongue as an instrument given to us by God to proclaim the Word, to give God thanks and praise;  as an instrument  to speak words of love, compassion and forgiveness to one another!  We can  become what we focus on. Let's focus on the good  that we are capable of, while, of course, acknowledging the evil but not become obsessed with our inclination toward  such!

In today's Gospel, Mark 9: 2-13, Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him "up a high mountain apart by themselves. and he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white...Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus...[A] cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, 'This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.' Suddenly looking around, the disciples no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them."

Imagine being Peter, James or John and witnessing the transfiguration, seeing Elijah and Moses talking with the transfigured Lord, as well as hearing a voice say: "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."

May we take time to be alone with Jesus, communicating with Him.  May we also sit in silence or solitude listening for the voice of the Lord speaking to us! It definitely is not a waste of time to go apart to communicate with the Lord and allow God to communicate with us, spreading His banner of love over us. Time with Jesus is time well spent!

Bombarded by the Activities of a Crowded Day

 In today's Gospel, Mark 3: 20-21, Jesus enters a house. The crowd is so great that Jesus isn't even able to eat. Relatives hear of this and come to rescue him, for, as far as they were concerned, "he was out of his mind."  Jesus, the Incarnate God, who became like us in all things but sin is deemed insane, that is, mentally ill!  His relatives see him no longer as being able to take care of himself and make his own decisions concerning his life or ministry. They are determined to take possession of him!

It is difficult enough when total strangers turn against us but it is a totally different story when our family and relatives do so. This is the predicament  in which Jesus finds himself!  He is totally alone. No support but that of His heavenly Father. 

Often, after being bombarded by crowds of people seeking to touch  but the hem of his garment, and not even giving himself time to eat, Jesus goes off to some deserted place to pray to His Father. It is important that you and I, also, set time apart to talk to our Father in heaven. We need to take control of our lives by "carving" out periods of solitude, stepping aside from the crowd and all of the demands put upon us, all of the pressures that descend upon us, for quiet and alone time.  We can get so caught up in the whirlwind of activities that swallow us up hour after hour after hour that we become slaves and lose control of our time and lives--yes, we are, then, "out of our minds."  We are unable to think clearly or at all--our emotions blind us to living rationally!  

May you and I realize that when we are "out of our minds," bombarded by the demands of our jobs/ministries, it is time to step back, breathe in the peace that solitude  brings--the solitude of nature, of our favorite places to calm down to surrender to the Lord, seek the Lord's wisdom and prudence.

Vindication and Victory

In today's first reading for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time,  Isaiah 62: 1-5, the prophet voices his desire  quite strongly, proclaiming as follows:  "For Zion's sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch." Confidently, he then states his belief:  "Nations shall behold your vindication, and all the kings your glory; you shall be called by a new name, pronounced by the mouth of the Lord. You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem held by your God. No more shall people call you 'Forsaken,' or your land 'Desolate,' but you shall be called 'My Delight,' and your land 'Espoused.'"

Isaiah, I believe,  is speaking about those who adhere to God's law, who worship the one true God and follow the way of Christ, living as Jesus lived here on earth.  I hear the prophet Isaiah speaking up for all oppressed peoples and nations  that are denied justice, whose right to have their basic human needs for food, water, shelter met. I hear the prophet Isaiah crying out for justice for those denied a basic education and deprived of opportunities to work for a living wage to provide for their families. Isaiah, I believe, continues to this day to intercede for victims of criminal activities: victims of human trafficking and slave labor; victims of evil, cruel, cheating employers.

Isaiah, God's spokesperson to the poor and oppressed nations and peoples of his time, states strongly his belief that "Nations shall behold your vindication and all kings your glory....No more" Isaiah proclaims, "shall people call you 'Forsaken,' or your land 'Desolate,' but you shall be called [God's]...'Delight,' and your land 'Espoused.'"

What a promised--a promised made to you and me, as well We have been totally vindicated by Jesus' death and resurrection! No longer are we forsaken or desolate. We, too, are God's "Delight." We, too, are espoused to the Lord God! We are God's bride and God the bridegroom!