The Harvest of the Earth

Many of the readings for the recent liturgies speak of end times.  Today's first reading, Revelation 14: 14-19, speaks about the "earth's harvest [being] fully ripe. So the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth and the earth was harvested....[A]nother angel came out of the temple in heaven who also had a sharp sickle...'Use your sharp sickle and cut the clusters from the earth's vines, for its grapes are ripe.' So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth's vintage. He threw it into the great wine press of God's fury."

This passage is full of symbolism!  The "grapes" of the earth are obviously evil deeds that will meet "God's fury".  There is a harvest of good  deeds, however, that is "fully ripe."   May you and I be part of "the fully ripe" harvest,  the harvest of those whose lives are being transformed every day by our relationship with Christ and one another. May we be among those whose being, washed in the blood of Christ, is being poured out every day by our self-sacrificing love for the sake of others. May you and I be men and women who follow the Lamb in seeking those who are lost, who shield those under our care from Satan's snares, who teach others the way to being Eucharistic people broken and poured out for the sake of others' well-being.  If we seek to live this way and keep our focus on Jesus we will not be afraid when the "fully ripe" earth is, in fact, harvested and its "grapes" thrown "into the great wine press of God's fury."

God's Power to Save Those of Faith

Today we celebrate the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, apostles of the Church. In the first reading of today's liturgy, Acts 12: 1-11, St. Luke shares the story of Peter's arrest and imprisonment,  which immediately followed the martyrdom of St. James. Seeing the people's celebration of St. James' death, Herod believes that he will delight the people even more by killing Peter. The night before being brought to trial, an angel frees Peter, who is heavily guarded by four squads of soldiers and "secured by double chains".  The chains fall off, the locked doors of the prison open and Peter and the angel pass all of the guards unnoticed! Securely outside of the prison, the angel leaves Peter and he realizes that what happened to him was not a vision but reality!

Paul's story is as mind-bottling and miraculous, as he is on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians and bring them to Herod for imprisonment and most likely the same fate as St. James. The Lord God knocks Paul down, then known as Saul, and says to him: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Blinded by the light, he gets up and is told to go into the city.  There, he will be met by a man who will direct him on to what he is to do instead of co-operating with the plan of human beings to to wipe out the followers of Jesus.

God is no less real in your life or mine than in the life of Peter and Paul nor any less real in the world of our day than in the world of Peter and Paul's day. Forces rose up against truth then, and now. Immorality, killings, false imprisonments,violence against people of integrity, the slaughter of innocents and other criminal behavior abounded in Peter and Paul's culture and continue in our day with people supporting these kind of choices in the belief that they are doing what is right--even believing that people doing evil are divinely inspired and divinely appointed to lead us.

God sent Jesus into this world, not to condemn it, but to save it. God sent angels, His messengers, to people like Mary and Joseph, Zachary and Elizabeth, Peter and others. He spoke to Pilate through his wife, who warned Pilate to "have nothing to do with this man," meaning Jesus whom the people desired to be be put to death by crucifixion. In this day and age, God continues to send warnings and also to intervene for us. Are we aware of these interventions?  Or are we too enamored by those yielding power and control and wanting that kind of power ourselves that we go right along with them, even believing that they are of divine origin?

Lord, I pray, open our minds and eyes and ears to the evil around us!  May we recognize the "Herods"  of today--persons as determined  as was Herod in Jesus' time to seize absolute power over others and to do whatever necessary to secure that power, including destroying men and women of integrity, men and women of faith, men and women committed to what is true, right and just!




 

A Blessed, Faith-filled Glorious Christmas

In today's first reading, Isaiah 52: 7-10, the prophet Isaiah burst forth with "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation and saying to Zion, 'Your God is King!'"  As we take time to ponder the crib, looking at the baby Jesus, may we realize that that tiny baby born in a filthy stable is "Your God and King," Christ the Lord, Creator of the Universe, your Creator and the Creator and of every human being who lives in this universe.  That tiny baby is God the Son, who becomes one like us in all things but sin.  That tiny baby is the only begotten Son of God, who leaves the glory of heaven and does not cling to equality with God but humbly becomes a human being.  That tiny baby is God, His glory and His Power hidden from us!

My mind is baffled by the truth that God also hides Himself from us and for us in the consecrated Host.  Yes, my faith tells me that God is hidden in this Sacred Bread--we do not see God in His glory or power, yet, in the Eucharist, I believe, God does come to us in all of His power and glory to transform us into Himself, purifying our hearts,  renewing our minds, reconciling us to the Father--making us one with the Trinity  and with one another--and, yes, strengthening our wills to follow His Way more faithfully.

I invite each of us, with Mary and Joseph, with all of the angels of God, with those who have preceded us into heaven, to meditate/ponder:

The humility of God in the infant Jesus.

The humility of God in the Sacred, consecrated Host and whom, I believe, we receive every time we receive Holy Communion during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!  What a privilege and what a grace!

The humility of God dwelling in each human being who is full of grace and continually cooperates with God's graces to do what is right and just, merciful and loving, compassionate and understanding!

Truly God is with until the end of time! With all of the angels in heaven and on earth we sing: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will! Are you and I persons of good will?  If not, what needs to change?

The Angels' Assignments

Today we celebrate the feasts of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.   St. Michael, we know took on Lucifer and his followers who rebelled when it was revealed in heaven that the Son of God would become man. In a war in heaven St. Michael fought Lucifer and his followers and  cast them out of God's presence forever.  St. Gabriel was the messenger God sent to Mary to announce the incarnation of the Son of God. He was also the angel who counseled Joseph in a dream to take Mary home as his wife, as she had become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. Gabriel also warned Joseph in a dream to escape to Egypt to protect Jesus from Herod's murderous rage and counseled him when it was safe to return to Nazareth.  Rachel was the angel who healed Tobias blindness.

In today's Gospel Acclamation, we pray: "Bless the Lord, all you angels, you ministers who do his will" (Psalm 13:21).   In today's Gospel, John: 47-51, Jesus tells Nathaniel that he will see greater things than what he saw the day Jesus called him to follow him.  "Amen, Amen, I say to you you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man."

The angels continue to do God's bidding protecting us, counseling us, healing us, directing us in what God is asking of us.  They also stand in God's presence praising God and can to whatever God wills here on earth or in heaven, having the ability to be in several places at one time.

Lord, may I listen to your angels as did Mary and Joseph. May I accept healing as did Tobias. May I call upon my Guardian Angel every day, knowing that you send  angels to be at my side day and night, watching over me, counseling me, directing me to make right decisions, correcting my mistaken conclusions, as you did for St. Joseph, revealing God's will to be as you did for Mary, healing me as you did Tobias.  Thank you Jesus for the angels ministering to us here on earth as in heaven!

A True Disciple of the Lord

Today we celebrate the feast day of  the archangels, Sts. Raphael, Michael and Gabriel.  The Gospel, John 1: 47-51,  recalls Nathanael’s call to follow Jesus. As Nathanial approaches Jesus, the Lord says of him: “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.”  If I approach Jesus, what might Jesus say of me? Am I as single-hearted, as pure of heart as Nathanial was?  Would Jesus say: “Here is a true disciple of My Father?”

Nathanial is taken aback that Jesus knew Him that well? “How do you know me,” He asked Jesus. And Jesus responds: “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”  Yes, Jesus sees us under “the fig trees” of our lives, as well. He knows us through and through just as He knew Nathanial. This Gospel story ends with the Lord reminding  Nathanial that he will see greater things than he’s already seen, that is, he will see  the “heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” 

Was it Nathaniel’s lack of duplicity that gave him the clarity to eventually  “see the heaven opened and angels of God ascending and descending”?  A friend of mine, once told me that, in a very dense fog, she saw an angel  pushing the fog aside so she could see to drive. When she was in an emergency room, unable to breathe because of severe asthmatic attacks, she saw an angel sitting beside her keeping her calm. Was it that she, too, was so steadfast in her faith, so focused on the Lord and the things of God, on doing His will above all, that prepared her for such encounters?

What drives me? To what do I tenaciously cling?