Jesus' Mission Statement and His Anointing of Us

In today's Gospel, Luke 4: 16-30, Jesus is attending the synagogue service, as He always did on the Sabbath.  He stood up to read and opened the Scriptures to the passage in Isaiah that spells out His Mission Statement:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the  oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord!

Let us hear Jesus' message to you and me:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon  you, (insert your name), because I have anointed you at your baptism and every time you receive the Eucharist, the sacrament of  the Anointing of the Sick or any other sacrament. I also anoint you every day with love.  Why? So that you become a Good News person and are able to make a difference in the lives you touch. I anoint you so that My love grows in  you and you can be a blessing of love to those I send into your life each day or to those to whom I send you.  I anoint you each day so that you can be a person who empowers others to know freedom from oppression, negative views of themselves and know that they are loved.  I anoint you with the oil of the Spirit, an oil that never dries up but multiplies when you anoint others with love and they anoint you."

"I anoint you because I have chosen you to go forth and bear fruit that lasts and that fruit is love."

How great is the Lord, our God!

Mary's Visitation to Elizabeth: What a Visit!

Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  One of the Gospels that could be used for today's liturgy was Luke 1: 39-45, the story of Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth. As soon as Mary entered her cousin Elizabeth's home, the child in Elizabeth's womb leaped for joy and Elizabeth herself "was filled with the Holy Spirit." Elizabeth cries out in joy: "Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is there fruit of your womb. Why should I be so honored wit a visit from the mother of my Lord?"

No words passed between Mary and Elizabeth. John the Baptist, growing in Elizabeth's womb, recognized Jesus in Mary's womb. Elizabeth, too, recognized a Presence in Mary and just by Mary's presence was "filled with the Holy Spirit".  You and I also carry the Lord in our hearts. God--the Father, the Incarnate Son, and the Holy Spirit--dwells within us by virtue of our baptisms. In the Eucharist, consecrated at each Catholic Mass, God, hidden in the consecrated host as God was hidden in the Infant Jesus, God made man, we, too, are visited by God, as were John the Baptist and Elizabeth through Mary's visit.  We are filled with the Holy Spirit through all of the sacraments!

When you interact with another human being, are they blessed as Elizabeth was blessed by Mary? And when you encounter another person, do you encounter God Incarnate? Are you "filled with the Holy Spirit" in those to whom you relate and vice versa?

May you and I, as vessels of grace, be present to others in such a way that they are blessed by us, as Elizabeth was blessed by Mary's visit!

Being Blessed and Being a Blessing

“John was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice  in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me,” we read in today’s Gospel, John 5:33-36.  Are you and I  burning and shining lamps?  Do our works testify that the Father has sent us? If not, from where to our works originate?  Whose voices are we following? Who is inspiring us to do what we do or  avoid what we avoid?

With the psalmist in today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 67, we pray:

May God have pity on us and bless us;

may he let his face shine upon us. 

So may your way be known upon earth;

among all nations, your salvation. 

May the nations be glad and exult

because you rule the peoples in equity;

the nations on the earth you guide.

The earth has yielded its fruits;

God, our God, has blessed us.

May God bless us,

and may all the ends of the earth fear (reverence) him!

Yes, may God rule you in fairness. May God guide you in all of your ways so that you yield fruits of the Holy Spirit: kindness, patience, charity, joy, peace, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, goodness, and chastity.  May the blessings of God, truly, be poured out upon you so that others come before God in reverence.

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Facing the Truth and Sharing It

In today’s first reading, Numbers 243: 2-7, 15-17a, Balaam utters a blessing upon the Israelites, prophesying, in fact, that a “star shall advance from Jacob, and a staff shall rise from Israel.” He utters this blessing after being asked by the messengers of the king to curse Israel.  He is unable to do so.  In no way is he able to act against the Lord’s will. 

However, Balaam tried to avoid doing what God was asking of him.  He waited overnight—maybe tomorrow he will hear something different from the Lord so that he could do what the Moabite king wanted of him.  The donkey on which he was riding bolted and walked off the road. It even talked back to Balaam when Balaam angrily attempted to beat it into submission: “Am I not your own beast, and have you not always ridden upon me until now?”  In other words the donkey is reminding Balaam that it has always been obedient to him; why is he not willing to obey his master!

In the Gospel, the people also attempt to avoid recognizing the Truth in their midst. Jesus brings them face to face with their craziness when they want to know by whose authority Jesus teaches. He says that He will answer their question if they answer His: By what authority did John the Baptist baptize?

At some point you and I, also, must be honest with ourselves, with others and with God.  We cannot forever avoid the Truth as it reveals itself in our lives, in the lives of others and in the events of our day!

Choose life, not death

In today's first reading, Dt. 30:15-20, Moses challenges the people to choose life, not death, to choose a blessing, not a curse.  Every day  we face the same challenge to choose to be one with God or with the world around us, to follow God's will or our own, as did Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the people building the Tower of Babel, as did the Chosen People in erecting a golden calf.  God's way leads to blessings; the ways of the world lead to chaos, to feeling enslaved, unfree, disgusted with ourselves, and in some instances cursed.  The Israelites, about to enter the Promised Land, had the choice of following Yahweh, the one true God, keeping His commandments, or following the ways of the pagan nations around them, engaging in the worship of idols of the pagan country they were entering.  The world of today lures us, as well, into its  idolatrous ways, promising us happiness if ____, security if____, love if____, knowledge if____, wisdom if_____.  "Be politically correct," is the latest bait.  Many fall hook, line and sinker into this world's  pit of lies, embracing such idols as pleasure, sex, consumerism, unbridled freedom, individualism, power and control over others, the use of violence to get what we want, and so on. 

How easy to be misled! Jesus says: "Take up your cross and follow me" by listening to the directions of the Holy Spirit communicating to you in the depths of your heart. "Remember," God says to us, "I have planted My Law on your hearts" (cf Jer 31:33 and Heb. 8:10).  Jesus says to us:  "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Believe in Me and you shall be saved" (cf Jn 14:6 and Acts 16:31)  from falling hook, line and sinker into the pit of lies proclaimed by adherents of worldly wisdom.

What choice am I making?