In today's first reading, Acts 17: 15, 22-18:1, Paul reminds us that the "God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is [God] who gives to everyone life and breath and everything....In him we live and move and have our being...."
"[W]e live and move and have our being" in God as a fish lives and moves and has its existence in water! Without water a fish dies. Without God, you and I die. In water a fish thrives. In God you and I thrive.
God, Paul tells us, "does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands." Where, then, does God dwell? If we "live and move and have our being in God," then God, an infinite, eternal Being separate and distinct from us, lives within us. We are one with God and God is one with us, yet distinctly separate from us! We are not God and God is not us! God does exist apart from us but we do not live apart from God anymore than a fish lives apart from water or a branch cut off from a tree!
Oh, the intimacy of God! This intimate God is Creative Energy that gives life, sustains life, purifies life, transforms weakness into strength, disunity into unity, ugliness into beauty, sinfulness into holiness. And in doing all of this and more, God needs our cooperation, as we have been given a free will by God. We are capable of choosing evil over good, ugliness over beauty, as God will not take away our freedom to choose! We are capable of being divisive and not cooperating with God's grace. We are capable of choosing that which weakens our character instead of that which strengthens us as God's offspring! The choice is always ours!
How did you choose today?
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Lessons from Paul and Silas
In today's first reading, Acts 16: 22-34, Paul and Silas are arrested, "stripped and ordered...to be beaten with rods. After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely....About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened....
God at work in believers! When we are the Lords and act as such, miracles happen! In the midst of suffering, Paul and Silas pray and sing songs to the Lord! What do I and you do when we encounter difficulties, when we are "chained," "beaten" down, not literally but with words or ill health, "imprisoned" in pride, fear, in anger, powerlessness or whatever stops us from doing that which we have been commissioned to do, as Paul and Silas were? Do we turn to the Lord in prayer, singing songs to the Lord? Do we stay focused on the Lord? Or do we turn our focus on the problems we have encountered, thus losing heart?
May we, in times of hardship, through the grace of God, be witnesses to the gift of faith that we have been given at our baptisms.
God at work in believers! When we are the Lords and act as such, miracles happen! In the midst of suffering, Paul and Silas pray and sing songs to the Lord! What do I and you do when we encounter difficulties, when we are "chained," "beaten" down, not literally but with words or ill health, "imprisoned" in pride, fear, in anger, powerlessness or whatever stops us from doing that which we have been commissioned to do, as Paul and Silas were? Do we turn to the Lord in prayer, singing songs to the Lord? Do we stay focused on the Lord? Or do we turn our focus on the problems we have encountered, thus losing heart?
May we, in times of hardship, through the grace of God, be witnesses to the gift of faith that we have been given at our baptisms.
Monday, May 7, 2018
Giving Testimony
In today's Gospel, John 15: 26-16:4a, Jesus tells us that [w]hen the Advocate comes who I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me... I have told you these things so that you will not fall away."
The question that I need to ask myself is: do my words and deeds witness or give testimony of Jesus, of the Gospel way of life, of an authentic married life or religious life? If a non-believer had shadowed me throughout this day, would that person have come to know Jesus by my humility, my simplicity, my commitment to truth and to the values o the Gospel? Would that person have left my presence praising and thanking the Father for the testimony I gave, for instance, as a religious to the vows of obedience, poverty and chastity (purity of my love and self-giving to others) or, as a married person, the love and respect shown one's wife/husband and children and one's faithfulness to the marriage vows?
The question that I need to ask myself is: do my words and deeds witness or give testimony of Jesus, of the Gospel way of life, of an authentic married life or religious life? If a non-believer had shadowed me throughout this day, would that person have come to know Jesus by my humility, my simplicity, my commitment to truth and to the values o the Gospel? Would that person have left my presence praising and thanking the Father for the testimony I gave, for instance, as a religious to the vows of obedience, poverty and chastity (purity of my love and self-giving to others) or, as a married person, the love and respect shown one's wife/husband and children and one's faithfulness to the marriage vows?
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Reading the "Road Signs"
In today's first reading, Acts 16: 1-10, Paul and Timothy are traveling through Phrygian and Galatian territory because "they were prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message in the province of Asia. When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did no allow them, [so they went] to Troas [instead]. During the night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him [and begged him to come] over to Macedonia and help us."
WOW! How tuned into the Spirit's directions, the Spirit's nudges, were Paul and Timothy! How perfectly Paul and Timothy read the "road signs"! The questions that we need to ask ourselves are: How tuned into the Spirit's guiding messages am I, are you? Do we recognize the "road signs": "Danger ahead," "Falling rocks," "Sharp Curve," "Do not enter," etc.?
The Spirit of Jesus is as close to us as to Paul. God's "road signs" pop up in our lives as much as in the lives of early Christians! Are we training ourselves to recognize those "signs"? Are we tuned into the Spirit's voice, sensitive to the Spirit's nudges or are we so preoccupied with the plans we've set up for ourselves that we notice nothing else! God may send His message through our children, grandchildren, spouses, our co-workers! The Spirit may nudge us through nurses or doctors, caregivers, fellow men/religious or brother priests (if we are a member of a religious community or of the priesthood). Are we listening? Have we tuned in? Are we training ourselves to intuitively sense the Spirit's presence? Are we willing to turn back, so to speak, when we encounter a subtle or not so subtle warning?
WOW! How tuned into the Spirit's directions, the Spirit's nudges, were Paul and Timothy! How perfectly Paul and Timothy read the "road signs"! The questions that we need to ask ourselves are: How tuned into the Spirit's guiding messages am I, are you? Do we recognize the "road signs": "Danger ahead," "Falling rocks," "Sharp Curve," "Do not enter," etc.?
The Spirit of Jesus is as close to us as to Paul. God's "road signs" pop up in our lives as much as in the lives of early Christians! Are we training ourselves to recognize those "signs"? Are we tuned into the Spirit's voice, sensitive to the Spirit's nudges or are we so preoccupied with the plans we've set up for ourselves that we notice nothing else! God may send His message through our children, grandchildren, spouses, our co-workers! The Spirit may nudge us through nurses or doctors, caregivers, fellow men/religious or brother priests (if we are a member of a religious community or of the priesthood). Are we listening? Have we tuned in? Are we training ourselves to intuitively sense the Spirit's presence? Are we willing to turn back, so to speak, when we encounter a subtle or not so subtle warning?
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Standing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
In today's first reading, 1 Cor 15: 1-8, St. Paul reminds us of "the Gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand."
You and I received it!
We stand in it!
We are nourished by it!
We are made holy by it!
We are saved by it!
We are made righteous by it, in it, and through it!
We are strengthened by it.
We are shown the Way and the Truth and the Life by it and in it and through it! When we immerse ourselves in the Gospel, we meet and know Jesus and, in knowing Jesus, we know the Father, Jesus reminds us in today's Gospel, John 14: 6-14: "If you know me," Jesus says to Philip, "then you will also know my Father."
THE GOSPEL:
You and I received it!
We stand in it!
We are nourished by it!
We are made holy by it!
We are saved by it!
We are made righteous by it, in it, and through it!
We are strengthened by it.
We are shown the Way and the Truth and the Life by it and in it and through it! When we immerse ourselves in the Gospel, we meet and know Jesus and, in knowing Jesus, we know the Father, Jesus reminds us in today's Gospel, John 14: 6-14: "If you know me," Jesus says to Philip, "then you will also know my Father."
THE GOSPEL:
- A life-giving Word!
- A two-edged sword, cutting to the marrow of our bones!
- A transforming Word!
- A purifying Word!
- An Eternal Word!
- A nourishing Word!
- A reconciling Word!
- The Glory of God!
- The Salvation of our God!
- The Creative Energy of God!
- The "I AM"!
- The Way, the Truth, the Life of God!
- The Love of God!
Today's responsorial psalm, I believe, tells us that the message of the Gospel "goes out to all the earth," that "the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims [God's] handiwork. Day pours out the word to day; and night to night imparts knowledge" of God!
WOW! The next time the priest raises up the Gospel, let you and me fall on our knees in reverence, in awe, in gratitude!
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
The True Vine and the Vine Grower
In today's Gospel, John 15: 1-8, Jesus says to us: I am the true vine, and my Father the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit....Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me....[W]ithout me you can do nothing," just as a branch separated from a fruit tree bears nothing!
You and I are attached to the Vine through baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation and other sacraments and thus bear the of fruit of love, which lasts into eternity. We strengthen our attachment to the Vine through prayer and self-sacrificing acts of love: love of our family members--our spouses, our children, our grandchildren--other relatives, members of our religious community (if religious men/women), and persons we touch through various encounters in person or through others ways of encounter. We grow in love, Jesus tells us, by the action of His "Father, the vine grower." However, if we, the "branches", fail to bear the fruit of love, the Father, Jesus tells us, "will take us away"--we "will be thrown out like a branch and wither."
What am I, what are you, doing to remain attached, and strengthen our attachment, to the true Vine? What am I, what are you doing to co-operate with the Father, "the vine grower"?
You and I are attached to the Vine through baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation and other sacraments and thus bear the of fruit of love, which lasts into eternity. We strengthen our attachment to the Vine through prayer and self-sacrificing acts of love: love of our family members--our spouses, our children, our grandchildren--other relatives, members of our religious community (if religious men/women), and persons we touch through various encounters in person or through others ways of encounter. We grow in love, Jesus tells us, by the action of His "Father, the vine grower." However, if we, the "branches", fail to bear the fruit of love, the Father, Jesus tells us, "will take us away"--we "will be thrown out like a branch and wither."
What am I, what are you, doing to remain attached, and strengthen our attachment, to the true Vine? What am I, what are you doing to co-operate with the Father, "the vine grower"?
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Peace of God Be with You
In today's Gospel for Tuesday of the fifth week of Easter, John 14: 27-31, Jesus says to his disciples, that is, to you and me, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid...I am going away and I will come back to you....I am going to the Father; ....I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me...."
"The ruler of the world is coming"! The ruler of the world is Satan, who sows discord, jealousy, anger, prejudice, hatred, and division. Jesus says: "He has no power over me!" Neither does he have power over those who stay focused on Jesus, seek Jesus and follow Him unreservedly. We are able to do just that because Jesus prayed for us. He prayed that we would be one with Him as He and the Father are one and that we would carry on the work He did. That is why He gave us His peace, saying: "My peace I give to you.....Do not let your hearts be troubled." Filled with the peace of Jesus and of the Spirit, we are empowered to overcome fear and hatred, jealousy and anger and division. Our union with others deepens as we foster our relationship with God in prayer and in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist. Our union with God also deepens as we give our ourselves in self-sacrificing love to one another throughout a given day!
"The ruler of the world is coming"! The ruler of the world is Satan, who sows discord, jealousy, anger, prejudice, hatred, and division. Jesus says: "He has no power over me!" Neither does he have power over those who stay focused on Jesus, seek Jesus and follow Him unreservedly. We are able to do just that because Jesus prayed for us. He prayed that we would be one with Him as He and the Father are one and that we would carry on the work He did. That is why He gave us His peace, saying: "My peace I give to you.....Do not let your hearts be troubled." Filled with the peace of Jesus and of the Spirit, we are empowered to overcome fear and hatred, jealousy and anger and division. Our union with others deepens as we foster our relationship with God in prayer and in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist. Our union with God also deepens as we give our ourselves in self-sacrificing love to one another throughout a given day!
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