Imagine yourself in the scene of today's Gospel, Mark 10: 32-45: You are on the way with Jesus to Jerusalem. On the way Jesus tells you that He is going to be handed over to the chief priests, to Gentiles--unbelievers--who are going to condemn Him to death, mock Him, spit upon Him, scourge Him, and crucify Him and in three days He will rise from the dead! JESUS, who has become your best friend. You have fallen in love with Him. For three years you have hung on His every word. You witnessed His healings, His raising people from the dead, giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. You have seen Him cast out demons and challenge those who condemn others. You yourself have been challenged to live a life of service to others, to forgive others, not seven times but seventy times seven times. You had meals with Jesus. You've seen Him walk on water and calm storms, literal ones and emotional ones! And He tells you of His impending crucifixion at the hands of unbelievers! He tells you that His end is near! Life with Him, as you know it, will be over soon!
Imagine your conversation with Jesus following this information. It goes something like this:
No, Jesus! This is not possible. It will not happen. I will not let it happen.
It will happen. It is my Father's will.
No! It cannot be Your Father's will. No Father would want this for His Son.
You do not understand.
Yes, I do. It cannot happen. It will not happen! I won't let it happen.
In the midst of my suffering, you will flee out of fright. On the hill of my crucifixion, you will be no where to be found.
Jesus! No, no, no. It cannot be.
It must happen, __(your name),________________. Through my death I will ransom you from eternal death. Three days after my death, I will rise from the the dead and return to My Father, from where I will send you the Holy Spirit, who will teach you all things. Then, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you are to travel throughout the whole world and baptize all peoples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
My Lord and My God!
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
God's Delight in Us
Today's Entrance Antiphon reminds me that the "Lord became my protector. He brought me out to a place of freedom; he saved me because he delighted in me." Let us personalize this antiphon and use present tense with Jesus addressing us as follows: "Dorothy Ann (insert your name) , I am your protector. I bring you to me every day, more than once, from that place that enslaves you or has the potential to enslave you. I bring you often to a place of freedom--freedom from being judgmental, freedom from idolatry (idolizing your will or something you think you must have to be secure), freedom from attachments, freedom from fear and pride and so on. I save you from the traps Satan sets for you. I pull you to safety because I delight in you!"
Our response is in today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 98, in which we pray: The Lord has made known his salvation....His right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm....He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward [us]. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands, break into song; sing praise."
The Lord makes known His salvation to us in every liturgy, where He offers Himself to the Father in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, during which the priest, through the power of the Holy Spirit, turns bread and wine into the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, who, then, comes to nurture, strengthen, sanctify and purify us in Holy Communion! Salvation is also shown to us throughout the day when we follow the Spirit's lead and when others and we ourselves reveal God's love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness and kindness to one another in how we treat each other.
Our response is in today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 98, in which we pray: The Lord has made known his salvation....His right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm....He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward [us]. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands, break into song; sing praise."
The Lord makes known His salvation to us in every liturgy, where He offers Himself to the Father in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, during which the priest, through the power of the Holy Spirit, turns bread and wine into the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, who, then, comes to nurture, strengthen, sanctify and purify us in Holy Communion! Salvation is also shown to us throughout the day when we follow the Spirit's lead and when others and we ourselves reveal God's love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness and kindness to one another in how we treat each other.
Friday, May 18, 2018
"Do You Love Me?" Jesus Asks Us
In today's Gospel, John 21: 15-19, Jesus, after preparing breakfast for the apostles and eating with them, says to Peter: "'Simon Peter, do you love me more than these?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my lambs.' He then said to Simon Peter a second time, 'Simon, son of John, do pi love me?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.' He said to him, 'Tend my sheep.' He said to him a third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, 'Do you love?' ad her said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said ti him, 'Feed my sheep....'"
Jesus is not only asking Peter whether he loves him but he is also asking us that question, not once but many times as we journey through any given day: "Dorothy Ann (insert your name), do you love me?" And I think, He adds: "Then, act as though you do in how you respond to difficult situations, in the way that you meet a challenge. Show me your love as you tend to those with whom you live and work!" If you are married, I think Jesus asks you to tend to your wife/husband, to your children or grandchildren, to your in-laws. "Show me that you love me in how you speak to others, in how you pitch in to help one another, in how you go the extra mile and not find excuses to not get off the couch!" "Do you love me?"
Jesus is not only asking Peter whether he loves him but he is also asking us that question, not once but many times as we journey through any given day: "Dorothy Ann (insert your name), do you love me?" And I think, He adds: "Then, act as though you do in how you respond to difficult situations, in the way that you meet a challenge. Show me your love as you tend to those with whom you live and work!" If you are married, I think Jesus asks you to tend to your wife/husband, to your children or grandchildren, to your in-laws. "Show me that you love me in how you speak to others, in how you pitch in to help one another, in how you go the extra mile and not find excuses to not get off the couch!" "Do you love me?"
Thursday, May 17, 2018
One with Jesus and the Father
In today's Gospel, John 17: 20-26, Jesus says to the Father: "I have given them--you and me--the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me." Let us personalize Jesus' statement to read: Father, "I have given [Dorothy Ann]-- (your name)--the glory you gave me." What glory? The glory of being one with Jesus, as Jesus and the Father are one with one another. Jesus explains to the Father why He is asking that you or I be one with Him: "[T]hat [Dorothy Ann--insert your name] may be one, as we are one, I in [her] and you in me, that [she] may be brought to perfection as one [with me], that the world may know that you sent me, and you love [her] even as you loved me."
If you are married, I encourage you to read that passage with you and your spouse in mind, personalizes the passage! It then would read, for instance: "I have given Joe and Mary the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that Joe and Mary may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you [love] Joe and Mary even as you [love] me."
If you are married, I encourage you to read that passage with you and your spouse in mind, personalizes the passage! It then would read, for instance: "I have given Joe and Mary the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that Joe and Mary may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you [love] Joe and Mary even as you [love] me."
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Oneness with God
In today's Gospel, John 17: 11b-19, Jesus, shortly before giving up His life to evil persons who killed Him, prayed for you and me. His prayer, in part, was: "Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me." You and I are included in the ones the Father gave to Jesus. Jesus asked the Father to keep us in His name "so that [we] may be one just as [God the Father and Jesus] are one." Jesus reminded the Father that we "do not belong to the world any more that [He] belong[s] to the world. I do not," He said to His Father, "ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One....Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth....I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth."
There is no way that the Father said "no" to His Son, Jesus. Jesus' prayer, definitely, is being answered day by day as we journey through this "vale of tears," where Satan prowls seeking souls to devour. "[K]eep them from the Evil One," Jesus prayed. And God does just that in and for those who seek God, a seeking obvious in those who practice their faith and live by truth. As we look around we see men and women becoming one in love, a possibility made real because Jesus prayed: "May they be one just as we are one." The ability to give of ourselves in self-sacrificing love each day and the courage to rise when we fall and ask forgiveness of each other is the effect of Jesus' prayer!
May you and I rejoice in the abundant love and mercy that is poured into our lives each day by a gracious God working through our family and friends, fellow religious and creation itself.
There is no way that the Father said "no" to His Son, Jesus. Jesus' prayer, definitely, is being answered day by day as we journey through this "vale of tears," where Satan prowls seeking souls to devour. "[K]eep them from the Evil One," Jesus prayed. And God does just that in and for those who seek God, a seeking obvious in those who practice their faith and live by truth. As we look around we see men and women becoming one in love, a possibility made real because Jesus prayed: "May they be one just as we are one." The ability to give of ourselves in self-sacrificing love each day and the courage to rise when we fall and ask forgiveness of each other is the effect of Jesus' prayer!
May you and I rejoice in the abundant love and mercy that is poured into our lives each day by a gracious God working through our family and friends, fellow religious and creation itself.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Our Soul's Desire
Today's liturgy opens with the antiphon: "In your strength, O Lord, the just one rejoices; how greatly your salvation makes him glad! You have granted him his soul's desire, alleluia" (Cf. P:s. 21 (20): 2-3). By making it personal it would read: "In your strength, O Lord, I rejoice; how greatly your salvation makes me glad! You have granted me my soul's desire, alleluia!"
Often, I would hear my mother say: "Without faith, I don't know how we would have made it through life's tragic moments." That comes from a mother who lost her own mother when she herself was 13 years of age. Because her father suffered from the tragic disease of alcoholism--was physically, sexually, and verbally abusive in drunken states (he was never sober, a 96-year old uncle told me about him)--the state placed two of the children in foster care and another in a orphanage, while my mother raised two of the older children, she herself being the oldest in the family. She witnessed her father sexually abuse one of her sisters who was not as fast as she in getting away from him. And God knows how much physical and verbal abuse she herself endured! So, basically, she was saying to us: "Without faith, I don't know how I would have made it through the tragedies of my life."
Faith was everything to my parents. My mother's and father's strength was the Lord's! How greatly the Lord's salvation was desired by my parents. Now, I believe, both of them are in heaven. Their soul's desire has been granted!
In our lives, do we realize that our strength, day by day, comes from the Lord? And furthermore, do we also realize that our soul's desire is for our salvation, nothing else really! So, in what ways do we co-operate with God in bringing us closer and closer to the gates of heaven already here on earth by the way we live the Gospel in the here and now?
Often, I would hear my mother say: "Without faith, I don't know how we would have made it through life's tragic moments." That comes from a mother who lost her own mother when she herself was 13 years of age. Because her father suffered from the tragic disease of alcoholism--was physically, sexually, and verbally abusive in drunken states (he was never sober, a 96-year old uncle told me about him)--the state placed two of the children in foster care and another in a orphanage, while my mother raised two of the older children, she herself being the oldest in the family. She witnessed her father sexually abuse one of her sisters who was not as fast as she in getting away from him. And God knows how much physical and verbal abuse she herself endured! So, basically, she was saying to us: "Without faith, I don't know how I would have made it through the tragedies of my life."
Faith was everything to my parents. My mother's and father's strength was the Lord's! How greatly the Lord's salvation was desired by my parents. Now, I believe, both of them are in heaven. Their soul's desire has been granted!
In our lives, do we realize that our strength, day by day, comes from the Lord? And furthermore, do we also realize that our soul's desire is for our salvation, nothing else really! So, in what ways do we co-operate with God in bringing us closer and closer to the gates of heaven already here on earth by the way we live the Gospel in the here and now?
Friday, May 11, 2018
"I Will See You Again"
In today's Gospel, John 16: 20-23, Jesus says to us: "I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything."
Jesus, I believe, longs for that day, perhaps more than we do, when the veil will be lifted and we will see one another face to face. "No one will take that joy away from us." Some 2000+ years ago Jesus took on human nature and all that such means. He has experienced, as we do, the temporary diminishment of joy when friends disappoint us. Conflicts between Jesus and His disciples and those who opposed His teaching sometimes left Him in tears and certainly left Him with questions! Imagine, though, His return to the glories of heaven with His Father and the Holy Spirit! The rejoicing had to be overwhelming for Him and the Father and the Spirit! That rejoicing will also occur every time that Jesus returns to earth to take a loved one back with Him into his/her eternal home! That day will come for all of us sooner or later. We will see Jesus face to face and our "hearts will rejoice, and no one will take [our] joy away from [us]." And furthermore, we will have no more questions to ask!
Jesus, I believe, longs for that day, perhaps more than we do, when the veil will be lifted and we will see one another face to face. "No one will take that joy away from us." Some 2000+ years ago Jesus took on human nature and all that such means. He has experienced, as we do, the temporary diminishment of joy when friends disappoint us. Conflicts between Jesus and His disciples and those who opposed His teaching sometimes left Him in tears and certainly left Him with questions! Imagine, though, His return to the glories of heaven with His Father and the Holy Spirit! The rejoicing had to be overwhelming for Him and the Father and the Spirit! That rejoicing will also occur every time that Jesus returns to earth to take a loved one back with Him into his/her eternal home! That day will come for all of us sooner or later. We will see Jesus face to face and our "hearts will rejoice, and no one will take [our] joy away from [us]." And furthermore, we will have no more questions to ask!
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