We have all heard someone say, “You know, they got what they deserved.”? Sometimes this is meant as way of speaking of justice. The criminal gets caught and is sent to jail and so we think they got what they deserve. It is a common way to think and in way it does acknowledge justice; but at the same time, it can be said without mercy.
Sometimes as well, you hear the same phrase used when referring to someone’s relationship with God. It is not unusual to hear fundamentalist preachers say things like “They have obviously sinned and God is punishing them for it, or they didn’t have enough faith. Actually, this kind of thinking can creep into the mindset of many religious people. This as well, justice without any mercy?
In today’s Gospel, we hear the same thing. People were standing around and talking about some horrible incidents where people had suffered and died. We don’t know a lot about the two events mention by Jesus in today’s Gospel, but we think that those who died were thought to have been guilty of cooperating with the enemy, in this case Pilate, -and because of this, it was assumed that God had punished them for their unfaithfulness--for their sins. Jesus, for His part, knew that the people were thinking in their hearts, “These people in justice got what they deserved, that will teach them to cooperate with sinners like Pilate,.” With this attitude we discover that these people had no mercy.
These terrible events in the Gospel make us think of events in our own day. We’ve had so many terrible tragedies, tornados, so many terrorist attacks and violent shootings. So many are suffering, some from loneness, mental illness, bad marriages or horrible diseases such as cancer. These events rightly cause us to be distressed. We question God about all of this, how do I make sense of all of this? Some even believe that the sufferings they, or others, are experiencing are a punishment from God for not living the life they should. Now it is easy to accept when our enemies or bad people suffer, after all they deserve it, but what about when someone who is good and seemingly innocent suffers or is killed. Is God punishing them too? And another survives where another dies, does that mean the survivor was more righteous than the victim.
Jesus enters this conversation with his listeners in the Gospel and with us. Jesus does not steer around the issue but speaks directly to the people. His words are hard to hear, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners that all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did.”
Jesus repeats the same words when referring to the people of Siloam and ultimately to us. Jesus tells us that, “yes all suffering and death is the result of sin. He tells us plain truth- we are all sinners and suffering and death is, as matter of justice, a natural consequence of sin-not only death of the body, but death of the soul.
Jesus explains that when someone suffers however, it is not necessarily a direct result of his or her personal sin--After all, even the greatest of saints who were right with God still suffered and suffered greatly, even Jesus Himself suffered-but still Jesus says suffering is the result of sin in general. In Jesus case he suffered for our sins. In this we discover a great truth, while at the same time a great mystery. While God may in His infinite wisdom allow one to suffer in justice as a result of his or her own personal sin, at the same time, He may allow that same one or another in mercy to suffer for the sins of another. Ultimately, we can’t know what is the case, so we can’t judge one way or another.
This is all included in God mysterious plan of salvation. There are no pat answers. But like all the mysteries of our faith we can have some understanding. Suffering no matter what the cause is allowed as part of the care that God gives to each soul-it is a way of turning the soul back to God, if the soul lets it. It is like the gardener pruning the fig tree. The pruning hurts, but it causes the tree to produce much fruit. In this we discover that God’s Justice is also His Mercy; in God the two are united.
Not only can suffering purify and atone for sin in Justice, but in mercy, it can also bring the soul who is suffering closer to God. And the soul who is suffering can be used as well, in mercy, to bring others back to and closer to God. Just like Jesus’ own suffering and death was used by the Father to bring salvation to all of those who would accept it. So too our sufferings in this life and even our deaths, united to the cross of Christ-to Jesus’ own sufferings, our sufferings can be used to bring other souls back to God-this is the fruit the fig tree is asked to bear. And to offer one’s suffering for sinners, this, is the ultimate form of mercy.
But for all this to happen, we need to repent of our own sins in order to accept the fruits of Jesus’ own suffering. If we don’t repent, our sin blinds us and we can only see suffering and struggles as a punishment from a vengeful God. We then can see only the justice without the mercy (like those in today’s Gospel). Or the reverse, we can see mercy only as way of God letting us off the hook as regard to the punishment due to our sins, seeing only the mercy without the justice. Through our personal repentance and with God’s grace from prayer and the Sacraments, we can see that the suffering he allows in our lives is not so much a punishment for our sin, but is a way to show our love for Him and others. We can then see that our suffering can actually be a share in Jesus’ own great work of redemption, his own great work of the salvation of souls. We, through our sufferings, if united to the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His Body the church, we can help Jesus save souls; he can use our sufferings and struggles in this life to bring others His mercy, bring others to him, saving them from eternal damnation and saving them for an eternity with God for ever.
In the parable of the fig tree, Jesus tells that an owner desired to cut it down because it was not producing fruit. The gardener pleads with the owner of the tree to allow him to cultivate it for one more year. He’ll break up the dirt and fertilize the tree. The gardener is Jesus and He desires to come into our life and cultivate our hearts. Jesus desires to produce good fruit in our souls. He allows suffering to prune us if we allow it to. Again, He does not do this to hurt us but to give us a share in his own redemptive work so that we may atone for our sins and the sins of others and so come to love like Him. Yes, to love like Him—He who loved us to the end, unto death on the Cross. In this we discover while Mercy is free, it ain’t cheap.
Today, at this Holy Mass let us offer ourselves with Jesus to the Father. Let us lift up our hearts as an offering to Him in love. Let us unite our pains, sorrows and sufferings in this life with His suffering and death being re-presented, that is being made truly present, on this Holy Altar of sacrifice. Let us do this to make atonement for our sins, for the sins of the living and of the dead and the sins of the whole world. This is what it really means to participate in the Holy Mass; for it is the Holy Mass that makes it possible for us to unite our sufferings to Christ for the sake of His Body the Church.
Let us pray. Jesus I give you my heart and my soul, I offer to you all the sufferings of this life as an offering for my sins and for my failure to love you with all my being. Please turn my heart to you and fill it with your love, allow me to share in the Joy of Your resurrection at this Holy Communion so that I may become another you and lead others to You in my daily life, especially in & through sufferings you allow me to experience which are a share in your own passion and death, so that when the lent of this life is over, I and many others through me, may share in the Joys of that eternal Easter which is Heaven. Amen. Mary refuge of sinners pray for us. God Bless You!
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Man will never find true happiness in bread alone, but in Me alone!!!
As we begin our Lenten observance, the Church gives us the account of Jesus’ temptation in the desert by the devil. We need to start by saying, and this can’t be said enough, the devil definitely exists and is a real person; this is an article of our Catholic Faith. In the desert, the devil presents Jesus with a shortcut from the cross; it is the same temptation satan still uses on us. It’s a temptation to try and do away with the cross and to seek only what we want instead of what we need or better yet, what our neighbor needs-it is a temptation to selfishness versus self-denial for the sake of love, for the sake of the other.
Translating the temptations into modern terms, satan told Jesus that he could win us over by filling our bellies with the bread of earthly desires-- wealth, pleasure, power and honor. The Devil said, Jesus you can make them follow you by giving them power to solve their own problems through politics so they can be released from being dependant on a tyrannical Father God, and true worship of Him. Satan said Jesus; you can win them over by amazing them with great feats and unbelievable technological marvels. But Jesus, you can’t win them over with the cross, give them instead a nice guy Jesus without the cross. Put a resurrected Jesus on the cross but not a crucified one who paid a price for their sins and then who calls them to return that love by bearing their own cross along with Him sharing in his redemptive work of love for the salvation of souls
The devil indeed loves to give half-truths. If we look at each one of the temptations more closely we can discover that the truth is, is that Jesus actually desires to give us what the devil said would win us over, but not in the way or in the manner that the devil suggested.
And so in the first temptation, the devil tempts Jesus to change stones into bread. Jesus responds, “Man shall not live by bread alone.” The fact is, is that Jesus wants to give us bread, but not earthly bread, the things of this world which never totally satisfy our hunger, but the Bread of Life, His very self, his whole self in the Holy Eucharist. This is the bread that fills every desire of man, including the desire for eternal life; it is the bread that a man may eat of and never die. And so Jesus says to the devil, I won’t bribe the people into following me, for man’s heart was not made for material things, man will never find true happiness in bread alone, but in Me alone! And I am in the Holy Eucharist as their true food and drink.
In the second temptation, the devil tempts Jesus with all of the kingdoms of the earth, which are under satan domain, if Jesus would but just fall down and worship him. Jesus responds with the first commandment- You shall worship God alone. Here again, Jesus wants to give us power to solve our problems but not through earthly power and honor which corrupts and fades away, but through the power of his divine Love and mercy which becomes available to us through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the other Sacraments which flow from the Holy Mass. And coming in touch with God’s love and mercy in the Sacraments and being transformed into the image of Jesus, Jesus wishes to use us to bring His mercy and love into our world thus transforming it. And so Jesus says to satan, man can not save himself, man cannot build the kingdom of man without reference to the Kingdom of God…there is truly no “state” without the Church…without the Church the state collapses in on itself…
The third temptation: Here the devil tempts Jesus with presumption and vanity- cast yourself from the Temple and the angels will catch you. Jesus says, “you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Again, Jesus wanted to give us great marvels and feats, but not the kind Satan suggests. Jesus didn’t want to win us over with the latest technology, which in a short while becomes obsolete as soon as the next best thing comes along.
No, Jesus wanted to give us the greatest feat and marvel of all, and so as God He humble Himself putting His divine power aside and became one of us, like us in all things but sin. The all powerful God became one of us so that he could lay down his life on a cross for us in order to save us from our sins, not only giving us an example, but earning us the grace we need in order to have the strength to follow in imitation of Him, so we too could lay down our lives for love of our friend, first of whom is Jesus, and then our neighbor. No greater love is there than this, than for a man to lay down his life for his friends. And so Jesus tells the devil, no I won’t win them over with sensationalism and be just a nine day wonder, sensationalism never lasts, I want to win them over forever by my sacrificial love, the same love that I share with my Father, the love that I call each one of them to share in as well.
During this time of Lent we will experience many temptations when we begin to discipline ourselves so we can more fully repent and believe the Good News, leaving our selfishness behind and so live more perfectly in the freedom of God’s truth as His beloved sons and daughters. And so, we are invited to spend these forty days in the desert close to our blessed Lord through our prayer, fasting, and alms giving, the three things, which weaken the power of Satan over us.
Our prayer must include the Sacraments, especially the Holy Mass and Confession so that we may have the grace and the power to share in Jesus’ victory over the devil and his temptations. Important as well in our prayer are all Lenten devotions offered to us, like walking with Jesus along the way of Calvary in the Stations of the Cross on Fridays, spending time in adoration, and experiencing all the Holy week services and Masses, like Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
And our fasting must be more than just giving up things, but giving them up in order to become less attached to the good things of
this world and more attached to Jesus who gives us these things to lead us to Himself, so we can become better—become holy; that is, dearest of friends of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and all the angel and saints.
And our alms giving must include serving others through practicing the Corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Feeding the physically hungry, yes, but most importantly feeding the spiritually hungry who can sometimes be very rich and powerful, giving drink to those thirsting for water, but most importantly giving the drink of God’s love for those who are dying of thirst for it; burying the dead but also bury resentment and un-forgiveness by forgiving wrongs against us (just to name a few). Our Holy Father Francis said as much in his Lenten Message to us in this Jubilee “Year of Mercy,” in which He pointed out that, “God’s mercy transforms human hearts; it enables us, through the experience of a faithful love, to become merciful in turn.
This lent let us ask Our Lady for help to enter into lent more deeply. Let us ask her to help us avoid the temptation of Satan, a temptation that puts personal pleasure first, and does away with personal guilt and sin and the need for redemption, satisfaction, expiation, mortification and penance for our sin. A temptation that says that essence of love is personal gratification and not sacrifice, not that of laying down one’s life for a friend. Our Lady can teach us how to adore Jesus; all we need to do is to ask her. Let us pray, that the Blessed Mother, who while adoring Jesus on the Cross was given John as her son and by this gift was given all of us as her sons and daughters as well, that she may help us to enter the desert this lent and there learn how to adore the unseen God from whom we came and to whom we are called as His beloved little children to return. Amen.
Translating the temptations into modern terms, satan told Jesus that he could win us over by filling our bellies with the bread of earthly desires-- wealth, pleasure, power and honor. The Devil said, Jesus you can make them follow you by giving them power to solve their own problems through politics so they can be released from being dependant on a tyrannical Father God, and true worship of Him. Satan said Jesus; you can win them over by amazing them with great feats and unbelievable technological marvels. But Jesus, you can’t win them over with the cross, give them instead a nice guy Jesus without the cross. Put a resurrected Jesus on the cross but not a crucified one who paid a price for their sins and then who calls them to return that love by bearing their own cross along with Him sharing in his redemptive work of love for the salvation of souls
The devil indeed loves to give half-truths. If we look at each one of the temptations more closely we can discover that the truth is, is that Jesus actually desires to give us what the devil said would win us over, but not in the way or in the manner that the devil suggested.
And so in the first temptation, the devil tempts Jesus to change stones into bread. Jesus responds, “Man shall not live by bread alone.” The fact is, is that Jesus wants to give us bread, but not earthly bread, the things of this world which never totally satisfy our hunger, but the Bread of Life, His very self, his whole self in the Holy Eucharist. This is the bread that fills every desire of man, including the desire for eternal life; it is the bread that a man may eat of and never die. And so Jesus says to the devil, I won’t bribe the people into following me, for man’s heart was not made for material things, man will never find true happiness in bread alone, but in Me alone! And I am in the Holy Eucharist as their true food and drink.
In the second temptation, the devil tempts Jesus with all of the kingdoms of the earth, which are under satan domain, if Jesus would but just fall down and worship him. Jesus responds with the first commandment- You shall worship God alone. Here again, Jesus wants to give us power to solve our problems but not through earthly power and honor which corrupts and fades away, but through the power of his divine Love and mercy which becomes available to us through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the other Sacraments which flow from the Holy Mass. And coming in touch with God’s love and mercy in the Sacraments and being transformed into the image of Jesus, Jesus wishes to use us to bring His mercy and love into our world thus transforming it. And so Jesus says to satan, man can not save himself, man cannot build the kingdom of man without reference to the Kingdom of God…there is truly no “state” without the Church…without the Church the state collapses in on itself…
The third temptation: Here the devil tempts Jesus with presumption and vanity- cast yourself from the Temple and the angels will catch you. Jesus says, “you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Again, Jesus wanted to give us great marvels and feats, but not the kind Satan suggests. Jesus didn’t want to win us over with the latest technology, which in a short while becomes obsolete as soon as the next best thing comes along.
No, Jesus wanted to give us the greatest feat and marvel of all, and so as God He humble Himself putting His divine power aside and became one of us, like us in all things but sin. The all powerful God became one of us so that he could lay down his life on a cross for us in order to save us from our sins, not only giving us an example, but earning us the grace we need in order to have the strength to follow in imitation of Him, so we too could lay down our lives for love of our friend, first of whom is Jesus, and then our neighbor. No greater love is there than this, than for a man to lay down his life for his friends. And so Jesus tells the devil, no I won’t win them over with sensationalism and be just a nine day wonder, sensationalism never lasts, I want to win them over forever by my sacrificial love, the same love that I share with my Father, the love that I call each one of them to share in as well.
During this time of Lent we will experience many temptations when we begin to discipline ourselves so we can more fully repent and believe the Good News, leaving our selfishness behind and so live more perfectly in the freedom of God’s truth as His beloved sons and daughters. And so, we are invited to spend these forty days in the desert close to our blessed Lord through our prayer, fasting, and alms giving, the three things, which weaken the power of Satan over us.
Our prayer must include the Sacraments, especially the Holy Mass and Confession so that we may have the grace and the power to share in Jesus’ victory over the devil and his temptations. Important as well in our prayer are all Lenten devotions offered to us, like walking with Jesus along the way of Calvary in the Stations of the Cross on Fridays, spending time in adoration, and experiencing all the Holy week services and Masses, like Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
And our fasting must be more than just giving up things, but giving them up in order to become less attached to the good things of
this world and more attached to Jesus who gives us these things to lead us to Himself, so we can become better—become holy; that is, dearest of friends of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and all the angel and saints.
And our alms giving must include serving others through practicing the Corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Feeding the physically hungry, yes, but most importantly feeding the spiritually hungry who can sometimes be very rich and powerful, giving drink to those thirsting for water, but most importantly giving the drink of God’s love for those who are dying of thirst for it; burying the dead but also bury resentment and un-forgiveness by forgiving wrongs against us (just to name a few). Our Holy Father Francis said as much in his Lenten Message to us in this Jubilee “Year of Mercy,” in which He pointed out that, “God’s mercy transforms human hearts; it enables us, through the experience of a faithful love, to become merciful in turn.
This lent let us ask Our Lady for help to enter into lent more deeply. Let us ask her to help us avoid the temptation of Satan, a temptation that puts personal pleasure first, and does away with personal guilt and sin and the need for redemption, satisfaction, expiation, mortification and penance for our sin. A temptation that says that essence of love is personal gratification and not sacrifice, not that of laying down one’s life for a friend. Our Lady can teach us how to adore Jesus; all we need to do is to ask her. Let us pray, that the Blessed Mother, who while adoring Jesus on the Cross was given John as her son and by this gift was given all of us as her sons and daughters as well, that she may help us to enter the desert this lent and there learn how to adore the unseen God from whom we came and to whom we are called as His beloved little children to return. Amen.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
In today's Gospel, have some the saddest words in all of scripture, “He went away.”
Luke 4;21-30. Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. January 31st, 2016
Today we read the conclusion to the Gospel we read last week. Last week we heard that Jesus was highly praised in the surrounding villages because of the great deeds He performed, like the changing of the water into wine at Cana. We read too that the people in Nazareth were astonished by His claim that He was the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah. This is where we pick up the account today. But today we hear of the rejection of Jesus from the same people who at first accepted Him.
Acceptance then rejection, so what happened? It would seem that the people of His own town would be proud of Jesus and accept Him as a favored Son. This is not the case. They had heard of Jesus’ miracles and were intrigued by His wisdom; however they were very superficial and narrow-minded. In their pride they felt hurt that Jesus, one their own townsmen, had not performed miracles in Nazareth as He did elsewhere. They presumed that they should receive special “favor” and so they insolently demand that He perform miracles, not to change their heart and lead them to deeper faith, but merely to satisfy their vanity. And so Jesus, knowing their hearts, performs no miracles; instead He reproaches them and uses examples from the Old Testament in order to show that one needs to be well-disposed if miracles are going to lead to faith. His attitude so wounds their pride that they are ready to kill him by throwing Him off a cliff. Then we have some the saddest words in all of scripture, “He went away.”
Jesus proclaimed the truth His whole life, He came bring us the Truth. For this, Jesus was rejected and crucified. The beginning of the rejection of Jesus as Truth itself, began here in His native Nazareth. This whole episode is a good lesson about understanding Jesus and His teachings, which He gives to us through His Catholic Church, the Church He founded. We can only understand Him and His teachings if we are humble and are genuinely resolved to make ourselves available fully to Him.
The problem is that the teachings of Jesus, the teachings of the Church are sometimes very tough. So tough in fact that many times there can be a false belief that the teachings of the Church are somehow different or other than the teachings of the Jesus. The Church however, carries on these teachings, which she receives from Christ through the Apostles, prophetically preaching them in all ages, without change, whether acceptable or unacceptable. And she calls all her children, especially her bishops and priests to preach and teach the doctrines of the Church, which are the Gospel—the very word of Christ, without apology and without compromise. If we are to live the type of Love which St. Paul speaks about in our second reading we need to hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, not water down, but in its fullness and splendor.
A few years back, when he was still the archbishop of Milwaukee, Cardinal Archbishop, Timothy Dolan, in and article printed in the Observer--our diocesan newspaper, said this:
Catholics need solid preaching about Jesus, the cross and the Church, and not “feel-good” spiritual advice that demands no sacrifice.
Preaching well means challenging people’s complacency and, like Christ, occasionally “shaking things up.” This cannot happen if preachers soft-pedal the cross.
He went on, “Maybe the greatest threat to the Church is not heresy, not dissent, not secularism, not even moral relativism, but this sanitized, feel-good, boutique, therapeutic spirituality that makes not demands, calls for no sacrifice, asks for no conversion, entails no battle against sin, but only soothes and affirms,” Speaking to future priests he said, “Our preaching can then become cotton candyish: a lot of fluff, air and sugar, but no substance.
Even though he was focusing on priests, Bishop Dolan reminded that preaching the Gospel is a mandate shared by ALL Christians, not just priests.
The problem is of course, no one likes to be a prophet; no one wants to get thrown off a cliff; no one wants to be crucified. And too often a priest or deacon who teaches something clearly and forthrightly will catch flak for it. Sadly, in our age where everyone is an expert and all truth is subjective, many people don’t want to hear uncomfortable teachings expounded. And so it becomes very easy for a preacher, to fall back on a feel-good approach to the homily, light on content, long on uplifting anecdotes and the power of positive thinking.
I think this fear of preaching the truth, prophetically is especially so in regards to the Church’s teaching on marriage, sexuality and life. Many Catholics have never even heard some of the teachings of the Church in these areas, or if they have, only heard them in a negative light, with regards to how the Church is out of step with the times and needs to get with. Well, of course Jesus is not out of step with the times, He owns time and all in it, and His teachings are always with it, because He is Truth itself.
Let me give you an example of such a teaching. And know that I bring this one up not to condemn anyone, but because if I love you and need to give you the truth, the truth that will not only make you happy, but prevent you from being hurt. I could not talk about this, but then that wouldn’t be true love, but only the selfishness that St. Paul speaks about. The teaching is the Church’s position on In Vitro Fertilization or IVF, better known as test tube babies.
I would guess that most Catholics are only vaguely aware of the Church’s position on making test tube babies. How many have used IVF without knowing that it is wrong or why? When asked why IVF might be immoral, people will usually mention the extra embryos that are frozen or discarded. Such embryos are certainly a serious concern--they are after all truly children, but they are not the primary reason the Church insists the procedure is immoral. Even if IVF were done without making any extra embryos at all, this way of making babies would still be morally objectionable, because the procedure strikes at the very core and meaning of the marital act.
When a couple comes before the altar to profess the vows of love, the Church prays that nothing should come between them- “what God has joined, let no man separate. In our world, sadly, separation in marriage does not happen at the time of a divorce, but much earlier- something is allowed to separate the spouses. The separation starts with withholding all of the love for the spouse- it often starts with artificial birth control. But any act that would separation the full gift of the spouses to each other is for our faith an evil. In IVF, the marital act is substituted by an act of laboratory manipulation for the loving act of bodily union between spouses. It turns procreation into production. Instead of the two become one flesh, IVF divides and puts a Lab technician in between; this can only hurt the union. IVF is really the flip-side of contraception: rather than trying to have sex without babies, we try to have babies without sex. There is a separation of love from the act of procreation.
That being said it is very important that we understand, that the wrongness of IVF does not in any way reflect upon the child, who is innocent. It is not the baby’s fault in any way. The child has no control over how he or she got here. Regardless of how a baby comes into the world, whether by IVF, whether by adultery, by pre-marital sex, by rape or incest or even by cloning, that baby is always a gift and blessing from God. Let me emphasize this point- each and every child is a gift from God. The problem with IVF is not with the child, but with a decision made by the parents, many times not through but ill will but through ignorance, concerning how to pursue the satisfaction of their own desire for a child. In other words, babies, even when very much desired, should not be brought into the world by making use of disordered means such as adultery, pre-marital sex, IVF, or cloning. They should be brought into the world only within that intimate love-giving moment of the marital embrace, where the two become one flesh. Children are entitled, have the right to come into being as the fruit of a singular parental love that is uniquely manifested in the spousal moment of bodily surrender to each other.
Through the incredibly rich language of the parents’ bodies, through their body to body contact, the new body of the child is engendered. In their one-flesh union, they en-flesh new life. The intimate bodily embrace is a sacred action that only spouses may share, and it represents the unique and privileged locus, by God’s design, in which human love is translated into new life. IVF violates this design by replacing that love-giving act with an act of production, whereby we manufacture our own children in Petri dishes and test tubes, as if they were products or objects to be manhandled at will. When we take this immoral step, others quickly follow, including the freezing or even the discarding of our own children, as if they were a form of medical waste. By making test tube babies, we first violate the sacred human act by which we hand on life. It is then but a short step to go further and violate the very life itself that we produce in the laboratory.
Is it not reasonable and right to insist, as the Church does, that new human life should be the fruit of married love, carried out through bodily self-giving between spouses, this act which allows each partner to enrich the other with the total gift of himself or herself? The marital act embodies spousal love directly, exclusively and authentically. Can we say the same for IVF, where the woman upsets her normal cycles and subjects herself to repetitive injections with powerful drugs to make her body produce unnaturally large numbers of eggs, not to mention what the man must do? Can we really say that IVF embodies spousal love in an authentic and exclusive way when a lab technician ends up being the causal agent of the pregnancy, instead of the spouses themselves through a sacred act proper to their married love? By any stretch, can we honestly believe that IVF is faithful to God's design for marriage?
Last week we spoke of pro-life. This week again we are speaking of pro-life. If we are pro-life we must protect not only life, but the way in which God intended life to come into being. If we do not, well we have already seen first results of if we do not, at least 54 million babies killed. Worse is yet to come, if we don’t accept the truth. I tell you this difficult teaching of the Church because I love you and don’t want any of you to be hurt and IVF definitely hurts individuals and couples. I also challenge all of you to learn more about the Churches true teachings in regard to IVF as well as other tough issues. These are teachings we just can not live without.
As we continue to celebrate this year of Mercy as proclaimed by Pope Francis let us realize that mercy only makes sense if we realize our need for God’s Mercy. And We need God’s mercy for our failure to not only accept fully but to live fully the truth that comes from God…this failure is of course known as our sin. God forgives our sins, if we acknowledge them and confess them and make a firm purpose of amendment to sin no more and live our live according to the teachings of the Church.
God loves and wants only what is best for us, this is why He sent his only Son Jesus to give us the truth that sets us free, to give us the truth that gives us life. And has hard as it can sometimes be, let us embrace His truth, the teachings of His Church, humbly and with open minds and hearts. Let us pray for those who need reconciliation and healing in the delicate matters regarding the Church’s unchanging teachings, for Christ’s healing truth is the remedy for this, because Jesus Is Truth and an so His truth which comes to us through His One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, will never let us down.
NOTE: The material on IVF in this homily was taken from a priest who writes for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Health Care and Life Sciences
Today we read the conclusion to the Gospel we read last week. Last week we heard that Jesus was highly praised in the surrounding villages because of the great deeds He performed, like the changing of the water into wine at Cana. We read too that the people in Nazareth were astonished by His claim that He was the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah. This is where we pick up the account today. But today we hear of the rejection of Jesus from the same people who at first accepted Him.
Acceptance then rejection, so what happened? It would seem that the people of His own town would be proud of Jesus and accept Him as a favored Son. This is not the case. They had heard of Jesus’ miracles and were intrigued by His wisdom; however they were very superficial and narrow-minded. In their pride they felt hurt that Jesus, one their own townsmen, had not performed miracles in Nazareth as He did elsewhere. They presumed that they should receive special “favor” and so they insolently demand that He perform miracles, not to change their heart and lead them to deeper faith, but merely to satisfy their vanity. And so Jesus, knowing their hearts, performs no miracles; instead He reproaches them and uses examples from the Old Testament in order to show that one needs to be well-disposed if miracles are going to lead to faith. His attitude so wounds their pride that they are ready to kill him by throwing Him off a cliff. Then we have some the saddest words in all of scripture, “He went away.”
Jesus proclaimed the truth His whole life, He came bring us the Truth. For this, Jesus was rejected and crucified. The beginning of the rejection of Jesus as Truth itself, began here in His native Nazareth. This whole episode is a good lesson about understanding Jesus and His teachings, which He gives to us through His Catholic Church, the Church He founded. We can only understand Him and His teachings if we are humble and are genuinely resolved to make ourselves available fully to Him.
The problem is that the teachings of Jesus, the teachings of the Church are sometimes very tough. So tough in fact that many times there can be a false belief that the teachings of the Church are somehow different or other than the teachings of the Jesus. The Church however, carries on these teachings, which she receives from Christ through the Apostles, prophetically preaching them in all ages, without change, whether acceptable or unacceptable. And she calls all her children, especially her bishops and priests to preach and teach the doctrines of the Church, which are the Gospel—the very word of Christ, without apology and without compromise. If we are to live the type of Love which St. Paul speaks about in our second reading we need to hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, not water down, but in its fullness and splendor.
A few years back, when he was still the archbishop of Milwaukee, Cardinal Archbishop, Timothy Dolan, in and article printed in the Observer--our diocesan newspaper, said this:
Catholics need solid preaching about Jesus, the cross and the Church, and not “feel-good” spiritual advice that demands no sacrifice.
Preaching well means challenging people’s complacency and, like Christ, occasionally “shaking things up.” This cannot happen if preachers soft-pedal the cross.
He went on, “Maybe the greatest threat to the Church is not heresy, not dissent, not secularism, not even moral relativism, but this sanitized, feel-good, boutique, therapeutic spirituality that makes not demands, calls for no sacrifice, asks for no conversion, entails no battle against sin, but only soothes and affirms,” Speaking to future priests he said, “Our preaching can then become cotton candyish: a lot of fluff, air and sugar, but no substance.
Even though he was focusing on priests, Bishop Dolan reminded that preaching the Gospel is a mandate shared by ALL Christians, not just priests.
The problem is of course, no one likes to be a prophet; no one wants to get thrown off a cliff; no one wants to be crucified. And too often a priest or deacon who teaches something clearly and forthrightly will catch flak for it. Sadly, in our age where everyone is an expert and all truth is subjective, many people don’t want to hear uncomfortable teachings expounded. And so it becomes very easy for a preacher, to fall back on a feel-good approach to the homily, light on content, long on uplifting anecdotes and the power of positive thinking.
I think this fear of preaching the truth, prophetically is especially so in regards to the Church’s teaching on marriage, sexuality and life. Many Catholics have never even heard some of the teachings of the Church in these areas, or if they have, only heard them in a negative light, with regards to how the Church is out of step with the times and needs to get with. Well, of course Jesus is not out of step with the times, He owns time and all in it, and His teachings are always with it, because He is Truth itself.
Let me give you an example of such a teaching. And know that I bring this one up not to condemn anyone, but because if I love you and need to give you the truth, the truth that will not only make you happy, but prevent you from being hurt. I could not talk about this, but then that wouldn’t be true love, but only the selfishness that St. Paul speaks about. The teaching is the Church’s position on In Vitro Fertilization or IVF, better known as test tube babies.
I would guess that most Catholics are only vaguely aware of the Church’s position on making test tube babies. How many have used IVF without knowing that it is wrong or why? When asked why IVF might be immoral, people will usually mention the extra embryos that are frozen or discarded. Such embryos are certainly a serious concern--they are after all truly children, but they are not the primary reason the Church insists the procedure is immoral. Even if IVF were done without making any extra embryos at all, this way of making babies would still be morally objectionable, because the procedure strikes at the very core and meaning of the marital act.
When a couple comes before the altar to profess the vows of love, the Church prays that nothing should come between them- “what God has joined, let no man separate. In our world, sadly, separation in marriage does not happen at the time of a divorce, but much earlier- something is allowed to separate the spouses. The separation starts with withholding all of the love for the spouse- it often starts with artificial birth control. But any act that would separation the full gift of the spouses to each other is for our faith an evil. In IVF, the marital act is substituted by an act of laboratory manipulation for the loving act of bodily union between spouses. It turns procreation into production. Instead of the two become one flesh, IVF divides and puts a Lab technician in between; this can only hurt the union. IVF is really the flip-side of contraception: rather than trying to have sex without babies, we try to have babies without sex. There is a separation of love from the act of procreation.
That being said it is very important that we understand, that the wrongness of IVF does not in any way reflect upon the child, who is innocent. It is not the baby’s fault in any way. The child has no control over how he or she got here. Regardless of how a baby comes into the world, whether by IVF, whether by adultery, by pre-marital sex, by rape or incest or even by cloning, that baby is always a gift and blessing from God. Let me emphasize this point- each and every child is a gift from God. The problem with IVF is not with the child, but with a decision made by the parents, many times not through but ill will but through ignorance, concerning how to pursue the satisfaction of their own desire for a child. In other words, babies, even when very much desired, should not be brought into the world by making use of disordered means such as adultery, pre-marital sex, IVF, or cloning. They should be brought into the world only within that intimate love-giving moment of the marital embrace, where the two become one flesh. Children are entitled, have the right to come into being as the fruit of a singular parental love that is uniquely manifested in the spousal moment of bodily surrender to each other.
Through the incredibly rich language of the parents’ bodies, through their body to body contact, the new body of the child is engendered. In their one-flesh union, they en-flesh new life. The intimate bodily embrace is a sacred action that only spouses may share, and it represents the unique and privileged locus, by God’s design, in which human love is translated into new life. IVF violates this design by replacing that love-giving act with an act of production, whereby we manufacture our own children in Petri dishes and test tubes, as if they were products or objects to be manhandled at will. When we take this immoral step, others quickly follow, including the freezing or even the discarding of our own children, as if they were a form of medical waste. By making test tube babies, we first violate the sacred human act by which we hand on life. It is then but a short step to go further and violate the very life itself that we produce in the laboratory.
Is it not reasonable and right to insist, as the Church does, that new human life should be the fruit of married love, carried out through bodily self-giving between spouses, this act which allows each partner to enrich the other with the total gift of himself or herself? The marital act embodies spousal love directly, exclusively and authentically. Can we say the same for IVF, where the woman upsets her normal cycles and subjects herself to repetitive injections with powerful drugs to make her body produce unnaturally large numbers of eggs, not to mention what the man must do? Can we really say that IVF embodies spousal love in an authentic and exclusive way when a lab technician ends up being the causal agent of the pregnancy, instead of the spouses themselves through a sacred act proper to their married love? By any stretch, can we honestly believe that IVF is faithful to God's design for marriage?
Last week we spoke of pro-life. This week again we are speaking of pro-life. If we are pro-life we must protect not only life, but the way in which God intended life to come into being. If we do not, well we have already seen first results of if we do not, at least 54 million babies killed. Worse is yet to come, if we don’t accept the truth. I tell you this difficult teaching of the Church because I love you and don’t want any of you to be hurt and IVF definitely hurts individuals and couples. I also challenge all of you to learn more about the Churches true teachings in regard to IVF as well as other tough issues. These are teachings we just can not live without.
As we continue to celebrate this year of Mercy as proclaimed by Pope Francis let us realize that mercy only makes sense if we realize our need for God’s Mercy. And We need God’s mercy for our failure to not only accept fully but to live fully the truth that comes from God…this failure is of course known as our sin. God forgives our sins, if we acknowledge them and confess them and make a firm purpose of amendment to sin no more and live our live according to the teachings of the Church.
God loves and wants only what is best for us, this is why He sent his only Son Jesus to give us the truth that sets us free, to give us the truth that gives us life. And has hard as it can sometimes be, let us embrace His truth, the teachings of His Church, humbly and with open minds and hearts. Let us pray for those who need reconciliation and healing in the delicate matters regarding the Church’s unchanging teachings, for Christ’s healing truth is the remedy for this, because Jesus Is Truth and an so His truth which comes to us through His One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, will never let us down.
NOTE: The material on IVF in this homily was taken from a priest who writes for the National Catholic Bioethics Center on Health Care and Life Sciences
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
This is why we must do more than just show up for Holy Mass. We must participate actively, fully, consciously, and fruitfully at the Holy Mass.
John 2;1-11 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. January 17th, 2016
In today’s Gospel we hear of the Mystery of the Second Luminous
mystery of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary—the Wedding Feast of Cana. Every mystery of the Holy Rosary has a grace assigned to it. And so, the grace we ask for while contemplating of this new mystery of the Holy Rosary, is the grace to more fully offer ourselves—all that have, do, think and are, to Jesus through Mary. We entrust ourselves to Jesus Mother so that she can help us to offer ourselves in Faith, Hope and Love to the God who has given us everything, even to our very existence, all in order that we can become One with God-the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and for all eternity. This is the purpose for which each of us as been created—to be one with God in a union of love.
You may not have thought about this before, but what is that God really wants from you? What He really wants from you is simply “you.” In other words, we can say that God desires to wed you soul, to bring you to Himself and make you one with Him in the ultimate of all weddings…and the two shall become one. A Sacramental marriage between a man and woman symbolizes and points to this Wedding of all weddings.
And so, one of most used imagery God uses throughout the bible to describe what sort of relationship He wants with each of us is wedding imagery. We hear it in our first reading from the book of Isaiah: As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder (capital B) shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you. In other words, “Your Creator God shall marry you!” So it is no coincidence that Jesus begins His public ministry, His ministry to heal and save souls bring them to union with God, at a wedding feast.
Now for the men listening to this, the ideal of God wedding your soul may seem somewhat foreign. But we mustn’t think of this in a carnal way, but in a spiritual way. The purpose and end of all love is union—to be close and even one with the one we love and who loves us. And there is no one who loves us more than God Himself; in fact it is His love that keeps us in existence; His love has given us everything we have, including those we love. And in His love for us, He wishes us to love Him in return, and so to be close to Him; and in fact, One with Him.
How and where does this union with God begin to take place? Well it begins with our baptism. In our baptism our soul was given the capacity to become One with God. And then through the other Sacraments, if we receive them with a proper disposition, this union is nourished, grows and becomes perfected. That is, as long as we continue to give our yes and cooperate with this plan of God by keeping His Commandments with the help of His grace and offering our hearts to Him more and more completely.
And the primary place where we come to give our yes and cooperate with this plan of God and offer ourselves to Him is at the Holy Mass, each and every week. This is why the Holy Mass is called the “wedding feast of the Lamb.” It is the place were Jesus, the Bridegroom, literally comes down from Heaven anew in the flesh, in the Holy Eucharist and gives His yes, His “I Do” to His bride the Church, that is to each one of us when He says, “This is my Body, given up for you.” “This is my blood given up for you.” Jesus is here saying, I love you so much that not only do I give you my “I do” but I offer you my total self, all that I am and have, the fullness of my love, my complete self-Body, Blood, and Soul. And because Jesus is God, this means He is saying as well, I give you even the fullness of my Divinity.
But in order for this union of our soul to God to take placed at the Wedding Feast of all wedding feast, which is the Holy Mass, we--you and I must give our “I do” in response to Jesus’ “I do.” Think about it this way, what happens if at wedding between a man and woman, one or more of them refuses to say “I do,” or says “I do,” and really doesn’t mean it. In this case, does a wedding occur, is the marriage real or valid? Or is it a wedding if one of the two doesn’t show up or shows up but doesn’t participate? Of course not. Both man and the woman must freely, in love, give their “I Do” to each other, which means offer their complete self to one another. In other words, each one must say in a sense, “This is my body given up for you; in love, I give myself to you forever in order to become one with you in union of unending love.”
A man and wife, if they say these most beautiful of words, and if they mean these words, then the two of them will become one in love. And then these beautiful wedding vows are consummated; which means they become one forever until death do them part, not only in words but also in the flesh, during the marital act the night of the wedding. The fruit of this union is life and joy, not only for the couple themselves, but also for another person who is conceived and born as a fruit of this union of love.
So too, and even in more perfect way at the Holy Mass. If we give our “I do” to God, offering to Him at the Altar our complete “yes” our complete self in love we to can become one with God, not only until death do us part but for ever. In fact, at the Holy Mass our “I do” our wedding vows with God also become consummated at the martial act of the Holy Mass. And the Marital act of the Holy Mass is Holy Communion where we become “one flesh” with Jesus when we consume His Body into ours, His blood into ours. The fruit of this union is eternal life and joy, not only for ourselves, but also for other souls who will through our living communion and union with God, come to be born again in the spirit and so share in this eternal union of love with God as well.
This is why we must do more than just show up for Holy Mass. We must participate actively, fully, consciously, and fruitfully at the Holy Mass. For the marriage of our souls to God to occur at Holy Mass, we too, like a husband and wife must more and more completely give ourselves to God, Who comes again and gives himself to Us. In fact, our Holy Communion with God at Holy Communion only bears fruit in our lives, in our families and in our world to the extent we give our selves to God in love—In other words, communion only turns to union with the two say “I do” and mean it. And in our cause, live out our “I do” faithfully in our daily lives for Love of God and for love of neighbor for love of God.
And,this is why we need the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was the one who most perfectly gave her yes, her “I do,” the gift of our complete self to God. She will help us at each and every Holy Mass we attend to more and more trustingly give ourselves to God. She will obtain for us the grace to live our life, like she did, faithful to our yes to God by doing whatever He tells us and giving our self to Him completely at Holy Mass thus bearing great fruit in our life—the fruit of holiness—oneness with God. She will then use us to lead others to the “Wedding Feast of the Lamb” and so come to share in the consummation of love for all of eternity.
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In today’s Gospel we hear of the Mystery of the Second Luminous
mystery of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary—the Wedding Feast of Cana. Every mystery of the Holy Rosary has a grace assigned to it. And so, the grace we ask for while contemplating of this new mystery of the Holy Rosary, is the grace to more fully offer ourselves—all that have, do, think and are, to Jesus through Mary. We entrust ourselves to Jesus Mother so that she can help us to offer ourselves in Faith, Hope and Love to the God who has given us everything, even to our very existence, all in order that we can become One with God-the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and for all eternity. This is the purpose for which each of us as been created—to be one with God in a union of love.
You may not have thought about this before, but what is that God really wants from you? What He really wants from you is simply “you.” In other words, we can say that God desires to wed you soul, to bring you to Himself and make you one with Him in the ultimate of all weddings…and the two shall become one. A Sacramental marriage between a man and woman symbolizes and points to this Wedding of all weddings.
And so, one of most used imagery God uses throughout the bible to describe what sort of relationship He wants with each of us is wedding imagery. We hear it in our first reading from the book of Isaiah: As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder (capital B) shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you. In other words, “Your Creator God shall marry you!” So it is no coincidence that Jesus begins His public ministry, His ministry to heal and save souls bring them to union with God, at a wedding feast.
Now for the men listening to this, the ideal of God wedding your soul may seem somewhat foreign. But we mustn’t think of this in a carnal way, but in a spiritual way. The purpose and end of all love is union—to be close and even one with the one we love and who loves us. And there is no one who loves us more than God Himself; in fact it is His love that keeps us in existence; His love has given us everything we have, including those we love. And in His love for us, He wishes us to love Him in return, and so to be close to Him; and in fact, One with Him.
How and where does this union with God begin to take place? Well it begins with our baptism. In our baptism our soul was given the capacity to become One with God. And then through the other Sacraments, if we receive them with a proper disposition, this union is nourished, grows and becomes perfected. That is, as long as we continue to give our yes and cooperate with this plan of God by keeping His Commandments with the help of His grace and offering our hearts to Him more and more completely.
And the primary place where we come to give our yes and cooperate with this plan of God and offer ourselves to Him is at the Holy Mass, each and every week. This is why the Holy Mass is called the “wedding feast of the Lamb.” It is the place were Jesus, the Bridegroom, literally comes down from Heaven anew in the flesh, in the Holy Eucharist and gives His yes, His “I Do” to His bride the Church, that is to each one of us when He says, “This is my Body, given up for you.” “This is my blood given up for you.” Jesus is here saying, I love you so much that not only do I give you my “I do” but I offer you my total self, all that I am and have, the fullness of my love, my complete self-Body, Blood, and Soul. And because Jesus is God, this means He is saying as well, I give you even the fullness of my Divinity.
But in order for this union of our soul to God to take placed at the Wedding Feast of all wedding feast, which is the Holy Mass, we--you and I must give our “I do” in response to Jesus’ “I do.” Think about it this way, what happens if at wedding between a man and woman, one or more of them refuses to say “I do,” or says “I do,” and really doesn’t mean it. In this case, does a wedding occur, is the marriage real or valid? Or is it a wedding if one of the two doesn’t show up or shows up but doesn’t participate? Of course not. Both man and the woman must freely, in love, give their “I Do” to each other, which means offer their complete self to one another. In other words, each one must say in a sense, “This is my body given up for you; in love, I give myself to you forever in order to become one with you in union of unending love.”
A man and wife, if they say these most beautiful of words, and if they mean these words, then the two of them will become one in love. And then these beautiful wedding vows are consummated; which means they become one forever until death do them part, not only in words but also in the flesh, during the marital act the night of the wedding. The fruit of this union is life and joy, not only for the couple themselves, but also for another person who is conceived and born as a fruit of this union of love.
So too, and even in more perfect way at the Holy Mass. If we give our “I do” to God, offering to Him at the Altar our complete “yes” our complete self in love we to can become one with God, not only until death do us part but for ever. In fact, at the Holy Mass our “I do” our wedding vows with God also become consummated at the martial act of the Holy Mass. And the Marital act of the Holy Mass is Holy Communion where we become “one flesh” with Jesus when we consume His Body into ours, His blood into ours. The fruit of this union is eternal life and joy, not only for ourselves, but also for other souls who will through our living communion and union with God, come to be born again in the spirit and so share in this eternal union of love with God as well.
This is why we must do more than just show up for Holy Mass. We must participate actively, fully, consciously, and fruitfully at the Holy Mass. For the marriage of our souls to God to occur at Holy Mass, we too, like a husband and wife must more and more completely give ourselves to God, Who comes again and gives himself to Us. In fact, our Holy Communion with God at Holy Communion only bears fruit in our lives, in our families and in our world to the extent we give our selves to God in love—In other words, communion only turns to union with the two say “I do” and mean it. And in our cause, live out our “I do” faithfully in our daily lives for Love of God and for love of neighbor for love of God.
And,this is why we need the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was the one who most perfectly gave her yes, her “I do,” the gift of our complete self to God. She will help us at each and every Holy Mass we attend to more and more trustingly give ourselves to God. She will obtain for us the grace to live our life, like she did, faithful to our yes to God by doing whatever He tells us and giving our self to Him completely at Holy Mass thus bearing great fruit in our life—the fruit of holiness—oneness with God. She will then use us to lead others to the “Wedding Feast of the Lamb” and so come to share in the consummation of love for all of eternity.
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Tuesday, January 5, 2016
This is the true meaning of Christmas and its gift giving, to loving give the gift of our heart, to the One, Jesus who first gives us the gift of His.
As we continue in our great Celebration of Christmas, we come to today’s feast. Today we celebrate the feast of Epiphany. Epiphany, the day the three wise men came from a far to Bethlehem to adore the newborn King. Epiphany, which means manifestation, was the day that through the Wisemen, Christ was made Manifest to all the world, not just to the Jews, but the gentiles as well.
We know the Wisemen or Magi were probably astrologers, philosophers or maybe even Magicians before they were converted to the Christ Child. Their gifts are symbols to tell-reveal to the whole world both who this newborn Child really is and what is His mission. But the gifts also reveal to us who we are and what we are to do before this newborn king as well, that is how we are to act and what we, you and me, are to offer to Him.
With regards to who Jesus is; the Gold they offered signifies their tribute to Him as King of all kings. The incense shows us their faith that this seemingly ordinary child was indeed the true God Himself in the flesh, and thus worthy of our worship and adoration...incense is only offered to God. And the Myrrh, which was used to embalm dead bodies reveals to us Jesus' mission. It reveals to us that now God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity has become Man. Jesus, the God-Man born into this world not to live but to die, so that each of us might have life as beloved sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father; this is His mission.
And so in faith, the Magi come to adore the God King become man, who was before them in silence and poverty as a little child. In silence and poverty as well, they not only kneel down in adoration but they prostrate, on their faces in adoration before their King and their God. They offer God in Person their finest gifts. But these exterior gifts were “manifestations” if you will, of a much greater gift, the gift of their hearts, the gift of all that they had, and all that they were, the complete offering of themselves in love.
The three Wisemen are led to their God by a star. We discover that the star of the epiphany over the crib is Bethlehem is an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the star of the east who always points the way to Christmas, to Christ’s Mass; and so, to the true presence there of God still in the flesh in the Holy Eucharist. In this we can say Mary Christ Mass.
Here, at Holy Mass, at Christ’s Mass, in the modern stable of the Church we, as sons and daughters of the Most High, are to imitate the Wisemen and come before the newborn king reborn in the flesh on the crib of the altar of sacrifice though the miracle of Transubstantion. And so the actions of the Wisemen reveal to us as well, what we are to do before the newborn King born a new on the sacred altar at every sacrifice of the Mass and always present in the tabernacle for us to come and adore.
Before the Eucharistic newborn King, we just like the Wisemen, are to adore the newborn King in great reverence, poverty and silence. We too should kneel; and dare I say, even prostrate before the Lord our God. And there with great faith, we too are to bring our finest gifts before the God-King but not just gold, incense, and Myrrh.
In our case, the gold we are to give to the Person of Jesus is the treasure of all of our heart, all of our love offered to Jesus' Sacred Heart which is made truly present in the flesh and alive and beating for love of us in the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The Incense we are to offer is the sweat fragrance of our good works, of our little acts of love done each day to show our Love of God and those acts done to others for love of God...all that we think, say and do for love of God first, and then for love of neighbor for love of God. Of course, the best way to offer the incense of our daily good works is to offer them, to Jesus through Mary.
And what of the Myrrh? The myrrh is the very sacrifice of our will, of our life, of our complete self, on this altar of sacrifice in loving response to the God who sacrifices Himself anew for us; to intend to live from this day on, more perfectly within the Holy Will of God.
But the sacrifice of our gifts, of ourselves isn’t the end. When we leave our gifts before Jesus newly born on the altar, He, never being outdone in generosity or love, repays the sacrifice of our gift of self with something not even the Wisemen were able to experience. Jesus leaves the crib and offers us the True Gift of Christmas, the gift Himself in the flesh, body, blood, soul and divinity…His complete gift of self in Holy Communion.
And through our Holy Communion with Him, He will possess our hearts and consume us in His love, staying within us through His Spirit even after we return home. But he can only remain within our hearts, if we leave all our earthly treasures behind and open our hearts, offer our hearts as the true gifts of Christmas to the Christ Child, just as did the three Wisemen, which is why they were wise.
This is the true meaning of Christmas and its gift giving, to loving give the gift of our heart, to the One, Jesus who first gives us the gift of His.
As result as our encounter at Holy Mass, with His true presence, with His once and for all sacrifice for us, and with our Communion with the God-King, newly born at every Holy Mass, how can we not allow ourselves to be changed by Jesus when we receive Him? We are told that after the three kings experienced Jesus they left and return to their country by another way. This "other way signifies" that once we have an encounter with the incarnate God in the Eucharist we too must leave by another way…that is we must leave this Church changed by the encounter, we must leave the old behind and begin to live anew in Christ and with Christ.
Now that we have been lead to Him and found Him, we must, absolutely must allow ourselves to be changed by this real encounter with the Christ Child, truly, personally and physically present in the Holy Eucharist. We must live another way than we have in the past. By our lives we ourselves must now manifest, reveal Jesus to the world around us—Our lives must be an epiphany of Christ and His love to others.
But before we can be transformed into the living Image of Jesus in order to manifest Him to our world, so steeped in the darkness of sin, we must offer God true worship—not just correct exterior worship as important and necessary as this is, but even more importantly correct interior worship. In other words, the Wisemen’s gifts were not just an exterior worship of God in the flesh before them. Their gifts corresponded with their interior worship which was the offering of their hearts, their complete selves to God, present in the flesh in the Christ Child. So to with us at Holy Mass. We can not just offer Jesus exterior worship, we must do this yes, and very well, but more importantly, our exterior must correspond with our interior worship, the offering of the gift of our hearts, all that we have and are for love of Jesus…this is adoration and true worship of God and this is what the gift of the Wisemen ultimately signify.
We like the Wisemen need to turn to the Star of the East, Mary, Our Blessed Mother, and ask her to help deepen our own faith, hope and love for the Christ Child-God in still present in the flesh on earth in the Holy Eucharist. The Mother of God is present at every Holy Mass in order to help us to adore her Son. By offering our hearts to Him through her hands, she will present them to her Child as if they were her own. He hands will be the living paten on which we place our heart to offer them to Jesus. She will them help us to trust in Jesus and cut any strings which prevent us from giving them totally to Him, in strings which are holding our hearts to this earth preventing us from becoming One with God. Jesus will accept our hearts from Her, She will obtain for us the grace to live out our self-offering in our daily lives, so that we can bring Christ to others and so lead them to union with God as well.
Holy Mary, stella Maris, stella orientis—Holy Mary, star of the sea, star of the east pray for us, lead us safely to Jesus; to Jesus born anew on our Altars and who awaits night and day, and so many times alone, for adorers to come and adore Him in all the tabernacles of the world, so that He can fill them with His Divine Love, with the gift of His very self, He who is love itself. Dear Mother, help us to become those true adorers for whom the Father is searching, those who will adore Him in Spirit and in Truth, that is, in the truth of the Person of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and through the power of the Holy Spirit, and live that true adoration of God out in our daily lives, doing all we do for love of God and love of neighbor for love of God manifesting and bringing the light, love and mercy of Jesus, bringing Jesus Himself to the world. Amen.
We know the Wisemen or Magi were probably astrologers, philosophers or maybe even Magicians before they were converted to the Christ Child. Their gifts are symbols to tell-reveal to the whole world both who this newborn Child really is and what is His mission. But the gifts also reveal to us who we are and what we are to do before this newborn king as well, that is how we are to act and what we, you and me, are to offer to Him.
With regards to who Jesus is; the Gold they offered signifies their tribute to Him as King of all kings. The incense shows us their faith that this seemingly ordinary child was indeed the true God Himself in the flesh, and thus worthy of our worship and adoration...incense is only offered to God. And the Myrrh, which was used to embalm dead bodies reveals to us Jesus' mission. It reveals to us that now God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity has become Man. Jesus, the God-Man born into this world not to live but to die, so that each of us might have life as beloved sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father; this is His mission.
And so in faith, the Magi come to adore the God King become man, who was before them in silence and poverty as a little child. In silence and poverty as well, they not only kneel down in adoration but they prostrate, on their faces in adoration before their King and their God. They offer God in Person their finest gifts. But these exterior gifts were “manifestations” if you will, of a much greater gift, the gift of their hearts, the gift of all that they had, and all that they were, the complete offering of themselves in love.
The three Wisemen are led to their God by a star. We discover that the star of the epiphany over the crib is Bethlehem is an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the star of the east who always points the way to Christmas, to Christ’s Mass; and so, to the true presence there of God still in the flesh in the Holy Eucharist. In this we can say Mary Christ Mass.
Here, at Holy Mass, at Christ’s Mass, in the modern stable of the Church we, as sons and daughters of the Most High, are to imitate the Wisemen and come before the newborn king reborn in the flesh on the crib of the altar of sacrifice though the miracle of Transubstantion. And so the actions of the Wisemen reveal to us as well, what we are to do before the newborn King born a new on the sacred altar at every sacrifice of the Mass and always present in the tabernacle for us to come and adore.
Before the Eucharistic newborn King, we just like the Wisemen, are to adore the newborn King in great reverence, poverty and silence. We too should kneel; and dare I say, even prostrate before the Lord our God. And there with great faith, we too are to bring our finest gifts before the God-King but not just gold, incense, and Myrrh.
In our case, the gold we are to give to the Person of Jesus is the treasure of all of our heart, all of our love offered to Jesus' Sacred Heart which is made truly present in the flesh and alive and beating for love of us in the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The Incense we are to offer is the sweat fragrance of our good works, of our little acts of love done each day to show our Love of God and those acts done to others for love of God...all that we think, say and do for love of God first, and then for love of neighbor for love of God. Of course, the best way to offer the incense of our daily good works is to offer them, to Jesus through Mary.
And what of the Myrrh? The myrrh is the very sacrifice of our will, of our life, of our complete self, on this altar of sacrifice in loving response to the God who sacrifices Himself anew for us; to intend to live from this day on, more perfectly within the Holy Will of God.
But the sacrifice of our gifts, of ourselves isn’t the end. When we leave our gifts before Jesus newly born on the altar, He, never being outdone in generosity or love, repays the sacrifice of our gift of self with something not even the Wisemen were able to experience. Jesus leaves the crib and offers us the True Gift of Christmas, the gift Himself in the flesh, body, blood, soul and divinity…His complete gift of self in Holy Communion.
And through our Holy Communion with Him, He will possess our hearts and consume us in His love, staying within us through His Spirit even after we return home. But he can only remain within our hearts, if we leave all our earthly treasures behind and open our hearts, offer our hearts as the true gifts of Christmas to the Christ Child, just as did the three Wisemen, which is why they were wise.
This is the true meaning of Christmas and its gift giving, to loving give the gift of our heart, to the One, Jesus who first gives us the gift of His.
As result as our encounter at Holy Mass, with His true presence, with His once and for all sacrifice for us, and with our Communion with the God-King, newly born at every Holy Mass, how can we not allow ourselves to be changed by Jesus when we receive Him? We are told that after the three kings experienced Jesus they left and return to their country by another way. This "other way signifies" that once we have an encounter with the incarnate God in the Eucharist we too must leave by another way…that is we must leave this Church changed by the encounter, we must leave the old behind and begin to live anew in Christ and with Christ.
Now that we have been lead to Him and found Him, we must, absolutely must allow ourselves to be changed by this real encounter with the Christ Child, truly, personally and physically present in the Holy Eucharist. We must live another way than we have in the past. By our lives we ourselves must now manifest, reveal Jesus to the world around us—Our lives must be an epiphany of Christ and His love to others.
But before we can be transformed into the living Image of Jesus in order to manifest Him to our world, so steeped in the darkness of sin, we must offer God true worship—not just correct exterior worship as important and necessary as this is, but even more importantly correct interior worship. In other words, the Wisemen’s gifts were not just an exterior worship of God in the flesh before them. Their gifts corresponded with their interior worship which was the offering of their hearts, their complete selves to God, present in the flesh in the Christ Child. So to with us at Holy Mass. We can not just offer Jesus exterior worship, we must do this yes, and very well, but more importantly, our exterior must correspond with our interior worship, the offering of the gift of our hearts, all that we have and are for love of Jesus…this is adoration and true worship of God and this is what the gift of the Wisemen ultimately signify.
We like the Wisemen need to turn to the Star of the East, Mary, Our Blessed Mother, and ask her to help deepen our own faith, hope and love for the Christ Child-God in still present in the flesh on earth in the Holy Eucharist. The Mother of God is present at every Holy Mass in order to help us to adore her Son. By offering our hearts to Him through her hands, she will present them to her Child as if they were her own. He hands will be the living paten on which we place our heart to offer them to Jesus. She will them help us to trust in Jesus and cut any strings which prevent us from giving them totally to Him, in strings which are holding our hearts to this earth preventing us from becoming One with God. Jesus will accept our hearts from Her, She will obtain for us the grace to live out our self-offering in our daily lives, so that we can bring Christ to others and so lead them to union with God as well.
Holy Mary, stella Maris, stella orientis—Holy Mary, star of the sea, star of the east pray for us, lead us safely to Jesus; to Jesus born anew on our Altars and who awaits night and day, and so many times alone, for adorers to come and adore Him in all the tabernacles of the world, so that He can fill them with His Divine Love, with the gift of His very self, He who is love itself. Dear Mother, help us to become those true adorers for whom the Father is searching, those who will adore Him in Spirit and in Truth, that is, in the truth of the Person of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and through the power of the Holy Spirit, and live that true adoration of God out in our daily lives, doing all we do for love of God and love of neighbor for love of God manifesting and bringing the light, love and mercy of Jesus, bringing Jesus Himself to the world. Amen.
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Let us not be afraid to offer our all to this little Child who is our Everything, this Child who has given us everything and everyone we have.
Christmas 2015
Oh Holy night…the night on which our Savior was born. On this Holy night the Virgin gave birth to the One who is called Emmanuel, which means God is with us forever. The little babe born on Christmas night was and is, as the beautiful song, Adeste Fiddles (O come all ye faithful) says, “God from God, Light from Light, He comes forth from the Virgin’s womb, Our True God, begotten not made….”
Jesus, The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity come to earth, sent by the Father, has become one of us. It has been said that in the birth of Jesus, God condescended Himself in order to reach down to man who could not and cannot lift Himself up to God. As St. Augustine put it, “The Son of God became a Son of Man so that the sons of men could become sons of God.” If Jesus would have been came into to this world has a rich powerful King, that would have been condescension enough; but if more than that, Jesus has come into this world as a poor defenseless little babe, born in a stable because their was no room for Him, not even in a Inn.
The first place God in the flesh became present in this world was in a barn filled with food for animals, along with the animals themselves and all the smells that go along with them. He was laid in a manager from which the animals ate their food, a sign that this Child would become the Bread to be eaten by men. In fact, the town of Bethlehem itself means “House of Bread.” Not only did God become one of us, but He is wrapped in swaddling clothes, signifying that He would die in order to be able to give Himself as our food in the Holy Eucharist,-the “Bread of Life,” food for our eternal life. In the Holy Eucharist we can say God is truly Emmanuel-God with us, because the Holy Eucharist is literally Jesus Himself, still on earth, still in the flesh, with us always.
On this night Jesus does not wish to remain laying in a manger. No, at this Holy Christ Mass and every Holy Mass, Jesus wishes to become our food in order to give Himself, and all that He is and all that He has in the totality of His love, to Us. He wishes to enter into the stable of our hearts through Holy Communion in order to be united with us in love. He then wishes to use us to take His light, love and mercy out into our world which is so desperately in need of Jesus and His saving and healing power. But first we must make room for Him in the inn of our souls.
To receive such a gift, in fact the Christmas gifts of all gifts, we must on this altar give Him the gifts of ourself, all that we are and all that we have in the totality of our love. He comes to us this night as a little child so that we won’t be afraid of Him who is the awesome, majestic and almighty God, who made the heavens and the earth and all things in them and who continues to keep all things, including you and me in existence.
Let us not be afraid to offer our all to this little Child who is our Everything, this Child who has given us everything and everyone we have. When we give ourselves completely to Jesus we lose nothing of ourselves but gain everything besides, for we gain God, we possess Him and are possessed by Him. O come let us Adore Him. Let us adore the Child Jesus truly, physically present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist. Let us through faith, see His adorable face in the Holy Eucharist and come before Him in silence so we can hear Him speak. He alone is the answer to all of our hopes and fears through out the years. Jesus I trust in You!!!
Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is the reason for the season, but so to is Mary. Without her Jesus could not have become man; and so, without her we would not have Jesus in the Holy Eucharist-God with us. May we turn to the Virgin and entrust ourself to Her, so that she may present our hearts to Her Son. From Her hands He will truly accept us; and from her, we will receive the grace to live our lives united to Her Divine Child—Jesus, and make Him and His love present to all we meet. Amen.
I wish you all a very Blessed and Merry Christmas! May the Christ Child bless you and your families abundantly, may His Holy Mother wrap you in her mantle of mercy.
Oh Holy night…the night on which our Savior was born. On this Holy night the Virgin gave birth to the One who is called Emmanuel, which means God is with us forever. The little babe born on Christmas night was and is, as the beautiful song, Adeste Fiddles (O come all ye faithful) says, “God from God, Light from Light, He comes forth from the Virgin’s womb, Our True God, begotten not made….”
Jesus, The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity come to earth, sent by the Father, has become one of us. It has been said that in the birth of Jesus, God condescended Himself in order to reach down to man who could not and cannot lift Himself up to God. As St. Augustine put it, “The Son of God became a Son of Man so that the sons of men could become sons of God.” If Jesus would have been came into to this world has a rich powerful King, that would have been condescension enough; but if more than that, Jesus has come into this world as a poor defenseless little babe, born in a stable because their was no room for Him, not even in a Inn.
The first place God in the flesh became present in this world was in a barn filled with food for animals, along with the animals themselves and all the smells that go along with them. He was laid in a manager from which the animals ate their food, a sign that this Child would become the Bread to be eaten by men. In fact, the town of Bethlehem itself means “House of Bread.” Not only did God become one of us, but He is wrapped in swaddling clothes, signifying that He would die in order to be able to give Himself as our food in the Holy Eucharist,-the “Bread of Life,” food for our eternal life. In the Holy Eucharist we can say God is truly Emmanuel-God with us, because the Holy Eucharist is literally Jesus Himself, still on earth, still in the flesh, with us always.
On this night Jesus does not wish to remain laying in a manger. No, at this Holy Christ Mass and every Holy Mass, Jesus wishes to become our food in order to give Himself, and all that He is and all that He has in the totality of His love, to Us. He wishes to enter into the stable of our hearts through Holy Communion in order to be united with us in love. He then wishes to use us to take His light, love and mercy out into our world which is so desperately in need of Jesus and His saving and healing power. But first we must make room for Him in the inn of our souls.
To receive such a gift, in fact the Christmas gifts of all gifts, we must on this altar give Him the gifts of ourself, all that we are and all that we have in the totality of our love. He comes to us this night as a little child so that we won’t be afraid of Him who is the awesome, majestic and almighty God, who made the heavens and the earth and all things in them and who continues to keep all things, including you and me in existence.
Let us not be afraid to offer our all to this little Child who is our Everything, this Child who has given us everything and everyone we have. When we give ourselves completely to Jesus we lose nothing of ourselves but gain everything besides, for we gain God, we possess Him and are possessed by Him. O come let us Adore Him. Let us adore the Child Jesus truly, physically present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist. Let us through faith, see His adorable face in the Holy Eucharist and come before Him in silence so we can hear Him speak. He alone is the answer to all of our hopes and fears through out the years. Jesus I trust in You!!!
Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is the reason for the season, but so to is Mary. Without her Jesus could not have become man; and so, without her we would not have Jesus in the Holy Eucharist-God with us. May we turn to the Virgin and entrust ourself to Her, so that she may present our hearts to Her Son. From Her hands He will truly accept us; and from her, we will receive the grace to live our lives united to Her Divine Child—Jesus, and make Him and His love present to all we meet. Amen.
I wish you all a very Blessed and Merry Christmas! May the Christ Child bless you and your families abundantly, may His Holy Mother wrap you in her mantle of mercy.
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Holy Mary, Mother of the Christ Child and so Mother of Mercy, pray for us, help us to offer our hearts totally to Jesus, may our heart and His become as one, for us and for the whole world. Amen
“Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste.” These words begin our Gospel today. And speaking of “haste,” and as it is so close to Christmas, I would wager most children wish they could have Christmas come with great “haste,” like, right now!!!
This week will certainly be the most hectic week of the year; finishing the shopping, preparing the meals, finishing the decorating, and the cards and gifts, the list is endless. We can certainly feel the pressure and the “haste” with which we will have to accomplish all that we have to get done before Christmas. And so it may also be the case, that we have not reflected much on, and so have not finished, our more important spiritual preparation for Christmas....maybe we are thinking, “I’ve got to get to confession this week!” Hopefully, this is what we are thinking if we have not yet made it.
We have to admit that many of the things we do this week will have to be done in haste if they are going to get done at all. But before we panic, let us again remind ourselves of what the season of Advent is all about and what; or should I say, Who we are really preparing for. Our Advent season is a time of expecting Christ to come, not only liturgically at Christmas, not only spiritually more deeply into the crib of our hearts, and not only at the end of the world or the end of our life which ever comes first, but also expecting and preparing for His second coming right here at this holy Mass and at every Holy Mass. For it is here, at Holy Mass, that Jesus comes again no less in the flesh than He did on that first Christmas night some two thousand years ago.
To help us prepare, in what little time we have left, today in our Gospel, we discover that our Lord often comes to us through a big surprise. In today's Gospel, we hear the account of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Elizabeth—the encounter of the two expectant mothers. For the two of them, their encounter was something that was not planned or even expected; it was a big surprise.
The surprise actually began when Zachariah the priest was offering the sacrifice in the Holy of Holies and St. Gabriel appeared to him, announcing that Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth would have a son in their old age (Not to mention that Zachariah even being chosen as the High Priest to enter into the Holies of Holy was a big surprise. Out of the tens of thousand of High Priests, it was improbable that one would be chosen in one’s lifetime). What a big surprise that must have been to see an angel, must less, St. Gabriel. In fact, poor Zachariah was so surprised he couldn't even believe what the archangel was telling him. After all, Elizabeth, his wife, had prayed for so long for a child, but remained barren and now was way past her child bearing years.
Yes, it was a big surprise from God, but Elizabeth had indeed conceived a child. So surprised was she, that she actually went into seclusion; you'd could almost image how embarrassed she must have been conceiving at such an old age. But there in seclusion, she was in for another big surprise from the Lord, when her cousin Mary came to visit. Mary too was with Child. And because of Mary's Child, surprisingly, the child within Elizabeth's own womb leaped for joy, as John the Baptist was sanctified, made holy, by the Christ Child while the two where still in their mother’s wombs. How big a surprise all of this was.
God had exceeded their wildest dreams and had fulfilled His Holy Will in these surprising events. In them, we discover that the heart of Elizabeth was open to the great surprise of God. After experiencing the surprise of the first Eucharistic procession, as Jesus was carried in to the presence of Elizabeth by a living monstrance—the Blessed Virgin Mary herself, Elizabeth exclaimed, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” In light of the surprises of God in today's Gospel, we can only imagine about all sorts of surprises that God is capable of doing in our own lives if we are open like Elizabeth.
As Christmas nears, we can all think about the big surprises we have had in Christmas' gone by And we all look forward, especially us who are kids at heart, for big surprise to come this Christmas. And even more we hope to surprise those we love with a special gift in order to show them how much they mean to us and how much we love them.
We, in our last days before Christmas, have the opportunity to be surprised, not only by our families, but by our Blessed Lord. Because He loves you so much, Our God this Christmas wants to give you as well, a big surprise. His surprises however, come in ways we are not expecting. In fact, they come in the ordinary and even in the mundane events of everyday life.
God’s surprises come in the darkness and the quietness of a womb; and in the darkness and quietness of a stable cave. His big surprises comes to us in a tiny little ordinary poor babe, who is at the same time the Almighty God truly among us as one of us. And finally, His biggest surprise of all comes to us at Holy Mass as apparently ordinary words are spoken over ordinary bread and wine and that same little babe of Bethlehem is born anew on this sacred altar--the bread and wine transformed, through the miracle of transubstantiation, into Emmanuel--God still with us—Jesus truly present in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
Perhaps because it was so ordinary, most people missed the birth of Jesus some two thousand years ago and so missed the biggest surprise of our God. So many sadly continue to miss His coming again at every Holy Mass. And so, the question is, are we prepared for the big surprise God wants to give you this Christmas and at every Holy Christ’ Mass. Is our heart open to receive it…Him?
It not's too late, there is still time, but let us make haste!!! Oh the surprises that Our Good God has in store for those who believe, adore, hope and love Him in the Holy Eucharist!!! It is the greatest surprise of all, the greatest gift of all, because it is the gift of Himself. May we accept more fully this gift by offering more fully the gift of our own heart in return—for this is the true meaning of the Holy Mass and of Christmas—it is meant to be the ultimate exchange of gifts, God’s heart gifted to us and ours gifted to His…in fact to be open, as was Elizabeth, to the Heart of Christ really means to offer our heart in return to Him—in other words, our hearts are only open to the gift of the Heart of Jesus to the extent that we trustingly and lovingly offer our hearts in return.
Let us turn to the Virgin Mother to help us. Holy Mary, Mother of the Christ Child and so Mother of Mercy, pray for us, help us to offer our hearts totally to Jesus, may our heart and His become as one, for us and for the whole world. Jesus I trust in Thee. Amen
This week will certainly be the most hectic week of the year; finishing the shopping, preparing the meals, finishing the decorating, and the cards and gifts, the list is endless. We can certainly feel the pressure and the “haste” with which we will have to accomplish all that we have to get done before Christmas. And so it may also be the case, that we have not reflected much on, and so have not finished, our more important spiritual preparation for Christmas....maybe we are thinking, “I’ve got to get to confession this week!” Hopefully, this is what we are thinking if we have not yet made it.
We have to admit that many of the things we do this week will have to be done in haste if they are going to get done at all. But before we panic, let us again remind ourselves of what the season of Advent is all about and what; or should I say, Who we are really preparing for. Our Advent season is a time of expecting Christ to come, not only liturgically at Christmas, not only spiritually more deeply into the crib of our hearts, and not only at the end of the world or the end of our life which ever comes first, but also expecting and preparing for His second coming right here at this holy Mass and at every Holy Mass. For it is here, at Holy Mass, that Jesus comes again no less in the flesh than He did on that first Christmas night some two thousand years ago.
To help us prepare, in what little time we have left, today in our Gospel, we discover that our Lord often comes to us through a big surprise. In today's Gospel, we hear the account of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Elizabeth—the encounter of the two expectant mothers. For the two of them, their encounter was something that was not planned or even expected; it was a big surprise.
The surprise actually began when Zachariah the priest was offering the sacrifice in the Holy of Holies and St. Gabriel appeared to him, announcing that Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth would have a son in their old age (Not to mention that Zachariah even being chosen as the High Priest to enter into the Holies of Holy was a big surprise. Out of the tens of thousand of High Priests, it was improbable that one would be chosen in one’s lifetime). What a big surprise that must have been to see an angel, must less, St. Gabriel. In fact, poor Zachariah was so surprised he couldn't even believe what the archangel was telling him. After all, Elizabeth, his wife, had prayed for so long for a child, but remained barren and now was way past her child bearing years.
Yes, it was a big surprise from God, but Elizabeth had indeed conceived a child. So surprised was she, that she actually went into seclusion; you'd could almost image how embarrassed she must have been conceiving at such an old age. But there in seclusion, she was in for another big surprise from the Lord, when her cousin Mary came to visit. Mary too was with Child. And because of Mary's Child, surprisingly, the child within Elizabeth's own womb leaped for joy, as John the Baptist was sanctified, made holy, by the Christ Child while the two where still in their mother’s wombs. How big a surprise all of this was.
God had exceeded their wildest dreams and had fulfilled His Holy Will in these surprising events. In them, we discover that the heart of Elizabeth was open to the great surprise of God. After experiencing the surprise of the first Eucharistic procession, as Jesus was carried in to the presence of Elizabeth by a living monstrance—the Blessed Virgin Mary herself, Elizabeth exclaimed, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” In light of the surprises of God in today's Gospel, we can only imagine about all sorts of surprises that God is capable of doing in our own lives if we are open like Elizabeth.
As Christmas nears, we can all think about the big surprises we have had in Christmas' gone by And we all look forward, especially us who are kids at heart, for big surprise to come this Christmas. And even more we hope to surprise those we love with a special gift in order to show them how much they mean to us and how much we love them.
We, in our last days before Christmas, have the opportunity to be surprised, not only by our families, but by our Blessed Lord. Because He loves you so much, Our God this Christmas wants to give you as well, a big surprise. His surprises however, come in ways we are not expecting. In fact, they come in the ordinary and even in the mundane events of everyday life.
God’s surprises come in the darkness and the quietness of a womb; and in the darkness and quietness of a stable cave. His big surprises comes to us in a tiny little ordinary poor babe, who is at the same time the Almighty God truly among us as one of us. And finally, His biggest surprise of all comes to us at Holy Mass as apparently ordinary words are spoken over ordinary bread and wine and that same little babe of Bethlehem is born anew on this sacred altar--the bread and wine transformed, through the miracle of transubstantiation, into Emmanuel--God still with us—Jesus truly present in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
Perhaps because it was so ordinary, most people missed the birth of Jesus some two thousand years ago and so missed the biggest surprise of our God. So many sadly continue to miss His coming again at every Holy Mass. And so, the question is, are we prepared for the big surprise God wants to give you this Christmas and at every Holy Christ’ Mass. Is our heart open to receive it…Him?
It not's too late, there is still time, but let us make haste!!! Oh the surprises that Our Good God has in store for those who believe, adore, hope and love Him in the Holy Eucharist!!! It is the greatest surprise of all, the greatest gift of all, because it is the gift of Himself. May we accept more fully this gift by offering more fully the gift of our own heart in return—for this is the true meaning of the Holy Mass and of Christmas—it is meant to be the ultimate exchange of gifts, God’s heart gifted to us and ours gifted to His…in fact to be open, as was Elizabeth, to the Heart of Christ really means to offer our heart in return to Him—in other words, our hearts are only open to the gift of the Heart of Jesus to the extent that we trustingly and lovingly offer our hearts in return.
Let us turn to the Virgin Mother to help us. Holy Mary, Mother of the Christ Child and so Mother of Mercy, pray for us, help us to offer our hearts totally to Jesus, may our heart and His become as one, for us and for the whole world. Jesus I trust in Thee. Amen
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