Friday, February 26, 2010


The photo on the right is the Basilica of the Transfiguration in Galilee. It is the traditional site of today's Gospel. It commands a beautiful view of the valley. In the autumn the valley is alive with all sorts of plants. Breath taking...


Spring is that time of the year when all nature seems to come back to life. It is nature’s time of the year to shout: all things will be new. It is a time of hope. The beautiful winter is over. The snow and cold have done their marvelous work of preparing for the newness of spring. Spring is that time of the year when the work of winter comes to fruition.
Lent is the springtime of our lives with God. The seed of the word of God was planted in our hearts. It has been there waiting to come forth ...Lent is the time when we grasp this word and let it see the sunlight of life. The winter cycle must be mixed with spring. Lent is the time to let God sow and reap. It is the time to listen .
Lent is the time to grow in our relationship with God. In many parts of the world, there are people who are preparing for Baptism at the Easter Vigil. The Sundays of Lent will find them standing before the communities into which they will be Baptized and promising to live the “way.”
This is the meaning of Lent: to let the seed of new life planted within us by God blossom in prayer, fasting and good works. But as the reading from the prophet Joel on Ash Wednesday reminds us it is not only for us as individuals but as a community. ”Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly ” we walk this time of newness together or we do not walk it at all. The sense then is of the entire Church looking to God and asking for the grace to re-commit to grow and to remember the great things He has done for us.
Lent is indeed a time of penance. But not a sad penance...rather it is the joyful penance of trying to turn to God in a deeper way...can there be anything sad about this except perhaps the remembrance of the times we turned to ourselves rather than to Him?
Lent is a time of preparation. It is the time when we look forward to the celebration of the Paschal Feast...but it is also the time when we prepare in a special way to celebrate the Easter mysteries every day. We can not celebrate Easter in April if we do not celebrate it today.
Lent is a time to remember. We remember who we are and whom God has made us. In remembering we go beyond this world into the world of God.

SECOND WEEK OF LENT

MONDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK (Daniel 9:4b-10; Luke 6,36-38) The Gospel for today has a rather simple message. All it is asking us to do is go into our hearts and ask one question: What are those things which I want? The answer comes up; forgiveness, understanding, patience. Having answered for ourselves we are further challenged to give those very things to those around us.
Question:
1: What are those things you want which you can give to someone else?

TUESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK ( Is.1,10,16-20; Matt.23,1-12) The spiritual “ladder climber”...piling up a large amount of things we have done “for God”...verging on an attempt to bribe God. It happens, most times unconsciously, but the equation of: “I’ve done this therefore...”.is still operative in the spiritual lives of people. The mentality of the broad phylacteries and long tassels is not over…It is so easy to fall into the way of the scribes. When we look at it there is a certain security involved. We pay the money of our good works for the security that God will give almost like going to a super-market.
We are being asked to surrender that “security” for the “insecurity “ of service. Not to worry or be concerned about rewards...Just to do it because it is part of the covenant with God...Instead of climbing the ladder ourselves, we are being asked to hold the ladder so that other people may climb to God...We hold it by prayer, by fasting and good works...these lead to good example that in turn help people along the way. This type of service while being insecure is in fact the most secure.
Question:
1: Is your security in the things you have done or have or in the Lord?

WEDNESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK (2Sam.7:74-5,12-14a,16; Rom.4:13,16-18, 22; Matt.1:16, 18-21, 24a) The doors are open to many possibilities in reflecting on this feast. Joseph calls us to look at our faith, our commitments, our courage. He challenges us to listen to our dreams. What strikes me now about Joseph is that he is a man who tried to do the best he could. Many times he was not sure , there were times when he just did not understand, but he kept on going.

THURSDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK (Jer.17,5-10;Lk.16,19-31)What is my attitude towards the things of creation? Or more basically towards the things which I possess.? Today’s Gospel forces us to consider these questions because the bottom line is that the rich man looked at things as “this is mine”...We may call this attitude a form of greed. The sense of interdependence was not there. The rich man, did not see that he was tied into the poor man sitting at the front door. We use the word “charity” but that could be very misleading. This interdependence which we have with one another demands “justice”. When I give, it is not just giving something which I possess, but rather something which the poor person has a right in justice to demand.
Many years ago there was a group of people distributing rice cakes to the homeless in Tokyo. It was a very difficult hurdle to get over realizing that these people in taking the cakes were not taking “charity” but rather something which the homeless could in distributive justice claim as there own.
Of course, the poor can be greedy also. They may want and want, and put demands which go beyond the claims of justice. This is the point where concrete decisions are necessary. We can be unjust by enabling someone to remain where they are...but at the same time we must realize that what we have in some way belongs to them...
I think, after having gone through this Gospel, what it teaches us is stewardship and not ownership, to use God’s possessions without saying that “this is mine”....Interdependence with others rather than living in my own isolated world is my reality. People have a right to know who I am.
Question:
1: How do you envision justice and charity?

FRIDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK .(Gn.37,3-4,12-28;Matt.21,33-43,45-46) The allegory in this Gospel is very clear.. The landlord is the Father, the servants are the prophets and the son is the Son. Listening is so important. Not only is it important but it is probably one of the most difficult things we have to do in life. It is a science and an art which few of us every truly master. We miss so many things...And of course some of the things we hear we do not want to hear and tuck them away in some safe place where they do not cause us any inconvenience.
Sometimes we hear things which beckon us to give up something which we treasure. Probably the people of the Old Testament to whom the prophets were sent had this problem. They were prosperous but they heard words about their prosperity which hit them in the heart and they did not listen. It just was not convenient to do, it meant letting go of too much. Their own thoughts were too precious to them ...The way they looked at reality did not permit this “other” voice to change it; it was a voice they could not understand through the darkness of their own self interest. Their greed had closed their hearts to any voice except their own.
It does not take too much imagination to see the connection to our own lives. The words which are spoken in the Gospel are so difficult to really hear and to put into action. They seem to bounce off of us like the wind. They find it so difficult to penetrate our hearts. The voices calling us to God are all about us: in scripture, in nature, in the newspapers, nature, in the voice of a friend or even of an enemy
They are there trying to penetrate the noise of our hearts.
Question:
1: “Blessed are they who mourn” are you willing to mourn over the loss of something good in order to draw closer to God?

SATURDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK (:Micah 7,14-15,18-20; Lk.15,1-3,11-32) Who is the lost son? The usual way of interpreting this is that the lost son is ourselves. The traditional way of looking at the son is as a figure of all of humanity: sinful, having turned from God, and hopefully turning back to him. He is our representative in asking the Father’s forgiveness...The parable of the lost son is one with which most of us have no difficulty identifying with....
There are words which the Gospel uses that could possibly give us a new way of looking at the lost son. At the end of the Gospel such expressions as “ he was dead but is now back to life” bring to mind the resurrection of Jesus. I think the lost son is Jesus, he is talking about himself. But every time Jesus talks about himself He is talking about us...He is saying that He has taken all the sins of man kind on himself. He who is without sin has become sin for our sake. Then he runs to the Father. The Father sees Him coming and runs to Him. It is the parable of us being caught up in the very mystery of Christ and His bringing us back to the Father.
Question:
1: What do you think of Jesus picking up all your sins and making them His own?

Friday, February 19, 2010


Catholic Service Agencies Serving Haitians Call For Rigorous Safeguards In Protecting Haitian Children

WASHINGTON—In a letter to three Cabinet secretaries February 4, the heads of five major Catholic agencies serving Haitian earthquake victims outlined steps that should be taken to ensure the protection of unaccompanied Haitian children in the aftermath of the January 12th earthquake.

The leaders of Migration and Refugee Services of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and the International Catholic Migration Commission wrote on the topic of Haitian children, February 4, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

“The compassion of the American people has been evident in their response to Haitian children who have been left alone after the earthquake,” the executives wrote. “As social service providers with experience in handling unaccompanied children, we believe that certain processes should be established before such children are brought to the United States and placed in adoption proceedings.”

The letter outlined the following procedures to protect Haitian children:

The establishment of safe havens in Haiti so children would have security and proper care;
The assignment of child welfare experts to make best interest determinations for each child, including the best placements for children;
Family tracing efforts so that children could be reunited with their parents and families;
Placement in foster care with refugee benefits for those children whose best interest is served by relocation to the United States; and
Expedited consular processing for U.S. citizens or permanent residents with minor children in Haiti, as well as for those with approved petitions for family reunification.

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FIRST WEEK OF LENT


MONDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK Lev.19,1-2,11-18; Matt.25,31-46) The Commandments...our response to the love of God...It is an amazing thing to realize that God comes out to us and tells us what is right and wrong in order that we may live in the Covenant with Him. The Commandments are not the “do’s” and’” don’ts” as much as they are the rules to free ourselves from the weakness of own selfishness so that we can love.
Really, when we look carefully they are the rule of Love.
To forget oneself, to look at God, ones neighbor.
To search out the possibilities of living the Commandments in our daily lives..this is a great challenge.
What do I mean? To translate them into where I live now. The not to give honor to false gods, to honor mother and father, not to kill, or steal if taken without looking at their implications stand the danger of being washed over much to quickly. They become irrelevant in our lives.
To take one Commandment a day and ask some questions about it would be a good exercise. For example what does it mean to say: Thou shalt not kill. I know I will not kill anyone today at least in the physical sense. But how about the times I may do something to someone which may take a little bit of life away from that person, a quick word, no understanding?. How about the times I deprive myself of life by letting the cares of the day weigh so heavily upon me that the joy of being alive is taken away? Simple questions about the Commandments may make them alive.
The Gospel once again reminds us that the Commandments are meant for flesh and blood and concrete actions. Love has to be enfleshed. Today I may not meet someone who is “hungry” or “naked” but hunger and nakedness in a different sense are all about. A co-worker who needs a little help, to make the place where I spend so much of my day a little more pleasant...to feed the hungry.
Questions:
1: Think of the Commandments in the light of where you now in your life?

TUESDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK .(Is.55,10-11; Matt.6,7-15) A good opportunity to renew our faith in the “word of God.” The first thing which has to be grasped is that it is really and truly God speaking to me. When I reflect on what my words can do to people, make them happy or sad, give them hope, be accepting or rejecting, I get a glimmering of what power the Word of God holds. If a rather weak human being has that much power, how much more power must the very Word of God hold. To “listen” rather than “read.” To reflect, use the mirror of the “speaking God” to look at life. The presence of God in His word....When we hear the word proclaimed, either in the silence of our own rooms or in the liturgy, the Lord is present. He is teaching, consoling, encouraging, and yes at times, scolding us the same way He did 2000 years ago. That word has the power to cut our hearts, the power to heal them...It has the strength to bring light to the darkness, to take away the false light of complacency, and to plunge us into a darkness not of despair but of the beginning of a new day. To make the Word alive, however, demands a certain vision of life. We have all heard the Word many times. Some passages are deeply engraved on our hearts, for each these may be different. How is the Word of God alive in your life? Pick out a parable and ask the question: when and how did any of these come into my life? The Word was meant to be lived and it has been lived in our lives. Sometimes it is necessary to re-affirm the life which has come through the living Word.
Question:
1: Have you ever given life to someone by what you said

WEDNESDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK (Jonah 3,1-10; Lk.11,29-32) The “sign of Jonah”...Jonah has always interested me. He was perhaps the least enthusiastic of all prophets...He actually ran away from God. Therefore,he experienced the storm, and his being cast into the sea and swallowed by the whale. Scripture tells us that Nineveh was such a large city that it took three days to cross it ,yet Jonah did it in one day. One gets the impression that Jonah used a bicycle, or the equivalent thereof, to go through the city. He did what God asked but he did not particularly care. He cried when the Ninevites; converted, he would have been happy to see God do away with them. God indeed chose a strange instrument. Of all the prophets this man who was the least enthusiastic was the most successful. The other great prophets preached and preached but to dead ears. Perhaps because they preached to people who thought they were “entitled”...Jonah preached to the Gentiles.
The simple lessons I learned from this reading are that God will choose the people He wants to bring me to a deeper conversion. Many times people without faith have said things to me which have deepened my awareness of the Covenant. I could not cast their words aside with: “they don’t know what they are talking about,” but had to accept them as the word which God wanted me to hear today.
The other lesson is that just as Jonah spoke to people without faith and called them to faith, I learned that I listen to God with that part of me which does not yet believe. There is that part of me which has not yet turned to God in a responsive way. Finally, I learned to accept the conversion within myself and to rejoice in it as a great gift from God. They will probably be very simple things, almost “common sense” things but so important.
Question:
1: Are you sensitive to all the people whom God chooses as instruments of His grace?

THURSDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK .(Esther C 12,14-16; Matt.7,7-12) ”Ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and it shall be opened” For what do we ask , seek or knock for? Jesus’ words touch at a part of me where my own self interests reside...These words rather than being promises to get what I want are words which ask me to let go so that I can seek the will of God....Are these words “me” focused or God focused? How often they are used to look at ourselves rather than God. They are invitations to enter the life of God...We allow Christ to cut those strings which tie us to our own interests so that we may see His will in our lives...these words are a prayer of liberation from ourselves and to see God.
When I hear these words silence becomes necessary. In that silence the Lord will speak to us .
They are not calls to speak but to listen ,so that we may be taught by God. They propel us into the sunshine of life with God.

FRIDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK (Ez.18,21-28; Matt.5,20-26) Lord create in me a new heart...The beautiful words of the psalmist ring through today’s Gospel...It is so easy to become satisfied with externals and to identify ourselves by “what we do” rather than “who we are”....Ideally they should mix so nicely that the “who” and the “what” become the same. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Christ is asking us to be open to the power of the Spirit so that the “who” and the “what” may be united into one heart...Another aspect of this Gospel is that we are asked to be open to other people and let them know who we are. We don’t have to cover ourselves over with frantic activity in order to protect ourselves from letting others know who we are.....Lord, create in me a new heart.
Questions:
1: Do you think God wants to do or to be? What does this mean? :

SATURDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK. (Dt.26,16-19; Matt.5,43-48) .”TODAY” the word explodes off the page...God says it is not tomorrow or next week but rather that His words must be put into action now. It is so easy to say we have plenty of time… The words of God loose their immediacy...Iit’s not that we do not accept their importance it is just that we get inundated by the things around us...The other reason is that making the jump from knowledge to action is difficult. The famous dictum “to see, to judge, to act” is so important in living the “today”…To be sensitive to the implications of the Lord’s commands so that as we live our lives in the hum-drum of daily events we may see how God wants us to live today.

Thursday, February 11, 2010






THIS WEEK



BIG REMINDER THAT THIS COMING WEDNESDAY IS ASH WEDNESDAY. SEE BELOW FOR MORE ABOUT LENT AND ITS MEANING..

SOME IDEAS ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO DURING LENT:

HOW ABOUT SAYING SOME EXTRA PRAYERS...NOT FOR YOURSELF BUT FOR SOMEBOADY YOU READ ABOUT IN THE NEWSPAPER OR SAW ON TV?

HOW ABOUT TRYING TO SMILE AT SOMEONE YOU REALLY DO NOT FEEL LIKE SMILING AT?

HOW ABOUT LOOKING IN THE MIRROR EVERY MORNING AND SAYING: YOU ARE A PRETTY GOOD PERSON, AND THEN LIVING THAT WAY?

HOW ABOUT TELEPHONING SOMEONE WHO YOU HAVE NOT SPOKEN TO IN A LONG TIME?


NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- New Orleans Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond said the New Orleans Saints' win in Super Bowl XLIV win was "not just a football victory.""I think it's another sign of hope in that our rebuilding is not just a possibility -- it's a reality," the New Orleans native said after the underdog Saints -- playing in their first Super Bowl -- won the game with a 31-17 comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts."The spirit of the city has changed," he added. "It's another sign that God is faithful."Archbishop Aymond celebrated a Mass Feb. 7 for New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson and his wife, Gayle, and relatives, friends and team officials at their Miami hotel before the Super Bowl."All week long, people have been asking me, 'Who will win the Super Bowl?'" the archbishop told the 300-member congregation, all dressed in Saints' black and gold."And it's obvious, of course. History gives us a glimpse as to the answer," he said. "We know historically that many of the saints of old went into battle for the faith. And when they did so, they rode on colts. In the battle, the colts got wounded, but the saints had victory in eternal life. So, the Saints will win."Those at the Mass included retired New Orleans Archbishop Philip M. Hannan, 96, two Dominican sisters from St. Louis Cathedral Academy in New Orleans and several other clergy and religious invited to the game by Benson.Citing the readings of the day, Archbishop Aymond said Jesus sometimes gave the apostles "odd" advice, such as to cast their nets into the deep even though they had caught nothing all night."We are to persevere and to go the extra mile or two and to have hope," Archbishop Aymond said. "Is that not the story of Tom Benson and the Saints? ... There are times when part of our lives look like an empty net, and yet Jesus says, 'Go out into the deep, don't give up hope, persevere, let God direct you.'"The Mass ended with a rousing a capella rendition of "Oh, When the Saints Go Marching' In."Archbishop Aymond and Archbishop Hannan, who recited the invocation at the Saints' first regular-season game in 1967, watched Super Bowl XLIV from Benson's private suite, along with Dominican Sisters Mary Rose Bingham and Mary Andrew Hession.Also attending the game at Benson's request were Jesuit Fathers Kevin Wildes and James C. Carter, the current and past presidents of Loyola University New Orleans, respectively, and Msgr. Ken Hedrick, former rector of St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.Archbishop Aymond said he was thrilled that his prediction had come true."Wow, what a great gift to the Saints, to Mr. Benson and to the city," Archbishop Aymond said. "We're just so grateful that they made us very proud. All we can say is, 'Bless you, boys. Bless you for representing our city very well.'"Archbishop Aymond admitted there were moments, especially when the Saints fell behind 10-0, when he was concerned that this would not be the Saints' year to erase decades of football misery."Then the game was getting closer and closer, and then I thought I was having a heart attack," Archbishop Aymond told the Clarion Herald, New Orleans' archdiocesan newspaper. "Then someone turned to me and said, 'Don't worry, one of the persons sitting over there is a cardiologist.'"END


LENT

Spring is that time of the year when all nature seems to come back to life. It is nature’s time of the year to shout: all things will be new. It is a time of hope. The beautiful winter is over. The snow and cold have done their marvelous work of preparing for the newness of spring. Spring is that time of the year when the work of winter comes to fruition.
Lent is the springtime of our lives with God. The seed of the word of God was planted in our hearts. It has been there waiting to come forth ...Lent is the time when we grasp this word and let it see the sunlight of life. The winter cycle must be mixed with spring. Lent is the time to let God sow and reap. It is the time to listen .
Lent is the time to grow in our relationship with God. In many parts of the world, there are people who are preparing for Baptism at the Easter Vigil. The Sundays of Lent will find them standing before the communities into which they will be Baptized and promising to live the “way.”
This is the meaning of Lent: to let the seed of new life planted within us by God blossom in prayer, fasting and good works. But as the reading from the prophet Joel on Ash Wednesday reminds us it is not only for us as individuals but as a community. ”Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly ” we walk this time of newness together or we do not walk it at all. The sense then is of the entire Church looking to God and asking for the grace to re-commit to grow and to remember the great things He has done for us.
Lent is indeed a time of penance. But not a sad penance...rather it is the joyful penance of trying to turn to God in a deeper way...can there be anything sad about this except perhaps the remembrance of the times we turned to ourselves rather than to Him?
Lent is a time of preparation. It is the time when we look forward to the celebration of the Paschal Feast...but it is also the time when we prepare in a special way to celebrate the Easter mysteries every day. We can not celebrate Easter in April if we do not celebrate it today.
Lent is a time to remember. We remember who we are and whom God has made us. In remembering we go beyond this world into the world of God
.
ASH WEDNESDAY (Joel 2,12-18; 2Cor.5,20-6,2; Matt.6,1-6,16-18) The first day of Lent. So many resolutions, looking forward...to pray more fervently, to fast, to be charitable...all are important. The words of Joel ring out: “order a fast, ring out a solemn assembly.” They are a reminder that we are doing Lent not by ourselves but with the community. The call to conversion is not only individual but also communal. In our own weak and often times stumbling ways we travel these days trying to remember that we are doing it not only for ourselves but also for the Church.
In Lent we enter into a profound mystery: we are united to one another in such a way that the prayers, fasting, good works resound on others. Individual holiness, closeness to God mean that to that extent the Church on earth is more of what it should be. One of the most beautiful aspects of Lent is that it invites us to look at our relationship with God not from some selfish vantage point, but rather from the viewpoint of myself affecting the lives of others by the good, no matter how imperfect it may be, I do with the grace of God.

Question
1: What are your thoughts on your actions effcting the entire Church?

THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY (Dt.30,15-20;Lk.9,22-25) The promise of life beats within today’s Word. “Today I set before you life and prosperity ,”You will live and increase,” “ He will be raised up on the last day”...All based on obedience to God and identification with the Lord. What does it mean to “live?”.
To be able to grow. That which cannot grow is not really alive.
To be free from fear. To be unreasonably afraid prevents the spirit from reaching out to the outer bounds of its possibilities.
To be able take the disappointments and heartaches of life and not to be defeated by them.
To live is to dream. These are not the dreams of the morning mist which soon disappear, but the dreams which open the eyes to the wonders of what can be.
To live means to find within oneself that voice which says: keep on living because if you do someday you will live to the fullest.
Question:
1: What is the one thing you think you need to make you more alive?

FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY (Is.58,1-9; Matt.9,14-150 To be open to what God wants to teach us. We can get satisfied with ourselves. It may even be something good, often times it is, which prevents God from breaking through, .to a new level. The prayers we say, the fasting we do, can push us into a corner. It is comfortable. It does not demand too much and at the same time I can look to God and say:” see what I am doing.” We build a wall in this corner, a wall built by “the good things we do” which prevents us from getting out or anyone else from getting in. The reaching up to heaven which is proclaimed from within this walled space only manages to place another stone on top and to make the wall higher.
All the Lenten practices are but the means to make ourselves available to the word which God wants to speak to us. They are to break down the walls and not to build them. They are meant to let the sunshine of God’s love come into our lives and not to further the darkness of an enclosed soul. It is the time to look to the end and not the means.
Question:
1: How are you going to make the word of God more active ?
world...we look for the clenched fist to do away with, and the yoke to take off the backs

SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY ( Is.58,9b-14; Lk.5,27-32) ”Follow me” and “It is not those who are well who need a doctor” bounce off the pages...we follow Him by being the doctors in the of people...to look at the holy and proclaim its holiness...we look at the brokenness in the lives of people, in society.
To be a doctor means to be a sign of hope in a world of despair.
To be a doctor means to give to people that one gift which goes beyond all else :the knowledge that God loves them, that He loves the world.
To be a doctor means that we can look at the hungry and the homeless and say,” I will feed and give you a home because of who you are.”
Lent is that time when in following we become more and more convinced of what it is to serve.
Question: 1: How has Our Lord used you to be a doctor?


SIXTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Mon.Mrk.8:11-13...Haven’t I done enough to show who I am? It isn’t that the signs are not there it is just that they do not want to see them.. why do the strangers believe and my own people do not? The very people who should be the first to recognize who I am are the ones who do not see....sin, blindness, unwillingness to listen, is all around ....my light will penetrate that darkness...they do not realize it but their refusal to believe, that part of human nature which can not say “yes” to me has already been conquered. But people have to accept it. Here I am giving to them but they do not accept the gift, they do now want to see.
I will cross over the sea...someday someone will 51see that in my crossing “over to the other side” I join people. I am a bridge and this crossing over is a sign ....but they still do not see. They want their own signs...but even when I give one to them they do not see....they do not want to see.

Tues. Mrk.8:14-21...I am the “one loaf” but they do not see...feeding four thousand, what a sign, and yet they do not see....these, my disciples...they want to believe in me but so much humanity is left within them...trying to get them to see beyond what they can see is so difficult...the people whom I met in the synagogue are almost perverse...these my beloved disciples those whom I have chosen to be the leaders of the flock are just plain dumb.....sometimes I feel like getting a big bat and just pounding my message into their heads.....someday they will understand. On the night before I die I will give them the “loaf of bread”...they probably did not understand what I was referring to when I said “ beware of the leaven of the Pharisees”, the leaven which could not be used on the

Thursday, February 4, 2010

THIS WEEK

SORRY!! I have to go out of town this weekend and as a resut just could do the reflections. There will be more next week.....

FIFTH WEEK IN ORDIANRY TIME



....they recognize Him, there is excitement...no one seems to be standing still. Everyone is running about , new hope has come. They who only a short time before walked around with their shoulders down and no light in their eyes are now too busy to worry..they must bring their sick.
A minute ago their eyes were on the ground wondering what to do with their loved one lying sick...the weight of the sickness was heavy on their shoulders..they came into contact with Him and they could look up once again.
The Master must have been happy. Tired, hungry, looking forward to an evening on the mountain with His Father. His shoulders were slouched from a long day, his eyes were blurred by fatigue, now with the crowds new life..
The give and take of hope...they who receive hope from someone in the act of receiving give to the one who has given them new life. Hope is not static but dynamic, hope is not only giving but receiving because if we do not receive we can never give.


Tues. Mrk.7:1-13...what are the traditions of men which set aside the commandments of God. He could see the burdens being placed on His people..he could see them being led astray. They were being told this is the “way to please God” but it wasn’t. They were being given a doctrine not from God but from man...the Master saw and said “No”....it is the law of God which shall guide my people.
These “human precepts” what are they? He thought that in years to come their will be those who will point a finger at the Church and its teaching and say : they are just human precepts. We do not have to obey them because they are not from God. Then they turn and obey the “human precepts” given to them by the newspapers, TV, they obey these words. Right and wrong are no longer taught by God but rather by every fancy and new fad which comes along.
. The washing of the hands is the outward conformity..there will come an age when conformity to those around will be more important than what My Father says. There will come a time, He thought as He looked at the scribes and Pharisees when there will be others doing the same to His people.
They will say this is right and this is wrong...and the light of the human heart will be put out. It will be a time of coldness under the guise of warmth, it will be a time of individualism covered with the mantle of community, it will be a time when all proclaim “life”, but death will be the culture. There will come a time, He thought, when once again the coverings will have to be scraped off and the law of God be allowed to shine its light on the hearts of people.

Wed. Mrk.7:14-23...His message is for all people....His message is the one which sets aside other laws only to replace them with the wide vision of the fields of God’s love.. He must constantly remind people that God’s love is not determined by what humans do.
It is the heart which is important. That which is external cannot prevent the heart from reaching to the absolute boundaries of its potential. That which is external must not be a wall to those who are searching for the Way. The heart must be allowed to breathe the clean, fresh air of God’s kingdom. The newness of what He is preaching cannot and must not be clouded by the words “ this is the way it has always been”. It is the heart which must be touched...it is the habits of the heart which must be molded, it is the heart which is judged and at the same time the judge.

Thurs. Mrk.7:24-30...a woman helps Him understand His mission...it is for the children that I have come..they shall get the food first. That is normal. But this woman , she is not one of the children, she is from outside. He can not give her the food....but she reminds Him of the dogs
under the table..yelping for the scraps ....but if He give to her the reason He came into the world will be made wider than He first thought. The boundaries will be done away with, if He gives her the food her argument will fade because she will no longer be a “dog” but one of the “children”...did His Father put this woman here to teach me who He is? To teach Him who His message is for?
This woman who is suffering so much because of her daughter has broadened His vision, she has taught Him she has, yes, made Him change His mind. She has made Him grow.
Will those who come after me, He thought, follow my example and be open to be taught by those around them? Will they let the vision of their vocation be widened to the fullness of its potential or will they be satisfied by the narrow, by the comfortable? How happy I am that completeness of who I am has been opened up to me.

Fri. Mrk.7:31-37...He continues among the Gentiles...He has to emphasize that His mission is much wider than even He originally had thought it to be. The woman had opened his eyes. He went to this land of the Gentiles. What would He find? It did not hold Him back. The word had to be preached. Would they stone Him? Would they turn their backs on Him? He was a Jew, how would they welcome Him? These are questions which the disciples asked, the Master did not. What word should we put to the way He went about the task of preaching ..courage, commitment, determination, with one heart, obedience, all of these, perhaps, but covered with the mantle of love for all. All, with the center being the desire to call all people to His Father.
He must have been surprised...how did the word about Him get here. They brought the sick...yes the same hope dwells in the hearts of all people. The desire for wholeness, to be cured lives deeply within all hearts. It goes far beyond all the boundaries, limitations which humans may think of. No mention is made of belief, just the unconditional giving of the Lord. His love is one way, but it always invites the response.
His hands, they touched they cured. They brought about what He meant the people to see. As soon as His power touched them the remains of sin disappeared. He did not ask: how much do you believe? The man’s pleading and pitiful sight was enough.
An alcoholic who does not believe is desperate. He wants so much to be freed from the sickness which has enslaved him for so many years. He is willing to try anything. A friend tells him about a group of people who pray for sick people. Some marvelous things have happened in the group. At first he is reluctant. He does not believe but is willing to try anything. He goes to the meeting, the people pray for him. It has been almost nine years now and he has not had a drink. The same hands that touched the deaf-mute came and touched him.

Sat. Mrk.8:1-10...Pity, a word so full of meaning. It may be used in an improper way , a condescending way, a way which looks at others in an almost less than human way...to see the horrible condition into which someone’s life may have fallen and to feel with them. Is that the sole meaning of pity? Is there a deeper meaning to the word? Does pity spring from a part of the human heart which is so difficult to define, to articulate that even the one who is feeling “pity” can not say it.
Isn’t pity that emotion which speaks to the fact that we all share a common humanity? From that intuitive awareness we become bound together. Pity comes from the fact that we are together and it is usually manifested towards those who are less fortunate. It does not mean that at other times there is no pity or binding it is just that we feel it comes to the surface at these times.
He looked at the crowd and this feeling came. To show how much He is with them He fed them with bread and fishes. But these were only a sign of the greater sign of togetherness He was to give them. There is no other way, He thought, to show this being bound together, of showing how close we really are than by giving myself. The bread and fish will show that I care, but giving myself in real communion will call all to mutual pity.