Close to your ear (Martha Bolton / Henri Nouwen)

Sometimes, when we’re 

waiting for God to speak, 

He’s waiting for us to listen.

 

--Martha Bolton

    Jesus came to open my ears to a voice that says, “I am your God, I have molded you with my own hands, and I love what I have made. I love you with a love that has no limits, because I love you as I am loved. Do not run away from me. Come back to me—not once, not twice, but always again. You are my child… I am your God—the God of mercy and compassion, the God of pardon and love, the God of tenderness and care. Please do not say that I have given up on you, that I cannot stand you anymore, that there is no way back. It is not true. I so much want you to be with me. I so much want you to be close to me. I know all your thoughts. I hear all your words. I see all your actions. And I love you because you are beautiful, made in my own image, an expression of my most intimate love. Do not judge yourself. Do not condemn yourself. Do not reject yourself. Let my love touch the deepest, most hidden corners of your heart and reveal to you your own beauty, a beauty that you have lost sight of, but that will become visible to you again in the light of my mercy. Come, come, let me wipe your tears, and let my mouth come close to your ear and say to you, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’” 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: Jesus embraces a man who has been healed, The Chosen, https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1341860446607171&set=pcb.1341860553273827
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He speaks to our souls (Jon Sobrino SJ / St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata)

If reality speaks and God can speak in it,
especially when it cries out,
then listening to it is a necessary way of
realizing our humanity.

--Jon Sobrino, SJ 

    We cannot find God in noise and agitation. Nature: trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence. The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence. What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us. In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice. Silence of our eyes. Silence of our ears. Silence of our mouths. Silence of our minds. ...in the silence of the heart God will speak. Silence of the heart is necessary so you can hear God everywhere - in the closing of the door, in the person who needs you, in the birds that sing, in the flowers, in the animals. If we are careful of silence, it will be easy to pray. 

--St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata,
qtd. in Walking with Wisdom:
Mother Teresa on Encountering Silence

Image source 1: Charles Sprague Pearce,  https://wooarts.com/charles-sprague-pearce-gallery/
Image source 2: https://aiartists.org/fractal-art-generators
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We walk in a divine presence (Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

    In the Jewish scriptures, there’s a famous incident where Moses asks to see God’s face. God answers that this is impossible because nobody can see God’s face and live. When Moses persists in his demand, God offers a compromise: God tells Moses that he will place him in a cleft in the rocks, put his hand over Moses’ face, and then pass by, so that Moses will get to see God’s back, though not God’s face. 

    This can help explain why we so often think that God is absent in our lives. Generally, we struggle to feel God in the here and now. In the present, God often seems absent. Yet, when we turn around and look back at our lives, we more easily see how God has been there all along and how we have walked in a divine presence, protection, guidance, and love that were imperceptible at the time but are clear in retrospect. We see God’s back more than we see God’s face. 

--Fr. Ron Rolheiser
Facebook, January 4, 2021

Image source: https://prayingthelectionary.life/2017/10/16/exodus-3312-23-my-presence-will-go-with-you-and-i-will-give-you-rest/

Allow his Word to enter in (St. Seraphim of Sarov / Fr. Patrick Michaels)

Refusing to harden your heart is a radical act. 

--St. Seraphim of Sarov 

    Jesus would have us open our hearts to allow the Word in, to let it work within us, to let it speak to those parts in us that are tarnished and torn, those places in us that are difficult and stand in our way. He would ask us to allow his Word to enter in, to speak to our brokenness, that he might heal it. We would then not be whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside but filled to the brim within with our brokenness. We have to let him in; we have to allow the Word of God to touch us deeply, to speak to our hearts. It is God’s love the scribes and the Pharisees could not connect with, not because it wasn’t there for them, but because they were occupied elsewhere.

--Fr. Patrick Michaels,
 Homily, August 30, 2023

Image source: https://guideposts.org/prayer/bible-resources/deepen-your-faith/open-your-heart-to-gods-love/
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Don't worry (St. Padre Pio)

   Don’t worry to the point of losing your inner peace. Pray with perseverance, with faith, with calmness, and serenity. 

--St. Padre Pio 

Image source: Shaun Jordan, Prayer in the Garden, https://sunsetchurchofchrist.org/2018/11/18/prayer-in-the-garden/
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To listen with an open heart (Paul Eluard / Pope Francis)

 I hear Your voice in all the sounds of the world. 

--Paul Eluard 

    How good it is, especially for us Christians, to listen to the sacred Word with an open heart and so allow ourselves to be illuminated and guided not by our own plans but by the merciful plan of God, who wants to embrace and save all men and women, all the brothers and sisters of Jesus!

--Pope Francis, Friday, June 23, 2023 

Image source: Liturgy of the Word, Easter Vigil 2019, https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2289136414481101&type=3
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, January 28, 2024: If today you hear his voice...

If today you hear his voice…

Are we open to listening to the Word of God? 

   In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses relays God’s promise of a prophet to come, one who will speak God’s words to the people of Israel: I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin, and will put my words into his mouth. But the people will have to take care to discern if those who purport to speak in God’s name are true prophets, for some may presume to speak in God’s name an oracle that God has not commanded him to speak, with dire consequences. Although the people have requested to no longer hear the voice of the Lord, our God, and thus do not wish to communicate directly with God, God will continue to communicate with them; God asks simply that they listen to his words. However, they must not, as Psalm 95 reminds us, harden their hearts; rather, they must come joyfully to the Lord with thanksgiving, ready to hear his voice and to enter into relationship with him through worship. 

   Many Christians see in this passage from Deuteronomy a promise of the coming Messiah, Jesus, and indeed Jesus does, as Mark’s Gospel tells us, speak as one having authority, committed to proclaiming what God has sent him to proclaim: the kingdom. Unlike the scribes who simply reiterate the law and the scriptures mechanically, unable to hear because their hearts are hardened, Jesus speaks from his heart to the hearts of all, and the Word of God is invested with all the love God has for God’s people. People are amazed, and their hearts are listening, open to seeing God at work in Jesus’ every action, be it healing, teaching or preaching. In so doing, they, like we, must strive, as Paul tells the Corinthians, to be free of anxieties. We might be married or unmarried, but the important thing is to make sure we are always as connected to the Lord as we are to the world, for adherence to the Lord without distraction will enable our hearts to remain open and our ears ready not only to hear his voice, but to listen to his Word! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Go confidently and courageously (St. Francis de Sales)

   What does God expect from you if not what was asked of the Apostles. It was nothing else than what Our Lord himself came to do in this world: to give life to all so that they may live a more abundant life. He did it by giving them His grace. Grace has the power, not to overpower, but to entice our hearts to consent to the movements of God’s love in us. 

 

   As much as possible, we must touch the hearts of others like the angels do, delicately and without coercion. While we ought to help and express our love to all equally, we must do it more so to those who have a greater need of us. Lead them to a more perfect life. They will find fullness of life by believing in Jesus’ word that you will explain to them. They will live a more abundant life through the example you are. 

   Go confidently and courageously, doing what you are entrusted to do. Do not say: “I am not up to the task.” Go ahead without worrying and turning back, for God will give you what you have to say and to do at the proper time. Have only one concern: to grow in your love and fidelity to God’s divine goodness and everything will turn out well for you. 

--Adapted by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

from the writings of St. Francis de Sales,

whose feast we celebrate today

Image source: The Calling of Simon Peter and Andrew, miniature, https://www.art.com/products/p53647132606-sa-i1642110/fra-angelico-the-calling-of-st-peter-and-st-andrew-detail-of-historiated-initial-o-from-a-missal-1430s.htm 
Quotation source

There is too much work to do (Dorothy Day)

     People say, what is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time. A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, words and deeds is like that. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do. 

--Dorothy Day 

Image source: https://www.theretirementmanifesto.com/the-pebble-and-the-pond/
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Leave everything and follow (Hans Urs von Balthasar)

    Even now, thirty years later, I could still go to that remote path in the Black Forest, not far from Basel, and find again the tree beneath which I was struck as by lightning… 

   And yet it was neither theology nor the priesthood which then came into my mind in a flash. It was simply this: you have nothing to choose, you have been called. You will not serve, you will be taken into service. You have no plans to make, you are just a little stone in a mosaic which has long been ready. 

   All I needed to do was “leave everything and follow,” without making plans, without wishes or insights. All I needed to do was to stand there and wait and see what I would be needed for…. At that stage it was just a matter of surrendering myself. [The question was,] how to put myself entirely at the disposal of God. 

--Hans Urs von Balthasar 

Image source: https://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-East/blog-440554.html
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You never know who God is gonna use (Rich Mullins)

Now Balaam, he had a donkey
Who was gentle and true and kind
And the donkey saw an angel with a sword
So he slipped old Balaam past him
And when he done it three times
Well, Balaam got so mad he beat the donkey
And so the Lord
Well, he gave the donkey language
And the donkey plainly brayed,
"Well, there's an angel about to strike you from the path"
Then old Balaam's eyes were opened
And he realized he'd been saved
By his donkey from the angel of God's wrath 

And a princess pulled a baby out of the water
He was hidden in the rushes
Sleeping in a basket made of reeds
And you never know who God is gonna use
A princess or a baby
Or maybe even you or me 

Now Esther, she was a beauty
Who was pleasing to a man
And the man that she was pleasing was a king
But her people's lives were threatened
By some wicked men's plans
Nobody knew just how the lord was gonna intervene
Well, Mordecai her uncle, he was honest but he was smart
And he knew that Esther's beauty was a gift
He said, "Maybe you could cook some supper
Maybe you could change a king's heart
Who knows but what you come into the world
For such a time as this 

Refrain

There was Miriam dancing
And there was Jubal with a harp
There was poor blind Samson
Even Pontius Pilate played a part

Refrain

To hear Rich Mullins sing
Who God is Gonna Use, go to:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2Lf04qGBo8 

Image source: Lilian Broca, Queen Esther, mosaic diptych, https://www.lilianbroca.com/queen-esther-mosaics
Video source

Man must raise the sails (St. Augustine)

God provides the wind,

but man must raise the sails. 

--St. Augustine         

Image source: https://orthodoxtimes.com/second-sunday-of-matthew-call-of-the-disciples/
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I will make you fishers of men (Bishop Robert Barron)

   [When, in Matthew’s gospel,] Jesus calls his first disciples, what is it about this scene that is so peaceful and right? Somehow it gets at the very heart of Jesus’ life and work, revealing what he is about. He comes into the world as the second person of the Blessed Trinity, a representative from the community which is God—and thus his basic purpose is to draw the world into community around him. 

   Jesus says to Simon and Andrew, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." This tells us something about how God acts. He is direct and in-your-face; he does the choosing. "Come after me," Jesus says. He is not offering a doctrine, a theology, or a set of beliefs. He is offering himself. It’s as if he’s saying, "Walk in my path; walk in imitation of me." 

   Finally, Jesus explains, "I will make you fishers of men." This is one of the best one-liners in Scripture. Notice the first part of the phrase: "I will make you..." This is counter to the culture’s prevailing view that we’re self-made, that we invent and define our own reality. Jesus puts this lie to bed. We learn from him that it’s God who acts, and if we give ourselves to his creative power, he will make us into something far better than we ever could. 

--Bishop Robert Barron,

Gospel Reflection, November 30, 2022

Image source: https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/03/09/commentary-stop-casting/

Sunday Gospel Reflection, January 21, 2024: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men...

Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men…

Are we ready to do the extraordinary, for God's kingdom? 

    The prophet Jonah was not excited about the mission God set before him; in fact, he initially ran in the other direction, away from the great city of Nineveh, where he was to announce the Lord’s message to the enemies of the people of Israel: Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed! Jonah expects to be rejected out of hand by the Ninevites; he is sure his efforts will be wasted in a futile attempt to change the minds of this enemy people. But after one day, everyone accepts the message, even the king. This is utterly beyond Jonah’s expectations – indeed, it’s mind-blowing, extraordinary! Jonah is slowly opening to change and learning the Lord’s ways, as described in Psalm 25; perhaps he will now remember that the Lord’s compassion and love are from of old, and always with extraordinary results. 

    Jesus’ call of his disciples is no less extraordinary, and with similarly extraordinary results. Simply approaching these fishermen, Jesus says, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men… and they do! Simon and his brother Andrew abandon their nets and follow Jesus; James and his brother John leave their father in the boat and follow Jesus as well. Like Jonah, they do not understand everything right away, but in Mark’s Gospel, they respond without question, ready to believe that, This is the time of fulfillment; the kingdom of God is at hand – a compelling message if ever there was one! The four men know a trade; their skills will be useful to the Lord as they shift their focus from capturing fish to capturing the hearts and the imaginations of their fellow human beings. Like the Corinthians to whom Paul writes, we would do well to open ourselves, following the model of Peter and Andrew, James and John, not contenting ourselves with doing what we are supposed to do, but rather acting as though we truly believed that the world in its present form is passing away, so that the kingdom of God might be realized fully. 

    God will ask us to do many things in this life, some of them easy, others hard. We don’t know, going into it, how any of them will be received. We know we are loved; we know we are called, but how much of our response to the Lord is based on whether we think we will be successful? Are we ready for our behavior to disrupt the status quo, the ordinary? Are we ready to be tremendously successful? If our mission to bring the good news to our world touches a single heart, that will be extraordinary! If we are thoughtful in all we do, conscious that Christ is at work in us, we will beat the odds in a world that doesn’t necessarily understand our mission… provided we are ready and open to doing the extraordinary for the Lord. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Every Christian has a call (Charles Spurgeon)

   Do not many Christians fail to see their commission? It has come to be a dreadfully common belief in the Christian Church that the only man who has a “call” is the man who devotes all his time to what is called “the ministry,” whereas all Christian service is ministry, and every Christian has a call to some kind of ministry or another. 

--Charles Spurgeon 

What might your call be?

Image source: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Liturgical Ministers Retreat, August 2022, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=5555792321148811&set=a.5555795787815131
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Jesus is counting on you (Pope Francis)

   Jesus wants to see you on the move. He wants to see you achieve your ideals and to be enthusiastic in following his instructions. He will take you along the path of the beatitudes, a path that is not easy but exciting, a path that cannot be traveled alone, it has to be traveled as a team, where each member offers the best of his or her self. Jesus is counting on you as he counted long ago on Saint Rose of Lima, Saint Turibius, Saint Juan Macías, Saint Francisco Solano and so many others. And today he asks if, like them, you are ready to follow him. 

--Pope Francis, August 23, 2023 

Image source: https://aleteia.org/2019/09/18/a-holy-time-saver-this-saint-recruited-his-donkey-to-help-him-multiply-his-hours-and-energy/

What will you have of me, my Lord? (Fr. Terrance Klein)

   Our Christian faith is configured by calling. It has offices, vocations that we see as more than a question of human necessity. We see them as divine elections, God taking an active role in the life of our community by calling some to unique offices, roles and tasks in the church. Not all of these are institutionally established. Many of our greatest saints never held an office or exercised a public ministry in the church. 

   As a member of the community that we call the church, each of us was given a role, a task, an identity that will only be fully disclosed when Christ is revealed as the omega point of history. 

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! 

How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! 

(Rom 11:33) 

   Remember that in our baptism, each of us has been chosen. So many others in this world have not. This cannot be because God loves us more than them, so we must constantly ask ourselves: “What will you have of me, my Lord? Why have you chosen me?” 

--Fr. Terrance Klein 

Image source: Baptism, OLMC, Sunday, October 22, 2023, https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=733455188819898&set=pcb.733455842153166
Quotation source

Accepting this call (Mary Margaret Schroeder)

   God wants us exactly where we are, to let Him into our hearts the way He embraces us in His. No matter the abilities or disabilities you possess, closeness or distance from God that you feel, He is already right there with you. He is ready to open your heart to the infinite possibilities He alone offers. All He asks is for that first step, coming to Him and yearning to understand Who He is in our life. 

   Then, He will lead us each on that unique path that He has already so perfectly designed to bring about His glory right in our midst. He equips us with exactly what we need to carry out His mission in our lives, and He walks with us every step of the way. Accepting this call, leaning into the discomfort, trusting that He is good always, gives us our own little keys into God's kingdom. Little glimpses of Our Christ right here in our midst, living and moving within each of us, every moment of the day, lovingly guiding us into His embrace. That is Christ. 

--Mary Margaret Schroeder 

Image source: Pietro Perugino, Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter, detail (1481-1882), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delivery_of_the_Keys_%28Perugino%29
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Christian life (Henri J. M. Nouwen)

   Christian life is not a life divided between times for action and times for contemplation. No. Real social action is a way of contemplation, and real contemplation is the core of social action. 

―Henri J.M. Nouwen      

Image source: https://catholicreview.org/baltimore-based-catholic-relief-services-assists-with-morocco-earthquake-recovery/
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How do you know when God is calling you? (Rick Mullins)

    How do you know when God is calling you? 

   To listen to the call of God means to accept some of the emptiness we have in our lives and rather than always trying to drown out that feeling of emptiness, we allow it instead to be a door we go through in order to meet God. 

--Rick Mullins   

Image source: https://davidmbartlett.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/gods-open-door-policy/
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, January 14, 2024: Here I am, Lord: I come to do your will...

Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will…

Are we open to and ready to act on the Lord’s revelation? 

    When, in the First Book of Samuel, the Lord calls to Samuel, in the night, the young man assumes it is his mentor, the temple priest Eli, who is calling him. Samuel’s first response is a response, but not a focused one: Here I am!, he says. Three times Samuel responds in this way, until finally, Eli realizes that it is the Lord who is calling the young man, and instructs him on how to respond. Samuel’s fourth response demonstrates that he is focused on the Lord who is calling: Speak, your servant is listening. Samuel is not only attentive and listening to God, he is also ready to act. Like Samuel, the psalmist knows that the Lord needs more than anything our willingness to listen and to hear and to act; ears open to obedience you gave me, we hear in Psalm 40. Our ability to then give thanks is also God’s gift, a new song in our mouths, a proclamation we are to internalize first, and then proclaim to our world. Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will! 

    In John’s Gospel, John the Baptist sends his disciples to follow Jesus, the Lamb of God, the one through whom salvation will come. Like Samuel, Andrew and Simon are open to the call of Jesus, ready to listen, ready to act. They recognize something in Jesus – a revelation – and call him Rabbi as a sign of their acceptance to follow him. They are graced, and that grace is a gift, although they have a long way to go in order to come to understand who Jesus is. Their knowledge will broaden and deepen over time, as it is still broadening and deepening for us and for those around us. The revelation is still unfolding. The disciples will learn, as Paul encourages the Corinthians to learn, that they are to be members of the same Body – your bodies are members of Christ – and must recognize their connection to one another, surrendering their self-focus for the good of all. But first, they have to listen, to open their hearts and prepare to act, for the body is for the Lord. They must say, Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will! 

    Can we mark the moment God first spoke to us? Are we listening and attentive? And when called, are we ready to act? God gives us a new song, the ability to praise him and proclaim his marvelous deeds. We are called to behold the Lamb of God, the one who makes all possible in our lives – we are called to know him and to participate in his life. We are called, in short, to say, as Samuel does, as Andrew and Simon and the beloved disciple also do, Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Will you shine? (Cyndi Lauper)

God asks us to allow his light to shine through us.
Will we push him away? 

    Shine I'll stand by you 
    Don't try and push me away
   'Cause I'm just gonna stay
   You can shine I won't deny you
   And don't be afraid it'll all be ok 

   Do you know my name
   Well I ain't gonna take
   That big time line
   Won't be beat by a lie
   Gonna call out to these embers
   Waiting to ignite
   Gonna pull you up
   By your love, by your love
   And tell you 

   Shine I'll stand by you... 

   I can see the frown you wear
   All around like some faded crown
   Like a watch over wound
   Gonna call down to this diamond
   Buried underground
   Gonna pull you up
   By your love, by your love
   And tell you
   When it's said and done
   What you need will come
   And time won't let me
   Let you let me waste it this time 

   Shine... 

To hear Cyndi Lauper sing Shine, click on the video below: 

Image source: Peter walks on water, The Chosen, Season 3, Episode 8, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8ba5vqOE-s
Video source

The light that shines in the darkness (Henri Nouwen)

   People who have come to know the joy of God do not deny the darkness, but they choose not to live in it. They claim that the light that shines in the darkness can be trusted more than the darkness itself and that a little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness. They point each other to flashes of light here and there, and remind each other that they reveal the hidden but real presence of God. They discover that there are people who heal each other’s wounds, forgive each other’s offenses, share their possessions, foster the spirit of community, celebrate the gifts they have received, and live in constant anticipation of the full manifestation of God’s glory. 

--Henri Nouwen    

Image source: Syeda Abida Bukhari, posted at https://www.facebook.com/KaitlinSheranPhotography/ 
Quotation source

Burn as brightly as possible (George Bernard Shaw)

    This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. 

    I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. 

   I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. 

--George Bernard Shaw 

Image source: Tokujin Yoshioka’s Olympic torch, https://eldvarm.com/stories-by-the-fire/the-five-most-inspiring-olympic-torches/
Quotation source

The light in the depth of one's heart (Stella Baltazar FMM)

   The experience of the Magi reveals the most interesting secrets of life. The stirring energy and the keen sensitivity of the kings propel them to rise and go in search of the extraordinary Child. Their focus on the purpose makes them forego their comfort and embrace the difficult path with readiness to face the risk. Life is built on letting go, embracing the cross, and moving toward the goal relentlessly. This experience prefigures the life of Jesus himself. It is an act of endurance and perseverance till the goal is attained. 

   The guiding star is the light in the depth of one’s heart. The clarity on the inner-directed purpose to build a humanity that embraces all humanity as a fraternal communion beyond caste, race, colour and continents. All children are world-class citizens, interwoven into one Humanity, interconnected and have the power of bonding as one human family. 

   The Epiphany is a prophetic time, a gift of grace. It unites the realities of Nature, Human, and the Divine into a harmonious Unity. 

--Stella Baltazar, FMM

Image source: https://www.christianity.com/jesus/birth-of-jesus/star-and-magi/when-did-the-magi-visit.html
Quotation source & complete reflection

The Magi gaze in deep wonder (St. Peter Chrysologus)

   The Magi gaze in deep wonder at what they see: heaven on earth, earth in heaven, man in God, God in man, one whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body. As they look, they believe and do not question, as their symbolic gifts bear witness: incense for God, gold for a king, myrrh for one who is to die. 

--St. Peter Chrysologus 

Image source: Andrea Mantegna, Adoration of the Magi (1460-1465), https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/three-panels-mantegna
Quotation source

Jesus is for everyone (Fr. James Martin)

   Jesus is for everyone. 

   It is not simply that a piece of encouraging news has come for all people, it is that a person—Jesus Christ—has. He has come for the poor (like Mary and Joseph); for your family (like Elizabeth); for those on the margins (like the shepherds); and for people from the farthest reaches of the world (like the Magi). More specifically, he has come for you. 

   Just keep looking for manifestations of his presence in your life. He'll be there, in all his color, glory and joy. 

--Fr. James Martin, Sunday Reflection,
Outreach, January 6, 2023 

Image source: Eyvind Earle, Magi, https://www.wellergalleries.com/product/eyvind-earle-magi/

Sunday Gospel Reflection, January 7, 2024: Upon you the Lord shines!

Upon you the Lord shines!

Are you ready to reveal God’s light to our world? 

    As the people of Israel reach the end of their exile in Babylon, the Lord sends the prophet Isaiah to raise their spirits: Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come; the glory of the Lord shines upon you! God is bringing the people back to their home blanketed with his light, with his splendor, with his glory, that they might be beacons of light, a veritable revelation, so that all the world might be drawn to the God of Israel: nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. They are now a people of light, rather than a people of darkness, and will be radiant, so much so that their heart shall throb and overflow in praise of the Lord. Psalm 72 reminds us that the king himself is called to remain open to revelation, that he might be filled with judgment, that justice and peace might fill the earth. In all of these examples, God is at work, from the greatest kings to the poor and the afflicted. All will bask in his light and, in turn, become a revelation of his goodness to the world. 

    In Matthew’s Gospel, another light reveals what has been hidden in darkness: the star the magi had seen at its rising had preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. Having seen the star, the magi now journey to see the glory of the Lord revealed in the birth of Jesus, and their joy confirms the divine revelation. The gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh offered by the magi recognize the divinity of the child, but also his coming ministry and eventual death. Only the Jewish puppet king Herod rejects the revelation, even as he secretly fears it might be true, and the magi prudently depart for their country by another way. To reveal the child’s whereabouts to Herod would lead directly to disaster; Herod is not yet open to God’s revelation. 

    Paul will recognize, in his Letter to the Ephesians, that a mystery was made known to him by revelation, not, this time, the mystery of the birth of the Messiah, but rather the true extent of his kingdom: it has now been revealed, Paul says, that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus. Thanks to the light that shines through Christ, and, through his Body, unto our world, God is still at work, and the activity of the Holy Spirit is manifest when all can share in the blessings through union with Christ in his Body. The Incarnation – a revelation of the depths of God’s love – is meant to alter our vision, for we too have seen a great light. But has it? The magis’ journey is our journey… our journey to see the Lord, our light, active in our lives, a lifelong voyage to the unknown, but one ever illuminated by his light, the Light of the World, for all. It can only shine brightly if we allow it to do so, through our lives and through our love. 

Image source: www.wordclouds.com

God is the real parent (Dr. Gregory Bottaro / Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

The goal is to see yourself with the eyes of God,
which means to love yourself as God loves you.

 --Dr. Gregory Bottaro, The Mindful Catholic 

    For our children, in the end, we are all foster parents. God is the real parent, and God’s love, care, aid and presence to our children is always in excess of our own. God’s anxiety for our children is also deeper than our own. God, like you, is also worrying, struggling, involved, crying tears of solicitousness, trying to awaken love. 

--Fr. Ron Rolheiser,
Facebook, June 21, 2023 

Image source: Guido Reni, Saint Joseph with Baby Jesus (ca. 1625), https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/saint-joseph-with-baby-jesus/VwFPOPEw-Si95w

A Song for Simeon (T.S. Eliot)

Lord, the Roman hyacinths are blooming in bowls and
The winter sun creeps by the snow hills;
The stubborn season has made stand.
My life is light, waiting for the death wind,
Like a feather on the back of my hand.
Dust in sunlight and memory in corners
Wait for the wind that chills towards the dead land. 

Grant us thy peace.
I have walked many years in this city,
Kept faith and fast, provided for the poor,
Have taken and given honour and ease.
There went never any rejected from my door.
Who shall remember my house, where shall live my children’s children
When the time of sorrow is come?
They will take to the goat’s path, and the fox’s home,
Fleeing from the foreign faces and the foreign swords. 

Before the time of cords and scourges and lamentation
Grant us thy peace.
Before the stations of the mountain of desolation,
Before the certain hour of maternal sorrow,
Now at this birth season of decease,
Let the Infant, the still unspeaking and unspoken Word,
Grant Israel’s consolation
To one who has eighty years and no to-morrow. 

According to thy word,
They shall praise Thee and suffer in every generation
With glory and derision,
Light upon light, mounting the saints’ stair.
Not for me the martyrdom, the ecstasy of thought and prayer,
Not for me the ultimate vision.
Grant me thy peace.
(And a sword shall pierce thy heart,
Thine also).
I am tired with my own life and the lives of those after me,
I am dying in my own death and the deaths of those after me.
Let thy servant depart,
Having seen thy salvation. 

--T. S. Eliot, A Song for Simeon 

Image source: Roman Dark Blue Hyacinth, https://oldhousegardens.com/store/bulb-info/HY51
Poem source

God has a Mother (Elizabeth Scalia / Pope Francis)

He died before my eyes, ripped apart,
jeered at, gambled over. And at the moment,
the earth trembled in anguished sorrow,
and the sword sliced into me, impaled my heart,
although no one could see.

 --Elizabeth Scalia,
When Mary Met the Sword of Simeon’s Prophecy 

    Holy Mother of God! This was the joyful acclamation of the holy People of God echoing in the streets of Ephesus in the year 431 when the Council Fathers proclaimed Mary the Mother of God. This truth is a fundamental datum of faith, but above all, it is a marvelous fact. God has a Mother and is thus bound forever to our humanity, like a child to its mother, to the point that our humanity is His humanity. It is an amazing and consoling truth, so much so that the most recent Council, which met here in Saint Peter’s, stated that, 'by His incarnation, the Son of God has in a certain way united Himself with each individual. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, He acted with a human will, and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He truly became one of us, like us in all things except sin'. 

--Pope Francis, Homily, August 22, 2023

Image source 1: Sandro Botticelli, The Virgin and Child, or The Madonna of the Book, (ca. 1480-1481), https://mymodernmet.com/madonna-and-child-art-history/
Image source 2: Miriam McClung, Jesus in the Arms of Mary, pastel on board, https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/miriam-mcclung/artwork/the-pieta-jesus-in-the-arms-of-mary