The call of community (Ginny Kubitz Moyer)

   Mary’s trip [to visit her cousin Elizabeth] also demonstrates the call of community. Sometimes, our physical presence is the best gift we can give another person. Remember, too, that Mary is carrying Christ inside her, which gives another layer of meaning to her decision to offer support to her cousin. Pope John Paul II acknowledged this in a 1997 homily when he reflected on the Visitation and said, “In this act of human solidarity, Mary demonstrated that authentic charity which grows within us when Christ is present.” 

   Ultimately, the Visitation reminds us that no one is an island. We all live and thrive in relation to others. Sometimes we give in these encounters, and sometimes we receive. And often, as in the Visitation, it’s a beautiful combination of the two. 

--Ginny Kubitz Moyer 

HAPPY FEAST OF THE VISITATION! 

Image source: The Visitation, mural designed by Bro. Mickey McGrath and painted by seven teenagers at a clinic in Nairobi, Kenya, that treats pregnant women with HIV. Br. Mickey says that the teenagers who helped to make this mural happen “remind me every day of the Magnificat springing to life.” https://www.kolbetimes.com/br-mickey-mcgrath/
Quotation source

Called by the Spirit (Sr. Thea Bowman)

 

   If you believe that the Spirit that lived in Jesus, that the Spirit that lived in the disciples, that the Spirit that moved in the early church is the same Spirit you receive in your baptism and confirmation, say AMEN. 

   If you believe that you, like Jesus are called by the Spirit to share the Spirit in the world, to call forth the giftedness of God’s people, say Amen. 

   And if you believe that the Spirit of God is able to transform the water of your reality into purest wine, if you believe there is nothing God can’t do, say AMEN, AMEN, AMEN. 

--Sr. Thea Bowman, Servant of God, 

qtd. by C. Vanessa White 

To hear Spirit of the Living God Fall Afresh on Me (also quoted by Ms. White in her article), click on the video below: 

Image source: Linda S. Schmidt, Pentecost (quilt, 1991), https://artandtheology.org/tag/holy-spirit/
Quotation source
Video source

Mary, the mother of humanity (Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

     In the Synoptic Gospels, Mary is presented as a model of discipleship. John’s Gospel gives her a different role. Here she’s not the paradigm of discipleship (a role John gives to the Beloved disciple and to Mary Magdala), but is presented as Eve, the mother of humanity, and the mother of each of us. Interestingly, John never gives us Mary’s name. In the Gospel, she is always referred to as ‘the Mother of Jesus.’ As Eve, she stands in helplessness within human pain, when she stands under the cross. In this, she shows herself as universal mother, but also as an example of how injustice must be handled, namely, by standing within it in a way that does not replicate its hatred and violence so as to give it back in kind. 

--Fr. Ron Rolheiser OMI 

Facebook, December 12, 2022 

Image source: Wayman Scott IV, Earth and Life, a re-sculpting of Michelangelo’s Pietà (2022), https://baltimoreclayworks.org/event/earth-and-life-solo-exhibition-by-wayman-scott/
For an article about this Catholic artist’s work, click here.

Our prayer for those who gave their lives... (Austin Fleming)

In the quiet sanctuaries of our own hearts,
let each of us name and call on the One whose power over us
is great and gentle, firm and forgiving, holy and healing... 

You who created us,
who sustain us,
who call us to live in peace,
hear our prayer this day. 

Hear our prayer for all who have died,
whose hearts and hopes are known to you alone... 

Hear our prayer for those who put the welfare of others
ahead of their own 
and give us hearts as generous as theirs... 

Hear our prayer for those who gave their lives 
in the service of others,
and accept the gift of their sacrifice... 

Help us to shape and make a world
where we will lay down the arms of war
and turn our swords into ploughshares
for a harvest of justice and peace... 

Comfort those who grieve the loss of their loved ones
and let your healing be the hope in our hearts... 

Hear our prayer this day
and in your mercy answer us
in the name of all that is holy. 

The peace of God be with you. 

 --Austin Fleming                

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day#/media/File:Graves_at_Arlington_on_Memorial_Day.JPG
Prayer source

Pentecost (Fr. Raneiro Cantalamessa / St. John Chrysostoam)

Pentecost is the moment when a heart of stone
is shattered and a heart of flesh takes its place.

--Fr. Raneiro Cantalamessa,

Preacher to the Papal Household 

    Was it upon the twelve that it [the Holy Spirit] came? Not so; but upon the hundred and twenty. For Peter would not have quoted to no purpose the testimony of the prophet, saying, 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams' (Joel 2:28). 'And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.' For, that the effect may not be to frighten only, therefore it is both 'with the Holy Spirit, and with fire. And began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance' (Mt. 3:11). 

--St. John Chrysostom,

Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 

Image source: https://pcpj.org/2019/06/08/the-international-miracle-of-pentecost/
Quotation source 1
Quotation source 2

The Spirit at work (David Richo)

     An adult-oriented church loves change because it is a sign that a Spirit, a mighty unpredictable wind and uncontrollable tongues of fire, is at work. Such a church is not afraid of the new directions into which it might be led. It loves to go new places. 

--Dave Richo         

Image source: https://www.tfcanglican.org/go-deeper/the-promise-and-warning-about-the-holy-spirit
Quotation source

It's just a Tower of Babel (Natalie Merchant)

When the readings for the Pentecost Vigil are proclaimed at Saturday Masses, we hear the story of the Tower of Babel.  Singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant's new album, Keep Your Courage (with a statue of St. Joan of Arc on the cover!) includes a thought-provoking song called Tower of Babel:

See this house is divided

See how we're broken in two

It's just a Tower of Babel

And everybody's so confused

Everybody feeling the danger

Nobody dare to make a move

It's just a Tower of Babel

Everybody's so confused

Everybody's spellbound and waiting

Everybody roped and tied

It's just a Tower of Babel

Nobody gets out alive

Everybody's so confused

Everybody's so confused

Everybody's so confused 

To hear Natalie Merchant sing Tower of Babel, click on the video below:

Image source: Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Tower of Babel (c. 1563), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tower_of_Babel_%28Bruegel%29#/media/File:Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder_-_The_Tower_of_Babel_(Vienna)_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg 
Video source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 28, 2023: Lord, send out your spirit, and renew the face of the earth...

Lord, send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth…

Are you ready to be transformed? 

    The people of Israel have long recognized God’s power to renew the face of the earth; Psalm 104 is a proclamation of praise to God for all God has done for God’s creation. In Genesis, God breathes God’s spirit into Adam to animate him, and God ensures that all of creation has what it needs in order to bring forth life. In John’s version of the Pentecost, Jesus similarly breathes upon the disciples when he visits them in the upper room, when the doors are locked, after the resurrection. Receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, after twice wishing that peace be upon them. In a sense, Jesus is calling the disciples past their desire for the so-called normal, that they might be open to change, to transformation. They have a lot of fear to overcome; fear drives our lives all the time. But the peace of the Spirit helps us to conquer fear, that we might appreciate all that God is doing in our lives. 

    The Pentecost story the evangelist Luke presents in the Acts of the Apostles is radically more dramatic: a driving wind, flames as of fire, and the unanticipated ability to speak in different tongues are extraordinary events one would normally associate with a theophany (or visible manifestation of the Lord), all of which are possible because the Spirit enables them. Typically, a theophany portends that transformation is imminent; something happening out of the ordinary marks that change is to come. But these events are no more extraordinary than the mighty acts of God of which the disciples speak, a reference to both the death and resurrection of Jesus, as well as to their experience of Jesus revealed to them as Messiah and Son of God. God’s revelation and God’s activity are indeed extraordinary, and call us all to open ourselves to transformation. 

    God renews us, every single day. That is what it means to be alive: ongoing renewal through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We have different kinds of spiritual gifts, as Paul tells the Corinthians, yet in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, that we might work for the benefit of our community and of our world. The Spirit that works in each of us embodies God’s activity, renewing us all as God renews the face of the earth. May we too be filled with the Holy Spirit, changed, transformed, that we might bring that Spirit to our world. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class. (Note: Because this class took place in 2020, only one Mass was live-streamed and so Fr. Pat only preached on one set of readings, rather than the full set of Vigil and Sunday readings. You can access the entire set of Vigil readings here.) 

Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Ascending to the demands of today (Stephanie Boccuzzi)

   This Solemnity asks us to Rise! Get up! Be empowered to be a light to the world! 

   And, to do so, we ask ourselves, “What does ascending mean after these past two years of global, national, and individual suffering?” “How can we rise up to meet the challenges of today?” “Do we situate our gaze on a future of joy and restoration, or do we live in the pain and worry of the past?” 

   Ascending to the demands of today is hard work because it is unknown. We have to be vulnerable and admit that we are broken. Ascending is not rising above, it is rising with. Rising with the memory of pain and death, the memory of betrayal and sadness, but also with the glory and the hope that comes in the morning. 

   On this Solemnity we celebrate that Jesus is lifted, raised up, exalted and glorified. And, so will we! Amen! Amen! Amen! 

--Stephanie Boccuzzi    

Image source: Nikolai Ge, Harbingers of the Resurrection (1867), detail, https://www.wikiart.org/en/nikolai-ge/harbingers-of-the-resurrection-1 

Quotation source

He keeps the door open (Oswald Chambers)

   At his Ascension, our Lord entered Heaven, and He keeps the door open for humanity to enter. 

--Oswald Chambers 

Image source: René Magritte, L’embellie (1962), https://arthive.com/renemagritte/works/638327~The_improvement
Quotation source

Mary treasured all these things (Fr. James Martin)

   The line, “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart,” is so important. The original Greek can also be translated as “Mary preserved all these things…” or, even better, “Mary treasured all these things…” 

    Mary’s life around the time of the birth of Jesus was filled with extraordinary moments. Yet for the next 30 years, who knows if anything as powerful happened to her? Jesus is found in the Temple at age 12, but really, until Jesus’s first miracle at the Wedding Feast of Cana, Mary’s daily life was, at least outwardly, ordinary. That is why that “treasuring” and “reflecting” is so important. 

   All of us—even when we feel “marginal”—have had memorable experiences of God’s presence: perhaps a surprising experience in prayer, a moving moment during a Mass, a flash of awe while beholding a wonder in nature, a moment of bliss in a romantic relationship, a time of insight during a retreat. And yet those moments are, by their very nature, fleeting. Like Mary, we are called to “treasure them,” and “reflect” on them, to see what God might want to say to us. That “treasuring” is what faith is all about. 

--Fr. James Martin

Facebook, January 1, 2023 

In May we celebrate the Virgin Mary... 

Image source: He Qui, Nativity (1998), https://thejesusquestion.org/2011/12/25/nativity-paintings-from-around-the-world/

Let our hearts ascend with him (St. Augustine)

    Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies. 

    While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love. 

    He did not leave heaven when he came down to us; nor did he withdraw from us when he went up again into heaven. The fact that he was in heaven even while he was on earth is borne out by his own statement: No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. These words are explained by our oneness with Christ, for he is our head and we are his body. No one ascended into heaven except Christ because we also are Christ: he is the Son of Man by his union with us, and we by our union with him are sons of God. 

--St. Augustine, Sermo de Ascensione Domini 

Happy Feast of the Ascension! 

Image source: Ascension, mosaic in the cupola of the Basilica San Marco, Venice, https://www.wga.hu/html_m/zgothic/mosaics/6sanmarc/index.html
Quotation source

The encounter (Pope Benedict XVI)

    Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. 

--Pope Benedict XVI,
Deus Caritas Est 

Image source: The Moscow School, The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, tempura on wood panel, 16th c., https://www.timkenmuseum.org/collection/the-ascension-of-our-lord-jesus-christ/ 
Quotation source

At times we have to go away (Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

    Before his ascension, Jesus tells his disciples again and again: It is better for you that I go away. If I do not go away, I cannot send you the spirit. You will grieve now, but later, you will rejoice. 

    It took me years to understand even partially what Jesus meant by those words. I’m still struggling perhaps more in my heart than in my head, to accept that at times we have to go away in order for our spirits to bloom more fully and be capable of being received by those we love most, beyond the tensions and irritations that forever cloud relationships. 

--Fr. Ron Rolheiser,

Facebook, May 23, 2022 

Image source: Sketch by Stefan Salinas, 2002, www.stefansalinas.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 21, 2023: I am with you always, until the end of the age...

I am with you always, until the end of the age…

Do we believe the ascended Jesus remains close to us? 

    When, at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is about to ascend, he leaves his disciples with this promise: I am with you always, until the end of the age. Since all power has been given to him, Jesus will be able to work through them, because he will dwell in them and they in him. And so, Jesus commissions them: Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. The power they have will be Jesus’ power, transferred to them, the power of his love at work in them. This power is in each one of them because they are one in him and he is in them. They have but to wait, as we hear in the Acts of the Apostles, for the promise of the Father, baptism with the Holy Spirit, before they head on out to fulfill this commission. As he ascends, Jesus will leave an imprint of himself on their hearts, remaining there for all time, until the end of the age, that they might be his witnesses, to the ends of the earth. 

    What does salvation mean to us? Paul wishes for the Ephesian community that the eyes of their hearts might be enlightened, that they might know the hope that belongs to his call. This wisdom, this revelation, is the openness to knowing God better and being drawn into his life for all. We are called to hope for something down the road that is different from our expectations; we are called to new hope for the future. Like the disciples, we too have to be open to the Spirit at work in us, guiding us. We must come to Jesus, open to being ruled by his love for us. For God fills everything in Christ and therefore God fills each of us as a part of the Body of Christ, with the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way. We share in a collective faith, a collective hope, a collective call from Jesus. Our openness to that faith, that hope, that call should bring us to joy, as Psalm 47 proclaims, for if we truly believe that he is with us always, we will proclaim his good news to the ends of the earth! 

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

Kindling temperature (Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

   John of the Cross has an interesting image: Intimacy with God and with each other will only take place when we reach a certain kindling temperature. He suggests that for too much of our lives, we lie around as damp, green logs inside the fire of love, waiting to come to flame but never bursting into flame because of our dampness. Before we can burst into flame, we must first dry out and come to kindling temperature. We do that, as does a damp log inside a fire, by first sizzling for a long time in the flames so as to dry out. 

--Fr. Ron Rolheiser,

 Facebook, December 11, 2017 

Image source: https://www.chimneyspecialistsinc.com/blog/wood-burning-tips-faqs/

We will make our dwelling with him (St. Julian of Norwich / M. Patricia Ball)

   For our soul sits in God in true rest,
and our soul stands in God in sure strength,
and our soul is naturally
rooted in God in endless love.

 --Julian of Norwich 

    It is good that God is here.

   Jesus further said to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

   How many of us start our day with the prayer that goes something like this, “My God, I offer you all my thoughts, words and deeds of this day”? I know that at times I have considered saying this to be justification for how I lived God’s word and prayed unceasingly as Paul urged us to do. 

   At the end of some days, though, I wonder how many of those thoughts, words, and deeds I am proud of. I, like the apostles, fail to preach the gospel through my actions. I do find comfort though in believing that God has been by my side throughout the day and still loves me. Amazing! 

   I also take comfort in the words of Richard Rohr, when he says, “For Jesus, prayer seems to be a matter of waiting in love. Prayer isn’t primarily words; it’s primarily an attitude, a stance, a modus operandi.” We can pray unceasingly and live the gospel if we find sustenance in remembering that we are engulfed in God’s loving embrace. In that embrace we can find the peace he gives and that we so desire. 

   It is good that God is here. 

--M. Patricia Ball, M.S.R.N. 

Image source: Ruth Tietjen Councell, Father’s Embrace, https://vocationnetwork.org/en/articles/show/252-back-in-god-s-embrace-how-to-make-a-good-confession
Quotation source 1
Quotation source 2

Hail Mary (Kings Return)

Do you know the words of the Ave Maria? 

Of course you do!

Franz Schubert's original composition was based on Sir Walter Scott's poem, "The Lady of the Lake," and was titled "Ellen's Third Song."  It was not intended for any religious use.  However, the same music, when given the Latin text of the "Hail Mary," does echo the refrain of "Ellen's Third Song," which is a prayer to the Virgin Mary. 

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. 

Or, in Latin: 

Ave Maria 

Gratia plena 

Maria, gratia plena 

Maria, gratia plena 

Ave, ave dominus 

Dominus tecum 

Benedicta tu in mulieribus 

Et benedictus 

Et benedictus fructus ventris 

Ventris tuae, Jesus. 

Ave Maria 

Ave Maria 

Mater Dei 

Ora pro nobis peccatoribus 

Ora pro nobis 

Ora, ora pro nobis peccatoribus 

Nunc et in hora mortis 

Et in hora mortis nostrae 

Et in hora mortis nostrae 

Et in hora mortis nostrae 

Ave Maria 

To hear this mind-blowing rendition of the Ave Maria sung by Kings Return, click on the video below: 

In May we celebrate the Virgin Mary...

Image source: Mikhail Nesterov, The Annunciation: The Virgin Mary (1898), https://www.catholicartandjewelry.com/products/the-annunciation-the-virgin-mary-by-mikhail-nesterov-2-sizes-8-5x11
Video source

The heart of a mother (St. Thérèse de Lisieux / Alice von Hildebrand)

The loveliest masterpiece of the heart
of God is the heart of a mother.

--St. Thérèse of Lisieux 

   A woman by her very nature is maternal – for every woman, whether married or unmarried, is called upon to be a biological, psychological, or spiritual mother — she knows intuitively that to give, to nurture, to care for others, to suffer with and for them — for maternity implies suffering — is infinitely more valuable in God’s sight than to conquer nations and fly to the moon. 

--Alice von Hildebrand 

Happy Mother’s Day to all who are blessed 

to mother our world! You are all blessing to us all! 

Image source 1: https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/women-and-vision/ 

Image source 2: William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Maternal Admiration (1869), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William-Adolphe-Bouguereau_(1825-1905)_-_Maternal_Admiration_(1869).jpg 

Even there, God is dwelling (Fr. Gregory Boyle)

      But in your darkest place, or in what you believe is your most hidden hideousness -- even there, God is dwelling. 

--Fr. Gregory Boyle 

Image source: Georges de La Tour, The Repentant Magdalen (1635-1640), https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.54386.html
Quotation source

Unless God dwells in our souls (Fr. John Hardon)

    The indwelling, therefore, gives us an extraordinary capacity for knowing God. No natural intelligence, no genius, no education can begin to begin to provide for the extraordinary knowledge that God’s indwelling gives the human soul. And the same with love. Those who possess the divine indwelling are capable of loving God as no one else can. 

    The divine indwelling enables us to give as no creature could possibly give. Unless God dwells in our souls we cannot imitate God in His giving with that complete selflessness which constitutes the very essence of God. 

--Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ 

Image source: https://shelleyjohnson.me/2022/02/27/inhabit-god-dwells-in-us/ 
Quotation source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 14, 2023: You are in me and I in you....

You are in me and I in you…

How connected do you feel to Jesus?

    In his Last Supper Discourses in John’s Gospel, Jesus reminds his disciples that he will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, so that he might be present to them always. It is important for Jesus to reassure his disciples that when he dies, it is not over – if he is with them in their hearts, he will be there even as he suffers death, even if they haven’t yet seen the fruit of resurrection. Jesus wants them to be confident of this indwelling: You are in me and I in you, he says. That connection will be sustained beyond death. Connectedness is what Christianity is supposed to be about, after all – we are connected to Jesus but also to one another, throughout our life journeys. Christ is the source of that connectedness, because we are in him and he is in us, so we must love him and keep his commandments. We have to keep expanding our ability to embrace his love without limits, love that is connecting, completely connecting. 

    When we do, it is our responsibility to make Christ seen, known. Thanks to the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, we are an extension of God’s love. In the Acts of the Apostles, Philip leaves Jerusalem during the persecutions, but goes on to proclaim the Christ to the people of Samaria. Since their hearts are open to allow Christ in, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in them thanks to the laying on of hands by Peter and John. It is no surprise that there was great joy in that city! God’s tremendous deeds always bring rejoicing, as in Psalm 66, in which all the earth cries out to God with joy! As 1 Peter explains, when we sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts, we are opening our hearts to transformation, expanding our hearts in order to take in this enormous presence as the central focus of holiness in our lives, that we might reveal him to all. 

   For every time we act out of love for others, every time we are kind or merciful, we connect to the Lord and Jesus Christ is revealed, as is the reason for our hope (his love for us). We believe in love that is greater than our understanding; whoever loves me will keep my commandments, Jesus says. Our ability to connect with him, to draw on his dwelling in us, allows us to share in that love that is precisely the manifestation of his presence in us, through which we then participate in the love of Christ for our world. There is no better way to be connected! 

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

How does our community of faith embody love? (Joann Melina Lopez)

   As Church, we must be a sacrament of Love itself, visible signs of the Trinity. We must act decisively with love in our world, in the particularities of our own contexts. In the face of systemic racism, virulent homophobia and transphobia, a deepening climate crisis, xenophobia, exploitative economic systems, white supremacy, and a devastating global pandemic that continues to weigh heavy upon the most marginalized in our world, we, the Body of Christ, must be agents of liberation, justice, restoration, dignity, hospitality, kindness, and peace. St. Paul reminds us that the measure of our kinship with Christ is our willingness to suffer with him. How often do we risk standing alongside the demonized, dehumanized, and discouraged? How might we, individually and as communities of faith, embody love and enflesh hope in our world today? 

--Joann Melina Lopez 

Image source: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/what-i-do-now-thou-knowest-not-but-thou-shalt-know-hereafter
Quotation source

So many stones (Dave Hopwood)

So many stones,
small, large, smooth, jagged, new, old,
fitting into this craggy, jigsaw body,
different sizes, different shapes. 

All vital, all part of a bigger picture,
not a construction designed to keep others out,
but a welcoming, generous temple,
a kind of place to call home,
a lighthouse, a divine landmark,
a place where all varieties of stone may fit together. 

Standing on the kind of rock that many overlook: 

the kind of rock that will stand forever. 

--Dave Hopwood,

God’s Dry Stone Wall (excerpt) 

Image source: https://rhythmsofplay.com/rock-balancing-stone-stacking-art-steam-activity/
Poem source

Carried in a woman's arms (St. Augustine)

   Truth, by which the world is held together, has sprung from the earth, in order to be carried in a woman’s arms. 

--St. Augustine 

In May we honor the Virgin Mary… 

Image course: Enric Monserday Vidal (1850-1926), Madonna and Child, http://fannycornforth.blogspot.com/2016/12/wednesday-14th-december-madonna-and.html
Quotation source

The Holy Spirit lighting up the Church (Pope Benedict XVI)

   I would like to draw your attention to a few aspects of this beautiful structure which I think can serve as a starting point for a reflection on our particular vocations within the unity of the Mystical Body. 

   The first has to do with the stained glass windows, which flood the interior with mystic light. From the outside, those windows are dark, heavy, even dreary. But once one enters the church, they suddenly come alive; reflecting the light passing through them, they reveal all their splendor. Many writers – here in America we can think of Nathaniel Hawthorne – have used the image of stained glass to illustrate the mystery of the Church herself. It is only from the inside, from the experience of faith and ecclesial life, that we see the Church as she truly is: flooded with grace, resplendent in beauty, adorned by the manifold gifts of the Spirit. It follows that we, who live the life of grace within the Church’s communion, are called to draw all people into this mystery of light. 

   This is no easy task in a world which can tend to look at the Church, like those stained glass windows, 'from the outside': a world which deeply senses a need for spirituality, yet finds it difficult to 'enter into' the mystery of the Church. Even for those of us within, the light of faith can be dimmed by routine, and the splendor of the Church obscured by the sins and weaknesses of her members. It can be dimmed too, by the obstacles encountered in a society which sometimes seems to have forgotten God and to resent even the most elementary demands of Christian morality. You, who have devoted your lives to bearing witness to the love of Christ and the building up of his Body, know from your daily contact with the world around us how tempting it is at times to give way to frustration, disappointment and even pessimism about the future. In a word, it is not always easy to see the light of the Spirit all about us, the splendor of the Risen Lord illuminating our lives and instilling renewed hope in his victory over the world (cf. Jn 16:33). 

    Yet the word of God reminds us that, in faith, we see the heavens opened, and the grace of the Holy Spirit lighting up the Church and bringing sure hope to our world. 

--Pope Benedict XVI
Homily, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 2008

Image source: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mill Valley, stained glass windows, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=421472231247538&set=a.421471351247626

If we are concerned about the Church (Mons. Kieran Harrigton)

     If we are concerned about the divisions or the sterility in the Church, whether in our diocese, parish, ministry, or in answer to the missionary mandate set before us, perhaps we must discern if we can honestly answer this question: Have we encountered Jesus Christ? 

--Monsignor Kieran Harrington,
interviewed by Will Sipling,
“World Mission Sunday:
What It Means and Where We Serve”

Image source: Titian, The Carrying of the Cross (ca. 1565), https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253177/book-is-an-invitation-to-encounter-jesus-through-great-works-of-art

The Mystical Body of Christ (Bishop Robert Barron)

   The Church is the Mystical Body of Jesus, the living organism that makes present Christ’s mind and will in the world. It is his love made flesh throughout the ages, his hands and feet and eyes and heart. We are all, through Baptism, members of that Body. Our purpose is his purpose—to carry the nonviolent and forgiving love of God to a hungry world, to go to the darkest places, to the far country in quest of sinners; to be both judge (sign of contradiction) and bearer of salvation. 

--Bishop Robert Barron,

Gospel Reflection, September 16, 2020 

Image source: https://godsleader.com/moving-beyond-mystical-body-of-christ/

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 7, 2023: Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house...

Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house…

What draws us together in community? 

    Jesus’ Last Supper Discourse in John’s Gospel gives us a great deal of insight into who Jesus is and what his relationship with us is all about. Jesus tells his disciples, I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Jesus and the Father are one, with no division between them, and God is revealed in all that Jesus does and all that Jesus is. In this way, Jesus is the path to the Father: I am the way and the truth and the life, he says. Moreover, just as Jesus is the revelation of the Father, so is Christ to be revealed in us, in our shared faith and the way we give witness to that faith. 

   One example of such witness is found in Acts of the Apostles, in which the tasks of the disciples need to be shared so that the needs of all may be met. No one is to be neglected in the daily distribution of food, and so a group of seven men are chosen to ensure that all receive what they need. The basis of community is our collective responsibility for each other, as shown in the love with which we embrace lives of service. In so doing, we become the living stones spoken of in the First Letter of Peter, all connected, built into the edifice that is our church community, with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone, the foundation that holds up that edifice. We are all connected, one spiritual house, called to trust and to praise God, as Psalm 33 exhorts us: Exult, you just, in the Lord! 

   Our Christian faith teaches us that Jesus is the way, the means by which our world can be drawn together as one by the power of God’s love, a love that gives us common ground even as it transcends our differences, for it is grounded in compassion and mercy and the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. May our church, built of living stones, give witness to that same compassion and mercy and love, filled with the trust that comes of our faith in the Lord. 

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

I will fear nothing (Padre Pio)

   Live a quiet life, my dearest daughter. Cast out of your imagination whatever could dismay you, and tell Our Lord often, 'Oh God, you are my God, and I trust in you; you will help me and be my refuge; I will fear nothing.' Not only are you with him, but you are in him and he is in you. What can a child in the arms of such a Father fear? Be like a little child, my most beloved child. Children do not ever think about their future, because they have someone else to think about it for them. They are fearless only when they are with their father. Do the same thing here, my dearest child, and be at peace. 

--Padre Pio 

Image source: Sadao Watanabe, The Good Shepherd (1968), https://scriptum.com/artwork/19475-the-good-shepherd?artistsid=1505 
Quotation source

To lead us into the intimacy of the divine life (Henri Nouwen)

    Our lives are destined to become like the life of Jesus. The whole purpose of Jesus’ ministry is to bring us to the house of his Father. Not only did Jesus come to free us from the bonds of sin and death; he also came to lead us into the intimacy of his divine life. It is difficult for us to imagine what this means. We tend to emphasize the distance between Jesus and ourselves. We see Jesus as the all-knowing and all-powerful Son of God who is unreachable for us sinful, broken human beings. But in thinking this way, we forget that Jesus came to give us his own life. He came to lift us up into loving community with the Father. Only when we recognize the radical purpose of Jesus’ ministry will we be able to understand the meaning of the spiritual life. Everything that belongs to Jesus is given for us to receive. All that Jesus does we may also do. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: Still shot from The Chosen, Season 2, episode 5, “Spirit.” Jesus lifts up the man no longer possessed by a demon, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN37nmxQZcQ 

Quotation source

Mary is not an icon to be reverenced (Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

   Mary is not an icon to be reverenced, but the pattern for how the incarnation is to continue, for how God continues to take flesh in this world. And that pattern is perennially the same: We must ponder God’s word until we become pregnant with charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, longsuffering, faith, mildness, fidelity, and chastity. Then we must, complete with the morning sickness this causes us, gestate them into real flesh within our own bodies and, when the time is right, with much groaning of our natural flesh, give them concrete birth into the world. Finally, we must spend years of nursing and coaxing that helpless God (“self-abandoned on the doorstep of time, wondered at by cattle and oxen”) into adulthood. That’s the way the incarnation works. 

 --Fr. Ron Rolheiser,

Facebook, December 2, 2022 

In May we honor the Virgin Mary… 

Image source: Stefan Salinas, "Formed From Within", 2022, acrylic on paper, used with the permission of the artist, https://www.stefansalinas.com/