| Minute Meditations
St. Salvator of Horta A reputation for holiness does have some drawbacks. Public recognition can be a nuisance at times—as the confreres of Salvator found out. Salvator was born during Spain's Golden Age. Art, politics and wealth were flourishing. So was religion. Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus in 1540. Salvator's parents were poor. At the age of 21 he entered the Franciscans as a brother and was soon known for his asceticism, humility and simplicity. As cook, porter and later the official beggar for the friars in Tortosa, he became well known for his charity. He healed the sick with the Sign of the Cross. When crowds of sick people began coming to the friary to see Salvator, the friars transferred him to Horta. Again the sick flocked to ask his intercession; one person estimated that two thousand people a week came to see Salvator. He told them to examine their consciences, to go to confession and to receive Holy Communion worthily. He refused to pray for those who would not receive those sacraments. The public attention given to Salvator was relentless. The crowds would sometimes tear off pieces of his habit as relics. Two years before his death, Salvator was moved again, this time to Cagliari on the island of Sardinia. He died at Cagliari saying, "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." He was canonized in 1938. Comment: Medical science is now seeing more clearly the relation of some diseases to one's emotional and spiritual life. In Healing Life's Hurts, Matthew and Dennis Linn report that sometimes people experience relief from illness only when they have decided to forgive others. Salvator prayed that people might be healed, and many were. Surely not all diseases can be treated this way; medical help should not be abandoned. But notice that Salvator urged his petitioners to reestablish their priorities in life before they asked for healing. Quote: "Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness" (Matthew 10:1).
Presence Dear Jesus, I come to you today Freedom God is not foreign to my freedom. Consciousness Help me Lord to be more conscious of your presence. Teach me to recognise your presence in others. Fill my heart with gratitude for the times Your love has been shown to me through the care of others. The Word of God The wicked said among themselves, R. (19a) The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. One does not live on bread alone, Jesus moved about within Galilee; Conversation Remembering that I am still in God's presence, Conclusion Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. 4th Week of LentYou know me. (John 7:28)
Anyone with children, particularly teenagers, has heard it before: "I know." You know they don't know, but you can't convince them of that! The inhabitants of Jerusalem were like that. "We know where he is from" (John 7:27). Actually, they didn't know. But that didn't matter. Nothing could disturb their satisfaction with what they thought they knew. Still, Jesus kept trying to get through to them. Ever faithful, ever patient, he never gave up hope. Every day, Jesus comes to the "temple" of our own hearts for the very same reason. He wants us to know him. He wants us to know who he is and where he came from. This is the heart of the Christian message. It's not about avoiding sin. It's not about doing good things. It's about knowing the One who has no beginning and no end, whom no eye has seen and no ear has heard. Everything flows from this, and without this knowledge of Christ—this intimate, personal encounter with him—our life of faith becomes weaker and weaker over time. None of us can know Jesus fully. We're only human, and he is divine! Not to mention, our fallen nature places some veils over us that will be removed only when we enter heaven and see him face-to-face. Still, because his Spirit lives in us, we can grow closer to him every day. How? First, read about him. Scripture paints a vivid picture of Jesus' character—his kindness and patience, his desire to draw you to himself, his willingness to lay down his life for you. Start a list of what the daily Mass readings say about Jesus, and watch this list grow and deepen as you ponder it. Second, ask him some questions that will help you know him better. "What were you thinking when ... ?" "Why did you welcome Zacchaeus?" "What would you say to me if you met me at the town well?" Then wait quietly for the Holy Spirit to stir your thoughts or heart. Finally, write down what you think, feel, or imagine in response to your questions. Keep it with you and ponder it often. God hasn't changed! He longs for you to know him! "Lord, open my eyes to see you and my ears to hear you speak this Lent so that I might know you more!"
Wisdom 2:1, 12-22
I Know Him my2cents: From the book of Wisdom, sometimes referred to as the "Wisdom of Solomon" we take a prophetic message of good versus evil, of worldliness versus holiness and we hear "Because his life is not like that of others, and different are his ways.....Let us condemn him to a shameful death" and notice the end verse "...These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them". The dangerous part is that these thoughts against good are still out there. I was going to say people, but the people are not the problem, but evil is. And evil turns it around so you think people are the problem, and so the world goes around thinking we have people problems, and so things like abortion and killings are in existence. Yet the book of Wisdom speeks and often of the test. It is right and just, for Solomon had been asked by God what he wished and Solomon asked for above all riches, above all things on earth, for the Wisdom, as we read in 1Kings 3:9 "Give your servant, therefore, a listening heart to judge your people and to distinguish between good and evil. For who is able to give judgment for this vast people of yours?" Ah HA! Listen. Just like Solomon asked for something "a listening heart", ooooh so clever, so as to not be blind. Why don't we ask God for what we REALLY need...above all? Perhaps even dare to ask for...faith?! The Psalms proclaim the life of Christ "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted". Enough said...he travels to Jerusalem, how can the New Covenant stay away from the tabernacle? Last night we praised God and we were facing the tabernacle in our sanctuary, where inside is the Blessed Sacrament, the body of Christ. I said for all to look at it and know how blessed we are to be able to approach God like never before, and to pray in His Presence, and not even that glass in front of us would keep Him from being with us...the needy, the broken and afflicted. Yet Jesus travels there, to the broken. This upsets me, like the blind people, how can God go to those that don't love Him? Why is it upsetting? Because I won't do the same. You see, most often our afflictions are a lack of love, and above all, a lack of love of God our Father. So I reached out to a couple of people this week to invite them to our praise and prayers for healing night last night. One man, an uncle with cirrhosis of the liver, stage 4 and with tuberculosis to boot. Once I heard of his diseases and ailments, I felt the desire to call him to come for healing. He said thanks for the invitation and he'd try to make it. He did not come, even as we gathered I called him and he said he had things to do and was tired from work. Another man, an older co-worker, I notice he hobbles along with pain all day, he is suffering from a sciatic nerve injury, of which I hear these are very painful things to endure. He is not catholic but I invited him to come to pray and then for prayers for healing. He did not show. As a matter of fact, I think he gave me the worst and yet best excuse (honest) I've heard "oh no, by that time I'll be on my lazy boy at about this level to relax". LOL. Needless to say, he did not show up either. One last couple joined us for prayers for healings in their family and we pray for their granddaughter's auto immune deficiency and another's and an in-law's cancer. Listen. I am not complaining. How can I complain if I'm with Christ? I merely want you to compare yourself in the story. Who am I? and, "where do I belong?". And who is Jesus? Even the Lord asked "who do you say that I Am?". The answer matters. And don't lie. Don't say He is your King if you are not His servant doing His will. Don't say He is your Father and you do not honor Him. This is not to say we are perfect, we are goofy sometimes (fooled by evil), but God tests the heart and know what is true. And there is only one truth we can live in and depend on and it is Jesus. Jesus was indeed tested a shameful death, the worst possible of all time, stripped naked, beaten, flesh torn open, spit on, ridiculed and forced to walk like a slave carrying his load atop the mount, whereupon He was mounted on the cross He carried, nailed as if worthless, not even human. And to make sure He was dead, stabbed in the heart. How can the world be so cruel? It is evil isn't it? Evil blinds you and makes you do such things in sin. Because God knows this, He gave the solution...His beloved Love, His Body And Flesh for the life of the world. And it is here and now, in the tabernacle and the Holy Spirit which is Love in action. It is calling you, otherwise you would not have read to this point...let me be one with you As we prayed in tongues and for prophecy, all spoke, and at the moment I had nothing the Lord spoke "I HAVE SO MUCH MORE IN STORE FOR YOU"  adrian
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