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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

I Must Proclaim

Sts. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus The actions of these two influential Jewish leaders give insight into the charismatic power of Jesus and his t

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Sts. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus

The actions of these two influential Jewish leaders give insight into the charismatic power of Jesus and his teachings—and the risks that could be involved in following him.

Joseph was a respected, wealthy civic leader who had become a disciple of Jesus. Following the death of Jesus, Joseph obtained Jesus' body from Pilate, wrapped it in fine linen and buried it. For these reasons Joseph is considered the patron saint of funeral directors and pallbearers. More important is the courage Joseph showed in asking Pilate for Jesus' body. Jesus was a condemned criminal who had been publicly executed. According to some legends, Joseph was punished and imprisoned for such a bold act.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and, like Joseph, an important first-century Jew. We know from John's Gospel that Nicodemus went to Jesus at night—secretly—to better understand his teachings about the kingdom. Later, Nicodemus spoke up for Jesus at the time of his arrest and assisted in Jesus' burial. We know little else about Nicodemus.

Patron Saint of:

Undertakers

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Sacred Space
Daily Prayer - 2016-08-29

Presence

The world is charged with the grandeur of God. (Gerard Manley Hopkins)
I dwell for a moment on the Presence of God around me,
in every part of my body,
and deep within my being.

Freedom

"In these days, God taught me
as a schoolteacher teaches a pupil" (Saint Ignatius).
I remind myself that there are things God has to teach me yet,
and ask for the grace to hear them and let them change me.

Consciousness

To be conscious about something is to be aware of it. Dear Lord help me to remember that You gave me life. Thank you for the gift of life. Teach me to slow down, to be still and enjoy the pleasures created for me. To be aware of the beauty that surrounds me. The marvel of mountains, the calmness of lakes, the fragility of a flower petal. I need to remember that all these things come from you.

The Word of God

Wednesday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 433
audio readings

1 Cor 3:1-9

Brothers and sisters,
I could not talk to you as spiritual people,
but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ.
I fed you milk, not solid food,
because you were unable to take it.
Indeed, you are still not able, even now,
for you are still of the flesh.
While there is jealousy and rivalry among you,
are you not of the flesh, and walking
according to the manner of man?
Whenever someone says, "I belong to Paul," and another,
"I belong to Apollos," are you not merely men?

What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul?
Ministers through whom you became believers,
just as the Lord assigned each one.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.
Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,
but only God, who causes the growth.
He who plants and he who waters are one,
and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor.
For we are God's co-workers;
you are God's field, God's building.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 33:12-13, 14-15, 20-21
R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
From heaven the LORD looks down;
he sees all mankind.

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
From his fixed throne he beholds
all who dwell on the earth,
He who fashioned the heart of each,
he who knows all their works.

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Alleluia
Lk 4:18
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor
and to proclaim liberty to captives.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Lk 4:38-44

After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon.
Simon's mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever,
and they interceded with him about her.
He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.
She got up immediately and waited on them.

At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases
brought them to him.
He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
And demons also came out from many, shouting, "You are the Son of God."
But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak
because they knew that he was the Christ.

At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.
The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him,
they tried to prevent him from leaving them.
But he said to them, "To the other towns also
I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God,
because for this purpose I have been sent."
And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Some thoughts on today's scripture

It's a really horrible scene portrayed for us here by Mark. It opens with the totally corrupt Herod at a royal banquet. We can only imagine the sumptuousness of the feast and the entertainments laid on. And then through his selfish cupidity he is cornered into taking the life of John, the outspoken Baptist and adding that horror to the entertainments of the evening. Nothing is sacred to this king.
Contrast this with the quiet humility of John's disciples who mercifully look after his body and honour it with burial. What a sorrowful and humble group they appear as they bring some humanity to this awful scene.
We know this affected Jesus deeply. Does it bring to mind any situations that you know?

Conversation

Begin to talk to Jesus about the piece of scripture you have just read.
What part of it strikes a chord in you?
Perhaps the words of a friend - or some story you have heard recently -
will slowly rise to the surface of your consciousness.
If so, does the story throw light on what the scripture passage may be trying to say to you?
Conclusion

I thank God for these few moments we have spent alone together and for any insights I may have been given concerning the text.

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Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Luke 4:38-44

22nd Week in Ordinary Time

He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. (Luke 4:40)

The word was out—Jesus could heal the sick! Peter's mother-in-law was living proof, so people flocked to him in search of healing and deliverance. They even brought their friends. And he healed all of them.

This story tells us that healing the sick is at the heart of Jesus' ministry and at the forefront of his desires. That desire has not changed over the centuries. Jesus was happy to receive the people who came to him, and he wants no less for us to come to him and seek healing today.

But we often hold back. We don't expect to see healings. We might not even think to ask for something so bold. Maybe we're afraid of looking foolish, but more often than not, we don't think Jesus will heal us. We've all experienced the disappointment of praying for something and not getting it, at least not in the way we had expected. We've all experienced the need to keep praying because an answer doesn't come right away. So we feel disheartened.

It's a mystery why some prayers seem to get answered, and others don't. It's a mystery why some people get healed, and others don't. When we're talking about our relationship with God, mystery is something we can't get around. We will never be able to comprehend why God "does" some things and not others.

Some things don't change, however. Jesus is alwalys alive and in our midst. He always loves us, and he always delights in working in our lives. He always wants us to come and ask him for healing.

Will our prayers always get answered in the way we expect? Maybe not. But that doesn't necessarily mean we're not "praying right." Trust Jesus. Trust what's in his heart toward you and all his people. Ask for healing. Keep on asking. No matter what, Jesus will be pleased when you come to him and lay before him all the things on your heart.

Don't forget, Jesus does still heal. So invite him into all the situations in which you or a loved one or a friend needs his healing touch, and watch what he does!

"Jesus, I trust in your goodwill toward me. Lord, I need your healing touch!"

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my2cents:

"For we are God's co-workers; you are God's field, God's building."

We prayed today "Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own."

The Lord comes and we heard "...demons also came out from many, shouting, "You are the Son of God." Demons proclaim this is the Son of GOd and nobody believes. The Son of God comes saying He is the Son of GOD and hardly anybody believes.
Today, I am a worker for God, I even wrote a new song this weekend saying the day I die, I will be trading all I've loved for the one I've worked for...the Lord.

Today, I'm at a funeral, pray for us. This life thing, it is passing fast. We are God's field and workers and Holy Church.

I Love God. I Love the Holy Church, and I BELIEVE!!!!!!!

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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Be quiet!

St. Jeanne Jugan (1792-1879) Born in northern France during the French Revolution—a time when congregations of women and men religious were being su

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St. Jeanne Jugan

(1792-1879)

Born in northern France during the French Revolution—a time when congregations of women and men religious were being suppressed by the national government, Jeanne would eventually be highly praised in the French academy for her community's compassionate care of elderly poor people.

When Jeanne was three and a half years old, her father, a fisherman, was lost at sea. Her widowed mother was hard pressed to raise her eight children (four died young) alone. At the age of 15 or 16, Jeanne became a kitchen maid for a family that not only cared for its own members, but also served poor, elderly people nearby. Ten years later, Jeanne became a nurse at the hospital in Le Rosais. Soon thereafter she joined a third order group founded by St. John Eudes (August 19).

After six years she became a servant and friend of a woman she met through the third order. They prayed, visited the poor and taught catechism to children. After her friend's death, Jeanne and two other women continued a similar life in the city of Saint-Sevran. In 1839, they brought in their first permanent guest. They began an association, received more members and more guests. Mother Marie of the Cross, as Jeanne was now known, founded six more houses for the elderly by the end of 1849, all staffed by members of her association—the Little Sisters of the Poor. By 1853 the association numbered 500 and had houses as far away as England.

Abbé Le Pailleur, a chaplain, had prevented Jeanne's reelection as superior in 1843; nine year later, he had her assigned to duties within the congregation, but would not allow her to be recognized as its founder. He was removed from office by the Holy See in 1890.

By the time Pope Leo XIII gave her final approval to the community's constitutions in 1879, there were 2,400 Little Sisters of the Poor. Jeanne died later that same year, on August 30. Her cause was introduced in Rome in 1970, and she was beatified in 1982 and canonized in 2009.

Comment:

Jeanne Jugan saw Christ in what Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata would describe as his "distressing disguises." With great confidence in God's providence and the intercession of St. Joseph, she begged willingly for the many homes that she opened, relying on the good example of the Sisters and the generosity of benefactors who knew the good that the Sisters were doing. They now work in 30 countries. "With the eye of faith, we must see Jesus in our old people—for they are God's mouthpiece," Jeanne once said. No matter what the difficulties, she was always able to praise God and move ahead.

Quote:

In his homily at the canonization Mass, Pope Benedict XVI said: "In the Beatitudes, Jeanne Jugan found the source of the spirit of hospitality and fraternal love, founded on unlimited trust in Providence, which illuminated her whole life. This evangelical dynamism is continued today across the world in the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor, which she founded and which testifies, after her example, to the mercy of God and the compassionate love of the Heart of Jesus for the lowliest."

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Sacred Space
Daily Prayer - 2016-08-29

Presence

As I begin this prayer, God is here.
Around me, in my sensations, in my thoughts and deep within me.
I pause for a moment, and become aware
of God's life-giving presence.

Freedom

Thank you God for my freedom
May I use this gift to do what I can
for those who are oppressed or burdened.

Consciousness

I exist in a web of relationships - links to nature, people, God.
I trace out these links, giving thanks for the life that flows through them.
Some links are twisted or broken: I may feel regret, anger, disappointment.
I pray for the gift of acceptance and forgiveness.

The Word of God

Tuesday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
readings audio

1 Cor 2:10b-16

Brothers and sisters:
The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Among men, who knows what pertains to the man
except his spirit that is within?
Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.
We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom,
but with words taught by the Spirit,
describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.

Now the natural man does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God,
for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it,
because it is judged spiritually.
The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything
but is not subject to judgment by anyone.

For "who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?"
But we have the mind of Christ.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13ab, 13cd-14
R. (17) The Lord is just in all his ways.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.

R. The Lord is just in all his ways.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.

R. The Lord is just in all his ways.
Making known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.

R. The Lord is just in all his ways.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.

R. The Lord is just in all his ways.
Alleluia
Lk 7:16

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

A great prophet has arisen in our midst
and God has visited his people.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Lk 4:31-37

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.
He taught them on the sabbath,
and they were astonished at his teaching
because he spoke with authority.
In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,
and he cried out in a loud voice,
"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!"
Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"
Then the demon threw the man down in front of them
and came out of him without doing him any harm.
They were all amazed and said to one another,
"What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and they come out."
And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.


Some thoughts on today's scripture

It's a really horrible scene portrayed for us here by Mark. It opens with the totally corrupt Herod at a royal banquet. We can only imagine the sumptuousness of the feast and the entertainments laid on. And then through his selfish cupidity he is cornered into taking the life of John, the outspoken Baptist and adding that horror to the entertainments of the evening. Nothing is sacred to this king.
Contrast this with the quiet humility of John's disciples who mercifully look after his body and honour it with burial. What a sorrowful and humble group they appear as they bring some humanity to this awful scene.
We know this affected Jesus deeply. Does it bring to mind any situations that you know?

Conversation

Do I notice myself reacting as I pray with the Word of God?
Do I feel challenged, comforted, angry?
Imagining Jesus sitting or standing by me,
I speak out my feelings, as one trusted friend to another.
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.

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Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Luke 4:31-37

What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. (Luke 4:36)

"The word is mightier than the sword" is one way that we might describe today's Gospel reading. When Jesus cast out an unclean spirit, the people were shocked that his words had such power. He didn't physically battle the spirits or use any fancy curse or proclamation: just a simple command. It took him only a few seconds, and Satan was sent running while the audience looked on in amazement.

This story shows us just how powerful Jesus' words are. And the fact that this story is preserved in the Bible emphasizes all the other words of Jesus that are collected in the Scriptures. Each and every one of them has power to cast out evil, to melt hearts, and to heal wounds. They are the words we hear every day at Mass. They are the words we read every time we pick up a Bible. They are the words we memorized when we were little children. These words are here for us, so let's embrace them with open hearts!

It's not uncommon that our time of personal prayer and Scripture reading touches our hearts. We gain new insights into God's love, or we are moved to repentance or worship. But there's another side to Jesus' words: the power they have when we speak them to other people and even more so when we live them out day after day. It's the power to break the chains of those bound by sin and fear.

Isn't Jesus wonderful? He didn't just come and speak his truths to us once and then expect us to grasp them automatically and live them out. He filled his words with divine grace and power so that they would never lose their effect. He breathed his Spirit into them so that no matter how many times we pray about them or obey them, we find more and more grace for our lives. We also find more and more grace flowing from us and touching other people's lives.

Truly, his words never come back to him void (Isaiah 55:11)!

"Lord, thank you for speaking your word to me. Thank you for the power of your word to change lives."

1 Corinthians 2:10-16
Psalm 145:8-14

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my2cents:
"We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God"

We prayed "The Lord is just in all his ways"
In comes the Lord and we heard "Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!""What is there about his word?"
When the Disciples were walking to Emaus, after the Lord had resurrected, they only realized the Lord joined them in their walk when He broke the bread, Himself before them, and then they asked when He disappears again "weren't our hearts burning as He spoke with us?"
I am on my way, 500 miles drive to a funeral for my uncle. I pray that these words find you with your heart burning for the Lord.

Let yourself be found on fire for the LORD

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