.: 12/06/21

Monday, December 6, 2021

† "..He stood up immediately . . ."

†Saint Quote
"To use this life well is the pathway through death to everlasting life."
–St. John Almond

†Today's Meditation
"Even if you do not confess, God is not ignorant of the deed, since he knew it before it was committed. Why then do you not speak of it? Does the transgression become heavier by the confession? No, it becomes lighter and less troublesome. And this is why he wants you to confess: not that you should be punished, but that you should be forgiven; not that he may learn your sin—how could that be, since he has seen it?—but that you may learn what favor he bestows. He wishes you to learn the greatness of his grace, so that you may praise him perfectly, that you may be slower to sin, that you may be quicker to virtue. And if you do not confess the greatness of the need, you will not understand the enormous magnitude of his grace."
— St. John Chrysostom, p. 255

An Excerpt From
A Year with Church Fathers, p255

†Daily Verse
"With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit. To that end, be watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the holy ones."

–Ephesians 6:18

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St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas of Myra (270 – 343 A.D.) was the only child of a wealthy Greek Christian couple living in what is today the country of Turkey. He was a pious child, and upon the death of his parents Nicholas was raised by an uncle who was a bishop. St. Nicholas grew in holiness, was ordained to the priesthood, and eventually consecrated a bishop. He was famous for generosity to the poor, protection of the wronged, zeal against heresy, and performance of miracles. Many famous legends are told of him. When a poverty-stricken man was to be forced to sell his daughters into slavery, St. Nicholas secretly tossed bags of coins into their home to serve as the girls' dowry, thus enabling them to marry and be provided for. The money was said to have landed in their stockings drying by the fireplace, which is the origin of gifts in children's stockings and shoes at Christmastime. At the Council of Nicea, Nicholas prevailed against the heretic bishop Arius; he was also instrumental in defending the doctrine of Jesus' divinity and formulating the Nicene Creed. His relics are still preserved in the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Italy. On his feast day they emit a miraculous myrrh, which is distributed around the world. Many countries have the custom of making him the secret giver of gifts to children on his feast day. In the United States, for example, he is celebrated as "Santa Claus," who distributes gifts to children on Christmas Eve. St. Nicholas of Myra is the patron saint of many causes, professions, cities, and countries; but he is most notably the patron of children, sailors, prisoners, and maidens seeking to marry. His feast day is December 6th.

Monday of the Second Week of Advent

Lectionary: 181
Reading I

Is 35:1-10

The desert and the parched land will exult;

the steppe will rejoice and bloom.

They will bloom with abundant flowers,

and rejoice with joyful song.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;

They will see the glory of the LORD,

the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the hands that are feeble,

make firm the knees that are weak,

Say to those whose hearts are frightened:

Be strong, fear not!

Here is your God,

he comes with vindication;

With divine recompense

he comes to save you.

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,

the ears of the deaf be cleared;

Then will the lame leap like a stag,

then the tongue of the mute will sing.

Streams will burst forth in the desert,

and rivers in the steppe.

The burning sands will become pools,

and the thirsty ground, springs of water;

The abode where jackals lurk

will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus.

A highway will be there,

called the holy way;

No one unclean may pass over it,

nor fools go astray on it.

No lion will be there,

nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.

It is for those with a journey to make,

and on it the redeemed will walk.

Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return

and enter Zion singing,

crowned with everlasting joy;

They will meet with joy and gladness,

sorrow and mourning will flee.

Responsorial Psalm

85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14

R. (Isaiah 35:4f) Our God will come to save us!
I will hear what God proclaims;

the LORD –for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,

glory dwelling in our land.
R. Our God will come to save us!
Kindness and truth shall meet;

justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,

and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Our God will come to save us!
The LORD himself will give his benefits;

our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,

and salvation, along the way of his steps.
R. Our God will come to save us!

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Behold the king will come, the Lord of the earth,
and he himself will lift the yoke of our captivity.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Lk 5:17-26

One day as Jesus was teaching,
Pharisees and teachers of the law,
who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem,
were sitting there,
and the power of the Lord was with him for healing.
And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed;
they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence.
But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd,
they went up on the roof
and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles
into the middle in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
"As for you, your sins are forgiven."

Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves,
"Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
Who but God alone can forgive sins?"
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply,
"What are you thinking in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,'
or to say, 'Rise and walk'?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"–
he said to the one who was paralyzed,
"I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home."

He stood up immediately before them,
picked up what he had been lying on,
and went home, glorifying God.
Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God,
and, struck with awe, they said,
"We have seen incredible things today."

Daily Meditation: Isaiah 35:1-10

Strengthen the hands that are feeble. (Isaiah 35:3)
__
Jerusalem was under threat of foreign invasion; national morale was at a low point; it even felt to some that God had abandoned them. But Isaiah countered the glum environment by promising that it would not always be like that. "Hold on to your faith!" he cried. A time will come when "the parched land will exult." It may feel like you're in a harsh, dry desert, but "the burning sands will become pools" (Isaiah 35:1, 7).

We all know what it's like to experience a season of dryness in prayer. It's hard to motivate ourselves. We feel as if we are talking to a wall, not to the Lord. We don't feel any consolation or affirmation as we try to connect with the Spirit. We may wonder what God is doing or whether he is listening to us at all. These are the times when we need to take Isaiah's invaluable advice: "Don't give up!"

Times of dry prayer can become rich opportunities for us to build our foundation of faith. And as any builder knows, you want your foundation to be solid and unshakable. You want it to be able to withstand any trouble.

Uncomfortable though they are, dry periods give us the chance to build such a foundation. They help us build our prayer life on the solid truths of our faith and not just on our emotions, which come and go. They urge us to spend our prayer time recalling the awesome attributes of the God who loves us, whether we feel it or not.

One good strategy for building your foundation of prayer is to spend the time contemplating the creed that we say at Mass. Recite it slowly and tell the Lord that you believe in everything you are saying. Don't just look for God's comfort; look for his truth. Believe that he is still at work, even in hidden ways. Look at the cross and place your faith in Jesus' resurrection, even if you don't feel like a new creation at that moment.

So don't give up. Strengthen your weak knees. Persevere. Know that God always rewards those who persist in honoring and trusting in him.

"Jesus, thank you for those times of dryness when you call me to seek you more deeply. I trust that you are using them to make me strong in your Spirit."

Psalm 85:9-14
Luke 5:17-26
Strengthen the hands that are feeble. (Isaiah 35:3)

Jerusalem was under threat of foreign invasion; national morale was at a low point; it even felt to some that God had abandoned them. But Isaiah countered the glum environment by promising that it would not always be like that. "Hold on to your faith!" he cried. A time will come when "the parched land will exult." It may feel like you're in a harsh, dry desert, but "the burning sands will become pools" (Isaiah 35:1, 7).

So don't give up. Strengthen your weak knees. Persevere. Know that God always rewards those who persist in honoring and trusting in him.

"Jesus, thank you for those times of dryness when you call me to seek you more deeply. I trust that you are using them to make me strong in your Spirit."

Psalm 85:9-14
Luke 5:17-26

From Today's Holy Scripture:
"A highway will be there, called the holy way; No one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it."
Does this Scripture verse make you feel glad or sad? They say only holiness exists in Heaven. But what happens to free will? The question here is...what about God's will? The holy way is brought up by Isaiah, prophesying about Jesus, the Way. The Holy Way. You see, it's not an idea, it's about a person...the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus is the Way. The road to Jerusalem is straight, the Straight way. Why do people choose other ways...to live? There is only one true Way...the Truth, and Jesus is the Truth.

We pray in Psalms:
"I will hear what God proclaims; the LORD –for he proclaims peace to his people. Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him, glory dwelling in our land. Our God will come to save us..."

And so are you glad or sad to hear the news? The news that God will come to save us. Who does He save? He saves His children. Since Abraham, it was about His chosen ones. And with Jesus, everyone is invited to be the chosen ones. His family. We are His family. This is amazing. Salvation then is an amazing gift from God Himself.

We heard of our Lord in the Gospel today:

"And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence.
But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
"As for you, your sins are forgiven."

When I heard Father reading this at daily Mass this morning, I thought "boy, I wish I had friends like that". These friends went the extra mile. These friends were on a mission...for salvation. Don't people think I need salvation too? And so, I sink into a "woe me" song, wallowing in my own pain of my own abomination.

So what can I do if I don't have friends that will bring me to Salvation?

What did the blind man do? He called out to Jesus. And the more people told him to hush, he would yell all the louder, crying out for help.

What is this message then? The message is to grow closer to Christ. And then what happens when you come to His Presence? Because Scripture says they wanted to lay the paralyzed man in His Presence.
There are some particular ways to come into His presence that I know for sure.
First, in sincere prayer where 2 or 3 or more are gathered in His name.
Second, in the Blessed Sacrament and Eucharistic Adoration.
Third, in the Confessional.
The last is perhaps most important. Why? Because this is the only place you will here words of absolution. This is where we hear what the paralyzed man heard, "As for you, your sins are forgiven".

The paralyzed man heard something nobody ever told him...words of forgiveness. The Pharisees heard nothing but blasphemy.

The paralyzed man was still paralyzed physically at this point, but He was brought to the fold that Pharisees saw as impossible.
Confessions often times heal a soul, inside out. Real physical healings take place many times. For sure, spiritual healings take place. The Pharisees believed what many believe today "only God can forgive". Protestants don't believe in Confessions, yet they believe in self-confessing and self-forgiving. And they say confessions are invalid, pointing the finger, all the while negating the True Authority of the Catholic Church. I digress.

Back to the Holy Way.
"But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"–he said to the one who was paralyzed,
"I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home."
They say a miracle is God's way of manifesting Himself for a truth to be made known. Have you experienced a miracle? I'd say most that seek Him...have.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, like say, our Lady of Guadalupe's image that basically converted and saved millions of souls. So how many words does a miracle speak? I'll let you do the counting. To me, one miracle is so inexplicable, so dumbfounding, that all I can do is praise God.

This miracle proved to the Pharisees that this forgiveness was indeed from God, but still, they refused to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior, therefore, they said that the miracle was invalid. The confession was invalid, they said. It is the first cancel culture that existed...called darkness...where people that are blind, lead the blind.
The worst blind people are the deaf and mute ones, for they cannot hear nor speak right. And I'm speaking spirituality.

I wish I had friends that would carry my dead weight. But, as it stands...I have to be that friend to them.

And God sees this act of charity that speaks thousands of words of praise.

Let's pray:
My Lord, My God,
I find myself carrying much weight.
If there were more laborers, the weight and burden would be much less.
Who helped you carry your cross? A reluctant fellow?
Lord, help me be a cheerful giver...of blood, sweat and tears, all things true love for the Truth and the Way...yourself dearest Lord.
Amen.