John 17:11B-19 Consecrated in Truth

These words that Jesus speaks today remind us of our priests who speak to God the Father upon the altar, and thus are known as Jesus' "high priestly prayer" as he speaks to the Father on our behalf, offering us up with himself, so that we may be in union with him and the Father.  It is what our dear priests do at every mass during when they call down God and lift us and our prayers up during the sacrifice of the mass. 

“Holy Father, keep them in your name" is a line that marks us as a people of God, set aside and anointed.  Jesus asks that we be consecrated in the truth by the Father.  "Your word is truth." he acknowledges.  Through God's word we are made holy.  Through Christ, the Word, we are made holy.  Let us rejoice and be glad! 

John 14:6-14 ..so that the Father may be glorified..

There is something really beautiful in everything that Christ does, and that is that he continuously tells us, it is not for him or his sake that he asks us to do things, but for our Father in Heaven.  Jesus is so willing to give completely of himself.  It reminds me of when he told the Apostles that, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down his life for his friends." (Jn 1513)  Jesus lets us know that his words and works are from the Father.  This is how he is in the Father and the Father in him.  Thus they become one. 

"Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,
and will do greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father."

Jesus promised to send the Advocate and with the help of this Holy Spirit send by the Father in Christ Jesus' name, we will have great power to do His will.   It is an incredible amazing thing.  Hard to be true, yet it is.  How does it relate to our own life?

A brother who has sought God in nearly every religion throughout his life looks at my faith and asks, how can you believe?  Why can't I quite turn the question around and ask, why don't you believe? In today's reading Philip asks Jesus to explicitly show everyone the Father as proof.  Thomas the Apstle is with them.  Philip and Thomas portray those doubts and uncertainties we all have.  This is why Jesus has already challenged Thomas to put his fingers into the wound marks.  Now he explains explicity how he and the Father are one, how what he does glorifies the Father, and how we are to be united with him in following him in his works to also glorify the Father: to give our whole selves to God.  Christ died for our sins, that he could raise us up with himself for the honor and glory of God.  Alleluia!

John 15: 9-11 Keep in my love

As a communication tool the social media isn’t bad, but it also highlights that human need for love and acceptance.  It is what many of us in this life are searching for.  Our families and friends hold that key to love and acceptance, yes.  However, our relationships prepare us for that great relationship between us and our God, who is love, compassion and mercy.  Jesus reminds us, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.”  That love is so complete and encompassing.  If we think of those greatest joys and times that we were filled with deep love for others around us…how they would pale in comparison and almost seem like suffering to what we receive from our Heavenly Father through Christ. 

How do we remain in Christ’s love?  He tells us, “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” What are his commands?  Put simply, love God with all your heart, mind, and soul.  Secondly, love your neighbor as God has loved you. 

John 15:1-8 I am the true vine.

It is still spring. In the winter the fruit trees and grapes were trimmed.  Now they are laden with young fresh fruit that will hopefully grow and mature into sweet fruit when fully ripened.  Even from now until then there are so many things that can happen.  If there is a shortage of water, the fruit will wither.  Without netting the birds will come down and eat parts of it destroying the fruit by causing it to rot on the vine or tree.  There are so many things. 

In today's Gospel Jesus reminds us that he is the true vine.  His Father is the vine grower who prunes us so that we as the branches may produce more abundant fruit.  As the vine, Jesus provides us with the nutrients, that nourishment that we need, and the life giving water that pours forth into the fruit that we produce.  The Father will protect us just as a good vine grower does, walking beside us, sitting with us, talking to us as we grow, and watching how our fruit takes shape to benefit others because of his tender care, and yet we too are strengthened by him.  God is good!  All the time!

John 14:7-14 Whomever has seen me has seen the Father.

In today's Gospel, there is a line, "Show us the Father."  It reminds me of when people say, "Show me the money!"  There is so much doubt and perhaps annoyance in it.  Jesus is challenging Philip and us to look at the entire situation differently than originally perceived.  Philip followed Jesus for a long time, Jesus tells us, but still Jesus is shaking his head at him and asking how Philip could still not know him. 

We live sometimes in the moment, that words spoken seem more important than the actions or rhythmic pattern of one's life, but Jesus is arresting Philip's attention, and basically saying, hey, look deeper into what you know is true, not because I said it, but because I have said it and lived it;  You know that it isn't me, but the one who sent me who is beckoning to you to come follow me to him. 

"The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own."  Just as when we proclaim Jesus's words, we are in him and him in us because through our imitation of him, we have become an extention of him, so too are his word's the Father's and so the Father is in him and he in the Father because he is an extention of the Father.  So really, when we do good works, and proclaim the Kingdom, we are an extention of the Father through Christ, and we know the Father is with us.  This is what Jesus explains to Philip.  Jesus says that he will help Philip with anything because of that, just as he will help us.     

John 14:1-16 I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life

A friend became a Benedictine monk.  He was given the comfort and assurance of knowing that he would always have a place at the monastery and that when the time comes for him to die, he will be buried in its cemetery, and that his soul will be perpetually prayed for.  It took a leap of faith for him to leave the comforts of the world, but at the same time he finds great comfort of knowing just as much comfort if not greater peace of mind comes to him for he knows that the monks are following God's Way as much as they can; and that he was called, and given a dwelling within the monastery mimics what will come in the eternal life when Jesus says, "I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be."

There is a place in heaven for everyone.  We are each called in our different vocations in our lives to the Father.  Because we are not like St. Teresa or a mystic like Padre Pio doesn't condemn us, just makes us called in a different way.  God loves you.  He calls us to himself through Christ.

John 10:27-30 No One Can Take Away My Sheep from Me

Today's Gospel is short and succinct.   No one can take away from God those who belong to God.  Christ Jesus also reiterates to relationship between the Father and the Son, they are one, just as the Holy Spirit and the Father are one, and the Holy Spirit and the Son are one.  These are two powerful thoughts in today's reading.  They should be reflected upon.

A young man preparing for Confirmation was speaking with me and asked, "If God loves us so much, why do we suffer?"  He pulled out the example from the book of Job, where God and the Devil are speaking, and God allows the Devil to harm first the prosperity of Job, then Job's family, then Job himself.  "Is there a point that God was trying to make?" I asked.  The young man was quiet for a few minutes.  "Well, he was proving that no matter what those who love Him won't lose faith in him, no matter how bad things get."  "Okay, If that is the case, what reward does God promise those who remain in him?"  "God rewards them abundantly and even more than they had before, either in this life or the next."  "Can you think of Saints who went through something similar?"  "Oh yeah," the young man said, "They are our modern day Jobs.  They definitely get rewards in Heaven.  I see your point." 

God loves us, and loves us abundantly.

John 6:35-40 Trustful Surrender

There are times when life gets hard.  There are days when we just seem to have bad luck after bad luck.  Sometimes we just want to cry, but harden ourselves against the world by putting up walls.  Jesus reminds us today that we can trust in him.  He is from the Father, and the Father gives him all that he has promised, just like Christ gives us all that he has promised. 

He is offering us that opportunity to be nourished, caressed, comforted; we just need to trust and surrender ourselves to him to be healed.

John 3:16-21 Salvation not Judgement

In today's reading although Jesus is still with Nicodemus, our Gospel writer almost seems to be reflecting of Jesus's mission and purpose for clarification.  "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but have eternal life."  Jn 3:16 

The Son is co-equal to the Father as part of the Holy Trinity.  As the only-begotten Son, he is eternally loved.  So are we because of the Father loves us enough to send us his Son to die for us that we might have eternal life. 

There is nothing that can hold back God's love for us.  Even in our first reading for today God sends his angels to free the disciples of the Son so that they can continue to teach the multitudes about His infinite love and mercy. 

John 21: 1-14 Have you caught anything to eat?

Yesterday I mentioned a little of Christ Jesus' humor.  Today in the Gospel, the Risen Christ stands upon the shore and calls out to a boat of adult male fishermen, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?"  I wonder how annoyed they were at first, or if they thought this guy was crazy, especially when he next told them to throw their nets over the other side of the boat.   Here's the catch, they threw their nets on the right side of the boat like the guy on shore said, and they caught so many fish, they nearly couldn't haul it in.  That was when John recognized the Lord and dove into the deep water to be the first to reach Christ on the shore. 

Once all together, the Lord feeds and nourishes them for their trouble and exertions in reaching him when he called out to them.  That is the cool thing about the God, he is always the initiation, the first mover, whether as God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit, and then he waits for us to respond, and join into a communion with him.  This Easter season, we have a Risen Lord encouraging us to repent and live do that we might live in him.  How are we responding to that call?

John 5: 17-30 The Relationship Between Father and Son

In small towns like mine there is a plethora of family businesses.  It is not unusual to see three and sometimes four generations gathered at the business, or taking work home to share together there.  Father and sons, mother and daughters, or any combinations thereof work together, blending their roles, but still separate in who they are; the direction coming from the father commonly with the advice of the son/daughter considered when making decisions for the business.  There is a great deal of honor for the parents, for their knowledge, for their love, for their drive and sense of hard work.  There is a great sense of community within these families and their respective businesses. The community becomes the focus, but when an individual within it suffers or has difficulty, they community lifts them up with great love and tenderness. Employees from outside the family are commonly adopted into them through shared time and experience and invited to all family functions and receive the same care and concern as family members working for the business.   It is really a beautiful thing to witness.  Not all family businesses run like this, but the successful ones in the local area do.  The customers receive and feel the solidarity and are drawn to it.

In today's Gospel Jesus describes his relationship to the Father.  He tells us that the Father has taught him many things and that he does what his Father does: he heals the sick, he raises the dead, he restores life.  However, Jesus admits that he, although he and his Father share commonalities in their work and are in communion with each other, he is different from the Father.  "The Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing." The Son needs to be taught by the Father.  The Father can do so many more things than we can even dream.  The Father has also designated specific things to the Son and honors his son by allowing the Son only to make those decisions, "Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father."

The Father and the Son are both God, just as is the Holy Spirit.  They are the Holy Trinity, the triune God, but distinct from each other at the same time.  For the first time Jesus open speaks of himself as the Son, and as the Jews point out, that makes him equal to the Father.  That is contrary to what they know.  Jesus reminds them that he isn't there to do what they or he want, but that it is always the Father's will that surpasses not only ours, but also the Son's will.  We will hear this again in the readings soon.  Today, this week, through the end of Lent, what do you hear as God's will for you?

 

Lk 15:1-3, 11-32 The Prodigal Son

For today's readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/022716.cfm

Children are a parents' joy.  No matter how old parents and children get, there tends to be a joy of being together as they once were.  Holidays tend to be when families get together again.  In America they can be tense times as grown children are thrust back into old roles that they had as young children and sibling jealousies pop-up.  This happens just like it happened in the parable of the prodigal son. 

The one is jealous of his brother who has gone and squandered his money while he stayed with his father.  He did the right thing, yet feels that his brother got the better end of the deal.  The father is trying to welcome his other son though, letting him know that no matter what he has suffered or gone through, he is loved, honored and respected for who he is, not the externalities.  There is hope for each of us in the Father's kingdom.

Matthew 7: 7-12 the Golden Rule

Queen Esther is one of those great female heroes of the Old Testament.  The Israelites are in captivity in Babylon.  She, specifically is living in Susa.  As an orphan, her uncle, Mordechai, has raised her in the Jewish faith as his adopted daughter to be a good humble woman who loves and honors God, following the Lord’s commands.    God granted her the gifts of beauty and humility.  When she was allowed into the harem of the king, they helped her to become his queen.  When the people of Israel were persecuted and threatened to be killed by the vizier, Esther made humble supplications to the Lord in prayer for help against the coming tribulations of her people.  The Lord God heard his daughter and saved his people.  Everything about Esther seems to have been preordained to help the Lord's people, but she plays an active role in their continuation, as well as serving as an example of true feminine beauty not only outwardly, but inwardly.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus in speaking about prayer reiterates that God listens to his people.  As a loving Father he will give us what we need, what is best for us.   He also reminds us that we are to “do to others whatever you would have them do to you.  This is the Law and the Prophets.”  Jesus is giving us what some call the Golden Rule.

As we continue our Lenten path, may our humility and virtues let us shine with inward beauty and humility as we grow closer to God. 

Reflection 6:7-15 The Our Father

Prayer is such a gift.  Jesus teaches us to pray the Our Father using a sort of ancient formula. He starts with praising God the Almighty, praising his Holy Name, and he asks for God's will to be done.  Next Jesus teaches us to ask for forgiveness of our sins, and the spiritual nourishment that we need to forgive others.  Then we ask for protection from evil.


When God spoke to Abram after the blessing of the high priest Melchizedek (Genesis 14: 18-20)  he assured Abram and told Abram that He was Abram's shield.  He is our protection from evil.  Through out scripture, from the Old Testament to the New, God is very insistant about praise.  In the Our Father that Jesus gives us today, we are acknowledging how great God is and how small and insignificant we are. We want his will to be done and so recognizing his greatness allows us to be humbled so that we can open our hearts to him, and recognize too how silly it is to try to twist God into doing our will.  God is so good that he sent his only son to die for us, that we may live and have a place in his family as his adopted sons and daughters.  We are looking for reconciliation with the Father so that separated from him we may never be.  That is love reciprocated.

Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 Baptism of the Lord

There was once a woman who asked whether she should have her child baptized.  The woman's mother wanted the grandbaby to be baptized, but the mother and father didn't follow any faith, and the mother especially struggled because she had been raised Catholic and her first husband, who was a devout Catholic, had been killed in a tragic accident; In some ways she still blamed God.  In the end the mother decided that she did not live her faith; that she would allow the child to be raised in a home devoid of religion and he could decide for himself when he was an adult whether he would pursue faith.  The grandmother, when he was an infant, took Holy Water from the Jordan River and claimed him for Christ in the hope that if he should die, he would have the hope of attaining heaven through God's mercy.

In light of today's Gospel where we hear of the Glory of the Father descending with the Holy Spirit upon the Son, that cleansing, that holiness, and rich blessing, knowing that this is similar to the baptism that we experience when we are baptized into Christ, it is almost unfathomable that parents struggle to decide to baptize their children; this however is due in part to our current age of secular relativism.  God is not bound my time or current human philosophies.  We need to look to the Eternal and the meaning of our sacraments, instead of whether we find them convenient. Jesus was baptized with water and the Holy Spirit.  "The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.  He commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1257.    Let us pray that we do not prevent the little ones from coming to the Lord. 

Luke 4:14-22a Scripture Fulfilled

Have you ever gone away from family for awhile and returned home to meet everyone again for a reunion?  Suddenly despite how our experiences may have changed us, we are put right back into our  familial stereo types and expectations.  Have you considered if you were there within the temple seeing the son of the carpenter, one of your old playmates, or a cousin suddenly take up a scroll of Isiah, read it, and ending by stating that he was the fulfillment of the messianic passage.  How would you react?  You'd been taught to wait for the Messiah, and here is a person you know saying he is the Messiah.  Luke tells us, "All spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth." 

The first letter of St. John reminds us that all who love God also love one begotten by him, namely his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.  In doing so we love Christ and each other as Christ taught us.  If we do not love each other, then don't we lie when we say we love God?  It is sometimes hard to love each other.  Hurt, deception, and killing can stop us and make it difficult to love each other.  A man mentioned yesterday that it is difficult to love because he can't forgive.  In the course of the liturgy he realized that he and we are being called to forgive.  Sometimes that first step to forgiving is praying for those who have hurt us, he realized.  Let us endeavor to take those small first steps that will unite us in love with Our Father in Christ.

Matthew 2:13-18 Feast of the Holy Innocents

In today's Gospel Matthew very directly tells us that he gives these stories of Jesus' life to fulfill the prophetic literature.  Nonetheless Matthew gives us a beautiful story of God speaking to Joseph through a dream telling him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt until Herod, the king of the Jews who is very possessive of his throne, is dead.  Joseph becomes for us a model of faith and trust in the Lord. He is willing to allow God the Father lead him in raising Jesus even if it means putting complete trust in Divine Providence.  We know that as a father Joseph will do everything that he can for his family like most fathers.  But this also lets us know, especially fathers today, that you're not alone in caring and protecting your family, God the Father is there and will take care of you and help you be a good dad by guiding you if you let him. 

The second part of today's reading is about the magi deceiving Herod and his retaliation against the innocents by their murder.  (also in fulfillment of the teachings of Jeremiah)  It is a teachable moment.  A human king doesn't mean anything to the heavenly realm.  The magi, the wise men, have seen Wisdom,  and it far surpasses anything that humans have.  The death of the innocents, though tragic, foreshadow the death of the Innocent One who was born to save us all, and those martyrs who gave their lives willingly for others to honor God, whether they were babes mentioned in St. Matthews Gospel, or our many saints including Saints/Blesseds Agatha, Felicity, Perpetua, Maximillian Kolbe, Agustín Caloca Cortés, Miguel Pro, Maria Chi Yu, etc.  They looked to God and everything beyond this world and made it their purpose in as much as they could in their lives.  Where do we keep our focus? 

Matthew 21:28-32

As a parent many of us have children who when we ask them to do something will hem and haw before finally going off to fulfill the task required.   We ourselves are probably guilty of it at one time or another.  It is because we want to accomplish our own will, but when a parent, someone with authority asks us to do something, we have to set aside our own will and be humble enough to do their will before our own.  Jesus is telling us that when we who are regularly prone to sin humble ourselves to do God's will before our own, then we have the possibility of entering into the Heavenly Kingdom.

Woe to those who lie to the Father though and say they will do his will, then do their own. 

Luke 3:10-18 Gaudete Sunday

Rejoice in the Lord always!  (Gaudete in Domino semper)

In today's readings the crowds are asking John the Baptist what they should do.  They thought because of his wisdom and because he baptized people, that possibly here was the long awaited Christ.  John tells them how they are to live, as justly, with concern for each other, and to be satisfied.  He assures them, no he is not the Christ.  That he merely baptizes with water, but the one coming after him will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire; that Christ will gather the wheat and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. 

John is preparing the way for the Lord.  He is teaching the people how they must live to prepare for Christ.  He is telling them of God's loving mercy that those who follow in the way of the Lord will by caught up by Him and kept.  They will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  The prophet Zephaniah reminds us that in this baptism of Christ, God rejoices over us and renews us in his love.  How can we not be filled with excitement and joy at this?  The path to that baptism is the journey of love through Christ our Lord. 

Luke 1:26-38 Feast of the Immaculate Conception

St. Luke knew Mary, Jesus' mother. Today's Gospel reading is an intimate look backward at her life.  Through God's Divine Mercy the Angel Gabriel came to Mary.  "Don't be afraid," he says,  "Hail, full of grace!"  Her soul was spotless and not stained by original sin at her immaculate conception, because the Grace of God was with her, purifying her, allowing her to become the future Theotokos. She is the new Eve, foretold in Genesis 3:15.  Unlike Eve, Mary is greater, for she is holy through her participation in God's plan of salvation for mankind. 

The Angel Gabriel explains that she will have a son "called holy."  We are all adopted sons and daughters of God like Adam and Eve.  Just as Mary is the new Eve, Jesus is the new Adam. Mary's child, is different and set apart because he is holy. He is the "Son of God."  The Angel offers her a sign that he is telling the truth.  He tells her that Elizabeth, her cousin, is expecting a baby, so she can check the veracity of his statements as a sign from God.  (Infant mortality was high and so people didn't celebrate the birth of a child, instead they threw an enormous party when the child turned one-year-old.  Mary wouldn't know that Elizabeth was expecting and specifically in her sixth month.)  Mary is obedient and gives praise to God.  We are called to do the same this Advent season as we prepare the coming of the Lord, Our Savior, in this Year of Divine Mercy.