From Jerusalem to the Cross to the Resurrection

Passion Week begins today on this faithful Sunday in which Jesus enters into the Holy City.  He enters His own city, the city He has made and sustained and a city He will continue to bless until the end of time, which is Jerusalem.  However, He enters into more than just an earthly city, but He enters into salvation for the inhabitants of the entire world, for all of those present, all of those before Him and all of those who would come after that accept His grace.  His entrance into Jerusalem has two meanings one, Jesus is revealing Himself as the King of Glory and two, He comes to save us.

Jesus gave many hints, both obvious and others more sublime that He is the Son of God, the Messiah, that He is Divine.  This was done in order to prove that God was among us, that He no longer wanted to speak in prophecies, dreams and visions, through nature, etc. but in person.  God desired, not out of need, to be present with us but out of love.  God among us.  The entrance into Jerusalem is precisely that, not just another King David, but your God is coming to you riding on a donkey.

There is also another reason and maybe twofold here, is that Jesus is coming to save us from our sins and He will have to enter into His passion.  It also signifies how quickly we forget because today the crowd is cheering, “Hosanna in the highest to our King, Hosanna,” and by Friday the same crowd will be cheering, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.”

Who are we in the crowd?  Are we the fickle ones who change their minds quickly and often?  We would never be the ones cheering crucify, crucify Him, rather we would be shouting out, Hosanna.  I wonder even in my own life sometimes, who am I in that crowd?  After honest reflection I have to admit I am sometimes the fickle one, the weak one.  How often do we go to confession or ask God for forgiveness and then quickly return back to the same sin or some other sins, we go from the strong resolution to the weakness that is in us.  Peter himself said, “Lord I will die with you.”  Less than a few later He was denying He ever knew Him.  Am I better than Peter, are you?  I would imagine not!   That is why Jesus enters into the passion so that His work on the Cross would be our saving remedy and not just a onetime remedy, but that every time we failed we could go back to the Cross and be forgiven.

His act of love is powerful enough to forgive every sin except the one or ones we do not want to be forgiven for.  God’s grace is more powerful than any sin or evil that can be committed because of His mercy.  The Cross of Christ proves this lest one think that evil is more powerful than God’s grace.  More importantly we must remember what this cost Jesus, it cost Him everything and ultimately His life for ours.  

When Jesus enters Jerusalem today to begin Holy Week (Passion Week) we too must make an effort to enter into it with Him, we must follow Him today to the Upper Room, to Mt. of Olives, to the way of the Cross, to His Crucifixion and death on Calvary and finally to rise with Him.  Let this week be one of serious reflection, prayer and sacrifice so that we may enter into that Spirit that is freeing, loving, and all forgiving, the Spirit of God.

Went Home With Head Held High

We can take many lessons from the Woman Caught in Adultery story from today’s Gospel.  The first is obvious, forgiveness.  However there are more lessons, such as “the angry and righteous mob,” “feelings of humiliation,” “feelings of defeat,” and most of all – feelings of relief and happiness.

The angry mob who wanted to stone this woman to death had become the self righteous and angry mob.  They wanted to make sure that they rooted out all that of which was immoral from their sight with no second thought to anything, this is what usually happens in the mob mentality, it is a mentality we see today often in our political world where everyone makes their own candidate the Messiah and the other guy a demon and these feelings are disguised and bathed in one’s own self righteousness which then makes it easy to go from point a to point b, i.e. catching the woman in the act and then dragging her through the streets and getting ready to kill her.

The feelings the woman had would have been of fear but also humiliation as now she is exposed publicly.  However, those same feelings got turned around on the angry mob as Jesus challenged them in looking for the person who had no sin to cast the first stone; it was they who now felt humiliation.  The question for those persons would have been, did they finally understand mercy or did they walk away bitter?

The woman finally would feel relief in that she was not going to die that day or in that fashion and she also felt great happiness as the sin of adultery, which in fact is a very grave sin had been lifted from her.  She already paid the price and penance for those sins, being dragged through the street and almost stoned death would have been enough much more than just saying two rosaries.   I like to picture in my own mind, Jesus picking her up by the hand and looking at her face to face.  I am sure when her eyes met His, her knowledge of Jesus went beyond Him just being a nice guy but someone who could take away her sins.

Two groups of people came out that day, on the trip out the mob held their heads high in self righteousness and the woman held her head low in humiliation but on their journey back to their homes the mob went home with heads held low and the woman now made clean went home with head held high, Amen!

Bringing About the Kingdom

In today’s Gospel from Luke the congregation that was listening to Jesus read from the scroll the passage from Isaiah and then to complete it by adding, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing,” could have only meant two things to do those who were listening.  The first interpretation could have been, “He (Jesus) is reminding us that God’s spirit is with us all and that these days will be blessed because of God’s presence among us.”  The other interpretation could have been a more literal one, i.e. is He saying He is the fulfillment of that passage?  Does He mean to tell us He is the anointed one?  Yes and yes!

That is why just a little bit later Jesus says, “Surely you will quote me this passage, physician heal yourself.”  He says this so there could be no mistake He was speaking literally, i.e. He (Jesus) is the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

Many did not understand that yet in Jesus’ time, others would eventually come to believe through Jesus’ words and actions proving He was the Messiah.  We all have come to believe it since we are here worshiping.  Nevertheless, Jesus still says to us right here and right now, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  It begs the question of us, do we believe it and if yes, then do we also help bring about the kingdom of God in this world?

For some, to bring about the kingdom here on earth means, attending mass and prayer.  That is just one component.  We are to bring the kingdom to others through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, especially this Jubilee Year of Mercy.  As a reminder for all of us here they are in an easy list we can remember.

The Corporal Works of Mercy

feed the hungry
give drink to the thirsty
clothe the naked
shelter the homeless
visit the sick
visit the imprisoned
bury the dead

The Spiritual Works of Mercy

counsel the doubtful
instruct the ignorant
admonish sinners
comfort the afflicted
forgive offenses
bear wrongs patiently
pray for the living and the dead

Not everyone is drawn to the same works, some love to visit the sick while others more like teachers and gravitate towards instructing the ignorant or counseling the doubtful.  During this great Jubilee year we really need to look at these works, one at a time and try to practice them as best we can, again some may be more to our suiting but also the Lord may be pulling us out of our comfort zone.  Either way please pray about it and incorporate them into your life, they help build virtue and holiness and give us great joy knowing that we are being another Christ to someone\s.  We are bringing about the kingdom so that no matter what we are doing and where we are doing it we can say along with our Lord, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  God bless you, Fr. John 

Holy Family: Traditions, Customs, and Prayers

Today’s Gospel reading from Luke is the only Scripture we have of the Holy Family together with Jesus older than just say as an infant or very young child.  In this story of the Holy Family going up to Jerusalem Jesus is 12 years old.  They were going up to the feast of the Passover, something they did each year as was according to their custom.  I would venture to say that our own families today are not much different and actually much more alike with families of the past, even though 2,000 years removed from this story.

Think for a moment on your own families and the things that we do in regards to our customs and traditions.  Much like the Holy Family, we attend the high Holy days with our families to Church or we may make a pilgrimage to Rome or Jerusalem or some other Holy place.  We do these things together as a family as we are doing right now in Church today.

We also do many other such things together as family or even extended family, it was Christmas just the other day, think on what we were doing, we were gathered with our families, opening gifts, sitting together, sharing food together, and most especially bonding in friendship and love.

No matter what it is we do together as a family the family grows stronger because it is time spent with one another, enjoying each other’s company, telling stories, having fun, and even praying together.  John Paul II would call the family a little Church and it is, because it is there where children learn all the customs I just mentioned, but most importantly where they encounter Christ, for it is in the example, the words, the living out of holy traditions that young people find our Savior even before they may enter into any formal schooling.

God created the family unit for many reasons, but the most important was that each and every one of us would receive faith, faith in others and most of all faith in God.  Eventually one learns that even one’s own family is a pointing towards our greater family, the family of God – the Church.  And when we realize that it is God who invites us here today, and puts in our hearts that longing to be with our greatest family, with all the angels, with all the saints, with each other and all of those who have gone before us, and most especially to be with our Lord, is a familial calling.  That calling comes from the Master of the house, our Father calling His children to come to His home each and every Sunday to rest, to be happy, to have joy fill our hearts, to share in the Holy meal of the Eucharist, for there is nothing better, there is nothing more fulfilling, there is no greater thing than to be present right here – right now in our Holy Family with the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

In the Least Expected Ways

You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel;  whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.  This how our first reading today began (from Micah chapter 5.)  I have personally always been drawn to these few verses.  They stand out for me for the obvious reason that this is prophecy of the coming Messiah, Jesus, but also for the often missed, “You, Bethlehem – too small to be among the clans of Judah,” should have been enough for those who were expecting the Messiah to be born to recognize that he it would not happen in great fan fare, pomp and circumstance, God does not work that way.

No one would ever have imagined that a young boy would be chosen over 9 other brothers, all more older, wiser and stronger than he, he just being a simple shepherd herder to become the greatest king of Israel if not arguably one of the greatest kings to walk the face of this earth, King David, raised up from nowhere and nobody.

No one would ever have guessed that the virgin who would become the Mother of the Messiah to be a poor, lowly girl from Nazareth, with no ties to power, prestige or resources and yet from all the great women of Israel a young girl in a corner of a place with no significance would become the Mother of God (Jesus).

Who then in their wildest imagination would have guessed that God’s Son would be born in a manager in a town too small to even be counted among the clans of Judah?  And yet, they should have since that is usually the way God works.  God does not call as we would call nor does He choose as we would choose.  He chooses those who are small to show His great power for if He chooses the powerful and the influential the outcome may be attributed to their persons but not in the case of when He chooses the small and the lowly.

This does not mean that those who are learned, rich or of great power do not bring about the kingdom of God, they do, but in my opinion not as much for the kingdom is not built on those things but rather on compassion, purity, being humble, no attachments to anything but God alone.

Yet, we all struggle in the in between, the love of what we have and aspire to – to that of the call of God which is to simplicity, lowliness, and humility.

Let me leave you with this and think honestly on this, if you were God for a day would you have chosen a small and weak shepherd boy to lead Israel, would you have chosen a young 14 year old girl to be the Mother of your Son who barely anyone knew, and would you have allowed your Son to be born in the midst of animals and all kinds of farm smells? “My ways are not your ways, for man sees the outside (appearances), but God sees the heart.”

I pray for you and for me that we will make ourselves small, like the little town of Bethlehem, like a young virgin girl in the corner of nowhere, and like the Messiah Himself born in a manager because there was nowhere else, I pray that becomes our Christmas, just some days from now, God bless you, Fr. John

Filled with Holy Spirit and Fire

In today’s Gospel the verse that jumped off the page for me was, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  John’s Baptism was for persons acknowledging their sinfulness and for the remission of their sins, the difference with the Baptism that would be commanded by Christ, is that it was not only for the remission of sins, but one would also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

I take it most of us here, besides any catechumens or visitors were baptized and many of us were more than likely baptized as infants, again except for those who converted later in life.  This beautiful gift that John speaks of and that Jesus eventually commands, “Go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” has been given to us.  It began with the Incarnation.

The Incarnation of Christ is that moment when Mary said, “yes,” to the Angel and she conceived Jesus in her womb.  The Son of God took on flesh.  This is a profound theological statement, one that has been studied, examined, written about, and reflected on for the last 2,000 years.  The Incarnation and eventually the birth of Christ has incredible meaning, that God would come close to us.  In that coming close to us He shares everything with us.  In our Baptism we in a very deep and intimate way are united to Christ’s Passion on the Cross as well as His Resurrection.  We die and we rise with Him that is the gift that is given to us through the Holy Spirit.  There is no greater intimacy that a person can share with another; we share death and life with our Lord.  The only thing that would come close or resemble this profound intimacy is marriage.

We become one flesh with our Lord, for as St. Paul says, “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.”  Baptism is our marriage (so to speak) to the Trinity, the One God.  So, please think for a moment, if Jesus has given us this gift and this fire as John the Baptist says then are we not moved by knowing that Jesus reaches out to me?  Jesus comes close and remains close no matter what.  And yet, what about this fire?  My coaches would say to us, “You got to have fire in your belly!”  They were basically telling us that you have to have a passion for what you were doing, a motivational drive that went beyond just simply winning and losing, but a love for the game.  God has lit this fire in us, He has put the fire in our bellies.  The question becomes, “Do you feel it?”

The drive, the motivation, the desire was given to us when the Spirit filled us and we became born again and made new in Baptism.  My goodness, what a gift!  I pray that as we have been moving through Advent that you are realizing this gift more and more, the gift that is inside of you, that gift my friends is none other than our Lord Himself and there is no Christmas present in the world that can be its equal.  My dear friends, God has come close to us more so than we could possibly ever imagine.  God bless you and keep that fire burning!

Advent Week II: Splendor, Glory and Justice

Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever: wrapped in the cloak of justice from God . . . (Baruch 5:1)  Just in this one verse we could reflect on for hours.  What beauty is in this verse, what a promise, what great words of encouragement, what great words of love!

This splendor and glory is God’s own glory which He wishes to shower upon us.  If that is the case what does that say about our worth, dignity, and value?  I believe it says a lot!  God became one of us, obviously to save us, but also to simply be with us, to come close to us, not out of compulsion or need, but simply out of love.  If God is close to me do I understand that I have been cloaked by Him in His very splendor and glory?  If so, do I show it?  Do I live it? 

The following sentence says, “Wrapped in the cloak of justice from God.”  We have splendor, glory, but also God’s justice.  He takes care of us, loves and treats us fairly.  We have His justice, but this also means that we must be just to others.  As Plato would put it, “Do I respect and give a person their proper due that is owed them simply because of who they are a human being?”  Justice in the bible is described in many ways, being fair, honest, judging rightly, not denying the widow and orphan or the poor, the alien, etc.  All of it however comes back to treatment of people, the 2^nd commandment of Jesus, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

As we continue through Advent it is good to remind ourselves, that the Christmas story which is coming soon, is a reminder that when Jesus was born we literally put on the splendor and glory of God, and it becomes a reality in our Baptism, but through that Baptism we are to also put on the justice of God otherwise the gift of Jesus’ death and resurrection in our lives loses meaning.  I pray that the opposite is true that we live lives that give a fuller sense to that meaning that Jesus increases in each of us more and more each day.  I pray that you believe that, because as the Psalmist says, “I said, 'you are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.” (Psalm 82:6)