Instead of seeking revenge, let us be loving contemplatives in action
Today we receive the fifth antithesis, in which, Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil” (Mk 5:38-39). The Mosaic law, an eye for an eye, that Jesus first addressed was an attempt to curb the emotive response of revenge. If someone had killed a clan or tribal member, there would have been those who would choose to retaliate by inflicting as much carnage as possible to the people responsible, even up to and including the death of the whole clan or tribe, even the women and children. The rationale behind this was that there would then be no one to come back for revenge. The idea of seeking instead an eye for an eye, was to temper the retribution to a more measured response.
Jesus though, is saying that “an eye for an eye” does not go far enough, and raises being his disciple to a higher level, being that even the thought of revenge is not to be considered. Jesus is not seeking to lessen the cycle of violence, he is giving us a means to end it. Forgiveness is the cornerstone of the teachings of Jesus. Instead of seeking revenge, Jesus is commanding that we seek to forgive those who have harmed us. We who pray the Our Father or the Lord’s prayer, are to take to heart, we are to be mindful of the words we pray when we say, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.“
The urge for revenge is powerful and primal. Revenge is wired into our survival instinct to protect ourselves. Jesus invites us to grow beyond our mere instinctual responses and survival instincts. He is calling us to be a people who do not merely survive, but thrive. Jesus is seeking to infuse us with his divine life so that we will be transformed. This is true not only for ourselves, but for those who would seek to do us harm. Instead of striking back with revenge, we are to be flexible and adept enough to instead appeal to their conscience. We are to take all that others throw at us, and meet them with the courage to stand and receive their worst, and disarm them with the blinding light of the love and forgiveness of Jesus.
This is no easy task. To put into practice the turning of the other cheek, we need to start small. We need to resist the immediate thoughts of revenge that arise for the smallest of offenses. When someone makes a snarky comment, and/or offers demeaning or dehumanizing comments directed at us or others, we resist retaliating in kind, but instead appeal to their conscience, hold them accountable, and remind the person of our dignity and/or the dignity of the person they seek to demean. In this way, we seek to lead them away from the perception of another person as being somehow other, to one of being a brother or sister.
To be a disciple of Jesus, to be a peacemaker, we need to be contemplatives in action. We need to be people of prayer who come to know Jesus, to return to these hard teachings of the Beatitudes and antitheses often, believe in them, meditate on them, keep them at the forefront of our mind and then pray for the courage and guidance of the Holy Spirit to put these teachings into action.
We cannot resist thoughts and acts of revenge and walk the path of forgiveness on our own will power. We need Jesus, who as the Son of God became one with us so that we can be one with him, so that he may transform us as he works through us, forgives through us, and loves through us. This path starts with our surrendering our ego to Jesus, and allowing ourselves to be a pencil in his hand.
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Photo: The next generation of C.I.A. – contemplatives in action
Link for the Mass readings for Monday, June 17, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061719.cfm
The Spirit of truth will guide us to all truth.
Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday. The Trinity is the foundation of not only our faith but the reality of all that exists. God has been, is, and always will be. God exists as a communion of three Persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Three Persons in one God, but not three beings.
Anything we say about God is going to be woefully inadequate of the truth about who God is. We have a better chance of saying what God is not. To say that God is not a being is a good place to start, because God is not in the same genus as us, nor in any genus. God is not even a supreme being, the being of all beings. God transcends beyond all space and time. God is completely self sufficient, thus he does not need us for our existence, nor does he need anything to exist.
God is infinite act of existence, or in the Latin of St Thomas Aquinas, ispum esse subsistens, the sheer act of “to be”. This means that God has no limitations. To say that God is three Persons is harder for us to comprehend because we often in our modern sense use the words person and being synonymously. To use the word person in speaking of God means to speak relationally.
We describe God as Father because he begets God the Son, God the Son is the one begotten. The Son is not generated or created, because the Son has always existed with the Father. This is true because they are not finite beings separate from one another. They are infinite, though distinct in their relation to one another. God the Holy Spirit is then the Love shared between God the Father and God the Son. God within himself then is an infinite communion because of the infinite giving and receiving between each other. Each Person gives and receives infinitely, perfectly giving all and holding nothing back.
We will never be able to fully comprehend God because he transcends our finite reality, but we can encounter him and develop a relationship with him, because he draws close to us, he reveals himself to us, he seeks us out, his created beings. We are blessed to live in a time when he has already drawn close to us in the Person of his Son.
Jesus, fully the Son of God, fully divine and fully human, has revealed God the Father to us. Through his incarnation, in his becoming one with us in our humanity, we are able to share the love that he shares as Son with his Father who is the Holy Spirit, because all of God’s creation is interconnected, such that what affects one, affects all.
The best way to understand, to know, to build our relationship with God, is not to force God to fit into our finite reality, mindset or limited view, but to be open to, “the Spirit of truth, he will guide [us] to all truth” (Jn 16:13). The Holy Spirit will guide and lead us to all truth when we resist curving or turning in on our self and instead are open to following his lead. When we are willing to be expanded by his love conforming us to God’s will, which means being open to opportunities to be loved and to love in our everyday moments. For where the willing of the good of each other is, God is.
When we as fathers follow the will of the Father, when we are willing to be loved by the Holy Spirit and to love others in return, and when we are willing to sacrifice and serve as Jesus, we are at our best. Happy Father’s Day!
Photo credit: Jonathan Petersson from pexels.com
Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, June 16, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061619.cfm
“Do not swear at all”, instead turn from the darkness of deceit and embrace the light of truth.
In today’s Gospel, we read about the fourth antithesis where, Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all (Mt 5:33-34). Jesus is guiding us not to make any false oath, but especially not to do so by taking the Lord’s name in vain. This means that when someone would tell a lie they would justify it by invoking an oath to make it more believable. “I swear on my mother’s grave that I did not…, I swear on our friendship that I did not…, or I swear to God as my witness that I did not…”
Jesus is stating that we are to resist the temptation to swear an oath at all. We are to just tell the truth in all circumstances. We are to be people of integrity and stand on what we say as the truth on its own merits. We are definitely living in a time period in our country where the ability to tell the truth is certainly being called into question, where lies are becoming common place. This is one of the reasons why so many people have such a low opinion of secular as well as religious leadership. But it is also present in our day to day interactions with one another.
In a 2014 episode of Dr. Phil, he gave a list of reasons researchers gave for why people lie: People lie to take what is not rightfully theirs, to escape accountability, to create a fantasy/false self-esteem to escape their mundane life, to avoid punishment (to which I would add – to avoid facing accountability), to inflict pain, to feel better in the moment; steal admiration, and to gain advantage to exploit others.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it is a very good place to start. Lying destroys the very foundation of relationships which is trust. Once trust has been broken, it is very hard to come back from and rebuild. Lying also supports our false self of the ego, so even if we do not get caught in a lie, we know, and our conscience convicts us of that fact. Their is an ache in our soul because we are not being true to who we really are.
Covering up lies also expends a lot of energy because we have to remember what we said in the first place and then one lie often leads to another, and we string together a web of lies and we continue to feel sick inside, because we have not been created to be deceitful and dishonest. We have been created good, to be people of integrity.
Examining our conscience is a good daily practice, and being humble enough to admit where we have lied is the next best step. In the beginning, when we are first working on undoing a habit of lying, we can visualize ourselves apologizing to the person we have lied to and imagine how we could have handled the original situation in a more honest way. Then we can actually reach out to the person and apologize and move toward reconciliation.
When we see that there is a deep seeded pattern or area in which we habitually lie, then the Sacrament of Reconciliation is an opportunity to experience the grace of Jesus and receive his healing and strength to confess that pattern and habit of sin. We can also seek strength from Jesus to catch ourselves at the instant we begin to form a lie in our mind, call on his name, so it does not come to fruition in our words. In time, we can transform our habits of deceit into new habits of honesty as we strive to live by Jesus’ command to make our, “‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and [our] ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one” (Mt 5:37).
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Photo credit: by Anastasiya Lobanovskaya from Pexels
Link for the clip of the Dr. Phil list for why we lie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qQ0vT_47ms
Link for the Mass reading for Saturday, June 15, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061519.cfm
It is possible to resist lust and live chastely in 2019.
Jesus continues to speak up for the dignity of human beings in today’s Gospel as he continues with his second and third antithesis. The third regarding, Jesus’ teaching on divorce, I reflected upon in my May 25th, 2018 entry and refer you to that post, Marriage is a Sacred Bond, if you would like to read it. I will focus today on the second antitheses: “Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:27-28). Again, by disciplining our mind we can have more control over our actions.
Too many people today believe that our sexual urge is too powerful to channel and direct in chaste ways. In fact, to even attempt to do so, some would say is damaging to our development. The Church has lost some credibility in this area in directing and guiding us because of those within her number who have not only abused children sexually, but those who have turned a blind eye to warning signs, as well as those bishops who have covered up the abuse.
Each of these points do not change the fact that Jesus still calls us to embrace our sexuality, yet channel it positively through the respecting of others as people endowed with dignity. Our sexuality is a powerful gift that has the potential to participate in creating new life, and it is not to be misused to objectify women, children, or men, as has been done throughout the ages and into our own day.
To be able to discipline and channel our sexual desire in healthy ways, we have to begin by choosing better what we put into our mind. If the majority of our reading, music, what we watch, what we think and fantasize about, are erotic and evocative, then yes, being chaste is not a realistic goal. Since we live in a culture that is hyper sexualized, such that there is large support and normalization of acting out sexually at a younger and younger age, enticing advertisements on TV, the computer, billboards, pornography, every day shows, movies, and music, this is no easy task. To counter this momentum, I am not suggesting that we literally have to tear out our right eye as Jesus offers in his hyperbolic word display. But we do need to follow Jesus’ guidance so to help us recognize the seriousness of an undisciplined approach to our sexuality.
We need to realize that we can be disciplined with our thoughts and actions. If Jesus’ starting point is that we are not to look at another with lustful thoughts, then that is where we ought to begin and realize that this is possible with his help and a change of lifestyle. We need to resist seeing each other as objects for our own fantasy and pleasure, and instead look to one another as people endowed with dignity so as to be respected and not objectified.
The normalization of lust, pornography, objectification of another must be countered with healthier and chaste ways of living our lives. We figuratively tear out an eye or cut off a hand that leads us to sin by recognizing that any of these three or any variation of them are not acceptable thoughts or actions to entertain. Nor are we to fall into the puritanical, opposite extreme, that our sexuality and all things human are bad. Suppressing our sexuality is not a helpful practice either. God created us good, and our sexuality is good when we integrate it into the wholeness of the physical and spiritual aspects of our humanness.
Living a chaste life is possible by recognizing that we and other people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. We need to put into practice the cardinal virtue of temperance, which is the disciplining of our mind such that we weed out at the roots those thoughts and actions that will lead us to sinful actions. While at the same time we replace them by making a firm decision to live chastely.
We then communicate that decision with friends and family, we surround ourselves with those people who will support our decisions and respect our boundaries, we need to establish a healthy and moderate diet, and be engaged in an exercise program that will help us on the physical level. We also need to seek the help of Jesus, especially through his presence in the sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, develop a consistent prayer life and participate regularly in worship in a community. It is also helpful to be engaged in acts of service, in healthy activities through work, hobbies, and interests.
In these ways, we will be better able to build chaste relationships that are more stable, have more meaning, and are mutually encouraging as we support one another to live lives of holiness and participate with Jesus in guiding one another to actualize the fullness of who God is calling us to be. We can best resist lust by learning to love one another.
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Photo: From Gallery Quotes – catholic-link.org
Link for the Mass readings for Friday, June 14, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061419.cfm
Make some time to ponder on how we treat one another with our thoughts, words and actions.
The Sermon on the Mount was most likely not one long discourse, but a gathering together of Jesus’ teachings. Just as with itinerant preachers, speakers, and lecturers of today, this material recorded in Matthew was not only shared one time. Jesus probably shared different segments of these teachings at different locations throughout his ministry, and in slightly different ways depending on the group he was speaking with. Also, the Gospel writers would want to highlight different aspects of his teachings for their audiences.
As was presented yesterday, Jesus made it clear that he did not come to abolish the law or the prophets but he came to fulfill them. With the beatitudes, Jesus offered practical ways in which we can find fulfillment and happiness. In today’s account, he introduces the first of six antithesis. With these apparent contrasting statements, Jesus is providing for his disciples the way to avoid the trap that some of the religious leadership of his time fell into: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:20).
Those scribes and Pharisees that Jesus was talking about were those who believed that they were following the letter of the law, but their hearts were not changed. They may have been adhering to the external provisions of the law, but were not changed themselves, their hearts were hardened, they were focused more on their own access to honor and power. They were also imposing strict adherence to the law without providing the support or means for others to achieve what the law imposed. The law became more important than the dignity or value of the person. Jesus recognized the law, but also realized that it was in place to help to provide guidance and discipline so one could better resist the temptations of our fallen nature. The law was to be a foundation to be built upon, not the end goal in and of itself.
Just as children need clear boundaries and structures in place to provide a clear path toward healthy development, so this is true for those growing and maturing in their faith. We need to learn to crawl, to build strength and balance, before we can take those first wobbly steps. With continued support we are then able to walk and soon run. Jesus is not only providing the means to go through each of these stages in our faith life, figuratively teaching each of his disciples and us today to not only crawl, walk, and run, but to also be able to fly!
The Beatitudes and six antithesis are challenging, because each of them are counter to much of the way the structure of our fallen world has been governed for centuries. If we are to catch the fire that Jesus has come to set, we need not only to read, pray, meditate and contemplate on the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, we need to see their relevance and practicality to our time and place today, and begin to put them into practice. As Christians our faith ought not to be shaped and informed by our culture, but we are to be shaped and conformed by the Gospel of Jesus the Christ, so to shape and inform our culture.
Today we start with the first antithesis: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna (Mt 5:21-22). The seeds of anger can begin to sprout in our mind from our knee jerk reaction to a perceived or actual threat, from our hearts hardened by prejudgments, prejudices, and/or a reflection of our level of spiritual immaturity.
Jesus addresses the known provision against murder. He then builds a hedge around the Torah. If one does not want to break the law, another is imposed so as to protect one from even getting close to breaking the first. If we can resist the temptations of our reactions and instead make decisions based on mindfulness and loving one another, such that we resist the temptation to criticize, judge, demean or dehumanize another, then there is little chance for our anger to grow into wrath, that left unbridled could lead to murdering someone.
Jesus is saying that our words matter, that they have the power to destroy or to create. Look at the example Jesus gives. He says that calling someone Raqa, Aramaic for a block head or idiot, and then calling someone a fool, would “be liable to fiery Gehenna” (Mt 5:22). Just think of how far from those two words we have fallen with the use of our language directed toward one another. How polarized we have become as a country, the level of demeaning words, tone, and language that is condoned, supported and justified is unacceptable. This has a ripple affect that poisons our culture and society. We then wonder why we have so much violence, hateful rhetoric, and prejudice in our country.
Our words and our actions matter. Jesus is challenging us in today’s Gospel to encourage, empower, and to respect the dignity of each person first and foremost. When we resist a pharisaical approach to the law and instead recognize the value and dignity of each person, we will have a better starting point of seeking to build relationships with one another, to serve one another, support and lift up one another, and shape policies that are not just for a select few, but that respect the dignity of each person from the womb, through birth and addressing each condition through their lives until natural death.
May we all take some time today to reflect on Jesus’ teaching about how we think, speak to and about, and act toward one another. May we examine our conscience and seek forgiveness for those times we have thought, condoned, or justified thoughts, words, and/or actions that have been demeaning, dehumanizing, and belittling of one another coming directly from us or others.
Jesus help and support us to be open to your infusing power of love and mercy so to live out your teachings in our daily lives. Help us to recognize the need and to strive to support, empower, and accompany our brothers and sisters, and to commit to building a culture of life and dignity for all, one person and encounter at a time. Help us to not so much change our behavior to avoid “fiery Gehenna”, but help us to mature in our faith such that we glorify God by our life, such that our hearts are burning within, moving us to desire deepening our relationship with you and our brothers and sisters that we meet and encounter each and everyday.
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Photo: My pondering view when I make some time for quiet and prayer in our new apartment.
Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, June 13, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061319.cfm
Jesus came not to abolish but to fulfill the law – to Love. We are to do the same.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Mt 5:17). Jesus was a devout Jew, he grew up practicing and understanding the law and the prophetic tradition. We see evidence of that when, at twelve, he is found by his parents among the teachers and scholars discussing, with understanding and wisdom, the law. Jesus in his public ministry very much stands on the shoulders of the prophets, for he speaks on behalf of God, calling the people of Israel back to the law, both those who have turned away from God as well as those who used the law as a bludgeon and for building a wall to keep others out.
Jesus shows time and again that being true to Torah, is about building relationships with God and others. He extends his hand, person to person, as a bridge for people to come to God, and he calls out the religious leadership who have utilized the law to build walls, to keep people out. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, Jesus forgave sins, Jesus touched lepers, and ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners, those on the peripheries, not because he was being willy-nilly with the law, but because he was showing by his lived example that the greatest commandment of the law was to love God with all his mind, heart, and strength and to love his neighbor as himself.
This practice goes right to the foundation of who God created us to be. All of humanity has been created in God’s image and likeness. By that very fact, each of us are endowed with dignity by the very fact that we exist as a son and daughter of God. In Jesus, we see that the highest observance of the law of God is to love. Jesus met each person where they were and accompanied them. That also meant calling out those who misused the law by keeping others at arm’s length. Jesus did the opposite. As the Son of God, Jesus became one with us in our humanity, so that we could become one with him in his divinity. Jesus offered others his arms extended outward, inviting others to enter into his loving embrace. He would show this fully on the cross, where he opened his arms wide to embrace all peoples and nations.
Jesus built on the law and the prophets, because he was the fulfillment of them, and in doing so, he gave the law its greater context. The foundation of the law and the prophets were founded in Love, meaning its highest expression, which is to will the good of the other as other. This means that the law is not like a stagnant pool, where we grasp onto the law and tradition for its own sake, but the divine law of God is rather like a running stream, it is always fresh and being renewed by the Holy Spirit.
What Jesus ushered in, was the reign of God, which was possible through the foundations laid by those who had gone before him: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the judges and prophets, David, and those who answered the call of God to serve in his name. From a person, Abraham, to a clan and a nation, Israel, God called a people to himself to shine the light of his will to others. Then at the appointed time, he sent his Son, to be one with the people he called to draw all nations to himself so that all of the peoples, created in his image and likeness, could be invited to come to be one with him, the God of all creation.
Our joy and fulfillment takes shape as we are transformed by the love of God. As we build on the traditions of our faith that give us a solid foundation, we must resist holding on to them so tightly that they strangle us and suck the life out of us. That which leads us to encounter and renew our relationship with Jesus in love is what we are to embrace and preach. That which has become stagnant and no longer is an avenue for affirming life must be pruned.
The love and mercy of God extended to us by the presence of Jesus among us is not a watering down of the law and the prophets. I would argue that it is not only the fulfillment of them, but they are harder to put into practice and demand a closer walk with Jesus. This is so because we cannot fulfill a life of love and mercy on our own. We can only fulfill Jesus’ invitation to love and be able to enter into the chaos of another if we are transformed ourselves by his love and continue to allow Jesus to be present to others and love them through us.
God’s love invites us out of the darkness of our own sin and withdrawing into our own false sense of self-control. We become healed when we are humble enough to trust the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives, are willing to confess how we put our own self interests first, and become contrite – to acknowledge the sorrow of the hurt we have caused others, and become less drawn to making excuses and protecting the false self of the ego. Through participating in the life that Jesus invites us to, we drink from the living stream of his love, we come to grow into the freedom of being true to ourselves and who God calls us to be. This is not for ourselves alone. Jesus calls us to be a light for others who are experiencing the shadows of a life of half truths and/or immersed in the darkness of a false and/or empty life that we ourselves are emerging from.
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Painting: by Melody Owens – The original painting is 11″x14″ gouache.
Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, June 12, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061219.cfm
Be salt and light by offering each person you meet a smile today!
With the celebration of Pentecost, and the recitation of Evening Prayer on Sunday night, the Church liturgical season has returned to Ordinary Time. One of the key focal points of the season is that the readings from the Gospels will focus on the life and teachings of Jesus. Our series of readings for the next few weeks will be a return to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In today’s account, Jesus encourages his disciples to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” (cf. Mt 5:13-16).
This call continues to ring true for us today as his disciples. We too are to be “salt” and “light”. Salt has two major properties, preservation and flavor. Jesus emphasizes the aspect of salt being seasoning that one puts on food, which enhances its flavor. Light allows those to see in the darkness. How then can we be salt and light?
We begin by remembering that we are an Alleluia people, meaning that we are a people grounded in hope and joy because we who die with Christ will rise with him. Also, our faith is not just for us alone, we are to go out and share it with others, we are to bring Jesus to others. Pope Francis, in the very first line of his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, writes: “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, emptiness, and loneliness.”
The Pope is not saying that when we accept Jesus into our life and develop a relationship with him that all will go our way, their will no longer be conflict or pain, and that our life will now be perfect. What he means is that Jesus is the very embodiment of love, and a light that leads us away from the darkness of our sin. Jesus is present and accompanies us in our pain and sorrow, and assures us that we are not alone. Jesus is the one who fulfills the longing of our heart’s deepest desire, he reveals to us our meaning and vocation in life. Jesus brings us hope and offers his hand to lead us through our darkest nights of despair and trauma.
We who have experienced the healing balm of the presence of Jesus in our life, have grasped his hand for strength, have leaned on his shoulder to cry on, and experienced the joy of our encounter with him, are then to be present to others in the same way. We are to be salt by bringing the joy of Jesus to all those we encounter. Too many who claim to be Christian, walk with a cloud of gloom around them, they have become salt that has lost their flavor. Instead of drawing others to the gospel, they have withdrawn within themselves and push people away.
A simple, yet genuine smile can work wonders for someone who begins to believe that no one cares or has the time of day for them. This is true for the recipient as well as the giver. If you have felt like you have lost some of your flavor, or if you are not sure how to be a light for others, next time you catch the eye of another, smile.
I am not the most extroverted of persons, and was more introverted in my youth. In my freshman or sophomore year of college, I heard a talk on cassette given by St Mother Theresa. She had mentioned reaching out to others with a smile. I still remember the first time of risking to smile at someone after hearing Mother’s encouraging words. I was walking up the side walk toward the parking garage on campus. I do not believe the person I smiled at returned the smile, yet I do remember that day as a key moment in my faith journey. Having heard of how to share the light of God’s love with another, and then to follow through with the courage to do so, filled me with the joy of Jesus, and it continues to make a difference in my life and hopefully, the life of others to this day.
How can we be salt and light in our everyday experiences? I would recommend beginning by smiling at those we encounter. May it not only be limited to those we feel comfortable with or like either. May we share a smile with those we may have had conflicts with, those we may feel a bias or prejudice toward. This is only a small beginning, but it draws us out from our own self centered focus and directs our attention toward another.
In this small act we also say to another person that we care enough to notice them, that they are loved and cared about, that they have worth and dignity just as they are in that moment. A simple, sincere smile can bring a little flavor to someone in a sour mood, as well as a little light to someone in a very dark place.
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Photo: A smile for your day, may you receive it and pass it on!
Mass readings for Tuesday, June 11, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061119.cfm
Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the Mother of the Church – pray for us!
Today’s feast, Mary the Mother of the Church, was just issued last year in a decree released on February 11, 2018 by Cardinal Robert Sarah of the Congregation of Divine Worship. Pope Francis has called for the Church to celebrate this feast on the Monday after Pentecost. Not only is Mary the Mother of Jesus, but since we as the People of God participate in the life of Jesus as members of the Body of Christ, she is our mother too.
The New Testament records time and again how Mary reveals by word and action that she is the model of discipleship.
Mary, answered Gabriel’s request to conceive and bear Jesus, with her response, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Mary then went with haste to share the good news with Elizabeth and to assist her in her pregnancy of John the Baptist. Mary, after the birth of Jesus, is visited by the shepherds and upon hearing their news from the angelic host, she “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). Mary and Joseph care for, protect, and guide Jesus in the Jewish faith as he matures and grows into a young man.
Mary was also present at the beginning of his ministry when she says to the servants at the wedding at Cana, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Mary was present at the crucifixion, as recorded in today’s reading from the Gospel of John: When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home (Jn 19:26-27). Mary was pierced with sorrow when the lance was thrust through his side as blood and water flowed, and suffered in witnessing the death of Jesus, her Son. Mary was then present as the Church was birthed at Pentecost at the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).
Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Mother of the Church, is also our mother. We do not worship Mary, but seek her intercession and guidance as we would our own mothers. We also look to her as a model for living as disciples of Jesus. May we follow her examples as outlined in the New Testament. May we ponder the wonders and mysteries of God working in our lives. May we resist the temptation of living in denial, running from our humanity and suffering, but instead face and embrace the sorrow and pain experienced in this fallen world so to receive her Son, Jesus, whose arms are wide open to receive us in the midst of our pain, so that he may bestow upon us his consolation and healing.
But may we not stop there. May we open ourselves to the love and empowerment of the Holy Spirit such that we may say yes to bearing Christ and going with haste to share the Good News of his life with others. May we resist the temptation of indifference and uncaring and instead help and support those we come into contact with who are in need. May we follow the last words of Mary recorded in Scripture and do whatever Jesus tells us to do to make his Church relevant and vibrant in our time.
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us now and at the our of our death!
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Photo: Statue of Jesus and Mary outside Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, Oceanside, CA, Christmas 2017
Link for the decree ON THE CELEBRATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY MOTHER OF THE CHURCH: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20180211_decreto-mater-ecclesiae_en.html
Link for the Mass readings for Monday, June 9, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061019.cfm
Spiritual Stepping Stones 