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Read more about the article Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

This statement really challenges us.  In today’s culture there is a strong aversion to thinking about suffering.  We prefer to distract ourselves with anything and everything to avoid thinking about sorrow.  The real problem is that we do not understand why Jesus said “blessed are those who mourn” or what the fruits are.

Our decisions to do good or evil matter.  Every moral decision has a spiritual effect on not only ourselves, but also on the whole world. It is like casting a stone into a still pond; eventually the ripples reach the shore.  So too do our actions affect others.  Each and every one of us is connected as members of the Body of Christ, so what happens to one member affects all the rest.  When we truly understand this connectedness, we react with sorrow to the suffering around us.  Whether the sorrow is the loss of someone’s family member or the suffering of others through illness or injustice, it affects us.  When we mourn their loss, we sorrow with them.  We imitate Christ, who mourned for Jerusalem, (Mt 23:37) who mourned the death of Lazarus, (Jn 11:35) and who mourns for the souls who choose hell instead of Paradise with Him.

As Christians, and especially as Catholics, we are called to be intercessors for the whole world. At the beginning of Mass at the Confiteor when we acknowledge our sinfulness and need for God’s grace, we end the prayer with “and I ask Blessed Mary, ever-virgin, all the angels and saints, and you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord Our God.” We proclaim our oneness as the Body of Christ.  What happens to my brother or sister matters to me.

Prayer, fasting, and offering up sacrifices for those suffering is a way to spiritually unite with them, to spiritually walk the road with them, and to bring God’s grace into their lives.  How many times have each of us had something devastating happen and we thought we would never recover?  It was the prayers of others that sustained us through these dark times even if we were unaware of it.  We can do the same for other people. Blessed are those who mourn, because those people understand that mourning with and praying for others is a reflection of what Jesus Himself does for each of us every day.  It is this compassion that sends us straight into the abode of the Sacred Heart of Jesus where all comfort, peace, and joy reside.

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Read more about the article The Lord Bless And Keep You

The Lord Bless And Keep You

The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace! (Nm 6: 24-26)

This was from the first reading for the first day of the new year, the feast of Mary Mother of God.  What a beautiful way to begin the new year, with the reminder that our loving God cares for us.  A blessing is an invitation to us from God and invitation requires a response. And how do we respond to this call?

“The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace.” How do we obtain this peace?  The first thing that comes to mind is making a good confession and starting the year renewed.  What are my faults? What have I done wrong? What good did I fail to do?  Then I ask forgiveness and accept the mercy God offers.  Yes I know some people may say, “I don’t have any sins to confess;” my response is simply, “oh, please tell me how you learned to walk on water because I haven’t managed it yet.”  The second thing that comes to mind is how do we live in peace with each other?  The fastest way to patience with and forgiveness of others is to pray for them.  When things seem especially difficult, a novena to Our Lady Undoer of Knots has never been known to fail.

“The Lord let His face shine upon you.” This reminds us to notice all the beauty created for us.  God communicates to each of us through the natural world – the softness of the gentle breeze, the brilliance of the orange and gold painted sky, the stillness of the forest, the roar of the ocean, the music of a child’s laugh, and the kindness of a stranger.  God’s love surrounds us and sustains us and when we want to see His Face, He awaits us in Eucharistic Adoration speaking words of love that only our souls can hear.

“The Lord bless you and keep you.”  God chose to keep His Son safe in the arms of His mother Mary.  Many non-Catholics have told me that Mary is a person like us in all things including sin, but where is that in scripture?  The greatest men of the Bible – Moses, David, Peter, and Paul have their sins as well as their successes told.  What do we know about the Blessed Virgin Mary? An angel greets Her with “Hail, full of grace.”  When Mary receives the message of the angel, she does not doubt as Zachariah did.  She does not try to use human intelligence to interpret the meaning as Abraham did (Abraham slept with his wife’s maid to try to fulfill the prophesy).  She inquires of the angel, Gabriel, exactly what She is supposed to do to cooperate in God’s plan.  She asks if God wants Her to give up Her vow of virginity and is willing to do whatever God wants of Her.  Once She understands, She gives Her assent.  Little more than a child, She is already a spiritual giant.  As mysteries unfold — the shepherds’ visit, the prophesy of Anna, the visit of the Magi, the finding of Jesus in the temple – She receives all these words and “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” (Lk 2:19) Her only concern is doing the Will of God and loving Her Son with all Her mind, all Her heart, and all Her strength.

On Her feast day as Mother of God, we celebrate the mystery that God has revealed to us.  God the Son has willingly given up His throne in Heaven to be with us and experience life as we experience it.  God the Father in His great love for His Son has chosen Mary’s womb as His throne at the Incarnation.  The angels’ songs are replaced by Mary’s lullabies.  Our Father loves His Son so much that He created a perfect, sinless human creature to give His Son a love more perfect than the angels’ adoration.  God the Father entrusted His Only Begotten Son into Her arms at His Nativity.  This is the same refuge Jesus gave us at the Cross when He said “Woman behold your son.” (John 19:26) The “handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1:38) is always obedient to the will of God.  We can trust Her to keep us safe and  carry us toward Him.

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Read more about the article I Am the Light of the World

I Am the Light of the World

That’s what Jesus told us and He meant it on every level.  The Gospel of John begins “What has come into being in Him was life, life that was the light of men;” (Jn 1:4) John is so sublime that we cannot merely read the words, but pause and ask, “What does John mean?”

Many recent scientific discoveries help us ponder this mystery.  The Shroud of Turin has been reverenced for centuries as the burial cloth of Jesus.  Over the years scientists have tried to disprove that it is the face of Christ on the cloth, but the more the cloth is studied, the more information we learn that points to its authenticity.  Those who have studied the Shroud have come to the conclusion that the image could only have been made with an extremely powerful laser, like a burst of intense light coming through the fabric.  This technology did not exist before modern times. 

“I Am the light of the world.”  Creation itself came into being through Him when “God said, ‘Let there be light’” (Gn 1:3).  Even astronomers are coalescing around the Big Bang Theory to explain how the universe was formed; from a single point came light and energy. In the medical research field, scientists have now video recorded a burst of light at the moment of conception. This light is necessary for life to begin.

When Jesus says that He is the light of the world, He reminds us of what happened in Bethlehem.  When it was time for Mary to give birth, She felt an intensifying presence of joy.  At the moment of Jesus’s birth, Mary went into an ecstasy of Joy so profound and intense that only the Immaculata Herself could have survived it.  In a flash of radiant light Messiah was born.  John refers to this light when he says the “light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it” (Jn 1:5) This is the cause of our rejoicing at Christmas.

Each week of Advent the light increases as we light another candle: the candle of hope, the candle of peace, the candle of joy, and today, the fourth candle representing love.  It is at the end of this week that we will meet Love Himself.  We are invited to prepare a manger in our hearts for Him to dwell and so receive the Light of the world.

References:

https://www.newgeology.us/presentation24.html

https://www.lifesitenews.com/pulse/scientists-say-life-begins-at-conception-with-a-flash-of-light/

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Read more about the article Lord, I Want to See

Lord, I Want to See

In this week’s daily gospel, Jesus heals two blind men.  Sight is a marvelous gift.  How wonderful are the sunsets, the flowers, the smiles of loved ones, fireworks shows, Christmas lights, and all the rest. We all treasure this gift and even if we have 20/20 vision with our eyes, we still need to pray “Lord, I want to see,” (Mk 10:51) so that we can see with our hearts.  Seeing with the heart is the only way to truly see because God becomes present to us at all times.

In the classic novel Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, we see the contrast between spiritual blindness and spiritual sight in the two major characters, Scarlett O’Hara and Melanie Hamilton. Scarlett goes from wealth, to poverty, back to extraordinary wealth.  Her determination goes far beyond simply trying to save her family’s home and keep them from starving because she places herself at the center of her universe. Scarlett’s gaze is turned inward toward herself and she fails to see the gifts and opportunities God has given her.  Her reliance not on God, but herself, leads her to fear because she cannot control everything no matter how hard she tries. Her fear turns into all-consuming greed and she actually enjoys thinking that others envy her. She creates a great deal of collateral damage as she spirals downward into the chasm of unending wants and unsatisfied desires, rejecting the love of those around her. She finds herself without friends and completely alone at the end of the novel; even her husband walks out on her. 

By contrast, Melanie Hamilton, who is considered weak by Scarlett’s assessment, has strengths that shine through.  Melanie’s gaze is turned outward toward others.  She sees with her heart and responds to others in need. Melanie never says an unkind word, refraining from even listening to gossip. Even though they have little food at the end of the war, Melanie feeds the hungry soldiers walking many miles home to their families because she believes that others would do the same for her husband who is trying to return to her.  She has compassion for those who are society’s outcasts like Belle Watling, and supports Scarlett without judging her when difficult decisions need to be made.  She looks for the good in everyone and throughout life’s trials, Melanie seems to be at peace.  She is the only character who experiences real joy.  It is Melanie’s generosity of spirit that makes her such an unforgettable character.

The virtue of generosity comes from seeing Our Lord in front of us in every interaction.  We stop what we are doing, put down our cell phones, and take time to be truly present as we listen to others.  We see Jesus in the hungry, in the lonely, in the despairing and are moved to share our resources, time, and talents with them.  When we respond without generosity, this is a sign of our own brokenness that needs to be healed.  We need to take our hearts to the Lord, broken by the carelessness of others, broken by our own bad decisions, hearts full of impatience, pride, doubt, fear, and distrust and allow Jesus to enter in and restore our wholeness.  We pray for those we have wounded through our spiritual blindness, and for those who have wounded us in the state of their own wretchedness.  The gift of spiritual sight leads to a heart that overflows with generosity.  And in practicing generosity we experience the joy and abundant generosity of God toward us.

Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you. (Luke 6:38)

The more we give ourselves away, the more we are filled with God by God. It is then that we can live in God’s Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”  Advent marks a new liturgical year, a time for us to start over and begin anew. This Advent season is calling us to spiritual sight so that we can repent and receive the greatest gift God wants to give us at Christmas – Himself.

Thanks to my friend Pam Delgado for this photo.

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