Meditations

Read more about the article And The Word Was Made Flesh

And The Word Was Made Flesh

In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through Him. What has come into being in Him was life, life that was the light of men; and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it. The Word was the real light that gives light to everyone; He was coming into the world. He was in the world that had come into being through Him, and the world did not recognize Him.  But to those who did accept Him He gave power to become children of God, to those who believed in His name who were born not from human stock or human desire or human will but from God Himself. The Word became flesh, He lived among us, and we saw His glory, the glory that He has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. (Jn 1:1-5, 9-10, 12-14)

The daily reading for New Year’s Eve is the Gospel of John Chapter 1, which precedes the Feast Day of Mary, Mother of God and the infancy narrative from the Gospel of Luke in which the angels announce the Savior to the shepherds.  Encountering these two readings back to back reveals the sublime truths that John conveys.

Everything was created through The Word, Jesus.  God the Father, Creator, created through the spoken word which is Christ Himself and life was given to creation through the Holy Spirit.  When we read scripture aloud at Mass, we are encountering Jesus as The Word.  When we truly understand that we are not merely reading a book but are meeting with The Lord, our attention shifts and our hearts open to receive Him.  At every Mass, we can be like the shepherds who sought Him in Bethlehem.  Our longing to receive Him is a gift from The Father to prepare our hearts to receive His Son.  We can take hold of the words of scripture and plant them firmly in our hearts to become God’s own children, and share in the inheritance of His Only Begotten Son.  The Word is how Moses, David, the Prophets, and holy men and women in the Old Testament encountered Our Lord.

Even greater blessings come to us because The Word was made flesh. Gabriel the Archangel came and greeted Mary with “Hail, full of grace.” Mary, through Her life of continual prayer, had built a cathedral in Her heart, a cathedral so beautiful that God Himself chose to live there.  Gabriel greets Her as his queen and Mary is so humble that She only asks how God wishes Her to serve Him.

Jesus came to dwell among us as one of us, not by coming in majesty, but by becoming a baby born of a woman and into a family.  He chose to subject Himself to the commandment “Honor thy father and thy mother” because the family is God’s gift to us; it is His plan that parents offer their time and labor for bringing up souls that honor God, and that children honor their parents for these sacrifices.  God gives women the supreme gift of being companions with Him on the intimate journey of the creation and nurturing of human life.  Jesus chose to create His own mother, save Her from the stain of sin at Her Immaculate Conception, and then asked Her if She would be willing to become His mother.  This demonstrates the humility of God, the sacredness of human life, and the value God places on motherhood.  As Catholics, we love Mary because Jesus loves Her and we honor Her because Jesus honors Her.  In all things, we strive to imitate Our Lord.

Jesus came into the world and the world did not recognize Him.  Many today still do not recognize His presence among us.  He is with us, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Eucharist.  Mass is not a social event; it is a divine event.  It is a celebration of God with us, God sharing His divine life with us, nourishing our souls with Himself.  When we understand this and prepare our hearts accordingly, it is then that we too can say that our souls see Him in His glory, the glory that He has from the Father as Only Son of the Father.  What is hidden from world we see in grace and truth.

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Read more about the article Blessed Be God Forever:  An Advent Prayer

Blessed Be God Forever:  An Advent Prayer

Today is one of my favorite Sundays in the Liturgical Year – Gaudete Sunday.  The priest wears the beautiful pink vestments and we light the pink Advent candle.  This is the day we focus on rejoicing that Jesus’s coming is near.  The music is always beautiful, but today so was the silence.

Growing up, there was always a separation between the Offertory Song in which people brought up the gifts of bread and wine and the collection money (for the support of the parish), and the prayers we spoke during the Preparation of the Gifts.  In recent years, the Offertory Song continues until the priest has completed all the Preparatory prayers in silence without our participation.  Blurring things together has caused us to miss so much of what is happening and has deprived us of the moments of silence we need to truly reflect.  Today though, the music stopped and then the priest was heard saying, “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.”  When we responded, “Blessed Be God Forever,” I was filled with the joy that this Sunday brings and I finally understood joy on a deeper level.

So many in our world seek happiness.  It is not wrong to be happy with our accomplishments, but when we only seek happiness in a secular way, it quickly becomes a pursuit of acquiring things and advancing our own goals and status.  Without God at the center, we only seek temporal happiness and forget to seek joy.  Joy is the state of rejoicing in the love of God.  When we stop to praise Him in spite of the vicissitudes of life, He reveals to our souls even greater depths of the love He has for us.  Thus we can experience joy even when we are not experiencing human happiness.

King David spent much time in silent contemplation and composed many Psalms praising God. He understood the connection between giving praise to God and receiving the gift of joy in return.  The Blessed Virgin Mary offered her beautiful canticle of praise, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices” (Lk 1:46) when she visited Elizabeth.  After months of silence Zachariah’s first words were “Blessed be The Lord.” (Lk 1:68)

This Advent we still have the opportunity for moments of silence, moments of prayer, and moments of praise.  We have time to make room in our hearts and invite Him in.  Thirty years ago I composed an Advent Prayer that I would like to share with you now.  May we all have a Blessed Christmas.

A Prayer to The Holy Family

Most Holy St. Joseph, my protector and guide, watch over me with the love and faithfulness you showed toward Jesus and Mary.  May I follow your example in humility and total submission to God’s will.  Teach me more and more each day to be obedient to the Will of God.

Holy Mary, Mother of God and my mother too, watch over me with your gentle care and teach me to walk in the way of holiness through charity, chastity (according to my state), obedience, and love for God’s Will.  Teach me to praise Him through all situations and to see His loving hands molding me as I endure difficulties.  Teach me to love as you love and trust as you trust.

My Beloved Jesus, who  humbled yourself to walk among us, may my contemplation of your great sacrifice cause me to love you more.  May your goodness and mercy teach me to forgive others.  Grant that I may always be as faithful to you as your Virgin Parents were.  And when I willfully lose my way through sin, hesitate not to run to me and bring me back to your fold.  My Shepherd of Goodness and Mercy, look not upon my sins, but upon my weakness and wretchedness.  Have compassion on me O God and teach me to be obedient to your patient instruction.

Holy Family, I desire to live as you lived at Nazareth – simply, humbly, and ever mindful of what is pleasing to God.  Teach me to serve God as you served Him and worry not about the problems of the day, but put my cares in our Loving Father’s hands so that I never lose my focus on Him and never cease praising Him.  Holy Family, intercede for me and bring me the graces I need to so that this prayer will come to pass.  Amen.

Continue ReadingBlessed Be God Forever:  An Advent Prayer
Read more about the article Be Ready, For The Son Of Man Is Coming

Be Ready, For The Son Of Man Is Coming

The Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent (Mt 24: 37-44) calls us to be alert to the coming of The Lord.  We do not know when He will return for the final Judgement, or if we will first experience our personal judgement at our own death, but we do know that Christ is coming at Christmas.  As we move forward with buying gifts for our families and friends, have we considered the birthday gift we want to offer Jesus?

We certainly can’t buy Him stuff because everything we have is really on loan to us by Him while we are here.  So what can we give Him that is truly ours to give?  The gift of our hearts is what He desires most, and while it is the simplest gift to give, it is paradoxically the hardest to give.  A heart worthy of being a gift to God takes a good deal of work on our part.  Advent is a call to do two things: turn away from being the innkeepers and turn toward being the shepherds.

The innkeepers had no room for Jesus and thus missed out on the precious gift of welcoming Him.  Their hearts were completely closed to Him, and this happens to us when we choose not to forgive. After starting with a good Confession, we must make room in our hearts for Him to dwell and this means dispelling the resentments, grudges, and stones of unforgiveness that are taking up room there.  The real challenge is to see that these things do not keep our enemies trapped and bound by our wrath – they keep us trapped.  Forgiveness does not mean that others “get away with” their wrongs, it means that we let God do God’s job and free up our time to build His Kingdom.  Forgiveness releases us, gives us peace, and prepares our hearts to receive numerous graces including the indwelling of Jesus who longs to be one with us. 

One of our most heroic saints, St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, demonstrates the power of forgiveness.  While he is being stoned to death, he prays for those who participate in the stoning, including Saul of Tarsus, who later becomes St. Paul.  Had it not been for Stephen’s prayers, there would have been no Paul and a great deal of the New Testament would have been absent.  Forgiveness goes well beyond healing our own souls; it brings graces that the entire world desperately needs.

Advent invites us to renew our commitment to the Gospel message, and to do the good that St. Paul exhorts us to do (Heb 13:16). Volunteering in a soup kitchen, putting up Christmas lights for an elderly neighbor, buying gifts for needy children, offering our musical or vocal talents in retirement homes, sending care packages to soldiers, or joining the Christmas choir at church are some ways we can reach out and bring Christ to the lonely and the poor. These gifts offered with love fill up our hearts so much more than they drain our wallets.  Our own loneliness is overcome by immersing ourselves in reaching out to others. Our sacrifice of praise (Heb 13:15) given to Him in the sacred music of Advent and Christmas fills us with His peace.  It is in the act of bringing Jesus to others that our souls recognize Him in them. This is how we transform ourselves into shepherds.  And like the shepherds who longed to see Him, He will reveal Himself to us and fill us with Christmas joy.

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Read more about the article Zaccheus: Today Salvation Has Come To This House

Zaccheus: Today Salvation Has Come To This House

The Gospel story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19 is read with Wisdom 11 on the Sunday cycle Year C (a cycle that rotates the Gospels over a 3 year period) and read with Revelation 3 on the weekday reading.  These readings together demonstrate the mercy of God. Most of us know the story of this short-statured, wealthy tax collector who climbs a sycamore tree to see Jesus.  We are familiar with the self-righteous crowd who grumble that Jesus chooses to have dinner at the house of a sinner, but we are not used to seeing how much we are like Zacchaeus.

Zacchaeus makes a startling choice. He runs ahead of the crowd, but instead of simply doing that and then standing in the middle of road where he would eventually cross paths with Our Lord, he climbs a tree.  Zacchaeus feels the calling, the pulling toward something new and better, and strongly desires it, yet he is not ready to get up close to Our Lord.  Well aware of his sins, he does not want to be inspected too closely. 

Each of us has had this experience at some time in our lives.  We have all sat in the tree wanting what Our Lord offers, but not feeling forgivable. We have all had moments where we felt so unworthy and so ashamed of ourselves that we did not want to go to Confession out of fear and embarrassment at what the priest might say.  Reflecting on the first reading, “But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people’s sins that they may repent” (Ws 11:23), we realize this is exactly how Jesus approaches Zacchaeus.  Jesus sees his longing and his fear and walks up to the tree and extends an invitation. One might think that Jesus is inviting Himself to dinner, but what He is actually doing is inviting Zacchaeus back into the community that Zacchaeus has lost through his sin. He gives back to Zacchaeus his human dignity and respect, telling both Zacchaeus and the grumblers that Zacchaeus is not only loved, but treasured: “For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made.” (Ws 11:24) Zacchaeus responds to Our Lord’s call with repentance (Lk 19:8) and joy.

Like Zacchaeus, Jesus meets us where we are: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” (Lk 19:10)  Once we have been found, we are invited to journey with Him. Our journey is one of continuing conversion, constantly striving to know Him better and love Him more. One sure sign that we have climbed back up in the tree is a lack of peace in our lives.  The events going on around us and in the news are unsettling and do require a great deal of prayer, but they should not make us live in fear.

How do we transform our spiritual lives so that we not small boats being tossed among the waves, but instead submarines in the deep water, unfazed by the storm far above?  We need to increase our trust in Him.  This starts with a good Confession.  Are we saying to ourselves “Well I have nothing to confess,” or “I confess the same sins every week”?  If so, this is an invitation to go into the deep water. Sin includes what I have done, said, or thought, as well as the good that I failed to do.  Inviting the Holy Spirit to reveal these things to us is the way to uncover what is keeping us bobbing about the surface. Personally, I am amazed at what the Holy Spirit reveals to me, not only where I have fallen short, but also how it has affected others.  He gives me the ability to experience remorse and gives me a firm purpose of amendment.  And I am forgiven.  Even when I approach Him with trepidation, He meets me with open arms.  I can trust Him.  Every time.  It is this continual experience of revealing myself and still being met with unconditional love that builds up my trust in Him. It is this trust that is the source of peace.

This is the peace Jesus offers Zacchaeus when He says, “Today salvation has come to this house.” Jesus also asks to dine with us: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Rv 3:20) What are you waiting for? Open the door.

Continue ReadingZaccheus: Today Salvation Has Come To This House

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