Thursday, November 30, 2017

Nov 30 - St. Andrew - Apostle

+ It is the feast of St. Andrew, the Apostle. There must have been something in his voice, there must have been something in the way he said things, there must have been something in his look and manner that would make these four long-time dedicated fishers of fish leave everything immediately and follow someone who has just offered to make them “fishers of men.” What could this possibly mean? But, they didn’t have to stop to figure it all out: their intuition, their instinct, their gut told them to go and find out what this new adventure was all about.

Andrew was actually the first Apostle called by Jesus as seen in another account; he was the brother of Simon Peter and led him to Jesus. He was a follower of John the Baptist; and like John, he spent his life leading people to Jesus, both before and after the Crucifixion. He was a missionary in Asia Minor and Greece and possibly areas in modern Russia and Poland. He was martyred on a saltire (x-shaped) cross and is said to have preached from it for two days before he died.

There are several legendary explanations for why St. Andrew became patron of Scotland. The first being that in 345, the Emperor Constantine the Great decided to move Andrew’s bones from Patras, Greece to Constantinople. Then St. Regulus of Scotland was instructed by an angel to take these relics to the far northwest. He was eventually told to stop on the Fife coast of Scotland, where he founded the settlement of St. Andrew. And, when the Pictish King, Angus, faced a large invading army, he prayed for guidance. A white cloud in the form of a saltire cross floated across the blue sky above him. Angus won a decisive victory, and decreed that Andrew would be the patron saint of his country. The Saltire became the national flag of Scotland in 1385.

The first reading today from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans beautifully describes the mission of the apostle and evangelist. The world must hear the Good News in order to believe in it; and someone must be sent to bring that Good News to the waiting world: this would be the Apostles and their successors and helpers. “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!” Faith comes from what is heard and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. May we rejoice that their voice has gone forth to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world; and may we do our part today to spread that word, that message, that hope to at least one person, if not many!

Come after me, says the Lord, and I will make you fishers of men.
St. Andrew, pray for us!
---
Meditation:
When St. Andrew first caught sight of the gibbet on which he was to die, he greeted the precious wood with joy.  "O good cross!" he cried, "made beautiful by the limbs of Christ, so long desired, now so happily found!  Receive me into thy arms and present me to my Master, that He Who redeemed me through thee may now accept me from thee."  Two whole days the martyr remained hanging on this cross alive, preaching, with outstretched arms from this chair of truth, to all who came near, and entreating them not to hinder his passion.


Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Nov 29 - 34th Week in OT - Wednesday

+ Our readings today are timely to the extreme. It appears that we are on the brink, once again, of a nuclear holocaust unlike the world has never seen before – these are the words of the Lord, and not Donald Trump, who clearly is into his job as president of the United States way over his head. His incapability of grasping reality with any encounter he has with anyone at all is beyond evident now.

And with his equally dangerous and crazy North Korean counterpart, the complete destruction of civilization as we know it is imminent.

The Doomsday Clock is ticking down ever more quickly now to midnight – only minutes away, only seconds away.

Our readings today exhort us, plead with us, and beg us to pay attention to the meaning of its message: Daniel was brought in the interpret the mysterious and alarming “handwriting on the wall” – which was just scribed by a mysterious and “digital” – meaning, “finger-only” writing tool that was doing the writing: could this be the first “tweet”? I think YES.

King Nebuchadnezzar witnessed this display and “he turned pale with alarm, his thigh-joints went slack and his knees began to knock” – and he quite literally went into shock: and Daniel, whom he knew to be a wise and powerful prophet was called in to interpret “THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL!”

Daniel entered, read the message, and turned to the King as said: “Mene, Tekel and Prasin” – here is the message from the One God and ruler of all: “Mene” – God has measured your sovereignty and put an end to it; “Tekel” – you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting; “Prasin” – your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.”

For us this day, it would behoove all of us to “read the handwriting on the wall:” the idiocy and catastrophic danger of the current administration of government in Washington, DC, beginning with the idiot-president who proves minute by minute his misuse and abuse of the God-given power and authority of his public office. All public servants serve Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe, who is also the Chief Servant, the Chief Shepherd of Souls who self-sacrificially laid down his life for the sheep, for all constituents everywhere – no matter their personal level of faith response.

The minutes are ticking down as well for God the Father’s signal to send the Son again to this earth and this time to sort out everything and bring into eternity those who are obedient to him, and who have lives self-sacrificial loving lives.

There will come a time when Trump will turn pale with alarm, his thigh-joints will go slack and his knees will begin to knock, his arms will go limp, his mouth will be silenced, and he will surrender at last to the True Sovereign, Lord and King who will deal with him justly.


The gospel passage relates how men and women and even children will be called upon very soon to choose sides: the side of Christ the King and a glorious eternity prepared for them, or the side of Satan and an abomination beyond description that awaits those who now follow Trump and his base. Choose sides now: the clock is ticking! Amen.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Nov 27 - 34th Week in OT - Monday

+ We have reached the final week of the 2017 liturgical calendar year.  As the readings since last Advent portrayed all of the drama that is part of the magnificent redemption saga, so too we in our own lives, here at the abbey, have experience untold dramas of our own in our personal and communal lives. It seems that God is fashioning us newer, sleeker, upgraded and revitalized bodies to live our monastic lives in – this, of course, not without often-times painful and even frightening pruning, treatment and modifying that is just part of a remake of the human body, mind and spirit.

We are so grateful and thankful to him that he was there for us not only in the ministrations of those who attended us as his health-care representatives, but also personally, as he himself radiated his own treatment and healing process from within our mind, bodies and spirits.

We know that this will be, as it has been, an ongoing process – as life continues to unfold and we march ever more strongly and more sure-footedly to the gates of the Kingdom prepared for us – but we can be assured that as he has taken care of not only our health needs, but also our physical and domestic needs of fashioning for us a new home, a new abbey, a new venue – in all its magnificence here in Glen Allen – he will certainly continue the process and in the new year – make of us, as a reformed Franciscan, Benedictine, Faustinian religious experience – exactly what he has had in mind all along.

The gospel passage today tells us the only price that he asks of us: “two small coins” which represents all we have. And so, if we trust him, by  literally “spending our last dimes” in the remake process, and in helping others, then he will provide ceaselessly for all our true needs: we will always have enough of what we need. Period!
Amen.


Sunday, November 26, 2017

Nov 26 - Christ, King of the Universe

SOLEMNITY OF JESUS CHRIST THE KING – November 26, 2017

I –As for you, my flock, I will judge between one sheep and another.
R –The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
II – Christ will hand over the kingdom to his God and Father, so that God may be all in all.
A – Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!
G –The Son of Man will sit upon his glorious throne and he will separate them one from another.

+ We arrive now at the final Sunday of the Church Calendar Year 2017. Today our primary focus is on wrapping up all the celebrations and feasts of the current calendar year into one magnificent solemnity of joy and praise to Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe.

Jesus was given kingship by his Father; in coming to earth he was to initiate the first stages of a new kingdom right here in our midst, all with the goal of one-day handing over everything and everyone whom he could gather to his Father, for him to do with as he wills.

This means two important facts for us to never forget: Jesus must be our own personal king; and he must be king of our nation and all nations. It matters not what governments think of Jesus or his Father, what matters is what they think of them and the way they are handling the right ordering of society in charity and justice that is entrusted to them by God in their offices. Ignorance will not be bliss for them on judgment day!

And so the question arises for each party: do we live as though Jesus is truly our Lord, our King, but one who is also by his own insistence our Savior, our Brother and our Friend; and do our government leaders and those of all nations have a healthy and necessary fear of him and his final judgment that is certain to come one day? Perhaps the spiritual, moral and physical aspect of our own lives and that of our government would benefit from some deep, honest and personal soul searching and willingness to change what needs changing.

The gospel passage makes it extremely clear that there will indeed be a DAY OF JUDGMENT, when Jesus will do as he said he would do all along: judge us on our deeds: the sheep and the goats will be separated: and those who regarded everyone, but especially the poor as they would regard he, himself, will be counted as sheep and ushered into the Kingdom, and those who were too self-absorbed to even know the difference will be cast out as goats into eternal punishment.

But, while there is still life for the living on this earth, there is still time to make a self-examination and to ask for God’s never-failing mercy and forgiveness. Jesus came for the lost sheep – precisely, personally and preeminently! The Prophet Ezekiel today so fittingly relates the “heart’s embrace” that Jesus wants to establish with willing sheep: he wants to tend them, find those lost when it is cloudy and dark, bring back the stray, bind up the injured, heal the sick. All he needs from us is our willingness to have him lead us, carry us and love us: and belief that as Son of God he can carry us right into eternity with him.

On this grand and glorious solemnity let us run to Jesus Christ the King, Our Savior, our Brother, our Healer and our Friend, kneel before him and say: If it is your will, gracious Lord, my King, pick me up, hold me tight and never let me go, help me with my duty, and keep me heading towards the fullness of the Kingdom, where I shall be safe with you in our Father’s house forever! 

Amen. Amen!

Monday, November 6, 2017

Nov 6 - 31st Week in OT - Monday

+ Our readings today offer us a great deal of comfort and hope. It is the human experience to be whimsical and oftentimes less than consistent. So much of what we decide or choose is based on a “feeling of the moment” rather than on firm, cool, conviction of reason and logic, or even illogic when it comes to doing things God’s ways which we cannot fully comprehend.

But God, on the other hand, is simply, wonderfully, and carefully decisive – and all he has to do is to think, say or do something once – and that is that!
From the letter to the Romans, St. Paul tells us that “God never takes back his gifts or revokes his choice.” This is enormous for us. It means that once God gives us gifts: such as faith, hope, the ability to be charitable and loving at baptism, then he will not ever take them away: it is up to us to use or misuse or abuse them, but they will not be removed because of our stupidity. This goes as well for the gifts of confirmation, the gifts of the spirit to equip us fully for day to day life as a child of God. And it goes as well with the gifts of ordination: once given, irrevocable gifts for ministering in the person of Jesus – High Priest, Chief Preacher, Pastor and Confector of Sacraments.

This is a cause for great comfort, hope, peace, and motivation to trust, trust, trust in the God who is always active for the good in our lives – moment by moment.

The gospel passage tells us who is most eligible to receive God’s precious and powerful gifts: and that would be the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and the like: those who can never repay us for being instruments of God’s gift-giving. May we recommit ourselves this day as we truly receive the Body and Blood of Christ in this Eucharist to think, speak and act in a gifted way towards all we meet today: because once assimilated into our bodies, the Eucharistic Bread and wine becomes us, and we them so, may we live like it!

Open our eyes, O Lord, that we may consider the wonders of your gifts, and the permanent, irrevocable nature of them!

Amen.

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Nov 5 - 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 5, 2017

I –You have turned aside from the way, and have caused many to falter by your instruction.
R –In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
II – We were determined to share with you not only the Gospel of god, but our very selves as well.
A – You have but one Father in heaven and one master, the Christ.
G –They preach but they do not practice.

+ Our readings today are very timely. They speak to us about the true and significant difference between objective and subjective reality. Objective reality simply is, “it is what it is;” subjective reality is what I make it to be, which may or may not be coherent, viable or trustworthy – as I could never have all the information I need to make an airtight, sound case in my defense.

An example of this dichotomy in the world is the current state of affairs of our national government. Our country was founded on the objective, eternal and always present and trustworthy principles of the values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In every case, these apply, therefore they are objective and not dependent on what I think about them, or how I feel about them.

Subjective reality is the convoluted, deceptive and manipulative activity of many in government, beginning with the president himself, and spreading over to those in congress, and in any kind of governing roles in states and cities throughout the land. A false and fanciful “reality” is thus created by these people, and their main task appears to be to convince others that “what they say really does go” and that when they change their minds, there will simply be a new reality to adhere to. This of course is not only nonsense, but it is dangerous, and threatening to the very security of all in the jurisdictions.

The first reading today tells of those in kingdoms who go it their own way, who divert from objective truths and realities that were once laid down by God himself, and their forefathers. It leads to contemptibility and baseness among the people.

The second reading shows St. Paul commending the Thessalonians because they have stuck to the unchangeable, unalterable, always true and trustworthy words and laws that come from God, and receive them as they are “the words of God, rather than the words of men.”

The gospel passage today tells of Jesus exhorting his hearers to “do what the duly appointed leader tell them to do, but do not do what they themselves model and demonstrate.” And of those things, only those discerned to be kindred to objective truth and reality need to be incorporated and acted on. An unjust law need not be obeyed. But be sure first that it is unjust and counter to the common welfare.

Yes, this is meant to be a time of great reason, discussion, prayer and discernment – for individuals, for families, for business, schools and social clubs. No one is exempt from staying on top of things and participating in their own destinies and community and national welfare.

This is election week in our country, and by our rightly formed conscience choice, we can make a loud and clear statement, by casting our vote for those on the side of objective, constructive, and community building service – who are called by God to do their work – whether they realize it or not!


Let our HOPE come from the Word of God himself, who is Jesus Christ the Lord! Amen.

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Nov 4 - St. Charles Borromeo

+ Born into a noble family in northern Italy, Charles Borromeo was made a cardinal at a young age by his uncle the pope. He considered entering a monastery, but a friend convinced him to remain in the world.

Charles threw himself into the work of the Counter-Reformation, helping to revise the breviary and the Roman Missal, and authorizing instructions on the Church’s architecture and the renewal of seminaries.

As archbishop of Milan, he promoted praying the rosary with children and fostered religious education. He was a noted preacher.

Charles died in 1584. He is patron of catechists.

The first reading today from the Letter of Paul to the Romans, encourages us all to “let our love be sincere,” and in our day and age “let our hatred for evil, lying and deception, corruption and collusion be real, as we hold on to what is good, and anticipate one another in showing honor and true concern.” Thus exhorted, let us live this day rejoicing in hope, enduring in affliction and persevering in prayer, and exercising hospitality.”

This was a post Reformation pattern of life that St. Charles no doubt lived and encouraged, and it is good for us to follow his lead and example.

And from the gospel, Cardinal Archbishop Charles Borromeo was a true and genuine good shepherd whose sheep followed his voice in difficult times for the Church. May the Good Shepherd in Chief appoint among the flock heroic, vocal and courageous shepherds to steady the floundering ships that are the Church and the State.

St. Charles Borromeo, pray for us!


Friday, November 3, 2017

Nov 3 - 30th Week in OT - Friday

+ Our readings today tell of the tragic miscalculation of those who refuse to “get it!”  Those who are steeped in their own prejudices, their own version of reality, their own limited prospects of the future. How sad to be among that lot! How sad for those who are in any kind of relationship or association with them! How sad indeed! For it does not have to be that way!

St. Paul tells the Romans in the first reading that so many of his fellow Israelites still do not “get it,” do not get the fact that in the sweat and blood of Jesus, the Promise that they are awaiting to be fulfilled of salvation, has indeed come to pass. He is sad that his preaching has fallen on deaf ears, closed minds, and hardened hearts! He bewails the fact that all they have to do is accept the utterly and entirely free gift of the Holy Spirit – make an assent of will, agreement, belief and begin to live the unimaginable life of the” freedom of the children of God!”

O praise the Lord, Jerusalem! Praise him, praise him!

In the gospel passage, Jesus laments again the same closedness, stubbornness, and potentially fatal flaw of the Pharisees: the inability to accept the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, and therefore, is the only one qualified and eligible to not rewrite but to flesh out the words and laws of their own religious expression. For example, when he teaches the spirit of the law by healing on the Sabbath, they should have demonstrated their humility and submission to him as Lawmaker, Lawgiver, Lawinterpreter in Chief! Instead they reject him, and thereby reject their own chance at participation in his act of reconciliation.

May we today set aside any semblance of Pharisaism that we possess – and be truly wise, educable and grateful children of the New Law – the law of love, the law of compassion, the law of mercy – THE LAW OF GOD as it really is! – on any day of the week!

O praise the Lord, Jerusalem! Praise the Lord, Richmond! Praise the Lord, Glen Allen!
Amen.




Thursday, November 2, 2017

Nov 2 - All Souls Day

+ Pope Benedict XVI tells us: I would go so far as to say that if there was no purgatory, then, we would have to invent it, for who would dare say of himself that he was able to stand directly before God. [and I add: “as is” at time of death!]

And yet we don’t want to be, to use an image from Scripture, ‘a pot that turned out wrong,’ that has to be thrown away; we want to be able to be “put right.” [or as I could say: “pot right”!]

Purgatory basically means that God can put the pieces back together again. That he can cleanse us in such a way that we are able to be with him and can stand there in the fullness of life.

Purgatory strips off from one person what is unbearable and from another the inability to bear certain things, so that in each of them a pure heart is revealed, and we can see that we all belong together in one enormous symphony of being.”

I, to complement this message from Pope Benedict, have this to add: purgatory is an instantaneous process of becoming fully configured to the Christ of our Baptism, our Confirmation, our Eucharist – so that the deceased enters now fully into the communion of saints in heaven because he is so configured to Christ that the Father sees both Christ and the Person – this is what purgatory is the completion of a transformative process that actually is meant to take place our entire lives.

If we cooperate in our transformation through suffering in our lifetime – then our purgatorial process will be brief, if necessary at all.
Another point is that those in the purgatorial state – they cannot pray for themselves any longer – but we can pray for the completion of the process in them – and it counts very much.

How many souls will be released into heaven from purgatory by this very mass? It’s up to us, and our intention to free them! So let’s “free away!”


“Come, blest of my Father, enter into the joys of the Kingdom prepared for you!”

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Nov 1 - All Saints

+ The saints in heaven, simply stated, are those whose souls, at the time of their deaths were conformed very closely to the image of Christ Himself – very closely indeed. This is not only their call but ours as well – during our lives on earth – to do all that we can to model our lives after, and to resemble the humble, loving, compassionate Lord himself – so that when God the Father looks down on us – he sees His Son, in the form of our bodies and souls. When we receive the Lord Jesus in Holy Communion we most resemble him as we have the opportunity of becoming what we consume.

The manual on how to establish and maintain this resemblance is found most especially in St. Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (Chapter 5), which begins with the Beatitudes of  today’s Gospel passage: Jesus tells his disciples outright that to be poor in spirit, and mournful of sin, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, clean of heart, peacemakers, and persecuted for the sake of righteousness and for the sake of Christ Himself  would be to “resemble him,” and their reward would be great in heaven – they would be shining lights called: saints: the blessed!

It is our destiny along with resembling Christ, to join all the angels and saints already in heaven whom we honor today – those known and unknown – to glorify God at his throne – as we heard referenced in the first reading today from the Book of Revelation. We are called to be among this elect; but our presence there as God’s children (the Second Reading from St. John tells us) is based on our never-ending hope, and our lives of ceaseless praise-giving and self-sacrificial loving. Even now as we enjoy the communion with all the saints, they can help us by their prayers, they can assist us on our journeys and they will be there to greet us at the appointed hour of our arrival at the gates of heaven.

May we, today, like the saints of old and now, long to see your face, O Lord – for you shall reward us abundantly for our hope and our trust in you!




Happy New Year 202

  A Happy New Year to you all! I hope and pray I am able to keep this blog up to date now that we are entering into the New Year! I would li...