Tuesday, February 27, 2018

February 27 - 2nd Week of Lent - Tuesday


+ Our readings for mass today can challenge us a great deal. But, if   we live our day today through the lenses of FAITH and LOVE – then we will see clearly what is being said here – and opt to integrate the essence of the matter into our life this day,

The first reading from the Prophet Isaiah is the classic prophetic utterance: LISTEN TO THE WORD OF THE LORD, hear the word of the your God, hearken to what he has to say: because it is for your own good: Why else would not say anything at all, if not for good, if not for love, if not for protection, guidance and wisdom for us, as we make our way through any given day.

Therefore, when God asks us to OBEY, his common sense suggestions and laws – we must be convinced that they are no-nonsense dictates that will lead eventually to our eternal salvation: “wash, he says in the reading, and make yourselves clean: take your wrong-doing out of my sight, cease to do evil, learn to do good, search for justice, help the oppressed, be just to the orphan, plead for the widow – take care of whoever needs taking care of, and don’t count the cost……. THEN, you shall eat the good things of the earth, you will always have what you need, so STOP persisting in your rebellious attitude and mindset – for it is your own very worst enemy!

The gospel passage sums it up: God the Father will exalt the humble but will humble the exalted in their own estimation and sight. It’s not a difficult choice; but it has to be made, not only once, or once daily, but often times moment by moment! So make it, and make it often!

“Shake off all your sins – and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.”

Monday, February 26, 2018

February 26 - 2nd Week of Lent - Monday

­­+ Again the message of the readings for this Lenten Weekday Mass are straightforward and to the point. IF we live our day today through the lenses of FAITH and LOVE – then we will be compassionate (as our Father in heaven is compassionate – and that is a whole lot of compassion to bestow on whoever God will put in our path today), we will not judge others and their situations which we can never understand completely, we will not condemn, we will grant pardon and seek after peace in all our dealings, beginning with the people in our own households. We will GIVE, in some cases beyond the point of no return, beyond what we think our human limits are, beyond our wildest imaginings – but then the amount of reward, the amount of happiness, the amount of joy, the amount of peace, the amount of HOPE, poured back into our laps: will be uncontestedly awesome.

All it takes is BELIEF that someone came from God to demonstrate exactly how this is all to work, JESUS, who is God’s Very Speech (stories about how it all works and operates) – Made Flesh – made into a human being – who quite sadly was murdered by the very people he came to free!

The first reading reminds us that it is our SHAME to NOT LISTEN to this eloquent SPEECH OF GOD MADE FLESH – His integrity always remains the same – but our SHAME INCREASES daily – the more we do not LISTEN TO THE SPEECH, listen to JESUS, listen to his Church, listen to him as a cries out to us from the underdog, the poor, the marginalized, the helpless and the abandoned. Look around they are all over the place – in various dress, fashion and even disguises.

O Lord, please do not treat us according to our sins – our willful acts of non-listening but grant us your forgiveness – and help us to pass it along today to all who also need it very badly!

Amen.


Tuesday, February 20, 2018

February 20 - First Week of Lent - Tuesday

­­+ Again today we have excellent readings for Mass. As we proceed, at first, ever so slowly and cautiously our Lenten trek of self-discovery, self-reflection and self-motivation, we at stopped in our tracks and put in the middle of the road already: “every word that comes forth from God’s mouth will be accomplished!” PERIOD! now, in our regard, either we will cooperate and lock-on to his will and actually do it, with our own personality, flare and talents, or we will not, at least at first; we will kick and scream and yell, and try to do it our own way, until we are worn to a proverbial frazzle: then we will surrender and say: “Okay, I give up! I surrender! Let’s do it your way! and voila! whatever it was, becomes “as easy as pie” and we say to ourselves: “Why didn’t I just give up, surrender and ask for more information on how to do it his way” at the very outset?

Indeed!
Lent is all about our letting our clawed grip loose on all the activities of our lives: to let God in, and to humbly as to be used as he would use us!

The gospel passage in fact gives us THE PERFECT outline on what God expects of us: the blueprint for any given day, and the Light for the darkness of our path!: It is the prayer that Jesus himself taught us: we’ve said it a million times, but did we ever SLOW DOWN and dive into each word, each phrase, each idea, each concept, each lovingly prescribed action involved?

Here is a short meditation on this prayer: it’s just for this moment in time: I urge you today to make some free time (15 mins of silence and prayer, off by yourself) and create your own meditation for the rest of the day:

Here’s mine for now:

Wow! you are really OUR FATHER, this means I am loved, cared for, protected and valued higher than the skies; it also means that Jesus is my Brother, really and truly, and that Mary, his mother is therefore my Mother too! Yes! Wow! I have friends in very high places.

And You, Father, are holiness itself – beginning with your name – and you are asking me to be as holy as you are – which is now possible – because if you ask us to do anything, you always give us all we need to do it –

And. yes there is a spaceless, timeless, eternal, glorious Kingdom of unimagined bliss and peace awaiting us “out there!” and one day it will be fully inaugurated when Jesus comes again on the clouds to separate the “sheep” from the “goats” and escort them personally into the new heavens and the new earth for those who simply believe in him, and that he can do it!

Here is the big one: YOUR WILL BE DONE on earth as it is in heaven – your word be accomplished and not come back to you void. Period. That means the more we plug in to cooperating with this word and will, the happier we will be, the more people we will help and we will have nothing to fear on the Great Day of Judgment that is surely coming.

Our “daily bread” is all we need to survive our pilgrimage to the Kingdom, but especially the Bread of the Eucharist: the bread and wine of the Body and Blood of Jesus! This is of vital importance to everyone – because, one prerequisite that Jesus made very clear for entrance into the Kingdom is for us to “resemble Himself” so when the Father sees us, he sees his Son and all that that means; when we consume the transubstantiated Bread and Wine – the Body and Blood of Christ – he literally becomes us as we digest him into our stomachs, systems and blood, and most wondrously we become all that he is: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity: we become DIVINE! Then we can partner with him very easily throughout the day to do what he wants done, for whomever he puts in our path!

Forgiveness therefore, to all others, who are fragile and human as we are is of the essence: just as the Lord forgives us, so should we forgive one another – but in many cases not until the offender, the trespasser asks for it!

It goes without saying that we would rather not be tested, but we will be, because that’s how our faith is tried, and our character and virtue proven: we pray then for every grace and the love we need to surround us when such trials come our way (the problems of everyday life).

And lastly, save us from the evil one – who is there trying to change our allegiance, and our loyalty: but his spirit is easily spotted, vetted, and rejected – if anything we say does not produce peace, hope, joy, love, forgiveness, and the promise of eternal life: then it is to be rejected as easily as saying: “Get behind me, Satan!” “My allegiance is to the banner, person and life of Christ Jesus the Lord!


Yes, indeed, the Lord rescues the just in all their distress.

Monday, February 19, 2018

February 19 - Monday of the First Week of Lent

­­+ What a powerhouse of recommendations and suggestions and requirements these readings of Lent place before us! Indeed! And the Gospel passage hits the proverbial nail right on the head!: the way you treat, regard, respect and care for one another quite literally and liberally is what you will be judged on at the Particular Judgment that you will face when you draw your last breath and Jesus stands before you, silently, and reviews such actions, and words and the inner recesses and workings of your heart! What will you say to him – as your soul becomes eternal at that point – and he stands waiting – maybe even tapping his foot – LISTENING TO YOU?

The passage goes on to enumerate things that had better be on your list:
 For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”

But the first reading from the Book of Leviticus: paints a very specific picture for those awaiting the arrival of the Messiah and Lord: it is a kind of “practice” if you will – for when Jesus would inaugurate the Magna Carta of the Faith: “The Beatitudes” and then finish the Magnificent Sermon on the Mount: the heart and essence of who he is, holy, and who and what he and his Father expects us to be!, holy, and he gives us the very real actual power to be it, when needed, and that would be: HOLY.

“You must not steal nor deal deceitfully or fraudulently with your neighbour. You must not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God. I am the Lord. You must not exploit or rob your neighbour. You must not keep back the labourer’s wage until next morning. You must not curse the dumb, nor put an obstacle in the blind man’s way, but you must fear your God. I am the Lord.
  ‘“You must not be guilty of unjust verdicts. You must neither be partial to the little man nor overawed by the great; you must pass judgement on your neighbour according to justice. You must not slander your own people, and you must not jeopardise your neighbour’s life. I am the Lord. You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself. You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.”’

Our challenge this Lent is to find time to quietly and reflectively ponder these words, this message, this exhortation: so that “it pierces our hearts” open so our sins and failures can leak out, and God magnificent grace can pour in and heal our wounds!


Yes, we must “shake off our sins, and make for ourselves a new heart and a new spirit! – it is the Lord who speaks!

Friday, February 16, 2018

February 16 - Thursday after Ash Wednesday

­­+ Today on this third day of Lent we again get preliminary instructions on how to proceed through this powerful yet simple Season. In preparing to get a newer depth of meaning for this year’s Holy Week Services of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, as we live through our days with many Passions, Deaths and Resurrections in full drama, or smaller ones, the Church asks us to focus as soon as possible on spiritual realities: and so she recommends “fasting” as a way to zero in our GPS’s.

When we deny ourselves of food and drink, for example, the intensity of the lack, makes us more away of what truly matters in life, and we begin to sort out what kinds of “food” and “drink” are really important to us: both the kind we can see and consume, but also the kind that is to nurture us spiritually.

And so we “give up” stuff – probably stuff that we don’t really need to be consuming so voraciously anyway.

But what the Church really has in mind is found in the first reading from God’s self-revelation to us, the Scriptures, from the Prophet Isaiah: God’s spokesman: fast with a pure heart and conscience, give up cheating and stealing and lying and other acts of uncharity, but also then DO SOMETHING RIGHT GOOD AND JUST AND MERCIFUL: “break unjust fetters, especially the kind that we ourselves have imposed, share your bread in many and sundry ways with the hungry of mind, body, spirit, shelter the homeless who are wandering around like sheep without a shepherd: and this is more than the man at the intersection of our busy urban stop lights, clothe the naked, physically and spiritually, and for God’s sake DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON YOUR OWN – for this is a most grievous offense in the sight of God, and the Holy Family in heaven.

Then, our inner lights shall begin to glow – our heart-light – and we will find healing, and joy and a real purpose in our own lives – our integrity will become solid and when we call out in desperation to the Lord: he will say “I AM HERE” what do you need? how can I help you?


With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption!

Thursday, February 15, 2018

February 15 - Thursday after Ash Wednesday

­­+ Well, it seems as though the readings for this first day of Lent get right to the point: the point being that now, more than any other time in human history, everything is on the line: the finish line is a speck of light on the horizon, but it is real and it is there! The time has come historically, and spiritually to “empty our stuff into the latrine or get off the pot” – to make a decision that will determine our eternal placement!

The first reading tells us very simply, that God himself places before us death and life, sorrow and joy, chaos and peace, despair and hope – and because he respects our free will he does not make the choice for good, beauty, truth, and justice and all the above mentioned choices for us – but he does try to sway us that way – THE CHOICE is entirely ours: but our choice at the moment of our death will be firm and irrevocable.

So he gives us a lifetime of many Christmases, Lents, Easters and Vineyard Working Time… to seek out and find HIM, to follow a rightly formed conscience, so that when our life is waning, we will CHOOSE LIFE, LIBERTY, HAPPINESS that can only be found in the Kingdom prepared for us.

Mankind’s “wisdom” “knowledge” “science” can only go so far: man cannot save himself for eternal life of bliss, on his own, it will just never happen: but a simple act of belief in the Person (God/Man) whose savage and horrific Passion Death and Resurrection saves our sorry butts, will connect us to the Paradise Train: there is no other way in, none!

So for us, the gospel tells us its time to study the Death / Resurrection Dynamic which is what Lent is for: and to believe that what happened to Christ must happen to us, a difficult Passion and Death process, but also a glorious resurrection experience one day, when our disembodied souls will be reunited with our bodies and we will cross into a new heavens and a new earth and live in the Heart and Face of God the Father forever.

Who want’s to live forever, is the name of a pop song, but also is a direct question for each of us: if you do, then follow Jesus’ playbook, take up your cross daily and follow him!


Blessed are they who HOPE in the Lord!

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

February 14 - Ash Wednesday

+ Today the Joyful Servants of the Cross celebrates the beginning of the great introspective yet calming season of Lent.  Our overarching theme this year will be: “Open Your Hearts To The Lord: Praising and Thanking him for EVERYTHING!”

Of course, for us at the abbey, it will be a different kind of Lent, and a different kind of introspection and calming, as now one of our own, and a co-founder with + Fr. Peter Anthony, JSC, Abbot Guardian, and that would be Brother Richard Paul Andre Steinberg, JSC RN, is now safely across the finish line, after going through his own Lent, Last Supper, Passion, Crucifixion and is now awaiting, where souls of the faithful go to wait, for the General Resurrection from the Dead at the Second Coming of Christ – where we all will be reunited with our bodies – and then welcomed into the new heavens and the new earth! Wow! What a great and awesome day that will be!

And so, the first reading from the Book of Joel exhorts us to “rend” (open) our hearts, not our garments – its what goes on on the inside, the heart and what comes from the heart this is important. And so, Lent is a time to see what comes out of our hearts – and not a lot, hopefully, glitzy and glamorous kinds of selfish and self-seeking motivations and actions: but, and Br. Richard would LOVE this part: actions from the heart like setting the captives free, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, fighting for justice, truth, and mercy, and not turning our backs on our own! These things are more difficult to do because the human heart is very fragile, but strong, it can be fickle, but “locked on” to a project of mercy (corporal or spiritual) and great things can happen when we allow Christ the Good Shepherd to act through us for the good of another.
The responsorial psalm encourages us to plead with God for mercy, for we have sinned – and perhaps often – in not doing these common sense “works of love, compassion, forgiveness and charity” and the greatest work of all: just plain LISTENING TO ANOTHER PERSON who has so much to share, so much to teach us, so much to instruct us on exactly how they need to be treated, nurtured, attended to, and healed.

Yes, now is the acceptable time to do these things – now is the Day of Salvation: now is the time for GREAT THINGS TO HAPPEN, ENGENDERING HOPE, and lighting the Lamp of Vision, Goal, and Eternity!

So, the gospel tells us to: GO FOR IT! LIVE, LOVE, BE AT PEACE!


God bless you and yours this holy day of the Lord. 

Sunday, February 11, 2018

February 11 - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

+ In our day and age we are not familiar with what it means to be a leperas the physical disease has been all but completely eliminated by medical means. But in Jesus’ day – and in the ages before him – leprosy meant two equally abhorrent things: that you had a disgusting skin infection, but also that you had it because of either your sins or the sins of your family before you. Not only this, but the very law of Moses itself prescribed that the lepers were to be shunned and kept separate and away from everyone – this most likely to keep the lepers from contaminating everyone else, but also, because they were sinners and were not welcome in common society.

When Jesus therefore cures the leper in the gospel passage: three very important things happened: 1) he demonstrated that he had the great power of God over nature to do it; 2) he demonstrated the amazing love of God to even associate with and embrace such a person; 3) Jesus showed he had power over the Law, by not only forgiving the sin involved but also nullifying all severe restrictions that had been placed on lepers. It would take time for the disease to be controlled by medicine: but the leper was no longer to be considered a sinner; and help should be given, compassion shown, and food, shelter and medical attention provided.

The second reading today tells us the motivation we should have for doing all these things: the glory of God. Whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Avoid giving offense. Lend a helping hand.

As Catholic Christians we must have always before our eyes the brilliant vision of the light of God’s glory, his face: to light our path, to help us see clearly our priorities and duties, and to compel us to defend and help any who need our help, at any cost, led by the principles and moral values we have committed ourselves to in living the Christian way of life. 


A great prophet has arisen in our midst, God has visited his people: that prophet, in so many ways, due to our baptisms, is us: let our voices be heard then, and our actions speak even more generously and loudly – to the glory of God the Father. Amen!

Monday, February 5, 2018

February 5 - St. Agatha - Patron of Nurses

­­+ We have little reliable information about the martyr Agatha, other than that she was young, beautiful and rich. We also know that she lived a life consecrated to God. When Decius announced edicts against Christians in the late second century, a local magistrate tried to profit by Agatha’s sanctity by attempting to blackmail her into sex in exchange for not charging her. And so, she was handed over to a brothel but refused to accept customers. She was eventually tortured to death in 225, but not before the magistrate who tried to use her was crushed by an earthquake. Legend says that carrying her veil, taken from her tomb in Catania, in procession, has averted eruptions of Mount Etna. Her intercession is reported to have saved Malta from Turkish invasion in 1551.   

The gospel passage today tells us that we must be relentless in professing the faith of the Church in the face of any opposition, and more so today, than in any other time in recorded human history, so that the Father in heaven will be relentless in showing us mercy, compassion and love!

In all of her trials St. Agatha prayed over and over again: O Jesus Christ, all that I am is Yours; preserve me against the tyrant! May this be our prayer today, and every day, because we likewise mean it and live it!

Into your hands, Lord, we commend our spirits!



Saturday, February 3, 2018

February 3 - St. Blaise

+ Today we celebrate the feast of St. Blaise, (who died around the year 316), an early bishop of Sebaste in Armenia who was martyred under the emperor Licinius. He is also one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, a group of saints to whom there was much popular devotion in Germany in the 14th and 15th centuries. Little is known about his life. One legend has him saving the life of a boy with a fish bone caught in his throat. The boy’s mother is said to have brought Blaise food and candles when he was imprisoned. Thus we have the use of two candles held in the form of the St. Andrew’s cross to bless throats on this day. This custom, still in use today, supports the Church’s belief in the intercessory power of the saints against ailments of not only the throat but of the whole body! It is Christ who heals, but through the intercession of not only Fourteen, but many thousands of helpers.

Our first reading today for Mass, tells us to boast not only of the good things that happen to us, even the answer to our prayers for healing, but also for our afflictions – for these produce endurance, character and hope – that one day Christ will heal all that needs healing in everyone. The gospel passage recommends the sick to the “elders” – the priests – who are to lay hands on them for their restoration and recovery; if done with faith, much transformation and renewal can take place in the ailing person.

The Lord is with us always, especially now in his Church, and in its ministers! Amen.



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...