Oct 30 - Tuesday 30th Week in OT

+ We have a couple of interesting readings for mass today! They are about not what makes the world go ‘round, but what made the world go right – after being so wrong, for so long.

It has to do with obedience – a word that not too many people have a good experience with. The two sins of Adam and Eve were of mistrust and dis-obedience. The sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross was the greatest act of trust and obedience imaginable – a God/Man obeying his Father in heaven’s will that he should die a real death as a human being – so to cancel out the original act of disobedience by our first parents.

From the first reading today from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians: obedience is also what was intended to make marriage go round and round! The obedience of the wife to the husband, in imitation on how the Church, the Bride, is to obey Christ, the Groom – and one day still to come, to enter into a marriage feast with him.

Very few marriages, even Christian ones, actually operate at this level of trust and obedience.

The priesthood as well is meant to work by the priest absolute surrender to Christ in the Church doing as he bids through the hierarchical structures that exists to make the Church go round and round.

However, the IDEAL OF PERFECT OBEDIENCE IS ONE THING – but the practice on all three levels is flawed, it is imperfect, it is human. And so, the best way to strive for the ideal, while involved with authority figures is the follow a rightly formed conscience. To know when to hold them and when to fold them. All authority figures are imperfect, sinful people – all of them – all of us who hold these offices or have held them in the past.

If we base the relationship of those involved in an obedient relationship on mutual earned respect, then we will be in business on all three levels. Gone are the days of “blind obedience” – this is only beneficial in the enclosed monastic system – which is a highly controlled system meant to ensure the smooth running of a group of people committed to live together as they seek God’s Face.

Real life obedience is based on a give and take – that is also highly subject to conditions, conventions and interpretations.

For the smooth running of society there are common sense laws that help us to get along with one another on the highways and byways. A mutually agreed on system of trust and obedience thus keeps the world going round and round – but when one oversteps the lawful boundaries – then consequence must follow to restore balance and ease of life.

Whatever of state in life – obedience needs to be a big part of it – because no man or woman is an island – and guidelines are needed to keep us on the right paths.

When Christian values, morals and guidelines permeate not only our personal, but our family lives, then the Kingdom of God manifests itself over and over again, day in and day out. As Jesus reminds us in the gospel passage, we must be the yeast in the dough of life, to give it fullness, texture, and good volume and presence!  God help us, this day to do it! Amen.

Oct 29 - Monday 30th Week in OT

+ One of the most beloved Benedictine monks in Ireland in the 19^th century was Columba Marmion, OSB. He was an all around sort guy, with a great mind and an ability to preach, teach and inspire. He is one of the major patrons of the Joyful Servants of the Cross. About 10 years ago or so, we read through one of his classic books “Christ the Ideal of the Monk” – a couple times – short section by short section – as part of our Midday Prayer time – took about a year and a half to do this. Though written in French and translated into Irish / English – it was quite difficult to understand at times – but we obediently and faithfully waded through it for our own spiritual growth and welfare.

One of Marmion’s principal teaching was the “capital importance” – a term he liked to use - to study and believe the fact that we are “adopted children of God.” We know this to be a fact from our Catechism days – we know this a part of the Baptismal Initiation into the Family of God – the Church: but Marmion had a way of zeroing in everything on this amazing, awesome and fantastic reality: WE BELONG TO GOD’S FAMILY – GOD IS OUR FATHER, JESUS IS OUR BROTHER, AND WE in our baptisms ARE ALL REAL TRUE HONEST TO GOSH BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

If we truly lived all day long with this concept and reality firmly implanted in our spiritual genetic makeup – we would treat each other, ourselves and all we do in a very different positive sort of way! We are all connected!

The Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians in our first reading today encourages us to treat each other as fellow children of God: being kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving, being full of thanksgiving for all that our Father in heaven does for us – living as CHILDREN OF LIGHT – because God is LIGHT, he is LOVE, he is JOY!

In the gospel passage Jesus is trying to get the leader of the synagogue to stop being a bully – which is what trying to stop Jesus from curing on the Sabbath day was about. Yes, some children are nice, but the children of the world, can be mean, vindictive, and downright bullies. He wins the argument, but whether the leader changed his tune was another story.

Life is short – and is meant to be a “training camp” – for eternal placement and life. We will spend eternity somewhere – this is a fact – how we suit up to “family of God life” is critically important – of “capital importance” as Abbot Marmion would say!

May we live today as truly humble, happy, harmony loving heirs of heaven, adopted children of the Father, and be on the lookout as to how we can go out of our comfort zone and help and for real brother and sister in need!

Behave like God as his very dear children!  

Oct 23 - Tuesday 29th Week in OT

+ The gospel passage speaks to us of “being ready” to welcome the Bridegroom when he comes, so that we can go into the wedding feast with him. So, we must “gird our loins and light our lamps” and be ready for this great arrival. But we must not misunderstand what Jesus means here, for he is speaking of 2 out of 3 comings – that we will get into more later in the season. But today’s 2 have to do with the fact that Jesus is “always coming” to us – because we always need him – and we absolutely cannot do well without him: we cannot do what will merit is forgiveness of our sins and eternal life in heaven.

And so, “moment by moment” Jesus wants to enter our hearts to refresh and renew them, and to give us strength to carry on our course to the kingdom: so we must constantly be on the lookout in each circumstance of our day to discover how he is “breaking into our lives, our histories” to make an absolute positive change in them.

Of course, there will be a future moment, when all moments will cease and at the Father’s bidding, Jesus will be sent to inaugurate the new heavens and the new earth: when time as we know it will cease functioning, and “eternal time-keeping” will begin – a heavenly experience of eternity that we actually live out – in a way similar to what we now experience. The only oil that will light our lamps at that time is our good works done for love of him and his Father: sacrificial, selfless acts of sharing, helping, healing, binding up wounds, listening, making a cup of tea, lending some money, taking care of pets, for our families, our friends and even those who don’t even know or like – all these and much much more will qualify us for the eternal Wedding Feast of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ himself.

We will speak of the third coming of Christ in the months to come.

St Paul tells the Ephesians to live like the household of God that they are – redeemed and washed in the Blood of the Lamb who will one day marry his people. For all who are baptized must live in peace, in the Spirit who fills us through and through, making us each and together a rich and luxurious dwelling place of God.

Be, therefore, strengthened and fortified to stand fast, stand firm in the faith that makes all this comes to life – and reach out to help those whom God puts directly in our path!

Amen.

Oct 22 - Monday 29th Week in OT

+ The readings today paint a clear picture for us:  of what it means to be worldly, and what it means to be heavenly. Unless we have our hearts set on heaven, unless we begin really imagining it right here and now – and subsequently, as many heres and nows as possible during the day – then we will not attain to it: the land promised us on the day of our baptism.

On the other hand, it is quite easy to picture what the world, the flesh and the devil have to display in front of us and tantalize us with. It is all glittery and glamour here and now – and this should be our very first clue to run the opposite direction. The show is fake, the glitter is glass, and the smell is manufactured and can easily turn to stench. This man-made fun-house of tantalizing delights – very much like a circus, or carnival – can never ever satisfy the human heart.

And so the choice is our today: follow the futile, or surrender to the Lord of heaven and earth, call him your Savior and your Lord – for that he is: and hold out until the veil is lifted and the real unimaginable sights, sounds, and colors, smells and tastes of the eternal kingdom beckons those who were faithful to the message of the Redeemer who came to Promise that this world is really only a foreshadowing of the real one that will take its place when we will all live an eternal life of fun, joy, happiness, bliss and peace – with one another at the Wedding Reception of the Lamb of God: and oh, did I mention the Bride will be us: the Holy and Beloved People!

The devil is having a temporary heyday right now: everything has to be bigger and better and chromier and shinier than the others: but NONE of this compares in the slightest to the real reality that awaits those who say and mean: Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Savior, Jesus is King forever!

Oct 21 - Sunday 29th Week in Ordinary Time

+ Probably the single-most important thing that Jesus did, other than to forgive our sins and open the gates of heaven, is the fact that he made the blind see; and we are talking about more than the physically blind. Beyond the ability to see, physically, having little or no correct perspective and insight into things that really matter is an intellectual and spiritual handicap that can be devastating, both to the person with the vision-problem and those who have to deal with him every day.

In the gospel passage today, Jesus does a huge thing, he heals a blind man (this one, physically, but symbolically all the other ways) because the man asked him to do it – after realizing that he had the condition and that Jesus was the only one who could successfully do anything about it.

And he was right – this comprehensive kind of perceptive deprivation can only be rectified by one who has all power over things natural and spiritual.

We rejoice today, with the now seeing-man, and pray that we like him can have Jesus alter in our vision what needs altering so that we can follow him uninhibitedly and energetically down the road.

The first reading today talks about the prophecy of one who would be the great rescuer and healer – bringing back the remnant of Israel from their slavery – those who had been blind about religious matters, but could now see the error of their judgments and ways.

The second reading today seems to divert from this theme of sight lost and restored, but then again, maybe not really. It has to do with the priesthood, comprised in our case of men who have the duty and power to offer Christ’s own Sacrifice of Himself to his Father, for our salvation – being configured to him, by the Holy Spirit on the day or their ordination. They can be very effective priests if they remember that they too are called to live the sacrifices of Christ, carry his cross in a special way, and to therefore deal with all manner of men with patience, because they too are weak, they too suffer from blindness in many ways themselves.

No one takes the honor of priesthood upon himself – but only when called by God, as Aaron was. A self-styled priest is no priest at all.

          And of course as a sad aside note – we can see clearly in our day and age what self-styled self-seeking, self-gratifying priests look like – and we can definitely see how they can cross the line and enter into criminal activity in the area of sexual morality. But we must also remember that these are only a relatively small number of priests: so many act as the Good Shepherds that God called them to be.

And so, we thank God today for the authentic priesthood (a priesthood that cannot be redefined for any reason) and for the work of rescuing and healing that priests do – they are like the Good Shepherd who goes after the lost and the weak, the outcast and the lonely, the sick and the crippled; and he carries them lovingly back into the light, into the fold! And when the lost, and the spiritually sick are the priests – then other priests: their brothers in Christ, must go after them and rescue them spiritually, though some may have to be accountable in the civil court system.

Our Savior Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life to light through the gospel.

Oct 18 - St. Luke the Evangelist

+ In Revelation 4:6, four beasts give endless praise before the throne of God: a man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. Tradition hold that these signify the four Evangelists. Luke is the ox, the symbol of strength and sacrifice.

His Gospel opens with the priest Zechariah who “was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense” (1-9). In the Temple, Zechariah encounters the angel Gabriel, who heralds the birth of his son, John the Baptist. Gabriel goes next to Mary to tell her that she will conceive and bear “the Son of the Most High” (1:32).

A tradition dating to the 6^th century makes Luke the first artist to have painted the Virgin Mary.

Our entrance antiphon today from the Prophet Isaiah magnificently proclaims the beauty upon the mountains that the feet of him who brings glad tidings of peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation are. These were Jesus’ feet, these were St. Luke’s feet, these can be our feet today – feet that follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus announcing the arrival of the new kingdom of God.

In the second reading St. Paul is telling Timothy that it is only Luke who stands by him now – the announcing of the gospel separates the men from the boys – and Luke turns out to be a man among men – a physician who understands the entire person: made up of a feeble and wavering mind, an often times broken down body, but a spirit that can soar like an eagle.

It is this entire person that the Lord wants to visit, lay hands on and heal – mind, body and spirit. The parables of St. Luke are classic and wonderful to behold, including one of the most awesome and powerful of all: The Prodigal Son. God is ALWAYS READY to receive back anyone who comes to their senses and decides to head home. He runs to meet us, to pamper us and throw us a big party.

Jesus in the gospel passage indeed is the primary announcer of peace! Peace seeks peace – and often causes a challenging situation – until hearts and minds are changed, reconciled and welcomed into the heart of the Prodigal Father. The only way our Church and our nation can be saved from what can destroy it – both from the inside of its governing ranks, and the outside its congregations and constituents – is to seek and find TRUTH in both regards – as it really is – as it can be found in Jesus on one hand, and in the democratic process as it was intended which is his will also, on the other.  

Let us stand with these resistance forces and let the Light of Christ, the Light of Truth, the Light of Peace shine forth: St. Luke would, St Luke, the Physician, to heal the open and now festering wounds that only our compassionate human understanding and touch can minister to with joy and hope!

Amen.

Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.

Oct 17 - St. Ignatius of Antioch

+ St Ignatius of Antioch was born in the year 50 in Syria. He was a convert from paganism to Christianity. He was believed to be a disciple of St. John the Apostle. His apostolic letters to the various churches in the ancient Christian world serve as a major source regarding the life, faith, and structure of the early Church in Asia Minor and Rome.

He was the first writer to use the term “Catholic Church” as a collective designation for Christians, among the first to attest to the “monoepiscopacy” or the governance of a diocese by one bishop. He became the bishop of Antioch, succeeding St. Peter the Apostle. He served during the persecution of Domatian. But during the persecution of Trajan he was ordered to be taken to Rome to be killed by wild animals. On his way there, which took months, he wrote letters to the churches stressing the divinity and humanity of Jesus, his bodily death and resurrection, the central importance of the Eucharist and the bishop for church unity, and the special reverence owed to the church of Rome as the one founded by Peter and Paul. Ignatius died in 107 and his relics are in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

St. Ignatius considered himself as wheat that must be ground in order to make something useful – corresponding with Jesus imperative in the gospel passage. It is when the disciple of Christ – in imitation of his master – falls to the earth and dies, that something beautiful, useful and salvific can result. For Jesus it meant resurrection to a newness of life, the fullness and completion of human life, and likewise for his faithful followers – including St. Ignatius of Antioch.

May we strain for the prize of everlasting glory and resurrected life with God – who so eagerly wants to share them with us. May we pause at least once each day to envision heaven, imagine a totally restored and fulfilled human life, and a Wedding and Reception that will last for ever and ever. We must live the life prescribed by Jesus – come what may – but always with his help moment by moment – and it will be so for us!

Blessed are those who persevere in temptation, for when they have been proven they will receive the crown of life.

Oct 14 - 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 14, 2018

I –If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long line.

R –Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

II – Let us confidently approach the throne of grace.

A – The Son of Man came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

G –The Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many.

         

+ Our theme of celebration today has everything to do with suffering, serving and sainthood. The long and short of it is that we do not have a “glamorous” religion at all. The true heart and core of the Catholic faith has everything to do with imitating the greatest suffering servant Son of all: Jesus Christ. The horrible nature of the broken relationship between God and his beloved human creations is almost unbearable to comprehend when we think of it in all of its tragic detail and rampant ramifications. How could anyone so highly favored and exalted in God’s sight and friendship wantonly, willfully and knowingly choose to obliterate that relationship – which clearly was marked out as the result of violation of trust and disobedience to a simple command.

And yet our first parents, Adam, and Eve, his wife, committed such an act, such a betrayal, such a crime against their own progeny. And yet, almost incomprehensibly and shockingly, our loving Father-God immediately set into place a plan to make it right – to give the outcasts another chance – to redeem them through an act of equal unthinkable obedience: the human death of one who is also true God at the same time, the death of his own only-begotten Son, Jesus!

And so the Suffering Servant came among us and accomplished our redemption in the most dramatic and powerful way that he could – teaching us all along the way just how important LOVE is: because love was the reason for his action, love was the motive of his Father’s command, love is what makes everything personal alive and vibrant – never to die.

So, now, having done that, we have a high priest, Jesus, Son of God, in the heavens, interceding for us as we each make our own individual and personal response to his loving gesture of redemption made on our behalf. And we have surrounding him a cloud of witnesses, friends of his, who lived fully their faith in him, took the risks involved in drinking the cup of suffering and death that comes with being a true follower – and are now considered saints: models and intercessors on our behalf.

And of course, chief among them is Mary, Mother of God, Mother of Us All, Mother of the Church. Not only is she a model Christian, she herself has great intercessory power with her Son, and ultimately it is what he says goes – all answered prayers then – are returned by graces she helps obtain – and are released through her open hands.

In this month of October – her month – may we turn to often and pray often the prayer that she tells us is a sure, tested and proven prayer: the Rosary.

The Church and the World are in grave danger of imploding on themselves – because much focus is on themselves, especially those in authority – armed with a Rosary in one hand, and the Cross of Christ in the other: good will prevail, the devil will be banished, and peace will reign in the hearts of those who persist until the end.

Amen.

Oct 10 - Wednesday 27th Week in OT

https://youtu.be/lMCtF_SGdCY

+ The gospel passage today presents to us “the PERFECT prayer.” When asked to teach them to pray as John’s disciples were taught, Jesus immediately responds as though he had been just waiting for them to ask this question:

When you pray say:  OUR Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done (on earth and it is in heaven). This first half not only tells us who to pray to in all things: THE FATHER, but it also tells us that he is in a heavenly kingdom and that in this kingdom His Will reigns supreme – even as it exists already in seed form on the earth now – because it is ENTIRELY DIRECTED TO OUR GOOD, OUR WELL-BEING and OUR ETERNAL HAPPINESS with him in this glorious kingdom.

The key phrase in this first half is: THY WILL BE DONE – for when you think about it, there really is no other will: he gives us “free” will in order to freely choose his amazing will for us: then he gives us hints constantly on how to go about choosing the beautiful, the good and the truthful – so that we can end up in the kingdom. Yes, life is just one big “testing ground” – we are all “in a race – slow or fast – to cross the finish line: we are gifted by the Designer of our Trials – to make it across the line – its not that difficult actually – its just spending as many moments strung together as we can where our focus is on HIM rather than US – its means living in heaven HERE and NOW! Then we can’t possibly go off the track!

The second half of the prayer speaks about protection from the Evil One who certainly does exist and is doing all in his power to detour us to another whole “kingdom” – a hellacious kingdom – where God is not there – and the only company we will ever have is ourselves in a diabolical loop of acting out over and over again our deepest, darkest, dirtiest self-gratifying pleasures: this is no escape – there is no hope!

So we need protection but we also need to know that the key to assuring our own salvation – is FORGIVENESS – to realize we are not perfect and GOD KNOWS WHAT WE NEED – we don’t! so we need to forgive our own self for our sinfulness; but we also need to forgive others their sins against us – all of them – they are not perfect either – and we leave it up to God to bring about justice – his way, his time – sometimes that means here in this lifetime, or it can mean later when it counts even more. Don’t worry, God will give just desserts to whomever has them coming.

The first line of the second part of this prayer however is the sublime act of faith, and trust and hope, that we can ever make: it is a quintessential act of surrender to God who IS our Father: “feed me, Dad” – is what we are saying: GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD, DAD: give us exactly what we need and not ever what we simply want to amuse ourselves – not that we can’t have a comfortable kind of life – but nothing extravagant. And he will do it! This goes with the phrase in the 23^rd Psalm – “the Lord is my Shepherd, there is NOTHING I SHALL WANT!” What could I possibly want if God will surely provide all I need?

But, we have to ASK – Sure he knows what we need – but he did give us free will – so we must simply ASK FOR HIS WILL TO BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN – THIS IS THE MAIN INGREDIENT OF OUR DAILY BREAD!

Yes, this prayer has got everything we need to steer us in the right direction any time of the day or night! Let’s use it often!

Oct 7 - Sunday 27th Week in OT

https://youtu.be/-f0sLHX0cmc

+ It is clear from our readings today that the male and the female of the human species have an essential and correlative relationship with one another that cannot be denied.  But this is getting ahead of ourselves in the story at hand. God, if we noticed in the account from Genesis today, had originally intended to create just “man” – just Adam. This was his original intent. Why? Because he as a Personal, Trinitarian God thought it sufficient to show his love to just one expression of human personhood, one Man, one enormously graced Friend of God!

But this Adam looked around and saw other creatures with companions, helpmates and co-creators of new life (babies), and so he asked God for a suitable partner for himself: “the Man.” The suitable partner for the man became the wo-man: one like him, taken from him! God then told them that they belong together and the two of them would best image this creation of “marriage” by uniting themselves in the complementary way in which they were made – to form one flesh – which would in essence image the One Man that he originally envisioned.

And so, the “marital unification” of male and female instantly became the standard, the visible manifestation and the pattern for eons to come of the mind of God regarding the happiness of mankind and the means by which it would preserve the species.

It is absolutely consistent to say that the Creation of Man; and the Institution of Marriage between a man and a woman happened at the same time. Both are entirely dependent on the Divine Law which begot them, and both are forever tied to the supernatural, natural, moral and ethical laws that derive from it. This only makes sense. In our day and age – in our American society with its penchant for seeking what is just and fair, come what may – a very fine line must not be crossed when dealing with God on his own terms. For in the end, it does not matter how we have rationalized anything at all; what will prevail is what God told us all along about certain topics and how we respond to his clear message!

Therefore, marriage and family life are to be highly regarded as gifts of God, not personal rights, and that to alte not only their definitions, but also their inherent structures by any rational, civilized society of any era at all – is not only presumptuous, but also highly offensive to God the giver of all Good Gifts!

Our responsorial psalm today calls blessed and happy those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways! It would not be untrue to say that the converse is also true: those who do not fear the Lord – those who think they know better than him – and walk in their own ways – will be called unblessed and unhappy – most likely in this life and most assuredly in the next! And this is not just an opinion, it is a revealed fact.

Jesus came to us to remind us of all the good things that are available for those who love God and walk according to his immutable but very loving and wise ways – and even when we sin and think that we know better than either himself or his Father – he is always ready to take us back into the fold when we realize our mistake and ask forgiveness.

If we love one another, truly as brothers and sisters, God remains in us and his love is brought to perfection in us! Amen.

Oct 6 - St Bruno

https://youtu.be/VCjW1Dyp0_0

+ Bruno was born in 1030 in Cologne, Germany. He was educated in Paris and Rheims, France and ordained to the priesthood around 1055. He taught theology and one of his students later became Pope Blessed Urban II. Bruno presided over the cathedral school at Rheims from 1057 to 1075. He criticized the worldliness he saw in his fellow clergy. He opposed Manasses, Archbishop of Rheims, because of his laxity and mismanagement and he became chancellor of the archdiocese. Then following a vision, he received of a secluded hermitage where he could spend his life becoming closer to God, he retired to a mountain near Chartreuse in Dauphiny in 1084 and with the help of St. Hugh of Grenoble, he founded what became the first house of the Carthusian Order. He and his brothers supported themselves as manuscript copyists.

Bruno became an assistant to Pope Urban II in 1090, and supported his efforts at reform. Retiring from public life, he and his companions built a hermitage at Torre, where, in 1095, the monastery of St. Stephen was built. Bruno combined in the religious life the eremitical and the cenobitic; his learning is apparent from his scriptural commentaries. He died in 1101 of natural causes and is buried in the Church of St. Stephen.

In the first reading today, we see the life of the monk reflected as a continual search for the fuller and deeper meaning of the Word of God, and knowledge of him who is the very Word of Life.  St. Paul encourages the Philippians, all monks and us to consider as rubbish all that is not about discovering who Jesus is and how to have a full and mature relationship with him!

In the gospel passage Jesus tells those who are doing so that it will not be easy, but that the effort will be greatly rewarded – and the joy that comes from full knowledge will be beyond anything imaginable.

May we, like the monks of old, spend a great deal of time, directly and indirectly, seeking God and reveling in each and every little thing we find out about him! Let it make a big difference in the smallest details of our lives!

In fact, in our own day, a revived practice of generic MINDFULNESS is the perfect FIRST STEP in the search for God, actually, it is the secret of the monks of millennia revealed: the ONLY PLACE GOD CAN POSSIBLY BE FOUND IS IN THE PRESENT MOMENT: he cannot be found anywhere else at all. Therefore, to find God is to seek him in the present moment: and where God the Father is, so is the Son and so is there generated Spirit. This is the God we worship, adore, honor, bless, pray to, chat with, plead with, thank, and rest with: and he is always in the PRESENT MOMENT!

Google Mindfulness – Catholic Mindfulness in Particular – and be on the look out as I am in the beginning stages in writing a manual for monastic mindfulness – as I, like St. Bruno, the Founder of the Carthusians, am a hermit, with all the time in the world to JUST BE with God! You too can be with him and single moment, or succession of moments that you choose to: JUST BE HERE, NOW!             That’s all there is to it!

Oct 5 - Friday 26th Week in OT

https://youtu.be/u_oF4i3QD2w

+ The readings today have to do with the omnipotence, the intelligence and glory and adoration and worship that is due GOD THE FATHER – Creator and Sustainer of all that exists including you and I and everyone else on planet earth.

In the first reading from the Book of Job, we see God comparing himself, in an almost nonsensical way, with Job – who dares to speak to God without being asked to. Who are YOU, Job, to presume to know anything at all, or to help me in my plans for the sustenance and final redemption of absolutely everything: Job, did you command the morning to follow night, dawn to succeed the darkness? do you know where the seas, the oceans actually begin, their source, their starting point? can you actually fathom just how expansive the earth, the ground, the dirt is? do you know why I let the wicked exist and even prosper alongside the good and the humble?

After a moment of silence, Job, responds, head bowed, “Behold, I am of little account, what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. Thought I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will do so no more!

This was an excellent answer for Job – who was trying to figure out why the devil was having such a time with his mind and his body?? all kinds of catastrophes befell him  -  but in all of it Job did not sin, he did not deny or renounce God who allowed those things to happen – Remember he said: The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

This is an excellent lesson for all of us: we all need to “shut up and listen” “be quiet and attentive” “be still and come to know God!”

Then we will have direction for our next movements, we will know the course of our day, and we will be pleasing to God in what we think, say and do – all of which is being recorded as they take place, in heaven.

The gospel passage is related in a sense to the first reading: the power and justifiable anger of God is put forth, in the sense that if we know God can do such things, then we had better PAY ATTENTION to him, and LISTEN to him and HEED what he has to say – our eternal placement is at stake – so we had better get it right. Then he says and remember if you reject me, you are rejecting my Father, the Creator, the All Knowing All Powerful All Loving One – but if you simply, humbly and with a pure heart listen and love in return, then you will be exalted to the skies one day!

And, so, if today you hear his voice – harden not your heart. 

Oct 2 - Holy Guardian Angels

https://youtu.be/rbsXP-vLJg0

+ The term “guardian angel” refers to the belief that each person has at least one angel who is available to shepherd their soul through life and help bring them to God.

Belief in the reality of angels, their mission as messengers of God, and man’s interaction with them, goes back to the earliest times. Three days ago we celebrated the feast of Sts Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, three of the seven Archangels who had and have major roles in the history of salvation; today we focus on personal or guardian angels who have long been accepted by the church. In the gospel passage Jesus himself tells us that children have angels in heaven who always see his Father’s face.

The feast of the Guardian Angels gained popularity in the Church in the middle ages and was given a high rank by Pope Leo XIII in 1883.

In our own day and age, with the academic study now of verifiable and reliable reports of NDE’s (Near Death Experiences) – angels in all their magnificence, glory and functionality are most clearly seen and reported, especially guardian angels – 1 or more – assigned each person to keep them on the right track, so they grow and develop to their full stature and potential spiritually, mentally and physically.

It is entirely fitting for each and every Catholic to acknowledge, pray to and depend upon the inspirational help of his or her hand-picked, personally assigned, spiritual assistant – his guardian angel – we would be foolish not to!

One such prayer for us is or should be familiar to us all: it should be one of the earliest remembrances in life that a child has:

Angel of God, my Guardian dear,
to whom His love commits thee here,
ever this day be at my side,
to light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.

The Lord has put angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.

Oct 1 - St Therese of Lisieux

https://youtu.be/Ld7P_7l7Ua8

+ St. Therese of Lisieux was indeed born to a very pious middle-class French family in 1873 at Alcon, Normandy, France – indeed both her father and her mother are now canonized saints themselves. All four of her sisters became nuns. At 8, Therese was cured from an illness when a statue of the Blessed Virgin smiled at her. She was educated by Benedictine nuns of Notre Dame du Pre and confirmed at age eleven.

Just before her 14^th birthday she received a vision of the Child Jesus (especially his Holy Face); she immediately understood the great sacrifice that had been made for her and developed an unshakeable faith. With the aid of Pope Leo XIII whom she contacted personally, Therese, joined the Carmelites at Lisieux in April 1888 and took her final vows on September 8, 1890 at age 17. Due to health problems resulting from her ongoing fight with tuberculosis, her superiors ordered her not to fast.

Therese became novice mistress at age 20, and at 22 was ordered by her prioress to begin writing her memoirs and ideas, which material would turn into the book “The Story of a Soul.” Therese defined her path to God and holiness as “The Little Way” which consisted of child-like love and trust in God – in it she taught that the very simplest and meanest of tasks done for pure love of God can indeed save a soul somewhere in the world who is in need of prayer at that moment. She espoused a spirituality that was for everyone – not just the clergy and nuns, the educated and the sophisticated.

Anyone can be a saint so long as they live forthright, honest, open, transparent lives of faith and trust in God: as any child of a loving father would do.

These simple writings qualified her to be named Doctor of the Church in 1997 by Pope John Paul II. Therese died in 1897 of TB; many miracles were attributed to her; and she was canonized in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. She made a well-known promise before her death: as long as there are any souls to be saved, I will let fall from heaven a shower of roses (something for them to reach out to for their salvation).

The greatest in the Kingdom of heaven are the childlike: we must all turn and become like little children – doing everything we do for others because we love our heavenly Father - to find our place in our heavenly homeland –

in contrast, those who abuse the childlike of any age, in any number of ways, including the sexual, ought not be surprised when their self-gratifying, self-serving pursuits lands them in another place prepared for the devil, his angels, and those who insist of being disciples of them – even among the very hierarchy of our beloved church.

In you, Lord, and you alone we find our peace, our joy and true love!