Jan 31 - 4th Sunday in Ordial Time

+ Our readings today are about darkness and light. We are at that time of the year now when we fancifully spout out that “spring is right around the corner:” “See how much lighter it is getting every single afternoon and evening; it won’t be long now.” There is longing in each of us – planted by God – to be in the light, rather than to sit in darkness. Our faith, in conjunction with the Christmas cycle that we have recently concluded, tells us that Jesus Christ is the only Real Light: he is a reflection of the glory of the Father, energized by the shimmering Holy Spirit of Life.  And so the Alleluia verse today proclaims jubilantly: The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light; on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death, light has arisen.

 

The gospel passage has an interesting perspective: the evil spirits who live in the shadows, know who Jesus is, recognize light when they see it and they are compelled, no, required to shout this information out: “You are the Holy One of God!”  But Jesus rebukes them, not because it is not true, but because his gradual revelation of himself does not correspond to these uncontrolled outbursts.

 

The virgins mentioned in the second reading tell us too about darkness and light. In the early Church the Order of Virgins was highly valued, these women were anxious about things of the Lord, rather than for a husband or family: their holiness was meant to be exemplary and be like a brightly shining lamp to reflect the light of Christ their Spouse so all in the house could see things as they were, all in the Church could find the way to holiness by witness of those who were actually doing it.

 

The first reading tells us how God at the beginning wanted to give his people the light of words, words of comfort and salvation: and so he raised up many prophets to speak on his behalf. This was a serious undertaking and woe to the prophet who misused his vocation.

 

The question we ask ourselves today is this: is there room for more light and hope and peace in our lives? is there room for more certainty, assurance and confidence? if so, then, if today you hear the voice of God speaking words that enlighten; close not your minds and harden not your hearts.

 

Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord who made us. For he is our God, our Light, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides out of darkness into light!

 

Jan 28 - St Thomas Aquinas

+ Today we celebrate the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, “The Angelic Doctor,” one of the most influential theologians in all of Church history. He was born, son of the Count of Aquino, near Naples, Italy. He was educated by Benedictine monks at Monte Cassino and at the University of Naples. He secretly joined the mendicant Dominican friars in 1244. His family kidnapped and imprisoned him for a year to keep him out of sight, and to deprogram him, but he escaped imprisonment and rejoined his order in 1245. He then studied in Paris under St. Albert the Great, who sang the praises of his bright, young student: the lowing of this dumb ox would be heard all over the world.

 

Thomas was ordained a priest in 1250, and then returned to Paris to teach theology at the University of Paris. He wrote defenses of the mendicant orders, commentaries on Aristotle and some bible-related works, usually by dictating to secretaries. He won his doctorate and taught in several Italian cities. He was always in demand for his intellectual prowess, and spiritual insight which he combined in his most classic and famous work: The Synthesis of Theology, or as we know it: The Summa Theologica. In all of his research, writing and teaching, however, Thomas was one of the first to show how faith and reason could be complementary to one another, and how anyone at all – Christian, Jewish, or pagan – could contribute to the final analysis of a given topic so long as they were authentically searching for and in touch with truth in its objective state. 

 

On the 6^th of December 1273, Thomas experienced a divine revelation which so enraptured him that he abandoned the Summa (before finishing it), saying that it and his other writing were so much straw in the wind compared to the reality of the divine glory. He died four months later while en route to the Council of Lyons, overweight and with his health broken by overwork.

 

Because of his penchant to include all sources – sacred and profane – in the search for truth – several bishops condemned some of Thomas’s works shortly after his death, but Pope John XXII, who must have had a deep appreciation for them, canonized Thomas less than fifty years after his death in 1274. Pope Leo VIII commanded that his teaching be studied by all theology students from then on. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1567.

 

St. Thomas Aquinas understood the readings for Mass today: wisdom is an enormously valuable treasure that must be prayed for and then protected and guarded at all costs: the secrets of God lie in wisdom; the gospel passage reflects, no doubt, Thomas’s humility in knowing that even though he was regarded as a teacher extraordinaire, he paled in comparison with the glory of Christ the Teacher and Master of which his light was but a flicker!

 

May we never tire of praying for wisdom, and then working to preserve its fruit once it arrives. May study of the things of God be part of our daily routine, our daily bread.

 

Lord, teach me your statutes for I am open of mind and generous of heart, and ready to be taught.

 

 

Jan 26 - Sts Timothy and Titus

+ Saints Timothy and Titus were confreres of St. Paul, whom he appointed as bishops in the Christian communities that he founded in Ephesus and Crete. Each corresponded with Paul and with their people by writing letters, some of which are now canonical, i.e. part of New Testament scripture.  In reading the letters we see how the early church with its various ministries functions and outreaches started to take root, grow and develop. Timothy and Titus both died in the late first century.

 

Our first reading today is a sample of the correspondence between St. Paul and Timothy. He is encouraging his “son in the ministry” [St. Timothy] to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God.

 

This very letter could be written by Pope Francis to the bishops of the world, and the bishops to all of their priests, and the priests to all of their ministers: the pagan secularism of the world, with its penchant towards unbridled barbarism (which is the same as the heathenism of the first century) is a major threat to all of civilization – and to the establishment of God’s reign. With the strength that comes from God, and God alone, we can and must stir up the passion for evangelization that was given by the Holy Spirit on the day of our baptisms, confirmations and ordinations, because the Lord [truly] sends us to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives. [For who else is there to send?]

 

The Kingdom of God is at hand for those who believe; may more and more come to believe by our powerful words and our self-less example!

 

Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations!

 

 

Jan 24 - 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

+ Our readings today focus on our willingness to change, readjust, adapt and embrace something that rings truer than anything else we will ever hear or encounter: the Word of Life, the Gospel, the Good News of the Lord.  It is the very essence of Fallen human nature to be rigid, rebellious, unadaptable and isolated; and unfortunately, the old saying “misery loves company” applies well here. Yet, there is nothing more miserable than “a nest of squealing rats on a sinking ship!”

 

In the gospel passage we see Jesus himself first proclaiming the gospel of God: THIS IS THE TIME OF FULFILLMENT. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND. REPENT, AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL!  And then we see him walking along the Sea of Galilee and calling Simon and Andrew, James and John – two sets of brothers who were fishermen whom he was inviting now to become a different kind of “fisherman:” proclaimers with him of this great and awesome news that the entire redemption of the human race was happening right before their eyes and that everyone could now benefit from it.

 

The first reading prophesys what happens when a group of people, a city, listens to sound preaching – believes that they are receiving a message from God – and then change their lives to follow his ways: the Ninevites have something to teach us! The second reading encourages us who live in the final age to live as though the end really may be at any time, not so much interested in taking our comfort but in helping other people attain their salvation. What could be more important than that!

 

And so, may we, with God’s grace and mercy be willing to change, readjust, adapt and embrace all that rings true, as we encounter: the Word of Life, the Gospel, the Good News of the Lord; and then may we share what we experience with all we meet each and every day.

 

Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Jan 21 - St Agnes

+ St. Agnes was one of the most popular saints of the early Church. At age 12, during the persecution of Diocletian, she was ordered to sacrifice to pagan gods and lose her virginity by rape. She made the Sign of the Cross and then was threatened and tortured when she refused to turn against the One God. Several young men presented themselves, offering to marry her (some out of pity to save her life), but she said that to do so would be an insult to her heavenly Spouse, and that she would keep her consecrated virginity intact, accept death, and see Christ. She was martyred then (the exact method is not known) on January 21, 304 at Rome. She became immediately popular as a model Christian during this very difficult time in Church history. Her name is mentioned in the First Eucharist Prayer – the Roman Canon.

 

On her feast day two lambs are blessed at her church in Rome, Italy and then their wool is woven into the palliums (bands of white wool) which the pope confers on newly appointed archbishops as a symbol of their jurisdiction. Her name means lamb, chaste or pure one.

 

The gospel passage tells of the treasure and the pearl of great price that are worth all we have to obtain them: both the treasure and the pearl represent all that goes with being a fully committed member of the Kingdom of Heaven: members of Christ the most treasured One of all: the heavenly Spouse who will live very happily forever with all of us one day, after we, like St. Agnes, suffer all that still needs to be suffered in order to perfect his Church and thus make it fully presentable on the Last Day.

 

May we boast in the Lord today, who strengthens us to do what we need to be righteous, holy and redeemed people of God.

Jan 19 - 2nd Week in OT - Tuesday

+ Today we come immediately to the understanding that Jesus was not going to have decades in which to gradually and methodically unfold an agenda, with carefully crafted plans and constitutions: that would be for his emissaries the apostles to do under the very real guidance of the Holy Spirit. And so today we have Jesus beginning to make some of the critical and chief points that he came to make; points and understandings on which a variety of other ones could rest, and be built on:

 

and so he makes it clear that even some of the religious dictates of the past are now to be superseded by a newer, more basic and simple understandings that puts everything in proper perspective: the observance of the Sabbath was not to be for its own sake, as though men had to be a slave to it, but rather, the Sabbath was to be for God’s sake – the merciful and loving God - and when any aspect of it needed to be changed (by the One who had authority to do it: Jesus) then it could rightfully and legally be done: changing the emphasis from a strict legalism, to a more lenient compassionate observance that “put people first.”

 

This did not sit well with the “religious purists” – whose insistence on rules was strong, but whose comprehension of the spirit behind them, and personal practice of them, was not.

 

May we today peer and perceive into the spirit behind the “religious rules” of the Church that Jesus left us, and in fact is, and be sure that we are grasping the spirit and heart of what is going on and not the dead letter.

 

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that we may know what is the hope that belongs to our call.

 

Jan 18 - 2nd Week in OT - Monday

+ Jesus reminds us in this gospel passage that new insights require new ways or methods of understanding. The “good ol’ way” of approaching a subject may not be good enough now – especially when it has to do with the things of God. Jesus has come – he is the fullness of God’s message – there are no longer bits and fragments – therefore, the limited mind of the receiver of the message has to be fresh, new and larger than that of old, worn out receivers.

 

For us this means that: this year’s reading of Scripture ought to yield a newer, richer, deeper insight into the Person of Jesus – whom all of Scripture is about – and this yield should lead to a greater increase in right and kind, good and compassionate dealings with our brothers and sisters in God’s family – and outside of it. May we be instruments of hope and joy to all!

 

In the first reading the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews is establishing Christ as the authentic and genuine source of all “high-priesthood!”  Unlike the human high-priesthood of the temple, Jesus’ priesthood is not for the reparation of his own sins and that of the people, but rather entirely for the people who are so in need of reconciliation and forgiveness. This is the Message extraordinaire – the Good News that we have been waiting for: all can now be well – and peace can reign once again on the human scene: because Jesus became perfect through suffering and redeemed us by the extreme nature of his love.

 

Lord Jesus, you are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek.

 

Jan 17 - 2nd Sunday in Ordinal Time

+ Today we begin the 34 week “Ordinary Time” series of Sunday celebrations – which will only be interrupted beginning in mid-February for a 15-week Lent/Easter Season highlight time. As we set the stage for these 34 “counting [ordinal] weeks” or “teaching weeks” we find a three part theme today: the calling of qualified “teachers,” the willingness of would-be students, the authenticity of the Master-Teacher.

 

·       The first part regarding the calling of qualified “teachers,” we see in the first reading how Samuel is called personally by God to be his spokesman, to be a Prophet beyond reproach, to work with God’s people during a particularly difficult time in their growth and development. Samuel did not doubt the Lord’s selection of him as “teacher” “intercessor” “friend” of his people; and he is therefore set up for us as a model for “listening” to the call of God when it comes, however it may come, so to do what he wants us to do in helping others.

 

·       The second part has to do with the audience,  the students, the disciples who will benefit from what a teacher has to say: it is often said that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear; in this case the people of God who seemed to be always finding themselves in all kinds of compromising situations having to do with their salvation; God, being very fond of this people, therefore, sends them always the personnel they need when they need it: at this time in their history they needed Prophets who would speak loudly to them his wishes, desires, exhortations and warnings; and the people for the most part were quite ready to listen, to specially chosen ministers such as Samuel.

 

·       Lastly, the third part of the teaching theme has to do with the Truth, the Rock, the Authenticity of the chief Message and Messenger – who are one and the same Person: Jesus Christ. All of the Prophets pointed to Jesus; the truths they were delivering from God, pointed to God’s own delivering to his people of his own Word, the Truth, the Message-made-flesh – so that we could be absolutely certain that where we stand now is exactly where we need to be, and that the fulfillment of all of our dreams for health and wholeness, justice and peace would be beyond our wildest imaginings – in a Kingdom yet to be fully revealed!

 

And so as we begin our trek through this liturgical landscape of sights and sounds and smells of the ancient world, this new liturgical year, may we be assured that our Guide, our Master, our Teacher, our Friend: Jesus, will point out everything we need to know for our spiritual welfare day by day; and that at the end of this year’s journey, we may be much more deeply in love with him, and his Father, and his Mother Mary, and all the saints who live and have lived his message, his teachings, to the maximum, throughout the ages, thus encouraging us with hope and giving us the same to share with others.

 

We have found the Messiah; Jesus Christ, who brings us truth and grace.

Jan 11 - 1st Week in OT - Monday

+ As we move now into the first Monday in Ordinary Time in our new church calendar year the first reading begins the Letter to the Hebrews: a more historical setting written to the people who were to be the Lord’s own family, from which he would emerge as Shepherd and Savior. This reading then establishes Jesus as the one who speaks on behalf of God NOW, who has a ranking and existence that is higher than the angels, and to whom all the angels worship!

 

He is the one who came into our world for the business of saving us – he came to be our salvation – and as soon as he was able, as soon as he was of age, Jesus began that work by gathering to himself a support group of friends to whom he would teach his ways, and empower to carry on his legacy when the time was right later.

 

And so he calls Simon and Andrew, and James and John – and they all left their work as fishermen and followed him immediately and became totally immersed in his friendship, his mystique and his mission!

 

The same Jesus calls all of us to follow him, to become immersed in his friendship, his mystique, and his mission – we are doing that right now – it is why we are here at this Mass. And strengthened by the Eucharist of his own Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity – we can go forth from it, joyfully, to glorify God by allowing him to minister through us anyone he wants this day!

 

Thank you, Lord, for such an amazing setup: you still take care of your people, yet you use poor, humble servants such as ourselves to do it: give us your joy, your hope and your peace to spread and we shall do it well – we shall do it well!

                                          Let all the angels worship the Lord!

Jan 10 - The Baptism of the Lord

+ The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, tells us two astounding facts: that Jesus is the Beloved Son of the Father – and that we had better listen to him; and that after we listen, we are invited to respond to what we have heard by becoming incorporated into his very life, by our own baptism, into the Church that he set up for that very purpose, which makes us astoundingly enough, not only members of his very own Body, but also adopted children of the same Father, with Jesus as our elder brother, and each other as brothers and sisters. Yes, we are God’s children – for real and for sure! There is enough there to meditate on for the rest of our lives!

 

Our readings today tell us how Jesus’ baptism was not for the repentance of his sin because Jesus never had any sin; Jesus was baptized for us, demonstrating himself the way in which we are to be incorporated into himself. But God the Father used the occasion for a great show light and power when he thundered: THIS IS MY BELOVED SON! LISTEN TO HIM! This is my beloved Son, listen to him! Listen to him and respond to what you hear and you will have everything you need for life here and hereafter: you will be able to have your sins forgiven – when you ask for them to be; and you will be welcomed into eternal life in the Father’s house at the end of your days on earth! All this: for listening and responding: listening to the Scriptures, listening to the homilies, listening to the teachings of the Church which are there for our guidance and our growth and then responding in love!

 

And it is not to his own people alone that Jesus offers such salvation; but to the whole world – all the nations, everywhere. This is very good news!

 

May we recall also that the baptized one, whom we recall today, is also the Suffering Servant, the kind, gentle, loving, shepherd of the sheep: who would change everything forever – but at the cost of his own life! Is that even possible for God to die?

 

Thank you God, for being an amazing elder brother – come to save us; may we be true, authentic, genuine and real adopted sons and daughters of the Father, and brothers and sisters of you to whom we look for help, mercy and forgiveness but most of all: lasting and permanent friendship and peace in your Kingdom!

 

The Lord will bless his people with peace!

 

Jan 8 - Friday after Epiphany

+ St John tells us in his beautifully written letter today that belief in Jesus is essential to plug into his offer of eternal life. “Whoever possesses the Son, through belief in him, has life, and whoever doesn’t, doesn’t.” This is a rather radical statement and one not to be contradicted.

 

By the end of the first century when this letter was written there was much discussion on the origins of Jesus and his claim to Divinity. St. John in this famous passage tells us that he actually has three witness to his Divinity: the Spirit, the water and the Blood. What does this mean? The Spirit overshadows him at his Baptism in the Jordan (and the Father’s voice is heard proclaiming him as his Beloved Son in whom he is well pleased), the water is the very water used at the Baptism (and similar water that is transformed into wine by Jesus as his first miracle – another sign of his divinity), and lastly the Blood: his blood shed on the Cross as he price of our salvation: he saw everything through to the end, and we all were cleansed in this Blood and our sins were forgiven.

 

It is this Jesus that we are to believe and put all our hopes and trust in: he will never fail us, and will see us through into another world of unending bliss.

 

The healing power of the Divine Son of God (as shown in the gospel passage) is always available to us who believe in him, and his name. Let us count on it, invoke it, and then thank him when he comes through for us and for our loved ones.

 

Praise the Lord, Jerusalem

Jan 6 - St Andre Bessette

+ Today the Church on the North American continent rejoices on the 10^th anniversary celebration of Brother Andre Bessette – the Miracle Man of Montreal – as a saint! Canonized on October 17, 2010, St. Andre Bessette is an outstanding example of a poor, humble, servant of the Church as doorkeeper of Notre Dame College, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross- for forty years. Not even expected to live at birth, always sickly in life, only 4’2” tall – this giant of a compassionate soul touched millions of lives, without even himself trying.

 

To Brother Andre it was all the work of St. Joseph to whom he had a fierce devotion and loyalty. He found early on that St. Joseph was curing people of all kinds of ailments and diseases simply by his encouraging them to pray to him and rubbing oil from the St. Joseph Altar lamp in the college chapel, or a medal of St. Joseph. When the thousands of “miracles” were attributed to Brother Andre he was very quick to disclaim any credit: it is all St. Joseph: it is not me at all: I am only his little “puppy dog!”

 

It was Andre’s dream to build a worthy shrine to St. Joseph nearby – but with the interference first of his own community, and then World War I, the completion of what is now known as St. Joseph’s Oratory on Mount Royal was a long time in coming, and the result of many temporary stages of development.

 

At the age of 92, Andre died on January 6, 1937 before seeing the completion of his dream. But he knew it would be completed and he continued to give St. Joseph all the credit to his very last breath! Over a million people came to the oratory to pay their last respects. It almost seems like there is now a fourth member of the Holy Family, for it is almost impossible to even say the words St. Joseph, without now thinking immediately of St. Andre Bessette – his devoted friend in life and his dear companion in death!

 

And it seems equally impossible to say: St. Andre Bessette without also calling to mind St. Joseph! And for us, Joyful Servants of the Cross, we cannot think of Joseph and Andre Bessette, without thinking of our own beloved Br. Paul Andre (aka Richard William Steinberg, JSC RN) who died on February 5, 2018, and who had a fierce and admirable devotion to them both. With such a trio praying on our behalf – we cannot go wrong! 

 

St. Andre / St. Joseph / St. Richard of Richmond – pray for us!

Jan 5 - St. John Neumann

+ St. John Neumann is a classic example of God having his way in the story of a man, in the story of a diocese, in the story of a country. John was born in 1811 (that is 208 years ago) in the Czech Republic to a German father and a Czech mother. He was a small, quiet boy with four sisters and a brother. He was an excellent student and felt drawn to religious life. He was a seminarian in Bohemia, but due to an overabundance of priests there, and having his ordination postponed, he decided to go to America to ask for ordination and to work with immigrants like him. He walked most of the way to France, and then took ship for America.

 

There was certainly no overabundance of priests in America and Bishop John Dubois of New York was very happy to see him as there were but 36 priests for the 200,000 Catholics in New York and New Jersey (that is all of New York State and all of New Jersey combined). His first assignment was in Buffalo, NY, and he chose the rough rural life. His town had a log church and he built himself a log cabin to live in. He learned 12 languages to communicate with his flock who were from many countries. He visited his parishioners walking from farm to farm. He was loved by his people!

 

But he was still drawn to religious life – so he joined the Redemptorists at Pittsburgh, PA, taking his vows in Maryland in 1841, the first Redemptorist to do so in the United States. He worked as a home missioner with the community in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. He held posts of authority in the Redemptorist Order. Then in 1852 he became Bishop of Philadelphia. Bishop John built fifty churches and began building a cathedral. He opened almost one hundred schools, and the number of parochial school students in his diocese grew from, 500 to 9,000.

He worked with St. Elizabeth Seton of Emmitsburg, MD (whose feast was celebrated yesterday) in establishing the first Catholic School System in the United States.

 

Bishop John also worked with Franciscan Sisters in Philadelphia and sent them to New York and Ohio to work with immigrants. The foundation at Utica and Syracuse, New York had St. Maryanne Cope as one of its first Superiors.  She later went to Hawaii and worked with St. Damien of Molokai of the leper colony.

 

In addition, Bishop Neumann wrote newspaper articles, two catechisms and many works in German. He died at age 49 prompted most likely by overwork. He is the first American man and first American bishop to be canonized. This took place on June 17, 1977, two years after Elizabeth Seton, his friend and coworker, the first native born American woman was canonized in September of 1975.

 

Yes, God put St. John Neumann exactly where he wanted him – in America – in Philadelphia – as a Redemptorist Bishop – because he wanted him there at the very beginning of the Catholic faith in our country! It is impossible to imagine what the Church in America would have been like if John Neumann stayed in Bohemia and did not follow his star!

 

We each have a star to follow: we each have a place to be for others – we each have a place to be loved by God, and to love others because we have been loved by him, as St. John tells us in the first reading today! For us it is here, now! And may we respond even half-as generously as St. John Nepomucene Neumann.

 

Let all the earth cry out to God with joy!

Jan 3 - Epiphany of the Lord

+ Today we celebrate the arrival of the Magi, bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This presentation of gifts to the Christ Child is an obvious reference to the gift-giving nature of this Season of the year. Just as the gifts we give, these gifts were not arbitrary, something they picked up on their way out the door; they were carefully chosen and prophetic in origin and nature: gold for Christ the King, who came from obvious royal lineage; frankincense, for Christ the Priest, who would offer his life on the altar of the Cross; and myrrh, (an embalming ointment) that signified the death of Christ the Savior of the World.

 

These three Kings, these three Wise Men, these three Magi followed the Star of Bethlehem to find him resting in the arms of his adoring mother, Mary; and guarded by his foster-father, Joseph. And what they found was that the Light that was the Child shone brighter than any star, and the message they got was that this Child would illumine the entire world from that moment on: not just the insular surroundings of Bethlehem, but the entire world: this Child is indeed the Desire of the Nations: all of them: he is Light of all Nations, and the glory of His people Israel: he has come to change nothing, he has come to change everything.

 

What a magnificent feast this is, both in its revelation of Christ as the one true, awaited Messiah; but as Savior for any in the whole world who would simply believe in Him, and commit themselves to living their whole lives long like they did believe in Him, following his words and ways, as members of his Body, as members of his Church.

 

The task henceforth for his own people would be to accept him, and believe; for everyone else: the entire Gentile (non-Jewish) world, it would be in gradual stages to get to know about him, by first hearing about him, listening to preaching about him, and then by allowing themselves to be drawn into the life of his Body, the life of his Church, where he and his Father, eventually wants all to be. This would be a long process because the darkness of the human mind is not only very dark, but deceptively so: it tells so many that there is no other way, and that “false lights” are the best hope, as a poor substitute for what hearts deeply long for.

 

This, of course, is not true; there is another way, a way of Light and Blessed Assurance; a way of truth, and a way of peace. It just takes an initial  “leap of faith” – which itself is God’s gift: we really don’t have to do anything at all, except use our precious gift of free-will to acknowledge its Creator, its Sustainer and its Redeemer.

 

Lord, every nation on earth will adore you; let our nation soon be among the first to make significant inroads in realizing this prophecy; let the people of our land be among the first to truly love and serve God as he would be loved and served, if only by following the guiding star of the perfect natural law that is within every human heart!

 

Jan 1 - Mary, Mother of God

+ Today we celebrate both the august maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as Mother of God, and the naming of her Child, eight days after his birth: the name given by the Angel at his conception: Jesus, Savior. The time of blessing had arrived: God has now entered our world, as one of us, born of a woman, in order to save us from our disconnectedness from God that would have remained permanent and unchangeable, unless God himself did not choose to intervene on our behalf.  The mediation of a human birth by means of a humble virgin of Nazareth was sublime in its originality, its simplicity and its faith.

 

And so we celebrate today Mary’s cooperation with the Divine Plan of Salvation, we celebrate the fact that she became the mother not only of one who had a human nature (like her own), but also a Divine Nature (wholly other, of God himself) combined without confusion in one Divine Person: Emmanuel, Christ the Lord. Mary truly was then, Mother of God (that is Mother of the God-Made-Man) who was wholly God, while being wholly man at the same time.

 

O wondrous mystery! The mystery of the exchange of divinity with humanity, and humanity with divinity! Man was now capable not only of having his sins forgiven, but of living in God forever – in his heart, where the Divine Person in his Divinity and later humanity always lives.

 

Mary often pondered on the events of which she was a part; the birth of her Son in a manger, the visitation by shepherds, the prophecies that were just beginning to be externally fulfilled in her infant Son. Yes, on the eighth day, as prescribed by Mosaic Law, Jesus was circumcised and named, as was prophesied, JESUS! And he immediately took on the role of SAVIOR and never let it move from the center of his focus until he breathed his last on the Cross, that he always knew lay before Him.

 

Thank you Jesus for all you have done and still do for our salvation; and thank you Mary for being not only the Mother of the Savior, the Mother of God; but also the Mother of all who belong to his Mystical Body, the Church: Mother of us. We love you and honor you this day, and ask that you always be our comfort and our joy as we try to live the best we can, the life modeled not only by your Son, but also you, who are our Queen and our Friend.

 

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.