Aug 22 - 22nd Week in OT - Monday

 Our responsorial refrain today tells us that “the Lord comes to judge the earth.” This is not just some trite saying, it is true, and it will happen. The Lord will come to judge the earth – and it may be sooner rather than later. But the psalm itself tells us to rejoice and be glad – let all creation exalt - because the Lord comes to bring nations to nothing and to establish his Kingdom in fullness and completeness – where the King shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy.”

 

The first reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians exhorts us to believe that Jesus has destroyed death – because it is true – and that this fact can make all the difference in our lives – it can bring consolation, hope and joy if we but count ourselves among the chosen ones – because we are among them.

 

In the gospel passage  Jesus encounters disbelief, unbelief, by the people of his own hometown – after he reads an amazing passage from Scripture and applies it to himself – thus demonstrating the fact that “faith / true belief empowers” – while lack of it suffocates and destroys the very life of life that cries out for help and hope.

 

It is our option always to believe – to use the gift of free will that God gave us in order to seek him, and choose him, and find him. May we believe in Jesus today – and reap the fruits of inner peace and joy – no matter what may be going on around us, or how dark it may appear to be.

Aug 23 - St Rose of Lima

Rose of Lima was born to Spanish immigrants in the New World, in 1586. She was a beautiful girl and a devoted daughter; she was so devoted to her vow of chastity that she used pepper and lye to ruin her complexion so she would not be attractive. Rose lived and meditated in a garden, raising vegetables and making embroidered items to sell to support her family and help the other poor. She became a Dominican tertiary in 1606. She was a mystic and a visionary, and received the invisible stigmata. She suffered from assorted physical and mental ailments. She was the first saint born in the Americas, and founder of social work in Peru. Rose had great devotion to St. Catherine of Siena. She died August 24, 1617 of natural causes.

 

The gospel passage today speaks of the treasure and the pearl – symbols of the great value of membership in the Kingdom of heaven – even in its current manifestation as the Church of Christ on earth. Membership in it deserves all our attention, our devotion, our love and our sacrifices! And God too will visit us with his graces and blessings – to encourage us along the way to his heavenly estate – where we, with the angels and saints, will live forever!

 

Young men and women, praise the name of the Lord.

Aug 6 - The Transfiguration of the Lord

 + Since historically this event took place about a week before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, it was thought of mostly in terms of a Lenten placement. Jesus would soon be going to the Cross – which was his one chief goal and mission in life – he looked forward to it, for it would be for us and for our salvation!

 

But before he would do that he thought it necessary to do three things: 1) reinforce his teaching about who he really was: 2) his true identity; bolster the faith of those who would be leaders of his new Church that would be launched later on; and lastly 3) to give all members of his Church from then on the blessed and amazing assurance that His glory would also be ours, his resurrection would be ours, his radiant glorified body would be ours one day in the Kingdom.

 

This is also the second time that God the Father is actually heard using human words: from a cloud, during those moments when Jesus revealed his radiant glory in the presence of Peter, James and John, and also Moses and Elijah, the Father proclaimed: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased! Listen to him!” O yes, we must listen to everything Jesus says in his words and actions! For he is the One True Way, the Truth and Life for which we all yearn! Then our words and actions must resemble his more and more every day.

 

This feast was celebrated for almost the entire first thousand years in the Eastern Church; it was not until much later, almost the middle of the next millennia that the feast was made part of the General Roman Calendar, by Pope Callistus III in 1457. And now, though it is celebrated in August, it is always the right time to reflect on “the splendor of Mount Tabor” – for it reveals God our Lord, and our future!

 

The Lord is King, the Most High over all the earth!

Aug 5 - Dedication of St. Mary Major

 Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Mary Major / Our Lady of the Snow. The origin of the Basilica on the Esquiline Hill in Rome comes from this legend. In the fourth century, a patrician named John and his wife, who were without heirs vowed to donate their possessions to Our Lady. They prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honor. During the hot summer night of August 5^th snow fell on the summit of the Esquiline Hill. In obedience to a vision which they had the same night, the couple built a basilica in honor of Our Lady on the spot which was covered with snow. Further legend has it that Mary then as a sign of her favor left her footprints in the snow!

 

Legend or fact, the Basilica of St. Mary Major, as it was later renamed, came to be  as a result of Mary’s intervention somehow, and is now one of the four major Basilicas of Rome – (along with St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls). It is the first Church dedicated to the honor of Mary in the West, and is said to house the relics of the manger!

 

The important fact to remember is that Mary is given her due honor and devotion in the City of Rome – the locus of the heart of the Catholic Church on earth. Both the Church and Mary have one common goal: the sanctification of the human race: Mary is truly co-redemptrix along with her Son Jesus. He is the cause of sanctification and salvation, but Mary leads and guides everyone to him to be sanctified and saved. They are a real formidable team who pursues the hearts of all, so that none will be lost in the final analysis.

 

Hail Mary! Mother of God! Mother of Mercy! Mother of Grace! We are your children too, and we rededicate ourselves to you this day! Pray for us always! Amen!

You are the highest honor of our race!

Aug - 18th Week in OT - Tuesday

 + Our first reading today tells of the “injustice” of God: that is, “injustice” as we humans would have it with our way of thinking. For our kind of “justice” involves more times than not “the eye for the eye, and the tooth for the tooth.” Our justice has to do with “the punishment fitting the crime;” but in this passage from the Prophet Jeremiah, we see God telling the people: even though you have been very disobedient to me, and your wound is incurable, grievous your bruise; even though you have been punished at my hand for all your sins: my justice is to restore you and heal you, to give you back your lands, to punish now your oppressors; my justice is to have you be my people, and me your God!

 

This certainly is not the way any legal system on the planet would handle any situation; but this is because every legal system seems to have forgotten that it derives its very essence and operative powers from the Divine Lawgiver and his supernatural legislations! May we count ourselves very fortunate indeed to be subjects of the Divine Lawgiver, the Father of all Mercies, whose Law is all about Love and Forgiveness, Healing and Restoration: making any other kind of legal system so much less than it can be.

 

In the gospel passage Jesus shows his powers over the “laws of nature” – gravity, to be specific – by inviting Peter to come to him across the water. Peter gets out of the boat and does the seeming impossible by walking on the water towards Jesus (who is also standing on the water); but then when Peter starts to think about what is going on, the “impossibility” of it all – major doubt creeps in – and he begins to sink: and he cries out: “Lord, save me!”

And Jesus does reach out, catch and save him, but not without a fitting rebuke: “O you of little faith! Why did you doubt?” This is a fitting example for us who are invited by Jesus to do even “impossible” things in bringing the Kingdom of his Father to all men: we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not think about the wind and the waves swarming around us – and we, with Jesus will do great things for God’s glory!  

 

And then they said to him: “Truly, you are the Son of God!”

Aug 1 - 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

We continue our “Summer Sermon Series” based on the Bread of Life Discourse which is meant to give us an in-depth explanation of one of the central tenets of our Catholic faith: the Sacramental Presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic Bread that we partake of in this and every Mass. As weak human beings we need a sustenance that only God can provide; and knowing this, God sends his very Son as Bread for our consumption – to quench our spiritual hunger and thirst. But what is not to be overlooked, is that this same food is the required diet for any who would come to the kingdom, who would enter the Heavenly Banquet: for if we do not eat the “heavenly bread” here, on our pilgrimage, then we will be unqualified to eat it there at the table prepared for us.

 

Any who have truly tasted and been satisfied with the heavenly bread – which is the very reality of the Risen Christ – knows that there is nothing else like it, nor any substitute for it; it is true spiritual nourishment, to give us the spiritual energy we need to do spiritually, charitably motivated things, for love of God – in helping him to build his Kingdom of Peace and Joy!

 

And since it is the very Holy Spirit of God that brings about the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into Christ’s own flesh and blood, it is his life within us too that is fortified and strengthened by reception of the great Sacrament of Life. Therefore, as St. Paul tells the Ephesians, we ought not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God with which we were sealed for the day of redemption – all things that are not of the spirit: bitterness, fury, anger, shouting and reviling must be removed from our midst along with all malice – substituting rather kindness, compassion and forgiveness towards one another.

 

If we do not live “by the Spirit” and “in the Spirit,” then the Communion we participate in – the eating of the One Loaf that is still being multiplied day after day, year after year, century after century – is a lie – and we are no better than the pagans and all malcontents.

 

Taste and see the goodness of the Lord, dear brothers and sisters, and then let it affect everything about how you live your life! And it will also qualify you for your everlasting inheritance forever with God!