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 like to comment more than I ever have, and not just post my homilies - which are very important - but I think it is equally important for me to share some thoughts and reactions about whats going on in the Church and in the world!
Blessings to all - and let us make '24 a Marian Year, a Joseph Year and a Jesus Year - all wrapped up into one!
Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 12, 2020
I
–Wisdom is found by those who seek her.
R
–My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
II
– God, through Jesus, will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
A
– Stay awake and be ready! For you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
G –Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!
+ Our central thought today comes from the responsorial refrain: My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God. There is a deep sense of longing and yearning in each and every human soul for God. There is an incompleteness that can only be completed by God. There is restlessness that can only be satisfied by God. This is so because God has made the human soul in this way, and for a reason: he loves us intensely and he wants to spend forever with us, but he respects our freedom too much to force us to want to be with him, however, he did at least tip the scales by putting in us this elemental desire to unite with the one Being from whom we came, who alone can be our fulfillment!
The knowledge of this mystery comes from a tremendous gift that God gives to “any who seek her.” Wisdom, Divine Light, is given to those who truly seek her – the Book of Wisdom tells us today. “She is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of their desire; whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate – she meets them with all solicitude.” This is amazing! This is a reality for those who “thirst for God.”
Of course, the second reading today tells us of the transition that must be made by all of us to attain our goal – the passageway of death! Death comes to us all; but for those of us who live in hope both in life and in death, we know that what happened to Jesus will also happen to us: our hope tells us that just as he died and rose to newness of life, by his unparalleled gift, the same will happen to us!
Therefore, our gospel passage tells us to be watching and waiting, our lamps filled with the oil of our good works and our fervent prayers for the fulfillment of salvation – our eyes focused on Jesus Christ, and him Crucified – and we shall be saved – at whatever day or hour the bridegroom comes. We are all invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb, he is the Bridegroom of the Church – may our longing and yearning and restlessness lead us always to the Person who is the fulfillment of it all: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the King – who is so looking forward to spending eternal life with us!
Stay
awake and be ready!
For
you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
+ 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! Jesus found JOY in the reconciliation that would take place for all of us, as barbaric and gruesome as it would be! He knew it was VICTORY through SUFFERING (and in this case DEATH!)
But before he would do that,
he thought it necessary to do three things: 1) to reinforce his teaching about
who he really was, the transcendent Word from Heaven who condescended to come
down and be a creature like us in all things but sin: 2) to reveal his true
identity, and to bolster the faith of those who would be leaders of his new
Church that would be launched later on, especially because they would be among
the first to lay down their lives for Jesus and his new found church, just as
Jesus did for them; 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. Now that is something to look forward to!
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, because by our Communion with him, he actually becomes part
of us, and our physical bodies, as well as our spiritual souls.
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!
Today we celebrate the feast of St Marianne Cope, whose life was called “a wonderful work of divine grace” by Cardinal Jose Martins at her beatification in Rome in 2005. And a life filled with God’s grace it was.
Born on January 23, 1838 in
Germany, the girl was named after her mother. The Cope family emigrated to the
United States and settled in Utica, New York. Young Barbara began working in a
factory, until she went to join the Sisters of the Third Order of St France is
Syracuse, New York. After profession she was assigned teaching posts throughout
the region. She was later elected provincial of the Order twice.
In 1883 the Hawaiian
government was searching for someone to work with those suspected of having
leprosy. 50 orders throughout the country responded to the call, and 35 sisters
from Syracuse volunteered immediately. When they arrived they opened a hospital
and a school for girls.
She and her sisters later went
to work with Fr. Damien de Veuster in his leper colony for men and boys. Never
once in all their years working there did any of the sisters ever contract the
disease. The sisters of her order still work on Molokai.
Mother Marianne died on August
9, 1918, was beatified in 2005 and canonized in 2012. She will be remembered
most for her willingness to sacrifice everything for those she was caring for,
with unflinching courage, “smiling sweetly through it all.”
The readings today tell us of
the fuel of her fire to love souls, and sick bodies for love of God – it was
her life as a religious, whose entire focus was on Christ, always. She was a
bride of Christ, serving her Bridegroom in his weakest members – and now she
reigns with Christ to intercede for us and our needs.
St. Marianne Cope, pray for
us.
+ The Christmas Season has come and gone, and now we summarize in one thought what has happened: an amazingly “wondrous exchange” has occurred: the Word of God (existing forever with God) takes on our sinful nature, so that he can redeem us and make us divine and sharers in his life forever! We could spend the rest of our lives meditating on this one sentence!
To
help us in that meditation, the Church sets forth in the “green”
(vestmented) Sundays of the year, the
entire story of that exchange: what it cost, who it affected, how it was
accomplished and how we can get plugged into it, and where is it all leading to.
This we will do in succeeding Sundays this coming liturgical year, no less than
any other. But maybe this year: asking
now God’s grace and blessings, we can come into a deeper insight of what is
going on here: maybe we can
open ourselves more, to receive more: open our minds and our
hearts: rid them from obstacles of sin and worldly distractions: and allow
ourselves to be ministered to by Jesus, chosen to be the Light not only of our world, but of the whole world, to all nations everywhere.
May
the Blessed Trinity bless you now with a deep desire to know each Person of Itself more clearly, so
you can love them more dearly and serve them more generously – and one day
find your reward with all the holy ones who have gone before you.
The Word of God became flesh
and dwelt among us. To
those who accepted him, he gave power to become children of God – forever!
God
bless you
+ 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, the baptized, 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 and 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!
