Feb 22 - Chair of St Peter

+ This feast of the Chair of St. Peter commemorates two dates that have reference to the chair which St. Peter sat in while presiding at Mass: one date in the early years was a January 18, at Rome; another was February 22 (this date) at Antioch where he went to found a diocese. There were most likely many different chairs – but – the one that is in place at the Vatican Basilica today is one that holds with it the idea of the pastoral authority of both St. Peter and his successors, the subsequent popes of Church history. The presidential chair of a diocesan bishop in his cathedral and the parish priest in a church holds the same dignity and honor. It is interesting to note that Peter was probably not the first “bishop of Rome” and not the “first pope” – (as these concepts and titles had not yet been developed) but all the authority of leadership in the community rested in him (and his collaboration with the other apostles), as well as the “power of the keys” – the juridical power of distributing the mercy and graces of God sacramentally – especially in the sacrament of Penance. 

 

The gospel passage relates the story of the rock-like profession of Peter’s faith in Jesus – which is what the Church is founded on – and Jesus’ subsequent revelation that his Father works in the minds and hearts of those he chooses, and that assignments to vocational work comes from God and Jesus: in this case the application of the merits of Jesus’ death and Resurrection: the power of forgiveness and efficacious loving!

 

Today, in the first reading we hear Peter encouraging the new priests of the church (as a fellow priest) to love their flocks and work diligently for them, not for profit or gain or show, but because it is a task assigned by God: to feed the flock, to lead the flock safely home!

 

 

You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it – but it might come very close to doing so!

Feb 21 - 1st Sunday of Lent

+ I love the gospel of Mark! It is no-nonsense, point-blank and bottom line. From its inception is was meant to be a kind of rough draft outline of the words and deeds of Jesus, that were used by the other gospel writers to expand and direct at the audiences that they felt inspired to write for.

 

And so on this First Sunday of this introspective season of Lent – we have Jesus being whisked away by the Holy Spirit (who was just previously present at his Baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist) to live for forty days in the desert and to be tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. This is all Mark relates about it! My question is why did he do it? Why did Jesus begin his public ministry by being confronted by Satan? Was there any doubt who would win the confrontation?  Why did he go out and not eat for forty days – except for some berries and some water?

 

Well, he did it both for himself and us! He did it to clarify the question of his own incarnation and mission!  I am here to live, and to teach, to give of myself so completely that I will end up dying on a cross, and because of it sin will be forgiven and death will be smashed and destroyed forever! AND NOTHING OR NO ONE WILL DETER ME FROM MY MISSION! NOT EVEN YOU SATAN! Get out of here! Be gone! And so, for us, Lent is a good time to make the same focus: NOTHING OR NO ONE OUGHT TO GET IN THE WAY OF MY RECEIVING ALL OF THE GRACE AND FORGIVENESS AND LIFE THAT THE DEATH OF OUR BELOVED SAVIOR ACCOMPLISHED. Lent is the time to “get rid of” all that would get in the way! And so we pray more, we look deeper into ourselves and find an amazing God who lives right within us, and we help the poor more – especially from our own want – because this is what Jesus did!

 

Our first reading tells us that the rainbow in the sky is the sign of God’s apology! He felt very badly that he was forced into a position to destroy all living things on the earth except for what was in the Ark. The sign of the Cross of Christ is for us the sign that he wants to make up, and to make friends with us forever – destroying that which gets in the way: sin! When we look at the Cross let us think of Love, let us think of Joy, let us think of Peace – Jesus was delighted to do this for us: he loves us THAT MUCH!

 

Help us to delve deeper and deeper into our relationship with you Jesus – so that by the end of Lent – we will be bursting with Easter Joys – and ALLELUIAS!

 

Remember that your compassion, O Lord, and your love are from of old.

Feb 19 - Friday after Ash Wednesday

+ Today we talk about fasting in our readings. Jesus tells the disciples of John that his disciples do not fast, while they and the Pharisees fast much, because the very object and reason for the fast – closer, deeper union and relationship with Jesus – is already immediately present to them. There is no need to fast; they already possess the “football,” Jesus, in the end-zone! But for any who were or are not in immediate physical contact with Jesus, fasting is the only way to go: especially as we journey with him through the Lenten weeks of self-discipline.

 

The prophecies of Isaiah are always magnificent: so poetic, and so powerful! Today he declares: CRY OUT FULL-THROATED AND UNSPARINGLY, LIFT UP YOUR VOICE LIKE A TRUMPET BLAST AND TELL MY PEOPLE OF THEIR WICKEDNESS AND THEIR SINS! And you can also tell them that the way they have adopted to seek him is just not working out: their fasting and their afflicting themselves produces nothing, because it ends in carrying out their own pursuits, driving hard their laborers, quarreling and fighting, striking with the wicked claw! WHAT KIND OF FASTING IS THAT!

         

This is the kind of “fasting” I want, the Lord goes on – releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke, sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.

 

And it means doing this not only in large ways, but more especially in small, almost unnoticeable sorts of ways to the people God puts in our path each day.

 

THEN your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. THEN you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: “Here I am!”

 

Now this is a worthy Lenten goal, this is fasting-with-a-punch, this is what God would have us do! May we be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to fast this way, this Lent!

 

Amen.

Feb 18 - Thursday after Ash Wednesday

+ We have two remarkably interesting readings on this second day of Lent. They seem to contradict one another but they don’t. In the first reading Moses tells the people to choose life, rather than death! In the gospel passage Jesus in essence tells his disciples to choose death, rather than life. So, how can you do both? Well, this is how: Jesus in reality is telling his disciples to choose “death to self,” [self-will, selfish-ness, self-satisfaction] in order to gain what is truly valuable in life here, which will lead to a superabundant life hereafter. [Choosing death, in this case is the same as choosing life!] This of course is all after the example of Jesus who freely chose death, death on a cross, so that he himself and we, by his resurrection, might have life, resurrected life, and have it more abundantly, and that we might have our sins forgiven.

 

May we this Lent take upon ourselves some “don’ts and do’s” to fine tune our spiritual life-affirming sensibilities; but more than that may we be on the lookout to choose any opportunity out there to put what we learn when we listen to God, into practice: helping others – random acts of kindness, done for love of God! He will be very pleased and we will have a very prosperous Lent!

 

Blessed are those who delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night!

Feb 16 - 6th Week in OT - Tuesday

+ In the gospel passage we have two references to bread (which comes obviously from leaven). In the first instance Jesus is warning against the “leaven of the Pharisees.” In doing so he refers to another instance of bread – the bread of the multiplication of the loaves for the 5000. This too involved leaven “the leaven of the power and presence of God’s word in the lives of his people” – and how it can be overflowing and overabundant for good works.

 

Jesus is frustrated with the disciples because they understand neither of the “leaven” stories. Do you have eyes and not see, and ears and not hear? These disciples are still much too closed in upon themselves and their own prejudices and preconceived notions to really get what Jesus is trying to tell them.

 

In the first reading today God is also frustrated with the whole lot of his human creations because of their wickedness and unwillingness to change: and so, he plans to destroy them all, except for the one who found favor with him (and all kinds of pairs of animals) – Noah and his family, and all manner of families of animals.

 

We too must be quick to understand God’s underlying intent to redeem and forgive – even though his people always made this a most difficult thing for themselves.

 

May we today and open our eyes and ears, and see what evil may still be lurking in our hearts – and during this upcoming Lenten Season make a resolution to do something about it.

 

God can do great things with us, only with our willingness and our cooperation.

 

The Lord has every intention of blessing his people with peace – eventually.

 

 

Feb 15 - 6th Week in OT - Monday

+ We do not always think that Adam and Eve had three male children: Cain, Abel and Seth. The first reading speaks of their birth as taking place with the help of God. We must not forget that there is always a third person involved in every conception, in every delivery, in every birth of a child: and that third person is God, who gives the life of the soul, and personhood, which would not exist without him. The story related in the book of Genesis today tells how jealousy led to murder, and yet, how the murderer, though punished, was personally protected by God from being murdered himself. It sounds rather like a “divine soap-opera” doesn’t it? This one really could be called: “All My Children.”

 

The gospel passage speaks of the “restlessness” of Cain that is present in all of us – caused by the sin of his parents (Adam and Eve) – “always looking for a sign,” always looking for “convincing proof” that God is who he says he is; but this generation, and every generation, rather than taking the time to examine the evidence and notice that the sign is now “always present” – in Jesus, the Messiah, and in his Mystical Body, the Church.

 

Although we participate still in the “restlessness of Cain,” may we sit still and ponder daily the glorious and peace-pervading presence of the Lord of Glory in our lives – and find rest, refreshment, and joy for ourselves and for others.

 

Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.

Feb 12 - 5th Week in OT - Friday

+ Our first reading relates the most unfortunate circumstances of that dastardly deed that changed everything forever. God’s plan “A” for his highest form of creation – “mankind” – would need significant altering because the woman and the man took matters into their own hands – they did not trust God, and they disobeyed him. He had no choice but to visit swift and decisive punishment on them and all generations that would follow from their progeny.

 

Plan “A” was that the man and the woman would indeed become “gods” – very exalted, enriched and powerful – but all under his jurisdiction and rightful guidance and control – He was after all the Father-Creator. But this status was meant to be a gift – and not something grasped after – quite literally, as signified and symbolized in the shiny red apple. And there would have to be some kind of a test for the woman and man who were given free-will to be able to choose to trust and obey God or not.

 

Obviously they failed the test miserably: and EVIL entered the world in a big way. And it has been here ever since. But Plan “B” included a Redeemer who would make possible the “antidote” to evil, to also be present throughout the ages – until the evil, one day, would be destroyed forever.

 

We still live in those “in between” times. Good, bad; right, wrong; exist side by side – and it just does not seem fair – not fair at all – but that is the way it has to be.

 

But we do have the freedom now to choose to ask God to heal us and forgive us daily of all our weakness, infirmities, diseases and sins (like the man in the gospel passage), and we shall be on the side of Victory in the end – and the eternal prize of life forever will begin: I suppose that will be plan “C” – the glorious life in the Kingdom forever – that awaits those who believe – and who live their lives like they do, in fact, believe.

 

Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your son.

 

 

Feb 11 - Our Lady of Lourdes

+ Today is World Day of Prayer for the Sick (as proclaimed by Pope John Paul II) because of the close connection of healing and the site of Our Lady’s apparitions at Massabielle, France to Bernadette Soubrious in 1858. It was to this poor French girl that Mary appeared proclaiming herself as the “Immaculate Conception” – and this, a few years before the doctrine was ever made known publicly. The only way uneducated and illiterate Bernadette could have used those two words would have been by divine prompting. At the site, then, she began to dig, and a stream of water began to flow forming into a pool, which is still flowing and present to this day. It is in this pool that the sick and the lame from all over the world come and many are granted physical healing, as well as spiritual.

 

The first reading today prophesys the restoration of Jerusalem after it is plundered by its enemies – this is very much a healing, an act which only God could have brought about. At the wedding feast of Cana, Jesus performs his first miracle of changing water into wine to save the bride and groom of embarrassment of running out of wine. Because of this, the disciples who were there with him, and many others, began to believe in Jesus because he was beginning to give glimpses of his glory: and everyone is attracted to “shiny objects.”

 

Now Mary said something especially important at that wedding feast: “Do whatever he tells you.” These are her last recorded words – but she need not to have spoken any more – for this says it all: Just as she lived these words, so she asks us to – to see the glory – in order to have our infirmities completely removed – in order for us to live in God forever.

 

Doing what he tells us is rarely easy, rarely without great cost, rarely without great moral and spiritual effort – but for those who hold out to the end: unimagined reward awaits. May we be eager and willing to see our Christian lives to the end, so to be with Mary and all the saints forever in the kingdom prepared for us!

 

Mary, you are the highest honor of our race!

 

 

Feb 10 - St Scholastica

+ St. Scholastica (b. 480), is the twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia – founder of the Benedictine Order. Their mother died in childbirth and so these two found their consolation from “Mother Church” and the “motherly advice” that she had to offer. Benedict was the first to found a group of monks who agreed to live under his comprehensive Rule; Scholastica soon founded an order of nuns to live also by his Rule. The chief characteristic of the Rule is to find out what is God’s will and to do it with all your heart! This plays out in an enclosed life of prayer, study and work (service).

 

Benedict and his sister Scholastica used to meet annually in an abandoned farmhouse, to discuss holy things (her convent was only four miles from his at Monte Cassino). During one visit it seemed that Benedict wanted to end the meeting and go home; but Scholastica asked him to stay longer! He refused, so she said a quiet (but obviously powerful prayer to God) and suddenly a violent thunderstorm emerged from nowhere and kept Benedict in place for the rest of the night. Scholastica then quipped: “I asked a favor of you and you refused it. I asked it of God, and he has granted it.” Three days later, Scholastica died, and Benedict, in his cell, is said to have seen her soul rising to heaven in the form of a dove. She was buried in the tomb that Benedict had prepared for himself, and to which he later joined her (in 543).

 

While Mary and Martha of the gospel passage seemed to be on different pages; Benedict and Scholastica were exactly on the same page, book and chapter – the Holy Scriptures of God. May we today delve into the mysteries of love – love that our first reading tells us is ever strong, ever powerful, ever safe – as we pray, study the Scriptures and then put this love into action to see if it is what it purports itself to be! I doubt we will be disappointed in its effectiveness – for it can bring thunderstorms where there is fair weather and can warm the coldest heart!

 

Young men and women praise the name of the Lord.

Feb 9 - 5th Week in OT - Tuesday

+ There is distinction that must be made in reading our gospel passage today: the non-essentials can always be modified, and in fact, ought to be modified, as far as religious observance and other types of organizing and operating groups of people goes; but essentials ought never be tampered with: those truths, realities and principles that come from God himself for our good, for our welfare, for our safe passage back to him: we must trust as infallible and trustworthy in all circumstances.

 

Jesus encourages his followers to learn and know the difference between non-essential and essential, and to stand up for the misuse of what is there to aid in salvation. This is a tall order in our day in age – but the strength of the Spirit is still strong and vital – and his wisdom is without equal. May we spend this day wisely, as emissaries of the Lord.

 

Incline our hearts, O God, to your decrees; and favor us with your law!

 

 

Feb 8 - 5th Week in OT - Monday

+ The first reading today recounts the very opening passages of the entire Bible. And what it recounts is God’s magnificent expansiveness in his breathtaking acts of creation: light, darkness, day, night, evening and morning; the sky; the earth with its seed-bearing plants; the sun and the moon and the stars! What an imagination God had, and what resources he had at his disposal to carry it out: his unlimited, immeasurable Divine Wisdom and Will.

 

It is up to us to regard and appreciate all of creation around us and to take care of it – as it was given and provided by God for our very benefit and use. For if we do not do so then we are insulting and snubbing the very God who made us and sustains us. There is nothing like an ungrateful child – even in God’s family. Let us look around today – really look around as see the lavish and opulent environment that God has placed right outside our doors; what programs do we support and take part in to ensure the beauty and bountifulness of the land, sea and air.

 

The gospel passage today talks about another kind of recognition: that of Jesus, the Messiah, as also healer and restorer. If God created the entire universe by his beneficence, then he can also certainly put back together those parts of creation that have become damaged or diseased in some way. This Jesus easily did. And he continues to do today – for those who believe that he can do it – that he can rebuild what is now broken.

 

There is nothing that Jesus cannot fix – let us bring our lists to him of heart-felt projects and he will see what he can do about them – answering each request in the best possible way for all involved.

 

Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and cured every disease among the people.

 

Feb 7 - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

+ We hear today about our old friend Job. So many can identify with poor Job; perhaps even us. A modern translation of the first reading today might go something like this: “Life stinks! [Actually this is the “kinder, gentler way of saying this” – it is usually said “in other words” also beginning with “s”. [Life sucks!] ” But the bottom line is: it seems that all we do is eat, sleep and work, work, work – no matter what our profession, it’s a little pleasure here and there; and a lot of grief and work everywhere. Even retired people work at being retired: knowing when to get up and take pills, go to the grocery store, do volunteer or even more paid work. And then if that is not enough, all we do some nights is toss and turn, because of all the work and worry. Time does go fast; swifter and swifter and more full of everything that is not much fun! As I said at the beginning “life stinks!” Sounds very much like Job, sounds very much like us sometimes!

 

But this all stands in marked contrast with those who stop thinking so much about themselves and their “miserable lives,” and start thinking of others  and how they can help them: true we may need aid and comfort in their own lives, because, yes, life is a combination of ups and down, joys and sorrows, the “stinky” and the “fresh-smelling!” But we should not be so hard on Job – because he lived in the time of anticipation: the time of looking forward to the Messiah who would bring relief, and comfort and healing to those who became his friends and trusted in him; that is all there was to it. Like a “diamond in the rough,”

Jesus, was a brilliant Light that produced much warmth and assurance, and joy and beauty – in the midst of the ocean of troubles in which most of us live! Yes, we eat, and sleep and work – but Jesus tells us that if we filter everything we think and say and do through our deep and personal relationship with him: everything will seem lighter and easier to carry out: we may even “breeze through” situations that might have seemed impossible without his help.

 

This is good news; no, this is great news! This is the gospel that St. Paul (of the second reading today) was compelled to preach. He used all of his resources and every “trick in the book” to get people’s attention, to introduce them to Jesus, and to welcome them into the Christian community when they responded to the grace of faith that was given them.

 

May we who are members of that community, today, put our trust in God fully, count on his help, and then use it, like Paul, to bring about the reality of the Kingdom here below, in anticipation of the one to which we are called to participate in forever in the next life.

 

We have an amazing God, he heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds! He loves us and he heals us!

 

Feb 3 - St Blaise

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

Feb 2 - The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple

+ Our feast today, of the Presentation of the Lord and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was introduced into the Eastern Empire by Emperor Justinian I, and is mentioned in the Western Church in the Gelasian Sacramentary of the 7^th century. It commemorates the purifying of the Blessed Virgin according to the Mosaic Law, 40 days after the birth of Christ; and the presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple. It is also known as Candlemas Day, as candles are blessed in commemoration of the words of Holy Simeon, who received the Child and his Mother, and declared this Christ Child to be “a light for revelation for the Gentiles and glory for your people Israel.”  In this regard, candles, for use in church for a year, are blessed, and at the principal Mass in a church, there is a procession with lighted candles to represent the entry of Christ, the Light of the World, into the Temple of Jerusalem.

 

Our readings today tell us to seek the Lord of Light in two places: in the Temple of our churches and chapels (it is recommended that we make regular and frequent visits to be with him there); and also in the eyes of those we help in God’s name. If he is not to be found in one place, he won’t be found in the other for us. And finally, may we live our days in peace because like Simeon we have received the Lord into the temples of our hearts, may we honor him there, pray to him there, and ask his help to act like him always, and in every place.

 

You Lord, are a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel, and us!