1st Week of Lent 2025 - Tuesday - Minds made radiant with yearning for God

 Listen again carefully to this morning’s Collect prayer, as it contains some profound lessons for our Lenten journey. 

“Look upon your family, Lord, that, through the chastening effects of bodily discipline, our minds may be radiant in your presence with the strength of our yearning for you.”

Through the bodily disciplines of Lent, our minds are made radiant with the strength of our yearning for God. This is some rich spiritual theology which helps us understand why we are undertaking this Lenten journey.

We might be tempted to think that our spiritual disciplines are simply ends in themselves—that the point of our fasting is just to fast because Jesus fasted, or that the point of prayer is just to pray just because Jesus prayed.

But this collect reveals that something deeper occurs when we engage in the Lenten practices. Our disciplined spiritual practices have a profound effect upon us. 

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving deepen our yearning for God. We hunger for God, we have a deep desire to know, love, and serve God, and the Lenten practices deepen that desire. And this spiritual yearning isn’t weak sentimentality; this yearning for God reorients our lives more directly to God. It purifies our hearts so that we come to value God above all else.

Prayer fasting and almsgiving make our minds radiant—we receive illumination, clarity, purity as we draw closer to the fire of God. This is why the saints radiate God’s presence because they have drawn close to God through spiritual disciplines that we typically only dabble with. For the more intensely we desire God, the more we set aside lesser desires. When we deeply long for God, distractions fade away, our minds open up to divine illumination, and then that same divine illumination can be detected in our manner of life.

This is why in the Gospel the Lord teaches his disciples, when you pray, don’t just babble. Our prayer is so important, because through it we begin to desire the things that God desires, our wills grow in proximity to His most holy will.

Similarly, Isaiah in our first reading speaks about the word of God showering down upon the soul and making it fertile and fruitful. Our prayer, as well as our fasting and almsgiving are meant to change us, to convert us, and make us deeply yearn for God who alone satisfies the hungry heart.

May we respond generously to the call to the Lenten observances, that our minds may be radiant in God’s presence with the strength of our yearning for Him, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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We should pour forth prayers at all times dear brothers and sisters but above all in these days of lent we ought to watch more intently with Christ and direct our petitions more fervently to God.

For the Church, that through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, she may grow in holiness, reflecting God's radiant presence to the world, we pray to the Lord.

For those preparing for baptism and reception into the Church at Easter, that their hearts may grow pure and radiant through prayer, fasting, and acts of charity, we pray to the Lord.

For all Christians, that their prayer may be genuine and heartfelt, aligning their wills more closely with the holy will of God, we pray to the Lord.

For those struggling to sustain their Lenten commitments, that they might be strengthened by God’s grace and find renewed meaning and clarity in their spiritual practices, we pray to the Lord.

For all who have become lukewarm or indifferent in their faith, that this Lent they may rediscover the joy of longing for God above all things, we pray to the Lord.

For the sick, suffering, and those who carry heavy burdens, that they may experience the comforting presence of God, who draws near to those who earnestly seek Him, we pray to the Lord.

For the faithful departed, that their yearning for God may be fulfilled in eternal communion with Him in heaven, we pray to the Lord.

Grant we pray our Lord that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.

6th Week of Easter 2022 - Tuesday - The Holy Spirit will convict the world

 Nearing the Feast of Pentecost, our Gospel readings continue to be taken from the Lord’s Farewell Discourse from John’s Gospel. In today’s passage, the Lord reveals that the Holy Spirit “will convict the world.” He will Convict. Here, the word “convict” is used in the legal sense: a criminal is convicted of a crime, meaning, his crimes are brought to light, it becomes clear that he is guilty of committing evil. So, the Holy Spirit will convict the world, bringing to light the evil in the world, the criminal errors and behaviors of the world. 

And the Lord mentions 3 particular areas in which the Holy Spirit will convict the world: in regard to sin, righteousness, and condemnation.

The Holy Spirit, through the preaching and teaching of the Church shows that the world is all wrong about sin. The world say “sin isn’t real. Right and wrong are simply subjective to the individual. What’s wrong for one person is right for another. God’s commandments are fabrications of the patriarchy for the purposes of controlling the vulnerable. It doesn’t matter what you believe in, how you act” FALSE.

Sin is real. Behaviors, decisions, choices, and attitudes contrary to the divine law are evil. And choices which are not in conformity with the goodness of God cause real harm to souls. Sin mutilates souls, darkens intellects, weakens will, deepens the attraction to graver evils. Sin begets sin. The deeper one falls into sin, the farther one falls away from God. The world is wrong about sin. 

It is also wrong about righteousness. We cannot make ourselves righteous by our own activity. For, righteousness comes from being in communion with God, allowing the life of the living God to fill one’s soul, to make choices in conformity with the Divine Will of God.  The world will always fail in its attempts to build a utopia because it divorces itself from God. There can be no secular utopia. We cannot hope to accomplish anything of lasting good value without God.

Rather, we are to “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” Unless God is the builder of our lives, our families, our nations, our building is in vain. 

So the world is wrong about evil, the world is wrong about goodness, and finally it is wrong about condemnation. The world says all roads lead to heaven. This is false. All roads except the road of Jesus Christ lead to eternal condemnation. “No one comes to the Father except through me” Jesus says himself. In the end “There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two.”  

As baptized members of the flock of Christ, we are sent into a hostile, unbelieving world. But unbelievers and even hostile anti-Catholics will be converted, will be attracted to the Truth when they see the truth evidenced in our lives—the truth that the life of Christ bears fruit that the world cannot produce—true lasting peace, joy, gentleness, chastity, patience—and leads to life everlasting.

You want to proof that Jesus Christ is truly God and Lord? Look at the evidence produced by the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. Look at the courage of the martyrs; look at the saints he has produced, look at their miracles, their righteousness. Look at the unity he has brought among the disparate people of the world who accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at the patience and joy and understanding and knowledge he gives to ordinary people who pray.

The world is convicted by the Holy Spirit working in our lives. May we witness to the saving Gospel in every conversation and decision today and all days, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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God the Father was glorified in the death and resurrection of his Son. Let us pray to him with confidence.

God the Father bathed the world in splendor when Christ rose again in glory, may our minds be filled with the light of faith.

Through the resurrection of His Son, the Father opened for us the way to eternal life, may we be sustained today in our work with the hope of glory.

Through His risen Son, the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world, may our hearts be set on fire with spiritual love.

May Jesus Christ, who was crucified to set us free, be the salvation of all those who suffer, particularly those who suffer from physical or mental illness, addiction, and grief.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

2nd Week of Easter 2018 - Tuesday - Easter Illumination

Last week, throughout the Easter Octave, we read from each of the four Gospel writers, their accounts of Jesus' resurrection, and Jesus' post-resurrection appearances to his disciples.

For the rest of the Easter Season, we will be reading from the Gospel of John—the discussion with Nicodemus this week from chapter 3, and onto chapter 6—the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the great Bread of Life discourse next week.

In his first visit to Jerusalem during his public ministry, Jesus encounters the Pharisee Nicodemus. This encounter is quite different from the later encounters with the Pharisees, especially those of Holy Week. Nicodemus, though he is a “teacher of Israel” as Jesus calls him, takes the position of the student. Nicodemus is unlike the other Pharisees who are blinded by pride, rather Nicodemus seeks to understand who Jesus is and why he has come.

Nicodemus approaches Jesus at night time, symbolic of Nicodemus’ ignorance. But, again, it is an ignorance that is open to illumination, the light of the truth of the Gospel.

Jesus explains, in the Gospel passage today, the need for spiritual rebirth which is made possible through his death. The whole easter season, in a sense, involves a constant reflection on this great mystery: the healing, the rebirth, the illumination that comes from Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection, and how Christians enter into this mystery through baptism and the sacraments.

Yesterday, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, issued a new apostolic exhortation titled, “Gaudete et Exsultate”, Rejoice and be Glad, on the universal call to holiness. He opens the exhortation with these words: “The Lord asks everything of us, and in return he offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence.”

Easter is an opportunity for us, like Nicodemus, to learn about the new life, the true life, God wants for us, for us not to settle for mediocre faith, but the sanctity for which we were made.

I encourage you to read through the Holy Father’s new exhortation: reflect upon it, ask the Lord what it means for your life.

To quote the Holy Father: May you come to realize what that word is, the message of Jesus that God wants to speak to the world by your life. Let yourself be transformed. Let yourself be renewed by the Spirit, so that this can happen, lest you fail in your precious mission. The Lord will bring it to fulfillment despite your mistakes and missteps, provided that you do not abandon the path of love but remain ever open to his supernatural grace, which purifies and enlightens. (Gaudete et Exsultate, 24)” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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God the Father was glorified in the death and resurrection of his Son. Let us pray to him with confidence.

God the Father bathed the world in splendor when Christ rose again in glory, may our minds be filled with the light of faith.

Through the resurrection of His Son, the Father opened for us the way to eternal life, may we be sustained today in our work with the hope of glory.

Through His risen Son, the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world, may our hearts be set on fire with spiritual love.

May Jesus Christ, who was crucified to set us free, be the salvation of all those who suffer, particularly those who suffer from physical or mental illness, addiction, and grief.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.
O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.