Easter Octave 2022 - Monday - Fearful, yet overjoyed

 

When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the place where Jesus was buried, their first encounter was with an empty tomb.  

Lovingly and dutifully, they went to the tomb, Easter Sunday morning to anoint the body of Jesus—to complete the burial rites left unfinished by Joseph of Arimathea. On their way to the tomb, they wonder  “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” After all, the stone was heavy. It was large. It was truly a foreboding obstacle. It took several people to roll it into place, it was going to be more difficult to move out of the way.

Despite this obstacle, they went to the tomb anyway. They could have stayed home. They could have dwelt on the enormity of this obstacle and stayed home. What beautiful fervor, that these holy women, despite the obstacle, go to fulfill the duty of charity anyway. And it was in that experience of being faithful and dutiful and charitable that the women encountered the angel and receive news of the resurrection.

A charitable heart, a dutiful and obedient heart opens itself to receive the good news. Alleluia.

After announcing to the women that Jesus had risen, the angel tells the women to go to announce the Goodnews to Peter and the other disciples--as a sort of Apostle to the Apostles, as the early church called her. And that’s where our Easter Monday Gospel picks up. 

Receiving this commission by the angel, we heard this morning that “They went away quickly”. This reminds me of the beginning of St. Luke’s Gospel. When our Lady is told to go to her cousin Elizabeth, St. Luke tells us that Mary left in haste. When we receive a commission by an angel, we do well not to dilly-dally. 

“They were fearful and overjoyed.” St. Matthew tells us. There’s an apt description of the Christian life if I’ve ever seen one. Christians are constantly to be going into unknown territory to spread the Gospel. That’s a fearful task, and yet, we are filled with joy, knowing that we are being faithful to the work God has given us.

And again, in this experience of being faithful, despite their fear, the women have an encounter, and this time not with an angel, but with the Risen Lord Himself.

Like the holy women on Easter Sunday morning, the Church is called to be industrious in our charity, diligent in seeking the Lord, and at the same time confident that when we are faithful, God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. The Lord will take care of the heavy lifting. 

And it’s okay to acknowledge that the work of the Gospel is often fearful—to speak to strangers, to stand before kings. Notice, that the Lord himself tells them, don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid how the disciples will react to this news, tell them anyway. The same goes for us. Don’t be afraid how people will react to the good news, let us tell them anyway, trusting that if there is some obstacle in their hearts, some heavy stone, God will move it, if God wills it.

Dutiful, charitable, trusting in God, may we be faithful to the spread of the Gospel and the work God has for us today and all days, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ. 

For our own community, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received. 

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

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.

4th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Tuesday - Identifying obstacles to faith

 In our Gospel passage this last Sunday, we heard of the people of Nazareth reacting with great hostility to Jesus’ proclamation. They doubt his claim to be the Messiah, minimizing the possibility by asserting that he is merely the son of a carpenter. Then when he challenged them for hardening their hearts against him, they seized him to throw him over a cliff.

Today’s Gospel contains three different reactions to Jesus.

Jairus, a man of considerable eminence in hos own town, approached Jesus and fell at His feet, asking in faith for him to heal his daughter. In the incident that followed, when Jesus asked who had touched him, the hemorrhaging woman also approached and fell at his feet, her faith a conduit for healing. The servants of Jairus’ household, on the other hand, approach Jesus, and show little faith, doubting Jesus possessed the power necessary to save the little girl. 

Hem Of His Garment is a painting by Wayne Pascall 

I think the Gospels highlight so many different reactions of Jesus to help us identify how we are reacting to him. Maybe there were points in our life when we do react to him like the people in Nazareth, wanting to silence Him by all means necessary. Maybe, now, after coming to faith, we fluctuate. There are moments where we fall down at his feet in worship like Jairus, we reach out to the hem of his garment to be healed like the woman with the hemorrhage, and maybe sometimes, even after following him, even after hearing what he has done over and over, working miracles, delivering souls from evil, we still doubt he has the power to save us. Our faith fluctuates. Why?

What did Jairus have that we do not have? That’s important to identify. Personally. If there was something keeping you from that level of faith, isn’t important to identify it? Because whatever it is, it might be hindering the healing power of Jesus to be unleashed in my family or in my life.

Is it an attachment to sin? Is it a failure to practice self-discipline in my prayer life? Is it laziness? Is it my ego that defies the need for savior, that insists on trying to save itself?

During Ordinary Time, seeking to identify the things, the attitudes, the behaviors, that keep us from perfect faith, or at least, growing in faith, is to be an ordinary part of our meditations and self-reflections. Thanks be to God, our daily scriptures, once again, help us to identify the path of life, and wholeness, and healing, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For a deeper openness to God’s will, readiness for service, attentiveness to those in need, endurance to do the will of God, and peace in our world and our hearts.  

During this Catholic Schools week, for all young people, for their teachers and catechists and parents who are the first teachers of the faith, and that the truth of the faith may be learned, cherished, and practiced in every Catholic school and Christian home.

For the discipline necessary to resist temptation and to cultivate the virtues of faith, hope, and love. 

For those who struggle because of addiction, discouragement, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, or ongoing trials of any kind.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, For the deceased members of our family, friends, and parish, for the souls in purgatory and for…N. for whom this mass is offered.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

3rd Week of Lent 2021 - Obstacles to Conversion and St. John of God

 Yesterday, on the 3rd Sunday of Lent, we reflected on thirst: the thirst for God. In his conversation with the Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s Well, the Lord pronounces to the woman that if she understood who He was, she would ask him to give her the living water of God that quenches all thirsts. 

All people, of all times, of every place have thirsted for God. It is our hearts deepest longing.

Naaman the Syrian, in our first reading, while initially turning to God only because he believed that the God of Israel was able to cure his leprosy, came to discover the One True God: ““Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.”

If the thirst for God is universal, who do so many people in the Gospels reject Jesus. Why do they not respond to Him with faith like the Samaritan Woman, and so many of the sick and marginalized? Why did the Pharisees and Sadducees conspire to kill Jesus? Why do his own townsfolk reject Him? Certainly, there are a number of reasons, a number of obstacles to faith. 

In the case of the pharisees, it seems as if their attachment to power and authority fueled their prideful unwillingness to acknowledge Jesus’ identity. For the townsfolk of Nazareth and for many of the people Jesus encountered, it was likely their preconceived notions of what the Messiah would look like: he couldn’t possibly come in the form of a Galilean carpenter! For many others, their attachment to sin, their resistance to repentance, was allowed to grow larger than their thirst for God, and that happens with so many of us. 

Today, the church honors a saint, who though he was baptized as an infant and raised in the faith, walked away from the Church and hardened his heart against Christ for a good portion of his life. St. John of God was a Spanish soldier who had forsaken his childhood faith to pursue a wild and sinful life. He reminds us a little of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Ignatius of Loyola, or St. Augustine, in this way. For the 18 years, John allowed his morals to decline, as he completely abandoned the piety of his earliest youth for a greedy and brutal way of life—plundering and pillaging. 

And yet the thirst for God could still be seen. Once, after falling wounded in enemy territory, he instinctively called out to the Blessed Virgin Mary to save him. And again, when he was falsely suspected of theft and nearly executed, he called out to God for help. He also had a special place in his heart for the poor, and would often give alms to those in extreme distress.

As the term of his military service came to an end, he realized he needed to do something to reform his life. He embarked on a pilgrimage  the via de Compostela, the pilgrim’s way of St. James, and as he walked, the choices of his life began to weigh heavily upon him, he began to recognize his errors and sins and began to desire peace with God. At the end of the pilgrimage, he made a good confession and determined to make atonement for his sins. He went on to found a religious order dedicated to the care of the sick and dying.

No doubt, many of us know souls like St. John who have fallen away from their childhood faith. Yet, for them we should not despair. Many former Catholics who are not currently going to church, still keep some of the Lenten penances and observances, and the Lord may work through those penitential practices to restore their faith. Moreso, we do well to offer penances for them, to pray for miracles of conversion, to nurture the seeds of faith, the thirst for God, by our example and our conversations with them.

Daily, throughout Lent, we do well to hold in our minds someone who has fallen away, and to offer increased Lenten penances for them and for their return to the faith for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That our Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving may humble our earthly pride and bring about conversion and renewal within the Church.

For all those preparing to enter into Christ through the saving waters of Baptism and those preparing for full initiation this Easter, may these final Lenten weeks bring about purification from sin and enlightenment in the ways of holiness.

That Our Lady and St. Joseph may protect Holy Father Pope Francis as he concludes his apostolic visit to the war-torn country of Iraq, and that the Gospel may be spread, accepted and cherished there and in every land. Let us pray to the Lord

For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated through error and sin, for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ. 

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O 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.