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Solemnity of the Holy Trinity-Cycle B

June 3, 2012

Ordinary Time-Summer

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How would you explain the Holy Trinity?

 

By Words???

 

By Art???

 

We all know that the Trinity is ONE GOD

-THREE PERSONS-

FATHER

SON

HOLY SPIRIT

 

The readings for this day certainly try to indicate that to us-

The Holy Trinity.  

But it would seem that they also show God's great love for each of us.

 

In the first reading from the book of DEUTERONOMY-Chapter 4, Moses is addressing the people just before they cross over into the promise land.

He assures them that God will give them a land and calls them to be faithful to the One God.  Sometimes it seems hard to really appreciate all that God has given us.  The ultimate gift of course, is Eternal Life.  

 

 

 

 

In the second reading from Paul's letter to the Romans, we see how much God loves each and everyone of us.  He calls us His child, His children.  We can always call out to Him, ABBA, Father.

This being a Child of God is the greatest gift we could possibly receive and He also gives us Eternal Life.  Wow!  What love.  He will never give up on us.  We can call out to Him again and again.  ABBA, Father.  He will always welcome us back to Him with mercy, compassion, and forgiveness, after all we are His Child.

 

In the Gospel of Matthew we hear that we are called to go out let others know of God's great love.

Each of us at our Baptism was commissioned to go out to the world and let others know of God's great love. And that is not always easy.  

For most of us our actions do speak louder than our words.  It is amazing what a smile can do, or opening the door for someone, or saying thanks, or offering help,or just saying a few words to a stranger, etc. These are only a few of the ways of making God present to others.  You can think of more ways, I am sure.  Then pray for the gift to do them, even to the stranger.

 

 

 

Pentecost Vigil Cycle B

 

Click here for the Pentecost Vigil Readings

Click here for the Pentecost Sunday readings

 

 

My comments will be on the Pentecost vigil readings.  

I used these readings to help me to understand a little,

as to how and  the Spirit works in my life, at times.

You may not agree, but these ideas are shared with you as food for thought.

 

 

 

 

Genesis

Tower of Babel.

God confuses their language so that they will move away from making idols whether buildings, accomplishments, or even themselves.  This great confusion and emptiness must have been a moment of openness to what come next and to the Holy Spirit.  That certainly seems to be true for me as I look back of moments of confusion, doubt, and fear.

 

 Exodus

Arrival at Sinai.

God speaks to Moses in a way that must have been fearful for the people watching the event.  Sometimes for me, I experience the Holy Spirit after fearful events in my life.  Making the decision to leave my teaching job and deciding to go to the seminary to see if I had a vocation as a priest was terrifying for me.  Yet that is where I experienced the Spirit.

 

 

 

 

 

Ezekiel

Vision of the Dry Bones.

Imagine, walking among dead dry bones.  This seems a bit spooky.  I'm not sure that would be easy to do.  Sometimes in my life, it has been in the spooky things, where I have met the Holy Spirit.  Amazing that God can work this way at times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Joel

THE DAY OF THE LORD

I think that for all of us, we turn to the Lord in the moments and events that disturb our, "same place, same time" comfort zone.  When disasters happen whether global or  to an individual, we seem to turn to the Lord.  The best in most of us, seems to come out at those times.  Again, the Holy Spirit

 

 

 Romans 8: 

 ALL CREATION IS GROANING

Again, it would seem that we are most open to the Spirit when things are not necessarily going as we wish.

 

 

 

 

This Pentecost gives me courage to know that at times, God does also work in ways that seem strange to me.  

I pray that the Spirit will continue to come upon each of us with His gifts, so that we can all be open to the workings of God, whether familiar or unfamiliar.

 

Come Holy Spirit

Fill us with Your Light

Alleluia

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Ascension on Sunday Cycle B

 May 20, 2012

Click here to review the readings

We continue in the liturgical season of Easter

which will not end until the fulfillment of Pentecost

 May, 27th this year.

 

In the first reading from Acts we are asked the question...

Why are you just standing there looking up?

During this whole season of Easter we have experienced the great love that God has for each of us.  His willingness to bring each of us to eternal life.  We have heard that in our Baptism we were called and anointed to be the presence of Christ in the world today.  We have also heard that at times we fail, yet God's great love is giving us mercy and forgiveness and compassion time after time.

Each of us likes to be comfortable and just reflect on the events that have brought us closer to eternal life.  But we are called, as the disciples were, to go into action.  That means to continue to have mercy, compassion, forgiveness, etc as did had.

 

 

In the second reading, in the Letter to the Ephesians, Paul is praying for the Ephesians, that they may continue to grow in their faith, to have there eyes opened more and more each day.  

It is so easy for us to just want to be comfortable with where we are in our spirituality and not progress.  

But each day, we too have to continue to grow and sometimes that means even in the situations and difficulties that are not so easy.  We would rather just stand around and looking up and remembering all that Jesus did, rather than to go into action ourselves and fulfill what our Baptism has called us to.

In the Gospel we hear Jesus speak as he is taken up into the heavens.  

What does He say?  

Just stand around looking up?

Absolutely not.  

He says that we are to go into the whole world and proclaim the Good News.  

...That there is God who wants all of us in eternal life.  

He is a God of great compassion and mercy.  

He comes for the sinner that is a part of each of us.  

Our sins can no longer condemn us to eternal death.

There is hope for all of us here on earth.  

We can receive the free gift of eternal life.  

It is free. 

In our own times of showing compassion, forgiveness, and mercy to others, even to the enemy, we make this Good News present to others, especially the enemy.

 Each of us needs to continue to pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit so we can do this more and more in our daily lives.  

We need to have the courage to see our own sinfulness when we fail and pray for conversion.  

 

We have nothing to fear.

 

Christ is Risen, Alleluia

Christ is Truly Risen, Alleluia

6th Sunday Easter Cycle B

May 13, 2012

Click here to review the readings for this Sunday

At the Last Supper Jesus talks with his Apostles.

What were they talking about???

The answer is ...

Sometimes we think in worldly terms as what it means to love.  We all know how easy it is to love the person we respect, or the person who looks nice and dresses well, or the person who goes along with what we think and believe.  Right?

 

But this Sunday's readings challenge us to move in another direction.  

To love those outside our own comfort zone.  

This is something that at first seems impossible.

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of Peter going out of his comfort zone.

Shortly before this reading, he has had a vision, showing him that what God has made clean he must not reject.  This was dealing with what his Jewish background taught him about food.

 

Peter now goes to the household of a Gentile, a non Jew, Cornelius, a Roman centurion. Everyone knew that you do not associate with these unclean gentiles, yet Peter goes to speak with this household, much as Jesus associated with the dirty, the gentiles and the sinner, with everyone.

 

 

 

Peter experiences the great faith that Cornelius and his household have and Peter sees that they are to be baptized.

What a change from what the Jewish traditions of the first Christians insisted upon.

It is interesting that this became a dividing point for the primitive Church.  

The Christians who have converted from Judaism were insisting that gentiles who want to follow the Christian way, must first because Jews and follow Jewish ritual.  In fact, the first Council of Jerusalem gathers and were inspired to say no to this idea.  

All could become Christian and follow Christ without becoming Jews.  This change must have been diffciult for many, just as we have seen changes that are difficult for many.  But the Holy Spirit continues to lead the Church, now as it did in primitive times.

What a great example of showing love to those, that in the Jewish society of the time, were considered unclean and rejected.

 

In the second reading from the first letter of St. John, he tells the community he is addressing, that it is this love that Jesus has given them that makes God present in the world.  That love is to be for everyone, even the enemy, even the one who wants to destroy us, whether physically, mentally, or spiritually.  That becomes the real challenge for all of us.

 

 

In the Gospel reading, which is part of the discourse that Jesus gives at the Last Supper, He speaks of love and how important that is for his followers.  He will demonstrated with his Passion, what this love really is.  A love that the world would seem ridiculous; love to all, even the enemy.

 

How is this possible for us?  

We live in a world like that of the primitive Church, in the respect of thinking that it is stupid to die for the enemy.  Certainly, many could not understand how Jesus, after hours of suffering could forgive and love those who were the enemy.

Yet, He clearly says that He has chosen the Apostle and also us to make this love present today.  

To die for the other may not be a physical dying, but a psychological dying.  

To show compassion, forgiveness, mercy, tolerance, patience, etc can, at moments, be ways to die for the enemy, e.g. the one we find difficult at the moment.

 

For sure, there will be moments we fail at this love, but the way to grow in this direction is to, a moments, recognize that we don't love in this dimension, and not to just dismiss the lack of love by thinking, well, no one could love in this way, after all, I am not Christ.  But wait one moment.  In our baptism we, like the Apostles at the Last Supper, are called to make God present in the world by the same love that Christ demonstrated. When we fail, and we will at times, but to continue to pray for our own conversion, so that on our deathbed we can forgive and love even the ones who may have hurt us.

We can and will do this because....

 

Christ is Risen, Alleluia

Christ is Truly Risen, Alleluia

5th Sunday of Easter Cycle B

May 6, 2012

Click here to review the readings

 

So great is the Resurrection and what it promises each of us

that we continue liturgically to celebrated Easter

It would seem that a good place to start, as we look at this Sunday's readings, is with the Gospel  from John.  It is from the  discourse that Jesus gives to his Apostle at the Last Supper to give them strength and courage for what lies ahead in each of their lives.  He knows that they will face doubts, struggles, fears, and disbelief in seeing Him as the Messiah when His suffering and death happen.  Those words, we hear today, can also be strength for us where ever we are at this moment.

We hear the words,  

Remain in me!

In our moment of carrying the cross, our doubts, our fear, our struggles, can be so great that we turn to worldly things to take away the cross.  The Apostles, too, were tempted to flee from the struggles and in fact, they did do that especially during the Passion of Christ.

It is so easy to believe these above words from the Gospel when all is going well, but what about those times of struggle that come for each of us?

It is so tempting to not remain in Christ, but to turn to other worldly things that take our minds off of following the way of Christ.

Then we can also look at the events in Saul's life. He thinks, he is on his  life's course of which he is sure of.  He has studied the law of Moses and knows it in and out.  He has become a Rabbi and know that this Christian thing is opposed to all that he believes.  He is on his way to Damascus to capture Christians and take them back to Jerusalem to suffer and be killed, when the Lord calls him and changes his name to Saul.  We all know the story of his conversion, of how he was thrown from his horse and blinded.

After this conversion experience, Paul stays in Damascus for many days and goes into the synagogues and speaks of Jesus.  Imagine the fear people must have had of him who was this great rabbi, and now speaks about what he was so opposed to, Jesus as Messiah.  No wonder the Christians, converted Jews, did not trust him and were afraid of him.

Sometimes, God is working in our lives in the exact thing or things that we fear.

I will not say I'm sorry.

I will not go out of my way for that person.

Paul must have come to the conclusion that the only way is what we will hear in the second reading from the letter of John.

 

Paul knows that the love of Christ is the love that is willing to die for the other, is willing to face struggles and difficulties.

 

We know that we are to preach Christ's love, forgiveness, and mercy to others.  And for sure we are.  But how is the question. 

 We are given the answer in the second reading.

We pray for the grace to be able to love as He loved.  We pray for the grace to have mercy, compassion and forgiveness even to the enemy, to the one who bugs us the most, to the one who is so difficult and ungrateful.  

Or do we, in those difficult times of struggle, cut yourself off from the vine.  We all do so at moments in our lives.  The real gift is to be able to discover that, at times, we don't love as Christ.  We don't abide in Him.  That is the moment to pray for our own conversion, to like Saul, be knocked us our horse and then humbled so we can forgive, and love, even the ones who do not deserve it.

 

In today's liturgy, Christ comes once again to assure each us that we are called, and we are to make Christ present to other by our lives.  One of the options from the new English translation for dismissal at mass is, "Go, glorifying the Lord with your life".

 

 

 

 

 

Christ is Risen, Alleluia

Christ is truly Risen, Alleluia

Fourth Sunday of Easter-Cycle B

April 29, 2012

Review the readings for this Sunday - Click here

 

 

 

 

The Easter Season continues liturgically for us; wow!

So great was this event for the world!

 

Sometimes when we have the grace to see our own stubbornness, our own selfishness, our own sin, it is so difficult to believe that God will not get me or punish me.  Yet that is so far from the truth.  He often allows things that will bring us back to His Love.  We can look at how much he loves us always, that means everyday in all that happens.  

 

Unbelievable?  But it is the truth.

 

 

In the second reading from the first letter of John, we are told, once again, just as that early Christian community was told, we are, through our baptism, loved by God and made His children.  We may at times, need to pray for the grace to believe this, even when we are faced with having to carry the cross, or facing a difficulty in our life.  

I remember well when my spiritual director told me that the crosses in my life were God kissing me, and I remember asking him to tell God not to kiss me so much.  But as I look back on what were difficulties, what were the things I rejected, the crosses, at the time, now they seem to make sense and I can see that God was calling me to see who I really am and that He does love me deeply.

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter is addressing the crowd after they had seen the crippled man from birth cured.  Peter tells them that it was through Jesus, the promised messiah,  that the crippled was cured, yet few of them can believe.  They wanted a messiah who was a political figure, one who would make life easy for them.  Aren't we the same at times? We want a messiah who will take all our problems and struggles.

As we heard in the first reading, He is the corner stone rejected.

That should give us pause to look at what do we reject.  Perhaps that rejection is trying to show us something.  Do I really believe that God is looking out for me?  Maybe the answer at this moment is no.  I don't trust and I am not sure I believe.  

At moments I may be like doubting Thomas.  But remember, God did not abandon Thomas and He will not abandon us, even when we cannot accept the struggles and difficulties, the crosses, in our lives. 

 

Why is it so difficult, at times, to realize that what we reject may well be the corner stone for us.  Certainly Jesus realized that in all that happened to Him, the good times and the times of struggle.  They were His Father loving him.  The same is true for us.

 

 

The gospel was written for a people who knew about sheep.  They knew how stubborn they could be.

 

Yet, in spite of the stubbornness of the sheep, the shepherd will always seek the lost one, the stubborn one, the one wanting to be one his own, etc.  

 

 

 

 In every event, He is seeking us out.  That is easy to accept when all is well, but how difficult it is when the corner stone appears and is rejected by us, just as it was by those who could not believe the messiah had to suffer and die and call them to carry the cross which would lead them to eternal life.

 

Amazing that God will never give up on us.

He is constantly seeking us out.  

How stubborn are we today?

No matter, He is seeking us out

Alleluia, Christ is Risen

Alleluia, truly Christ is Risen 

Third Sunday of Easter-cycle B

April 22, 2012

Click here to review the readings for this Sunday

 

The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles takes place after John and Peter had, in the name of Jesus, just cured the crippled man.  All around are amazed.  Peter addresses them, saying it was in the name of Jesus that the crippled man was cured.  

In a sense, each of us is called daily, like Peter and John to make the presence of the Risen Lord known to others.  How do we do that?  The answer is very simple, but it takes our own conversion, seeing our own sins and seeking forgiveness.  It is then that we can appreciate what we will hear in the second reading from the First Letter of John.

 

As we see how much God forgives us, even puts up with us again and again; then we can become the presence of Christ for others.  That is so easy to say, but so hard to accomplish.  It will be through the grace and mercy of God that He will work though us and allow others to find the Risen Lord.  It starts with seeing our own sins, which can be so difficult.  We always want to find excuses for our sin, or to blame others for our sin, or to blame our  lack of sleep, etc.  But as we are willing to be truthful with ourselves we can experience what St. John says in his First Letter.

It is so easy to forget how much God loves us and is willing, again and again to forgive us.  All we need to do is be honest with ourselves.  The Gospel from Luke shows us how Jesus does not give up on his disciples, who in spite of others telling them, "He Is Risen", they do not believe.  

 We know the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  

 

 

They experience the Risen Lord in the Breaking of the Bread and then rush back to Jerusalem to tell the others that they have seen the Lord.  Again, the others have doubts and don't really believe.

Again and again the disciples have doubts and fears; they have abandoned Him.  They know their sins.  And yet God does not give up on them.  Once they experience God's great mercy, compassion, and forgiveness, they are ready to make Christ prsent for others.  

The same is true for us.  Why are we afraid to see that we are no better than the disciples in their sins.  The Lord will not give up on us.  Sin and death can now be overcome.

 

 

Alleluia, Christ is Risen

Alleluia, Christ is truly Risen

Second Sunday of Easter cycle B

 

Click here to review the readings for this Sunday

 

The eight days after Easter  are liturgically all treated as if they were Easter, so we have the Octave of Easter.  The celebration is so important that for eight days were are reminded of the importance of the Resurrection of Christ.  In fact, for 50 days we will be in the liturgical season of Easter.  Everyday we are to go to the Galilee of our lives to experience the Resurrected Lord.  We are like the disciples who often do not recognize the Risen Lord when He appeares to us each day.  

Have you experience the resurrected Lord today?  

Keep your eyes opened.  

Often it is in retrospect that we know He was appearing to us.

 

 

The first reading is taken from a book that gives us an early history of the primitive Church between the years of the Ascension of Christ until 63A.D. or about some 30 years.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

This first Christian Community was in Jerusalem and they share everything in common.  We can look at that lifestyle and say that it is impossible for us.  We can even doubt, as we will hear about Thomas in the gospel that will be proclaimed.  

But that is not the point.  The point is to take a look at our lives.  

Do we really share?

Are we willing to go out of our way for the other person?  

Are we willing to give up and share some of our time, or our idea of how things should be, or how others others should be?

We can have lots of opportunities to share ourselves.  But we may even discover that we are more selfish than we thought.  

Watch and see this week at how many opportunities we will have to reach out to the other and share.

Are we willing to listen to a person who is difficult or at times is even boring?

Sharing things is important, but we will have a lot more opportunities to share ourselves.  The early Christian community discovered that sharing is a way of experiencing the Risen Christ.

  It is thought that John wrote this letter to the Churches of Asia Minor between the years of 90 and 100 A.D.  It calls them to realized that their faith received at Baptism has the power to overcome the ideas of the world.  That is certainly true today.  The world ideas do not seem to be in sharing, but in getting all we can get for ourselves.  All of the readings help us to realized that we can really be caught up in the ideas of today's world.  Going out of our way for others can be a way of experiencing the Risen Lord. Or do we doubt?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alleluia, Christ is Risen

 

Alleluia, Christ is truly Risen

Easter Story....Long but beautiful.

 

The Empty Egg

Jeremy was born with a twisted body and a slow mind. At the age of 12 he was still in second grade, seemingly unable to learn. His teacher, Doris Miller, often became exasperated with him. He would squirm in his seat, drool, and make grunting noises. At other times, he spoke clearly and distinctly, as if a spot of light had penetrated the darkness of his brain. Most of the time, however, Jeremy just irritated his teacher.

One day she called his parents and asked them to come in for a consultation.  As the Forresters entered the empty classroom, Doris said to them, "Jeremy really belongs in a special school. It isn't fair to him to be with younger children who don't have learning problems. Why, there is a five year gap between his age and that of the other students."

Mrs. Forrester cried softly into a tissue, while her husband spoke. "Miss Miller," he said, "there is no school of that kind nearby. It would be a terrible shock for Jeremy if we had to take him out of this school. We know he really likes it here." Doris sat for a long time after they had left, staring at the snow outside the window. Its coldness seemed to seep into her soul. She wanted to sympathize with the Forresters. After all, their only child had a terminal illness.

But it wasn't fair to keep him in her class. She had 18 other youngsters to teach, and Jeremy was a distraction. Furthermore, he would never learn to read and write. Why waste any more time trying?

As she pondered the situation, guilt washed over her. Here I am complaining when my problems are nothing compared to that poor family, she thought.  Lord, please help me to be more patient with Jeremy.

From that day on, she tried hard to ignore Jeremy's noises and his blank stares. Then one day, he limped to her desk, dragging his bad leg behind him.

"I love you, Miss Miller," he exclaimed, loud enough for the whole class to hear. The other students snickered, and Doris' face turned red. She stammered, "Wh-why that's very nice, Jeremy. N-now please take your seat."

Spring came, and the children talked excitedly about the coming of Easter.  Doris told them the story of Jesus, and then to emphasize the idea of new life springing forth, she gave each of the children a large plastic egg.  "Now," she said to them, "I want you to take this home and bring it back tomorrow with something inside that shows new life. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Miss Miller," the children responded enthusiastically - all except for Jeremy. He listened intently; his eyes never left her face. He did not even make his usual noises. Had he understood what she had said about Jesus' death and resurrection? Did he understand the assignment? Perhaps she should call his parents and explain the project to them.

That evening, Doris' kitchen sink stopped up. She called the landlord and waited an hour for him to come by and unclog it. After that, she still had to shop for groceries, iron a blouse, and prepare a vocabulary test for the next day. She completely forgot about phoning Jeremy's parents.

The next morning, 19 children came to school, laughing and talking as they placed their eggs in the large wicker basket on Miss Miller's desk. After they completed their math lesson, it was time to open the eggs. In the first egg, Doris found a flower. "Oh yes, a flower is certainly a sign of new life," she said. "When plants peek through the ground, we know that spring is here." A small girl in the first row waved her arm. "That's my egg, Miss Miller," she called out.

The next egg contained a plastic butterfly, which looked very real. Doris held it up. "We all know that a caterpillar changes and grows into a beautiful butterfly. Yes, that's new life, too." Little Judy smiled proudly and said, "Miss Miller, that one is mine."

Next, Doris found a rock with moss on it. She explained that moss, too, showed life. Billy spoke up from the back of the classroom, "My daddy helped me," he beamed.

Then Doris opened the fourth egg. She gasped. The egg was empty. Surely it must be Jeremy's, she thought, and of course, he did not understand her instructions. If only she had not forgotten to phone his parents. Because she did not want to embarrass him, she quietly set the egg aside and reached for another. Suddenly, Jeremy spoke up. "Miss Miller, aren't you going to talk about my egg?"

Flustered, Doris replied, "But Jeremy, your egg is empty." He looked into her eyes and said softly, "Yes, but Jesus' tomb was empty, too."

Time stopped. When she could speak again, Doris asked him, "Do you know why the tomb was empty?" "Oh, yes," Jeremy said, "Jesus was killed and put in there. Then His Father raised Him up."

The recess bell rang. While the children excitedly ran out to the schoolyard, Doris cried. The cold inside her melted completely away.

Three months later, Jeremy died. Those who paid there respects at the funeral home were surprised to see 19 eggs on top of his casket, all of them empty.

   

 

Holy Saturday Easter Vigil

During tonight’s Easter Vigil, we sit in darkness. As Christ is in descent, we too are in limbo. In silence, we wait for the coming of our Lord. We wait for the Lumen Christi (Light of Christ), where together, from a single flame, we can be light unto the world. [2]

Our mysteries of Holy Week reflection continues. Today, we are the seeds under the earth, in darkness; but experiencing movement towards new life. Our commitment is about to burst forth; yet is still unseen. These paradoxical moments unite us to Christ where we witness death and life; co-eternal in the heart of Christ.