The Marvel of God’s Life within us
Introduction
You must know that your body is a temple
of the Holy Spirit who is within – the Spirit you have received from God. You are not your own. You have been purchased, and at a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians
6:19-20)
The above short quote from St. Paul
says it all. Yet it is but a summary of
the greatest gift that God could possibly give to us human beings and that is
the gift of himself. If only we
understood this better, especially the consequences of having his presence
verses not having it, our lives would be changed forever. For we would never want to do anything which
would bring about the loss of this most marvelous gift. We would never want to intentionally commit
another sin in our whole lives. In these
few pages I will do my best to make this reality more clearly understood and
believed in, especially relying on the very words of Jesus himself. In the quote above, St. Paul says that we
have been bought at price. What he is
referring to, of course, is the passion and death of Jesus Christ. Jesus had to undergo this before our sins
could be forgiven and we would then be enabled to receive a share in God’s life,
the Holy Spirit.
Thus I would like to begin
with the words of Jesus, the Son of God who clearly spells out the desire of
his heavenly Father and himself regarding this gift. Chapter 14 of St. John’s
gospel is my favorite chapter in the bible.
That God’s wishes to live within us is not something the Apostles or the
Church has made up. It is the truth
coming from Jesus and there is nothing in life that has a greater value for now
or in the future. The following is, I think, is the most important passage in
the bible.
John 14:15-21
“If
you love me you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father and he
will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of Truth,
which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you
and will be in you. I will not leave you
orphans; I will come to you. In a little
while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me because I live and
you will live. On that day you will
realize that I am in the Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me. And whoever
loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to
him.”
After Jesus had died on the cross and
risen from the dead, he wanted as many people as possible to receive the
benefits of his loving sacrifice. In the
next pages, we see that he gave his apostles a mandate to go out into the whole
world and tell the good news to every creature.
Jesus depended and today depends on his followers to do this on his
behalf. He tells them that they will not
be alone in spreading his teaching and grace, but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit
will be with them always even until the end of the age……. Fr. Marvin Deutsch
Pentecost (May 15,2016)
Romans 8:14-17 Those who are led by the Spirit of God are
the sons of God. For you did not receive
a Spirit of slavery, but you received a Spirit of Adoption through whom we cry,
Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and if children then
heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so
that we may also be glorified with him.
John 14:15-16, 23b-26 Jesus
said to his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give
you another Advocate to be with you always.
Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we
will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Those who do not love me, do not keep my
word; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. I have told you this while I am with
you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom
the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of
all that I told you.
Dear friends in Christ, There are many ways in which people can be
differentiated. For example, people are
divided according to their political beliefs.
We have liberals and conservatives. We have Republicans, Democrats and
independents. We have those who are
prolife and those who are prochoice.
People are also divided according to race. We have Caucasian and Asian, Afro Americans
and many others. We have obese people
and those who have the proper weight.
We have the rich and the poor. We
could go on and on. There is no end to
it. But there is another very important
way that people can be differentiated, the way Jesus did it in Chapter 25 of
St. Matthew’s gospel. Jesus divides
every one into one of two categories, the saved and the condemned. At the last judgement Jesus says that all
mankind will be divided like a shepherd divides the sheep and goats; the sheep
will be on his right hand and the goats on his left. The sheep are the ones who loved the
downtrodden and helped them; the goats are those who did not. And here is a
division of tremendous importance. Those
on the right will enter into paradise prepared by the Father since the
foundation of the world; and unfortunately, those on the left will be
condemned.
In our present day life we can also make a
similar distinction as Jesus did using different terms which have the same
meaning. We have those who possess the
Spirit of Jesus and those who do not.
St. Paul says in Romans 8:9 that “if the Spirit of Jesus is not in you, you do not belong to him.” He also says in Chapter 8:11 –
If the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who
raised Christ from the dead will bring your mortal bodies to life also, through
his Spirit dwelling in you. And so
what is this Spirit that St. Paul is
talking about. He is talking about
the same Spirit that came down upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. When Peter got up and preached in Jerusalem
on Pentecost Sunday, the listeners asked him – and what should we do now? St. Peter answered, “Repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit.” (Acts 2:37-38)
It is quite fascinating
how everything moved so fast after Jesus ascended into heaven. It was only 10 days later that the Holy
Spirit came. Pentecost is considered the
birthday of the Church. It is also, of
course, the birthday of the gift of the Holy Spirit. If we have the Holy Spirit, we have all the
things that St. Paul is talking about in the reading at the top of the page
which is one of the readings for the mass of Pentecost. Because we possess the Holy Spirit, We are
the adopted sons and daughters of God and coheirs with Christ of the kingdom
which means we are destined to live in the kingdom of God upon our death and
also receive a glorified body like that of Jesus on the day of the resurrection
from the dead.
I would like to close this short homily
with a few phrases from the Liturgy of the Hours for Pentecost which helps to
renew us with joy and understanding of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our
hearts and lives. They also encourage us to live a life without serious sin
that the Spirit of Christ may be always within us.
“Tongues of fire appeared before
the Apostles and the Holy Spirit came upon each of them. Alleluia.” “Come Almighty and ever living God, you
fulfilled the Easter promise by sending us your Holy Spirit. May that Spirit unite the races and nations
on earth to proclaim your glory. “Grant
this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever Amen.
The Mandate of Christ to teach all
nations
April 25. 2016 – Feast day of St. Mark
Mark 16:15-20 Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to
them: “Go into the whole world and
proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever
believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be
condemned. These signs will accompany
those who believe: In my name they will
drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents in their hands
and if they drink any deadly thing, is will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they
will recover.” Then the Lord Jesus,
after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right
hand of God. But they went forth and
preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word
through accompanying signs.
As you may know, what Jesus asked his
disciples to do after he left them is called the mandate. In other words, it was something much more
than a request. It was to be the most
important part of their mission. Jesus
gave the apostles this mandate just before he ascended into heaven, his very
last departing words to emphasize their importance. The mandate is given in 3 of the 4 gospels.
It is not found in the gospel of St. John. The gospel for today from Mark
speaks of going out into the whole world to proclaim the gospel to every
creature. We find a very similar mandate
in the gospel of St. Matthew as we will see in a future paragraph.
St.
Luke’s gospel speaks to more of the contents regarding sin, but it boils down to have the same
meaning. In Luke 24:46 we read, And Jesus said to them, Thus it is written
that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that
repentance for the forgiveness of sin would be preached in his name to all the
nations, beginning from Jerusalem….
Why is the mandate so important? The
basic need is there – every human being stands in need of forgiveness and
redemption. Without forgiveness there
can be no reconciliation with God.
Without reconciliation, there can be no gift of the Holy Spirit. Without the gift of the Holy Spirit we cannot
belong to Jesus and his kingdom as adopted sons and daughters.
All of our recent popes have emphasized
the importance and the primacy of being faithful to this mandate of Jesus, not
only because Jesus said so, but also realizing the salvation of so any souls
depend upon it.. I think it is good to
emphasize here how each of our recent popes have collaborated on this basic
activity of Church and priesthood, bringing the saving grace of Jesus to the
whole world for the salvation of souls.
We begin with Pope Francis’
Evangelii Gaudium, (The Joy of the Gospel) number 19: Evangelization
takes place in obedience to the missionary mandate of Christ: “Go, therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Mt. 28:19-20) In these verses we see how the risen Christ
sent his followers to preach the gospel in every time and place, so that faith
in him might spread to every corner of the earth.
Pope Paul VI, in Evangelli
Nuntiandi, no. 27, says: Proclamation (of the gospel) is the
permanent priority of mission. The
Church cannot elude Christ’s explicit mandate, nor deprive men and women of the
“Good News” about their being loved and saved by God. Evangelization will always contain as the
foundation, center and at the same time the summit of its dynamism – a clear
proclamation that in Jesus Christ salvation is offered to all people as a gift
of God’s grace and mercy.”
Pope St. John Paul II, in
Redemtoris Missio, number 44, says: All forms of missionary activity are
directed to this proclamation, which reveals and gives access to the mystery
hidden for ages and made know in Christ (cf. Eph 3:3-9; Col 1:2-29) the mystery
that lies at the heart of the Church’s mission and life, as the hinge on which
all evangelization turns.
Pope Emeritus, Benedct XVI answers a question: When he was asked if people of other
religions should be given the opportunity to know Christ, he responded: There are those who say that non-Christians
should be left in peace out of respect for their own “authentic” beliefs,
whatever that may be. But how can this
be the case if the true authenticity of every person is found in communion with
Christ and not without him? Isn’t it our
duty to offer them this essential reality?
In the life to come,
there will be only one God and one Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, himself in John 14, says that no one
can come to the Father except through him.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. It makes perfect sense, therefore, to search
and find the answer to the meaning of life now.
Without Jesus there can be no future happiness. Shouldn’t everyone want to get acquainted
with him now?
Why
Jesus came – the primacy of forgiveness
Second Monday in
Advent – December 7, 2015
Luke 5:17-26
One day as Jesus was
teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come from every village of Galilee Judea
and Jerusalem
Then the scribes and
Pharisees began to ask themselves, "Who is this who speaks
blasphemies? Who but God alone can
forgive sins?" Jesus knew their
thoughts and said to them in reply, "What are you thinking in your
hearts? Which is easier to say,
"Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise and walk? But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" - he said to
the one who was paralyzed, "I say to you, rise pick up your stretcher, and
go home."
He stood up immediately,
picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. Then astonishment seized them all and they
glorified God, and, struck with awe, they said, "We have seen incredible
things today."
Today's gospel answers a
very important question for us. What was
the primary reason why Jesus came down upon earth? It is true that the Jewish people at the time
of Christ had the common feeling that the time was ripe for the coming of the
Messiah predicted by the prophets. But
were they sure of what kind of a Messiah they were really waiting for? Were they looking for a Messiah who would be
a suffering servant, one who would be treated badly and eventually be put to
death? I don't think so.
We see in Chapter 6 of St. John's gospel after Jesus had
multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed the 5000, that the people wanted to
seize him and make him king. He would be
like a "bread king". How
wonderful it would be to have someone as King who could provide them with food
regardless of droughts and other problems.
Jesus also worked many miracles healing the sick, curing lepers, giving
sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, etc.
How great it would be to have a Messiah who could take care of all their
ills and complaints. And how about
someone who could take away the oppression of the Romans? The Romans ruled the country with a strong
arm and an iron fist. There were
soldiers every where. The Jewish leaders
were very limited in the powers they had over the people. Most Jews wanted a Messiah who could overcome
the Roman oppression so once again they could have a great and free nation like
at the time of David.
To find the real reason for Jesus' coming,
let us return to today's gospel. Jesus
was in Capernaum ,
Galilee , inside a house, teaching and
healing. (see also Mark 2) The house was jammed packed. People from all over the country had heard
about this miracle worker. The scribes
and Pharisees came from as far away as Jerusalem
to check this man out. Who was he
anyway? Then we have the 4 men coming upon
the scene carrying the paralyzed man on a stretcher. But, how to get Jesus' attention with so many
people around? They figured out a way,
quite clever indeed. They would remove
the tiles and
lower him
through the roof in front of Jesus. Certainly
Jesus would cure the paralyzed man right away. But Jesus does no such
thing. He says to the man, "Your
sins are forgiven". What is this,
thought the Pharisees? Only God can
forgive sins. The Pharisees thought to
themselves - this man is blaspheming. He is making himself equal to God. These
thoughts were not audible, but Jesus knew what they were thinking which upon
reflection must have amazed the
Pharisees. So Jesus says, "Which is
easier to say, Your sins are forgiven or to say rise and walk. But that you may know that the Son of Man has
the power to forgive sins, he said to the man, "Rise, pick up your
stretcher and go home."
Everyone, including the Pharisees, were
amazed. Jesus got his point across. His primary purpose for coming upon earth was
for the forgiveness of sins. The miracles were performed out of compassion,
yes, but more particularly to prove that he was God and came primarily for the
forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to God.
There was a much greater need than bodily healing; Jesus came to
reconcile us with his Father leading to eternal happiness and joy, something
permanent, even after death.
This story was just the beginning. Before
they would finally understand what Jesus was telling them, it would take his
whole life and the coming of the Holy Spirit. However, in Jesus' life, he made
it very clear that he had to die on the cross before this forgiveness could
come about. We are reminded of this
every time we attend mass. The words of
consecration of the wine into the blood of Christ, tells us. Over the wine, the priest says:
Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my
blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for
you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me. (See Luke 26:28)
During
this Advent season let us pray for a deeper faith in why Jesus came and a
deeper repentance for our sins and failings. A good confession is invaluable.
Then, we will celebrate his birth with great joy, yet without forgetting what
is to come in the life hereafter for our good and salvation.
With
His Baptism, Jesus Becomes the Life-giving Spirit for Us
2nd Sunday after Christmas
Matt 3:13-17
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan
Today, the feast day of
the Baptism of the Lord, marks the end of the Christmas season and the
beginning of ordinary time. During the
Christmas season we meditated on the birth of Jesus and his early days. Today we begin to meditate on his public life
which began right after he was baptized by John in the Jordan
.
Much has been written on the meaning of
the Baptism of Jesus. It is said that
Jesus did not need to be baptized because he had no sin, but being baptized
showed his desire to be identified with sinful mankind - all in need of
conversion and forgiveness. While this
is true, there is a much more that can be said about this baptism. Jesus was not a member of the ruling class
which consisted of the high priests who were from the Tribe of the Levites.
Before beginning his public life, Jesus needed to be approved by a prophet sent
from God in order to be recognized for who he was, the Messiah, the anointed
one. John played that role perfectly. He
told his disciples "Behold the lamb
of God; follow him" (John 1:36 ) In order to be authorized, Jesus also
needed to be commissioned by God, the father himself whose voice is heard
giving his approval after the baptism.
"You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased."
At his Baptism, Jesus received the
anointing of the Holy Spirit. As God he always had the Spirit but as man
he needed to be anointed by the Holy Spirit in a new way. The very meaning of Messiah is "the
anointed one". The Old Testament
scriptures speak of the Messiah, for example in Isaiah 61, that the Spirit will
come upon him.
"The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me for the Lord has anointed me and sent me to
bring glad tidings to the lowly"
We may ask - If Jesus as God already had the Holy Spirit, why did he
need to be anointed again as man. St.
Cyril of Alexandria , Egypt
Christ
did not receive the Spirit for himself, but rather for us in him (as man); for
it is through Christ that all gifts come down to us.
.
In Christ we will receive a body animated by a higher life-principle,
which will be endowed with the spiritual qualities of incorruptibility, glory,
power and spirituality, which are properties of God himself. (cf. footnote -
American Bible, 1 Cor. 15:42-49) This
can only happen if we receive the Spirit from Jesus. Thus we must be born again.(John 3:3).
When Jesus was anointed in his humanity by
the Holy Spirit at the Jordan ,
a great change comes over him. At Nazareth in his youth he
did not work miracles or stand out in any way, but was simply known as the son
of the carpenter. But once he was
anointed at the Jordan ,
he is then transformed by the Spirit as he begins his public life. St. Luke in his gospel (chapter 4) makes it
very clear that after Jesus' Baptism he
is led by the Spirit., first into the desert and then to his home town of
Nazareth. At Nazareth , he is invited to read the
scriptures in the synagogue on the Sabbath and chooses the passage from Isaiah.
(Ch. 61 in our bibles). This is a
messianic passage about the coming of the anointed one which the people all
recognized. When Jesus sits down he tells his fellow townspeople that Today this reading is fulfilled in your hearing, which totally shocks them
because they considered him such an ordinary person, the son of the carpenter.
With the anointing of the Spirit, the whole life of Jesus was changed.
Today, as we begin "Ordinary Time", let
us renew our efforts as we meditate on Jesus' public life, to know and love him
more and more. He is our Life Giving
Spirit not only in this life but in the life to come. With him our lives have infinite value and a
marvelous happiness which will never end.
As we conclude our homily, it is well to
keep in mind that what we have said is not something new. There was a man, a learned bishop and doctor
of the Church, who lived from 376 to 444 AD, who wrote something quite similar
to what we have said. His name is St.
Cyril of Alexandria
In a plan of
unsurpassing beauty the Creator of the universe decreed the Renewal of all things in Christ. In his design for restoring human nature to
its original condition, he gave a promise that he would pour out on it the Holy
Spirit along with his other gifts, for otherwise our nature could not enter
once more into the peaceful and secure possession of those gifts.
He therefore appointed a time for the
Holy Spirit to come upon us: this was
the time of Christ’s coming. He gave this promise when he said: “ In
those days”, that is, the days of the
Savior, “I will pour out a share of my Spirit on all
mankind.”
When the time came for this great act
of unforced generosity, which revealed
in our midst the only begotten Son, clothed with flesh on this earth, a
man born of woman, in accordance with Holy Scripture, God the Father gave the
Spirit once again. Christ, as the first
fruits of our restored nature, was the first
to receive the Spirit. John the
Baptist bore witness to this when he
said, “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven, and it rested on
him.” Christ “received the Spirit” in so
far as he was man, and in so far as man
could receive the Spirit. He did
so in such a way that, though he is the Son of God the Father, begotten of his
substance, even before the incarnation, indeed before all ages, yet he was not
offended at hearing the Father say
to him after he had become a man: “ You are my Son; today I have
begotten you.”
The Father says of Christ, who was
God, begotten of him before the ages,
that he has been “begotten today,” for the Father is to accept us in
Christ as his adopted children. The whole of our nature is present in Christ,
in so far as he is man. So the Father
can be said to give the Spirit again to the Son, though the Son possesses the
Spirit as his own, in order that we may
receive the Spirit in Christ. The
Son therefore took to himself the seed of Abraham, as Scripture says, and
became like his brothers in all things.
The
only-begotten Son receives the Spirit, but not for his own advantage ,for the
Spirit is his, and is given in him and through him, as we have already
said. He receives it to renew our nature
in its entirety and to make it whole again, for in becoming man he took our
entire nature to himself. If we reason
correctly, and use also the testimony of Scripture, we can see that Christ
did not receive the Spirit for himself, but rather for us in him; for it
is also through Christ that all gifts come down to us.
(Office of he Reading
Jesus Visits His Home Town
Monday
of Week 22
Luke 4:16-30
Jesus came to Nazareth
Rolling up the scroll, he
handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the
synagogue looked intently at him. He
said to them, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your
hearing." And all spoke highly of
him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, "Is this not the son of
Joseph?" He said to them,
"Surely you will quote me this proverb, 'Physician cure yourself and say,
do here the things that we heard were done in Capernaum land
of Sidon Israel
The gospel for today
tells us an amazing story of Jesus' early public life. It is quite obvious from this story that
Jesus was known in his home town, not as a miracle worker, but as the son of
Joseph the carpenter. This tells us
that Jesus grew up as an ordinary person.
He lived a quiet life with Mary and Joseph and did nothing outstanding
or exceptional that would attract attention.
When he leaves home and goes to the Jordan river where John was
baptizing, everything changed. What
happened to him there?
At the Jordan Jesus began a new life, his
public life. Several things happened
when he was baptized by St. John . When he stepped out of the water, The Holy
Spirit came down upon him in the form of a dove. Also a voice was heard, "This is my
beloved Son." When Jesus received
the Holy Spirit which we call the anointing of Jesus, his life changed
completely. He no longer was that quiet
unassuming man of Nazareth ,
but was energized to begin his public life under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit with all the vigor and inspiration that was needed to carry out his
Father's will for our redemption and salvation.
Also, Jesus needed the direct approval of
God his father to begin this most important work. (I think it should be noted here that Jesus
always had the Holy Spirit as God. At the Jordan , he received the Holy Spirit
in a new way in his humanity). Also, Jesus was not of the ruling class as were
the high priests. But he was the son of
God, superior in every way to any human institution. The approval of his Father from whom he
received authority as the messiah,
surpassed every human institution. He
received all these things at the Jordan . From then, as St. Luke says in chapter 4 of
his gospel, Jesus was lead by the Spirit in everything he did, first to go into
the desert to pray for 40 days and then to visit Capernaum where he began to
choose his apostles and work miracles, and then to return to his home town to
bear witness to the truth of the prophesy of Isaiah. After his baptism Jesus knew that his
messiahship had come to fruition as predicted by Isaiah. (see today's reading which refers to Isaiah
chapter 61)
The people of his home town could not get
over the transformation that had taken place in Jesus and so they wanted him to
work some miracles in order to prove that he was what he said he was. Jesus would not work miracles for the sake of
working miracles or to prove a point.
The anger of the people is quite surprising in the fact that they wanted
to throw him over the cliff. But Jesus
waked away unharmed.
Jesus knew that he had to suffer and die
for our sins in order to redeem us. This was his Father's will. The Holy Spirit was with him, leading him in
every step of the way. When Jesus
received the Holy Spirit at the Jordan
in his humanity, he became the life-giving spirit for us (1 Cor 15:45 ). Thus we too can be lead by the Spirit. St.
Paul says in Ephesians 5:25, "If the Spirit is in
you, then follow the Holy Spirit."
This should be part of our daily
prayers. "Come Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of the faithful and enkindle in them the fire of thy
love."
The Holy Spirit in the
Early Church
Seventh Monday after Easter
Act of the Apostles, 19:1-8
While Apollo was in Corinth Ephesus kingdom
of God
Some scripture scholars have called the Acts of the Apostles "The
Gospel of the Holy Spirit." The
reason for this is easily apparent. In
John's gospel, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit. He said to the apostles,
"I have told you this while I am with
you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that
the Father will send in my name - he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have
told you. (John 14: 25-26) But it is in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter
2, that we see the actual arrival of the Holy Spirit. There is a loud noise like a driving wind,
and the Spirit of Jesus comes down upon the Apostles in the form of tongues of
fire. There is an immediate change in
them and they, filled with the Holy Spirit, become fearless in preaching the
words of Jesus, that he is truly risen from the dead and is the Son of God..
In the reading for today which we have
just heard, Paul is at Ephesus
in Asia Minor (the country of Turkey today).
He finds a dozen men there who are believers.
Although they have heard about Jesus and were baptized by John the
Baptist at the Jordan River , they had only received the baptism of
repentance but not of the Holy Spirit.
They were now in Ephesus
where the gospel had not yet been preached.
When Paul finds this out, he baptizes them in the Holy Spirit and then
lays hands on them (equivalent to confirmation) after which they are filled
with the Holy Spirit and begin prophesizing and speaking in tongues. Paul stays in Ephesus and surrounding area over 2 years because
it was such an important city.
Today is no different from Paul's
time. What is it about the Christian
faith that causes so many people to try to put down Christianity and even
destroy the Church? For after all,
doesn't Christianity teach love for all peoples and the forgiveness of
enemies? I ran across something that our
Maryknoll Bishop, James E. Walsh (who was imprisoned by the communists in China for 12
years, 1960-1972) wrote that throws much light on the subject. He wrote:
Christianity
is not only a private way of salvation and a guide to a pious life; it is a way
of world salvation and a philosophy of total life. This makes it a sort of dynamite. So when you send missioners out to preach it,
it is well to get ready for some explosions.
To be a true follower
of Christ, demands self-renunciation, the taking up of one's cross and purity
of heart. Its promises are great and
wonderful, but it also requires great self-sacrifice. There are many reasons
why people do not accept the faith. Some
are deeply cultural, for example, where another religion is dominant. For others, Christianity is a great threat to
their pleasures and way of life. Others
have not received the good news for a variety of reasons such as laws
restricting its proclamation, etc. etc.
We are reminded by the words of Christ
that he said he would not leave us orphans. (John, 14:18 ) but would send us the Holy Spirit to
live within us. He also said that if
they have hated him, they would hate his followers, but more importantly, he
said the Holy Spirit would be there to help and not a hair on their heads is
forgotten. (Luke 21:12-18)
Unless
one is born again from above, he cannot enter the kingdom of God
Second
Monday after Easter
John 3:1-8
There
was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and said to him,
"Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one
can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Amen,
Amen I say to you, unless one is born
again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom
of God kingdom of God
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus that one
must be born again from above before he could enter the kingdom of heaven, it
was far above his understanding to know what Jesus was talking about. All he could think of was the natural process
of a woman giving birth and that is why he asked Jesus the question - can a man
enter his mother's womb and be born again?
How about ourselves - do we have a greater understanding than
Nicodemus? Perhaps we do, but our
understanding is still clouded with a lack of experience. I think, however, that we can approach a
much better understanding if we look at other pertinent scripture passages and
also use a quote from the Catechism which will help lift our minds and hearts
above our lack of experience.
And in Galatians 6:15, Paul says: All
that matters is that one is created anew.
This tells us that it is God's doing. To be created anew by our own power is not
possible. Only God can do it.
In Philippians 3:20, Paul says: Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we
await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body, by the
same power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to
himself.
The power to be born again and later
glorified, comes from Christ alone, and St. Paul says that without his Spirit
living within us, this glorification, that is, becoming that new creation, is
not possible. A very important quote
related to the same idea is Romans 8:9:
But
you are not of the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the
Spirit of Christ dwells in you. Whoever
does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
Thus we see that it is
Christ himself who will recreate us anew in a glorified way, even to become
like him by the power of his Spirit dwelling with in us.
There are many different ways of saying
the same thing. The catechism of the
Catholic Church speaks about the same thing but uses a different terminology. It speaks about sharing in the very nature of
God through sanctifying grace. It says:
Those who die in God's grace
and friendship and are perfectly purified, live forever with Christ. They are like God forever, for they see him
as he is.
We cannot lift ourselves
up by our own bootstraps. We cannot redeem or save ourselves. We cannot by ourselves arise above our own
nature. What happens to us is
supernatural. Just like an animal cannot
think or speak because it is above its nature, so too we cannot share in the
very life of God, unless God himself by his gifts lifts us up to become a new
creation, that is, a glorified nature.
By believing and repentance, we dispose ourselves to receiving his
greatest of all gifts, his grace here on earth and a glorified nature in the
life to come. And that, I believe, is what it means to be born again from
above. How wonderful is the love,
greatness and mercy of God. Yesterday we
celebrated Divine Mercy Sunday. In his mercy, Jesus is so anxious to give us
these supernatural gifts that he practically bends over backwards to make it
easy for us to obtain them. Through the promise Jesus revealed through Sister,
Saint Faustina, we know that mercy, forgiveness, and grace are poured down
about those who confess their sins, pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet and receive
Holy Communion during this sacred time.
The Fruits of the
Holy Spirit
Galatians 5:16-25
The original list of the fruits of the
Holy Spirit is taken from St. Paul 's
letter to the Galatians 5:16-25. Paul
first lists the works of slavery to the flesh which are: immorality, impurity,
licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of
fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking
bouts, orgies, and the like.
Paul is not trying to list them all and
what he has stated is certainly filled with redundancies. But the point is that these are all immoral
acts which lead to death of the spirit.
In fact, he says "I warn you
that those who do such things cannot enter the kingdom of God
Then Paul lists the works or fruit of the
Spirit as follows: "In contrast,
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self
control." Paul list 9 fruits. The Church has added 3 more - modesty,
goodness and chastity. (CCC No.
1832) These lists are not intended to be
exclusive or exhaustive. For example,
compassion, mercy, humility, and many
others are works or fruits of the spirit.
Love - the greatest of all the gifts - the
ability to sacrifice oneself for the good of another. As Jesus proclaimed - Greater love no one has
than to lay down his life for his
friends.
Joy - This is much more than an
emotion. Joy essentially is of the spirit.
It is an inner peace and sense of well being which comes from a good
conscience knowing that God is present
and in control of ones heart. It is
sometimes wrongly confused with pleasure which is of the good feeling of the
body and the senses. As a spiritual
writer wrote, "Man was not made for pleasure, but for joy. If you do not know the difference, you have
not begun to live." I will speak
about this again a little later.
Peace -
Jesus said, Peace I give you; not as the world gives you do I give you
peace." The peace of Jesus is the
result of the Holy Spirit within. It is
a deep satisfaction that God is in control of our lives and that his presence
is our greatest good.
Patience -
This word comes from the Latin "patire" which means to suffer
through. Patience gives us the ability
to stand firm and endure that which is disagreeable without becoming upset. I
remember working with mothers of children who were home-schoolers. I think that impatience, was the offense most
confessed by them.
Kindness -
It is this virtue which makes us
approachable to others. The kind person usually has a smile that is welcoming
and also gives one the feeling that we are not a hindrance or burden to him or
her, but very welcome.
Generosity - is the opposite of stinginess
and greed. Because of a certain
detachment to money and wealth, the generous person is free to give of his surplus
and sometimes even of his need.
Faithfulness - This is a wonderful virtue
which protects relationships and instills trust. Without this virtue, no relationship is
stable and marriages fall apart.
Self control - We often attribute this virtue
to the control of our appetites., like eating, drinking or sexual
behavior. But, it much more than that
- it keeps all of our emotions in check
preventing fits of temper and the like.
Modesty - This virtue helps one to dress
and act in such a way that is not sexually provoking. It also refers not only to what one wears,
but also the way one lives - not extravagantly but in a fashion which does not
show off or exult in one's wealth or achievements.
Chastity - enables one to have his or her sexual
inclinations under control and to live a life of purity according to ones
state. For the married person, it means
fidelity to ones spouse and to the unmarried, celibacy and inner purity. Modesty is like a sister or brother to
chastity.
Goodness - This virtue tells
us that a person is wholesome through and through - a person without guile -
straight foreword, honest and transparent.
God, who is love, by his very nature can do no evil. The person with goodness is analogously like
unto God.
In order to be enabled to function with
these fruits of the Holy Spirit, a person must be spiritually orientated. St.
Paul makes the distinction in 1 Corinthians 2 between
the natural person and the spiritual person.
He writes:
For the Spirit scrutinizes
everything, even the depths of God.
Among human beings, who knows what pertains to a person except the
spirit of the person that is within?
Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of
God. We have not received the spirit of
the world, but the Spirit that is from God.
And we speak of them not with words taught with human wisdom, but with
words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
Now the natural person does
not accept what pertains to the Sprit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and
he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually. The spiritual person, however, can judge
everything but is not subject to judgment by anyone. For who has known the mind of the lord so as
to counsel him? But we have the mind of
Christ.
The spiritual person
knows that there is a conflict within him between good and evil. He knows that he has evil impulses that must
be subdued in order to be enabled by the Spirit
to live the life of virtue and of God.
The biggest problem in the world according to St. Ignatius is the
unwillingness of people to subdue their unruly appetites. Some even see these appetites as God given,
and therefore perfectly legitimate. I remember
listening on the radio one day to an interview of a homosexual. The interviewer asked the homosexual whether
or not he considered the desires he had for a sexual relationship with another
man to be moral. The homosexual said
that he was born this way and therefore this desire came from God, and of
course since it came from God it had to be something good. I just read an article in the New York Times
(May 15, 2009 ))
about Archbishop Weakland who has recently published his autobiography, A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church
Again, we see in the
Archbishop's thinking that the mortification of ones passions is too much to
ask, even if these passions are intrinsically disordered and contrary to the
law of nature regarding God's plan for the procreation of children. The Church also teaches that those living a
single life must be chaste and celibate.
There are probably as many single people in the world as there are
gays. In chapter 5 of St. Matthew's
gospel, Jesus states that anyone lusting after a woman (giving consent to) has
already committed adultery with her in his heart. It is here in the heart, that
the decision must be made to follow the commandments and the will of God. Those
using abortion as a means of birth control, believe that it is their right to
have sex anytime they wish, even though they know that if there is a conception
they will get rid of the fetus through abortion. This is irresponsible sex and
putting the pleasure of sex above all other considerations. Jesus calls his
disciples to restrain their appetites and passions in order to be enabled to
lead the life of the Spirit..- Unless you
take up your cross and follow me you can not be my disciples. He who finds his life will loose it and he
who looses his life for my sake and gospel, will find it.
The willing is ready at hand, but
doing the good is not. For I do not do
the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. Now if I do what I do no want, it is no
longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
So then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. For I take delight in the law of God, in my
inner self, but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my
mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Miserable
one that I am! Who will save me from
this mortal body? Thanks be to God
through Jesus Christ or Lord. (Romans 7:18-25)
In Corinthians 6:15-20,
Paul writes:
Do
you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ's members and make
them the members of a prostitute? Of
course not! Or do you not know that
anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For "the two", it says "will
become one flesh". But whoever is
joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Avoid immorality. Every other sin
a person commits is outside the body. Do
you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you
have from God, and that you are not your own?
For you have been purchased at a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body.
No one experiencing
temptation should say, "I am being tempted by God"; for God is not
subject to temptation to evil. Rather,
each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire conceives and brings forth sin,
and when sin reaches maturity, it gives birth to death.
Before concluding this talk, I would like
to say a word about the distinction between the gifts and the fruits of the
Spirit and also about the 7 capital sins. The gifts and the fruits are like
cause and effect - like an automobile with a powerful engine as the cause and
the driving of the automobile as the fruit.
As regards the 7 capital sins, these are 7 inclinations to sin and the
root causes of all sin. It is
interesting to note that the virtues opposite of these sins are fruits of the
Holy Spirit. The opposite of pride is
humility; the opposite of greed is generosity;
the opposite of envy is goodness, that is, wishing well for the
other; the opposite of acedia (spiritual
sloth) is piety, which is the love for prayer, the mass and spiritual
devotions; the opposite of lust is chastity; the
opposite of gluttony is self control and moderation; the opposite of anger is kindness,
gentleness, and meekness of heart. I
just touch upon these two subjects lightly here because they are both topics
for other talks.
The secret to success, as we all know, is
Jesus. He has told us, "If you love
me, you will keep my commandments and my father will love you and I will love
you, and we will come and make our abode within you and send you the Holy
Spirit." (John 14)…."I am the vine you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him will bear
much fruit. Without me you can do
nothing" (John 15). The fruits of
the Holy Spirit are the hope of the Church, a need for civilization and the key
to peace in the world, and, most important of all, the way to salvation. The fruits of the Spirit are a sign that one
is leading a holy life. God bless you…
God’s life within us
July 27. 2005
What is the most important topic
in our lives? Nothing could be more
important than God wishing to be intimately united to those who believe and are
faithful to him. The path to this destiny is simply doing God’s will, but
unfortunately today that there are so
few who choose this path with all earnestness.
Perhaps that last sentence was shocking to some, especially today when
so many people believe that only the very wicked do not make it to the kingdom
of heaven. I remember some years ago
while in Minnesota I had a wake for a woman who had died. In my talk I asked all the people present to
pray for the deceased. On the way out I
passed by the director’s office. He
asked me to come in for a few words. He
then informed me that it was not necessary to pray for the dead because
everyone is saved.
In all my writing and preaching, I like to
go back to the source of our faith, Jesus Christ. What did he have to say about this
topic? What he said is much more
important than anyone else regardless of their wisdom and learning; for after
all he is the Son of God and knows the truth in all things and would not
deceive us. It would be very nice if everyone were saved regardless of how they
lived on earth, but that is just not the reality according to Jesus. If it were true that practically everyone is
saved than it would make little difference about how we live our life on earth,
the sacrifices we make to avoid sin, the struggles we have with evil and
temptation and how we respond to them.
And so what did Jesus say about this subject?
In Matt 7:13-14, Jesus says:
Enter
the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to
destruction and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road
that leads to life, and those who find it are few”.
And so how do we interrupt
the words of Jesus? Certainly he is not
saying that practically everyone is saved except the very, very wicked. Since the number of people born on earth is
so many, I don’t think he is saying that there will not be a great number who
will be saved. The book of Revelation
(7:9) states that the number will be so great as to be uncountable. But I
believe there will also be a great number who will not make it. Otherwise the
words of Jesus would be quite meaningless
It all boils down to our choices and how
seriously we take the true meaning of life.
Our decisions, choices and actions are extremely important. We have an interesting example and analogy in
the Old Testament. Isaac, the son of
Abraham, had two sons who were twins.
Esau was born first and Jacob shortly after. Since the inheritance went to the first born,
Esau should have received the inheritance and blessing from his Father Isaac.
Esau was a hunter and came home quite exhausted one day and found his brother,
Jacob cooking a stew. Esau asked for
some because he was famished. Jacob said
that he would give it to him if he gave him his inheritance. Esau agreed. Later on when his father gave the blessing
and inheritance to Jacob, Esau was very upset and angry. But the truth is he gave up his inheritance
for a bowl of stew. (Genesis
25:27-34)
A modern day example: A few days ago I
heard on the news (Fox – Megan Kelly) that someone hacked into the files of a
company that sells and sets up immoral affairs.
It has been very successful and has millions of applicants in its
files. The advertising slogan for the ad
is: “Life is short; have an affair”. The hackers want blackmail money or they
will inform the spouses. The slogan used
by the immoral company also has the opposite meaning for believers: “Life is
short; so do not have an affair. Your
eternal destiny is at stake here. Do not
throw your inheritance away for a bowl of stew.”
Jesus certainly does not want hundreds of
thousands of people to loose their inheritance with God. But He must remain faithful to his own
principles and that is the necessity of obedience to God and doing his will in
order to receive one’s inheritance.
Remember the story of the rich young man who came up to Jesus to ask him
a question? He asked Jesus, What must I
do to be saved? Jesus answered him
immediately and said, “Keep the commandments.”
And then he enumerated a half dozen of the 10 commandments. (Matt 19:16)
In Matt 7:21 Jesus tells us that “not
everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does
the will of my Father”
A good question is – why are so many
people not concerned about the future
life and God’s will? I suppose for each
individual there is a different answer. One could be that a person prefers temporary false goods and pleasures over
permanent divine ones. Another may be a lack of faith. More than that, I will not try to answer here because I don’t really know. However if one reads the words of Jesus and
of Sacred scripture, he or she will come to know and understand the importance
of making the right choices in this life. Yes, God is merciful and calls
everyone to repentance. As long as there
is a breath of air left in a person’s body, and a person (regardless of the
evil in one’s life), repents, God will forgive that person who then will obtain
salvation. An important truth to close on:
The eye has not seen, or the
ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for
those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
The Importance of remaining in the Love of Jesus
Thursday homily, April 28, 2016
John 15:9-11 Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love
you. Remain in my love. If you
keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my
Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might
be complete.
The above gospel is the gospel for
Thursday, of week 5 after Easter. It is
very simple but has profound meaning for living a joyful life and remaining on
the road which leads to true happiness in this life and in the next. There is a struggle between good and evil
within us all, as St. Paul says in Romans 7, the spirit is at war with the
flesh and the flesh against the spirit.
In other words, should we give in to our unruly desires or not? The culture says – go for it, everyone is
doing it - give in to them for they are part of you that needs to be
fulfilled. Our faith in Jesus tells us
to say no to the culture and to follow the commandments and Christ’s teaching
for this will lead us to true happiness and true life. Life has a divine
purpose beyond our everyday experience. Following our natural urges ends up in
sin, the loss of God’s presence within, unwanted pregnancies and often
addiction to drugs and alcohol.
In the gospel above, what does it mean to
remain in the love of Jesus? Jesus gives
us the answer in the previous chapter of St. John, chapter 14. He says: If you love me, you will keep my
commandments and my Father will love you and I will love you and we will come
to you and make our dwelling place within you.
He also says in the same context – and we will send you the Holy Spirit
who will live in you.
We commonly call this the indwelling of the
Holy Trinity or living in the state of sanctifying grace, or simply put – having the Holy Spirit
dwelling within us. Thus, in order to be
saved, it is necessary to die in this state of Grace. Otherwise we are lost forever in the dwelling
place of Satan.
Life is full of temptations. St Peter says in his third letter, chapter 5,
that the devil wanders the earth like a roaring lion seeking those he can
devour. St. Ignatius says in his
Spiritual Exercises that the devil sends out his cohorts to every place and
village in the world seeking to deceive and capture souls for his kingdom. He especially tempts those who do not understand
his methods. Everyone is in search of
love. It is one of the strongest urges
in every human being. The devil knows
this of course. Young, in experienced
people are especially the object of his temptations. He will tell them to go ahead and have sex
and follow their urges and they will be extremely happy and loved. When young people do this, they discover that
they have been deceived. The girl thinks
the boy who wants to have sex her truly loves her. He does not love her at all but only wants
her cooperation for his own pleasure. It inflates his ego to have conquered
someone. And afterwards he will usually
drop the girl and be in search for another pleasurable adventure. Some girls become extremely depressed and
even contemplate suicide.
The biggest tragedy of all is the loss of
the love of Jesus in the soul. All
mortal sins bring about this effect. If
the Holy Spirit no longer lives within us, it is not possible to be joyful and
happy. Thus all those who have sinned
are called by Jesus to repentance. Jesus
is extremely merciful. He forgives, but
he also says, go in peace and sin no more.
I have only mentioned the girl here, but the boy too suffers the same
effect. He too loses the love of Jesus
in his heart and soul and is in danger of losing his soul unless he repents.
I have emphasized young people here because
they are the most inexperienced and easiest to delude and heavily influenced by
our erroneous culture. However, what is
true for them is also true for any age. Not just the 6th commandment is
involved here, but all the commandments, especially in serious matters…. The
commandments are the road map to God’s will.
St. Thomas Aquinas helps us to understand the deceits of the devil and
our fallen nature. He says all sin is
only an apparent good. It looks like a
good, but is not a real good at all and ends up in the loss of God’s grace, in
having a low esteem of ourselves, grief and unhappiness. The real good is that which leads us to true
love and true life. It is through
obedience to Christ who promises us a love which is not an illusion, but the
real thing, which we all crave.
In the Catholic Church we are so fortunate
to have the sacrament of reconciliation, the forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ who returns us to the right path leading to true
happiness on earth and eternal life in the kingdom of God.
What Matters is to
be the New Creation
30th Monday in
ordinary time
Romans 8:12-17
Brothers and Sisters: We
are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you
will die. But if you live by the spirit
you put to death the deeds of the body. And you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God
you are sons of God. For you did not
receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into sin, but you received a spirit
of adoption through which we cry, “Abba Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness to our
spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be with glorified with
him.
There is a profound meaning in the above
text which takes a little deciphering to understand its profundity. I would like to express it in simpler terms
which I learned when I was studying St. Paul while in Rome. Very simply stated - if the Spirit of Jesus (which is the Holy
Spirit) dwells in us, we are a new creation on a much higher level than we were
before, which then makes us adopted sons or daughters of God capable of
entering the kingdom of God at death. This gives us a new relationship with
God, our Father. He is our Father in a
new way. This adoption comes through Jesus Christ. We are now in his image. And even more than that – through the power
of his presence within us, our bodies at the resurrection will be glorified,
never to suffer and die again just as the body of Jesus is now. (St. Paul
speaks about this in Philippians 3:20)
Thus, it is very understandable why St. Paul was so much on fire in
proclaiming Jesus. With Jesus then, life
becomes eminently meaningful and fulfilling.
Something very important to remember is
that before this can happen there has to be a deep sorrow for sin, submission
to God’s will and a firm intention of obeying and being in God’s will in the
future. And that is why confession is so
important. It keeps us in that state and renews us if it has been lost.
What St. Paul wrote in his letter to the
Romans was a direct result of the teaching of Jesus. Did Jesus talk about this
sublime condition and transformation while he was with his apostles? Yes he
did. One of my favorite passages in St.
John’s gospel is Chapter 14 where Jesus states, “If you love me you will keep my commandments and I will love you and
my Father will love you and we will come and make our dwelling place within
you. And we will send you the Holy
Spirit.” In Chapter 15 of John, Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.
He who abides in my and I in him will bear much fruit. Without me you can do nothing.” What Jesus is referring to when he says
“without me you can do nothing” is that we cannot save ourselves by ourselves
for all eternity. It is only through him
that we can receive his Spirit leading to eternal life.
In Chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians, St. Paul
makes the distinction between those who are spiritual persons and those who are
natural persons. The spiritual persons,
of course, are those who possess the Spirit of Jesus within them. They look at everything in a different way
than the natural person. Paul says the natural person looks upon things of the
spirit as foolishness. Yesterday I was reading a story about a 54 year old
woman who broke all the records of long distance swimming. She swam from Cuba to Florida which is a
fantastic accomplishment. She had tried 4 times before and finally on her 5th
try she made it. A small boat followed
her to watch her and give her food which she ate while treading water. The
article said that this woman was an atheist and a lesbian. She wanted to accomplish something that
nobody else had ever done which is fine.
But it is all transitory and has no meaning unless one finds the true
meaning of life. The tragedy is that so
many people do not spend time and effort to know Jesus. We should not think about what is important
for just today but for the future as well.
Where there is no faith there can be no life of the Spirit of Jesus
within us. Faith is a great gift, but it
too must be wanted and nourished through the gospel, prayer and good works….
The Privilege and Honor of being in Christ
July
20, 2015
I would like to begin this essay speaking
about the great privilege and honor we posses because we know who the true God
is. What is absolutely unique about Christianity in that we know the truth
about God. We have the terrible example
today of Isis which in the name of God beheads people opposed to their beliefs.
Not too long ago they decapitated a number of Christians and continue to do so.
The Isis people think they are doing God’s will by destroying all those who do
not agree with their idea of God. The
reason why Pope emeritus, Benedict XVI wrote his first encyclical “God is Love”
in 2005 was to point out that God is not a God of violence, but a God of
love.
There are many other religions in the
world and none of them know and believe in this truth about God that he wants
to dwell within us. Buddhists, for
example, believe they can reach perfection by total self denial without the
help of a superior being. Buddhists also believe in reincarnation. About 2 years ago I was watching a program on
TV about an Englishman who visited Nepal and studied all about the Buddhist
religion. He asked a Buddhist monk if he
could tell him what he would become when he was reincarnated. After some
deliberation, the monk said he would return as an elephant.
Hindus also believe in reincarnation,
that after they die, if they are not totally purified, they will come back to
life in an inferior being in order to be purified. When I was in Africa In
1976, I had to go to Calcutta in order to get a visa for Bangladesh. I wanted to visit a Maryknoll priest there
but could only get the visa in Calcutta. I had to get a cab from the airport to
go to the Consulate. The cab driver had
to doge the cows that were in his way.
Cows are considered sacred because they may be an incarnated relative.
Even the Jews, the chosen people of the
Old Testament, although they knew the one true God, they still did not
understand his loving nature and his desire for personal intimacy. They believed and still believe in revenge,
an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
We see in the prophets Jerimiah (chapter 31) and Ezekiel, (chapter 36)
the prediction that a time would come when God would place a new spirit within
his people which would take away their stony hearts and through his power and
presence they would become obedient to his will. As we all know, this was
fulfilled with Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
And that is what is so wonderful about
Christianity. Jesus taught us who his
Father is and that he is also our Father and loves us very much. He gave us the parable of the Prodigal son,
which has, I believe, more to do with his Father than the errors of the
son. His Father is someone who longs to
forgive and reconcile everyone if only they will repent. In the story, the Father runs out to welcome
his repentant son and has a big party to celebrate his return.
Then
Jesus taught his disciples the greatest prayer ever spoken, the “Our
Father”. In this prayer, Jesus teaches
us a whole new relationship with God. He
is our Father with all the
significance which that word “Father” means.
Our God want to be our Father, not just for a few people, but for
everyone. We say “our”, not “my”,
because with God as our Father we are family. No other religion understands
this kind of relationship with God. But
we have to remember that we only have this relationship with God because of his
son Jesus who revealed it, dying on the cross for us so it could happen. It is
Jesus who leads us to the Father. In
Chapter 14:6 of St. John’s Jesus says to Thomas, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” And to Philip In John 14:9: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
But the presence of God within us is
even much greater than that. God wants
to be extremely intimate with us his creatures.
He wants to live in us and us to live in him in this life and in the next. That is remarkable and far beyond our
wildest hope for a relationship with our creator and savior. In fact, God wants to be our happiness,
something which we have such a great longing for. How do we know that this is true? It is all recorded in St. John’s gospel and
in other parts of scripture as well.
These quotes are so important because they show us that God is the goal
of life and we must fully cooperate with his grace in order to achieve this
goal.
No other religion has ever taught that God
who is our creator and redeemer, loves us so much that he wants to be
intimately connected to us, to such an extent that we are like one person. In chapter 17:20-21 of John’s gospel, Jesus
spells this out:
I pray
not only for them (the apostles) but
also for those who will believe in me through their word. So that they may all
be one as you Father are in my and I in you, that they may also be one in us.
In Chapter 14 of John, (spoken after the
last supper was over on Holy Thursday)
Jesus opens his heart to his apostles in such a profound teaching of
God’s love, never heard before and only something that the Son of God could say
and carry out - his desire to be spiritually present in the hearts and souls of his followers I will paraphrase it here:
If
you love me you will keep my commandments and my Father will come to you and I
will come to you and we will make our dwelling place within you. And we will give you the Holy Spirit who will
be in you and teach you whatever I have told you.
Obedience to God’s will is
the necessary path leading to this communion with God and eternal happiness in
the life to come. Unfortunately, few
choose this narrow road today. I will explain more next week when this essay
will be continued, for nothing is more important in our lives.
God’s Handbook for our
Salvation
There are all kinds of handbooks available
for special purposes which tell us how to take care of something to keep it
running smoothly. For example, when you
buy a new car, a handbook comes along with it which you can keep in the glove
compartment for quick reference. The
purpose of the hand book is this case, of course, is to know how to keep you
vehicle running in perfect order for as long as possible; and the one who knows
what you should do is the manufacturer.
One is taught how and when to have the oil changed how much air to keep
in the tires, etc etc., usually not too difficult to follow.
Now the person who buys the car can reject
what the hand book says. For it is now
his/her car and he/she can say, I don’t have to follow these instructions. It is my car and I can do exactly as I please
with it. In fact I know one woman who
paid no attention to the handbook and never thought of changing the oil. Well, the car ran O.K. for three years and
then stopped completely. The engine was
ruined and it could only be repaired at a great expense.
This woman may not have had any bad
feelings for the manufacturer. It may
have been just total ignorance on her part.
Nevertheless, she was still responsible for the breakdown because she
should have taken an interest in the well being of her vehicle. Without following the handbook, the car was
bound to fall apart. It was just a
matter of time. It was not the fault of the manufacturer, but the fault of the
woman. She didn’t take the time or have
the interest to be obedient to the free advice which was necessary for the good
running of her vehicle.
Perhaps you can see where I am going with
this analogy. God made the world and
everything in it, and he has given man the responsibility to take care of
everything, not only the environment and all other creatures, but also his very
self, both physically and spiritually.
There are many speaking out about love for animals and the environment
(the cause of global warming etc.), and also man’s physical well being.
(hundreds of commercials) But how about
man’s spiritual well being? Did God in
his loving care give us a handbook about that which is really the most
important of all since it has everlasting effects? God certainly did. We have the handbook of the 10 commandments
which are easily available for anyone concerned about correct living leading to
eternal happiness. But there is much
more.
When Jesus came did he get rid of the 10
commandments as something of another age,
outdated and no longer relevant?
Of course not! Jesus says in
Matthew 5:17 that he did not come to
abolish the law but to fulfill it. In
fact he told the rich young man (Matthew 19:16) who knelt before him and asked
him the most important question in any person’s life, “What must I do to obtain
eternal life?” Jesus said, keep the
commandments and then quotes a half dozen of them. What did Jesus mean when he said he came to
fulfill the law? He spells it out. The law says thou shall not kill, but I say
to you, do not even be angry with your brother (Matt 5:27). He also said, the law says, love your
kinsmen, I say to you, Love even your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you (Matt 5:43). Jesus also said, the law says
do not commit adultery. I say to you, do
not even lust after a woman. He who does
so has already committed adultery in his heart
(Matt 5:27). When it comes to
marriage and divorce and marriage between one man and one woman, Jesus raised
the bar. He says in Matt 19, “Have you
not read that from the beginning the creator made them male and female and
said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined
to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? Therefore what God has joined together, no
human being must separate.”
Jesus asked his disciples to be more like
God. He said, be perfect even as your
heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt 3:48)
Everything he said was built on the 10 commandments which were like the
foundation upon which to build a higher life with the help of the Holy Spirit
which would enable the followers of Jesus to grow in God’s love and mercy.
I think the biggest problem we face today
is the modernists who think that what was morally good for yesterday’s way of
doing things is no longer applicable today.
That way of thinking has lead to disaster for the human race. To use the example of the handbook for the
automobile - What was good for the automobile when it was first purchased is
equally good for it 100 thousand miles later and even more so. Keep changing
the oil. The manufacturer, who designed
and built the car, understands the car.
The God who created us understands us his creatures. He knows what is good for us, what will help
us to live a healthy and holy life in harmony with others leading to eternal
life.
The road modernists have chosen will
result in the collapse of themselves and society, just as the car which was
unattended led to its collapse. In both
cases we need obedience and humility which will bring about the fulfillment we
all long for. Follow God’s handbook (Matthews’s gospel) and all will be
well. God bless you.
2016 - A year dedicated to Mercy
On December 8, 2015, Pope Francis
inaugurated a year of mercy. Not that
mercy is unavailable or practiced only for this special year - with God it is
always available since Jesus died on the cross so that everyone could avail him
or herself of his mercy. I would like
to write a few lines on the meaning of mercy in our lives since it is such an
important aspect of it. An important
question - How do we prepare ourselves to received God’s mercy? Is it always available without cost or are
there conditions necessary in order for mercy to be bestowed upon us? Secondly,
how do we practice mercy among ourselves?
I think it is always good in a discussion
to start off with one or more definitions so that we know what we are talking
about. Mercy, according to Webster’s
dictionary has several meanings. “Kindness in access of what may be expected
by fairness; forbearance and compassion; the power to forgive or be kind. There is another definition on the
internet: compassion or forgiveness
toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.
I think all of these
definitions come into play in what the Holy Father wants during this special
year of mercy. The one who is the most
merciful of all, of course, is God, exemplified by giving up his own son to be
crucified for the sake of our forgiveness and salvation. (see John 3:16) Also,
Jesus has given us so many concrete examples of mercy which are founded upon
love, for example:
The story of the widow of Nain whose only
son had died and upon whom she depended for her very livelihood - when Jesus
saw that the body was being carried out for burial, he had great compassion
upon the mother and raised the young man to life. (Luke 7:11) We have another example in John, 8th
chapter: a young woman had been caught
in adultery and was brought before Jesus for condemnation which meant that
according to the law she should be stoned to death. Jesus saved the woman’s life by telling the
stoners that he who is without sin should throw the first stone. When they all left, one by one, Jesus,
forgave her and dismissed her, but it should be noted that he told her to sin
no more. That tells us something very
important, that mercy is not always without stipulations. To answer the
question in the first paragraph – In the case of sin, a change of heart is required and purpose of
amendment.
One of my favorite examples of Jesus’ mercy
is to the good thief on the cross. Two
men were crucified alongside of Jesus.
One of the victims berated Christ, poked fun of him and said he should
take himself down from the cross if he was what he said he was. The other, the one we call the good thief,
scolded the first and said, “We are receiving the just punishment for our evil
deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then He turned to Jesus and said, “Jesus remember me when you enter into
your kingdom”. Jesus replied, “This day
you will be with me in paradise.”(Luke 23:39)
Why were these words to the good thief so
remarkable and extremely merciful? The
answer is not difficult to understand.
First of all, the good thief was not only forgiven his past sins, but he
was also forgiven any punished due to these sins. It was as if he had just been baptized and
went straight to heaven, the very first fruits of the death of Jesus on the
cross, bringing out the whole purpose of the suffering and death of Jesus. Jesus suffered and died so that anyone who
was repentant, could receive the fullness of God’s mercy resulting in a
permanent place in the kingdom of God.
If only people would repent!
Jesus wants so much to save all and bestow his mercy on everyone. Remember the words of Jesus in Luke chapter
15. “There
is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than the 99 who do not need
repentance.”
One of the best known
stories in the New Testament is the story of the Good Samaritan which Jesus
gave us when he was asked who is our neighbor, the one whom we should
love? Very briefly, Jesus told them a
parable about a man who was on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The man was attacked by thieves and left
along the side of the road to die. A
priest walked by and did nothing. A
Levite walked by and did nothing, but a Samaritan (the Samaritans were enemies
to the Jews) came by, stopped to help the man, binding his wounds and then took
him to an inn and paid for his keep. The
Good Samaritan didn’t have to do this.
He didn’t even know the victim.
He did it as an act of mercy for the love of God and neighbor... (Luke 10:29)
In the life and practice of Pope Francis,
do we have any examples of his mercy? He
has a great compassion for the poor and the suffering. There are lots of examples, but I would like
to mention one which I believe is more meaningful than the others especially
for this special year of mercy. Pope
Francis as the Bishop of Rome, wishes to fulfill his duty to the Catholics of
Rome just as Pope John Paul II did by
visiting a particular parish and having mass there. He tells the pastor of these parishes he
wants to come a half hour early so he can hear confessions. Why does he do this? I quote from the book on pope Francis “The
Francis Miracle”, (by John Allan, p. 9) for the answer:
An
Argentine priest who worked for Bergoglio (the present pope Francis) in Buenos
Aries and who’s now one of his closest aids in the Vatican, was asked why his
boss decided to add confessions to his schedule, which has since become a
staple of Francis’s visits. “It’s
important to him,” the priests replied, “He wants the world to see him making a
point of celebrating the Church’s premier rite of mercy”.
Yes, the greatest act of
mercy is from God himself – the forgiveness of sin because of Jesus’ death on
the cross. Through sorrow and
forgiveness of sin we become heirs of the kingdom of God in this life and
obtain eternal happiness in the next.
Also, we receive countless graces daily which lead us in the way of
practicing mercy. We can be merciful to
others in innumerable ways as led by the Spirit. One very important way is to
forgive those who have offended us. This
is not always easy especially when there has been a deep hurt. Looking at the crucifix and meditating on the
words of Jesus, “Farther forgive them for
they know not what they do”, will bring down the grace of Jesus who will
help us.
To be merciful is to be like
Jesus who promises to reward us. Jesus
said, the one who gives even a cup of water in his name will not go without
his/her reward.
Jesus, I trust in you; Divine Mercy Sunday, April 3, 2016
O blessed spring where word and sign, embrace us into Christ the
vine. Here Christ enjoins each one to be
a branch of this life-giving tree.
Through the summer heat of youthful years, uncertain faith, rebellious
tears, sustained by Christ’s infusing rain, the boughs will shout for joy
again.
When autumn cools and youth is cold, when limbs their heavy harvest
hold, Then through us, warm, the Christ will move with gifts of beauty, wisdom,
love.
As winter comes, as winters must, we breathe our last, return to
dust. Still held in Christ, our souls
take wing, and trust the promise of the spring.
Christ, holy vine, Christ, living tree, be praised for this blest
mystery: That word and water thus
revive, and join us to your tree of life.
Amen.
I found this poem this morning (April 1) in
the liturgy of the hours. No author was
given. I think it I s a beautiful
summary of the various stages of human life comparing them to the seasons of
the year. When we are young we do not
think of death. It is always some else
who is dying. In the back of our minds
we know that everyone has to die, but it is so far in the future that it is not
something to think or worry about. For many young people their preoccupation is
about sex and material things. There is
so much to live for and so much to obtain, that it takes up most of their mind
set. But spring and summer do not last
forever and time moves more quickly than we would like, and all of a sudden it
is winter and are we prepared? A wise man once said that if we remember our
last end we will not sin. And so it is
possible not to be led astray by the false allurements of youth.
The reality is, of course, that none of us are perfect, regardless of
the stage of our lives. And so we are
all in need of God’s mercy. This Sunday,
April 3, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, a wonderful opportunity to receive
the most unusual gift of God’s grace, the total forgiveness of all sin and
punishment due to sin. This feast day
of Divine Mercy Sunday, the week after Easter, was established by St. Pope John
Paul II in the year 2000. The Divine
Mercy apostolate came to us through Jesus’ revelations to Sr. Faustina who died
in the year 1938. It was not until 62
years later that this request of Jesus was carried out. And so Pope St. John Paul is rightly called
the Divine Mercy Pope. One of his first
encyclicals was on Divine Mercy.
So what do we have to do to obtain the
fruits of Divine Mercy Sunday?
Confession and Holy Communion are required, plus attending the 3 PM
ceremony which many Churches will have.
There we look upon the sacred picture of Jesus created for this feast
day at the request of Jesus to Sr. Faustina.
We also recite the Divine mercy chaplet together. The inner disposition required is sorrow for
all the sins we have ever committed, and the promise to do our very best to
avoid sin in the future. It is as simple
as that. Remember the key phrase:
Jesus I Trust in You.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd
Monday of 4th week after Easter
John 10:1-10
Jesus said: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does
not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and
a robber. But whoever enters through the
gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The
gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own
sheep by name and leads them out. When
he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow
him, because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers." Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I
say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not
listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and
come in and go out and find pasture. A
thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have
it to the full."
Friends in Christ,
Today we have a very consoling gospel for
Jesus tells us that he is like a good shepherd who has great love for his
sheep. He knows them personally and they
know him and listen and follow him wherever he goes.
Because of the magnificence of creation,
we can know that God exists by reason, but not that he loves us, and not only
loves us but desires a personal relationship with us. He has created us for himself, in such a way
that we cannot be happy and fulfilled without that personal relationship. St. Augustine
Because of so much evil in the world the
love of God for us his creatures often seems to be hidden under a cloud. As Pope emeritus, Benedict XVI, pointed out
his first encyclical, "God is Love", there are even those who believe
in doing violence to others in God's name. In fact the violence has gotten much
worse with the growth of Isis since the Pope wrote these words. This is a total misconception of the nature
of God. Thus, without God revealing to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ that he
is love, we would never by natural reason or any other teaching have discovered
his personal love. And of course that is the reason I joined Maryknoll and went
to Tanzania - to preach this gospel so that the Africans would know of God’s
love.
Dear friends, that's what today's gospel
is all about - Jesus, the Good Shepherd,
using figures and metaphors taken from life to help us understand all about his
personal love. There were shepherds
galore at the time of Jesus. Everyone
knew how much the shepherd loved his sheep and how the sheep knew him and
answered to his call. In today's world,
we are not so familiar with this shepherd image, but I heard a story one time
that helped me understand it better…The incident took place somewhere in the
middle east long before all the violence erupted there.. A sheepherder had the unfortunate experience
of losing all his sheep through thieves and robbers. They didn't love the sheep and were not
willing to give up their lives for the sheep. They only wanted to sell them for
profit. This unfortunate man was very
sad and was telling his misfortunate to a priest friend of his. The priest, remembering the gospel of St. John
Jesus says in the gospel, "I am the good shepherd, I know mine
and mine know me. The good shepherd lays done his life for his sheep. They know my voice and they follow me." It is quite remarkable how we all recognize
each other’s voices. And, of course, as
Jesus tells us in the gospel, many animals have the same instinct. They
recognize the voice of their masters. But how do we know the voice of
Jesus? When Pontius Pilate asked Jesus
who he was, Jesus told him that he came to bear witness to the truth and those
who are off the truth would hear his voice (John 18:37). In Chapter 8 of John’s gospel, Jesus says, if my word is in you, you will have the
truth and the truth will make you free. The
more we read the gospel and follow it, the more we are enabled to hear the
voice of Jesus, the good Shepherd, in our hearts.
The good shepherd image is something I
have never forgotten since my childhood. I was only about 4 years old but I
remember the round, stain glass window behind the altar in the sanctuary in the
small, wood-framed church at St. Helena 's in South Minneapolis where I grew up. It was a picture of the good shepherd
reaching down to lift up a lamb that had gotten caught in a bramble bush. That
church was taken down many years ago, but the image is ever implanted in my
heart and soul. When people go astray
today by sinning, Jesus goes looking for them and wants them to come back so
they can share in the one life which is above all others. As Jesus says in todays’ gospel. I have come that they may have life and have
it to the full.
Why Jesus
was put to Death
The Jews picked up rocks to stone
Jesus. Jesus answered them, “I have
shown you many good works from my
Father. For which of these are you
trying to stone me? The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning
you for
a good work but for blasphemy. You, a
man, are making yourself God.
Jesus answered them, If I do not
perform my Fathers works, do not
believe me but if I perform them, even
if you do not believe me, believe
the works, so that you may realize and
understand that the Father is in
me and I am in the Father.” Then they tried to arrest him; but he escaped
from their power.
In Chapter 10 of John’s Gospel Jesus
speaks of his intimate relationship with his Father. He said to the Jews, “The Father is in me and I am in the Father.” This would become the major reason why the
Pharisees and the High Priests felt justified in seeking the death penalty for
Jesus, because he was making himself equal to God and was therefore
blaspheming.
Anyone making the assertion that he was
equal to God and the very Son of God would certainly go against the tradition
of the Jews. It was the primary responsibility of the Jews to safeguard their
belief in the one true God who was infinitely above his creatures, was a
spiritual being who had no rival, was the source of all creation and life, and
who was himself infinite and transcendent . This was in contradistinction to the Greeks
and Romans who had many gods, all of whom were limited and who had to be
appeased in order to secure their favor.
The one true God had been revealed to the Jews through Abraham, Moses
and the prophets. It was the primary obligation of the Jews to uphold this
belief.
When Jesus proclaimed himself as equal to
God, the confusion and animosity of the Jews, although regrettable, is
understandable. Jesus was telling them
something completely new, a development which had not yet been revealed. They did not understand that he was not
destroying the unity or oneness of God, but giving them a deeper understanding
into the very nature and inner workings of God, what we know as the Blessed
Trinity, three persons in one God. If
they had believed in Jesus because of the signs he worked, they would have been
open to a deeper understanding of the nature of God which was being revealed
for the first time in Jesus.
In 1977 the great film producer, Franco
Zeferelli, directed and produced Jesus of Nazareth. Mel
Gibson knew Zeferelli. In fact, he had
seen Jesus
of Nazareth which had a great influence on his present day production, The Passion
of the Christ. There is one
scene in Zeferelli’s film that I would like to describe. Jesus has been brought before the high
priest, Caiaphas, for his so-called trial.
There is a great debate going on among the members of the Sanhedrin. Nicodemus (played by Laurence Olivier. and
Joseph of Arimathea, (played by James
Mason) try to defend Jesus. They said
that Jesus was their brother, a Jew and should not be handed over to the Romans
who would brutally put him to death. And
perhaps they should consider that Jesus just may be the Messiah, the one
promised by God through the prophets. He
speaks a language that is very different from anyone else. He speaks to the heart and not empty phrases
like we do.
The high priest, Caiaphas (played by
Anthony Quinn) is silent, listening to the debate. Then he addresses the entire assembly. All are silent. The following is a paraphrase of what
Caiaphas says:
The words of this man Jesus and the so
called miracles he has worked are not important. What is central here is that this man has
perverted our customs and caused a great
disturbance. The Romans will not wait
for us to solve this problem. We must
act now lest the whole nation be in peril.
This man, Jesus, has dared to say, and I can hardly utter the words; he
has dared to say that he is equal to God,
that he is the son of God.
Caiaphas then calls Jesus over to him and
confronts him. He says, Jesus, tell us about your doctrine. Jesus replies, I have spoken openly, in the temple
and else where. The people know what I
have said, ask them. Then Caiaphas asks
Jesus directly, “Are you the Messiah, the
Son of the Living God?” Jesus says
in return while all eyes focus on him in dramatic silence, I AM. Caiaphas then stands
up and says, “We do not need any more
evidence. This man has blasphemed. He
deserves to die.” Caiaphas then
rents his garments and says, “God is one.” With that, Jesus is then
taken out and led to Pilate.
The above is an interpretation of what took
place on the first Good Friday. When we
examine the scriptures, we see that the major points are all there. We quote from John 11: 45-50
Many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what Jesus had done
(the raising of Lazarus from the
dead) began to believe in him. But some
of them
went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief
priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going
to do? This man is performing many
signs. If we leave him alone, all will
believe in him, and the Romans will come
and take away both our land and our nation.
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them,
“You know nothing nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man
should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.”
The scriptures tell us that fear of the
Romans because of Jesus was an exaggeration and actually used as a ploy in
order to obtain the death penalty. In
Luke’s gospel we read:
Pilate then summoned the chief priests, the
rulers men and the people and said to them, “You have brought this man to me
and accused him of inciting the people to revolt. I have conducted my investigation in your
presence and have not found this man guilty of the charges you have brought
against him, nor did Herod, for he sent him back to us. So no capital crime has been committed by
him. Therefore I shall have him flogged
and then release him. (Luke 23: 13-17)
On
this same point, the Jerome Biblical Commentary has an interesting observation
regarding the threat of Jesus to Rome :
Puzzled
by Jesus’ teaching but still recognizing that it constitutes no political
threat to Rome
Pilate tried to release him;
but the Jews cried out, “If you release him you
are not a friend of Caesar.
Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. When Pilate heard these words he brought
Jesus out and seated him on the judgment bench in the place called Stone
Pavement, in Hebrew Gabbatha. It was
preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon and he said to the Jews, “Behold your
King.” They cried out, “Take him away,
take him away! Crucify him!’ Pilate said
to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”
The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” Then he handed him over to be crucified. (John 19:12-16)
The Jews also
accused Jesus of destroying their traditions.
In Chapter 7 of Mark, the Pharisees were very upset with Jesus and his
disciples because they did not wash their hands and purify themselves when
returning from the market as their ancestors did. Jesus tells them that they have put their
human laws and traditions above the divine law. Jesus healing on the Sabbath was a constant
complaint of the Pharisees since they considered healing a work forbidden on
that day. Jesus tells them that the
Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Jesus responds to those who accused him of
destroying their law and traditions in a profound way. We reading Matthew 5:17-18:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have
come not to
abolish but to fulfill them. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth
shall pass away,
not the smallest letter or the
smallest part of the letter will pass from the law, until all things
have taken place.
There was another very important motive
that we should not overlook, all too common which is usually hidden and
unspoken, and that is the serpent of envy,
Many of the Jewish ruling class despised Jesus because of his increasing
popularity with the people, and their own loss of authority and prestige. Even
Pilate recognized this. We read in
Mathew 27:18:
So when they had assembled, Pilate said
to them, “Which one do you want me to release to you, Barabbas, or Jesus called
Messiah?” For he new that it was out of envy that they had handed him
over. While he was still seated at the
bench, his wife sent him a message, “Have nothing to do with that righteous
man. I suffered much in a dream today
because of him.
When envy raises its ugly head,
we can expect some terrible things.
Based on pride, it seeks to regain prominence through any means
including violence and death. Envy is
blind to truth and justice. Remember the
story of King Herod the Great who had all the babies in Bethlehem killed from the age of two and
under, because he feared a rival to his power. Envy seeks to destroy the
rival. The treachery of the high priests
is revealed in Chapter 12 of John’s gospel.
Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and was residing with Lazarus and
his two sisters, Mary and Martha. They
had a festive dinner for Jesus during which Mary anointed the feet of Jesus
with aromatic nard and dried them with her hair. After this the gospel states: (John 12: 9-11)
The large crowd of the Jews found out that
he was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom
he had raised from the dead. And the
chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning
away and believing in Jesus because of him.
We
see the numbers of followers and believers in Jesus was increasing. The prestige and the authority of the Chief
Priests was decreasing. There is an
interesting footnote in the American bible which states that Caiaphas reigned
as High Priest for 18 years, form the year 18 to 36. He had a lot to loose with the increased
popularity of Jesus. After the Jews
returned from Babylon
about 400 years before Christ, there were no more kings. The high priesthood became the ruling
class. In all my years in Africa after
the independence of the African nations in the 60’s, to my knowledge the only
one who gave up power freely was Julius Nyerere of Tanzania.
There is controversy these days over what
is anti-Semitic. There were many who
accused Mel Gibson of being anti-Semitic in his production, “The Passion of the Christ.” One of the fruits of this accusation is the
popularity of the movie in Moslem countries like Egypt and Syria . It is
breaking records in attendance according to a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle. The government ordinarily does not allow the
promotion of Christian prophets and ideas through films in their
countries. They said that an exception
was being made with the Gibson film because of its artistic qualities. This may be partly true, but not the whole
story. Perhaps there is another motive
which is not that difficult to figure out.
I do not think the Jews should be singled
out for reacting the way they did. They
had no monopoly on pride and envy or the desire to maintain power. The goodness of Jesus would probably have
been met with the same response any place in the world during any period of
history. It is the confrontation of good
and evil. To be humble, to overcome
pride, envy and the desire for power requires humility and grace, which is
theme of this holy season, and that is what we pray for, for ourselves and for
the entire world.
It
is also good to recall that Jesus knew that he had to die on the cross as
the essay on the Passion of Christ will
explain. This was necessary for the
forgiveness of sin and for our redemption and salvation. As Jesus tells us in Chapter 10 of John’s
gospel, he is going to lay down his life for us. No one is forcing him to do this. He, himself is doing it of his own free will
and he will take it up again referring to the resurrection from the dead.
The 7 last words of Jesus on the cross:
Matt 27:45
From noon onward, darkness came over the
whole land until 3 in the afternoon.
About 3 o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Elli, Eli, lema sabachani, which means, My
God, my God, why have you forsaken
me? (Psalm 22) Some of the
bystanders who hear it said, “This one is calling for Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge;
he soaked it in wine, and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. But the rest said, “Wait, let us see if
Elijah comes to save him.” But Jesus
cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit.
Luke: 24:33
When they came to the place
of the skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the
other on his left. Then Jesus said,
“Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”
Now one of the criminals
hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in
reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly,
for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done
nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus
remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus replied to him, “Amen, I
say to you, to day you will be with
me in paradise.”
It was now about noon and
darkness came over the whole land until 3 in the afternoon because of an
eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the
temple was torn down the middle. Jesus
cried out in a loud voice, “Father into
your hands, I commend my spirit.” And when he had said this he breathed his
last. The centurion said, “This man was
innocent beyond doubt.”
John 19: 25
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his
mother and his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdala, When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple
behold your mother there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into
his home.
After this, aware that
everything was no finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common
wine. So they put a sponge soaked in
wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished. And bowing his head, he handed over the
spirit.
The catholic catechism says
that Jesus died for every person who ever lived in the past, is alive, or will
live….. All people of every faith can
approach Jesus and ask for his forgiveness and mercy. All one has to do is repent from any and all
evil doing and come to Jesus asking for his merciful forgiveness.
Jesus said to Nicodemus
(Chapter 3 of John’s gospel) “When I am
lifted up I will draw all things to my self”.
God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son not to condemn
the world, but to save the world
The Passion of Christ – without which there
could be no forgiveness
Lenten essay, March 2016 – Los Altos Retreat for 42 people
In the first Paragraph of this
essay, I would like to begin with a summary of the entire essay:
The greatest act of
God’s mercy is the passion and death of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The greatest gift of God’s Mercy is forgiveness.
The two are intimately related and connected.
Forgiveness comes from the passion and death of Christ and opens the
door to all the other gifts of God – reconciliation; the divine indwelling;
being made adopted sons and daughters of God and heirs of his kingdom;
eventually a glorified body modeled after that of Jesus Christ; and in this life
being led by the Holy Spirit. All of
these gifts can be found discussed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Apostles did not understand that Jesus
as the Messiah had to be offered up as a holocaust, suffer and die so that our
sins could be forgiven. In fact Peter,
just after receiving from Christ the great honor of being the leader of his new
Church, tried to prevent Jesus from going to Jerusalem when Jesus had predicted
that he had to go there, be treated very badly and die on the cross. We read in Matt. 16:23:
From that time on, Jesus
began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and on the
third day to rise again. Then Peter took
him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever
happen to you.” He turned and said to
Peter, “Get behind me Satan for you are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as
human beings do.”
It is important to note
the words of Jesus, “You are thinking not
as God does, but as human beings do.”
Since God is perfectly holy and just, the crimes and sins of his
creatures had to be paid for if we humans were to be made worthy to be in his
presence. Thus, if Jesus, the perfect
man and also God, offered himself for our crimes thus representing us as a human being, we could
then be forgiven and enter into the presence of our creator. This is how God thinks, and not how man
thinks. The people at the time of Jesus
did not understand what God had in store for us and why he had created us. They were looking for a different Messiah,
one like David who would conquer their enemies and make Israel a great nation
again like in the days of David.
In the prophesy of Isaiah, chapter 53, in
the Old Testament, God was revealing how
he thinks and it was only after the fact of Jesus’ death that this prophesy was
understood: Isaiah predicted at least
400 years before Christ: Through his suffering my servant shall
justify many, and their guilt he shall bear.
Therefore I will give him his portion among the great and he shall
divide the spoils with the mighty, because he surrendered himself to death and
was counted among the wicked. And he
shall take away the sins of many and win pardon for their offenses. (Isaiah 53:11-12)
Jesus knew that the
apostles would understand God’s ways only after the resurrection. That is why he took his favorite disciples,
Peter, James and John to the top of Mount Tabor and was transfigured before
them. He showed them his future life,
how it would be after his resurrection.
He also told them not to tell anyone about this until he had risen from
the dead. The misunderstanding of the
apostles is called, “the scandal of the cross.”
St. Paul spoke of this scandal in Chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians. He said the cross was a stumbling block to
the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, but it was the power of God for our
forgiveness and salvation. Jesus knew
when, how and where he had to die. It had to be in Jerusalem on the feast of
the Passover. He would become as St.
John the Baptist said, “the new lamb of God who takes away the sins of the
world.”
In Chapter 10 of John’s gospel, Jesus
says that no one takes his life from him, but he freely offers up his life for
his sheep. Jesus went willingly to the
cross of Calvary so that our sins could be taken away. The forgiveness of sins is the most important
reason for Jesus’ coming and his suffering and death. This cannot be over emphasized. It is the greatest act of his mercy. On the evening of the resurrection, the first
public act of Jesus was the bestowal of the power to forgive sins upon his
apostles. In John 20:19-23, we read:
On
the evening of the first day of the week, when the doors were locked where the
disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and
said to them, “Peace be with you. As the
Father has sent me, so I send you.” And
when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy
Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are
retained.”
As I stated in the very
first paragraph, the forgiveness of sin opens up the door to all the other
gifts of Divine mercy. I believe the
greatest tragedy of the Church in recent times, especially after the Vatican
Council, was the lessoning of Catholics in going to confession. I called it the forgotten and lost sacrament
of the Catholic Church. The devil must
have been smiling from ear to ear when this happened. Today confession is slowly coming back. Pope Francis is promoting it in the year of
mercy. He says confession is not a torture
chamber, but the gift of God for our salvation.
In fact, Pope Francis as the Bishop of Rome, goes out to the parishes of
Rome on Sundays when he can. When he
goes to a parish he always hears confessions before mass.
I believe the devil is always working to
prevent people from coming to Jesus for his merciful forgiveness, the sure path
to salvation. There are many religions in the world. It is only Christianity which has the direct
revelation from God through Jesus Christ that he is the one who died on the
cross for the forgiveness of sins. We
find in Luke’s gospel, chapter 24:47 that Jesus gives the mandate to the
apostles just before he ascended into heaven – to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all nations in his
name beginning with Jerusalem.
When it comes to preventing the word of
God through Jesus Christ from being preached to all nations and all peoples,
Islam is the worst offender. Mohammad
taught that Jesus was not the son of God and could not forgive sins. In fact to believe that he was the son of God
was to commit the most serious of all sins.
We find the following text in the Koran:
Allah
forgives not that partners should be set up with him. But he forgives anything else to whom he
pleases. To set up partners with Allah
is to commit a sin most heinous indeed.
(Koran 4:48)
Muhammad also taught that Jesus could not
have died on the cross because he was a prophet and this could not have
happened to a prophet. He said that
someone impersonating him, died in his place.
Thus Muhammad made the same mistake that Peter made before he was
converted to the truth of the way that God thinks and not as human beings
do.
Jesus, of course, knew that this was going
to happen, that the words of man would attempt to take over the words of
God. And so in the 1930’s he appeared to
a poor uneducated nun in Poland, Sr. Faustina, and gave her the exact same
message regarding his mercy through the forgiveness of sins as he gave his
Apostles on the eve of the resurrection and even more.
Sr. Faustina was born in 1905 in
Poland. In 1925 she joined the
congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. In the 1930”s she received hundreds of
messages from Jesus who appeared to her frequently. She wrote down all these experiences filling
6 notebooks. After Sr. Faustina died in
1938 at the age of 33, the notebooks eventually came to the notice of the
Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow (who later became Pope John Paul II) He had one
of his brightest theologians read them and he found they were quite fantastic
in their content and authenticity. A
poor unlettered nun could never have conceived these ideas. She never finished high school and the only
jobs she had as a nun were working in the kitchen, in the garden and doing the
work of a porter.
Let us take a look into her diary to see
how the merciful forgiveness of God was renewed though this simple, holy
woman. In the first notebook, numbers
474 and 475,
we see how the punishment for the
sins of the world was forestalled because of God’s mercy. St. Faustina writes:
In
the evening when I was in my cell, I saw and angel, the executor of divine
wrath. He was clothed in a dazzlingly
robe, his face gloriously bright, a cloud beneath his feet. From the cloud, bolts of thunder and flashes
of lightning were springing into his hands; and from his hand they were going
forth, and only then were they striking the earth. When I saw this sight of divine wrath which
was about to strike the earth and in particular a certain place, which for good
reason I cannot name, I began to implore the angel to hold off for a few moments,
and the world would do penance. But my
pleas were a mere nothing in place of divine anger. Just them I saw the most Holy Trinity. The greatness of its majesty pierced my
deeply, and I did not dare to repeat my entreaties. At that very moment I felt in my soul the
power of God’s grace. I was instantly
snatched up before the throne of God for the world with words heard
interiorly. As I was praying in this
manner, I saw the angel’s helplessness.
He could not carry out the just punishment which was rightly due for
sins. Never before had I prayer with
such inner power as I did then.
Diary, number 475: The words with which I entreated God are
these: Eternal Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul divinity and
blood, of your dearly beloved son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our
sins and those of the whole world; for
the sake of his Sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
The next morning I heard
these words interiorly: Every time you enter the chapel, immediately
recite the prayer which I taught you yesterday.
When I had said this prayer, in my soul I heard these words. This
prayer will appease my wrath. You will
recite it for 9 days on the beads of the rosary.
And so, dear friends, this is how
the Divine Mercy Chaplet came about. It
was dictated by Christ to this simple, uneducated, but holy and beloved, Sr.
Faustina. I would like to point out how
this chaplet is so in tune with what Jesus said and did when he walked this
earth. He offered his terrible suffering
s in atonement for our sins that through this atonement we would be able to
receive his merciful forgiveness.
Another thing to remember is that God held
back the punishment that the angel in his name was ready to carry out.
One more thing of great interest regarding
the divine Mercy chaplet, is how did the picture of Jesus standing with the
rays coming out of his heart which is on so many pictures and holy cards, came
about? Jesus asked Sr. Faustina to
have his image created. In 1935 she went
to an artist and described to him how he saw him and how he should paint it. When it was finished, Sr. Faustina cried
because she said it could not compare with the real person that she saw.
In number 848, book two, Sr. Faustina
speaks about the end times. She writes: while I was saying the chaplet, I heard a
voice which said, “Oh what graces I will grant to souls who say the chaplet;
the very depths of my tender mercy are stirred for the sake of those who say
the chaplet. Write down these words, my
daughter. Speak to the world of my mercy; let all mankind recognize my
unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the
end times; the Day of Judgment will come. While there is still time, let them
have recourse to the font of my mercy; let them profit from the blood and water
which gushed forth for them.
Sr. Faustina speaks: Oh human souls, where are you going to hide
on the day of God’s anger? - in the font
of God’s mercy. What a great multitude
of souls I see! They worshiped the
Divine Mercy and will sing the hymn of praise for all eternity.
Since the very definition of God is that
he is Love (First encyclical of Pope emeritus Benedict XVI – Deus Caritas Est –
God is love), the mercy of God is infinite.
But there is one aspect of love which is intimately connected and flows
from his very suffering and death on the cross and that is, as I have stated
often in this essay, the desire to
forgive sins which opens the door to all his spiritual gifts. Jesus spoke to Sr. Faustina about his mercy
which comes about through the sacrament of reconciliation: (notebook 5, 1937, number 1448)
Jesus spoke to Sr. Faustina:
Write, speak of my mercy. Tell
souls where they are to look for solace; that it is in the Tribunal of Mercy,
the sacrament of Reconciliation. There
the greatest miracles take place and are incessantly repeated. To avail oneself, it is not necessary to go
on a great pilgrimage or to carry out some extraordinary ceremony; it suffices
to come with faith to the feet of my representative and reveal to him one’s
misery, and the miracle of Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decaying corpse there
would be no hope of restoration and everything would already be lost; it is not
so with God. The miracle of divine mercy
restores that soul in full. Oh, how
miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God’s
mercy! You will call out in vain but it
will be too late.
Friends, the beauty of
God’s mercy coming from the forgiveness of sins through the sacrament of
reconciliation is that it is free, readily available and easy to find. Any Catholic Church through the entire world
offers this beautiful sacrament free of charge.
And the effects are magnificent.
If one is in the state of serious sin, sin is not only forgiven, but the
very life of God is restored in our hearts and souls. As I stated in the opening of my talk, forgiveness opens the door to all other of
God’s merciful gifts, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the promise of eternal
life, the helps we need to overcome temptation, the promise of everlasting life
in the kingdom of God.
Pope St. John Paul II not only canonized
Sr. Faustina in the year 2000, he also established the Sunday following Easter
as the Sunday of Divine Mercy. It is
now known throughout the world as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” Many parishes will be offering confessions on
that day as well as an hour of adoration with the recitation of the Chaplet of
Divine Mercy at 3 PM. And of course
participants will be attending mass and receiving Holy Communion on that
day. All of this adds up to a day, not
only of the forgiveness of sin because of Divine Mercy, but also the
forgiveness of purgatorial punishment.
We could say that Divine Mercy Sunday is the receiving of Divine Mercy
“par excellence”. Jesus longs to
forgive sin and give his gifts. He
suffered and died on the cross for us and does not wish that his suffering for
so many will be in vain. Let us all
respond to his love for our eternal happiness.
It is a win-win situation.
Conversion of St. Paul
- Jan 25, 2016 - Acts 9:1-22
Saul, still breathing
murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should
find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to
Jerusalem in chains. On his journey, as
he was nearing Damascus a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice
saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus whom you are
persecuting. Now get up and go into the
city and you will be told what you must do.”
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the
voice but could see no one. Saul got up
from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing; so they led
him by the hand and brought him to Damascus.
For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.
The reading for today
from the Acts of the Apostles is much longer but the encounter with Jesus is
the most important part. It is obvious
from the story that Paul was not one of the 12 Apostles who walked with Jesus
during Jesus’ public life. He had never
met Jesus even though he as a young man had studied in Jerusalem under the
great teacher and learned man, Gamaliel.
Even though he was not one of the 12, when he was written about years
later by the doctors of the Church, he was referred to as the Apostle without even
mentioning his name. There was no one
more zealous than Paul and no one more successful in establishing the early
Church. There are many things I could
write about, his journeys, the many letters he wrote, but I would like to zero
in on what was central to his teaching and often misinterpreted.
What was central to his teaching was that
justification of the human soul (reconciliation with God) comes not from works
of the law, but from faith and acceptance of Jesus Christ. Works of the law, although not something
evil, do not have the power to justify or save anyone. If works of the law did, it would nullify the
whole meaning of redemption, that is,
the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ as necessary before sins could
be forgiven and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit received.
However, repentance is an important part of
the preparation needed in order to receive the free gift of the Spirit. Martin Luther did not believe this. He even went so far as to say, “sin bravely
and believe and you will be saved.” If
he would have concentrated on chapter 6 of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he
would not have said what he said. To quote:
What then? Shall we sin
because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not! Do you not know that if you
present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you
obey, whether of sin which leads to death, or obedience which leads to
righteousness. (Romans 8:15-16)
St. Paul would never go
against the teaching of Christ, his master.
The misinterpretation of Paul’s teaching was a matter of semantics. If St. Paul had said we are justified by the
grace of Jesus Christ coming from faith and repentance, I believe the misinterpretation would not have
happened.
We have the teaching of Christ regarding the need to keep the
commandments as part of the requirement of salvation. When the rich young man came to Jesus asking
him what he must do to be saved, Jesus
said to him that he must keep the
commandments. (Matthew 19). Obedience to
God is necessary if one wants to be disposed to receive the grace of the Holy
Spirit. We have another charming example
of the parable that Jesus told about the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee went to the temple and prayed
out loud thanking God that he was not like the rest of men, bragging about all
the good acts he was performing. The tax
collector was very different. He knew he
was a sinner, but he was humble and
repentant. The tax collector stayed in
the back beating his breast humbly asking for forgiveness. Jesus said it was the tax collector and not
the Pharisee who went home justified with God.
(Luke 18)
We cannot redeem ourselves, but we can
prepare ourselves for the grace of redemption through sorrow for our sins and
asking for forgiveness from God. We
honor St. Paul today who was the most zealous of all in bringing so many people
to the understanding of the truths of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Advent retreat -
Los Altos
Retreat master: Fr. Marvin
Deutsch, M.M.
Theme: the divine presence within us
Opening Song to the Holy Spirit
Come Holy
Ghost - Sing two verses:
Come Holy Ghost, creator blest, And in our hearts take up thy rest.
Come with thy grace and heavenly
aid. To fill the hearts which thou hast made, to fill the hearts which thou has
made.
O comforter, to thee we cry, thou heavenly
gift of God most high;
Thou font of life and fire of
love, and sweet anointing from above.
And sweet anointing from above.
Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:16-17
Consequently, from now on we
regard no one according to the flesh: the old things have passed away; even if
we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer; So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
All that matters is that one is created anew.
2 Cor: 6:14-15
Do not be yoked with
unbelievers. What fellowship does light
have with darkness? For we are the temple of the living God.
As we begin, I would
like to explain why I chose this topic.
In 1981 I was working in Dar es
Salaam , the capital of Tanzania . It seemed to me there was so much confusion
in the Church. People were saying things
I did not believe were true, but I really didn't have the knowledge to refute
them. For example - that it wasn't
necessary to convert others to Jesus anymore since all religions were
good. Also it seemed like sin didn't
exist anymore, or at least we shouldn't go around judging people about what we
considered wrong doing. And thirdly, we
should get with the spirit of Vatican
2 which seemed to be saying - just about anything goes and we should
concentrate more on peoples temporal needs to help them overcome their
poverty. Private confession wasn't
necessary anymore and it was no longer a serious sin to miss mass on
Sunday. It just seemed like a watering
down of everything spiritual.
Well, I didn't agree with this way of
thinking and decided I would take a sabbatical in Rome to study the Vatican
council and other topics. My 25th
anniversary to the priesthood was coming up and a time for renewal which worked
out perfectly. So I was in Rome for one school year, 1981-1982.
The course that had a tremendous influence
on me was the course about St. Paul 's
teaching on salvation (taught by Fr. Parsons who also taught at St. Patrick's
in Menlo Park ). This course changed my life. I began to understand what the Divine
indwelling really means and how important it is, not only for salvation, but
also for the help I needed to live a
good life, and in my priesthood, to be a good instrument in bringing people to
God.. I believe the greatest victory of
the devil during our times is the belief that sin does not exist anymore. His second greatest victory is that now so
many people also no longer believe that he, the devil, exists any more. He now has free reign.
So now let us take a look at the most
wonderful thing that has happened to mankind and that is God dwelling within
us. I think St. Paul understood this better than any
other person. I would like to quote a
few of the things he wrote in his epistles.
1 Corinthians Ch. 2, Paul
speaks about the difference between the natural person and the spiritual
person. The spiritual person is the one
in whom the spirit dwells. The natural
person is the one without the Holy Spirit.
For the natural person, things of the spirit are foolishness. He does not accept them. But the spiritual person understands and
believes all that has been revealed by God for he has the mind of Christ. St. Paul says that the
spiritual person believes that God loves us and has given up his son for us so
that as he shared in our humanity, we could share in his divinity. (prayer at the offertory of the mass) In that same chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians,
Paul says: The eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, nor has it entered into
the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him. It is the
goodness of God is just beyond our wildest imagination.
We have been talking about the teaching of St. Paul about the
indwelling spirit. What did Paul base
his teaching on? Unless it came from
Jesus, the Son of God, it could not be authentic. So what did Jesus say about the indwelling
Spirit. He speaks very clearly in
Chapters 14 and 15 in St. John's
gospel:
If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will love you and
my Father will love you and we will come and make our dwelling within you. And
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to be with you
always, the Spirit of truth which the world cannot accept, because it neither
sees nor know it. But you know it,
because it remains with you and will be in you. (John 14: 15 and following)
In Chapter 15, Jesus is very explicit
telling his Apostles that without his indwelling they will not be able to
accomplish anything (of the Spirit). He said,
I am the
vine, you are the branches. Whoever
remains in me and I in him, will bear much fruit, because without me you can do
nothing. (John 15:5)
Summary of
the meaning of the Interior Life? - (also called the spiritual life or a share
in the Divine life)
This life ordinarily is begun at
Baptism through the forgiveness of original sin, the receiving of divine life (grace), It can be perfected at Confirmation if the
person confirmed has the proper dispositions of wanting to be led by the
Spirit. If lost, it can be recovered by Penance and, of course, it is enriched
by the Holy Eucharist.(Again, if the person is disposed) In Baptism this life
is put within us like a seed. It must be
nurtured and developed. We also received
the supernatural virtues (also called the theological virtues of Faith, Hope
and Charity) which must be nurtured and developed by the Holy Spirit with our
intimate cooperation. The theological virtues are supernatural and are like a
hotline to God. (Give some examples here)
By this life, if I do not obstruct it,
Jesus imparts to me his Spirit. He
becomes the principle of a superior activity which raises me up: to think,
judge, love, will, suffer, labor with him, by him, in him and like him. My outward acts become the manifestations of
this life of Jesus in me. And thus I
tend to realize the ideal of the interior (spiritual) life that was formulated
by St. Paul
when he said: "I live, now, not I,
but Christ lives in me."
For this to happen, we must understand that
we must strive against our natural inclinations that are contrary to God's
will. We must regulate them and acquire
the habit of judging and directing all our thoughts and actions in the light of
the gospel and the example of Jesus. A
study of the 7 capital sins is very helpful in understanding this process.
A very simple definition of the interior
life: It is the life of Jesus Christ
within me. Thus I am empowered to act
with the assistance of Jesus. Since I
have the supernatural virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, I am on a different
course than those without these virtues.
In Chapter of 2 of 1 Cor, St.
Paul explains how being the spiritual person
differentiates me from others who only act naturally. The spiritual person has
a different perspective on every thing.
He or she has the mind of Christ.
Questions:
- What does the word supernatural mean in the context
of the spiritual life?
- What is the meaning of Sanctifying Grace?
3.
Does Jesus speak about the interior life in the gospels? Where?
(see John's gospel, Chapters 3,
14 and 15)
4.
St. Paul says in Romans 8:9 -
"Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ, does
not belong to him." How is this Spirit gained or lost?
5.
In order for the Spirit of Jesus to be fully active within me, what is
necessary?
(See Encyclical of Popes Benedict and
Francis on Faith, no. 48)
6.
How do you interpret the will of God as spoken by Jesus in Mathew 7.
7. In
married life, what are the advantages of being on the same page spiritually
with
your
spouse?
________________________________________________________
Answers: 1)
Supernatural means above one's nature.
If a man could fly, it would be
supernatural. If a bird could think and reason, it would be
above it's nature.
2) The word "Grace" means
"gift"; thus, the gift of the indwelling spirit which
makes us holy.
3)
Jesus speaks about the interior life in John's gospel:
In chapter 3, he says to Nicodemus - A man must be born again from above to
enter the kingdom of heaven. In 14 of
John, Jesus says: If you love me, you will keep m commandments and my Father
will love you and I will love you and we will come and make our dwelling within
you, and we will send you the Holy Spirit.
In Ch. 15 of John, he says: If
you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Without me you can do nothing.
4)
St. Paul in Romans 8:9 says: Unless the
Spirit of Jesus resides in you, you do not belong to him. The Spirit is gained through Baptism, lost
through serious sin, and regained through the Sacrament of Penance.
5)
In the
encyclical on Faith, Pope Benedict and Francis say that to have the
unity of truth, one must believe all
that God has revealed through Jesus
and his Church. Without this unity of truth the Holy Spirit
cannot be
fully active.
6)
Jesus says in Mathew 7:
Not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the
will of my Father. To do the will
of the Father is to keep the
commandments.
7)
The advantages are many: unity in life's purpose; no
conflict in raising
children in the one faith; unity
and peace in prayer and the Holy
Spirit;
etc.
All Souls
Day- Nov 2, 2015
Praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory
John 6:37-40
Everything that the Father gives to me will come to me, and I will not
reject anyone who comes to me. Because I
came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent
me. And this is the will of the one who
sent me, that I should not loose anything of what he gave me, but that I should
raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who
sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him
on the last day.
I would like
to begin this essay on purgatory with the introduction we find in the Sunday
missal regarding the mass for All Souls Day on Nov. 2. The introduction says:
A beautiful, fitting, Catholic
tradition is one special day of prayer for those who have gone before us in
life and who are now in Purgatory. We think of our own beloved dead - ancestors,
parents, relations, benefactors, friends - and of all the faithful
departed. We pray for them.
The belief in purgatory is a Catholic
tradition. It is part of our way of thinking based on very good reasons. When
someone dies we almost automatically think of praying for them, of having
masses offered for them, just in case they haven't satisfied for everything and
are not yet in the kingdom
of God Kingdom of God
So why then does the Church believe in
purgatory? What is the reason that this is part of Catholic tradition? In any
discussion I think it is good to define one's terms. When we speak of
purgatory, what are we talking about? What is the meaning of the word and what
does it signify? The word itself comes from "purge" meaning to cleanse,
to make clean either spiritually or physically. The dictionary says that
purgatory is a place or state of expiation of sins after death and before
entering heaven... It is based on the belief that even though God forgives the
sins of anyone who is sorry for them, it does not mean that all the punishment
due to them is taken away.
Let us take a look at what the Catechism
of the Catholic Church has to say on the subject. We find it in the section on
the creed entitled, The Final Purification, or Purgatory,
Nos. 1030 – 1032.
All who die in God's grace and
friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal
salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the
holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of
the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The
Church formulated her doctrine of faith in Purgatory especially at the Council
of Florence Trent
The catechism also quotes the
council of Lyons
(1274) with a very important statement:
From the beginning the Church has
honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above
all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the
beatific vision of God.
This definition
bears repeating because it tells us something we need to understand better -
the need for perfect holiness before we can see God.
I think this last statement says
it all. If we can understand this, we will not only believe in purgatory but
also see the necessity for it. We need to be purified in order to be made ready
to experience the true goal of life, the purpose for which we were created, the
vision of the magnificence and beauty of God for all eternity.
Has anyone seen purgatory? Yes they have. We have the appearances of the Blessed Virgin
Mary to the children of Fatima. The
blessed virgin not only showed them purgatory, but also heaven and hell. The souls in purgatory begged for prayers
because they are not able to help themselves.
They have a longing for God which can only be fulfilled when they enter
into the joys of heaven. Let us pray for them frequently during this month,
(mass and rosary are very good ways) and not only our friends and relatives,
but those too who are forgotten and have no one to pray for them.
An Essay on Hope – April 10,
2016
There is a saying which we all learned
when we were growing up: “Hope springs
eternal in the heart of man.” I believe
this hope would not be in our hearts unless God who created us put it
there. It was put there by God to
encourage us to keep going through thick and thin, good fortunate and bad
fortune. The feeling is there. If we just keep persevering, we will one day
be successful in finding true fulfillment and happiness. In this essay I would like to point out that
at times we are tempted to doubt in the overall providence of God in our hope
for that final happiness when we see so many discouraging life styles and
tendencies all around us which are contrary to what God is teaching us through
his son, Jesus Christ. Is God still with us?
Does he care?
On the temporal level we often see this
hope which perseveres and doesn’t give up.
This past week we had a good example of the fulfillment of hope in
sports. In the NBA basketball final between
North Carolina and Villanova, both teams were filled with hope for
victory. Both could not win, of
course. The score went back and forth
between the two teams. With 4 and a
quarter seconds to go, the score was tied, 73 to 73. A team member from Villanova sunk a long
basket from center floor thus winning the game as the buzzer rang out ending
the time of the game. The last time
Villanova won the championship was in 1985, but since then hope was never lost
for another victory.
We need the same perseverance in our spiritual lives as St. Paul says in
Corinthians 9:24 about the race in sports.
In sports he days, there is only one winner, but in our spiritual lives,
everyone can be a winner, but St. Paul calls us to imitate the perseverance and
self-discipline of the athlete.
In our spiritual lives why “Hope” is so
much needed today? First of all, what
are we hoping for? We are hoping that
the promises of Jesus Christ for our happiness in this life and in the next
which we believe in will be fulfilled.
Hope is like a companion to Faith.
Yes, we believe, but we also must trust that God is there always helping
us to achieve what we believe in. Jesus
told his apostles before he ascended into heaven that he would be with them and
his Church until the end of the age. (Matt 28:19)
The problem that enters into the
equation is when those opposing our
beliefs have so much influence in taking over the culture with their
nonsensible and evil ways, an unbelievable difference from 60 years ago. There are countless examples to illustrate
what I have said. Today there are
candidates running for the highest office in the land who promote the killing
of the innocent in the womb One of the
candidates spoke out the other day saying that the fetus {child in the womb)
has no rights. Her believe is that the
mother has the right to do what she wishes with her body. But wait a minute, when talking about the
child in the womb we are not talking about the mother’s body. We are talking about another body which if
fully formed or about to be fully formed which the mother is nourishing. Actually all of us were once in that stage
and wouldn’t be here now except for our mom’s love and care. And of course,
under God’s law of procreation, the child in the womb is another human being
just like we are. Science in our times
fully supports this.
I don’t think that other examples are
necessary to get the point across. We
are all aware of them. Our question is –
how can this be? Didn’t Jesus conquer
the devil by his death and resurrection?
How can there be such a struggle between good and evil? St. Paul gives us an answer. He says that our struggles are not between
flesh and blood, but powers and principalities (Ephesians 6:12). When he speaks of powers and principalities,
it is another word for Satan who has a great influence behind the scenes. Satan is very powerful and those who do these
sinful deeds are under his influence. Yes Jesus died on the cross and rose from
the dead to defeat Satan and sin. But
Satan freely roams the world, as St Peter says in his first letter, “The devil
is prowling around the world like a roaring lion seeking those he can devour”(1
Peter 5:8). But we do have a choice – to
follow Jesus who asks us to obey, sacrifice and love; or Satan who appeals to
our self-satisfaction, self-centeredness and selfishness. Those not under the
influence of the Holy Spirit are causing all the damage in the world.
The other day I was reading the
introduction to the book of Revelation (the last book of the bible) in the
American bible. The introduction
explains the meaning of this book. It
says the reason why John wrote this book was to fill the followers of Jesus
with hope in the struggle that goes on between Satan and his followers and
Jesus and his followers. The struggle is
a continuous one but it will one day end with the victory of the Lamb of God
and the establishment of his kingdom.
This book is apocalyptic, that is, concerned with the end times. We are in the midst of that struggle now, but
it will not go on forever. The
introduction states that St. John wrote this book in order to give hope in the
struggle. (Not only then but now too) We
are on the right side which will eventually conquer. We need to pray for an increase in Hope, the
companion of Faith.
Today is the third Suday after Easter. The prayer (collect) for today’s mass is
extremely relevant as a conclusion for this essay.
May your people exult forever, O God, in
renewed youthfulness of spirit, so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of
our adoption, we may look forward in confident hope to the rejoicing of
the day of resurrection, through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and
reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen
The Presentation of
the Lord
Feb.
2, 2016 – Los Altos, CA
Reading, Luke 2:22-42
According to the law of Moses,
Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the Law of the Lord….
The Gospel reading today tells us that
Mary and Joseph were faithful Jews, obedient to the law and customs. In this respect they were just like any
other young couple bringing their 40-day-old first-born son to the temple to
offer sacrifice and to buy him back from the Lord with an inexpensive sacrifice
of 2 young pigeons. (Feb. 2 is 40 days after Christmas) This was done in
remembrance of the Passover at the time of Moses when the angel of death passed
over the homes of the Jews, not killing the first born as happened to the
Egyptians. Thus the first-born belonged
to God and had to be redeemed.
According to the gospel there were only
two people in the temple who recognized that this couple and their little son
were not ordinary people. The first one
was Simeon. Perhaps we often think of
him as one of the priests in the temple since he is often depicted as such in
pictures. But the gospel does not
confirm this. It says:
He came in the Spirit into the
temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of
the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms. The gospel then says: This man was
righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel
Simeon
was a true Jew, a true son of Abraham. He was a holy man. We have the“Nunc Dimittis”, (Latin for “now
you can dismiss your servant”, so often
quoted.
Now, master, you may let your
servant go in peace, according to your word for my eyes have seen your
salvation which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples: a light for
revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.
The child’s father and mother were
amazed at what was said about him.; Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his
mother, “Behold this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted, and you yourself a sword will
pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
The second person to recognize that this
was not an ordinary baby, was Anna, a prophetess and a very pious woman. The gospel says:
She never left the temple, but
worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. She gave thanks to God and spoke about the
child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Israel
Simeon speaks of Salvation, not
only for the Jews, but also the Gentiles.
Anna speaks of Redemption to all who were awaiting the
Savior. These are remarkable insights
into the presence of this ordinary looking baby. Simeon speaks of rejection, a sign of
contradiction, that it will not go easy for this child, and for Mary his
mother either, for a sword will pierce her heart. She will participate with him in his
sufferings.
This simple
forthright story is filled with great significance for the future. Mary received a glimpse of what it would
be. She was only about 16 years old, and
would only be in her mid-forties when her son Jesus would begin his public
life. Mary knew not the details. She
would have to wait for those to unfold in a spirit of Faith and Trust in God.
We may wonder why Simeon and Anna were
given this grace by the Holy Spirit to know that Jesus was the one who would
bring redemption and salvation to Israel and to the world. We can’t second-guess God, but perhaps these
two prophets were instruments of God to reveal to Mary and Joseph what was to
come and help them to get ready and be prepared. Although it is not recorded in Luke’s gospel,
soon Mary and Joseph would have to flee into Egypt to escape the wrath of King
Herod who wanted to destroy Jesus. Here
was the sign of contradiction, a preview of coming events.
The sign of contradiction continues. The struggle of good and evil goes on. The words of Simeon have just as much meaning
today as they did then when he first uttered them. We have our Herods today and even religions
that forbid the teaching of Jesus, and also those who will do everything in
their power to prevent the Word of God from being spoken and believed in.
St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:23 that
the cross would be a sign of contradiction: folly for the Gentiles and a
stumbling block for the Jews.
Muslims too, do not accept Jesus as God’s son, or our redeemer and
Savior. But it matters not for each one
of us, for we will not be judged by the sins and faults of others but only for
our own. We shouldn’t burn our house
down because others burn theirs. What matters is our commitment to Jesus Christ. He is our strength. We sing his praises for he has become our
Savior.
Christ the King – last Sunday in the Church Year
The Crisis of
the Truth (Nov 22, 2015)
John
18: 33-37
Pilate said to Jesus, “Are you king of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?” Pilate
answered, “I am not a Jew am I? Your own
nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong
to this world. If my kingdom did belong
to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over
to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is
not here.” So Pilate said to him, “Then
you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You
say I am a king. For this I was born and
for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to
my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is
truth?”
Today, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015, we have an insightful revelation in John 18
into the meaning of Christ’s kingdom. It is a kingdom of truth. Jesus tells Pilate that he is a king but not
one of this world and that he came to testify to the truth and those who belong
to the truth listen to his voice.
Pilate’s answer tells us much about the confusion and uncertainty of what truth us is when he simply says “What is truth?”
Pilate knew that the high priests were
lying when they accused Jesus of going contrary to the laws of Rome and was a
threat to the power of Cesare. In Mathew
27:18 it states that Pilate knew that it was out of envy that Jesus was brought
before him for crucifixion. Jesus was no
threat to Rome. He did not seek the
overthrow of the Roman government. And
so what we have here is very helpful to the understanding of why people
lie. There is something to be gained
personally which people want very much and will do anything to get. For the High Priests it was their authority
and prestige which was severely threatened
by Jesus, the popular miracle worker.
I want to tell you a true story which took
place when I was working in the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, East
Africa. I was in charge of the Young
Christian Workers for the
Archdiocese. I was meeting with a group
of young working boys and girls in the parish of Chang’ombe. One of the youth told me that Joseph, the
leader of the group, should be demoted because he wasn’t living up to his
Catholic faith. He was living with a
girl outside of marriage. I called
Joseph into the office and asked him it this were true. Tears came down his eyes as he said that it
was out of envy that I was told this and someone else wanted his leadership
job. I told the pastor who said he would
send a couple of youth to the place where Joseph was living to check it
out. The visitors found the girl there. The next day I called Joseph into the office
for another chat and confronted him with the truth. He didn’t deny it. In fact he started to laugh and said, “You
are not guilty unless you are caught.”
Today one can’t help but wonder if honesty
is a lost virtue. People perjure themselves left and right. For example, prominent
baseball players have testified under oath that they did not take enhancement
drugs to increase their skills. It was
obvious that they were not telling the truth. Others deceive because they want
their side to win, especially politicians.
For example, the president of our country refuses to acknowledge the
truth about radical Muslims who murder and practice Jihad. He says they are not true Muslims. Thus members of Isis are not true Muslims.
Others say that violence against others belongs to no religion and therefore
Isis is not Muslim. As a matter of fact,
violent Jihad is mentioned many times in
the Koran as part and parcel of the Islamic religion. Just type in “violence in the Koran” in
Google search and you will see. Violence and Jihad are mentioned many times as
the duty and responsibly of Muslims in their effort to bring the whole world
under the domain of their God, Allah.
Obviously, as I have mentioned above, the
president and others do not want the truth about Islam to be exposed.. Someone has said that if you repeat a lie
loud enough and often enough, people with believe you. He is certainly doing
that. Just tell them that you know what
you are talking about and people will believe you, especially if you are in a
high position. Many people are mystified
why anyone would be like this when it is so obvious that he or she is
wrong. What many people don’t
understand is the hidden agenda of the liar. It was the same way with the
condemnation of Jesus in today’s gospel.
If you type in “the advisors of President Obama” in Google you will see
that he has 10 Muslims advisors. At the
end of the Ramadan fast he invites them and other Muslims to the Whitehouse for
a celebration. President Obama loves
the Islam religion. He was brought up in
this religion as a boy in Indonesia. His
experience there convinced him that Islam was a religion of peace and
progress. Perhaps it was, but that does
not mean that all Muslims throughout the world act in this way. If you read the Koran, you will see that in
places it speaks of Islam as a religion of peace and in other places as a
religion of violence. Both are there.
There is only one true religion and only
one true everlasting kingdom which is that coming directly from God our Father
through his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.,
Jesus says that he came into the world to bear witness to the truth and
those who belong to the truth listen to his voice. (the gospel for today) To listen to the truth
of Jesus and to follow it makes us members of his kingdom where he is truly the
King who will reign forever. That is our
kingdom and Jesus is our Lord and King, and that is what we celebrate today.
Christ the King - Last Sunday
in the Church Year
Luke 23:35-43
The rulers sneered at Jesus and said,
"He save others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ
of God. Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to over him wine, they
cried out, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Above him there was an inscription which
read, "This is the king of the Jews.
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus saying, “Are you
not the Christ. Save yourself and
us." The other, rebuking him, said
in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same
condemnation? And indeed, we have been
condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes. But this man has done nothing
criminal." Then he said,
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you,
today you will be with me in Paradise ."
Today is the last Sunday of the
Church year. Today we think about Jesus as the king of the kingdom of God
In today's gospel, we find Jesus hanging
on the cross. He is being taunted by the
Roman soldiers, by the Jewish elders, and even by one of the criminals who is
being crucified next to him. They are
mocking him, demanding that if he is who he said he was, he should save himself
and come down from the cross and then they would believe in him. However, the good thief has a very different
point of view. Somehow he is given the
grace to see the importance of what Jesus is going through. He tells the other criminal how wrong it is
for this man Jesus to be crucified for he is totally innocent and has done
nothing to deserve such punishment. He
turns to Jesus and pleads with him and with great faith he says, Lord, remember
me when you enter into your kingdom. Jesus
replies to this converted man, "This day you will be with me in
paradise." (Luke 23:39-43) The good thief on the cross understood what the
kingdom of Jesus
The disciples of Jesus also had a
difficult time understanding the meaning of Jesus' kingdom. When the disciples asked Jesus when his
kingdom would be established, he said:
The kingdom
of God kingdom of God 1:15 )
Jesus is the kingdom. Where ever
Jesus is, so is the kingdom. Those who
are living in grace and the Holy Spirit already posses the kingdom of Jesus
When Jesus appeared before Pontius Pilate
before he was put to death, Pilate asked him if he was a king. Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom was not of
this world and if it were of this world, his heavenly Father would have sent
him a Legion of Angels to protect him..
Jesus said to Pilate that he had come to bear witness to the truth and
those who were of the truth would hear is voice. (John 18:36-38)
No one can understand the meaning of
Jesus' kingdom unless like the good thief, he understands the meaning of the
cross. Here on earth the cross cannot be
separated from Jesus' kingdom. We all, I
think, would like to have it another way where Jesus would take away all
suffering. But life is not like
that. We all have a cross to carry and
we also have temptations we have to conquer through self denial and prayer in
order to avoid sin and wrong doing.
When Jesus told his apostles that he had
to go to Jerusalem
where he would be put to death, Peter took Jesus aside and said, "This
will never happen to you Lord."
Jesus rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me Satan, for you have
not the words of God but the words of man." (Matt 16:23 )
But Jesus promises us that following his way will not lead to
unhappiness, but just the opposite for we will have a permanent place in his
kingdom. He said, "Those who loose their life for my sake will find
it." (Matt 10:39 )
Perhaps you are familiar with the song,
"The Old Rugged Cross", written by George Bernard. One of the verses
describes the meaning of the cross as connected to the kingdom: O that
old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me:
for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above; to bear it to dark Calvary…..So
I'll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down; I will
cling to the old rugged cross and
exchange it some day for a crown."
First
Sunday in Advent
The Two Comings of Jesus
Matt 24:37-44
Jesus said to his
disciples: As it was in the days of
Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Man.
Today, Sunday, is the first day of Advent. I think it is a good way to
begin Advent with a brief explanation of its dual meaning. Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of Christ
the King which was the last Sunday in Ordinary time. Briefly, this feast day tells us that Jesus
is already here reigning in the hearts of believers and that he will come again
to bring the kingdom to its fullness in the kingdom of God
For
he assumed at his first coming the lowliness of human flesh, and so fulfilled
the design you formed long ago, and opened for us the way to eternal salvation.
But then when he comes again in glory and majesty, and all is at last made
manifest, we who watch for that day may inherit the great promise in which now
we dare to hope.
However, as we move
along in Advent, we will see in the readings a much greater concentration on
Jesus' first coming. We will have
numerous readings on the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, and also hear
about John the Baptist and the role he played in preparing the people for
Jesus' first coming. Advent then,
is penitential. By listening to John the Baptist, we too are
renewed in spirit and come to a deeper sorrow for our sins which prepares us
for the celebration of Jesus' coming on the feast of Christmas. We celebrate this coming over and over
again. The Christmas season then,
becomes a time for joyful renewal of this coming which is already here, but
needs to be constantly reemphasized because his presence is so often forgotten
in our secular and often, godless
culture.
A question we may ask today is - Just how long will we have to wait for Jesus' second coming? In the gospel of today's mass, Jesus says that it will come when it is least expected. Therefore he exhorts his followers to live in such a way that they are always be ready. I think it is easy to interpret that warning by saying; we must be living in God's grace and striving to live a holy life.
But I do not think it is wrong to
speculate when that second coming might be.
This helps us to live a better life.
We should not, of course, try to pin it down to a certain day or year,
since Jesus said that no one knows the time except the Father, and not even the
angels know. My speculation is: The time from Abraham to
Jesus was two thousand years. The time
from Jesus until now is about the same, close to two thousand years. And so Advent for the Jews was two thousand
years. It seems reasonable that our
Advent then, could well be around two thousand years. The Church calls the time of Jesus until his
second coming, the end times or the last days. St. Peter in his
preaching on Pentecost Sunday in Jerusalem ,
uses that term. When the people heard
the apostles speaking in different languages, they thought that perhaps they
were drunk. But St. Peter says:
These people (the apostles)
are not drunk as you suppose, for it is only 9 O'clock in the morning.
No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: It will come to pass in the last days,
God says, that I will pour out a portion of my spirit upon all flesh….The sun
shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the
great and splendid day of the Lord, and it shall be that everyone will be saved
who calls on the name of the Lord. (Acts 2:15-23)
And so what are the last days? The years between the birth Jesus and the end
of the world are called the last days.
In other words, it seems that it will be a much shorter time than from
the time of the creation of Adam and Eve to the coming of Jesus. And so we
are living in a real time Advent. Even
Pope Francis, in his recent homilies, speaks of these days as end times and
warns of persecution. So let us take
this season to heart as we pray more earnestly for a deeper faith and devotion
to Jesus who is already here and will one day come again.
Suddenly
the Lord Will Appear - December
23
Malachi: 3:1-4,
23-24;
Thus says the Lord
God: Lo, I am sending my messenger to
prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord
whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of
hosts. But who will endure the day of
his coming? And who can stand when he
appears? For he is like the refiner's
fire, or like the fuller's lye. He will
sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi,
refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the
Lord. Then the sacrifice of Judah Jerusalem
Friends in Christ,
Perhaps many Catholics don't have the
feeling that Advent is a penitential season.
For one thing it is very short, usually about 3 and a half weeks. We retain the alleluia before the
gospel. We have flowers in the sanctuary
especially on feast days. Also, we are not looking forward to Our Lord's
suffering and death, but to a very joyful event, the birth of our Savior in Bethlehem . The birth of any child is a joyful event, but
there is no event in the history of the world that compares with Christmas, God
becoming man, the incarnation, the word made flesh.
And so where does the penitential aspect
enter into the picture? Advent is all
about preparation. It represents the
longing and waiting of the chosen people for a Messiah, and event which took
hundreds of years of waiting and preparation.
During Advent we have many readings about John the Baptist, who came in
the sprit of Elijah to call the people to repentance in order that they might
be prepared and disposed to accept the Savior.
It is interesting to note that during Lent which is a stricter time of
penance, the Baptist is hardly mentioned.
Then why during this period of Advent?
I think that it is because preparation is so very important. No one can accept Christ unless he is
prepared. For many people, unfortunately
is just a holiday season, a time for fun and an exchange of gifts. It is expressed by the greeting, "Happy
Holidays." But for the true
believer Jesus is the reason for the season.
It is only through prayer and sacrifice that we are prepared and come to believe.
In today's first reading, which is from
the Prophet Malachi, the whole idea of preparation is emphasized. To quote:
Thus
says the Lord God: Lo, I am sending my
messenger to prepare the way before me.
And suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek and
the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who will endure the day of his
coming? And who can stand when he
appears? For he is like the refiners
fire or like the fuller's lye. He will
sit refining and purifying silver…..Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet,
before the day the Lord comes.
The whole emphasis here
is preparation. The word "Malachi" comes from the Hebrew which means
"My Messenger" Malachi lived about 450 BC during a time when the Jews
had returned to Jerusalem
from the captivity in Babylon .
They were in great need of reform, that is, to return to the covenant of God.
The time of the Messiah had not
yet come. Still it was central to their faith and a powerful influence on the
Jewish psyche. However, during the time
of Jesus birth there were great expectations.
Many felt that the time had come, especially with the preaching of John
the Baptist.
Referring to the need of preparation,
Malachi used the image of a silversmith purifying silver. There is a story of a woman studying this
passage in her bible group who decided to visit a silversmith in order to
understand better what Malachi meant.
When she visited the silversmith, she watched him put the silver into
the fire. She asked him how he knew when
the silver was ready, that it was purified..
The silversmith said, "Oh, that's easy. When I can see my own image in the silver I
know it is ready." I think it is
easy to make the reference of God working within us. When he can see the image of his son within
us, we have been made ready.
The Holy Trinity – May 22, 2016
John
16:12-15 Jesus said to his disciples: “I
have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of Truth, he
will guide you to all truth. He will not
speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the
things that are coming. He will glorify
me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is mine; for this
reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”
Today is the Sunday
after Pentecost, Trinity Sunday.
Pentecost and Trinity Sunday are intimately related. On Pentecost, the Father and the son, Jesus,
sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles.
That which had been related and promised through the ages was finally
fulfilled. God became available to dwell
with in each human being who accepted it, and also it was revealed to the
Apostles, that God was not one, but three persons, each one distinct, yet
different as one person is different from the next. Yet they all shared the same nature, a
mystery to be believed in but never completely understood by any human being.
There are some people, especially the very
intelligent and learned, who will not believe anything unless they can
understand it. Do you think this should
be our criterion before accepting belief in the Holy Trinity or any of the
other mysteries of God? This reminds me
of a story that you may have heard before, but I think is worth telling
again. The story is about St.
Augustine who lived in the 4th century. Augustine was walking along the shore of the
Mediterranean Sea. He was thinking about
the Holy Trinity – how could there be three persons in the one God? He ran across a small boy playing in the sand
on the seashore. The boy had dug a small
hole in the sand. He had a bucket in his
hands and was walking over to the sea, filling up the bucket with water, after
which he returned to the hole he had dug.
He then emptied the water into the hole.
He kept doing this going back and forth.
St. Augustine stopped to talk with the boy. He asked him what he was trying to do. The little boy said, I am going to empty the
sea into the hole I have dug. Augustine
realize immediately that was what he was trying to do. There was no way that he as a human being
could ever figure out the nature of God. It was far beyond him. What God asks of us is not understanding but
faith in what he has revealed. In
Matthew 11 Jesus says, I thank you Father that you have hidden these teachings
from the wise and the learned and revealed them to the little ones, the merest
children.
In the gospel for today, Jesus speaks
clearly of his Father and also of the Holy Spirit. In Chapter 14 and 15 of St. John’s gospel, he
elaborates on his relationship with his Father and the Holy Spirit. He says “The Father and I are one; he who
sees me sees the Father. No one can come
to the Father except through me. He also
says that if you love me, you will keep my commandments and my Father will love
you and I will love you and we will come to you and make our dwelling place
within you. And we will send you the
Holy Spirit who will remind you of everything I have taught you.
We may not think about it as such, but we
express our belief in the Trinity many times every day. Every time we pray and begin our prayer with
the sign of the cross, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit”, we are expressing our belief in the central tenet of our Faith,
the Holy Trinity. When we attend mass,
we are participating in the sacrifice of Jesus offering himself to the Father
in an unbloody manner, and we offer ourselves along with him. At the end of the canon just before the Our
Father, the priest holds up the consecrated bread and wine and says: through him, with him, and in him, Oh God almighty
Father, in unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours forever and
ever. And all the people answer, Amen.
Here we have a beautiful summary of the role of the three
persons, in the Most Holy Trinity in our prayer and worship.
One of the main reasons why Jesus was put
to death was because he called God his father and thus was making himself equal
to God. The Jewish leaders were not ready to receive this revelation. It was something completely new and not part
of the revelations they had received in the past. They knew that God was spirit and that he was
almighty, but they did not know that God was three persons who were distinct
and equal, yet each one different. It
was Jesus who redeemed us by his suffering and death. It was not the Father who redeemed us, but
the son in obedience to his Father. The
Holy Spirit did not redeem us either, but it was the Holy Spirit who carried
out the plan of sanctification resulting from the son’s redemption. All this makes perfect sense, and we are so
privileged to have a knowledge of God’s plan for us which is so beautiful. Let us always keep his commandments showing
our love knowing that God will then always be with us and in us, the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit. God bless you in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Feast of
Corpus Christi
Reading: Ch. 6,
St. John’s gospel May 29,
2016
Today, Sunday,
May 29th we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi,(Latin for Body of
Christ). St. Pope John Paul II wrote a
beautiful encyclical on the meaning of Corpus Christi, commonly known as the
Holy Eucharist. He said that the
Eucharist is the summit and source of all
Christian life. It is the
greatest of all the sacraments because it is Jesus, himself present under the
appearance of bread and wine. I believe
that next to the mystery of the Holy Trinity, it is the greatest of all the
mysteries that Jesus has given us. It
also requires a strong faith because it is so far above our powers to
understand this kind of presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
How did Jesus Christ prepare his apostles
for this great mystery? In the gospel
for today’s mass, Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fishes in order to feed
the over 5000 who had been with him several days and were hungry. Thus he showed his power over food, that he
could easily perform a miracle to feed the people. The people were very excited about this
miracle. They wanted to seize Jesus and
make him king. He would be the bread
king and they would not have to go hungry again.
Jesus would have none of it. He sent his apostles in their boat and
ordered them to go across the lake to Capernaum. He then went to the hillside to pray to his
heavenly Father. In the middle of the
night a great squall threatened the Apostles.
The boat was in danger of capsizing.
They were terrified, and then all of a sudden they saw Jesus walking on
the water towards them. Peter got out of
the boat and started to walk towards Jesus.
His faith failed him, however, and he began to sink. Jesus grasped him by the hand and pulled him
up. Jesus then reprimanded Peter for his
lack of faith. Suddenly they were at
the shore.
Again Jesus was showing his power over all
created things. In the synagogue in
Capernaum, Jesus had a deep message which would challenge their belief. He taught that he was the bread of life, that he would give his flesh as food and his
blood as drink and those who ate his flesh and drank his blood would live forever
and he would raise them up on the last day.
Most of the people walked away.
This was too much to believe.
Jesus turned to Peter and the Apostles and asked them, “will you too go
away.” Peter, his faith now
strengthened, spoke on behalf of all the Apostles. “ He said, “To whom shall we
go, Lord, for you have the words of
eternal life.”
For those who believe, the presence of
Jesus in the Eucharist is a marvelous gift.
It makes us holy and strengthens us for the battle of life, and as Jesus
says, we will live by him just as he lives by the Father. And he will raise us up on the last day.
.
Mother of God
I think
that is fitting that we close this short book on the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit with an essay on our Blessed Mother.
She alone had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit from the moment she was
conceived in the womb of her mother Ann.
Thus the Holy Spirit was within her holy soul from the beginning of her
life until the present day. When Mary
appeared to Bernadette in the year 1858 at Lourdes. She told Bernadette when asked for her name
that she was the Immaculate Conception.
Saint Maximillian Kolbe wrote about this and gave him opinion of its
meaning. He said that Mary is so
identified with the Holy Spirit that she could call herself the Immaculate
Conception. Since Mary is our mother, we
can call on her at all times to help us to remain always in the good graces of
God and thus always living in the Holy Spirit.
If we are with Mary, she will keep us close to her son, Jesus.
Galatians 4:4-7
In the fullness of
time God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those
under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. As proof that you are sons, God sent the
Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying, "Abba, Father!" So you
are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.
On January 1 we celebrate with
great solemnity the feast day of the "Mother of God". Through the intervention of God, a young
Jewish woman whose name was Mary, was chosen by God to be the mother of his
son.
To avoid confusion, I think it is good to
begin this short homily with a question.
Just exactly what do we mean when we say that Mary is the mother of God? We certainly don't mean that Mary is the
mother of the Trinity, or the God who created the world, who existed before
time began. This is impossible because
Mary is a creature who like the rest of us was created by God. She lived in time and was born about 2000
years ago.
Well then, how and why is she called today,
"The Mother of God"? Part of
the answer is not complicated. It is
simply this: Mary is the mother of
Jesus. She is the mother of his
humanity. She cannot be the mother of his divinity for
in his divinity Jesus was not created but existed from all eternity with his
Father and the Holy Spirit. But the
complicated part of answer is this:
Jesus, the son of God, became a man (How God could take on humanity is
the complicated part which is far beyond our comprehension.) and in becoming a
man did not loose his divinity. Jesus is one person, but has two natures, the
nature of God and the nature of man.
Thus, since he is then both God and man, we say that Mary is the mother
of Jesus who is both God and man. And that is what we mean when we say that
Mary is the Mother of God.
Another very important question is - Was
it necessary for Mary to become the mother of God (Jesus) in order for our
redemption and salvation to come about?
St. Anselm, who lived about the year 1100, gives us the answer. He wrote:
God created us without Mary, but could not redeem us without her. Why is
this? It was necessary for the son of
God to become one of us, truly human in order to represent us and redeem
us. To become truly human he had to have
a human mother who was Mary.
But regarding our redemption, Mary became
much more than Jesus' mother. She fully
cooperated with him in preparation for his public life, and later to suffer
with him and support him when he became the sacrificial lamb dying on the
cross.
Let us now take a peek into the scriptures
which will help us to see Mary's role.
The first book of the bible, Genesis, Chapter 3, in describing the fall
of Adam and Eve, foretells the future role of the woman and her offspring in conquering
the serpent, Satan, who seduced Adam and Eve. God tells the serpent:
I will put enmity between you and
the woman, between your offspring and hers.
He will strike your head while you strike at his heal. (Genesis 3:15)
In hindsight, of course,
we know that the woman is Mary and her offspring is Jesus. In Luke 1:31-32 we have the angel Gabriel's
words to Mary fulfilling the Genesis prediction::
Behold you will conceive in
your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son
of the Most High.
When Jesus was 40 days old, the gospel of
St. Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple to present him
to God according to the Jewish law. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus
is recognized as the new born Savior by the old man, Simeon, who takes Jesus in
his arms and predicts what this child and his mother will come to be. Simeon
says:
Now,
Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my
eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the
peoples, a light for revelation to the gentiles and glory for your people
Israel. And then to Mary, Simeon
says: Behold this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be contradicted
and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be
revealed. (Luke 2:29-35)
And so Mary knew from the earliest days
that a sword of sorrow would pierce her heart, which as we all know was carried
out when she stood beneath the cross during her Son's crucifixion. The excruciating pain that Jesus suffered in
his body was deeply shared in Mary's heart. And it is still while Jesus is on
the cross that he gives his mother to John.
In doing so, Jesus gave Mary to us also as mother, for John represented
all of us.
(John 19:26-27)
In conclusion we say, Mary is not our Savior. Only Jesus is. But just as she was chosen by God to be our
Savior's mother and to be intimately united with him in everything he did and continues
to do; so also she is our mother and the mother of the Church. She does nothing for herself but only for
her Divine Son and for us. Whenever we
ask, she draws us closer to him. We know
that her role is never finished, even at the end of time, for she will always
be the mother of the living and the Queen of all creation. She has appeared throughout the world, at
Guadalupe (1531), Lourdes
1858), at Fatima (1917), at Medjugorje (1981),
in order to confirm the teaching of her son.
She tells us that it is all true.
God really exists, Jesus exists, eternal life exists, eternal love
exists, (as well as the loss of that love for those condemned), Mary
exists. Let us call on Mary today as
begin the New Year, to help us in our lives to truly believe all that has been
revealed to us and to live a life accordingly which makes us worthy of our
calling and enabled to reach the goal of life with God.
Fr. Marvin Deutsch, M.M.
.
About the Author
Fr.
Marvin Deutsch grew up in South Minneapolis.
He is from a large family of 8 children.
All went to St. Helena's grade school.
He attended St. Thomas College in St. Paul for two years before entering
the Maryknoll Foreign Mission Society. He
was ordained in 1957 and was assigned to Tanzania, East Africa, where he worked
for over 30 years. For the first 6
years he worked in a remote area doing primary evangelization, that is,
introducing Christianity where it did not exist before. For about 25 years, he worked with youth,
first in the city of Dar es Salaam on the coast, and later in the diocese of
Shinyanga which is in the Western part of the country. He set up youth centers in both places.
On his 25th anniversary as a
priest, he took a sabbatical, studying at the universities of the Angelicum and
the Gregorian in Rome. It was the
intellectual highlight of his life. He
took courses in Spiritual Direction, retreat methods, the problem of the 7
Capital Sins, the meaning of salvation according to the teaching of St. Paul,
etc. Without these courses he would not have been able to do the retreat work
and spiritual direction which he pursued after his retirement in 1997. Most of this work was done in his home
diocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
In 2004, he moved to the Maryknoll
retirement home in Los Altos for part of the year where he began writing his
books. "Strangers and Sojourners,
No Longer" was his first book (A Retreat Manual). He also wrote 3 books on his experiences in
Africa based on the letters he wrote to his mother over a period of 35
years. In 2012, he wrote, "Essays
and Homilies for our Times", and in 2013, "To Find Jesus is to Find
the Meaning of Life." In 2016, he
wrote this book which is entitled, The Marvel of God’s Life within us.
Fr. Deutsch continues to
write homilies which go out on the internet almost every week to over a
thousand people.
