Father Jerome
Machar OSCO
Rapping at
Jesus' Heart
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 56: 1, 6-7
Romans 11: 13-15, 29-32
Matthew 15: 21-28
It is amazing how little things can affect our
spirits. Someone smiles, and all is well with
the human race. Someone frowns, and we are
surrounded by bogeymen and nasty people who are
out to do us harm. The phone rings, and we are
filled with expectation and joy. If it does not
ring, we feel abandoned and forgotten. We need
to be aware that our world has been touched by
God and that little things count. The way we
treat each other can be a source of joy and a
moment of grace. Robert Frost, the one-time
American Poet laureate, wrote a poem about a
little dust of snow that changed his mood on a
day he wished he had never gotten out of bed. I
think we can all identify with his sentiments.
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
Today's gospel reading is strange and
provocative, to say the least. Most preachers
find it embarrassing, almost scandalous, since,
on the surface, it depicts Jesus in an
unflattering light. Consider the scene--a
desperate woman comes begging Jesus to help her
tormented daughter. Matthew is careful to
identify her as a Canaanite, someone who lived
in the region of Tyre and Sidon, clearly an
outsider to the Jewish faith. In most of the
other gospel accounts, we see Jesus responding
quickly, gently and with great compassion. Here,
we find something different and unusual. Jesus
turns His back on her. First, He ignores her;
then, He treats her abruptly. Using the parlance
of the day, He calls her a "dog." Because of the
discomfort they were feeling about the
situation, the disciples ask Him to give her
whatever she wants and get rid of her, since she
was becoming a nuisance. Robert Frost's mention
of a crow reminded me of another poem about a
crow/raven.
The Raven
Edgar Allan Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered,
weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of
forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there
came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping--rapping at my
chamber door.
To be totally honest, there is nothing beautiful
about a raven. The song of the crow is
high-pitched screech. They do not glide and soar
like eagles, they just show up whenever they get
hungry. When they find some food, they hop
around and squawk, making themselves even more
"likable" to our gentle ears! Today's gospel
passage describes Jesus' journey outside Jewish
territory after a fierce encounter with the
Pharisees. Perhaps, he was looking for a time to
regroup His energy and refocus His mission.
However, this was not to be! No sooner does He
cross the border than this Gentile woman throws
herself at His feet, rapping and tapping at the
door of His heart. She puts Him on the spot by
pleading for His help. The problem is twofold.
One she is a Gentile and the other, she is a
woman. For the culture of the times, these were
huge hindrances. Even though Jesus seems to pay
no attention, she would not be put off by this
wonder-worker. Her daughter was desperately ill,
and she would not be satisfied until the girl
was restored to health. And so, she kept
rapping, rapping, rapping at the heart of the
Master. This unnamed woman made the suffering of
her child her own. and she did not have time for
social niceties. Whatever she had to endure, she
was willing to endure, not caring that anyone
might think her rude or importunate. Her
persistence was indomitable. She intended to
screech and carry on until she got her wish, her
daughter's healing. Her faith pushed her beyond
her usual boundaries.
This brings us to yet a third story about a
crow/raven, this one taken from the Life of
Saint Benedict. "There used to come to him at
the time of dinner a crow from the next forest,
which took bread from his hand. Coming
therefore, as she was wont, the man of God cast
before her the [poisoned] bread that the Priest
had sent him, saying: 'In the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ take this bread and cast it in some
place where no man may find it.' The crow,
gaping and spreading her wings, run croaking
about it, as though she would have said, 'I
would willingly fulfill thy command, but I am
not able.' The man of God commanded again
saying: 'Take it up, take it up, and cast it
where no man may find it.' So at length the crow
took it up in her beak and flew away with it and
three hours after returned again to receive from
Saint Benedict's hand her ordinary allowance"
(II Dialogues, # 8).
When the woman came to Jesus, like the crow in
Benedict's story, Jesus croaked, gaped and
turned about. In His response to the pleas, our
Divine Savior was saying, "I would wiling
fulfill your request, but I am not able." It is
important to keep in mind that Jesus did not
dismiss the woman as His disciples suggested.
Rather, when the woman did not go away and leave
Him in peace, Jesus sought guidance and light
from His heavenly Father. In the depths of His
being He heard the reply, "This woman has come
because I have drawn her to You." Consequently,
Jesus did not send the woman away empty-handed.
When He saw the woman's strong faith in Him, He
modified His mission plan. What seemed to have
struck Him the most was her comment about the
crumbs. She believed that Jesus would have more
than enough power left over from what Israel did
not need or want. It might be good to read the
next section of Matthew’s Gospel which recounts
the feeding of the four thousand after which
seven baskets of scraps were collected. In short
order, the Lord of mercy grants this courageous
woman the mercy she sought for her daughter.
Taking the mother's pain into His own heart, He
carried the evil away and healed the girl.
What Christ did for that Gentile woman He can do
for us. He can take our hurts and pains into His
sacred heart and offer us fullness of life in
Him. We did nothing to earn His love. Like the
woman, we have done little more than rap and tap
at the Master's Heart. Perhaps for a time He
seems to croak and gape and ignore our pleas.
Like the woman in today's gospel, let us refuse
to take "no" for an answer. Remember what Jesus
said: "To everyone who makes a request, it will
be given. Everyone who seeks will find. To those
who knock, the door will be opened" (Lk. 11:10).
May we suffer the wounds of Christ with joy,
Father Jerome Machar, OSCO
Abbey of the Genesee
“Take and Eat”
August 12, 2008
Tuesday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
Ezekiel 2: 8 - 3:4
Matthew 18: 1-14
Even though we live in challenging and confusing
times, the Word of God is living and active. The
Living Word is the rock of our faith. Looking at
the world, along with all the suffering we see
around us, we also see that the Church is called
to be a beacon of hope. The Church declares that
the Words of the Lord are spirit and life and
they show us the pathway to eternal life. As
Church, members of the Body of Christ, we are
called to be attentive to human challenges and
struggles. As disciples of the Incarnate Word we
are committed to defend human dignity and to
strive for peace with justice. As members of the
family of God we are to treat all men and women
as brothers and sisters. Our responses to the
cries of the poor and downtrodden are to be
rooted in and shaped by the Scriptures and
guided by the Magisterium of the Church. We have
inherited the mission of Ezekiel, who was told,
"Open you mouth and eat what I am about to give
you" (Ezek. 2:8).
The words "take up and eat" brought to mind a
passage in Confessions of Saint Augustine. "When
a profound reflection had, from the secret
depths of my soul, drawn together and heaped up
all my misery before the sight of my heart,
there arose a mighty storm, accompanied by as
mighty a shower of tears. . . when, suddenly, I
heard the voice as of a boy or girl, I know not
which, coming from a neighboring house,
chanting, and repeating, ‘Take up and read; take
up and read.’ Immediately my countenance was
changed, and I began most earnestly to consider
whether it was usual for children in any kind of
game to sing such words; nor could I remember
ever to have heard the like. So, restraining the
torrent of my tears, I rose up, interpreting it
no other way than as a command to me from Heaven
to open the book, and to read the first chapter
I should light upon. . . So quickly I returned
to the place where Alypius was sitting; for
there had I put down the volume of the apostles,
when I rose thence. I grasped, opened, and in
silence read that paragraph on which my eyes
first fell, - 'Not in rioting and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife
and envying; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill
the lusts thereof' (Rom. 13:13). No further
would I read, nor did I need; for instantly, as
the sentence ended, - by a light, as it were, of
security infused into my heart, - all the gloom
of doubt vanished away" (The Confessions, Book
8, chapter 12).
The key to the Christian life is the passionate
love of Christ. This love springs from the
depths of the Father's heart and is handed on to
us by Christ. As disciples of Christ we discover
and live profoundly our identity when we decide
to place nothing before the love of Christ and
to make Him the center of our life. Saint Paul
says 'for me to live is Christ' (Philippians
1:21). As followers of the Way, we are to live
the Truth of the Gospel in love. We are called
upon to be in communion with the faith of the
Church as preserved in Sacred Tradition. Recall
the second command to take and eat, which the
prophet Ezekiel received. "Son of man, eat what
you see; eat this scroll, then go and speak to
the House of Israel" (Ezek. 3:1).
The man of God is to consume the Word and allow
himself to be consumed by it. In the process of
eating, he is to assimilate the Word into his
very being and allow himself to be conformed to
that which he has assimilated. I found these
awesome reflections in a book written by Abraham
J. Heschel. "The prophet is not a mouthpiece,
but a person; not an instrument, but a partner,
as associate of God. . . The prophet is no
hireling who performs his duty in the employ of
the Lord. . . An analysis of prophet utterances
shows that the fundamental experience of the
prophet is a fellowship with the feelings of
God, a sympathy with the divine pathos, a
communion with the divine consciousness which
comes about through the prophet's reflection of,
or participation in, the divine pathos. The
typical prophetic state of mind is one of being
taken up into the heart of the divine pathos.
Sympathy is the prophet's answer to inspiration,
the correlative to revelation" (Prophets, page
25,ff.).
At the celebration of the Eucharist, we are
commanded to "take and eat; take and drink".
Like the prophet Ezekiel, we are fed by the hand
of God. We eat the Living Bread and are totally
consumed by the Lord of Life. We drink from the
Cup of Salvation and are totally immersed in the
Blood of the Savior. Like the prophets of old,
we are drawn into an intimate relationship with
the living Word. As we partake of the Banquet of
life we must be willing to be filled with love
for Him, to listen for His voice, and to sense
the beating of His heart. When we enter into the
mind of Christ, into His heart, we experience
the call to continue this intimate relationship
as we serve the needs of our brothers and
sisters in the Lord. May we who drink from the
source of living water become a fountain of love
and mercy for others.
May we suffer the wounds of love with joy.
In Christ Jesus,
Father Jerome
Truth vs. Rigorism
Friday of 17th
Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint
Alphonsus Liguori
Jeremiah 26: 1-9
Matthew 13: 54-58
Today we are
celebrating the feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori,
the founder of the Redemptorist Order. Something
that I was not aware of: in 1950 Pope Pius XII
named St. Alphonsus the patron of moral
theologians. He was best known for his dealings
with the Jansenists. In Jansenism, much like in
Calvinism, only a select few of all human beings
are destined to be saved. It might be helpful to
mention the Five Points of Calvinism:Total
depravity (Original Sin); Unconditional election
(God's Election); Limited atonement (Particular
Redemption); Irresistible grace (Effectual
Calling); Perseverance of the Saints.
Interestingly, both the Calvinists and
Jansenists based their notions of salvation on
how they read and understood the writings of
Saint Augustine. Based on the writings of
Cornelius Otto Jansen, his followers worked to
exhibit an incredible level of piety and
spiritual snobbery. Saint Alphonsus preached
against the rigid approach of the Jansenists.
His intention was to help souls by outlining a
more moderate path when making moral decisions.
Saint Alphonsus
was convinced that moral rigorism only lead to a
kind of guilt response that never produces moral
transformation. He saw that both clear notions
about morality and a healthy sense of God's
universal will for the salvation of sinners was
the proper incentive for helping people become
truly disciples of Christ. In his preaching,
Saint Alphonsus encouraged people to keep the
door open to the movements of God's grace in
their lives and, inspired by the workings of the
Holy Spirit, they could find the path of life
that was really worth pursuing. I remember the
refrain we recited while making the Stations of
the Cross: Grant that I might love you always
and then do with me what you will. A few
moments ago we heard these words of the Lord,
spoke through the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet.
"Stand in the court of the Temple of the Most
High. To all the people from the towns of Judah
who come to worship in the Temple of the Lord
you will say everything I have ordered you to
say, not omitting one syllable. Perhaps they
will listen and each turn from his evil way. If
they do so, I shall relent and not bring the
disaster on them which I intend because of their
misdeeds" (Jer. 26: 2-3). It is important
that preachers proclaim the Truth in love and
thereby guide people to the pathway of life.
God has
consistently sent prophets and preachers to the
people to wake them up to the consequences of
their actions and then to offer them a way out
of the pit they have dug for themselves. If the
hearers reject the message of the prophet, they
have to bear all the consequences of their
sinful choices. If the hearers listen to the
Word, take it to heart and repent of the evil
they have done, they are brought to the fullness
of life in Christ. Today's Gospel reading makes
this point. Jesus came and offered them an
insight into the heavenly kingdom. The people of
Nazareth thought they knew Jesus, since He grew
up in their town. As a result, they had
difficulty in recognizing anything exceptional
and supernatural in Him. Matthew closes with
these sobering words. "Jesus did not work many
miracles there because of their lack of faith"
(Matt. 13:58). We have a modern-day example of
this in the reaction given to the encyclical
Humanae Vitae. Forty years ago, God used Pope
Paul VI in the sacred role of prophet/teacher.
In the paragraphs of that historic encyclical,
he spoke of the sacredness of the married state
and of the sacramentality of human love. When
confronted by those who objected to his
teaching, he said that he had put his trust in
the Holy Spirit, so that he might be a voice for
truth. Knowing that the Catholic Church has
steadfastly spoken in defense of family life as
well as the proper orientation of human
sexuality Paul VI offered this insight into the
consequences of ignoring the message.
"Responsible
men can become more deeply convinced of the
truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on
this issue if they reflect on the consequences
of methods and plans for artificial birth
control. Let them first consider how easily this
course of action could open wide the way for
marital infidelity and a general lowering of
moral standards. Not much experience is needed
to be fully aware of human weakness and to
understand that human beings-and especially the
young, who are so exposed to temptation-need
incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an
evil thing to make it easy for them to break
that law. Another effect that gives cause for
alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the
use of contraceptive methods may forget the
reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her
physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her
to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction
of his own desires, no longer considering her as
his partner whom he should surround with care
and affection.
"Finally,
careful consideration should be given to the
danger of this power passing into the hands of
those public authorities who care little for the
precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a
government which in its attempt to resolve the
problems affecting an entire country resorts to
the same measures as are regarded as lawful by
married people in the solution of a particular
family difficulty? Who will prevent public
authorities from favoring those contraceptive
methods which they consider more effective?
Should they regard this as necessary, they may
even impose their use on everyone. It could well
happen, therefore, that when people, either
individually or in family or social life,
experience the inherent difficulties of the
divine law and are determined to avoid them,
they may give into the hands of public
authorities the power to intervene in the most
personal and intimate responsibility of husband
and wife. (Humanae Vitae, #17). May we come
to know ourselves as God knows us. May we see
truth and beauty as God created them to be seen.
May the eternity of God be our life. The truth
of God be our light and the goodness of God be
our joy.
May the Lord
bless you and keep you close to His heart all
the days of your life.
In Christ Jesus,
Father Jerome
Lessons from Saint James, Apostle
Feast of Saint
James the Apostle
2 Corinthians 4:
7-15
Matthew 20: 20-28
Today we
celebrate the feast of Saint James the Apostle.
His brother was John the Evangelist, their
father was Zebedee the fisherman. We first met
them along the Sea of Galilee where they were
hard at work mending their nets. On this
particular day Jesus called out to them so that
He could mend their souls and their lives. In
another place, Scripture records how Jesus
dubbed these two brothers Boanerges of the "Sons
of Thunder" (Mk. 3:17).
I would like to
offer a caution at this point. Please stifle the
urge to assume that this nickname was ascribed
to them just because of their tempers. Granted,
the narrative in Luke's gospel makes it easy to
justify this assumption. Luke wrote: "Seeing
[that this Samaritan town would not let them
pass through it], the disciples James and John
said, 'Lord, do you want us to call down fire
from heaven to burn them up?'" (Lk. 9:54) I
am not arguing the fact that they demonstrated a
youthful hot-temper. However, I am suggesting
that there be another explanation for their
nickname.
Let us revisit
the scene of their vocation-encounter with
Jesus. "Going on a little further, he saw
James the son of Zebedee and his brother John;
they too were in their boat, mending the nets.
At once he called them and, leaving their father
Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed,
they went with him" (Mk. 1:19-20). Try to
recreate the event in your mind. The fishing
boat has just been pulled to the shore. You can
almost picture Zebedee screaming orders at the
top of his lungs and making snide and demeaning
comments to his two sons. It should not be too
hard to identify with the family dynamics of
this scene. As they focused their attention on
the task of mending the nets, James and John
kept trying to calm each other down so that
neither of them did or said what he was
thinking. Just at that moment, Jesus walks up
and calls out to them. "Come to me, all you
who labor and are overburdened, and I will give
you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you
will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is
easy and my burden light" (Mat. 11:28-30).
To these two harassed young men, anything would
seem better than putting up with their bellowing
father. In an instant, their minds were made up.
Not turning back, not saying 'good-bye', they
were out of there. Leaving their father, leaving
their occupation, leaving their friends, these
young men set out to be disciples of Christ, Who
called them.
Today's gospel
passage provides a slightly different facet of
James' and John's situation. A careful reading
of the text will give us reason to consider our
own motivation for following the Lord, for being
Christian, for being monks. St. Matthew tells
that the mother of James and John came to ask
Jesus to allow her two boys to have the seats of
honor (one at His right, one at His left) in the
kingdom. It is possible that Zebedee had
disinherited them for the way they insulted him
when they abandoned him at the boat. Because of
his wounded pride he might even have been
unwilling to forgive them. Since they were
nothing in their father's eyes, they hoped they
could achieve some status in Jesus' company.
Today's feast
invites us to ponder the meaning of holiness. We
are reminded that virtues are not static
possessions that entitle us to some heavenly
reward. Saint Paul put it quite beautifully.
"We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so
that everyone can see that the all-surpassing
greatness of the power belongs to God and not to
us" (2 Cor. 4:7). God loves each of us so
totally that He calls us to step forward into
His only-begotten Son's embrace. None of us can
claim to be the "perfect disciple." We only have
to admit that we are worthless lumps of clay
that God has personally molded to become vessels
of election. And what is the treasure that has
been entrusted to us? It is the greatest story
ever: that God has become one of us, that the
divine has entered human history in order to
transform it, and that we are called to immerse
ourselves in Christ's saving love which triumphs
over evil and death. As James and John had to
learn, we too discover that of ourselves we can
do nothing. All is gift, all is grace. In spite
of our sins and human weaknesses, we have been
called to proclaim to the world that God has a
human face - Jesus Christ. God knows the depth
of our emptiness and offers us the only gift
that can satisfy all human yearning. God became
a man to show us that the innate dignity and
worth of every individual rests on his or her
deepest identity - being the image of the
Creator. We are not promised comfort in this
life but we are offered eternal glory after
death.
The Gospels tell
us that it was those who were sinners who were
particularly dear to Jesus. "I have not come
to call the righteous but sinners to repentance"
(Lk. 5:32). Once sinners recognized their
wrong-doing, they were all the more open to
Christ's healing message. It was those who were
willing to rebuild their lives who were most
ready to listen to Jesus and become his
disciples. He offers all of us unconditional
love - and it is in loving friendship with him
that the fullness of life is to be found. Mother
Teresa once wrote, "True love is surrender.
The more we love the more we surrender. If we
really love souls we must be ready to take their
place, to take their sins upon us and face the
anger of God. It is only thus that we make
ourselves their means and them our end. We must
be living holocausts, for the world needs us as
such. For by giving the little we possess, we
give all" (Come Be My Light, page 331).
God's love can
only unleash its power when it is allowed to
change us from within. We have to let it break
through the hard crust of our indifference, our
spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the
spirit of this age. Only then can we let it
ignite our imagination and shape our deepest
desires. May we respond to the Lord's call and
commit ourselves to a lifelong friendship with
Christ. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit
may we run along the path of the God's
commandments with our hearts expanded by the
inexpressible delight of love.
May the Lord
bless you and keep you close to His heart all
the days of your life.
In Christ Jesus,
Father Jerome
Mercy and
Forgiveness
Monday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time
Hosea 2: 16, 17-18, 21-22
Matthew 9: 18-26
As we consider the readings for today's liturgy,
it might be good for us to focus our attention
on the wonder of God's redeeming love and
boundless mercy. Consider these words taken from
the First Letter to Timothy. "Here is a
trustworthy saying and no one should doubt it:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners. Of these I am the greatest. But for
that very reason I was shown mercy so that in
me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might
display his unlimited patience as an example for
those who would believe on him and receive
eternal life" (1 Tim. 1: 15-16). The story of
Hosea and his wife Gomer is a parable of God's
relationship with His Chosen People as well as
of Christ's relationship with His Body the
Church. Today we are given an opportunity to
meditate on the reality of sin in our lives and
to consider how God's justice towards sinners is
tempered by His infinite mercy. We experience
God's mercy through the life, death and
resurrection of His only begotten Son. Recall
this passage taken from the first epistle of St.
John. "Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the
Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We
have recognized for ourselves, and put our faith
in, the love God has for us. God is love, and
whoever remains in love remains in God and God
in him. Love comes to its perfection in us when
we can face the Day of Judgment without fear,
because even in this world we have become as he
is. In love there is no room for fear, but
perfect love drives out fear, because fear
implies punishment and no one who is afraid has
come to perfection in love. So let us love,
then, because He first loved us" (1 Jn. 4:
15-19).
As a wife, Gomer was unfaithful to her husband.
To add insult to injury, she turned her
infidelity into an occupation. To complicate
things even more, when confronted about her way
of life, she justified her sinful behavior in
the name of religion. It seems that some things
never change. We are aware of how people attempt
to rewrite the Scriptures or to reinterpret the
moral teachings of the Church in order to
justify their wrongdoing. There is a lesson to
be learned by all. We are God's People. He made
us and we belong to Him. He made us in His image
and never gave us permission to remake Him in
ours. Because of His great love for all that He
created, He pronounced the words of life - the
commandments - so that those He created in His
image and likeness might live in peace, joy and
happiness all the days of our lives.
Today's first reading portrays an experience of
divine tenderness towards a misguided sinner. "I
intend to win her back by coaxing her to come
away with me into the wilderness where I will
speak words of tenderness that will echo in her
heart" (Hos. 2:14). In the context of this
intimate conversation, the Lord helped the
sinner find the path to righteousness where she
could find not only acceptance and but also
forgiveness. By speaking tenderly to her heart,
God sought to open the eyes that were blinded by
ego and the glamour of sin. There, in Love's
embrace, she was able to confess her sin and
obtain from the Lord grace and forgiveness. The
lesson we should take from today's liturgy is
that no matter what evil we have done, if we
humbly recognize our guilt and confess it to a
priest in the context of confession, we will
always experience the peace and joy of God's
forgiveness. We heard the Lord's words, spoken
through the prophet Hosea. "I will espouse you
to me for ever. I will betroth you to me in
righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love
and tenderness. I will be faithful to you and
make you mine, and you will acknowledge me as
your Lord" (Hos. 2:21-22). Central to the
conversion process is one's personal encounter
with God, the Father who is rich in mercy. It is
not sin that is at the heart of repentance but
God's loving kindness, which is infinitely
greater than our guilt. I will close with the
Third Step Prayer that my alcoholic friends
recite as they begin their process of sobriety.
THIRD STEP PRAYER
God, I offer myself to Thee -- to build with me
and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of
the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy
will. Take away my difficulties, that victory
over them may bear witness to those I would help
of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May
I do Thy will always (Big Book, p. 63).
May we never abuse the freedom that is ours as
the Children of God.
In Christ Jesus,
Father Jerome
Light of the World
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul
Vigil Mass
Acts 3:1-10
Galatians 1: 11-20
John 21:15-19
The synoptic Gospels recount that as Jesus hung
on the cross, darkness covered the earth. The
brightest hours of the day were transformed into
deepest darkness. Between the sixth and ninth
hour, the Prince of Darkness bound the Lord of
Light and impaled Him on the gibbet of the
cross. If you read the passion accounts closely,
you realize that the darkness was not only
physical but also spiritual/psychological. The
darkness that hung over the land seeped into the
core of our Lord and Savior's very being. Recall
the words of Jesus, spoken at the ninth hour.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
(Mat. 27:46) The tortured and tormented mind of
the only begotten Son was plunged into the deep
darkness that engulfed the whole human race. At
that hour the Father's dearly Beloved Son felt
cut off from His Father's loving embrace. Pain
and the last agony of death cast a veil before
His eyes and He could not see the glory that was
His as the Father's Only Begotten. St. Mark
tells us that the Father was not unmoved at the
Son's bitter plight. "And the veil of the
Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom"
(Mk. 15: 38). In that act, the secret of divine
love was revealed and mere human beings were
allowed to peer into the abyss of unapproachable
light. The drama of this blinding revelation is
captured in a passage taken from the Easter
Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom.
Hades was in an uproar because it was done away
with.
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, because it is destroyed.
It is in an uproar, because it is annihilated.
It is in an uproar, because it is now made
captive.
Hades took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was vanquished by what
it did not see.
St. Paul
took up the theme of God's strength being
manifested through human weakness in his second
Letter to the Corinthians. "About this [thorn in
my side], I have three times pleaded with the
Lord that it might leave me; but he has answered
me, 'My grace is enough for you: for power is
made perfect in weakness.' It is, then, about my
weaknesses that I am happiest of all to boast,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me;
and that is why I am glad of weaknesses,
insults, constraints, persecutions and distress
for Christ's sake. For it is when I am weak that
I am strong" (2 Cor. 12: 8-10). At the ninth
hour, the Holy One of Israel spoke from His
cherubic throne. "Behold, I am making all things
new" (Rev. 21:5). The curtain was ripped in two
and no weaver would ever repair it. Never again
would the true Light be hidden from the eyes of
faith. Never again would darkness overtake those
who walked by the Light of Truth (Cf. Jn.
12:35). At the ninth hour, all who turned their
gaze toward the crucified one came to know that
the Son of God died so that human beings gain
eternal life. At the ninth hour all the members
of the human family learned that humble
submission overcomes the proud of heart. The
weakness of the crucified savior reveals the
power of the divine love. Today, at about the
ninth hour, we have gathered in this holy
temple, this place where the Most High dwells to
celebrate the faithful witness of the apostles
Peter, our leader in the faith, and Paul, its
fearless preacher. We thank God for allowing
these two men to continue the ministry and
mission of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
We are all familiar with the account of the
visit Jesus made to the synagogue at Nazareth at
the beginning of His ministry. "Jesus read from
the scroll, 'The spirit of the Lord is on me,
for he has anointed me to bring the good news to
the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim
liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let
the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of
favor from the Lord.' He then rolled up the
scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat
down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed
on him. Then he began to speak to them, 'This
text is being fulfilled today even while you are
listening'" (Lk. 4: 18-21). The Apostles were
commissioned to participate in their Master's
service: a service by which they were able to
give the ultimate testimony; a service which was
their true strength, their glory in Christ who
died and rose again. The promise God made
through the prophets continues to be fulfilled,
even to our own day.
We just heard Saint Luke's account of how Peter
healed a lame beggar in the Temple Precincts.
Going to pray at the ninth hour of the day,
Peter and his companion continued the saving
work of Christ by bringing the Good News to one
whose limbs were too weak to carry him. Knowing
that the place where the Most High dwelt had
been opened to all who would raise their eyes
towards the heights, they invited the lame man
to enter the City whose light is the Lamb (Cf.
Rev. 21:23). The aim of the apostles' mission is
a humanity that has itself become a living
glorification of God, the true worship that God
expects: only by turning our gaze to God, only
by opening ourselves to him can we truly become
all that He intended us to be. Seeing a fellow
human being groveling in the dust, the prince of
the apostles invited him to stand up and lay
claim to the true patrimony that was his as a
child of God, who had been redeemed by Christ.
"Peter said, 'I have neither silver nor gold,
but I will give you what I have: in the name of
Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!' Then he took
him by the right hand and helped him to stand
up. Instantly his feet and ankles became firm"
(Acts 3: 6-7). It is here that we see how the
world, crippled by hatred and violence, is made
new by the purifying love of Christ. Gazing
intently on Christ's sacred wounds we can say
with St. Paul: "the life I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).
We have gathered around the table of the Lord to
celebrate the wonder of God's infinite mercy. We
have been flooded with grace. We have been
clothed in robes of salvation. Our souls have
been adorned with the manifold gifts of the Holy
Spirit. The splendor of the Risen Christ
illuminates our lives and fills us with renewed
hope. In communion with the great apostles Peter
and Paul we are called to draw all people into
the mystery of light, the glorious light that
shines on the face of Christ (Cf. 2 Cor. 4:6).
We are summoned to an ever deeper faith in God's
infinite power to transform every human heart,
to create life from death, and to light up even
the darkest night. I will close with a few words
taken from the homily Pope Benedict preached in
St. Patrick's cathedral during his recent visit
to our country. "So let us lift our gaze upward!
And with great humility and confidence, let us
ask the Spirit to enable us each day to grow in
the holiness that will make us living stones in
the temple which he is even now raising up in
the midst of our world. If we are to be true
forces of unity, let us be the first to seek
inner reconciliation through penance. Let us
forgive the wrongs we have suffered and put
aside all anger and contention. Let us be the
first to demonstrate the humility and purity of
heart which are required to approach the
splendor of God's truth. In fidelity to the
deposit of faith entrusted to the Apostles (cf.
1 Tim 6:20), let us be joyful witnesses of the
transforming power of the Gospel."
Enjoy your family this summer and find some time
to rest in the Lord as well.
In Christ Jesus,
Father Jerome
Overcoming
Violence
June 16, 2008
Monday of the
11th week in Ordinary Time
1 Kings 21: 1-16
Matthew 5: 38-42
The story of
Naboth is not unique to the Old Testament. It is
a tale of greed and intrigue that is retold
every day in the headlines of our newspapers.
Some people do not like to listen to the
accounts of violence from the Old Testament at
Mass. Yet these same people have taught their
children to dominate others rather than befriend
them. We shake our heads at the capricious
violence of our Hebrew ancestors, yet we spend
more and more money creating a culture of
violence and destruction, thinking that we can
curb violence with more violence. We all have a
stake in what will happen to life on planet
earth if this mentality of "First Strike
Superiority" is left unchecked. History tells us
that, if we do not begin to take serious steps
to wipe out injustice in the world, we will
never be able break the cycle of violence. We
must work to establish peace with justice if we
want future generations to know anything but
terrorism and hatred. How many civil wars have
to be fought? How many suicide bombers have to
kill themselves before we acknowledge what
happens when people are forced to live in
destitution and poverty? The tragic and barbaric
story of Ahab and Jezebel allows us to take a
good long look at our worst selves. Whether we
want to admit it or not, there is a scoundrel
living deep in our heart. Today, the Church
gives us a chance to do some serious soul
searching.
Just because we
have not personally defrauded anyone of his or
her birthright, or that we have not connived to
bring about another's untimely death, does not
excuse us from taking a serious and fearless
inventory of our own tendencies to greed,
resentment and prejudice. We seem to have an
insatiable appetite for violence. If you don't
agree, consider these examples: road rage,
vulgar and profane outbursts, domestic violence,
pornography -- just to name a few. The more
violent we become, the less human we become. A
face distorted by rage does not manifest the
glory of God in Whose image we have all been
made. Conflicts between people do exist. It is
our duty, as the children of God, to resolve
these conflicts while, at the same time,
safeguarding the dignity of each person
involved. God has given us the capacities for
wisdom and virtue. With the help of God's grace,
we can build a civilization worthy of the human
person.
Human rights and
dignity are rooted in the person and not the
political machinations of some legislature. When
Pope Benedict addressed the United Nations, he
offered this reflection. "Since rights and the
resulting duties follow naturally from human
interaction, it is easy to forget that they are
the fruit of a commonly held sense of justice
built primarily upon solidarity among the
members of society, and hence valid at all times
and for all peoples... Human rights, then, must
be respected as an expression of justice, and
not merely because they are enforceable through
the will of the legislators" (Benedict XVI,
Address to United Nations, April 18, 2008). His
Holiness alluded to a comment of St. Augustine,
which I would like to quote more fully. "The
precept, 'Whatsoever you would have others do to
you, do likewise to them,' cannot be altered by
any diversity of national customs. And this
precept, when it is referred to the love of God,
destroys all vices when to the love of one's
neighbor, puts an end to all crimes. For no one
is willing to defile his own dwelling; he ought
not, therefore, to defile the dwelling of God,
that is, himself. And no one wishes an injury to
be done him by another; he himself, therefore,
ought not to do injury to another"(De Doctrina
Christiana, III, 14).
Gandhi once said,
"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole
world blind." We must overcome our fear of one
another. Fear causes us to become defensive. Our
defensive tendencies are manifested in acts of
violence. Our violent actions destroy life.
These destructive attacks trigger retaliation
and retribution. Thus, the cycle goes on, and
on, and on. We can only put an end to it by
working together to build a civilization of
love, founded on the universal values of peace,
solidarity, justice and liberty. Our hope and
trust are centered on Jesus Christ Who taught us
not to use force against an evil person (Cf.
Mat. 5:39). We believe that in His death and
resurrection Christ revealed the Father's love
and compassion for all creation. Christ handed
Himself over to death that all of us might live
in the freedom of the children of God. Freedom
is not simply the absence of tyranny or
oppression. Nor is freedom a license to do
whatever we like. Freedom has an inner "logic"
which distinguishes it and ennobles it: freedom
is ordered to the truth, and is fulfilled in
man's quest for truth and in man's living in the
truth. Hope is not empty optimism springing from
a naive confidence that the future will
necessarily be better than the past. Hope and
trust are the premise of responsible activity
and are nurtured in that inner sanctuary of
conscience where "man is alone with God"
(Gaudium et Spes, 16). It is there that the
individual comes to realize that he or she is
surrounded by the love of the Creator! As gospel
livers, we are called to recognize and protect
the innate dignity of every man, woman and
child. We cannot afford to be indifferent to the
needs of those who suffer as a result of civil
unrest or natural catastrophes. As children of
God, we share the just aspirations of our
brothers and sisters throughout the world: the
desire for peace, the quest for justice, respect
for the dignity of the person, cooperation and
charitable assistance. I think the Prayer of St.
Francis affords us a wonderful starting point:
Lord, make me an
instrument of your peace,
Where there is
hatred, let me sow love;
where there is
injury, pardon;
where there is
doubt, faith;
where there is
despair, hope;
where there is
darkness, light;
where there is
sadness, joy;
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled
as to console;
to be understood
as to understand;
to be loved as to
love.
For it is in
giving that we receive;
it is in
pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in
dying that we are born to eternal life.
Have a safe and
rest-filled summer.
In Christ Jesus,
Father Jerome
Machar, OSCO
Living the Rule of Saint Benedict
Monday of the 8th week in Ordinary Time
1 Peter 1:3-9
Mark 10:17-27
It was on this date in 1951 that a small band of
white-robed monks processed to the top of the
ridge overlooking the property they had acquired
with the help of Porter and Gabriella Chandler.
There Fr. Gerard McGinley planted the foundation
cross, on which were inscribed the words:
"Foundation of the Monastery of Blessed Mary of
the Genesee, May 26, 1951. May God be glorified
in all things. Serve the Lord with gladness." We
are heirs to the monastic journey that was begun
by those heroic and visionary pioneers. The hymn
of praise they intoned that spring day is ours
to continue and to pass on to future generations
of monks who will come after us. Following their
example we proclaim with joy and heartfelt
abandon the words written by St. Peter. "All
honor, glory and blessing be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great
mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living
hope through the resurrection of Christ Jesus
from the dead" (1Pet. 1:3). As monks, we have
dedicated our lives to "run on the path of God's
commandments, allowing our hearts to overflow
with the inexpressible delight of love " (RB,
Prol. 49).
As disciples of Saint Benedict, we are to act in
accordance with the Law of the Lord and to
listen attentively to the Word of God. Our
commitment to the Opus Dei and to Lectio Divina
bears witness to the importance of placing the
Word of God at the center of all things. Our
lives are rooted in the Gospels. For us, the
Gospel is the supreme rule. By preferring
nothing to the Gospel our vocation remains vital
and life-giving. In Chapter 73 of his Rule for
Monks, St. Benedict wrote: "The reason we have
written this rule is that, by observing it in
monasteries, we can show that we have some
degree of virtue and the beginnings of monastic
life. But for anyone hastening on to the
perfection of monastic life, there are the
teachings of the holy Fathers, the observance of
which will lead him to the very heights of
perfection. What page, what passage of the
inspired books of the Old and New Testaments is
not the truest of guides for human life? What
book of the holy catholic Fathers does not
resoundingly summon us along the true way to
reach the Creator?" (RB. 73. 1-4)
In order for our lives to bear fruit for the
salvation of the world, we must grow in our love
for the Rule, in our love for the place, and in
our love for the brethren. By cooperating with
the grace of God we are transforming this valley
that once had been the Eden of the Seneca
Indians into a claustral Paradise, dedicated to
the Mother of God and to the service of Christ
our true King. Gathered on these "Pleasant
Banks" we fix our gaze on that other shore in
our heavenly homeland. We are called to follow
Christ without compromise, even though we may be
burdened with trials and hardships. This
monastery has been built on the Genesee
bottomland, but our humble and hidden service to
the Father raises us to the heights of the
heavenly kingdom. It is here, in this place,
that the genuineness of our faith, that is of
greater value than fire-tested gold, will result
in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is
revealed at the end of time (Cf. 1Pet. 1:7). By
the power of the Holy Spirit our monastic
observance becomes a living exegesis of the Word
of God and a continual manifestation of the
presence of the risen Christ is our day.
We live by faith, not by vision. We are all
familiar with these beautiful words taken from
the Letter the Hebrews. "Faith is the assurance
of things hoped for, the conviction of things
not yet seen" (Heb. 11:1). Even though we have
never seen Christ, we love Him and follow Him
wherever He may lead. This is underscored by
these words we just heard from the first Letter
of Saint Peter. "You have never seen Him, yet
you love Him. Without seeing Him, even now, you
believe in Him and are filled with an
inexpressible joy that has been touched with
glory" (1 Pet. 1:8). This monastery was founded
so that men of faith could live the fundamental
values of the Gospel. By so doing, we grow in
union with the Triune God and cultivate
fraternal communion among ourselves. The more
perfectly we become the Church that has been
established in the Valley of our Lady's Smile,
the more authentically we will proclaim to all
baptized Christians and to all seekers of the
Truth that they are brought together by the
Word, to be conformed to the Word and to walk by
the light of His face. We should always keep in
mind the little detail Saint Mark included in
his account of the encounter between Jesus and
the rich young man. "Jesus turned His face
towards the young man and looked intently at
him. As He gazed upon the youth he was filled
with heartfelt love for him" (Mk. 10:21). We
nourish our faith by our daily celebration of
the Eucharist, by our chanting of the Opus Dei,
personal prayer and by listening to the Word of
God in Lectio. By a hidden apostolic
fruitfulness we become beacons of hope for all
of humanity and glorify our Heavenly Father. Our
way of life is strongly committed to the
realization of the Kingdom of God. I will let
St. Benedict have the final word in this homily.
"Are you hastening toward your heavenly home?
Then with Christ's help, keep this little rule
that we have written for beginners. After that,
you can set out for the loftier summits of the
teaching and virtues we mentioned above, and
under God's protection you will reach them.
Amen" (RB 73. 8-9).
May the Lord bless you and keep you today and
all the days of your life.
In Christ Jesus,
Father Jerome
Love of Neighbor
Friday of the 6th Week in Ordinary Time
James 2: 14-24; 26
Mark 8: 34- 9:1
I find the passage we just heard from the Letter
of Saint James rather daunting. "What good is it
for an individual to say that he or she has
faith, but has never done a single good deed?"
(James 2:14) Every Sunday, we profess our faith
in the Word who became flesh and lived in our
midst (Cf. Jn. 1:14). Recall these words
recorded in the Gospel of St. John. "God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not
perish, but have eternal life" (Jn. 3:16). God
not only spoke of love, but He also manifested
His love. Through the mystery of the
Incarnation, God's love was made tangible. Our
Christian faith tells us that Jesus Christ is
the fullness of the Father's glory, the exact
image of His being, who sustains all things in
being by the power of His word (CF. Heb. 1:3).
God not only speaks of love and mercy; He also
does works of love and mercy through the life,
death and resurrection of His only-begotten Son.
Consequently, if our faith is real, it, too,
must be tangible.
Our faith in the Incarnate Word must be
transformed by the Word Himself. The author of
the Letter to the Hebrews gave us this
description of the Word. "Indeed, the Word of
God is something living and active. It is
sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating
the divide between soul and spirit, separating
bone and muscle. It judges our innermost
thoughts and exposes us for what we really are"
(Heb. 4:12). We believe in the Eternal Word of
the Father who is able to penetrate the human
heart. There is no vitality in a faith that is
devoid of mercy and charity. As we heard in the
first reading, "Faith by itself, if it is not
accompanied by action, is quite dead" (James
2:17). A careful reading of Sacred Scripture
shows us that the charity of Christ and the
compassion of His disciples were always intended
to manifest the loving-kindness of the Father.
This manifestation is significant. The Church
should never underplay the sense of good works
that point towards the love of God. After all,
Jesus did institute love of neighbor as the
first commandment for behavior among His
disciples, acting Himself as a witness of this
love. In the Acts of the Apostles we find an
account of how the apostles spoke of Christ. "He
went about doing good and healing all those
oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him"
(Acts 10:38). What a beautiful description of
Christ's life and ministry! Belief in the Word
and works of mercy are integrally bound
together.
The challenge for our day is to keep these two
aspects of Christian life in dynamic tension. We
must not allow ourselves to become so immersed
in contemplating the Word that we become blind
to the needs of the poor. On the other hand, we
must not become so consumed by concern for the
poor that we ignore contemplation. Christian
charity is rooted in the search for God. Our
search for God is expressed in love for one
another, especially for the poor. He Who has
first loved us (Cf. Jn. 4:10) has precedence,
both in the order of time and in the scale of
values. Out of the depths of His love, Christ
has called us to follow in His footsteps. The
only reason we can respond to His call is that
we have been moved by His love. I am reminded of
the words spoken by Jeremiah the Prophet. "O
God, you have captivated me and I let myself be
seduced by You. You were too strong for me and
you ravaged me" (Jer. 20:7). What powerful
images those bring to mind!
This theme was taken up by Pope Benedict in his
first encyclical. "The consciousness that, in
Christ, God has given himself for us, even unto
death, must inspire us to live no longer for
ourselves but for him, and, with him, for
others. Whoever loves Christ loves the Church,
and desires the Church to be increasingly the
image and instrument of the love which flows
from Christ. The personnel of every Catholic
charitable organization want to work with the
Church... so that the love of God can spread
throughout the world. By their sharing in the
Church's practice of love, they wish to be
witnesses of God and of Christ, and they wish
for this very reason freely to do good to all"
(Deus Caritas Est,#33). Service to our neighbor
makes demands of the heart in the decision to
desire the best for the other person, even at
the price of self-abnegation. Whoever dedicates
himself to service of others takes on the
opposite of reputation, power, and rank that
leaders and political entities claim for
themselves.
Pope Benedict encourages us: "My deep personal
sharing in the needs and sufferings of others
becomes a sharing of my very self with them: if
my gift is not to prove a source of humiliation,
I must give to others not only something that is
not my own, but my very self; I must be
personally present in my gift" (ibid, # 34). May
our faith be pure and open enough so that the
people who today are seeking and questioning,
can glimpse the light of the one God who loves
them and Whose power is the power of love. May
the Spirit harmonize our hearts with the heart
of Christ and move us to love all men and women
as He loves them. Amen.
May the Lord bless you and keep you today and
all the days of your life.
In Christ Jesus,
Father Jerome
The Holy Spirit
Pentecost Sunday
Vigil Mass
Genesis 11: 1-9
Romans 8: 22-27
John 7: 37-39
Today we are
celebrating the vigil of Pentecost. We gather
around the Table of the Lord in anticipation of
the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit just
as our ancestors in the faith have done
generation after generation. With the setting of
the sun we are given the promise of a new day
and of a new world. Since the day of our
Master's Ascension we have been awaiting with
holy longing a fresh outpouring of the Spirit
who proceeds from the Father and the Son to fill
each of us with the gift of repentance and
faith. We wait in hope because it is only in the
light of the Spirit that we can face the future
firmly grounded in the faith that is born of
God's love. In every age the Spirit breathes
where she will to bring men and women of every
race, language and people the good news of
reconciliation both with God and with one
another. The Holy Spirit is the cement that
binds the three divine Persons of Most Blessed
Trinity together in unity. All who are
enlightened by the Fire of the Spirit are drawn
together in unity of faith and the bond of
divine love. The Gift of the Holy Spirit makes
us members of the Church, which was founded by
Christ to be the place where His Father would
make His dwelling. The Church is at the same
time a spiritual communion, a mystical body
enlivened by the Spirit's manifold gifts, and
the sacrament of salvation for all humanity (cf.
L. G. #8).
Civilizations
have come and gone, but unfortunately the greed
and avarice of mankind have not changed. Like
the tower builders we speak many words but
rarely communicate with one another. Conversely,
God, in His merciful kindness, has given us the
Holy Spirit so that we might be conformed to the
Eternal Word. The recipients of the Spirit, who
implanted the divine Word in our hearts, are
capable of growing in loving communion with all
the adopted children of God through communion
with the only-begotten Son. The wind of the
Spirit silences our ceaseless babbling. With a
gentle small voice, the Breath of God whispers
the Word of Love in the ears of our hearts. The
feast of Pentecost offers us an opportunity to
reaffirm our profession of faith and to renew
our commitment to proclaim God's marvelous works
to the ends of the earth. Unfortunately, some
ministers of the Word have turned the building
of the Kingdom into an industry for personal
advancement and wealth. Somehow they have
confused the glory of God with worldly success
and prestige. Like the tower builders they
devise plans to build magnificent edifices of
brick and mortar. However, God desires to build
a Temple of living stones united in the bond of
Love. Even as we exert our efforts to build the
city of man we are hindered by barriers of
alienation, anger and polarization. The product
of our labors is division. All the while, the
Spirit of God blows wherever She wills, as the
first fruits of the new heavens and the new
earth, where God's peace will reign and all the
children of Adam and Eve will live in justice
and love. The product of God's work is communion
and reconciliation.
Once upon a time
there was a man who took his Christian
commitment very seriously. He daily evangelized
the people around him. He tried, and tried, and
tried to change everyone he met. However, no
matter what he said to them, he couldn't change
them. No matter how clearly he refuted their
arguments, he couldn't touch their hearts.
Frustrated by his failure, he knelt and prayed.
As he prayed, he asked the Lord why his greatest
efforts were such total failures. The Lord Told
Him, "Change your heart, change your lifestyle,
change yourself. You will see the fruit." The
man listened to the word that the Lord had
spoken to him, and did what he was told. He
lived more for God, and stopped trying to change
the world around him. By living the way God had
asked and just walking with Him, the world
changed around him. The world saw the Fire of
Divine Love burning in him and could not deny
the works of God. So the world was changed by
Love in the end. The challenges confronting the
world today require a comprehensive and sound
knowledge of the truths of the faith. These
challenges also call for cultivating a mindset
that is confident in the profound harmony of
faith and reason, and prepared to bring the
richness of faith's vision to bear on the urgent
issues that confront modern society. We heard
the words St. Paul wrote to the Church of Rome.
"We know that all living things are groaning as
in the pains of childbirth, even until now"
(Rom. 8:22). The tears of the poor and the
suffering of the innocent affect each of us. The
anguish of the world makes our hearts ache for
the day "when we will take our place as the
children of God totally set free from our
bodies" (Rom. 8:23). We and all the members of
the human race long for that true freedom, which
is God's gift to all who are His children. It is
only in the power of the Holy Spirit that our
world will know genuine freedom, authentic
happiness, and the fulfillment of its deepest
aspirations.
Saint Paul speaks
of a kind of prayer which arises from the depths
of our hearts in sighs too deep for words, in "groanings"
(Rom 8:26) inspired by the Spirit. This is a
prayer that yearns for the fulfillment of God's
promises. It is a prayer of unfailing hope, but
also one of patient endurance. Through this
prayer, we share in the mystery of Christ's own
weakness and suffering, while trusting firmly in
the victory of his Cross. "For in this hope we
have already been saved" (Rom. 8:24). Those who
have hope must live different lives! (cf. Spe
Salvi, 2). Through the surpassing power of
Christ's grace, entrusted to us frail human
beings, the Church is constantly reborn and each
of us is given the hope of a new beginning. Let
us trust in the Spirit's power to inspire
conversion, to heal every wound, to overcome
every division, and to inspire new life and
freedom. May God send forth His spirit to
comfort and console us. May the Spirit counselor
strengthen us in hope. May the Paraclete give us
wisdom and courage to build up the kingdom until
the day of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
May the Lord send
forth His Spirit and grant you every good gift.
In Christ Jesus,
Father Jerome
The
Challenge of Gospel Living
April 25, 2008
Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist
1 Peter 5:5-14
Mark 16: 15-20
As we celebrate the feast of St. Mark, let us
reflect upon the meaning of the evangelical
life. What exactly is gospel living? I found
reflecting on rite of ordination of a deacon a
helpful answer that question. The Bishop hands
the Gospel Book to the newly ordained and says,
"Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you
have become. Believe what you read, teach what
you believe, and practice what you teach." The
Gospels were inspired by the Holy Spirit, the
same Spirit that made the waters pulse with
life, according the author of the Book of
Genesis. The Life-infusing Spirit guided and
directed the minds of the Evangelists so that
they rightly understood the message of salvation
and then the Spirit moved them to write it down.
The Breath of the Spirit was encapsulated in the
written text, to be released in the hearts and
minds of those who would read the inspired
words. The Psalmist proposes a verbal image of
the Spirit as it hovered over the great expanse
of the waters and made the heavens. "By the word
of the Lord the heavens were made and all their
starry host were born by the spirit [breath] of
his mouth" (Ps. 33:6). To live the Gospel means
to manifest the Spirit of God hovering over us
and making of us the New Creation.
The Lord Who speaks to us through the Words of
Scripture is the God Who called out to Abram.
"Go forth from your native land; leave your
kindred and depart from your father's house. Set
out for the land that I will show you" (Gen.
12:1). Gospel living challenges us to separate
ourselves from our native land and all its
enticements. As we follow in the footsteps of
the Master, we are called to leave behind the
comforts of family and friends. As the Children
of God we are to address the Creator of the
Universe as Our Father. Like Abraham, we must
detach ourselves from all that we hold dear and
valuable because "we are citizens of heaven and
it is from heaven that we eagerly await the
return of our savior Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20).
We are to live in this passing world with our
hearts fixed on the world that will never end.
Gospel living obliges us to avoid the
shallowness of secular society and plumb the
depth of divine love. Recall how Jesus told
Peter, "Put out into the deep water and lower
your nets" (Lk. 5:4). The Evangelical Life
demands more of us than merely sitting in a boat
and floating on the surface of the sea of life.
It is not enough for us to say that we are
Catholics. We must also let down our nets so as
to mine the depths of the mercy of God. We must
be totally transformed by the Word that has been
planted in the depths of our souls. Because we
know that the Lord cares for us, we can
confidently cast all our cares upon him (Cf. 1
Pet. 5:7). We have reason to trust that when we
bow in submission to the power of God He will
raise us up with His mighty outstretched arm
(Cf. 1 Pet. 5:6). Only in God's loving embrace
can we be set free from sin and guilt. Only
there, close to the heart of God, can we hope to
grow in virtue.
This is where things start getting challenging.
Just when we think we have done enough, the
Eternal Word says, "Go deeper!" Over the years
we have grown so accustomed to the weight of our
cares and concerns that we can't imagine what
life would be like without them. Actually, the
thought of being free of them frightens us. Let
us turn our attention to the words of Jesus to
Jairus. "Do not be afraid; just have faith" (Lk.
8:50). It takes courage to live the Gospel life,
to have faith. G.K. Chesterton penned this
insight into courage.
"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It
means a strong desire to live taking the form of
a readiness to die. ‘He that will lose his life,
the same shall save it,’ is not a piece of
mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece
of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers.
It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a
drill book. The paradox is the whole principle
of courage; even of quite earthly or quite
brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may
save his life if he will risk it on the
precipice. He can only get away from death by
continually stepping within an inch of it. A
soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut
his way out, needs to combine a strong desire
for living with a strange carelessness about
dying. He must not merely cling to live, for
then he will be a coward, and will not escape.
He must not merely wait for death, for then he
will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must
seek his life in a spirit of furious
indifference to it; he must desire life like
water and yet drink death like wine" (G.K.
Chesterton).
Is it any wonder that Jesus' farewell gift to
His disciples was peace? "I am leaving you a
gift - peace of mind and heart. My peace is not
like the peace the world gives. Therefore, do
not let your hearts be troubled. Don't give in
to fear" (Jn. 14:27). Christ has called us, not
only to welcome the Kingdom of God into our own
lives, but also to put our lives at its service,
leaving everything behind and closely imitating
his own way of life. Let us turn to Jesus! He
alone is the way that leads to eternal
happiness, the truth who satisfies the deepest
longings of every heart, and the life who brings
ever new joy and hope, to us and to our world.
May the Lord be with you today and all the days
of your life,
Father Jerome
Made to Be
Fueled by God
April 16, 2008
Wednesday of the
4th Week of Easter
Acts 12: 24- 13:
5
John 12: 44-50
Throughout the
Paschal season we have been reminded of the
saving power of God's love and mercy. Each
Sunday, we renew our baptism, recalling how
through water and the Holy Spirit we were
grafted into Christ and made members of His
Body, the Church. Recall these words taken from
the Letter to the Galatians, "Every one of you
that has been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ" (Gal. 3:27). Not only have we put on
Christ, but in a very real way God has also
clothed Himself with us, uniting us to Himself
by an indissoluble bond. Recall these words
taken from the Letter to the Hebrews. "They were
looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland.
That is why God is not ashamed to be called
their God. Actually, it was God who prepared the
city for them to dwell in" (Heb. 11:16). In his
book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis put it rather
well when he wrote, "God made us, invented us as
a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on
gasoline, and it would not run properly on
anything else. Now God designed the human
machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the
fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the
food our spirits were designed to feed on. There
is no other. That is why it is just no good
asking God to make us happy in our own way
without bothering about religion. God cannot
give us a happiness and peace apart from
Himself, because it is not there. There is no
such thing" (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity [New
York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Paperbacks
Edition, Nineteenth Printing 1975)] pp. 53-54).
We have been made
by God and for God. We are to live in a manner
proper to our redeemed nature as Children of
God. The author of the Letter to the Philippians
put it this way: "I don't mean to say that I
have already achieved these things or that I
have already reached perfection. However, I am
striving to take hold of that for which Christ
Jesus took hold of me" (Phil. 3:12). When Jesus
was crucified, He stretched out His arms to take
hold of and to draw to Himself all those whom
His Father loves. The scandal of the Cross gave
rise to the first fruits of the new creation.
The weakness of God gave us strength. The death
of God gave us eternal life. Christ died for our
sins and He rose for our justification. The open
tomb has become our gateway to everlasting life.
Where Jesus has gone we hope to follow. Through
His wounds our wounded nature has been healed
and through His confinement to the land of the
dead we have been set free from guilt and sin.
While we are not fully transformed, we keep our
eyes on the kingdom that will never end. Through
the sacraments of initiation we have inhaled the
breath of eternal life. With the ears of our
hearts, we can hear the Word of Divine Love and
with the assistance of grace we can conform our
lives to the wisdom of Christ's teaching. With
our lips we can announce the Words of
Everlasting life. Through the power of the Holy
Spirit we will be able to hold fast to the One
who has first grasped us. In that loving
embrace, we hope to be guided to the Mercy Seat
of the Father. When we were baptized into the
Christ our names were inscribed in the Book of
Life. "Let whoever has ears listen to what the
Spirit is saying to the Churches. To those who
prove victorious I will give a portion of the
hidden manna. I will also give a white stone
upon which will be inscribed a new name that is
known only by the one who receives it" (Rev.
2:17).
The stone on
which we find our true name is Christ. Recall
these words taken from the first Letter to the
Corinthians: "All of them drank the same
spiritual drink, for they all drank of the
spiritual Rock that followed them and the Rock
was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:4). This image is
beautifully expressed in the forty-ninth chapter
of the book of the Prophet Isaiah, "Can a woman
forget the baby at her breast or feel no pity
for the child she carried in her womb? Even if
these were to forget, I will never forget you.
Look, I have engraved your name on the palm of
my hand" (Is. 49: 14-16). We have all eaten of
the same Spiritual Bread and the Bread is
Christ, Who said, "I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will never hunger and
whoever believes in me will never thirst" (Jn.
6:35). Faith tells us to look beyond the
physical elements we see for through them we
encounter the living God. While we hold in our
hands a piece of bread we are being grasped by
Christ. As we gaze upon the Sacred Cup, we see
therein the Blood of Him Who gazes at us and
loves us. We will hold in our hands the very
Lord who has our names engraved on His hands.
May He truly be the Light for our path and the
Food for our journey. May He sustain our souls
until we safely reach our heavenly homeland.
May the Lord be
with you today and all the days of your life,
Father Jerome
Accepting
Correction
Tuesday of the
3rd Week of Easter (April 8, 2008)
Acts 7:51- 8:1
John 6: 30-35
As I considered
the readings for this afternoon's liturgy, I
found myself identifying with the members of the
Temple authorities in Acts. As painful as it is
to admit, words like "stubborn," or having an
"uncircumcised heart," or "resisting the Holy
Spirit" seem to describe the attitude of my soul
at times. I suspect that some of you can relate.
This is where the rub comes in. None of us likes
being told that we are hardhearted or stubborn,
no matter how true the observation. Whenever
stinging words of criticism are uttered, someone
or something has to die. We have a choice as to
which it will be: either we will choose to snuff
out/silence the messenger; or we will put to
death some part of our ego. Moments of fraternal
correction are moments of grace and redemption
if we cooperate with them.
Our egos can play
tricks with us, as we well know. Even when we
know the correction offered is true, we want to
protect ourselves from any assault. Like the
authorities in the Synagogue at Capernaum we
want to check the credentials of the one who is
objecting to our behavior. "What sign will you
do, that will make [me] believe you?" All the
while thinking we are being cute in silencing
our opponent. Actually, we are only hindering
the movements of grace and frustrating our
spiritual growth. I will close this short
reflection with a prayer attributed to St.
Augustine. Please close your eyes and open your
hearts to the words of this noble saint.
I beg of You, my
God,
let me know You
and love You
so that I may be
happy in You.
And though I
cannot do this fully in this life,
yet let me
improve from day to day
until I may do so
to the full.
Let me know You
more and more in this life,
that I may know
You perfectly in heaven.
Let me know You
more and more here,
so that I may
love you perfectly there,
so that my joy
may be great in itself here,
and complete in
heaven with You.
O Truthful God,
let me receive
the happiness of heaven
which You promise
so that my joy may be full.
In the meantime,
let my mind think
of it,
let my tongue
talk of it,
let my heart long
for it,
let my mouth
speak of it,
let my soul
hunger after it,
let my flesh
thirst after it,
let my whole
being desire it,
until such time
as I may enter through death into the joy of my
Lord,
there to continue
forever, world without end. Amen.
May the peace of
the Risen Lord be with you all,
Father Jerome
Machar
What Christ
Conquered
March 23, 2008
Easter Sunday
Acts 10: 34, 37-43
Colossians 3: 1-4
Or
1 Corinthians 5: 6-8
John 20: 1-9
Today we stand in the light of the Paschal
Candle to celebrate Christ's victory over sin
and death. Through the observance of Holy Week
we accompanied our Savior from the triumphal
entry into Jerusalem to the entombment of His
lifeless, tortured body. We watched as the
anointing oil was poured on His head and ran
down His beard until it soaked into the collar
of His robe. Then we stood idly by as the
playful soldiers pressed the crown of thorns
into His scalp. We were in the Upper Room where
Jesus blessed and broke the bread that He had
changed into His Sacred Body. The next day, we
stood outside the praetorium as the Romans tied
Him to the pillar with the intention of breaking
Him under the lash. Alongside with the
disciples, we drank from the Cup of Salvation
that Jesus had poured and blessed. Then we stood
beneath the cross in the shadows as the soldier
thrust the lance into His side and opened the
fountain of love and mercy. We watched and
prayed outside the garden as Jesus underwent His
agony. Then, last night we kept sacred vigil in
the garden, watching and waiting for the Morning
Star to rise from the tomb.
During those long hours of sadness and grief,
while the body of the Lord of Life was confined
within the tomb, He Who is Light from Light
descended into the depths of death and darkness.
There, in the land of the shades, life and death
engaged in mortal combat. There, the Giver of
Life put to death the power of death by dying
once for all. Christ vanquished hell by entering
it. Today, the universe was shaken to its very
foundations. The Light from Light dispelled the
darkness that had tried to overpower Him. St.
John Chrysostom put it this way:
Hades was in turmoil having been eclipsed.
Hades was in turmoil having been mocked.
Hades was in turmoil having been destroyed.
Hades was in turmoil having been abolished.
Hades was in turmoil having been made captive.
Hades grasped a dead body, and encountered God.
Hades seized earth, and encountered heaven.
Hades took what it saw, and was pillaged by what
it did not see.
Today, we stand in amazement as we peer into the
empty tomb. Like Mary Magdalen and the other
women, who came to anoint the body of the
Crucified One, like the Apostles Peter and John
who came running at the word of the women, all
Christians bow before the tomb in which Jesus'
body had been placed after His crucifixion. The
time for tears and sadness is ended. As we hear
in the Sequence for Easter: "Death and life have
contended in that stupendous combat: The Prince
of life, who died, reigns immortal." The Lamb
that was slain has transformed the instrument of
death into the Pathway to Life.
By His death and resurrection, Jesus has become
the life of all who had died. In His meekness,
Christ has humbled Satan's pride. In His
humility, Christ has destroyed the tyranny of
death. The grave had closed its mouth on the
dead body of the Savior only to be burst asunder
by the living God. Christ descended into the
realms of darkness and death and called out to
all those who had been held captive: "Awake, O
sleeper, and rise from the dead, and [I] will
give you light". The Father has made Him who
handed Himself over to death the Lord and giver
of eternal life. Yes, life and death were locked
in combat and Life and Love were victorious. In
Jesus all is once again oriented to life -
everlasting life.
Through Baptism we have been united to Christ in
His death and resurrection. If we have been
raised with Christ, let us seek what He seeks:
to bring about the glorious reign of His Father.
With the weapons of love, God defeated sin and
death. The Eternal Son, who emptied himself to
become the obedient servant to the point of
dying on the Cross (cf. Phil 2:7-8), has
conquered evil at its roots. By so doing He has
laid open the path of return to the Father.
Jesus is the Gate of Life who this day has burst
the gates of hell. He is the Door of salvation,
opened wide for all, the Door of divine mercy,
who sheds the light of glory on the human race.
The Risen Christ is the path of hope along which
we can advance towards a world that is more just
and mutually supportive, in which the blind
egoism of the few will no longer prevail over
the desperate cries of the many. Recall the
words of St. Paul. "Therefore let us keep the
Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of
malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:8).
Since we have died and been buried with Christ,
our life is hidden with Christ in God (Cf. Col.
3:3). May the mystery of Christ's victory soften
the hardness of our hearts so that we might see
all men and women as God sees them. It is the
Father's desire that we enter into the glory of
His risen Son. The whole of creation is filled
with the splendor of the Resurrection because
"the brightness of the eternal King has
vanquished the darkness of the world" (Easter
Proclamation). Gathered around the Table of the
Lord, may we enter into the joy of the Kingdom
and enjoy the bounty of the Lord's goodness. The
victory of Christ gives us courage to build
pathways of reconciliation with God and with one
another. Today there is no need for feelings of
guilt or resentment because forgiveness has
risen from the grave. May the joy of today's
feast resonate in every Christian heart, and let
the message be heard from East to West:
Christ is risen!
Because Christ is risen Satan is defeated.
Because Christ is risen all creatures in heaven
and on earth rejoice.
Because Christ is risen the human race has been
redeemed.
To Christ, the risen Lord, be glory, honor and
power forever and ever. Amen!
Indeed, He is risen! Alleluia
Peace and blessings upon all,
Father Jerome
Surrender to God
March 10, 2008
Monday of 5th
week of Lent
Daniel 13: 1-9,
15-17, 19-30, 33-62
John 8: 1-11
In a
world of sham pretence and cosmetic appearance,
we have to be vigilant. Since the information we
get through the media is often superficial,
incomplete or misleading, we have to resist the
temptation to jump to quick and unfounded
conclusions. Because what we read is not always
accurate, we must be willing to reserve judgment
until the whole truth comes to light - I know
this will make for boring conversations! This
demands an interior conversion to the love of
God, so that we might come to know the Truth Who
alone can set us free. We must be willing to
conform ourselves to Christ Who died so that we
might live as heirs of the Kingdom of the Father
in Whom there is no falsehood. This sacred
season of Lent challenges us to be open to the
truth. Anyone who refuses to accept this
challenge runs the risk of closing in on himself
or herself. The danger of such self-absorption
is demonstrated in the story of the two judges
who sought to destroy Susanna because she
refused to surrender to their seductive
advances. Prayer, fasting and the other
disciplines of Lent are guarantees of openness
to others. Those who free themselves for God and
the fulfillment of His will, open themselves to
others, to the brothers and sisters who knock at
the door of their hearts and ask to be heard,
ask for attention, for forgiveness, and
sometimes for fraternal correction.
Do we
allow ourselves to burn with the fire of
uncontrolled passion or are we consumed by the
fire of divine love? When we sublimate our baser
drives and act out of love of God, we manifest
the truth of our being: we have been created not
for ourselves but for God and our brothers and
sisters (cf. 2 Cor 5, 15). Every time when, for
love of God, we show compassion for our neighbor
in need, we discover that the fullness of life
comes from love and all is returned to us as a
blessing in the form of peace, inner
satisfaction and joy. Our Father in heaven
rewards every charitable act with His joy. What
is more: Saint Peter includes among the
spiritual fruits of almsgiving the forgiveness
of sins: "Charity," he writes, "covers a
multitude of sins" (1 Pt 4:8). As the Lenten
liturgy frequently suggests, God offers sinners
the possibility of being forgiven. The act of
sharing with the poor what we possess disposes
us to receive the gift of reconciliation and
forgiveness. I feel compelled to focus my
attention on those who are overwhelmed by the
burden of sins they have committed and feel far
from God. Even though your sins are great, do
not be fearful; never despair of God's mercy and
love for you. Recall the words of God recorded
in the Book of the prophet Isaiah. "Though your
sins are like scarlet. They shall be made white
as snow. Though you be stained red as crimson, I
shall make you as white as wool" (Is. 1:18). By
reaching out to others through almsgiving, we
can draw closer to God. Acts of charity can
become the instruments for authentic conversion
and reconciliation with the Lord and with our
brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Conversion is above all a grace. It is a gift
that opens the human heart to God's infinite
love. Because of His loving kindness and
merciful love God anticipates our desire for
conversion and supports our efforts toward full
adherence to his saving will. Indeed, the sole
delight that fills the human heart is the one
that comes from being loved by God. Conversion,
therefore, means listening to the words of Jesus
and surrendering to His grace. "I do not condemn
you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more"
(Jn. 8:11). If The Lord forgives us, who can
condemn us; it is God who knows the deepest
longings of the human heart (Cf. 1 Jn 3:20). Let
us surrender to the love of God and allow Christ
to take possession of our hearts. During these
last days of Lent let us humbly repent of our
sins and conform our lives to the teaching of
the Master. Straining to claim the prize, let us
return with Christ to the Father. Allow me to
close with a few lines from an oasis song:
Lord, you have
come to the seashore,
Neither searching
for the rich nor the wise,
Desiring only
that I should follow.
O Lord, with your
eyes set upon me,
Gently smiling,
you have spoken my name,
All I longed for
I have found by the water,
At your side, I
will seek other shores.
(John Paul II,
Rise, let us be on our way, page 100)
May the Lord be
your food for the journey through Lent.
Peace and
blessings upon all,
Father Jerome
Machar, OSCO
The Fight
Against Evil
Saturday of 2nd week of Lent
Micah 7: 14-15, 18-20
Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32
The season of Lent is a time of particular
commitment in the spiritual combat that pits us
against the evil present in the world, in each
one of us and that surrounds us. Throughout
these sacred days we are exhorted to look evil
in the face and dispose ourselves to fight
against its effects; more than that we are to
contend against all its causes, right up to its
ultimate cause -- Satan. We are not at liberty
to excuse ourselves from the task by unloading
the problem of evil onto others, onto society,
not even onto God. By undertaking the
disciplines of Lent we endeavor to recognize our
own responsibility for the wrong that we do and
consciously take it upon ourselves. Tim Madigan
made this observation when he received a coveted
award in journalism. "We're journalists; we're
not stenographers. We have the duty to let our
outrage show through when we come across
injustice. We need to let our compassion show
through for other people's suffering. And we
need to let our awe show through at the glory of
life. We have as much responsibility to
celebrate life and the goodness of it as we do
to root out evil" (I'm Proud of You, pg. 72).
As Disciples of Christ we are
obliged to celebrate life in all its forms and
give thanks to God for all the goodness of it.
We are stewards or administrators of the goods
of the earth. Wealth and worldly goods are not
our exclusive possession. They are given to us
as a sacred trust. We may not be able to do away
with poverty; however, we can come to the aid of
the poor people Providence brings to our doors
or into our lives. The words of Saint John take
on the tone of a ringing rebuke: "How can God's
love abide in a person who has the world's goods
and sees a brother or sister in need and yet
refuses to help?" (1Jn 3:17). Our responsibility
toward those who suffer poverty and abandonment
is a duty of justice and not simply an act of
charity. With the prophet we call upon the Lord,
"Dear God, come and care for your people. With a
shepherd's crook lead your flock to green
pastures" (Mic. 7:14). Having uttered this
prayer, we must then act in the name of the Good
Shepherd. Not only are we to pray for the poor,
we are also to care for them. The disciple is to
be concerned with God's greater glory. Jesus
warns: "In this way, let your light shine before
others, so that they may see your good works and
give glory to your Father in heaven" (Mt 5,16).
Everything is to be done for God's glory and not
our own. This understanding must accompany every
gesture of help to our neighbor. If, in
accomplishing a good deed, we do not have as our
goal God's glory and the real well being of our
brothers and sisters, looking rather for a
return of personal interest, we place ourselves
outside of the Gospel vision.
Lent, precisely because it invites
people to prayer, penance and fasting,
represents a providential moment to revive and
strengthen our hope. Prayer is the primary and
foremost weapon with which to face the struggle
against evil. Without the element of prayer, the
human 'I' ends up by closing in on itself and
the conscience, which should be the echo of the
voice of God, risks being reduced to a mirror of
the self. In the same way, interior dialogue
becomes a monologue that gives rise to many
forms of self-justification. Like the
self-righteous brother in the parable, we choose
to go hungry rather than sit at table with our
repentant brothers and sisters. Languishing for
lack of love, the first-born failed to recognize
his brother and rejected the love of the father.
In a word, like Esau, he gave up his
birthright. It is love that forms and holds
together our deepest and most lasting identity.
It is love that unites us to one another. It is
love that resists the drift into what in the end
fails and crumbles. God holds us in his love and
fortifies us with His grace. The call to be
totally devoted and attached to God heart and
soul, far from being a call for a mere emotion
or a mood, is in fact an injunction requiring
all-embracing, constant and active love of God.
The invitation to repent is therefore a spur to
return to the arms of God, our loving and
merciful Father, to trust him, to entrust
ourselves to him like adopted children, brought
to the newness of life in Christ.
May the Lord be your food for the journey
through Lent.
Peace and blessings upon all,
Father Jerome
Self-emptying of
Lent
Thursday of 1st
week of Lent
Esther c, 12,
14-16, 23-25
Mathew 7: 7-12
The
holy season of Lent affords us an opportunity to
deepen our commitment to living the Gospel. The
disciplines of Lent are intended to free us to
ponder the mysteries of the faith that we were
taught since the days of our youth, especially:
"God had such a great love for the world that He
gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who
believed in Him would not perish but enjoy
eternal life" (Jn. 3: 16). Throughout these
sacred days we can plumb the depths of God's
merciful love. The purpose of fasting and bodily
mortification is to draw us into an experience
of the poverty of our being. In this evening's
first reading we heard how "Queen Esther was
seized with mortal anguish and in that weakened
state she cried out to the Lord" (Esther C: 12).
In order to unite herself to the pain and
anguish of her people, Esther undertook a period
of fasting and prayer. In an age that revels in
the notion of entitlement and demands instant
sensual gratification, it might be good to
ponder the message this great queen received
from her uncle Mordecai before beginning her
fast. "Do not suppose that, because you are in
the king's palace, you are going to be the one
Jew to escape. No; if you persist in remaining
silent at such a time, relief and deliverance
will come to the Jews from another quarter, but
both you and your father's whole family will
perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to the
throne for just such a time as this" (Esther
4:13-14).
Throughout the days of Lent, holy mother, the
Church encourages us to lay aside our presumed
entitlements. We are instructed to postpone
sensual gratification and take up the various
disciplines that can bring about interior
renewal: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Only by
allowing ourselves to be hungry and by slowing
or interrupting the flow of input to our minds
can we hope to get in touch with our core
poverty. It is important that we strip off all
our accumulated creature comforts. It is
necessary that we reduce the amount of sensory
stimulation we enjoy. Only then will we be able
to hear the cries of the poor and forgotten.
Through self-denial and spiritual austerity we
will be able to live in the freedom that comes
with the obedience of faith. "Taking off her
splendid garments, she put on garments of
distress and mourning. In place of her precious
ointments she covered her head with dust and
ashes" (Esther C: 13). Esther laid aside all the
pomp of her royal rank and donned sackcloth and
ashes, tangible signs of her mortal plight. All
her hopes and joys were reduced to a heap of
ashes. Her weakness made her strong in faith.
Her emptiness made her receptive to the awesome
wonder of God's saving power.
Let us pray: O
Lord, you alone are God. Do not abandon us. Hold
us close to Your heart so that we may live this
day in tranquility and peace. Deliver us from
all bondage of Ego so that we might better do
your will without stumbling and without stain.
Let us see Your face in times of distress. Save
us from the attacks of the evil one because of
your boundless and ever-faithful love. Bring us
to the eventide of our lives victorious over all
temptation so that we may praise you, the
Eternal God who governs all things, forever and
ever. Amen.
May we look
forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual
longing. (RB 49.7)
Father Jerome
Myself, My Enemy
Friday of the 3rd week of Ordinary Time
2 Samuel 11: 1-4, 5-10, 13-17
Mark 4: 26-34
Qoheleth penned these familiar lines. "There is an
appointed time for everything, and a time for
every affair under the heavens: a time to be
born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a
time to uproot the plant; a time to kill, and a
time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to
rebuild; a time to cry, and a time to laugh; a
time to lament, and a time to dance; a time to
scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a
time to embrace, and a time to shun embraces; a
time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to
keep, and a time to throw away; a time to rip,
and a time to mend; a time to be silent, and a
time to talk; a time to love, and a time to
hate; a time to wage war, and a time to make
peace" (Qo. 3:1-8). The object of the spiritual
journey is to become aware of the seasons of the
soul. Four years before his death, Saint
Augustine spoke these words to the people of his
diocese. "We are all mortal, but no individual
can be sure of his last day in this life. In any
case, in childhood we hope to reach adolescence,
in adolescence we aspire toward adulthood, in
adulthood toward middle age and in middle age we
look to reaching old age. We are never sure we
will get there, but that is our hope. Old age,
however, is not followed by another stage of
life toward which we can aspire; its duration is
unknown. I arrived in this city in the vigor of
my life, but now my youth has gone and I am an
old man" (Ep. 213,1).
The author of the Second Book of Samuel notes that the time
for fighting had come and King David found
himself embroiled in a struggle of another sort.
The enemy that he grappled with was his youthful
desires and unchecked passions. David learned
that the military enemy was more predictable
than the spiritual one that besieged his heart
and soul. David betrayed the trust of a man who
was faithful to him and then to conceal his sin
brought about the death of that innocent man.
During this time of combat, the great king did
not know his real adversary and consequently he
brought about the death of a man whose only
crime was that he remained faithful to the vows
he made to the Lord. Remember the words God
addressed to Cain. "Why are you so resentful and
crestfallen? If your heart is pure, you can hold
up your head; but if not, sin is a demon
crouching at the door: his urge is toward you,
yet you can be his master" (Gen 4:6-7). In a few
days we will be entering into the sacred season
of Lent, a time for us to plant the seeds of
virtue and to uproot the plant of sin from our
lives.
During the days of Lent we will be afforded the leisure of
pondering our lives and considering who we are.
Like the king, we will find ourselves to be
hostages of our passions. Often we act before we
even think about what we are doing. The next
thing we know, life has started controlling us
and we begin to sink deeper and deeper into
hopelessness and despair. We are afforded the
season of Lent to assess how deep into the
quagmire we have sunk. In order to be set free
we must first admit that we are trapped. Though
we are in chains, Christ can set us free. Though
we have grown old in sin, Christ is ever young.
Saint Augustine preached these words to the
congregation that filled his cathedral. "Don't
refuse to be young again united with Christ,
even in an old world. He tells you: Do not fear,
your youth will be renewed like the eagle's
youth" (cf. Serm. 81,8). In the days that lay
ahead let us entrust ourselves to the living
Christ and find in Him the way to life. Julian
of Norwich shares this insight. "Sin is
necessary, but all will be well, and all will be
well, and every kind of thing will be well. In
this naked word 'sin', our Lord brought
generally to my mind all which is not good, and
the shameful contempt and the direct tribulation
which he endured for us in this life, and his
death and all his pains, and the passions,
spiritual and bodily, of all his creatures . . .
and yet this was shown to me in an instant and
it quickly turned into consolation" (Showings
(long text)). May the Lord free us from all of
our sins and bring us to everlasting life.
May the Lord bless and keep you all the days of your life.
In His name,
Father Jerome
Being a
Witness to Christ
Second Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Isaiah 49: 3, 5-6
1 Corinthians 1:
1-3
John 1: 29-34
The Christmas
candles have burned themselves out and the last
pine needle has been swept from the carpet. This
year's yuletide celebrations are little more
than a memory. At the beginning of Ordinary
Time, it would be good for us to take a few
minutes to reflect on the season just ended.
What exactly was all the fuss about? Throughout
all the hustle and bustle, what were we
commemorating? In the First Letter to the Church
of Corinth St. Paul wrote, we "have been
sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy,
with all those everywhere who call upon the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours"
(Cf. 1 Cor. 1:1). Through the mystery of the
Incarnation, the Word of God that has been
uttered from all eternity came into the world to
be our advocate, our guide and our redeemer.
When the Son of God took flesh and became the
Son of the ever-virgin Mary, the Holy One of
Israel Who dwells in unapproachable light became
visible and tangible. Through Jesus of Nazareth,
the Creator of the Universe has come close to
His people, to all people. When God became a
man, the long-awaited hope of Israel was
fulfilled. God the Father has called each of us
by name, making us sons and daughters in the
Son. When the Son stretched out His arms between
heaven and earth in the everlasting sign of the
New Covenant, we were ransomed from darkness and
death and brought into the Kingdom of Light and
Life. Because of His great love and compassion
God chose to restore humankind to its original
dignity. Listen to these words taken from the
Book of the Prophet Isaiah. "You are my servant.
In you will I manifest my glory" (Is. 49:3).
Through the
obedience of the second Adam the disobedience of
the first Adam has been undone and we who were
born in sin have been made righteous in the
Father's sight. God who created the human race
from the dust of the earth has recreated us from
the lanced side of His beloved Son Whom He
raised from the dead. Because the Only-begotten
Son became our brother, we have been called to
be holy; holy as the Father Himself is holy.
Through the Sacrament of Baptism we have become
disciples of Him who gave His life for us as an
acceptable sacrifice to the Father. In the
beloved Son, we are called to love as we are
loved. The knowledge that we have been blessed
in the loving kindness of God the Father gives
us a sense of confidence and awe. In the risen
and glorified Son we have been predestined for
an enduring and unchangeable glory. I am
reminded of a verse found in the First Letter of
St. Peter. "Without seeing Him you love Him.
Even though you have never seen Him, you believe
in Him and you rejoice with an inexpressible joy
that has been touched with glory" (1 Pet. 1:8).
God Who formed us in our mothers' wombs has made
us heirs of the Kingdom in the Son. Having been
so gifted, we should cultivate the habit of
righteousness according to the faith and love of
Christ.
Through the
sacraments of initiation - Baptism, Confirmation
and Eucharist - we have been grafted into Christ
and united to one another in the bond of love.
Called together by the Word and united in the
Sacrament of the Eucharist, we join our hearts
and voices in praising the God and Father of us
all. In the unity of faith and the bond of
harmonious love, Jesus Christ is sung and the
Father is glorified. Despite all the wonder and
bliss suggested by that last sentence, we should
pause here for a moment. The truth of our
situation is that we are not always living in
harmony. Actually, we frequently look for
excuses to isolate ourselves from one another.
We harbor resentment against the Bishop or we
choose to ignore the Magisterium of the Church.
Whenever we do these things, we are not living
in accordance with God's will for us and we
cease to live in the bond of love that unites us
to Christ. Such a thought might make you feel
uncomfortable - it should. Humbly admitting that
we don't always get it might even cause us to
squirm. However, it is comforting to hear John
the Baptist admit that even though he was sent
to be a witness to Christ, he did not recognize
Him at first. "I had no knowledge who he was,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water to
me, 'On whomever you see the Spirit descend and
remain, he is the one who will baptize with the
Holy Spirit'" (Jn. 1:33). St. Matthew suggests
that John wrestled with doubt even as he awaited
execution. "Are you the one who is to come or
should we look for another?" (Mat. 11:3)
To those who
admit their doubt and confusion God grants the
light of faith. In our darkness, Jesus can
become the Light of the Nations. In our
sinfulness, the Lord Jesus becomes the Lamb of
God who takes away our sins. We cannot come to
full knowledge of Christ by our own efforts --
not the kind of knowledge that leads to
recognition, faith and discipleship. We come to
know "the Son of God" by revelation from God, as
did John. He saw the Spirit descend on Jesus
like a dove and he heard the voice of the One
who sent him to testify to Jesus. John saw,
heard and responded to the gift he was given by
bearing witness to Christ. While we may not get
voices from heaven to point out Jesus' presence
in the world, we have known individuals who bear
witness to their faith and who lead us to
Christ. Like John the Baptist, our faith starts
with a gift from God, but that gift comes
through very ordinary witnesses. When we have
received this revelation we are then called to
give witness to what we have seen and heard. A
friend sent me these few lines written by
Abraham Joshua Heschel.
If a poet and a
pious man
Should confer and
exchange views,
The poet would
say:
"All he lives, I
say";
And the pious man
would know:
"All he says, I
live."
May the good Lord
bless and keep you.
In His name,
Father Jerome
Allowing Ourselves to be Moved by Love
Tuesday after
Epiphany
1 John 4: 7-10
Mark 6: 34-44
We
have been created to love God and to love our
neighbor. You might say love is a part of our
nature as it came from the hands of God. We have
been created in the image and likeness of God
and God is love. This being so, a person who
refuses to love is acting contrary to his/her
nature, is not being human. As we heard from the
First Letter of St. John, "Beloved, let us love
one another, because love is of God, and
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows
God" (1 Jn. 4:7). Here is something to keep in
mind, especially when imaging a "perfect" world.
There will always be suffering crying out for
assistance and consolation. There will always be
loneliness needing companionship. There will
always be hunger and poverty demanding
charitable outreach. However, there can be no
toleration of a poverty that denies an
individual what is needed for a dignified life.
We must fight the temptation of letting some
government agency take care of all these needs.
In his encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, Pope
Benedict wrote: "The State that would provide
everything, absorbing everything into itself,
would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy
incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which
the suffering person -- every person -- needs:
namely, loving personal concern. We do not need
a State that regulates and controls everything,
but a State which, in accordance with the
principle of subsidiarity, generously
acknowledges and supports initiatives arising
from the different social forces and combines
spontaneity with closeness to those in need"
(#17).
All
who have been baptized into Christ have been
grafted into His Body, the Church. The Body of
Christ is alive with the love enkindled by the
Holy Spirit. The Church continues the ministry
of Christ who did not simply offer people
material help. He reconciled them to His Father
and forgave their sins. Because He offered them
the one thing that really mattered He enabled
them to become fully human. They could once
again live in the freedom that was theirs as the
beloved Children of God. Through the mystery of
the Incarnation God came into the world to seek
out, find and bring home His wandering sheep.
The hidden God came out of the realms of
inapproachable light and manifested the depths
of His loving kindness. When the Word became
Flesh, the Father made all things new. Do we
have time and space for God? Do we allow Him to
give us hearts that can be moved with pity?
Wherever
people receive Christ there grows silently a new
spiritual dwelling place, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and the Kingdom of God. As we
recognize the darkness of the closed world in
which we live, the mystery of the Incarnation
tells us that God does not allow himself to be
kept out. He comes to us in the Barque of Peter
and shows us how to care for one another. All
those who have come to know His love are
commanded to love others as they have been
loved. Through the word of the Gospel, God
speaks to us, and in the sacred liturgy the
light of Christ enlightens our lives. The light
of the world and His message call us to
surrender the narrow circle of our desires and
interests and make His dream for the world our
own. Love of neighbor, grounded in the love of
God, is first and foremost a responsibility for
each Christian. We show that we have responded
to His call by opening the world to truth, to
good, to Christ, to the service of those who are
marginalized and in whom He awaits us. All
people who allow themselves to touch God's heart
are drawn to Christ's love, thereby becoming one
body with him and forming a new humanity. Those
who place their will in his become the City of
God and make the world radiant with glory that
shines on the face of Christ. To Him be praise,
honor and worship both now and forever. Amen.
May God bless
and keep you throughout the New Year,
Father Jerome
Machar, OCSO
Abbey of the
Genesee
-------------------------------------
Love Made Tangible
Fifth day in the
Octave of Christmas
1 John 2: 3-11
Luke 2: 22-35
In a meditation
for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, Ephraim the Syrian wrote:
"On this day in which He who was Rich became
poor for our sakes, let those who are rich
invite those who are poor to sit with them at
table to partake of a sumptuous banquet. On this
day a priceless and precious gift was given to
us, even though we had not even thought of
asking for it. Let us be prodigal in our giving
to all who cry out to us in their time of need."
When the Eternal Word of the Father took flesh
in the womb of the ever-virgin Mary, He became
the Sacrament of encounter with the Living God
for all who would receive Him. In Christ, God's
love became tangible. Out of the depths of His
compassionate love, the only-begotten Son
humbled Himself so that the children of Adam and
Eve might be raised up in glory. The
outstretched hands of the infant-savior offer us
the undeserved gift of divine mercy and grace.
The immortal God
who took to himself our mortal human nature has
given us access to His divine nature. Throughout
this holy season we recall how the Father of
Lights sent forth His Son into the gloom and
darkness of our world to make us children of the
Light. The victory of light over darkness, of
life over death, was foretold by the Creator of
the Universe at the beginning of time. Today,
God Who is ever faithful and true is offering us
the gift of His Beloved Son. Our ability to come
to Christ is a result of the sovereign work of
the Holy Spirit to open our blind eyes to the
nearness of God and to regenerate our stony
hearts so that we warmly embrace the Christ
child.
The tranquil
scene of the manger awakens in us many memories
and sentiments. As we look at the child and His
parents, Mary looks at us and says, "Don't be
afraid. Take Him into your arms. Look into the
eyes of God." As we bow low and reach into the
crib to pick up the baby, we are reminded of the
words St. Paul wrote to Timothy. "Here is a
saying you can depend on and deserves full
acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (1 Tim.
1:15). As we gaze into the eyes of our newborn
savior we find ourselves swimming in deep pools
of divine mercy. As we cradle His little body in
our arms we feel the consolation of being
nestled against the heart of God.
Scripture tells
us that Simeon was a just and devout man. He
devoted his life to watching and waiting for the
promised consolation of his people. In the
muffled cry of Mary's nursing infant Simeon
heard the voice of God. Responding to the voice
he heard with the ears of his heart he welcomed
the entry of God into His Temple. When the old
man entered the Temple, the Lord of the Temple
had already pitched His tent in Simeon's heart.
All the while he sought God in faith and
devotion God was seeking him in love and
compassion. This noble old man had been touched
by God and empowered to announce the long
awaited arrival of Wisdom, the Sun of Justice,
and God-With-Us. During this season as we turn
our thoughts to the mystery of the incarnation,
may we be open to the action of God's mercy and
surrender our lives to His love and will. May
the newborn savior grant us grace upon grace to
run on the path of God's commandments until our
hearts overflow with the inexpressible delight
of love.
May God bless and
keep you,
Father Jerome
----------------
The Birth of the Savior: Vigil Mass of Christmas
Isaiah 62: 1-5
Acts 13: 16-17,
22-25
Matthew 1: 1-25
This
evening we heard a reading from the book of the
Prophet Isaiah. This man of God was sent to
announce words of comfort and healing to a world
that had grown tired, weak and old. Isaiah
called out to the people who had wandered so far
from God that they were no longer irrigated by
currents of heavenly grace or fertilized by the
living Word. This prophet entered the Lord's
vineyard, which had become a stagnant pool. God
sent him to sing again the song of salvation to
the people who had once danced before the pillar
of divine light but now were tormented by
phantoms of the darkness and death. He was
ordered to tell this people who were lost in the
valley of gloom that they would once again take
possession of the land flowing with milk and
honey. In the midst of the chaos and confusion
of the world could be heard a gentle hush of
silence. In that brief moment of silence God
uttered His Eternal Word. That Word has saved us
all. Him before Whom we live, Him in Whom we
live; Him out of Whom and into Whom we live has
come among us as the Virgin Mary's Son.
The
author of the Book of Genesis tells us that God
created us in His image and likeness. Adam and
Eve's loss of original innocence left an
indelible mark on the human race. The loss of
Paradise brought with it a life-long suffering
for all their future offspring. By a mystery of
grace, these feelings of loss, emptiness and
longing would actually connect all the members
of the human race to their spiritual homeland.
God knew that even when sin caused us to become
self-willed and renegade He would still remain
connected to us through the unbreakable bond of
love. Today we commemorate the night on which
the Eternal Word leaped down from His royal
throne to show all humanity the Father's
capacity for compassionate love. It is good for
us to ponder the words recorded in the gospel
according to John. "For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him might not perish but might have
eternal life. God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn it, but to save it" (Jn. 3:
16-17). God's love is powerful and is able to
bring about and invigorate individual conversion
and enable personal salvation in the lives of
those He loves. Those who have been created in
the image and likeness of God are to live in
such a way as to manifest God's loving kindness.
They do this by showing supreme respect and
concern for all life and by fostering the
development and growth of all the members of the
human race in every land and nation. Spontaneous
acts of love can effect lasting change in the
world. The Polish poet Julian Tuwim portrayed a
fleeting moment of nature's capricious beauty in
his poem "The Bird".
A bird alights
upon a twig.
It sings its song
and flies away.
The swinging twig
Still shudders
with joy
That the bird
made her dance so.
Today
we recall in ethnic traditions and in liturgical
rites the night God spoke a Word of love to a
world shrouded in darkness and torn by violent
hatred. This is the night God transformed the
sounds of sorrow and sadness into songs of joy
and gladness. With contagious excitement all of
creation echoes the nearness of its Creator and
Lord. For a brief moment the heavens radiate the
glory of God and the night winds carry the song
of the angelic choir. Tonight we recall how God
descended into our darkness and gloom so that we
ascend to the light of glory. Many families will
be gathering around the manger scene,
remembering that night when Mary gave birth to
her divine Son. Reclining on a bed of fresh
straw, she rests and is filled with great joy as
she gazes upon the face of God, swaddled in her
arms. There, Mary looks on the God-man whom she
brought into a cold and harsh world. There she
wonders what will lie before her and her newborn
Son. All at once she is filled with confusion
and tranquil joy. In the depths of her soul she
feels flashes of anxiety and internal gladness.
There, wrapped in the darkness of a cold
winter's night she became the Mother of Light.
In
the closeness of this mother's embrace is found
the enormous abyss of eternity. We stand by as
Mary ponders the awesome mystery of Life resting
on her virginal breast. As the infant nurses
hungrily, the mother prays that all men and
women would come to love her Son. There she
reclined, lost in thought, inviting all who gaze
upon her to plumb the depths of the mystery that
is presented to them.
CRADLED CROSS
By Bruce Sweet
rock a cross in
your manger little child
cherub hands
holding tightly to the wood
little finger
nails with virgin moons
calloused fingers
nailed against a tree
feed on milk of
the virgin little child
kiss the breast
of the girl with blessed cord
little lips
speaking golden parables
trembling mouth
kissed for silver in the dark
look at stars in
the manager little child
see the
brilliance spinning in the room
little eyes
closing slowly in a sleep
lidded torches
covered over in the tomb
as you lie in the
manger little child
open hands
gentle smile on your lips
is the ringing in
the night from far away
or is it locked
inside the secret sacred heart
the echo of God's love
the passion and the dove
within the king
of souls upon the hay
In the love of
Christ our newborn Savior,
Father Jerome
--------------------
Sharing Hope
Second Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 11: 1-10
Romans 15: 4-9
Matthew 3: 1-12
The passage from the prophet Isaiah brought back
memories of my seminary days. On one corner of
the property was an old apple orchard. The trees
were misshapen because no one ever tended them.
In the springtime, these ugly trees became a
spectacular sight because they were covered with
blossoms. In the fall, their abundant fruit was
a delight for many a seminarian. Over the years,
some branches would snap in the wind and some
actually tore a tree in half as they fell. At
times, we thought we had finally lost some of
those bare, dead-looking trunks. To our
amazement the jagged stumps sprouted tiny
branches and leaves and become covered in green
once more. New shoots sprouted from the damaged
trunk and we had reason to hope for another
delicious harvest. Class after class of future
priests delighted in the fruit of that undying
orchard. With this image in mind, we see similar
signs of hope in the words of the prophet
Isaiah. Out of the damaged and withered stump of
David's family a fresh shoot would grow. The
prophet foresaw a new branch bearing fruit from
the old root.
The work of the Holy Spirit goes beyond
individual desires for personal salvation. Not
only will the promised offspring of David
reestablish the lost royal line, He will, in
fact, make all things new. Into a world shrouded
in darkness and confusion, He will bring a
spirit of wisdom, understanding, and good
counsel. In a world torn by litigation and
distrust, He will be a righteous judge restoring
equity for the meek and removing wicked
exploitation. In a world shaken by terrorism,
violence and war, He will establish a kingdom
where a wolf will be the guest of a lamb; a
leopard and a young goat will lie down together;
a calf and a lion will eat from the same manger;
and a little child will become the playmate of
poisonous snakes and harmful reptiles. A world
divided by hatred and bigotry will come to the
holy mountain and all the dwellers on earth will
acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters
in the Family of God. When God's kingdom is
brought about all who dwell on the earth will be
at peace with one another. When the Lordship of
God is established in Christ, then (using the
words of William Blake) we shall be able:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an Hour.
Everything that Isaiah saw in his vision of the
peaceable mountain was restated in the reading
from the Letter to the Romans. The
reconciliation of all peoples was brought about
by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. We have reason to hope because in the
mystery of the Incarnation God proved Himself
faithful to His promises. It is God's will that
we who are the beneficiaries of His loving
kindness should live in harmony with one another
and that we safeguard the bond of unity that is
ours in the Spirit. Through the mystery of the
Incarnation God has bound Himself to the human
race with the cords of love and has given all
the members of the human family the dignity of
being the children of God. Jesus Christ has
united himself to his human brothers and sisters
that, with one voice and one heart, all may
proclaim the grandeur of God. In Jesus Christ
the hopes of every human heart are fulfilled. As
heirs to the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus Christ,
we must commit ourselves to saving future
generations from the scourge of war. We must do
all in our power to reaffirm the fundamental
dignity of the human person. It is this dignity
that determines the just balance of national
interests and safeguards the establishment of
peace with justice in every land and nation.
Someone sent me a wonderful story about an
eleven-year-old boy who walked the streets of a
little town one cold and dreary rainy night,
handing out bible tracts telling the reader
about the wonders of God's loving kindness.
After hours of walking in the rain he was soaked
to the skin, cold to the bone and down to his
last leaflet. Like a man with a mission, he
climbed the stairs on the porch of the last
house on the street, and started ringing the
doorbell. When no one answered, he rang again,
and again, and again. Finally, a sad-looking
elderly lady came to the door. With radiant eyes
and a smile that lit up her gloomy world, he
said, "Ma'am, forgive me for bothering you, but
I just wanted to tell you that Jesus loves you."
With that, he gave her his last tract and
vanished into the night.
The next Sunday the boy was surprised to see the
lady sitting next to him in church. After the
service she thanked him for what he had done for
her. "The night you knocked on my door, I was
feeling all alone in the world. My husband had
died and I no longer wanted to live. I was so
depressed that I intended to hang myself in the
attic of my house. I was actually standing on a
chair with the rope around my neck when you
started ringing the doorbell. When you didn't
stop ringing the bell and pounding on the door,
I loosened the rope, got off the chair and
opened the door to your smiling face. Your
words, 'Jesus really does love you' gave me
hope. Thanks to your act of kindness, I am alive
today." Like that boy, each of us is called to
be a missionary of hope in our dreary and dark
world.
The season of Advent is a time of joyful
expectation and spiritual preparation for the
Lord's coming. In addition to being a time of
getting ready for Christmas, it is also be a
time of genuine conversion and interior renewal
for Christians everywhere. Our faith tells us
that a virgin gave birth to the Son of God and
remained a virgin. The mystery of God-With-Us
tells us that people, very different from one
another, can work out arrangements for walking
the paths of time together. Advent is a
propitious time to "repent" and "straighten
things up" so that we can stop living on the
surface of life. The season of advent provides
us time to contemplate what will truly make us
happy. Only in Christ can we find meaning,
sanity and balance in our lives. In Christ we
can see the Father's face, the face of a God so
great in love as to communicate to us an
indestructible hope, a hope that not even death
can crack, because the life of those who entrust
themselves to this Father always opens onto the
perspective of eternal beatitude. Like the woman
in the story, people who find themselves in the
valley of darkness and hounded by the specter of
death can turn around and choose life; but
someone has to share with them the reason for
hope. Filled with hope we can set things
straight and so render life in society good and
beautiful. "The great hope, that one that is
full and definitive, is guaranteed by God, by
God who is love, who has visited us in Jesus and
given his life to us, and in Jesus he will
return at the end of time. It is in Christ that
we hope and it is him that we await! With Mary,
his Mother, the Church goes out to meet the
Bridegroom: She does this with works of charity,
because hope, like faith, is demonstrated in
love" (Benedict XVI).
May you find your hope in Christ Jesus,
Father Jerome Machar, OSCO
Abbey of the Genesee
"Every person is
created for greatness. Not all of us are called
to do great things but all of us are called to
do even the littlest things with great love."
Confraternity of Penitents
520 Oliphant Lane
Middletown RI USA
02842-4600
401/849-5421
bspenance@hotmail.com
copenitents@yahoo.com
