The Journey Continues: April 1, 2008

M. Robert Mulholland, Jr. teacher and writer has written at least two books with the work "journey" in the title. His books stands besides works by Nouwen, Tolle, Chopra, Dispenza, Obama, the Evangelists and others that offer thoughts to me about where God is calling us in the days when we celebrate the Resurrection. The Deeper Journey is an interesting Mulholland presentation of thought about a journey into more discovery of one's true self.

Today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles relates the reality that "the community of believers was of one heart and mind" (4:2 -- RSV). Perhaps the sentiment expressed by Luke might be an expressions of a yearning that lies buried in the heart. This oneness might well be missing in the hearts of many today who are seeking for ... well, perhaps, that might be part of the unknown. What am I seeking today?

On many occasions Jesus called his disciples and us to be like himself. If you attended a Catholic grammar school with religious, you are quite familiar with that thought. But we can ask ourselves, honestly, just what is the model Jesus offers us if we are to be like the Son of God? Mulholland leads his readers to consider Paul's description of Jesus: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Col 1:19 -- RSV)). In several other Pauline letters we come to see his understanding of that sought after unity of heart and mind as "... the Father is in me and I am in the Father" (John 10:38 -- RSV) For the convert of radical proportion, St. Paul is clear that "God and Jesus are in a profound and mysterious union with each other" (Mulholland, p 13).

So. as usual, a question or two are in order: How strong is your belief that you are called to be like Jesus? Do you see your relationship with him as beyond that of a distant God who had something to do with your redemption? Do you see your life as a Christian, a follower of Jesus, as "a life of loving union with God at the depths of our being" (Mulholland, p 14)?

Annunciation: March 31, 2008

So much has been written on the blog about journey making. Most recently we have watched the disciples during their journeyes confronting and dealing with the Risen Jesus. It was not easy of them.

Today we watch as the Scripture reading lets us watch as Mary begins the most challenging aspect of her life's journey. It is not challenging en ought for her to have an angel come to talk about her future. Gabriel is not there to chat. He comes with a request that would frighten Mary and forever change how we looked upon Jesus. He comes with a request that would frighten most women. So it is with the beginning of no easy journey for the young woman man.

So this is the beginning of no easy journey for the young woman. Not married yet she agreed to a most unusual pregnancy. Surely the road ahead would not be easy. But she did not back down.

And for you, me? Does Mary have any part of your life, my life when we are subject ot what seens when or my life where we are subject to what seems impossible? As we celebrate the Annunciation we should remember the trust of God . Mary realized how important God is for us.

Divine Mercy Sunday: March 30, 2008

To begin, I would invite you to try suspending in your hearts and minds all the history and faith development that followed the Crucifixion and burial of Jesus. Imagine all you know is that Jesus lies buried behind a large rock in a crypt. Like most people you know that the younger preacher lost his campaign. The Jewish and Roman authorities seemingly were victorious in ending the vision that was sweeping power away from them. As a faithful follower, one of his disciples, you are gathered together with you colleagues more in fear and hiding than in conviviality or celebration.

Suddenly he is standing before you. The women were right! The two Emmaus "day dreamers" were not off in space somewhere. What must be in your heart and mind as you hear: "Peace be with you." Here we go again! Is this a magician playing trick with us?

It seems that Jesus had to come to the disciples on quite a few occasions to convince them that the mission was not over either for himself or you. He was preparing to return to the Father but he was also sending you with the gift of the Holy Spirit, sending some to forgive sins.

The spirit or drive of Lent is over. The temptation is to return to the way things were before we began our Lenten journey. Yet, if we prayerfully study what we read in the Scriptures about the days after Easter Sunday morning's revelations began, we should be wanting to know more about Jesus, more about ourselves. Like a sponge soaking up water, we can fill ourselves with the joys of our redemption. All the promises have come to pass. Whether in a cemetery, on a traveled road out of town, at a hastily prepared shoreline breakfast or in the sanctuary of an upper room, Jesus made it known: "I am with you even now."

How wise was Pope John Paul II to focus the Sunday after the Resurrection day on the gift of the divine mercy of the risen One. Directing our thoughts to the moments of his mercy, we come to know how blessed we are. And just for a moment recall with me the extraordinary accounts of his mercy. Remember the moment when Peter, the specially chosen one, didn't have the guts to acknowledge his friendship because the pressures of an inquisitive woman were far stronger. Remember the scene in today's gospel: Thomas couldn't accept what others were trying to teach him to believe. Remember the great band of The Twelve who could not remain loyal to him, who failed to remain faithful to the promise they would follow no matter what. Remember Friday afternoon: the sounds of a jeering crowd, the sharp sounds of steeling hammering on steel, the jabbing pain of a spear in the side, the bitter refreshment on a sponge to quench a thirst --- all of these moments to humiliate and ultimately to reject one man's teaching and preaching.

None of these pain-filled moments were harbored by the One hanging on a cross. All was forgiven: "Father, they just don't know what they are doing." Mercy at its most divine moment: forgive them.

And you or me? How do I respond even though we know the rest of the story --- our personal forgiveness, our being pardoned for the sins in our lives. It is a day when we can surrender to the greatest invitation ever received: "Follow me, I love you. I have died for you to set you free."

Saturday of Easter Week: March 29, 2008

"He Is Risen" -- Artist Dr. He Qi (2001)

The Resurrection of Jesus captured the hearts and minds of the apostles. The reality of the message was so powerful that the followers could not keep their thoughts and inspirations to themselves. They had, in a way, accepted the torch handed on to them by their friend, their teacher, their rabbi, Jesus Christ. They did not delay sharing the good news that had taken their hearts.

The authorities were concerned about the success of the new missionaries who were teaching the Jesus message. These ordinary, uneducated men were impacting the community and threatening their power. They ordered the likes of Peter and John to desist. They instructed Peter and John to put a lid on their speaking and preaching.

The response from the two firebrands is a powerful demonstration to the community and to us today of the power God bestows upon those who are free and willing to allow that presence into their lives.

Our spiritual journey daily contains the same kinds of confrontations that Peter and John and others encountered. For us it is not so much community leaders as it is the impact of powerful influences that distract us and pull us away from living and proclaiming God's message.

There are many today who struggle to make the message of Jesus Christ alive in our community. The recent parish mission by John and Kathy Colligan is an example of grace-filled men and women committed to the good news of the gospels. Who can hear them and not recognize that powerful influences that attempt to suppress the treasury of graces Jesus taught. Imagine for a moment one simple reality we expect to find each time we read a newspaper: the personal violence individuals wage upon one another. How? Sadly the ways are numerous. Here are a few: the sale of drugs to the weak, the encouraging of abortions, the advance of immoral lifestyles, the sexual exploitation of young people over the Internet and the murders that are recounted in each day's news.

Might we not ask several questions: "Where are the voices of Peter and John bringing the good news? Where are the followers of Jesus among us today? How committed am I to being a true follower? What can I do to affirm that I truly believe that Jesus has risen from the dead and calls us still to follow him and his teachings?"

Easter Friday: March 28, 2008

Doesn't the scene desribed in today's gospel reading appear to be a picture of the current status of many so-called believers? Today there are many who have heard the testimony of others who lives have been touched by God. Nevertheless, the adherence to the faith seems greatly dimihished. Like those gathered in the famous "upper room," many today, we might say, are not convinced that Jesus is present to them just as he was to his followers immediately after his Resurrection.

For some the presence of God seems to be of little importance for daily life. Faith seems to have fallen victim to current cultural ideas and practices that do not put too much stress upon the importance of a close relationship to the Creator and the Redeemer. Taking time from a usually filled daily schedule to pray, to be present with God, is not perceived as critically important.

We are disciples of the risen Jesus. Yet, can we not ask ourselves a simple question: "How do I bring my conviction that Jesus Christ is my redeemer to others?" As disciples seeking to be emissaries of the Easter gifts we have received, shouldn't we be seen as women and men alive with hope, alive with faith?

The followers of Jesus had much mental and emotional adjusting to make on Easter Sunday. What did "risen from the dead" mean for them? What did it mean to those disciples who had not yet seen the risen Jesus when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary told them that they had seen Jesus? It was true: he had risen from the dead. He was back among them, walking and talking. It was more than a game of mirrors or smoke. It was a true challenge to them to believe that Jesus was among them again in real flesh with real human features. Some of us today for it a challenge that these disciples did not understand it? Why? Perhaps we don't fully understand the magnitude of the mystery. How many of us truly fully understand that the consecrated host held up for our adoration at the Consecration of the Mass is truly Jesus present to us? body and blood, soul and divinity? What does it mean when we hear the words "This is the lamb of God"?

Easter mysteries offer abundant graces to those who are willing to take the risk of believing or trying to believe. To believe that nothing is impossible for God is undoubtedly one of the faith challenges to our contemporary world. Believing may be very difficult because to believe brings us to the very core of our being. Fr. Henri Nouwen had a few words that might relate to this.

What is most intimate is also what frightens us most.

Where wer are most ourselves, we are often strangers to ourselves.

That is the painful part of being human ....

The mystery of the spiritual life is that Jesus desires to meet us

in the seclusion of our own heart,

to make his love known to us there,

to free us from our fears and

to make our own deepest self known to us.

(Words of Hope and Healing, p 7)

Easter Thursday: March 27, 2008

Two experiences that you might have been yours during Lent might come to mind again. Jesus may have tried to teach you (surely he continues to try to teach me!) that, as Fr. Henri Nouwen notes, "being is more important that doing" p. 44, Spiritual Directions. Secondly, "the heart is more important than the mind" p.44, Spiritual Directions.

People will say about themselves or another person that he/she is a driven person. I wonder if we driven folks ever stop to consider that God does not need us to be working, doing 20/7. God desires that we be with him during the course of the day. We don't have to be trying to accomplish to prove that we have accomplished goals. So often, if we look at ourselves carefully, we might be able to see that our drivenness drives us away from God and his love.

Likewise a technology driven culture also can drive us away from God. While a marvelous storehouse of accomplishments, the tech world can drain love from our hearts. Having endured bypass surgery and continuing to walk through the recuperation program, I have come to wonder if the large number of heart surgeries in recent times might be another sign that work has cheated us out of living with an awareness that regardless of the brain power we achieve, the heart is a most important organ in our bodies. Have we let our drivenness build an ever growing wall of separation between ourselves and fully loving as we should?

Perhaps our Lenten reflections may have brought us at one moment or another to a fork in the road ... challenging us to choose the better path for our lives. Did this thought cross you mind during the days of Lent ... or even afterwards?

Easter Wednesday: March 23, 2008

Today's gospel reading offers the picture of "journey" once again. Perhaps a reminder that we are always on a journey, every day of our lives coming closer to the God who made us, the Jesus who teaches us and the Spirit who enlightens our minds and hearts.

Two Jesus-devotees had put all their eggs into one basket: "we were hoping he would be the one to redeem Israel." Yet, if we pull back the cover of familiarity that protects us from the raw pain they were enduring, we might find similar moments in our lives. These disciples are walking through the emptiness, the fright, of change. They are experiencing the fear that naturally walks into life when there is an experience of loss ... especially the loss of a dear person, of the work that has given purpose to life or even of good health.

However, the two downcast followers have not given up. Obviously they are moving onward ... perhaps with neither plan nor much hope. Into their lives , into the openness of their journey at this particular moment enter another traveler, another man seemingly someone "their eyes were prevented from recognizing...." Again, we know the rest of the story, don't we?

It is a faith-modeling story. We should not forget Jesus was a preacher, a teacher who stressed the importance of faith. Didn't he say in so many ways and different times that just a dose, a speck, of faith could move mountains? As Jesus, the professor, was recounting the words of the prophets and retreaching why "the Christ should suffer these things," they cam to experience, perhaps again, the excitement, the hope that made them "children of the light" (Jn 12:36).

So, too, for anyone suffering any kind of loss: a speck of faith mixed with an ounce of trust will become the shield that will safeguard against the pain of loss, the emptiness of change. We might also recall the words of Jesus found in Matthew's gospel: "Everyone then who who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be life a wise man who built his house on rock." As Deepak Chopra points out the house that Jesus is speaking about is one's very self that is firmly established on an openness or awareness of Jesus walking with us on our journey. Difficult days of our travels will become moments of inner peace because we believe that Jesus walks with us just as he walked with Cleopas and his friend. Perhaps the gospel writers did not tell us who the friend was ... because, just by chance, it could be YOU!

NEW PARISH GOINGS ON BLOG SITE

Today, you can find a new blog that will, hopefully, be a source of more instant communication from the Pastor and the parish offices than a weekly bulletin. A rather prominent man of the media shared with me the belief that the printed media is dying a fast death. It is the Internet that will be carrying most of the worlds news each day.

So, an effort begins today to keep you up to date with at least one important news item that will be old news by the time you read the weekend bulletin.

The new blog address is as follows: http://mydcolvparish.blogspot.com/

Enjoy.

TUESDAY REFLECTION: MARCH 24, 2008

Today's gospel turns from Matthew's account of the early Resurrection day to John's account. The scene is somewhat different. But the underlying message is this: heh, folks, there is just so much to talk about that the Church needs a full eight days to let us get not a full understanding of what happened but clues to treasures that lie ahead in the liturgical year. To believe we could encapsulate the Resurrection in one day is to miss the awe of God's gift to us.

The event John pictures for us is classic. We never know at first glance if Jesus is speaking to us in the visage of someone we know or of a stranger. One of the most difficult occurences in my priesthood is when I feel it necessary to turn someone away who is seeking help. I fear that it might be Jesus trying to teach me.

There is the folklorish story of the young boy who comes upon Michelangelo beginning to work on a large block of marble. For a while the youngster watched a the renowned artist chipped away large and small pieces of the marble. Several weeks later the boy passed by the artist and his work. No longer was it just a piece of marlbe in its early stages of development. The boy looked at the work and asked, "How did you know there was a lion in that marble?"

Mary Magdalene thought it was a gardener who was approaching her near the tomb until he spoke and said "Mary." She was utterly amazed. She did not speak; she grabbed him. It was her Lord.

As Fr. Henri Nouwen wrote words that might help: "Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and becomea friend instead of an enemy." Can you be sure it is not the Lord speaking at first glance when you hear an unknow voice or meet an unknown figure? How did you know there was Jesus in that person?

Monday of Easter Week

Women and their roles in the life of Jesus and the Church are at time overlooked. Today's gospel reading provides a moment for some reflection on this matter. Clearly women had signficant roles in the formative days of our Church. Mary gave birth to the Son of God, he did not "just appear" on the scene. It was Martha and her sister Mary who helped Jesus teach how women helped him preach his mission. Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" were the proclaimers of the resurrection news.

Theologians have taught us that women were significant in the life of the Son of God because they truly loved him in an honorable way because they were attracted to him by his goodness and his personality. And, to be sure, there were no opportunities for women to "climb" into the circle of Jesus' closest followers, the Apostles. It was not to Peter, the leader of the closest circle, who was chosen to be the heralds of the resurrection.

In his writings Augustine taught that it was not a surprise to him that women were entrusted with the proclamation. It was a woman, Eve, who first fell under a satanic sway. So it is not so strange that women were chosen to make the announcement.

A personal evaluation of some fifteen years in pastoral leadership: since women have been invited to be Lectors and Ministers of Holy Communion in our parishes it is more difficult to engage the service of men to assist in these pastoral positions ... as well as membership on committees. At least this has been my experience.

So, you may be asking, and what is the purpose of this reflection? Put as simply as I can it is this: John Paul II especially and a number of Bishops and priests have pointed to the unique roles of service women offer the Church today. Their intelligence, generosity and care are services that can greatly benefit parish life. Just a simple thought, nothing complicated.

Easter Weekend --- 2008

Again let us give some thought to the journey: Easter is present within us and around us. The Lenten journey has brought us to the gift of an encounter with Jesus in a significant way. Hopefully the days of this most recent Lent have strengthened our legs for the spiritual journey of our entire lives. Hopefully these past forty or so days have brought a deeper awareness of change and growth through a discovery of the graces that God offers for the sacred journey to him. Hopefully these days have brought you beyond spiritual exercises simply for exercise sake. Hopefully this journey has been an invitation to an awareness of the voice of intuition. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully ... because on this day of Easter we celebrate hope and its fulfillment.

The picture above is of a labyrinth. "Google" the word and you will find yourself walking the discovery of an ancient symbol that is related to our wholeness. The labyrinth is a metaphor for our life's journey. This may have happened to you during the days of Lent: meandering along the paths that have made the journey real may have opened for you the labyrinthine walk deeply into your very being, your very relationship with the God whose gift to us of his Son and their rich promise, now fulfilled, of redemption, of salvation.

Hopefully this Easter Sunday is very much like the center of the labyrinth for you: a place of resting. We rest this weekend with the Lord after a tiring and perhaps painful journey revisiting or rediscovering for the first time, why Jesus suffered and died for ME. The last week of Lent, from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday, has been the experience of being in the center, the core of the labyrinth. Here we encounter a time of resting, a time of just letting God's graces pour over us. The feelings may have been numerous and varied. For most people, aware of this inner place or not, there is the emptiness of Good Friday evening and Jesus' resting in the tomb on Saturday. It may be an emptiness not often associated with emptiness for here there is a unique encounter ... divine presence surrounds, fills, overwhelms.

"He is risen!" Mindful of this reality, we begin the journey out of our labyrinth. We travel back the same way that we entered but ... but ... but ... YOU, I ... we are different. We may pass others we know or don't know. Hopefully we are convinced that this labyrinthine pathway is a sacred path that truly has helped you and me come to know ourselves better than ever before. Hopefully that awareness, despite the dents, the bruises, the rough edges encountered, allows us to see in each days sunrise a reminder that Jesus' rising affirms God's promise that he is with us always.

A very different Easter reflection, no doubt. Nonetheless, may you find a time this weekend to experience the peace simply reflecting on the walk you have made during the Lent of 2008 --using the labyrinth picture. On one "goggled" source, there is this simple Latin sentence: "Solvitur ambulando." It is solved by walking. You, perhaps without realizing it, have been walking the labyrinth these last forty days. Now you return to the "ordinary" world of your life, hopefully with a new appreciation of the gift you are to those you encounter because you have come to know how blessed you are by the reality of the empty Easter morning tomb.

Good Friday - 2008

As you look at this picture, do you see beyond the torn skin? Do you imagine how painful the day has been for this man? Do you marvel at this accomplishment? Does it frighten? Is it so unsettling that you had to turn away from it? Perhaps one, two or all of these emotions and more jolted your inner being.

This man has ended his journey. Yet his journey is so intimately related to you, to me ... to every human being that has ever lived. Every journey concludes with two realizations: the first is that the journey has been more than an experience in traveling; it has been an inward journey, traveling deep within your heart, my heart. Perhaps it has been a journey so deeply inward that you could have become frightened. Perhaps it has been a journey that has made you more aware than ever before that the end of this man's journey is but what all journeys are ... a transformation. This man's journey ended with the beginning of your journey, my journey. Has this thought evolved in your musings?

From Greek and Latin literature and even St. Paul's writings we are taught that the hero is crowed with a laurel wreath when he/she "crosses the finish line." This man in the picture is you in his life. His laurel wreathe crown is what you and I should want to guarantee because the beginning of our journey is restoration. Even as we begin our life's journey we are restored by every ounce of blood that was poured out of this man's body. Our journey is anointed from the very beginning by the sweat that burned his eyes as he walked to his final moments, his Crucifixion.

This man was no slouch. This man was no true criminal. This man was simply Jesus, a brother, a savior, a redeemer. This man was a victim because humankind turned on his Father. This man was a loyal son because he accepted an invitation to die for you and me. Again, this man was simply Jesus, a brother, a friend in need, one who would walk a mile with you or me. Simply, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And, hopefully, on your journey your familiarity and affection for this man has grown just as his name has in the last sentence.

Return to the picture. Let your heart be still. Return to the thought of the Shakespeare quote from yesterday's reflection: " ... journeys end in lovers meeting." May the picture of this man in his final moments of agony never allow you or me to forget how blessed our life journeys are because Jesus loves you and you see how real that love is for you. This man is Jesus. This man is Jesus the God who loves you beyond anything you or I can imagine.

Don't overlook the words in the gospel for today: "I AM." He is not the God who "WAS" nor the God who "WILL BE." He is the ever present lover for you and me. Don't lose the grasp of his hand.

Holy Thursday

Today, Holy Thursday, we move from Lenten days into the most sacred and solemn days of the liturgical year.

In a way we have come to the termination of our Lenten journey which may seem to have begun only a few days ago. Regardless of the time, we have had the opportunity to consider what a journey is and how, hopefully, this Lent 2008 journey has impacted our lives.

In the second act of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, you can read these words: " ... journeys end in lovers meeting ...." These words and our journey speak about the culmination of all these past forty days: we now realize how each day was a building block leading toward our encounter with Jesus during these three solemn days of the Sacred Triduum ... and encounter that has brought about a change even in our hearts. Hopefully we have seen ourselves in the life and words, the struggles and joys of the life of Jesus brought to us in the daily scripture readings and other sources presented in this blog.

Today we reflect upon the gift that distinguishes us from all Christians because of what we call "transubstantiation." We believe that with the words of consecration in the liturgy, the bread and wine become for us the richest gift we could ever receive.

Today Catholics come home, as it were, from their Lenten journey. We come home to where Jesus is for us: the Eucharist. The words of Oliver Wendell Holmes offer a thought that can enrich our own perception of the Eucharist and what it can mean to us: "Where we love is home.... Home that our feet may leave, but not our heart. (Homesick for Heaven)"

Our journey these past forty days has taken us on different routes, perhaps many routes. However, today we find ourselves back where we started ... but enriched by prayer, fasting and almsgiving ... and perhaps we will see the eucharistic treasure as it truly is ... for the first time.

The responsorial psalm so well serves us after this reflection by leading us into the day of Christ's passion, his suffering for us and ultimately his life-giving death.

Our blessing cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.

Absence

Sorry to have missed the last three days blogging lenten thoughts for you.

A viral bug made its way into our residence and I am the 3rd one to fall victim to the bug. However, tomorrow, I will resume the thoughts for you as we begin the Sacred Triduum.

Thanks to Whispers in the Loggia for the accolades following the lenten reflections.

Reflections for the Palm Sunday Weekend

Your writer of reflections will be in NYC Friday, Saturday and Sunday (until the 6:00 PM Mass). For a reflection on each of these days ... and other Lenten ideas and thoughts as Holy Week begins, he suggests the following site to read interesting and helpful reflections. Also the reflections by students on the same site is interesting.

We begin the holiest of week of the year ... a time when we should do our best to see who we are in relation to Jesus whose passion and death are so much to us. On the journey of life, during this time of our special Lenten journey we are called to spend as much time as possible with the Lord. It is a time when we are called to walk with our Redeemer in his suffering, the final days of his journey as man. May God be with you as you begin, once again, the part of the journey which is most solemn.

Wednesday Reflection: March 12, 2008

Enlighten our minds and sanctify our hearts.

Opening Prayer of today liturgy

The readings of today's liturgy bring us beyond a signpost on our journey. Today we come to a fork in the roadway. The events in the readings bring us to the realization that we must at times make decisions.

King Nebuchadnezzar's demand that the three men who are committed to serving Yahweh change their thinking and serve his gods. In a way the egoic mind described in yesterday's reflection falls apart in this storry. These men do not let their egos control their lives. No golden idols for them at this time in their lives.

We know the result of their decision: the white-hot furnace. And brave men they are: "Even if he (Yahweh) will not (save us in the fires), know O king, the we will not serve your god or the golden statue you have set up" (Daniel).

Each of us is challenged every day by a similar contest regardless of our age. What is the temptation? Simple: do whatever it takes to become a part of the crowd. An immediate thought: watch younger students in grammar and high schools. Most of them will do anything to be a part of the crowd. But this is not a challenge reserved to young people. Adults are victims of the same challenge.

Two current news items: New York state's Governor Spitzer and political candidates. Each was surely challenged by the golden calf: one to succumb to the alluring ways of contemporary morality, the other to succemb to the serious temptation to make statements that may not be absolutely true but may make a person seemingly more powerful in the eyes of the electorate.

In these and many other similar instances where we stand at a fork in the road, the choice for either morality or immorality, failure to take the high road is nothing more than the decision to use the words we know so well: "I will not serve."

Unfortunately there are many today who stand at the fork in the roadway of life's journey who are like those in the gospel reading who do not understand what Jesus is saying: "... the truth will set you free" (John 8:31). Like those who heard Jesus say this, we, too, at time do not see that our sins have imprisoned us: "we have never been slaves of anyone."

The question: does a person realize that sins are much more than simply offending God? Does that person realize that sinning is building a jail for one's self here and now? Sin imprisons a person's very being. Sin puts a sinner's being behind bars of confinement. Sin creates slavery.

Each day life presents the challenge of choice, the fork in the road. Do we choose to do good or do we fail to do good? As challenging as choices may be, we have the gift of God's grace to keep us free.

God has transferred us into the kingdom of the son he loves;

in him we are redeemed,

and find forgiveness of our sins.

(Colossians 1: 13-14)

MAN MAINTAINS HIS DIGNITY, EVEN IN COMA OR EMBRYONIC STATE

Leaving the papal enclave, Pope Benedict traveled "a few blocks around the corner" to celebrate Mass with a group of young people. The following is the account and some of the text of the Holy Father's Mass and homily.

VATICAN CITY, 9 MAR 2008 (VIS) - This morning the Pope celebrated the Eucharist in the Roman church of San Lorenzo in Piscibus, which is part of the San Lorenzo International Youth Centre located very near St. Peter's Square. The centre is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Mass was attended by around 200 young people from various continents who collaborate in the activities of the youth centre.

The Holy Father read out only the beginning of his prepared homily, then continued with improvised remarks on the meaning of life and death in the light of the Gospel reading of this fifth Sunday of Lent, on the raising of Lazarus.

"Human beings, though part of this cosmos, transcend it", he said. "Of course man always remains man in all his dignity, even if in a coma or in the embryonic state, yet if he lives only biologically he does not realise and develop all the potential of his being. Man is called to open himself to new dimensions".

The first dimension, said the Pope, is that of knowledge. In this context he noted how, unlike the animals, "man wishes to know everything, all of reality. ... He thirsts for knowledge of the infinite, he wishes to arrive at the font of life and to drink therefrom, to find life itself".

This, he continued, leads to the second dimension: "Man is not just a being who knows, he also lives in relationships of friendship and of love. Beyond the dimension of knowledge of truth and of being, there also exists, inseparable from it, the dimension of relationships, of love. And it is here that man comes close to the source of life from which he wishes to drink in order to have life in abundance, to have life itself".

Science, and medicine in particular, he went on, "are a great struggle for life", yet even if medicine were to find "the prescription against death, the prescription of immortality" it would still "be confined within this biosphere.

"It is easy to imagine what would happen if man's biological life were endless, if he were immortal", the Holy Father added. "We would find ourselves in an aged world, a world full of old people, a world that would leave no space for the young, for the renewal of life. Thus we understand that this cannot be the kind of immortality to which we aspire. ... Drinking from the font of life is to enter into communion with this infinite love which is the source of life".

After recalling how the Fathers of the Church called the Eucharist "medicine of immortality", Benedict XVI explained that in this Sacrament "we enter into communion with the body [of Christ] which is animated by immortal life and thus we enter, now and always, into the space of life itself".

Photo: Associated Press

Tuesday Reflection: March 11, 2008

Absent for two days because I had pushed too hard for the last several weeks. To say that the cardiologist was less than happy with the felt exhaustion is understatement. Two days of rest and sleeping completed, we continue the Lenten journey.

The Book of Numbers reading of today's liturgy can provide us with a serious reflection of how things might impact our relationship with God. The Jewish people were angered at God and Moses as well as the unsatisfying food they experienced in their wanderings. They had identified part of themselves with the previous lifestyle they had lived. Now that was gone. Their ego was damaged.

Consider this: the ego comes to existence through identification. The word itself is derived from two Latin words: idem (the same) and facere (to make). When you identify with something, you are making yourself the same with it. You might ask, "The same with what?" The answer is so obvious that we often miss it. When you or I make an identification with something that something becomes empowered with a sense of yourself or myself. I identify myself with whatever I proclaim as mine: my car, my computer, my camera, and so on ... all the mys that you can find in your life. These things become a part of what you or I call your or my identity. To lose anyone of these identifications causes a variety of reactions --- all, however, reflect a suffering because my ego has lost something with which I made an identification.

The wanderers in the Book of Numbers reading, so it seems, grew angry with God and Moses, because the wandering experience and all the pain it created for them reminded them that they had lost something of themselves, their previous lifestyle. It is the pain of loss, the suffering that results when the ego doesn't have its power over me even for a short time. Somewhere in their consciousness the wanderers had developed their previous lifestyle "as a means "to self-enhancement" (Tolle, Awakening To Your Life's Purpose, page 35). They were trying to find themselves through the various things or ways of life that they had decided was "mine." In this particular case, it seems to have been their earlier lifestyle.

The Lenten journey has brought me to consider what is there in my life that I have strongly identified with that distorts the real awareness of who I am. I can ask myself during these days and through readings such as today's what "things" have distorted my perception of who I am. Have I allowed myself to become so identified with "my computer, my car, my camera and so forth," that I have lost a genuine awareness, a consciousness of who I really am, of who the real me is? An interesting question, an interesting investigation!

Put your hope in the Lord. Take courage and be strong. Ps 26:14

Weekend Reflection

The readings of today's Mass focus on hope growing out of hopelessness! The "Dry Bones" theme of Ezekiel's words express his experience in walking through a time in his life where he encountered many lifeless bones.

As we hear or read these words today, I believe we are called to consider the virtue of hope and its importance in our lives. On our Lenten journey, then, we encounter another road sign, a genuine guidepost, to a place of happiness ... living in hope.

Today our world and our own culture abound with realities that have driven the experience of hope from life. The experience of communications in our times daily showers us with an modern experience of conflict be it in the streets of our cities or the fields of once safe areas. Wars never end ... conflicts that lead to genocide spring up regularly. Illnesses so easily designated as "terminal" drain the lives of so many good people. Poverty has a major place at the table of humanity today.

The family of Lazarus experienced a genuine sense of hopelessness when he died, apparently a younger man. The words of Mary and Martha to the young preacher who had worked remarkable "miracle" introduce a tone that is so often connected with hopelessness: "If only ...."
If only something else had happened .... How often have we repeated those words or heard them repeated.

But there is hope. It abounds "if only" we would open our minds and hearts to the voice of new life, "if only" we would recognize that Jesus is there for us. Surely most recognize that Jesus experienced resurrection. We have to see beyond that . We have to see that Jesus is resurrection. He is the new life we can bring into a world of hopelessness. Jesus brings us out of hopelessness into genuine, everlasting hope. When Jesus, our brothers speaks, life is renewed, life is regenerated with hope.

Jesus' words to those at Lazarus' tomb speak to us on our journey when we become burdened in hopelessness: "Untie him and let him go." Listening to Jesus' invitation to follow him, to live as he called us to live restores hope. He is the untieing of what keeps hopelessness alive. "If only" we would let him, he will raise us to new levels of hope. With Jesus there is truly a fullness of resurrection ... "if only" we allow it to happen.

Friday Reflection: March 7, 2008

If you desire peace for others, you'll receive it.

If you want others to feel loved, you'll be the recipient of love.

(Dr. Wayne W. Dyer:The Power of Intention Perpetual Flip Calendar)

A genuine irony exists today. The last few reflections focused attention on LOVE: love of God and neighbor. The readings of today's liturgy portray dislike, mistrust, ridicule and even hatred toward the yet to be born Messiah as well as toward Jesus, the young preacher. So let us continue our Lenten journey and reflections on the guidepost LOVE. The following words of Jesus as presented by St. Matthew (5: 43-45) will help us deepen our awareness of this unique gift.

"You have heard the commandment, 'You shall love your countryman but hate your enemy.' My command to you is: love your enemies, pray for your persecutors. This will prove that you are sons of your heavenly Father, for his sun rises on the bad and the good, he rains on the just and the unjust."

In these words we are reminded that God's love is abundant and it is for each person. There is no division. But we, no doubt, come face-to-face with a stark reality: to follow Jesus is not easy. The notion that our love is supposed to be God-like means we are called to love everyone. Yet, we know how difficult it would be to find someone who has loves everyone. Quis est et laudabimus eum? Who is this person and we will praise him/her?

Again reflecting upon some of the thinking and praying of Chopra (The Third Jesus) consider two primary images of giving and caring that are mentioned in the Matthean text above: the sun and the rain. Eastern thought and sensitivity see in them "the basis of life, the very source of nourishment" (p 56). We would say that this love of God, exemplified in Jesus, can be found in our very being. It is a grace God has given each of us as we were bathed in baptismal waters.

Yet, as human beings who experience the reality of original sin, loving an "enemy" is impossible at times. As Chopra writes: "... this passage [from Matthew] is one of the clearest dividing lines between everyday consciousness and the higher state of consciousness that Jesus was teaching about" (p 56). Consciousness = awareness!!!

But we can rise above the seemingly impossible challenge to love all humankind. We have been told more than once that God's love for us is the power that strengthens our human weaknesses. In our prayer today, let us pray with the Psalmist who wrote: "Remember us, Lord, as you favor your people." If we truly want to be at peace in our hearts, we must pray for the grace to break free from the shackles of original sin so that we can shower our own love on others, so that we can let our care and concern shine on those we encounter.

Thursday Reflection: March 6, 2008

Continuing a reflection on the gift, grace and virtue of LOVE --- a signpost along each person's journey of life, especially during the season of LENT, recall that we become "successful adults" when we become the good persons parents tried to teach us to be.

Think back to your childhood day even if that period of your life is many moons passed. Try to recall one or two of the goals your parents sought to implant in your little mind and heart. Consider the goals you eventually achieved. Give you heart a little time to evaluate what those achieved goals have brought to you ... especially the goal(s) that enabled you to reach out to others.

My father was a cabinet maker and draftsman: two wonderful skills he learned in his secondary education that he was never able to finish because of the Great Depression. As I look backwards to his attempts with all six of us siblings, I recall a father who tried to teach us directly and indirectly that helping others was very important. So many times he would take one or two of us with him to his cabinet shop to help him fabricate a small cabinet, even a chest of drawers for someone in need whose want had been brought to his attention. Why bring us along? Because he had learned from several people especially a wonderful African American lady who served as a daytime Nanny for my dad, my aunt and their sixteen, yes, 16, cousins while all the parents were out eking out a living in terrible times. That lady taught him and my distant Richmond, VA cousins so much about caring for others.

What my father was teaching us was rather simple: caring for some one's needs was an experience of God's graces of love. He never called it that. He just would say it was what we should do. Well, just recently two of my brothers called to share an event that took place in each of their lives. I realized that Dad's teaching continued. Each had gone out of their way to help someone in great need. Each of them, as they had done before, shared with me the transforming emotions and graces their acts of love had brought to their lives.

What my brothers experienced was the fulfillment of our Dad's teaching, his modeling for us. What seems to have happened is this: these two adults had allowed the God-given grace of love to spring forth from their very being to help someone whose plight had been brought to each one's attention. They heard and lived out God's call to love another be that person a neighbor, a friend or even someone not so favorable to them.

So, what does the sign, LOVE, along your journey mean to you? What does the LOVE of Jesus for you that you have encountered again on your journey of LENT 2008 speak to you? Has that same love impacted your life, your actions?

Wednesday Reflection: March 5, 2008

The Lord is ... abounding in love.... The Lord is ... loving in all his deeds. Ps 144

The journeys we make --- all journeys and most travels --- are marked with various sign postds. Some indicate distance and direction; others, truly "guides" are reminders of spiritual direction. Among the signals or signs presented to travelers is LOVE. In the New Testament we have learned that it is by the love we have for one another that we are recognized as followers, as disciples of Jesus.

However well known those words or that thought might be, there are not as many who recognize these Jesus words as an invitation ... and in some instances a command ... to participate in a "radical, life-changing event." We might ask ourselves if we would describe love in such words as those used by Depak Chra. He maintains it is this radical event that will change us and open the way for God to return to our lives. Furthermore, Chopra sees love as "the seed of the spiritual quest." An interesting observation he offers should give us a thought for our own prayer and our self-discovery: "If you cannot discover what divine love actually is, no temple can supply it for you second-hand" (page 53 The Third Jesus).

Tuesday Reflection: March 4, 2008

Come to the waters, all who thirst!

(Entrance antiphon for today's liturgy)

Both readings from today's liturgy open up for us God's invitation to come to him by coming to water -- the water flowing from the temple and from Jesus who heals. The angel who leads the prophet Ezekiel to the temple waters and shows the prophet the growth that this water brings to the vegetation and the living creatures in the river that spreads out from the temple into a large flowing body of water. The angel's words to Ezekiel are for us today as well: "Do you see, son of man?"

It is the question before us daily: do we see the goodness of God that flows out to each of us, offering us abundant life? In a culture that offers so many opportunities to us, do we see the graces that can be attained in those opportune moments. Money, for example, of itself has value only as long as a set of economic realities exist that make it strong. (Sound familiar these days?)

Do we see the grace-filled moments flowing out to us each day through the invitation from Jesus to follow him? De we see? Like the invalid at the Bethesda pool, are we paralyzed by sin and the attraction of what is sinful in our culture that we find it almost impossible to meet a loving and giving God, to respond to the invitations to living in his abundant waters?

Likewise, Jesus asks us, "do you wish to be well again?" How do we answer the question? Is it beyond us because we are so over come by the "things of the world"? Remember these words? "The Lord is my shepherd ... he leads me beside the waters of peace."

Our Ambassador to the Holy See

Introducing the newly appointed United States Ambassador to the Vatican, Mrs. Mary Ann Glendon. To know more about Ambassador Glendon, you can read the US State Department biography at the following link: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/99576.htm

Monday Reflection: March 3, 2008

"Father, creator, you give the world new life by your sacraments."

(Opening prayer of today's liturgy)

The Isaiah reading further reminds us that God promises us "the past will not be remembered and will come to men's minds no more (65:17). Furthermore, God announces his desire to give a new status to Jerusalem, "Joy," and to her people, "Gladness." And the same gift has been offered to each of us during the Lenten season.

Our journey continues into a fourth week. Each might ask, "Where am I in this experience?" Perhaps a short recalling of Lenten intentions can help make clear how I have opened my heart and soul during the previous three weeks.

Hopefully each of us has found time and patience with ourselves to step aside from the daily needs to embrace a time within ourselves and with our God. Confronting the weaknesses, the sins of one's life is not easy. Yet, this is one of the reasons we walk through these 40 days each year.

In our present cultural experience the reality of sin is greatly diminished. Absent the regular examination of the state of our souls, sin can easily be put aside. Actions and thoughts that put a distance between God and myself can easily be overlooked. Yet, as many have experienced in the past, facing our sin in an honest manner and then seeking God's forgiveness can be refreshing ... a burden is removed.

The words from the opening pray of today's liturgy remind us that we have at hand several treasures that help us bring about the good that we seek in our lives. The Sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation are two resources that feed our soul.

May these gifts "bring us life and holiness" and so lead us to the happiness of life where we are at peace with ourselves and our God.

Sunday Reflection: March 2, 2008

Good morning. Let me begin with a very short account of personal experience. While living in Philadelphia a few years ago, the "rent" the pastor charged me was to assist a retired pastor who was losing his eyesight to macular degeneration. As his sight diminished, we would say his hearing improved because he did not miss anything we said or did. But the truth of the matter is that his hearing never changed. What occurred was that he began to "listen" intently – a very different sense that almost gives sight to the darkness and blur of blindness.
The theme that is obvious in today’s readings is seeing. However, in the first reading and the gospel the kind of seeing is much more than glancing. In each reading someone is called to see not only with one’s eyes but with that special sense of listening as well.
In the Samuel reading we are witnesses to the election of a new king. To bring the story into the currency of the day, I think you can, at least to a degree, liken the story to the political situation of the Democratic party primaries. Jesse brings out his favorite son, obviously, as the candidate for kingship. Just one of his many sons. But, for one reason or another, the prophet does not see kingship in the sons who were presented. In a way, they failed the "Israeli Idol" voting! Samuel asks for another son? The youngest, least experienced is brought before Samuel. This is the one chosen. We learn how God sees differently than did the father. He is not moved by what the father thought made a good king.
In the gospel we also encounter a story of seeing. The blind man ultimately is cured of his blindness while the Pharisees fall into a blindness that is not unfamiliar in their experiences. The clay Jesus uses to paste the blind man’s eyes is symbolic. It is seen as a representation of the strictly human. The water in the pool is representative of Jesus. The man is baptized in Jesus and as the pasty clay washes away, the human gives way to the light of Christ that now fills the man’s eyes.
The seeing theme might be used in a number of ways to help us on our Lenten journey. For a moment I would like to focus upon our letting the waters of our baptism wash away the purely human to see the light of Jesus as it comes to us. In particular, I ask you to think ahead to the time when you will receive communion. You will receive in communion the very presence of Jesus Christ. Then you return to a place in the Church ... very quickly to begin several practices: (1) perhaps a quick quiet word of thanks to God for the gift of the Eucharist; (2) then rather quickly finishing that little exercise and turning to look at your watch or to people gaze as others make their way to partake in the Eucharistic banquet; (3) then to look at your watch again with a question "how much longer."
My suggestion this morning is this: pretend you are losing your eyesight. Notice how the immediate reaction is to try and listen to what is happening around you. You have just received in communion the Son of God, Jesus Christ, as a unique gift. But how much time did you spend talking with him? Did you just make the experience just another Sunday of walking up the aisle, accepting the consecrated host, and then returning to you place in Church without seeing what has just happened to you: God has given you a gift that is literally "out of this world."
Some may find it difficult to "tap into" conversation or reflection at that time –most likely for lack of "seeing." We receive communion regularly and it becomes just a part of the Mass, perhaps no different than kneeling down as soon as we complete the Holy, Holy, Holy prayer that leads us into the Eucharistic prayer.
The time immediately after you have received the Eucharist is very much like the time the blind man walked into the water. As the clay washed off his eyelids, he must have become aware that this is different than any other time he was in the pool of water. He came to trust Jesus through his journey from darkness into light. Our receiving the Eucharist is a similar moment of grace.

Saturday Reflection: March 1, 2008

Hosea continues with his telling the people of God's love for them. Again, turning to nature, he promises that he will come like the rain. In particular he mentions the spring rains that water the earth ... especially when the amount of snow has been minimal!!!

Carry that goodness, that giving from God, to the responsorial psalm. Here we encounter the sinner who has fallen and recognizes his/her ways that have separated God from their very being. What is clear in the voice of the psalmist is the desire for healing, for repairing.

During the days of Lent, hopefully the Holy Spirit has guided you to consider your gifts and talents. The lenten journey offers each person the opportunity to look at the many gifts God has given not simply for each person's own satisfaction but for the good of the community.



We are situated in a world that relies upon the good relationships between peoples. Healing the fissures that occur between God and our neighbor brings us a genuine peace of heart and soul. Recognizing our faults opens a door to a new freedom.



We do not have to be like the Pharisee in the gospel. Surely the hated tax collector had reason to atone ... and he does so in a very quiet manner, begging God for mercy. Bringing ourselves before a loving God, acknowledging our failures, our faults, and at the same time realizing how much freedom and power God gives to us, we become a new creation.