I've got a long way to go!

I started the day today listening to a meditation on the martyrdom of St. Stephen.  One of the points the mediator made was that even though Stephen was killed violently, he still died a “happy death”.   He was so attentive to the spiritual side of his life and his relationship with the Risen Lord that he was just plain unconcerned about the loss of his earthly life.  He was able to forgive his killers as they were stoning him and he continued to evangelize to them at the same time!   It made me realize just how far I still have to go to reach the level of attention to my spiritual life that Stephen had.      

I can only pray that God gives me the grace and the time to attain it:

O Lord Jesus, help me pay attention to the spiritual side of this life, resisting evil whenever I find it.

Increase my faith in You!  And Lord, please help my brothers and sisters who are on our side everywhere in this world to “See the Heavens open and see You standing at the right hand of the Father!”

We all fight - and pray - in Your name, Lord Jesus, for You are Lord, now and forever!

Amen.

Super Suits

Alicia made an entry on Facebook today that cracked me up:

Lily: “mommyyyyyy? Where's my super suit? I said, where's my super suit????”   Yah, she's kind of into the Incredibles right now.   

For those of you who haven’t seen it, The Incredibles is an animated film about superheroes.  Lily apparently loves it.  The line, “Honey, where’s my super suit?” happens when one of the heroes needs to get into his “super-identity” to fight an evil, but it’s not where it’s supposed to be. His wife says, “What?” and he repeats his question slower and more deliberately—“I said, where is my super suit?”  His wife has hidden it because they have dinner party plans and she doesn’t want him “running off to save the world”.  It’s a pretty funny exchange.

But the line also got me thinking about another member of my family that I’m excited for this week; my grand-niece (and my grandmother’s namesake) Sylveen.  You see, she’s receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation this week—in other words she’s donning a “Super Suit” of her own,  or “putting on the armor of God”:

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. (Ephesians 6:11-18)   

Congratulations on your Confirmation, Sylveen!  Welcome to the battle!  Stay strong!  Stay alert!  We’re all so proud of you! 

I came across a pretty good set of meditations on the 7 gifts andpower of the Holy Spirit and the part they played in the life of our BlessedMother. 

The Annunciation to Mary and the Gift of the Fear of the Lord

The Visitation of Mary and the Gift of Piety

The Presentation in the Temple and the Gift of Knowledge

Finding in the Temple and the Gift of Fortitude

The Wedding Feast at Cana and the Gift of Counsel

“Who is my Mother?” –The Gift of Understanding

The Passion, Pentecost and the Gift of Wisdom

It is remarkable to me that God the Father—through His Son—would endow us with the same grace of the Holy Spirit He gave to Mary.  It goes to show just how special each and every one of us is to Him.

A good time to reflect on the title of this blog

This is the time of year when the gospel of Luke relates the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  It’s a good time to renew my reflections on why I chose this episode of the Bible as the title of my blog.

Jesus appears to us in mysterious ways. 

He appears to us subtly, in other people.  He can choose to appear in others through a smile, or a kind word or action.  For example when my mother’s neighbors cooked her a Thanksgiving Day dinner when I had to work and couldn’t be there with her.  He was certainly there.  When those same neighbors planted pretty flowers in the flowerbox outside her window, and then took the time to maintain them, it was an act of pure charity, in the example of Jesus.

Then there are times when Christ appears more clearly, as when Mom’s neighbor Rose stops by just to watch a little TV (EWTN, of course!) or simply chat to keep her from getting too lonely. 

And other times, we see Him outside of us in all creation, in the silence of a forest or the majestic beauty of the sky, when dawn breaks or when the sun sets.

While it is a great feeling to see Jesus at work in others, the most mysterious way is in the Holy Eucharist. Oh, how I love the Eucharist! Every time I receive Him in Holy Communion, my heart is bursting at the seams with love for Him! When Jesus appears inside of us, there is an immediate comfort, a sensation of love, a feeling of exuberant joy, from which we can finally become one of those through whom others recognize Jesus.

But then, there are the moments when we feel like we can’t recognize Jesus, when He “disappears from our sight.”  Just because we cannot see Him does not mean that He isn’t there. It’s just like on the road to Emmaus. In fact, it probably means that our eyes are closed, for some mysterious reason (most likely blinded by even the most venal of sins).  And when we can’t see, that is when we turn to hearing. When we can’t hear, we turn to feeling. When none of our senses work, we often turn to loving. And He is always there, waiting for the right moment to open our eyes and reveal Himself to us. He always helps us, coaxing and encouraging, until finally we wake up and see Him, and know that everything is okay. There are many ways to recognize the ones we love most; let our eyes be opened, and recognize Jesus!

His life conquers all death!

The events of Holy Thursday night occurred once in time. They were real. They were real joy and real sorrow. They were a real sharing between friends and a real betraying of friends.

Sometimes we forget,however, that the events of that one day are eternal. The actions and words of that day echo throughout all of time. What Jesus did that day comes down through all of time and takes in everyone and everything. When it says that Jesus loved His own in the world (John 13:1-15), it does not mean only those people who were alive then, only those people who were close by Jesus. Certainly it does mean them, but all the people in the world who belonged to Jesus at that time, in the time before Jesus was born and in the time after Jesus walked the earth. That is what an action in eternity means. What happens then fills up all of time.

Jesus loved each of us then. He loved us into the love of the Father. He loved us into salvation. The love Jesus shows is limited neither by time or space - it cannot be, because that love is Eternal even though it appeared on Earth in a moment of time. Time and eternity came together on that night - time and eternity were sandwiched together in the events of Holy Week. His love knows no boundaries.

As these last few days of Holy Week unfold for us once again, we are drawn into the silence of the Upper Room, where Jesus speaks carefully chosen words to His chosen friends.  In view of the events to follow on Good Friday, He teaches them (us) to look after one another by washing their feet.  Then He offers them a gift—a gift that is at the same time both ancient and completely new.  He celebrates this meal with them, recalling the ancient covenant which gave the Jewish people their identity as the “chosen.”  But now He infuses this ritual with new life and mysterious meaning:  Over the chalice He says, “This is the new covenant in My blood.” (Luke 22: 14-20)

To His hearers, the words “blood” and “covenant” would have had a familiar ring.  The Jewish mind was trained to know that “where there is blood, there is life.”  But here Jesus shapes the meaning of this ancient connection so that this blood communicates His life, divine life; no longer the blood of goats and calves (Heb. 9, 12), but His own blood, the fruit of His sacrificial love, given as the New Covenant.

We want to allow ourselves to be drawn by the awe of hearing those words from the altar, day after day.  Jesus’ blood, His sacrificial love, offered again and again.  We are invited to place in the cup all that threatens to divide us from this Holy Communion:  our fears, our desire to live life on our own terms, our unforgiveness, our doubts.  His death means death to all that separates us from Him; His life conquers all death.  Drink, be cleansed, and be renewed!  In this blood, there is new life!

This is purported to be the actual chalice Our Lord used on Holy Thursday in the upper room. (just the top "cup" part).  Read more about it here

There's a little Judas in all of us

Judas Iscariot is usually portrayed as a dark and murky figure, one who represents evil and betrayal. It's easier to keep him in that caricature, because it's more comfortable if we think that Judas is completely different from us. If he is that evil and that traitorous, we can move him to a different level and never have to face the ways we have betrayed Jesus in our own lives.   But, was he really that different from the rest of us?

If you really think about it, there are times all of us betray Jesus. We don't have lives that are as honest as we want. We gossip and spread stories, stories that “won't really hurt anyone.” We spend too many minutes in church evaluating the dress or beliefs of others. We refuse to forgive those who have wronged us, and we carry our un-forgiving anger like a badge of honor. We speak to our spouses and family members sharply and without the extra love and care that their role in our lives deserves.

Judas' worst decision was in believing he could not be forgiven. All of us are forgiven, always. Jesus loves us with our full range of sins. We forget because we focus on ourselves and our sins, rather than on Jesus. We can get wrapped up in our own guilt and our own sense of the importance of our sins. We become blind to Jesus kneeling next to us, washing our feet and loving us from the deepest part of His Sacred Heart.