Modern-day Holy Innocents

The Bible presents King Herod as a cruel ruler, ambitious to the point of paranoid jealousy when it came to potential rivals, especially a “newborn king”.  We can learn a lesson from Herod, the one who dictated an order to kill all children under the age of two born in Bethlehem in an effort to retain his throne. He had obviously acquired wealth and power didn’t want to lose it, no matter the consequences.

I think a comparison can be made between Herod and modern-day folks who confuse immigrants with refugees, and the ‘intentions’ of both groups of people. There are some who label all refugees and immigrants as “illegal aliens”, and all must be purged from our society, guilty of crimes or not.

A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. I wonder how many people today would consider that the Holy Family were refugees, having had to leave their homeland to escape the violence that threatened them at home. Refugees do not leave their homeland on a whim, but rather seeking to live in security. They leave behind everything, except their human dignity, which we all –individuals and governments– need to respect.

An immigrant may be a refugee or may simply be someone hoping to find a better life for himself and his family.

Because our immigration laws in this country are so screwed up that they confuse even the people who write, legislate, enforce and defend them, abuses do occur.  Then some ‘Herods’ in our society label all immigrants and refugees as thieves and murderers.  Yes, there have been crimes committed by non-citizens, and justice must be handed out with due process. But if you search your heart honestly, you realize that more crimes are committed by natural born citizens than by ‘illegal aliens’.  Stop with the hate.  Fix the immigration laws quickly with an eye toward justice for all and allowances for those who are already living otherwise law-abiding lives.

Padding his resume,or just stating facts?

In the gospel of John, he refers to himself as ‘the other disciple whom Jesus loved.’  I like that he includes himself as part of the group, but the intimation is there that he felt he was ‘special’. Was that John’s role in the group of followers?

Since Jesus was fully human, He must have needed the comfort and support of a friend He could trust and relax with just like the rest of us. Did John tease Jesus and make Him laugh? Did he just listen when things were tense? It’s obvious that they prayed together but did they relax over a beer or a glass or wine? I try to envision Jesus and John as human pals instead of simply ‘Master’ and ‘servant’. What kind of a guy was John that gave him a unique place among the Disciples?

We get a feel for John’s wish to share his friendship with Jesus in the first reading in which he invites us into fellowship with “the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”  There was nothing selfish in this friendship – rather a desire to share it with generations to come. While we can’t hang out with Jesus as John did, we can emulate his qualities that will help us find friendship with Jesus.

I find him to be a person whom I would like to imitate in his faithfulness and devotion to Jesus. 

First and probably most important, he was loyal. When the others deserted Jesus on the cross, John was there, taking care of Mary. Jesus must have known that he could count on John under the worst of conditions. Like John, if we want to be friends of Jesus, we must be faithful and care for others. That kind of faithfulness can take courage such as John exhibited in refusing to desert Jesus when others did.

When he finally entered the empty tomb, "he saw and believed."  In these simple words St. John tells us a lot.  He tells us that the arrangement of the burial cloths and the head covering that had covered the body of Jesus led him to understand that grave robbers had not been at work here.  It also led him to conclude that the Roman authorities had not moved the body of Jesus.  If either grave robbers or the Romans had moved the body, they would not have removed the burial cloths and the head covering.  And they would not have undone the work of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to embalm the body.  John realized all these things as soon as he entered the empty tomb.  This demonstrates St. John's perceptiveness.  Neither St. Peter nor Mary Magdalene was able to draw such a conclusion.  Indeed, Mary speaks as though convinced that someone had moved the body. 

St. John listened very carefully to the words and teaching of Jesus.  On this occasion he must have recalled the words of Jesus when He predicted His Resurrection.  He was also a faithful disciple of Jesus who was absolutely convinced that following Jesus was the most important thing in his life.  And so, because of what he saw and what he believed, St. John concluded that Jesus Himself had somehow arranged for the empty tomb, and that He had indeed risen. 

The others believed when they saw the risen body of Jesus on that first Easter day.  Mary Magdalene saw Jesus in the garden after Peter and John had left.   The disciples on the road to Emmaus saw Jesus that evening.  St. Peter and the other apostles (except Thomas) saw Jesus that night in Jerusalem.  But St. John came to believe when he entered the empty tomb on Easter morning, hours before his first sight of the Risen Lord that night.  For me, there is deep meaning in the words of St. John when he says very simply: "he saw and believed."  During his life St. John gave us a very attractive example of how to follow Jesus.  Today on his feast we ask St. John to help us to follow his example and to have the kind of faith and devotion to Jesus that he did.

Great things come in small packages

My parents were not wealthy.  Not in the financial sense, anyway.  So, every birthday or Christmas that rolled around, the phrase “Good things come in small packages” was used often as we children voiced our preference and waited in anticipation for the newest gadget or biggest present.  When we heard that phrase, it was a “code” to let us know we were probably not going to get what we wanted, but more than likely what we needed.  In time, my brothers and I learned that what we needed was much more satisfying than what we wanted.

That memory was the first I thought of while listening to the 1^st reading at mass this morning.

The first reading talks about the little town of Bethlehem that seemed too small and insignificant to make any difference for anything but is remembered and revered (and sung about in Christmas carols) to this day as the birthplace of the savior whose “greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.” 

In the Gospel, when the pregnant Mary visits the pregnant Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s baby (who will be John the Baptist) recognizes the Lord who will be born this week. The baby leaps for joy in his mother’s womb.  John will be the voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the Lord. And we spend Advent making our spiritual and secular preparations. 

This week is Christmas. In present tense we celebrate his birth. We should leap for joy today in anticipation of “Great gift” of the “Little Child” born of the “Little Woman” in the “Little Town” of Bethlehem Who will save us. The Lord is come. This week the Lord is born, and he continues to live in our lives and in our hearts.

What do I lack?

I remember as a kid (and, truth be told, until not too many years ago), the big Christmas question was: “What did I get?” The better advent question is: “What do I lack”? Advent is the time for discovering our true lowliness and poverty (not to invent it through self-deprecation or self-hatred) so that God may fill us. It is only in admitting our lowliness that we can be truly lifted up to Him. It is only in admitting emptiness that we ourselves can become the manger where our Lord, revealed in this time of Advent as a child, will come and fill us.

 “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.  For he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.”  Luke 1:46-49

The Magnificat of Mary reveals the joy in the heart of the Mother of God.  She humbly acknowledges the great things God has done for her and expresses her deepest joy.

It’s interesting to note that both her “soul” and her “spirit” are mentioned in this song of praise.  Her soul “proclaims” and her spirit “rejoices.” 

As I reflect on this, I think it reveals both an action of her own and an action of God.  Our Blessed Mother’s “soul” refers to all her human abilities within her mind, will, emotions and desires.  It’s what makes her human.  And with those human capacities she proclaims God’s greatness.  In other words, with her mind she perceives God’s greatness, with her will she acknowledges and chooses to proclaim His greatness, and she does so with all her feelings, emotions and desires.  Her whole being was consumed with the greatness of God!

It also reveals that within her “spirit,” she was filled with the glorious gift of joy.  As she proclaimed the greatness of God, the Holy Spirit flooded her and produced this spiritual fruit.  Joy comes from God actively working within our lives.  It’s a fruit of the Holy Spirit and our Blessed Mother had this gift in its fullness.

A simple tribute to a beautifully simple father

He was a simple man

Living in a simple world

With a simple girl

That he loved so much

All it took for him to smile

Was her presence, her voice or her touch.

He was kind and gentle

And had a heart of gold.

What was his was yours

And truth be told,

He’d give it to you with a simple smile

And ask for nothing in return;

A simple, charitable style.

This simple man with his simple wife

Had a house full of children

And taught them of life.

Together they made a simple home

With such simple style

Defined by a simple garden

With vegetables and flowers worthwhile.

Simplicity is such a beautiful thing

To have a simple heart

That simply wants to sing.

This simple man, my Dad

Left a simple legacy;

A loving family and

A host of friends

Which is simply all he had.

If the simple truth be told

Dad has set a simple example

Of what I simply want to be

As I grow old; as simple a man as he.

I want to be a simple man

With a simple heart

I want to love my simple wife    

Who is simply beautiful and smart.

I want to live in a simple town

In a simple way

With our simple kids and their kids

And teach them of a simple life

And how to simply pray.

Calm down! God is with us!

The simple story of the prelude to Jesus’ birth told in Matthew 1 puts the emphasis on Mary and Joseph, and especially Joseph.

This is a simple story of a man who had a huge dilemma, and how God sent an angel to speak to him in a dream, calming his fears and making his path forward clear to him.

That’s what God does. He calms our fears, if we let him. If we don’t insist on drowning him out with hand-wringing and thoughts of doom and gloom, we will hear God speak to our spirit and lead us forward. Not usually in a dream, although that is entirely possible, but somehow – through a person, a song, a thought, a memory, a prayer – God will get through the clutter and we will recognize his small, still voice, if we are open to it.

Twice already today, I have heard God’s voice speak words of comfort and peace for my soul through two very different people; through the priest at mass during his homily, and through my thoughts of Lily on her 10^th birthday.

In his homily, Father John Peter began by reminding us that the Gospel of Matthew begins and ends with the same message of encouragement and comfort.  Matthew 1:23 says “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.”  Then, in the very last sentence of the Gospel of Matthew, as Jesus is ascending into Heaven, He says, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” 

As I think of and pray for Liliana who turns 10 years old today, I am aware that she is a part of my life only through the grace of God.  Whenever I start to waver even a little bit in my faith, she is always there to start a conversation that—no matter what the subject matter starts out to be—seems to lead to a conversation of faith, hope, or charity for others.  I know she is in my life to remind me daily to be thankful for all of God’s trust in me to help me guide her and the rest of my family to Him.

We often look at saints like Joseph and think we could never be like them. On one level, this may be true. Joseph played a key role in salvation history, and he did it heroically. But if you boil it down, all Joseph really did was act on what he understood God wanted from him. It wasn’t always easy, but Joseph tried his best to push through.

Like Joseph, if we really have faith, we can see that we CAN trust God. That He WILL be there when we need Him. That he IS at work all around us; quietly, but steadily. And we can let go of our worries and thank God that all is well.

Genealogies and promises kept

For years, I’ve said that I’m going to do an exhaustive search of my ancestors and see how far back I can go.  Now that I’m retired, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time using the internet and some family memorabilia to learn more about my heritage and hopefully contribute something useful for future generations.  My dad’s side of the family (the ‘Mormon’ side) does a pretty good job of record keeping and analysis, so I’ve been able to trace our roots all the way back to a town in England called (believe it or not) Farnsworth.  I’ve only been able to go back about 4 generations on my mom’s side; thanks to a lot of photographs and family-held records we’ve kept.  It’s very exhausting, but exciting at the same time to know my family history.  Knowing our family history—and the good, bad and maybe even ugly side of it—helps to guide us and to teach our children to be better people, I think.

In our gospel reading today, we are presented with the long genealogy of Jesus’ ancestors.  Verses 2-16 of Chapter One of Matthew’s Gospel present us with three series of fourteen ancestors.  Abraham begins the genealogy and Jesus concludes it.  Though there are many interesting facts that a Scripture scholar could take from this genealogy and all who are named in it, the heart and soul of its meaning is found in Verse One: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham.”  This shows the direct link from the promise God made to Abraham, to its fulfillment in the person of the Son of God.

One thing we see in the fulfillment of this promise, is the fact that God is faithful.  True, it took centuries for His promise to Abraham to be fulfilled, but it happened nonetheless and there is little doubt that Abraham rejoiced, greatly, as he witnessed the glorious birth of one of his descendants as the Savior of the World. 

This also tells us that God’s timing and His ways are often different than what we may at first conceive.  We can come up with many “good” ideas and hope they will come to pass.  But, all too often, when they do not turn out immediately as we had hoped for, we can get discouraged. 

Learn the lesson, today, of God’s perfect “long-term” plan.  He knows what He is doing, and He is bringing about His plan for us all.  He is slowly and intentionally guiding us along the path that leads to salvation and peace.  It may not be the way we would do things, but it is the perfect way. 

Thoughts on Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday

The Third Sunday of Advent is a welcome change from the last couple of weeks of ‘end time’ readings and instead, focuses our attention on the spirit of joyfulness, because this is an essential mark of true faith in Christ. This Sunday is called ‘Gaudete Sunday’ which is Latin for ‘Rejoice Sunday’.  All of the readings are full of joy and the thrill of happy expectation. In the Gospel reading, John the Baptizer preaches good news to the people, and they are filled with joyful anticipation for whatever God is about to do.

Do you know that joy is a ministry? It's an important way to share the faith. We all have a calling to do this ministry wherever there is misery and hopelessness. Anyone who is in a ministry knows that their heart must be in it; a heart that is full of joy, humility, thanksgiving, and prayer.  We can use St. John the Baptist as our example.

Having faith means trusting God which means resting in hope which produces joy. When you or someone you know is lacking joy, it's because Jesus has not yet been invited fully into the situation that's been stealing the joy. It might be too early in the grieving process, which is healthy and normal, or it might a lack of faith, which needs nurturing.

The ability to experience the joy of faith comes from turning to the love of God and receiving his comfort in the midst of hardships. It also arises from getting to know the joyful side of Jesus and the joyful purposes behind all of his teachings.

Jesus preached going the extra mile, loving our enemies, and doing good to those who cause us hardships, none of which is fun. What we need to discover and then share with others is that holy living, although not always fun, is what unites us to the joyful love of Jesus and the joyful purposes of everything he preached. Remember, even going to the cross produces joyful results.

The good news is: Jesus didn't just tell us how to be holy, he gave us the power to be holy: He gave us his Holy Spirit. And when others see the Holy Spirit's activity in us, if they know that Jesus is the reason for our joy, they are evangelized by our faith!

G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time)

“Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  (Matthew 11:11)

Too often we measure our lives from a worldly point of view.  We look for greatness here and now and fail to recognize that eternity is what matters most. 

Heaven must be our goal.  It must be the purpose of our life.  What good is it if we obtain much greatness in this world and fail to make it to Heaven?

Think about it.  What will you rejoice in for all eternity?  Will you rejoice in the fact that you accomplished this or that in this world?  That you made lots of money?  That you were praised by many in this world?  No, from Heaven none of this will matter.  What will matter is one thing: charity.

What is “charity”? 

Charity is the last and the greatest of the three theological virtues; the other two are faith and hope. While it is often called love and confused in the popular understanding with common definitions of the latter word, charity is more than a subjective feeling or even an objective action of the will toward another person. Like the other theological virtues, charity is supernatural in the sense that God is both its origin and its object. As Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., writes in his "Modern Catholic Dictionary", charity is the "infused supernatural virtue by which a person loves God above all things for his [that is, God's] own sake, and loves others for God's sake." Like all virtues, charity is an act of the will, and the exercise of charity increases our love for God and for our fellow man; but because charity is a gift from God, we cannot initially acquire this virtue by our own actions.

Charity depends on faith, because without faith in God we obviously cannot love God, nor can we love our fellow man for God's sake. Charity is, in that sense, the object of faith, and the reason why Saint Paul, in ​1 Corinthians 13:13, declares that "the greatest of these [faith, hope, and charity] is charity."

Like the other theological virtues (and unlike the cardinal virtues, which can be practiced by anyone), charity is infused by God into the soul at baptism, along with sanctifying grace (the life of God within our souls). Properly speaking then, charity, as a theological virtue, can only be practiced by those who are in a state of grace. The loss of the state of grace through mortal sin, therefore, also deprives the soul of the virtue of charity. Deliberately turning against God because of attachment to the things of this world (the essence of mortal sin) is obviously incompatible with loving God above all things. The virtue of charity is restored by the return of sanctifying grace to the soul through the Sacrament of Confession.

God, as the source of all life and all goodness, deserves our love, and that love is not something that we can confine to attending church services on Sundays. We exercise the theological virtue of charity whenever we express our love for God, but that expression does not have to take the form of a verbal declaration of love. Sacrifice for God's sake; the curbing of our passions in order to draw closer to Him; the practice of the spiritual works of mercy in order to bring other souls to God, and the corporal works of mercy to show the proper love and respect for God's creatures -- these, along with prayer and worship, fulfill our duty to "love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind" (Matthew 22:37). Charity fulfills this duty, but also transforms it; through this virtue, we desire to love God not simply because we must but because we recognize that (in the words of the Act of Contrition) He is "all good and deserving of all of my love." The exercise of the virtue of charity increases that desire within our souls, drawing us further into the inner life of God, which is characterized by the love of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity.

Thus, Saint Paul rightly refers to charity as "the bond of perfection" (Colossians 3:14), because the more perfect our charity, the closer our souls are to the inner life of God.

While God is the ultimate object of the theological virtue of charity, His creation -- especially our fellow man -- is the intermediate object. Christ follows the "greatest and first commandment" in Matthew 22 with the second, which is "like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matthew 22:39). As I wrote earlier, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy toward our fellow man can fulfill our duty of charity toward God; but it is perhaps a little harder to see how a love of self is compatible with loving God above all things. And yet Christ assumes self-love when He enjoins us to love our neighbor. That self-love, though, is not vanity or pride, but a proper concern with the good of our body and soul because they were created by God and sustained by Him. Treating ourselves with disdain -- abusing our bodies or placing our souls in danger through sin -- ultimately shows a lack of charity toward God. Likewise, disdain for our neighbor -- who, as the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37) makes clear, is everyone with whom we come into contact -- is incompatible with love of the God Who made him as well as us.

Or, to put it another way, to the extent that we truly love God -- to the extent that the virtue of charity is alive in our souls -- we will also treat ourselves and our fellow man with the proper charity, caring for both body and soul.

The charity we live here and now will radiate from our lives forever in Heaven.  Even if our charity is not seen by others, it will be seen in Heaven.  Charity is the result of a life lived fully surrendered to Christ.

Our three-fold call to holiness through Baptism

Yesterday, my granddaughter Lily asked me to help her with some 4^th grade religion homework.

She had a paper divided into 3 columns with the headers Priest, Prophet, and King.  She was to read the chapter in her religion textbook and come up with a short phrase to describe her responsibility in each of the roles as a baptized Catholic.  

Under “Priest” she had written “to pray”.  I thought that it was a good start, but a little incomplete, so I asked her to think about what else a priest is called upon to do.  She thought about it, and added, “and to be holy”.  I couldn’t argue with that!  After a little more discussion, I convinced her that we could put our heads together and come up with a description for each column tying them up with a common thread.

Here is basically what we came up with:

Priest	Prophet	King
To practice the faith-to be holy and pray with and for others.	To teach the faith-help others in their holiness through our example.	To share the faith- through service to others, especially the poor.

This homework assignment was a pretty good reminder for me of the sublime dignity conferred on all of us through our baptisms. We, too, must embrace these shared offices of priest, prophet, and king.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear about the priestly office.

Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ. … “to be a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5). By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people …” (1 Peter 2:9). Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers (CCC, 1267, 1268).

There are two participations in the one priesthood of Christ. There is a ‘common priesthood’ and a ‘ministerial priesthood’. Ordained priests, by Holy Orders, become members of the ministerial priesthood. Yet the common priesthood designates all the baptized. Sharing in the priesthood of Christ begins at one’s Baptism.

The common priesthood and the ministerial priesthood worship together at Mass. We are a priestly community. The lay faithful worship alongside the ordained priest(s). Both make offerings to God. The priest is specifically ordained to confect the Eucharist — to offer and consecrate the bread and wine — on behalf of those gathered. The laity, too, actively participate by offering themselves and their gifts and sacrifices to God.

Christ, high priest and unique mediator, has made of the Church “a kingdom, priests for his God and Father” (Revelation 1:6, see 5:9–10; 1 Peter 2:5,9). … The faithful exercise their baptismal priesthood through their participation, each according to his own vocation, in Christ’s mission as priest, prophet, and king (CCC, 1546).

Besides the priestly office, there is also a prophetic and a kingly one. In the ministerial priesthood, these are fulfilled by preaching and teaching and in governance of the Church.

In the common priesthood, with faith and the grace of the sacraments, we must bring Christ to our families, towns, and the wider culture. The faithful are sent out from Mass to go and serve Christ wherever life takes them. They are very much in the front lines for Christianity, to consecrate the world, to make it holy.

We act prophetically when we speak the truth, and live the Gospel by example before our families, neighbors, and co-workers. Our mission is “accomplished in the ordinary circumstances of the world” (CCC, 905).

Our kingly office is exercised by our leadership in temporal affairs, acting as Christ would. Jesus, the king of heaven, gave his life to conquer sin and death, to bring resurrection and new life. By bringing Christ’s leadership and governance in our own spheres, we offer renewal and new life where it is most needed.

The unspoken faith of my father was an "incredible thing"

We have seen incredible things today. (Luke 5:26)

The power Jesus received from His Father in Heaven to forgive sins on earth is certainly at the core of this Gospel. But the power of faith also teaches that the bigger our faith, the better a friend we make! When the paralyzed man's unwavering friends couldn't get him in front of Jesus because the stretcher was too unwieldy to bring through the crowd, they carried him up to the roof and lowered him through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd right in front of Jesus! What a struggle that must have been! While this act of love isn't as astonishing as Jesus healing the man, we must ask ourselves – would we go that far for one of our friends?

Reading and hearing this gospel today, the day after the Feast Day of Saint Juan Diego and two days before the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, reminds me of a story my mom told me several times about my dad that, to me, speaks volumes about what true faith is in real life and the lengths to how far some will go to help others in their faith.

Some of the details are sketchy, but here is what I remember:

Mom and Dad lived in Mexico for a short while early on in their marriage. They lived, in Mom’s words “within shouting distance” of the local convent.  When the nuns found out Dad was a pretty good handyman and fluent in Spanish, he was often called upon to help them fix things when they were broken.  Mom said that despite not being paid for his efforts, Dad never complained.  He told Mom that the smiles (and sometimes the lunches) the ‘ladies’ gave him was enough.

Every December 12^th, the nuns would put on a play for the community to help celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  One year, they enlisted my dad’s help in building a lot of the props for their play and, as usual, he did a terrific job.  The night before the play was to take place the nuns reached out to my dad for another favor.  They explained that the man they had been “grooming” to play the part of Juan Diego fell ill suddenly and would not be able to perform the next day.  Then they asked my dad if he would fill in!  He reminded them that he was not Catholic, and actually “Mormon in name only”, they replied “That’s OK!  It’s not a speaking part.  You just have to do a bit of walking and wear the cloak we’ve made.  You won’t even have to rehearse. But you are the only one who can save our presentation!”  He took the ‘part’ and ‘saved’ the day (at least in the eyes of the nuns)!

I laughed every time my mom told me this story!  But I also keep it in my heart to remind me of the power of love for our neighbor.  It was this story, and countless others like it that my mother told me about Dad that proves what a close priest friend told Mom as Dad lay dying in the hospital—“Cappy is more Catholic than a lot of ‘catholics’ I’ve ever met!”

Does my soul magnify the Lord?

The Magnificat, taken from Luke’s Gospel (1:46-55), is the Blessed Virgin Mary’s hymn of praise to the Lord. It is also known as the Canticle of Mary in the Liturgy of the Hours, a special collection of scripture readings, psalms, and hymns that constitute what is known as the prayer of the church. (Priests and other religious are required to pray sections from the Liturgy of the Hours each day.)

Mary proclaims the Lord’s greatness with characteristic humility and grace here.

My soul magnifies the Lord

And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;

Because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid;

For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed;

Because He who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is His name;

And His mercy is from generation to generation

on those who fear Him.

He has shown might with His arm,

He has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

and has exalted the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich He has sent away empty.

He has given help to Israel, his servant, mindful of His mercy

Even as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity forever.

The Magnificat provides great material for meditation on the Visitation, the second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, pictured above. When the angel Gabriel informs Mary that she is to be the Mother of God, he also tells her of her relative Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist.

After Mary gives her famous consent to becoming the Mother of God, -- “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38) -- she goes “with haste” (1:39) to help Elizabeth, who is delighted to see her. Our Lady then expresses her joy in the Magnificat.

Clearly Mary, in hastening to help her cousin, is focused on service to others. In this way she glorifies the Lord in reflecting (and “magnifying”) His goodness and love. And, of course by becoming the Mother of God she will help Him redeem us for our salvation in His Passion!

Note that Mary’s joyful claim that “all generations shall call me blessed” in no way takes away from her humility. If she seems to boast here, it is much as St. Paul does later on in scripture when he says “whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord” (2 Cor 10:17), that is to say, in God’s work being done through us.

In this regard, the Magnificat is more than a prayer of praise. It also reminds us about the essential link between humility and holiness. Just as God has “regarded the lowliness of his handmaid” and “has done great things” for Mary in making her the Mother of his Son, so too “he has put down the mighty from their thrones (with his own might!) and has exalted the lowly.”

(Note also our Blessed Mother’s humility in referring to herself in this prayer, as she does in giving her consent to Gabriel mentioned earlier, as the Lord’s handmaid, his servant!)

As her Divine Son later stressed “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matt 23:12, also in slightly different words in Luke 18:14 and Luke 14:11).

Jesus wasn’t saying anything new here, either! We read similar thoughts in throughout the Old Testament such as in the Psalms and in this example from the book of Sirach “Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.” (Sirach 3:19)

The line about God filling “the hungry with good things” resonates later in the Gospels as well, when our Lord says “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled” (Matt 5:7). This serves as a good reminder for us to “stay hungry” for God’s graces in praying and in reading His word in scripture.

And as for the rich being sent away empty? This line refers to those who live for wealth and power and feel they have everything figured out. These people in, effect wish to be Gods rather than God’s. How can our Lord fill those who are already full--of themselves?

How about you? Does your soul magnify the Lord? We may never be able to approach Him from Mary’s level of sanctity as the Mother of God. Still, we are all called to be saints nonetheless.

Your good example, like our Blessed Mother’s, can help others in their spiritual growth. Do people see Christ’s love and goodness in you? Are you letting God work within you to accomplish His will? Let Mary help give you the graces you need to follow her Son and His Church in praying the Magnificat.

As St. Ambrose once said in referring to this wonderful prayer, "Let Mary's soul be in us to glorify the Lord; let her spirit be in us that we may rejoice in God our Saviour."

A question of faith

... the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I can do this?" (Matthew 9:28)

If Jesus were to ask me the above question while I sit each evening reciting the rosary, I hope that I could answer, "Yes, Lord, I believe!" But I'm not sure I could honestly reply that way. I'm more likely to reply, "I do believe; help my unbelief!"

I think that this is the true work of prayer, working at belief, practicing belief. Whenever I pray, no matter where I am, I am, now that I ponder it, truly expressing belief, however much my mind doubts. It is truly an act of faith, not of certainty, to sit, day after day, when my mind is mostly asking for help with my unbelief.

It strikes me that having faith means having doubt, but at the same time, hope. If we have no doubt, we have certainty--which I don't believe is faith. So, by practicing my prayer in faith, I am always practicing in confident hope, despite my doubt. 

Faith is our house built on rock

Jesus is more than an authority we must obey. To know Jesus is to know what he's all about (his purpose, his love, and his life). Salvation is placing our faith in this to such an extent that we want to follow him, doing what he does, changing the world around us, all the way to heaven.

We can believe in Jesus and yet remain in the darkness of sin and eternal death. To have faith in Jesus, we must not only believe that he is God. We must not only believe that he is Savior. We must also believe in everything that he taught by word and by deed.

We enter the kingdom of heaven by listening to his words and acting upon them. Salvation is more than a statement of belief. It's more than going to Mass and reciting the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed.  It's faith in action. We act the way Jesus acted and we do what Jesus did, because we love him so much that we want others to love him too.

We let our faith shine, for example, when we love our enemies, and when we forgive others as he forgives us and when we do more than what is asked of us, going the extra mile - not because he told us to, but because we genuinely care.

Obedience is merely the minimum. To be heralds of hope and flames of light that Christ brings to the world, we must embrace the way he delivers that hope and light. Going the extra mile is the way we go to the cross with him. And while the cross looks like the antithesis of Christmas, it is sacrifice that opens the door of hope in the hearts of others.

Faith is what motivates us to do more than the minimum. If we have faith in Christ, we love as he loves, and we cannot help but want to do more for others. There is the guarantee of heaven: If we love others in him and through him, of course we will have eternal life with him.

The Light of Heaven's Hope

It’s hard for me to read or listen to reports on immigration and refugees, random shootings, hate crimes, health care reform, opioid addiction, wildfires, climate change, etc.  and apply today’s readings to the world today without a bit of doubt and cynicism. “The wolf be a guest of the lamb?”  He’s kidding, right? After all these millennia since Isiah was written, it would seem we still can’t be civil in our disagreements nor tolerate differences, whether it be on the world stage or in our families and communities.” These readings evoke hope for sure, but also doubt and cynicism…and a longing for the peace and justice and flourishing that the prophet Isaiah promises, and which resound in today’s Psalm—"Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever.”

I’ve stopped listening to the news programs.  I also have gotten a whole lot better at not reading the comment sections of internet news items.  It’s not healthy for me spiritually.  There are too few voices of hope, and too much hatred.  I may be less informed than I used to be, but I would rather spend time listening and watching (which needs close and careful attention) for signs of hope, of reconciliation, of humble human compassion and celebration of diversity.

This advent let’s pray in hope for the weaker of our brethren in the Body of Christ. We pray that we may be voices of hope. We pray that God make a home in us that we may notice and bless and nourish every movement towards peace, justice, compassion, reconciliation; every moment that leads us back to God.

Jesus did come, is coming now and will come again

The entire season of Advent is all focusing on how God, in Jesus’ Christ comes.  Part of it will be, especially as we get closer to Christmas, on that first entrance of Jesus into human history. 

But the first couple of weeks in Advent we’re reminded about the reality that Jesus is coming at THE end of the world.  And it’s easy for most of us to as soon as we start hearing it being described, we can zone out hearing all of that imagery.   

Because with our own “ends of the world” very much on our minds and hearts, many (or maybe most) of us are anxious or overwhelmed even before we walk into Mass… 

Each Mass is a manifestation of the God-Man who came to live among us and live within us.  If we but have the faith of the centurion in today’s Gospel reading, we, too, will be blessed by our God beyond measure.

I think that’s why Jesus makes a point of telling us in this Gospel to not let our hearts get drowsy and tired by it all.  It’s way too easy to give into the temptation to try and numb the pain, or distract ourselves from troubles by overworking, yielding to depression; turning towards Alcohol or sexual sins or other out of control behaviors – like spending countless hours online or Netflixing, and on and on…   which all contribute to this fog of busy-ness we all seem to be suffering from.  And if I’m already depressed by whatever it is I feel is the end of the world in my life…  and I’m filling my time with all this other unhelpful stuff – it’s understandable that I would feel doomy and gloomy… and kind of dismiss the Gospel reading. 

 Advent wants to wake us out of that drowsiness…

 Advent wants us to get more serious and break us out of those destructive things that distract and unsettle us. Most especially because Advent wants us to remember and focus on the reality, the third way that Jesus comes– Jesus comes to us here and now – most especially as we hear His word and receive His Body and Blood in the Eucharist at Mass. 

Advent tells us to take a breath, and rediscover how God is constantly trying to break into our crazy, distracted, shifting worlds… Jesus wants to come into it all no matter what it is we’re experiencing, wherever we find ourselves right now.  Jesus wants to come to console, to strengthen us.  Jesus wants us to discover or rediscover how His presence in our lives helps us any and everything that comes our way.

Advent is a joyful time to recall that Jesus has come, will come and continues to come to those who welcome Him…