I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our lord’s living garden. Story of a Soul.St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Written By Fr. Gaetano Piccolo
“He lost himself in dreams of what could have been had he just left; left without saying anything; left forever, without ever returning home again.” ~Pirandello
Who among us has not felt the urge to just run away and leave everything? This was the case with Mr. Bareggi, the protagonist in Luigi Pirandello’s novel entitled “Escape.” He jumped on the milkman’s horse and rode madly over the horizon only to be eventually thrown from the horse, at which point he finally realizes that his foolishness was driving him towards nothingness.
Perhaps this is the reason for Jesus’s passionate appeal to remain in Him, expressed in this passage of the Gospel. It makes me think that even the first Christian community must have suffered from this desire to just run away from everything.
We feel the need to flee when we are disappointed, when we see that things are not going the way we’d hoped. We want to leave when we feel excluded, when we feel we have nothing left to give. We want to break away when we’re angry, when we are faced with injustice.
Our age, like that in which Jesus lived, offers many reasons to leave: political confusion, the arrogance of power, intolerance in relationships, the incapacity of those in charge to listen to and value those they serve…
We live in a time when the Holy Spirit seems to have drawn back from the world. When I pray, I often return to an image: it’s as if Jesus has left me with the tools and has distanced Himself again.
In this Easter season, even Luke the Evangelist presents us with this experience of disappointment and fleeing: the two disciples of Emmaus, three days later, after having realized that things didn’t go according to their expectations, decided to leave.
When we are hit with deception and anger, we are pushed to break off all of our relationships without even realizing whom we are leaving behind. Looking closely, Jesus’s invitation is not an appeal to be passive but to remain connected. Love has nothing to do with the stubbornness of remaining unchanged, but requires the openness that allows the sap to flow from vine to branches. The branch can also appear to be attached to the vine, yet still not allow the sap to flow.
Jesus does not invite us to remain in a stubborn and headstrong passivity but invites us to remain in Him and to let Him remain in us. Jesus invites us to remain in a relationship: “without me you can do nothing.” Pushing the Latin translation a little further, J. Martain translated this expression as “without me you can do nothingness.” Without Jesus, our lives are caught up in a vortex of senselessness that we can only strive uselessly to fill.
What is certain is that life must also undergo pruning. Jesus does not deceive us by telling us that we will undergo a painless blossoming. Looking back on our own personal histories, we can see how moments of suffering and pain we have helped us grow. We live in a culture that refuses any type of pruning, any suffering, and that is why the younger generations are in danger of not blossoming at all. The adults, parents and educators, often fear the work of pruning. Blossoming only occurs after a period of bareness in which the plant appears helpless. But without pruning, the plant weakens and the risk is this: we are forming a generation of men and women that are fragile, that will be crushed under the weight of life.
Perhaps the Vine Grower, moved to pity by this grievous vineyard, will come and give us a hand!
Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Taken
by Wayne Lawson
Genesis 27:19-24 & 1 Samuel 17:37-50
I want to spend a few minutes this morning building this message about the importance of being you. As we continue to grow this ministry and define various leadership roles, I believe that it will be important for us to understand the value of simply being yourself and not focus upon anyone else, or attempt to be something that we are not. I challenge us this morning to understand the gifting that God has placed in you and operate in your gifting, simply be yourself, everyone else is taken. We run into many problems not only in Church but also in life in general when we never become comfortable with whom we are, and the great value we have to offer. We each have a treasure hidden in our lives that we take for granted and if we aren’t careful, we allow the enemy to rob us of the very thing God has entrusted to us. We have then, in essence, under-priced God’s precious gift to us.
I believe that God is calling us to take an assessment today and see if we have placed too low a price on the gifting that God has provided for us as Christians. Perhaps there is even a second question here – Have you short-changed your gift by trying to be like someone else? I have often heard over the years many Christians say they don’t have a gift or unsure as to the gift they have and how to operate in it. Let’s try to address all of these issues this morning.
Let’s run over and visit our initial text read in our hearing. As writer Frederick Beuchner pointed out in The Magnificent Defeat, “This was not a blessing in our sense of the word, a vague expression of goodwill that we might use when someone is going on a journey and we say, ‘God bless you.’ For Jacob the blessing is a word of great power. It conveys the very energy and vitality of the blesser’s soul into the one blessed. Just like Elijah when he was carried into heaven by chariots of fire. As he was taken up he dropped his mantle on his successor by the name of Elisha who then received a Double Portion of the Anointing. From that point Elisha would go out and do extraordinary things for God. So, this final blessing by Isaac of his son is to be the most powerful of all blessings. Let us also remember that once it is given it can never be taken back.
There was a rivalry between these twin brothers. The boys mother, Rebecca, would tell you it could be traced back right to the womb. When she was pregnant with them it was like WWF wrestling match going on inside her. It was so intense that she feared for her life and prayed to God about it. God said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.” In other words, God was pronouncing blessing upon the youngest child in her womb. Now, that’s not the way it works in Hebrew culture – everyone knows that the first born is the preferred child, not the youngest! But God decreed it would be otherwise and Rebecca heard it.
In our text, we find the twins father, Isaac is advanced or old in age and his eyes have begun to dim. Old Man Isaac waits now for his eldest son, Esau, to appear. After awhile, he hears someone enter the tent and say, ‘my father’. “Who are you, my son?” The boy Jacob lies and says that he is Esau. He says it boldly. Isaac almost believes, but not completely. The weak-eyed father asks, ‘Are you really my son, Esau?’ The boy Jacob lies a second time. In the silence of that black, goatskin tent, Isaac reaches out both of his arms and says, ‘Come near and kiss me, my son.’ Let’s identify the first problem – Jacob’s hands are smooth. His brother’s hands are hairy. But the boys’ mother Rebecca is in on the whole thing with Jacob. She has covered the backs of Jacob’s hands with the hair of animals. Jacob stretches his hands into Isaac’s and Isaac is fully deceived. He blesses him saying, ‘See, the smell of my son is the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.’ Then Isaac gave Jacob the great blessing. Jacob is now the recipient of the blessing that belongs to his brother and takes advantage of his own father’s blindness. Right here he has broken three of the Ten Commandments – “You shall not steal.” “You shall honor your father and mother,” “You shall not bear false witness.” Yes, I agree with you studious Bible readers, there was a fourth commandment violated as well – the one against coveting – however, this one had gone by the wayside years before.
Lest we be too harsh on Jacob, I have heard many Bible teachers and others claim that Jacob was a thief. But the Bible in the New Testament – HEBREWS 12:16 tells us plainly that Esau “FOR ONE MORSEL OF MEAT SOLD HIS BIRTHRIGHT” and in the Old Testament record GENESIS 25: 29-34 it states clearly that he “SOLD HIS BIRTHRIGHT UNTO JACOB” and bound the sale with an oath, for “ESAU DESPISED HIS BIRTHRIGHT.” The real Jacob is not the schemer – trickster nor is he perfect. Rather it is the journey of a man to become his best self. Jacob is our patriarch because of his journey, not despite it. When we consider our lot in life or our current position or status it is because of our Journey, not Despite it. Jacob is not many figures, but one – one with an intricate and complex character, but one, nonetheless. For us to understand who we are, we must understand Jacob’s struggle and how important it is that we can all identify with it.
• We all struggle with life choices
• We all regret some of the choices we have made
• We have all been on a journey, away from the name we feel we sometimes deserve, and towards the name we wish to deserve
• Inside each of us is Israel: the one who struggles with God
As did Jacob, we too, can become Israel if we grow and learn from our mistakes, and journey to be our best selves
So we see in Jacob a tragic flaw from the offset. He believed if he was going to get ahead in this life he was going to have to hustle and strive and be knifing – even if it meant hustling his own brother. And the strange irony of it all is that Jacob didn’t need to hustle. God had already promised him this blessing. While he was still in the womb God proclaimed to Rebeccah that the younger one would be the blessed one. And when you have God’s blessing what more do you need? The problem was that Jacob didn’t believe it – even though he must have heard it many times from his mother while working alongside her, but he still didn’t believe it.
• All he could see was Esau – the strong one
• All he could see was Esau — the popular one
• All he could see was Esau — the first born
• All he could see was Esau — the skilled hunter
• All he could see was Esau — the preferred one of his father and the rest of the world
• He figured the only way he’d ever be blessed would be to steal it from Esau
I wonder how many of us are like Jacob, always watching somebody else, coveting their gift in spite of the gift God has given us. Esau is pictured as a self-centered, irresponsible man, caring far more for sports than for the responsibilities that come with being an adult. He did not want to be saddled with the responsibility of family affairs and business. Jacob was the exact opposite of Esau. Jacob was a mature, quiet, settled man who looked after the affairs and responsibilities of the family. He stayed right with the tents, the workers, herds, and affairs of the family. It is unfortunate that they were not able to embrace their differences and work together. This is how it is within the church at times. If we are not careful we begin to watch what everybody else is doing and then desire to be like them instead of embracing what God has given us. I am always concerned when I travel and visit smaller churches and they have 50 members and 20 of them are in the pulpit. It is usually a clear indication of a church that does not understand the importance of embracing the various giftings that operate within each of us – I like to encourage them to be yourself, everyone else is taken.
Being who you are is the most natural thing there is and takes less effort than trying to be someone that you are not. I may never preach like T.D. Jakes, but that is okay, I am not T.D. Jakes, I may never teach like Creflo Dollar, but that’s okay, I am not Creflo Dollar. I many never speak before tens of thousands like Billy Graham, but that is okay, I am not Billy Graham. All too often, in the church, we spend too much time trying to be like somebody else. I am glad I am who I am, and there is no one else just like me.
Jacob wasted 20 years of his life hiding from his brother – simply because he wanted to be like his brother. In spite of what God had already promised him while he was still in the womb, Jacob could not take his eyes off of being like his brother. It would ultimately cost him years of frustration. He would never see his mother alive again, not even able to attend her funeral in an attempt to add closure. You see my brothers and sisters; it is not worth it in the long run – be yourself, everyone else is taken.
David understood this at a very early age. When we consider the life of King David, we can really understand the value of Being Yourself. David would become the most loved and respected King that ruled over God’s people. Here it is thousands of years later and we are still talking about his life and what he accomplished. Unlike Jacob, David had more than just one brother to contend with. David was the eighth and youngest son of Jesse from the kingly tribe of Judah.
The biblical King David of Israel was known for his diverse skills as both a warrior and a writer of psalms. In his 40 years as ruler, between approximately 1010 and 970 B.C.E., he united the people of Israel, led them to victory in battle, conquered land and paved the way for his son, Solomon, to build the Holy Temple. But most of us really don’t understand what it was that bought David before King Saul. We don’t know what his gifting was that moved him to become the most prominent King in history. His first interaction with Saul came when the king was looking for someone to play music for him, and the king’s attendant summoned the skilled David to play for him. Saul was pleased with David and kept him in his service as a musician.
It was not his courage or his leadership that bought him before the King. David was gifted as a skilled musician. Apparently someone had heard David play various instruments and it was that Gift that bought him before the King. Could you imagine if David had been more concerned about trying to be like his brothers. David appreciated what God had placed in him. My brothers and sisters, I really think that is key – we must learn how to appreciate what God has imparted unto us. When we learn how to appreciate our gift, it is only then that God will be able to move us into another realm – just be yourself, everyone else is taken. We all know that David would come to prominence because of the battle that was brewing between the Israelites and the Philistines. There was a giant in the land by the name of Goliath. The Philistine Army was the most feared of any in the Ancient Near East. Their superior armaments during the middle of the eleventh century, BCE, enabled them to threaten Judea. They had already colonized areas along the coastline. So, here we have Goliath the Philistine of Gath, a giant, who is nine feet tall and a champion warrior. No one in the army of Israel really wants to face up to such a giant. The entire Israelite army, including King Saul, was filled full of fear and felt defeated before they even considered facing such a giant. It didn’t help matters much when Goliath took advantage of every opportunity to verbally insult them and the LORD God. What were they to do?
David the musician shows up and stands before King Saul. After a conversation King Saul sends this boy David out to fight against the giant. He then attempts to equip David for his encounter with the giant. Saul clothes David with his own armor. He puts a bronze helmet on David’s head and clothes David with his own big coat of mail. David straps Saul’s sword over the armor. Then David tries to take a step. He quickly realizes that he had not earned any of that equipment. He quickly remembers the Gift that he has – the gift beyond being a Musician. David remembers that he is good at throwing rocks. That is the gift that David had which ultimately would bring him before the King and set him on the path of his destiny. We know the rest of the story; he would be victorious over the giant.
What would cause David to walk in his Destiny is the fact that he understood his gift was Throwing Rocks. What a strange gift to have. We must identify the Gift that God has given us and understand no matter how big or small we think that gifting is — to simply operate in it. We read in PROVERBS 18:16 A MAN’S GIFT MAKETH ROOM FOR HIM, AND BRINGETH HIM BEFORE GREAT MEN. This strange gift of throwing rocks would usher David into his destiny – it would bring him face to face before King Saul because he was Gifted at Throwing Rocks. I don’t know about you but I am glad today that David was comfortable with who he was, he understood how important it was to be yourself, everyone else is taken.
• If my gift is throwing rocks – I’ll throw Rocks in Jesus name
• If my gift is Playing Instruments – I’ll play in Jesus name
• If my gift is serving on the Usher Board – I’ll serve in Jesus name
Whatever my gift is, I’ll wait, because God promised my gift will make room for me and take me to great places.
Paul understood this when he talked and counseled with a young preacher by the name of Timothy. Paul would go on to tell Timothy that he would grow to be a great preacher one day and then gave him sound advise according to I TIMOTHY 4:14 NEGLECT NOT THE GIFT THAT IS IN THEE, WHICH WAS GIVEN THEE BY PROPHECY, WITH THE LAYING ON OF HANDS OF THE PRESBYTERY.
— Your gift will take you to places you never dreamed
— Your gift will elevate you in due season
— Don’t neglect the gift that God has given you
— Don’t set your sight on what others have and are doing
— Allow God to continue to grow the gift that He has placed with you
Great Thoughts On The Call To Holiness
To be holy does not require being a bishop, a priest or a religious. We are frequently tempted to think that holiness is only for those who can withdraw from ordinary affairs to spend much time in prayer. That is not the case. We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves. Are you called to the consecrated life? Be holy by living out your commitment with joy. Are you married? Be holy by loving and caring for your husband or wife, as Christ does for the Church. Do you work for a living? Be holy by labouring with integrity and skill in the service of your brothers and sisters. Are you a parent or grandparent? Be holy by patiently teaching the little ones how to follow Jesus. Are you in a position of authority? Be holy by working for the common good and renouncing personal gain.[14]
15. Let the grace of your baptism bear fruit in a path of holiness. Let everything be open to God; turn to him in every situation. Do not be dismayed, for the power of the Holy Spirit enables you to do this, and holiness, in the end, is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life (cf. Gal 5:22-23). When you feel the temptation to dwell on your own weakness, raise your eyes to Christ crucified and say: “Lord, I am a poor sinner, but you can work the miracle of making me a little bit better”. In the Church, holy yet made up of sinners, you will find everything you need to grow towards holiness. The Lord has bestowed on the Church the gifts of scripture, the sacraments, holy places, living communities, the witness of the saints and a multifaceted beauty that proceeds from God’s love, “like a bride bedecked with jewels” (Is 61:10).
16. This holiness to which the Lord calls you will grow through small gestures. Here is an example: a woman goes shopping, she meets a neighbour and they begin to speak, and the gossip starts. But she says in her heart: “No, I will not speak badly of anyone”. This is a step forward in holiness. Later, at home, one of her children wants to talk to her about his hopes and dreams, and even though she is tired, she sits down and listens with patience and love. That is another sacrifice that brings holiness. Later she experiences some anxiety, but recalling the love of the Virgin Mary, she takes her rosary and prays with faith. Yet another path of holiness. Later still, she goes out onto the street, encounters a poor person and stops to say a kind word to him. One more step.
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
GAUDETE ET EXSULTATE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON THE CALL TO HOLINESS
IN TODAY’S WORLD
Pope Francis Issues Lengthy Apostolic Exhortation on Universal Call to Holiness
In Gaudete et Exsultate, the Holy Father offers guidance on the many paths to sanctity in today’s world.
Pope Francis has issued a long apostolic exhortation on holiness in today’s world, in which he emphasizes the universal call to sanctity, highlights the pitfalls to achieving it, and recalls that the Christian life is one of constant battle against the devil and the forces of evil.
Running at just over 22,000 words, Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad) — The Call to Holiness in Today’s World — contains many themes the Holy Father has repeated over the past five years: an emphasis on the importance of discernment, warnings against Gnosticism and neo-Pelagianism, rigidity, doing things as they have always been done, an excessive emphasis on doctrine, and gossip.
He quotes the late Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini and the Swiss theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar in the text, but also draws on the example of many saints, including St. Bonaventure, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Anthony of Padua, and singles out women saints such as St. Hildegard of Bingen, St Bridget and St. Catherine of Siena.
The document is rich in guidance on how to answer the call to holiness in a world filled with distractions, consumerism and hedonism. Frequently, the Pope stresses the importance of prayer and worship, but gives greater emphasis to acts of love and mercy toward one’s neighbor, especially the poor and those on the periphery.
In one particularly notable section, the Pope stresses that “equally sacred” to defending the lives of the unborn are the lives of the poor, the elderly exposed to “covert euthanasia” and those facing “every form of rejection.”
As with every apostolic exhortation or letter, the document begins with its title: “Rejoice and be glad” — Jesus’ words to those persecuted or humiliated for his sake.
“The Lord asks everything of us, and in return he offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created,” the Pope begins. “He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence,” and he reminds the faithful that the call to holiness “is present in various ways from the very first pages of the Bible.”
In light of this, the Pope says his “modest goal” is to “re-propose the call to holiness in a practical way for our own time, with all its risks, challenges and opportunities. For the Lord has chosen each one of us ‘to be holy and blameless before him in love.’”
The first chapter outlines the essence of the call to holiness. The Pope stresses that the Holy Spirit “bestows holiness in abundance among God’s holy and faithful people,” not just the beatified, canonized, prelates, clergy or religious, but the “saints next door” — “the middle class of holiness.” Often, he says, holiness is shown through patience, such as parents who raise their children “with immense love” or “work hard” to support their families.
Besides making the point that holiness exists “even outside the Catholic Church,” he says that each believer has to “discern” his or her own path to sanctity and that St. John of the Cross “preferred to avoid hard and fast rules for all.” He also stresses the “genius of woman” seen in “feminine styles of holiness,” witnessed especially in times of history when “women tended to be most ignored or overlooked” and whose sanctity led to “important reforms” in the Church.
Holiness is not restricted to those who “spend much time in prayer,” he goes on, and argues that it is “not healthy to love silence while fleeing interaction with others, to want peace and quiet while avoiding activity, to seek prayer while disdaining service.”
Instead, the Pope stresses that the call to holiness can also be answered through “small gestures,” such as refusal to succumb to the temptation to gossip. “Holiness is nothing other than charity lived to the full,” he adds, and “giving your best” in committing yourself “body and soul.”
Distractions and Gadgets
He notes the constant distractions of “new gadgets,” travel and consumerism, asking how we can “stop this rat race” and recover the personals space for “heartfelt dialogue with God.” Quoting Cardinal Martini, he says finding that space may not happen unless “we see ourselves staring into the abyss of a frightful temptation, or have the dizzying sensation of standing on the precipice of utter despair, or find ourselves completely alone and abandoned.”
As he has said before, the Pope calls on the faithful not to be “afraid of holiness” and adds that “to the extent that each Christian grows in holiness, he or she will bear greater fruit for our world.”
He highlights two “subtle enemies” of sanctity — gnosticism and pelagianism. Although the Pope says Placuit Deo, a document on the subject by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued in February, provides the “doctrinal bases” for these heresies, he broadens the definitions considerably, saying gnostics today “judge others based on their ability to understand the complexity of certain doctrines.” They also “reduce Jesus’ teaching to a cold and harsh logic that seeks to dominate everything.”
“When somebody has an answer for every question, it is a sign that they are not on the right road,” he says. “They may well be false prophets, who use religion for their own purposes, to promote their own psychological or intellectual theories.” He also warns against believing that knowledge of doctrine makes one “perfect and better than the ‘ignorant masses.’”
On contemporary pelagianism, the Pope warns against telling the weak that “all things can be accomplished with God’s grace” while giving the idea that “all things are possible by the human will” and failing to realize “that ‘not everyone can do everything.’” The “new pelagians,” he continues, have an “obsession with the law,” a “punctilious concern for the Church’s liturgy, doctrine and prestige,” and “give excessive importance to certain rules,” rather than wishing to spread the “beauty and joy of the Gospel and seeking out the lost.”
“May the Lord set the Church free from these new forms of gnosticism and pelagianism that weigh her down and block her progress along the path to holiness!” he says.
In Chapter 3, the Pope recalls Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in showing the way towards holiness. In a sub-chapter entitled “Going Against the Flow,” he lists each of the beatitudes, highlighting that holiness is manifested in being poor of heart, meekness and humility, knowing how to mourn with others, yearning for righteousness, keeping a heart free of all that tarnishes love, sowing peace, and accepting the path of slander and lies — the modern persecution of today.
In a further subchapter called “The Great Criterion,” the Pope underlines the importance of imitating the Good Samaritan, but warns against ideologies such as those which view some social-justice work “as superficial, worldly, secular, materialist, communist or populist.”
“Our defense of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate,” he says. “Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.”
He also criticizes some Catholics who often view the situation of migrants as “a secondary issue” compared to “the ‘grave’ bioethical questions,” and he cites scriptural references underlining the importance of welcoming the stranger.
Again, the Pope stresses the importance of acts of mercy, saying that although “primacy belongs to our relationship with God,” one should not “forget that the ultimate criterion on which our lives will be judged is what we have done for others.”
Dangers of Hedonism and Consumerism
He also warns against “hedonism and consumerism,” which “can prove our downfall” and lead to our being “too concerned about ourselves and our rights.” The answer, he says, is to “cultivate a certain simplicity of life, resisting the feverish demands of a consumer society.”
He lists five “great expressions” of love for God and neighbor that will make us “genuinely happy” as perseverance, patience and meekness; joy and a sense of humor; boldness and passion; being in community; and constant prayer.
The last chapter is given to spiritual combat, and he reminds the faithful that the Christian life “is a constant battle,” but adds that this battle “is sweet, for it allows us to rejoice each time the Lord triumphs in our lives.” He also stresses that this battle is not just against “the world and a worldly mentality” or “human weakness,” but “a constant struggle against the devil.”
The devil is not “a myth,” he says, adding that he “does not need to possess us,” but simply “poisons us with the venom of hatred, desolation, envy and vice.” Those who fail to realize it is a constant battle “will be prey to failure or mediocrity,” he adds, stressing that the Lord has given us “powerful weapons” to fight the devil such as “faith-filled prayer, meditation on the word of God, the celebration of Mass, Eucharistic adoration, sacramental reconciliation, works of charity, community life, missionary outreach.”
He goes on to warn against “spiritual corruption,” which he describes as a “comfortable and self-satisfied form of blindness” where all appears acceptable: “deception, slander, egotism and other subtle forms of self-centredness, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”
Pope Francis ends by returning to his common theme of discernment, which he says is “something more than intelligence or common sense.” It is a gift, he says, which we must implore and seek to develop through prayer, reflection, reading and good counsel.
“Discernment is necessary not only at extraordinary times,” he says, adding that only if we are prepared to listen do we have the freedom to set aside our own partial or insufficient ideas, our usual habits and ways of seeing things.
“Naturally, this attitude of listening entails obedience to the Gospel,” he says, but it is “not a matter of applying rules or repeating what was done in the past, since the same solutions are not valid in all circumstances and what was useful in one context may not prove so in another.”
“The discernment of spirits liberates us from rigidity, which has no place before the perennial “today” of the Risen Lord,” the Pope says.
The Pope closes the document, released on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, which was transferred to today due to Palm Sunday, by asking that these reflections “be crowned by Mary, because she lived the beatitudes of Jesus as none other” and because she “teaches us the way of holiness and she walks ever at our side.”
Looking out only for oneself is not the way to fulfillment
Gospel reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Easter
Father Bernard Podvin
April 28, 2018
For the last 14 years, it has been my duty to train future priests. I am reminded of the spiritual paths of some of the candidates for the priestly ministry by this Sunday’s gospel reading.
I might have one highly talented seminarian who seemed to have a brilliant future before him, but whose vocation never reached a deep connection with Jesus.
Conversely, there might be another who seemed, on the surface, less talented but whose humble spiritual devotion to the Lord inspired great pastoral engagement.
The problem for the first seminarian was an inability to fully surrender to the Lord and the church, and therefore he grew weary quickly from lack of energy and inspiration.
The humility of the second allowed God’s will to work through him, and thus he could fulfill the needs of his community.
What is said about the vine in John this Easter season beams with the light of truth.
“Apart from me you can do nothing!” We can understand why Pope Francis emphasizes the great danger for Christ’s followers to rely solely on themselves.
Looking out only for oneself is not the way to fulfillment. Instead, we must give ourselves to be guided, for the benefit of the whole.
Jesus says: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener!” It is thus for the Father to knows the hearts of humankind better than any other.
Let us sketch three spiritual lessons that can inform our prayers for guidance in our spiritual lives.
First, the vine shoot alone cannot bear fruit. The 17th century Jesuit Jean-Joseph Surin said “The error of many good people is to act alone, and not seek help from grace.”
It is a difficult trap to avoid, because one’s intentions are laudable, but they cannot bear fruit.
Second, it is up to the Father to decide who has borne fruit and who has not. This is an important measure of spiritual deferral. It protects us from the risk of ideologizing evangelization.
Indeed, who are we to say whether our brothers are true in their acts and words? Only the gardener truly knows what is good for humankind.
Not only does he measure his fruit wisely, but his glory lies in appointing us to go and bear fruit too.
Third, we must let ourselves be shaped and pruned by the force of his Love in order that we can carry forth the crop that God has produced.
This third point calls on us to cultivate patience, humility, self mastery, benevolence towards our fellow humans, and to listen deeply to God.
No one reaches perfection instantly, and no one is exempt from being guided and pruned if the gardener sees the potential to sprout new shoots.
On the Lord’s vine, there is no place for rigidity nor hopelessness. God knows the true potential of each vine shoot, beyond what it might appear to have.
François de Sales liked to remind us that pruning is not done “by swinging an axe, but gently with a billhook, branch by branch.” This is the way of the gardener.
Saints have the gift of translating God’s attitude towards mankind, because they have let themselves be shaped and pruned, little by little, with unshakable confidence in Him.
This is the kind of holiness that Pope Francis spoke of in his recent exhortation. It is to do with having the confidence that anything can come to those who live in Christ and are grafted onto Christ.
Let us wish that our Christian communities may live out this missionary grace. To be a living communion of shoots that allow themselves to be guided and grow as God sees fit.
Marthe Robin called on us “not to remain on the edges of our souls.” Christ beckons us. We cannot offer love unless we draw on love!
A friend of mine, in his early forties, is the kind of person you want as a friend. Honest, gracious, generous to a fault, kindhearted, full of humor, he brings color and character into a room. But, although he’s loved by many people inside the church, he struggles with the church. Partly it’s indifference, partly it’s lack of faith, partly it’s because of how he perceives the church’s teaching on sex, and partly it’s because he grew up inside a generation that, for whatever reason, was never properly initiated into the church. Whatever the reasons, he rarely goes to church and feels himself an outsider to its life.
Until recently he didn’t think much about this. He was young and life was full of opportunities, friends, and things to experience and enjoy. Church and religion didn’t seem important to him.
But now that he’s seen enough of life to recognize some its empty crevices and its incapacity to deliver the happiness he’d hoped for, he’s more humble and even a bit sad about his weak relationship to faith and the church. When we talked about religion recently he simply said: “I’m not sure what I really believe, but, that’s me, that’s where I’m at.” Then, with a note of sadness, he added: “I guess if there’s a heaven, I won’t be part of it.”
Knowing the wonderful gift that he is to so many people, but without turning an eye from his shortcomings, I didn’t hesitate to give him this assurance: “Don’t worry about heaven. You’ll be there! Too many of us love you! A lot of us, church people, including me, won’t accept a heaven that doesn’t have you in it.”
My heaven will include you! Can we say that? Is this wishful thinking? Fanciful thought? Bad theology?
It may be wishful thinking, but it’s not fanciful, or bad theology. It’s part of the miracle, the mystery, and the unimaginable wonder of the incarnation.
As Christians, we believe that God took on flesh in Jesus, but we also believe that this was not just a one-shot, 33-year incursion, of God into human history. The mystery of the incarnation goes on. God is still taking on real flesh inside of us, the community of believers.
Scripture says: “We ARE the Body of Christ on earth.” We’re not a replacement for Jesus’ body, not a representation of it, or even his mystical body. We ARE his body and, as such, are meant to do all the things he did, including the forgiveness of sins and the binding of each other, through love, to the family of God.
Jesus himself gave us this power: “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven. … Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Those statements, among others, have immense, almost unimaginable, implications. As a family of faith, we continue to give physical flesh to God on earth and so, like Jesus, have the power to forgive and to link anyone who is sincere to the family of God. Simply put, this means that we can link those we love (our children, our siblings, our friends, our colleagues, and anyone who is sincere) to salvation, to heaven, to the family that shares God’s table. We can say to God: “My heaven includes those I love!”
Stated in reverse, if, as members of the Body of Christ, we love someone, that person cannot go to hell unless he or she positively rejects our love and our efforts to connect him or her to the family of God. He or she must, of course, at some point, still make a personal choice to belong, but as long as our love is there, that person is solidly connected to the Body of Christ.
Partly this is mystery but partly we understand it from our experience of love and family. Inside of a family, we do not judge who’s in and who’s out simply by who’s home and at table on a given day. Love understands, forgives, and holds others in union in ways that take into account weakness, hurt, complexity, absence, and even sin. A loving mother knows that the family still includes a given child, even if that person is struggling in ways that don’t allow for him or her to be home and at the family table on a given night. Love binds, looses, forgives, and holds others in union even within the painful contingencies of immaturity, absence, anger, infidelity, and sin.
Every time I write about this, I’m flooded with letters, mostly from people who find it incredulous. Some object because, as they put it: “Only Christ can do this!” Point well taken, but, as scripture says: “We are the body of Christ.” Christ is doing this. More commonly the doubt expresses itself this way: “I’d like to believe this, but, if it’s true, it’s too good to be true!”
That’s simply a description of the incarnation!
Reminds Heaven Is Place of Eternal Joy Where We Meet Jesus & Are Happy Forever
APRIL 27, 2018 14:36
Heaven is not boring!
According to Vatican News, Pope Francis stressed this during his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta as he reflected on how Christians journey on earth toward heaven.
Heaven, he highlighted, is the place of eternal joy as it is where we are welcomed by and encounter Jesus.
The Pontiff reflected on the First Reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles, where Paul tells the Jews that the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their religious leaders did not recognize Jesus, condemned Him to death, but that after being crucified, was raised from the dead.
The Holy Father encouraged us Christians to walk with the promise of God in our hearts.
“We, too, are in movement along the path. When asked where we are heading, we say, ‘Towards heaven!’ ‘So what’s heaven?’ some ask. There we begin to be unsure in our response. We don’t know how best to explain heaven.”
Francis observed that many “picture an abstract and distant heaven.”
“And some think: ‘But won’t it be boring there for all eternity?’ No! That is not heaven. We are on the path towards an encounter: the final meeting with Jesus. Heaven is the encounter with Jesus.”
I am traveling in life to meet Jesus … which will make us happy forever
During our everyday lives, the Pope stressed, we must remind ourselves “I am traveling in life to meet Jesus.” This meeting, he said, will make us happy forever.
“But what does Jesus do in the meantime?” the Pope asked.
Jesus, he said, is working for us and praying for us. The Pope reminded that at the Last Supper, Jesus promises Peter He will pray for him.
“Each of us must say: ‘Jesus is praying for me, working to prepare me a place.’ He is faithful. He does so because he has promised it. Heaven will be this encounter, this meeting with the Lord who went ahead to prepare a place for each of us. This increases our faith.”
Jesus, the Pope said, is “the priestly intercessor, right up to the end of the world. “
Pope Francis concluded, giving the following advice: “May the Lord give us the awareness of walking along a path with this promise. May the Lord give us the grace to look upwards toward heaven and think: ‘The Lord is praying for me.’”
Ellen Mady | Apr 27, 2018
One of Rome's most popular shrines is about to get a papal visit. And pilgrims leave there knowing one thing for sure.
Pope Francis is about to open the month of May with a visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Love. He is following the footsteps of his two recent predecessors in reminding us that this particular shrine holds a special place in Rome’s heart. Pope John Paul II visited the shrine on May 1, 1979, and Pope Benedict XVI did the same 27 years later, on May 1, 2006.
The sanctuary of Our Lady of Divine Love is a little off the beaten path, but well worth a stop whenever you find yourself in the Eternal City. If you want to have the full experience of a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Divine Love, which entails walking about nine miles, give yourself a full day, or join one of the many all-night vigil pilgrim walks to the shrine that happen throughout the year.
Pilgrims often start out at the Piazza di Porta Capena, a southern gateway to Rome, and walk along the Via Appia Antigua (Old Appian Way) until reaching the Quo Vadis Church. This small place of worship marks the site where St. Peter, fleeing from Roman persecution, allegedly met the Lord and asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “I am going to Rome to be crucified again.” Upon hearing this response, Peter turned around and returned to Rome, where he himself was then martyred by being crucified upside down. After seeing the Quo Vadis site, you would walk a few more miles along the Via Ardeantina to reach the Shrine of Sancte Marie de Divino Amore, or Our Lady of Divine Love.
As Pope Benedict wrote in Deus Caritas Est, and reiterated in his 2006 address at Our Lady of Divine Love, “Mary is a woman who loves.” This simple, but profound description of Mary perfectly captures the focus and significance of the Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Love. People come before her in pilgrimage over and over, and each time, they are reminded that they are loved.
The center of devotion at the shrine is a fresco that was originally painted on a tower in the early 1300s. For a few centuries, aside from some local shepherds who would gather near the tower to say their Rosary, few people knew of the image. That would change in 1740, when a traveler passing by the tower on his way to the Vatican was attacked by a pack of dogs. Looking up and seeing the image of Mary, he called on her protection and was miraculously saved. Word of this spread, and devotion to the image grew rapidly.
In 1745, a small church was built at the site of the original tower and the painting, which had been removed from the tower and temporarily housed in a local church, was moved back to its original location, now a shrine.
Roman affection and devotion for Our Lady of Divine love was further strengthened in World War II, when the Holy Father placed Rome under the protection of Our Lady of Divine Love. The image had been brought within the city walls and was temporarily housed in the Church of St. Ignatius. Following the liberation of Rome, in June 1944, Pius XII visited the image, attributed the city’s freedom to her intercession, and called her the Savior of Rome. Shortly after the war ended, the fresco was moved back to the shrine.
A new sanctuary, able to accommodate about 1,500 pilgrims, was completed in 1999. Visitors are now able to see both the original shrine and the new sanctuary. Care of the shrine has been entrusted to the Handmaids of Merciful Love and Sons of Merciful Love. The priests and sisters both look after the shrine and minister to the many pilgrims who visit the site.
Our Lady of Divine Love is distinct from St. Mary Major’s, which is the largest Marian church in Rome and one of the only four churches bearing the title Major Basilica. St. Mary Major and Our Lady of Divine Love are the two most well visited shrines in the region of Rome, and both numbered among the seven pilgrim churches where a plenary indulgence could be obtained during the Holy Year in 2000.
Mary, Mother of Divine Love, pray for us!
When perfection is the goal, you're doing more harm than good.
Is there such a thing as a perfect world, a perfect spouse, or a perfect job? Almost everyone knows the answer quite well: definitely not. Nonetheless, it’s fairly common for us to wear ourselves down looking for something which we rationally know doesn’t exist.
The ideal of perfection is conveyed to us starting when we are very young, with expressions such as, “I know you can do better, I know I can expect more from you,” and, “Don’t settle for mediocrity.” With these words, our teachers and parents want to motivate us to make an effort, to develop our full potential, and to do a good job.
Their intention is good, of course, and generally speaking it helps many children to be motivated, to push themselves, and to grow. In the case of some other children, it reinforces their competitive desire to do better than others and to be the first or the best. In still other cases, such words become a suffocating burden during childhood and adolescence, making perfection the goal that they seek in every area of their adult life.
It’s difficult to acknowledge that you’re looking for perfection, because true perfectionists try to downplay the leitmotiv of their lives, and of course, they don’t consider it a problem until someone points it out to them, or until they accumulate significant levels of anxiety and/or depression. They justify their perfectionism by saying, “I’m not a perfectionist; I just like things to be done right,” or, “It’s not a big deal, I’m just being responsible.”
Let’s look at a few characteristics that define someone with a tendency to seek perfection in an egocentric way, and who could even end up developing behavior disorders:
As a result of the above, perfectionists tend to suffer from high levels of anxiety. Their perfectionism is associated with insecurity and a lack of confidence; they are never happy with the results of their actions, and they refuse to accept any mistake or imperfection, equating it with a lack of personal worth. Their behavior may become rigid and controlling. However, pathological perfectionism is difficult to identify as such,because it tends to be confused with a benignly excessive sense of responsibility. It only starts to be questioned when the person starts to have health problems — signs from his body that it can’t take it anymore, that he’s forcing his organism beyond what is reasonable. Obviously, this has a negative impact on a physical and emotional level, which in turn affect their professional, social, family, and personal life. The result, paradoxically, is that he starts to be less effective than he wants.
Many people who are perfectionists have powerful personal, professional, social, and ethical ideas, which rather than functioning as a guiding light — as would be desirable — become “imbedded” in their personality like a plug, blocking or hiding other aspects of their personality that they don’t want to acknowledge. Often, these hidden aspects make themselves known by causing psychological suffering, since, although we may try to hide them in the deepest part of our minds, they don’t disappear.
We can all suffer from some degree of unhealthy perfectionism. Today’s rhythm of life requires more and more haste, more efficacy, and more results. We develop a routine which, in the end, is a race in which it becomes more and more difficult to combine speed with right decisions. We don’t have enough time, and yet perfection seems to become the goal we must reach, at any cost. Nonetheless, and although it sounds paradoxical, perfection isn’t always perfect, as it can often end up implying more inconveniences than advantages for our physical and mental health.
The search for perfection and for self-improvement is something that, when done in a balanced way, is healthy, good, and necessary. When Jesus tells us in the Gospel (Matthew 5:48), “Be perfect, like your Heavenly Father is perfect,” it has nothing to do with the exaggerated egocentrism of someone seeking perfection as a goal in itself. Working towards a model of perfection and pursuing that ideal throughout our lives is a healthy stimulus when we use it as a means to improve both our own life and that of the people around us.
In order to approach perfection, we must learn from our mistakes. Every human being is entitled to be wrong sometimes, because that is part of our life experience, and through our errors we can learn to mature and improve in every aspect of our life. The problem is not the seeking of perfection, but the motivation that leads us to do so. Seeking perfection can be a very positive ideal when we do so for our own good and that of others, with a spiritual dimension which gives meaning to everything we do, without focusing only on ourselves.
Pope’s Morning Homily April 26th 2018: ‘Love Is Without Limits’
During Morning Mass, Francis Reminds Without Love, Church Cannot Move or Grow
Love is without limits, and without love, the Church cannot move or grow.
According to Vatican News, Pope Francis stressed this during his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta as he reflected on the Last Supper, in which Jesus teaches love in the Eucharist and service in the washing of the feet.
Recalling today’s Gospel from St. John, the Pope highlighted that Jesus’ love that evening demonstrated that no servant is greater than the master.
The Gospel account, the Jesuit Pontiff explained, contains three foundational truths for the Church: Jesus teaches us love through the Eucharist, he teaches us service in the washing of the disciples’ feet, and says no servant is greater than his master.
Jesus, the Pope said, made two “institutional gestures” at the Last Supper: one, in giving His body to eat and His blood to drink in the Eucharist; two, in washing the disciples’ feet.
“These two actions,” he said, “reveal two commandments that will make the Church grow, if we are faithful.”
The first commandment, he noted, is love. “It is no longer “love your neighbor as yourself,” the Pope said, “because Jesus takes a step further, saying “love one another as I have loved you.”
“Love is without limits. Without it, the Church cannot move forward; the Church cannot breathe. Without love, she cannot grow, and is transformed into an empty institution, made up of appearances and actions without fecundity. In his bodily actions, Jesus tells us how we should love, that is, until the end.”
“Serve one another,” the Pope said is the second commandment, which was born out in the washing of the feet.
The third lesson, Francis stressed, involves serving humbly, knowing we are ‘sent’ and not greater than others.
“The awareness is that He is greater than all of us, and that we are servants who cannot go beyond Jesus. We cannot use Jesus. He is the Lord, not us. This is the Lord’s will. Giving himself to eat and drink, he tells us to love one another in this way. Washing the feet, he tells us to serve each other in like manner.”
“But beware,” Francis warned, “no servant is greater than the one who sent him, the master. These blunt words and actions are the foundations of the Church. If we proceed in like fashion with these three points, we shall never fail.”
Martyrs and many saints, the Pope said, acted “with the awareness of being servants.”
Pope Francis concluded, giving the following invitation: “Let Jesus’ gaze enter into me. We will feel many things: love, maybe nothing… We might feel trapped there or feel shame. But always let Jesus’ gaze in.”
This Hard Truth Will Help You Bear Much Fruit
April 25, 2018 By: Chris Mueller
I live near the wine country of Southern California. Just minutes from my home are countless rows of grapevines. The vineyards make for a lovely spring afternoon drive. The beautiful green leaves of the vines wave in the gentle breeze, and one can easily find him/herself transported to Tuscany or some such famous location. That is what it looks like now as the vines ripen and prepare to bring forth fruit for the harvest. Once the harvest is complete, and the season moves from summer to fall, the vines begin to change. The branches, once abundant in foliage, turn brown. The leaves, once lovely, fall. The time for harvest has passed, and the time for pruning has come.
The vine grower cuts back the lovely vines of spring and summer. He aggressively prunes them to avoid disease and rot. Walk through the vineyard in winter and you will see what appears to be a wasteland. It isn’t. It just looks that way. Another season of fruit and harvest will come, but this season of pruning must pass first.
In John 15:1-8, Jesus tells us that he is the vine and we are the branches. Most of the time when I hear that, I want to think of the springtime vineyard, and that is part of the story. It is clear from the reading there is an expectation that, if you are in Christ, connected to the vine, you will bear fruit. If there is no fruit coming from your branch, then there is a good chance the branch is sick, or may not be connected to the vine like you thought it was. You may not be connected to Christ. Regardless, no fruit means the branch is dead or dying, so the vine grower cuts it off.
Fruitful Branches Need Pruning
OK, easy peasy, bear fruit and we can avoid the shears. That sounds great. Just be a good Christian and everything will be awesome … except Jesus continues the metaphor. Not only do the fruitless branches get cut off, but “every one that does [bear fruit] he prunes so that it bears more fruit.” Remember the winter vineyard scenes I described a little earlier? It looks terrible. It looks dead, but it is not. The vine grower is actually preparing the vineyard for a new harvest. He needs to cut back the vines in order for the vineyard to continue to thrive. In our spiritual lives, that often takes us by surprise. Not every season is harvest.
Sometimes God prunes. The Lord knows how to tend to his people. He is not content with last year’s harvest. He expects us to continue to bear good fruit. God works in us so we can do that.
God loves you and honors you so greatly that, right now, where you are, when you say “yes” to his will, he will use you to accomplish his work. He will bear fruit through you. But, God loves you. He is not content to leave you right where you are. He wants to work in your life to make you holier, more like him. That can be really hard. The letter to the Hebrews gives some insight into how we deal with this pruning.
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons … For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 7-8, 10-11)
Preparing for the New Harvest
If we are going to grow, and stay alive in our faith we need to allow God permission to prune us. Yes, I love the harvest seasons of life. I love when I can see God moving in and through me. And no, I do not look forward to, or seek out, times of trial or pruning. I do not seek them out, but I do know that I need them. When trial comes, rather than rebelling, we need to submit our lives more deeply to Christ. It is during those seasons that God is working, preparing for the next harvest. We need to be pruned. We need to have the sick, sinful parts of our lives cut back so that a new season of harvest can come.
The theme from today’s readings is: “if you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” In all the Gospels, Jesus draws us to him; to hear, understand and accept his doctrine. Last Sunday we heard: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” But he is drawing us not only to his words and voice, but to himself.
He wants us to cling with all our hearts and minds to him as a person, not just as a mighty teacher. Nowhere is this personal, heart-to-heart appeal of Christ more clearly expressed than in today’s Gospel passage. But to really appreciate this passage properly, we must place ourselves into this scene.
Jesus is now preparing his disciples for what is going to happen to him. He was intensifying his revelation of love. He has a sense of urgency and he calmly walks over to the large water jug and begins washing their feet. Only Peter breaks the silence, but he quickly quiets down. Jesus then says, “If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it[1].”
Jesus sends us a clear signal by washing his disciples’ feet. If we are willing to serve others with the same spirit of humility and hospitality, there will be a place at the eternal banquet for us as well. And indeed, there is something remarkably blessed about serving others. The Saints have echoed this blessing through their lives of self-giving love, and one of Pope Saint John Paul II’s foundational thoughts is that humanity finds itself by making a sincere gift of itself. We sing the words of Saint Francis’s prayer, “. . . for it is in giving that we receive.”
Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, says our Church must be a community of missionary disciples who take the first step, who are involved and supportive, who bear fruit and rejoice. Pope Francis continues: “we are an evangelizing community that knows that the Lord has loved us first[2], and therefore we can move forward, boldly take the initiative, go out to others, seek those who have fallen away, stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast[3]. Such a community has an endless desire to show mercy, so let’s try harder to take the first step and to become involved.”
However, sometimes we miss the forest for the trees. We focus on the little things right in front of us, our everyday concerns and preoccupations, and lose sight of the big picture of God’s plan for our lives. This can be true even with our acts of faith. For example, we can be so focused on getting to Mass on Sunday and saying our prayers every morning that we lose sight of their significance or power. Or we can be so intent on getting God to answer a need that we fail to see how much he has already done for us and how much he promises to do for us if we stay close to him.
Today Saint Paul shows the people in Pisidia the big picture. He outlines how God’s plan has unfolded over thousands of years, and how it has culminated in the sending of Jesus as Savior. Everything God has promised, Paul proclaims, is coming true now in Christ.
But, what has God promised? That if we believe in his Son, we will have eternal life[4]. That all things work for our good[5]. That he will be with us forever, in this life and for all eternity[6]. This is the big picture—the “forest”—that we need to focus on in the midst of the “trees” of our everyday concerns and obligations. God keeps his promises! He has a plan for us!
No matter what the specific circumstances of your life may be, God’s overall vision for you never changes. Whatever hardships and suffering you may be experiencing now, however your life is unfolding, keep God’s love and his purposes in the forefront of your mind, and you’ll be more peaceful.
Through Jesus, God has fulfilled his promises. He loves us, he is willing to forgive us, and he invites us to spend all of eternity with him. This vision can inspire you when you rise in the morning and when you go to sleep at night. It can remain with you throughout the day. Everything else in your life fits into this plan—a plan not just for today or tomorrow but for all eternity!
[1] (John 13:17)
[2] (1 Jn 4:19)
[3] (Lk 14:23)
[4](John 5:24)
[5] (Romans 8:28)
[6] (Matthew 28:20)
Pope’s Morning Homily: May We Recognize Whom We Must Resist, Who Come From the Evil One
During Morning Mass, Francis Reminds ‘May We Know How to Open Ourselves to New Things But Only Those That Come From God’
APRIL 24, 2018 14:57 DEBORAH CASTELLANO LUBOV
“May the Lord grant us the grace of knowing how to resist those that we must resist, those who come from the evil one, those who deprive us of our freedom.”
According to Vatican News, Pope Francis stressed this during his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta as he reflected on the central role of the Holy Spirit in the disciple’s life, looking at the day’s readings.
Recalling today’s Gospel from St. John, the Pope noted that the doctors of the Law’s observance of the law became rigidity. Placing themselves at the center, Francis noted, they remained untouched before the works the Holy Spirit accomplishes.
The Holy Father highlighted their inability to “discern the signs of the times” as a type of prison. He prayed we nowadays are instead able to discern such signs in order to make the decisions that we need to make in that moment.
“They received a law that was life, but they ‘distilled’ it,” he stressed, noting, “they transformed it into an ideology and thus they toss and turn it and are unable to move beyond. Anything new for them is a threat.”
Reflecting being docile to the Spirit, Francis stressed the opposite is true of the child of God for whom the Holy Spirit is central. The first disciples who were docile before what was new to them, as seen in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostoles — Francis said– is the attitude which led them to sow the Word of God in ways that were not “tried and true.”
“They remained docile to the Holy Spirit and accomplished something that was more than a revolution.” The Holy Father suggested they put the Church in motion showing us that a Church can only achieve its balance like a bicycle—only when it is in motion.
There are two contrary ways to describe a person’s reaction to the breath of the Holy Spirit, the Pontiff said, closure or openness. Openness, he said, characterizes the disciples and the apostles.
Recognizing there will always be resistance to the Holy Spirit in the Church, the Pope concluded with this prayer for us to be granted strength of the Spirit: “May the Lord grant us the grace of knowing how to resist those that we must resist, those who come from the evil one, those who deprive us of our freedom.
“May we know how to open ourselves to new things, but only those that come from God. May he grant us, with the strength of the Holy Spirit, the grace to discern the signs of the times in order to make the decisions that we need to make in that moment.”
Pray and Listen: What Philosophers Are Saying About Evangelization
Lately I’ve been taking my cues for evangelization from philosophers.
Maybe I need to get out more.
But, in all seriousness, its been philosophers who have taught me some of the greatest lessons on evangelization that I’ve ever learned—and it’s really changed how I think about sharing the faith. So, I thought I would share what I’ve learned. And maybe it’ll change how you think about it, too.
What I’ve lately learned from philosophers is the notion of a worldview—the way in which we see the world; the lens through which we view kind of everything. And while the idea of a worldview wasn’t necessarily new to me—it’s the kind of stuff we learned in high school—I’d never really considered how profoundly different competing worldviews can be and how they shape and impact faith.
And faith sharing.
What philosophers like Doug Beaumount, Randal Rauser, and Carrie Gress have taught me recently is that we can’t change a worldview with a conversation.
And that’s fundamental.
Take me, for example. As an non-denominational Evangelical, I began a journey towards that Catholic Church that lasted almost 10 years. Along the way I met certain people who wittingly or unwittingly planted certain seeds in my life. I read particular authors at particular points; I encountered interesting ideas and information at regular intervals; and, finally, I made the leap to become a Catholic.
It wasn’t overnight, and it wasn’t in a hurry.
And if someone had stopped me on the street to debate the theology of the Real Presence five years into my ten year journey I probably would’ve dismissed them out right. Or, worse, they could’ve set back all the progress I’d made. Maybe a crazy-eyed Catholic encountered at the wrong time would’ve put me off exploring the faith any further at that point.
Lately, what I’ve learned about evangelization is that convincing someone of the incredible riches of Catholicism isn’t something that can happen in a single conversation.
No matter how good our apologetics might be we’re talking about doing the hard work of shifting worldviews: Fundamentally changing the way someone sees everything.
And that takes time.
And while there is certainly a place for activities like street evangelizations, debates, protests, and challenging dialogue what I’m coming to understand is that this shouldn’t be the norm for evangelization—or, at least, it shouldn’t be our only way of doing it. Because in an increasingly secular culture these activities alone aren’t going to win hearts and minds to Christ.
So what is?
Philosophers like Dr. Carrie Gress suggest something as radical as prayer.
Prayer and the hard work of living a fruitful, attractive, and holy Catholic life open to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.
(Which, honestly, is probably more difficult to do than to debate a dude on the street corner.)
What will make in-roads into the lives of our non-Catholic friends, family members, and co-workers? Praying, praying more, and living a life open to the work of the Holy Spirit.
In my own journey into the riches of the Catholic Church it was seemingly random people offering a kind word, or an provoking question, or a patient ear. It was encountering the right thing to read at the right time. It was, looking back, this enormous string of tiny little events that crescendoed with a radical shift in my worldview—and a leap into the arms of Holy Mother Church.
Not one singular moment or well-reasoned critique of my Evangelical faith structure.
What have philosophers taught me about evangelization? Two huge takeaways.
First, that what we need to do the most is to pray, to listen to the Holy Spirit, and to realize that we’re dealing with fundamental shifts in people’s perspectives.
Often the best we can do is hope to plant a seed in fertile ground with the way that we live, with our prayers, and with the simple things that we say. If we’re quiet and still and live prayerful lives we should be open to hearing from God if and when He asks us to step out in faith to offer that patient ear, word of wisdom, or thought-provoking question.
Bottom line: pray, and pay attention to the Holy Spirit.
And, second, we can’t expect to move mountains with one conversation. Shifting a worldview takes time and those seeds we plant might only be seeds for a very long time until someone else comes along, led by the Spirit, to do the watering.
If we expect people to shift their opinions after only a few encounters we’re sadly selling those people short. We—all of us—have worldviews built up and reinforced over great big periods of time and we can’t expect anyone with any integrity at all to tear that down overnight—apart from a massive movement of the Spirit.
But, be assured, the Spirit is at work and it was Jesus, after all, who told us that we should expect to be able to move mountains. Just recognize, it doesn’t always happen with a single shove.
I am looking forward to the 6:00 pm Mass on June 23rd when our Lifeteen and Adult Confirmandi receive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit from Bishop Mike. During the Confirmandi’s preparation we have tried to open up their hearts and minds to be ready to receive the Holy Spirit. Let’s pray for them and encourage them with our attendance on June 23rd.
10 Ways to Open Up to the Holy Spirit
The Gift of Gifts, the Paraclete, the Counselor and Consoler, Friend, Sanctifier, Third Person of the Blessed Trinity—all of these are different titles given to the Person of the Holy Spirit. In an earlier article we explained the power of the Holy Spirit to transform sinners into great saints—as we saw in the Apostles, and especially Simon Peter. Saint John XXIII actually said: “The saints are the masterpieces of the Holy Spirit.” A future saint can be you and me.
In this article we would like to point out ten specific ways that we can deepen our knowledge, love, intimacy and union with the Holy Spirit and thereby allow Him to do the work of transforming us from sinners into saints. It can be done if we become docile instruments in the hands of God who is the Holy Spirit! “Come Holy Spirit, come, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary!”
1. Prayer
Form the habit if praying to the Holy Spirit on a frequent basis. You could pray the traditional prayer to the Holy Spirit: “Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle within us the fire of your divine love.” If you like, try the hymn in Latin: “Veni Creator”; or the Sequence prayed on Pentecost “Veni, Sancte Spiritus.”
Or, you might sing the classical hymn to the Holy Spirit, “Come Holy Ghost.” Or it might appeal to you to pray the Litany of the Holy Spirit. Never forget, you can pray and talk to the Holy Spirit using your own words, simply speak to Him from your heart.
2. Acts of the Apostles
Read the book from the Bible, “The Acts of the Apostles”. Written by the Evangelist Saint Luke, this book clearly shows the powerful working of the Holy Spirit in the Apostles—especially Saint Peter and St. Paul—as well as the formation of the primitive church. As you read be keenly attentive to the presence and workings of the Holy Spirit and beg Him to work powerfully in your own personal life! “Come Holy Spirit come….”
3. Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Get to know the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. You received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit the day of your Baptism. These Gifts were fortified the day of your Confirmation. However, these Gifts must be used and exercised. If these Gifts are not used then they become rusty, dormant, and inactive. Memorize them and study them.
Here they are:
§ Wisdom,
§ Knowledge
§ Understanding
§ Counsel
§ Fortitude
§ Piety
§ Fear of the Lord
These gifts, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, perfect our intellect and our will so that we can know God more clearly and love Him more ardently.
4. Silence
We must cultivate zones of silence in our daily lives, even though many of us have to combine the Martha and Mary (The Active and the Contemplative) in a harmonious balance. Still, the danger is to launch ourselves into a frenetic activism whereby there is little time for prayer and much less for silence. The Holy Spirit speaks to a heart that is ready to listen in silence. With Samuel in the temple we should pray: “Speak O Lord for your servant is listening.”
5. Docility
Silence is a prerequisite to move on to the next step—docility to the Holy Spirit. A person who is living in the state of grace, honestly pursuing a life of holiness and seeking perfection will be exposed to heavenly inspirations that come from the Holy Spirit. The key is an ability to listen to these gentle but insistent inspirations, discern them coming from God and then the most difficult is to follow and obey these inspirations.
The Holy Spirit is, so to speak, a “Gentleman” and will never force Himself upon anybody. Rather, He waits patiently for us to respond and then He can work very powerfully only if we are silent, humble and obedient.
6. Spiritual Readings
Highly to be recommended, with respect to learning to be docile to the Holy Spirit, is the reading of a spiritual masterpiece The School of the Holy Spirit, written by the French spiritual master Jacques Philippe. The essence of this book is very clear and simple. If we want to arrive at sanctity of life we must get to know the Holy Spirit, love the Holy Spirit and manifest this knowledge and love by being docile to His heavenly inspirations.
7. Be Careful and Alert
The work of the devil is to discourage us, make us sad and to push us into desolation and then despair. Be aware of the workings of the Holy Spirit. The workings of “The sweet Guest of the soul” are the direct opposite of the devil.
How does the Holy Spirit work? St. Ignatius of Loyola in his rules for discernment specifies how the Good Spirit works. He strengthens our resolve to follow Jesus and fortifies our faith, hope, charity. He infuses peace and joy and energy to follow the Lord. He encourages us to lift our mind to heaven. He consoles us with the thoughts of the eternal salvation of our soul. Therefore, do not allow the devil to discourage you, but let the Holy Spirit encourage and strengthen you.
8. Prayer, Penance, Power, Perseverance, & Perfection
Try to connect these “5 P’s” to union with the Holy Spirit; all are necessary for a constant and growing union with the Holy Spirit. We must pray to the Sanctifier. Also, as Mary and the Apostles acted in the Cenacle for this powerful novena, we must practice penance or self-denial. However, the journey can be long and cumbersome, we must persevere and if we fall bounce back. Then if we are faithful to the first 4’P’s the Holy Spirit will bring us to perfection in the following of Jesus.
9. Loneliness? Problems?
If you experience loneliness and are weighed down by many problems then never forget to enter into the depths of your soul and speak to the Holy Spirit whose name is “Sweet Guest of the soul”. You will recognize that you are really not alone and that your problems and crosses are not as heavy as you think. Rather, the Holy Spirit can help you to resolve your problems or at least help you to cope with them.
10. Mary and the Holy Spirit
Mary is the Daughter of God the Father, the Mother of God the Son, and she is the Mystical Spouse of the Holy Spirit. St. Maximilian Kolbe has written brilliantly on the intimate relationship between Mary and the Holy Spirit.
If you want to have a powerful invasion in your heart of the Holy Spirit, a personal Pentecost experience in your life, then why not turn to Mary. As the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles the day of Pentecost through Mary’s prayers and presence, He can descend into your soul through the prayers and presence of Mary. “Come Holy Spirit, come, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
