Though we celebrate the feast of the Archangels today, the 2nd reading from the Book of Revelation (Rev 12: 7-12) shows that the ultimate victory against evil is won by martyrs. Martyrdom reveals God’s goodness and truth and destroys the lies of evil. The martyr proves to the world that by the grace of God he is superior to the seduction and to the threat of evil. To choose to suffer for truth and love is the defeat of lies and hate.
The victory of the martyr is won through the blood of the Lamb—Jesus Christ. Through his Cross and Resurrection, Jesus fell to the nadir human existence (despair and hatred) and overcame it; and the martyrs participate and share in this costly victory of forgiveness. The world will not be saved by anonymous Christians, rather the world will be saved by the blood of those, who surrender their lives to Christ in order to be given away to the people of God—the world will be saved by martyrs for Christ. May we ask the Archangels to protect us, as we make journey to our martyrdoms.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Demands and Costs of Discipleship
Gospel Lk 8:4-15
This Saturday we hear possibly the 1st parable ever spoken by Jesus. It is a parable that speaks about the mission of Christ and about the ones who desire to follow him; it is a parable that illuminates the demands and costs of Christian discipleship.
In the Parable of the Sower we are reminded that the Word of God is always good, but the outcome of it depends on the heart and the mind into which it falls. The Word of God falling on good soil is equal to a person with a good and generous heart. The person with such a heart listens attentively. He allows Christ to grow in his heart and mind and ponders over the meaning of Christ for his life—he discerns where Christ is calling him. After his deliberation, he acts upon it.
As disciples, we follow in the footsteps of Christ by sowing or spreading the Good News to others. In our labor for the Kingdom, we are warned that we may not be completely successful. Yet we are counseled against despair. Though some of our efforts may not bear fruit, we are assured of a harvest. This parable reminds us that, though we may have our heart aches and losses in our mission for the Lord, no enemy can defeat the ultimate victory of God and we are to live in and out of this victory in our struggle for truth, goodness, and beauty.
This Saturday we hear possibly the 1st parable ever spoken by Jesus. It is a parable that speaks about the mission of Christ and about the ones who desire to follow him; it is a parable that illuminates the demands and costs of Christian discipleship.
In the Parable of the Sower we are reminded that the Word of God is always good, but the outcome of it depends on the heart and the mind into which it falls. The Word of God falling on good soil is equal to a person with a good and generous heart. The person with such a heart listens attentively. He allows Christ to grow in his heart and mind and ponders over the meaning of Christ for his life—he discerns where Christ is calling him. After his deliberation, he acts upon it.
As disciples, we follow in the footsteps of Christ by sowing or spreading the Good News to others. In our labor for the Kingdom, we are warned that we may not be completely successful. Yet we are counseled against despair. Though some of our efforts may not bear fruit, we are assured of a harvest. This parable reminds us that, though we may have our heart aches and losses in our mission for the Lord, no enemy can defeat the ultimate victory of God and we are to live in and out of this victory in our struggle for truth, goodness, and beauty.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Today we celebrate the exaltation of the Cross. The Cross in the light of the Resurrection reveals to us the love between the Father and the Son in the communion of the Holy Spirit. It is a love that defies fear, hatred, despair, and death. It is a love that transforms fear, hatred, despair, and death.
In Paul’s moving letter to the Philippians [2: 6-11], he points to the important characteristics of Jesus’ life: his humility, obedience, and selfless love. Within all this we find the glory of Jesus. It is the glory that should lead everyone to fall on their knees and to give Him praise. Yet, the impetus of our praise and worship does not ultimately come from fear. It comes from love. Jesus won the hearts of men and women, not by forcing them through his power, but by embracing both saints and sinners on the cross. Jesus did not take up the finer things in this world. He also took up the ugly things in this world on the cross, brought them to the Father in the Spirit, and transformed them into beauty.
In Paul’s moving letter to the Philippians [2: 6-11], he points to the important characteristics of Jesus’ life: his humility, obedience, and selfless love. Within all this we find the glory of Jesus. It is the glory that should lead everyone to fall on their knees and to give Him praise. Yet, the impetus of our praise and worship does not ultimately come from fear. It comes from love. Jesus won the hearts of men and women, not by forcing them through his power, but by embracing both saints and sinners on the cross. Jesus did not take up the finer things in this world. He also took up the ugly things in this world on the cross, brought them to the Father in the Spirit, and transformed them into beauty.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Labor Day Thoughts
Paul’s Letter to the Colossians (Col. 1:24-2:3) in today’s readings for Mass is appropriate for our Labor Day celebration. In the beginning of his letter Paul strikes a bold thought. He thinks of his sufferings occurred in ministry as “completing” the sufferings of Christ. Jesus died to save humanity and to gather a Church. Yet the Church ought to flourish and grow; She must be kept strong and free from error. Thus, anyone who labors in and for God’s people and ensuring their well-being and protecting them for harm, is doing the work of Christ. And if such labor entails suffering and sacrifice, that affliction is a participation in the suffering of Christ. To labor and suffer in service of Christ is neither a punishment nor a chore but a glorious opportunity and privilege for sharing in his work to renew creation and humanity.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
My Brothers and Sisters,
Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.
One of St. Augustine's great contribution to the life of the Church was his insistence on the humility of the 2nd Person of the Trinity. In Christ's self-emptying love to the frailty of human life and to the death on the Cross he renewed humanity. For St. Augustine, it is by Christ's death that the sacraments are bestowed upon us. It is his by his death that the ugliness of hatred and despair is taken up and renewed into the beauty of love, forgiveness, and hope. It is by the Cross that humanity is brought back from the ugliness of sin and into the beauty of the redeemed Body of Christ. According to Augustine, the power of God's love is most evocative in the vulnerability of His self-emptying love for us. It is the encounter and the reception of this kenosis that enables persons to surrender their lives in the name of the One who is Love. Only something so beautiful can move a person to give his life to God and neighbor.
"Do we love anything but that which is beautiful? What, then, is beauty? What is it that attracts us and attaches us to the things we love? (Confessions X, 13, 20)"
Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.
One of St. Augustine's great contribution to the life of the Church was his insistence on the humility of the 2nd Person of the Trinity. In Christ's self-emptying love to the frailty of human life and to the death on the Cross he renewed humanity. For St. Augustine, it is by Christ's death that the sacraments are bestowed upon us. It is his by his death that the ugliness of hatred and despair is taken up and renewed into the beauty of love, forgiveness, and hope. It is by the Cross that humanity is brought back from the ugliness of sin and into the beauty of the redeemed Body of Christ. According to Augustine, the power of God's love is most evocative in the vulnerability of His self-emptying love for us. It is the encounter and the reception of this kenosis that enables persons to surrender their lives in the name of the One who is Love. Only something so beautiful can move a person to give his life to God and neighbor.
"Do we love anything but that which is beautiful? What, then, is beauty? What is it that attracts us and attaches us to the things we love? (Confessions X, 13, 20)"
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Into the third week of Easter, we begin to see a kind of pattern emerging which is THE pattern of our lives as Christians...life, death and resurrection. It is the pattern of the life of Christ obviously. It is also the pattern of his followers.
In the liturgy today we hear proclaimed the story of Stephen professing faith in the Father who sent the Son with confidence and he pays with his life for such a proclamation. he also asks for forgiveness for those who kill him. Sound familiar? The pattern is established as the Church's first martyr follows the Lord all the way to death and beyond.
Watching in the wings is another who will be drawn into the same pattern of life death and resurrection- Saul of Tarsus who will become The Apostle- Paul.
And so, the first generations of Christians begin to follow and imitate the Lord Jesus. And new life comes from their fidelity. Had they refused the pattern, we would not be calling ourselves Christians today. We are their inheritors. We have life because they gave theirs. What will we do with ours?
In the liturgy today we hear proclaimed the story of Stephen professing faith in the Father who sent the Son with confidence and he pays with his life for such a proclamation. he also asks for forgiveness for those who kill him. Sound familiar? The pattern is established as the Church's first martyr follows the Lord all the way to death and beyond.
Watching in the wings is another who will be drawn into the same pattern of life death and resurrection- Saul of Tarsus who will become The Apostle- Paul.
And so, the first generations of Christians begin to follow and imitate the Lord Jesus. And new life comes from their fidelity. Had they refused the pattern, we would not be calling ourselves Christians today. We are their inheritors. We have life because they gave theirs. What will we do with ours?
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Lord's descent into hell
"What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.
Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.
The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.
‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.
‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.
‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.
'See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.
`I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.
‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God.
"The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages."
A reading from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday
http://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20010414_omelia-sabato-santo_en.html
"What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.
Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.
The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.
‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.
‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.
‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.
'See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.
`I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.
‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God.
"The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages."
A reading from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday
http://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20010414_omelia-sabato-santo_en.html
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