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December 31, 2015

John 3: 16

For this is how God loved the world:
he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
may not perish
but may have eternal life.

1 John 2: 3

In this way we know
that we have come to know him,
if we keep his commandments.

R. We must build up the family.

                Mary and Jesus have asked us to consecrate our
                    hearts to the Sacred Heart and
                    Immaculate Heart and to consecrate
                    our family and homes, all schools and
                    all parishes.

People need to make Jesus and Mary the King
and Queen of their hearts.

We see the deterioration of the family life and
the need for respect for authority.

                    This time of year brings us to meditate on the Holy
                Family. We see Jesus came as a baby into a family. Jesus
                was formed as a baby in the womb of Mary –

Mary is the Queen of Peace –

R. We need the Holy Spirit to form us in greater holiness.

From the Priestly Newsletter Book III by Fr. Edward Carter, S.J.

The Holy Spirit And Mary

The late Archbishop Luis M. Martinez of Mexico strikingly speaks of the ongoing cooperation of Mary with the Holy Spirit regarding the reproduction of Jesus within us: "Christian life is the reproduction of Jesus in souls…

"Now, how will this mystical reproduction be brought about in souls? In the same way in which Jesus was brought into the world, for God gives a wonderful mark of unity to all His works. Divine acts have a wealth of variety because they are the work of omnipotence; nevertheless, a most perfect unity always shines forth from them because they are the fruit of wisdom; and this divine contrast of unity and variety stamps the works of God with sublime and unutterable beauty.

"In His miraculous birth, Jesus was the fruit of heaven and earth…The Holy Spirit conveyed the divine fruitfulness of the Father to Mary, and the virginal soil brought forth in an ineffable manner our most loving Savior, the divine Seed, as the prophets called Him…

"That is the way He is reproduced in souls. He is always the fruit of heaven and earth.

"Two artisans must concur in the work that is at once God’s masterpiece and humanity’s supreme product: the Holy Spirit and the most holy Virgin Mary. Two sanctifiers are necessary to souls, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, for they are the only ones who can reproduce Christ.

"Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary sanctify us in different ways. The first is the Sanctifier by essence; because He is God, who is infinite sanctity; because He is the personal Love that completes, so to speak, the sanctity of God, consummating His life and His unity, and it belongs to Him to communicate to souls the mystery of that sanctity. The Virgin Mary, for her part, is the co-operator, the indispensable instrument in and by God’s design. From Mary’s maternal relation to the human body of Christ is derived her relation to His Mystical Body which is being formed through all the centuries until the end of time, when it will be lifted up to the heavens, beautiful, splendid, complete, and glorious.

"These two, then, the Holy Spirit and Mary, are the indispensable artificers of Jesus, the indispensable sanctifiers of souls. Any saint in heaven can co-operate in the sanctification of a soul, but his co-operation is not necessary, not profound, not constant: while the co-operation of these two artisans of Jesus of whom we have just been speaking is so necessary that without it souls are not sanctified (and this by the actual design of Providence), and so intimate that it reaches to the very depths of our soul. For the Holy Spirit pours charity into our heart, makes a habitation of our soul, and directs our spiritual life by means of His gifts. The Virgin Mary has the efficacious influence of Mediatrix in the most profound and delicate operations of grace in our souls. And, finally, the action of the Holy Spirit and the co-operation of the most holy Virgin Mary are constant; without them, not one single character of Jesus would be traced on our souls, no virtue grow, no gift be developed, no grace increased, no bond of union with God be strengthened in the rich flowering of the spiritual life.

"Such is the place that the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary have in the order of sanctification. Therefore, Christian piety should put these two artisans of Christ in their true place, making devotion to them something necessary, profound, and constant." ¹⁸

18. Archbishop Luis M. Martinez, The Sanctifier, op. cit. pp. 5-7.

                R. The Church and the world and the individual
                Christian is to be formed more and more in the
                image of Jesus.

Luke 2: 16

So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.

R. Our heavenly Father is God –

Mary is our heavenly Mother –

God gave us the family to bring forth fruit
for the Kingdom.

Mary is our spiritual Mother –

God we want to grow in love –

Thank You God for Your gifts to us.

Mary is Mother of God

                We know Jesus was the Son of Mary and
                    we know because of the Virgin birth
                    Jesus came with a little human baby body!

Luke 1: 38

Mary said, ‘You see before you the Lord’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said.’

                R. When Mary appears and we are praying – she
                    shows me in the apparition how she
                    prays with us.

Luke 1: 46-55

And Mary said:

My soul proclaims
    the greatness of the Lord
and my spirit rejoices
    in God my Saviour;
because he has looked upon
    the humiliation of his servant.
Yes, from now onwards
    all generations will call me blessed,
for the Almighty
    has done great things for me.
Holy is his name,
and his faithful love extends age after age
    to those who fear him.
He has used the power of his arm,
he has routed the arrogant of heart.
He has pulled down princes
    from their thrones
        and raised high the lowly.
He has filled the starving with good things,
    sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the help
    of Israel his servant,
        mindful of his faithful love
—according to the promise
    he made to our ancestors—
of his mercy to Abraham
    and to his descendants for ever.

Galatians 4: 4-7

but when the completion of the time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law, so that we could receive adoption as sons. As you are sons, God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son crying, ‘Abba, Father’; and so you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir, by God’s own act.

Luke 2: 19

As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Sing: Come Holy Ghost

R. Jesus is the new born King.

Jesus is the Light of the World.

Malachi 3: 1

‘Look, I shall send my messenger to clear a way before me. And suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his Temple; yes, the angel of the covenant, for whom you long, is on his way, says Yahweh Sabaoth.

1 Chronicles 29: 12

Wealth and riches come from you, you are ruler of all, in your hand lie strength and power, and you bestow greatness and might on whomsoever you please.

Sing: Creator of the Stars of Night

Sing: What Star is This

Sing: We Three Kings

R. Jesus is the Light shining in the darkness.

Isaiah 60: 1-6

Arise, shine out,
  for your light has come,
and the glory of Yahweh has risen on you.
Look! though night still covers the earth
and darkness the peoples,
on you Yahweh is rising
and over you his glory can be seen.
The nations will come to your light
and kings to your dawning brightness.
Lift up your eyes and look around:
all are assembling
  and coming towards you,
your sons coming from far away
and your daughters
  being carried on the hip.
At this sight you will grow radiant,
your heart will throb and dilate,
since the riches of the sea will flow to you,
the wealth of the nations come to you;
camels in throngs will fill your streets,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
everyone in Saba will come,
bringing gold and incense
and proclaiming Yahweh's praises.

R. In baptism we receive a sharing in His life –

We pray for an increase of faith, hope and love.

Matthew 2: 2

asking, ‘Where is the infant king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.’

                R. We see the star above the place where Jesus
                    was born.
                    God the Father gives this great gift to us.

                We see in the Baptism of Jesus –
                    the heavens were thrown open –
                    the Holy Spirit was above Jesus
                    and the voice of the Father was heard –

"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

This is another manifestation by God the Father
of His beloved Son.

Jesus shows us "He was a man for others."

                We think of our calling from God the Father
                    in life –
                    to respond by saying a whole hearty
                    "yes" to our vocation.

We want to fulfill what God has called
us to –

We see how Jesus obeyed His Father's will.

Matthew 3: 16-17

And when Jesus had been baptised he at once came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And suddenly there was a voice from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.’

                R. We pray to the Holy Spirit to help us to do the Father's
                    will in love. We pray to the Holy Spirit for
                    His gifts to live our vocation as the
                    Heavenly Father wants.

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                R. We are commissioned in baptism to go out and|
                    to spread the Good News –
                    It is our calling!

                We are anointed to do good –
                    to love God and love others as ourselves –
                    to avoid evil.

Isaiah 42: 1-4, 6-7

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one
    in whom my soul delights.
I have sent my spirit upon him,
he will bring fair judgement to the nations.
He does not cry out or raise his voice,
his voice is not heard in the street;
he does not break the crushed reed
or snuff the faltering wick.
Faithfully he presents fair judgement;
he will not grow faint,
    he will not be crushed
until he has established
    fair judgement on earth,
and the coasts and islands
    are waiting for his instruction.

I, Yahweh, have called you
    in saving justice,
I have grasped you by the hand
    and shaped you;
I have made you a covenant of the people
and light to the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to free captives from prison,
and those who live in darkness
    from the dungeon.

Excerpt from Guiding Light: Trust and Transform

R. Fr. Joe says: p. 34

It was salvation he had come to announce, not vengeance, and it would be a salvation offered to the entire world, to all nations.

Sing: A Song from Jesus

Excerpt from Guiding Light: Trust and Transform

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus saw himself as being guided by the Spirit (the Spirit of the Lord is upon me). Now in the Spirit he proclaims the good news of God’s saving love. He was an immediate success. For a moment I’m going to get ahead of myself and refer to next Sunday’s gospel. Apparently his hearers, who knew him as a child and later as a simple craftsman, wanted some kind of a sign from him for he said to them: you are probably saying to yourselves: “do here in your own country what we have heard you have been doing in Capernaum.” Then they turned on him and were ready to kill him. He walked away from them, however, for his good work had to go on until it was the right moment. When that moment arrived, he would give up his life rather than discontinue his ministry and he would rise again and continue his work through the Spirit and through the Church. We are invited to be part of that sacred moment each time we are at Mass. Amen.

Jeremiah 1: 4-5, 17-19

The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

     ‘Before I formed you in the womb
        I knew you;
    before you came to birth
        I consecrated you;
    I appointed you as prophet to the nations.’

The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

'As for you, prepare yourself for action.
Stand up and tell them
all I command you.
Have no fear of them
and in their presence
I will make you fearless.
For look, today I have made you
into a fortified city,
a pillar of iron,
a wall of bronze
to stand against the whole country:
the kings of Judah, its princes,
its priests and the people of the country.
They will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you,
Yahweh declares,
to rescue you.’

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

January 31, 2010

INTRODUCTION – (Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 4:21-30) As St. Luke begins his gospel, he tells why he wrote it and how he went about it. We heard that last week. Then he goes on to tell us the beautiful stories about the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus and about how Jesus was lost in the Temple when he was twelve years old. We are not told what else happened to Jesus as he was growing up. Since it was the custom in those days, we can only assume that he worked with his father as a craftsman. About the age of thirty, Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan then was led by the Spirit into the desert to fast and pray for 40 days. Luke then begins to tell us about Jesus’ ministry of teaching and healing and his visit to his hometown of Nazareth. As a devout person, Jesus went to the synagogue faithfully on the Sabbath and was invited to do a reading from the prophet Isaiah and teach on it. This is where last Sunday’s gospel ended. Today we hear how his relatives and former neighbors responded to his message – with enthusiasm at first, but it turned into hostility. Our first reading, as usual, prepares us for the gospel. Jeremiah the prophet heard God’s call to preach, a job that God warned him would lead to suffering and rejection.

HOMILY – Overheard in a restaurant: a lady was telling her friend, “my husband and I had a big argument and we ended up not talking to one another for three days. Finally, on the third day he asked where one of his shirts was. I said ‘So, now you’re talking to me.’ He looked confused and asked ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘haven’t you noticed I haven’t spoken to you for three days?’ He said: ‘No, I just thought we were getting along.’” (from Reader’s Digest, Laughter – the Best Medicine) Such is the joy and complexity of love. I’ll say something about that later. But first, today’s gospel. We are left with a lot of questions. How is it that Jesus’ visit to his hometown turned from enthusiasm to such hostility they wanted to kill him? Or how did he get away from them without being harmed? Is Luke telling us, in summarized form, what took place over the course of a number of visits Jesus made to Nazareth as he began his ministry? Luke doesn’t answer our concerns. The only detail he gives us is that the people didn’t consider Jesus anyone special – even though they were already familiar with stories of his miraculous powers. I think St. Luke is giving us a warning of what was ahead for Jesus: how his ministry of teaching and healing started out to be very popular with the people. Gradually, as people, especially some of the Jewish leaders, really started to understand his message, opposition to him grew until he as put to death. Perhaps Luke is teaching us that we can’t take Jesus on our terms but on his terms; we can’t make Jesus into who we would like him to be. We must accept him on the basis of who he wants us to be. Perhaps Luke is also showing us that Jesus was not a politician who tried to cater to people’s wants; he was a prophet who would be faithful to the mission God sent him on, no matter what the consequences were.

Our second reading from St. Paul is one of the most beautiful passages written by him. It is especially popular at weddings, and rightly so. It may sound romantic, and indeed a couple who loves one another in the way Paul describes love would surely not lose the romance in their relationship. But the love Paul talks about does not happen easily or without effort. It demands discipline, unselfishness and self-sacrifice. As Paul says, love is not self-seeking; he insists that without love we are nothing. Paul means this literally. His argument for this statement comes one chapter earlier in his letter when he compares the Christian Community to the body of Christ. We are all a part of that body and none of us can say we can get along without the other members of the body. It’s like our own body. It has many parts, and each part functions because it is part of the whole. If our arm were cut off it may have the appearance of an arm, but literally it would not be an arm. It would be a mass of bone and skin and flesh. It’s only an arm when it is connected to the body, which gives it its life and it’s ability to function. Without its connection to the body, it is nothing. What connects us with one another and makes us one body is love. Without love we are separate individuals, no longer one with our head, which is Christ, and no longer one with each other. Thus he argues that even if any of us were miracle workers and had all kinds of spiritual gifts, without love we are nothing. The word Paul uses for love (agape) is not the kind of love that seeks some kind of reward from the one we love (i.e., it is not based on what we can get out of a relationship). Agape is a giving kind of love, the kind of love that Jesus has for us. St. John tells us: “God is love (agape),” (1 John 4:8) so if we’re without love we’re without God and vice versa. Without being connected with God, we’re not connected to the head or to the rest of the body.

Our Mass helps us to abide in his love. We listen to his words, we recall his sacrifice on the cross for us, and we are united with him, the source of all love (agape), in Communion. We ask his help though our prayers and we give thanks for his love for us. Don’t forget (eucharistia) is the Greek word for giving thanks and that’s what we are doing now.

5th Sunday in Ordinary Times

February 7, 2010

INTRODUCTION – (Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11) Our first reading is one of my favorite Old Testament readings. It is from the prophet Isaiah who lived about 725 years before Christ. He describes his call from God to be a prophet. The setting is in Jerusalem in the Temple. Notice he is unable to describe what God looks like. He describes God’s royal robe, the angels, the sounds and the profound sense of God’s holiness. In this experience he becomes aware of his own unworthiness. You will recognize in this passage the inspiration for two familiar hymns: the Holy, Holy, which we say or sing at every Mass and the hymn, Here I Am, Lord.

In the other two readings we hear how two other people experienced God in Jesus Christ: Paul in his vision of the Risen Christ and Peter in the miraculous catch of fish.

HOMILY – Several years ago, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin wrote a little book called Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say about the Jews. In it he tells this story: A man takes some very fine material to a tailor and asks the tailor to make him a pair of pants. He goes back a week later, but the pants are not ready. Two weeks go by, and still the pants are not ready. Finally, after six weeks, the pants are ready. The man tries them, and they fit perfectly. As he pays for them, he says to the tailor, “It took God only six days to make the world. And it took you six weeks to make just one pair of pants.” “Yes,” said the tailor, “but look at the pair of pants (perfect!) and look at the world (it’s a mess).” The tailor was hinting that perhaps God would have done a better job if he weren’t in so much of a hurry.

    I wonder if the tailor ever read his bible. It tells us from the very beginning all that God made was good. God, moreover, put his human creatures in the garden of Eden, a paradise that would be a source of every delight. But God’s first human creatures rebelled against God and destroyed the harmony and joy God had blessed them with. Somehow we, the children of those first humans, continue to follow their example. So if the world is in a mess, the bible is telling us, don’t blame God. We humans have created that mess ourselves. Maybe God really didn’t create the world in six days. After all the bible is not trying to teach science. It’s trying to tell us that God made all things, not how. You may have heard the story that after God made Adam, and Adam was in the Garden of Eden for a while, God asked Adam how things were going. Adam told God he was enjoying everything, but he felt something was missing. God said, how about if I create a companion for you, someone you can put your arms around, someone who will laugh at your jokes, listen to your stories, who will give you no hassle and will cater to your every whim. Adam thought that would be great. God said it will cost you an arm and a leg. Adam thought for a few moments, then asked God, what can I get for a rib.

    We know there is a lot of symbolism in the two creation accounts of Genesis. For example, men are not going around with a rib missing. The six days of creation is also symbolic. Scholars tell us this account of creation was written by a priest who was trying to teach his people, among other things, that they were to keep holy the Sabbath. Even God rested on the Sabbath. Actually God doesn’t get tired and his work of creation is ongoing. Astronomy has discovered that new stars are forming all the time. New human beings are coming into the world all the time. Even Jesus told the Jewish leaders after one of his miracles: “My father is at work until now, so I am at work.” (Jn 5:7). We heard how God is at work making the world better through his prophet, Isaiah. God appeared to Isaiah, and purified his lips so that he could proclaim God’s message to God’s people. God was at work through St. Paul in today’s second reading proclaiming the resurrection. I would like to expand on this passage a little more. Paul’s letter is one of the earliest writings in the New Testament, written about the year 56 or 57 (about 14 years before the first gospel was written), thus it is a very important testimony to the faith of the early Church. The Corinthians were having a problem accepting the idea of the resurrection of the body. They thought our body came back to life with the same problems, weaknesses, and flaws it had before we died. They thought their spirits would be freer without their bodies. That’s not so, Paul said. He tells them “what I handed on to you, as of first importance, I also received.” Because it is such an important doctrine, Paul dedicated the whole last part of his letter to the resurrection. Notice the kind of language he uses to indicate this is the Tradition of the Church: “I handed on to you what I also received.” That is, this is what the Church always believed about Jesus, that although he was put to death, his body now lives and he is seated at the right hand of God the Father. Paul goes on (beyond today’s passage) to explain how we too shall rise to new life with him. It is a new world God is creating, in the risen Lord Jesus. That’s where our gospel comes in: Peter and the apostles, who were among the many who visibly saw Jesus after his resurrection, would now be catching people, Jesus told Peter. They would be bringing people into God’s perfect Kingdom, leading them though baptism and the Eucharist to a new life, eternal life, where there would be no more pain or suffering or even death.

    When we look around and see that the world is in terrible shape, let us not lose hope. God hasn’t abandoned us, rather God continues to send people who will help to establish his eternal Kingdom, people like Isaiah, people like Paul, people like Peter and the apostles, people like you and me. Amen.

R. God is calling us to greater faith in Him –
to unity and holiness –

                We must be listening to God to grow in
                    these things and praying for God's
                    grace to do so and cooperate with
                    the grace He gives –

                The Holy Spirit helps us to be more deeply united
                    in unity to God and others as we
                    give ourselves in love living according
                    to the Father's will.

Jesus tells us

Reform your lives! The Kingdom of heaven
is at hand.

Matthew 4: 23

He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and illness among the people.

R. Jesus healed and taught.

Jesus worked miracles –

We are to grow in the greater image
and likeness of God –

God is love!

Matthew 22: 36-40

'Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?' Jesus said to him, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.'

                R. We see the journey of the wise men –
                We think of our journey to know God
                more and more and be transformed –
                We want to die to the leprosy of sin –
                The leper was also forced to go away
                from the community and live with
                lepers.

                Sin really isolates us from our
                    brothers. Selfishness and envy
                    and anger and pride divide
                    us from others and hurt our own
                    hearts too!

                    The time of Christmas and Epiphany
                should help us to be changed to be
                more like Jesus, Our Savior! We pray
                to be forgiven for our sins and to be
                able in our hearts to forgive others –
                to live holy lives –

                    Baptism is such a gift for us –
                We want Christ to fill us more and
                more abundantly –

Sing: I Love You Jesus

                R. God knows all things – God created
                us to know, love and serve Him –
                All our actions should be for His honor and
                glory –

From The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius,
by Louis J. Puhl, S.J. p. 12

23. FIRST PRINCIPLE AND FOUNDATION

Man is created to praise, reverence and serve God
our Lord, and by this means to save his soul.

R. Everything we do should be done for God!

John 8: 12

I am the light of the world;

anyone who follows me ...

will have the light of life.

December 19, 2015

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Excerpt from The Spirituality of Fatima

by Fr. Edward Carter, S.J.

July 13, 1917

    "During her appearance in July, Our Lady, in answer to Lucia's plea, promised that in October she would work a great miracle so that all might believe and know who she was. Again, the Mother of God told the children to sacrifice themselves for sinners and to say many times, especially when making a sacrifice, this prayer: "O my Jesus, I offer this for love of Thee, for the conversion of poor sinners, and in reparation for all the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary." ⁽¹¹⁾

    "During this same July apparition, Mary showed the three children a vision of Hell. She told them:

    "You have seen Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish, in the world, devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If people do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.

    "The war (World War I, then raging) is going to end. But if people do not stop offending God, another and worse one will begin in the reign of Pius XI. When you shall see a night illuminated by an unknown light [January 2, 1938], know that this is the great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its many crimes by means of war, hunger, and persecution of the Church and the Holy Father. ⁽¹²⁾

    "To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the five first Saturdays. If my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, she will scatter her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be destroyed....

    "But in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph, the Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, Russia will be converted, and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world." ⁽¹³⁾

11. For background material on Fatima, I am particularly indebted to
    Our Lady of Fatima's Peace Plan from Heaven (Rockford: TAN
    Books and Publishers, Inc., 1983). pp.3-4.
12. Ibid., pp.4-5.
13. Ibid., p.5.

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