| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
 |
| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
|
February 17, 2016
|
February 18th Holy Spirit Novena |
The Novena Rosary
Mysteries |
Pray for special intentions.
Pray for Dan & Melanie, Jimmy,
Fr. Joe, Mary, Blue Book 16.
Please pray for funds & grace.
Give the gift that Counts.
Blow Out Sale for Reprinting of Blue Book 1, 2 & 3
While Supplies Last
Blue Book 1 - $4 each plus postage
Blue Book 2 - $4 each plus postage
Blue Book 3 - $3 each plus postageCall 1-888-211-3041 for Doris
New Homily Book - Cycle C
Available $10.00 plus postage
February 17, 2016
R. If we could see the other side now,
we would know there is a God and
God created us and brought us into
existence and our life is really, very
short, and we are being tested here
to learn to love God and to love others
as ourselves. What is reality? It is God
who created the world and us and keeps
us in existence. God is absolute truth.
God created us in His image and likeness.
To be more likened to God we want to grow
to be more and more like God wanted us
to be.
God is love, so in seeking that for
which God wants us to be, we are
seeking to grow in love as God wants
us to be.
God has perfect order. Sin is
disorder. God wants His creatures
to obey Him and not rebel against His
plan. God gives to man a free will
to choose to obey His plan, obey His laws
or man has a free
will to disobey God's plan, God's rules,
to act in disorder against God and
to be unloving.
Given February 13, 2016
R. When a person sins they consent to
an act that is out of order. God is
perfect order. We see in the sin, Eve
first committed, it was a sin of
disorder. Eve wanted to be equal to God.
Adam followed Eve – he sinned in
disorder.
When we look at the sin of pride
we see it is a sin out of order. A
person, in pride, puts themselves first
above God. When we see the sin of
pride we see a person out of order,
of the order God wants. The sin of
pride against men – is a man always
putting himself first, seeking dominance
for dominance sake.
We see God has placed such order
in us, order in the elements, order
in the planets, order in our cycles
in life, order in healing a wound,
order in the length it takes for a
baby to be formed, order, order,
order in the hours of sunshine, the
hours of darkness – order, order, order.
When things are out of order there
are consequences. God has given us
order in the commandments. God is
first, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
In the deadly sins – we see disorder in
jealousy – A person doesn't give his
brother what is his due, disorder in
jealous eyes, disorder in punishing
others for our anger. We can see
disorder in anger where a person
thinks their anger is more important
than God's will.
Disorder where a person is lazy,
slothfully not doing what he should
in giving what is due to others and
the Creator.
The will in sinning is out of order –
one puts their will in opposition to
God's will.
God gives us laws to follow – sin is
out of order of
God's law. We must
seek right reason to judge correctly as
God's desires. The man who chooses to sin
does so because of his desire of his
will to do his will opposed
to God's will – out of order –
St. Thomas says:
"The man who sins through
ignorance or passion is like
a man who is temporarily ill.
When his illness passes - when
he learns better or when his
passion subsides - he can
recover easily.
But when a man is chronically
ill of a serious disease then
his recovery is uncertain and
sometimes most improbable. So
too the man who sins through sheer
malice has a disease of the will
itself. Neither knowledge alone
nor the cessation of passion
removes the disease of a
bad will. A man with a bad
will has a more or less
permanent inclination to evil.
And because will is the basic
principle or source of free human
acts, sins of malice are more
evil in themselves. That is
why men forgive sins of
ignorance or of passion more
readily than they forgive sins
of malice. We can forgive a man
when we say that he did not know
what he was doing. But we resent
a man's actions when we say that he
does them on purpose."
My way of Life – Pocket Edition of St. Thomas
by Walter Farrell OP, STM and
Martin J. Healy S.T.D. 1952
Yes, man has a free will to choose
what God wants him to do or
to reject what God is calling
him to do.
St. Thomas speaks of the man who he
says "through passion or ignorance"
chooses to do evil, and the man
who chooses to sin through malice.
In the writing it says
"The man who sins through sheer
malice has a disease of the
will itself."
Fr. Carter says:
Excerpt from Response in Christ by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.
The Christian and SinSIX
We should not have a sin-centered mentality. Christ wants us to focus our attention on the positive aspects of the Christian existence. Still, we should not minimize the existence of sin and the part each of us has contributed to the sinfulness of the world. Anyone who tends to doubt the enormous dimension of sin throughout man's history has only to read scripture to be reminded of the truth. Every age has been hauntered by sin's presence, our own being no exception. Some say that the modern world is not conscious of sin, but this observation does not seem to be entirely true. Modern man has articulated his consciousness of sin very noticeably through contemporary literature, philosophy and theology.
To be realistic, then, each of us must be properly conscious of sin, of our own sinfulness, of the fact that sin constitutes one of the major obstacles to the proper growth of the Christian life.
The Nature of Sin
What is the nature of sin? Contemporary theology emphasizes that sin is not primarily a violation of a law, but a disruption of personal relationships. Sin is a refusal to love. Serious sin is a radical refusal to love. Venial sin is a partial refusal to love.
The most obvious personal relationship that is affected by sin is that between God and the sinner. In sinning a man fails, to a lesser or greater degree, to accept God's loving gift of Himself. He fails also to respond with his own gift of love. In serious sin man refuses intimate friendship with God. In venial sin he dulls the ardor of that friendship. Man, in so far as he sins, maintains that he does not want his life to be directed by the loving hand of his heavenly Father. He wants to be a law for himself; he wants to be the one who decides what is good for himself and what is not. Schoonenberg observes: "Especially in the prophets sin is an aversion from and an unfaithfulness to Yahweh himself; hence it is placed in the heart rather than in the wrong deed. We see that aversion, that rebelliousness, that lack of faith which precede the act of transgressing the Law already in the story of the sin in paradise, where it is presented as the wish of possessing autonomously the knowledge of good and evil, of being independently the Law unto oneself. . .”1
As we sin and fail to love God, we close in upon ourselves. We prevent a further growth in openness to transcendence, to God and to His grace. We block off the source of our only real self-development and fulfillment. To the extent that we close in upon ourselves in sin, to that extent we feel the misery of sin. This misery of spiritual "self-enclosedness" is a faint participation in the essential pain of hell. The damned are eternally and completely closed in upon themselves, completely deprived of God and other personal relationships. This, then, is hell – the damned really experiencing no one but themselves. Hell is God's ratification of the choice which the unrepentant serious sinner has himself made. This choice is one of radical self-isolation.
Sin is primarily a refusal to love God, a refusal to be loved by Him, to be guided by Him. In sinning, man seeks for a false fulfillment, and therefore actually becomes impoverished. The great St. Augustine puts it this way: "For when the soul loves its own power, it slips from the common whole to its own particular part. Had it followed God as its ruler in the universal creature, it could have been most excellently governed by His laws. But in that apostatizing pride, which is called 'the beginning of sin', it sought for something more that the whole; and while it struggled to govern by its own laws, it was thrust into caring for a part, since there is nothing more than the whole; and so by desiring something more, it becomes less. . .”2
Yes, sin is an act disruptive of one's relationship with God. But sin has other dimensions also. It is a refusal to love other men as we should. For the Christian, sin is an offense against the covenant life of the People of God. In some way the sinfulness of the individual Christian makes itself felt in the corporate body which is the Church. The Christian, in sinning, is failing to love the corporate good of the People of God. He is failing to contribute his share to the progressive maturation in Christ of the total Christian community. The Christian in his sin becomes a burden to the People of God.
Sin also is an obvious refusal to love others in those instances when one directly harms others through his transgression. So many sins come under this category: theft, all forms of uncharity, social injustice, scandal, detraction. Furthermore, not only does one man often sin against another, but he frequently leads another into sin. In God's plan man is supposed to help his neighbor achieve his temporal and eternal happiness, but how often, even among Christians, the opposite is true. Not to make a positive contribution to the true growth of others is failure enough, but to be a positive hindrance is a far greater evil.
There is still another way in which the sinner refuses love to his fellowmen; when man sins he makes his contribution to the "sin of the world.”3 He thus adds to that huge, negative weight, nourished by the sins of the centuries, a weight which is always trying to draw man away from his God-given destiny. This mass of sinful ugliness, this "sin of the world," always has its considerable influence, but at times its hideousness makes itself especially manifest. The great race riots which have tragically risen up recently in various parts of the United States are examples of these special manifestations of the "sin of the world." Such events are not isolated instances of sins connected with race. In back of such tragedies there is a long history of grave social and racial sins, of seething hatred of white for black, and black for white. Such accumulated sinfulness in regard to race is part of the "sin of the world."
There are many other examples of these special manifestations of the "sin of the world." There are the world wars and the lesser wars, with their share of unbelievable accounts of the hatred which man can impose upon his fellowman. There are the histories of the various crime syndicates throughout the world with all their blatant categories of human degradation – narcotics, prostitution, terrorization and the rest. There are the sins of colonialism and the sins of communism.
The "sin of the world" with its stark and bold manifestations is a sickening reality. But a reality it is. And each man's sinfulness adds a little to this universal world sin. Each man's sinfulness contributes to sin's divisiveness. Man is intended to help Christ progressively unify all creation more and more into Himself. When man sins, he contributes to the disruptive and disunifying force of the "sin of the world."
Sin, then, because it is a failure to love God, man and the world, is selfishness. Sin seems to offer some sort of happiness, or advantage, or fulfillment. But this is a delusion. Sin can accomplish none of these things, because man's only real happiness and fulfillment comes from his authentic relationship in love with God, his fellowman and the rest of creation. Sin works against all these relationships.
Sin is so hard to understand because it is an absurdity. But if we are to grow properly in the Christian life, we must have some basic realization of what sin is, and of God's attitude towards sin and the sinner. Our best source for such a mature realization is given to us in the crucified Christ. In this figure we can know all the Father wants us to comprehend concerning sin. First of all, Christ crucified tells us very starkly of the overwhelming heinousness of sin. We know that sin is overwhelmingly evil because it alone could nail Incarnate Goodness to the cross. Secondly, Christ crucified speaks to us concerning the justice of God. God's justice does ask satisfaction for sin – yes, even that satisfaction which is the death of His Son. Thirdly, and very importantly for us poor sinners, the crucified Christ speaks to us unmistakably and overwhelmingly of the Father's great love and mercy towards us. Because of this love and mercy we can be so positive about human existence, for great as is the power of sin, the love and mercy of the Father, incarnated in His Son, is infinitely greater. This is our peace and consolation.
God's love and mercy moves the sinner toward repentance, and when the sinner repents, God's love changes him. In Isaiah the prophet we read: " 'Come now, let us talk this over, says Yahweh. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.' " (Is 1:18).
Included in our sorrow for sin is a resolve to take the proper means and precautions to avoid sin in the future. One of the reasons we fall into the same sins with the same frequency is that we tend often enough not to go to the root causes of our failures, and, consequently, we often fail to apply the more efficacious remedies. All this not to say that we should become morbidly introspective in looking at sinfulness. However, without succumbing to this type of introspection, we all must allow for appropriate self-examination and self-knowledge.
Part of this self-examination and self-knowledge includes the manner in which I handle temptation in my life. The proper attitude toward temptation lies between two extremes. The person at one extreme is overly fearful of temptation, concentrates too much on avoiding it, and can even tend to equate temptation with sin. Such an attitude toward temptation breeds a negative mentality toward the Christian life, and detracts from the peace, joy and happiness which Christ wants us to experience.
The opposite attitude is that which is careless towards temptation. To take reasonable and grace-inspired precautions against temptation is not to be negativistic, but realistic. It is to realize that I am a sinner, and that there are various ways by which I can be led to sin. I cannot avoid all temptations, but out of loyalty to Christ, man and the world, I should not recklessly bring temptation upon myself.
Despite our best efforts there will always be some sin in our lives, unless God were to give extraordinary graces. There is only one human person, as far as our certain knowledge goes, who has been preserved from all sin. This person is Christ's mother, Mary. Let us remember this very important point, however. The Church's teaching that we cannot avoid all venial sin without a very special assistance from God refers to semi-deliberate venial sin. With God's ordinary graces we can avoid all fully deliberate sin, both serious and venial. It is this fully deliberate sin which is such an obstacle to our proper growth in the Christian life. Finally, let us remember that as we grow in Christ, even the number of semi-deliberate sins become fewer.
The Sacrament of Penance
All of us are sinners, and God in His mercy has made special provision for this fact. He has given us the sacrament of penance. It is fitting – in fact necessary as regards serious sin – that the Christian incarnate his sorrow for sin through this sacrament. This is in keeping with the incarnational and sacramental dimensions of our life of grace. These dimensions impel us to exteriorize or incarnate our interior life of grace. The central focus for such exteriorization is the Mass and the sacraments. This exteriorization satisfies both our corporeal and social nature.
As regards this social aspect of grace-life exteriorization, the Christian must always remember that he is a member of the new covenant, he is a member of a community. In sinning he has not only failed to love God, he has also sinned against the Christian community, and against man in general. As he expresses his sorrow for sin to God in the sacrament of penance, the Christian also gives expression to this communal aspect of his Christianity, because the sacraments have a very definite communal dimension. They are the sacraments of a community, the People of God. Through the sacrament of penance, therefore, the Christian expresses his sorrow to God in community and he likewise receives God's forgiveness in community.
Certain contemporary practices which strive to bring forth more fully the communal aspect of the sacrament of penance are to be highly recommended.4 The practices we speak of are those in which there is a preparation for private confession and absolution through communal readings, prayer and examination of conscience.
What about the frequency of receiving the sacrament of penance? Some in the Church today seem to be questioning the value of frequent confessions of devotion, that is, confessions which are not necessary because there is no serious sin. What is the truth of the matter? First of all, it must be admitted that in the early Church this sacrament was administered much less frequently that it is today. Gradually, the practice of frequent confession inserted itself more and more into the life of the Church. It is difficult not to admit that such a practice has taken root under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Frequent confession, although not necessary, has various values. Rahner, in his usual penetrating manner, gives a contemporary description of the value of frequent confession of devotion.5 The new Dutch catechism puts it very simply: "Some Catholics have the habit of receiving the sacrament frequently. If this is the result of anxieties, it is not advisable. But if it is due to a desire to meet Christ as the Lord who forgives, frequent confession can be a very evangelical practice."6
In conclusion, we remind ourselves that the struggle against sin is part of the Christian participation in Christ's death-resurrection. In baptism we die to sin and rise to a newness of life. We are constantly living out one aspect of our baptism, then, through our continual resistance to the forces of sin. As with all elements of our Christian existence, such an effort requires motivation. We can use a variety of motives, of course, but all of them ultimately will be centered in Christ. To grow in the realization of what sin has cost Christ is to grow in the determination to avoid sin. To permeate such determination with love of Christ is to respond to Him who has loved us first: "The life I now live in this body I live in faith: faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake." (Ga 2:20).
______
1. P. Schoonenberg, Man and Sin (Notre Dame, Indiana: Fides, 1965), p. 8.
2. St. Augustine, The Trinity, Bk. 12, Ch. 14 (Washington: Fathers of the Church, 1963), p. 356.
3. For one description of the "sin of the world", see Schoonenberg, Op. cit., pp. 98-123.
4. One description of such services is given by A. M. Roguet, O.P., "Les celebrations communautaires de la penitence" in Vie spirituelle, 116 (1967), pp. 188-202.
5. Cf. Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. III (Baltimore: Helicon, 1967), pp. 177-189.
6. A New Catechism (New York: Herder & Herder, 1967), p. 459.
R. Pope John Paul II says:
From the Priestly Newsletter Book III - 2000 Issue 3 p. 44-47
The Father's Will for Us - Our Source of Peace
Pope John Paul II instructs us: "The Church, as a reconciled and reconciling community, cannot forget that at the source of her gift and mission of reconciliation is the initiative, full of compassionate love and mercy, of that God who is love (see 1 John 4:8) and who out of love created human beings (see Wisdom 11:23-26; Genesis 1:27: Psalms 8:4-8)…He created them so that they might live in friendship with Him and in communion with one another.
"God is faithful to His eternal plan even when man, under the impulse of the evil one (see Wisdom 2:24) and carried away by his own pride, abuses the freedom given to him in order to love and generously seek what is good, and (instead) refuses to obey his Lord and Father. God is faithful even when man, instead of responding with love to God’s love, opposes Him and treats Him like a rival, deluding himself and relying on his own power, with the resulting break of relationship with the One who created him. In spite of this transgression on man’s part, God remains faithful in love.
"It is certainly true that the story of the Garden of Eden makes us think about the tragic consequences of rejecting the Father, which becomes evident in man’s inner disorder and in the breakdown of harmony between man and woman, brother and brother (see Genesis 3:12 ff; 4:1-16). Also significant is the Gospel parable of the two brothers (the parable of the ‘prodigal son’; see Luke 15:11-32) who, in different ways, distance themselves from their father and cause a rift between them. Refusal of God’s fatherly love and of His loving gifts is always at the root of humanity’s divisions.
"But we know that God…like the father in the parable (of the prodigal son), does not close His heart to any of His children. He waits for them, looks for them, goes to meet them at the place where the refusal of communion imprisons them in isolation and division. He calls them to gather about His table in the joy of the feast of forgiveness and reconciliation.
"This initiative on God’s part is made concrete and manifest in the redemptive act of Christ, which radiates through the world by means of the ministry of the Church." 13
___________
13. Pope John Paul II, as in Celebrate 2000!, Servant Publications, pp. 140-141.
R.
We were made free to choose if we would
serve God or not.
God wants us to live knowing our
dependence on Him.
It is in pride where Eve fell in
the Garden – seeking to be equal
to God.
In today's world we see where
men try to make themselves independent,
they think, of God.
God intends us to recognize
our dependence on Him – to grow
in loving relationship with Him, God
as our Father and our Creator,
Jesus as our brother and the
Holy Spirit as the Sanctifier to help us
to grow in holiness. We show God
how we want to know, love and serve Him.
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.
God has given us the freedom
to choose good or evil – this is
a tremendous gift God has given
to us – We can prove our love for
God, our desire to be united to
God, by giving ourselves in
love and choosing His plan –
Hell is everlasting independence
from God.
God wants us to choose to love
Him and serve Him while on
earth – to do His Plan and to
be with Him forever in heaven.
We know the bad angels refused to
obey God and fell from God. They were
angels and free to choose and
some deliberately disobeyed God.
It was the sin of pride.
Isaiah 14: 12-14
How did you come to fall from the heavens, Daystar, son of Dawn? How did you come to be thrown to the ground, conqueror of nations? You who used to think to yourself: I shall scale the heavens; higher than the stars of God I shall set my throne. I shall sit on the Mount of Assembly far away to the north. I shall climb high above the clouds, I shall rival the Most High."
Revelation 12: 7-9
And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated and driven out of heaven. The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had led all the world astray, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him.
R.
The angels that rebelled against God
were punished to the
everlasting sufferings of hell.
Job 10: 22
where dimness and disorder hold sway, and light itself is like dead of night.
2 Peter 2: 4
When angels sinned, God did not spare them: he sent them down into the underworld and consigned them to the dark abyss to be held there until the Judgement.
R.
We see the Gospel that is used the
First Sunday of Lent.
R.
Lent is a time to pray, to grow in
our relationship in deep love with
God.
God gives us the Blue Books and
tells us how much He loves us,
but He warns us about satan in
this first Blue Book I writing.
Cling to Me
Jesus: My dear child, if you stay close to Me, then I live in you and you live in Me. I am He Who created you and I love you with such an intensity that you will never know. My words are your truth. You must abide in My heart in all things. There is no room for doubt. My ways are steadfast, direct, and without error.
You must stay rooted in Me to ward off the power of the evil one. His grip is paralyzing and crippling. His power is stronger every day.
When you live in Me, I am in your heart and he has no power over Me. I am your God. I am your true lover. I want to protect you. I want to guard you from this force. Stay rooted firmly in Me and he will have no power.
I am He Who comforts you. My hand is upon you. Hold tight to Me, My child. My eyes are fixed right on you. You are My most precious child. I love you as no other can. My arms are about you. My tenderness surrounds you. My love is in your heart. You go not alone. I walk with you.
I share every aspect of your life with you. Cling to Me, feel My presence. It is warm and secure within your chest. There is no room for fear, for I cast out fear and bring you comfort and joy.
end of May 13, 1993
First Sunday of Lent
HOMILY – ...I trust most of you can remember times when you felt close to God as a loving Father, or you felt some special consolation. Without warning you felt as if you were in a spiritual desert. Suddenly God seemed far away, he seemed to be ignoring you and, as it were, hiding his face from you. Many saints I’ve read about have had experiences like this. In this desert a person often feels they’ve done something wrong, and God is angry. They don’t realize these ups and downs are part of everyone’s spiritual journey, including Jesus himself, and that it’s during those desert periods our faith will be growing deeper and stronger if we don’t give up or get discouraged. Thinking about the experience of Jesus has always been comforting to me when I feel as if I’m in a desert. Those desert times make us more vulnerable to temptation too. It’s easy to pray and to love God when we feel that he’s close to us and it’s harder when he feels far away. Luke tells us in today’s gospel that it was only after Jesus had fasted those 40 days that the devil showed up. In other words, Jesus was at his most vulnerable point, at least physically. So the devil suggested Jesus turn stones into bread to satisfy his hunger; he offered Jesus power and control over all earthly kingdoms; and, finally, the devil told him that he should come floating down from the peak of the Temple and the Jewish people would instantly recognize him as their messiah. These temptations, at first, seem so strange. They appear to be quite different from the run of the mill temptations most of us have to deal with: pride, lust, greed, envy, anger, etc., but in some ways our temptations are similar to those of Jesus. Basically, Jesus’ temptations involved the possibility of his using his divine powers for his own benefit. I would suspect temptations like these continued to suggest themselves to Jesus throughout his entire life. For example, we might remember how after he had fed the people miraculously, they wanted to make him their king. He may have found that tempting, but we know he turned away from that possibility. Remember too how when he was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, he said: “don’t you know that I could call on my Father for help and at once he would send me more than twelve armies of angels?” (Mt. 26:53) Yet he would not call on his supernatural powers to save himself. Jesus came to serve and we see him time and time again using his unique powers to serve others, not himself. In this, the temptations of Jesus are similar to some of our own. Jesus has given us an example that when God has blessed us, we should not be greedy and selfish with what we’ve been given in terms of time, talent and treasure, but we should be willing to help others. Now, my last thought, I do not say to those who are already perfect. If you are already perfect you can tune me out, but if there is some room in your spiritual life for improvement, then I have one last word about temptation. During Lent we are encouraged to do something that will bring us closer to Christ or to give up doing something that may keep us from serving Christ more wholeheartedly. Whenever I decide to do something special for Lent, after a couple of weeks I discover that 40 days is a long time, and I begin to let my good intentions slip by the wayside. That’s one of my temptations during Lent. I think it’s true of others, that many people begin Lent with good intentions, but then get tired of doing what they promised themselves they would try to do better. You will be blessed greatly if you persevere. I say this not just to encourage you, but I say this to myself as well: “don’t quit the good work you planned on doing for Lent.” Amen.
R. In the second Sunday of Lent
Fr. Joe says:
Second Sunday of Lent
March 4, 2007
INTRODUCTION – (Gen 15:5-12, 17-18; Phil 3:17–4:1; Luke 9:28b-36) Almost 4000 years ago, God made awesome promises to a man named Abram about how he would inherit much land, would have so many descendants they could not be counted, even how the whole world would be blessed through him. Abram had no evidence that these promises would ever be fulfilled. He asked God for some assurance that they would. So God gave Abram a special sign. It may seem complicated to us but it would have been easily understood by Abram. It was the way people made covenants or contracts in those days. The ritual of cutting an animal in half and walking between the halves was a symbolic way of saying “may the same thing happen to me as to this animal if I am unfaithful to my word.” God is often represented as fire, and in this experience only God moved in-between the two halves of the animals. This indicated that God was not asking Abram to promise anything. God asked only for Abram’s trust.
HOMILY – As our lives move along, there are disappointments but there are also hopes and promises that we look forward to. Abram (later named Abraham) looked forward to the promise of land, many descendants and numerous blessings. In an ecstatic experience God assured him his hopes would be fulfilled.
Jesus had several times warned his apostles that he would suffer and die. Now he gave three of them a special experience to help them know what was ahead, that his death would lead to glory. It was a glory so wonderful that they didn’t want it to stop. They wanted to set up tents on the mountain, not for themselves but for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, and they wanted to stay there indefinitely. But it wasn’t to be. They still had to go through challenging and difficult times before they came to the glory they had seen. Matthew and Mark leave us in the dark regarding what Jesus was talking about with Moses and Elijah, but Luke tells us they were talking about Jesus’ departure from this world by his death in Jerusalem. That departure is translated here by the word “exodus.” Jesus had to leave this world to enter into the glory that was ahead. Luke has thus allowed us to see there is a definite connection between the transfiguration and Jesus’ passion. Perhaps the experience of the transfiguration was meant to give strength and hope to Peter, James, and John, to help them survive Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. Perhaps it was a gift from God the Father to Jesus to help bolster his commitment to be faithful to his mission. Whatever it was, it was a promise of future glory and an assurance that God would not let down those who trusted in him.
When Peter wanted to put up three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, it is always understood that he was enjoying this ecstatic experience and didn’t want it to end, and this is true. But I wonder whether Peter, in his way of thinking, was making Jesus equal to Moses and Elijah. He said: “Let us make three tents,” as if Jesus were a great leader on a par with Moses and Elijah. God the Father’s words: “This is my chosen Son” let the apostles know that Moses and Elijah were great men and great prophets, but Jesus is God’s Son and no one could ever be on the same level with him.
If the transfiguration is a promise of future glory for Jesus and the Apostles, St. Paul gives us a promise of future glory for us when he tells us today “our citizenship is in heaven.” We are only tourists in this world and it’s not our true home. We must always have our bags packed because we never know when we will be called to move on. And we will be called. Paul tells us God “will change our lowly bodies to conform with his glorified body.” We will be transfigured also. Lent helps us remember to be ready to move on and to make any changes in our lives we need to make, so we will be ready to meet our God in eternal glory.
Mass is always an assurance and a promise of what’s ahead, especially in Communion. The consecrated bread and wine are Jesus’ body and blood. We are reminded of his death for us. We are also assured that he hasn’t left us orphans, but he is still with us and in Communion he wants us to be more closely united with himself. Someday we will enjoy perfect union when we will not have to experience him through signs and sacraments. We will know him directly and intimately. When we come to that stage, like the three apostles at the transfiguration, we won’t ever want to leave. Unlike the apostles, we won’t have to.
R.
Adam and Eve could have obeyed God
in the Garden and been faithful
to God –
Adam and Eve were to give an act of
submission of will on their part
by obeying God –
they had what they needed.
It was an act of submission to
obey God – they could say
"yes" or say "no".
Saying "yes" to God's will would
be proving their love for
God first.
Satan is condemned eternally to
hell. Satan is jealous of man being
able to go to heaven –
Satan tempted Eve in the Garden –
Satan tempted her by pride –
Eve wanted to be equal to God.
Genesis 3: 1-6
Now, the snake was the most subtle of all the wild animals that Yahweh God had made. It asked the woman, 'Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?' The woman answered the snake, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, "You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death." ' Then the snake said to the woman, 'No! You will not die! God knows in fact that the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good from evil.' The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was enticing for the wisdom that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
R. Eve failed in the test –
Eve disobeyed God, after being
given so much –
it was an act of the will
to disobey God –
Eve was tempted by pride – then
Eve listened to the devil – she
gave into listening to him and
the temptation he dialogued
with her –
Adam gave in because Eve did!
Adam and Eve were given such gifts
from God and they were
tempted by an act of
submission of their will
to disobey God about what
He told them they could not
do!
It would have been a sacrifice
to obey God, it wasn't
that much –
The devil tempts us with these
actions of disobedience –
not that we need it –
he appeals to pride – wanting
independence –
wanting no one to tell us what
to do.
I remember Fr. Carter and how serious
he took his vow of obedience
to the Jesuits –
Fr. Carter lived his vows.
Religious especially are to live by
the vows of their order –
the Franciscans have knots
on their cord of
poverty, chastity and obedience –
Whenever there is disobedience to God
and independence against God's will – there
are consequences, like Pope John Paul II says –
why make yourself a rival to
the heavenly Father –
How deep is the sin within as
St. Thomas says. Sin is like a
disease –
We see the sin of Peter –
We see the sin of Judas –
St. Thomas says sins of sheer malice
come from a "disease of
the will itself."
When Adam and Eve sinned
happiness disappeared and unhappiness
was a consequence of their sin –
There is pain due to sin –
There is loss because of sin.
Genesis 3: 23-24
So Yahweh God expelled him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he had been taken. He banished the man, and in front of the garden of Eden he posted the great winged creatures and the fiery flashing sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.
R.
Mary is the perfect handmaid
of the Lord.
November 4, 2013
Priestly Newsletter Book II - September/October 1997
In all this Mary offers an example. Selfishness was totally foreign to her. She did not belong to herself. She belonged to God. She was not closed in upon herself. She was completely open to God. When God spoke, she listened. When God pointed the way, she followed. She realized that life is not a process a person masters by carefully mapping out one's own self-conceived plans of conquest, but a mystery to be gradually experienced by being open to God's personal and loving guidance.
Selfishness, then, did not close Mary off from God's call. Neither did fear. God asked her to assume a tremendous responsibility. He asked her to be the Mother of Jesus. Mary did not engage in a process of false humility and say that such a great role was above her. She did not say that she did not have the proper qualifications for this awesome mission. Briefly, she did not waste time looking at herself, making pleas that she was not worthy, telling the angel he had better go look for someone else. No, Mary did not look at herself. Her gaze was absorbed in God. She fully realized that whatever God asked of her, His grace would accomplish. She fully realized that although she herself had to cooperate, this work was much more God's than hers.
Mary's words, then, truly sum up what is the authentic Christian response at any point of life, in any kind of situation: "I am the handmaid of the Lord," said Mary, "let what you have said be done to me".
Copyright
© 2014 Shepherds of Christ.