February 21, 2021

Matthew 18: 1-4

At this time the disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?’ So he called a little child to him whom he set among them. Then he said, ‘In truth I tell you, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little
child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.
 

                R. Humble yourself as a little child.

                The more child-like we are - the more
                    our complete reliance is
                    on God.

                The more we die to our selfish
                    ways, the more we can
                    live a new life.

                A man walled in like a bank vault
                    with the door locked is in
                    a real pickle.

                We can wall ourselves in, in
                    imperfect behaviors learned
                    as survival behaviors from
                    a dysfunctional childhood.

                We need to die to the imperfect ways.

                The Sacred Heart picture is usually shown like this:
 

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
I place my Trust in Thee.

                R. Who can we trust if we don't trust
                    Jesus.

                Others who raised us may have come
                    from wounded families and
                    struggling themselves –
                    so they were not treating
                    us as they should –
                    behavior patterns develop in
                    such homes for children to
                    survive dysfunction.

Matthew 24: 36-51

But as for that day and hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, no one but the Father alone.

‘As it was in Noah’s day, so will it be when the Son of man comes. For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept them all away. This is what it will be like when the Son of man comes. Then of two men in the fields, one is taken, one left; of two women grinding at the mill, one is taken, one left.

So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Parable of the conscientious steward

Who, then, is the wise and trustworthy servant whom the master placed over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed that servant if his master’s arrival finds him doing exactly that. In truth I tell you, he will put him in charge of everything he owns. But if the servant is dishonest and says to himself, “My master is taking his time, and sets about beating his fellow–servants and eating and drinking with drunkards, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.’

                R. We must live each day as if it is
                    our last.

                Living doing God's will, in love,
                    being the best we can be.

                St. Ignatius Spiritual Exercises have this as the
                    First Principle and Foundation.
 

                        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. And the Purpose of the Spiritual Exercises.
 

From The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, 
    by Louis J. Puhl, S.J. p.11

21.                     SPIRITUAL EXERCISES

    Which have as their purpose the conquest of self
    and the regulation of one's life in such a way that
    no decision is made under the influence of any
    inordinate attachment
 

                  R. God commands us to love God
                    first and love our neighbor
                    as ourselves –

                There are 3 loves.
                    (1) Love of God
                    (2) Love of Neighbor
                    (3) Love of Self

                My ultimate goal is the salvation of
                    my soul, I can't do that if
                    I don't love my neighbor.

                Not holding back to play a game
                    with others.

                God calls us to be pure –

                Jesus lived His life going out –
                    loving, giving –
                    He emptied Himself for our
                    sins.

                When some are tempted to live
                    in pride (not humility)
                    they can live in games to
                    be on top –

                We don't need games, we need living
                    in God's will, in love, serving
                    God the best we can –
                    our life is lived for His honor
                    and glory.

                When I don't love my neighbor,
                    I am actually not loving
                    myself – God commands
                    us to do so –

                Fr. Carter would always say –
                    "It's not that there is so much
                        suffering, but so much
                        of it is wasted."

                We had a nursing home ministry –

                We would go –

                    Give them a say daily card –
 

                    R. Pictures of the Sacred Heart
                    and Immaculate Heart
                    and tell them how important
                    their lives are and how
                    much God loves them –
                    I made discs at Mary's
                        image site with a
                        decade of the rosary.

                    We still have them –

                The image of Mary would
                    change in rainbow
                    colors for each DVD.

                Then people would take these
                    DVDs to the Nursing Homes.

                We also had Fr. Mike saying Mass –

                R. One lady dying just was so close to
                    Jesus and watched Fr. Mike's Mass constantly.

                Others would play the Shepherds of Christ
                    Prayers over and over again.

                Fr. Carter would talk about Helen Keller
                    and say – even in suffering
                    you can be a productive
                    human being –

                Helen Keller from an early age was
                    blind, deaf and mute and
                    she was like this for the
                    rest of her life!!

                We are so blessed.

                Fr. Carter wrote a book
                    The Pain and the Joy –
                    He talked about escapism –

                Where a person in morbid flight
                    he would say distances themselves
                    from painful reality –

                This can be done in
                    work –
                    misery –
                    abuse –
                    drink
                    drugs
                    food

                Numbing oneself out –

                R. Escapism wastes precious moments
                    we have to live –

                It can become a bad behavior
                    habit.

                The Christian Virtues are supernatural
                    faculties.

                We receive a sharing in God's life
                    in baptism –

                We receive the supernatural virtues
                    of faith, hope and charity in
                    baptism.

                Faith – a new capacity to know –

                Our knowing and loving capacity
                    is elevated in baptism –

                All Christian virtues support love –
                    vision of a goal!!

                Faith gives us a new vision of God
                    and everything in relation to God.

                Hope – desire to live according to faith –
                    We trust God he will give us
                        what we need –
                    Our hope is for eternal salvation,
                        for ourselves and our neighbor.

                Love – We live the vision of Faith.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 13

Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited, it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth. It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes.

    As it is, these remain: faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is love.

John 4: 10

Jesus replied to her:

    If you only knew what God is offering
    and who it is that is saying to you,
    ‘Give me something to drink,’
    you would have been the one to ask,
    and he would have given you living water.

                R. The Virtue of love as a participation
                    in God's loving activity.

                    Supernatural

                Baptism is so important because of this.
                We share in God's loving activity.

                God loved us first –
                We have a supernatural loving
                    capacity because of baptism.
   

1 Peter 3: 18-22

The resurrection and the descent into hell 

Christ himself died once and for all for sins, the upright for the sake of the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life, and, in the spirit, he went to preach to the spirits in prison. They refused to believe long ago, while God patiently waited to receive them, in Noah’s time when the ark was being built. In it only a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. It is the baptism corresponding to this water which saves you now—not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience given to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has entered heaven and is at God’s right hand, with angels, ruling forces and powers subject to him.

                R.  Clearwater

                Sign of the Rainbow 

                R. Basic ideas of Christian life

                (1) Response to God's love

                (2) Living Christ-life

                (3) Elevation of our human nature –
                    Our knowing and loving capacity
                        is elevated in baptism.

                (4) Christian life is participation
                    in God's life.

                (5) Christian Life considered as
                    Life in the Spirit –

                Virtues

                The virtues are supernatural faculties!

                Natural life expresses itself through
                    intellect and will.

                The Divine participation expresses
                    itself through the Christian virtues.

                Participation in God's loving activity.

                    Love

                        Response to God's love
                            (1) Love of God
                            (2) Love of self
                            (3) Love of neighbor
                                    friendship
                                    marriage and family

                    Faith

                        - Is a participation in God's
                            knowing activity

                        - Elevation of human nature –

                    Faith and love are 2 most
                        important virtues

                The 2 most important faculties of
                    the human person are
                        (1) intellect
                        (2) will

Genesis 1: 27

God created man in the image of himself,
in the image of God he created him,
male and female he created them.
 

                    R. The elevation of the intellect
                        allows us to participate
                        in God's knowing activity.

                    The will – participate in
                        God's willing activities.

                Intellect and will allow us to
                    reflect on God.

                The intellect and will are the 2
                    most important faculties
                    because they allow us to
                    reflect on God.

                Faith is a virtue – man cannot
                    know by natural reason –

                i.e. Understanding the mystery of the Trinity
                    and other mysteries.

                Hope – gives us the capacity to desire God,
                    desire to live the life
                    of faith and trust God.

                    (1) Desire to live the life of faith.
                    (2) Trust God!

                    Trust God will help us!!

                Prudence – helps us make right choices
                                 according to God's will.

                Justice –  (1) to give others their due
                              (2) we must respect the rights
                                    of others.
                              (3) cannot harm their good name,
                                    - unless there is good reason.
                                    - a teacher if child is bad.

                                –  Rights of the unborn
                                    Rights of infant in the womb
                                        must be respected.
                                    Rights of society at large.

                Fortitude –  Courage
                                  Courage to handle the
                                  difficult aspects of life.

                Temperance – handle sense pleasure
                                    properly according to God's will.

                Humility – is truth
                                – realization of our creaturehood
                                    and living according to this
                                    realization.

                    Mary did this perfectly.

                    She is blessed, but she realized
                        the greatness of God.
 

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.
 

                    R. Humility doesn't mean, I hide
                        my talents!!

                    Humility makes me realize
                        where they came from –

                If we do not recognize our gifts – We don't
                    thank God for our gifts!

                Humility is trust                                                        

Humility makes me see

what my gifts are and thank God makes me see what is wrong with me, and needs improvement

                A proud person does not grow.

                God resists the proud and gives
                    grace to the humble.

                The gift God offers to the proud is
                    humility.

                The more humble you are, the
                    stronger you are because
                    you draw your strength
                    from Jesus.
   

2 Corinthians 12: 9-10

but he has answered me, ‘My grace is enough for you: for power is at full stretch in weakness.’ It is, then, about my weaknesses that I am happiest of all to boast, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me; and that is why I am glad of weaknesses, insults, constraints, persecutions and distress for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.

Joyful Mysteries

                 
                R. Baptism is Clear - water.
                God gives us the sign of the rainbow.
                Mary, our Mother - Spiritual Mother appeared
                    to take us to her spiritual womb,
                    her Immaculate Heart.
                The Holy Spirit forms us more and more
                    in the image of God.

                Birthing – Incarnation goes on in us.
                Spiritual birthing - from Mary, our Spiritual Mother
                        and the Holy Spirit.
                We are fruit of her Immaculate Heart.
                Jesus was the fruit of her womb.
                So beautiful!

                Baptism – Clear - water.
                The sign of the rainbow.
                The Covenant God made with Noah.
                Our Holy Mother appearing in rainbow color.
 

God spoke as follows to Noah and his sons, ‘I am now establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants to come, and with every living creature that was with you: birds, cattle and every wild animal with you; everything that came out of the ark, every living thing on earth. And I shall maintain my covenant with you: that never again shall all living things be destroyed by the waters of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to devastate the earth.’

    ‘And this’, God said, ‘is the sign of the covenant which I now make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come: I now set my bow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I gather the clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I shall recall the covenant between myself and you and every living creature, in a word all living things, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all living things.

 

1 Peter 3: 18-22

The resurrection and the descent into hell 

Christ himself died once and for all for sins, the upright for the sake of the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life, and, in the spirit, he went to preach to the spirits in prison. They refused to believe long ago, while God patiently waited to receive them, in Noah’s time when the ark was being built. In it only a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. It is the baptism corresponding to this water which saves you now—not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience given to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has entered heaven and is at God’s right hand, with angels, ruling forces and powers subject to him.
    

R. Clear - water – Baptism