A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday & Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 22, n.26)
Trinity – Week 8 in Ordinary Time: May 26 – June 1, 2024
(The pastoral tool BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY & WEEKDAY LITURGY includes a prayerful study of the Sunday liturgy from various perspectives. For the Lectio Divina on the liturgy of the past week: May 19-25, 2024 please go to ARCHIVES Series 21 and click on “Pentecost/Ordinary Week 7”.
Below is a LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY - WEEKDAY LITURGY: May 26 – June 1, 2024.)
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May 26, 2024: THE MOST HOLY TRINITY, YEAR B
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Sends Us to Baptize in the Name
of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”
BIBLICAL READINGS
Dt 4:32-34, 39-40 // Rom 8:14-17 // Mt 28:16-20
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mt 28:16-20): “Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
Our life is deeply permeated by the Blessed Trinity, but we can be oblivious to this reality. A little story reported by Anthony de Mello in his book, The Song of the Bird, can give us an idea of this unfortunate situation.
“Excuse me,” said one ocean fish to another. “You are older and more experienced than I, and will probably be able to help me. Tell me; where can I find this thing they call Ocean? I’ve been searching for it everywhere to no avail.” “The Ocean,” said the older fish, “is what you are swimming in now.” “Oh, this? But this is only water. What I’m searching for is the Ocean,” said the young fish, feeling quite disappointed as he swam away to search elsewhere …
Stop searching, little fish. There’s nothing to look for. Just be still, open your eyes, and look. You cannot miss it.
Indeed, we are immersed in the life of the Blessed Trinity. We are enveloped and drenched in the creative power, redeeming sacrifice, and sanctifying love of the One and Triune God – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 261: “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of the Christian life. God alone can make it known to us by revealing himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” By his actions in history and in our lives, God wills to reveal himself to us in his inmost being.
The Gospel reading (Mt 28:16-20) contains the Risen Lord’s Easter command to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The apostolic mandate to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” signifies that the person baptized belongs to the Trinity of persons and enters into an intimate relationship with them. According to St. Isidore of Seville, the sacrament of baptism is the “sacrament of the Trinity” for it makes us share in the life of the one God in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the baptismal waters, we are immersed into the life of the Blessed Trinity and consecrated to the Triune God: to the Heavenly Father as his adopted children; to the Son of God as his brother/sister and disciple; and to the Holy Spirit as his holy temple.
For the members of the early Christian community, the Paschal Mystery is the basis of Trinitarian revelation. The saving events surrounding Jesus of Nazareth were the basis of their belief and confession that he was the Son of God. They had grasped not only Jesus Christ’s incomparable, singular rapport with God, but also his special and astounding relationship with the Spirit. The community of believers perceived the Spirit as the one who makes Christ’s saving event present in the “here and now” of the universe and history. From the experience of the Paschal Mystery, the Church would come to a profound understanding that the one God, in his most intimate nature, is Trinitarian:
- as the loving Creator Father, the source of our redemption;
- as the obedient Son who accomplished the Father’s saving plan by his death on the cross;
- and as the Spirit of love, proceeding from the Father and the Son, who witnesses to our being God’s children and enables us to call him, “Abba, Father!”
B. First Reading (Dt 4:32-34, 39-40): “The Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and there is no other.”
Here is a charming story for Trinity Sunday: A priest went into a second-grade classroom of the parish school and asked, “Who can tell me what the Blessed Trinity means?” A little girl lisped, “The Blethed Twinity meanth there are thwee perthonth in one God.” The priest, taken aback by the lisp, said, “Would you say that again? I don’t understand what you said.” The little girl answered, “Y’not suppothed to underthtand; ‘t’th a mythtewy.” The little girl is right: we cannot grasp with our mortal minds the infinite mystery of God, but we can try to “stand under” the mystery of the loving triune God.
The reading (Dt 4:32-34, 39-40) speaks resolutely of the unique character of Israel’s God and asserts that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below, and there is no other. Eugene Maly comments: “This reading from Deuteronomy does not, of course, speak of Trinity. But it does lay down the foundation for such truth … This says monotheism, one God. Without that conviction the later revelation of three Persons in the one God would make no sense. Polytheism, or many gods, would exclude a Trinity. But notice how the uniqueness of this one God was made known. It was by the things this God did for his people, in leading them out of the land of Egypt by testing, by signs and wonders, by war, with his strong hand and outstretched arm …Did anything so great ever happen before? This God is unique; he is one; he is the only one.”
Through the Paschal Mystery and consequential events, the Church came into contact with the stupendous revelation that the “one” God is a “trinity of persons” in his deepest nature: the loving Creator Father, the font of redemption; the obedient Son of God who accomplished the Father’s saving plan by his death on the cross; and the Spirit of love, proceeding forth from the Father and the Son, who powers and energizes the Church in its life of mission and service in the world. Indeed, Trinity Sunday invites us to celebrate the marvelous work of the triune God in salvation history, through every time and space. Moreover it helps us to reflect on our vocation to live in an intimate relationship with the triune divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
C. Second Reading (Rom 8:14-17): “You received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’.”
In the Second Reading (Rom 8:14-17), the great apostle Paul declares that we have been adopted and chosen in love by a divine being so loving that we can respond with the intimate term “Abba”. We can do so by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Easter gift of our Lord Jesus Christ. As adopted children or “heirs”, we have a right to inherit the promised reign of God just as Christ did through his obedient suffering. The Spirit enables us to bear the suffering that leads to glory. If we share Christ’s suffering and allow ourselves to be totally configured to the divine Son’s obedient and saving death on the cross, we too will share in his eternal glory with the Father and the Son and with the boundless blessings of the kingdom of heaven.
The death of my dear younger brother Gisbert has touched me deeply. The experience of accompanying him in his terminal illness and in the painful process of dying was poignant and transforming. The basis of the Trinitarian revelation and confession of the Church is the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection-glorification. In the same way, the presence of the one and triune God was especially revealed to me in the terminal illness and passing to eternal life of Gisbert. In his bout with a vicious cancer, he was journeying home to God the Father, his Creator and ultimate destiny. Moreover, he was deeply united with the redemptive suffering of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was for him the Good Shepherd leading him to the green pastures of eternal life. Finally, the Holy Spirit was the Consoler giving him patient endurance. The power and energy of the Holy Spirit enabled him to bear the suffering that led to glory.
Gisbert died in Toronto, Canada in the evening of May 20, 2009. I was with him in his last ten days at the hospital. Together with his wife, Veron, and his six-year old daughter Nicole, I was beside his bed when he expired. I could not attend the funeral rites of my brother, but I composed a eulogy that was read by my niece Erica at his wake. The following excerpt gives insight into the Trinitarian dimension of the paschal experience of death and rising.
“SURELY GOODNESS AND KINDNESS SHALL FOLLOW ME”: In the hospital room where Gisbert spent his last days (exactly, one month), there were many signs of God’s favor and grace.
WATER: There was the sound of gurgling water. It was coming from a hospital water-based mechanism that the nurses used to administer oxygen to Gisbert to ease his breathing problem. That peaceful sound of streaming water evokes the passage from the Book of Revelation: “I am the root of Jesse and David’s son, the radiant star of morning and God’s own light. The Spirit and the Bride say ‘Come.’ Let him who hears their voices say, ‘Come.’ He who has thirst let him come and he who has desire let him drink from the waters of everlasting life. ‘Yes, I come very soon.’ Amen. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:4-5). The Good Shepherd finally answered Gisbert’s Advent expectation and led him to the font of everlasting life.
SUNSET: Gisbert’s hospital room was facing directly toward the west, which has a splendid view of the setting sun in its colorful, splendid glory. Gisbert died at 6:55 P.M. (DST). As the family and friends paid homage to Gisbert’s mortal remains, the dying sun made me remember some intuitive message from the Book of Revelation: “They shall see the Lord face to face and bear his name on their foreheads. The night shall be no more. They shall need no light from the lamps or from the sun, for the Lord will give them light. And they shall reign forever” (Rev 22:16-20).
GROWING PLANT: Gisbert’s six-year old daughter Nicole, as part of her school project, planted a seed in a plastic cup filled with soil. She brought the plant to her dad and it was placed on the window sill. Nicole’s sprouting plant is very suggestive of new life and the resurrection of our body. Saint Paul writes: “What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies … So also is the resurrection of the dead … It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (I Cor 15:36, 42, 44). Like the seed that is buried and dies in the ground, the mortal body of Gisbert dies, but his spirit lives forever and on the last day, even his mortal body will be brought to life.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
As persons baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”, do we truly believe that we have been born to a new life, that of the three Persons of the Trinity? How do we carry out today Christ’s apostolic command to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
(“Prayer to the Holy Trinity” by Blessed James Alberione)
Divine Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
present and active in the Church
and in the depths of my soul,
I adore you, I thank you, I love you!
And through the hands of Mary most holy, my Mother,
I offer, give and consecrate myself entirely to you
for life and for eternity.
To you, heavenly Father,
I offer, give and consecrate myself
as your son/daughter.
To you, Jesus Master,
I offer, give and consecrate myself
as your brother/sister and disciple.
To you, Holy Spirit,
I offer, give and consecrate myself
as a “living temple” to be consecrated and sanctified.
Mary, Mother of the Church and my Mother,
who dwells in the presence of the Blessed Trinity,
teach me to live through the liturgy and the sacraments,
in ever more intimate union with the three divine Persons,
so that my whole life
may be a “glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.”
Amen
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
This week offer three good deeds and acts of kindness in honor of the most Holy Trinity.
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May 27, 2024: MONDAY – WEEKDAY (8); SAINT AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY, Bishop
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Calls Us to a Radical Discipleship … He Is the Object of Our Love”
BIBLE READINGS
1 Pt 1:3-9 // Mk 10:17-27
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mk 10:17-27): “Go, sell what you have, and give it to the poor.”
A wise and holy hermit finds a precious stone beside the brook. He brings it with him to his little cottage. One of his disciples sees the precious discovery and begins to covet it. The hermit notices that the young disciple is looking dismal and miserable day by day. “What is it?” he asks the young man. “It is the stone,” the disciple replies. “I want to have it. I will never have peace and happiness until it is mine.” The good master remarks serenely, “But, of course, you can have it.” The disciple takes the stone. The next morning he is back. “What is it?” the hermit asks. The disciple holds up the precious stone and says, “I want the wisdom that made you renounce this precious stone so unselfishly.”
The disciple’s “awakening” consists in discovering the need for wisdom, which gives a perceptive insight into human life. Wisdom directs our quest toward eternal life, the only goal worth striving for. The truly wise person is able to discern the unsurpassable value of God and chooses him above all. The full meaning of wisdom can be gleaned in the light of Jesus Christ, the divine Wisdom personified. Against this backdrop, the Gospel story of the rich man in pursuit of eternal life (Mk 10:17-27) acquires a deeper perspective. The man has responded to the demands of the commandments. For one who lives under the Old Covenant, such a response would have been sufficient. And, indeed, Jesus looks at him and loves him. But Jesus, the absolute treasure and font of all good, goes further. The incarnate Wisdom offers a greater challenge and demands a fuller response.
The challenge is Christian discipleship, which involves renunciation of false security. Jesus is the true wealth besides which everything pales in comparison. To follow Jesus is to make a radical choice for the absolute good. Jesus invites the rich man to make a fundamental choice. The enormity of the challenge is expressed in the Semitic hyperbole of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. It is a choice of a loving and discerning heart made possible by divine grace: “with God all things are possible” (Mk 10:27). This radical choice for the “treasure of all treasures” is addressed to us all.
B. First Reading (1 Pt 1:3-9): “Although you have not seen him, you love him; you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.”
The First Reading (1 Pt 1:3-9) is an ode to divine mercy: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead …” We rejoice in the salvation and new life given by God and we owe the grace of our rebirth to the resurrection of Jesus our Lord. Our spiritual rebirth as Christians fills us with living hope for the rich blessing that God keeps for us in heaven. The power of God’s merciful love keeps us secure in this hope of salvation. Moreover, the heavenly inheritance to be revealed on the last day helps us to persevere through difficulties in our spiritual journey. Indeed, as Christians in today’s world, although we do not physically see him, we love him. We believe in him because we “see” him in faith and rejoice in his gift of salvation.
The life of Saint Katharine Drexel (cf. Wikipedia on the Internet) illustrates the fundamental choice of one who has found the absolute good and the meaning of being reborn to a living hope.
Katharine Drexel was born as “Catherine Marie Drexel” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 26, 1858, the second child of investment banker Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Langstroth. Her family owned a considerable fortune, and her uncle Anthony Joseph Drexel was the founder of Drexel University in Philadelphia. Hannah died five weeks after her baby's birth. For two years Katharine and her sister, Elizabeth, were cared for by their aunt and uncle, Ellen and Anthony Drexel. When Francis married Emma Bouvier in 1860 he brought his two daughters home. A third daughter, Louise, was born in 1863. The girls were educated at home by tutors. They had the added advantage of touring parts of the United States and Europe with their parents. Twice a week, the Drexels distributed food, clothing and rent assistance from their family home at 1503 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. When widows or lonely single women were too proud to come to the Drexels for assistance, the family sought them out, but always quietly. As Emma Drexel taught her daughters, “Kindness may be unkind if it leaves a sting behind.”
As a young and wealthy woman, she made her social debut in 1879. But when she had nursed her stepmother through a three-year terminal cancer, she saw that all the Drexel money could not buy safety from pain or death, and her life took a profound turn. She had always been interested in the plight of the Indians, having been appalled by what she read in Helen Hunt Jackson’s “A Century of Dishonor”.
When her family took a trip to the Western part of the United States in 1884, Katharine saw the plight and destitution of the native Indians. This experience aroused her desire to do something specific to help alleviate their condition. This was the beginning of her lifelong personal and financial support of numerous missions and missionaries in the United States. After her father’s death in 1885, she and her sisters had contributed money to help the St. Francis Mission on South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation. For many years Kate took spiritual direction from a longtime family friend, Father James O’Connor, a Philadelphia priest who later was appointed vicar apostolic of Nebraska. When Kate wrote him of her desire to join a contemplative order, Bishop O’Connor suggested, “Wait a while longer....... Wait and pray.”
Catherine and her sisters were still recovering from their father's death when they went to Europe in 1886. In January 1887 during a private audience with Pope Leo XIII, and asking him for missionaries to staff some of the Indian missions that she as a lay person was financing, she was surprised to hear the Pope suggest that she become a missionary herself. She could easily have married, but after consultation with her spiritual director, Bishop James O'Connor, she made the decision to give herself to God, along with her inheritance, through service to American Indians and Afro-Americans. Her uncle, Anthony Drexel, tried to dissuade her from entering religious life, but in May 1889 she entered the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Pittsburgh to begin her six-month postulancy. Her decision rocked Philadelphia social circles. The Philadelphia Public Ledger carried a banner headline: “Miss Drexel Enters a Catholic Convent - Gives Up Seven Million".
On February 12, 1891, she professed her first vows as a religious, dedicating herself to work among the American Indians and Afro-Americans in the western and southwestern United States. She took the name Mother Katharine, and joined by thirteen other women, she established a religious congregation the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. A few months later, Archbishop Ryan blessed the cornerstone of the new motherhouse under construction in Bensalem. In the first of many incidents that indicated her convictions for social justice were not shared by others, a stick of dynamite was discovered near the site.
Knowing that many Afro-Americans were far from free, still living in substandard conditions as sharecroppers or underpaid menials, denied education and constitutional rights enjoyed by others, she felt a compassionate urgency to help change racial attitudes in the United States. In 1913, the Georgia Legislature, hoping to stop the Blessed Sacrament Sisters from teaching at a Macon school, tried to pass a law that would have prohibited white teachers from teaching black students.
Requests for help and advice reached Mother Katharine from various parts of the United States. After three and a half years of training, she and her first band of nuns opened a boarding school, St. Catherine's Indian School, in Santa Fe. By 1942 she had a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states, plus 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools. Segregationists harassed her work, even burning a school in Pennsylvania. In all, she established 50 missions for Indians in 16 states. The most famous foundation was made in 1915; it was Xavier University, New Orleans, the first such institution for Black people in the United States. When Mother Katharine purchased an abandoned university building to open Xavier Preparatory School in New Orleans, vandals smashed every window.
In 1922 in Beaumont, Texas, a sign was posted by local Klansmen on the door of a church where the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament had opened a school. “We want an end of services here ... Suppress it in one week or flogging with tar and feathers will follow.” A few days later, a violent thunderstorm ripped through Beaumont, destroying a building that served as the Klan’s headquarters.
Over the course of 60 years - up to her death in 1955 at age 96 - Mother Katharine spent about $20 million in support of her work, building schools and churches and paying the salaries of teachers in rural schools for blacks and Indians. Her cause for beatification was introduced in 1966; she was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II on January 26, 1987, and beatified on November 20, 1988. Mother Drexel was canonized on October 1, 2000, one of only a few American saints and the second American-born saint (Elizabeth Ann Seton was first, as a natural-born US citizen, born in New York City in 1774 and canonized in 1975).
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we yearn for the gift of wisdom? Do we beg the Lord to give us this precious gift? How do we respond to Christ’s radical challenge of discipleship? Do we trust in Christ’s exhortation: “With God all things are possible” (Mk 10:30)?
2. Do we endeavor to give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose mercy gave us new birth to a living hope by rising Christ from the dead? How do we witness in our life “grace yet suffering” and “grace through suffering”?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
you are the “treasure of treasures” and the absolute good.
Fill us with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit
that we may choose your incredible beauty and value.
By the power of the same Spirit,
help us to affirm our fundamental choice for you
in every moment of life.
Teach us to live fully our discipleship.
Give us the grace to inspire the people to pursue you,
the incomparable good.
We love you and honor you, now and forever.
Amen.
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Loving Father and gracious God,
you gave us new life
through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Without “seeing” him we love and believe in him.
Be with us as we experience “grace yet suffering”
as well as “grace through suffering”.
We adore you and glorify you, now and forever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor … then, come, follow me.” (Mk 10:21) //“Although you have not seen him you love him.” (1 Pt 1:8)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray for the gift of wisdom that will enable you to make a fundamental choice for Christ and follow him all the way. Take stock of your material possessions. Make a radical decision to share your material resources with the needy and to give to the poor. // Let yourself be filled with the joy of salvation and let this joy be expressed through your “smile”.
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May 28, 2024: TUESDAY – WEEKDAY (8)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Promises Eternal Life … He Calls Us to Holiness”
BIBLE READINGS
1 Pt 1:10-16 // Mk 10:28-31
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mk 10:28-31): “You will receive as much persecution in this present age and eternal life in the age to come.”
The Gospel (Mk 10:28-31) tells us that the rich man who encounters Jesus on the road of discipleship goes away sad. He is a dramatic illustration that selfish attachment makes participation in the Reign of God impossible. The rich man is not able to renounce his possessions for the sake of eternal life. To rely on false security, or one’s ability to obtain eternal life, is like a camel trying to enter the eye of a needle. It cannot happen! But God can free us from enchantments and delusions. Through Jesus, he offers us the grace to renounce a false security or even a “relative good” so as to make a fundamental option for him, the absolute good - the source of all good, including eternal life.
Peter intuits the divine grace at work in the first disciples of Jesus. He asserts: “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus assures them and the Christian disciples through all times of the “hundredfold reward”. The “hundredfold reward” is already present in the present age, though its joy is overshadowed by the cross and threatened by the world’s persecution. Eventually those who leave “houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands” for the sake of Jesus will experience in the final age the full reward - eternal life in the bosom of God.
The following thoughts of Mother Teresa of Calcutta give insight into radical discipleship and the Christian disciple’s hundredfold reward (cf. Mother Teresa: Her Essential Wisdom, ed. Carol Kelly- Gangi, New York: Barnes and Noble, 2006, p. 2-7).
I knew that God wanted something for me. I was only twelve years old, living with my parents in Skopje, Yugoslavia (now Macedonia), when I first sensed the desire to be a nun. At that time there were some very good priests who helped boys and girls follow their vocation, according to God’s will. It was then I realized that my call was to the poor.
***
I remember when I was leaving home fifty years ago – my mother was dead set against me leaving home and becoming a sister. In the end, when she realized that this was what God wanted from her and from me, she said something very strange: “Put your hand in his hand and walk all alone with him.” This is exactly our way of life. We may be surrounded by many people, yet our vocation is really ours alone with Jesus.
***
I did my novitiate in Darjeeling and took the vows with the Loreto Sisters. For twenty years, I was at work in education in St. Mary’s High School, which was mostly for middle class children. I loved teaching, and in Loreto I was the happiest nun in the world.
***
In 1948, twenty years after I came to India, I actually decided upon this close contact with the poorest of the poor. It was for me a special vocation to give all to belong to Jesus. I felt that God wanted from me something more. He wanted me to be poor with the poor and to love him in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor. I had the blessing of obedience.
***
I was traveling by train to Darjeeling when I heard the voice of God. I was sure it was God’s voice. I was certain he was calling me. The message was clear. I must leave the convent to help the poor by living among them. Thus was a command, something to be done, something definite. The call was something between God and me. What matters is that God calls each of us in a different way. In those difficult, dramatic days I was certain that this was God’s doing and not mine and I am still certain. And it was the work of God. I knew that the world would benefit from it.
***
To leave Loreto was my greatest sacrifice, the most difficult thing I have ever done. It was much more difficult than to leave my family and country to enter religious life. Loreto meant everything to me. In Loreto I had received my spiritual training. I had become a religious there. I had given myself to Jesus in the Institute. I liked the work, teaching the girls.
***
On my first trip along the streets of Calcutta after leaving the Sisters of Loreto, a priest came up to me. He asked me to give a contribution to a collection for the Catholic press. I had left with five rupees, and I had given four of them to the poor. I hesitated, then gave the priest the one that remained. That afternoon, the same priest came to me and brought an envelope. He told me that a man had given him the envelope because he had heard about my projects and wanted to help me. There were fifty rupees in the envelope. I had the feeling, at that moment, that God had begun to bless the work and would never abandon me.
***
One by one, from 1949 on, my former students began to arrive. They wanted to give everything to God, right away. With what joy they put away their colorful saris in order to put on our poor cotton one. They came because they knew that it would be hard. When a young woman of high caste comes and puts herself at the service of the poor, she is the protagonist of a revolution. It is the greatest, the most difficult revolution – the revolution of love.
***
One of the most demanding things for me is traveling with all the publicity everywhere I go. I have said to Jesus if I don’t go to Heaven for anything else, I will be going to Heaven for all the traveling and publicity, because it has purified me and sanctified me and made me truly ready for Heaven.
B. First Reading (1 Pt 1:10-16): “They prophesied about the grace that was to be yours; therefore, live soberly and set your hopes completely on the grace to be borught to you.”
In the reading (1 Pt 1:10-15), Saint Peter underlines the greatness of the Christian gift of salvation and what it entails. The prophets of old foretold it and the angels of heaven look forward to it. Such a great gift requires a special response: so the believers are urged to live a life worthy of their faith. They must live soberly, alert and ready for the blessing that will be given at the final coming and revelation of Jesus Christ. They must not allow their lives to be shaped by those desires that they had when they were still ignorant of Christ. Instead, they must be holy in all they do just as God is holy. To be holy is to be dedicated to God in a loving faithful covenant relationship.
The following account gives insight into what Christian holiness means (cf. Julie Basque, “The Long Good-bye” in Saint Anthony Messenger, March 2014, p. 38-39).
My mother can still find meaning in her dementia, given her history of deep faith. She describes her spiritual life as different now that she has dementia. “I am more detached now”, she says. “I am more detached and looking forward to heaven. I believe God wants to save more people on earth, so he would like to have some redemptive suffering. If my suffering with dementia can help someone, what a wonderful outcome that would be!”
The search for meaning or purpose when one is dealing with dementia can feel futile, yet God’s response is humbling. Her faith is able to give her a context to understand her current situation. “Faith informs us about our lives and how they are in the light of eternity”, she says. Mom believes in uniting her suffering to Jesus’ suffering, thus making it redemptive. She comments further that she feels fortunate that dementia does not hurt. It is not cancer. (…)
My mother shares even more with me regarding how she experiences her relationship with God now. “God is very tender toward me”, she says. “Little problems in my life seem to be solved without my even asking God. I feel as though Jesus is looking out for me. I am closer to God. I am less fearful.”
Her response is indicative of her unwavering faith. My sister Patty often states that Mom’s faith is very childlike and trusting. Ironically, it was trust in herself that she lost once she was diagnosed with dementia. Yet, it is trust in God that seems to be sustaining her now.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Have we left everything in order to follow Jesus? Are we experiencing the hundredfold reward?
2. Do we appreciate the grandiose richness of Christian faith and salvation? Are we ready to live to the full the Christian vocation to holiness?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O loving Jesus,
you are the absolute good.
To follow you
is to be blessed with the hundredfold reward
and attain the exquisite gift of eternal life.
Give us the grace to renounce false security.
Grant us the wisdom to sacrifice a relative good
and to pursue zealously the eternal good.
Teach us to give up everything to follow you
and the divine saving will.
We adore and serve you.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen.
***
O Jesus,
teach us to set our hearts completely
on the grace that your final revelation brings.
Make us holy as God the Father is holy.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“We have given up everything and followed you.” (Mk 10:28) //“He who called you is holy; be holy yourself.” (1 Pt 1:15)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Humbly express your discipleship in the various renunciations and sacrifices that you carry out in daily life in union with Jesus Savior. // When trials and difficulties come your way, trust in the Lord and cast your cares upon him. Let this be an occasion to grow in Christian holiness.
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May 29, 2024: WEDNESDAY – WEEKDAY (8); SAINT PAUL VI, Pope
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Came to Serve … He Ransomed Us with His Precious Blood”
BIBLE READINGS
1 Pt 1:18-25 // Mk 10:32-45
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mk 10:32-45): “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be handed over.”
The Gospel (Mk 10:32-45) tells us that Jesus Christ, the beloved Son-Servant of God, came to serve – his greatest act of servitude was his paschal journey to Jerusalem and his life-offering on the cross. To be a Christian is to be a servant like him. To imitate Christ is to reject such a non-Gospel stance as “lording it over others”, and to refuse to play the world’s power game. The criterion of Christian discipleship is mutual service for the good of others. The path to glory is to serve the needs of others. The Church is a community of loving disciples who take to heart the words of Jesus: “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.”
In the following account, Mother Teresa of Calcutta gives us beautiful examples of Christian service (cf. Amazing Grace for the Catholic Heart, ed. Jeff Cavins, et. al., West Chester: Ascension Press, 2004, p. 232-233).
One evening we went out and we picked up four people from the street. And one of them was in a most terrible condition. I told the Sisters: “You take care of the other three; I will take care of the one who looks worse.” So I did for her all that my love can do. I put her in bed, and there was a beautiful smile on her face. She took hold of my hand, and she said one thing only: “Thank you.” Then she died.
Then there was the man we picked up from the drain, half-eaten by worms. And after we had brought him to the home, he only said, “I have lived like an animal in the street, but am going to die as an angel, loved and cared for.” Then, after we had removed all the worms from his body, all he said – with a big smile – was: “Sister, I am going home to God.”
B. First Reading (1 Pt 1:18-25): “You were ransomed with the precious Blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished Lamb.”
Our special Christian vocation to holy living and its foundation are delineated in the reading (1 Pt 1:17-21). The biblical scholar Jose Cervantes Gabarron explains: “The faithful memory of the liberating event carried out through the blood of Christ is the profound reason for the Christians’ change in conduct. They pass from a life without meaning to a life of hope, and also from ignorance to holiness. The liberator is Christ and the way of liberation is the passion sealed with the spilling of his blood. (…) Faith in God and in the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ brings a living hope that must be shaped into a new conduct because it corresponds to regeneration through God the Father.”
The people shaped by the saving event of Christ’s paschal mystery are thus called to act responsibly as the “redeemed” - with a life marked by a “holy living”. However, by their conversion the Christians may have suffered the loss of kin and clan. Alienated from their former culture, they must have lived like sojourners and exiles among their former neighbors. But Christians gain new brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, relatives and kin. Their conversion entails a new birth into a new family animated by a “sincere brotherly love”. Their call is to “love one another intensely from the heart”. They receive strength from the fact that their rebirth comes from an imperishable seed, that is, through God’s word that is living and trustworthy. Unless the flower that wilts and the grass that withers, the word of God remains forever. And since God is forever faithful, Christian faith will endure.
The following account of how an army officer has saved the life of a suicidal soldier gives insight into what “sincere fraternal love” entails (Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffery Powell, U.S. Army Ret., “All He Wrote was Goodbye” in Guideposts, March 2015, p. 62-63).
Facebook was a great way to stay in touch. I had about 700 friends on the site – mostly soldiers I’d served over the years. A good sergeant major, a good leader, tries to know what’s going on in his people’s lives. I logged on. Right away my eyes went to a gruesome photo in my news feed. What in the world? I enlarged the photo on the screen. A bloody forearm with a two-inch slash on the inside wrist.
It was posted by a sergeant who’d served with me in Iraq in the 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment. After our tour of duty, we’d both returned to Fort Sill, but it had been eight years since we’d seen each other. He was the quiet type, a great guy and a fine soldier. Above the photo, all he’d written was one word, “Goodbye”. I clicked on a second photo below it: the other arm, also with a long vertical gash on the inside of the wrist. These cuts were deep. The blood was fresh.
I knew the statistics. According to the latest Army report, every 18 hours a soldier commits suicide. More have taken their lives than died in combat. This was more than a grim statistic in some report. This was real. People had commented: “Praying for you!” “Call me if you need to talk.” “Here if you need me!”
Wasn’t anyone doing anything? With wounds like that, he could bleed to death in minutes! I hadn’t spent months in Iraq with this soldier to lose him now. Adrenaline surged through me like I was right back in a war zone. There were no orders. I had to take action. (…)
Somebody gave me the soldier’s camp and division. I hung up with suicide hotline and logged on to the website for the Army camp in Korea. I found the division directory and dialed the number. It was early morning there. Even if I could get to the right person, what if it was too late? I paced around the kitchen. Lord, please let someone else be trying to help him too. Please help this hurting soldier.
I waited on the phone, my anxiety mounting. That’s the thing about reacting in the moment. It is nerve-racking, even for an Army lifer like me. My iPad buzzed. Another Facebook notification. A message from another soldier in the battalion, Robert Piller. He’d served in Iraq with me and the soldier in danger. “We got him, Sergeant Major”, he wrote. “I called the hotline and got EMS en route to him. Sergeant First Class Jones got ahold of him and his unit. He’s on the way to the hospital. They say they got to him in time.” (…)
I checked on the soldier later that evening. His status was stable. I sent him a private message on Facebook. “You have people who love and care for you. I’m one of them. Praying for you. If you need anything at all, let me know.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. How do I emulate Christ’s example of serving love? Do I believe that in service is true greatness?
2. Do we value the sacrifice of Jesus in ransoming us with his precious Blood? On account of what he has done for us, do we love one another sincerely and intensely from a pure heart?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O Jesus, the Father’s beloved Son-Servant,
you became a slave on the cross.
You did not come to be served, but to serve
and to give your life as a ransom for many.
You teach us the way of serving love.
By your public ministry and paschal sacrifice,
you show us how to serve fully
the saving will of God.
Help us to reject the world’s power game
and not to seek false prestige.
Let us imitate you in serving the needs of others,
especially the weak and vulnerable in today’s society.
We love you, Jesus Savior,
and glorify you, now and forever.
Amen.
***
Lord Jesus,
you have ransomed us with your precious Blood.
Help us to respond to your sacrificial love
through a life of holiness and brotherly love.
We have been reborn through
the living and abiding word of God.
Let our faith be strong
since you are faithful and God is trustworthy.
We adore and glorify you, now and forever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.” (Mk 10:45) // “You were ransomed … with the precious Blood of Christ.” (1 Pt 1:18-19)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Let the service that you carry out on behalf of others be joyful and replete with love and self-giving. // Pray for hurting soldiers and veterans who have mental-health problems and see in what way you can give help them receive pastoral care.
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May 30, 2024: THURSDAY – WEEKDAY (8)
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Makes the Blind See … In Him We Are a Chosen Race, a Royal Priesthood”
BIBLE READINGS
1 Pt 2:2-5, 9-12 // Mk 10:46-52
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mk 10:46-52): “Master, I want to see.”
I met Philip, a ten-year old boy suffering from a malignant brain tumor, at our convent in Cebu Island in the Philippines, in 1977. The malady caused Philip to become blind and his growth was stunted. He had the body of a six-year old, but his face was radiant and beautiful. He was quite good at playing the organ and the guitar. After listening with joy to his improvised concerto, I accompanied Philip to the refectory, located on the second floor of our convent. I held his hand as we went up the flight of steep stairs. When we reached the top, he asked me, “How many steps are there in these stairs?” I had to confess with embarrassment that I never counted them. Philip gamely told me how many steps there were. The Sisters offered Philip fruit juice and cookies, and the usual children’s treats. He gently refused explaining that he had a diet. Philip knew that he would not live very long, but there was no hint of fear or regret in him. His sightless eyes seemed to have more capacity for seeing than our own. The lovable Philip could see beyond and was full of trust in the loving God who would soon bring him to heaven. As I bid him goodbye, I was praying deep in my heart, “Lord, help me to see the way Philip sees!” The blind little boy who made me realize that I needed “to see” and inspired me to pray for spiritual sight died a few years later. I know for certain that Philip is in heaven, “seeing” God face to face.
The need for true spiritual sight is the subject of today’s Gospel (Mk 10:46-51). The reading begins with an interesting geographical reference and a touch of local color: “As Jesus was leaving Jericho, with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging” (v. 46). The main road to Jerusalem runs right through Jericho, which is 15 miles northeast of Jerusalem and 5 miles west of the Jordan River. The messianic journey of Jesus that began in Caesarea Philippi (Mk 8:27-30) is reaching its destination: Jerusalem. The departure of Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, from Jericho evokes the movement of a large group of pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem for the Passover. The crowd that is moving towards Jerusalem, the place of sacrifice, does not, however, comprehend the meaning of Jesus’ paschal destiny. The disciples and the crowd are figuratively “blind” with regards to the destiny of this remarkable man who had declared: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). Indeed, it is more convenient to see him as a wonderful miracle worker, a powerful political ruler and a generous breadbasket king. In comparison to the blind beggar Bartimaeus, they seem lucky for they could see with their physical eyes. But there is a deeper reality than physical sight.
Mark portrays Bartimaeus as sitting by the roadside begging. With undaunted hope, the blind beggar resolutely cries out his invocation, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me” (Mk 10:47). Ignoring the rebuke of the many unsympathetic people who try to silence him, he keeps calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me” (Mk 10:48). Bartimaeus’ use of the expression “Son of David” is the first public application of that messianic title to Jesus. The title “Son of David” designates Jesus as the heir of the promise made to David through Nathan (cf. II Sam 7:12-16). The biblical scholar Philip Van Linden remarks: “The title Bartimaeus gives Jesus, ‘Son of David,’ indicates that he, a blind beggar, actually sees who Jesus is more clearly than the disciples and crowd who have been with him all along!”
Today’s Gospel ends with a joyful note of healing and a decisive movement of discipleship. Having received his sight, he follows Jesus on the way of discipleship. Bartimaeus serves as an example of a person with “sight” and such a person follows Jesus into his passion. His response to Jesus’ command, “Go your way” is to embrace the way of the Divine Master, a way that leads from Jericho to Jerusalem, and ultimately – the way of the Cross. His response challenges the community of Christian believers today.
B. First Reading (1 Pt 2:2-5, 9-12): “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, so that you may announce the praises of him who called you.”
The Second Reading (1 Pt 2:2-5, 9-12)) depicts our identity as God’s people. The rich images that we hear in this reading present our dignity as “priestly people, kingly people, holy people chosen by the Lord to sing his praises” as well as the responsibility of holiness resulting from it.
The biblical scholar, Jerome Neyrey explains: “Jesus is the stone which God laid in Zion, a cornerstone, chosen and precious … This Christ-stone is the pattern for the church; like Jesus, we are chosen and precious to God; we are also rejected by pagans and unbelievers. But as Christ is the cornerstone, so we are being made into a household, a holy body of priests … The church is a people of his own and so it is a chosen race, a royal dwelling place, a holy nation (cf. Ex 19:3-6). The church has gone from being not my people to being my people, from not having received mercy to having received mercy. Both the stone and people images speak, then, of our election by God and of our holiness. And they point to what this means in our lives: as a household of priests we offer spiritual sacrifices, that is, a holy life characterized by faithfulness and obedience. And as a holy nation we tell the story of the holy God and his saving deeds. So our priesthood is a way of being called to a holy status before a holy God and an exhortation to do holy things like acting holy and speaking about the holy God. These images, then, do not reject formal worship in the Church, nor do they argue against liturgical leadership for this group. Their sole purpose is to tell the church of its exalted state, as chosen and holy.”
The following prize-winning essay written by a 10th grader at Holy Family High School in Broomfield, Colorado, gives us an insight into our vocation as God’s holy people, called to live out the Gospel message and proclaim the praises of the Lord in today’s world (cf. Kelly Dempsey, “Living Gospel Message” in Maryknoll, May/June 2011, p. 49-50).
Actions speak louder than words. We have all been preached those five words many times throughout our lives, but how many of us truly live by them? In this strange world within which we currently reside, one can easily get caught up in technology such as Facebook, video games and texting. All of these “advancements” in human society make hypocrisy almost effortless. The ability to hide behind a machine greatly facilitates one’s desire to seem as if they are one great, generous person, without any of the inconveniences of actually being one. However, despite our culture of attachment to the many “glowing rectangles” around which our society seems to now revolve – computers, phones, iPods, cameras, televisions – there are the few who rise up despite these distractions and live a life of the Gospels. A wise man known as St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the Gospel always; if necessary, use words.” From the very first time I opened my eyes to now, 16 years later, I have seen and continue to see these words perfectly exemplified through the actions of my older sister and best friend, Erin.
Always strong with her relationship and faith in God, Erin, only three years older than myself, taught me at a very young age that God is always present and will always, no matter what, take care of me. Shortly after she turned 12, my parents finally deemed her old enough to watch over me while they went out, a concept that utterly terrified me. How on earth was my tiny 60-pound sister supposed to protect me when the burglars, who were sure to come in my parents’ absence, broke into our house? However, once I voiced my fears, my sister pulled me into a giant bear hug and softly instructed me to ask God to take away my fears. With that simple prayer, my worries suddenly evaporated into thin air. From that day forth, I viewed my sister as standing in a new light, a light with Christ.
Erin, now a sophomore at Creighton University, a Jesuit school, still stands tall and true to her faith. During her freshman year, a time of trial for many Catholics as to whether they stay true to their faith or convert to sleeping in, Erin not only continued to go to church once a week and pray on a daily basis, but she also upped the ante. Her normal weekly church visit multiplied into going at least three times a week. In addition, she was able to spread the word around campus and single-handedly increased weekday Mass attendance. Furthermore, despite the fact that she rarely is able to hit the sack before four o’clock in the morning, due to her immense workload and jam-packed schedule, Erin miraculously found time to volunteer for many non-profit organizations around Creighton.
Extremely selfless and humble in her actions and never even considering complaining about giving her limited time to those in need around her, Erin can be seen as role model to all those who have witnessed her daily life. Her closeness to God can be witnessed through her gentleness with children, kindness to strangers, and sympathy, comfort and compassion for the less fortunate. Never harsh or slanderous, Erin is a walking example of God’s message in our slightly off-kilter society.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we recognize and identify the blindness within us that needs to be healed? Do we turn to Jesus and say, “Master, I want to see” (Mk 10:51)? In our experience of blindness and hopelessness, do we have the courage and the faith to cry out with Bartimaeus: “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me” (Mk 10:47)? When Jesus sees us by the wayside and calls us to himself, what is our response? Do we throw aside the cloak of our old habits, get up, and run to meet him? Do we follow him on the way?
2. Do we realize the implication of being built like, living stones, into a spiritual house, with Jesus Christ as the foundation? What does it mean to be “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own”?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Lord Jesus,
we are blind.
We are blinded by the visible,
which prevents us from grasping the invisible.
We have closed our eyes to our paschal destiny.
We turn to you for inner healing.
Master, we want to see!
Jesus, Son of David, have pity on us!
We love and adore you, now and forever.
Amen.
***
Loving Father,
Jesus is the living stone-foundation
and we are “living stones” built upon him
to proclaim to the world your praises.
Let our good works glorify you
and testify that you have called us out of darkness into light
In Jesus Christ,
we become “a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people that is your own”.
For choosing us to be holy
and for your ineffable gifts,
we are filled with gratitude.
We adore and serve you, now and forever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“Master, I want to see.” (Mk 10:51) // “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” (1 Pt 2:9)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Pray in thanksgiving for the many good people who endeavor to relieve the painful and difficult situations of the vision-impaired. Offer some help to various institutions for the blind. // When you celebrate the Eucharist as part of God’s chosen race, be deeply conscious that you are “offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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May 31, 2024: FRIDAY – THE VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is the Fruit of Mary’s Womb and Is Present in Her Visitation”
BIBLE READINGS
Zep 3:14-18a or Rom 12:9-16 // Lk 1:39-56
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 1:39-56): “And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Today we celebrate the feast of the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Christ-bearer, into the home of Elizabeth (cf. Lk 1:39-56). It is a profound meeting between two wonderful women, each carrying a very special baby with a vital role in salvation history. Mary’ son, Jesus, is the Messiah, while Elizabeth’s son, John, is the Messiah’s precursor. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit at Mary’s greeting and the child in her womb leaps for joy at the coming of Jesus, the fruit of Mary’s womb. This grace-filled event foreshadows the joyful outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Jesus Christ’s glorification.
Mary’s visit to assist Elizabeth exemplifies the spirit of service that marks Christian discipleship. But more remarkable than her assistance to a needy pregnant cousin, Mary’s incomparable service and ministry in salvation history is her divine motherhood. Her “FIAT” to the saving plan made possible the incarnation of the Son of God. Saint Bede the Venerable remarks: “Above all other servants, she alone can truly rejoice in Jesus, the Savior, for she knew that he who was the source of eternal salvation would be born in time in her body, in one person both her own son and her Lord.” United with the saving mission of her Son and Lord Jesus, Mary of Nazareth is truly the servant of God – the handmaid of the Lord.
Today’s feast also invites us to be truly concerned with a social issue that militates against the service of life that the Mother of God exemplifies. Abortion is a negation of a person’s right to life … a direct attack against an innocent human being, who is a gift of God. The following words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta are insightful (cf. Amazing Grace for the Catholic Heart, ed. Jeff Cavins, et. al., West Chester: Ascension Press, 2004, p. 228-231).
And God loved the world so much that he gave his son. God gave his son to the Virgin Mary, and what did she do with him? As soon as Jesus came into Mary’s life, immediately she went in haste to give that good news. And as she came into the house of her cousin, Elizabeth, Scripture tells us that the unborn child – the child in the womb of Elizabeth – leapt with joy. While still in the womb of Mary, Jesus brought peace to John the Baptist, who leaps for joy in the womb of Elizabeth. (…)
But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child – a direct killing of the innocent child – murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
B. First Reading (Zep 3:14-18a): “The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst.”
On this feast of the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the First Reading is from the book of the prophet Zephaniah (3:14-18a). He, who prophesied under King Josiah of Judah, is both the prophet of the “day of wrath” and the harbinger of the promise of salvation. His foreboding of doom merely underlines the consoling message that God is in our midst – to bring salvation out of a painful situation. The enigmatic prophet Zephaniah makes an ardent appeal to trust in the mighty Lord who is “in our midst”. The prophet’s words underline the transforming effect and the joy that the presence of the Lord brings. This passage adds special meaning to the feast of the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the “Christ-bearer”. In a deeper sense, Mary’s visitation is actually the Lord Jesus’ visitation. In Mary’s visitation to her cousin Elizabeth, she makes possible for the Savior to be “in our midst”. The Son that Mary carries in the womb is the one who will rejoice over us and renew us in his love.
Our joy as a faith community is based on the Lord’s presence. Hence, even in trials and distress, it is possible to rejoice because our life is secure in the hands of God. There is joy in sufferings as long as we open ourselves to the mystery of the Lord’s visitation and the love of Mary, the Mother of our Savior. The following story, circulated on the Internet, gives insight into the mystery of the Lord’s visitation and the triumph of love over affliction.
My Italian Grandmother was a wonderful woman. "Nanny" had a loving, vibrant soul that she carried around in a short, heavyset body. She had a passion for life that expressed itself in so many ways. It was in the hugs she gave, the meals she cooked, and the flowers she grew. It was even in the temper she lost from time to time. I think one of the reasons I was never taught Italian by my Dad was he was afraid I might learn the meaning of some of those words Nanny said when she was upset.
Nanny raised four sons and then helped my Mom and Dad raise me and my two brothers as well. I always felt blessed growing up in her home as a boy. She worked hard, laughed loud, and was never afraid of what life threw at her. Life wasn't that easy on her either. She suffered from health problems all her life and even survived an operation for a brain tumor. When she fell and broke her hip in her eighties, my Dad was forced to admit that he could no longer take care of her at home.
It was with a heavy heart that Dad moved Nanny into a nursing home. She lost weight and was confined to a wheelchair. Yet, even as her body shrunk and withered, her spirit stayed strong. The nurses there loved her and her zest for life. Even her Italian temper brought smiles to them as they learned a few "choice" words of Italian from her as well. Our whole family gathered together for her 90th birthday in the nursing home dining room. It was a wonderful celebration of her life and the love we all had for her.
Shortly after that birthday, however, life gave her the toughest challenge of all as age and illness started to take her mind from her too. The dementia grew worse and worse over the last few years of her life. At times when I visited her she didn't know who I was. It was heartbreaking to see her this way. She spoke less and less and stayed in her bed more and more. Sometimes all I could do was just sit by her bed and hold her hand.
During one of these visits I was holding her hand while she slept and remembering the person she used to be. My soul was in mourning that life could take everything from her like this. At that moment she awoke. Her eyes gazed up at me and I could tell she didn't recognize me. She looked down at my hand holding hers and instead of pulling hers away, she smiled at me. Then she closed her eyes and went peacefully back to sleep. I could see then that even though her mind didn’t remember me, her spirit still remembered love and that was enough.
C. Alternative First Reading (Rom 12:9-16): “Contribute to the needs of the holy ones; exercise hospitality.”
The alternative reading (Rom 12:9-16) consists of a series of instructions or maxims about charitable acts. To serve the Lord is what motivates Christian conduct and the desire to meet the needs of believers. The charitable works of the faith community is founded on the love of Christ experienced to the utmost extent. Like Mary who visited Elizabeth to assist her in her need, the Christian disciples are called to respond to the needs of others.
The following story illustrates the fulfillment of Paul’s maxim: “Contribute to the needs of the holy ones; exercise hospitality” (cf. Gilbert Roller, “More Than Coincidence” in GUIDEPOSTS, February 2014, p. 31).
My mother wasn’t impulsive, especially regarding her finances. That’s why I was shocked when she said she’d donated most of her life savings to two missionaries who had knocked at her door in Texas. “You did what?!” I sputtered. “When?” “A few months back”, she said. “These nice young people needed money to build a chapel in Mexico.” No, they hadn’t given her any documentation. No, she hadn’t heard from them since. I didn’t want to upset her, but I had to tell her that I thought she’d fallen for a scam. “I don’t think the Lord would have moved me to help if it wasn’t for real”, she said.
At the time, I was a young professor at Asbury University in Kentucky, teaching music theory, and my wife and I weren’t on the best financial footing. We could have used that money. For years – even after I got my tenure and we raised three sons – I imagined finding the drifters who had swindled Mom, though I wasn’t sure what I’d do if I did. Only when Mom died and my sons became missionaries – real ones – did I let the matter go.
I retired in 1993. My wife and I took a cross-country trip to California, staying at campgrounds along the way. One evening, somewhere in Missouri, I’d just set up our tent when a man wandered over from his RV. “I see by your license plate you’re from Kentucky”, he said. “What do you do?” “Retired now”, I said. “But I used to teach music theory.” “Music”, the man said. “Hmm. You know anyone by the name of Roller?” How’d he know that? “Yes, actually, my name is Roller”, I said.
The man smiled. “Many years ago, my wife and I met a woman in Texas named Roller. She had a son in Kentucky who taught music. She gave us quite a lot of money. Viola Roller.”
My mom. My blood ran cold. Here I was, finally face-to-face with one of so-called missionaries!
“Hang on”, the man said, ducking into his RV before I could react. He came out and handed me a photo. A simple adobe building with a cross on the roof, and a sign in front: Roller Capilla. “Roller Chapel”, the man said. “Named for the woman who made it possible.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we imitate Mary’s neighborly concern for her cousin Elizabeth as well as her maternal devotion and apostolic zeal as Christ-bearer?
2. Are we grateful for the many occasions of the Lord’s visitation in our life?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Jesus Lord,
we thank you for sharing with us
the ineffable goodness of Mary, your blessed Mother.
Help us to imitate Mary
in her maternal devotion, faithful discipleship and apostolic zeal.
Grant that in the spirit of Mary,
the handmaid of the Lord,
we may be instruments of your grace-filled “visitation”
to the poor and the needy,
the weak and the marginalized,
the “anawim” and the chosen people of God.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen. Alleluia.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“And how does this happen to me that the mother of the Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43) // “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty Savior.” (Zep 3:17) // “Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality.” (Rom 12:13)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Be an instrument of the Lord’s visitation. Like Mary, the “Christ-bearer”, bring the Lord’s healing love to a person who needs his saving presence, e.g. the sick, the homebound, the lonely, the grieving, etc.
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June 1, 2024: SATURDAY – SAINT JUSTIN, Martyr
“JESUS SAVIOR: He Has Messianic Authority … Through Him We Give Praise to God”
BIBLE READINGS
Jud 17, 20b-25 // Mk 11:27-33
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mk 11:27-33): “By what authority are you doing these things?”
The chief priests and scribes are seeking a way to kill Jesus after his drastic cleansing of the temple and on account of his subversive actions and words. Now they are joined by the elders in challenging Jesus by what authority he is doing these things. Jesus counters with a question about John’s authority to baptize. For fear of the crowd, the opponents of Jesus refuse to make a statement about the source of John the Baptist’s authority. What began as a threat to Jesus’ authority ends in the exposure of how little authority and courage his antagonists really have. What was meant to subvert and humiliate Jesus turns into a manifestation of the authoritative wisdom of the Divine Master.
The messianic authority of Jesus continues in the “one, holy catholic and apostolic Church”. In the face of moral-social-political issues that convulse and challenge the faithful today, it is good to assert the authoritative Church teaching. The following are the Seven Key Themes of the Catholic Social Teaching in the Public Square (cf. USCCB, The Challenge of Forming Conscience for Faithful Citizenship, November 2007).
1. The Right to Life and the Dignity of the Human Person: Human life is sacred. Direct attacks on innocent human beings are never morally acceptable. Within our society, life is under direct attack from abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, and destruction of human embryos for research. These intrinsic evils must always be opposed. This teaching also compels us Catholics to oppose genocide, torture, unjust war and the use of the death penalty, as well as to pursue peace and help overcome poverty, racism and other conditions that demean human life.
2. Call to Family, Community and Participation: The family, based on marriage between a man and a woman, is the fundamental unit of society. This sanctuary for the creation and nurturing of children must not be redefined, undermined or neglected. Supporting families should be a priority for economic and social policies. How our society is organized - in economics and politics, in law and public policy – affects the well-being of individuals and of society. Every person and association has a right and a duty to participate in shaping society to promote the well-being of individuals and the common good.
3. Rights and Responsibilities: Every human person has a right to life, the fundamental right that makes all other rights possible. Each of us has a right to religious freedom, which enables us to live and act in accord with our God-given dignity, as well as a right to have access to those things required for human decency – food and shelter, education and employment, healthcare and housing. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities – to one another, to our families, and to a larger society.
4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable: While the common good embraces all, those who are in greatest need deserve preferential concern. A moral test for society is how we treat the weakest among us – the unborn, those dealing with disabilities or terminal illness, the poor and marginalized.
5. Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers: the economy must serve the people, not the other way around. Economic justice calls for decent work at fair, living wages, opportunities for legal status for immigrant workers, and the opportunity for all people to work together for the common good through their work, ownership, enterprise, investment, participation in unions and other forms of economic activity.
6. Solidarity: We form one human family; whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic and ideological differences. Our Catholic commitment to solidarity requires that we pursue justice, eliminate racism, end human trafficking, protect human rights, seek peace, and avoid the use of force except as a necessary last resort.
7. Caring for God’s Creation: Caring for the earth is a duty of our Catholic faith. We all are called to be careful stewards of God’s creation and to ensure a safe and hospitable environment for vulnerable human beings now and in the future.
B. First Reading (Jud 17, 20b-25): “To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished and exultant in the presence of his glory.”
Today’s reading (Jud 17, 20b-25) is special. Only once in the Sunday/Weekday Lectionary does a text from the Letter of Jude is used. The author Jude, who identifies himself as “the servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James”, offers some practical wisdom for Christian life as well as warns believers against false teachers. In today’s passage, Saint Jude advises them to remember the words of the Apostles for that would help them be grounded in the faith transmitted by the apostles. He tells them to build themselves up in their holy faith. It is Jude’s original contribution to make the believers both the builders and materials for the faith-building. He likewise urges them to have an intimate relationship with the one-triune God: to pray in the Spirit, to keep themselves in the love of God, and to wait for Jesus Christ who in his mercy will lead us to eternal life. But in the meantime, they have a loving duty to save those “wavering” in their faith and the “others” who have led them astray due to their false teaching. Saint Jude concludes his letter with a formal benediction. God is acclaimed as the one who keeps us from falling and leads us to his glorious presence. To the only God, who is the author of salvation, “glory, majesty, power, and authority” is due through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The following article gives insight into the remarkable exhortation of Saint Jude: “Build yourselves up in your most holy faith” (cf. “I now have more time for prayer” in Our Sunday Visitor, June 28, 2015, p. 10).
Capuchin Father Alexis Luzi has enjoyed gardening since childhood. “I had my brains in books, but my hands were in the soil – both at the same time”, he said. “It’s a good balance.”
This spring, Father Luzi, planted a little garden at St. Fidelis Friary, the Capuchin Province of St. Joseph’s retirement community in Appleton, Wisconsin. There are about 18 residents. He’s growing tomatoes, string beans, celery, carrots nd beets for their meals, and pots of geraniums and a patch of snap dragons to enjoy. It’s his way of keeping physically active and continuing to serve.
Father Luzi joined the province in 1943 and was ordained in 1951. He taught ecclesiology at the Capuchin Seminary St. Anthony in Marathon, Wisconsin, pastured an inner-city church and assisted at another parish in Milwaukee. He published a number of homilies and sermons that are available online (alixisluzi.blogspot.com).
He recently spent five years in Texas taking care of his older sister who has dementia and is now in a nursing home.
“My greatest blessing is to be with my Capuchin religious order, which takes good care of me in my old age”, he said. “I now have more time for prayer. I have had a full life, and I’m happy.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
1. Do we fully accept the messianic authority of Jesus? Do we promote the truth that Jesus the Divine Master teaches and incarnates in today’s world?
2. Do we “build ourselves up in faith”? Do we pray in the Holy Spirit, endeavor to share the love of God with others, and look forward to the coming of our merciful Jesus Christ who will lead us to eternal life?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
O Jesus Divine Master,
we adore as the Word incarnate sent by the Father
to instruct us in the life giving truth.
You live on in the Church.
Grant us the grace to embrace your authoritative wisdom
that enables us to embrace moral principles,
care for the needs of the weak,
defend the culture of life,
and pursue the common good.
We humbly submit to your messianic authority
for you are the One Sent by God
and anointed by the Holy Spirit for our salvation.
You live and reign, forever and ever.
Amen.
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Loving Father,
please keep us from stumbling
so that we may stand joyful in your glorious presence.
To you the only God, author of salvation,
is due glory, majesty power and authority,
through Jesus Christ, forever and ever.
Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“By what authority are you doing these things?” (Mk 11:28) // “To the only God, our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, power and authority from ages past, now, and for ages to come. Amen.” (Jud 25)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
Make an effort to understand the personal implication for you of the Catholic Teaching in the Public Square and to put it into practice. // Look at the retired men and women religious and see how their endeavors of personal faith-building can inspire you. Find ways to help them in their need.
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Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US