Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Lord, in the simplicity of my heart

I offer myself to You this day as Your servant for evermore,

for Your homage and for a sacrifice of perpetual praise.  

~Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, Bk IV, Chapter 9

Detail, The Presentation of the Virgin Mary by Titian (1534-38, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice)

Gloria!

Praised be Your holy Name, not mine.  I will praise Your name, but not my own; I will esteem Your doings, not my own:  I will bless Your holy Name.  I desire no share in the praises of men.  You alone are my glory.  You alone are the joy of my heart.  I will offer You praise and glory every hour of the day; but for myself, I will glory in nothing, unless it be in my own weakness...I will seek the glory that God alone can give.  For all human glory, all this world's honors, all earthly titles, compared with Your eternal glory, are mere vanity and foolishness.  O blessed Trinity, my God, my Truth, my Mercy, to You alone let all things ascribe all praise, honor, power, and glory throughout endless ages. 

~The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 40

Let my mouth be filled with praise,

that I may sing thy glory,

thy greatness all the day long.

~Psalm 71:8

The Widow's Mite

In today's Gospel (Mk 12:38-44), our Lord Jesus tells us about the poor widow who put into the temple treasury "two small coins worth a few cents." It was a paltry sum compared to the large amounts already given by the rich, but she "contributed all she had, her whole livelihood." What a generous gesture! What unselfish deprivation! What this woman a nut case? Or was she a simply and gloriously a spendthrift of love?

Many years ago, Thomas a Kempis wrote in The Imitation of Christ (Book 4, Chapter 8) that Our Lord is saying to us from the cross where He hangs, "I require nothing less of you than that you should strive to yield yourself wholly to Me. Whatever you offer to Me besides yourself, I account as nothing; I seek not your gift, but yourself."

Dear Lord, please give me the courage and trust I need to become Your spendthrift of love! Amen.

Being Friends of the Lord

Today at Mass, this Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter, our response to the Word of God is "Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom." (Ps 145:10-11, 12-13ab, 21)

Do I really do this, day after day, 24/7, in good times and bad, whether happy or sad? Steadfastly, gladly, with gratitude, faith and love?

Does how I live announce that I am a friend of our Lord, who told us, "You are my friends if you do what I command you" (Jn 15:14)?

Do my interactions with family and friends, co-workers and parish community, neighbors and strangers, reveal Jesus, who is gentle and humble of heart (Mt 11:29)?

Does what I say and think about all these people indicate that they are precious to God, who lovingly made each one in His image and likeness?

Does how I spend my time, energy and talents proclaim that nothing is worth more than the Kingdom of Christ, His "eternal and universal kingdom: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace" (Preface of Christ the King)?

And when I fail, which I do often enough, does my repentance prove that our Lord is indeed "merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (Ps 103:8)?

Dear Jesus, thank you for being "the best and most faithful of friends" (Imitation of Christ, Bk 2, Ch 8). Today I beg you, for myself and for all of us, help us to become better friends of YOU! Amen.

The Way of the Holy Cross

If you carry your cross cheerfully, it will carry you, and bring you where you wish to go, to the place where there will be an end to the suffering which can never end on earth. If you carry it grudgingly you will make it a heavy burden, and feel its weight the more, and yet you must bear it all the same. And if you cast away one cross, you will certainly find another and perhaps a heavier cross.

Do you think you can escape what no mortal man ever yet failed to meet? Was ever any one of the saints without his cross and trial upon earth? Even Jesus Christ our Lord, as long as He lived, was never for one hour free from the anguish of His passion. For "it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, that He might enter into His glory." How then can you look for any other way than this royal way, the way of the holy cross?

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, Bk II, Ch XII

Everything depends on the Cross

Thus you see everything depends upon the cross, and all our hope lies in dying on the cross. There is no way to life and to real peace of heart but the holy cross and of daily mortification. Go where you will, try what you will,you will not find a grander way, or a safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order all your life as you like to think fit, still you will find that you will always have something to suffer, by your own choice, or by necessity, and so you will always find a cross. For either you will have bodily pain to bear or some trouble of the spirit.

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, Bk II, Ch XII

The Royal Road of the Holy Cross

Why then do you fear to take up the cross by which alone you can reach the crown? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is sure protection from enemies, in the cross is an abundance of heavenly delight, in the cross is courage, in the cross is gladness of heart, in the cross is all virtue, in the cross is the height of sanctity. There is no safety for the soul, no hope of everlasting life, but in the cross. Take up your cross, then, and follow Jesus, and you will enter into life eternal. He has gone before you carrying His cross, and died for you upon the cross that you, too, might have strength to carry your cross, and be willing to die upon the cross. For if you die with Him, you will also live with Him; if you have been a share in His suffering, you will share also in His glory.

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, Bk II, Ch XII

On the Fewness of the Lovers of the Cross

Jesus finds now many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few that will carry His cross. He finds may desirous of consolation, few of trial: many sharers of His repasts, few of His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for Him. Many follow Jesus to the breaking of bread, but few to the draining of the chalice of His Passion. Many revere His miracles, but few follow His shameful cross. Many love Jesus as long as troubles do not come near them; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive consolation from Him. But if Jesus hide Himself, and leave them for a little while, they begin to complain, and are very much cast down.

But those who love Jesus for Himself, and not for any consolation they hope to draw from Him, bless Him as much amid every kind of trial and anguish of heart as when they enjoy the greatest delight. And if he should never grant them any consolation, still they would always praise Him and give Him thanks.

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, Bk II, Ch XI

The Imitation of Christ is the first spiritual book I ever read. My dear father gave it to me when I was in high school back in the sixties. Those were the days when we Catholics didn't read the Bible, but here was a book that quoted Scripture passages liberally on every page. I was thrilled! "Thy words were found, and I ate them, and thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart" (Jer 15:16). Thanks to Daddy, I now had two rich sources of spiritual sustenance to feed my hungering soul -- Scripture and The Imitation. I still read The Imitation almost every day and continue to be nourished and enlightened. Over the next few days I will post some selections from this magnificent spiritual classic. Meanwhile, today I pray that, through the grace of God, we will be among those who love Jesus for Himself and, as St. Francis de Sales puts it, seek the Giver of consolations rather than consolations themselves.