Seized with Easter Joy!

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete."  ~John 15:11

"Through Christ's passion, His burial in the tomb and His glorious resurrection, we come to realize the enormity of the Lord's sacrifice for us. We may feel unworthy of His love who paid so high a price for our salvation. Let us not be afraid. Let's allow ourselves to be taken – even seized – with Easter joy. As we proclaim on Easter Sunday, 'Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.'

"In the Gospel of John, chapter 10, Jesus says the shepherd calls his own sheep by name, 'I am the Good Shepherd and I know mine.' In chapter 20, how much fear and doubt must have gripped Mary of Magdala as she stood by the tomb? There, it was Jesus who rescued Mary from her fears and darkness by calling her name. Listen carefully.  Mary thought she had discovered the Risen Lord, but it was the Risen Lord who discovered her. Jesus calls out to each of us by name today as He did the very first Easter Sunday. His promise fulfilled. His word brings life, 'I am the Good Shepherd and I know mine.'

"Jesus waits for you and me, embracing us in our moments of greatest need and desire. Welcome the love of God into your life. Share it those around you, especially the most vulnerable of our sisters and brothers. In this way, we proclaim with Mary, 'I have seen the Lord.' Sing joyfully, 'the Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal.'  Happy Easter!"

~Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Message for Easter Sunday, 2017 (see video of this message here)

"I will sing to the Lord as long as I live:

I will sing praise to my God while I have my being."

~Psalm 104:33

Living the Easter Message

“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature."  ~Mark 16:15

It is through his Risen Life in us that Christ sends his love to the ends of the earth.

~Caryll Houselander in The Risen Christ

The Risen Shepherd goes in search of all those lost in the labyrinths of loneliness and marginalization.  He comes to meet them through our brothers and sisters who treat them with respect and kindness, and help them to hear his voice, an unforgettable voice, a voice calling them back to friendship with God.  

~Urbi et Orbi Message of Pope Francis, Easter 2017

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!!!

Is there anyone who is a devout lover of God?

Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!

Is there anyone who is a grateful servant?

Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!

~from An Easter Sermon by St. John Chrysostom

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!!!

For with thee is the fountain of life;

and in thy light we shall see light.

~Psalm 36:9

Holy Saturday

In the evening weeping shall have place,

and in the morning gladness.

~Psalm 30:5

In God I trust; I shall not fear.

~Psalm 55:5

Good Friday

He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.

~Lamentations 3:2

INTRODUCTION FROM THE WAY OF THE CROSS BY ANNE-MARIE PELLETIER

The hour has now come. Jesus’ journey along the dusty roads of Galilee and Judea, an endless encounter with afflicted bodies and hearts, a journey driven by his urgent need to proclaim the Kingdom, ends here, today. On Golgotha. Today the cross bars the way. Jesus will go no further.

He can go no further!

Here the love of God reveals its full measure, measure beyond measure.

Today the love of the Father, who wills that all be saved in his Son, goes to the extreme, where words fail, where we find ourselves bewildered, our piety overwhelmed by the superabundance of God’s thoughts and plans.

On Golgotha, contrary to all appearances, what is at stake is life, and grace and peace. Here what counts is not the kingdom of evil, which we know all too well, but the triumph of love.

Beneath the cross, too, what is at stake is our world with all its failings and sufferings, its pleas and protests, all those cries that in our day rise up to God from lands of dire poverty and war, from boats teeming with migrants…

How many are the tears, how great is the misery in the chalice that the Son drinks for our sake.

How many are the tears, how great is the misery, yet none of this will be lost in the sea of time. Instead it will be taken up by him, to be transfigured in the mystery of a love which vanquishes all evil.

Golgotha speaks to us of God’s unshakeable fidelity to our humanity.

A birth takes place there!

We need the courage to say that all this is about the joy of the Gospel!

Unless we recognize this truth, we remain trapped in the toils of suffering and death. And we fail to let Christ’s passion bear fruit in our lives.

PRAYER

Lord, our vision is dimmed. How can we walk this far with you?

“Mercy” is your name. But this name is madness.

May the old wineskins of our hearts burst asunder!

Brighten our vision with the good news of the Gospel, in the hour when we stand beneath the cross of your Son.

Then we will be able to celebrate “the breadth and length and height and depth” (Eph 3:18) of the love of Christ, with hearts comforted and flooded with light.


Pope Francis asked Anne-Marie Pelletier to write the Stations of the Cross to be led by him this Good Friday evening at the Colosseum in Rome.  Her Stations are available here, plus an article about her is available here.

These Holy Days

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!

The love of God has no bounds. As Saint Augustine often repeated, it is a love that goes “to the end without end.” God truly offers all of himself for each of us and holds nothing back. The Mystery which we adore in this Holy Week is a great history of love which knows no obstacles. The Passion of Jesus lasts until the end of the world, because it is a story of sharing in the suffering of all humanity and a permanent presence in the events of the private life of each of us. Indeed, the Easter Triduum is the commemoration of a drama of love which gives us the certainty that we will never be abandoned in life’s trials. 

Pope Francis, March 23, 2016

Fourth Sunday of Lent

At Mass today we hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus healing the blind man (John 9:1-41).  Reflecting upon this familiar Scripture passage, Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB notes:  "We sometimes describe our blindness as an inability to see the forest for the trees, but that is a rather simplistic analysis. More worrisome is the inherited blindness which so often assumes that there are no lessons left to learn. Arrogance is very often the root of our blindness. We need the miracle of restored sight each day." (read more here) 

How seriously do I take my blindness?  How willing am I to let Jesus heal me so that I may see Him who is the Truth and follow Him who is the Light?

"Until now I wandered in the hope of finding God, but since you enlighten me, O Lord, I find God through you and I receive the Father from you, I become your coheir, since you did not shrink from having me for your brother.  Let us put away, then, let us put away all blindness to the truth, all ignorance:  and removing the darkness that obscures our vision like fog before the eyes, let us contemplate the true God…since a light from heaven shone down upon us who were buried in darkness and imprisoned in the shadow of death, purer than the sun, sweeter than life on this earth.  Amen."  ~Saint Clement of Alexandria

The Annunciation of the Lord

"Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin,

your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator....

Arise in faith, hasten in devotion,

open in praise and thanksgiving."

from a homily In Praise of the Virgin Mother

by Saint Bernard, abbot

First Day of Spring!

What is Spring?

Growth in every thing...

~Gerard Manley Hopkins

Everything growing on earth, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

~Daniel 3:76

Your ways, O Lord, make known to me!

I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted,

and my soul had compassion on the poor.

~Job 30:25

A homeless man bundled up in blankets in a doorway in Manhattan during winter storm Stella

So long as there are poor, I am poor;

So long as there are prisons, I am a prisoner;

So long as there are sick, I am weak;

So long as there is ignorance, I must learn the truth;

So long as there is hate, I must love;

So long as there is hunger, I am famished.

~Ven. Fulton J. Sheen

"can spring be far behind?"

You make me jubilant, Lord, by your deeds;

at the works of your hands I shout for joy.

Psalm 92:5

"You have freedom only to give your heart away."

My son, give me your heart...  ~Proverbs 23:26

"God will love you, of course, even though you do not love him, but remember if you give him only half your heart, he can make you only fifty percent happy.  You have freedom only to give your heart away.  To whom do you give yours?  You give it either to the moods of the hour, to your egotism, to creatures, or to God." 

 ~Ven. Fulton J. Sheen

Oh dear Lord, deliver me from half-heartedness!  You who have given me Your entire being down to the last drop of Your Precious Blood, let me at least try to give You my whole heart -- not only for the sake of my happiness but most importantly for the praise of Your glory.  Amen!

Ash Wednesday

May the Lord direct our hearts,

in the charity of God,

and the patience of Christ.

2 Thess 3:5

"They opened their treasures..."

They were overjoyed at seeing the star, 

and on entering the house

they saw the child with Mary his mother.

They prostrated themselves and did him homage.

Then they opened their treasures 

and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

~Matthew 2:10-11

Stars cross the sky, wise men journey from pagan lands, earth receives its savior in a cave. Let there be no one without a gift to offer, no one without gratitude as we celebrate the salvation of the world, the birthday of the human race.  ~St. Basil the Great

"Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart."

~Christina Rossetti

God With Us!

"And the Word became flesh

and dwelt among us,

full of grace and truth;

we have beheld his glory,

glory as of the only Son from the Father."

~John 1:14

Remembering the Sacred Presence of the One Who  Dwells Among Us
~by Joyce Rupp

May we look for your goodness in people who seem least likely to carry your love.

May we behold your radiance in the ones we quickly pass by at home or work.

May we discover your love in our deeper self when we feel unloving and irritable.

May we embrace you in the persons whose faithfulness we take for granted.

May we see your empathy in those serving the wounded of the world.

May we recognize your courage in the valiant people who speak for justice.

May we notice your non-judgmental acceptance in those who keep an open mind.

May we search for your gentleness when it is covered with harshness in another.

May we observe your generosity in every gift we receive, no matter how small it is.

May we reveal your mercy when we pardon someone for having turned against us.

May we welcome your joy in the delightful voices and happy play of children.

May we convey your compassion when we visit those with illness and poor health.

May we detect your patience in those who put up with our impatience and hurry.

May we unite with your peace hidden beneath the layers of the world’s disharmony.

O Divine One, you came into our world in the form of a newly emerged child, fresh and fragile as all of us are at our birthing.  You came as a beloved one filled with the radiance of eternal Light.  As you grew in humanness, your life and teachings revealed the vast goodness of your inner being.  We now carry your loving Spirit of radiance within us.  We can easily miss this gift in the press of our activities and our clouded, inner vision.  Skim away the inattentiveness of our minds and the crusts of unloving on our hearts.  As we prepare to celebrate the wonder of your birth, help us discern your concealed presence in each part of our life.  

The Epiphany of Our Lord

"Why do so few ever see the star?

Only because so few are looking for it...."

~Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J.

Dear Jesus,

my Light and my Salvation,

in Your kindness and mercy,

make me tenacious in seeking the star

and courageous in proclaiming it.

Amen.

Praying Before the Stable

 God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God!

Blessing Before a Christmas Stable by Father Peter John Cameron, O.P.

Lord Jesus, as I kneel before your manger in adoration, let my first Christmas word be: thank you. Thank you, Gift of the Father, for coming to save me from my sins.

Without You I do not know even how to be human. The characteristics of Your human body express the Divine Person of God's Son. And in that wondrous expression, Lord, You reveal me to myself. Thank you for that saving revelation in Your sacred humanity. As the Christmas liturgy proclaims, in Christ we experience "the holy exchange that restores our life." Thank you for coming as one like myself to save me from myself.

You come as a baby because babies are irresistible and adorable. You come as a baby because You want our first impression of God Incarnate to be that of one who does not judge. How I long to be united with You in every way. May I never be attracted to the allurements and charms of the world. May I love You always, at every moment, with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. May the tenderness, the dependency, and the mercy that You reveal in Your infancy become the hallmarks of my life.

Newborn Savior, the very silence of Your Incarnation proclaims that the answer to the misery, the strife, and the meaningless we often experience in life cannot be found within us. You alone are the Answer. As I kneel before You, Eternal King, I surrender to You all my selfishness, self-absorption, self-indulgence, self-righteousness, self-assertion, and self-exaltation. Even as I adore You on this night of Your birth, rid me of the nagging desire to be adored.

Word became flesh, You make Your dwelling among us. And You do not live Your life for Yourself, but for us. And You enable us to live in You all that You Yourself lived. Help me to embrace this truth with all my mind and heart. Come and live Your life in me. Empty me of my willfulness, my petulance, my hardness, my cynicism, my contemptuousness. Fill me with Your truth, Your strength, Your fortitude, Your purity, Your gentleness, Your generosity, Your wisdom, Your heart, and Your grace.

O Emmanuel, may the assurance of Your unfailing Presence be for me, the source of unending peace. May I never fear my weakness, my inadequacy, or my imperfection. Rather, as I gaze with faith, hope, and love upon Your incarnate littleness, may I love my own littleness, for God is with us. Endow my life with a holy wonder that leads me ever more deeply into the Mystery of Redemption and the meaning of my vocation and destiny.

Longed-for Messiah, Your servant St. Leo the Great well wrote that in the very act of reverencing the birth of our Savior, we are also celebrating our own new birth. From this night on, may my life be a dedicated life of faith marked by holy reliance, receptivity, and resoluteness. May I make my life a total gift of self. May my humble worship of Your Nativity manifest how much I seek the Father's kingship and His way of holiness. The beauty of Your holy face bears the promise that Your Father will provide for us in all things. This Christmas I renew my trust in God's goodness, compassion and providence. I long for the day when You will teach us to pray "Our Father."

May Your presence, Prince of Peace, bless the world with peace, the poor with care and prosperity, the despairing with hope and confidence, the grieving with comfort and gladness, the oppressed with freedom and deliverance, the suffering with solace and relief. Loving Jesus, You are the only real joy of every human heart. I place all my trust in You.

Oh, Divine Fruit of Mary's womb, may I love You in union with the holy Mother of God. May my life be filled with the obedience of St. Joseph and the missionary fervor of the shepherds so that the witness of my life may shine like the star that leads the Magi to Your manger. I ask all this with great confidence in Your Holy Name. Amen.

Venite adoremus! 

Divine Intrusion

"...live in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing,

in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God."

~Colossians 1:10

Well-known gifted author Sister Melannie Svoboda, who blogs at Sunflower Seeds, has posted a soul-searching sort of poem that she wrote for Christmas.  It's called "A Christmas Prayer for Divine Intrusion," but, as she points out, it can be prayed any time throughout the year.  It's my kind of prayer:  no-nonsense and no-frills, straightforward and unafraid.  I am reluctant to post this little gem in its entirety without Sister's permission, so look for it here.  I hope it stretches your heart and your mind as much it did mine.  Meanwhile, I find myself repeating these few lines:

"Free me from my tendency to wrap around myself."

"Enlarge my world. Direct my attention to all that really matters."

"Accept me as I am, but keep nudging me to be a better version of who I already am."

"Help me to live less cautiously."

"Keep telling me to grow up. Keep telling me to be more childlike."

Welcome, Son of Mary!  Come and be my Divine Intruder!  Amen, amen!

"to each and everyone He comes"

"For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us."  ~Isaiah 9:6

“A Child is born. To some He comes on this Christmas Day, even in the remorse that follows ‘there is no room’; to some He comes when their hearts are saddened by a life that has been taken away, and can be gladdened only by a Life that is given; to some He comes when their hearts like conscious mangers cry out ‘Lord, I am not worthy’; to others He comes as their study of science reminds them that the only star worth studying is the Star that leads to the Maker of the Stars; to others He comes when their hearts are broken, that He might enter in to heal with wings wider than the world; to others He comes in joy amidst the Venite Adoremus of the angels; to others He comes because they are so young they can never remember another Christmas -- but to each and everyone He comes as if He had never come before in His own sweet way, He the Child who is born, He, Jesus the Savior, He Emmanuel, He, Christ at Christ’s Mass on Christmas –- Merry Christmas!!”  ~Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in The Fullness of Christ

Venite adoremus!

Christmas Joy!

Joy, joy, for Christ is born,

The Babe, the Son of Mary.

Venite adoremus!