Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time - Do Good, Always and Everywhere

On a certain Sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the Sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him. But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, "Come up and stand before us." And he rose and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" Looking around at them all, he then said to him, "Stretch out your hand." He did so and his hand was restored. But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

Introductory Prayer: God the Father, thank you for the gift of creation, including my own life. God the Son, thank you for redeeming me at the price of your own Body and Blood. God the Holy Spirit, thank you for being the sweet guest of my soul, enlightening my mind, strengthening my spirit, and kindling the fire of your love in my heart.

Petition: Lord, make me a magnanimous, great-hearted person, one who always desires the good of others.

 

1. Teaching and Doing: When Jesus speaks, he convinces those of good will who are present. The people commented that Jesus spoke convincingly, not like the Pharisees. That’s because Jesus preached only what he was willing to put into practice himself. He practices what he preaches. This is my Teacher and Master, who speaks of compassion and shows it. This is he who lowers himself to washing his followers’ feet at the Last Supper because he wants me to do the same.

2. Doing Good, Regardless of What Others Think: Jesus is omniscient, knowing even what others are thinking. He often chides the Pharisees, because he sees their nitpicking and pettiness. They are guides of the people, yet they stand aloof from their needs and constrain the people to follow many rules that they themselves do not fulfill. Jesus sees a person in need whom he can help. Although he sees around him many critics scrutinizing his words and actions, nothing will keep him from doing this good deed. When I feel the weight of others’ eyes upon me, can I still practice charity regardless of what they think?

3. Saving Life: There is a culture of death and a culture of life in this Gospel. The judgments of the Pharisees make them critical of Jesus to the point that they become enraged. Eventually, they will plot to kill Jesus. They couldn’t care less about the plight of the man Jesus heals. Jesus speaks the words of life in the synagogue. He enriches life through healing. I must learn from Jesus how to be a beacon of light and life amid the divisive culture of egoism and death that surrounds me.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, you can read my heart, as you read the hearts of the Pharisees. I also have a tendency to be critical and not always constructive. Make my heart be more like yours, desiring good, and being generous despite the criticisms that might come my way.

Resolution: I will strive to perceive the needs of another person today, someone in particular. Then, I will seek to do what I can to help that person, if possible in a way that does not draw attention to myself.

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Tough Moments

Jesus said to his disciples: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ´every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.´ If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Introductory Prayer: Father, thank you for this time of prayer. Help me to be attentive to the inspirations of your Holy Spirit. This day may be filled with many challenges and activities but throughout them all I invite you to be with me.

Petition: Lord, help me to me an instrument of your peace.

1. If Your Brother Sins Against You: Catholic life is filled with many peaks and valleys. The Church’s soul is the Holy Spirit, but the body’s members can be less than saintly. At times, people can be scandalized by the “humanity” of the Church. “Isn’t he a Catholic? How can he do that?” Jesus, however, was not surprised, and we find him in the Gospel today outlining a procedure to deal with sinful behavior. Our love for the Church is realistic: Jesus came to save sinners; we can’t be surprised when we encounter sin. But realism isn’t cynical. We know that God is infinitely more powerful than our sinfulness. “Where sin has abounded, grace has abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20).

2. Fraternal Correction: Very often the sin that we encounter in the Church is right under our own roof. Fraternal correction can be a duty of charity; however, if we relish the thought, that’s a bad sign. We need to purify our intention of wounded pride or any thought of payback. Our motive must be to truly help the other person. Part of this is the desire to be effective, and this means doing things the right way. Going public is not the first step, as the Lord makes clear. By quietly seeking reconciliation we can do much to bring healing to our relationships.

3. The Power of Prayer: Interpersonal conflicts can be among the heaviest crosses that we bear. When the hurts and the slights have accumulated beyond counting and forgiveness is either hard to give or hard to obtain, what is there left to do? The Lord tells us: Pray! Get others to pray with us and for us. “Where two or three are gathered in my name.…” The Lord wants to act in and through our prayer. As Catholics who believe in the gospels, we know that miracles happen. Sometimes it may seem that only a miracle will bring about reconciliation. Miracles will come only to those who ask for them.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, you taught us to gather together in prayer. Grant your Church greater unity and charity. Help us to help each other. Give us the humility to be open to correction. I believe that your love will triumph!

Resolution: I will pray fervently before correcting anyone.

Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest - The Heart of the Matter

While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions." Then he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I worship you because I came from you. I long for you because you made me for yourself. I praise you as my ever-present helper. I call on you as my powerful protector. ( Universal Prayer of Pope Clement XI )

Petition: Lord, purify my heart.

1. The Pharisees’ Heart: Sometimes a short phrase reveals so much about what is happening inside a person’s mind and heart. One can get a glimpse into Hitler’s corrupt heart with his famous phrase: “I do not see why man should not be just as cruel as nature.” His actions were of the cruelest. Thirty years ago, when Saint John Paul II was elected pope, the simple phrase, “Be not afraid”, indicated the attitude he would have for the following 26 fearless years of his papacy. In this passage the Pharisees say so much about the state of their own hearts by saying so little: “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” The Pharisees are all caught up in the externals of the law and miss the big picture that Christ came to bring: complete love for God and heroic love of neighbor. As Christians we are not called to have a heart that calculates the cost, but rather one filled with unconditional love.

2. A King’s Heart: Another character in this passage is King David, whom Christ hails for having chosen to feed his starving army over scrupulously following some norms of the law regarding eating. From the story of David and Goliath, we learn that David had a brave heart from his youth and that he trusted in God over his own limitations. Young David’s heart was honest and humble: King Saul was trying to kill him, yet when David had the chance to kill Saul in a cave, he relented and later made amends with Saul. David’s heart was weak when he fell in love with Uriah’s wife and then had Uriah killed. Nevertheless David’s heart did not grow cold from this sin; rather, he repented deeply: “Have mercy on me, God in your goodness blot out my offenses, wash away all my guilt, from my sin cleanse me” (Psalm 51). With time and patience David formed a remarkable heart that loved God and neighbor.

3. The Sacred Heart: What love the Heart of Christ shows his apostles in this passage. Imagine the scene: Christ walking through a ripe field of grain with his closest friends, laughing, joking, talking about the town they just visited, speaking of their dreams, and also snacking on the ripe harvest. Christ’s heart was so immersed with love for these men who would be the pillars of the Church and who would bring his message to the whole world. How far his thoughts were from the littleness and pettiness of the empty details of the worn out laws! His law is the new law of love: “Behold the heart that has so loved men.” Christ looks at us the same way he looked at his apostles in the field – as friends who are called to be the pillars of the new evangelization, as apostles who are to bring his words to the end of the earth. He needs us to say “yes” to this call!

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for the unconditional love of your heart. I want to repay your love for me by loving you back with the same intensity. I know I always fall short of this, but you know my heart, and you know I want to be close to you until the day I meet you face-to-face in eternity.

Resolution: With a repentant heart, I will go to confession today.

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Birth of Mary

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means "God is with us."

Introductory Prayer:Lord Jesus, on this day when we celebrate the birth of your mother, help me to reflect on her beauty as a creature of God preserved from all stain of sin, a model for my Christian life. You know my misery in comparison to the glorious beauty of your mother. Help me through this prayer and through my daily struggle to do your will to identify myself more and more with her. It was your grace that made Mary who she is, and it is your grace that will transform my soul to become a pleasing offering to you. In these few minutes of prayer I want to open my heart to that grace. 

Petition:Lord, help me to identify myself with your Mother.

1. Mary is One of Us. The Gospels say very little about Mary. There is no account of her own birth to Joachim and Ann. However we do know that she was born into this world in the same way we were. Mary is a human being like us in all things but sin. She had to grow up. She had to learn to read and write. She had to learn how to pray. She had to live her life in the lights and shadows of faith. We can identify with her because she is one of us brought into existence in this world with all of its joys and sorrows, triumphs and tribulations. 

2. What is Different? The one way we differ from Mary is that she was saved at her conception from original sin in anticipation of becoming the mother of Jesus. Another way of saying the same thing is that she lived her entire life under the impulse of grace, never refusing God’s grace and never acting out of selfish motives. Mary had a pure heart that was always in tune with the movements of the Holy Spirit. Even before the Annunciation she must have had an incredible prayer life. Her life was a continuous conversation with God. Her every act, word and desire was meshed with God’s grace that flowed freely in her soul.

3. We Too Can Live Like Mary. Every time we act under the impulse of grace we are imitating Mary. The more our thoughts, words and actions take their cue from the Holy Spirit the more they resemble the thoughts, words and actions of the Blessed Virgin. In this way we become very much identified with her. We, like her, are born into this world, a part of humanity; we, like her, live the life of grace in such a way that it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives within us. What a wonderful reality! We can live our lives as Mary lived hers. We can identify ourselves so closely with her. 

Dialogue with Christ: Dear Lord, I am your creature, brought into existence by your loving hand. Everything I am and have I owe to you. Help me to live my life under the impulse of grace so that my every thought, word and act will have the fruitfulness of your grace. Thank you for giving me your Mother as a model for my life, someone who is so close to me, a human being who had to deal with the difficulties and trials of this life as I do, yet someone who can show me how to live my life always close to you.

Resolution: Today, I will look for an opportunity to respond to the grace of God in imitation of Mary.

Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time - Teaching the Thickheaded

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." Simon said in reply, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets." When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, thank you for revealing your tender, merciful, Sacred Heart to us. Your Heart gives me the confidence to turn back to you as many times as I fall. I know that I hurt you the most when I neglect to trust in your infinite love for me. And so now in this meditation, good and kind Jesus, I intend to rest in your love.

Petition: Lord, give me faith so I can be a docile instrument in your great work of saving souls.

1. Jesus Sees Our Hearts: In today’s Gospel we see Our Lord presented as a wonderful teacher of souls. First, Christ is a teacher to the multitude whose hearts were opened to his teaching by his marvelous miracles. He is also more subtly presented as a teacher to Saint Peter, whom he would later choose to lead his Church. His first lesson to Peter, besides the one Peter hears Jesus preach from his boat, is the very personal message of his worth in Christ’s eyes. Jesus provides a miracle just for Peter—not to heal him of some infirmity, but to demonstrate Christ’s overflowing love for him. He speaks loudly through his action of the miraculous catch. Whether through want or abundance, health or infirmity, am I able to discern Our Lord’s lessons for me in my life? Am I open to his lessons of love?

2. From the Depths of Our Faith: Our Lord implemented a deeper lesson plan with Peter in order to prepare him for his great mission of being the first pope. Peter would need to move to a more supernatural level if Christ were to entrust him with the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. Testing his generosity, Christ commandeered Peter’s boat in order to teach the crowds gathered at the shore. Then Jesus led Peter to make an act of faith: he asked him to set out into the deep and drop his nets at a time when it didn’t appear opportune to fish. If Peter were to answer the supernatural call to be a fisher of men, he would have to depend on Our Lord’s working of miracles. Only by the grace of Christ is God able to redeem what humanly seems unsalvageable.

3. A Lesson of Mercy: Mercy is God’s divine method of teaching: by showing mercy to sinners, Christ teaches us important lessons. Peter’s intentions are discovered and revealed in his confession at the shore. Peter confesses his lack of faith despite his “obedience” to Our Lord’s command to cast out into the deep. Our Lord taught Peter a great lesson when he blessed Peter’s feeble and meager faith with a contrastingly abundant catch of fish. Does my faith in God show in my actions? Am I willing to respond generously in the work of the New Evangelization?

Conversation with Christ: Lord, help me with the grace of your mercy to accept  what seems unfeasible in human terms. Help me to accept your call for me to work in establishing a civilization of love in today’s world. Help me Lord, to be always faithful to your friendship, sincere in my faith, and diligent in service to you and my neighbors in need.

Resolution: Today I will pray and make a sacrifice to Our Lord so that he sends generous and holy vocations to the Church, especially where she needs them the most.

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time - Risen People Called to Serve

After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them. At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ. At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, thank you for coming into my house. I am honored that you wish to stop by even when I don’t call for you. I am extremely grateful for the personal attention that you give me, especially when I am ill and in need of your grace.

Petition: Lord, cure me of my spiritual ailments so I may serve you in others.

1. Christ Raises Us Up: There is a certain matter-of-factness about the cure in this Gospel passage: no special words of Jesus, no words of thanks, no reaction of the people. It is as if Jesus simply and routinely entered a home and helped a very sick woman up and out of bed. Not your typical miracle that draws a lot of attention. While we hope for that long-awaited miracle in our lives, we might be overlooking one of these very ordinary cures that Christ often offers us. In the spiritual realm, it may be a good confession, receiving him in the Eucharist, spiritual guidance, or a regular examination of conscience. In the physical realm, it may be just taking good care of my health by eating or sleeping properly. We don’t need to demand a special cure. Rather we must be encouraged that Christ has directed his gaze towards us.

2. He Helps Us to Our Feet: Notice how quickly everything happens in today’s Gospel. Christ helps Simon’s mother-in-law to her feet immediately. She cooperates without skepticism or words of protest. She believes in Christ. His grace is effective. The cure is complete and instantaneous. He allows us to stand up on our own and resume our duties.

3. He Cures Us So That We Might Serve: We are very good about pleading to Christ for cures, yet frequently hassled when he sends us the “bill” — namely that of serving others. Simon’s mother-in-law immediately begins to serve Christ, who has put her back on her feet. She immediately forgets about herself –– her problems, how she feels, how much time her sickness has set her back –– and instead focuses on the needs of others. Jesus raises up Christians from the death of sin and calls upon them to serve. Christians are risen people whose vocation is to serve.

Conversation with Christ: Dear Lord, everybody is looking for you. You have put me back on my feet and have asked me to imitate your life of service. Help me to be generous with the life you have restored in me so that I, too, might put the interests of your Kingdom above my personal plans.

Resolution: I will earnestly ask Christ to cure me of my most dominant defect, taking one concrete step in acquiring its opposing virtue.

Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time - Christ at Home in Capernaum

Jesus then went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, "Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are -- the Holy One of God!" Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. They were all amazed and said to one another, "What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out." And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, you have looked with favor on me. You have seen in my soul fertile ground, and you have sown your word in hope of an abundant harvest. I hope never to let you down by not responding in faith. I allow you to lead me to the fullness of my vocation as your disciple.

Petition:  Christ, may zeal for your friendship consume me so much that I remove all sin from my life.

1. Great Hopes  Jesus had great plans for Capernaum –– a big city, situated by the lake on the “way of the sea,” a thoroughfare open to travelers. It was an ideal hub from which to spread the Gospel. Would anyone from such a big town have interest in his message? Christ made his home there. He exercised the greater part of his public ministry in Capernaum and graced it with more than one-third of his miracles. It was quite different from Nazareth. Christ asks us to find our Capernaum –– seeking that niche, using those talents, evangelizing that audience — where we can become the most effective apostles for him. This may demand a greater love from us, but we can see how Christ blesses this effort with his presence, teaching and healing.

2. Simple Faith  Christ chooses to cure a man on the Sabbath in Capernaum and nobody raises an eyebrow! How different this is from Jerusalem! These people here have a simple faith, unconcerned about the legalities of ritualistic orthodoxy. “Here I can preach. Here I can heal. Here I can work!” Christ feels at home and welcomed. Here Christ finds vocations: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew. Here Christ finds faith even among the pagans: the centurion who asks for a cure. One can sense a special predilection of Christ toward this city. From those who have been given more, more will be expected.

3. Generosity Pushed to Its Limits  Once a soul responds in generosity, Christ opportunely draws it to the fullness of its vocation. Encouraged by Capernaum’s faith, Christ asks more of it; just as he asked of the rich young man. As we see later in the Gospel, what better place than faith-filled Capernaum for Christ to reveal to the world one of his most difficult teachings: presenting himself as the Living Bread come down from heaven? In the end, the majority leave him. “Will you go away too?” The present-day ruins of Capernaum testify to the truth of Christ’s warning: “As for you, Capernaum, ‘Are you to be exalted to the skies? You shall go down to the realm of death!’ If the miracles worked in you had taken place in Sodom, it would be standing today. I assure you, it will go easier for Sodom than for you on the Day of Judgment” (Matthew 11:23-4).

Conversation with Christ:  Lord, you know me and you know everything about me. Let me not become blinded by the arrogance of my own opinions and ideas. Help me to keep you always before me as the goal of my life, the pearl of great price, for which I joyfully sell all I own to possess.

Resolution:  I will use one of my talents to help somebody today.