Making a Difference

June 9, 2020
Tuesday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time

Saint Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor—Optional Memorial

“You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:13a &14a

Salt and light, that’s us. Hopefully! Have you ever pondered what it means to be salt or light in this world?

Let’s start with this image. Imagine you cook some wonderful vegetable soup with all the best ingredients. It slowly simmers for hours and the broth looks very tasty. But the one thing you are out of is salt and other spices. So, you just let the soup simmer and hope for the best. Once it’s fully cooked you try a taste and, to your disappointment, it’s somewhat tasteless. So, you search until you find the missing ingredient, salt, and you add just the right amount. After another half hour of simmering you try a sample and are greatly delighted. It’s amazing what salt can do!

Or imagine going for a walk in the forest and getting lost. As you search for your way out, the sun sets and it slowly becomes dark. It’s overcast so there are no stars or moon. About a half hour after sunset you find yourself in complete darkness in the middle of the forest. As you sit there, you suddenly see the bright moon peek through the clouds. It’s a full moon and the overcast skies are clearing up. Suddenly, the full moon sheds so much light your way that you are able to once again navigate the dark forest.

These two images provide us with the importance of just a little salt and a little light. Just a little changes everything!

So it is with us in our faith. The world we live in is dark in so many ways. The “flavor” of love and mercy is also quite void. God is calling you to add that little flavor and produce that little light so that others can find their way.

Like the moon, you are not the source of light. You only reflect the light. God wants to shine through you and He wants you to reflect His light. If you are open to this, He will move the clouds at the right time so as to use you in the way He has chosen. Your responsibility is to simply be open.

Reflect, today, upon how open you are. Pray each day that God will use you in accord with His divine purpose. Make yourself available to His divine grace and you will be amazed at the way He can use the small things in your life to make a difference.

Lord, I do want to be used by You. I want to be salt and light. I want to make a difference in this world. I give myself to You and Your service. Jesus, I trust in You.

St Ephraem the Deacon (306 – 373)
Saint Ephraem was a poet and a theologian. He lived all his life in Mesopotamia, first founding a school and then, when the Persians invaded his native town of Nisibis, moving to Edessa. He preached there, and laid the foundations of its great school of theology.
He is famous not only for the beauty of expression of his homilies but also for his hymns, which have spread far beyond his native Syriac church and are in use in East and West alike.

8th June 2020

As we move into the tenth week of the liturgical year, the first readings turn to the books of the Kings. We hear of King Ahab (of the Northern Kingdom of Israel) who married Jezebel, the scheming, evil, dominating power behind the throne who was primarily responsible for introducing pagan worship to the Israelites. Beginning with the members of the court, Jezebel gradually lured the Israelites away from their one true God to the worship of Baal. It is at this time that the prophet Elijah emerges, bringing God’s warning to King Ahab. He prophesies that it will neither rain nor dew for three years as the people have wavered in their relationship with God and one another!

The Sermon on the Mount according to Matthew’s Gospel

Today, we begin to look at Jesus as the “Master”, whose teachings – largely – have been grouped together by Matthew in the so-called “Sermon on the Mount”. Previously, the Evangelist had narrated the temptations of Jesus and His first performance in His public ministry (the announcement of the Kingdom of God and the call of the first Apostles)

We highlight two singularities of Matthew’s Gospel. First: he explicitly presents Galilee as the ‘Galilee of the Gentiles’, as the place where the prophets (cf. Is 8:23; 9:1) had foretold that the “great light” would dawn. In this way Matthew responds to the surprise that the Savior does not come from Jerusalem and Judea, but from a district that was actually considered as half pagan, Galilee: in fact, this is precisely the proof of his divine mission. Secondly: from the start of his Gospel, Matthew claims the Old Testament for Jesus, even when it comes to apparent minutiae: all the Scriptures are related to Him.

—Matthew shows that the Jesus who teaches is, at the same time, the Jesus who saves.

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

June 7, 2020
Readings: Ex 34:4b–6, 8–9 • Dn 3:52–56 • 2 Cor 13:11–13 • Jn 3:16–18

Although we can’t understand God as Trinity, we can experience him as Trinity.

Exhortation: To experience God as Trinity, make the Sign of the Cross, perform a daily Examen, and strive to reflect His love within our families.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life.” This is one of the most famous lines in Scripture because it speaks to our hearts. Today is Trinity Sunday, and we are invited to look into the very heart of God, to see him as he is — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, we can’t understand how we can have one God in three persons. We cannot comprehend the mystery of the inner life of God, but that doesn’t mean we can’t experience him as Trinity. After all, how many of us here understand how vision works, how the light coming into our eyes produces images in our brains? Neither do we understand how vibrations in the air coming into our ears are perceived as sounds, or how chemicals come into our nose as smells. But we can see and hear and smell. In the same way, although we may not understand God as Trinity, we can experience him as Trinity.

Let’s start with God the Father. The Father is our creator. And He created us out of an outpouring of his love, although He had no need of us. God is complete within Himself, he doesn’t need us, yet He loved us into existence, as a free gift of love. We should be clear, without God’s love, we would not exist. When I meet someone who says they don’t believe in God, I am often tempted to say, “Although you do not believe in God, He believes in you. If He didn’t, you wouldn’t exist.” St. Paul says it is God in whom we “move and breathe and have our being”. So we can experience the Father in our existence, because without His love, we would not be here. God created us from love, and for love. But we are selfish, and we don’t love God as we should, so He sent us His Son to redeem us, to pay the price for our sins. This is how we can experience Jesus, when we realize that we deserve to receive a severe punishment for falling short of God’s love, for our sins. He came and paid the price for our sins. So we experience the Son as our redeemer, and as our friend, and brother. But that wasn’t enough, because God wants us to be happy with Him forever, and the only way that can happen is for us to be Holy. So He sent us the Holy Spirit to sanctify us, to help make us Holy. We can experience the Holy Spirit in that still small voice that urges us to do good, and avoid evil. He is always with us, at our side. So although we cannot understand the Trinity, we can experience His love as our Father and Creator, our Brother and Redeemer, our Companion and Sanctifier.

But how can we experience the Trinity in everyday life? God is with us always, but sometimes we aren’t mindful of him. I have three practical suggestions. First, make the Sign of the Cross, and say out loud, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” We all have a goal in this life, and that goal is union with God in heaven. Like any goal, we need a road map that tells us how to get there. That road map is the way of the Cross. So when we make the Sign of the Cross, we experience the grace of God, and remind ourselves that we are in his presence, and we remember what he has done for us. The Sign of the Cross has real spiritual power, and making it frequently will help us deepen our experience of God as Trinity.

The second practical example is to examine our conscience every day. A good time to do this is with our prayers before bed. First, recall all the good things we have experienced that day, and thank the Father for them. Then, recall the ways we have fallen short, and ask Jesus for His pardon and mercy for these sins. Then ask the Father, and the Son, to send the Holy Spirit to help us to do better tomorrow. In this way we can grow in virtue, and in our experience of God as Trinity.

The third is to realize that we are made in the image and likeness of God. Typically, people think of this as our having intellect and free will, but Pope St. John Paul the Great taught us another way. He once said:
God, in his deepest mystery, is not a solitude, but a family, since he has in himself fatherhood, sonship, and the essence of the family, which is love (the Holy Spirit).
As Christians, we must realize that our families are called to be images of God. The love within our families should be so obvious that people look at us, and are actually reminded of God. The best way to experience God in our families is to imitate him. We can imitate the Father by being open to new life in our families, and tenderly caring for that new life. We can imitate the Son by forgiving one another when we fall short, as Jesus has forgiven our sins. We can imitate the Holy Spirit by being with each other, supporting each other in prayer, and as companions in a spirit of love. If we do these things, our families will, indeed, be images of the Trinity, and we will experience God’s love poured out for us. Then, we will know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

June 6, 2020
Saturday of the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time

Paul gives similar advice to Timothy urging him to persist in “proclaiming the word” “whether it is convenient or inconvenient”. Pointing to himself as an example and model to emulate, Paul gives us an insight into his own zealous mind. He has “fought the good fight and run the race”. He looks forward now to the “crown of righteousness” which awaits him. With these words, he hands over the baton now to Timothy, a young bishop, encouraging him to “complete his mission” and “perform the work of an evangelist.”

With such sterling examples before us, perhaps we could look at ourselves and ask, “Have I fought the good fight of the faith?”

In today’s gospel Jesus teaches about the scribes who are described as those who “go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets.” Scribes could be likened to a lawyer or professor in today’s society. These were very important people with a prestigious place in society. However, Jesus goes on to report that “they devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers.” The scribes are in a position to take advantage of the vulnerable and they do just that. Jesus reminds us that they will be severely condemned.

No matter where one goes today, there is social stratification. The wealthy seem to get more while the less fortunate suffer. The wealthy sometimes profit at the expense of those on the margins—sometimes because they know how to take advantage of them.

I fear that this may worsen as our world tries to respond to and recover from a global pandemic. Can we work together for the greater good? Will some recover while stepping on those with fewer resources causing further harm to those who are already suffering from loss of livelihood, loss of income or decreased ability to provide basic necessities for their families?

Jesus tells of the rich who gave some of their fortune while a poor widow gave a meager contribution, but with great purpose. This gospel reminds me of an important lesson I learned from an outstanding theology teacher I had in high school. This instructor was very dedicated to the mission of getting young people to understand their privilege while encouraging each of us to leverage that privilege for the benefit of others. We often heard about the importance of giving of your substance, not of your abundance. Those words have been with me for many years. Wouldn’t the world be a wonderful, just and peaceful place if everyone acted according to the lesson Jesus teaches today?

There are many good, generous people providing for the poor and neglected. For that I am grateful. However, I’ve witnessed too many decisions centered on money and prestige to the detriment of other. This is contrary to the teachings of the gospel.

Just for today take some time to consider the giving that occurs in your community, your country and around the globe. What is the reason behind the gift? Determine opportunities for personal giving, not out of abundance but from substance.

Prayer for Generosity

Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous;
teach me to serve you as you deserve,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to seek reward,
except that of knowing that I do your will.
Amen.

June 5, 2020
Friday of the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time

Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr—Memorial

Jesus, the new David

Today, in dispute with the Pharisees, Jesus himself gives a new interpretation of the Psalm 110. Indeed, to the idea of the Messiah as the new David with a new davidic Kingdom, Jesus Christ opposes a larger vision of the one who is to come: the true Messiah is not David’s son, but “David’s Lord”; He sits, not on David’s throne, but on God’s throne.

Traditionally, David is regarded as the principal author of the Psalms: he, thus, appears as the one who leads and inspires the prayer of Israel, he sums up all Israel’s sufferings and hopes. In the early Church, Jesus was immediately hailed as the new and real David. Therefore, the Psalms could be recited in a new way, yet without discontinuity, as prayer in communion with Jesus Christ.

—In the Psalms it is always Christ who is speaking, now as the head, now as the body. Yet, through Jesus Christ, all of us form a single subject and so —in union with him— we can truly speak to God.

Saint Boniface (675? – 754)

For the first forty years of his life Boniface was known as Wynfrith. He was born in Devon and educated at the monastery at Exeter, and then joined the Benedictine abbey at Nursling, near Southampton. He was a teacher and preacher, but he desired to preach the gospel in a foreign land. In 718, Pope Gregory II commissioned him to do so, at the same time changing his name from Wynfrith to Boniface.
Boniface left England, never to return, and took the gospel to the heathen tribes of Germany, where he had great success. He himself was created Bishop of Mainz, and he founded or restored dioceses in Bavaria, Thuringia, and Franconia. In his later years he worked with King Pepin the Short to reform the Frankish church, and then, over seventy years old, set out to evangelize Friesland (part of modern Holland) where he was set upon and murdered, on 5 June 754.
He is buried at Fulda, near Frankfurt, in the monastery he founded himself, and is honoured as the apostle of Germany.

June 4, 2020
Thursday of the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time

The first reading from Paul reminds us to ‘be for God an active and proven minister.. correctly handling the word of truth.’ When we share the truth of Jesus’ teaching and mission, our first priority is to share His love. Not a selective love, but God’s way of loving – an all-encompassing love. To the one who has understood this, Jesus says: “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

The first commandment (you shall love God) and the second (you shall love your neighbour) form a single precept

Today, while one of the scribes asks about the “first” commandment, Jesus speaks of two commandments, which actually form a single precept. Thus appears the essential interaction between loving God and loving our neighbour. Anyway both come out of the love emanated from God, who loved us first.

Without the connection with God, we will see in our neighbour only the “other” without being able to recognize in him God’s image. On the contrary if we totally forget the attention to the other, just wishing to be “pious”, the relationship with God also disappears: it will be just a “correct” relationship, but without love. Only my availability to help my neighbour, to show love for him, makes me also open to God. Only the readiness to serve my neighbour opens my eyes to all God does for me and to the extent of his love for me.

The Saints developed the capacity to love their neighbour in an always new way thanks to their meeting the Lord and vice versa: love grows through Love!

So reflect, today, on how deep your love of God is. Just as importantly, reflect upon how well you let that love of God shine forth for others to see. You should be very free in letting your love of God be lived and expressed in an open way. When you do so, others will see this and you will be loving them as you love yourself.

Lord, help me to follow these commandments of love. Help me to love You with my whole being. And in that love of You, help me to share that love with others. Jesus, I trust in You.

June 3, 2020

The Feast of St Charles Lwanga and Companions

Many Christians, Catholic and Protestant, were killed by the Ugandan king Mwanga. Some of them were servants in the king’s palace or even his personal attendants. Charles Lwanga and his twenty-one companions (the youngest, Kizito, was only 13) were executed for being Christians, for rebuking the king for his debauchery and for murdering an Anglican missionary, for “praying from a book,” and for refusing to allow themselves to be ritually sodomised by the king. They died between 1885 and 1887. Most of them were burned alive in a group after being tortured.

Within a year of their deaths, the number of catechumens in the country quadrupled. St Charles Lwanga is the patron of Catholic Action and of black African youth, and the Ugandan martyrs’ feast day is a public holiday in Uganda.

“For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1: 6 – 7).

June 2, 2020
Tuesday of the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time

“Return to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s»

Today, we marvel again at Christ’s wit and wisdom. With his masterly response, He directly points out to the fair autonomy of the worldly realities: «Return to Caesar what is Caesar’s» (Mk 12:17).

Today’s Word, however, is something more than knowing how to successfully get out of a conflict; it is something utterly relevant to all aspects of our life: what am I giving God?; is it really what I prize more in my life? Where did I place my heart? Because… «where your treasure is, there will your heart be also» (Lk 12:34).

Yes, indeed, according to St. Jerome, «you must necessarily render unto Caesar the coin in his image; but you willingly give your best to God, because it is his image, not Caesar’s, that is on us». Throughout his life, Jesus Christ constantly poses the matter of choice. It is up to us to choose, and our options are clear: either we choose the worldly values to live by or we decide to live by the Gospel’s values.

It is always a time for choice before us, a time for conversion, a time to “replace” our life again in the dynamics of God. Our prayer, and specially the prayer made by God’s Word, will gradually be discovering us what God expects of us. He who opts for God becomes God’s dwelling place, for «if a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him» (Jn 14:23). And prayer becomes the true school where, as Tertulian says, «Christ teaches us which was the Father’s purpose which He was carrying out in this world, and what a man’s ethical behavior should be so that it is in agreement with this very purpose». If only we would succeed in choosing the right way that suits us!

31st May 2020

Pentecost Sunday

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit.” (John 20: 21 – 22).

Brethren, this is Pentecost! This is the Birthday of our Mother, the Church. She is Mother and Teacher. Very old and ever young and beautiful. Virgin and Mother of many children. Queen of Peace and Seat of Wisdom. Happy Birthday Mother Church!

The Holy Spirit descended on the disciples in the Cenacle “like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.” (Acts 2: 2). The waiting and praying are over. The Father has delivered the Big Gift He promised.

“The Spirit prepares men and goes out to them with his grace, in order to draw them to Christ. The Spirit manifests the risen Lord to them, recalls his word to them and opens their minds to the understanding of his Death and Resurrection.” (CCC 737).

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love.

Historically, Pentecost was a Jewish harvest festival which commemorated God’s Ten Commandments, given at Mount Sinai, fifty days after the Passover. These Commandments were guidelines, instructing the Israelites how to live as the ‘people of God’.

The Christian Pentecost took place fifty days after the Resurrection. It marks the birth of the Church because, this time, it was the giving of the ‘Holy Spirit’ who empowered the disciples to live as a ‘people of God’ – the Church.

So, who is this Holy Spirit? Is it a dove that descended on Jesus, or tongues of fire that came upon the Apostles? Is it water that brought life to people in the Old Testament or wind through which they experienced God’s presence? Is it the oil that God’s chosen prophets and kings were anointed with? These are just signs. The Holy Spirit is God’s own life given to all of us by Him, from the beginning of creation.

May we use the gifts of the Spirit that we have been blessed with, not for our own glory but to build our community.

Lord, send forth Your Spirit in my life and set me on fire with the Gifts of Your Spirit. Holy Spirit, I invite You to take possession of my soul. Come Holy Spirit, come and transform my life. Holy Spirit, I trust in You.

THE 7 GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. Wisdom
   Wisdom is not the quoting of facts. Wisdom is a gift that allows a person to understand things from God’s point of view. In other words, Wisdom allows a person to recognize truth. A person with the Gift of Wisdom is able to take this truth and use it to glorify God by choosing Godly solutions to problems.
2. Understanding
   Understanding is the second gift of the Holy Spirit, and people sometimes have a hard time understanding (no pun intended) how it differs from wisdom. While wisdom is the desire to contemplate the things of God, understanding allows us grasp, at least in a limited way, the very essence of the truths of the Catholic Faith. Through understanding, we gain a certitude about our beliefs that moves beyond faith
3. Counsel
   The Gift of Counsel is also known as a Gift of Right Judgment. Counsel, the third gift of the Holy Spirit, is the perfection of the cardinal virtue of prudence. Prudence can be practiced by anyone, but counsel is supernatural. Through this gift of the Holy Spirit, we are able to judge how best to act almost by intuition. Because of the gift of counsel, Christians need not fear to stand up for the truths of the Faith, because the Holy Spirit will guide us in defending those truths.
4. Fortitude
   The Gift of Fortitude is also known as the Gift of Courage. Through this Gift a person is no longer afraid to stand up for God and His truths. A person who has the Gift of Fortitude will stand up for good against evil and is convicted to take a stand when the occasion arises.
5. Knowledge
   The Gift of Knowledge allows a person to understand the meaning and purpose God has for him and to live up to this meaning. It differs from wisdom in that it is an action, not just a desire to live up to the ways of God. It differs from Understanding in that it is not just ability, it is a knowing.
   6. Piety
   Piety, the sixth gift of the Holy Spirit, is the perfection of the virtue of religion. While we tend to think of religion today as the external elements of our faith, it really means the willingness to worship and to serve God. Piety takes that willingness beyond a sense of duty, so that we desire to worship God and to serve Him out of love, the way that we desire to honor our parents and do what they wish.
   7. Fear of the Lord
   The Gift of Fear of the Lord puts God in the proper perspective. A person with this Gift understands the greatness and awesomeness of the Lord. They want to serve Him because of who He is. A person with the Gift of Fear of the Lord understands who they are and why they are here in relationship to God; In other words, everything they are is due to the wonder, love, grace, and perfection of God. They are totally dependent on the Lord as a child is to a parent. The Gift of Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. Once a person understands who God is and desires to please Him, they can begin to understand things from God’s point of view or have Wisdom.