I, Too, Must Stand and Watch

(Continuing to share the short Stations of the Cross reflections we had at my church...
The style of these reflections is that we imagine what Jesus might say at each station, and then reply with what we should say.  The following is the reflection that accompanied Jesus Meets His Mother:)


Jesus says:

My mother sees me whipped.

She sees me kicked and driven like a beast.

She counts my every wound.

But though her soul cries out in agony,
no protest or complaint escapes her lips
or even enters her thoughts.

She shares my martyrdom - and I share hers.

We hide no pain, 
no sorrow,
from each other's eyes.

This is my Father's will.


I Reply

My Jesus, Lord,
I know what you are telling me.

To watch the pain of those we love
is harder than to bear our own.

To carry my cross after you,
I, too, must stand and watch
the sufferings of my dear ones - 
the heartaches, sicknesses and grief
of those I love.

And I must let them watch mine, too.

I do believe - 
for those who love you
all things work together unto good.


I hope you are all having a Blessed Lent.


 

A Sliver of Cross

We had some beautiful, short reflections at the Stations of the Cross this week, and I will share some of them with you over the next few weeks as we near the Triduum.  

The style of these reflections is that we imagine what Jesus might say at each station, and then reply with what we should say.

Here is the reflection that accompanied Jesus Taking His Cross:

Jesus says:

This cross, this chunk of tree, is what my Father chose for me.

The crosses you must bear are largely products of your daily life.
And yet, my Father chose them, too, for you.

Receive them from His hands.

Take heart, my other self, I will not let your burdens grow one ounce too heavy for your strength.

I reply: 

My Jesus, Lord, I take my daily cross.

I welcome the monotony that often marks my day, discomforts of all kinds, the summer's heat, the winter's cold, my disappointments, tensions, setbacks, cares.

Remind me often that in carrying my cross, I carry yours with you.  

And though I bear only a sliver of your cross,
You carry all of mine, except a sliver, in return.  


I hope you are all having a blessed Lent.


 

A Modern Day Apostle

"Go and proclaim the good news of the Gospel."

And with that, our priest made the sign of the cross in ashes on my forehead.

Meanwhile, in Detroit, the archbishop there asked his followers to "Unleash the Gospel".  He urged them to move from just maintaining the status quo to spreading God's word.  
  
They are lovely phrases, especially this time of year.  But what does all of that look like, exactly?  

I have one example from my own church.  

Last weekend I was chatting with an elderly man after mass.  He told me that during the week, he sat next to a young woman on a bench in town, and invited her to come to church with him.  

She accepted.

He was coming back to a mass later that day to meet her, and no doubt encourage her to do it again the following week.

When I asked him what made him take action, he turned and said "I just let the Lord work through me."

I then noticed he was holding three large jugs of water.

"Thirsty?", I questioned.

"No, this is holy water.  I am taking it with me to bless those I come across."

"How long will that last, 6 months?", I asked curiously.

"Maybe until next week," he smiled, "If I'm lucky."

He is truly a modern day apostle, and is a wonderful inspiration for me (and hopefully you!) this Holy season.

A Blessed Lent to you and your families.

Everything I forgot about St Thomas Aquinas

This week marked the feast day of St Thomas Aquinas.

As I reflected on that, I realized how little I remembered about this great Saint.  Yes, I quickly noted that he was a great philosopher of the Church, and yes, I remembered he authored the Summa theologiae.  But there were many other facts I just could not recall.  

So I spent some time re-learning about him, and wanted to share some of the info with any of you that happen to be as forgetful as I am!

• St Thomas grew up not far from Rome in a wealthy family
• While studying in Naples, he decided he wanted to join the newly formed Dominican Order
• When he told his parents of this decision, they found it unacceptable, for they wanted him to stay at the Monte Cassino Abbey
• As Thomas headed off to join the Dominicans, his brothers kidnapped him and locked him up in their castle
• His family even sent a prostitute to his cell seduce him?!  He drove her out with a burning torch.
• When he finally got out, he continued his studies in Paris and Cologne, where he was known as the "dumb ox" to his classmates because of his size and quiet nature
• He wrote many papers and books, the most famous being the aforementioned Summa theologiae
• St Thomas was known as a masterful preacher who argued against his opponents with both respect and brilliance
• At one point his brethren witnessed him in ecstasy, and heard the Lord tell him "You have written well of me Thomas.  What reward would you have for your labor?"  Thomas replied, "Nothing but you, Lord."
• He stopped writing shortly thereafter, and when urged to continue, he simply said "I can do no more.  Such secrets have been revealed to me that all I have written now appears to be of little value."  
• He died on March 7, 1274, and because that day usually falls in Lent, the church moved his Feast Day to January 28th.

I also re-read St Thomas' five arguments for the existence of God, which are certainly worth remembering for all those times we encounter those who just do not believe.

But I must admit, I spend a great deal of time wondering what God showed this passionate writer that caused him to stop writing.   How beautiful that vision must have been for this wise man feel he could not come close to describing it!

I hope you all have a spiritual week, and God Bless you.

"Yet for our sake, You did not rescue Him"

Those of you that read this blog regularly, know that I really enjoy analogies or stories that help us to truly understand God's love for us.

For example, a long time ago, I posted an excerpt from Rediscovering Catholicism where Matthew Kelly puts God's sacrifice into a modern day example.  To this day, that story is one of the most powerful I have ever read. 

This weekend, I was surprised to find an example in the mainstream media.  It was an opinion article on FoxNews titled The Sound of Jesus' voice in my daughter's scream.   In it the author shares his experience in realizing how hard it must have been for God to watch His Son suffer.

I hope you enjoy.

God Bless you.

I Had Never Heard this about Cana Before

The Wedding Feast at Cana is one of the most important, beautiful passages in the Gospels.  

But there have always been parts that have stumped me over the years.

The first one, like most people, is the way Jesus talks to His Mother .... he refers to her as "woman".  I quickly learned, however, that this phrase was a term of respect back in Jesus's time.  It was not the cold statement that it feels like in today's language.

Another item that stumped me at one point, was why it took so long for the Son of God to start His mission.  Again, I was reminded early on that God has a time frame for everything.  And that time frame may or may not make sense for us.  (I was also reminded how long it took me to get my act together and become a better Catholic ... but that is neither here nor there!)

But the one item that that has always puzzled my very-human mind, was why Jesus initially said His time had not yet come, yet, changed His tune once Mary told the servant to do whatever Our Savior asked.

This weekend I heard a possible reason I had never heard before.  

Most scholars safely assume that Joseph, Mary's husband, had passed away long before the Wedding at Cana.  If that were the case, then Jesus would have been responsible for Mary and the household.  Being human, as well as Divine, it was possible that Jesus did not want to start His mission until He was sure Mary would be ok.  (He was, after all, the greatest Son ever!)  Perhaps that exchange at the wedding feast was Mary telling Jesus she would be fine ... that it was time for Him to go.  

Of course, we have no idea if this scenario is true or not, nor do we know all the context behind the few words that are written in the Gospel.  However, I had never heard this explanation before, and wanted to share with all of you.

What do you think?

God Bless all of you!

Where Did the Gifts Go?

I often wonder what happened to those gifts the Magi brought the child Jesus.  

Did the Holy Family keep them?  Barter with them?  Give them away?  

As I contemplated this at Mass last week, I felt God asking me a similar question in return.

He was asking what I did with all the gifts He gave me!

(Maybe I need to do less wondering and more works for Him!)

God Bless you.