Tag: faith

“So they are no longer two but one flesh.” | Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all my being, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 9:41-50)

Jesus said to the Pharisees: “But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”

In today’s Gospel, some Pharisees approach Jesus and question him about divorce according to Jewish law. Jesus immediately makes clear to the Pharisees that marriage, a sacred covenant between a man and a woman, was not meant to be dissolved. No human being, Jesus says, should undo what God has done. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it this way: “The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble. He abrogates the accommodations that had slipped into the old Law. Between the baptized, ‘a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power or for any reason other than death.'” (CCC 2382) Jesus upholds the sacredness and permanent bond of marriage and emphasizes the original plan of God for the union of man and woman.

God, help me comprehend the fullness of Jesus’ response to the Pharisees. Marriage in the Church is a sacrament and in your mercy is meant to be permanent. There is no mistaking Jesus’ words in private to the disciples. Help me also know your mercy in the teachings of the Church in cases of annulment, that the Church has the authority to determine whether in truth a marriage lacked something essential from the beginning, rendering it null and void. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of marriage, which you authored from the beginning of creation. Keep in your care those you have joined in this sacrament, and for the sake of your glory, guide to all truth those who seek your mercy.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “Though in his lifetime he counted himself blessed, “They will praise you for doing well for yourself,” He shall join the circle of his forebears who shall never more see light. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 9:41-50)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.”

In the consecutive Gospel readings for this week, Jesus refers to children and to the innocent when he says, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” The consequences for causing the innocent, the pure of heart, to sin is self-destructive. In response to this and from a place of love, Jesus teaches us that outright rejection of such an act—even to the drastic extent of cutting off the offending member—would be better than to cause another to sin. “It is better for you to enter into life maimed,” Jesus says, “than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.” Lesser offenses also call for renunciation and detachment in this life because we belong to Christ and in order to have hands to receive and give the cup of his mercy.

God, help me comprehend that in Jesus I hear your word directly. “Receive the word of God,” the Gospel acclamation says, “not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God.” Since it is Jesus your Son who speaks these words, give me the gift of fear of the Lord to sharpen the awareness in me that all is your gift and because of that, I tread always on holy ground. Lord, you are all good and deserving of all my love. Give me the grace, today and always, to belong to Christ and live in his peace.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“For whoever is not against us is for us.” | Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “Yet in no way can a man redeem himself, or pay his own ransom to God; Too high is the price to redeem one’s life; he would never have enough to remain alive always and not see destruction. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 9:38-40)

John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.” Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.”

Jesus addresses a question from John, who is concerned at seeing someone exorcising demons in Jesus’ name. John sees a cause for division even among those who call on the name of Christ. Jesus broadens John’s perspective on discipleship and what it means to do good in the eyes of the Lord. Now, as in Jesus’ time, it is easy to find causes for division, subdivision, and fragmentation—even to the point of separation. Yet, Jesus reminds John what unity means in terms of relationship to one another. Jesus does not say to John, “Whoever is not against me is for me.” Rather, he brings the disciples into relationship—”us”—just as he is in relationship with his Father. Not a bond we can form on our own, the Holy Spirit unites us in the love between the Father and the Son.

God, help me become more and more aware of the relationship that the risen Christ brings me into with you. The distortion and perversion of the words of Jesus are a temptation the evil one constantly presents, as if he is saying, “Whoever is not us is against us.” In the recognition of my own shortcomings and in the desire to do your will, give me the grace to do what I myself don’t have the power to do. In the words “For whoever is not against us is for us,” let me call to mind throughout the day that you, Lord, are over all and in all, binding me with others to you through your love and for the sake of your glory.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“If anyone wishes to be first . . .” | Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time

From the Gospel acclamation: “May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 9:30-37)

For they had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”

As Jesus and the disciples begin a journey through Galilee, Jesus reveals to them that he will be handed over to his enemies, killed, and will rise again after three days. The disciples don’t understand Jesus’ words and begin to focus on their own role and status as disciples. Aware of this and in contrast to it, Jesus teaches them through the example of a child who is present. Children at that time held low social status. Turning a social convention such as this on its head, Jesus emphasizes the place of service, humility, and simplicity over ambitions for personal self-gain. Sounding very much like the recent Gospel readings from John, Jesus says, “Whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” Mark conveys the importance of remaining in Christ with the Father in the exchange of love between them in the Holy Spirit.

God, help me see today the good gifts you place in my midst. In looking out for your gifts, give me the opportunity to put my own interests aside and serve others in the name of Christ. Jesus told the disciples of his coming passion, death, and resurrection, and they failed to comprehend that this would happen to the Messiah, whose transfiguration they witnessed on Mount Tabor. If Christ your Son humbles himself in this way, what is it you ask of me? Let me remember the profound teaching of St. James from the first reading in these few simple words: “Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

From the first reading “There were some Cypriots and Cyrenians among them, however, who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 10:22-30)

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

During the feast of the Dedication, known as Hanukkah, Jesus is in Jerusalem near the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. In response to the questions some of the Jews ask him, Jesus reiterates what he has already told them about his identity. He is the Christ, the Son of God. The repetition of what he tells them serves to emphasize not only that he is obedient to the Father but is a distinct person of the Trinity. “The Father and I are one.” Belief in that is critical, and as the first reading demonstrates was responsible for the rapid growth of Christians among Jews and Gentiles alike.

God, I come to you in prayer for a short time now, uncertain of the day’s outcome yet recognizing that you are one with Jesus Christ your Son. Again, I hear Jesus say, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” For the times I hear your voice, let me follow without hesitation; for the times I am unaware of you, occupied with the concerns of the day, be patient with me until I turn to you and realize you are near. Father in heaven, you are present, guiding me to you. As the psalmist says, “Glorious things are said of you, O city of God. . . ! My home is within you.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “As the hind longs for the running waters, so my soul longs for you, O God. Athirst is my soul for God, the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God? Athirst is my soul for the living God.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 10:1-10)

Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”

Jesus goes on to say that he is the gate, not that he is like the gate, but that “whoever enters through me will be saved.” He is the gate. Jesus, who calls us by name, is the way and the truth and the life. The voice of Christ is familiar because it is the voice of the one we hear about in the psalms: “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb.” Responding to the voice of the Lord and entering through him is the way to eternal life. “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;” Jesus says, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

God, help me recognize that Christ is the way to you and the means of eternal life. He is the gate through which I find you in this life and salvation in the life of the world to come. Abundant life is what Christ came to bring to all and to me. God, strengthen my desire to be attentive to the voice of Christ, following and imitating him in my words and actions and ignoring the voices of strangers who call me away from him. Lord, give me the grace today to hear and respond to your voice as you draw me to yourself.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Good Shepherd” flickr photo by Lawrence OP https://flickr.com/photos/paullew/13972657988 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license

Fourth Sunday of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 10:11-18)

Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.”

The comforting image of Jesus as the good shepherd is well known and loved. In saying “I know mine and mine know me,” Jesus makes clear that he knows us by name and defends each of us. The relationship Jesus has with his Father, obedient even to death, is the same relationship he invites us into. Many times in this short passage Jesus says that the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. In the example of obedience and trust in the Father, Jesus leads us to a place of unconditional love and eternal life. In laying down our lives for others, Jesus brings us into the source of courage and hope: “I have power to lay it down,” he says, “and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”

God, I hear Jesus say many times that he will lay down his life for his sheep. I want to think about that for a minute because Jesus also says, “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” If Jesus lays down his life and has that command from you, help me see in that the good that follows—”there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Lord, give me the grace today to follow where you lead. Help me recognize that in dying to small things that keep me from you—impatience, unforgiveness, selfishness—I learn to lay down my life for you in greater things and become more like Christ. As St. Paul says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Saturday of the Third Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “My vows to the LORD I will pay in the presence of all his people. Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:60-69)

As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Many of the disciples who had been following Jesus leave him when he teaches them about the reality of his body and blood as true food and drink sent from heaven. “This saying is hard,” many of the disciples say to him, “who can accept it?” Yet, John tells us “Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.” The disciples return to a former way of life. Even today, returning to a former way or living in doubt is not an uncommon response to the reality of Christ’s true presence in the Blessed Sacrament. But faith in the risen Christ readies us for eternal life and restores life here and now—literally. After Pentecost, Peter is a new man in Christ, so much so that through the Holy Spirit he raises the disciple Tabitha from the dead. Because many witnessed this, we hear in Acts, “many came to believe in the Lord.”

God, strengthen my faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. As much as your grace allows, help me recognize the risen Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Keep me attentive, Lord, to the bread and wine as it becomes the body and blood of Jesus. And give me the wisdom to choose you throughout the day, as Peter did when he said: “To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Friday of the Third Week of Easter

From the Gospel acclamation: “Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood, remains in me and I in him, says the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:52-59)

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him.”

In speaking to the Jews who question how Jesus can give them his Flesh for eternal life, he repeats in four successive statements that his Flesh and Blood is the way he remains in us and is life itself within us. Jesus emphasizes further that “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” The words of Jesus leave no room for doubt. In instituting the Eucharist at the Last Supper, Jesus is present body and blood, soul and divinity, whenever the priest raises the bread and wine and says in the person of Christ, “This is my body. . . . This is the chalice of my blood.”

God, strengthen my faith and trust in you. The words of Jesus that I hear during each Mass call out for me to behold what I am about to consume. Help me be more attentive at Mass, fully realizing that what I receive is the Flesh and Blood of the Son of Man—that it is true life-giving food and drink. It is what Jesus says it is; since it is just that, now and forever, stir in me the desire, Lord, to say what the crowd who followed Jesus said to him: “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Blessed be God who refused me not my prayer or his kindness! Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:44-51)

“I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”

Jesus further explains how we are drawn to him and the necessity of receiving his body and blood for eternal life. Jesus says to the crowds, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.” He explains how the Father draws us to Jesus. Everyone who listens to his Father—our Father—comes to Jesus. When we come to Jesus in the Eucharist, we receive the body and blood of Christ—the bread that came down from heaven that will give us eternal life.

Father in heaven, you sent Jesus your Son to draw us to you. In his teachings and in the sacraments of the Church, born out of your love, Jesus remains ever present so that I can come to him at all times. “Whoever believes has eternal life,” Jesus says. Give me the grace today to believe in the hope and reality of eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel acclamation is an aid to help me remember this throughout the day: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.