His Word Today: Go

Good morning everyone,

The gospel passage for today speaks of a moment in Jesus' life when he invited his disciples to go out into the world (Mk 6:7).  He gave them very specific instructions: take nothing for the journey but a walking stick – no food, no sack, no money in their belts (Mk 6:8).

Can you imagine how vulnerable those disciples were.  They would have set out with very little to give them a sense of security, yet this was done on purpose because only in this way could they learn the essential truth that we must always recognize: we must rely on Jesus, and remember that he is always with us.  If we forget this truth, then we end up doing our own work, not the work that Jesus intends us to do.

Dare to go out into the world that the Lord puts you in today.  Dare to leave behind whatever it is that you find yourself relying on for comfort and security.  Dare to trust that Jesus will always be with you.  He is always close to every one of his beloved children, placing us on the path that will allow us to cooperate in doing his work on earth.

Have a great day.

His Word Today: Saint Paul Miki

Good morning everyone,

Today, we remember and pray with Saint Paul Miki, born in 1562, who was a Jesuit seminarian, one of the twenty-six martyrs of Japan.  Having been taught by the Jesuits, Saint Paul joined the Society of Jesus and became a well-known and successful preacher.  Because of his work, many others converted to Catholicism.  Out of fear of the Jesuit influence and not understanding their intentions, the ruler of Japan began persecuting Catholics.  Paul Miki was arrested and jailed along with other fellow Catholics who were later forced to march more than 966 miles from Kyoto to Nagasaki.  There, he was cruelly put to death.

It is interesting to note that on the day when we remember that it was so difficult for Paul Miki and his companions to be accepted for their faith, we also hear the story of Jesus' arrival in his hometown, where he too was not accepted (cf Mk 6:4).  Over the centuries, fear of the unknown has often proven to be at the root of misunderstandings.  Jesus worked very hard during his life to break down the misunderstandings of his time; even today, there are prophetic voices calling out to us, urging us to work hard at promoting avenues of mutual understanding.

Today, we can make a difference if we choose to work toward understanding others, their motivations and their reasonings. When we do, we might just discover that others are not so different from us.

Have a great day.

His Word Today: Saint Agatha

Good morning everyone,

Today, the Church celebrates the Memorial of Saint Agatha (circa 231-251 A.D.)  We know little about her earthly life, other than the fact that she was from a rich and noble family who lived in Catania (Sicily).  As a young girl, she made a vow of virginity and later rejected amorous advances from the Roman prefect Quintianus.  Her insistence on living, not according to the dictates of human beings but rather according to the call of the Lord earned her a martyr's crown.

The gospel passage proposed for today's meditation presents two other women who also faced perils but triumphed because of the presence of Jesus in their lives (cf Mk 5:21-43): the daughter of Jairus and a woman who had suffered from hemorrhages.  In both cases, the women mentioned in the gospel passage were also in peril, but ended up triumphing because of the faith of others.

The world we live in often turns a blind eye to the humanity some of our brothers and sisters, choosing instead to see them as objects worthy of being set aside, ignored or treated as property.  In contrast to this, Jesus came to show us that each one of us is cherished, precious in the eyes of our God, and because we are precious, we should also cherish all the brothers and sisters who share our journey through earthly life.

Have a great day.

His Word Today: Change

Good morning everyone,

There is a saying in popular culture that advocates for change: To live is to experience change.  The problem is that no one likes change.  We human beings are creatures of habit.  Once we have established our routines, we will resist change, even if that change might be necessary or might represent something that is better for us.

In today's gospel passage, we see Jesus at a moment when he encounters a man who is possessed by demons (cf Mk 5:1-13).  This man had been dwelling among the tombs, continually haunted by the demons, but unable to free himself of their influence.  Perhaps he had gotten to the point where he himself had begun to lose hope that he might ever see a day when he would be free of them.  Perhaps he had begun to resign himself to the fact that he would have to live with them for the rest of his days.

Do we know of anyone who is living with demons today?  Modern-day demons are no different from the demons of days gone by.  They are sly, they try to convince us that they are no longer around, all the while distorting our ability to think clearly, to reason soundly and to be all that we are intended to be.  Perhaps we ourselves need Jesus' help to free us from demons, or perhaps we know of someone who does.  Today, let us seek out an encounter with Jesus so that we can ask him to free us - or the ones we love - from the demons that enslave us.

Have a great day.

Prepare to be surprised

Today, we have come once again to sit in the presence of Jesus.  Here, we hope to learn from him whatever it is that we need to learn so that we can continue in the coming week to live as his disciples.  The gospel passage we have heard today is the continuation of the episode we heard last week.  Once again, we are seated with all those friends of Jesus who gathered in the synagogue in Nazareth, hoping to hear him say something wonderful.  Perhaps they expected him to recognize the role they had played in helping him to grow, to learn and to be prepared to face the world.  Jesus was expecting them to ask him to perform a miracle.  After all, they had already heard of such things happening in Capernaum (cf Lk 4:23).  However, the words Jesus spoke surprised them.  The words of the gospel should always surprise us, jar us, wake us up.  In this way, we learn how to listen as though we have never heard the story before.

Sitting at the feet of Jesus, we are gathered in the school of love.  Here we learn more and more every time we gather about how we should love, and what better teacher can we have to teach us about love than the author of love.  Our God, who has always longed to share the gift of love with us, spoke to the prophet Jeremiah saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you (Jer 1:5).  Each one of us can find great reassurance and consolation by spending time in prayer, simply repeating these words in our minds and in our hearts because the gift of love that was offered to Jeremiah has also been offered to each one of us, and God’s love is not like human love: it is not based on any conditions but rather, it is freely given regardless of what we might have done, regardless of what excuses we have invented in order to distance ourselves from the author of love.

Saint Paul helps us today to deepen our understanding of the love that Jesus wants to share with us.   Instead of being lured away by the voices of this world that make all kinds of empty promises, our God invites us to taste the same sweetness that the apostles and the saints have known.   Attempting to explain the depth of this treasure, Saint Paul says: Love is patient, love is kind, love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude (1 Cor 13:4-5).

It should always surprise us to hear these words.  We live in a world that strives to be patient, yet human efforts will always fall short of God’s ability to be patient with us.  In an ideal world, we would all be kind to one another, but God will always outdo us in kindness.  If we truly want to be disciples, we will constantly judge our words and actions in terms of whether or not they are willing to bear all things, believe all things, hope always and even endure all things (cf 1 Cor 13:7).  This sounds idyllic, yet this is how our God loves us.

Dear friends, in this place, week after week, imperfect humans dare to stand in the presence of our God who alone is perfect.  Here, we are encouraged – over and over – and always with infinite gentleness and compassion as we progress toward the truth that is the source of our rejoicing (cf 1 Cor 13:6).

His Word Today: the Presentation of the Lord

Good morning everyone,

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.  The oldest written account of the celebration of this Feast dates back to the fourth century A.D. and an account which was penned by a Spanish nun by the name of Egeria.  She kept a diary of her pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  In it, she writes: The fortieth day after (Christmas) is indeed celebrated here (in Jerusalem) with the greatest solemnity.  On that day, there is a procession to the (Basilica of the Resurrection) and all assemble there for the liturgy ... (Egeria, Diary of a Pilgrimage, chapter 26).

It seems that at that early date, the Feast did not have a specific name and was simply called The Fortieth Day After the Nativity. Later it was called The Encounter of Our Lord, referring to the encounter of Saint Simeon with Jesus in the Temple which is the theme of the oldest homily on the Feast, ascribed to Hesychius of Jerusalem (who died after 450). In the West, the Feast was called The Purification from Mary’s compliance with the legal purification prescribed by the Law (Lk 2:22). In the English speaking world, however, the term of Presentation was adapted since on that day Jesus was presented (offered) to God in the Temple (Lk 2:22).

The first mention of candles being used on this Feast is traced to the fifth century A.D.  Sometime in the middle of that century, a Roman matron by the name of Ikelia speaks of their presence, and both Saint Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) and Theodore of Ancyra (d. 446) mention the use of lights during the procession that takes place on this Feast. The custom of blessing candles on the Feast of the Presentation was introduced to fill the needs of the people.  Its introduction into our Rite was relatively recent, during the seventeenth century, but its roots reach venerable antiquity. As recorded in The Chronicle of Saint Theophanes, Emperor Justinian I had issued an order in 541 A.D. that on the Feast of the Presentation, a candle-light procession be held throughout the city to implore Divine Protection against pestilence and the numerous earthquakes that plagued the city.

Let us celebrate this feast with joy.
Have a great day.

His Word Today: Unseen

Good morning everyone,

Today, the scriptures remind us that God is constantly at work, in ways that we are sometimes unaware, unless of course we learn how to see with the eyes of faith.  Seen solely through human eyes, we might indeed see a man scattering seed on the land (Mk 4:26), or we might see mustard seeds ... being sown on the ground (cf Mk 4:31), but without the eyes of faith we will never be able to know or appreciate how those seeds are able to sprout and grow.

The answer to this question is found only by those who have been granted the gift of faith.  Only in faith can we see the hand of God at work in these situations and in the many more that are part of our daily lives.

It is true that even without faith, we can continue to live our lives, but with the gift of faith, with the gift of belief in God and in his Son Jesus Christ, we can see life differently. Let us dare to trust in God, and let us ask him to open his heart to us so that we can grow closer and closer to him, day after day.

Have a great day.