Pope Francis called us to encounter what we wish to avoid. Pope Leo XIV tells us do so as community – “as common one”.
10:30 AM
4:00 PM
Tag: Grief
Charlie Kirk
Our first priority is the salvation of Souls. Our conjoined priority is the restoration of our humanity.
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and may the Perpetual Light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.
As for Tyler Robinson, repentance and renewal. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing (1 Jn 1:9).
Amen.
Very sad. Nobody deserves death for political statements. May he rest in peace. His theology was basicaĺly sound. This is what makes him an enigma.
Enigma of Christian Nationalism
For me: his theology is sound. His poly-religion was terrible and divisive. He exhibited moral theology without the Theo, empathy being the pathos of God. His personal and public personas were in deep contradiction.
For others: he gave voice to the grievances of so many on so many topics. His conclusions were a mixed bag of spot-on and wacky as the wackos he reviled. But most substantially he used moral theology to justify his objectionable poly-religious views. And gives poor intellectual permission for others to do the same.
I wish he had lived and not suffered this fate. He was privately likable and publicly as to true theology, anathema. He had the potential to be great. Rest in peace. Divine aid for his family. And freedom from the frenzy.
It comes as no surprise the twin knee-jerk opposing reactions: 1) martyr of truth, and; 2) ‘serves him right’. Both equally vile, gutteral responses.
Christ’s sword is nothing like the rhetoric. I fear for the young associated and spiritually maimed by Turning Point. The Gospel of compassion is made an empty promise.
Critical thinking, once taught, is abandoned. Freedom FROM and Freedom TO are to be kept in a healthy tension not flopped over as if enough religious violence isn’t enough. Questioning citizenship, scholarship, speech, and morality into a narrow band of thought- unsustainable. The worst is abandoning public ethics as if the high moral standard declared is built on the absence of ethical conduct.
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry
When from the darkness
By Brendan McLaughlin
When from the darkness comes no light, when from the weeping comes no laughter; when in the day we hope for night nor any comfort coming after:
Grant us your peace.
When in our confidence our fears Clutch at the heart and make us tremble; When in our joy we weep cold tears, And in our frankness we disassemble:
Grant us your light.
When in our love there is no care, And in our yearning we are dullness; When what we know we cannot dare, And we are nothing that is fullness:
Grant us your truth.
O Antiphons 2024
Evening prayer for the 7 days leading up to Christmas Eve contains a special focus. The Antiphon for the evening Canticle of Mary starts with the mystery of Salvation History. It starts with creation and completes with Emmanuel – God is with us! 2024 Refresh.
The Canticle of Mary is given especially heightened emphasis as her great “Yes” to the Lord comes to fruition in the birth of the Son of God, Son of Man. This Magnificat prayer is directly from scripture Gospel of Luke (1:46-55). Stylized version below:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly farmer’s foot.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Below each O Antiphon and a mini reflection on each. Perhaps this can be your evening prayer leading up to Christmas Eve?
December 17
O Wisdom of our God Most High, guiding creation with power and love: come to teach us the path of knowledge!
Reflection: From the dawn of creation the Lord God had but one purpose, to share his infinite love. When we contemplate creation and even contemplate love itself, it is the Wisdom of God that informs us and makes intelligible his plan.
We desire to know. We desire to know him. Know him as like a Mother holds a baby. Mary held Emmanuel in her loving arms. Simeon did as well. So shall you, my friends.
R/ My Soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord….
December 18
O Leader of the House of Israel, giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai: come to rescue us with your mighty power!
Reflection: The Lord God rescues us from our folly. We have this tendency to enslave others. The entire nation of Israel needed to be freed. Through His mighty power He freed them and gave Moses the Law on Mount Sinai.
The Law serves two purposes: to alert us to our negative tendencies (shall not) and to bring us to our highest perfection, to wit, Keep Holy this Day of the Lord. Mary’s keep (her womb and gift) and the fruit is her Son.
R/ My Soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord….
December 19
O Root of Jesse’s stem, sign of God’s love for all his people: come to save us without delay!
Reflection: The Lord God has never forgotten. Wait on the Lord, He shall not delay. The Root of Jesse, long thought dead (400 years of no prophets speaking!). Yet now, through the earth or root of Mary comes Emmanuel.
R/ My Soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord….
December 20
O Key of David, opening the gates of God’s eternal Kingdom: come and free the prisoners of darkness!
Reflection: The darkness of man is over. We are prisoners no longer to ignorance. Knowing God incarnate shall make us like Moses. We shall walk with God as one walks with a friend (Ex 33:11). Mary is the first to speak to Jesus. What did she say?
R/ My Soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord….
December 21
O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Reflection: We live under the shadow of death. Each of us facing that final justice. May this Perpetual Light shine on us in this life and the life to come! May justice, the Justice Mary proclaims in her song, be ours in this Emmanuel!
R/ My Soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord….
December 22
O King of all nations and keystone of the Church: come and save man, whom you formed from the dust!
Reflection: We are dust and to dust we shall return. But not just dust. Breath. Rûaħ. You, O God, have made this dust alive with your own breath. Save your breath so closely knitted and integrated within us as Emmanuel is knitted within Mary.
R/ My Soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord….
December 23
O Emmanuel, our King and Giver of Law: come to save us, Lord our God!
Reflection: Divine Love. Save us as only love can save. May the Law of Love guide us in all things. Let us learn to love as the way Mary beheld her son.
R/ My Soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord….
Peace be with you!
Deacon Gerry
Stop holding on to me
Greetings on this the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene
Readings: SGS 3:1-4B; PS 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9; Jn 20:1-2, 11-18
Grief
In our gospel portion today Mary Magdalene is suffering the heartbreak of grief. Yes, even the followers of Jesus suffered grief even having known the assurances of the immediacy of God’s love. There is just something about being able to hold onto someone and hug them and see and hear them. It’s the sensate of love. It is our human experience.
The pain of grief is the assurance of the presence of love. Grief is an awareness that the ordinary ways we love and express love must find a new expression as we can no longer see, hear, touch the beloved. Jesus said to Mary, Stop holding onto me. He, of course, loves her and is also wanting to give her all he is even in the moment when the giving has changed. Stop holding onto me could be understood at the level of an actual tight hug and could also mean (in parallel or instead) the newness that must be embraced. Jesus is about to ascend to the Father. Our love, Mary, must ascend higher too.
Summary
Mary Magdalene was called to the Higher Love which is a difficult journey. You are near. You are far. You are always in my heart. At it’s very height is agape love. Universal, sacrificial and with fullness. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit (Jn 12:24).
It is ironic for us (we are limited in our understanding) but we can see the effects. Grief ‘forces us’ to share the love of the beloved as love for the many others other in our life in its broadest and most sincere application. Mary Magdalene is called the Apostle to the Apostles. What did she give them? How she moved grief to agape love. How they too must express grief-love as universal love. Just like the Lord.
Reflection
May you find relief in your grief. The painful experience is unique to each of us and is a journey that seems so lonely. Yet it is the seed of the universal love. Allow your grief to move you to Higher Love.
Personal Reflection
We have the assurances of the Resurrection and Ascension to Heaven. Yet, like Mary, we are here learning the fullness of love. I never expected grief to be the teacher. But there it is. Even as I type this it puts a smile on my face. My Mom (2/5/2020), still teaching me after all these years.
But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”
Sacred Readings
Full link: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072224.cfm
First Reading
Have you seen him whom my heart loves? I had hardly left them when I found him whom my heart loves.
Responsorial
My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Gospel Acclamation
Tell us Mary, what did you see on the way? I saw the glory of the risen Christ, I saw his empty tomb.
Gospel
- And they [the Angels] said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
- Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he told her.
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry
It is enough
Greetings on this the Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Readings: Gn 49:29-32; 50:15-26a; Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7; Mt 10:24-33
Notes: It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master.
Jesus is the Teacher and the Master and, as we know, Lord.
My Dad drove trucks.
I have driven many different trucks just like my Dad and it makes me happy.
When I drive trucks for the Guatemala-Maya Center and am triply happy.
- I’m driving trucks like my Dad.
- I’m feeding the poor and tending to the downtrodden like my Master.
- I am working as the body of the Church in physical and mystical charity like the saints of old.
We are happy to be like Jesus as a son tries to be like his father.
In today’s first reading we see the unity of spirit even in the burial rituals.
Jacob is to be buried with his grandfather, father and brothers and their wives.
Joseph is to be buried with his patriarchs as well.
Both in life and in death we consider each other and try to be our best reflection of the Lord who loves us.
It is enough in the power of Jesus to do the healing effects of Jesus. It is enough in the power of the Holy Spirit to teach and lead others in the way of the beatitudes. It is enough in the likeness of the Father to bind everyone into the embrace of love.
Reflection on Bonaventrure by Franciscans.
Bonaventure so united holiness and theological knowledge that he rose to the heights of mysticism while remaining a very active preacher and teacher, one beloved by all who met him. To know him was to love him; to read him is still for us today to meet a true Franciscan and a gentleman.
Source: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-bonaventure/
First Reading
There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, and so are Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there, too, I buried Leah– the field and the cave in it that had been purchased from the Hittites.”
Joseph said to his brothers: “I am about to die. God will surely take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Then, putting the sons of Israel under oath, he continued, “When God thus takes care of you, you must bring my bones up with you from this place.” Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten.
Much later… Moses also took Joseph’s bones with him, for Joseph had made the Israelites take a solemn oath, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you must bring my bones up with you from here. (Ex 13:19).
Responsorial
Be glad you lowly ones; may your hearts be glad!
Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name; make known among the nations his deeds. Sing to him, sing his praise, proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
Gospel Acclamation
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
Gospel
It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master.
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry
Deep Distress Deeper Answer
Greetings on this the Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Tb 3:1-11a, 16-17a; Ps 25:2-3, 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9; Mk 12:18-27
Notes: Deep distress requires a deeper answer.
The Lord brings relief for our afflictions in this life and has removed our final affliction of death to the promise of eternal life.
Tobit and Sarah both in deep distress in the story telling of the book of Tobit.
Tobit laments the oppression of the Assyrians, his blindness and his harsh words at his wife Anna.
He thinks about the causation.
He prays for death.
Sarah laments her intolerable marriage situation where seven men were unable to be husband and the continuous mockery of the maids.
She has no thought to the causation so incalculable is its cause.
She considers taking matters into her own hands by suicide but thinks better of it.
She prays for death.
It is a prayer of desperation.
It is beyond my power to change licitly and I feel the situation is unresolvable.
Then let me die.
Death seemed the better option to Tobit and Sarah.
We know that the second life of heaven is a part of the Jewish theology at that time so one should assume that both Tobit and Sarah have at least a passing thought to the restored life in the destination Tobit requests: let me go to the everlasting abode. The place where they are like the angels in heaven.
Their prayers and yours do rise to the Heavens.
Their prayers and yours are heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God.
They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar on eagles’ wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint (ISA 40:31).
The ultimate answer of the Lord is the resurrection.
Troubles come and troubles go but the promise of life remains and its potency remains.
Death is powerless in the comparison to the promise of the everlasting abode.
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, and put the ironic test to the Lord.
The sarcasm is intense and complete. No doubt the Sadducees knew the story of Tobit and Sarah and acted as if the moral of the story is void of potency.
They are accusing G-d of not only failing to answer the prayers of the woman with seven dead husbands but that even in the end death is the final outcome.
A death of annihilation.
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.
First Reading
At that very time, the prayer of these two suppliants was heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God.
So Raphael was sent to heal them both: to remove the cataracts from Tobit’s eyes, so that he might again see God’s sunlight; and to marry Raguel’s daughter Sarah to Tobit’s son Tobiah, and then drive the wicked demon Asmodeus from her.
Responsorial
To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Gospel Acclamation
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; whoever believes in me will never die.
Gospel
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
And of you.
And to the Lord and in the Lord you will live forever.
Hope in the Lord, for your ‘now’ and for your ‘forever’.
They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar on eagles’ wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint (ISA 40:31).
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry
Set Free
Greetings on this the Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Notes: My friend has been set free.
We trust in the Divine Love.
The Son of Man was with her unto the end. I see four men unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.
Lazarus, Come Out!
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faced with a most difficult choice: idol worship or death.
King Nebuchadnezzar wanted what he wanted. He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual and had some of the strongest men in his army bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the white-hot furnace.
And yet G-d is not mocked.
Whether our trials are from health, wealth or powerful people – Jesus is at our side.
I see four men unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.
First Reading
Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel to deliver the servants who trusted in him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
Responsorial
Glory and praise for ever!
Gospel Acclamation
Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.
Gospel
So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry
Take Heart – Sparrow & Arrow Both!
Greetings on this the Optional Memorial of Saint Sebastian, martyr
Readings: 1 Pt 3:14-17; Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; Mt 10:28-33
Notes: During Eucharistic Adoration this week my reflection (Stretch Out Your Hand) can be a particuarly challenging one when a person has a physical ailment or injury. For example, a man with a stroke paralysis in his right arm may find the reading to be both extreme in hope and extreme in disappointment. Stretch out my hand would be exactly what he would want to be given as a command and the receiving the blessing of the Synagogue that day! Instant Restoration!
It is difficult to imagine that Jesus’ miracles while extensive and superabundant were not the Lord’s final answer to our problems and woes. These are but examples and signs of the divine love and divine power.
All these things are preparation and anticipation of the final act of blessing – resurrection and eternal life.
It is our task to derive hope and encouragement from the saints and from the institutions and places that we have experienced joy and community. It is our task to read about the divine signs of the Gospel of John as proof and assurance not a particular gift to each and every one, all the time.
Take heart!
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Today we celebrate Saint Sebastian.
Photo of Mom’s parish, Woodside, NYC. We laid her to rest at Calvery Cemetery, February, 2020.
From the ordinary weekday reading, the calling of the Apostles: Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. Jesus’ calling is a powerful attraction. The attraction of superabundant love even held, for a while, Judas Iscariot who later betrayed him. Sebastian did better.
Reflection
The fact that many of the early saints made such a tremendous impression on the Church—awakening widespread devotion and great praise from the greatest writers of the Church—is proof of the heroism of their lives. As has been said, legends may not be literally true. Yet they may express the very substance of the faith and courage evident in the lives of these heroes and heroines of Christ.
From: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-sebastian/
First reading
Beloved: Even if you should suffer because of righteousness, blessed are you. Do not be afraid or terrified with fear of them, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.
For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.
Responsorial Psalm
The Lord delivered me from all my fears.
Psalm 34 is a highly regarded psalm of praise and trust in the Lord.
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he saves them.
Alleluia Verse
Blessed is the man who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life.
Gospel Portion
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry
In the Beginning – Truth
Greetings on this The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
Readings: 1 Jn 2:18-21; PS 96:1-2, 11-12, 13; Jn 1:1-18
Notes: The Gospel of John does not contain an infancy narrative.
The gospel account does these distinct things instead:
- The gospel starts as the book of Genesis starts. In the beginning.
- It aligns the Christ event with the first creation by the Word of God of matter and light.
- It proclaims the Incarnation in the context of creation and light.
John making sure we know from the beginning the Lord knew he would one day dwell among us as brother and friend. So that we might see God according to our capacity to see him.
We saw and related to the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth, and sharer of the Father’s glory.
Pope Benedict delighted in teaching of this marvelous Lord who wished intimate life with us because of the generous love, super abundant love, of the divine. He saw faith as a growing and ever evolving expression of truth.
I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now (Jn 16:12).
An ever changing and growing perspective: But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth (Jn 16:13a).
We have inevitably to face up to the question of whether man is made for the truth.
- Cardinal Ratzinger, Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ, 2003.
And the responsibility to live our existence as a response – as a response to what we are in truth.
(Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Truth and Tolerance, p. 10 and p. 254)
It is our responsibility to do so. Pope Benedict did the best he could.
Pope Benedict XVI, 95 y/o, has died. Only 20 minutes ago.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
and may the Perpetual Light shine upon him.
May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God,
rest in peace.
Amen.
First reading
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared.
Every lie is alien to the truth.
Responsorial Psalm
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Alleluia Verse
The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. To those who accepted him he gave power to become the children of God.
Gospel Portion
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry