Apr 1 Tue - Why did Our Lord allow the Devil to tempt him?

 

Apr 1 Tue
Why did Our Lord allow the Devil to tempt him?

“Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer." Who is speaking? An individual, it seems. Let’s see if it is an individual: “I cried out to you from the ends of the earth while my heart was in anguish." Now it is no longer one person; it is one in the sense that Christ is one, and we are all his members. But what single individual can cry from the ends of the earth? The one who cries from the ends of the earth is none other than the Son’s inheritance. Jesus was told by his Father: “Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession." This possession of Christ, this inheritance of Christ, this body of Christ, is the one Church of Christ. She cries from the ends of the earth because we all form a single family.

What does she cry? She says: “Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer; I cried out to you from the ends of the earth." She cries from every part of the world.

How does she cry? With her heart in anguish. The speaker shows that the Church is present among all the nations of the earth not in a state of exalted glory but in a condition of severe trial.

Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from hardship. We progress through suffering. No one gets to know himself except through trial, receives a crown except after victory, or grows stronger except by fighting the temptations of the enemy.

The body of the Church crying from the ends of the earth is in anguish but is not left on its own. Christ chose to go ahead of us, who are his body, using his body, in which he died, rose, and ascended into heaven. Now, the members of his body may hope to follow where their Head has gone before.

He made you one with him when He chose to be tempted by Satan. You have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Certainly, Christ was tempted by the devil. Thus, you and I are also tempted. Christ received his flesh from our human nature, but by his own power gained salvation for you. He suffered death in your nature, but by his own power gained glory for you. Thus, He suffered temptation in your human nature, and by his own power gained victory for you.

If, like Christ, you are tempted, in him and with him, you can overcome the devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of his victory? If you see yourself as tempted like him, see yourself as victorious with him. He could have kept the devil away from himself; but if He had not been tempted, he could not teach you how to overcome temptations.

Thus, since Christ suffered temptation, united to Him, and with him, we overcome the Devil.
Excerpts from St Augustine

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Mar 31 Mon - Why do some run away from God?

 

Mar 31 Mon
Why do some run away from God?
“Two wrongs these people of mine committed; they deserted me, the fountain of living water, and then they dug water reservoirs of their own, leaking cisterns, that could not keep or give them water.” Jeremiah 2:13.

Open your eyes for a moment and you will see your God in tears. Open your eyes and you will see the utter confusion of this age we live in. In all the history of humanity has there ever been worse chaos? Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, have all run away from their God. They have removed from their shoulders the sweet yoke of the Almighty and thrown it far away. The nations of the earth have rebelled against their Lord and His Christ.

Perhaps, like the prophet, we think that only the uncultured and the illiterate are ignorant of the ways and precepts of Yahweh. We turn to men of influence, men of power: we speak to them of God. Surely, they, at least, will know His commandments. "And these I found conspiring, as none other, to throw off the yoke, to break through their bonds."

Look at them all running madly from God. And then in their wild, irrational flight they suddenly stumble against the Cross standing dark and lonely in their path. They keep on, escaping from this Cross, leaving it behind alone and forgotten. A great army of determined creatures united in their hatred of the Creator. And the mad torrent of those who hate Him carries away those indifferent and lukewarm.

Where are they going? They have left God far behind, and now they go about searching for something worth believing in, something to quench their thirst. Now it is the turn of unbelieving men, nailed to the false cross of their own unbearable lives, to cry "I thirst" also, because they do not know where to look for water. The earth for them is a hateful place, and heaven is very far off. But where are they going?

They seek new gods and new creeds to believe in. They all, whether it be in their nation, or their race, or money . . ., seek something that neither nation nor race nor money can give. They try to replace the divinity of God, who is our Father, by adoring His creatures in the filthy mire of their evil ways.

The ancient cry of the Holy Spirit is woeful and still new: They abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and sought water where there was none.

And nowadays it is these leaking reservoirs-makers who shape the destinies of the nations of the earth. They know only hate, nothing of love. The education and formation of the men of tomorrow are in their dirty hands, crooked and deformed from fondling their money.

They talk of peace and try to console the victims of war, and the injured. These are the leaders in the present disorder and they vainly promise order and prosperity.

They speak of a great brotherhood to unite the rich with the poor, masters with their servants, children with their parents, and soldiers with statesmen. They speak of this great union that ignores Christ and laughs at His Church.

What shall we do?
Let’s go on. Continue our journey straight ahead, undeterred by the barking dogs we meet along. "Will. — Energy. — Example. — What has to be done, is done . . . without hesitation …, without more worrying …

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Did Jesus have likes and dislikes?

 

Did Jesus have likes and dislikes?

One way to tell whether one person knows another well is whether he is familiar with what that other person likes and does not like.  Aristotle said it was a mark of friendship to like and dislike the same things.  Maybe those who do can spend more time together, with less conflict.  At very least, to know what someone likes is a test of friendship.  Country music or classical?  Fast cars or punting on a lazy river?  Ethnic food or mac n’ cheese?

Therefore, if we are friends with Jesus, we should have an idea of what He likes and dislikes. I mean, in His human nature – those likes and dislikes which have the character of tastes, or visceral reactions.  Jesus loved mercy and hated sin, of course.  Did He react viscerally to sin, in His human nature?  Presumably so. And yet perhaps, even here, He did so more viscerally to some sins than to others.

He had to have had likes and dislikes, like all of us, if He assumed a genuine human nature.

When we think of such things, we often begin with food.  Let’s start there.  Do we know anything about the food He liked?  Newman said that He preferred simplicity.  After the Resurrection, on the shore, when Peter and His friends were in the boat fishing, He could have prepared for Himself, by His infinite might, any meal that He wished.  It was an Easter meal, after all.  You or I might have chosen filet mignon and fine wine.  Yet Jesus roasted one small fish and some bread over a charcoal fire. (Jn 21:9)

On the other hand, He had a taste for fine wine, “thou hast kept the good wine until now.” (Jn 2:10) And with magnanimity, He recognized the place for it, in abundance, at the celebration of a wedding.

In clothing, He seemed to despise luxury, “But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings.” (Mt. 11:8) And yet He loved good workmanship, because He wore next to Himself an exquisite garment, so well-wrought that even coarse soldiers declined to tear it. (Jn 19:23)

He must have liked to walk.  Hundreds of miles of journeys on foot are attributed to Him in the Gospels.  He loved being outdoors for days on end.  From His teachings, we know he loved nature, flowers, birds, fish in the sea, the seasons, and the sky.  He liked climbing mountains.  He liked the solitude and quiet of nature.

His earthly father, Joseph, picked where He was to grow up.  But in doing so, Joseph was only following the Lord’s providence.  It was Jesus who selected the place of His childhood.  What did He like?  Not a city, but a small village on a lake, remote from any city, a full two days’ journey from Jerusalem.   The lake is beautiful and self-contained, a place that a small boy can easily view as his home.

He loved going through life with family and relatives.  He could have told them to stay behind but He invited them to follow Him around.  He liked hospitality; His was an open household.  We think of His instructions to the Apostles, “You find them something to eat,” in the face of the 5,000 and 4,000, as a special test of their faith.  But what if He was merely saying what He usually said when many guests would be joining them for dinner?

In politics, His government was a mixture of monarchy (Peter), aristocracy (the Apostles), and timocracy (the seventy or so other disciples).  The only time a crowd is depicted as having a say is when it demanded the release of Barabbas and clamored for His own crucifixion.  His parables refer to lords, masters, and kings.  He liked doing things through mediators.  As a practical matter, He seemed to adopt the approach of His earthly father, who simply avoided conflict with bad rulers such as Herod: “When they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another.” (Mt. 10:23)

He liked logic, wrangling, defining terms, drawing distinctions, disputation, and argument – no 12-year-old boy places himself in a crowd of doctors, carrying on with them, who doesn’t.  “They found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions.” (Lk 2:46)  

He loved to read, memorized Scripture, and in His own speech imitated the poetry of Scripture, its cadence, tone, and imagery.  He seems to have liked the book of Isaiah and the Psalms best of all.

I am making surmises here, not taking myself to be in any way authoritative, and inviting you to do the same.

What about personalities?  These seem different from virtues and vices.  Is smugness a virtue or a vice?  Sincerity?  Snark? There are three personalities He disliked very much.  He disliked hardness of heart (Mk. 3:5); hypocrisy (Lk. 12:1); and esteeming oneself as righteous (Jn 9:41). There are theological reasons for hating these traits, but for Him it seemed visceral as well. If you want Jesus to “take a liking” to you, avoid them.  He will love you nonetheless, but do you want His love to be overcoming a repulsion?

He liked the opposite of these.  These likings, it seems, help to explain His choice of Apostles.  John had an evident tenderness of heart.  In his old age, Jerome reports, John would simply repeat, over and over again, “Little children, love one another.” In Nathaniel, there was no guile, deceit, or hypocrisy (Jn 1:47). Peter seems always aware of his weakness and sin, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Lk. 5:8)

God loves us, for sure.  And yet, an idea for Lent: become someone Jesus really likes.
By Michael Pakaluk

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Mar 30 Sun - Does sin separate me from God?

 

Mar 30 Sun
Does sin separate me from God?
We have been constituted children of God. As children, we are also heirs, heirs of God, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ.

This is a promise of incalculable gains and limitless happiness, which only in heaven will reach its fullness and complete achievement. Until then, we have the possibility of misusing the inheritance: this is what the younger prodigal son did. Like him, we could go away from our father’s house and waste all our wealth.

A Christian, as long as he is a pilgrim on earth, can dispose of his life freely; he can choose to be holy, serving in his father’s house, or he can choose to be a sinner, far away from it. The consequences are not similar.

Even more, the inclination to sin is in each person. The Vatican II tells us: “What divine Revelation makes known to us agrees with our experience. Examining his heart, man finds that he has inclinations toward evil. … Man is split within himself. As a result, all of human life, whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness."

The temptation of grabbing the goods and going away can appear at any moment in life.

Mortal sin is the greatest tragedy that can happen to the Christian. It is so grievous this evil, that all mortal sins, even those of thought, turn men into sons of wrath and enemies of God.

Through sin, we lose sanctifying grace, which makes us children of God, remain subject to the devil, and become guilty of eternal damnation. “Don't forget, my son, that, for you, on earth, there is but one evil, which you must fear and avoid with the grace of God: sin."
 
And that day, when that young man went away from home, he considered himself very lucky, away from the limitations of his father.

Soon he began to suffer want. Outside God, man becomes a lonely and hungry being. He sinned to obtain a certain material pleasure; that pleasure was over and done, and sin remained. Joy vanished, and the chain remained. Satisfaction ended shortly and remorse took over. What a hard slavery!

He had to go to tend swine, the most shameful thing for a Jew.

But he “came to himself.” He examined his conscience and acknowledged his sin. This is the beginning of conversion: repentance. When one ignores or justifies his sin, conversion is blocked.

And, he decided to return to his father’s house. This is what a faithful man does after a big or small fall. When we stumble, we must stand up at once, with humility, without blaming others or the environment.

How close to God is the man who confesses his sin! Yes, God does not spurn a contrite heart. A humble person feels the need to ask God for pardon many times a day.

“God is waiting for us, like the father in the parable, with open arms, even though we don't deserve it. It doesn't matter how great our debt is. Just like the prodigal son, all we have to do is open our heart, to long for our Father's house, to wonder at and rejoice in the gift that God makes us, that of being his children, even though our response to him has been so poor."

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Mar 29 Sat - How can I keep walking along the straight road?

 

Mar 29 Sat
How can I keep walking along the straight road?
If you say "enough", you are lost. Go further, keep going. Don't stay in the same place, don't go back, don't go off the road.

Our struggle must not be vague. Thus, we must know ourselves thoroughly. We need a clear awareness of our weaknesses and sins to tackle them effectively and improve. We must examine our conscience daily. St Basil recommends: “Examine yourself to find what you are. Do everything possible to know yourself."

Perhaps we try to keep close to Jesus Christ, and want to seek Him in all our actions, but we often fail.

With our examination of conscience, we discover faults and omissions in fulfilling our commitment of love as Christians, and our duties as citizens. We see that we are still not humble enough, that our heart is attached to material things, and that our concern for others is scant. Why is this so? What is the reason for so much carelessness?

We must remain vigilant. Probably you remember friends, good Christians, but they got lost. Do not imagine that they fell victim to a sudden failure. No, each went astray by neglecting his soul for a long spell, so that the firmness of his virtues was gradually undermined and his vices grew little by little, and so he came to a wretched downfall.

Through the examination of conscience, we get to know ourselves as we are, as sinners. Then we decide on the human and supernatural means we need to improve on the next day.

We must not delay this self-knowledge for some unspecified time in the future. It is urgent, today and now. On it depends our making the best use of the time our Lord gives us. We cannot forget that we know neither the day nor the hour when we will have to render an account to God. If we wish to stand at Jesus Christ's right hand on that day, we must fight now.

Our examination of conscience should yield specific resolutions for the following day: to improve in one Norm of piety, to conquer ourselves in a particularly difficult point of struggle, or to live better our consideration for others.

When we get up the next day, we should review our resolutions. Along with offering the day, we tell our Lord, I will serve!

“We must decide. It's wrong to have two candles lit - one to St Michael and another to the devil. We must snuff out the devil's candle: we must spend our life completely in the service of the Lord. If our desire for holiness is sincere, if we are docile enough to place ourselves in God's hands, everything will go well. For He is always ready to give us his grace, especially at a time like this - grace for a new conversion, a step forward in our lives as Christians."

“We cannot regard this Lent as just another liturgical season which has happened to come around again. It is a unique time: a divine help that we should accept. Jesus is passing by and He expects us to take a great step forward - today, now."

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Mar 28 Fri - Today, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the priestly ordination of St. Josemaría.

 

Mar 28 Fri
Today, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the priestly ordination of St. Josemaría.

All human beings have been redeemed by Christ the Priest. “The Word was made flesh to save men, to make them one with Him: this is why He came into the world."

Moreover, God made some men sharers in his ministerial priesthood, consecrating them and dedicating them to that service through the Sacrament of Orders.

St Paul says: “Because Jesus Christ lives forever and his Priesthood remains for all eternity." It is eternal and it is made eternal in us, his priests. Thus, when the priest consecrates, when he renews the Holy Sacrifice, he consecrates the Body and the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and he can say: ‘This is my Body’: the Body of Christ. ‘This is my Blood’: the Blood of Christ. The priest is another Christ."

If all Christians are ‘alter Christus’, other Christs, due to the marvelous and unique fact of having been baptized, the priest is another Christ also in a sacramental way, by the priestly ordination which configures him with Christ the Head of the Mystical Body. It enables him to act in Christ's name, with the power to renew the eucharistic Sacrifice, to forgive sins, and to preach the Word of God with authority. For this reason, the ministerial priesthood requires sanctity of life, a love able to stand up to all sacrifices, and an unconditional dedication to his mission.

St. Josemaría wrote, “What was God asking of me? He was asking for fidelity to his plans, for generous correspondence to his desire to open up the divine pathways of the earth. He was asking for a loving and firm fortitude, so that his Will would find an opening among men. Thus, I feel the grave responsibility to correspond to the mercies of God with an attitude of vigilant and loving firmness, so that nothing and no one will be able to force, to disfigure, the specific features that God has wanted to impress in this way of ours, which is a new way in the life of the Church."

The Church asks her children to pray for the sanctity of priests and an increase in priestly vocations. It is a duty of all the Christian faithful. St. Josemaría reminded us of it in his catechesis to thousands of people: “You must pray very much, so that we priests will be extremely faithful all over the world because every day, when we go up to the altar, we lend our Lord our body and our voice. It would be very sad if we betrayed the fidelity we owe Him, because we are Christ himself."

Priests are instruments of grace, despite their personal limitations. St Augustine explains, “The spiritual power of the sacrament is like light: it arrives pure to the objects it illuminates, and it is not stained even though it passes through a dirty medium. Nonetheless, ministers should be holy, and they should not seek their own glory, but rather that of the One they serve."

Thus, we should pray and mortify ourselves for them, so that they will be as God wants: faithful servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries.

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Mar 27 Thu - Is purity of heart a thing for everyone?

 

Mar 27 Thu
Is purity of heart a thing for everyone?
The Church invites us to consider the life of the holy Patriarchs of the Old Testament, so that by reading their story we may follow their footsteps, and tread the path of sanctity they went through with their efforts. St Ambrose tells us: Today we come to the story of Joseph. He had many virtues, but his chastity stands out most. We have learned about unshakeable faith from Abraham, about the purity of a sincere heart from Isaac, and about marvelous patience in difficulties from Jacob. It is only natural that Joseph should now be offered to us as a model of chastity.

The Apostle Paul exhorts us: Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting among saints.

Anything that could tarnish holy purity, a virtue for everyone, must be kept far from our souls. “When I remind you now that Christians must keep perfect chastity, I am referring to everyone: to the unmarried, who must practice complete continence; and to those who are married, who practice chastity by fulfilling the duties of their state in life."

“If one has the spirit of God, chastity is not a troublesome and humiliating burden, but a joyful affirmation. Will-power, dominion, and self-mastery do not come from the flesh or from instinct They come from the will, especially if it is united to the will of God. To be chaste (and not merely continent or decent) we must subject our passions to reason, but for a noble motive, namely, the promptings of Love."

We have to go through life with love, with a love that is whole and entire, untarnished by anything. We must struggle to keep our integrity, never dialoguing with those foul things that continually seem to boil and rise within us.

To be chaste and clean, we depend on the knowledge of our weakness and our love for God and his purest Mother; they never deny us their help.

Let us learn to be humble, St. Josemaría insists. “We need prudence to protect our Love. We must keep a careful watch and not be overcome by fear. Many of the classical spiritual authors compare the devil to a mad dog tied down by a chain. If we do not go near him, he cannot bite us, no matter how much he barks. If you foster humility in your souls, you will certainly avoid the occasions of sin, and you will react by having the courage to run away from them. You will have daily recourse to the help that comes from heaven and you will make lively progress along this path of true love."

Humility will also bring us to use another very effective means, which is sincerity. Always be sincere. Be sincere with your spiritual mentor and with the priest. Finally, be very sincere with yourselves.
Holy purity is a virtue for everyone; it is a joyful "yes" from the fullness of love.

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Mar 26 Wed - What is Montse Grases’s prayer of closeness?

 

Mar 26 Wed
What is Montse Grases’s prayer of closeness?

The 17-year-old girl Montse Grases died with a reputation of sanctity after a long illness caused by bone cancer on March 26, 1959, precisely on Holy Thursday.

Pope Francis acknowledged her heroic virtues on April 26, 2016, and, since then, Masses for the dead have become Masses of thanksgiving as she is already considered by the Church as a model of holiness and virtues. Undoubtedly, those who knew her have an indelible memory of her. Her school friends, now octogenarians, continue to gather to remember Montse's smile and good humor that has served as a stimulus in their lives.

Pope Francis declared the need for new models of next-door saints, neighborhood saints. “She had that girl-next-door charm. She was effortlessly approachable. She was one of us; just like family", exclaimed Montse's school friends quite naturally.

All the saints, especially the young ones, proposed as models of holiness, have in common the “prayer of solidarity,” of trust or companionship and closeness to God.
What is that?

You see, there are two modes of prayer in the Church of God: first, the prayer of mercy. We go to God with simplicity and humility to ask for his help in our needs, appealing to his infinite compassion. "God does not tire of forgiving, it is we, who tire of asking for forgiveness". Jesus’ merciful heart does not get tired of paying attention to our supplications and needs.

Secondly, God gives special grace to some saints and shares with them a divine and human “solidarity” or close companionship. These saints trust God, enjoy His trust, and do what He wants.
I can have a prayer of solidarity by loving God today and here, trusting and having Him close, accompanying me in what I am doing right now, and sharing with Him my life in the simple circumstances of my life.

Since she became aware of God's call to Opus Dei, Montse Grases tried to seek intimacy with Jesus, to study with Him, to talk a lot with Him even while playing, and to share little joys and worries. She would internally talk with God while enjoying time with her friends, helping her mother at home with house duties – she was the oldest of nine siblings – or going on excursions.

The key to Montse's life, what led her to heroic holiness, was to accept God's daily invitation to companionship and dialogue with Him, as constantly and truly as possible, for, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms:
“If you knew the gift of God!” The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. He first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with our thirst. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.

This thirst she quenched in conversation with God while living with him the ordinary activities of everyday life.
Excerpts from José Carlos Martín de la Hoz

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Mar 25 Tue - How did Mary accept the mission announced to her by the Archangel?

 

Mar 25 Tue
How did Mary accept the mission announced to her by the Archangel?

The whole of creation had long yearned for that moment; the mystery we commemorate today: the Incarnation of the Word, who comes into the world to free us from sin and eternal death, and to make us children of God.

Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. At the announcement of Gabriel, Mary was greatly troubled... and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. The whole history of our salvation depended on her reply. “Open your heart to faith, O Blessed Virgin,” exclaims St Bernard, “your lips to consent, your pure womb to the Creator. See how the one Desired by all peoples is calling at your door. What a calamity if you should delay in opening to him and he should pass on, and afterward you should go back in sorrow to look for the beloved of your soul! Rise, make haste, open. Rise by your faith, make haste by your devotion, open by your consent!”

There is not a shadow of doubt in the words of our Lady when she questions the Archangel, but rather only the desire to know with certainty what the Will of God was, in order to put it into practice. Likewise, our Christian vocation leads us to fulfill the divine Will with the same generous self-giving we see in the Blessed Virgin.

As laypeople, we must listen to the voice of God amid our daily concerns. “We are contemplative souls, because in the middle of our work, our heart escapes to God, it goes often to the oratory, and we tell him, without anyone hearing us, without doing anything strange: ‘My Jesus, I love you.’ Don't be afraid to call him Jesus, to call him that often."

The response of Mary to the announcement of Gabriel expresses her immutable decision to fulfill the Will of God exactly as it has been made known to her. In the words of our Lady, there is a tone of resolve, of firmness, of something finished, definitive. She does not respond with a mere yes to the divine Will, but with a fiat! - let it be done! - which expresses an active and total conformity to what God is asking of her. It is much more than a mere giving of permission. It is a resolute adherence to the plan of God, a commitment of her whole life without wavering.

Before the example of Mary, we can consider whether our dedication to God is also total, full of faith, cheerful, and unquestioning, without the slightest hesitation. “Ask Jesus: Lord, how is my dedication? Has there been some look of displeasure, something that can hurt you, Lord, my love?"

Remember, “God has chosen us from all eternity; He has called us by our name. It is not we who have chosen him, but rather He who has chosen us first to do something specific on earth."

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Mar 24 Mon - Should I fight against my uncontrolled passions?

 

Mar 24 Mon
Should I fight against my uncontrolled passions?
The Old Testament tells the story of Naaman, a Syrian, who caught leprosy. A maidservant had told him about a prophet in Samaria who could cure him. Naaman came and halted at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored, and you shall be clean.”
Like Naaman's leprosy, our passions need healing.

Our senses are like the doors of the soul. They feed the soul continuously. Therefore, we must guard our senses, to avoid spiritual leprosy getting into our souls.

“Overindulgence. You satisfy your senses and faculties in whatever pool you meet. And you can feel the results: disconcerted purpose, scattered attention, deadened will, and accelerated concupiscence. Subject yourself once again to a serious plan that will make you lead a Christian life. Or you'll never do anything worthwhile."

“We have to fight against our passions by increasing our life of piety daily. Nobody can imagine they lack the necessary means for the fight. If anyone abandons those means, they will fall.”

“It's a clear symptom: when someone's soul is dull, and his life is languid, you can be sure that he abandoned the fight some time ago; that his heart is empty of God and filled instead with selfishness, love of comfort, and the flesh ...So feed your soul on God's love. Give it to him completely!" St. Josemaría

We must love God with our whole being, even with our body and our senses, which must be instruments in his service. This goal is a hard one, because the senses tend towards what is immediately pleasing and gratifying. That is why we must struggle.

St Gregory remarks: “Some want to be humble without being despised. They want to be happy with what they have but without lacking anything. They want to be chaste without mortifying their body ... They try to acquire virtues without the effort that virtue requires. It is as though they hope to win a war by living comfortably in the city, without having anything to do with the combat on the battlefield." Of course, they cannot win in that way.

The conquerors are those who remain awake and vigilant, who battle with the enemy, and who regularly mortify themselves. And these people are precisely the happiest. Because, to achieve happiness, you need a heart that is in love, not an easy life.

Then, “Life recovers shades and tones which impurity blurred. We find ourselves able to care for the needs of others, to share what is ours, to devote our energies to great causes. Temperance makes the soul sober, modest, and understanding. It fosters an attractive character that denotes intelligent self-control. Temperance does not imply narrowness, but greatness of soul.”

“Real deprivation is in the impure heart that gives up self-dominion, only to become enslaved by the first caller who comes along ringing some pathetic, tinny cowbell."

If we appeal lovingly to our Lady, as her children, temperance will bear fruit in us; and our heart, our senses, and our whole life will be filled with God.

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Mar 23 Sun - Why is God’s Name to be respected?

 

Mar 23 Sun
Why is God’s Name to be respected?

In today’s Mass passage of Genesis, God discloses his name: “I AM” or, “I AM WHO AM.”

In obedience to the Second Commandment, the people of Israel showed a profound respect for the holy Name God revealed to Moses. Out of reverence, they would never speak or write that name, substituting a word translated into English in most Bibles as “Lord.” Even today, many Jews won’t even write the word “God,” instead inserting a dash between the two consonants: “G-d.”

We too should give supreme respect to God’s Name – including the name of Jesus Christ. Respect for his name is an expression of the respect owed to the mystery of God himself and to the whole sacred reality it evokes. This respect extends to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the saints, and all holy things.

Respect for God’s name includes oaths and vows.

To take an oath is to call upon God as a witness to a truth or a promise. Therefore, an oath must be taken in truth, only when really required, and with justice.

Perjury is a promise under oath with no intention of keeping it, or when after promising on oath one does not keep it. Pledging oneself by oath to commit an evil deed is contrary to the holiness of the divine name.

A vow is a promise made to God. These promises require commitment, a serious obligation, and should be made with free will to be valid.

Other sins against the Second Commandment are blasphemy and ridicule of the Faith.

Christians must defend and profess faith in God’s Name by reacting peacefully and reasonably to sins against the Second Commandment.

The holiness of the divine name demands that we neither use it for trivial matters. Some people show reverence for Jesus’ name by bowing their heads slightly whenever they say or hear the name Jesus.

Unfortunately, many people curse, and take God’s name in vain many times a day thoughtlessly, out of anger, or frustration, or to get a reaction.

Some people, even children, have gotten into the habit of saying, “Oh my God!” constantly and for trivial reasons, whereas we should only say that as a prayer. We can retrain ourselves or our children to say, “Oh my gosh” or “Oh my goodness.”

When we take God’s name in vain, we can make a silent act of reparation. When we hear others do so, we can also make a silent act of reparation.

Using prudence, we can also correct others; we may say something like this, “I love God very much, and when you say that, it really hurts me.” This would be a peaceful and reasonable way to react to a sin against the Second Commandment.

God calls each one by name. Everyone's name is sacred, and is the icon of the person. It demands respect as a sign of the dignity of man. In Baptism, the Christian receives his name in the Church. Parents, godparents, and the pastor must choose a Christian name. The patron saint provides a model of charity and the assurance of his prayer.

The name one receives is a name for eternity. In the kingdom, the mysterious and unique character of each person marked with God's name will shine forth in splendor.

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Mar 22 Sat - Were the saints “special” people?

 

Mar 22 Sat
Were the saints “special” people?
Some books about saints sometimes overlook the weaknesses of the central characters. Their biographers probably feared that we, readers, would be shocked to see them as normal men and women like us.

And precisely those of us who are not yet as close to our Father God as they are, need to realize - because it will help us greatly - that those who are on the altars were not made of wax or plastic, but, like all mortals, of flesh and blood, suffered pain, and had their burdens. They were ordinary people who had to take pills, slept badly, or needed to be shaken, from time to time, to avoid falling asleep in prayer.

Certain books have put the saints so far away from us that all we can do is admire them. And sometimes not even that. For about one, we are told that he never looked at the ceiling of his cell, out of mortification; of another, that he did not dare to look at his mother to better keep his chastity. And we conclude that the first had the ceiling full of cobwebs, and the second, was full of complexes. And we are friends of cleanliness, and of kissing our mother with affection.

There is no way to imitate these saints. If they are described as walking, they never stop; if climbing, they never get tired; if working, they never rest; if praying, they never get distracted. And we who often break off and sometimes sink! We, who get often distracted and feel the weight of fatigue! And we who stumble in so many things..., and have to say every day: “Forgive us our trespasses"! Will it be that holiness is not for us?

And yet "Let us not deceive ourselves: in our life, if we find courage in ourselves and victories, we must also find weakness and defeats. This has always been the Christian's earthly pilgrimage, including the saints. True biographies of Christian heroes are like our lives: they fought and won, fought and lost. And then, contrite, they returned to the fight".

So... what can we do? Ask for forgiveness, confess, rectify the intention, discard discouragements, and return to the fray. We are never shocked at the bad weeds that grow in our fields, nor fail to pull them up.

We all can and should be saints. We all have to try to achieve this goal. We have the means granted to us by Heaven. Let us struggle to achieve it!

In the lives of the saints, there are supernatural events, clear interventions of God, especially when He makes them do great things on earth with few or no human means.

But, in any case, men attain holiness not just by these actions, which are of the Lord, but also by their generosity in responding to the grace that He gives us to reach the goal.

He who fights to achieve it and helps others to go on...; he who does not hinder the action of God in his soul and tries to fulfill always and in everything the will of the Lord..., that is the real saint!

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Mar 21 Fri - Should I try to please God in everything?

 

Mar 21 Fri
Should I try to please God in everything?
A prayer from the Missal offers us a good summary of Christian life: “Grant, Almighty God, that with our thoughts always on the things of the Spirit, we may please you in all that we say and do."

Jesus spent his whole life on earth fulfilling His Father’s will. “My food, He told his disciples, is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to accomplish His work." Following the teaching and example of Christ, we must strive to attain the holiness to which God calls us.

Let us ask God to help us to do what pleases him. And what is it that pleases our Father God? That we should be happy.

“We are unhappy when we foolishly follow the promptings of the inclination to sin, the concupiscence, that we all carry within us.
And there is the attraction of what people call the world, which isn't the world that we love passionately, but the immoral lifestyles.
Then there is the constant activity of the devil, and the downward tug of the flesh. And this goes on throughout life... If someone thinks that the time will come when they won't have to fight anymore, he is wrong. We will always have to fight, with a constant interior struggle."

It does not require us to make superhuman efforts. With the help of grace, everything is easy.

Often there are long periods when we don't encounter special difficulties, because we realize that our aim in life deserves all the effort involved. “But there are times when the triple concupiscence blinds and confuses us, and leaves us stunned. And then everything starts to be difficult, and the joy we felt on other occasions, the joy of burning ourselves on God's altar each day: that joy disappears."

We must then struggle to fulfill God's will, even if we lack enthusiasm.
We must keep advancing, even though we may not experience any consolation. It doesn't matter whether there are feelings or not; what matters is having our head - and our heart -fixed on the path that leads to God.

“If God gives us pleasant feelings, we are grateful because they make it easier for us to fulfill his will, to keep his commandments and counsels.
Yet we should not do things out of feelings. If they come, say: ‘Thank you, my God, for making it easier to fulfill my duty!’ But when they don’t come, still say: ‘Thank you, Lord, because I know that You are helping me to please you’."

“Is it good to want feelings? It isn't bad to want them. But it is more perfect not to ask for feelings. … It's just as good to have them as not to have them, so long as we seek God's will in everything."
Our Lady had no other desire in this world than to give herself over entirely to the fulfillment of God's will.

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Mar 20 Thu - How can I have a ‘personal relationship with Jesus Christ’?

 

Mar 20 Thu
How can I have a ‘personal relationship with Jesus Christ’?

It’s easy to have prejudices when evaluating our relationship with God. When asked if we truly have a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” we picture an emotional, warm, intimate feeling of an encounter. Of course, as Catholics, we may easily respond, “Yes, indeed, I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ every time I receive Him in Holy Communion.”

An emotional response when receiving Communion can be a welcome consolation, but it is often lacking. Mother Teresa of Calcutta turned to a priest during the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and lamented, “I feel nothing.” Would Mother Teresa, given her now well-known spiritual desolation, stand accused of failing to cultivate or find a “personal relationship” with Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist?

Shortly after the miraculous multiplication of loaves, Jesus began to reveal his Real Presence under the appearance of bread and wine: “I am the bread of life...” Yet “…many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.” (Jn 6:35-66)

At the Last Supper, Jesus completed the revelation of the mystery of the Real Presence: “And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body”—and similarly with the wine. (cf. Mk. 14:22-24) No metaphors. The Real Presence under the appearance of bread and wine. What the senses fail to fathom, let us grasp through faith.

Faith is necessary to enter into communion with Him. The Divine plan is to spark a response of faith rather than promising good feelings as in any friendly personal relationship. During spiritual desolation, God redirects the love of his consolations to authentic Christian love. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14:15) Faith is tested and strengthened when God suspends his consolations for a time.

A visual presence of Jesus in modern times would lead some to expect “new and improved” revelations hoping to render obsolete inconvenient teachings such as, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Lk 9:23)

True faith, rather, directs our attention to Jesus through the unchanging Deposit of Faith handed down throughout the ages after the death of the last Apostle. And cultivating personal relationships is the pastoral duty of his disciples who are commissioned to “baptize all nations” in his name.

Jesus entrusts Himself to the members of His Church. So, our encounter with Him is through healthy personal relationships with his representatives, the members of his Mystical Body. Through the Mass—and by the ministry of the ordained priests of the Church—our faith directs us to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist. The ministry of the priest gives way to a direct and true personal relationship with Jesus in faith.

Such a relationship may be unemotional, even dry, plodding, and frustrating. But a ready faith remains spiritually profitable, always ready to say with Saint Peter in times of confusion, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Only you have the words of eternal life.” (Jn 6:68)

Reception of Holy Communion in faithful obedience to Christ is the perfect personal relationship with Jesus, whether or not we feel it. But there is always something sweet and consoling about a good conscience at peace with God’s will.
Excerpts from Fr. Jerry Pokorsky

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Mar 19 Wed - How did St. Joseph pray?

 

Mar 19 Wed
How did St. Joseph pray?
The serene and strong figure of St. Joseph surprises us: the Gospels do not convey any of his words, and his actions were simple, without much drama.

Although his life was not marked by significant external actions, it was full of internal activity. We see a man who knew how to respond to challenges from the silence of prayer and who, as a result, was able to carry out his works with the freedom that comes from true love.

The Gospels speak of what Joseph "did," but not of his life of deep contemplation. St. John Paul II told us that his whole life was true prayer. St. Joseph was attentive to the voice of God behind all events and people. This enabled him to hear God even in the faint images of dreams.

While he slept, he discovered his vocation, which would fill all his days with a sense of mission: to care for Jesus and Mary.

An angel visited him by night to reveal God's plan. Even then, we do not hear Joseph's response to the angelic message; he simply did what God asked him to do.

Between St. Joseph's interior life and his external actions, we see no discontinuity because he transformed his life into a path of prayer. He turned God's dream into his own.

Our life of prayer leads us, like St. Joseph, to always seek refuge in the Lord. The Holy Patriarch was able to endure everything, because he knew how to put his heart in Jesus: with Him, every situation becomes pleasant. He never saw his vocation as a set of obligations but as the undeserved gift of being able to live at all times with the Son of God.

We too can live in the hidden life of Christ. The lives of Joseph and Mary developed in constant dialogue with Jesus: they lived to see the Lord grow, but they were the ones who grew in the eyes of God. They cared for Jesus in a humble house in Nazareth while God protected them in His love.

True prayer, when it is an open dialogue with God, gives us the possibility of viewing the world, in some way, from His perspective. Then our life acquires a different, unsuspected dimension, like that of St. Joseph, who knew how to place faith and love in the hope of the great mission that God was initiating in the world: the redemption of mankind. And God did so by using him—a carpenter from Galilee.

Joseph never put himself at the center. He knew how to be out of the limelight, placing Mary and Jesus at the center of his life.

Prayer makes us truly free because it allows us to enter into the logic of self-giving, which makes us lighter and helps us give the right weight to each event.

When we live in constant dialogue with God, our lives are no longer chained to our likes or dislikes, although these do not cease to exist. Nor do our miseries worry us too much, because we know that He comes to help us and turn them into a source of grace, as were Christ's wounded hands and open side.

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Mar 18 Tue - Is there a logic in the plans of God?

 

Mar 18 Tue
Is there a logic in the plans of God?
Our ordinary life is full of occasions and decisions that mark a certain course, some of them have a transcendental importance for our future. We usually need to ponder things in the presence of God, more so in these special situations. "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife" (Mt 1:21), said the angel. In his prayer, Joseph pondered what was happening, to see how to act. And God helped him in his choice by enlightening his judgment.

Our mother Mary conceived Christ by faith, for she accepted the Lord's plans, believing that the words spoken by the angel would be fulfilled. We can apply the same reasoning to St. Joseph, who also accepted what was communicated to him by God. Joseph trusted those words and became personally involved in what was announced to him.

Joseph made God's plan his own, confident that it was something good, not only for humanity but also for himself. He saw himself happy in that adventure; it had become the plan he wanted to carry out.

In common parlance, we say that a work of art is "faithful reproduction" when it reflects the original project of the artist. God, the Artist, talks to us, free creatures. Will we learn to accept His plans as good for us and those around us? Is my life a faithful reproduction of God's plans for me?

St. Joseph lives in normal situations: at work, in the family, in ordinary life... and it is there that he learns to accept and make God's gift part of his life. We need to have this attitude. Let us ask him to renew our gaze and our hearts to have the freshness to open ourselves completely to God's gifts and plans.

In our journey to carry out the mission that God has entrusted to us, we will have both advances and setbacks. But also, in the moments that may seem bad, we can discover the voice of God that consoles us, instructs us, and enlightens us.

The life of each one of us can miraculously begin again if we find the courage to live it according to what the Lord tells us. And it doesn't matter if sometimes everything seems to have taken a wrong turn, or if some regretful issues look irreversible. God can make flowers bloom among the rocks.

We must abandon ourselves to God's security rather than our own, to accept reality and other people as the holy patriarch did. Thus, we will learn from everyone and everything, even from our mistakes, because behind them we will always discover a divine low voice.

St. Joseph did not ignore the angel's announcement and went out for what seemed to him to be the best place for Jesus. Little by little he learned that supernatural plans have a divine coherence, which is sometimes in contradiction with our human plans. For this reason, we need to ask for Joseph’s wisdom to understand this divine logic; thus, we will welcome, as coming from God, the people and events that surround us.

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Mar 17 Mon - Is it possible to have freedom without Truth?

 

Mar 17 Mon
Is it possible to have freedom without Truth?

Freedom implies knowledge; ignorance is an obstacle to the capacity to choose. Thus, freedom depends on truth. Even more, freedom makes man more capable of loving the truth and growing in the knowledge of moral values. Truth is not the same as “opinion” or “one’s judgment,” but rather an objective reality.

There are two ways of approaching the future. If we think that we are just material beings, then we could say, "Let's eat and drink, tomorrow we shall die". Our main concern will focus on our well-being or feeling good. After that, we will be living with the frustration of never reaching it.

Or we may face the future knowing that we have been created to control the present time and thus, to avoid death forever.

Ideologies, prevailing over truth, promise a future without anticipating it: just live today and now. They will tell you that happiness lies in freedom: "Freedom will make you true and good".

But where is happiness, in freedom or truth?

Discussing "truth" today raises a fundamental question: which truth—yours or mine?
For centuries man's goal was to know the truth, because "the truth will set you free" (Jn 8:32), an affirmation of Jesus Christ that can perfectly answer Pilate's question: "What is truth" (Jn 18:38).

Ideologies, like Marxism, offer the freedom of choice, "Do one thing today and another tomorrow, hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, raise cattle in the evening, and criticize after dinner, simply what you prefer..." Whatever you like… no duties. They offer us freedom, without truth, only to live in chains.

On the contrary, what Jesus Christ offers us is knowing and loving Him with personal intimacy. Thus, we decide to do so because we want to. And He is the Truth.

There is a fake freedom and the freedom of God's children.

Our freedom will be meaningful only when we know reasonably well what we are going to choose (the truth). The one who sells "hair growers" deceives with a product that has no beneficial effect, except for the one who sells it.

Jesus Christ offered Himself to die on the cross in exchange for nothing. He left the door open and the lights on so that we could know him and remain with Him if we wanted to.

Freedom without truth is not reliable.
But when we choose the truth, it fills our freedom with content (our freedom acquires a direction, it is FOR SOMETHING). After all, we cannot love what we do not know and without knowing, and without loving, we are nothing.

Using our freedom, we become the kind of person we try to be. Somehow, we are our own parents, and give birth to ourselves by our own free choice of what is good. Such a choice becomes possible when we receive God into us and become children of God. Otherwise, we abort ourselves.

What seems even more strange is that possessing the maximum freedom of the children of God, we do not communicate to our society this treasure; rather, it is those who have a poorer and darker vision of the human being who raise this banner of freedom.

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Mar 16 Sun - Why doesn’t God give us complete happiness now?

 

Mar 29 Sat
How can I keep walking along the straight road?
If you say "enough", you are lost. Go further, keep going. Don't stay in the same place, don't go back, don't go off the road.

Our struggle must not be vague. Thus, we must know ourselves thoroughly. We need a clear awareness of our weaknesses and sins to tackle them effectively and improve. We must examine our conscience daily. St Basil recommends: “Examine yourself to find what you are. Do everything possible to know yourself."

Perhaps we try to keep close to Jesus Christ, and want to seek Him in all our actions, but we often fail.

With our examination of conscience, we discover faults and omissions in fulfilling our commitment of love as Christians, and our duties as citizens. We see that we are still not humble enough, that our heart is attached to material things, and that our concern for others is scant. Why is this so? What is the reason for so much carelessness?

We must remain vigilant. Probably you remember friends, good Christians, but they got lost. Do not imagine that they fell victim to a sudden failure. No, each went astray by neglecting his soul for a long spell, so that the firmness of his virtues was gradually undermined and his vices grew little by little, and so he came to a wretched downfall.

Through the examination of conscience, we get to know ourselves as we are, as sinners. Then we decide on the human and supernatural means we need to improve on the next day.

We must not delay this self-knowledge for some unspecified time in the future. It is urgent, today and now. On it depends our making the best use of the time our Lord gives us. We cannot forget that we know neither the day nor the hour when we will have to render an account to God. If we wish to stand at Jesus Christ's right hand on that day, we must fight now.

Our examination of conscience should yield specific resolutions for the following day: to improve in one Norm of piety, to conquer ourselves in a particularly difficult point of struggle, or to live better our consideration for others.

When we get up the next day, we should review our resolutions. Along with offering the day, we tell our Lord, I will serve!

“We must decide. It's wrong to have two candles lit - one to St Michael and another to the devil. We must snuff out the devil's candle: we must spend our life completely in the service of the Lord. If our desire for holiness is sincere, if we are docile enough to place ourselves in God's hands, everything will go well. For He is always ready to give us his grace, especially at a time like this - grace for a new conversion, a step forward in our lives as Christians."

“We cannot regard this Lent as just another liturgical season which has happened to come around again. It is a unique time: a divine help that we should accept. Jesus is passing by and He expects us to take a great step forward - today, now."

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Mar 15 Sat - Why do we build cathedrals?

 

Mar 15 Sat
Why do we build cathedrals?
The church building represents the universal Church. It is the house of prayer in which the Holy Eucharist is celebrated and reserved, where the faithful gather, and where our Savior is worshiped. This house of prayer should be beautiful and appropriate for prayer and sacred celebrations. The truth and harmony of the elements that constitute this house of prayer should manifest Christ, who is present and acts in this place.

A cathedral is the seat of the bishop of a diocese. As an example, the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in the U.S. capital is a magnificent Neo-Gothic structure, based on 14th-century English models.

Pope Benedict XVI reminded us of what the great cathedrals teach us:

“Archbishop John Hughes, who … was responsible for building this venerable edifice, wished it to rise in pure Gothic style. He wanted this cathedral to remind us that we are heirs of a great spiritual tradition, and to inspire us to bring the best of that heritage to the building up of Christ’s body. I would like to draw your attention to a few aspects of this beautiful structure which I think can serve as a starting point for a reflection on … the Mystical Body.

“The first has to do with the stained-glass windows, which flood the interior with mystic light. From the outside, those windows are dark, heavy, and even dreary. But once one enters the church, they suddenly come alive; reflecting the light passing through them, they reveal all their splendor. Many writers have used the image of stained glass to illustrate the mystery of the Church herself. It is only from the inside, from the experience of faith and ecclesial life, that we see the Church as she truly is: flooded with grace, resplendent in beauty, adorned by the manifold gifts of the Spirit. And we, who try to live the life of grace within the Church’s communion, are called to draw all people into this mystery of light.

“The unity of a Gothic cathedral, we know, is not the static unity of a Greek classical temple, but a unity born of the dynamic tension of diverse forces which impel the architecture upward, pointing us to Heaven. Here, too, we can see a symbol of the Church’s unity, which is the unity – as St. Paul has told us – of a living body composed of many different members, each with its own role and purpose. Here too we see our need to acknowledge and reverence the gifts of each and every member of the body as “manifestations of the Spirit given for the good of all” (1 Cor 12:7).”  

The beauty of the Catholic faith — that express the one Truth who is the Thrice-Holy God — is best understood “from inside.” That is why those of us privileged to experience that beauty are called in baptism to invite others “inside,” so that they, too, may bathe in the radiance of the sublime beauty that is the divine presence in the world.  

A true cathedral, functioning as such, is a summons to evangelization, and a reminder of our future house in heaven.

Excerpts from George Weigel

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Mar 14 Fri - What brought Judas from disciple to infamy?

 

Mar 14 Fri
What brought Judas from disciple to infamy?

Judas Iscariot went from being a devoted disciple to a notorious figure through his act of betrayal against Jesus. Initially, he played an important role in managing the finances of Jesus' followers.

There was greed and possible political influence. The betrayal culminated in the infamous 'Judas’s kiss', which resulted in Jesus' capture, Judas's repentance, and eventual suicide. His attempt at redemption following the betrayal by returning the thirty pieces of silver highlighted his internal turbulence.

But it was not always like that, and specialists say that no one honest with the Gospel truth can assure that Judas was already a depraved man at the beginning, when Jesus called him to be part of his Apostolic College. The Gospel does not offer any argument to doubt that Judas' faith and affection for Christ were noble and worthy at the beginning.

Thus, there was a time when Judas, as one of the twelve, walked with the Lord, preached the gospel, healed the sick, and cast out demons with them in the name of Christ.

No one turns overnight from a friend into a traitor to Jesus. It is difficult to decipher why Jesus chose him, and his trust in him from the first moment, or the reasons for the beginning and end of the "path of betrayal".

The path of Judas' betrayal began after Jesus' sermon in Capernaum, the day after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes when he reproached him for renouncing to establish his kingdom on earth. He could not hide his disappointment. Like Satan, Judas tempted Jesus by offering him the power and glory of this world.

When Christ's renunciation of the earthly kingdom was confirmed on Palm Sunday, Judas, already under the influence of evil, justified his imminent betrayal. What is reprehensible in betraying a man who puts at risk the present and future of his people? What is reprehensible in demanding a reward for assuming the risk that betrayal entails?

In his last encounter with Judas, Jesus called him ‘friend’. Only God can turn the darkest and saddest darkness into a radiance of hope and joy because of his infinite mercy.

Why do we recall this?
“So that we might realize that all of us are capable of behaving like Judas. And so that we might ask Our Lord to keep such treasonous rejections and defeats out of our lives, not only because of the negative consequences they would bring to us personally—which would be serious enough—but because we could occasion the loss of others, who need the help of our good example, our encouragement, our friendship."

“There are places in Latin America where images of the Crucifix show a deep wound in Our Lord’s left cheek. They say that it represents the kiss of Judas. So great is the pain our sins inflict on Jesus! "

“Tell him that we all want to be faithful, that we do not want to sell him, as Judas did, for thirty coins, for a pittance—which is what our sins amount to: pride, envy, impurity, hatred, resentment. When a temptation threatens to throw us to the ground, let us consider that it isn’t worthwhile to exchange the happiness of the children of God, for so we are, for a sinful pleasure that ends right away and leaves behind the bitter disgust of defeat and infidelity."

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Mar 13 Thu - How can I receive Communion worthily?

 

Mar 13 Thu
How can I receive Communion worthily?
Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death, and so anyone who eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be behaving unworthily towards the body and blood of the Lord (1 Cor 11:26 27).

The wedding garment.
Our Lord said that the kingdom of heaven is like a king who held a marriage feast for his son. He sent his servants to call in those invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come. Again, he sent out other servants to invite the people, but they paid no attention to them. So, the king punished those people. Then the king told his servants to gather all whom they could find and bring them to the marriage feast, because everything was ready.

The king went in to see the guests. He saw there a man who had not put on a wedding garment and he said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?” The man did not know what to say. So, the king said to his servants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth” (Mt 22:1 14).

The king in this parable is, of course, God the Father; Jesus is the son whose marriage feast is held, and He is wedded to his Church. The marriage feast is specifically the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, in which we receive him as food for our soul, thereby we remain closely united to him as members of his Church. We are invited to receive Holy Communion, but we must don a wedding garment—that is, we must be in the state of grace.

To be in the state of grace means that we must always be free from mortal sin when receiving Communion. So long as a person is not certain of having committed a mortal sin since the last confession, one is worthy to go to Communion. But if anyone receives this sacrament in a state of mortal sin, he commits a grievous sin called sacrilege.

If one has committed a mortal sin, it is not enough to make an act of perfect contrition before receiving Holy Communion. Indeed, an act of perfect contrition (sorrow for sin out of love for God) restores the soul to the state of grace. But how can one be sure that his act of contrition is perfect? Or that his love of God is absolute?

To protect everyone against the danger of self-deception in this matter, and to protect the Holy Eucharist against the danger of profanation, the law of the Church explicitly requires that if anyone knows for sure he has committed a mortal sin, he must go to the sacrament of penance before receiving Holy Communion.  This law is always binding even though one may be quite sure that he has perfect contrition for the sin.

St. Josemaría encouraged us to make spiritual Communions saying: “I wish my Lord to receive you, with the purity, humility, and devotion with which your Most Holy Mother received you, with the spirit and fervor of the saints.”

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Mar 12 Wed - Do I need to make good use of my time?

 

Mar 12 Wed
Do I need to make good use of my time?
Our Lord has called us to work in his vineyard.
“God, in his mercy, calls each one bearing in mind their personal circumstances, because he wants all men to be saved. In our case, we were born Christians, brought up in the faith, and then we received a clear calling from our Lord. These facts are undeniable. Therefore, when you sense he's beckoning you, even if it is at the last hour, how can you think of lingering in the marketplace, basking in the sun as so many of those workers did, because they had time on their hands?”

“St Paul says to the faithful of Ephesus, renew the world in the spirit of Jesus Christ, place Christ at the summit and at the heart of all things. We have come to sanctify all noble human tasks –ordinary human work– right in the middle of the world, in a lay and secular way, as a service to the Holy Church, the Roman Pontiff and all souls.”

Our Lord is issuing a constant invitation to us to work. “For us, work is what gives worth to our lives; and it is a duty imposed by our Creator, since man was created to work. Work is a means by which mankind shares in the work of creation. Thus, it is not only noble, whatever it is, but it is an instrument for attaining earthly perfection and supernatural perfection.

Furthermore, work is a bond of union with other people and a means of contributing to the progress of mankind. It is the source of means to support one's family; it is an occasion of self-improvement; it is –and this needs to be stated very clearly– a means and a way to holiness, something to be sanctified and which sanctifies.”

We need to make good use of time. Some were called at first light to work in the vineyard; others when the day was well advanced. “You, my daughter, my son, when do feel you have been called? At the eleventh hour? Are you like those workers in the public square, sunning themselves because they had time to kill?”

St. Josemaría warns us: Don't succumb to that disease of character whose symptoms are inconstancy in everything, thoughtlessness in action, and speech scatter-brained ideas: superficiality, in short.

Mark this well: unless you react in time — not tomorrow: now! — that superficiality which each day leads you to form those empty plans (plans 'so full of emptiness') will make your life a dead and useless puppet.

Time is short for all we have to do; our Lord nevertheless expects us to make good use of the years he grants us. The days of our lives are part of the "talents" we have received from God, and we have no idea how long they will last. To use St Augustine's phrase: ‘God has never promised tomorrow to anybody.’

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