Jan 22 Thu - What is the Preface of the Mass?

 

Jan 22 Thu
What is the Preface of the Mass?

The Preface is the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer. During the early years of Christianity, the term "preface" indicated a solemn prayer of thanksgiving offered before a congregation (proffered); it referred to the entire Eucharistic Prayer.
Later on, it referred only to the introduction, and this varied according to the feast celebrated. The rest of the Eucharistic Prayer, called Canon, became fixed in form.

The Preface is essentially an act of thanksgiving in a literary form between prayer and hymn. It seeks to move the faithful to praise and joy. It is rather brief, but substantial in content.

After the Prayer over the Gifts, the priest greets us, “The Lord be with you.”
We answer, “And also with you.”

Then he invites us to set our thoughts on God alone. He stands with uplifted hands as though he would bear our most pressing desires and expectations.

With one voice, we raise our hearts to acclaim the Lord. The priest exhorts us, “Lift up your hearts.” We answer, “We lift them up to the Lord.”
This response befits us as members of the Mystical Body of Christ, for our Head is in heaven.

A fraternal sharing of personal decisions and aspirations is thus established—as if each one felt the need to be strengthened by everybody else’s optimism and daring to climb the mountain, as Moses did, to meet God.

The priest urges us on: “Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.” And we answer, “It is right to give him thanks and praise.”
Not one word of this dialogue has changed ever since the third century. Almost without realizing it, we find ourselves affirming that it is right to give thanks to God always and everywhere, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

An offering in the form of thanksgiving was a mode of prayer frequently used by the early Christians. This fundamental attitude of gratefulness to God is evident, for instance, in the letters of St Paul, which almost always begin with an act of thanksgiving.

In turn, the spirit of thanksgiving for the coming of the Lord, for his passion and death, and for his resurrection and ascension gave shape to the Prefaces of the Roman liturgy. “Thank you...,” we repeat, echoing the priest’s words, so that the delicate flower of gratefulness may really bloom in our hearts.

We end the Preface joining our own voices with those of the hosts of angels. St. Josemaría points out:

I adore and praise with the angels; it is not difficult, because I know that, as I celebrate the holy Mass, they surround me, adoring the Blessed Trinity. And I know that in some way the Blessed Virgin is there, because of her intimate relationship with the most Blessed Trinity and because she is the Mother of Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect man... In his veins runs the blood of his Mother, the blood that is offered in the sacrifice of redemption, on Calvary and in the Mass.

Jan 21 Wed - Should I follow the eternal Law or Newfangled Things?

 

Jan 21 Wed
Should I follow the eternal Law or Newfangled Things?

Newfangled described a person who was fond of new fashions or ideas. In current usage, the word typically describes anything new, hip, hot, or happening, such as cutting-edge technology or popular slang.

These persons rarely perceive painful happenings as trials sent by God to test our fidelity, and certainly not as chastisement for sin. The New Testament God, they believe, is too loving for that.

St. Augustine argued that God sends trials to the good and the evil alike, not because He is vengeful, but because He has ordained suffering as a means for spiritual growth.

What Newfangled Things (as Any Other Things) do for us, and to us, depend on our attitudes toward them and how we use them. They may well be trials or chastisements – if not for our culture, then for some of us as individuals. A New Thing promised to make our lives better, paradoxically and simultaneously, can destroy them.

To see God is the purpose of our existence. All other things, including the great goods of family, of religious life, of charity, are ordered to this. Self-control, moral correction, and forgiveness are how we are restored to health while on pilgrimage on this earth, as we sigh for our Heavenly Country.

Newfangled Things tend to work in the opposite direction and, therefore, can be dangerous: their shiny allure draws us into them. In our desire for them, we look away from God and His Commandments. So did Adam and Eve before the Tree in Eden.

In pulling us away from God, Newfangled Things do not generate peace, a fruit of the Spirit that allows us to see God. They create anguish in the soul. When anguish reigns, God feels absent, for the anxious, albeit unwittingly, have installed themselves in God’s place.

How can we receive the New Thing of 2026 as a means to grow in faith? We can put Augustine’s Biblical advice into practice.

First, we strictly regulate our exposure to Newfangled Things. When we choose “new things,” we should do so, not merely because they are new, but when they are better. On this, Saint John the Evangelist strikes harder than Augustine: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.” (1 John 2:15-16)

Second, we seek a prudent approach for patiently correcting those in our care who have succumbed to sin. Parents care for children, family members for one another, and friends for friends. These days, unless we have a public role as teacher or pastor, private is the sensible choice.

Third, we practice forgiveness: we forgive those who trespass against us while also asking forgiveness from those whom we have hurt. We need not worry about the world and who has wronged whom: we have no control there. The home and family are what truly matter. For our families to be centers of love, we must forgive our spouses, children, parents, and siblings – and ask for forgiveness, as needed.

With forgiveness comes peace, and with peace we see God. And when we see Him with a heart filled with faith and with love, no Newfangled Thing will be able to drag us from Him.
With excerpts from David G Bonagura, Jr.

Jan 20 Tue - How can I fight anxiety?

 

Jan 20 Tue
How can I fight anxiety?

Voices are telling us that we need something more than how God has created us to be for us to be okay. That is a lie. Our faith tells us that God had us in mind when He created us.

The anxiety that's caused by world relativism and the culture of ‘not enough’ alienates us. It doesn't allow us to live facing what we have in front of us, where God has placed us. Instead, it leads us to seek the next thing that will bring us happiness or joy.

Here are 10 ways to combat anxiety, according to Director Mike Iverson:

1. Begin right where you are
Don’t give in to the falsehood of the ‘if only’ mindset. Do not believe that one must jump through hoops to encounter God. He is always present. If you think that you have to change profession, or buy this thing to find God, you are wrong.

2. Love the one you're with
If you are longing for people who aren’t with you, you’re missing what God has given you in the moment. You may say, ‘I miss everybody. I miss my friends, I miss my parents.’ But by doing that, you're living in a past of regret and not in the blessed present of where God is calling you to work for his glory.

3. Be Grounded
Stop trying to always keep up with the latest trends. Cling to what is sufficient.

4. Realize that God is present here and now
See that God is working with you, and join him here, rather than keeping oneself distracted from his presence.

5. Reduce the voices in your head
There are three main voices in one’s head: God, one’s human internal monologue, and the enemy. Take some dedicated time every day to prayer and then reflect: Is this from God, or is this a suggestion of the enemy? 

6. Live a simple life
In a world filled with numerous gadgets and life hacks, we often rely on the most basic levels of technological complexity to achieve our goals.

7. Reduce financial entanglements
If you don’t have to spend money on stuff, don’t. Do not owe more than you have.

8. Live a life of gratitude
Live a life of gratitude and practice poverty in spirit, recognizing that God is God and that we're creatures called to praise, love, and serve him. By placing our dependence on God as our happiness and practicing gratitude, we will be freer.

9. Slow down
Slow down, and reject the lie in society that the measure of your work output is the measure of your worth. You are a son of God; that is the measure of your worth.

10. Make more time for God
If you're disconnected from the source of happiness and the ultimate remedy for anxiety, which is a relationship with Christ and a relationship with the Trinity, you're going to be more anxious.
Your activity will be truly apostolic only insofar as you permit Christ to work in you, and through you, with his power, with his desire, with his love.

Jan 19 Mon - Do our perceptions shape reality?

 

Jan 19 Mon
Do our perceptions shape reality? or
Do our perceptions help us understand reality?

Let us compare the dogmas of the beer industry with the dogma of Mary, the Mother of God, to help us choose.

In the early 1980s, at the height of Miller Lite's popularity, its slogan—"Less filling! Tastes great!"—was everywhere. The company wasn't just selling beer—it was shaping perceptions, defining social cues, and signaling identity as much as flavor.

Just as marketing shapes our perceptions of beer, it can shape how we understand religion. However, while marketing attempts to shape reality to fit perceptions, authentic religious formation shapes our perceptions to understand reality.

Religious education relies on concise formulations to communicate the precepts of belief. Yet there is a fundamental difference. Their purpose is not to market perceptions, but to understand reality.

It might sound shocking to say that Mary is the Mother of God, Theotokos. From a secular-marketing point of view, it's a terrible optic. Many Protestants instantly assume that Catholics are worshiping Mary as a goddess. That's not true, and the Church does not back down from the dogma. Mary is the mother of Jesus: the Person of Christ, not just His human nature. She gave birth “in the fullness of time” to Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man.

Mary is God's creation, not a goddess, yet she cooperates with the Holy Spirit in bringing the whole Person of Jesus into the world. She is the Mother of God because God chose her for that role, a gift, not a title of divinity.

The dogma allows us to expand the horizons of our faith. At every Mass, Holy Mother Church makes real, sacramentally present Jesus Christ in the Blessed Eucharist. We receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus in Holy Communion. This is not a blurred perception, but an accurate declaration of reality. When author and lapsed Catholic Mary McCarthy once observed that the Eucharist is a nice symbol, Flannery O'Connor immediately responded: "Well, if it's only a symbol, I say to hell with it."

Christianity ultimately resists the marketing logic that places perception before reality. The central message of the faith—the Passion and the Cross—does not appeal to comfort, prestige, or social approval. As St. Paul wrote, "We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” Unlike beer slogans or political dogmas, this message defies prejudice and refuses to be packaged for easy consumption.

Beer loyalty teaches how easily we adopt unquestioned prejudices; yet faith requires attention beyond superficial signals. Faith demands recognition of truths that continue to unfold and provoke intelligent inquiry, a willingness to follow a path that is often countercultural, and a pursuit of depth over convenience. The marketing of beer shows how persuasion shapes perception. But only faith directs the mind and heart beyond appearances, guiding us to the reality of God’s work and His plan for salvation.

We've heard it said, "Perception is reality." Baloney! The Incarnation of Jesus requires that we perceive the reality of heaven and earth as they are. Catholic dogmas are windows to infinite realities. Perception, purified by faith and reason, helps us understand reality. 
Excerpts from Fr. Jerry Pokorsky

Jan 18 Sun - In the fullness of time, there came also the fullness of God.

 

Jan 18 Sun
In the fullness of time, there came also the fullness of God.
And today we can see Him as a little Child. St Bernard tells us: “The kindness and love of God our Savior for mankind were revealed." Thanks be to God, through whom we receive such abundant consolation in this pilgrimage, this exile, this misery.

Before his humanity appeared, his kindness lay concealed. Of course, it was already in existence because the mercy of the Lord is from eternity, but how could men know it was so great? It was promised to us but not yet experienced: thus, many did not believe in it. “At various times and in different ways, God spoke through the prophets, saying I know the plans I have in mind for you: plans for peace, not disaster."

What reply did man make, man who felt pain, and knew nothing of peace?
Now, at last, men believe with their own eyes, because all God’s promises are to be trusted.

Now, peace is no longer promised, but conferred; no longer delayed, but given; no longer predicted, but bestowed. God has sent down to earth a bag bulging with his mercy, a bag that, at his passion, was torn open so that our ransom pours out of it onto us. A small bag, perhaps, but a full one: for it was a small Child that was given to us, but in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.

For our sake, the Word of God became perishable like the grass. Lord, what is man, that you mind him so much, or pay him so much attention?

Let man infer from this how much God cares for him. Let him know from this what God thinks of him, what he feels about him. Man, do not ask about your own sufferings, but about what God suffered. Learn from what he was made for you, how much he appreciates you, so that his kindness may show itself to you from his humanity.

The smaller He makes himself as man, the greater shows his goodness. The more he humbles himself for me, the more I love him. “The goodness and humanity of God our Savior appeared," says St Paul.

And St. Josemaría adds: “I see God lying in a place where only animals dwell, and I exclaim: Jesus, where is your majesty?
My child, have you seen the greatness of God become a child? For his Father is God, and his ministers are the angels. Yet He is here, in a manger, in swaddling clothes ... Such was the sign the shepherds were given. St Paul describes it very well. He says of Christ: emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. Helpless, He cannot defend himself. He is a baby who looks like any ordinary child."

We are moved, as were the shepherds, by the great lesson of humility our Lord teaches us even from the cradle. He came into the world in the utmost silence, unknown to the wise and powerful of this world.

Jan 17 Sat - Should I be united with other Christians around Jesus?

 

Jan 17 Sat
Should I be united with other Christians around Jesus?

The octave of Christian unity will begin tomorrow: these are days of special petition to the Holy Trinity, in which we ask for the fulfillment of the words of our Lord at the Last Supper: “Holy Father, keep in your name those you have given me, so that all be one as we are one." Urged on by the Holy Spirit, we are getting ready to live the octave in a unity of desires with the entire Church. We do so, full of supernatural hope, because we know that it has to be the Holy Spirit who moves the hearts of all those who believe in Christ and who will bring about the perfect unity of all Christians in the one Church.

Our prayer follows the path marked out by the priestly prayer of Jesus Christ, on the evening of his Passion. When the time had come for him to pass from this world to the Father, our Lord prays for a holy and compact Church with a unity which points up its beauty, for the supreme and highest principle of the unity of the Church is her resemblance with the mystery of the Trinity of Persons, and the Unity of only one God the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.

Like the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep, Jesus Christ prays for the unity of his flock. For years, He has guided his disciples; He has looked after them one by one, but He knows that the enemy is constantly trying to snatch the sheep and scatter the flock, and his Heart suffers, knowing that many will waver and abandon the sheepfold.

The prayer of Christ also extends to those who have never been counted amongst his followers, those who never even knew about his flock: “I have other sheep that are not of this sheepfold, and I also have to bring them, and they will hear my voice and will form only one flock with one shepherd."

With this octave, the Church wants us to take one more step in identifying our sentiments with those of Jesus. Being well aware of the vicissitudes of the Church throughout history, and conscious of the weakness of the human heart, so easily swayed by error, egoism, discord, and desire for power, our prayer has to be more intense, uniting itself to that of the Good Shepherd: “as you, Father, in me and I in You, that they be united in us..., that they be one as we are one. I in them and You in me, so that they be united as one, and so that the world might know you have sent me and that you have loved them as you have loved me."

Let us offer up our prayer, mortification, and action for this goal: That all may be one! - so that all of us Christians have the same will, the same heart, and the same spirit: and all, very united to the Pope, go to Jesus through Mary.

Jan 16 Fri - How big is God?

 

Jan 16 Fri
How big is God?
Many have likely seen the stunning photos from the James Webb Space Telescope, which show thousands of galaxies. Not just stars, mind you, but galaxies, each of which is filled with trillions of stars. Now imagine those thousands upon thousands of galaxies condensed down into an infinitely dense point the size of – nobody really knows – but let’s say, the size of a baseball. Something like this is the picture we have of the Big Bang theory, which describes the beginning of our universe. It may or may not be what actually happened, but we can conceive of it as a possibility.

I mention the possibility merely as a way of wrapping our minds around what is involved in the Incarnation. The Creator of all those galaxies and every atom and quark in them – the infinite Source of the Being and Goodness of whatever exists – constricted Himself down to the size of a baby – to the size of an embryo.

In Philippians 2:7, Paul says that Christ “emptied himself” of his divinity and took on our humanity. Do we quite understand how radical a claim that is? The Incarnation isn’t like Apollo or Zeus appearing to someone or taking control of a human body for a while. Those “gods” are localized entities, not as vast as the entire universe. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is bigger than the universe itself.

All that is hard enough to get our heads around. Actually, I don’t think we can ever really get our heads around it. We don’t even know what “dark matter” is, or what’s inside a black hole, or why the Higgs Boson does what it does. Whereas God not only knows those things completely, He made them, and they only continue to exist because He is keeping them in existence. The difference between that “mind” and our minds is like the difference between a cherry tomato and the entire galaxy – only now you need to multiply that difference by the biggest number you can think of, and you’d still not be close.

Okay, so now try to get your head around this notion: That God actually loves us. Not only does He take notice of us, like you might notice a moderately interesting pebble at the beach, which would be startling enough. There has to be more interesting stuff to gaze at in the universe than me. There are more interesting things on this desk than me. But God not only notices, He actually loves us.

How do we know that? Why would we think that He even cares?

Christians believe that the evidence for this all-pervading creative love is found in the Incarnation. A God bigger than we can even imagine chooses to become incarnate in an embryo smaller than we can see with the naked eye. It certainly turns everything upside down.

He did so to make us children of so wonderful a Father. Do not forget: anyone who does not realize that he is a child of God is unaware of the deepest truth about himself. 

Excerpts from Randall Smith

Jan 15 Thu - What are the elements of the Eucharistic Prayer?

 

Jan 15 Thu
What are the elements of the Eucharistic Prayer?

The chief elements of the Eucharistic Prayer are:

• Thanksgiving (expressed especially in the Preface): In the name of the entire people of God, the priest praises the Father and gives thanks to him for the whole work of salvation or for some special aspect of it that corresponds to the day, feast, or season.

• Acclamation: Joining with the angels, the congregation sings or recites the Sanctus. This acclamation is an intrinsic part of the Eucharistic Prayer, and all the people join with the priest in singing or reciting it.

• Epiclesis (invocation): In special invocations, the Church implores the power of the Holy Spirit that the gifts offered by human hands be consecrated, that is, become Christ’s body and blood, and that the spotless Victim to be received in Communion be the source of salvation for those who will partake of it.

• Narrative of the Institution and Consecration: In the words and actions of Christ, that sacrifice is celebrated which he himself instituted at the Last Supper, when he offered, under the appearances of bread and wine, his body and blood, gave them to his apostles to eat and drink, and then commanded that they perpetuate and reenact this mystery.

• Anamnesis (memorial): In fulfillment of the command received from Christ through the apostles, the Church keeps his memorial by recalling especially his passion, resurrection, and ascension.

• Oblation: The oblation or offering of the victim is part of a sacrifice. In this memorial, the Church, and in particular the Church here and now assembled, offers the spotless Victim to the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Church intends that the faithful not only offer the Victim but also learn to offer themselves and so to surrender themselves, through Christ the Mediator, to an ever more complete union with the Father and with each other, so that at last God may be all in all.

• Intercessions: The intercessions make it clear that the Eucharist is celebrated in communion with the entire Church and all its members, living and dead, who are called to share in the salvation and redemption purchased by Christ’s body and blood. This part also includes the commemoration of the saints in whose glory we hope to share.

• Final Doxology: The praise of God is expressed in the doxology, to which the people’s acclamation is an assent and a conclusion.

In accordance with the rubrics, the priest selects a Eucharistic Prayer from those found in the Roman Missal or approved by the Apostolic See. The Eucharistic Prayer demands, by its very nature, that the priest say it in virtue of his ordination. The people, for their part, should associate themselves with the priest in faith and in silence, as well as through their parts as prescribed in the course of the Eucharistic Prayer: specifically, the responses in the Preface dialogue, the Sanctus, the acclamation after the consecration, the acclamatory Amen after the final doxology, as well as other acclamations approved by the Conference of Bishops and recognized by the Holy See.

Jan 14 Wed - Do I long to see God?

 

Jan 14 Wed
Do I long to see God?
Man, rise up! Set aside your preoccupations for a moment. Cut yourself off for a time from your turbulent thoughts. Cast aside, now, whatever may be your heavy responsibilities and put off your burdensome business. Make a little space free for God, and rest for a little time in him.

Enter the inner chamber of your mind; shut out all thoughts. Keep only the thought of God, and thoughts that can aid you in seeking him. Close your door and seek him. 
Then, speak now, with your whole heart! Speak now to God, saying, I seek your face; your face, Lord, will I seek.

And come you now, O Lord my God, teach my heart where and how it may seek you, where and how it may find you.

Lord, if you are not here with me, where shall I seek you when you are absent? And if you are everywhere, why do I not see you present? Truly, you dwell in unapproachable light. But where is that unapproachable light, or how shall I come to it? Or who shall lead me to that light and into it, that I may see you in it? Again, by what signs, under what form, shall I seek you? I have never seen you, O Lord, my God; I do not know your face.

What, O most high Lord, shall this man do, your son, but now an exile far from you? What shall your servant do, anxious in his love of you, and cast out far from your presence? He is breathless with desire to see you, and your face is too far from him. He longs to come to you, and your dwelling-place is inaccessible. He is eager to find you, but does not know where. He desires to seek you, and does not know your face.

Lord, you are my God, and you are my Lord, and never have I seen you. You have made me and renewed me, you have given me all the good things that I have, and I have not yet met you. I was created to see you, and I have not yet done the thing for which I was made.

And as for you, Lord, how long? How long, O Lord, do you forget us; how long do you turn your face away from us? When will you look upon us, and hear us? When will you reveal yourself to us and show us your face? When will you come closer to us?

Look upon us, Lord; hear us, enlighten us, reveal yourself to us. Remain with us, that it may be well with us. Without you, everything is so harsh for us. Have compassion on us for our efforts and strivings towards you, since we can do nothing without you.

Teach me to seek you, and reveal yourself to me when I seek you, for I cannot seek you unless you teach me, nor find you unless you reveal yourself. Let me seek you while I long, let me long for you while I seek you. Let me find you by loving you and love you while I keep on finding you.
From the "Proslogion" of St Anselm

Jan 13 Tue - Is our Redemption from evil still being carried out?

 

Jan 13 Tue
Is our Redemption from evil still being carried out?

For centuries, the Chosen People centered its hopes on the coming of the Messiah, the Redeemer. Christ did come, and yet evil remains. He came to free us from evil, but He wants our free cooperation in shaking off its fetters. Therefore, a hope that remains at the purely human level makes no sense.

Christ has not failed, because the teaching of Christ enriches the world today. Yet God has willed that men should be free. It is we men who are unwilling. The Redemption is taking place at this very moment. And you and I are co-redeemers.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. From the time that Jesus took on our human nature, the Father's plan for the redemption of mankind has moved towards its perfect fulfilment. Since He was God, and since any action of his on our behalf was of infinite value, Christ was able to save us, breaking the bonds with which the devil had enslaved us. And since He was man, He could expiate for our sins in his own body: Taking a human nature, He took our sins upon himself. Those sins can no longer cause us to despair. God himself has drawn near to us, and what we were incapable of doing on our own, Christ has done for us.

“Listen to what Jesus tells us in St John's Gospel: For this I was born, for this I came into the world, to give testimony to the truth, to free mankind from the slavery of sin."

If difficulties sometimes make us weary and tempt us to lose hope, let us remember that God, though Lord and architect of the whole world, who created and set in order every single thing that is, was something more than loving towards mankind; He was long-suffering as well. So, He has always been, and is still, and shall ever be: merciful, kind, slow to anger, and true. There is none so good as He. God is always moved to compassion at the sight of our wretchedness. “God has a special love for what is humble in creation. This has consoled me. God looks on me with love when I do what I can. He loves your defects, if you get up after every fall, if you fight, if He sees your goodwill, your efforts. Sanctity is nothing other than struggle, my children."

We need to give Christ a chance to make use of us, to be His word and His work, to share His food and His clothing in the world today. If we do not radiate the light of Christ around us, the sense of the darkness that prevails in the world will increase.

To ensure that our voice reaches Jesus above the noise caused by our many sins, let us go to Mary. God has made her the repository of his Mercy. Through her intercession, we pray: All-powerful God, renew us constantly and free us from our slavery to sin.

Jan 12 Mon - Why do I sometimes feel empty, even though I have done many things?

 

Jan 12 Mon
Why do I sometimes feel empty, even though I have done many things? 

Human life is characterized by a constant movement that drives us to do, to act. Nowadays, speed is required everywhere to achieve optimal results in a wide variety of fields. How does Jesus’ resurrection shed light on this aspect of our experience? When we participate in his victory over death, will we rest?

Faith assures us: yes, true rest is found in God. Entering God’s repose means peace and joy, not mere inactivity.
So, should we just wait, or can this change us right now?

We are absorbed by many activities that do not always leave us satisfied. A lot of our actions have to do with practical, concrete things. We have to assume responsibility for many commitments, solve problems, and face difficulties. Jesus too was involved with people and with life, not sparing himself, but rather giving himself to the end.

Yet we often perceive that too much doing, instead of giving us fulfilment, overwhelms us, takes away our serenity, and prevents us from living to the fullest what is truly important in our lives.

Sometimes, at the end of days full of activities, we feel empty. Why? Because we are not machines, we have a “heart”; indeed, we can say that we are a heart.

The Evangelist Matthew invites us to reflect on the importance of the heart, quoting this beautiful phrase of Jesus: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Mt 6:21).

We must reflect on this because in the numerous commitments we continually face, there is an increasing risk of dispersion, sometimes of despair, of meaninglessness, even in apparently successful people.

Instead, when we look at life with the Risen Jesus, we find access to our “restless” heart, yearning for fulfillment. St Augustine writes: “Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Restlessness is the sign that our heart does not move by chance, without a purpose or a destination, but is oriented towards its ultimate destination, the “return home.”

The authentic approach of the heart does not consist in possessing the goods of this world, but in achieving what can fill it; namely, the love of God, or rather, God who is Love.

This treasure, however, can only be found by loving the neighbor. Our neighbor asks us to slow down, to look them in the eye, sometimes to change our plans, perhaps even to change direction.

No one can live without a meaning that goes beyond what passes away. The human heart cannot live without hope, without knowing that it is made for fullness, not for want.

Jesus Christ, with his Incarnation, Passion, Death, and Resurrection, has given us a solid foundation for this hope. In Christ, life will continue to triumph in daily life. This is Christian hope: let us always bless and thank the Lord who has given it to us!
Excerpts from Pope Leo XIV

Jan 11 Sun - How can Jesus be present in the world?

 

Jan 11 Sun
How can Jesus be present in the world?
Last Sunday, in the Epiphany, the Magi met a Child, in need to be wrapped in swaddling clothes. His Mother, Our Lady, was always there because she gave birth to him. There is a transition, from her most pure womb to this material world; from being still hidden to being visible in the manger.

Today is the Baptism of Our Lord. In his Baptism, the Blessed Trinity declares that he is God, the Son of God, “my Beloved Son…”. Our Lady is not there, because Jesus is God, was God, and will be God forever. He proceeds from the Father, uncreated, not made, consubstantial with the Father. There is no transition from not being to being, but continuity. He, simply, IS.

Two feasts form a single story. The Epiphany tells us that He has a human nature. The Baptism tells us that he is God. God and Man in a single Person.

Let us go to the cave of Bethlehem and, with faith and simplicity, and from the depths of our hearts, let us adore Jesus, promising him that we will always follow his star.

Let us trust that Jesus is the true light that will bring us the happiness we seek in the things of this world. For only Christ alone will fill the longing for happiness that we seek.

But how can I, wretched as I am, approach Jesus?
Saint Josemaría told us:

“I am moved by this angel who crawls ‘on all fours’ to approach the newborn Jesus.
A spiritual being with perfect intelligence, love, will, and freedom understands that he can only approach the mystery of the Infant God by crawling along the wise path of humility."

Our Lord shows Himself to us when, with the light of the Holy Spirit, He makes us grasp that He is at our side as we go along our path through life; and He is asking us, as He asked John, to bear witness to him. Each of us must bear witness to Christ. This is what He wants us to do: to get to know him, and then to share with others the saving news that we have found him.

St. Josemaría tells us: “All my children are Christ passing through the world. You are not known. Yet, all over the world, friends and colleagues at work are discovering Christ in your brothers, in you. Afterwards, they too will bring Christ to other hearts and minds. You are Christ passing along the street. But you must walk in his footsteps."
“Now, do you understand the greatness of your mission?"