Since I am new at this, blogging that is, I have not yet figured out how to insert more than one video at a time. This is the reason there are three separate entries for videos below - all pertaining to All Saints' Day!
Readings for today: Rev. 7:2-4,9-14; Ps. 23(24); 1Jn 3:1-3; Mt. 5:1-12
I don't know where to start. The readings are all so wonderful today. If I commented on each one, you would stop reading this before getting to the end (you might do that anyway!), so I just content myself to comment on the first letter of John, one of my favourites.
John addresses a number of issues in this letter, but one thing he wants us to understand is the importance of our baptism and how this should essentially change our lives. "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and we are!" The Greek used here gives us a few insights. First, the word "see", like in yesterday's post, connotes a certain knowledge. Therefore, "understand" may even be better in this case. The word John uses for "has given" is in the perfect tense in Greek. This may seem completely unimportant to us, but to anyone with Greek ears, it has a particular meaning. The perfect tense in Greek connotes the past (as it does in all modern languages), but, unlike in English, it has repercussions until the present. In other words, to a Greek, it might sound like this: understand what love the Father has given and still continues to give us. Isn't it a wonderful thought that we have a God who continuously pours out his love upon us? So much so that we can be called "Children of God", and, lest we think it is only an appellation, John adds, "And we are!" John continues, "When he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Remember that for the Israelites, no one could see God and live. Yet, through sanctifying grace received in baptism, God has given us the gift, that's what grace is, of being his children. Now, may we only live as his children, as children of the light! How do we do this? John will tell us later in the letter (this is not in today's reading), "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." (4:12) So, my friends, go out loving one another today, thereby showing that are truly a child of God and belong to his family in heaven with all the saints and angels! As the opening prayer of Mass says today, "Today we rejoice in the holy men and women of every time and place. May their prayers bring us your forgiveness and love." Have a wonderful All Saints' Day!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Deifying Grace
There is a quote attributed to St. Athanasius which says, "God became man, so that man could become God." That is part of the mystery of baptism and part of the mystery of the feast we celebrate today as explained in this video!
Glorified In Your Saints
I should have published this yesterday, but here it is... still relevant about All Saints' Day.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Seeking Jesus, and being sought by Him
Today's gospel: Luke 19:1-10
The story of Zacchaeus that we have in today's gospel is another one of those only found in Luke. I would like to reflect with you for a minute on two short verses in the passage. In verse 3, we read, "And he (Zacchaeus) sought (was seeking) to see who Jesus is, ..." In the New Testament, there are 3 verbs used for the word, "to see". One ("blepo") means simply to see something with your eyes, whereas the other two verbs and their various forms also indicate a type of perception that goes beyond the mere reality of visible sight. Luke uses one of these 2 verbs here. Therefore, Zacchaeus didn't just want to see Jesus for the mere fact of being able to say, "I saw an important person!", but rather he wanted to get to know Jesus personally. That is what each one of us is called to do daily... to get to know ("see") Jesus better every day. We can ask ourselves, "To what pains do I go through to see Jesus active in my day-to-day life? How much time do I spend each day meditating on his Word? How many times a day do I ask Him what I should do at a particularly difficult moment?" We should be able to say with the Greeks in John's gospel (12:21), "We want to see Jesus!" (Again, same verb in Greek used here!)
At the end of the gospel, we have the verb "to seek" again, which was the same as in verse 3. "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Even when we sin and God is furthest from our minds and hearts, He is still there seeking us out. May we long to see and search for God everyday of our lives. As the psalmist says, "As the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul yearns for you, my God."
Today is the last day of October, the month dedicated to Our Lady of the rosary. Below is a video I found with many beautiful images and icons of Our Lady, accompanied by the Ave Maria. Enjoy!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Back online and the Word of God
Finally, they seem to have repaired the Wireless connection and everything should run smoothly. (Hint: The key words in that sentence are italicized!) Anyway, I would now like to share with my readers a couple of paragraphs from one of the books which I am presently reading, entitled Prayer. This is a book written by a great theologian, Hans Urs van Balthasar. I have not reached very far in the book and I may not even be able to finish it (it might go way over my head!), but, nonetheless, his introductory words are full of wisdom and insight.
"Prayer... is communication, in which God's word has the initiative and we, at first, are simply listeners. Consequently, what we have to do is, first, listen to God's word and then, through that word, learn how to answer. His word is the truth make known for our sakes. There is no final, unquestionable truth in man. He is fully aware of that as he looks to God for an answer and comes closer to him. God's word is his invitation to us to enter into the truth and abide there with him. It is like a rope-ladder thrown down to us in danger of drowning, so that we can climb into the ship; or, a carpet unrolled before us leading to the Father's throne; a torch shining in the darkness of a silent and sullen world, in whose light we are no longer harassed by problems, but learn to live with them. God's word is, ultimately, himself, that in him which is most living and profound: it is his only-begotten Son, of the same nature as himself, whom he sent into the world to bring it back to him. That is why God spoke to us of his Word dwelling on earth: 'This is my beloved Son, listen to Him'.
We are harassed by the burden of living; exhausted, we look round for a place of repose, tranquillity and renewal. We would gladly rest in God and commit ourselves to him, so as to draw from him fresh strength to go on living. But we do not look for him there where he awaits us, where he is to be found, namely in his Son, who is his Word. Or else we do seek him because there are a thousand things we want to ask him, and imagine that, unless they are answered, we cannot go on living; we pester him with problems, demand answers, solutions, explanations, forgetting all the time that in his Word he has solved all questions and given us all the explanations we are capable of grasping in this life. We do not turn where God speaks, there where his word resounded in the world, a final utterance sufficient for all times, whose riches can never be exhausted."
The highlighting is my addition. It was after having read this several months ago that I began to concentrate my meditation time every morning on the Word of God which the Church presents to us for that day. This has been a tremendous help to me, and I invite you to do just that. As von Balthasar says elsewhere in the book, we will only find the real truth about ourselves in listening to Him who is Truth Himself! God bless, enjoy your day, and let the Word of God enrich your life!
"Prayer... is communication, in which God's word has the initiative and we, at first, are simply listeners. Consequently, what we have to do is, first, listen to God's word and then, through that word, learn how to answer. His word is the truth make known for our sakes. There is no final, unquestionable truth in man. He is fully aware of that as he looks to God for an answer and comes closer to him. God's word is his invitation to us to enter into the truth and abide there with him. It is like a rope-ladder thrown down to us in danger of drowning, so that we can climb into the ship; or, a carpet unrolled before us leading to the Father's throne; a torch shining in the darkness of a silent and sullen world, in whose light we are no longer harassed by problems, but learn to live with them. God's word is, ultimately, himself, that in him which is most living and profound: it is his only-begotten Son, of the same nature as himself, whom he sent into the world to bring it back to him. That is why God spoke to us of his Word dwelling on earth: 'This is my beloved Son, listen to Him'.
We are harassed by the burden of living; exhausted, we look round for a place of repose, tranquillity and renewal. We would gladly rest in God and commit ourselves to him, so as to draw from him fresh strength to go on living. But we do not look for him there where he awaits us, where he is to be found, namely in his Son, who is his Word. Or else we do seek him because there are a thousand things we want to ask him, and imagine that, unless they are answered, we cannot go on living; we pester him with problems, demand answers, solutions, explanations, forgetting all the time that in his Word he has solved all questions and given us all the explanations we are capable of grasping in this life. We do not turn where God speaks, there where his word resounded in the world, a final utterance sufficient for all times, whose riches can never be exhausted."
The highlighting is my addition. It was after having read this several months ago that I began to concentrate my meditation time every morning on the Word of God which the Church presents to us for that day. This has been a tremendous help to me, and I invite you to do just that. As von Balthasar says elsewhere in the book, we will only find the real truth about ourselves in listening to Him who is Truth Himself! God bless, enjoy your day, and let the Word of God enrich your life!
My God, why have you abandoned me?
Today being Friday, it is a tradition in the Passionist congregation to occasionally offer Mass on Fridays remembering some aspect of the Passion of Christ. This is a very healthy tradition for all of us. Today's gospel therefore was taken from the Passion according to Matthew, where we hear Jesus cry out, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" Therefore, below I give you a video of that hymn in Italian. Even if you don't speak Italian, you can appreciate the music and St. Peter's Basilica from the outside. It's one of my favourite Italian hymns! They sing this every year on Palm Sunday. That is my favourite Papal mass.
P.S.: I am still writing this while sitting in my chair in a corridor... no Wi-Fi service in my room!!!
P.S.: I am still writing this while sitting in my chair in a corridor... no Wi-Fi service in my room!!!
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