Week 7 A Dinner with Jesus!

Today the Monday of the Holy Week 2011 the Gospel of the Latin Rite Calendar is: Jn 12:1-11

I have taken some sentences I thought important in the observance of Lent this week from the above passage.

They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. . .

Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

Martha, Mary and Lazarus are telling us what to do this week. Do you have time to serve a dinner for Jesus with the finest of food? Let us keep our home neat and clean ready to receive Jesus.

Like Lazar let us recline at the table with the son of God. Try to spent some time with the Lord in person – upavasam

Do we have a perfume, as Mary had, the perfume of our grace when we are free of sin to anoint the feet of Jesus?

Week 6 With Mary to Jesus!

The visiting priest asked a question that I had never heard before, maybe you have… what was Mary thinking when she met Jesus? As a mom, we can imagine some of the pain she was going through. We know for a fact it was as though a sword was piercing her own heart. But what was she thinking? Father posited an answer.

She prayed, “Please help Him!”

And it was answered. How do we know? Because the next station is Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross. Can’t you just hear Mary begging God for this? Please help Him! She knew who He was and what He had to do, but she was still His mother and He was her son. Please, help Him!

And then the next station, Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus. As a mom, it can be heart breaking to see your child’s face altered due to a simple accident, even a childhood mishap that will naturally be corrected over time. This was her son’s precious face, all covered with blood and sweat and dirt. Can’t you hear the Blessed Mother crying inside… Let me see His beautiful face again!

This was the first time I had ever heard this interpretation and while I know that we can’t know for sure, it really made sense to me. I have always been perplexed by the fifth station. Why did He need help? Who was Simon of Cyrene? Why was he chosen and what are we supposed to learn from this station?

And St. Veronica? How did she make it through the crowds? Why would the guards have allowed this kindness after they had already inflicted so much pain? Were they distracted? Why?

It makes so much more sense now. God wouldn’t refuse the prayer of the Blessed Mother. He knows the tortures of a mother’s heart and he hears her prayers.

(Taken from the blog of Charlotte http://tiredtwang.blogspot.com/2009/04/jesus-meets-his-mother.html)

How is your journey of Lent? Do we need to invite Mary the mother of Jesus to join our journey? As the Mother met Jesus on the way, may Mary meet us also. As the Mother stood beneath the cross, may Mary accompany us when we struggle.

Week 5: Do you know that you are a priest?

Scarcely had I begun to pray than my arms would spontaneously rise into the air.

I felt myself to be at the centre of the universe, and all things, flowers, birds, stars seemed to gather round to praise God with me.

I became creation’s vioce, the priest of all that was little and insignificant and voiceless. In this task I discovered my secret vocation. Peter’s words in scripture had struck me with force: ‘You are a priestly people’ (1 Pet 2:9).

I had never wanted to be a priest, and my companions knew this very well. But the happier I was not to be a priest, the more I felt that I was a priest.

It seemed to me that priests – the ones ordained by the bishop – were in the Church precisely for the purpose of saying to all men and women: ‘You are all priests, for you belong to a priestly people’ (1 Pet 2:9).

So I was quiet at ease when praying with arms extended, or when I blessed birds or fishes with the sign of the cross. (Hello, it is me, Francis, from Assisi.)

Have you ever listened to the call of God to become a priest? What is the nature of priesthood God is offering you?

(A new reflection will be updated once in a week in this Lent. (Source: I Francis– Carlo Caretto p.72))

Week 4: “Seek and you will find” (Mtt 7: 7)

You say: It is impossible.
God says: All things are possible. (Luke 18:27)

You say: I am too tired.
God says: I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28-30)

You say: Nobody really loves me.
God says: I love you. (John 3:16 & John 13:34)

You say: I can’t go on.
God says: My Grace is sufficient. (II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)

You say: I can not figure things out.
God says: I will direct your steps. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

You say: I can’t do it.
God says: You can do all things.(Philippians 4:13)

You say: It is not worth it.
God says: It will be worth it. (Roman 8:28)

You say: I can not forgive myself.
God says: I FORGIVE YOU. (I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)

You say: I can not manage.
God says: I will supply all your needs. (Philippians 4:19)

You say: I am afraid.
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear. (II Timothy 1:7)

You say: I am always worried and frustrated.
God says: Cast all your cares on ME. (I Peter 5:7)

You say: I don’t have enough faith.
God says: I’ve given everyone a measure of faith. (Romans 12:3)

You say: I am not smart enough.
God says: I give you wisdom. (I Corinthians 1:30)

You say: I feel all alone.
God says: I will never leave you or forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)

He is nearer than you think. “Seek and you will find” (Mtt 7: 7)

Hope this lent is a time of earnestly seeking God by some  spiritual activity like fasting, retreat, spiritual reading, seeking guidance, penance etc.

(A new reflection will be updated once in a week in this Lent. Source: Unknown)

DOES ‘OUR FATHER’ CHALLENGE YOU? (Week 3)

Prayer: Into your hands I comment my spirit.

I cannot say OUR if I live only for myself.
I Cannot say FATHER if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child.
I cannot say WHO ART IN HEAVEN if I am laying up no treasure there.
I cannot say HALLOWED BE THY NAME if I am not striving for holiness.
I cannot say THY KINGDOM COME if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful event.
I cannot say THY WILL BE DONE if I am disobedient to His word.
I cannot say ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN if I will not serve Him here and now.
I cannot say GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD if I am dishonest or seeking things by subterfuge.
I cannot say FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES if I harbor a grudge against anyone.
I cannot say LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION if I deliberately place myself in its path.
I cannot say DELIVER US FROM EVIL if I do not put on the whole armor of God.
I cannot say THINE IS THE KINGDOM if I do not give the King the loyalty due him from a faithful subject.
I cannot say THE POWER if I fear what others may do.
I cannot say THE GLORY if I am seeking honor only for myself.
I cannot say FOREVER if the horizon of my life is bounded by the things of today.

For Contemplation: “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14)

Let us pray. OUR FATHER, . . .

Are you able to say the prayer?

(A new reflection will be updated once in a week in this Lent. Source: Unknown, Thank you Michelle for sending it over.)

Week 2 Pearls of Great Price

A Jewish story tells of a woman, Bruria, who lost both sons to death on the same day.

Her husband, a celebrated wisdom teacher, was off studying at the time.
Bruria laid her dear children on the bed and covered them tenderly. When her husband returned, she told him: “A stranger came. He left two pearls in my care. He’ll be back to take them soon, but they are such beautiful pearls I don’t want to give them back.” Enraged by this talk, the husband said, “They don’t belong to us! You must give them back!” Then Bruria took him by the hand, and showed him their two sons.

Our loved ones don’t belong to us. People aren’t possessions and we can’t hold on to them, no matter how we try. Yet God, the stranger who comes in the night, values the pearls of our relationships even more than we do. For our loved ones most certainly do belong to God in a way they can never belong to us. As tenderly as Bruria laid her children down, God will lift them up again.

For Contemplation: How do we honour our pearls, living and deceased?

What do you think?

(A new reflection will be updated once in a week in this Lent. Source: Alice Camille, Walking on Holy Ground)

Holy Father’s message for Lent 2011

New and Refreshing Lenten Reflections (2011)

Week 1
Responding to a Father’s Love

Has anybody written such a beautiful message to you?

Charles Dickens wrote the following letter to his youngest son who went out to Australia in 1868:
“I need not tell you that I love you dearly and am very sorry in my heart to part with you, I have put a New Testament among your books because it is the best book that ever was or will be known in the world. As your brothers have gone away one by one, I have written to each such words as I am now writing to you, entreating them all to guide themselves by this book. Only one thing more, never abandon the practice of private prayer. I know the comfort of it.”

We can pray in various ways:
The prayer of approach – being aware of the presence of God.
The prayer of confession – asking forgiveness.
The prayer of thanksgiving – grateful to God for all gifts.
The prayer of petition – raising our needs.
The prayer of intercession – prayer for other people.
The prayer of adoration – acknowledging the awesomeness of God.
The prayer of communion – mystical union with God.
God shares his free gift to us every moment. During this lent, why not make yourself available to God’s presence?

What do you think? Hope you have begun the lent in style with ashes.

If you are a member of cybersouls you can view this weekly reflection on your cybersouls account. Unlike last lent (2010) this will be updated only once in a week in this Lent. Source: William Barclay, More Prayers for Young People. Talk soon.

Jesus has Risen . . . Halleluiah

My hope is in his cross. . .

This is a very good meditation suitable for this time of the year. Enjoy the video and music which starts after few seconds:

As we watch this video, may we be united in our prayer, praying for our own needs and the needs of the entire world who wait and watch for Christ.

Happy Easter to all readers. Hope you benefited from this blog during the Lent.

This video was prepared and used as a part of the ‘Prayer around the Cross’ in St John the Baptist’s Church Clontarf, on Good Friday 2010, evening.

by his wounds you have been healed. . .

He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account. (Isaiah 53:3)

Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4)

But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

What is faith? How can we talk about faith? etc.

Journey of Faith

This may be the last question to be addressed in this Lenten Reflection on questions raised by young people. The coming days we will have some very short reflections about our Lord’s suffering and passion. Thank you Jeby for asking today’s question.

This is a very difficult question which we often do not ask but once asked it can trigger a lot of other questions burning within. It is a question very similar to, ‘What is poetry?’, ‘What is love?’ etc.

How can you be truly sorry for something or be really pure again?

by His wounds you have been healed (1 Pet 2:24)

Being truly sorry for something can best be explained by our repentance for the very act and most importantly by our resolve to avoid such situations in future. We had a discussion about forgiveness in this site before (March 2 and 3, see the Calendar on the right column to get it).

I feel by this question Angela is touching a concept once dealt by Saint Francis de Sales, called “Affections of Sin”. This is a common feeling of all of us who are sinful:

If God is a loving God how can he take a mother away from a young family?

A tough question and is not dissimilar to all of the other suffering type questions we dealt with already. This is a very unpleasant situation for all of us. Our compassion towards the young family can make itself visible in different forms directed to different people. All emotions are to be listened to:

Why the Church is too slow when compared with the modern world?

Like a water lilly

This is a question which can come to the mind of any person who is enlivened by the Church rooted in the modern world. I suppose, this  is an expression of our concern for the Church also. Our desire that the Church should not be falling behind is also clear in the question. Thank you Toji, for the question.

At the end of life we die or cease to be; but what does this mean from a faith point of view?

Thank you for asking a very interesting question.  The question suggests that you are thinking deeply about life, death, the hereafter and your religious beliefs.  You seem to be searching for answers that will help you make sense of your faith and all the mysteries of living and dying.

There are some other issues associated with this question:

Why does religious persecution exist? What can we do about it?

This is a good and genuine question which may be asked by all of us who reflect about occurrences of everyday life.  In the recent incidents in Nigeria when a number of women and children were brutally murdered, many of us thought, ‘In the name of religion! Why?’ When this question arises in our mind the underlying sense of justice, idealism and longing for peace also become explicit. The second part of the question captures the enthusiasm and sincere desire to contribute to the wellbeing of the society. Well done.

There are different kinds of religious intolerance or persecution and dealing with underlying anger may be a way to go forward:

Does my deceased father still know me?

Thank you for asking this interesting question. From the way you have asked the question I realise that your father has died. I don’t know when this happened but I do know that the death of a loved, especially your father can be a really painful experience. Please accept my sympathy. It is very understandable that you would think about whether your deceased father would still know you or not.

I believe that your father still knows you and loves you in a very special way. Once we establish a loving relationship with people especially with our parents those relationships do not unravel in death.

If God created Lucifer, why doesn’t He just destroy him and end all suffering and evil?

Thank you John, for this question.  Why can’t God be little more easy on us? This is a natural question. At the same time, there are different implications in this question.

(1) God created Lucifer as a good angel.

Why Penance, prayer, fasting, charity works, Stations of the Cross and Palm Sunday in Lent?

Penance
At least while reaching up to the Holy Week, do we not need to think if we are getting some extra goodness from Lenten practices?
Lent is the primary time for celebrating the Sacrament of Penance/confession/reconciliation. Early Christian teachers called this sacrament “second Baptism,” because it is intended to enable us to start again to live the baptismal life in its fullness.

The three traditional pillars of Lenten observance are:

What is Lent? Why do we observe it? (part 1)

(The first question in ‘Question Time’ asked by Gerard McHugh is taken into consideration today and tomorrow for discussion. Thank you Gerard for asking this question.)

Lent is a time when many Christians prepare for Easter by observing a period of fasting, repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline. The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ – his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection.

The practice of repentance and mourning in ashes is found in: