To celebrate this feast of St Paul of the Cross with you
is to share deeply in your rich heritage.
We know that every Mass is worth as much as the sacrifice of our Lord’s life, suffering and death, and so we too are invited, even empty handed and hungry to sit down and eat not only with the Lord, but of the Lord. He is our Good Shepherd who provides abundantly and leads us by safe paths to be with Him all the days of our lives.
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The complaining disciples of John, remind us how easy it is to come to conclusions about someone and to feel jealousy when we think the other one is getting something that we might deserve. But in his humility, John was making the way for Christ and his joy was complete. John was the best man, Jesus was the groom and the Church, his mystical body born from his side, would be his bride.
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we have all heard that we are to love God with our whole heart and to love our neighbors as ourselves. But how do we go about this? He is calling each of us to look deep inside ourselves to ask ourselves who we are. And so we must. We will find things we like about ourselves, and some things we would rather not bring to the surface.
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Why should anyone even think that praying is a battle? Isn’t praying about communicating with God, and or with the saints? Why would there be a battle? Prayer is a battle against our own wounded nature, the distractions of the world, and Satan. We rely on God to help us pray. A loving perseverance, firm in the hope of our salvation, is essential.
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Many years ago in a country far across the big waters, in a small village in the center of Africa lived a Mystic who was very beloved to the people. The children loved to gather around her dwelling and listen to her stories. The elders and tribal chiefs would often consult her for her wisdom and guidance.
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The graces of the Ascension of Jesus, the Risen Lord,
Embraces us,
Filling our being with faith
And our hearts with gratitude and wonder and assurance.
We must never forget that the baptized are all called to imitate Christ according to their state in life. Throughout scripture we find that Jesus taught poverty of spirit by his life, his words and his works. It is not incidental that Jesus chose to be born in a stable in Bethlehem and to end his life bereft of all things of this world by his death on a cross.
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Since 1972, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has declared that the first Sunday of October will be designated as “Respect Life Sunday.” Why? The answer is hopefully obvious. The Catholic Church has always promoted the sanctity of life.
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Sometimes in the Scriptures there are questions
raised by God….. These questions can be rather pointed….
somewhat challenging…. perhaps even put one on the spot.
In today’s reading God asked Adam:
Where are you ?
Little was known of Gabriel's extraordinary spiritual gifts during his life. He was not singular, he conformed himself to the community life; he was only a fervent and exemplary Passionist novice and student hidden from the world in the cloister. "How much more soundly we would sleep, how much more cheerful we would be, in fact, how much more like heaven our life would be, if we left ourselves totally in her hands and said to her "Into your hands, O Lady, I place my cause."
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"The Spirit of the Lord God has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners....." When Jesus read this passage from Isaiah, he meant it to be both an introduction to and a table of contents for his ministry. St Paul of the Cross must have heard something similar when the Lord called him: Paul might well have said: This is the outline of my ministry too
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The spiritual life for all of us involves these two dimensions: the horizontal - reaching out to those we encounter along the way. To be involved with our neighbors, near or far. The other dimension in our lives is the Vertical Dimension, the line that goes from our heart to the very heart of our God. Passionists would say that that vertical line to the Father passes directly through the pierced hearts of Mary, standing at the foot of the Cross, and of Jesus hanging on the Cross.
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Today we find ourselves immersed
in the Sacred Passion of the Crucified Christ.
It is an immersion into
Revelation’s greatest truth….
Wisdom’s greatest enlightenment
Love’s greatest gift
Each one of us has heard the words of the Gospel, at least with our ears. Will we listen with our hearts? Will we trust Jesus to multiply whatever it is that we're willing to share with him? Jesus wants to feed and care for the many in our world who are hungry, who are lonely, who are weak, who feel frightened and weak of faith. Jesus says "You and I together can help. Let me know what you are willing to share with me, and I'll provide for their needs.
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If we are not people who love, whatever our calling, we will have failed our life’s purpose, miserably. All of us will be asked or an account of how loving we are, how loving we have been with our faith lives. Of course, we’ll be tested on our hope, our faith, but especially on our loving.
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