amazed
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Be Amazed

We all wonder what God is like: is He some old white guy on a cloud? Is He a He? Does He have arms to hug me? Where is God and what’s He like? Today’s readings are bursting with information about God.

The readings begin with Isaiah. He’s telling the Jews that God is faithful: He is keeping the covenant He made so long ago with Abraham. God will be the God of Israel and they will be His people. Forever. No additions or subtractions, no fast-talking sales man pitch: forever. Isaiah even tells the people of Israel to rejoice, sing out! (And Isaiah is not really known for his light-heartedness.)

Psalm 145 is the responsorial psalm today. In just a few short lines we learn that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and kind. The Lord is compassionate, faithful, holy. Those that have fallen are gently lifted up by God. He is just and truthful, and He calls out the name of those near to Him.

Wow. This is our God. What an amazing and hopeful faith we have!

Finally, in the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks to the Jews. These are the same people Isaiah spoke to. They know about God’s covenant; it’s in the marrow of their bones. Their life centers on God and His laws and His plans for them. Jesus makes it clear that He is doing the work of God the Father. If the Jews want to know more about God, they need to look at Jesus.

For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything that he himself does,
and he will show him greater works than these,
so that you may be amazed. (Jn 5:20)

“Amazed.” The Jews that Jesus were speaking to had no idea what “works” the Father was going to show. We do. Are we amazed? Are we astounded? Astonished? Do we wake up every morning rather dumbfounded at the blessings God has provided with us? Do we look upon our family and friends and are almost blown away by the love?

More importantly, do we enter into prayer and liturgy with amazement? Do we worship knowing that the unbelievable is believable – that God so loved us He sent His only Son to come among us, teach us, be a model for us, feed us His very Body and Blood, and ultimately take our sins upon Himself so as to destroy death?

Are we amazed?

Today, be amazed at God. Be amazed at Christ, Be amazed at the Holy Spirit. He is our God and He is amazing.

 

EH headshotElise Hilton is an author, blogger and speaker. Her role at Diocesan Publications is Editor & Writer with the Marketing Team. She has worked in parish faith formation and Catholic education for over 25 years. A passionate student of theology, Elise enjoys sharing her thoughts on parish communication, the role of social media in the Church, Franciscan spirituality and Catholic parenting. To enquire about booking her as a speaker, please contact her at ehilton@diocesan.com.

st. joseph
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Advent: Kissing St. Joseph

TODAY’S ADVENT REFLECTION FOR THE 3RD WEDNESDAY OF ADVENT, 2016

When my mother’s cousin, Mary, was twelve, she and her friend went to church every day after school during Lent to pray for the souls in Purgatory in front of the statue of St. Joseph. One day, in an excess of zeal, Mary decided that a kiss would encourage the saint to intercede more effectively. She had to stand on tiptoe to reach his lips, but she kissed him. As she let go, however, St. Joseph began to lean precipitously toward her. She called to her friend, but the church was empty. In a panic, she gently lowered the statue to the ground, and running to the rectory next door, rang for the housekeeper. “St. Joseph is on the ground,” she reported earnestly, ”and he needs help.”

Nearly every Catholic church in the world has an image of Joseph, son of Heli, somewhere near the altar. The beloved saint, a sincere and prudent man, who was the protector of Christ and Mary, belongs there because he was chosen by God to be the foster-father of Jesus, and because he is a model of genuine authority.

We know that Joseph exerted familial influence in ways that discharged legal, personal, and religious responsibility: he accompanied Mary to Bethlehem to register for the census as required by law (Matt. 2:4); he oversaw Christ’s birth (Luke 2:7), named him (Matt. 1:25), took Mary and the child to Egypt (Matt. 2:14), and brought them back to Israel (Matt. 2:21); he presented the child to be circumsized (Luke 2:22), and, when Jesus was twelve, brought his family on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the religious feast of Passover (Luke 2:42). His fatherly care was shared by Mary, who said, “Your father and I have been looking for you,” and recognized by Jesus, who “lived under their authority” (Luke 2: 48-51). And it is certain, we are reminded by Pope John Paul II in Redemptoris Custos, that his professional direction as a master carpenter was honored in the house at Nazareth.

Joseph’s authority finds its prototype in the Trinity. God the Father holds authority for the three persons. We know this because Jesus refers to the Father on several occasions where we see him submitting his will: discovered in the temple, he says, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49); in the garden of Gethsemane, he prays, “‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it’” (Matt. 26:39); and appearing to the disciples in Galilee, he explains, “All authority in heaven and on the earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). The authority that the Father shared with the Son is mirrored in the Holy Family and in the Church.

Like Joseph, head of the family, Peter was the head of the Church, an analogic reality recognized by Dante in Paradiso XXXII, when he placed al maggior padre di famiglia (136), “the greatest father of a family,” contr’ a Pietro (133), “opposite Peter.” Neither Joseph nor Peter ever affected grinding dominance, because authentic authority is not oppressive: it is open, loving, creative, and sacrificial, and like cousin Mary, knows that it “needs help.”

[Throughout the 2016 Advent season, we will be bringing you posts from a variety of writers. Our hope is that each of these will be a meaningful way for you to slow down, pray well, and prepare for the coming of our Lord. Today’s blogger is Sister Lucia Treanor, FSE, a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist. She teaches writing at Grand Valley State University. She is the author of Symmetrical Patterning in Franciscan Writing of the Late Middle Ages (Mellen Press, 2011) and the editor of Broken Mary: A Journey of Hope (Beacon Press, 2016).]

Pentecost
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Pentecost: Receiving The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit

And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Acts 2:2-4

One of Jesus’ last Earthly promises was to send the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and send it He did. A driving wind, tongues of fire, the sudden ability to proclaim the Good News in languages unspoken before: what a vivid image. What an incredible experience for the Apostles and for Mary, the Mother of God.

One might imagine that, following Jesus’ Ascension, the Apostles would be concerned about how they would continue the work at hand without Jesus. Yes, Peter had been appointed chief among them, but he was no Jesus. It was hard enough to get people to listen to the Good News when Jesus was the one teaching; what could the Apostles accomplish?

Of course, they had no way of knowing what Jesus meant when He promised to send the Holy Spirit. They had no idea that the power of Heaven would be unleashed and they would be filled with wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear and awe of the Lord (the gifts of the Holy Spirit.)

These gifts are not reserved for the Apostles and Mary, nor for any other select group. The gifts of the Spirit are poured out upon any Catholic who has been baptized and confirmed. And yet, the whole thing still seems quite … odd, mysterious, almost unreal. It’s hard to think of ourselves as wise, or courageous, or filled with knowledge. What does this mean for you and me?

The great Christian writer C. S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, put it this way:

This third Person is called, in technical language, the Holy Ghost or the ’spirit’ of God. Do not be worried or surprised if you find it (or Him) rather vaguer or more shadowy in your mind than the other two. I think there is a reason why that must be so. In the Christian life you are not usually looking at Him. He is always acting through you. If you think of the Father as something ‘out there,’ in front of you, and of the Son as someone standing at your side, helping you to pray, trying to turn you into another son, then you have to think of the third Person as something inside you, or behind you. Perhaps some people might find it easier to begin with the third Person and work backwards. God is love, and that love works through men-especially through the whole community of Christians. But this spirit of love is, from all eternity, a love going on between the Father and the Son.

And now, what does it all matter? It matters more than anything else in the world. The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us: or (putting it the other way round) each one of us has got to enter that pattern, take his place in that dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made.

We must believe that Pentecost was not a one time-only event, a bit of history like the Battle of Gettysburg or the signing of the Magna Carta. Pentecost, as Lewis points out, is here and now. It is personal for each of us. It is eternal love, given to us all; we choose to participate in it (or sadly, not.) These gifts of the Spirit, like any gift, must be opened, embraced and used. They are the eternal gifts of love from the One who loves perfectly, eternally; all we must do is celebrate these gifts.

saint
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Who, Me? A Saint?

Perhaps you grew up with a saint statue on your dresser. When you were confirmed, you likely mulled over which saint you which choose for your patron in that sacrament. Put to the test, you could probably list quite a few saints.

But do you know YOU are supposed to be a saint?

While Catholics worship God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – alone, we rely on the holiness of others as examples of the Christian life. While the Church declares some “saints,” she acknowledges that not all those who live on eternally in the presence of God will be officially recognized as saints. Regardless, we are called to live in communion with the saints:

In the communion of saints, ‘a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things.’In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin. – Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 1475

We “pilgrims on earth” frankly need all the help we can get, and our brothers and sisters in Christ who have preceded us in faith to Heaven are some of the best friends we can have.

But we need to go further than this; we need to recognize that we are ALL called to be saints. Yes, you. And me. And that lady that sits behind you every week in church, singing off-key. Your teenage son, who seems to have lost the give of speech and merely grunts at you. Your boss. Your uncle who still refers to your by your childhood nickname no matter how many times you’ve asked him not to.

Saints, all of us.

You may protest, “I can’t be a saint. I’m not holy enough. I swear at other drivers. I get mad at my kids. I can’t concentrate on Father’s homily most of the time.” Yeah, well, you’re still called to be a saint.

Oh, we may not get official recognition from the Church; most saints don’t. It may be hard for us to achieve holiness; it is for most saints. Saints are real people, though, not plaster statues or figurines pinned to our car’s visors. They are not softly colored and angelic faces staring at us flatly from a holy card. They are men and women who faced real challenges: hatred from their family for converting, crippling illness, doubts in their faith, criticism from those around them.

What makes a person a saint is that they try to be holy. They recognize their sinfulness, and they repent … and repent … and repent. They learn to tame their temper, their tongue, their pride. They rely on Christ, His Church, the Sacraments, in order to gain grace that no person can gain on their own. They are not perfect. They are, however, holy – not by their own efforts, but by the grace of God.

It is your calling to be a saint. Don’t say you can’t (which is really saying, “I won’t.”) Instead, get to know the saints. Learn how they did it. Ask Mary, the Mother of God, for help. Seek to do good works in your family, in your place of work, in your community, in your parish. Sainthood is not out of reach. In fact, God is handing it to you as a gift, and all you need to do is live out that gift.