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Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 688: Listening with the Ear of your Heart : A Reflection Lectio Divina (Jeremiah 31 : 1-7)

 

1 At that time—oracle of the LORD— I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

2 Thus says the LORD: The people who escaped the sword find favor in the wilderness. As Israel comes forward to receive rest,

3 from afar the LORD appears: With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you.

4 Again I will build you, and you shall stay built, virgin Israel; Carrying your festive tambourines,
you shall go forth dancing with merrymakers.

5 You shall again plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; those who plant them shall enjoy their fruits.

6 Yes, a day will come when the watchmen call out on Mount Ephraim: “Come, let us go up to Zion, to the LORD, our God.”

7 For thus says the LORD: Shout with joy for Jacob, exult at the head of the nations; proclaim your praise and say: The LORD has saved his people, the remnant of Israel.

The main purpose for doing lectio [divina] is not to find out what exegetes have to say about scripture. It is to find out what God has to say, and what he has to say can change our life. St Athanasius in his Life of St Anthony tells us that in the time before Anthony became a monk, he went to church thinking about the first Christians who had everything in common, and he heard the Gospel read: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell everything, and follow me". Athanasius goes on to say: "It was as if by God’s design he had been thinking about these saints, and as if the passage were read on his account. Immediately Anthony went out from the Lord’s house and gave to the townspeople the possessions he inherited from his ancestors".

This shows clearly that there is a meaning in God’s word which cannot be discovered by reading commentaries. If Anthony had had the written text before his eyes, with variant readings and footnotes and the time to examine them, his conversion might not have taken place. Instead, what he did was listen with the ear of his heart to what God was saying, and he discovered with joy that God was in fact speaking directly to him.
 

That can be our experience too, if we also listen carefully to the Lord’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of our heart. They are words from a Father who loves us, and who told us so in the words of the prophet Jeremiah: "With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you". This is the great truth of our lives, the only true and ultimate reality: God’s great love for us, and hence his mercy toward us.
It is this reality which infuses a secret joy into the hidden life of a monk. Thomas Merton called it "Mercy within mercy within mercy".
 

Fr. Justin Sheehan
 

Prayer for before reading the Bible: “O Lord Jesus Christ, open the eyes of my heart that I may hear your Word, and understand and do your will, for I am a sojourner upon the Earth. Hide not your commandments from me, that I may perceive the wonders of your Law. Speak unto me the hidden and secret things of your wisdom. On you do I set my hope, O my God, that you shall enlighten my mind and understanding with the light of your knowledge; not only to cherish those things which are written, but to do them; For you are the enlightenment of those who lie in darkness, and from you comes every good deed and every gift. Amen “—St. John Chrysostom.

Quote from a Saint “It is especially necessary that listening to the Word of God should become a life-giving encounter, in the ancient and ever valid tradition of lectio divina, which draws from the biblical text the living Word which questions, directs and shapes our lives. To nourish ourselves with Word in order to be ‘servants of the Word’ in the work of evangelization: this is surely a priority for the Church at the dawn of the new millennium.” – St. Pope John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte,, 39-40
 

Questions for reflection:
1) Are you familiar with Lectio Divina? If not, do some research on the practice and give it a try.
2) How much time do you spend reading the Bible? Is there a book or books of the Bible that you have never read or read in its entirety? If so, start with just a chapter a day.
3) Do you practice Lectio Divina? Why or why not? Maybe you have tried it in the past and it did not work for you. During your next time of prayer bring a short passage of scripture with you and give it another go.
4) Have you ever felt that the scriptures were speaking to you personally? How did you respond?
5) Have you ever stood in the way of your own conversion? Did you know that God was telling you to do something but you failed to do it?
6) Are you guilty of treating the faith too academically? Do you get lost in the weeds of commentaries and translations while not actually internalizing what the Lord is saying to you?
7) Do you allow the lives of the saints to inspire and encourage you on the path to your sainthood? Do you have any examples of when this has happened?
8) How do you think about the scripture? Have you ever thought of them as “the words of a father who loves you”? Does this quote change or challenge how you had previously thought of the Bible?
9) Do you accept that God love you? Does that make you uncomfortable or does it bring you comfort?
--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP

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Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 687: Be Christ-Like : A Reflection on The Acts of the Apostles (Acts 9:1-20)

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1 Now Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. 3 On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. 9 For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.

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10i There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is there praying, 12 and [in a vision] he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay [his] hands on him, that he may regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias replied, “Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man, what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call upon your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites, 16 and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.” 17 So Ananias went and entered the house; laying his hands on him, he said, “Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized, 19 and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength.

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He stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus, 20 and he began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

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“Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came, that you might regain your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

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WOW! What a greeting! What if a perfect stranger walked up to you and greeted you like that? You’d probably think he was crazy!

 

So I wouldn’t advise you just greeting strangers this way.

 

The reason why Ananias can say this is because God had prepared Saul to HEAR Ananias. Saul was persecuting Christians. Christ appeared to Saul and struck him blind. But as always with God, the punishment is medicinal. Saul is struck blind because he has failed to SEE. He has failed to SEE that Christ and his Church are one. He has failed to SEE that these Christians are no threat to him or Judaism. He has failed to SEE that this new way is the will of God. And so, because he has failed to see all these things, God deprived Saul of his physical sight as well, but only as a means to ends, so his physical AND his spiritual sight might be healed.

 

So God goes to Ananias to be his instrument, and note, Ananias initially protests.

 

“Lord, I’ve HEARD of this guy! He’s bad news! You SURELY don’t want HIM!” “Yeah. I surely do. In fact, I got big plans for him.” And Ananias submits. Now I can only imagine, Ananias had mixed feelings about this job. He MUST have been bitter towards Saul!

 

He’s heard of the martyring of Steven. He probably KNEW Steven. Christianity was NOT that big at this time in history. It’s a strong possibility that the Christians of this time were friends or at least acquainted with one another; Steven especially being a deacon.

 

And now God wants me to go and help my friend’s murderer. YEAH…I think it’s safe to say that Ananias had some mixed feelings. And yet, he greets Saul by saying, “Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me” Now, WHAT if Ananias had greeted Saul with, “Oh, so you’re the Christian killer huh? Don’t look so tough now, do you? Guess what? For reasons I can’t figure, God sent me to bring you to Damascus, because he has a way for you to redeem yourself. Personally, if it were up to me, I’d leave you out here for the wolves to eat you. That’s what you deserve after all. Steven was a friend of mine.” If Ananias had said something like THAT, do you think Christian history would have turned out the same? Do you think Saul would have made that transformation to Saint Paul and spread Christianity all throughout the Roman Empire? You know my brothers and sisters, there’s a difference between OBEYING God and being CHRIST-LIKE. Obedience isn’t enough. Obedience MIGHT get us to purgatory, but it’s NOT going to build the kingdom of God.

 

I’ve had many experiences praying the rosary in front of abortion clinics, and (not ALWAYS, but OFTEN) you get the ONE zealot who dressed up like the grim reaper, or THAT person who’s holding a sign that says, “your soul is going to boil for eternity in the blood of your baby!” You’re NOT helping!! I realize you mean well, but you’re NOT helping! The fruits of the Holy Spirit; gentleness, kindness, compassion, mildness. We have to USE these things when dealing with other people, EVEN if our anger is justified, because we have no hope of saving their souls otherwise.

 

My brothers and sisters, I pray we treat others, the way Ananias treated Saul.

 

Father Michael Sisco

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Prayer for the twelve fruits of the Spirit: “Eternal love of the father and the son, kindly bestow on us the fruit of charity, that we may be filled with consolation ; the fruit of peace, that we may enjoy tranquility of soul; and the fruit of patience, that may endure humbly everything that may be opposed to our own desires."

 

Quote from a Saint  “Perfect love means putting up with other people’s shortcomings, feeling no surprise at their weaknesses, finding encouragement even in the slightest evidence of good qualities in them.” – St. Thérèse of Lisieux

 

Questions for reflection:

1. Have you ever found yourself in Paul’s place-- full of righteous indignation and ready to tear into someone for something that they said or did? Has God stopped you dead in your tracks and made you realize that you were not going to react as a Christian should?

2. When you find yourself worked up about something do you bring it to the Lord before you act upon your impulse?

3. What is your first response when someone says or does something that upsets you? Do you pray for them and for their salvation?

4. Have you ever found yourself in the position of Saul after he had been struck blind and was made aware that something was off with his behavior? Did God send an Ananias into your life who spoke words to you that you would have rejected before?

5. Have you found yourself in the position of Ananias? Has God prompted you to speak with and comfort someone who made you uncomfortable or even disgusted you? Were you obedient to God’s prompting?

6. How are you at obeying God and being Christ-like? Do you find yourself doing what the Lord asks but act brusk, cold or dismissive to people?

7. Do your actions show evidence of the fruits of the Holy Spirit?

8. When you are engaging with others, are you more concerned with winning the argument and setting them right than you are with saving a soul?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP

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Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 686: Healing Division: A Reflection on the Letter to the Ephesians (Ephesians 2 : 13-18)

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13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.

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14 For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, 15 abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it.

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17 He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near,18 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  

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All the citizens of heaven want to promote unity among us; all the citizens of hell want to promote division. Satan wants to divide and conquer. But the closer we get to God, the closer we get to our fellow human beings. The more we love God, the more we love others. St. Dorotheus of Gaza used a potent image to demonstrate this in the 6th century. We’ve heard it many times here at the Abbey [of the Genesee], but I’d like to reference it again. He compared it to something like a wheel with spokes:

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“Imagine that the world is a circle, that God is the center, and that the radii are the different ways human beings live. When those who wish to come closer to God walk towards the center of the circle, they come closer to one another at the same time as to God. The closer they come to God, the closer they come to one another. And the closer they come to one another, the closer they come to God.” (Instructions VI.)

 

But the forces of evil pull us in the opposite direction. When a person wants to cut down a very large tree, they often use wedges in order to get it to fall in a particular direction. You first cut a notch on the side where you want it to fall. Then you plunge the saw into the center of the tree from both sides and cut back toward the notch, leaving a little strip connected that will be your hinge. Then from both sides you cut back toward the opposite side of the tree from the notch and hinge, leaving a little bit connected that will be your strap. In that cut that the chainsaw has left you drive a wedge on both sides. Once they’re tapped in snugly you can go ahead and cut your strap without the weight of the tree closing the gap and pinching your saw. This all sets me up for the image I had in mind. With a sledge hammer you drive the wedges into the cut and tip the tree over. The same would hold true if you wanted to make split rails for a fence from part of the trunk. You would drive wedges into a crack and split it lengthwise. In both cases it’s sort of “divide and conquer” and results in the death of the tree. You’re driving a wedge into what is naturally united.

 

One doesn’t have to look very far these days to see division and discord. We see very emotionally-charged divisions in our country, in our Church, in our families, in our religious communities. Satan has been busy seeing little cracks and driving wedges in. Wedges like climate change, Covid vaccination, abortion, immigration, same-sex marriage, transgenderism, DEI, liberals/conservatives, Democrats/Republicans, whites-vs-people of color, capitalism/socialism, 2nd amendment, Ukraine, Palestine.

 

So what is the solution, to lay down and let people roll over you and never make any opposition for the sake of unity? No. When we can, we should have civil, polite discussions about issues that we disagree on and try not to let them get hijacked or derailed by emotions. If someone doesn’t stand for what we believe, we shouldn’t wish for them to be assassinated. In order to have logical, reasonable discussions it helps to be informed on hot-button issues and be able to put forth some facts and statistics to bolster your arguments. We have a duty to resist things that are inherently evil and try to bring back people who have been led astray by deceptive propaganda. Other times, it’s better to avoid topics that divide us and focus on things that bring us together. We should be “wise as serpents and mild as doves.” (Mt. 10:16)

 

As I said earlier, the devil wants division; God wants unity. Jesus had prayed to his Father, “May they all be one as you and I are one.” (Jn. 17:21) And in our second reading today St. Paul is addressing the division between Jews and Gentiles in the early Church. He says that it is by the blood of Christ that unity occurs, “For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, . . . that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it.”

 

There is hope. We’ve overcome serious division before. Think about how divided our country was around the time of the Civil War. Luckily, we had a really wonderful president then who was able to make difficult decisions and hold things together when they were so tenuous. He, too, paid for it with his blood.

 

We all can do our small part. To quote St. John of the Cross, “Where there is no love, put love and you will find love.” Let’s always try to be considerate of other people. Little acts of kindness go a long way to build unity and heal division.

 

Fr. Stephen Muller

 

Prayer: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek, to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen..”—Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi

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Quote from a Saint: “If our love of God is genuine, then we would quite naturally love our neighbor as ourselves.” Bl. Solanus Casey (19th-20th centuries)

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Questions for reflection:

1. What have you noticed about the divisions between the people around you? What kind of things do they disagree about and how does each side react to the other? Have you observed anyone who has the ability to be kind to someone that they disagree with?

2. Is there visible division in your church? Have you been a part of it or tried to play a role in healing it?

3. Does disunity, especially in the Church, bother you or is it something that you have gotten used to? Bring this with topic with you to your next quiet time with the Lord.

4. Have you noticed that you become closer to other people the closer that you get to God? Why or why not?

5. Do you think that you could use how close and loving you are becoming to others as a gauge to show how close you are coming to God? Jesus tells us that we should love our Lord with all of our hearts mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. How are you doing in the love of God and neighbor?

6. Have you ever experienced the pull of evil drawing you away from God and neighbor? If you have, what were the circumstances? What pulled you back?

7. Why does Satan love division so much?

8. Why do you think it is hard to have calm, civil conversations with people with whom you disagree? What techniques have you found work to keep conversations civil and constructive?

9. Do you pray for those who disagree with you or who you see as being on the “other side”?

10. When you find that your emotions are getting the best of you in a conversation do you pause and turn to Jesus? Why or why not?

 

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP

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Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 685: Calming the Sea: A Reflection on the Gospel of Mark (Mark 4 : 35-41)

 

35 On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, “Let us cross to the other side.”

 

36 Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.

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38 Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm.

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40 Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” 41 They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

 

If you look at the recessional hymn for today’s Mass, it’s a kind of commentary on the readings. It’s addressed to God the Father, and the second verse reads: “By your Son the wide creation / Rose where chaos held its sway; / By the Spirit, God Almighty / Swept eternal night away. / Son, the Father’s love revealing”. The Creator of the sea is the only one who can say to it, as he does in the book of Job: “I set limits for [the sea]...and said: Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled!” And yet the responsorial psalm does not thank the Lord for his power. 

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“Some sailed to the sea in ships”, the cantors sang, and “the Lord tossed the waves of the sea up to heaven and back into the deep”, but “they cried to the Lord in their need, and all the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they thanked the lord” - not for his power - but “for his love”, and we all joined singing “Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting”. 

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Let us cross to the other side”. But “waves were breaking over the boat” so the disciples cried out to Jesus to save them. Jesus echoed his Father who had said “Here shall your proud waves be stilled,” and he, the Son, said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still! And there was great calm”, says St Mark, so that the disciples “were filled with great awe”. 

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And yet it is not the power of the Lord that overwhelms St Paul in the second reading. He begins: “The love of Christ impels us” and then goes on to speak of death, as if it had something to do with all this sea imagery we heard in the first reading and in the Gospel. In fact there is a connection between death and the waves of the sea. At the Night Office on Sunday, the day of the Lord’s resurrection, the monks sing these verses from Psalm 18: “The waves of death rose about me, / the torrents of destruction assailed me. / In my anguish I called to the Lord / and he drew me forth from the mighty waters / he saved me because he loved me”. Not to show his power, or because he loves people in general, but because he loves each particular person, each me. 

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Seen in this perspective, the Gospel this morning is not just a sea story: it is a resurrection Gospel. As the evening of our life draws on, Jesus is the first to cross to the other side. The waves of death rose about him, and he fell asleep on the cross, but even the waves of death obeyed him. He changed the mighty waters of death into the waters of baptism, so that we too could cross to the other side with him, being baptized into his death, and rising with him in the new creation, where the waves of death have no more power over him. 

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And still it is not the power, but “the love of Christ”, that overwhelms us. He could have calmed the waves of death with a word, as he calmed the waves of the sea. But that is not the way of love. The way of love is to suffer what the loved one suffers, to die as every human being dies, and trust in God who was able to raise Christ from death, and did so, “so that we might live no longer for ourselves, but for him who for our sake died and was raised”. Those who live no longer for themselves may be utterly powerless, but their love for Christ is something stronger than death. 

Our Lord and King has made death itself an act of life and freedom, because he has filled it with himself, with his love and salvation. And now, neither life nor death can separate us from the love of Christ. We don’t know when Jesus will say to each one of us in the evening of our life, “Let us cross to the other side”. We don’t know in what way the love of Christ will overwhelm us at that time. But we do know that our very death will be an act of communion with life, and that in Christ our own Passover, our crossing over to the other side, has already begun, that all the waves of the sea will be hushed, and that we shall rejoice because of the calm, for Christ is risen, and life reigns, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Fr. Justin Sheehan

 

 Prayer: “Lord Jesus, we ask you to give us all around peace in our mind, body, soul and spirit. We want You to heal and remove everything that is causing stress, grief, and sorrow in our lives. Please guide our path through life and make our enemies be at peace with us.”

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Quote from a Saint: “For the storms, like a wave, pass quickly. And the fair weather returns, because the presence of the Lord they experience makes them soon forget everything.” --St. Teresa of Avila.

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Questions for reflection:

1. Have you ever considered that each person of the Trinity was involved in creation?

2. Jesus’ command to the weather and that the command was obeyed proved that he was God. He could command creation and it obeyed. How would you react if you saw someone who could calm a storm with a spoken command?

3. Have you ever cried out to the Lord in a time of need like the disciples did in the boat? If so, what were the circumstances and how did He respond? Was the sea calmed or did it feel like you were still in the midst of the storm?

4. Sometimes we face things that cause us terror. Does knowing that the Lord is with you always help you or do you, in the moment, forget that He is there for you?

5. “Love is to suffer what the loved one suffers.” Have you ever suffered along with someone that you loved?

6. Do you live for yourself or Christ?

7. Do you practice Memento Mori? Do you think about your death regularly? We all must experience it and this should spur us on in our desire to help the Kingdom of God to manifest on earth.

8.  “Our Lord and King has made death itself an act of life and freedom, because he has filled it with himself, with his love and salvation. And now, neither life nor death can separate us from the love of Christ.” Does this quote give you some comfort when you meditate upon your death? In what ways is it comforting?

9. Do you know anyone who seems to radiate the peace of Christ? Could you see them sleeping on a cushion during a storm at sea because they know that with their savior constantly at their side they have nothing to fear? What have you learned from that person?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP

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Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 684: Trust: A Reflection on Loving Others (Matthew 10 : 1-73)

 

1 Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.

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2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; 4 Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

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5 Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

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7 As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

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 The novice director at another of our monasteries carries a card in the pocket of his robe with these words printed on them. He takes it out from time to time, to recall them for himself or to share with someone else. They are lines from a letter by St. Charles de Foucauld: 

“From the moment in which we begin to judge anyone, to limit our confidence in him, from the moment at which we identify the person with what we know of him and so reduce him to that, we cease to love the person and he ceases to be able to become better. We should expect everything of everyone. We must dare to be love in a world that does not know how to love.” 

He relates judging others to not confiding in them, not trusting; and in particular not trusting what remains unknown in the other. We might ask: how can we trust what we don’t know? 

But a better question is, how can we trust what we do know? If we knew it we wouldn’t need to trust… At times, what we know, what we’ve seen of the other person may not seem very trustworthy. But that doesn’t define or exhaust who they are. 

We believe in faith that every person is made in the image of God, with the potential to be united with him. However thwarted or disfigured, each person is a unique manifestation of divine creativity, a person with infinite value. 

We must not reduce them to our own observations and diagnoses, however perceptive we might imagine these to be, however conveniently they reinforce our favorite storylines… It’s not that we don’t form ideas about people but that we’re aware of these prejudices and don’t let ourselves grow attached to them. We are ready and willing to be surprised. 

When we judge others we fail to love, and as St. Charles puts it, strikingly, the other person “ceases to be able to become better.” By withholding respect and trust, by pigeonholing others, we actually inhibit their growth. If that seems hard to believe consider the reverse and how much a person can thrive and grow in a loving and supportive environment. 

If we love others as we love ourselves then we need to get free of stale and limiting judgments about ourselves as well. Since, as we read in Sirach, “If you’re stingy with yourself, to whom will you be generous?” 

There’s a Buddhist teacher who would go to meet his students each morning fully expecting that they had attained complete awakening overnight. He came into their presence as he would that of a Buddha. 

Surely we too can hope that grace might have touched the person we find so hard to take? Are we willing to be surprised?  

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Fr. Isaac Slater

 

Prayer: “God who is Love—who lives love in the Trinity, embodies love in Christ, and empowers love through the Holy Spirit—help me know that love for myself, and show that love to others. Help me offer peace even in the midst of my stress, patience in the midst of my hurry, and empathy in the midst of my exhaustion. Restore me, Lord, and help me be an agent of restoration and comfort to others. Amen.”

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Quote from a Saint: “It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into you home, for this is where our love for each other must start." -St Mother Teresa of Calcutta

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Questions for reflection:

1. Are you a trusting person? Do you make rash judgements about people before you even get to know them? How does this effect how you interact with them?

2. Reflect on the statement: “By withholding respect and trust, by pigeonholing others, we actually inhibit their growth. If that seems hard to believe consider the reverse and how much a person can thrive and grow in a loving and supportive environment.” Does this strike you as a true statement? How does your judgment of other effect them and their ability to grow?

3. Do you regularly remind yourself that other people are made in the image of God?

4. Have you ever felt that someone judged you before they got to know you and that because of that there was no way that you could become friends?

5. Do you find it easy to love other people? How about the people that you find unpleasant or undesirable?

6. Do you pray for others regularly? Do you pray for people that you do not like or who do not like you?

7. Do you live in hope that grace will touch people and change them over night?

8. Have you ever witnessed someone who had been touched by grace and changed by it for the better? Did this have any effect on your spiritual growth?

9. Have you ever prayed for the Lord’s grace to touch and change you? Why or why not?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP

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Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 683: The Lord’s Healing: A reflection on the Gospel of Mark (Mark 5:21-43)

 

21 When Jesus had crossed again [in the boat] to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. 22 One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” 24 He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.

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25 There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.

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28 She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” 29 Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” 31 But his disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”

 

35 While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” 36 Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” 37 He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38 When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 f So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”

 

40 And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. 41 He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” 42 The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. [At that] they were utterly astounded. 43 He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.

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“God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living”. God did not make death nor evil, but they are all too present in our daily lives. To the point that many people state that they do not believe in God because death and evil are so present in our world.

Jesus was certainly aware of this fact and that is why he insisted so much in healing and
resuscitating people in the Gospels. When Jesus performed a miracle, the people witnessing it were aware that Jesus was not simply a thaumaturge, a miracle-worker. They knew that Jesus was contradicting that apparently insurmountable law of human life - that nothing can be stronger than evil and death. 

When Jesus healed a person, it was evident that he was also forgiving that person, strengthening his/ her faith and reaffirming the imminence of God’s law of love and life.
That is clear in the two stories we have just heard. The hemorrhage that woman suffered for so many years was certainly seen by the people as a punishment for her sins. And the death of Jairus’ young daughter was probably regarded the same way. When Jesus healed the former and resurrected the latter, he was proclaiming that God’s justice is imperishable, that love is stronger than death and that our faith can save our lives.

But even more than that, Jesus was teaching us that we, too, have this same power. We, too, can convey life and goodness, in a transformative way, for all those around us. How? Forgiving those who offended us. Each one of us brings the marks of death and evil imprinted by others in our lives. We all have witnessed and lived difficult – and sometimes, even horrible – moments in our lives. But death and evil should not have the last word. 

Forgiveness is a true miracle – and that is why it is so demanding, difficult and consuming. Forgiveness contradicts the apparently omnipresent law of evil and death in the world. I am not saying that we should simply ignore and “forget” the evil done against us – that is not forgiveness. Forgiveness is a process which demands truth, sincerity and patience – much patience. But it works. The price of our forgiveness was Jesus’ crucifixion. The price of the forgiveness we grant to those that offended us is Jesus’ and our crucifixion. It cannot be easy. But it transforms our lives.

Forgiveness is a miracle because it transforms the one who grants it and the one who receives it. The one granting it experiences the peace and relief of unloading a huge burden – of anger, resentment and guilt. The one being forgiven experiences a huge blessing: he knows that such grace can only come from God and he experiences love, freedom and the release of all shame. That is why Saint Isaac, the Syrian, said that “he who forgives his neighbor is greater than he who resuscitates a corpse. Because he who resuscitates a corpse conveys the corporal life to someone who will die again, while he who forgives
his neighbor conveys the immortal life to his brother’s soul”. This is a huge miracle and we all received the power, by our Baptism, to do it.

I know it is not easy. It was not easy for Jesus. As I said, Jesus’ love and holy life made him deserve death – and all the evil in the world. That is how we were forgiven. But we can take one step at a time, trying to acknowledge the evil that was made against us, talking about it with someone we trust and trying to wish good for those who hurt us. If we do not do that, we will continue to suffer under the burden of evil and death, with our hearts being torn by anger, resentment and pain. And that is not God’s loving will for us. He did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. He wants us to have life, and to have it more abundantly.  May this Eucharist renew in our hearts our miraculous power to grant forgiveness, goodness and life to all those in our lives.

Fr. Gabriel Vecchi

 

Prayer: “Lord Jesus you come to heal our wounded and troubled hearts, I beg you to heal the torments that cause anxiety in my heart; I beg you, in a particular way, to heal all who are the cause of sin. I beg you to come into my life and heal me of the psychological harms that struck me in my early years and from the injuries that they caused throughout my life. Lord Jesus, you know my burdens. I lay them all on your Good Shepherd’s Heart. I beseech you – by the merits of the great, open wound in your heart – to heal the small wounds that are in mine. Heal the pain of my memories, so that nothing that has happened to me will cause me to remain in pain and anguish, filled with anxiety.

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Heal, O Lord, all those wounds that have been the cause of all the evil that is rooted in my life. I want to forgive all those who have offended me. Look to those inner sores that make me unable to forgive. You came to forgive the afflicted of heart, Please, heal my own heart. Heal, my Lord Jesus, those intimate wounds that cause me physical illness. I offer you my heart. Accept it, Lord, purify it and give me the sentiments of your Divine Heart. Help me to be meek and humble. Heal me, O Lord, from the pain caused by the death of my loved ones, which is oppressing me. Grant me to regain peace and joy in the knowledge that you are the Resurrection and the Life. Make me authentic witness to your Resurrection, Your victory over sin and death, your living presence among us. AMEN”

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Quote from a Saint: "The Cross will not crush you; if its weight makes you stagger, its power will also sustain you." -St Padre Pio

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Questions for reflection:

1. Reflect on the two healings in the reading and that Jesus healed both in body and soul. Had you ever considered these to be more than just physical healings? Does reflecting on this change how you understand these encounters?

2. Have you ever been in the position of the hemorrhaging woman or Jairus, where you were desperate for God’s healing? Did you receive the healing that you wanted or did God have a different plan? How did this effect your faith?

3. Have you or someone you know experienced the healing power of God? If it was a physical healing was there a spiritual component?

4. How well do you deal with the problems of evil and death in your life? Do you look to Jesus to help you overcome any fear or the sense of unease that may accompany them?

5. Are you a forgiving person?

6. Do you find that forgiving others is difficult for you? What is the most difficult part?

7. When you forgive others, do you feel the healing power of that act of forgiveness?

8. How did you feel when you were forgiven for something that you did? How did you feel before you were forgiven?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP

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Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 682: “I thirst” : A reflection on the Gospel of Mark (Mark 4:26-34)

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26 He said, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land 27 and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.

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28 Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

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29 And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”

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30 He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.

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32 But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”

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33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. 34 Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

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 In the Gospels Jesus is often addressed as “Rabbi” or “Teacher” because he took many opportunities to teach, often in parables to the crowds, and great crowd sat that, and often giving instructions to His disciples in private as today’s Gospel reports. A question arises: What was behind all this teaching about the Kingdom? I believe His purpose, His motive can be summed up in two words, “I thirst.”

 

 If you recall when Jesus was near death on the cross, He cried out, “I thirst” and sour wine mixed with myrrh was offered to Him. However, there is much, much more to His thirst and it goes far beyond a sip of sour wine. His thirst is for you, for me, for all; His thirst is for our eternal salvation. His thirst is that we live in relationship with Him and through Him with the

Father and the Holy Spirit. His thirst is so great that it overshadows our lives here and now and for all eternity. There is no moment in which the Lord does not thirst for us individually or call us by name.

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Jesus once proclaimed, “I can only do what I see the Father doing.” Therefore, Jesus’ thirst, His yearning reveals to us our Father’s yearning. To realize this, to recognize this, to respond to this Divine Yearning is what it means to be known as a Christian, as a Catholic. Surely, it is an overwhelming grace to know with certainty that my God yearns for me – my failings, my sins never defeat God though they may defeat us in our response or, at least diminish our response. Jesus taught, “Without Me you can do nothing.” Only by the Spirit’s grace can you, can I, can anyone live yearning for God, seeking His will, living faith to the full. We need strength, desire, steadfastness, commitment – will power is never enough. To yearn for God has to come from God; there is no other source.

 

In the Gospel we heard Jesus’ parable about the mustard seed - the smallest of seeds once sown which becomes the largest of plants. I believe there is something about the Holy Eucharist in this parable. The smallest of seeds, this mustard seed, has a spark of life within it and it needs its proper environment, good soil, rain and sunshine. The consecrated host, small in size of almost no nutritional value, has not a spark but rather the fullness of

life within it, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Him we do not see yet the Lord is truly present and yearns for His proper environment, the good soil of our hearts, our depths - we hold, touch the very Person of our Lord - we believe this because He Himself assured us.

 

The seed grows into a tree so that birds fill the branches and nest in its shade; in a way the tree welcomes them. The Holy Eucharist taken and consumed expands our faith, our hope, our charity - the Lord Jesus with the Father and the Holy Spirit dwell within us and we are moved to be receptive, welcoming of others through charity. The Lord yearns to give us Himself in the Holy Eucharist - we will hear His words at the Consecration of this Mass - “Take and eat”... “Take and drink”. We can imagine the Lord saying with passion,

 

“Please! Receive Me, receive My love for your present and your eternal life.”

Today, each of us can say and say with absolute certainty: “I saw, I held with faith, I consumed the Lord’s yearning for me.” May profound gratitude mark our lives!

 

Fr. John Denburger

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Prayer: “As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?”—Psalm 42 (RSVCE)

 

Quote from a Saint: “Not only [that] He loves you, even more—He longs for you. He misses you when you don’t come close. He thirsts for you. He loves you always, even when you don’t feel worthy. Even if you are not accepted by others, even by yourself sometimes—He is the one who always accepts you.” – Saint Teresa of Calcutta

 

Questions for reflection:

1. Have you ever thought of yourself as a student of Jesus? Do you want to be more like Him and to live like He did?

2. Have you ever given much thought to Jesus’ teachings on the Kingdom of God and what he was trying to convey to his followers about it? Do you have a favorite teaching on the Kingdom?

3. Have you ever meditated on Jesus’ words “I thirst”? If not, bring you Bible with you to your next prayer session and refamiliarize yourself with the “I thirst” in the context that it was written. Then allow the Lord to speak to you.

4. God yearns for you-- is this reciprocal? Why or why not?

5. Do you try to “live your faith to the full?” If so, what does that look like? If not, what would that look like? How can you make steps towards living it to the full?

6. Do you feel like you depend upon God’s grace to do all things? In what ways do you depend on His grace?

7. What do you think about the concept that the Eucharist is like a mustard seed in our lives? Are you willing to let this mustard seed be planted in your soul by the Sower?

8. Do you yearn for the Eucharist or has receiving Communion become routine? What do you do maintain your respect and enthusiasm for the Eucharist? What are some things that you can start doing to spark that fire or maintain the flame?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP

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Oratory of Divine Love Reflection 681: Securing our hold on the spiritual and letting go of the physical : A reflection on the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 6 : 19-23)

 

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.

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20 But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.

 

21 For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

 

22“The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light;

 

23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.

 

Recently in my reading I came across something that stayed with me: “Renunciation is not giving up the good things of this life but accepting that they go away.” In this view, renunciation is not about willpower but acceptance and surrender. The monk, who is characterized by renunciation, comes to be seen not as a spiritual athlete, but under the aspect of mourning.

 

Jesus speaks of worldly treasures that moth and decay can destroy. Pleasure, power, wealth, status, achievement, anything we can grow attached to fades away before long. Only the spiritual transformation brought about by grace endures. “The grass withers and the flower fades but the word of the Lord remains…”

Just as the eye is the “lamp” of the body the spirit is the lamp of the human person. It needs to be placed on the lampstand of the heart to give light to every facet of our experience, our memories, sensations and thoughts; and to all the dimensions of our daily lives, from the banal to the most exalted.

Essential to developing the life of the spirit is the sustained practice of stillness and silence. As our body grows still the turbulent swirl of passions, obsessions and memories emerges into view. As we attend and get close to these passing thoughts and impulses we grow in self-knowledge and become more grounded. With patience, in silence, we find that they settle and like Elijah we hear the “still, small voice” after the storm and crashing rocks.

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As contemplative monks we need to practice and not merely talk about stillness and silence. When we do, all the different aspects of our lives fall into right perspective. It grows easier not to cling to what we can see is fading away. We see clearly there is in fact nothing to hold onto. While this may be alarming it can also bring a sense of exhilaration. All is grass that withers and flowers that fade, but the word of grace God speaks through our conversion endures.

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-Fr. Isaac Slater

 

Prayer: “I weave a silence onto my lips. I weave a silence into my mind. I weave a silence within my heart. I close my ears to distractions. I close my eyes to attractions. I close my heart to temptations. Calm me, O Lord, as you stilled the storm. Still me, O Lord. Keep me from harm. Let all tumult within me cease. Enfold me, Lord, in your peace. Amen.”-- Prayer for Stillness (Prayer from the Celtic Tradition)

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Quote from a Saint: “Silence is the doorkeeper of the interior life.”--St. Josemaria Escriva

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Questions for reflection:

1. Are there things that you have had to renounce as you have grown in your life as a Christian? Did giving those things up help to free you to love God more?

2. Are there things in your life that you need to renounce? Have you taken a close look at your life to know if there are things that need to be renounced?

3. How are you at accepting the will of God in your life? Are you open to His leading or do you resist it? If so, why?

4. How much are you attached to the things that decay? What are the hardest types of things to detach from?

5. Are you actively trying to improve your spiritual fitness? Do you spend time with the Lord in adoration? Do you practice times of silent prayer during the day?

6. Have you placed the Spirit on the “lampstand of your heart” to allow its rays to illuminate all the areas of your life? What does that look like in your life?

7. How attentive are you to your interior life? Do you monitor your thought life? Do you intentionally spend time in silence, especially when it gets uncomfortable, or do you become bored? Much like physical exercise you need to push through the uncomfortable and persevere in order to experience improvement.

8. Do you ruthlessly weed out the things that distract from God in your life, like excessive cellphone usage, having background sounds (like the television or music playing at all times) or endlessly scrolling on your phone?

9. Does the idea that “there is nothing to hold onto” make you uncomfortable or unsettled? Why or why not?

--Benjamin & Kristen Rinaldo, CfP

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