A Journey!

April 22, 2014 Acts 2: 36-41; Ps 33; Jn 20: 11-18

                                               

Dear brothers as we have began to celebrate Easter, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus from death; today the gospel presents us the first account of witnesses to this extraordinary phenomenon that Jesus is alive, that death has no power over Christ. And finally we hear this Good News is been preached for the first time by Mary Magdalene, “I have seen the Lord”. 

In the different accounts of resurrection in St. John’s gospel, we see a gradual progress of faith; a journey of faith in the resurrected Christ, which is different for each persons. John’s account of Resurrection begins with Mary Magdalene going to the tomb early in the morning and found the empty tomb and she thought someone has taken the body of Jesus away. She went and reported this to the disciples.  Then Peter and the other disciples went to the tomb. Peter went in and so the linen. The other disciples also went in, and he saw and believed, yet St. John the evangelist says that they did not know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their home. This is followed by the account that we heard today; Mary Magdalene comes back again to the tomb and finds the angels and then she saw Jesus himself standing, but she did not recognize him. Then Jesus asks her, “Whom do you seek? This question is interesting that this is the same question that he asked when two disciples of John the Baptist went to see Jesus as Jesus was beginning his ministry and they gradually believed Jesus as the true light, the son of God, the Messiah.

Mary Magdalene, still not knowing that Jesus is speaking to her, asks him whether he has taken the body of Jesus. It was only when Jesus calls her by name, “Mary”, here eyes of faith is opened and she recognizes him as her teacher and master. Fr. Raymond Brown, a renowned theologian, comments that this exchange proves what Jesus had said earlier about himself as Good Shepherd. Jesus the Good Shepherd will call his sheep by name and they will know him.  

Mary’s process of coming to the faith depended upon her personal relationship with the Lord, a personal encounter with Jesus and also her understanding that he knows her and calls her by name. As we find ourselves in this Easter stories, let us look our journey of faith. What is my personal relationship with Jesus? We have known Jesus. We have studied about him. We have argued about him. We have preached about him. But this is not enough. It is important that we recognize him. We should hear him calling our name, each one of us; jinu...joseph...maria...sonia...kelly...etc...

In the Resurrection we encounter the living Lord who loves us personally and shares with us his glory. He gives us “eyes of faith” to recognize him, to see the truth of his resurrection, the victory over sin and death. Let this Easter bring us the grace of being known by the risen Christ, the grace of belief, the grace of being called by our name and we may show by our lives that the Lord has truly risen. And we may proclaim like Mary Magdalene: “I have seen the Lord”… Alleluia… Alleluia....

Bro. Jinu Muthukattil S.M.

Why Easter Matters!

Easter Sunday - Why Easter Matters

Easter is significant because it reveals that love is more powerful than death. Death is what frightens us most. It hems us in and it sets the ultimate limit to everything. If death has the final word, then all the evil in the world wins and there's no hope because there's nothing after death. That's the end.  But Easter is the declaration that God's love, the love that made the world and sustains it, is more powerful than death. That's a moment of liberation. It means death no longer enslaves us. The first Christians saw that the bursting forth of Christ from the tomb is the shattering of death's bonds. Even more, the Resurrection is God's great salvation of the world he has made. The God of the Bible doesn't despise matter--just the opposite. God makes everything good. And through the Resurrection, God ratifies, sums up, and valorizes his material creation. Therefore, Jesus' resurrection from the dead is not just about him. It's about all those who will participate in his Mystical Body, the Church, and it's about all of matter. In raising Jesus bodily from the dead, the Father is raising all of matter to new life. We see this as the Bible comes to its climax in the Book of Revelation. There we discover a New Heaven and a New Earth. Heaven is not just some purely spiritual space that our souls go to after we die. It's a new creation, God ratifying and elevating his whole work. That's the climax of the biblical revelation. The God who made the world good has now, out of a passion to set it right, saved that world by raising it up to a higher pitch. The Christian Church gives witness to that great fact. And that's what Easter is about.

Jesus in the Tomb!

Holy Saturday - Jesus Descends Into Hell

Today we commemorate Holy Saturday, the quiet, somber interlude between Good Fridayand Easter Sunday. Instead of sharing my own reflections I'd like to share this ancient homily, written by an anonymous source. It brings to life that stirring line in the Apostle's Creed: "He descended into hell." What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son. The Lord goes into them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: "My Lord be with you all." And Christ in reply says to Adam: "And with your spirit." And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise. I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person. For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden. Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image. See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one. I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you. But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God. The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages."

Why Cross?

Good Friday - Why Focus on the Cross?

It's somewhat Pollyannish to say, "Christianity is just about the Resurrection, and not the Cross." To say that is to deny the gritty evil in the world. But once you get past childhood and start reading serious books and watching more sophisticated films, you find people desperately wrestling with evil. That's what any serious novel, film, or play is about. Just look at any of Shakespeare's plays--there's always someone engaging profound evil. Therefore, it doesn't make sense to say, "Let's not focus on the Cross; it's too sad, too dark, too evil." Pressing the issue theologically, what is the Cross? It's God journey into God-forsakenness. God enters into human dysfunction in all of its forms. In the Passion narratives you have cruelty, violence, hatred, injustice, stupidity--all of human dysfunction is on display. And Jesus enters into that, thereby redeeming it. The Church fathers liked to say, "What has not been assumed has not been saved." Jesus assumes the human condition in all of its dysfunction, going all the way down, so to say. And it's only for that reason he can bring us all the way up. The Resurrection without the Cross is superficial, just as the Cross without the Resurrection is despair. It's the play between the two that matters. Fr. Robert Barron

Holy Thursday - The Initiation

Christianity is a revolutionary religion. It turns everything upside down, reversing the values and expectations of a sinful world. Throughout his life and ministry, Jesus tried to inaugurate people into this new world that he called the Kingdom of God. The nature of this Kingdom became especially apparent as Jesus gathered with his disciples in the upper room, a place of heightened awareness. There he did something extraordinary. Jesus took off his outer garments, tied a towel around his waist, poured water in a basin, and washed the feet of his disciples. He performed an act that was so humble, so lowly, that it was considered beneath the dignity even of a slave. We catch the novelty and shock of it in Peter's response: "Master, are you going to wash my feet?" This is just too much for him; it is such a violation of the world that he had come to accept, a world in which masters were masters, slaves were slaves, where the dignified and important were waited upon while the lowly did the serving. In that world there was a clear demarcation between up and down, worthy and unworthy, clean and unclean. Jesus is putting his followers through a sort of initiation rite. Unless they pass this test, unless they begin to see the world in a new way, they will not get into the Kingdom. And this is why Jesus says to Peter, "Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me." In the vision of the old world, one's life comes to its high point at a moment of honor, praise, glory, or recognition, at a moment when one's distinction and superiority over others is most evident. The old world is predicated on the great divisions between master and slave, superior and subordinate, rich and poor, powerful and powerless, included and excluded. Most of our energy goes into maintaining these distinctions, or trying to get from one side to the other, or keeping certain people on the far side of the divide. But in the vision of the Kingdom of God, the climactic moment comes when one is the lowliest servant of the other: yes, even despised, reviled, spat upon, and handed over to death. It is only when we have passed through this startling initiation that we are ready for the full manifestation of the Kingdom. "You call me 'teacher' and 'master' and rightly so," Jesus says, "for indeed I am. If I therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet." Fr. Robert Barron

The Path of Dispossession!

Lent Day 43 - The Path of Dispossession

They are some of the harshest, most shocking words that Jesus speaks in the Gospels: "Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple."  Why do these words sound so counter-intuitive? Because ever since we were children, the culture has drilled the reverse into us. You're not happy because you don't have all the things you want to have. You will be happy only when you have so much money, or so big a house, or so much respect. You might not be happy now, but some day you might be if you acquire the right things. And what follows from this? Life becomes a constant quest to get, to attain possessions. Remember the foolish rich man from Jesus' parable, the one who filled his barns with all his possessions. Because he had no more room, he decided to tear his barns down and build bigger ones. Jesus calls him a fool because--and I want you to repeat this to yourself as you read it--you have everything you need right now, right in front of you, to be happy. I know it's completely counter-intuitive. We say, "No, that's not right at all; I'm very unhappy, but I'm trying to become happy, and I know I will be a lot happier when I get (fill in the blank)." But I want you to repeat this in your mind: "If I say, 'I'll be happy when,' I won't be happy when." What makes us truly happy? Forgetting our ego and its needs and desires, opening our eyes, minds, and hearts, and letting reality in. What makes us happy is always right in front of us, because what makes us happy is love, willing the good of the other. Next time you're unhappy, here's what you do: you love. When you're feeling miserable, write a note to someone who is lonely; make cookies for your kids; visit the nursing home; donate some money to a charity; sign up to help with an after-school program; say a prayer for someone who's in trouble. Love is not a feeling. It's an act of the will, and it's a great act of dispossession. This is the wonderfully liberating path of holiness that Jesus wants us to walk. He wants joy for us. But the path to joy is the path of detaching ourselves from getting and acquiring. Fr. Robert Barron

Flowers in the Desert!

Lent Day 42 - Flowers in the Desert

We began these daily Lent reflections by noting how Lent takes us into a spiritual desert. Biblical people knew all about the desert: Abraham has to cross it to get to the promised land; Moses and the Israelite people have to go through it to get home; Joseph is sent into Egypt and prison before he is ready for his mission; John the Baptist is a voice crying in the desert; Paul goes into the desert of Arabia after meeting the Lord on the road to Damascus. Even Jesus himself spends forty days and nights in the desert before commencing his ministry--the template on which Lent is based. What does the desert symbolize? A number of things: confrontation with our own sin so as to see our dark side; a deep realization of our dependency upon God; an ordering of our priorities in life; a simplification, a getting back to basics. It means any and all of these things. However, the desert also symbolizes waiting in anticipation. Desert wanderers are compelled to wait, in a time and place where very little life seems to be on offer, in hope of better things to come. And it's precisely in such hopeful deserts that flowers bloom. Moses becomes a great leader; Abraham is the father of many nations; Joseph becomes the savior of his people; John the Baptist is the forerunner of the Messiah; Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles-all of this flowering was made possible by the desert. So as we near the end of Lent, the end of our desert waiting, and move toward the Holy Triduum, let's prepare for new flowers to bloom. Fr. Robert Barron

Prayer and Action!

Lent Day 41 - Prayer and Action

The fruit of prayer in the Biblical tradition is action on behalf of the world. We are, essentially, a mission religion. Even the highest moments of mystical union are meant to conduce to doing God's work in the world, to becoming a conduit of the divine grace. We have mystics, poets, contemplatives galore in our tradition--just think of Bernard, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Merton--but they all see the essential link between prayer and action. This is why Peter's line is so important at the Transfiguration: "Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." As Luke, the author, points out immediately, "But he did not know what he was saying." The point of prayer is not to stay on the mountain. It is not to cling to mystical experience, however wonderful. It is to become radiant with the divine light so as to share it with the world. And this is why, at the Transfiguration, the voice from the cloud identified Jesus and specified, "Listen to him." In other words, don't just admire him; don't simply worship him. Do what he tells you. Authentic prayer always leads to active discipleship. Fr. Robert Barron

Lent Day 40 - The Revolutionary Message of PalmSunday

The texts that Christians typically read on Palm Sunday have become so familiar that we probably don't sense their revolutionary power. But no first-century Jew would have missed the excitement and danger implicit in the coded language of the accounts describing Jesus' entry into Jerusalem just a few days before his death. In Mark's Gospel we hear that Jesus and his disciples "drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives." A bit of trivial geographical detail, we might be tempted to conclude. But about five hundred years before Jesus' time, the prophet Ezekiel had relayed a vision of the "Shekinah" (the glory) of Yahweh leaving the temple, due to its corruption. However, Ezekiel also prophesied that one day the glory of God would return to the temple, and precisely from the same direction in which it had left: from the east (Ez. 43: 1-2). As the people saw Jesus approaching Jerusalem from the east, they would have remembered Ezekiel's vision and would have begun to entertain the wild but thrilling idea that perhaps this Jesus was, in person, the glory of Yahweh returning to his dwelling place on earth. He was the new and definitive temple, the meeting-place of heaven and earth. And there is even more to see in the drama. As the rabbi from Nazareth entered Jerusalem on a donkey, no one could have missed the reference to a passage in the book of the prophet Zechariah: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Zech. 9:9). A thousand years before the time of Jesus, David had taken possession of Jerusalem, dancing before the Ark of the Covenant. David's son Solomon built the great temple in David's city in order to house the Ark, and for that brief, shining moment, Israel was ruled by righteous kings. But then Solomon himself and a whole slew of his descendants fell into corruption. The people began to long for the return of the king, for the appearance of the true David, the one who would deal with the enemies of the nation and rule as king of the world. The Biblical authors expected Yahweh to become king, precisely through a son of David, who would enter the holy city, not as a conquering hero, riding a stately Arabian charger, but as a humble figure, riding a young donkey. Could anyone have missed that this was exactly what they were seeing on Palm Sunday? Jesus was not only the glory of Yahweh returning to his temple; he was also the new David, indeed Yahweh himself, reclaiming his city and preparing to deal with the enemies of Israel. And this is why Pontius Pilate, placing over the cross a sign in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew announcing that this crucified Jesus is King of the Jews, became, despite himself, the first great evangelist! So the message delivered on Palm Sunday, in the wonderfully coded and ironic language of the Gospel writers, continues to resonate: heaven and earth have come together; God is victorious; Jesus is Lord. Fr. Robert Barron!

Suffering Love!

Lent Day 39 - Suffering Love

When a prisoner escaped from Auschwitz in the summer of 1942, the Nazi soldiers imposed their penalty. They took all of the prisoners from the escapee's barracks and lined them up, and then at random chose a man to be put to death in retaliation. When the man broke down in tears, protesting that he was the father of young children, a quiet bespectacled man stepped forward and said, "I am a Catholic priest; I have no family. I would like to die in this man's place." Pope John Paul II later canonized that priest, Saint Maximilian Kolbe. With brutal clarity, Kolbe allows us to see the relationship between suffering willingly accepted and salvation. He was consciously participating in the act of his Master, making up, in Paul's language, what is still lacking in the suffering of Christ. We see a similar example in Saint Francis. Among the many stories told about the joyful saint, one of the most affecting is that concerning his encounter with a leprous man. Young Francis had a particular revulsion for leprosy. Whenever he saw someone suffering from that disease, he would run in the opposite direction. One day, Francis saw a leper approaching, and he sensed the familiar apprehension and disgust. But then he decided, under the inspiration of the Gospel, to embrace the man, to kiss him, and to give him alms. Filled with joy, he made his way up the road. But when he turned around he discovered the man had disappeared. Once again, suffering was the concrete expression of love. When a mother stays up all night, depriving herself of sleep, in order to care for a sick child, she is following this same example, suffering so that some of his suffering might be alleviated. When a person willingly bears an insult, and refuses to fight back or return insult for insult, he is suffering for the sake of love. We shouldn't be surprised when we are called upon to suffer in this world. We have been given the privilege of carrying on Christ's work in just this way. Fr. Robert Barron

Gathering the Flock

Lent Day 38 - Gathering the Flock

What was the world's greatest division, from the standpoint of a first-century Jew? The division between Jews and Gentiles. For centuries, Jews had defined themselves over and against the "other." Jews were the chosen people, gifted with the Law and divine revelation, peculiarly God's own. Throughout the Old Testament the Jews are warned not to mix and mingle with non-Jews, not to imitate their corrupt practices and depraved morals, not to eat the unclean foods that they eat, and above all, not to worship their gods. There was between them a "wall of enmity," and we see this today. Consider all the walls that separate our various cultures and civilizations. There is still the literal wall between Israel and Palestine in the Holy Land. Within our own polity and our church, there's the wall that separates liberals and conservatives. Look to any social circle, high school, or parish and you'll see those same walls. Now mind you, I'm talking about walls of enmity, not separation as such. I'm glad that cultures and nations and groups are diverse. But diversity is one thing, enmity is another. These various forms of enmity are what prevent God's flock from finding unity. Jesus the King came to heal this unity. How did he do this work? In a way that was radically unexpected. He went to Jerusalem and mounted a throne, but the throne was a Roman cross. And he battled non-violently against evil, absorbing it through the divine forgiveness. That's how Jesus "broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh . . . and reconciled [everyone] with God, in one body, through the cross" (Eph 2:14-16). There was no question that Israel was divided, scattered, and that they needed a shepherd. But what occurred to the first Christians after the resurrection is that Jesus' work was meant, not just for Israel, but for the world. He was the Davidic King through whom Israel's God would complete his universal task of gathering his scattered people into one flock. Fr. Robert Barron

The Invasion of Grace!

Lent Day 37 - The Invasion of Grace

A few years ago, news reports revealed that baseball superstar Alex Rodriquez had been using steroids. By his own admission, the great A-Rod joined the sad ranks of Ken Caminiti, Rafael Palmiero, John Rocker, Mark Maguire, Roger Clemens, and of course Barry Bonds. But when I reflected on the two most prominent players in this scandal--A-Rod and Barry Bonds--something struck me with particular power. These two figures began using steroids--Bonds in 1998 and Rodriguez in 2001--when they were at the top of their games, when they were generally regarded as the best players in baseball. They both had sterling records, both were guaranteed a place in the Hall of Fame, both had more money than they could spend in ten lifetimes, both could out-hit, out-run, and out-play practically any player in the game. But why would these gods of baseball, these men who were, without artificial help, dominating their respective leagues, turn to steroids? It has been suggested that Bonds was jealous of the national frenzy around the Maguire-Sosa homerun race in 1998 and that Rodriguez felt the pressure of living up to the expectations generated by his unprecedented contract. Fair enough. But I think that things go deeper than that. St. Augustine spoke of "concupiscent desire," by which he meant a perversion of the will. We have, Augustine said, been wired for God ("Lord, you have made us for yourself"), and therefore, nothing in this world will ever be able finally to satisfy us ("our hearts are restless until they rest in thee"). When we hook our infinite desire for God onto something less than God--pleasure, money, power, success, honor, victory--we fall into a perverted and ultimately self-destructive pattern. When money isn't enough (and it never is), we convince ourselves we need more and more of it; when honor isn't enough (and it never is), we seek honor desperately, obsessively; when athletic success isn't enough (and it never is), we will go to any extreme to assure more and more of it. This awful and frustrating rhythm, which Augustine called "concupiscent," we would call today "addictive." Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez were not addicted to steroids per se; they were addicted to success, and we know this because they were at the pinnacle of success and still didn't think it was enough. One of the most liberating and salutary things that we can know is that we are not meant to be perfectly happy in this life. When we convince ourselves otherwise, we, necessarily, fall into one or more forms of addiction. Bonds and Rodriguez still felt, at the height of their success, a nagging sense of incompleteness. That was not an invitation to take desperate measures; it was the invasion of grace. As Lent nears its end, let your incompleteness be filled by God and not by any of the false, unsatisfying substitutes.   Fr. Robert Barron

Why is Almsgiving Valuable?

Lent Day 36 - Why is Almsgiving Valuable?

Almsgiving is valuable because we're members of a mystical body-we're implicated in each other. I can never say that your suffering is not mine or that your neediness is not mine. All of us are co-implicated. We're responsible for each other and giving alms is a very concrete way to acknowledge that. Almsgiving is also tied to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Every Catholic is obligated, everyday, to practice those. Almsgiving offers a very clear and concrete way to fulfill that obligation.   Fr. Robert Barron

The Lesson of Lough Derg!

Lent Day 35 - The Lesson of Lough Derg

I don't know any other place on earth that better exemplifies purgative suffering than Lough Derg. Otherwise known as St. Patrick's Purgatory, this Irish island was purportedly visited by St. Patrick in the 5th century. The saint came in order to spend a penitential retreat of forty days and forty nights. And from the Middle Ages to the present day, pilgrims have journeyed there, in imitation of Patrick, to do penance and to pray. When the retreatants arrive, they are instructed immediately to take off their shoes and socks, and they endure the three day process barefoot, regardless of the weather. That first day, they fast (eating nothing but dry bread and a soup composed of hot water and pepper), and they move through a series of prayers and spiritual exercises. The first night, they are compelled to stay awake, fasting from sleep. If someone dozes off, his fellow pilgrims are expected to wake him up. The following day, they continue with their fast and their exercises, but they are allowed to sleep that night. The third day involves still more prayer and culminates with confession and Mass. After the liturgy, the pilgrims put their shoes back on and are ferried across to the mainland.  Those who come to Lough Derg take their spiritual lives with utter seriousness, and that is precisely why they are willing to endure hardship-even imposing it on themselves-in order to deepen their communion with God. They know that there are certain tendencies within their bodies and souls that are preventing the achievement of full friendship with God and therefore they seek, quite sensibly, to discipline themselves. John Henry Newman commented that the ascetical principle is basic to a healthy Christianity. He meant that Christians, at their best, understand that our sinful nature has to be chastised, disciplined, and rightly ordered. When the ascetical instinct disappears (as it has in much of Western Christianity), the spiritual life rapidly becomes superficial and attenuated, devolving into an easy "I'm okay and you're okay" attitude. The whole point of the Christian life is to find joy, but the attainment of true joy comes, in a sinful world, at the cost of some suffering. That's why I, for one, am glad that a place like Lough Derg exists. Fr. Robert Barron

Dazzling White!

Lent Day 34 - Dazzling White

In the account of the Transfiguration, we hear that, "While [Jesus] was praying, his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white." The reference here is to Moses whose, face was transfigured after he communed with God on Mt. Sinai, but the luminosity is also meant to signal the invasion of God. In the depths of prayer, when we have achieved a communion with the Lord, the light of God's presence is kindled deep within us, at the very core of our existence. It then begins to radiate out through the whole of our being. That's why it is so important that Luke mentions the clothing of Jesus becoming dazzling white. Clothes evoke one's contact with the outside world. When our clothes become radiant, we become light-bearers in the shadowlands. The God we discover in prayer should radiate out, through us, into the world, so that we become a source of illumination. In prayer today, ask the Lord to transfigure your soul, making it dazzling white. Fr. Robert Barron

Do Not Be Afraid!

Lent Day 33 - Do Not Be Afraid

The fear of death is like a cloud, a terrible shadow that falls over human life and experience. All of our proximate fears are reflections of, and participation in, this primordial fear. It cramps us, turns us in on ourselves, makes us defensive, hateful, violent, and vengeful. Further, most of the structures of oppression in the world are predicated upon the fear of death. Because a tyrant can threaten his people with death, he can dominate them; because a dictator can threaten people with killing, he can perpetrate all sorts of injustice. Whenever the strong (in any sense) overwhelm the weak, we are looking at the ways of death. But what would life be like if we were no longer afraid? What if death had finally lost its sting? Then we would live as the saints do--not immune to suffering, but, if I can put it this way, unaffected by it. We would know that we are loved by a power that transcends death, and this would fill us with an exuberance beyond measure. Jesus came to inaugurate this fearless and death-defying love. Therefore in the great words of John Paul II, which were really the words of Christ, "Do not be afraid." Fr. Robert Barron

Befriend a Saint!

Lent Day 32 - Befriend a Saint

In the Catholic tradition, the saints are not simply models or people to be admired. They are, above all, friends. When we have a devotion to a particular saint, we've found a soul companion, a spiritual guide. In these last couple weeks of Lent, find a saint who is like you in personality, who struggled with some of the same things you struggle with, or who loved the same things you love. Find a heavenly soul-mate and make him or her part of your prayer life-read about them and pray with them. You might not connect with every saint, but chances are you'll find one whose style is agreeable to you. Also, and here's the more challenging suggestion, choose another saint who bothers you, one whom you don't really appreciate or who maybe rubs you the wrong way. It might be just this saint who helps fill you out, to realize in you that aspect of the holy you especially need. The ordinary goal of the Christian life is to be a saint. God has painted all of these masterpieces, clear and messy, attractive and strange, in order to help us toward that goal. (If you're looking for a new or unfamiliar saint to befriend, check out Jennifer Fulwiler's Saint Name Generator.)   Fr. Robert Barron

The Weapons of Love!

Lent Day 31 - The Weapons of Love

In St. Peter's great confession in Matthew 16, he correctly and with great intuitive power shows that he understands who Jesus is. He's not simply Elijah or one of the prophets, not just another great teacher, but the Messiah of God, the one, the deliverer of whom all the prophets spoke. But then immediately Jesus reminds him of the kind of Messiah he would be: "The Son of Man must endure many sufferings, be rejected by the elders, the high priests, and the scribes, and be put to death." Well, how would this accomplish anything? How could this be anything but a repeat of all of the sad, fallen Jewish heroes of the past who were crushed by more powerful enemies? Because this Messiah would defeat the powers of the world, not by fighting them on their own terms, but by absorbing them, taking all the aggression they could muster and then swallowing them up in the ever-greater forgiveness of God. In the cross of Jesus, there is judgment, judgment on the false shepherds of the people and on the occupying powers that have overwhelmed the people. These powers are defeated with the weapons of love, compassion, forgiveness, non-violence; they are conquered by the suffering Messiah. What becomes clear in the Gospels is that this is God's way of battling evil. The world is transformed through the power of suffering love. That is the whole message of the crucified Messiah.  Fr. Robert Barron!

How to Defeat Sin!

Lent Day 30 - How to Defeat Sin

At the heart of St. Ignatius' "Spiritual Exercises" is what he calls the agere contra principle--to "act against" those things that trouble us. Let's say I have a tendency toward overindulging in food, sex, or alcohol. I must find a way to actively battle against that tendency, to actively fast from food, for example. Let's say I'm tempted to badmouth people or be too critical. I need to act against that by, for example, praising people throughout Lent. I might alternatively choose to write a thank-you note, or a note of praise, each day during Lent. In Ignatius' view, sin is like a bent stick that we need to bend back in the other direction--that's the agere contraprinciple. We see this same idea in Dante's writings, especially in his Purgatorio, which I mentioned yesterday. As the seven deadly sins are being purged, the people on the mountain of Purgatory are forced to oppose the sins they previously indulged in. For instance, the envious are turned outward toward others but their eyelids are sewn shut, forcing them to look inward. The slothful, those who indulge in laziness, are made to run around Purgatory without end. These examples illustrate agere contra. Once we reflect on our attachments, we can begin working in the other direction against them. A second powerful strategy against sin is to perform the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Venerable Fulton Sheen noted the expulsive power of the good. When wickedness bubbles up within us, we can brood about it and try to manage it directly, or we can expel it by performing good works, by flooding out the bad with the good. Dorothy Day had it right: "Everything a baptized person does each day should be directly or indirectly related to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy." Make sure your life is filled up with those works and it will generate an expulsive power that helps defeat your sin.

Reconsider the Course!

Lent Day 29 - Reconsider the Course

In Dante's Purgatorio, the theme of waiting is on prominent display. Dante and Virgil encounter a number of souls who slouch at the foot of the mountain of Purgatory, destined to make the climb to heaven but compelled for the time being to wait. How long? As long as God determines. This, I submit, is very hard for most of us. I suppose we human beings have always been in a hurry, but modern people especially seem to want what they want, when they want it. We are driven, determined, goal-oriented, fast-moving. I, for one, can't stand waiting. But is it possible that we are made to wait because the track we are on is not the one God wants for us? G. K. Chesterton said that if you are on the wrong road, the very worst thing you can do is to move quickly. And there is the old joke about the pilot who comes on the intercom and says, "I have good news and bad news, folks: The bad news is that we're totally lost; the good news is that we're making excellent time!" Maybe we're forced to wait because God wants us to seriously reconsider the course we've charted, to stop hurtling down a dangerous road. In this second half of Lent, ask yourself: are you on the right course? Do you need to adjust your direction?

Not on Bread Alone!

Lent Day 28 - Not on Bread Alone

As I've mentioned before, Lent is a desert time, which is to say a time of simplicity, purification, and asceticism. In so many of the great figures of salvation history--Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, David--a period of testing or trial is required before they can commence their work. And where does this testing often take place? In the desert. Jesus himself went into the desert, and although he didn't have any sin to deal with, he still, in his humanity, knew temptation. We hear that he fasted for forty days and afterwards was hungry, causing the devil to say, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." Now, there is nothing wrong with bread or food or drink in general. But the problem is making sensual pleasure the most basic good of your life. Talk to anyone who has become truly addicted to food or drink or drugs or sex--their number is legion in our society--and you will discover what happens when sensual pleasure is made central. To fully flourish, we must place God at the forefront. This is why Jesus counters the tempter by affirming, "One does not live on bread alone." Once that relationship with God is clear and central, you will know how to handle food and drink and sex. So as Lent continues on, ask yourself this question: Have I made sensual pleasure too central? Have I tried to live on something other than God?  Fr. Robert Barron!