Quotes from Rabbi Jesus

Some meditations are watersheds of clear teaching.  Had one of those yesterday from Luke 6:27-38.  In this passage Jesus tells us:

• Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from the man that robs you. (This one gives me the most trouble . . . I don't like giving without checking the legitimacy of the charity, and that 15% or less is going to "administrative".  The second part seems to indicate that one's house would be repeatedly burglarized.  Although my 10 year old daughter tells me someone was robbed recently and helped the crooks carry out their stuff and even asked them if they wanted their TV.  Either they were living out Jesus teaching very well, or maybe they had excellent insurance and wanted a better TV.  Sorry for the cynicism.)
• Treat others as you would like them to treat you.
• Love your enemies and do good . . . for he, himself, (the Most High) is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
• Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate.
• Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves . . . . Grant pardon, and you will be pardoned.
• Give and there will be gifts for you.

Meditiation Thoughts, some direct quotes, some paraphrased from Fr. John Bartunek in The Better Part (I am thankful blogs are not MLA):

• The more we know our lavish, generous, Lord, the more we will delight in serving such a Lord.
• The more generous we are to others, the better we learn the art of self-giving, of self-forgetful love, the more intensely we will experience the fulfilled and fulfilling life we long for.  (I have been experiencing this the past couple of years.  Still just over the starting line of a more generous life, but it is definitely more intense and more fulfilling.)
• We are created in God's image, and God is love; his very divine nature is all about self-giving.  The more we develop our capacity for love--authentic, self-forgetful love - the more we mature into what God created us to be.
• As a mature apple tree bears abundant fruit, so a mature, healthy soul overflows with the spiritual fruits of profound joy (yes), peace (sometimes. . . for me this requires more growth in virtue to be lasting), and enthusiasm (yes!).
• The devil wants us to think heaven is boring --but there is just too much overflowing life and love to leave even a tiny nook or cranny of boredom to creep in! (This I think is really believable.  Reminds me of times I have been laughing with my kids--who are very full of life and love, or having great conversations with friends.  There is nothing boring about it.  It is the best!)
• The identifying mark of a Christian is treating others - ALL OTHERS - the way God does, the way God treats us.
• God is kind and merciful "even to the ungrateful and the wicked".  If we are his children, his followers, we will be kind and merciful too.  (This reminds me of when my daughter, then in 3rd grade was practicing to cantor the responsorial psalm at the school Mass.  My son, then in Kindergarten thought she was singing, "The Lord is kinda merciful . . . .The Lord is kinda merciful . . . "  He has a better understanding now that he is in 7th grade.)
• We will be quick to forgive, quick to make excuses for others, quick to avoid judging and condemning them.  We will think well of others, speak well of them, and treat them like the children of God, and thus our brothers and sisters, that they truly are.
• God never holds back his love, and neither should we.
• When we were baptized, he came to dwell within us, so that he could emanate his goodness to the world through us.  Unfortunately, our pettiness, selfishness, and partiality, often obscure his light instead of transmitting it.  Learning to let his love and light shine more and more, in every moment and in every relationship is the only task that really matters -- the only lesson that Christ is hoping we will learn (with plenty of his help) perfectly.
• The desire for happiness is a gift from God, a homing device that impels us towards God, the only source of true and lasting happiness. (Really?  Because I thought our crosses were gifts too?)
• If Christ demands sacrifice and generosity, if his way of life seems hard, if the cross is painful, it's only a temporary pain, like that of someone recovering from reconstructive surgery.  Christ is the doctor of our fallen, selfish souls, and he eagerly looks forward to the day when we will join him in heaven. (oh . . . that explains my question from the preceding point)

Lord, Send your Holy Spirit into my soul, and into the souls of all the members of your Church.  Teach us to live lives of authentic Christian charity.  Come Holy Spirit, enkindle within us the fire of your love . . . the love for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the love you will us to show to our brothers and sisters, the other members of your mystical body.

Thank you Jesus for coming to earth to show us the path to true human fulfillment both here on earth and forever in eternity.  I trust you, Lord, teach me to spread your love, and your truth and so to draw others closer to you.  Thank you that you love each of us so much more than we can begin to comprehend.  Thank you that you are patient with us and long-suffering through our ingratitude, inconstancy, and give us grace, mercy and strength to get back up, even after we do things that injure the others you love.  Please forgive us.  Please pour out your grace of conversion and true repentance into our hearts.  

Thank you for the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion.  Please cleanse our hearts from all desires except the desire to love you better and to follow wherever you lead.  Thank you that you are so eager to come into our lives, that you stand knocking at the doors of our hearts.  Thank you for giving us the words that lead to fullness of human happiness here on earth and forever in heaven.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Isaiah 51:10)

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

Wow -- I LOVE Our Pope!

Posted on Wed, Mar. 28, 2012 From Pope Benedict XVI’s homily in Havana Dear Brothers and Sisters, “Blessed are you, Lord God…, and blessed is your holy and glorious name” (Dan 3:52). This hymn of blessing from the Book of Daniel resounds today in our liturgy, inviting us repeatedly to bless and thank God. We are a part of that great chorus which praises the Lord without ceasing. We join in this concert of thanksgiving, and we offer our joyful and confident voice, which seeks to consolidate the journey of faith in love and truth. “Blessed be God” who gathers us in this historic square so that we may more profoundly enter into his life. I feel great joy in being here with you today to celebrate Holy Mass during this Jubilee Year devoted to Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre. . . . In today’s first reading, the three young men persecuted by the Babylonian king preferred to face death by fire rather than betray their conscience and their faith. They experienced the strength to “give thanks, glorify and praise God” in the conviction that the Lord of the universe and of history would not abandon them to death and annihilation. Truly, God never abandons his children, he never forgets them. He is above us and is able to save us by his power. At the same time, he is near to his people, and through his Son Jesus Christ he has wished to make his dwelling place among us. “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (Jn 8:31).  In this text from today’s Gospel, Jesus reveals himself as the Son of God the Father, the Savior, the one who alone can show us the truth and give genuine freedom. His teaching provokes resistance and disquiet among his hearers, and he accuses them of seeking to kill him, alluding to the supreme sacrifice of the Cross, already imminent. Even so, he exhorts them to believe, to keep his word, so as to know the truth which redeems and dignifies. The truth is a desire of the human person, the search for which always supposes the exercise of authentic freedom. Many, however, prefer shortcuts, trying to avoid this task. Some, like Pontius Pilate, ironically question the possibility of even knowing what truth is (cf. Jn 18:38), proclaiming that man is incapable of knowing it or denying that there exists a truth valid for all. This attitude, as in the case of skepticism and relativism, changes hearts, making them cold, wavering, distant from others and closed. They, like the Roman governor, wash their hands and let the water of history drain away without taking a stand. On the other hand, there are those who wrongly interpret this search for the truth, leading them to irrationality and fanaticism; they close themselves up in “their truth”, and try to impose it on others. These are like the blind scribes who, upon seeing Jesus beaten and bloody, cry out furiously, “Crucify him!” (cf. Jn 19:6). Anyone who acts irrationally cannot become a disciple of Jesus. Faith and reason are necessary and complementary in the pursuit of truth. God created man with an innate vocation to the truth and he gave him reason for this purpose. Certainly, it is not irrationality but rather the yearning for truth which the Christian faith promotes. Each human being has to seek the truth and to choose it when he or she finds it, even at the risk of embracing sacrifices. Furthermore, the truth which stands above humanity is an unavoidable condition for attaining freedom, since in it we discover the foundation of an ethics on which all can converge and which contains clear and precise indications concerning life and death, duties and rights, marriage, family and society, in short, regarding the inviolable dignity of the human person. This ethical patrimony can bring together different cultures, peoples and religions, authorities and citizens, citizens among themselves, and believers in Christ and non-believers. Christianity, in highlighting those values which sustain ethics, does not impose, but rather proposes Christ’s invitation to know the truth which sets us free. The believer is called to offer that truth to his contemporaries, as did the Lord, even before the dark omen of rejection and the Cross. The personal encounter with the one who is Truth in person compels us to share this treasure with others, especially by our witness. Dear friends, do not hesitate to follow Jesus Christ. In him we find the truth about God and about mankind. He helps us to overcome our selfishness, to rise above our ambitions and to conquer all that oppresses us. The one who does evil, who sins, becomes a slave of sin and will never attain freedom (cf. Jn 8:34). Only by renouncing hatred and our hard and blind hearts will we be free and a new life will well up in us. Convinced that it is Christ who is the true measure of man, and knowing that in him we find the strength needed to face every trial, I wish to proclaim openly Jesus Christ as the way, the truth and the life. In him everyone will find complete freedom, the light to understand reality more deeply and to transform it by the renewing power of love. The Church lives to make others sharers in the one thing she possesses, which is none other than Christ, our hope of glory (cf. Col1:27). To carry out this duty, she must count on basic religious freedom, which consists in her being able to proclaim and to celebrate her faith also in public, bringing to others the message of love, reconciliation and peace which Jesus brought to the world. It must be said with joy that in Cuba steps have been taken to enable the Church to carry out her essential mission of expressing her faith openly and publicly. Nonetheless, this must continue forwards, and I wish to encourage the country’s Government authorities to strengthen what has already been achieved and advance along this path of genuine service to the true good of Cuban society as a whole. The right to freedom of religion, both in its private and in its public dimension, manifests the unity of the human person, who is at once a citizen and a believer. It also legitimizes the fact that believers have a contribution to make to the building up of society. Strengthening religious freedom consolidates social bonds, nourishes the hope of a better world, creates favorable conditions for peace and harmonious development, while at the same time establishing solid foundations for securing the rights of future generations. When the Church upholds this human right, she is not claiming any special privileges for herself. She wishes only to be faithful to the command of her divine founder, conscious that, where Christ is present, mankind becomes more human and founds its consistency. . . . Invoking the maternal protection of Mary Most Holy, let us ask that each time we participate in the Eucharist we will also become witnesses to that charity which responds to evil with good (cf. Rom 12:51), offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to the one who lovingly gave himself up for our sake. Let us walk in the light of Christ who alone can destroy the darkness of error. And let us beg him that, with the courage and strength of the saints, we may be able, without fear or rancor but freely, generously and consistently, to respond to God. Amen.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/28/v-print/2718835/full-text-of-pope-benedict-xvis.html#storylink=cpy

Contemplation of His Painful Wounds

Jesus to St. Faustina:

“There is more merit to one hour of meditation on My Sorrowful Passion than there is to a whole year of flagellation that draw blood; the CONTEMPLATION of MY PAINFUL WOUNDS is of great profit to you, and it brings Me great joy.” (#366)

“There are few souls who contemplate My Passion with true feeling; I give great graces to souls who meditate devoutly on My Passion.” (#73)

I just finished watching a 4 minute, 18 second video with the most horrific scenes from the Passion of the Christ.  I almost didn't make it past the 2 minute mark.  Yet Jesus said 1 hour to St. Faustina, and I was ready to push the little x on the window tab after 2 minutes.  If you don't want to lose whatever your current steady state is emotionally you may not want to hit any of the hyperlinks in this post.

I hate that Our Lord had to suffer like this for us.  I was saying that out loud with tears in my eyes while watching the video, "I HATE that this was necessary."  The women that played Mary Magdalene and Mary were very good in the movie.  Their reactions seem more real than the reaction of the man playing St. John.  He doesn't show the pain in his face or actions that I am sure St. John felt.

I've been praying over the past year that I would have a wound in my heart that would keep me from being unfaithful to Him.  A wound that would keep the most tender affections aflame for Jesus at all times rather than just in fleeting moments.  Not sure how that wound would get there if I don't spend more time meditating on his Sorrowful Passion.  Knowing now that I could barely take a 4 minute video . . . answers the question why Jesus hasn't answered that prayer request.

What do I mean by wound?  I don't think I mean an actual pain like an ulcer or something, I think I am asking for an ever present, deep love and tenderness for my God in my spirit, and my mind connected to my spirit.  

Maybe I already have part of what I am asking for, if it hurts to see my beloved in the pain he must have endured for our sake . . . my sake.

I went to Church for Adoration last night.  I did the Stations of the Cross while I was there.  It was a good meditation, but not near as intense as my internal reaction to the unsanitized visuals of Jesus's painful wounds.  When I look at the 10th station of the cross in this church, as in every other church where I have done this devotion, there is usually no blood showing on Jesus's body when they pull the garment from him before he is nailed to the cross.  How different it really was.  The Passion of the Christ shows that his garment had streaks all over it in the color of wine . . . drying blood.    When it was pulled from him it reopened all the wounds that had been closing up from the scourging.  I can't imagine the pain that he felt in that moment.

I found a little website explaining how brutally the Roman soldiers would have beat someone arrested for treason.  How accurate Gibson's portrayal of that was!  The only question is how Jesus did not lose consciousness or go into shock resulting from that torture alone.

God's ways, wisdom, love, omniscience, lovingkindness, and longsuffering are not for me to question.  I do wonder though if he was clear with Adam and Eve the horrible penalty selfishness and pride would be to repay.  I wondered briefly just now, maybe if Eve were shown in her mind's eye, the real pictures that some of the mystics saw, like Anne Catherine Emmerich, Therese Neumann, and St. Gemma Galgani, if maybe then to prevent that future she wouldn't have called on God when the serpent started talking to her, "Father, this serpent is talking and telling me what you said isn't true.  Is this what could lead to the bloody sacrifice and torture of your Son?"
Wait, maybe this isn't a foolish fantasy, but a helpful meditation that will sober and strengthen me.  St. Gemma Galgani had a horror of sin.  I think meditating on Christ's passion leads to this.  Horror of sin comes from seeing what sin caused our Lord, whom we love, to suffer.

I posted on Community of Catholic Bloggers another music video that uses pictures from the Passion of the Christ.  The song is better, but the picture sequence isn't as intense as the one I watched immediately before beginning this post.  There were no flashbacks to seeing Jesus at the Last Supper or with Mary.  It was just the torture and the suffering . . .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WBsIB9eLIw.  Most of you remember that the details acted out in the movie came from the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich.     

 

I remember seeing a pieta statue of Mary holding Jesus on the grounds of the Divine Word campus in Northbrook, Illinois.  I found an image with a quick google search of this statue.  I remember a caption under it that I can't make out in this small photo but it read, "Greater than the ocean is my sorrow."

Mother Mary, please help us to finish Lent with Jesus remembering his passion.  We want to join you at the foot of the cross for love of Jesus, beloved Son to you and Our Heavenly Father.

Here is beautiful excerpt of prayer for The Seven Sorrows by Fr. Lawrence Lovasik:

Though worn with sorrow, you at once took your place at the foot of the cross. There you stood bravely, your eyes fastened on your Divine Son. How generously you offered Jesus, your dearest treasure, as a Victim to the justice of His offended Father! How courageously you united the oblation of your own suffering and grief with the offering of Jesus, thus proving yourself worthy not only to share but also to be one with Him in the redemption of souls.

Parting with your dying Son was the height of your sorrow. But with the same humility with which you had conceived Him, you consented to the supreme loss of your God. Jesus had delivered Himself in His Passion to the will of His Father, and before His sacrifice for sinners could be perfect, He had to be forsaken by that Father. In the same way you, who freely delivered your son to a cruel death, parted with your Son. Only thus could you become one with Your God in the salvation of souls.

Mary, My Mother, more courageous than the martyrs, you stood at the foot of the cross. The suffering of Jesus in His dereliction was the most difficult test of your faith. In union with Him you also did the will of God perfectly as He exclaimed "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit."

When you heard Jesus utter these words and saw Him bow His head and die, you died a spiritual death. Gazing sorrowfully on His lifeless body, you watched the soldier drive the spear into His Heart. The words of Simeon were then fulfilled. "And thy own soul a sword shall pierce." Filled with grief, you saw how the disciples removed the nails from the Redeemer's hands and feet, extracted the thorns from His head, and took Him down from the cross. What a sight met your tear-dimmed eyes when you beheld the body of your Son, bruised and mangled and covered with open bloody wounds. Your soul filled with love and sorrow, you embraced your Son now pale in death, a victim for the sins of mankind. 

Humbling Ourselves

This study guide comes from The Ladder of Divine Ascent by John Climacus.  My priest recently said in a homily that pride is the mother of all sins and there was no fiber of honesty in me that could disagree with him.  I stumbled on this while trying to prepare for my Religious School class this morning.  Teaching is often how I learn and thought you might enjoy this study guide as well as you make your way through Lent, and this pilgrimmage of life.  This isn't a lesson for 1st and 2nd graders so much, but possibly the Holy Spirit or my Guardian Angel may have led me to it?

 

From Amazon description for the book:  The Ladder of Divine Ascent was the most widely used handbook of the ascetic life in the ancient Greek Church. Popular among both lay and monastics, it was translated into Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, Old Slavonic, and many modern languages. It was written while the author (who received his surname from this book) was abbot of the monastery of Catherine on Mount Sinai. As reflected in the title, the ascetical life is portrayed as a ladder which each aspirant must ascend, each step being a virtue to be acquired, or a vice to be surrendered. Its thirty steps reflect the hidden life of Christ himself. This work had a fundamental influence in the Hesychastic, Jesus Prayer, or Prayer of the Heart movement.

Ascending the Heights

Study Guide

HUMBLING OURSELVES

Step 22-23,

Vainglory & Pride

Vainglory seeks recognition and adulation from other human beings;

Pride refuses to acknowledge the truth of one's relationship with God. 

Pride twists our world view to a point where both other people and God come to be seen as unimportant and, irrelevant.

“That which we need to reconnect to, in order to cure Pride and Vainglory is:

1. Community (koinonia), where gifts can be experienced as the expression and result of our interactions with one another;
2. Humility (tapeinophrosune), understood especially as truthful, honest acknowledgement of our indebtedness to one another and above all to the grace (charis) of God.”

St. John lists several signs that we have fallen victim to vainglory

1. Vainglory enters our lives when we grow concerned about what other people think of us.
2. It captures our hearts when we enjoy their words of praise.
3. It takes over our hearts when we begin to work for these words of praise which bring us such joy.

How can we conquer vainglory? St. John is very clear in his instructions.

1. The first step is to remain silent and to accept dishonor gladly.
2. The middle stage is to check every act of vainglory while it is still in thought.
3. The end-insofar as one may talk of an end to an abyss-is to be able to accept humiliation before others without actually feeling it.

We have to ask ourselves the following questions:

1. Does my behavior change when no one else is around?
2. Do I find myself telling others about all of my spiritual efforts and blessings?
3. Do I believe my "press clippings"?
4. Do I find myself replaying what others have said to me or what I have said to them over and over again in my mind?
5. Do I act and talk as if I have experientially known spiritual truths that I have only read about?
6. Do I become discouraged and quit when no one notices what I do or I do not receive the praise and thanksgiving I think I deserve?
7. Do I hide my sins and failings from others, even to the point of lying or shading the truth so that my true faults are not discovered by others?
8. Do I become defensive when I am criticized?
9. Do I feel the need always to make sure that everyone knows why I did something?

If we answer "yes" to any of these, then the spirit of vainglory lives within us.

Developing humility: Here are some daily exercises for controlling pride and developing humility.

1. Do something good or help someone— and make sure no-one else ever finds out.

    Matthew 6:3–4

2. Tell someone about something in your life you regret or are ashamed of—they can help you improve.

    James 5:16

3. Compare your achievements in serving God with those of Jesus or Paul.

    Hebrews 3:1–2; Philippians 4:9

4. Do not praise yourself or talk about the things you have done to serve God.

    Proverbs 27:2

5. Do everything to give glory to God and not yourself.

    1 Corinthians 10:31

6. If you feel like boasting, boast about God and His power.

    Jeremiah 9:23–24

7. Praise others every day and consider them better than yourself.
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Explanation on the icon from the Byzantine Catholic Church of USA Website:  The icon is of the Ladder of Divine Ascent. In his spiritual classic book of the same name St. John Climacus compares the stages of spiritual growth to the steps upward to heaven on a ladder. At the top of the ladder is Christ, coming from heaven. The goal of the spiritual life is theosis (growing towards God). We are reminded that the meaning of the Fast is so that "you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:4)