The Two Way Street To Easter

Lent can be thought of as two-way street when it comes to preparing to celebrate the joyous season of Easter. During this solemn time of the church we're called to journey with others in remembering Jesus' suffering and sacrifice while also being midnful to ensure that we are preparing our own hearts for the passion of Christ. On one hand, being in solidarity with the suffering of others comes with a sense of ease during Lent because of all the ways we come together.  On the other hand, when dealing with our own suffering, it’s not so easy to face.   I believe that personal suffering bears similarity with personal forgiveness.  When we wrong someone, we make amends with the other and with God, but we may not be able to forgive ourselves. 

Jesus responded to suffering through dialogue.  When he met the blind man near Jericho, there was a dialogue that ensued.  Jesus asked the man what he wants and Bartimaeus indicates that he wants to see (Mark 10: 46-52).  Through a personal dialogue, Jesus comes to restore the man’s sight. 

Jesus wants to dialogue with us about our personal suffering just as he did with Bartimaeus.  Lent, as a  two-way street, provides us with the opportunity to enter into the suffering of others, but we also need to dialogue with Jesus about our own suffering.  This dialogue will link us more intimately with Christ’s passion and ready us to experience the glory of God on Easter.   

Mercy: The Door Opener to Love

As a pilgrim preparing for the Easter event, I was prompted to ask during my reflections, “How are we to intentionally live mercy during Lent?”  For sure, Pope Francis’ document, The Face of Mercy is a guide to help us along that journey, but what more are we called to do to show love, compassion, and mercy in our daily actions? In the section on parables, Francis indicates how far God went to forgive in the story of the father with two sons (Luke 15: 11-31). The prodigal son returned after squandering away all that he had and losing himself to ask for his father's mercy and forgiveness. His second son, who had remained at home anf followed his father's wil, became upset at the open embrace and immediate forgiveness shown to his brother who had done so much wrong.  How did the father leave the door of mercy open for both of his sons? While the father welcomed back his wayward son, the door remained open for the older son who resented the Father’s welcome-back attitude.  For sure, God’s mercy is “tailor made” for us all just as it was for each son in their own situation.

While we don’t know the full outcome of the older son’s bitter attitude, our Lenten journey is a time for us to complete the story of the father and the two sons by looking into our own bitter tendencies.  Being bitter creates a stumbling block to receive and bestow God’s mercy.  Although we might have good reason to resent those who have wronged us, mercy invites us to temper our bitterness so that we can be freed up to sow mercy and reap the benefits of love.

John of the Cross voices the greatest motive for opening our hearts to mercy is that Mercy is the bridge that connects God and man, the grace that draws us near Him.  At the end of this life, when we meet God face to face, there is one question that we will all have to answer, “Did you open the window of your heart to love?"  Love was the motive for Jesus Crucified, because as it is written in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son." Let us remember during this Lenten season and everyday beyond that we're called to ask for and show God’s mercy, in order to open for each of us, the redemptive door of love.

 

Come To The House Of The Lord

    March 13^th and 14th marked the fourth annual Eucharistic Congress in the Diocese of St. Augustine held at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville, Florida.  This event generated nearly 7000 participants who were all there to learn, grow, praise, and celebrate the Catholic faith and our love of Christ.  With the central theme of “Come To The House of the Lord”, the full house was influenced by the presence of Dr. Scott Hahn and also Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Cardinal Dolan, who was the keynote speaker and homilist on Saturday, left the crowd with many fruits of wisdom and faith to think about, as well as reminded us of the importance to always want to be near God. 

 
Br. Jhoni Chamorro and I ran a vocation booth that offered plenty of information about who we are as Salesians as well as a chance to play a few games which drew in the crowds, especially families and young people.  Novice Josh Sciullo’s parents, Mark and Jodi, and siblings Steven and Celine provided all the comforts of home to us while we were in Jacksonville, and for that we were extremely grateful. Still the greatest reward of our time with the Sciullos was to watch how engaged they were in helping us to promote vocational culture as they shared in the day and their experiences with others who stopped by the booth. They were able to share their witness of having a loved one who is discerning his vocation in our community to the many young men who came in contact with our Salesian contingent at the Congress.

          In the keynote address on Saturday morning, Cardinal Dolan spoke about the Mass as a meal, a family meal that we should really crave.  He shared a poignant story of a priest visited an ailing Alfred Hitchcock, the English film maker who was Catholic, as he approached his final days.  Cardinal Dolan shared how toward the end of the visit as they had finished sharing in their conversation, Mr. Hitchcock asked the priest, “Well did you bring me Holy Communion”? The crowd chuckled as Cardinal Dolan shared this story.  He would go on to illustrate that the craving that Mr. Hitchcock had is one that we should all have for the Mass and the Holy Eucharist. We should always remain hungry for Christ in our lives.   Cardinal Dolan also made the reference to Luke’s passage of the Emmaus disciples, who having recognized Jesus when breaking of bread, craved his presence so much that they ventured back to Jerusalem in order to inform the community of Jesus’ presence as their “bread and life”.  
As we meet Jesus by emptying ourselves of false cravings in the Lenten dance of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, may we crave to meet Jesus in the Eucharist, who in this life-giving sacrament will bring us to partake in the meal-made-mystery that brings us life in the here and hereafter.  

          All in all, it was another successful and God-filled experience on the road. Being at the Eucharistic Congress was a great affirmation to the truth of the passage from Matthew’s gospel that says “wherever two or more are gathered in My name,  I am there among them.”

2nd Sunday of Lent - B (March 4, 2012)

2nd Sunday of Lent - B (March 4, 2012) 
Commentary
Mark 9: 2-10

This is My Beloved Son

Mark began his gospel citing clearly what he intended to teach his readers, "the gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God" (1:1)

The rest of his writing teaches us who Jesus is and how in his life, through his words and actions, Jesus reveals to us that he is the only "Son of God."

It begins with the baptism of John the Baptist, where the voice from heaven reaffirms Jesus as God's "beloved Son."

Then we learn of a Jesus who is zealously on a mission to bring God's peace and healing to the human race.

Throughout the gospel, especially when Jesus heals the sick and performs miracles, he would not allow people to speak about it to prevent any misunderstanding of who he is. He is not just a famous teacher or a powerful miracle worker.

Now, as Jesus travels to Jerusalem to undergo his passion and death, with the Transfiguration, he prepares his disciples by giving them a hint of who he truly is, God's beloved Son.

Jesus' identity as God's beloved Son will be fully revealed on the cross, which he accepted out of loving obedience to the Father's will and love for the human race. There, on the cross, through the words of the Roman centurion, Mark teaches us, "Truly this man was the Son of God" (15:39).

God's only Son lives and fulfills his identity on the cross, his ultimate sacrifice of love.

How do we live our lives as God's sons and daughters?