Category: Lectio Divina

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” (Mt 10:37-42)

These are the last two paragraphs of the Mission Discourse which takes up all of chapter 10 in the gospel of Matthew. If we look at the whole chapter as one unit, we could hear Jesus saying to us:

I’m sending you out, giving you authority to be in the world an extension of the mission you have seen Me carrying out: proclaiming that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, healing, curing, raising the dead, driving out demons, teaching, loving, forgiving (v. 1, 7)

BUT…

You will find it no easier than I…. If they have called me Beelzebul, then they will also call you this (v. 25).

REMEMBER THIS…

Everyone who acknowledges Me before others I will acknowledge before My heavenly Father (v. 32).

This is the end, the telos, what it is that we look forward to: a relationship—to stand before the heavenly Father with and in Christ!

SO…

Don’t control things by packing up everything so you can rely on material things for your safety. Don’t move around trying to find the best situation for yourselves according to who will care for you the best. Don’t plan ahead for your defense (v. 9-23).

And then three times Jesus says:

Do not be afraid of them (v. 26, 28, 31). I am inviting you into a relationship. I am a link, in a sense, that brings you into direct relationship with the Father who loves you and cares for you more than the sparrows. Others—mother, father, siblings—may reject you when you enter into a relationship with Me, but my Father will never leave you without his help.

AND YOU TOO ARE A LINK NOW FOR OTHERS…

Be a strong link. Align yourself with Me. Do not grasp onto and preserve your identity, control, security, or self-centered desires pursued on your own terms. Instead, lose your life for My sake (v. 39), surrendering it in trust and obedience, giving up your own agenda to follow Me. Take the risk to love Me and trust Me. Only I can give you eternal life.

When you do this, you become a link for others to come to Me. When they receive you, they receive Me, and when they receive Me, they receive the one who sent Me (v. 40). Even if they just give you a dixie cup filled with cold water, this kindness to you will link them to Me (v. 42).

What does this look like in practice?

Élisabeth Leseur was a French laywoman whose diary and sacrificial love played a pivotal role in transforming her atheist husband, Félix Leseur, into a Catholic—and eventually a priest. Her husband, who aggressively promoted atheism, often mocked his wife and attempted to undermine her faith. She responded not with anger, but with quiet, patient love and prayer. She maintained a secret diary over many years, in which she recorded spiritual reflections and offered prayers for her husband’s conversion—offering her suffering for his soul.

As she suffered from cancer, Elisabeth wrote a final note to Félix predicting his eventual conversion:

“In 1905 I begged Almighty God to send me sufferings with which to pay the price of your soul… The day I die, that price will be paid… Greater love no woman hath than this…”

After her death in 1914, Félix discovered her diary and writings. He was deeply moved by the depth of her faith, love, and self-sacrifice. His heart gradually began to change, and a  pilgrimage to Lourdes, made with the intent of disproving miracles, became the turning point of his spiritual journey. In 1917 he embraced Catholicism, joined the Dominicans, and was ordained a priest six years later.

Élisabeth Leseur’s cause for beatification was opened in 1934. She is a Servant of God.

You too are one of these links—connecting others to Jesus and his Father. Your story will look very different, your choices your own as Jesus leads you, and with you as a link in the world, Jesus is still able to walk about reaching others and bringing them into his relationship with the Father.

You too are commissioned by Jesus. Who is waiting for you to become this link for them?

Photo credit: Photo by Kaboompics.com

Praying with this Passage of Scripture

“For God so loved the world….” (Jn 3:16)

Love is the key to understanding God. And love is the key to becoming truly who we were created out of love to be.

On the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, we speak about the deepest truth of God’s identity: a God who is Love (see 1 Jn 4:8), who, because of his great love for us, brought us to life in Christ (see Eph 2:4-5).

From the beginning, before the foundation of the world, the Father has loved us and chosen us (see Eph 1:4). He loves the world—the whole world, in all its brokenness—and moves toward it in mercy. The origin of our salvation is not human pleading, but divine initiative. Love begins with the Father.

Jesus gave his life for us that we might live (see 1 Jn 4:9-10). Jesus, the Word made flesh, enters our story not with condemnation but with compassion. In him we see what divine love looks like: it walks with the poor, heals the sick, forgives the sinner, and lays down its life. To believe in him is to trust that we are loved beyond measure. It is to allow ourselves to be drawn into the relationship he shares with the Father.

The Holy Spirit is love poured into our hearts, the bond between God and us (Rom 5:5). The Spirit is the hidden presence of God who awakens faith, convicts the heart, and dwells in those who believe. The Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son poured out into our hearts, drawing us into their communion.

It is not easy for us to allow ourselves to be loved like this. On this earth you and I know only imperfect love. Indeed, we ourselves can give to others only a love that is broken. Love on this earth is confined and distorted and confused and manipulated. In the name of love people are used and treated as objects. The beauty of love is lost when it is traded for gain, prestige, advancement, and power.

And yet we long to love and to be loved and to give love. We yearn to live in the communion of love we see in the Triune God, in the perfect, eternal, self-giving communion of love that overflows and reaches out to us. Our thirsty souls stretch out to this everlasting well of life-giving water so that we might be the presence of the kingdom on this earth precisely through the way we love like God.

Draw us, most Holy Trinity, into Your divine communion,

God the Father and Source of Love, we praise you.

God the Son, Love made visible, we praise you.

God the Holy Spirit, Love poured into our hearts, we praise you.

Amen.

Image credit: Pietro Novelli, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Praying with this Passage of Scripture

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” (Mt 28:5-7)

You who are busy, burdened, and weary—
you who wake each day to a world filled with uncertainty, division, and need—
this Easter moment is for you.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary quietly, perhaps anxiously, set out to the place of their sorrow, where their Lord was laid in a tomb. They were not rushing. They carried no plans, no solutions—only sorrow.

It was dark. What were the thoughts that swirled in their hearts in the early hours after the Sabbath. Images of the Friday before, of Calvary, of the cold tomb, of the stone rolled between them and Jesus. They came to grieve, and yet, their desire to be near the Master they loved—and who so loved them—placed them at the heart of the greatest moment in history.

Suddenly the earth trembled. An angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolling back the stone. Flashes of lightning lit up the inner shadows of their sadness, wiping away tears and memories and fear-filled anticipation, replacing it with a Face.

As they ran with hearts racing—carrying both fear and joy—Jesus met them himself. He met them on the road, right where they were.
And he repeated the words the angel had said moments before: “Do not be afraid. Go… I am going ahead of you.”

Benedict XVI declared at Easter in his Urbi et Orbi address in 2012: “Every Christian relives the experience of Mary Magdalene. It involves an encounter which changes our lives: the encounter with a unique Man who lets us experience all God’s goodness and truth, who frees us from evil not in a superficial and fleeting way, but sets us free radically, heals us completely and restores our dignity.”

Friend, in all your busyness, in your care for others,
in your worry over the state of the world,
hear this: you also are standing right now at the greatest moment in history as the clap of victory and the trumpet of glory announce: The tomb is empty. And Jesus is already ahead of you.

You do not carry this day alone.
You are not holding the world together by your effort.
You are not running toward an uncertain end—
You are being met by the Risen One who has already gone ahead of you.

So breathe.
Let this be your resurrection morning, too.

Once more, let us listen to Benedict XVI describing the power breaking into the world that morning of the resurrection: “Dear brothers and sisters! If Jesus is risen, then – and only then – has something truly new happened, something that changes the state of humanity and the world. Then he, Jesus, is someone in whom we can put absolute trust; we can put our trust not only in his message but in Jesus himself, for the Risen One does not belong to the past, but is present today, alive.”

Jesus, Risen One, let your joy rise in my heart at dawn. Bring me comfort in my fears, certainty and security in your love that will never let me go, never let us go. Let me run this day in a world bright with your glory as a quiet bearer of the truth every soul so longs to hear: The tomb is empty. Christ is alive, present today among us. All is made new. Alleluia.

Image credit: Photo by Josh Withers

Praying with this Passage of Scripture

“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)

It’s a phrase that’s made its way into everyday wisdom—even outside of religious settings. We say things like:

“Pride comes before a fall.”
“What goes up must come down.”
“The higher you climb, the harder you fall.”
“Empty vessels make the most noise.”

And while all these sayings carry a certain truth, they don’t quite capture what Jesus is saying here.

In the parable, Jesus describes two men going up to the temple to pray. One is a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee is confident. He recounts his spiritual résumé—his achievements, his goodness, his image.

He’s not exactly lying—he probably does fast and tithe. But he missed the point. He wasn’t praying to be known by God. He was performing. Sometimes when we pray we offer to God what we think will impress him. Or we simply remain wrapped in ourselves and chatter about the things that make us comfortable.

The Pharisee came to God to present an image of himself, not to have a relationship. He trusted in what he had made of his life.

But whatever we accomplish on our own steam—
even if it brings influence, power, success, or admiration—
it doesn’t last.
It can’t give us life.
It crumbles.

And God isn’t interested in images.
He wants us.

The tax collector shows us this: he speaks directly to God a humble, honest, vulnerable prayer that opens the door to a relationship with God even though he knew that what he was doing with his life was not something he was proud of.

He doesn’t pretend. He just shows up—with all of his regret, his weakness, his need. And that’s what moves the heart of God.

I remember the day I realized this in my own life—
that all that is good within me, any good that I do, is a gift of the Spirit.
I remember the freedom that swept over me.
The relief.
The tears.
The gratitude.

I didn’t have to prove anything anymore. I didn’t have to earn the love that was already being given. All I had to do was receive it. And let it change me.

Humility opens the door to relationship and grace. God doesn’t want your résumé. He wants your heart. So whether it is pride or fear that leads you to chatter about yourself to God, today come before him and simply say:

“God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Just a simple offering of your heart to the One who loves you.

And if you’re afraid that God doesn’t love you—or afraid to come close to Him—hear this: God doesn’t want your résumé. He doesn’t need your achievements, your image, or your explanations. He just wants you.

Image credit: Photo by Arina Krasnikova

Praying with this Passage of Scripture

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:43-45)

So who are those people or groups that you tend to push away from your heart and your compassion? What stirs in you as you hear these words of Jesus and look closely at these others, as you bring them near to yourself, as you make yourself aware of the realities that are a part of their life?

Jesus is not simply giving you a command here: grit your teeth and do the right thing. He is offering you an invitation to become whole, to grow into the fullness of your humanity by loving as God loves. Can you imagine yourself whole—completely free from fear or resentment… Complete in love… In a love that pours itself on the “deserving” and the “undeserving”? What would feel different for you? What would be different? How would the world be different?

This is the world God is creating: a world without hatred, without division, without fear. A world of peace, of justice, of wholeness. Jesus is calling us to imitate the very love of God, a love that gives freely, indiscriminately, and unconditionally. “For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (v. 45).

But such love is not within our reach by human effort alone. To love enemies is not a skill we can master through discipline or sheer will. To love in this way is to live now as citizens of God’s future kingdom.

Those who first heard the Sermon on the Mount were “astonished” at Jesus teaching as much as we are today each time it is proclaimed. It is beyond anything we, left to our own devices, could ever muster. Such a love can flow from our hearts if we have taken in the divine love that God has extended to us even though we haven’t deserved it (we don’t), often forget about it in our interest in other things, and could never return this love to God in the same measure. This is the love out of which we were created and the love we were created for: a love with open hands and open heart.

By loving in this way—by loving even our enemies and those who hate us—by imitating God, we make a current reality the love of the Kingdom of God and participate in building that reality even here and even now in whatever situation we live in, and with whoever is our “enemy.”

Image credit: Carl Bloch, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Praying with this Passage of Scripture

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 

John 1:1-18

Jesus the Christ, the Light of the world, the true Light of the world that pushes back the powers of darkness, lives and reigns! Christmas is a once-a-year revival of the fires of love and belief that burn in our hearts that there is more than what we see.

There is more than what is on the surface.

There is more than what tears at the fabric of human decency and moral integrity.

There is God.

And God is here.

There is more to Christmas than the cultural debate about what to call these sacred days which are celebrated by many in sacred but, by many more, in secular ritual.

There is more to Christmas than the holiday sparkle and warmth and nostalgia of the music and worship and memories that form our Christian identity.

There is more to Christmas than celebrating the “birthday” of Jesus Christ.

To discover the “more,” we need to dive deep, to sink below the surface of controversy and outrage, and open up to the mystery of God-with-us-here-and-now.

The essence of Christ’s coming to earth was to remain on this earth, to be here-and-now with each person, until the end of the world. Christ Jesus is here in his Body and Bride the Church. He is here in his eucharistic presence—the very present representation of the Incarnation—in churches and chapels great and small that stand in most cities in every country, flooding the world with the grace flowing from the Holy Mass offered almost continuously across the globe.

Christ Jesus is here in you and me, who remain before the world as its conscience, reminding people here-and-now that there is a God who loves them and calls them to holiness and to live in justice and to show mercy.

Jesus is “the true light, which enlightens everyone. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.”

We should not be surprised then, if we are not recognized by the world as one of their own. Outrageous responses when culture and media blatantly counter our way of life with displays of morality that counter the Beatitudes proclaimed by Jesus, miss the mark. For we also are Christ here-and-now. We are also called to be the light that pushes back the powers of darkness and the presence of despair. We are given the role of offering our lives as Jesus on the cross. We are lifted up as a lantern to point the way, to proclaim the truth, to provide sustenance from our Eucharistic living for others who long to know their life can find meaning.  

Praying with this Passage of Scripture

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