Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Micah, Chapter 7, verse 17

¹⁷They will lick the dust like a snake, like crawling things on the ground; They will come quaking from their strongholds; they will tremble in fear of you, the LORD, our God.

Micah’s name means “who is like Yahweh”. Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10) Today during Holy Week, on this day the gospels are silent.

Let us this day practice silence as much as possible and contemplate on our God and Savior.  Say the Shema Yisrael and call on the Holy Spirit to make this day a turning point in your life.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you realize the universe is more than what we can see, touch and feel. We are not crawly things and we need not build strongholds.  May our fear, be the Holy fear, of men of God.  This day let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us to know God is without limitations. Help us in the quiet of this day to realize that Jesus Christ, the begotten son of the Living God, came to Jerusalem this week to have mercy on me a sinner.

In our silence, we may this day discover, we are a useless servant yet we are chosen for love[1] by an all-powerful God who chose to become man to suffer the pains of this week in our stead and to save us not only from damnation but to show us how to live and be true men.

---

[1] Larry Baumann, The excitement of the spiritual Life.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015 Holy Tuesday

Micah, Chapter 6, verse 9-10:

⁹ The LORD cries aloud to the city (It is prudent to fear your name!): Hear, O tribe and city assembly, ¹⁰Am I to bear criminal hoarding and the accursed short ephah?

Israel was the chosen people yet they did not fear the Lord. God asks through the prophet a rhetorical question. Is He to bear criminal hoarding and cheating during the sale of goods? 

Christ tells us, “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” (Luke 6:37-38)

This should be the model for our heart. Today is Tuesday of Holy Week.  Here is an excerpt from my book Coffee with Christ on why Tuesdays are special and how criminal hoarding is what prompted Judas’ betrayal.

I apologize to Christ as I hand Him a cup of micro waved coffee.  I tell him that I could not sleep last night and that I got up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep.  He states that when that happens it is a good time to pray.  Pray and I will be there with you.  He mentions that the coffee is good and he would have liked to have had a micro wave back in Jerusalem.  He also tells me that I should try and make it to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel for a little “one on one” time.  He further reveals that Tuesdays are always trying for Him; for it was the day that Judas went to the Sanhedrin to betray Him[1] and that it comforts Him when someone has a special devotion to him on that day.  He further states that I would grow in grace if I was careful to observe and make a Novena to His Holy Face for the nine days preceding Ash Wednesday ending the Novena on Shrove (day before Ash Wednesday) Tuesday.

---

[1] http://www.jesus.org/death-and-resurrection/holy-week-and-passion/a-time-line-of-the-passion-week.html

Monday, March 30, 2015

Psalm, Chapter 27, verse 3:

³Though an army encamp against me, my heart does not fear; Though war be waged against me, even then do I trust.

 

http://bcove.me/prdgi2p8

In a purer sense an army does encamp against every follower of Christ; it is the army of the devil and those under his flag in this world. They do wage a war against us and our only hope is to trust in Christ.

If we trust all we need say for God’s help is three simple words: “Come Holy Spirit”. The Holy Spirit coming to sinful men is what Holy week is all about. It is what Christ’s sacrifice was all about.

Mary of Medjugorje tells us that, “The most important thing is to pray to the Holy Spirit” Because if one has the Spirit “one has everything.[1]

---

[1] Michael H. Brown, Prayer of the Warrior.

Sunday, March 29, 2015 Palm Sunday

Psalm, Chapter 22, verse 24:

²⁴ You who fear the LORD, give praise! All descendants of Jacob, give honor; show reverence, all descendants of Israel!

This verse was fulfilled on Palm Sunday, which we reflect on today, with Christ’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. 

Let us this week honor and praise our Lord Jesus Christ everyday as we rise by saying Shema Yisrael which is the same prayer the Christ most likely prayed every morning Himself and is still prayed by pious Jews today.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord you God with all your Heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.

My question is how does, one Love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.

Perhaps to understand this better we should ask ourselves:

1.      What are the desires of our heart?

2.      Whose flag are we following?

3.      What consumes our mind?

4.      How do we use our gifts?

God created us to be a priestly people and the world was designed to be our temple. We will never find true happiness except through God because He hardwired us for the priesthood. We are called to make an offering of our life.

Today we memorialize Christ’s entry into Jerusalem with palms.  Let us offer daily to our Lord in the morning our dreams & desires, our total loyalty to Him and His church, our thoughts and the gifts of mind and body He has given us. 

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Jonah, Chapter 1, verse 16:

¹⁶ Seized with great fear of the LORD, the men offered sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Jonah, Chapter 1, verse 9-10:

⁹ “I am a Hebrew,” he replied; “I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” ¹⁰Now the men were seized with great fear and said to him, “How could you do such a thing!”—They knew that he was fleeing from the LORD, because he had told them.

Jonah as wise as he was tried to flee the Lord, are we any wiser.  We often choose the wrong path. Jonah was motivated but not by love. He wanted justice and not mercy for Nineveh. Pope Francis in a dispute recently stated that mercy is greater than justice when confronted with the sins of mankind and the churches stance.  Our Lord desires to give us his mercy and we should seek it and give it as often as possible.

In our book study of Character is Destiny[1] Mother Teresa shows us how mercy is the only way to find contentment by being selfless. Great leadership is based on a foundation of love. McCain states, “She chose to live amid squalor and sickness and desperation, endured hardship and endless toil, and might have been the happiest person on earth.” Mother did not flee from the Lord; nor did she fear anyone. When the Lord called her; she knew the call was authentic because it filled her with joy.

The first counsel of Mother Teresa is to put your hand in His and walk all the way with Him. When you hear the call to follow: follow. To Mother Teresa it was never more complicated than that. To her care of the dying was the purest expression of love. Who around you is dying-physically, emotionally or spiritually? Love might not heal every wound of disease but it heals the heart.  McCain notes that Mother Teresa showed that rather than chasing ambition the greatest contentment comes from having a foundation of love. “She loved and was loved, and her happiness was complete.”

This week let us read and study the "Hopefulness" of John Winthrop and build the next block of leadership to others by giving them hope in a dark world. I will post my observations from this chapter next Friday. 

---

[1] McCain, John and Salter, Mark. (2005) Character is destiny. Random House, New York.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Jonah, Chapter 1, Verse 5

⁵ Then the sailors were afraid and each one cried to his god. To lighten the ship for themselves, they threw its cargo into the sea. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship, and lay there fast asleep.

According to bible-study-for-everyone.com[1]:

Christians regard the prophet Jonah as a type foreshadowing Jesus. Jesus said that he did not come for the healthy but for the sick. The healthy are well and they know it. So, they have no need of a doctor. But the sick may be diseased and not know it. They require someone to diagnose their sickness and prescribe the remedy. They need a healer. People can be sick physically. And they can be sick mentally, spiritually, emotionally. For instance, the physical ailment of blindness is plain because the person cannot see. But there is also the blindness of selfishness. People can be blind in many ways. A person can be blind to themselves. They see with their eyes but they do not understand what they see. Or they can be blind as to their experience. They interact with their world and with other people but remain isolated and lonely because they cannot see the depth and love within their relationships. Or they have very deep emotional or mental feelings but they do not see (understand) from where the feelings came. They do not know what the feelings indicate. They are in the dark as to any remedy. Jesus came in order for us to understand, to see and gain a remedy. He came as the source of knowledge, as light in darkness and as the cure for our illness. Those in light do not need a lamp but those in darkness need the light. Jesus was sent as the light that shines in the darkness. From the beginning to the end of the bible the theme is repeated. Humankind is lost due to deafness, blindness, ignorance, stupidity, arrogance, selfishness and greed. That is the first act of the play. The second act is God seeking and searching for lost humankind, looking for them in the various places of their fear, the haunts of darkness, the hiding places of those who are afraid of God. The final act is played out in the response of each individual and society, each nation and epoch of human history.
Will man and God be enemies or friends? Will God win and regain the trust and fidelity of his creation? Or will humankind forever remain estranged? Will the people always wander outside in the desolation or will they be admitted once again into the intimacy of the Garden of Paradise?

---

[1] http://www.bible-study-for-everyone.com/Jonah.html

Wednesday, March 25, 2015-Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Luke, Chapter 1, verse 30:

³⁰ Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

Mary had no fear of the world or man, yet, when the angel appeared she was immersed in holy fear.  Let us follow Mary’s example and bravely face the day saying YES to God.

INSTRUCTION ON THE ANGELIC SALUTATION, HAIL MARY.[1]

Why this prayer is called the Hail Mary?
Because it begins with the words which the archangel Gabriel addressed to the Blessed Virgin when he announced to her that she should be the Mother of God.

Of what does the Angelic Salutation consist? 
1. Of the words of the archangel Gabriel. 2. Of the words of St. Elizabeth. 3. Of words which have been added thereto by the Catholic Church.
Which are the words of the archangel Gabriel? Hail [Mary], full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women.

What is the meaning of these words? 
These words indicate that profound veneration for the Blessed Virgin which was felt by the archangel Gabriel, and which we, in imitation of his example, ought also to cherish. The words full of grace remind us that God bestowed upon the Blessed Virgin greater graces than upon all men and angels together; and that not for herself alone, but for us also; they therefore encourage us to pray to Mary with fervor and confidence, that by her powerful intercession she will obtain for us the graces necessary for our salvation. The Lord is with thee; these words express the peculiar complacency with which God has regarded her, on account of which He wrought in her special miracles of wisdom, omnipotence, and benignity. Let us rejoice with Mary over these prerogatives, and implore her to intercede for us, that God may be with us also, to sustain us by His almightiness, to govern us by His wisdom, to incite us to all that is good by the fire of His infinite love. Finally, the words "Blessed art thou among women" are as much as to say : Thou art the happiest of all women, since thou alone of them all hast no stain of sin on thee ; thou art chosen to be the Mother of God; thou shalt conceive Him by the Holy Ghost, and shalt bring Him forth without losing thy virginity. Thus it was that the angel saluted the most blessed Virgin, and yet there are men who are ashamed thus to salute Mary, and to give praise for the graces which God conferred upon her.

[1] Goffine’s Divine Instructions, 1896.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Amos, Chapter 3, Verse 8

⁸ The lion has roared, who would not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken, who would not prophesy?

 

http://bcove.me/7qaswss5

Have you ever visited a zoo and heard the lion roar?  Your heart quickens and your body is ready for action.  In the attached video we are asked if our hearts have become complacent.  If so, let us hear the roar of the lion of Judah, our Lord Jesus Christ, and be ever ready to do the work of the Holy Spirit.