Another Exorcist; Temptations to Sin [September 30, 2012]

The Sunday Gospel [September 30, 2012]

Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

38John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.” 39Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. 40For whoever is not against us is for us. 41Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

42“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe [in me] to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, 48where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’

Reflection

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe [in me] to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” ~ 42

O Henry is well known for the surprise endings of his stories. One story concerns an emotionally starved child. She’s always asking her father is she can sit in his lap. He always puts her off, saying, “Go outside and play.” The inevitable happens. The girl grows up accepting affection from anyone who offers it; she becomes a prostitute. When she dies, Peter says to Jesus. “We’ve got a bad one coming today.” Then comes the “surprise ending.” Jesus says to Peter, “When she comes, let her into heaven; but when her father comes, hold him responsible for her life.”

How vigilant am I not to do anything that might cause anyone – especially a child – to lose faith in Jesus?

“Children, especially, set their watches by our clock.”

Reflection Credits: Fr. Mark Link, SJ; Daily Homilies

Source: The Reflection is from Bro. Abel Navarro (you can visit his blog at http://myblogabelnavarroabel.blogspot.com/).

Great love can change small things into great ones

[Diary 303]

Great love can change small things into great ones, and it is only love which lends value to our actions. And the purer our love becomes, the less there will be within us for the flames of suffering to feed upon, and the suffering will cease to be a suffering for us; it will become a delight! By the grace of God, I have received such a disposition of heart that I am never so happy as when I suffer for Jesus, whom I love with every beat of my heart. Once when I was suffering greatly, I left my work and escaped to Jesus and asked Him to give me His strength. After a very short prayer I returned to my work filled with enthusiasm and joy. Then, one of the sisters [probably Sister Justine] said to me, "You must have many consolations today, Sister; you look so radiant. Surely, God is giving you no suffering, but only consolations." "You are greatly mistaken, Sister," I answered, "for it is precisely when I suffer much that my joy is greater; and when I suffer less, my joy also is less." However, that soul was letting me recognize that she does not understand what I was saying. I tried to explain to her that when we suffer much we have a great chance to show God that we love Him; but when we suffer little we have less occasion to show God our love; and when we do not suffer at all, our love is then neither great nor pure. By the grace of God, we can attain a point where suffering will become a delight to us, for love can work such things in pure souls.

Source: DIARY, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul © 1987 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.  Stockbridge, MA 01263.  All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Note: If you like my post then consider buying the Book "Divine Mercy in my Soul" from the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception website. The owner of this blog have no other intention but to spread and proclaim the "Divine Mercy".

The Greatest in the Kingdom [September 23, 2012]

The Sunday Gospel [September 23, 2012]

Mark 9:30-37

30They left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. 31He was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death he will rise.” 32But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him.

33They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. 35Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” 36Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, 37“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”

Reflection

“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me.” ~ v. 37

It seems that we have a lot in common with the apostles. We love Jesus, they loved Jesus. We want to follow him, they followed him. We want to please him, and so did they. And like the apostles, we too are subject to human weaknesses. Today’s gospel tells us that Jesus was trying to teach the apostles, but they weren’t listening. They were arguing about who was the greatest.

We shouldn’t look down on the apostles. Like us, they had the natural human tendency to place themselves above those around them. Like us, they had the natural human tendency to think about their needs and desires more than the needs and desires of others. In other words, their hearts needed to be shaped and purified just as ours do!

When Jesus asked about the conversation, the apostles kept quiet. They knew that Jesus didn’t like these kind of senseless arguments, so they were reluctant tp own up to them. So, let’s ask ourselves: “How many times do I engage in senseless arguments? How many times have I tried to prove my point while knowing all the time that the argument was trivial?”

The apostles eventually outgrew these self- centered attitudes. They realized that they were God’s children and that they were being entrusted with God’s work. They understood that what counted most was to show people how to love God and to love one another.

As Jesus did with the apostles, he wants to do with us, He wants to show us a higher way to live. He wants to show us how noble and pleasing it is to serve others above ourselves. He wants to teach us how to avoid getting caught in senseless arguments and how to redirect our conversations so that they help promote virtue and love over envy and jealousy.

Prayer Response

Jesus, teach me how to put others ahead of myself. I want be like you, Lord.

Reflection Credits: the WORD among us

Source: The Reflection is from Bro. Abel Navarro (you can visit his blog at http://myblogabelnavarroabel.blogspot.com/).

The Lord sometimes makes known to me who is praying for me

[Diary 1529]

Today I saw Father Andrasz at prayer. I also knew that he was interceding with the Lord for me. The Lord sometimes makes known to me who is praying for me.

Source: DIARY, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul © 1987 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.  Stockbridge, MA 01263.  All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Note: If you like my post then consider buying the Book "Divine Mercy in my Soul" from the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception website. The owner of this blog have no other intention but to spread and proclaim the "Divine Mercy".

Conditions of Discipleship [September 16, 2012]

The Sunday Gospel [September 16, 2012]

Mark 8:27-35

27Now Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” 29And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Messiah.” 30Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.

31He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. 32He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

34He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 35For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.

Reflection

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” ~ v. 34

Wilfred Funk writes:
Lord Byron had a clubfoot;
Robert Louis Stevenson and John Keats had tuberculosis.
Charles Steinmetz and Alexander Pope were hunchbacks.
Admiral Nelson had only one eye’
Edgar Allan Poe was a psychoneurotic
Charles Darwin was an invalid;
Julius Caesar was an epileptic;
Thomas Edison and Ludwig von Beethoven were deaf, and
Peter Stuyvesant had a wooden leg.”
The significant thing about each of these is that they achieved mightily in the face of what most would have considered a cross.

If God asked me to carry one of the above crosses which would I choose?

“If you bear the cross gladly, it will bear you.” ~ Thomas A Kempis

Reflection Credits: Fr. Mark Link, S.J., Daily Homilies

Source: The Reflection is from Bro. Abel Navarro (you can visit his blog at http://myblogabelnavarroabel.blogspot.com/).

The Joy of Heaven

[Diary 1592]

February 10, 1938. During meditation, the Lord gave me knowledge of the joy of heaven and of the saints on our arrival there; they love God as the sole object of their love, but they also have a tender and heartfelt love for us. It is from the face of God that this joy flows out upon all, because we see Him face to face. His face is so sweet that the soul falls a new into ecstasy.

Source: DIARY, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul © 1987 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.  Stockbridge, MA 01263.  All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Note: If you like my post then consider buying the Book "Divine Mercy in my Soul" from the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception website. The owner of this blog have no other intention but to spread and proclaim the "Divine Mercy".

The Healing of a Deaf Man [September 9, 2012]

The Sunday Gospel [September 9, 2012]

Mark 7:31-37

31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decap'olis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. 33 And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; 34 and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Eph'phatha," that is, "Be opened." 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."

Reflection

“Be opened.” ~ v. 34

Scripture tells us that Jesus performed countless healings during his public ministry. So we may wonder why some healing stories are preserved in the Bible, while others aren’t. Think, for example, about all the blind people Jesus must have healed – what was so special about Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52)?

Today’s Gospel reading is different, however. This is one of those rare stories where Jesus did something other than just touch someone or speak a word of command in order to heal. This time, he took away the man from the crowds, placed his fingers in the man’s ears, spat on his tongue, and groaned from deep within his heart.

Why would Jesus do all this? Is it possible that in addition to healing the man’s ears he was also performing an inner healing? Maybe when groaned “Ephphatha,” which is Aramaic for, “Be opened,” he was talking about the man’s heart. Maybe he removed him from the crowd so that there would be no distraction. Maybe he was healing the man’s spiritual deafness as well as his physical deafness.

This story tells us that Jesus wants to open our ears and our hearts. So give him the chance to do this for you! Let him take you away from the crowd of everyday life. Put aside the demands of your life for just a few minutes each day so that you can hear him speak words of love and promise to you. Let his voice melt any fears, anxieties, or doubts in your heart.

Right now, this very moment, imagine yourself alone with the Lord in a quiet place. Look at the expression on his face, the love in his eyes. He wants to say, “Be opened” to the deepest part of your being. So come to him in the silence that comes from trust and hope. Know that he is with you. Let him speak his words of life to you.

Prayer Response

Lord, silence the noise of the world so that I can hear you. Jesus, I need you to open my heart today.

Reflection Credits: the WORD among us

Source: The Reflection is from Bro. Abel Navarro (you can visit his blog at http://myblogabelnavarroabel.blogspot.com/).

The Suffering Soul

[Diary 963]

+ Oh, if only the suffering soul knew how it is loved by God, it would die of joy and excess of happiness! Some day, we will know the value of suffering, but then we will no longer be able to suffer. The present moment is ours.

Source: DIARY, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul © 1987 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.  Stockbridge, MA 01263.  All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Note: If you like my post then consider buying the Book "Divine Mercy in my Soul" from the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception website. The owner of this blog have no other intention but to spread and proclaim the "Divine Mercy".

The Tradition of the Elders [September 2, 2012]

The Sunday Gospel [September 2, 2012]

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

1 Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, 2they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; 4and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands  defiled?" 6And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, `This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' 8You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men."

14And he called the people to him again, and said to them, "Hear me, all of  you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him."

21For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, 22coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man."

Reflection

“This people honor me with their lips.” ~ v. 6

The fornicators among us are surely going to be disturbed by Jesus’ words. So also the greedy-guts. The same thing might be said for liars, adulterers, thieves, killers, sensualists, the envious, the arrogant, and the obtuse.

Perhaps the best tack is to scrap the whole Gospel and talk about love and expansion of funds. It is not uncommon, after all, for us to expunge those parts of the Gospel that offend us. But usually we have to listen to the stuff and squirm.

It is a funny thing to sit in the pew on Sundays when a whole list of sins and sinners is enumerated from the Gospels or the various Epistles. Our shoulders shrink a bit in hope that we are not mentioned, or at least that the blows fall not too hard. Possibly we feel relieved that smoking and drinking are not mentioned. Some of us may sigh. It is those “others” that Jesus is talking about.

Or maybe we dwell – savoring it – on those “others.” That guy who has loads of money. I hope he heard the word “greed.” Or the woman who has seen three marriages. She’d better be listening. Or those fakes who think they are so good; they’ll get their fill of the Gospel. And I hope those people who eat and drink too much know what the word “sensuality” means. They could learn a thing or two if they would just open up their ears. As for those who envy my own virtue and success, thank God they are condemned as well.

The old Pharisees were experts in the law. Matters of right and wrong. Weighty concerns of judgment. They knew where people stood. But Jesus seemed to have more difficulty with the Pharisees than with any other group. They did not mind hearing about sin, as long as it did not apply to them. They were righteous, but self-righteously so. They honored their self-images and projections; their own traditions. Jesus quoted Isaiah to penetrate their defenses: “You teach as dogmas mere human precepts.”

For myself, this stings a bit. I cherish what has been handed down as tried and true. But if I cherish tradition, must I not be vigilant that my heart is in the right place? Does Christ speak to me when he says: “You disregard God’s commandment and cling to what is human tradition?” Does he address his Church? Its scribes? Its leaders? This people pays me lip service but their heart is far from me. Empty is the revenge they give me because they teach as dogmas mere human precepts.”

A secret consolation is this: if our hearts are stung by Jesus’ challenge to the Pharisees, our hearts are almost healed.

A gifted and forceful woman once told me of a horrifying revelation. She realized at prayer that she was a Pharisee, she who judged others, she who did not trust God.

What a lovely moment. If you think you are a Pharisee, you most surely are not. If you think, you are not, watch out.

Reflection Credits: Fr. John F. Kavanaugh, S.J., The Word Exposed

Source: The Reflection is from Bro. Abel Navarro (you can visit his blog at http://myblogabelnavarroabel.blogspot.com/).