Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was meant to unite all people by offering forgiveness to all. For Jesus, it didn’t matter who they were, where they were born, or what religion they believed in before he preached to them. What mattered was they followed the Way, listened to the Truth, and lived the Life of a Christian. By doing so, all his disciples were united to each other in One Body through the sacraments and the one, holy, and apostolic Church. He wished by his death on the cross to bring all people into peace and harmony with each other... a wish we all should share and strive toward as best we can in a flawed and divisive world. Thankfully, with God on our side, we can cast down the walls of prejudice, anger, and selfishness that rise up to keep us apart from one another. For it is when these walls are broken down that we are freed from the prisons of our egos and hatreds.

What are we doing to bring people together in Christ? How can we unite people in our faith? In what ways can we become peace-makers?

O Lord, break down the walls that separate us from you and each other.

Amen.

Holy Thursday

I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

“Do this in remembrance of me.” These words are repeated for both the Body and Blood of Christ and are a commandment we keep as dearly as the ten commandments of Moses and the golden commandments to love God and neighbor. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is foreshadowed by the Lord’s Supper. Through the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we fully participate in the Passion and Death of Christ. We make present Jesus’ sacrifice for us through the sacrifice on the altar. We proclaim the death of the Lord each time we partake in the Blessed Sacrament, but we also anticipate the Resurrection and the Second Coming in the same act. Jesus died for our sins and through his death we have been granted the saving grace we need to heal our souls.

Do we keep holy the Sabbath day? In what ways can we prepare ourselves to fully participate in the Lord’s Supper each week? How can we make the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross more meaningful to us so we might receive it more respectfully and worthily?

O Lord, we celebrate your sacrifice on the cross with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths.

Amen.

Fifth Tuesday of Lent

Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us." So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

The people ask Moses to pray for the Lord to take the serpents away from them, but God doesn’t take away the serpents. Instead, He tells Moses to erect a saraph for the people to look on after they are bitten. This is how it is with temptation and sin. We might want to avoid the temptation to begin with, but sometimes we are bitten and give into our sins. This is when we need God’s Forgiveness and He is more than willing to heal us if we look upon the sacrifice Jesus made for us, make a good confession, do penance, and strive to sin no more. God doesn’t take away our temptations, He gives us the grace to resist them in the first place and a remedy to heal us if we do fall.

How can we better resist the temptations in our lives? When we do fall do we turn to God and seek His Forgiveness? Do we thank God for all the healing grace He has given us through the cross of Christ?

O Lord, we look on you and ask to be healed.

Amen.

Second Saturday of Lent

Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency, And will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt? You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins; You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and grace to Abraham, As you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.

Thank goodness we have a God who is willing to forgive our sins and delights in clemency. To our great benefit, our Heavenly Father is loving and merciful. His compassion is unfathomable when we look at all the sins committed throughout all of human history. Imagine every instance of our pride, envy, wrath, greed, lust, gluttony, and sloth... and all our missed opportunities to do good and avoid evil. Jesus Christ sacrificed himself to wash away all these sins. To give us all a chance to know, love, and serve God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths. Without the cross and the outpouring of blood and water, mercy and grace, we would be left with nothing but the burden of our sins, weighing us down. But thankfully, God’s Divine Mercy is deeper than our sins and as long as we seek His Forgiveness with contrite hearts and are willing to make amends, then He will show faithfulness to us and lead us to life everlasting.

Do we seek God’s Forgiveness as often as we should? Do we give thanks to God for all the mercy and grace He has shown us? In what ways can we should mercy to others who have sinned against us?

O Lord, have compassion on us.

Amen.

Sixth Thursday of Ordinary Time

This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you: I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

God has entered into many covenants with us. Through each one He has given us many graces. With the New Covenant of Jesus, he has offered us a new sign of His promises... the cross. It is in the cross that we see the bridge between the death of sin and the life of love. It is in this symbol that we see the triumph of God through the sacrifice of the cross. But a covenant is a two-way promise and in return for the saving graces of His Beloved Son, God asks us to know, love, and serve Him as Jesus did by following the Way of the Cross. It is only by accepting the sufferings of this life and bearing them with hopeful and compassionate hearts that we will become living signs of God’s New Covenant. It is not enough for us to accept God’s Love and Mercy. We must also imitate Christ in our thoughts, words, and works. When people look upon us they should know we are Christians by our love and how we carry ourselves under the weight of our own crosses.

Are we living our lives according to the New Covenant? How can we make ourselves into living signs of the New Covenant? Do we ever take time to truly contemplate what God did for us through His Son’s passion, death, and resurrection?

O Lord, make us into living signs of the triumph of your cross.

Amen.

Second Thursday of Ordinary Time

Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them. It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself.

Jesus offered himself on the cross for all of us. He made the ultimate sacrifice to make up for all of mankind’s sins. This is because no matter how much we sacrifice in this life, it would never be enough to make up for our sins because the weight of our sins are measured by who we sin against. If we spit on a random person on the street, we suffer a lesser penalty than if we spit on a policeman or the President of the United States. The title and station of the person we sin against magnifies the debt we must pay. So when we sin against God, our debt is infinite and cannot be repaid by any of our deeds. However, when Jesus took our sins upon himself, he made an infinite sacrifice for us because he, too is infinite. As such, it is only through Jesus’ intercession that we are able to be made clean of our imperfections and given the power to think, speak, and do good.

How do we express our thanks for Jesus’ sacrifice? Do we turn to him whenever we are in need of forgiveness?  How can we lead holy and innocent lives?

O Lord, intercede for us.

Amen.

First Wednesday of Ordinary Time

Surely he did not help angels but rather the descendants of Abraham; therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

Jesus was tested just like we are each day. He understands what it means to be human because he became human himself. The Incarnation gave him a unique perspective built upon the shared experience of what it means to toil and suffer in body and spirit on the earth. As the Son of God, his response to our condition was to love us and show mercy to us in spite of our sins. He wanted to help us and gave his life as an example of what it means to be a good and faithful servant. The cross is a sign of his sacrifice and triumph over sin and death. We might be tested by trials and tribulations and be tempted to sin, but Christ always stands before us as proof that with God’s grace we can overcome every obstacle and lead holy lives that imitate Jesus. All we have to do is follow Christ, becoming more like him as he once became more like us.

How do our own trials and temptations help us to be merciful toward others and more faithful to God? Do we turn to Jesus when we are being tested and seek his help through prayer? In what ways can we imitate Christ in our daily lives?

O Lord, help us who are being tested.

Amen.

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

"No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Jesus sacrificed himself for us not only to save us, but also to give us an example of what it means to truly love one another. Love is a sacrificial action. We must be willing to give up a part of what makes us who we are in order to love someone properly. In this way, you and I become "we" and together we are made whole by the love between us. If we live in such a way, then we shall discover our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies can be filled with love and that our acts of charity can help lead others to eternal life. This means renouncing our selfishness and pride, but in return we receive the gifts of selflessness and humility, which are infinitely more patient, mild, and rewarding. In this life we can be egotists or lovers and if we wish to follow in Christ's footsteps, then we had better learn how to love God and others more than our own selfish interests.

How often do we thank Jesus for being lifted up on the cross for our sins? What can we do to express our belief in his saving grace? How can we incarnate Christ's love for others in our own lives?

O Lord, we believe in you and hope that one day you will grant us eternal life.

Amen.

Sixteenth Monday of Ordinary Time

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." He said to them in reply, "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights."

We have been given our sign. It is the sign of the cross, a sign of God’s Compassion, Forgiveness, and Love. No other sign is necessary for our salvation than Christ hanging on the cross, not in defeat, but in triumph. It is on the cross that he forgave us for our sins. It is on the cross that he promised us eternal life. It is on the cross that he gave us our spiritual mother. It is on the cross that he offered us the hope that overcomes all despair. It is on the cross that he showed us what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness. It is on the cross that he reminded us of the sacrifices we will have to make in order to accomplish God’s Will. It is on the cross that he revealed to us the importance of placing ourselves into the hands of our Heavenly Father. And when we take these together, we cannot help but see that behind every cross is the Risen Lord, Our Savior.

Are we looking for signs like the scribes and Pharisees? Or is our attention focused on the cross and its promise of resurrection? How can we make the sign of the cross the heart of our faith lives?

O Lord, your cross is the only sign we need.

Amen.

The Second Tuesday of Easter

Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Sometimes Jesus’ parables and symbolic language can confuse us. However, he does not speak figuratively to confuse us. He speaks figuratively because he knows it is easier for us to comprehend worldly things than heavenly ones. Because of this, he gives us parables and symbolic comparisons as stepping stones to help us understand the spiritual truths he is speaking about. We might not always comprehend what he is telling us, but he makes it as clear as he can through the limitations of our language. Of course, the greatest symbol he gives us is not to be found in a parable, but rather in the story of his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. The cross and empty tomb are lifted up before us so that everyone has the opportunity to believe and have eternal life.

Do we accept Jesus’ testimony to the truth about heavenly things? If so, then how does that change the way we live our lives? Do our lives testify to the truth?

O Lord, may we have eternal life in you.

Amen.

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

We are not here to condemn our fellow children of God, but rather to help God save them through our thoughts, words, and works. Jesus gives us the perfect example of loving others in spite of their sinfulness and the way they treated him. It did not matter to him whether the people he was tending to were good or evil. He only wanted to be a model of selfless love and gracious mercy toward all. We should strive every day to be just as loving and merciful to all those whom we come into contact with be they family, friends, neighbors, or strangers.

Do we condemn others or love them no matter what? How can we do a better job of helping God save those around us? Are we grateful for all of the graces God has given us in order to save us from our selfishness?

O Lord, save us from our sins and failings.

Amen.

Fifteenth Monday of Ordinary Time

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 his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Today’s gospel is full of hard teachings. Jesus tells us we need to love him more than our family, to take up our cross, and to lose our lives for his sake. The first teaching is not about rejecting our families because they are bad for us, but rather that we should not cling to them so tightly that we miss opportunities to do God’s Will. Sometimes when we are with family we have a harder time acting Christ-like toward them. However this is what Jesus wants us to do. He wants us to be able to leave our family behind and come follow him. He also asks us to take up our crosses. This is also a difficult thing to do. We might be comfortable with our lives or feel like we are suffering enough. However, we should never fear bearing the cross with Christ. He will always give us the strength we need to carry our burdens. The worst thing we can do is reject our cross because by doing so we reject the sacrifices of Christ. Lastly, Jesus asks us to lose our lives for him and seek him, rather than the pleasures of the world. Life isn’t bad, it’s good, but if we don’t orient our lives toward God, then we can corrupt the inherent goodness of life by focusing on living for our own sakes, instead of living for God.

Do we love our family and friends more than God? Have we picked up our crosses or denied them? Do we live our lives for God or for ourselves?

O Lord, grant us the grace to pick up our crosses and love you more than our families and ourselves.

Amen.

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Whereas Moses raised the serpent in the desert in order to heal those bitten by the serpents in the desert, Jesus healed us of the spiritual poison of sin through the sacrifice of his passion, death, and resurrection. He is raised up before us on the cross for all to see and be saved. All we have to do to have eternal life is turn away from worldly things and gaze up to him with adoring eyes. He is our symbol of faith, hope, and love. He is the sign of God's Love, Mercy, and Grace. He is the paragon of a life lived in knowing, loving, and serving others.

When we suffer physical or spiritual trials do we look up to our Lord and Savior? When we look at the cross what truths do we see there? How are we signs of God's everlasting life for others?

O Lord, you were lifted up on the cross for our sake, let us look upon you and believe.

Amen.