Twenty-Ninth Monday in Ordinary Time

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people. He has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty savior, born of the house of his servant David.

God comes to us every day, offering to set us free from our temptations, sins, worries, fears, doubts, and anxieties. He wants us to live peaceful lives full of love. He is a compassionate Father, who knows what is best for us and desires our good. He is a teacher, who shows us how to be faithful servants. He is a savior, who sacrificed Himself once and for all so we might join Him in Heaven. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing and gifted us every grace. All so we might overcome the obstacles that try to keep us from being one in mind, body, and spirit with Him. So, let us make good use of all God has given us and allow Him to raise us up from the darkness of sin and into the light of holiness.

Do we welcome God into our lives each day? How can we prepare ourselves so we are open to God’s commandments, teachings, and inspirations? What can we do to help set others free from their own trials and tribulations?

O Lord, come and set us free.

Amen.

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.  So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.

Our strength to endure all hardships comes from God. He is the source of our courage and resilience. He is the Father of all the gifts, graces, and blessings that help us to overcome our difficulties in our lives. He is the foundation of our power, love, and self-control. The Church stands before the world as a sign of God’s Holy Spirit, alive and at work in the world and we have a responsibility to magnify that Spirit through our own thoughts, words, and works. For it is through our acts that we give testimony to our Lord and it is through the example of how we bear our burdens that we show what it means to be Christians. So, let us to be strong in the Spirit and do whatever God is calling us to do without worrying about what we might suffer, but rather focused on how through our sacrifices we might give glory to God and do good for His children.

Do we ask for God’s strength when faced with the challenges of our lives? How can we open ourselves more to the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit? How can we use the gifts, graces, and blessings God has given us to grow in faith, hope, and love?

O Lord, grant us a spirit of power, love, and self-control.

Amen.

Seventh Thursday of Easter

Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope. I bless the LORD who counsels me; even in the night my heart exhorts me. I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.

Keeping God in mind can be difficult in a world that begs us for our undivided attention, but it is necessary if we want to have inner peace. Anchoring our lives to God will give us the stability we need to resist temptations, worries, doubts, and all those things that try to weaken our devotion to God and our love of others. We need God to be at the center of our lives so we can more easily hear Him above the constant noise of the world around us. We need to take time out of each day and simply listen to Him as He exhorts us to do good and avoid evil. If we do this, then we will be kept safe from evil and given hope in a better life with God in heaven.

How can we be better listeners to the Lord? What can we do to keep our hearts and minds open to His holy counsels and inspirations? Are we willing to make space for God in our lives so He can be at our right hand?

O Lord, counsel and exhort us to goodness and holiness.

Amen.

First Tuesday of Lent

From all their distress God rescues the just. Glorify the LORD with me, let us together extol his name. I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 

When we have questions for the Lord, He does give us the answers we need. They might not be the ones we want or given to us in the way we sought, but He does provide them for us if we are willing to listen. Sometimes the answers will come in prayer. Sometimes they will come from other people. Sometimes they will come in opportunities or setbacks. However, no matter what happens God will rescue us from all our distress and deliver us from all our fears. We just have to have the openness and patience to listen to Him through the Holy Spirit and our consciences.

Do we seek God’s input into our lives? Do we take time out of each day to listen to Him? How can we be more open to the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit?

O Lord, answer our pleas and deliver us from all distress.

Amen.

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the Church, as well as by the Apostles and the presbyters, and they reported what God had done with them. But some from the party of the Pharisees who had become believers stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Mosaic law.”

We won’t always agree about what it means to be Christian or the direction the Church is taking or not taking. After all, we are human and our knowledge and actions are imperfect so it’s only natural to realize we’ll get into debates about faith. However, we should talk to each other respectfully and in light of the collective wisdom of the Church’s two thousand years of teachings and traditions. We should also trust that the Holy Spirit will guide the Church in her deliberations and lead her to make the right decisions at the right time. This doesn’t mean we’ll agree with everything. However, part of being faithful servants to God and His Church is trusting that believing will lead to understanding and that the Truth will win out in the end.

Do we dialogue with those who disagree with us or do we argue and alienate them? Do we recognize the possibility that we don’t have all the answers and need to listen to the lessons the Church has to teach us? Are our hearts open to both the traditions of the Church and the evolution of those traditions in accordance with the Scriptures and the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit?

O Lord, make our dialogues with each other fruitful and uniting.

Amen.

Sixteenth Thursday of Ordinary Time

This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and I heal them. “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

We are either open to God or closed to Him. We either see Him in the world around us or we deny He is there. We either hear His Good News proclaimed by the Church or we deafen ourselves to it by focusing our minds on worldly things. Our hearts are either ready to receive God in all things or willing to deny Him for our own selfish reasons. We either understand that we have much to learn from God and His Church or we decide that we know what is right and wrong like Adam and Eve. We either seek to be healed of our afflictions or we allow ourselves to be devoured by them. God gives us every chance to listen and understand His Divine Word, it us up to us to be open to seeing, hearing, and understanding it and then putting it into practice in our lives.

Are we blind and deaf to the parables that are constantly revealed to us in our own lives? Are our hearts and minds open to what God is trying to teach us? How can we receive God's Divine Word into our lives and live it out with all our strengths?

O Lord, bless our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts so they might be open to your teachings and truths.

Amen.

Fifteenth Saturday of Ordinary Time

The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet: Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

If we want God to delight in us, then we need to live our lives as Jesus did. We need to open our hearts and minds to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, proclaim the Good News to all who will listen, and love others in a spirit of humility. We do this best not by crying out and making a scene of our faith, but rather by knowing, loving, and serving God and our neighbors quietly and without reservation. When we bring justice and hope to others, we imitate Jesus’ ministry and this is what God wants from us more than any sacrifice.

Are we healers of God’s people, prophets of His Word, and servants of His Will? Are we willing to set aside our own inclinations and follow the inspirations of the Holy Spirit? Have we cultivated a spirit of humility within ourselves so that God can work through us in all things?

O Lord, place your spirit upon us and make us into prophets of your faith, hope, and love.

Amen.