Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, while from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: "This is the way; walk in it," when you would turn to the right or to the left. He will give rain for the seed that you sow in the ground, And the wheat that the soil produces will be rich and abundant.

God guides us in many ways. He gives the His Holy Spirit to inspire us to holiness. He gives us our consciences to remind us of right and wrong. He gives us models in the faith through, Jesus, Mary, and the saints. He shows us the way to live as good and faithful servants. He gives us guidance through the Scriptures and the traditions and teachings of the Church. He gives us the sacraments to sustain us. He pours out His Love, Mercy, and Grace so our souls might flourish in the faith and we might produce good fruits through our thoughts, words, and works.

Are we accepting of God’s guidance and help? What way does God want us to walk? How can we be more open to the outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

O Lord, show us the way we are called to walk in this life.

Amen.

Twenty-Ninth Friday in Ordinary Time

Lord, teach me your statutes. Teach me wisdom and knowledge, for in your commands I trust.

God has given us commandments for a reason. He has provided the Scriptures for a purpose. He has provided us a Church and its Traditions for an end. They are there to teach us wisdom and knowledge. They are there to show us the Way, the Truth, and the Life. They give us an example to follow as Christians so we might bear God into the world around us and produce good fruits. If we ignore or deny any of these, we do great harm to ourselves. We uproot our lives and leave them to wither from apathy and rot from sin. It is only by keeping the commandments, living the Scriptural teachings of Christ, and accepting the Traditions of the Church that we can achieve our full potential as servants of God and become the saints we are called to be. So, let us do so willingly and faithfully and live up to our baptismal vocation to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths and others as God loves them.

Do we follow God’s statutes? Are we cultivating lives of holy wisdom and knowledge? How can we become more faithful to God’s commandments, Scriptures, and Church?

O Lord, teach us wisdom and knowledge.

Amen.

Seventeenth Friday of Ordinary Time

Sing with joy to God our help. Take up a melody, and sound the timbrel, the pleasant harp and the lyre. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast.

Feast days like Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and Corpus Christi are celebrated in memory of important events in the Life of Christ and our Church’s History. They are meant to remind us of our spiritual roots and give us a foretaste of the endless joy that is promised to all of God’s good and faithful servants. Of course, there are many more feast days than we probably realize. There are feasts for the Blessed Virgin, Mary, for various Saints and Martyrs, and even all the angels in Heaven. We would do well to remember these days as we go through our daily lives and join in the feasts that make up or faith. After all, we are part of a Church that exists beyond just the earth, but stretches through Purgatory and into Heaven. So, let us join in the songs of the saints and sing in thanksgiving for Our Heavenly Father, who wants us to feast with Him forever and ever.

Do we keep aware of the feast days of the Church? Do we celebrate them as we should? What can we do to be more in tune with the choir of saints, who has gone before us?

O Lord, we sing with joy to you, our help.

Amen.

Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

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." The Apostles and the presbyters met together to see about this matter.

The particulars of our faith haven't always been set in stone. Many generations of Christians contemplated, discussed, and debated every detail. No one man or woman could have interpreted, comprehended, or proclaimed the completeness of our faith. Instead, the collective wisdom of the Church of believers, guided by the Holy Spirit, let the Wisdom of God think, speak, and work through them to form our faith from our decision to accept the Gentiles to our belief in Jesus as both God and man. None of these were easy decisions, but we believe they were inspired by God and as such they have become part of our traditions and doctrines. We would do well to remember that our faith has 2,000 years worth of thought behind it and we shouldn't be some presumptuous to believe we know better than all the great minds who came before us. Sometimes our faith requires us to believe first and then seek to understand.

Do we put our faith in the teachings and traditions of the Church above our own beliefs? How can we humble ourselves so we can seek understanding of our Church's doctrines? Are we willing to trust that the Holy Spirit is at work in our Church and that in the end everything shall lead to a greater good and a deeper understanding of our faith?

O Lord, we trust in you and your Church on earth.

Amen.

Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter

A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus. He was an authority on the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and, with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way of God more accurately.

None of us know the whole truth of the Good News. We may be authorities on the Scriptures as Apollos was. We may have many insights into the Gospels. However, at times we all need to be taken aside and have the Way of God explained more accurately to us. It takes great humility of spirit to allow ourselves to be taught, to open our hearts to new ideas, to keep a receptive mind. Sometimes we will discover that the truth isn’t always in the newest philosophies, but in the oldest traditions. Other times we will find new insights into our faith that will update, but not invalidate the teachings of the Church. The Holy Spirit is alive in our lives in many ways... through other people, through the teachings and traditions of the Church, and through our consciences. If we are welcoming to His inspirations, He will give us His gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord and these graces will lead us to following the Way of God more accurately than if we tried to make our own way.

Are we open to the counsel of others and the Church? Are our hearts receptive to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit? How can we make the gifts of the Holy Spirit more central to our lives?

O Lord, help us to live Your Way more accurately.

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.

Third Sunday in Lent

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

No matter how many times we see the faith alive in someone else. No matter how often we hear someone proclaim the Good News through word or work. No matter how much we are exposed to the conviction of other Christians. In the end, we have to choose to believe in Christ for ourselves. We have to accept the truth he has given us through the scriptures and the traditions of the Church he founded. We have to trust that the Holy Spirit has kept his Gospel message alive in the members of His Spiritual Body, the Church. This personal choice leads us to the community of saints. The two are inseparable. And once we come into the community of believers, then just like the Samaritan woman, we are asked to spread the Good News to others and help them come to their own choice to join the Body of Christ and recognize Jesus as their Lord and Savior, too.

Who were the people in our lives who helped introduce us to the Good News? Do we pray for them and thank them for giving us the opportunity to discover our faith? How do we proclaim the Gospels to others in our lives?

O Lord, help us to lead others to faith in you.

Amen.