Don't Give Up Chocolate

Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me – it is the Lord who speaks – to break unjust fetters and undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke, to share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor, to clothe the man you see to be naked and not turn from your own kin? Then will your light shine like the dawn and your wound be quickly healed over.

Is. 58:6-8

God speaks through Isaiah, admonishing the people who are performing outward signs of fasting but with unrepentant hearts. The fast that pleases God involves action... breaking fetters, untying thongs, breaking yokes, sharing bread, sheltering poor, clothing the naked, welcoming family. 

 This Lent is not a time for me to stop doing but to do more, not refrain but to embrace. It's a time not to give up chocolate but to share the chocolate.

Lord Jesus, you were fasting in action. Help me not to give up chocolate this Lent but share the chocolate with those I meet today that my light may shine like the dawn.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Choice

I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live, in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, clinging to him; for in this your life consists.
Dt.30:19,20

Moses addresses the Hebrews before they enter the promised land. He places before them a choice, life with God, death without him.

It has always been a choice. God forces nothing above our free will. Our love is only love when freely given. When I choose the love of God over the love of the world, when I cling to him, when it is in him I "live and move and have my being" as Saint Paul said in Acts, then happiness and fulness of life is mine.  It's a no-brainer. 

Jesus, I recommit my life to you this day. It is in you that I choose to live and move and have my being.

Saint Philip Neri, pray for us.

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

Keep your eyes open; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.

Mk.8:15

Jesus and the disciples are on the move, having just miraculously fed the four thousand. Using the analogy of bread, Jesus warns the disciples against the influence of Herod and the Pharisees.

The inference here is that there can be bad yeast just as there can be good. Jesus calls us to be good yeast, influencing the world for good. But in this verse he warns against the seductive influence of bad yeast, the yeast of religious power and political power. It only takes a small sprinkle of bad yeast and the whole loaf is corrupted. 

Power in any of its manifestations can corrupt and I am just a susceptible as anyone. 

Lord Jesus, you know that I can be seduced by the offer of power. Give me the opposite spirit, a spirit of humility that I may glorify you.

Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

 

Something Very Good

God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them And so it was.... God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good.

Gen.1:27,31

God's creative genius is crowned with the making of man and woman, so highly exulted as to be made in God's own image. 

 Recently I participated in a conversation on where and what the source of the COVID-19 virus may have been. A comment was made that the pandemic was the result of species being "too close to each other", the inference being that over population of human beings was the primary cause of the virus. This clashed with my Christian world view that says people are not a problem. What they do can be. 

Today's first reading from Genesis agrees with me. God sees people as the pinnacle of his creation, made in his image no less and given the command to be fruitful and multiply. I am part of that beautiful act of God's creation. So is everyone else I encounter today.

Jesus, you are co-creator of the universe. Thank you Lord for humanity. Help me see everyone I encounter today as something very good.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Set Off

So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.

Mk.6:13

Jesus has just commissioned his twelve disciples for their first mission trip. The work of the Church has begun.

This first missionary outreach of the twelve is the first outreach of the New Testament Church. At this point the Church numbered twelve men, thirteen counting Jesus. The rest, as they say, is Church history. This is the work Jesus always intended the Church to do. Go out a preach the Good News, heal the sick, cast out demons. 

 Our parish is about to  prepare to host another Alpha Course. This is a blessed endeavor as it continues the work of the twelve. Exciting!

Jesus, bless and inspire our Alpha Course as we prepare to reach out to the un-churched. Prepare the hearts of those you want to touch through this ministry.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for us.

 

Pure Religion

When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, – observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord:

Lk.2:22,23

Mary and Joseph, following Jewish law and custom, present baby Jesus at the Temple where the prophesies of Simeon and Anna are spoken over him.

This is pure religion and Jesus' earthly life was steeped in it. He was raised first and foremost a Jew. This sets the pattern for all human life. Pure religion is a gift that doesn't shackle, it nurtures a life into growing into the fullness that God has planned for it.

My Catholic religion is part of who I am today. It is the lens by which I view the world, helping me see the way to fulness of life and Joy.

Thank you Jesus for your headship of the Church and headship over me. 

Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

 

Faithfulness and Peace

Mercy and faithfulness have met; justice and peace have embraced. Faithfulness shall spring from the earth and justice look down from heaven.

Ps.84:10,11

The psalmist describes the relationship between God and man. God's mercy and justice embraces man's faithfulness and peace.

Reading this psalm brings to mind Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel image of man and God's fingers at the point of touching. The reclining and newly created Adam, unsullied yet by sin, looks a man of faith and peace.

Today I choose to be a man of faith and peace, placing myself in a position to receive God's mercy and justice.

 Lord, I trust in your mercy and justice. Help me today be a man of faithfulness and peace.
 Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.