Scripture Reflection: Peace be with YOU.

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On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, 
"Peace be with you."
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained."
John 20:19-23

Come with me back to the Holy Land, just after Jesus was crucified...His apostles were holed up in a little room, with doors barred, and they were afraid. Their whole world was turned upside down.  They had watched from the edges as their master, their friend and rabbi, their hope, their everything, was savagely beaten and nailed to a cross. He was stripped of clothes and crowned with thorns. He was bruised and bloody. All but one apostle had fled in fear. These men were afraid of the Jews. They were afraid to suffer as Jesus had suffered. Every second that went by, they were afraid someone was going to discover them, drag them out, and kill them. In addition, they were afraid that everything they had known for the last three years was a lie. They were afraid that Jesus was not really who they thought He was. They thought Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, their salvation and their King. Now they were not sure.

Then, Jesus came.  The doors were still locked. He just appeared among them. Jesus said, "Peace be with you." And with those four little words, He took on all their fear. He proved He was really and truly risen. He offered His hands and side for their inspection. With His four little words, the apostles knew Him. They knew they could trust Him and all they had believed to be true.

With the breath of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, their courage started to return.

Jesus wants us to have peace...a true and abiding peace that comes from a place free of fear and worldly attachments and demons. He wants us to have that peace so we can focus on Him, follow Him, and be with Him forever in heaven.

He can say, "Peace be with you." But how do we do it? How do we have that peace? It takes faith and trust to open the door to our hearts wide for Him to fill us with His love and mercy and peace. We pray in the quiet..."Jesus, I trust in You," and He comes to us. He takes on our demons. He shines the light that casts out the darkness. He takes on our fears and replaces it with His peace.

Trust Jesus to give you peace on this Divine Mercy Sunday.

Saturday Scripture Reflection: Divine Providence

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Matthew 6:24-34

Jesus said to his disciples:

"No one can serve two masters.

He will either hate one and love the other,

or be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,

what you will eat or drink,

or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds in the sky;

they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,

yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are not you more important than they?

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?

Why are you anxious about clothes?

Learn from the way the wildflowers grow.

They do not work or spin.

But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor

was clothed like one of them.

If God so clothes the grass of the field,

which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,

will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?'

or 'What are we to drink?'or 'What are we to wear?'

All these things the pagans seek.

Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,

and all these things will be given you besides.

Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.

Sufficient for a day is its own evil."

__________

Last Sunday, I went to Mass at St Mary’s in College Station...this is the Catholic Church that serves Texas A&M University students, including my oldest two daughters.  Father Brian McMaster’s homily had a powerful message...one we have heard before and probably try to live, but it is always good to have a reminder.  

Pray, don’t worry.  God’s got this.  

We all have stuff that we worry about...it could be the kids, money, our relationships, work, school, illness, or  whatever.  We all have stuff.  The message from the gospel passage (and from Father Brian’s homily) is that we are loved by God, and He sees our needs and will provide.  

The word “provide” comes from the Latin “pro” meaning before or for and “videre” meaning to see.  So, the meaning of “provide” is “to see before” or “to see for.”  God sees our needs before we even know them.  An even deeper translation...He sees for us.  He knows very intimately exactly what we need, better even than we know ourselves.  

So, when we pray for Divine Providence (notice that providence comes from the same root words), we pray for God to “see for us” and for us to follow His most holy will for our lives.

It is so hard to give up the worrying.  We (at least most of us) seem to be programmed to worry about the things that are outside our control, things that have happened in the past, or things that will happen in the future.  God sees all of this for us.  If (instead of worrying) we concentrate on living our lives for Him and follow His will, He will take care of the rest.  He loves us far more than the wildflowers on the side of the road.  God will provide.

   

ONE in the Body and Blood of Christ

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1 Corinthians 10:16-17

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  

The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body,

for we all partake of the one bread.

I was reflecting on this scripture message not long ago, and the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano, Italy came to mind.  The part that struck me the most (maybe it struck the math teacher?) was the detail that the five globules of blood all weighed the exact same amount even though they were of different sizes.  And, the weight of all five pieces together was the same as each individual piece.

Let that sink in. Each part weighed the same as the whole.

It goes against the very laws of nature.  The part cannot be equal to the whole.  Objects of different mass should have different weights.  But, here in the Precious Blood of Christ, they do not.

There was no division, no separation. One smaller part of the Precious Blood was equal to all of it.

When we receive Christ in the Precious Blood, we recieve ALL of Him. A drop does not go into you and another into Sue and a third drop into me...All of Jesus’ Blood goes into all of us. All of His Blood, all of His Body are ONE. There can be no division or separation.  So when we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we are completely united to Him and to all the members of the Body of Christ.  It has to be this way.  

When I consider that we are all one in the Body of Christ, it casts the ideas of selfishness and service into a new light.  If I sin (and I do), I am one with all who are in the Body of Chrtist, so that sin does affect us all.  It brings us down, away from Christ.  If I rise above my selfishness, I pull the Body of Christ up.  If I serve and love unconditionally, the Body of Chirst is elevated to greater heights.  

I see Jesus present in the Eucharist with eyes of faith.  I know He is alive.  I know that all of this...this life, the hardships, the trials, the great times...it is all in Him, through Him, and with Him.

I also know that I am one in Him, through Him, and with Him. And so is every other member of the Body of Christ.  We are all ONE in Him, through Him, and with Him.

John 6:35, 54-56

Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life…

He who eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life,

and I will raise him up on the last day.

For my Flesh is food indeed, and my Blood is drink indeed.

He who eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood abides in Me, and I in him.

Sycamore View

The Gospel last Sunday (found in Luke 19:1-10) gives us the story of Zacchaeus and a very clear message and application for our lives today.  

Let's set the scene...Jesus is coming into Jericho.  There is a huge and pressing crowd.  Zacchaeus is short and cannot see Jesus and he desperately wants to see him, so he runs ahead of the crowd and climbs a tree. Zacchaeus is shocked and amazed when Jesus calls to him, tells him to come out of the tree and prepare for a dinner guest. The crowd grumbles. They are not happy with this turn of events.  They see the sinner, Zacchaeus, and cannot believe that Jesus would waste his time with such a one as this. After the meal, Zacchaeus is transformed and vows to give away his fortune and make a radical change in his life.

Zacchaeus is a short man. When he is overcome by the desire to see Jesus, he runs ahead of the crowd along the path they are following, and climbs a tree. He has to go to extreme lengths, leave his comfort zone, and climb higher. If we want to see Jesus, we need to remember to leave our comfort zone behind.  We will find Jesus in the confessional, in the soup kitchen, in the religious education class, or in any other place or ministry that causes us to stretch ourselves.

Zacchaeus is a very wealthy chief tax collector. In gathering taxes for the Romans, he took more than the prescribed amount.  He exploited his fellow Jews and lined his own pockets.  He even took a Roman name.  Imagine the worst bully on the play ground, or the most insensitive, crass, mean-spirited person you can think of...that was Zacchaeus.  If there was one person voted to be least likely to follow Christ, it was Zacchaeus.  Yet, despite his sins, on this day, he has a burning desired to know the Christ, to find out for himself what the hullabaloo is all about.  He opens his eyes and ears to the message and lets Christ into his heart.  He humbles himself and he is transformed.  We can follow Zacchaeus' lead.  We can let go of our past sins and our pride, and let Christ transform us. We can be made new, just as Zacchaeus was made new.

Zacchaeus hears the grumbles of the crowd.  They know who he is, what he is.  He turns a deaf ear to the whispers of his unworthiness, of his transgressions, of his sinfulness.  He does not let the crowd deter him from his goal and his heart's desire.  It would have been easy to slink away in shame, but he knew Jesus was there for him as well as everyone else in the crowd. When we hear the grumbling of the crowd, whether it is the voices in our head playing the endless reel of self doubting phrases, or our children or spouse complaining, or the gong of the media, turn a deaf ear and follow where Christ leads you. 

Zacchaeus hears Jesus call him out of the tree. He responds favorably to Jesus' request to come into his house and dine with him.  Zacchaeus did not have a chance to tidy up, to remove the idols or the secular decorations.  He did not clean his house and make everything perfect before Jesus came.  He could not make preparations ahead.  He did not know Jesus was coming to his house that day. Zacchaeus brings Jesus into his house as it is...in all the messiness. We sometimes get caught up in the lie of perfection or the other lie of unworthiness, that we have to do this, that, or the other thing before we can know Jesus.  Don't fall for that.  Invite Jesus into your messiness. Today. Now. Let him transfigure you to be everything you were born to be.  We are all a work-in-progress and the conversion happens, the joy happens, the new life happens after we let Christ into our house and into our life.

Finally, Zacchaeus had a radical conversion experience.  This conversion, the transformation of Zacchaeus comes after his personal encounter with Jesus.  Not before.  He vows to give away half his possessions and to repay four times the amount he exploited.  This is a radical change and above and beyond what anyone would have expected of him. Zacchaeus is a real example of a wealthy man who is saved by the grace of God.  He is like the camel that passes through the eye of the needle.  His actions reflect his conversion.  He gives more than lip service to his love of God.  He acts on that love.  We, too, must act on the love of Christ.  We must reflect His love of us onto others by whatever means we can.  

Take the Sycamore View and prepare to be transformed by the grace of God.