The Joy of Easter

The joy of loving Jesus comes from the joy of sharing in His sufferings. So do not allow yourself to be troubled or distressed, but believe in the joy of the Resurrection. In all of our lives, as in the life of Jesus, the Resurrection has to come, the joy of Easter has to dawn.----Mother Teresa

 

We are about to begin a new year. We do not have a clue what this year will hold, but we who believe that our Father in Heaven holds everything have an indescribable peace. We may have to remind ourselves often of this, but through faith, peace is ours if we dare. The more I read Mother Teresa's collection of letters in "Come be my Light", the more I realize the reality of our calling by a Father Who truly cares about our sanctification and detachment from this world's distractions. He cares so much that He mercifully allows us to suffer with His Son. He wants to kill our foolish pride, our ego driven dreams, our affections for anything other that His nearness. This is why we must take up our cross daily and follow after Him. This is joy inexpressible, words are pointless, this is where silence and groans overcome us from some deep mysterious place in our souls.

 

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St. Paul, the poet..

In Him we live and move and have our being.--St. Paul, Acts 17:28

 

St. Paul had a way with words. He was truly a poet and loved poetry. He was well acquainted with Plato and Socrates. He was also either an athlete or a fan of athletics. He often compared this life with God to a race. He would probably be a fan of ESPN were he walking the earth today. St. Paul wrote most of the New Testament. His letters were often used in the Mass by the early Church. This played a huge role in them being included in the New Testament canon at the Synod of Hippo in 393 A.D. His words were always reliable to the Apostles teaching, and inspiring beyond compare. Isn't it something that he appears in scripture first as a killer of Christians? He was the authority who approved the stoning of Stephen. Now, he and St. Stephen are gazing upon the Trinity together. St. Paul, please pray for us as we hopefully learn to give ourselves even a little like you did. Pray for us that we would give everything we are and have to Jesus. And St. Paul, please praise Him for us in this moment.

 

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Yesterday

Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal King. Today we celebrate the triumphant suffering of His soldier.---St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop 5th and 6th century

 

The 26th of December is the feast day of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the faith (Acts 6 & 7). Yesterday we remembered our Lord, "clothed in His robe of flesh, left His place in the Virgin's womb and graciously visited the world. Today His soldier leaves the tabernacle of his body and goes triumphantly to heaven."--St. Fulgentius   Isn't our Tradition in the Church exhilarating!? We rejoice in our Lord coming to save us one day, and the next we see the firstfruits of His work in Deacon St. Stephen. St. Stephen followed the lead of Jesus and forgave his executioners as they hurled stones at his head. Jesus began the journey and we get to live in it. Our faith is alive!!! We have a constant reminder in the Liturgy of the work of God throughout history. We don't have time to be complacent in our journey! We have the Saints and our Mother Mary praying for us, the Sacraments, the writings of the early Father's, The Holy Scripture, and the Holy Spirit, working in and through the Church. Hallelujah! Christmas has come, onward and upward we go! St. Stephen, pray for us that we would love like you loved. Pray for us St. Fulgentius, that we would dig deeper and deeper into this endless treasure that is ours in Jesus our Lord!

 

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Jesus

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.---St. John, from the first chapter of his gospel.

 

This is why we have faith. This is why we have hope. This is why we have love. Christmas is about the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. In the Eucharist, He is still among us in His Flesh at every Mass and in every Tabernacle around the world! Glory to His Name! One of the early Church fathers said that when God spoke the Word, Jesus, He said everything He has to say. There is nothing to add to this Word. The little baby lying in a feeding trough for sheep, born in Bethlehem, which means, "House of Bread", worshipped by Angels, shepherds, and kings; adored by His Virgin Mother, this is God's Word. He came as a helpless baby. For nine months He grew in Mary's sinless womb; thus, He is the King of the unborn, for He Himself was once an Unborn. He lies in this manger, born to be our Food. He said, "Take and eat, this is My Body..Take and drink, this is My Blood.." This Word is the Bread of Angels. He became human so that we might become Divine. This is Christmas! This is the personal relationship He has in mind for each of His sheep, a deeply intimate and mysterious relationship, unlike anything we can imagine. Merry Christmas!

 

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A Wonderful Christmas!

Today God loves the world so much that He gives you, He gives me, to love the world, to be His love, His compassion. It is such a beautiful thought for us---a conviction---that you and I can be that love and compassion.---Mother Teresa, from "Come Be My Light"

 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son...John 3:16

 

This is Christmas! Why is it that we rejoice and feel something different about this time upon us? Because God gave us proof that He loves us, He gave us His Son! The devil has tried so hard to drown the Truth of Christmas. He tries to bury the truth behind the gluttonous materialism of getting, and sadly, we disciples of the King often buy in to diablo's plan. What if next Christmas we sat down with our families, and together, we decided to take some, or all, of the money we would spend on one another and give it to a family in need? What light this would bring! What compassion it would spread! In doing this, we parents would teach our children something eternal. We would teach them what sacrifice looks and feels like. Imagine waking up Christmas morning and having fewer, or maybe even, no gifts for ourselves under the tree, what a wonderful Christmas this would be! To sit together as a family and drink hot chocolate, giving glory to God for the Gift of Himself in the Incarnation, thanking Him for allowing us to help someone else in His name, on His birthday, wouldn't that be a wonderful Christmas?!

 

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Help us Lord!

The God in his heart and the God on his lips were one and the same God.---Pope Clement 13, speaking of Saint John of Kanty

 

Let us pray that this can be said of all of us who call upon Jesus. We must never forget, or take for granted, Who it is we present to the world around us. And when we do forget, let us fall on our knees and repent. We have so much to rejoice in this Christmas. Even though we may not understand all that is going on in our lives, we know He understands and loves us madly. Lord Jesus, help us to be faithful to Your humility, and to Your Sacred Heart of mercy and love. And Lord, give us passion for Truth in our hearts, and may this Truth always be upon our lips. 

 

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Favor

His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.---Mary, from her Magnificat, Luke 1:50

 

Here was this little Jewish Nazarene girl, some say around the age of 14, chosen to bring Christmas to the world. Gabriel called her the "Favored one". What did this "favor" bring her? It brought her joy. Her joy was like that of Moses and the children of Israel after they had crossed the Red Sea. They sang of God's deliverance, and now this little girl who had been dedicated from birth to serving Yahweh was singing too. This "favor" also brought her great purpose and responsibility. Gabriel told her about her cousin Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant with John the Baptist. The scripture says that Mary "made haste" to get to Elizabeth. Her desire to be with her cousin was two-fold; she wanted to be with someone who had also been visited by the Angel and given great purpose, and, she wanted to help Elizabeth in her pregnancy. Elizabeth was very old. Mary's servant heart directed her always. What else did "Favor" bring her? Simeon, the priest who was waiting to see the Messiah, told Mary that a "sword would pierce her heart." Favor was going to bring this little girl much sorrow and grief. This Child in her womb would be the target of hell itself! The demons always knew who He was. Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt, a place with no family or friends. A place Moses and Israel had fled from. The favor meant displacement and loneliness. Mary never left His side as He suffered and carried the cross to Golgotha. She stood at the foot of the cross as He writhed in pain and died. We must remember that God's "favor" is a deep and mysterious thing, never quite what we expect.

 

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Mary visits ELizabeth