Reflection with Pope John XXIII

Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and spiritual to God--which is your spiritual worship (Rom 12:1)

Christian life is a sacrifice.  Sacrifice inspired by charity has the merit of bringing us into conformity with the earthly life of Jesus.  For He became our brother and died for us in order to assure us of joy and glory forever (Pope John XXIII)

Today is the second day of the year and already some of us may be struggling with our resolutions.  That is normal, we are human.  It is not always easy to change especially when it is a sacrifice, but let us remember that our Lord came and gave everything to us.  Giving up pop, or exercising more which means probably less TV seems minuscule compared to the sacrifice Christ made for us on the Cross.  If you have already failed do not worry.  We can start our days over at anytime and say this prayer today: O Lord, teach me the profound meaning of sharing in the Cross of Jesus, Your Son, so that I may live forever in Your love.  Amen

Good Beginnings

The Church in Her wisdom guided by Divine grace asks us to begin our new year, celebrating together at the altar of our Lord.  We begin the new year choosing what sacrifices we will make to improve ourselves but not forgetting the One Sacrifice that Jesus made for us which defeated Satan.  It only makes sense to sing and praise with heaven, and remember that our God, our Creator, chose us to be His adopted sons and daughters.  This is the real celebration today.  God who loves us beyond our comprehension gave us His only Son, to suffer and die for so that we could resurrect and ascend with Him to heaven.

Today we acknowledge Mary, and we are reminded that it is because of her fiat, her total devotion to God that we could be saved.  This new year should be a reflection of our Holy Mother's willingness and courage. This year should be a year that all of us improve on saying yes to God.  Our Pope has called us to a year of faith, and that is exactly what our blessed mother had when she said yes to God.  Let all of us pray that we can imitate this faith and that this faith never fades in the hardships to come this year.  Amen

The Saga of 2012

2012 is coming to a close and once again we are thinking about what we want to do differently for 2013.  I have begun discussing with my wife the last couple of days what I want to do for 2013 .  Our Pope asked us in October on the opening of the Year of Faith to read the Catechism and the Vatican II documents.  So my new year resolution is to read all of the Catechism and the Vatican II documents.  I am also going to learn a few new prayers, and lets just say I am going to work on the tummy!!!

What are your new years resolutions?

Purity

St. John of the Cross asks “Who seeks out God with a pure and sincere heart?”  Is it within our facilities to have such love?  Can we be pure?  That is what I ask today and for all of us to consider.  With the unlimited ways to commit impure acts, good acts are limited.  “For men are bad in countless ways, but good in only one.”  If we think about it with this analogy: it is easier to miss the target rather than hitting it.  This is our challenge.  It is so much easier or at least we think it is easier to commit impure acts since the options are numerous and it requires little effort on our part.  To be pure requires everything that we have.  To begin obtaining purity we have to cleanse ourselves mentally physically and spiritually.  St. Augustine wrote that “purity is the virtue of the mind.”  We need to be conscience always of where we allow our minds to wonder.  To practice mental purity which is the greatest task to undertake we need to increase our prayer life.  Place our thoughts with the Saints in heaven.  St. Augustine in his City of God wrote that the Christian mind should trust in God, place its hope in Him, and rely on His help.   Our minds are masters of roaming and changing at any moment but if we make God the target of our focus we will always hit our mark.  Physically we can be seduced with many temptations.  St. Basil wrote to “purge all defilement of the flesh.”  For many of us today we struggle with our sexuality.  St. Paul summarizes for us and makes it very clear:  “Flee from sexual immorality.  All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Cor. 6:18-20).  Spiritually we need to go to a spiritual master and St. Francis of Assisi is one such master.  He taught that, “A man is really clean…when he has no time for the things of this world.”  We are flesh of course but we need to look toward heaven because that is what we are made for.  We cannot forget that we are spiritual and we should not be building our treasures here on earth like our Lord taught us.

So here is a simple start with answering St. John of the Cross’ question.  With some basic tools to begin reflecting on this question all of us today can go out into this world and practice purity.  Cardinal John Henry Newman wrote that “purity prepares the soul for love.”

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The Family

We seek heaven but do not realize it is in front of us.  Our children laughing, singing, and dancing unveils the sweet and innocent atmosphere that heaven holds.  Parents over looking their children with love and joy mirrors the way our Father looks at us.  Heaven is here and it resides in the family.