Category: Lectio (Page 13 of 32)

Unconditional love, peace and unity

May 9, 2018 / MSFriend / 0 Comments

Ascension of Christ

Unconditional love, peace and unity – a trinity of sorts. I say that because I believe you can’t have one without the others. I thought about it when I read the Gospel of John 14:27-31A, which reads:

Jesus said to His disciples: “Peace I leave you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you. I am going away and I will come back to you.” If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I . And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”

Peace – He talks about giving it, “not as the world does.” How does the world give peace? The world gives peace predicated on conditions: you do this and I’ll do that, you get rid of this and we’ll get rid of that, you promise this and we’ll do what you want. Isn’t that evident as we watch the news? Jesus tells us the peace He gives is different. The peace He gives is unconditional and powerful. It’s given because He loves us. He tells us “do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid” because He’s giving us His peace. Think for a moment about how powerful that is:

Jesus Christ – human and divine. The man who, through His divinity, had the power to escape crucifixion and chose not to. Jesus Christ, the man who admonished His Apostle for responding to His arrest with violence instead of peace. The man who willfully and peacefully endured His crucifixion. Jesus Christ, the purest definition of peace – gives us HIS PEACE! He modeled His peace for us and He GIVES US his peace. How can our hearts be troubled and afraid?

“If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” When I read that line, I thought of two things. First, the quote: if you love something set it free, if it comes back to you…….Jesus DID come back to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. Second, “the Father is greater than I.” It seems like Jesus is telling the disciples : “you think I can do great things, just wait until you see what the Father can do. Even more so – just wait to see what comes to pass when we’re reunited and working as a team.” There’s no doubt that individually we can accomplish great things but isn’t their much more power and possibility in teamwork?

We can think about that another way: sometimes in our lives we can take on so much work and responsibilities that we “spread ourselves too thin.” We’re beaten down, figuratively. As a result, we don’t perform as well as we should. If we understand this dilemma, regroup and lighten our load, we allow ourselves to become whole again and our performance level increases.

Think of Jesus now. Seeing the needs of the world He left the comfort of heaven to save us. He endured ridicule and persecution as He worked to make the world a better place. He was beaten down, literally. Now He’s going back to the Father. He can become whole again and in a sense, be replenished. As a result, He’ll be able to accomplish so much more than before without risk or fear of persecution. In reality, His work on Earth didn’t end, it continues in a different more powerful way. He is uniting with the Father.

In this unity, through their love for humanity and one another, the Holy Spirit is born and able to descend. Through the Holy Spirit we, as disciples, are filled with courage, fire and hope to continue Christ’s legacy! Sooooooooo……….”if you loved me, you would rejoice.” You think? I say YES, we should rejoice! Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your faithful, kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we will be created and you will renew the face of the Earth. What a promise!

For me, this Gospel symbolizes the power of unconditional love. A love without conditions encourages and results in an unshakeable peace which manifests itself as unity. First, we see it through the Trinity. The unconditional love God has for His Son, the peace His Son exhibits in His humanity which leads to His uniting with the Father. We can see the truth of this in human relationships. as well. Unconditional love expressed in a relationship brings a peace that leads to true unity. It’s what we mean when we say about a matrimony – the two shall become one! So, if there’s “trouble in paradise” one of these elements must be missing!

In truth, our personal life is a microcosm of community life. As family we are called to extend unconditional love. It is our vocation to share love with our spouses, parents and siblings even when we feel they don’t deserve it. Wow! Difficult, right? In a similar way as Christians we are called, or should I say we vow, to share unconditional love with all of God’s creation, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. Wow! Even MORE difficult, right? Can you imagine the peace and unity this world would experience if everyone shared a genuine, unconditional love?

We all receive unconditional, unmerited love from our creator! Seriously, how blessed are we? Shouldn’t we renew our own Christian vow to love everyone we encounter unconditionally? First, let’s re-evaluate our current relationships. Are they strained? If so, what component of unconditional love, peace and unity are missing? While all three are necessary parts of the whole “trinity”, I believe love is truly the binding force – for God is love! Are you loving unconditionally?

When I evaluate the relationships in my life that are strained, I recognize the role I play in it even though I “perceive” it to be someone else’s fault. Maybe I haven’t loved unconditionally. Unfortunately, I have expectations, I calculate merit and I evaluate conditions before I surrender to love. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much stronger we could be as a couple, a family, a nation and a world if we were unified through unconditional love and the peace that comes with it. The Earth would be renewed!

Unconditional love, peace and unity is not easy to acquire. Dare we BEG for GRACE? That’s what it’s going to take – the grace of God! God bless you.

Our God is an awesome God!

April 22, 2018 / MSFriend / 0 Comments

Mount Saint Benedict an example of humility

Humility of heart? Our God is an awesome God! But you knew that already, didn’t you? Here I am on retreat again in one of my favorite places, Mt. St. Benedict in Erie, PA. I sit with my Bible preparing to do lectio divina and open to Matthew 11:25-30. A few words struck me as I read it: yoke, gentle, humble and burden.

I begin to think about these words and decide I’ll uncover some wisdom in their definitions so I grab my phone and WOW! As I type in “humility of heart” my whole plan is derailed. I’m directed to The Saint Benedict Center website (coincidence? I think not!). What I read is too good to summarize and better than any insights I could share. I stop what I am doing and immediately go down to the library to post. So here it is:

Humility of Heart

Written by Fr. Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene

Jesus expressed Himself only once in these words: “Learn of Me,” and this was when He was speaking of humility. Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart. (Matthew 11:29) Knowing how much the practice of real humility would cost our proud nature, He seemed to want to give us special encouragement. The example He gave in the extraordinary humiliations which made Him the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people (Psalms 21:7), those humiliations by which, out of love for men, He was made sin (II Corinthians 5:21) and the bearer of all our iniquities, even to being reputed with the wicked (Mark 15:28), is certainly the strongest stimulus and the most urgent invitation to the practice of humility.

Jesus speaks directly to us about humility of heart, because every virtue, every reform of life, if it is to be sincere, must come from the heart, whence come our thoughts and our actions. The exterior attitude and the humility of our words are useless unless accompanied by lowliness of heart; many times they are but the mask of a refined and therefore all the more dangerous––pride. First make clean the inside, said Jesus when He was branding the Pharisees’ hypocrisy, that the outside may become clean. (Matthew 23:26) Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that “an interior disposition to humility puts its seal upon the words, gestures, and acts, by means of which that which is hidden within is manifested on the outside”

Therefore, to be truly humble, we must apply ourselves first of all to humility of heart and continue to deepen the sincere recognition of our nothingness, of our weakness. Let us acknowledge our faults and failings without trying to assign any other cause for them than our misery; let us recognize the good that is in us as a pure gift of God and never claim it for our own.

Humility of heart is a virtue which is at the same time both difficult and easy. It involves hardship because it is totally opposed to pride, which is always urging us to exalt ourselves; it is easy because we do not have to look very far to find grounds for it; we find them–– and how abundantly,––in ourselves, in our own misery. However, it does not suffice to be wretched in order to be humble––only he is humble who sincerely acknowledges his own unworthiness and acts accordingly.

Man, proud by nature, cannot reach this acknowledgment without God’s grace, but since God never refuses necessary grace to anyone, we have only to turn to Him and ask Him with confidence and perseverance for humility of heart. Let us ask for it in the Name of Jesus who humbled Himself so much for the glory of His Father and for our salvation; ask for it in His Name, and you will receive it. (cf. John 16:24) If in spite of our sincere desire to become humble, movements of pride, vainglory, or idle complacency arise in us, we must not become discouraged, but know and admit that they are the fruit of our fallen nature and use them as a new motive for abasing ourselves.

We should remember that we can practice humility of heart even when we are not able to perform special exterior acts of humility, even when no one humiliates us and we are, on the contrary, the object of confidence, esteem, and praise. Saint Therese of the Child Jesus said in like circumstances: “The remembrance of my weakness is so constantly present to me that there is no room for vanity.” Let us remember, then, that “reproaches do not make us more guilty, and neither does praise add anything to our holiness.” (Imitation II 6:3)

We must humble ourselves within, the more we are praised by others. If humility of heart is practiced in this way, it will give us such a low opinion of ourselves that we will not be able to prefer ourselves to anyone; we will consider others better and more worthy of esteem, respect, and consideration than we are. Thus we will be in peace, undisturbed by the desire to be better than others, undisturbed by the humiliations which may come to us. The fruit of humility is interior peace, for Jesus said: Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. (Matthew 11:29)

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, cure me of my pride, make my heart humble, infuse a little of Your profound humility into my soul. Since You know me better than I know myself, how could I, with my proud will, make my heart humble? A poor man cannot give wealth to himself, nor can a proud man give humility to his heart. Only Your infinite goodness can heal pride.

“This is the remedy to fix my gaze on You, Incarnate Word, hanging on the Cross. As soon as You see a humble soul looking at You in this way, You are quickly moved to look at it, and the effect of Your divine glance is like that of a ray of sunshine on the earth: it warms it and prepares it to bring forth fruit. This is the way You act, O Divine Word, who by the light of Your glance, drains my soul of all its pride, and consumes it in Your fire. No one can acquire humility if he does not fix his gaze on You, O Word, on the Cross.” (Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi)

“O Divine Word, You humbled Yourself even unto death and willed to be treated as the least of men by sinners, by demons, and even by the Holy Spirit and by Your Eternal Father. You did all this to glorify Your Father, to make reparation for the offenses committed against Him by our pride, to confound and destroy our arrogance and to teach us to detest vanity and to love humility. Oh! how truly can we see that pride dishonors God and is very displeasing to Him, since it was necessary for You, the Son of God, to be so humiliated in order to atone for such dishonor! We can truly say also that vanity is a monstrous thing, since in order to destroy it, You were willing to be reduced to such humiliation! Oh! how firmly must we believe that in the eyes of God humility is an infinitely precious treasure and a jewel most pleasing to Him, since You, His divine Son, willed to be so humiliated to make us love this virtue, and to urge us to imitate You in the practice of it, and thus merit the grace to perform its works!” (Saint John Eudes)