Stuff I'm Thinkin'

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Gospel LK 1:39-45

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,

where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said,

"Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

Blessed are you who believed

that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."

This is just plain thanks and appreciation by Elizabeth!  First she already had a relationship with God.  She knew Him as she called Him, "my" Lord, in saying "the Mother of my Lord!"  How intimate an expression. And she notes Mary's belief.  Mary had enjoyed a deep and personal relationship with God well before the Angel Gabriel announced to her that she would bear God's Son. And Elizabeth notes Mary's belief, first for Mary and for her, and then for us, for all men and women of all times.  This is our reminder that our redemption began with God's initiation and Mary's belief in Him and the word spoken by the Angel.  

Should we dismiss words of God's love, any of them? Whether they be a deeper understanding in a moment of the beauty of nature, a sense of love and devotion on the part of another or ourself, or a direct message from God Himself, as He is able.  We must keep our eyes and hearts opened for Him in the myriad of ways he looks to communicate Himself to us in our every day, as Mary and Elizabeth did on that day, so many years ago, when our first human recorded announcement of the coming of the Savior of the world, came to us by an unborn child leaping for joy in his mother's womb!

Presence

 We have times and tenses past, present and future.
Lord... thanks for continued healing of our past. 

Help us to express life in light of our healed past so we can live in the present, 

yet know that Your Presence far transcends this present.
It will aid our future.  

HOLINESS

 I awoke this morning in prayer and an image emerged in my mind’s eye of a manhole cover.

Now the manhole cover was typically nickel-colored, and the street was clean gravel-grey as if it had been swept clean. But the focus of the image was on the cover. It was of course heavy and securely in place. And the writing on it was indecipherable in that it was of another language to me, a hidden language with short clear letters that I didn’t understand.

I didn’t get the gist of it until I asked You, Giver of all good things what it meant, and then sat down to pray the daily readings and journal. And as I go to USCCB.ORG for the readings, I naturally think of our bishops. In this moment, the meaning of the image immediately begins to emerge. 

The manhole cover represents the situation in the church today, in two ways. Man covered up many terrible sins of some priests, and those men, as well as all faithful believers, are now underground, like the underground church, but in a different type of catacomb.
The first catacombs were places where a deep and sacred trust was hidden and cultivated and protected and preserved so that the light of Christ would begin to shine salvation on this earth and her people. This new catacombs has not started out of God’s or the faithful’s making. 

What was recently hidden and protected was not of The God who formed the HOLY Church but of the sin of some priests and then the fear-based decisions of those weak persons who protected them. 

Yet there does remain the Sacred Truth. And He is never hidden, nor does He have our need to protect Him as He is Savior of all men, women and children of all times, in all places. 

Yes, this present representation of His earthly church does need to clean up its act of these horrific acts and spineless coverups. And it does need to be underground per se’ for a time to recognize its sin and with Gods grace clean up its act, and take even bigger steps to put in place more stringent procedures to protect and properly catechize God’s children and remove those who would cause them harm.

And if it needs to shrink considerably, so be it. God’s Church was born with the HOLY Spirit’s descent on twelve men, the Mother of God and some other faithful women. It is this HOLINESS which will sustain His faithful, enlightening hearts and minds to His deep and abiding and HOLY Love for them, for every child, and for all mankind. 

Keep your eyes open for Him. His Power is not of human origin, yet is human by Incarnation.
 

SALVE

Jesus, our Savior, You have not left Your people, Your Church, Your children. 

We, on the other hand, take leave of You daily, many times in Your service, sometimes not. 

Your Church though, is in quite a state of disarray, and this because of the weakness of some of her members, and we are sad to say, the outright and hideous sin of other of her members.

We can rail, we can “attack,” but if we do, let us attack the root cause of these evils with the weapons You have provided us with, our solemn prayer in and with You. 

Your Church has undergone some prior, very ugly times in her history, and although this stands out for other, perhaps even apocalyptic reasons, You nevertheless call Your faithful souls to pray.  And we pray for those in authority who may have fallen short on courage, that you straighten them up for the task you have laid before them.
 

Pray, fast, love. Remove all hatred from your hearts. If you find this difficult, turn to Him who waits to continue your healing. 

Salvation comes from the Greek word, olpe, or German salba... to heal. Salvation is in God’s hands. Our healing is in His hands.
 

Lord, our healing is in Your hands.  Help us to extend our own in the ways you have laid before each of us.

Confirmation

Today ends my 25th Year of Teaching 8th Grade Confirmation Class.  I prepared a prayer this morning for my students who will be Confirmed in our Church next Thursday, and after I read it,  I thought some of my adult friends might also  find some value in it.  So here it is.

Prayer to Prepare
 

For my Confirmation
 

Heavenly Father, You know me from my own mother’s womb as You are Omniscient in that You know everything, and I have been in Your thoughts for all Eternity.
 

You have been with me since the moment I was conceived and You are with me now as You are Omnipresent.
 

And You have brought me to these beautiful moments in my life as I continue to prepare for You to seal me in Your Love at my Confirmation in You and in Your Church.
 

Help me to understand and experience the gentle Power of Your Holy Spirit now, and  in the sacred moment when I am formally confirmed in You, as You are Omnipotent, All Powerful. 

Fill me with those Gifts and Fruits of Your Holy Spirit that You most desire to bless me and Your people with, through me.
 

And with my Confirmation, help me to be blessed with ears that can hear You, with a clean heart that can see You and a tender heart that can feel Your Love for me.  
 

Bless then my steps to walk in, of and for You. 

And with this, You protect me from all evil until I see You face to face.
 

I ask this in the Name of Your Son Jesus who would have died for me had I been the only person in the universe.
 

Amen, So Be It. 

It's been about 14 months since my last post.  It certainly has not been for lack of ministry.  I've been led in a beautiful direction during these troubling times in our Church, being led by our King and His Mother.

 For direction and peace during these troubling times, please seek out a voice for our times, Bishop Athanasius Schneider on YouTube and perhaps in his most recent book just published, Christus Vincit - Christ's Triumph Over the Darkness of the Age

New Year's Eve

12/31/19

 Some “thoughts” on the closing of a year and the beginning of another.

Although we won’t be able to begin to comprehend our Heavenly Father’s greatness until we are blessed with it in Heaven itself, I’d like to share a “thought” from this afternoon.

Christ pointed to His Father an awful lot during His earthly sojourn and mission. And as Christ is The Eternal Word, well, what precedes a word? A thought. So our Father is so much more than this, yet we could, in our own human way, think of Him as The Eternal Thought.

We have so much of an emphasis in our lives on doing, on action, as if inaction is something bad. Well, it could be, if not grounded in love. But before there is a word and then a deed, there is a thought. And I guess the more deep and pure the thought is can determine how deep and pure the word is, and thus the same for the action.

And so I am going to close out the year in deeper “thought,” in deeper reflection on the blessings of the past year, on what I have learned from my mistakes, on how I can improve, and on what potential 2020 holds for the small part I can play in this grand scheme of things and the coming of His Kingdom.

The challenges before us are immense as our Church and our world are infused with good seeds and with bad. And each of us have been given gifts to sow more good seeds, and to trust that God Himself will water them to sprout and spring to new life.
 

Lord Jesus Christ, our Divine Physician, 

we ask You to guard and protect us from coronavirus, COVID-19 and all serious illness. 

From all that have died from it, have mercy; 

for those that are ill now, bring healing. 

For those searching for a remedy, enlighten them; for medical caregivers helping the sick, 

strengthen and shield them. 

For those working to contain the spread, 

grant them success; 

for those afraid, grant peace. 

May Your precious blood be our defense and salvation. 

By Your grace, may you turn the evil of disease into moments of consolation and hope. 

May we always fear the contagion of sin more than any illness. 

We abandon ourselves to your infinite mercy. Amen.

Pedro de la Cruz

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