secular Institute for the laity under religious vows

May 1st, 2006
by
Maureen McCann Waldron
The Collaborative Ministry Office
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Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker

Acts 6:8-15
Psalm 119:23-24, 26-27, 29-30
John 6:22-29
Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer



Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life.
John 6:27

In today's gospel, Jesus offers us the bread of life. I picture that kind of bread as literally the "staff of life," something that those of us in our privileged world of plentiful food may not fully comprehend. In Jesus' time, bread was inexpensive, made at home and its grains and nutrients made it a key element in any meal. It literally fed people, and among poor people it might be the only food they would have that day.

In this bread of life, Jesus offers us the real thing. But why do I so often pass up his life-giving offer of a hearty meal and his way of living and instead grab for the "junk food" that is familiar - the way I always do things, the habits I cling to? Why do I hold grudges, refuse to forgive or wonder why God doesn't intervene in the bad things going on in the world?

Earlier this week I was having a really bad day. Someone in my family was in a crisis, someone I love has been diagnosed with an incurable disease and a dear two year old was struggling after heart surgery. I wallowed in the feelings of being overwhelmed and was generally crabby all day. It wasn't until I went home and remembered to pray about all of this, that I found myself at the table at Emmaus with Jesus.

As I prayed, I realized, that like the disciples at Emmaus, I wasn't recognizing Jesus in all of the situations of my life. He blesses and breaks this bread of life for us, in the two year old's struggle for life, in the sadness of a family crisis or in bad news about the health of someone we love. But the disciples at Emmaus said, "We had hoped it would be different" and so did I. I had somehow hoped that my life would be easier, that the people I love would not have to suffer and that I would not have to come up with the courage to give guidance and support to someone in such pain.

But if I turn back to the table at Emmaus, I can recognize Jesus as he breaks the bread and offers himself, broken and given. He shares this great bread of life with me and asks me to share it, to share myself in his name, with others in my life, especially those who suffer. And I will not be alone in supporting those suffering people - Jesus in his great compassion, reached out to their hearts long before I did.


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In many circles of the Catholic Church, in the month of May Our Blessed Mother is talked about and celebrated in very special ways....Here is some information taken from The Catholic Encyclopedia.

I. MARY PROPHESIED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Old Testament refers to Our Blessed Lady both in its prophecies and its types or figures.

Genesis 3:15

The first prophecy referring to Mary is found in the very opening chapters of the Book of Genesis (3:15): "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." This rendering appears to differ in two respects from the original Hebrew text:

(1) First, the Hebrew text employs the same verb for the two renderings "she shall crush" and "thou shalt lie in wait"; the Septuagint renders the verb both times by terein, to lie in wait; Aquila, Symmachus, the Syriac and the Samaritan translators, interpret the Hebrew verb by expressions which mean to crush, to bruise; the Itala renders the terein employed in the Septuagint by the Latin "servare", to guard; St. Jerome [1] maintains that the Hebrew verb has the meaning of "crushing" or "bruising" rather than of "lying in wait", "guarding". Still in his own work, which became the Latin Vulgate, the saint employs the verb "to crush" (conterere) in the first place, and "to lie in wait" (insidiari) in the second. Hence the punishment inflicted on the serpent and the serpent's retaliation are expressed by the same verb: but the wound of the serpent is mortal, since it affects his head, while the wound inflicted by the serpent is not mortal, being inflicted on the heel.

(2) The second point of difference between the Hebrew text and our version concerns the agent who is to inflict the mortal wound on the servant: our version agrees with the present Vulgate text in reading "she" (ipsa) which refers to the woman, while the Hebrew text reads hu' (autos, ipse) which refers to the seed of the woman. According to our version, and the Vulgate reading, the woman herself will win the victory; according to the Hebrew text, she will be victorious through her seed. In this sense does the Bull "Ineffabilis" ascribe the victory to Our Blessed Lady. The reading "she" (ipsa) is neither an intentional corruption of the original text, nor is it an accidental error; it is rather an explanatory version expressing explicitly the fact of Our Lady's part in the victory over the serpent, which is contained implicitly in the Hebrew original. The strength of the Christian tradition as to Mary's share in this victory may be inferred from the retention of "she" in St. Jerome's version in spite of his acquaintance with the original text and with the reading "he" (ipse) in the old Latin version.

As it is quite commonly admitted that the Divine judgment is directed not so much against the serpent as against the originator of sin, the seed of the serpent denotes the followers of the serpent, the "brood of vipers", the "generation of vipers", those whose father is the Devil, the children of evil, imitando, non nascendo (Augustine). [2] One may be tempted to understand the seed of the woman in a similar collective sense, embracing all who are born of God. But seed not only may denote a particular person, but has such a meaning usually, if the context allows it. St. Paul (Galatians 3:16) gives this explanation of the word "seed" as it occurs in the patriarchal promises: "To Abraham were the promises made and to his seed. He saith not, and to his seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to his seed, which is Christ". Finally the expression "the woman" in the clause "I will put enmities between thee and the woman" is a literal version of the Hebrew text. The Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius-Kautzsch [3] establishes the rule: Peculiar to the Hebrew is the use of the article in order to indicate a person or thing, not yet known and not yet to be more clearly described, either as present or as to be taken into account under the contextual conditions. Since our indefinite article serves this purpose, we may translate: "I will put enmities between you and a woman". Hence the prophecy promises a woman, Our Blessed Lady, who will be the enemy of the serpent to a marked degree; besides, the same woman will be victorious over the Devil, at least through her offspring. The completeness of the victory is emphasized by the contextual phrase "earth shall thou eat", which is according to Winckler [4] a common old-oriental expression denoting the deepest humiliation [5].

Isaias 7:1-17

The second prophecy referring to Mary is found in Isaias 7:1-17. Critics have endeavoured to represent this passage as a combination of occurrences and sayings from the life of the prophet written down by an unknown hand [6]. The credibility of the contents is not necessarily affected by this theory, since prophetic traditions may be recorded by any writer without losing their credibility. But even Duhm considers the theory as an apparent attempt on the part of the critics to find out what the readers are willing to bear patiently; he believes it is a real misfortune for criticism itself that it has found a mere compilation in a passage which so graphically describes the birth-hour of faith.

According to 2 Kings 16:1-4, and 2 Chronicles 27:1-8, Achaz, who began his reign 736 B.C., openly professed idolatry, so that God gave him into the hands of the kings of Syria and Israel. It appears that an alliance had been concluded between Phacee, King of Israel, and Rasin, King of Damascus, for the purpose of opposing a barrier to the Assyrian aggressions. Achaz, who cherished Assyrian proclivities, did not join the coalition; the allies invaded his territory, intending to substitute for Achaz a more subservient ruler, a certain son of Tabeel. While Rasin was occupied in reconquering the maritime city Elath, Phacee alone proceeded against Juda, "but they could not prevail". After Elath had fallen, Rasin joined his forces with those of Phacee; "Syria hath rested upon Ephraim", whereupon "his (Achaz') heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind". Immediate preparations must be made for a protracted siege, and Achaz is busily engaged near the upper pool from which the city received the greater part of its water supply. Hence the Lord says to Isaias: "Go forth to meet Achaz. . .at the end of the conduit of the upper pool". The prophet's commission is of an extremely consoling nature: "See thou be quiet; hear not, and let not thy heart be afraid of the two tails of these firebrands". The scheme of the enemies shall not succeed: "it shall not stand, and this shall not be." What is to be the particular fate of the enemies?


Syria will gain nothing, it will remain as it has been in the past: "the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rasin".
Ephraim too will remain in the immediate future as it has been hitherto: "the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria the son of Romelia"; but after sixty-five years it will be destroyed, "within threescore and five years Ephraim shall cease to be a people".
Achaz had abandoned the Lord for Moloch, and put his trust in an alliance with Assyria; hence the conditional prophecy concerning Juda, "if you will not believe, you shall not continue". The test of belief follows immediately: "ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, either unto the depth of hell or unto the height above". Achaz hypocritically answers: "I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord", thus refusing to express his belief in God, and preferring his Assyrian policy. The king prefers Assyria to God, and Assyria will come: "the Lord shall bring upon thee and upon thy people, and upon the house of thy father, days that have not come since the time of the separation of Ephraim from Juda with the king of the Assyrians." The house of David has been grievous not merely to men, but to God also by its unbelief; hence it "shall not continue", and, by an irony of Divine punishment, it will be destroyed by those very men whom it preferred to God.

Still the general Messianic promises made to the house of David cannot be frustrated: "The Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel. He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil and to choose the good. For before the child know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good, the land which thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of the face of her two kings." Without answering a number of questions connected with the explanation of the prophecy, we must confine ourselves here to the bare proof that the virgin mentioned by the prophet is Mary the Mother of Christ. The argument is based on the premises that the prophet's virgin is the mother of Emmanuel, and that Emmanuel is Christ. The relation of the virgin to Emmanuel is clearly expressed in the inspired words; the same indicate also the identity of Emmanuel with the Christ.

The connection of Emmanuel with the extraordinary Divine sign which was to be given to Achaz predisposes one to see in the child more than a common boy. In 8:8, the prophet ascribes to him the ownership of the land of Juda: "the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel". In 9:6, the government of the house of David is said to be upon his shoulders, and he is described as being endowed with more than human qualities: "a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the World to Come, and the Prince of Peace". Finally, the prophet calls Emmanuel "a rod out of the root of Jesse" endowed with "the spirit of the Lord. . .the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness"; his advent shall be followed by the general signs of the Messianic era, and the remnant of the chosen people shall be again the people of God (11:1-16).

Whatever obscurity or ambiguity there may be in the prophetic text itself is removed by St. Matthew (1:18-25). After narrating the doubt of St. Joseph and the angel's assurance, "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost", the Evangelist proceeds: "now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel." We need not repeat the exposition of the passage given by Catholic commentators who answer the exceptions raised against the obvious meaning of the Evangelist. We may infer from all this that Mary is mentioned in the prophecy of Isaias as mother of Jesus Christ; in the light of St. Matthew's reference to the prophecy, we may add that the prophecy predicted also Mary's virginity untarnished by the conception of the Emmanuel [7].

Micheas 5:2-3

A third prophecy referring to Our Blessed Lady is contained in Micah 5:2-3: "And thou, Bethlehem, Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out of thee shall be come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel, and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. Therefore will he give them up till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth, and the remnant of his brethren shall be converted to the children of Israel." Though the prophet (about 750-660 B.C.) was a contemporary of Isaias, his prophetic activity began a little later and ended a little earlier than that of Isaias. There can be no doubt that the Jews regarded the foregoing prediction as referring to the Messias. According to St. Matthew (2:6) the chief priests and scribes, when asked where the Messias was to be born, answered Herod in the words of the prophecy, "And thou Bethlehem the land of Juda. . ." According to St. John (7:42), the Jewish populace gathered at Jerusalem for the celebration of the feast asked the rhetorical question: "Doth not the Scripture say that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the town where David was?" The Chaldee paraphrase of Micah 5:2, confirms the same view: "Out of thee shall come forth unto me the Messias, that he may exercise dominion in Israel". The very words of the prophecy admit of hardly any other explanation; for "his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity".

But how does the prophecy refer to the Virgin Mary? Our Blessed Lady is denoted by the phrase, "till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth". It is true that "she that travaileth" has been referred to the Church (St. Jerome, Theodoret), or to the collection of the Gentiles united with Christ (Ribera, Mariana), or again to Babylon (Calmet); but, on the one hand, there is hardly a sufficient connection between any of these events and the promised redeemer, on the other hand, the passage ought to read "till the time wherein she that is barren shall bring forth" if any of these events were referred to by the prophet. Nor can "she that travaileth" be referred to Sion: Sion is spoken of without figure before and after the present passage so that we cannot expect the prophet to lapse suddenly into figurative language. Moreover, the prophecy thus explained would not give a satisfactory sense. The contextual phrases "the ruler in Israel", "his going forth", which in Hebrew implies birth, and "his brethren" denote an individual, not a nation; hence we infer that the bringing forth must refer to the same person. It has been shown that the person of the ruler is the Messias; hence "she that travaileth" must denote the mother of Christ, or Our Blessed Lady. Thus explained the whole passage becomes clear: the Messias must be born in Bethlehem, an insignificant village in Juda: his family must be reduced to poverty and obscurity before the time of his birth; as this cannot happen if the theocracy remains intact, if David's house continues to flourish, "therefore will he give them up till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth" the Messias. [8]

Jeremias 31:22

A fourth prophecy referring to Mary is found in Jeremias 31:22; "The Lord has created a new thing upon the earth: A woman shall compass a man". The text of the prophet Jeremias offers no small difficulties for the scientific interpreter; we shall follow the Vulgate version of the Hebrew original. But even this rendering has been explained in several different ways: Rosenmuller and several conservative Protestant interpreters defend the meaning, "a woman shall protect a man"; but such a motive would hardly induce the men of Israel to return to God. The explanation "a woman shall seek a man" hardly agrees with the text; besides, such an inversion of the natural order is presented in Isaias 4:1, as a sign of the greatest calamity. Ewald's rendering, "a woman shall change into a man", is hardly faithful to the original text. Other commentators see in the woman a type of the Synagogue or of the Church, in man the type of God, so that they explain the prophecy as meaning, "God will dwell again in the midst of the Synagogue (of the people of Israel)" or "the Church will protect the earth with its valiant men". But the Hebrew text hardly suggests such a meaning; besides, such an explanation renders the passage tautological: "Israel shall return to its God, for Israel will love its God". Some recent writers render the Hebrew original: "God creates a new thing upon the earth: the woman (wife) returns to the man (her husband)". According to the old law (Deuteronomy 24:1-4; Jeremiah 3:1) the husband could not take back the wife once repudiated by him; but the Lord will do something new by allowing the faithless wife, i.e. the guilty nation, to return to the friendship of God. This explanation rests upon a conjectural correction of the text; besides, it does not necessarily bear the Messianic meaning which we expect in the passage.

The Greek Fathers generally follow the Septuagint version, "The Lord has created salvation in a new plantation, men shall go about in safety"; but St. Athanasius twice [9] combines Aquila's version "God has created a new thing in woman" with that of the Septuagint, saying that the new plantation is Jesus Christ, and that the new thing created in woman is the body of the Lord, conceived within the virgin without the co-operation of man. St. Jerome too [10] understands the prophetic text of the virgin conceiving the Messias. This meaning of the passage satisfies the text and the context. As the Word Incarnate possessed from the first moment of His conception all His perfections excepting those connected with His bodily development, His mother is rightly said to "compass a man". No need to point out that such a condition of a newly conceived child is rightly called "a new thing upon earth". The context of the prophecy describes after a short general introduction (30:1-3) Israel's future freedom and restoration in four stanzas: 30:4-11, 12-22; 30:23; 31:14, 15-26; the first three stanzas end with the hope of the Messianic time. The fourth stanza, too, must be expected to have a similar ending. Moreover, the prophecy of Jeremias, uttered about 589 B.C. and understood in the sense just explained, agrees with the contemporary Messianic expectations based on Isaias 7:14; 9:6; Micah 5:3. According to Jeremias, the mother of Christ is to differ from other mothers in this, that her child, even while within her womb, shall possess all those properties which constitute real manhood [11]. The Old Testament refers indirectly to Mary in those prophecies which predict the Incarnation of the Word of God.

II. OLD TESTAMENT TYPES AND FIGURES OF MARY
In order to be sure of the typical sense, it must be revealed, i.e. it must come down to us through Scripture or tradition. Individual pious writers have developed copious analogies between certain data of the Old Testament and corresponding data of the New; however ingenious these developments may be, they do not prove that God really intended to convey the corresponding truths in the inspired text of the Old Testament. On the other hand, it must be kept in mind that not all truths contained in either Scripture or tradition have been explicitly proposed to the faithful as matters of belief by the explicit definition of the Church.

According to the principle "Lex orandi est lex credenti" we must treat at least with reverence the numberless suggestions contained in the official prayers and liturgies of the Church. In this sense we must regard many of the titles bestowed on Our Blessed Lady in her litany and in the "Ave maris stella". The Antiphons and Responses found in the Offices recited on the various feasts of Our Blessed Lady suggest a number of types of Mary that hardly could have been brought so vividly to the notice of the Church's ministers in any other way. The third antiphon of Lauds of the Feast of the Circumcision sees in "the bush that was not burnt" (Exodus 3:2) a figure of Mary conceiving her Son without the loss of her virginity. The second antiphon of Lauds of the same Office sees in Gideon's fleece wet with dew while all the ground beside had remained dry (Judges 6:37-38) a type of Mary receiving in her womb the Word Incarnate [12]. The Office of the Blessed Virgin applies to Mary many passages concerning the spouse in the Canticle of Canticles [13] and also concerning Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs 8:22-31 [14]. The application to Mary of a "garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up" mentioned in Canticles 4:12 is only a particular instance of what has been said above. [15] Besides, Sara, Debbora, Judith, and Esther are variously used as figures of Mary; the ark of the Covenant, over which the presence of God manifested itself, is used as the figure of Mary carrying God Incarnate within her womb. But especially Eve, the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20), is considered as a type of Mary who is the mother of all the living in the order of grace [16].

III. MARY IN THE GOSPELS
The reader of the Gospels is at first surprised to find so little about Mary; but this obscurity of Mary in the Gospels has been studied at length by Blessed Peter Canisius [17], Auguste Nicolas [18], Cardinal Newman [19], and Very Rev. J. Spencer Northcote [20]. In the commentary on the "Magnificat", published 1518, even Luther expresses the belief that the Gospels praise Mary sufficiently by calling her (eight times) the Mother of Jesus. In the following paragraphs we shall briefly group together what we know of Our Blessed Lady's life before the birth of her Divine Son, during the hidden life of Our Lord, during His public life and after His resurrection.

Mary's Davidic ancestry

St. Luke (2:4) says that St. Joseph went from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled, "because he was of the house and family of David". As if to exclude all doubt concerning the Davidic descent of Mary, the Evangelist (1:32, 69) states that the child born of Mary without the intervention of man shall be given "the throne of David His father", and that the Lord God has "raised up a horn of salvation to us in the house of David his servant". [21] St. Paul too testifies that Jesus Christ "was made to him [God] of the seed of David, according to the flesh" (Romans 1:3). If Mary were not of Davidic descent, her Son conceived by the Holy Ghost could not be said to be "of the seed of David". Hence commentators tell us that in the text "in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God. . .to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David" (Luke 1:26-27); the last clause "of the house of David" does not refer to Joseph, but to the virgin who is the principal person in the narrative; thus we have a direct inspired testimony to Mary's Davidic descent. [22]

While commentators generally agree that the genealogy found at the beginning of the first Gospel is that of St. Joseph, Annius of Viterbo proposes the opinion, already alluded to by St. Augustine, that St. Luke's genealogy gives the pedigree of Mary. The text of the third Gospel (3:23) may be explained so as to make Heli the father of Mary: "Jesus. . .being the son (as it was supposed of Joseph) of Heli", or "Jesus. . .being the son of Joseph, as it was supposed, the son of Heli" (Lightfoot, Bengel, etc.), or again "Jesus. . .being as it was supposed the son of Joseph, who was [the son-in-law] of Heli" [23]. In these explanations the name of Mary is not mentioned explicitly, but it is implied; for Jesus is the Son of Heli through Mary.

Her parents

Though few commentators adhere to this view of St. Luke's genealogy, the name of Mary's father, Heli, agrees with the name given to Our Lady's father in a tradition founded upon the report of the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal Gospel which dates from the end of the second century. According to this document the parents of Mary are Joachim and Anna. Now, the name Joachim is only a variation of Heli or Eliachim, substituting one Divine name (Yahweh) for the other (Eli, Elohim). The tradition as to the parents of Mary, found in the Gospel of James, is reproduced by St. John Damascene [24], St. Gregory of Nyssa [25], St. Germanus of Constantinople [26], pseudo-Epiphanius [27], pseudo-Hilarius [28], and St. Fulbert of Chartres [29]. Some of these writers add that the birth of Mary was obtained by the fervent prayers of Joachim and Anna in their advanced age. As Joachim belonged to the royal family of David, so Anna is supposed to have been a descendant of the priestly family of Aaron; thus Christ the Eternal King and Priest sprang from both a royal and priestly family [30].

The hometown of Mary's parents

According to Luke 1:26, Mary lived in Nazareth, a city in Galilee, at the time of the Annunciation. A certain tradition maintains that she was conceived and born in the same house in which the Word became flesh [31]. Another tradition based on the Gospel of James regards Sephoris as the earliest home of Joachim and Anna, though they are said to have lived later on in Jerusalem, in a house called by St. Sophronius of Jerusalem [32] Probatica. Probatica, a name probably derived from the sanctuary's nearness to the pond called Probatica or Bethsaida in John 5:2. It was here that Mary was born. About a century later, about A.D. 750, St. John Damascene [33] repeats the statement that Mary was born in the Probatica.

It is said that, as early as in the fifth century the empress Eudoxia built a church over the place where Mary was born, and where her parents lived in their old age. The present Church of St. Anna stands at a distance of only about 100 Feet from the pool Probatica. In 1889, 18 March, was discovered the crypt which encloses the supposed burying-place of St. Anna. Probably this place was originally a garden in which both Joachim and Anna were laid to rest. At their time it was still outside of the city walls, about 400 feet north of the Temple. Another crypt near St. Anna's tomb is the supposed birthplace of the Blessed Virgin; hence it is that in early times the church was called St. Mary of the Nativity [34]. In the Cedron Valley, near the road leading to the Church of the Assumption, is a little sanctuary containing two altars which are said to stand over the burying-places of Sts. Joachim and Anna; but these graves belong to the time of the Crusades [35]. In Sephoris too the Crusaders replaced by a large church an ancient sanctuary which stood over the legendary house of Sts. Joachim and Anna. After 1788 part of this church was restored by the Franciscan Fathers.

Her Immaculate Conception

The Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Lady has been treated in a SPECIAL ARTICLE.

The birth of Mary

As to the place of the birth of Our Blessed Lady, there are three different traditions to be considered.

First, the event has been placed in Bethlehem. This opinion rests on the authority of the following witnesses: it is expressed in a writing entitled "De nativ. S. Mariae" [36] inserted after the works of St. Jerome; it is more or less vaguely supposed by the Pilgrim of Piacenza, erroneously called Antoninus Martyr, who wrote about A.D. 580 [37]; finally the popes Paul II (1471), Julius II (1507), Leo X (1519), Paul III (1535), Pius IV (1565), Sixtus V (1586), and Innocent XII (1698) in their Bulls concerning the Holy House of Loreto say that the Blessed Virgin was born, educated, and greeted by the angel in the Holy House. But these pontiffs hardly wish to decide an historical question; they merely express the opinion of their respective times.

A second tradition placed the birth of Our Blessed Lady in Sephoris, about three miles north of Bethlehem, the Roman Diocaesarea, and the residence of Herod Antipas till late in the life of Our Lord. The antiquity of this opinion may be inferred from the fact that under Constantine a church was erected in Sephoris to commemorate the residence of Joachim and Anna in that place [38]. St. Epiphanius speaks of this sanctuary [39]. But this merely shows that Our Blessed Lady may have lived in Sephoris for a time with her parents, without forcing us to believe that she had been born there.

The third tradition, that Mary was born in Jerusalem, is the most probable one. We have seen that it rests upon the testimony of St. Sophronius, St. John Damascene, and upon the evidence of the recent finds in the Probatica. The Feast of Our Lady's Nativity was not celebrated in Rome till toward the end of the seventh century; but two sermons found among the writings of St. Andrew of Crete (d. 680) suppose the existence of this feat, and lead one to suspect that it was introduced at an earlier date into some other churches [40]. In 799 the 10th canon of the Synod of Salzburg prescribes four feasts in honour of the Mother of God: the Purification, 2 February; the Annunciation, 25 March; the Assumption, 15 August; the Nativity, 8 September.

The Presentation of Mary

According to Exodus 13:2 and 13:12, all the Hebrew first-born male children had to be presented in the Temple. Such a law would lead pious Jewish parents to observe the same religious rite with regard to other favourite children. This inclines one to believe that Joachim and Anna presented in the Temple their child, which they had obtained by their long, fervent prayers.

As to Mary, St. Luke (1:34) tells us that she answered the angel announcing the birth of Jesus Christ: "how shall this be done, because I know not man". These words can hardly be understood, unless we assume that Mary had made a vow of virginity; for, when she spoke them, she was betrothed to St. Joseph. [41] The most opportune occasion for such a vow was her presentation in the Temple. As some of the Fathers admit that the faculties of St. John the Baptist were prematurely developed by a special intervention of God's power, we may admit a similar grace for the child of Joachim and Anna. [42]

But what has been said does not exceed the certainty of antecedently probable pious conjectures. The consideration that Our Lord could not have refused His Blessed Mother any favours which depended merely on His munificence does not exceed the value of an a priori argument. Certainty in this question must depend on external testimony and the teaching of the Church.

Now, the Protoevangelium of James (7-8), and the writing entitled "De nativit. Mariae" (7-8), [43] state that Joachim and Anna, faithful to a vow they had made, presented the child Mary in the Temple when she was three years old; that the child herself mounted the Temple steps, and that she made her vow of virginity on this occasion. St. Gregory of Nyssa [44] and St. Germanus of Constantinople [45] adopt this report; it is also followed by pseudo-Gregory of Nazianzus in his "Christus patiens". [46] Moreover, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation, though it does not specify at what age the child Mary was presented in the Temple, when she made her vow of virginity, and what were the special natural and supernatural gifts with which God endowed her. The feast is mentioned for the first time in a document of Manuel Commenus, in 1166; from Constantinople the feast must have been introduced into the western Church, where we find it at the papal court at Avignon in 1371; about a century later, Pope Sixtus IV introduced the Office of the Presentation, and in 1585 Pope Sixtus V extended the Feast of the Presentation to the whole Church.

Her betrothal to Joseph

The apocryphal writings to which we referred in the last paragraph state that Mary remained in the Temple after her presentation in order to be educated with other Jewish children. There she enjoyed ecstatic visions and daily visits of the holy angels.

When she was fourteen, the high priest wished to send her home for marriage. Mary reminded him of her vow of virginity, and in his embarrassment the high priest consulted the Lord. Then he called all the young men of the family of David, and promised Mary in marriage to him whose rod should sprout and become the resting place of the Holy Ghost in form of a dove. It was Joseph who was privileged in this extraordinary way.

We have already seen that St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Germanus of Constantinople, and pseudo-Gregory Nazianzen seem to adopt these legends. Besides, the emperor Justinian allowed a basilica to be built on the platform of the former Temple in memory of Our Lady's stay in the sanctuary; the church was called the New St. Mary's so as to distinguish it from the Church of the Nativity. It seems to be the modern mosque el-Aksa. [47]

On the other hand, the Church is silent as to Mary's stay in the Temple. St. Ambrose [48], describing Mary's life before the Annunciation, supposes expressly that she lived in the house of her parents. All the descriptions of the Jewish Temple which can claim any scientific value leave us in ignorance as to any localities in which young girls might have been educated. Joas's stay in the Temple till the age of seven does not favour the supposition that young girls were educated within the sacred precincts; for Joas was king, and was forced by circumstances to remain in the Temple (cf. 2 Kings 11:3). What 2 Maccabees 3:19, says about "the virgins also that were shut up" does not show that any of them were kept in the Temple buildings. If the prophetess Anna is said (Luke 2:37) not to have "departed from the temple, by fastings and prayer serving night and day", we do not suppose that she actually lived in one of he temple rooms. [49] As the house of Joachim and Anna was not far distant from the Temple, we may supposed that the holy child Mary was often allowed to visit the sacred buildings in order to satisfy her devotion.

Jewish maidens were considered marriageable at the age of twelve years and six months, though the actual age of the bride varied with circumstances. The marriage was preceded by the betrothal, after which the bride legally belonged to the bridegroom, though she did not live with him till about a year later, when the marriage used to be celebrated. All this agrees well with the language of the Evangelists. St. Luke (1:27) calls Mary "a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph"; St. Matthew (1:18) says, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost". As we know of no brother of Mary, we must suppose that she was an heiress, and was obliged by the law of Numbers 36:6 to marry a member of her tribe. The Law itself prohibited marriage within certain degrees of relationship, so that the marriage of even an heiress was left more or less to choice.

According to Jewish custom, the union between Joseph and Mary had to be arranged by the parents of St. Joseph. One might ask why Mary consented to her betrothal, though she was bound by her vow of virginity. As she had obeyed God's inspiration in making her vow, so she obeyed God's inspiration in becoming the affianced bride of Joseph. Besides, it would have been singular among the Jews to refuse betrothal or marriage; for all the Jewish maidens aspired after marriage as the accomplishment of a natural duty. Mary trusted the Divine guidance implicitly, and thus was certain that her vow would be kept even in her married state.

The Annunciation

The Annunciation has been treated in a SPECIAL ARTICLE.

The Visitation

According to Luke 1:36, the angel Gabriel told Mary at the time of the annunciation, "behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her that was called barren". Without doubting the truth of the angel's words, Mary determined at once to add to the pleasure of her pious relative. [50] Hence the Evangelist continues (1:39): "And Mary, rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth." Though Mary must have told Joseph of her intended visit, it is hard to determine whether he accompanied her; if the time of the journey happened to coincide with one of the festal seasons at which the Israelites had to go to the Temple, there would be little difficulty about companionship.

The place of Elizabeth's home has been variously located by different writers: it has been placed in Machaerus, over ten miles east of the Dead Sea, or in Hebron, or again in the ancient sacerdotal city of Jutta, about seven miles south of Hebron, or finally in Ain-Karim, the traditional St. John-in-the Mountain, nearly four miles west of Jerusalem. [51] But the first three places possess no traditional memorial of the birth or life of St. John; besides, Machaerus was not situated in the mountains of Juda; Hebron and Jutta belonged after the Babylonian captivity to Idumea, while Ain-Karim lies in the "hill country" [52] mentioned in the inspired text of St. Luke.

After her journey of about thirty hours, Mary "entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth" (Luke 1:40). According to tradition, Elizabeth lived at the time of the visitation not in her city home, but in her villa, about ten minutes distant from the city; formerly this place was marked by an upper and lower church. In 1861 the present small Church of the Visitation was erected on the ancient foundations.

"And it came to pass that, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb." It was at this moment that God fulfilled the promise made by the angel to Zachary (Luke 1:15), "and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb"; in other words, the infant in Elizabeth's womb was cleansed from the stain of original sin. The fullness of the Holy Ghost in the infant overflowed, as it were, into the soul of his mother: "and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost" (Luke 1:41). Thus both child and mother were sanctified by the presence of Mary and the Word Incarnate [53]; filled as she was with the Holy Ghost, Elizabeth "cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord" (Luke 1:42-45). Leaving to commentators the full explanation of the preceding passage, we draw attention only to two points:


Elizabeth begins her greeting with the words with which the angel had finished his salutation, thus showing that both spoke in the same Holy Spirit;
Elizabeth is the first to call Mary by her most honourable title "Mother of God".
Mary's answer is the canticle of praise commonly called "Magnificat" from the first word of its Latin text; the "Magnificat" has been treated in a SEPARATE ARTICLE.

The Evangelist closes his account of the Visitation with the words: "And Mary abode with her about three months; and she returned to her own house" (Luke 1:56). Many see in this brief statement of the third gospel an implied hint that Mary remained in the house of Zachary till the birth of John the Baptist, while others deny such an implication. As the Feast of the Visitation was placed by the 43rd canon of the Council of Basle (A.D. 1441) on 2 July, the day following the Octave of the Feast of St. John Baptist, it has been inferred that Mary may have remained with Elizabeth until after the child's circumcision; but there is no further proof for this supposition. Though the visitation is so accurately described in the third Gospel, its feast does not appear to have been kept till the thirteenth century, when it was introduced through the influence of the Franciscans; in 1389 it was officially instituted by Urban VI.

Mary's pregnancy becomes known to Joseph

After her return from Elizabeth, Mary "was found with child, of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 1:18). As among the Jews, betrothal was a real marriage, the use of marriage after the time of espousals presented nothing unusual among them. Hence Mary's pregnancy could not astonish anyone except St. Joseph. As he did not know the mystery of the Incarnation, the situation must have been extremely painful both to him and to Mary. The Evangelist says: "Whereupon Joseph her husband being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately" (Matthew 1:19). Mary left the solution of the difficulty to God, and God informed the perplexed spouse in His own time of the true condition of Mary. While Joseph "thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21).

Not long after this revelation, Joseph concluded the ritual marriage contract with Mary. The Gospel simply says: "Joseph rising up from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife" (Matthew 1:24). While it is certain that between the betrothal and the marriage at least three months must have elapsed, during which Mary stayed with Elizabeth, it is impossible to determine the exact length of time between the two ceremonies. We do not know how long after the betrothal the angel announced to Mary the mystery of the Incarnation, nor do we know how long the doubt of Joseph lasted, before he was enlightened by the visit of the angel. From the age at which Hebrew maidens became marriageable, it is possible that Mary gave birth to her Son when she was about thirteen or fourteen years of age. No historical document tells us how old she actually was at the time of the Nativity.

The journey to Bethlehem

St. Luke (2:1-5) explains how Joseph and Mary journeyed from Nazareth to Bethlehem in obedience to a decree of Caesar Augustus which prescribed a general enrolment. The questions connected with this decree have been considered in the article BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY. There are various reasons why Mary should have accompanied Joseph on this journey; she may not wished to lose Joseph's protection during the critical time of her pregnancy, or she may have followed a special Divine inspiration impelling her to go in order to fulfil the prophecies concerning her Divine Son, or again she may have been compelled to go by the civil law either as an heiress or to settle the personal tax payable by women over twelve years of age. [54]

As the enrolment had brought a multitude of strangers to Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph found no room in the caravansary and had to take lodging in a grotto which served as a shelter for animals. [55]

Mary gives birth to Our Lord

"And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accomplished, that she should be delivered" (Luke 2:6); this language leaves it uncertain whether the birth of Our Lord took place immediately after Joseph and Mary had taken lodging in the grotto, or several days later. What is said about the shepherds "keeping the night watches over their flock" (Luke 2:8) shows that Christ was born in the night time.

After bringing forth her Son, Mary "wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger" (Luke 2:7), a sign that she did not suffer from the pain and weakness of childbirth. This inference agrees with the teaching of some of the principal Fathers and theologians: St. Ambrose [56], St. Gregory of Nyssa [57], St. John Damascene [58], the author of Christus patiens [59], St. Thomas [60], etc. It was not becoming that the mother of God should be subject to the punishment pronounced in Genesis 3:16, against Eve and her sinful daughters.

Shortly after the birth of the child, the shepherds, obedient to the angelic invitation, arrived in the grotto, "and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger" (Luke 2:16). We may suppose that the shepherds spread the glad tidings they had received during the night among their friends in Bethlehem, and that the Holy Family was received by one of its pious inhabitants into more suitable lodgings.

The Circumcision of Our Lord

"And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, his name was called Jesus" (Luke 2:21). The rite of circumcision was performed either in the synagogue or in the home of the Child; it is impossible to determine where Our Lord's Circumcision took place. At any rate, His Blessed Mother must have been present at the ceremony.

The Presentation

According to the law of Leviticus 12:2-8, the Jewish mother of a male child had to present herself forty days after his birth for legal purification; according to Exodus 13:2, and Numbers 18:15, the first-born son had to be presented on the same occasion. Whatever reasons Mary and the Infant might have for claiming an exemption, they complied with the law. But, instead of offering a lamb, they presented the sacrifice of the poor, consisting of a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons. In 2 Corinthians 8:9, St. Paul informs the Corinthians that Jesus Christ "being rich. . .became poor, for your sakes, that through his poverty you might be rich". Even more acceptable to God than Mary's poverty was the readiness with which she surrendered her Divine Son to the good pleasure of His Heavenly Father.

After the ceremonial rites had been complied with, holy Simeon took the Child in his arms, and thanked God for the fulfilment of his promises; he drew attention to the universality of the salvation that was to come through Messianic redemption "prepared before the face of all peoples: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel" (Luke 2:31 sq.). Mary and Joseph now began to know their Divine Child more fully; they "were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him" (Luke 2:33). As if to prepare Our Blessed Mother for the mystery of the cross, holy Simeon said to her: "Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed" (Luke 2:34-35). Mary had suffered her first great sorrow at the time when Joseph was hesitating about taking her for his wife; she experienced her second great sorrow when she heard the words of holy Simeon.

Though the incident of the prophetess Anna had a more general bearing, for she "spoke of him (the Child) to all that looked for the redemption of Israel" (Luke 2:38), it must have added greatly to the wonder of Joseph and Mary. The Evangelist's concluding remark, "after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their city Nazareth" (Luke 2:39), has been variously interpreted by commentators; as to the order of events, see the article CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST.

The visit of the Magi

After the Presentation, the Holy Family either returned to Bethlehem directly, or went first to Nazareth, and then moved into the city of David. At any rate, after the "wise men from the east" had followed the Divine guidance to Bethlehem, "entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him; and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh" (Matthew 2:11). The Evangelist does not mention Joseph; not that he was not present, but because Mary occupies the principal place near the Child. How Mary and Joseph disposed of the presents offered by their wealthy visitors has not been told us by the Evangelists.

The flight to Egypt

Soon after the departure of the wise men Joseph received the message from the angel of the Lord to fly into Egypt with the Child and His mother on account of the evil designs of Herod; the holy man's ready obedience is briefly described by the Evangelist in the words: "who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt" (Matthew 2:14). Persecuted Jews had ever sought a refuge in Egypt (cf. 1 Kings 11:40; 2 Kings 25:26); about the time of Christ Jewish colonists were especially numerous in the land of the Nile [61]; according to Philo [62] they numbered at least a million. In Leontopolis, in the district of Heliopolis, the Jews had a temple (160 B.C.-A.D. 73) which rivalled in splendour the temple in Jerusalem. [63] The Holy Family might therefore expect to find in Egypt a certain amount of help and protection.

On the other hand, it required a journey of at least ten days from Bethlehem to reach the nearest habitable districts of Egypt. We do not know by what road the Holy Family effected its flight; they may have followed the ordinary road through Hebron; or they may have gone by way of Eleutheropolis and Gaza, or again they may have passed west of Jerusalem towards the great military road of Joppe.

There is hardly any historical document which will assist us in determining where the Holy Family lived in Egypt, nor do we know how long the enforced exile lasted. [64]

When Joseph received from the angel the news of Herod's death and the command to return into the land of Israel, he "arose, and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel" (Matthew 2:21). The news that Archelaus ruled in Judea prevented Joseph from settling in Bethlehem, as had been his intention; "warned in sleep [by the angel, he] retired into the quarters of Galilee. And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth" (Matthew 2:22-23). In all these details Mary simply followed the guidance of Joseph, who in his turn received the Divine manifestations as head of the Holy Family. There is no need to point out the intense sorrow which Mary suffered on account of the early persecution of the Child.

The Holy Family in Nazareth

The life of the Holy Family in Nazareth was that of the ordinary poor tradesman. According to Matthew 13:55, the townsfolk asked "Is not this the carpenter's son?"; the question, as expressed in the second Gospel (Mark 6:3), shows a slight variation, "Is not this the carpenter?" While Joseph gained the livelihood for the Holy Family by his daily work, Mary attended to the various duties of housekeeper. St. Luke (2:40) briefly says of Jesus: "And the child grew, and waxed strong, full of wisdom; and the grace of God was in him". The weekly Sabbath and the annual great feasts interrupted the daily routine of life in Nazareth.

The finding of Our Lord in the Temple

According to the law of Exodus 23:17, only the men were obliged to visit the Temple on the three solemn feasts of the year; but the women often joined the men to satisfy their devotion. St. Luke (2:41) informs us that "his [the child's] parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the solemn day of the pasch". Probably the Child Jesus was left in the home of friends or relatives during the days of Mary's absence. According to the opinion of some writers, the Child did not give any sign of His Divinity during the years of His infancy, so as to increase the merits of Joseph's and Mary's faith based on what they had seen and heard at the time of the Incarnation and the birth of Jesus. Jewish Doctors of the Law maintained that a boy became a son of the law at the age of twelve years and one day; after that he was bound by the legal precepts.

The evangelist supplies us here with the information that, "when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast, and having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem, and his parents knew it not" (Luke 2:42-43). Probably it was after the second festal day that Joseph and Mary returned with the other Galilean pilgrims; the law did not require a longer sojourn in the Holy City. On the first day the caravan usually made a four hours' journey, and rested for the night in Beroth on the northern boundary of the former Kingdom of Juda. The crusaders built in this place a beautiful Gothic church to commemorate Our Lady's sorrow when she "sought him [her child] among their kinsfolks and acquaintance, and not finding him,. . .returned into Jerusalem, seeking him" (Luke 2:44-45). The Child was not found among the pilgrims who had come to Beroth on their first day's journey; nor was He found on the second day, when Joseph and Mary returned to Jerusalem; it was only on the third day that they "found him [Jesus] in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. . .And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing" (Luke 2:40-48). Mary's faith did not allow her to fear a mere accident for her Divine Son; but she felt that His behaviour had changed entirely from His customary exhibition of docility and subjection. The feeling caused the question, why Jesus had treated His parents in such a way. Jesus simply answered: "How is it that you sought me? did you not know, that I must be about my father's business?" (Luke 2:49). Neither Joseph nor Mary understood these words as a rebuke; "they understood not the word that he spoke to them" (Luke 2:50). It has been suggested by a recent writer that the last clause may be understood as meaning, "they [i.e., the bystanders] understood not the word he spoke unto them [i.e., to Mary and Joseph]".

The remainder of Our Lord's youth

After this, Jesus "went down with them, and came to Nazareth" where He began a life of work and poverty, eighteen years of which are summed up by the Evangelist in the few words, and he "was subject to them, and. . .advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men" (Luke 2:51-52). The interior life of Mary is briefly indicated by the inspired writer in the expression, "and his mother kept all these words in her heart" (Luke 2:51). A similar expression had been used in 2:19, "Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart". Thus Mary observed the daily life of her Divine Son, and grew in His knowledge and love by meditating on what she saw and heard. It has been pointed out by certain writers that the Evangelist here indicates the last source from which he derived the material contained in his first two chapters.

Mary's perpetual virginity

In connection with the study of Mary during Our Lord's hidden life, we meet the questions of her perpetual virginity, of her Divine motherhood, and of her personal sanctity. Her spotless virginity has been sufficiently considered in the article on the Virgin Birth. The authorities there cited maintain that Mary remained a virgin when she conceived and gave birth to her Divine Son, as well as after the birth of Jesus. Mary's question (Luke 1:34), the angel's answer (Luke 1:35, 37), Joseph's way of behaving in his doubt (Matthew 1:19-25), Christ's words addressed to the Jews (John 8:19) show that Mary retained her virginity during the conception of her Divine Son. [65]

As to Mary's virginity after her childbirth, it is not denied by St. Matthew's expressions "before they came together" (1:18), "her firstborn son" (1:25), nor by the fact that the New Testament books repeatedly refer to the "brothers of Jesus". [66] The words "before they came together" mean probably, "before they lived in the same house", referring to the time when they were merely betrothed; but even if the words be understood of marital intercourse, they only state that the Incarnation took place before any such intercourse had intervened, without implying that it did occur after the Incarnation of the Son of God. [67]

The same must be said of the expression, "and he knew her not till she brought forth her firstborn son" (Matthew 1:25); the Evangelist tells us what did not happen before the birth of Jesus, without suggesting that it happened after his birth. [68] The name "firstborn" applies to Jesus whether his mother remained a virgin or gave birth to other children after Jesus; among the Jews it was a legal name [69], so that its occurrence in the Gospel cannot astonish us.

Finally, the "brothers of Jesus" are neither the sons of Mary, nor the brothers of Our Lord in the proper sense of the word, but they are His cousins or the more or less near relatives. [70] The Church insists that in His birth the Son of God did not lessen but consecrate the virginal integrity of His mother (Secret in Mass of Purification). The Fathers express themselves in similar language concerning this privilege of Mary. [71]

Mary's Divine motherhood

Mary's Divine motherhood is based on the teaching of the Gospels, on the writings of the Fathers, and on the express definition of the Church. St. Matthew (1:25) testifies that Mary "brought forth her first-born son" and that He was called Jesus. According to St. John (1:15) Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Word Who assumed human nature in the womb of Mary. As Mary was truly the mother of Jesus, and as Jesus was truly God from the first moment of His conception, Mary is truly the mother of God. Even the earliest Fathers did not hesitate to draw this conclusion as may be seen in the writings of St. Ignatius [72], St. Irenaeus [73], and Tertullian [74]. The contention of Nestorius denying to Mary the title "Mother of God" [75] was followed by the teaching of the Council of Ephesus proclaiming Mary to be Theotokos in the true sense of the word. [76]

Mary's perfect sanctity

Some few patristic writers expressed their doubts as to the presence of minor moral defects in Our Blessed Lady. [77] St. Basil, e.g., suggests that Mary yielded to doubt on hearing the words of holy Simeon and on witnessing the crucifixion. [78] St. John Chrysostom is of opinion that Mary would have felt fear and trouble, unless the angel had explained the mystery of the Incarnation to her, and that she showed some vainglory at the marriage feast in Cana and on visiting her Son during His public life together with the brothers of the Lord. [79] St. Cyril of Alexandria [80] speaks of Mary's doubt and discouragement at the foot of the cross. But these Greek writers cannot be said to express an Apostolic tradition, when they express their private and singular opinions. Scripture and tradition agree in ascribing to Mary the greatest personal sanctity; She is conceived without the stain of original sin; she shows the greatest humility and patience in her daily life (Luke 1:38, 48); she exhibits an heroic patience under the most trying circumstances (Luke 2:7, 35, 48; John 19:25-27). When there is question of sin, Mary must always be excepted. [81] Mary's complete exemption from actual sin is confirmed by the Council of Trent (Session VI, Canon 23): "If any one say that man once justified can during his whole life avoid all sins, even venial ones, as the Church holds that the Blessed Virgin did by special privilege of God, let him be anathema." Theologians assert that Mary was impeccable, not by the essential perfection of her nature, but by a special Divine privilege. Moreover, the Fathers, at least since the fifth century, almost unanimously maintain that the Blessed Virgin never experienced the motions of concupiscence.

The miracle in Cana

The evangelists connect Mary's name with three different events in Our Lord's public life: with the miracle in Cana, with His preaching, and with His passion. The first of these incidents is related in John 2:1-10.


There was a marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. . .and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come.
One naturally supposes that one of the contracting parties was related to Mary, and that Jesus had been invited on account of his mother's relationship. The couple must have been rather poor, since the wine was actually failing. Mary wishes to save her friends from the shame of not being able to provide properly for the guests, and has recourse to her Divine Son. She merely states their need, without adding any further petition. In addressing women, Jesus uniformly employs the word "woman" (Matthew 15:28; Luke 13:12; John 4:21; 8:10; 19:26; 20:15), an expression used by classical writers as a respectful and honourable address. [82] The above cited passages show that in the language of Jesus the address "woman" has a most respectful meaning. The clause "what is that to me and to thee" renders the Greek ti emoi kai soi, which in its turn corresponds to the Hebrew phrase mah li walakh. This latter occurs in Judges 11:12; 2 Samuel 16:10; 19:23; 1 Kings 17:18; 2 Kings 3:13; 9:18; 2 Chronicles 35:21. The New Testament shows equivalent expressions in Matthew 8:29; Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; 8:28; Matthew 27:19. The meaning of the phrase varies according to the character of the speakers, ranging from a most pronounced opposition to a courteous compliance. Such a variable meaning makes it hard for the translator to find an equally variable equivalent. "What have I to do with thee", "this is neither your nor my business", "why art thou troublesome to me", "allow me to attend to this", are some of the renderings suggested. In general, the words seem to refer to well or ill-meant importunity which they endeavour to remove. The last part of Our Lord's answer presents less difficulty to the interpreter: "my hour is not yet come", cannot refer to the precise moment at which the need of wine will require the miraculous intervention of Jesus; for in the language of St. John "my hour" or "the hour" denotes the time preordained for some important event (John 4:21, 23; 5:25, 28; 7:30; 8:29; 12:23; 13:1; 16:21; 17:1). Hence the meaning of Our Lord's answer is: "Why are you troubling me by asking me for such an intervention? The divinely appointed time for such a manifestation has not yet come"; or, "why are you worrying? has not the time of manifesting my power come?" The former of these meanings implies that on account of the intercession of Mary Jesus anticipated the time set for the manifestation of His miraculous power [83]; the second meaning is obtained by understanding the last part of Our Lord's words as a question, as was done by St. Gregory of Nyssa [84], and by the Arabic version of Tatian's "Diatessaron" (Rome, 1888). [85] Mary understood her Son's words in their proper sense; she merely warned the waiters, "Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye" (John 2:5). There can be no question of explaining Jesus' answer in the sense of a refusal.

Mary during the apostolic life of Our Lord

During the apostolic life of Jesus, Mary effaced herself almost completely. Not being called to aid her Son directly in His ministry, she did not wish to interfere with His work by her untimely presence. In Nazareth she was regarded as a common Jewish mother; St. Matthew (3:55-56; cf. Mark 6:3) introduces the people of the town as saying: "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude: and his sisters, are they not all with us?" Since the people wish to lower Our Lord's esteem by their language, we must infer that Mary belonged to the lower social order of townspeople. The parallel passage of St. Mark reads, "Is not this the carpenter?" instead of, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" Since both evangelists omit the name of St. Joseph, we may infer that he had died before this episode took place.

At first sight, it seems that Jesus Himself depreciated the dignity of His Blessed Mother. When He was told: "Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking thee", He answered: "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And stretching forth his hand towards his disciples, he said: Behold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is my brother, and my sister, and my mother" (Matthew 12:47-50; cf. Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21). On another occasion, "a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps t

nancyann, do you really think someone is going to read all of that....It's just a bunch of preachy crap from what I read

May 7th, 2006
by
Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality
Click here for a photo of and information on this writer.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Acts 4:8-12
Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29
1 John 3:1-2
John 10:11-18
Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer





PRE-PRAYERING

We are encouraged to pray for the strength and courage to lay down our lives as did the Good Shepherd. We all will die of course, but how we live our days of life will be the measure of our following Jesus. We are encouraged not so much to "die" for Christ, but to "live" for Christ.

Most of us are laying down our lives for some person or persons. We pray today for the freedom and joy which it takes to really live while dying to ourselves.

REFLECTION

The temple officials and religious leaders have arrested Peter and John after the healing of the man who was crippled. Many, because of this healing, were coming to believe in their message about Jesus. Peter and John are dragged into the midst of this religious gathering and asked two direct questions about the healing event. They wanted to know by what "power" and by what "name" was this performed?

What we hear in today's First Reading is Peter's explanation and direct confrontation to the leaders. The "name" and the "power" is the same. Jesus, crucified by these same leaders, but Who has been raised has also raised this man to health. The elders are the "builders" and they have rejected Jesus Who is the "Cornerstone" of salvation. This is a scriptural image referring to a line from Psalm 118. Peter affirms Jesus as the One and Only source for salvation, given to the world by God.

Peter and John have done a "good deed" and in keeping with the ways of Jesus, good deeds done in His name, can result in opposition and fear-based persecution. From its earliest days, the Church and the followers of Jesus have been called out, knocked down, and done in by those forces of darkness and fear. It follows then that when there is persecution of the Church, the Church must be doing something good.

For the next several Sundays of this Easter season we will be hearing some familiar themes from the Gospel of John. Jesus makes many imaginative "I am " statements. "I am the light." "I am the bread of life." "I am the living water." "I am the way, the truth and the life." When the guards come out to meet Him in the Garden, they are asked about who they seek. Jesus says simply, "I am."

In today's Gospel we hear Jesus say twice "I am the good shepherd." John has Jesus continue Jesus' discussion and confrontation with the Pharisees after His having healed a man who was born blind. This man, who was blind, first heard the voice of Jesus and through believing in that voice came to believe; and that was his sight.

The Pharisees are blinded by what they see and so are impaired of hearing and do not believe. Hearing and believing becomes the central message of Jesus' saying that He is the "Good Shepherd". It is the shepherd's voice that is important and the sheep are not ignorant, but attentive and responsive. Jesus is telling those who can hear and want to hear important aspects of just what the Shepherd does for His flock.

In other chapters John has presented Jesus as teacher, finder, healer, feeder and forgiver. In this reading, Jesus is presented as the Shepherd Who will lay down His life for His flock. He will stay faithful to who He is while the "hired" or the Pharisees turn away and have turned away from their vocation of tending their "flock". Jesus is very direct with His listeners who do not want to hear, but they obviously do. He announces that He will stay faithful to Himself and His mission and thereby to the "flock", because of the love of His Father. The Pharisees hear that they are interested only in their being paid and so have made that their mission and not caringly guide their "flock".

Jesus claims that He is living this through, because the Father loves Him and desires that all of God's people become one holy family with the Father. This ultimate uniting will depend on the mission of Jesus being continued through the verbal and non-verbal preaching and living of His Voice, the Good News.

Each time John presents Jesus as saying "I am", John is also saying that Jesus claims His followers as those who can also say with confidence, "I am" and "we are". In this section we are not sheep, but listeners who learn the tenor and timber of His voice and message. We have learned and continue to learn the other voices within and around us. They can sound so inviting, comforting, and of Grace. They just might be, but it takes a long time to be so in tuned with the Voice of Jesus, that we need experiences of life and prayer to figure out the difference. Our egos need attention but not constant indulgence. Our fears are to be respected, but not adored. Our cultures' ways are to be influential, but not conformed to entirely.

Most of us, upon listening to our own recorded voices, wonder if that is really us! What we sound like to others is not the exact way we sound like to ourselves. People who are visually impaired learn quickly who is who by their footsteps, pace, noisiness as well as their voices. Jesus is telling us that He will keep calling in the same voice and when we begin to follow, He will keep speaking. There will always be other voices, from within ourselves and from outside. How will we ever learn! One sure way, (I know you are not going to like this), is to trust the adventure of mystery. It seems that is part of His voice pattern. The Pharisees did not like it either, but the man who was cured from his blindness came to like it.

"The Good Shepherd is risen! He who laid down his life for his sheep, who died for his flock, he is risen, alleluia."


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West Virginia Jesuit university hosts international mining symposium


WHEELING, W.Va. (CNS) -- An official at Wheeling Jesuit University said a two-day international mining symposium held in West Virginia could "serve as the launching point for making coal mines as safe as possible." The official, J. Davitt McAteer, vice president for sponsored programs at the Jesuit university, made the comments during the International Mining Health and Safety Symposium. He is special adviser to Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin on the investigations of the Sago and Alma coal mine tragedies that took place earlier this year. Coal mining experts and industry leaders from around the nation and the world gathered with government officials in Wheeling for the April 20-21 symposium to discuss crucial issues facing the mining community today. The event was hosted by the National Technology Transfer Center at Wheeling Jesuit University and was held at sites on the campus and in downtown Wheeling. During the opening, Manchin addressed the audience, saying the symposium provided a "tremendous opportunity" to make a difference in mine safety, not just in West Virginia but throughout the world.




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Sisters of Mercy hit the Hill to lobby on immigration


WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The presidents of 25 regional communities of the Sisters of Mercy and representatives of several national Catholic agencies met on Capitol Hill May 4 for a day of lobbying for immigration reform legislation. According to a press release from the Sisters of Mercy, the lobbying group delivered letters to senators calling for "humane reform" of the U.S. immigration system "to respect the rights of all persons while responding to values of family unity and community life." The sisters were joined by representatives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Network, a national social justice lobbying group; the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good; and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. Their lobbying efforts came as the Senate works to craft an immigration reform bill that addresses a wide range of concerns, from cracking down on illegal border crossing to debating whether to offer people already in the country illegally a chance to regularize their status. A bill passed by the House in December addresses enforcement almost exclusively and has been widely criticized by Catholic organizations as unnecessarily harsh.




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Ordination class of 2006 better educated, older, survey finds


WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although the number of new priests remains steady, the ordination class of 2006 in the United States is better educated, older and more likely to be foreign-born than their colleagues of years past. Data gathered by the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation was analyzed by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, the Catholic research organization based at Georgetown University in Washington, and made public May 1, as part of an annual report. Based by survey responses from 233 seminarians from 98 of the 195 U.S. dioceses and 24 of the more than 200 religious orders of men, CARA found that nearly 80 percent of the men scheduled for ordination in 2006 had a bachelor's degree before entering the seminary and 30 percent had earned a graduate degree. The average age of the class of 2006 is 37, with 22 percent under 30 and 4 percent over 60. Almost a third of the men were born outside the United States.




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Bush outlines plan on flu pandemic; CRS staff in Asia on front lines


WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When President George W. Bush unveiled his 234-page national strategy for combating a possible avian flu pandemic in the United States May 3, the report emphasized that "there are no reported cases of sustained human-to-human transmission" of the current strain of the flu. But that could change quickly, and the threat is very real in some areas of Southeast Asia where Catholic Relief Services personnel are serving. The avian flu strain known as H5N1 has already infected more than 200 people in nine countries and has killed more than half of them. Greg Bastian, CRS' regional representative for Southeast and East Asia, is coordinating an avian influenza advisory group for the Baltimore-based overseas relief and development agency of U.S. Catholics. With personnel and projects in 99 countries, CRS has focused on information, education and communication with its own staff and the people in the community. An internal Web site offers its staff information about avian flu, how to prevent its transmission and ideas about spreading the word in the field. "It's important for our own staff to be educated and cared for, so that they can help the people we serve" to avoid the effects of avian flu and of any pandemic that might result if the strain mutates, Bastian said.




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Faculty, bishop criticize Notre Dame president's decision on play


NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) -- Several prominent University of Notre Dame faculty members have criticized the decision of the university's president to allow future performances on campus of "The Vagina Monologues," a play that explicitly discusses women's sexuality. Bishop John M. D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend has said he is "deeply saddened by the decision." He had previously asked that performances be ended. On April 5, Father John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, issued a statement saying that he decided not to prohibit performances of "The Vagina Monologues" or other events, such as a gay film event, that present views contrary to Catholic teaching, as long as the issues are "brought into dialogue with Catholic tradition." Some students and faculty celebrated the decision as a victory for academic freedom. Other students and faculty, however, expressed deep concern over it. Three faculty members wrote open letters published in The Observer, Notre Dame's student newspaper, between April 11 and 20: John Cavadini, chair of the theology department; Franciscan Father John Coughlin, a professor in the law school; and Holy Cross Father Wilson Miscamble, a history professor and former rector of Notre Dame's Moreau Seminary. They all expressed concern that Father Jenkins' policy will damage the university's Catholic character.




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WORLD



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Canon lawyer: Chinese not excommunicated until pope says so publicly


VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The threat of excommunication hangs over two Chinese bishops ordained without papal approval, but only if they acted knowingly and freely, said a canon lawyer. And even if they incurred excommunication automatically by acting of their own free will, the penalty is limited until Pope Benedict XVI publicly declares their excommunication to the bishops and their faithful, said Jesuit Father James Conn, a professor of canon law at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said May 4 that the ordination of Bishop Joseph Liu Xinhong of Anhui May 3 and the ordination of Bishop Joseph Ma Yinglin of Kunming April 30 could lead to "severe canonical sanctions." He referred specifically to Canon 1382 of the Code of Canon Law: "A bishop who consecrates someone a bishop without a pontifical mandate and the person who receives the consecration from him incur a 'latae sententiae' excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See." But Navarro-Valls also said the Vatican knew it was possible that the bishops who were ordained and those ordaining them "were placed under strong pressure and threats" to participate. Canon 1323 specifies that a person "coerced by grave fear, even if only relatively grave," is not subject to penalty.




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The numbers game: Stats give picture of Pope John Paul's pontificate


VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Under Pope John Paul II's 26-year papacy, the Catholic Church grew by 45 percent, struggled to replace priests and religious, and experienced a significant "graying" of its hierarchy, according to statistics released recently by the Vatican. In a sense, the statistics complete a by-the-numbers portrait of Pope John Paul's pontificate. They cover the period from 1978, the year of his election, through the end of 2004, three months before he died. The worldwide Catholic population increased by 342 million during that time, from 757 million to just under 1.1 billion. That sounds huge, but it was actually slightly less than the rate of general population increase. As a result, Catholics as a percentage of the world population decreased from about 18 percent in 1978 to about 17.2 percent at the end of 2004.




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Pope says Swiss Guard is still an invaluable asset after 500 years


VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Half a millennium since it was founded by Pope Julius II, the Swiss Guard, whose members pledge to risk their lives for the safety of the pope, is still an invaluable asset to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI said as he blessed a contingent of former guards who took part in a 439-mile trek from Switzerland to Rome. After walking for nearly a month, some 70 former guardsmen arrived in St. Peter's Square May 4 to receive the pope's blessing and pay tribute to the first 150 Swiss soldiers who came to Rome at the request of Pope Julius. Speaking from the window of his apartment, Pope Benedict praised the guards, saying their re-enactment of the arrival of the first Swiss Guards 500 years ago was "a beautiful initiative." He said their march from Bellinzona, Switzerland, to St. Peter's Square "recalls the courage of the 150 Swiss citizens who, with valiant generosity, defended unto death the sovereign pontiff, writing an important page in the history of the church with their sacrifice." The pope was referring to the guards who died saving Pope Clement VII's life in Rome May 6, 1527.




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Apostolic prefect calls political drama 'defining moment' for Nepal


KATMANDU, Nepal (CNS) -- The recent political drama in Nepal has been a "defining moment" in the country's history, said the nation's leading Catholic churchman. Whether the changes are "a blessing or curse, only time will tell," Jesuit Father Anthony Sharma, apostolic prefect, told Catholic News Service May 1. The head of the 7,500-member Catholic community in the Hindu kingdom noted that "Nepal will soon be a neutral secular country." The priest said it was too early to tell about the outcome of all the political changes. "Look at India, which is a secular republic. But Christians have been persecuted there, with priests killed and nuns raped," he said. "Nothing of that (sort) has happened here." In late April, Nepalese King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev surrendered absolute power, asked opposition parties to name a prime minister and restored power to Parliament, which he had dissolved four years earlier. The king's reforms came after a failure to halt three weeks of massive protests with more than a million protesters demanding the restoration of democracy.




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PEOPLE



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As artist shapes statue of beatified nun, nun shapes artist


ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind. (CNS) -- Teresa Clark shapes clay into art, but she has found the subject of her latest work shaping her as well. For a year now, she has been molding clay into a 6-foot likeness of Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin, the French-born, 19th-century foundress of the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods. Yet during that same time, it would seem that Mother Theodore and God have been refashioning Clark. In studying the woman whose statue she was creating, Clark -- who had attended a Mennonite church as a young adult but had never been baptized -- developed a deep appreciation of the Catholic faith that was the bedrock of Mother Theodore's life. As a result, Clark, 50, participated in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Terre Haute and was baptized and received into the church at the Easter Vigil April 15.




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Only five living U.S. bishops were at all Vatican II sessions


WASHINGTON (CNS) -- There are now only five living U.S. bishops who were voting participants in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, 1962-65. There were six until April 30, when Bishop Charles G. Maloney, retired auxiliary of Louisville, Ky., died. Bishop Maloney was 93 years old and had been a bishop since 1955. The only remaining bishop who was named by Pope Pius XII is retired Archbishop Philip M. Hannan of New Orleans. This year he marks his 93rd birthday May 20 and the 50th anniversary of his episcopal ordination Aug. 28. At the age of 95, retired Bishop Marion F. Forst of Dodge City, Kan., is the oldest living U.S. bishop. Pope John XXIII named him a bishop in 1960. Pope John, who convened the council but died in 1963 between the first and second sessions, named three other U.S. bishops who attended all council sessions and are still living: retired Bishop Charles A. Buswell of Pueblo, Colo., 92, who was ordained a bishop in 1959; retired Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen of Seattle, 84, who was ordained a bishop in 1962; and retired Maronite Archbishop Francis M. Zayek of St. Maron of Brooklyn, N.Y., 85, who was ordained a bishop in 1962 and was serving as an auxiliary bishop for Maronites in Brazil during the council years.




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Injuries don't stop accident victim from getting first Communion


MARYDEL, Md. (CNS) -- Christina Trice processed into Immaculate Conception Church in Marydel April 30, her hands piously folded and a look of determination on her face. Like the other girls among the 16 children receiving their first Communion, 7-year-old Christina wore a white dress, veil and shoes. But she also sported white satin wheel covers on her wheelchair, which had extensions supporting her outstretched legs. Her presence was a testament to the prayers of loved ones, the care of her doctors and nurses, and her own willpower. Eleven days earlier, Christina was critically injured in a car accident in nearby Dover, Del. She was knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion, fractured pelvis, lacerated kidney and spleen, and punctured lungs, according to her mother, Barbara Trice, who was driving the family car when the accident occurred. Christina's right ear was almost severed, and she was bleeding profusely. The immediate concern was not whether Christina would make her first Communion, but whether she would survive.




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another view of the Da Vinci Code

A mystery that challenges our intelligence, and enough believable twists and turns to keep the reader turning the pages. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown does all this just right. This is how a mystery thriller should be written. So grab this book, sit back, and prepare to be entertained and educated. It's well-written, it's intelligent, and best of all, it's fun.
-- REVIEWS OF BOOKS.COM

May 11th, 2006
by
Tom Shanahan, S.J.
University Relations and Theology Department
Click here for a photo of and information on this writer.
Acts 13:13-25
Psalm 89:2-3, 21-22, 25 and 27
John 13:16-20
Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer



The reading today from St. John's gospel reminds me of the call to service that is the mark of being a disciple or Christ. Jesus insists on the service dimension as the key to being one of his disciples.

He expresses this to the disciples in triplicate as they travel from Galilee to Jerusalem. Especially in Mark's gospel where, in chapters 8 to 10, he tells them three times of what will happen to him in Jerusalem. He will be handed over to the authorities, be tried, convicted, put to death and be raised three days later. Each time the disciples misunderstand him and fail to respond adequately to what he is saying; and each time he teaches them what discipleship means. The disciples are definitely not ready to hear what he says to them. That readiness will only occur only after the resurrection.

The focus on disciples-as-servants and today's gospel comes home dramatically in the ritual of Holy Thursday when the main celebrant and others act out that part of Jesus' farewell address to the disciples when he washes their feet. To enter into the ritual of the washing of the feet is to get caught up in the invitation to discipleship.

When I am involved with this part of the Holy Thursday liturgy, I find myself at one of those "put your money where your mouth is" moments. To engage in the ritual and not to see its connection with my daily life is to miss the point of Jesus' words and deeds about service.

I can find myself like the disciples in their misunderstanding of Jesus' words and deeds. I need, then, to be reminded of the call to serve as the essential of my discipleship. The Holy Thursday liturgy does this more than adequately.

Help me to recognize the invitation to "wash the feet" of others in my everyday life. Lord, I pray that you keep me open especially to those persons and situations that cry out for your presence to them. Let the dramatic events of Holy Thursday continue to speak to and invite me into discipleship.


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In order to reflect on the lessons today we must remind ourselves of what happened just before our first lesson and our third lesson in the passages that we have presented for us. In the first lesson, we find something that happens quite often in the Gospel; we have Jesus performing what we used to call a miracle, but really it's a great sign. For example, in the ninth chapter of John's Gospel there's the long story of the man born blind. Never in his whole life had he been able to see, and then suddenly Jesus meets him. When the man says, "Grant that I may see," Jesus cures his blindness. The event, as John recounts it, is really a sign. He's reminding us that all of us are born blind and are blind until we begin to see with the light of faith. Then we really can see, but it's only with faith that we see fully.


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Well, in today's lesson, Peter and John are on their way to the temple. This would have been a few weeks, maybe a couple months after Pentecost, and they had begun to gather as a community of disciples and pray, and they would regularly go to the temple for their prayers. There, they meet this lame person, a beggar, who wants alms from them. Peter and John say, "Gold or silver, we have none of that, but what we have we can give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, get up and walk!" The person who had been lame his whole life, Luke makes a point to say that, not only did he get up and walk but he jumped and kept leaping up and down, he was so filled with joy.

After this, Peter begins to instruct all the people who had gathered. They saw this marvelous thing happening, so a whole group of people gather and Peter takes advantage of that. Peter tells them, "Look it wasn't we who did anything great." See they're thinking Peter and John are the wonder workers. "No, no. It's not we. It was in the name of Jesus that this lame person was able to walk. It's because of Jesus, the one you put to death but who has risen and who is still active in the world. It's in his name this happened." Peter goes on to instruct them about what they have to do. They have to repent, admit their complicity in what happened to Jesus. They have to begin to know Jesus not only as the son of Mary but as the son of God, the son of God in glory.

That whole event, then, is intended by Luke as he writes it, to be a sign for us. Just like I mentioned before -- we're born blind until we see the light of faith. This is especially true in Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles where the way of Jesus is called "the way" that we have to follow. We walk along "the way." All of us are lame, we are born lame until we begin to recognize Jesus fully. Then we can be healed. Once we repent of our sins like the first people in Jerusalem, once we change our lives, then we can be healed and we can walk to follow Jesus, follow "the way."

We know some of this because of the way it was described, actually, in the book of the prophet Isaiah. See, the same word that Luke uses for the man who's lame jumping up and leaping is the same word that's used when Isaiah is telling the exiles, "See your God comes; then will the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf unsealed, then will the lame leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing and shout. Then water will break out in the wilderness and streams gush forth in the desert." That's the very passage that Jesus cited when the disciples of John the Baptist came and said, "Well, are you the one to come or do we look to another?" Jesus said, "Remember what was spoken by the prophets," and he cited this passage that in his presence the blind see and the lame can walk, the mute can speak, the deaf can hear. Everything changes with Jesus and through Jesus but only when we begin to recognize Jesus.

And that's where the Gospel is so important today. See, those first disciples were unable to know Jesus immediately. The two disciples who had left Jerusalem after Friday, after the crucifixion and they were so discouraged and walking along talking about, "He had such great hopes. They're all gone now." Jesus walks along with them and it gets to be evening and he's ready to go on and they're going stop at an inn. They say, "Why don't you come in with us?" And so he does. He had been instructing them in the scriptures on the way, but now when he sits down, he breaks bread. The same thing he had done at the last supper. And in the breaking of the bread they recognize Jesus, and it changes everything for them. Once they recognize Jesus, they go back. The disciples are gathered there in the upper room in fear and trembling, afraid and also feeling very guilty, because they had all run away, they had abandoned Jesus and betrayed Jesus, denied Jesus. Suddenly he comes into their midst, and they can't believe that it's really Jesus. So he says, "Please touch my hands and my feet. A ghost doesn't have bones and flesh." And they still couldn't believe. He said, "Well, give me something to eat." A ghost doesn't eat food. So it's really Jesus. And they begin to know this.

Then Jesus -- as he does in John's Gospel that we heard last Sunday -- the first thing he says to them is "Peace be with you." He forgives them for all that they had, for all their failures, their abandonment, their betrayal, their denials, all of that. He forgives them. He says, "Peace." But then, what's very important for us especially, he tells them and he's telling us in this Gospel, "You are witnesses to all of this. Once you come to know Jesus, once you experience his presence then your eyes can be opened. You can be healed of your lameness so you can leap and run and walk. You can learn to speak, be able to hear because of Jesus. And so once you have experienced that, his forgiveness and his gift of peace, then you have to be witnesses wherever you go. But that will only happen if we are willing to give up our sinful ways. That's what Peter said to those first people in Jerusalem, "Repent." Jesus is offering his disciples forgiveness but they have to acknowledge their sinfulness.

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And isn't it really important for us to continue to try to grapple with how we have to change our lives, if we're going to repent. As I was thinking about this I said, "Well, what sins?" Obviously we all have our individual sins. We have to repent of that. We have to keep trying to change our everyday lives so that we are more and more consistent in following Jesus the way that John says in the second lesson today, "To know Jesus keep this commandment: Love one another, love God." But then also besides that, as a society or as a nation there are sins we have to repent of, and I thought of Dr. King's extraordinary sermon that he preached in Riverside Church in New York the year before he was killed; he identified what he called the three sins, "the triplets" he called them, that our nation is guilty of -- racism, materialism and militarism. That was on April 4, 1967. Dr. King had identified the right things, but here it is 2006 many years later and isn't it true we still have a society that is overwhelmed with materialism. Our whole culture keeps telling us, "Get richer. Have more. Accumulate material goods." Racism, not as blatant through Jim Crow laws but still present in our society in many, many different ways. And most of all militarism. Five hundred billion dollars of our national wealth that goes to arms to wage wars, kill people, to try to be an empire. We're at war right now. We're threatening another war. Militarism clearly seems to be very present in our midst as a nation.

So if we're going to hear the passages of the lessons today deeply, if we're going to be healed of our blindness, of our lameness, then we really have to try to discover the presence of Jesus in our midst and hear Jesus tell us as he does to Peter, "Repent. Change your lives." Then we can experience the presence of Jesus the same way those first disciples did. The two disciples on the way to Emmaus, Jesus began to tell them about the word, the scriptures. He was present in that word. When he's with the disciples in that upper room on Easter Sunday night he reviewed the word of God with them. Again he was present in that word. When we take the time to listen to the word of God, Jesus becomes present to us. Also in the ceremony that we gather for every Sunday, the breaking of the bread, Jesus is present. And not just in the Eucharist that we consecrate at the altar, but the breaking of the bread is the whole experience and Jesus is present, first of all, just in our coming together. "Where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst of them." That's why it's so important to come together and to really share with one another as we do during this liturgy, share with our voices, share with our greetings to one another, share in every friendly way that we can, to become a community of God's people and Jesus is present there in our midst. Then present in the word. Then present in the Eucharist. If we come together and try to experience this every week, we will come to know Jesus deeply and Jesus will invite us to repent of our sins, show us the way to do that, give us the strength and the courage to do it, and then he will again tell us, "Go and be witnesses. Spread this message. Carry my life and my vision wherever you go, so that we can rid our world of sin and evil and transform it into the reign of God."

This morning, then, as we gather here try to come to know the presence of Jesus in one another. Know the presence of Jesus in this word. Know the presence of Jesus in the breaking of the bread, and hear Jesus call us to repentance and give us his peace so that we can then go forth and be his witnesses in our world.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In order to reflect on the lessons today we must remind ourselves of what happened just before our first lesson and our third lesson in the passages that we have presented for us. In the first lesson, we find something that happens quite often in the Gospel; we have Jesus performing what we used to call a miracle, but really it's a great sign. For example, in the ninth chapter of John's Gospel there's the long story of the man born blind. Never in his whole life had he been able to see, and then suddenly Jesus meets him. When the man says, "Grant that I may see," Jesus cures his blindness. The event, as John recounts it, is really a sign. He's reminding us that all of us are born blind and are blind until we begin to see with the light of faith. Then we really can see, but it's only with faith that we see fully.


Dear Reader of Peace Pulpit,

We need your help. We are pleased to make available -- at no charge -- Peace Pulpit. But we cannot do all we need to do without your financial assistance.

Please take a moment to consider contributing to the Friends of NCR campaign. National Catholic Reporter is a nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible in the United States.


Contributions may be sent to:
National Catholic Reporter
115 E. Armour Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64111
USA

Make checks out to: NCR

If you wish, you may print a form for submitting your donation. You may also use this form for credit card donations.

Print a Contribution Form


OR


Donate Now Online


Well, in today's lesson, Peter and John are on their way to the temple. This would have been a few weeks, maybe a couple months after Pentecost, and they had begun to gather as a community of disciples and pray, and they would regularly go to the temple for their prayers. There, they meet this lame person, a beggar, who wants alms from them. Peter and John say, "Gold or silver, we have none of that, but what we have we can give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, get up and walk!" The person who had been lame his whole life, Luke makes a point to say that, not only did he get up and walk but he jumped and kept leaping up and down, he was so filled with joy.

After this, Peter begins to instruct all the people who had gathered. They saw this marvelous thing happening, so a whole group of people gather and Peter takes advantage of that. Peter tells them, "Look it wasn't we who did anything great." See they're thinking Peter and John are the wonder workers. "No, no. It's not we. It was in the name of Jesus that this lame person was able to walk. It's because of Jesus, the one you put to death but who has risen and who is still active in the world. It's in his name this happened." Peter goes on to instruct them about what they have to do. They have to repent, admit their complicity in what happened to Jesus. They have to begin to know Jesus not only as the son of Mary but as the son of God, the son of God in glory.

That whole event, then, is intended by Luke as he writes it, to be a sign for us. Just like I mentioned before -- we're born blind until we see the light of faith. This is especially true in Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles where the way of Jesus is called "the way" that we have to follow. We walk along "the way." All of us are lame, we are born lame until we begin to recognize Jesus fully. Then we can be healed. Once we repent of our sins like the first people in Jerusalem, once we change our lives, then we can be healed and we can walk to follow Jesus, follow "the way."

We know some of this because of the way it was described, actually, in the book of the prophet Isaiah. See, the same word that Luke uses for the man who's lame jumping up and leaping is the same word that's used when Isaiah is telling the exiles, "See your God comes; then will the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf unsealed, then will the lame leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing and shout. Then water will break out in the wilderness and streams gush forth in the desert." That's the very passage that Jesus cited when the disciples of John the Baptist came and said, "Well, are you the one to come or do we look to another?" Jesus said, "Remember what was spoken by the prophets," and he cited this passage that in his presence the blind see and the lame can walk, the mute can speak, the deaf can hear. Everything changes with Jesus and through Jesus but only when we begin to recognize Jesus.

And that's where the Gospel is so important today. See, those first disciples were unable to know Jesus immediately. The two disciples who had left Jerusalem after Friday, after the crucifixion and they were so discouraged and walking along talking about, "He had such great hopes. They're all gone now." Jesus walks along with them and it gets to be evening and he's ready to go on and they're going stop at an inn. They say, "Why don't you come in with us?" And so he does. He had been instructing them in the scriptures on the way, but now when he sits down, he breaks bread. The same thing he had done at the last supper. And in the breaking of the bread they recognize Jesus, and it changes everything for them. Once they recognize Jesus, they go back. The disciples are gathered there in the upper room in fear and trembling, afraid and also feeling very guilty, because they had all run away, they had abandoned Jesus and betrayed Jesus, denied Jesus. Suddenly he comes into their midst, and they can't believe that it's really Jesus. So he says, "Please touch my hands and my feet. A ghost doesn't have bones and flesh." And they still couldn't believe. He said, "Well, give me something to eat." A ghost doesn't eat food. So it's really Jesus. And they begin to know this.

Then Jesus -- as he does in John's Gospel that we heard last Sunday -- the first thing he says to them is "Peace be with you." He forgives them for all that they had, for all their failures, their abandonment, their betrayal, their denials, all of that. He forgives them. He says, "Peace." But then, what's very important for us especially, he tells them and he's telling us in this Gospel, "You are witnesses to all of this. Once you come to know Jesus, once you experience his presence then your eyes can be opened. You can be healed of your lameness so you can leap and run and walk. You can learn to speak, be able to hear because of Jesus. And so once you have experienced that, his forgiveness and his gift of peace, then you have to be witnesses wherever you go. But that will only happen if we are willing to give up our sinful ways. That's what Peter said to those first people in Jerusalem, "Repent." Jesus is offering his disciples forgiveness but they have to acknowledge their sinfulness.

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And isn't it really important for us to continue to try to grapple with how we have to change our lives, if we're going to repent. As I was thinking about this I said, "Well, what sins?" Obviously we all have our individual sins. We have to repent of that. We have to keep trying to change our everyday lives so that we are more and more consistent in following Jesus the way that John says in the second lesson today, "To know Jesus keep this commandment: Love one another, love God." But then also besides that, as a society or as a nation there are sins we have to repent of, and I thought of Dr. King's extraordinary sermon that he preached in Riverside Church in New York the year before he was killed; he identified what he called the three sins, "the triplets" he called them, that our nation is guilty of -- racism, materialism and militarism. That was on April 4, 1967. Dr. King had identified the right things, but here it is 2006 many years later and isn't it true we still have a society that is overwhelmed with materialism. Our whole culture keeps telling us, "Get richer. Have more. Accumulate material goods." Racism, not as blatant through Jim Crow laws but still present in our society in many, many different ways. And most of all militarism. Five hundred billion dollars of our national wealth that goes to arms to wage wars, kill people, to try to be an empire. We're at war right now. We're threatening another war. Militarism clearly seems to be very present in our midst as a nation.

So if we're going to hear the passages of the lessons today deeply, if we're going to be healed of our blindness, of our lameness, then we really have to try to discover the presence of Jesus in our midst and hear Jesus tell us as he does to Peter, "Repent. Change your lives." Then we can experience the presence of Jesus the same way those first disciples did. The two disciples on the way to Emmaus, Jesus began to tell them about the word, the scriptures. He was present in that word. When he's with the disciples in that upper room on Easter Sunday night he reviewed the word of God with them. Again he was present in that word. When we take the time to listen to the word of God, Jesus becomes present to us. Also in the ceremony that we gather for every Sunday, the breaking of the bread, Jesus is present. And not just in the Eucharist that we consecrate at the altar, but the breaking of the bread is the whole experience and Jesus is present, first of all, just in our coming together. "Where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst of them." That's why it's so important to come together and to really share with one another as we do during this liturgy, share with our voices, share with our greetings to one another, share in every friendly way that we can, to become a community of God's people and Jesus is present there in our midst. Then present in the word. Then present in the Eucharist. If we come together and try to experience this every week, we will come to know Jesus deeply and Jesus will invite us to repent of our sins, show us the way to do that, give us the strength and the courage to do it, and then he will again tell us, "Go and be witnesses. Spread this message. Carry my life and my vision wherever you go, so that we can rid our world of sin and evil and transform it into the reign of God."

This morning, then, as we gather here try to come to know the presence of Jesus in one another. Know the presence of Jesus in this word. Know the presence of Jesus in the breaking of the bread, and hear Jesus call us to repentance and give us his peace so that we can then go forth and be his witnesses in our world.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

May 21st, 2006
by
Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality
Click here for a photo of and information on this writer.
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
1 John 4:7-10
John 15:9-17
Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer





PRE-PRAYERING

We prepare for the liturgy of this Sunday by delighting in the realization that Jesus has truly risen and we with Him. Easter is behind us in one way, but around us and before us as well. Joy is not always an emotion we experience constantly, but it is our orientation as Christians.

We pray, not for smiles, but the quiet peacefulness which comes from union and belonging. We live joy rather than express it by whistling, laughing, and or singing. Even with tears of sadness and loss a Christian is invited to live the quiet joy of the embrace of Jesus. The living grace of the Resurrection moves us towards following Him through the carrying of our personal crosses and those of others. We are invited to pray for such a joy and to live it through all our human experiences, and that is not an easy grace to live.

REFLECTION

While reading over the First Reading for this Sunday, I opened the tenth chapter of Acts and read the story related there in. I said to myself, "I wrote about this chapter just recently. Did I write a Reflection for the wrong Sunday?" I checked back and found that the First Reading for Easter Sunday a few weeks ago is taken from the same chapter. So to refresh your memory, I place here what I wrote then.

The context for our First Reading is delightful. Cornelius, a devout and prayerful man and a centurion of the occupying Roman army has a vision while praying in his house in Caesarea. In this vision , he is told that his generosity on behalf of the Jews has been accepted by God. Cornelius is then advised to send for Simon, called Peter, in Jaffa.

Meanwhile Peter has a vision while experiencing hunger shortly before dinner. A large sheet presents Peter a menu of various creatures and is told to eat. Peter announces that he does not eat unclean things. The accompanying voice admonishes Peter, "What God has made clean, you have no right to call profane." Peter was pondering all this when the two men sent by Cornelius arrived to take him to Caesarea. Cornelius has gathered his relations and friends to listen to Peter's words. We hear Peter's proclamation which is a brief summary of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Peter assumes that these unbelievers have heard of the events of Christ's death.
After Peter's address, we do not hear this as part of our First Reading, the Holy Spirit descends and Peter announces that all will be baptized. The Jews who accompanied Peter wonder at their being baptized without their being circumcised. Peter's vision of the unclean creatures then comes into focus. Peter and the early church is to extend the baptism of the Spirit from Jerusalem through out the entire world. All creatures are clean now in the universal love of the resurrected Jesus.

What our First Reading today adds is the actual baptism of those non-Jews upon whom God has sent the Holy Spirit. God plays no favorites, shows no partiality. All are included in the "New Creation" brought about by the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus.

The Roman centurion is, to the Jewish mind, as far from God's embrace as Rome is from Jerusalem. Peter, remembering his vision of all the various foods, extends the inclusion offered by Jesus to the ends of the earth, including the hated Roman oppressors.

The Gospel is a familiar section from the "Last Discourse" of Jesus to His disciples. In these five chapters, thirteen through seventeen, John presents Jesus as the loving teacher reminding His students of all that He has tried to teach them and what will be on the final exam. He warns them also about dangers and traps which they will encounter on their way to that exam. There are some elements of the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and some wonderful images of Who Jesus says He is and who the disciples are to be.
What we hear today is a simple, straight-forward command, which if observed, will continue the personality and central characteristic of Jesus Himself. "Love one another as I have loved you." Before saying this, Jesus tells them that He has loved them as deeply and intimately as the Father has loved Him. Remaining in this love will make keeping this one and only summation of all His teachings, possible and meaningful.

We are named "friends" and "chosen". This is central to our following of Jesus. If we believe who we are; if we take our name seriously, then the actions of loving will follow. Jesus tells His disciples, and ourselves, that "you are a part of Me, as Vine, you are known, loved, and chosen to be fruitful." The "fruitfulness" is that for which Jesus came. The fruitfulness is ourselves, beginning with the disciples and spreading through the early church to all the ends of the earth, including us.

Two weeks ago Jesus told His disciples about the "shepherd" laying down his life for his friends. Love is not always felt, but is expressed in deeds especially the generous surrendering of greeds, envies, demands, expectations. Always, this loving is easier to talk about than execute. It begins with being loved as a gift and not earned. The disciples were asked to receive their being loved by Jesus as the Father loves Him. Remaining in that love will result in remaining as "sent" and "loved" sacraments. Many books have been written about love and how to be loved and express love.

Each of us is writing that book by how we lay down our lives for our sisters and brothers, but not destructively to ourselves. We are fruits as well who are to remain whole and with joy. I have written this reflection about love and this is easier than going out of my room and into the kitchen where there will be a mess, as always. Loving my brothers is easier to write about than washing, drying, putting away, rapping up; the list goes on. Anybody know what love is that does not call for laying aside our demands to follow His command? If so, you write about it and you will be famous.

"Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God." 1 John, 4


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Secular Institutes
Hey, nancyann! I have been living a single celebate life in service to the church for about ten years now. I went the usually route about 13 years ago thinking that there was a possiblity that I was being called to religious life. What I discerned over those three years was that I was not called to live in community, but to live the vows of chasity, poverty and obedience within the secular world. I really thought that at some point in my life and ministry I would come across another person who felt called in the same way. I haven't. I am just now learning about secular institutes, which confounds me considering I've been in relationship with a vocation director and I've spoken openly about my call whenever some one has asked. That said, I'm trying to find information about the different institues and their founders, charisms, rules, formation, apostolate, etc. and well, they're doing a good job at keeping this a hidden vocation. I've been to the website for the United States Confernece for Secular Institutes and the idea of contacting over a hundred groups individual is daunting. I've also contacted our diocesan vocations office and left a message last week and I haven't received a return call. Can you make any suggestions, ie. a directoy, book, website that can help narrow the possibilites and some discernment advice? Thank you! I'm so happy that I tripped (HS has a big foot) over your post. Many happy and fruitfilled years to you on the path of intimacy that God has called you. Peace, Patricia
Sorry if I broke any rules here! I've never actually posted before anywhere so I'm not sure if I've been disrepectful or not.

Daily Reflection
June 11th, 2006
by
Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality
Click here for a photo of and information on this writer.
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
Psalm 33:4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22
Romans 8:14-17
Matthew 28:16-20
Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer





PRE-PRAYERING

We pray for the grace, as we prepare for this feast of the Trinity, to allow mysteries in our lives. We pray to let go of our demand for proof, insights, evidence, and logical conclusions which all would lead to certainty.

We pray by standing still and looking up at the universe and smilingly shake our heads, not in disbelief, but in surrender to what we will never know, can never know. We pray to enjoy our being so limited as not to be able to understand a Three-Person unity of divinity. We can pray with the feebleness of our words to express what is so central to our faith.

REFLECTION

Moses is speaking to the people of Israel in our First Reading. He is preparing to give his listeners the "law" and "customs" which, if lived and practiced, will assure their living long and fruitfully in the "land" God is about to give them. Moses reviews some history with them and in our reading, he invites them to ask questions of their ancestors. They are, in fact, rhetorical questions whose answers are obvious to all. God has been very loving and protective of, and generous to, the people of the covenant. The God of their pasts is the God of their futures. The reverence and obedience of their pasts will be expressed in keeping these laws and teaching them to their posterity. The earth is to be a sign of God's blessings and their labors to bring forth its fruits and their obeying their traditions will be their cultic and personal expressions of loving response.

We hear in the Gospel how Jesus appeared in the very last scene of Matthew's account, standing again on a "mountain". He stood on a "mountain" when giving his first Sermon including the "Beatitudes". It was his first instruction about personal conversion of heart, attitudes and actions. Now, Moses-like, who gave his teachings and laws also on a mountain, Jesus is relating his final instructions to his listeners. Instead of a particular piece of land which was given to Israel to cherish and cultivate, now the "land" is "all the nations". As the very small nation of Israel was to take possession of a new "land" now this small band of inspired believers is to go out and "make disciples" of "all the nations" by living and preaching Jesus' word and name. These will be the fruits and harvest of the "earth".

I would rather attempt to write about the combustion engine or the magnetic effects of the North Pole than describe the Most Holy Trinity. I have studied it of course, a whole semester's worth, but I have studied engines and the North Pole too and they remain puzzlements as well. I could use an image such as two rivers of equal size flowing together and becoming apparently one. That's not it at all. They are not triplets either; three separate persons residing in union with each other, but within the womb of their mother; no that's terrible!

Instead, I choose to reflect about what it means to "baptize" the "nations" and the "land". There are three major temptations which involve the Trinity and which result in preventing the making of disciples and the baptism of the earth. "Creation" is nothing more than the result of "Big Bangs" or something outside the love of God. Is it not really created, but cooled, formed, rounded off nicely by time and chance? The temptation then is that there is no Creator and therefore materiality has not been blest and hence it is not to be reverenced. It is not "covenantal", but accidental. The immediate implication of this is that you and I are also accidents and can treat ourselves and each other accordingly.

The second temptation against the Trinity is that maybe we were created by a loving God, but our not keeping the laws and customs, our not being obedient, our being too much of the earth, put us in an unredeemable attitude towards the Creator. We may try to be good and keep the laws and customs, but we fail then and so ultimately as well. We are "throw-awayable" and that is how we live; throwing away ourselves and others.

The third temptation is about, not our origin nor value, but there is nothing good we can do which leads us anywhere. There is no eternity; we make our bed on earth and sleep in it. The temptation is against personal
mission and the virtue of hope. Going out to make "disciples" and "baptizing" them has something to do with confronting these universal temptations. Jesus, as "Redeemer" confronted and defeated the attractions to the earth as the "ultimate Reality". He confronted our inclinations to doubt personal preciousness. He invited all to invest in the present which is a path to everness. The Spirit keeps alive in us all our part in the Trinity; we belong by being created, recreated and animated so as to baptize this earth and all who are of it, by living out our holy place in the Trinity.

There, I said it, but instead, let me tell you of the North Pole; it is not a mystery, but a puzzlement. About the Trinity? Keep believing!

"Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own." Ps. 33


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Bishop Skylstad says private probe clears him of abuse claim


SPOKANE, Wash. (CNS) -- Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad has said that an investigation he ordered produced no evidence to support an unnamed woman's allegation that he sexually abused her 40 years ago when she was a minor. Bishop Skylstad communicated the probe's results June 8 at a news conference in answer to a reporter's question but he did not elaborate. "The bishop could not have been and was not involved with this girl," Thomas Frey, the bishop's personal lawyer, told Catholic News Service June 9. "The diocese will not pay any claim to her," said Frey, who hired the private investigator who looked into the woman's allegations. "To my knowledge there has been no investigation by public authorities," he said, noting that the statute of limitations has expired. Frey said that the woman's claim was filed at the end of 2005 and is among the numerous clergy child sex abuse claims made against the diocese after it filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2004. The June 8 news conference was called to announce a proposed settlement with one of the diocese's insurers, Oregon Auto Insurance Co. The insurer will pay the diocese $6 million to end litigation as to whether the insurer is liable for abuse claims against the diocese. The agreement needs to be approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams and the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Washington,




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Judge rules Vatican not immune from abuse lawsuit; Vatican appeals


PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- A federal judge in Portland ruled June 7 that the Holy See is not entitled to sovereign immunity from a clergy sex abuse lawsuit that named it as a defendant. The next day the Vatican appealed the ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Mosman had denied the Vatican motion to be removed as a defendant in the case, saying that the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act does not entitle the Holy See to immunity in this case because "without warning parishioners of a known danger (the Holy See) placed a priest it knew to be a child molester in a position in which, for the third time, he would have access to minors." He said there was enough of a connection between the Vatican and the priest accused of the molestation for the priest to be considered a Vatican employee under Oregon law. Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson, the lawyer for the plaintiff in the case, called the June 7 ruling "a tremendously significant victory" for his client and other victims of clergy sexual abuse.




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Catholic official says Bush visit puts spotlight on church's work


OMAHA, Neb. (CNS) -- Scot Adams, executive director of Catholic Charities in Omaha, is a realist. He knows President George W. Bush's June 7 visit to the agency's Juan Diego Center in south Omaha was grounded in the politics of immigration reform. But Adams also knows how to take advantage of an opportunity. And he saw the president's time in Omaha as a chance to focus national attention not only on immigration, but also on the work of Catholic Charities and the role of the church in reaching out to those in need. Assimilation programs, such as those offered by the Catholic agency in Omaha, are an important part of any immigration program, Bush said in a speech on immigration legislation at Metro Community College's south campus in Omaha. He also mentioned language, history and civics classes as ways to help in the assimilation process, and praised the Catholic Charities staff and volunteers for their efforts in working with immigrants. Before delivering the speech, the president learned about microbusiness and citizenship programs at the Juan Diego Center.




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Services to mentally ill, addicted said vital to Catholic health care


ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- Faithfulness to Jesus' healing ministry requires Catholic health care institutions to offer comprehensive behavioral health services and mandates that "everyone comes in the front door," Catholic health leaders heard June 5. Staff members at St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam, N.Y., offered an "innovation forum" on their community mental health center program, founded in 1975 and now made up of 33 hospital- and community-based programs in mental health and addictions. Opening the session, John R. Kelley, vice president for behavioral health at St. Mary's, said many did not realize how those with mental illness or addictions "have been shunned over the years and why people just don't want them." Many institutions take a "back-door" approach to those patients, keeping them segregated from other patients. But at St. Mary's all patients come through the front door and use the same elevators and cafeteria, even if it makes some people uncomfortable, Kelley said.




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Congress' summer project: Reconciling House, Senate immigration bills


WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Here's a current events riddle: What's 796 pages long; has fans in the White House, big business, labor unions, civil rights organizations and the Catholic Church and among conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats in Congress; could dramatically improve the lives of millions of people; and may never see the light of day again? The answer: the immigration bill the Senate approved May 25 by a margin of nearly 2-to-1. It was hailed as a victory of bipartisan cooperation and loaded with provisions that could affect millions of current and future immigrants and U.S.-born children of immigrants. Although supporters of comprehensive immigration reform, such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, disagree with some of its provisions, the bill would offer many of the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the country the chance to legalize their status. It also would benefit agricultural workers and college students who lack legal residency papers and speed up the immigration process for hundreds of thousands of families with backlogged applications for relatives to immigrate. S. 2611 passed the Senate after weeks of debating, amending and negotiating. It now awaits action by congressional conferees to resolve differences between the Senate bill and the House measure passed in December that focuses only on the enforcement of immigration laws.




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WORLD



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Italian soccer scandal casts moral shadow over team's World Cup play


ROME (CNS) -- Italy is one of the favorites to win the World Cup in Germany this summer, but a soccer scandal at home has cast a moral shadow over the event and raised questions from church leaders. Italy's leading Catholic magazine, Famiglia Cristiana, said in its June 11 issue that Italy might have done better to sit out the tournament and do some ethical housecleaning instead. "We underline that we would have applauded an Italy that stayed at home to punish itself and clean itself up and that we fear an Italian victory will lead to an amnesty for the big sinners, both individuals and clubs," said a lead article in the magazine. "We hope that soccer, in its greatest exhibition, can convince people -- and convince itself -- that it can still be a clean and honest sport," it said. Italy has been rocked in recent weeks by allegations of widespread match-rigging, illegal betting and fraudulent bookkeeping in its Division A soccer league. The scandal allegedly involves at least 40 people, including players, team officials and referees.




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Papal preacher says vacation time should be lived as a gift


VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Vacation time should be lived as a gift allowing workers and students time to think, pray and dedicate time to family relationships, said the preacher of the papal household. Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa said it is good to have fun and relax on vacation, but extended free time is rare for most people and they should make the most of it. "It is not that vacations should not also be used for enjoyment and amusement, but they are a gift given in order to discover something; they are not a time to lose or waste, but a time to value to the maximum," the preacher told Vatican Radio June 8. "Vacations should be that time of year when, through contemplating nature and reading the word of God, people can look inside themselves and get in touch with the most important motivations of their lives," particularly their relationships with God and with their families, he said.




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For Lebanese Christians, Cardinal Sfeir is their hope for future


BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- For Lebanese Christians, Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir, Maronite Catholic patriarch, is their hope in an uncertain future. "The patriarch should be credited really for being the only voice calling not only for Lebanese sovereignty, but also for the values that we all need for an independent, democratic and free Lebanon," said Farid el Khazen, a Christian member of Parliament and professor of political science at the American University in Beirut. "He has a great knowledge of Lebanese politics," said el Khazen. "For this reason, he was able to make such an important impact on Lebanese politics at a time when Lebanese politics was difficult to handle: in wartime Lebanon when he was elected patriarch and in postwar Lebanon when Lebanon was under Syrian control." Cardinal Sfeir, 86, is known for his keen intellect, artful diplomacy, openness, prudence, tenacity and humility. He was instrumental in the 1989 Taif Agreement, which ended Lebanon's civil war and gave Muslims a greater role in the country's political system. He was known for his outspokenness against Syria's occupation of Lebanon and for working to unite the Lebanese.




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At ecumenical service, leaders hope World Cup helps join nations


BERLIN, Germany (CNS) -- Just hours before Germany and Costa Rica met in the first game of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, leaders of different faiths gathered in prayer at Munich's Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady. In a nationally televised service, representatives of all denominations expressed their hope that the tournament would be a joyous occasion that would help bring the nations of the world together. Children wearing the soccer team jerseys of the 32 participating nations joined the religious leaders in the opening procession. The opening hymn, "Praise to the Lord," was sung in several languages, and members of the congregation were invited to sing in whichever language they wanted. As a symbol of the hope that the tournament would be a sign of peace, the children spoke about their continents and attached cloth continents to a huge soccer ball, which was thus turned into a globe. Those representing the Americas spoke of how children there were united in playing "in the parking lots of the Bronx, in the dried-out riverbeds of the slums, in the cold of Alaska and the wide open spaces of Patagonia," a dry, grassy region in Argentina and Chile.




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PEOPLE



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Six popes later, Vatican security chief turns in his jogging shoes


VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Camillo Cibin holds the world record for miles jogged alongside a moving popemobile. But he made his last run around St. Peter's Square May 31 and retired June 3, two days short of his 80th birthday. Pope Benedict XVI accepted Cibin's resignation as director of security services and civil protection for Vatican City State and named 43-year-old Domenico Giani to succeed him. In effect, the director is the Vatican's chief of police, but when the pope is in public view at home or abroad, he is the No. 1 papal bodyguard. Cibin, a broad-shouldered, white-haired tower of strength, did not ease into retirement. His farewell tour was accompanying Pope Benedict to Poland May 25-28, coordinating in advance with local security services, then walking or running at the pope's side in the midst of massive crowds. When the hordes broke through the security cordon after the pope's May 26 Mass in Warsaw, Cibin exhibited his well-honed skill of gently tossing interlopers aside like they were pieces of tissue.




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Kidman-Urban wedding seen as spiritual homecoming for actress


SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- Preparation for actress Nicole Kidman and country singer Keith Urban's anticipated June 25 wedding has helped guide her back to the Catholic Church, said a priest who knows her. "For Nicole, you know this is a spiritual homecoming, coming back to the church and her faith in her old parish," said Jesuit Father Paul Coleman, a longtime friend of the Kidman family who advised them on the annulment of Kidman's marriage with Tom Cruise. Father Coleman is chaplain at Mary Mackillop Chapel in North Sydney, one of two Jesuit-run parishes in the Sydney Archdiocese. In January, Kidman mentioned the chapel as a possible wedding venue. The Kidman family lives nearby, and the parish is where Nicole and her sister, Antonia, went to school. Kidman, accompanied by her parents, Anthony and Janelle, attended Good Friday and Easter Sunday services there. However, Father Coleman has said the chapel has no booking for the wedding. Born in Hawaii to Australian parents, Kidman grew up Catholic in Australia and was taught by the Sisters of Mercy.




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Health professionals from California, Colorado, Washington honored


ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- Catholic health professionals from California, Colorado and Washington state received the Catholic Health Association's top honors June 5 during the organization's 91st assembly in Orlando. John W. "Jack" Glaser, senior vice president for theology and ethics at St. Joseph Health System in Orange, Calif., received the lifetime achievement award for his leadership in changing the role of ethical thinking in the delivery of Catholic health care. Patricia A. Cahill, retired president and CEO of Catholic Health Initiatives in Denver, was the 2006 recipient of the Sister Mary Concilia Moran, RSM, Award, given annually to visionary leaders for their innovative ideas, unique projects or outstanding achievements in Catholic health care. Medrice M. Coluccio, regional CEO of PeaceHealth's lower Columbia region in Longview, Wash., won the CHA Midcareer Award honoring young leaders in the Catholic health ministry who exemplify ministry values and have already made significant contributions to Catholic health care.




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Catholic Health Association elects new officers and board members


ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- Members of the Catholic Health Association, during their recent 91st assembly in Orlando, elected new officers and board members. Sandra Bennett Bruce, president and CEO of St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, was elected vice chairwoman and chairwoman-elect of the CHA board of trustees. Lloyd H. Dean, president and CEO of Catholic Healthcare West in San Francisco, was elected secretary/treasurer of the board for a three-year term. Chosen for a first three-year term as board members were: Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, founder and CEO of Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Bayou La Batre, La.; Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla.; Deborah A. Proctor, president and CEO of St. Joseph Health System in Orange, Calif.; Robert V. Stanek, president and CEO of Catholic Health East in Newtown, Pa.; Joseph R. Swedish, president and CEO of Trinity Health in Novi, Mich.; and Anthony R. Tersigni, president and CEO of Ascension Health in St. Louis. Elected to their second three-year terms were: David W. Benfer, president and CEO of St. Raphael Health Care System in New Haven, Conn.; Peter Maddox, senior vice president for business, strategy and corporate development at Christus Health in Irving, Texas; and Franciscan Sister Laura Wolf, president of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Health Care Ministry Inc. in Manitowoc, Wis.




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Bishop confers papal honor on retiring pro-life congressman


ADDISON, Ill. (CNS) -- With little fanfare June 1, Bishop Joseph L. Imesch gave U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., the documents by which Pope Benedict XVI declared him a Knight of St. Gregory. "I just want to thank you for your staunch defense of life through some very, very difficult times," said the bishop, who recently retired as head of the Joliet Diocese. "This is not the environment to speak up for pro-life. But you have been a consistent, steady voice for life and the church owes you a great deal for that." Hyde, who is retiring from Congress, met with Bishop Imesch at his Addison district office, surrounded by stacks of papers, books and mementos from 32 years of service in the U. S. House of Representatives and eight years in the Illinois Legislature. The member of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Bensenville pulled out from within the heap of papers cherished photos of his most recent trip to the Vatican, which show him shaking hands with Pope Benedict XVI. Bishop Imesch had submitted Hyde's name to Pope Benedict for membership in the Knights of St. Gregory, a pontifical order of chivalry bestowed by the pope on individuals for their service to the church.




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Welcome back , Nancyann.
How have you been?
I see the Settle Archdiocese had a record number of new ordinations this weekend.

two deaths in my family...thanks Neo! Yeh How about that! I always get excited when I see an increase in vocations in the Church anywhere!
n

U.S. bishops continue to press Congress on just immigration reform


LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- U.S. bishops continued to press Congress to legislate comprehensive and humane immigration reform the day before their June meeting opened in Los Angeles. "We urge congressional leaders and the president to seize this historic moment and enact a just and humane immigration measure," said Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino at a June 14 press conference held at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, the site of the June 15-17 meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Congressional conferees need to resolve differences between a Senate bill passed in May that includes many comprehensive reform provisions and a House bill passed in December that focuses only on the enforcement of immigration laws and criminalizes undocumented immigrants and those who assist them. Bishop Barnes, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Migration, observed that the $25 billion spent on border enforcement in the last dozen years has resulted in double the number of undocumented immigrants and the deaths of some 3,000 in the desert. "It is clear that an enforcement-only approach to immigration reform has failed," said the bishop.




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U.S., Latin American Jesuit universities prepare online collaboration


WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Jesuit universities in the United States have been offering a wide selection of online courses for several years, but they are about to increase their online options by providing trilingual courses -- English, Spanish and Portuguese -- and an undergraduate curriculum for studying poverty. The new offerings are the result of collaboration with the Jesuit universities in Latin America. The trilingual catalog will go online during the middle of the summer this year and the online poverty course will be offered in the fall of 2007. The poverty curriculum will be modeled after an online, undergraduate poverty course that has been offered for the past two years to students at 10 Latin American Jesuit universities. For the existing program, each participating university developed a national case study in poverty. Students studied cases from their country and another country in detail, investigating the different situations of poverty and its causes throughout Latin America, and learning how to measure poverty and analyze data.




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Catholic disability group sets up council on mental illness


WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The National Catholic Partnership on Disability has established a council on mental illness to help the Catholic community reach out to those with mental illness and their families. Jerry Freewalt of Columbus, Ohio, who chairs the governance board of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability, said the group "is committed to providing resources and training to pastors, deacons and diocesan and parish personnel in their efforts to reach out to Catholics experiencing a mental illness and their families." In a statement released by the Washington-based organization, he added, "We want them to know that they are important members of the Catholic community." Meeting in May, the council approved a mission statement that read: "Following Jesus who embraced all, we assist the Catholic community in reaching out to and accompanying our brothers and sisters with mental illness and their families, assuring their rightful place in the church and society."




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Iraqi Catholics in U.S. see continuing challenges in their homeland


SAN DIEGO (CNS) -- Appointing members of rival sectarian factions to key positions in Iraq's permanent government does not guarantee religious freedom, security and long-term stability in the war-ravaged nation, according to U.S. Iraqi Catholics. Iraq's Parliament recently approved the appointments of a Sunni Muslim as defense minister, and of two Shiites as ministers of the interior and national security departments. Kurds, two Christians and members of other groups also comprise the 39-member Cabinet. In the December 2005 election, Iraqis elected only three Christians to the nation's 275-member Parliament. Christians comprise about 3 percent of the country's estimated 27 million population. Some in Parliament favor amending the constitution, which requires laws to conform to provisions of Islamic law. But fundamentalists in the legislature want Islam to be the state religion, giving "Muslim clerics the power to dictate law" and to veto measures, said Bishop Sarhad Jammo of St. Peter the Apostle Eparchy, based in El Cajon.




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WORLD



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Former U.N. weapons inspector presents pope with world weapons report


VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The former U.N. weapons inspector monitoring Iraq, Hans Blix, met with Pope Benedict XVI and presented him with a report on the world's arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. At the end of the pope's June 14 general audience in St. Peter's Square, the pope greeted and spoke with the 77-year-old Swedish diplomat for a few minutes on the steps of the basilica, before greeting other pilgrims. Blix was in Rome as part of a world tour presenting a report titled "Weapons of Terror," which outlines ways the world can reduce the dangers of weapons of mass destruction. The 227-page report was the result of an independent, two-year study conducted by the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, headed by Blix. The report concludes that as long as nations stockpile chemical, biological and nuclear arms "there is a high risk that they will one day be used by design or by accident," he told reporters in Rome June 13.




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Religious leaders discuss unfair detention of refugees


VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- "National security" is not a good enough reason to systematically detain refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, said Catholic, Jewish and Muslim leaders at a Vatican press conference. The leaders were gathered in Rome June 15 by Jesuit Refugee Service, a member of the steering committee of the new International Coalition on the Detention of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants. The coalition, which includes human rights and faith-based organizations, was formed to study detention policies, assist detainees and lobby for changes in detention practices. Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the pontifical councils for Justice and Peace and for Migrants and Travelers, said, "There are real concerns about detention becoming a systematic policy to which many countries resort, more as a rule than as an exception, and justify the policy by so-called national security concerns."




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Conference: Priest facing east at Mass won't ensure focus on Jesus


VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Having the priest face east, usually away from the people, when celebrating Mass is not a magic way to ensure that both the priest and the congregation focus on Jesus, said participants at a conference in northern Italy. Enzo Bianchi, prior of the Bose ecumenical community and host of the conference, summarized the discussion in the June 14 edition of L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. The conference brought together Catholic liturgists, theologians and church architects from Europe, North and South America and liturgical experts from Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches. The theme "Liturgical Space and Its Orientation" was chosen because of renewed research and debate about the placement of the altar in churches and the direction the priest and people face. Bianchi said participants agreed that something must be done to help celebrants and congregations focus more firmly on Jesus and recover dimensions of the liturgy that have weakened since the Second Vatican Council.




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Bishop says synod is a 'new Pentecost' for Maronites around the world


BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- The Maronite Catholic Church's patriarchal synod is a "new Pentecost" for Maronites around the world, said an Australian Maronite bishop and synod participant. "We felt the need to come together to have a new spring and to have a church of new horizons for new times," said Bishop 'Ad Abikaram of St. Maron of Sydney, Australia. The synod also represented an opportunity for Maronites to "rediscover our Maronite-ness." The three-phase Maronite synod, which began in June 2003 and ended June 11, was a reflection and examination of issues and suggested reforms related to the Maronite Catholic Church, an Eastern rite in communion with Rome, with about 5 million Maronites around the world.




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PEOPLE



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U.S. troops must balance life at home, mission in Iraq, say chaplains


WASHINGTON (CNS) -- U.S. troops deployed in Iraq must balance having "one foot home and one foot" halfway around the world, said an army chaplain. "Some feel very helpless ... all they can do is send an e-mail" to solve a family crisis, said Father Brian Kane, an army chaplain for the 67th Area Support Group at Al Asad Airfield, in the Iraqi Al Anbar region. "But at the same time, they don't want home life affecting the mission here." Father Paul Halladay, a battalion chaplain with the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment (Air Assault) in Ramadi, said: "Life goes on back at home, and so do the crazy curves that life can throw at us. ... Sometimes, especially for men, that can be the most frustrating thing, not being able to be there and do something." U.S. troops are also affected by the media's coverage of the war, said a deactivated Navy chaplain, Father Mark Reilly, who recently returned from Iraq to Watertown, in the Diocese of Ogdensburg, N.Y. He said that despite media reports of the public's disapproval of the war and an alleged Marine massacre of 24 civilians the troops do not show a "groundswell of negativity."




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Refugee children play World Cup soccer tournament in East Timor


DILI, East Timor (CNS) -- There was no satellite TV feed of the World Cup for the 13,000 refugees crammed into the Don Bosco center outside Dili, but spectators cheered on Brazil and Portugal all the same. The players wore the shirts of the national clubs, but a bit smaller, since each 20-person team was made of boys in the 10-13 age range, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Brazil and Portugal were so popular when the teams were drawn up that each had an A and B squad, identified by different color shorts. England, Germany, Italy and Spain rounded out the field. "We are One" was the theme, as Kirsty Sword-Gusmao, East Timor's first lady, told the crowd at the start of the three-day tournament. The friendly competition is good for the children, and it is good to create a strong team, working together, she said.




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Forklift operator thanks God, and Catholic Social Services, for job


PHILADELPHIA (CNS) -- There's isn't a day when 37-year-old Omar Mendez, a forklift operator for Kraft Foods in Philadelphia, doesn't say, "God, thank you for this job -- I'm happy." "I'm always thanking God for this well-paying job and benefits to provide for my family," said Mendez, a husband and father of two who belongs to Visitation B.V.M. Parish in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. Mendez is also grateful to Candice Koveleskie, the job development coordinator at the Cardinal Bevilacqua Community Center, who helped him acquire his forklift job five months ago. "I told Candice, 'You're not just somebody who helped me find a job -- you just made a friend,'" he added in an interview with The Catholic Standard & Times, newspaper of the Philadelphia Archdiocese. The center -- named for Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, the retired archbishop of Philadelphia -- operates under the auspices of the archdiocesan Catholic Social Services, and receives funding from the annual Catholic Charities Appeal.




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June 18th, 2006
by
Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality
Click here for a photo of and information on this writer.
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood
Exodus 24:3-8
Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18
Hebrew 9:11-15
Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
In other parts of the world where the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is celebrated Thursday, the following readings are used today:
The 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer



PRE-PRAYERING

We pray with the spirit of people who hear the Word of God and desire to do "everything the Lord has commanded." We pray with the joy of our being included at His Table. We celebrate our ability to remember a saving event and a right-now present action of God's continuous saving love.

We prepare for the Eucharist every day by our living the mission to which we are sent at the end of the previous liturgy, to love and serve the Lord. We prepare by living out our received identity as His holy Body and Blood. Preparing is our caring for and sharing ourselves with God's family.

REFLECTION

We are "inside-out" people. We have inside experiences of positive or negative urging. We feel things and our bodies want to do something to "outward" those emotions. Our faces automatically reflect sweet spirits with smiles, grins, twinkles of eyes. Tears water our cheeks in sadness or joy. I have noticed often that young people have to dance or tap their toes while eating something they really like. The inside just has to come out in some way. To understand the sacraments, we have to understand how psychologically sound they all are, as well as theologically and spiritually consistent.

We celebrate a wonderful and central mystery of our Catholic faith this Sunday. We have many symbols in Christianity. We have statues, water, oil, candles, flowers, vestments, and works of art. They all represent a reality which the symbols call to mind. The Eucharist, the consecrated bread and wine, Communion, these are not symbols. We believe, we celebrate that Jesus Christ is present, real, whole, and available. If you ask me to prove this my inside spirit will make my face smile. Love needs expression, not proof.

We hear in today's First Reading the account of a wonderful liturgy. Moses, in the previous chapters of Exodus, has been relating the laws and customs appropriate to Israel's relationship with God. So the liturgy of the word has taken place and to it all the people say, "Yes, all that the Lord has asked of us, we will do!" These laws are extremely specific and demanding.

Moses then reads from the book of the covenant to which the people again shout, "yes". Their inside spirits are coming outside. The Spirit of the covenanting God is being spoken out loud.

The second part of the liturgy is the sacrificing of the bulls. The altar is set with markers of the twelve tribes of Israel. Moses, the high priest and mediator, pours half the blood of this peace offering on the altar and the other half he sprinkles on the people. This gesture unites the people to the altar which is the representation of the presence of God. There are words, responses, gestures, reception of their meaning, and a uniting of the people initiated all by God and executed through the human instrumentality of Moses.

The Gospel has a liturgical form to it as well. There is the preparation by the disciples for the celebration of their remembering the saving event of their history, the Passover. While they are doing the remembering, a part of which is a memorial meal, Jesus begins His changing of history which will culminate in His final handing-over on Calvary and His Resurrection and the handing-over of His Spirit. Firstly, He hands over His Body and Blood in a sacramental manner. The bread is part of the ritually remembering the unleavened bread of the Exodus. The wine is present on the table in the ritual remembering of the ten plagues as well as the unifying sharing of wine recalling the fellowship of God's people.

Jesus transforms these symbols into His reality and asks to be remembered as the New Covenant or outwardness of God's love. This first Eucharistic liturgy ends with a prophetic prayer that Jesus makes in which He states that this will be the last time He will celebrate the Passover until He has accomplished His salvific mission. Then they close with a hymn and leave.

We all have many little and large reminders of people who were present to us as friends and family, or reminders of some past event. My little room here has a statue from the shrine at Fatima, which two friends brought me. They thought of me there. I have a container of sand from Normandy which my brother brought, knowing that I am an American History buff. He thought of me while visiting there. I have all kinds of outwardnesses which when I pick them up, call to mind the affection which sponsored their being handed over to me. I have stones, a beaded key chain, a Green Bay Packer football-player doll, photographs, and a museum of my being loved and remembered. Today I returned from giving a retreat to the retired School Sisters of Notre Dame in Elm Brove, Wisconsin. Their convent was filled with memory-things recalling their pasts and the goodness of God in their lives. They had been spending their lives in doing things in memory of Jesus. Sister Lawrence made some chocolate chip cookies for me, not knowing I am trying not to eat sugar. Last night I took one, wrapped it in cellophane and here it sits tonight on my desk in memory of how loved I was and feel.

These little sacraments in our homes are great reminders, but those people who gave these gifts to us are not here. Their love is here, the cookie is here, I am here, but they are limited to where they are right now. Jesus, whose love is infinite, both handed over His Body and Blood to us, and continues to bless us with a memory and a Present. The divine inside keeps handing over the blessing of Love. What Jesus was, He is, the Outwardness of the Inwardness of God. Sacraments are the extension or outwardnesses of the Person and personality and mission of Jesus. We in our turn become the sacrament of the Sacraments, especially the Body and Blood of Christ, by how we let Him out in our lives. We are really present in these actions of love. Jesus is real and not a symbol as we remember the past and present event of His saving love.

Now where is that cookie!

"Alleluia. I am the living bread come down from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live for ever.. Alleluia."


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