The Good Samaritan Today

In light of yesterday's gospel reading, I think we need a reminder of the good Samaritan stories of today.

First, there is the old woman in China living in poverty saving the babies she finds in the trash.

And, also in China, another poor woman trying to help a child who has been run over.

Here's a list of another 10 modern day good Samaritans.

Here's a video of people who returned lost money and valuables.

And here is the story of a Good Conductor who helped a young man get to say goodbye to his dying mother (warning: the story does contain a lot of British slang).

Source

I'm noticing an overall trend in these good Samaritan stories that I'd like to briefly point out.

The good Samaritan is almost always a poor person.

People living in poverty get a bad rap nowadays with stereotypes like the welfare queen or the wino. We need reminders that when we're talking about poverty, we're talking about real people. The stereotypes are just that, stereotypes. They have little if anything to do with reality. We're all human beings. We have a lot more in common than we have differences.

Some statistics to ponder.

Holy Trinity Sunday Reflection: Dancing at the Creation

When I imagine yesterday's first reading, I see a little girl in a white dress dancing around the altar.

This reading talks about the Holy Spirit/Wisdom being the apple of God's eye. Some translations call Her "His darling" or "His partner." This isn't an example of a goddess in Scripture although I admit it seems to come close at first glance. But the truth is, our God contains all that is perfect in both the male and the female. We have no need for a goddess, our God transcends gender.

Now, that said, isn't this a beautiful image. Just like the priest re-presents Jesus' sacrifice on the altar, I think of God Himself creating the world on that same altar. As the New Adam brings our rebirth, God brings our initial birth.

This bright, loving child prances before her Maker. She has been with God since before the beginning. Since before time, before humanity, before dust. Like any little girl and her Dad, she wants to "help" Him anyway she can, even if that just means playing nearby and cheering Him on.

She adores Him, completely loves Him. He loves and adores her. They would do anything for each other.

It is out of this love, out of this dance, that all of existence is created. This is actually very Biblical and Traditionally correct. The love of the Trinity makes all life possible. It is the model of perfect love. Love that all people, all families, are called to emulate. Without this love, nothing could exist and nothing could be made. (See CCC 257 and link and link, just to scratch the surface.)

Source

I cannot end this post without referring to the Romans passage. "Justified by faith," was one of the rallying cries of the Protestant Reformation. In recent meetings, Lutherans and Catholics realized that they weren't that different after all in regards to this teaching. Catholics don't believe that you are saved by works alone. Lutherans don't believe that works are completely irrelevant and unnecessary. To read more, see their published joint statement.

Those Guys Must Be Drunk: Reflection for Pentecost Sunday

The first reading this Sunday is from the Acts of the Apostles. In my humble opinion, I think we cut it off too short. If we go a few more verses:

They were all astounded and bewildered, and said to one another, “What does this mean?” But others said, scoffing, “They have had too much new wine.”

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them, “You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you, and listen to my words. These people are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning." -Acts 2:2-15

It's little details like this that makes the Bible human for me. I just imagine myself in the crowd at the Pentecost, hearing these guys from Galilee speaking in many different tongues. The first thing that would pop in my head would be, "Those guys must be drunk." And then I put myself in Peter's shoes and one of the first things I'd say in my own defense would be, "It's too early in the morning for any of us to be drunk."

Source

Other stories where the humanity of the people in the Bible shine through include:

• Pretty much any story featuring Peter. Our first Pope was very human, from offering to walk on water and failing, to promising not to deny Jesus, then doing it three times only hours later.
• Mary's response when finding Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:48). "What are you doing, son? Your father and I have been worried sick!"
• On a more serious note, Joseph's initial plans to dismiss Mary (Matthew 1:19). That would be a very normal response in that time period when your betrothed is found pregnant.

The Old Order Has Passed Away: Reflection of the Fifth Sunday of Easter

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away. -Revelation 21:4

A major component of my internship with Spiritual Care at the hospital was to have some kind of ritual to "enter in with the patient and their family." I had a hard time coming up with one. For one thing, I was in the ER so sometimes I didn't really have much time between visits and I definitely had no privacy to have a ritual. For another, except for things like the Rosary, I really didn't have a prayer life. The Rosary, even just a decade, was too long for a pre-pastoral visit ritual. Usually, I was lucky just to remind myself of the patient's name and what their presenting condition was.

About halfway through the semester, after being asked a half dozen times to get a ritual, I settled upon memorizing Bible passages. Every evening I'd pack an index card on which I'd have a passage written and between visits I'd work on memorization. This quote from Revelation, found in the second reading this week, was one of the quotes I used.

Source

Someday all of this is going to end. The mother mourning her dead child will hold that child again in God's kingdom. The person with the debilitating, fatal illness will finally feel healthy and whole again. The person born with a severe mental disability will be able to sit down and chat with you. Whatever is bothering you will finally be resolved.

While I wouldn't necessarily share this quote in a pastoral visit, it does give me comfort when I see so much suffering in the world. The person you're visiting might not be able to see that far into the future. Caught up in their pain, they just want their lives to go back to normal now. They don't care about some future world, they want relief now. I think we've all been there. As a part of the staff, I have more of an outsider view. From the outside, it's easier to take the longer view. It's easier to remember as I'm driving home that this is not forever.

This too shall end.

The old order. The society in which disease runs rampant. In which people go broke paying medical bills. In which uninsured can't get care until it's too late. In which car accidents happen. In which people shoot one another. This old order will pass away. Then God Himself will wipe the tears from all of our eyes and we will no longer suffer.

And in the meantime, we got cat pictures!

The Cloud of Witnesses: Reflections on the 4th Sunday of Easter

All who were destined for eternal life came to believe,
and the word of the Lord continued to spread
through the whole region. - Acts 13:48b-49

Apostle Andrew spreading Gospel in what is now known as Russia

I, John, had a vision of a great multitude,
which no one could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. - Revelation 7:9

Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.” - John 10:27-30

There is one clear overarching theme this Sunday: The spread of Christianity to people of every nation and the great cloud of witnesses that proceeded us to Heaven. There are 2.18 billion Christians in the world, around half of them are Catholic. This is all from a relatively small band of Jewish men and women from Galilee. How crazy is that?

The vision from Revelation that we read about this week (Revelation 7:9, 14b-17) is a view of the martyrs in heaven. John sees that these martyrs dressed in white robes carrying palm branches, both of which are traditional symbols of martyrdom. Someone explains to him that they are now happy and fulfilled in Heaven. Now, when we think of martyrs, we will think of St. Stephen being stoned (Acts 7) or St. Peter being crucified upside down.

We don't think about the fact that Christians are being killed for their faith today. In the history of Christianity, about 70 million people have died for their faith. Sixty-five percent of those martyrdoms have occurred in the last century. Let me repeat that: 65%. That's around 45.5 million people! Most of these martyrdoms have occurred under Communist and fundamentalist Islamic regimes.

Christians in the countries colored red on this map face persecution   

The modern face of the persecuted church: A bombed out church in India

 

We have an ever growing cloud of witnesses. Not to belittle our current issues with the HHS mandate and stuff like that, but here in the United States we at least have the freedom to go to church. We have the freedom to pray and to read the Bible. We can get together in public places with other believers. We can protest governmental policies we don't like. There are many, many Christians in the world who cannot do any of those things.

 

Think about that the next time you are too tired for church on Sunday or you don't feel like doing your prayers. (Just like you think about the starving kids when you throw away your leftovers.) 

 

Read more:

 

Voice of the Martyrs

 

Recent news stories about the persecution of Christians (Each word is a link. All of the stories are from this month)

 

An article about Christian persecution in Israel by John Allen Jr.

Divine Mercy Sunday Reflection

Divine Mercy Sunday was kind of a big deal at the Newman Center when I was in college. We'd have a blessing of the Divine Mercy image during Mass. Throughout the afternoon we'd have Confession and adoration. We would do the Divine Mercy Novena beforehand as long as we had school (Easter weekend was usually a three-day weekend).

So, what is Divine Mercy?

A saint and mystic named Faustina Kowalska wrote about her visions regarding God's mercy. Her main message was that God loves us regardless of our sins. We just need to be open to His boundless mercy and that mercy would overflow in us to the world around us. We need to trust His mercy unreservedly. Our sins and petty issues are nothing in the shadow of His love and mercy.

The Divine Mercy icon although at the bottom there is usually a banner saying "Jesus, I trust in you."

The icon was one of the first things that St. Faustina saw and Jesus told her to share it with everyone. As you can see, the icon is of Jesus. It shows blue-white coming from one side of His heart and red from the other, symbolizing the blood and water which came from His side on the cross. Devotion to this icon is supposed to bring blessings to the devoted person. But Jesus is clear in the vision: the graces don't come from the picture but from what the picture represents.

 

She was also inspired for the novena and the chaplet. A novena is (usually)  nine days of prayer. Each of the nine days of the novena have a special intention. In the case of the Divine Mercy novena they go as such:

 

• Day 1: Pray for all mankind, especially sinners
• Day 2: Pray for all priests and religious
• Day 3: Pray for all devout and faithful souls
• Day 4: Pray for those who do not believe in Jesus or do not yet know Him
• Day 5: Pray for the souls of those who have left the Catholic Church
• Day 6: Pray for meek and humble souls, including the souls of children
• Day 7: Pray for the souls of those who especially venerate and glorify Jesus' Mercy
• Day 8: Pray for the souls in purgatory
• Day 9: Pray for those who have grown lukewarm in their faith

 

The chaplet is prayed on regular rosary beads.    

 

The image above of the rosary is borrowed from EWTN.

 

1. You start it by praying one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and the Apostle's Creed.
2. On the big beads you pray, "Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
3. On the little beads you pray, "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."
4. You end it by praying, "Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
5. The optional closing prayer is one of my favorite prayers of all time:

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.

Divine Mercy Sunday was created by Pope John Paul II in 2000. The idea is that Catholics are given the opportunity to attend Mass, pray the chaplet and other Divine Mercy prayers, participate in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Confession during that day.

What about the readings?

I can't end this entry without talking about the Bible. The Gospel reading for today is John 20:19-31. This is a story of Jesus appearing to the disciples after His resurrection. In this story, Jesus says to his disciples, "Peace be with you." He breathes His spirit onto the disciples and he has an encounter with "doubting Thomas." I think that this Gospel reading is very appropriate in regards to Divine Mercy. Jesus' peace, His love and mercy, covers all sin. He tells Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Being a Christian means being in a relationship with Christ. A relationship requires trust. It takes a lot to trust someone you will never physically meet in this life (in the same way you meet your family or friends). And to know that that Person loves you more than you can imagine. Wow.

 

 

Lessons from Death: A Palm Sunday Reflection

Thinking about this week's entry, I had no idea where to start. The readings this week really don't leave much to talk about. Facing Jesus' pending death (liturgically speaking), I have no idea what to say. For several years I worked with the elderly in nursing homes. Every day, I was faced with the prospect of one of my residents' dying. So, you could say, I know quite a bit about death. In light of Jesus' crucifixion, I would like to share two of those death stories with you.

Illustration from Ars Moriendi.

One of the earliest deaths I encountered was of a fairly young man. He was in his 50s, maybe? He was suffering from a lifetime of smoking and being extremely obese. His family blamed him for his health problems. They simply dropped him off in the nursing home and didn't come to see him again until after he was dead.

He was a fascinating person. I always wished I had talked to him about his life story. He had experienced life on both sides of care-giving. He worked caring for the severely handicapped and then he ended his life being cared for at the nursing home. I wonder what insights he would have had. He and I were the only liberals at the nursing home and this was shortly before Obama was elected the first time. We'd talk about politics all the time, grateful to have someone in this small town who agreed with us. He died only a couple days before the election and I made sure I voted in honor of him (and I've regretted my vote ever since, but that's another post for another time.)

He is the only resident I've ever had who I'm genuinely concerned about. He died very, very angry at everyone and everything. I could imagine him getting to the pearly gates and saying, "F-you, God! You treated me so horribly during life, I don't want to have anything to do with you in death! Where were you when my family and friends deserted me? Why did you let me fall apart and die before the age of 60?" I pray for his soul anytime that he comes to my mind.

I've seen crowds at the nursing home that would put the crowd at JPII's funeral to shame. 

But, now that I've shared an ugly death, let me share a better one. At another home I worked at, I had a resident that I knew for a whopping 3 hours. I came on to my shift and as the day-shift person walked me through my assignment, she pointed out a new resident to me. She was in her 70's but she didn't look past 40. She was a beautiful woman with bright eyes and flawless chocolate brown skin. The only interactions I had with her was her bath and her postmortem care.

Her room was full of family the whole afternoon. We didn't expect her to die, it's as if her family knew something we didn't. It came as a complete surprise when the nurse came and got me to prepare her for the funeral home. It wasn't even quite dinner time yet. The funeral home wasn't able to take her right away, though. It seemed as if half of St. Louis came to pay their respects. Family and friends were lined up down the hall. Small children were running around and playing all over my wing of the building. The other residents enjoyed seeing so many cute little kids. I found out later that while this woman never had kids, she had dozens of nieces and nephews and their children who she was very close to. Regardless of the inconvenience of working around these people for the rest of my shift, I was happy to see so many. It was the first and the last time I ever saw such a crowd while I worked in St. Louis. At other homes I worked at, this was the normal occurrence.

I don't know what it says about me that I associate "surrounded by people" with "a happy death." That'll have to be explored later. For right now, I have a few closing thoughts:

• Don't get me wrong. There is no such thing as a pretty death and don't let any pro-euthanasia activist tell you otherwise. Death is the great equalizer. It doesn't matter if you're homeless, you're rich, you're the President of the United States or you're the Pope. Everyone dies and in the very end, it all happens in much the same way. I'll spare you the grizzly details, but it's enough to know that it sucks and it sucks for everyone.
• What matters is how we live. St. Benedict often advised his followers to keep death always on their mind. I think this is very good advice. I think the world would be a better place if we all thought about death a little more. Not to be morbid, but death puts everything in life in perspective. All those petty little things that we occupy our time with, will they matter in the end? If it won't matter in the end, don't worry about it! We will all be spending a lot more time dead than we will be spending alive.
• We spend a lot of time, energy, and money running from old age and death. It is a race we will all eventually lose. Old age is not ugly. It is not something to run from. Even if we lose our abilities and wind up in a home, I can tell you right now that my residents have all changed my life for the better. I think we should have mandatory CNA service. Like young Israelis are required to work in the military for a couple years, I think we all should be required to be a CNA for a couple years. That way we'll have plenty of people to help the elderly. I know my work with the elderly changed me profoundly, I think everyone would benefit from the humbling task of helping another person with their daily activities.  

St. Benedict, pray for us!

Not 100% appropriate but it is one of my favorite songs of all time and I couldn't get it out of my head while writing this: "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult

Something New: Reflections on the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Sorry I didn't get one out last week. My son was sick so I didn't do much of anything last weekend but comfort a cranky, clingy 10-month-old. So, this week, I'm not sure where to begin. There are so many gems in this week's readings. How about the Old Testament?

The Isaiah reading contains one of my all time favorite bible verses:

Remember not the events of the past,
the things of long ago consider not;
see, I am doing something new!
Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
-Isaiah 43:18-19a

In two weeks we will be celebrating Easter. I'm sure that is the 'something new' that the Church wants us to think about when we read this passage.

Source

But don't you want to apply that passage to your everyday life? I know I do. Like everyone else in the world, there are a lot of things in my past I regret. And I think that we can apply it to our lives. 

Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind 
but straining forward to what lies ahead, 
I continue my pursuit toward the goal, 
the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.
-Philippians 3:13b-14

The second reading contains this gem. For me, this just reiterates the Isaiah passage. Think of it this way. God is telling you to let go of your past. A great book for this I've always enjoyed was Traveling Light by Max Lucado. It was one of the first books I read when I converted to Christianity because I had a lot of baggage particularly from my past experiences with Christian churches. God doesn't want us to carry around all this regret and shame. He wants to do something new for us though His Son, Jesus.

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, 
and all the people started coming to him, 
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman 
who had been caught in adultery 
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“Teacher, this woman was caught 
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,

“Let the one among you who is without sin 
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
-John 8:1-11

Read that Gospel out loud. Maybe break out some Ignatian Contemplation. Put yourself in the woman's shoes. There is a crowd that is about to kill you. A Stranger you do not know (but you might have heard about) stands up for you. He tells you that He does not condemn you and sends you on your way to not sin anymore.

What a great set of readings for just 2 weeks before Easter! God freeing you from your past in order to celebrate the resurrection with joy!  
  

Source

Read the readings for yourself here.

The Call: Reflections on the Fifth (and Fourth) Week Ordinary Time

Over the last two weeks, we have been introduced to several "call stories." Anyone who has been on a vocation retreat can tell you about them. The members of the religious order that you're visiting will share with you the moment in time that they felt called to join the order. They will talk about feeling a sense of peace on their first vocation retreat. They will talk about feeling a kinship with the founder of the order or falling in love the order's charism. The call stories we have seen over the last two weeks, however, have had a distinctly different flavor.

 Don't be such a Jeremiad!

The Prophet Jeremiah by Michelangelo

Last week, we heard about the prophet Jeremiah. God came to him and said:

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you." Jer. 1:4-5

What we don't hear is Jeremiah's response. He complains that he is "too young." God responds saying that He is always with him.

It's a good thing, too. Because Jeremiah's journey is not an easy one. He is the author of Lamentations, after all. His life as a prophet is very difficult. He gets to see his land invaded and his temple burn. He's imprisoned  tortured, and abused. His mission is to tell the people why their land is being invaded and to point out to them their sins. No one likes their sins to be pointed out to them! But God is with him through it all and he is now one of the "major prophets" of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Burn, baby, burn!

Isaiah's call as painted by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

This week, we hear about Isaiah's call. Isaiah was likely a priest as it seems that his call story occurred deep in the temple where only the priests were allowed. As Jeremiah complained that he was too young, Isaiah was worried about his own ritual purity. He saw himself as a sinner surrounded by sinners so he didn't think he was a worthy vessel for God's words. God takes care of this, however, by burning away his sins. After his sins are burned away, he seems to gladly accept the call, shouting, "Here I am. Send me!"

Like Jeremiah, Isaiah travels a tough road after his call. He also has to point out his society's sins. He also suffers for his message although his sufferings aren't nearly as well-documented as Jeremiah's (I guess because he didn't complain as much :) ). Tradition states that Isaiah was eventually martyred for his beliefs.

And now for the first Pope

Calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew by Duccio di Buoninsegna

In today's Gospel, we read the call story of Simon, later known as Peter. Simon is minding his own business trying to fish when Jesus tells him to lower his nets one more time. He tells Jesus that there's nothing there to catch, but he does as he's told. When it comes time to pull the net back up, he needs to call in help because it's so heavy with fish. Like Isaiah, he tells Jesus that he's too sinful, that he's not worthy. But he is overcome with awe over such a huge catch. Jesus says he will make him a fisher of men and Simon Peter and his friends drop everything to follow him.

This is the reason why popes wear the ring of the fisherman. 

We know the rest of the story. While Peter did put his foot in his mouth from time to time, he followed Jesus to the end and beyond. Tradition states that he was ultimately crucified upside down  at what is now the site of St. Peter's Basilica. 

What does this have to do with me?

As evidenced by the call stories at the vocation retreat, people are still called today. Your calling doesn't have to be dramatic nor does it need to be to the religious life. Ordinary people get ordinary calls every day. Let me share some with you.

The women of ICAN of Syracuse-

Oftentimes callings don't come when they are invited. They unexpectedly interrupt your life and force a change in direction. This happened to many of the women I have met through ICAN. ICAN stands for the International Cesarean Awareness Network. These women went to the hospital to give birth to their children and instead faced unplanned and emergency c-sections. They left these traumatic experiences to find a world that didn't understand and had little sympathy for what they went through. Out of a desire to help other women and to teach the world, they started this organization. 

Some women have gone a step further and dedicated their lives to helping pregnant women. One started an organization specializing in pre and post-natal yoga. Others became doulas to help women give birth the way that they wish. The international organization was founded by ordinary women in Syracuse.

I know one of the things that bugged me in my particular situation was the fact that the birth center that I went to did not have a dependable chaplain staff. I was scared. Before my c-section, I hadn't had surgery since I was 5-years-old. When I found out that I was going to be cut open, I wanted to see a priest! Since my real passion is end of life issues, I'm not planning on changing everything because of this, but I am planning on volunteering to be an on-call chaplain at the birth center since my internship is over and I'm currently still unemployed.

How do I know if I have a call?

There are a lot of ways to look at discernment (the decision about a call). One of my favorites is through Ignatian spirituality. St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, has left a wealth of tools for discernment. Here is a site full of information to get you started.

Priest, Prophet and King: Reflections on the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

"The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
He has sent me to bring good news to the afflicted,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
release to the prisoners,
To announce a year of favor from the LORD
and a day of vindication by our God;" - Isaiah 61:1-2a

In the Gospel today, Jesus reads this passage from Isaiah and concludes that "Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." Today, I tell you that this passage needs to continually be fulfilled by the Body of Christ on Earth.

After we were baptized, we were anointed with an oil called the Holy Chrism. This is the same oil that is later used for the sacraments of confirmation and holy orders. As we are anointed with this oil, the priest says:

Priest: The God of power and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has freed you from sin and
brought you to new life through water and the Holy Spirit. He now anoints you with the
chrism of salvation, so that, united with his people, you may remain for ever a member of
Christ who is Priest, Prophet and King. 

We are anointed priest, prophet and king following in the footsteps of Christ. Jesus was a priest in offering himself up as a sacrifice for us all. He was a prophet in declaring the Kingdom of God. He was a king in his service to everyone in healing and in setting an example for us all of a life lived in holiness. Not all of us will literally be priests. Some of us will not take Holy Orders and some of us cannot take Holy Orders. Not all of us will be called to preach on street corners like the prophets of the Old Testament. This idea of evangelization frankly scares most Catholics. Not all of us will be in leadership positions. The Church won't run well with too many cooks in the kitchen and some people just don't want the responsibility. But we can all be priests, prophets and kings in our own way.

So, where did this idea come from? I see plenty of evidence in the Bible of Jesus being a priest, prophet and king, but no where is this explicitly said. You're not crazy. It isn't explicitly in there. It is mentioned in the early 4th century by Eusebius of Caesarea and it has been expounded upon by the likes of Sts. Augustine and John Chrysostom and this idea was used extensively by the Protestant Reformers. It's called the "Threefold office." It is used to explain how Christ fulfilled all of the Old Testament predictions of the messiah. It is also used to expound upon our mission as part of the body of Christ.

So, what does this have to do with my everyday life? How can I be a priest? Well, for beginners, there is lay ministry. With the vocational discernment shortage, there is a huge demand for lay people to step up to the plate and do some of the things that the religious used to do like visit the home-bound or run Catholic schools and hospitals. But, not all are called to do lay ministry. So what do you do then? The Catechism of the Catholic Church (902, to be exact) mentions that parents play a special role as priests in passing on the faith to their children. If you don't have children, you can take time out to spend with God. Deepening your prayer-life and earnestly trying to follow God's will are both wonderful ways of fulfilling our call to be priests.

What about prophet? What exactly is a prophet anyway? Don't they just sit around and tell the future? Well, not exactly. I like the Old Testament definition of a prophet: A person who speaks by divine inspiration or as the interpreter through whom the will of a god is expressed. A person gifted with profound moral insight and exceptional powers of expression. (Source) A prophet doesn't necessarily tell the future. A prophet spreads God's message. Any Catholic can fulfill this call by teaching the faith or evangelizing. Or, if you don't want to put yourself out there like that, you can always be a prophet by your everyday words and actions. Simply by being the best Catholic Christian you can be, you are prophetically witnessing to your faith. You can be a prophet by making the world a better place and making your opinions known.

How on earth can I be a king? I live in America (Okay, I'm assuming so because most of my audience is in the US, but if not, that's cool). America doesn't have kings! First of all, Jesus said, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them and those in authority over them are addressed as 'Benefactors'; but among you it shall not be so. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. For who is greater: the one seated at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at table? I am among you as the one who serves." (Luke 22:25-27) So, our kingly office is not literally an office of leadership. We practice our kingly calling by serving others and by trying to live a moral life. Those are two things everyone can do.

In today's Gospel, Jesus points out these three parts of His calling and consequently our calling. Like Jesus, we are anointed. Like Jesus, we are to give sight to the blind (through the priestly office of teaching). Like Jesus, we are to proclaim liberty to captives (through the prophetic office of witnessing to our faith). Like Jesus, we are to let the oppressed go free (through the kingly office of service).

The following is a live performance by Casting Crowns of their song "Love them like Jesus." This song speaks to how we are to imitate Jesus in our everyday lives, even if that means sometimes just being present to someone who is suffering.

Woman!: Reflections on the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus was here.

In today's Gospel reading we hear about Jesus' first miracle. And right there by his side is His mother, Mary. Mary is very important to us Catholics. We sing about her, we pray through her intercession, we name churches after her, we celebrate feasts and solemnities in her honor...Mary is kind of a big deal. So, what's up with Jesus calling her "woman"? And why is she such a big deal?

And why am I sharing this cartoon? Because it's funny and topical, that's why.

Jesus calling his mother "woman" provokes our modern sensibilities. Women think, "If my son talked to me that way, I'd smack him up side the head." Our feminist bent recoils at the idea of Mary being referred to simply in terms of her gender. It doesn't fit our view of women.

On one level, this is simply a linguistic misunderstanding. When Jesus calls Mary "woman," He isn't disrespecting her. In the ancient world, "woman" was a term of respect, roughly equivalent with our "lady." It was a title; female rulers, like Cleopatra, were referred to as "woman."

Yes, I did that. Be kind, I don't have a lot of experience manipulating pictures. I call it, "Mary the Riveter."

On the other hand, Biblical studies has a lot to say about this particular verse. Some translations of the Bible feature Jesus never calling his mother "mother." They have him consistently calling Mary "woman." This intrigues scholars who engage in typology. Typology is the study of words, phrases and images to make connections between the books of the Bible. It is especially used to show how the Old Testament foreshadowed parts of the New. For example, the Israelites going to Egypt and escaping from Egypt foreshadows the Holy Family going to Egypt to escape the slaughter of the Holy Innocents.

In the case of the "woman" Mary, in calling His mother "woman" Jesus is making clear Mary's place in salvation history. It is linking her to Eve and Genesis 3:15: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." Calling Mary "woman," underlines the fact that Jesus is the new Adam and Mary is the new Eve.

It also links her to the end of time in the book of Revelation chapter 12:1-6

1 A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
2 She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
3 Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems.
4 Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth.
5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
6 The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God, that there she might be taken care of for twelve hundred and sixty days.    

It is believed that this unnamed woman is Mary after her assumption and her son is Jesus. Some theologians believe that this entire passage simply underlines her identity as the "Mother of the Church."

And here we come to, "Why is Mary such a big deal?" Catholics do not worship Mary, worship is due to God alone, but she is put high on a pedestal. She is seen as a role model for all Christians in her faithfulness and her willingness to follow God's will even when that will didn't make much sense (remember the annunciation. How would you feel if some angel came to you and said God was going to get you pregnant with His Son?). She is believed to have been born without sin because God cannot be in the presence of sin and she gave birth to God; as you see, everything that Catholics believe about Mary ultimately points us back to her Son. A woman who held God in her womb for nine months, gave birth to Him, and followed Him to His death and beyond cannot be an ordinary woman.

But, on the other hand, she was a woman. A woman who played and continues to play a pivotal role in our salvation in her intercession for all of us with her Son. So, we should not cringe when her Son calls her "woman," because that is what she is.

 

Joy! Reflections on Gaudete Sunday

Joy! I have a little trouble every time I hear that word. It's more than just a word for me. My mom's mom, the grandmother who died suddenly in the car accident that I talked briefly about a couple days ago, was named Joy. Of course I didn't call her that when she was alive, she was grandma to me. But since her death, I've seen and heard her name many, many times. And now, I cannot hear that word without thinking about her.

Yup, that's the stereotype.

 
Unfortunately, I cannot share a picture of her with you because she tended to run away whenever she saw a camera. And besides, she died long before digital photography became common place. I can try to paint a picture with words. Imagine the stereotypical Sicilian grandmother: short, stocky with dark eyes and dark curly hair. Always cheerful and a very good cook. Every year we had a cake walk at my school and she'd always bake a couple Barbie cakes (like this). I always made a point to win one. She babysitted me all the time. I remember playing at her house. I remember her helping me over the fence in the backyard so I could visit my friend who lived in the house behind hers. One of my last memories of her was of her crocheting in the front room of their house in the Ozarks (the house they moved to only a year or two before her death. They had previously lived near my family in Kansas City, MO).

After death, her influence on me got so much greater. I may never know what impact she had on me while she was alive because she spent my formative years with me. But I do remember and appreciate her impact on me since her death.

One of the most concrete ways that her death itself impacted me is that it still, to this day, affects how I deal with people who are mourning. When she died, I saw at least three very different ways of mourning. 1) My mother completely lost control instantaneously when we got the phone call. I remember my mom wailing and I went to her room to find out what happened. Between sobs, I got the whole story.

2) Then it was my turn to mourn. I didn't shed a tear or acknowledge any sadness for a couple of years. While my mom is the kind of person to express themselves dramatically on the spot, I'm the kind of person to stew over it for a while. I guess I was in shock for a while and then I got busy with other things. I guess I may have also had a sense of needing to stay strong for everyone else. I was in middle school before I started seeing a counselor regularly. (She died when I was in third grade.) And this is not simply the response of a young child. Only 7 years ago, a close friend of mine died and I didn't start mourning him until months later. So, when I walk into a hospital or hospice room, I have a lot of sympathy for the aloof family member who doesn't shed a tear and I often find myself wanting to defend such people against the other family members who are accusing them of not caring.

My mom is "On Time." I'm "Delayed." And I think by grandfather was basically "Cancelled."

3) My grandfather, her husband, ran away from everything. It wasn't instantaneous, but in the two or three years after her death he gradually abandoned the family that they had raised together. He sold all of her belongings without giving the kids a chance to pick anything up first. He burned all of his bridges to his old life with my grandmother. Unfortunately, I don't have much sympathy for people who react this way. I can sympathize with the family who is victimized by such people. I say victimized because when one person dies and another person disappears, you essentially lose two members of your family at the same time.

Shortly before September 11th, 2001, I had a dream with Joy in it. She told me some things that at the time didn't make any sense. After the terrorist attack, however, it dawned on me that she had been telling me about that. She had been dressed in a stewardess outfit. Now, I don't claim any precognitive abilities, but I think that in some way we can all sense when something big is going to happen. It's kind of like animals before a natural disaster. They can feel something in the ground or smell something in the air and they start to run. Since we're more rational than the animals, we tend to ignore or suppress our urge to run. Like I did in regards to this dream. The dream made no sense until it actually happened. At least that's my theory.

9/11/01

So, when I saw Joy again in my dreams a couple of months into my pregnancy, my first thought was, "Oh great, what's going to happen now?" I had to work up the courage to ask my mom about it a couple of weeks later because I was so convinced that something bad was going to happen. My mom told me, however, that on her way to work, she frequently prays to God and talks to our dead relatives. She gave each of our relatives an assignment. My dad's dad was to watch over my dad. My dad's mom was to watch over my little brother. And Joy was to watch over me. So, that was it, my grandmother knew how scared and depressed I was living 18 hours away from my family and pregnant with my first child. She was just letting me know she was there. For the remainder of my pregnancy, I talked to her and prayed for her intercession often. I know she's still watching over us but maybe not as closely as she watched us while I was pregnant and the weeks directly after his birth.

Joy was the last woman in my family to be a housewife. As I am currently a housewife myself, I feel a bond with her in that. Of all of my grandparents, she was the one who was the most of a home-body and a caretaker. My dad's parents traveled everywhere. I got postcards from them all the time, but I rarely saw them until after my mom's mom died. Even Joy's husband liked to go out exploring, driving around and doing outdoorsy stuff.

On our way back to Syracuse from St. Louis for Christmas last year, my husband and I went through some pretty scary weather. Since Joy had died in a car accident due to icy roads, I took comfort knowing she was going to help make sure her granddaughter and unborn great-grandson were not going to have the same fate. I could just see in my mind's eye all three of our guardian angels led by my grandmother keeping our car safe. 

I guess you can say that my grandmother has acquired a bit of a mythological significance since her death. I see her interceding for me and our family. I know she's watching us making sure we don't royally mess up our first time parenting. So, when I hear the word "Joy" in the liturgy, I don't think of some abstract religious version of happiness. I see my grandmother's face and I know she's smiling down on us wherever she is.

Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:4-7

Read the rest of the readings here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121612.cfm