DAILY PRAYER

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you’”  (Jn 14:27-28).

Jesus excused Himself from His Apostles to die.  He knew what they were going to go through — and the heartfelt feelings they would have been left “alone,” having been parted from His friendship and Presence.  He also knew that, upon reflection, His disciples would feel incredibly guilty for having essentially done nothing to protect their Master from His enemies when they came to take Him away.

Nevertheless, Jesus tells them that He will always leave those who love Him with a divinely inspired peace.

Yet the Apostle’s suffering was to be a spiritual preparation they would need for an interior renovation — a renovation soon to come about through the Easter glory and the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. “I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy” (Jn 16:20).

Jesus, throughout the Passion and suffering, maintained heartfelt peace in His Heart through the conviction that He must do the will of His Heavenly Father. 

We too need to seek His divine peace through our love and obedience to Him.

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 29:1 “May the LORD give might to his people; may the LORD bless his people with peace!”  St. Pius V, Pope d. 1572. Great role in the Council of Trent and the counter-reformation. He declared Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church.Vigorously defended the faith and the border of the then, Papal States.

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DAILY PRAYER

“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words” (Jn 14:23-24).

Our relationship with God depends upon our accepting His way of thinking since He is the Supreme Being — all-knowing, Font of goodness and justice.  Yet many of us know little more than to dwell and grovel in our egotistical desires!  “Whoever loves me will keep my word.” 

To love and serve Jesus (and thus our neighbor and our foe) places us in a profound relationship with the Father: “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

Love identifies and unites us, with the loved one.  A person who loves a sport makes that their passion.  They almost cannot imagine life without their sport.

Jesus must be our passion, so we can say we love God with a greater love than we show for everything else.

Our capacity to love Jesus is limited:  we are incapable of making our love ascend to the level of His love.  “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him” (Jn 6:44).

Opening our hearts to Jesus fills up what is lacking in our hearts with divine love.

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 119:48  “I lift up my hands to your commands; I study your laws, which I love.”  St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin, d. 1380, Dominican Scholastic philosopher and theologian. She also worked to bring Pope Gregory XI back to Rome from Avignon and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. Patroness of Italy.

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DAILY PRAYER

“I am the true vine and my Father is the vine grower.  He prunes away every barren branch, but the fruitful ones he cleans to increase their yield.   Live on in me, as I do in you.  No more than a branch can bear fruit of itself apart from the vine, can you bear fruit apart from me” (Jn 15:1-4).

The trunk of a vine, even though it is the font of life for its branches, is not the complete vine.

Jesus, explaining the vital union that ties us to Himself makes this same comparison — He is the trunk and we are the branches.

If the branches are taken away, the vine dries up; and it cannot bear fruit as it should have.  “I am the vine, you are the branches” (5).

From Christ to us flows life, His life that empowers and enables us to be “sons and daughters” before the Father.  The fruits of the Life Jesus freely and eternally offers to His Father,  is offered to us: eternal life in Him.

The Father is the owner of the vine and expects fruit from the vine.  “Apart from me you can do nothing” (5).

If after being “grafted” — connected —  to Jesus by baptism, we separate ourselves from Him by sin, we wither… We remain sterile in our works before God the Father… And we will be thrown out to be burned.

Jesus manifests Himself to the world through those who love Him.  If we love and give ourselves to our neighbor… It is the divine love of Jesus that we transmit, and we make His love present once again.

We must not destroy the great vine that Jesus wants to make of us.

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 30:5 “Sing praise to the LORD, you, his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.”

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DAILY PRAYER

“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? …The Father lives in me accomplishing his works.  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (Jn 14:9-11).

In yesterday’s Gospel, Jesus promised his disciples a perfect  union with Him in the Heavenly mansion when He returns to the Father:  “Where I am you also may be” (Jn 14:3).

In today’s Gospel, Jesus explains to His disciples that there exists a perfect union between the Father and Himself so that they form one entity, united and of one nature, with the Holy Spirit.  “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”

This is not the first time that Jesus tells us about this profound identity that unites Him with the Father.  Neither is it the first time that He speaks to us about our union with Him, a union that projects itself into eternity.

When He promised us the  Blessed Sacrament of His Body and His Blood, as real food for eternal life, He said: “He who feeds on my flesh and drinks of my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up on the last day.   The man who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.  Just as the Father who has life sent me and I have life because of the Father, so that the man who feeds on me will have life because of me” (Jn 6:54-57).

We were created for eternity. He made us to spend immortality united with Him. 

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 16:9 “My heart is glad and my soul rejoices.”

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DAILY PRAYER

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places… so that where I am you also may be” (Jn 14: 2-3).

If human love can affect our hearts and can bring us a taste of the great happiness that awaits us, then the joy of having God’s love poured upon us should be the greatest of joys. The Lord also gives us a taste of the fullness of what awaits us through great moments in the spiritual life — In small quantities, so as not to interfere with our free will.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (Jn 20:29).

At the Last Supper, already heavy from the anxiousness of all that had passed, the Apostles were comforted by the promise of the other meeting – the Eternal Supper – where they would enjoy the fullness of the friendship that was uniting them at that moment: “I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.”

Why does God rejoice at our love, when we know full well that He does not need that love?  He is self-giving, the Sacrifice, and the very definition of love.

Our limited love is nevertheless chosen – sinful disobedience aside – and focused on Him.  We love Him, He who is Love — and for no other reason. How it must have pained Our Lord that Judas betrayed Him (Judas was His friend!) But how He felt the consolation of those who remained faithful too, even though their fidelity was incomplete!

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 16:5-6 “LORD, you have made my destiny secure. Pleasant places were measured out for me, my inheritance.”

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DAILY PRAYER

“Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mk. 16:15-16).

Today we remember St. Mark the Evangelist.  He was a disciple of one of the apostles, yet he did not know Jesus personally.  Nevertheless, he wrote the Gospel of our Lord based on eyewitness accounts from others.

There are four Gospels the Church recognizes as authentic and true. There were many other manuscripts and writings about the life and activities of Jesus, but they were not accepted as Sacred Scripture and do not form a part of the Holy Bible.  We call these books Apocryphal Gospels. These writings are not bad or untrue. In some ways, they help us understand those times better.  Yet they also contain some rather fantastic things and thus lack a measure of historical and theological reliability.

“Gospel” means “good news.” And God’s message to us in the person of Christ is indeed good news!

The Gospels were the first catechisms. The Gospels are about the person of Jesus and his teachings. The purpose was to show Him as the Messiah.

The Gospel of Mark is the most concise account of Jesus’ life.  It was written to convey the story of the person of Jesus: His mission, teachings, Passion, and Resurrection.

St. Mark tirelessly and valiantly shared his knowledge of Jesus and gave his life in the process.

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 71:17:  “God, you have taught me from my youth; to this day I proclaim your wondrous deeds.”

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DAILY PRAYER

“I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness” (Jn 12:46).

We are so used to living in light, night and day, surrounded by light. We probably never think of the possibilities of living in darkness. The very thought of  losing our electricity or, even more frightening, our sight, is too much to bear.

The greatest darkness, however, is not a physical darkness; it is a darkness produced by ignorance and sin.

The most brilliant light for the mind and spirit is God Himself. “I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.”

The marvelous description of Jesus’ importance in our lives can be summed up in that He dissipates the darkness of our mind, heart, and spirit.

It is easy to convince ourselves

that we will be judged worthy of a great and eternal destiny in the Light. Such a destiny would be a sublime and wonderful eternity — basking in His Light and His Love.

Yet we must be judged worthy through our obedience to His plan, charity, mercy, and love.

Now we stumble about in the blurry reality of our world darkened by sin and selfishness.

“Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day” (Jn 12:48).

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 27:1 “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom do I fear?” St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, O.F.M. Cap., Priest and Martyr, d.1622, Major figure in the Counter-Reformation, and was murdered by his opponents at Seewis im Prättigau, Switzerland.

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DAILY PRAYER

“‘If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you and you do not believe’” (Jn 10:24-27).

A Rosary around the neck and a crucifix on the wall = Catholic. 

It would be easy if our religion were reduced to a few images hung on walls!  Yet we are called to recognize the Presence of Jesus as the Lord and Savior of every soul and to serve our neighbor.

Our Christian faith must be always an internal profession of Jesus as the Christ, who demands fidelity to the fulfillment of His designs and precepts.

Is there a substantial difference between the person who rejects Jesus outright as Liberator and Messiah, and he who claims to accept Him, yet does not live life according to His teachings?  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21).

Many refuse (even in the face of overwhelming evidence of Jesus’  miracles and actions)   to recognize Him. Yet for naught will it serve us to say we belong to Him, yet at the same time choose not to serve Him.

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 5:9 “Make straight your way before me.” 

St. George, Martyr d. 303 AD, From Lydda, Roman Palestine, Roman Soldier. Like Sebastian, George was a guard in Diocletian’s army. He is immortalized in Saint George and the Dragon.  A wide range of professions, organizations, and disease sufferers including leprosy, plague, herpes, and syphilis call him their patron saint. St. Adalbert, Bishop and Martyr, d. 710 Missionary. He was one of St. Willibrord’s companions in preaching the gospel in Holland and Frisia.

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“I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture”  (Jn 10:7-9).

We all want the doors wide open to us, so that we can pass through unimpeded.

Today, there is an avalanche of moral dissolution that is coming in the wake of ignoring the precepts of the Laws of Moses and of the Holy Gospel.  It is not just some social law in which we have been inculcated… Rather it is an ingrained understanding about the dignity of man in his relationship to Almighty God.

Today, immorality is actually celebrated!  Just look at the abortion rights activists!  They even get positive press coverage.  The same holds true for new abortion drugs, contraception devices, extremely revealing dress, live and let live campaigns, really lured lives of the “stars,” etc….

Passions that devolve into whim are wide open doors that will lead us directly to a situation without remedy: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few” (Mt 7:13-14).

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6).

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 73:28 “As for me, to be near God is my good, to make the Lord GOD my refuge. I shall declare all your works.”

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DAILY PRAYER

“I lay down my life to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down freely.  I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again.  This command I received from my Father” (Jn 10:17-18).

Jesus subjected Himself to a bitter death, in accord with the will and design of the Father, a death that gives as its reward Life, not only for Him but for us as well.

Our rebellion against and misunderstanding of the love of God carries us into disobedience, and results in frustrating the plans of God the Father for our eternal life. 

The obedience of Jesus and His humble acceptance of death was accepted by God as an expiation for our disobedience and rebellion.  By accepting His Passion and death on the cross, Jesus gave us yet another opportunity to know the fullness of life in God.

“Just as a single offense brought condemnation to all men, a single righteous act brought all men acquittal and life. Just as through one man’s disobedience all became sinners, so through one man’s obedience all shall become just” (Rm 5:18-19).

Jesus loves and guides us as a pastor cares for and guides his sheep: “I am the good shepherd.  I know my sheep and my sheep know me in the same way that the Father knows me and I know the Father; for these sheep I will give my life” (Jn 10:14-15).

All the great things that Jesus has done for us before the Father will serve for nothing if we have not learned, through the example of Jesus, to obey God’s Holy Will.

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 33:11 “The plan of the Lord stands forever.”

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