Daily Retreat 03/02/07

2007 Mar 2 Fri: Lenten Weekday. .
Ez 18: 21-28/ Ps 129(130): 1-2. 3-4. 5-7a. 7bc-8/ Mt 5: 20-26

From today’s readings:  “Hear now, house of Israel: Is it My way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?...If You, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?...I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. ”

Who’s not fair?

“It’s not fair!” is the battle cry of those who perceive a violation of justice, and in cases of objective injustice, the iniquity should certainly be addressed.  But there are also cases of subjective unfairness, when the injustice only exists in the mind of the one raising the complaint.

All that God has decreed must be recognized as completely just and as the most objective standard, so those who would complain that God isn’t living up to their own standards of fairness are engaged in the folly of presuming to judge God, who is all-just!

Through the prophet Ezekiel, God explains His justice: to his very last breath, the sinner has the opportunity to repent of sins and be embraced by God’s forgiveness.  This is the very best of the Good News!  On the other hand, even a virtuous man can commit a mortal sin and forfeit eternal life (this is yet another warning against the sin of presumption, since this dreadful possibility must be admitted as a consequence of the reality of free will).  In other words, for better or for worse, it’s not too late to change!  May this day, and every day remaining in our lives, be recorded as days on which you and I turned away from sin and committed ourselves to keeping God’s commandments and doing what is right and just!

Daily Retreat 02/28/07

2007 Feb 28 Wed: Lenten Weekday
Jon 3: 1-10/ Ps 50(51): 3-4. 12-13. 18-19/ Lk 11: 29-32

From today’s readings:  “Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, ‘Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,’ when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth....   A heart contrite and humbled, O God, You will not spurn....  This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.”

Jonah and Jesus

Despite his initial reluctance to go and prophesy in Nineveh, Jonah had unmatched success in completing his mission - the king and the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and committed themselves to doing penance.  This was all the more remarkable because Nineveh was a pagan and evil city, and Jonah himself was not the most zealous of prophets, nor was his own life the most elegant example of personal holiness.

Why couldn’t Jesus, the most zealous and holy of all, match Jonah’s success?  There are always three factors involved in conversion:  God’s grace, past and immediate circumstances, and the person’s free response.  Grace is never lacking, but also is never forcefully imposed.  Circumstances are never ultimately the decisive factor, but they certainly can either enhance or inhibit the receptivity to grace.  Free will, then, is always the critical variable.  Nineveh converted, in spite of the handicap of circumstances, because its citizens chose freely to embrace the grace of Jonah’s prophetic warnings.   The evil generation hearing Jesus did not convert, in spite of the advantages of circumstances, because its citizens chose freely to reject the grace of Christ’s presence.

In our own day too, grace is never lacking.  Admittedly, the circumstances have changed drastically - on the one hand, the culture of death markedly inhibits receptivity to grace, but, in any case, it’s debatable whether this ambience is more inhospitable than that of Nineveh; and on the other hand, the culture of life engendered by Christ’s Gospel has an ascendant vitality that reaches, in some way at least, to every person on the planet.   So, free will is still the critical variable.  You and I and all our contemporaries can choose to embrace God’s call to repentance, or we can ignore it, in which case, “at the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.

Daily Retreat 03/01/07

2006 Mar 9 Thu: Lenten Weekday/ Frances of Rome, mw, rf
Est C: 12. 14-16. 23-25/ Ps 137(138): 1-2ab. 2cde-3. 7c-8/ Mt 7: 7-12

From today’s readings:  “Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish, had recourse to the LORD....  Lord, on the day I called for help, You answered me....  If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him....”

God, Our Last Recourse

The Bible, all of history, and often enough our own lives too tell the tale of the frantic search for aid in moments of dire need, and when no other help is to be found, God is finally invoked as the last recourse. The prayer of Queen Esther, at the very heart of that book of the Bible, is such an instance of turning to God as the only hope for her and her people.

Yes, God is there when we need Him most, but, it’s good to remember too that, in truth, we always need Him!  Jesus taught that we should turn to God in prayer, not just when we’ve tried everything else, but at all times in life, even for our “daily bread.”  Prayer in our life then should not be something extraordinary - every day should be lived with its share of asking, seeking, knocking, praying to our God as our first recourse!

Daily Retreat 02/28/07

2007 Feb 28 Wed: Lenten Weekday
Jon 3: 1-10/ Ps 50(51): 3-4. 12-13. 18-19/ Lk 11: 29-32

From today’s readings:  “Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, ‘Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,’ when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth....   A heart contrite and humbled, O God, You will not spurn....  This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.”

Jonah and Jesus

Despite his initial reluctance to go and prophesy in Nineveh, Jonah had unmatched success in completing his mission - the king and the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and committed themselves to doing penance.  This was all the more remarkable because Nineveh was a pagan and evil city, and Jonah himself was not the most zealous of prophets, nor was his own life the most elegant example of personal holiness.

Why couldn’t Jesus, the most zealous and holy of all, match Jonah’s success?  There are always three factors involved in conversion:  God’s grace, past and immediate circumstances, and the person’s free response.  Grace is never lacking, but also is never forcefully imposed.  Circumstances are never ultimately the decisive factor, but they certainly can either enhance or inhibit the receptivity to grace.  Free will, then, is always the critical variable.  Nineveh converted, in spite of the handicap of circumstances, because its citizens chose freely to embrace the grace of Jonah’s prophetic warnings.   The evil generation hearing Jesus did not convert, in spite of the advantages of circumstances, because its citizens chose freely to reject the grace of Christ’s presence.

In our own day too, grace is never lacking.  Admittedly, the circumstances have changed drastically - on the one hand, the culture of death markedly inhibits receptivity to grace, but, in any case, it’s debatable whether this ambience is more inhospitable than that of Nineveh; and on the other hand, the culture of life engendered by Christ’s Gospel has an ascendant vitality that reaches, in some way at least, to every person on the planet.   So, free will is still the critical variable.  You and I and all our contemporaries can choose to embrace God’s call to repentance, or we can ignore it, in which case, “at the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.

Daily Retreat 02/27/07

2007 Feb 27 Tue: Lenten Weekday
Is 55:10-11/Ps 33(34)/Mt 6:7-15

From today’s readings:  “Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down ... So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth.... The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit He saves.... This is how you are to pray:  Our Father who art in Heaven....”

The Fruitful Word of God

In the first reading, God explains that His Word is like the rain and snow that come from above, irrigate the earth, and then return after completing their purpose of bringing fertility to the land.  Jesus, the Word of God, came down from Heaven and became flesh when Mary welcomed the Annunciation of the Angel.  Christ’s life, Passion, saving death, and glorious Resurrection brought the blossom of the New Covenant to the ends of the earth.   When His end on earth was achieved, Jesus ascended into Heaven, returning to the Father.

Likewise, the Word of God in Scripture is never to be barren: when we listen and read, and allow it to take root in our heart and make a difference in our lives, then we have the glorious privilege of grafting ourselves to that Word whose destiny is nothing less than to return to God in Heaven!

Daily Retreat 02/26/07

2007 Feb 26 Mon: Lenten Weekday
Lv 19: 1-2. 11-18/ Ps 18(19): 8. 9. 10. 15/ Mt 25: 31-46

From today’s readings:  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself....  The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul....  Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of Mine, you did for Me.”

Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy!

In a word, “Holiness” is the goal of Christian living, and Heaven is the home of the holy.  And God explains that the best reason to be holy is not connected with any reward for holiness - rather, God simply says, “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy!”

So to be holy, is to be like God.  Now, since we were made in the image and likeness of God, holiness is not something foreign to us - it suits us best, in fact, like a tailor-made suit fits best.  Yet because of Original Sin, we all have an inclination to sin, even though that is something foreign to us.  Suited in sin, we become like the teenage boy who wears ridiculously baggy pants, or the teenage girl who wears uncomfortable skintight clothing - by all objective standards, such teenagers are poorly dressed, even if subjectively they’re convinced by their peers that such styles somehow lead to popularity.  No matter how hard they might assert that these funny fashions fit them, in truth, if they were separated from the subjective aura of their classmates, more practical fashions would prevail.

So it is with our sins - in our immaturity, we irrationally allow ourselves to become attached to things with only an illusory appeal, even though such things don’t suit our noble nature as children of God.  Lent is a time to detach ourselves from the subjective aura of worldly views and return to the objective standard of what is good for us, namely, holiness, everything that God says is good for us!

Daily Retreat 02/25/07

2007 Feb 25 SUN: FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
Dt 26: 4-10/ Ps 90(91): 1-2. 10-11. 12-13. 14-15/ Rom 10: 8-13/ Lk 4: 1-13

From today’s readings:  “Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits of the products of the soil which you, O LORD, have given me....  Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble....  The word is near you....  Man does not live on bread alone....”

The Devil is the Craftiest PR Man!

When considering the temptations of Christ, we must remember that the Devil, of course, knew Whom he was dealing with, and for this reason, the climatic three temptations recorded in Luke’s Gospel were, without doubt, the Tempter’s very best attempt, his craftiest, most subtle, audacious, and insolent enticements to evil.  Now you and I, weakened by Original Sin and our own sins, struggle daily with the crudest, most primitive tricks and traps of the Devil, so all too often, we acquiesce to Satan’s more sophisticated snares even without realizing that once again, we’ve been led astray and have fallen into temptation.

This is what I mean: Consider that first temptation, when the Devil proposed to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” So subtle, it sounds sinless!  Jesus is human - He’s hungry - isn’t that a good reason?  Why not take care of His basic needs?  Who would be hurt or offended?  What commandment would be broken?  But the Lord’s answer, “Man does not live on bread alone” reveals that the temptation lies not in the proposed action per se, but in the misplaced priorities the action of turning stone into bread would betray.  The Devil tempts, “Put yourself and your needs first!”   So subtle, it sounds sinless!  Jesus retorts, “No!  Put God and others first!  Even when you’re hungry, tired, cold, confused, poor, scared, frustrated, bored, don’t allow anyone or anything to be an excuse for not putting God first!”  

My friends, Christ thwarted that terrible temptation so that you and I, today, would wake up and see how Lucifer lulls us daily with this same seductive sedative!  Because of Christ’s victory, you and I can (and must!) examine our own sense of priorities, and recognize the many times we’ve put ourselves first, instead of God; then, we can (and must!) repent for deciding so often, “I’m really hungry, so I’ve got a good reason to skip Grace and the nourishment of God’s bounty; I’m really tired, so... skip prayers tonight and the invigoration of His presence; I’m really cold, so... skip Church and the warmth of His House; I’m really confused, so... skip studying my faith and the illumination of the Magisterium; I’m really poor, so I’ve got a good reason to skip  the collection and the reward of heeding His invitation to share; I’m really scared, so... skip Bible study and the encouragement of His Wisdom; I’m really frustrated, so... skip Mass and the comforting assurance of His Real Presence; I’m really bored, so... skip a real commitment to faith and the joyful thrill of living the fullness of the life God created me for!”  The Devil tempts, “Put yourself and your needs first!”  Jesus teaches us to reply, “No!  I put God and others first!  Especially when I’m hungry, tired, cold, confused, poor, scared, frustrated, bored, I need to put God first!”


Consider now that second temptation, when the Prince of Darkness promised Jesus prominence and prosperity, “I shall give to you all this power and glory... if you worship me.”  So audacious, it’s atrocious!  Notice how Satan has shifted his strategy: the first temptation was so subtle, it hardly seemed like a sin.  But, for the second temptation, the dare-Devil decides to go for broke - he throws all his chips on the table, figuring that high stakes will intimidate anyone from calling his blatant bluff!  The Tempter promises everything if one will just bow to his authority instead of God’s authority.  But the Lord’s answer, “You shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him alone shall you serve,” reveals that the temptation lies not in the promised payoff, but in simply giving credence and allegiance to diabolic authority.  The Devil tempts, “Believe in me and my minions - do it my way, bow down to me, and you shall have everything you want!”  So audacious, it’s atrocious!  Jesus retorts, “No!  Worship and serve God alone - be loyal only to Him and His divinely delegated authority!”

My friends, Christ foiled that fiendish temptation so that you and I, today, would stand up and denounce how Satan snags us daily in this same sinister snare!  Because of Christ’s victory, you and I can (and must!) consider our own cave-ins to Satanic intimidation, and recognize and renounce the many times we’ve appealed to any authority in variance with God’s; then, we can (and must!) repent for these atrocities.  Think especially of abortion: Lucifer purrs, “Believe me - abortion is the answer to overpopulation, subjugation of women, unwanted children, genetic impurities - so many of societies ills can be cured with abortion!”  Once again, we see the daring Devil has gone for broke, published the biggest, most monstrous lie possible - and yet people believe it - tragically, so many people, from our next door neighbor to a polluted pool of politicians and presidential candidates, believe that lie!  And collectively, we’ve been too intimidated to effectively expose and debunk his lie.  Just look at the price paid to the Devil for giving him credence: surely, those brutally aborted child sacrifices count as a central ritual of Satanic worship!  How is it possible?  Only because people are intimidated by the Devil’s bluff, or duped by charlatan authorities allied with the Prince of Darkness.  And it’s not just abortion - there are many big lies the Devil has told, promising great things for those who will swallow his baited hooks: euthanasia, contraception, promiscuity, religious indifference, materialism, hedonism.  The Devil tempts, “Believe in me and my minions - do it my way, bow down to me, and you shall have everything you want!”  Jesus teaches us to reply, “No!  I worship and serve God alone - I will be loyal only to Him and His divinely delegated authority!”


Consider finally that third temptation, when the Devil, quoting scripture for his own purposes, preaches to Christ, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: He will command His angels...to guard you.” So insolent, it’s insidious!  But the Lord’s answer, “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test,” reveals that the temptation lies not in taking the Lord at His Word, but in the perilous presumption that, if need be, God will even circumvent free will in order to save!  That, however, is the one thing God will never do, for that would strip one of the heart of human dignity.  The Devil tempts, “Don’t worry about your salvation - God cares about you too much to allow you to fall!”  So insolent, it’s insidious!  Jesus retorts, “No!  Such precipitous presumption that puts God to the test must be rejected!  God gave man the dignity of free will - one must choose God and heed His guidance to be saved from falling.”

My friends, Christ spoiled that scathing temptation so that you and I, today, would rise up to flee from the insidious illogic of presumption!  Because of Christ’s victory, you and I can (and must!) purge presumption from our lives, we can (and must!) repent for each and every insolent instance of arrogantly excusing ourselves from God’s laws.  Make no mistake:  every blessing God gives us is intended to lead us to Him, but the sin of presumption is a demonic judo by which Satan leads us to turn those very blessings against God!  That’s the pernicious peril of presumption - it’s certainly not God’s plan for you and me, but if we ignore the assiduous warnings God gives through our conscience and through His Church, warnings about what will lead to our downfall, and we stubbornly persist in sin, God will not stop us from throwing ourselves down into Hell.  Presumption is so prevalent today - pray, pray, pray that God help you and me escape that infernal quicksand!  The Devil tempts, “Don’t worry about your salvation - God cares about you too much to allow you to fall!”  Jesus teaches us to reply, “No!  Such precipitous presumption that puts God to the test must be rejected!  God gave me the dignity of free will - I choose God and heed His guidance to be saved from falling!”

Christ thwarted, foiled, and spoiled all temptations so that through His grace, you and I, today and everyday, when faced with our own temptations, would choose to follow His example in putting God first, worshiping and serving God alone, heeding God’s guidance, and thereby, definitively, decisively, defeating the Devil!

Daily Retreat 02/24/07

2007 Feb 24 Sat: Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Is 58: 9b-14/ Ps 85(86): 1-2. 3-4. 5-6/ Lk 5: 27-32

From today’s readings:  “Thus says the LORD: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday....  You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness to all who call upon You....  Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

The Joy of Lent

Popular parlance focuses on the somber side of Lent, as if our simple sacrifices were somehow sufficient to actually weigh heavily on us.  While a real commitment to practical penance and our serious meditation on Christ's passion is nothing light-hearted, gloominess during penance is actually forbidden by Christ in the Gospel of Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:16), and the first reading today relates how, through true Lenten practices, "gloom shall become for you like midday!"

In fact, the first Lenten preface in the missal (prayed aloud by the priest immediately before the "Holy, Holy, Holy" Sanctus prayer)actually refers to Lent as this "joyful season" of purification and self-denial!  

So Levi had it right:  our awareness and confession of our sinfulness is absolutely essential so we can hear the voice of Him who explained, "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners!"  When you and I hear that voice, and give answer with our lives to His invitation to "Follow Me!", surely that is nothing to be glum about - rather, our Lenten response needs to be celebrated with the great Eucharistic banquet of joy!

Daily Retreat 02/23/07

2007 Feb 23 Fri: Friday after Ash Wednesday/ Polycarp, bp, mt.
Is 58: 1-9a/ Ps 50(51): 3-4. 5-6ab. 18-19/ Mt 9: 14-15

From today’s readings:  “This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own....  A humble and contrite heart, O God, You will not spurn....  The days will come when the Bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

A Humble, Contrite Heart

Just two days ago, we started the penitential season of Lent, praying the same psalm selected today, which  begins, “Have mercy on me, O God...” and is either psalm 50 or psalm 51 (the numbering of the psalms varies slightly because of two ancient traditions in counting the 9th/10th psalm). 

Since there are 150 psalms, it might seem like the Church is lacking originality and variety in repeating the same psalm so soon.  But it’s no lack of creativity that led to the re-run of this psalm - rather, it’s the undeniable suitability of this psalm for the whole Lenten season that explains why it comes up, at one time or another, in the lectionary at least once every week of Lent except for the second and the last week of the season.

It is, in effect, the psalm par excellence of Lent, so copy it down, and pray it everyday, and learn it by heart - a humble, contrite heart!

Daily Retreat 02/22/07

2007 Feb 22 Thu: Chair of Peter, ap F
1 Pt 5: 1-4/ Ps 22(23): 1-3a. 4. 5. 6/ Mt 16: 13-19

From today’s readings:  “ Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock....  The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want....  I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. ”

A Chair?

Even though it was just yesterday that the Church started the penitential season of Lent with the Ash Wednesday liturgies, today’s feast in honor of St. Peter momentarily interrupts that Lenten focus on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in favor of a joyful and grateful reflection on one of the Lord’s great blessings for His Church.  

The Feast of the Chair of Peter is celebrated today - certainly a bizarre enough sounding title for a celebration!  But the object of celebration, of course, is not a piece of furniture, but rather, an office - and not the type of office that would serve as room for a chair and a desk, but rather, an office of service, a position of leadership.

Although not the first Apostle called by Christ, Simon Peter is nonetheless always listed first in the gospel lists of the apostles’ names, and he clearly served as chairman of the original apostolic college - not necessarily because of his own natural charisma as a leader, but because, as Matthew’s gospel records, Peter was commissioned by Jesus Himself (also note Luke 22:31-32 and John 21:15-19).

This Petrine office of Church leadership is better known as the papacy.  In fact, from Peter to Pope Benedict XVI, the historically documented succession of 265 popes personally links each of the Peter’s successors in that line of service and leadership in Christ’s Church.  And that’s something that is worthy of a feastday celebration!

Daily Retreat 02/21/07

2007 Feb 21 Wed: Ash Wednesday.
Jl 2: 12-18/ Ps 50(51): 3-4. 5-6ab. 12-13. 14 and 17/ 2 Cor 5: 20 -- 6:2/ Mt 6: 1-6. 16-18

From today’s readings:  “Even now, says the LORD, return to Me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning....  Have mercy on me, O God, in Your goodness; in the greatness of Your compassion wipe out my offense....  Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation....  When you give alms, when you pray, when you fast....”


    Lent Menu
The Gospel reading on Ash Wednesday quotes the section from the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus teaches about Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving.  So, during this holy season of Lent, we make special efforts to make prayer, fasting, and almsgiving more a part of our lives.  Here are a few ideas to put together a balanced Lent “menu”:

    1. Prayer
Do the 2 steps for becoming a saint
Go to an extra Mass every week
Go to confession monthly
Stop by the Church for a Eucharistic visitation
Say the Rosary every day
Children: Pray for parents!; Parents: Pray for children!
Pray for Pope Benedict XVI, and your bishop, and your pastor (& Fr. Pitstick!)
Read one chapter of the Bible daily
Read the biography of your patron saint
Pray the Stations of the Cross every Friday
Commit to 10 minutes of family prayer

    2. Fasting (Sacrificing & self-denial)
Give up desserts
Don’t watch TV
Turn your music down
Get up one hour early
Whisper during lunch hour
Drink water & juice instead of pop or coffee

    3. Almsgiving (sharing & helping)
Give 10% to the Church or other charity
Help the elderly with housework
Do an “extra chore” every day
Help brothers and sisters with chores
Read to a younger child
Help students to study well
Send a card or visit the sick

Make at least one selection from each section, and please enjoy generous helpings (and extra helpings!) of the plates on this menu!

Daily Retreat 02/20/07

2007 Feb 20 Tue
Sir 2: 1-11/ Ps 36(37): 3-4. 18-19. 27-28. 39-40/ Mk 9: 30-37

From today’s readings:  “My son, when you come to serve the LORD, stand in justice and fear, prepare yourself for trials....  Commit your life to the Lord, and He will help you....  What were you arguing about?....”

Questions, questions

As has been mentioned, the Gospel of Mark has a simple structure: in answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?”, the first half of the Gospel, focusing on the Lord’s initial instructions to His disciples and His ministry in Galilee, leads up to Peter’s climatic confession of faith, “You are the Christ!”  (Mark 8:29).  This takes place at Caesarea Philippi, which, significantly, is the northernmost locality of the Lord’s travels mentioned in Mark’s Gospel.

>From that point on, Jesus starts teaching His apostles more specifically about His messianic mission to suffer and die, and so the Lord begins His deliberate journey south to Jerusalem.  This part of the Gospel is punctuated with three very specific predictions by Jesus of His impending Passion and Resurrection: Mark 8:31, 9:31; 10:33-34.

The second prediction, highlighted in today’s Gospel passage, is the shortest of the three, and seems to hint at a particularly low point in the disciples’ sense of discipleship: they did not understand what Jesus was talking about, and not only were they afraid to question Him, but then when Jesus questioned them, they were afraid to answer!

To be sure, the teaching of Jesus about Christian discipleship is indeed demanding, and difficult to understand perfectly.  But when we find ourselves struggling with our own call to follow Christ and live His Gospel, you and I need to specifically turn to Jesus and His Gospel for answers to our questions and misunderstandings; and, furthermore, you and I need to be open, honest, and committed to the necessary soul-searching on our own parts to answer His questions to us!

Daily Retreat 02/19/07

2007 Feb 19 Mon
Sir 1: 1-10/ Ps 92(93): 1ab. 1cd-2. 5/ Mk 9: 14-29

From today’s readings:  “All wisdom comes from the LORD and with Him it remains forever, and is before all time....  The Lord is king; He is robed in majesty....  I do believe, help my unbelief!”

Paradoxical Prayers

In addition to the “Our Father” and other beloved prayers from Sacred Scripture, there are a number of short supplications found in the Bible which so perfectly express cries of the human heart.  For instance, after His Transfiguration, Jesus encountered a man who begged Him to heal his possessed son.  When Jesus assured the man that all things are possible for the one who believes, the man cried out, “I do believe!  Help my unbelief!”

This paradoxical prayer is a simple act of faith, and simultaneously, a desperate plea to be bolstered in faith!  It’s the perfect prayer, then, for those many times in our lives when we find ourselves faced with problems, worries, preoccupations, and everything else that’s too big to handle on our own.  Assuredly, we do believe in God, but we also have occasional chinks in the armor of our faith which must be addressed.  And so, this pithy prayer:

“I do believe!  Help Thou my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

Daily Retreat 02/18/07

2007 Feb 18 SUN: SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
1 Sm 26: 2. 7-13. 22-23/ Ps 102(103): 1-2,3-4,8,10,12-13 (8a)/ 1 Cor 15: 45-49/ Lk 6: 27-38

From today’s readings:  “The LORD will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness....  The Lord is kind and merciful....  Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one....  Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you....”

Love Your Enemies!

I’ve never heard it mentioned as such, but Christ’s command to “Love your enemies” has always come across to me as one of the strongest proofs of His divinity.  It would be hard to even imagine any other such injunction that is so fundamentally foreign to our fallen human nature.  As a principle of living, the words make no practical sense whatsoever, so the only reason people preach them and attempt to live by them is in virtue of the One who dared to teach us, with His words and example, to love our enemies.

If Jesus were not divine, such an absurd notion would have been sufficient to prove His insanity.  If He were not divine, pragmatic realists would have quietly erased such nonsense from the historical record of His teachings.  If He were not divine, He would have never dared to insist on such preposterous notions as conditions of discipleship, for, if He were not divine, all His own followers would have abandoned Him for such impossible expectations.

But, with the assurance of His divinity, Jesus does not hesitate to demand the impossible, because with divine assistance, what is otherwise indeed impossible becomes thoroughly possible.  The love which bloomed from the dead wood of the Cross and even our own partial successes in loving our enemies are paradoxical enough proofs that only God Himself could have incarnated such a divine command!

Daily Retreat 02/17/07

2007 Feb 17 Sat/ BVM/ Seven Founders of the Order of Servites, rs
Heb 11: 1-7/ Ps 144(145): 2-3. 4-5. 10-11/ Mk 9: 2-13

From today’s readings:  “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen....  I will praise Your Name for ever, Lord....  Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.”

A Superfluous Miracle?

When I was growing up, the Transfiguration of Jesus almost appeared to me as a superfluous event.  Nearly all of Jesus’ miracles were clearly worked as an intentional blessing for other people: changing water into wine, numerous healings, multiplication of the loaves, etc.  Yet the beneficiaries of Jesus’ Transfiguration are not immediately apparent, since Peter, James, and John certainly failed to grasp the significance of the moment (cf. Luke 9:33), and were even forbidden by Jesus to recount what they had seen (Mark 9:9).

Yet we must remember that Jesus’ miracles were intended not only to help and to inspire wonder, but also to provoke reflection which was in turn to lead to deeper faith and discipleship as well (cf. John 6:26).  This is especially true of the Transfiguration - everything about it invites questions: why?  how?  what does it mean?  Jesus silenced His disciples because He knew they had not reflected enough at that time to speak coherently about it - after the Resurrection, their fuller faith would enable them to proclaim and explain the Transfiguration (cf. 2 Peter 1:16-18).

The same is true for you and me - through prayerful questioning and meditation, key insights about Christ can be established.  For instance, the Transfiguration occurs immediately after the first time Jesus explicitly predicts His Passion, so the timing reveals Jesus’ intention to link the glory of the Transfiguration (and Resurrection) to the suffering of the Passion.  Moreover, since Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets, Jesus standing in their midst demonstrates clearly that the Old Testament is meant to lead the focus to Jesus.  His glorious aspect and the Father’s voice from Heaven confirm Jesus as the beloved Son of God, Whom we should always listen to!  You take it from here - think and pray about the Transfiguration to understand why it’s not superfluous at all, but supersaturated with revelation about the resplendent face of our faith!

Daily Retreat 02/16/07

2007 Feb 16 Fri
Gn 11: 1-9/ Ps 32(33): 10-11. 12-13. 14-15/ Mk 8: 34 – 9: 1

From today’s readings:  “It was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the speech of all the world....  Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be His own....  Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”

Self-Denial Every Friday

Next week, with the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday, we will all strive to enter the penitential spirit of the season with our commitment to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  One of the best known Catholic Lenten practices is the custom of abstaining from eating meat on the Fridays of Lent (and on Ash Wednesday).

Not eating meat is a mild form of the penitential practice of fasting.  The idea is to commit ourselves to a concrete form of self-denial, thereby uniting ourselves with the Lord’s own self-denial, and His insistence that self-denial is an essential aspect of taking up one’s own cross and following Him in Christian discipleship.

Because Jesus died on a Friday, for Christians, that day of the week has ever since been colored by remembrance of that event.  In fact, although many Catholics aren’t well aware of the fact, when not coinciding with a festive solemnity (such as Christmas), every Friday of the year (not just those of Lent!) is to be observed with a spirit of penance.  


Excerpts from http://www.usccb.org/lent/2007/Penance_and_Abstinence.pdf:

22. Friday itself remains a special day of penitential observance throughout the year, a time when those who seek perfection will be mindful of their personal sins and the sins of mankind which they are called upon to help expiate in union with Christ Crucified.
23. Friday should be in each week something of what Lent is in the entire year. For this reason we urge all to prepare for that weekly Easter that comes with each Sunday by freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial and mortification in prayerful remembrance of the passion of Jesus Christ. inward spiritual values that we cherish.
27. It would bring great glory to God and good to souls if Fridays found our people doing volunteer work in hospitals, visiting the sick, serving the needs of the aged and the lonely, instructing the young in the Faith, participating as Christians in community affairs, and meeting our obligations to our families, our friends, our neighbors, and our community, including our parishes, with a special zeal born of the desire to add the merit of penance to the other virtues exercised in good works born of living faith.

Daily Retreat 02/15/07

2007 Feb 15 Thu
Gn 9: 1-13/ Ps 101(102): 16-18. 19-21. 29 and 22-23/ Mk 8: 27-33

From today’s readings:  “I set My bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth....  From Heaven the Lord looks down on the earth....  Jesus and His disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi....”

Who is Jesus?

The Gospel of St. Mark is the shortest (only sixteen chapters) and it also has the simplest structure. Look at the first verse of the Gospel of St. Mark. “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. the Son of God.”  Now right in the middle of the Gospel of  St. Mark is Chapter 8, beginning with verse 27, today’s familiar passage, which leads up to the Lord’s question, “Who do you say that I am?”

Peter’s great confession of faith “You are the Christ!”  is also translated “You are the Messiah” - Messiah is the Hebrew word, “Christ” is the Greek word, both meaning “the anointed one.”  So Peter declares to Jesus, “You are the Anointed One, You are the Messiah, You are the Christ.”  Remember Mark’s first verse: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

 Now let’s look at the end of the Gospel of  St. Mark - not the very end, but very near the end, as Jesus is on the cross praying from Psalm 21, and after that He dies.  This is chapter 15 verse 39, when “the centurion who stood guard over Him and had seen the matter of His death declared: Truly,  this man was the son of God!”

This was before the resurrection of Jesus and the centurion, a pagan, has this beautiful confession of faith: this man was the son of God!  Remember how the Gospel begins: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” The first eight chapters lead up to Peter’s declaration “You are the Christ , the Messiah!” The second half of the Gospel of St. Mark lead up to the centurion’s declaration: “Surely this man  was the son of God!” So, it’s very clear that the Gospel of St, Mark is structured around the question of “Who is Jesus?”

Who is Jesus? Start to read the Gospel of St. Mark and pretend you don’t know who Jesus is and see how Mark methodically takes you through experiences in the life of Jesus that little by little build the pieces for you, for me, and for those who are reading about who Jesus is. That’s why at the middle of the Gospel, at the center, at the focal point, Jesus Himself asks the question, not just to His disciples, but also to us who read the Gospel, “Who do you say that I am?”  And Peter, as spokesman for all the apostles, but also, at this moment for you and me, declares “Thou art the Christ, You are the Messiah!”

Now it turns out, Peter didn’t understand at that moment fully what he was talking about. Because right after that, Jesus starts to explain to him and to all disciples what that means - being the Christ, being the Messiah, when “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.   He said all this quite openly.”

Now Peter, who just had this great insight about "You are the Christ, you are the Messiah!"  doesn't get the implication at all and so starts to rebuke Jesus, and so Jesus has to reprove Peter, "Get behind me Satan - you are talking as man talks and not as God!"  The first half of the Gospel led to Peter's affirmation, "You are the Christ!" but that wasn't enough, it was a type of faith without works, because Peter and the others didn't really understand the sacrificial mission of the Messiah, in fulfillment of the words of Isaiah and the other prophets.  So the second half of the Gospel of St. Mark incarnates and draws out the implications of Peter's insight, which leads to the complementary confession and full recognition of Jesus as the Son of God.

And so the Gospel of St. Mark can be summed up as the answer to that question of: Who is Jesus?  That is, in fact, the most important question of our life!  How we answer that question sets the course both for how we live our earthly life, and ultimately, what trajectory we give for our eternal life as well!

Daily Retreat 02/14/07

2007 Feb 14 Wed: Cyril and Methodius, bps M
Gn 8: 6-13/ Ps 115(116): 12-13. 14-15. 18-19 / Mk 8: 22-26

From today’s readings:  “At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark....  To You, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise....  When Jesus and His disciples arrived at Bethsaida, people brought to Him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.”

See What I Mean?

All the miracles of Jesus were worked, not just for those who clearly benefitted most directly from those miracles, but also for all of us who would hear of the miracles, and reflect on their significance.

Consider, for instance, the blind man of Bethsaida, who was cured by Jesus in stages.  For, after Jesus put spittle on his eyes and touched them, the man started to see, but his sight was still muddled, for, as he said, “I see men like walking trees!”  But then, when Jesus set His healing hands on the man’s eyes a second time, the man was able to see clearly.  

Why wasn’t the man’s sight restored fully at first?  Certainly, it was not the case that Jesus failed to do a full job of healing the first time!  Although not mentioned explicitly, it is possible that the gradual healing reflected the man’s own gradual illumination by the light of faith.  Another enlightening interpretation recognizes this miracle as a lesson for all disciples of Christ, for even after the Lord has begun to make us partially see some essential points, we still need the humble patience to allow Him to help us see what He wants us to see ever more clearly.

Daily Retreat 02/13/07

2007 Feb 13 Tue
Gn 6: 5-8; 7: 1-5. 10/ Ps 28(29): 1a and 2. 3ac-4. 3b and 9c-10/ Mk 8: 14-21

From today’s readings:  “Then the LORD said to Noah: Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just....  The Lord will bless His people with peace....  The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.”

Food for Thought

More than any other evangelist, St. Mark is quite candid about the disciples' slowness in understanding Christ's crucial teachings.   For instance, when warning about the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, Christ was clearly speaking metaphorically, cautioning His disciples against hypocrisy and worldly ambitions, the principle vices of the Pharisees and King Herod.  Yet the disciples figured that Jesus was just making a veiled reference to their own oversight in packing insufficient bread for their journey.

To help the disciples open their hearts and minds and eyes and ears to the real issues at stake, Jesus asks a barrage of questions, concluding with queries about how much bread left over there was after the miraculous feedings of five thousand and four thousand.   The memory of the overflowing wicker baskets should have well reminded the disciples that the Lord was leading them to leave behind their preoccupations about such mundane things in order to "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness," as He had instructed them in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Matthew 6:33).

You and I can laugh at the comical obtuseness of the disciples who were so worried about their lack of bread when they had the very Bread of Life with them!  Yet, when we personally consider the Lord's barrage of questions, a number of parallel situations in our own lives come to light!  How often our worries and even our prayers get tangled up in such insignificant matters, all because whenever we overlook the providence of God, and start to think and act as if everything depended on us, we prove that we too still do not understand....

Daily Retreat 02/12/07

2007 Feb 12 Mon
Gn 4: 1-15. 25/ Ps 49(50): 1 and 8. 16bc-17. 20-21/ Mk 8: 11-13

From today’s readings:  “Am I my brother’s keeper?...  Offer to God a sacrifice of praise....  The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from Him a sign from heaven to test Him.”

Sighing for Signs

The miracles worked by Jesus were irrefutable confirming signs of the presence of God, but the Pharisees, with their hardened hearts, like Pharaoh in the day of Moses, always had an excuse to dismiss the miraculous nature of His work.

To discredit Jesus, they would ask for further signs and miracles out of line with His mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of God and His call to conversion.  One can well imagine the enemies of Jesus promising to believe in Him if only He would arrange for a thunderbolt to destroy a Roman garrison or effect some other terrifying sign from Heaven.  These were the same people who later put Christ on the Cross, then challenged Him to come down as a sign to prove Himself.

Jesus refused all such selfish and showy demands for signs.  But, then as now, to those with open hearts, to those who seek God and His Truth, Jesus Himself not only gives signs, but He Himself incarnates the true sign from Heaven.

Daily Retreat 02/11/07

2007 Feb 11 SUN: SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Jer 17: 5-8/ Ps 1: 1-2. 3. 4. 6 (40: 5a)/ 1 Cor 15: 12. 16-20/ Lk 6: 17. 20-26

From today’s readings:  “Cursed is he who trusts in man.... blessed is he who hopes in the Lord....  If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable of all....  Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man....”

#1 Psalm

In a way, the first psalm is a summary of the entire Bible, for all of Scripture purposes to prove the past, present, and future blessings that are concomitant with a life lived loving God, and the inherent curse and woeful wretchedness of the one who turns away from the Lord.

Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord, who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on His law day and night!  To the world, Jesus explains, such a man is generally poor, since his focus is on spiritual, rather than material, enrichment; such a one is often hungry from fasting and self-denial; he weeps for his own sins and the sins of the world; he is despised, excluded, and insulted on account of the Son of Man.

Poor, hungry, weeping, and despised - in what sense, then, is such a one who trusts in the Lord to be considered blessed?  He is blessed in the past, because the Lord engendered him in life-giving water of new birth, and planted his seed so his roots could always reach the running stream of sacramental grace.  He is blessed in the present, because that perennial tap of grace enables him to bear good fruit for the Lord even under the most adverse conditions.  He is blessed in the future, because he has a share in the fulfillment of all blessings, the Lord’s resurrection from the dead!

But not so the wicked, not so!  Those whose heart turns away from the Lord, those who follow the counsel of the wicked, who walk in the way of sinners and sit in the company of the insolent, those who possess only material wealth, who are bloated from indulgence in feeding selfish desires, and laugh off their sins as inconsequential, and are hailed as worldly successes - they are like chaff, which the wind drives away.  Indeed they are cursed, if only because they are smugly content and complacent in their barren, withered lives, cut off by their sins from the source of abundant life and blessing.

Ultimately, there are then only these two alternatives:  the blessings of embracing God, and the curse of turning away from Him.  Which of these choices does your life reflect?

Daily Retreat 02/10/07

2007 Feb 10 Sat: Scholastica, v, r M
Gn 3: 9-24/ Ps 89(90): 2. 3-4abc. 5-6. 12-13/ Mk 8: 1-10

From today’s readings:  “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....  In every age, O Lord, You have been our refuge....  Then, taking the seven loaves He gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to His disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd.”

Bread Blessed and Broken

Chapter Six of Mark’s Gospel records the multiplication of the loaves for the feeding of five thousand, and here, at the beginning of Chapter Eight, there’s a similar miracle recounted of the feeding of four thousand hungry souls.

There are a few differences noted between the two miracles, but, on the whole, there are many more similarities of details - one could well use the two incidents (Mark 6:30-44 and 8:1-10) as the basis for a typical essay demonstrating comparison and contrast composition skills.

In His patience, Jesus must have repeated central themes of His teachings many times, and the Gospels record repeated miracles addressing similar needs of people.  This pattern continues, for every time we go to Mass, we hear the Word of the Lord repeated anew, and the miracle is likewise renewed as Jesus takes bread, gives thanks and blesses it, then entrusts It to the hands of His priestly disciples to be distributed to the crowd of souls hungry for Him!

Daily Retreat 02/09/07

2007 Feb 9 Fri
Gn 3: 1-8/ Ps 31(32): 1-2. 5. 6. 7/ Mk 7: 31-37

From today’s readings:  “Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made....  Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven....  Ephphatha! - that is, ‘Be opened!’ ”

Ephphatha!

Some places mentioned in Scripture are quite obscure.  Not many people could point out “district of the Decapolis” on a map of the holy land.  This was a league of 10 rather insignificant non-Jewish cities in eastern Palestine.  Not much reason for anyone to go there!  Since Jesus generally confined His mission to the Jews (e.g., Matt 10:6, Mark 7:27), His brief excursions into pagan territory are remarkable.  What did He do there, and why?

Christ’s presence among pagan peoples was personally purposeful and poignantly prophetic.  Purposeful, because He brought the comfort of His presence (which caused the tongue of the mute to sing!) and thus already He was certainly sowing the seeds of stirring to faith among the Gentiles (the fruition of His work would be seen after Pentecost); prophetic, because His actions were meant to be reflected upon and interpreted in their fullest intent, viz., if even the pagan peasants of the Decapolis were open to the blessings of Christ’s presence, then surely no one is meant to be excluded from the Messianic joy of the Gospel!

His command shatters the deafening silence of our own complacency, pealing out to you and to me, “Ephphatha!”– “Be opened!”  Let our ears and hearts be opened then to the Good News Christ set out to bring us this day, and then let our tongues sing His Gospel in gratitude!

Daily Retreat 02/08/07

2007 Feb 8 Thu/ Jerome Emiliani, p, rf/ Josephine Bakhita, v
Gn 2: 18-25/ Ps 127(128): 1-2. 3. 4-5/ Mk 7: 24-30

From today’s readings:  “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh....  Blessed are those who fear the Lord....  Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”

Children and Creatures of God

At the time of Jesus, the Jews were the only people who believed in the one true God - everyone else was pagan, including the  Syrophoenician woman who begged Jesus to help her daughter.  Jesus’ initial reply to her comes across as insulting, even though it’s an appropriate reminder of the essential distinction between God’s own people, who, by His grace, have been elevated to the status of His beloved children, contrasted with those people who reject God, but still nonetheless remain His dependent creatures.

The  Syrophoenician woman was satisfied with the children’s scraps, and Jesus did not refuse her that much.  The Gospel doesn’t mention any more about the woman, but perhaps later in her life she realized that Jesus was ready and eager to give her much more, as soon as she would respond to God’s call to be more than just His creature - to be His beloved child, through the sacramental adoption of baptism!

In addition to the clear distinction between children of God and creatures of God, there’s a parallel continuum that we can consider about the whole range of responses of faith.  For even among God’s baptized children, too many are satisfied with just the crumbs of faith, because they prefer to follow animal instincts and habits rather than live up to their sublime dignity as children of God.  Jesus is always ready and eager to give us much more, as long as we children of God just live up to our role!