Sacred Heart Novena Day 3 of 9: Growth

Apse Mosaic of St. Clement Church - Rome, Italy

John 15: 1-5 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower." He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.

Dear Lord,

At the heart of your Gospel is a call to growth, both personal and spiritual. You ask us to be part of a Kingdom that as a "mustard seed that grows and puts out its branches for the birds" (cf. Lk 13:19). Let your Holy Spirit be purpose of growth for my life. Let my union with you, the branch be what breathes life into me and do not let me be afraid of the Father of Mercies who cuts away the excess so that I bear more fruit. 

Lord, you sought from the very depths of your heart to incorporate me into your new Life. Let my every heartbeat be yours and do not let me be parted from you. Amen.

Sacred Heart Novena Day 2 of 9: Friendship

Jesus Friend

John 15:15-17  I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.

Dear Lord,

On the night before your death you called us friends and you commanded us to love one another. What does it mean to be your friend? What a special vocation and calling. Did you ever even call me a slave? You opened yourself and and held no secret back. You let us in on the secret of life, summed up in one word, Love.

Thank you, Lord, for the grace to be your friend. Thank you for opening up. Thank you for sharing with us what it means to live. Love, bear fruit, be friends - in particular with You - and stay united with God. Amen.

Sacred Heart Novena: Day 1 of 9 - Service

John 13:1-5 Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, 3 fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, 4 he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.

Dear Lord,

At the heart of this Devotion is your Love. I want to be a part of it. While the rest of the Evangelists wrote of your Eucharistic Love, John, "The Beloved Disciple", spoke of your humble love, the love you showed by serving your disciples and your friends. Teach us to walk the same humble path of service by putting our neighbors first. Don't let us love less than we are called to love. Let your Last Supper Standard fly high so that we can walk with you despite our daily struggles. Lead us in service, show us how to love. Make us more worthy participants in your Banquet of Love, mirror-image of Heaven. Amen. 

Why I want to go to the Israel this Summer (Part 3 of 3)

Continued on from Part 2

How can I Encounter Jesus in the Here and Now?

After Jesus stepped foot on Earth He changed everything. Jesus isn't just a Game-changer. He is the Author of the sport. He makes it what it is. The Mystery of Jesus' Incarnation changed the nature of our approach to encounter God. Pioneer and explorer He made way onto Earth so that we could literally meet God here and ever since nothing has remained the same.

The Annunciation of the Lord (Philippe de Champaigne, 1644)

Though Jesus expressed to the Woman at the Well (Jn 4) that it was not upon this mountain nor in Jerusalem that God was to be worshiped soon after it is fact that even Jesus worshiped upon that particular mountain and in Jerusalem. Jesus joined the human community of those worshiping God and worshiped here on Earth. 

"Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”

Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." (John 4:20-21

While our worship is not tied down to a place here and now our every worship embraces a location, a place and a time. We pray from the heart yet that heart beats within a body in motion. We are not 'condemned' or "entombed in our bodies" as Plato and the Ancient Greeks spoke of. We are gifted with our bodies, made as one, in body and spirit.

Jesus also was Body and Spirit. His every movement was measured by duration and he took on the full measure of the human experience. He, though God, knew what it was to be a human being yet retaining every measure of His Divinity. This mystery is one that we'll never plumb. It will allude us to the Gates of Heaven.

So why Israel? To gain ground, to get one inch closer. To get to know Jesus better and to know His World, His Life, His People, and to fall in Love with Him ever more. That is my reason to travel there, experience His Mercy, and get to know the environs in which He became Him.

Sea of Galilee, 1900

View of Mount Tabor, Nazareth, Israel

Jerusalem Today

Why I want to go to Israel this Summer: Mystery (Part 2)

Continued from Why I want to go to Israel this Summer (Part 1)

What does it mean to Encounter the Risen Lord? Where can I find God?

The Greeks of John 12 didn't seem to meet with Jesus. It is mysterious that Jesus would become all of a sudden cryptic, mystical and not down-to-earth. But maybe we are overlooking what is just under our noses. Mystery.

The term lost its touch indefinitely with the English Romanticists (think Conan Doyle or Poe). "Mystery" has merely become the catch word for all literary and theatrical genre in which there is something to be solved. This is perhaps the fruit of French Enlightenment which stood by the fact that all mysteries could be solved, all knowledge could be plumbed. A "Mystery" however is not that. A mystery is a problem that exceeds a solution. The Greek word "Mυστήριον" (mysterion) means secret or enigma. It in turn could be derived from an interesting set of words:

μύω (myo): to close or shut [one's wounds or eyes]

 στερεός (sterion): Solid  

Mystery is a genre in which we shut our eyes. We don't know. Who can plumb the depths of the Mystery of God, the Holy Trinity; Father and Creator, Father of Mercy; Son and Redeemer, made Incarnate for us; Holy Spirit and Counselor, Giver of Life? The simple answer is that no one can. Mystery is the place where we close our eyes. At this point it is not we who figure God out but God who lets us get to know about God.

Proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven (Bl. Fra Angelico)

Where can I find God? In Mystery. It is the specific locus where God descends to us. Throughout the ages Saints and Scholars have used the term to plumb the depths of God-become-man: The Mystery of the Incarnation; The Triune Godhead: The Mystery of the Holy Trinity; But most originally Jesus himself would speak of "The Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven" (cf. Mt 13:11 also see Strong's Lexicon for all uses of "mystery") among other New Testament authors. 

"πνεῦμα ὁ θεός...God is Spirit" (Jn 4:24)

To get to know God doesn't mean to 'go somewhere' and get to know Him. Even reaching Heaven requires that we detach ourselves from the categories of when and where (through death) so as to encounter the God that transcends time and place. Heaven is where we no longer speak of "where" or "when". It is to be brought into the timelessness of God's "I Am" (cf. Ex 3:14; Jn 8:58). It is to be in the present tense yet exceed the present in Eternity.

But How can I meet Jesus here and now?

To be Continued...

Why I want to go to Israel this Summer (Part 1)

Of recent some people have heard that I was going to the Holy Land and have been curious as to why I have decided to take on this sojourn and what I was planning to do when I am there. Here are my poor efforts at unpacking an answer fit for a good question and an even better enquirer.

Israeli Desert

The average temperature in Israel in the month of July could boil and then fry an egg concurrently. The arid turf has the tough and rugged Mediterranean feel to it and pretty much is welcoming to your typical spaghetti western runaway bandit or lost Prairie Indian. Other naysayers have averted to the possible dangers that lie in an overseas trip to the Middle East, i.e. terrorist attacks on Christians, Arabic habibis (don't ask), and the myriad of infinite possible things that could go wrong.

Thus I agree with the Major Premise: It is not the ordinary challenge I would take on...I would rather do it in another part of the world more rugged and beautiful.

Something like this for example would suit my fancy (Mt. Kazbegi, Republic of Georgia)

There is however something so special about Israel, so much so that it is referred to as "The Holy Land" by Jews, Muslims, and Christians. "Holy" because of historic reasons. "Holy Land" because of its sacred nature as hallowed ground for several civilizations mutually considering it their own. Most importantly for me and - I hope for every Christian - is that it be the locus of their encounter with the Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ and Risen Lord.

What does it mean to Encounter the Risen Lord? Where can you find God?
St. John's Gospel narrates that Greeks came to meet Jesus. They said to Phillip:

"Κύριε, θέλομεν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἰδεῖν...Lord, we wish to see Jesus."(Jn 12:21)

Phillip turned to Andrew and they in turn presented the petition to Jesus.

"23ὁδὲ Ἰησοῦς ἀποκρίνεται αὐτοῖς λέγων, Ἐλήλυθεν ἡ ὥρα ἵναδοξασθῇ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου...And Jesus answered them saying, 'The Hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified'"(Jn 12:23)

 The Encounter has not occurred as of yet but Jesus prefaces it with something very special. That those who have not encountered him upon encountering him would bring Him glory, that Jesus' Mission would be fulfilled.  Jesus then in a cryptic way says:

24ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν,ἐὰν μὴ ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου πεσὼν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀποθάνῃ,αὐτὸς μόνος μένει: ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ, πολὺν καρπὸν φέρει...Amen Amen I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies upon it...it remains one. If it dies however, it bears much fruit." (Jn 12:24)

 This affirmation is not followed by a narration of Jesus' Encounter with the Greeks. In fact, no meeting is scheduled. Whether the following words were uttered in the Greeks' presence or not it is not clear. Whether it was John's senility upon writing the Gospel or if that those were simply the chain of events to occur are not certain. My simple reading of the situation is such: For us to meet Jesus...Jesus gave up His Life for us so that He could be even more accessible and 'user-friendly' to us. To state the case even more clearly: Jesus died for us so that we could say "We" with Jesus. Let's make things crystal clear: Jesus uses the image of the dying "grain of wheat" as his own life paradigm. Jesus' Death and Resurrection gives unto the eternal Multiplication of the Loaves, the true Miraculous Catch, or the Leaven of God's Kingdom.

This astonishing causation explains how we Encounter Jesus but we still do not have the answer to the question: What does it mean to Encounter the Risen Lord? Where can you find God?

To be Continued...

The King Rests - Holy Saturday

The Liturgy of the Hours reads an "Ancient Homily" from the Easter Vigil. It reads:

"What is happening? Today there is a great silence upon the Earth, indeed a great silence and a following solace, a great silence, because the King sleeps..."

Today, following the Passion and Death of Our Lord we consider the Lord who has been laid to rest in the Tomb.

"The King Sleeps"
The Lamentation of Christ
(Andrea Mantegna)

What happened?

God offered His Son and His Son offered Himself for us. That's what happened. Holy Saturday is a day of convergences. Historically it is a day in which we stay close to Mary, His Mother, contemplating the deep solace and great silence, which She alone would have endured.

Endurance. It is the truest test of faith and hope. If you don't believe in it you won't wait it out. This here is what happened. Mary believed. Mary hoped. This Act of Faith and Hope, given her by Her Son and Lord was a catalyst for the greatest miracle ever to happen. The Resurrection of our Lord.

It is true in biblical exegesis that Mary, His Mother, doesn't appear after the Crucifixion. She seems to disappear until Pentecost. If there was a person that intuitively believed as was accredited to her by Elizabeth in Luke 1, it would be her. She knew - within the dimensions of faith and hope - that He was "the Resurrection and the Life" (John 12) and that all would be made whole.

Holy Sepulchre (The Tomb of Jesus)
Jerusalem

The way Mary lived Holy Saturday is the way we should live our Holy Saturday as well as the rest of our lives: in hope. Hope is the sign of endurance.

May you be blessed with a Beautiful Easter and may your lives be blessed with this Hope.

Alleluia!