Author: admin

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Gospel: Luke 11: 1-4

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Why is the Lord’s Prayer so meaningful?

It comes directly from Christ’s own prayer life. As the disciples say to him in today’s Gospel, “Lord, teach us how to pray as you pray.” 

So, the Lord begins by telling us to call God our “Father.” But he uses the term, Abba, meaning, Papa or Daddy. We are meant to address God from a place of familial intimacy.

“Papa, hallowed be thy name.” 

To “hallow,” means, “to be holy or set apart.” Thus, we are praying for the grace to keep God as holy, or first, in our lives. 

We all know how challenging that can be. Often, there are a variety of other people and things vying for our attention – our marriage, our career, our children, our own plans and desires, material things, and so on. 

We must strive to keep God first. All day. Every day.

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Towards the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This points to the very heart of God’s identity – his ability to forgive sins. 

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus tells people like the woman caught in adultery, “Your sins are forgiven. Go, and sin no more.”

Jesus could not forgive her sins unless they were somehow committed against him, just I cannot forgive your sins, unless they are committed against me.

Jesus is the one who is affected by every sin committed, and thus he is the only one who can forgive them all. He asks only one thing from us in return: to forgive one another.

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These are two things we can strive for today: to keep God – our Papa – first in our lives, and to forgive those who trespass against us.

What does that look like for me?

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Image credits: (1) Sermon Series, ministrypass.com (2) ministry-to-children.com (3) pinterest.com

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Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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A few years ago, on the cover page of National Geographic there was a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the title, “The Most Powerful Woman in the World.”

More than one billion Catholics refer to her as their spiritual mother, a command first given by Jesus to John at the Cross: “Behold, your mother.” 

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Two factors that inspire Marian devotion are her relatability and her many apparitions throughout the centuries. 

Like many Christians, Mary was poor. She spent time as a refugee. She accepted God’s plan for her life while she was still a teenager, modeling the art of surrender, which she does again while standing faithfully at the foot of the Cross.

Mary is powerful because she is relatable.

Secondly, she pulls back the veil between heaven and earth. The first reported Marian apparition took place in the year 40 AD, some time after her assumption. There have been an estimated 2,000 apparitions since.

Of these, fewer than 20 have been officially approved by the Vatican because of their rigorous process of verification.

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But one of Mary’s apparitions, which we celebrate today, was her appearance as Our Lady of the Rosary to Saint Dominic in the 13^th century. Part of her message to him was that, if he spread devotion to the rosary, then his religious order – the Dominicans – would flourish. 

To this day, some 800 years later, Dominican nuns and priests minister around the world, their religious order having produced more than 70 Saints!

In several other apparitions since, Mary has continued encouraging devotion to the rosary, as we not only meditate on the life of Christ, but also seek Mary’s powerful intercession.

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May she, the most powerful woman in the world, pray for us.

Hail Mary…

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Image credits: (1) National Geographic, Mary Most Powerful Woman in the World (2) The Annunciation, Saint Louis Art Museum (3) Free Rosary Stock, StockImages

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Gospel: Luke 10: 25-37

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?
How do you read it?”
He said in reply,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself.”
He replied to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.”

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,
“And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied,
“A man fell victim to robbers
as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
A priest happened to be going down that road,
but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
Likewise a Levite came to the place,
and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him
was moved with compassion at the sight.
He approached the victim,
poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Then he lifted him up on his own animal,
took him to an inn, and cared for him.
The next day he took out two silver coins
and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction,
‘Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you,
I shall repay you on my way back.’
Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”
He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Auto-immune diseases – such as type-1 diabetes and arthritis – confuse the body’s natural defense system, so that the body can no longer tell the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy cell.

Normal cells are mistaken for a threat, causing the body to attack itself, leaving a person reeling in pain.

These days, when we gaze across the world of politics, race, religion, and culture, it’s easy to see this “auto-immune” mentality at work.

People will fight against each other over just about anything. What we fail to realize is that, beneath it all, most of us are good. We’re all made in the image and likeness of God, and we all want the same basic guarantees: food, shelter, peace, security, and love.

In a word, we want to live.

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives one of his most famous parables, The Good Samaritan, which challenges our understanding of what it means to be a neighbor, or a member of this world we call home.

Consider the parable through the eyes of the wounded stranger, who has been robbed, beaten, and left for dead. Unlike the other characters in the story, he is not identified by his profession, social class, religion, or ethnicity. 

He could be anyone – a Jew or a Samaritan; rich or poor; someone’s brother, a husband, a son. As he faces his death, the ethnic and religious boundaries that likely defined his life are suddenly erased.

He doesn’t care who helps him; all that matters is that someone helps him. A Jew, a Samaritan, anyone capable of compassion because that is what matters in his hour of greatest need.

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Perhaps we need to live our lives with more of that perspective.

Not with the arthritic spirit of division, rather on what unites us: the short passage of time; our ability to be compassionate; our desire to live; and our common need for a good neighbor, not only in our hour of greatest need, but everyday.

Will you be my neighbor? If so, what might that look like today?

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Image credits: (1) Won’t You Be My Neighbor Review, We Live Entertainment (2) WH Marcetson, The Cripplegate (3) Catholic Medical Mission Board