Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Luke 9: 57-62

As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding
on their journey, someone said to him,
“I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
And to another he said, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”
And another said, “I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”
Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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At the age of 24, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, whose feast day we celebrate, lay on her deathbed holding a crucifix.

Five of her final words were: My God, I love you!

That simple gesture of confessing her love for Christ while suffering, clinging to a crucifix, is key to understanding her spirituality.

Thérèse believed that no action was extraordinary in itself; on the surface, there’s nothing profound about speech, even from one’s deathbed. 

What is profound is the devotion behind her words: My God, I love you! Thérèse reminds us that it’s not what we do or say that matters, as much as why we do it.

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A 20^th century Saint later adopted Thérèse’s name and spirituality. We know her as Mother Teresa. 

Like Thérèse, Mother Teresa spent her life doing ordinary things with extraordinary love: clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, washing the wounds of lepers, clutching people in her arms as they died of disease or starvation.

Each person, she said, was, “Christ in distressing disguise.”

Both of these saintly women proved with their lives, “My God, I love you!”

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We, too, can be Saints like them, simply by living ordinary lives with extraordinary love.

Show by your actions today, My God, I love you!

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Image credits: (1) Redbubble (2) Congregation of the Holy Cross, Therese of Lisieux (3) A Christian Pilgrimage, WordPress

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Gospel: Luke 9:51-56

When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
“Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?”
Jesus turned and rebuked them,
and they journeyed to another village.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Saint Jerome, whose feast day we celebrate today, is one of the great heroes of the early Church. Born in the 4^th century, he was raised in a Christian household, but did not take his faith seriously until he had a vision of himself standing before the judgment seat of Christ.

In the vision, Jesus accused him of being more committed to Western literature, in particular the works of Cicero, than to the Gospels. The vision struck Jerome to the heart.

Shortly thereafter, he withdrew to the desert in Palestine where he lived as a hermit for several years, learning Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament. 

Finally, he was ordained a priest and quickly became the secretary to the pope. During that time, Jerome began the most important work of his life – translating the bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin.

A labor of love that took him 40 years to complete.

His translation of the scriptures into Latin remains the official text used by the Church today, as well as the foundation from which the Bible has been translated into countless other languages.

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In the year 410, Rome fell to the Visigoths, causing many Christians to flee the Holy Land. 

Urged by charity, Jerome ended his solitary existence, put down his quill, and opened his heart and home to those in need. He’s remembered as saying, “Today we must translate the words of the Scriptures into deeds.” 

He died ten years later in the cave he called his home. Christians have often depicted him in art seated, quill in hand, with a skull on his desk. That skull reminded him of the quick passage of time.

His life leaves us a few questions to ponder:

Like Jerome, do we study the Word of God? Are we responsive to the needs of others? Are we humble of heart, willing to change our ways in light of divine judgment?

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Saint Jerome, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Catholic News Agency (2) Saint Jerome, Caravaggio (3) Young Catholics

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Revelation 12:7-12

War broke out in heaven;
Michael and his angels battled against the dragon.
The dragon and its angels fought back,
but they did not prevail
and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
The huge dragon, the ancient serpent,
who is called the Devil and Satan,
who deceived the whole world,
was thrown down to earth,
and its angels were thrown down with it.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed.
For the accuser of our brothers is cast out,
who accuses them before our God day and night.
They conquered him by the Blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
love for life did not deter them from death.
Therefore, rejoice, you heavens,
and you who dwell in them.”

The Word of the Lord.

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Growing up, my mother, brother, and I huddled together each week on the family couch to watch one of our favorite feel-good tv shows, “Touched by an Angel.” 

Each episode included a person suffering for one reason or another, leaving them on the verge of despair. 

Heeding their cries, the Lord sent an angel – veiled as a human being – to open their eyes, revealing how intimately God was working in their life, even in their suffering.

By the end of the show, the person was healed; a doubter came to faith; a broken heart found peace. Someone learned they were, “touched by an angel.”

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Throughout the bible, we see angels working in people’s lives.

In the Old Testament, the archangel Raphael serves as an agent of healing.

In the Gospels, the archangel Gabriel appears to Mary, telling her that she’ll bear the Son of God in her womb.

Shortly thereafter, an anonymous angel appears to Joseph in a dream, telling him that Mary’s pregnancy is, in fact, God’s will, softening his heart to welcome her into his home. 

A second angel appears to Joseph in another dream, telling him to flee with Mary and Jesus from Palestine into Egypt as King Herod was trying to kill the Christ-child. 

And, in the Book of Revelation, we read of the archangel Michael slaying Satan, casting him out of heaven forever.

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Today’s feast of the Archangels reminds us that God is still working in this world, even in our own lives. 

But the “angels” we see are often veiled by flesh and blood; they are ordinary people like us willing to be God’s agents of grace.

When has someone been an “angel” for me? Or when have I felt God working through me as an angel for another?

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May the Lord use each of us today, allowing someone else to be touched by an angel.

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Image credits: (1) Touched by an Angel, Rotten Tomatoes (2) Archangel Michael Defeats Satan, Guido Reni (3) QuoteFancy