Month: December 2018

January 1st: Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

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theotokos

by Angela Jendro

Gospel Luke 2:16-21 NAB

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.  When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Meditation Reflection:

“Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  When it comes to their children, mothers are contemplatives; they treasure and reflect on every little thing and never tire of gazing at their children in love.  I will never forget the first night I spent with my son in the hospital. The nurse urged me to sleep after an exhausting birth, but I couldn’t stop holding him and staring at him.  I was overcome with a love there is no vocabulary to describe, and in awe of this mystery beyond comprehension.  With each subsequent child, I experienced the same awe.  Moreover, rather than dividing my love, each child multiplied it by expanding my heart with love for each of them individually.

As Mary gazed with love on her child, she gazed not only on her son, but the Son of God.  Mary was the first person to contemplate the mystery that Jesus is both God and man, creator and savior, born to die that we might live.  She is the first to love Him with her whole heart and the only to have the privilege of loving Him with a mother’s heart.

When God the Son took on a human nature, He allowed Himself to become weak and vulnerable.  He experienced human development and the daily process of growth and maturation we all go through.  Mary and Joseph were not merely day care providers for Jesus.  They were the first disciples of Christ and lived their vocation as His family to the fullest.  As God, Jesus had all the divine attributes.  As man, He shared DNA with Mary, He adopted Mary and Joseph’s mannerisms, He received a formation within the context of His family.

Though He is both God and Man, Jesus is one Person.  As a result, since Mary is the mother of Jesus she is rightly called Mother of God.  This does not mean she is the origin of the Trinity.  However, we must remember that mothers are mothers of people, not merely bodies.  It would be strange to say that I am the mother of my son’s body but not the mother of my son the person.  In the same way, to bifurcate Mary’s motherhood as merely that of part of Jesus would be to bifurcate Jesus Himself.  Jesus is one Person, the Second Person of the Trinity, who, since the moment of His incarnation, is forever simultaneously both God and Man.

Mary revered our Lord as both.  She nurtured His human needs and she worshipped His divinity.  She, like Him, obeyed the Father in all things.  She was the first human to live fully God’s plan for all mankind – union with God of heart, mind, and will.  Moreover, she is the only human to love Him as her Son and to be loved by Him as His mother.

This deep, pure, motherly love of Mary extends to each one of us as well.  From the Cross, as Christ suffered and died for our redemption and rebirth, He entrusted Mary as mother to St. John.  In doing so, He gave all of us to her as her children.  In baptism, we are united to Christ as His Mystical Body.  In consequence, we are also united to Mary as our mystical Mother.  Rather than dividing her love, each person who accepts her as mother, multiplies her love and experiences the same tender attention she gives to each of her children.  Christ shares our nature, and He has also shared His Heavenly Father and His earthly Mother with us.  Through Christ we become adopted sons and daughters of God and cherished children of Mary.  Through Christ’s humble love to become our brother, He has invited us into His own family.

Mary is the mother of God because God became man.  Mothers never tire telling anyone who will listen about their children.  Moreover, mothers love their children simply for who they are, not merely what they do.  If we ask Mary, she will share with us about her Son and teach us how to love and follow Him for Who He is, and not merely what He can do for us.

“She is so full of love that no one who asks for her intercession is rejected, no matter how sinful he may be. The saints say that it has never been known since the world began that anyone had recourse to our Blessed Lady, with trust and perseverance, and was rejected.”

St. Louis de Montfort

Consider:

  • How has meeting someone’s mother taught you something new about a person?
  • What do you cherish about your mother’s love?
  • If you are a parent, consider the mystery of your love for your children.  Imagine Mary’s love for Jesus at each of the stages of growth your kids have experienced.
  • Adoptive parents repeatedly report that they love their adoptive kids as if they were theirs biologically.  Consider Mary’s motherly love for you as her adoptive child, whom she loves as her very own.
  • Reflect on Christ’s love for Mary as His mother.
    • Consider the deep feelings of admiration and appreciation He has for her.
    • Reflect on their relationship and connection as mother and son.
    • Consider the comfort and strength He drew from her during His public ministry, knowing He had one person who understood His mission and supported Him no matter what.

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • This week, read and reflect on the words of Mary in Scripture.
  • Ask Mary to be your mother and go to her each day with your needs. Ask her to tell you about Jesus and teach you how to follow Him.
  • Pray a decade of the rosary each day.  Consider using the Scriptural rosary if you can.
    • (I have never prayed the rosary without experiencing some kind of grace.  Mary always brings us to Jesus.)
    • Pope St. John Paul II said, “To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and His mother.”

 

~ Written by Angela Jendro© 2018

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Christmas Day! Up Close and Personal: God Dwells Among Us

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by Angela (Lambert) Jendro

Gospel of John 1:1-18

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.'” From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.

 Meditation Reflection:

There’s a reason why parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and family friends greet children of every age with “I can’t believe how big you’re getting!”  The miracle of human life never ceases to astound.  My first pregnancy I remember marveling that a person who recently never existed, now did, and would for all of eternity.  It hit me that God had done a creating act of my child’s soul in my very womb.   The intimate closeness of God’s activity, and the reality of this miracle which was now kicking inside of me exceeded my understanding and overwhelmed my heart.  To this day, I look at my children and think, “You used to not exist, and now you do, and you are amazing.”

Holding my son for the first time, I finally experienced what it meant to be a contemplative.  I had learned about contemplation and how Mary was the perfect example as she gazed on Jesus and loved Him.  The catechism relates this description of contemplation from one of St. John Vianney’s parishioners:

Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. “I look at him and he looks at me”: this is what a certain peasant of Ars in the time of his holy curé used to say while praying before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men. CCC 2712

Although I admired this kind of prayer and certainly desired it, I also felt it was unattainable for me.  “How can I just sit and stare at Christ?”, I wondered.  I would do my regular prayers then get on with serving Christ actively but had to leave contemplation to the advanced Christians, or so I thought.  Then I held my newborn son for the first time.  Exhausted from a difficult pregnancy and even more difficult birth full of complications, I nevertheless couldn’t stop staring at him, my heart overflowing with love.  The nurse asked several times if I would like her to take him so I could get some rest.  It was no use, I was wide awake and deep in contemplation. Moreover, this gaze of love changed the way I viewed everyone. From that moment forward, I understood the fierce love and compassion I have for my son is the same fierce love and compassion God has for each of His children.  In consequence, I see people through the Father’s eyes instead of my own.

At Christmas, we encounter the astounding miracle of the Incarnation.  God, Who was completely transcendent and beyond us, became man and lived intimately among us.  He shares our human experience.  He had a human mother, grandparents, cousins, an address.  He grew out of his clothes and sandals like my children are constantly doing.  Finally, whereas in the past God spoke through prophets, now He spoke directly to us.  The Word of God literally resonated through the air and to the ears of listeners.  It continues to resonate through the Church He endowed with His Holy Spirit and the Scriptures as well as in our own prayer through the indwelling of the Spirit as a gift of Baptism.

Contrary to popular cultural myth – God is not dead, not silent, not absent, and not remote.  Today we celebrate His birth, His Word dwelling among us, closer than any Person can get.

During this Christmas season, let us seek Him.  Contemplative prayer is possible for everyone.  We seek sight of those we love – whether through physical presence, facetime on the phone, or photographs on our desk.  It’s a movement of the heart.  God became man, that we might be intimately close to Him.  The catechism teaches:

Contemplative prayer seeks him “whom my soul loves.” CCC 2709 and Song of Songs 1:7; cf 3:14

Let us seek Christ spiritually in prayer and Scripture, physically in the Eucharist and Confession, and in each person we meet.

Consider:

  • When was a time you experienced the miracle of life?  How did it  make you feel closer to God?
  • Reflect on how intimately Jesus walks with you. Consider how He shares your experiences – the joys and the pain.
  • Imagine what it must have been like to be Jesus’ grandparents or extended family?  Imagine what it was like for Mary and Joseph to love Jesus with a mother and foster-father’s love.

 Make a Resolution:

  • Spend 10 minutes a day reading and reflecting on a Gospel passage.  Encounter Christ in His Word.  (I recommend Matthew 5-7 if you don’t know where to start.)
  • Spend 5 minutes in silent prayer.  Set a timer, close your eyes, and try to simply gaze on Jesus in your heart.  Don’t worry about distractions, just push them away and turn your gaze back if they pop up.
  • Encounter Christ in others each day this week.  Try to see them as God the Father does, and care for them as a physical opportunity to care for Christ.

~ Written by Angela Jendro © 2018

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Prepare for the Coming of Christ’s Mercy by Giving Mercy

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3rd Sunday of Advent

Reflection by Angela (Lambert) Jendro

 

 Gospel Luke 3:10-18 NAB

The crowds asked John the Baptist, “What should we do?” He said to them in reply, “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He answered them, “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.” Soldiers also asked him, “And what is it that we should do?” He told them, “Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages.” Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ. John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people.

Meditation Reflection:

 To prepare for Christ’s coming, John the Baptist offered practical advice:  God is Justice and Mercy, therefore practice justice and mercy in your everyday life.

To this end, the Church summarizes Jesus’ teaching on how to treat others into two categories of practical mercy: corporal and spiritual.  Corporal works of mercy care for the physical needs of others and the spiritual works of mercy care for those of the soul.  Advent offers a special opportunity to renew our commitment to practicing them in concrete ways on a regular basis.

Corporal Works of Mercy:

1)      Feed the hungry

2)      Give drink to the thirsty

3)      Clothe the naked

4)      Shelter the homeless

5)      Visit the sick

6)      Ransom the captive

7)      Bury the dead

 Spiritual Works of

Mercy:

1)      Instruct the ignorant (teaching)

2)      Counsel the doubtful (encouraging someone struggling with the faith)

3)      Admonish sinners (having the courage to tell someone what they are doing is wrong)

4)      Bear wrongs patiently

5)      Forgive offenses willingly

6)      Comfort the afflicted

7)      Pray for the living and the dead

Each of these can be practiced in obvious ways of almsgiving, but they can also be practiced in some very ordinary ways if done with love and intentionality.  Feeding the hungry can mean going to the grocery store despite being tired (or wanting to do anything other than grocery shopping!).  Giving drink to the thirsty can be smiling when you really want to sigh in exasperation when your child asks for a cup of water or milk just as you are about to go to bed for the night.  Admonishing the sinner can mean doing the work of disciplining your children to teach them virtue when you would rather ignore the behavior and avoid the conflict.  It can also mean being honest with your friend when they are doing something wrong.  Burying the dead means making the time to attend a funeral even though you are busy.

Forgiving offenses willing and bearing wrongs patiently can be the most difficult.  They require surrendering bitterness and the desire for retaliation to offer patience and understanding instead.  Apply this to driving in traffic, shopping in a busy store, or putting up with annoying traits of your co-workers.  These things are much easier said than done.  Thankfully, Christ offers the grace we need to be a more merciful person.  He also teaches us in the Lord’s prayer that we will be forgiven insofar as we forgive others.

We all struggle with sin and a fallen nature.  Nevertheless, during Advent we recall the gift of the Incarnation and Christ’s redeeming power.  God made man and woman in His image.  He became man to restore that image by forgiving our sins and opening the possibility of becoming a new creation.  An early Church Father and bishop, St. Athanasius, described it beautifully in this way:

What, then, must God do? or what else was it right to do, but to renew again the grace by which they had been made after His Image, so that through it men might be able once more to know Him? But how could this have been done except by the coming of the very Image Himself of God, our Savior Jesus Christ?

The more we offer mercy the more we will receive mercy, and the more will become like God!

Consider:

  • If John the Baptist were to offer you advice, what would it be? (Would he see an injustice that you could correct or an opportunity for mercy you could take?)
  • Reflect on the mercy God and others have shown to you.  Offer God and those persons your gratitude.
  • Pray about the works of mercy and write a list of ways that you could incorporate them into your life.

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • Do one work of mercy each day.
  • Offer a prayer for those who have shown you mercy.
  • Receive the sacrament of Confession.
  • Visit the Vatican website for the Jubilee of Mercy and read some of Pope Francis’ reflections:   http://www.im.va/content/gdm/en.html

* Image: Pope Francis embraces a patient at St. Francis of Assisi Hospital, where the pontiff addressed a group of recovering drug addicts, offering them a message of compassion and hope on July 24, 2013, in Rio de Janeiro. CNS photo

~ Written by Angela Jendro © 2018

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Making Straight the Path to Joy

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by Angela (Lambert) Jendro

john the baptist

Gospel reflection for the 2nd week of Advent

Gospel of Luke 3:1-6 NAB

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.  Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

 Meditation Reflection:

 John the Baptist, the last and greatest of the prophets, gave us the final message from God regarding preparation for the promised Savior – Repent.  If we remain blind to our sins, we also fail to see our need for a savior.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his book In the Beginning, made the observation that our culture has replaced the word “sin” with more palatable (and less personal) terms like “non-standard” behavior.  By doing so, it removes personal responsibility for immoral behavior, often excusing it away by blaming anything other than the person.  As a result, the task for evangelization today he concludes, is to be brave enough to talk about sin.

Don’t worry, this won’t be a throwback to fire and brimstone preaching.  Recall the reason God asked for repentance – so we could receive healing and mercy.  You probably know of someone who did not want to go to the doctor so he or she kept insisting they weren’t sick.  Pretending to be healthy only caused their illness to worsen.  Similarly, if we do not face our spiritual illnesses they grow in strength and deadliness.

In The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena, she relates this advice from Christ regarding examining our souls:

I do not wish the soul to consider her sins, either in general or in particular, without also remembering the Blood and the broadness of my Mercy.”

Christ also revealed to St. Faustina that His greatest pain is when a soul refuses His mercy due to a lack of faith in His love and forgiveness.

The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins so that we may turn to Christ for forgiveness and transformation.  It would be false modesty and possibly even the sin of pride or despair to willfully believe that Christ cannot or will not forgive you.  In the first reading for today from Baruch 5:1, God commands: “Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever.”  We must mourn our sins sincerely, then we must also accept the forgiveness and joy of God.

The Catechism defines sin in this way:

Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as “an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.” Paragraph 1849

Sin usually means putting a lower good above a higher good – the order being God, Humans, Animals, Plants, Inanimate objects.  When we put objects before people, people before God, animals before people, or things before animals, we act in a “disordered” way.  In modern terms, our priorities are mixed up.  When examining your life consider your priorities not merely as standard or non-standard, but as faithful to God or sinful.

The Church identifies seven capital sins, or those sins that encompass most of the sins or vices we commit.  They include Pride, Avarice (Greed), Gluttony (Overindulgence), Envy, Wrath (Anger), Lust, and Sloth. Reading about each of these sins can be eye-opening.  Every time I teach on this subject, I find more ways they apply to me and have to go to Confession.  Self-knowledge however is the first step in the spiritual life.  Jesus begins the beatitudes with “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, meaning those who recognize their poverty before God and need for Him.  Then He says, “Blessed are those who mourn” meaning those who, in seeing their sinful state, grieve over their sins.  This is followed up by the promise that one day they will rejoice (just as God prophesied through Baruch). The beatitudes continue to build from there to purity of heart wherein one may see God and finally a state of peace wherein one enjoys living as God’s child.

Christ urges us to have the courage and humility to examine our consciences and our lives, to endure the unpleasant feelings so as to make it to the other side where we will have joy and peace.

Consider:

  •  Reflect on Christ’s mercy and His mercy toward you in particular.
  • Read about and reflect on the seven capital sins.
  • Read and reflect on the Beatitudes.  (Matthew 5:3-12)

 

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  •  Actively try to overcome a sin through prayer and practicing the opposite virtue.
    • (for example, to oppose gluttony intentionally fast from something you like; or to oppose sloth, get up 30 minutes earlier than usual)
  • Reflect on one beatitude a day.
  • Extend mercy to someone in gratitude for Christ’s mercy toward you.

Appreciating the Advent of Christ

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Guided reflection: by Angela Jendro

1st Sunday in Advent

Gospel Luke 21:25-28, 34-36 NAB

 Jesus said to his disciples: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

 Meditation Reflection:

 Today marks the first Sunday of Advent, a word which means “coming” and therefore a time of preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas.  The nativity scene of Jesus as a baby in a manger may be quaint, but it has nevertheless had world-changing and life-changing effects.  The incarnation of Christ stands as the axis of history.  When the Son of God became man, He raised the dignity of human nature higher than that of the angels.  No other creature shares such intimacy with God!  In consequence, life after the coming of Christ looks radically different than before – both in terms of history and in terms of our personal encounter with Him.

The early Christians expressed the significance of this by affirming the intrinsic dignity of every human person from the moment of conception. In the Didache, one of the first “catechisms” or statements of faith possibly dating before A.D. 100, it is written: “you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is begotten.”  Contrary to the Roman practice of infanticide, Christians believed that every stage of human life was sacred, including that of the child in the womb, because it experienced union with Christ who took up our humanity at the moment of His conception in Mary’s womb.  Consequently, human value is not subject to one’s usefulness, accomplishments, or convenience.  Rather, every human has inherent value because he or she enjoys the dignity of union with God.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes the Christian belief in this way:

The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”:78 “For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.”79 “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.”80 “The only–begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”81  CCC par 460

Despite secular attempts to downplay the impact of Christ, our calendar retains the mark of His coming.  Modern attempts to replace B.C. (before Christ) with B.C.E. (before the common era) and A.D. (Anno Domini – in the year of our Lord) with C.E. (common era) still doesn’t change the fact that the “common era” is counted from before and after the coming of Christ.  In fact, the coming of Christ has changed history universally to an extent unmatched by any other person, empire, or movement.

Jesus tells us to “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.”  During Advent we take a step back to readjust our perspective.  Unfortunately, the craze leading up to Christmas tempts us to step backward rather than forward.  We can too easily become either stressed by the anxieties of Christmas celebrations or distracted by feasting and consumerism that we forget the impact and gift of Christ in our lives.  God became man, that we might become God.  Advent is a time to reflect on this mystery and invite Christ to bring to perfection this good work that He has begun in us.

I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 NAB

 Consider:

  • Reflect on the inestimable dignity you have in Christ.  How might you align your view of yourself with God’s view of you?
  • Consider the gift of God becoming man.  How does this deepen your feeling of confidence and security knowing that God has united Himself with our very nature?
  •  God’s intimacy through Christ is startling and should have a startling effect on your life.  Thank God for how He has transformed your heart and your life.  Invite Him to transform it even more.

 

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • Each day this week, thank Christ for His closeness to you.  Keep it present to your mind by wearing a cross or carrying a scripture verse in your pocket.
  •   Pray for the unborn and for greater appreciation for the sacredness of life from conception to natural death.
  • Identify one way that you don’t live up to the dignity Christ has given you.  Resolve to act or be treated in the way you ought to be, as a son or daughter of God.

 

“Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of the Kingdom of God.” [St. Leo the Great, Sermo 22 in nat. Dom., 3:PL 54,192C.] CCC 1691

~ Written by Angela Jendro © 2018

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