Scripture encourages us to give thanks always.
Gratitude is truly medicine for the soul and one’s mindset. Here are some verses (RSV) to pray with this Thanksgiving week.
Click HERE if you would like a printable pdf version!
gratitude
Choosing between Adolescent Illusions or Adult Freedom
Excerpt from Take Time for Him: Simple, Soulful Gospel Meditations to Ignite the Busy Person’s Spiritual Life Get your own papercopy from Amazon!
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27th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Readings for Sunday’s Liturgy
Meditation Reflection: Matthew 21:33-43
Spiritual growth, like physical and emotional development, must move from childhood and adolescence to reach mature adulthood. As our Heavenly Father, the Lord patiently endures our annoying behaviors of immaturity and lovingly guides us into adulthood. Unfortunately, just as some grown adults seem stuck in adolescent thinking and habits, so too many of us hold on to immature spiritual attitudes and resist the leadership of our Father, thus stunting our spiritual growth.
Weighed down by the effects of original sin, tempted by the Enemy and bolstered by our own pride, most often we substitute a false sense of entitlement and independence for rightful gratitude and obedience to God. Like the teen who begins to think his parents owe him everything he desires, or defies their rules with a sense of superiority, we can get stuck in the trap of demanding God’s goodness while denying His Lordship.
Pope Benedict XVI related this struggle to the original temptation of Adam and Eve, which he described as a denial of their “creatureliness” (In the Beginning). Having grown accustomed to the paradisiacal gift of their existence and the beautiful Garden, the Enemy introduced the idea of entitlement and ingratitude. Satan himself had refused to live in gratitude, preferring his own self-centered pride. He then enticed Adam and Eve to distrust God, deny their state as creatures, and become their own creators.
Called “the father of lies,” Satan lives in eternal anger at God who is reality itself (as revealed to Moses when He shared His Name – YHWH – “I AM”). The Enemy prefers his Illusions of entitled independence to a life of gift. However, illusions are just that – empty and unreal. Angry at God, he tries to recruit others to his side. He hates to see persons living in the joy of God’s love; therefore he proposed an alternative, distorted view of the Lord to Adam and Eve. He suggested that their experience was not in fact paradisiacal, but rather quite impoverished. To depend on God or obey His laws, he proposed, would be to accept slavery to a selfish and manipulative deity.
In truth Satan was the selfish, manipulative one with a god-complex, whereas the Lord had been nothing but generous and truthful with Adam and Eve. Satan argued that contrary to their experience, freedom and happiness lay in rebellion rather than rightful relationship with the Lord. Rather than rebuking the serpent for such hateful lies, they thought about the serpent’s words and chose to reject what they knew about God from experience for the false hope of a more liberated life without God.
This same temptation infects each of us, their children, both from within our own rebellious hearts and the sly lies of the Enemy. Jesus’ parable tells of God’s care for us, providing everything we need. He rightly expects only His due, and yet we resist Him. God blesses us with every good thing, but envy looks outward and turns back to God in complaint that we don’t have more. Every week that God blesses us with life, He asks only for one day in return. Moreover, as our loving Father, He doesn’t even ask that the day be spent in chores but rather that we rest and spend time with Him and our family. Yet, how often do we complain that setting aside work to worship the Lord is burdensome!
Consider also our prayers of entreaty for God to provide – a job, a home, possibly a spouse and children. We praise God for a short while when He bestows these gifts, but soon begin to complain about them. Even worse, we easily forget that they were even gifts at all and delude ourselves into thinking we have achieved them single-handedly. Confident now in our own abilities we fall into the destructive cycle of always grasping for more, never satisfied and never at rest, spiritually alone; producing the hell-ish existence that Satan hoped for us.
| “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers: all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” (James 1:16-17) |
Today’s Gospel reiterates the theme of The Kingdom of God is at hand” (Luke 10:11). Christ has come and He invites every human person to relationship with Him. We must make a choice and take responsibility for the consequences like adults.
Moreover, we must examine or attitude toward those whom Jesus has sent with His authority to bring God’s truth to us. Jesus told His apostles that:
| “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” (Luke 10:16) |
Jesus established the Church to preserve, protect, and promulgate His Word. When we feel like characterizing the moral law or Church teaching as oppressive rather than freeing, we can remember from whom that lie comes. We must decide if we trust God or tempting illusions.
Jesus invites us into mature relationship with the Lord. He offers the freedom and dignity of spiritual adulthood through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Scripture, and the Church. He even provides the grace to transform our hearts from weakness to strength, from selfishness to self-gift, and from illusions to Truth. He asks each and every one of us, “which do you choose”?
Consider:
- Invite the Holy Spirit to guide you in a prayer of gratitude; to open your heart and mind as you reflect on every good thing that comes from God.
- Consider where envy, greed, or pride distorts your perception and causes discontentment to fester.
- Consider how an adult views freedom in contrast with an adolescent. Do you trust God’s guidance to be freeing, or do you prefer your own judgment or worldly wisdom?
- How is the Lord visiting you today? What fruits is He asking for as produce of the gifts He has bestowed upon you? How might you put your gifts more at the service of God and others?
Make a Resolution (Practical Application):
- Make a list of each of God’s gifts in your life.
- For each gift, offer one fruit a day for each back to God. For example:
- Your Job: Offer the fruit of Christian witness by refraining from vulgar language or joining in crude jokes. Be truthful where you are tempted to lie or exaggerate. Do one act of service for a co-worker. Be joyful for the day and refrain from complaint. Refuse to begin or join gossip.
- Your Family: Do one act of humble service for your spouse, children, or parents. Combat taking your spouse or parents for granted by recognizing them with a word of thanks or deed of kindness, out of gratitude their contributions.
- For each gift, offer one fruit a day for each back to God. For example:
~ Written by Angela Jendro © 2019
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How to Be Happy For Others and Like It
Excerpt fromTake Time for Him: Simple, Soulful Gospel Meditations to Ignite the Busy Person’s Spiritual Life Get your own papercopy from Amazon!
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25th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Readings for Sunday’s Liturgy
Meditation Reflection: Matthew 20:1-16
The kingdom of Heaven, from which Jesus came, far exceeds any social construct we observe on earth. Here our relationships, from the inter-national to the personal, become skewed due to our two greatest weaknesses – pride and envy.
It’s childish really. Parents and elementary school teachers tire from the petty cases brought to them over and again throughout the day by children seeking “justice.” Moreover, in family life it can spiral out of control as one act of pride or envy against another is fought with counter measures of pride and envy and so on. Something is borrowed or stolen depending on who you ask, something gets taken in retaliation, and the then the yelling ensues. Someone gets knocked over by accident and retaliates with an intentional shove. Rather than accept their own guilt for their personal bad reaction, kids try to pass on blame and push parents to the classic question, “Who started it?” As everyone points fingers and clamor for justice, the poor mom and dad beg the kids to settle down and just be merciful with one another.
St. Paul tells us, “Love is patient, love is kind…” In other words, love tries to be understanding instead of over-reacting. Love shows compassion toward weakness, even weakness of character. Love is generous rather than miserly. Love doesn’t look out for #1, it looks out for the beloved.
Jesus’ parable of the landowner and day laborers illustrates the striking difference between our natural inclination and experience in contrast to the attitude characteristic of the kingdom of Heaven. When I hear this parable, I know that I shouldn’t agree with the laborers who were upset, but I can’t help empathizing with their feeling of disappointment, and even injustice. I hate to admit that even thoughts of, “why weren’t the guys the landowner found in the afternoon not there in the morning?” Even worse, my imagination considers multiple reasons they were late, all being their own fault or the result of vice. However, Jesus knows our fallen thoughts, so He includes important details in the parable to counter such accusations. Thus, prior to hiring the last crew at 5:00, He asked them why they had been standing there idle all day. They responded with an innocent explanation – no one had hired them. “Exposed!”, as my kids would say. My thoughts reveal a childish attitude of rivalry rather than a mature disposition of love.
But what about the unfair pay? And why did the landowner pay the last men first in front of everyone else? Every parent knows if you plan to treat one kid and not the others on a particular day, at least keep it on the down-low. You spontaneously stop for DQ with one of your sons on the way home from a baseball game? Only a rookie parent would fail to have the ice cream finished being eaten and all evidence thrown away in an inconspicuous garbage before entering the house. Never mind that you make a point to treat the other kids individually too at various times. If one kid walks in the house with a half-eaten blizzard, mutinous anarchy erupts.
One stray DQ napkin, and the moment the door to the van opens the other kids point and yell “What?! You went without us? Unfair!!!” Their envious rivalry takes all spontaneity out of love. On the surface, the laborers’ disappointment seems fair, however Jesus revealed that it stems from envy. Next to pride, envy is the most cited root of the many social and personal ills discussed in the Catechism.
Jesus invites us to consider a different way of thinking, living, and being. To imagine a kingdom free of pride, envy, ambition, lust, and selfishness we must think of it in terms of love. Not the fluffy, emotional kind of love. Rather, courageous and deep love which wills the good of the other and finds joy in sacrifice if it means enriching or healing the beloved. Jesus compares His relationship with us to the love a groom has for his bride, willing to give everything even at a sacrifice, and with great joy. He compares our interconnection with one another to a body united to Him as its head. Thus, one person’s pain is shared by everyone, and one person’s gain is rejoiced in by everyone.
Consider the parable again from Christ’s perspective. The men the landowner found late in the day were aimless, anxious, and in danger of starvation. If they did not work that day, they would not have a day’s wage and would be unable to provide for themselves and their families. They owned no land to provide them with some kind of security. They had no annual salary, health insurance, or any kind of future protection. They lived day to day, always uncertain about tomorrow. The first men hired physically toiled longer, but they also had the peace of mind that at least for that day they would have a wage and therefore food. Moreover, there’s a certain dignity related to putting in a hard day’s work. If those without work were strangers, it would be easier to rationalize competitiveness. Imagine however that the ones hired later are your sons or daughters, or close friends. It would be hard to truly enjoy your wage knowing how worried you might be that they only worked a few hours that day and would earn too little to eat enough on. Upon seeing your beloved child or friend provided a full day’s wage, you would rejoice with them as well as enjoy your own wage more because your friend received the same. You would also rejoice that they had the opportunity to be productive and their work valued.
Jesus invites us all into His Kingdom. He finds us standing idle, looking for meaning and purpose, waiting for Truth and Mercy. He promises a generous wage for working for Him – the gift of enduring love, authentic meaning, and eternal happiness with Him. If we love our neighbor, we will feel pained seeing them still standing idle, wasting the day, impoverished and anxious. We would want the same reward for them that we received from Christ no matter when they joined His crew. In fact, to have labored with the Lord, is a gift in and of itself.
Consider:
- Consider how quickly we tend to assume the worst about a person. When have you misjudged someone’s intentions or situation? How might you see others through the lens of love rather than rivalry?
- Consider the dignity of work. When have you put in a hard day’s work and loved it? Why does it feel good to be productive?
- Consider the joy connected to laboring out of love. Which tasks would seem ridiculous to take pleasure in if you didn’t love the person?
- Consider the contrast between envy and love. Envy becomes angry at another’s blessings; love rejoices when another is blessed. Envy competes for what it believes to be limited resources or opportunities. Love understands that God can bless everyone.
Make a Resolution (Practical Application):
- Combat envy with the opposite virtues of contentedness and gratitude. Do one thing each day this week to nurture contentedness and express gratitude.
~ Written by Angela Jendro © 2019
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Gratitude for Our Reason to Hope
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel Luke 17:11-19 NAB
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
Meditation Reflection:
On His way to Jerusalem, where He would be rejected and killed for our sins, Jesus encountered ten lepers. Since leprosy is highly contagious those who suffered with its physical harms additionally suffered from social isolation and rejection as well, banished to stay separate from healthy people. When the lepers saw Jesus they called out because they could not approach in their condition. Jesus’ instructions to show themselves to the priests required them to make an act of faith and hope. Faith believes God’s words and hope acts upon those promises before necessarily seeing them. At that time, if someone believed they had been healed from leprosy, they had to show themselves to the priests for examination before being cleared to reenter the community. The lepers did not question Jesus’ command but did as He instructed before they had been healed. They acted with hope based on belief in Jesus and His words. As they walked in hope, they were cured.
The virtues of faith and hope direct one toward the highest of all virtues – charity. Charity is the love of God above all things and love of neighbor out of love for God. Only one leper demonstrated this higher virtue. Jesus, who knows the hearts of all men, indicated that the man who returned had a deeper and more fruitful faith than the other nine. Why? He returned to Jesus to say thank you.
Consider how many of us quickly forget God’s miraculous work in our lives shortly after the crisis is over. We fall back into our regular routines and grow complacent or even complain about mundane things. Even worse, when the next crisis upsets our lives, we sometimes forget God’s power and fall to discouragement and negativity. How can we avoid this common mistake?
A simple thank you and a disposition of gratitude express, as well as develop, the essential virtues of the spiritual life. Every day, and many times throughout the day, we have to choose our attitude. We regularly experience the temptation to succumb to negativity, skepticism, disgust, and even despair. However, with faith in Christ’s promise and hope in His transformative love, we can work through this crisis with the aid of the Holy Spirit and supernatural grace.
If everything depended on us alone, then discouragement and despair would be a sensible response. Take for example the Gospel passage. The lepers would have considered their future to consist merely of painful physical deterioration and utter loneliness. Their lives took a completely new trajectory when they encountered Christ. This surprising, unexpected event, liberated them their illness and gave them new hope for their future.
Propping up hope that man can save himself, then deepening discouragement at the realization that we can’t, are two common ways the devil tries to lead us away from the Lord. We can benefit from doing a daily attitude check and remembering that when we encounter Christ, surprising, unexpected things can happen and change our lives and our world.
A favorite author of mine and Catholic historian, Christopher Dawson, wrote an essay entitled “The Six Ages of the Church”which gives me a hopeful perspective for our current situation as a Church. In this essay he proposed that throughout the course of its 2000 year history, the Church has (and continues) to experience a cycle of three stages: crisis, response, and flourishing. With each challenge the Church experiences setbacks and loss. In response, new apostolates arise and face the challenge resulting in a time of flourishing and achievement. The next crisis sets the Church back again but new responses emerge again as well, and so on and so forth.
Viewing history from this perch inspires hope as we consider every age poses its challenges and Christians have felt the same confusion, disillusionment, and fear that we do. Yet, in every age the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of God’s people and inspired them with new ways to meet those challenges, adapt, and overcome.
This cycle applies to our individual lives as well. We will encounter challenges that leave us feeling confused and helpless. Nevertheless, if we call out to Jesus and walk forward in faith and hope, He will transform our lives and we will indeed flourish. During times of peace, the challenge is to remain grateful and to return to the Lord, remembering that He is the source of our health. We are always dependent on Him. During times of crisis, we need to remember God’s power to transform, possibly even through us. Thanksgiving, counting our blessings, and confidently surrendering to the Lord should be our daily response. No matter what our crisis – individually, locally, or nationally – there are always things for which to be grateful and always hope for renewal. As St. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5: 18 “In all circumstances, give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”
Consider:
- Reflect back on times that God helped you through a difficulty. Consider the feelings you experienced beforehand and the joy afterward.
- Consider how your faith, hope, and charity have grown over the years. How have your encounters with Christ in your daily life deepened your convictions?
- When do you feel discouraged, pessimistic, and negative? What areas of your life are particularly vulnerable to this attitude? How might you change your perspective? What might you be overlooking or taking for granted in the situation? How might you make a positive difference in it?
- If you have children, consider what kind of formation they will need to be Christian leaders in our present culture. What virtues could you help them develop? What persons or saints could you point them to for inspiration? How might you nurture and develop their faith and their conscience? How can you teach by example in your own life?
Make a Resolution (Practical Application):
- Make a gratitude list. Each day reflect and thank God for three things from that day.
- Do one thing this week to make a positive contribution or change where you are usually negative.
- (examples: bring a treat for everyone to a meeting you would rather avoid and choose to smile; pray for our leaders each day this week; tell someone thank you each day for something; if you don’t like the music at church, volunteer your musical talents; if you don’t like what your spouse cooks for dinner, cook something yourself for everyone; if you keep having negative encounters with your child, proactively plan an activity or time together that will be positive; etc.)
- Reduce discouraging messages this week (either via media or negative friends), and increase encouraging messages (read Scripture, listen to uplifting music or inspiring biographies).
~ Written by Angela (Lambert) Jendro © 2016 and edited © 2019
How To Be Happy For Others and Like It
| by Angela (Lambert) Jendro |
September 24th, 2017 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel of Matthew 20:1-16a NAB
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Meditation Reflection:
The kingdom of Heaven, from which Jesus came, far exceeds any social construct we observe on earth. Here our relationships, all the way from the inter-national to the personal, become skewed due to our two greatest weaknesses – pride and envy.
It’s childish really. Parents and elementary school teachers tire from the petty cases brought to them over and again throughout the day by children seeking “justice.” Moreover, in family life it can spiral out of control as one act of pride or envy against another is fought with counter measures of pride and envy and so on. Rather than accept their own guilt for their personal bad reaction, kids try to pass on blame and push parents to the classic question, “Who started it?” As everyone points fingers and clamor for justice, the poor mom and dad beg the kids to settle down and just be merciful with one another.
St. Paul tells us, “Love is patient, love is kind…” In other words, love tries to be understanding instead of over-reacting. Love shows compassion toward weakness, even weakness of character. Love is generous rather than miserly. Love doesn’t look out for #1, it looks out for the beloved.
Jesus’ parable of the landowner and day laborers illustrates the striking difference between our natural inclination and experience and the kingdom of Heaven. When I hear this parable I know that I shouldn’t agree with the laborers who were upset, but I can’t help feeling their disappointment with them. I hate to admit that even thoughts of, “why weren’t the guys the landowner found in the afternoon not there in the morning?” Even worse, my imagination considers multiple reasons they were late, all being their own fault or the product of vice.
However, Jesus knows our fallen thoughts so He includes important details in the parable to counter such accusations. Thus, prior to hiring the last crew at 5:00, he asks them why they have been standing there idle all day. They respond with an innocent explanation – no one had hired them. “Exposed!”, as my kids would say. My thoughts reveal a childish attitude of rivalry rather than a mature disposition of love.
But what about the unfair pay? And why did the landowner pay the last men first in front of everyone else? Every parent knows if you plan to treat one kid and not the others on a particular day, at least keep it on the down-low. You spontaneously stop for DQ with one of your sons on the way home from a baseball game? Only a rookie parent would fail to have the ice cream finished being eaten and all evidence thrown away in an inconspicuous garbage before entering the house. Never mind that you make a point treat the other kids individually too at various times. If one kid walks in the house with a half-eaten blizzard, mutinous anarchy erupts. One stray DQ napkin, and the moment the door to the van opens the other kids point and yell “What?! You went without us? Unfair!!!” Their envious rivalry takes all spontaneity out of love.
On the surface, the laborers’ disappointment seems fair, however Jesus reveals that it stems from envy. Next to pride, envy is the most cited root of the many social and personal ills discussed in the Catechism.
Jesus invites us to consider a different way of thinking, living, and being. To imagine a kingdom free of pride, envy, ambition, lust, and selfishness we have to think of it in terms of love. Not the fluffy, emotional kind of love. Rather, courageous and deep love which wills the good of the other and finds joy in sacrifice if it means enriching or healing the beloved.
Jesus compares His relationship with us to the love a groom has for his bride, willing to give everything even at a sacrifice, and with great joy. He compares our interconnection with one another to a body united to Him as its head. Thus, one person’s pain is shared by everyone, and one person’s gain is rejoiced in by everyone.
Consider the parable again from Christ’s perspective. The men the landowner found late in the day were aimless, anxious, and in danger of starvation. If they did not work that day, they would not have a day’s wage and would be unable to provide for themselves and their families. They owned no land to provide them with some kind of security. They had no annual salary, health insurance, or any kind of future protection. They lived day to day, always uncertain about tomorrow.
The first men hired physically toiled longer, but they also had the peace of mind that at least for that day they would have a wage and therefore food. Moreover, there’s a certain dignity related to putting in a hard day’s work.
If those without work were strangers, it would be easier to rationalize competitiveness. Imagine however that the ones hired later are your sons or daughters, or close friends. It would be hard to truly enjoy your wage knowing how worried you might be that they only worked a few hours that day and would earn too little to eat enough on. Upon seeing your beloved child or friend provided a full day’s wage, you would rejoice with them as well as enjoy your own wage more because your friend received the same. You would also rejoice that they had the opportunity to be productive and their work valued.
Jesus invites us all into His Kingdom. He finds us standing idle, looking for meaning and purpose, waiting for Truth and Mercy. He promises a just wage for working for Him – the gift of enduring love, authentic meaning, and eternal happiness with Him. If we love our neighbor, we will feel pained seeing them still standing idle, wasting the day, impoverished and anxious. We would want the same reward for them that we received from Christ no matter when they joined His crew. In fact, to have labored with the Lord, is a gift in and of itself. When it comes to serving our beloved, we don’t ask how little can I do for them but rather how much?
Consider:
- Consider how quickly we tend to assume the worst about a person. When have you misjudged someone’s intentions or situation? How might you see others through the lens of love rather than rivalry?
- Consider the dignity of work. When have you put in a hard day’s work and loved it? Why does it feel good to be productive?
- Consider the joy connected to laboring out of love. Which tasks would seem ridiculous to take pleasure in if you didn’t love the person?
- Consider the contrast between envy and love. Envy becomes angry at another’s blessings, love rejoices when another is blessed. Envy competes for what it believes to be limited resources or opportunities. Love understands that God can bless everyone.
Make a Resolution (Practical Application):
- Combat envy with the opposite virtues of contentedness and gratitude. Do one thing each day this week to nurture contentedness and express gratitude.
Related Posts:
How can God be both Justice and Mercy?
Prepare for the Coming of Christ’s Mercy by Giving Mercy
The Beatitudes: Climbing the Mountain of God by Way of the Valley of Humility
~ Written by Angela Jendro © 2017
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Stepping Outside Our Comfort Zone & Walking On Water
| by Angela (Lambert) Jendro |
August 13th, 2017; 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel of Matthew 14:22-33
After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”
Meditation Reflection:
Exhilaration, adventure, a leap of faith – we get brave and step out onto the water…outside our comfort zone. For a brief moment, his eyes fixed on Jesus, Peter did just that. Then, a gust of wind distracted him, and Peter’s gaze turned to the strength of the wind rather than the strength of the Lord. His faith sank and so did he. Yet, as quick as he had turned from the Lord, he turned right back. He immediately reached out to Christ for help. Jesus did not delay, He caught Peter as soon as he asked. Jesus didn’t let Peter flounder in the water gasping for air as He lectured him. He cast no words of spite, no “I told you so”, or “that’s what you get for not believing more in Me.” Jesus came to reveal the Father’s love, and on this night He demonstrated the Lord’s compassionate mercy for our weak nature.
Discipleship calls us beyond our comfort zone, and even beyond our natural limits. Yoked to Christ, He enables us to walk on water. Like Peter, we might step out of the boat in total confidence in our Lord. Once on the water however, we become fearful as we realize our total dependence on His supernatural help. It’s much easier to have faith floating on the water in a boat, than walking on water barefooted.
I remember the excitement of getting my first teaching job, and the enthusiasm of teaching students about God. Then, the first day of class arrived, and panic struck. “Yikes!” I thought, “How I am I going to get through the day? What I am I going to say for a whole class period?! What if a student misbehaves? What if I’m a terrible teacher?…” I also remember the joy of holding my first child in my arms the day he was born. It was absolutely surreal. Two days later the nurse walked us out to the car and waved goodbye. As we put my son in the car seat and drove away anxiety erupted, “They’re just letting us take him?! We don’t know anything! What if I’m a terrible mother? What if I say or do something that scars him for life?!…” Lastly, when I do speaking engagements or workshops, I’m exhilarated at the opportunity to share the joy of God’s saving love with others. A half hour before the talk however, worried thoughts begin to percolate up, “Why did I agree to do this? It would be far more comfortable to be at home watching Netflix. What if I fail? What if everyone is bored? Who am I to do this, I’m a sinner like everyone else?” Like Peter, I begin to sink but then I cry out to the Jesus. He reminds me that I teach, mother, and speak because He has called me to. He assures me that though I am not worthy, He is, and He is with me. He also pushes me by filling my heart with so much gratitude for His love in my life that I can’t resist sharing it with others.
The challenge of discipleship is living at a level only sustainable if Christ is real, and if He’s someone ready to help. It requires taking a risk, so much so that if Christ is not real, you would be at a loss. Consider how many times God tells us in Scripture to be not afraid. Pope St. John Paul II chose these words for his first statement as Pope, knowing how much we fear as we look around at the dangers that surround us.
When I begin to sink in fear a few verses come to mind that strengthen me. First, I think of 2 Corinthians 12:8-9
| “Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.” |
St. Paul felt too weak to face a challenge on his own. Rather than remove the difficulty, Jesus promised to provide the strength. St. Paul realized therefore, that the weaker he is, the more God’s power must be at work in him to accomplish God’s will. He moved from anxiety to total confidence, and writes in his letter to the Philippians,
| “I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me” (4:13) |
We can trust Jesus to come through for us. We can answer His call, even if it means going beyond our natural limits. When we struggle to take that leap of faith beyond our comfort zone, Christ urges us to simply reach out and He will be there for us as He was for Peter.
| “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” Matthew 7:7 |
Ask, seek, knock, and you just might walk on water.
Consider:
- How has following Christ stretched you beyond what you expected?
- When has Christ made an endeavor more fruitful than it would have been by your own merits?
- Have you ever felt like Peter, walking on water, in awe of Christ’s divine power?
- Have you ever faltered because of fear, worry, or anxiety?
- What Scripture verses or memories reassure you of Christ’s aid?
- Is Christ calling you to something outside your comfort zone right now? What holds you back? What inspires you forward?
Make a Resolution (Practical Application):
- Take one risk each day for your faith.
- Ideas: Inviting your spouse to pray together, praying as a family, saying “God bless” to someone on the phone or a at work, speaking up when someone is criticizing the Church or using God’s name in vain, sharing your faith with someone in need of comfort, going to the Sacrament of Confession, responding to God’s call in your vocation or job…
Related Posts:
On Taking Risks…Gospel Meditation John 6:1-15 for Sunday July 26th
Being a Worrier or a Wildflower
Do Not Let Your Hearts be Troubled… Peace and Surrender in Christ
~ Written by Angela M. Jendro © 2017
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Finding Fulfillment in Self-Gift
| by Angela Lambert |
June 11th, 2017; Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Gospel of John 3:16-18
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Meditation Reflection:
Consider for a moment this incredible fact: we are made in the image and likeness of the Trinitarian God. Although God’s essence exceeds our understanding, He has nevertheless revealed His nature to us and even given us an experience of it imprinted on our own human nature.
God has revealed that He is Love (1 Jn 4:8) and that He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19). From the Father, we observe that God is creative. From the Holy Spirit, we observe His immanent might and love operative in our souls. And from the Son, we learn that God’s creative, mighty, love, is sacrificial.
What does this mean for you and me?
We live in a culture that forms us to be autonomous, independent, and self-seeking. Humanitarian works and acts of kindness may be valued to the extent that they make life more pleasant in general, but not to the extent that it requires personal sacrifice – a real loss of some kind.
Human happiness does come through self-realization and self-fulfillment, but not in the way our culture defines those terms. The Trinity is a relationship of three divine Persons in mutual self-gift and love. This means that, as creatures made in the image of the Trinity, we achieve self-fulfillment through self-giving love.
It’s a paradox, but one that Christ emphasized over and over in both His teachings and His life.
| “For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake, will find it.” (MT 16:25) |
Christian discipleship means living and being as Christ. The Gospel today proclaims that Jesus came from the Father, for us. Pope Benedict XVI concludes from this that Jesus’ whole “being itself is service” (Introduction to Christianity; Ignatius Press). Avoid imagining Jesus as just a really nice guy however. Pope Benedict isn’t referring to volunteering more. He means that Jesus’ whole existence is one of relationship, and a relationship of service. Thus, Christian discipleship transforms us from self-centered lives, to God and others-centered lives.
To be God-centered, to be from God and for others as Christ was, requires a radically different worldview than our secular culture.
Pope St. John Paul II, as he examined God’s words in Genesis (2:18) that “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him,” concludes that the human person is made for relationship. He writes
| “ ‘alone,’ man does not completely realize this essence. He realizes it only by existing ‘with someone’ – and even more deeply and completely – by existing ‘for someone.’” |
He’s not saying that we must become slaves with no individual identity. Rather, he’s saying that men and women find self-fulfillment through self-gift. Self-gift, by definition, means giving yourself to someone. It means we find happiness in loving sacrifice.
St. Mother Teresa said that everyone has an opportunity to love as Christ did, and therein find happiness. To find that someone we simply need to look around us. As we celebrate the Blessed Trinity today, let us celebrate the gift of relational love. Mary always perceived the needs of others around her, let us pray for her intercession to see opportunities for self-gift around us as well, even it means sacrifice.
Consider:
- Consider the eternal relationship of love between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
- Imagine the joy of heaven, where the saints share in that relationship of love.
- Reflect in a prayer of gratitude for each experience of loving relationship God has gifted you with.
- Pray for reconciliation in relationships that need healing.
Make a Resolution (Practical Application):
- Each day this week, find one way to love another person. Ask for Mary’s intercession.
Related Posts:
The Most Marvelous Mystery! Gospel Meditation for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled…Peace and Surrender in Christ
~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2017
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Hope in Christ in Times of Darkness
| by Angela Lambert |
October 9th, 2016 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel Luke 17:11-19 NAB
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
Meditation Reflection:
On His way to Jerusalem, where He would be rejected and killed for our sins, Jesus encountered ten lepers. Since leprosy is highly contagious those who suffered with its physical harms additionally suffered from social isolation and rejection as well, banished to stay separate from healthy people. When the lepers saw Jesus they called out because they could not approach in their condition. Jesus’ instructions to show themselves to the priests required them to make an act of faith and hope. Faith believes God’s words and hope acts upon those promises before necessarily seeing them. At that time, if someone believed they had been healed from leprosy, they had to show themselves to the priests for examination before being cleared to reenter the community. The lepers did not question Jesus’ command but did as He instructed before they had been healed. They acted with hope based on belief in Jesus and His words. As they walked in hope, they were cured.
The virtues of faith and hope direct one toward the highest of all virtues – charity. Charity is the love of God above all things and love of neighbor out of love for God. Only one leper demonstrated this higher virtue. Jesus, who knows the hearts of all men, indicated that the man who returned had a deeper and more fruitful faith than the other nine. Why? He returned to Jesus to say thank you.
Consider how many of us quickly forget God’s miraculous work in our lives shortly after the crisis is over. We fall back into our regular routines and grow complacent or even complain about mundane things. Even worse, when the next crisis upsets our lives, we sometimes forget God’s power and fall to discouragement and negativity. How can we avoid this common mistake?
A simple thank you and a disposition of gratitude express, as well as develop, the essential virtues of the spiritual life. Every day, and many times throughout the day, we have to choose our attitude. We regularly experience the temptation to succumb to negativity, skepticism, disgust, and even despair. Our present culture, especially during the current election cycle, presents seemingly constant negative and depressing messages. From mainstream news to social media to conversations at work, the temptation to view the state of our nation in an overly negative light and give up in despair is constant. However, with faith in Christ’s promise and hope in His transformative love, we can work through this crisis with the aid of the Holy Spirit and supernatural grace.
If everything depended on us alone, then discouragement and despair would be a sensible response. Take for example the Gospel passage. The lepers would have considered their future to consist merely of painful physical deterioration and utter loneliness. Their lives took a completely new trajectory when they encountered Christ. This surprising, unexpected event, liberated them their illness and gave them new hope for their future.
Propping up hope that man can save himself, then deepening discouragement at the realization that we can’t, are two common ways the devil tries to lead us away from the Lord. We can benefit from doing a daily attitude check and remembering that when we encounter Christ, surprising, unexpected things can happen and change our lives and our world.
A favorite author of mine and Catholic historian, Christopher Dawson, wrote an essay entitled “The Six Ages of the Church” which gives me perspective for our current situation as a Church and as a nation. In this essay he proposed that throughout the course of its 2000 year history, the Church has (and continues) to experience a cycle of three stages: crisis, response, and flourishing. With each challenge the Church experiences setbacks and loss. In response, new apostolates arise and face the challenge resulting in a time of flourishing and achievement. The next crisis sets the Church back again but new responses emerge again as well, and so on and so forth.
Viewing history from this perch inspires hope as we consider every age poses its challenges and Christians have felt the same confusion, disillusionment, and fear that we do. Yet, in every age the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of God’s people and inspired them with new ways to meet those challenges, adapt, and overcome.
This cycle applies to our individual lives as well. We will encounter challenges that leave us feeling confused and helpless. Nevertheless, if we call out to Jesus and walk forward in faith and hope, He will transform our lives and we will indeed flourish. During times of peace, the challenge is to remain grateful and to return to the Lord, remembering that He is the source of our health. We are always dependent on Him. During times of crisis, we need to remember God’s power to transform, possibly even through us. Thanksgiving, counting our blessings, and confidently surrendering to the Lord should be our daily response. No matter what our crisis – individually, locally, or nationally – there are always things for which to be grateful and always hope for renewal. As St. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5: 18 “In all circumstances, give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”
Consider:
- Reflect back on times that God helped you through a difficulty. Consider the feelings you experienced beforehand and the joy afterward.
- Consider how your faith, hope, and charity have grown over the years. How have your encounters with Christ in your daily life deepened your convictions?
- When do you feel discouraged, pessimistic, and negative? What areas of your life are particularly vulnerable to this attitude? How might you change your perspective? What might you be overlooking or taking for granted in the situation? How might you make a positive difference in it?
- If you have children, consider what kind of formation they will need to be Christian leaders in our present culture. What virtues could you help them develop? What persons or saints could you point them to for inspiration? How might you nurture and develop their faith and their conscience? How can you teach by example in your own life?
Make a Resolution (Practical Application):
- Make a gratitude list. Each day reflect and thank God for three things from that day.
- Do one thing this week to make a positive contribution or change where you are usually negative.
- (examples: bring a treat for everyone to a meeting you would rather avoid and choose to smile; pray for our leaders each day this week; tell someone thank you each day for something; if you don’t like the music at church, volunteer your musical talents; if you don’t like what your spouse cooks for dinner, cook something yourself for everyone; if you keep having negative encounters with your child, proactively plan an activity or time together that will be positive; etc.)
- Reduce discouraging messages this week (either via media or negative friends), and increase encouraging messages (read Scripture, listen to uplifting music or inspiring biographies).
*note of thanks to reader Carl Cadwallader for the topic suggestion of hope in Christ in times of darkness.
~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2016
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Receiving Christ’s Gift Graciously…Gospel Meditation for Palm Sunday
| by Angela Lambert |
Blessed be the LORD, Who has shown me the wonders of His love.” Psalm 31:22
March 20th, 2016; Palm Sunday
Gospel of Luke 22:14-23:56
Since the reading is so lengthy, click this link to the passage: Gospel of Luke 22:14-23:56
Meditation Reflection:
Today marks the beginning of Holy Week. I will write another post about the significance of this week’s liturgies, especially the Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil). For now however I want to focus on today – Palm Sunday. The Gospel follows Christ through the events of His Paschal Mystery beginning with His final entrance into Jerusalem and culminating in His death.
Three weeks ago I referenced the Pope’s theology of sin (“Living in Denial” 2/28/16). He teaches that the process of conversion begins with acknowledging our sin, confessing it with contrition to the Lord, then trusting in Christ’s mercy to forgive and heal us. As we unite ourselves to Christ this week, remembering the events of His suffering let us contemplate the third aspect of conversion – trusting gratitude for Christ’s mercy.
In the Office of Readings for today, a sermon by St. Andrew of Crete (d. 740), a bishop, offers a beautiful idea for how to honor Christ today…
| So let us spread before his feet, not garments or soulless olive branches, which delight the eye for a few hours and then wither, but ourselves, clothed in his grace, or rather, clothed completely in him. We who have been baptized into Christ must ourselves be the garments that we spread before him. Now that the crimson stains of our sins have been washed away in the saving waters of baptism and we have become white as pure wool, let us present the conqueror of death, not with mere branches of palms but with the real rewards of his victory. Let our souls take the place of the welcoming branches as we join today in the children’s holy song: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel. http://divineoffice.org/lent-hw-sun-or/?date=20160320 |
This response inspires us to approach holy week with an attitude of deep appreciation; to follow the footsteps of the suffering Christ and feel the grace of His mercy accomplished through His sacrificial love. Numerous Gospel accounts tell of Pharisees or Sadducees wanting to kill Jesus but being unable. Christ could have escaped the Cross, it was within His power. He chose to surrender Himself which was the only reason they could apprehend Him. He chose to suffer as the sacrifice for our sins for the sole purpose of our redemption – to be freed from slavery to sin and death, to experience healing and supernatural strength, to experience union with God as His beloved children, and that our “joy may be full” (Jn 15:11).
Reflecting on Christ’s suffering however, especially if we have the courage to connect it to our own weakness and personal sins, requires more than a small amount of humility. It means we realize our dependence (something we hate in our culture) and our unworthiness. Christ endured things we could not and when asked to offer back something trivial in return we often fail. How many of us sigh at the length of the reading on Palm Sunday, and yet how much easier to read it than to live it! How much longer it was for Christ to actually endure the events we recall.
Distracted thoughts and limited attention spans will always burden due to our weakened nature from original sin. We can work to minimize our distractions however and lengthen our attention by replacing our thoughts about everyday matters with thoughts of God through regular spiritual reading or listening to Catholic talk radio. We can replace worldly images in our imagination with images of Christ through praying the psalms and listening to Christian music. Rather than secular songs interrupting our prayer, over time Christian songs may interrupt our mundane tasks.
This Holy Week, let’s do our best to, as St. Andrew suggested, lay our transformed selves before Christ. Let us ease His suffering with songs of praise and thanksgiving. Let us offer Him hope on the Cross by demonstrating that His sacrifice would bear much fruit in our lives. Be a gracious receiver by using the gift Christ gave you to live a holy and joyful life.
Consider:
- Take time to reflect on those things Christ has conquered in your life – sin, addiction, lies you had believed, fears, pride, loneliness, despair…
- Examine areas of your life in need of Christ. Imagine His blood washing over them and healing them. Invite Him to free you in that area as a grace of this Holy Week. Resolve to cooperate with Him in this effort.
- Sacrifice is the proof of love. Christ would have suffered every pain for you alone.
Make a Resolution (Practical Application):
- Pray the Stations of the Cross.
- Pray a psalm of thanksgiving each day for God’s help.
- Pray psalm 21, the psalm Jesus quoted from the Cross when He said, “My God My God, why have you abandoned Me.”
- Listen to Christian radio on your drive or as you get ready in the morning.
- Ideas: local Christian music stations; download the Relevant Radio app and listen to Catholic programming.
- Offer encouragement to someone who is suffering.
- Offer mercy to someone in thanksgiving for Christ’s mercy to you.
~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2016
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Take Time For Him 