Thoughts on love

 

Love is Stronger than Death

God is Spirit and the Source of all love. Our spiritual journey calls us to seek and find this living God of love in prayer, worship, spiritual reading, spiritual mentoring, compassionate service to the poor, and good friends. Let us claim the truth that we are loved and open our hearts to receive God’s overflowing love poured out for us. And living fully each day let us share that love in all our wonderful and difficult relationships, responsibilities, and passages. The seeds of death are at work in us, but love is stronger than death. Your death and mine are our final passage, our exodus to the full realization of our identity as God’s beloved children and to full communion with the God of Love. Jesus walked the path ahead of us and invites us to choose the same path during our lifetime. He calls to us, “Follow me.” He assures us, “Do not be afraid.” This is our faith. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on the Holy Family

 You and I are meant for love. We bask in it. We flourish in it. The Holy Family is a model of exactly that. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus regularly soak up Divine Love and then love each other with that same infinite Love. 

Because God is all Love, he can heal the wounds in our hearts caused by the lacks of love we've experienced in our own family of origin. He is the Divine Healer after all. As we experience his healing, we more easily pour ourselves out in love towards God, others, and ourselves. 

A renewal of family love in this life can only be the result of deep healing encounter with Jesus! He gives us the opportunity to start anew, to find love, to flourish in love, and to bestow ourselves generously in love. 

Let us open ourselves up in a Marian way (as she taught Saint Joseph to do!) so as to receive more love and thus pour it out on those around us. 

God wants to remake the Holy Family at least a million times over in the world. Be one of the million.



-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ

Thoughts on Christmas Eve

We read from our Gospel on this joyous Christmas Eve in anticipation of Jesus’ birth. In this faithful passage, we learn from Mary how she embraced the angel Gabriel’s message. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” Mary, troubled but engaged by Gabriel’s words, fully opens her heart to faith. “Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.’” We embrace this Gospel and this special day as an opportunity to reflect on our faith, our trust in the path we are on, and embrace our loved ones with holiday cheer. We hope you feel some of this cheer in our digital Christmas card, available to share friends and family here. 

We wish you a very Merry Christmas. 

In grace and peace!

About CMMB

4th Sunday of Advent

Advent is often marked by the lighting of candles with the fourth candle symbolizing LOVE.

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." - 1 John 4: 18

“Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, “Prove you are a good person.” Another voice says, “You’d better be ashamed of yourself.” There is also a voice that says, “Nobody really cares about you,” and one that says, “Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful.” But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, “You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you.” That’s the voice we need most of all to hear.

To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence,

and a strong determination to listen. That’s what prayer is.

It is listening to the voice that calls us “my Beloved.”

– Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey

Thoughts on the Incarnation

 All of human history finds its center in the singular event of the Incarnation. God prepared it from all eternity. It seems the Trinitarian decision was that Jesus be sent to show us the way to the Father, as well as how to live perfect virtue, whether Adam and Eve had sinned or not!

And what a humble way in which he comes to us! Let us be overwhelmed in gratitude this Christmas for the simplicity and poverty that our God chooses, our God who makes himself needy in our regard, enabling us to tap into our deeper, more loving instincts. 

Can we succor the needs of this infant Child? Absolutely we can. This Christmas, let us look "down" instead of "up." Let us look for the particularly simple and loving ways in which we can serve God and serve those around us, inspired by God's supremely humble example. 



Jesus is here...

-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ

Thoughts on God's love

 

Choose God’s Love

You must believe in the yes that comes back when you ask, “Do you love me?” You must choose this yes even though you do not experience it.  You feel overwhelmed by distractions, fantasies, the disturbing desire to throw yourself into the world of pleasure. But you know already that you will not find there an answer to your deepest question. Nor does the answer lie in rehashing old events, or in guilt or shame. All of that makes you dissipate yourself and leave the rock on which your house is built. You have to trust the place that is solid, the place where you can say yes to God’s love even when you do not feel it. . . . Keep saying, “God loves me, and God’s love is enough.” You have to choose the solid place over and over again and return to it after every failure. Henri Nouwen

3rd Sunday of Advent

 

Advent is often marked by the lighting of candles with the third candle symbolizing JOY.

"And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy

that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David,

a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” - Luke 2: 10 -11 

“At first sight, joy seems to be connected with being different. When you receive

a compliment or win an award, you experience the joy of not being the same as others.

You are faster, smarter, or more beautiful, and it is that difference that brings you joy.

But such joy is very temporary. True joy is hidden where we are the same as other people: fragile and mortal. It is the joy of belonging to the human race. It is the joy of being

with others as a friend, a companion, a fellow-traveler. This is the joy of Jesus,

who is Emmanuel: God-with-us.”

– Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey

2nd Sunday of Advent

 

Advent is often marked by the lighting of candles with the second candle symbolizing PEACE.

"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast,

because they trust in you." - Isaiah 26:3

“Peace is Shalom – well-being of mind, heart, and body, individually and communally.

It can exist in the midst of a war-torn world, even in the midst of unresolved problems

and increasing human conflicts. Jesus made that peace by giving his life for his brothers

and sisters. This is no easy peace, but it is everlasting and comes from God.

Are we willing to give our lives in the service of peace?”

– Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey

Deep thoughts on hope

 

Always Reason to Hope

I am increasingly impressed by the Christian possibility of celebrating not only moments of joy but also moments of pain, thus affirming God’s real presence in the thick of our lives. A true Christian always affirms life, because God is the God of life, a life stronger than death and destruction. In him we find no reason to despair. There is always reason to hope, even when our eyes are filled with tears. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on the Immaculate Conception

 

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Luke 1:26–38

Friends, today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception—the truth that Mary, through a special grace, was preserved free from original sin from the first moment of her conception. Were this not the case, the angel would not have referred to her at the Annunciation as kecharitomene (full of grace). Why would God do such a thing? And wouldn’t this imply that Mary does not need to be redeemed? The traditional answer is that God wanted to prepare a worthy vessel for the reception of his Word. Just as the Holy of Holies in the temple was kept pure and inviolate, so the true Ark of the Covenant, which is Mary herself, should all the more be untrammeled. Bl. John Duns Scotus explained that Mary is indeed redeemed by the grace of her Son, but since that grace exists outside of time, it can be applied in a way that transcends the ordinary rhythms of time. Therefore, Mary, by a kind of preemptive strike, was delivered by Christ’s grace from original sin. Bishop Robert Barron

1st Sunday of Advent

Advent is often marked by the lighting of candles with the first candle symbolizing HOPE.

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone."

Isaiah 9: 2

Thoughts on Advent

 

“Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.”



– Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey

Thoughts on community

 

Community Makes God Visible

Nothing is sweet or easy about community. Community is a fellowship of people who do not hide their joys and sorrows but make them visible to each other as a gesture of hope. In community we say: “Life is full of gains and losses, joys and sorrows, ups and downs—but we do not have to live it alone. We want to drink our cup together and thus celebrate the truth that the wounds of our individual lives, which seem intolerable when lived alone, become sources of healing when we live them as part of a fellowship of mutual care.” Community is like a large mosaic. Each little piece seems so insignificant. One piece is bright red, another cold blue or dull green, another warm purple, another sharp yellow, another shining gold. Some look precious, others ordinary. Some look valuable, others worthless. Some look gaudy, others delicate. We can do little with them as individual stones except compare them and judge their beauty and value. When, however, all these little stones are brought together in one big mosaic, portraying the face of Christ, who would ever question the importance of any one of them? If one of them, even the least spectacular one, is missing, the face is incomplete. Together in the one mosaic, each little stone is indispensable and makes a unique contribution to the glory of God. That’s community, a fellowship of little people who together make God visible in the world. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on the Passage of Time

  "In my beginning is my end," the opening verse of poet T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" reflection on the passing of time, is most appropriate for us as we approach the end of the liturgical year with the feast of Christ the King and the beginning of a new year on the First Sunday of Advent (December 3, 2023).

 

The bible readings for this Sunday's Feast of Christ the King (November 26, 2023) invite our prayerful reflection on such endings and beginnings.

 

For some people, entitling Christ as our "King" might ring untrue or even sacrilege because of the discredit royalty has gained in recent years. Who would want the incarnate Son of God and his immaculate mother to be burdened with such royal family "trappings"?

 

What kind of royalty are we talking about? Jesus' trial before Pontius Pilate (Matt 27:11-14, Mk 15:2-5, Lk 23:2-5) is inconclusive, finding "no crime in this man," but Jesus' last days exemplify his reign that is “not of this world,” a kingdom of self emptying for the least in this world, rather than some kind of pompous coronation ceremony. 

 

This is what we prepare for at the end of this church year, a new beginning from the perspective of the values of Christ's kingdom, reflected in the beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12, Lk 6: 20-23)...blessed are...the poor...the hungry...the excluded...the merciful...the peacemakers..., values also beautifully imaged in Christmas' nativity narratives we'll pray with once again in our new beginnings on into 2024.

 

How can you prepare in this way for these new beginnings? Certainly many of the prayer resources provided during your White House Jesuit Retreats such as the Anima Christi (WH prayer book p. 41) in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius can help guide you through this transition from beginning to end and on to new beginnings once again.

Fr. Ted Arroyo, S.J.

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

                                            Is your heart a grateful heart?

In her new book Come to Me: Living the Nine First Fridays, Sr. Anne Flanagan reminds us that "thanksgiving is the foundation of everything in the spiritual life. We can never thank God enough for having created us—and especially for creating us to live with him! We have an infinite future ahead of us.... We can look forward to [heaven], taste it in anticipation, and be refreshed in trials by the thought of it."

But like everything else, gratitude takes practice. It is a habit. We need to practice it daily, and the more we do, the more our heart awakens to the generosity and goodness of God.

As Thanksgiving weekend approaches for our readers in the United States, and as all of us prepare to step into the holy season of Advent, use these tips from Come to Me to welcome the gift of gratitude into your heart:

• Give thanks for the blessings that come to you through your 
  family members, one by one.
• Bless the Lord for the teachers and mentors (at school, 
  at work, in times of crisis) who have been a support and 
  example to you.
• Go day by day through your week, or month by month 
  through the year, or year by year through your life (this may 
  end up taking quite a while!), recalling the moments of grace 
  you have lived and experienced.
• Take a mental road trip to the cities and neighborhoods 
  where you’ve lived, gone to school, worked, and traveled. Name 
  and give thanks for the blessings you have encountered in 
  those places.

"Even if your life has been marked by sufferings of the worst kind, by betrayals and crushed hopes, this part of the journey will not last," writes Sr. Anne. “Give thanks for everything. This will lead to amazement with God, and less preoccupation with self."

"Make this ... a day of amazement and gratitude for the gift of existence."

In Christ,
Daughters of St. Paul

Thoughts on caring

 

Caring for the Dying

Caring for others is, first of all, helping them to overcome that enormous temptation of self-rejection. Whether we are rich or poor, famous or unknown, fully abled or disabled, we all share the fear of being left alone and abandoned, a fear that remains hidden under the surface of our self-composure. It is rooted much more deeply than in the possibility of not being liked or loved by people. Its deepest root lies in the possibility of not being loved at all, of not belonging to anything that lasts, or being swallowed up by a dark nothingness—yes, of being abandoned by God. Caring, therefore, is being present to people as they fight this ultimate battle, a battle that becomes evermore real and intense as death approaches. Dying and death always call forth, with renewed power, the fear that we are unloved and will, finally, be reduced to useless ashes. To care is to stand by a dying person and to be a living reminder that the person is indeed the beloved child of God. . . . We shouldn’t try to care by ourselves. Care is not an endurance test. We should, whenever possible, care together with others. It is the community of care that reminds the dying person of his or her belovedness. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on joy

 

Choosing Joy

I am convinced we can choose joy. Every moment we decide to respond to an event or a person with joy instead of sadness. When we truly believe that God is life and only life, then nothing need have the power to draw us into the sad realm of death. To choose joy does not mean to choose happy feelings or an artificial atmosphere of hilarity. But it does mean the determination to let whatever takes place bring us one step closer to the God of life.  Maybe this is what is so important about quiet moments of meditation and prayer. They allow me to take a critical look at my moods and to move from victimization to free choice. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on the unexpected

 

Expect the Unexpected

Unexpected moments can change our lives: moments when we receive a message, word, image, or inclination that points us in a new direction, reveals fresh possibilities, and initiates an unplanned adventure. These inspirational moments can come through a chance encounter, a post on social media, or a surprise phone call. Unplanned moments such as these awaken us to holy adventures in which guidance appears out of nowhere and mysticism leads to mission. The divine call and the human response resound in unison. We see more deeply into reality, discover a new vocation, and begin a new way of life. Perhaps you are looking for fresh, new ways to fulfill your vocation in your immediate community and the world. Perhaps you need to begin again, finding a way forward where there appears to be none. Pause awhile and pay attention, and you may experience God’s insight coming to you in this holy moment.

—from the book Simplicity, Spirituality, Service:The Timeless Wisdom of Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure
by Bruce G. Epperly

Your life in perspective

 

If Today Were Your Last Day

If this were your last day, hour, minute, or breath, imagine how you might drink in the daylight, taste the twilight, touch the stars, smell the sunshine, delight at songbirds, listen to the look of your loved ones, bow before the sanctity of a stranger, be carried away with astonishment, and be beside yourself with awe at the wonder of it all. Perhaps we engage life in its fullness when we stop asking if we are “there” yet and live into the unfolding and radical realization that we are always already “here.” For it is only “here” that we can really be, wholly present and fully engaged; and no matter where you go, there you are.

—from the book Wandering and Welcome: Mediations for Finding Peace
by Joseph Grant

Thoughts on All Saints Day

 The Story of the Solemnity of All Saints

The earliest certain observance of a feast in honor of all the saints is an early fourth-century commemoration of “all the martyrs.” In the early seventh century, after successive waves of invaders plundered the catacombs, Pope Boniface IV gathered up some 28 wagon-loads of bones and reinterred them beneath the Pantheon, a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods. The pope rededicated the shrine as a Christian church. According to Venerable Bede, the pope intended “that the memory of all the saints might in the future be honored in the place which had formerly been dedicated to the worship not of gods but of demons” (On the Calculation of Time).

But the rededication of the Pantheon, like the earlier commemoration of all the martyrs, occurred in May. Many Eastern Churches still honor all the saints in the spring, either during the Easter season or immediately after Pentecost.

How the Western Church came to celebrate this feast, now recognized as a solemnity, in November is a puzzle to historians. The Anglo-Saxon theologian Alcuin observed the feast on November 1 in 800, as did his friend Arno, Bishop of Salzburg. Rome finally adopted that date in the ninth century.

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Reflection

This feast first honored martyrs. Later, when Christians were free to worship according to their consciences, the Church acknowledged other paths to sanctity. In the early centuries the only criterion was popular acclaim, even when the bishop’s approval became the final step in placing a commemoration on the calendar. The first papal canonization occurred in 993; the lengthy process now required to prove extraordinary sanctity took form in the last 500 years. Today’s feast honors the obscure as well as the famous—the saints each of us have known.

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Enjoy this meditation on the Feast of All Saints!

Thoughts on love

 The Commands of Love

The Jews of Jesus' time were very legalistic and stressed observance of the 613 precepts of the Mosaic law which covered every detail of their daily lives. They believed it was possible through human means to be faithful to the law and thereby be justified in God's sight.

Jesus' words and actions challenge this legalism and he always invites them and us to salvation through faith in him and his Abba Father. Jesus came not to change God's mind about us but to change our minds about God.

Abba is not a God of laws but a God of love.

 In Sunday's Gospel Jesus states the two commands:

love God with your whole person and love your neighbor as yourself. The two are intertwined; we show our love of God in our love of others. St. Ignatius reminds us that love shows itself in deeds; it's what we do for and with others that counts. Jesus' focus was and is always on the others, not on himself. We ask for that same grace to be focused on the others in our lives and not on ourselves, to ask what I can do to show my love.

Fr. Ralph Huse, S.J.

Thoughts on The Path

 

How Does Jesus Live in Us?

The Franciscan path is different because it does not ask, “what would Jesus do?” but “how does Jesus live in me?” For the Franciscans, the Incarnation is intrinsic to human personhood. What we are about as humans and what we are to become as children of God is integrally related to the person of Jesus Christ. Christ is not merely a person we follow, as if following John or Jim, nor is salvation about the “dos and don’ts” of being saved. Rather Christ, the Word incarnate, is the person in whom each person finds his or her unique meaning and origin. The logic of the Franciscan imitatio Christi is God’s self-emptying love which is incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. To say that Jesus is the theophany or manifestation of God means that in the form of Jesus’ life, God has been fully revealed. Jesus Christ is the image of God because Christ is the “Word” or the perfect self-expression of the Father. Therefore, it is Christ who is the perfect image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).

 —from the book Franciscan Prayer
by Ilia Delio, OSF

Thoughts on Incarnation

 

Caught up in Mystery

Incarnation is what all of creation is about because it is the Word of God made flesh. We who claim to be Christian are caught up in the mystery of Christ in an explicit way. To be caught up in this mystery is to be caught up in a God of “reckless love”—reckless enough to remain faithful in love in suffering and death. We are called to find this God in fragile human flesh, encounter him and let ourselves be fully embraced by him. To encounter this God of humble love, however, does not demand that we first look inside ourselves in some type of “detached” introspection. On the contrary we are asked to look long and hard at the person of Jesus Christ, especially in the concrete details of the cross. It is here that we can begin to know God and ourselves in God. Gazing in this way will ultimately lead us to our true identity in God.

—from the book Franciscan Prayer 
by Ilia Delio, OSF

Thoughts on baptism

                   Our Destiny

   In Sunday's Gospel Matthew continues Jesus' confrontations with the Jewish priests and elders, those who refuse to believe that Jesus is anyone more than a phony and sacrilegious rabbi. He tells the story of the king who invited guests to the wedding banquet of his son but they refused to come. The king then invites everyone else to the party to fill the hall foretelling the spread of Christianity to all nations.

  

 In the first reading Isaiah describes heaven as an eternal banquet in the fullness of God's Kingdom. It's a passage often used in the funeral Mass expressing our hope and trust in Christ's promise of our salvation. In our baptism we are welcomed into the Body of Christ and given an invitation to that heavenly banquet at the end of our lives here. That's our destiny, our ultimate goal, thanks be to God. In the meantime we continue to RSVP.

Fr. Ralph Huse, S.J.

Thoughts on gratitude

 

Deciding to be Grateful

Gratitude is the most fruitful way of deepening your consciousness that you are not an “accident,” but a divine choice. It is important to realize how often we have had chances to be grateful and have not used them. When someone is kind to us, when an event turns out well, when a problem is solved, a relationship restored, a wound healed, there are very concrete reasons to offer thanks: be it with words, with flowers, with a letter, a card, a phone call, or just a gesture of affection. . . . Every time we decide to be grateful it will be easier to see new things to be grateful for. Gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on Guardian Angels

 

Feast of the Guardian Angels Image: The Guardian Angel | Marcantonio Franceschini Saint of the Day for October 2 The Story of the Feast of the Guardian Angels Perhaps no aspect of Catholic piety is as comforting to parents as the belief that an angel protects their little ones from dangers real and imagined. Yet guardian angels are not only for children. Their role is to represent individuals before God, to watch over them always, to aid their prayer, and to present their souls to God at death. The concept of an angel assigned to guide and nurture each human being is a development of Catholic doctrine and piety based on Scripture but not directly drawn from it. Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:10 best support the belief: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” Devotion to the angels began to develop with the birth of the monastic tradition. Saint Benedict gave it impetus and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the great 12th-century reformer, was such an eloquent spokesman for the guardian angels that angelic devotion assumed its current form in his day. A feast in honor of the guardian angels was first observed in the 16th century. In 1615, Pope Paul V added it to the Roman calendar. Reflection Devotion to the angels is, at base, an expression of faith in God’s enduring love and providential care extended to each person day in and day out. Learn more about angels!