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!

Thoughts of words

 

Words and Prayer

Two practices that facilitate openness and receptivity to hope in ourselves and others are words of encouragement and the prayer of intercession. A supportive email, a kind word, a handwritten note, a bouquet of flowers, a pat on the back, a post on Facebook, all are practical reminders that one is not alone, that one can count on the support of family and friends. Words and actions of friendship, consolation, and encouragement offer an oasis and sense of community to those who isolate themselves as they bear the weight of disheartenment, desperation, and distress. Knowing that one is being prayed for can open a person’s soul to be receptive to hope. More than strong-arming God to get what we want or doing a rain dance long enough to obtain the desired results, the prayer of intercession, like spiritual direction and words of encouragement, is a reminder that the gratuity of grace is never exhausted and never expires. This simple knowledge leaves behind a furrow in the field of the desperate and despairing.

—from the book Soul Training with the Peace Prayer of Saint Francis
by Albert Haase, OFM