Mt 4:18-22: What was it, St. Andrew, that caused you to follow Christ?

What was it St. Andrew that upon hearing the call of Christ, you immediately left your old life to follow him?  Was it not wisdom that the Spirit had given to you, and that enabled you to see the law of love in Christ?  Did you not feel his goodness and love toward you, which were greater than anything in your life, and that made it worth giving up everything to possess?  How did you become a fisher of men if not from the joy you received from knowing you were loved by Christ?  

St. Andrew, pray for us.  We so easily forget Christ and his love, and return to our former lives thinking we'll find something better.  Through your intercession, may we never doubt his love, and may we follow him immediately in every moment of our lives.  

St. Andrew, while Jesus was walking, he saw you.  He saw you with the eyes of love.  He saw you because he desired you.  Did your eyes meet?  Did you see the love he had for you in his eyes?  Was it this encounter that led you to abandon everything and follow him?

Luke 21:29-33: The Permanence of Christ's Words

Lord Jesus Christ, everything in my life passes away.  Nothing is permanent, except your words of love.  They are permanent, and they don't change.  Your love for me doesn't fluctuate with my performance.  You don't love me more when I'm obedient and less when I'm disobedient.  Praise be to you for such a foundation on which I can build my life!  Make your redeeming love the drive of my life so that others may see your joy in me and long for the hope your salvation gives to us.

You compare the advent of the Kingdom of God to the arrival of summer.  You know that summer is my favorite season.  It is a time for long and sunny days, warm weather, cookouts, and vacations. In other words, it's a time of happiness.  Summer is an apropos image for the Kingdom of God where the joy that comes from your love will know no bounds and where your glory will be a sun that never sets.  But just as we have to pass through the doldrums of winter to get to summer, so we'll have to pass through many trials and tribulations to get into the kingdom.  May your love, alive in us, grant us the victory.

Reflection for Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Today's readings are here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052312.cfm

In today's Gospel, Jesus prays his high priestly prayer, the essence of which is that God the Father would protect us from sin and Satan, so we can become saints.  Our Lord says the basis of our being made holy is that he made himself holy by being perfectly obedient to the Father, an obedience that went all the way to his death on the Cross: "And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth".  

It is this same prayer that Jesus prays for us at the right hand of the Father in heaven and at every Mass; for at every Mass, our Lord offers himself to the Father under the sacramental signs of bread and wine, so that we might receive the grace of the Holy Spirit from the Father through the words and actions of the Sacred Liturgy, but above all, in the Blessed Sacrament.  This grace is given to us, so we might offer ourselves to the Father "through him, with him, and in him". 

May the Lord always dispose our hearts to receive his grace every moment of our lives, but above all when we participate in the Divine Liturgy.

Reflection for Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Today's readings are here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052212.cfm

"Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course...." - Acts 20:24

St. Paul was headed to Jerusalem knowing that severe persecution awaited him there.  Yet, it did not bother him one bit; for as he said in the above passage, his life did not matter to him.  All that mattered to St. Paul was being faithful to Christ who had been patient with him who was a persecutor of the Church.

How was St. Paul able to love our Lord so much that he did not care for his own life?  How was he able to lose himself in Christ?  He knew that Christ unconditionally loved him by dying for him on the cross; and to Paul, possessing this love was the greatest thing in all the world.  Nothing else mattered, not even his own life; for Christ's life did not matter to him for love of Paul, so Paul's life did not matter to him for love of Christ.

May the Holy Spirit open the eyes of our hearts to see the unfathomable love of Christ for us, so that we might love him above all things, even our own lives.

Reflection on God's Faithfulness and Our Disappointment with Him

Lord, those who hope in you shall not be disappointed, but only those who wantonly break faith. - Psalm 25:3

Promises like the one contained in the above verse should strengthen our faith. When we hope or trust in God, we will not be disappointed. However, some do trust God for specific things; and they do become disappointed with God, because he does not grant them their requests. Do these instances make the promise a lie? Of course not.  


When we ask God for something that we know is his will for us because he has revealed it in Scripture and Tradition, then we can have full confidence that God will give us what we ask. An example would be when we ask God for the strength to resist temptation and become saints.


When we ask God for something that may or may not be his will, then we can have full confidence that God will give us what we ask if it is good for us. An example would be getting a job for which we have interviewed.


Let us always depend on God's faithfulness, whether it is in giving us what he has promised to give us in his word, or whether it is in giving us only what will bring us closer to him.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Today's readings are here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052012-ascension-of-the-lord.cfm

Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the "Father's house," to God's life and happiness.  Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and Source, has preceded us. - CCC, no. 661

Christ's return to the Father in the Ascension reveals the depths of his love for us who could never have access to God; for now, within the Trinity, is Christ's glorified humanity; and what is true of him who is our forerunner will be true of us who are united to him by faith and love: we will have access to the Father's life and happiness in glorified humanity. 

However, the benefits of Christ's Ascension are not only in the future; for even now, as our high priest, our Lord constantly obtains for us the grace of the Holy Spirit through his intercession, so that the love of his Kingdom might reign in us.  In other words, our Lord, through the Holy Spirit, is changing us from sinners to saints, so that we might merit the glory of the Father's house and obtain eternal redemption.

Because Christ is such a wonderful Savior, let us keep our hearts fixed on him who is our strength and support.

Reflection on the Sun's Glory and God's

One of the greatest objects God has made is the sun.  Its light can blind the human eye and is a contributing factor in the change of seasons.  Its heat is unfathomable; in no time, it can burn human skin.  Yet, to God, the sun is nothing.  Its light does not bother him, nor does its heat.  It is not a mystery to him, for he understands it fully.  The sun's glory is nothing compared to the glory of the One who created it.


If we are in awe of the sun, let us pass beyond it to the God whose majesty and glory are infinitely greater.  Let us bring the gift of ourselves in worship of Almighty God.