About 6 months ago, my husband and I entered the challenging and unpredictable world of parenting a pre-teen. Long gone are the days of simply brushing his teeth when I ask him to and instead I am greeted with a barrage of questions, arguments and complaints. “There’s just 6 minutes left of this episode, can’t I just watch the rest?” “I can’t come up to eat dinner right now, I’m right in the middle of a video game!” “Can I pleeeeease not go to soccer practice today? My knee hurts.” Couple that with an active and headstrong toddler and you often have two exasperated parents!
In today’s Gospel, Jesus also sounds a bit frustrated as He comes down from the mountain only to encounter a large crowd of people arguing. Their altercations were due to the fact that the disciples weren’t able to perform the requested miracle. Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith and cures the boy.
While I know my son doesn’t need curing, per se, I do find myself praying frequently for wisdom and patience on how to guide him on the path to sainthood. I ask God to help me to be the parent that my son needs in order to grow and flourish in a healthy way. I recognize my children will not be little for long and that I need a lot of help, since there doesn’t seem to be a reference manual on how to raise a child.
Today’s first reading reminds me that “All wisdom comes from the Lord…The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom”. It goes on to say that only God can truly understand wisdom yet He has “poured her forth” and “lavished her upon his friends.”
God longs to grant us His good gifts, but just as He alludes to in the Gospel, this can only come through prayer. We have to ask God for His gifts and have the faith that He can and will give them to us. So whether you are dealing with an argumentative teen, a disagreeable coworker or a difficult elderly parent, humbly ask the Lord to pour forth His wisdom, knowing that He longs to lavish it upon you.
Daily Reading
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your…
Saint of the Day
Saint Colette
Saint Colette, a reformer with a gift for miracles, founded the Colettine Poor Clares, impacting France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the USA.
The post Saint Colette appeared first on uCatholic.
“And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they’ll know-ow we are Christians by our love.” The well-known song, written in the 1960’s by Fr. Peter Scholtes, echoes today’s Gospel. Sixty years later and two thousand years into Christianity, the song might seem trite or timid. Sweet images of walking side-by-side, and hand-in hand; that’s nice. In truth, though, it is so much more. It is, like today’s Gospel, the call for a revolution.
Christ encourages his disciples to a revolutionary love, one unheard of in their time — a love that gives expecting nothing in return, a love that is neither earned nor deserved. Love those who hate you. Love those who hurt you. Forgive the unforgivable and have mercy on the merciless.
There is nothing trite in this love. It is so unexpected, so counter-cultural, so revolutionary that it sets us apart. It is a generous, self-sacrificing, humbling love that makes the world wonder, “What is up with that?”
There is nothing timid in this love. It is bold, strong, and steadfast. This love calls for the courage to stand in the wake of hate, cruelty, and injustice. This love calls for the fortitude to speak God’s truth even when it’s unpopular. No, not to judge or condemn, but to challenge and correct.
If I have run a wooded path and know that it opens to a cliff, what am I to say to another who is running headlong and full speed through the thicket? Does this powerful love step back and say, “Hey, you be you, friend. Who am I to judge?” Or does this steadfast love look the runner in the eye and urge him, “Hey, that path is dangerous. There’s another way we can travel together.” Of course it is the latter. What that runner does next and how he finishes is not mine to decide — that is between him and God — but the love of today’s Gospel begs me to speak up in mercy.
This kind of love is downright supernatural; we are not capable of it on our own. Only with the strength of grace, only through Christ can we love like this, and when we do, He shines through. This love should set us apart so the troubled world might notice and long to know more.
Indeed, by the grace of God, they will know we are Christians by our love — by our humble, self-sacrificing, unexpected, bold, steadfast, merciful, revolutionary love.
Daily Reading
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your…
Saint of the Day
Saint Colette
Saint Colette, a reformer with a gift for miracles, founded the Colettine Poor Clares, impacting France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the USA.
The post Saint Colette appeared first on uCatholic.
Have you seen the actual wooden chair in Rome (now enclosed in a sculpted bronze casing) that some believe was used by St. Peter, the first pope? While we do not know for certain that he sat on it, this chair represents the unbroken succession of popes over the past 2,000 years.
Caesarea Philippi sat atop a huge hill, with a cliff of solid rock on one side – it was magnificent and seemed invincible. It is here that Peter proclaims Jesus as the Christ, and here that the Lord chooses to reveal that His Church will be invincible, founded on the rock of Peter, who is given authority to rule in Jesus’ Name.
Five words spoken by Jesus Christ in this setting reveal that the Son of God DID come to establish a Church: He says clearly that on this rock “I will build my Church.” The authority given to Peter is symbolized by the “keys of the Kingdom” (given in ancient Israel to the King’s master of the palace), and the “binding and loosing” (the authority of the Jewish synagogue leader to expel and reinstate people to the synagogue to preserve its moral integrity). These words held profound weight to His listeners, who understood well the responsibility Jesus was giving to the Church community, with Peter as head shepherd.
This was confirmed after Jesus’ Resurrection, when He told Peter to feed His lambs and tend His sheep; these are the tasks of a shepherd, not of the flock. On Pentecost, Peter takes on the fullness of his responsibility when he initiates the evangelization of the world by speaking boldly to the crowds gathered. He has been given the supreme pastoral office, to be handed on throughout the centuries to the present day.
We can forget that the Kingdom is truly present on earth in the Church, and that the popes are Christ’s vicars to the world. We can also forget that the way of the Church is the way of Christ, which is the Way of the Cross, through which victory over sin and death is won. 28 of the first 33 popes were martyred, as were many of the early Christians!
While it is true that popes are also sinners, and that fallen human nature can sometimes abuse the authority of this role (there have certainly been a few problematic leaders and a few “anti-popes”), no pope has ever spoken erroneously when speaking with the full authority of this role as leader of the Church “ex cathedra” (meaning “from the chair”). In fact, most have led the Church with humility and courage; 83 popes are recognized as Saints and nine as Blesseds.
Today, let us give thanks that divine Providence has promised to these frail human instruments the security of the Holy Spirit to conserve and pass on the Truth, which is Christ.
Daily Reading
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your…
Saint of the Day
Saint Colette
Saint Colette, a reformer with a gift for miracles, founded the Colettine Poor Clares, impacting France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the USA.
The post Saint Colette appeared first on uCatholic.
We live in a post-Christian world. We live in a world that is turning its back on Jesus Christ and his message of love and salvation, a world that denies the supernatural Truth of God. Similar to those in the first reading who said “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves,” this is a world where people focus on themselves and what makes them happy. Good and bad is relative to what people feel is good and bad. We live in a world where Christianity is mocked (remember the Olympic opening ceremony?) and Catholics are hated because we believe marriage is between a man and a woman and that killing unborn babies is not women’s healthcare.
You, like me, have probably experienced this post Christian viewpoint. I have friends and co-workers who think I’m nuts for encouraging my children to remain chaste until marriage. They think I’m weird because I invite priests, deacons, and sisters to have meals at my house. They don’t understand why I wake up early to go to daily Mass.
It would be easy to be ashamed of my beliefs. I will admit that it’s often hard to speak them because I want to be liked and respected. I see the eye rolls and the looks that cross people’s faces. But when I read this Gospel where Jesus says: “Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father’s glory” and I talk to other friends who have decided to keep Christ at the center of their lives, I am fortified. When I receive the Eucharist, I am emboldened because I am reminded that it’s not those eye-rolling people that I live for. It’s Jesus. He’s the one who loves me like crazy and the one who sacrificed so I can be in heaven with Him for eternity. He’s the one I love so much that sometimes it brings me to tears. How can I be ashamed of love? And how much would it hurt if He was ashamed of me?
God gives all of us what we need to navigate this world that is ashamed of Him. If we ask, He gives us words for those times we encounter the eye roll or the “look.” He gives us his Body and Blood every day if we want. He gives us people to walk this journey with and He gives us hope. We can know with certainty that this life, this beautiful challenging life, is a foretaste of the extreme joy of the life to come. God is so good!
Daily Reading
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your…
Saint of the Day
Saint Colette
Saint Colette, a reformer with a gift for miracles, founded the Colettine Poor Clares, impacting France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the USA.
The post Saint Colette appeared first on uCatholic.
My husband has an interesting fascination with lighthouses. As an amateur photographer, he is always on the lookout for unique shots and locations. While away on a work trip recently, he visited 3 different lighthouses in a single weekend. As he shared the pictures he took with us, it occurred to me that a lighthouse is the perfect image to go along with today’s Gospel.
Peter, through his openness and cooperation with the Holy Spirit, confesses his belief in who Jesus truly is. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Lord. In the other Synoptic Gospels we hear Jesus say that God has revealed this truth to Peter. But then, as quickly as the light shone in Peter’s eyes, it was gone when he rebuked Jesus for speaking about His coming Passion and Death.
Like a lighthouse, Peter’s confession shone with clarity for the apostles and for us today. Then, in his humanness, that light got stifled by fear, doubt, and confusion. But the light of faith never extinguished, even if it was unseen.
What you have to understand about lighthouses prior to electricity is that the light never went out. It was shielded from view by a large, revolving panel that would block the light for set intervals before revealing it again to the ships at sea. Around and around the panel would go, allowing the light to shine and then blocking it from view once more.
This is Peter, this is us. We are filled with the light of Christ, the light of faith. At our baptism, we each receive the Light of Christ from the Paschal Candle. This light may be shielded or even stifled at times through our human brokenness and tendency toward sin. However, that light does not go out. Through the sacraments, through service, through our community and relationships, through prayer and worship, we can extend those periods of light.
We can show others the way to Christ by the light we have within us. Hopefully, the moments that the light is shielded will continue to diminish as we journey with God. We, along with the saints in heaven and St. Peter himself, can sing that sweet childhood song with firmness of faith, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!”
Daily Reading
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your…
Saint of the Day
Saint Colette
Saint Colette, a reformer with a gift for miracles, founded the Colettine Poor Clares, impacting France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the USA.
The post Saint Colette appeared first on uCatholic.
I was at a low point of my life, when I realized I wasn’t going to be able to make the team for soccer in college. I felt like I lost my identity. I felt as if I had wasted all the years I spent trying to build myself to be fast, to be the best I could be physically and mentally. I felt like I lost who I was. It was almost as if I was blind, trying to find my way through something I never had to experience before. It was hard not to blame God. I wondered why this was happening to me. Why wasn’t I able to reach what I thought was my dream?
In adoration on a Friday morning, I was praying and asking God why I wasn’t able to play. I kept coming back to the word “trust”. I realized that maybe I wasn’t supposed to play soccer. I had to let go of something that, for years, I had focused solely on, accepting the future isn’t possible without God. My own personal goal was blinding me to the fact that God wanted me to be able to get through college with a more open schedule. Looking back, my grades definitely appreciated the extra time to study.
Today’s Gospel really puts into perspective how trusting in God allows Him to work miracles in our lives. Just like the blind man, we are sinners who are sometimes blind to the will of God. Let us ask God for the grace to let go of our own personal wishes and trust that He will heal us and give us a plan that is good to Him.
Daily Reading
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your…
Saint of the Day
Saint Colette
Saint Colette, a reformer with a gift for miracles, founded the Colettine Poor Clares, impacting France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the USA.
The post Saint Colette appeared first on uCatholic.
I cannot even count the number of times my wife has asked me to do something or told me a story from her day, and as she finishes and awaits my response, I end up saying, “Wait. What?” At least partially in my defense, I have become a little hard of hearing as I’ve aged, and I’ve also put off getting hearing aids. So if she’s talking to me from the other room, there’s no way I’m going to pick up what she’s saying. However, if it happens when we’re in the same room, it’s not necessarily because I didn’t hear her, but because I wasn’t focusing on her words. That is to say, I wasn’t paying attention.
Now, in today’s Gospel, when Jesus tells His disciples to be careful of the leaven of Herod and the Pharisees, His followers think He’s talking about forgetting to bring bread. I can almost picture in my mind the “Are you listening to me? Are you paying attention?” look that Jesus gets on His face.
In our first reading, God is so grieved with the wickedness of man that He wants to wipe them all out. The descendants of Adam and Eve have sinned even more gravely — not listening to his guidance and straying even farther from his love. Thankfully, Noah listened. Noah paid attention. Noah succeeded in receiving God’s promise never to destroy the Earth with a flood.
Jesus’ frustration with his disciples elicits a rebuke: “Are your hearts hardened?” But he goes on to instruct them saying: listen — and understand: I’m not talking about your physical needs. I have taken care of those. I’m talking about your spiritual needs right now. This leaven metaphor is like the leaven you use in the bread you’re so worried about: It changes what had been into something else. The wrong leaven will cause rot and stench, while the right leaven will give you wonderful nourishment.
But this is so much greater than mere bread. The leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, that which we must avoid, will change us for the worse, not the better. Up to this point in Mark’s Gospel, we know this about the Pharisees and Herod collectively: self-righteous, judgmental, hedonistic, opportunistic.
But Jesus has called these followers (His disciples). He has instructed them. He has shown them mighty deeds and humility of heart. Indeed, “Are your hearts hardened?” is a legitimate question. “Do you still not understand?” Jesus Christ, son of the living God, is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
And yes, Jesus has likewise called us, instructed us, etc. Are we listening? Do we not understand? Are our hearts hardened? Let us pray always for the grace to know Jesus is what we need now so that we will be with him in eternity.
Daily Reading
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your…
Saint of the Day
Saint Colette
Saint Colette, a reformer with a gift for miracles, founded the Colettine Poor Clares, impacting France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the USA.
The post Saint Colette appeared first on uCatholic.
“Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” Jesus speaks these words to the Pharisees today’s Gospel and we might be tempted to reply, “Harsh words, Lord!”
True, here Jesus does not sound quite like the beacon of peace we often expect. The most obvious reason for His rebuke is that He is speaking to the Pharisees – those jealous scholars who want a sign only to prove that He is a blasphemer. It makes sense that Christ would deny their request. He knows their hearts, and He is unwilling to play their games.
But there may be a second reason. Immediately before this altercation between Christ and the Pharisees was the miraculous feeding of four thousand. Christ was preaching to them, the day was drawing to a close, and they had no food. But Christ is the good Provider. The disciples bring Him seven loaves and a few fish, and he blesses the food and distributes it among the people. There is so much left over that it fills seven baskets!
That is the sign! The Pharisees seek a sign that Jesus truly is God, the Creator, He Who brings sustenance out of nothing – and they seek a sign right after He has performed the miracle of multiplying (creating) loaves and fish to feed the four thousand. No wonder Christ tells them they shall not receive a sign. They wouldn’t even accept the signs that were already there!
How often are we the Pharisees? How often do we put Christ to the test? “I wanted to receive this particular gift, or that particular answer. Why haven’t You given that to me, Jesus?” We think if He would only give us the sign we are looking for, we would be satisfied!
Only…that is not His way. He does not always give us the specific signs we request. But He does give us sustenance. He does give us satisfaction. The people ate and were satisfied. They went away full, filled with Christ’s teaching and filled with the food He multiplied out of love for them. That is a far cry from the Pharisees, who not only could not receive His word, but also did not receive any sign from Him – only a rebuke that their request would never be fulfilled.
How often do we lose sight of the miracles we have already received? How often do we pursue Christ for this or that particular sign, praying that He will answer our specifications for a miracle, while dismissing the miracles He has already sent?
The strange and beautiful thing about following the God of all Creation is that we must accept creation on His terms…not ours. He is the Creator. He brings all good out of nothing. He knows what He is about. And He doesn’t ask us to understand how, but He does ask us to receive the miracles He has already given us.
Daily Reading
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your…
Saint of the Day
Saint Colette
Saint Colette, a reformer with a gift for miracles, founded the Colettine Poor Clares, impacting France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the USA.
The post Saint Colette appeared first on uCatholic.
Years ago my sister was very bold in witnessing about her faith in God. I remember thinking she was really out there – had crossed an invisible line – and it was not good. My other siblings and I criticized her for going too far. At the time, I was Catholic in name only, not practicing my faith and lacking any substantive relationship with God. Still, I admired her courage in sharing her faith when those around her rejected it, and her.
Today I am different. I have returned to the faith of my childhood and God has showered down graces in abundance. Several of my other sisters and I have crossed the invisible line and boldly share our faith. Reading the Beatitudes reminds me that those who speak freely about God will face rejection, just like my sister did. “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!”
Rejection is not something we seek or desire naturally—quite the opposite. We want acceptance. We want to fit in. But Jesus tells us that we will be blessed in our rejection if it is caused by our relationship with Him. Rejection is a blessing in disguise. The world sees it as a curse, only capable of seeing it from a secular worldview. We Christians are called to adopt a supernatural worldview where troubles are blessings.
How can we see troubles as blessings? Here are four ways:
- By knowing that we are carrying out God’s will. If God calls me to speak a word of truth to a friend, I am blessed because God chose me to speak that particular word. He could have chosen anyone but He chose me. I am blessed.
- By realizing we are acting as Christ in the world. When I am rejected, they are rejecting Christ in me, which means they SEE Christ in me. That is a blessing. I must be doing something right.
- By uniting our suffering with Christ, who was also rejected. We are better able to relate to His rejection. Jesus chose to come in human form, to be rejected and murdered for our salvation. The love He showed for us is beyond imagining, so how can we not leap for joy when we are rejected like Him?
- By allowing our rejection to spur intercessory prayer. Surely my sister who boldly shared her faith all those years ago prayed often for me and the rest of the family. We needed an intercessor to offer prayers for our conversion of heart. And her prayers were effective. Her rejection became a blessing to us and to her.
I have joined my sister and crossed the line to boldly speak God’s truth in the world. Sometimes I am rejected. It saddens me because I want to share God’s love, but I remember the words of Jesus and know that my rejection is a blessing in disguise.
Daily Reading
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your…
Saint of the Day
Saint Colette
Saint Colette, a reformer with a gift for miracles, founded the Colettine Poor Clares, impacting France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the USA.
The post Saint Colette appeared first on uCatholic.
The Lord provides. In every instance and circumstance, the abundance of God is not exhausted or strained. He is able to address, fill, and even overfill, our meager needs because nothing is difficult for Him. He doesn’t run out of resources or energy or desire.
Jesus demonstrates the mysterious abundance and generosity of God and how He freely and easily provides for those who express their needs to Him with faith and trust – lepers receive healing, cripples are given strength, the blind receive sight, the dead are given life, the mourning receive their loved ones anew, and the hungry receive food.
All of these miraculous gifts of God, which fill and overfill our needs, are intended to point to our deeper needs: our spiritual leprosy, our spiritual blindness, our spiritual hunger. God alone can meet those needs, and we are unsatisfied until they are filled! But this filling is dependent on our willingness to lift up our needs to Him with faith and trust. Even just our little faith and trust, offered to Him for his purposes, allows God to reach down and pour out His goodness. What we see as pitifully inadequate becomes more than enough when offered wholly to Him, acknowledging that He is the Giver of every good thing.
In today’s Gospel, we see what God can do with our meager offerings. The disciples offer the little food that they have (not even enough to satisfy their own hunger!), and Jesus gives thanks, blesses it, and gives it to the disciples to distribute. He invites them into His work of mysteriously, miraculously, and easily satisfying over 4,000 with only those seven loaves and a few fish – with enough left over to fill seven baskets!
Jesus invites us into His work of filling others’ needs as well. He fills our deep spiritual need, and invites us to participate with Him in feeding others. Because, as the Gospel Antiphon for today reminds us, “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”
Today, let us ask the Lord to help us hear this invitation in our daily lives, and to offer our meager resources and abilities to Him, so that we can help with His work of healing and bringing God’s Word of salvation to those around us
Daily Reading
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your…
Saint of the Day
Saint Colette
Saint Colette, a reformer with a gift for miracles, founded the Colettine Poor Clares, impacting France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the USA.
The post Saint Colette appeared first on uCatholic.