Lord, Turn Your Ear To Me

March 27 2012

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

By Beth DeCristofaro

(Jesus) said to them, "You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins." (John 8:23-24)

Piety

LORD, hear my prayer;

let my cry come to you.

Do not hide your face from me

in the day of my distress.

Turn your ear to me;

when I call, answer me quickly.

Let this be written for the next generation,

for a people not yet born,

that they may praise the LORD:

“The LORD looked down from the holy heights,

viewed the earth from heaven,

To attend to the groaning of the prisoners,

to release those doomed to die.” (Psalm 102:1-2, 19-21)

Study

Maybe this group of Pharisees didn’t listen very carefully in Psalms class. Earlier in the chapter they brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. They hoped to trap Jesus while at the same time condemning her for her sinfulness. Jesus, of course, refused to play their games and refused to condemn. Rather he forgive the woman while giving her the freedom to choose “to sin no more.” In a following conversation they again challenged Jesus after he tells them that he is the light of the world: “You testify on your own behalf, so your testimony cannot be verified.” (John 8:13).

The psalmist challenges God but in awareness of his own frailty, mortality and sinfulness. The psalmist calls on God for comfort and mercy and his challenge is a plea, rooted in the belief that God is mightier than he is and, in fact, this mighty God is not only the source of life but the source of freedom from suffering. The psalmist’s challenge is rooted in praise, faith and conviction. The Pharisees’ challenges are rooted in the mistaken belief that they know the mind of God and are the purveyors of God’s purpose. They will die in their sins. The psalmist, one doomed to die, relies on God for freedom and life. The Psalmist’s words foreshadow the divine climax in Jesus’ words, uttered before his final “Yes”: “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”

Action

Do I challenge God for my own purposes? Has this journey of Lent led me to shed the role of master of my own universe in order to be released from what is below to which I cling? While God is not absent from this world of below, I can wall God off when I cling only to what I know like the Pharisees did. Pray this Psalm and give to God the cares of those things to which you cling and those hardships, sins, illnesses, calamities which beset you.

According to Your Word

March 26, 2012

The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. Isaiah 7:13-14

Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Luke 1:38

Piety

Father, we thank you for the gift of your Son that you announce to the world with the rising sun every day. Open our eyes to the joy around us. Open our hearts through piety to your living presence. Open our minds through study to the wisdom of the ages. Open our hands through action to your work that needs to be accomplished in the world.

Study

We interrupt this sea of purple, this solemn Lenten walk into Jerusalem, with a reminder. Our faith is a faith of joy. Our faith is a faith of glory. Our faith is a faith of presence -- God with us and us with God.

A long time ago, a friend gave me a small banner that he made by hand displaying the phrase: "The soul would have no rainbow if the eye had no tear." Without the tears of the Passion, we would not have the joy of Easter. Without the tears of loneliness, we would not have the joy of the Nativity. With the confusion of the Annunciation, we would not have the happiness of the Visitation.

The real life reminder of that was delivered yesterday afternoon when 20 amazing women presented their witness at the Closing of the 134th Cursillo. Candidate after candidate spoke of the struggles in life -- from a young nun preparing for missionary work to a former nun finally healing her relationship with the church, from mothers to sisters to daughters to friends. These new "babe chicks" have just finished their short course on Christianity -- "crash course" as one described the three-day experience -- and now set out on their Fourth Day today.

They know that God is with us (still) two thousand years later. They know that the living presence if the Lord will overcome all the obstacles to His friendship that we and the world put in the way. It's a reminder we all need every day -- but especially in this final week of Lent with Pam/Passion Sunday and Holy Week ahead.

Action

One phrase on Cursillo is, "Make a friend. Be a friend. Bring a friend to Christ." As successful as the past weekend experience was, we have ahead a weekend for men (April 19-22 at Missionhurst. Who do you know that you can invite to participate in that weekend?

Honor Whoever Serves Me

March 25, 2012

Fifth Sunday of Lent 2012 B

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31:33-34

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Hebrews 5:8-9

"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me." John 12:23-26

Piety

God offers to make us his people and to be our God. Piety is our acceptance of the covenant of the Lord. Piety is how our heart understands God as our Lord. Piety in its externals reflects how we accept the Lord as our God. Piety contains the rituals of how we return to the Lord with our whole heart. Piety shows itself in our desires and yearnings to see the Lord. The intensity with which we read or listen to the Word of the Lord reveals piety to our world. The Prophet Jeremiah speaks of how the Lord took the Hebrews by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt. Our piety is how we take the hand of the Lord in our daily lives and allow the Lord to lead us as our master. Our piety is seen in the recognition of the law of the Lord that is written on our hearts. Our piety is how we love the Lord. Piety is how we give thanks for the forgiveness of the Lord. It is the confidence of our hearts that God remembers our sin no more. Our piety is the clean heart that God has created in us.

Study

Even as Christ learned obedience through what he suffered and offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to his Father, he becomes the source of eternal salvation for us who obey him. Our study reveals to us the ongoing presence of God in our daily lives. We learn how to be like the grain of wheat that falls to the earth. Even as the grain dies it produces much fruit. We study what we can do for the Lord and discover how we can best serve him. What we are willing to put up with for the sake of our union with Christ becomes how we are lifted up to draw others to the love of the Lord. We preach the love of God for our world with the peace and the gentleness of our lives in the crosses we bear for the sake of a better world in the name of the Lord. We study how to preach by our lives that our example might become the best sermon we can give. We lose our lives in the world that we might preserve it for eternal life. As servants of the Lord we carry the crosses of our daily lives aware that what we put up with for the sake of Christ will be our fame in heaven.

Action

The difficulties of our daily life take on a new meaning when we die with Christ. The joy of the cross is the union our crosses give us with Christ. As we fill up what is wanting to the suffering of his body, the Church, we discover that we are the presence of Christ in our world. The saint is a transparency of Christ. Our little acts of mortification during Lent shout out to the heaven how much we love Christ in the very missing of what we have given up for the sake of Christ. What we offer up to the Lord as our Lenten sacrifices become the love of our lives as we offer what is important to ourselves that we go without for the sake of our world.

Find Out

March 24, 2012

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized that they were hatching plots against me: "Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more." But, you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge, searcher of mind and heart, Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause! Jeremiah 11:19-20

Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, "Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?" They answered and said to him, "You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee." John 7:50-52

Piety

Help us to learn from the example of Nicodemus to be drawn to the light of Christ. Help us, too, to live in the light and the truth.

Study

Today we encounter two different personalities in the readings. In the reading from Jeremiah, we meet the voice of the innocent victim who is helped by an advocate from the assaults that are being planned. In the reading from John, we meet the other type -- the advocate.

The surprise for us is the person who is the advocate -- none other than Nicodemus. Nicodemus is the Curious Pharisee. We see how his attraction to the carpenter's son from Nazareth has grown from their first encounter. At that time, Nicodemus crept to meet Jesus under the cover of darkness. During that encounter, he heard what has probably become the most famous Biblical passage in history since, "In the beginning…"

Jesus explained to Nicodemus that night that "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. (John 3:16-17)

Nicodemus learned the importance of advocacy -- the Son serving as advocate for the world. Jesus went on to teach the Curious Pharisee "But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God."

As Nicodemus is drawn to the light, he also knows that he has the responsibility to bring others there with him. Despite the skepticism of the crowd, Nicodemus hears a different message and tries -- unsuccessfully -- to intervene before the events of the Passion can unfold.

We also know that despite this failure, Nicodemus is not swayed. Long after the rest of the disciples have fled to safety and hiding, Nicodemus will be there at the foot of the cross overcoming and ignoring all the obstacles and helping to give Jesus a reverential burial. He does not fear coming forward to the light before the world to be a seen as a follower of Christ.

Action

Are you growing in faith and action like Nicodemus this Lenten season? What opposition are you facing from the crowd? How can you overcome that opposition?

He Sent Me

March 23, 2012

Friday of the Fourth Week in Lent

By Melanie Rigney

The wicked said among themselves, “Let us lie in wait for the righteous one, because he is annoying to us; he opposes our actions, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the LORD. To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, because his life is not like that of others, and different are his ways.” (Wisdom 2:1, 12-15)

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. (Psalms 34:19)

… (S)ome of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Messiah? But we know where he is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” (John 7:25-29)

Piety

Lord, it’s so much easier to be good when I am among the good. Give me the strength I need to share the Good News when those I am with doubt You.

Study

Have you been annoying to anyone lately?

I’m not talking about coughing without covering your mouth or standing on the left-hand side of an escalator. I’m talking about turning away from gossip with your friends or coworkers. I’m talking about listening to someone’s problems, then thoughtfully and compassionately offering to pray for him or her rather than descending into "solutioning" or tit-for-tat, “you think you have it bad, well, let me tell you about my personal hell.” I’m talking about remaining calm and composed and serene when someone attacks you for having ashes on your forehead or a Bible on your desk or a cross around your neck.

Living a Christian life is annoying to a lot of people, sometimes even our fellow Christians. And sometimes, being annoying by attempting to live that life 24/7, just as Jesus did, gets us persecuted and ridiculed. And sometimes, in ways and at times we may never see, the annoyance kindles a tiny spark in others that can build into a roaring flame. Hard as it may be, let us never be afraid to show who we are and Who sent us… even if others find us annoying in the moment.

Action

The 124^th Women’s Cursillo Weekend in the Arlington Diocese began last night at Missionhurst. Consider spending your Sunday afternoon around a bunch of other people some may find annoying in their love of God at the closing Mass at St. Joseph’s in Alexandria. See http://www.arlingtoncursillo.org/134-womens-cursillo/closing/ for more details.

Come to Me to Have Life

March 22, 2012

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent

But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, "Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the face of the earth'? Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing your people. Exodus 32:11-12

The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life. John 5:36b-40

Piety

Father, as a new group of candidates gather tonight at Missionhurst, take away all barriers and distractions so that they will grow in friendship with the Lord. Jesus, open the doors of their hearts wide so that they will welcome you into their lives. Holy Spirit, warm them with your gifts so they will be set free in order hear his voice and harden not their hearts but harden their resolve to turn to the Lord for Life! Amen.

Study

As a new group of candidates and a team gather tonight at Missionhurst for a Cursillo Weekend, today's Gospel dressing down by Jesus gives us a lot to think about for their experience and our on-going Fourth Day journey. We do these things so that we will grow in friendship with the Lord.

The Cursillo is not an end in itself. The pursuit of piety, study and action is not some process that is divorced from the ultimate goal. The experience is not about the emotions of a morning song, a candidate's testimony at the closing or the joy of sisterhood and brotherhood that develops in the group. We do these things so that we will grow in friendship with the Lord.

Even these reflections brought to you by Fr. Joe and Beth and Colleen and Mel and I are just steps along the way. We do these things so that we will grow in friendship with the Lord.

As we set out on this Lenten Journey, St. Paul reminded us (2 Corinthians 5:20) that we have the responsibility to be ambassadors for Christ. That means we have an important job to do. We are the authorized representative of Christ of the highest rank carrying His message and friendship to the world.

"You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life." We could add that we do not have eternal life through our piety. Nor do we have eternal life through our action. It is only through our kinship with Jesus that we come to this grace.

Action

Please work and pray to support the 134th Women's Weekend.

There are a few times remaining on the Palanca Clock for prayer to support the weekend. You can sign up here: http://www.arlingtoncursillo.org/134-womens-cursillo/palancaclock/.

Closing for the 134th Women’s Weekend will begin at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 25, at St. Joseph’s in Alexandria and will include Mass.

St. Joseph’s is located at 711 N. Columbus Street (north Old Town, one block west of the George Washington Parkway on Wythe Street). Parking and entrance to the basement social hall are behind the church. You’ll also find plenty of free parking on the streets around the church.

Please bring palanca of heavy hors d’oeuvres and beverages!

PS: And don't forget to have your singing voices ready for Sunday morning.