Celebrate the "AND" March 6

http://www.usccb.org/nab/030606.shtml

Our team may be in hiatus but the challenge of the Gospels are certainly not this Lenten season. As you reflect on today's scriptures, I would like to alert you to a recent message from Pope Benedict XVI. Found this in the newsletter of Casa Juan Diego.

Lectio Divina Will Bring a New Spiritual Springtime to the Church

At the international conference on "Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church" the Holy Father recommended to all the ancient tradition of Lectio Divina, quoting Dei Verbum of Vatican II: "The diligent reading of Sacred Scripture accompanied by prayer brings about that intimate dialogue in which the person reading hears God who is speaking, and in praying, responds to him with trusting openness of heart" (n. 25). Reminding listeners that the Church knows well that Christ lives in the sacred Scriptures and for this reason has always venerated them in the same way as she venerates the Body of the Lord (Dei Verbum n. 21), he declared that if Lectio Divina is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the Church a new spiritual springtime.

http://www.cjd.org/paper/theme.html

There is a veritable spiritual springtime awaiting us in today's readings. The challenging messages of these scriptures (http://www.usccb.org/nab/030606.shtml) give us further reason to enter into dialog with God. God says to Moses that "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." That's easy. I can love the people next door. They are just like me. It's easy to love people just like me.

Then along comes Jesus raising the bar of justice. The Psalm reminds us gently that the law of the Lord is perfect...and perfect is a whole lot harder than loving the people next door. ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

As Cursillistas called to PIETY, STUDY and ACTION, the words of Matthew 25 ring strong and true.

For I was hungry and you gave me no food,I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,a stranger and you gave me no welcome,naked and you gave me no clothing,ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’

Jesus, let me celebrate the "AND" of your call to action. Help me to embrace the tasks you present today, not the easy parts, but the hard parts. Let me welcome the stranger including the worker at the hiring hall in Herndon AND the African priest celebrating Mass among us because there are not enough local clergy to meet the needs of your flock AND the Arab man who delivers my newspaper in the dark hours of the morning. Let me study the immigration laws that are proposed for our country and oppose those laws that do not welcome and assist the stranger. Your mother held you in her arms and Joseph led you across the desert for safety into Egypt where you could be called "undocumented workers" or "illegal aliens" today. Let us banish that latter term from our vocabulary recognizing that all people are created in your image and there can be no illegal people. May we welcome in our hearts and minds and deeds those who are coming to America today. They come to share the promise of America and to serve us in jobs for wages many of us would never accept. The same promise sought and obtained by our ancestors from England, France, Italy, Spain and throughout Western Europe.

It's too late to close the door.

Jesus did not give us a resaurant menu to choose from. He gave us a list and expects us to be accountable for all of it. You can't visit the sick and not welcome the stranger. You can't just bring food to the homeless shelter and pass quickly by the beggar outside your office on the city streets. You can't drop off your coats and excess clothing at the clothing drive and not care about those in prison...even if that prison is Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib. Even prisoners there deserve humane treatment free from torture, visitors to comfort and care for them and to have their dignity protected.

The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Emma Lazarus