Stop holding on July 22

Piety

Let us pray. Jesus, how many times do we like Mary not recognize your face in the face of others? Our own sisters and brothers. Our neighbors. Our enemies. The poor.

Please roll away the stones that block our sight of you when we gaze upon the faces of the least of our sisters and brothers.

Help us to stop holding onto the past and move into the future committed to you for you are the way, the truth and the light.

Help us be like Mary Magdalene and truly see your face before us in every close encounter we have with you and the Spirit. Let us praise your presence in our life by giving ourselves fully in Christian service to those we meet along the way. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/072206.shtml

“Stop holding on.”

Let us invite and welcome Mary Magdalene into our group reunion and listen to her story this week as we join the Church in reconizing her feast day. Imagine the story she would share with us after her experience at the tomb of our Lord. Perhaps it would go like this:

(For piety) I went to the tomb where Joseph of Aramethea and Nicodemus laid Jesus’ body to rest. I could not stay away any longer. As soon as the sun started to rise on Sunday and Sabbath ended, I ran to the tomb. When I saw what happened, I had to get Peter and the others. As they went inside, I bent over the tomb to pray but my prayers were only weeping because the stone was rolled away and the body was not there.

(For study) I wanted to look into what happened to Jesus after the burial at sundown on Friday. I sought answers from everyone I met at the tomb. I sought answers from the angels and the “gardener.”

Then, the only experience that we share which is close to this was a few weeks ago in Bethany with the Lord. ”Rabbouni” (master) told us to roll away the stone and Lazarus came out! Boy was I in for a surprise today when I saw that the stone on his tomb also had been rolled away.

On my Cursillo weekend, we learned about contemplating a close moment with Christ. Yet, here I felt as low as I could possibly be seeing that the Roman guards or maybe the Pharisees took his body and hid it away from us.

I turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus until he called me by name. Oh, the feeling! The release! I have seen the Lord and He lives! But after this close moment with Christ, His words challenged me like nothing else I have ever heard.

He told me to “Stop holding on.” Jesus said, “I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” He spoke with such love…like a member of the family…even after we deserted him last Friday. He is our brother…and he shares the one true God with us!

When Jesus said, “To my Father and your Father, to my God and your God,” it took my breath away. This echoed to me the prophecy of Ruth 1:16: "Your people shall be my people, and your God my God." The Father of Jesus will now become Our Father, father of the disciples because, once ascended, Jesus can give us the Spirit that comes from the Father and we can be reborn as God's children. That is why he calls us his sisters and brothers.

For my Christian action, he told me to spread this story far and wide so I have gone to my brothers and shared that I have seen the Lord. Now, I must go out into the world and profess his holy name, reporting what he told me.

Mary would look upon us with her dark eyes, reddened from the tears, and invite us to tell our stories next...

Action

Our story in The Middle East continues to hold onto the violent ways of the past.

Nine days of fighting, which began July 12 after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers, left 29 Israelis dead, including 15 civilians killed by rockets launched by Hezbollah fighters into Israel. Israel's daily air strikes on Lebanon have left some 300 people dead, 1,000 injured, and 500,000 people displaced.

Pope Benedict declared tomorrow, July 23, 2006, to be a “day dedicated to prayers and penance for people of all religious faiths "to implore God for the precious gift of peace."

Today’s first reading from Micah reminds us of the displeasure of the Lord when His people turn to violence:

Woe to those who plan iniquity,
and work out evil on their couches;
In the morning light they accomplish it
when it lies within their power.
They covet fields, and seize them;
houses, and they take them;
They cheat an owner of his house,
a man of his inheritance.

A statement by the Patriarchs and Heads of Local Churches in Jerusalem also condemns violence, especially violations of noncombatant immunity and the lack of proportionality in the warring parties actions. They seek a “just peace.”

http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/StatementsoftheHolySeeandChurchesintheHolyLand.pdf

The Holy Father’s statement urged prayers for:
1. an immediate cease-fire between the (warring) sides,
2. the establishment of "a humanitarian corridor in order to bring aid to the
suffering people," and
3. the start of "reasonable and responsible negotiations so as to end the objective situations of injustice existing in that region."

"The Lebanese have the right to see the integrity and sovereignty of their country respected, the Israelis have the right to live in peace in their nation, and the Palestinians have the right to have a free and sovereign country," the written statement said.

The pope also launched an appeal to all charitable aid organizations to direct their attention to the people "hit by this ruthless conflict," the statement said.

Please include these intentions in your prayers and write to leaders to encourage them to support actions that will lead to “just peace” in the region.