CATHOLIC COMMENTARY Archives -

CALL TO HOLINESS

Thus you are to be Holy to Me, for I the Lord am Holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine. Leviticus 20:26

Universal Call to Holiness Every Christian must seek God’s will in all matters and devote themselves to love of God and service to their neighbor by utilizing their own personal gifts in the duties, circumstances and conditions of their life. To be holy, then, is to be about God’s business above all else. In holiness each person comes to realize that one’s life is not about her/his self but about following God’s projects and plans. (Vatican II 1962-65)

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HOLY AS GOD IS HOLY?

We are people set apart by God. We are not of this world but created in the eternal image of God. We grow in holiness as we grow in our image of the Creator. God did not have to create us. He needs nothing, but He wanted to share with us His divine life, perfect, unsoiled, shining in grandeur of the Almighty. At our Baptisms, we become a new creation, free of original sin and adopted children of God.

We are gods not by nature but by adoption. We begin the Our Father with the first petition, Hallowed be thy name. We call God Our Father with good reason and acknowledge He is holy, above all other gods. For us to be holy is to be like God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, One God, three Persons in relationship of Love. The Lover (Father), the Beloved (Son), and Love itself (Holy Spirit)

Holiness is a separation from the unholy. God’s holiness is sheer goodness and light without any hint of evil or darkness. To confront God’s holiness is also to confront our sin.

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48 The command “Be ye perfect” is not a command to do the impossible. God does not ask the impossible of us. All things are possible with God. Holiness makes it necessary for us to separate from what is not holy.

We can choose our self or God. Sin can stand in the way and it does have consequences. Just a quick look into the Old Testament from Genesis on…. Exile from Garden of Eden, The Great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylonian Exile, Destruction of Jerusalem etc.

As our Creator, God knows best what is best for His creation. God gives his laws to make his people a people set apart: “You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and observe them. . . . You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples to be mine” Leviticus 20:22-26

The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”: For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine son-ship, might become a son of God.” Catholic Catechism #460

Jesus assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might make us gods. Jesus shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage of sin.

I will conclude with Psalm 23 a prayer I would suggest to say often and reflect at those times we feel the storm is too great, the waves too high, the depths too low and our hearts lashed by every demon we can possibly imagine. Psalm 23 gives me great consolation and encouragement to stay the course.

PSALM 23

The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall lack.

In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me;

He restores my soul. He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil,

for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me. You set a table before me in front of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for endless days.

SAINT (MOTHER) TERESA OF CALCUTTA

CATHOLIC COMMENTARY, CATHOLIC FEAST DAYS

FEAST DAY SEPTEMBER 5

INTRODUCTION

Mother Teresa is one of my favorite saints. Years ago, she inspired our whole family, teenage girls included, to spend time in the poorest of poor nations, Haiti, to work with the poor and dying. One of the places was a hospice run by the Missonaries of Charity the order Mother Teresa founded.

BACKGROUND

Born in Skopje (North Macedonia) in 1910, MOTHER TERESA joined the Sisters of Loreto in Dublin in 1928 and was sent to India, where she began her novitiate. She taught at St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta from 1931 to 1948, until leaving the Loreto order to begin the Missionaries of Charity.

In 1946, Mother Teresa had a mystical encounter with Christ on a train to Darjeeling September 26, 1946 in which He asked her to take her love for Him a large step further.

He asked her to leave the convent of Loreto and begin an order which would serve the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta.

“My little one – come – carry Me into the holes of the poor. – Come be My light – I cannot go alone – they don’t know Me – in your love for Me – they will see Me, know Me, want Me…. For them I long –”

During her lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa became an icon of compassion to people of all religions; her extraordinary contributions to the care of the sick, the dying, and thousands of others nobody else was prepared to look after, has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world.

REFLECTION

QUOTES FROM MOTHER TERESA

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

Each person is Jesus in disguise. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This one has leprosy. I must wash him and tend to him….

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway…. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

.Mother Teresa’s 1979 Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech

Lord, make me a channel of Thy peace that, where there is hatred, I may bring love;

that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; that, where there is discord, I may bring harmony; that, where there is error, I may bring truth; that, where there is doubt, I may bring faith; that, where there is despair, I may bring hope; that, where there are shadows, I may bring light; that, where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted, to love than to be loved; for it is by forgetting self that one finds; it is forgiving that one is forgiven; it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

There is no need to travel to far-off lands to contribute… Wherever we are, with whatever talents and relationships God has entrusted us, we are each called not to do what Mother Teresa did, but– to love as she loved in the Calcutta of our own life.

JONAH CHAPTER 1

CATHOLIC COMMENTARY, SCRIPTURE

The word of the LORD came to Jonah, Set out for the great city^* of Nineveh, and preach against it; for their wickedness has come before me.

But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish,^* away from the LORD. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down in it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the LORD.

The LORD, however, hurled a great wind upon the sea, and the storm was so great that the ship was about to break up.

Then the sailors were afraid and each one cried to his god. To lighten the ship for themselves, they threw its cargo into the sea.

Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship, and lay there fast asleep

. The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing asleep? Get up, call on your god!

Then they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots to discover on whose account this evil has come to us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

They said to him, “Tell us why this evil has come to us! What is your business? “I am a Hebrew,” Jonah replied; “I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

Now the men were seized with great fear and said to him, “How could you do such a thing!”—They knew that he was fleeing from the LORD, because he had told them.

They asked, “What shall we do with you? Jonah responded, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea and then the sea will calm down for you. For I know that this great storm has come upon you because of me.”

Then they cried to the LORD: “Please, O LORD, do not let us perish for taking this man’s life; do not charge us with shedding innocent blood, for you, LORD, have accomplished what you desired.”^*

Then they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging.

Seized with great fear of the LORD, the men offered sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.

REFLECTION

Listen to the Lord! To not listen is to separate myself from God!

FEAST OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW AUGUST 24

CATHOLIC COMMENTARY, CATHOLIC FEAST DAYS

INTRODUCTION

Today, the Feast of St. Bartholomew is my 85T^h birthday, so much to be thankful, so many blessings. This is also the Tenth anniversary of my blog, began July 2015.

BACKGROUND

Saint Bartholomew lived in the first century AD. His name means “son of Tolomai” Bartholomew and is one of the twelve apostles. He was sometimes called Nathanael which is a Hebrew name meaning “God has given.” Philipp was the one who introduced Nathaniel to Jesus John 1:43-51.

Bartholomew was born in Cana in Galilee. In each of the listings of the disciples, the names of Philip and Bartholomew are linked, which could mean they were good friends or even related. St. Bartholomew preached in India and Greater Armenia. He was martyred in Armenia where he was flayed and beheaded.

In art Bartholomew is most commonly depicted with a beard and curly hair at the time of his martyrdom. According to legends he was skinned alive and beheaded so is often depicted holding his flayed skin or the curved flensing knife with which he was skin

JOHN 1:44-51

The names of the twelve apostles^* are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;….Matthew 10:2

After Jesus called Philip to follow Him, Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” John 1:45

The next day Jesus went into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to Him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

REFLECTION

Come and see! This was Phillip’s call to his friend Nathanael. We too should reach out to bring others to Jesus and Jesus will do the rest. Nathanael is without deceit. Nathaniel worships the true and living God without the duplicity and hypocrisy of the religious leaders of his time.

Jesus saw Nathanael under a fig tree before he met him in person. Jesus knows Nathanael through and through. Nathaniel is a righteous man, clearly a son of Abraham probably reading Scriptures under the fig tree.

“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael (Bartholomew) saw the attributes of divine omniscience and calls out, ““Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.”

Lord may I experience your Divinity as Nathanael did!

JESUS CALLS PHILLIP AND NATHANIEL

FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY INTO HEAVEN

CATHOLIC COMMENTARY

BACKGROUND

The Feast of the Assumption is the oldest Marian feast of the Catholic Church, celebrated universally by the sixth century. The feast was originally celebrated in the East, where it was known as the Feast of the Dormition, a word which means “the falling asleep.”

For two centuries after the death of Christ, under pagan rule, every memory of Jesus was obliterated from the city of Jerusalem. The sites made holy by His life, death and Resurrection became pagan temples. It wasn’t until the time of Roman Emperor Constantine (c. 285-337) that Jerusalem began to be restored as a sacred cit

DORMITION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, Emperor Marcian asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the relics of Mary to Constantinople to be enshrined in the capitol.

The patriarch explained to the emperor that there were no relics of Mary in Jerusalem that “Mary had died in the presence of the apostles; but her tomb, when opened later . . . was found empty and so the apostles concluded that the body was taken up into heaven.”

Did Mary actually die or was she assumed into heaven alive? We don’t have a definitive answer to that question but as Catholics we are free to believe either.

What we must believe according to the teaching authority of the Church (Magisterium) is: Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven, without seeing corruption.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which we celebrate on August 15, is a defined Church dogma. In 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption by an ex cathedra pronouncement—that is, an authoritative teaching “from the chair” of Peter.

Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma in these words, “The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven, without seeing corruption.

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ASSUMPTION OF MARY INTO HEAVEN

Mary’s role is well described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “By her complete adherence to the Father’s will, to his Son’s redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church’s model of faith and charity… CCC 967

Our bodies, created by God, are sacred and are essential to our human nature. “….At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. I Corinthians 13:9-13

REFLECTION

Mary did not ascend into heaven like her Son did under His own power, but was taken up to heaven by God. The Assumption completes God’s work in Mary since it was not fitting that the flesh that had given life to God himself should ever undergo corruption.

As hard as life in this world is, Mary’s Assumption into heaven is confirmation that our struggles are not in vain. Whenever we help lift people up in our sphere of influence we are also sharing in the grace of the Assumption.

Wherever there is an out stretched hand in labor for others we are participating in the grace and mystery of Mary’s Assumption. God awaits those we lift and we, the lifters! Our heavenly home awaits!

Today we join Mary in her happiness. We look forward to the day when we too can share it with her. Like Mary, we must with profound trust say daily: “Let it be done to me according to your word.”

PRAYER

“All-powerful and ever-living God:

You raised the sinless Virgin Mary, mother of your Son, body and soul,

to the glory of heaven. May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory.”

In Jesus’ name we pray.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-31

CATHOLIC COMMENTARY, SCRIPTURE

Paradox of the Cross.

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…. it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside. Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish?

Since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,

God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast^* before God. “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”

REFLE CTION

To the world suffering is a bad thing. It is foolish to embrace the cross yet Jesus Son of God gave his life for love of us to save us to open heaven doors. If not the cross what is our path to salvation?

God chose the weak like me to reach out to others to proclaim the Gospel. If not me who then in this world with the Spirit as our guide will draw people to Christ?

What of myself am I ro boast? I am only to boast in the Lord, He has given me everything, my understanding, my liberty, and my entire will, Lord I return it all to you, Thy love and grace is sufficient for me.

SAINT JOSEPH THE WORKER MAY 1

CATHOLIC COMMENTARY, CATHOLIC FEAST DAYS

PATRON SAINT OF WORKERS

On May 1, Russia, paraded troops in Red Square to show their latest military hardware in front of huge, stage-managed crowds to celebrate the might of their working class.

In 1955 the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker was promulgated by Pope Pius XII to be observed on May 1. This feast was added to the Church calendar to counter the Communist May Day celebrations.

Saint Joseph is a faithful practicing Jewish man from the line of David and Foster father of Jesus. St Joseph is a humble carpenter who knew what it was to work hard, often for meagre pay, in order to earn a living to support his wife and foster child. It was the Will of God that Joseph and his foster-Son Jesus should spend their days together in manual labor.

By the daily labor in his shop, St. Joseph provided for the necessities of his holy spouse and of the Incarnate Son of God. He became a role model for laborers. The liturgy for this feast not only celebrates the dignity of work but the right to work.

Jesus, too, was a carpenter who learned the trade from Saint Joseph and spent his early adult years working side-by-side in Joseph’s carpentry shop before leaving to pursue his ministry as preacher and healer. God allowed Himself to be taught carpentry skills by Saint Joseph in order to show us what sanctity can be attached to the simple and humble role of a workman

By work, human-kind fulfills the command found in Genesis to care for the earth “The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the Garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.” Genesis 2:15

Humanity is like God not only in thinking and loving, but also in creating. Whether we make a table or a cathedral, we are called to bear fruit with our hands and mind, ultimately for the building up of the Body of Christ. .

REFLECTION.

Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. We were created with a vocation to work. (Genesis 2:15) Work is a path to growth, human development and personal fulfillment.

How do I view work?

St. Joseph. Jesus’ earthly father, served as a model of manhood, demonstrating work ethic, faith, and love for God and family. Jesus learned what it was to be a human being from St. Joseph.

Do I have a mentor?

St. Joseph shows us the importance of sharing skills with others, as he did when Jesus served as his apprentice. In these hard times we ask for St. Joseph’s intercession to find good, productive work for all those who are searching.

PRAYER TO ST JOSEPH

O glorious St. Joseph, Saint of the workbench…cheerfully toiling side by side with Jesus, , obtain for us the grace to work conscientiously with peace and patience, without ever shrinking from weariness and frustration, Teach us also to value lives of hidden splendor. Saint Joseph, we implore your powerful intercession in obtaining for us from your Divine son all spiritual blessings, particularly the grace of a happy death,

PATRON SAINT OF HAPPY DEATH

PALM SUNDAY

CATHOLIC COMMENTARY

JESUS TRIUMPHANT ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM

“….the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord— the King of Israel!” Jesus sat upon a young donkey; as it is written: “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” John 12:12-16

INTRODUCTION

Palm Sunday begins Holy Week… So many mysteries to ponder. From the triumphant entrance into Jerusalem to the Last Supper, the Eucharist, Good Friday, Christ Crucified, and then Easter Sunday, new beginnings… new life free from mortality of the body and soul.

“Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king^* is coming to you, a just savior is he, Humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” Zachariah 9:9

REFLECTION

WHO IS THE KING OF GLORY?

Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty
Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory?
The Lord Almighty—he is the King of glory PSALM 24

Jesus makes His triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem. It is a remarkable event recorded by all four Gospels. Now is His hour. He is in full command of fulfilling His Father’s will. He allows people to praise Him even if that devotion may fade and evolve into condemnation.

Jesus is King of Glory. Mankind could not do it on their own. Abraham couldn’t do it. Moses couldn’t do it. David couldn’t do it. It took the Word Incarnate, son of God, son of Mary to open the gates of heaven to all of us so we too may walk the path of GLORY!

If Jesus is the king, then all his loyal subjects must recognize his kingship. The Jews recognized Jesus’ sovereignty by calling him the Son of David, and by spreading their cloaks before him. In this ancient custom; people threw down their garments to make a carpet for the royal procession.

We recognize his sovereignty by laying our hearts before him, throwing down our wills in absolute surrender, and asking Jesus to govern everything we think and say and do. Give praise to Him, our rightful King!

CONCLUSION

Palm Sunday is sometimes called Passion Sunday for good reason. While Jesus is King of Glory and our Savior and Redeemer we get a glimpse in the Mass readings of today… the Passion of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew.

FROM HOSANNA TO CRUCIFY HIM

They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him.

Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand.

And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

They spat upon him^* and took the reed and kept striking him on the head.

And when they had mocked him,

they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes,

and led him off to crucify him.

Matthew 27:28-31

A week from now Jesus will make another triumphant entrance and deliverance on Easter Sunday. Jesus will rise triumphant over sin and death. HOPE SPRINGS ETERNA!

How great a Savior we have!

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!

GOD OF JUSTICE AND MERCY

CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHING, CATHOLIC COMMENTARY

MOST HOLY TRINITY

FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT

INTRODUCTION

Many get stuck in their Bible reading because of the Old Testament. Some may find the God they read about in Old Testament is not the kind of God they are looking for.

Are there two Gods, one of the Old and one of the New Testament? No, there is one God, in three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. a God of Justice and Mercy

In the very beginning of Genesis when man disobeyed God by choosing his will over God’s will, man committed Original sin which we all inherit in our human nature.

GENESIS 3:8-16

“…Have you eaten from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat? The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it. “The LORD God then asked the woman: What is this you have done? The woman answered, “The snake tricked me, so I ate it…. Then the LORD God said to the snake…I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; they will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel.^*

God of the Old Testament in His Justice separates man from His kingdom but in His Mercy, promises a Savior that will crush evil and reunite us into God’s Divine Life.

At our Baptism, Original Sin is removed and (if adult) any other personal sins. Infused with Divine life we become heirs of heaven, brothers and sisters of Christ.

COMMENTARY

The Old Testament is filled with blessings and curses. Man falls again and again, yet God in His Mercy remains faithful, calling man to repentance and reunion with Him.

THE GREAT FLOOD

When the LORD saw how great the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil the LORD regretted making human beings on the earth, and his heart was grieved. So the LORD said: I will wipe out from the earth the human beings I have created, and not only the human beings, but also the animals and the crawling things and the birds of the air, for I regret that I made them. But Noah found favor with the LORD. Genesis 6:5-7

Even in the midst of such a terrifying judgment God’s rescue mission moves forward in the hands of his faithful shipmate, Noah. God demonstrates his justice toward humanity through punishment, and he demonstrates his saving love and mercy for humanity through Noah.

Death was a result of man separating himself from God (ORIGINAL SIN). We inherit death in our human nature from our first parents Adam and Eve. In the ancient world life expectancy was very low.

God, in his righteousness sometimes uses death as a punishment to restore the order of justice. When we reject the Author of Life, death results. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” Matthew 10:28

REFLECTION

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father…John 14:9

Jesus says to Phillip and to us Who sees me sees the Father!

We cry out for justice here and now on earth. But our expectations are seldom met in this life. Unlike earthly justice, God will bring all things together in his perfect justice in end times.

God provides time for the wicked to repent and obtain salvation. I give thanks every day for God’s unlimited patience and mercy. God is a Just God. The time God allows between now and the final judgment gives us an opportunity to become a recipient of his Mercy through rather than a target for his judgment

We can’t ignore the Old Testament for that is when the story of our salvation begins. It is where we first learn who God is and what man’s relationship to God should be. We see that God is not only transcendent, but a God who intervenes in our history.

We see Divine Providence, creating a nation, Israel, to be a call, a light to all nations to worship the one true God. How is Divine Providence working in my life?

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is Good,

His mercy endures forever.”

Psalm 107

RECEIVE THE MIGRANT: SHELTER THE HOMELESS

CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHING, CATHOLIC COMMENTARY

JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH FLIGHT INTO EYGPT

JESUS WAS A MIGRANT

Immigration is a hot button issue in our country today. Today,there are some people who seem to be against all immigration. But the truth is almost all of us except Native Americans are the descendants of immigrants!

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, was born homeless. (Mt.8:20) He who created the world became a homeless person depending on the kindness of strangers. Jesus, Mary and Joseph were themselves refugees fleeing into Egypt to avoid Herod’s massacre of newly born children.

“The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Mt 8:20). Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, was born in a borrowed manger; had no fixed address once he began his public ministry; and was buried in another man’s tomb.

Where are we on welcoming the refugee? And how about our treatment of the homeless despite the reasons for their homelessness. God loves the homeless! .

The Catholic Church in the United States is an immigrant Church with a long history of embracing newcomers regardless of origin, race or religion. Our Church has responded to Christ’s call for us to “welcome the stranger among us,” for in this encounter with the immigrant and the refugee in our midst, we encounter Christ.

CORPORAL WORK OF MERCY

The Corporal Works of Mercy are found in the teachings of Jesus and give us a model for how we should treat all others, as if they were Christ in disguise.

CCC 2447 The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor…The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead.

I asked my oldest daughter who has some experience of working with the homeless hwhat supplies shelters needed, she replied, “new socks, gently used blankets, comforters, coats, hats, gloves will always be in high repeat demand— once these items become wet and soiled— our homeless have no way to dry them.. clean, dry supplies always needed.”

REFLECTION

For many of us, the line between our homes and being homeless is a thin one that can disappear with the death of a spouse, the loss of a job or an illness. This corporal work of mercy forces us to open our eyes to the misery of those who, for a variety of reasons, have no place they can call home.

Welcome the immigrant in your neighborhood; speak kindly to that homeless man or woman who you pass and offering a sandwich or buying them a meal. “Whatever you do to the least of these brethren , you do to me!”

Homelessness is invasive and may be found at our doorstep. Let us not ignore it and walk over like the rich man, Dives, in the parable who ignored Lazarus the begger. We often show more empathy for stray dogs or cats than human beings. Pro-Life is more than anti-abortion! Let’s give the same fervor to those already born!

LUKE 16

Jesus comes to us in disguises. Remember his last judgment discourse in Matthew 23, “Whatever you do to one of these least of my brethren, you do to me.”

POSTSCRIPT

MOTHER TERESA

DO IT ANYWAY!

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

At the hour of death when we come face-to-face with God, we are going to be judged on love; not how much we have done, but how much love we put into the doing.