So, would this living of the Christian life be easy? No, nothing worthwhile is easy. Everything of value has its price. In today’s Gospel, Jesus called the price the narrow gate. The narrow gate is not the popular gate, but it is the only one that leads to God.
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing.” Luke 12:49 The readings today present us with the challenges of our faith and the challenges to our faith.
Today’s Gospel reading reminds me of the old story of the apparition on the corner of Main and Market in a busy city. It was Saturday morning when Fr. Pascucci heard a knock on the rectory door and an extremely excited lady said, “The Lord has appeared on the corner of Main and Market.”
This is the lie of materialism. “The more you have, the happier you will be,” the false gods of materialism claim. Then reality kicks in. People can have everything, but are not happy. The Goth movement is really not that much different than atheistic existentialism.
His daughter presented him with a sweater that she had knitted. Then he realized that she had done her knitting when he was out of the house for his walk. He said to her, "Martha, Martha, I do appreciate this sweater. But I value your company infinitely more. A sweater I can buy in any store. But you I cannot buy.
Our God wants us. Our God loves us. Our God empowers us. Our God is with us. We belong to Him. We are so united to Him that we are united to His sacrificial love on the cross. And we rejoice in this union with Jesus. We boast in the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hammarskjold wrote, "The longest journey is the journey inwards of him who has chosen his destiny." As the Gospel of Luke opens, an unknown writer points out that the Christ is about to begin His own "longest journey." It is a trip by foot, but also it is a "journey inwards" as he moves without hesitation to complete the destiny marked out for Him by the Father.
Born into a corrupt and lawless world, humans do not have much chance of knowing, much less of living an authentic existence as God's image. Through revelations and covenants with the Hebrew people, we first hear the good news that God does not abandon his estranged children, but will liberate them from their state of inauthentic existence.
In Luke, Jesus manifests His greatness in His compassion. We have an example of this in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus comes upon a widow following her son's funeral litter. He feels deeply for her. Her sorrow becomes His sorrow. He gives the son back to the mother.
The gift of the Lord, the Body and Blood of Christ that we receive is the greatest gift possible. It is His sacrifice on the Cross made real in the Eucharist for us to eat and be nourished with. Somehow or other, many of us have lost the wonder and awe, the respect and reverence, that the Eucharist deserves.
Our ability to respond to the Creative Love of the Father and the Compassionate Love of the Son is infinitely more powerful than any love the human soul can produce. We have been given the Spirit of Love, the Power of Love, the Holy Spirit. The central truth of the Trinity is that we are immersed in Divine Love.
But now, fifty days later, the eleven remaining disciples were publically proclaiming Jesus Christ, right there in the Temple area, right where those who murdered Jesus could see them. “You cannot kill God’s plan,” they said. “You couldn’t even keep Jesus in the grave, for He rose and gave His Life to all who believe in Him.”
:The Lord Ascends, His Power Descends. He ascends into heaven and, just as in the case of Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, His Power descends upon the disciples who will now become apostles. Jesus’ Power is the Holy Spirit.
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives peace do I give peace.” When we think of peace we usually consider the cessation of hostilities between warring nations, or even warring members of a family. That is not the peace the Lord gives. The peace of the Lord is the joy we experience when we are united to Him.
Message: Love is to will the good of the other - that he will become a citizen of the New Jerusalem. Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment: love one another." We hear a lot about love, but we often do not know what the word really means.
Too often, however, I find myself in a miserable situation – as many others in the pews next to me do – because priests continue to fail in their duties as preachers to deliver an inspiring and thoughtful homily. There is growing discontent among Bangladeshi Catholics over the quality of the preaching during Mass.
The man who entered the Church last Sunday was old, very old. He was stooped over. He carried an oxygen pack. He had a cane, but he could barely walk. His face was thinned and his hair was a distant memory. He had to have been in his late 90's. He saw me and looked up, and with a smile said, “Father, He is risen.” He said all that needs to be said.
Poor Thomas always gets bad press the Sunday after Easter. We are always focusing in on his doubts. We often think that he was the only one who did not believe that the Lord had risen from the dead. The fact is that most of the disciples doubted the Lord’s resurrection until they experienced His presence.
The Cross and the Candle. The three places where the cross was revealed are the three places where the Light of Christ is proclaimed. In a real sense, those are two aspects of one act. Joining Christ on the Cross, suffering with Him, results in living in His Light.
