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Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. 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; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus.
The moment had arrived. After months of training, the Lord finally sent His Apostles out, into the world, to preach the Good News. He did not send them out immediately. No, not at all. If anything, it took some time for them to learn the ropes. Better yet, to be humbled and purified. They needed to learn how to pray. They needed to learn how to love. They needed to know, with their heart and mind, the Lord.
Jesus summoned his Twelve
disciples and gave them authority. It
took Him a while to get them ready, but the wait was well worth it. Today, the Apostles continue to teach us. Their honesty is attractive. Their mistakes are enlightening. Their humility is inspiring. Everything they did was for the glory of the
Lord. It’s not about me. It about
Him!
Lord, may I celebrate this Mass for your glory, not mine.
This morning I read that the Holy
Father telephoned the clergy at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires to
request that a statue of him be “removed immediately."
The life-seized statue was
installed a few days ago and it depicts Pope Francis in a white cassock smiling
and waving with his right hand. The Pope
objected to it because he is “against the cult of personality.”
Oh my goodness! The cult of personality! How true this is! How common it is! How awful it is! It’s so easy for us to create idols, living
idols, from mortal beings, and when they eventually fail us or fall into
disgrace, they leave us feeling empty of any grace!
Oh, how cunning the devil
is: You
can be just like God (cf. Gen. 3:4).
To make matters worse we tend to
blame our idols, not ourselves, for our very own unhealthy obsessions. This happened with Lindsay
Lohan. It will happen with Miley
Cyrus. It’s beginning to happen with
Justin Bieber. It will eventually happen
to Selena Gomez. I wonder how many fans
will verbally rip apart Selena Gomez when she gets her first DWI? Answer:
As many as the number of Patriot fans lining up to return their
Hernandez jerseys…IN EXCHANGE FOR ANOTHER!!! This will never stop!
Do you remain faithful to your friends (and not
turn your back on them, but pray for them) after you find out just how human
they really are?
A few days ago, the Italian edition
of Vanity Fair named Pope Francis “Man of The Year.” Sir Elton John warmly said, “Francis is a miracle of humility in an era
of vanity.” Wow!!! He went on to say that he hoped the Pope’s
message of compassion would extend to marginalized groups which “have a desperate need of his love.” Wow!!!
[Remember: to love someone doesn’t mean you have to
agree with them on everything.]
Now I know that Sir Elton John doesn’t
agree with everything the Catholic Church says, but I find it comforting to
know that I can agree on one more thing that he said: “[Pope Francis’s] beacon of hope will bring
more light than any advancement of science, because no drug has the power of
love.”
I agree. I totally agree.
Check out the articles that made this meditation possible.
Remember: to love someone doesn’t mean you have to agree with them on everything.
ReplyDeleteThis brilliant concept, even if only applied by Christians, would change the face of this world! I truly believe this!!
I am continually amazed at how all of us live by fear of others as in the Buddhist monk (today in the news) fearful of Muslims taking over their culture. I’m not saying I don’t fear others – I most definitely do! But that is my challenge – to let go of that fear, and recognize that I am afraid that someone is going to take away those things that I am attached to. If I first can give everything to God and have no attachments to the things of this world (my culture, my ‘stuff’, my relationships, my family, even my own life and my own truths!) and die to myself just like Christ, I will have no fear left. Only love will remain. Jesus did die to His truths in the sense that he didn’t punish the Romans right on the spot. He could have shown them who's boss, pull out His fear cards and somehow perform miracles to prove His Truth. But what did He do instead? He allowed the evil to reveal itself. In this way, He ‘lived’ His Truth.
“Perfect love casts out all fear.” This must be what heaven is like.
The only fear I pray for now is to have fear of God!
I just returned from a retreat where all faiths and even people of good will with no beliefs are welcomed: the only ‘membership’ requirements are if you try to love one another in "the Art of Loving". It is the ‘Spiritualty of Communion’ approved by the Catholic Church in 1961. Of course, you try to make yourself one with each other in all things but sin.
ReplyDeleteI was talking to an Imam from Houston and jokingly told him that when I hopefully get to see God, I am going to ask Him why He divided us (Tower of Babel story), giving us different languages, lack of communication, etc if He wants us to live in a peaceful, united world....
“Behold, they are all one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6). “
(Can you even begin to imagine what this would look like?)
Without a blink, the Imam said: “Because that is what God wants US to do. We have to work out our own salvation.”
Pretty Catholic stuff coming from a Muslim.