Remember the Resurrection!

"...when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand." -- Luke 21:28 (NAB)

Earlier this week, I was reflecting on these words of our Lord while considering the increasing darkness in the world. As I did so, these words started rising up in my heart: "Make this your rallying cry: Remember the Resurrection!"

When the darkness and fear of the Garden of Gethsemane starts pressing in on every side, Remember the Resurrection!

When your friends abandon you, as they did Jesus, Remember the Resurrection!

When people mock you and persecute you for your faith, Remember the Resurrection!

When you have fallen under the weight of your cross and are struggling get up and go on, Remember the Resurrection!

When you are nailed to the cross yourself, or standing by the cross of a loved one, going through the agony as death approaches, Remember the Resurrection!

When you, like the Blessed Mother, are cradling your dead loved one in your arms, heart broken with grief, Remember the Resurrection!

And today, when a score of innocent children and a number of adults are brutally killed by a gunman, leaving behind hundreds of traumatized and grieving students and teachers and family and friends; when a nation and a world that in many ways has become calloused to loss of life is stunned; when people in shock and anger and despair ask How? and Why? and Where is God?...

...then hold each other tight, and cry together, and then gently and lovingly whisper to each other the words, Remember the Resurrection!

The Cross and the Resurrection

"For the sake of the joy that lay before Him He endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken His seat at the right of the throne of God." -- Heb. 12:2 (NAB)

I just learned today that the oft-quoted words of Cardinal Francis George of Chicago about "dying in his bed" are missing an important sentence. Cardinal George explained in his Oct. 21, 2012 column for the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago that his words in response to a question were apparently recorded on a smartphone and then "went viral." Although they were accurate, as far as they went, the complete quote reads as follows:

"I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history."

I think that second sentence is so vitally important, especially given the situation that our society is facing today. It reminds us that, no matter how dark things may get--and I, like many others, think it's going to get pretty dark--the story does not end on Good Friday! We need to keep the Resurrection firmly in mind when considering what lies ahead. Then, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we can hope to be able to be like Jesus, Who "for the sake of the joy that lay before Him ... endured the cross, despising its shame..." 

The challenge of fear

"The angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.' " -- Luke 1: 30 (RSV)

 About a month ago, I started reading a book called The Gift of Faith by Father Tadeusz Dajczer. It came highly recommended by a fellow Secular Carmelite, and I've not been disappointed. If you're looking for an inspiring book to read during the Year of Faith, check it out.

Among the many insights from Fr. Dajczer is this from his chapter, "The Virtue of Faith":

"Fear is a trial of faith and that is why God allows it, so that you may grow in faith. Trust and faith are made perfect amidst fears.

"Fear can contribute to illness in many people. Fear lies at the basis of neuroses and psychoses. But it can be an outlet to total abandonment to God. Everything depends on you. Fear is a challenge issued to you. What will you do with it? Will you allow yourself to be enslaved by its weight? Or, instead, will you try to perform acts of abandoning yourself to Him who is infinite power and love." (p. 53)

This is what Mary did when faced with the Archangel Gabriel's visit and message. She did not allow either fear of the angel or fear of the implications of God's call to hold her back. Instead, she abandoned herself totally to God and His will: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."

Lord, through the prayers of Your Mother, help me to respond to every fear that I experience in my life by abandoning myself to You in trust, faith, and love.

Mother of the Word Incarnate

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth..." -- John 1:14 (RSV)

Although the months of May and October are dedicated to the Blessed Mother, the liturgical season that brings her most to the forefront, at least for me, is Advent/Christmas. So now, when we're starting another liturgical year, seems like the perfect time to share this beautiful image of Mary reading the Scriptures. (Yes, I know it's anachronistic to show her reading a bound book, but please put that aside for now. :-) )

I found this several months ago on Wikimedia Commons, and I'm glad that I downloaded it when I did, because I haven't been able to find it again since! If I recall correctly, it's an image from a cathedral in Russia.

Aside from the sheer beauty of this image of the Blessed Mother, I love the fact that she, who bore the Word of God Incarnate, is shown contemplating the Word of God. I've heard it said, I think, that Jesus was conceived in Mary's heart long before He was conceived in her womb.  No wonder that both Mary and Jesus are addressed in Scripture as being "full of grace."

Father, by the power of your Spirit, may I study Your Word until I, too, can bring Him forth to the world in the way that You created me to bear Him, according to Your perfect loving will. Amen.

He must increase...

"Andrew ... first found his brother Simon, and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah' (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus." -- (John 1:40b-42a)

Today is the feast of St. Andrew. Andrew is described by St. John as a disciple of St. John the Baptist and one of the first two disciples to follow Jesus. Andrew is the one responsible for bringing his brother Simon to Jesus.

Yet Andrew did not become one of the "inner circle" with Simon Peter, James, and John whom the Lord chose to be closest to Him. And what did he think when his brother, whom he had brought to the Lord, was chosen to be the leader, "the Rock" on which the Lord would build His Church? Was he resentful at being passed over, even though he had been one of Jesus' first followers?

If he was, there is no record of it in Scripture. In fact, you can almost hear him echoing the words of his first mentor, John the Baptist: "He must increase, and I must decrease."

Lord, please help me, like St. Andrew, to humbly and gratefully accept the role and purpose that You have for me, whatever it may be, without comparing myself to others. May I always bless what You are doing with others, whatever it may be and whatever it may mean, or not mean, for me.

A taste of the joy

"I rejoiced when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the LORD.'" -- Psalm 122:1 (NAB)

Deaths in my life seem to go in surges, and October saw one of those surges. On October 5, the 12-year-old granddaughter of one of our deacons died following a three-year battle with cancer. The day of her funeral, a 23-year-old young adult in our parish was found dead in his trailer of apparent accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. The 60-year-old wife of a local pastor then died unexpectedly less than a week later.

Experiencing a series of deaths, especially deaths that come suddenly or unexpectedly, can serve as an important reminder of how fragile life is and that we "do not know the day or the hour" when the Lord will come for us (Mt. 25:13). But it can also serve to remind us that there is something much better waiting for those who love God, something that we sometimes get a little taste of when someone close to us dies.

A number of years ago, an elderly friend of mine died of liver cancer. She had never married and had outlived all her immediate family, so I was one of the people closest to her. As a result, I had the privilege of walking with her on her journey from the time she was first diagnosed until she went to be with the Lord 17 months later. 

I had had other elderly friends who had died, but I had never been with them at the moment of their passing. In this case, though, I really wanted to be there for her, so I asked the Lord, if it was His will, to give me the grace of being present at her death.

She was staying in a nursing home under hospice care. It became clear in the last few days of her life that her body was starting to shut down. I was blessed to be able to take a couple of days off work so that I could be with her. The nursing home staff put a large recliner next to her bed so that I could stay with her.

I was sleeping in the recliner when around 2:30 in the morning I awoke to see her roommate, who had dementia, standing beside my friend's bed, gently tucking her in. I thought, "Isn't that sweet," and was about to go back to sleep when the roommate went to her closet and started getting dressed. (It's not unusual for those with dementia to become active at night.) I thought, "Uh-oh, the aide will want to know this," so I got up and found her. After several minutes of coaxing, she convinced the roommate to go back to bed.

By this time, I was wide awake, so I decided to read to my friend from the Bible. I knew that she looked like she was asleep, but I've often heard that a person's hearing is the last sense to go, so I wanted to read to her from Scripture. After reading several other passages, I decided to read the psalms known as the "songs of ascent." These are the psalms that the Israelites prayed aloud as they climbed up the mountain on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

I got to Psalm 122 and started to read it:

I rejoiced when they said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the LORD.”

And now our feet are standing

within your gates, Jerusalem.

As I said, "Jerusalem," my friend quietly stopped breathing. I paused and waited to see if she was going to go into a cycle of breaths with long pauses in between, as cancer patients sometimes do. A few seconds later, though, the artery in her neck stopped pulsating. It was all so peaceful and at the same time unexpected that I actually said out loud, "I think you just died!" It was as if one moment, she had been standing at the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, and the next moment, she had stepped through to the other side.

It's hard to describe what I experienced at that moment. Physically, I was exhausted; emotionally, I was numb. Spiritually, though, I was on the ceiling! It was as if, in that brief moment that the gates had opened for her, a breeze, laden with the joy of the other side, had blown back through to me and given me a very small, swift taste of what she was walking into.

As I considered the three people who died in October and their loved ones mourning their loss, I asked the Lord to let those left behind catch just a bit of that same back draft of heavenly joy.

Open my ears, Lord, that I may do Your will

"...the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it."--Mark 7:35-36 (NAB)

Today's Gospel at Mass was St. Mark's account of the healing of a deaf man with a speech impediment. (Mark 7:31-37). I've often been struck by the fact in this passage and in other places that Jesus orders the person He's healed not to tell anyone. Why would He not want people to know? Isn't it natural that they would want to proclaim the wonderful works that He has done? Plus, sometimes He specifically instructs people to tell others what the Lord has done, as in the healing of the Gerasene demoniac (Mark 5:1-20).

I think we get a clue as to what may be behind the prohibition in a healing story earlier in Mark. In Mark 1:40-45, He heals a leper and tells him not to tell anyone. However, "The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere." (v. 45) The former leper's failure to obey had unintended negative consequences. How much this failure hampered Jesus' ministry we'll never know.

There are going to be times when God's will for us isn't the same as what He has for others. It may not make sense to us at all. But if He makes His will clear, then we need to trust Him and obey.

Lord, in Your mercy, please open my ears to hear Your words for me and then give me the humility and trust to obey You. Amen.