Humble Love

Humble love is perhaps the greatest of all evangelical virtues, much more rare than the frequent use of the word ‘love’ in contemporary literature would lead us to suspect. Love in the image of God—generous, patient, gentle love toward everyone, toward those nearest and those most distant, toward friend and enemy, toward just anyone who shows up. A Cistercian Abbott who lived in the 12th century, Guerric of Igny, said it in his way: ‘It is the property of friendship to make itself small before it's friends’. Such people are a great blessing to the Church and to the world. As a rule they are easy to recognize. For real love attracts and wins others—without knowing it.

ANDRÉ LOUF Tuning Into Grace

Offering Ourselves in Prayer

We are what we are in prayer: there is no success or failure—just as what we see in the mirror is what we are. If we do not like what we see, there is no point in throwing out the mirror. That changes nothing. If we do not like the self we discover when we try to pray, the solution is not to stop praying. What we have to do is to turn our dissatisfaction into prayer so that in time things may change a little. Meanwhile it is important that we continue to offer ourselves to God—in whatever state we are.

MICHAEL CASEY Grace On the Journey to God

Listening to the Word of God

Whenever we come together to listen to the Word of God, what we are seeking at bottom is not mental information or moral instruction or even a sentimental influence that will make us "feel" the presence and goodness of God. What we seek with all our soul, rather, is the possibility of opening ourselves up in prayer to God's transforming action. Whether we are fully conscious of it or not, in other words, we desire a change of life, a conversion from what we presently are to a more precise embodiment of the likeness of Christ at the center of our being, radiating out from us through all our thoughts, words, and actions. This is why the life of contemplation is the boldest and most adventuresome of undertakings…

ERASMO LEIVA MERIKAKIS The Way of the Disciple

Who is Greater?

One who knows his sins is greater than he who raises a corpse to life. One who weeps over himself for an entire hour is greater than he who furnishes information to the whole world. one who knows his weakness is greater than he who sees the angels.

SAINT ISAAC THE SYRIAN

Homily — Easter Vigil

Throughout this Holy Week we have been witnesses to the inner thoughts and affections of Jesus’ heart: watching him bend low to wash our feet; sensing his eagerness to give us everything he has, including his body and blood; hearing his agonizing cry from the cross. But tonight, before we began our vigil, there was only silence and darkness. There were no witnesses. The resurrection was shrouded in holy silence. But now the bells have been untied, the Exsultet has awakened heaven and earth, and the holy women have astounded us and reported a vision of angels who announced that Christ is risen from the dead. The silence has been broken! But one thing still puzzles me. What was in Jesus’ heart at the moment of his resurrection? Is there any insight from his heart that would help us understand the meaning of the resurrection we are celebrating? Well, I will take a risk here and suggest something we might ponder—the exchange between the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit on the night of the resurrection?

Now, it may be beyond presumption on my part to suggest anything about the exchange of the Holy Trinity at the resurrection of Jesus. But Jesus told us that the Spirit would lead us into all truth, and what greater truth is there than the exchange of love of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. What better way for Jesus to express his love for the Father and the Spirit than to show them his wounds? What more could the Father do than exalt infinitely in these words: “This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Could the Spirit do more than be a resounding chorus proceeding from the Father and the Son in praise of their mutual glory?

For what we have on this holy night is love brought low and love exalted and love consummated: an overflowing, outpouring of love, honor, and praise by each person of the Holy Trinity for the other. Our Almighty Father has emptied himself so that his only begotten Son could take the lowest place, even in hell, waiting for the moment when he could exalt his Son higher than the heavens. And the Holy Spirit has breathed over the waters of our chaos and the chaos of the tomb so that Jesus might be raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit.  

What else can we say about this secret moment of the resurrection? It was a marvelous and all-holy intimacy. Recall these words of Jesus to his disciples, “Do you not believe that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father?” And these words of the Apostle, “the Spirit is the witness and the Spirit is the truth” who reveals the Jesus’ total vindication and glorification. 

There is a technical term for the reality I am trying to describe. You may be familiar with it: circumincession in Latin and perichoresis in Greek. It refers to the intimate union of the three persons of the Trinity. If we want to get some insight into the heart and mind of Jesus at the resurrection, his interpersonal joy of being one with the Father and with the Spirit, and they with him, is a place to look. You might call it a holy dance among the three persons of the Trinity, and we are invited to share their joy. If we want to know what was in Jesus’ heart at the moment of the resurrection, we have only to think of his love for the Father and the Holy Spirit. This is the joy of Jesus’ heart and the foundation of ours.

Homily — Good Friday

The mystery of Good Friday may be described as being, at the same time, the worst of days and the best of days. It is the “worst” because it will not let us look away from the horror that we can inflict on our innocent fellow human beings in this world, the accumulated horror and viciousness that today we see crushing Jesus like a worm—our Lord Jesus, who bears us all in his Heart. And Good Friday is also the “best of days” because of how it also demonstrates the infinite creativity of a God who can transform the worst catastrophes imaginable into resplendent works of lavish grace.

To illustrate what the all-powerful alchemy of God’s creative love can accomplish, using as raw material the worst that destructive human violence can muster, let us turn to one very poignant detail of the Passion narrative from John we have just heard: When they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. What are we to do with these gory facts? 

So his legs were not broken… Was this a glimmer of compassion or, rather, a sign of laziness on the soldiers’ part, happy to be spared the extra effort of having to crush hard bones? Yet, for good measure, to make sure he was “good and dead”, they pierce Jesus’ side with a lance! Ho-hum… Was the soldier perhaps yawning as he did it, as we ourselves can at times inflict pain on others as an unquestioned feature of our daily routine?

Doesn’t the horror here reside precisely in the cool, factual style of the narrative, which takes it for granted that sometimes we human beings can go about the task of destroying each other with a boring, workaday naturalness? Just as millions of Jews were “disposed of” at Auschwitz by hard-working subordinates who simply were “following orders”, and the only trace those Jews left was a neat pile of ashes and, at day’s end, neat numerical statistics in columns on a work order, tallying up the material (!) gassed and incinerated on that particular calendar day…

It takes the fearless vision of Christian faith, fired by grace, to get beneath the horrendous surface of Auschwitz, Gaza and Golgotha, the faith, for instance, of a John Chrysostom, who helps see the workings of God’s love in the very heart of darkness. After taking in the work of man’s cruelty in the piercing of Jesus’ side, Chrysostom contemplates the work of God’s creative compassion precisely in the effects of man’s cruelty: and immediately blood and water flowed out. Chrysostom’s reading of this event shows what God can do with man’s iniquity. He says with supreme insight: “Blood and water symbolize baptism and the holy eucharist [which] flowed from Jesus’ side.” In other words, the gore our eyes see conceals mysteries of redemption.

In God’s ever-inventive hands, human destruction is transmuted into divine creation: “It was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam. … God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death.” It would be wholly mistaken and blasphemous to say that God was somehow pushing the spear in the soldier’s hand to pierce his own Son. But it is necessary for faith to say that God’s omnipotence can take the foulest human motivations and deeds and use them as re-purposed building blocks to construct a Church, a Kingdom, a new humanity. Christ gave us the blood and the water!

And Chrysostom concludes with this wonderful vision: “Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his Bride [the Church] to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being [through Baptism] and nourished [through the Eucharist]. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own Blood those to whom he himself has given life.” (Catecheses, 3, 18-19) 

It was to accomplish this work of regeneration that [God] did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all (Rom 8:32). At bottom, the incredible meaning of Good Friday is a truth we must believe precisely because it is incredible: for who but God could have thought it up? This truth is that God, apparently, has not loved us, poor fumbling sinners that we are, any less than he has loved his only-begotten Son Jesus from all eternity, since he gave him up for us all!

Therefore, with the eyes of faith and giving thanks for the marvels God can bring out of our sin, let us repent and rejoice as, full of wonderment, we look on him whom we have pierced. If God can give me a heart of flesh, he can also change any heart.

Homily — Holy Thursday

 At the last supper in St. Luke’s account, Jesus expresses what is in his heart with these moving words, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer…” This is no ordinary desire! There is an urgency that alerts us to a critical moment, which is not surprising. Jesus had taken his life into his hands by remaining in Jerusalem. He knew the Scriptures: “I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.” He had gone so far as to do what even a Jewish slave would not do by washing the disciples’ feet. Why such eagerness? Why such urgency? Because he must absolutely eat this Passover meal with his disciples and with us as well. 

On a natural level one might see his eagerness as simply a desire to be with his friends at such a moment. But it is more than that. We get closer to the truth when we hear his words, “It is you who have stood by me in my trials.” This is not just a gathering based on friendship or family ties. His eagerness is rooted in the deepest religious realities, expressed concretely in today’s first reading from Exodus. 

The Lord explained to Moses and Aaron that each family had to procure a lamb. It must be sacrificed and its blood used to protect the families from the destroying angel who, seeing the blood on the doorposts, would pass over them. Jesus knew that this meal was the culmination of the entire history of God with his people: their election as his own possession; their bitter lot as slaves forced to work with mortar and brick; their miraculous deliverance, and, finally, the promise of a kingdom. His was the eagerness of love, and he would express his love by sharing this Passover meal with them. And he himself would be the lamb of sacrifice. 

Listen carefully to these words: “While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it. This is my body.” Jesus wanted to share everything with them. Like the poor widow in the gospel, he put in all he had, his whole being. His gift of himself would fulfill his promise to give them a kingdom: “For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him”, that is in Jesus. His Yes is what we are witnessing today, his total yes, a yes that would be sealed in blood.

For the Scriptures go on to say, “Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.’” This is the deepest religious reality we are talking about. Jesus is creating a new covenant, a binding promise, a word of commitment that will never be broken. And he could not express his commitment any better than linking it with his blood, poured out first in this cup, and later on the cross.

What we are witnessing today is Jesus taking “up the cup of salvation” on our behalf. We have all sinned in one way or another, and only God can bridge the gap we have created. This is the reason for Jesus’ eagerness: in union with his Father and the Holy Spirit, he wants to restore the covenant. And he does it by continually pouring himself out as a gift of love. This is love to the end. 

Confidence

Cultivate thoughts of confidence as long as it pleases God to give them to you; they honor God far more than contrary thoughts. The more wretched we are, the more is God honored by the confidence we have in him. It seems to me that if your confidence were as great as it ought to be, you would not worry about what may happen to you; you would place it all in God's hands, hoping that when he wants something of you he will let you know what it is.

ST. CLAUDE DE LA COLOMBIÉRE

Learning Who We Are

Vatican II tells us that man is a being in dialogue, someone who does not know who he is until another reveals it to him. For man is that being to whom God speaks. By speaking, God reveals not only his own Being to men; in a real way, he also reveals man to himself.

JOHN EUDES BAMBERGER

Homily — Palm Sunday

Today we enter into the holy of holies of the Church’s worship, that is, Holy Week, beginning with Our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem. And even more, we enter with him into the inner Jerusalem, which is his Sacred Heart. For, if we listen carefully to the words the Church places before us, we will hear the inner movements of Jesus’ heart, his greatest desires and affections, his one thing necessary. It is a privileged time for us, an acceptable time, the day of salvation.

Today the Father reveals to his people Israel, who are gathered for the feast of Passover, their true king. He is David’s son, the heir of David’s kingdom. But he is also the Father’s Son who did not cling to his equality with God. And here we have the stumbling block, the winnowing fan. For Jesus is both Son of God and son of David. He is not a Messiah riding in with pomp and circumstance, but someone who is not afraid to mount a beast that poor people use, a lowly donkey. This humble entry shows us the true king, for humility is the Father’s will and the one thing necessary for Jesus.

We will learn many other things about our king in these days: his eager desire to eat his Passover meal with us; the betrayals and lance that pierced his heart; and what this cry means: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And finally, since our hope will not disappoint us, we will witness his triumph. That is why this is a privileged time for us, and why we must catch even the crumbs that fall from the Church’s table.

We began our celebration with the children of Jerusalem welcoming Christ the King. It reminds me of the sentiments that Jesus expressed when he rejoiced in the holy Spirit, and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.” Now it is our turn to rejoice in the Holy Spirit as we enter into the inner secrets of Jesus’ heart and accompany him to Jerusalem.

Our Relationship With Infinite Love

All our activity, our joy and happiness, our work, our life's anxiety should be nothing other than a passionate effort to understand, feel and desire evermore this personal relationship with infinite Love. Our sadness is this: that we cannot see, feel, and touch this relationship after the manner of things here below. Therefore it too often happens that symbols try to get the better of us, quenching in earthly mist the life force that would raise us on wings of passion to the Father's embrace.

LUIGI GIUSSANNI 

Learning to Love

“My dear son, people aren't bad. What happens is that they do not know how to love. How, then, can we teach them to love? Only by loving. That is why the Lord gives us a family when we come into the world. A loving family and engenders loving persons. I am sure you know this very well. When I came to pray at Czestochowa, it struck me very much that she, Our Lady, desires more than anything else to be our mother. My dear, I think we must follow her example and love everyone with a mother's love. If we did, then slowly, slowly, we would gain the whole world.”

POPE JOHN XXIII speaking to CARDINAL WYSZYNSKI

The Message of the Contemplative

Oh my brother, the contemplative is not the man who has fiery visions of the cherubim carrying God on their imagined chariot, but simply he who has risked his mind in the desert beyond language and beyond ideas where God is encountered in the nakedness of pure trust, that is to say in the surrender of our poverty and incompleteness in order no longer to clench our minds in a cramp upon themselves, as if thinking made us exist. The message of hope the contemplative offers you, then, brother, is not that you need to find your way through the jungle of language and problems that today surround God: but that whether you understand or not, God loves you, is present in you, lives in you, dwells in you, calls you, saves you, and offers you an understanding and light which are like nothing you ever found in books or heard in sermons.

THOMAS MERTON A Letter on the Contemplative Life, 1967

Repent and Believe

As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus’ thirst…’Repent and believe’ Jesus tells us. What are we to repent? Our indifference, our hardness of heart. What are we to believe? Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor — He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you.

 ST. MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA

Friendship

Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS