Intimacy With Jesus

This week and those following up till The Ascension, we will be reading from St. John's Last Supper Discourse, perhaps the warmest, most tender words in the entire New Testament.  No other religion presents such an intimate relationship between "the Godhead' and his creatures. Jesus speaks unabashedly of his love for his friends, of how he chose them, and how he expects them to bear fruit and love one another. (cf. Jn 15: 9-17).  He spoke not only to those gathered around the table with him, but to us as well.  He is grateful for us, delights in our love and stops at no boundary to express and show us his.  We need to ponder this more, use our relationship with our spouse or intimate friend to realize what he is saying. The feelings  commitment that bind us with one another are similar to those the bind us to Jesus, but also so much more, for we are talking about the Source of Love, the Infinite Love that no words can adequately describe.  This is the ONE who offers that everlasting and intimate love to us.  What power and joy that gives us!  May we open our hearts to receive it, return it and share it with ALL.
Bro. Rene

Mary's Request

In mid-1916, three children in Portugal were visited by an angel who taught them how to improve their prayer as a preparation for six apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, the first of which began on this date in 1917. Mary appeared once a month on the 13th of the month  from then on until the final apparition on October 13th, when the "Miracle of the Sun" occurred.  There was one exception in August when the children were in prison on the 13th being questioned by the non-believing mayor.  Mary appeared to them after their release later that month.  Mary asked the children to pray the rosary daily for the conversion of sinners and for peace. She also asked that the world be consecrated to her, which St. John Paul II did on May 13th, 1982. His attempted assassination took place in St. Peter's Square on May 13th, 1981, and he attributed his survival to Our Lady of Fatima.
Mary's request for prayer and reflection on her Son through the Rosary continues,  but a look at today's world indicates that more prayer, more praying people need to answer the request. Could we not find time today to honor it?
Bro. Rene

Dying For the Sheep

Known as "Good Shepherd Sunday", the Fourth Sunday of Easter is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations and in the United States, Mother's Day.  The theme of "laying down one's life for another" underscores all three. We see the all-encompassing love Jesus has for us as he compares himself to the dedicate shepherd who knows each of his sheep,  even calls them by name and goes to all ends to protect them or find them if they lose their way.  Those who have entered the priesthood or consecrated life, aspire to follow the model of the Good Shepherd.  Faced with diminishing numbers in these ranks, we dedicate our prayers today for more to respond to the call which Jesus continues to make. May the din of today's secular and materialistic world not make the call impossible to hear, but may hearts accept it with confidence and joy.
And finally, our Mothers...are they not the best of "shepherds"?  Do they not tend to their children with loving care in countless, unseen and such generous ways, that indeed, they "decrease" so that their children might "increase"? May this be a day to express love and gratitude for all the "Shepherds" in our lives.
Bro .Rene.

To Whom Shall We Go?

Thank God for Peter.  Yes, he often spoke before he thought, was brash and even vehemently denied Jesus.  He is so much a part of each of us.  Once in awhile, however, speaking from the heart, something good, something classic came out of his mouth, as in the situation presented in today's Gospel Passage, Jn 6:60-69. When many of the disciples of Jesus declared they could not accept the "hard saying" of Jesus, that they must eat his body and drink his blood to have eternal life, and returned back to their old way of life, Peter spoke up to ask and declare: " To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." (Jn  6:69).
When we face "hard things", doubt, discouragement, loneliness,  depression, we need to ask from our brokenness, "Where else, Lord, shall I go, except to you? We need to remind ourselves, or be reminded through the words of a family or friend, that Jesus is the answer.  It may seem that he too has closed the door on us, but the reality is that he is constanly reaching out to us to pick us up, mend us, mold and renew us, "rebirth" us, and make us better and happier than we ever were before.  He has the words, the formula,  for everlasting life.  When we give ourselves over to him, a joy, and excitement that we never experienced before assures us that we have made the right choice.
Bro. Rene

St. Damien of Molokai: Above and Beyond

For 15  years, Fr. Damien de Veuster, a Belgian missionary priest, lived and worked on the island of Molokai, Hawaii,  among people suffering from Hansen's Disease, popularly known as Leprosy, and dreaded as much as it was in the time of Jesus. The disease had reached epidemic proportions in Hawaii by 1873, and the only solution then known was to isolate the victims from the rest of the population. Molokai became synonymous with death, for not only were living conditions abominable, but no one ever emerged alive. Fr. Damien asked to be the chaplain for these victims, and not only provided spiritual nourishment, but also improved living conditions by building homes  and improving hygiene and sanitary care.  Knowing that he would most likely contract the disease, he nevertheless was not afraid to wash and treat infected areas and show his love by spending time visiting with his "patients'.  He build a little chapel, then a larger church to which the lepers flocked. He felt even more at one with them when he became a leper himself. "I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all for Christ," he wrote. His self- sacrifice and discipleship went above and beyond the ordinary and for this he was canonized in 2009.  He stands as a model for us who might think we have reached our limit and have nothing more to give.
Bro. Rene

God's Mysterious Ways

Today we hear the fascinating story of Philip's conversation with a court official of the Queen of Ethiopia which led to his baptism. Who is this Philip?  Is he the apostle Philip?  No, he is the deacon Philip, who was chosen to serve when the Apostles found themselves overwhelmed with serving tables. Evidently, as we read earlier in chapter 8, he was not just a "waiter", but a successful evangelizer.  It's no wonder that he was chosen to aid the courtier understand the passage from Isaiah that he was reading. After he had baptized him, his work was done and he was "snatched away" (Acts 8:39), but continued his evangelizing two town after town.  God works in mysterious ways still today as we often find ourselves in the company of someone we don't know or hadn't planned to talking to, and we find ourselves filling in a need we had been unaware of, and then we just get "snatched" away.
Bro. Rene

Not My Will

Today's thin slice of bread focuses on a thick, chewy reality:  the relinquishment of "my" will to the will of God.   Our model is Jesus who told the crowd, "I came down from heaven not to do my will but the will of the one who sent me." (Jn 6: 38).  Luke echoes this as Jesus prayed in the Garden on the night before his death: "Father, if you are willing,  take this cup away from me; still not my will by yours be done." (Lk 22:43).  Can we make this our prayer today?
 Bro. Rene