When Feeling Betrayed

The Wednesday before Holy Thursday has been labeled "Spy Wednesday" because of the plotting and treachery of Judas with the Pharisees to betray Jesus. Not only was the physical suffering that Jesus endured extreme, but the venality of one of his own chosen Twelve no doubt added to the pain. How often are we "betrayed" by colleagues or "friends", who behind our backs tear us down or dismiss us as a nuisance? Yet, with Jesus we can say,"
"This I know, that God is on my side...
in God I trust; I shall not fear:
what can mortal ma do to me?" (Ps 56: 13)
And like him, we can forgive. "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do." (Lk 23: 14).
Bro. Rene

The Annunciation of the Lord

In a happy convergence of dates, we pause on this Thursday before Palm Sunday to celebrate the day on which the Word, who will be offering his flesh and blood as our food and drink and his bodily death on the cross for our salvation next week on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, became flesh, took on our human nature and human body so that we might be redeemed from our sinfulness and rise with him to eternal life. W0w! That sentence reads like one of St. Paul's, filled to the top and overflowing. This day represents so much, it cannot be given justice in one sentence nor one paragraph. The Son of God becomes human: "To do your will is my delight" (Ps 40:9). The divine becomes human so that the human might partake of the divine. And so we do in our life of grace, in the Eucharist, and finally in union with God in heaven. And Mary's "Fiat", "Let it be done to me", echoes the Fiat of Jesus, and serves as an example of what our stance with God should be: always at his disposal, ready and willing to do his will. Not always easy, if we look at Mary's life, and especially along the Via Dolorosa and at the foot of the cross.
"Oh all ye that pass by the way stop and consider if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. Mine eyes have failed with weeping as I behold the cruel death of my son." (cf. Lam 1:12). How our woes and sorrows pale in comparison to those of Jesus and Mary. And yet, "by his bruises we are healed" (Is 53: 5). When we face overwhelming and apparently unresolvable situations, we are prone to say, "Well, somehow, it will all work out", and it does. We are implicitly expressing the faith and trust in God's providence that enabled Jesus and Mary to do God's will. I suggest a slow praying of the Angelus throughout this day...now, as you finish this, at noon, and this evening. It succintly expresses what I've just written, as well as the whole mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption. "that we to whom the mystery of the Incarnation was made known by the message of an angel, may by his passion and cross be brought to the glory of his resurection, through Christ, our Lord. Amen."
Bro. Rene
P.S. I will be on an Encounter (retreat) with students and then on an Prayer Workshop till next Wednesday. No new slices of daily bread until the 31st.

Fidelity

"He [God] will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus [Christ]. God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowshiop with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." (1Cor 1: 8-9). God has shown his faithfulness throughout the centuries; as often as the Israelites strayed or rebelled, for example, God reached out to them and took them back. Jesus showed enormous patience and compassion when dealing with sinners and betrayers: the woman taken in adultery, Peter himself. That same willingness to forgive, to give another chance is always there, even, offered to Judas, no doubt. Had he accepted it, we'd be referring to him today as St. Judas. Startling, yes, but possible. Where would we be if it were not for God's fidelity to us, who stray, who sin how many times a day? Just look back to yesterday, and see where God has shown his fidelity. As we begin today, how can we show our fidelity to him?
O God, faithful and true, make me more like you. Amen.
Bro. Rene

Mary and the Cross

One of St. Marcellin's favorite suggestions was that Marists should seek the first places at the crib, cross and altar. During these weeks of Passiontide, let us focus on the cross. Naturally, we see Jesus, a man "despised and rejected by others; /a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;/ and as one from whom others hide their faces,/ he was despised and we held him of no account," (Is 53: 3). At the foot of the cross we find Mary Magdalene, John, and Mary, our Good Mother. We could look upon them as the first Marists: staying with, accompanying their "least favored", "most rejected and neglected," Jesus. Powerful. Mary, especially felt her helplessness, and a deep desire to either take his place on the cross, or at least be set up on another next to him. She had complete and total empathy with the flesh of her flesh and bone of her bone. It struck me this morning that this is the attitude which prompted St. Marcellin to forge our mission to the "most neglected." If we see them as Jesus, and ourselves as Mary, then we will do all in our power to remain with them, help them, bear their frustrations and pain lovingly, willingly, sometimes seeing results, sometimes not, but never abandoning them.

Yesterday, after writing Bro. Rene's Daily Bread, I read an e-mail from a former student at Bishop Donahue High School, where I was principal from 2000-2005. This young teenager was going through some tough times, academically and behaviorly, was always in detention and had several suspensions. The faculty would have been glad to see him expelled. By the grace of God I was able to see beyond this into the goodness in his heart, listened, gently prodded, and kept him in prayer. He graduated in 2005 and I came here to Central, but kept him in my daily prayers. After five years of silence, he wrote that he had "grown up", straightened out, and was now an Air Traffic Controller in the US Navy. He thanked me for the respect, care, "mentoring" and love that I had given him. It certainly was a "Marcellin Moment" for me, and a confirmation of our Marist Mission, NEVER to give up on the "despised and rejected." As Mary never "gave up" being with her "rejected" son, and followed him to the tomb, let us follow her example and exprience with here the joy of the resurrection of her sons and daughters whom we are being called to serve.
Bro. Rene

My Love Shall Never Leave You

As we focus on the intrigue, plottings and debates leading to the betrayal, "trial" and condemnation of Jesus in these final weeks of Lent, I've found that a prayerful viewing of the film that took the world by storm in 2004, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, is very helpful in seeing the suffering Jesus embraced to show his love for us. It is graphic, no question, but despite the criticism that the brutality is "overdone", it brings home the reality that scourging and crucifixion were not gentle nor bloodless. The corpus on our crucifixes, minimizes the wounds of the lashes and the crown of thorns, and only a doctor's report (See the book, A DOCTOR AT CALVARY) fully describes the pain that anyone crucified endured, much less one that had been so scourged and then nailed to a cross, rather than just tied with ropes, as was the usual custom. I make this suggestion today, so that in the next two weeks, you might plan a two-hour block, as I did last night, to watch the film, and use it for meditation as we approach Good Friday. I also recommend the production of ALL I HAVE DONE FOR YOU, which is a muscial passion play put on by students, and is also an excellent way to prepare for the holy days. It is being performed at Judson Hall at St. Augustine's on Tower Hill, March 27, at 7 pm and Good Friday, April 2, at 11:am.
Tied in with the message given by the Passion, are these thoughts from Isaiah: (54: 10, 14-15).
THOUGH THE MOUNTAINS LEAVE THEIR PLACE/ AND THE HILLS BE SHAKEN,/ MY LOVE SHALL NEVER LEAVE YOU/ NOR MY COVENANT OF PEACE BE SHAKEN,/ SAYS THE LORD, WHO HAS MERCY ON YOU.
IN JUSTICE, SHALL YOU BE ESTABLISHED, FROM FROM THE FEAR OF OPPRESSION, WHERE DESTRUCTION CANNOT COME NEAR YOU./ SHOULD THERE BE ANY ATTACK, IT SHALL NOT BE OF MY MAKING;/ WHOEVER ATTACKS YOU SHALL FALL BEFORE YOU."
Bro. Rene

Selfishness into Self-giving

Formerly known as Passion Sunday, when statues were covered with purple, and our thoughts were centered on the events which led to the passion and crucifixion of Jesus, this Fifth Sunday of Lent looks at the compassion of Jesus, but the ensuing days still focus on his final weeks of confrontation with the Pharisees and his eventual arrest and "trial" before Pontius Pilate.
We see a Jesus focused on his mission to bring forgiveness to sinners, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more." (Jn 8:11), he says to the woman caught in adultery. The raising of Lazarus, his friend, comes as a result of the entreaty of Martha and Mary, but also is symbolic of his own resurrection and the new life offered to us, our resurrection from sinfulness and our guarantee of eternal life in heaven. Jesus knows where his preaching and healing is leading, but he doesn't stop reaching out to others. When we find ourselves "stretched to the max", we might think of this and remember that he will always be there to help us take that next step, the one we think we have no further strength, nor desire, to take. Today's alternative opening prayer at Mass might become our prayer throughout the day:
"Father in heaven, the love of our Son led him to accept the suffering of the cross, that his brothers and sisters might glory in new life. Change our selfishness into self-giving. Help us to embrace the world you have given us, that we may transform the darkness of its pain into the life and joy of Easter. Grant this though Christ our Lord. Amen."
Bro. Rene

Spring: Season of Grace

Today at 1:32 pm the Vernal Equinox occurs and Spring officially enters the Northern Hemisphere. A perfect day: it is sunny and warm, it feels like Spring and it is a Saturday. Not by accident is this transition from Winter to Spring happening just two weeks before Easter. As the earth again promises to bud forth new life in the weeks ahead, we recall that those preparing for Baptism will "bud forth" new life: the life of God. We will celebrate our own "new life" when we renew our baptismal promises. It is truly a season of grace.
And being Saturday, we think of Mary, God-Bearer, the Mother of Jesus, the author of this new life, Our Lady of Grace, the amazing Grace that has brought salvation to us. The Oglala Lakota and other tribes out west, think of the earth as Grandmother Earth. As we might be taking advantage of this fine day to clean our yards, we might notice the maternal, nurturing qualities of the earth as crocuses and daffodils break through the soil, buds appear on pussy-willows and forsytheas, and see the corrolation between Mary's role as mother and nurturer of the grace she made possible by her YES. We might be led to make our yard work a prayer, a meditation, a preparation for Easter, and a pledge to live our grace-filled lives with deeper attention to and appreciation of this season of grace.
Bro. Rene