Thought of the Day June 4, 2015
Eucharist:
"The effect of our sharing in the body and blood of Christ is to change us into what we receive." (Pope Leo the Great)

Thought of the Day June 3, 2015 Feast of St. Charles Lwanga and companions
It is as if you are pouring water on me. Please repent and become a Christian like me.

What is the new thing God did through Jesus?

Read Is 43: 19 once more

The marvels of God, the new graces and signs and wonders were prophesied in the Old Testament.

1) The coming of a future Messiah (there are more than a 100 prophetic statements in OT)
· Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:21-23)
· A descendant of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 22:18; Matthew 1:1; Galatians 3:16)
· Of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; Luke 3:23, 33; Hebrews 7:14)
· Of the house of David (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Matthew 1:1)
· Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-7)
· Taken to Egypt (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:14-15)
· Anointed by the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; Matthew 3:16-17)
· Heralded by the messenger of the Lord (John the Baptist) (Isaiah 40:3-5; Malachi 3:1; Matthew 3:1-3)
· Would perform miracles (Isaiah 35:5-6; Matthew 9:35)
· Would preach good news (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:14-21)
· Would minister in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1; Matthew 4:12-16) Would cleanse the Temple (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 21:12-13)
· Would enter Jerusalem as a king on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:4-9)
· Would be rejected by Jews (Psalm 118:22; I Peter 2:7)
· Die a humiliating death (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53) involving:
1. rejection (Isaiah 53:3; John 1:10-11; 7:5,48)
2. betrayal by a friend (Psalm 41:9; Luke 22:3-4; John 13:18)
3. sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; Matthew 26:14-15)
4. silence before His accusers (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 27:12-14)                               5. being mocked (Psalm 22: 7-8; Matthew 27:31)
                              6. beaten (Isaiah 52:14; Matthew 27:26)
                              7. spit upon (Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 27:30)
                              8. piercing His hands and feet (Psalm 22:16; Matthew 27:31)
                              9. being crucified with thieves (Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 27:38)
                            10. praying for His persecutors (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:34)
                            11. piercing His side (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:34)
                            12. given gall and vinegar to drink (Psalm 69:21, Matthew 27:34,   
                                 Luke 23:36)
                            13. no broken bones (Psalm 34:20; John 19:32-36)
                            14. buried in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60)
                            15. casting lots for His garments (Psalm 22:18; John 19:23-24)
· Would rise from the dead!! (Psalm 16:10; Mark 16:6; Acts 2:31)
· Ascend into Heaven (Psalm 68:18; Acts 1:9)
· Would sit at the right hand of God (Psalm 110:1; Hebrews 1:3)

2) What was the new prophetic message that was given to us in the NT                      God so loved the world that he gave us his only Begotten Son that whoever     
                     believes in him will have eternal life.
                      God became man: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Jesus came to establish a new covenant, one prophesied in the OT, established at the Last Supper as part of the new Passover and formalized on the cross through the sacrifice of the Jesus life for our life. The covenant of the OT was sealed by the blood of animal sacrifice at Mt Sinai. The new covenant is sealed by the blood of Jesus on the cross, the perfect sacrifice pleasing to the Father. Paul tells us that this new covenant is no longer written on tablets of stone as the old law but in our hearts of flesh (2 Cor 3:3) This is the covenant of the Spirit and not of the law.
Jesus established the new signs of God’s love through the various sacraments
Baptism: the new sign by which people will become part of the new chosen people through water and the Holy Spirit, no longer through circumcision. Original separation from God is abolished and we once more share in the divine life of God as adopted sons and daughters.
Reconciliation: the new sign by which sins committed after baptism are forgiven and relationship with God restored; sign of God’s healing of the very roots of sin.
Eucharist: sign of communion with God through the sharing in the Body and Blood of Jesus; this is the new Manna come down from heaven; this is the foretaste of the eternal, eschatological banquet to which we are called; this is the initial union anticipated by Jesus in his prayer to the Father, that we may be one with him as he is with the Father.
Confirmation: sign of the anointing power of the Spirit prophesied by Joel and patterned by Jesus in his own life and ministry; this is the power that enables us to witness Jesus before others with signs and wonders as our credentials.
Anointing of the Sick: sign of God’s healing power through the laying of hands and the anointing of the oil of the sick.
Marriage: sign of the love of man and woman united in Christ as a means of fulfilling the purposes of marriage: mutual love and the bringing forth of new life for the sake of the Kingdom.
Holy Orders: sign of God’s love for his people, so that worship in spirit and truth can be offered to God, so that the word of God may be proclaimed with clarity and boldness, so that the ministry of Jesus may continue till the end of time. It is the new priesthood not passed down from generation because of levitical ancestry. It is the priesthood of Jesus who is of the line of Melchisedeck. Every priest shares in the one priesthood of Jesus Christ, the unique and eternal high priest. 3) Jesus came to proclaim and establish a new and everlasting Kingdom of justice and peace and the joy of the Holy Spirit. This Kingdom will include both the Jews and the Gentiles. Salvation is for all.
4) Jesus gave us a new commandment: love of God and love of neighbor based on his love for us. He delivered himself for us. It is a love shared in our communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
5) Jesus gave us a new way of living based on love and the beatitudes, not on the law. As we live this new way we become more the new men and women of the new creation. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2Cor 5:17) Christ is the new Adam who gives new life to those who believe in him and embrace his message as their way of life. Because of this, Paul reminds us: "to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."(Eph 4:24) To believe in him and embrace his life involves the following:
Repentance and conversion: turning away from sin and turning more fully to God
Love your enemies
Do good to all
Forgive from your heart
Seek first the Kingdom of God and all things will be given you.
Be obedient to the will of God
If someone slaps you on the cheek, turn the other cheek; if someone asks for your cloak, give your tunic as well;
What you do to the least who is hungry, thirsty, homeless, naked, sick and in prison, you do to me.
The measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.
To whom much is given much is expected;
Hear and receive the word of God and put it into practice, as the good soil receives the seed and bears fruit abundantly.
Receive the Holy Spirit and follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. For the one who believes in Jesus will do the works he did and far greater;
Be a witness of the good news of salvation to others in the power of the Holy Spirit.
4) What should our new response be?
     We are called to a deeper repentance and conversion of heart and a yearning for transformation so  that we can grow in that holiness, leading to greater perfection. To hunger and thirst for holiness is not an impossible task but the norm of life in Christ. The attitude that must be adopted is that which Paul states in Rom 12:2: "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect." And what is the will of God? To love with his love!

We are called to become the new Creation that is able to hear, receive, understand and act on God’s word: "No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. (And) no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'The old is good.’" (Lk 5:36-39) How often is God not able to bring us into the next new moment of our journey because we are comfortable with the "old spiritual wine." We have remained spiritually stagnant at a level of immaturity competent of a beginner or of one who stopped on the journey years ago, rather than ready to leave behind the past and to move into the new moment, which brings with it the best of the past but in a fresh new way. What is the new wine God is offering us? It is the new spiritual food that God is giving us which is different from the pablam of our spiritual infancy. God provides the new wine and we the wine skin. What wine skin are we offering God?

                                        "Travel back 50 years to the mahogany-paneled office of Sewell Avery, then
chairman of Montgomery Ward & Co. Avery was responsible for Ward's failure to open a single new store from 1941 to 1957. Instead, the big retailer piled up cash—and then sat on it. Ward's amassed $607 million, earning them a dubious Wall Street nickname: "the bank with the department store front."So why didn't Avery join in the nation's postwar expansion by following Americans to the suburbs? He held firmly to the belief and vision that a depression had followed every major war since the time of Napoleon. "Who am I to argue with history?" Avery demanded. "Why build $14-a-foot buildings when we soon can do it for $3-afoot?" Ward's eventually went bankrupt. How could corporate planning go so wrong? Montgomery Ward's troubles sprang from its firm adherence to an idea from a different time and culture. There was a new time, a new vision, and Sewell Avery failed to change to accommodate it. Consequently his business was wiped out."
We are called to be a man and woman of faith and trust: faith in the person of God whose word is life-giving and trust in the movement of God’s Spirit leading us to become the new visionaries, the new trailblazers, the new evangelizers, the new prophets of today. When Paul and Barnabas were set aside by the Holy Spirit to be the apostles to the Gentiles and they said "yes", they did not know what was going to be their experiences. But they did know that they were zealous for the Lord. How open are we to what lies ahead in our journey? How zealous are we? They persevered in spite of the hardships and struggles they had to endure. Even when Paul was at the point of despair he trusted in the Lord to see him through as he pressed on in the new thing God was doing through and in him. He remembered the past—his own personal experience—but did not long to return to it. He knew that based on his past God had something new and greater for him in the future. But he was also convinced that he had to be faithful in the present moment to what God was asking of him so that he could be ready to enter into that future call of God. Sometimes we forget the original vision and call and settle for a more comfortable way of life. Story of the Life saving station.
Put aside the fear that seeks to paralyze us and keeps us in bondage. We have been set free so that we can enter into that new moment that God is calling us into. But sometimes we are like the bird in the cage. Tell the story.

Thought of the Day June 2, 2015
"If you cannot see the poor in the Eucharist, you cannot see Jesus there; if you cannot see Jesus in the eyes of the poor, you cannot see him in the Eucharist." (Mother Teresa)

Reading Reflections: FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI: GOSPEL REFLECTIONS B


On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"

The Passover was the most sacred event in the life of the Chosen people, since it marked the deliverance of God’s people from their bondage in Egypt. But it was a past event that was celebrated each year. For the covenanted Israelites the Passover Meal was a way of making present what God had and was doing in their lives this year. Though the Passover lamb was sacrificed at the temple, each family was to eat the traditional Passover meal at home as a renewal of their covenant with God. He sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"' Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there." How did Jesus know? This is another example of the exercise of the gift of Word of Knowledge by Jesus in his humanity. Recall the time that Jesus told Peter to go fishing and the first fish he caught he would find in its mouth the coin sufficient to pay the temple tax. Or the time Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well that she had been married five times and the man she was living with was not her husband. This same gift has been given to each of us. We need to be open and act on the lead of the Holy Spirit

　
The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover. While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body."

　
In recalling this event the Gospel writer is also alluding to the feeding of the crowd through the multiplication of bread. There Jesus did the same gestures: took, blessed, broke and gave it.
In the midst of the traditional Passover Meal Jesus establishes the new covenant. He fulfills the promise he made in John 6. That promise was to give his Body to us for food and his Blood for drink. 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.
In the Old Testament, the various covenants that God made with his people were sealed by the sign of blood. The night of the first Passover, the people took the blood of the slain lamb and smeared it on their doorposts. As a result the angel of death passed over their homes and spared the first-born within.
Jesus is anticipating his sacrifice on the cross the next day in which he will shed his blood for the salvation of the world. He is the new Passover Lamb who gave his life that we may have life to the fullest. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."
Recall that Jesus refused to drink the wine on the soaked hyssop when it was offered to him on the cross.
Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives
With what attitude do we approach the Eucharist?
Do I recognize in faith that in our celebrating the Eucharist we too are making present today what Jesus did at the Last Supper and on Calvary? Is there a sense of awe and wonder or a sense of déjà vu?
What is God asking us to do this week to respond to this gift of His Body and Blood?

Thought of the Day Jun 1, 2015
“Let it be understood that those who are not found living as He taught are not Christian- even though they profess with the lips the teaching of Christ.”
— St. Justin Martyr