Jesus said, "I have come to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!". (Lk 12:49)
He also said, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Lk. 11:13) When we ask anything in Jesus name that is in accord with the will of the Father, He will give it to us. How much more then should we be asking for the fire of the Holy Spirit to rain down upon us.
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
V. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created.
R. And You shall renew the face of the earth. (Ps 104:30)
Let us pray.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Happy Pentecost!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Womb of the Wilderness Part II
"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself (in the womb of the wilderness) that they might declare my praise" (Is. 43:18-21)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Womb of the Wilderness
Lucifer and his angels rebelled against God when they saw a great sign in the heavens and were given to understand that God would become Incarnate through this Woman and that the greatest of angels would have to worship and serve God Incarnate as a lowly man. Not only would he have to worship God Incarnate, he would also have to serve this Woman would be Queen of Heaven and of Earth by what the sign portended. In addition the mystery was revealed to Lucifer that through the Incarnation, the weaker and inferior human creatures would be given a share in the very Life of God Himself.
Adam and Eve sinned against God in the garden of Eden giving into the temptation of Satan. They ate the forbidden fruit and brought spiritual and physical death on them and their descendants.
The pangs of birth and the struggle for power with her husband were given to the woman. The struggle to survive and tilling of a soil which would yield thistle and thorn against his efforts to bring about a fruitful harvest were given to the man. But when God cursed the serpent, he also blessed humanity promising a Redeemer.
Adam's descendants were fruitful and multiplied filling the earth, with sin and death accompanying them every step of the way. Through covenants with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; God began calling a people apart for himself. The descendants of Jacob were brought to Egypt through Joseph. After many years the Egyptians began to fear the Hebrews and they enslaved them. They were so afraid of them that the male child of every Hebrew was killed save one named Moses who was hidden from harm. He was raised as part of the Pharoah's own household. After killing an Egyptian task master for maltreating a Hebrew slave, Moses escaped to the wilderness of Midian where God called to him. God revealed his name to Moses and sent him back to bring the slaves of Egypt in the freedom of being God's people.
"God led the people by a roundabout way of the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds...The Lord went before them, by day in the form of a pillar of cloud to show them the way, and by night in the form of a pillar of fire to give them light, thus they could continue their march by day and by night" (Ex. 13:21-22).
God took this stiff-necked people to be his own and through many trials in the wilderness, he made this people his own; making a covenant with them that he would never break. They complained against God and Moses several times. God took bitter water and made it sweet. God gave them manna--bread from heaven. Just as the serpent first tempted Adam and Eve with food, so it is the first thing that the Hebrews were tempted with and also the first thing Jesus is tempted with in the Gospel of Matthew. Does there seem to be a modus operandi here?
The temptations Christ underwent in wilderness at the end of forty days of fasting shows Christ as the New Moses and the New Elijah. Moses spent forty days and forty nights on the mountain top in Exodus 24. Elijah fasted as he journeyed for forty days and forty nights through the wilderness to Mount Horeb to the Craig of Moses. Jesus is also the King of the Jews, the head of the people Israel who wandered for forty years in the wilderness. As the first born of all creation, he is every man and woman resisting temptation by denying the appetite that the rest of humanity had developed for sin. We were exiled to the spiritual Wilderness of Sin because of our sin. Jesus has led us out of the wilderness into the Promised Land of Salvation by overcoming Satan in every way. He is victorious over the world, the flesh and the devil and gives us by His Holy Spirit, His Blood and Water the power to overcome and cast out the accuser (1 Jn 5:8; Rev. 12:10-11).
Just as Jesus overcame Satan, so also to God's glory, Mary conceived without sin overcame him. Whenever and whereever the dragon has sat ready to devour the children of the Woman, she has been among her children nourishing them and teaching them of her firstborn Son. Through the midwifery of the Holy Spirit and Mary's intercessorial midwifery, Jesus Christ has come to be born in each child of the Woman, making them one in Jesus and therefore children of the Father. We are born from a womb of safety in the wilderness prepared for us by God.
Whether Mary comes in extraordinary means such as at Lourdes, Fatima, or Rwanda to help prepare the people for a time of great suffering, or if she comes in the ordinary way of helping us to ponder the mysteries of the Gospel of the Rosary in our hearts she comes as our Mother. She comes as Mother who will not abandon her children to the dragon. The Woman of promise in Genesis 3 is the Woman crowned with the stars in Revelation 12 who has the head of the serpent and the moon under her feet. Though the dragon wages war on us her children, so we too wage war on him.
"Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a Woman, clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and with a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant, and in labor, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky a huge red dragon which had seven heads and ten horns and each of the seven heads was crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky and dropped them to the earth, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was giving birth to the child so he could devour it as soon as it was born from its mother. The woman brought forth a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron scepter, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the wilderness, where God had made a place of safety ready...And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated and driven out of heaven. The great dragon, the ancient serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had deceived all the world, was hurled down to the earth and his angels with him... but for you earth and sea, trouble is coming-- because the devil has gone down to you in a rage because he knows his time is short. As the devil found himself thrown down to the earth, he sprang in pursuit of the woman, the mother of the male child, but she was given a huge pair of eagle's wings to fly away from the serpent into the wilderness...Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, that is all who obey God's commandments and bear witness for Jesus" (Rev. 12: 1-14,17).
Adam and Eve sinned against God in the garden of Eden giving into the temptation of Satan. They ate the forbidden fruit and brought spiritual and physical death on them and their descendants.
"I will put emnity between you and the Woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head, and you will strike at his heel" (Gen. 3:15b).
"So the Lord God expelled him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he had been taken. He banished the man, and in front of the garden of Eden he posted the cherubs, and the flame of a flashing sword to guard the way to the tree of life" (Gen. 3:23-24).
The pangs of birth and the struggle for power with her husband were given to the woman. The struggle to survive and tilling of a soil which would yield thistle and thorn against his efforts to bring about a fruitful harvest were given to the man. But when God cursed the serpent, he also blessed humanity promising a Redeemer.
"Yet God did make man imperishable, he made him in the image of his own nature; it was the devil's envy that brought death into the world, as those who are his partners will discover" (Wis. 2:23-24).
Adam's descendants were fruitful and multiplied filling the earth, with sin and death accompanying them every step of the way. Through covenants with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; God began calling a people apart for himself. The descendants of Jacob were brought to Egypt through Joseph. After many years the Egyptians began to fear the Hebrews and they enslaved them. They were so afraid of them that the male child of every Hebrew was killed save one named Moses who was hidden from harm. He was raised as part of the Pharoah's own household. After killing an Egyptian task master for maltreating a Hebrew slave, Moses escaped to the wilderness of Midian where God called to him. God revealed his name to Moses and sent him back to bring the slaves of Egypt in the freedom of being God's people.
"God led the people by a roundabout way of the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds...The Lord went before them, by day in the form of a pillar of cloud to show them the way, and by night in the form of a pillar of fire to give them light, thus they could continue their march by day and by night" (Ex. 13:21-22).
God took this stiff-necked people to be his own and through many trials in the wilderness, he made this people his own; making a covenant with them that he would never break. They complained against God and Moses several times. God took bitter water and made it sweet. God gave them manna--bread from heaven. Just as the serpent first tempted Adam and Eve with food, so it is the first thing that the Hebrews were tempted with and also the first thing Jesus is tempted with in the Gospel of Matthew. Does there seem to be a modus operandi here?
"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was very hungry,..." (Mt. 4:1-2a).
"Immediately afterward the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness and he remained there for forty days, and was tempted by Satan. He was with the wild beasts and the angels looked after him" (Mk. 1:12-13).Mark is silent about the temptations that Jesus underwent, but the Greek word 'ekballei' Mark uses is translated at drove or thrust force. After his baptism Christ is driven by the Spirit to begin his mission as redeemer and save what was lost by facing the ancient serpent. He is tempted to use his power to fill his own belly which would make him an enemy of the Cross (Phil 3:18) which he was born to take up. He is also tempted to adore Satan and receive power from Satan over all the kingdoms of the earth. Jesus rebukes him saying that the Lord God alone shall be worshiped. The angel Gabriel had told Mary that Jesus would sit on the throne of his father David forever. He is the Lamb of God who was found worthy to receive glory, laud, honor and power forever by God the Father. The fatherhood of Satan, a liar and murderer from the beginning (Jn 8:44) is rejected by Christ. Jesus was lastly tempted to put God to the test and cast himself off the top of the temple to see if the angels would really bear him up lest he dash his foot against a stone. Jesus quoted Deut 6:16 to Satan and said "You shall not temp the Lord your God." This referred back to the day when the people of Israel were departing the Wilderness of Sin and had no water and they wondered aloud if God was truly among them. God gave them water from the Rock to drink (Ex 17).
"Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry" (Lk 4:1-2).
The temptations Christ underwent in wilderness at the end of forty days of fasting shows Christ as the New Moses and the New Elijah. Moses spent forty days and forty nights on the mountain top in Exodus 24. Elijah fasted as he journeyed for forty days and forty nights through the wilderness to Mount Horeb to the Craig of Moses. Jesus is also the King of the Jews, the head of the people Israel who wandered for forty years in the wilderness. As the first born of all creation, he is every man and woman resisting temptation by denying the appetite that the rest of humanity had developed for sin. We were exiled to the spiritual Wilderness of Sin because of our sin. Jesus has led us out of the wilderness into the Promised Land of Salvation by overcoming Satan in every way. He is victorious over the world, the flesh and the devil and gives us by His Holy Spirit, His Blood and Water the power to overcome and cast out the accuser (1 Jn 5:8; Rev. 12:10-11).
Just as Jesus overcame Satan, so also to God's glory, Mary conceived without sin overcame him. Whenever and whereever the dragon has sat ready to devour the children of the Woman, she has been among her children nourishing them and teaching them of her firstborn Son. Through the midwifery of the Holy Spirit and Mary's intercessorial midwifery, Jesus Christ has come to be born in each child of the Woman, making them one in Jesus and therefore children of the Father. We are born from a womb of safety in the wilderness prepared for us by God.
Whether Mary comes in extraordinary means such as at Lourdes, Fatima, or Rwanda to help prepare the people for a time of great suffering, or if she comes in the ordinary way of helping us to ponder the mysteries of the Gospel of the Rosary in our hearts she comes as our Mother. She comes as Mother who will not abandon her children to the dragon. The Woman of promise in Genesis 3 is the Woman crowned with the stars in Revelation 12 who has the head of the serpent and the moon under her feet. Though the dragon wages war on us her children, so we too wage war on him.
May "the God of peace ...soon crush Satan under your feet" (Rom. 16:20).“For we contend not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age and against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the high places” (Eph 6:12).
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Womb of Untimeliness
It seems that God's timing is always something that catches us off guard. We get caught up in the cares of life such as what we are to eat, where we will get the money for bills, what we are to wear, etc... Jesus tell us to seek first the kingdom of God and these things shall be added unto us.
The prophet Hosea describes how the sin and iniquity of Ephraim was stored up against him. He says, "The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son, for at the right time he does not present himself at the opening of the womb" (Hs. 13:13). Ephraim had been making for himself idols and sacrificing children to Baal. He did not remember that it was God who had been a faithful Redeemer; who had brought him from the land of Egypt. The people had gotten away from remembering the Lord first in their daily lives. How often I get away from remembering God first. The difficulties in life and the increased pangs created by my own sins put me at odds with God. I am not where God wants me. God wants me at the opening of the womb of life ready for his light, life, and love to both bring me forth in birth and to be born from me.
Instead I am unable to see what God wants to do in my life because I am as blind, mute, and deaf as the sins and idols I worship.
God goes on to say through Hosea, "Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction? Compassion is hid from my eyes" (Hs. 13:14). Ephraim's punishment is declared and the hot breath of God shall dry up his springs and his land shall be stripped of its treasure. Samaria is told that her people will fall by the sword, her children will be dashed to pieces, and her pregnant women ripped open. (Hs. 13:15-16).
The wages of sin is death. It is more than just physical death, but also spiritual death. The light, life, and love of God which are in us are aborted by mortal sin. We are ripped open and the good things that God wants to be born in and through us are dashed to pieces. We are spiritually slaughtered. Those in the family and community around us are also hurt by our sins. However, we are not without hope of salvation.
There is a Greek Syriac manuscript of verse 13 which uses the words, "I will be" in place of the word "where". Rendered that way the passage reads: "O Death, I will be your plague. O Sheol, I will be your destruction."
The Greek Orthodox Study Bible quotes St. Jerome in a foot note to this passage as follows:
"Moreover the Lord liberated everyone, and redeemed them through the suffering of the Cross and the shedding of His blood, when His soul descended into Hades, and He did not experience corruption to His flesh; and He speaks of the death itself as well as Hades: 'I will be your death, O Death!' For that reason I have died so that you may die through My death. 'I will be your death, O Hades' for you devoured all with your throat."
When Christ descended to hell, he broke the very jaws of death, and when he rose from the dead, he was victorious over the grave. In the book of Revelation, Jesus refers to himself saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one: I died, and behold I am alive evermore and I have the keys of Death and Hades" (Rev. 1:17b-18).
The Apostle Paul illustrates Christ's victory over sin and death in telling of his own salvation.
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,
and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me (1 Cor. 15:3-11).
Paul calls his conversion an "untimely" birth. Despite his great sins as a persecutor of Christ and his Church, God had mercy on him and saved him through grace. God then had a mission for Paul to the Gentiles. Paul, by grace, was able to present himself at the opening of the womb of God's plan. God's plan for Saul to be born again as Paul was in God's time (kairos), not his time (chronos). For God, "Now is the acceptable time and now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor: 6:2, Is. 49:8).
Paul goes on to explain the mystery of the resurrection of the dead and how the last enemy to be destroyed will be death (v. 26). "When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'" (vv. 55-56).
May we all be wise children ready to present ourselves at the opening of the next womb that God has ready for us.
The prophet Hosea describes how the sin and iniquity of Ephraim was stored up against him. He says, "The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son, for at the right time he does not present himself at the opening of the womb" (Hs. 13:13). Ephraim had been making for himself idols and sacrificing children to Baal. He did not remember that it was God who had been a faithful Redeemer; who had brought him from the land of Egypt. The people had gotten away from remembering the Lord first in their daily lives. How often I get away from remembering God first. The difficulties in life and the increased pangs created by my own sins put me at odds with God. I am not where God wants me. God wants me at the opening of the womb of life ready for his light, life, and love to both bring me forth in birth and to be born from me.
Instead I am unable to see what God wants to do in my life because I am as blind, mute, and deaf as the sins and idols I worship.
God goes on to say through Hosea, "Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction? Compassion is hid from my eyes" (Hs. 13:14). Ephraim's punishment is declared and the hot breath of God shall dry up his springs and his land shall be stripped of its treasure. Samaria is told that her people will fall by the sword, her children will be dashed to pieces, and her pregnant women ripped open. (Hs. 13:15-16).
The wages of sin is death. It is more than just physical death, but also spiritual death. The light, life, and love of God which are in us are aborted by mortal sin. We are ripped open and the good things that God wants to be born in and through us are dashed to pieces. We are spiritually slaughtered. Those in the family and community around us are also hurt by our sins. However, we are not without hope of salvation.
There is a Greek Syriac manuscript of verse 13 which uses the words, "I will be" in place of the word "where". Rendered that way the passage reads: "O Death, I will be your plague. O Sheol, I will be your destruction."
The Greek Orthodox Study Bible quotes St. Jerome in a foot note to this passage as follows:
"Moreover the Lord liberated everyone, and redeemed them through the suffering of the Cross and the shedding of His blood, when His soul descended into Hades, and He did not experience corruption to His flesh; and He speaks of the death itself as well as Hades: 'I will be your death, O Death!' For that reason I have died so that you may die through My death. 'I will be your death, O Hades' for you devoured all with your throat."
When Christ descended to hell, he broke the very jaws of death, and when he rose from the dead, he was victorious over the grave. In the book of Revelation, Jesus refers to himself saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one: I died, and behold I am alive evermore and I have the keys of Death and Hades" (Rev. 1:17b-18).
The Apostle Paul illustrates Christ's victory over sin and death in telling of his own salvation.
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,
and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me (1 Cor. 15:3-11).
Paul calls his conversion an "untimely" birth. Despite his great sins as a persecutor of Christ and his Church, God had mercy on him and saved him through grace. God then had a mission for Paul to the Gentiles. Paul, by grace, was able to present himself at the opening of the womb of God's plan. God's plan for Saul to be born again as Paul was in God's time (kairos), not his time (chronos). For God, "Now is the acceptable time and now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor: 6:2, Is. 49:8).
Paul goes on to explain the mystery of the resurrection of the dead and how the last enemy to be destroyed will be death (v. 26). "When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'" (vv. 55-56).
May we all be wise children ready to present ourselves at the opening of the next womb that God has ready for us.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Womb of the Whale
(Whether or not it was whale or just a large fish, I like the title.)
The prophet Jonah was sent to the people of the city of Nineveh to preach repentance. If they did not repent, then in "forty more days Nineveh [would] be overthrown." Initially, Jonah tried to run away from God by taking a boat from Joppa to Tarshish on the the Mediterranean Sea. A storm came up and the other men on the boat knew that Jonah had done something to anger his God. Jonah told them that if they would throw him overboard the sea would calm, and it did. God then sent a large fish (or the more poetic sounding whale) to swallow Jonah alive. Jonah spent three days in the whale and from the depths of the whale cried out to God.
From the belly of the fish Jonah said this prayer to the LORD, his God: Out of my distress I called to the LORD,and he answered me; From the midst of the nether world I cried for help, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea, and the flood enveloped me; All your breakers and your billows passed over me. Then I said, "I am banished from your sight! Yet would I again look upon your holy temple." The waters swirled about me, threatening my life; the abyss enveloped me; seaweed clung about my head. Down I went to the roots of the mountains; the bars of the nether world were closing behind me forever, But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD, my God. When my soul fainted within me,I remembered the LORD; My prayer reached you in your holy temple. Those who worship vain idols forsake their source of mercy. But I, with resounding praise,will sacrifice to you; What I have vowed I will pay: deliverance is from the LORD. Then the LORD commanded the fish to spew Jonah upon the shore" (Jonah 2:1-10).
Jonah tried to flee from God, but was unable. His punishment was to be shut up in the belly of a whale in the depths of the sea at the roots of the mountains. Even there though, God was present to him as he cried out in prayer. The psalmist in Psalm 139 says, "Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee? If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too. If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea, Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast" (Ps. 139:7-10). Jonah realized too late the terror of falling into the hands of the Living God. Yet he also realized the peace that only God can give. As so many of the psalms begin in distress and end in a sacrifice of praise to God, so to does Jonah's. Psalm 22 quoted by Christ on the Cross is a prime example of this; "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?"
From out of the depths Jonah is reborn. "You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew; my bones were not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth" (Ps. 139:13-15). Jonah comes forth from the whale reborn and ready to God's will. God did not abandon him. When Jonah turned to God in faith, God did not withhold his right hand, but he delivered him from the pit within the whale. "For you will not abandon me to Sheol, nor let your faithful servant see the pit" (Ps 16:10).
Jonah is a type of Jesus. Jesus was in a boat with his disciples. A key difference is that Jesus always did the will of his Father who sent him.
"He got into a boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?" (Mt. 8:23-27).
Jesus was not literally thrown overboard; he is rather revealed as Lord of the storm. However, his Incarnation in which he sank into the depths of our humanity by becoming a man in the depths of the womb of the Virgin Mary and his Passion and Death in which he was cast into the depths of our sins and swallowed by the gaping Jaws of Death show that Jonah is fulfilled in him.
"Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." He said to them in reply, "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here" (Mt. 12: 38-41).
Jonah was cast out of the boat and the wind and the waves were calmed and the sailors made vows and sacrifices to the one true God. Jesus was bodily taken up on the cross and cast into the raging wind, rain, storm, and crashing waves of sin and death. Jonah was cast into sea and swallowed up by the mouth of a great fish. Jesus was cast into the sea of sin and death and was swallowed up by the jaws of death. From the depths of the whales womb Jonah's prayer rose up. He made his own De Profundis. "From out of the depths I cry unto you, Lord." (Ps. 130). From the depths of the earth, Jesus prayed to his Father. He broke open "the bars of the netherworld" and preached to the prisoners. He lead them into heaven breaking open those gates that had been shut to man since the fall, probably singing a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving much like Jonah's.
Jonah points to the Resurrection of Jesus. Jesus is not left in the pit to know corruption. He is gloriously and bodily Resurrected. Death, sin, suffering, and destruction are not the end. There is a resurrection in which we will all be reborn: either to life everlasting or death everlasting. The Resurrection of Jesus is so important and central to our faith that Paul says that if it did not happen then everything we believe is in vain. The bars of the gates of hell were not enough to keep Jesus drug down into the pit. The wrappings of seaweed in Jonah's case and the wrappings of a burial shroud in the case of Jesus were not enough to hold back the hand of the Living God. In Jesus Christ, death itself is swallowed up and has no victory. We therefore have our faith and hope in him.
From the depths of our suffering we cry out to God. God hears our cries and does not abandon us to the pit; rather he transforms our circumstances to a womb of hope from which we are born anew and from which one day we will rise with him.
The prophet Jonah was sent to the people of the city of Nineveh to preach repentance. If they did not repent, then in "forty more days Nineveh [would] be overthrown." Initially, Jonah tried to run away from God by taking a boat from Joppa to Tarshish on the the Mediterranean Sea. A storm came up and the other men on the boat knew that Jonah had done something to anger his God. Jonah told them that if they would throw him overboard the sea would calm, and it did. God then sent a large fish (or the more poetic sounding whale) to swallow Jonah alive. Jonah spent three days in the whale and from the depths of the whale cried out to God.
From the belly of the fish Jonah said this prayer to the LORD, his God: Out of my distress I called to the LORD,and he answered me; From the midst of the nether world I cried for help, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea, and the flood enveloped me; All your breakers and your billows passed over me. Then I said, "I am banished from your sight! Yet would I again look upon your holy temple." The waters swirled about me, threatening my life; the abyss enveloped me; seaweed clung about my head. Down I went to the roots of the mountains; the bars of the nether world were closing behind me forever, But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD, my God. When my soul fainted within me,I remembered the LORD; My prayer reached you in your holy temple. Those who worship vain idols forsake their source of mercy. But I, with resounding praise,will sacrifice to you; What I have vowed I will pay: deliverance is from the LORD. Then the LORD commanded the fish to spew Jonah upon the shore" (Jonah 2:1-10).
Jonah tried to flee from God, but was unable. His punishment was to be shut up in the belly of a whale in the depths of the sea at the roots of the mountains. Even there though, God was present to him as he cried out in prayer. The psalmist in Psalm 139 says, "Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee? If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too. If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea, Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast" (Ps. 139:7-10). Jonah realized too late the terror of falling into the hands of the Living God. Yet he also realized the peace that only God can give. As so many of the psalms begin in distress and end in a sacrifice of praise to God, so to does Jonah's. Psalm 22 quoted by Christ on the Cross is a prime example of this; "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?"
From out of the depths Jonah is reborn. "You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew; my bones were not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth" (Ps. 139:13-15). Jonah comes forth from the whale reborn and ready to God's will. God did not abandon him. When Jonah turned to God in faith, God did not withhold his right hand, but he delivered him from the pit within the whale. "For you will not abandon me to Sheol, nor let your faithful servant see the pit" (Ps 16:10).
Jonah is a type of Jesus. Jesus was in a boat with his disciples. A key difference is that Jesus always did the will of his Father who sent him.
"He got into a boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?" (Mt. 8:23-27).
Jesus was not literally thrown overboard; he is rather revealed as Lord of the storm. However, his Incarnation in which he sank into the depths of our humanity by becoming a man in the depths of the womb of the Virgin Mary and his Passion and Death in which he was cast into the depths of our sins and swallowed by the gaping Jaws of Death show that Jonah is fulfilled in him.
"Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." He said to them in reply, "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here" (Mt. 12: 38-41).
Jonah was cast out of the boat and the wind and the waves were calmed and the sailors made vows and sacrifices to the one true God. Jesus was bodily taken up on the cross and cast into the raging wind, rain, storm, and crashing waves of sin and death. Jonah was cast into sea and swallowed up by the mouth of a great fish. Jesus was cast into the sea of sin and death and was swallowed up by the jaws of death. From the depths of the whales womb Jonah's prayer rose up. He made his own De Profundis. "From out of the depths I cry unto you, Lord." (Ps. 130). From the depths of the earth, Jesus prayed to his Father. He broke open "the bars of the netherworld" and preached to the prisoners. He lead them into heaven breaking open those gates that had been shut to man since the fall, probably singing a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving much like Jonah's.
Jonah points to the Resurrection of Jesus. Jesus is not left in the pit to know corruption. He is gloriously and bodily Resurrected. Death, sin, suffering, and destruction are not the end. There is a resurrection in which we will all be reborn: either to life everlasting or death everlasting. The Resurrection of Jesus is so important and central to our faith that Paul says that if it did not happen then everything we believe is in vain. The bars of the gates of hell were not enough to keep Jesus drug down into the pit. The wrappings of seaweed in Jonah's case and the wrappings of a burial shroud in the case of Jesus were not enough to hold back the hand of the Living God. In Jesus Christ, death itself is swallowed up and has no victory. We therefore have our faith and hope in him.
From the depths of our suffering we cry out to God. God hears our cries and does not abandon us to the pit; rather he transforms our circumstances to a womb of hope from which we are born anew and from which one day we will rise with him.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Feast of St Thomas the Apostle
St Thomas doubted when he heard that the Lord had been there while he was away. He had earlier said, "Let us go and die with the Lord" (Jn. 11-16). This echoed Peter's proclamation of never abandoning Jesus and his subsequent use of a sword to cut off the ear of a servant of the high priest who had come with Judas and the mob to take Jesus away. Now Thomas is in disillusionment and despair over Jesus being crucified. His resolve and faith have waned. He states his doubt as boldly as he stated his confidence in going to die with the Lord earlier. "I will not believe until I see the nail prints in his hands and feet and put my hand in his side" (Jn. 19:25).
Jesus came again the following week and this time Thomas' own words are used against him by the Lord Jesus. "Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (Jn. 19:27-29).
Thomas' faith is born anew from seeing the Risen Lord with his wounds now glorified. Thomas sees the womb of the Sacred Heart which has loved the Father in obedience and suffered, died and rose again for our salvation. The side of Christ is opened to him and his heart in turn is opened. Do not suppose this was a gentle thing. I think it was more as the prophet had said, "Rend your hearts not your garments" (Joel 2:13). The words of faith, "My Lord and My God," boiled and burst forth to the surface. A faith that was dead in him rose again with the same violence as the earth quake at the time of Jesus' death. Just as the chief priest rent his garments when Jesus said, "You shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with the hosts of the armies of heaven in glory;" so now Thomas rends his heart with the confession of faith "My Lord and My God."
Sometimes in life we cannot come to faith until the Lord has removed every last obstacle and excuse our doubt can hold onto. In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, Abraham warned that not even if one should come back from the dead would the rich man's brothers believe. Some have received extraordinary graces like St Thomas the Apostle and still do not believe.
Today is the First Friday of the month and therefore also dedicated to the Sacred Heart. Go to Mass and confess that Jesus is Lord and God with Thomas. Rend your hearts that your faith may be born anew. The pains of your labor of faith will soon be forgotten with the Joy of beholding your God anew (Jn. 16:21).
Jesus came again the following week and this time Thomas' own words are used against him by the Lord Jesus. "Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (Jn. 19:27-29).
Thomas' faith is born anew from seeing the Risen Lord with his wounds now glorified. Thomas sees the womb of the Sacred Heart which has loved the Father in obedience and suffered, died and rose again for our salvation. The side of Christ is opened to him and his heart in turn is opened. Do not suppose this was a gentle thing. I think it was more as the prophet had said, "Rend your hearts not your garments" (Joel 2:13). The words of faith, "My Lord and My God," boiled and burst forth to the surface. A faith that was dead in him rose again with the same violence as the earth quake at the time of Jesus' death. Just as the chief priest rent his garments when Jesus said, "You shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with the hosts of the armies of heaven in glory;" so now Thomas rends his heart with the confession of faith "My Lord and My God."
Sometimes in life we cannot come to faith until the Lord has removed every last obstacle and excuse our doubt can hold onto. In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, Abraham warned that not even if one should come back from the dead would the rich man's brothers believe. Some have received extraordinary graces like St Thomas the Apostle and still do not believe.
Today is the First Friday of the month and therefore also dedicated to the Sacred Heart. Go to Mass and confess that Jesus is Lord and God with Thomas. Rend your hearts that your faith may be born anew. The pains of your labor of faith will soon be forgotten with the Joy of beholding your God anew (Jn. 16:21).
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Womb of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Below are my reflections on the meaning of the symbolism of the Sacred Heart of Jesus image.
The Heart itself.
The heart is a universal symbol for love. "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 Jn. 4:15-16). God so loved world he gave His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
The heart as an organ pumps blood to every member of the body. So too the Sacred Heart of Jesus pumps His blood to each one of us especially when we receive Him in the Eucharist in a state of grace. The heart is life giving. One man died that we all might have life. This is the heart which literally poured out its blood and water on our behalf to give us eternal life.
The crown of thorns.
The crown of thorns around the head of Jesus was placed there by the soldiers as they struck him and mocked him saying, "All hail the King of the Jews." I don't have the source of this next quote, but Jesus is supposed to have said to Margaret Mary Alacoque that the soldiers gave him a crown of thorns on his head and his friends gave him the crown of thorn around his heart. The love of men has grown cold in the last days and the heart which has love all has not been loved in return. It has been hated, reviled, or just ignored.
The crown of thorns surrounding the Sacred Heart is also like a hedge of protection.
Satan asked God about Job, "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has" (Job 1:10)? In the book of Hosea, God put a spiritual hedge of thorns around Gomer. "Therefore, I will block her path with thorn bushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She shall chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, "I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now" (Hosea 2:6-7). There is also an opinion in Jewish rabbinical tradition that the bush from which God spoke to Moses was a thorn bush. (See the following article from the Jewish Encyclopedia.) The Law on Sinai was given forth from a thorn bush; the Law on Calvary was given forth from the heart of a man pierced with nails, spear, and thorns. He spoke the words earlier in John's Gospel, "I give you a new command: Love one another as I have loved you." He lived those words unto his death on the cross and his rising from the dead.
When we are in the Sacred Heart of the God who is love and He within us, we are protected from the fiery darts of the evil one. God allowed Satan to try Job with the loss of all of his possessions and family, even the loss of his health, but God did not allow Satan to take his life. "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Cor. 10:13).
The Fire
The fire in the Sacred Heart is the fire of Divine Love. The fire from which God spoke to Moses burned but did not consume the thorn bush (Ex. 3:2). John the Baptist said of Christ, "His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Mt. 3:12). Again Paul writes:
"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames" (1 Cor. 3:10-15).
Those who love Jesus are in his Sacred Heart and they are purified by him like gold that is tested in fire. Though we suffer loss of imperfect work built from inferior materials, we shall be saved in the end. I think that purgatory is within the Sacred Heart of Jesus figuratively and literally. Though the heart is a symbol, the love it symbolises is quite literal. Those who do not love Jesus will suffer the eternal loss of God's friendship. There is a consuming fire that goes before the Israelites and destroys their enemies. "For our God is a consuming fire" (Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29). Those who die without the fire of God's love in them are eternally punished by it.
The Cross
The cross in the middle of the flames in his Sacred Heart is the suffering which we endure just as he endured suffering. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me (Lk. 9:23). He gave his life on the cross that we might live. The greatest good of our salvation was brought about through the greatest evil of deicide. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28).
If we are within his heart, though we suffer the cross with him, and we are burned by the fire of our trials in life, we are not consumed by them. We are protected as the three young men were protected in the furnace by the angel in the third chapter of the book of Daniel. We are purified as gold is tested in fire. We are safe and protected within the womb of his heart. We cling to the promise he gave that we will not be tempted beyond our endurance. He is always faithful to his promises.
There are 12 promises that he gave to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque listed below:
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.
5. I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
9. I will bless those places wherein the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my Heart.
12. In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.
Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on us!
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