Thoughts on Meaning of Work

The Holy Spirit refreshes our memory of the Son’s revelation of the Father: “My Father is always at work.” This, along with the promise of Christ, “You will do greater works than these,” is revolutionary in that it reminds us the necessity of work in man’s life. The Church in the last century was reminded of the great value of work not simply because there were instances of injustice against the worker and she needed to correct the world, but because she has seen a glimpse of God’s tenderness from her saints. Who would have thought that simple works of love from a nun in France would revolutionize the way people see reality? Who would have thought that something great can happen from the streets of Calcutta? These two great women, St. Therese and Mother Teresa, has reminded the Church and the world that contemplation and action are not separate, that contemplation strengthens work and work purifies our prayer. Especially in this moment in history, the Church is reminded again of another great figure, St. Benedict. Even in barbaric times, God does not fail to love. These saints are not simply models of faith that we try to follow and imitate. Without them, and this is where we understand the nature of a saint, we would not know Christ.

Obedience

The saints reveal to us that a Christian is not defined by what he does or what he imposes on reality. A Christian is defined by God’s faithfulness to him. He is defined by love just as the Father’s love for Christ defines Him as “Son.” God’s faithfulness is not something abstract. He shows His faithfulness in events: liberation of Israel from exile, giving the laws, choosing King David, etc. Most of all, His faithfulness has the form of friendship; in Christ, He calls us friends. This faithfulness is prior to any type of work. His faithfulness, His claim upon us, provokes us. “Where are you?” “What are you looking for?” Even before the coming of Christ, God has made a claim on us. Even when we were in sin, He called us: “Where are you?” This question, the question God asked Adam, speaks to us today: what have you done? Like Adam, we are hidden in the bushes, closing our hearts before God and the world. What really have we done? The answer the modern world gives is her success: technology, progress, science, etc. Yet, even she can see the insufficiency of her success. The poor are still suffering, there is still injustice, and she cannot get away from the necessity of death. The meaning of work, then, is not in our hands. It is in the obedience of God to Himself, the obedience to love.

If work has meaning, it must be a response to God’s faithfulness to us. We alone cannot define the meaning of our work. The tough economic situation we are facing now reveals to us that the value of work is not in our hands. We may give our best performance but fall short of the standard of the people we work for. The only standard that must define us is the memory of Christ’s tenderness in our lives. Obedience to Christ is obedience to our experiences of His tenderness. Because we have experienced Christ, we can no longer go to work as if nothing happened two thousand years ago. At work, we are never alone: Emmanuel. To respond to His claim upon us with thanksgiving and passion is what makes our work a participation in the new creation.

Poverty

An essential principle of work is the Ignatian principle of indifference. It is neither complacency nor the denial of God’s claim towards us. It is clearly the opposite: it is one’s availability to God’s tenderness. It is precisely this method which allows a person, even in a crippling situation like slavery, to love. Poverty is not the absence of riches but the freedom to see Christ in all things. It is what takes away the temptation of being consumed by one’s work. A Christian with a poor spirit would freely accept a C.E.O. offer because he knows that his success does not come from his effort but a gift that comes from above.

The value of work can only be recognized when one has been educated in freedom, in adhering to the gift that surprises and awakens one’s wonder in front of reality. Without this wonder, without the memory that safeguards wonder, life becomes reactionary or an aesthetic idea. Circumstances will determine one’s response and our heart will not be present in the work. Freedom, on the other hand, is being satisfied by the work that has been given not because the circumstance calls it, but because the circumstance is the familiar beckoning of Christ in our history. Even when the happy emotions one has experienced when he experienced Christ for the first time has left him, the question remains in his heart: is Christ sufficient?

Virginity

God created the world and saw it was good. One can look at one’s work and possess it not simply because it comes from his toil, but because he understands that this is the participation of God’s self-giving. It is similar to a person on top of a mountain and having a silent joy in his heart. How else can he possess such a beauty? This is virginity. It is not simply abstinence from sex, but the contemplative attitude that penetrates into the depth of things.

To embrace the toil, the mistakes, the beautiful—this is virginity. It is looking at the world the way God does. God is embracing the cosmos in its totality and never distances Himself from it; His transcendence does not take away His immanence. The virgin transcends all things, people and his work, while at the same time never separating himself from it. In fact, it is precisely this transcendence, this space, which allows him to be satisfied in his work.

Regina and the Barefooted Queen

Here's a sweet lyrical story for children that my husband and I wrote about a little girl who discovers Our Lady:

Regina loves spring mornings
She rises with the sun
All ready for the new day
She checks on everyone

Regina sings a morning song
For Mom and Dad to rise
She climbs beneath her parent’s
quilt; they open sleepy eyes

Regina finds the teddy bear
Her brother loves to hold
She snuggles them together
A smile soon unfolds

Regina spots a fancy box
Golden sparkle laden
She opens and reveals with joy
Clothing for a maiden

“Regina,” says her mother wise
“The name that you've been given
Is for Regina Caeli,
Mary, Queen of Heaven”

Regina dons a velvet robe,
Sets ribbons in her hair
A ruby ring adorns the hand
Of this royal heir

Gazing out the sunlit window
With wonder in her eyes
A royal court and retinue
With butterflies pass by

The birds within the garden
Rise up their raucous din
Regina charges up the hose
And bravely charges in

Regina greets, with grace and poise,
A real Queen in the garden
She bows her head and curtsies nice,
“I beg your majesty’s pardon.”

Tiny soldiers always faithful
Stationed around the sunlit yard
Are reassigned to serve the Queen
A royal honor guard

Regina clasps some rosary beads
On tippy-toes she stands
To drape the string of precious jewels
Around the Queen's small hands

Regina thinks, “It’s not enough!
Our Queen deserves more wealth”
So off she went to treasure hunt
By cunning and by stealth

Regina’s eyes dance everywhere
For riches to expose
She knows the garden will not miss
This fragrant dew-kissed rose

Daisies from the garden's boarder
By skillful hands are woven
Into a white and yellow crown
To show a love unspoken

Regina fills a flower-pot
With shiny rocks and leaves
A fancy teacup, silverware
All things a good Queen needs

Regina lays them carefully
By the barefooted Queen
And prays a simple “Ave”
From her purest heart serene

“It’s time for lunch, I have to go”
Regina sighs in sorrow
“Do not worry, I'll come back
With tea and cake tomorrow”

Regina prayed to God that night
“Thank you for my brother,
For mama, and for daddy, and
Mary, my Queen Mother

Empty Nest

Hi everyone!

I haven't been able to post much due to travel, the flu (the regular kind), and all the events that happen in May for Catholic parents and teachers. We are finishing up classes, handing out tests, and attending sacraments.

We had a lovely Mother's day - all our kids were here which is something I just love. I am often amazed at how unique and beautiful each child is but then when they get together the beauty is somehow magnified. It's a joy to watch them interact, take an interest in one another, and create laughter. It was wonderful having a full house again. The day three of them went back to school, work, and the seminary the house felt so empty and quiet. I'm really getting an idea of the concept of an "empty nest" and why people write articles in magazines for empty-nesters. Sigh! In the end, however, I am filled with great joy knowing that the kids are safe, healthy, and trying their best to follow the Lord. What more could a mother and father want?

I will be back in JUNE. See you then.

Mary

Ignorance of Scripture is...

As one oft times not too different from my namesake "Doubting" Thomas, I recently wondered how to reconcile the fact that the Holy Spirit "blows where it will" and yet we can be confident of that wind in Baptism and Confirmation. How do we know the Wind blew where we hoped it would?

Of course there's Church teaching and that is enough but there was the Scripture above that I wondered how to reconcile. And I did, reasoning that Jesus instituted the sacraments and where Jesus is, the Holy Spirit likewise is.

And indeed a pleasing personal confirmation came in the Mass readings a couple days later when John speaking of Christ: "God gives him the Spirit without reserve."

The Season of Hope

For me, the thrill of the Resurrection is that it shows the great strength of God and so acts as a tonic of hope. Weakness we know well, too well. So how relaxing it is to gaze on the power of Our Lord, in his Resurrection, and in the splendid rightness and justness of it.

With the Church's other great feast, Christmas, we are immediately cast back to "reality" and somberness with St. Stephen's martyrdom and the death of the innocents. But with Easter the Church gives us not a single day but a whole week, and ultimately a season of fifty days. Easter is the gift without shadow, without reserve or limit, without fine print or dependent clause.

Perhaps our personal destination be a long Purgatory or even Hell, but maybe we can ignore that for a moment and consider the consolation of knowing that someone actually made the goal - both Christ and Our Lady - and to know that in a world continuously broken and damaged and filled with failures, be they moral or physical or fiscal or environmental, that Perfection does truly exist and even lived on this earth in human form. To hear a great orchestra play Bach or Beethoven is to experience a glimmer of the possibility of perfection, and while listening to the strains you momentarily forget your own lack of musical skill.

This is the day the Lord has made!

Ocean of Mercy: Dive-In!

The Novena of Divine Mercy began on Good Friday (I'm a little late, :-/ ) This beautiful devotion focuses on the greatest love we can know: God's merciful love. A love we do not deserve but one that he gives us so freely and in abundance. His mercy is so great that it is often referred to as "an ocean." God calls us each day to love him more and more. To throw ourselves into his care with childhood abandonment. To have a deep and lasting security in the knowledge of his love for us. He asks us to trust in Him. To trust in his love, in his mercy, and in his plan for our soul. All of this - all of this love - is shown to us in one drop of Jesus' blood that was shed on Good Friday and so, the Church begins on that day to pray for God's mercy on the world.

For a detailed look at this powerful novena go to Fisheaters.com

Luke 1:68-78

The Canticle of Zachariah, using ample phrases from the Greek Old Testament, recalls to mind the promise that God has given to his people, to redeem them and save them from their enemies. Phrases such as "a horn of our salvation," coupled with the reference to "David's House" propose that the age-old promise of God is fulfilled in the Christ-child, of whom Zachariah's son, John, will be the forerunner. I post this canticle because of the last phrase which tells us that God's mercy is tender, it shines on us in times of darkness, and it will bring us interior peace.

"Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought
redemption to his people. He has raised up a horn for our salvation within the
house of David his servant, even as he promised through the mouth of his
holy prophets from of old: salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all
who hate us, to show mercy to our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant
and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father, and to grant us that,
rescued from the hand of enemies, without fear we might worship him in
holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death's shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace."

More on Mercy

mer⋅cy   

–noun, plural -cies for 4, 5.

1. compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence: Have mercy on the poor sinner.
2. the disposition to be compassionate or forbearing: an adversary wholly without mercy
3. the discretionary power of a judge to pardon someone or to mitigate punishment, esp. to send to prison rather than invoke the death penalty.
4. an act of kindness, compassion, or favor: She has performed countless small mercies for her friends and neighbors.
5. something that gives evidence of divine favor; blessing: It was just a mercy we had our seat belts on when it happened.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corporal Works of Mercy
These seven acts of charity, that we engage to aid the body, are based on Christ’s prophecy of the Last Judgment:

1. Feed the hungry
2. Give drink to the thirsty
3. Clothe the naked
4. Shelter the homeless
5. Visit the sick
6. Visit those in prison
7. Bury the dead
   
   Mt 25:34 “Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ’Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink?’ And the king will answer them, ’Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me.’”

Spiritual Works of Mercy

The seven charitable practices toward our neighbor’s soul:

1. Convert the sinner
2. Instruct the ignorant
3. Counsel the doubtful
4. Comfort the sorrowful
5. Bear wrongs patiently
6. Forgive injuries
7. Pray for the living and the dead

Resurrection Witnesses

Except from The Silence and Courage of the Resurrection Witnesses

by By Father Thomas Rosica, CSB

The Witness of Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (sister of Martha and Lazarus), and the unnamed penitent woman who anointed Jesus' feet (Luke 7:36-48) are sometimes understood to be the same woman. From this, plus the statement that Jesus had cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2), has risen the tradition that Mary Magdalene had been a prostitute before she met Jesus. But in reality we know nothing about her sins or weaknesses. They could have been inexplicable physical disease, mental illness, or anything that prevented her from wholeness in mind and body.

Mary Magdalene is mentioned in the Gospels as being among the women of Galilee who followed Jesus and His disciples, ministered to him, and who, according to each of the evangelists, was present at His crucifixion and burial, and went to the tomb on Easter Sunday to anoint His body.

Jesus lived in an androcentric society. Women were property, first of their fathers, then of their husbands; they did not have the right to testify; they could not study the Torah. In this restricting atmosphere, Jesus acted without animosity, accepting women, honoring them, respecting them, and treasuring their friendship. He journeyed with them, touched and cured them, loved them and allowed them to love him.

In our Easter Sunday Gospel [John 20 :1-18], we peer once again into the early morning scene of sadness as Mary Magdalene weeps uncontrollably at the grave of her friend, Jesus. We hear anew their conversation: "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" "…Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means, Teacher). ... "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her. (John 20:15-18)

Because of her incredible message and mission, Mary Magdalene was fittingly called "Apostola Apostolorum" (Apostle to the Apostles) in the early Church because she was the first to see the Risen Lord, and to announce His Resurrection to the other apostles.

For Jesus, women were equally as able as men to penetrate the great religious truths, live them and announce them to others. There is no secret code about this story, which is still astonishingly good news more than 2,000 years later. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

His Passion Moves Us

"The anguish of the Passion of the Lord Jesus cannot fail to move to pity even the most hardened hearts," he said, "as it constitutes the climax of the revelation of God’s love for each of us."

"Pouring out his blood, he has rescued us from the slavery of death, he has broken the solitude of our tears, he has entered into our every grief and our every anxiety."

Zenit: Pope Benedict, Rome, April 10, 2009

Life Giving Seed

Lunaria: A plant from the mustard family, sometimes used to

represents the Eucharist in Marian gardens.

It is also called the "honesty flower"

Here is a handout I created as part of my thesis on how the analogy of the seed helps us understand the mystery of our vocation. Essentially, the analogy of the seed not only helps us understand the life-giving nature of a vocation but also the communal nature of a vocation. This community involves intimate communication and cooperation with the divine. An awesome prospect. A vocation comes to us from God the Father, through the son, with the help of the Holy spirit and it is aimed at bringing life (fruit) to the whole people of God

This format doesn't communicate the idea as clearly as I'd like but the three-fold work of the Trinity outlined below is suppose to share the idea that a vocation, like the life of a plant, is cyclical. One plants, one sows, one receives the fruit and takes the seeds and plants again etc.

I hope you enjoy this little analogy as we continue on our Holy Week together with Christ - the seed that fell to the ground and died for us that we may bear the fruit of eternal life!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Seed of Vocation

I. God the Father: Vine Grower
“"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.” (John 15:1-4)

Seed: Jesus the Word of God
The seed fallen on the different soils is Jesus himself.”
(JPII, Rožňava, 2003). This is Jesus’ vocation.

Seedbed: The World / The Cross
“Unless the seed fall to the ground and die…” (John 12:23)

Fruit: Redemption -> -> ->ETERNAL LIFE


II Jesus: Sower
“He who sows the good seed is the son of man” (Matt 13:37)

Seed: “The good seed is the word of God.” (Lk 8:11)
The word of God is the Gospel message which calls us to follow Him.

Our response to the good news is our vocation

Seedbed: Our Heart
“Jesus compares himself to the sower, who sows the seed of his word confidently in the soil of human hearts.” (JPII, Rožňava, 2003)

Fruit: We become followers of Christ
You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God. (1 Peter 1:23) ->->-> OUR LIFE IN CHRIST

III Holy Spirit: Calls workers in the Vineyard

“ We are God’s fellow workers…” (1 Cor 3:5)

Seed: Gift of Self
“I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit” (Jn 16:6)

Through our vocation

Seedbed: Others/ Culture
“…you are God’s field…” (1 Corinthians 3:9)

Fruit: Sharing the life of Christ with others ->->->THEIR LIFE IN CHRIST

ICHTHYS

Early Christians use of the Ichthys symbol date to the end of the 1st century AD. In the early part of the second century St. Clement of Alexandria, urged Christians to identify themselves with a seal of a fish or dove. Clemens noticed that letters of the Greek word for fish, ΙΧΘΥΣ could become an acronym for "Jesus Christ, God's Son, (and) Savior."

Ι... Iota... Iesous... Jesus

Matthew 1:20-21
"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your
home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in
her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his
people from their sins."


Χ... Chi... Christos... Christ (annointed)

John 1:15-17
"John testified to him and cried out, saying, 'This was he of whom I said,
The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me. '
From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while
the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ"


Θ... Theta... Theou... God's
Υ...Upsilon......Yios ...Son...

Matthew 16:15-16
"He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Simon Peter said in
reply, 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.'"

John 1:34
"Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God."


Σ...Sigma........Soter...Savior

John 4:41-42
"Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to
the woman, "We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for
ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world."

From the Catholic Encyclopedia article, Symbolism of the Fish:

"The word Ichthys, then, as well as the representation of a fish, held for Christians a meaning of the highest significance; it was a brief profession of faith in the divinity of Christ, the Redeemer of mankind. Believers in this mystic Ichthys were themselves "little fishes", according to the well-known passage of Tertullian (De baptismo, c. 1): "we, little fishes, after the image of our Ichthys, Jesus Christ, are born in the water"(baptism).

"The association of the Ichthys with the Eucharist is strongly emphasized in the epitaph of Abercius (Read more HERE, and HERE) the second century Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, and in the somewhalater epitaph of Pectorius of Autun. Abercius tells us on the aforesaid monument that in his journey from his Asiatic home to Rome, everywhere on the way he received as food 'the Fish from the spring, the great, the pure," as well as "wine mixed with water, together with bread.'

"Pectorius also (Catacomb of St. Callixtus, Rome) speaks of the Fish as a delicious spiritual nurture supplied by the "Saviour of the Saints". In the Eucharistic monuments this idea is expressed repeatedly in the pictorial form; the food before the banqueters is invariably bread and fish on two separate dishes. The peculiar significance attached to the fish in this relation is well brought out in such early frescoes as the Fractio Panis scene in the cemetery of St. Priscilla, and the fishes on the grass, in closest proximity to the baskets containing bread and wine, in the crypt of Lucina."

Sometimes people get the acronym, ICHTHYS mixed up with the accusation of the Romans that was posted about Jesus head on the cross, INRI, which stands for “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum” and translated as Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. As found in John 19:19-20:

"Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, 'Jesus
the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.' Now many of the Jews read this
inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and
it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek."

It is Jesus

“It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness, he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you;

He is the beauty to which you are so attracted;

It is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise;

It is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life;

It is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.

It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives”

~ John Paul II ~

Ave Verum Corpus: Let Us Prepare for Holy Week

"Ave verum corpus"

• Good Friday Homily 2005 by Fr Cantalamessa, OFM Cap. 
  
• Hail True Body ... sacrificed on the Cross for man
• Hail True Body ... from whose pierced side blood and water flowed
• A Great Movement of Hope: Ave Verum Corpus

Ave verum corpus natum de Maria Virgine,

Hail, true Body, born of the Virgin Mary,

vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine,

truly suffered, sacrificed on the Cross for man,

cuius latus perforatum unda fluxit et sanguine,

from whose pierced side water flowed and blood,

esto nobis praegustatum in mortis examine

be for us a foretaste in the trial of death.

God Never Ceases to Call Vocations

Pontiff Urges Church to Pray Continuously and With Trust in this year's message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood and Consecrated Life with the theme: "Faith in the Divine Initiative -- the Human Response."

Though, these words are similar to ones we have all read and heard again again, this message of hope is still very much needed.

Apostolic Visit to Legion of Christ

Holy See Promises Aid in Current Hardships

Letter from Cardinal Bertone: http://zenit.org/article-25527?l=english
Letter from Father Corcuera: http://zenit.org/article-25526?l=english

Thank God this began before Lent was over and thank God for our mother, the Church!

UPDATE: Our bishop commented on the work of the Legionaries in our diocese in an article printed in the Sacramento Bee:

"Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto praised the order's work in Sacramento.

'The Legion of Christ has performed exemplary service here,' said the bishop in
a statement Tuesday. 'I know this is a difficult time for the Legion, but I know
them to be a people of faith and good will, and they can count on my prayers and
support.'"

Wounded by Beauty