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Medjugorje
Message: July 25, 2013 Dear children! With joy in my heart I call all of you to live
your faith and to witness it with your heart and by your example in every way.
Decide, little children, to be far from sin and temptation, and may there be
joy and love for holiness in your hearts. I love you, little children, and
accompany you with my intercession before the Most High. Thank you for having
responded to my call. |
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Published
by the Marian Center of San Antonio / A Catholic Evangelization Ministry In this month’s message from Our Lady, we are reminded of the famous
words of the French Jesuit priest/paleontologist, Pierre Teilhard
de Chardin: “Joy is the most
infallible sign of the presence of God.” As in many of her past messages, Our Lady begins this month by
saying: “With joy in my heart . . .” No matter what the state of our world, the dangers or tragic
conditions we face, or the motherly concerns that she seeks to address with
us, Our Lady consistently claims JOY
in her heart. And
so should we. As Teilhard
indicated, when one is conscious of God’s presence, joy is unavoidable! Likewise, when joy is absent and we display a
gloomy, pessimistic, fearful, or angry state of mind, then clearly we have lost
consciousness of God’s presence; we are asleep, unaware, unawakened, unconscious. A lack
of joy does not indicate a lack of God’s presence—God
is always and everywhere present—but
rather a lack
of spiritual consciousness or awareness of the Divine Presence. Our Lady says, “I call all of you to live your faith
and to witness it with your heart and by your example in every way.” This is a challenge to pay more than “lip service” to our Catholic
Christian religious belief and spirituality. We are to “LIVE” our faith and
“WITNESS” it, Our Lady says, with our “HEART” and by our “EXAMPLE.” This
means that not only our intellect with its verbal formulas of correct doctrine, catechetical
orthodoxy, liturgical purity, and political righteousness are to be trumpeted
from the rooftops, but that our emotional center must be touched and
engaged also, with an all-inclusive Christ-like love,
mercy and compassion welling up within us, making a
judgmental, self-righteous attitude impossible—even toward the most extreme
sinners and non-believers. If we “live our faith with our heart”
(and not merely from the “head” level that is frequently hijacked by the
ego), then judgmental condemnation of others is not an option. Even further, Mary says we are to witness our faith by our “example.” What an order! For our hypocrisy is
deeply-rooted, we who wag our fingers and heads at “others” but do the same
or worse ourselves. St. Paul says, “You are without excuse, every one of you who passes
judgment. For by the standard by which you judge another you condemn
yourself, since you, the judge, do the very same things….Do you suppose then,
you who judge those who engage in such things and yet do them yourself, that
you will escape the judgment of God?” (Rom 2:1-3) Here the
great crime seems to be not the sinful activities but the hypocrisy
of judging others for doing them while guilty
ourselves. How often do we cast stones while living in a “glass house”? (Do we
who condemn abortionists regard and care for all life as sacred—really? Do we who “defend marriage” exemplify the highest ideals of
chastity, fidelity and respect toward our own spouses—really? Do we who deplore the idolatry of media and popular culture have no
inordinate attachment to our cell phone or computer—really?) To witness by “example” is the most difficult and demanding
standard of evangelization. As the exemplary Christian saint, Francis
of Assisi said, “Preach the Gospel at all times; if
necessary, use words.” Like Francis, Our Lady calls
us to live and witness our faith “in every way.” This
means that in every moment of our life, in each situation and
circumstance, whether alone or with others, there is a “Christian” way
of doing it. Early Christians found and lived it, and so were called “People of the Way.” How about us? Our Lady continues, “Decide,
little children, to be far from sin and temptation, and may there be joy and
love for holiness in your hearts.” Here is another recurring theme in Our Lady’s messages: “deciding.” Mary upholds and champions the human dignity and privilege of free
will—the power to choose, to
“decide.” Many times she has called us to “decide for holiness.” Today she encourages us to “Decide to be far from sin and temptation.” This decision of the intellectual center she links with a disposition of the emotional center: “May there be joy and love for holiness in
your hearts.” Our Lady knows how inadequate our intellectual reason alone is, for effecting needed change in our life (like “reasonably”
stopping habits of smoking, overeating, overdrinking, overspending, illicit
sex, etc.). We are powerless when facing addictions with our “head” only. Here, instead, Our Lady points us toward the highest, most authentic
use of our intellect and reason: the conscious and deliberate joining
of head with
heart to make a
decision that aligns
our human will with the Divine Will. As we freely “decide” with our human reason and intellect to
“be far from
sin and temptation”—“avoiding the near occasions”
as traditional piety expressed it—there will be a natural integrity and
wholeness experienced throughout our being, but especially in the emotional
center: a “joy
and love for holiness in our hearts.” Without this feeling-level conversion, change does not last. (“What is done without joy is zero.”) And so Our Lady’s message comes full
circle to end where it began: “joy.” August Musings: Conversion from Self-centeredness and the Overcoming of
“Splits”. . . Pope Francis on Discerning Truth & Lies . . . Mary’s August
Glories: Assumption & Queenship Moving Water by Jelaluddin
Rumi When
you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy. When
actions come from another section, the feeling disappears. Don’t let others lead you. They may be blind or, worse,
vultures. Reach
for the rope of God. And what is that? Putting aside
self-will. Because
of willfulness people
sit in jail, the trapped bird’s wings are tied, fish sizzle in the skillet. The
anger of police is willfulness. You’ve seen a magistrate inflict visible punishment. Now see the invisible. If you could leave your
selfishness, you would
see how you’ve been torturing your soul. We are born and
live inside black water in a well. How
could we know what an open field of sunlight is? Don’t insist
on going where you think you want to go. Ask the way to the
spring. Your living
pieces will form a harmony. There is a moving palace that floats in the air with
balconies and clear water
flowing through, infinity everywhere, yet contained under a single tent. +
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hearts should be always asking, “What more, Lord? What do you want of me?
Show me anything that is preventing your love having full scope in me. Show
me. Help me to see the showing.” In what sense is it “hard” to enter by the
narrow gate? Certainly not in any requirement to take on a great burden of
rules and regulations, a program of harsh ascetic practices, a denial of all
pleasure and joy in living. Jesus asks nothing like that.
There were plenty of people in his time taking on all that for religious
motives, yet they were not men of the kingdom. What
our Lord asks, what he realized was so bitterly hard for the human
heart, was “conversion”: that accepting to turn around, to be uncoiled
from the self-possession, self-centeredness and self-orientation that is our
native condition, to become God-possessed, God-centered, God-directed….This
remaking is God’s exclusive work. But we must accept his work,
we must allow his divine hand to take hold of us and wrench us into
true shape. And we resist with all our might. He knows that only when
we are thus re-shaped can we be truly happy. Our misery springs from our
self-centeredness. Let us then open our hearts to God that his Spirit
may take possession of us…. – Sr. Ruth Burrows, OCD + +
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ego, it seems, will find any way to take over, especially in the dangerous
world of religion, and it often does, with the most clever
disguises. As Zen masters are known to say, “Avoid spirituality if at all possible; it is one insult after
another.” They know that true religion “insults” your ego and does not
give it easy comfort. Up to now, we have been more driven by outer
authority (“It is a sin if
you…” or “The church says…”) than drawn in by the calm and loving inner
authority (the indwelling Holy
Spirit) of prayer, practice, and inner experience…allowing you to meet
and know your True Self. This change of identity…that mature religion
rightly calls “conversion” is the very heart of all religious
transformation. Without it, religion is mostly a mere belonging system or a
mere belief system, but it does not radically change your consciousness
or motivation. There
are four major splits from reality that we have all made…to create our False
Self: 1) We split from our
shadow self and pretend to be our idealized self; 2) We split our mind
from our body and soul and live in our minds; 3) We split life from
death and try to live without any “death”; 4) We split ourselves
from other selves and try to live apart, superior, separate. Each of these
four illusions must be overcome, either in this world or afterward. Each
of these splits from reality makes any experience of God or our True Self
largely impossible. Spirituality, pure and simple, is overcoming these
four splits. In
author Flannery O’Connor’s masterpiece, Revelation,
her main character, a good but righteous Christian, has a vision as she
stands in a pigpen. Ruby is a classic Christian False Self who finally looks
out beyond her self-made holiness to her first glimpse of her True Self….She
has suffered from a massive case of mistaken identity all of her life, just
as we all do, but hers was bolstered by a strong “Christian” False Self.
Religion can significantly delay the emergence of our True Self. Something
within you, your True Self, must be awakened. Those who have not made contact
with their own souls will think you are talking gibberish when you talk about
spiritual things, and they are just being honest about their limited
experience. Conversely, many religious people will defend their own lack
of God experience by calling you a “heretic” or wrong, because you are
speaking beyond their limited experience. They are sincere too, although
often not very humble or kind. This is why Jesus said, “All will hate you because of me.” (Lk 21:17) He
wanted us to be prepared for this common surprise. There
is indeed such a thing as heresy…yet Jesus’ entire life drama makes it clear
that the biggest heretics are very often running the show. Is it
possible to read the accounts of hostility, persecution, passion, and the
murder of Jesus any other way? The religious False Self is the best and
most defended self of all. When God has become our personal and group
lackey, we can hate, oppress, torture, and kill others with impunity. (“They think they are doing a holy duty
for God.” – Jn 16:2) The ego has found its cover, so be
careful about being religious. If
your religion does not transform your consciousness to one of compassion, it
is more a part of the problem than any solution.
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Pope
Francis:
The Language of Hypocrisy vs. the Language of Truth Referring
to the Pharisees and Herodians who spoke with
Jesus: “They were not all bad, only some of them. They pretended they knew
the truth, but their intention was something else; they wanted to catch
him. They said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no
man…for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of
God.” However, they did not believe in what they were saying. It was
flattery. This is exactly how the flatterer speaks; he uses lovely soft words,
excessively sugary words…. Today let us find the language of the
corrupt. What is their tongue? This: the tongue of hypocrisy. It is
not we who say this, it is not I, but Jesus, who was aware of their
hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the language of the corrupt. They do not like
the truth. They only like themselves and so they try to deceive and involve
others in their falsehood, in their lying. They have a false heart; they are
unable to tell the truth. The
very language that Satan spoke after the fast in the wilderness: “You are hungry—you can turn this stone
into bread”; then: “Why do you work
so hard? Throw yourself down from the temple.” This language which seems
persuasive, leads to error and to lies. Those Pharisees who are so
amiable in their language are the same ones who will go to get Him in the
Garden of Olives…and will take him to Pilate. And with Pilate these Pharisees
will use the same language: “We have
only one king who is Caesar.” This language is an attempt of “diabolical
persuasion.” In fact those who were then praising Christ ended by
betraying him and sending him to the cross. Jesus, looking them in the face,
said as much, calling them “hypocrites.”
Thus
hypocrisy is certainly not the language of truth. For truth never goes alone: it
is always accompanied by love. There is no truth without love. Love is the
first truth. And if there is no love there is no truth. Hypocrites
want a truth that is enslaved to their self-interests. Even in them, there is
a type of love, but it is self-love, a narcissistic idolatry that
induces them to betray others and to abuse trust. The meekness that Jesus wants
of us has nothing, nothing to do with this adulation, with this sugary sweet
way of getting ahead—nothing. Meekness is simple, like a child; and a
child is not a hypocrite because he is not corrupt. When Jesus says, “Let
your way of speaking be ‘yes, yes, no,
no’ with the heart of a child, he tells us the opposite of what the
corrupt say….Let’s really think about it today. What is our language: do we speak
in truth with love or do we speak a little with that language that induces us
to say nice things that we don’t feel? Let us ask the Lord today that our way
of speaking may be that of the simple, the language of children, the language
of God’s children, and consequently the language of the truth in love.
--
6/4/13 homily, L’Osservatore
Romano Aug.
15th & 22nd
: Assumption & Queenship
of Mary In
every soul moved by tender affection for the Blessed Virgin and Mother, there
has thrived a contemplation of her who from the beginning knew how to
open herself to hearing God’s Word and to obeying his will. For Mary,
taught and formed by the Spirit, was able by faith to understand her own
history and, docile to the divine promptings, “advanced in her
pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto
the cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with
her Son the intensity of his suffering and associating herself with his
sacrifice in her mother’s heart.” (Lumen Gentium) This
intense Marian life, which is expressed in trusting
prayer, enthusiastic praise, and diligent imitation, enables us to
understand how the most genuine form of devotion to the Blessed Virgin is consecration
to her Immaculate Heart. In this way, the heart grows in communion
and familiarity with the Blessed Virgin, as a new way of living for
God and of continuing here on earth the love of Jesus the Son for his Mother
Mary. Thus we are put into profound harmony with Mary the Theotokos and
become, like her, transmitters of divine life. – Bl. John Paul II
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Mark Your Calendar!
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August 3 |
St. Alphonsus Liguori |
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6 |
The Transfiguration of the Lord (4th Luminous Mystery of the
Rosary) |
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8 |
St. Dominic (founder of the Order of Preachers / Dominicans) |
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9 |
St. Teresa Benedicta
of the Cross (Edith Stein, Carmelite/Jewish convert) |
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10 |
St. Lawrence
(Franciscan) |
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14 |
St. Maximilian Kolbe (Franciscan) |
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15 |
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Holy
Day (4th Glorious Mystery) |
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22 |
Queenship of the
Blessed Virgin Mary (5th
Glorious Mystery of the Rosary) |
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24 |
St. Bartholomew, Apostle PEACE
MASS: 12 pm, St. Mary’s Church, 202 N. St. Mary’s; Rosary at 11:30 am |
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25 |
Rosary-making:
2:00-5:30 pm, St. Mary’s Church, 202 N. St. Mary’s; free parking & materials |
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27 |
St. Monica |
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28 |
St. Augustine |
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29 |
Death of St. John the Baptist |
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Prayer for Our Shepherds Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and High Priest, through the
loving hands of your holy Mother Mary, please guide and protect all priests,
bishops, cardinals and Pope Francis, your Vicar on earth. Help them to live
out the dignity of their priestly vocation with all its challenges,
difficulties, temptations, and personal sacrifices, always united to You with
eyes fixed on the cross of
self-emptying love which alone can sustain them. Help them to repair, rebuild and renew Your Church with
courage and humility, united to your Sacred Heart of all-inclusive love, with
a penitential soul and docility to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit for
any changes ordained by Your Divine Will. Give them strength and joy to labor
in Your vineyard for the salvation of souls. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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Copyright, Marian Center of San Antonio. All
rights reserved. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced without
permission. |