Mary: The Handmaid

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord." As we remember the solemnity of the Annunciation I think it's important to think about how so willing and completely giving Mary was to God. The solemnity marks the day as when Mary accepted into her heart and body the very will and presence of Christ, the Son of God. It fascinates me to think about her total obedience and submissiveness to God. She says behold; a message not only to God through the Angel but a message even to us to look, observe and see that Mary IS and always will be the handmaid of the Lord.  The very message of the annunciation is to remind us that Mary is the handmaid, of the Lord, of course but for us as intercessor and Mediatrix. I am reminded of her great role in the Church, to bring us to Christ fully as she brought Christ into the world by her obedience and humility. 

The message for us this day is to ponder on the great mystery of God being manifested in man through Jesus Christ, who accepted our lowly humanity to the point of death on a cross. It's a time for us to meditate on those virtues Mary has and pray for a movement towards them. We all fall short of those basic virtues like humility, obedience, patience, kindness, love and compassion and now, today, we have the reminder that Mary is the handmaid for all generations forming us as a Mother does, so that we can obtain those virtues.

Lent: Nineveh's Lesson

It always seems like the season of Lent comes at the right time. While the main focus of Lent is to practice fasting, conversion, prayer and simple living, for me it always seems that the weeks prior to the season is the exact opposite. The soul and the senses are restless, we hunger for a temporary satisfaction, lacking in prayer, indulging, doing our own things. But Lent, is a time to change all of that, its a time to see all that we have done wrong even those small things and truly repent and feel completely sorry for what we have done. Lent is a time for conversion of heart, prayer and a time for us to share in the Resurrected Glory of God in the end by defeating sin and conquering death.

I'm always fascinated at how Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. This journey of Jesus marks the start of a 40 day fast, an embarking that allows the Spirit to move in own lives by how we live. It's interesting, because during lent we can see that there is a definite call to repentance. A call to step outside of what we are used to and do something else and give up what we enjoy. It's a call to live outside our comfort zones. The gospel reading today, is the story of Jonah and his pilgrimage to Nineveh to proclaim to the Ninevites that they should pray, repent and fast.

"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed, when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth"

 That was the call, and in some ways, it is a prefiguration of the Lenten call we see even today. It's a call to pray, a call to fast and even more so, a call recognize what we have done wrong and wear the penitential sackcloth of our own sin and repent. For each of us, Lent should be a time of conversion, prayer, fasting and repentance, just as it was for the Ninevites. It's a time for us to finally say goodbye to those things that we have grown so accustomed to, namely, Sin. This lent, don't just stop doing what you know isn't good for you, but recognize what hurts you, recognize your sin, [pray to the Blessed Mother to reveal to you your sins] and seek to be whole-heartily sorry for all those things that keep us from obtaining a perfect relationship with the Father.

Joys of a Failure: The Guiding Goodness

With my job here in Denver as an Emergency Assistance Adviser, I help those in need pay down their bills, specifically rent and utilities. One of the things I see the most among my clients is a down, stressed, worried face, the face of failure. So often they are in tears coming into the office because of the burden they have of paying off bills, or debt. I always hear "life is tough" and "it's tough out there."

 In my mind it has to be tough.


Life has to be hard, and we have to go through those rough times of suffering and pain. The beauty of suffering is knowing that it prepares us for something greater. Life has to be tough or else what would there be to gain? Saint Rose of Lima once said that if we knew the value suffering has, we would pray for it. The philosophy over this is great to think about because it reveals to us that through our pain, our struggles, our burdens and worries we can understand that Heaven, the greatness and goodness of all Beauty and Glory, is real.

Look at the world for instance, we can agree that there is goodness in the world. A concrete goodness like the air, the water, the land and even our hearts that supply blood by way of the veins throughout our bodies. But more fundamental, I think what else is good is our personal ambition and our success, otherwise we wouldn't strive to do good. Face it, there is a desire for success and as rappers Biggie and 2pac would say, "Get Money."

Humanity throughout the course of history strives for success. We strive for that perfect job, we strive for that perfect relationship and that "dream home." For those in third world countries it's called "El Sueno Americano" or the American dream. The fact is that goodness, is always moving for the greater, we see this because we are always striving for something greater, for something better. Notice that there is never enough money, never a nice enough phone, or (and I love this) never a final Apple Product that tops them all. The beauty is that because of this desire for permanent Goodness, there has to be something that IS greater then all the rest otherwise, there would be an infinite regress of good things. This is Heaven, with perfect unity and relationship with God the father who is the primary Goodness. That continuous desire for goodness is a call to Heaven, a call to holiness and perfection.

But why the struggles? The answer to me is that we need those struggles and pains to strive for something better. It should be a reminder for us to learn to seek goodness, not only earthly goodness of success but Eternal goodness of holiness. Struggle prepares us, pain prepares us and teaches us what we are really made for, that is Joy and peace with our Father in Heaven. I'm reminded of getting burned as a kid, I didn't know what I was doing, all I knew was that it hurt and I wasn't doing it again. I wish I can say that from that moment on I walked away from the stove telling myself that fire was hot and you know what maybe I'm not suppose to be in the kitchen.

The joy, is that on our journey  to success there will be failure and times will get tough, but if its not tough how can we be molded? I like to say when the journey is tough, the destination will be great. If we can see how God is working in our lives through the suffering and through the trials, there will be an awakening of our own spirit, to strive for that goodness and seek true happiness by virtue and holiness. Today, being the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas here's a perfect quote.

"Man's beatitude or happiness consists in this: to see God through God's essence." -Saint Thomas Aquinas

Come After Me - Gospel Reflection

Today in the Gospel reading, we hear about a great move, a great change and a leaving that could be for better or for worse. I'm always fascinated by the obedience the first Apostles had. In the book of Mark, Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee and he sees Simon, and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea. Jesus, a man they hardly know, calls out to them saying "Come after Me."


It's interesting because at this point scripture tells us that they abandon their nets and followed him. We have to understand that as a fisherman, was hard work, not only was it hard work but it was who they were, their livelihood, their careers and their professions. We're talking about tossing nets and pulling them in constantly throughout their lives. This sort of thing was the moneymaker for the individual or for the family, it was the trade. I think a comparison can be made with a modern day ambition or personal motive, or goals. The fact of the matter is that they just abandoned all that they had, their futures, careers an trades for something else. It's like changing majors a year before your set to graduate, let's face it...That isn't normal.

Again, they left having complete trust and obedience in Jesus who was proclaiming the gospel. The message earlier in the gospel is emphasizing that the time is now, this is the time of fulfillment. Not later, or tomorrow, or the next day but now. I can only imagine how that dialogue would of been:

Jesus: "Come after Me."

Simon: "Huh?"

Jesus: "Come after Me."

Andrew to Simon: "What'd he say?"

Simon to Andrew: "He said to follow him."

Jesus: "...I will make you fishers of men."

Simon: "Alright, give us a second, we just gotta pull these nets up real fast. It should only take a minute."

What? Like no. They just flat out left. In fact, there isn't any dialogue mentioned in the book of Mark. It's fascinating to me. I think the call to change is now, the call to follow is now and the gospel proves that. It reminds me of religious life. Sometimes in the morning I wake up two minutes before the set prayer time. There's no time to brush your hair or check your Facebook. In my head, that time is now. If your late, your late, there is no waiting. And it's just a reminder that the time to commit ourselves to following Christ is now, the time for living a life of prayer and virtue begins now. It was really comforting to hear the gospel this morning. There's always a reminder, today it was that reminder of forgetting about what you think you ought to do, your what you think you have to do because of ambition or pride. The call, is to leave that behind and take up something that's better.

Jesus tells us, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." Mark 1:14-20

Our Lady of Guadalupe

In 1531, Our Lady appeared to a lowly, humble man Juan Diego so that he could carry out a message of hope and Christianity to the Bishop. Our Lady sent him out to the Bishop, so that a church be built, a new way to Christianity for the sake of many people. Before Juan Diego he left that morning, he would set out to find a priest so that he could hear his uncle's last confession before death. When Juan got the message from Our Lady to go to the Bishop, he feared his uncle's death. He promised Our Lady he would return and carry out her mission, but at that moment the Blessed Mother spoke to him something that still strikes me today. She confirms him and assures him that she is a Mother who cares and is always by our side, giving us everything we need by the power of Christ, her son. She tells us:

"Listen, put it into your heart, my youngest son, that what frightened you, what afflicted you, is nothing; do not let it disturb your face, your heart; do not fear this sickness nor any other sickness, nor any sharp and hurtful thing. Am I not here, I who have the honor to be your Mother? Are you not in my shadow and under my protection? Am I not the source of your joy? Are you not in the hallow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need something more?"

We have assurance from Our Lady, the Mother who welcomed Christ into the world telling us that she is with us under her protection and in the crossing of her arms. Mary is telling this to Juan Diego, but essentially to all of Humanity.

Our Lady appears to a land where there is no Christianity whatsoever, she goes there to place in them a faith, and trust in God her son. The Americas at that time, were sacrificing their own to gods of the cosmos so that they might live. They were placing their trust in false gods. When Our Lady appeared, it wasn't long after, that many people were being converted over to Christianity. This is why in many respects, the people of the Americas have such strong devotions in Our Lady of Guadalupe, because without her they would be nothing and never know God. Mary, literally established Christianity among the land and for the people. She is the patroness of the Americas. Another interesting point is that Our Lady appeared to the Indian people, as one of their own. She is dressed in a tilma that resembles their own culture, what the people saw was a woman who was just like them, leading them to a way out. She appears over the sun and moon, signifying she is greater then these false gods, she is the Queen of Heaven and Mother to all. The people recognized her as a Morenita, which is Spanish for "the dark woman". This is yet another attribute giving for the people letting them know she is one of them, but not only is she one of them, but also appearing as a Mestiza, a woman of mixed European and Indian ties. Many times, these women and children were victims of rape, abuse and so many times neglected because of their color. The Blessed Mother, is identified as one of them, she places her self with the suffering and with the most vulnerable, the children. She is also the Patroness for the unborn.

The universal mission that can be seen is the Catholicity of our Lady of Guadalupe, she places a foundation for people to follow Jesus, people of all race, even the lowliest who were once abused because of their culture. Mary came to place in them a new hope, a hope in Jesus her Son by assuring us that she will always be with us praying for us.

                                                             

Imitating Mary: 3 Ways

With the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception just two days ago, and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe coming up, the whole week in my own reflections have been based on the Blessed Mother Mary and her model of a perfect christian life. For the first time in my life, I feel like God has placed in me a real, authentic desire to be obedient and truly humble with myself and who I am. For me there is an intense calling to radically change who I am internally and abandon once and for all my pride, my own personal ambition, my desires that hurt, my past and even my rule. But at least! what better time to have this reflection come by the Grace of God during the season of advent and even more so in between the feasts and solemnities of Our Lady, who IS the perfect model of obedience and humility by the way. This was the girl who abandon her self so easily, without hesitation and freely to be a holy tabernacle by bringing Christ into the world. I'm sorry but it makes perfect sense to pray to this perfect woman, our blessed Mother and ask for her intercession so that we might be made worthy of the promises of Christ (see what I did there.) So I'm in and I want the few readers I have to join me. As far as God calling me AS WELL AS YOU, here are three things that God has placed in my heart to change in my life starting right now during this very "Mary-week" in the Church. I call them the Marian Virtues.

1. Suffer in Silence.

When I think of Mary, I picture a pretty quiet person, a girl of strong faith and peaceful mannerisms if you would. The call is to live in silence each day, in the stillness and calmness without fast decisions or quick ordering of the senses.  There is discomfort since so often we might be so use to just getting up and going some where really quick, submitting to the passions. Silence brings peace and I think that in silence, it is when we are most actively listening to God and what he has to say to us. It is in silence that we can build up our lives around prayer and conversation with God. Now, so much of silence involves us being quiet, listening and sitting still. Not only sitting our physical bodies still from movement, but silencing and pausing our senses and those passions we have. When we look at the life of Mary, there is a call to silence what hurts us like our sin and learn to control those things that can potentially keep us from Christ. Mary, full of Grace, help me be silent in the night as you are.

2. Being Obediently Faithful

Mary is the ultimate model for obedience in the Church. I always find myself thinking about that, how faithful she was and how complete she was in her surrender to God. The joy is that we can obtain that perfect obedience with the help of God's grace through the blessed Mother who experienced it in the most profound, divine way possible. In the call to obey, on an even deeper level there is a call to die to self and that means letting other people have their way, even God. Thinking about Mary's surrender, we should have a desire to obey God that same way, perfectly, wholly, every bit of ourselves, everything. That means surrendering our lives, our own ways and what we think is best, all of that we should be willing to give up and obey God understanding that he will bless us with so much more in the future. It's okay if things don't go our way, and it's alright if the only trust we have at the moment is in ourselves, because God can restore that trust we once lost in him with the help of his Grace. The person to first experience this faithful obedience knows all about it, ask her to reveal and share with you her trust and obedience in God.  Mary, help me be as obedient as you someday.

3. Humbly Submitting

Mary, humbly submitted herself to God to bring Christ into the world. She also submits herself to us, to offer our prayers and petitions to Christ her son. The call is to humbly submit ourselves to other people, being present to them compassionately. Submitting ourselves to them in our service and doing it only for God's sake, just like the blessed Mother did for us. The great thing about this submitting is that we are not the only ones. God himself, became the least of men so that he might suffer and submit himself to death so that we can live. Being humble means to think less of ourselves, to be submissive and undistinguished. Submissive to those around us, and those who tell us of our faults and remind us of our shortcomings.Thomas Kempis says what does it matter that they bother us with our faults, they are doing the best possible thing for us, that is making us humble. Being humble involves an abandonment of pride and of course help from the one who experienced it firsthand for the sake of the world. Mary, help me submit myself to Christ present in other people through the ministry of his Church.

I think to reflect on this is an invitation to ask Mary for intercession and prayer that we can participate in the fullness of christian life and faithfulness as she has. She alone is perfect in all virtues and can lead us to God by her prayers. In our silence we can grow obedient to God and then we're given grace to submit ourselves to the people and their needs through the ministry of the Church. These are all things that I am called to work on, starting in silence, in prayer, faith and alongside the fervent intercessory prayers of our Most Holy Mother. 

Mary: The One That Leads

Mary in her holiness and faithfulness places on us a tender, loving aid that comes to us only through the Father, and through this she leads us to Christ her son. The only thing that might be so hard for us male-breeds to understand is that Mary by her role, is someone we are suppose to turn to, and not only turn to but FOLLOW. That's right I said it, we should follow a woman. 

Follow her obedience and faithfulness to seek out a life that she did in holiness, yes. But as a man we should be willing to follow her, because it is by her loving care that she leads us to God and prepares us along the way before we are presented. It can be hard to give into an idea that says we should let the woman lead the way, with all respect. For so long our role as a man on the earth has been to lead the woman, be the man of the house, or work your ass off to provide food for your family and eat meat with meat drink. Following a woman can't possibly be the answer, because that means doing what she says. We're suppose to be tough, chop wood and grow beards right? Sure, but it can be easy to lose sight of the whole purpose of Mary in a bigger perspective. She was a Mother to Jesus, carried him for nine months knowing she could be killed if she had been caught bearing child outside of wedlock. Still, she gave birth to our Savior, raised him and accompanied him even at the time of his death. The message is that Mary as a Mother can raise us the same way she raised Jesus, she can protect us and care for us. All we are called to do, is follow her path of holiness and come to know her in a relationship of prayer and devotion. 

The thing is that God placed Mary as the Mother of Mercy and Queen of Peace. Her role in the Church is to lead us to Christ her son, as intercessor to pray for us, and prepare our hearts for the Mercy of Christ available to all.  The Joy is that in her completeness, she perfects us and cleanses us before we are presented to her son, our King. It doesn't matter what we have done or what we still do, Mary still offers us the love of God through herself and by it we return to Christ. Saint Jose Maria Escriva once said, "To Jesus we always go, and to Jesus we will always return, through Mary."

So, calling ALL MEN, to embrace the love that Christ gives us through Mary, to follow her deeply in prayer and devotion, pray to her, ask for her intercession; that she be present in both our lives, mine and yours. She is a Mother placed before us to love us tenderly, to care for us, protect, prepare and lead us to Christ in the same way she brought Christ to us; by her prayer. 

Advent: Come & Wait

The word Advent derives from the Latin word adventus, meaning coming. Who is coming, the Christ is coming, our Savior is coming. Jesus, born unto the world from the Blessed Virgin comes to save the world and ransom the captive Israel. However, with this coming of Christ in the Christmas season, there is also a waiting, a preparation, and a renewal. Advent is the season of waiting, with faithful hope for the coming of our Lord, but not only a waiting, a coming to too. Advent in many ways can remind us of the holiness and virtue there is in waiting and being patient. Patience, is a virtue that can lead to holiness, because when we are patient, we are still and we are quiet, and when we are quiet we are thinking, or meditating or praying. See more on patience. This advent season, there is an invitation not only to come to Jesus just as he has come to us. But an invitation to wait for his coming with prayerful, faithful hearts each day of the season. Its two different words with the same meaning, on one side we can come to Jesus, prepare ourselves for the journey, (just as the wise man did) praying, fasting, meditating and even emptying ourselves.When we come to Jesus, we are placing ourselves in His presence and therefore, allowing His presence, Love, Grace and Will to be placed within us. On the other side, we can wait for Jesus, prepare ourselves for his coming (Just as Mary did), be patient and faithful in the hope of his coming just as in his Resurrection and welcome him into our hearts. Both are means of welcoming Jesus into our hearts and into our lives. So in the season of Advent, we are invited, not only to wait for Jesus and prepare for his return, but run to him upon his arrival. 

Created with His Image

The world is full of wonders, so many that God himself created. Sometimes we take for granted the world we live in, almost as if we don't even know where living in it. Were so caught up in our day by what we think we have to do, or what we think we need to get done that we don't notice the things God has set in front of us. The world today is to busy to just stop, take a deep breathe, and meditate on what God has created. Even to thank him for loving us enough to create us almost exactly like him. We are all created in God's image and that to me is a privilege. In the world, it's hard to be still, its hard to be quiet on a spiritual level. It's easy to be loud, or always moving because that's what the world requires of us. Constant movement, constant change, it seems like there is hardly enough time to sit and be still, something that causes discomfort. It reminds me of the scripture from Psalms 46:10 " Be Still and Know That I am God." sometimes it just takes all that we have to sit still and thank God for everything we have, but that's okay because God is a loving and merciful God, He looks forward to the prayer that we say to him. God wants everything that we have to offer to him, when we were created, the image he placed within us is the image of his own self! Our souls, are made from the very image and likeness of God, we read this in Genesis 1.Our lives, have goodness, they have meaning because we have the very image of God dwelling within us. We were created to be holy to see everything that God sets in front of us. To see everything that he sees. It's our destiny to be Holy. It's What we were created For. Reminds me of the story of Jesus in the bible when he is speaking to the Pharisees. The Pharisees, in those days were holy people, they were obedient to the law, very meek and humble. The sad part, is that they were on a mission to catch Jesus by confusing him in his teaching. They wanted a reason to arrest him. They asked Jesus for his opinion, "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" Pointing to the coin Jesus says, whose image is this? "Caesar's" they said. Jesus said "So then, give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's" Jesus is teaching on the very image that is placed in us. Just like the coin, bearing the image of Caesar, we are inscripted with the very image of God. The coin belongs to Caesar, and we belong to God. So for us the message would be to give to God the image he placed in us. This means our lives, our hearts and our souls. Everything about us should be placed at the mercy and will of God because we bear his image. We were created to be his, created to be holy and loving as he so we could share in Eternal Glory with Him, our creator.

St. Luke: The Loyal Comrade

It isn't until you make big changes in your life that you start to see who your real friends are. You see who stands by your side when times get tough, you understand who is willing to be there with you when you need it the most. Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Luke, and from what we read in the gospels, he was a great friend, and a loyal comrade to Saint Paul. Paul in his early life, was under order by the chief priests to persecute. He killed families for the faith, and watched saints be martyred, Paul, known as Saul at that time, issued death for Saint Stephen, the first christian martyr. After his conversion on the road to Damascus, St. Paul began preaching and ministering in cities all over regions of Syria, Macedonia, and even Greece. Soon accompanied by St. Luke, we see in the Acts of the Apostles that Luke traveled with St. Paul from Troas to Philippi, after Paul had a dream of a Macedonian man standing before him begging for help. During St. Paul's journey, conflict arises between his teaching over the resurrection of Jesus and the law of Moses so while in Jerusalem, Paul is arrested.  He is brought to questioning in front of the chief priests, the people who accused him, the Sanhedrin, the Governor Felix, and his successor Festus. St. Paul was imprisoned and under accusation for more then two years. This is before he would go to Rome for an appeal to Caesar. As they set sail for Rome, Luke is the loyal comrade and accompanies him throughout the whole journey.On that journey, they experience ship-changes,disastrous cargo loss, violent storms, even a shipwreck and St. Luke accounts of it all in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 27). For two years St. Paul is under guard in Rome, preaching to all those who visited him. Saint Luke, the loyal comrade, stayed with Paul even to his death and we see this in scripture, "Only Luke is with me." (2 Tim 4:11)

The message from St. Luke, is to be there. Be there for those that matter, and those friends that you have and they will be there for you. Treat your friends with respect and honesty, be there for them when they are having a hard time, when their lives are a shipwreck. As friends we are called to comfort and share in whatever suffering. I think St. Luke understood that St. Paul needed that friendship and so he accompanied him for two years to be that faithful friend. We learn to be loyal and trustworthy to all those that we know. I think it extends not only to our friends, and family, but even to God. We should be loyal to him, faithful and obedient just like St. Luke. Pray for us St. Luke, loyal comrade, that we be as loyal as you!