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“When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.”— Pope Saint Gregory the Great
//Catholic Company//
Franciscan prayer, lived to its full, is to set the human heart on fire. It is to transform one’s body into a body of love and one’s actions into actions of love. In this transformation is the fire that can set the earth ablaze — the fire of light, peace, justice, unity and dignity. It is to see the wounds of suffering humanity and bind them with mercy and compassion. It is to see and feel for all creation — to love by way of self-gift. It is to live in the mystery of Christ, the mystery of God enfleshed.
— from the book Franciscan Prayer by Ilia Delio, OSF
//Franciscan Media//
“I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but without effect for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames which were burning them do not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God . . . [I heard an interior voice] which said, My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it.“— St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, p. 35
//Catholic Company//
“We Repeat What We Do Not Repair”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
July 24 – 25, 2021
Gospel: John 6:1-15
It is said that lessons must be repeated until they are learned which means, for most of us, lessons need to be constantly repeated. Sometimes, you think you’ve learned a lesson, but you learned it incorrectly. Other times, we see things and know right away this means this and that means that. We’ve taken something away from the lesson that wasn’t really there. Oops! We need to be better students and learners. Do you know which virtue “learning” is connected to? Justice. I remember one man, a seminarian and now a priest, who asked me for advice. I told him to always take his books into the chapel before the Blessed Sacrament. If you are going to read about the Man, then be with the Man. Good idea…I have a few now and again.
In the story about God’s miracle involving the loaves and fishes, 5,000 men were there who could not find places to sit…that’s a lot of men. There were no women and children there…apparently, they had not been vaccinated. Now, this scripture was written in Hebrew, so 5,000 was a number beyond all counting… an infinite number. Philip told our Lord that “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little bit.” So, was Philip like Stuart Varney, a market watcher? Did he watch the market and know the cost of food? No, Philip was using a hyperbole…a number beyond comprehension. After everyone had eaten, the apostles collected 12 baskets of leftover food. The number 12 is another mystical number in Hebrew representing the 12 nations of Israel. So, it was a huge number beyond counting, demonstrating the power of Christ and what He can do. And, what did they learn from the miracle? They learned the wrong thing. They thought He was the “bread king.” “Hey, He fed us, so He’s going to give us stuff we didn’t have to work for. Cool! We will make Him king, and we’ll get all the stuff we want.” This was another temptation of Christ. Remember, the first temptation? After spending 40 days of fasting in the desert, Satan said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” After seeing the miracle with the loaves and fishes, did people want holiness and their souls filled? No, they wanted their stomachs filled. They wanted stuff. The temptation of Christ was to give people stuff even though He came for the salvation of souls. First things first.
People come every day and want stuff from the church. Their stories are really fun, but it’s not what we can give. In Acts, Peter said, “Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, I give you. Pick up your mat and walk.” At first, even the apostles didn’t get the lesson. He came down to redeem you. That was the lesson to take away. After all the miracles our good Lord did, how many were there with Him at the end? They did not learn the lesson until they were enlightened by grace. They had the knowledge, because they had heard Him. They weren’t idiots, but they didn’t know what the knowledge meant. This is when we have to go to prayer to listen and to be enlightened. You may have the knowledge, but that doesn’t guarantee you know what it means.
I was reading an article this morning about the old Latin Mass. “People did not participate in the Latin Mass.” Or, in the order of the Mass we do now, “People must participate. They have to run up and down the aisle. We have to do a better job.” I say, at best, that is blasphemy and at worst, it’s sacrilegious, because you know nothing about the Mass. If you took a picture at Calvary, how many people were running around? Do you think the Blessed Mother was crucifying Jesus? No. They stood there and shared in His suffering. They became part of His suffering through love. Whose human nature suffered on the cross? The Blessed Mother’s. Whose human nature suffered along with Him? That of Saint John the Apostle, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. This is what the faithful do, because in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, you give your human nature to me, as the priest functioning in the person of Christ, and you are just like Saint John, Mary, and Mary at the cross suffering with Christ. You cannot get more participation than that. The people who say these things never offered Mass, and they probably aren’t priests. If they are, they are stupid ones. When I offer Mass in nursing homes, I don’t get much singing and all that. Sometimes, the mentally challenged residents will yell out during Mass, “Father, I have an idea!” We’ll talk about it after Mass. Do they participate? Yes, as much as they can.
People have heard the lesson and they have the knowledge, but they have no idea what it means. In order to have knowledge, we have to be humble, and we have to become small. As Saint Therese of Lisieux said, “When I am small, I am safe.” We must surrender to judgement. Sometimes, we tell God, “I cannot do this…I don’t understand.” Well, I don’t understand a lot of things. Each day I’m mystified by something, and that’s okay. I don’t have to understand everything. I know a lot of bright people I can call up or text, not while I’m driving, and probably get some guidance. Why does God allow this? Why did God allow this to happen? It’s always good to ask, not for understanding, but for the strength to bear what we cannot endure. Sometimes, our lives and our crosses seem too much to bear. To learn the proper lessons our Lord is teaching us today is a precursor to the Eucharist. Lord, speak for your servant is listening.
How will you apply this message to your life? You may have the knowledge, but do you know what it means? Go to prayer to listen and to be enlightened.
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.” From a cell phone, click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories” (located at the end of page). There is also a search box if you are looking for a specific topic.
“He shall bring forth justice to the nations. But he will not cry out or make his voice heard in the street…until he establishes justice on the earth…. I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice…to open the eyes of the blind, and to bring out prisoners from confinement.” —Isaiah 42:1–2, 4, 7
In Isaiah we have the first of the rightly named “Servant Songs,” which will continue throughout the week. In these four accounts hidden away in Isaiah, one either sees a foretelling of Jesus in brilliant analysis, or one wonders if Jesus was “modeled” to fit these lovely descriptions. The correlation is uncanny, at any rate. In the Gospel from John we have a woman acting as the “servant” to Jesus. (Maybe this is the connection?) We have Mary of Bethany again taking the fervent disciple’s role instead of the hostess role of Martha. She anoints Jesus’ feet with expensive nard, which is the anointing oil for death. My interpretation of this from all three varied Gospel accounts is that Mary is accepting the inevitability and necessity of death for Jesus (which Peter and the male inner circle cannot do!). “The whole house is filled with the fragrance.” Judas is the spokesman in the story, and he pretends to prefer the poor to a simple act of love. That is the clear point. It is forever a judgment on what we might now call “ideology on the left,” a good balance after the text has heavily criticized the ideology of religious zealots and Pharisees on the “right.” Jesus’ response appears to be directly from Deuteronomy: “There will always be poor in the land. I command you therefore, always be open-handed with anyone in the country who is in need or is poor” (15:11). Unfortunately, only the first phrase is quoted in the Gospel text, with the sad result that people have used this story to teach that religious piety is more important than social justice. As Paul will insightfully say later, “If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, or even if I give away my body to be burned, but do not have love, it is useless” (1 Corinthians 13:3). As always, love of Jesus and love of justice for the neighbor are just two different shapes to the One Love.
“God of love and justice, let me know and live that they are not separate. Loving people will do justice, and just people will do their work with love and respect.”
— from the book Wondrous Encounters: Scriptures for Lent
by Richard Rohr, OFM
//Franciscan Media//
“I entrust myself to you because you do not disappoint; I do not understand, but even without understanding, I entrust myself to your hands.—Pope Francis
The plight of Susanna in today’s first reading from the Book of Daniel (13:1-62) is familiar to anyone who has been abused by someone with greater power, more authority, a high reputation in the community. The judges used their position to take advantage of someone with no power, no voice, seemingly no defense. In a similar way, the woman in our Gospel reading is brought before Jesus by those who are more interested in defending their authority than in treating her as a fellow human being. In each case, someone steps forward to defend the innocent, to raise up the oppressed, to speak for justice and righteousness. But we know all too well that this doesn’t always happen. Even in the Gospel, those who drifted away at Jesus’s challenge returned to kill him and so reject his law of compassion. And so we come to the pope’s words. Trusting God when we are suffering, when we are being treated unjustly, when we are abused goes against everything our human instincts tell us is right. We long for a Daniel to swoop in to vanquish the villains and save the day. We want a super hero. But the Gospel reminds us that what we have is in fact a savior, an advocate. But sometimes we have to wait for the plan to unfold fully.
Call to mind an experience of injustice from your own life or the life of someone you love. Recall your response to the situation, your anger, your hopes, your fears. Take all of those feelings and offer them to God. Let your heart struggle to feel the faith and the trust that all will be well.
— from the book The Hope of Lent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis
by Diane M. Houdek
//Franciscan Media//
Saint Joseph’s Story
The Bible pays Joseph the highest compliment: he was a “just” man. The quality meant a lot more than faithfulness in paying debts.
When the Bible speaks of God “justifying” someone, it means that God, the all-holy or “righteous” one, so transforms a person that the individual shares somehow in God’s own holiness, and hence it is really “right” for God to love him or her. In other words, God is not playing games, acting as if we were lovable when we are not.
By saying Joseph was “just,” the Bible means that he was one who was completely open to all that God wanted to do for him. He became holy by opening himself totally to God.
The rest we can easily surmise. Think of the kind of love with which he wooed and won Mary, and the depth of the love they shared during their marriage.
It is no contradiction of Joseph’s manly holiness that he decided to divorce Mary when she was found to be with child. The important words of the Bible are that he planned to do this “quietly” because he was “a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame” (Matthew 1:19).
The just man was simply, joyfully, wholeheartedly obedient to God—in marrying Mary, in naming Jesus, in shepherding the precious pair to Egypt, in bringing them to Nazareth, in the undetermined number of years of quiet faith and courage.
Reflection
The Bible tells us nothing of Joseph in the years after the return to Nazareth except the incident of finding Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41–51). Perhaps this can be taken to mean that God wants us to realize that the holiest family was like every other family, that the circumstances of life for the holiest family were like those of every family, so that when Jesus’ mysterious nature began to appear, people couldn’t believe that he came from such humble beginnings: “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary…?” (Matthew 13:55a). It was almost as indignant as “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46b).
Saint Joseph is the Patron Saint of:
Belgium
Canada
Carpenters
China
Fathers
Happy death
Peru
Russia
Social Justice
Travelers
Universal Church
Vietnam
Workers
//Franciscan Media//
“If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation, and malicious speech, if you bestow your bread on the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted, then light shall rise for you in the darkness,…and God will guide you always, and give you relief in desert places” (Isaiah 58:9–11).
Isaiah tries to describe what a just people and country would look like if they fasted from the right things. He uses lovely words like light, guidance, abundance, renewed strength, watered gardens, repairers and restorers, nurturance, and delight, “a spring that never fails,” and even “riding on the heights of the earth.” But it all depends on fasting from unkindness and choosing justice. It is this very passage speaking of “repair and restoration” (tikkun) that our Jewish brothers and sisters use today as their call to social justice.
—from the book Wondrous Encounters: Scriptures for Lent
by Richard Rohr, OFM
//Franciscan Media//
“Tell the people their actual wickedness, let the people know their real sins…. ‘Is this the kind of fasting I wish? Do you call this a fast day acceptable to God?’” (Isaiah 58:1, 5).
Isaiah says explicitly that God prefers another kind of fasting which changes our actual lifestyle and not just punishes our body. (The poor body is always the available scapegoat to avoid touching our purse, our calendar, or our prejudices.) Isaiah makes a very upfront demand for social justice, non-aggression, taking our feet off the necks of the oppressed, sharing our bread with the hungry, clothing the naked, letting go of our sense of entitlement, malicious speech, and sheltering the homeless. He says very clearly this is the real fast God wants! It is amazing that we could ever miss the point. It is likely that what we later called the corporal works of mercy came from this passage.
—from the book Wondrous Encounters: Scriptures for Lent
by Richard Rohr, OFM
//Franciscan Media//
Out of gratitude comes the great yes to life in its wondrous diversity. Gratitude inspires us to bring beauty to our relationships, local and global. Our yes to life joins us with others. Let us, like Mary of Nazareth when she was confronted by the angel Gabriel, say yes to God’s invitation to do greater things than we imagine and pass our gifts on to others with every breath and action. Our yes inspires us to move from gratitude to justice and compassion. Our privilege becomes the catalyst to shared experiences with the vulnerable and the willingness to let go of our wealth for the well-being of those around us.
—from the book Walking with Francis of Assisi: From Privilege to Activism
by Bruce Epperly