Do Not Doubt

If I say that I am right with God, all I do is prove that I am not right with God.  We are all sinners.  We are all in need of God's mercy.  

Do not doubt; sin we will.  This is not to say that we should abandon our best efforts not to sin; certainly not.  Since God calls us back to Him, God calls us not to sin, for to sin is to choose to turn away from God.  

Despite our best efforts, we will sin.  When we sin, God calls us to repent.  

Do not doubt; God's mercy is greater than our sin.  God is infinite, and so God's mercy is infinite.  The name of God is mercy, as our Holy Father Pope Francis reminds us.  Jesus is love and mercy itself, as He told Saint Faustina.  

Do not doubt; God is love,* and so God is merciful.  If you think that God will not forgive your sin, you forget that God is infinite, and thus that God's love is infinite.  

God's love is greater than anything we think, say or do.  So often what we think, say and do is sinful.  As we come to see how much we sin, we can allow ourselves to be humbled.  If we come to see ourselves as the grains of dust that we are in this vast universe, then we can welcome the humility that can lead us to beg God to forgive our sins.  

God gives grace to the humble.**  By the grace of God, we can come to be who God made us to be, acknowledging that His love and mercy are infinite.  Through the grace of God, we do His will, and take our rightful places in this life, and in the next.  Amen.  

* 1 John 4:8,16 
** 1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6 

Recognize Afflicting Blessings

If we are wise, we can recognize the blessings in our afflictions.  If we truly are grateful to God, we thank Him for the adversity we face as well as the comfort we receive.  As we embrace those who are different from us, we are positioning ourselves to learn from them.  If we have faith in God, we welcome all God sends us.  If we have faith, we are saved.  

We are reminded of these truths in today's Gospel reading for Thanksgiving Day.  There we hear that 

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten persons with leprosy met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed. 
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. 
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine? 
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" 
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you."*  

These lepers may have anticipated that the apparent misfortune of their leprosy would provide the vehicle through which God would be glorified in them.  In their anguish, they cried out to Jesus to have pity on them.  Jesus, full of compassion and love for others, cured them.  The returning man recognized that God had had mercy on him, so he went back to Jesus, giving the glory and praise and honor due to God.  When we are suffering from what would usually be viewed as a malady, we can thank God for the apparently ill fortune which has befallen us, if we consider that our dilemma provides an avenue through which God can be glorified.  In our pain, we can capitalize on the excellent opportunity to earnestly call out to God to deliver us from what afflicts us.  God likes to hear us offer up ardent prayers to Him.  God hears and responds to fervent prayers.  Then when God saves us from what torments us, all the glory is due to God.  We can thank God not only for being delivered from agony, but also, realizing that trials supply opportunities for God to be glorified, we can also thank God for tribulations.  

At times we are well instructed in thanking and praising and glorifying God by those who are different from us.  The one leper who returned to thank God was a Samaritan.  Normally Jews did not associate with Samaritans.**  The foreigner demonstrated well the need to give thanks to God.  If we dismiss those who are unlike us, we run the risk of refusing to learn from them.  People dissimilar to us may have much important to teach us.  

The Samaritan, the excluded one, was saved by his faith.  Although he was a social outcast, he had the gift of faith from God.  Through that faith, he was saved.  

When we have faith, we welcome the apparent misfortune God sends us as well as the comfort He gives to us.  Having faith, and being cured, we thank God not only for the relief but also for the affliction.  With faith, we welcome into our hearts people who are not like us, aware that they can teach us since we are open to what they have to say.  Being so receptive through our faith, we are saved.  Amen.  

*  Luke 17:11-19
** John 4:9 

Love With Mercy

Everyday we are presented with chances to love.  We are repeatedly faced with the choice of whether we will stop what we are doing so we can love others.  Thus we are called to love rather than to fear.  When we fall prey to fear, we fall away from love.  We decide to love when we listen to our neighbor.  We choose love when we are willing to learn from our neighbor.  

Today as we celebrate the feast day of Saint Matthew, once again we hear how Jesus calls us to love and to be merciful and thus to open our hearts to our neighbor.  In today's Gospel, we hear that 

Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.  
He said to him, "Follow Me."  
And he got up and followed Him.  
While He was at table in his house, 
many tax collectors and sinners came 
and sat with Jesus and His disciples.  
The Pharisees saw this and said to His disciples, 
"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  
He heard this and said, 
"Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.  
Go and learn the meaning of the words, 
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.  
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."*  

When Jesus told Saint Matthew to follow Him, Saint Matthew got up and followed Jesus.  As a wise person once pointed out to me, Saint Matthew didn't ask Jesus what his invitation entailed.  Saint Matthew simply got up, left everything, and followed Jesus.  Saint Matthew didn't have to discern what he was going to do; it was clear to him that he was going to follow Jesus, so immediately he did so.  

God presents all of us with chances to love.  When God gives us the gift of an opportunity to love, get up and follow Jesus wherever He calls you to go.  We find Jesus in our neighbor, and for however long our neighbor is next to us, we can choose to love our neighbor in every single instant.  Jesus calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves.**  If our neighbor requests love from us, then we are to give that love to Jesus who we find in our neighbor.  When the duty of the present moment requests, then we get up and follow the call of Jesus to love our neighbor.  
When we choose fear over love, we ignore this call from Jesus.  When we succumb to fright, then we are turning away from loving our neighbor.  When we want to run away from what we have to do, then we turn aside from Jesus and from the duty to love our neighbor.  When we run away from our duty, we fail to love ourselves.  

I felt this pull of fear, and I was taught by a friend how to properly respond to such fear months ago.  This friend, who here I'll call "Anna," had done something wrong.  She needed to set it right again.  

She went to set things back in their proper place, and I accompanied her.  When she got to where she needed to restore things, she asked me how she was to do so.  Panicking, I stammered, "Just be done with it, and let's get out of here."  Calmly, she replied that she felt it was more appropriate to speak with the people who she had wronged.  She tried to speak with them, but it turned out that they were not there when she arrived.  She could have just departed, yet she not only left a voice message apologizing to the people she had wronged, but she also left her name.  She did her best to make amends for how she had inappropriately behaved.  

What else can I tell you about Anna?  Anna is a homeless woman who is addicted to methamphetamines.  

It is easy and convenient to declare that the homeless drug addict is the sick one.  Jesus suggests that those who are morally lacking are sick.  I was the morally deficient one in that situation: I was the one who wanted to hurry up and leave so we could avoid an uncomfortable confrontation, rather than see my friend partly spiritually healed through making the appropriate reparations to the people she had wronged.  In demonstrating to me how to begin to responsibly set right one's mistakes, this homeless addict was like a physician to my sick and troubled soul.  

When we see how we can learn from others who we had previously thought were below us, it becomes easy to realize the meaning of the words, "Mercy is what pleases Me, not sacrifice."***  If we realize that we can learn from people who we think are worse off than us, then it becomes easy to be merciful toward them.  

Jesus explained that He came to call not the upright, but sinners.  It is more comfortable for me to think of myself as upright than to realize that I am a sinner.  The truth hurts.  The truth is that I am a sinner.  Yet all is not lost, for Jesus calls me and all of us sinners to repentance and to restoration with God.  
Jesus calls us.  Jesus asks us to get up, leave everything and follow Him.  Jesus asks us to leave our conceptions of ourselves, to realize we are sinners, to give up our sinful ways, to make amends for what we have done wrong, and, having renounced our sinful desires, to follow Him.  Jesus calls us to such renunciation since He wants us to love ourselves and stop destroying ourselves.  He wants us to love ourselves so we can love our neighbor as ourselves.  We are called to love so that we can love each other as Jesus has loved us.****  We are called to show great love, to give up everything, and to follow Jesus.  When we do so, we finally become who God has always meant us to be.  Amen.  

* Matthew 9:9-13 
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
*** Hosea 6:6 
**** John 13:34; John 15:12 

Forgive Through Humility

Earlier this week I saw a particular homeless woman who again I'll call "Anna."  Over the last month, Anna has felt called to change.  

Anna told me that she knows that she has to make amends with a lot of people.  She also said that she has to turn away from sin.

She shared with me that she is aware that God is merciful.  She added that although we don't deserve God's grace, He gives it to us anyway because He is such a gentleman.  

Anna has taken important steps toward the recovery of her true self.  She has realized that regardless of poor choices she has made, she can ask God to forgive her, and that God will forgive her.  

God forgives us our sins as we repent.  A humble, contrite heart, O God, You will not spurn.*  

Forgiven by God, we are shown the love we are to show to others.  Forgiven by God, we see how we are to forgive others.  

If we forgive others, God our Heavenly Father will forgive us, as Jesus taught us.**  Choosing to love, we return home to God, who is love.***  

* Psalm 51:17 
** Sirach 28:2; Matthew 6:15; Mark 11:25 
*** 1 John 4:8,16 

Blessed With Faith

To have faith is to be blessed.  You are blessed when you have the gift of faith from God, for you are not relying on yourself.  With faith, you become more than yourself.  If you are moved by faith, you trust in God.  As faith lives in you, God breathes in you and speaks through you.  If you have faith, although God has already tremendously blessed you, God gives still more by using your faith to reshape the world.  

Today as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, we are reminded how God rewards those with faith.  In today's Gospel reading, we hear of such faith and how those with faith are so blessed.  There we hear that 

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."

And Mary said:

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever."

Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.*  

Saint Elizabeth said to Our Blessed Mother Mary, "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."  Our Blessed Mother Mary believed what the angel Gabriel had told her, that through the power of the Holy Spirit she would conceive and bear The Son who would save His people from their sins.**  She had faith that the promise made to her would be fulfilled.  Our Blessed Mother Mary is so blessed because God gave her a gift of great faith.  

And so Saint Elizabeth said to Our Blessed Mother Mary, "Blessed are you among women."  And so Catholics praying the rosary proclaim to Our Blessed Mother, "Blessed are you among women."  

Catholics pray the rosary because Our Blessed Mother is such an effective intercessor.  We have such an effective advocate in Our Blessed Mother because she prays for us with great faith.  Faith is power.  Through faith, we are empowered to do the will of God.  With faith, we can confidently pray, believing that our petitions according to the will of God will be granted.  Our Blessed Mother desired the will of God, so filled with faith she was.  Our Blessed Mother comes so efficiently to our aid, interceding with her Son Jesus because of her abounding faith.  

We can be considerably comforted to remember the power of faith.  When events in the world appear to go awry, and when circumstances in our personal lives seem amiss, through our faith we can call upon great power in our prayer when we might mistakenly believe we are lost.  When Our Blessed Mother Mary appeared to Saint Francisco, Saint Jacinta and Servant of God Lucia at Fatima in Portugal in 1917, she told them to pray the rosary for world peace.  We can achieve peace through prayer.  Faith brings peace in hearts by leading to dependence on God.  Through the power of faith, prayer can bring peace in the world.  

If we recognize that God has given us a gift by giving us faith, it follows that we are to accept this gift and use it well.  In gratitude to God, we can offer this faith to Him through our prayer.  In response to our prayer, God transforms the world.  When we accept the invitation from God to let Him transform the world through us, we are blessed that He uses us as vessels of change.  Like Our Blessed Mother Mary, if we welcome the gift of faith that God seeks to give us, we too can be instruments of the change God seeks to work in the world.  Let us welcome the gift of faith from God, and so allow the world to be transformed.  Amen.  

* Luke 1:39-56 
** Luke 1:31-35

God Is Mercy

Today while I was out and about here in Redwood City, I crossed paths with a certain Hispanic homeless man I'd previously met.  His real name is Jesus.  

As I stood there speaking with him, all of a sudden he started talking about God's promises to us.  He was telling me how he feels that God makes amazing promises to us, and then fulfills them.  

Later in the day, I thought back to how he had said that God remarkably carries out his great promises to us.  As I mused upon these words about God's promises spoken to me by the man named Jesus I had met, I thought of how Jesus Christ explained to us that while some things are impossible for humans, nothing is impossible for God.*  

I have thought that I can forgive my neighbor only because God has given me the grace to do so.  Without the aid of God, I would not be able to forgive my neighbor.  God has mercy on me and gives me the grace to forgive my neighbor.  

And so, thinking of God's great mercy while I stood there speaking with this man named Jesus today, I said to him something like, "We try to do good, but we end up sinning.  But after we die, when we get before God, we can beg God for his mercy.  Since God is love,** God will be merciful and forgive us."  

Jesus looked at me and said, "Yes!  He has to!  It's who He is!"  

God will forgive us our sins, because to forgive is to love, and God is love.  God will be true to His promise, for while we are unfaithful to Him, God cannot be unfaithful to us.  Jesus Christ told us that He is The Way, The Truth and The Life.***  God is Truth, and God is love.  God tells us that He is love, and since He is Truth, He will be true to His Word, and love us: out of His great mercy, He will forgive us if we beg Him for the grace to forgive our neighbor.  

* Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:17,27; Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 1:37; Luke 18:27
** 1 John 4:8,16 
***  John 14:6 

Whom You Seek

Who do we want in our lives?  Who are we looking for?  In the answers to these questions, we define ourselves.  You show who you are by the company you keep.  You make clear your identity through the people you want to have around you.  Through who you welcome into your heart, you not only fix your relationship with your neighbor, but also your relationship with God.  

Today as we celebrate the feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene, through her example, we are reminded that we show who we are by who we seek.  In today's Gospel reading we are told of how she went looking for Jesus after He had been buried.  There we hear that 

On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
"They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don't know where they put him." 

Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?"
She said to them, "They have taken my Lord,
and I don't know where they laid him."
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?"
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
"Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him."
Jesus said to her, "Mary!"
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
"Rabbouni," which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her,
"Stop holding on to me, 
for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
'I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.'"
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
"I have seen the Lord,"
and then reported what he told her.*   

Mary Magdalene saw that Jesus' tomb had been opened.  She not only ran to tell Saint Peter and the other disciple who Jesus loved, who was Saint John, but, since she sought Jesus, she returned to the tomb.  There she encountered Jesus.  Yet she did not realize she had once again been visited by Jesus.  Jesus comes to us.  Do we recognize Him?  

A homeless woman showed up at my doorstep yesterday.  Did I see Jesus in her?  Jesus has told us that whatever we do to the least of those among us, we do to Him.**  Whatever we do to the homeless person in front of us, we do to Jesus.  

We can become passionate about Jesus.  We can become so intent on finding God that we can fail to recognize Him when He is standing next to us.  Then Jesus, in the impoverished person before us, may ask us, "Who are you looking for?"  

Everyday we are presented with precious opportunities to love which are wrapped up with, which are inextricably intertwined with, our eternal destinies.  When we have gotten to the other side of death, then we will meet Jesus no longer in poor persons, but Jesus as Himself.  Then He will address us according to what we have done.  

If we have fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, cared for the ill, and visited those in prison,*** Jesus will bid us to inherit the Kingdom.****  If we have failed to perform these corporal works of mercy, Jesus will tell us to depart from Him.*****  For whatever we do to the least of those among us, we do to Him.  And whatever we fail to do to those who are the least among us, we fail to do to Him.******  

So, now, while we still have the chance to be merciful to our neighbor, especially those who are the least among us, do we recognize Jesus among us now, in the poor persons in front of us?  Do we seek Jesus in the impoverished person, in the homeless person, who is literally reaching toward us, asking us for just a little bit of food to ease the hunger pains crying out towards us?  

In whom we seek, we define ourselves.  For in whom we seek, we decide our eternal destinies.  In who we are looking for, we determine our relationship with God.  Let us turn toward God, by opening our hearts to love, by loving our neighbor, right now, right in front of us.  Amen.  

* John 20:1-2, 11-18
** Matthew 25:40 
*** Matthew 25:35-40 
**** Matthew 25:34 
***** Matthew 25:41 
****** Matthew 25:45 

Plainly Loving Language

When we speak with someone, there is much left unsaid.  And yet we do not want to have regrets.  We want to express what is in our hearts that is longing to be released.  

If we but listen, we can hear the love of God that is knocking at the door of our hearts.  If we have let that love into our hearts,* that love in us is meant to be let out.  God calls us to love our neighbor** through our actions, and to speak plainly the language of love with our neighbor, whether they are rich or poor, whether they are luxuriously living in a mansion, or are huddled and shivering in sleeping bags and tents in the bushes.  
I have been trying to demonstrate to the homeless folks I love here in Redwood City that there is a deeper meaning to interactions they have with people who help them.  Recently I have told certain homeless friends of mine that when they receive food from people who aim to help them, it is not just about food.  Really, I have said to them, I have been trying to tell you that I love you.  

We wish to show you that you are worthy of respect.  You are receiving this love God is giving you through me because God loves you.  

And so when I have spoken so directly to my homeless friends who I so cherish, I feel as if I could say to them, that the time has come when I am no longer communicating with you in figures of speech, much like what Jesus said to His disciples just before His passion and death.***  It seems as if I could tell these dear homeless brothers and sisters of mine that now I am no longer just speaking with you through the metaphors of my actions.  Now I am speaking with you plainly.****  Finally I am talking with you in the plain language of love. 

Throughout much of His public ministry, Jesus spoke in parables and figures of speech.  Then on Maundy Thursday, He sat down with His disciples for the Last Supper, just before He was handed over to be condemned to death.*****  In that meal that night with His disciples, they saw a prefiguring of His sacrifice on the Cross.  While His disciples sat down to a meal of bread and wine, they received much more than food and drink; in the Eucharist, we receive nourishment of love from Jesus.  Having shown us on the night of the Last Supper how we are to celebrate the Eucharist, Jesus was about to die on Cross, and do what He had just said He was about to do.  He was showing them the greatest love one can have for one's friends, as He laid down His life for His friends.******  

When we try to show the greatest love we can have for our neighbor, when we die to ourselves, we live for our neighbor.  When we forget who we are, who society thinks we are supposed to be, when we disregard the message from society that we are to shun our brothers and sisters who are outcasts, then we can die to the disordered desires and hurtful ideas and selfish tendencies we have, so we can embrace our needy neighbor, and thus live for our neighbor.  

Once Jesus had spoken plainly to His disciples, just before He was handed over to be crucified, He told them that He did not have much more to say to them.*******  He had spoken The Truth honestly and openly with them, and thus there was not much else for Him to say.  

In telling these treasured homeless friends of mine that in trying to care for them, I am truly trying to tell them that I deeply love them, I have spoken plainly to them.  I have said what I really have to say to these homeless friends I so love.  And so I don't have much else to say.  

And so in a certain sense, I would be content if this were to be last blog entry I were ever to write.  Since this is the core of the message I feel that God brought me into the world to declare to my brothers and my sisters, I feel I have been embracing the vocation of love to which God has been calling me.    

For were I left to my own devices, I would be hesitant to say both that I am an unprofitable servant, and that I have only done my duty.  If I had not been instructed otherwise, I would lament that I am an unprofitable servant, and that I am not even sure that I can say that I have even done my duty.  However, since Jesus directed us to say in the end, "We are unprofitable servants; we have only done what we were obliged to do,"******** then I do proclaim those words.  Knowing that I have done what God has called me to do, to declare the truth to my homeless brothers and sisters, that they deserve respect and are clothed in dignity, since they are loved by God and by me, I rest secure in the loving promise that God, in His great mercy, will forgive me to the extent I have failed in performing this duty.  

And so, whether it is today, tomorrow, or fifty or more years from now, secure in the knowledge that I am called to lovingly embrace my homeless brothers and sisters, and that God, in His immense mercy will forgive me insofar as I fail in my best efforts to overwhelmingly love them, I joyfully proclaim that I am going home to the Father.*********  When I finally get back home, my dear brothers and sisters, please do not grieve for me, for it will be the most glorious day I have ever seen.  For my tiny, paltry, measly efforts to love will be overwhelmed by the unbelievably warm tender glow of the infinite love of God.  And thanks to His magnificent mercy, I shall bask in the glory of His infinite love for all eternity.  Amen.  

* Romans 5:5 
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
*** John 16:25 
**** John 16:29 
***** Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20 
****** John 15:13 
******* John 14:30 
******** Luke 17:10 
********* John 16:16-17 

Wonders From Humility

God is always extending His hand to us.  God will not force us to come to Him.  God loves us so much that He gave us our free will to use as we choose.  

And so God invites us to become more than we have been.  God asks us to assent to His plan, to let ourselves be humbled so that great things may be done through us.  

We are reminded that God works in this way as we celebrate today the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Today as we remember how our Blessed Mother Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, we recall that God lifts up the lowly and exalts them.  We hear of these wonders in today's Gospel, where we are told that 

Mary set out 
and traveled to the hill country in haste 
to a town of Judah, 
where she entered the house of Zechariah 
and greeted Elizabeth.  
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, 
the infant leaped in her womb, 
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, 
cried out in a loud voice and said, 
"Most blessed are you among women, 
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  
And how does this happen to me, 
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, 
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.  
Blessed are you who believed 
that what was spoken to you by the Lord 
would be fulfilled."  

And Mary said: 
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; 
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.  
From this day all generations will call me blessed: 
the Almighty has done great things for me, 
and holy is his Name.  

He has mercy on those who fear him 
in every generation.  
He has shown the strength of his arm, 
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.  
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, 
and has lifted up the lowly.  
He has filled the hungry with good things, 
and the rich he has sent away empty.  
He has come to the help of his servant Israel 
for he has remembered his promise of mercy, 
the promise he made to our fathers, 
to Abraham and his children for ever."  

Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.*  

When her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant, our Blessed Mother Mary set out to the home of Elizabeth.  She went to share with Elizabeth the Good News that Jesus was to be born.  She went to minister to Elizabeth in her pregnancy.  Our Blessed Mother Mary went to serve Elizabeth.  We can emulate our Blessed Mother Mary by serving others.  

When our Blessed Mother Mary entered the home of her cousin Elizabeth, Elizabeth exclaimed, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb."  We find this declaration of the blessedness of our Blessed Mother Mary and her Son Jesus not only in the Gospel according to Saint Luke.  Also while reciting the rosary, Christians proclaim the blessedness of our Lord Jesus and His Mother Mary.  We too can join Saint Elizabeth and feel the joy of The Visitation by praying the rosary.  

Elizabeth wondered, "How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"  Elizabeth was honored to be visited by our Blessed Mother Mary, yet she could not fathom how she could be accorded the great privilege of being visited by the mother of the Messiah.  We too can wonder how we can be so blessed that our Blessed Mother Mary dotes such great kindness upon us, given our abhorrent sinfulness.  We receive such marvelous and magnanimous assistance from our Blessed Mother since she is humble, loving and sweet.  She answers our cries because she loves us so very much.  Thus we are to cry out to her now, as we are mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.  She very much wants us to call out to her, to ask her to intercede with her Son on our behalf.  

It truly only begins to describe the tremendous effectiveness of our Blessed Mother's intercession to say that she is a formidable intercessor for us.  If people only realized how much sway her prayers have in Heaven, far more people would be seeking her intercession.  Full of the knowledge of how our Blessed Mother Mary protects us if we but call out to her, we are full of joy.  Similarly, right after our Blessed Mother Mary entered the home of Elizabeth, Elizabeth cried out, "The infant in my womb leapt for joy."  In the womb of Elizabeth, Saint John the Baptist was rejoicing at the arrival of our Blessed Mother Mary.  In the loving care of our Blessed Mother Mary, we have nothing to fear, so we rejoice.  

Elizabeth said to our Blessed Mother Mary, "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."  Our Blessed Mother Mary has been so blessed because, during her life here on earth, she was filled with faith.  If we too wish to be blessed, we do will well to embrace the gift of faith from God.  

Our Blessed Mother Mary then replied, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord."  Our Blessed Mother Mary strove to live out the greatest commandment, "to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."**  First and foremost in the heart of our Blessed Mother Mary was the desire to open her heart to the will of God.  God calls us too to open our hearts to His will for us.  

Our Blessed Mother Mary told Elizabeth that her spirit rejoiced in God Her Savior.  When we know God saves us, we rejoice.  When we realize we have nothing to fear, we rejoice.  

She knew that God had looked with favor on His lowly servant.  Our Blessed Mother Mary was a poor peasant, yet God bestowed immense grace upon her.  God gives grace to the humble.***  

Well aware of how abundantly God had blessed her, our Blessed Mother Mary confidently announced that all generations would call her blessed.  She knew that she would be remembered as a shining, luminous reflection of God's great glory.  

All generations call Mary blessed because the Almighty has done great things for her.  God has shown His mighty glory through our Blessed Mother Mary.  

Having been reminded of what God had done for her, our Blessed Mother Mary proclaimed that Holy is the name of God.  She knew that all glory belongs to God, so she proclaimed that His name is holy.  We too must keep in mind that all glory is to go to God.  

Since she had experienced His great mercy, she explained that He has mercy on those who fear Him in every generation.  When we realize who we are, namely that we are nothing without God, we fear Him, and we beg Him for mercy.  

Our Blessed Mother Mary described how God has scattered the proud.  She noted that He has cast down the mighty.  God opposes the proud.****  To be like our Blessed Mother Mary, we must turn away from the temptation to pride; we must be humble like our Blessed Mother Mary.  

Everyone who raises himself up will be humbled.  The one who humbles himself will be raised up.*****  

Our Blessed Mother Mary experienced Herself how God lifted up the lowly.  God exalted her, an impoverished little girl.  God gives grace to the humble.  

And so our Blessed Mother Mary declared that God had filled the hungry with good things.  Some people question why there are poor people in the world.  Some ask why there is suffering.  The poor are blessed insofar as they are close to God.  The more desperate we are, the more we cry out to God with earnest prayer, and thus the more likely God is to grant our prayers.  God fills those who are hungry with good things, which provide them the spiritual nourishment they need to survive into true life together with Him.  

Often we think that those who are materially rich are blessed.  So often those who are materially rich are spiritually impoverished.  If we are too comfortable, we do not pray as we should. And thus often the rich are sent away empty, as our Blessed Mother Mary noted.  If we are not humble, we are not accorded grace.  

And yet if we have humility, if we submit ourselves to the will of God, then God comes to our help.  And so our Blessed Mother Mary rejoiced that God had come to the help of His servant Israel.  She was grateful that God had remained faithful to His promise of mercy.  God is merciful, since He is faithful to His promise.  God is faithful, even if we are unfaithful.  He cannot be unfaithful, for His Word is truth.******  

And so if we but give our consent to be humbled like our Blessed Mother Mary was, God will give us the grace we need to do His will.  Opening our hearts to God, God will work wonders through us, just as He worked wonders through our Blessed Mother Mary.  

* Luke 1:39-56 
** Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27; Deuteronomy 6:5 
*** 1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6 
**** 1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6 
***** Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14 
****** John 14:6 

Peace Through Us

Jesus tells us first and foremost to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.  He tells us second to love our neighbor as ourselves.*  

In these two most important commandments, Jesus directs us to love.  We are to let love flow out of us to God and to our neighbor.  God asks us to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, to help us to love Him.**  God asks us to consent to Him loving our neighbor through us.  

To love God, I must also love my neighbor.  Anyone who claims to love God but hates his or her neighbor is a liar.***  

To love my neighbor, I must not judge my neighbor.****  If I am judging my neighbor, there is no room in my heart to love my neighbor.   

We judge persons when we see what we do not like in them.  When I encounter thoughts, words and actions I dislike, I am to despise them in myself.  I am to be outraged at the appalling tendencies I notice in myself.  

I believe that the path to salvation is paved with despising my own horrible tendencies and begging God to forgive me out of His great mercy. We receive the infinite gift of God's immense mercy when we turn to look at ourselves, acknowledge our own sinfulness, and implore His mercy.  

Since I prefer to direct my energies toward how I need to improve, rather than on where other people might need to change, last week I made a choice reflecting this aspiration I have.  As I have previously mentioned, Catholic Workers regularly protest outside the facilities of a manufacturer of armaments here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Last week I was asked to choose the short writings we would read before and after our protest.  

In line with the sentiments I have expressed about trying to focus on how I need to improve, for our brief reading just before the protest, I selected a composition in which the Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote 

Instead of loving what you think is peace, love other men and love God above all.  And instead of hating the people you think are warmakers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war.  If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed--but hate these things in yourself, not in another.  

I strive to love my neighbor, though often I find it challenging, and although often I fail.  We love our neighbor by taking an honest look at ourselves and how we need to improve so we can better love our neighbor.  

Thus I prefer to focus on what I need to do to treat people better than I do.  To help work for peace, we can examine our own thoughts, words and actions.  As Gandhi suggested, "You must be the change you want to see in the world."  

Herein rests the reason why I don't protest more than I do and why I don't write about protesting more than I do.  While I find it important to speak out against injustice, I strongly contend that it is far more appropriate to try to improve myself than it is to point out why others are inappropriately acting. Since I wish to witness to peace, I want God to bring about peace through me.  For God to bring about peace through me, I must open my heart to God so He can transform me and thus create peace in the world, right now, in this very moment.  

Consequently, for our short reading together immediately after the protest, I selected the prayer commonly attributed to Saint Francis, which beseeches God 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.  

We can agree to God's plan to be channels of His peace.  We can consent to God bringing peace to the world through us.  

In every little fragment of time, in the present moment God is always extending His hand to us, inviting us to open our hearts to Him.  He is requesting that we assent to His will and open our hearts to Him, and love Him, so that He may enter into our hearts and love our neighbor through us, and thus bring peace into the world through us.  Let us open our hearts to God so He may abide in us,***** love through us and bring us peace.  Amen.  

* Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
** Romans 5:5 
*** 1 John 4:20 
**** Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37 
***** John 15:7