Seek Her Intercession

October 13, 1917.  The town of Fatima.  Portugal.  The night before, it had rained torrentially; on October 13, the people there and the ground there were thoroughly soaked.  Seventy thousand people gathered in Fatima on October 13, 1917; they had heard that three little children had seen apparitions of a Lady there that year.  The Lady had promised that a miracle would take place when she appeared there on October 13.  

There, in Fatima, exactly one hundred years ago on this date, before 70,000 people, the sun danced back and forth in the sky, defying cosmic laws.  It fell toward the earth.  When the sun returned to its usual location and remained in its place, all the people there were completely dry, even though just a short time earlier, they had been drenched.  The ground too was dry, even though it had just been saturated.  

On October 13, the Lady identified herself as the Lady of the Rosary.  The three little children were Servant of God Lucia, Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco.  

In her apparitions to them at Fatima, Our Blessed Mother Mary told them to pray the rosary everyday for world peace and for an end to the first world war.  She explained to them that Jesus wished to establish devotion to her Immaculate Heart.  

As we show devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Our Blessed Mother Mary, we welcome Jesus into our hearts, and thus are returning home to Our Heavenly Father.  When we pray seeking the intercession of Our Blessed Mother Mary, we are asking her to assist us in returning home to God.  She supports us in doing as Jesus told us to do because she loves her Son, because she loves God.  

Our Blessed Mother Mary, who is so kind and sweet and loving, who cares for us so tenderly, helps us to welcome Jesus into our hearts.  Just as she told the servants at the wedding feast in Cana, so she tells us about Jesus, "Do whatever He tells you."*  

If we beg Our Blessed Mother Mary to intercede with her Son Jesus for us, we request what we need to be able to do what Jesus commands us to do.  When we ask Our Blessed Mother Mary to intercede with her Son Jesus for us, we ask her to beseech Him that we may have all we need to do God's will.  Through her Spouse, The Holy Spirit, we are empowered to do the will of God.  Through her assistance, we are given the grace we need to do the will of Our Heavenly Father.  

Let us pour out our hearts to Our Blessed Mother Mary.  Let us implore her to come to our aid.  She loves us so tenderly and sweetly--indeed her will is love, since her will is the will of God, and we know that God is love**--that she will surely love us with great love.  

Knowing that Our Blessed Mother Mary loves us so much, we come to realize that we are tremendously aided in coming home to God, who is love, when we seek her intercession.  If we wish to return home to God, we have a powerful intercessor in Our Blessed Mother Mary to help us draw back to God.  Let us entrust ourselves to the loving care of Our Blessed Mother Mary, consecrate ourselves to her, and, greatly supported by her, thus return home to God.  Amen.  

* John 2:5 
** 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

Presently Prayerfully Loving

Today is the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki.  Today we also celebrate the feast day of Edith Stein, a nun martyred in Auschwitz.  One could think that these commemorations have nothing to do with how today I sat and talked with a recent college graduate.  Yet in all of these opportunities rests the duty of the present moment.  In every moment we are called by God.   
As we remember how a plutonium bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki exactly 72 years ago on August 9, 1945, killing tens of thousands of people, some of us might wonder what we can do to avert war.  I am convinced that in seeking world peace, the most effective step we can take is to pray.  I also strongly believe that we can take efficacious measures for world peace by praying the rosary.  One hundred years ago, at Fatima in Portugal, our Blessed Mother Mary instructed us to pray the rosary for world peace.  Had more people ardently implored our Blessed Mother Mary to intercede with her Son Jesus, the second world war would not have happened.  We fulfill the duty of the present moment when we pray.  

We also carry out the duty of the present moment, as was described in the eighteenth century by the Jesuit priest Jean-Pierre de Caussade, when we seek to do God's will.  Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, previously known as Edith Stein, was raised Jewish.  However, after voraciously reading the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila late into the night, she not only became Catholic, but eventually also became a Carmelite nun.  Due to her Jewish heritage, the Nazis arrested her and sent her to Auschwitz, where she died in a gas chamber, probably exactly 75 years ago, on August 9, 1942.  She said that we surely may pray to be spared, but that certainly we should add the additional prayer to God, "Not my will be done, but Thy will be done."*  We find God's will in the present moment, so when we submit to the present moment and what it demands of us, we obey God's will.  Wherever we are in the present, there may God's will be done.  Where we find ourselves, there we pray.  

Today I found myself sitting at the kitchen table here in the Catholic Worker House with a young woman who I heard speak at Mass this past weekend.  At the end of Mass she got up and spoke briefly about how she is devoting her efforts to helping other young people who have fallen away from their faith.  She indicated she would be happy to speak with anyone who would like to hear more about her work.  After Mass, I asked her to contact me.  We arranged for her to come here to the Catholic Worker House.  

In relating to me how she aims to get to know the persons she seeks to help, I felt indirectly guided in what she said.  It seemed to me that the Holy Spirit was speaking through her.  It occurred to me that perhaps Jesus was telling me that I must get to know the homeless people and other impoverished persons I aspire to serve as a Catholic Worker.  I believe that in hearing her story, I was being told how I am to live my life, how I am to love my neighbor as myself.**  I would want someone to care enough about me to get to know me, so as to understand me; thus I should get to know others so I can better understand them.  In better understanding others, I can more easily be compassionate towards them, and thus love them as I love myself.  When I find myself in the present moment, I am to listen as best I can to my neighbor.  In giving my neighbor my full attention, and learning about her, I love my neighbor, and thus I fulfill my duty to the present moment.  

We embrace the present moment when we love our neighbor.  We carry out the duty of the present when we pray.  We open our hearts to the present when we do the will of God.  No matter how disparate the circumstances, no matter what is happening, we are called to pray and to love our neighbor, and thus do our duty right now, and thus do the will of God.  Let us open our hearts, and love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength,*** and our neighbor as ourselves, and thus do God's will.  Amen.  

* Matthew 26:39,42
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
*** Deuteronomy 6:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27 

Offering Fervent Prayers

Today I was relieved to see a particular homeless woman who I'll call "Anna" again here.  Anna showed up to our front porch this morning.  We went for a little walk together.  

Anna has been having a rough time.  In the last couple of weeks she has had a series of stressful interactions in which she has not been treated well, which is understating the circumstances.  

I shared with Anna about how I recently heard about some fervent prayer offered up by another Catholic Worker.  This other Catholic Worker told me that she had recently been greatly distressed about hearing of how a homeless friend of hers had been abused.  This other Catholic Worker channeled her grief into her prayer.  As she was praying the rosary, she wept as she thought of her homeless friend being abused.  In the midst of her tears, she seized upon that grief, and it catalyzed her to desperately clutch her rosary and ardently pray for both for her homeless friend as well as for those who had abused her.  

I tried to explain to Anna how I feel that when we feel we are being tested beyond our limits, it is exactly then that we are presented with our greatest opportunities to serve our neighbor.  I maintained that at such moments, we have such excellent chances to pray well because we mean it so much.  It is when we are sorely in need that we pray effectively.  

Anna told me that rather than praying to God, much of the time she just gets angry at God.  I shared with her how some of the saints struggled much with anger.  Although I didn't mention them specifically at the time, I was thinking about Saint Jerome and Saint Paul.  

I also told Anna that when I'm frustrated or tired, often I throw up my hands and tell God that I feel like I'm failing, that I'm not responding as He would like me to react in situations.  I shared with Anna how God is pleased when we talk to Him, even when we're angry.  At least then we're in contact with God.  At the time, I didn't think to mention it to Anna, but also, if we're expressing our anger to God, at least we're being honest with Him.  

Then Anna lamented that she feels that God is delighting in her misfortune.  I replied softly that God is deeply saddened when people mistreat each other.  I pointed out that God has given us our free will to do as we please; unfortunately some persons misuse their freedom by abusing their neighbor instead of loving their neighbor as themselves* as Jesus taught us to do.  I said to Anna that God does not enjoy our being mistreated, since God is love.**    

God is love, and so He loves us.  He wishes that we grow as individuals, and grow closer to Him.  We grow close to Him when we pray to Him.  When we face dire circumstances, let us pray to Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, loving Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.***  The God who loves us infinitely works all for the good of those who love Him.****  Thus God loves us in the midst of our ordeals, and in such trials we are presented with incredible opportunities to ask Him to work wonders in and through us, if we implore Him with all we have.  Let us turn to God, open our hearts to Him, love Him, and feel His infinite love.  Amen.  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
** 1 John 4:8,16 
*** Deuteronomy 6:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27 
**** Romans 8:28 

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 

Wonders Through Littleness

We have not been left alone.  We have our guides, companions, protectors and advocates with us, now and always.  They come unto us to tell us The Truth, so that we may remain on The Way, so that we may have The Life,* and so that we may have it to the full.**  

Jesus is gone from our bodily sight, yet He is with us always.***  Jesus further said He would not leave us orphans, but that He would send us another advocate, namely, the Holy Spirit, Who would lead us into all truth.****  

And from the Cross, Jesus entrusted us to His mother, to Our Blessed Mother Mary.  In the Gospel according to Saint John, we hear that when Jesus was on the Cross, 

Seeing His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing near Her, Jesus said to His mother, 'Woman, this is your son.'  Then to the disciple He said, 'This is your Mother.'  And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.*****  

From the Cross, Jesus told His Blessed Mother Mary that Saint John was her son.  As He was on the Cross, Jesus told Saint John the Apostle that His Blessed Mother Mary was his Mother.  
Yet Jesus looked beyond Saint John both as someone for whom His mother would care and as someone to care for His mother.  Jesus was announcing to His Blessed Mother Mary that she was becoming the Mother of all the faithful.  Jesus was telling every human being that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of all the faithful.  

We are to pray the rosary and beseech Our Blessed Mother Mary to intercede with her Son Jesus on our behalf.  We are to humbly seek the aid of Our Blessed Mother Mary, for through her intercession, by her tremendously effective prayers for us, we will be protected.  

As Pope Francis declared today about Our Blessed Mother Mary, "We have a Mother!"  We have a merciful, loving, sweet, kind, gracious advocate in Our Blessed Mother Mary.  

What more can we say in describing Our Blessed Mother Mary?  We can look to when she appeared to the three peasant children Servant of God Lucia, Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco in Fatima in Portugal exactly one hundred years ago, on May 13, 1917, and when she appeared to them later that year.  These Fatima seers said she is beautiful.  Saint Jacinta was so overjoyed that she later exclaimed to her mother, "Today I saw Our Lady!"  

We can also recall when Our Blessed Mother Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.  Someone suggested to Saint Bernadette that she offer pen and paper to The Lady who had been appearing to her, who turned out to be Our Blessed Mother Mary.  When Saint Bernadette suggested to Our Blessed Mother Mary that she write what she wanted, Our Blessed Mother laughed!  Now I would like to see Our Blessed Mother Mary laugh!  There would truly be a joyous sight.  

A glorious reward among many in Heaven will it be when we will see Our Blessed Mother Mary!  As Pope Francis said earlier today, we will have all eternity to gaze upon Our Blessed Mother Mary!  

And how are we to get to Heaven?  How are to conduct ourselves so that we welcome the guidance we need to get there, so that we invoke the protection we need?  

On our way, as Pope Francis has advised, "We can take as our examples Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta, whom the Virgin Mary introduced into the immense ocean of God's light and whom she taught to adore Him."  As Pope Francis further noted today during the Mass in which he canonized them, "That was the source of their strength in overcoming opposition and suffering.  God's presence became constant in their lives, as is evident from their insistent prayers for sinners and their desire to remain ever near 'the hidden Jesus' in the tabernacle."  

Who were Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta?  He was eight and she was seven when Our Blessed Mother Mary first appeared to them.  They were very young peasants, poor, uneducated and simple.  Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta were humbled by the circumstances of their lives.  How can we humble ourselves?  How can we become like little children?  

Anyone who humbles himself will be raised up.******  Someone who makes himself as little as a little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.*******  

We become like little children toward God when we totally rely on God, just like little children completely depending on their parents for all they need.  We humble ourselves when we pray.  When we pray, we admit we cannot get where we are going on our own.  As we are praying, we are acknowledging that we need God's help.  

There is no way we can get to Heaven solely on our own merits.  We all are in need of God's mercy.  

God is love.********  Love is mercy.  Thus, the name of God is mercy, as Pope Francis has told us.  Similarly, Saint Faustina has told us that Jesus told her that He is love and mercy itself.  

If people ever wonder why I am looking forward so much to the next life, there is much I can say.  I know that I will enter Heaven because I will throw myself at the mercy of God's great love.  I know that God will forgive me, for God is infinitely merciful.  And on the day I enter into Heaven, you can imagine me telling you, "Today I saw Our Lady!"  I will have all eternity to bask in the unspeakably marvelous warm glow of the love and glory of God, largely thanks to the immense mercy of Our Blessed Mother Mary, for in her great kindness she has greatly aided me, for she has secured grace for me through her intercession on my behalf.  

How can we get to Heaven?  Be like little children, who greatly respected and honored Our Blessed Mother Mary, Who, in her great humility, did as she was told.  And in turn, she tells us of her Son Jesus, "Do whatever He tells you."*********  

When we have the humility to do as God directs us to do, through us God performs miracles.  Even though we are but little children, God will work wonders through us.  And in the end, God will raise us up, so that we may be with Him for all eternity, in His glory.  Amen.  

* John 14:6 
** John 10:10 
*** Matthew 28:20 
**** John 14:16-18; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:13 
***** John 19:26-27 
****** Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14 
******* Matthew 18:4 
******** 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16 
********* John 2:5 

Hoping Against Evidence

Today, on Holy Saturday, we witness to hope.  Yesterday, on Good Friday, we memorialized in a special way the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Today we especially remember His body in the tomb.  

Today we have the advantage of knowing that Jesus rose from the dead.  However, on the day in history when Jesus had been crucified the previous day, His disciples did not fully understand how He had told them that He was to suffer and die, and after three days rise from the dead.*  

In the midst of what seems like it can be nothing but tragedy, we face an immense temptation to despair.  It is at such overwhelmingly challenging moments that God calls us to hope.  
Recently I heard Cardinal Schonborn relate how our Blessed Mother Mary remained in her faith even on that first Holy Saturday.  The day after Jesus died, even then she had hope.  The Cardinal noted that tradition tells us that only our Blessed Mother kept the faith during that dark hour.  In the midst of what seemed like total defeat, she refused to give up hope.  

Our Blessed Mother Mary was hoping despite the evidence.  She hoped although what she saw was to the contrary.  We hope for what we do not see, and we look forward to it with persevering confidence.**  We look not to what is seen, but to what is unseen.***   

I hope for what I do not see with the eyes of this physical body.  And yet I can tell you that I hope for what I can see.  I can see my hope with my spiritual eyes.  I am being reassured of my goal, where I am striving to reach.  I cannot explain to you how I am being encouraged by those I cannot see, but I assure you, I am being drawn forward.  Although here is evidence which would never be admissible in any court of law, still I am presented with evidence.  On the basis of this evidence, I move forward in faith.  Thus emboldened by those who I somehow hear, and somehow I am inexplicably strengthened as I strive on toward the goal, as Saint Paul wrote, and in so writing, he implicitly incites us to do the same.****  

We proceed onward boldly in faith, hope and love, for we are empowered to do so by those who have gone before us.  Yet we also choose to define ourselves right now when we aim to think, pray, speak and act out of faith, hope and love.  We shape our own world right now, in the present, in this very instant, by our own individual choices.  

I have shared with you how Saint John of the Cross advised us, that where you do not see love, there put love, and there you will find love.  Now I say to you, where you do not see hope, there put hope, and there you will see hope.  

Similarly, I have repeated how Gandhi told us that you must be the change you wish to see in the world.  Now I say to you, you must be the hope you wish to see in the world.  

It has always been this way.  Two thousand years ago, when Jesus was crucified and was buried, His mother was faced with this choice, between despair and hope.  She chose hope.  Soon, and very soon, she was richly rewarded.  The Son she mourned rose from the dead, having been glorified by His Heavenly Father.  

In time she was abundantly rewarded in Heaven.  She was crowned in the midst of the glory of God, to the praise, honor and glory of God.  Our Blessed Mother Mary provides us with a model of faith, hope and love; through her example, she also consented to allow others to be illumined through the light shining through her.  She showed how hope is rewarded, through how she was crowned.  Upon this crowning Christians meditate while praying the rosary.  In so pondering and keeping these things in our hearts,***** we welcome the Holy Spirit to help us choose hope rather than despair.  

Each and every human being is presented with this choice, between despair and hope.  In how we respond, we determine how we contribute to shaping our world.  

We help the world become a better place through our thoughts, prayers, words and deeds.  But now is a dark hour, you say.  How can I possibly have hope?  In effect, in asking such a question, you ask how you can imitate our Blessed Mother Mary.  

Let us look at her life, then.  She was a lowly maiden.  She accepted her humble station in life.  When the angel appeared to her, informing her that she would give birth to Jesus, she obediently gave her assent to the will of God.  While she did not understand how she was to come to give birth, and she wondered how it could be so, still she promptly acquiesced to the will of God.******  God calls us too to submit to His will.  He has ordained all things for the good of those who love Him.*******  Thus we trust in Him who deeply loves us, who is loving us infinitely, and therefore far more than we can understand.  

When we realize that God's designs are far beyond our understanding, we are on the road to humility.  Once we are humble, we trust in God.  Turning over to God all that is occurring, and all that is to happen, we have hope in God, since, knowing that God is love,******** it is clear that we rest secure in the hope of the infinite love who is God.  Safe and secure in faith in God, confident in the hope of His promise, we journey surely on The Way home to Him.  Regardless of what seems to be occurring all around us, we strive on confidently certain toward the goal of resting forever in Him, in eternal love, in eternal life, now and forevermore.  Amen.  

* Matthew 20:19; Mark 8:31; Mark 10:34; Luke 18:33 
** Romans 8:25 
*** 2 Corinthians 4:18 
**** Philippians 3:14 
***** Luke 2:19 
****** Luke 1:26-38 
******* Romans 8:28 
******** 1 John 4:8, 16 

Giving Of Ourselves

At every single instant we are faced with monumental choices.  In the tiny spaces of life we find intersections of various choices before us, choices which appear not to deserve much consideration, yet which have gigantic significance.  With every choice we make, whether it seems tremendous or inconsequential, we decide whether or not we are valuing the opportunities God has given us as his agents to love others.  

We might think that only the decisions which appear to be immense have great impact.  While over the centuries it seems that some of us have made such momentous choices spontaneously, we must not believe that we cannot be useful instruments in the Hand of God for effecting great change if we do not make giant leaps all at once.  God calls us to radically follow Him, in steps both large and small.  

And so earlier this week we heard in the Gospel that 

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,
knelt down before him, and asked him,
"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good?
No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
you shall not defraud;
honor your father and your mother."
He replied and said to him,
"Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." 
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
"You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
At that statement, his face fell, 
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
"How hard it is for those who have wealth
to enter the Kingdom of God!"
The disciples were amazed at his words.
So Jesus again said to them in reply,
"Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
"Then who can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said,
"For men it is impossible, but not for God.

All things are possible for God."*  

The young man went away despondent, for he was very rich.  Perhaps he was visualizing selling everything he had all at once.  

We can become discouraged if we try to imagine doing too much all at once.  The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  We cover a very long distance a little bit at a time.  

This is the norm.  The vast majority of the time, human beings do not make major changes in the blink of an eye.  

However, when we are willing to humble ourselves, God gives us the grace to perform remarkable deeds.**  In the third century, while he was in church, Saint Anthony of Egypt heard this Gospel passage about the rich young man.  When Saint Anthony heard it, he felt called by God to do as he had just heard, so he went out and sold everything he had.  He gave most of the money to those who were poor, keeping only a small amount for the care of his sister.  He then devoted himself to a life of prayer and asceticism, yet he also healed and advised those who came to him.  

Saint Anthony was enabled to sell everything he had, to give the proceeds to those who were impoverished, and to go and follow Jesus because God had empowered him to do so.  On his own, Saint Anthony would not have been able to renounce himself and follow Jesus.  Since God had given him the grace and the strength to give up all he had, he considered it all worthless,*** and gave it all away for the sake of Jesus and the message of love of God and love of one's neighbor which Jesus preached.  

Rather than huge steps, usually we assent to being humbled bit by bit.  Typically we agree to changes in our lives little by little.  Even Saint Francis of Assisi, a great saint, who ended up living in extreme poverty, gave away everything he had in incremental steps.  

Everyday we are to die little deaths to ourselves so we can live to our neighbor.  God calls us to give of ourselves at every instant; we are to love our neighbor at all times, both in moments which seem crucial and pivotal as well as in those which seem trivial.  

Earlier this week I received another good example of this way to live of treasuring every chance to give away what we have to our neighbor.  Once again I spoke with a particular homeless woman, who I've previously called "Roslyn" here.  Yet again I learned about how often she offers what she has to people who need it.  She has little, yet she consents to God that she may be even further lessened.  She consents to God that she may become less so that she may become more.  She lets herself be given to others, so that her heart may expand in love for others.  

We can give ourselves away to others in every moment.  With every little act we perform, we can give more and more and more of ourselves away to others.  At every instant, we can come to die more and more to ourselves and live more and more to our neighbor.  

Saint Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower, told us that her little way of getting to Heaven was through performing little acts of love for those around her.  When she was irritated by another nun who made noise handling her rosary while praying, Therese offered up her irritability with this other nun in prayer to Jesus.  Confronted with the little frustrations in life, which may appear to be meaningless to us, we can affect the atmosphere of the world in how we choose to respond to such seemingly unimportant matters.  

In the little decisions we make about how we react to the people around us, we consent to God shaping the world through our choices.  And so, conscious of how we can choose to embrace the will of God at every moment in our lives, we can take courage in our small actions.  We can find encouragement in the little windows of opportunity to love in our lives.  If we make ourselves little enough so that we gladly fit through these windows of seemingly inconsequential opportunities to love, God will work wonders through us.  

As we assent to being humbled by God little by little, God gives us the grace to do His will.  God empowers us to love our neighbor.  God enables us to do what would be impossible without Him.  God helps the little to become great.  God exalts those who allow themselves to be humbled.****  God raises up those who bow down to Him.  God brings those into His Kingdom who live in love.  Let us live in love at every moment, through acts both large and small, and constantly be entering into the Kingdom of God.  

* Mark 10:17-27 
** 1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6 
*** Philippians 3:8 
**** Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14