R E F L E C T I O N S: 2009

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

What has been massacred in your life?

Good News Reflection
Monday the 4th Day in the Octave of Christmas
December 28, 2009

Today's Feast: The Holy Innocents, martyrs
Pray for the protection of children.
The prayer from my book for this is not available online;
to order the book, please go to http://gnm.org/books.htm

Today's Readings:
1 John 1:5 -- 2:2
Ps 124:2-5, 7-8
Matt 2:13-18
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122809.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_12_28.mp3

What has been massacred in your life?

What part of your life has been massacred? It might have been extremely traumatic, or it might have been small hurts that accumulated and changed how you react to life's circumstances. In some way, your innocence was lost.

Hopefully, you've allowed God (and perhaps counselors and/or support groups) to help you recover, but what was lost can never be regained. Have you let God replace it with something else?

Today's responsorial Psalm says, "Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the hunter's net." Is your soul still trapped by the pains of the past? Or have you been truly set free by the healing love of Christ? When hurtful people rise up against you, do they swallow you alive? Or is your soul free from their snare? If your moods are controlled by what others do or don't do, your soul is not free.

We should be able to handle life's circumstances in a spirit of holiness, imitating Christ by the power of his Holy Spirit within us. However, in whatever ways our souls need healing, our behaviors have been ensnared by our wounds, and thus we still live in darkness. In today's first reading, we're reminded that if we say we fellowship with Jesus but continue in darkness, we're liars.

The truth is, Jesus died on the cross to set your soul free to soar to the heights of God's love and holiness. Although we want to be free to follow Christ, as long as we remain entrapped by the past, we behave as if we're not totally convinced that he loves us.

To escape from the dark traps and let our souls fly freely to God, we have to let Jesus rescue us. That means we have to get honest with ourselves and open up our boxes of darkness, ask God to take what was lost, to take what was stolen from us, to take what was massacred, and to replace it with something that he chooses to give us.

The pains of the past should remain in the past so that he can give us something new today.

What will your "something new" be? Perhaps it's a ministry where you help others find recovery from their hurts. Perhaps it's a different location where you're away from the people who reopen old wounds, or perhaps it's new patience and strength for staying where you are.

Perhaps it's a hobby or talent you've never had time to enjoy before; find a way to use this gift for the benefit of others.

Could it be a new commitment to spend more time with Christian friends and less time alone? Or spending more time alone with God and less time in busy activities?Christian music instead of secular music? Daily Mass attendance? Dreaming new dreams and actively making them come true?

Take time to figure out where to fly to and how to get there!

"Broken was the snare, and we were freed. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth."

© 2009 by Terry A. Modica
This work is NOT in Public Domain, and should NOT be copied without permission.For PERMISSION and info on how to copy this reflection, go to:
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Good News Reflection FOR NEXT SUNDAY: January 3, 2010 Second Sunday of Christmas*, Cycle C

Good News Reflection
FOR NEXT SUNDAY: January 3, 2010
Second Sunday of Christmas*, Cycle C

Parish bulletins, faith-sharing groups, RCIA:
For professionally published, printable copies of a reflection on Epiphany,
please go to Catholic Digital Resources:
http://catholicdr.com/calendar/January/Epiphany.htm - Preview a sample

Readings for the 2nd Sunday of Christmas:
Sirach 24:1-4, 8-12
Ps 147:12-15, 19-20
Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18
John 1:1-18
http://www.easterbrooks.com/cgi-bin/Cathcal.cgi?20100103

*Most countries around the world are celebrating the 2nd Sunday of Christmas this Sunday. In the U.S.A., however, Epiphany is celebrated next Sunday instead of on January 6th, which will be Wednesday, so that more people will participate in the liturgical celebration of the Magi. If this is your situation, skip ahead to Epiphany's reflection.

For the Second Sunday of Christmas, we focus on Jesus as the Word of God. What God speaks, Jesus is. The Father created life by speaking it into existence, and Jesus sacrificed himself to raise life above the destruction of sin and lead us into eternal life.

When you ask God to help you, the Father says "yes" and Jesus is the "yes" who walks with you to guide you into all that the Father wants to give you.

In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we pray, "Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the Word and I shall be healed" – God says, "Receive me", and Jesus is what we receive, and in him we receive all of God.

In Mass, we have the Liturgy of the Word before the Liturgy of the Eucharist. If we open our hearts to Jesus during the Liturgy of the Word, we will have the faith to see much more than a piece of bread and a cup of wine during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Why? Because it is not the priest who consecrates the bread and wine, it is actually Jesus who is speaking the words that come from the priest's mouth. Jesus provides the miracle of transubstantiation every time.

When Jesus comes to you in the Word, is your heart quickened? Do the scriptures influence your mind and change your life? And when the bread and wine miraculously become the body and blood of Jesus, do you fall onto your knees in awe because you realize that you're in the presence of God Almighty? Do you feel unworthy to receive onto your lips one so holy as Jesus? When you pray, "Lord I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word and I shall be healed," are you changed by the experience? Do you become more joyful?

Finally, are you so moved by your encounter with Jesus in Mass that you leave church so full of joy that others want to know what Jesus has done for you?

Jesus is the joy of the world. After receiving him in the Word and in the Eucharist, we are called – and empowered – to live in this joy and to spread it to others. We are heralds of the Good News, and it is indeed awesome news! We are heralds of God's Word. We are heralds of the Eucharist. We are heralds of joy.

Questions for Personal Reflection:
What word from God are you waiting to hear? What good news do you hope to hear?

Questions for Community Faith Sharing:
How is Jesus the source of our joy? God has spoken to you, and Jesus is being for you the answer. How will you act on faith with this reality, even before you understand it?

STARTING ON MONDAY, if you're a member of the "Emmaus Journey" e-group, share your answers by writing to EmmausJourney@gnm.org
* To join and become a member, go to:
http://gogoodnews.net/GNMcommunities/EmmausJourney/

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Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas! Joy to the world!

Good News Reflection
Christmas Day - The Nativity of the Lord
December 25, 2009

Pray for family holiness:
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/holyfamily.htm

Readings for Mass at Midnight
Isaiah 9:1-6
Ps 96:1-3, 11-13
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122509a.shtml

Readings for Mass at Dawn
Isaiah 62:11-12
Ps 97:1, 6, 11-12
Titus 3:4-7
Luke 2:15-20
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122509b.shtml

Readings for Mass During the Day
Isaiah 52:7-10
Ps 98:1-6
Hebrews 1:1-6
John 1:1-18
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122509c.shtml

Merry Christmas! Joy to the world!

Joy to the world! This is our song. This is what we should always be proclaiming as Christians. Let the joy of "THE LORD HAS COME!" burst forth from you. You are called by God to be his herald of joy.

Don't focus on what destroys your joy, for nothing can destroy the coming of the Lord. The absence of joy is merely a blank area in your view of what God is doing.

Look at the love that Jesus has for you! Jesus was born not only to save you from the darkness of sin; he was born because he loves you – he loves YOU! Even if you had never sinned, he would have come into the world so that he could love YOU on your level, human-to-human.

Sometimes, great things come in surprising packages that do not seem to be great at all. The Eucharist – in the form of a little wafer of bread – does not look like it contains the full presence of Jesus with all of his humanity and his divinity. The baby Jesus – a tiny, helpless child – does not look like the conqueror of evil. But he is! And so is Jesus in the Eucharist; he is here for you.

And you! You might not seem to be a great person, but you contain Jesus. You contain greatness beyond imagining! This greatness does not dwell only in you; it comes out from you in the form of love.

We can know for sure that we have Jesus within us because of the love that we give to others. We know for sure that we can be victorious over evil when Christ's love extends outward to others from within us. It is Christ's love in the world – through us – that defeats the evils of hardships and troubles.

Jesus comes to us, not to be served, but to serve our needs. He even laid down his life for you!

To be a follower of Jesus means we learn to imitate him. Christians are not here to be served by those who treat us poorly. We are here to serve THEM, and in this goodness evil is defeated. In this goodness, the greatness of Jesus extends outward from us. In this goodness, there is cause for great joy.

Each time we give love to others, whether they deserve it or not, we give them the gift of Jesus. Each time we give love to others, we are like Mary, giving birth to love himself. Each time we give love to others, we give the gift of joy. Every day is therefore a Christmas day.

And when the giving gets tiring, we need to return to the Eucharist to be nourished and healed and restored by Jesus himself, for this is our Christmas gift from God.

Have a Very Blessed Christmas
in the joy that the Lord
has given you!

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The gift of supernatural joy

Good News Reflection
Christmas Eve - Nativity of the Lord at the Vigil Mass
December 24, 2009

Today's Readings:
Isaiah 62:1-5
Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29
Acts 13:16-17, 22-25
Matthew 1:1-25
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122409b.shtml

The gift of supernatural joy

What is the best Christmas gift you've ever received from God? The obvious answer is: "Jesus my Savior!" All throughout Advent, we've been singing (in many churches), "Oh come, oh come Emmanuel." This nickname for Jesus, "Emmanuel", means "God is with us." To have "God with us" at all times, in good times and in bad, is great cause for joy.

So, if Jesus is always with us, why don't we always feel joy? I believe it's because we connect joy to love. If we don't feel loved enough, we are miserable. No joy.

Have we ever been loved enough? Not really, not from people, not even from those who are supposed to love us fully and faithfully.

This is why we need to ask God for a supernatural ability to become aware of his love. When we're worn out and feeling empty because others are not loving us like they should, we need to remind ourselves that God is with us – we need to call upon Emmanuel. God who is with us already loves us completely, fully, unconditionally, even though we do not deserve to be treated better than the way we treat him.

If we expect others to love us more than they do, we feel unloved, but if we keep our eyes on Jesus, his love fills in all the gaps and restores us in his love. This is a very good reason to rejoice.

Emmanuel. It's a name for Jesus that we should use year-round. As you finish preparing for the celebration of Christmas, focus on Emmanuel. Pray to Emmanuel. Sing to Emmanuel. Dance with Emmanuel. This sign, this reminder, this name is God's personal Christmas gift to YOU.

Guess what happens when we openly display our joy. We evangelize ourselves! Psychologists say that smiling reduces stress. Medical doctors say that laughter heals. If you need healing, if you need renewal, if you need to be lifted up out of misery, hold a praise and worship session with Jesus, your guardian angel, and a CD of joyful music.

Here's a Christmas gift you can give to yourself in order to become more aware of God's love for you. Go to the nativity display at your church and look at the manger. Write on a small piece of paper the names of those who fail to love you sufficiently. Place it in the manger and, if it has straw or hay, take a piece of it (or take a flower petal or leaf from a nearby plant) as a reminder that Emmanuel was born to give you more than enough love.

Supernatural joy is not a feeling like happiness, which depends on outside circumstances. The joy of Emmanuel is an awareness that God is taking good care of you despite the outside circumstances. It's the awareness of Christ's nearness and his exceedingly great concern for you.

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Heralding joy to the world

Good News Reflection
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
December 23, 2009

Today's Readings:
Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24
Ps 25:4-5ab,8-10,14
Luke 1:57-66
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122309.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_12_23.mp3

Heralding joy to the world

Today's Gospel passage shows us the birth and naming of John the Baptist. At the end of Advent, the Church gives us John the Baptist as a reminder that Jesus is the reason for the season, but also because John is an example of who we are.

We are not the source of our own happiness, but we do carry the joy of the Lord within us. As heralds of joy, our responsibility is to let others know that because Jesus is the source and center of our lives, even when times are hard and problems seem to crush us, we can rejoice because he cares and we trust that he is actively involved in helping us.

We're not able to rescue people from their problems; that's the Savior's role. God did not give us the ability to bring lost, inactive Catholics back to church; only the Good Shepherd can do that. We were not created with the power to heal the sick, free addicts from slavery to whatever drugs them, or give sight and understanding to those who are blind to the teachings of the Church; these are gifts that only the Son of Godcan provide.

We are heralds of the good news that Jesus can do all of this for those who seek him. To the extent that we allow faith in Christ to transform us and enliven our spirits, that's the extent to which we inspire others so that they want to seek him.

Joy is what evangelizes others, not guilt, not frowns, not bad moods. Today's world needs Christians who know that following Christ truly gives us hope in the midst of financial worries, comfort in the midst of hardships, and joy despite all difficulties.

We all have a vocation of bringing joy to others. A herald prepares a way into people's hearts for the Lord to enter.

Words are not enough to convince people that they need to come to church to worship Jesus and receive him in the Eucharist. If we do exude with joy, Catholicism, with its all its rules and teachings, seems to be a burden instead of a gift. If our worship does not express our joy, attending Mass isn't very appealing.

But when others see that we have joy from knowing that Jesus loves us, faith in him becomes very appealing.

We give people knowledge of salvation and forgiveness of their sins only if the overcoming of our own sins brings us joy. Our joy is proof of the tender mercy of our God. They need to see that faith in Christ guides our feet onto the path of peace rather than a continuous journey of same-old same-old gloomy misery.

Christ is born into their world through your vocation of joy. This Christmas, I pray that your life will more fully proclaim "Joy to the world! The Lord has come!"

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