Good News Reflection This reflection is also available as an audio podcast: Today’s Readings: Forgive, forgive, and forgive … again? How many people have taught you how to forgive seventy times seven times? These are the ones who repeatedly – sometimes seventy times in one day! – give you opportunities to practice forgiveness. This method of learning the lesson of today's Gospel passage is not fun. But there's a reason why God allows it: These people need your gesture of mercy more than others do. In God's great concern for them, he has put them in YOUR path. (Gee thanks God, but couldn't you have picked someone else to do it?) Such people are in desperate need of unconditional love; they've received less of it than we have, and that's why they behave so badly. In many cases, they have NEVER received real love; their only experience of "love" is actually co-dependency or control or emotional bribery. In some cases, disease, addiction, demonic oppression, or mental illness has robbed them of the ability to receive love when it is, in fact, given to them. No one can give to us what they do not have. They can only give us what they do have, and sadly, that's grief – and plenty of it! We can give them the forgiveness we've received from our loving Father – the "king who settled accounts with his officials" in the parable. We know what love is, because we've opened ourselves to God's generous love, and therefore we have the responsibility of sharing it with those who have less. They might assume that they know what love is, but they don't know how to recognize real, unconditional, Christ-like love, so we have to persist and forgive and persist and forgive until finally – finally! – our love breaks through the barricades of their hearts. Then, when they slip back into their old ways, we forgive them again. Our persistence might be the only true connection to Jesus that they have. However, we cannot succeed alone. Others are also needed, including counselors, doctors, or therapists. Sometimes God tells us that we've done enough and it's time to step away so that he can help them through someone else. The process is long. We have to ask God to give us a supernatural love for these people. When we want to quit prematurely, we can look at Jesus hanging on the cross for us. He did not give up on us. If we truly want to follow him, we have to become like him. By uniting our sufferings to his cross, we are intimately united to his redemptive power. Pray for those who are causing you pain; choose to forgive them. It's a choice, not a feeling. And we need to do it now, not when (or if) they repent. Jesus did not delay his walk to Calvary hoping that humankind would repent before he got nailed for our sins. As you follow him in the spirit of forgiveness, remember: After crucifixion there is always resurrection! © 2011 by Terry A. Modica
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Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Forgive, forgive, and forgive … again?
Monday, March 28, 2011
How to handle rejection
Good News Reflection This reflection is also available as an audio podcast: Today’s Readings: How to handle rejection Is there anyone in your life who doesn't accept how much you've grown spiritually? Is there someone who doesn't believe you about your faith? Have you been falsely accused of doing something you never had any intention of doing? Have ever you been dismissed as incapable of doing what you have in fact learned to do? In today's Gospel passage, Jesus shows us how to handle these people. First, it helps to realize that such rejection is normal for a follower of Christ. As Jesus says in this Gospel reading, "No prophet is accepted in his native place." We rise above it by connecting our suffering to Christ's. Rejection unites us to God; the time gap between his unfair treatment in Nazareth and your unfair treatment today disappears. What a privilege! Second, in love we give others more occasions to see and accept what God is offering to them through us, as Jesus did. He always gave his persecutors an opportunity to discover: "Aha! I need to learn from this guy!" Perhaps one out of a hundred will have an "aha" moment. By patiently persevering, we find that person. Not everyone from Nazareth rejected the messianic ministry of Jesus. James, a relative from his extended family, became one of his most devoted followers. James even wrote a letter that was accepted into the canon of the New Testament. God has a James for you, too. The third step, in imitation of Christ, is to walk away. Jesus did not nag people into changing their minds. He did not stomp his foot and pout and whine and all that other silly stuff that we do to win someone's attention. Neither did he stay there and let them attack. As today's responsorial psalm says, "My soul is thirsting for the living God; when shall I see him face to face?" When others reject us, we thirst for acceptance, and God provides it. We do see him face to face, but we must immerse ourselves in a community of believers whose faces reveal God. We have to surround ourselves with companions who are capable of accepting the gift that we are. To move from the cross of rejection to the resurrection that God wants to provide for us, seek out those who are working hard on their own spiritual growth. This type of person is able to recognize what God is doing in your life. When others reject you, run to these companions for comfort. When you need assurance or encouragement, they will be able to give it to you. God has – right now – a community of believers ready to be his gifts of love for you! © 2011 by Terry A. Modica
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Sunday, March 27, 2011
Good News Reflection FOR NEXT SUNDAY: April 3, 2011 Fourth Sunday of Lent
Good News Reflection Parish bulletins, faith-sharing groups, RCIA: This reflection is also available as an audio podcast: Next Sunday's Readings: Conversion to Christ is a process. The blind man in the Gospel reading exemplifies this journey into faith. Notice that he did not go to Jesus. Jesus came to him. The man responded by waiting to find out what would happen and then by obeying Jesus. Conversion begins when Jesus seeks us out and we make ourselves available to his touch. He then opens our eyes to the truth, but we don’t immediately understand. When the man’s neighbors asked about his cure, he did not yet understand who Jesus was; he thought of him as just a man. Then, under the pressure of listening to the Pharisees argue about who Jesus was, he had to give it more thought. He concluded that Jesus must be a prophet, which for the Jews was a highly esteemed holy vocation. Next, as the Pharisees treated him more roughly and raised the possibility of expelling him from the synagogue if he claimed that Jesus was the Christ, he began to wonder whether it might be true. Their reasons for hating Jesus became the eye-openers that cured his spiritual blindness. Lastly, Jesus sought him out again, this time to minister to him in response to the mistreatment he had suffered from the Pharisees. In this act of caring, the man could see who Jesus really was. Conversion – the purification of our spiritual vision – takes place in the fire of our sufferings as we recognize the love and concern that God has for us. Questions for Personal Reflection: Questions for Community Faith Sharing:
© 2011 by Terry A. Modica
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Thursday, March 24, 2011
Living in heaven on earth
Good News Reflection This reflection is also available as an audio podcast: Today’s Readings: Living in heaven on earth Hell is not "down" in the middle of the earth, a physical place where bad people and pagans go after death for eternal punishment. Rather, hell is separation from God. And it's not God who separates himself from people. It's we who separate ourselves from him, and it begins while we are still here on earth. Do you feel (at least sometimes) like you're living in hell on earth? It's not the pains and trials we endure that make our lives hellish. It's the feeling that God is not with us. The parable in today's Gospel passage shows that it's impossible to rescue anyone from hell after they've died. It also teaches that it's impossible to rescue an alive person who is headed for hell – that is, IF they are not willing to unite themselves to God's love. Jesus points out the lack of repentance in those who reject what God has revealed to them. Jesus revealed himself as God by becoming one of us and willingly sacrificing himself on the cross to take our punishment for sin upon himself, removing all obstacles between us and God, and then rising from the dead to give us eternal life in God's presence. It's not the people who don't know this who go to hell. It's the people who reject God's love because they don't want to give love. When someone dies without knowledge of Jesus but they lived in the spirit of Christ by loving others, he or she will want to live forever with him when they meet him on their personal judgment day at the hour of their passing from earth. But those who heard of him and rejected him because they had no desire to give up their unloving ways – they will want to avoid Jesus at the hour of their death. Thus, they decide to separate themselves from God forever. The question for you and me right now is this: What am I doing today that rejects love? How am I separating myself from God and creating my own hell on earth? We might be 90% in love with God, but it's that other 10% that makes us miserable. Even when other people's unlovingness ruins our fun, we can rise above the suffering by living in God's embrace. This is why the Lord said in today's first reading: "Cursed are those who trust in human beings and turn their hearts away from me, but blessed are those who trust in me." The message is repeated in today's responsorial Psalm. What holds you back from being completely loving? Are you trusting in God's love when others fail to love you enough? There's always plenty of evidence, when life is hard, that "proves" we should not trust him, but Jesus' death and resurrection are proof that his love is real. Acting upon that truth by loving others unconditionally is how we bring heaven to earth. © 2011 by Terry A. Modica
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Join the cause on facebook and help spread the message! Note: Good News Ministries gnm.org is a non-profit organization that accepts donations as support for its ministries but does not charge for anything. Catholic Digital Resources LLC catholicdr.com is Terry Modica's publishing house providing professional writing services; the income from this will eventually support the future growth and projects of Good News Ministries. Please spread the word; tell your DRE, RCIA Director, pastor, etc. about what's available for parishes at Catholic Digital Resources™. ______________________________________________________________ |
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Embracing your specialness
Good News Reflection This reflection is also available as an audio podcast: Today’s Readings: Embracing your specialness Have you ever had the feeling that you've been served enough? Not me! For years, I would feel depressed on my birthday and on Mother's Day, because these were the days I was supposed to be served and yet I always ended up doing the dishes or some other chore that served others. Even though my family treated me sweetly to make those days special, it never felt like they served me enough. One year I started a new tradition for celebrating my "specialness" as a person and as a mother. I decided that on any day when the focus is on me – or SHOULD be on me – I remember that it's really like any other day. God blessed me with life and the talents to serve others, and if perchance I receive special treatment from others, this is a bonus. It's nothing more than an additional gift from God, coming to me through whomever God has chosen at that moment, like any other day of the year. And you know what? I've greatly enjoyed birthdays and Mother's Day ever since! When we're the ones being served, we might feel special, but oh how quickly that feeling fades, doesn't it? We truly are happiest when we're using our gifts and talents in ways that make a difference in the lives of others. That's because we're made special by our unique combination of gifts and talents and personality traits. It's a specialness that no one else has. No one else ever did or ever will have what makes you YOU. However, the only way to experience this specialness is to USE your uniqueness in ways that God designed you to use it – and that means in service to others, which glorifies God and helps his kingdom. Otherwise, we're like a kid who gets an enormous basket of chocolates for Easter and he tries to enjoy all of its deliciousness in one day, without sharing it. Soon, he gets sick. Where's the fun in that? This is why Jesus tells us in today's Gospel passage that the greatest person is the one who serves all the rest. Serving others doesn't make us look good in the eyes of God – that's not where our greatness comes from. To God, we're already wonderful, simply because he made us each so unique, so special. Our greatness comes from making a difference in the world. We can only make a difference by using our giftedness to serve others. If you were to die tonight, what would people say about you at your funeral? The more good deeds you've done for others, the more you will be exalted in your eulogy – and in the kingdom of heaven. © 2011 by Terry A. Modica
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