Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus
while before Your face I humbly kneel and,
with burning soul,
pray and beseech You
to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments
of faith, hope, and charity;
true contrition for my sins,
and a firm purpose of amendment.
While I contemplate,
with great love and tender pity,
Your five most precious wounds,
pondering over them within me
and calling to mind the words which David,
Your prophet, said to You, my Jesus:
“They have …
In today’s Gospel we hear from the Jews the question, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense?”
Even though Jesus does not answer that question directly in the Gospel, we know that the answer is “never”. God has revealed Himself to us through His Son, Jesus Christ and, like He says in the Gospel, it is through His works that we know He is the Savior. Within the context of the Easter season, we know that Christ’s greatest witness to Himself is His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. He tells the Jews, “The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me”. Since we know that He was sent by the Father for the forgiveness of sins we also know that we, His sheep, are given eternal life through that work of sacrifice, forgiveness, and grace.
I think that all of that is easy to say: “We know Christ is our Savior because He showed us in the Resurrection”; “We are His sheep, we ought to follow His commands”; “The works Christ did during His ministry on earth also bear witness to the Truth that He is the Savior of the world, the Son of the Living God”. What gets difficult is living it without questioning the Truth. I think the biggest question I ask (and I doubt I’m the only one) is how. How did the Father send His only Son? How did Christ’s death on the Cross purchase for us the rewards of eternal life? How do you live a life following the voice of the Lord? How do you even know for certain that it’s the voice of the Lord you are following. There’s only one answer to all these questions: faith.
Unlike the Jews we hear of in the Gospel, we must have faith that Christ is the Savior. Rather than looking at His works and wondering how or why, what we must do is entrust ourselves, in faith, to the God who loves us unconditionally. It is only through acceptance of the mystery of God’s love that we are able to fully enter into His love and will eventually be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
As we continue to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, may our faith in the person of Jesus Christ continue to grow and may we humbly allow the Love of the Father to envelop every part of our being.
Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!
Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.
Feature Image Credit: Luis Ca, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/6677-vitral-cristo-resucitado
St. Zita was born into a poor but holy Christian family. Her older sister became a Cistercian nun and her uncle Graziano was a hermit whom the local people regarded as a saint. Zita herself always tried to do God’s will obediently whenever it was pointed out to her by her mother. At the age of twelve Zita became a housekeeper in the house of a rich weaver in Lucca, Italy, eight miles from her home at Monte Sagrati. As things turned out, she stayed with that family for the last forty-eight years …
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
Amen.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells His disciples: “I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe. . . . I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.”
Yes, Jesus came so that we may have life—life in Him and eternal life.
But we cannot get through that gate without faithfulness to Him. In this life, we must follow Christ’s laws and His words so that we can attain eternal life.
Yet, we are a fallen people, and sometimes our tendency can be to try to find the easy way out, to try to find a backdoor to heaven or maybe to think that gate will be open despite very little effort to amend our lives. We rationalize our bad behaviors and lay the responsibility on God rather than on ourselves by believing that what we do isn’t so bad and that God’s mercy will save us at the last minute.
But there is no sneaking through. There is no back door. The only way to assure ourselves of eternal life is to do the hard work of following Christ’s commands now.
There’s no denying that this can be difficult. Standing up for what is right, for what is true, and for what is moral is not always the popular thing. Others may scoff at us. Others may tell us that our faith is pointless and that our beliefs have no place in this world. Even elected leaders pervert our faith and lead people astray.
During these times, we must understand that it is sinfulness that has led us away from the gate. It is a “me first” mentality that has kept us from reaching our full potential. And it is fear that convinces us we should stop trying to attain the sainthood that God calls us to.
All of these things keep us from picking ourselves up and getting back on the road to Him.
We know that sin breaks His Sacred Heart. We know that each time we stray from the road that leads through the gates of heaven we crush Him. Yet He desires us. He longs for us. And even when we say “no” to Him, He’s still willing to say “yes” to us.
But we can only say “no” so many times before our death. That’s why we must learn to say “yes.”
When we fail, we must get back up. We tell Him we’re sorry. We confess. And we try again.
Christ is always there beckoning. His compassion encourages us. His mercy consoles us. And His love sustains us.
How can we not say “yes” to Him?
Susan Ciancio has a BA in psychology and a BA in sociology from the University of Notre Dame, with an MA in liberal studies from Indiana University. For the past 17 years, she has worked as a professional editor and writer, editing both fiction and nonfiction books, magazine articles, blogs, educational lessons, professional materials and website content. Eleven of those years have been in the pro-life sector. Currently Susan freelances and writes weekly for HLI, edits for American Life League, and is the editor of Celebrate Life Magazine. She also serves as executive editor for the Culture of Life Studies Program-an educational nonprofit program for K-12 students.
Feature Image Credit: Alexis Joseph, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/15662-este-corazon-arde-amor-vos
St. Cletus was the third bishop of Rome, and succeeded St. Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of St. Peter in the West. He sat twelve years, from 76 to 89. The canon of the Roman mass, (which Bossuet and all others agree to be of primitive antiquity,) Bede, and other Martyrologists, style him a martyr. He was buried near St. Linus, on the Vatican, and his relics still remain in that church.
Before the closing of the day,
Creator, we Thee humbly pray,
That, for Thy wonted mercy’s sake,
Thou us under protection take.
May nothing in our minds excite
Vain dreams and phantoms of the night;
Our enemies repress, that so
Our bodies no uncleanness know.
In this, most gracious Father, hear,
With Christ, Thy equal Son, our prayer;
Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee,
Doth live and reign eternally.
Amen.
Imagine this: The God of the Universe, the Creator who came in human flesh, chose to speak to you about Himself. And the image He chooses to represent His infinite majesty and goodness is a shepherd. The most basic job in ancient society, the dirtiest and most overlooked position. Jesus, you could have said you were the Good Emperor, Good High King, Good General, or something like that. You would be beyond worthy of those titles and comparisons! But the Good Shepherd???
Jesus chose this title because it fit perfectly into the minds of his audience – the average simple person living in Judea. But also, the role of shepherd has rich imagery in the Old Testament. David, the youngest son of Jesse, is almost overlooked to be chosen for the kingship of Israel because he was out tending to his flock! Though he was a man after God’s own heart, he still fell short of being the ultimate Shepherd that the people of God needed. There is also a lot of imagery in the Psalms referring to Israel as sheep, and God himself as shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1).
So what can we learn from this imagery, and what does Jesus himself say about it? It seems that humanity was in desperate need for a Shepherd that did not fail, did not mislead, did not run like the hired man who was only in it for money. But it seemed like the only way that could happen was if God himself, the shepherd from the Psalms, arrived to lead them. And in Jesus, that’s exactly what happened! God himself took on the basic, dirty job of tending his sheep, learning who they were, and ultimately laying his life down for them. Like David defending his flock from lions and bears, Jesus took on the jaws of death itself to save us. St. Cyril makes a great comparison between Adam and Jesus; how one misled the flock, and one rescued it: “Therefore, as the father of sin [Adam] had, as it were, shut up the sheep in hell, giving them to death to feed on, as it is written in the Psalms, He [Jesus] died for us as truly Good, and truly our Shepherd, so that, the dark shadow of death driven away, He might join us to the company of the blessed in heaven.”
My question for you is: do you know the voice of the one who has done this for us? It can certainly be hard (sheep aren’t exactly known for being the smartest animal). But He is worthy, and good, and will guide us to green pastures. His voice is in the scriptures, His voice in the beauty of creation. His voice is in the quiet place of prayer. His voice is in the hearts of all those who surround us. Take a moment to stop and listen for Him. Run towards that voice. Seek to be like Him in all things. Because even sheep know the voice of their shepherd.
Songs for reflection:
Shepherd – Bethel, Amanda Cook
No Longer Slaves – Bethel, Jonathan Helser
What a Beautiful Name – Hillsong Worship, Brooke Ligertwood
Where you Go I Go – Bethel, Brian Johnson
Cornerstone – Hillsong Worship, Reuben Morgan
There’s Nothing that our God can’t do – Passion, Kristian Stanfill
Brendan is just your average Millennial hipster: He likes playing guitar, throwing frisbees, sipping whiskey, and grooming his beard. But he also has a passion for walking with teens and young Christ-followers, hearing every person’s story, and waking up the Church. Brendan works at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Lenexa, Kansas (near Kansas City) as a Youth Music Minister, fusing together his two loves of sharing Christ and sharing the power and need for good and beautiful contemporary praise. https://www.instagram.com/brendanbeardo/
Feature Image Credit: Steven Lasry, https://unsplash.com/photos/jCdxBDG8Xf4
Much of what we know about St. Mark, the author of the Second Gospel, comes largely from the New Testament and early Christian traditions. Mark the Evangelist is believed to be the ‘John Mark’ referred to in the Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early Church found in the Canon of the New Testament.
He was the son of Mary of Jerusalem (Acts 12:12) whose home became a meeting place for the apostles. He is also the cousin of St. Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), a Levite and a Cypriot.
Mark …
O Almighty God,
Whose great power and eternal
Wisdom embraces the universe,
Watch over all policemen and
Law enforcement officers everywhere.
Protect them from harm
In the performance of their duty
To stop crime, robbery,
Riots and violence.
We pray, help them keep our streets
And homes safe, day and night.
We commend them to your loving care
Because their duty is dangerous.
Grant them strength and courage
In their daily assignments.
Dear God, protect these brave men …