How the Jesus Prayer has helped me connect with Him.

 The Jesus Prayer is a prayer that helps me connect to Jesus when nothing else does, when I am speechless, my mind is blank and I cannot focus.  It is basically the prayer of the tax collector in Luke 18:13-14 addressed to Jesus, God’s Son, rather than God the Father.  Here it is.

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Now the beauty of this prayer is that Jesus said in the very next verse that this man went home justified.  Wow!  That gives me hope!  Jesus said it works!

The first time I prayed the prayer was when I was being tormented by all my shortcomings as a human being.  Satan the accuser was working me over for a couple of months.  I couldn’t focus enough to pray anything else or to get into the Scriptures.

Some people won’t like the prayer because you have to admit you are a sinner in need of the mercy of Jesus.  But we are in good company if we are willing to admit it.  Here’s what the Apostle Paul said about Jesus and about himself.  “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.” 1 Timothy 1:15. And the Apostle Paul is using the present tense here in regard to him being a sinner.  That also gave me hope that Jesus would answer the prayer if I prayed it because He came into the world to save people like me.

And then I thought of Him seeking the lost, like in the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin.  He really searches for us and that means for me.  More hope.

So Jesus did come and help me hang on during that time as well as many times before and after.

I suffer from anxiety and sleeplessness sometimes and the Jesus Prayer calls Jesus into my situation where He can help me.  The anxiety passes and I fall asleep in His presence. 

Easter Sunday, The Resurrection of the Lord - 4/4/21

April 4, 2021

Easter Sunday, The Resurrection of the Lord

First Reading: Acts 10:34a, 37–43

Psalm: Psalm 118:1–2, 16–17, 22–23 (24)

Second Reading: Colossians 3:1–4

Gospel Acclamation: Cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7b-8a

Gospel: John 20:1–9

Introduction

The Easter Sunday service when I was growing up as a kid was wondrous.

My family and I belonged to a Presbyterian church that had been in existence since

the early 1700s. It was aptly named Hilltop Presbyterian Church because it sat on a

hilltop with a commanding view of the surrounding countryside, including the

adjacent cemetery, which flowed down the hill on two sides of it. The cemetery, too,

had gravestones going back to the 1700s.

The cemetery fired my imagination on Easter Sunday as we sang my favorite hymn,

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today by Charles Wesley, accompanied by our large, robed

choir and massive pipe organ. We were singing our victory song with joyous gusto.

Outside, the snows of winter were losing their icy grip, and the first signs of spring

were popping out. Easter Sunday was usually a bright sunny morning, as if all creation

were celebrating with us.

As we sang the last two verses, which I have supplied below, I would apply them in my

mind to the occupants of the many graves surrounding the church, ample evidence of

our mortality. I would imagine the graves opening and all those souls, reunited to their

transforming and rising bodies, would soar up to heaven in our final victory in Christ

over death.

 

3 Lives again our glorious King; Alleluia!

Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!

Dying once, He all doth save: Alleluia!

Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

4 Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!

Following our exalted Head; Alleluia!

Made like Him, like Him we rise; Alleluia!

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies. Alleluia!

I believe that is the mood of the readings for the Mass of Easter Day.

First Reading

The Apostle Peter is giving a summary of the Good News concerning all that our

resurrected Lord has accomplished through His life, death and resurrection and His

astounding offer of forgiveness of our sins through his name, if we will entrust

ourselves to Him and follow in His steps.

Peter, a Jew, is at the house of Cornelius, a God-fearing Roman centurion and friend of

the Jews, preaching to a large Gentile audience which has been convened by a series

of miraculous events.

Another miracle happens in the very next verse following our reading: God pours out

the gift of the Holy Spirit upon these Gentiles in a visible and audible way, as they start

speaking in tongues and glorifying God. The circumcised believers, who had

accompanied Peter to the house of Cornelius, are astounded that God would do this.

Peter accepts the obvious sign of God’s acceptance of the Gentiles into His family and

accordingly orders them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

What an astounding turn of events and a cause for wonder and great celebration! It is

extremely exciting to see God so obviously at work.

Psalm

The selected Psalm seems custom tailored to accompany our first reading, even

though it was penned hundreds of years before that Pentecost event. But the day of

the Resurrection of our Lord is even more amazing. And this Psalm, which is a

Messianic prophecy celebrating our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ as the cornerstone

of the Church, who was largely rejected by His own people, is also amazing and is

connected to the first reading in many ways. Truly, it is a day to rejoice and be glad!

Second Reading

The second reading reminds us that we are a forgetful people. All of us are, Jew and

Gentile alike. We wonder why God does not keep giving us amazing signs and

wonders to keep us on a perpetual high, thinking that would keep us more closely

united with Him. The truth is that we would soon be seeking the gifts and not the

Giver. If we are not willing to trust Him in the unamazing and difficult times, then our

faith, hope and love have no depth. They are illusions.

The Apostle Paul points us towards home and the One who awaits us there, ready to

throw the door — and His arms — open wide to us on our arrival for this final

homecoming. We need to have our final destination and reward in view as we take the

hand of Jesus and walk through our present times. God helps us in our journey, as we

cooperate with Him, following His Son, our Way, Truth and Life.

Gospel Acclamation

Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed; let us then feast with joy in the Lord. (Cf.

1 Corinthians 5:7b-8a)

Sequence

In the Gospel Acclamation and Sequence, we return again to rejoicing and singing

over our victory in Christ. Celebrations are important, increasing our gratitude, faith,

hope and love and giving us powerful memories for when the days grow dark in our

present world. My childhood memories of Easter and that old Presbyterian church

help sustain me and enable me to see God’s faithful hand upon me from my youth.

Gospel

The Gospel reading is an interesting one. John only recorded Mary Magdalene going

to the tomb and finding the tomb open with the stone removed, nothing more about

her discovery and who was with her. Then John recorded her running to Simon Peter

and the disciple whom Jesus loved (John referring to himself, because he was

staggered by that truth) and reporting the following: “They have taken the Lord from

the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.” Notice the “we”; therefore,

more people than just Mary were involved in the discovery, as the other accounts

report. We also find out that she examined the tomb enough to know that it was

empty and immediately thought that the body has been stolen.

John recorded the two of them, Peter and himself, running to the tomb to see for

themselves. John got there first but waited for Peter and allowed him to enter first,

before entering himself.

The Ignatius Study Bible New Testament has the following note on the significance of

John deferring to Peter to enter first:

20:4 the other disciple: John, the evangelist himself. Luke makes similar

mention of certain disciples, including Peter, running to the tomb on Easter

morning (Luke 24:12, 24).… reached the tomb first: John defers to Peter by

letting him enter the tomb first (20:6). This is more than a polite gesture, as it

reflects his deference to the preeminent honor and authority that Jesus has

bestowed on Simon (Matthew 16:16–19). • Allegorically (John Scotus Erigena, 

Hom. in Prol. Jn.): the tomb is the Sacred Scriptures. Peter is faith, which is the

first thing we bring to its pages, and John is understanding, which afterward

enters and penetrates their meaning more deeply. Morally, Peter and John

represent the active and contemplative missions of the Church, so that even

when contemplatives are the first to arrive at a deeper understanding of the

faith, deference is given to the hierarchical leadership, who later defines and

promulgates their authentic insights.

 

Peter and John find the tomb empty, as Mary Magdalene reported, but John notes

that the grave cloths appear to have been rolled up in an orderly fashion, not

something grave robbers or the authorities would have bothered to do. And so, John

records that he saw and believed but declines to describe the content and extent of

his belief. The consensus of the commentators is that John believed that Christ had

risen and taken the time to put the grave cloths in order before leaving the tomb — or

perhaps the angels did it. At any rate, clearly something supernatural had happened.

John then records that they had really not expected Jesus to rise from the dead.

And there the Gospel reading ends. But wait a minute! What about the rest of the

story? Easter lasts seven weeks, until Pentecost, in the Catholic Church. It’s not just one

day, so there is plenty of time to unfold and savor the rest of the amazing story in the

daily and Sunday readings.

Conclusion

It is easy for truths and stories to lose their luster and wonder in the retelling and reenacting. So, we 

need to slow down and take the time to savor and remember, to reflect on how the Lord’s hand has been

upon your life, and the special times you have had with Him. I would encourage you to read or listen to 

the daily readings on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website during the rest of the 

Easter season. They don’t take long, and you will be glad you heard “the rest of the story”.

Here is a link you can use: https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar .

Bible Study for 3/21/21 • 5th Sunday of Lent

Bible Study for 3/21/21 • 5th Sunday of Lent

First Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34

Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15 (12a)

Second Reading: Hebrews 5:7-9

Gospel Acclamation: John 12:26

Gospel: John 12:20-33

Introduction

Our readings during Lent are meant to prepare us or dispose us to receive the

maximum amount of God’s grace as we participate in the events of Holy Week and

relive what Jesus did in His Passion, Death and Resurrection to inaugurate the New

Covenant. Many will be entering the Church at the Easter Vigil Mass and receiving the

Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist for the first time.

The word “disposed” and its related forms is very important in Catholic spirituality and

theology. It is an adjective which means to be willing or inclined towards something. I

searched the Catechism of the Catholic Church for the word disposed with one search

engine and it generated twenty-nine hits for the word in all its related forms such as

disposition. The first one really describes how being disposed works:

1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that

the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive

grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. “For well-disposed members of the

faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every

event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery

of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all

sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is scarcely any proper

use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the sanctification 

of men and the praise of God.” (Documents of the Second Vatican Council,

Sacrosanctum Concilium, On the Sacred Liturgy 61)

 

This paragraph from the Catechism is a good description of how the New Covenant

works, which the Fifth Sunday of Lent’s readings look forward to.

First Reading

In this reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah, God promises to the houses of

Israel and Judah that He will make a New Covenant with them in the future. Not like

the old covenant He made with their fathers during the exodus from Egypt, which

failed because of the weakness of their flesh and their unbelief, so that God had to

show Himself to them as their master rather than their husband or father.

This New Covenant will be one that God accomplishes in them. He will internalize His

law within in them. He really will become their God and they will really become His

people.

In this New Covenant, His people all shall really know Him. And the word “know” here

means more than intellectual knowledge about God. It includes an experiential

knowledge as well. For example, the word is used in the Old Testament for the

intimate relationship between husband and wife.

Finally, this New Covenant will bring about the forgiveness of their sins. Their slate will

be wiped clean.

Psalm

The responsorial Psalm is of David and was written after David had been confronted

with his double sins of adultery and murder by Nathan the prophet, while he was in

the process of his repentance and confession. If we look at this Psalm carefully, we can

see that David is pleading for New Covenant promised in Jeremiah, but long before

Jeremiah had written his prophecy. He is pleading for forgiveness, cleansing, a new, 

clean heart, and a steadfast, willing spirit. References to the New Covenant are

sprinkled through the Old Testament, and a number of the Old Testament saints, such

as Abraham and David, lived in the promise of it.

Second Reading

The focus of the readings shifts at this point to what Jesus went through to inaugurate

this promised and anticipated New Covenant. In other words, what did the

inauguration cost Him, and what did it accomplish.

This passage from the Epistle to the Hebrews says that Jesus Christ, the Son of God,

the Eternal Word, was made flesh. He really became one of us and He suffered, the

same as we do. I have met Christians who tend to minimize His sufferings. They seem

to think He had an unfair advantage being also God, like somehow He was shielded

from the pain. But He went through fear, exhaustion, anguish, and agony just like us.

He knows what it is to be one of us. Establishing the New Covenant cost Jesus

unimaginable suffering, but He made it through the process by offering up prayers

and supplications with loud cries and tears to His Father, and as a result, he learned

obedience amid the suffering, was made perfect as our high priest (Hebrews 2:10–18)

and became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.

Gospel Acclamation

Whoever serves me must follow me, says the Lord; and where I am, there also will my

servant be (John 12:26).

Gospel

The Gospel reading makes it clear that bringing in the New Covenant will cost Jesus

His life. He came to offer His life as a sacrifice. But through that sacrifice, He would 

draw everyone to Himself and bring about the New Covenant of God. He is really our

God, and we are really His people, and his sacrifice makes it possible for us, with clean

hearts and steadfast, willing spirits, to be forgiven our sins and have a clean slate

going forward. He would also be raised from the dead and made alive forever,

because He was willing to trust His heavenly Father, clearing the way for us, too, to

experience eternal life. As it says in Hebrew 12:2b:

For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its

shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. (NABRE)

We can have all this, but like Jesus, we must lay down our lives in sacrifice for others,

following His example. If we seek to preserve our lives for ourselves, we will end up

losing our lives, with nothing to show for it, no fruit. In this week’s Gospel reading,

Jesus makes these things very clear.

Conclusion

These readings are for us to ponder, pray over and discern where we are in the

thoughts and intentions of our hearts, in our relationships with God and with those

around us. Then we need to make the necessary course corrections, so as to stay on

track with Jesus and experience the New Covenant in increasingly fruitful lives.

The Third Sunday of Lent – March 7, 2021

The Third Sunday of Lent – March 7, 2021

First Reading: Exodus 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17

Psalm: Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11 (John 6:68c)

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25

Gospel Acclamation: John 3:16

Gospel: John 2:13-25

Introduction

It struck me as I was contemplating this week’s readings, which include the giving of

the Ten Commandments, the ten-point summary of God’s law, to Israel, that they really

are outstanding and good. Why wouldn’t we want to do them?

The problem lies with us. Our relationship with God, which is supposed to be what is

described in the first three Commandments, is disordered because of concupiscence

and Original Sin, which we have inherited through the Fall, precipitated by the

disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden. And since all our other relationships

(the other seven Commandments) flow from that most basic relationship with God, all

of our other relationships are disordered as well.

So what happened to our relationship with God at the Fall? The Serpent (Satan)

introduced us to the lie that God was holding out on us, that He did not really have

our best interests in mind. “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees

in the garden’” The inference was that God was not good, that He was a cosmic killjoy.

Eve clarified God’s command, that it was only the fruit of one tree they were not

supposed to eat, or else they would die.

Then Satan assured her that God was lying about the penalty. In fact, the one thing

that would make them like gods — the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and

evil — God had forbidden them to eat. Therefore, he implied, God had made it

impossible for them to fulfill their destiny to become God-like. Their only recourse was

to act independently and disobey the command of God, seize the fruit, and eat it. The

truth was that God has already created them in His image, and they were to grow into 

that image through a relationship of trust, obedience, and dependency, walking with

Him.

Instead, the Lie was bought hook, line, and sinker by our first parents and fear (hiding

from) and death entered their and our relationship with God. All human beings since

then have operated from that basic relational paradigm established by the Fall. The

relationships between the man and the woman and their relationship with creation

were also disordered at the same time.

First Reading

God delivers the Ten Commandments to the Israelites as His basic rules of

relationship with Him and each other. It is important to note that the relational pattern

established in the Fall is still holding true, with fear and ignorance of God

predominating, as the people beg Moses to be their intermediary or buffer between

God and them. And given their sinful condition, God had to protect them from their

impure presumption and pride, from violating His commands and incurring the severe

consequences of that violation.

As we look at God’s Commandments, we can see they make a good basis for our

relationships with Him and each other. But because of our belief in the Lie, along with

fear, pride, and self-seeking, we are unable to do them on our own. If we do obey the

Commandments them, it is on the wrong basis or with the wrong motives.

Psalm

Psalm 19 is a psalm of David, in which he extols the excellency and virtues of the

Commandments. Our response says, they are the words of everlasting life. Even

though David loved God and His commandments, he was unable to keep them

perfectly and had some terrible falls into sin. He was a man of divided loyalties, even

though he did not want to be.

David says that the fear of the Lord is pure. That is because we are sinners, and we

have good reason for fearing God, but that is not God’s ultimate goal for us, which is 

love, as the Apostle John reveals in his First Epistle: There is no fear in love, but perfect

love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not

reached perfection in love. (1 John 4:18 NRSV-CE)

Second Reading

Notice that both the Jews and the Greeks (Gentiles) are looking for things, signs and

wisdom. We, however, proclaim a Person, Jesus Christ, who loved us so much that He

died for us, to reconcile us with God and restore our relationship with Him. And this

relationship provides the power and wisdom of God, so we can grow into

Christlikeness and fulfill the upward call of God in our lives. Human wisdom and

strength cannot do this. This is why we should not approach Christianity as a “thing”

based religion. I have found that Catholicism, properly understood, provides the most

resources to go deep in our relationship with God in prayer, Sacraments, and

obedience. But if it is not properly understood, it can degrade into a “thing” based

religion, just can happen in all the other forms of Christianity.

Gospel Acclamation

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him

might have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Gospel

Many of the Jews had perverted their God-ordained religion into a thing-based

ideology. Jewish businessmen had invaded the temple to make worship convenient

and to increase their wealth in the process. They had made it a marketplace and were

distracting the people from pursuing their relationship with God through worship and

prayer.

Jesus became angry with this development and drove out the businessmen with their

merchandise, using a whip of cords and overturning their tables. The other three

gospels record Him saying, “‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are 

making it a den of robbers.” But John records that the event brought Psalm 69:9 to the

minds of the disciples and fixed that prophetic verse in their minds.

Notice that the Jews immediately demand a sign as justification for His actions. And

He gave them as the sign the resurrection of His body after they have killed Him, but

they mistakenly applied it to the temple building. When they later remembered it, this

predicted sign would increase the faith of His disciples in Him.

The Gospel closes with the omniscience of Jesus, who knows what is always in our

hearts and minds.

Conclusion

The Law is good, but it cannot save us. It is a great guide about how we should live

our lives, but we need to be living a restored and growing relationship with the Holy

Trinity in order to be able follow it and not have it become a caricature of what God 

intends for us.