Think Big
#12thandMass October 25, 2022 Zacchaeus was “short in stature”, as we read in this Sunday’s gospel passage (Luke 19:1-10). He was height-challenged. A detail we perhaps overlook and might not consider a big deal. Being small, however, for some, can be a big deal. It might have been for Zacchaeus. Depending on how small he was, he may have been prohibited from full participation in the liturgy of ancient Israel. Indeed, in Leviticus, chapter 21, we read “no one who has a blemish shall draw near (to offer the food of his God), one who is blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, or one who has a broken foot or a broken hand, or a hunchback, or a dwarf…” Zacchaeus does not let this, however, be an obstacle to encounter. And Jesus responds to his hopefulness, and, in this welcoming encounter, Jesus lifts the prohibition. Our difficulty need not hinder our movement towards Christ, our worship; au contraire, a springboard it can be.Jesus indeed encounters and welcomes each of us in our challenges, in our brokenness of body or psyche or heart. He comes to the home of our hearts to stay. Such indwelling sets us free. His presence does not necessarily heal all things (alas!). His presence liberates our hearts to love more, even making mysterious use of the challenges to do so. Let us eagerly welcome Jesus. Yours in Him, Dominique pastor
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Is Humility a Thing of the Past?
#12thandMass October 18, 2022 Without a take-charge attitude, not much gets accomplished. The wallflower just observes, as life goes by, right? The wallflower appears to be the humble person in the room. Does humility, then, hinder human progress? Is humility feigned respect, a tired caricature? Well, not according to Jesus! In fact, in this coming Sunday’s gospel (Luke 18:9-14), Jesus says that “all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Jesus’ exhortation certainly does not preclude taking charge. We are to seek to accomplish great things. Jesus speaks at a deeper level, in reference to God and divine love, which, of course, in turn, transforms our lives. Although there is legitimate humility before persons with great minds and great hearts, the humility of which Jesus speaks entails seeing with eyes of faith and positions our hearts to receive the greatness of God. Hear words of Scripture and Tradition on this: Wisdom is with the humble. Proverbs 11:2 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Colossians 3:12 There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart… No one reaches the kingdom of Heaven except by humility. St Augustine (+430) There is more value in a single act of humility than in all the knowledge in the world. Saint Teresa of Avila (+1582) Asking for the gift of humility with you, I am Yours in Christ, Dominique+ Rector Try, Try, Try Again?
#12thandMass October 11, 2022 The most obvious theme for this Sunday is that of perseverance. The collect (opening prayer) asks, “that the Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name”. St. Paul, in the second reading, encourages Timothy (and us!) to “continue in what you have learned and firmly believed” and to “be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable”. And, Jesus offers “a parable about the need to pray always and not to lose heart.” 19th-century British writer W. E. Hickson is credited with the well-known proverb: Tis a lesson you should heed: Try, try, try again. If at first you don't succeed, Try, try, try again British Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon (+1892) says that “By perseverance the snail reached the ark”. A question arises: does perseverance in our relationship with God, in the Christian life, consist in trying, trying, and trying again? Well, perhaps. There are choices to be made—sometimes hard, often repeatedly. There is a deliberate effort that consists in operating from deep within the heart, undeterred by inner or outer circumstances, “persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable”. But, perseverance in our relationship with God, in the Christian life, does not consist is “grinning and bearing it”, in “white-knuckling” it across the finish line. The parable is “about the need to pray always and not to lose heart”. Friends of Jesus are not Stoic. Friends of Jesus courageously find refuge in His heart. To pray always is, repeatedly, to bury oneself, in love, in Jesus. It is in His Heart, “fountain of eternal life”, as St. Gertrude (+1302), the German Benedictine mystic, says, that we do not lose heart. Indeed, with her, we can say to Jesus, “your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love. You are my refuge and my sanctuary”. Dominique fellow-pilgrim Grant That I May Behold
#12thandMass October 4, 2022 Allow me to share with you a prayer that is dear to me, a prayer full of awe and love, a prayer that we sometimes pray in the sacristy before our liturgy, our worship. It was composed by a brilliant mind in the Christian Church: Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), a Dominican friar originally from Italy. You may have heard me reference him once or twice! He is Saint Thomas Aquinas, however, as is the case with all saints, because of his love. This “prayer before Communion” is that of someone in love. Almighty and Eternal God, behold I come to the sacrament of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. As one sick I come to the Physician of life; unclean, to the Fountain of mercy; blind, to the Light of eternal splendor; poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth. Therefore, I beg of You, through Your infinite mercy and generosity, heal my weakness, wash my uncleanness, give light to my blindness, enrich my poverty, and clothe my nakedness. May I thus receive the Bread of Angels, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, with such reverence and humility, contrition and devotion, purity and faith, purpose and intention, as shall aid my soul’s salvation. Grant, I beg of You, that I may receive not only the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord, but also its full grace and power. Give me the grace, most merciful God, to receive the Body of your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, in such a manner that I may deserve to be intimately united with His mystical Body and to be numbered among His members. Most loving Father, grant that I may behold for all eternity face to face Your beloved Son, whom now, on my pilgrimage, I am about to receive under the sacramental veil, who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen. With you on this grace-full journey, Dominique pastor Gaining Contentment
#12thandMass September 13, 2022 Edward Bouverie Pusey (22 August 1800—16 September 1882) was an English priest. For more than fifty years, he taught Hebrew at the University of Oxford. He played an instrumental role in the renewal of the Church of England (or, one might simply say, the Church in England). He gives us the following helpful advice, underlying which is a great invitation to “trust in the Lord with all our heart” (Proverbs 3:5). If we wish to gain contentment, we might try such rules as these: 1. Allow yourself to complain of nothing, not even of the weather. 2. Never picture yourself under any circumstances in which you are not. 3. Never compare your own lot with that of another. 4. Never allow yourself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves you better and more wisely than you do yourself. 5. Never dwell on tomorrow. Remember that it is God's, not yours. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. The Lord will provide. Trusting in Providence with you, I am Your brother in Christ, Dominique+ Refreshment for the Soul
#12thandMass August 30, 2022 Somewhere between AD 57-62, Saint Paul wrote a letter to Philemon, “dear friend and co-worker”, a wealthy man in Colossae, to Apphia, likely Philemon’s wife, “our sister”, and to Archippus, “our fellow soldier”, some have speculated to be the son of Philemon and Apphia. In it, he says something that I hope someday someone may be able to say of me. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother. How I wish that my love bring joy and encouragement to others, and refreshment to the hearts of the saints, i.e., fellow believers around me. In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus invites, by grace, the complete gift of ourselves to Him. If we place our hearts freely in His hands, in His heart, He promises that “the water that I will give will become a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” (John 4: 14). How refreshing… Yours in Christ, Dominique “Lead me to praise you with all your saints.”
#12thandMass July 26, 2022 This Sunday is the Eight Sunday after Pentecost. Hidden behind it is the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. A young Spanish knight become priest/mystic, he founded a community called the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), with a missional emphasis on evangelization and guidance on the journey of faith. Like all the saints, Sant Ignatius was (is!) in love with Christ. He died on July 31, 1556. I am one who believes that the saints are not simply models of impossibly good behaviour. The saints are friends, who actively journey with us. They are quiet, for they would never engage us in such a way as to diminish our freedom. They work in perfect concert with Jesus. The following prayer, called the “Anima Christi”, is often attributed to St. Ignatius. It was composed well before his time, however, which allowed him to include it in his famous work, the “Spiritual Exercises”. Its author is unknown. It is carried in the heart of the Church, part of our spiritual patrimony. It is the prayer of someone in love with Christ: Soul of Christ, sanctify me Body of Christ, save me Blood of Christ, inebriate me Water from the side of Christ, wash me Passion of Christ, strengthen me O Good Jesus, hear me Within the wounds, shelter me from turning away, keep me From the evil one, protect me At the hour of my death, call me Into your presence lead me to praise you with all your saints Forever and ever Amen. Yours in the heart of the Church, Dominique Rector And Who is My Neighbor?
#12thandMass July 5, 2022 "And who is my neighbor?" asks a lawyer of Jesus, in this Sunday’s gospel (Luke 10:25-37). The lawyer sought not to deepen his understanding of love and mercy but to justify himself, that is, to be able proudly to say that he “gave at the office.” Regardless of his motive, Jesus lets him know, in no uncertain terms, who the neighbor is. My neighbor is the person right on my path: my family member, the person in the check-out line, my co-worker, the parishioner three pews behind me, whom I have yet to greet in two years. We need not look far to know whom we are called to love. Folk-rocker Stephen Stills, back in 1970, summarized it in his own way, in a well-known song he penned: “love the one you’re with.” St. Thomas Aquinas, 700 years earlier, says that, “in matters concerning relations between citizens, we should prefer our fellow-citizens”. In other words, well-ordered charity begins at home. Of course, “at home” those most vulnerable beckon our love in a special way. And, when we love, we are then neighbor. Jesus, thankfully, gives us the love with which we can love all those whom He brings across our path—including people with whom, humanly speaking, we have little in common, people whom we find annoying, people even who have hurt us. Divine love, an unconditional, liberating gift, is offered to us at every moment, and, in a special way, in the Eucharist. Do we ask for it? Try doing so, first thing in the morning, on your knees, if possible. Your life will change, for the oh-so-much-better. Yours truly, Dominique+pastor The Fruit of the Spirit
#12thandMass 21 June 2022 Saint Paul tells us his letter to the “churches of Galatia” (our first reading this Sunday, chapter 5, verses 13-25), that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”. The fruit of the Spirit is what the Holy Spirit does in us. In other words, the more we are moved by the Holy Spirit, the more we are children of God (“all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” Romans 8:14), and children of God are loving and joyous and peaceful and patient, etc. A life transformed in Christ looks like this. If we find ourselves lacking in any of these qualities, we ought earnestly and hope-fully to beseech the Holy Spirit. We must do our part by seeking to become more virtuous, that is, interiorly stronger. And, we must intend to love. Yet, building upon our efforts and beyond them, the Holy Spirit is at work, (re)fashioning our hearts. Indeed, Dietrich Bonheoffer, the German pastor-theologian, executed by hanging on 9 April 1945 for his supposed association with a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, says, “The fruit of the Spirit is a gift of God, and only He can produce it.” Let us be open to the loving action of the Holy Spirit Who indwells us. Let us rejoice that this fruit, if a gift of God, depends, first and foremost, on our side of the equation, on a deep desire. We can all, always desire. It is the act of deliberately wanting, beyond any feelings, which no person and no circumstance—exterior or interior—can stop. This is really good news! Yours in Christ, Dominique+ pilgrim of desire with you Adore and then Partake
#12thandMass June 14, 2022 Saint Augustine (+430) says, “No one partakes of this Flesh before he or she has adored it.” This coming Sunday, Corpus Christi Sunday, before we partake, we shall adore Jesus in the Eucharist. This feast day was established in 1264. In certain churches, so to honor Jesus in the Eucharist, following the Eucharistic celebration, there is a Eucharistic procession. In pondering this noble tradition, however, I found myself wondering about the order of service, the sequence and progression of the liturgy. And the question arose: how fitting is such a procession after the Mass, having been loved and empowered by Christ in Communion, and sent forth to carry Him into the world in the final “dismissal”? A procession of the Blessed Sacrament (which, by the way, can indeed be a compelling testimony to neighbors) is a time of honor of Christ in this gift. Does it make sense, however, to do this before or after receiving the gift? For the second year in a row, as a prayerful “experiment”, we will have a time of honor of Christ in this gift before we partake. Instead of a procession, we will, essentially, extend the pause before receiving Communion, to enjoy the Real Presence and to ask that our hearts be readied for encounter. The consecrated host will be displayed in what we call a monstrance (from the Latin verb monstrare, “to show”). Then, we shall partake. Yours in Christ, Dominique fellow-pilgrim |
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