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Cycle B
(Is 61:1-2 10-11; I Th 5:16-24; Jn 1:6-8, 19-28)
Exuberance is one of the words that befits the church’s momentum at this point in our celebration of the season of Advent. The coming of the long-awaited Messiah is so near that the church is bursting with anticipation. In some way, this is the rehearsal dinner to the great wedding feast of heaven and earth. Rejoicing is the only mood. John the Baptist lends clarity in the confusion of identities, the bewilderment that sometimes, even today, perplexes those of us who still seek the Anointed One of God.
John tells us that not only is he unworthy to wash the feet of the one in our midst, but that he should not so much as approach his sandal. Here is the summons to awe, awe that we are so gifted by the presence of God, not only in our midst but also as one of us. This Good News cannot but move us to embody the best of ourselves: perhaps rather to diffuse the best of ourselves, made in the image, and after the likeness.
May the God of peace sanctify us... the One who calls us is faithful! How can we keep from rejoicing?
– Fr. Robert D’Aversa, T.O.R.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
According to Your Word - Third Sunday of Advent
According to Your Word - Saturday of the Second Week of Advent
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(Sir 48:1-4, 9-11; Mt 17:10-13)
Elias and John the Baptist were prophets of the one true God. Both spoke the same true inspired message of God. Elias predicted the coming of the Messiah and offered a message of spiritual deliverance. Moses delivered the Hebrew people from spiritual bondage in Egypt and established the kingdom of Israel.
Now we hear the same message from John. The Messiah is here to establish the kingdom of God on earth by delivering us from the bondage of sin and unlocking the gates of paradise. The Messiah will establish the kingdom of God on earth, the new Jerusalem, the Church of God. Jesus Christ, true God and true man, now sits upon his throne and is present in the Eucharist. Come to him. Unite with him. Commune with him in the Eucharist.
+ Fr. Barnabas Barker, T.O.R. (1924 –2004)
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Friday, December 9, 2011
According to Your Word - Friday of the Second Week of Advent
(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)(Is 48:17-19; Mt 11:16-19)
A WOMAN'S LIFE
What Mary knew was just
enough for the usual day;
pull water, flint fire, bake
bread, smile, pray
the dark orations, sleep, wake
wait. When pain honed a nerve,
when birth or dying clotted
an hour, she leaned to the curve
of living, resilient to fear,
laughter, suffering.
Partings are a little death.
Each one's journey is a thing
wholly without precedent.
She looked at the sky
for compass. None. She, too,
created a road to travel by.
– poem by Maura Eichner;
offered for reflection by Bro. Didacus Wilson, T.O.R.
According to Your Word - Thursday of the Second Week of Advent
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(Is 41:13-20; Mt 11:11-15)
Today marks the second phase of Advent weekdays as described in the Introduction to the Lectionary for Mass:
“On Thursday of the second week the readings of the gospel about John the Baptist begin.” (no. 94)
Bring to mind today someone who pointed the way to a deeper faith for you. Spend time in a prayer of thanksgiving for that person.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
According to Your Word - Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent
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(Is 40:25-31; Mt 11:28-30)
There are many words of hope and consolation in both of today’s scripture passages: a loving and kind Father as well as a caring Son; a God who created the universe and continues to care for it; a Son who came to confirm this love to us in our own time.
As the road seems to get longer and the hills are harder to climb, it is refreshing to read and reread these texts of Isaiah and to find that the Lord is one who gives help and strength to the overburdened and the weary. For those who put their trust in him they can be assured of his help. When the going gets tough, trials and temptations set in, and depression and anxiety seem to take over, he waits for our request for help.
Placing all our concentration on the “burden” of life we often overlook to see or find the “yoke,” the guide to help carry the “burden.” Jesus gives us the example and courage to go on. There are many difficulties in life today and at times it appears useless to continue, but these words of Isaiah and Matthew are for our hope and help. Let us reflect on them frequently.
– Fr. Seamus Corcoran, T.O.R.
According to Your Word - Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent
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(Is 40:1-11; Mt 18:12-14)
The familiar opening lines of chapter 40 of Isaiah challenge us with opposing images of God: Judge and Comforter, Hidden, yet Revealing, Immortal, yet Creator of Mortality, Strong Ruler and Gentle Shepherd. For Isaiah, it is not a question of which of these characteristics describe God; rather God is all these things. What would be regarded as inconsistency in any human being we experience as perfect consistency in God.
“What is your opinion?” This is the question Jesus asks in chapter 18 of Matthew’s gospel. Does it make sense to us that the shepherd of a huge flock would leave it to seek after one, lone, lost sheep? Human logic says, “No.” Society tells us that the life of the one is not as important as the life of the many. But human ways are not the ways of God. For God, the life of every child is equally important. Once again, what would be foolish behavior for a human is perfect behavior for a loving God.
Can we accept God for who God is? Can we run to the rooftops and proclaim the love and mercy of God? Only when we acknowledge our own imperfection can we reclaim ourselves as children of God. Like a child, we will see the world and our Creator with innocence, wonder and awe. We will gently yield our sense and will to the perfect inconsistency of the Shepherd’s embrace.
There is work to be done: the coming of the Lord must be proclaimed.
There is work to be done: we must examine our lives.
There is work to be done: we must become children again.
We are invited to leave our sins behind and become the herald of God’s mercy in the world. “Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!”
– Fr. David Kaczmarek, T.O.R.
Monday, December 5, 2011
According to Your Word - Monday of the Second Week of Advent
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(Is 35:1-10; Lk 5:17-26)
Today Isaiah strikes a triumphant note in a passage that is a song of joyful celebration. Jerusalem has been delivered from the hands of her enemies and this is cause for joy. Cripples leap about, the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf are opened to see and hear of Israel's liberation. Even the dry desert seems to bloom, and a highway - a holy path - has been cleared for all those whom Yahweh has ransomed.
This note of liberation is continued in our Gospel. Here it is a case of ransom from sin. We are given the example of some men who have brought a paralyzed man for Jesus to cure. There is such a crush of people within that the man's friends resort to removing roof tiles to lower their friend on his pallet down to Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus says to the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven you.” The friends had expected Jesus to heal the man’s body. Instead Jesus heals both body and soul. It is the only time in the Gospels where an adult is healed because of the faith of someone else.
By the power of God Jesus forgave the man’s sins and restored his body to health. Divine and human forgiveness go hand in hand. In the Our Father we ask that our sins be forgiven as we forgive those who have offended us. We gain mercy for ourselves when we show mercy to others. The measure of our forgiveness of others is the measure of the quality of our own love for God and others.
+ Fr. Columba Enright, T.O.R. (1930–2006)
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
According to Your Word - Second Sunday of Advent
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Cycle B
(Is 40:1-5, 9-11; II Pt 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8)
“One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop down to loosen his sandal straps. I have baptized you with water, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John's ministry was one not only of preaching but also of waiting for the coming of the promised one.
Waiting is perhaps the most widespread of all human experiences. Waiting is an art unto itself. More often than not, we discover that what we were waiting for was not worth the wait. Or at least, that it wasn't what we had hoped for nor expected. A prolonged experience of waiting tends to show us we are not patient. The kind of waiting Advent asks of us as Christians is neither for impatience nor for cynicism. The basic thrust of Advent is waiting for something already experienced as present and powerful to be completed. It is waiting for someone who is always and already coming toward us in greeting and welcome.
Advent rekindles in us that sense of watching and waiting wherein we see and identify the constant breaking in of Jesus into our lives. The world around us will rush while Christians find themselves wrapped in a deep spirit of hope that is restored.
Christ has come among us; Christ is among us; Christ will come again in a glory to be recognized only by those who keep watch in the growing darkness and cold.
– Fr. Edward Sabo, T.O.R.
According to Your Word - Saturday of the First Week of Advent
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(Is 30:19-21, 23-26; Mt 9:35-10:1, 6-8)
“The gift you have received, give as a gift.” Isaiah speaks today about the wondrous gifts God will give to the people of Jerusalem. “You will weep no more.” The Lord will give you what you need and no longer hide from us. We will see our teacher, and it will all be made clear what we should do – “walk this way, turn left or right.” Sometime we ache for such clarity in our lives. What is it we should do? What is our path in life? What is the Lord calling me to? Isaiah uses some of the language of the desert to promise us what we need, lots of water and fodder for our cattle to graze – not much of each in the desert.
Often our lives can seem like we are living in the desert, without much water and so we are thirsty, and no greenery to rest upon when we grow weary of wandering and searching. Isaiah uses the image of light: even the moon's light will be like that of the sun and the sun seven times as bright. How much more enlightening do we need? Isaiah promises us the presence and the power of God to wipe away our tears and give us clarity by his teaching us the path to follow, and to enlighten the darkness of our minds so we in brilliant light where we are going.
Jesus tells us that the reign of God has come in the person of himself and this great gift that we have received can now be given as a gift to others. We are invited to become one with him in his ministry. We have known what the presence and the power of God has done in our own lives and we cannot keep to ourselves the possibility of that happening in other's lives. We will proclaim healing, clarity and bold teaching to others. We want them to share the joy we have felt in finding the Lord. What we have been given as a gift we now give as a gift. We have indeed seen our Teacher, and he is the Christ. The gift of God in Jesus and his transforming power in our lives is meant for all. How can I keep from sharing this wondrous gift with others? “The gift you have received, give as a gift.”
– Fr. Ambrose Phillips, T.O.R.
According to Your Word - Friday of the First Week of Advent
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“When Jacob's children
see the work of my hands
in their midst,
they shall keep my name holy.”
(Is 29:23)
“Jesus touched their eyes and
said, ‘Because of your faith
it shall be done to you,’;
and they recovered their sight.”
(Mt 9: 29-30)
As we near the end of this first week of Advent take a 20 minute walk today. Spend the time gazing upon creation. Pray for sight and insight to see the work of God’s hands in your midst.
According to Your Word - Thursday of the First Week of Advent
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(Is 26:1-6; Mt 7:21, 24-27)
Recently the media, both in the press and on television, gave reports of a number of serious scandals in the construction field. Public buildings and homes were built upon faulty foundations. This resulted in dangerous problems that had to be taken care of and are proving to be quite costly. Had solid and stable foundations been made in the first place, the danger and additional cost could have been avoided.
Today’s Gospel reveals our Savior letting the Apostles know that they are to be considered sensible who hear His words and put them into practice, like men building their houses on a rock. Those who hear His words and do not put them into practice are foolish, like men who built their houses on sand. All through this holy season of Advent, through the Scriptures, we are provided extremely wise yet plain and simple counsels to build our relationship with God. Our Savior assures us that those who love Him must keep His Commandments. He guarantees us that those who would be His disciples must pick up their daily crosses and follow Him. We
cannot just cry out “Lord, Lord...” and then look for excuses and alibis not to do what God expects of us or what we have vowed or promised to do.
Advent is a time for us to seriously and prayerfully consider the depth and sincerity of our spiritual life. Is it solidly built on the rock of faith in and service to Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever? It is with reason that Jesus founded His Church on a rock– Peter– whose name means rock. In our trials, doubts, problems, fears and anxieties we say with Saint Peter, “Lord, to whom can we go?” We have the assurance of our Incarnate God, whose birth we prepare to celebrate. He tells us, “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened.” This is the foundation of our trust, hope and confidence solidly based on the rock of the word of God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
+ Bro. Bernard Dougherty, T.O.R. (1926–2009)
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
According to Your Word - Wednesday of the First Week of Advent
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(Is 25:6-10; Mt 15:29-37)
Our readings present us with a look at what is to come in our lives. They tell of the Messianic banquet and that period of time when there will be peace and tranquility. The future holds grace and hope for us.
Isaiah mentions this hope and Matthew’s gospel has Jesus curing those who are ill. He gives bread to those in need in order that they will not grow faint. We are those in need. God gives to us in great measure.
The season of Advent is a time of reflection and expectant prayer. We see the direction of our lives and prayerfully seek change and improvement. Jesus will feed us and direct us as we proceed on our Journey.
This journey is filled with God’s graces and blessings. God’s Word is our way. We cannot help but be moved to greater spiritual longings and directions. Our lives will be full because they look forward to each day being a time of grace and fulfillment. We long for what is to happen in the present and in the time to come.
Let us pray in this season of preparation and expectation to be instruments of God’s will. May each of us follow in the path of the expected Savior.
– Fr. Vianney Cunningham, T.O.R.
Monday, November 28, 2011
According to Your Word - Tuesday of the First Week of Advent
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(Is 11:1-10; Lk 10: 21-24)
A philosopher once said: “Walk straight into the peace of God; don’t look back; don’t ask if you are there yet; just keep walking.” We live in a world that seems to question everything. I believe we question so often, that we don’t take time to enjoy the possibilities for our lives. One possibility is that God’s peace is with us in this season of Advent, and can grow within us, if only we are open to that peace.
Isaiah reminds us that “the spirit of the Lord is upon us,” and the promise of that spirit is a kingdom of peace. This is a message of hope, in these days of war and ongoing terrorist threats. Luke reminds us that in the same way Jesus’ disciples are blessed, we too are blessed with the peace and hope that comes from knowing that God loves us so much, that He sent His only Son to be with us: to teach us, heal us, love us, and be a part of our daily lives, if only we ask for His presence.
But, if we continue to question the possibility of peace, hope, and what Jesus can do for us, then we speak only with our minds and not our hearts. It is the response of the heart that says: “I need the peace and hope that only the Savior of the world can give me. I don’t have to understand it; I just need it.” We can discover that peace and hope in this season of Advent. Before our minds question the possibilities, may our hearts embrace these gifts, each and every day, so that this will be our best Christmas ever. God bless you!
– Fr. Brad Baldwin, TO.R.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
According to Your Word - Monday of the First Week of Advent
(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.) ADVENT
(poem by Jean Burden)
Before you come
old springs flower
in the silence of my earth
and rivers locked for seasons
in my cold
flow with longing
toward the hour.
And this is love, I know:
to wait
composed as stone
while ancient nativities
tremble in my darkness
gathering a violence
of their own.
– poem offered for reflection by Bro. Didacus Wilson, T.O.R.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
According to Your Word - First Sunday of Advent
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Cycle B
(Is 63:16,17,19,64: 2-7; I Cor 1:3-9; Mk 13:33-37)
Watchfulness is the word that fills the Scripture reading and begins this new Liturgical Year. For the community of Israel listening to the prophetic words of Isaiah, it is a watchfulness for the actions of God who is the “faithful Father.” For the community gathered to hear the Good News according to Mark, it is a watchfulness for the actions of Jesus Christ, God’s faithful Son.
While the community of Israel was enjoying a respite from enemy attack and exile, their relative ease found them forgetful of the God who is their very life. Verse 5 of chapter 64 remarks: Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! They were losing sight of their true identity, which was always to be a reflection of God’s just and loving ways. Yet because God is always the “faithful Father,” faithful men and women, like the prophets, were sent to remind them. Advent is the time when Christians are reminded to keep a faithful watch for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the liturgy, whose spirituality is really about remaining watchful for the Lord in all the aspects of our lives, helps us to remember that God is our very life. How can we do this? St. Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians pays tribute to the many gifts that infuse the church and tells them that these gifts flow from God. Such gifts, whatever they are, should be used to build up fellowship with one another and, therefore, with the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the Advent summons will bring us to incarnate the ultimate gift that Paul will later address in Chapter 13: Love. Incarnate Love: the feast that we prepare to remember as the first Christmas and the feast that we will live eternally as the last.
– Fr. Carl Vacek, T.O.R.
According to Your Word - Reflections for the Advent & Christmas Seasons
The Coat of Arms for the Province of the Immaculate Conception bears the inscription, “According to Your Word.” The text is from the Gospel of Luke and comes from the story of the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she is to bear a child. Mary, moving beyond her incredulity and her fear, acknowledges her dependence upon God, assents to the request, and utters words that changed the course of history, “Let it be done to me according to your word.”
This radical assent to God marks the lives of the friars of our Franciscan Province of the Immaculate Conception. Following Mary’s lead, we have vowed ourselves to live in a stance of a daily turning in faith to God, fostering hope in God’s promises, and living love enfleshed in generous service.
The seasons of Advent and Christmas are especially dear to Franciscans. The following reflections were originally released in According to Your Word, a three booklet series featuring some of our friars’ reflections on the cycle of scripture readings for the Advent and Christmas season. We offer these brief reflections to you in a spirit of faith, hope and love: faith in God’s power continuing to manifest itself in today's world through weakness; hope, that as you pray through the readings and reflections a prayerful bond will be formed between you and our friars; love, knowing that only through acts of love will our lives be formed according to God’s Word.
The following reflections are offered as one way to sustain a prayerful focus through what is very often the hectic seasons of Advent and Christmas. The friars of the Province were invited to prepare a brief reflection on the daily scripture readings of the Church’s liturgy. The fruit of these meditations is reprinted in the following blog posts.
Part of the beauty of the Province of the Immaculate Conception is the diversity of the men who have committed themselves to following the Franciscan way of life. That diversity is reflected in these writings. No attempt has been made to reconcile the various writing styles or theological viewpoints. What you will find in common in these reflections and among our friars is a very human approach to the great mystery of the incarnation. Franciscans are noted for their popular and accessible preaching. This fact is evidenced in these prayerful reflections provided for your daily meditation.
We invite you to prayerfully enter this season of incarnation. Take a few moments each day to read the assigned scripture readings. Ask the Holy Spirit for insight and wisdom to guide your personal reflection. Afterward, read what the friars offer for reflection on the scripture passage assigned each day. Because this is a season when we ponder the implications of what it means that the Word became flesh, on some days the written reflection is replaced with an activity. You are invited to participate in that activity or to choose some other way to allow your prayer to find expression in action. Finally, we ask that you take a moment to say a prayer for the friar whose reflection you have read. As Franciscan Friars, we are men who have dedicated our lives to helping others discover and grow in love for the Word made flesh. Pray for us that we may remain faithful to our vows, farsighted in our vision, and courageous in our response. For our deceased Friars, pray that they may enjoy God’s eternal embrace of peace of love.
May these seasons of Advent and Christmas be a time of great grace so that your heart and ours may respond daily to the mystery of God-among-us with the life-changing assent, “Let it be done unto me according to your word.”
Be assured of our heartfelt prayers. With a share in the love that God has for you.
– The Franciscan Friars,
Province of the Immaculate Conception, USA
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Summer Bounty Festival Brings Central Pennsylvania Community Together
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Monday, July 25, 2011
Br. Corey Smoot, TOR Professes Vows
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Blessing of the Community Garden
On a beautiful spring day at the end of May, Fr. Eugene Kubina, TOR blessed the 2011 community garden at St. Bernardine's Monastery. Br. John Kerr, TOR (middle) welcomed friars and gardeners. All celebrated a potluck lunch afterward at the Care for Creation Center.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Second Sunday of Easter: Belief without Seeing as Transformation in the Spirit
The Gospel of John is wholly unique in the way that it depicts Christ's Resurrection and his first appearance to the disciples (John 20:19-31). Unlike the other Gospel writers who have Jesus rising, spending a period of time with his disciples instructing them, ascending to heaven, and than sending the Holy Spirit to them (Pentecost), John conflates the Resurrection and sending of the Spirit into one event occurring simultaneously. To conflate two things or ideas is to "bring them together; to meld or fuse them." What is the significance of conflating the Resurrection and the sending of the Spirit in John? To begin with, it's important to bear in mind that John was written 30-40 years after the other Gospels. Hence, the Christian community had the opportunity to mull over, reflect on, and experience the power of Christ's Resurrection for some time. Therefore, we can presume that the point isn't a historical one but a theological one. The Christian community has come to understand the Resurrection not merely as God's "antidote" to death, nor even sin, but, as the "doorway" to new life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. "Belief" in Jesus no longer is a matter of seeing the risen Lord, nor even professing faith in Christ's with one's lips, but, even more, by being transformed through the Spirit. Jesus tells Thomas after appearing to him, "blessed are those who have not seen and believed." (John 20:29). We are indeed blessed in not seeing the Lord because we must rely, rather, on the presence of the Spirit in our lives as a guiding and empowering force which transforms us, our relationships, our communities, and, even our world ever slowly but surely into a "Christ-like" environs that is more open to God's Kingdom.
To see an example of what it means to believe in Christ as transformation through the Spirit, take for example the aftermath of the horrific storms that ripped through Alabama, Mississippi, and a number of other southern states this past week. Despite the apocalyptic-like carnage surrounding the survivors of these storms, many have spoken of how fortunate and blessed they feel to be alive, of having a new appreciation for life, of relationships that are being strengthened through this tragedy, and of communities that are drawing together more closely in mutual support, care, concern, and love. The bonds being formed among members of these devastated communities and those who are reaching out to them both near and far speak to similar dynamics that were at the heart of the early Christian communities mentioned in today's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles: "They devoted themselves
to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life,
to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone,
and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
All who believed were together and had all things in common." (Acts 2:42-47). The Risen Lord is indeed at work every bit as much today as he was immediately after the Resurrection, forming disciples whose faith is grounded not in seeing but in transformation through the Spirit. Pat, TOR