These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an Apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God, to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 1:1-7)
Paul’s Letter to the Romans is the masterpiece of all his letters. Today we begin the continuous reading of this letter. Paul and Peter were both martyred in Rome. And so, the Church of Rome claims the two greatest apostles, Peter and Paul, and its founders. Today is the feast of Pope Saint John XXIII, the successor of Saint Peter in the Church of Rome. He convened the Second Vatican Council.
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him,
"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus answered him, “You know the commandments”
He replied and said to him, "Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth."
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. (Mk 10:17-30)
The secret of the saints is that they heard the gospel as being addressed to them. And then they acted on it. The question for us, is what do we hear? Is the Lord speaking to us? And if so, then what will we do about it so that we can follow him?
While Jesus was speaking,
a woman from the crowd called out and said to him,
“Blessed is the womb that carried you
and the breasts at which you nursed.”
He replied, “Rather, blessed are those
who hear the word of God and observe it.” (Lk 11:27-28)
Hearing the word of God and putting it into practice is what faith is all about. It is ancient custom in the church to dedicate Saturday to the Virgin Mary who “treasured up all these things and reflected on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19) and teaches us to do the same.
For the day of the LORD is coming;
Yes, it is near, a day of darkness and of gloom,
a day of clouds and somberness! (Joel 1:13-15;2:1-2)
The Day of the Lord in the prophet Joel is terrifying. But as today’s psalm reminds us: The Lord will judge the world with justice (Psalm 9:2-3,6;16:8-9). Perhaps, the old Corporal Works of Mercy might come in handy on the Day of the Lord: to feed the hungry, to give water to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, to visit the sick, to visit the imprisoned, to bury the dead. As the Profession of Faith reminds us, there will be a final exam . . . “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.”
Jesus said to his disciples: “Ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Lk 11:5-13)
The reason we can ask, the reason we can seek, the reason we can knock at the door, is that Jesus has taught how to pray: “When you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name.” Yesterday, I celebrated a special Mass in the home of Margarita Ochoa Ochoa who was celebrating her 100th birthday. In the middle of the party following the Mass, she turned on the television so that she and her baby sister could pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. It was a wonderful bit of spiritual wisdom from a 100 year-old youngster.
