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.
For we are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
(Eph 2:10)
God’s work of art . . . wow! But that’s who we are. At times Mother Nature may make mistakes, but God never does.
Today is the feast of the North American martyrs: St René Goupil (1642), St Isaac Jogues (1646), St Jean de Lalande (1646), St Antoine Daniel (1648), St Jean de Brébeuf (1649), St Noël Chabanel (1649), St Charles Garnier (1649), and St Gabriel Lalemant (1649). They were French missionaries to the native population of North America. There was a dramatic portrayal of the challenges (and horrors) faced by the missionaries in the Canadian film, Black Robe (1991).
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians
in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
grace to you and peace.
(1 Thes 1:1)
The Letters form a major portion of the Christian Scriptures, especially the letters of Saint Paul. What is remarkable is that they survived these two thousand years. They survived because the tiny community at Thessaloniki treasured this letter they had received from Saint Paul and made a copy of it, and then sent it around to all the other little communities in their area—kinda like the original chain letter! And if the other communities had received a letter they simply made a copy of it and tacked it on to the letter they had received . . . and soon various groups of letters were spreading around the Mediterranean. And of course, they have come down to us.
The picture today is of modern day Thessaloniki.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you,
everyone who acknowledges me before others
the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.
(Lk 12:8)
Saint Ignatius of Antioch was martyred in Rome for his faith around 117 AD. As he wrote in his Letter to the Romans: I am God's wheat, and I shall be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may become the pure bread of Christ.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
From heaven the LORD looks down;
he sees all mankind.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
(Psalm 23)
As the Letter to the Ephesians states so clearly, we have been chosen in Christ. Why do we have such a hard time believing it? Most of us think that God puts conditions—God will love us if only we do this or that, God will love us if only we weren’t this way or that way. The truth is that we were baptized too . . . and that means God has chosen us, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Today is the feast of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. She was chosen by God to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Woe to you, scholars of the law!
You have taken away the key of knowledge.
You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.
(Lk 11:52)
Jesus’ conflict with the “scholars of the Law” is very harsh. Instead of opening the door and inviting people to enter the way of knowledge, they locked the door and threw away the key. Saint Teresa of Ávila opened the door to holiness and invited everyone to enter and to experience the presence of God in prayer.
