040523

Shaping the Franciscan Footprint

Five Important Spiritual Thoughts from the Liturgy of the Word

…and follow up for the Secular Franciscan

March 30 – April 5

 1 — “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.” (Mt 26:26-27)

        The Catholic family lived next door to the Catholic rectory and the relationship between the pastor and the family was a very good one. The family had a four-year-old daughter who, as her father said, “mastered the art of talking very well” and was always inquisitive. One day the four-year-old came over to the rectory with a jar of St. Joseph’s children’s aspirin, gave it to the priest and said, “This is for Jesus because he is sick.” The priest asked, “How do you know that Jesus is sick?” The girl answered, “Daddy said so.”

        The priest could not figure that out, so he called the father at work who was very embarrassed about the whole thing and explained it to the priest. The day before at Sunday Mass he had a conversation with his daughter during Mass, and at the same time was trying to keep his daughter quiet. She pointed to the tabernacle, and said, “What is that?” “That is the place where Jesus lives,” the father said. The girl responded: “Can I ask him to come out and play?” “No,” he said, “I don’t think Jesus wants to come out and play today.” “You mean that Jesus doesn’t like me?” she said. “No,” the father replied, “Jesus just doesn’t want to play today.” The little girl replied, “Why doesn’t he, can I go ask him?” “No,” the father said, “You can’t go ask him.” “Why can’t I go ask him” the little girl wanted to know. And the conversation went on like this for a couple of minutes. Finally, quite exasperated, the father said, “Jesus is sick today, he doesn’t want to be disturbed.” Hence, she wanted to give Jesus the aspirins that her parents used to help her when she was sick.

        The doctrine of the Eucharist is difficult to explain to our younger people, and it is even more complicated than it at first seems. Without really knowing what she was doing, she was speaking what spiritual writers have called the “Jesus and me” theology.

        “Jesus and me” theology is easy theology. Applied to the understanding of the Eucharist, “Jesus and me” theology concentrates on the Eucharist as such. It is not a theology that is wrong; it is simply not enough. It becomes wrong when it does not move us to become what we should be, that is, good people interested in love of God and neighbor.

        The opposite of the “Jesus and me” theology is “Jesus and we.” That is, community is important. In terms of the Eucharist, the “Jesus and we” theology concentrates on the action of the faith community, of the people who receive the body and blood of Jesus, and what I do in my community after I receive the Lord in Communion.

        In a “Jesus and we” theology, we can never receive the Real Presence of Jesus and at the same time hate anyone else or refuse to forgive another or ruin another’s reputation or deliberately be divisive in the church or community or family. The fact is, however, that many times people receive the body of Christ in Communion and do not let it affect the body of Christ next to them in the pew or in the neighborhood.

        The little girl in the story did not know what the Eucharist was all about, but she knew that Jesus was a person and a friend. If Jesus becomes a person and a friend to us, we will not just “keep him” in the tabernacle of our Churches. We will make him active in our lives.

        And maybe even ask him to come out and play with us.

[The Eucharist is central for the Franciscan. Do I go to Mass as often as I can?]

2 — But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. (Mt 27:50)

…The Lord has redeemed me; do I act like it?

3 – “Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil…and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair.” (Jn 12:3)

…A sincere act of love.  Do I show the love I have on behalf of others?

4 — Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.” (Jn 13:38)

…We should study the denial of Peter carefully. In what areas of my life has there been a denial of Jesus, and have I completely corrected them?

5 — “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” (Jn 26:21-22)

…The reason why Judas betrayed Jesus was personal gain or selfishness.  It is only fitting that Lent ends with this thought of selfishness.  Am I?

032923

Shaping the Franciscan Footprint

Five Important Spiritual Thoughts from the Liturgy of the Word

…and follow up for the Secular Franciscan

March 23 – March 29

  1 — Jesus said: “How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?^” (Jn 5:44)

…Do I seek too much the praise from others?

2 – “Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.’” (Lk 1:38)

…Like Mary, I have said “yes” to the Franciscan life. Am I living it out in my life?

MARY’S PRIME DIRECTIVE

        The liturgy often refers to the Blessed Virgin. 

        Quite naturally, we are drawn into what in the study of theology is called “Mariology” or the “Theology of Mary” which is based on the fact that Mary is the earthly Mother of the Incarnate Word of God while he was here on earth with us in person.

        What should it mean for us?  A mother will be someone who both helps a child and acts as a perfect example for the child.  Therefore, there are two things for us to consider here.  They might be considered to be, in Star Trek language, the “prime directive” of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

        First, Mary helps us.  The Church has believed from early on that Mary will intercede for us, much the same way that Mary interceded for the wedding couple at Cana in John’s Gospel.  In the story she was asking her Son to help a couple, asking her Son to relieve their distress, and then offering one of the ten most important lines in Scripture, I believe: saying to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you”.  The way that Mary helps us primarily is to say to us to follow the directives that Jesus gives us.  We do not know how this works in reality, but our faith tells us that the good that we ask of God through Jesus will have Mary’s endorsement.

        Secondly, Mary serves as a perfect example for us as we live our Christian lives on earth.  She recognizes what God wants of her, and in her famous words at the Annunciation, understands that she is called by God —“Let it be done according to God’s word,” – saying “yes, I will do it”.  And she followed through with her “yes.”  Once she had said that she would follow what God wanted of her, she tried to do it.  Without knowing what it meant, she was present for her Son in everything, a lesson for all of us when we say “yes” to our Franciscan faith and the words of Jesus, no matter what happens.

3 — “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (Jn 11:25)

…Is my faith (belief AND action) as strong as it should be?

It is a good spiritual exercise to write your own eulogy—what you think your friends will say about you at your funeral, and what you would like them to say about you.
Things like:
        – on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is high, how do you score your prayer life;
        – on that same scale, do you think about other people in a good way;
        – or how would you score your taking care of those less fortunate than you are?
        – and so forth…

4 — “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (Jn 8:7)

…I too readily judge others. This directive from Jesus concerning the woman should “speak” to me.

5 — He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above.” (Jn 8:23)

…I should spend more time with the Lord, more time with what is above.