We must forget how to count
(Most Holy Trinity 2017)

Once a year we dust off the Holy Trinity, have a look at it and then put it back on the shelf. Perhaps, we even tell ourselves. “Okay, next year, if I have the time, I will try to give it a closer look.” The mental gymnastics of trying to make three, square with one is just too demanding and off-putting. But asking, why three persons and not just one, may tantamount to asking “why is the sky so high”? Notice that we Christians have four gospels, not just one. One might have thought that we could have stopped with one, saying to ourselves, “Let’s just go with Matthew (for example).” But no, an effusive, ubiquitous and overflowing-with-love God requires at least four gospels to talk about God and Christ. So, merely speaking of God in a one-dimensional way would certainly be presenting an impoverished idea of God.



One of the church fathers said, “When we talk about the Trinity, we must forget how to count.” He was simply recognizing that, at first glance, the Trinity is a mathematical impossibility. After all, how can one equal three? We must throw away our math, not because the Trinity is a logical muddle, but because we need a different kind of logic. It took St Augustine, fifteen books to try to think about it, because God is God and we are not. Because God comes to us with a complexity and effusiveness, an ubiquity and a plenitude that boggle our modest minds; it is no wonder that we have trouble thinking about God. No wonder the Trinity boggles our imaginations too. I am sure that is probably the right way to put it. The problem with the Trinity is not that this is a bunch of nonsense, but that God is God, and in God’s particularly glorious, mysterious and effusive way, we the creatures and the recipients of a love so deep, cannot find words to describe it. When we think about the Trinity, we must forget how to count.

I guess we can move pass the mental block of talking about so lofty an idea as the Trinity by not starting to think of the Trinity as some incomprehensible doctrine of the Church, though the mystery of God would always be beyond our comprehension. Think of the Trinity as our earnest, though somehow groping, attempt to put into words what has been revealed to us of the overflowing love of God. Christians are not those who believe in some amorphous, vague and abstract concept of God. Christians believe in a highly personal, interactive God who has chosen to reveal Himself to us as the Trinity. Christians are those who believe that God is best addressed as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all three are One, and we do so not because of mere speculation, but because this very God had intentionally revealed Himself to us in this manner. Christians don’t have to keep going back to the drawing table to come up with a new version of a deity that fits his personal taste. Any such deity would not truly be God, but an abstraction of our minds, made in our image and likeness. No! Christianity does not present a speculative idea of God but a God who has fully revealed Himself and now expects us to relate to Him and worship Him as Three Persons in One.

It is true that when God came to us in the flesh, in the person of the Son, the Incarnate Word, God did not say, “Call me by my proper name, ‘Trinity.’” You don’t have to be challenged by skeptics to survey the Bible to come to the conclusion that the word “Trinity” can be found nowhere in the pages therein. Coming from someone who has read the Bible, many times, I can only say that they are right! The word “Trinity” does not appear at all. The reason is simple. God didn’t have to. We did. That is, on the basis of our experience of God as complex, ubiquitous and overflowing with love as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, all three attested to in many verses in the Bible, we just naturally started speaking of God as Trinity. The Bible didn’t have to use the word “Trinity” but the Bible certainly spoke of God as three persons.

Early on in his massive treatise on the Most Holy Trinity, St Augustine, the great Doctor of the West, had seven statements about God that could summarise his entire work. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. The Son is not the Father. The Father is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Son. And then, after these six statements, he adds one more: There is only one God.

In other words, Christians are not tritheists, we do not believe in three Gods as the Mormons do. Neither do Christians subscribe to some form of modalism – One God who appears in different forms, assumes different avatars, or wear different hats. The oneness of God is crucial to our faith. Not just as a concept but because it points to the way in which we are called to live. We are called to be one as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one. Each has their own distinct role in the godhead. So within the unity we also see diversity. As Christians who worship one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are called to reflect their life to the world. So the divisions in the church are not just a sin, they are a sin against the nature of God.

The Trinity lives in a perfect community of love and we are called to grow together in love. Thus, the call to live in community is the call to reflect the love of God in whose image we are made. Love cannot be just an abstraction or a word. Love must always have its object. There must always be something or someone to love. It was not enough for the Trinity to exist alone as a community of love, sufficient unto itself. So it was out of love that the world was created in all its wonder and diversity. And it was love that called man out of nothingness and placed him as the crown of creation, granting him the very spark of divinity, the ability to freely choose whether to accept that love or to reject it. Love is part of our DNA.

God the Holy Trinity didn’t create the world like a wind up clock and set it on its way, whilst watching from a distance. God continues to love and to involve Himself in creation, with and sometimes despite our help. God is constantly reaching out to the world, drawing it to Himself. This was the mission of Christ and continues to be the mission of the Church. A Church that doesn’t reach out, that does not draw in, is not a church formed by the effusive Trinity. Likewise, a Christian who doesn’t want, in love, to go out and tell somebody is not one who is formed by the relentlessly reaching out and drawing in that is the Trinity. Each of us too, as members of that Church, have a fundamental duty, which is in our very nature, our very DNA, to reach out to others and draw them into the communion with Christ, and through Christ, into communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. This is mission of evangelisation.

Thank God that our relationship with God is not dependent upon us taking the initiative. The Trinity refuses to leave it all up to us. In Jesus Christ, through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, in the wonder of creation that bears the permanent imprint of the Father Creator, the Trinity keeps reaching toward us, keeps leaving hints for us, indications that we live every moment of our lives upheld by a living, resourceful and ever out-reaching God. If we are to be true to our calling as Christians we also need to learn more about the Trinity. Not just once a year on Trinity Sunday, but in a way that infuses the whole of our faith; so that our lives reflect the life of the Trinity, so that it affects the way we live as Christians. The Fathers of the Church were right when they told us to stop counting. Yes, when we think about the Trinity, we must forget how to count – we must remember to start loving.

Source: http://michaelckw.blogspot.my/2017/06/we-m...t-to-count.html

errrr ... double post??

hehe, no worries ... we know you are inspired and filled with the Holy Spirit!!!

This post has been edited by khool: Jun 8 2017, 05:23 PM

Friday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 357



Reading 1 (Tb 11:5-17)

Anna sat watching the road by which her son was to come.
When she saw him coming, she exclaimed to his father,
"Tobit, your son is coming, and the man who traveled with him!"

Raphael said to Tobiah before he reached his father:
"I am certain that his eyes will be opened.
Smear the fish gall on them.
This medicine will make the cataracts shrink and peel off from his eyes;
then your father will again be able to see the light of day."

Then Anna ran up to her son, threw her arms around him,
and said to him,
"Now that I have seen you again, son, I am ready to die!"
And she sobbed aloud.

Tobit got up and stumbled out through the courtyard gate.
Tobiah went up to him with the fish gall in his hand,
and holding him firmly, blew into his eyes.
"Courage, father," he said.
Next he smeared the medicine on his eyes, and it made them smart.
Then, beginning at the corners of Tobit's eyes,
Tobiah used both hands to peel off the cataracts.

When Tobit saw his son, he threw his arms around him and wept.
He exclaimed, "I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!"
Then he said:

"Blessed be God,
and praised be his great name,
and blessed be all his holy angels.
May his holy name be praised
throughout all the ages,
Because it was he who scourged me,
and it is he who has had mercy on me.
Behold, I now see my son Tobiah!"

Then Tobit went back in, rejoicing and praising God with full voice
for everything that had happened.
Tobiah told his father that
the Lord God had granted him a successful journey;
that he had brought back the money;
and that he had married Raguel's daughter Sarah,
who would arrive shortly,
for she was approaching the gate of Nineveh.

Tobit and Anna rejoiced
and went out to the gate of Nineveh
to meet their daughter-in-law.
When the people of Nineveh saw Tobit walking along briskly,
with no one leading him by the hand, they were amazed.
Before them all Tobit proclaimed
how God had mercifully restored sight to his eyes.
When Tobit reached Sarah, the wife of his son Tobiah,
he greeted her: "Welcome, my daughter!
Blessed be your God for bringing you to us, daughter!
Blessed is your father, and blessed is my son Tobiah,
and blessed are you, daughter!
Welcome to your home with blessing and joy.
Come in, daughter!"
That day there was joy for all the Jews who lived in Nineveh.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 146:1b-2, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10)

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.

Praise the LORD, O my soul;
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.

The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.

The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.

The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts
The LORD shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, through all generations! Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia (Jn 14:23)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel (Mk 12:35-37)
As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said,
"How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David?
David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said:

The Lord said to my lord,
'Sit at my right hand
until I place your enemies under your feet.'

David himself calls him 'lord';
so how is he his son?"
The great crowd heard this with delight.



REFLECTION

DAVID HIMSELF CALLS HIM “LORD.” When Jesus teaches in Jerusalem, He has to face influential people like the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians who, unlike the rural folk in Galilee, are not open to His teachings. These people pose “loaded” questions to Him: On paying taxes to Caesar, on the resurrection, and the first of the commandments. Jesus answers so well that “no one dared to askHim any more questions” (Mk 12:34).

Now, it is Jesus’ turn to ask. The teachers of the Law, basing themselves on scriptural passages, teach that the Messiah is the son of David. Now, in Psalm 110:1 which is attributed to David, David himself calls the Messiah “lord.” Since the father is greater than the son, David could not call the son of David “lord.” No answer is given, and the crowd hears this with delight because Jesus pins down his detractors. They themselves probably do not know the answer.

The Christians in Mark’s time would also hear this with delight because they knew the answer. It is in the opening words of the Gospel itself: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ [the Son of God]” (Mk. 1:1). Jesus the Messiah is the descendant of David “according to the flesh” (in his humanity), but he is the Son of God according to the spirit of holiness, i.e., conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit (cf Rom. 1:3-5). David is right to call Him “lord” because Jesus is the divine Messiah.

Have you read the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke? What do they say about the origin of Jesus?

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.) http://www.ssp.ph/

Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 360



Reading 1 (2 Cor 1:18-22)

Brothers and sisters:
As God is faithful, our word to you is not "yes" and "no."
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us,
Silvanus and Timothy and me,
was not "yes" and "no," but "yes" has been in him.
For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him;
therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory.
But the one who gives us security with you in Christ
and who anointed us is God;
he has also put his seal upon us
and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 119:129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135)

R. Lord, let your face shine on me.

Wonderful are your decrees;
therefore I observe them.
R. Lord, let your face shine on me.

The revelation of your words sheds light,
gives understanding to the simple.
R. Lord, let your face shine on me.

I gasp with open mouth
in my yearning for your commands.
R. Lord, let your face shine on me.

Turn to me in pity
as you turn to those who love your name.
R. Lord, let your face shine on me.

Steady my footsteps according to your promise,
and let no iniquity rule over me.
R. Lord, let your face shine on me.

Let your countenance shine upon your servant,
and teach me your statutes.
R. Lord, let your face shine on me.

Alleluia (Mt 5:16)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Let your light shine before others
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel (Mt 5:13-16)
Jesus said to his disciples:
"You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father."



REFLECTION

To god belongs the glory. Jesus often instructs his followers not to publicize the good they have done; it is better to keep such things in secret that their Father may reward them.

In the Gospel, he says that there is really nothing wrong in revealing their good deeds provided that his Father gets the glory. This revelation of their good deeds as the glory of the Father will make them “light for others.”

We may do good but not become agents of light if we arrogate the glory. That is why it is good to examine our motivation even when we participate in activities that we believe are God- and other-oriented. If our intention is to gain the applause and approval of others, it means that we do not at all become light for them. In fact, we may end up showing more darkness, worse than those who do evil and do not try to hide their selfishness under the cover of goodness.

Working for the glory of God can be tricky because we, humans, may hide our real intentions. We have so many urgings and unconscious desires that are uncovered only when we honestly confront ourselves. A psychological survey made in seminaries decades ago revealed that the hidden intention of many seminarians was that they saw the priesthood as a way out of poverty. Indeed, we may make sacrifices because we hunger for the approval of others and feel good when affirmed.

When a person gives God the glory for his good actions, he becomes a vehicle of God’s presence on earth, a bastion of humility, which makes him attractive to others. People flock to him not because he does good but because in his person shines the glory of God. He becomes a “city set on a mountain” (v 14).

This explains the charm of St. Teresa of Kolkata to people; even Communists sought this elderly bent figure, because she truly reflected the glory of God. Her disinterested service for the poorest of the poor was a revelation that a human being is indeed a carrier of divine glory, provided that one dies to selfishness and pride and centers one’s life on God.

According to a legend, Francis of Assisi one day told his faithful friend Bro. Leo that they would go to the market and preach. Bro. Leo happily agreed and accompanied this “living saint.” They passed through the entrance, the byways and passages, the stalls displaying animals and selling meat, and the vegetable and fruit corners until they got out of the marketplace. Bro. Leo was surprised and asked Francis whether they would return because they had gone there to preach and all that they did was to walk through. Francis responded, “We already did. People have seen us.”

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.) http://www.ssp.ph/

This post has been edited by khool: Jun 13 2017, 09:36 AM

St. Anthony of Padua: Hammer of Heretics

June 13th is the feast day of one of the most beloved saints of the Catholic church, Saint Anthony of Padua. Saint Anthony was the saint canonized the most quickly in the history of the Church, his canonization taking place a mere eleven months after his death. In 1946 he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. He was a Franciscan friar who lived during the lifetime of the founder of the Franciscan order, Saint Francis of Assisi.

Saint Anthony was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195 and became known as Saint Anthony “of Padua” because he founded a convent near that Italian city where he spent the last years of his life. He died near Padua in 1231 when he was just thirty-six years old. He was the foremost preacher in his day.



At fifteen years of age Saint Anthony had relinquished a life of nobility, wealth, and honor, and chose instead to live a life in service to God among the order known as the Augustinians. Some years later he witnessed the dead bodies of martyred Franciscan friars being taken through the town where he was stationed. Filled with zeal to follow Christ even more completely after the example of these martyrs, Saint Anthony entered the Franciscan order and traveled to Morocco to preach to the Moors. However, ill health prevented him from this task and he was forced to return to Italy. There he lived a quiet and secluded life, spending his time in prayer, study, and priestly duties. At this time, no one had any idea of his giftedness as a preacher and teacher of theology.

It wasn’t until a turn of events left an ordination service without a prepared homily that Saint Anthony’s talents as a preacher came to light. With no one prepared to speak, he was pressed by the other friars in attendance (both Franciscans and Dominicans) to take on the impromptu task. He hesitated, but was encouraged by the others to speak “whatever the spirit of God gave him to say.”



Anthony proceeded to preach with great brilliance, to the shock of all in attendance. His time spent praying, serving God, studying the Scriptures, and living a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience as prescribed by the Franciscan order prepared him to be used mightily by God.

He was then appointed as the first Franciscan friar to teach theology to the other friars. Later he was sent to preach to heretics who were spreading false doctrines far and wide, and he often converted from their erroneous path. His zeal, oratory skill, and many conversions won him the title “Hammer of Heretics.”

In saint statues and prayer cards Saint Anthony is often depicted holding a book to emphasize his great learning, or a lily to emphasize his purity, as well as the Infant Jesus. (Unfortunately, he is rarely depicted holding a hammer to emphasize his oratory skill against the heretics!)

Saint Anthony reminds us that life is very short, and the eternal rewards of living a life completely committed to Jesus are very great. A quote from one of his sermons serves as a mini autobiography of this great saint:

“The saints are like the stars. In his providence Christ conceals them in a hidden place that they may not shine before others when they might wish to do so. Yet they are always ready to exchange the quiet of contemplation for the works of mercy as soon as they perceive in their heart the invitation of Christ.”



Read more from St. Anthony of Padua online from the Franciscan Archives

Source: https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/st-a...e=socialnetwork

This post has been edited by khool: Jun 13 2017, 09:38 AM

PRAYER - in Disneyland!



Thank you Father Rob!

Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 362



Reading 1 (2 Cor 3:15—4:1, 3-6)

Brothers and sisters:
To this day, whenever Moses is read,
a veil lies over the hearts of the children of Israel,
but whenever a person turns to the Lord the veil is removed.
Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom.
All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
as from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy shown us,
we are not discouraged.
And even though our Gospel is veiled,
it is veiled for those who are perishing,
in whose case the god of this age
has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,
so that they may not see the light of the Gospel
of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord,
and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus.
For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness,
has shone in our hearts to bring to light
the knowledge of the glory of God
on the face of Jesus Christ.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14)

R. The glory of the Lord will dwell in our land.

I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD–for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. The glory of the Lord will dwell in our land.

Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. The glory of the Lord will dwell in our land.

The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
R. The glory of the Lord will dwell in our land.

Alleluia (Jn 13:34)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel (Mt 5:20-26)

Jesus said to his disciples:
"I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.

"You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment,
and whoever says to his brother,
Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,
and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,
you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."



REFLECTION

Whoever is angry. In fulfilling the Law of Moses, Jesus points not just to the prohibition of certain acts but to the very root that may give rise to the acts themselves. The fifth commandment of the Decalogue declares, “You shall not kill” (Ex 20:13). “Whoever kills will be liable to judgment” is not an exact quotation from the Old Testament, but a man who strikes a mortal blow is to be punished by death (cf Ex 21:12).

Jesus goes to the root of evil by prohibiting anger, the motive behind murder. There are ways of killing a person even without a mortal blow. It is “killing softly,” as when a person insults another by saying “Raqa” (fool or imbecile). One can also kill by silent treatment, acting as if the other person does not exist.

As one can show love and care by simple acts of kindness, by a smile, or by a touch, so one can show anger and hatred by bodily language or by avoidance. The commandment against murder also covers words and actions that hurt the feelings of another person. And so, as the song goes, “Please be careful with my heart!”

Human as we are, we cannot avoid getting hurt and so we entertain anger, grudge, or revenge. How do you empty your heart of these emotions?

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.) http://www.ssp.ph/

PRAYER FOR THE STRENGTH TO FORGIVE



Faultless Lord, enduring death for me,
You have consummated the debt of my sins:
Your sacrifice of forgiveness was absolute!
Grant me the strength to also forgive others,
To excuse their transgressions against me.
So I may truly reflect this spiritual fruit,
Obliterate any persistent feelings of malice.
Let each trespass end as a closing chapter,
My continuing on the road of righteousness.
Forgive my sins as I aspire to forgive others.
You are truly archetypical of forgiveness.
You are a most forgiving Lord!

Source: http://catholicgo.org/prayer-for-the-strength-to-forgive/

Hello and welcome, may the Lord be with you!

This post has been edited by khool: Jun 15 2017, 09:27 AM

Amen Amen!

Truth Himself speaks truly or there's nothing true

Corpus Christi, 18 June 2017



One of the most famous and, for me, indisputably the most beautiful of Eucharistic Hymns is the Adoro te Devote, popularly but inadequately rendered in English as “Humbly we adore Thee.” The writer of this hymn is St Thomas Aquinas, whose whole life is worth reading, but for me, this one episode really stands out. Towards the end of his life, when at Salerno, he was labouring over the third part of his great treatise, Against the Pagans (Summa Contra Gentiles), dealing with Christ’s Passion and Resurrection, a sacristan saw him late one night kneeling before the altar and heard a voice, coming, it seemed, from the crucifix, which said, “Thou hast written well of Me, Thomas; what reward wouldst thou have?” To which Thomas replied, “Nothing but Thyself, Lord.”





A brief homily could never do justice to the monumental Eucharist theology of this Great Doctor of the Church. One can pour over his treatise on the Eucharist in the Summa Theologiae, or one can figuratively sit at the feet of St Thomas by reading his magisterial Commentary on the Sixth Chapter of St John’s Gospel, the “Bread of Life” discourse. However, even for St Thomas, theological explanations, in the end, have to give way to poetry, to hymnody, as in the great Eucharistic hymns he composed for the Divine Office for the Feast of Corpus Christi, Adoro te Devote, being among them.

One would soon come to realise that this hymn is born of years of contemplation on St Thomas’ part, of countless Masses he celebrated fervently, of hours spent sitting before the Tabernacle; they are born of a heart caught up in love and wonder. Here are the first two verses of my favourite translation of the original Latin by Gerard Manley Hopkins:

Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at your service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God you are.

And in the second verse, we are given the basis, the foundation for our belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth Himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.

The profound words of St Thomas are most fitting for us today as we listen to the words of John 6 at this Mass. When we encounter Christ in the Eucharist, we are faced with a choice; it is not just to eat or not to eat, but rather to believe or not to believe. There is no middle ground. We can’t 'sort of believe' the Eucharist is Jesus’ Body and Blood. And this can put many of us at a quandary, we are either blown away by God’s inconceivable love for us in this Sacrament, or we struggle to understand how this works … and thus, struggle to believe.

St Thomas, a man of sharp intellect and impeccable reason, came to understand the Mass not in just a dry intellectual way, but he let himself be drawn into the very depths of this mystery of encounter with Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. For him, to believe in Christ’s presence, body and blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist wasn’t unreasonable, it simply exceeds the capacity of our reason. The last phrase of the second paragraph gives us a peek into why St Thomas believes:

“What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth Himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.”

Yes, truth exists and is knowable through reason. But here’s the trouble: we are not big enough to grasp the entirety of truth through reason alone. Why? Because we have limited minds, as we have all found out one time or another. So why should I need someone to tell me what truth is? Because I’m not big enough to come to it myself! Who is? Who can fully comprehend truth? Who can speak with utmost reliability on the fullness of truth? Well, Truth himself. And our name for Truth is Christ. “Truth Himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.”

It is not that we figure out Jesus and His ways, but simply that Jesus is the witness par excellence worth believing. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Even if we don’t fully understand all there is to know about the Eucharist, we can fully believe in the Eucharist because Jesus is credible, “Truth Himself speaks truly.” And this is what Truth Incarnate tells us: “I am the Bread of Life.” “This is My Body; this is My Blood.” And “Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you do not have life within you.” And “For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” And you and I have faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist precisely because Jesus told us so. St. Cyril confirms this by saying: ‘Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the Saviour in faith, for since He is the truth, He cannot lie.’ “Truth Himself speaks truly, or there’s nothing true.” If He’s not worth believing then there is nothing worth believing.

Every time when we make regular acts of faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist by genuflecting reverently before the Sacramental Presence on our altars, spend Holy Hours in the presence of Our Eucharistic Lord exposed for our adoration, point to the Tabernacle and instruct our young children that, “Jesus is there,” and whenever, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, we once again reaffirm our faith, the faith of the Church, in professing and believing that the whole Christ is “truly, really, substantially present,” body, blood, soul, and divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine. Our faith in the reality of Christ’s presence is based on objective reality, and not on the manner by which the Eucharist affects us subjectively. In other words, we say we believe that Christ is really present in the Eucharist despite how we may feel or think about it. The objective reality of Christ’s presence is based on the truth of His words which we hear at every Mass: “This is my Body … This is my Blood.” For this Truth Himself speaking truly “or there’s nothing true.”

In an age where we can no longer trust the ability of our senses to abstract reality, where man no longer trusts in his ingenuity and in his ability to find solutions to the global problems, where we have lost trust in our institutions and structures, the Church holds up the Body and Blood of Christ as that beacon of stability, of objective reality, of objective Truth. The Truth of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist is not just a philosophical concept among the many philosophies that propose ways of examining knowledge and reality. When we gaze upon the Blessed Sacrament, we see God’s endearing love, His fidelity to the promise that He will always be with us till the end of time. When we look upon the Blessed Sacrament, we see the Incarnate Son of God, who gave up His life on the Cross for our redemption. When our eyes pierce the sacramental veil of this Great Mystery, we see our salvation. And all this is true -not just a product of our minds, a figment of our imagination, or a fevered delusion. It is True, “or there is nothing true.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that “the Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet Him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world. Let our adoration never cease.” (CCC #1380)

And I pray and hope, that if the Lord were to ask us that very same question He asked St Thomas, “What reward would you have of me?” Our only answer would be, “Nothing, but Thyself, Lord! Nothing but Thyself.” Yes, everything in this world will come to an end — except the presence of Christ. As Ronald Knox describes it:





Source: http://michaelckw.blogspot.my/2017/06/trut...-or-theres.html

This post has been edited by khool: Jun 15 2017, 12:04 PM

Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 363



Reading 1 (2 Cor 4:7-15)

Brothers and sisters:
We hold this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.
We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained;
perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the Body the dying of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.
For we who live are constantly being given up to death
for the sake of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Since, then, we have the same spirit of faith,
according to what is written, "I believed, therefore I spoke,"
we too believe and therefore speak,
knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus
will raise us also with Jesus
and place us with you in his presence.
Everything indeed is for you,
so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people
may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 116:10-11, 15-16, 17-18)

R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.

I believed, even when I said,
"I am greatly afflicted";
I said in my alarm,
"No man is dependable."
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.

To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia (Phil 2:15d, 16a)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Shine like lights in the world,
as you hold on to the word of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel (Mt 5:27-32)

Jesus said to his disciples:
"You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you,
everyone who looks at a woman with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin,
tear it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.
And if your right hand causes you to sin,
cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.

"It was also said,
Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.
But I say to you,
whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful)
causes her to commit adultery,
and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."



REFLECTION

Lust… Adultery. As “greater holiness” taught by Jesus demands that anger be removed from the heart because it may lead to murder prohibited by the fifth commandment, so the sixth commandment that forbids adultery prohibits also lustful looks, the “adultery of the eyes.” Jesus says that from within people, from their hearts, come such evils as unchastity, adultery, and licentiousness. These defile a person (cf Mk. 7:31-23). Since sexual impulses are strong and compulsive, efforts must be made so as not to fall into adultery and fornication. Occasions that lead to lust are to be avoided.

Here, Jesus does not say that women are not to be looked at and appreciated. But women are to be respected, not seen as mere sexual objects. He Himself is at ease with this humanity, including His sexuality. He enjoys the company of men and women; some women follow Him as His disciples.

One way of avoiding sexual pitfalls is respecting “boundaries” set by one’s state of life and that of another. Do you respect persons or do you see them more as objects of desire?

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.) http://www.ssp.ph/

Anima Christi



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 Thy wounds, hide me.
Let me never be separated from You
Defend me from the malignant enemy,
Call me at the hour of death,
Bid me come to You,
That I may praise You in the company Of Your Saints, for all eternity. Amen.