Romans 4: 13, 16-18, 22 (Saturday March 15, 2008 – Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of Mary)

Do we follow Jesus because we have faith in him or do we follow him because we are afraid we will go to hell? We Catholics sometimes get fixated on laws. We like so much the language of obligation. I have to go to church on Sunday to fulfill my Sunday obligation; I have to go to church on the feast of the Immaculate Conception to fulfill my holy day of obligation. True and convicted Christians do not go to church because they are obliged to, they go because they have a relationship with Jesus and they know that in order to sustain this relationship, they need to be where he is with his people. It is this faith in Jesus that matters and not laws. The laws are not there to replace our personal relationship with Jesus, their purpose is to guide and strengthen us in this relationship.

We have to be careful not to take our gaze away from this relationship and concentrate on the laws. This is the situation St. Paul is facing with the people of Romans. They have reduced true religion to observing the Jewish laws and in a sense made religion more an external thing than what comes from within. Abraham was credited righteousness because of his faith in God. St. Joseph whose feast we celebrate today also had faith in God and did not go ahead to give Mary a bill of divorce.

How has your faith led you to righteousness?

Mark 12: 28-34 (Friday, February 29, 2008)

The scribe in today’s gospel understood the basis of true Christianity. The two anchors of Christianity are: love of God and love of neighbor. These are worth more than any sacrifices. Jesus says this man is close to the kingdom of God because unlike many of the learned people of his time who placed so much emphasis on the rituals of the temple, he understood that, that relationship of love with God and neighbor is more important.

There is no other Christian Church that has as many devotions and rituals as the Catholic Church. We should not make the mistake of thinking these devotions and rituals are the basis of our Christianity. Our Christianity is rooted in what God has done in Jesus Christ – an act of love. Devotions and rituals do not make us Christians, but they however cement our relationship with Jesus. That relationship of love is primary and the devotions and rituals are secondary.

As we continue throughout this season of Lent to prepare ourselves to respond positively to the invitation Jesus Christ is offering us, let us ask ourselves one important question: Are we as loving to God and neighbor as we have been loved by Jesus?

Luke 17: 7-10 (Tuesday, November 13, 2007 – Feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini)

Catholics always have the tendency to want to know what they must do in order to be considered practicing Catholics. The church has done a good job over the years telling them precisely what every Catholic must believe or do. No other religion or Church has as many rule books as the Catholic Church: the Bible, the Catechism, Code of Canon Law, magisterial documents, dogmatic pronouncements, etc. Recently a parishioner asked, what is the basic minimum number of times a Catholic must go to confession in a year? To push it further, some Catholics might ask, what parts of the Mass do I have to be present in order to have fulfilled my Sunday obligation?

True religion is not all about obligations, but it is about the Spirit of God working in you, leading you to act above and beyond the requirements. The servant in the gospel of today is not to be praised because he is only doing what he has been commanded to do. We cannot be saints if we do only the things our faith has obliged us to do. To be saints, we need to go beyond the minimum and do the very ordinary things in an extra-ordinary way.

Prayer:
Lord help us today to serve you in truth and in spirit. Give us the patience to do the little things you have asked us to do in extraordinary ways.

Matthew 13: 31-35 (Monday, July 30, 2007)

In the parable of today, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to a mustard seed which is the smallest seed, yet when it grows, it is a big tree. We know that the mustard seed was not the smallest seed even at the time. It was a common proverbial expression at the time that the mustard seed was the smallest seed. Jesus is not trying to show that the mustard seed is the smallest seed but his interest is on how when this small seed grow, it becomes a big tree. Yesterday at Mass, Jesus taught his disciples how to pray and he explicitly prayed that the kingdom of God come. When we always pray for the kingdom of God, when we pray for the reign of God, we sometimes have the tendency to think of a dramatic event in which suddenly God will reign over the whole earth. This is not the intention of Jesus. This kingdom grows gradually like the mustard seed beginning first from our hearts and then gradually extending to others in the world. We are partakers in making this kingdom come upon the earth by the way we live our lives radically in the world. Imagine if the 1 billion Catholics in the world each tried to change some one and bring the kingdom of God to that person! The kingdom of God would soon come upon the earth.

We are invited this week to work to bring about the kingdom of God to the earth. The best way we can do this is to be Christ’s love and presence to the people we encounter this week. Look at them as another Christ and treat them as such. In this way, the kingdom of God would soon reign upon the earth.

Prayer:
Lord God, let your kingdom come upon the earth as it is in heaven. Give us the courage to live radically your kingdom in our hearts and in the world. Use as instruments to bring about this kingdom upon the earth.