“Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”

 

The scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our gospel for today we have this beautiful healing of the paralytic by Jesus. This healing, like all of Jesus' healings, shows the love, mercy and concern for all people when they are suffering. As I was reading this, I realized that there's more to it than just the healing of the paralytic. His friends were the ones that brought him to Jesus for the healing. With the prayers and support of his friends, Jesus became aware of the need of healing of the paralytic. 

These friends of the paralytic are examples of what we should be doing with those family and friends in our lives that are in need of healing for whatever they may be struggling with. These friends physically brought the paralytic to Jesus for healing and based on their faith the paralytic received the forgiveness of sins and healing of body. We, too, with our faith, can spiritually bring people to Christ for healing.

We all have family and friends that are in need of our prayers. Further there are people who constantly ask me for my prayers for whatever need or concern they are facing. I know for myself that whenever I am about to enter into prayer, whether it's the rosary, the Breviary, or assisting at Mass, I bring to mind those prayer requests of friends, and also, the cares and concerns that I have for my family and bring them to Jesus to respond in the way that's best for those I'm praying for. 

One other thing that stands out for me in this reading is the fact that Jesus has the power to forgive our sins. His forgiving the sins of the paralytic upset those around him, accusing Jesus of blaspheming. After all, who can forgive sins but God? Jesus is teaching those around him of his divinity and his power to forgive sins.

Jesus left with the apostles and His church the ability to forgive sins through the sacrament of confession. Let us use this sacrament often in order to bring spiritual healing that can come to us from Christ through the ministry of the priest.

Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner.  

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want!

 

The scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus | USCCB

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was in 1675 that St. Margaret Mary had a vision of Jesus who told her that he wanted the feast of the Sacred Heart to be celebrated on the Friday after the feast of Corpus Christi.

This feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus helps us to see the love and concern that our Lord Jesus Christ has for each one of us. It is in the readings for today that shows us the imagery of a shepherd towards his sheep that this love of Jesus is shown.

In our first reading we hear Ezekiel say of the Lord, “I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he findshimself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep.” Sheep need that guidance to stay close to the shepherd for protection and guidance from either getting lost or the dangers of wolfs attacking the them. It is through the church that Jesus shepherds each one of us. Then, later in today’s reading from Ezekiel, we hear the Lord say that He will give them rest and to seek out the lost and strayed, and to bring healing to those who are hurt and lost. It is through the Church and the sacraments that the Lord can do all this.

In the sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion our Lord brings us healing and strength. These Sacraments are the tools that help us to turn back to the Lord when we’re in the state of sin and need his healing touch. Through confession we receive the gift of healing and forgiveness for our sins, and then through the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, we receive spiritual nourishment and strength to help us to remain faithful to Him and His teachings.

As we read in today’s gospel, we hear further of Jesus being the Good Shepherd and how He would seek out those lost in sin in order to bring them back into relationship with Him and God the Father. Through this example of the Good Shepherd, we can see that, through the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he has love for each one of us and he wants us to always to turn back to him for His love, protection, and healing. Let us always be open to the promptings of Jesus to be ever near to Him through the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion. It will be then that we will have the peace and contentment that can only come from the loving Heart of Jesus.

For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be

 

Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB 

Our Lord in today’s gospel is helping us to get our priorities in order regarding how we are to live our lives in relationship with Him and our eventual goal in the life hereafter: heaven. Many of us get so wrapped up with financial security, accumulating material goods such as cars, or just simply making sure we have enough to retire with. Being financially responsible is important and good. But accumulating wealth or material goods are not to be our priority in this world. Money and materials are only tools for us to use to live out our lives here on earth. As we see with the increasing cost of living and the fluctuation of the stock market, we can’t really count on material things or wealth to bring us peace and contentment. Rather, our focus should be on things of heaven. We can always loose material things through decay or theft or the stock market crashing. It can be like that old saying, “Here today, gone tomorrow.”

The focus in our lives should always be on our relationship with God. The way we can accumulate heavenly treasures is by using the many tools our Lord left us in His Church. These tools are the 7 sacraments. These sacraments bring us spiritual healing and help us to accumulate these heavenly treasures our Lord speaks of. Through baptism we become children of God, washed new in the eyes of God. Then with confirmation we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then through the frequent use of confession and the receiving of Holy Communion, we can continue to grow in holiness in order to accumulate those heavenly treasure. It’s an ongoing journey to get to heaven.

Further, the day we die, we will leave all our earthly treasures behind. We cannot take them with us to heaven nor to hell. Jesus’ desire for us is that we store up what is lasting, what will never decay. Jesus desires that we store up the treasure that will never fail us: the gift and grace of love! God is made for love: love of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit and love of other frail human beings!

Today let us take time out to think what is truly important in our lives: material things or things of God. Let us attempt to always keep our priorities in order: to love God with all our mind, heart and soul. Then we’ll be able to have treasures in heaven.

I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts

 

Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

Over the last few days, we have been reading from the first book of Kings and the struggles of the prophet Elijah. On Wednesday we heard of the struggle between Elijah and the false prophets of Baal, and how the people were turning away from God to worship this false god. After proving that there was one true God, Elijah would go on to kill these false prophets. Then Elijah, fearing for his life because of threats against him after what he did on Mount Carmel, ran to get away from those that wanted to kill him.

After all that he did for God, Elijah felt abandoned by God and felt isolated because of all that had happened since Mount Carmel. Elijah was attempting to live out his life in obedience to God, and it seemed that God wasn’t present any longer. He searched for God in the strong and heavy wind, but God wasn’t there. He searched for God in the earthquake and fire, but couldn’t find God present there, either. It wasn’t until Elijah had settled down and listened for God in silence that he was able to hear and to feel God’s presence within him. Elijah shares his frustration with God and says, “I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. But the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant…” Elijah remained true to God, even with the obstacles that faced him by those who wanted him dead for his belief in God. Elijah remained steadfast to the one, true God of Israel.

We, too, struggle in our belief in God as we attempt to share it with those in our lives that may not understand our love and devotion to Him. What should always be central in our lives is our belief in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. People may not share our beliefs, but we are to remain true to our call to be followers of Jesus Christ.  Further, as we live out our lives, we need, like Elijah, to make some quiet time for God. We will not hear God in the busyness of our daily lives, but rather in those quiet moments of prayer and our regular reading of scripture and frequent attendance at Mass. It’s during those quiet times of prayer that we can truly hear God’s voice speaking to us and what He has in mind for each of us as we attempt to serve him as we live out our lives.

As we pray and meditate on our relationship with our loving God, let us make the prayer of Elijah our prayer as well: “I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts.” Amen.

“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you

 

Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs | USCCB

In our gospel we hear the Risen Jesus approach Peter, and three times ask him, “Do you love me?” As you recall, Jesus predicted at the Last Supper that Peter would deny knowing Jesus three times. Following the Last Supper, Jesus was arrested, Peter was near where the Lord was, and people recognized him. They inquired as to whether Peter was a follower of Jesus Christ. Peter, out of fear, denied being His follower. It was out of human weakness that Peter did this. What caused Peter such anguish was that he had bragged to Jesus that he would never deny him. But when the going got tough, Peter allowed his fear to take over and then denied Jesus, not once, but three times.

Jesus, in His love for Peter, allowed Peter to reverse the three-time denial of knowing the Lord. Peter responds, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Peter would go on, after the ascension of Jesus into heaven, to be the leader of the apostles, and to proclaim that Jesus not only suffered and died but rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven for the sins of the world and for our salvation.

In today’s gospel, Jesus predicted that Peter would also die for his acknowledgment of Jesus being the Messiah. Peter would go on to be crucified just outside of Rome under the emperor Nero. According to tradition, Peter, not feeling worthy to die in the same way as Jesus, was crucified up-side-down. Peter went from denying that he knew Jesus to dying for his faith in Him as Lord and Savior.

We are all called to imitate Peter in our following and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. There may be times when we may want to hide our faith from those around us due to fear of being misunderstood or attacked for our faith. By doing so, we, like Peter, are denying Jesus. We should never let fear hide our faith in Jesus from those in our lives. Our faith in Jesus Christ is who we are. We are called to proclaim that Jesus Christ is our Lord and savior with those around us. We are not to force our faith on others, but we are never to be ashamed of our faith in Jesus Christ either. We are to live in a way that shows the world that Jesus is central to who we are as Catholic Christians.

Today we commemorate the martyrdom of the African saints, Charles Lwanga and companions who were martyred between the years 1885 to 1887. Rather than deny their faith in Jesus Christ, they chose to die for their belief in Jesus and their Catholic faith.

Let us live each day as followers of Jesus Christ, like St. Peter, and St. Charles Lwanga and his companions, be proud of our faith in the Lord, and say to Jesus each time we receive Him in Holy Communion, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”