Look Around You

Gospel – May 29, 2022

Luke 24: 46-53

American author Russell H. Conwell authored a story in 1921 entitled Acres Diamonds.  In this story he tells about a rich farmer living near the Persian Gulf who was not content with his many possessions, including his beautiful family.  He decides to sell the farm and seek this faraway place that was said to have many diamonds. Exhausted by the journey, he tragically dies on his quest.  The new owner of the farm was going about his business watering the animals in a nearby stream one morning.  As he glances down into the water, he a glimmer of something shiny reflects from the bottom of the stream.  Upon fetching it, he found that the object was in fact, a giant diamond.  And it was one of many lying about the newly purchased property. Conwell goes on to say that this find became the world’s largest field of diamonds every discovered at that time.

Back to the Gospel, we find Jesus ascending to heaven and leaving the disciples behind.  We know that The Lord never really departed and remains with us constantly.  He is nearer to us than out very breath.  Some go on pilgrimages and that can be a powerful experience, yet one does not have to travel far to find the Divine Treasure that remains in and close to us.  How often I have missed the mark by miscalculating?  All too often, I admit.  How often have I missed the forest from the trees?  Many times.

And yes, I left the comfort of my family and home as a young man.  Like the prodigal son, I too sought worldly treasures that brought me little satisfaction and brought a death to my life in some way. A part of me then had to die, before I could discover the precious treasure that existed right under my very nose.

The Lord is waiting to be discovered in our backyards, our living rooms and in our workplaces.  He is like that giant diamond that was always present to the foolish farmer, but who believed it was elsewhere.  Let us not make the same mistake.  Perhaps this is your opportunity to seek the Divine Treasure and thus share in the joy of finding Jesus?   In that way, “We come to glorifying the King of Kings – the Lord who exceeds all manners of earthly wealth and treasures.  Look around you.

The Pilgrim

 

 

 

 

“Haremos en él nuestra morada”

 Gospel Reflection – Sunday May 22, 2022

En su cuenta de Twitter, el Santo padre Francisco escribió esta semana pasada que,  “la bienaventuranza, la santidad no es un plan que se logra solamente mediante el esfuerzo y la abnegación sino que es más bien el descubrimiento gozoso que somos bien amados de Dios nuestro Padre”.

La verdad fundamental del mensaje de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo es muy sencilla pero difícil de hacerlo nuestro, de internalizarlo, de creerlo. La gran revelación de Jesús es que Dios es nuestro Padre amoroso, que es papá, papito,”Daddy”, como dicen en inglés. El nos ama por ser quien somos, sus criaturas, sus hijos bien amados.

En el Evangelio de este domingo sexto del tiempo de Pascua, Jesús nos dice, “el que me ama, cumplirá mi palabra y mi padre le amará y haremos en él nuestra morada “.

Estimado lector, si estás leyendo esta reflexión es porque te interesa cumplir la palabra de Dios, te interesa alcanzar la intimidad con Jesús nuestro hermano mayor y con Dios nuestro Padre con la ayuda de nuestra madre, María santísima.

¿Como vamos a lograr el descubrimiento gozoso, feliz que Dios nos ama, que somos sus hijos bien amados? Lo descubrimos en la oración. Decía la madre Teresa de Calcuta, Santa Teresa de Calcuta, que, “el fruto del silencio es la oración, el fruto de la oración es la fe, el fruto de la fe es el AMOR, el fruto del amor es el servicio y el fruto del servicio es la paz”.

Mediante la oración humilde descubrimos que Dios, Padre, Hijo y Espíritu Santo, habita en mí, en ti y en toda persona. Descubrimos que cumplir su palabra significa amar a toda persona, no importa su raza, su color, su orientación sexual, su capacidad intelectual, su nivel social o económico … porque también es hijo o hija bien amada del Padre y templo de su Espíritu Santo. Y tenemos que hacerlo no importa cual difícil sea.

Por este amor conocerá el mundo que somos sus discípulos, por este amor construiremos el reino de Dios entre nosotros.

El Caballero de Nuestra Señora

 

The Stranger

 Billy Joel's "The Stranger" is one of those songs that has always haunted me. There's a truth to it: we all wear masks, and seldom let others (perhaps even ourselves)  see "the stranger" behind the mask.

"Why were you so surprised

That you never saw the stranger

Did you ever let your lover see

The stranger in yourself?"

Jesus tells us in this weeks Gospel reading that all will know that we are His disciples if we have love for one another. Conventional wisdom however, tells us that you have to "hide your love away." (I'm also a Beatles fan) So often our love is hidden behind our masks, don't you think?

Here's an important question: Do others see your love, or is that person a "stranger"?

                + Theophilus

 

LISTENING & DOING: TWO DIFFERENT THINGS

Sunday Gospel: May 8, 2022 (John10: 27-30)

In the category of ‘kids say the funniest things,’ we have a memorable story in my family.  My daughter was about five or six years old at the time, and we were trying to correct some behavior of hers.  Se we said to her, “You are not listening!”  Without pausing, she said in reply, “I am listening.  I am just not doing what you are telling me to do.”  We still get a laugh at that today, as she is now getting ready to begin college.

It seems that, in a very real way, we are doing, in our relationship with the Good Shepherd, what my daughter was describing.   We are probably listening to the Lord.  We so often are just not doing what he is asking us to do.  So, the question is:  are we really listening?  If we are not really listening, if we are just pretending we are paying attention, then why are we not listening?  Well, why is that children often don’t really listen.  They don’t really listen because they are trying to exert their misunderstood freedom.  As children, we think freedom means we should be allowed to do whatever we like.  And that is understandable. From the moment of the conception in the womb, through our birth, and through our earliest years, we have no choice but to be totally dependent on our parents.  Without their assistance, we would just not survive.  We need them to feed us, to give us shelter, and to totally guide us.  In our earliest days, we cannot even move from place to place without the assistance of Mom or Dad or some other adult.

But as we get older, we start to enjoy the sense that we can start doing things, all be it limited, on our own.  And we kind of like that.  Of course, as we get into our adolescent and teen years, we then, even emotionally, begin to rebel against those whom we once totally relied.  Of course, we pass adolescence, or at least most of us do.  We come to the realization that even though we are, through the hard work and sacrifice of those who raised us, better able to make decisions and do things on our own.  The really mature person still recognizes though that it is still important to rely on the wisdom and guidance of our elders, no matter how old we are.

And while we could look at our relationship with the Lord, with the Good Shepherd, in the same way, it is actually so much more than a child-parent relationship.  For as old as we get, the reality of our relationship with the Lord is still both one of a mature adult, formed in the Truth, but also one of child-like dependence.  If the Lord is indeed the Lord of our lives, then we must treat him as such.  We must not just allow him to be Lord when we agree with what he is saying or when it is convenient.  We must always listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd and then, do whatever he tells us.

 

The Servant