Our Lady of Lourdes
When most people think of Lourdes they think of the Miraculous Waters.
But that was not the message of Our Lady.
The message that She gave to Bernadette was,
“Penance, Penance Penance ! Pray to God for sinners.”
So often we think that it is our words and our convictions and our wit and intelligence that others need to hear in order to change their minds.
When Penance is what Our Lady asks of us
and will go so much further to touch and change hearts.
Where does God dwell? 1 Kings 8: 22-30
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God’s hands stretch from one end of the universe to the other
From the highest mountain to the depths of the ocean.
And King Solomon built the most beautiful Temple of cedar and stone and gold for God to dwell in.
And yet Solomon wondered How could that Temple contain the God of Heaven and earth. ?
That is nothing.
We must wonder and be amazed how the God of Heaven and earth can be contained in a piece of bread.
Yet not only does the God of Heaven and earth come to dwell in this Church and in this Bread but also in us.
How lovely is your dwelling place O Lord refers to us and our souls.
Just touch His cloak Mk. 6:53-56
Jesus was surrounded by sick people
Who only wanted to touch His cloak
And be healed.
We are not going to be touching the cloak of Jesus
At Communion we are going to be touching His very Body.
How much more healing can we obtain from touching His very Body in the Eucharist we will receive at Communion.
Giving Glory to God. Mt. 5:16
Giving glory means to give credit and praise where credit and praise is due.
When the player makes the winning touchdown or shot;
The player gets all the glory;
When the General defeats the enemy,
The General gets the glory;
When a fireman saves a child from a burning building,
That fireman gets the glory.
We give glory to people;
And so should we not give glory to God.
After all God made the stars and the planets;
God made the mountains and the oceans;
God created us in our mother’s womb and will raise us up to Eternal Life on the Last Day;
Shouldn’t God get some glory too,
For all that God has done?
But how does one give glory to God?
Sts. Paul Miki and his companions
It is Japan 1597 and the persecution has begun.
The crosses are set in place and one by one Paul and his companions are crucified.
But from the pulpit of his cross,
Paul preaches to the people that he was dying for the Gospel and gave thanks to God for this moment as he pardoned his enemies.
As we carry our crosses in life;
We have an opportunity to preach to others;
What is it that we say,
From the pulpit of our cross?
St. Agatha
St. Agatha was born around 231 in Sicily.
At a young age she dedicated herself to a life of virginity and Jesus.
When she rejected a suitor she was sent first to a brothel and then to prison where she was tortured and mutilated.
Yet she prayed,
“You have protected me from the cradle;
And taken me away from the world.
Receive my soul O Lord.”
She is now the patron of Breast cancer and rape victims.
And her intercession is more important now than ever before.
Familiarity breeds contempt Mk. 6:1-6
How well do we really know each other?
We may come from the same family or the same town and think we know the person.
But do we really?
How long have we sat down with someone and told them our fears and our sorrows?
Our Hopes and our shattered dreams?
The truth is we don’t really know others like we think we do.
It is the same with Jesus.
His towns folk rejected Him because they thought they knew Him.
How often do we sit and not only talk to Him but listen to Him.
Maybe we don’t know Jesus as well as we think we do.
