Monday : Mary Mother of the Church

 

Mary Mother of the Church

We all have birthdays.

And we have birthdays because we all have mothers!!

The birthday of the Church is Pentecost.

Pentecost is the day when the Disciples,

Having been filled with the Holy Spirit,

“came out” of the upper room into the world.

Before Pentecost, the Disciples were gathered in prayer around Mary,

Their spiritual Mother preparing for the coming of the Holy Spirit, her Spouse,

Upon them.

For through the union of Mary and the Holy Spirit, Jesus was conceived,

So once again at Pentecost through the union of Mary and the Holy Spirit,

Each one of us is conceived in her heart.

And this is why Mary is the Mother of the Church,

Of all those born of the Spirit. Jn. 3:5

Pentecost

 

In the Jewish Tradition, Pentecost was a holiday commemorating the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.

It was a day that changed everything for Israel.

For on that Day, Israel and God became one.

They made a Covenant with each other,

Like a marriage;

God would be Israel’s God,

And Israel would be God’s people.

And there would be no other.

Israel would love the Lord with all their heart and soul and mind and strength . Deut 6

But they didn’t.

They repeatedly broke the laws and loved other gods instead.

so Jeremiah said,

One Day, “God will write the Law not on stone, but in your hearts!”Jer. 31:33

And that is what happened at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to dwell in the hearts of the Apostles.

With Pentecost, God now lives and moves and Has His being “in” us.

God is as close to us as the breath we breathe.

God is no longer someone out “There.”

But now someone in “Here.”

If God however is someone who dwells within us,

Then why does God seem so far away at times?

Because we love other things more than God!

St. Augustine once prayed.

Too late have I loved You. Too Late have I loved you!

O God You were within me but I was in the world.

You were with me, but I was not with you.

You called and shattered my deafness.

Your Light put my blindness to flight.

I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst for you.

You touched me, and set me on fire.

Too late have I loved you!

For so many years Augustine was looking for God,

But God was within him all along.

For so many years Augustine was looking for Love,

But loving all the wrong things.

And then one day, he had his Pentecost and

The Spirit of Love, set him on fire!

And all He could say after all those wasted years was,

“Too Late have I loved you!”

Saturday 7th Week of Easter

 

The Gift of Wisdom

The Gift of Wisdom gives one the ability to have insight into people and situations that are not obvious to the average person.

So many things are hidden in life and not obvious.

But the Gift of Wisdom is given only to those who diligently search for her,

For She does not throw her pearls before swine,

But only to those who appreciate Her riches,

And seek them above all else.

Come Holy Spirit and give us the Wisdom that comes from God alone.

Friday 7th Week of Easter

The Gift of Understanding

What is Knowledge without Understanding?

A person may “know” what another person is saying,

But do they “understand?”

The Pharisees had knowledge of the Scriptures and the Prophets but they did not Understand what they knew.

The men on the road to Emmaus knew the Scriptures but did not understand that Jesus had to suffer and die until they were given the Gift of Understanding.

Come Holy Spirit with The Gift of Understanding and enlightens us to what we know but do not yet understand.

Thursday 7th Week of Easter

 

The Gift of Counsel

Even with all of our human knowledge and science and philosophy, we are still not sure what decision to make or which direction to go.

There are so many people in the world try to tell us what to do and where we should go,

But their Counsel only leads us into a dead end.

The Gift of Counsel from the Holy Spirit guides us and directs us how to choose rightly and which path to take.

But we must be docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit

Like a leaf allows itself to be blown by the wind

if we wish to discern and follow the Counsel He offers us.

Come Holy Spirit and Counsel us on the choices of life we must make.

Wednesday 7th Week of Easter

 

The Gift of Knowledge

There is more to knowledge than what we learn from a book.

Life is a Book that can only be read to us by God.

And the Holy Spirit offers us to Gift of Knowledge so that we might learn the true meaning of Life.

The Holy Spirit gave St. Francis who never went to school, the Gift of Knowledge that all of Creation was his Brother and Sister.

Through the Gift of Knowledge not only are the mysteries of Life revealed to us but that we are all Brothers and Sisters in the Lord.

Come Holy Spirit, that I may have the Gift of Knowledge of the mysteries of God.

Tuesday 7th Week of Easter

 

The Gift of Piety

Unless we become like little children, we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Mt. 18:3.

The Gift of Piety makes us like little children.

It gives us a Trust and Confidence not in ourselves but in God.

Jesus called God, “Abba” which means daddy.

When I was in Jerusalem, I heard children call their father “Abba”

Do we pray to God. Do we speak to God with the same tenderness, love and trust that a child does with its father?

Come O Holy Spirit with the Gift of Piety,

That I may sit in my Heavenly Father’s lap

Safe in His loving arms.