Tag: Christine Hanus

As I sit down to write this reflection, my daughter-in-law is in labor! Like the servant in the passage from today’s First Reading, our grandson is known by God, even in the womb of his mother. The same God who brought this little boy into being at the moment of his conception has a unique purpose and plan for his life. Praise God!

And our loving Father has a plan for each one of us as well. We mustn’t doubt it.

Often, we are tempted to judge the worth of our lives by very different standards than the standard God has for us. Like the servant in this passage from Isaiah, we often toil and strain and feel as though we have spent all of our strength, just to experience defeat, loss, or rejection. We wonder what purpose our life has and doubt whether we are making a difference.

We can and will make a difference if we follow the example of Christ, the ultimate servant of God, whose faithfulness is prefigured in today’s First Reading.

First, we need to be in tune with what God the Father wants for us every day. The goal is to do His will. Jesus spent time in prayer, communing with the Father and strengthening Himself to do the Father’s will. If we are doing what seems good to us, but not really submitting ourselves to God, we might experience worldly success, but eventually we will realize how shallow that kind of success is. It may even be dangerous to our souls.

The second way we must imitate Christ is by faithfulness and perseverance. For many years, Jesus worked, lived, and suffered just like any person of His day before radically pouring Himself out in public ministry. Finally, our Savior gave every drop of his blood to do the Father’s will and, as He hung naked on the cross, all of His effort, His entire life, appeared to be in vain.

In our own ways, we too experience “failure,” as we strive to live as authentic Catholic Christians. Seeking to do God’s will, we may try to start a business, write a book, or enter religious life. Years of effort and sacrifice may pass with little or no positive results. Think of the couple who loses a child. Or a parent who raises his or her children in the faith, just to see them reject a relationship with God. These “failures” can make us feel that all of our effort to radically follow God’s will is pointless. 

We can’t always see what God is doing, but He is always working marvelously for those who are faithful. When Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, He brought about the greatest come-back victory of all time! 

We must believe that if our priorities are in order, and we are constantly seeking to do God’s will, our Easter Sunday will come. We will rejoice with an endless joy when we realize what God has done in and though us. In the words of St. Catherine of Siena, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

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The division that Christ brought into the Jewish community of his time is sometimes startling, especially because Jesus’ teachings exhort us to be peacemakers, meek and humble of heart. The strife Jesus caused reminds us that Christianity, while it brings a kind of unity which goes beyond the natural, can also cause great division. 

The build up to the arrest of Jesus has been taking place in the daily Mass readings the past few days. In the Gospels, the tension is rising as we see some of the Jewish leaders taking umbrage at the things that Jesus said and did. In today’s Gospel reading, they argue amongst themselves concerning Jesus. They have trouble reconciling cultural Judaism with His hard sayings and His radical claims. If the religious leaders in this story had a true understanding of the Old Testament and what to look for in the Messiah, they would not have argued about who Jesus was.

Modern day Catholics sometimes experience this same kind of division because we disagree about who Christ is and what he teaches. The fact that we live in a society that is often at odds with our beliefs makes us even more conflicted and confused. 

Recently, I was helping to prepare a 2nd grade class for First Reconciliation. One girl was amazed to learn that what society calls right and wrong does not always match up with God’s definition of right and wrong. There are many adult Catholics who are also unaware of the discrepancy. There is, for example, a general consensus  that cheating another person in business is wrong, but how many people still believe that “marriage” between couples of the same sex is wrong? Those who want to preserve the traditional meaning of marriage are now persecuted, but Catholics can easily fall into the trap of believing the way the world around them believes as well.

So how can we know the teachings of Christ, that we might know what is truly right and wrong and stop arguing amongst ourselves? The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a good tool to learn what the Church has taught since the time of Christ. 

If we are unsure what our Church teaches and why, we should try to find out. There are plenty of good resources to help us, and Lent is the perfect time to learn more about our faith in order to stand as a unified Church living in Christ’s love. 

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I have always found it challenging to “stay positive” while simultaneously acknowledging the harsh realities of life. I want to be a person of hope and joy, but I also realize that I can’t help make the world a better place unless I open my eyes to its troubles. Today’s First Reading provides a beautiful meditation, not only about the hope we have for the future, but about God’s awareness of our plight here and now. 

I remember one circumstance in particular in which I was overwhelmed by the potential for evil in this world and was tempted to despair. My husband and I were traveling across the country with our five children, all under the age of 10. It was late at night, and we stopped in a rest area that looked dark and dangerous. My husband took the four oldest into the restroom, and I climbed into the debris-strewn back seat with the baby. Tired and vulnerable, and possessing an overactive imagination, I started worrying about the safety of my children and the horrible things that can happen to children. I succumbed quickly to these dark thoughts and found myself crying in frustration and anger. Though I have had a close, trusting relationship with the Lord since I was a child, I have often struggled to accept the suffering of the innocent. Why Lord? Don’t you care? Why must these evils go on and on?

As I continued to cry out to God in my heart, I shifted my feet which were resting awkwardly on a number of children’s toys and blankets on the floor of the car. My movements triggered something, and a muffled tinkling tune penetrated the dark silence, “Jesus loves the little children…all the children of the world…” 

I paused and let that reality sink into my consciousness. My prayers reached the only conclusion that brings any peace…Jesus, I trust in you!

Today’s First Reading reminds us that God knows what we are suffering. He knows that things are far from perfect. By taking on a human form, Jesus Christ entered into the mess with us in order to experience, confront, and redeem the mess. Furthermore, this is not the end. This is not “all there is.” In a little while, He will make things right and all that we yearn for and hope for will come to pass in the new heavens and the new earth. In the meantime, we live on in Christ, who forewarned us that we would have many trials in this world, but to be courageous, because he has overcome the world. (See Jn 16:33)

Our deepest instincts tell us there is an Author of life and He is all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful. But we do not have the mind of God and we cannot fully understand His ways.  The more we unite ourselves to Him, the more we will trust in His ability to bring good out of evil. We will also find abiding joy, knowing that it won’t be long before the One who sits on the throne will makes all things new. (See Rev 21:5)

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The First Reading today always makes me think of the power of Sacred Scripture. Words which, though penned by various writers in various times and circumstances, are ultimately authored by God Himself! 

Ever since I was in high school, the Scriptures have captured my imagination. That was thirty-five years ago when it wasn’t common to see Catholics read and study the Bible on their own initiative. Thankfully, today there are many Catholics who know that the Bible is a Catholic book—compiled and disseminated by the Catholic Church and preserved and interpreted for over 2,000 by the same Catholic Church!

If we are interested in knowing God and want to hear his voice, the Scripture is like Aladdin’s cave.  A veritable treasure trove of truth, wisdom, and knowledge.

As I have traveled the course of my life, reading Scripture and trying to understand it with the mind of the Church, I have learned to depend on God’s Word more and more. One of the ways Scripture has gained practical application in my life is in spiritual battle. As Christians, we know we are in a spiritual battle at all times. We are constantly being tempted to selfishness, pride, despair, and various other sins. When we use the Word of God to fight our own human weakness and to come against the evil forces who tempt us, we tap into a unique and awesome power. As God Himself says in today’s reading, “[My word] shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

When we are feeling vulnerable, there is supernatural power that comes from declaring, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31) If we are tempted to doubt God’s providence, there is supernatural change that we can experience by reminding ourselves to, “Rejoice in the Lord, always. I shall say it again: rejoice!…The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all…” (Phil 4:4-6). And when our children are bombarded by the godless ideology of our day, we can teach them to memorize “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8). As the next generation begins to engage in the spiritual battle, we must equip them with supernatural weapons.

Recently, as my petite, faith-filled mother-in-law was dying from cancer, I knew that she was tempted to fear. I posted a verse of Scripture from the book of Daniel where she could read it every day. Even when she was unable to see it or to speak, I would periodically recite it to her. “Do not fear, greatly beloved, you are safe. Be strong and courageous.” God’s words. Words to help us die. Words to help us live!

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