The Feast of the Epiphany

Lord Jesus Christ,
may Your Word rise like a guiding star
in our hearts and minds
to lead us through the darkest nights
and show us the way
when we seem lost or far from You.

May we always follow Your star
even to foreign lands and unfamiliar peoples
to seek and find You in unlikely places
rejoicing in Your truth no matter
in what language and regardless of
who speaks it.

Like the holy Magi of old
we cross borders that divide us
and break down barriers of division
that our gifts may show we understand
the great gift You are to us
as king, both human and divine.

Amen.

Father Joseph Veneroso, M.M.

O wondrous night, when you,
Almighty and Eternal God,
came to earth as a baby and
dwelt among us as a human!
You restored the human race
to the dignity lost in Eden
and raised it further still
by Uour glorious Incarnation.

O blessed day, dawning on a people
who walked in darkness,
help us always to see and celebrate
Your presence among us,
especially in the poor, the sick,
the aged and the oppressed.

From the humble stable in Bethlehem
let the message go forth that
Emanuel, God-With-Us,
remains with us still and
no power on earth, in heaven or hell
can ever separate us from the love of
God Made manifest in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

Father Joseph Veneroso, M.M.

In anticipation of this coming Sunday’s Mother’s Day, we celebrate all of you as our Prayer Guild members who are mothers as well as joining you in giving thanks for your own mothers.  We also take advantage of this occasion and invite you to reflect with us today upon the Blessed Virgin Mary and her elder clousin Elizabeth; and their meeting when Mary visited Elizabeth (Luke 1: 39-56).

Given God’s custom and practice of using ordinary human beings to help realize God’s extraordinary design in and for our world, both of these woman played crucial roles in God’s plan of salvation through the persons of their sons, John the Baptist and Jesus.

In the affirmative responses of their mothers to God’s messengers, the impossible (Mary unmarried; Elizabeth beyond child-bearing age) became possible.  In living-out these reflections today, we’ll come to learn more deeply how God is calling and inviting us to be God’s Good News for others.

Mary spoke her Magnificat (Song of Praise) during her visit with Elizabeth; and both recognized and named what is was for Mary to have made the impossible, possible through her “Yes”:  “All will call me happy because of the great things that God has done for me”.  (Taken from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1, Verses 48 to 49.)

Likewise, following John the Baptist’s birth, his father Zechariah spoke his prophecy (for himself and Elizabeth) in response to God for having called him and Elizabeth into parenthood for John in their old age:  “You, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High God to tell his people that they will be saved”.  (From the Gospel of Luke, Chapter one, verses 77 and 78)

Both Mary and Zechariah here are witnessisng to and proclaiming that God is faithful to God’s promises – the very same message that their sons will proclaim in their respective earthly ministries.  Similar to what happens to us when we try to live-out the Scriptures proclaimed in our Liturgies in our everyday lives, we ask ourselves here:  What are Mary and Zechariah trying to tell us today?

Very simply, they’re reminding us that God has a unique role for each of us to play in bringing-about God’s design in our world; and that our God each day is waiting to surprise us as God makes what seems the impossible, possible in us and through us in relationships with others.

On the weekend of June 22-23, we’ll celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ – what we know to be the Eucharist. 

During today’s Prayer Guild, we invite you to reflect upon two aspects of this blessing of the Eucharist.  First, that it is God’s gift of self through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection; and second, that we are sent-out by our Church to others to be Jesus’ nourishing Body and Blood for them. 

In moving beyond the Easter Season, we are now faced with living-out Jesus’ teachings daily, much like Jesus’ disciples who did likewise following Pentecost. 

Jesus culminated his three years of teaching and healing by showing us two very clear examples of what it means to give oneself for others. 

First, at the Last Supper, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and reminded them, “I have set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done for you”. (John 13: 15)  We share life by doing and being for one another. 

Second, Jesus also at that same time predicted his suffering and death as recalled and recorded by St. Paul in the second Reading for the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ:  “The Lord Jesus said, ‘This is my body that is for you.  This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this in remembrance of me’.” (1 Corinthians 11: 24-25)

In response to Jesus’ command, “Go to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples” (Matthew 28: 19), our Maryknoll Society was founded and commissioned 108 years ago to go out to the world in service and self-sacrifice as representatives of the Catholic Church in the United States to become God’s word and Jesus’ nourishing Body and Blood for others. 

Pope Francis reminds us in The Joy of the Gospel  that, if we have experienced God’s love in Jesus Christ, then through our Baptism we’re all sent as “missionary disciples” in self-giving to our sisters and brothers throughout the world (#120). 

It has been popularly noted recently that “mission is from everywhere and to everywhere”. 

In light of God’s gift of mission through Jesus, let’s reflect for a moment on the question:  How am I personally and how are we as the Body of Christ here in the U.S. receiving the presence and service of those priests, Sisters, Brothers and Religious sent to serve us from among the Body of Christ around the world?

In anticipation of this coming Sunday’s Mother’s Day, we celebrate all of you as our Prayer Guild members who are mothers as well as joining you in giving thanks for your own mothers.  We also take advantage of this occasion and invite you to reflect with us today upon the Blessed Virgin Mary and her elder clousin Elizabeth; and their meeting when Mary visited Elizabeth (Luke 1: 39-56). 

Given God’s custom and practice of using ordinary human beings to help realize God’s extraordinary design in and for our world, both of these woman played crucial roles in God’s plan of salvation through the persons of their sons, John the Baptist and Jesus. 

In the affirmative responses of their mothers to God’s messengers, the impossible (Mary unmarried; Elizabeth beyond child-bearing age) became possible.  In living-out these reflections today, we’ll come to learn more deeply how God is calling and inviting us to be God’s Good News for others.

Mary spoke her Magnificat (Song of Praise) during her visit with Elizabeth; and both recognized and named what is was for Mary to have made the impossible, possible through her “Yes”:  “All will call me happy because of the great things that God has done for me”.  (Taken from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1, Verses 48 to 49.) 

Likewise, following John the Baptist’s birth, his father Zechariah spoke his prophecy (for himself and Elizabeth) in response to God for having called him and Elizabeth into parenthood for John in their old age:  “You, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High God to tell his people that they will be saved”.  (From the Gospel of Luke, Chapter one, verses 77 and 78) 

Both Mary and Zechariah here are witnessisng to and proclaiming that God is faithful to God’s promises – the very same message that their sons will proclaim in their respective earthly ministries.  Similar to what happens to us when we try to live-out the Scriptures proclaimed in our Liturgies in our everyday lives, we ask ourselves here:  What are Mary and Zechariah trying to tell us today? 

Very simply, they’re reminding us that God has a unique role for each of us to play in bringing-about God’s design in our world; and that our God each day is waiting to surprise us as God makes what seems the impossible, possible in us and through us in relationships with others.

April, 2019

In two days we’ll celebrate Palm Sunday, Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem which opens-up our Holy Week remembrances of the Sacred Triduum (3 days), beginning with Holy Thursday and Good Friday and leading up to Jesus’ Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

In his relatively short public ministry here on earth, Jesus’ main objective was to choose, call, and form apostles and disciples who would replace him in proclaiming God’s Good News to the world.

I suggest that the “process” which Jesus followed in doing so, although he never spoke about it in this way, is summarized with a threefold invitation (“Come and see; be transformed; go and tell!”). This summons of his is found in the dynamic of the relationship among Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.

On Holy Thursday we recall the institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist: “Do this is memory of me. My body and blood given for you”. (Mark 14: 22; and Luke 22: 17-19) We also remember on that day Jesus’ washing of his apostles’ feet: “I have just washed your feet. You should wash one another’s feet”. (John 13: 14)   All are invited to be in service to others – (“Come and see!”).

On Good Friday Jesus and we are forever changed and returned to God – (“Be transformed!”).

And on Easter Sunday we’re sent-out by Jesus to share this Good News with others as Mary Magdalene did in response to seeing Jesus: “Go to my brothers and tell them that I’m returning to my Father and their Father, my God and their God”. (John 20: 17) – (“Go and tell!”). We’re invited once again this year to celebrate and to re-dedicate ourselves to living-out this commissioning in our daily lives.

Recall that at the conclusion of each Eucharistic celebration we’re sent-forth anew to go out and to become God’s word and Jesus’ nourishing Body and Blood for others. Alleluia!