Category: Gospels

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Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious

The Lord’s prayer is not just a formula.  Indeed, Jesus Himself just finished rebuking those who multiply their words thinking that sheer quantity is what will get them a hearing before God.  The Lord’s prayer is truly prayed by a heart that has allowed itself to resonate profoundly with the different sentiments and petitions contained therein.  So the first step in learning how to pray the Lord’s prayer is actually understanding what each of the lines means:

“Our Father” – Our God is not Master, nor is He Judge, nor is He Supervisor or Babysitter.  Our God is not Mother, nor is He Friend or Buddy.  Fatherhood is a relationship to a being from whom we have received life, and so long as a man continues to give life he is truly a father.  The life that God the Father gives us is something we call Grace, that Grace is nothing less than a share in His own Life.  We continue to receive that grace to the extent that we allow God to exercise His Fatherhood upon us.  The first statement of the Lord’s prayer takes us immediately to the core of Christianity.  Our God is the True Father. read more

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Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Sketch by Brie Schulze

The prophet Elijah is one of very few people said to have been assumed into heaven.  There is of course the Blessed Virgin Mary, some speak of Moses, others of Saint John the Apostle.  The only one clearly indicated in the scriptures is the assumption of Elijah.  Not only is it a unique occurrence, it is also fairly dramatic with blazing horses and chariot.  As Elijah is taken up into heaven, he leaves everything behind – even the prophet’s mantle.  Even the amazing office of prophet is useless and of little importance in heaven.  When we come before God, we will appear in all our miserable plainness.  We will be naked in our broken personhood before the majesty of perfection itself.  The only light that will shine from our being is that light of faith and trust in God’s mercy that He Himself planted in our hearts.  The more we’ve trusted in that mercy in this life, the brighter we will shine at the moment of judgment. read more

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Saint Romuald, Abbot

Sketch by Brie Schulze

Forgiveness is indeed essential to Christian life. If we want to be forgiven by God (and, indeed, we NEED to be forgiven by God), we NEED to forgive those who have wronged us. Sometimes grudges can hide quietly in the base of our gut when we decide to simply, “move on” or “let it go.” These pragmatic attitudes are actually not very Christian. We should not try to ignore our feelings, or bury them, but to face the fact that we have been wronged, we have suffered, we have been hurt, we have been treated unjustly. Whoever has done these this to us has become by definition our enemy. The first move as a Christian is not to excuse the wrong, but to forgive it. This is the work of God’s love in our hearts. Christian forgiveness is not given because it is deserved, or merited, or earned. Christian forgiveness is an attitude of heart that we accept because we receive the commandment of forgiveness from Christ in our heart. We allow our heart to be moved by His divine Word from brokenness, anger, frustration, bitterness, etc. to healing and peace. read more