This Exclamation is The Greatest and Most Important Declaration of Our Faith and is The Battle Cry for us who were Baptized and Believers By Faith and Brings to Fulfillment and Completion The Battle Cry of St. Michael who cast Satan out of Heaven while crying out, “Who is like unto GOD?!” (And that is how he got his name because that is exactly what the name Michael means). For, truly, Only GOD COULD DO or even THINK of DOING What HE HAS DONE that we Celebrate This Day; LOVE IS SOMEONE WHO IS GREATER And STRONGER Than death and HAS even SANCTIFIED it, Transforming it into the way to Eternal Life.
In order to fully appreciate the grandeur and Glorious Splendor of THE AWESOME LOVE AND MERCY OF GOD IN This Awesome Event That Changed the world Forever, we should look back at where we’ve been. We have been on a long journey as the days have gotten longer day by day; Christmas Came just four days after the darkest day of the year to Give us New Hope To Bring us into the new year. Then came the shortest Ordinary Time of any I can remember. (I think that means Jesus Is Telling us that His Life on earth had a short Time that was Ordinary, and So, Sanctified it, Making our “ordinary lives” something we can Share with Him That He Makes “Extra” Ordinary.) So then Lent began and so began our forty day Journey of Prayer (our relationship with GOD), Fasting (our relationship with ourselves and our bodies as the Temples of The Holy Spirit) and Almsgiving (our relationship with our neighbor). How did you do? I know that I fell short of the bar on this. I have learned, however, that the biggest part of Lent is growing in humility in the Presence of GOD. I have learned that the meaning of humility for a human being is realizing that GOD IS GOD and you are not; so, HE USED this Lent TO SHOW me just how much not HIM I am.
Good morning. Today is Good Friday, and a very solemn day but we faithful are hopeful and look forward to the Resurrection of our Lord on Easter!
I love starting off with books from the Old Testament as we do here with Isaiah. In addition to the message of the scripture itself, I am reminded these were prophecies fulfilled by Jesus. How else but by God and the Holy Spirit would all this be documented so long before then accomplished precisely by Jesus? I am reminded of my luxury of faith growing up hearing, seeing, and believing in Jesus’s conquering death and His glorious resurrection, yet Isaiah and so many others had only their faith and to believe without seeing.
Isaiah tells of a savior who looks ordinary yet kings are speechless in His midst. Nothing stately to attract us to Him, someone spurned or avoided, and people would hide their faces from Him. All this description of the Son of God who is many years from coming into this world. Then He is born completely blameless and without sin, was made to suffer greatly for our sins and conquer death to accomplishing the will of our Lord. My strongest thoughts are that He suffered for all the sins I have committed or will commit because He loves me. How does this passage speak to you? What do you think of when reading these prophesies?
This Sunday we reflect on the readings of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. The readings are clearly about suffering and ultimately a God like path to be followed in our own lives. Much has been written on the question of why do good people suffer? Suffering is confusing and stirs emotion. Suffering seems to be part of the human condition. We can also grow and mature in our faith during times of suffering. We as a faith people are open to God and a deeper study of Jesus life and death.
Isaiah 50:4-7:
This passage refers to a person, group, or nation of people who are in the process of suffering. A foreshadowing of a suffering servant archetype. What is striking is the internal strength of the one suffering. We see the one suffering does so willingly, focused on, and trusting God. The servant is not weak but strong. Standing tall, relying on God each morning who lifts them up in their suffering. “My face I did not shield”. “I have not rebelled”. “The Lord is my help; I am not disgraced”. Isaiah is foreshadowing Christ’s suffering as an example that we can follow in our own lives.
Readings: Jeremiah 31: 31-34, Hebrews 5: 7-9, John 12: 20-33
An unexpected turn of events: Philip and Andrew go to Jesus to tell him there are some people from out of town that would like to meet him. His response – The hour has come for Jesus to be glorified. He indicates to the Apostles that to fulfill his mission, he must be like the grain of wheat that is fruitful only when it dies. And this will happen soon. What a shocking thing to hear from their beloved master! He goes on to challenge them – whoever loves their life loses it; those who want to have eternal life must hate their life in this world.
This surprising message begins the final path to Calvary, and to our salvation.
What does this message mean for us? I love my life; I’m grateful to God everyday for the gift of it. I certainly don’t hate my life in this world, yet I hope for eternal life. What am I to do?
Mercy…. It is only mercy when we do not deserve it. That is what the author of my Lenten reflection book wrote a few days ago. “Yup, we don’t deserve it,” I thought, then I read on. But when I took a look at the readings for this week and tried to reflect, that word, mercy, kept coming to mind.
I thought, what is it called when we DO deserve it? Justice, maybe? We know that the Lord God is the only just judge. I try to remember that whenever I think of passing judgement on a stranger, someone in the news, a co-worker or family member. I cannot look into their hearts, only God may pass judgement, dole out justice. But wait, in today’s second reading, St. Paul wrote “God, who is full of mercy”, not justice. God is full of mercy because of his great love for us, his children. God is constantly faithful even through our numerous transgressions. Can God really extend this loving grace to us? This forgiveness, this amazing father:child relationship, even if we are not worthy? Thank goodness, the answer is yes!
“In those days, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?”
The Israelites, wandering in the wilderness, grumble to Moses due to their thirst for water. This happens not long after their deliverance from slavery under Egyptian rule, a time in which God had made provisions and performed miraculous judgments against Egypt to ensure their freedom. As a declaration of His love, the manifestation of His power had been in full display for the Israelites many times, yet, despite the evident magnificence of His works, they seemed to have easily forgotten Him.