Month: January 2020

Signs ‌that ‌the ‌person ‌you’re ‌dating ‌has ‌what ‌it ‌takes ‌to ‌get ‌married ‌
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Dolors Massot | Jan 28, 2020
Does he or she have the real maturity that’s necessary to make marriage work?
he decision to get married is an important step for a couple. It means that both people are willing to be united to each other and share life together. Wanting to be married isn’t enough, however; real maturity is necessary for a marriage to work.
How do I know whether my boyfriend or girlfriend is truly ready to get married? Dr. Fernando Sarráis, a psychiatrist, is the author of the book
Family in Harmony (“Familia en armonía” in the original Spanish), and in it he points out 13 things that need to be in place before a couple can consider themselves ready for marriage.
The two qualities of a mature person
The fundamental key to being ready for marriage is maturity. According to Sarráis, a mature person is distinguished by two qualities:

1. The ability to sincerely understand the truth about yourself and your situation;
2. The ability to control your own mental and emotional activity (perception, memory, imagination, affectivity and thought) and to control your own behavior.
   The main feature that defines an immature person is the predominance of affectivity over their other mental and emotional activity and, consequently, over their behavior.
   For example, someone is immature if they:
   want to get married because a fancy wedding day sounds dreamy;
   want to marry because it would be socially advantageous;
   want to get married while leaving the door open for sex outside of marriage;
   want to get married but not willing to have children;
   want to get married because of an overwhelming desire to be a mother, to the exclusion of the man who would be the father of her children.
   Shutterstock | F8 studio
   It’s not a question of age or financial resources: Getting married requires maturity.
   What are some signs so I can I know whether my boyfriend or girlfriend is mature enough to get married?
   Here are 13 characteristics of mature people that you should see before saying “yes” forever. See if both you and your partner fit the bill:
3. Sincerity
4. Courage
5. Constancy and perseverance (fidelity)
6. Industriousness, order and punctuality (diligence)
   Shutterstock | Jacob Lund
   Courage and optimism are two qualities necessary for marriage.
7. Measure and moderation in the way you act (temperance)
8. Joy, optimism and emotional stability (positive affectivity)
9. Patience and the ability to withstand suffering (resilience)
   Shutterstock | Emotions studio
   Do you and your boyfriend or girlfriend talk to each other? Do you apologize to each when needed?
10. Capacity for intimate and affectionate dialogue and communication (trust)
11. Ability to forgive others and oneself, and to ask for forgiveness (humility)
12. Habitual interest and love for others and for the good things of the world (sociability)
    Shutterstock | Galina Kovalenko
    Psychological balance is basic to undertaking life together in marriage.
13. A habitual attitude of helping others selflessly (altruism)
14. Emotional equilibrium, calm and self-confidence (psychological balance)
15. Tolerance and ability to adapt to change (mental flexibility)

Five Ways to Seek Grace in Your Life
FR. ED BROOM, OMV
n one occasion the great mystic, Saint Catherine of Siena, was granted a vision into the state of one soul imbued with sanctifying grace. Upon contemplating the beauty of this one soul in God’s grace, she fell to her knees. Enthralled and totally captivated by its beauty, she thought it was God Himself!
Of all of the gifts that we can receive on earth, as pilgrims travelling towards our eternal home, the grace of God is by far the greatest treasure. It is the pearl of infinite price!
Whereas the worldly and sensual pursue money, fame, power, and pleasure as their ultimate source of happiness (which really is a lie and illusion), God’s true friends pursue ardently and constantly to grow in grace. Another rather simple way to understand the life of grace is simply this: friendship with God. God desires ardently to be our Friend; however, He respects our freedom to accept Him.
The life of grace all starts in the moment that we receive the Sacrament of Baptism. The graces that flow from Baptism are extraordinary, almost mind-boggling—how good God really is. Once the water is poured on the head and the words: “I baptize you, In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, invisible but real miracles occur: an intimate relationship with the Blessed Trinity, the infusion of the theological virtues, moral virtues, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Still of paramount importance is the reality of Grace that permeates and imbues the soul in the moment of Baptism!
With the waters of Baptism we enter into a deep and intimate friendship with the Triune God and we become partakers of His divine nature—we become sons of God and have as inheritance—if we persevere in grace—heaven forever! For that reason the saints teach us: grace is the seed of eternal life.
Given that grace in our souls is the greatest gift and presence, we should do all in our power to preserve grace, grow in grace, so as to die in the state of grace. Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church and author of the classic Glories of Mary, states that the grace of all graces is to die in the state of grace. This should be our prayer every day for our souls, that of our loved one as well as for the whole world. Indeed Jesus came as universal Savior—to save the whole world through His Paschal mystery—His passion, death and Resurrection from the dead!
Then there are the two worse things in the universe are the following: 1) Committing a mortal sin (this indeed is terrible); 2) Worse still is dying in the state of mortal sin; this, of course results in an eternal separation from God for all eternity! May God save us from the reality of mortal sin. Nonetheless, if we do have the misfortune of falling into mortal sin, we should never give into despair. On the contrary, we should have a limitless confidence in God’s infinite mercy and have recourse to the wonderful Sacrament of God’s mercy that we call Confession! The Psalmist reminds us with these encouraging words: “God is slow to anger and rich in kindness.” Saint Paul reiterates the same theme: “Where sin abounds, the grace of God abounds all the more.”
Ways to Grow in the Grace of God
We should do all in our power to preserve God’s grace in our souls, but also to grow daily in God’s grace. God’s grace and His intimate Friendship in our soul are worth more than the whole created universe. The natural realm in which we live can never be compared to the supernatural realm in which we find the concept and reality of grace. As a fish swims in water, as a bird flies in the sky so should we be swimming and flying in the atmosphere of grace! This should be the most ardent desire of our hearts, mind and souls!

1. Prayer.
   Every time we pray with humility of heart, purity of intention and a desire to please God we immediately grow in grace. For that reason we should treasure prayer, our prayer life and the prayer life of others as the highest and greatest of all realities. Parents who teach their children to pray are the best of parents; parents who are slothful and negligent in the education of their children in the arena of prayer will have to give an account on the day of their judgment! Because of the numerous distractions of daily life, how easy it is for parents—who must be the first educators of their children—to be negligent and sloppy in teaching their children to pray! May God have mercy on us!
2. Charity.
   The Word of God teaches us this consoling truth: “Love covers a multitude of sins.” If we can find ways and opportunities that God offers us on a daily basis to practice charity and service or even alms-giving towards others then we have another means to augment grace in our souls. In the movie Little Boy , the little boy was given what the priest called the “Magic list” to accomplish so that his father would return home safe and sound from the World War. The magic list is nothing more than less than the corporal works of mercy listed in (Mt. 25:31-46) “ I was hungry and you gave me to eat; thirsty and you gave me to drink; a foreigner and you welcomed me; sick and in prison and you came to visit me; dead and you provided burial…” Beg the Holy Spirit in prayer which of these He is calling you to carry out in practice in your life so as to increase grace in your soul!
3. Penance.
   Jesus stated that some devils can be cast out only through prayer and fasting. The Lord also reminds us: “Anyone who wants to be my follower must renounce himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Every time we say “no” to our selfish desires and “yes” to a sacrifice that the Holy Spirit has inspired in our hearts then once again the grace of God rises in our hearts! An added blessing from God when we undertake a life of sacrifice is conquering our bad habits and interior peace of mind, heart and soul! Let us be generous with a God who loves us so much!
4. Sacraments: The Eucharist.
   Of course the greatest action in the whole universe is that of receiving the greatest of all Sacraments—The Eucharist! The Holy Eucharist, Holy Communion, is truly and substantially the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Receiving Our Lord with the best of dispositions, in grace, with faith, love, humility and desire for a deeper conversion to His love is an infinite source of grace because this Sacrament is God Himself! For this reason there is no greater action we can do as pilgrims and wayfarers on earth than to receive Jesus with lively faith, frequency and burning love! If you like a simple image, upon receiving Jesus with burning love the gas gauge in your spiritual tank (your soul) shoots up way beyond the full. Beg for the grace to have a daily hunger for the Bread of life so as to constantly skyrocket in grace—to penetrate the high heavens even while on earth! In the Our Father we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread…” Perhaps Jesus is challenging you to aim at daily Mass and daily Holy Communion so as to surmount the highest mountains in the realm of grace.
5. Our Lady: Hail Mary.
   On one occasion, the German mystic and saint, Saint Gertrude, saw Jesus in heaven. He was resplendent in glory, but He was doing an intriguing gesture: placing a golden coin on top of a huge mound of other gold coins. The saint was just finishing praying to our Lady the Hail Mary. Jesus responded in this manner. “Gertrude, every time you pray to my mother the
   Hail Mary with faith and devotion, I am depositing a Golden coin in heaven that will be yours for all eternity.” If we want to be multi-billionaires in heaven let us love Mary and the prayer that Mary loves so much— Hail Mary. In the Hail Mary we greet the Queen of Heaven and earth with these beautiful words: “Hail Mary, Full of Grace.”
   Therefore, let us get into the habit of praying the daily Rosary, with the beautiful prayer Hail Mary. If done, Our Lady, through her powerful intercession will be storing up for you infinite treasures and an eternal home in heaven! May we love grace, treasure grace, strive to grow in grace and finally die in grace through the intercession of Mary, the “Full of grace.”

What Christ’s Resurrection Tells Us About Our Own Future Resurrection
JAMES L. PAPANDREA
St. Paul begins his teaching on the resurrection body this way:
But some one will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
— 1 Cor. 15:35–36.
Ever the diplomat, Paul first calls the questioner a fool and then refers him back to Jesus and the metaphor of the grain of wheat. But notice that when Jesus used that metaphor, He was talking as much about His own Death and Resurrection as about the general resurrection of believers. In other words, if we want to know more about the resurrection and the spiritual body, we can look at Jesus’ resurrection body, and that will give us some clues about our own.
Beholding the Glory
In general, Jesus’ human life was a veiling of His glory, as He humbled Himself to take on true humanity (see Phil. 2:6–11). However, the apostles saw His glory in a very direct way on two occasions. One was the Transfiguration, and the other, of course, was His Resurrection.
We read in the Gospels that, on one occasion, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up to a mountainous place to pray. While they were there, they saw a momentary revelation of Jesus’ glory. He appeared to them to be emanating light, His face shining like the sun, and His garments as bright as light. They saw Him talking with Elijah and Moses, indicating that they were on holy ground.
This article is from the book What Really Happens After We Die . Click image to preview other chapters or to order your copy.
This was a foreshadowing of His resurrection body, but all it really tells us is that His body was luminous — that is, glorified. Because Jesus Christ is the one person in whom two natures are united — divinity united to humanity — His divine nature glorified His humanity so that, in reality, He didn’t need to wait for resurrection for His body to be glorified, since He was without sin and did not need salvation.
Clues About Our Future Body
Therefore, it is Jesus’ Resurrection that gives us the most clues about our own future resurrection body. This is not to say that we can assume that our spiritual bodies will be exactly like Jesus’ raised body in every way. We just don’t know that for sure. But it’s safe to assume that since He is “the first-born from the dead” (that is, the first to experience resurrection; Col. 1:18), and since His Resurrection makes ours possible, there must be some clues about our spiritual body in Jesus’ body after the Resurrection. Incidentally, this is why the Church has always insisted that Jesus was raised bodily.
But when we look at the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ Resurrection appearances, we often get conflicting messages. At first, the disciples don’t recognize Him (John 20:14–15; 21:4). In the beautiful account of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35; cf. Mark 16:12), these followers of Jesus listen to Him teach as they walk for miles on the road, but they don’t recognize Him until He breaks the bread. On the other hand, when Luke’s Gospel tells us that some disciples thought they were seeing a ghost, I take that to mean they did
recognize Him but, knowing He had died, assumed He was a ghost. This is not a statement about what He looked like, but an acknowledgment that they knew who He was.
On at least one occasion, He didn’t want to be touched (John 20:17), and He seemed to be able to walk through walls (John 20:19, 26, and possibly Luke 24:36). At other times, He could be touched, as disciples clung to His feet (Matt. 28:9), and He even encouraged them to touch Him to see that He was tangible. Finally, it’s not for nothing that the Gospel writers go out of their way to tell us that Jesus ate after His Resurrection (Luke 24:41–43; see John 21:12–13). Again, this was to emphasize that His Resurrection was not spiritual only, but also physical — that is, He rose bodily. He rose, not only with His body, but also with the wounds from His Passion (John 20:20).
St. Jerome on Bodily Resurrection
St. Jerome warns us not to take the miraculous nature of the post-Resurrection appearances as any evidence of an ethereal or phantasmal Jesus. He was raised with a solid body, Jerome assures us, and His ability to walk through walls or to inhibit people’s ability to recognize Him were functions of the same miraculous power that allowed Him to walk on water before His Passion (Letter 108, To Eustochium ).
St. Jerome answers those who want to see in the Gospels a spiritualized kind of Resurrection by referring to Jesus’ words in Luke 24:39: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Then Jerome comments: “You hear him speak of bones and flesh, of feet and hands; and yet you want to palm off on me the bubbles and airy nothings of which the Stoics rave!”
At this point, we should not assume that those aspects of Jesus’ post-Resurrection nature that we would consider miraculous (such as popping into a locked room) will apply to us in the resurrection life. What we can say is that we will be raised with a solid, tangible body, perfected beyond the reach of sickness or weakness, yet perhaps even retaining some scars from our experiences in this life.
Forty Days & Beyond
Jesus remained on earth, continuing His ministry in His resurrection body, for forty days. The apostles certainly saw and experienced more than they would later write about. So even though the Scriptures don’t give us a lot to go on so far, the fact that all of the apostles and the early Church Fathers insisted on the reality of a bodily resurrection of Jesus must mean something. This was not the wishful thinking of a bunch of dreamers. And it could not be a fabricated myth, since there were too many people around who were eyewitnesses to the truth.
At the end of that forty-day period, Jesus ascended to the Father. In other words, He transferred Himself to the spiritual realm. But He did not shed His humanity or slough off His body, like a snake shedding its skin. He entered the spiritual realm with His whole humanity intact, including His body. He exists to this day (and to eternity) with His two natures, divine and human, and His human body exists in the spiritual realm. This is why it’s called a spiritual body — because the resurrected body is made ready for the spiritual realm of the Kingdom of Heaven.
But Jesus did not leave us without access to His body here on earth. Every time we receive the Eucharist, we receive the Body and Blood of the Lord. And the Eucharist is not simply a memorial of something that happened 1,986 years ago. It’s something that continues to happen now, and continues to bless recipients with grace, because the Body and Blood of Jesus are present not only on the altar — they live even now at the right hand of the Father.
You see, all of this is connected. The body of Christ that hung on the Cross
is the body of Christ that rose from the tomb, is the body of Christ that ascended to the Father, and is the Body of Christ that is presented on the altar and that makes those who receive it into the Body of Christ, the Church. And this is why we bow and genuflect before the consecrated elements: we are not bowing to statues, icons, or symbols; we bow to the Real Presence of Christ in His Body and Blood, at the same time both here on earth and in the Kingdom of Heaven.

What Christ’s Resurrection Tells Us About Our Own Future Resurrection
JAMES L. PAPANDREA
St. Paul begins his teaching on the resurrection body this way:
But some one will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
— 1 Cor. 15:35–36.
Ever the diplomat, Paul first calls the questioner a fool and then refers him back to Jesus and the metaphor of the grain of wheat. But notice that when Jesus used that metaphor, He was talking as much about His own Death and Resurrection as about the general resurrection of believers. In other words, if we want to know more about the resurrection and the spiritual body, we can look at Jesus’ resurrection body, and that will give us some clues about our own.
Beholding the Glory
In general, Jesus’ human life was a veiling of His glory, as He humbled Himself to take on true humanity (see Phil. 2:6–11). However, the apostles saw His glory in a very direct way on two occasions. One was the Transfiguration, and the other, of course, was His Resurrection.
We read in the Gospels that, on one occasion, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up to a mountainous place to pray. While they were there, they saw a momentary revelation of Jesus’ glory. He appeared to them to be emanating light, His face shining like the sun, and His garments as bright as light. They saw Him talking with Elijah and Moses, indicating that they were on holy ground.
This article is from the book What Really Happens After We Die . Click image to preview other chapters or to order your copy.
This was a foreshadowing of His resurrection body, but all it really tells us is that His body was luminous — that is, glorified. Because Jesus Christ is the one person in whom two natures are united — divinity united to humanity — His divine nature glorified His humanity so that, in reality, He didn’t need to wait for resurrection for His body to be glorified, since He was without sin and did not need salvation.
Clues About Our Future Body
Therefore, it is Jesus’ Resurrection that gives us the most clues about our own future resurrection body. This is not to say that we can assume that our spiritual bodies will be exactly like Jesus’ raised body in every way. We just don’t know that for sure. But it’s safe to assume that since He is “the first-born from the dead” (that is, the first to experience resurrection; Col. 1:18), and since His Resurrection makes ours possible, there must be some clues about our spiritual body in Jesus’ body after the Resurrection. Incidentally, this is why the Church has always insisted that Jesus was raised bodily.
But when we look at the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ Resurrection appearances, we often get conflicting messages. At first, the disciples don’t recognize Him (John 20:14–15; 21:4). In the beautiful account of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35; cf. Mark 16:12), these followers of Jesus listen to Him teach as they walk for miles on the road, but they don’t recognize Him until He breaks the bread. On the other hand, when Luke’s Gospel tells us that some disciples thought they were seeing a ghost, I take that to mean they did
recognize Him but, knowing He had died, assumed He was a ghost. This is not a statement about what He looked like, but an acknowledgment that they knew who He was.
On at least one occasion, He didn’t want to be touched (John 20:17), and He seemed to be able to walk through walls (John 20:19, 26, and possibly Luke 24:36). At other times, He could be touched, as disciples clung to His feet (Matt. 28:9), and He even encouraged them to touch Him to see that He was tangible. Finally, it’s not for nothing that the Gospel writers go out of their way to tell us that Jesus ate after His Resurrection (Luke 24:41–43; see John 21:12–13). Again, this was to emphasize that His Resurrection was not spiritual only, but also physical — that is, He rose bodily. He rose, not only with His body, but also with the wounds from His Passion (John 20:20).
St. Jerome on Bodily Resurrection
St. Jerome warns us not to take the miraculous nature of the post-Resurrection appearances as any evidence of an ethereal or phantasmal Jesus. He was raised with a solid body, Jerome assures us, and His ability to walk through walls or to inhibit people’s ability to recognize Him were functions of the same miraculous power that allowed Him to walk on water before His Passion (Letter 108, To Eustochium ).
St. Jerome answers those who want to see in the Gospels a spiritualized kind of Resurrection by referring to Jesus’ words in Luke 24:39: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Then Jerome comments: “You hear him speak of bones and flesh, of feet and hands; and yet you want to palm off on me the bubbles and airy nothings of which the Stoics rave!”
At this point, we should not assume that those aspects of Jesus’ post-Resurrection nature that we would consider miraculous (such as popping into a locked room) will apply to us in the resurrection life. What we can say is that we will be raised with a solid, tangible body, perfected beyond the reach of sickness or weakness, yet perhaps even retaining some scars from our experiences in this life.
Forty Days & Beyond
Jesus remained on earth, continuing His ministry in His resurrection body, for forty days. The apostles certainly saw and experienced more than they would later write about. So even though the Scriptures don’t give us a lot to go on so far, the fact that all of the apostles and the early Church Fathers insisted on the reality of a bodily resurrection of Jesus must mean something. This was not the wishful thinking of a bunch of dreamers. And it could not be a fabricated myth, since there were too many people around who were eyewitnesses to the truth.
At the end of that forty-day period, Jesus ascended to the Father. In other words, He transferred Himself to the spiritual realm. But He did not shed His humanity or slough off His body, like a snake shedding its skin. He entered the spiritual realm with His whole humanity intact, including His body. He exists to this day (and to eternity) with His two natures, divine and human, and His human body exists in the spiritual realm. This is why it’s called a spiritual body — because the resurrected body is made ready for the spiritual realm of the Kingdom of Heaven.
But Jesus did not leave us without access to His body here on earth. Every time we receive the Eucharist, we receive the Body and Blood of the Lord. And the Eucharist is not simply a memorial of something that happened 1,986 years ago. It’s something that continues to happen now, and continues to bless recipients with grace, because the Body and Blood of Jesus are present not only on the altar — they live even now at the right hand of the Father.
You see, all of this is connected. The body of Christ that hung on the Cross
is the body of Christ that rose from the tomb, is the body of Christ that ascended to the Father, and is the Body of Christ that is presented on the altar and that makes those who receive it into the Body of Christ, the Church. And this is why we bow and genuflect before the consecrated elements: we are not bowing to statues, icons, or symbols; we bow to the Real Presence of Christ in His Body and Blood, at the same time both here on earth and in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Epiphany of the Lord Year A, January 5, 2019-“Walking in the light of His Star”Father Lawrence ObilorDaily Readings for MassINTRODUCTIONThe Greek word Epiphany (επιφάνεια) simply means appearance, or manifestation, or showing forth. Originally it was designated as the visit of a king to the people within his territory. But in its religious parlance, it refers to the revelation of God The Eternal King to his people. And today the Church affirms that this revelation is only made visible in the person of Jesus Christ, cutting across every single moment of his life. However, in line with the event of today, the Church commemorates:a) His revelation through the baptism at Jordan as the only Son of God (Mt 3:13-17)b) His revelation at the wedding in Cana of Galilee as a Miracle Worker (Jn 2:1-12)c) His revelation in the synagogue of Nazareth as the Messiah (Lk 4:16-21).FIRST READING: Isaiah 60:1-6For the chosen people, slavery and exile represented moments of darkness whereas their liberation was seen as a light. This is why in the Genesis account of the creation the author always concluded the narration of each day of creation with the phrase; “Evening came and morning came…” Thus Genesis is a narrative of one who had lived the experience of Exodus; the experience of God who liberates.Today the prophet Isaiah uses this same language to describe the people in Babylonian exile when he invites them to rise and shine for their light has come, in other words their salvation has come. He assures them that even though for a moment they have been in darkness, now they will shine in glory and will become a light through which other nations will see. And God will restore their glory to the point that kings of other nations will pay them tribute.This prophesy is a prefiguration of the birth of Christ, the Messiah who restored the glory of the people of God who were lost in the slavery of sin. And today, the magi (image of the people of all nations) paid him tribute. He has become their light and salvation.SECOND READING: Ephesians 3:2-3a.5-6In the second reading, St Paul explains God’s “secret plan” to the Ephesians.This plan is that through the coming of Christ, the Gentiles have been admitted as members of God’s family. There is no more Jews or Gentiles. There is no more second class citizens for all are now part of the body of Christ, the Church.GOSPEL: Matthew 2:1-12Based on the Matthew’s account of the visit of the Magi who offered gifts meant for kings to the new born child – that is, gold, frankincense and myrrh (Mt 2:11), they have generally been thought of as kings. But there is no clear indication that they were Kings. In fact a deeper study reveals that they were a caste of Persian priests who served Kings or babylonian astronomers who used their skills in interpreting dreams and watching movements of stars to discover the birthplace of Christ. But they were image of the different peoples and races (gentiles) whom God has revealed himself to. And the star which they saw and followed is the light of salvation (Christ) which Isaiah prophesied in the first reading.LIFE MESSAGE: FROM THE SCHOOL OF THE THREE WISE MEN!1 We cannot discover God if we do not make ourselves available for God to discover us. The wise men did not start their journey simply because they saw the star, rather they had already begun the journey in the spirit before his star came to guide their steps. In other words they were already disposed to make such a faith-filled journey. If our hearts are not open to the ways of God, no matter the number of times we hear the Gospel, receive the sacraments, or participate in spiritual gatherings, we cannot meet the Lord.2 To encounter the Lord, we must make a move. We must travel miles like the Magi. We must deny ourselves of some comforts. We must risk our lives. We must be ready even to leave our homelands and our families. In summary, we must be detached from things around us to make a preferential option for God. It is not an easy journey. It is purely a faith-filled encounter. Only those who are persevering will reach Bethlehem (image of God’s presence).3 We must be conscious that in our journey of discovering the Lord, we must meet with ‘Herods’. Here the term stands as any form of distraction that may come our way. More often than not, they come with convincing sweet words, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”a) Beware of ‘herods’! When they see that you are walking on the road of Faith, they want to pull you back. When they see that you are heading for success, they want to know the source of your progress, so that they also will come and worship it. By worship, Herod actually meant to come and destroy the child.b) Beware of ‘herods’! The magi did not last long in the home of Herod because in the spirit they had discovered that they were in a wrong place. Do not remain around and in the company of herods for long because they may end up destroying you. It is necessary to meet with ‘herods’ in your journey of Faith because it is a way to prove the authenticity of your Faith.c) Beware of ‘herods’! They are not your destination but a necessary means to your destination. When you meet them, be courageous enough to say, you herods, I cannot allow you to distract me, I must reach the ‘Eternal Bethlehem’ my destination. Bethlehem here represents our heavenly homeland where we will finally meet with our God. There, our joy will be full for those who persevered without submitting to the lure and distractions of the ‘herods’ of their life.4 Even though the scripture particularised the type of star that appeared to the wise men as ‘his star’, it did not in any way confuse it with the identity of whom they were searching for. In other words, the wise men understood they were searching for the king under the guidance of the star. Ordinarily as pagans, they would have taken the star to be God himself but they did not.Friends, we must understand that in our journey of Faith, persons, events, nature itself, and even the circumstances of our lives are means through which God communicates his presence. We should allow them to be a means of discovering God and never allow them to confuse our identity of God. In times past and even today, many people still worship nature due to their awful experience of some natural manifestations leading to what we call ‘naturalistic pantheism’ that is seeing God the same as nature. Inasmuch as nature, events and persons speak volumes about a supreme being and serve as means of God’s revelation of himself. Let our focus and adoration be God and nothing more.5 The three wise men persevered and were able to rediscover their star. Your light of Faith and success will in one moment or the other grow dim and almost invisible when you meet the ‘herods’ of your life. In other words when you wrestle with the challenges of this life. But know it that, as long as you are able to remain conscious of the reason why you have started your journey (like the wise men who still remembered their star) and he whom you are searching for (Jesus), you will surely make it to the end. Moments of darkness will not last forever, your star will surely reappear and you will rejoice like the wise men when they saw their star again. You will not just rejoice, but you will enter in to see the king whom you have been searching for and your joy will be complete.6 Finally, when the Magi finally met Jesus they returned through another road. When we truly encounter the Lord we cannot continue walking on in the same old way.PRAYERMay this feast of light chase away the darkness of our hearts, keep our eyes focused on His Star we saw during our baptism and place us on the right path in our journey to meeting our king, the Christ in the everyday of our life here on earth and in the ‘Eternal Bethlehem’ in heaven. Amen.

The Joyful Mysteries of the EucharistShare    Tom Hoopes | Sep 30, 2019In October, let’s pray the Rosary for an increase in faith in the Real Presence.his October, pray the Rosary every day to increase belief in the Eucharist.There are many reasons to pray the Rosary: St. John Paul II called for daily Rosaries for peace and for the family. Pope Francis asked for Rosaries to protect the Church from the devil.But St. Dominic was the first to call for Rosaries — to defeat the Albigensian heresy which, among other things, denied the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Let’s do the same.The Rosary is profoundly Eucharistic.You can hear echoes of the Eucharist throughout the Rosary. It is clearest in the Fifth Luminous Mystery, the Institution of the Eucharist, but it is everywhere, from the chalice in the Agony in the Garden to the Ascension promise, “Behold, I am with you always.”But I think the Joyful Mysteries help illuminate the Eucharist most of all.The First Joyful Mystery: The Eucharist and the Annunciation.The Church teaches that Jesus Christ is truly present, body, blood, soul and divinity, in the Eucharist. The host justlooks like bread — it has become the Body of Christ.People may find it difficult to believe that Jesus Christ, son of the Living God, would be present in such a plain, undifferentiated way. But sustained reflection on the Annunciation mystery — the moment Mary became pregnant with Jesus Christ — solves that problem.After all, the Annunciation is the moment that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” We can learn from Mary’s attitude what the moment of consecration should be like: Humble gratitude and awe.Read more: Who do you say that I am? The current crisis of belief in the EucharistThe Second Joyful Mystery: The Real Presence and the Visitation.Another problem people might have with the Eucharist is the simple question, Why? Why would Jesus Christ want us to consume him in Communion? It seems odd.AdvertisingBut the answer to that question is actually very profound: “The Eucharist makes the Church,” as the Catechism puts it. We receive the body of Christ so that we can become the Body of Christ, doing his work in the world.It couldn’t be clearer: We receive Jesus into our bodies, and then are dismissed out into the world to do his work.Mary is the supreme example of this. In her “ Visitation ” to Elizabeth, Jesus Christ inside her animated her efforts to serve her cousin, and her cousin recognized the Lord present in her.The Third Joyful Mystery: The Birth of Jesus and adoration.But the Eucharist is not just something we receive in Communion. We alsoadore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in our churches.AdvertisingThink of what it meant for shepherds to leave their flocks to adore an infant, or for the Magi to travel many miles to prostrate themselves before a baby’s crib. The very presence of Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, was enough to inspire grown men — and a host of angels —to gather around a sleeping baby. And his Real Presence in the sacrament is enough to gather us around the tabernacle today.The Fourth Joyful Mystery: The Presentation and the Temple of our Bodies.One of the earliest testimonies to the Eucharist is from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Paul recounts the Institution of the Eucharist and says it is vitally important to “discern the body” of Christ in Communion.Later on in that letter, he gives a good reason why we need to be so careful with the Eucharist: Our bodies are “temples of the Holy Spirit,” he says.The Fourth Joyful Mystery focuses on Mary and Joseph’s solemn Presentation of Jesus in the temple of Jerusalem. The care that they take to do what their faith prescribed is a good lesson for us: We need to bring Jesus into the temple of our own bodies with the same care .AdvertisingAnd once we do, we can have the same reaction Simeon had after his encounter with Jesus: “Now you may let your servant go in peace … for my eyes have seen your salvation.”The Fifth Joyful Mystery: Finding Jesus in the tabernacle.But of all the joyful mysteries, the one where I find the most Eucharistic meaning in is the Finding of the Temple. In the original story, Joseph and Mary lose their son and look for him first among their family, who are returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.They don’t find him there, so they go back and there he is , in the Temple, sharing his wisdom with the teachers there.This is a perfect analogy for what the Eucharist is for us. When we can’t find Jesus in our lives, there is one place we can always find him: In the tabernacle. There he waits, ready to ask and answer questions just as he did so many years ago.

Behold! The Eucharist is the Lamb of God!
( Faith Enrichment)
Description: In every Mass, we hear the presiding priest say the words of John the Baptist that are quoted in John 1:29-34: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Behold what? This leaflet explains the Holy Eucharist and the True Presence of Jesus that’s in all parts of the Mass. The priest isn’t showing us something that’s visible to our eyes. “Behold” means “Look with the vision of faith and see Jesus! He is here! Accept him! Worship him! Receive him!”
Preview
Ideas for use: Retreats, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, RCIA class , etc.

Heavenly Father, write Thy new, best name of Love upon our hearts this morning. Help us to remember Jesus Christ. During the busy hours bring Him often to our thought. When the mind is free from some set task may it revert to Him, as the needle turns to the pole. Keep us from wounding Him in thought or word. Make our communion with Him sweet. Give us of His strength, of His wisdom, of His winsomeness. Forgive the professions which have been but empty words. Forgive the sins which have brought a reproach upon Thy church. Forgive us if we have made it difficult to distinguish between the church and the world. Save us from the sin of despair. Light the lamp of hope in every heart. Fill us with the spirit of expectancy. Teach us that ruined lives may be rebuilt, and that in Christ is sufficiency for all our needs. We are thankful that Christ is the way to our Father’s house, that there is forgiveness for all, the bread of life for all, and a welcome. Cleanse us from the defilement of the way; blot out the memories of the far country; clothe us with the garment of righteousness, and give us the joy of knowing that Thou dost own us as Thy sons and daughters. Amen.