John 5:19-30

 
Why did Jesus do it?  He could have gone back to Galilee and prolonged his productive ministry.  Even if he had celebrated Passover in Jerusalem that year he could have slipped away as he had several times before when the authorities were out to get him.  Instead, Jesus stayed at Jerusalem and hung around in his favorite place in the olive orchard where Judas and the temple guard would be sure to find him. Why?  Weeks before Jesus told his disciples the deep purpose of his life, to do the will of his Father in heaven. Like his step father Joseph and his mother Mary before him, Jesus listened to his Father’s will, and did it. But more than merely human obedience compelled Jesus to live into his Passion and to die upon a cross for our salvation: .As the Son of God who was the Son of Man, Christ Jesus took up his cross and on purpose carried it to his own crucifixion to proclaim once and for all that human beings are designed to become beloved sons and daughters of our heavenly Father – and so are designed to do God’s will just as Jesus did.  Is my life too purpose-full of the agendas of the world, the flesh and the devil? Or is it perhaps too purpose-less having given up on faith to inform me of God’s Love and Mercy directed at me?  Or will I, like Christ Jesus align my thoughts, words, and actions so uncompromisingly to the will of  God that I , like Christ, simply
“trust and obey’ the will of Father God? Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus, align the purpose of my heart with yours. 
 
The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doing. The Lord is near to all who call on him in truth.   (Psalm 145: 17 & 18)
 
The Spirit comes gently and makes himself known by his fragrance.  He is not felt as a burden because God is light, very light.  Rays of light and knowledge stream before him as the Spirit approaches.  The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen and console
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
 
A Blessed, Holy and Happy Easter season to you and your family. May you evermore align your heart
with the will of God, as Jesus did!  
Allelulia! Even when all looked like death, it was really Life!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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John 5:16-30

 
Who knows the full will of God?  No human being on earth. Only Jesus sought perfectly to live into the perfect will of God –and was stretched on a cross for doing so, only to rise again on the third day. We do have indications of God’s will in holy scriptures, that is, in the B.I.B.L.E. –Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. “Come all you who thirst, Come to the living waters.” God said through Isaiah. “Seek the Lord while he can be found. Call upon him while he is near,“ counsels the Psalmist. “Seek first the Kingdom of heaven and his righteousness,” said Jesus, who also counsels us to “Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden,” and “Do this in remembrance of me.” I realize that undoubtedly when I choose God’s way, that is Jesus’ way, of learning, loving, and living, I enter into the realm of the Holy Spirit of God, the holy place of forgiveness, mercy, courage, purity, faithfulness and all the facets of fulfilled being. So what am I seeking? Am I seeking to find ways to do my own will and then stamp it with “grace”?  Or will I, like Jesus at all times in his life, seek the will of God –by prayerful consideration of the Holy Writ and making a choice to walk with Jesus –and do it?  Holy Spirit of God help me seek to do your will, not mine.    
 
The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doing. The Lord is near to all who call on him in truth.   (Psalm 145: 17 & 18)
 
“Prayer is as necessary as the air, as the blood in our bodies, as anything to keep us alive –to keep us alive to the grace of God.”
Saint Teresa of Kalcutta
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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Ezekiel 47: 1-12, Ephesians 2: 4-10

 
Perhaps the river of God’ mercy and grace is counter-intuitive for humankind, starting out as a trickle and quickly becoming a deep river of purifying water, but it is nonetheless life giving. To everyone who takes time to walk along the banks of God’s river of mercy and grace, and chooses to eat the ripe fruit on the branches of the trees on its banks and to apply their healing leave to the wounds of heart, mind and spirit, it is the best nourishment and medicine in the world And for everyone who takes at dip in its waters, it is not only refreshing, but purifying. This was the mercy Christ Jesus engaged throughout his Passion and Resurrection. This is the mercy he extended to every man, woman and child by his obedient suffering and rising again. This is the grace by which I – by which we – have been saved.  Will I walk through life unaware of the river of life just beyond the trials and troubles of this life? Or will I take time through prayer and meditation to walk along the banks of the river of God’s mercy and to immerse myself in its healing and cleansing waters?  Holy Spirit of God make me alive, together with Christ Jesus, for it is by grace that I have been saved.   
 
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea.     (Psalm 46:1-2)
 
“Prayer is as necessary as the air, as the blood in our bodies, as anything to keep us alive-to keep us alive to the grace of God.”
Saint Teresa of Kalcutta
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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2 Corinthians 12:7-10 & Luke 11:14 -23

 
Jesus’ parable of a man hiring a guard for his house was his answer to those who accused him of being in league with Satan. Jesus was not a fallen angel who had a stiff neck and turned his back on the Lord. But Jesus was a “Holy One” – the Holy One – who know what it was to listen to the Lord God and knew the power of his Father’s Grace. When Jesus was crucified at Golgatha as one who was ‘in league with Beelzabub’ Jesus did not put his trust in good spirits, or in the evil spirits as his accusers falsely claimed –Jesus didn’t need to hire anyone to guard him. Instead he trusted in his Father’s purpose and power without compromise and trustingly faced his Father throughout his passion without turning. He trusted that this Father’s Grace was sufficient to raise him from the tomb of earthly anguish and evil, to live again. Will I, like our Lord Jesus Christ, St. Paul and all martyrs of Faith, learn how God’s Grace is always sufficient? Holy Spirit of God teach me how your Grace is sufficient for me.
 
O Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker! For his is our God, and we are the People of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. O today do not harden your hearts!    (Psalm 95:7-8 )
 
Be attentive to the voice of Grace!
St, Elisabeth Ann Seton
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 

www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+5%3A1-15&version=NIV
 
2 Kings 5:1-15
 
Like leprosy of the body, seeds of sin silently enter my soul through cuts and bruises that have compromised the ‘skin’ of my being. Traumas of all kinds can leave wounds in our hearts and minds that are particularly susceptible to the nerve-destroying disease, that eventually numbs all senses and extremities, and finally destroys the integrity of one’s being, - as a son or daughter of God. Naaman, the Syrian commander contracted leprosy of the body, and was greatly offended when the God-man Elisha sent his servant to tell him to wash in the Jordon River seven times. How could something so simple as washing work? But encouraged by his servants to humbly follow the Prophet’s guidance, Naaman swallowed his pride and did as he was told. As he simply dipped himself seven times in the quiet splashing of the waters of the Jordan, his mind was cleansed of his self-righteousness, his heart was aligned with the purity of the holy, his soul was healed of its hopelessness and despair and his skin that harbored the spots of leprosy was made whole again. During these 40 days of Lent, we will do well to notice the spots of the leprosy of sin that have invaded, and numbed, the ‘skin’ of our souls through the wounds and wonders of this life. Like Naaman, we will do well to seek out the Holy remedies of God (Repentance, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and fasting and penance) and humbly wash ourselves in them – ‘seven times’, that is repeatedly.  Then we will be able to rejoice with all God’s people on earth at Easter, that by the wounds of the crucified Christ we are healed, and by his rising from tomb, we are raised to life again. Will I, like Naaman, notice my maladies, seek out the wisdom of following Jesus, and ‘seven times’ wash away the leprosy of sin in the rivers of God’s Grace?  Holy Spirit of God help me wash away the leprosy of sin in the rivers of God’s mercy.
 
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.   (Psalm 50:16,23)
 
Wash me more and more from my sins, and cleanse me from all unrighteousness… Wash me, O God, and I shall be whiter than snow.
King David, Psalm 51
 
For a discussion of ‘leprosy of the soul’, see Dr. Paul Brand’s book, written with Philip Yancey, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca