Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.

"I believe that in each generation God has called enough men and women to evangelize all the yet unreached tribes of the earth. It is not God who does not call. It is man who will not respond!" - Isobel Kuhn, missionary to China and Thailand

Gospel Text: (LK 1:39-56)

Mary set out

and traveled to the hill country in haste

to a town of Judah,

where she entered the house of Zechariah

and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,

the infant leaped in her womb,

and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,

cried out in a loud voice and said,

"Most blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And how does this happen to me,

that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,

the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

Blessed are you who believed

that what was spoken to you by the Lord

would be fulfilled."

And Mary said:

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever."

Mary remained with her about three months

and then returned to her home.

Mary, as the first disciple, in many ways prefigures all the disciples who will follow – those who traveled, mostly on foot, throughout the world to spread the gospel and proclaim the good news. Like those apostles, Mary was a missionary – the first missionary, a woman who traveled and carried Christ to the world.

In today’s gospel, we see her, literally, bringing Jesus to another, as she carries him in her womb and goes to her cousin and speaks the words any missionary might pronounce – words which are the very essence of The Good News, and the beginning of all belief:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.”

We can only imagine what other travels she took in the course of her life … but we can’t forget one in particular, the most difficult of all, as she followed her son on HIS journey to Calvary…

…Her life is closely entwined with ours. All of us, like Mary, are on a journey. All of us are traveling to places we may not understand, to destinations we cannot see. This is life. But we ask Mary to help guide us on our way.

The road is long. The journey isn’t easy. We pray to have the trust in God that we need to travel whatever road we must take – just as Mary did.

And we pray, too, that one day our journeying will lead us to meet her face to face – in that place prepared for her, that destination that became her home, and where she waits for us, with a mother’s love and a mother’s hope.

If you don't decide what your life is about, it defaults to what you spend your days doing.

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. ~ George Bernard Shaw: (1856  -  1950: was an Irish playwright)

Gospel Text: (JN 17:1-11A)

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,

"Father, the hour has come.

Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,

just as you gave him authority over all people,

so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.

Now this is eternal life,

that they should know you, the only true God,

and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

I glorified you on earth

by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.

Now glorify me, Father, with you,

with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

"I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.

They belonged to you, and you gave them to me,

and they have kept your word.

Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,

because the words you gave to me I have given to them,

and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you,

and they have believed that you sent me.

I pray for them.

I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,

because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours

and everything of yours is mine,

and I have been glorified in them.

And now I will no longer be in the world,

but they are in the world, while I am coming to you."

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus speaks candidly to His Father about the mission He was given and how He had fulfilled that mission. What is it, though, that Jesus accomplished? He was a failure in the eyes of the world. It takes eyes of faith to see anything worth imitating in Christ Jesus. The sort of vision that sees in Jesus a Messiah, a Savior, is the vision that we acquire only slowly in life, and which along the way we might even lose at times.

Yet with those eyes of faith we can see that each of us has been given a mission in Christ. In various ways, we are to proclaim the good news of salvation to others. We hear much on the news of violence and despair in the world as the media portrays it in every form. It clouds the vision that Jesus wants us to have: that suffering and death do not have to have the last say in our lives.

How has the resurrection changed our lives? Coming to the end of this year’s celebration of Lent, the Sacred Triduum and Easter, are we more determined to live the message of Jesus? Are we more aware that he lives not only for us but in us? And will we make the necessary changes in our lives to mirror the life of Jesus?

The Catholic Church as outlived every major Empire….Think Twice!

The Church has ever proved indestructible. Her persecutors have failed to destroy her; in fact, it was during times of persecution that the Church grew more and more; while the persecutors themselves, and those whom the Church would destroy, are the very ones who came to nothing.  . . .Again, errors have assailed her; but in fact, the greater the number of errors that have arisen, the more has the truth been made manifest. . . . Nor has the Church failed before the assaults of demons: for she is like a tower of refuge to all who fight against the Devil. - St. Thomas Aquinas: (1225 – 1274: was an Italian Dominican friar, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church)

Gospel Text: (JN 16:29-33)

The disciples said to Jesus,

"Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech.

Now we realize that you know everything

and that you do not need to have anyone question you.

Because of this we believe that you came from God."

Jesus answered them, "Do you believe now?

Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived

when each of you will be scattered to his own home

and you will leave me alone.

But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.

In the world you will have trouble,

but take courage, I have conquered the world."

In 1999 I ran the Philadelphia marathon.  While participating in this great event I noticed that some struggled, some walked, some shuffled, some ran slow, some ran fast.  But while only one person was first, everyone was a winner.  Running such a race, 26.2 miles,  is a success for all the runners which includes benefits that far outweigh the difficult struggle they endured – strong lungs, strong heart, better overall health.  The struggle was short, but the benefit is long.

It occurred to me that the race we all run for Christ has benefits that outweigh the struggles we endure in our daily lives – eternal life with Jesus.  If we keep today’s Gospel lesson in mind, we know that we 'will have trouble', but are encouraged that He has 'conquered the world.'

Keep running!

God is not one who is far away, nor is he eager to punish us for our failures. No, He is a Father who loves us more than we could ask to be loved. God, the creator of the universe, the one who made all things out of nothing, loves us. He wants to care for us, share His divine life with us, and bring us to a perfect union with Him for all eternity. We know with our mind that God loves us, but we must also be convinced in our hearts so that we can respond to His great love.

“The child asks of the Father whom he knows. Thus, the essence of Christian prayer is not general adoration, but definite, concrete petition. The right way to approach God is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the heart of a Father.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Excerpt from his book “The Cost of Discipleship”

Gospel Text: (JN 16:23B-28)

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Amen, amen, I say to you,

whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

Until now you have not asked anything in my name;

ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

"I have told you this in figures of speech.

The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures

but I will tell you clearly about the Father.

On that day you will ask in my name,

and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you.

For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me

and have come to believe that I came from God.

I came from the Father and have come into the world.

Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father."

As Jesus prepared to leave his disciples and return to the Father, He wrapped up his teachings.  He gave his final lecture.  Jesus removed the figures of speech and summarized his key point one last time before leaving earth.  I see today’s Gospel as John’s notes from Jesus’s final lecture – Jesus tells his disciples – this is important, here is the take home message – don’t forget…

Jesus tells his disciples without veils – I am divine.

We tend to humanize Jesus in many ways.  We think of Jesus as a teacher, carpenter, son, fisherman, and friend.  In his final lesson – Jesus tells his disciples clearly of his divinity.  He tells them he existed in heaven, he came down to earth, and now he returns to heaven.  The take home lesson, the lesson we are supposed to be sure we understand and remember is that Jesus is truly God who for a time became man.