Sunday Meditation: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Whenever September 14^th falls on a Sunday, it becomes the feast day of the Exultation of the Cross while still keeping count of the ordinal number counting.  It is still the 24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time but superseded by the feast day.  If you were not aware “Ordinary Time” does not mean it’s ordinary but that it is counted by ordinal numbers.  A proper definition of “exalt” is in order.  From Meriam-Websters:

 

Exalt

(transitive verb)

1: to raise in rank, power, or character

2: to elevate by praise or in estimation : glorify

3: obsolete : elate

4: to raise high : elevate

5: to enhance the activity of : intensify

 

I think we mean all five of those definitions by exalt, but perhaps “glorify” says it all.

 

With the Feast Day, we take a break from Gospel of Luke and turn to a well-known passage in John.

 

 

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

"No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

 

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

~Jn 3:13-17

 

Fr. Geoffrey Plant gives a detailed explanation of why the holiday and how it was established.

What was a symbol of terror was transformed into a symbol of love.

The pastoral homily is by someone I have not posted before, Fr. Mark Mary of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.  

We exalt the cross because it is the instrument of Jesus’s victory over death.

 

Sunday Meditation: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

 

For the hymn, let’s go with Dan Schutte’s “Glory of the Cross.”

 

 

Let us ever glory in the cross of Christ,

our salvation and our hope.

Let us bow in homage to the Lord of Life,

who was broken to make us whole.

There is no greater love, as blessed as this:

to lay down one’s life for a friend.

Let us ever glory in the cross of Christ

and the triumph of God’s great love.

 

 

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You, because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.

 

Sunday Meditation: The Cost of Discipleship

So last week the gist of Jesus’s message was a disciple’s need to have humility.  Perhaps that wasn’t very shocking.  Today, on the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus, in His sermon on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, stuns the journeying crowd: you must hate mother, father, family, and everything to follow Him.  We know this is hyperbole, but I suspect it’s because the great crowds following and probably pressing up against Him that causes Him to reach for a sensational metaphor. 

 

 

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?

Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say,

‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’

Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?  But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.

In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” 

~Lk 14:25-33

 

I hadn’t found a homily from Fr. Terrance Chartier of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate in quite a while.  He’s one of my favorite homilists.  He doesn’t disappoint.

I love the way Fr. Terrance links Jesus’s hyperbole to Old Testament examples, showing the continuity between Old and New.  But of even more importance I think is Fr. Terrance’s pointing out that you can’t really love your family as you should until you have prioritized love for God first.  Jesus is the source.  One flows to the other.  Praise be Jesus, and don’t forget our Blessed Mother’s birthday tomorrow.

Jeff Cavins provides a solid pastoral homily on this difficult passage.

No, don’t hate mom and dad.  But you need to count the cost of discipleship.  That is why Jesus provides the builder and war general illustrations.

 

Sunday Meditation: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

 

I absolutely love this Christian hymn, “All for Jesus.”  I don’t know who sings it, but it’s lovely.

 

Let my hands perform His bidding,

Let my feet run in His ways;

Let my eyes see Jesus only,

Let my lips speak forth His praise.

Sunday Meditation: Humility

You might think it strange that I titled this Sunday’s meditation “Humility.”  The reading for Year C’s Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time highlights pride.  I hope by the time you have gone through today’s homilies you see how it’s fitting.

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully.

He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.

"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor.

A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, 'Give your place to this man,' and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place.

Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say,

'My friend, move up to a higher position.'

Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table.

For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Then he said to the host who invited him,

"When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.

Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.

For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." 

~Lk 14:1, 7-14

 

Bishop Robert Barron gives a great sermon on why the only winner in life is the one who does not play the game of pride.

And the opposite of pride is humility, the word derived from “humus” or soil.  You will be infinitely happier!

This was just a brilliant pastoral homily by Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger of Detroit, Michigan. 

Remember you are dust and into dirt you shall return.  I had to listen to that more than once.  How important can you be if you one day will return to humus?

 

Sunday Meditation: "For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous”

 

Let’s close with a soul searching “Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord” by John Michael Talbot.

 

Personal Note: Rosie Turns Eleven

Rosie, our Black Lab, turned eleven years old a couple of weeks ago, and I did not get a chance to post anything until now.  Rosie has slowed down.  She has these spongy lumps and nodules throughout her body, and I’m afraid one of these days one of them will turn deadly.  She’s reached that age.  On the positive side she has not any of those epileptic episodes I mentioned on her tenth birthday.  She had that one in July of 2024 and one in December of 2024 which I never mentioned.  But nothing since, and if they were a result of brain cancer I would think that it would have really manifested itself eight months later.  She is arthritic and has a hard time going up and down stairs, but she still walks with me.  I just don’t push her as much.  I really should take her to the vet for the arthritis.  They have some pills that could help her.

If you click on the “Rosie” tag at the bottom of this post it will pull up Rosie posts through the years.

Here is a little video I took a few days before her birthday of her sniffing out a field.  She is the sniffiest dog I have ever had.  She could literally sniff every inch of that field.  They say that dogs sniffing is akin to humans reading the newspapers.  If that is true, Rosie reads a Homeric epic every time I take her to a field.

 

Here is a picture from earlier this year of Rosie and Tiger on the couch together.

Lord, I pray she makes it to twelve.  St. Francis of Assisi, St. Martin de Porres, and St. Guy of Anderlecht pray for Rosie.

Sunday Meditation: Getting Through the Narrow Gate

While on the road to Jerusalem on the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, Jesus is asked a question very much like the one He was asked five weeks ago on the Fifteenth Sunday. Then a scholar of the law asked Jesus what must he do to be saved?  Today’s Gospel may be a follow up question given how related it is.  Someone today asked Him, "Lord, will only a few people be saved?"  Perhaps the sermon that Jesus provided in the intervening weeks led this person today to wonder if many can be saved since Jesus’s teaching strikes one as daunting. 

 

Jesus passed through towns and villages,

teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.

Someone asked him,

"Lord, will only a few people be saved?"

He answered them,

"Strive to enter through the narrow gate,

for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter

but will not be strong enough.

After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,

then will you stand outside knocking and saying,

'Lord, open the door for us.'

He will say to you in reply,

'I do not know where you are from.

And you will say,

'We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.'

Then he will say to you,

'I do not know where you are from.

Depart from me, all you evildoers!'

And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth

when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

and all the prophets in the kingdom of God

and you yourselves cast out.

And people will come from the east and the west

and from the north and the south

and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.

For behold, some are last who will be first,

and some are first who will be last." 

~Lk 13:22-30

 

Dr. Brant Pitre shows how this question was on the minds of many in Israel in Jesus’ day.

Do not be a stranger to Jesus.  Do love Jesus is to want to do His will.  Who is strong enough to enter that door?  No one.  You can only enter through God’s grace.

Now if you search the homilies, you will probably get an overwhelming majority that preaches on the dangers of being one of those who cannot enter through the narrow door.  And I had lined up any number of them to choose as the pastoral homily.  Until I came across this from Bishop Barron from three years ago.  Keep in mind that Bishop Barron has been excoriated for believing that it is possible that all will be saved.

“Hope is not based on human accomplishment.  Hope is based on what God has accomplished in Christ.”  I am sympathetic to Bishop Barron’s view.  But don’t take it for granted.  Work to enter through the narrow door.

 

 

Sunday Meditation: "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.”

 

 

How about this very lovely “Walk and Follow Jesus” by John Michael Talbot.

 

Oh that is so lovely.

Sunday Meditation: Setting the World Ablaze

In the Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C, Jesus continues His sermon that has run in Chapter 12 of Luke’s Gospel with an enigmatic, if not paradoxical, statement.

 

Jesus said to his disciples:

"I have come to set the earth on fire,

and how I wish it were already blazing!

There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,

and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division.

From now on a household of five will be divided,

three against two and two against three;

a father will be divided against his son

and a son against his father,

a mother against her daughter

and a daughter against her mother,

a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."  

~Lk 12:49-53

 

What fire is Jesus talking about?  What division will be brought about?  Fr. Geoffrey provides a great explanation for answers to both questions. 

 

I think the division Christ will bring is self explanatory.  Setting the world ablaze is more difficult.  Here is that that quote from Malachi 3:1-3

Now I am sending my messenger—he will prepare the way before me; And the lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple; The messenger of the covenant whom you desire—see, he is coming! says the LORD of hosts.  But who can endure the day of his coming?  Who can stand firm when he appears?  For he will be like a refiner’s fire, like fullers’ lye.  He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the Levites, Refining them like gold or silver, that they may bring offerings to the LORD in righteousness.

Purification!  Christ is the fulfillment of the purifying messenger God will send.

Cardinal Blasé Cupich has an interesting pastoral take on this passage, a prophetic gift of the spirit. 

This reminds me of the Protestant pastor and theologian, Dr. Walter Brueggemann, who wrote a work I admire that runs along these lines, The Prophetic Imagination.  I had a post on Dr. Brueggemann’s passing.  Cardinal Cupich’s point is that when we speak in our families with prophetic voice on hard issues, the division that comes with justice is likely.

 

 

Sunday Meditation: "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!”

 

 

Here is a new song by Ben Walther, “Ablaze,” inspired by the St. Catherine of Siena quote, “Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”

 

Oh I like that.  I was thinking of my beloved St. Catherine when I read Jesus’s statement in today’s Gospel.  Now if you want to hear Ben Walther speak about this song, he was interviewed by a wonderful Catholic song writer herself, Sarah Hart.  Check it out.  

 

Ablaze by Ben Walther

 

“By his grace we are conceived to be mercy, to be peace, to be light amidst the darkness. In his image we are made, to be brilliant, to be great, to present the world his likeness,

 

Let’s set the world on fire, let’s raise his banner higher. Let’s set a broken world ablaze. Oh. Let’s hear a generation proclaiming his salvation with every breath and endless praise; and set the world ablaze.

 

All aflame but not consumed, we are burning with the truth, for his presence makes us holy, fanning flickering to flame till his love is what remains; for to him belongs all glory.

 

Let’s set the world on fire, let’s raise his banner higher. Let’s set a broken world ablaze. Oh. Let’s hear a generation proclaiming his salvation with every breath and endless praise; and set the world ablaze.

 

Set the world ablaze.”

 

Anyone that honors St. Catherine of Siena, has a special place in my heart.  I will have to look for more of Ben Walther’s music.

 

Meditation on the Feast of the Assumption: The New Ark

This has been a different Feast of the Assumption than normal for me.  About ten days ago I noticed that my mother’s pulse oximeter was reading a resting pulse in the 120’s.  She had not been feeling well for a while, and I was stumped as to why.  My first thought was that there was something wrong with the oximeter.  So I took out the blood pressure machine and measured her pressure, and there too the pulse was wildly high.  I did it a number of times to convince myself that it was true.  Her resting pulse was ranging from 105 to 125, and never slowing down.  I called the pacemaker doctor and made an appointment for weeks out.  He also had me activate a machine that communicates with the pacemaker and then sends the data back to office.  Later that day I received a call from their technician to pull up the appointment to the nearest opportunity.  That nearest opportunity was two days later.

That appointment was last week.  After interrogating the pacemaker, he found that my mother had been in A-Fib for three weeks, and there was no sign of it correcting.  He scheduled an Electrical Cardioversion procedure.  Someone described it to me as if stopping the heart and zapping it back up.  I don’t know if that is quite true, but they do zap the heart with electricity.  That procedure was scheduled and performed today, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  I thought it quite coincidental that my mother might actually be dead for a second and brought back to life on the bodily assumption of Christ’s mother. 

It all went well.  She came right out and her pulse was a steady 70, and has been since the procedure.  Let us meditate on the Assumption.  First, today’s Gospel reading.

 

 

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,

“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,

and 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 forever.”

 

Mary remained with her about three months

and then returned to her home.  

~Lk 1:39-56

 

That is one of my favorite passages in Luke.  Dr. Scott Hahn beautifully explains the Biblical basis for the Assumption of Mary. 

 

The Blessed Mother, carrying Jesus in her womb, is the new Ark of the Covenant!

 

Meditation: “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

 

For the hymn, let’s go with the lovely “Immaculate Mary.”

 

Let me take this moment to thank God for today’s outcome with my mother’s procedure.  And to thank all my friends who helped pray with me for this outcome.