TRUST

In the days immediately following Jesus' death and resurrection, the apostles weren't quite sure what to do next, so they made their way back to their boats and went fishing. And they caught nothing until Jesus intervened and showed them where the fish were. The abundant catch they made then is legendary.

But this gospel is about something a lot more important than fish. The abundant catch is a metaphor for the abundance of God's gifts, most especially the gift of His friendship, which we call grace. And when exactly did they find that super-catch of fish? When they let the Lord, who sees all things clearly, guide them.

If we develop the habit of listening to the Lord who at every moment dwells within us, He will guide our hands and strengthen our hearts to know the good and to do it.

Trust that and listen.

Easter Sunday

Let there be light.


“…the LORD my God lightens my darkness.” - Ps. 18:28


Situation Explained
What’s your forecast look like this week? What’s the seven day outlook?
Are you having spiritually sunny days or spiritually dark days, these days?

...there are two types of darkness
Solution Offered
Something very simple but quite profound hit me in prayer recently: there are two types of darkness, God-made and manmade.

Let me offer an example. In the morning, my bedroom is dark, first because it is prior to sunrise but also because I have chosen to draw the shades and eliminate any trace of light from my room.

God brings light to the darkness in His time, but whether or not I allow that light in, and the amount of light I allow into my life and reality…that is my decision.

Sometimes we go through “dark times” in our lives, moments in which we can’t see or hear or feel God’s light. Sometimes those dark times are because in that moment God’s allowing the darkness, in time He will reveal His presence again. Those are the times of darkness that God permits – they are God made. We might grow cold or feel out of control, but God is very much in control, we just need to be patient to feel the warmth of His light, once again.

Sometimes, though, we go through “dark times” in our lives, dark times that are manmade. These are a result of our decisions, actions or pride. Times such as these, of difficulty or pain, suffering or anxiety are not a result of God’s plan but a result of our sin. We wind up in these kind of situations because we seek to be in control, to control “how much light we let into the room”. We draw the shades to our soul, diffusing and eventually expelling God’s light completely, until we are left out of controland sitting in the darkness: cold, lost and alone.

Sometimes we draw the shades to our soul quickly. Other times we draw them slowly, one blind at a time until we are left spiritually blind. We reject the light because it hurts our eyes. We gravitate to the darkness over time and slowly lose all perspective of what it’s like to live in the light. Again, for some people it’s gradual, for others it’s drastic…and for others, it’s a constant spiritual struggle, to live and to stay in the light.

So, how about you? Have you drawn the shades to your soul? Are you choosing to eliminate or control the amount of sunlight that enters your inner room, the Son’s light?

Ponder what God has to say about this tension between light and darkness, pray with me:


“God is light and in him is no darkness at all.” - 1 John 1:5

“For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.” - 1 Thes. 5:5

“He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still. But he who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” - 1 John 2:9-11

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” - John 1:5

“I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” - John 12:46


Scripture, in a sense, dilates the pupils of our souls. It opens our eyes wider in times of darkness and allows in more light, helping us to see more clearly as darkness encircles us. Prayer does the same thing.

One of the tools of the devil is to make you believe that your darkness is God made (the lie) instead of manmade (the truth), that way, we’re left wanting to blame God for the darkness rather than ourselves. Thus, we refuse to act and we are left, stuck and trapped in the darkness.

Ask yourself this day – how bright is your life?
If there is darkness, where is it coming from?

If it’s from God, don’t worry the sun will rise soon.
If it’s from you, stop what you’re doing, fall on your knees and rip open the shades to your soul. God is waiting to shower you with light.


Salvation Given
“…the LORD my God lightens my darkness.” - Ps. 18:28

Palm Sunday

Passion (Palm) Sunday

They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks across its back, and he sat on it. (Mark 11:7)
Reflection.
..His coming is a revelation, a radical, total revelation of God's holiness."Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory...". Precisely this Week which humanly speaking is filled to the brim with suffering, humiliation, despoliation, in a word, with the kenosis of God this Week contains the revelation of God's holiness, the culmination of world history. "Holy, Holy, Holy.... Hosanna in the highest"....
To embrace the Cross on this day, to pass it from hand to hand, is a very eloquent gesture. It is like saying: Lord, we do not want to stay with you only at the time of the "Hosannas", but with your help we want to accompany you on the way of the Cross as did Mary, your mother and ours, and the Apostle John. Yes, O Lord, because "You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68), and we have believed that precisely your Cross is the word of life, of eternal life!


Lenten Fact

According to the account of a fifth-century Spanish pilgrim to the Holy Land, Passion Sunday Mass was celebrated in Jerusalem at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. After this the people were invited to meet again in the afternoon at the Mount of Olives, in the Church of Eleona (the grotto of the Our Father). They then proceeded to the Church of the Ascension for a service consisting of hymns and antiphons, readings and prayers, where at five o'clock in the afternoon the Gospel of the palms was read and the procession set out for the city. The people responded to the antiphons with the acclamation, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord," as we say even today.

Lenten Action.

A diet of amoral and immoral programs can and will corrupt your values. Do you control the media you watch and listen to?.

Prayer

Lord, you have satisfied our hunger with this eucharistic food. The death of your Son gives us hope and strengthens our faith.
May his resurrection give us perseverance and lead us to salvation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Please if ya'll could....pray for me. I'm going to visit a community this weekend. That we may have safe travels and that I may be open to the Lord's call and voice. It's my first time ever visiting a NON active community so please pray for me! I will return sometime on Sunday. After I have regathered myself I'll post on my retreat! Thanks!

God Love You,

Allie

St. Wulfram

Although we do not have a record of Wulfram’s birth, it is thought that he died on March 20, 704. Wulfram’s father, Fulbert, was an officer in King Dagobert’s army and was able to provide a good education for Wulfram. As a young man, Wulfram was very devout and strived to live a holy life. He became a priest and his intention was to live a monastic life, but he was called to the Court of Theodoric III of Neustria.

In the year 682 he was consecrated Archbishop of Sens. For two years, he carried out his duties with zeal and great piety. In his compassion and concern for those who did not know Christ, he decided to leave his bishopric to go minister to them. After a brief retreat in Fontenelle, Wulfram, now a poor missionary priest, went to a place called Friseland. He knew there to be many idolaters in this area and he wanted to lead them all to Christ. He baptized many, delivering them from their terrible pagan ways which included human sacrifice.

In one incident, a man named Ovon was to be sacrificed and was hanged. Wulfram pleaded for the man’s life and finally the pagans agreed that if Ovon lived that he would be released and could worship Wulfram’s God and be Wulfram’s slave. Wulfram then went to an area alone to pray. Ovon had been hanging for two hours and was considered dead, however, the rope suddenly broke and he fell to the ground. He was alive and the pagans released him to Wulfram.

A son of King Radbod, seeing a miracle performed by Wulfram, decided to become a Christian and was instructed along with other catechumens. Just prior to being baptized, he asked where his deceased ancestors might be in the next world. When Wulfram replied that idolaters were consigned to hell, the prince changed his mind about being a Christian stating that he would rather spend the hereafter with those he loved. Later he had second thoughts and sent for St. Willebrord, to discuss a conversion to Christianity but before Willebrord could arrive, the prince died.

Wulfram retired to the Abbey of Fontenelle where he resided until his death.

Other Saints We Remember Today

St. Photina (1st Century), Samaritan Woman at the Well

Lessons

Saint Wulfram's relics were moved to Notre Dame at Abbeville in 1058. His feast day is celebrated on March 20.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we ask for the intercession of Saint Wulfram when we are dealing with those who are spiritually blind. Help us, Lord, to be good witnesses to the idol worshippers we encounter; those who prefer to store up worldly treasures with no thought or care about their eternal souls. May our words and deeds help convert their hearts. Amen.


St. Wulfram, Pray for us!

Devotion to St. Joseph is growing. And there are good reasons for it. Here is but one reason to love the man.

In God's plan to save the world, God wanted to be with us in the flesh. He wanted to save us through the "Word made flesh". As part of that plan, God designed a certain woman to be the one who, at the proper time, would bear His Son, provide Him with a human nature, give birth to Him, and raise Him up. That woman is Mary. God created her and equipped her with all the graces she needed for her particular mission to be the Mother of God.

So when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in Nazareth, announcing her calling to bear Jesus, God's plan for being with us and saving us in the flesh depended entirely on Mary's "yes". Although God had marvelously prepared and graced Mary for this moment, it nonetheless remained her free choice to heed the call. And because it was her free choice, we can truly say that at the moment of the annunciation, our salvation was in her hands. Without Mary's freely chosen "yes", God's plan for our salvation would have been ruined.

The same is true for St. Joseph, but not at the moment of the annunciation. Because God had decided to send His Son into the world as an infant, God was exposing his infant Son to all the murderous violence of this world. And according to Scripture, at one point the murderous violence of this world went from being a general threat to being aimed at Jesus in particular. Herod and his men set out to kill the infant messiah-king. Because of their murderous intent, the life and mission of Jesus was in real danger of being snuffed out early.

But God had foreseen all this. And so in advance He designed a certain man to be the one who, at the proper time, would come to the protection of the Child and His mother. That man is Joseph. God created him and equipped him with all the graces he would need for his particular mission to be the earthly Father of Jesus. As an example of such graces, one needs only to think of Joseph's many dreams and interpretations.

So when Joseph heard from the angel in the dream, "rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you" (Mt. 2:13), he was now in a situation similar to Mary at the annunciation. Although God had marvelously prepared and graced Joseph for this moment, it nonetheless remained Joseph's free choice to take action. It was his free choice to trust what he had heard in the dream. It was his free choice to heed the call to flee and to heed it immediately (Mt. 2:14 says he rose "by night" — as though on the very night he had the dream). It was his free choice to take his wife and newborn on a long, dangerous, and unplanned trip to a foreign land. And it was his free choice obediently to remain in Egypt while awaiting further notice from above. Because all of this was Joseph's free choice, we can truly say that so long as Herod lived and remained a threat to Jesus, our salvation was in Joseph's hands.

Whoever saves the King saves the kingdom. And St. Joseph saved the King.

For that, we all owe him an eternal weight of gratitude.

Br. James Brent, O.P.