Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories

From Israeli National News

On Monday, Pope Francis extended his wishes to Rome’s chief rabbi and Jews worldwide in a gesture aimed at strengthening relations between the two religions, as the Jewish world marks the beginning of the holiday of Passover.

In his message to Rabbi Riccardo di Segni, the pope said he hoped “that the Almighty, who freed his people from slavery in Egypt by guiding them to the Holy Land, continues to free them from all evil and accompany them with his blessing.”

“I ask you to pray for me, as I assure you my prayer, confident of being able to deepen the bonds of mutual respect and friendship,” he said in the statement made public by Rome’s Jewish community.

Please join us as we add our prayers to the Pope’s. May God Almighty “form us, and set us as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness” (Is 42:6-7).

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”  Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times. (John 13:31-38)

We were excited to be a part of this year’s Bilingual Discernment Retreat hosted by the Diocese of Tucson on Saturday, March 16.

The day-long event offered prayer, quiet reflection and exploration to discern more about God’s plan in the lives of the 16 women who attended.

Comments shared by attendees included, “What I liked most about this retreat was that it helped me open my eyes more and follow my dreams with the help of God;” “The call to open our hearts to the calling of the Lord means a lot;” and “This experience has been a day to remember. It has helped me see another life that I never really learned about.”

Benedictine Sister Lupita Barajas, OSB, vocation director at our Tucson monastery who helped plan the event, shared her gratitude to fellow religious Sisters who helped coordinate the event: Sister Gladys Echenique, OP, Sister Lucy Nigh, SSND, Sister Eileen Mahoney, CSA, Sister Judy Bourg, SSND, Sister Graciela Garcia, CFMM, Sister Christine Garcia, SSND, Sister Rosemary Sampon, MMS and Sister Ellen Pachmayer, OSF.

Entry of Christ in Jerusalem by Pietro Lorenzetti (1320 AD)

Do you think about what life would be like if we knew what would happen next week, next year, at the end of our lives?

It is like people who read the end of a suspense or mystery novel to see how things turn out before going back to the beginning of the story. Seems to me like putting the cart before the horse.

What about the growing wisdom of Jesus as he began his ministry? Did he know, without a shadow of doubt, that he would die a cruel and painful death?

Did he know that a cross was waiting for him? In Luke’s 19^th chapter, Jesus is called Master and King (19: 34, 38). Those who knew Jesus knew him to be Master and to be King and also knew that he would have to suffer greatly because of them (Lk 15: 22). Followers were also told they too would suffer because of their witness to the Truth (Lk 21: 12). The choices for his disciples were many, but one thing they could not choose was a trouble-free life or dying peacefully. Martyrdom awaited them all except John.

A question to ask yourself is this: are you willing to suffer for your faith in Christ Jesus? Are you willing to be an outcast, a nobody in society because of your convictions in Jesus’s truth? Are you willing to be hated and scorned for the sake of love; to stay by Jesus’s side as a believer even if it means being ridiculed, beaten or killed? Are you willing to take the weight of sin upon your shoulders and turn it into loving forgiveness and reconciliation that allows humans entrance into and friendship with the Trinity? This is the journey’s end; the cross is just the one point of reference.

Let us praise and glorify Jesus for his love of the Father and of each of us. Jesus is the Savior of the world. All we have to do is let him guide us to follow in his steps, sometimes difficult, always redeeming.

Today we honor the Solemnity of St. Joseph, patron saint of the universal Church, Christ’s adopted father, a man of faith who was obedient to God.

“St. Joseph, patron saint of the universal Church, please watch over our world as carefully as you watched over Jesus, help protect us and guide us as you did your adopted son. Amen.”

Have you listened to the radio and heard an announcement that they were conducting a test of the national emergency broadcasting system?  If you are a frequent listener, you have heard this again and again. Fortunately, most of the time there is no emergency.

In today’s gospel, the Pharisees test Jesus to see if his theology is truly orthodox. They broadcast the sins of a woman and are ready to stone her to death, the punishment for her sinful actions.  There seems to be no thought of repentance or forgiveness, no plan to bring the fallen woman back into God’s grace.  They deemed her un-savable and wanted to mete out what they considered God’s punishment.  Jesus’s unorthodox reaction and interaction showed the self-righteous men that God can work with anyone and through any circumstance, even one as undignified as this. All we need to do is test our assumptions and listen for the Just One to speak in our hearts.

How often do we listen to God?  How does the Almighty Creator grab our attention?  It is so easy to turn off the voice or change the channel so that we can stay just as we are and not make the changes that are necessary.  God does use announcers at times to broadcast the message of the Good News. However, most of the time, the Lord is much more subtle. In fact, God does most things quietly, only heard in the soul or felt in the heart as is portrayed in the story by the men leaving one by one. Jesus does not say a word, he only bends down and writes in the sand.

God tells us that love is ours, that life-giving merciful and eternal love is for our choosing. Do we choose to be transformed by divine love or do we take the seat of judgment? If we come with a repentant and contrite heart, forgiveness is ours. God’s love will enfold us and heal our woundedness. The proof is our Savior hanging as sin on the Holy Cross.

Life is a challenge and tests us time and time again. Let us turn off the noise of worldly chaos, open our hearts and listen to the One who created us. The One Who Is is always speaking, but we can only hear if we tune in and listen in silence.  Then we will find that the One does not condemn us either.

We rejoice with the universal church and the world.  We thank God for you, Pope Francis I, and pray that the Holy Spirit is your constant guide and protector.

Today we hear the story of rich brothers and how each one squanders his greatest riches – God’s merciful love.

One brother chooses to live a life of luxury, disregarding discipline and right living, living for his own pleasure. After suffering for his choices, he eventually realizes how wrong he is and returns to his father begging for forgiveness. His loving father grants reconciliation before he is finished apologizing not because he deserves it but because the father cannot deny who he is, Love personified.

The other son has lived with his father all along but in his heart he is far from his father’s love due to his self-righteous judgment. He does not realize that his hard heartedness is keeping him from truly experiencing all the fullness of love. He needs to give up his wrong way of thinking and judging. His father brings this need to light, but we are left without knowing what decision the son makes.

Both sons have sinned. Both need to let go of something and seek forgiveness to be reconciled with God and one another in order to enter into the great banquet feast, which is none other than the Eucharistic celebration. Will they allow themselves to be loved to wholeness? Will we?

We too need to let go of sinful attitudes and behaviors, fears and prejudices, in order to be a new creation that St. Paul speaks of in his Second Letter to the Corinthians. What do we need to hear, ‘let us celebrate with a feast because you, my child were dead and have come to life again’ or ‘everything I have is yours’? It will require sacrifice, but we will be sacrificing something that is unsatisfying for something will sate any of our appetites.

We are invited to allow grace to change us from the inside out. The invitations are being offered by Jesus. To celebrate the Paschal feast, we need to let go. It is then and only then that together we can enter with one another to “taste and see how good the Lord is (Psalm 34).

In today’s gospel (Luke 13: 1-9) Luke portrays Jesus as a righteous judge juxtaposed to other not-so-righteous judges who want to ascribe more guilt to those who die dishonorably.

His parable of the fig tree speaks of good resulting from nurturing, patience and guidance. Just as a fig tree bears fruit after it has been given the benefits of moisture, fertilizer and sunshine, so too, we can bear fruit given the growing graces of God.

A plant does not bear fruit quickly. It takes the proper amount of nutrients and time, time for the seed to sprout and grow and then the flower to form and take shape as a fruit. Only after it is grown and ripe can the fruit be picked and eaten.

Not all plants require the same amount of nutrients. Some plants and trees need more rain and some less; some grow best in warmer arid climates and others do well in tropical climates; some need pruning and others rarely require any assistance; some need lots of sun and others need just a minimal amount. To balance all these variables will produce much fruit.

Figs are an ancient desert fruit, and Jesus would know about them and what to expect from a fig tree. To not produce after three years would be most unusual. Perhaps the ground was not fit or perhaps the tree itself had a defect.

The story does not explain, but trees are really not what the lesson is about. It is about what we are feeding ourselves, how much care we are giving to being formed by the right manner of activities.

If we avail ourselves to being fed by the Spirit and nourished by the Word, then we will bear fruit. We have a master gardener ready and able to help us. He will give us what we need, and we will bear fruit in abundance, the fruit of justice and peace, mercy and charity. Our lives will be full of compassion, forgiveness and love.

These are the fruit Jesus desires from us. These are the fruit of true disciples. We will be fruitful and faithful.

May this Lent bear much fruit for our good and the good of the church.