Sections The Daily B.R.E.A.D. Mar 31, 2010 - Wednesday Meditation (Blessed with Jesus' Friendship!)
| Mar 31, 2010 - Wednesday Meditation (Blessed with Jesus' Friendship!) |
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| Sections - The Daily B.R.E.A.D. | |||
| Written by Bobot Apit | |||
| Tuesday, 30 March 2010 02:50 | |||
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G od has blessed us so often, so lovingly, that at times we take it for granted or worse, we feel we are entitled to his blessings. But any prayerful thought will lead us to feel true sorrow for how we have offended God because he is so good and loving and we have not responded properly to his friendship.
Wednesday of Holy Week Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 69:8-10, 21-22, 31 and 33-34 M atthew 26:14-25 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests (15) and said, "What will you give me if I deliver him to you?" And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. (16) And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. (17) Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?" (18) He said, "Go into the city to a certain one, and say to him, `The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.'" (19) And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. (20) When it was evening, he sat at table with the twelve disciples; (21) and as they were eating, he said, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." (22) And they were very sorrowful, and began to say to him one after another, "Is it I, Lord?" (23) He answered, "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me, will betray me. (24) The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." (25) Judas, who betrayed him, said, "Is it I, Master?" He said to him, "You have said so."
Meditation by Paul Mahowald, S.J. We find it easy to place ourselves in Jesus’ presence in the holy three days about to start. But we also see how Jesus is fulfilling the Israelite prophecies. The first reading is Isaiah’s Third Suffering Servant Song. The following psalm reminds us that God constantly forgives us even as we selfishly sin again and again. The scene in the upper room is where Jesus identifies Judas as the one who will betray him. Even at this tragic moment Jesus seeks a conversion. His response, “You say so!” has the meaning that “yes, since you asked”, leaving space for Judas to be reconciled. I wonder often what Jesus thought of the Suffering Servant Songs as he was becoming aware that they describe the messiah’s life, passion and death. (cf., Phillipians 2:6 ff.) My curiosity is “what did he know and when did he know it?”- to borrow a historical question from our recent past. Meanwhile Jesus is becoming aware that he is the Messiah all through his public life. Isaiah is promising that the Lord will always be present to us, even as we suffer for righteous sake. Psalm 69 continues the same theme: that God will always be with us “in his great love” to help us in crisis. The gospel today immediately follows Mt 26:13 but the action in the two parts of Mt 26 are so different. Jesus on his way to the City stops by at his friend’s house in Bethany . There an anonymous woman anoints him out of love and respect. And Jesus tells his disciples that she should not be stopped since she is anointing him for his death. Then the very next verse takes us into the description of the preparation for the Passover meal. All Jews celebrate this event of their history but this “Last Supper” is different. It is the fulfillment of that first Passover promise. But before the passion story is described we have the tragic scene of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. How do we transfer this event to be a lesson for us? We sin, of course, and occasionally in our life-time we have seriously sinned. But we the readers of these weekday reflections need to appropriate this betrayal into our own lives. God has blessed us so often, so lovingly, that at times we take it for granted or worse, we feel we are entitled to his blessings. But any prayerful thought will lead us to feel true sorrow for how we have offended God because he is so good and loving and we have not responded properly to his friendship. Our prayer these next three days is to enter into this mystery of God’s love and friendship so undeserved on our part.
Supplementary Reading Beware of the Thief
W hat are the times when you and I are most vulnerable to being caught off guard by the enemy of our souls? One of those times is just after you've had a great victory. Consider Jesus when He was baptized and was about to begin His public ministry. He was taken away into the desert to be tempted by satan. Leisure time is another place in which satan seeks to take us off our normal routine of personal quiet times. In the normal routine of life, our senses are tuned to the need to draw upon God's Spirit to see us through the activities of each day. However, when we get away from our routine and go on vacation, we can often drop these routines. We wrongfully think that we do not need to spend time with the Lord during leisure times. This is a grave mistake. The vacation becomes a test of character. During vacations we turn freely to what we love most. It reveals to us what is at the core of our existence. A teacher in a large school reportedly said, "The greatest difficulty we encounter is the summer vacation. Just when we have brought a student to a certain discipline and place in their study habits, we lose him; when he comes back we have to begin all over again." It is the same in our spiritual lives. It only takes a small crack in the door of our heart to lose our spiritual focus. This summer, be on guard when times of retreat are made available to you. Use these times for spiritual refreshment, not just physical refreshment, and you will keep the thief from entering your house. ---OS Hillman For meditation of the previous days/months , please click any of the following links: http://his-ways-better-than-our-ways.blogspot.com/ http://www.mabuhayradio.com/sections/the-daily-bread.html http://butuanglobalforum.org/cgi-bin/dboard/YaBB.pl?num=1229339492/220 EL SHADDAI Radio Program : http://www.eradioportal.com/index.php?p=2&aid=1&sid=50&tid=1
GOD BLESS US ALL!
O Theos Na Mas Evlogisi! PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU.
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"Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?"--John Mendoza
Jesus with the Cross on his shoulders passes through the streets of Jerusalem. Simon of Cyrene.
After a night of suffering, of insults and scorn, torn by the terrible torment of the scourging, Jesus is led out to be crucified. Then he [Pilate] released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified (Matt 27:26), says St Matthew’s Gospel quite simply.
The people do not accept an exchange for Barabbas, an exchange of one who was innocent for one guilty of robbery and murder. Jesus is condemned to suffer a painful punishment followed by a savagely cruel death reserved for criminals. Very soon everyone can see that he is already far too seriously weakened to be able to carry the cross on his shoulders right up to Calvary. A man returning home, Simon of Cyrene, is forced to help. Where are the disciples? Jesus had spoken to them about carrying the cross (Matt 16:24); and they had confirmed with great vehemence that they would go with Him even to death (Matt 26:35). Now not even one of them is to be found to help him carry the piece of timber to the site of the execution. A stranger has to do it, and that under threat of force. There are no friendly faces around Our Lord, not even one willing to commit himself, to say a word in his favour, let alone champion him. Even those who were cured or who had received some benefit from him now do not wish to be conspicuous. What Isaiah had prophesied several centuries earlier is now fulfilled to the letter: I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me . . . I looked, but there was no one to help. I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold (Is 63:3-5).
Simon gets hold of one end of the cross and lifts it onto his shoulders. The other end, more weighty, the one where there has been no response to love, the one freighted with the sins of each man — this end is carried by Christ, on his own.
There is one exception to the desertion which the Lord experiences. Tradition has handed the incident down to us. A woman by the name of Veronica steps forward with a piece of cloth to wipe the face of Jesus. And on the fabric there remains an impression of the face of the Lord. Veronica’s veil is a symbol of the moving dialogue between Christ and the penitent soul. Veronica responded to Christ’s love with reparation; a reparation especially admirable because it came from a helpless woman who did not fear the ire of the enemies of Christ ... Will the image of Christ’s face be imprinted on my soul as on the veil of Veronica? (J. Aldewicz, Be my witnesses, The Way of the Cross, Sixth Station).
Our Lord continues on his way. There has been some physical respite. But the path is tortuous and the ground uneven. His energy is dwindling; it is not at all to be wondered at that Jesus falls. Once, twice, three times — He falls and with increasing difficulty gets to his feet again. A few yards on and he stumbles again. Rising up he tells us how much he loves us; falling, he expresses the great need he has for us to love him. It is not too late; nor is everything lost.., even though to you it may seem so — even though a thousand doom-laden voices keep saying so. Even though you are besieged by the furious faces of mocking and jeering onlookers. You have come at a good time to take up the Cross: the Redemption is taking place now! And Jesus needs many more Simons like the man from Cyrene (J. Escrivá, The Way of the Cross Fifth Station, 2).
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