PLANS

All that is hidden will be made clear,
all that is dark now will be revealed.
What you have heard in the dark
proclaim in the light;
what you hear in whispers
proclaim from the housetops.  Bernadette Farrell

Though in the form of God, Jesus did not claim equality with God but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, human like one of us.  Flesh and blood, he humbled himself, obeying to the death, death on a cross.  For this very reason God lifted him high and gave him the name above all names.  So at the name of Jesus every knee will bend in heaven, on earth, in the world below, and every tongue exclaim to the glory of God the Father, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”  Phil. 2:6-11

The best-laid plans of mice and men /often go awry.  Robert Burns

Man proposes but God disposes.  Prov. 16:9

God writes straight with crooked lines.

Moira                                10/2014

Nothing goes smoothly according to plan.  “I had a plan to…”   You fill in the blank.    Disrupted plans are not unusual.  This is just one of the struggles of everyday life we all experience.  Still we ask, “Why it is our plans are always frustrated?”      Because we are the ‘created’ and not the ‘Creator.’ And we are not in heaven, yet, where all things will be revealed.  We are called to use our creativity here in the kingdom of God right now.

There is another saying that will help us put things in perspective and give us some peace of mind: Pray as if everything depended on God.  Work as though everything depended on you.    St. Augustine  

Through our prayer and work we are participants in God’s plan.  Ven. Celeste described this participation in ‘The Design of the Father,’ and it is summed up in our Const. #3 quoting Lumen Gentium, From all eternity, by virtue of a plan born of His mysterious and utterly gratuitous love for us, God wishes to call us to live in communion with Him, to give us His Spirit of love so that He might constantly live with us and in us.  

That being said, even Celeste had times when her plans felt like they were falling apart.  She was at her lowest while the new rule was being established; even Alphonsus wrote letters to chastise her: “It is always profitable to humiliate a soul overwhelmed with favors from God.” 

Celeste took this all to prayer and her Beloved re-assured her saying, “Live your life of constant dying to yourself, living crucified in My holy Flesh...always united to the joy of My Divine Spirit.”  And, “All that they shall do to you with regard to this work I shall consider as done to Myself and not to you.  But be assured that you shall see this work established.  Hope in Me."  These words strengthened Celeste, gave her peace of heart and she continued her work for the Lord.

This calls for much self-emptying.  Jesus is our model of self-emptying as we heard in the letter to the Philippians.  No one can say for sure that Jesus, being fully human, knew how his life would end on earth.  But with a loving and open heart he walked the path laid out by God the Father always united in joy with the Divine Spirit.   After Jesus died on the cross he rose again and brought us all the promise of new life.

Remembering our call to live in communion with God by means of being Christ in the world today, we walk the path laid out for us.  We cannot see the road ahead.    Our plans in life may feel like they go awry but they really may be blessings in disguise.  In looking back, we see how God has been with us every step of the way where growth and hidden grace is revealed as we receive unexpected new life. 

So with prayer, work, hope in God, a healthy dose of self-emptying and an open, loving heart we can proclaim, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” 

THINK, THEN SPEAK

Jesus spoke to Celeste:
"Friend of my heart, what joy and pleasure that you speak to me all the time and I always listen to you. I bless your insistent supplications which you make for your own self as well as for you neighbors."  Florilegium 87

Celeste responded:
"Let me speak and exhale the love that is in my heart.... I will tell everyone you are my entire Love, Life, Heart and my very Soul."  Florilegium 26.

To us:
"Saying only the good things people need to hear, so that your words may give grace to those who hear."    see Eph. 4:29

ASSOCIATE COMMITMENT SUNDAY

Homily  given by Rev. Paul Borowski, CSsR

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip.  After a good meal and a bottle of wine they bunked down for the night and went to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his friend. “Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.”  Watson replied, “I see millions upon millions of stars.”

“So what does that tell you?” asked Sherlock.  Watson pondered for a minute. “Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?”

Holmes was silent for a minute and then spoke. “It tells me someone has stolen our tent!”

A heart surgeon took his car to his local garage for a regular service, where he usually exchanged a little friendly banter with the owner, a very skilled but not especially wealthy mechanic.

“So tell me,” says the mechanic, “I’ve been wondering about what we both do for a living, and how much more you get paid than me…”  “Yes?” says the surgeon.

“Well look at this,” says the mechanic, as he worked on a big complicated BMW engine, “I check how it’s running, open it up, fix the valves, and put it all back together so it works good as new. We basically do the same job don’t we? And yet you are paid ten times what I am – how do you explain that?”  The surgeon thought for a moment, and smiling gently, replied quietly to the mechanic,  “Try it with the engine running.”

Perception.  One can see the same thing, witness the same event and we can have two outlooks on the matter.  The Feast we celebrate today can be looked at in the same way.  To us Christians in the year 2014 we see the cross as a sign of our redemption, of our salvation.  It has become a part of our life and perhaps it may have become a part of our life in the sense that it is so ordinary.  We enter into this Church and as we bless ourselves with Holy Water we make the sign of the cross – yet how often do we reflect on what that sign means.  I am sure that in your homes you have many a cross or crucifix on the walls of your living room, dining room or bedroom.  Perhaps like me you have a cross hanging on the rear view mirror of your car.  Many of us wear crosses around our neck, but once again do we realize what the cross means?

If you were to ask the people of Christ’s time about the cross they would give you a different answer to what it meant to them as opposed to us.  To the people of ancient Israel and the Roman Empire it was an instrument of torture, it was a means to put to death the worse possible criminals of their day.  As St. Paul writes:  “Cursed is he who hangs up the tree.”  For the people of Jesus’ day the cross was a terrible thing.  If Christ lived and died during our present time perhaps instead of a cross he would have been put to death in an electric chair or on a gurney with a lethal injection.  Our celebration today is to remember what the cross truly is:  a sign of how much our God loves us that he would allow His only Son to suffer such a terrible death.

Perhaps we have lost sight of the true meaning of the Cross.  One of the saints of the Church was once quoted as saying that the Christ was not crucified on a gold cross between two brass candle stands in a cathedral but he was crucified on a wooden cross between two common criminals on a dusty hill.  St. Alphonsus Liguori, the founder of the Redemptorists, said that when we gaze upon the cross we should see two things.  The first is what our sins have done in crucifying the Lord.  Again, there is no easy way to say this so we must admit that our selfishness, our carelessness towards others and our God lead Jesus to sacrifice his life on the cross so that we might live.  His death on the cross and his resurrection frees us from sin and death and gives us new life.  But Alphonsus did not stop there, he goes on to say that when we gaze on the cross we should also see the immense love that our God has for us.  In fact this love is a crazy love, a love that would go so far.  So, when you go home today and you look at the crosses in your house perhaps we can say a prayer of thanks to our God for loving us as much as he does.  Perhaps the crosses that we have will no longer just be ornaments that decorate our house or our necks but will be daily reminders of a God who is crazily in love with us.

In today’s Gospel from St. John we heard proclaimed one of the most famous passages of all Scriptures.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”   (John 3:16) The passage is John 3:16 and it has been made famous not by any great preacher but if you are a person of my generation you might recall seeing this written on a place card at many a sporting event in the late ‘70s and during the ‘80s. 

Stewart became a born-again Christian, and was determined to "get the message out" via television. His first major appearance was at the 1977 NBA Finals; by the time of the 1979 MLB All-Star Game, broadcasters actively tried to avoid showing him

At various sporting events a man by the name of Rainbow Man would position himself to get on TV and hold a sign with John 3:16 written on it.  Everyone knew the Rainbow Man, everyone knew John 3:16 and everyone knew what it meant.  The Rainbow Man, whose real name is Rollen Stewart made it his mission to spread this Good News.  There he was at Olympics and World Series, decked out in a Rainbow Afro Wig driving TV producers crazy since he kept getting in the camera’s view.  He would take a Portable TV with him to these sporting events so he knew where the camera would be looking.  He once was banned from the Olympics since they thought he was a spy and the John 3:16 was some type of code.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world” is probably well know because of the work of the Rainbow Man, Rollen Stewart.  However, in 1992 he was arrested and charged with kidnapping when he broke into a hotel room outside of Los Angeles and held a few people hostage.  During the siege he had a pistol that he used to fire at incoming planes into the Los Angeles airport.  All along the windows of the hotel he placed John 3:16 placards.  He was finally apprehended and is presently serving three consecutive life sentences.  His next parole review will be in 2017.  He was also found guilty of setting off several stink bombs at various locations in years prior to 1992.

What happened to Rollen Stewart?  His story is one that shows that the message of the cross, the message of John 3:16 must not just be for external show but must take root and abide deep within each one of us.  The love that God shows us in the Exaltation of the Cross is a love that we must show to one another.  If we simply allow the Cross to remain a decorative item we run the risk of allowing it to have no meaning in our lives at all.

So today we celebrate a glorious feast -- a day to remember that by his death on the cross and his resurrection on the third day we have been loved by God and been made his chosen people.  Take a look at the crosses and crucifixes you have in your house or on your person.  Don’t let it just sit there as an ornament but as a real reminder of what our faith is all about.  We believe in a God who loves us insanely and calls us to love one another with the same passion.  May we never forget to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  AMEN!

FOLLOWING THE HOLY REDEEMER

Today is the Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer: the official title of the Order  and the Congregation.

Being a visual person, I immediately got sidetracked by the various depictions of the Holy Redeemer.   In the pre-Vatican days, the sisters wore hand-painted disks which were tucked into a frame sewn over the heart of their habit as a reminder that she was to wear, as it were, all the divine virtues of the Lord Jesus Christ engraved on her heart as a seal as “a visible witness and ‘living memory’ of the Paschal Mystery of redemption in today’s world.”  Const. 1   Everyday, we Redemptoristines continue this practice when we put on a pin or necklace with the portrait of the Redeemer. 

In her autobiography, Ven. M. Celeste tells us she was about five years old when Jesus first spoke to her heart.   Years later, when she was in the Novitiate, Celeste received a vision of Jesus who made her understand that a new Institute should be founded in the world by means of her, and that all the rules and laws which should be observed in it would be an imitation of Him.  Two days later she had another vision of Jesus dressed in the colors of what was to be the habit of the new institute: a joyful dark red tunic that would remind the world of

God’s deep and infinite love for all humankind and a sky blue mantle to remind us our goal: heaven.   Jesus spoke to Celeste with these words, “I call you, dear soul, because I want you to be clothed with all the things that make Me beautiful, thus you will be the image of Me and I shall live a life of love in the world by dwelling in your heart.” Autobiography

What makes Jesus beautiful?  Looking at the traditional painting of the Holy Redeemer we see a blond, blue-eyed Jesus.  Perhaps to a dark-haired and eyed Neapolitan like Celeste, this appearance of Jesus was ethereal.   The contemporary depiction of the Holy Redeemer, to me, looks like Pierce Bronson.   Mighty attractive.  But...

But what makes a person beautiful?  It is their inner qualities.    Jesus told Celeste he was ‘Pure Love.’  That is who we are called to follow, Pure Love. 

How can we do this?  Your Constitution 5 states: “The more we strive to live the love of Christ, the more the thoughts and feelings of Christ will fill our spirit and our heart, the more we will become His faithful images and the more also will we be able to be true witnesses of the love of Him who is our beginning and our End, our Way and our Life, our Shepherd and our Master.” 

“Our response is to follow the path of the Redeemer. Our ideal is to make His purity, His simplicity, His obedience to the will of His Father, all His attitudes and all His choices truly our own.  The more we progress in this transformation of ourselves in Him, the more we will be able to be a living witness of His charity.  It is through the revelation of this charity that our brothers and sisters will discover in Jesus Christ the one Truth and the one Hope.”  Const. 14 

We are to be a living image of Christ’s redemptive presence in this world. Our whole life is to be that of Christ’s so with St. Paul we can say, “Life for me is Christ.”  Phil. 1:21 

How do we achieve this?   To follow the Redeemer is not easy.  We are called to share in the Paschal Mystery.  “Love of the cross is essentially love and imitation of Jesus Christ.” Const. 29   But, “We learn from Him the true way of humility and self-denial.” Const. 27   By taking time to “contemplate Him who is Pure Love itself, all our being becomes transparent in the light of Christ who is our all.” see Const. 16    “We find light and strength in the Word of God, and in the Eucharist so that we can, following the example of Christ, make of our whole life a sacrifice of praise to the glory of the Father.” see Const. 21

Today’s Gospel for Holy Redeemer Sunday comes from John and ends with, “Those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” Jn 3:21  

Our deeds are to be done in God.  That is our call to transformation into the Redeemer, “We strive to become a clear and radiant witness of God’s mysterious and utterly gratuitous love for us.  Const. 1   It is through Christ in fact, that we have known and received this love which is directed towards all but in a very special way towards the poorest in order that our brothers and sisters may be fully aware of the love by which they are eternally loved by Him.” Const. 4    

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

What makes Jesus, the Redeemer, beautiful to me?

Celeste says Jesus is like a Crystal I the Sun with facets reflecting the innumerable qualities of God      Unconditional Love, Mercy, Prince of Peace, Counsel, Lord of the Harvest, Son of Justice, Savior… 

How do I witness to God’s love for me?

When I share my story of God’s love and miracles in my life
Reaching out to others

How do I image Christ’s redemptive presence in the world?

What Would Jesus Do?
There is nothing created that has not been redeemed. Gorge Colon, CSsR
The Biblical definition of redeemed is when the closest relative gets back what was lost.  Jesus became our closest relative when he became man.

Are ‘my deeds’ done in God?

Do I do things for God or to be noticed?

Recommended book:
The Naked Now by Richard Rohr 

PEACE PRAYER

Moira '14

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

As we thank God for 

our country
may we remember
all the places
in the world that long for
justice and peace.

OUR MOTHER OF PERPETUAL HELP

                                                    OUR HANDS WITHIN YOURS       

                                                               

O Mother of Perpetual Help,
please listen to our story,
as we place our hands within yours,
show us your dear Son’s glory.

O Mother of Perpetual Help,
release us from our qualms,
as we place our hands within yours,
while gathered in your arms.

O Mother of Perpetual Help,
from sin bid us to cease,
as we place our hands within yours,
we will trust in your peace. 

                               

                                                  O Mother of Perpetual Help
                                                  accept our grateful love
                                                  as we place our hands within your
                                                  send blessings from above.

                                                                                                       TEXT: Moira Quinn, OSsR
                                                                                                       TUNE: St Columba

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

O my Mother you are a pure crystal which sparkles most clearly.  

You are a true image of the Original,
a Portrait of Jesus!
                                                          Ven. Maria Celeste

Happy Mother's Day!  Celeste was speaking of our Blessed Mother Mary with the above words,
but can't we all say that OUR Mothers sparkled clearly and were for us the first and true portrait of Jesus?

This is a picture of my Mother, Mary.  I am the blondie and my sister Irene seems to have a question in mind.