Measure Out Generously: Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time (1 Corinthians 8:1b-7, 11-13; Psalm 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 23-24; Luke 6:27-38)

The primary theme of our Gospel reading today is forgiveness.  Jesus exhorts us to love those who hate us, bless those who curse us, pray for those who mistreat us, and to let go of what was taken from us.  In short we are to stop judging and condemning, instead forgiving and giving without measure.

In this vein, Archbishop Lori issues his monthly challenge.  He said, “To forgive others can be very difficult at times, especially when someone repeatedly offends us. Jesus tells us there is no magic number that limits our obligation — our desire to forgive and show mercy to others must be boundless, just as God’s mercy toward us is infinite. We pray in the Our Father, ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ Our very salvation depends on our willingness to forgive, for God will forgive us in the measure that we forgive others.”

Our own life experiences probably tell the story that a life that includes deep resentments leads to a life of futility and unhappiness.  

The Archbishop asks the following questions:  Are there people in your life whom you find difficult to forgive for past offenses? Do you sometimes find yourself saying the words “I forgive you,” but holding on to the hurt like a grudge? What steps can you take to move to true forgiveness?

He challenges us to make a list of the people in our lives — past and present — whom you find or have found difficult to forgive, and to sincerely pray for them each day.

Someone recently gave me the following prayer that can be used for these types of situations:

“God, help me to forgive (insert name).  He/she is yours now.  Please give him/her everything I want for myself.  Give him/her love, happiness, joy, and freedom, and especially You, God.  Please help him/her be everything he/she would like to be.”

Jesus reminds us that the measure with which we measure out, not just forgiveness, but also  love, happiness, joy, and freedom to others will be measured out to us.  Let us measure out generously.

In the spirit of forgiveness, guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

Thank be to God!

Mysteries of God: Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time (1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Psalm 37:3-4, 5-6, 27-28, 39-40; Luke 5:33-39)

Today, Saint Paul urges us to be stewards of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Stewardship is a word we are familiar with. It is a way of life rooted in the recognition that God is the source of every good gift we have received. We are called to receive those gifts with gratitude, cultivate them responsibly, share them generously and justly, and ultimately return them to the Lord.

We often think of stewardship through the lens of time, talent, and treasure. We recognize the blessings God has entrusted to us and seek to share those blessings with others through our service, our generosity, and our other works of mercy and charity.

But Saint Paul speaks of something more: the mysteries of God.

In the late second century, the Early Church Fathers began translating the Greek word mysterion, meaning “mystery,” into the Latin word sacramentum, meaning “sacrament.”

For the Latin Rite, we speak of the seven Sacraments. In many of the Eastern Rites, they are still called the Holy Mysteries. In the Byzantine tradition, for example, the Lord provided His Church with seven chief means of salvation—the Holy Mysteries.

Saint Paul tells us to be stewards of the mysteries of God.  In doing so, he gives us a profound responsibility to be stewards of the Holy Sacraments.

If the Sacraments are truly the mysteries of God, then how we approach them matters. How we celebrate them matters. How we teach them matters. How we protect them matters.

The seven Sacraments derive their power and efficacy from the Paschal Mystery—the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Every sacramental celebration leads us back to Jesus Christ on the Cross. Every grace we receive through the Sacraments comes to us because Christ offered Himself completely for our salvation on the Cross.

The Sacraments are not merely religious ceremonies. They are true encounters with Jesus Christ on the Cross.

The more deeply we understand what Christ has done for us, the more deeply we will approach the Sacraments with gratitude. And the more grateful we become, the better stewards of these sacred mysteries we will be.

We must insist upon the proper matter and form of the Sacraments.

There is a reason the Church does not simply make up the Sacraments as we go along.

There is a reason we cannot substitute crackers and grape juice for the matter of the Eucharist. There is a reason we cannot baptize with coffee. There is a reason we cannot simply rewrite the words of Absolution. There is a reason we cannot add to, remove from, or alter the Mass according to our personal preferences.  There is a reason the Church teaches what she teaches about Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders.

These things are not arbitrary rules invented by “out of touch” men in Rome.

The Sacraments belong to Christ. They do not belong to us.

We are not their owners. We are their stewards.

A steward does not have the authority to take what has been entrusted and remake it according to personal preferences or the whims of the world. A steward's responsibility is to guard faithfully what belongs to the master.

That is precisely our responsibility with the Holy Sacraments.

The Sacraments are not ours to reinvent. They are Christ's gifts to His Church, and we have been entrusted with protecting their integrity.

We must approach the Sacraments with reverence, prayer, and awe.

The Sacraments are not empty rituals. They are not merely beautiful traditions handed down from previous generations.

They are sacred encounters with Jesus Christ.

Our external actions should reflect the reality of what we believe internally.

If we truly believe that Jesus Christ is present, then our behavior should proclaim that belief even when our lips are silent.

Reverence is not about putting on a show. It is about allowing our bodies, our minds, and our hearts to acknowledge what is actually happening.

Do not let the extraordinary become ordinary.

We come to Mass routinely. We hear the same prayers. We see the same rituals. 

And because we experience these things so frequently, it is natural to become accustomed to them.

But at the same time, we must never become casual about them.

The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. The Sacramental life is the very breath of the Church.

Through the Sacraments, God bridges the infinite and the finite. The God who created the universe stoops down to meet us in tangible, visible ways.

Nowhere else can we encounter Jesus Christ in the way we are privileged to through the Sacraments.

We must resist the temptation to treat it as ordinary.

Because when we lose our sense of awe, we risk losing our appreciation for the gift.

When you walk into a Catholic church, remember where you are—and remember Who you are with.

You are entering the house of God.

You are coming into the presence of Jesus Christ.

You are entering a place where the King of the Universe has chosen to remain with His people in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Sacraments are not about creating an experience that satisfies our personal preferences. They are about and true and authentic encounter with Jesus Christ.

The Mass is not something we attend merely because it is our obligation. Rather, it is our participation in the worship of heaven.

Saint Paul challenges us to more deeply understand the gifts we have been entrusted with, more faithfully guard them, more reverently celebrate therm, and more powerfully proclaim them.

Through the Sacraments, the salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Thanks be to God!

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Restlessness of Augustine: Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (1 Corinthians 1:17-25; Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 10-11; Matthew 25:1-13)

Born in 354 in the North African city of Thagaste (modern-day Algeria), Augustine's life was shaped by two very different influences. His mother, Saint Monica—whose feast we celebrated yesterday—was a faithful and persistent Christian. His father remained a pagan for most of his life.

At the age of 17, Augustine left  for Carthage to study rhetoric, the art of persuasive speaking. He embraced the pleasures and excesses of the worldly life despite his mother's heartfelt warnings. He pursued a hedonistic lifestyle, seeking fulfillment in worldly pleasures.

During his years in Carthage, Augustine entered a long-term relationship with a young woman who bore him a son. At the same time, his intellectual curiosity drew him deeply into the study of philosophy. His search for truth eventually led him away from Christianity and into Manichaeism, an example of the syncretistic heresy that blended elements of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism into a dualistic worldview of light versus darkness.

After completing his studies, Augustine taught rhetoric for two years in Thagaste before returning to Carthage, where he taught for another nine years. In 383, convinced that Rome offered greater opportunities, he moved there to establish a school.

His talents soon caught the attention of influential friends within the Manichaean community, who introduced him to the prefect of Rome. When the imperial court in Milan needed a professor of rhetoric, Augustine won the prestigious appointment. By the age of 30, he held one of the most distinguished academic positions in the Latin world—a role that opened the door to influence, prestige, and even political advancement.

Yet outward success could not satisfy the restlessness within him. Augustine had begun to recognize the shortcomings of Manichaeism and found himself searching once again for the truth.

As you might imagine, God's providence was already at work.

Soon after arriving in Milan, Augustine met Saint Ambrose, the city's bishop. Ambrose was not only a brilliant preacher but also a master of rhetoric, and Augustine was captivated by both his eloquence and his wisdom. What began as intellectual admiration gradually became a genuine friendship. Through Ambrose's preaching and patient guidance, Augustine's heart slowly opened to the Gospel he had long resisted.

The decisive moment came in August 386. After reading the life of Saint Anthony of the Desert, Augustine found himself in deep spiritual turmoil. While sitting in a garden, he heard what sounded like the voice of a child repeating the words, tolle, lege—"take up and read."

Believing this to be God's invitation, Augustine picked up a nearby Bible and opened it at random to Romans 13:13–14: “Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.”

Those words pierced his heart. In that moment, Augustine surrendered his life completely to Christ.

At the Easter Vigil of 387, Ambrose baptized both Augustine and his son. Augustine was ordained a priest in 391, became Bishop of Hippo in 395, and faithfully shepherded his people until his death on August 28, 430.

He was canonized by popular acclaim after his death, and in 1298 Pope Boniface VIII declared him a Doctor of the Church.

More than sixteen centuries after his death, Augustine continues to speak powerfully to Christians.

He offers hope to those battling lust, gluttony, addiction, and every form of disordered desire. He encourages those living in difficult or irregular relationships who long to return to the sacramental life of the Church. He speaks to anyone who has experienced anxiety, fear, doubt, or the emptiness that comes from chasing worldly success.

Augustine discovered that Christianity is not simply a collection of moral rules or self-improvement techniques. It is an invitation to surrender—to entrust our lives completely to God. Lasting peace is found not by clinging to what we think will satisfy us, but by allowing God to transform our desires and lead us to the only One who truly can.

As Augustine said, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

His life remains a powerful witness that no one is beyond God's mercy, no heart is too restless for His grace, and no past is too broken to become a story of redemption.

The life of Saint Augustine reminds us that the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Thanks be to God!

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