Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary: "how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

-- Lk 1:39-56

"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." John was "filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb" by Christ himself, whom the Virgin Mary had just conceived by the Holy Spirit. Mary's visitation to Elizabeth thus became a visit from God to his people.

-- CCC 717

"I want to see": the vision of faith opens us to love the One we need

Much of life is seeking what we want, what we think we need. Sometimes we can form our lives so much around what we want that we can forget other people and other things and, in so doing, forget something very important about loving ourselves: we also need other people and the love that they can give to us. This too is necessary for our happiness.

Sometimes people who love us very much will tolerate selfishness perhaps even for a very long time because of their love for us.

The Lord's relationship with us is different: it is always about Him, not us. The blind man wants his sight and is persistent in demanding a miracle. He is very clear about exactly what he wants from Jesus: "I want to see". But the reason he is able to make this demand for the restoration of the sight that he wants is because he has received from God what he needs: faith. He believes that Jesus has the power of God to heal him. he has put his faith in Jesus as God.

"Go, your faith has saved you". The sight of his eyes that the blind man wanted restored was merely a physical, worldly confirmation that he had the one thing necessary: Jesus through faith.

Our relationship with Christ is different than all other relationships because it is about Him and what He wants and not about us and what we want. It is about Him because He is what we truly need.

Let us pray for ourselves that we may always truly want through love the One we truly need, and can only possess, through faith.

"Rely not on your strength"

“Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

-- Mk 9:41-50

The gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned against it. But "faith apart from works is dead": when it is deprived of hope and love, faith does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member of his Body.

-- CCC 1815 

Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time 

" ... serve the LORD ... "

“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”

-- Mk 9:30-37

The very differences which the Lord has willed to put between the members of his body serve its unity and mission. For "in the Church there is diversity of ministry but unity of mission. To the apostles and their successors Christ has entrusted the office of teaching, sanctifying and governing in his name and by his power. But the laity are made to share in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly office of Christ; they have therefore, in the Church and in the world, their own assignment in the mission of the whole People of God." Finally, "from both groups [hierarchy and laity] there exist Christian faithful who are consecrated to God in their own special manner and serve the salvific mission of the Church through the profession of the evangelical counsels."

-- CCC 873 

"All wisdom comes from the LORD"

“Why could we not drive the spirit out?”
He said to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.”

-- Mk 9:14-29

  

"When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing. In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. The solemn exorcism, called "a major exorcism," can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness."

-- CCC 1673

 

Pentecost: "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit"

... they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.

-- Acts 2:1-11

On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Promise was poured out on the disciples, gathered "together in one place." While awaiting the Spirit, "all these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer." The Spirit who teaches the Church and recalls for her everything that Jesus said was also to form her in the life of prayer.

-- CCC 2623

"Holy Spirit" is the proper name of the one whom we adore and glorify with the Father and the Son. The Church has received this name from the Lord and professes it in the Baptism of her new children.

The term "Spirit" translates the Hebrew word ruah, which, in its primary sense, means breath, air, wind. Jesus indeed uses the sensory image of the wind to suggest to Nicodemus the transcendent newness of him who is personally God's breath, the divine Spirit. On the other hand, "Spirit" and "Holy" are divine attributes common to the three divine persons. By joining the two terms, Scripture, liturgy, and theological language designate the inexpressible person of the Holy Spirit, without any possible equivocation with other uses of the terms "spirit" and "holy."

-- CCC 691

In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches. The most intimate cooperation of the Holy Spirit and the Church is achieved in the liturgy. The Spirit who is the Spirit of communion, abides indefectibly in the Church. For this reason the Church is the great sacrament of divine communion which gathers God's scattered children together. Communion with the Holy Trinity and fraternal communion are inseparably the fruit of the Spirit in the liturgy.

-- CCC 1108

For MCITL Pentecost reflection click here.

"do you love me more?"

“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

-- Jn 21:15-19

St. Peter's conversion after he had denied his master three times bears witness to this. Jesus' look of infinite mercy drew tears of repentance from Peter and, after the Lord's resurrection, a threefold affirmation of love for him. The second conversion also has a communitarian dimension, as is clear in the Lord's call to a whole Church: "Repent!"

St. Ambrose says of the two conversions that, in the Church, "there are water and tears: the water of Baptism and the tears of repentance."  

-- CCC 1429