COMPASSION

Recently, I was talking with a young man, contemplating entering the seminary.  As the conversation went on, I suggested a new book "Tattoos on the Heart" by Greg Boyle,sj.  After several moments he looked at me and reflected "The book sounds like it is about compassion.  I don't need that; I need to figure out if I have a vocation."  My heart sank, as did my opinion of him, I realize he is young and still has much to see and learn. But all I could think of was who doesn't need a lesson in compassion?  Jesus, our supreme example of a compassionate soul, has shown us the way to live.  “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself." (Mk 12:30)  The 20th century has had many wonderful examples of people like this, Pope John XXIII, Dorothy Day, Archbishop Oscar Romero, Cardinal Joseph Bernadine, Mother Teresa; the list can go on and on.  These men and women lived the message of Jesus "You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate." (NLT Luke 6:35)  I think one of the greatest challenges of our time is to truly be present to those right in front of us, to stand with them where they are and perhaps to truly see them for the first time.

LUKE 10:27

I thought for sure that I had misunderstood what I heard coming from the TV this morning, a Christian pastor, from Florida, was calling on his congregation to commemorate 9/11 by burning a copy of the Koran.  Then I heard it on the radio in my car on the way to work, still I am finding this hard to believe.  Here in the U.S., a country built on the notion of religious freedom, the head of a Christian Church wants his people to burn the holy book of another faith?  In Luke 10:27 we are called to love God with our whole heart and soul and our neighbor as yourself.  If we believe that we are all mad in the image and likeness of God why are we so quick to judge others?  Dr. Cornel West said "Justice is what love looks like in public."  What is needed today is a conversion of heart-we don't need to judge others, that clearly should be left to God.  Our conversion needs us to remember that everyone is God incarnate, and how we treat others is how we treat God in them.

MOTHER'S TAKE HEART -- ST. MONICA

Attention all mothers -- have you every thrown up your hands and looked at your child and thought "who is this alien and what have you done with my child?" Or perhaps, "where did we go wrong?"  If you have, then St. Monica is the one you should call on.  St. Monica son while quite good academically, liked to drink too much, party too long and is said to have fathered at least one child out of wedlock.  Monica prayed and prayed, and spoke to her priest,(St.Ambrose), he told her that he would talk to her son if he came to him.  Well after many discussions at home,you know the ones I mean, her son agreed. He went and listened to St. Ambrose preach---and much to every one's surprise, including himself, he turned is life around.  St. Ambrose would go on to baptize him, today we honor Monica's son, St. Augustine, as a Doctor of our Church.

ST. PIUS X

Pope Pius X had a hard act to follow, Pope Leo XIII, who many call the father of our social teaching.  Pius X forsaw the start of World War I, not that many listened.  What he did do was encourage liturgical reforms and perhaps most importantly encouraged the frequent reception of communion especially by children.  A historian once wrote that  he was "a man of God who knew the unhappiness of the world and the hardships of life, and in the greatness of his heart wanted to comfort everyone." 

ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX

There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge


That is curiosity.

There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others

That is vanity.

There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve

That is love.
—St. Bernard of Clairvaux
 
One of my favorite quotes! Spoken over 800 years ago, and still true today.  St. Bernard, who's feast day it is, knew the importance of using the gifts that God gave us.  Not to boost our ego's but to help all the people of God.  Education is still the most powerful tool and we even today we need to be reminded to use it for the service of others. 

ST. JOHN EUDES

The French saint, John Eudes, was the founder of two religious communities, promoter of devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, a missionary and  a priest.  One quote of his always strikes me:

"Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desires and his disposition live and reign there. All our religious exercises should be directed to this end. It is the work which God has given us to do unceasingly" (St. John Eudes, The Life and Reign of Jesus in Christian Souls).


How do we do this, not as a wonderful theory but concretely?  How do we do this day in and day out?  And if we don't why not?  Shouldn't all of our life reflect God with us?  Not just as a pious Church devotion but in our work, in our play and in our rest.  If as we profess all things are possible with God-why not this?

FEAST OF TRANSFIGURATION

St. John of the Cross said "We do not know God by thinking, but by encountering."  Today the Feast of the Transfiguration is the feast of encountering.  We encounter God with us.