Quantcast
Click here to read more...
March 27, 2008
Newsletter:     
Search:        
 
Click Here to Order!
 
Return to Home Page Return to Old Archive Home Page Doctrine, Scripture, Morality, Vocation, Community Identity, Sexuality, Family, Healing, Work Art, Ideas, Technology, Science, Business Politics, Bioethics, Ecology, Justice, Peace Spirituality, Prayers, Poems, and Witness Archive of top news from around the web Columns, Reviews and Personal Essays What is Godspy?
spacer
spacer
<MEDITATIONS>
RELATED LINKS
August 14: Feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe
"When they made their morning rounds at the bunker to remove starvation - consumed corpses, they would find among the heaps of agonized, half-dead victims one who was always in prayer on his knees or standing, one who was always bright and fully conscious, one who was always peaceful and well kept. That one was Father Kolbe. 'As if in ecstasy, his face was radiant. His body was spotless, and one could say that it radiated light,' an attendant reports. 'I will never forget the impression this made on me.'"  [Benedict Center]

August 15: Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
"For Martin Luther, Mary's Assumption was an understood fact, as his homily of 1522 indicates, in spite of the fact that Mary's Assumption is not expressly reported in Sacred Scripture. For Protestant reformer, Martin Butzer (1545), there was no reason to doubt about the Assumption of the Virgin into heavenly glory. 'Indeed, no Christian doubts that the most worthy Mother of the Lord lives with her beloved Son in heavenly joy.'" [Mary Page]

August 16: Feast of St. Stephen of Hungary
King "Stephen took a particular interest in the poor. One day he was distributing alms to a crowd of beggars, who grew so clamorous that the king was swept off his feet and thrown to the ground. He was not angry at the incident but laughed it off, saying that he would always continue to give alms to anyone who asked him." [CIN]

August 18: Feast of St. Jane Frances of Chantel
In a letter to Saint Francis de Sales, St. Jane Frances writes: "'the whole world would die of love for a God so amiable, if it only knew the sweetness that the soul tastes in loving Him.'" [Catholic-Forum]

August 19: Feast of St. John Eudes
"He shared with St. Mary Margaret Alacoque the honor of initiating devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (he composed the Mass for the Sacred Heart in 1668) and the Holy Heart of Mary, popularizing the devotions with his 'The Devotion to the Adorable Heart of Jesus' (1670) and 'The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God'..." [Catholic Online]

ADVERTISEMENTS
Click here to buy the movie...
 
 
 
 
 
 
Click here to see the video!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Click here to buy!
 
 
 
Click to buy at Amazon.com
 
 
 
Click here to buy!
 
 
 
 
 
 

WHOEVER EATS MY FLESH AND DRINKS MY BLOOD REMAINS IN ME AND I IN HIM.

The gift of this life includes sharing in his eternity. Jesus said so especially with regard to the Eucharist.

The Gospel for Sunday, August 20, 2006
20th Sunday of Ordinary Time
John: 6, 51-58

Time itself is now pervaded by eternity

� Jesus� birth makes visible the mystery of the Incarnation already realized in the Virgin�s womb at the time of the Annunciation. In fact, she gives birth to the child that, as the docile and responsible instrument of the divine plan, she had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the humanity assumed in Mary�s womb, the eternal Son of God begins to live as a child, and grows "in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man" (Lk 2:52). Thus he manifests himself as true man.

This truth is stressed by John in the Prologue of his Gospel, when he says: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (1:14). By saying "became flesh", the Evangelist is alluding to his human nature not only in its mortal condition, but also in its entirety. The Son of God assumed all that is human, except sin. The Incarnation is the fruit of an immense love, which spurred God willingly to share our human condition to the full.

In becoming man, the Word of God brought about a fundamental change in the very condition of time. We can say that in Christ human time was filled with eternity.

This transformation touches the destiny of all humanity, since "by his Incarnation, he, the Son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man" (Gaudium et spes, n. 22). He came to offer everyone participation in his divine life. The gift of this life includes sharing in his eternity. Jesus said so especially with regard to the Eucharist: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life" (Jn 6:54). The effect of the Eucharistic banquet is that we already possess this life. Elsewhere Jesus indicated the same possibility with the symbol of the living water that could quench thirst, the living water of his Spirit given in view of eternal life (cf. Jn 4:14). The life of grace thus reveals a dimension of eternity that lifts up our earthly existence and directs it, with true continuity, to our entrance into heavenly life.

The communication of Christ�s eternal life also means that we share in his attitude of filial love for the Father.

In eternity, "the Word was with God" (Jn 1:1), that is, in a perfect bond of communion with the Father. When he became flesh, this bond began to be expressed in all Jesus� human behaviour. On earth the Son lived in constant communion with the Father, in an attitude of perfect loving obedience.

The entry of eternity into time is the entrance, in Jesus� earthly life, of the eternal love that unites the Son to the Father. The Letter to the Hebrews alludes to this when it speaks of Christ's inner attitude at the very moment he enters the world: "Lo, I have come to do your will, O God" (10:7). The immense "leap" from the heavenly life of the Son of God into the abyss of human existence is motivated by his will to fulfil the Father�s plan in total self-giving.

We are called to assume this same attitude, walking on the way opened by the Son of God made man, so that we can share his journey to the Father. The eternity that enters into us is a sovereign power of love that seeks to guide our whole life to its ultimate purpose, hidden in the mystery of the Father. Jesus himself indissolubly linked the two movements, descent and ascent, which define the Incarnation: "I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father" (Jn 16:28).

Eternity has entered human life. Now human life is called to make the journey with Christ from time to eternity.

If in Christ time is raised to a higher level, receiving access to eternity, this implies that the approaching millennium must not be considered as merely the next step in the course of time, but as a stage in humanity�s journey towards its definitive destiny.

�It discloses to our mind and our heart a far broader perspective in which to consider the future. Time is often unappreciated. It seems to disappoint man with its precariousness, its rapid flow, which makes all things futile. But if eternity has entered time, then time itself must be recognized as rich in value. Its inexhorable flow is not a journey towards nothingness, but a journey to eternity.

The real danger is not the passing of time, but using it badly, rejecting the eternal life offered by Christ. The desire for life and eternal happiness must be ceaselessly reawakened in the human heart. �

August 11, 2006

Excerpted from POPE JOHN PAUL II�S GENERAL AUDIENCE, Wednesday, 10 December 1997.

Email A Friend
READER COMMENTS
08.14.06   Godspy says:
The gift of this life includes sharing in his eternity. Jesus said so especially with regard to the Eucharist.

Click to buy at Amazon.com!
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Advertise | About Us