"If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8: 31 – 32)
Bring me out of prison (Psalm 142: 7)
Peter's chains fell off (Acts 12: 7)
Everyone's chains were unfastened (Acts 16: 26)
The angel opened the prison doors and brought them out (Acts 5: 19)
The angel brought Peter out of the prison (Acts12: 7 -10)
I will walk at liberty for I seek your precepts (Psalm 119: 45)
(ROGET'S THESAURUS OF THE BIBLE)
"If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8: 31 – 32)
Theme of liberation:
The Lord sent me to proclaim the release of the captives (Isaiah 61: 1; Luke 4: 18)
To bring prisoners out of prison (Isaiah 42: 7)
The Lord releases those condemned to death (Psalm 102: 20)
God shattered their yoke (Isaiah 9: 4, Jeremiah 30: 8)
When I break the bars of their yoke (Ezekiel 34: 27)
I will break his yoke from off you (Nahum 1: 13)
God leads out the prisoners (Psalm 68: 6)
Four men loosed in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3: 25)
God breaks their bonds (Psalm 107: 14, 16)
God loosens the bond of kings (Job 12: 18)
You have loosed my bonds (Psalm 146: 7)
I will set your captives free (Zechariah 9: 11)
(ROGET'S THESAURUS OF THE BIBLE)
"Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation.
Through your goodness we have this bread to offer,
which earth has given and human hands have made.
It will become for us the bread of life."
Liturgy of the Eucharist (Roman Missal)
Inspired by the above prayer, I say:
"Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation.
Through your goodness I have this delay, disappointment and obstacle to offer,
let it become for me the bread of life."
The holy Mass is very rich in symbols. In the Mass, during the offertory, I bring my prayers, desires, joys, hopes as well as pains, sufferings, delays, disappointments and obstacles. I bring also my disabilities, deaths, the loss of loved ones, the disappointment of broken dreams, the failure of relationships, my physical, emotional and spiritual pains. I place all in the outstretched arms of Jesus, my high priest. Jesus defeated death through his pains on the cross. My pains are united with his act of redemption on the cross.
We bring to the Mass our joy and sorrow and, as people of faith, come away changed and blessed with peace.
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2: 20)
Lent calls us to reaffirm our participation in the victory of Christ over the powers of death, sin and evil.
Lent calls us to return to the power and victory of our baptismal experience.
Lent demands that we abandon the confidence we place in the things the world loves, which brings us weakness in the face of evil, sin and death. It is a provocation to return to our source of power and strength – the victorious Christ.
Lent returns us to the power of the word and of the cross.
Lent is a journey. It leads from the recognition of the weakness and powerlessness before the forces of evil and sin to victory over those forces through the cross and empty tomb.
"The Lord will complete what he has done for me." (Psalm 138: 8 -Roman Missal)
"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me." (New Revised Standard Version)
"The Lord will accomplish his purpose for me." (Revised English Bible)
"The Lord is with me to the end." (New American Bible)
"Yahweh will do all things for me." (New Jerusalem Bible)
Ten years ago, I confided the following reflection to my journal:
"Insight I got last night at about 2 am:
If God is with me, it is accomplished. If God is with me in the Enterprise, it is accomplished.
The critical question in the Enterprise is this: Is God with me? Yes or No?
God communicates his presence at the beginning of an undertaking by words. Examples are: Moses, Joshua, David and Paul. He also communicates his presence in the course of the enterprise by signs. A good example is Joseph in Egypt.
How has God shown his presence with me in the Enterprise?
Words: "I myself will lead you across. I will not forsake you. I will not abandon you." (Deuteronomy 31: 6; etc)
Signs: Kinder, billet, QOP, wagen, October miracle, bibliotek, Eucharist, etc.
God is certainly with me in the Enterprise. Success is guaranteed. All I need to do is to be steadfast in the way that God is leading me and be patient.
(ROGET'S THESAURUS OF THE BIBLE)
"If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8: 31)
Disciple – discipulus: I learn and I teach.
Disciple – pupil: one who receives instruction from another. One who accepts the doctrine of another and assists in spreading or implementing them.
Every true disciple of Christ must be free.
Disciple – learner:
Make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28: 19)
Learning:
Always learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7)
(ROGET'S THESAURUS OF THE BIBLE)
Enduring to the end:
ROGET'S THESAURUS OF THE BIBLE
"The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is." (2 Peter 3: 9)
There is meaning in delay. Could the meaning be that the delay affords us greater preparation time so that the crown will be bigger and more secure? Preparation is power.
"He who began a good work in you will complete it." (Philippians 1: 6)
Lord, help me to be a finisher. Amen!
"The instrument of one's sin are his instrument of his punishment." (Wisdom 11: 16) Revised English Bible
"One is punished by the very things by which one sins." (New Revised Standard Version)
"A man is punished by the very things through which he sins." (New American Bible)
"The agent of sin is the agent of punishment." (New Jerusalem Bible)
The above scripture came to me as a technical knockout when I read it during my desert experience 12 years ago. It sounded so true and I knew it was true. Reflections and observations of life since then have confirmed this gem of Bible truths. Although the scripture itself was etched into my memory, I lost the reference and did not discover it till today, 12 years after I discovered the scripture.
The full passage goes like this: "In return for the foolish imagination of those wicked people, which deluded them into worshiping reptiles incapable of reason, and mere vermin, you sent upon them in your vengeance mindless swarms to teach them that the instruments of someone's sin are the instruments of his punishment." (Wisdom 11: 15 – 16)
If the sin is love of money, money will be the instrument of punishment. If the sin is over indulgence with food or alcohol, food or alcohol will be the instrument of punishment.
"There will be no further delay in the fulfilling of any of my words. What I have said shall be done now – declares the Lord Yahweh." (Ezekiel 2: 28)
The Message:
The Promise:
"Then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land." (Isaiah 58:11)
You will guide me (Psalm 31: 3)
Let your good Spirit lead me (Psalm 143: 10)
Lead me in the everlasting way (Psalm 139: 24)
Lead me in your truth (Psalm 25: 5)
The Lord will guide you continually (Isaiah 58: 11)
With your counsel you will guide me (Psalm 73: 24)
I will lead the blind by a way they do not know (Isaiah 42: 16)
He will lead them to springs of water (Isaiah 49: 10)
I lead them with cords of love (Hosea 11: 4)
I lead you in the way you should go (Isaiah 48: 17)
The Lord directs his steps (Proverbs 16: 9)
The Lord has guided me (Genesis 24: 27, 48)
However far away I go, your hand leads me (Psalm 139: 10)
You lead them to your holy habitation (Exodus 15: 13)
The pillar of cloud to guide them (Nehemiah (9: 12, 19)
He leads ne in the paths of righteousness (Psalm 23: 3)
Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness (Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:1)
Led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8: 14)
(ROGET'S THESAURUS OF THE BIBLE)
"Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am." (Isaiah 58: 9)
When is the "then?"
There is a time of favor when God answers prayers as it were automatically. When is this time? The Church teaches that the season of Lent is a holy season of grace. But there are conditions to be fulfilled in this special season of Kairos. Isaiah 58: 9 – 14 lists these conditions:
The favors promised are:
"If one prays with faith, even today, the Lord does not fail to perform miracles of healing. But God's providence ordinarily works through responsible commitment, through the resources of intelligence, of science, of appropriate medical and social assistance." (Pope John Paul II)
How does God providence work?
God providence works through the most direct and natural medium available here and now. The working of God's providence is marked by utter simplicity. This simplicity can deceive the senses. It requires the eyes of faith to see and appreciate the operation of God's providence.
"It is for this destiny that God himself has been shaping us; and as a pledge of it he has given us the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 5: 5)
The destiny:
How has God been shaping me for this destiny?
SJC, CSSP, SJ, Ife, Kano, London, Lagos, Abidjan, Paris, Lagos, Houston, AJS, QOP, 1414, Enterprise.
Christ is present in the Mass:
The Mass because it is an action of Christ the priest and his Body the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others. No other action of the Church can match its claim to efficacy, nor equal the degree of it.
The Liturgy is the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time, it is the fountain from which all her power flows. The renewal in the Eucharist of the Covenant between the Lord and man draws the faithful into the compelling love of Christ and sets them afire. From the Eucharist as from a fountain, grace is channeled to us.
DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH (Vatican Council II)
CONSTITUTION ON THE LITURGY (Vatican Council II)
Christ is the Supreme and Eternal Priest.
Christ wills to continue his ministry and serve through the laity too.
He therefore vivifies them in the Spirit and unceasingly urges them on to every good and perfect work.
Christ intimately associates me too in his life and mission.
He also gives me a share in his priestly function of offering spiritual worship for the glory of God and the salvation of men.
During the celebration of the Mass, I have the opportunity to offer my:
To the Father along with the Lord. Through this means, I consecrate the world to God.
"Put on the mind of Christ." (Philippians 2:5)
The basic point is this: We bring our thinking in line with Christ's understanding of life today.
How I wish I could say with St. Paul "But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2: 16)
What is the Mass?
It is the great mystery of our faith. The word mystery comes from the Greek word, mysterion which is translated by the Latin, sacramentum. It signifies a secret, something hidden and unknown. It could be a secret religious rite to which only the fully initiated are admitted.
What happens in the Mass is that God's mysterious plan, conceived from all eternity and brought to its fulfillment in his Divine Son's passion, death and resurrection is made present.
The Mass is a marvelous drama jointly produced by Christ and his Church.
During the Mass, we receive the Body and Blood of Christ in Communion. "Communion" has its roots in the Greek koinonia, which includes the notions of fellowship, unity, sharing and community. Communion is first with the Lord and from that to all believers.
The Bible and the Mass, Stravinskas
