Jun 30: Abraham, Our Father in Faith

Andrea del Sarto: The Sacrifice of Isaac
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, 1520-25

Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading I: Gen 22:1b-19

The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the LORD: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice (NRSV, Gen 22: 15-18).”

At every moment, Lord, you meet us through your “angel,” the Word now made flesh, and challenge us to let go of everything we are and have become up until the present that we may continue to grow in your life and become truly something new. May we follow the example of Abraham, our father in faith, and place our confidence not in ourselves but solely in you who are our only hope and true future.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 29: Liberation Through the Word

Filippino Lippi: The Liberation of St. Peter from Prison (detail)
Cappella Brancacci, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, 1471-72

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

Reading I: Acts 12:1-11

Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting (NRSV, Acts 12:11).”

Father, at every moment in every place, you send your “angel,” the Word, now made flesh, to rescue you us from every evil, not by taking over in our lives, but by challenging us to accept and to grow in the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that brings us a share, indeed an ever-increasing share, in your divine life. With that life comes the power, made our very own, to vanquish evil and triumph over all adversity even in the midst of apparent defeat.

As Jesus passed triumphantly through death to the resurrection, and Peter overcame personal weakness and all obstacles, may we too, by accepting the challenge in the moment always to grow in grace, be victors over all that would enslave us.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 26: Love God First and Foremost

Bernard de Hoog (1866-1943): Tea Time
Private Collection

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 10:37-42

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me (NRSV, Mt 10:37).”

Father, everything we are and everything we have comes to us through the Word through whom you create all things. We are grateful for your own divine life that you share with us in the Holy Spirit, the life that we share with all human beings who will accept it but first and most of all with our own family, with spouse and children and children’s children.

If we share life, Father, and are capable of loving one another, it is because you have given us the power through the Word in the Holy Spirit. May we make you, Father, the source of all, the center and focus of all that we are and, loving you and the Word, now made flesh, and the Holy Spirit first of all, may we then love the family you have given us, loving and serving them as well as all of our sisters and brothers.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 25: Expect the Unexpected

Rembrandt van Rijn or Jan Victors: Abraham and the Three Angels
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, c.1640

Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading I: Gen 18:1-15

The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son (NRSV, Gen 18:13-14)."

Father, how difficult it is for us to realize that you are always present to us and that you offer us your life and growth in it at every moment. Angels are messengers but we need no messenger to hear your Word that is always with us and through whom we are immediately in your presence.

Nothing, Father, is too wonderful for you and everything we are and have is gift. All is possible with you and all should amaze us.

Father, may be always be ready to accept the unexpected and, responding to it, allow you to forge in us a future that is truly new and which by your grace we can make our own.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 24: Prayer and Fasting in the Desert

Giovanni di Paolo: John the Baptist retiring into the Desert
National Gallery, London, 1453

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Gospel: Lk 1:57-66, 80

The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel (NRSV, Lk 1:80).

Father, you reveal yourself to every human being at every moment, the same one revelation spoken through the Word, now made flesh in our Lord Jesus. Our grasp of your one Word, however, is limited by our finite historical and cultural situation, as well as by the blindness which comes with the common sinfulness of humanity and our own personal sins. With each moment we have the invitation to grow not only in the life that you, Father, share with us, but also in our understanding.

John came to a fuller understanding of who he was and the mission to which he was called while praying and fasting in the desert. May we too, Father, follow the Israelites, John, and indeed Jesus himself, into a spiritual desert of prayer and discipline that we may also grow in the life and understanding which in always available to us if only we will accept it and allow it to transform us.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

June 23: God Present to Us

Carel Fabritius: Hagar and the Angel
Residenzgalerie, Salzburg, c. 1643-45

Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading I: Gen 16:1-12, 15-16

“The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness (NRSV, Gen 16:7a).

Father, in our apparently worst moments you are always with us to empower us through the Word with your life in the Holy Spirit. I say “apparently worse moments” because every moment is the saving moment. You, Father, through the Word, now made flesh in our Lord Jesus, are always with us at every moment from that first moment in the womb. Even when we reject you and turn away from you in sin, you are always God-with-us calling us to repentance and new life. In fact, Father, your constant presence to us is one of the defining elements of human existence.

Father, you succored Hagar in the desert in her moment of need and called her to a destiny, far beyond even being the mother of a great nation. May I, in this moment accept the succor that you offer me that I may grow in your life which you always offer to every human being in every time and every place.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

June 22: The One, True Covenant with God

Jean Blondel: The Covenant with Abraham
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, 1372

Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading I: Gn 15:1-12, 17-18

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land (NRSV, Gen 15:17-18a).”

Father, in all of our lives there are moments that seem privileged when we are sure that we see clearly. On the contrary, Father, you are always there, in every moment, through your Word present to us, calling us to greater clarity and understanding. The Israelites were so sure from Mt. Sinai on that you had promised them the land. They told stories of that promise going back to Abraham. But it was not the land at all. Father, your promise and the destiny to which you call us, even though it begins here is not of this world. It is a share in your own divine life that you offers us and give to us in part even here below. Father, keep us safe on our journey through the desert of this world to you our only future. At every moment may we grow constantly in our understanding of you and the life to which you call us. May we choose only you and live out that choice in the constant service of one another.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 21: Choose the Narrow Gate

Christoph Weigel: The Wide and Narrow Gates
Biblia ectypa: Bildnussen auss Heiliger Schrifft Alt und Neuen Testaments, 1695

Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, religious

Gospel: Mt 7:6, 12-14

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it (NRSV, Mt 7:13).”

Father, as we stand poised in every moment to direct our lives into the future, there are so many choices, some merely attractive but of little value but others that are noble and of great worth. Jesus, tells us that there is only one choice that really matters: You, Father, and your coming kingdom. Choose first the kingdom of God, Jesus says, and then order all other concerns under that primary goal which alone gives a share in divine life and imparts true value and meaning to everything.

Help us, Father, in every situation to choose the gate that leads to you, the narrow gate that opens wide to embrace all of reality and gives true significance to it all.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 20: The Call to a Distant land

Pieter Lastman: Abraham on the Road to Caanan
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, 1614

Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading I: Gn 12:1-9

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing (NRSV, Gen 12:1-2).”

Father, in every moment, you call us forth, as you did Abraham, from the situation in which we find ourselves into something new. Abraham could only conceive of that call as one to a distant land that would be given to him and to his descendants. In the resurrection of our Lord Jesus we have come to understand that it is not the land at all but eternal life with you. This life is offered to us even now in the Holy Spirit through the Word who is always present to us calling us to say “yes,” as Abraham did, and to grow in your life.

Father, may every human with Abraham, our father in faith, respond to your call through the Word and let go of what we have been up until the present moment and grow ever closer to you by accepting the offer of continued growth in your own divine life.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 19: God’s Care for Us

Giotto di Bondone (?): St. Francis Preaching to the Birds
Upper Church, Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi, 1297-99

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 10:26-33

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows (NRSV, Mt 10:29-31).”

Father, you care with infinite concern for all of your creation and through your Word you are with us always. In every situation you offer us your life and power always to transform the moment for what might seem defeat into victory. No matter how we may turn away from you in sin, forgiveness and new life are always offered to us.

Father, may we never forget or ignore your loving concern. May we extend your care to all others around us that your love may be manifest to our sisters and brothers through us.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 18: Breaking out of the World

Johann Liss (1590-1631): The Ecstasy of St. Paul
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Reading I: 2 Cor 12:1-10

I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat (NRSV, 2 Cor 12:2-4).

Father, you speak one Word to all in every time and every place. Because we are limited by the finite cultural situation in which we live and especially the common sinfulness of humanity and the evil that we ourselves do, the one Word that you speak to all is grasped only in part. There are however individuals, Father, who break forth in understanding and action in response to the one Word spoken to all. They often experience their response to you in the Spirit through the Word in terms of a vision or a moment of ecstasy. Their lives are often radically transformed. Physical healing can take place. They sometimes exhibit the wounds of Christ. They speak to the rest of us with prophetic insight condemning the evils which surround us and in which we often acquiesce.

Father, inspired by Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus and his later mystical experience, may we open ourselves more completely to your life and power always offered to us all that with Paul we may understand and love more fully, ready to live, Father, only for you in service of our sisters and brothers.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 17: Glory in Weakness

Masaccio: St. Paul (from the Pisa Polyptych)
Museo Nazionale, Pisa, 1426

Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Reading I: 2 Cor 11:18, 21-30

“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness (NRSV, 2 Cor 11:30).”

Father, it seems strange that, with St. Paul, I thank you, not only for the wonderful realities that fill my life, but also for the weakness, the suffering and the emptiness. Everything I am and everything I do comes, not from myself, but from you. How easy for me to boast of the successes in my life, forgetting that it is only through you, Father, that they have been possible. That is why the moments of weakness are so important because they bring home to me my nothingness without you.

Father, may I rejoice in every moment, in failure as well as success, because, in every moment, I have the possibility, through your Word, of accepting you more fully into myself and of growing in your life. May every moment then, of apparent success or of apparent failure, be for me a moment of glory.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 16: God is Present to All

Gaston Phébus : Gaston Phébus en prière
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, 15th cent.

Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 6:7-15

“Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name (NRSV, Mt 6:9).”

Father, there is so much that you speak through the Word to everyone in every time and place that has taken us so long to learn. It is only in the Word, now made flesh in Jesus, that we have realized that, through him, you are so close to us. It is not necessary as Moses thought to climb the holy mountain alone to talk to you, or to go apart into the Tent of the Presence, or for the priest to enter the Holy of Holies of the Temple. No, you are with us through the Word always and everywhere. You even share your life with us in the Holy Spirit if we will accept you in faith. How wonderful, Father, that each of us is empowered to call your name, not in search of you, but in response to your universal presence.

Alleluia. Amen.

Jun 15: Prayer Changes Us

Icon of the Pharisee and the Publican

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 6:1-6, 16-18

“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him (NRSV, Mt 6:7-8).”

Father, when we pray to you, it is not to get your attention, because, through your Word, you are always present to us and you know all of our needs and desires. Indeed, Father, you always answer our prayers even before we utter them, because in every situation you offer us your life in the Holy Spirit and the possibility to grow in that life.

May our prayers rather change us than you, Father, that we may use your life and power effectively to serve one another now and together come to the fullness of glory with you, our only true future, in the world to come.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 14: Forgive and Love Our Enemies

Luca Giordano : The Good Samaritan
Musée des beaux-arts, Rouen, 1685.

Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 5:43-48

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (NRSV, Mt 5:44).”

Father, no matter how much we sin, no matter how much we turn away from you and reject the life that you offer us, through your Word, you are always present to us, offering us forgiveness, love and new life in the Holy Spirit.

Father, with your help, may we accept the challenge of your Word, who never leaves us, and allow your forgiveness and new life to fill us. Transformed by that life, may we, in turn, go out to others in love, even to our worst enemies, offering them forgiveness and love as we first have been loved by you, Father, through your Word, in the Holy Spirit.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 13: The Summons to Holier Lives

Gustav Moreau: St. Martin
Private Collection, 1882

Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor of the Church

Gospel: Mt 5:38-42

If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well (NRSV, Mt 5:40).”

Father, you call us through the Word, now made flesh in our Lord Jesus, to make you and your coming kingdom the center and focus of everything that we are and do. You call us to forget ourselves and give all in service of our sisters and brothers.

We struggle in every age to find patterns of activity to govern our lives in justice. Help us to realize that within this world there is nothing that exhausts your truth and goodness and that we are constantly called to move beyond even our highest ideals and motivations to find new forms of moral behavior which in turn will also need to be surpassed.

Father, you give us life in the Spirit in the moment and call us always to grow in that divine life. May your gift never be in vain but manifest itself in us in holier lives.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 12: Called to be Apostles

Icon of the Twelve Apostles

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 9:36--10:8

“Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness (NRSV, Mt 10:1).”

Father, the authority over unclean spirits and the power to awaken healing in others which, we read in Matthew, Jesus gave to his twelve disciples, the Word in fact gives to every human being who will accept it. All of us are offered the possibility to grow in your divine life at every moment. With that life comes great authority and power. It is faith accepted and lived out that ultimately heals and saves. The Word, now made flesh in our Lord Jesus, is the sole mediator of faith but he offers a share in that mediation to every human being, just as you, Father, through the Word, offer all of us a share in your life.

Father, an apostle is an ambassador to others. All of us are called to minister to one another. Help us, Lord, to fulfill that mission.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

June 11: Called to Mediate the Faith with the Word Now Made Flesh

Master of the Modena Book of Hours: Saint Barnabas
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, 1390-1400

Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle

Reading I: Acts 11:21b-26; 13:1-3

For Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord (NRSV, Acts 11:24).

Father, your Apostle Barnabas went to Antioch and the divine life that you had shared with him (For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith) radiated out from him to others who then came to believe.

Father, as you share your life through the Word with all who will accept it, you also challenge us to manifest it to others that thus they too may come to believe and to believe more fully.

Father, the Word, now made flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ, is the one mediator between you and us. As we share in your life through him, we are also called to share in that one mediation.

Help us, Father, to bring others to the faith and to a greater share in your life as did your Apostle Barnabas.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 10: Called to Resurrection

Luca Signorelli: The Resurrection of the Body (detail)
Cappella di San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto, 1499-1502

Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading I: 2 Cor 4:7-15

Because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence (NRSV, 2 Cor 4:14).

Father, you are always present to us through your Word offering us your life in the Holy Spirit even in this world. That life which filled our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, enabled him to pass unscathed through physical death to the glory of bodily resurrection. It is our belief and our hope that we are called to that same destiny.

May we, Father, say “yes” to your gift of life offered to us through the Word in every situation, and, growing in that life in this world, may we with Jesus also come to that final resurrection of the body.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 9: The Glory of God Revealed to All Who Believe

Gustave Doré: The Glory of God
The Doré Bible Illustrations, 1974

Feast of Saint Columba (Colum Cille), abbot and missionary, secondary patron of Ireland

Reading I: 2 Cor 3:15—4:1, 3-6

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit (NRSV, 2 Cor 3:18).

Father, all of us, even from the womb, who say “yes” to the challenge of the Word always present to us, find ourselves immediately in your presence. The Spirit is given to us through the Word and we become sharers in your own divine life.

Help us, Father, to commit ourselves ever more fully to you that we may grow in your life in every situation and come to experience the fullness of your glory which bathes us even now in this world.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 8: The Past is Fulfilled in a New and Unexpected Future

Albert Bouts (1460-1549): The Transfiguration
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England

Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 5:17-19

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill(NRSV, Mt 5:17).”

Father, the evangelists described Jesus in glory atop the holy mountain surrounded by the Law and the prophets personified in Moses and Elijah. In Jesus we meet in the flesh the future to which we are all called, the future already accomplished. Jesus fulfills all things, the Law, the prophets, everything that preceded him and pointed to his coming.

Father, you call us to new life through the Word in every moment. The past drops away; the old understanding is subsumed into the new. Nothing of value is lost but all takes on new meaning and reality.

Father, help us to be faithful to what our “yes” of faith to you in the past has brought us, not by clinging to it, but by letting go and allowing it to be transformed into something new and glorious. Father, you are our one and true Future who affirms what has been of value in whom we have been by calling us always to something new and unexpected.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 7: Called to be Light to the World

Philip Melancthon: The Sermon on the Mount
Annotationes Philippi Melanthonis in Evangelia Dominicalia, 16th cent.

Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 5:13-16

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven (NRSV, Mt 5:16).”

Father, in every moment, in every place, your Word, always present to us, offers us a share in your life, an ever-increasing share in your life. Transformed as we are by that gift freely accepted, the Word, now made flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ, challenges us to manifest that gift to others and to share it with them. The Word, the true Light of the World, calls us all to be with him beacons of God’s light and life to all of our sisters and brothers.

Father, help us to live so that we not only continually grow in your divine life but that we manifest that life to others so that all of us may be truly one family in you.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 6: Love Ever More Fully

Anonymous Cologne Glazier: Sermon on the Mount
Great Bookham (Bucks.), England, 1460

Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading I: 2 Cor 1:1-7

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God (NRSV, 1 Cor 1:3-4).

Father, everything that we are, and everything that we do, have their origin in you. When we console others, it is because we have been empowered to act by the consolation that we ourselves have first received from you.

Jesus, the Word made flesh, in the collection of moral challenges that the evangelists have united into the Sermon on the Mount, summons us to a new and higher form of moral life. The Word, in fact, always present to us in every situation from the very beginning, challenges us always in the moment to live better lives than we have up until that moment. With the challenge inevitably comes the power to act given to us in the Holy Spirit. As we are called to a deeper understanding of love of you, Father, and of our neighbor, and summoned to live out that love, we can only fulfill the calling because you, Father, have first loved us and empowered us with your infinite love. Help us grow in your love, Father, that we in turn may ever love more fully.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 5: Called at Every Moment

Marinus van Reymerswaele: The Calling of Matthew
Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent, 1536

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 9:9-13

“Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners (NRSV, Mt 9:13).”

Father, your son Jesus, the Word made flesh, called Matthew the tax collector as he sat in his counting office. In fact, Lord, perhaps in ways not so obvious, through your Word, you called Matthew at every moment of his existence as you call every human being in every situation. That in large measure is what it means to be human: to be called forth, out of one’s present existence, to accept your gift of divine life in the Holy Spirit and always to grow in it.

No one is excluded. No one is beyond divine grace. The Word is present to all in every situation. His presence only seems at times to be absence because in our sinfulness we sometimes refuse to recognize him. That is why Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners,” because the sinner so often seems excluded from divine favor.

Help us, Father, in every situation, like Matthew in his counting office, to let go of everything we have become up until the moment, that with Matthew we may become truly something new, sharing every more fully in your divine life always offered us through your Word.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 4: Growth in Truth

Michael Wohlgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff:
Jesus as a Boy Preaching in the Temple
The Nuremberg Chronicles, 1488

Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Gospel: Lk 2:41-51

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers (NRSV, Lk 2:46-47).

The Word made flesh in our Lord Jesus the Christ, child that he was, amazed the teachers in the temple with his knowledge and wisdom. Father, you reveal to us your Word, spoken to us once and for all at every moment, even from the womb. Help us in every situation to grow in your truth always revealed to us. May we accept that all of our understanding is in part, conditioned by time and space, and limited by our common sinfulness. By saying “yes” to your Word, ever present to us, and allowing your Spirit, who is life and love, to fill us more and more, may we continue to mature in your truth, leaving old understandings behind, as we participate more fully in you, our only real future, who alone is truth absolute.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 3: The Father Speaks His Word to All Who Listen

Lieven van Lathem: Teacher with the Holy Ghost as a dove
on the young man's head
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, 1460

The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Gospel: Mt 11:25-30

At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants (NRSV, Mt 11:25).”

Father, you speak to us your Word once and for all at every moment even from the first moment of our existence in the womb. May we ever be responsive to the gift of the Holy Spirit who enlightens all who will listen. Help us to grow constantly in understanding and life as we continue on our journey to you who are our only future.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 2: Growing in Love

Christoph Weigel: Jesus and the Teacher of the Law
Biblia ectypa: Bildnussen auss Heiliger Schrifft Alt und Neuen Testaments, 1695

Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mk 12:28-34

“And ‘to love God with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’ —this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices (NRSV, Mk 12:33).”

Father, the divine life that you offer us at every moment, in every place, through the Word, your Son, now made flesh, is Love, the Love that you and the Word share with one another, the Love that we know also as your Holy Spirit. May we in every situation grow, first, in our understanding of your life which is Love, letting go in every moment of what we have understood up until that moment, understanding that is always partial and limited, grasped from a created perspective crying out to be superseded. But, even mort importantly, may we in every situation, accept that life which is Love, mediated to us through the Word, and grow in it, sharing ever more fully in all that you are, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Father, may your Love, ever more fully understood and lived, fill us and transform us, all of us, sisters and brothers, who share in your one life.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jun 1: The Gift of Divine Life Offered to All

Andrea del Verrocchio: Tobias and the Angel
The National Gallery, London, 1470-80

Memorial of Saint Justin, martyr

Reading I: Tb 3:1-11a, 16-17a

So Raphael was sent to heal both of them: Tobit, by removing the white films from his eyes, so that he might see God's light with his eyes; and Sarah, daughter of Raguel, by giving her in marriage to Tobias son of Tobit, and by setting her free from the wicked demon Asmodeus (NRSV, Tb 3:17a).

Father, in the Book of Tobit we read how you answered the prayers both of Tobit and Sarah by sending Raphael to assist them. We firmly believe that even before we pray to you, Father, in every time and place, you send your Holy Spirit upon us through the Word, now made flesh, to share your life with us that, empowered by your life, we may be victors in every situation.

Father, may we be ever responsive to the gift of your life and thus constantly grow in unity with you and with all of our sisters and brothers.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.