December 9, 2017: St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin / Saturday, 1st week, Advent
 |
| See two dozen connections with today? Legend below |
For the gospel
- Freely, freely/ Owens: country
- Far and near the fields are teeming/ Thompson, Clemm: traditional, lyrics+
- Come with me into the fields/ Schutte: sheet music
For Psalm 147
Your Foundress was a true missionary, following the example of St. Francis Xavier. She went to serve where God sent her, forgetting herself to surrender herself to God's love. The reality of migrants, to whom she dedicated her life, has evolved. Faces marked by poverty and violence hope for outstretched hands and welcoming hearts like hers. You're offered the responsibility of being faithful to your Foundress's mission. Migrants need good laws and programs of development and organization, but above all they need love, friendship, and closeness; they need to be heard and accompanied; they need God, encountered in your love freely given.
May the Lord renew in you the merciful gaze towards the poor. Mother Cabrini looked with courage into the eyes of orphaned children, unemployed youth tempted to commit crimes, and the exploited. She recognized Christ in them and put her God-given talents to good use. Her union with Christ gave her energy to do extraordinary work; her motto was, "I can do all things in him who gives me strength."
Mother Cabrini lived the spirituality of Jesus' Sacred Heart. She tried to console and make his Sacred Heart known and loved, and so she could look at and help those who approached her. She reminds us to have faith to live in the present moment of grace and respond to the signs of our time, reading them in the light of God's Word and living so as to provide an answer that can reach every heart.Read
- Is 30:19-21, 23-26 God will be gracious to you when you cry out; he'll answer as soon as he hears you, give you the bread and water you need. You'll see your Teacher and hear a voice, “This is the way; walk in it.” He'll give rain, wheat, pasture for your flock, meadows for the lambs, food for the oxen, water for everyone. He'll bind his people's wounds and heal their bruises.
- Ps 147:1-6 "Blessed are all who wait for the Lord." Praise the Lord, good, gracious, mighty, and wise, who rebuilds Jerusalem, gathers the dispersed, heals the brokenhearted, calls by name, and sustains the lowly.
- Mt 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8 Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom and cured every disease and illness. Seeing the troubled crowds, like shepherdless sheep, he was moved with pity. “The harvest is abundant but laborers are few; ask the harvest master to send laborers.” Then he summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority: “Go to the lost sheep, proclaiming, ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Give freely as you've received.”
Reflect
- Creighton: Advent is a time of anticipation, waiting, and coming. As unworthy I feel to receive him, I receive the Gift every day. Some label the each week of Advent: Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. As overwhelmed as I can feel, hope will carry me through as I recognize we're not home yet. The 1st reading tells of God’s grace in responding to weeping, hardship, and struggles. He comforts us and shows us the way. Today's struggles—violence, horror, abuses, personal challenges—could lead us down a dark path, but hope can spring from them. I must believe that God, who accepts me with my faults and frailties, is here and loves me....
- One Bread, One Body: "Open before Christmas!" Many are interested in what they'll get for Christmas, but we should also be excited about what we're getting before Christmas: sometimes a healing. Receive healing as an Advent present. Ask for prayers for healing. Ask your family or people you don't like to let the Lord heal you through them. Then get ready to receive Emmanuel....
- Passionist: "My little Juan": At a place of devotion to an Aztec goddess, humble Juan Diego met Mary, Mother of God, who called him, “Juan, my little one.” He experienced a mother’s love; she, who knew and chose him, cared for him. Now the Mexican people know a loving mother, La Morenita, who cares for them and leads them to Jesus.
Advent is "the irrational season / When love blooms bright and wild. Had Mary been filled with reason / There’d have been no room for the child" (L'Engle, After Annunciation). The season orients us through darkness to the Light; it's a time of hope and comfort for all who feel pain and loneliness. Our remembrance of Juan Diego, and all who search and long, and Mary's appearance and gift of a mother’s love, bring us something beyond reason. Our Mother loves us as she did her son....
- DailyScripture.net: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand": Isaiah foretold God's kingdom would overcome adversity and bring peace and prosperity. Jesus understood his mission to bring the kingdom to us. The Gospel message is that God's kingdom is imminent! God's power is at work. In the Our Father we ask God to reign in our lives and our world. May we let God transform us and reign in every area of our lives. Jesus commissioned his disciples to speak God's word, heal, passing onto others what he gave them. The kingdom is available today to those ready to receive it. If we accept God's love and mercy, heaven is in our hearts....
- Universalis: Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin [pronunciation], baptized as an adult, saw Our Lady of Guadalupe and asked the bishop to have a church built there. Humble and fervent, he devoted himself to the care of the sanctuary and reception of pilgrims.
Dress legend
- 'Walker' tie pin: "This is the way; walk in it" (1st reading)
- 'Eyeball' pin: With your own eyes you'll see your Teacher (1st reading)
- 'Alps' pin: On every high mountain will be running water (1st reading)
- 'Sun' pin: The light of the sun will be seven times greater (1st reading)
- 'Wheat' pin: He'll give you abundant wheat (1st reading); the harvest is abundant (gospel)
- 'Doctor's office' tie: God will heal their bruises (1st reading); Jesus cured every disease and illness (gospel)
- 'Sheep' tie bar: Crowds were like shepherdless sheep; go to the lost sheep (gospel); your flock will be given pasture... (1st reading)
- 'Lamb' tie bar: ...and the lamb will graze in spacious meadows (1st reading)
- Blue and white in shirt: The Lord will give you the water you thirst for (1st reading); white for St. Juan Diego
- 'Clock' pin: "Blessed all who wait for the Lord" (psalm)
- 'Phone' tie bar: He 'calls' each star by name (psalm)
- 'Star' tie pin: He tells the number of the stars (psalm)
- 'Owl' tie pin: His wisdom has no limit (psalm)
- 'Pierced hearts' suspenders: The Lord heals the brokenhearted (psalm); Jesus' heart was moved with pity (gospel)
- 'Celebrate teaching' pin: Jesus went around teaching... (gospel)
- 'Crown' tie bar: Proclaim, "The Kingdom of heaven..." (gospel)
- 'Hand' tie pin: "...is at 'hand'" (gospel)
- 'Car' pin: Jesus gave the Twelve authority to 'drive' out unclean spirits
- Purple in tie: Advent season
No comments:
Post a Comment