Friday of the 2nd Week of Easter

Friday of the Second Week of Easter (Year 1)
*Good News Reflection*
Friday of the Second Week of Easter
April 24, 2009
*Today's Readings:*
Acts 5:34-42
Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14
John 6:1-15
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/042409.shtml
Audio:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_04_24.mp3
*Joy under trial*

There's a line in the story from today's first reading that does not make sense: They left rejoicing because they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of Jesus. How could anyone derive joy from being misjudged and dishonored? Even for Christ's sake!

When I'm on trial, being judged by others, criticized, misunderstood, or rejected, and my reputation's under attack, I want to grumble about it, to say the least. What if someone in a position of authority were to order me to stop distributing these Good News reflections because he doesn't approve of non-clergy writing them? Well, I don't think joy is what I'd be feeling.

The fact is, no matter where we live, we're all on trial for our faith every day. Some of my readers live in countries where Christians are literally being persecuted like the first apostles. They face real danger if they're caught reading this. However, who hasn't been put on trial for their faith? Only those whose faith is so invisible that it has no impact.

We are whipped with words. We're hauled into the court of people's minds where we're unfairly judged and prosecuted. We're sentenced to a change of subject so that we cannot freely talk about Jesus. It happens when we speak up for children who are in danger of being aborted. It happens when we compassionately embrace homosexuals while promoting chaste living without sexual activity. It happens when we use the gifts and talents and education the Lord has given us when others think we're not qualified.

Think of any time when someone took away your freedom to do what God called you to do. Did you feel full of joy — or angrily frustrated? So, how DID the early apostles find joy as they left the Sanhedrin?

The joy of persecution comes from being so in love with God that nothing else really matters. When we're more in love with our reputations, the disapproval of others makes us miserable. Joy comes from making God our focus instead of what happens to us. And by keeping our eyes on Jesus, we remember that even our crosses become resurrections. Even our denied freedoms are new opportunities for divine intervention, because God cannot be stopped and his will cannot be deferred for long. THAT is a huge reason to feel joyful.

It's not easy to keep our focus entirely on God. It takes great effort and continual, conscious decision. The more we work at it, the more we will enable our trust in God, and that's when we experience amazing joy. With the Holy Spirit's help, it's not impossible at all. And if we feel even just a wee bit of joy, we can ask Jesus to multiply it and he will, just like he did with the bread and fish in today's Gospel reading.

© 2009 by Terry A. Modica
For PERMISSION to copy this reflection, go to:
http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm

Thursday of the 2nd Week of Easter

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter (Year 1)
*Good News Reflection*
Thursday of the Second Week of Easter
April 23, 2009
*Today's Saint: George*
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/George.htm
*Today's Readings:*
Acts 5:27-33
Ps 34:2, 9, 17-20 (with 7a)
John 3:31-36
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/042309.shtml
Audio:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_04_23.mp3

*Receiving your full portion of the Spirit*
Has the Father rationed the gift of his Spirit to you? Do you have a portion of the Holy Spirit or the fullness of the Spirit? In today's Gospel passage, Jesus says that the Father did not ration ("limit") the Spirit to him. What about us?

In the first reading, Peter says that the Holy Spirit has been given to all who obey the Father. You and I do not obey God all of the time like Jesus did. Does this mean that the Father gives us less of his Spirit than he gave to Jesus?

Try this question: Is the Father's love ever limited? Can he partially love anyone? Of course not! There is no such thing as "partial love". Love is love! God who is love fully and completely loves you. So why does it seem like he gave Jesus the fullness of the Spirit but only a portion to us?
The Son stayed fully in touch with the Father and was therefore open to receiving everything that the Father wanted to give him. When we were baptized into the life of Christ, the Father gave us his Spirit fully. The problem is, we're not fully in touch with the Father. Our worldly attachments and busyness distract us. Our sins build a dam that holds back the waters of the Spirit.

Countless saints experienced the power of the Spirit in amazing miracles, because they worked hard daily at breaking down the barriers between this world and heaven. They worked hard at purging out all the sins and distractions that disconnected them from God. "But I'll never be THAT holy," we point out. We give up before we try long enough. We become content with the progress we've made and so we sit down on a cozy wayside bench. We see hard work ahead, and so we turn onto paths that look pleasant and easy.

Thus, we lead mediocre lives instead of miraculous ones. Big dreams become fantasies instead of realities. And instead of making great accomplishments that change the world, we severely limit our potential.

The most important priority of our lives should be the nurturing of our communion with God. Do you care enough about your personal spiritual development that you'll work hard for it? Daily? The Father is not the one who rations the Holy Spirit to us. We limit the extent of the Spirit's powerful affect on our lives by neglecting to center ourselves more fully in God. We let distractions pull us off-center. We let sins pull us even farther away.

Observe the decisions that you make today (and each day) while asking yourself: "Am I choosing the way of holiness? Am I staying centered on God's love for me and my love for him?" Each and every moment! Making the right decisions — the holy and loving and soul-nurturing decisions — will flood your life with God's Spirit.


© 2009 by Terry A. Modica
For PERMISSION to copy this reflection, go to:
http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm

Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Easter

Good News Reflection
Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter
April 22, 2009

Today's Readings:
Acts 5:17-26
Ps 34:2-9
John 3:16-21
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/042209.shtml
Audio:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_04_22.mp3

Living free of condemnation

Today's Gospel passage makes very clear a truth that many of us don't fully believe: Jesus did not come here to condemn anyone. Yet we feel condemned whenever we feel guilty about a sin. Why is that?

It's because we are harder on ourselves than we are on others. On the surface, it seems that we're supposed to do that. To be easy on ourselves (e.g.: "I'm okay, I'm not really sinning.") would be self-indulgent, which is rooted in the sin of pride, right? Yes, but usually the reason why people rationalize that their sins as really not sins is because they're afraid of feeling condemned, which translates to feeling unloved, which translates as proof that they are unlovable.

Have you been unable to forgive yourself? Are you trying to find your happiness in how others treat you because you don't feel happy about yourself? Do you feel like you don't get enough affirmation, but when you do get it, you feel embarrassed and unworthy?

These are typical results from failing to grasp the full meaning of this scripture. They are the normal consequences of believing that we're not good enough no matter what we do.

When we sin, guilt confirms that we deserve to be condemned. When we innocently make a mistake, this too seems to confirm that we deserve to be condemned, and so we condemn ourselves for making the mistake instead of seeing it as just another learning tool. And every unjust, unfair, unkind situation that happens to us also triggers this feeling of being condemned.

The truth is: You were freed from condemnation when you accepted the idea that Christ sacrificed his life on the cross for YOU.

When we sin, we are guilty of doing something evil, and when we repent, we return to the freedom gained by Christ. But too often guilt becomes shame, which is the false assumption that WE are evil. Shame continues long after we've been forgiven. Jesus doesn't condemn us, but shame does. Shame won't free us from guilt, won't allow us to enjoy the forgiveness of God, won't enable us to forgive ourselves.

Guilt tells us the truth about ourselves and invites us to grow from it; shame lies to us and paralyzes our growth.

The truth is: There is no shame in realizing your sinfulness, because facing it frees you to become who you really are. Who are you really? Thanks to your baptism and the presence of Christ's Holy Spirit within you, you are holy!

The good we do is the earthly ministry of Christ as he serves today's world through us. As repentant Christians, we live in his light and our works are seen as done in God. Therefore, God delights in you. Don't let shame hide this truth from you.

© 2009 by Terry A. Modica
For PERMISSION to copy this reflection, go to:
http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm

Thursday of the 2nd Week of Easter

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter (Year 1)
*Good News Reflection*
Thursday of the Second Week of Easter
April 23, 2009
*Today's Saint: George*
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/George.htm
*Today's Readings:*
Acts 5:27-33
Ps 34:2, 9, 17-20 (with 7a)
John 3:31-36
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/042309.shtml
Audio:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_04_23.mp3
*Receiving your full portion of the Spirit*
Has the Father rationed the gift of his Spirit to you? Do you have a portion of the Holy Spirit or the fullness of the Spirit? In today's Gospel passage, Jesus says that the Father did not ration ("limit") the Spirit to him. What about us?

In the first reading, Peter says that the Holy Spirit has been given to all who obey the Father. You and I do not obey God all of the time like Jesus did. Does this mean that the Father gives us less of his Spirit than he gave to Jesus?

Try this question: Is the Father's love ever limited? Can he partially love anyone? Of course not! There is no such thing as "partial love". Love is love! God who is love fully and completely loves you. So why does it seem like he gave Jesus the fullness of the Spirit but only a portion to us?
The Son stayed fully in touch with the Father and was therefore open to receiving everything that the Father wanted to give him. When we were baptized into the life of Christ, the Father gave us his Spirit fully. The problem is, we're not fully in touch with the Father. Our worldly attachments and busyness distract us. Our sins build a dam that holds back the waters of the Spirit.

Countless Saints experienced the power of the Spirit in amazing miracles, because they worked hard daily at breaking down the barriers between this world and heaven. They worked hard at purging out all the sins and distractions that disconnected them from God. "But I'll never be THAT holy," we point out. We give up before we try long enough. We become content with the progress we've made and so we sit down on a cozy wayside bench. We see hard work ahead, and so we turn onto paths that look pleasant and easy.

Thus, we lead mediocre lives instead of miraculous ones. Big dreams become fantasies instead of realities. And instead of making great accomplishments that change the world, we severely limit our potential. The most important priority of our lives should be the nurturing of our communion with God. Do you care enough about your personal spiritual development that you'll work hard for it? Daily? The Father is not the one who rations the Holy Spirit to us. We limit the extent of the Spirit's powerful affect on our lives by neglecting to center ourselves more fully in God. We let distractions pull us off-center. We let sins pull us even farther away.

Observe the decisions that you make today (and each day) while asking yourself: "Am I choosing the way of holiness? Am I staying centered on God's love for me and my love for him?" Each and every moment! Making the right decisions — the holy and loving and soul-nurturing decisions — will flood your life with God's Spirit.




© 2009 by Terry A. Modica
For PERMISSION to copy this reflection, go to:
http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm

Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter

Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter (Year 1)
*Good News Reflection*
Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter
April 21, 2009
*Today's Saint: Anselm of Canterbury*
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/Anselm.htm
*Today's Readings:*
Acts 4:32-37
Ps 93:1-2, 5
John 3:7b-15
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/042109.shtml
Audio:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_04_21.mp3
*Flying high in the Spirit*

What does it mean "to be born from above"? In today's Gospel passage, Jesus explained that it means being led by God even when we don't know where he's leading us. It means being free to float in the Spirit at any time in any direction, because we are not attached to this world even though it's what we can touch, smell, see, hear audibly, and control.

Life in the Spirit means living as a feather on the wind, offering no resistance to being picked up and transported by a gust that we cannot see, having no sense of alarm when find ourselves in an unexpected place. However, being a light-weight feather that's blown around by the Lord's invisible breath is more likely to freak us out than to relax us, because it challenges our "need" to be in control.

We see in the first reading that the community of believers were detached from their possessions. They were so high on the Spirit, so fully trusting in God that everyone made themselves available to be used by God to meet each others' needs. Why can't we become like that? It is possible — this is God's design — but it can only happen within the context of community.

By ourselves, we cannot be that generous, supplying everything that another person needs, but we think we should, and so we feel overwhelmed and inadequate and therefore we don't do much at all. We get stuck in our inadequacies because we live such individualistic lives that we forget that we are part of the earthly Body of Christ, which is the whole Church in community. Individually, the Holy Spirit shows us which particular needs of the community he wants us to address, and in community, Christ's Spirit joins our helpfulness to others who can also help. Thus, everyone's needs can get met.

To measure your freedom of spirit, examine how attached you are to this world. Test yourself with the collection basket at Mass. In scripture, God repeatedly asks for a tithing, i.e., 10% of our total income (which can be split between the parish and other charities). If we're so attached to our possessions that we can't give five percent of our money to our own parish, how free are we to follow any other leadings of the Spirit?

What if the Lord makes you aware of a parishioner who cannot get employment because he has no car? And what if you're about to trade in your old car for a new one? Could you give it to him? What if he attempts to pay you for it but his check bounces? Would you demand payment or forgive the debt? Or would you instead thank God for the opportunity to experience one of the wounds of Jesus as you continue to float along wherever the Spirit blows? (It really is possible; I speak from experience.)

St. John of the Cross said, "It makes little difference whether a bird is tied by a thin thread or by a cord. For even if tied by thread, the bird will be prevented from taking off just as surely as if it were tied by cord -- that is, it will be impeded from flight as long as it does not break the thread....This is the lot of a man who is attached to something; no matter how much virtue he has, he will not reach the freedom of divine union."

/*For an inspirational PowerPoint presentation on Life in the Spirit* to show in religious education classes, RCIA, and prayer groups, please visit Catholic Digital Resources at http://catholicdr.com/TrinityRetreat and scroll down to see the last one on the page where you can preview it./




© 2009 by Terry A. Modica
For PERMISSION to copy this reflection, go to:

http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm

Monday of the 2nd Week of Easter

Good News Reflection
Monday of the Second Week of Easter
April 20, 2009

Today's Readings:
Acts 4:23-31
Ps 2:1-9 (with 11d)
John 3:1-8
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/042009.shtml
Audio:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_04_20.mp3

Is the Holy Spirit alive and active in you?

Have you ever been asked, "Are you born-again?" Skip that question! Go directly to: "Is the Holy Spirit living within you, activating your faith, inspiring you to holy action?" Converting to Jesus Christ is not enough. A personal relationship with his Holy Spirit is what makes the difference between a sinful person and a holy person.

As we celebrate the risen Lord throughout the Easter season, the Church repeatedly reminds us that after Easter comes Pentecost. We see the disciples intoday's first reading praying so fully in the Lord that they become overflowingly filled with the Holy Spirit.

It was the Holy Spirit who gave them unfettered boldness to proclaim God's word; without this, they were scared and ineffective. Does your faith in Christ free you from what seems intimidating or frightening? Does your faith give you powerful boldness and confidence, causing you to take action for the sake of continuing Christ's ministry?

It was the Holy Spirit who filled the first Christians with rejoicing when they faced persecution. Are you able to rejoice in the midst of troubles? It was the Holy Spirit who inspired them to pray and then deepened their prayer. Is your prayer life in need of help? It was the Holy Spirit who shook the room in which the disciples were gathered, not an earthquake. Does your faith shake up your life? Do you sense the powerful presence of God when you gather in community?

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus puts the baptism of the Holy Spirit on equal level with baptism by water. The two work together. Baptism by water cleanses us from sin. The Holy Spirit empowers us to be holy and resist new temptations to sin. Does your faith enable you to overcome repeated tendencies to sin? By water, God's holiness has replaced your fallen, sinful nature. By the Holy Spirit, God's holiness has become your true nature.

The Holy Spirit is the key that unlocks our holiness: "No one can enter into God's kingdom without being born of water AND Spirit.... Spirit begets spirit." We can only be Christ-like when his Holy Spirit is alive and active in us. We can only stay on the path to heaven when the Holy Spirit is our guide.

We lack nothing that's needed for salvation and eternal life; the Holy Spirit was given to us FULLY during our Baptism, and this was confirmed in the Sacrament of Confirmation. To succeed in God's plan of salvation, all we have to do is unite our spirit to the activities of Christ's Spirit.

Here's a prayer to the Holy Spirit that you can use in your daily prayers while preparing for the celebration of Pentecost: http://wordbytes.org/prayers/HolySpirit.htm. If you want copies of this to distribute in your parish, please see the published version at Catholic Digital Resources: http://catholicdr.com/faithbuilders/prayers/HolySpirit-Prayer.htm.

© 2009 by Terry A. Modica
For PERMISSION to copy this reflection, go to:

http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm