This blog is based on references in the Bible to fear. God wills that we “BE NOT AFRAID”. Many theologians state that the eighth deadly sin is fear. It is fear and its natural animal reaction to fight or flight that is the root cause of our failings to create a Kingdom of God on earth. By “the power of the Holy Spirit” we can be witnesses and “communicators” of a new and redeemed humanity “even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7 8). This blog is dedicated to Mary the Mother of God.
Prayer consecrating the upcoming election in the United States to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Voting now till November 5-we hope?!
NINE-MONTH NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
Start March 12 to December 12
Divine Mercy Hikes
Hiking and prayer are naturals together. This was the original method of prayer used by the patriarchs. The premise of this book is to guide the prayerful hiker in completing a Novena of Hikes.
oWake up in the morning and rummage through your sock drawer for the oddest pair you can find. Celebrate individuality by embracing the mismatched chaos of Odd Socks Day.
§Head to the kitchen, whip up a comforting pot of chicken soup. Indulge in a warm bowl to soothe your soul on National Chicken Soup for the Soul Day.
·As lunchtime rolls around, order a pizza loaded with all your favorite toppings minus the controversial anchovies. Dive into a slice on National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day.
oFor dinner, savor a delicious French dip sandwich from a local deli or try your hand at making one yourself. Toast to resilience and strength on National Survivors’ Day.
ovisit a local pet store and spend some time appreciating these often-overlooked furry companions? Fancy Rat & Mouse Day calls for a nod to our tiny friends.
oTake a moment to raise awareness about pneumonia and its prevention. Educate yourself and others on World Pneumonia Day.
oTanya Harding’s Birthday 1970
NOVEMBER 12 Tuesday-Saint
Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr
FRENCH DIP DAY
Isaiah, Chapter 10,
verse 24
Therefore, thus says
the Lord, the GOD of hosts: My people, who dwell in Zion, do not FEAR the
Assyrian, though he strikes you with a rod, and raises his staff against you as
did the Egyptians.
Who is it you fear; who are the Assyrians in your
life?
God asks us to
trust in Him. Even in the worst of situations God is with you.
I sought
the LORD, and he answered me,
delivered
me from all my fears.
(Ps.
34:5)
Sometimes the Lord asks us to go out into the desert to face our fears for it is in this barren place we
can grow in faith like Abraham and Moses and have an encounter with the living
God. Deserts are fearful places and are full of rocks, pointy things, snakes,
spiders and the indescribable beauty of God’s creation. By encountering God in
the desert, we learn that the very same stones that somehow get in our shoes
and make progress impossible are the very same stones that lay foundations,
bridges and roads. In the desert we can search for God; avoid of our
distractions and find Him. In the desert we can write out our sins and confess
them to God. In the desert we can shed our old lives like the snake sheds its
skin and find a new perspective for life. It is during this time alone with He
that IS; we make a spiritual change of clothes. In the desert we can make an
all-night vigil and with the coming of the new day we can proclaim as in the
Negro spiritual: When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun, O
Lord, have mercy on me. For it is in the desert that we can quit deluding
ourselves and be doers of the word and not hearers only. For it is in the
desert we can find the strength to keep ourselves unstained by the world and
find that pure and undefiled religion is to care for others in their
afflictions.
Josaphat Kuncewitcz was
born about the year 1580 at Vladimir, Volhynia, [part of the Polish province of
Lithuania at the time] and given the name John at baptism. While being
instructed as a child on the sufferings of our Savior, his heart is said to have been wounded by an arrow from the sacred side
of the Crucified. In 1604 he joined the Ukrainian Order of Saint Basil
(Basilians), lived as a monk in a very mortified life, went barefoot even in
winter, refrained from the use of wine and flesh-meat, and always wore a
penitential garb. In 1614 he was appointed archimandrite of Vilna, Russia and
four years later archbishop of Polotzk; in this position he worked untiringly
for Church reunion. He was a great friend of the poor, once even pledged his
archepiscopal omophorion (pallium) to support a poor widow. The foes of union
decided to assassinate him. In a sermon, he himself spoke of his death as
imminent. When he visited Vitebsk (now in Russia), his enemies attacked his
lodging and murdered a number of his companions. Meekly the man of God hastened
toward the mob and, full of love, cried, "My children, what are you doing?
If you have something against me, see, here I am." With furious cries of
"Kill the papist!", they rushed upon him with gun and sword.
Josaphat's body was thrown into the river but emerged, surrounded by rays of
light, and was recovered. His murderers, when sentenced to death, repented
their crime and became Catholics.
·Learn
more about the different Eastern Rites which are in union with the Pope.
·Josaphat
is the patron saint of Ukraine, but his life has Russian, Polish and Lithuanian
influences.
Catechism of the Catholic
Church
IV. The Sacraments of
Salvation
Day 153
1127
Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they
signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work:
it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate
the grace that each sacrament signifies. the Father always hears the prayer of
his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith
in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it
touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is
subjected to his power.
1128 This is
the meaning of the Church's affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere
operato (literally: "by the very fact of the action's being
performed"), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished
once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the
righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of
God." From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance
with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in
and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister.
Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of
the one who receives them.
1129 The Church affirms that
for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for
salvation. "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit,
given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. the Spirit heals and transforms those
who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the
sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in
the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the
Savior.
The French Dip sandwich, though the
name says otherwise, is an American invention. Since nothing of the sandwich is
very close at all to any kind of French cuisine, it is assumed it was named
after the style of bread that was used, which is, of course, French bread.
The sandwich is made of a long
baguette, sliced in half, and piled high with tender roast beef or sometimes
other meat options. The defining factor is the small bowl of au jus
(bouillon-esque broth) that is served with it, into which the sandwich is meant
to be dipped. Some people like to add a slice of Swiss cheese on top, just for
some extra flavor and fun.
Daily
Devotions
·Today in honor of the
Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving your day to God. To honor God REST: no
shopping after 6 pm Saturday till Monday. Don’t forget the internet.
·Feast of St. Martin or Martinmas, November
11—For most of the European continent Martinmas was the biggest and final fall
harvest feast. The festivities were especially for the wine harvest and the
great winter slaughters of animals. The feasting usually centered around a
Martinmas goose accompanied with apples. Advent used to be 40 days in length,
beginning a few days after St. Martin’s. There were more strenuous requirements
of fasting and abstinence, so Martinmas would also be a celebration to use up
fats and meats in preparation for Advent, similar to Fat Tuesday before Lent.
See my previous post, Feastday Highlights: 11-11, Honoring the Real St. Martin
of Tours.
In 490, Bishop Perpetuus of Tours officially declared Advent a penitential season in the Frankish Church of Western Europe, ordering a fast on three days of every week from November 11 (the feast of St. Martin of Tours) till Christmas. These forty days’ fast, similar to Lent, was originally called Quadragesima Sancti Martini (Forty Days' Fast of Saint Martin's). The Readings for the Eucharistic Liturgies were taken from the Masses of Lent.
Indian Summer between November 11 and November 20.
Veterans
Day is observed on November 11th each year it is also the start of the Fasching
season in Germany which begins on 11/11 at the 11th hour and at
the 11th second.
Monday Night at the Movies
Jerry London, The Scarlet and the Black, 1983.
NOVEMBER 11 Monday-Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop
VETERANS
DAY
Isaiah, Chapter 8,
verse 12-13
12
Do not call conspiracy what this people calls conspiracy, nor FEAR what they fear, nor feel dread. 13 But conspire with the LORD of
hosts; he shall be your fear, he
shall be your dread.
Because Isaiah and his followers
resisted the official policy of seeking help from Assyria they were labeled
“conspirators”; Isaiah uses the term to express what is really the case,
cooperating with the Lord.
When we see the word “conspire” we
think of spies and covert operations; yet if we check the synonyms of the word
it takes on a whole different meaning: combine,
unite, collaborate, collude, contrive, devise, machinate and work together.
·The greatest thing about our church is that we,
when we are troubled and don’t know what to do, we can always approach Him in
prayer and seek the advice of his elders (Mary and the Saints) anywhere we are.
·If we desire, we may also approach our Lord in
the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and bring any case that is too difficult for Him
to hear, and He will answer us.
·Likewise, we may approach a priest in confession
or connect with a local parish spiritual director. How great is our God that He
does not abandon us.
·Furthermore, there is a multitude of great
Catholic websites where there are elders of the church who can assist us in our
difficult moments.
MARTIN was born in the year 316
in Pannonia, or Hungary, of pagan parents, but he received secret instructions
in the Christian religion, and in his tenth year was received into the number
of the catechumens, that is, of those who are preparing themselves to receive
holy Baptism. At the age of fifteen he became a soldier, being, as is probable,
forced to do so by his father, to whom the religion of the boy had become
known.
Out of love of God he
not only kept himself aloof from the excesses so common in this state of life,
but he took advantage of it to practice love for man, by dividing his pay among
the poor. Being one day solicited for alms by a beggar, and having nothing but
his arms and his cloak, he gave him half his cloak.
The following night
Christ appeared to him, wearing that half of the cloak, and said to him:
Martin, who is yet a catechumen, has clothed Me with this garment. Moved by
this comforting apparition, he received holy Baptism, gave up the life
of a soldier, and betook himself to St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, in
France. As he was careful about his own salvation, so also he was careful of
the salvation of others, particularly of his parents and relatives, for the
sake of whose conversion he undertook a journey to his native land.
On his return he
built, not far from Poitiers, the first convent in France, into which he
received twenty-four monks, with whom he led a strict and virtuous life. His
great faith made him like the apostles in regard to miracles, and the fame
thereof spread abroad to that degree that, in spite of his refusals, he was
chosen Bishop of Tours. This high dignity made no change in his manner of
living; rather it increased his humility, his patience under the greatest
persecutions, his zeal for the glory of God, his love for his neighbor, and
particularly for his enemies.
After he had in such
manner ruled over his diocese for twenty-six years, then over eighty years old,
the strength of life left him. He thereupon collected his disciples about him,
and said: Children, I am dying. They wept and mourned. Moved by their tears, he
in his prayers professed himself willing to labor longer if it were
God's will. But he had labored for heaven enough, and God desired to place
upon him the long-merited crown. With his eyes raised to heaven, he prayed
incessantly, allowing himself no relief. At his last moments the enemy sought
to confound him by a horrible apparition, but, full of confidence in God, the
saint cried out: What do you seek, cruel monster? In me you will find nothing
that is yours; and soon after his spirit gently sank to rest. Would that we
might learn from this saint truly to love God, and to care not only for our own
salvation, but for the welfare of our fellow men in body and soul! Then we,
too, might have nothing to fear in death.
Prayer.
O God, Who seest that we cannot
subsist by any strength of our own, mercifully grant that by the intercession
of blessed Martin, Thy confessor and bishop, we may be protected against all
adversity.
EPISTLE. Ecclus. xliv., xlv.
Behold a great priest, who in his days
pleased God and was found just, and in the time of wrath he was made a
reconciliation. There was not found the like to him who kept the law of the
Most High. Therefore, by an oath the Lord gave him glory in his posterity. He
gave him the blessing of all nations and confirmed His covenant upon his head.
He acknowledged him in his blessings, He preserved for him His mercy: and he
found grace before the eyes of the Lord. He glorified him in the sight of kings
and gave him a crown of glory. He made an everlasting covenant with him, and
gave him a great priesthood, and made him blessed in glory. To execute the
office of the priesthood, and to have praise in His name, and to offer Him due
incense for an odor of sweetness.
GOSPEL. Luke xi. 33-36.
At that time Jesus said to the multitude of the Jews: No
man lighteth a candle, and putteth it in a hidden place, nor under a bushel:
but upon a candlestick, that they that come in may see the light. The light of
thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body will be lightsome:
but if it be evil, thy body also will be darksome. Take heed therefore that the
light which is in thee be not darkness. If then thy whole body be lightsome,
having no part of darkness, the whole shall be lightsome, and as a bright lamp
shall enlighten thee.
What does this gospel teach us?
1. The same that it once taught the Jews:
thus, Jesus is always the light of the world, and He has not left Himself
without witness that He is so. This light is ever shining upon the world in His
doctrines, His life, His acts, in His Church and in the mysteries of grace laid
up therein, in the growth and preservation of that Church, and in the miracles
which to this hour continue to be wrought within it. Hence, if we do not know
Him, if we do not obey and reverence His Church, it is but blindness and obduracy
on our part; there is wanting to us a pure, sincere mind, that loves only the
truth. This gospel accordingly admonishes us:
2. That we should acquire such a mind;
for, says Jesus, as a sound, clear eye keeps the whole body always in the right
direction, and guides it in all its movements, while an eye that is awry, or
otherwise defective, causes the body to fall, in like manner a heart that is
pure and always turned towards God gives the right direction to our thoughts,
wishes, and actions, and causes us to see the light of truth, whereas a heart
fixed upon the various goods of the world, but blinded to God, fills our thoughts,
wishes, and actions with corruption and sin. How great in that case must be the
darkness, the depravity, the misery!
3. This gospel contains the emblem of that
which, all superiors, masters, heads of families, parents and particularly
priests should be, namely, lights, like Jesus Himself. For this they are set
upon the candlestick. They are, accordingly, to give light by their teaching
and life, by their avoidance of scandals; of that which every Christian should
be a light, by his faith, his good works. Finally, of the temper with which the
faithful and all inferiors should meet those who are set over them, with
believing and trusting minds.
Prayer to St. Martin,
O St. Martin, precious heart of the priesthood, loving
father of the poor, bright example of the religious, who, out of zeal for the
glory of God, couldst neither be overcome by labor nor by death itself, at
whose departure hence the angels therefore rejoiced, I implore thee, through
thy powerful intercession, to obtain for me a heart full of compassion for the
needy, for the apostolic pastors of the Church, true zeal, and for all, on the
bed of death, the grace by which, after this life of misery, we may together
enter into that joy of the Lord which thou, as a good and faithful servant,
already possessest.
In honor of St. Martin today would be
a good day to go through our closets and cut our cloaks in half to donate to
the poor. While serving in Germany myself I have a fond memory of St. Martin
Day in which my children participated in the nighttime St. Martins Day Parade
in the small town of Gersbach, Germany. On St. Martin's Day, children
in Flanders, the southern and north-western parts of the Netherlands,
and the Catholic areas of Germany and Austria still participate
in paper lantern processions. Often, a man dressed as St. Martin
rides on a horse in front of the procession. The children sing songs about St.
Martin and about their lanterns. The food traditionally eaten on the day
is goose, a rich bird. According to legend, Martin was reluctant to become
bishop, which is why he hid in a stable filled with geese. The noise made by
the geese betrayed his location to the people who were looking for him.
Cook
a special dinner of roast goose or duck in honor of St. Martin. Bake some
horseshoe cookies.
In
Europe this day is traditionally known as Martinmas. Many foods and
traditions are connected with this day. See also Women
for Faith and Family for more Catholic traditions.
St.
Martin is patron saint of wine growers, wine makers and vintners. In
France, the tasting of the new wine is done today. Have a Martinmas
gathering, serving this year's Noveau Beaujolais wine from France.
In the Christian era the custom of
celebrating a thanksgiving harvest festival began in the High Middle Ages. For
lack of any definite liturgical day or ceremony prescribed by the Church,
various practices came to be observed locally. In many places, as in Hungary,
the Feast of the Assumption included great thanksgiving solemnities for the
grain harvest. Delegates from all parts of the country came for the solemn
procession to Budapest, carrying the best samples of their produce. A similar
ceremony was observed in Poland, where harvest wreaths brought to Warsaw from
all sections were bestowed on the president in a colorful pageant. These
wreaths (wieniec), made up of the straw of the last sheaf (broda),
were beautifully decorated with flowers, apples, nuts, and ribbons, and blessed
in churches by the priests.
The most common, and almost universal,
harvest and thanksgiving celebration in medieval times was held on the Feast of
Saint Martin of Tours (Martinmas) on November 11. It was a holiday in Germany,
France, Holland, England, and in central Europe. People first went to Mass and
observed the rest of the day with games, dances, parades, and a festive dinner,
the main feature of the meal being the traditional roast goose (Martin's
goose). With the goose dinner they drank "Saint Martin's wine," which
was the first lot of wine made from the grapes of the recent harvest. Martinmas
was the festival commemorating filled barns and stocked larders, the actual
Thanksgiving Day of the Middle Ages. Even today it is still kept in rural
sections of Europe, and dinner on Martin's Day would be unthinkable without the
golden-brown, luscious Martin's goose.
Today
is Veterans Day. Let us remember to pray today for both our military and
veterans. Also ask today's Holy Saint Martin of Tours to intercede for our
military and veterans who have born the yoke of service to this nation.
Catechism of the Catholic
Church
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN
MYSTERY
SECTION ONE-THE SACRAMENTAL
ECONOMY
CHAPTER ONE THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE AGE OF THE
CHURCH
Article 2-THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE
CHURCH'S SACRAMENTS
III. The Sacraments of Faith
Day
152
1122 Christ sent his apostles
so that "repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name
to all nations." "Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit." The mission to baptize, and so the sacramental mission,
is implied in the mission to evangelize, because the sacrament is prepared for
by the word of God and by the faith which is assent to this word:
The People
of God is formed into one in the first place by the Word of the living God....
the preaching of the Word is required for the sacramental ministry itself,
since the sacraments are sacraments of faith, drawing their origin and
nourishment from the Word.
1123 "The purpose of the
sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the Body of Christ and, finally, to
give worship to God. Because they are signs, they also instruct. They not only
presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and
express it. That is why they are called 'sacraments of faith."'
1124 The Church's faith
precedes the faith of the believer who is invited to adhere to it. When the
Church celebrates the sacraments, she confesses the faith received from the
apostles - whence the ancient saying: lex orandi, lex credendi (or: legem credendi
lex statuat supplicandi according to Prosper of Aquitaine [5th
cent.]). The law of prayer is the law of faith: the Church believes as she
prays. Liturgy is a constitutive element of the holy and living Tradition.
1125 For this reason no
sacramental rite may be modified or manipulated at the will of the minister or
the community. Even the supreme authority in the Church may not change the
liturgy arbitrarily, but only in the obedience of faith and with religious respect
for the mystery of the liturgy.
No rubber raft altars
1126 Likewise, since the
sacraments express and develop the communion of faith in the Church, the lex
orandi is one of the essential criteria of the dialogue that seeks to restore
the unity of Christians.
Veterans Day seeks to honor and give thanks to all the men
and women who have served and are serving in the US Armed Forces.
Ceremonies are held across the country at Veterans Hospitals, cemeteries,
and National Monuments. At 11:00 a.m. EST, the Veterans Day National
Ceremony is held at Arlington National Cemetery. At this ceremony the
President of the United States, or his assigned ambassador, places a wreath on
the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Veterans Day is observed on November
11th each year. Tomorrow is also the start of the Fasching
season in Germany which begins on 11/11 at the 11th hour and at
the 11th second.
Veterans Day Facts
& Quotes
·In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued a
proclamation urging the nation to support the Veterans Day effort in any way
possible.
·During World War II, over 16 million men and
women served in the military. The war resulted in over 400,000 deaths.
·The War of Global Terrorism, encompassing
October 7, 2001, to May 29, 2012, has seen 54,820 casualties of which 6,456
resulted in death.
·This nation will remain the land of the free
only so long as it is the home of the brave. - Elmer Davis
Veterans
Day Top Events and Things to Do
·Volunteer at a local VA facility.
·Thank everyone you know who has served in the
armed forces.
·Take flowers to the grave sites of deceased
military personnel.
·Invite local veterans to a special luncheon in
their honor.
·Make a donation of time or money to a local
Veterans organization.
Remember
we are all in a battle with the forces of evil that seek the destruction of
ourselves and our prosperity.
Today is the Feast of Leo
the Greatwho faced down Attila the Hun and penned of Christ
who was a warrior for our cause:
Lowliness is assured by
majesty, weakness by power, mortality by eternity. To pay the debt of our
sinful state, a nature that was incapable of suffering was joined to one that
could suffer. Thus, in keeping with the healing that we needed, one and the same
mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, was able to die in one
nature, and unable to die in the other.
THE VIRTUES OF A SOLDIER OF CHRIST
Another way to illustrate the virtues of a genuine man*
of God is by reference to a good soldier. The relation between a man of God and
a soldier will seem either somewhat obvious or a stretch depending upon your
larger views of the military and military interventions. If you do not see the
connection at this point, I ask you to bear with me briefly, because I think
its relevance will soon become apparent.
A good soldier, especially one fit for battle, generally
has the following ten traits, among others:
1.He is willing to give his life to protect others.
2.He is task-oriented, and lets his actions speak for themselves.
3.He does his duty, even when it is unappreciated.
4.He is a man of honor, who is loyal to others and to his principles.
5.He is rooted in discipline and strength.
6.He may be tender and compassionate but never soft.
7.He sees himself as part of a unit, a band of brothers, greater than
himself.
8.He follows the chain of command, without considering it demeaning.
9.He is courageous, even and especially when heroism is required.
10.He
sees sacrifice as an opportunity to show his character and demonstrate love.
The practical and theological relevance of these
observations for our discussion can be seen very readily in the fact that all
ten of these traits can be said, without a stretch, about the God-man Jesus
Christ.
·He was willing to give his life to protect
others – Jesus willingly gave his life to save us. He is the Good Shepherd who
made good on his promise to give his life for his sheep (John 10:11). Even in
the Garden of Gethsemane, as he handed himself over, he demanded that his
disciples be let go (John 18:8).
·He was task-oriented, and let his actions speak
for themselves – from his earliest days, when he announced he was “about the
Father’s business” (Luke 2:49), his whole life was dedicated to accomplishing
that mission. He lived by the same principles he taught, not to be distracted
from his purpose (Luke 10:4), which not even the devil could do by promising
him all the power of the world (Matthew 4:9). He let his actions also speak
more loudly than his words. As he said once when challenged by the Pharisees, “Even
if you do not believe me, believe the works” (John 10:25, 37; 14:10). He backed
up each of his discourses with miracles that testified to his power, the
greatest miracle and message of all being what he said from the pulpits of the
Cross and the empty tomb.
·He did his duty, even when it was unappreciated
– Jesus fulfilled his mission even when one of his apostles thought he was less
valuable than 30 silver pieces, when the rest of his hand-picked men ran away,
when he was hammered to wood by those for whom he was dying, when he was mocked
by four different groups as he agonizingly hung from the Cross, wondering all
the while, “When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke
18:8). He was the “grain of wheat” that fell to the ground and died, knowing
that that seed would hit hardened, rocky, weedy soil in addition to good, but
he did it anyway (John 12:24; Luke 8:5ff). Yet, at the end of it all, he cried
out in triumph, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) which was the equivalent of
“mission accomplished.”
·He was a man of honor, who was loyal to others
and to his principles – Jesus kept his dignity, even when being tempted by the
devil, tested by the hypocritical Pharisees, beaten by the brutal guards, and
mocked by thieves and passersby. He was loyal to his disciples, never
abandoning them though they abandoned him; to Israelites, despite the many
times they broke God’s covenant; to sinners, no matter what their sin. He was
knightly in his protection and care for women in need and danger, like the
woman caught in adultery, the woman at the well in Samaria, and the woman who
washed his feet with her tears in the house of Simon the Pharisee.
·He was rooted in discipline and strength – He
called himself the “stronger man” who would overpower the devil and divide his
spoils (Luke 11:22), who could calm even the winds and the sea (Matthew 8:27),
who would repeatedly say to his frightened followers, “Do not be afraid. It is
I!” (Matthew 14:27). His strength was shown most when out of discipline he did
not use it, when tempted in the desert or on the Cross. His power was always
used not for his own benefit but for others, to teach them the discipline that
makes disciples.
·He was tender and compassionate but never soft –
He who was “meek and humble of heart,” who cared compassionately for parents
and widows, for the woman caught in adultery, for the crowds who were like
sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 11:29; Luke 7:12; John 8:3; Mark 6:34),
was also capable of driving the money changers from the temple with a whip,
calling the Pharisees “whitewashed sepulchers” and telling forgiven sinners to
“go and sin no more” (John 2:14; Matthew 23:27; John 8:11).
·He saw himself as part of a unit, a band of
brothers – Jesus came from heaven to earth to form a family with the same
Father in heaven (Matthew 12:50). To that family, the Church, he gave his whole
mission. To the twelve whom he associated most intimately in this task, he gave
his own power to turn bread and wine into his Body and Blood and to forgive
sins in his name (Luke 22:19-20; Matthew 16:19; John 20:19-23). To the Church
he gave his whole message (Matthew 28:18-20). He said that all members of the
Church were a part of him, as branches on the vine (John 15:5).
·He followed the chain of command, without
considering it a threat – Jesus said simply, “I seek not my own will but the
will of him who sent me,” “I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as
the Father taught me” and “not my will, but thine, be done” (John 5:30; John
8:28; Luke 22:42).
·He was courageous, even and especially when
heroism was required – Courage is doing what ought to be done in spite of one’s
fears, a virtue Jesus showed us time and again, but especially during his agony
and on Good Friday. Despite asking for the cup of suffering to pass from him,
he drank it to the dregs, sweating blood-filled perspiration, being beaten,
scourged and crucified for our sake (Matthew 26:39).
·He saw sacrifice as an opportunity to show his
character and demonstrate love – “Greater love has no man than this,” he said,
“that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and he evinced that
love in hundreds of little ways and unforgettably through his supreme
sacrifice. The real Christian man will seek to embody these same virtues. They
will help him to become a real soldier of Christ. They will help form him to be
another Christ and train him to love others as Christ loves.
