Follow Me: Part 5
JULY 14, 2013 l 15th SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
NOTES FOR PART 5
> AS WE GET TO KNOW JESUS WE GET TO KNOW OURSELVES
No. 1: "Love of neighbor is thus shown to be possible in the way proclaimed by the Bible, by Jesus. It consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings. Then I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ. … Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave."
— Deus Caritas Est, no. 18
No. 2: "Christ the Lord ... by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself"
— Gaudium et Spes, no. 22
No. 3: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine. ... Because you are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you"
— Isaiah 43:1, 4
No. 4: "What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I concur that the law is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want."
— Romans 7:15-19
> SOMETIMES JESUS GETS "TOO CLOSE"
No. 5: "With ever more accurate darts of love the Holy Spirit opens our consciences before God so that deeper and more effective healing can occur; at times his coming is so pure that it causes us to have pain and recoil at the level of intimacy God wishes his Son to achieve in our being. We recoil at our own needed medicine because it will bring about a change, and sin wishes no change to occur."
— Deacon Jim Keating, Ph.D., The Eucharist and Healing of Affection for Sin
> HEALING IS AN ESSENTIAL DIMENSION OF CHRIST
No. 6: "Healing is an essential dimension of the apostolic mission and of Christianity. When understood at a sufficiently deep level, this expresses the entire content of redemption."
— Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, pg. 176
No. 7: "Two gestures are characteristic of Jesus’ mission: healing and forgiving. Jesus’ many healings clearly show his great compassion in the face of human distress, but they also signify that in the kingdom there will no longer be sickness or suffering, and that his mission, from the very beginning, is meant to free people from these evils."
— Blessed John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, no.14
> THE LIGHT OF CHRIST WILL SHED LIGHT ON OUR DARKNESS
No. 8: "God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all."
— 1st John 1:5
> THE "ROOTS" OF RESISTANCE IS DEEPER THAN THE ACTION OF SIN
No. 9: "The root of sin is in the heart of man"
— Catechism of the Catholic, no. 1853
> THE GOOD SAMARITAN IS AN IMAGE OF JESUS
> AREAS OF OUR HEART THAT RESIST GOD'S COMING CLOSE
Image A: Our hearts are wounded
Image B: Wounds are filled with pain
Image C: Pain is surrounded by fear
Image D: Fear is surrounded by lies
Image E: Lies are surrounded by vows
> PAIN, LIES, AND VOWS ISOLATE US. AND, WHERE WE ARE ISOLATED WE NEED HEALING.
No. 11: "the refusal of communion imprisons [us] in isolation and division."
— Blessed John Paul II, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, no.10
> LETTING GOD IN VERSUS GIVING IT TO GOD
No. 12: "God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, God’s initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response."
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2567
No. 13: "It is this divine self-giving and the positive human response to accept such love that healing is known. Trust, vulnerability, rapt listening, integrity all precede the fullness of healing; otherwise God could incorrectly be seen as entering a magic relationship and not one of human freedom and fullness. We must present ourselves in such a way that Christ can enter our hearts with truth. And such a way of presenting ourselves is encapsulated in the virtue of humility."
— Deacon Jim Keating, Ph.D., The Eucharist and Healing of Affection for Sin
> WHERE WE ARE IN COMMUNION WE EXPERIENCE HEALING
No. 14: "Whoever truly wishes to heal man must see him in his wholeness and must know that his ultimate healing can only be God’s love."
— Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, pg. 17
No. 15: "The healing occurs as the wound is acknowledged, the lies are unveiled, and the light of Jesus’ love reveals the Truth. This Divine love has to be received into a man’s wounds so that it can alter the external behavior from within."
— Deacon Jim Keating, Ph.D., Surrendering to the Healing Power of Christ’s Own Chastity
The Good Samaritan, Johann Karl Loth, c. 1676
No. 9: "The root of sin is in the heart of man"
— Catechism of the Catholic, no. 1853
> THE GOOD SAMARITAN IS AN IMAGE OF JESUS
No. 10: "The road from Jerusalem to Jericho thus turns out to be an image of human history; the half-dead man lying by the side of it is an image of humanity. Priest and Levite pass by; from earthly history alone, from its cultures and religions alone, no healing comes. If the assault victim is the image of everyman, the Samaritan can only be the image of Jesus Christ. God himself, who for us is foreign and distant, has set out to take care of his wounded creature. God, though so remote from us, has made himself our neighbor in Jesus Christ. He pours oil and wine into our wounds, a gesture seen as an image of the healing gift of the sacraments, and he brings us to the inn, the Church, in which he arranges our care and also pays a deposit for the cost of that care."
— Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, pgs. 200-201
> AREAS OF OUR HEART THAT RESIST GOD'S COMING CLOSE
Image A: Our hearts are wounded
Image B: Wounds are filled with pain
Image C: Pain is surrounded by fear
Image D: Fear is surrounded by lies
Image E: Lies are surrounded by vows
> PAIN, LIES, AND VOWS ISOLATE US. AND, WHERE WE ARE ISOLATED WE NEED HEALING.
No. 11: "the refusal of communion imprisons [us] in isolation and division."
— Blessed John Paul II, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, no.10
> LETTING GOD IN VERSUS GIVING IT TO GOD
No. 12: "God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, God’s initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response."
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2567
No. 13: "It is this divine self-giving and the positive human response to accept such love that healing is known. Trust, vulnerability, rapt listening, integrity all precede the fullness of healing; otherwise God could incorrectly be seen as entering a magic relationship and not one of human freedom and fullness. We must present ourselves in such a way that Christ can enter our hearts with truth. And such a way of presenting ourselves is encapsulated in the virtue of humility."
— Deacon Jim Keating, Ph.D., The Eucharist and Healing of Affection for Sin
> WHERE WE ARE IN COMMUNION WE EXPERIENCE HEALING
No. 14: "Whoever truly wishes to heal man must see him in his wholeness and must know that his ultimate healing can only be God’s love."
— Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, pg. 17
— Deacon Jim Keating, Ph.D., Surrendering to the Healing Power of Christ’s Own Chastity
The Good Samaritan, Johann Karl Loth, c. 1676
Follow Me: Part 4
JULY 7, 2013 l 14th SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
NOTES FOR PART 4
No. 1: "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest."
— Luke 10:2
No. 2: "human life without prayer, which opens our existence to the mystery God, lacks sense and direction"
— Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, May 4, 2011
No 3: "Many Christians are aware of the necessity and the beauty of contemplative prayer and have a sincere yearning for it. Yet, apart from tentative efforts soon abandoned, few remain faithful to this mode of prayer, and even fewer are really convinced and satisfied by their own practice of it. ... We would like to pray, but we cannot manage it. … Our time of prayer passes leaving us distracted, and since it does not seem to yield any tangible fruit, we are tempted to give up. From time to time we take up a book on 'meditations' which presents us, ready-made contemplations we ought to produce ourselves. ... Often fear robs us of the confidence to take steps on our own."
— Hans Urs von Balthazar, Prayer
No. 4: "He was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.'"
— Luke 11:1
#1: THE FIRST KEY TO PRAYER: ACKNOWLEDGE GOD'S PRESENCE
No. 5: "God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, God’s initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response."
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2567
No. 6: "A step or two before the place where I am to contemplate or meditate, I will stand for the space of an Our Father and, with my consciousness raised on high, consider how the Lord my God looks upon me. Then I will make an act of reverence or humility."
— Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, no. 75
#2: THE SECOND KEY TO PRAYER: START WITH A BIBLE PASSAGE
No. 7: "Through his Word, God speaks to man."
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2700
No. 8: Lectio Divina is Latin for "divine reading"
No. 9: "I would like in particular to recall and recommend the ancient tradition of Lectio Divina: the diligent reading of Sacred Scripture accompanied by prayer brings about that intimate dialogue in which the person reading hears God who is speaking, and in praying, responds to him with trusting openness of heart (cf. Dei Verbum, no. 25). If it is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the Church—I am convinced of it—a new spiritual springtime."
— Pope Benedict XVI, Congress of Biblical Scholars, Rome, September 2005
No. 10: Finding the right Scripture passage:
> Use the Scripture readings at daily Mass
> Use the Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday Mass
> Pick a Psalm
> Read the Gospels: Mark, Matthew, Luke, John
#3: THE THIRD KEY TO PRAYER: BE HONEST
No. 11: "To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves. Here, another book is opened: the book of life. … To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern them."
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2716
No. 12: "Christian prayer is neither an escape from reality nor a divorce from life"
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2727
No. 13: "Where does prayer come from? Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays. But in naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times). According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain."
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2562
#4: THE FOURTH KEY TO PRAYER: TALK TO GOD
No. 14: "in learning how to speak to him, we learn to be a human being, to be ourselves."
— Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, June 22, 2011
No. 15: "What is contemplative prayer? Saint Teresa answers: 'Contemplative prayer [oracion mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends.' … In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself."
— Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2709
#5: THE FIFTH KEY TO PRAYER: LISTEN TO GOD
No. 16: "God speaks in silence, but we must know how to listen."
— Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, August 10, 2011
No. 17: "Always expressed in every prayer, in fact, is the truth of the human creature who on the one hand experiences weakness and impoverishment, who therefore addresses his supplication to Heaven, and on the other is endowed with an extraordinary dignity, so that, in preparing to receive the divine Revelation, finds himself able to enter into communion with God."
— Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, May 4, 2011
Special thanks to the Institute for Priestly Formation. "ARRR" © The Institute for Priestly Formation.
© Fr. Mark Toups, 2013
Follow Me: Part 3
June 30, 2013 l 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Notes for Part 3
#1: JESUS ALWAYS TAKES THE INITIATIVE
No. 1: "Follow me" ... Matthew 4:19, 8:22, 9:9, 10:38, 16:24,
19:21, 19:28; Mark 1:17, 2:14, 8:34, 10:21; Luke 5:27, 9:23, 9:59, 14:27, 18:22;
John 1:43, 8:12, 10:27, 12:26, 13:36, 21:19, 21:22
#2: THE "CULTURE" OF JESUS IS VERY DIFFERENT THAN THE CULTURE WE COME FROM
#3: WE CAN'T LOOK BACK
Follow Me: Part 2
June 23, 2013 l 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Notes for Part 2
No. 9: "He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.'"
— Luke 4:16-19
No. 10: "Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
— Ephesians 3:20
© Fr. Mark Toups, 2013
Notes for Part 1
No. 4: "People are thirsty, and when people are thirsty enough they’ll drink the sand in the desert when they see a mirage."
No. 7: "If God does not exist, life is empty, the future is empty."No. 9: "He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.'"
— Luke 4:16-19
No. 10: "Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
— Ephesians 3:20
© Fr. Mark Toups, 2013
Follow Me: Part 1
June 23, 2013 l 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Notes for Part 1
No. 2: "People are thirsty, and when people are thirsty enough they’ll drink the sand in the desert when they see a mirage."
— The American President, Universal Pictures, 1995
— Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, no. 1
No. 5: "Who do the crowds say that I am?" (Luke 9:18) ... "But who do you say that I am?" (Luke 9:20)
