Friday, January 4, 2008

Vocation Reflection on 1 Samuel 3:1-30 for the YM Group

This month the church remembers to celebrate and pray for vocations. Specifically, we pray for vocations to the religious life and to the priesthood. I am sure that each of you, if you come to mass regularly probably hear the same message… How many of you have memory of the priest up here speaking to you about your vocation? My What?!?!?! Vocation?!?! Is that a disease?!?!?!

The word vocation comes from the Latin word VOCARE. It means “call”. In Catholic terms, the word vocation refers to God’s call for each person. There are four ways of living out God’s call in your life, according to Catholic tradition: Married life, priesthood, religious life and single-celibate life. So essentially, when it comes to the question of vocation in your life, the answer is multiple choice. But which choice is the best for you? A. Marriage, B. Priesthood, C. Religious Life, D. Single-celibate Life? Unlike the SAT’s and tests at school you cannot take a guess at the best answer in hopes that you get it right.

Scripture tells us that God speaks to us a specific vocation… and the answer comes when we stop and listen. In Samuel’s case, it was easy… he literally heard the voice of God. Today if anyone claims to hear the voice of God, people may look at you funny… But in essence, God does speak to us—in different ways.

The answer comes as the result of prayer.

I know that each of you have been asked, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” If you got a dollar each time you were asked that question then the world would be broke and you would be rich teens. Culturally, it’s important to ask that question… and sometimes parents answer that question for us. Remember your parents telling you when you were younger that you would be a doctor… a lawyer…

How many of you know what YOU want to do when you grow up? Are you sure? Have you ever considered that the answer may be more than just that? Perhaps the question we are asking is the wrong one. Perhaps we should not ask, what do YOU want to do… rather, we should ask… “What do you believe God is calling you to do with your life?

God longs to be here among us… will you let him be in the world? Will you respond through your life to do the work he wishes to accomplish in this world?

Let me be Eli, let me be the old man who says to you, "If you should hear the word of God, reply,'Here I am Lord'".

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Saint Basil the Great & Saint Gregory Nazianzen

In celebrating the feasts of Saint Basil and Saint Gregory Nazianen on the same day, the Church extols a virtue which she has always esteemed, friendship. The friendship between Basil and Gregory was admirable. Born in Cappadocia around 330, they studied together in Athens and then returned to their homeland wehre they led a monastic life for several years. Their temperaments were very different. While Basil had qualities of a leader and a gift for organization that made him a legislator for monks in hte East, Gregory was a contemplative and a poet.

Although both were called to the episcopate, they did not succeed equally well in their charges. In Caessarea, his native city, Basil as an intrepid pastor. By word, in his writtings, and through many interventions, he defended the independence of the Church in the face of temporal power and recalled the dignity of the poor, who were too often ridiculed by the rich. Before all else, he safeguarded faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God. As for Gregory, after he became bishop of a small town, he found himself promoted to the see of Constantinople, then in the throes of the Arian crisis (379). People deligted in his sermons and discourses, and saw in him the father of the poor, but as he was excessively impressionable, he could not cope with factions. In less than a yar and a half he returned to his studious retreat at Nazianzen. He was called, "the Theologian," a man who could speak of God, while Basil received from his contemporaries the title of "the Great". The Orthodox Church has placed Gregory and Basil with John Chrysostom in the first rank of ecumenical doctors. They are the "three Hierarchs". - Magnificat

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

January 1st: Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

Today, January first, the Church celebrates Mary as the Mother of God. The title of Θεοτοκος - Theotokos in Greek-, Mother of God, was first declared at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. The Church fathers gathered to articulate a unified code of beliefs for Catholics in response to the many heresies that were going on (especially the heresy of Arianism which taught that Jesus was more than a man but less than God, and the heresy of Docetism which taught that Jesus was divine and not fully man) . By declaring Mary as the Mater Dei (Latin for Mother of God) the church acknowledged, affirmed, and declared the divinity and humanity of Jesus. This title of course also acknowledges Mary's role in the plan of salvation.

Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, also presented a problem at the Council of Ephesus. He rejected the idea that Jesus' humanity and divinity were inseparable. Instead, he believed that Jesus had two wills, two minds, and two natures. The Council declared him a heretic and condemned his teachings.

Most importantly, the Church fathers declared that although Jesus had two natures-- he is God and he is man- they both existed and are united within him. Nestorius also rejected the title of Theotokos for Mary. He taught and believed that Mary was only mother of the human Jesus, not the divine Jesus. This belief was also condemned and the council fathers declared that because Mary is the mother of God the Son, she is therefore duly entitled Theotokos.

Calling Mary the Theotokos or the Mother of God (Μητηρ Θεου) was never meant to suggest that Mary was coeternal with God, or that she existed before Jesus Christ or God existed. The Church acknowledges the mystery in the words of this ancient hymn: "He whom the entire universe could not contain was contained within your womb, O Theotokos."

The title of Theotokos is best translated as "the Bearer of God" or "the birth-giver of God". Both Theotokos & Mater Dei express the same belief about Mary.

Although Mary is the Mother of God, we hold that Mary is also our Mother. Through divine command from the cross, Jesus entrusted Mary to John and John to Mary. The command "John, behold your Mother" is extended to us to behold Mary as our own mother. By the same token the command to Mary, "Woman, behold [John] your son", is extended to us to be held in the eyes of Mary as her own children.

Mary's role as our mother reverberates through history. Mary is often referred to as the "New Eve" for she is the mother of the new creation that comes forth from the resurrection of Jesus. As children of Mary we are sons and daughters of this new creation in which eternal death is not the constant, but rather, the promise.

In 1531 Guadalupe, under the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, asked the Aztec Juan Diego in response to his worries, "Am I not here who Am your Mother?"

Celebrating Mary as the Mother of God is a great way to begin the year. By remembering her as the Mother of God and Mother of us all we remember that we are united to Christ- as Mary is our common denominator.

My prayer is that this year we can draw closer to God through Mary. May our faith in God mirror her own faith so that in the same way we can also say to God, "Behold your servant, let it be done in accord to your will." Perhaps then, we may also, together with Mary, bear God to the world.

Monday, December 31, 2007

New Year Feast

So this is a total departure from what the usual postings. I just finished a 5 hour cooking marathon. Here's the menu:
  • Veal meatloaf wrapped in prosciutto served with fig and Marsala sauce
  • Oven roasted baby yukon potatos with rosemary and importated parmessan
  • Grilled zuchinni and yellow squash, glazed onions and garlic and topped with prosciutto bits

Everything came out quite delicious. Looking forward to dinner tonight. I think that the best part about the food is that it will be enjoyed with the family over at grandma's house.

Peace to you on this last day of 2007. Ray

Saint Boniface Church, Anaheim, CA

Saint Boniface Church, Anaheim, CA