Scripture Notes: Free Will (Sirach 15)

Once again, Sirach reveals his practicality and solid knowledge of human nature when he discusses free will. He begins with a warning: we must not blame God when we sin. Our sin is our very own fault, Sirach insists. God gave us free will from the very moment He created us. It is a gift because without free will, we cannot truly love. But with free will, we can choose to turn away from God in sin.

Sirach reminds us that the choice is ours. God “has placed before you fire and water,” the fire of condemnation or the water of life. We get to choose. We can turn to death or life, and God will give us exactly what we select.

God knows all things, Sirach says. He understands our actions better than we do. But He does not violate our free will (after all, it is his gift), and He never, ever commands anyone to sin. He does not even give permission to sin. Why? Because sin separates us from God. And that is the last thing God wants for His beloved children. So when we sin, we are responsible for our free choices, and it is a very good thing that God is merciful and forgives us when we repent and confess our sins and return to Him.

Scripture Notes: Appearances and Reality (Sirach 13)

The Book of Sirach continually returns to the theme of appearance versus reality. Sirach is, after all, a realist, and he knows all too well how some people try to deceive others, showing one thing by their appearance while their reality is much, much different. Some “friends” are only using others for their own advantage. Some “advocates” are only pursuing their own agendas. Some “supporters” are only supporting themselves. This may sound a little cynical, but we have all experienced it in one way or another. Appearances do not always match reality.

At the end of chapter 13, though, Sirach indicates that deceptions like this do not hold up for long. We can tell a person’s true character if we pay close attention, for “A man’s heart changes his countenance, either for good or for evil. The mark of a happy heart is a cheerful face…” In other words, faces don’t lie for very long. People’s expressions slip. Their true characters peek out. What is reality on the inside will appear on the outside. We just have to learn to read the signs.  

This little passage also tells us something about ourselves. Our faces will show our inner thoughts and feelings and dispositions. Maybe not all the time, for people are still good at hiding things. But reality will win out in the end. So the best way to cultivate a cheerful face is to cultivate a happy heart, and the best way to cultivate a happy heart is to grow closer and closer to God.

Scripture Notes: Repentance (Baruch 1)

The people of Judah were in a sorry state at the beginning of the Book of Baruch. They had been carried off into exile in Babylon and were living under their conqueror King Nebuchadnezzar. Jerusalem had been destroyed by fire, even the Temple, the place the Jews counted on as the location of God’s presence among them.

And all of this had happened for a reason. The people saw it now. They had broken the covenant, fallen into idolatry, abandoned God, and called the covenant curses down upon themselves. It wasn’t as though they had not been warned. God sent prophet after prophet throughout the centuries to call His people back to obedience and love for Him. Baruch’s own boss, Jeremiah, was one of those prophets, and he warned the people over and over again what was going to happen to them if they did not repent. And his words came true.

But not all hope was lost. In fact, Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary, was in Babylon now with a message for the people. God would restore them, just as He promised. But they would have to wait. And they would have to realize what they had done to get themselves into this situation in the first place. As the people listened to Baruch, their hearts filled with remorse. “We have sinned before the Lord, and have disobeyed Him, and have not heeded the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in the statutes of the Lord which He set before us,” they said. They had refused to listen to the prophets. They had worshiped other gods. They had done evil.  

Now they had to wait for restoration. God promised exactly that to people with repentant hearts. And His timing is perfect. The people were left to cultivate patience, hope, and repentant hearts.

Scripture Notes: Laborers for the Harvest (Matthew 9)

Jesus looked at the people around Him, those He was ministering to, teaching, healing, loving. These people were troubled, abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Their leaders had failed them. They were supposed to be God’s covenant people, yet many of them probably did not know much about God or His covenant. Jesus’ heart moved with compassion for them.

So Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” The harvest was the people. Deep in their hearts, they longed for God, just like we all do. But they needed direction and guidance. They needed to be plucked up from their focus on the world and harvested for God’s kingdom.

That is what Jesus came to do, but He invites others to cooperate with Him. He told His disciples, “so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” The master of the harvest is Jesus Himself, of course, and those laborers are His disciples, both then and now. We are to ask Jesus, the master of the harvest, to send us out into the fields to gather in people who long for God (even if they do not recognize that longing).

We are those laborers. Our clergy have a special role in harvesting people for the kingdom of God, but we lay people are also involved in an intimate way. We are, after all, in the world. We are among the people all the time in our work and our leisure. So we have a responsibility to draw people to Christ through our words and actions. We should be like Jesus, filled with compassion for those who are troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. And we must lead them to our Shepherd so that He may be their Shepherd, too.

Scripture Notes: The Voice of One Crying (Mark 1)

Isaiah prophesied a messenger. There would a “voice of one crying in the wilderness,” telling the world to prepare for the Lord, to make His paths straight that He may come in a completely new way, an unexpected way, a way that would lead to salvation.

That messenger was John the Baptist. He appeared out of the wilderness, looking to all the world like a prophet of old. He was shocking, with his camel’s hair clothing, his leather belt, and his diet of locusts and honey. But he was even more shocking in his words. He called for repentance, true repentance that involved not just words but a change of life. He did not even hesitate to use rough language when the situation warranted it. “You brood of vipers!” he railed at the Jewish leaders who came to see him more out of curiosity than anything else.

John had a mission. He knew he was the voice, and he knew that One was coming after him. He was to prepare the way and then get out of the way. “He must increase, but I must decrease,” he said humbly. “I am not worthy to untie the strap of His sandal.” John was to wake people up so that they could open their hearts and be ready for something new, something amazing, something that would save the world.

Scripture Notes: The Kerygma (Romans 1)

In the first few verses of his letter to the Romans, St. Paul offers a brief overview of salvation history, a summary of the most important points. This is essentially the kerygma, the proclamation of Jesus Christ and the Christian faith, presented to remind the Romans, and us, of our place in God’s plan and our responsibility with regard to that plan.

Paul begins by saying that he is a servant, actually a slave, of Jesus Christ and that he has been called to be an apostle, one sent on mission, who is set apart, consecrated, for the Gospel, the good news of Christ and God’s saving plan for human beings. This Gospel is new, appearing quite recently, but God promised it for centuries, announcing it in bits and pieces through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures. In other words, God set the stage for Jesus, the Incarnate Word, the Son of God in the flesh, long before He came. To truly understand His coming, then, we have to examine that promise in the Old Testament, for it gives us important information about Who Jesus is and what He has come to do.

The Gospel centers around the Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Who became incarnate, descended from King David in His human flesh but completely God. He revealed His divinity in many ways through His life on earth but especially in His resurrection. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but death could not hold Him, for He is God as well as man, and He rose from the dead.

Now, Paul continues, through Jesus we have received the grace we need to practice the obedience of faith. We can conform our lives to Jesus. Through Him, when can share in the divine life of God. We can keep the moral law. We can, like Paul, be sent and set apart. We can belong to Jesus Christ, entering into an intimate relationship with Him and with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And we are called to spread the Gospel to all nations and all people. We are called to be saints.

Scripture Notes: Family (Mark 3)

At the end of Mark 3, Jesus is teaching when His mother and kinsmen (the word “brothers” is broader than our normal definition and includes cousins and other family members) arrive. Someone tells Him that his family is asking for him, and in response, Jesus says something rather surprising: “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Then He answers His own question. He looks around at the crowd before Him and identifies them as His family, adding, “Whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.”

For generations now, some people have looked upon Jesus’ response here as dismissing His mother and other family members, as somehow denying their importance or even putting them firmly in their place. Yet this is insulting to Jesus, Who loves perfectly. He would be the very last person to ever dishonor His own mother, for that would be breaking a commandment of His Father.  

So what is Jesus doing then? He is extending His family. He is not denying that His blood relatives, especially His mother, are an important part of His life. Rather, He is broadening out His circle. He is offering membership in the family that He is building as He inaugurates the New Covenant. And membership in this family carries a critical obligation: loving, faithful obedience to God.  

Who does this better than Mary? After all, she is the one who welcomed Jesus into her own body with her prayer of acceptance and invitation: “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Mary obeyed God’s will with immense faith and love. She opened her heart and her womb to the Word of God made flesh. So when that Word of God teaches the need for such obedience, He looks toward His mother as an example, holding her up and inviting others to join her in His family.

Scripture Notes: Abominable Changes (Maccabees 1)

King Antiochus Epiphanes enjoyed throwing around his power. He longed to solidify his rule over his entire kingdom, so he decreed that everyone had to adopt Greek customs. Everyone. No exceptions. All the people in his domain had to abandon their old ways, including their old religions, and conform to the Greeks. This meant the Jews, too.

Many Jews obeyed. They thought it best to conform to their king’s commands. They wanted peace. They wanted economic benefits. They wanted a bit of power. And apparently they didn’t care all that much about their own customs or religion...or God.

The king’s representatives arrived to enforce the decree. They made the Jews sacrifice to the Greek gods. They removed the altar and the lampstand and the tables and the vessels from the Temple and replaced them with an idol of some sort, perhaps a statue of Zeus. And many of the Jews watched without protest. Many of them sacrificed according to the decree. They threw away the Scriptures. They abandoned the covenant. They took the easy way, the path of least resistance, and accepted the abominable changes.

But not all Jews. There were a few willing to hold on to their religion and their law and their worship and their God even at the cost of their lives. They were willing to die rather than betray God. The Maccabee family quickly stepped forward as leaders of this group, which headed into the hills, leaving behind all they had to remain faithful. Was it easy? No. Was it dangerous? Yes. But they did it anyway.

Scripture Notes: Born From Above (John 3)

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. He was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jewish people, part of a group that had taken deep offense at Jesus. Yet apparently he was also curious, intrigued, and even perhaps drawn to Jesus in a way he could not quite grasp. So he came to Him at night, out of the view of the other Pharisees, hoping for explanations, clarity, answers.

But Nicodemus seemed to find more questions than answers. He started out with what he apparently hoped was a leading statement: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” He was looking for a confirmation. He wanted Jesus to tell him for certain Who He was and what He was doing. But Jesus did not.

Instead, Jesus appeared to go off in a completely different direction: “Truly, truly, I say to you unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus, probably with a confused expression, asked how anyone can be born anew. Jesus did not back down, but He did explain: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus was thinking literalistically. Jesus was speaking sacramentally. The word for “anew” here, which is often translated “again,” actually has a richer meaning in the Greek. It means “from above.” It refers to being born of the Spirit. It means entering into a new life, the divine life, as that divine life enters into us. And it points directly toward the sacrament of Baptism.

This is how Christians are born anew, born from above, by water and the Spirit, by Baptism. This is how sanctifying grace, the very life of God, enters into us. The Spirit hovers over the waters of Baptism, making the sacrament efficacious. It does not just symbolize grace; it imparts grace. The Spirit enters into us, making us a new creation in God.

Did Nicodemus finally understand? We do not know for sure. Yet he, with Joseph of Arimathea, considered himself a follower of Jesus and took part in claiming and burying Jesus’ Body after the crucifixion. In any case, Nicodemus found out how our Lord challenges us and draws our thoughts up to Him and to His truth.

Scripture Notes: In the beginning… (John 1)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5).

The Word is Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God and Man. He, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, created the world. But darkness fell when human beings sinned. So the Word came among us out of a love we cannot even imagine, for He longed to heal the separation between the divine and the human. He brought life. He brought light, a light so strong and so pure that the darkness cannot overcome it. He came to save us and restore us to intimacy with God.

This is the truth of our faith, the very heart of what we believe. Yet often we take it for granted. We fail to approach it with wonder and love. We fail to let it change our minds and hearts and lives. We fail to appreciate exactly what Jesus Christ, the Word of God, has done for us.

So today and throughout the week, let us meditate on these words that the Holy Spirit inspired St. John to write and respond with awe and reverence, gratitude and love.

Scripture Notes: Ruth’s Love (Ruth 1)

Ruth was a Moabite woman who married an Israelite man. Her husband’s family had settled in Moab after a famine pushed them from their own land. But as the Book of Ruth opens, Ruth, her mother-in-law Naomi, and her sister-in-law Orpah find themselves widows. Naomi, now alone and vulnerable in a strange country, decides to return to her homeland. She tells her daughters-in-law to go back to their people, presumably to marry again and go on with their lives.

Orpah does that. Ruth does not. She has come to love her mother-in-law so much that she cannot bear to be parted from her, and what is more, she has come to know and love her mother-in-law’s God. So Ruth clings to Naomi, declaring, “Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”  

Ruth’s love and determination impact salvation history in a major way. When Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem, Ruth meets Boaz, and the two marry, becoming great-grandparents to King David and human ancestors of Jesus Himself.

Scripture Notes: An Introduction to Wisdom (Sirach 1)

The Book of Sirach collects the wisdom of Israel, gathering it up and reflecting on it and emphasizing that we find wisdom only when we are in a right relationship with God and obedient to His will. The first chapter of Sirach introduces us to wisdom. First, we learn where wisdom comes from: “All wisdom comes from the Lord and is with Him forever.” (1:1). There is no other place to find wisdom, for wisdom is essentially a God’s-eye perspective (as much as human beings can have that) on the world. Wisdom helps us see, just a little bit, through God’s eyes so that we can know more about Him, about ourselves, and about His plan for our lives.

But we must cultivate two things if we are to receive a share of wisdom from God. First, we need humility. Sirach asks a series of questions at the beginning of his first chapter, questions that put us firmly in our place. Can we count the sand of the sea or drops of rain? Can we tabulate eternity? Can we measure the heights of heaven or the breadth of the earth or the depths of the abyss? No. But God can. So whatever wisdom we have is, first and foremost, of God. He is generous with His wisdom, pouring it out upon those who love Him. But we have to open ourselves up to that gift, first by realizing how small and weak and stupid we are. That is humility, a recognition of reality.

To embrace wisdom, Sirach tells us, we also need the fear of the Lord. This does not meaning shrinking in terror before God or ducking our heads in expectation of His punishments (as just as those are). This is filial fear, that deep reverence for God that manifests itself in love and in a horror of offending Him by sinning. This kind of fear leads to a right relationship of love and obedience with God, and according to Sirach, it is the beginning, the full measure, and the root of all wisdom.

So we pray for wisdom, for humility, and for the fear of the Lord, that we might grow ever closer to God and see the world, at least a little, through His eyes. Amen.

Scripture Notes: Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22)

The Book of Revelation is arguably the most difficult book of the Bible to understand. It is filled with horrifying imagery, multi-layered symbols, and news of terrifying trials and tribulations. But it also gives us the best news ever: God wins! Through it all, God protects and cares for and loves His people. No matter what they suffer, He is right beside them, giving that suffering meaning and redemptive power and guiding them through it and home to His new creation.

That is why the Spirit and the Bride (the Church) resound with a prayer and a plea and an invitation at the end of Revelation: Come, Lord Jesus! We are invited to join in. We long for Jesus to come to us, in the Eucharist, in response to our prayers, when we gather as Christians to pray and worship, when we study our faith. We long for Jesus to come to us at the time of our death so that He can lead us home. We long for Jesus to come to us at the end of time when He will finally be all in all and inaugurate a new Heaven and new earth where we will live with Him forever.  

So we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus!” And we hear Him respond: “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen.

Scripture Notes: The Shoot (Isaiah 11)

The prophet Isaiah frequently points directly toward the coming Messiah, but he does so in a mysterious way, a way that would probably have confused his original audience, indeed, a way his original audience may not fully have appreciated. For one thing, Isaiah prophesies the coming of a Suffering Servant, someone who will take the people’s sins upon himself and suffer and even die for them. This is not the powerful, political Messiah people wanted, but it is the compassionate, merciful Messiah people needed.

In chapter 11, Isaiah describes the One Who is to come as a “shoot from the stump of Jesse” and a branch out of Jesse’s roots. The Hebrew word for “shoot” is hoter, and it refers to a twig or a branch. It could also mean a rod. So it is something small, something thin, something apparently weak. It comes from the stump of Jesse, meaning that Jesse’s line has apparently been cut off, but only apparently. Indeed, after the time of the Babylonian exile, Jesse’s line (which is also the line of King David, Jesse’s son) seemed to disappear. But it was merely hidden, waiting for this small shoot to arise.

Isaiah also describes this newcomer as a branch, in Hebrew neser, a sprout. This, too, suggests smallness. The One Who is to come will not appear powerful in the eyes of the world. He will start small, even seemingly insignificant. What can a shoot or a branch do?

But there is something very special about this shoot. Isaiah tells us “the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.” There is more than meets the eye in this little branch. In fact, this shoot will grow and reveal Himself to be something beyond Isaiah’s wildest imaginings.

Scripture Notes: The Value of Wisdom (Wisdom 7)

God told Solomon to ask for something, whatever his heart most desired. Solomon did not chose riches or power, fame or honor. Instead, he requested wisdom. And he did not regret that choice.

In Wisdom 7, Solomon tells us, “Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me; I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.” Solomon knows that his wisdom does not arise within himself, from his own intelligence or skills. It is a gift from God. And he values wisdom as such. He sets her before his own kingly power. He prefers her to wealth. She is far more precious than gold or silver, which become like a little sand or clay in comparison. She is even better than beauty or health or the light of day.

Why? Solomon explains that wisdom’s “radiance never ceases.” She provides a God’s-eye perspective on the world that helps us see things as they really are. She shows us the true, the good, and the beautiful and guides us in our quest for those transcendentals (a quest that ultimately leads to God). In wisdom, Solomon finds all good things, a wealth far beyond material possessions. In wisdom, there is true joy.

In fact, Solomon declares that the wealth that wisdom brings “is an unfailing treasure” for human beings, and it leads to “friendship with God.” Here is our very highest goal, friendship with God, intimacy with Him, immersion in His love and obedience to His perfect will.

Scripture Notes: One Lost Sheep (Matthew 18)

In Matthew 18:12, Jesus asks a question that would have startled His listeners: “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?” For most people in the audience that day, the answer would have been “Of course not! Why risk ninety-nine sheep for the sake of one? Let it go!”

Let’s think about that one lost sheep for a moment. Perhaps it simply got distracted by something that looked interesting and wandered off. Or maybe it got angry at another sheep or at the shepherd and left deliberately. Maybe it was even feeling sorry for itself when something didn’t go right, and it went off to pout. Or perhaps it is simply a stubborn, stupid sheep that doesn’t know how good it has things with the shepherd. Can you tell that we’re talking much more about human beings than sheep here?  In any case, that straying sheep is now lost, alone, and very, very vulnerable.

Jesus doesn’t agree with His hearers. He looks at the situation from God’s perspective (because, of course, He is God), and to Him, every single sheep has value. He loves every single stupid, stubborn sheep (and human being, too). And He never stops searching for them.

Of course, here’s where the analogy breaks down a bit. Jesus knows exactly where we are at every moment, physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc. He doesn’t have to search for us in that way. The problem is that we silly, lost, little people lose sight of Him. We lose ourselves in the things of this world and in our anger and emotional upheavals and stubbornness and sin. But Jesus keeps “finding” us, holding out His hand to us, drawing us back to Him. He never gives up on us. He keeps chasing down every little sheep.

Scripture Notes: Eye Has Not Seen (1 Corinthians 2)

We are called to wisdom, to a God’s-eye perspective on the world and on ourselves, on things of this earth and on things of Heaven, on things human and on things divine. St. Paul tells us so in 1 Corinthians 2:6-7 when he says that “among the mature” Christians, those who seek God with open hearts and strive to follow His will in faith, hope, and love, “we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification.”

The Spirit reveals this wisdom to us. He infuses it into our souls, giving us a glimpse (still darkly and still incompletely) into the deepest, highest, most beautiful things of God. It’s only a glimpse, for as Paul says, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” We do not know exactly what Heaven will be like. We cannot reach up that far in our current state.

But at the same time, God has revealed something of this to us. We know that when we get to Heaven, we will be in God’s presence. We will see Him face to face. And we will be more immersed in His love and able to respond to His love than we have even experienced before. Yet we taste it now. When we who are baptized are in a state of grace, God’s divine presence dwells within us. We already share in His divine life. He pours His grace into us along with the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We even receive our Lord, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Eucharist.

So while we still cannot fully grasp what God has in store for us, we can and do experience it already, as much as we can handle, right now. And the more we open ourselves to that experience, the more wisdom we receive and the closer we become to our loving God.

Scripture Notes: Death and Life (Romans 6)

St. Paul doesn’t mince words in his Letter to the Romans. In chapter 6, verse 23, he says right out, “For the wages of sin is death.” There is no getting around it. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve sinned. They did the one thing God told them not to do, and they received the very punishment that God imposed for that disobedience: death. No, they did not drop dead immediately, but they did die physically. Even worse, though, they experienced spiritual death, separation from God.

For years upon years, centuries upon centuries, millennia upon millennia, the gates of Heaven were closed to human beings. Sin broke the relationship with God. Sin closed those gates. Sin separated us from our Father Who loves us.

But because our Father loves us, He spent years upon years, centuries upon centuries, millennia upon millennia preparing for the solution to the problem of sin and death. And that solution was something no one could have imagined. Love Himself, Life Himself, Truth Himself, the Word of God Himself, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God became incarnate. He came to take sin and death upon Himself and open the gates of Heaven.

That’s why St. Paul can add that “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God’s grace pours out upon us, forgiving our sins and canceling their punishment. Jesus gives us life. We still die physically (and who would want to live forever in this fallen world?), but we no longer have to die spiritually. We no longer have to be separated from God. We can enter into eternal life through Christ, for when we are baptized and in a state of grace, God’s very divine life indwells in our souls, drawing us up to eternal life in Heaven.

Scripture Notes: A Mustard Seed Beginning (Matthew 13)

Jesus likes to use the image of a mustard seed. It is so very tiny, so seemingly insignificant, but when properly planted and cared for, it can lead to massive, momentous results.

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells us that “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

Who would ever think a mustard seed could come to anything at all? It’s only one to two millimeters, just a little round thing that could be easily lost and overlooked. But when someone takes the time and effort to plant it and water it, it grows to enormous proportions. Such is the kingdom of heaven. It started small with Jesus’ twelve apostles, his mother and a few other women, and a collection of relatively few disciples in a backwater region of the Roman Empire. Who would have thought the little movement would come to anything?  Who but God?

The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed in each of us, too. Sometimes our faith feels very tiny, or we think we aren’t really doing much for God. We feel insignificant, unimportant, weak, and small. But if God has planted the seed of the kingdom in us, then it will grow, as long as we care for it.  

The mustard seed is a suitable symbol for what we can do for others as well. Sometimes our smallest actions mean the most and have the greatest results. A simple smile and a kind word can make another person’s day. A little act of service, a show of care even in the most minor things can affect another person forever.

Therefore, we should not neglect the mustard seeds in our lives. God will make them grow in His time and according to His will.

Scripture Notes: Faith Like a Mustard Seed (Matthew 17)

When Jesus, Peter, James, and John descend from the Mount of Transfiguration, they come upon a rather chaotic scene.  A desperate father has brought his seizure-plagued son to Jesus for healing. But since Jesus is up on the mountain, His disciples try to heal the boy themselves. They fail. Miserably.

Jesus seems to sigh when He hears this. “O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” Jesus is not out of patience with His disciples, but He is letting them know, quite clearly, that they haven’t been listening. They haven’t developed their faith in Him. They haven’t learned their lesson. They haven’t gone deep enough.

The father also doubts. He has faith enough to bring his son to Jesus, but he isn’t completely sure. In Mark’s account, the father asks Jesus to heal the boy “if You are able to do anything.” Jesus responds with “All things can be done for the one who believes,” to which the father replies with a sincere prayer, straight from his heart: “I believe; help my unbelief!” His faith probably receives a divine boost right at that very moment.

After Jesus heals the boy, rebuking the demon possessing him and driving it away, the disciples ask why they couldn’t do it.  The problem, Jesus tells, is unbelief.  Then He says something rather shocking: “if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”

Is Jesus exaggerating? No. He has already revealed how faith can and does work miracles according to God’s will. The problem is with us. Our faith is so small. It isn’t even the size of a mustard seed. Even if we were to tell the mountain to move, deep down, we probably wouldn’t believe that it would or even could. We would doubt, and that doubt would block a miracle. God is the one who performs the miracles in us in His way and at His time, of course, but we must not block the channel of His grace with our unbelief.

So what do we do to increase our faith? We ask our Lord to help us. We ask Him to infuse the gift of faith into us. And we open our hearts to receive it through prayer, the sacraments, Scripture reading, study, and fellowship with other Christians. We tear down the mountains of unbelief and allow rivers of faith and grace to flow. Then we can expect miracles.

Scripture Notes: In the Presence of the Wicked (Psalm 39)

The psalmist, likely David, is faced with a dilemma in Psalm 39. He is in the presence of the wicked, apparently of the wicked who have no intention to repent of their evil ways or even to listen to truth and goodness. David seems to know that no matter what he says, it will make no difference, and he is angry and distressed. He knows he is close to saying things he should not, things that are sinful.  

So the psalmist decides firmly that he will keep his mouth shut. Speaking will do no good and might even lead him to sin, so he will “bridle” his mouth. Yet the more he stands there “dumb and silent,” trying to hold his peace, the more upset he becomes. He feels like his heart is on fire.  Finally, he breaks out into speech.

But David doesn’t talk to the wicked. Instead, he prays, asking God for perspective. He wants to understand the reality of life and of human beings, how fleeting everything is from God’s perspective. This might be rather depressing in itself, but the psalmist uses it only as a reality check before turning his attention to something much more important.

If everything human fades away, what is there to wait for? Inspired by God, David has an answer. “My hope is in Thee,” he tells God. He asks God to deliver him from his transgressions, admitting that he is far from perfect. He knows that God has rebuked him many times and that this punishment is difficult to cope with yet remedial, meant for correction. As he reflects, the psalmist implies that God will punish the wicked in His own way and at His own time.

The psalm ends with a plea for God to hear David’s prayers and respond to his tears of repentance and of distress at the evil of the wicked.  David knows he is just passing through this world, and while he isn’t sure what comes after, he longs for gladness and for the joy of forgiveness, and he will continue to wait for and hope in God no matter what he faces in the presence of the wicked.

Scripture Notes: Who Do You Say That I Am? (Matthew 16)

As Jesus and His disciples enter the region of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks them a critical question. He actually works up to it a bit, just to get them thinking. He begins with “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?” To this question, He receives a variety of replies: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, another prophet.

Then Jesus gets to the heart of the matter: “But who do you say that I am?” This question is not just directed toward the disciples on the road with Jesus that day. It is meant just as much for us. Jesus speaks this question to each of us, and it is up to us to examine our hearts and minds and come up with an honest answer.

But we can’t get it right on our own. When St. Peter responds with “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus tells Him that “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in Heaven.” God reveals to us Who He is. He tells us through the Scriptures, through the sacraments, through the Church, through our prayers. He whispers into our hearts. But we have to be open and listen.

So who do you say that Jesus is?

Scripture Notes: I Am Too Young! (Jeremiah 1)

Jeremiah was a young man, perhaps still in his teens, when God called him to a prophetic mission. Imagine Jeremiah’s surprise when he heard God’s voice for the first time, the voice saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

To Jeremiah’s credit, he believed the message. He understood what God was asking. But he certainly didn’t think he was the right person for the job. “I do not know how to speak,” Jeremiah protested, “for I am only a youth.” I’m too young to be a prophet!

God didn’t scold Jeremiah for this. But He knew Jeremiah far better than the young man knew himself. God simply told His reluctant prophet not to say that he is too young, for God will be the One in control of this mission. God will do the sending. God will tell the young prophet what to say. So Jeremiah should not be afraid, for, as God assured him, “I am with you to deliver you.”

So Jeremiah said yes. God touched the young man’s mouth, giving Jeremiah His words and telling him that He has set him “over nations and over kings, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” In other words, Jeremiah would be God’s agent of sorts, bringing God’s message to Judah and to the whole world, and that message would entail both discipline and restoration.  

The call of Jeremiah reminds us of some critical truths. First, God has a plan for us, and He has had that plan for all eternity. Second, He calls each and every one of us personally. Third, when God wants us to do something, He gives us the grace and the strength to do it, guiding and protecting us always. We, however, must be open to His gifts. Fourth, God has always been, is now, and will always be with us because He loves us.

Scripture Notes: A Message to Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-17)

Pergamum, a city in Asia Minor, was a center of pagan worship at the time John received the prophetic vision he recorded in the Book of Revelation. And Jesus had a very forceful message for the Church at Pergamum, a message with good news and bad news.

The Christians in Pergamum lived in the city “where Satan’s throne” was. Pergamum was home to a massive temple of Zeus (the “father” of the Greco-Roman “gods) and the cult of a snake-god, and it took an active role in promoting emperor worship. Yet, Jesus said, many of the city’s Christians remained faithful, all the way to death if necessary. That’s the good news.

However, there was a bit of bad news, too, more than a bit. Some Christians were compromising their faith. It was a struggle to be a Christian in a pagan world. Pagan worship dominated social life, and those who refused to participate were treated as outcasts or worse. Families turned their backs on Jesus’ faithful. Christian artisans lost business because they could not participate in the rites of the pagan guilds that regulated trade. Even Christians’ lives were at risk if someone denounced them to the government officials and they were commanded to worship the emperor or else.

So it became easy to backslide, especially when some people in the Church (probably the Nicolaitans mentioned in the text) were telling their fellow Christians that it was okay to participate in some level pagan worship, particularly to eat food sacrificed to idols. This would have allowed Christians to participate in guild rituals and family gatherings.

But there was a problem with it. It was backsliding. It was compromising. It was disobeying Jesus’ words. And therefore, Jesus told the Christians who were doing it and teaching it to repent, literally to go beyond their minds, to let go of their own thoughts and embrace His will. Otherwise, there would be consequences, possibly eternal consequences.

Jesus, however, held out a beautiful promise, an amazing promise, to those Christians who were victorious in Him, holding fast to their faith and refusing to compromise. He would give them some of the hidden manna. What is this hidden manna? The Eucharist. Jesus’ very self, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The Eucharist is our ultimate intimacy with Jesus in this life and a foretaste of Heaven, when we will see Him face to face.

Jesus did not end there, though. He also said that He would give of the faithful a white stone with a new name on it. In pagan culture, people needed an admission ticket of sorts to enter into the festivals and rites. Often it was a small stone. Jesus would one-up that. He would give a white stone, a pure stone, as an admission ticket, not to a pagan feast but to the Heavenly feast, the eternal banquet of divine love. And that stone would have a new name written on it, a name known only to the Giver and the recipient, a name symbolizing a new life and a new, even greater intimacy with God, eternally.

Scripture Notes: The Trouble With Absalom (2 Samuel 18)

King David’s son Absalom turned out to be trouble. With a combination of vanity and hunger of power, Absalom decided that he should have the kingship instead of his father, and he tricked the people of Israel into supporting him. David actually had to flee from Jerusalem, mourning the painful betrayal by his own son.

Soon war broke out between David and Absalom. David had no choice but to fight, but he made his wishes clear with regard to his son. The young man was not to be killed. No matter what Absalom had done, David still loved him and was determined to spare his life.

As the battle progressed, David’s army took the upper hand and put Absalom’s followers to flight. Absalom, riding along on his mule, ended up in major trouble. He always had an obsession with his hair, so it is more than a little ironic that his hair (probably highly styled) caught on the branches of a big tree. The mule kept right on going, leaving Absalom hanging by his hair.

This would have been funny (and rather is in any case) but for the results. One of David’s men noticed Absalom’s predicament and hurried to tell David’s commander, Joab. Joab asked the man why he didn’t kill Absalom outright. He would have had a fine reward. But the man remembered David’s orders; he wouldn’t touch the king’s son for any money. 

Joab, disgusted, grabbed three darts and put them directly into Absalom’s heart as the young man hung helpless from the tree. Some of the young men in Joab’s company finished off the prince and threw his body in a pit in the forest. Joab thought he had won a great victory, but he was forgetting something important.

When David heard that his son was dead, he broke down and wept, crying out, “O my son Absalom, my son, my Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” The army’s victory crumbled, and the men crept back to the city like dogs with tails between their legs. The king’s grief shamed them.

But Joab was more disgusted than ever. He approached David with a dose a reality. David’s servants had saved the king’s life and reign by their courage that very day, yet David appeared anything but grateful. Joab essentially told him to stop carrying on and go out and talk to his people with gratitude and encouragement. Otherwise, the king would have no people by nightfall. Joab even dared to tell David, “I perceive that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased.”

It was harsh, but there was truth to it. Yes, Joab had disobeyed the king’s orders, but apparently he didn’t regret it. And he did have a point about David’s less-than-kingly behavior. The situation was complex and dangerous. If Absalom had lived, what would David have done? Simply let him go? No, rebellion could not be ignored; it had to have terrible consequences, as troubling as that may have been.

Scripture Notes: “I Am No Prophet” (Amos 7)

Amos spoke a stern warning against the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In the years since the North split from the South, ten northern tribes from two southern ones (Judah and Benjamin), the North had drifted (perhaps ran) far into idolatry. Its rulers did not want the people returning to the Temple in Jerusalem for worship, for they feared a movement toward reunion and their subsequent loss of power.

So those rulers set up new sanctuaries in the North, two of them, one at Bethel and the other at Dan, and they put an idol in each of those sanctuaries, a golden calf. This was obviously a serious backslide on the part of the Israelites, a deliberate return to their apostasy years ago in the desert as they were leaving Egypt. The Israelites went back to worshiping the gods they had worshiped in Egypt, blended with the gods of the pagan peoples around them. The one God they were not worshiping was God Himself.

So God called Amos to speak up and say so. God called him to be a prophet. And people hated Amos for it. In fact, one of the priests of the Northern Kingdom, Amaziah by name, essentially told Amos to get lost, to go to Judah and never prophesy at Bethel again. It was the “king’s sanctuary,” the priest announced haughtily, and “the temple of the kingdom.” Indeed, and that was the whole problem. It was not God’s sanctuary or God’s temple but the work of human beings who had decided to worship idols.

Amos replied, “I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son.” He was a simple shepherd who cared for both sheep and sycamore trees until God called him. The whole prophet thing was decidedly not his idea, but he loved and trusted God and therefore obeyed Him. And Amos would continue to do so no matter what the consequences to himself. He would continue to tell the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom that God was highly displeased and would punish them if they failed to repent of their idolatry and return to Him. Amos had to speak with tough love when he said, “Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land” on account of its sins. And he was right.

Scripture Notes: David and Abigail (1 Samuel 25)

Abigail had the misfortune to be married to an old grump. Her husband Nabal was harsh and nasty and far more interested in drinking than in extending hospitality. So when David sent some of his servants to invite Nabal to a feast, the old crank refused to come in the most insulting way.  

David, furious, quickly (and quite unthinkingly) resolved to crush Nabal and every male in his household. David, of course, forgot in his anger that the males in Nabal’s household were innocent and were likely unable to influence their master’s behavior one way or another.

Thankfully, Abigail heard about the problem from one of the young men, who was probably both appalled and terrified. She jumped to action, getting ready a whole assortment of food as something of a peace offering to David. But she didn’t leave it at that; instead, Abigail got on a donkey and went out to meet David in person. 

She didn’t have to do any of this. She could have let David come in and kill her husband and everyone else, but no matter what she thought of her husband (and it probably wasn’t much), she clearly felt a responsibility for the rest of her household. She was not going to let them suffer for her husband’s extreme rudeness.

Abigail’s humility and courage touched David’s heart. She even claimed responsibility for Nabal’s acts although David didn’t buy that for an instant. She asked him to blame her and accept her apologies and offering, not so that Nabal wouldn’t be punished but so that David would not sin. She didn’t want to see David, whom she knew as a God-fearing man, incur the guilt of taking revenge and killing the innocent along with the guilty.

It worked. David repented of his intentions and blessed God for Abigail’s discretion. He received her graciously, thanked her, and told her to go in peace. Abigail’s tasks weren’t finished, however. She still had to deal with Nabal. He was far too drunk and rowdy that night, so she waited until morning. Then she dropped the bomb and let him know how close he had come to death at David’s hands. Nabal couldn’t take the shock; he died ten days later, God taking the revenge David had intended but on Nabal alone.

The story doesn’t quite end there. David knew a good woman when he saw one, and he recognized Abigail’s intelligence and devotion. So he married her. 

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 25

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Jesus.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Jesus.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, O Jesus.

As the litany approaches its close, we pronounce a plea for mercy. We recognize Jesus as our Lamb of God, the One Who gave Himself up as a sacrifice, taking upon Himself the covenant curses we earned by our sins and carrying them to the cross. Jesus is the only One Who can take away the sins of the world, Who has already taken away the sins of the world by His sacrificial death, so we ask Him to spare us, to graciously hear us, and to have mercy on us. And we are certain that He does.

Jesus, hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.

One again, we ask Jesus to hear us. We know that He does. He always hears our prayers. So why do we ask? Because we must remind ourselves. We must boost our confidence, our trust in our Lord’s presence and care. We must recall that our prayers are important to Jesus; He never ignores us, never tunes us out, never sets us aside. He may say “No” or “Wait” when our prayers do not correspond to His will. But He always, always, always hears us.

Let us pray.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast said: Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you; grant, we beseech Thee, to us who ask the gift of Thy divine love, that we may ever love Thee with all our hearts, and in all our words and actions, and never cease praising Thee.
Give us, O Lord, a perpetual love of Thy holy Name; for Thou never failest to govern those whom Thou dost solidly establish in Thy love. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

We end this litany with a prayer, again reminding ourselves that Jesus has told us to ask and we shall receive, seek and we shall find, knock and it shall be opened to us. So we pray for Jesus’ divine love, that it may course through our hearts and flow back to God and out to others. We pray that we may be able to praise God always, in all our words and actions, and that we may always love His Holy Name. 

To love God’s Holy Name is to love God, to love Who He is in His deepest character, as much as we can know it.  And to love God for Who He is is to imitate Him, to accept His governance, and to be solidly established in His love. In other words, we give ourselves to God fully, allowing Him to enter our hearts and draw us into His love in deeper and deeper ways.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 24

Through Thine institution of the most Holy Eucharist, Jesus, deliver us.

On the night before He suffered and died on the cross, Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist. He began His total sacrifice at that moment when He said, “This is My Body” and “This is the chalice of My Blood.” He completed the sacrifice on the cross. And now that sacrifice stands outside time, allowing it to be re-presented, made present for us, at every Mass, that we may enter into it.

When we receive the Eucharist, we receive Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The very substance of the bread and wine become Jesus Himself, His risen Body, His very Blood. Jesus enters into us, filling us with His presence, changing us from the inside out, immersing us in His love.

Through Thy joys, Jesus, deliver us.

We don’t often reflect on Jesus’ joys, but His life on earth must have been filled with them. Jesus was perfectly united with His Father, and that in itself is the highest joy. But He also experienced the joy of the love of His family and friends, the pleasures of the natural world, the little things in life. Jesus was, in fact, probably the most joyful Person Who ever walked the earth. We are called to share in that joy.

Through Thy glory, Jesus, deliver us.

Jesus is fully human but also fully divine, so the glory of God radiates within Him and through Him. On Mount Tabor, Peter, James, and John saw the divine glory of Jesus as His clothes became dazzlingly white from a light that came from within. 

This glimpse of glory was intended to give the apostles strength the bear the trials they would soon encounter as Jesus suffered His Passion. Knowing Jesus’ divinity, having seen His glory, was supposed to provide Peter, James, and John the ability to withstand, with great faith, what was to come. For Jesus’ glory may have been hidden, but it never once diminished, any more than He ever ceased to be God.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 23

Through Thy death and burial, Jesus, deliver us.

Jesus died on the cross for us. We say it so often that we might not realize the drama of it. Jesus sacrificed Himself. He poured out every drop of His blood. He took our sins upon Himself and lay down His life for us. 

Then, when Jesus had died, His disciples placed His body in a new tomb near the site of His crucifixion. They rolled a stone in front of the opening. The Jews asked for and received a guard. But none of that would matter in the end, for Jesus lay down His life knowing fully that He would take it back up again.

Through Thy Resurrection, Jesus, deliver us.

Death could not hold Jesus. Because He was fully human, He could and did die. But because He was also fully God, He conquered death. He rose again on the third day, just as He had told His disciples all along.

After Jesus rose from the dead, He reached out to His disciples in ways filled with love and deep meaning. He opened their minds to the Scriptures. He showed them His wounds. He gave them mercy and peace. He fed them and cared for them and challenged them toward great love, preparing them for their mission to the world.

Through Thine Ascension, Jesus, deliver us.

Jesus ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. But that does not mean He has left us alone. In fact, He is with us more intimately than ever. His Holy Spirit, the Paraclete that He promised, fills us with His divine indwelling at our Baptism and as long as we remain in a state of grace.  What is more, we receive Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Eucharist, and He enters into us in a very special way, changes our hearts from the inside out, and is closer to us than we are to ourselves.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 22

Through Thine agony and Passion, Jesus, deliver us. 

The word “agony” comes from a Greek root that refers to the struggle of battle. In His agony and Passion, Jesus went into battle for us. He suffered beyond what we can imagine, immersed in the deepest physical, mental, and spiritual pain. But He did it because He wanted to, because He loves us. He chose His suffering. He chose the battle. And ultimately, He won.

Through Thy cross and dereliction, Jesus, deliver us.

When Jesus told His disciples that they must take up their cross and follow Him, they must have been shocked. We are so accustomed to the expression that it has often lost its power for us. But the disciples likely struggled greatly with the idea of taking up, even embracing, the most horrible instrument of torture the Romans could come up with. But Jesus embraced His cross. He did it for us, and He made it the instrument of our salvation. 

As for dereliction, we do not use this word much these days, but it refers to abandonment. First, Jesus was betrayed by Judas. Then ten more apostles abandoned him. His own people reviled Him, yelling for His crucifixion. Only Mary, Mary Magdalene, John, and a few more women stood beside the cross. Everyone else, even Peter, who had vowed to die with Jesus, was gone. There was even a moment when Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He knew that the Father was still with Him, but He descended to the very depths of suffering, of dereliction, and He did it for us.

Through Thy sufferings, Jesus, deliver us.

Spend a few minutes this week meditating on a crucifix, and reread the Passion narratives in the four Gospels, reflecting on the depth of Jesus’ sufferings. Jesus entered all the way into the suffering of our human condition even though He never sinned. And He imbued our suffering with deep meaning when we join it to His. In fact, He gave our sufferings redemptive power because we can offer them to Him to obtain great graces for ourselves and others.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 21

Through Thy most divine life, Jesus, deliver us.

Jesus lived a human life. He was like us in everything except sin. He knew what it was like to be hungry and thirsty and tired. He knew what it was like to feel emotions; He even wept at the death of His friend Lazarus. He knew what it was like to be tempted. Jesus was fully human.

But Jesus was also fully divine, and He lived a divine life. In fact, He is divine life. Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus in constant communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. We see Him, as He says, teaching what He hears from the Father and doing the works the Father gives Him to do. We see Him obeying the Father’s will all the way to the cross.

Through Thy labors, Jesus, deliver us.

Jesus worked. As a child and young man, He learned the trade of carpentry from Joseph and labored alongside His foster father. After Joseph passed away, Jesus likely kept the family business going until it was time to take up another job, His public ministry that would lead to the Paschal mystery.

We must follow Jesus’ example. Our work is important, and it provides us an opportunity to serve God and others. As we go about our daily tasks, whatever they may be, we should always begin with prayer, offering our work to God and asking for His help. We should also stop briefly during our work periods to focus our attention on our Lord, if only for a few moments. Prayer should accompany the end of each job, too, as we thank God for another task accomplished. This way, our work becomes sanctified, just as Jesus’ labors always were.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 20

Through the mystery of Thy holy Incarnation, Jesus, deliver us.

The final series of petitions in this litany invites us to reflect on various aspects of Jesus’ life, and they remind us that Jesus’ entire life is salvific. Jesus redeems us through the Paschal mystery, to be sure, but also through His birth and His hidden years, His work and His public ministry. 

With this petition, we meditate on the mystery of Jesus’ Incarnation. The divine Son of God, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, begotten by the Father from all eternity became a human being, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus was and is fully God and fully Man. He is one divine Person with two natures. While our human minds struggle to grasp this mystery, our faith accepts it as truth, for God has revealed it. 

Through Thy nativity, Jesus, deliver us.

We are all so familiar with the Christmas story that we may easily take it for granted. So today take a few minutes to slowly read and meditate on Luke 2, paying close attention to the details and imagining yourself in the scenes. If you were in the fields with the shepherds, for instance, what would you have thought? How would you have felt? Would you have gone with the others to see this newborn infant lying in a manger? How would you have reacted to that tiny Child, that small Savior of the whole world?

Through Thine infancy, Jesus, deliver us.

God became a baby. The divine Son, consubstantial with the Father, true God, light from light, became an infant. Jesus was fully dependent on Mary and Joseph for all His needs. He had to learn how to do everything, just like any baby. He was almost certainly cute and cuddly, like most babies, but He also cried and needed changing. 

That is how much our Lord loves us. He emptied Himself completely. He became a baby. Yet He never stopped being God.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 19

From the spirit of fornication, Jesus, deliver us.

Fornication is not a word people use very often these days, mostly perhaps because they do not care to acknowledge the sinfulness of the act. Specifically, fornication means sexual activity outside marriage between people who are not married (sexual activity outside marriage between people who are married is adultery).  

The spirit of fornication, however, implies something broader, particularly the impurity that leads to acts of fornication. It is a disorder in us, something that turns our desires upside down and inside out, something that tugs at us, drawing us away from God and from the moral law He has so perfectly set for us. The spirit of fornication nudges us to think that lust is not so bad or that just a little peek or a little off-color joke will not hurt anything. But what we are really doing is looking at other human beings not as God’s children endowed with human dignity but as objects for our own use. 

This is why we must pray that Jesus deliver us from the spirit of fornication, for it is a threat to the love that our Lord commands us to have for each other and for God.

From everlasting death, Jesus, deliver us.

Everlasting death is the consequence of living in grave sin and refusing to repent right up to the end. It is essentially choosing one’s disordered will, one’s serious sins over God’s perfect will and over His love. God has given us free will because without that gift we cannot truly love, but free will comes with a risk because we can turn our backs on God and become slaves to sin. We can choose everlasting death, separation from God for all eternity. And there is no greater horror than that.

From the neglect of Thine inspirations, Jesus, deliver us.

Jesus is always guiding us, always inspiring us, always nudging us (sometimes rather vigorously) toward the right path, which leads straight to Him. But are we listening? Are we responding? Or are we like St. Augustine who once prayed that God heal him of his sinful ways...but not quite yet?

We neglect or turn away from Jesus’ inspirations only to our detriment. We must learn how to hear our Lord, through Scripture, through the sacraments, in prayer, in the words and actions of other people. Then we have to set aside our own preferences and follow His ways, confident that what He wants is a lot better for us than our whims and even our plans.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 18

From Thy wrath, Jesus, deliver us.

We don’t like to think about Jesus’s wrath. It’s highly uncomfortable, and we would certainly prefer to picture Jesus as meek and mild, kind and loving. He is all of those, of course, but the fact is, Jesus hates sin. He doesn’t hate us, but He hates seeing us fall into sin, reject His will, and go down a path that will obviously harm us. This is what triggers His wrath.

Remember when Jesus’ cleansed the Temple? This is a prime example of how His wrath works. Something had gone drastically wrong in God’s house. The animal sellers and money changers filled the court with what must have been chaos. Imagine the noise and smell. And this situation made Jesus angry, righteously angry. So He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out. He turned over tables, spilled coins, and generally made His displeasure clearly known. He told people to stop making His Father’s house a marketplace. 

Remember, too, that we are God’s temples. When we are in a state of grace, God dwells within us. So when we make our temples a noisy, filthy mess, Jesus is going to get angry, and He will make us feel the consequences of our choices. This isn’t only so that He can punish us; rather, it’s so we can change, get cleaned up, and become a “house of prayer” and a place of love for Him to dwell.

From the snares of the devil, Jesus, deliver us.

The devil tempts us all the time. He lays attractive snares, trying to catch us with things that seem good but are really harmful to us. We have to be on the lookout constantly so that we don’t get caught, but as always, we can’t do this on our own. We need God’s grace to strengthen us, enlighten us, and protect us so that we don’t fall for the devil’s tricks.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 17

From all evil, Jesus, deliver us.

The question of evil has plagued human beings probably from the moment after the very first sin. People often ask why an all-good God would create evil or even allow evil to exist. First, God never did create evil. His creation is good. It is human beings who, by their own free will, fell into the corruption of good, into evil, and the world fell with them.

For evil is not a “thing.” It does not exist on its own. It is a corruption, a warping of something that is good. It is a parasite, living off something that is good. It is an absence rather than a presence, like darkness is the absence of light. 

What is more, God only allows evil because He brings a greater good out of it. We may not see this happening, but God’s perspective is infinitely broader than ours. While the argument is too extensive to dig into in this post, we can be assured that while we, in our free will, often choose corruption and absence, the warping that is evil, we can trust God to be all-good, all-wise, and all-loving and to bring us out of that evil into Him if only we repent and cooperate with His grace.  

From all sin, Jesus, deliver us.

Jesus does indeed deliver us from all sin, for He took our sins upon Himself and carried them straight to the Cross. Jesus suffered and died so that we might be forgiven of our sins. He took the covenant curses upon Himself, curses that we triggered when we broke the covenant of love that God made with us. 

Remember that when we sin, we either damage or break the relationship with have with God (that’s one of the differences between venial and mortal sin). When Jesus delivers us from our sins, He restores our relationship with the Blessed Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So when we pray this petition, we ask for forgiveness and restoration, but we also ask for the grace to avoid sin in the future so that we can live with God in love.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 16

Jesus, purity of Virgins, have mercy on us.

Since the earliest days of Christianity, some men and women have decided to give up marriage and family to devote themselves entirely to serving God in whatever way He calls them to do so. Some have remained in the world, yet separated from it in many ways, while others have chosen to join a religious community. 

Jesus gives these virgins the grace they need to retain their purity in thought, word, and action. Of course, purity isn’t just for those who have committed themselves to virginity for the sake of God’s kingdom. Married people and single people with a possible vocation to marriage are also called to purity and must rely on God’s grace to hold fast to His will for their lives. 

Jesus, Crown of all Saints, have mercy on us.

Jesus is our King and our crown. He rules us and gives us the power to rule under Him. When we are baptized, we become priests, prophets, and kings.  As part of the priesthood of the faithful (distinct from the ordained priesthood), we participate in divine worship and offer God the sacrifices of our lives, all that we have and all that we are. As prophets, we speak God’s truth whether that makes us popular and well-liked or not. As kings, we rule over ourselves, conforming our wills to God’s perfect will for us. In all three offices, Jesus’ crowns us with His grace, His wisdom, and His love.

Be merciful, spare us, O Jesus. Be merciful, graciously hear us, O Jesus.

As the litany transitions into a new section, we once again call on Jesus to be merciful to us, sparing us and graciously hearing and responding to our pleas. This should be a constant refrain for us, but we must pray these verses with confidence, knowing that our Lord longs to pour out His mercy on us, trusting that He wants to save us, and believing that He always hears us and answers us.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 15

Jesus, teacher of Evangelists, have mercy on us.

Evangelists are those who preach the Gospel, those who spread the Good News that God became Man in Jesus Christ, that Jesus died for our sins and rose again, and that He loves us and desires our love in return. We might think of the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who wrote the Gospels, or perhaps we might think of Paul and his missionary companions or the great preachers, theologians, and saints of times past or even of today.

Yet we are all called to be evangelists. We are all called to preach the Gospel in our words and actions. Perhaps we may protest that we don’t know how to do this. It’s a good thing, then, that we have the very best Teacher to inspire us with what to say and do. Our job is to listen and obey.  

Jesus, strength of Martyrs, have mercy on us.

What would we do if we faced the choice between death and compromise with regard to our Christian faith? Most of us will likely never know, but many people throughout the centuries have experienced the dilemma, and those who drew their strength from Jesus went to their deaths willingly, even joyfully, knowing that God would sustain them and reward them.  

Martyrdom does not always have to be about death, however. We are all called to little martyrdoms, little self-sacrifices, every day. While they don’t involve the ultimate choice, they can still be difficult moments when we have to decide between what is right and what is sin, between God’s will and our own will. Jesus gives us the strength to make the correct choices even in these smaller, non-bloody instances of martyrdom, so we must turn to Him constantly that we may be His witnesses at all times.

Jesus, light of Confessors, have mercy on us.

The word “confessors” here does not mean priests who hear and absolve sins in the sacrament of Confession. Rather, a confessor, in this sense, is a person who confesses the Christian faith, a person who speaks the truth whether it is easy or difficult, welcome or unwelcome. When we are willing to do that, Jesus enlightens us. He tells us what to say and shows us what to do. We must allow Him to work and cooperate as He does so that His light can shine through us.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 14

Jesus, joy of the Angels, have mercy on us.

In the dark of the first Christmas midnight, the shepherds watched over their flocks. Then suddenly, the sky exploded with the light of rejoicing angels, proclaiming that the Savior has been born. “Glory to God in the highest,” they exult, “and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased!” (Luke2:14). 

The angels surrounded Jesus all during His life. They served Him after He resisted temptation in the wilderness. An angel comforted Him in the garden the night before He died. The angels would have descended in legions upon legions to assist Jesus during His Passion if He had only said the word. But He did not, so they watched in silence and sorrow. But we can be sure that the angels were the first to rejoice at Jesus’ resurrection, and they were clearly eager to spread the news that the Lord had risen, conquering death and bringing new life to all those who accept Him in faith and love.

Jesus, King of Patriarchs, have mercy on us.

The Patriarchs (people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses) may have lived long before Jesus, but they looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. They understood that God had a plan for His people and that He ruled over them in a special way to prepare them to bring Him to the whole world. Jesus is now the King of Patriarchs because, as He explained to the disbelieving Sadducees, God is the God of the living. Jesus is the God of the living. The Patriarchs are alive, far more alive than we sometimes are, and they know their God and King in Jesus Christ. 

Jesus, master of Apostles, have mercy on us.

Apostles are those who are sent. They do not act on their own authority but on the authority of the Sender. When we think of “Apostles,” we usually think of the Twelve, but all of us are called to participate in the Church’s “apostolate.” We are all sent out on a particular mission, and God gives us the skills and graces we need to do it well. While we may not always feel like we are successful, our job is to cooperate and leave the results to the Master.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 13

Jesus, eternal Wisdom, have mercy on us.

Proverbs 8 offers an intriguing reflection on wisdom. Personified as a woman (because the word for “wisdom” is feminine in gender), wisdom is mysteriously described as both eternal, existing before creation, and somehow also created. This points toward the Incarnation when the eternal Son of God took on a created human body and human soul.  

In Proverbs, wisdom is a “master workman,” intimately involved in the creation of the world, delighting and rejoicing in all its wonder and especially in human beings. Wisdom also teaches those human beings how to please God, and these instructions are far better than gold or silver because they lead to true wealth: to righteousness and justice and life with God.  

We can see how wisdom, as portrayed here, is a type of Christ, the Word of God, the Logos, through Whom the world was made and Who became incarnate to lead us to true wealth, eternal life with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus, infinite Goodness, have mercy on us.

Infinite goodness. Just reflect on that for a moment. Because Jesus is God, His is all-good, perfectly good, infinitely good. In Luke 18:18, an official asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus immediately pounces on the adjective “good.” He asks the man, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but God alone.” Exactly. Jesus is nudging the man (and us) to identify Him correctly. We call Him good because recognize His deep, flawless goodness, but when we do so, we are implicitly recognizing something else as well: Jesus is God.

Jesus, our way and our life, have mercy on us.

In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me.” Jesus is our goal and our way to our goal. He is true life and the path that gets us to true life. He is our home and our way home. He is the destination and the journey. He is our all in all.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 12

Jesus, Good Shepherd, have mercy on us.

Sheep aren’t the world’s brightest creatures and, often, neither are human beings. We stray away from our shepherd, getting ourselves into all kinds of trouble. We take in things we should not, things that make us sick. We become tangled up in the bramble and briers of this world, hurting ourselves in the process. 

Yet we have a good Shepherd, the very best Shepherd, to rescue us and protect us. Think about what a shepherd does for his sheep. He feeds and waters them and makes sure they are safe from predators and from their own stupidity. He cleans them up, sheers them, and comforts them. He searches for them when they are lost and leads them home when he finds them. Our Shepherd does all this and more. So may we not be stupid sheep but rather stay close to our good Shepherd, Jesus.

Jesus, true light, have mercy on us.

In the prologue of his Gospel, St. John writes that “The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world” (1:9). This true light is the Word of God Who was “with God” and “was God” (1:1).  “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (1:4-5). 

This Word, this light, this life “became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14). Yet the world did not know Him or accept Him. Many people wanted to remain in the darkness, for the light shows them the truth, and the truth makes demands. But the light also fills us with the “power to become children of God,” to behold God’s glory, to know God in a wonderful new way, to experience His grace, to be filled with light ourselves.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 11

Jesus, Father of the poor, have mercy on us.

We noted earlier that it seems odd to identify Jesus as a Father. We are used to thinking of Him as the Son of the God the Father. Yet in some cases, Jesus actually can legitimately and quite elegantly be described as a Father. Here, for instance, we address Him as Father of the poor. He cares tenderly for people who are poor. He protects them and nourishes them, defends them and supports them, teaches them and encourages them. This is exactly what a father does.

We would do well to think, too, of who the “poor” are. We can certainly refer to the materially poor who must rely on Jesus because they lack the resources necessary to live. Many poor people find themselves closer to God as they come to trust Him more and more for their basic survival.

Yet we might also identify the spiritually poor, those whom Jesus refers to as the “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). These are the anawim, God’s poor, those who know that no matter what their material status in the world, they are totally dependent upon God. These are the ones who place themselves in Jesus’ hands, trusting fully in Him, realizing that without Him they are nothing at all.

Jesus, treasure of the faithful, have mercy on us.

Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Our ultimate treasure in Heaven is Jesus Himself. He is the One we should be seeking always. He is where our hearts should be. For only in Him do we have true life, true happiness, and true wealth.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 10

Jesus, zealous for souls, have mercy on us.

The word “zealous” comes from the Greek zēlos, which means ardor or noble passion or even jealousy. If we trace the etymology (word history) back even further, we find the Proto-Indo-European root *ya-, which means to seek or desire. So considering all this, when we say that Jesus is zealous for souls, we can say that He has an ardor, a passion, for souls. He wants to save us, eagerly, thoroughly. He seeks us. He desires us. He is even jealous for us, wanting us for Himself because belonging to Him is what is truly best for us. 

Jesus, our God, have mercy on us.

In 2 Peter 1, Peter writes that we have obtained our faith in “the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The original Greek construction indicates that both “God” and “Savior” apply to Jesus. This clear statement of Jesus’ divinity echoes throughout the New Testament. Jesus claims to be God (remember all those “I Am” statements in which He applies the divine Name to Himself) and shows Himself to be God by His miracles of physical and especially spiritual healing. 

Jesus is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word, the Son of God, fully human and fully divine. Jesus is truly God. This is our Christian faith. 

Jesus, our refuge, have mercy on us.

We have all felt the world closing in on us, oppressing us, even attacking us. Many people clamor for safety, for security, but they’ll never find it in this fallen world. So where do we turn? We flee to Jesus and hide ourselves, immerse ourselves, in Him. For He is our refuge, our only safe place. 

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 9

Jesus, God of peace, have mercy on us.

The Scriptural concept of peace is much deeper and more intricate than the idea we usually have of peace. While we might think of the absence of conflict or of a sort of calm in which nothing really happens, in God’s definition, peace is so much more. It is a wholeness, a completeness within a person and among people. Peace also means that everything within a person or among people is in the right order, the way in which God intends it to be.

This is why Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). Jesus’ peace goes far beyond the worldly definition. This is also why Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Our broken world needs to be put back in proper order. It needs to be made whole again. This can be a painful process that looks like anything but peace. But in the end, Jesus’ peace will prevail for those who choose to immerse themselves in it.

Jesus, author of life, have mercy on us.

God created all things by His Word. “In Him was life: and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). 

Jesus, the Word of God, was the author of life at creation. And He is the author of life in our re-creation, our redemption from sin and death. He died for us on the cross that we might live with the Blessed Trinity forever in Heaven, the eternal life, the abundant life, that has no end.

Jesus, model of virtues, have mercy on us.

If we want to know how to live our lives according to the will of God, then we must study the life of Jesus. He entered fully into our human existence, but since He was fully God as well as fully man, He never sinned. So He shows us how to live human life to the fullest, perfect in all virtues, obedient to the Father’s will, deep in true love.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 8

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, have mercy on us.

The Divine Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, “though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:6-7). 

Jesus, fully God, became fully Man to save us from sin. He humbled Himself in a way we can hardly even imagine. As God, He remained omnipotent, but He became meek for our sake. Meekness, though, does not mean being wimpy or passive or tame or boring. Meekness, in the Scriptural sense of the word, means strength under control. It is the result of self-discipline and humility.  It arises because of a deliberate choice to follow the path of self-giving love.  

Jesus, lover of chastity, have mercy on us.

Chastity gets a back rap in the modern world, for many people view it as repressive or prudish or simply unattainable. Yet none of this is true. Chastity is actually all about conforming our minds, our hearts, and our lives to God’s will for us. With the virtue of chastity, we put our sexuality in its proper place and use it only according to God’s moral law and His plan for our lives. 

Jesus loves chastity in us because when we are chaste, we are pure. We are rightly ordered. We put God first and control our passions so that they conform to His design for human beings, and that design allows sex only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. 

Jesus, our lover, have mercy on us.

Jesus loves us. Perhaps that sounds cliche. Perhaps some people reading this do no truly believe it or at least do not seem to experience it in their lives. But it is perfectly, wonderfully, beautifully true: Jesus loves us. He loves us so much that He died on the cross for us. He would not have had to. One drop of His blood would have been enough to save the world. But He chose to go all the way, to pour out every drop of His blood for us so that no matter how far we run from Him, He will be right there waiting with arms stretched out to embrace us. Now that’s love. 

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 7

Jesus, most powerful, have mercy on us.

Since Jesus is fully God, He is indeed most powerful. He is omnipotent. Yet our Lord’s infinite power is always directed toward our good. He loves us; He made us; and He knows exactly what we need to flourish as human beings and as children of God. Our Lord’s power, then, works in perfect union with His perfect love.

Jesus, most patient, have mercy on us.

In his second letter, Peter tells us that we must “consider the patience of our Lord as salvation” (3:15, NAB). Jesus is perfectly patient with us. He gives us chance after chance, grace after grace. Why? Because He died for us and wants us to live with Him forever in Heaven. Paul adds that “God our Savior...desires all men to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:3, RSV-CE). We never have to worry about Jesus giving up on us; we just have to remain faithful to Him.

Jesus, most obedient, have mercy on us.

It may seem kind of strange to us that Jesus, fully God as well as fully Man, would be obedient. Yet He obeyed, accepted, and even embraced His Father’s will all the way to death on the Cross. Jesus’ obedience was not servile. He was not a slave to His Father. His obedience arose from the total, perfect self-giving love that flows between the Father and the Son. That love is the Holy Spirit. There is no opposition in the Family that is the Blessed Trinity. 

This shows us something important about where our own obedience should flow from. We, too, are called to obey out of love. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He created us after all, so He knows what is best for us. He know what should be our highest goal (eternal life with Him!) and how we can best get there. So why would we not hear and obey, imitating Jesus, Who gave Himself completely to His Father?

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 6

Jesus, Father of the world to come, have mercy on us.

It seems rather strange to think of Jesus as “Father.” We are used to addressing the First Person of the Blessed Trinity as “God the Father,” just as Jesus Himself did. Yet we can think of a “father” as a source or an origin, and that can help us clarify this reference. Jesus is the source or the origin of the world to come. He died for us that we might enter into Heaven, into eternal beatitude, face to face with God Himself. 

What’s more, Jesus’ death and resurrection have brought into being a new covenant, a new family relationship between God and humanity. This new covenant is the last one, for it is the highest one, mediated by the God-Man Himself. The new covenant has ushered in a new era, and we are beginning to live eternity right now even as we await its fulfillment. 

Jesus, angel of great counsel, have mercy on us.

Again, it seems strange to think of Jesus as an “angel,” yet the word “angel” actually only means a messenger. Jesus does indeed bring us the message of great counsel. Counsel here refers to good judgment, the ability to make right decisions based on God’s will. So part of counsel is knowing God’s will, and Jesus certainly teaches us that. He is, in fact, the perfect messenger of God’s will, for He obeyed His Father perfectly all the way to the cross

The other part of counsel, however, is acting on what we know. When we have determined what God wants of us, the gift of counsel helps us choose that and carry it out. Jesus gives us the ability to do that through His great grace and love.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 5

Jesus, most amiable, have mercy on us.

We don’t use the word “amiable” must these days, and when we do, we tend to mean that a person is friendly and pleasant, good-natured and easy to be around. But the word’s history runs much deeper than that. If we look back into the development of “amiable,” we see that it comes from the Latin verb amare, to love. So someone who is amiable is loving and lovable, and that, of course, describes Jesus perfectly.

Jesus, most admirable, have mercy on us.

“Admirable” is another word that has lost some of its force of meaning over the years. When we think of someone admirable, we might consider that person a good example, a role-model, someone we look up to and try to imitate. Jesus is certainly all of those, but if we look at the older meaning of the word, we, again, get a broader picture. In its foundational sense, something that is admirable is awe-inspiring, marvelous, amazing, truly wonderful, as in jaw-dropping, delightful beauty. Now that’s Jesus!

Jesus, mighty God, have mercy on us.

Our modern world tends to downplay Jesus’ divinity. It’s easier, after all, to see Jesus as a good man or a wise teacher or some kind of guru. That makes fewer demands on us. It lets us off the hook.  

But it simply isn’t true. Jesus is fully human, but He is also fully God, completely and totally divine. And because He is God, Jesus is omnipotent, all-powerful. Yet He uses that power to love us more than we can even imagine.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 4

Jesus, King of glory, have mercy on us.

Jesus, fully God and fully man, is the true King of the universe. His Father has given Him dominion over all peoples and all things, over the entire cosmos, and Jesus rules at His Father’s right hand in the kingdom of Heaven, in the brightness of divine glory. 

But do we allow Jesus to be King over our lives? Do we surrender to Him as our sovereign? Do we let Him governor us and obediently submit? Or do we rebel? It is important to remember, especially for people who are not especially familiar with or favorable toward a monarchy, that Jesus’ reign is not like those of human kings and queens. Jesus’ rule is perfect. He knows exactly what we need and exactly what is best for us at all times, and when He commands us to do or not do something, it is only and always for our own good. Only our stubborn minds and hearts prevent us from seeing that and embracing our King’s loving will.

Jesus, sun of justice, have mercy on us.

This petition associates justice with the light of the sun. We, on the other hand, might think of justice as something harsh and demanding. We who are sinners may be afraid of the idea of justice because, quite justly, we deserve punishment.

Yet Jesus is the sun of justice, the bright, shining warmth of perfect justice, which, in God, is always balanced by perfect mercy. How this can be is a mystery to us, but Jesus is perfectly just in His mercy and perfectly merciful in His justice. 

Jesus, Son of the Virgin Mary, have mercy on us.

Here we remember that Jesus is fully human, that He is the son of a human mother who was beautifully prepared to miraculously conceive her Son. Our Lady was conceived without sin, perfectly imbued with God’s indwelling presence from the moment of her conception. She herself conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and gave birth to Jesus Christ, truly Son of God and truly Son of the Virgin Mary.