A Reply to Love
from the foot of the cross
On the Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week each year, we read in the gospel for Mass about Judas and his plan to betray Jesus. “What will you give me if I deliver Him to you?” (Matthew 26:15). We don’t like to look too closely at Judas. We don’t like to think about why his betrayal of Jesus has anything to do with us—it makes us uncomfortable.
Today is the 10th day of our self-quarantine. We (Sr. Agnes Thérèse and Sr. Sophia Grace) spent a week in the Tampa, FL area in the middle of March giving a parish mission and a few other small gatherings. Upon our return, we were asked to have a time of quarantine because we had been traveling through airports and around a lot of people. We were very careful with hand washing, social distancing, etc. but we also agreed we didn’t want to risk bringing anything back to the Motherhouse.
"Perhaps you were born for a time such as this" (cf. Esther 4:14). Two of our sisters received this word from the Lord in recent days and shared it with us as an encouragement.
If Jesus would just write me off, I could also write Him off.
But His absolute refusal to reject me in the slightest degree demands something of me.
I only had pink eye once that I can remember. When I woke that first morning, my eyes were crusted over with a film that prevented me from seeing clearly. It was uncomfortable and inconvenient at the time, of course, but, looking back, it was an obvious sign that something was wrong, and because of the crusty film I could act quickly to get the medical help I needed. Unfortunately, in the spiritual life, I’m not always able to recognize the signs of my spiritual blindness.
The Franciscan Sisters, TOR are in the throes of planning for their 4th General Chapter to be held in May and June of 2020. What is a General Chapter? Why is it important? How is it connected to the whole Church, and what does it have to do with me – a lay person in the pew? These are questions many of you may be asking, and they deserve to be answered.
Today is my Baptism birthday. It is also the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, the feast of healing water. And today I renewed my consecration to Jesus through Mary, having undergone thirty-three days of preparation. It’s a big day.
Jesus arrives at the River Jordan and encounters John the Baptist, who is timid about being the one to minister to the Son of the living God. Jesus encourages John to step out and pray over Him. The fruit from this is that the heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus and the Father speaks out His love for His Only Begotten Son for all to hear. Those who have the ears to hear are amazed. John the Baptist prays over Jesus and is the instrument that God uses to bless Jesus and the whole world.
