Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

February 2, 2025

GOSPEL MEDITATION

What is the secret to sharing in God’s power to overcome our difficulties? Mary teaches us this in the prophecy of her pierced heart. This Sunday, the old man Simeon prophecies that when her son faces opposition, Mary’s soul will be pierced by a sword. The seemingly pointless agony of a mother helplessly watching her son be mocked, tortured, killed and then cruelly desecrated in death by a spear — somehow this piercing of her heart releases a power by which “the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:35). What to make of this?

Whatever problems we currently face, the deepest threat is finally that evil thoughts are hidden in the human heart: hatred, envy, pride, lust, greed and so on. Behind every tyrant’s injustice, for example, is a heart unpierced by love. Evil hides in our hearts. Mary’s pierced heart, and its suffering love for her son, reveals and scatters these evil thoughts, and replaces them with love, forgiveness, generosity and peace.

This week, I invite us to ponder Mary’s pierced heart. Her heart is quietly at work for us in the Church and world, exposing our evil thoughts and making a path for her son’s divine love. This is how she gently cooperates in our salvation. Closed hearts are our biggest problem; love-pierced hearts are the ultimate power to overcome every difficulty.

–Father John Muir

 

A FAMILY PERSPECTIVE

It is in our family where we learn to be merciful and comforting to others. The Beatitudes of the Kingdom of God begin at home and depend on you. Parents lead the way.

– Bud Ozar

 

EVERYDAY STEWARDSHIP

When we join a support group, there is comfort in sharing our pain with people who have experienced the same thing; they understand what we are going through. The next time you experience suffering, talk to Jesus. He has experienced more  suffering than most of us, He understands. Plus, Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. Only He can fill the hole Stewards feel in their hearts.

2024 Catholic Stewardship Consultants

 

PRACTICING CATHOLIC – RECOGNIZE GOD IN YOUR ORDINARY MOMENTS

“Alas, that these evil days should be mine.” If you’ve ever seen “The Lord of the Rings,” you might recognize this quote from “The Two Towers.” The words are spoken by King Theoden at the grave of his only son and heir, as Theoden contemplates the coming war for Middle Earth, a war which has already claimed the life of his son, a war he wants no part of, a war that seems utterly hopeless and unwinnable.

You don’t have to be a fantasy enthusiast or even a Tolkien fan to identify with Theoden here. We have all experienced this same feeling of despair, perhaps increasingly in this age of technology and social media, when the ills of the whole world — violence, injustice, moral disorder, and chaos — are in our faces, on our phones, looming over our days. But when we despair like this, we forget an important truth: this is the time of fulfillment, and we are lucky enough to be living through it.

Yes, the world is broken. It was broken two thousand years ago, too, when Jesus stood up in the synagogue on the Sabbath and read the words of the prophet Isaiah: “He has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives…and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

Jesus didn’t come to fix the brokenness of the world. He came to fix our brokenness. He offers us not relief from the trials of life, but an answer to the question of how to live in joy, in love and in purpose in the midst of these evil days.

– Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS