King Solomon, who is credited with writing the book of Ecclesiastes, was one of the richest people in history (see 1 Kgs 10:14ff). He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (1 Kgs 11:3). He could get anything he wanted any time he wanted. Many people today are trying hard to become more like Solomon. They want to be able to relax “for years to come,” “eat heartily, drink well,” and enjoy themselves (Lk 12:19). Solomon, who ought to know, says they are fools (see Lk 12:20), for “all things are vanity!” (Eccl 1:2)

“What profit does he show who gains the whole world and destroys himself in the process?” (Lk 9:25) “You are not to spend what remains of your earthly life on human desires but on the will of God. Already you have devoted enough time to what the pagans enjoy” (1 Pt 4:2-3). Therefore, “set your heart on what pertains to higher realms where Christ is seated at God’s right hand. Be intent on things above rather than on things of earth” (Col 3:1-2).

 

“Lord, teach us to pray.” —Luke 11:1

Is the Lord satisfied with your prayer life? Pope St. John Paul II, at the end of his first encyclical letter, maintained that our prayer must be “great, intense, and growing” (The Redeemer of Man, 22).  He also emphasized that the Lord wants our prayer to be combined with fasting, for the Lord has decided at this time to make prayer and fasting the first and most effective weapons against our culture of death (The Gospel of Life, 100). According to these criteria, is your prayer life satisfactory to the Lord?

To pray as the Lord wants us to pray, we must see God as our loving Father. That is the first thing Jesus taught us about prayer (see Lk 11:2). We must be aware that our Father sees our prayer and fasting (Mt 6:6, 18). Abraham stopped short in his prayer for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to be spared destruction. Possibly, his prayer was limited because he:

• wasn’t sure whether God was just (see Gn 18:25),
• was even less sure of God’s mercy, and

· projected his own interior conflicts onto God and thereby accused God of being impatient (Gn 18:30) and angry (Gn 18:32).

We who are in Christ can and must pray always with loving, tender confidence in our Father. In that way, we will pray as we ought (Rm 8:26).

 

Hospitality was a responsibility and privilege highly valued by the Jewish people. In offering hospitality, we may be entertaining angels (Heb 13:2) or even God Himself (Gn 18:17ff). Abraham and Sarah, for example, offered hospitality to God and two angels. As a result, God promised them they would miraculously have a son, although both were almost a hundred years old (see Gn 18:10ff). Hospitality is the breeding ground of promise, blessing, and miracles.

As awesome as hospitality is, Jesus claimed that prayer is even better (Lk 10:42). This was a surprising revelation. Jesus even maintained the necessity of praying always (Lk 18:1; cf 1 Thes 5:17). He did this Himself, praying early in the morning and late at night (Mk 1:35; Lk 22:39ff). Jesus prayed in such a new way that people who had prayed for years asked Him to teach them to pray (Lk 11:1).

After Jesus ascended into heaven, His disciples caught onto Jesus’ message on prayer and “devoted themselves to constant prayer” for nine days (Acts 1:14). The Church was born after this nine-day gestation period of prayer. From that point on, the Spirit has empowered the followers of Jesus to devote themselves to prayer (see Acts 2:42).

We should acknowledge Jesus as first in everything. When we wake up, the first word on our lips should be “Jesus.” Our first activity each day should be praying in the name of Jesus. Before talking to anyone else, we first talk to Him. Before we pick up the phone, answer the doorbell, or put the key in the ignition, Jesus comes first. Before turning on the TV, opening the refrigerator, or pressing a button, Jesus is first. Before we pay any other bills, we pay our tithe. Jesus has the primacy in everything — financially, sexually, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Jesus is “the First and the Last” (Rv 1:17), “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Rv 21:6). Jesus is first chronologically. We seek first His kingdom and give Him prime-time (Mt 6:33). Jesus is first ontologically. “He is before all else that is…the Beginning, the First-Born of the dead” (Col 1:17, 18).

Jesus is God. He is not only Lord, but Lord alone. Therefore, we should love Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, and all our mind (Lk 10:27).

Jesus died for our sins. If we had not sinned, there would have been no need for Jesus’ sacrificial death on Calvary in atonement for our sins. In other words, when we commit sexual sin, gossip, eat too much, refuse to evangelize, or don’t forgive, we are directly involved in Jesus’ passion and death (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 598).

All Christians accept the fact that our sins and Jesus’ death are related, but for many this is only an idea or theological abstract. The Holy Spirit, however, will change that by convicting us of our sins (Jn 16:8) and taking us to the cross. Here we will experience deeply how our sins wounded Jesus even to death. The sins of the world will no longer amuse or entertain us (see Prv 10:23). We will be crucified to the world and the world to us (Gal 6:14).

This personal experience of the cross is not necessarily a mystical experience. The Holy Spirit may merely give us insight into the harm of subtle influences on our lives. The result of this will be a profound alienation from the sinful ways of the world. We will intensely hate sin (see Sir 17:21) and love sinners, as the Lord does.

Jesus turns his face towards Jerusalem despite his awareness of the implications of rejection. And that is what happens when he sends messengers ahead to make arrangements in a Samaritan village. James and John are angry but Jesus rebukes them and makes alternative arrangements. He remains free. He remains himself. Then come the call stories and the echoes of Elisha. What happens to us when things do not go according to plan? What happens when people let us down? Do we make easy excuses when we are invited to offer a helping hand or some useful service? Are we ready to go to Jerusalem with Jesus? Or are we like James and John, full of fire and brimstone and quick anger? Are we like the people Jesus called to follow him, swift with our excuses? Or do we hear God’s voice, put our hand to the plough and respond in love?

The Mass makes present the once-and-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Therefore, to enter into the spirit of the Mass, we must “proclaim the death of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:26) and offer our bodies to the Lord as living sacrifices (Rm 12:1). The spirit of the Mass is the spirit of sacrifice. Thus it is important to fast before Mass, deny ourselves, and take up our crosses each day (Lk 9:23) with the intention of uniting ourselves to Jesus crucified (see Gal 2:19) and sacrificed (see Heb 9:26). Through our “good deeds and generosity” (Heb 13:16), we make sacrifices pleasing to the Lord. We can unite these sacrifices with Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary and fill up in our own bodies what is lacking in the “sufferings of Christ” (Col 1:24).

The Holy Mass is not the proclamation and perpetuation of our sacrifices but rather of His sacrifice. However, the Mass is the participation of our sacrifices in His. Live the Mass. Live a life of sacrifice. Through Jesus, “let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise” (Heb 13:15).

Where is the word Trinity in the Bible? You won’t find it! The Trinity is a mystery revealed by God and handed on to us through Sacred Tradition (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 78, 234).

Jesus provides trinitarian clues in the Bible. “If you love Me and obey the commands I give you, I will ask the Father and He will give you another Paraclete — to be with you always: the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot accept, since it neither sees Him nor recognizes Him; but you can recognize Him, because He remains with you and will be within you” (Jn 14:15-17).

God is one essence in three Persons. The greatest minds in the history of the Church have wrestled with understanding the Trinity. We’ll never be able to fully grasp this divine truth. But as beloved children of the Father (1 Jn 3:2), our starting point is trust. Let the Lord speak to your heart; focus on the relationships. God is eternal community. Love best illuminates the nature of the Trinity (see 1 Jn 4:8, 16).

God the Father chose us (Eph 1:4). Jesus, our older Brother, leads us (Heb 2:10-11). The Holy Spirit resides within us (1 Cor 6:19). Grow strong through prayer in the Holy Spirit, persevere in God’s love, and welcome the mercy of Jesus (see Jude 20-21). Immerse yourself in the Trinitarian love of God.

Today’s Gospel relates how the Risen Jesus gave his apostles a foretaste of Pentecost on the evening of Easter Sunday by appearing to them and sending them to carry on the mission given him by his Heavenly Father.  He then empowered them to do so by breathing upon them and saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  On the day of Pentecost, Jesus fulfilled his promise to send the Advocate or Paraclete. The gift of the Spirit would enable them to fulfill Jesus’ commission to preach the Gospel to all nations.  Today’s Gospel passage also tells us how Jesus gave to the Apostles the power and authority to forgive sins.  “Receive the Holy Spirit.  For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”  These wonderful words, which bind together inseparably the presence of the Holy Spirit with the gift of forgiveness, are referred to directly in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  But they have a much wider meaning.  Those words remind us of the Christian vocation we all have, to love and forgive as we have been loved and forgiven in the world of today, which is often fiercely judgmental and vengeful.

Jesus tried to tell us we had power to overcome all demons and to cure diseases (Lk 9:1). He told us we could “cure the sick, raise the dead, heal the leprous, expel demons” (Mt 10:8). He even promised we would do greater by far than He ever did, if we only believed in Him (Jn 14:12).

However, Jesus saved the best till last. Before His Ascension, the risen Jesus, with nail-scarred hands and a hole in His side, was speaking to the apostles concerning the signs that would accompany those who had professed their faith (Mk 16:17). Jesus mentioned five signs: expelling demons, speaking new languages, handling serpents, drinking poison without suffering harm, and healing the sick (Mk 16:17-18). “No sooner had He said this than He was lifted up before their eyes in a cloud which took Him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). Jesus ascended “into heaven and took His seat at God’s right hand” (Mk 16:19).

When a Man has split the clouds and left planet earth behind, He’s certainly proven Himself to be an expert on signs. When Jesus says to us: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you” (Acts 1:8), He knows what He’s talking about.