This meditation came after participating at the memorial mass of
St Pope John Paul II, Saturday morning October 22.
Maturity is a growing in faith
and knowledge of, in, and by Jesus Christ so to loosen our grip on our
offenses, thus allowing ourselves to being open to being forgiven, so that we
can then become fully alive and agents of that same forgiveness and mercy. This
is not an act an individual takes up, rather it is an act of entering into
communion and unity with … everyone.
Saturday Oct 22, 2016 -
Memorial of St. Pope John Paul II
First Reading - Ephesians 4:7-16
Brothers
and sisters: Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s
gift. Therefore, it says: He ascended on high and took prisoners captive; he
gave gifts to men.
What
does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended into the lower regions of
the earth? The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the
heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets, others as
evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the
work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until
we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature
manhood to the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that we may no longer
be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising
from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming. Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every
way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined and held
together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each
part, brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love.
My
meditation: He ascended with those prisoners of sin
(those bound up in and by the rule of death) and he gave them gifts of being
Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, so to help us journey to
fullness of life, maturing in faith and knowledge so to not be always tossed
about by death and every wind or scheme that comes along.
Prayer over the Offerings
Grant our
supplication, we pray, O Lord that the sacrifice we present on the feast day of
blessed John Paul the Second may be for our good, since through its offering
you have loosed the offenses of all the world.
My meditation: “loosed the offenses
of the world” – what does that mean and how do we participate in loosening
– letting go of – unhooking ourselves from our offenses and how do we
participate in the mission of forgiveness? We first need to be open to
receiving forgiveness and reconciliation. First what is this experience of
forgiveness and how do we allow ourselves to be open to the experience? We begin with a recognition of needing to be
forgiven.
Click here to view a
video "Being Forgiven" on the unsettling feeling of
undergoing the experience of being forgiven which is the first step in becoming
an agent of forgiveness and mercy.
“The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians--when they are sombre and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths. But, though it is just to condemn some Christians for these things, perhaps, after all, it is not just, though very easy, to condemn Christianity itself for them. Indeed, there are impressive indications that the positive quality of joy is in Christianity--and possibly nowhere else. If that were certain, it would be proof of a very high order”
