God makes a promise; "I will give you a new heart and a new spirit."
An accident left 17-year-old Joni Eareckson a quadriplegic. Her body was completely broken and helpless. But even more broken than her body were her heart and her spirit. She wondered how she would ever be able to live out the rest of her life in her tragic condition. Yet, thanks to prayer and to her daily reading of the Bible, she began to glimpse possibilities in life that she never dreamed of before her accident. Today, Joni is an accomplished painter (holding the brush in her teeth), a best-selling author, a singer, and a popular lecturer to young people. God, indeed, breathed into her a new heart and a new spirit. *** Do we believe that God can use us in ways we never dreamed to be possible? Do we believe he can use us to work miracles? "There is nothing that God cannot do," through us, if we but let him. Luke 1:37
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We have heard it said that love is many a splendored thing. Indeed, it truly is, and every human heart longs for that many splendored love. But the problem comes when the longing becomes a demand for love. Demand for love makes it a many horrored thing. So love moves from beauty to tragedy when the demand comes in and that is where loving turns into hating.
Yet true love is indeed a many splendored thing when it comes from God. That love is expressed in the 1st reading when God spoke to His people through the prophet Ezekiel : You shall be My people and I will be your God. It is a self-giving love and it is also a love that makes no demands, but only invites others to give and to share in it. Like the wedding banquet parable in the gospel, God does not force us to love Him.He invites us to come to Him and be loved by Him and to be His people. It is in God that we see that true love is indeed a many splendored thing.
May we learn to love as God has loved us.
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CALLED TO THE FEAST
Introduction
Israel had profaned God’s name among the nations, making it look weak when he had to send Israel into exile. Now Ezekiel consoles them when they are in exile. He will again restore his people, giving them a new heart and a new spirit.
All are invited to the kingdom of God, even repeatedly, the good and the bad alike. Salvation is open to all. But they should be willing, they must respond to the call. And once they respond, they should be consistent. They must share in the death struggle of Christ against evil, to live with the life of Christ. The force to live the Christ life is indeed given to us in the Eucharistic meal. There the Lord prepares us for the royal marriage feast.
Opening Prayer
Merciful Father of all people, you open the doors of your kingdom to invite us all, good and bad alike, to share the life of Jesus, your Son. Give us the wisdom and the strength to respond to your generous call with the whole of our being. Help us to go the loyal way to you and to one another of Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Commentary
Faith ultimately is a matter of the heart, not simply feast days and rituals. Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel speaks of a new era wherein the Lord will renew the religious spirit within us. The law will not be written on stone tablets but on the flesh of the human heart. Cleansed of our impurities, we will respond to God from inner conviction and with a true sense of personal purpose. Religion, to be authentic, must go beyond externals and emanate from the very core of our being. Many of the people in today’s parable saw the wedding invitation as simply another calendar event, not a divine calling to be taken with the utmost seriousness. While not as guilty as those who refused, the improperly clothed guest lacks a true appreciation of what God is offering. The lesson should strike us as being particularly meaningful. The fact that we are identified as Christian or Catholic says very litde in and of itself. But we all know what it means to take faith seriously. We have met it in people many times. The kind word, availability, service to others, as well as love of the Eucharist. With these values in place, we are properly dressed for the wedding. We will never be embarrassed by being improperly clothed. We have received that new Spirit within us, the first gift of the risen Christ.
Points to Ponder
Religious faith: stone tablets or a new heart Excuses:
God’s interests will come later
The wedding feast: being properly attired
Intercessions
– That the Lord may gather all peoples in one common praise of his name, we pray:
– That the lives of all Christians may radiate joy and hope and bring a feast of happiness to others, we pray:
– That the communities without priests, isolated and abandoned as they often feel, may receive the word of the Lord as their food and occasionally also the Lord’s body, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God, in these signs of bread and wine you invite us now to the table of your Son Jesus Christ, as a token and pledge of your unending feast meal in heaven. Give us the strength to respond to your call, that we may become new in Christ and live his life day after day, until you let us share in his glory for ever and ever.
Prayer after Communion
Loving Father, we thank you for giving us your Son as our food and drink on the long road to you. Through this Eucharist make us resemble him more and more, that we may respect and love him in one another, that we may be his image to the world, and that you may recognize his traits in us when you welcome us to the everlasting feast of joy. Grant us this through Christ our Lord.
Blessing
All are invited to the Lord’s feast meal, but not all come. Are some absent because we do not make them feel welcome? Let us do all we can to make people feel at home with us. May God bless you all, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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Saint Bernard (of Clairvaux)
Feast day August 20
In 1112, at the age of 22, Bernard chose to enter a poor, crumbling monastery called Citeaux, a few miles from his home near Dijon, in France. The monks there, most of whom were elderly, faithfully followed the Rule of Saint Benedict. The monks at Citeaux lived a stricter life of prayer, silence, and penance. Thirty-one other men entered with Bernard.
Within three years, Citeaux was flourishing, and Bernard was sent to start a new monastery in a place that came to be named Clairvaux. As abbot in that first year, Bernard was strict about meals (sometimes only barley bread and boiled leaves), work, prayers, and sleep. Then he became sick and learned to be more understanding of human needs. After that, the monastery thrived.
During his busy years as abbot, Bernard often longed for solitude and a simple monk’s life. Almost daily he received visitors and letters from people asking for advice and help. He gave time and effort to each request. Because of his ability to settle disputes, Bernard was also called to various countries to give advice on affairs of Church and of government.
In 1130, the newly elected Pope Innocent II faced the popularity of an antipope named Anacletus. The latter’s claim to be pope threatened to split the Church. Bernard traveled to ask government and Church leaders to support the true pope. Finally, Anacletus lost his power, and Innocent II returned as the official bishop of Rome.
When Bernard was chosen as an official preacher for the Second Crusade, he inspired many to join the cause for Christ. The Crusade failed, however, because of the cruelty and greed of some crusaders, and Bernard was unjustly blamed.
Bernard died in 1153. He is known as one of the founders of the Cistercian order. He was named a Doctor of the Church for his many writings.
