Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
TUESDAY, February 9th Mk. 7:1-13 “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me.”
Part 1: Honoring God with our hearts and our lips! By Father Jacques Philippe
Part 2: GLORIFY GOD IN YOUR BODY NOW AND ALWAYS! By Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
PART 1: Honoring God with our hearts and our lips! bBy Father Jacques Philippe
In order that abandonment might be authentic and engender peace, it must be total. We must put everything, without exception, into the hands of God, not seeking any longer to manage or “to save” ourselves by our own means: not in the material domain, nor the emotional, nor the spiritual.
We cannot divide human existence into various sectors: certain sectors where it would be legitimate to surrender ourselves to God with confidence and others where, on the contrary, we feel we must manage exclusively on our own.
And one thing we know well: all reality that we have not surrendered to God, that we choose to manage by ourselves without giving carte blanche to God, will continue to make us more or less uneasy. The measure of our interior peace will be that of our abandonment, consequently of our detachment.
He who accepts this death of detachment, of renunciation, finds the true life. The one who clings to something, who wishes to protect some domain in his life in order to manage it at his convenience without radically abandoning it into the hands of God, is making a very bad mistake: he devotes himself to unnecessary pre-occupations and exposes himself to the gnawing sense of loss.
By contrast, he who accepts to put everything into the hands of God, to allow Him to give and take according to His good pleasure, this individual finds an inexpressible peace and interior freedom.
This is the way to happiness, because if we leave God free to act in His way, He is infinitely more capable of rendering us happy than we ourselves are, because He knows us and loves us more than we can ever know or love ourselves!
PART 2: GLORIFY GOD IN YOUR BODY NOW AND ALWAYS! (I Cor. 6:20) By Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
God in His infinite love has endowed each and every one of us with a body and a soul. How great God is in His wonderful gifts to humanity and to each and every one of us individually! The Psalmist praises God: “I am wonderfully created; I am your handiwork; I am the work of your hands.” (Ps. 139)
Indeed, we were created in the image and likeness of God. We have both an intellect and a will. The primary purpose of our intellect is to know the Truth. Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” (Jn. 14:6) The primary purpose of the will is to love God with all of the fiber of our being. “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mk. 12:30)
Saint Paul reminds us of an indispensable command of God: “Glorify God in your body.” (1Cor 6:20) Therefore, the basic purpose of this short article is to learn and to apply how we can truly glorify God in our bodies now and for all eternity!
1. RECOGNIZE YOUR INCREDIBLE DIGNITY!!! Saint Pope Leo the Great in his Christmas Sermon exhorts all of us with these words: “Christian, remember your dignity!” Saint Pope John Paul II insisted in his teachings on the great importance and dignity of every human person. As soon as we receive the Sacrament of Baptism, God literally floods us with sublime and ineffable gifts. First and foremost, Baptism transforms us into a living Tabernacle of the Blessed Trinity. We become a son/daughter of God, brother/sister of Jesus Christ, and intimate friend of the Holy Spirit. If we would only call to mind often our DIGNITY that flows from the Sacrament of Baptism, we would avoid committing many sins. Indeed, sin degrades our dignity!
2. RECOGNIZE YOUR DESTINY! Not only should we call to mind at all times our dignity, but we should at the same time call to mind our DESTINY!! We are destined for eternal glory in heaven. Of course to arrive at heaven, we must live up to the dignity that God has bestowed upon us here! In other words, heaven is ours if we glorify God in our bodies in this brief and transitory pilgrimage on earth. Indeed, we are a pilgrim people advancing towards our true and eternal homeland. We should never be spiritually running around like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off!!! No! We know our destiny is heaven and we should do all in our power to glorify God in our bodies, so as to arrive safe and sound in the arms of our loving Father! (Lk 15:11-32 —Parable of the Prodigal Son)
3. BEG MARY FOR THE VIRTUE OF PURITY. Our Lady of Fatima sadly announced over 100 years ago that most souls are lost as a result of the sins against the virtue of purity. We should consecrate our whole being to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary and renew this consecration every morning as we rise from sleep. We should pray our prayer of Consecration to Mary and kiss our Scapular, which we should be wearing at all times!!! Then we should beg through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the grace to live a life of purity in all its aspects!
- Beg Mary for pure eyes to live out the Beatitude: Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God. (Mt. 5:8)
- Beg Mary for a mind—memory, understanding, and imagination, that is noble and pure. As Saint Paul reminds us: “Fix your attention on the things above, and not on those of the earth.” (Col 3:2)
- Beg Mary for purity of speech, as well as listening! May we put into practice the words of Jesus: “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Mt. 12:34) May our words reflect our dignity, our destiny, and our belonging to Jesus and Mary! Listening? Yes! May Our Lady attain for us the grace to associate with persons who are noble, pure, and dignified, so that in listening we are edified!
- Beg Mary for purity of our body which is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. May our body, through the intercession of Mary most holy, serve only to glorify and praise God!
- May Our Lady attain for us purity of heart! By Consecration to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our heart is being transformed by imitating the sublime virtues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the most pure Heart of Mary.
- May Our Lady even attain for us purity of intention! Once again calling to mind the words of Saint Paul: “Whether you eat or drink, do all for the honor and glory of God.” (I Cor 10:31)
4. PURIFY YOUR WHOLE BEING BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB OF GOD. Despite our best of efforts, even the just man falls seven times a day. Upon falling, let us never give into discouragement, much less, despair. On the contrary, may we place a limitless trust in God’s infinite mercy! Like the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32), let us run to the Father and launch ourselves into His loving and merciful arms! As the Prophet Isaiah encourages us: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (Is. 1:18) The greatest sinners can become the greatest saints if they simply trust in God’s infinite Mercy!!! Jesus promised to Saint Faustina in the Diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, “The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy. He who trusts in My mercy will not perish, for all his affairs are Mine, and his enemies will be shattered at the base of My footstool.” (Diary 723)
5. RECEIVE THE HOLY EUCHARIST. The greatest action that a human person can carry out on earth is to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion! Your body, upon receiving Holy Communion, becomes a living tabernacle, a living sanctuary, a living castle or palace of Jesus, the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father! If received properly, your whole being is transformed. Your memory is purified; your understanding is enlightened; your will is fortified; your heart is enflamed with divine love; and your body is filled with peace and joy—a presage of eternal life in heaven!
6. DEFEND THE LIFE OF THE BABY IN THE WOMB. Of course, if we truly love God, then we should love what God loves—He loves the little children in the womb, the most defenseless of all!. Jesus said: “Let the little children come to me.” (Mt. 19:14) And, “Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 18:3) We should all do whatever is in our power to promote the Pro-Life cause. How? By prayer, penance, word and action. We should all, in the depths of quiet prayer, ask the Lord and Mary His Mother, what I can do to glorify God in my body and the bodies of others, especially by becoming involved in the Pro-life movement and work!
7. REJOICE IN THE LORD THROUGH THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY! Our Lady went in haste to visit Saint Elizabeth who was with child in her old age. Upon Mary’s greeting, the baby, John the Baptist, leapt for joy in the womb of his mother Saint Elizabeth, and she said to Mary, “Blessed is she who believed the word spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Lk. 1: 45) Whereupon Mary rejoiced in her profound canticle that the Church calls The Magnificat: “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior!” (Lk 1:46-55) With our mind, heart, body and soul, and with Mary our Mother, let us glorify our body by rejoicing in the Lord always!!!
Copyright 2021 Oblates of the Virgin Mary
St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
