The Primacy of the Interior Life 07/22/2010
On this Sunday, the liturgy once again proposes for our meditation the Gospel episode of Jesus’ visit to the house of Martha and Mary (cf. Lk 10: 38-42). While Martha is totally taken up with household tasks, Mary is seated at the Master’s feet listening to his word. Christ affirms that Mary “has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her” (Lk 10: 42). Listening to the Word of God is the most important thing in our lives. Christ is always in our midst and desires to speak to our hearts. We can listen to him by meditating with faith on Sacred Scripture, by recollection in private and communal prayer, by silent meditation before the Tabernacle, from which he speaks to us of his love. All this is part of what has been traditionally called the interior life. We can define the interior life as follows: It is a supernatural life which, by a true spirit of abnegation and prayer, makes us tend to union with God and leads us to it. When, through the action of the Holy Spirit, God takes up his dwelling in the heart of the believer, it becomes easier for him/her to serve the brethren. This is what happened in a unique and perfect way in Mary Most Holy. To her we entrust this vacation period, to make the most of it as a favorable time to rediscover the primacy of the interior life. Fr. Pablo Muñoz Iturrieta, IVE Add Comment The Good Samaritan 07/06/2010
This parable of the Good Samaritan belongs to the Gospel of suffering. And it was through this parable that Christ wished to give an answer to the question: “Who is my neighbor?” For of the three travelers along the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, on which there lay half-dead a man who had been stripped and beaten by robbers, it was precisely the Samaritan who showed himself to be the real “neighbor” of the victim: the person who carried out the commandment of love of neighbor. Two other men were passing along the same road; one was a priest and the other a Levite, but each of them “saw him and passed by on the other side”. The Samaritan, on the other hand, “saw him and had compassion on him. He went to him... and bound up his wounds “, then “brought him to an inn, and took care of him”. And when he left, he entrusted the suffering man to the care of the innkeeper, promising to meet any expenses. The parable of the Good Samaritan belongs to the Gospel of suffering, for it indicates what the relationship of each of us must be towards our suffering neighbor. Fr. Pablo Muñoz Iturrieta, IVE Corpus Christi 06/02/2010
The feast of Corpus Christi is one time when our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is exposed not just to faithful Catholics but to all the world. This is a time when Catholics can show their love for Christ in the Real Presence by honoring Him in a very public way. It is also a wonderful way in which we can show our love for our neighbors by bringing Our Lord and Savior closer to them. So many conversions are a result of Eucharistic Adoration experienced from inside the Church. How many more there would be if we could reach those who only drive by the church in worldly pursuits. Today’s solemnity helps us to give Christ the centrality which is his due in the divine plan for humanity, and spurs us to configure our lives more and more to him, the Eternal High Priest. May Mary, who bearing Jesus in her womb was the first living “tabernacle” of the Eucharist, communicate to us her same faith in the holy mystery of the Body and Blood of her divine Son, so that it may truly be the center of our lives. Fr. Pablo Muñoz Iturrieta, IVE Pentecost Sunday 05/24/2010
“When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me” (Jn 15: 26). These are the words that John received from Christ’s lips in the Upper Room, during the Last Supper on the eve of his Passion. Today they resound with remarkable intensity for us on Pentecost, whose deepest meaning they reveal. “And you also are witnesses” (Jn 15: 27). Enlivened by the gift of the Spirit, the Church has always been keenly aware of this duty and has faithfully proclaimed the Gospel message in every time and place. She has done so with respect for the dignity of peoples, of their culture, of their traditions. Indeed, she knows quite well that the divine message entrusted to her is not hostile to the deepest human aspirations; indeed, it was revealed by God to satisfy, beyond every expectation, the hunger and thirst of the human heart. However, if the proclamation is to be effective, a lived witness remains crucial. Only the believer who lives what he professes with his lips has any hope of being heard. Fr. Pablo Muñoz Iturrieta, IVE Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord 05/13/2010
On this Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord, I will be happy to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice with the children who will receive Jesus for the first time in their lives. I want to congratulate them, and their parents and relatives. And for all of us who have already done our first communion, let us remember that great day when we came to the altar for the first time to receive Jesus in our souls. Today we celebrate the mystery when, by the providence of God – in the eternal design of the Father – the hour had come for Christ to go away. He would leave his Apostles behind, with his Mother Mary, but only after he had given them his instructions. The Apostles now had a mission to perform according to the instructions that Jesus left, and these instructions were in turn the faithful expression of the Father’s will. The instructions indicated, above all, that the Apostles were to wait for the Holy Spirit, who was the gift of the Father. From the beginning, it had to be clear that the source of the Apostles’ strength is the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who guides the Church in the way of truth; the Gospel is to spread through the power of God, and not by means of human wisdom or strength. Fr. Pablo Muñoz Iturrieta, IVE The Effects of Love upon our Soul 05/05/2010
Jesus tells the apostles not to be afraid, and that He will pray to the Father so that the Father will send them another Counselor, the Holy Spirit, to be with us forever. What for? To love Jesus, for as He says: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Now, as we saw last week, genuine love must express itself in deeds. “This indeed is love: obeying and believing in the loved one” (St John Chrysostom). Therefore, Jesus wants us to understand that love of God, if it is to be authentic, must he reflected in a life of generous and faithful self-giving, obedient to the will of God: he who accepts God’s commandments and obeys them, he it is who loves him. This divine love, according to St Thomas, operates four things in our souls, which we must desire with our whole heart: 1) The love of God produces in us our spiritual life. “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 John 4:16). 2) Love of God also produces the observance of the divine commandments. “ Those who love me will keep my word”(John 14:23). 3) The third effect is that the love of God is a great help against any adversity. As St. Paul says: “all things work together for good for those who love God” (Rom. 8, 28). 4) The fourth effect of charity is that it brings joy to the soul, because it leads us to everlasting life. Love One Another 04/29/2010
This Sunday’s Gospel is an invitation to “dare to love”. we should not desire anything less for our life than a love that is strong and beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of our existence a joyful undertaking of giving ourselves as a gift to God and your brothers and sisters, in imitation of the One who vanquished hatred and death forever through love. Love is the only force capable of changing the heart of the human person and of all humanity, by making fruitful the relations between men and women, between rich and poor, between cultures and civilizations. This is shown to us in the lives of the saints. They are true friends of God who channel and reflect this very first love. Let’s try to know them better, entrust ourselves to their intercession, and strive to live as they did. A great example is Blessed Mother Teresa. In order to respond instantly to the cry of Jesus, “I thirst,” a cry that had touched her deeply, she began to take in the people who were dying on the streets of Calcutta in India. From that time onward, the only desire of her life was to quench the thirst of love felt by Jesus, not with words, but with concrete action by recognizing his disfigured countenance thirsting for love in the faces of the poorest of the poor. Blessed Teresa put the teachings of the Lord into practice: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). Let us accomplish in our lives the message of this humble witness of divine love. Jesus the Good Shepherd 04/21/2010
Jesus is the model of the shepherd. The shepherd is someone who has been entrusted with the care of a flock of sheep. What duties does such an image involve? The first duty of the shepherd is to preserve all of the sheep that have been entrusted to his care. None must get lost, none must die due to starvation or disease. To preserve them, he must be willing to defend them from the wolves, to find them a place of shelter on cold nights, to guide them towards fields with abundant pastures. He must also know each sheep to be able to subsequently establish if any are missing, to be concerned with each one as if it were his only sheep. Jesus, the good shepherd, preserves, defends, protects, guides, feeds Christians with his very life, by means of the sacraments and through the hierarchy of the Church. Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, is the prototype of priests who, as good shepherds, must devote their entire life to preserving the faith of the faithful entrusted to their care. Let us pray for all the priests of the world, through whom Jesus gives his flock eternal life! Fr. Pablo Muñoz Iturrieta, IVE Divine Mercy Sunday 04/16/2010
The Heart of Christ! His “Sacred Heart” has given men everything: redemption, salvation, sanctification. St Faustina Kowalska saw coming from this Heart that was overflowing with generous love, two rays of light which illuminated the world. “The two rays,” according to what Jesus himself told her, “represent the blood and the water” (Diary, p. 132). The blood recalls the sacrifice of Golgotha and the mystery of the Eucharist; the water, according to the rich symbolism of the Evangelist John, makes us think of Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 3: 5; 4: 14). Through the mystery of this wounded heart, the restorative tide of God’s merciful love continues to spread over the men and women of our time. Here alone can those who long for true and lasting happiness find its secret. Today’s Gospel helps us to grasp the full sense and value of this gift. The Evangelist John makes us share in the emotion felt by the Apostles in their meeting with Christ after his Resurrection. Our attention focuses on the gesture of the Master, who transmits to the fearful, astounded disciples the mission of being ministers of divine Mercy. He shows them his hands and his side, which bear the marks of the Passion, and tells them: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (Jn 20: 21). Immediately afterwards “he breathed on them, and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn 20: 22-23). Jesus entrusted to them the gift of “forgiving sins,” a gift that flows from the wounds in his hands, his feet, and especially from his pierced side. From there a wave of mercy is poured out over all humanity. Let us relive this moment with great spiritual intensity. Today the Lord also shows us his glorious wounds and his heart, an inexhaustible source of light and truth, of love and forgiveness. Fr. Pablo Muñoz Iturrieta, IVE | Fr. Pablo
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