Sabbath - Oct. 16, 2013 FINDING GOD Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan is a Vietnamese cardinal whose cause for beatification is now under way. In the early years of Communist takeover in Vietnam in the 70s, he was incarcerated for 13 years, nine of which were spent in solitary confinement. After he was released, he was exiled to Rome, never to come back to Vietnam, as he was seen as a real threat to stoking the fires of freedom. He eventually became head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. In his account of his years of incarceration, The Road to Hope, he narrated that a friend would smuggle into his cell Mass wine disguised as juice and hosts hidden in a flashlight. He would celebrate Mass inside his cell every day, putting three drops of Mass wine on his left palm and holding the host on the right. Literally, his palms became the chalice and altar of his daily Eucharist. In silence and most of the time in total darkness, his palms were daily purpled by the blood of Christ and his soul fed with His body. He shared, too, that finding God became more important than doing God’s work. He was prevented from doing the work of God — visiting his flock, organizing the diocese, preaching, administering the Sacraments and celebrating the Mass. But being forbidden from “doing” His work did not prevent him from finding God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who daily do the work of God but hardly encounter Him within. While doing the work of God surely will lead us to finding God, the possibility of falling into the trap of ritualism is a real and constant danger in the spiritual life. Let us keep the essential marriage between the work that we do and the reason for doing them — and for whom we do them. Let us not go through our rituals blindly with the robotic disposition of an automaton. Work for God and find Him! Fr. Joel O. Jason REFLECTION QUESTION: In what conscious ways do you dispose yourself for prayer, for Scripture reading, for the Eucharist — for that real encounter with the living God? I am grateful to You, O God, that I am free to engage in Your work. Incline my heart that I may encounter You, the living and true God. Amen!
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 00:32:34 +0000
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