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Appleton, WI

Aug 15 Homily Connect: Mary, Our Perfect Christ Bearer

Scripture: Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a; 10ab 1Cor 15:20-27 Lk 1:39-59

Fr. Henry Nouwen – Life of a Friend and Follower of Jesus

  • Christianity is lived when you look into the eyes of another person and see Jesus there; and she, or he, looks into your eyes and sees Jesus.
  • We the friends and followers of Jesus are the bearers of Jesus to one another
  • Just like a pregnant Mary, full of grace, travelled to visit Elizabeth

Yesterday – The Feast of Saint Father Maximillian Kolbe – His Story

  • A friend and follower of Jesus -arrested by Hitler’s Gestapo-imprisoned at Auschwitz
  • After an escape at the camp – punishment/deterrent- 10 men sentenced to starvation
  • One man was a dedicated husband loving father
  • Seeing Jesus in the man – Fr. Maximillian stepped forward to take his place
  • Certainly the husband and father saw Jesus in Fr. Maximillian’s self-sacrificing love
  • In 2016, Pope Francis stepped into Hunger Cell 18 where Fr. Kolbe died
  • In the cell stands an Easter Candle from Saint Pope John Paull II
  • Pope Francis prayed that day
  • Wrote in the Book of Honor: Lord, have mercy on your people. Lord forgiveness for so much cruelty.

We Have to Remember – At Mass

  • If only the bread and wine are transformed into the real, previous, body and blodd of the risen lord Jesus, and we are not, there is something drastically missing
  • St. Augustine – We become the one who we have received!

Spirituality of the Eastern Orthodox Church – Divinization

  • It’s all about you and me becoming Jesus – becoming more divine
  • At Mass the Bishop, Priest, Deacon places drops of water in the chalice with wine
  • Prays a beautiful prayer: By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Jesus, who humbled himself to share in our humanity!
  • Saint Paul Says: I no longer live but Christ Jesus lives in me! (Gal 2:20)
  • What would your day look like if at any moment you remembered that you were
    another Jesus?
  • What if you remembered in every moment that you were carrying Jesus to the people around you?
  • What would it be like to see Jesus in every person and to remind yourself that those people are looking for Jesus in you?

A Word from the Retired Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury

  • Delivered in 2008 at the Shrine of our Lady of Lourdes, France
  • (The Archbishop received guff from conservative Anglicans for preach at a renowned Catholic place of pilgrimage
  • Mary is the first missionary…the first human being to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to another, and she does it simply by carrying Christ within her. She reminds us that mission begins not in delivering a message in words but in the journey towards another person with Jesus in Ayour heart. This story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth is in many ways a very strange one. It’s not about the communication of rational information from one speaker to another, but [about the transmission of] a primitive current of spiritual electricity running from the unborn Christ to the unborn Baptist. But mission it undoubtedly is, because it evokes recognition and joy. Something happens that prepares the way for all the words that will be spoken and the deeds that will be done. The believer comes with Christ dwelling in them by faith, and God makes that current come alive, and a response begins, not yet in words or commitments, but simply in recognizing that here is life.

Questions for Reflection

  • What impacted you from today’s Readings and/or homily? What would your day look like if at any moment you remembered that you were another Jesus?
  • What if you remembered in every moment that you were carrying Jesus to the people around you?
  • What would it be like to see Jesus in every person and to remind yourself that those people are looking for Jesus in you?

Live Connected

Write down this week times that you carried Jesus to another person or saw Jesus in another person. Offer prayers of gratitude and petition that you are able to continue to be and see Jesus in your family, parish family, neighborhood and world.