“You Will Never Be Lost Where I Cannot Find You.”

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

April 22, 2015. Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter

By Father Daniel Ray, LC

John 6: 35-40

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe that you are present here and now as I turn to you in prayer. I trust and have confidence in your desire to give me every grace I need to receive today. Thank you for your love, thank you for your immense generosity toward me. I give you my life and my love in return.

Petition: Lord, help me to have a deeper confidence and trust in you.

1. An Empty Hole the Size of Christ: “It’s like I had a big hole in my heart, and I couldn’t fill it with anything.” So exclaimed someone who recently came back to the sacraments after being away for many years. She was hungering and thirsting for Christ, and, thankfully, Christ didn’t permit anything else to fill the place in her heart where only he belonged. On re-encountering Christ—in his mercy in confession, in his nourishing grace in communion—she was able to experience the benefits promised by Christ himself: “Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away.” Every one of us invariably finds holes in our hearts, small or not so small. Only Christ belongs there. To welcome Christ back in our hearts, we must seek out his mercy and nourishing grace.

2. Then Why Are You Afraid? If what we need is Christ and what we truly long for is Christ, then what keeps us from going to him? Sometimes it is our pride, or spiritual laziness, or maybe superficiality in our spiritual life. But behind these reasons is often a fear that if we open ourselves to Christ, we will somehow lose out. Benedict XVI addressed this fear in his first homily as Pope: “Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and He gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundred-fold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ - and you will find true life. Amen” (Mass for the Inauguration of the Pontificate, April 24, 2005).

3. Can You Tell Me Where the Lost-and-Found Is? These are words that Christ has never spoken—nor ever will. It is his Father’s will that Christ lose none of those entrusted to him. Christ never fails in his mission. Rather, in today’s reading he promises: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.” This is our guarantee that we will never be abandoned and left without his grace to support us. There will be no difficulty, obstacle, or temptation too great for him to help us overcome.

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, I trust in you. Despite the real struggles and obstacles in my path now, I know that you are leading me towards you. You are the only one who can fill the depths of my heart. Somehow, mysteriously, each of these trials is part of making that a reality.

Resolution: When faced with any obstacle today—even if it is small—I will say a quick prayer entrusting the situation to Christ.

Homily of the Day

April 22, 2015

Mary and St. Ignatius

Today’s Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Society of Jesus, a feast proper to the liturgical calendar of the Society of Jesus, recognizes the special role of Mary, Mother of God, in the Society of Jesus and is a proclamation of the special devotion of the religious order named after Jesus to his Mother Mary.

Mary played a key role in the conversion of St. Ignatius of Loyola and in the beginnings of the Society of Jesus. After the recovery of Ignatius from his injuries in Pamplona and his “conversion,” he prayed in vigil at the shrine of our Lady of Aranzazu and offered his sword and dagger to Our Lady at the Benedictine monastery in Montserrat.
In his spiritual experiences at the River Cardoner and in the often-used triple colloquy at the end of key exercises in his Spiritual Exercises, the first colloquy was a special prayer for the intercession of Mary, the second to the Son and the third to the Father. The first contemplation of the fourth week of the Spiritual Exercises is on the risen Lord’s apparition to his mother: though not recorded in the Gospels, the risen Lord must have first appeared to his grieving mother.

The first seven companions who eventually were the founding core of the Society of Jesus made their first vows at Montmartre in Paris on the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, 15 August 1534. After Pope Paul III approved the Society of Jesus in 1540 the first Jesuits pronounced their religious vows as Jesuits before Mary’s image at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls in Rome. The first church in Rome given to the Society was that of Our Lady of the Wayside, Madonna della Strada.

Jesuits make their perpetual religious vows at the end of novitiate to the Divine Majesty “before the most sacred Virgin Mary and the whole court of heaven.” At the end of their training, Jesuits make their final vows in the Society of Jesus “in the sight of the Virgin Mary and the whole heavenly court.”

We join the Society of Jesus in its love for and confidence in Mary, Mother of the Society of Jesus: “Almighty and eternal God, you chose the Virgin Mary to be the Mother of your eternal Word. Give us strength to be servants of that Word in the Society of Jesus, which is consecrated to your glory in the presence of Mary, our Mother.”