Tag Archives: Sacrifice

April 17, 2014

Good Friday – What Wondrous Love Is This

By Fr. Andrew Ricci

Good Friday

Study:  Consider a time in life when all hope seemed lost.  Where did strength come from?

Pray:  Offer a prayer of acceptance for the love and saving work of Jesus.  Gaze upon a crucifix and reflect on his sacrifice.

Serve:  Acts of love, kindness, and sacrifice come in all shapes and sizes; where might you offer your life today for another?

Good Friday Readings

Have you ever had a bad day?

Let me be brutally clear:  have you ever had a day so bad that it seemed as if the earth had swallowed you up and you were trapped under a crushing weight of pain, sorrow, agony, loss, humiliation, abandonment, or confusion – utterly devoid of all direction, purpose, and meaning?  A place where reality overflows with suffering?

Welcome to the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Nothing on this “Good Friday” looks good at first glance:

  • Betrayal from friends
  • Unjust accusations
  • Corrupt justice
  • Ego and political power trips
  • Cruel humiliation
  • Timid frailty and cowardice
  • Brutal physical punishment
  • Powerlessness
  • Mockery
  • Death

Why?  Why!  Why would God allow this?  What could such horrible suffering teach us about ourselves or God?

Answer: What wondrous love.

Jesus Christ endured this day out of love for a wounded and broken humanity.  He died in this wretched way for our sinful weakness because we could not be healed on our own.  He carried his Cross because of our worst days – the days that we regret over the thoughts, words, and actions that we cannot take back.

The Cross reveals the depth of God’s love: a love without limit or boundary.  There is nothing, NOTHING, that can keep us from the wondrous love of Christ.  Jesus embraces our human faults, sins, and weaknesses – and meets us there with the Cross that should have been our own.  His Cross bridges the gap caused by our sins and restores us to a life of grace.

God’s love shines with a strength that humbles us.  God comes to us in our most fragile and unlovable moments to heal and bless.  This love – freely given and bestowed, provided by the Lord’s grace alone – requires only one thing:

Our acceptance.

We are invited today to look into the eyes of Jesus and recognize the one who knows us completely and loves us entirely.  We have the chance today to accept this love and walk in his light.  Perhaps sometime today we will have the opportunity to get down on our knees and recommit our lives to Christ – who offers this Wondrous Love for our salvation.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Lent

February 26, 2014

Preparations for Lent

By Fr. Andrew Ricci

Cross

Study:  Looking back in my life, are there any activities, people, or situations that have helped me to grow?

Pray:  Ask the Lord for the wisdom to recognize the Fruits of the Spirit and the courage to embrace them.

Serve:  Look for an opportunity this Lent to offer a part of your life to helping another – especially someone who has no way to pay you back.

The season of Lent offers a powerful opportunity for conversion, spiritual growth, and developing our relationships with the Lord and one another.  However, I also know that this season has a way of sneaking up on us.  Life moves fast, and we can get caught up in any number of tasks – missing the necessary preparation and perspective to get the most out of these 40 Days.

As a guide, I suggest starting with the “Fruits of the Spirit” that St. Paul writes about in his letter to the Galatians (5:22-23).  They are:

  • Love
  • Joy
  • Peace
  • Patience
  • Kindness
  • Goodness
  • Faithfulness
  • Gentleness
  • Self-Control

First, do we see these in our lives?  Are there people, situations, interactions, locations (home, work, school, community) where we see consistent evidence of their presence?  If so, then how can we help them flourish and grow?  How can we create more opportunities to allow the Spirit to work in our lives?

Second, are these absent in our lives?  Or worse, are their opposites present?  Is hatred, despair, turmoil, and the like alive in our hearts?  If so, how can we make the necessary changes to allow the Spirit into our lives?

Now here’s how this gets practical.  It is often customary during Lent to “do” something or “give up” something for these 40 days.  How about this…

  1. “Do” something that fosters the Fruits of the Spirit in my life.
  2. “Give up” something that is in conflict with the Fruits of the Spirit.

Where do we look?  Try this for starters…

  1. WHAT we do – the Activity
  2. WHO we do it with – the People
  3. WHERE we do it – the Location

“Doing” can include any number of things:

  • Helping a neighbor, family member or friend – in a spirit of kindness and gentleness
  • Drawing near to people who are spiritually good – who make us more loving and peaceful
  • Spending time on activities that help us use God’s talents in a good and holy way
  • Concentrating our efforts on opportunities where we know that God is present
  • Being in locations and situations that foster a strong and healthy life

“Giving up” can look like this:

  • Is there anything destructive, harmful, unholy, or evil that needs to be removed?
  • Are there people who are leading us to harm or destruction?
  • Are there locations, situations, or circumstances that are unholy for us?

Using the “Fruits of the Spirit” as a measurement, we can quickly reveal the pattern of our lives.  If it is spiritually fruitful, then we can strengthen this.  If it is spiritually destructive, then perhaps this season of Lent gives us an opportunity to give it up and start directing our lives in better ways.

Furthermore, Lent has classic opportunities for Study, Prayer, and Service:

Study: Scripture, the Catechism, a Devotional, Spiritual Reading

Prayer: Mass, Confession, Rosary, Scripture, Devotions, Stations of the Cross

Service: at home, the neighborhood, the community, the Church

God keeps inviting, keeps forgiving, and keeps extending grace and mercy to all who seek it.  Now is the time to get ready for a powerful Lent – where we turn to Jesus and allow His grace to transform our hearts.  Give serious thought to what you can do to make this season special, and open your to heart to Jesus Christ.

What will you do?  What will you give up?  Make it a great Lent!

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January 12, 2014

2nd Sunday of the Year – The Lamb of God

By Fr. Andrew Ricci

Lamb

Study: Reflect on a time when you sensed a gentle “tug” in your heart to act or speak.  Did you heed the call or ignore it?

Pray:  Gaze upon the Cross of Jesus Christ, and consider His sacrifice for you.  Thank Him for his merciful love to die for your sins.

Serve:  Is there a way that you can gently help another face their struggles?

2nd Sunday Readings

I think of John the Baptist as one of those people who are exciting to listen to but just a little too intense.  Being around the charismatic, passionate, tell-it-like-it-is prophet strikes me as standing by a bonfire: you want to draw near, but too close and you get scorched.

Yet this no nonsense desert preacher sees Jesus and directly states:

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

What a contrast!  John is fiery, bold, direct, and edgy…and he proclaims that the one greater than he comes to be slaughtered – to take away our sins.   Our salvation is not achieved through a fierce battle or assault on hell; it comes because God sent his Son to die in our place.

It’s this notion of slaughter that foreshadows the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Lambs were sacrificed ritually in the ancient Jewish world.  From the time of Passover when the Jews endured slavery in Egypt – where the blood of a lamb was sprinkled on the door posts as a sign of the angel of death –  the image of a lamb powerfully expresses a path of salvation.

Furthermore, lambs are gentle, meek, and defenseless.  For thousands of years they have been employed by humanity for food and wool.  Lambs require protection, and without help they fall prey to predators.

So here we have John boldly state that the Christ who will save us comes:

  • To die that our sins be taken away
  • To be with us in a gentle, tender way

He comes for us.  He will die on a cross in a horrible fashion – FOR US.  Yet he will not force his message of love, forgiveness, and peace upon us – he will gently approach us and speak.

How is Jesus inviting us today?  Do we sense in our hearts a “nudge” to live in a different way?  Is there anything going on in our lives that gives us the opportunity to follow the Lamb of God?

He will tenderly call us.  His invitation will be marked by forgiveness and love.  Will we accept the one who comes to take away our sins?  May John’s words inspire us to become His disciples.

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March 18, 2013

Palm Sunday – The Cross of Christ

By Fr. Andrew Ricci

Station - Jesus in Crucified

Study: Read the Passion narrative again; put yourself in the drama of the Lord’s death. Stand with Mary at the foot of his cross.

Pray: Take time to gaze at the cross. Look beyond the art to the reality of the Lord’s passion. Dwell upon his wounds and thank him for his sacrifice.

Serve: Consider who is in need of healing in your life. Are there people who are carrying a heavy cross? Might you be like Simon of Cyrene – perhaps able to help them with a part of the load?

Palm Sunday Readings

How many times throughout our lives have we made the sign of the Cross? Stop and think: at Mass; meal prayers; morning & evening prayers; special gatherings; and moments of blessing and grace. This simple action, which we teach to children at an early age, invokes a connection with the passion of Jesus.

We adorn our homes with the Cross. A crucifix is a common gift to a new home; they are placed in bedrooms and common areas as a reminder that Jesus is the source of our help and strength.

We adorn ourselves with the Cross in many ways: a crucifix on a chain; a cross in our pocket; earrings; rings; bracelets; and all the extra cards, bookmarks, figurines, and miscellaneous items that remind us that Jesus died on a Cross.

The passion we read every year on this day focuses our attention on the central mystery of our faith. Out of love for us God sent Jesus, who gave his life on the Cross that we might have eternal life. Through his suffering and death, we recognize that God has made a pathway possible that we might all journey through this life to the gates of Heaven.

The Cross teaches us many lessons:
* Life is difficult, and at times painful
* Weakness and sin are part of our experience
* God identifies with our pain
* God dies that we might have life

At the core of our teaching the Cross stands as the testament of God’s love for us. On one hand the Cross is an embarrassment – after all, why would God (all powerful, all knowing, supreme) choose to be humiliated? Does that not mean that God is weak? Why could God not take away our sins in a way that showed majesty and splendor?

Yet on the other hand, the Cross is a statement that God meets us where we are in life. In our weakness, in our humiliation, in our low moments of doubt and sin God comes to us. Jesus, like us in every way but sin, understands our pain because through his Cross he shares in the suffering of the world. He knows us, and loves us even more.

Every time we make the sign of the Cross may we recall what the Lord endured for us. May the Cross be our strength as we trust in God’s love, and may we seek to follow that love as we journey through this life toward the world to come.

2 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in Lent