MARY, THE NEW ARK OF THE COVENANT

The Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary

The Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth

The joy-filled reception of Mary and Jesus in the Visitation is reminiscent of the way the Ark of the Covenant was welcomed in the Old Testament.  As Israel’s most important religious vessel, the Ark carried three sacred items: the Ten Commandments; the staff of Aaron (the first high priest); and a jar containing manna (the heavenly bread that fed the Israelites for forty years in the desert) (see Hebrew 9:4).  Yet what made the Ark most holy was God’s presence, which overshadowed it in the form of a cloud that filled the sanctuary.

When David became king, he wanted the Ark to be brought to his capital city of Jerusalem.  On the way there, the Ark took a journey that is important for understanding the Visitation scene.  First the Ark traveled to the hill country of Judea, and it remained there in the house of Obededom for three months (2 Samuel 6:2, 11).  When it eventually arrived in Jerusalem, there was a grand procession, with people shouting joyfully before the Ark and David leaping before the Lord’s presence (2 Samuel 6:12-16).  The account also mentions that David’s initial response to the Ark was one of fear and wonder:  “How can the Ark of the Lord come to me?” (2 Samuel 6:9).

All this prefigures Mary’s journey to visit Elizabeth.  Like the Ark of the Covenant, Mary also travels “to the hill country … of Judea” and remains in a family’s house, the “house of Zechariah,” for “three months” (Luke 1: 39-40, 56).  Like David leaping before the Ark, John the Baptist “leaped” in his mother’s womb before Mary (Luke 1:41)  And similar to David’s awe-filled response before the Ark of the Covenant, Elizabeth says to Mary, “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  (Luke 1:43).

Finally like the Ark, Mary is greeted with shouts of joy, as Elizabeth “exclaimed with a loud cry” (Luke 1:42).  The particular word Luke uses for “exclaimed” is found only five times in the entire Old Testament.  In every case it refers to people exclaiming and praising God before the Ark of the Covenant.  Elizabeth exclaiming before Mary is thus reminiscent of the Jewish priest exclaiming God’s praises before the Ark of the Lord.

These extensive parallels demonstrate clearly that Luke is presenting Mary as a new Ark of the Covenant.  What does this mean?

•  Just as God’s presence once overshadowed the sanctuary, which housed the Ark, so does the Holy Spirit now overshadow Mary (Exodus 40:34-35; Luke 1:35)  

•   As the Ark carried the Ten Commandments, so does Mary carry in her womb the one who has come to fulfill the Law (see Matthew 5:17). 

•   As the Ark carried the staff of the first high priest, so does Mary carry within her the last and true high priest, who will offer the perfect sacrifice to redeem the world (see Hebrew 8: 1-7).  

•   As the Ark carried the heavenly bread called manna, so does Mary bear Jesus , who will call himself the true Bread of Life come down from heaven (see John 6:48-51)

•   Most of all, as the Ark of old bore God’s presence to Israel, Mary bears the presence of God become man to the whole world.  And as the new Ark of the Covenant, she continues her role of bringing Christ into the world today through her powerful intercession for our lives.

  (Taken from THE NEW ROSARY IN SCRIPTURE Biblical Insights in Praying the 20 Mysteries, Edward Sri)

NATIONAL BIBLE WEEK 2016 "SEVEN DAY JOURNEY OF MERCY"

Journey of Mercy | National Bible Week 2016 The following seven-day Journey of Mercy features the work of Bishop Robert Barron, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Bishop Barron's Word on Fire ministry and his beautiful video series on Catholicism have inspired millions of Catholics around the world. Bishop Barron will highlight biblical insights that show how God is Mercy, as well as demonstrating mercy given, mercy received, and mercy lived out.

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Are You Willing to Wait for God?

I have many resources I turn to during the times I need to find answers to the complexities of life.  The best resource is the BIBLE...GOD'S OWN WORD shared with us over the ages.  The Bible is not a book written ages ago for the people who lived back thousands of years ago.   It is the Living Word of God.  Those who read the Bible often know that it truly speaks to them about the situations they are going through TODAY.  This is a perfect example of what I mean.  We have all prayed to God and wondered "Why isn't he listening to me?  Why am I suffering? Why does God do this?

This reflection on the Reading from the Prophet Habakkuk helps us to understand God and his love for us.

 Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4 

How long, O LORD? I cry for help
but you do not listen!
I cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not intervene.
Why do you let me see ruin;
why must I look at misery?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and clamorous discord.
Then the LORD answered me and said:
Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets,
so that one can read it readily.
For the vision still has its time,
presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint;
if it delays, wait for it,
it will surely come, it will not be late.
The rash one has no integrity;
but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.

Taken from:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100216.cfm

BY DR. MARK GISZCZAK

There are Two Kinds of Waiting

I feel the first kind of waiting whenever I’m on an airplane. We wait for the plane to take off, for the flight attendant to arrive with the beverage cart, for the rows of people in front of us to get off the plane. That kind of waiting is an impatient one, a feeling of annoyance at the situation, that never really changes to something positive, it simply ceases when whatever event finally happens. However, there is another kind of waiting, the eager anticipation of something great. That kind of waiting filled my heart when I was looking forward to Christmas day as a kid or when I was waiting for my wedding day. Rather than annoyance, this second kind of waiting has a hope-filled outlook, a certain joy to it.

Habakkuk’s Prayer

In this Sunday’s first reading from Habakkuk, we find the prophet doing just what I have been reflecting on: waiting. His book, unlike the other prophetic literature, is composed as a prayer, a dialogue between the prophet and God. Habakkuk complains to the Lord (1:2-4), then the Lord answers (1:5-11). Habakkuk complains again (1:12–2:1) and the Lord responds again (2:2-5). It’s comforting, I suppose, to see a holy prophet’s prayer that looks so much like our own prayers. It is even more comforting to see the Lord respond to Habakkuk’s prayers one by one, the same way he responds to our prayers.

Historical Context: Babylon is Coming

Habakkuk is suffering on account of the people of Judah. He realizes that they are about to be overtaken by the powerful army of Babylon and he is helpless to stop it. Habakkuk is standing on the wall of the city (either literally or figuratively in 2:1), looking out for the Babylonian hordes. His question to God centers around one of the central questions of the Old Testament: Why does the Lord allow his Chosen People to be conquered by pagan empires? Habakkuk puts the question thus:

Why do you look on the treacherous,and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they? (Hab 1:13 NRSV)

It is incomprehensible to the prophet that God would allow wicked nations to trample all over his own covenant family. In a sense, it is the same question we all ask when we experience sorrow and tragedy: Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?

Wait!

God’s response to Habakkuk can be summed up easily: Wait! That’s not the answer we’re usually fishing for when we ask the Lord for something, but it is often the one we need to hear. In fact the idea of “waiting for the Lord” is all over the place in the Bible (Ps 27:14, 31:24, 33:20, 37:7, 37:9; Isa 8:17, etc.). Habakkuk has received a vision from the Lord and the Lord simply tells him to write it down and sit tight. The prophet wants to do whatever he can to save his people—he’s even watching out for the bad guys, but God is not yet ready to act. The Lord gives him a “vision,” but not the fulfillment of it. In fact, he warns, “If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay” (Hab 2:3 RSV). God’s plan in Habakkuk’s time was to discipline his people through the powerful nation of Babylon, which destroyed the temple and took the people into exile. Only after a period of seventy years would they return to the Holy Land. Habakkuk would not live to see that deliverance.

What Are We Waiting For?

While we might not be on the lookout for foreign invaders or be waiting to return from exile, each one of us has something for which we “wait on the Lord.” It might be a new stage in life, a new home or a new relationship. We might really be “waiting” for the spiritual growth we’ve been hoping for. Whatever it is, all our prayers and hopes rely on him. God does not sit on the sidelines and simply watch our lives unfold or spin out of control. Rather, he is in the game, working with us, helping us, guiding us if only we listen to his voice. When we are waiting for him to act, it is so tempting to give in to impatience and get annoyed—or worse yet, to receive what God is giving us without gratitude and then turn against him in bitterness. On the other hand, it also easy for us to fall into passivity, as if God delivers up perfect experiences without our contribution or effort.

Here is where the rubber meets the road: When we seek God and ask him to intervene, are we really willing to wait for his deliverance to come? Waiting feels useless, silly, a dead-end. And yet, waiting is truly human, an exercise of the virtue of patience. Waiting calls out our inner moral character and takes us from a domain of self-assertion into a place of receptivity. It may turn out after all the emails, texts, smartphones, alerts and 2-day shipping that T.S. Eliot was right after all: “the faith and the love are all in the waiting.”

THANKS TO THE AUGUSTINE INSTITUTE for this article

http://catholicexchange.com

Come Be My Light

"Words which do not give the light of Christ

increase the darkness."

--Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa Canonized September 4, 2016 

The remarkable woman who would be known as Mother Teresa began life name Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu.  Born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, she was the youngest child born to Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu.  Receiving her First Communion at the age of five, she was confirmed in November 1916. Her father died while she was only eight years old, leaving her family in financial straits.

Gonxha's religious formation was assisted by the vibrant Jesuit parish of the Sacred Heart in whihe she was very involved as a youth.

Subsequently moved to pursue missionary work, Gonxha left her home in September 1928 at the age of 18 to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters Of Loreto, in Ireland.  She received the name Sister Mary teresa after St. Therese of Lisieux.  In December of 1929, she departed fro her first trip to India, arriving in Calcutta.  After making her First Profession of Vows in May 1931, Sister teresa was assigned to the Loreto Entally community in Calcutta and taught at St. Mary's School for girls.

Sister Teresa made her Final Profession of Vows, on May 24, 1937, becoming, as she said, the "spouse of Jesus" for "all eternity." From that time on she was called Mother Teresa.

She continued teaching at St. Mary's and in 1944 became the school's principal.  Mother Teresa's twenty years in Loreto were filled with profound happiness.  Noted for her charity, unselfishness and courage, her capacity for hard work and a natural talent for organization, she lived out her consecration to Jesus in the midst of her companions, with fidelity and joy.

It was on September 10, 1946 during a train ride from Calcutta to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, Mother Teresa received her "Inspiration, her call within a call."  On that day, in a way she would never explain, Jesus' thirst for love and for souls took hold of her heart and the desire to satiate His thirst became the driving force of her life.

By means of interior locutions and visions, Jesus revealed to her the desire of His heart for "victims of love" who would "radiate His love on souls." "Come be My light,'"He begged her. "I cannot go alone."

Jesus revealed His pain at the neglect of the poor, His sorrow at their ignorance of Him and His longing for their love. He asked Mother Teresa to establish a religious community, Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor.

Nearly two years of testing and discernment passed before Mother Teresa received permission to begin.  On August 17, 1948, she dressed for the first time in a white, blue-bordered sari and passed through the gates of her beloved Loreto convent to enter the world of the poor.

After a short course with the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta and found temporary lodging with the Little Sisters of the Poor.   On December 21, she went for the first time to the slums.  She visited families, washed the sores of some children, cared for an old man lying sick on the road and nursed a woman dying of hunger and tuberculosis.  She started each day with communion then went out, rosary in her hand to find and serve Him amongst "the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for."  After some months, she was joined, one by one, by her former students.

On October 7, 1950, the new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially established i the Archdiocese of Calcutta.  By the early 1960s, Mother Teresa began to send her Sisters to other parts of India.  The Decree of Praise granted to the Congregation by Pope Paul VI in February 1965 encouraged her to open a house in Venezuela.  It was soon followed by foundations in Rome and Tanzania and, eventually, on every continent.  Starting in 1980 and continuing through the 1990s, Mother Teresa opened houses in almost all of the communist countries, including the former Soviet Union, Albania, and Cuba.

In order to respond better to both the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity Brothers in 1963, in 1976 the contemplative branch of the Sisters, in 1979 the Contemplative Brothers, and in 1984 the Missionaries of Charity Fathers.

Mother Teresa's inspiration was not limited to those with religious vocations.  She formed the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa and the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, people of many faiths and nationalities with whom she shared her spirit of prayer, simplicity, sacrifice and her apostolate of humble works of love.

This spirit later inspired the Lay Missionaries of Charity.  In answer to the requests of many priests, in 1981, Mother Teresa also began the Corpus Christi Movement for Priests as a "little way of Holiness" for those who desire to share in her charisma and spirit.

During the years of rapid growth the world began to turn its eyes towards Mother Teresa and the work she had started.  Numerous awards, beginning with the INdian Padmashri Award in 1962 and notably the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, honored her work, while an increasingly interested media began to follow her activities.  She received both prizes and attention "for the glory of God and in the name of the poor."

There was a heroic side of this great woman that was revealed only after her death.  Hidden from all eyes, even from those closest to her, was her interior life marked by an experience of a deep, painful and abiding feeling ob being separated from God, even rejected by Him, along with an ever increasing longing for His love.  She called her inner experience, the darkness.  The "painful night" of her soul, which began around the time she started her work for the poor and continued to the end of her life, led Mother Teresa to an ever more profound union with God.  Through the darkness she mystically participated in the thirst of Jesus, in His painful and burning longing for love, and she shared in the interior desolation of the poor.

In spite of increasingly severe health problems towards the end of her life, Mother Teresa continued to govern her Society and respond to the needs of the poor and the Church.  By 1997, Mother Teresa's Sisters numbered nearly 4,000 members and were established in 610 foundations in 123 countries of the world.  In March 1997 she blessed her newly-elected successor as Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity and then made one more trip abroad.  After meeting Pope John Paul II for the last time, she returned to Calcutta and spent her final weeks receiving visitors and instructing her Sisters.

On September 5, Mother Teresa's earthly life came to an end.  She was given the honor of a state funeral by the Government of India and her body was buried in the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity.  Her tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage and prayer for people of all faiths, rich and poor alike.

Mother Teresa left a testament of unshakable faith, invincible hope and extraordinary charity.  Her response to Jesus' plea. "Come be My light," made her a Missionary of Charity, a "mother to the poor." a symbol of compassion to the world, and a living witness to the thirsting love of God.  As a testament to her most remarkable life, Pope John Paul II permitted the opening of her Cause of Canonization.  On December 20, 2002, he approved the decrees of her heroic virtues and miracles.

(Taken from: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5611)

Pope Francis ‏@Pontifex  Sep 3

Let us imitate Mother Teresa who made works of mercy the guide of her life and the path towards holiness.

And God Created Light

Welcome to my blog!

This is the beginning of my journey to be a Light to the World. I have been running an adult Bible Study for over 13 years.  It has become an intricate part of my life that started as a mere ember and has now burst into an unending fire of love for God's Word to the human race.  It has reached the point where it can no longer be contained within the confines of my ever-growing Bible Study group--thus, the reason for my blog.

Although based in the Roman Catholic Faith, it is not meant  just for Catholics.  As Jesus said, 

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth." 

Acts 1:8

The reason for the name of my blog.

By Ken Thomas - KenThomas.us(personal website of photographer), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19084739

In the Bible, God has referred to Himself as an eagle.  One of the reasons is His protective nature over his creation.

"You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High 

who abide in the shade of the Almighty,

Say to the LORD, 'My refuge and fortress,

my God in whom I trust."

He will rescue you from the fowler's snare,

from the destroying plague.

He will shelter you with his pinions,

and under his wings you may take refuge; 

his faithfulness is a protecting shield."

Psalm 91:1-4

By KetaDesign - http://www.ketadesign.ca/eaglephoto5.html, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2208079

Eagles represent sovereignty and God is the supreme ruler over all the world's leaders.  During storms, eagles can fly high above them and they are not affected by them; symbolic of God's sovereignty over nature.  Eagles are great parents to their young and remain monogamous until death.  God as our loving, heavenly Father is always faithful to us and no matter how many times we fail, He patiently picks us up, strengthens us with hope, and patiently calls us back to be with Him for eternity. 

"You have seen how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagles' wings and brought you to myself."

Exodus 19:4

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=706687

Eagles are very large birds; the bald eagle has a body length of 27- 40 inches.  A typical wingspan is between 5.9 and 7.5 feet and the eagle weighs between 6.6 and 13.9 pounds.  Because of their size it would take quite a bit of energy to fly.  So the eagle learns to fly on the wind thermals and the length of their wingspan makes gliding much easier.  The wings of the eagles and the wind thermals represent our faith and belief in God. The wind thermals that the eagles glide on represent the Holy Spirit active in our lives.  As the eagle has faith and belief in the wind thermals to help it glide across the sky in search of prey, we too have faith and belief in God to guide us through our lives in search for our eternal home.  As the eagle needs the wind thermals to hold it aloft, we need the Holy Spirit to lift us up and empower us to be righteous.

"'Not by might and not by power, but by my spirit,' says the Lord of hosts."

Zechariah 4:6

We must take that leap of faith as the eagle does when it takes off from its perch on top of the mountain and together with God's Spirit we will spread our wings and truly soar like eagles!

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