Each Sunday as I say my prayer of thanksgiving after Mass, I try to take one point from the Readings and form it into a motto or resolution that will carry me through the week. Sometimes its from the First or Second Reading, sometimes its from the Psalm, and other times its from the Gospel or the homily. Regardless, I choose something that I can do or meditate upon that will motivate me to grow spiritually and draw closer to Christ. I’ve found it to be a very fruitful spiritual exercise.
I’ve begun to share these impressions and resolutions with faithful subscribers to my blog in Sunday Reflections, and the response has been overwhelmingly favorable.
Additionally, I use Sunday Reflections as a means to pass on prayer requests from readers so that we can join together as the Body of Christ to pray with and for one another. This, too, has been greatly appreciated.
I think it’s time to spread my wings further now, and so I’m inviting you to subscribe to my Sunday Reflections as well. I think you’ll find them helpful in your own spiritual growth.
I’ve included a sample for you – my last Sunday Reflection for May 7, 2017. I hope that you’ll read it, benefit from it, and like it enough to share it with others.
Sunday Reflection: Take to the Streets
When I was in Israel, we spent a day touring the Old City of Jerusalem. This was at the same time that Pope Francis was there on his historic Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Our itinerary included visiting the Upper Room, where our Lord had his Last Supper with his disciples and where the Holy Spirit descended upon our Blessed Mother and the Apostles on Pentecost. When we got there, we discovered that the Upper Room had been blocked off and secured for the Pope’s visit.
We were denied entry.
I was really crushed. Of all the places in the Holy Land, the Upper Room was at the top of my “Must See” list. More than anything, I wanted to visit the place where Mary and the disciples had been when the Spirit came to them.
But, it was not to be. At least not that day.
Sensing our disappointment, our guide offered to look at our schedule for the coming days and see if there might be another opportunity to visit the Upper Room. We continued on our tour of the historic city, learning about its rich heritage and spending time in the places of Jesus’ Passion, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. It was an amazing day!
Our guide made good on her offer and was able to bring us back to Jerusalem on another day. Finally! I would be able to see the site of the Upper Room! I absolutely could not wait. But, God had other plans. Unexpected circumstances shifted our plans and delayed our schedule. Because of the delay, we would not be able to visit the Upper Room.
We would not be able to enter the Upper Room.
It was not to be. At least not on that day.
I’ve not been back to the Holy Land since that incredible journey, and I may never go back. Who knows? Only God. But scenes like the one in today’s First Reading take me back spiritually to a moment in Jerusalem that has etched itself into my mind and heart.
It was when I was standing on the streets of Jerusalem and, looking up at the windows of the Upper Room, knowing that I might never see the inside. Something wonderful overcame me, a powerful spiritual experience.
Here’s what I wrote in my book, Our Lady, Undoer of Knots: A Living Novena:
I stood in the courtyard and looked up at the narrow windows above me. I strained to “hear” was going inside, but instead I began to “hear” was happening out on the streets – the merchants in the markets, mother’s calling, children laughing, and the townspeople gossiping about Jesus the Nazarene, who claimed he would rise from the dead.
I could “see” Roman soldiers shuffling along, sneering about how they’d gotten rid of that troublemaker, Jesus. Then it occurred to me that, although the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles inside the Upper Room, the Church itself sprang to life outside of it – on the streets where Peter and the other disciples, filled with the Spirit, praised God, began proclaiming the Good News, and converted thousands in a single day.
The Church had been conceived in the Upper Room, but it was born on the streets of Jerusalem.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
That scene is remarkable to me because it tells of the disciples who – once cowards – took off in fear and abandoned our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane on Holy Thursday. On Pentecost – now filled with the Holy Spirit – the same cowardly Apostles became courageous men of God who took to the streets to proclaim the Good News of Christ.
It’s recorded in the Gospels that about 3000 were baptized on that day. In the culture of that place and time, headcounts were usually done only on the men and did not include women and children. That being said, there could have been thousands of more people present on that grace-filled day!
This is a huge lesson to me in my own life. If and when I open myself to the Spirit, amazing things can be done because I’ll be working, not on my own volition but rather by the Power of the Spirit and in unison with the Triune God. Instead of taking to the streets looking for a hiding place, I’ll be taking to the streets ready to proclaim the Good News in the way that God has ordained for me.
This week I resolve to begin each day calling upon the Holy Spirit, asking him to fill me with courage to go forth and wisdom to understand what it is that I am to do.
Prayer Intentions
– A reader sent the following request: Please pray for a priest named Fr. Lawrence, OFM Cap in South India. He practices humility, walking in barefoot during the Lent since 1999. The temperature is ~ 40°C over there. He is going to get treatment for his severe abdominal pain. Please keep him in your prayer. God bless.
– A middle-aged man whose childhood polio is now causing severe degeneration of his nerves, which also effects his muscles. He’s applied to participate in a medical trial of a treatment that may cure his illness. Please pray that he is accepted into the study and that the treatment proves effective.
– Three children are in desperate need of a loving, stable home. They are ages 11, 3, and 3 months. The oldest child is substantially autistic and the baby was born drug-addicted. The immediate family is in crisis, and the extended family is trying to help but are facing daunting obstacles. A miracle is needed – fast! Please join me in prayer for speedy and comprehensive solutions.
Do you have a prayer intention? Please email me at marge@margefenelon.com and I’ll add it to my prayer list.
God bless your week!
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Images: Wikimedia Commons
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