May 2, 2017
This is my chosen instrument to bring my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.
This reflection was written in February, a time of anxiety and uncertainty for Latinos, especially those facing deportations. It felt like a persecution was happening in our country. We saw people who were intent on bringing down others by use of the law.
In the first reading Saul is intent on persecuting those following the Way. Ananias was fearful to follow the Lord’s direction to go to Saul. The Lord sent Ananias saying “this man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.” We too are directed by God to overcome our fears and speak the truth of the Way: Jesus.
Jesus came to teach us how to live and how to treat one another. We must remind each other constantly to live as children of God—not in fear but in openness to all people. Through the Eucharist, Jesus sustains and nurtures us. Jesus promises that through Him we have eternal life.
Cinco de Mayo is more an USA feast than a Mexican feast. It remembers the Battle in 1862 between the Mexican and the French armies. As we eat and drink Mexican food/drink today let us remember the gift of each person with their cultural heritage and welcome them into our lives as Jesus did.
Hispanic Ministry Team in the Diocese of Belleville:
Mrs. Lucia Barragan (ASC Associate)
Sr. Joan Hornick, ASC
Ms. Ada Jimenez (ASC Associate)
May 2, 2017
St. Athanasius
Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God
This day, May 2nd is dedicated in the Liturgy to Saint Athanasius who was Bishop of Alexandria in the 3rd and beginning of the fourth century. He, as a leader of the faithful dedicated himself in very difficult times to the preservation of and clarification of basic Christian teaching regarding who Christ was and IS. His role in the struggles with Arianism(which denied the Incarnation) was pivotal in the continuing proclamation of God’s truly having into the flesh and blood world of creation in Jesus Christ. Athanasius suffered deeply in his life in defending the wonder that is the teaching about the Incarnation of Christ. Today, in the Acts of the Apostles reading which is the first lesson for the day, we see the martyr Stephen (the first in Christian history) seeking to speak of who Christ is in his own heart. God speaks truth to us and seeks to reveal that truth in a way that helps us to face ourselves in an honest way. He challenges the authorities who have him on trial to look at history as to how even Moses struggled with Israel’s not willing to face truth. Blindness to truth, in the faith context of life, blinds us to God and God’s eagerness to guide us to see that truth is the freeing from blindness we choose to adopt in life regarding who we truly are in God and who God truly is. God is absolute and total LOVE! That LOVE entered into the flesh and blood world of creation, and the human race simply can’t deal with that wonder. The Arianism that Athanasius struggled against would not deal with it. Athanasius proclaimed in his life and struggle, suffering, and growth in his heart came to know deeply within that God, in the Incarnation sought and seeks to enter into the full human experience of our lives encouraging us and the world to face ourselves and our need to fight against evil in all of the ways it seeks to blind us to our dignity, the dignity of our neighbor (whoever he or she is), and to the presence of God in the midst of our lives calling us to LOVE. Our Precious Blood spirituality takes to heart the full power of the message of the Incarnation and seeks to have us be bonded to all that it challenges to be about.
Rev. Michael Goode, C.PP.S.
Kansas City Province
