The Feast of the Epiphany

Short Reflection for the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord

 Readings: Isaiah 60: 1-6; Ephesians 3: 2-3a. 5-6; Matthew 2: 1-12

 Selected Passage: “They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage.  Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”  (Matthew 2: 10-11)

 Meditation: This feast celebrates the manifestation of the Lord to the Magi. They saw his star and followed it until they saw the child, the Savior.  We need to see, too, his star, today, and follow it in our daily journey through life. Yes, his star continues to shine, but we need discerning eyes and a heart attune to God so that we, too, one day, find him and pay him homage. www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

 DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

 1st step: Write the text or Dhikr (the Arabic word for REMEMBRANCE) in your heart.

2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...

3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.

  

The Feast of the Holy Family

 Short Reflection for the Feast of the Holy Family (B)

 Readings: Sirach 3: 2-7, 12-14; Colossians 3: 12-21; Luke 2: 22-40

 Selected Passage:  “Simon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted, and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed’.”(Luke 2: 34-35)

 Meditation:  It will NOT be all bed of roses for this child born in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes… NO! This child is the NEW face of God destined for the fall and rise of many. He is the face of God that is MERCY and COMPASSION and by his words and deeds all hearts, thoughts and actions would be measured! Cuidate!

www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

 1st step: Write the text or Dhikr (the Arabic word for REMEMBRANCE) in your heart.

2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...

3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.

Chastity and Christmas

 

CHASTITY AND CHRISTMAS

Chastity needs to be properly understood. For too long we have had an overly narrow and mostly false concept of chastity. Chastity is too commonly identified with sexual abstinence and sexuality is then seen as something that in itself, militates against chastity and spirituality. But chastity is not the same thing as celibacy; indeed, it is not even, first and foremost, a sexual concept. Someone can be chaste but not celibate, just as someone can be celibate but not chaste. My parents were not celibate, they gave birth to a large family, but they were wonderfully chaste persons. The reverse can also be true. Someone can be celibate but far from chaste.

What is chastity? We are chaste when we stand before the world, others, and God in a way which allows them to be fully themselves without letting our own impatience, selfishness, or unwillingness to remain in tension violate their reality and their natural unfolding.

Here is an image to explain this.

In her book, Holy the Firm, Annie Dillard shares this story: One evening, alone in her cabin, she was watching a moth slowly emerge from its cocoon. The process was fascinating but interminably slow. At a point she lost patience and needed to get on to other things, so she picked up a candle and applied a little heat to the process. It worked. The added heat sped up the process and the moth emerged more quickly from its cocoon, but, since a natural process had been interfered with and unnaturally rushed, the moth emerged with ill-formed wings which didn’t allow it to fly properly. A fault in chastity led to stunted growth.

Chastity is the virtue that invites us to live in patience, to wait, to respect what’s other, and to carry tension long enough so that the other can truly be other and gift can unfold precisely as gift.

That is why the Messiah can only be born from a chaste womb and come to life fully only inside of a chaste heart. Christmas allows for no shortcuts.

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4th Sunday of Advent (B)

 Short Reflection for the 4th Week of Advent (B)

Readings: 2 Samuel 7: 1-5. 8-12; Romans 16: 25-27; Luke 1: 26-38

Selected Gospel Passage: And the angel said to Mary in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God”. (Luke 1: 35)

Reflection: Jesus comes to us anew through the power of the Holy Spirit and like Mary, our mother, in events we least expect. What is important is our generosity and readiness to respond, like Mary, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your Word’. Cf. www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

 DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD...

Dhikr is an Arabic word for remembrance. In the “tariqa” (the way) movement, dhikr developed into a form of prayer… It is a prayer of the heart… following three simple steps:

1. Write in one’s heart a certain passage of the Holy Writ…

2. Make the same passage ever present in one’s lips. 

3. Then wait for God’s disclosure on the meaning of the passage…that interprets one’s life NOW…!

It takes a week of remembering (dhikr)…or even more days to relish the beauty of this method…

 

Make Space for Jesus Christ

 MAKE SPACE FOR CHRIST

The story doesn’t suggest that the innkeeper was malicious or inhospitable. It says only that “there was no room in the inn.” In short, the man was booked up, full, there was no room for further guests, he already had all he could handle.

No room! No place for more guests! Booked up! No space for hospitality!

In these expressions, I see the reason why there is so little of Christ left in Christmas. It is not so much, I believe, our excesses in shopping, decorating, or partying that deprive Christ of a place, as it is our busyness, preoccupations, hurriedness, and agenda which fill the inn and leave no place for him. Our hearts and lives are too full for Christ to have a place.

That sounds like a harsh judgment, and it is. Looked at from the outside, our lives often do look selfish, inhospitable, idiosyncratic, and un-Christian. However, we are not bad people, nor are we, deep down, inhospitable. Beneath all the hurry, pressure, and preoccupations, our hearts are warm, unselfish and welcoming.

Then why aren’t we warmer and more hospitable? In brief, because we haven’t the time. There is not enough space within our lives for Christ.

Love and hospitality are not abstract.  To have Christ in our lives involves something much more than creating time for him, time for the poor, time for hospitality, time for celebration, time for prayer, time for the itinerant couple who show up unannounced on a busy night.

We must create some room in the inn!

(Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI()

2nd Sunday of Advent (B)

Short Reflection for the 2nd Sunday of Advent (B)

 Readings - Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8

 Selected Gospel Passage: A voice of one crying out in the desert: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'" John (the) Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mark 1: 3-4)

 Reflection: Like John the Baptizer we prepare for the coming of the Lord.  He comes in events and moments we least expect.  And how do we prepare for his coming into our lives? We celebrate Advent through good deeds and actions on behalf of the poor and the needy. By these good deeds our many sins are forgiven. Visit www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

 DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD...

 Dhikr is an Arabic word for remembrance. In the “tariqa” (the way) movement, dhikr developed into a form of prayer… It is a prayer of the heart… following three simple steps:

 1. Write in one’s heart a certain passage of the Holy Writ…

2. Make the same passage ever present in one’s lips. 

3. Then wait for God’s disclosure on the meaning of the passage…that interprets one’s life NOW…!

 It takes a week of remembering (dhikr)…or even more days to relish the beauty of this method…