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Monday, September 12, 2005

Meditation
Luke 7:1-10

Lord, I am not worthy. . . . (Luke 7:6)

At Mass, every time we echo the centurion’s prayer, we remind ourselves of our unworthiness to receive something as amazing as the body and blood of Christ. But there’s got to be more to these words than an admission that we have failed to measure up.

The gift of the Eucharist is just that: an undeserved gift! Humbling, isn’t it? Even greater, the Eucharist is the very gift that makes us worthy of it! No matter how hard we try, it seems that we fall short of God’s purposes for us. Still, Jesus gives himself to us to heal and strengthen us. And by receiving him with the open, humble heart that this prayer expresses, we invite the Lord to keep working in us. “Keep transforming us, Jesus! Keep making us more and more worthy of the very gift you are giving us!”

St. John Vianney, who wrote frequently about Communion, once exhorted his parishioners: “Go to Communion, my children; go to Jesus with love and confidence; go and live upon him, in order to live for him. . . . It is true, you are not worthy of it; but you are in need of it. If our Lord had regarded our worthiness, he would never have instituted his beautiful sacrament of love: for no one in the world is worthy of it, neither the saints, nor the angels, nor the archangels, nor the Blessed Virgin. But he had in view our needs, and we are all in need of it. Do not say that you are sinners, that you are too miserable, and for that reason you do not dare to approach it. I would as soon hear you say that you are very ill, and therefore you will not take any remedy, nor send for the physician.”

How beautiful! The more unworthy we are, the more we need to turn to Jesus and become generous recipients of his generosity! We need never hide in shame. We just need to keep following Jesus and making acts of faith like the centurion’s. By cooperating with God, we will become so “worthy” of Christ that our souls “will shine like beautiful diamonds in heaven, because God will be seen in them!” (St. John Vianney).

“Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”

1 Timothy 2:1-8; Psalm 28:2,7-9

One Bread, One Body

<< Monday, September 12, 2005 >>

1 Timothy 2:1-8

Psalm 28

Luke 7:1-10

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HANDS UP!

“In every place the men shall offer prayers with blameless hands held aloft.” —1 Timothy 2:8

“Hear the sound of my pleading, when I cry to You, lifting up my hands toward Your holy shrine.” —Psalm 28:2

When a policeman arrests someone, he or she often commands the suspect to put their hands up. Uplifted hands are a sign of surrender. In our relationship with God, uplifted hands also are a sign of surrender. Humble surrender is the perfect posture before God for prayer and petition (Ps 141:2; 2 Mc 3:20).

At Mass, the priest often raises his hands during prayers. In addition to surrender, the raised hands recall Moses’ posture of power and victory at prayer during an important battle. “As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest,” the enemy “had the better of the fight” (Ex 17:11).

Upraised hands are a posture of praise and of receiving God’s blessings (see Neh 8:6). They are also a way of expressing obedient submission to the Lord (Ps 119:48).

In the greatest example of surrender, prayer, praise, and power, Jesus lifted up His hands in surrender to His Father’s will and allowed them to be nailed to the cross. As St. Teresa of Avila said, Jesus has no hands but ours. So put your hands in the nail-scarred, uplifted hands of Jesus. Let Him lift up your hands now, and one day He will lift up your entire body to eternal glory (Jn 6:39).

Prayer: Jesus, I offer you my hands and my entire body as weapons for righteousness (Rm 6:13).

Promise: “In Him my heart trusts, and I find help.” —Ps 28:7

Praise: During praise and worship, Tim was so focused, so surrendered to the Lord that he was oblivious to any goings-on around him.