Meditation: Jeremiah 20:10-13

Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo, Bishop (Optional Memorial)

The Lord is with me, like a mighty champion. (Jeremiah 20:11)

“Terror, terror on every side!” That’s how Jeremiah’s enemies mimicked his words. They accused him of needlessly stirring up fear among the people by talking about God’s coming judgment. Employing the rumor mill that was part of the court in Jerusalem, they spread gossip and slander that made life dangerous for the prophet. But Jeremiah didn’t back down. He had entrusted his life to God, and he knew that God would be his champion and keep him safe.

God is indeed a mighty champion for all of us—not just in life-and-death situations like Jeremiah’s, but also in the everyday dangers that we face. He is with the housewife who worries about keeping her children in line, cleaning her home, and preparing meals for her family. He is with the student struggling against peer pressure. He is with the lonely widower facing a troubling diagnosis and the prison inmate trying to change his life in often brutal surroundings. Whatever battles we may be facing, God is our champion. He is ready to fight for us and defend us.

Sometimes, though, it’s hard to ask the Lord for help. We have been so conditioned by life to think we have to fight all by ourselves. We are told that religion is just a crutch and that we should be strong enough to handle whatever comes our way. Or we have been told that it’s normal to live with a certain level of anxiety and worry and that only naïve fools are happy all the time. We should just grow up and get used to our problems because life is unfair, and there’s nothing we can do about it.

Don’t listen to these voices! You have a God in heaven who cares for you and wants to do good for you. He is very near to you. He’s just waiting for you to call on him. A true champion, he will take up your cause and give you his grace, his wisdom, and his insights to help you through every challenge. You don’t have to walk this path alone!

“I love you, O Lord, my strength . . . my rock, my fortress, my deliverer!” (Psalm 18:2-3).

Psalm 18:2-7
John 10:31-42

In the Name of Religion

March 23, 2018

Today's readings

The Jews so loved their Scripture and their law, that they were ready to stone Jesus for what they heard as blasphemy. Eventually, their desire to kill him – despite the commandment against killing – would be realized, in effect fulfilling a prophecy from the Scripture they went to great lengths to defend.

Throughout the ages, millions have been killed in the name of religion, including Christianity.

This is the opposite of the missionary spirit that drove thousands of brave souls, including our own patron, to bring the news of Christ to the ends of the earth. These men and women know the true meaning of the phrase so familiar to Serrans: I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion, that he may live (Ezekiel 33:11).

Saint Junipero Serra understood that all people were children of God. He sought to spread the Word of salvation so that all could die with hope in the Lord. This he did by preaching, of course, but also by good works. As Jesus says in today’s Gospel:

If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me;

but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,

believe the works, so that you may realize and understand

that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.

May our works show that God is our Father, before even our words.

http://www.serrainternational.org/content/name-religion