DAVID BELLUSCI
  • Home
    • About Father Bellusci
    • Contact
  • TALKS
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
  • ARTICLES
    • Homilies
    • Catholic Pilgrim >
      • Photos
    • Book Reviews
  • FRASSATI
    • Reflections
  • Books
    • Pier Giorgio Frassati Truth, Love and Sacrifice
    • Roman Incense
    • Love Deformed, Love Transformed
    • Ontology Of Blue
    • Amor Dei in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
    • Beating The Drums
    • Readers Review
  • Sexuality
    • Humanae Vitae
    • Theology of the Body >
      • Introduction
      • Lessons 1-9
  • Guest Bloggers
    • Andrzej Skulski
    • Br. Gavin Rodrigues, O.P.
    • Lara Paniagua

Spread the good news

John 20: 11-18
"But Mary was standing outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, as she wept, she stooped to look inside, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, 'Woman, why are you weeping?' 'They have taken my Lord away,' she replied, 'and I don't know where they have put him.' As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not realise that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?' Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, 'Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.' Jesus said, 'Mary!' She turned round then and said to him in Hebrew, 'Rabbuni!' -- which means Master. Jesus said to her, 'Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' So Mary of Magdala told the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord,' and that he had said these things to her." 

Removing the clutter

5/12/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
I was marking assignments on the significance of the Last Supper; one of my students focussed on the humility of Jesus. He highlighted the fact that Jesus, on his last evening with the Apostles, chose to wash their feet. This, of course, was taken from St. John’s Gospel. The students were also asked to carefully examine St. Luke. The fact this student was struck by the humility of Jesus in spite of other fundamental elements of the Last Supper made me reflect on the radical humility in the life of Our Saviour.
 
I emphasise “humility” as a fundamental quality manifesting the person of Jesus because humility extends to the last acts of His human life in continuity with the events surrounding Jesus’s birth. In the 2nd Sunday of Advent we hear Isaiah proclaiming, “Prepare the way for the Lord,” words identified with St. John the Baptist (Mark 1:3; Isaiah 40:3). But who is this John the Baptist? He is considered a prophet by his contemporaries and his disciples. He lived the radical life of an ascetic anticipating the coming of the Messiah. Detached from the world, John the Baptist prepared himself and others for Jesus: repentance, cleansing, and detachment. Repentance of sins acknowledges that one is a sinner -- we actually do have sins to be forgiven! This prepares us for Jesus, as John the Baptist had done. Forgiveness also means the mind and heart are cleansed of clutter. Interior purification leads to making daily changes. John lived off locusts and honey! An aesthetic diet for someone dwelling in the desert. John the Baptist’s life and language reflected a humble preparation for “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me.”
 
I have always been astonished and overjoyed visiting poor countries the openness to prayer, the dependence on God, the value attached to the Sacraments. “Why, I ask myself?” Because their hands are not full with their possessions. They have room to pray, to hope, to ask, and to be thankful. With material well-being we become “cluttered” and self-sufficient. We no longer “need” God. It requires “humility” to say, “I need you.” “I need you, Lord, without you I cannot move forward.” It requires humility to say “someone is greater than I.”
 
In God’s plan to save us He showed that humility is the route of salvation. The Son of God is prepared for a stable. Divine Kingship is not shown in human terms of power, wealth, and fame to impress us with superficial “crowns.” Ugliness of pride is what separated the first man and woman from God (Genesis 3), and so it will be radical humility that will reconcile man with God. Humility is our path to salvation following Christ. 
​John the Baptist was born of a mother who was said to be “barren” (Luke 1:38). And Zechariah gives not his own name to the child, but after hearing the voice of an Angel, humbly names the child “John.” The Virgin Mary who “does not know man,” puts her total trust in God and in a courageous act of humility tells the Angel, “Let it happen to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38). Joseph shows his humility accepting the news that his betrothed will conceive without him (Matthew 1:20). Mary who carries in her womb the Son of the Most High visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is now Elizabeth expecting, and what does Elizabeth tell Mary, “Why should I be honoured with a visit from the Mother of my Lord?” (Luke 1:43). Should we not learn these words of humility of Elizabeth and Zechariah, the radical acts of humility of Mary and of Joseph? The move from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant involve figures who stand out for their humility. Christ Himself will show the salvific power of humility when He, the crucified “King of the Jews” -- true King of the Universe -- will die naked on a Cross in front of his mother and closest friends. Are we prepared to worship our King in a smelly stable and naked on a Cross? Are we?
 
John the Baptist as prophet tells us to prepare ourselves: we need to be cleansed, to make changes, to throw ourselves into the Jordan River, to free our hearts and mind, and make room for the Son of God -- yes, in a stable where the scent is Truth!
 
During Advent we journey in silence with Mary, the Theotokos, Mother of God, as we prepare ourselves meditating on the only Truth that matters: Jesus the Son of God is Truth -- the only Truth who saves us and gives us Eternal life.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Fr. David Bellusci, O.P.
    is a Roman Catholic Priest, and Assistant Professor 
    of Philosophy and Theology at Catholic Pacific College in Langley, B.C.

    List by Titles



    Who are the people on your list?
    The Language that Builds
    The Joy in the midst of Uncertainty
    Angels and Stars
    On Silence
    New Circumcision
    Here I am
    ​Remember me in Paradise
    Authority Christ Entrusts to Peter
    Sacrificing Isaac
    Us And Them
    ​Joy of Boasting in the Cross
    ​
    The 12 Apostles

    Are you saved?
    ​Follow Christ: obey the Commandments...
    ​Joy of Holiness
    ​Seeing Beyond Addiction
    Who is My God?

    Are we too secure, too comfortable to think about God and the poor?
    ​Faith and Pride
    ​Fighting the Enemy: Satan
    ​Time for Conversion
    What are your Weapons?
    ​​Presentation of the Lord - Day of Consecrated Life
    Love--it's not about me
    ​Word of God - preserved and transmitted
    Time to Move On!
    ​Gaudete Sunday
    ​Ressurection in Crist
    Observers and Participants
    ​
    Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia
    ​Jesus, I love You
    Moved by the Spirit
    Going to Heaven by the power of the Holy Spirit

    ​Immaculate Heart of Mary
    Who Is Your Treasure
    What is Your Fear
    "Blessed Are You Among
    Women": Mary Taken Up to Heaven
    ​The One with the Keys
    Challenged-Corrected-Cleansed
    ​O
    ur-Lady-of-Victory Our-Lady-of-the-Rosary
    All Saints! All Souls! Our Prayers!
    A Capable Woman

    Removing the Clutter
    ​Does the Birth of Christ change our lives?

    ​

    Archives

    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    All Saints
    All Souls
    Battle Of Lepanto
    Catholic League
    Catholic Schools
    Christmas
    Church
    Cleansing
    Community
    Confession
    Correction
    Cross
    Divine Mercy
    Dominicans
    End Times
    Ezekiel 33
    Falsehood
    Fear
    Gossip
    Holiness
    Holy Trinity
    Homilies
    Humility
    Immaculate Conception
    Immaculate Heart
    Jesus
    Mary
    Matthew 18
    Original Sin
    Our Lady Of Rosary
    Papacy
    Pentecost
    Pride
    Purification
    Reconciliation
    Repentance
    Rosary
    St
    St. John The Baptist
    St. Pope Pius V
    Vocation
    Wife
    Wisdom

    RSS Feed

Contact
Books
Frassati

    Get the latest from Fr. Bellusci delivered to your inbox:

Join our email list
© David Bellusci
  • Home
    • About Father Bellusci
    • Contact
  • TALKS
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
  • ARTICLES
    • Homilies
    • Catholic Pilgrim >
      • Photos
    • Book Reviews
  • FRASSATI
    • Reflections
  • Books
    • Pier Giorgio Frassati Truth, Love and Sacrifice
    • Roman Incense
    • Love Deformed, Love Transformed
    • Ontology Of Blue
    • Amor Dei in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
    • Beating The Drums
    • Readers Review
  • Sexuality
    • Humanae Vitae
    • Theology of the Body >
      • Introduction
      • Lessons 1-9
  • Guest Bloggers
    • Andrzej Skulski
    • Br. Gavin Rodrigues, O.P.
    • Lara Paniagua