Sunday
5 February 2017, 5th Sunday Ordinary
Time
This Feast Day Celebration was incorporated into the first Sunday of February.
• Isaiah 58:7-10 • Psalm 112 • •1 Corinthians
2:1-5 • Matthew 5:13-16•
[__01__] There
is a natural connection between light and movement. Not only GREEN traffic signals, but also
other lights call forth movement, progress.
[►] Knowing there is daylight, we rise and move.
[►] Benjamin Franklin was speaking of the benefit
of brightness in his famous phrase, “early to bed, early to rise makes a man
healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
[►] The one-hundred and nineteenth psalm: “a lamp to my feet is your word, and a light
to my path.” (PS.119:105)
Light is a movement and leads to movement. However, you and I do not control the light
– whether naturally (the sun rises and sets its with its own timer) and the
light of faith or of God may shine upon us even when we are turned in the
opposite direction.
We do not control the light.
[__02__] We are
called to see the light and be the light.
First, we are called the see the
light, then we can be the light.
At
Christmas, in Bethlehem the shepherd and 3 kings come to see the light.
In this case, a very bright light
attracts followers, disciples. Sometimes, the light will follow us, it may find
us.
[►] In late September 2015, the crowds of people
were growing. There was a very important person in New York City. It was not my
sister-in-law, but she had also landed at Kennedy Airport at was in town for
the weekend to visit a friend.
As she exited the apartment building
with her friend on East 76th Street (or this vicinity), on a Friday
evening, a long and very secure motorcade had been traveling from the airport
into the city with NYPD and FBI and Secret Service. This was the papal
motorcade on its way to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Had she intended to encounter the
motorcade, she could never have come close to Pope Francis in person, in his
car, with all his security.
A bright light will find us, attract
us.
Are we open to and aware of the light
of wisdom, the light of knowledge, the light of God which calls us to love God
and love our neighbor? … even to love
the neighbor who may not know us or return our love immediately?
[__03__] This Sunday, we also celebrate solemnly
(define “solemn?”) the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes which is on February 11 on
our church calendar.
The Our Lady of Lourdes feast day
commemorates the apparitions, the appearances in 1858 of the Blessed Virgin Mary
to Bernadette of Soubirous in France.
The light found Bernadette.
[► poverty,
simplicity] Bernadette
was a young peasant woman from a family
without means or wealth and very little education.
[► firewood,
grotto] One day, gathering firewood, in her daily chores,
Bernadette saw a vision in a cave. This was the grotto or cave of Massabielle.
[► image,
who?, je’suis] Who or what was the vision or image?
Bernadette of Soubirous described and reported a “beautiful lady.” Everyone
nodded and said OK and no one posted any photos.
The incident would have been
forgotten, except that Bernadette had been informed by the beautiful lady of
her identity. Bernadette was told, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
“Je’suis
l’Immaculee Concepcion.”
This is the inscription above the
image of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the icon above the altar.
[► LIGHT
= Immaculate Conception]
Bernadette saw a light, was attracted to the light and now was proclaiming
faith in doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Bernadette was Catholic, her family
were believers and surely they attended the
__5:30 pm, 7:00 onpm, 7:30 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am
__ Mass every Saturday / Sunday.
[► what
was the I.C.?]
In 1858 and for centuries, Catholics associate the Blessed Mother, the Blessed
Virgin Mary with the Immaculate Conception.
In fact, in 1854, a few years earlier,
the Immaculate Conception had become an official teaching of the Catholic
Church.
Would Bernadette have been aware of
this? She did not have wi-fi … she did
not have an education … she did not read newspapers. So, how did
Bernadette know about the Immaculate
Conception?
It was Bernadette’s faith and
persistence in this statement that indicated the revelation and knowledge
had come from God.
This enabled Bernadette to see the
light and to be the light in the darkness.
[__04__] We believe in the Immaculate Conception
because we believe in the light, the
life, and the power and energy of God in our lives.
That is, in the Immaculate Conception,
we believe that Mary was conceived free from original sin so that Jesus himself
could also be conceived and born free
from original sin.
So, in this case, Mary was not simply
forgiven from sin – in a sacrament such as baptism or penance &
reconciliation – but was kept free from sin.
She was conceived body and soul without sin.
This is the analogy made by John Duns
Scotus, a scholar who wrote about the
Immaculate Conception:
[► CANYON
RIM] Suppose 2 people are walking on the edge of a
cliff or the rim of a canyon.
One, the first of the two, falls and
is later rescued. He is rescued, healed. This is everyone in the world, you, me. We
fall into sin and need to be rescued, saved.
The second person on the edge,
however, does not fall. The person is
prevented from falling. Though subject to gravity, she does not fall. This
is our Blessed Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
And, we believe that God kept her free
from falling and sinning to show not her
power but his power.
And, this is also to remind us that when we follow God, when we
see the light, he is the lamp for our feet and the light for our path to
prevent our fall.
That is, by following the light – by
seeing the light and being the light –
we are listening to the Holy Spirit in our consciences so that we are not only
recovering – and we are recovering – but also avoiding the traps, the canyons, the edge.
And, with the intercecession of our
Savior and Blessed Mother, we can stay in balance, and moving forward.
Our
Lady of Lourdes Pray for Us.
[__fin__]
