(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2016
J.M.J.
March 23, 2017
Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo
Dear Family of Mary!
“Dear children! With a full heart I am asking you, I am imploring you children: cleanse your hearts of sin and lift them up to God and to eternal life. I am imploring you: be vigilant and open for truth. Do not permit for all that is of this earth to distance you from the true cognition of the contentment in the communion with my Son. I am leading you on the way of true wisdom, because only with true wisdom can you come to know true peace and the true good. Do not waste time asking for signs of the Heavenly Father, because He has already given you the greatest sign, which is my Son. Therefore, my children, pray so that the Holy Spirit can lead you into truth, can help you to come to know it, and through that knowledge of the truth that you may be one with the Heavenly Father and with my Son. That is the cognition which gives happiness on earth and opens the door of eternal life and infinite love. Thank you.” (March 18, 2015)
Fr. Leon gave a powerful homily yesterday on how we interpret Scripture and how it can inform our lives, our choices. I thought I would reproduce it for you so you can chew on it. Fr. Leon is trying to help us understand how to discern the Truth. It is very good.
Fr. Leon Pereira’s Homily on March 22, 2017:
If I were to give you all a copy of “The Wizard of Oz” and you read the book, there would be as many interpretations of this book as there you! Some of you would come away thinking that the wizard was a great man, some of you would think he is a megalomaniac, some of you would think he is a coward, or a frightened man. Some of you would come away loving the munchkins. Others would think they are a nuisance. But there would be as many interpretations as the number of pilgrims who had received a copy of “The Wizard of Oz” from me.
To read is to interpret. Therefore, when someone says to you something like, “Where is that in the Bible?”, this becomes automatically one of the silliest questions they can ask. Because as soon as you read it you are interpreting it. So you have to say, “Well, how do I know that your interpretation is correct?” How do you know mine isn’t better than yours? And how do you know that we are even able to read these things by ourselves and somehow magically come to an understanding?
Jesus is the lens through which we read the Scripture. We have Holy Mother Church to interpret the Scriptures for us. But Jesus is the lens through which we see and understand the Scriptures. What do I mean?
For example, in the Old Testament there is a law that adulterers are to be stoned to death. Why don’t we stone adulterers? Because of Jesus, because of what He did. When the adulterous woman was brought before Him, He said, “Let He who is without sin cast the first stone.” He didn’t’ say don’t stone her. He just said to let whoever is without sin be the first. So He didn’t abolish the law, He perfects the law and fulfills it. And that is why we don’t stone adulterers. Mostly because we would be stoning ourselves. OK?
Think of another example. In the Old Testament Jesus says “Because of the hardness of your hearts, Moses gave the children of Israel divorce.” You can divorce your wife and marry another for whatever reason basically, is what it boils down to. If she is displeasing in your sight. But Jesus says, “It was not so from the beginning.” Then He completes and perfects the law. He says, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery and etc. If a divorced woman marries someone else, she commits adultery. This doesn’t come from man, but from Jesus Himself. He completes and perfects the law.
It becomes difficult for us, because our lives are complicated. We make them complicated somehow. Through original sin, through our selfishness, through chance, through all sorts of reasons. But then to say therefore that Christ must meet me where I am, is a bit of a strange thing to say. Christ does meet us where we are, but imagine if where you are, is at the bottom of a well. If you say, God should meet me where I am, the Church should meet me where I am. Come down to the bottom of the well and sit by me and we will drown together. That’s not going to solve anyone’s problems. Christ comes and meets us where we are so that He can lift us up to where He is. That is a very important point. We don’t stay down there in the mud or in the depths of the well. But Christ comes to lift us up. And when we say it’s impossible for man, Jesus says, “Yes I said that already. But all things are possible for God.”
When people bandy around this catch phrase, “The Eucharist is not a reward for the strong, it is medicine for the weak.” Then you have to ask yourself who is the strong person? It is the person who says, “I don’t need to repent. I don’t need the Eucharist. I’m not going to repent.” That is the strong person. And the weak one is the one who’s says, “I have sinned. Have mercy on me. Forgive me and help me.”
So remember many people will come, lying to us and trying to falsify the Gospel. But Jesus is the lens through which we read and understand the Scriptures. He told us He is the Truth and He has come to bear witness to the Truth. And in these latter days, men will have itching ears, wanting all kinds of unsound teachings. Willing to run away as soon as a pied piper comes along with false teachings. But we know what Jesus Himself said, and we know that He is the Truth. And even if it is hard for us to live by the Truth, Jesus has the grace for us to live by it.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
(c) Mary TV 2017
