Category: Fr. Laurian Janicki

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24th Sunday in Ordinary Time SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION By Fr. Laurian Janicki, OFM

At this time in September many of us are beginning to see changes that remind us Fall is near. The leaves are changing to glorious colors, but this bit of pleasure is merely a reminder of the dying that is happening in all of nature, a reminder of the bleakness and deadness of winter. Nature moves relentlessly in a rhythm in which the lushness of life gives way to the starkness of death. Today’s gospel is a pivotal one, not only in Mark’s account but also in the liturgical year. It marks a clear change in the unfolding story of Jesus.

Immediately in the very opening line of the gospel today clues us to a shift. Jesus sets out with his disciples to Caesarea Philippi…moving towards Jerusalem. We all know what happens in Jerusalem. For St. Mark, the disciples are still clueless. From now on Jesus openly begins to teach his disciples what is in store for him (he spoke this openly)…but also what is in store for those who follow him (the disciples).

Jesus turns the conversation – to begin informing his followers towards the real demands of discipleship. Jesus asks the question, “Who do people say I am?” He asks about his identity. Peter responds: “You are the Christ.” Peter indeed recognizes Jesus as more than the prophets: Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. Messiah means the anointed…Peter’s understanding of anointed…most likely was that of a king who would restore Israel as a great nation.

Jesus’ meaning of Messiah was quite different. He “warned them not to tell anyone about him” since he did not want the disciples to raise false expectations of what was to come. Jesus’ reign – his kingdom, would be something quite different from power and wealth.

And so he began to teach them: he would suffer, be rejected, killed and rise after three days. Jesus’ identity as the suffering servant (the First Reading) has implications for us as his disciples. We too must deny ourselves; we too must take up our cross and follow Jesus. This is telling us that the first image of the cross in Mark’s Gospel is not in relation to Jesus’ cross but to our cross – our own difficulties, our own commitments, our own choices, in following Jesus as the Messiah.

Our denying ourselves, our taking up our cross and following Jesus is not about a showy response. Rather it is about how we live every single day: dying and rising in our ordinary simple circumstances. In other words we must die to our way of thinking, and embrace how God thinks, meaning, carrying the cross of goodness, righteousness, justice, integrity, wholeness, fullness of life. It means as St. James puts it, in todays Second Reading, demonstrate your faith by your works. Faith of itself – if it does not have works – is dead.

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“The Joy of the Gospel” SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION By Fr. Laurian Janecki, OFM

“I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”

All quotes are from The Joy of the Gospel – by Pope Francis.

How to have a renewed personal encounter with Christ.

Adsum

With this simple word, Mary allowed her heart to be drawn into God’s heart. Adsum means in Latin “I am present” and it is the posture of prayer. Let this word now lead us to to draw closer to Christ.

1. God loves you and is always ready to embrace and forgive you.

Like the father of the prodigal son, God stands at the crossroads, looking for you, hoping you will return to him with your whole heart. God desires that you draw near to him.“Come to me, “ God tells us, “I have forgiven you completely. I love you unconditionally. You will always be my child and my mercy is always offered to you.”

2. We tend to be distracted from God and from love, caught up in selfish designs of our own, for we are sinners.

We often do not walk with God in our daily lives. We’re busy about so many other matters. We often do not listen carefully to the divine voice which echoes within us. Calling us to do what is good and to avoid evil.

And yet, whenever we seek God’s mercy, it is gladly given to us. God speaks to us like this: “I forgive you, you are my daughter or on and I love you. Take my hand and walk with me, sin no more.”
This wonderful hope draws us ever closer to Christ. In him we find joy.

“Let me say this once more; God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking mercy.” Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel #3

3. Christ’s self-giving love on the cross opens the pathway to love in our own lives.

By this love, we are being saved all the time, saved from our own selfish selves. Pause here in the midst of everything and simply turn your heart to Jesus. Let yourself be in his presence and sense how near to you he is. Like a shepherd cares for his sheep, so Jesus Christ cares for you. In the nighttime, when you awaken from sleep, turn your heart to the shepherd of your soul. Speak to him as a friend. There is an element of surrender in this just as the lamb surrenders to the care of the shepherd. Give yourself over to Christ and trust him. You will not be disappointed.

4. Living in Christ brings us great joy; it is, indeed, the only pathway to true human happiness and fulfillment.

Let the spirit judge your heart to be more open to encountering Christ in your daily life. Let forgiveness be your first impulse when you are wronged. Let generosity drive your decisions. Learn the art of selfgiving love and you will be on the pathway to great happiness.
As you become the servant of all, your own heart will fill with meaning, happiness, and peace. You will be eager to share it with others.

You will soon find a sense of direction for your life in the constant turning of your heart toward Christ and you will encounter him. Listen to him carefully as he speaks to you, and follow his lead. Invite others to also share in the great joy. It is the joy of the gospel.

In these words, Christ speaks to you: “I love you tenderly and my love is forever. Even when you suffer difficulty, imitate my self-giving love, and you will be at peace. Walk with me and allow me to guide you.”

5. Sustain your faith through life in the church, the people of God, the Body of Christ.

Drawing close to Christ also draws us to one another. We do not come to mass for our own good but in order to donate ourselves to the parish. Let yourself be drawn into the Eucharist by the love of Christ.

This will also draw you into greater attention to the poor, the suffering, and the rejected. Examine your own life in the light of the gospel. Do you have room in your heart for these poor ones who are beloved of Christ?

Because God loved and has forgiven you so often and so completely, you must now also become someone ready to love and forgive no matter what. As Jesus told his disciples after he has washed their feet, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:15)

(How to turn your heart to Christ/Pastoral planning)

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12 Ordinary 2015 Mk: 4:35-41 SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION By Fr. Laurian Janicki, OFM

Falling asleep in the middle of chaos/problems has never come naturally to me…nor do I think it comes naturally to most people. In today’s reading from St. Mark, Jesus takes a nap while crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat with the disciples. Then the storm brings high winds and rough seas, the boat fills with water and the disciples panic, waking Jesus to ask if he cares if they all drown. Instead of answering, Jesus speaks to the wind and the sea, calming them. In the safety and stillness that follows, Jesus asks the disciples why they were afraid and whether they have any faith at all. Instead of answering the question, the disciples respond with another question, asking who Jesus is that the wind and the sea obey him.

Nature can be terrifying because it is so clearly beyond our power to control storms, typhoons, tornadoes, hurricanes. The disciples are literally in danger from the wind and rain, these forces of nature, and it challenges them to trust in Jesus – to trust in Jesus’ trustworthiness and protection. He seems to be sleeping, but he wakes quickly to answer their call for help.

In many passages of scripture, when humans perceive God to be inattentive or far off, they feel that God is indeed sleeping. Jesus does mediate God’s loving concern to the disciples by waking up to calm the storm. Seeing Jesus asleep in such a crisis, the disciples feel neither Jesus nor God is paying attention to them. St. Mark’s gospel was written for a community besieged by persecutions. St. Mark’s audience, community, may well have identified with the disciples’ outraged cry that Jesus wakes up and shows his concern, and most likely have been comforted that Jesus responds as they asked.

But! It is easy to misread Jesus’ question, “ Why are you so afraid? Have you no faith? Notice that Jesus calms the storm before asking the questions.

Lessons of the story. The fact that the Master is aboard their little boat does not prevent a wicked storm from brewing up. The apostles strive to cope with the storm on their own but it proves too much for them. They awaken the Master and he speaks to the wind and there comes a great calm.

If only it were like that in real life! If only the Lord would intervene when we are caught in the middle of some storm, and with a simple command, restore calm to our troubled lives! Let’s take a closer look to see if we can grasp what the story is really saying to us.

We encounter various kinds of storms – bad situations of one kind or another which disrupts our lives and sometimes even threatens to sink us. But this should not surprise us. The mere fact that we are trying to follow Jesus is no guarantee that we will be spared the storms.

Christ never promised his followers that their lives would be a Caribbean cruise. Rather he hinted we would have to pass through stormy waters. Therefore, when the storm hits us, we shouldn’t feel that God has abandoned us…much less that he is punishing us for our sins.

In some of these storms we may feel that we can no longer cope on our own. Our own resources and strengths are clearly not enough. The waves of anger, fear, pain and despair rise up and threaten to overcome us. It is then that we must believe that Christ is with us and that his help is available to us.

If our faith is strong we will know that Christ is sleeping in our boat, that all we have to do is call to him in faith and prayer. With his help we will survive any storm. Our fears will subside and peace and calm will return to our troubled hearts.

And if we should be faced with death and there is no escape for anyone – then we should realize that Christ is there to help us negotiate the dark and threatening waters of death. What St. Mark is really saying to his community, today we are the community, make sure that Christ is a familiar traveling companion of yours on the journey of life..

He also asks each of his followers to do the same for each other. To make ourselves available to another person who is caught in the middle of the storm of their life. We have no magical words to offer, really, nothing except our presence and our availability. And these are indeed precious moments – these are the things that calm the storm – no magic words, but loving, supportive and calming presence.

Lastly, a disciple is grateful when the storms of our lives are calmed. A perfect reason to come to mass and say – THANK YOU.

A final word of wisdom: The storm, the people that you get along with and don’t get along with, your work load and responsibilities, your sick parents, your sick children, whatever it is – will be there when you wake up from your sleep. Life is hard and rest is critical, for Jesus and for all of us.

Lesson – God is near – just reach out.

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Love is beyond “Friendly” Friendship. St. John 15:9-17, 6th SUNDAY OF EASTER SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION By Fr. Laurian Janecki, OFM

Being religious or being spiritual is not necessarily the same as having faith and a life in the church, and being friendly is not the same as friendship. Last week we talked about branches connected to the vine and bearing fruit. There, Jesus told the disciples that to bear fruit we must remain connected to him.

Today Jesus makes it clear that this means remaining in his love – actively continuing in his love. If we keep his commandments, we will remain in his love, loving one another as he has loved us. What is important is that the focus of the command is to the disciples (us) and the church.

We cannot be left on our own in matters of love. Love cannot be a matter of warm, fuzzy and natural feelings towards others. Strangely it comes to us as a command. The question is, “But what good is a command to love someone?” We associate love with passions and feelings, affections rising within us based on likes and dislikes. We certainly say, “If I love someone, it won’t be because somebody gave me a command to do so.”

Jesus’ command to love is more than feelings and inclinations. Christ loves us when we are ugly; he loves us when we lack courage, when we behave hatefully, when we crucify him. When all this can be said about us, Jesus still loves us with the mercy only God can give us.

Husbands and wives are to love one another not just when they like it, but with constancy and fidelity that seeks the other’s good every day. Many have failed at this profoundly but it still remains the vision and demand of marriage. Feelings are never an adequate excuse or reason for not loving – our love must be “acting on behalf of the other’s well-being.” This love says, “I am for you.” Why? Because that is how God in Christ has loved us precisely when we are un-loveable.

This is the love that we should have available to everyone because we learn it from Jesus. The command is to: “Love one another as I have loved you.” This is how we are to love. He commands love from us, but not as a master who commands servants or a general of his soldiers. Jesus makes us his friends. The strength of this command is that it comes to us in extraordinary ways: Jesus made us his friends, and he lets us in on what he himself knows. He includes us in such a way that we share something with him that commands love of us. “For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Christ had made us his friends and therefore he can command us to love one another. How? Loving as he loved us. Our friendship with him makes us friends of one another. Being in him, we are brought together to accomplish what we cannot and would not accomplish on our own.

We Christians believe that friendship is essential to virtuous, good and decent living. We are to see and understand ourselves now through friendships, through Jesus’ friendship and the community of friends to which we belong because of our baptism.

We must learn to live as Christ’s friends and in friendship with him, to become like him. We are learning to love with him, to enjoy loving with him in his friendship – forgiveness, trust, counting on one another, fidelity, telling the truth.

Friends will seek the other’s good event at a cost to themselves. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

In the church, a friend of Jesus should be our friend, my friend and your friend. Jesus commands us to love him and one another with the fidelity with which he has befriended us. So we embrace each other with the peace which is his peace regardless of arguments and sentiments of the likes or dislikes. And when we do, it is the Holy Spirit in us and Christ’s command of friendship living in us.

“It is risky to be open to God, realizing how our thinking and acting might be challenged. We need courage to be Christ’s Body and announce to the world the joy of Easter, hope of the Resurrection. With courage in the Risen Lord, we can imagine a better world and cooperate with God in his coming.” Maya Angelou.

“In the Spirit: I Wouldn’t Take Anything for my Journey Now.” Random House, NY, 1993.

We must draw upon the power of the Spirit for our courage and be the light of Christ for a world in need. The Holy Spirit is the creative living memory of the church. God’s spirit unites us and energizes us as we come together to share, relive and learn from the memory of the Risen Christ. Jesus, the wise rabbi, the compassionate healer, the friend of the rich and the poor, the saint and the sinner, the obedient and humble Servant of God – is a living presence among us, a presence that makes us a community of faith, calling us together to offer Christ’s love, support and compassion to one another.”

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.”

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PALM SUNDAY, A Sunday Gospel Reflection By Fr. Laurian Janicki, OFM

When I was a kid, this was always a busy week, clean-up week. There was planning for the big meal next Sunday – Easter. Would it be ham or lamb? Some years, I’d have a new suit – usually a couple sizes too big, so I could grow into it. My mother would be cleaning our home for company. There were eggs to dye and chocolate to look forward to, and lamb cake – pound cake shaped as a lamb.

For a lot of us, it can still be time for planning. But before we get too caught up in next Sunday, we need this Sunday. We need to remember.

Remember that the crowd that cheered Jesus also condemned him. Remember that the voices praising him, also called for his death. Remember that those who love him and promised loyalty also abandoned him, denied him and betrayed him.

And if you want to know who did that, just look at the palm branches in our hands. We are guilty.

While we may not want to admit it, Christ’s passion goes on today. Our betrayal of him continues in ways large and small.

How often do we praise God on Sunday…and damn him on Monday. How often do we shrug him off when things become too difficult or the rules too hard or the demands of the Christian life too taxing? How often do we treat love as just sentiment for greeting cards, and not a command for living?

Jesus continues to bleed and weep and cry out: “Why have you abandoned me?” He cries out today to us. Whatever you do to the least, he said, you do to me.

What do we do? We encounter Jesus on the MRT, step over him on the sidewalk, and go out of our way to avoid him when we feel like he might make demands on our time. At the office, we make jokes of someone, spread gossip about someone at the water cooler. We suck up to people who are more popular, or attractive, or influential at work – and barely give the unimportant person who answers the phone the time of day.

Whether we realize it or not, we see Jesus every day, read about him in the newspapers, hear about him in the news. He is everywhere where there is someone who is small, or neglected, or disrespected, or discarded. He is with the unwanted and unloved, the bullied and abused. Why have youabandoned me?

Do we hear him?

We find ways to justify our choices. But it can’t be denied. Whenever we choose death over life, sin over the gospel, popularity over integrity, indifference or disdain over love – in short, whenever we have turned away from Christ – we who claim to believe in him have, instead, betrayed him.

We have said, “Give us Barabbas.” We have said, in effect, “Crucify him.” And we have done it with palm branches in our hands and the echoes of “Hosanna” in the air.

We need this Sunday to remember that. And we need these branches as a reminder – and a challenge.

They remind us that we re called to be heralds of Christ – to celebrate him the way they did that day in Jerusalem. And these palms challenges us to keep crying “Hosanna,” to keep proclaiming the Good News – even when the world attempts us to do otherwise, even when it seems like it would be easier to go with the crowd and simply choose Barabbas.

These palms challenge us not to turn our back and walk away. They challenge us to not step over Christ or ignore him. And they challenge us not only to remember what we have done to him, but what he has done for us.

This is what this Holy Week is about.

Before we look ahead to next Sunday, Easter, and the big plans and a big meal, look back. And look within your heart… And look to these palms. Look at what we are called to do…and who we are called to be.

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SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION By Fr. Laurian Janicki, OFM

“ Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight: wish I may, wish I might have the first wish I see tonight.” How many countless children have chanted this over the years? Some even take it quite seriously; even though they know that the wish probably won’t come true. The same might be said for making a wish before blowing our birthday candles out. Wishes don’t usually come true. Yet, all of us, young and old alike – make wishes our whole life long. Maybe it’s just a fun game. But, maybe, just maybe, once in a while a wish comes true. Some people wish for simple things of no consequence, maybe like a new toy and others wish for huge things of grave consequences perhaps like a tumor will be benign. In today’s gospel, the leper’s, “If you wish” to Jesus was more than a childhood chant.

When the leper in the gospel says “If you wish,” we can imagine that he is implying more than that Jesus has a choice to heal or not. He is hoping against hope that his own wish to be clean would be fulfilled. Jesus has proven his power.

Jesus was moved with pity. What moved Jesus to make the leper clean? Perhaps the leper’s sorry condition.
Perhaps the leper’s isolation in being an outcast.
Perhaps Jesus, inspite of Jesus’ command to “tell no one anything.”

Jesus knew that the leper would not be able to keep the good news of his healing quiet. And yes, the leper publicizes the whole matter. In our terms, the leper proclaims the gospel. Perhaps Jesus healed the leper because he recognized one who would be a disciple and spread the good news.

Jesus wished that the leper be made clean. And so it was. He had the power to heal. But more important, he had the mercy and Jesus was announced to all by this leper outcast, who now had become a disciple.
Jesus commands the leper to tell no one. The leper tells everyone. Jesus’ commissions to us is tell everyone the good news – do we tell no one? The message of good news in “believing who we are and what we do.”

“A World larger than your heart.”
In John Drinkwater’s play Abraham Lincoln, this exchange takes place between President Lincoln and a northern woman, an anti-confederate zealot. Lincoln tells her about the latest victory by northern forces – the confederate army lost 2700 men while union forces lost 800. The woman is ecstatic, “How splendid, Mr. President!”
Lincoln is stunned at her reaction. “But madam, 3500 human lives were lost!”

“Oh, you must not talk like that, Mr. President. There were only 800 that mattered.” Lincoln’s shoulders drop as he sways slowly and emotionally,” Madam, the world is larger than your heart.”
Connection: Our attitudes and perceptions, our view of the world often reduces others to “lepers” – those we fear, those who don’t fit our image of sophistication and culture, those whose religion or race or identity or belief seem to threaten our own. We exile these lepers to the margins of society outside our gates. We reduce these lepers to simple labels and stereotypes. We reject these lepers as to be “unclean” to be part of our lives and our world.

The Christ who heals lepers comes to perform a much greater miracle – to heal us of our debilitating sense of self that fails to realize the sacredness and dignity of those we demean as “lepers” at our own gates.

We can make them clean by transforming our own attitudes and perspective. We can make them “clean” by reaching out to them as God reaches out to us. We can make them “clean” by the simplest acts of kindness and respect.

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