WORDS OF WISDOM BY ST. THERESA OF AVILA … 2

For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.

Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.

Prayer is an act of love; words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love.

All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted.

If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is the true friend.

Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.

A beginner must look on himself as one setting out to make a garden for his Lord's pleasure, on most unfruitful soil which abounds in weeds. His Majesty roots up the weeds and will put in good plants instead. Let us reckon that this is already done when the soul decides to practice prayer and has begun to do so.

Our soul may lose its peace and even disturb other people's, if we are always criticizing trivial actions - which often are not real defects at all, but we construe them wrongly through our ignorance of their motives.

Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.

DOG / BITCH OR PUP ????????????

No, in today’s Gospel text, 20th Sunday of the Year, we should not be scandalized at the way Jesus answered the Canaanite woman. According to Matthew we find the word ‘dog’:
'It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.'

The language in Mark is somewhat milder: that the children must be fed "first" (Mk 7:27) allows for the possibility of a later healing and a window for the coming Gentile mission, but even in Mark the woman's need is too urgent for that. Jesus probably refers to children's pet dogs; well-to-do Greeks, unlike Jews, could raise dogs as pets and not view them merely as troublesome pests (compare Lk 16:21; Ex 22:31).

The image is thus simply one of children's needs (compare 7:9) taking temporal precedence over those of pets. Jesus is not cursing the woman, but he is putting her off (compare 8:7). It is possible that he is testing her, as teachers sometimes tested their disciples, but he is certainly reluctant to grant her request and is providing an obstacle for her faith (compare Jn 2:4).
Perhaps he is requiring her to understand his true mission and identity, lest she treat him as one of the many wandering magicians to whom Gentiles sometimes appealed for exorcisms. Yet he is surely also summoning her to recognize Israel's priority in the divine plan, a recognition that for her will include an admission of her dependent status.

How does the ‘dog’ come in? Certainly according to Jewish Culture, all pagans, all those who had not embraced Judaism, were considered by the Jews as ‘dogs’. So the expression used by Jesus was very normal, HE being a Jew and brought up in the Jewish Culture.

BUT, Mark’s interpretation and rendering is more faithful to the original. According to William Barclay, an authority on Jewish Culture and Bible Commentary, the original word used by Jesus was ‘pup’. This changes the whole picture. It is an endearing word, and HE actually referred to the pups as the ‘children’ not of humans but of dogs. Jesus must have felt, realized that the word ‘dog’ (or rather ‘bitch’ addressed to a woman) might have hurt the feeling of the woman, so HE preferred to use the endearing word ‘pup’.

TWO  FISHES … FIVE  LOAVES …WHY NOT HALF A DOZEN OF EACH ?

In the Gospel narrative, according to Saint Matthew, we read about  ‘The Multiplication of the bread’. There was a lad who had two fishes and five loaves.

Were the numbers ‘two’ and ‘five’ incidental ? Do these numbers have any hidden message for us ? Is there a symbolic value, meaning ?

We have to keep in mind that God speaks to us, His children by means of the Holy Scripture, and that these writings are inspired. I believe that the Holy Spirit uses every means; cultural, historical, traditional etc. to convey the Father’s message.

We have to keep in mind that this miracle was a pre-figurement of the Holy Eucharist. On the mount Christ fed the people with barley loaves, in the Holy Eucharist Christ feeds us, nourishes us with the Bread of Angels, with His own Body and Blood.

In the Sacrifice of the Eucharist, in the Mass, in the Lamb’s Supper, we accept Christ’s invitation when He told His Apostle: “Take and eat, this is My Body.”  When we receive the Sacred Host, we will be receiving the Holy Eucharist, therefore we will be receiving a Sacramental Grace.

Now, in the Bible number five represents God’s grace, favour and goodness to humanity, so these are given to us humans. If number five is multiplied by itself we get twenty five, which is ‘grace upon grace’ (John 1:16). And was not Jesus showing His goodness, His favour, His mercy towards those circa nine thousand people who left their work and follow Jesus to hear His words ?

Though the Gospel mentions five thousand, but according to the Jewish Culture only the men used to be counted. But there were their sisters, wives, their children, their parents or even their in-laws. Who knows, maybe there were more than nine thousand to feed.

We read that the lad had two fishes. Now number two conveys the meaning, idea of union. A man and a woman though two persons become one in marriage (Genesis). St Paul in 1Corinthians, verse twelve tells us that Christ and the Church (His Bride) become one.

When we receive the Sacred Host, the Body of Jesus, the Divine and the human become one. Now we come to the ‘fishes’ themselves. In the Holy Scripture we do have two very important fishes, one in the Old Testament and another in the New Testament.

Jonah was swallowed by a fish (whale) for three days, and this is a figure of Jesus’ stay in the tomb.

The word fish in Greek is ICHTHUS, but what is interesting is the fact that the word ICHTHUS is formed from the first letter of each word of the statement, declaration: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. So Jesus Christ is the fish of the New Testament. No wonder that the first Christians used to scratch the shape of a fish in the dust, to inform others that they are the followers of the Nazarene. No, nothing happens by chance and the Holy Spirit is always ready to help us understand if we but call Him, approach Him or invoke Him.

In today’s Gospel text, 18th Sunday, we find that Matthew, ventured on something which the other Evangelists did not. He purposely included two incidents in one. He had a very good reason to do this. We read about John the Baptist’s death and the Multiplication of bread.

Notice that these two incidents are both bound by a meal, a dinner, a feast; we all know that the decision by Herod to murder John was taken during a banquet … here we see the arrogance of Herod, his weakness, his power-craving, he feared for the loss of his popularity … because he was weak.
In the Multiplication of ‘bread’ we do have another banquet, this as a result of the Master’s love for those thousands away from their homes who thronged to listen to Him. Historians calculate the presence of about nine thousand, because only the number of men present is recorded in the Gospel. Jesus provided the ‘banquet’ out of mercy and love.

But what a contrast between these two banquets; the former was induced by hatred and the other one spurred on by love. Matthew has given us a ‘masterpiece’ of Gospel narration in this text.
Much can be said about this text. Another important point is that Christ’s Banquet can be bought for no amount of money. We all have experienced or organised a feast, a party, a family meal, and we all know the expenses incurred in this occasion. Just imagine providing food for thiose thousands of people … yet it was freely given. The Holy Eucharist is the best meal one can receive for eternal salvation and yet it is freely given by the Lord.

Twelve baskets were left over; that means that there was more food left to be distributed, and it is being distributed till this day … by the twelve that were left over and by their legitimate followers. The twelve might represent the twelve Apostles and the other disciples who were responsible for the spreading of the ‘Good News’, including our priests, Bishops and leaders of the Church.

One can be enlightened to find the meaning behind the symbols of ‘five fishes’ and ‘two loaves’.

QUOTES ABOUT THE HOLY EUCHARIST

"Lord Jesus, Who in the Eucharist make your dwelling among us and become our traveling companion, sustain our Christian communities so that they may be ever more open to listening and accepting your Word. May they draw from the Eucharist a renewed commitment to spreading in society, by the proclamation of your Gospel, the signs and deeds of an attentive and active charity,"
Pope St. John Paul II

"To keep me from sin and straying from Him, God has used devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. My life vows destined to be spent in the light irradiating from the tabernacle, and it is to the Heart of Jesus that I dare go for the solution of all my problems,"
- Pope St. John XXIII

"How I loved the feasts!.... I especially loved the processions in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. What a joy it was for me to throw flowers beneath the feet of God!... I was never so happy as when I saw my roses touch the sacred Monstrance..."
- from St. Therese's Autobiography Story of A Soul

"O Sisters, if we would only comprehend the fact that while the Eucharistic Species remain within us, Jesus is there and working in us inseparably with the Father and the Holy Spirit and therefore the whole Holy Trinity is there...,"
- St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

"Words cannot express the perfection of his adoration. If Saint John leaped in the womb at the approach of Mary, what feelings must have coursed through Joseph during those six months when he had at his side and under his very eyes the hidden God! If the father of Origin used to kiss his child during the night and adore the Holy Spirit living within Him, can we doubt that Joseph must often have adored Jesus hidden in the pure tabernacle of Mary? How fervent that adoration must have been: My Lord and my God, behold your servant! No one can describe the adoration of this noble soul. He saw nothing, yet he believed; his faith had to pierce the virginal veil of Mary. So likewise with you! Under the veil of the Sacred Species your faith must see our Lord. Ask St. Joseph for his lively, constant faith."
- St. Peter Julian Eymard