Wednesday after Trinity

The King of love my shepherd is,
Whose goodness fails me never;
I nothing lack if I am his
And he is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow,
To rest my soul he leads me;
Where fresh and fertile pastures grow,
With heav’nly food he feeds me.

Perverse and foolish I have strayed,
But he with love has sought me,
And on his shoulder gently laid,
And home rejoicing brought me.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill,
With you, dear Lord, beside me;
Your rod and staff my comfort still,
Your cross will ever guide me.

You spread a banquet in my sight,
My head with oil anointing,
And let me taste the sweet delight
From your pure chalice flowing.

And so through all my length of days
Your goodness fails me never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing your praise
Within your house for ever.

Tune: Saint Columba (Erin) 87.87
Music: Traditional Irish Melody
Text: Henry Williams Baker, 1821-1877, alt. by Anthony G. Petti

My Friends,

Am having a few lonely and anxious days, so this morning I read the Morning office, like I usually try to do, which was very comforting and encouraging.

The hymn I copied for you is also precious. Now forward in Faith.

Father Ed Bakker 

Trinity Sunday, 26 May 2024

Friends, 

Readings: Matthew 28, 18-20, John 3, 16-18



Three persons and one God: how can this be ?

How many books have been written about the mystery of the Holy Trinity?
And have we also become wiser from that? Augustine, who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries, was a bishop, theologian and church father and found that the mystery could not be phantomed. This is namely a part from a gospel of Matthew: Jesus asks his disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and the Spirit, many Bible scholars believe that these words of Jesus were put in His mouth by Matthew.
But that occurs more often in the stories about Jesus, but they are in the spirit of his Good News.

The Holy Spirit of God the Father, together with His Son Jesus, forms the Holy Trinity, which can be part of us life, because after all we are all 'children' of God, and we can meet the Message of God, who wants good for everyone, giving hands and feet in our own way and according to our own possibilities in our life for others. And for that we need the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and His Son Jesus, who inspires us and and so God becomes a little visible in every person who lives well, and who keeps us moving on the road
which Jesus led before us in the Spirit of his Father.

 No one has ever seen God, not even Jesus in his earthly life,so you cannot say that you know God and know who He is, His perception changes according to your age, and what you've been through all in your life. God is sometimes compared to the sun: you cannot look into the sun because then you are blinded, but around you you can see everything as it is illuminated by the sun. You can't see God, but His light does shine in Jesus, called the Son of Man of God, when you look at Him, you also have an image of God for in Him He nevertheless became visible, through His goodness to those in need and attention to the weak and hurt. He was like a Son who was really kind to his Father, God's Spirit was in a special way working in Him. A lot has been written about the mystery of God, but if you don't look at the wonder of it life, the beauty of nature and the good that people do for each other, then you see nothing of God's face in the world.

Our Father in Heaven, made brilliantly visible in His Son Jesus of Nazareth, wants in the Spirit become visible in each of us, if we are receptive to it. But when our minds and hearts are full of all kinds earthly things and things, then it becomes more difficult to pay attention to spiritual matters about God. And there lies precisely the big problem of this time, many are so busy with all kinds of things, that God has the opportunity their 'emptiness' does not get to be filled with his presence, and then you often hear: God does not exist. But God does exist well, however many can no longer find Him because they have no more room for Him in their lives. While it says written, "I am with you every day until the completion of this world," and only God alone can give that guarantee.

Fr Ed Bakker

Thursday in Easter Week

My Friends 

Christ is Risen!

The morning light dawns crimson gold,
all heaven echoes hymns of praise,
the world exulting shouts for joy,
and hell with groaning howls in grief.

For that most strong and mighty King,
by crushing all the pow’rs of death
and trampling hell beneath his feet,
has freed the wretched from their chains.

Enclosed within a tomb of stone,
secured by strong and zealous guard,
the Victor rises from the grave,
in triumph nobly marching forth.

Now grief of hell and cries of woe,
all pain and sorrow are undone;
an angel, clothed in light, proclaims:
The Lord is risen as he said.

O Jesus, be for mind and heart
our everlasting paschal joy
and gather us, reborn by grace,
to share your triumphs evermore.

To you, Lord Jesus, glory be,
who shine in vict’ry over death,
with God the Father, ever blest,
and loving Spirit, ever one. Amen.

Tune: DUKE STREET, 8 8 8 8
Music: attributed to John Warrington Hatton, ca. 1710-1793, in William Dixon’s Euphonia, ca. 1805
or Mode VIII, melody 98; Liber Hymnarius, Solesmes, 1983
Text: Aurora lucis rutilat, 5th c., © 2023 ICEL

Have a great day

Fr Ed Bakker

The First Sunday in Lent 18 February 24

My Friends, 

 

 

The First Sunday of Lent (Lk 4:1-13) leads with the story of the temptations, marking the first stage of this journey that leads us up to the Passover of the Lord.
We emphasize some elements, which can help us enter today’s theme and, therefore, in the time that begins today.

The Evangelist Luke, like the other Synoptics, puts the story of temptations before the beginning of Jesus’ public life.

And that is to say that before starting His mission, Jesus must make a choice, must orient himself on the path, must choose which Messianic style He wants to give to His ministry.

Temptation enters the world, from the beginning, as we read in the Book of Genesis chapter 3, as the possibility of a different choice, different from God’s original design, from the way He thought and created man, in His image and likeness.
Even Jesus must choose, therefore, and the devil does not spare Him this test. But, unlike the other Synoptics, Luke concludes the periscope, saying that “after having exhausted every temptation, the devil turned away from him until the fixed time” (Lk 4:13).

Whatever this fixed time is, it is Luke himself who suggests it: while in Matthew, in fact, after the first temptation in the desert, the devil immediately brings Jesus “into the holy city” (Mt 4:5), in Luke the last two temptations are inverted, and Luke puts the climax of the trial in Jerusalem, where the devil places Jesus on the highest point of the temple (Lk 4:9).

The whole journey of Jesus in the third Gospel, as we will see several times during the year, is nothing but a journey to Jerusalem, where Jesus knows He has an appointment, He’s expecting.

Also on the Cross, like today in the desert, Jesus will be asked to save himself, not to be a man like any other man, to choose, at least this time, the way of power, the sensational and the miraculous; He will be asked to come down from the cross, and this, three times (Lk 23: 35-39), just as in the desert Jesus is tempted three times by the devil.

In Jerusalem Jesus addresses the ultimate test, and confirms that He wants what He chooses today: not a life centered on Himself, a life that is self-made, but a life that is received from the Father and entrusted to Him.

And in Jerusalem, the trial will be terrible because the price of fidelity to the original choice will be death on the cross: there Jesus will judge that this fidelity is worth more than one’s life, and will completely reverse the logic of the devil.
If, in fact, the devil, in today’s temptations, invites Jesus to use the power that comes from His being the Son of God to save Himself, to avoid the limit and fatigue of being a man, Jesus will choose in Jerusalem the path of limitation of weakness and death as a way of fully expressing His obedience to the Father, His unlimited trust in Him; to express fully the ultimate meaning of a humanity that is realized not by making itself, but in a humble and trusting relationship of sonship with the Father.
Where does this awareness come from to Jesus, which gives consistency to his choices? Luke suggests two answers to us.

The first is the mention of the Spirit, who returns twice in this passage (Lk 4:1): Jesus is not alone but is continuously addressed to the Father thanks to the Spirit Who dwells in Him. The solitude of the desert is the place where Jesus experience with greater power the presence of the Father, the strength of the relationship with Him.
The second is clearly linked to the Word: Jesus responds to the devil not in His own words, but from the Scriptures. In fact, His words are nothing more than citations of Deuteronomy. Jesus responds not with His words, but with the Word of God the Father.

The temptation that would push a person to listen and trust another voice that is not that of the Father, cannot be overcome with power, with cunning, with simple intelligence: through these only means we could only be losers, slaves yet again of trust in ourselves. The trial is undergone and overcome by remaining in humble and patient listening, to the truth of the Father, trusting Him.
Also on the cross, in the final temptation, Jesus will use these same weapons: His last words (Lk 23:45) will be the quotation of Psalm Ps 31:6, a prayer that tell once again His total trust in the relationship with the Father: “Father, in your hands I commit my spirit.”

Father Ed Bakker, 

Ashwednesday 14 February 2024

My Friends

“And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” Matthew 6:4b

Lent begins. 40 days to pray, fast and grow in charity.  We need this time each year to step back and reexamine our lives, to turn away from our sins and to grow in the virtues God so deeply desires to bestow upon us.  The 40 days of Lent are to be an imitation of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert. In fact, we are called not only to “imitate” Jesus’ time in the desert, we are called to live this time with Him, in Him and through Him.

Jesus did not personally need to spend 40 days of fasting and prayer in the desert so as to obtain a deeper holiness.  He is Holiness Itself! He is the Holy One of God. He is Perfection. He is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity.  He is God. But Jesus entered into the desert to fast and pray so as to invite us to join Him and to receive the transforming qualities He manifested in His human nature as He endured the suffering of those 40 days.  Are you ready for your 40 days in the desert with our Lord?

While in the desert, Jesus manifested every perfection within His human nature.  And although no one saw this but the Father in Heaven, His time in the desert was abundantly fruitful for the human race.  It was abundantly fruitful for each one of us.  

The “desert” we are called to enter is one that is hidden from the eyes of those around us but is visible to the Father in Heaven.  It’s “hidden” in that our growth in virtue is not done for vainglory, for selfish recognition, or to obtain worldly praise. The 40 day desert we must enter is one that transforms us by drawing us to deeper prayer, detachment from anything not of God, and fills us with love of those we encounter every day.

During these 40 days, we must pray.  Properly speaking, prayer means we communicate with God on an interior level.  We do more than attend Mass or speak prayers aloud. Prayer is first and foremost a secret and interior communication with God.  We speak, but more than that, we listen, hear, understand and respond.  Without all four of these qualities, prayer is not prayer. It’s not “communication.”  It’s only us talking to ourselves.

During these 40 days, we must fast.  Especially in our day and age, our five senses are overwhelmed with activity and noise.  Our eyes and ears are often dazzled by TV, radio, computers, etc. Our taste buds are constantly satiated with fine foods, sweets and comfort foods, often to excess.  Our five senses need a break from the bombardment of the delights of the world so as to turn to the deeper delights of a life of union with God.

During these 40 days, we must give.  Greed often takes hold of us without us even realizing the extent of its grip.  We want this and that. We consume more and more material things. And we do so because we seek satisfaction from the world.  We need to detach from all that distracts us from God, and generosity is one of the best ways to achieve this detachment.  

Reflect, today, upon these three simple words: pray, fast and give.  Seek to live these qualities in a hidden way known only to God this Lent.  If you do so, the Lord will begin to do greater wonders in your life than you may currently realize are possible.  He will free you from the selfishness that often binds us and will enable you to love Him and others on a whole new level.

Lord, I give myself to You this Lent.  I freely choose to enter into the desert of these 40 days and choose to pray, fast and give of myself to an extent I have never done before.  I pray that this Lent will be a time in which I am transformed interiorly by You. Set me free, dear Lord, from all that keeps me from loving You and others with all my heart.  Jesus, I trust in You.

Fr Ed Bakker