Rebuke-4 The Sacrifice

To Heaven with obedience; and it begins with Jesus, in His desire to obey the Father. But here on Earth it begins with Our Lady. When Mary told the Angel Gabriel, “let it be to me according to your word." Mary allowed God’s will to be carried out through her.

• Luke describes Mary as the woman who treasures and guards in her heart, the passage of Jesus.
• With Mary, Jesus learned to listen to the yearnings, the troubles and the hopes of the people.

‘Mary is there.' Mary is with the disciples: One had denied Him and all the others had fled being afraid. Mary had gone through the darkest moments in her journey as a mother.

Her motherly intercession at the wedding in Cana and her presence in the Upper Room at the Apostles' side as they prayed in expectation of Pentecost is an essential form of co-operation in  the work of salvation. Mary was able to watch over the beginnings of the first Christian community. 

In presenting Jesus in the temple and, especially, at the foot of the Cross, Mary completes the gift of herself which associates her as Mother with the suffering and trials of her Son. As in the Eucharistic celebration, Mary encourages us to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

Mary in her most agonising moments teaches us the virtue of love. Mary our Mother that Jesus gifted us, guide our footsteps in our moments of hardship!

Mama Mary, keep us all under your mantle of love and protection.

  

The Will of God
Matthew 12:46-50 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother."

Mark 3:31-35 And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother." 

Luke 8:19-21 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him for the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

Jesus reveals a detachment from His family especially Mother Mary. Jesus was preparing His mother for the great sacrifice of Calvary where Mary would be required to make the greater renouncement- accepting the sacrifice of her Son for the salvation of the world.

Luke includes an incident about Mary, which contains two beatitudes. “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that you sucked.” &

“Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” Jesus admits His mother is worthy of praise not because she gave birth to Him but because Mary is an example of the true disciple who heard the Word of God and kept it.

Luke 1:45 - And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."
Jesus extends this beatitude of Mary to all believers who do the same.

The Words of Elizabeth to Mary and the words of Mary - The Magnificat.

Listen to the Word of God and action on-It is the best weapon against Satan. Ephesians 6:17 - And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Luke 8:20 and Mark 3:32 Mary is referred to as “Your Mother” (look above verses)

In all the three Gospel passages (ABOVE) the reason they are standing outside is because of the crowd around Jesus.

Luke v.21-In Mark 3:35 “…does the will of God.” In Luke the true family are those who HEAR The WOG and put it in practise.
Jesus introduces the new family: Luke 9:59-60, 14:26

• The fruit of HEARING The Word of God transforms believers into mothers, brothers and sisters of Jesus who act in the same way as Our Lord.
• This passage also brings out the greatness of Mary as she is the first to HEAR The WOG and put it into practise.
• Luke’s Gospel presents Mary as HEARING and welcoming God’s Word so perfectly that it becomes Flesh in her.
• Mary is the perfect example of the true disciple.
• This scene is not to be understood as if the hearers of The WOG replaces Mary and His family but all those who are ready to HEAR The WOG enter into a new relationship with Jesus as family.

• To HEAR the WOG is a secret action. (No one knows if you have actually heard The WOG or not)
• When difficulties, suffering, temptations, persecutions arise, the secret of the heart will be revealed.
• The one who HEARD and reflected and stored The WOG in their heart will respond and act differently from the one who has not.
• Jesus faced and overcame the devil with The WOG. (Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13)
• A disciple who has not made their inner being strong with a desert experience in prayer and on HEARING and Listening and reflecting on The WOG will not be able to overcome temptations and trials in this world and bear fruit.

Please also read: http://godofimpossibles.blogspot.in/2018/05/rebuke-2-trials.html

Our deserts can be the very places where God finds us and calls us back to a life in Him.  How we walk will be a reflection on our spiritual life.

As the lures of the material world get stripped away, we begin to turn our hearts toward God and seek to discover what is truly important in our life. ‘A desert experience,’ is a place of warning as well as the place of a spiritual encounter.

Moses led the people of Israel as they wandered in the desert. On their way to the Promised Land, through the desert the people of God grumbled: and said to them, "Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Exodus 16:3. And yet God cares for them and nourishes them on quail, with manna from heaven and with water from a rock.

For forty years, God tested them, freed them from their attachments to Egypt, to make them His People. God found them: Deuteronomy 32:10 "He found them in a wilderness, a wasteland of howling desert. He shielded them, cared for them, guarded them as the apple of his eye."

Jesus entered the desert and experienced temptations. But it is not only about temptations – it is also where we encounter God. The Israelites encountered God in the desert and received the covenant in the Ten Commandments. 

Please also read: http://godofimpossibles.blogspot.in/2018/05/rebuke-3-wilderness.html

Zechariah in his praising God, prophesied these words, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,” Luke 1:76-77

The passage goes on to say that - And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel.” Luke 1:80.

John the Baptist lived in the wilderness (desert) and prepared the way for the Messiah. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild honey. He was a man completely set in place by God for a purpose. He preached the repentance of sins. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Matthew 3:11. 

His purpose remained strong, He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30.

That day, when Jesus approached John at the Jordan near Bethany, John cried out: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” With awe he had baptized Jesus and then saw the Spirit descend like a dove and remain on Him. Matthew 3:17 and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

From that point John directed people to follow Jesus. And they had. 

John didn’t live to please people. He called out the Pharisees and Sadducees, for what they truly were. He knew their hearts and lives were far away from God. He spoke the truth to Herod, for he had taken Herodias, his brother’s wife, to become his own, while his brother was still alive. (In us Catholics, you marry only once and adultery is a sin against God. The sixth commandment of the 10 commandments states - "You shall not commit adultery”) 

John was in Herod’s prison. But alone in the cell he was tormented by doubts and fears. It would look like he doubted. And here is John’s question to Jesus.

And John, calling to him two of his disciples, sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?" In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many that were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me." Luke 7:19-23

Jesus loved John. The question that John asks of Jesus in (Luke 7:19-23) happens much after the below paragraph (John 1:32-34). Listen, to the lines below-

And John bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” John 1:32-34

After John described Jesus, Andrew and another disciple left John to follow Jesus.

John did not have doubts. He wanted his disciples to listen to the words of Jesus-the answer to the question and be totally convinced. He was preparing his disciples for the person whom they should follow.
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Jesus words on John in Matthew 11:11- Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he”

John was imprisoned. Herodias wanted him dead. His task was to prepare the way of the Lord. He trusted Jesus, but he had to ask the question-ask so that the ones who listen would know that Jesus is the Promised One. The last thing he could do before his death, to one last time show the way to Jesus. Jesus understood John’s pain, the turmoil he was in. John would have loved to be with Jesus, to hear His voice. To love so much, to wait on God your whole life. To be near for a mere some minutes, it’s just not enough.  

Jesus knew His words would bring peace to John. And it did.

On Herod’s birthday celebration, in response to a promise he had given, John’s life was brought to an end. John was killed while in prison and his head presented on a platter to Herodias’s daughter, who asked her father for the head of John as directed by her mother.

John’s mission was completed. He had lived to point others to our Savior.
In John’s darkest moments, Jesus sent a promise to sustain John’s faith. He will do the same for us.

John’s life was a life in the desert. He lived and prepared himself to God’s calling, for one purpose alone – to point others to Jesus Christ. 

John knew his CALL!

While we cannot know why we are called into the desert, all we need to do is Hope and Believe, that where God is taking us, is where we need to be. The desert is a harsh place which will wear us down, but through it all we must remain open to God-His ways in our life. Only then we will come to experience-encounter God completely.

The question that arises is whether God has abandoned? There is this lack of feeling and absence of joy?

I believe we are called to offer whatever faithfulness we can to God in these trying times.

If you find yourself in the midst of a desert, know that we are not alone. Jesus is with you and me. Embrace the desert for what it is. And God’s love will make even the desert, however it might be-with all its heat and turmoil seem to be a beautiful place. It is said and I believe that the destination always makes the journey seem to be the most fantastic part of it all.

Jesus, after being baptized, by John went into the desert to fast and pray for 40 days where He was tempted by the devil. After rejecting temptation, this desert became the place of renewal, as Angels came to minister to Him there.
The deserts are places of both temptation and doubt, but they can also be the occasion for deep spiritual renewal.


God is leading us through our desert experience. God allows us to experience times of dryness. In our feelings of lack of God’s presence, we begin to seek Him in earnest. We come to realize Jesus saying in John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

The real desert - is a large area of land, usually in a hot region, which has almost no water, rain or trees. 

It was known for Prophets to use the isolation of the desert to grow spiritually and to surrender themselves to God. A desert experience is ‘total absence of comfort’-’total absence of everything’. And that is precisely what John did. And this - in this day and age to do is quite impossible. Talk about addiction to cells and TV and not to forget the cooling system. And yes our addiction to money and travelling. So when we speak of a desert and being in one, it is implied that our sustenance must come from God. We must rely on Him for everything because when we are in the desert we have nothing other than God to look up to. And that is what the desert experience teaches one. It teaches me that GOD is my every answer. That I am absolutely nothing without HIM. That no matter how dark and lonely it gets, God is and will always be in the deepest part of my heart. I may not hear HIM, but I know with a certainty that there is a dawn after the darkest night. 

God has a purpose for our lives! HE has a purpose for me! 

Written as guided by the Holy-Spirit. As explained by FR. ASHLYN and notes included–Bible Class.

Thank You, Abba Father.
Thank You, Jesus.
Thank You, Holy Spirit.


Please do read:
To REBUKE or not...
Rebuke 2-Trials
Rebuke 3-The Wilderness

The celebration of the MASS!