Pondering the Mysteries

After traveling somewhere, I love to look at the photos taken that portray the culture, rituals, and symbols of the places and people visited. These photos not only help me to remember the trip, but also allow me to reflect on where I have traveled, how the journey affected me, what experiences moved me, and the difference the journey made in my life.

After receiving the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist, our newly initiated members enter a time in which they reflect on their faith. This process of reflection, which is called mystagogy, helps them deepen their understanding of their experience. In the ancient Church, it was a way of teaching not only the newly initiated, but the whole community about the mysteries of faith.

Mystagogy isn’t only for the newly initiated. This way of reflecting can assist anyone in understanding their faith in new ways. The following questions will help individuals reflect mystagocially after participating in Mass:

• What did you see, feel, or hear?

• What one word or phrase captured your attention?

• What did you remember most?

• What symbol spoke to you and why?

• What did that symbol mean to you?

• What did that word or symbol or ritual say to you about God, the Church, yourself?

• How did the symbol change or challenge your perspective?

Recently, a visitor recounted his experience at Mass, and without knowing it, he revealed how he had reflected mystagogically on the liturgy. A lawyer who was all too familiar with criminal punishment, he said that he was struck by the petition in the Prayer of the Faithful for those on death row. The prayer spoke to him about the abundance of God’s love and motivated him to seek a deeper understanding of the Catholic Church’s stance on capital punishment. His perspective about who Catholics are and what we believe was challenged and changed.

Mystagogy shows us how the liturgy teaches, reinforcing a key concept of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: “Although the liturgy is above all things the worship of the divine majesty, it likewise contains rich instruction for the faithful” (33).

To discover what the liturgy teaches about faith, it is essential that the faithful arrive at Mass with eyes and ears wide open, with attentiveness and presence, ready to be amazed, challenged, and changed.

Five Minute Jesus

Using the Gospel for Prayer –Fifth Sunday of Easter May 7, 2023

It’s simple. 1. Read the Gospel for the following Sunday slowly, reflecting on the story it tells. 2. Reflect on the questions assigned for each day. 3. Make some resolution about how what you read can be lived that day. 4. Then thank God for speaking to you through this reflection.

Gospel - John 14:1-12

Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way." Thomas said to him, "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father."

Monday May 1st

Was there something in this reading that spoke to me? Comforted me? Challenged me? What was it? Why did it have this effect on me?

Tuesday May 2nd

This week we are with Jesus on the night before he dies. He is reassuring his disciples that they will not be abandoned by him. That he will in fact always welcome them into his “Father’s House”. Have you ever felt abandoned by God? If so when? What or who welcomed you back into Jesus’ Father’s House?

Wednesday May 3rd

An ancient Hindu proverb goes: “All know the way – few walk it.” Jesus reveals himself as the Way. How do we understand this? How is Jesus a “way” for us? And if we can express what his way is, do we walk it? If not, why not?

Thursday May 4th

Jesus proclaims that “no one comes to the Father except through me”. This sounds exclusive, and condemnatory of everyone who does not follow his Way. And yet this is the same Jesus who says that his law, his way, is Love, and that he has come to give life. How do you reconcile these two different faces of Jesus? Is it possible for someone to follow his way, yet not know Jesus’ name? How aware are you of when you are walking in his Way?

Friday May 5th

Jesus says to Philip that he reveals the Father. That is in fact his mission; to make “The Father” known, so that through him people might have a real relationship with him. For many this is reassuring. For others the word “father” is filled with abusive domineering memories from childhood, or experiences with priests who of course are referred to as “Father” How important is is for you that God is called Father? What other images of God do we have that communicate the love and protection, the faithfulness and support that Jesus seeks to communicate with this image of God as Father? How do those images make God known to you? How do they help you make God known to others?

Saturday May 6th

Jesus offers as proof of who he is and his relationship with the Father, his “Works”. In the Gospel they function like signs –that is something that points to a reality beyond itself. We all have faith because people have shared their experience of God with us; and it has become our own. But sooner or later we encounter “signs” pointing to the truth of what we believe. What have those signs been in my life? Were they a parent, a friend, a teacher, a nun, or a priest? Were they life events? What signs have we seen that God is active in our lives? And how have we reacted to them?