19^th C Terrace, 2010

by Fr. Terry Brock, Sacred Heart Parish, Terrace, BC

1. Brief reflection on the passage from Wisdom, “the holy children of good people.”

2. Brief reflection on the Gospel: “Do not be afraid … you must be ready … and it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

As I reflect on the passage from Wisdom i.e. “the children of good families” and on the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel, i.e. to “not be afraid” and to “be ready” and to know that it is “the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”, I found myself looking inward to the inner me, my soul, my being image and likeness of God. These thoughts came to me because I am presently reading Pope Benedict’s reflections on the Fathers of the Church and just recently I read the words of St. Gregory of Nyssa and the commentary of Pope Benedict on those words. Here are the words of St. Gregory of Nyssa: “The sky was not made in God’s image, not the moon, not the sun, not the beauty of the stars, no other things which appear in creation. Only you (human soul) were made to be the image of nature that surpasses every intellect, likeness of incorruptible beauty, mark of true divinity, vessel of blessed life, image of true light, that when you look upon it you become what he is, because through the reflected ray coming from your purity you imitate him who shines within you. Nothing that exists can measure up to your greatness.” (Homilia n Canticum 2: PG 44, 805d)

18^th C Terrace, 2010

by Fr. Terry Brock, Sacred Heart Parish, Terrace, BC

Today/yesterday is the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. Prior to his conversion, i.e. a complete 180 degree turn around, Ignatius lived a life of mediocrity. He was consumed with self and the pleasures of this world. After he was severely wounded in battle and while convalescing in the hospital, he asked for books of fiction and tales of knight-errantry, i.e. knights in shining armour. Instead he was given a life of Christ and a collection of the lives of the saints. In reading the lives of the saints, he felt attracted to their manner of living and reasoned to himself that he could live a life similar to these men whose lives he reflected on in the books. St. Ignatius said: “When I reflected on worldly thoughts, I felt intense pleasure; but when I gave them up out of weariness, I felt dry and depressed.” This is a good description of sin, intense pleasure, followed by weariness and depression. “Yet when he thought of living the rigorous sort of life he knew the saints had lived, he not only experienced pleasure when he actually thought about it, but even after he dismissed these thoughts,” … later he realized that thoughts of one kind left him sad but thoughts of another kind, full of joy. It was this experience that led him to formulate his spiritual exercises and the discernment of spirits.