Here is the reflection I gave during Vespers at St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017. The reflection is based on the first reading for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A: Isaiah 25:6-10a.
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I didn’t know it could be so big. When I was living in California, Filipinos were selling lumpia after Mass. Lumpia is like a Chinese spring roll, but instead of vegetables, it would be stuffed with meat. When I was a kid, it was 2-3 inches long. The lumpia sold that day was a foot. A FOOT LONG. Wow, I didn’t know it could be so big. Each one was just as delicious as those I had as a kid in New York.
The passage from Isaiah reminds us that God is planning a beautiful future bigger than we can ever imagine. God will serve not just any food, but “juicy, rich food”; not any wine, but “pure, choice wine.” Even the graces we’ll receive won’t be tiny. In fact, they’ll be huge. At the Last Supper, Jesus took ordinary bread and wine and transformed them into His own body and blood. We are fed at each Mass with abundant graces for our journey. Yet he gave one more thing.
Before he died, Jesus from the cross gave us, through the Beloved Disciple, Mary, the treasure of his heart. The treasure of his heart. She appeals to his heart to obtain mercy for us. She appeals to us to hear her son. In Fatima, Mary says that her Immaculate Heart will triumph.
A day after the 100th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, I ask you this question: Has her Immaculate Heart triumphed in your heart? Has her Immaculate Heart triumphed in your heart? Or have you put Mary in the corner of your heart, given her a bunch of roses and thought nothing more of her?
My brothers, the Virgin Mary wants to do so much more for you. An ounce of her help and love can lighten burdens, untangle messes and defeat temptations. But mostly she wants to love you deeply. In that way, she’ll nurture and draw out our unique reflection of her son, Jesus. Basically, she’ll make you a saint.
But how can we expect God’s beautiful plan for our happiness when we are not open to God’s gifts right now? Let’s first accept Jesus’ gift of his mother to us. Give Mary permission daily to surprise you with her love.
Let Mary love you. Let her conquer. Let her Immaculate Heart triumph in your heart.
Live the Essentials 