Calendar

Leader's School
Thur June 6, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA
RE classroom #8

Ultreya-Tulsa
Fri June 7, 7:00pm
St. Mary's, Tulsa

Ultreya-BA
Fri June 21, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA

Leader's School
Thur July 11, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA
RE classroom #8

Ultreya-Tulsa
Fri July 5, 7:00pm
St. Mary's, Tulsa

Ultreya-BA
Fri July 19, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA

Men's Weekend #31
Sept 26-29, 2002
St. John's, McAlester

Women's Weekend #31
Oct 10-13, 2002
St. John's, McAlester

SPIRITUALITY 101
SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 120
Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

The great scientist Einstein was asked how he had disciplined his mind to the degree that he could come to be so productive in science. He replied "early in my career I came to the realization that only through humble obedience to the natural laws of God was I able to know the truths of the universe. When in humility I bowed my head in obedience to the instruments of scientific study they revealed to me the truths of science."

Only by bowing our head in humble obedience to the will of God who gave design and order to the natural universe can we find truth in our lives.

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3rd stage
DEVOTIONALS- MEDITATION-SACRAMENTALS-THE ROSARY-47
The Mysteries of the Rosary-5
THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES: The Fifth Joyful Mystery
The finding of Jesus in the Temple: Luke 2:41-52

Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who hear him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them, and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.

Our Blessed mother, remembering the annunciation, knew that her Son was of God, and that he was the promised Emanuel, God with us. Remembering the words of Simeon, she also knew that He was to be the cause of the rise and fall of many in Israel, that he was to be contradicted and that a sword was to pierce her heart as well. When she could not find Jesus, she must have wondered if this was the time for the piercing sword. Her heart was pierced with anxiety of being separated from her son.

We can easily understand that during the three days when Jesus was lost , he was dead to His parents. This event looks forward to His three days in the tomb. His finding in the temple parallel's His resurrection from the dead. In a more existential view, applying this event to our lives, the separation from Jesus allowed Mary, who was sinless, to experience something of the dilemma of our personal sin. Although she was not destined to take our sins upon herself as did Jesus, she was allowed to share the feeling of aloneness that accompanies our personal separation from Christ. In this she maintains solidarity with us when we, through misuse of our will separate ourselves from Him. When we are separated from Jesus, we feel an emptiness and anxiety until we find Him again in reconciliation. We like Mary seek him in anxiety, not because we are worried about what has happened to Him, but of the devastation that sin produces in our soul. As our spiritual mother Mary is able through her intercession with her Son, to strengthen us against sin. The prayers of all mothers have great power in heaven and the prayers of our Blessed Mother are always effective.

The response that Jesus gave to his parents, the first words He speaks in Scripture, teaches us an important lesson. Although a major responsibility in life is to honor our parents, above them we owe honor to God. When Jesus announced His mission, "I must be in my Father's house," he reminds us also of our mission. Through sacramental grace of Baptism, we not only must be in our Father's house, but we must at the same time be our Father's house. Through Baptism, we each become the temple of the Holy Spirit, God living within our soul. This miracle of a spiritual life within our soul, in which we live with God in wondrous intimacy provides us the mission of our lives. We must keep the temple pure and free of all sin.

Although we receive adequate grace in every sacrament we celebrate we do not immediately come to acceptance of the presence of God within us. It is necessary that we grow in this realization through prayer, penance, reparation and obedience to His commandments. In this manner we, like Jesus grow in wisdom and age and favor before God and man. The critical element of our progress in this growth is obedience. As Mary was obedient to the will of God and Jesus was obedient to His Father's will, we must be obedient to the Holy Spirit. The will of the Holy Spirit is expressed in His commandments, the teachings of His Church and the duties of our responsibilities in life. The virtue of obedience in each of these circumstances supports all the other virtues. Since obedience is a perfection of charity, it provides the foundation for our faith, and provides certainty in our hope.

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM
ARTICLE NO. 1108
THE COMMUNION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches (Jn 15:1-17; Gal 5:22) The most intimate cooperation of the Holy Spirit and the Church is achieved in the liturgy. The Spirit, who is the Spirit of communion, abides indefectibly in the Church. For this reason the Church is the great sacrament of divine communion which gathers God's scattered children together. Communion with the Holy Trinity and fraternal communion are inseparably the fruit of the Spirit in the liturgy. (1 Jn 1:3-7)

ARTICLE NO. 1109
The epiclesis is also a prayer of the full effect of the assembly's communion with the mystery of Christ. "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit" (2 Cor 13:13) have to remain with us always and bear fruit beyond the Eucharistic celebration. The Church therefore asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their spiritual transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church's unity, and by taking part in her mission through the witness and service of charity.

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Holy Body united
Spirit excited
Vineyard nourished
Intimacy flourished
Spirit of communion
Church in union
Holy vines exhibit
Fruit of the Spirit
Cooperative intimacy
Of Spirits efficacy
Church is reside
Of Spirit's abide
Gathers God's children
Each one is bidden
To faith filled living
Spiritual transformation
Holy images emanation
Grace without limit
Fruit of the Spirit

Ó2002 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS