Good News Flash #4!

Did you know we have daily Scripture Reflections on our website?

Those who read these reflections have the opportunity to write comments and sometimes we have priests who come on and give a teaching on the Scripture. It is amazing!

Here is a teaching from Father Michael J. for the Reflection from Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Friday of the second week of Easter, MAY 2, 2025. (Click this link for full context.)

CONTEXT:

Acts 5:34-42

REFLECTION:

I read today’s passage, and I feel nothing. It’s as though my heart is dead. Yet when I place two fingers on my carotid artery, there’s still a pulse. My heart is still beating, even if I don’t feel it. My faith feels the same: no emotion, just a pulse I didn’t ask for, but one that God continues to sustain.

The part where the apostles rejoice after being flogged for Christ baffles me. In my emptiness, something still stirs. My mind recognizes the joy they felt, even if my heart cannot. And that’s fascinating. It is as if God reaches through my numbness with a whisper of truth. Not a feeling, but a flicker of understanding. I feel nothing, yet He still captivates me in my nothingness.

It’s like how Jesus transformed the crucifixion, a tool of torture, into a symbol of love. He took something meant to break and destroy, and turned it into the very source of our salvation. In the same way, even in my spiritual numbness, there remains the potential for transformation. God is still at work.

That quiet fascination is grace. Not earned, not deserved, not even fully welcomed, but there nonetheless. Maybe that is what faith sometimes is: not emotional highs, but “rejoicing to be found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the Name.” And somehow, that recognition is enough to keep believing, even when my world has become an abyss.

Father's Teaching comment.

Salve Princess Ann:

God bless you.

"As though" your heart "is dead" and yet "still beating" because "God sustains it."

And You, Ann, breathe still.

The Sacred Heart of the Risen Lord broke on the Cross and remains broken.

He brought His Broken Heart to His Heavenly Father as a present and now He is offering His Broken Heart to you.

Does it have a pulse? 

Does it hurt?

Does it feel anything?

Humanly speaking, it stands to reason, no!

Divinely speaking, it oozes out mercy and compassion and healing chrism.

In a word, the Broken Sacred Heart of the Risen Lord breathes.

He came to the eleven Apostles and blessed them with "Shalom," that is, His Healing Peace and Pardon." Then He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit..."

Here is a fact.

Even though you and I and everyone else, including the Risen Lord and all His Saints may not have our hearts synchronized with the same rhythm, we breathe still.

We could synchronize our breathing rhythm with that of the Risen Lord and let Him breathe into us His Holy Spirit.

Breathing out belongs to us.

Breathing in belongs to Him.

In fact, we don't even breathe in. The Risen Lord blows His life-giving Spirit into our numbed limbs and broken life. He breathes His own life into our hearts.

This is PAPA's Spiritual Exercise. 

Papa does this non-stop.

Breathe in JESUS

Breathe out JESUS.

We make use of our numbness and nothingness as room for the Risen Lord to breathe His Holy Spirit into us.

HAPPY EASTER! Princess Ann.

Christo Anesti!

Pax Christi