Reflection by Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D.
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Last week, several of the Seton Hall priests were in New York City for an early morning presentation. We took the train from South Orange to NY Penn Station with the intention of grabbing a cab to the uptown venue. As we were getting into our taxi, an “eager helper” opened the side door of the cab so that we could get in. Once we were all seated, he asked for a “fee” for services rendered. The driver wanted no part of this exchange and started to pull away. With that, the kind gentleman who had opened the door jumped into the cab with us! More than a little shocking to say the least (as was the verbal exchange between the driver and him!). One of the brethren reached into his pocket and gave him a couple of bucks. Our unexpected passenger disembarked abruptly, allowing the door to be shut, and we promptly made our way uptown, albeit a bit discombobulated.
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It was quite an intrusion of grace!
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But isn’t that the way God sometimes works – bursting into our comfortable little worlds and saying to us: “Move over a bit, would you?” More often than not, we are left stunned, surprised, or even shocked. Grace can be welcome or unwelcome, sought out or unexpected, even pushing its way in. The tides of God’s grace move as they will. At times, the waves flow over and about us, and we can feel disoriented. Yet we cannot help but trust in God’s grace, born of deep love and extravagant mercy. And so, we open our hearts with expectation and welcome the One who ever welcomes us, saints, and sinners alike.
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The Season of Lent is all about welcoming grace. It’s now Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, and the graces of these most sacred days are there for us to claim and to make our own. On Ash Wednesday, we began Lent by blessing ashes with these pregnant words: “Let us humbly ask God our Father to be pleased to bless with the abundance of his grace these ashes.”
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Now, towards the tail end of this holy journey, you and I are invited most solemnly to take up these invitations to grace. May we make ourselves present, physically, and spiritually, so that we can receive these graces in abundance.
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Almighty, ever-living God,
who as an example of humility for the human race to follow
caused our Savior to take flesh and submit to the Cross,
graciously grant that we may heed his lesson of patient suffering
and so merit a share in his Resurrection.
- Collect from Mass on Palm Sunday
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Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D., Vice Provost for Academics and Catholic Identity Seton Hall University and Rector/Dean Emeritus, Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. He holds a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, a licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum, Rome, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Fordham University. He has served as a member of the Archdiocesan Priest Personnel Board, the Advisory Committee on Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, the Archdiocesan Vocations Board, and the Board of Trustees of Seton Hall University. Pope John Paul II named him a Chaplain to His Holiness in 2005, with the title of Reverend Monsignor. In 2016 during the Holy Year of Mercy, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization sought priests who were living signs "of the Father's welcome to all those in search of His forgiveness." He was the only priest from the Archdiocese of Newark formally commissioned as a Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis.
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