The man in today’s Gospel scene takes a tremendous risk by approaching Jesus. He is a leper and so considered unclean. The appropriate response when someone was coming into his general vicinity was to give as wide a berth as possible, if not remove themselves from view, or to make themselves known to be unclean to any passerby.

This state of uncleanness was not a mere sense of hygiene. This was considered ritual impurity. So anyone touching or being touched by a leper would be considered unclean. For this reason, lepers were ostracized from family, friends, and the larger community socially as well as being forbidden to worship. This is a horrific state to find oneself in, for as human beings we are social beings who want to belong, to be a part of, and to be loved.

The leper cast aside all social norms and fell prostrate before Jesus and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean” (Lk 5:12). Jesus knew full well the social norms, and it is very telling that not only did Jesus heal the man, but he did so by placing his hand on the man. He could have easily said, “I do will it. Be made clean” (Lk 5:13), without touching him and the man would have been healed. There are Gospel accounts of Jesus doing just that.

Jesus says more in his willingness to touch the leper than he does even with words of healing. He does not keep him at a distance but instead places himself on the same level as the man. Neither does Jesus become unclean, but the man becomes clean and the tremendous stigma of him having to be separated from the human touch is removed. With that simple touch, Jesus comes close and in doing so, the man will no longer be kept at arm’s length but restored to his community and the opportunity for fellowship.

This is what the Son of God has come to do. He has come close to all of us. He has become human so we can see the face of God, we can feel the tenderness of his touch, and we are understood when no one else can or is willing to do so. Jesus has come close so that we know that we are not alone, that we are loved more than we can ever imagine, more than we can ever mess up, more than our worst mistake, or sin. Jesus has come close so we can experience how it is to belong, to be loved and cared for as we are. Having received this wonderful gift, we are to come close also to those who have for too long been kept at arm’s length and love them as Jesus has loved us.

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Photo: Logo from the Leprosy Mission in Australia

Link for the Mass reading for Friday, January 10, 2020

He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21).

Jesus, who had just sat down, spoke these words to his hometown congregation in Nazareth who had just heard him read the passage from the writings of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus proclaimed that he was the one to whom Isaiah was talking about. Luke chose to place this event as the starting point of Jesus’ public ministry, of bringing glad tidings to the poor, proclaiming liberty to the captives, recovering sight to the blind, letting the oppressed go free, and proclaiming a year acceptable to the Lord (Lk 4:18-19).

This message of universal healing for all of humanity, restoration and reconciliation for all people would be the mission of Jesus. He presents to his hometown folk the message that he would be the vehicle to bring the love and redemptive work of his Father to all the nations, to invite all people to be aware of the reality present to them: that God his Father is inviting all into communion and relationship. The poor mentioned were not just in reference to those experiencing material poverty, but also to those finding themselves on the margins of society, the outcasts, those on the peripheries. The captives were not only those imprisoned for debts or crimes but those bound in the chains of their own sin and addiction. The blind were not only those who could not physically see but those who experienced the spiritual blindness of pride and arrogance. The oppressed were not just those under the iron fist of totalitarian and dictatorial regimes, but those pressed down through their own self imposed anxieties and fears.

In what ways are we in need of Jesus’ teaching, healing and restorative power? What is keeping us on the peripheries, apart from communion and fellowship? What sins and addiction keep us bound, what fears and anxieties keep us oppressed? What is keeping us blind to the reality that God is in our midst and seeking a deeper relationship with us? Today we hear or read again Jesus’ words proclaimed in the Gospel. Jesus invites us to be healed and to align ourselves with his will and ministry of loving service to others.

The same words Jesus spoke to the people of his own hometown he is speaking to us. Will we hold on to our biases and prejudices, to our tribe, our nation, our political party? Or will we come to Jesus, kneel before him, acknowledge our need for his healing and make him the Lord of our life? We can embrace the uniqueness of how God created us as individuals while at the same time engage with an open and welcoming posture that respects the rich diversity of all the nations and peoples.

Let us spend some time today examining our conscience. Then come to Jesus with a contrite, sorrowful heart for what we have done and what we have failed to do. May we feel his healing hands on our bowed heads and the warmth of his forgiveness and love pouring through us as we are purged of our sin and pride. Then, in recognition of how much suffering and pain is present in our country and world, let us ask Jesus how and where we can participate with him in bringing healing and reconciliation to others, to bring about an “acceptable year of the Lord” in 2020 (Lk 4:19).

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Photo: Tapestries of the saints hanging in the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, CA.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, January 9, 2020

And when he had taken leave of them, he went off to the mountain to pray (Mk 6:46). We often read in the Gospels that Jesus went off by himself to pray. I am sure this was not a practice that he began during his public ministry, but one that he learned and developed from Mary and Joseph. The Apostles themselves witnessed Jesus praying, and in the account of Luke 11:1, one of his disciples asked Jesus to pray.

Pope Francis in a general audience he gave in 2013 shared that, “the Church is apostolic because she is founded on the preaching and prayer of the apostles” (Francis 2014, 37). Jesus prayed, he taught his Apostles to pray, and we are at our best when we are people of prayer. We hear of prayer and that we need to pray, but what is prayer and how do we pray?

That we even desire to pray, that we even want to be closer to God is already a prayer. This is true because we are experiencing an invitation from God to draw close to him, to develop a relationship with him, to come to know the one who knows us better than we know our self.

Fr. William Barry in his book, God and You, describes how prayer is becoming consciously aware of our relationship with God. This helps to counter the idea that God is like a gumball machine in the sky, we just need to say the right types of prayers, be good, say them in the proper order and we will get what we want, we will be happy. “God is in relationship with each and every created thing in the universe and in relationship to the whole of it… whether that being is aware of the relationship or not.” The amazing thing about God is that “he will not force himself on us. He continually tries to arouse our awareness and interest in him” (Barry 1987, 12-13).

God reaches out to us in so many ways such as a majestic sunrise or sunset, the ebb and flow of the waves on a beach, and the brilliant radiance of a starlit sky. He can also do so through our trials of sickness, pain, others who are being hurt, or encountering injustice, he is also present through our every day relationships and experiences. The key is to be aware of what is being stirred up within us when we experience something and allow ourselves to “wonder about the experience and its meaning” (Barry, 13).

What is most important regarding becoming people of prayer is our awareness, our becoming conscious that we have a relationship with God. “This relationship is based on God’s actions to establish it and his desire that we become conscious of who he is and wants to be for us. Our consciousness depends on our willingness to pay attention to God’s actions, or at least to experiences that might be actions of God, and to let our desires for God be aroused” (Barry, 14).

Another question that Fr. Barry answers regarding prayer is that if God knows everything about us, why bother to pray at all? God is not just wanting information, he is inviting us to a relationship. He wants to know whether we believe he cares how we feel and whether we are willing to let him in, to let him know what we feel and desire. We need to be honest in our dialogue of prayer and be willing to reveal ourselves to God, while at the same time, be open and willing to allow him to reveal what he seeks to reveal of himself to us. This is how we build authentic relationships with God and each other (cf. Barry, 15).

Jesus, we feel your invitation in so many small ways each day, though often, we allow our harried pace, distractions, and temptations to lead us away from the gift of your presence. Please help us to slow down and rest in the wonder of how God our Father is present to us and the love of the Holy Spirit is working in our life each and every day. Help us to realize we do not need to be perfect to come to you, to say the right words to be heard by you, nor to feel that we have to say any word at all, but we can just rest in your loving gaze. Help us to be conscious, to be aware of how much God cares about us, that he is interested in how we feel and what we think. Help us to remember that we are all called to be holy, to be saints, to be mystics because you call each and every one of us to be in a relationship with you.

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Photo: Hiking at Fort Funston Beach in San Francisco, CA during Thanksgiving with Mia, Jack, Christy, and Harley.

Barry, William A. S.J. God and You: Prayer as a Personal Relationship by William Barry SJ. New York: Paulist Press, 1987.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, January 8, 2020

We can observe two movements of Jesus going out to serve others in today’s Gospel. The first is evident in the beginning verse: “When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things” (Mk 6:34). Jesus witnessed their deeper, spiritual hunger. The crowd gathered around Jesus for they were hungry, yet they were not even aware of the depth of their hunger.

Surely, they heard the accounts of Jesus preaching with authority, his healings, and exorcisms. They wondered if he could be the Messiah, the one who had been promised, present now in their midst. Yet, for the vast number of them, if not all gathered, they sought a leader, that Jesus was not. He was not to be a mighty military leader, he would not train his followers in guerilla warfare, and Jesus would not conquer the Roman occupation with might.

After his teaching, the time grew late and he and his disciples were aware of the hunger of the crowd. The disciples only saw the five loaves and two fish that were present, barely if enough to feed the Twelve, let alone the vast multitude. Their first instinct was to send them on their way such that they could fend for themselves. Jesus, who knew the Father, knew there were no limitations to his providential care. Jesus: Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves and gave them to [his] disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all (Mk 6:41).

Jesus shepherded and provided nourishment for five thousand men, so if that number was not including women and children, the number could have been easily doubled, and all ate and were satisfied (Mk 6:42). Jesus was aware of their deepest needs and provided for them. Jesus knew their spiritual hunger as well as their physical hunger, better than those who came to listen to him.

Are we so different today? We think we know what we need, but how many times are they really apparent goods or substitutes for what we truly hunger for deep down? We continually strive to be autonomous, self-sufficient, able to control and govern our own affairs. We witness this when the disciples wanted to send off the people to get their own food, and they would deal with the meager amount they had. Yet, this is counter to who we have been created to be.

Jesus showed his disciples time and again the way of God was not self-sufficiency, but self-surrender. They were and we are to place our complete reliance on God. We are to allow ourselves to be loved by God and so love others in return. This is not an emotion but an act of being aware of another in their time of need, being present, and allowing God to happen. “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). May we turn our heart and mind to God daily so to receive and savor his love, so to be moved to love and serve him in one another in turn.

Photo from pexels.com

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, January 7, 2019

In yesterday’s Gospel reading we celebrated the Epiphany, in which the three magi encountered Jesus. They left changed, no longer following a star to find a king, but bearing the light of Christ from their encounter. Next Sunday we will recall the Baptism of Jesus by John. Today the daily readings jump ahead to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. John the Baptist has been arrested. He must decrease and Jesus increases.

Jesus inaugurates his ministry echoing the words of John’s ministry: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17). John prepared the way for the Kingdom to come, Jesus himself in his person is the Kingdom of heaven. Heaven is not so much a place but a state of communion with God, and who better to embody the reality of heaven than the Son of God in our midst. He who remained fully divine, in communion with his Father, while becoming human and living among us.

Jesus proclaimed his promise of the Kingdom to his people who were suffering. He is the one who has been promised. Jesus is the fulfillment of their greatest hope. Matthew summarized the ministry of Jesus thus: “He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people” (Mt 4:23).

Jesus provided hope and healing to those who were losing hope, a people struggling, and in pain. Jesus taught the way, the truth and the life with authority, providing light amidst the growing darkness. He did so through not only being the Kingdom in their midst, not only being their light to guide their way, but also empowering and freeing them from their slavery to the sin that kept them bound. He helped them to see that they could not be enslaved by anyone or anything. Jesus helped the people to see that what kept them bound was their separation from God.

Jesus did not only come to the people of Galilee two thousand years ago. His message and person is meant for everyone. Jesus proclaims his message again to us today, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17). There is no better new year’s resolution to begin with than this! Jesus is still present to us, providing hope and healing, providing his presence of love and mercy, providing his teaching which shines a light in our darkness, and he is empowering us to receive his gift so that we too can rise up freed from our slavery to our own selfishness and sin. May we decrease so to allow Jesus to increase. In this way, we too will bear Christ and empower others as we provide the same presence of his love, mercy, and forgiveness with those in our midst.

Photo: Out for an evening walk last night.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, January 6, 2020.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage” (Mt 2:1-2).

At some point as they approached Jerusalem, the magi lost track of the star, did it become cloudy, did they close in on the city during the day, or did they believe it was the proper protocol that in entering the city they ought to check in with Herod first before proceeding? We don’t know. But somehow these magi were led by a star with the belief that they were to pay homage to the king of the Jews in a distant land.

What drew them from their home miles away? What inspired them to leave the comfort of their everyday routine? This was no easy journey, and it was a risky adventure. Yet something or someone inspired them, invited them to come. They said yes. And though they were misdirected for a time, when they left the audience of King Herod and resumed their pilgrimage, they again saw the star and were “overjoyed” (Mt 2:10).

That joy must have multiplied when they prostrated themselves before the baby king, the one who they risked and sought all for they had now found. In reality, their journey had only begun. Their lives would be forever changed and they would go back a different way than they came. The magi would not return to Herod, nor would they return to their home quite the same. They would not return from this journey and just go back to business as usual. The magi carried within them their encounter with the Christ; the light that drew them, they now carried inside of them.

They would proclaim him in the East. The magi did what they were called to do, to encounter the Christ and bring his light to the world. They and those who followed the same invitation are why we are still able to hear this same message today.

Today is the feast of Epiphany, and it is on this day that we celebrate that the King of the Jews, Jesus the Christ, has made his salvation known to the whole world. The manifestation of God’s glory came to the Jews first as the chosen people of God and then to all the Nations. The Son of God has become one of us and one with us so that all people are given the offer to be saved.

We too are invited. We like the magi are called to put the light of Christ first in our life. Let us seek each day to encounter him and his plan. Distractions, diversions, and temptations, many appealing and apparent goods will reach out to grasp at us and lead us astray, yet to put Jesus first will help all other priorities to fall into their proper order and place.

Bishop Robert Barron in his book, To Light a Fire on Earth, writes about becoming part of God’s “Theodrama”, using the Swiss theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar’s term. God is directing all of creation, all of the cosmos, and each of us to play our part. “The key”, Bishop Barron writes, “is to find the role that God has designed for us, even if it looks like a bit part… When, through faith, we see every moment and every creature as an ingredient in the divine plan, when we know that there is a gracious providence at work in the universe, we live in joyful surrender and with a great sense of wonder.”

This is what the Epiphany is about. Jesus manifesting his light to us so that we can finally come to see that we are not the center of the universe, but he is. “When we decenter the ego, and live in exciting and unpredictable relationship to God, we realize very clearly that our lives are not about us. And that’s a liberating discovery” (Barron 2017, 164-165).
May we follow the lead of the magi, and prostrate ourselves before our Lord and Savior. Let us lay face down and surrender to him our all and when ready, rise again forever changed, ready to go forth and proclaim the Gospel of the Lord!

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Photo: The Magi following the star accessed from http://www.free-hdwallpapers.com/wallpapers.com

Barron, Robert and John L. Allen Jr. To Light a Fire on the Earth. New York: Image, 2017.

Link for today’s reading of the Mass for Sunday, January 5, 2020

After hearing John the Baptist point out Jesus as the Lamb of God, Andrew and another disciple of John seem to understand the meaning of what John means. The two follow Jesus as he walks by them. Jesus senses they are behind him. He stops, faces them, and asks, “What are you looking for?”

Their response to the question, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher) “where are you staying?” (Jn 1:38), is odd. Unless we understand that, in fact, the two disciples of John did not grasp the full relevance of John calling Jesus the Lamb of God after all. They related to Jesus, from the context of what they knew, their default position, as a rabbi, a teacher. Most rabbis of the time would have a place where they would gather their disciples and teach them. Another thought is that they did not want to come right out and say, “Jesus, are you the Messiah?”, there was some doubt, so they went with addressing him as rabbi.

Jesus said: “Come and you will see” (Jn 1:39). Andrew and the disciple then spent the day with Jesus and that made all the difference. If Andrew had any doubt before, it was now gone. We do not know what he experienced with Jesus in their time together, but the first thing that Andrew does is go and tell Simon his brother that he had found the Messiah, the Anointed, the Christ! There was no hesitation. He wanted to share what he had seen and experienced. Most likely as we hear time and again in the Gospels, Andrew witnessed some or all of these examples: the blind saw, the deaf heard, the lame walked, the possessed were exorcised, sins were forgiven, and Jesus taught with authority.

May we place our self in this scene of the Gospel today and follow the finger of John the Baptist who points over to this man walking by us at a pretty good clip. As we turn to follow, the brightness of the morning sun catches our eyes. We squint, look down, and lose him for a moment, but take a few steps to keep pace. We hear the crunch of the stone and sand under our sandals and as we look up again, Jesus has turned to face us. He is smiling, his eyes are inviting as is his question: “What are you looking for” (Jn 1:38).

Stay with the scene. How do you answer, and what happens next? Allow your imagination and senses to come alive. Place your self at this moment as best as you can. Be aware of any emotions or thoughts that arise. This is not just a mind game. Fr. James Martin, SJ, teaches that in the practice of Ignatian contemplation, “If God can work through relationships, sacraments, and  Scripture, then God can work through the gift of our imaginations so we can draw closer to him in prayer.” Allow yourself some time with Jesus today as Andrew did.

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Photo: The Holy Face of Jesus by Samuel Epperly – pixels.com

Link for Fr. James Martin, SJ talk on Ignatian Contemplation. The presentation is only 4:40 seconds long and is a part of a series of YouTube videos he presented on prayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CI4YjQEijI

Link for today’s Mass reading from Saturday, January 4, 2020

John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).

The unblemished lamb is the animal that is sacrificed at the Passover meal, commemorating when the angel of death passed over the Hebrews whose doorposts were marked with the blood of the lamb. The next day they were freed from their slavery under the pharaoh and the exodus event began culminating in their passing through the Red Sea to freedom.

The Son of God became the Lamb of God as he became human. He experienced laughter, pain, suffering, love, tears, and temptation, but he did not sin. The only one who can take away sins is God. The second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, while remaining fully divine, became human so that what he took upon himself in his human condition, he redeemed. As the Lamb of God, Jesus approached John for baptism. He took upon the sin of the world and submitted his divinity to his humanity and was willing to be baptized as a foreshadowing of his crucifixion on the Cross, the Lamb slain in atonement for our sins.

The act of the Incarnation, becoming fully human while remaining fully divine, was the premiere act of mercy, in that Jesus entered the chaos and woundedness of our lives. He did so for each and every one of us, to be one with us, to understand and experience our struggles, our temptations, and to lead us to freedom from our sin, from our turning away from his Father who only wants the best for us, who loves us so much he is willing to let us reject him.

Alone we cannot be redeemed, we cannot be fully healed or restored to who we have been created to be. We need a savior. Jesus is more than a model to follow or a teacher to guide us, he became one with us in our humanity to lift us up out of our brokenness. In saying yes to his invitation, we can say with Paul, “yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). This is the gift we have received again this Christmas, access to the divine power of the Love between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus holds his hand out to each one of us today. May we receive his hand in our own, and as our fingers touch his palm may we feel the wound there, embrace the remembrance of the nail that pierced his flesh, the pain that he endured, so we could have this very moment with him. Even in our brokenness, anxiety, confusion, fear, and sin, may we resist pulling away. May we feel the warmth of his hand grip ours, let his wound heal ours. Let your gaze be drawn up to see his face, his smile, his forgiveness, his love.

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Behold the Lamb of God who takes away our sin and restores us to life.

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Photo: Statue of Mary and Jesus on the front grounds of Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, Oceanside, CA

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, January 3, 2020

“Who are you” (Jn 1:19)? John did not claim or pretend to be something that he was not. He was clear who he was, he was clear of his place in serving God, and he was clear about the mission God gave him. He was preparing the way of the Lord. John shared that “there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie” (Jn 1:26-27).

The question also arose about who Jesus was. It was a question that was addressed during the early development of the Church’s Christology and still arises today. The readings of the Christmas Season, that we are still celebrating liturgically, in fact, all four Gospels, address the question of who Jesus is.

The various heresies in the Church surrounded this question. From the Annunciation, we recognize that at his conception in the womb of Mary Jesus remained fully God and became fully human. He did not become the Christ at his baptism as the heresy of Adoptionism would propose. Nor was Jesus a powerful created being as the priest Arius would propose in the third century. We counter the heresy of Arianism every Sunday when we recite in the Nicene Creed: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him, all things were made.”

Arianism taught that Jesus was a created being, the highest of beings made by God, but created none the less. The Church teaches that Jesus is begotten not made. He was, is, and always will be God, the Second Person of the Trinity. He is God the Son consubstantial, homoousios, which means of one and the same substance as God the Father. The Father and the Son are one in substance, yet distinct in their operation. The Father begets, the Son is begotten.

Adoptionism and Arianism are but two of the early heresies that arose, of which Arianism gained more of a following. Arianism still rears its head today in practice as it did then because of the unwillingness of those who will not acknowledge that the divine could become human. This goes back to our starting question that was asked about John. “Who are you?”

We are human beings created in the image and likeness of God. We are physical beings with a rational soul, we are invited to embrace the reality that we are human and through our participation in the life of Jesus, we also become divine. Do we reject our humanity, our created status, trying to determine our own destiny on our own terms, to put ourselves in the place of God, or are we like John the Baptist, and acknowledge the gift of who we are and the mission God invites us to participate in?

As we continue to celebrate this Christmas Season and the new year that has just begun, may we embrace who we have been created to be, a unique person, never created before nor will we ever be again, with a particular vocation and part to play in building up of the reign of God. We will come to know our purpose and find meaning in our life as we follow the lead of Mary and John the Baptist, which is to make time to ponder and align our human will with the divine will of God. As we collaborate with Jesus in all the decisions we are to make, the smallest to the biggest, let us pray for a heart, mind, and soul that is open to following the love of the Holy Spirit so we can know the mission that the Father has given us and begin to live it each day.

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Photo: I believe this was my senior year of high school or just after graduation, on a CT beach, ’82 or ’83, pondering God’s direction. More pondering to do this year 😉

Link for today’s Mass readings for Thursday, January 2, 2020

Reflection for Wednesday, the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God.

Mary offers us a wonderful gift today as we begin the new year together. “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). Gabriel shares with Mary that she will conceive a child through the power of the Holy Spirit, her relative Elizabeth, who is past childbearing years, is six months pregnant when Mary and Elizabeth meet John leaps in the womb of Elizabeth, the shepherds convey the message they received from the angels that Mary’s baby is the long-awaited Messiah, Simeon and Anna offer prophetic confirmation that Jesus is the Messiah.

These are events to ponder, not to just take at face value and move on. The Church at her best has followed the model of Mary’s reflection, pondering, and meditating on what these words mean and has come to call this day the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. This title says more about Jesus than it does about Mary. This is the teaching that the Church Fathers confirmed during the council of Ephesus in 431 AD:

Mary is the Mother of God, in Greek – Theotokos – the God-bearer.

The full divinity of the Son of God was present at the conception of Jesus. He remained fully divine as the second Person of the Trinity and the Holy Trinity was not diminished in any way as he developed as a human being in the womb and was born of Mary. This is the Mystery of the hypostatic union: Jesus is one divine person subsisting in two natures the human and divine.

Theological insights such as Mary being the Mother of God, the hypostatic union of Jesus, are easily missed or worse dismissed if we conform ourselves to the present age of instant gratification, instant access, surfing, swiping, taking in sound bytes from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and amassing information overload. All of these technological avenues can be wonderful if we stop, slow down, and as Mary did, ponder what they offer.

If we still read books, do we do so with pencil and highlighter in hand, take notes and go back to those points underlined, highlighted, and or annotated and ponder the insights we have received? Or do we just have a moment of pause and say hmm, interesting, and then move on to the next factoid?

May today, the first day of the new year, be a day to take a few deep breaths, slow down, and commit to a practice of daily pondering. We can reflect on a word, a phrase, or a short statement that we write down and return to it often. The phrase could be as simple as a paraphrase from today’s reading: Mary pondered on these things in her heart. Let us reflect on where God has been calling us to stop and take a deeper look at our lives. It could be one word: Theotokos, expressing that Mary is the God-bearer, the Mother of God and what that means to us in our lives. We can meditate on a picture like the one I posted with this reflection.

If we seek to live a life of joy and fulfillment in 2020, we would do well to follow the model of Mary. May we also assume a posture of pondering and a willingness to slow down and reflect on life, on what is important, what has value, where we are putting our time and effort, and recognizing where God is and is not welcome in our life. Otherwise, we may just float along through another year indecisively or stagnantly with indifference or cynicism, merely reacting to situations that arise, or just plodding along in survival mode or merely bored and listless. Being still can be a scary moment because as we do so, our fears, our past hurts, and our loneliness can arise.

Yet in that willful act of stopping, the Holy Spirit can embrace us with his love, so we can begin to heal and transform beyond merely existing, so to set a course of being fully alive and in love with life. Hand in hand with Jesus, we can face our fears, and heal from our wounds, so to be better engaged in our lives by experiencing more meaning and purpose. Conformed to the life and love of Jesus, we will realize that we are not alone, and so can build more authentic and intimate relationships, we can act more decisively and with greater clarity, and experience more fully what we are here for, to bring a little more tenderness, mercy, understanding, forgiveness, and love to the many others around us who are wounded.

May 2020 be a wonderful new year of meaning, joy, and fulfillment, as we, like Mary, come to experience God’s presence in the silence of our hearts, so to be a people of faith, hope, and love in contemplation and action. Mary the Mother of God, pray for us.

Happy New Year! Peace and all God’s good. Deacon Serge

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Painting: “Kissing the Face of God” by Morgan Weistling, 2011, accessed from cathopic.com

Link for today’s reading for January 1, 2020