How many times have we looked to others instead of staying focused on what we need to do or be doing? How many times do we compare ourselves to others, assessing what we or others have or don’t have, how others are more or less confident, more or less better looking, more or less intelligent, and even, how our faith life is worse or better?

We get a taste of these questions and what our response ought to be from Jesus in today’s Gospel. The background of today’s reading is a continuation from yesterday’s, in which the author described how Jesus forgave Peter for denying him by asking him not only if Peter loved him, but how he was to put that love into action by feeding his lambs, taking care of and feeding his sheep. Jesus also had just let Peter know that Peter was going die in his service to him.

Today we read that upon hearing the news of his eventual death, that Peter shifts the direction away from himself.  When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me” (Jn 21:21-22). Jesus does not definitively say what is, or is not going to happen to the beloved disciple. Jesus is clear with Peter that his focus is not to be on what is going to happen to the beloved or any other disciple, but to direct his attention to following him and his will.

Our orientation as disciples of Jesus is to be focused on his will for our life and to expend our energy in such a way that promotes his will toward building up the kingdom of Heaven on earth. We are to spend less time comparing ourselves to others. This temptation is a very slippery slope that can easily lead us to the devastating sins of gossip, pride and envy. If we are to compare ourselves to anyone, let it be to Jesus.

Jesus calls us to be perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect, which is an impossible task if we seek to go it alone. Yet, we can become perfected through our participation in the life of Jesus the Christ. We begin when we decide to ask for Jesus to help us make a commitment to resist the temptation to compare ourselves to others. Then at the first instant we get a comparative thought, let us replace it with a prayer of blessing directed toward another.

Moment by moment, we then just need to remember that we are not alone, that we walk with Jesus. Together, one thought at a time, one action at a time, one interaction at a time, may we surrender our will to the love of God. By taking these steps to counter the influences of self first, comparative and celebrity culture, we can begin to shift the momentum away from the increasing divisiveness, polarity and growing tide of rampant violence, and instead strive toward embracing the gift of our mutual uniqueness and diversity in which we commit to supporting, encouraging, and uplifting one another.

Let us combine our prayer with action in our realm of influence at the community, state, and federal level so to build bridges of communication, conflict resolution, and dialogue. In so doing, we will begin to curb the fear, prejudice, and violence in our country. We need to be willing to see each other as human beings again, to resist seeing people as other and be more willing to respect the dignity of each and every human life. This will happen when we resist comparing ourselves to others and are willing to see each other through God’s eyes.

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Photo: Working together to life one another up!

Link for the Mass reading for Saturday, June 8, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060819.cfm

When we spend time reading the Gospels, we will encounter in them that the God of Jesus Christ is a God of justice, yes, but a justice that is tempered with mercy and love, a restorative justice, not a punitive justice. God invites us to to be in communion with him and one another, and to answer that call requires a transformation, a change of heart and mind. Jesus meets people where they are, accepts them as they are, while at the same time holding a mirror up to them to show how what they are doing is keeping them from the very reality of communion with his Father that they seek.

One example can be seen when Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman at a well and asked her for a drink. What followed from that simple, while at the same time profound request, led to her humble confession that she did not have a husband to which Jesus responded: “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” Jesus spoke to a woman in public, and a Samaritan in public, two things that were not done in his time as it was against societal norms.

Jesus recognized the distinction, but saw instead and foremost, a human being created in the image and likeness of God. He saw a woman isolated, close to the point of being ostracized from her community, for who else would come by themselves to fetch water in the full heat of the day? What he shared with her was acceptance, as he spoke to her as a person. Because of her honesty, humility, and courage, what transpired over the course of the conversation was not only her transformation, but the redemption of her whole community. This transpired because, with joy and courage, she proclaimed the Good News even to those that kept her at arm’s leg, and on the margins (cf. Jn 4:1-12) .

Another encounter happened with Saul who was present and oversaw the stoning of St Stephen and continued his zealous persecution of the followers of Jesus. On the road to Damascus, Saul encountered the risen Jesus, who met him with the words: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me” (Acts 9:4)? Again, as with the woman at the well, Jesus greeted Saul with a simple but profound question which had a tremendous effect on him. Saul too was transformed from a persecutor of the Way to a follower of the Word. He would not only change his name to Paul and proclaim the Gospel to a community but to the Mediterranean world.

In today’s Gospel, Peter, who had betrayed Jesus three times, encountered Jesus who also posed him a question, but asking it three times: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (cf. Jn 21:15-19). With these simple, questions of repentance, and Peter’s affirmative responses of love, Jesus forgave Peter for betraying him. Peter went forward to proclaim boldly the life of Jesus at the feast of Pentecost, and three thousand were moved by his words and sought to become part of the Way of Jesus.

In each of the above accounts of the Samaritan woman, Paul, and Peter, we witness an encounter with Jesus in which he met each of them, not with condemnation or judgment, but with love and mercy. He met them on their level and then offered them a look in the mirror by asking a simple question. Jesus sought to draw them out of their own false sense of self and sin, and into the love of God. Each person answered with truth and humility, and willingly looked at their life, turned away from their sin and accepted the invitation of Jesus to lead them to a change of heart and mind.

The justice of God is not about punitive measure, about rubbing our noses in our own sin. Yet, if we choose our own sin over the love of God’s healing transformation, it may feel punitive, because God will allow us to feel the affects of our sin. God gives us another choice. He has sent his Son to show us the path of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Jesus echoes Hosea 6:6 when he is recorded as saying, “‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mt 9:13). Jesus comes to us, as he came to the Samaritan woman, Paul, and Peter, who were able to receive the healing of Jesus because they acknowledged their sin.

When we make some time for prayer and spend some time in silence today, let us allow ourselves to see Jesus approaching us or sitting with us. What simple, yet transformative question does he ask that reveals to us, that mirrors for us our sin? In what way do we need to make a change of heart and mind? May we repent, choose to leave behind our false self, our pride and our ego, and instead respond with humility and contrition, true sorrow for our sin. In this way, as did the Samaritan woman, Paul and Peter, may we be healed, transformed, and go forth to share the Good News of the love and mercy of God with those we meet today.

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Photo: Close up of Heinrich Hoffman’s Christ and the Rich Young Ruler, 1889

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, June 7, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060719.cfm

Jesus bestowed his love, his grace, upon and acknowledged his Apostles as a gift. The fundamental option, our ultimate end goal, that which we seek, is to experience the same love that the Apostles experienced. The Creator of all that exists, that so transcends our comprehension, that is so beyond our ability to comprehend him fully, has come close to us, become one with us, in the person of his Son and loves us more than we can ever imagine.

This reality, the core of the deposit of faith they received, was not to be hoarded or buried away, or to be shared with a select few. This living gift of grace was to be shared by the Apostles, the ones who Jesus called by name, who he had hand picked to receive his message and then sent forth to proclaim his word. They were to protect it for the purpose of transmitting it accurately to their successors so that it would then be passed on to each successive generation who would receive and make it relevant for their own time.

Jesus said to his Father in his farewell discourse, as recorded by John that: “I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them” (Jn 17:26). Through our participation in the love of Christ we are perfected and we are conformed by his will such that we too can experience and share in the love of the Father.

The Trinity is at the heart of the Gospel, the Good News. The Trinity is a divine communion of three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We have been created with a burning hunger and desire to experience this same communion. Yet why don’t we say yes to this joyous invitation? St Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae, or Summa, outlines four substitutes or temptations that we may put in place of our highest hope and good; these are wealth, honor, pleasure, and power. In and of themselves, these are not unhealthy desires, if God is first and then we orient ourselves to them from God’s perspective.

When we assume the posture of pride, believing that we are the center of our lives and we seek wealth, power, pleasure, and/or honor for our own sake and self aggrandizement, they will be distorted and leave us empty, or worse lead us into the crippling slavery of addiction, because in and of themselves they are finite pursuits. How many times have there been reports of someone who has amassed most or all of these four, and then come to a place of such despair and emptiness that they had taken their own life?

Through a properly ordered sense of power grounded in love, defined by St Thomas, as the willing of the good as other, those in positions of power and privilege are called to be a voice for those who otherwise would not have a voice. Those with access to wealth, are to recognize that this is a gift from God, and each of us are to be good stewards of what we have received to help and support others, not only in an immediate limited stance of a hand out, but as a primary means to provide a hand up. To accompany and shepherd those who do not have access such that they can arrive at the point where they can be provided with access, skills, and means to participate in the dignity of meaningful work and gainful employment.

The ultimate goal of pleasure is to embrace the Beautiful, the gift that God provides in which we can have access and enjoy the wonders of his creation. At the same time we can be participants in the expression of creativity through the arts as well as our every day actions by finding joy in our interactions with one another and engaging in our vocations. If honor, fame and glory arise in the faithful, they arise not for its own sake or as to heighten the focus on self. This attention comes with the responsibility to further radiate the light and love of God so to evangelize and draw others to the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, as did Peter when he preached and three thousand came to accept the love of Christ, when Pope Francis visited the United States and the news for a week was filled with joy and hope, and when St Mother Teresa accepted the Nobel Peace Prize and she began her speech by saying, “As we have gathered here together to thank God for the Nobel Peace Prize” and ended with the words, “God bless you!”

Jesus has made the name of his Father known to us and he has made known the love with which his Father loved him with. May we accept the invitation and receive and live in his love, that the love of the Father may be in us and may the very presence of the Holy Spirit dwell within us. May wealth, power, pleasure, and honor, not be a distraction to our embracing of the love of God, but a means to radiate his light to others. With God as our fundamental option, we daily receive his love, are filled with, and experience his joy, so to radiate his presence to others. In this way, we are sent out to be his presence, his peace, his joy for those who are in need of his hope, his presence, and his love.

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Photo: Radiating the love of Christ, one smile at a time, one person at a time

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, June 6, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060619.cfm

“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one” (Jn 17:11).

Jesus is well aware of the temptations of the world and recognizes that the disciples will need the protection of his intercession, and that they will remain faithful only if they remain in his love and in relationship with him. The unity that the Father and Son share is an eternal communion. Jesus, as the Son of God, continued to be one with his Father, while fully experiencing his humanity. As a human being, Jesus faced the same temptations present in this world that we face. The difference is that with each choice that he made, as a human being with a free human will, he chose to say yes to his Father each and every opportunity, and so their unity remained intact.

Jesus sought the same unity that he shares with his Father for his disciples and he seeks the same for us today, that we may be one as he and the Father are one. Yet, he is not going to pull us out of the world for that to happen. “I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One” (Jn 17:15). The disciples then and us today, are to do as Jesus did. We are to develop our relationship with God, come to know his will, and share it with those we encounter in our realm of influence. We are not to be transformed by the world, but we are to allow God to transform us by the renewal of our mind and heart. In this way, we can participate in changing the world, as God works through us one person at a time.

Following the will of God is not easy to do. Many distractions and temptations pull at us, and attempt draw us away from being faithful and true to God, ourselves, and who God calls us to be. Many times these distractions not only appear to be, but are good things. The challenge is not that we are being good or doing good, but are we doing what God is calling us to do?

I have struggled much of my life because I have had and pursued many interests in many areas, and so I have been pulled in many directions. Since my ordination in 2013, the challenge has increased as I have become more and more aware of the need of others and the many ministries to be a part of. I am not able to do half of what I feel drawn to do because I am only one person, but over the past year especially, I have been praying more persistently and seeking more diligently what God would have me to do. I have been asking him to sharpen my focus and I have been getting better clarification.

We can become one with Jesus and his Father when we slow down our pace, so to become still within and hear his voice. God speaks in the stillness of the heart his will for us and what he would have us do. The Holy Spirit, the love shared between the Father and the Son, will also reveal to us the gifts that he has imparted, and above all guide us to clearly know his direction and have the courage to follow it. If any fear or anxiety arises about what we are invited to do, we just need to remind ourselves that God will provide the means and support. We are not meant to do what he calls us to do alone. God’s grace is sufficient, God’s grace is enough.

We will accomplish that which God the Father requires of us when we turn to him for guidance and he will place the people and the means, reveal to us the temptations and pitfalls, and instill in us the desire for us to complete the task that we have been given. We just need to be willing to change, to be transformed, to grow, and extend ourselves out of our comfort zones, but it will be worth it. Because in the end, as we follow the will of God, trust his support, we will experience his joy, we will find meaning and fulfillment in our life, and ultimately, through the love of the Holy Spirit we will be one with Jesus and the Father and each other.

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Photo: 2019 graduates – One in God

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, June 5, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060519.cfm

“Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (Jn 17:3).

This is our goal, to know God. Eternal life or heaven, is not only experienced when we die, but through the life of Jesus, the very embodiment in his person of heaven and earth, we can have a foretaste of heaven now. We can experience this as the joy that rises up from within, that is not merely pleasure, which is a response from the stimulation of our senses and which dissipates once the experience ends. Nor is joy even happiness which comes from the lasting memories of these pleasurable experiences. The experience of joy is not based on external situations and stimulations, joy comes from an encounter with the living God who is present to us, closer to us than we are to ourselves.

We often first experience this joy, this closeness to God when we experience love exchanged between ourselves and another. Even a love that begins in infatuation is a drawing out of ourselves toward another. The hope is that this love matures and develops into a friendship.

We spend time getting to know each other’s interests, goals, and dreams. We experience another as a person, and with time and a continued trust, we begin to risk and allow our masks to be taken off. Inevitably, if relationships begin to mature, they will go through times of miscommunication, misunderstanding, and conflict. The relationship will come to a cross roads, but this does not mean that the relationship has to come to an end. If the relationship devolves into abuse, dehumanization, and self gratification alone, the relationship will need to end. But if there is a willingness to forgive, to work together, to meet each other with humility and a seek mutual understanding, relationships will grow stronger and deeper.

Our first experience of developing relationships is in our families. None of us are perfect, so none of us have had perfect experiences of family life. Familial relationships develop in a similar fashion as listed above. We all go through ups and downs. The more that we can be present to one another, support one another, communicate and love one another, the more likely our familial relationships and friendships will grow.

The level most of us hope to attain is to come to a place within ourselves where we can accept and love ourselves and develop mature relationships with a core group of family and friends. Most of us could be quite happy with that. Yet, as Jesus invites and guides us to reach this point of development, he also continues to help us to strive to love beyond family, friend and tribe. We are all ultimately called to a universal, unconditional love that sees a sister and brotherhood in all of humanity and all of creation. This is not some utopian philosophy, but who we all are created for and desire to be from the very depths of our being.

We will not get to this place alone, or through our own will power or discipline. Apart from God, there is no way. We have seen the atrocities committed time and again in the name of God across all faith traditions. When we place self over God and others, we isolate and disconnect ourselves from the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. God is not some transcendent, impersonal force, nor is he an omnipotent, tyrannical overlord. The God of Jesus Christ is a God of love, who invites us into relationship with him, our self and each other, and when we say yes to this invitation we experience a foretaste of heaven on earth.

Jesus, help us in our encounters today, that we may experience the love of God through coming to know you as we come to know each other. May we see each other as God sees us, as a unique gift that has never been nor ever will be again. Help us resist reacting to the rough edges and exterior projections of those wounded from living in a fallen world, to instead be compassionate and understanding, and to see the truth and fullness of the potential of each person as God sees in us. Jesus help us to see each other as God sees us, to allow God to love us and others through us today, one person at a time and one encounter at a time.

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Photo: Happiness for the last day of classes or joy of the Holy Spirit?

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, June 4, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060419.cfm

The disciples are beginning to have a better understanding that he is who he says he is, that “he came from God.” Jesus does not rest on or savor this insight and affirmation, but shares with them how, they still do not fully comprehend. He shares with them that each will leave him alone in his most desperate hour. Those he takes to be with him in the Garden of Gethsemane will fall asleep. When Jesus asks them to watch and pray with him, to be a support for him as he receives the will of the Father, they are asleep when Jesus hears he will be sent again, sent to do the Father’s will by giving his life on the Cross for them, for us and all. The disciples then all fled when the guards, led by Judas, come to take him into custody. Peter will betray him three times.

Jesus then shares with them, that even though they, his most intimate followers, his closest friends would betray him, he is not alone. Jesus said: “I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” 

These words are words of comfort and hope for us today! No matter if we betray or are betrayed ourselves, we let others down or are let down, we see and experience the devastating effects of our fallen world and fallen human nature, from without and within; no matter what conflict, challenges, or tribulations we are faced with, we do not need to succumb to cynicism, hopelessness, and despair.

We are not alone! Jesus gives us the way because Jesus is the Way! Let us not be shaped by the culture or the world, but by his loving God and Father. Let us build our relationship with Jesus, who will lead us to the Father so to experience the Love of the Holy Spirit! When we acknowledge the presence of Jesus in our lives, when we turn to him for help and support, there is joy, there is peace, and all things are possible.

Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, and he will not be overcome by it, for he has conquered death, and overcome the world. We are an Alleluia people because through our participation in the life of Jesus the Christ we will overcome as well. As an Alleluia people let us not be shaped by our culture and world but shape it by living the Gospel, by being and sharing the light, joy and peace of Christ in every aspect of our life and interactions with one another.

Photo: We are not alone!

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, June 3, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060319.cfm

For many of us, when we hear about the Ascension of Jesus we are just as beguiled as the disciples who as recorded in the Book of Acts were standing around, looking at the sky. Also, depending on where you live, will depend on when you celebrate this solemnity. If you live in the ecclesiastical Provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Omaha, and Philadelphia you already celebrated Ascension Thursday on its traditional day, this past Thursday. For the rest of the country it is a holy day of obligation celebrated today, on Sunday. The reason for Ascension Thursday is that the Ascension of Jesus took place 40 days since the Resurrection and 10 days before Pentecost. The point of concern for moving to Sunday observance was lack of attendance on Thursdays.

Regarding what the Ascension of Jesus is, sometimes, we can understand a term better by saying what it is not. The Ascension was not an event where Jesus went up, up, and away in my beautiful balloon, or Superman zipping away to destroy an asteroid hurtling toward the earth.

The Ascension is the culminating event of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. Jesus who as the Son of God became a human being like us, lived among us, experienced the joys and suffering of life like us in all things but sin, yet took our sins upon himself on the cross. Jesus then died, entered into the utter godforsakeness of death and conquered death. He rose again through the Love of the Holy Spirit, not as a ghost or a spirit, but still fully God and fully man, yet his body was transfigured. Jesus became the first born of the new creation.

After the forty days that he spent gathering his disciples, eating with, teaching, and empowering them to continue his work of making the will of his Father known, Jesus Ascended back to the Father with his humanity still intact, and so with our humanity too.

As Bishop Robert Barron explains: “The Ascension is the translation of this earthly reality into a heavenly reality.” Jesus is no longer limited by the time and space of our present temporal reality. He transcends our recognized third dimensional reality, and now exists at a higher pitch of existence. Just as Jesus was able to pass through a locked door, he is able to be present to us at Mass on Thursday or Sunday or any time that the Mass is celebrated anywhere in the world. Jesus is present to us where two or more are gathered in his name and he is present when we call on his name. Jesus is present to all of us everywhere because we are united as one in his abiding love!

Through the event of the Ascension, Jesus brings something of our humanity to heaven and at Pentecost, which we will celebrate next week, he sent something of heaven to us in the descent of the Holy Spirit. And who is the Holy Spirit, but the Love that is breathed, that is shared between the Father and the Son.

What the Ascension means for us is that we are separated no longer from the reality of heaven. St Irenaeus wrote that, “Jesus opened up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed.” We can see this biblically, as the sky was torn open at the baptism of Jesus, as the veil was torn in two outside the Holy of Holies in the temple at the moment of his crucifixion, and as Jesus Ascended with our humanity, to the right hand of the Father. Heaven and earth have been wedded. We become part of the Church, the bride of Christ through our Baptism, we are nourished and empowered in receiving the Eucharist, and Confirmation. We are not alone, separated from God, but grafted, conformed to, we become an organic part of the Mystical Body of Christ through our participation in the life of Jesus.

We are transformed, divinized, made God through our participation in the life of Jesus. We are made holy, and our commission, the same as the Apostles, is to continue the work of being a bridge for the communion of the human and the divine. We are to work to follow the will of God, on earth as it is in heaven, “to go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature”.

Having heard this Good News of the Ascension, let us not, as the two angels said about the disciples, just “stand around looking at the sky”, but go forth and share the love of his very being that we receive in the Eucharist and invite all to participate on earth what is celebrated in heaven, the love of the communion between the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen! Alleluia!!!

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Photo accessed from pexels.com

The Mass readings for Ascension Sunday, June 2, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060219-ascension.cfm

“I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father” (Jn 16:28). This phrase, in one form or another, has been a consistent message in John’s recording of Jesus’ farewell discourse. These words not only show his connection to the Father through his coming from and returning to the Father and then his sending of the Holy Spirit, but these statements help to prepare the way for our understanding of the Trinitarian Communion.

What theologians have termed as the Immanent Trinity, as God within himself, is expressed by the divine communion of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. All that God the Father is, he gives all, holding nothing back, to God the Son perfectly. God the Son receives all that God the Father has given perfectly, and returns all that he has received, holding nothing back, perfectly to God the Father. This giving and receiving, this going out from and returning to, this perfect willing of each other’s good, is the purest expression of Love. This Love shared infinitely and perfectly between God the Father and God the Son, is God the Holy Spirit.

The Son of God became one with us, sharing in our humanity, so we can also share in his divinity. His ascent and return back to the Father makes this even more possible. Now his divine nature, as the Son, always remained in full communion with the Father. Jesus is one divine Person as the Son, yet he subsists in two natures the divine and the human. The Ascension of Jesus was a point in salvation history, in which the human nature of Jesus transcended our three dimensional reality to enter the eternal present, the immanence, of the Trinitarian communion, and because God created all humanity and creation as interconnected with one another, we are now able to share in the intimate, divine dance, perichoresis, of the Love shared between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

We are all invited, 24/7/365, with every breath, thought, and action, to experience the Holy Spirit, the communion of Trinitarian Love. But this is an invitation, meaning no matter how wonderful, no matter that this is what we have been created for and will bring us fulfillment and a joy that cannot be taken away, we can accept or reject it.

Thankfully, because of the Divine Mercy of God this is an open invitation. Even if we had said no for years, we can say yes at this moment. Once we say yes, even just a little, the love of God grows within us, just like the image of the mustard seed. As we experience the love of God in our own lives, we begin to realize how God is the foundation of our being and all creation.

We come to see how God the foundation of all things, how he is present to us in our everyday actions when we participate in the very being and life of Jesus. We do so when we participate in the sacraments. Jesus is even more present to us in the sacraments than when he was present to the Apostles. We also experience and encounter God through our participation in the three transcendentals, the ways of our being that God has imparted to us to experience him, the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. It is through the expression of our creativity and the creativity of others in music, dance, and the arts that we come to experience the Beautiful. By embracing our gift of reason and intellect, through prayer, study, and sharing of ideas, we come to know the True. In recognizing the gift of others as human, through our fellowship, loving and engaging one another in the corporeal and spiritual works of mercy we come to experience Love which leads us to the Good.

Life is a wonderful gift that God has given us, and it is a life to experience not just to endure, even in the midst of our trials, tribulations, and sufferings. We just need to remember to open our hearts, minds, and souls to receive the gift of God working through us. Just as the Son is, we are sent to risk, to give our love away, by sharing his love with others. Our offer can be turned down or rejected. Even so, we must resist the temptation to judge, to take offense, but instead assume a posture of understanding, of being present, and being available to witness and allow God to reach others through us.

Each of us are on a journey of growing in faith, opening ourselves to the will of God, so we can experience the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. We too can experience, perichoresis, the infinite dance of the Love shared between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is our fundamental option, our end goal, heaven, which is to enter into the fullness of the divine dance and communion of the Trinity. What Jesus has brought to us through his Paschal Mystery; his life, suffering, death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven, is the reality of how we can experience heaven on earth right now. Our vocation is to say yes to God’s invitation to embrace the love of the Trinity so to love others as we have been loved, for: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15).

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Photo: Christmas hike 2010 – photo credit Jack McKee

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, June 1, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060119.cfm

Mary “traveled to the hill country in haste” (Lk 1:39) and as she drew close and called out to announce her arrival: Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, [and] the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:41-42). This is an encounter of joy. Elizabeth’s response is a confirmation to Mary’s yes to the angel Gabriel, that she has indeed conceived in her womb the Son of God who was taking on flesh and becoming one of us, a human being, as she traveled to the hill country. Elizabeth’s son recognized him, and in leaping with joy, helped to get the celebration started!

The encounter and interaction between Mary and Elizabeth, Jesus and John, at the Visitation is a model for us of discipleship. Touched by the Holy Spirit we are to go out to share the Good News that God our Father loved us so much that he sent his Son to be one with us. He was willing to enter into our humanity. Some of the earliest heresies in the Church, which are still perpetuated today, were birthed because of an unwillingness to accept this gift, that God entered into and embraced our humanity, that God would become human was and is to too many inconceivable.

Yes, we have been wounded by sin, but we have not been destroyed. The coming of the Son of God as one of us is an opportunity to be healed, to be born again from above, and this can happen through the same love of the Holy Spirit that inspired John to leap and Elizabeth to rejoice.

Resist the mind noise from within, and without from other people who tell us overtly and/or covertly that we are worthless or nothing. Not true! Through our very being, we are created in the image and likeness of God, we have been created by Love, to receive and to share love. We are a living craving hunger and desire to be in communion with God and one another. This is true for the atheist and the believer alike. We are called to will the good of the other as other as they are, unconditionally. If we have fallen short, a little or a lot, in the way we have been treating ourselves or others lately, today is a new day to take Jesus’ hand and begin anew. Let us celebrate with Jesus, Mary, Elizabeth and John.

We are celebrating that Jesus was born for us, he lived that we might not only be shown a better way, but know that he is the Way. Jesus became vulnerable for us, a key ingredient in unconditional love: to be willing to risk being authentic to who God called him to be, even to being willing to be rejected, even if that meant that all might walk away from him. May we be willing to be vulnerable, to risk, to share with others who we are, free of masks and pretense. May we be present to, and also walk and accompany one another. Being there for our family and friends is important, and if we take our Christianity seriously, we must come to acknowledge, in concrete ways, person to person, that we are all brothers and sisters, that in Christ we are all related.

Just as the sun shines on the good and the bad alike, Jesus died for each and every human being, all of us. After his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit, the Love shared between the Father and the Son, to empower us to live as he did, in communion with his Father, so to better actualize our communion with one another.

An invitation for the transformation of all humanity and creation happened at the Galilean hill side when two simple women said yes to God and embraced with joy. They came to embrace not only each other, but their vocation. May we join them in saying yes to God, follow his will with joy as Mary and Elizabeth did and with them, celebrate the gift of life, because as each of these mothers would experience all too soon, life can be taken quicker than they could or we can ever imagine.

The lives of Jesus and John were not given in vain. They were offered up for each and every one of us so that we all could have life and live it to the full. Let us resist the temptation to take this life we have been given, any moment we have been given, for granted. The life we have is not perfect, many suffer, many grieve, many are in pain. Our life is fragile, but it is a precious gift. That is why we have much work to do. Let us embrace our unique vocation and follow the guidance of J.R.R. Tolkien who put these words into the mouth of his character Gandalf, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Let us like Mary go in haste to tell those we care about that we love them. Let us make that call, send that card, email, or text, and/or invite that person for a walk, to sit down and visit. Especially amidst the rising tide of divisive and polarizing darkness, may we be a light to all we encounter. Empowered by the love and joy of Jesus, may we conform our minds to his, so to think, speak, and act, in a different way. May we encourage, empower, and lift one another up so to treat each other with dignity, respect, kindness and understanding. The easiest way to start is when you catch the eye of another, smile. In that simple gesture we say to the other person that we care enough about them, to make the time for them, to acknowledge their dignity, their worth, and to let them know that they exist and have meaning.

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Photo: Ready to go in haste to share the joy of the Gospel!

Link for today’s Mass reading for Thursday, May 31, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/053119.cfm

Jesus continues his farewell discourse, and appears to be speaking in riddles to his disciples saying that “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me” (Jn 16:16). We who know what is coming for Jesus understand what Jesus is talking about, but for the disciples, not so much. Jesus will be crucified and rise again from the dead. Jesus then goes on to explain further that: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy” (Jn 16:20). Jesus is speaking about the same two points of reference, his Crucifixion and Resurrection.

The most brutal sign of oppression during the reign of the Roman Empire was the cross. It was a weapon of terror, torture, an extreme case of punitive justice or capital punishment, and in actuality state sanctioned terrorism. The person would be stripped of all their clothing, would be nailed by the wrists, or palms and wrists tied, nailed by the feet and then lifted up for public display. Then would begin their humiliation, dehumanization, and long agonizing death; a sign for anyone to think twice about challenging the authority of Rome.

The disciples wept and mourned, their hopes dashed, they were stunned, ashamed, and demoralized, while others rejoiced as Jesus and the two others beside him were lifted up. The centurions flaunted their authority and prowess. Others gathered around and jeered at the false prophet dying on Golgotha, the hill of the skull, where so many had gone before. Where other hopes and dreams had been crushed under Roman dominance and oppression.

Jesus was sometimes described as being hung on a tree in some letters of the Bible because writing the word cross was still too raw and vivid in people’s minds. Yet, this was not the final chapter. The grief of the Apostles would turn to joy because of the Resurrection. The cross, this symbol of torture, would become a sign of victory over death and the grave.

Yet, one centurion got it right: “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mk 15:39)! For many Christians today, the Crucifix and Cross are no longer a sign of oppression and fear, but are displayed as a sign of the triumph and victory that Jesus has won for us. They are not magic talismans, but they are sacramental signs, concrete objects that are tangible, that we can see, wear, and hold on to, for the purpose of reminding us that we have a God who understands our humanity because he lived life as we do.

Jesus cried as we cry, he laughed as we laugh. His family thought he was crazy and he enjoyed table fellowship with those on the peripheries. Jesus faced rejection, misunderstanding, trials and tribulations, he overcame conflict and rejection, he died as we will die, and he ultimately conquered death, so that through our participation in his Life and Resurrection we will rise again in Christ as well.

I invite you to spend some time meditating in front of a crucifix or cross today. If you are going through a particular rough patch, hold it in your hand, feel the wood, allow your gaze to fall upon the face and broken body of Jesus to remind you that he understands because he experienced what we experience, and that means God experiences what we experience. When we allow him, Jesus will also embrace us with those arms outstretched to ease our suffering and pain.

Jesus is and will continue to be present with us, closer even than the crucifix we hold or look upon. If all is going well, or you just received some great news, do the same! We don’t only go to Jesus with our trials and tribulations, but our joys and celebrations as well. Simply share with him your heart and allow him to share his with you.

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Photo: My grandparents crucifix that hung over their bed will be coming with me to California to be hung over our bed in our new apartment.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, May 30, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/053019-weekday.cfm