“Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who has touched my clothes'” (Mk 5:30)? The woman could have slipped away, she could have stood still and said nothing, no one knew. His disciples were bewildered that Jesus asked such a question with so many pressing about him. But the woman approached with “fear and trembling” and told him the truth. Jesus did not admonish her for breaking a social taboo, but publicly acknowledged her faith.

All the while as this scene transpired, Jairus must have been in agony. He knew how close his daughter was to death, and every second counted. Jesus took that limited precious time and engaged with this woman. Just as they were about to resume their journey, and he began to breathe again, the terrible news came that his daughter had passed away.

What might have flashed through his mind in that moment? The time Jesus took to talk with the woman, could that have made the difference? He was a synagogue official and would have known the taboos she crossed to reach out and touch Jesus in public, he knew that in doing so she would make Jesus unclean, she was a woman considered the lowest of low. She was frail and pallid from her condition, at death’s door herself, yet she had mustered more courage and faith, than he had.

Jesus said to the man, “Do not be afraid, just have faith” (Mk 5:36). Jairus had just witnessed such faith with the woman healed from the hemorrhage, probably someone until this very moment who he would have shown disdain for. Maybe just maybe, if he could muster the same faith as her, Jesus could bring his daughter back to life. A light shone in the darkness of his despair and the darkness did not overcome it. Jesus indeed healed his daughter, by taking her hand and commanding her to rise and walk, she came back to life.

How many of us are now, have been, or have known someone who has experienced such great needs as did Jairus, whose daughter was near death, or the woman who had been suffering for twelve years with hemorrhages? How many of us have experienced such healings today? How many of us have experienced the opposite? We experienced no healing, we wondered where Jesus was, and/or wondered why he allowed this to happen, or bother to help?

The best we can do in times of trial and dire need is to trust in Jesus. He may or may not bring the outcome we seek. But I assure you that he is present with us through our pain and suffering, whether we feel his presence or not. Sometimes he allows the unthinkable to happen, of which we cannot even comprehend at the time, to bring about a greater good. Often, we are not able to see that until a later date, when some time has passed, and we have gained some perspective from healing.

Remember also, death is not the final answer. Jesus has conquered death, he and we who participate with him are victorious. Ultimately, faith is placing our trust in our God and Father who loves us, who is present to us, and carries us in our darkest hour. He sent his Son Jesus to us, to walk with us, who has given us these words that we are to place our trust in: “Do not be afraid, just have faith” (Mk 5:36). In our times of trial and sorrow, it is important to lean on the strength of Jesus and one another. In times of miracles, it is important to thank Jesus and those who were there for us.

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger from Pexels

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, February 5, 2019: Not showing on USCCB site today. Good opportunity to dust off your Bible!

Today’s Gospel account follows Jesus successfully showing his power over the tumultuous storm at sea. Jesus and his disciples have entered the Gentile territory of the Gerasenes. As soon as they get out of the boat a man possessed by an unclean spirit rushes up to him. He himself was in a worse state than the storm. He called himself Legion as he was possessed by many demons. He had been living in the tombs, away from society, family, and friends, some of whom had made multiple attempts to restrain him, cure him, bring him back to his right mind, but to no avail. The encounter with Jesus ultimately brought about the result of this man “sitting there clothed and in his right mind” (Mk 5:15). Jesus was able to liberate this man from his desperate state. If you have not done so, I recommend reading the full account (Mk 5:1-20).

Many scoff at the healing power and miracles of Jesus, and they certainly would also discount demonic possession. Though very rare, there are still cases today. A strict approach of scientism that only accepts the empirical, only that which can be measured by the five senses, discounts not only the divinity of Jesus and the reality of God, but any talk of a spiritual realm. This is unfortunate, because this is a limited and short sighted approach to understanding the fullness of creation. We ourselves are both physical and spiritual, and to seek to understand both, helps us to better understand ourselves and the world around us.

Too many today are in the same need of experiencing the liberating power of Jesus. Just as chaotic and tumultuous, especially among our youth, are those who are consumed and imprisoned by the vice grip of addiction. Family members and friends reach out desperately to help, to provide aid, and find themselves in the same situation as those who sought to care for this man who had been living in the tombs. Somehow this man caught “sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him” (Mk 5:6). There must have been some ember at the core of who he was that could still move and bring him to Jesus.

May we join in prayer and seek the best means to provide support and aid for all those suffering, bound, and shackled by the wide range of addictions that plague too many today. This growing epidemic destroys individuals, families and friends and could benefit from a unified approach of the best that science, psychology, prayer, and spiritual direction can offer. Each of us are ensnared at some level and seek to be free to feel the harmony and peace we were created for.

Jesus is the light that can reach into even the deepest darkness of internal imprisonment. Yet we must choose, as did the Gerasene demoniac to surrender to Jesus. May we resist the temptation to flee from him, and instead run into his open arms. Resting in the grip of his embrace, we will come to know that we are not alone in our suffering, that our deepest anguish, sin, and wounds can be healed.

Jesus is stronger than any evil that seeks to bind any of us, and we claim victory in his name and by the power of his word for all those who are suffering from any form of possession or addiction. May Jesus lead all of us to freedom, to our right mind, and like the Gerasene man who was healed in today’s Gospel account, experience the fullness of his healing whereby we too may go forth to help others to find the same path to redemption, liberation and restoration.

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Photo: Enjoying the Florida sunset last night while talking to my mom.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, February 4, 2019:http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020419.cfm

The people of the synagogue in Jesus’ hometown rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong (Lk 4:29). Why did Jesus’ own rise up in such a fury that they sought to physically expel him from their midst?

Jesus dared to equate others outside of his own tribe as equal to them. Just before the uprising to throw him tumbling down a hill, Jesus shared that God had already been working to reveal his invitation of salvation to those beyond the people of Israel. Elijah was sent to the widow of Zarephath and Elisha brought healing to Naaman the Syrian. These two individuals that the prophets engaged with were Gentiles.

The people hear clearly in Jesus’ inaugural address that he is bringing glad tidings to the poor, the captive and the oppressed of not only the Jewish nation but all nations. Jesus’ invitation of salvation is for all people. His own would have none of it. They were too closed in on themselves to be willing to grow beyond their shortsightedness such that they could not see that they were part of this plan of salvation as well, not to keep their light under a bushel basket, but instead to be the light to the nations.

Self autonomy, self appropriation, self focus and ego centeredness has no place in living the Gospel inn our lives. As St. Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians: “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). Love to grow means not constriction but expansion. If love is to increase in us, we are to give it away.

The very simple act of breathing means that we are alive, but when we are anxious, stressed or afraid, our breathing is constricted, our blood flow is diminished, we become cold. We are surviving, yet not thriving. When we consciously take some deep breaths, our lungs expand, our intake of oxygen increases, our blood flow to the small blood vessels improves and our heart rate regulates. Our blood pressure stabilizes and we have the opportunity to be less reactive and more mindful, we become warm.

Jesus invited the people of his hometown to expand beyond their posture of survival and defensiveness. He invited them to move beyond tribalism to inclusiveness. Jesus invited his people to love, to will the good of others as other. He invites us today to do the same. Will we contribute to our present condition of defensiveness and polarization in our interactions in person and on line, perceiving reality only from our own limited point of view, reacting impulsively, impatiently, disrespectfully, or will we say yes to Jesus’ invitation to breathe deep, receive his love, so to love in return? Are we willing to expand beyond ourselves, our point of view, to listen, hear another and act more mindfully, more respectfully, with patience and understanding?

Photo: Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro – Pinterest

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, February 3, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020319.cfm

Simeon, a righteous and devout man of Israel, had received a revelation from the Holy Spirit that before his death he would behold the Messiah, “the Christ of the Lord” (Lk 2:26). We do not know how long Simeon was waiting, we do not know how old he was when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple. How many people had crossed his path, how many times must he have turned his head wondering when a family brought a male child to be presented to the Lord, “Is this the one?”

Today we recall the presentation of Jesus in the temple, the day in which Simeon’s waiting, his growing anticipation, comes to fulfillment. “Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people: a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel” (cf. Lk 2:29-32). He can now go to his eternal rest in peace and so can we.

What Simeon said and experienced, when Jesus was presented in the Temple, is still true for us today. Jesus the Christ has come to us, to lead us “out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9), for he is the living Temple, the place where heaven and earth meet, where the divine and human are one.

May we spend some time in prayer today imaging ourselves holding the infant Jesus in our arms, as did Simeon, looking into his eyes, and allowing his smile, his giggle, fill us with his unconditional love and mercy. As we reach up a hand to him and he grasps our finger, may we feel a warmth that radiates through our being that melts away all anxiety, doubt, or fear. May anything that keeps us bound to darkness and sin be loosed such that we feel a freedom of forgiveness that will inspire us, from this moment of experiencing Jesus in our time and place, to give our life to him so that we too may radiate his light, his love, his mercy and forgiveness to others, to anyone Jesus sends us to today.

Photo: Holy Family at St Peter Catholic Church

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, February 2, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020219.cfm

Two parables are presented by Jesus today in the Gospel of Mark. Both are presenting what the kingdom of God is like, the first presents a man who sows seeds, and the second is a mustard seed that is planted. In both cases the seeds germinate and go through the process of becoming mature plants. The kingdom of God is like these plants in that God works through the smallest of and many times, unnoticed beginnings. Also, God’s timing is not our timing. In our rapid paced world of instant access, we would do well to slow down.

God not only begins small, and on his own timetable, but he is often working beyond the realm of our awareness. This is evident in the first parable offered by Jesus: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how” (Mk 4:26-27). This is not to say that God has set everything in motion and is indifferent or despondent to his creation. Quite the opposite. God has a plan and has been intimately engaged in our life even before our conception. He revealed this truth to Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you” (Jeremiah 1:5). God is present to us, in relationship with us, whether we know it or not. He quietly invites us to participate in his plan.

The beauty is that even though God has no need for us, he invites us to know him, to participate in the spreading of his kingdom. Just think of someone who you have, for the longest time, wanted to meet. If the opportunity arose to spend time with that person, how excited would you be? We have the opportunity to do so with the Creator of all that exists, and not just today, or tomorrow, but for all of eternity. He has created us for himself and he invites us to share in his relationship, his work of salvation history in simple and subtle ways. Are we making an effort to be aware, are we willing to watch and pray? Are we willing to place ourselves in a posture to receive his Word as well as his Silence? Just as an acorn that is sown matures and grows over time into the mightiest of oak trees, so may our relationship with our Loving God and Father also grow and mature that we become one with him.

Photo: Oak canopy from tree behind my parent’s house that I have watched grow since I was five. I visited Grandfather Oak again this past summer. It is wonderful to watch God’s hand at work.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, Febraury 1, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020119.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples, “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand” (Mk 4:21)? The obvious answer is no. A lamp is brought in to illuminate a room so one can read, find something misplaced, and it can even provide some warmth if needed. It would be absurd to do the things with a lamp that Jesus presented in today’s Gospel.

We are like lamps in that we are invited to shine the light of Christ to dispel the darkness of our fallen nature and world. This is the path of a disciple. Yet, many of us do not allow the light of Jesus to shine through us. Here are a few reasons why this may be so.

To draw the analogy of the lamp into our modern electric lamp instead of an oil lamp of Jesus’ day, one reason a lamp does not work is because it is not plugged into its source. Are we plugged in to Jesus? Are we spending time in prayer, worship, study, building relationships with God and one another?

Another reason may be that the light bulb is not screwed in all the way or the bulb has gone out. We may be plugged in to the source of Jesus, but we are just going through the motions. We show up for Mass or church physically, but are not engaged in any meaningful way, we spend time in prayer but we are just saying words or going through the motions without listening to God or willing to allow him to challenge us to go deeper, we have a nice pile of spiritual reading, apps, and video clips saved, but the books are only gathering dust, the apps, were not opened since they were first downloaded, and the video clips not played.

Another reason a lamp may not work is because it has been damaged. Many of us may be broken or wounded. It is hard to risk sharing the light when our trust has been manipulated, misused, and/or abused. We need not despair or lose hope. Jesus meets us in our pain, our injury: emotional, psychological, physical, and/or spiritual, and offers his healing and restorative power so we too can shine his light again.

We are called and empowered by Jesus to shine his light. If we haven’t been doing so because of our woundedness, may we be open to his healing. If we aren’t plugged in to the life and source of our being, may we ask for God’s grace to be more disciplined and dedicate ourselves to spending more quality time engaged in prayer, worship, study and fellowship. If we feel like we are in a rut, we are just going through the motions, and/or our spiritual and relational life is dry: We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24).

Photo: For me the simplest way to share the light of Jesus is to offer a smile.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, January 31, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/hebrews/10:19

Each of the elements of the Parable of the Sower are worthy of meditation and reflection. A very good practice would be to take some time to reflect on each aspect and ask what limits the germination and growth of the seeds God has sown in our lives, and also what helps us to bring about successful growth and a successful yield. When did we experience God’s word but have it almost immediately snatched away; when did we gain an insight, experience joy from his word and guidance, but did not in any way put the learning into practice; how many times have trials, hardship, and lack of courage or outright persecution, robbed us of stretching out of our comfort zone, and we withdrew, not wanting to risk growth?

Many of us can relate to: “Those sown among thorns are another sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit” (Mk 4:18-19). Distractions pull at us from within and without, from one second to the next. So much seeks to undo us, tear us down, and drive us into states of anxiety, despondency, cynicism, and depression. So many apparent goods and false truths entice us to feed our desires for power, wealth, fame, and pleasure. Material temptations offer promises of fulfillment but shortly after purchase leave us feeling empty. All the while, there is also so much good that needs to be done, so much work to do, even if we are willing to look beyond ourselves to be of help, we aren’t even sure how to serve or where to begin.

A lesson that Jesus offers us in the Parable of the Sower is that the outcome of a seed sown is that it will grow to be a mature plant that bears fruit. To bear fruit we need to create rich soil. This means breaking into hard ground, the hardness of our heart, prejudgments, and pride, by spending time with people who we determine as other and keep at arm’s length. We also need to be willing to face our fear of rejection or misunderstanding. In engaging a person with understanding and respect instead of an idea of who someone is, we can begin to diffuse false judgments, prejudices, and fears.

When experiencing an insight it is helpful to embrace it, resist the distractions and mind noise that arise that attempt to steal it away, and encourage us to rush on to the next project or event. Meditate on the inspiration, let it take root, and put it into practice. God may be giving us a message through these encounters. When conflict, tribulations, temptations, and anxieties arise, may we prune and uproot these weeds of distraction and distortion.

We often react from a defensive posture, or give in to our immediate impulses, when instead we need to inhale deeply, discern each thought, situation, purchase, and action, pray and seek God’s guidance, rely on trusted family, friends, colleagues, and classmates for guidance. Recall how similar past experiences turned out and resist making any rash or reactive decisions. Ultimately, trust that Jesus is present. Regarding service, start small, apply the same points just mentioned and engage in reaching out in your own small way, but with, confidence, focus and intention.

These are just a few ideas to start to uproot weeds and thorns, begin to remove some rocks and soften the earth, and enjoy the process of preparing some rich soil – our heart, mind, and soul to receive the seed of the love of God that he sows, which is Jesus his Son. In time, as we surrender more to his will, continue to be nourished by his word, accept and put into practice his word, and trust in him and not the temptations that entice, distract, and disrupt our growth, we will see sprouts begin to grow, and soon mature plants that will “bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold” (Mk 4:20).

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Photo: Class of 2017 models of creating rich soil!

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, January 30, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/013019.cfm

Even a surface reading of the Gospels will offer a glimmer of Jesus making things new. We can read and imagine the scene today. Many are gathered around him in a circle. The crowd is large, but focused intently on Jesus as he taught. His family, presumably the relatives that only a few verses earlier came to seize him because he was out of his mind (cf. Mk 3:21), had arrived, were standing outside, and sent word. The message passed among the people was: “Your mother and your brothers [and your sisters] are outside asking for you” (Mk 3:32).

Jesus seized on the opportunity for a teachable moment. Jesus looked not beyond and past the crowd that encircled him to his family who had sent word, but to those who were nearest to him and said: “Here are my mother and my brothers. [For] whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mk 3:35).

The true measure of family in the kingdom of God is not bloodline but faith in and following the will of God. Only those who still experience the gift of a close, tight knit, experience of extended family can come close to the dramatic moment of silence that must have followed after this statement. For anyone living in the ancient Near East, familial, clan, and tribal relations were paramount to survival. To say that family bonds were strong is an understatement. Yet, Jesus challenged this societal norm by bringing it to a higher form.

The relatives of Jesus were not present in this inner circle, they were on the outside. Imagine who might have been sitting in that circle; sinners, the unclean, tax collectors, and maybe even Gentiles – non Jews, and Jesus said that they were his brother and sister and mother! If his relatives thought he had lost his mind before, I cannot imagine what kind of mental conniption they entered into after these words.

Jesus was not devaluing or delegitimizing family, he was restoring family to its proper place and extending it out beyond what anyone of his time could conceive of. As Bishop Robert Barron writes, “when we give the family a disproportionate importance in short it becomes dysfunctional” (Barron 2011, 17). We as the baptized are united in a deeper way into the Mystical Body of Christ, which is even a more powerful call to unity here than the blood line of family, clan, or tribe.

The end goal is that as each person draws closer in their encounter and relationship with God, they also draw closer together. As we are conformed more and more to the life of Christ we begin to bear his fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (cf. Galatians 5:22).

In sharing the fruit of the spirit, in giving this gift away to one another, our relationships will grow and our bonds will become stronger. Our love grows as we give it away, person to person, out beyond our comfort zones, to the peripheries, where there are those who feel set apart, and/or are on the outside looking in. We are even to share with our enemies. Not possible? True, if we enclose ourselves within our own bubble and focus on protecting our ego. Possible, when we deepen our relationship with Jesus.

Too many in our country are choosing to encase themselves in their own protective bubble wrap. Instead of embracing diversity we are going backwards, we are regressing. By choosing to close ourselves off to other viewpoints, talking over each other and at each other, if we are talking at all, and embracing fear instead of love, we are distancing ourselves from God and each other. Our strength as a people and as a nation and as a world increases when we embrace the human dignity of each person, and the rich diversity bestowed upon us through the unconditional love of God. May we embrace the teaching of Jesus who in his emphasis on following God’s will “was insisting that the in-gathering of the tribes into God’s family is of paramount importance” (Barron 2011, 17).

In today’s Gospel account from Mark 3:31-35, Jesus did not define those gathered around him by race, ethnicity, gender, or any other label. He defined then, and still defines his family today as those who are willing to follow the will of God his Father.

Jesus, help us to open our hearts and minds to receive the Love of the Holy Spirit so to will the good of our family and friends, our colleagues, classmates, and neighbors, as well as those we may consider other, and even our enemies. Help us to resist asking who does or does not belong in your inner circle, but instead be willing to surrender to God, follow his will, and sit at your feet, not only to learn from you, but also to be empowered by you, so to care for one another as brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers.

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Photo: Sisters and brothers in Christ!

Barron, Robert. Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of Faith. NY: Image, 2011.

Link for the Mass reading for Tuesday, January 28, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/012919.cfm

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons” (Mark 3:22).

The scribes experience for themselves Jesus exorcising demons, and do not understand how he is able to cast them out to heal those possessed. They judge that he does so, not by the power of God but, by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Could their purpose be to delegitimize, or literally demonize, Jesus in such a way that those beginning to follow him will begin to doubt or outright turn away from him? If Jesus is who he says he is, then the scribes are actually the ones serving Satan in aligning with him to sow discord and disunity.

Jesus provides an invitation to build bridges of reconciliation and healing to restore the unity that has been lost by those choosing to sin, to put self first over God. He also meets those on the peripheries, those who have been kept at arms length, healing those conditions which have been used to justify their separation. Yet Jesus does not impose, he proposes. Even so, Jesus demands a choice.

Jesus shows over and over again by word and deed not only how he is creating bridges of connection between the human and the divine, he is in actuality the bridge, the kingdom of God in our midst, and yet, he is not going to drag anyone over it against their will. Jesus calls all who encounter him to make a choice, there is no middle ground, we are either for him or against him.

We have witnessed in the Gospel accounts how some of the scribes, Pharisees, and even some of his relatives reject Jesus. He is able to perform only a few miracles in his own hometown. Those who say no to the invitation cut themselves off, separate themselves from the very source of their life, the very core and sustaining force of their being. Those who say yes and repent, like those that receive his healing, will be transformed, and are freed from their enslavement to sin.

They align themselves with the very source and communion they have been created for, God the Father, when they continue to say yes, day by day, decision by decision. This is no one revelatory moment but a daily commitment of saying yes to Jesus. Even in messing up or falling down, we refuse to stay down but arise, repent, and begin again and again. We must always and everywhere reject the lie that echoes in our minds that we cannot be forgiven. Jesus loves us more than we can ever mess up, he loves us more than our worst choice or mistake.

If this is true, then what does Jesus mean when he says that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an ever lasting sin” (Mk 3:29)? Jesus refers here to our free will to accept or reject the free gift of his grace. We can observe this played out in the choices of Peter and Judas. Peter repented, was forgiven, and transformed. Judas withdrew within himself, cut himself off from Jesus, did not believe that Jesus would forgive him, and took his own life.

We have a choice to make each day. We can walk the path of darkness which consists of living defensively, keeping those who we deem as different at arms length, or worse, demean, belittle, and degrade. We can live in the shadows of indifference and cynicism. Or we can surrender our will to Jesus and repent from our pride, prejudice, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, sloth, and wrath. We can believe that Jesus is who he said he is, refuse to build walls of separation but instead align ourselves with him and join in the task of building bridges of unification and communion.

We will take steps forward and steps back, and we will fall, but through each experience, the hand of Jesus is still there to help us back up and we can begin again and again. We are not alone. Mary the Mother of God and all the saints said yes to Jesus’ invitation, they understand what we are going through, they are also cheering us on, guiding us, empowering us, so that one day we too will be where they are, seeing God the Father face to face.

Jesus offers his hand to us and invites us to be unified in his love. May we place our hand in his, follow him, and live our life with others committed to his mission. By doing so we will radiate his light, each in our own unique way, expressing the gift of glory that God has given us, diversity in unity, so to radiate his light like a rainbow.

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Photo: Rainbow, sometime in August 2018

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, January 27, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/012819.cfm

Having been led by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus fasted for forty days and was tempted by the devil. Jesus resisted these temptations and then, in Luke’s account, began his public ministry by preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. After some time, Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth and on the Sabbath, Jesus “went according to his custom into the synagogue” (Lk 4:16).

This time his presence was different. Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah and as Jesus sat, all were silent. Jesus broke the silence with the words, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:18). This was no ordinary reading, this was the inaugural address for Jesus. Jesus was sent on mission by his Father through the love of the Holy Spirit to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives and return sight to the blind, to free those from oppression and proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Jesus came to restore us to wholeness, to be present to us so that we can experience his closeness, and to lead us to reconciliation with his Father. Jesus calls us, just as he called his disciples to share in this same mission of drawing close. We are to be present to one another, to love one another and lead each other from our imprisonment to sin, turning in on ourselves, and instead opening ourselves to embrace God and one another.

USC professor, Dr. Leo Buscaglia, was devastated when he heard the news that one of his students had committed suicide. He was crushed by the loss of such a young life full of potential and promise, but more so by the fact that none of her classmates were even aware that she was missing or struggling with such pain. Dr. Buscaglia then began his non credit course called Love 1A in 1969. He wanted not so much to teach but to facilitate ways in which his students could be free from the barriers that keep us at arm’s length, that keep us from looking at our fellow human beings as other, instead of brother and sister.

Dr. Buscaglia allowed God to work through him to bring about a greater good from the devastating loss of one of his students. His class grew beyond the campus of USC through his books and public speaking where he continued to facilitate for his listeners the vital importance of allowing ourselves to be loved and to love in return. To continue the mission of Jesus we too need to have ears to hear and eyes to see the ways in which we can say yes to our unique invitation to spread the Gospel by being willing to come close, to be aware of each other and be present through our caring, understanding, support, and empowering of one another.

Photo: Dr. Leo Buscaglia, 1924-1988. “Perhaps if we listened to another person, truly listened, we could hear his joy or his cry. Love listens. Love hears.” – from his book Love, p. 180.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, January 27, 2019: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/012719.cfm