Confrontations continue for Jesus in today’s Gospel from Mark. There are two main groups that are highlighted, the scribes as well as his relatives. These are not just any two groups. If we think about the foundational support network for people of ancient Israel and many of us today, would it not be the family and the faith community? Yet, both are challenging Jesus today.

Jesus has returned home, and word of his preaching, teaching, exorcisms, and miracles has preceded him and reached the ears of the hometown faithful. The rumors have also sparked the attention of the religious leaders in Jerusalem who sent some of their emissaries, the scribes, to come and check out the matter. The reaction from the clan of Jesus is that, “He is out of his mind” (Mk 3:21). The scribes say that Jesus has performed such miracles because: “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons” (Mk 3:22).

Yet in both cases, Jesus does not cave, even to the most powerful of peer pressures: family and faith tradition. Jesus schools first the scribes on the basis of simple logic, stating that, “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand” (Mk 3:23-24). This statement is rich in the historical mind of Israel, in that under the unification of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the Chosen People were free of oppression, but once they became divided they fell. Beginning with David’s own unfaithfulness and treachery, the excesses and unfaithfulness of Solomon in the latter part of his life, and the continuing decline and steady slide into corruption of successive kings, the gap between the rich and the poor increased, unfaithfulness to the God of Israel grew, and further polarization and division spread between the ten tribes of the north and the two to the south. The Assyrians would destroy the northern tribes around 721 BC and the Babylonians would finish the job in 587 BC and decimate, not only the final two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but destroy the Temple as well.

This was a lasting wound that had deep seeded roots in the people. Jesus came to restore that which has been lost. He had called the Twelve to himself. This is not an insignificant number. Jesus is restoring Israel, and through Israel the world. Jesus is also showing that entrance into the restored kingdom of Israel is not through bloodline, political, or religious position: “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mk 3:33-35). The entrance into the new kingdom is through faithfulness to the God of Israel, the God of Jesus the Christ.

We see a clear demarcation point in today’s Gospel. There are those that are aligning themselves with Jesus and the reign he is ushering in. There are others who feel threated, do not understand, and/or are challenged by it. How can a mere carpenter say and do such things? To become a part of God’s kingdom, to be a part of God’s reign is to believe in the one whom God had sent, his Son and the love of the Holy Spirit.

To be followers of Jesus, we will face the same challenges that those people who witnessed Jesus faced. We will face the religious established order that have chosen pride of position over the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We will face family members who see the abuses of the Church, and rightly critique them, but unfortunately, walk away from the Truth, the Way, and the Life, because of the hypocrisy they witness, and think us mad for staying. We will also face the challenge that Jesus poses to us as well, to build on our identity, to go further, to be people of integrity.

We are to stand up for what is the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in God’s creation and the beginning place is with the dignity of the person. We are to resist the temptation to slip into gossip, dehumanization, and belittling of others, when we do not understand or agree with another, even those who are actively engaged in these actions, directing them at us or others. Instead we are to follow the will of God in and out of season, even when that means conflict within our families. We are to be people of prayer and worship, we are to serve one another through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

We follow Jesus as was recorded in today’s Gospel. We do not reject those who do not believe as we do, and who may even openly reject and attack us. Instead we continue to love God and place him first. As we do, we will grow, mature to be more patient, more present, more understanding and loving even when facing challenges from our own. As we grow closer to God we will face our conflicts with love and truth, so to grow closer to those in our realm of influence. Our task as disciples of Jesus is to follow the will of his Father, invite others to do the same, and allow God to happen.

Photo: Aspiring disciples of Jesus!

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, June 10, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061018.cfm

There are two points that struck me in today’s Gospel from Luke. The first is what Jesus was doing when Mary and Joseph found him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers (Lk 2:46-47). Other than his infancy, this is the only other account we have of Jesus in his youth. Jesus was listening to his teachers and asking them questions.

One of the greatest joys that I experience is when I am teaching. There are times, when I actually feel like I step out of my body and I am watching the exchange along with the students. These are times when the students are asking questions, they are listening and engaged, and I believe that in that exchange the Holy Spirit is present.

The second point was Mary’s response to the whole affair. After three days of anxiety trying to find Jesus, Jesus’ response that they ought to have known where he was, that he was about his Father’s business, and their lack of understanding of what Jesus said, Mary did not meet Jesus with a head slap to the back of the head, instead she “kept all these things in her heart” (Lk 2:51). As Mary did with the news of the shepherds at the birth of Jesus, Mary’s response was ponder.

We learn best when we enter into an exchange of dialogue where we listen to each other and ask each other questions. We commit an egregious sin when we stifle questions, inquiry, critical thought, and dialogue and slip into monologue and demagoguery. This is especially true in the realm of religious pursuits when we are talking about transcendental realities. None of us will ever fully comprehend God and if we say we do we are fooling ourselves.

We are wired to wonder from a very young age. If you have been around a three or four year old for any length of time, the question of, “Why?” will come up. Unfortunately, this natural curiosity is often tamped down, because answering questions takes time. Questions can challenge our own beliefs, they also help us to recognize what we know and do not know. It is one thing to think we understand something, and it is another to articulate it.

When we do not understand, when we are challenged, when we are presented with a response that we do not expect or agree with, may we resist the temptation to react and strike out. Instead may we assume the posture of Mary and instead ponder, to keep things in our heart. May we actually listen to the question, may we pray for discernment, may we seek to understand the words of the question, and then honestly answer the question from what we know and be willing to say that we do not have an answer when we do not know. Our part as people of faith is to know our faith tradition and share it the best we are able and then allow the person we are in dialogue with to accept or walk away. As St Peter guides us may we “be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear” (1 Peter 3 15-16).

Photo: As we celebrate Mary’s memorial today, let us call out, “Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!”

Readings for the Mass for June 9, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060918.cfm

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out (Jn 19:33-34). With that thrust of the centurion’s lance it appeared that all was lost. The long sought for messiah, the promise of Jesus appeared to be no more. His healings, exorcisms, words, and teachings were now nailed to the cross, that dismal sign of torture. Rome continued to brutally occupy Israel. Might appeared to continue to triumph over right. Darkness and the fullness of it, pride, betrayal, weakness, fear, corruption, and ego, all seemed to have won the day.

We ourselves, may have, may presently, or will be in a similar situation, from our own perspective or experience, as the disciples were. A place where all may appear to be hopeless, where what was promised and what has been hoped for seems to be dashed to pieces, where the rug may feel like it has been pulled out from under us, where up seems to be down and down up, where all may appear to be lost.

But the event of the crucifixion is not the end of the story, but the continuation of the Paschal Mystery. The Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity became one with us in our humanity, lived our life, experienced our life in all things but sin, yet through his Passion, he became a magnet. Like moths attracted to light, Jesus took upon himself the sin of the world, and entered into the most unique of human experiences, our death. With the piercing of his side, even his heart was pierced for us and blood and water flowed.

The Son of God, even in his death mirrored the reality of God within himself; where the Father pours himself out, all that he is to the Son, and the Son receiving all the Father is, returning, giving all he has received, all that he is to the Father holding nothing back. Jesus, repeated this same act of exchange on earth as he does in heaven. Jesus gave all that he is to us, for us. He loved us into existence, then came to save us from ourselves, becoming one with us, so we could truly and fully be redeemed, by loving us into his death.

Into his death, he experienced utter God forsakenness to the brink of complete abandonment, complete emptiness, just as the blood and water poured forth from his side, Jesus was pouring all he was out of himself for us. In that act, his grace poured out on the world, building upon the natural order of his creation. He would experience, with those who had totally turned within themselves and separated themselves from their birthright, their relationship with God, to win them back by giving himself to them in love. Then, from that very moment of complete emptying, he was pulled back by the Love of God the Holy Spirit, who is the Love shared between God the Father and God the Son, the divine unity of the Holy Trinity.

Jesus rose again. He conquered death and the grave. This was no mere resuscitation but a new birth. Jesus is the first born of the new creation, and we who share in his Baptism become indelibly marked, conformed to this new creation. We are part of the story of Salvation History. We have a part to play in the redemption of the world. All was not lost on that cross that day on Golgotha, the hill of the skull. That day was the beginning of our rebirth.

When we face trials and tribulations, when all seems lost, may we look to the Crucifix, and see not a morbid death, but the infinite love of God. In that wound on the side may we see the pouring out of Jesus. May we see in the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus the totality of how much he understands what we are going through, because he went through it for us. When we are going through our own time of the cross, know that the same power of love that brought the Son back from the brink of separation, is only a word or phrase away from our accessing the same power as well. Jesus, I Trust in You!

May we not take the gift of Jesus giving his life for us for granted. May we resist the temptations of despair, fear, and anxiety, and the lures of power, pleasure, wealth, and honor. Let us not pull within ourselves, bury our head in the sand, or keep others at arm’s length. Let us instead seek to live as Jesus did. Let us receive the love of the Father, and so love him and our neighbor in return. Let us pour out ourselves for one another, will each other’s good, and seek to empower one another. May we strive to be people of integrity and courage, to stand up for the welfare of those on the peripheries, to embrace the will of God and live it.

May we call on the name of Jesus when tempted, meditate on the crucifix or image of the Sacred Heart, so to receive his strength. In this way we can say with the same confidence and assurance as Paul, “Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Trial, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?… Yet in all this we are more than conquerors because of him who has loved us” (cf. Romans 8:35-37). Let us also resist seeking grandiose acts of love, so to draw attention to ourselves, but instead, today and each day, seek the path of the little way of St. Therese of Lisieux and echoed by St. Theresa of Kolkata, “Do little things with great love.” Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us!

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Photo: My breviary open to today’s Feast, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, highlighted antiphon: “God has loved us with an everlasting love; therefore, when he was lifted up from the earth, in his mercy he drew us to his heart.”

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, June 8, 2018, Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060818.cfm

In today’s Gospel from Mark, one of the scribes approached Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments” (Mk 12:28). This may have been a challenge to Jesus or it may just have been a valid question of one seeking the Truth. Scribes were the experts in the securing and making known the Torah. They could read and write, a skill not only used for protecting and passing on the faith, but also for the daily tasks of commerce and contract writing.

This question of the scribe was one that was asked often by those who sought how best to live out Torah. Not only were there the Ten Commandments, but throughout the Torah, there were 613 prescribed laws! A common debate that was often entered into was which were the most important to follow to be faithful, as well as the minimalist approach, being, which were the most important to be followed so someone could just get by?

Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.” With this response, Jesus drew first on Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and then regarding loving your neighbor, Leviticus 19:18. By answering in this way, Jesus stated that when we orient our life in the way that aligns ourselves to who God has created us to be, which is to Love God first, place God at the center instead of ourselves, we can then better love our neighbors and ourselves.

St Augustine, the bishop of Hippo (354-430), echoed Jesus’ “Greatest Commandment” by stating that we can love God and do whatever we want. The order of that statement is aligned to the commandment Jesus gave. God is first. The problem many of us have is that we place ourselves first, and seek to bend God’s will to our own. We look to flip the words to, do what I want and God will love me. True God will love us, but we will not experience his love, for we have disconnected ourselves from our relationship with him.

When we shift our orientation to seeking God first, such that this is our foundational approach to our life, our world opens up. Many of us are wounded by our own sin and the sin of others. We retreat into defensive postures and actualize defense mechanisms to survive. These may be good and necessary in the moment, but the challenge is that if we continue to live in a posture of survival mode, we are merely existing.

God wants us to strive, to be fully alive. His greatest joy is when we become fully alive and flourish, actualizing our vocation and the truth of who we have been created to be. This becomes a reality in our life when we open ourselves to the love of God, when we recognize we need him in our life, that we need him to bring us the healing balm of his love and mercy. Once we begin to experience the love of God we will begin to see ourselves and others, not from our own limited perspectives, but from the greater breadth and depth of how God sees us.

God is reaching out to us in so many ways to tell us that he loves us. He is loving us more than we can ever imagine. We unfortunately, are so turned in on ourselves that we close ourselves off to him. May we recognize the reality that his love is unconditional, it is not based on a feeling or emotion, though we sometimes experience those. God’s love is a deeper experience of willing our good. God loves us as we are, right now, right at this moment. Let us make some time to sit, breathe and experience God loving us. As we slow down enough to receive the love of God, we will begin to see in the course of our day how many ways he reaches out to us.

When I woke up this morning, I looked out the back door and saw a small yellow flower. I had the thought enter my mind of God saying to me, “Good morning, I love you.” God is sharing of himself in so many ways like this. May we be open to receive his love, be open to healing and risking again to reach out to others with the love we have experienced, so to not merely exist, but to begin to be free of that which binds us, so to fly and soar to the heights of joy and fulfillment that God calls us to. We will reach these heights as we love God, love our neighbors as ourselves and let God happen.

Photo: Yellow flower that I woke up to this morning.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, June 7, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060718.cfm

In today’s account from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus faces another challenge, but this time and the only time recorded in Mark, it is the Sadducees that confront Jesus. They present a hypothetical case based on the provision of Deuteronomy 25:5-6, which states that if a man dies and leaves a widow who has not as yet given birth to a son, that she is not to marry outside of the family, but she is to marry her husband’s brother. The reason was so that the first-born son would “continue the line of the deceased brother”(Donahue 2002, 352).

This was the starting point of the presentation. The representative of the Sadducees, then presented the absurd case in which six brothers die, all before the woman gives birth to a son. “Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her” (Mk 12:22-23). The logical presentation was presented in this way to prove their point that there is in fact no resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection of the dead because they saw no overt mention of it in the Torah, the Law or the Teachings, or what we would call the first five books of the Old Testament.

The reply of Jesus aligns him with the belief of the Pharisees, as they do believe in a resurrection of the dead, that is not a mere resuscitation, but that “the whole person will be restored to life” (Donahue 2002, 352). Jesus counters the claim of the Sadducees by inferring that they did “not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Mk 12:24). Jesus shares, not if, but when the dead rise, they will not marry as they had done during their life on earth, but that they will be like the angels. Jesus also cites an account in Exodus when Moses encounters God. During their exchange God states that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. “He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled” (Mk 12:27).

God our Father is a God of the living. He is the source and sustainer of our life and that life is to continue beyond the temporal reality of our present experience and on into eternity. God has created us to yearn for communion with him, to find our true fulfillment in our relationship with him. In this life and in the next, we will not ever be able to exhaust that hunger and desire to be one with him. His love beckons us ever on.

We limit ourselves and the gift of wonder, as the Sadducees did, if we reduce the mystery of heaven to a problem to be solved. It is natural to think and ask questions like what do we do in heaven, who will we meet, and will…, fill in the blank here, be there? In our present state of three dimensional reality though, there are probably no words or descriptions that would suffice. A better way to exert our energy is to realize that heaven is not so much a place as it is a communal state of unity with God.  We are better able to do so when we open and prepare our hearts, minds, and souls to receive the one who has loved us into existence and continues to invite us into a deeper communion with him. To be aware that he permeates and is present in all aspects of our lives now, and that we just need to attune our awareness to his presence.

As we begin to experience his love, his nearness, may we then reach out beyond ourselves and share it, by being present to others within our interactions and beyond to those we may have closed ourselves off to in the past. We are to help others and be open to allow others to help and support us as we strive for our end goal of eternal communion with God. God comes closest to us in our relationships with one another. Ass we are loved by God and share our love with others, that love increases and the source will never run dry.

May we begin today by asking God to show himself to us, to help us to be open to encounter him in our experiences as well as those we will meet today, to remember to seek him if anxieties, conflicts, and struggles arise, and to thank him for the gift of our life, for his being with us, to love and guide us. In seeking God we will be found by the God who is already seeking us, and in our encounter with him we will experience the foretaste of heaven.

Photo: Pope Francis incensing the altar during outdoor Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, in Washington D.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman).

John R. Donahue, SJ and Daniel J. Harrington, SJ. The Gospel of Mark, vol. 1 of Sacra Pagina. Edited by Daniel J. Harrington, SJ. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2002.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, June 6, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060618.cfm

Two groups who are generally opposed to one another, the Herodians and the Pharisees, appear to have formed an alliance. The Herodians, most likely supporters of the Galilean tetrarch Herod Antipas, have acquiesced and have allied themselves with the Roman occupation so that their “party” can be in leadership. The Pharisees, are opposed to Roman occupation and certainly do not support Caesar’s self imposed status as a god. Mark indicates that representatives of each group are sent to Jesus to “ensnare him in his speech.” They are seeking to gain evidence to bring charges against him.

They come up with an elaborate plan that seems foolproof. A representative from this groups asks Jesus, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay” (Mk 12:14). If Jesus answers that they ought to pay, then the Pharisees can bring charges against him for idolatry. If Jesus refuses to pay, the Herodians can then bring charges against him for disobeying Caesar’s tax. Jesus asks for a denarius, a Roman coin, and asks what image is on the coin, the response is Caesar. So Jesus said to them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” They were utterly amazed at him (Mk 12:17).

Jesus bested them at their own game, in thinking outside of the limitations that were imposed on him by his questioners. Our faith is built on Jesus’ response. Not in the modern distinction of church and state, but more often than not we are to follow Jesus’ model and guidance of how we are to live in the world but not be of it, is not to be an either/or response, but a both/and response, and the final determiner is God.

One such example is the false dichotomy that is often displayed whereby one is to choose either faith or reason. One could approach Jesus today and say, rabbi, should we follow faith or reason? We are more authentic in actualizing and pursuing the greater breadth and width of understanding about who we are as human beings and our place in the cosmos when we embrace both faith and reason. Our science and intellect are spurred on by our sense of wonder and awe in that we seek to understand our world around us. Using our ability to reason, hypothesize, and ask why, have lead humanity to some wonderful discoveries. Reason and science though can only take us so far.

The gift of faith helps us to answer the questions that go beyond the ability to solve problems and to enter into the Mystery of entering into a relationship with God and the spiritual realm of his creation, that transcends our physical world and capacity to measure it. Just a few of those people from our past who have shown this both/and approach are Copernicus (1473-1543), who developed the theory of heliocentrism, meaning that the earth is not the center of the universe but instead revolves around the sun; Nicolas Steno (1638-1686), who excelled in the study of anatomy, geology and is considered the founder of the study of fossils; Gregor Mendel (1822-1844), who was an Augustinian friar and is considered to be the father of genetics; and Fr. Georges Lemaitre (1894-1966), who is considered the father of the Big Bang Theory.

The Catholic Church is not opposed to science, but discourages the concept of a hyper scientism, which states that we can only believe that to be real or exist if it can be measured by the senses or experimentation. This is a limitation to the gift of wonder. As St. Pope John Paul II wrote in his encyclical Fides et Ratio: “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” To excel at our passion and desire, we can best do so by bringing God into any endeavor we pursue.

Photo: George Lemaitre and Albert Einstein

The following link lists an article by Shaun Mcafee regarding 11 Catholic scientists through the ages: https://epicpew.com/11-amazing-catholic-scientists-you-should-know/

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, June 5, 2108:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060518.cfm

In today’s Gospel from Mark 12:1-12, Jesus shares the parable of the man building a vineyard and leasing it out to tenant farmers. “At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.” Unfortunately, not only did the tenants not offer the produce due, they beat the servant and sent him back empty handed. This pattern was repeated, the owner sent servants, who were beaten and even killed, and then he even sent his son, thinking that they would respect him, but they killed him as well, thinking that then the inheritance would be theirs. Jesus ended the parable with an account of the swift retribution of the tenant farmers by the owner and the redistribution of the vineyard to others. The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders realized that the parable Jesus told was directed at them.

The leaders that Jesus shared this parable with were not happy about being compared to the wicked tenant farmers. This only deepened their resolve to arrest and persecute him. Would that the parable have been an opportunity to see that they were indeed like the tenants in that they were not being faithful stewards of God’s chosen people, and instead of digging in their heals, repented from their ways of turning their back to the will of God.

We who read Parable of the Tenants may be quick to judge the whole lot of them: the stewards, chief priests, scribes, and elders, but let us resist that temptation. What does this parable say to us? How have we been good stewards of that which God has given to us, including our self? A common mantra is that this is my body and I can do whatever I want with it. Though this may be a popular cry of individualism and self autonomy, it is not biblical.

All that we have is a gift from God, including our life and our very being. Each of us are a unique wonder to behold, while at the same time we are not our own to do with as we please. Our knee jerk and sometimes visceral reaction against this notion and choice instead to embrace a more radical individualism is that we want to be in control of our life. We believe that we know better, that we know what will make us happy and what will fulfill us, we want to give in to our pleasure, passions, and wants. Discipline is a dirty word. Our reaction also comes from our wounds, and our living in a fallen world where those we have put up on pedestals: our leaders, religious, political and familial, have time and again all fallen off and let us down.

This will continue to be the pattern unless we are willing to let go of our attachment to the things of this world, including our own self aggrandizement, and support of cults of personality. Let us instead look to the things of heaven. What will truly make us happy, what will fulfill us, is embracing who we are called to be: co-redeemers with God. God has given each of us gifts to better his kingdom. We are to be good stewards and bear fruit that will last.

The best way that we can begin this process is to acknowledge that we are stewards and not the owner, God is God and we are not. God has sent his Son to us. He has come to lead us to all that is Good, all that is True, all that is Beautiful. He is also the only one we can count on. We need to place our trust in Jesus first, so when others fall, we do not fall with them and/or despair, because none of us are perfect. Each of us have our strengths as well as our weaknesses. May we be there to empower each other, to utilize our gifts and our strengths, and allow others to empower us in our weakness. Let us be good stewards to one another.

Photo: JoAnn and I on a Christmas hike, 2010, taking turns carrying the food backpack. Photo credit – Jack McKee

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, June 4, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060418.cfm

The closing line of the Gospel of Matthew reads: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). One of the ways Jesus fulfills this promise is by being available to us during each and every Mass where he becomes present to us again in the Eucharist. He is truly present after the bread and wine have been consecrated through the power of the Holy Spirit working through the priest. Jesus shares his final meal with his disciples, as we read in today’s Gospel from Mark, and during that meal he says, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he says, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many” (cf. Mk 14:22-24).

This scriptural account is also echoed in Matthew 26:26-29, Luke 22:15-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25, and John 6:51-58. Jesus came to be with us so we could be one with him. The first step was the Incarnation, where the Son of God became man and entered our humanity, then he was willing to be the lamb that was slain for our salvation, and his sacrifice is re-presented during each Mass in which we consume his very Real Presence in the accidental form of bread and wine.

What happens during the Eucharistic Rite is that the priest calls down the Holy Spirit and the appearance of bread and wine remain the same, but the substance of these same elements are transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The same Jesus who was present with the apostles at the Last Supper is present again, and we enter into communion with his very being, so to be conformed to him, to be one with him, to receive his divinity so we can become God through our participation in his life.

That is the intellectual expression of what is happening, but for me, the moment of the reality of the Eucharist came when JoAnn and I moved to Florida. We started going to Church at Jupiter First Congregational Church in Jupiter. We attended for about five years. The music was phenomenal, the sermons engaging, I became involved in leading a Bible study for teens, and we were involved in adult classes. I found in the final few years that I was leaving the services depressed. In our adult breakout sessions, I found that there were many other Catholics attending and sharing their concerns and frustrations with the Catholic Church. I found myself defending and attempting to help people understand the different issues they had and realized, if I was defending the Church so much, maybe it was time to return.

One, Sunday after leaving service, I drove across the street to St Peter Catholic Church, walked in and sat down in the back of what is now the fellowship hall, and as the service began I wept. It was like coming home. I returned again the next week and the same emotional experience happened. I would come to realize that what I was missing was the Jesus present in the Eucharist. I haven’t looked back, and I have found that my life has become more fulfilled ever since.

Jesus promised to be with his disciples and us in saying that he would be with us always. He has kept that promise in being present in the Eucharist. We can experience him in his Word proclaimed and Real Presence provided in each Mass we attend; attending each Sunday or daily. No matter how crazy or insane the world gets, no matter how much we are struggling, no matter who lets us down or is not there for us, no matter what trial, tribulation, state of confusion or sin we are in, Jesus will be there for us. We can come up to receive him and consume him or receive his blessing.

Even outside of the Mass Jesus is reposed in the tabernacle. We can come to him to pray, to just look at him while he looks at us, to spend time in adoration and contemplation, to come to him that he might speak to us in the silence of our hearts. Jesus has not forsaken us nor left us orphans. Jesus is present to us and for us. Come to Jesus and find some rest, strength, courage, acceptance, affirmation, or love. What you find you need in the depth of your soul Jesus will provide in his presence.

Photo: Pope Francis celebrating Mass in Brazil, source – Buda Mendes / Getty Images

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, June 3, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060318.cfm

Jesus had not only created a scene when he turned over the tables literally in the Temple, but since the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus had been figuratively turning the tables on the religious leadership regarding how to worship and live out their faith in following God. The conflicts between Jesus and those in leadership were not subsiding but only growing, especially now that Jesus was present at the Jewish spiritual center of the Temple, the very seat of God. The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, are becoming more concerned about the teachings and actions of this itinerant preacher, and believe him to be a false prophet, so they approach him when he returns to the Temple and ask, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?” (Mark 11:28)?

Jesus deftly turns the table on them again. In doing so, they reveal that they do not believe that John or Jesus are operating under the authority of God, but they fear the reaction of the people gathering around their discussion. This is the time of the Passover, and many pilgrims have come to Jerusalem to celebrate. The area is teeming with people. The last thing that the Jewish leaders want is another scene as Jesus had staged from his turning over the tables the day before. The last thing they wanted was for the Roman centurions to get involved.

They refuse to answer Jesus’ question. Jesus follows like fashion then and does not answer theirs. This episode and exchange, as with the other conflicts with Jesus leaves them frustrated and even angrier at Jesus. They believe Jesus to be a false prophet, yet they are not willing to call him out publicly, so their indecisiveness fuels their resentment. Jesus is at peace because he knows that he is following the will of his Father and so he has nothing to prove.

How do we do with conflict? Are we as surefooted and confident as Jesus? If not, there can be many reasons, but foundationally, are we following the will of the Father in all that we do? The peace that surpasses all understanding that Jesus promises comes from the assurance that he is with us, he has our back, and supports us. It also comes with the confidence of knowing we are aligned with what God is guiding us to think, say, and do. The challenge is to be clear in our discernment that we know the difference between his and our own will, and when our decisions are in accord with or opposed to his.

From time to time we may receive absolute clarity. Many other times we are indecisive. The answer to knowing God’s will is knowing God intimately. We encounter and develop a relationship with God as we would with any other person, though until we develop a deeper faith life, that is easier said than done. As many of the saints attest, the closer they grow in relationship the more distant he appears. This is true because God invites us to go deeper, so we come to the point that we resist relying on our emotions, inspirations, our capacity to make sense of what we are asked, to come to the point to where he leads and we follow with clarity and without hesitation. Just as the sheep knows the voice of the shepherd, we strive to recognize and hear the voice of God speaking to us in the silence of our hearts.

Photo: Just as the sun rises each day, we know God is with us to guide us!

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, June 2, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060218.cfm

Upon a first reading of today’s Gospel from Mark it appears that Jesus woke up on the wrong side of the bed and that he was having a pretty bad day. He and the disciples were heading to Jerusalem, he was hungry, so spying a fig tree in leaf, he walked up to it and when he saw that there were no figs growing, he unleashed the words, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again” (Mk 11:14)!

In the next scene, we find Jesus returning to the Temple. He witnessed the money changers in the outer court, and he began to drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves (Mk 11:15). Good thing for the doves that Jesus only went for the seats.

There is a series of commercials that have been airing in which a character is very hungry and acting out of sorts until they are able to eat a candy bar. Once they do so, the character is transformed back into themselves. Is this what is going on with Jesus? Is he just hangry? Has his blood-glucose level taken a nose dive? Or is there something else going on?

Remembering that Jesus fasted for forty days in the Judean desert, I would speculate that there is something else going on here. What is more likely is that Jesus is asserting his prophetic role. As with other prophets recorded in the Old Testament, like Jeremiah, who gathered the elders of the people, then smashed a potter’s flask, then shared that this is what God would do to them for being unfaithful (cf. Jeremiah 19), Jesus is most likely going with a hyperbolic display to make a dramatic point.

The fig tree is often a sign for Israel and is recorded as such in Hosea and Jeremiah. When Jesus comes to the fig tree, his reaction is an expression of the unfaithfulness of Israel not so much at the fig tree. The chosen people are to be faithful to God in and out of season. When the disciples and Jesus passed by the fig tree the next morning, Peter exlaimed that the fig tree Jesus had cursed had withered to the roots. Jesus, not missing a step, mentions to his disciples that they are to: “Have faith in God” (Mk 11:22). By doing so, they will not whither and fade as those not being faithful to the covenant.

Jesus assumes his role as a prophet again when he is casting out the money changers in the temple precincts. It is no minor detail that the tables with caged doves were spared. If Jesus was going off in some kind of rage, he would not have thought twice about turning over the tables on them as well. Jesus again is making a spectacle that people would take notice. “Is it not written: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples? But you have made it a den of thieves” (Mk 11:17). Jesus is restoring the Temple to its proper place as a house of prayer, but he is also showing that the temple tax that has been paid and the sacrifices that have been offered will no longer be needed. Jesus is foreshadowing how he will replace the brick and mortar and become the New Temple. Jesus will be scourged and crucified, he will be the sacrifice offered and the price paid for our sins. The altar will be the new table where his sacrifice will be memorialized and re-presented.

Jesus’ message of the fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple are clear messages to us today. As his followers we are to bear fruit in and out of season, this means that we are to live out his teachings in all areas of our lives, individually and in communion with one another. Jesus has given us all a gift to offer, something that no one else can or ever will quite do in the way we can. This is how we are to bear fruit. Jesus in cleansing the Temple, shows that he is the new Temple. We too are to be a part of this Temple. We are to resist the corrosive and corruptive temptations that assail us, and remain true to our calling and faithful to God’s will as members of the living Temple. We are precious stones, to be polished and refined, that we might radiate the light of Christ to those in our midst.

Painting: El Greco, Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, June 1, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060118.cfm