Today we celebrate a new feast in the calendar of the Church: Mary the Mother of the Church. The plan for this feast was issued in the decree released on February 11, 2018 by Cardinal Robert Sarah of the Congregation of Divine Worship. Pope Francis has called for the Church to celebrate this feast on the Monday after Pentecost, for not only is Mary the Mother of Jesus, but since we as the People of God participate in the life Jesus as members of the Body of Christ she is our mother too.

In the record of the New Testament, we can read how Mary is not only present from the very beginning, in her willingness to say yes to being the bearer of the God Man, Jesus the Christ, she is present to guide him throughout his life, into the beginning of ministry, is present at his death, and she is present with the Apostles at the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Through each of these accounts Mary reveals by word and action to also be the model of discipleship.

Mary, answered Gabriel’s request to conceive and bear Jesus, with her response of “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Mary then went with haste to share the good news with Elizabeth and to assist her in her pregnancy of John the Baptist. Mary, after the birth of Jesus, is visited by the shepherds and upon hearing their news from the angelic host,  she “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). Mary and Joseph care for, protect, and guide Jesus in the Jewish faith as he matures and grows into a young man.

Mary was also present at the beginning of his ministry when she says to the servants at the wedding at Cana, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Mary was present also in today’s reading from the Gospel of John: When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home (Jn 19:26-27). Mary was pierced with sorrow when the lance was thrust through his side as blood and water flowed, and suffered in witnessing the death of Jesus, her Son. Mary was then present as the Church would be birthed at Pentecost at the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is also our mother, the Mother of the Church. We do not worship Mary, but seek her intercession and guidance as we would our own mothers. We also look to her as a model for living as disciples of Jesus. May we follow her examples as outlined in the New Testament. May we ponder the wonders and mysteries of God working in our lives. May we resist the temptation of denial, not run from, but embrace the sorrow and pain experienced in this fallen world so to receive Jesus whose arms are wide open to receive us, as he did on the cross, and so bestow upon us his consolation and healing from God our Father.

But may we not stop there. May we open ourselves to the love and empowerment of the Holy Spirit such that we may say yes to bearing Christ and going with haste to share the Good News of his life with others. May we resist the temptation of indifference and uncaring and instead help and support those we come in contact with who are in need. May we do what Jesus tells us to do to make his Church relevant and vibrant in our time.

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!

Photo: Statue of Jesus and Mary outside Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, Oceanside, CA, this past Christmas

Link for the decree ON THE CELEBRATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY MOTHER OF THE CHURCH: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20180211_decreto-mater-ecclesiae_en.html

Mass readings for Monday, May 21, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052118.cfm

There is a list of seven deadly or capital sins. They are called pride, lust, greed, envy, wrath, gluttony and sloth or acedia. Acedia may be the least recognized on the list but it is the most dangerous, because it is the most subtle. If it is recognized at all, it is often compared to laziness, but that does not quite grasp the depth of it. The word, from its literal meaning, means a lack of care. This can manifest in our life as cynicism, finding no meaning, a minimalist approach, a resistance to discipline, a disengagement with the world around us, and ultimately a “lack of care given to one’s own spiritual life, a lack of concern for one’s own salvation” (Nault 2015, 28).

Marc Cardinal Ouellet, in his foreword to Jean-Charles Nault’s, The Noonday Devil, describes the affects of acedia on us today this way: “Left to his own devices, man ultimately despairs of ever being able to find a meaning for his existence and runs the risk of sinking into mediocrity that is just the symptom of his rejection of his own greatness as an adopted son [and daughter] of God” (Nault, 2015, 11).

Many of us struggle with just getting by, feeling tired, worn down and worn out, seeing on some far horizon the possibility for our potential but wondering if we can ever fully achieve it. We deny the very gift of our humanity, we retreat into a stance that accepts the unthinkable, as long as it does not directly affect us. We grow in our indifference toward the needs of others we consider not like us. This happens when we listen to the father of lies instead of our Father in heaven.

Today we celebrate the antidote to acedia as well as all those temptations that grasp at our throat to choke out the divine life from growing within us. Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the Apostles to empower them with the divine Love between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21). Jesus, who embraced our humanity, and took upon himself our sin on the Cross and so conquered death, rose again, and freed us from our slavery to sin. The Risen One comes to us as he came to his disciples in the locked room and invites us to participate in his divine life. So when the temptations of sin arise in our mind and heart, we are to, in the words of St Benedict of Nursia, “dash them against Christ immediately” (Nault, 2015, 41).

We are able to do this by developing prayers, songs, and memorizing words of Scripture to counteract the lies and temptations that attempt to allure us away from the truth of our relationship with Jesus, ourselves, and each other. One simple but powerful prayer to use is reciting the words from Psalm 70:2 “God, come to my assistance. Lord make haste to help me.” Another is “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth.” Just saying, Veni, Sancte Spiritus, Latin for Come, Holy Spirit, reciting the Jesus Prayer or Come, Lord Jesus, followed by your own words are all ways to immediately turn away from the temptation that arises and draw on the infinite power and love of God.

May we recognize our need today for Jesus in our life. May we recognize that we are like diamonds in the ruff, we are unique and special gifts to this world, though wounded by our sin. We may feel adrift, without direction; we may feel cynical and without hope; we may feel beaten, worn out and worn down; but let us not despair, let us realize that we are not overcome or outdone. We may be wounded, but we are not destroyed. Let us call on the same Holy Spirit that empowered Mary and the Apostles so to draw guidance and strength from our God who loves us and desires for us the full actualization of who we are and who he calls us to be.

Let us not settle for a minimalist approach or living a life of mediocrity, but instead call on the name of Jesus to break the bonds of our enslavement to sin, so to be free to live our life in participation with him. We have been created for nothing less than a life of meaning, fulfillment, joy, love and unity with God and one another. Through the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, may we keep our tongues from evil and our lips from speaking deceit. May we turn aside from evil and do good.

May we seek and strive after the peace of God, that surpasses all understanding. Thus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we too are sent by Jesus. May we have the courage to be present, to accompany, guide and support others. We are to share the peace and love we have received.

Veni Sancte Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit!

Photo: Our daughter Christy, expressing her joy on the first day of her move to CA.

Nault, O.S.B., Jean-Charles. The Noonday Devil: Acedia Unnamed Evil of Our Times. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2015. If you are looking for a transformative book for summer reading, I highly recommend it!

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, May 20, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052018-mass-during-day.cfm

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 expending our energy in a way that promotes his will toward building up the kingdom of Heaven on earth. May we 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 get there 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.

We just need to, moment by moment, 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 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 of the gift of our mutual uniqueness and diversity in which we commit to supporting, encouraging, and uplifting one another.

Let us pray for all those at Santa Fe High School and all those who have died from violent deaths. Let us pray for the families and friends who now mourn. 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. We will begin to curb the violence in our country when we are willing to see each other as human beings again, when we are willing to respect the dignity of each and every human life.

Photo: Working together to life one another up!

Link for the Mass reading for Saturday, May 19, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051918.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.

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

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, May 18, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051818.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 the truth bestowed upon them by Jesus, which is that the Creator of all that exists, that so transcends our comprehension, that is so beyond our ability to reason, 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 an elect 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. They were to protect it for the purpose of transmitting it accurately to their successors so that it would 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 can experience the love of the Father, the same intimate communion that Jesus shares.

This is the Gospel, the Good News, that has always been expressed within himself as 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 for short, written between 1265 and left uncompleted because of his death in 1274, but finished by his students, outlines the temptations of wealth, honor, pleasure, and power, as major obstacles. 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 to 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, we will utilize positions of power and privilege to be a voice for those who otherwise would not have a voice. Through an access to wealth, recognizing that this has been a gift from God, we will then be good stewards of what we have received to help and support others, not so much in a limited stance of a hand out, but as a 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 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 Jesus be within us. May wealth, power, pleasure, and honor, not be a distraction to our embracing of the love of God, but be an access point in which, once we have received the love of God, are filled with, and experience his joy, we may radiate his presence to others. In this way may we be his presence, his peace, his joy for those who are in need of his hope, his acceptance, and his love.

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

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, May 17, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051718.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 continued to be one with his Father, while at the same time he became human. 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, 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, a change of heart, and so the world through us one person at a time.

Following the will of God is not easy to do. And the many distractions and temptations that are before us will 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 some four years ago, 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.

May we pray for each other today that we may slow our pace down and seek to know what God would have us do, for him to reveal to us the gifts that he imparted to us, and above all to be able to clearly hear his Word and have the courage to follow it. We can let go of the fear that we cannot do what he requires of us, because that is true, we cannot do what he asks us to do on our own, it is too overwhelming, no matter our perseverance, will power, or discipline. On our own, that is a given, but with Jesus, all things are possible.

We will accomplish that which God requires when we turn to him for guidance, he will place the people, the means, reveal to us the temptations and pitfalls, and instill in us the desire for us to complete the task 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, we will experience his joy, we will find meaning and fulfillment in our life, and ultimately, we will be one as Jesus and the Father are one.

Photo: 2018 graduates – One in God

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, May 16, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051618.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 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 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 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 omnipotent, impersonal force, nor is he a 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.

May we pray that in our encounters today, that we experience the love of God through coming to know Jesus 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 will ever be ever again. May we not only see the wounded heart, the rough edges of living in a fallen world, but may we see the truth and fullness of the potential to actualize all that God sees in us. May we see God in each other, may we allow God to love us and others through us today, one person at a time and one encounter at a time.

Photo: Junior year picture of graduates from last night, Perichoresis – the dance of the Trinity!

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, May 15, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051518.cfm

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you” (Jn 15:12). This is how God created us, to be loved and to love. The love that Jesus is talking about is unconditional and not just relegated to those closest to us, although, hopefully, in our families and friendships is where we first experienced being loved and learned to love in return.

The love that Jesus commands that we are to participate in as his followers, is a going out from, a giving of ourselves to others. We are not to seek in return, but to seek to empty ourselves. The return we get is from the infinite well spring and source of the Holy Spirit. The more we hold back, the less we receive, the more we give, the more we receive. We are to be tapped into the living stream, not separated and isolated, so as to become a stagnant pool.

The love Jesus commands cannot be done on the fly. To love is to be present to another. To love is to stop, to put our agendas and thoughts on the side and be willing to accompany another. Love is also not coercion and manipulation, it is accepting another as they are and where they are and sharing the journey of life together. Love, as I have also written before, is as St Thomas Aquinas has written, to will the good of the other as other. This means that we seek to will another’s good. This may mean saying things that others may not want to hear, or guiding them away from actions, relationships, and habits that are detrimental to their highest hope and good.

The reality of living in the love of Jesus is not exclusive but universal. We are to love those in our family, community, place of worship, tribe, political party and nation, while at the same time we are not to be limited to our common group. We must be willing to go out from our protected spaces to risk to love, to direct our thoughts, words, and actions toward those who are different, those who do not see the world as we see it, and even those we consider our enemies. This does not mean we have to agree or even like someone else, but we are commanded to love, to respect the dignity of the person as our starting point.

We can and ought to state clearly our beliefs, our thoughts and dreams, but also allow others to do the same. In this way, though we may differ in our points of view, we can see how we are much more alike than different. When we talk at and over one another, demean and belittle one another, we dehumanize each other. In an open dialogue, we encounter the person, and instead of keeping each other at arm’s length, we can embrace, learn and grow from one another as mutual brothers and sisters on this journey we call life.

Let us strive to be open to receiving the love of God, to be more open to loving one other as we encounter each other with respect and dignity, willing each other’s good.

Photo: Wolf Den Pow Wow, with hunka father, Fire Hawk, in late 80’s.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, May 13, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051418.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 death and conquered death. He rose again, 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 forty days 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 in tact, 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 when we call on his name.

Through the event of the Ascension, Jesus brings something of our humanity to heaven and at Pentecost 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, shared between the Father and the Son.

What this 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 the Holy of Holies in the temple at his crucifixion, and as Jesus Ascended fully human, with our humanity, to the right hand of the Father. Heaven and earth have been wedded.

We are the Church, the bride of Christ. Through our Baptism, receiving the Eucharist, and Confirmation we become grafted, conformed to, we become an organic part of the Mystical Body of Christ.

We are transfigured, 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”.

Today, this Lord’s Day, we not only celebrate the Ascension, but Mother’s Day. Motherhood is one of most profound mirroring of what the word Ascension means, the wedding of heaven and earth. The union of marriage between a man and a woman brings about the possibility of new life, a child.

The expression of the unitive love shared between husband and wife, father and mother, on earth mirrors the communal love of the Trinity in heaven. The Father, the lover, wills the good of his Son; the Son, the beloved, receives all that his Father gives him and infinitely returns what he has received; the Holy Spirit is the love that is shared between both Father and Son. All of creation is a result of the outpouring of infinite love, such that we have been loved into existence.

A mother participates in the wonderful gift of giving birth to new life. What great news! Yet, just as the Church is to bear Christ to the world, we can reject or accept this gift of commission, just as a mother or father can say yes or no to the wonderful gift of life present in her womb.

We exist because our mothers said yes to the gift of their vocational call to motherhood. They did not forsake us, they gave birth to us. But being a mother did not just stop at our birth, they loved, provided, guided, and cared for us, the best they could. This is true for our birth mothers, step and foster mothers, grandmothers, and single fathers. This day we say thank you, honor you, your sacrifice, and your love.

Our mothers continue to love us, even those now present with the Ascended Jesus. Jesus gave his life, conquered death, rose again and Ascended to the right hand of the Father so he could send the Holy Spirit, so we could fully participate in the love shared between his Father and himself.

Having heard this Good News of the Ascension embodied through our mother’s love, let us not, as the two angels said, just “stand around looking at the sky”, but share the love of his very being 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.

Happy Mother’s Day to those reading!

Photo: My mother, Jack and Christy around summer of 2011 visiting in Connecticut.

The Mass readings for Ascension Sunday, May 13, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051318-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 us to understand 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. What is different about the Ascension in salvation history, is that as 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 Love 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. Once we say yes, even just a little, the love of God grows within us, just like the image of the mustard seed Jesus used in his parable. 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 is in 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 does, we are to risk, to give his love away, by sharing his love with others. This is a risk because the invitation we 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 our journey of growing in faith, opening ourselves to the will of God, so we too, like the Son can experience the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. We too can experience, perichoresis, the infinite dance of Love 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 the fullness of the divine dance and communion of the Trinity. What Jesus has brought to us through his Paschal Mystery; his life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven, is the reality of how we can experience heaven on earth right now. May we embrace our vocation today, which is to say yes to God’s invitation to embrace the love of the Trinity so to love others as we have been loved. “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15).

Photo: Christmas hike 2010

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, May 12, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051218.cfm