Be vigilant, watch and pray.
“Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man” (21:36).
These are the last words we will hear or read this year from the readings of the Mass. The season of Advent and the new liturgical year begins tonight at the vigil Mass. As I read these words, I thought they are not only good words to end the year with but that they would also be good words to read at the beginning of each day.
“Be vigilant at all times” are certainly words to abide by. This is not a call to be paranoid or to live in fear. This is a call to be aware, to watch and pray. Being vigilant is also a reminder that we need to resist the temptation of speeding through life with blinders on and not taking time to listen to that quiet voice of God that guides us day in and day out. The more we hear the subtle, quiet leading of the Holy Spirit and ignore it, the less we grow in our awareness of his presence in our lives or the presence of those who need his mercy, grace, and love.
Worse yet, the less we take the time to hear and know God’s word, the more we will be tempted and persuaded by the myriad of other voices that are not of God, that might lead us astray. That is why prayer is so important, so we can develop an ear for our loving God and Father’s guiding voice heard when we are still. Once we begin to recognize his voice spoken in the silence of our hearts, we will begin to hear him speak in our daily activities.
Being vigilant also requires us to surrender our self-serving ego, for if we want what we want when we want, if we just keep up our pace at a fever pitch, if we are feeding ourselves with apparent goods, we can open ourselves up to some unsatisfying and pretty horrible scenarios.
God will provide us with the strength and awareness to escape the imminent tribulations. Some predators seek to do us harm in so many ways and forms that are unconscionable, yet pretending that they aren’t there, doesn’t work, and being paralyzed with fear makes us more vulnerable. We need to be aware of, and establish clear boundaries for ourselves and communicate them with others. Each time we listen to our intuition, our conscience, the whisperings of the Holy Spirit, we increase our confidence in who we are and who God leads us to be. We can also sidestep scenarios that can lead us down some very dark pathways.
Even while being vigilant, people of prayer, darkness can still fall upon us and those we care for. We still live in a fallen world of sin. There is darkness within the Church as well. But in each and every case, we are to maintain hope in the one who we will be preparing for this Advent, the Son of Man, who we stand before. He is the Light that shines in the darkness who has not and will not be overcome by it (cf. John 1:5).
Though others may let us down, Jesus is the one we can trust. Jesus is the one who will accompany us through the trials and tribulations we face. As St Augustine said in one of his homilies, “while we are still in the midst of this evil, let us sing alleluia to the good God who delivers us from evil.” For, in the end, Jesus the Christ will be the one to lead us home to the Father’s embrace for all eternity. Watch and pray today and all days!
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Painting: Rembrandt’s Christ with Arms Folded.
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, December 1, 2018: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120118.cfm
Jesus invites us to follow him and to invite others to do the same.
He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4:19).
Today’s Gospel account recalls Jesus calling of Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John. An interesting contextual point about this recollection is that Jesus was the one doing the calling. Spiritual teachers were common during the time of Jesus within and without of Judaism. What was common in those accounts were that the disciples came to the master. It was rarer that the master would search out and call his followers.
Another point to observe is that Jesus met the brothers in the midst of their everyday activities of fishing. Jesus came to them as they were working. The encounter with Jesus was not on some isolated mountain top, it was not at a gathering revival, nor at the temple or synagogue. Jesus met them in the midst of Simon and Andrew casting their nets and James and John mending theirs.
A third point from this short account is that Jesus immediately followed up his invitation to Simon and Andrew to come after him with the insistence that they will be fishers of people. They are not entering their new apprenticeship with Jesus having any false notion that they will wait for others to come to them. They will travel out of their comfort zones, literally, leaving their fishing businesses, their security, and trusting in Jesus as they learn about and share the Good News that the kingdom of God is at hand.
The three points above apply directly to us as well. Jesus invites us. We just need to be open to receiving the invitation and saying yes as Simon, Andrew, James, and John had done. Jesus meets us in our everyday moments. He encounters us in our workplace, among our interactions with family and friends, in our class and dorm rooms, as well as in our activities and leisure, and in our conflicts, struggles, and suffering. Jesus often meets us in those unprepared for interruptions we experience. Jesus certainly meets us in our prayer, but if we have the desire to pray it is because he has already placed it there. Also, our time of prayer helps us slow down and become aware of his presence in our life, so that when we leave our times of prayer and worship, we will be more able to see him in the midst of our daily activities.
Finally, Jesus calls us to share what we have experienced and learned from our encounter. No matter how small. When we reach out in faith the Holy Spirit will provide the means. We will make mistakes, we will not be perfect, but if we are humble, we will learn and grow as his disciples. Remember who he called? Peter, Andrew, James, and John. There are four Gospels full of accounts of their false starts, gaffes, and “Oops”. We grow and learn by doing. As we crawl, we will soon learn to walk, as we walk we will soon learn to run, and as we run, we will soon learn to fly!
Jesus invites us to participate in his life. May we be thankful for the gift of his life that he gives us and may we live our life and be open for opportunities to share our faith by accompanying those in our realm of influence through the normal means of interaction we have. Again, remembering first and foremost to do so in a way that respects the dignity of each person we encounter. We are to resist imposing and be open to inviting.
One of the reasons that this time last year, the cause for the canonization was promoted for Nicholas Black Elk (ca. 1866-1950), an Oglala Lakota, holy man, best known from John Neihardt’s work, Black Elk Speaks, was that he, like St Andrew whose feast we celebrate today, said yes to the invitation to follow Jesus. Black Elk was baptized in 1904, on the feast day of St. Nicholas, taking his name. He continued to practice his Lakota ways as well as becoming a catechist, and under his invitation and guidance, over 400 people came to believe in Jesus.
Let us say yes to Jesus’ invitation to come and follow him, and become fishers of people! St Andrew pray for us, Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk pray for us.
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Photo: Source Marquette University Catholic Mission Archives. Nicholas Black Elk catechizing with the “Two Roads Map” the children of Broken Nose.
Link for the Mass readings for Friday, November 30, 2018: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/113018.cfm
Jesus, especially in our trials, reveals to us our dignity so we can see the dignity in each other.
In today’s Gospel of Luke, Jesus paints a picture of Jerusalem under siege. The imagery is stark, dire, and horrific such that the only option is to flee. Even the natural elements are affected as there will be “signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,” as well as “the roaring of the sea and the waves” (Lk 21:25). Yet, even in the midst of the appearance that all is lost, today’s reading ends: “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand” (Lk 21:27-28).
There are certain things that are within our control to influence and to effect in such a way to bring about change, but in much of our life much is out of our control. No matter how much we seek safety and security in this world, it is never guaranteed. The Bible from Genesis to Revelation offers those experiences of the ones who have encountered the ultimate security even in the midst of the most tragic of circumstances. Our solid foundation and source of being is God.
We can be more assured of God’s presence and reality in our life if we do not wait until calamities come before we turn to him for help. Answering his invitation to develop a relationship with him now is not a benefit for God, for he is self sufficient in and of himself, and does not need us. Saying yes to the invitation of the Holy Spirit helps us to experience that we are not alone in our life, through the ups and down, the good times and the bad. As we build our relationship with God over time and experience, this relationship becomes more real and tangible to us.
I remember an experience about half way through my first year of teaching. I was being observed by my mentor as I taught a math lesson to the first graders under my care and guidance, yet nothing seemed to be working, the attention of the students was gone. I remember turning to look at the clock, and having this sinking feeling that I could not do this. For that brief moment, I wanted to turn over my keys, ask my observer to take over, and head out the door never to return and look for a new career.
Yet, from the moment I turned back from looking at the clock to the students before me a peace settled in my soul. I continued the lesson, finished out the day, and continue to teach eighteen years later. I know many of you reading this have and/or are going through much worse trials and struggles. Yet I invite you to arise with confidence today.
We have an advocate, Jesus the Christ, who understands our plight and is present with us, providing guidance, support, and strength so that we can endure, even when we may feel alone, lost, or besieged on every side. Our security comes from our faith and hope in our relationship with Jesus, such that we will not only endure, not only survive, but we will thrive, so to be empowered to recognize our dignity as well as respect the dignity of others.
Photo of card with the painting of Lisette de Winne titled, “Our Greatest Contribution” – commissioned by Selection Research, Inc. – which also states: “Our greatest contribution is to be sure there is a teacher in every classroom who cares that every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being.” The goal I aspire to each day.
Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, November 29, 2018: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112918.cfm
“They will seize and persecute you… because of my name.”
Jesus said to the crowd: “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name” (Lk 21:12).
Each of the predictions above; being seized, persecuted, handed over, and led before the rulers happened to Jesus’ disciples as was recorded by Luke in his second volume, the Acts of the Apostles. Jesus did not nor does he hide or paint a rosy picture of discipleship. He consistently shared and modeled in his own life how demanding it will be to follow his lead, the will of his Father, the demands of discipleship, as well as endure the reaction of others. This continues to be true today. In fact, the number of Christian martyrs in the twentieth century has risen to a higher level than at any other time in history.
Yet, there have been those who have said yes to the invitation generation after generation. We each have to make our own commitment to Christ. It is a personal invitation and a personal response. Though the demands, the sacrifices, and the expectations are high, Jesus is present with us through the journey. St. Paul equated discipleship with the running of a race: “Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we a imperishable one” (I Cor 9:25).
Any athlete, musician, artist, or person engaged in any serious endeavor, must discipline themselves to accomplish their goal of freedom for mastery, for excellence. Without any concerted discipline, fluency and freedom for the sought after goal will not be attained. The same is true with discipleship.
The discipline Jesus presents today in the Gospel of Luke is that we may and will face overt pushback if we are authentically living our faith. We are inspired to not even be swayed by family, friends, and/or peers. This is where the issue of putting God first comes to bear again. We are not to be belligerent or in someone’s face about living our faith. We are to meet others with love, mercy, and respect, while at the same time not backing down and away from what we believe. We are called to learn the teachings of our faith, share it with others, and clarify what we believe in dialogue and charity.
May we respect and allow another the opportunity to do the same. From a place of mutual respect and honoring the diversity of others within and without of our own faith tradition, as well as those having none, we grow. People are free to decide as they wish. We need to resist the temptation to water down what we believe to be accepted or liked. Sometimes people will react emotionally, rudely, crudely, or even violently. Yet that is not an excuse nor does it provide the green light to respond in kind. If we do, then we will often feed into and justify another person’s preconceived notions.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen said: “There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.” As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to learn our faith, know what we believe and live authentically well, while at the same time be open to constructive and respectful dialogue with others.
Being a disciple of Jesus is demanding, will take discipline, as well as a willingness to face hardship, misunderstanding, and even outright hostility at times. Yet, the prize, a foretaste of which we can receive in this life and the fullness of in the next, is the gift of deepening our relationship with the one who made us for himself. Jesus is with us every step of the way. He invites us to yoke ourselves with him. When we do, there is, even amid trials and tribulations, a joy and a peace that surpasses all understanding (cf. Philippians 4:7).
This makes the demands and trials worth all the effort. Even though we have a deep seeded hunger to belong, the foundation of our relationships needs to be authenticity, integrity and truth. May we strive for holiness as we strive to be true to who we are and who God calls us to be! No easy task but: “[We] do not fight as if [we] were shadowboxing. No, [we] drive [our] body and train it, for fear that, after preaching to others, [we ourselves] should be disqualified” (1 Cor 9:26-27). We do not strive for a perishable crown, but an imperishable one!
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Photo from my Freshmen year theatrical makeup class at Central CT State University. My design project was to make myself look like Rocky Balboa. “I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing :)”
Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, November 28, 2018:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112818.cfm
World coming to an end? Only the Father knows the time or hour.
While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here– the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down” (Lk 21:5-6).
As we read yesterday, Jesus observed the widow donating her two coins. Today Jesus observes those who are commenting about the wonders of Herod’s temple. Jesus responds by sharing, as did Jeremiah, that the temple will fall, and not a stone upon another stone will be left. The reality of this statement would come to pass in 70 AD, when the Romans destroyed the temple and crushed the Jewish rebellion during the Jewish War from 66-70 AD. The only significant remnant of the temple still to this day is the western retaining wall, also known as the Wailing Wall.
The people of the ancient Near East certainly witnessed to and passed on tales of the rise and fall of mighty kingdoms beginning with Egypt’s impressive reign from about 3,000 to 721 BC, followed by Assyria who then gave way to Babylon. The Babylonian army would destroy Solomon’s temple as predicted by the prophet Jeremiah. The Persians would then overtake the Babylonians and push west only to be repelled by the unification of the Greek city states under the Macedonian Philip and then his son Alexander the Great who would continue south and east all the way to India. The massive Greek empire would then give way to Rome. Rome would then fall in 476 AD.
As each empire fell, and definitely with the fall of Rome, there was the great concern that the end of the world drew nigh. Throughout the ages up until the present day, nation has continued to “rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…” as well as “powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place” (Lk 21:10-11) that made their historical impressions on those who lived through them. There have also been a plethora of end of the world predictions from the ancients up to the more well known modern prognosticators such as Jeane Dixon, Pat Robertson, a handful of predictors around 2000, and most recently Harold Camping who caught a lot of attention with his prediction of the end of the world that was to have happened on October 21, 2011.
As of this typing we are still here. The Gospels of Mark and Matthew record Jesus sharing the same point almost word for word: “But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (see Mark 13:32 and Matthew 24:36, RSV translation). In Luke’s presentation from today’s Gospel he moves further away from Mark and Matthew’s eschatological or end of times talk, and spoke more toward the destruction of the temple.
We have a few more days of Luke and Ordinary Time to go before the end of the liturgical year. Kingdoms rise and fall. Abuse of power continues. Storms and fires rampage. So many are displaced from war, terrorism, violence and too little are reaching out to provide compassion and support. Too many are enamored by our technological ingenuity and advancements, as were those who were admiring the adornment of Herod’s temple. Are we in the final days? Only the Father knows.
Let us place our hope and trust in Jesus, the Son who knows the Father. May he help us to embrace the wonder of the gift of life; human, animal, plant, and all of God’s creation. May we invest in relationships by seeking to encounter, accompany, and empower the dignity of the human person in the realm of our influence, while at the same time strive to be better stewards of God’s creation. In this way, we can make decisions, not just for what we can get now, but how our choices will impact the next seven generations.
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Photo: Cardinal Newman H.S. morning moon November 2017.
Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, November 27, 2018: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112718.cfm
May we too, “Give until it hurts with a smile.”
“I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood” (Lk 21:3-4).
The biblical recommendation for giving is a tithe of our income, meaning ten per cent. We can see an example of this in the book of Genesis when Abraham offers a tithe of his possessions to the priest Melchizedek in thanksgiving to God for a successful battle through which he rescued his nephew Lot (cf. Genesis 28:20-22). Tithing was practiced consistently and this, or the giving of alms, was most likely what Jesus was observing at the temple.
The widow went further though than giving a simple tithe. Widows in Jesus’ time were often destitute and needed care and support from others. They were often recipients of alms. There was a long tradition in Judaism of the mandate to care for the widow and orphan. This widow, though giving a significantly smaller amount than the heftier donations before her, proportionally gave much more, indeed, “her whole livelihood.”
St. Mother Teresa understood these verses very well, especially after receiving her “second call” in which she left her Loretto Convent and went to serve among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. Often in her talks she mentioned giving until it hurts, not from our surplus, but more like the widow. To her this was true giving.
One of the many examples Mother Teresa witnessed of this was when she gave a cup of rice to a poor Hindu family. The mother was very grateful for the gift and as soon as she received the rice, she went to her Muslim neighbors and gave them half of what she had received. Upon her return, the woman told Mother Teresa, “They are hungry too.”
What impressed Mother Teresa was not that the woman shared the meager amount that she received, she had observed the generosity of the poor often. She was touched by the fact that this woman was aware of the need. Mother’s charge to us is, “Are we aware?”
Are we willing to see the needs within our own family as well as beyond to the needs of others? Are we then willing to share? We do not need to share just monetarily. We can and ought to discern how we can share of our time, talent, and treasure.
Jesus’ observation and pointing out how the widow “gave more than all the rest” shows us how to participate in the kingdom of God. We are to recognize all that we have is a gift from God and all truly belongs to him. We are simply stewards of what he has given us. Remember the recent parables of the talents, the gold coins, and Matthew 25 – what you do to the least of my brothers, you do it to me?
Jesus, help us to be better stewards of our time, talent, and treasure so that all of our life is a participation in the building up of the kingdom of God. Let us, as St Mother Teresa shared, “give until it hurts with a smile” so we can experience the joy of sharing God’s love.
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Photo of St. Mother Teresa that I took when I saw her in Massachusetts in the early 90’s.
Link of video of St Mother Teresa talk at National Prayer Breakfast 1994. Her talk begins at 48:58: https://www.c-span.org/video/?54274-1/national-prayer-breakfast
Link for the Mass readings for Monday, November, 26, 2018: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112618.cfm
Collaborating with Christ the King, one person at a time
Today is the last Sunday in Ordinary Time. Next Sunday will begin the new liturgical year in the Church calendar as we begin Advent. In today’s Gospel from John, Jesus faces the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate:
“So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?”
Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (Jn 18:37).
Clearly, Jesus is a king, yet not in the way of other kings who have gone before him or followed after. As Jesus said before his above statement, “My kingdom does not belong to this world” (Jn 18:36). The Son of God came among us to re-orient, to re-align the worldly order. Leadership is to no longer to be about the aggrandizement of self nor at the expense of others. God was very aware of the suffering of his people. He sent Moses to free his people from slavery from Egypt and he sent his Son to free all humanity from our slavery to sin.
Yet this freedom has a cost. Today we are reminded that we have a choice to make. Who are we to serve? Are we to serve Pharaoh or Moses, Pilate or Jesus, our self or God. If we seek to be free from the shackles of our slavery to sin, the choice is clear that we are to listen to the voice of the king of the universe, the truth of Jesus the Christ.
We can see in our own actions who we serve and whose voice we listen to in the action or inaction we direct toward one another. Are we indifferent, blind to another’s suffering or are we aware and willing to get involved, to be, as Fr. James Keenan, S.J. wrote, “willing to enter the chaos of another.”
The reign of Jesus is about personal encounter. We serve Christ the King in being aware of and accompanying one another. We are not to be about bringing world peace, ending hunger, providing homes for all in some abstract utopian pursuit. We are instead to be about treating each person we meet with dignity, we are to see Jesus in our midst: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me” (Mt 25:35-37). Jesus our king, commands us to act as he lived, to be aware, to accompany, and to make a difference, one life at a time.
We may feel overwhelmed with our own struggles, let alone the present state of our country or weight of the world, but we do not have to bear the weight alone, nor are we expected to change the world. We begin each day with ourselves. We resist the temptation to turn within and instead adjust our attitude and focus outward, while at the same time making a commitment to serve Jesus in one another. God is guiding us already through the love of the Holy Spirit he shares with us, we just need to receive his love, and have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a willingness to participate in his will.
What we need today, on this feast day of Christ the King, is to allow Jesus to re-orient, to re-align the order of our life. We need to be willing to allow Jesus to lead us such that we are willing to enter the chaos of another. May we, in this final week of Ordinary Time, choose who we will serve, and then spend some time reading and meditating on the Beatitudes (Mt 5:1-12) and chapter 25 of Matthew. Jesus gives us not only this blueprint on how to be collaborators with him, he empowers us to accomplish that which he guides us to do.
As Pope Francis said in a 2014 homily these are: “Few words, simple words, but practical for all. Because Christianity is a practical religion: it is not just to be imagined, it is to be practiced. If you have some time at home today, take the Gospel, Matthew’s Gospel, chapter five. At the beginning there are the Beatitudes; in chapter 25 the rest. And it will do you good to read them once, twice, three times. Read this programme for holiness. May the Lord give us the grace to understand his message.”
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Pope Francis photo credit: Paul Haring, CNS
Fr James Keenan article on Mercy:
http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/scandal-mercy-excludes-no-one
Pope Francis homily, 6 September 2014: http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/06/09/pope_the_beatitudes,_a_practical_programme_for_holiness/1101553
The Mass readings for Sunday, November 25, 2018: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112518.cfm
Experience the God of the living and a foretaste of heaven today.
The Sadducees present an absurd scenario for Jesus to respond to: a woman’s spouse died leaving her childless and then successively married her husband’s six brothers who all died, also leaving her childless. The question from the Sadducees was, “Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” (Lk 20:33)? What the Sadducees were really getting at was to have Jesus weigh in on his views about whether there was or was not a resurrection of the dead.
The Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection of the dead because they only believed in the Torah, the law or the teachings, what we as Christians today recognize as the first five books of the Old Testament. In the Torah, there is no overt reference to the resurrection. The Pharisees, recognized the written Torah, but also acknowledged an oral tradition beyond the written text, and thus did recognize the resurrection of the dead. Jesus deftly answered the question by keying in on the verse from Exodus, found in the written Torah: “That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive” (Lk 20:37-38).
Jesus clearly pointed out that God was not a God of the dead but of the living.
The deeper reason for the question was ultimately, and is the question that also arises today, “What goes on in heaven? What do we do all day?” Jesus’ response to the Sadducees then and us today is: “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise” (Lk 20:34-36).
What Jesus means is that heaven is a different reality than we experience now. Heaven is a different dimension of existence. We will no longer marry because we will be living eternally, there will be no death, no more need to procreate.
Also, heaven is not so much a geographical place as it is a relationship and experience of a deeper communion with God. We want to know what we are going to do there, because we are attached to what we have and what we do here. In heaven, we will experience the fulfillment of that which we have been created for, that which we truly crave and hunger for, that which will fulfill our deepest longing, which is to look upon God face to face, what theologians call the beatific vision. Many would scoff and say, “That’s it?” I am sure there is more, but if that was all, there would be more joy, more acceptance, more totality of being, than we could ever imagine or embrace in just a second of that eternal gaze. As the psalmist wrote: “Better one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere” (Psalm 84:11).
Definitively speaking, heaven is a mystery to us. Again, the Mystery of God is not a problem to be solved but a relationship to experience and develop. This is why prayer, worship, encounter, relationships, and experiencing God’s creation are so important because each are encounters with the living God, each are a foretaste of heaven. If we are only tied to the material, the finite, our self apart from others, we will succumb to attachments and addictions that will create walls of division and separation such that we cannot even begin to conceive of the eternal or spiritual ground and foundation of our existence.
May we be more mindful today to make some time for prayer, reread today’s Gospel and pondering it, wondering about the gift of an eternal communion with God, the God of the living, and what it would be like to see God face to face. Head to worship with a community of faith this weekend, and actually sing during the service. God does not implore that we sing well, but only that we make a joyful noise unto the Lord (cf Psalms 98, 100). During the Mass, heaven and earth become one through the presence of Jesus in his people gathered, his word proclaimed, and his real presence in the Eucharist.
In our homes and in our everyday experiences, may we really experience, accompany, and be with the people around us, talking and listening to one another. May we seek a ministry of service that we can participate in regularly or invite someone to join us if we are already active. May we spend some time immersed in God’s creation, whether taking a walk, taking long deep breathes while looking at the starry night, or just sitting and watching all the gifts of life pass by, birds, otters, bobcats, or whatever may cross our path. Each of these are opportunities to encounter the God of all creation and to experience a foretaste of heaven!
Photo: Family of bobcats that were playing in our backyard about this time last year.
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, November 24, 2018: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112418.cfm
