In yesterday and today’s Gospel account from Luke 17:20-37, Jesus responds to the Pharisees questions about “when the kingdom of God would come” (Lk 17:20). We read how during the time of Noah and during the time of Lot many were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, buying, selling, planting, building. In effect, none had any clue about the impending calamity of the flood or the destruction of the city. They were so absorbed in their own pursuits and desires they neglected their relationship with God, and more importantly missed the invitation of God for their salvation. The only ones who survived were a small faithful remnant who were aware and listened.

Another focal point was on those who were attached to material and finite things. When the final hour came, people on the rooftop or in the field were directed not to go back and get their possessions. Much as we would guide someone today not to go into their home that was on fire, the priority was placed on the safety of the person and their family not their possessions. As Jesus pointed out succinctly, “Remember the wife of Lot” (Lk 17:32). Lot left and encouraged her to leave Sodom, she did physically but could not resist looking back, she was too tied to what she was leaving behind, and so she lost herself to her attachments, instead of keeping her face wet forward, being open to the promise of freedom ahead.

Matthew adds the words of Jesus in his gospel stating that only the Father knows the time or the hour as to when the end will come (cf. Mt 24:36). The point that Jesus was making is that spending time speculating when the end will come is a pointless pursuit. What is important is to be aware of the kingdom of God which is at hand now. The priority is developing a relationship with God now. If we are only going to prepare at the final hour that time may be too late, remember the Parable of the Ten Virgins from Sunday. The wise virgins were those who were prepared to enter the wedding feast when the bridegroom came because they had enough oil to light their lamps. Those foolish virgins that did not prepare, had to go to purchase oil, and upon their return the door was shut, and the horrible words they heard were, “‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Mt 25:1-13).

A possible way to bring Jesus’ point a little closer to home is an example from my experience in the classroom. I might be sharing who God is, how we can build a relationship with him, an insight from Scripture that we just read together, a particular discipline of prayer like the Examen, how it is possible to be chaste as teens and adults, even with the recent flurry of examples to the contrary on the news! A hand will arise, my anticipation arises with it that the student will be seeking to go deeper into the discussion but then asks, “Is this going to be on the test?” The best case scenario is the student is being diligent to be sure they have the important material.

Often though the question parallels that of the Pharisees asking, “When will the kingdom of God come?” Both address not the intrinsic value of growing as a person, developing a relationship with God and one another, but each of the queries are more concerned with a minimalist approach to get by so they can get back to their own self satisfying pursuit. What Jesus shared with the Pharisees and what I share with my students is that the kingdom of God is right at hand! All we need to do is reach right out and grasp his hand and walk with him.

For the Pharisees, this meant letting go of what was becoming a dead letter and participating with the living reality of God in their midst. With my students this means praying the course instead of completing the course.  So many of us are caught up in the day to day affairs of existing, we are so busy, that we are no longer really living. Jesus is inviting us to wake up, to breathe, to slow down, to be aware that he walks among us, and we are called, as was Lot’s wife, to keep our focus on God. Instead of becoming attached to material and finite things may we keep our focus on the things that are above.

Lord Jesus help us to recognize that we are caught up in the business of life and we are attached to too many things. Help our minds and hearts to be open, such that we, in the words of Pope Francis, “understand what faith means when we open ourselves to the immense love of God that changes us inwardly and enables us to see our lives with new eyes” (Walking, 12). Eyes that see the kingdom of God in our midst.

Photo: Hiking in California December 2015, with JoAnn, Jack, and Christy

Walking With Pope Francis: Thirty Days with the Encyclical The Light of Faith. New London, CT., Twenty Third Publications, 2013.

Link for today’s Gospel readings:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111717.cfm

Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you” (Lk 17:17-19).

Bloodline doesn’t matter, gender doesn’t matter, nation doesn’t matter, ethnicity or race doesn’t matter. Ask Mary the mother of Jesus, ask the woman who suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years, ask the Roman centurion whose slave was dying, ask the Samaritan leper what matters. Each of them will share with us that what matters is our faith in Jesus the Christ.

The lifeblood of Christianity is our belief and faith in Jesus, the Son of God, who made his dwelling among us. St Irenaeus of Lyons (born in Smyrna about 135-140 AD and died about 202-203 AD) in his work Against the Heresies wrote: “The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did through His transcendent love, become what we are, that he might bring us to be even what He is himself.” –  Jesus became one with us so we could be one with him!

Let us take some quiet time to thank Jesus today, for our very life, his constant presence, and his wonderful gift of the invitation to share in his divinity. Rest in his healing, nurturing embrace, inhale deeply. Allow all the tensions and anxieties to release such that our shoulders come down out of your ears. Be still and open your heart and mind to experience the wonder and joy of the same healing presence experienced by those in the Gospels.

Allow yourself to be touched by his love, his mercy, and his grace, and let the tears come if they arise. Stay as long as you like embraced by the shepherd. Let his love wash over you and through you. May our trust in him, our belief in him, and our faith in him deepen, such that when we do rise and go forth into our day, we share that same peace, love, joy, and divinity that we have just experienced and received.

Painting: The Sacred Heart of Jesus by Charles Bosseron Chambers

Link for today’s Mass readings:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111517.cfm

“When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do'” (Lk 17:10).

This can be a hard verse to digest at first glance, especially with our track record of slavery in the U.S. We need to remember and recognize that this was a teaching that Jesus shared in a different time period, in a different culture, and in a place far removed from any clear modern context. The master/slave relationship is also a theme that Luke returns to often.

Another important point to touch upon when reading the Gospels is that when Jesus made the statement that, “we are unprofitable servants; we have done what we are obliged to do”, we cannot read this verse in isolation from the full context of Scripture. Jesus himself modeled service at the last supper when he washed his disciples’ feet (cf. Jn 13:1-17). This was the lowest of menial tasks. St Paul wrote to the Galatians informing them that in the Body of Christ there is no Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male nor female (cf. Galatians 3:28). The point being that we all have a part to play in participating in promoting the kingdom of God.

The teaching that Jesus conveyed was that as a disciple we are not to seek adulation and glory. We are to serve one another. We are not to ask in the words of James and John, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left” (Mk 10:37). As disciples, we serve for the intrinsic joy of following the will of God. When I oversee students in our cafeteria during retreats and other opportunities, as they finish eating, instead of telling them to pick up after themselves, I begin to pick up their plates and trash. Some are quite happy to receive the service, some will say thank you, while others will join in to assist. My hope is that if I am willing to serve, so will others.

May we look forward to opportunities to serve Jesus today in our interactions with one another. In so doing, may we confirm the gift of our vocation of service. We need not worry about doing big and grandiose things for applause, we just need to begin to act as we are led, without hesitation or rationalization as to why we shouldn’t. Each chance we have, whether it be to smile, to hold a door for someone, to acknowledge a prejudice and be willing to interact with someone who we have considered as “other” in the past, to be patient instead of losing our temper, or any small act of kindness, is an opportunity to love, to find meaning, to serve. We and those in our circle of service will be better for the effort. And our country and world is in desperate need of some unconditional service.

Photo credit:

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO/POOL PHOTO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Link for today’s Mass readings:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111417.cfm

“If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him” (Lk 17:3-4).

Forgiveness is a cornerstone of our faith tradition as Christians. Hopefully, the verse above moves you. If not, how about Peter’s request of Jesus asking how many times should he forgive, seven times? Thinking he was being pretty generous. Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times” (cf. Mt 18:21-22). If those two are not enough how about a third example. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. He taught them the Our Father or Lord’s Prayer. A prayer which many of us recite daily, even multiple times. Do you remember the phrase from it? “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” or “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Mt 6:11-12).

If we are to be faithful followers and practitioners of Jesus the Christ we need to be people who forgive. Not once above does Jesus say forgive, except in this incident. Also, nor does he say we are to forgive within limits, seventy-seven times is not the end, he is saying we are to forgive at every opportunity. Forgiveness does not mean that we justify the offense or even necessarily forget. Jesus said to rebuke the person, for we are to hold people accountable. We are also not expected to forgive with our own will power alone. Jesus himself on the cross sought the aid of his Father: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). Jesus didn’t say, “I forgive them.”

Maybe an analogy will help. Unforgiveness is like being bitten by a rattlesnake. So bitten, the venom gets into our bloodstream. We have a choice at that point we can chase the fleeing snake or seek immediate medical treatment. One unwilling to forgive would be likened to one who would go after the snake, looking through rocks, fallen logs, and into brush, as he slowly begins to weaken, gets feverish, his vision becomes blurry, possible numbness of the face or limbs ensues as the poison continues to course through his veins. Left untreated and seeking the snake, like Captain Ahab sought Moby Dick, he continues on hoping to get the snake and kill it, but left untreated he may soon die without medical treatment and an injection of antivenom.

Holding on to grudges, seeking revenge, being unwilling to forgive, is like being bitten by a snake, poisonous or not, without treatment there can be ill effects, even death. The same is true for unforgiveness. It can be incapacitating, debilitating, and can lead to a premature as well as an eternal death. The preferred option is to seek medical treatment and receive the healing antivenom. Forgiveness is a healing salve, it is an antidote. Depending on the level of the pain inflicted, forgiveness will take different degrees of firm intent, time, discipline, and prayer. Some other means to forgive are to seek to understand why the person did what they did, and to not only pray daily for help in forgiving but to also pray for the good of the other involved. With God’s grace forgiveness will come.

Why should we forgive, other than Jesus commanded us to? Because by doing so we no longer inflict the injury upon ourselves caused by another. We can be healed, so we can be free. I invite you to find a quiet place of prayer today, and call to mind a person you have not forgiven. Ask God to help you to forgive, even if your prayer begins, “Father please forgive, name.” Return each day until you can bring yourself to say, “I forgive, name.” Visualize yourself saying that you forgive the person face to face. If the opportunity presents itself you may want to say that you forgive the person directly. With Jesus and your intent to seek forgiveness, even if in the beginning you are unwilling, with time, reconciliation is possible. One last reason to forgive: Forgive and you will be forgiven.

Photo: One of my quiet places to pray at home.

Link for today’s Mass readings:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111317.cfm

Our teen years can be the best of times, but they can also be the scariest of times. It is during this time of development that we are experiencing the awakening of the fullness of our humanity, psychologically, emotionally, socially, sexually, and spiritually. We start to ask ourselves what it means to be open to experiencing life, to accepting the gift of our humanity, answering questions like why do we exist, what is our purpose in life?

When I was in high school, I asked myself these questions. But I did so, mostly, within the confines of my own mind. I didn’t reach out to others. I kept my questions, emotions, joys, and struggles pretty much bottled up inside. This is not a healthy practice, because at that age, I hadn’t developed the discipline of discernment, I hadn’t experienced enough of life to have the benefit of the gift of wisdom.

Isolating ourselves can lead to some very dark paths. For a period of time, I remember trying to imagine life without God, an eternity without God. One night as I was going to sleep I tried to imagine absolute nothingness. I don’t remember for how long, but I do remember the instant and split second that I experienced that sense of nothingness and absence from God. It was not pleasant, it was unnerving, and it was a wake-up call.

During my last two years of high school I experienced some intimate interactions with God that I have shared in past reflections. Along with these positive locutions, just as powerful was experiencing, for the briefest of seconds, his absence.

No matter our age, we have a lot on our plate, there is a lot that we are dealing with. There are a lot of temptations that pull at us, that if we give in to can destroy our relationships, that can take our very lives. The most dangerous one to resist is the temptation that we walk this journey of life alone. We need one another, we need to risk reaching out and sharing our fear, our pain, our questions, with somebody, even better a core group of those we can trust. Yes, there will be those who you reach out to you that will not be there for you, there will be those who do not nor want to understand, there will be those that you encounter that will be cruel. But this I want you to be clear about, please let these words soak into the very core and fiber of your being:

Always remember that you are unique, you are one of a kind, you are special, you are loved, and you are a gift to your family, your parish parish, church, or place of worship, and the world. Read this section again, aloud if you have to.

As we age, we hope to progress in wisdom, as wisdom is considered the “perfection of prudence,” as is shared in the first reading from Wisdom. Prudence is that virtue that we develop that allows us to make the right decision, at the proper time, and even while facing temptations and stress. “Resplendent and unfading is wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her” (Wisdom 6:12). Seeking wisdom leads us to seek a life worth living, which is to live outside of one’s self to live and to will the good of others. This is to be true even despite the forces that will work against us. Living our faith means taking a risk: a risk, that we will not be understood, a risk that we will be hurt, a risk that we will be rejected.

Do we allow our fears, anxieties, doubts and a minimalist approach to just settling rob us? If you thought yes, then you are not alone. We all do! But we don’t have to stay in that state.

St. Mother Teresa said, “A life not lived for others is not a life.” How can she say that? Because she knew Jesus intimately, she experienced him in the depth of her soul, answered his call to serve the poorest of the poor, even, when for the last fifty years of her life she experienced an absence from him who called her.

How do we live our life for someone else?

Like St Mother Teresa. We look for Jesus in each person we interact with and we do so when we treat each person we meet with dignity and respect. We resist judging another and accepting them as they are and where they are. We welcome them as our brothers and sisters. This stance ought to be our foundational approach. From that point, each of us also have a unique vocation of service. Some way that we can contribute to Body of Christ that God uniquely calls us to.

We need to be careful though that our day to day demands as students, workers, family providers and caregivers, material and social pursuits, don’t consume all our time and distract us from our purpose in life.

This is the point of The Parable of the Ten Virgins. We can only develop a relationship with Jesus, only develop our faith for ourselves. We can’t do it for others. I can share stories from my experiences to show you the possibilities, the reality from my perspective as a life in relationship with Jesus but you have to experience Jesus for yourself. You must see the relevance of Jesus in your life. You must be willing to receive his forgiveness and his love, and answer his call to begin your vocational path.

Like I imagined nothingness for that briefest of moments, can you imagine living 20, 30, 50 or 60 years, or your whole life, never knowing your purpose?  Unaware and without hope, like St. Paul wrote about in the second reading today (cf 1 Thessalonians 4:13)? Do we want to just go through the motions, to fiddle our life away, and to miss out on a life of joy and fulfillment that God has in store for us? The good news is that it is never too late to begin. And even if we have already said yes, each day is a new beginning, each day we are called to deepen our relationship, to rededicate our willingness to go out to love God, love others, and make disciples.

May we ask God each day: “What is our purpose in life?” No matter who we are or what status in life, we are loved. Please receive the reality of that Gift from the God of all creation. Then from a place of thankfulness, may we seek to pursue the freedom for excellence that embraces a life with a singular purpose that guides us every day, our vocational path. What is it that God would have us do? What brings us fulfillment and joy? If we do not know how, or where to begin, Jesus knows, let us turn to him to seek his wisdom and guidance.

May we embrace the gift God has given us, his life for us, the dignity of our own humanity and that of one another. The problem with the five virgins who had not filled up their oil lamps was that they did not bother to do so. Fr. James Martin, S.J., recently quoted Fr. James Keenan, S.J., saying, “Sin for Jesus was to be strong but not bothering.” Being a Christian is to bother, we are to care. We are to go out from our comfort zones empowered by the Holy Spirit to live life fully with joy, to seek our unique vocation, to treat each other with love, mercy, caring, and kindness. We don’t have to have all the answers, we don’t have to fix ourselves and those we meet. We just need to be willing to walk with one another, and let God happen.

Let us announce the Gospel of the Lord by being willing to be loved and to love, to will the good of one another.

Quote from Fr. James Martin, SJ accessed from the YouTube link above. The whole video is worth watching. Quote comes in about 23:00.

Photo from my ordination from 2013, photo credit – Deacon Michael Miller

Link for the today’s readings of the Mass:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111217.cfm

“No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Lk 16:13).

Jesus consistently emphasizes the priority of making God primary in our lives. Anything that moves into the slot of preeminence before God is idolatrous. Anything, even family, as we heard a few days ago. We cannot have two firsts, because either we will “hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.” This balancing act is not an easy discipline.

It becomes especially challenging when we look at mammon, money or material wealth. Many of us seek our security in having a home, insurance policies, savings, retirement plans, market investments, none of which is bad. Setting up this security is often considered prudent. The problem is when material security becomes the foundation of our life, our fulfillment, our god.

This has certainly influenced the Church at times with movements of a prosperity gospel. The approach to a faith life that is not so much building up a relationship with our loving God and Father, but one of seeking God as a holy investor. We lock on to verses, especially from the Parable of the Sower (cf. Mark 4, Matthew 13, and Luke 8) in such a way that our primary intent in giving is to reap a financial return of ten, twenty, or a hundredfold. God certainly wants us to be good stewards, and he will indeed bless us, and wants us to be generous and cheerful with our giving, but again, if in our giving the primary intent is to receive more of our treasure, we are serving Mammon and not God.

Here are a few quotes. May we read, meditate, and pray with them as an examination of conscious in discerning if we have put Mammon or God first:

“If one of your kinsmen in any community is in need in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand to him in his need. Instead, you shall open your hand to him and freely lend him enough to meet his need” (Deuteronomy 15:7-8).

“Render true judgment, and show compassion toward each other. Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the alien or the poor; do not plot evil against one another in your heart” (Zechariah 7:9-10).

“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” (Matthew 25:35).

“When giving to the poor, you are not giving him what is yours; rather, you are paying him back what is his” (St Ambrose of Milan, 340-339).

“If each one of us took only what is necessary for his sustenance, leaving what is superfluous for the indigent, there would be no distinction of rich and poor” (St Basil of Caesarea, 330-379).

These are but a few of many. The core of our Judeo-Christian heritage is the knowledge that we have been created by the Love of God, to be loved and to love him and one another. He is to be our source, our fundamental option and beacon home. The blessing we receive, the hundredfold we seek, is to be measured in love,  mercy, and generosity received and given. Pope Francis continues in this tradition when he said duirng his general audience in 2013, “that some homeless people die of cold on the streets is not news. In contrast, a ten point drop on the stock markets of some cities is a tragedy. A person dying is not news, but if the stock markets drop ten points it is a tragedy! Thus people are disposed of, as if they were trash. Consumerism has led us to become used to an excess and daily waste of food, to which, at times, we are no longer able to give a just value, which goes well beyond mere economic parameters” (Vatican Insider).

If God is our foundation, then when relationships get bumpy, our health is threatened, the market drops, we are laid off, we will not be moved because we know God in his divine providence will provide, he will be present with us through each struggle and trial. We can get up in arms when there is the thought that someone will attempt to petition to take away the name of God from our money. Yet, how are we living our life day to day? Were there someone observing us objectively, would they say about us, “There goes someone that lives their life believing: In Gold we Trust or In God we Trust?”

Photo accessed from: http://www.jonathan-quek.com/in-god-we-trust/

Link for quote from Pope Francis found in Vatican Insider:

http://www.lastampa.it/2013/06/05/vaticaninsider/eng/the-vatican/francis-when-stock-markets-drop-ten-points-its-a-tragedy-when-one-man-dies-its-the-norm-P4qOnknrUS69rbXYT01cDP/pagina.html

Link for today’s Mass readings:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111117.cfm

In the Parable of the Dishonest Steward, the steward who is on the block to lose his job for squandering his lord’s property comes up with a plan to settle his lord’s accounts. He lessened the amount owed with the intent to gain some support from those who had debts to pay to his master. Most likely he was giving up his own profits in settling the debts of those who owed his lord, much like a real estate agent or car salesman today would forego their commission to make a sale. He loses in the short term, but hoped to restore some honor or at least understanding with those debtors who were receiving a better result on paying back a smaller amount of what they owed.

The prudence or cleverness of the steward is commended by the lord because the dishonest steward had utilized foresight, which was a better quality to develop than the squandering of his lord’s property in the opening of the parable.

Jesus also acknowledged those who were clever in worldly ways, thinking and acting with prudence – what we recognize today as the first of the four cardinal virtues, being shrewd and having foresight to navigate potential conflicts to acquire the desired goal. Jesus then shared the insight that we as “children of the light” ought to act with prudence as well. The difference being, the application is not for personal gain, but applying cleverness in evangelization, spreading the Gospel, and making disciples.

Many in the Church have gone before us seeing the needs in their midst and coming up with creative ways to solve them. Often times, utilizing the model of the steward’s prudence of foregoing material, immediate gain to provide for the needs of others. St Francis of Assisi, lived his youth, not as a faithful steward, but as a pampered troubadour, part of a social elite, but then as his transformation began to take hold, he began to sell off his father’s cloth and gave to the poor. He would ultimately renounce his family name as well as all material possessions, and give all to follow Jesus. St Mother Teresa, left her home at eighteen, never to see her family again to become a missionary in India with the Loretto Sisters. She became a school teacher in in Calcutta, by no means squandering what the Lord gave her, but she too was called to go deeper. She left the convent to serve the poorest of the poor in the streets, those in the most deplorable conditions.

Jesus has a unique call for each of us. We too are called to be faithful stewards, to be holy, and to be saints. What need to we see in our midst? In what way can we be more prudent? Each of us are invited into a deeper embrace of the Gospel. “We experience faith and encounter God in our own particular time in history, and faith lights up our journey through time. Faith must be passed on in every age” (Pope Francis, 20). Jesus deepen our faith and help us to pass it on in the unique way you call us too.

Photo: Statue of St. Francis in our rosary garden at St Peter Catholic Church in Jupiter, FL.

Walking With Pope Francis: Thirty Days with the Encyclical The Light of Faith. New London, CT., Twenty Third Publications, 2013.

Link for today’s Mass readings:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111017.cfm

When I ask my students if Jesus ever sinned, it is inevitable to the Gospel reading for today from John 2:13-22 that they refer. It is because in these verses we can read about the scene where Jesus, “made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area”. Jesus is not sinning here as he drives out those who are misusing the purpose of the “temple area” because as he shares this is the house of his Father, not a “marketplace.” In the line of prophetic tradition, Jesus is making a bold spectacle to drive home the point that the temple is a place of worship for his Father.

Greater still than the temple, is the people of God. Further down in the text, when those present ask for a sign as to the reason he commits this act, Jesus said: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” Clearly he was pointing to his body as the temple of God and referring to his Resurrection that would come. The temple, the house of God, believed to be the very corporal presence of God for the people of Israel, will be destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. To where will the Jews go to find God? Two groups I shared about yesterday who were intimately tied to the sacrificial cult of the temple, the Sadducees and the Essenes would in a short period of time cease to exist as a sect within Judaism. The Pharisees, who already were moving to a practice of home worship that mirrored the worship in the temple would survive and be the ancestral root of Judaism today. The followers of the new way of Jesus would become the Church, the Body of Christ.

Each of us have a unique part to play in representing the Church. For some, we may be the only Bible someone ever reads. That means in all that we do, we need to be faithful to God. Does that mean we are to be perfect? No, as we are not. We are no better than anyone else. As soon as we begin to compare ourselves to others, thinking I am not as bad as that person, we are in trouble. First, we have no idea what is truly in the heart of another nor the burdens or trials that they carry. Second, the only one we are to compare ourselves to is the cornerstone, Jesus the Christ.

Pope Francis wrote: “Believers should not be presumptuous; rather, truth leads to humility. We know it is not ourselves possessing truth, it is truth that embraces and possesses us” (14). We are all wounded and going forward doing the best we can. We need to recognize that we all fall short of the glory of God. This is not a proclamation of despair, but one of hope. Because as unworthy as we are, Jesus loves us as we are. His Father loves us more than we can ever mess up. The Holy Spirit meets us in our humanity and empowers us to actualize who we are called to be and invites us to be there to support and uplift one another.

Photo: View from the top of the mountain at Cardinal Newman High School.

Walking With Pope Francis: Thirty Days with the Encyclical The Light of Faith. New London, CT., Twenty Third Publications, 2013.

Links to today’s Mass Reading:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/110917.cfm

Luke begins the pericope, the passage of the Gospel for today, by describing how great crowds were traveling with Jesus. He then relays how Jesus then turns to address them. I can see this scene in my mind’s eye. Jesus striding along with people walking, talking, and moving about, when he just stops and turns. Those closest to Jesus pull up to a stop with him, others continue right past, while at the same time others bump into and trip over those who had stopped before them. The subtle hum of random conversation then slowly comes to a halt, a stillness ripples through the crowd, and then there is silence. The dust begins to settle, as a slight breeze is felt. Those closest have their eyes locked on his, as those further back are craning their necks, moving left and right to get a better look, some cupping their ears to catch the sound of Jesus’ voice.

This crowd is not made up of Jesus’ disciples, they are just on the periphery because of curiosity, they are here because they just might receive that special word or phrase, that confirmation of why they have come to hear this man, that will convince them to be his disciples. Jesus begins with, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife or children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” and then finishes with  “In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple” (cf. Lk 14:25-33).

I do not have a clue as to what this group expected to come out of Jesus’ mouth at that moment, but I would not be surprised to see that more than a few began walking away not to long after Jesus finished with bewilderment. Those maybe hearing it second hand as it was relayed to them because they may have been further from the point of direct hearing may not have believed the message was transmitted to them correctly.

Luke does not share the response of the large crowd. Again, I would not be surprised if the response was very similar to John, chapter 6, when Jesus was talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. All walked away except the Apostles. Any advertising or marketing campaign aficionados would have been absolutely apoplectic with either presentation from Jesus.

The invitation that Jesus offers is for all to be saved. Though he is not going to dumb down or sugar coat his message just to get numbers. He is presenting the way to live a life of fullness and wholeness, to restore that which has been lost: the relationship with God his Father. The message has been the same from the beginning of his ministry. “The time of fulfillment is here. The kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). The key step to restoring that relationship which has been lost is that God the Father must be the primary focus, nothing else can come before that relationship. With God first, all other things will fall into their proper place.

If we are willing to surrender our will to God, to receive his love, it is only then that we will truly be able to begin to be free to love our father and mother, wife or children, brother and sister, and even our very self. Any possessions or materiality we place before our relationship with God will distract us from the very flow of the life force that fuels our existence. Finite materials will always fall short of the fulfillment that we seek. Is your finger getting ready to swipe away from this message as the feet of those who began to turn away from Jesus were? If you are, are you doing so because you think it is not possible to truly put God before our relationships and our technology and our possessions? You are right. On our own, through our own effort and willpower it is impossible. But with Jesus all things are possible!

The real question is do we want to be an onlooker or a disciple? The path back to the Father is through Jesus. All we need to do is pray:

Jesus, I trust in you, I believe in you, I surrender all to you, show me the way back home to the Father. Baby steps.

Photo: In chapel at St Ignatius Cathedral, just prior to my ordination Mass, September 2013. To my left, long time friend Fr. Ed O’Brien, a true disciple!

Photo Credit: Deacon Michael Miller

Link for today’s Mass readings:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/110817.cfm