Jesus said to the disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.” (Mt 13:47).

The invitation of God is universal and we are all lured by his invitation of love and intimacy. We long to belong, our very substance and essence as human beings is the reality that our ultimate fulfillment can only be reached in communion with the God who created us. Yet, though drawn, we resist being caught.

St Augustine (354-430) came to a point in his life where he realized that the flame of his desire for wealth, fame and pleasure was dimming. He clearly felt moved toward “the one reality that cannot decay, from which all other realities are derived.” Though he was caught in God’s net and being pulled in, Augustine still sought to wriggle free, for: “Though drawn to the Path, who is my savior, I shied from its hard traveling” (162).

How many of us could echo Augustine’s dilemma? We have experienced God in our lives and feel the invitation to go deeper, yet, we want to wriggle free. We are attracted to God but our attraction to fame, pleasure, power, or wealth still has a stronger hold. At a baser level, we may believe that the minimalist approach is easier. God’s path is too hard.

Living apart from God is actually more work. It is like one who is caught in a rip tide swimming against the current. Eventually, exhaustion and death is the end result. Instead may we surrender to the current and draw of the Father’s Love, and allow ourselves to be drawn into his net of Grace. At first, anxiety and fear will arise, because the pull, we may feel, appears too strong, but as you experience his love, the anxiety will wane, and you will indeed be free to swim again. Eventually, exhilaration and life will be the end result.

Lord bless us and draw us close to you!

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Mass Readings for today, Thursday, August 3, 2017:

St Augustine. Confessions. Translated by Gary Wills. NY: Penguin Books, 2008.

Jesus said to his disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Mt 13:44).

God is hiding in plain sight. He is in our midst, present to all of us, a wonderful treasure just waiting to be found. God’s eternal love and grace is ever reaching out to us. Our soul hungers, yearns, and seeks for that love, whether we know it or not. It is when we seek satisfaction, filling this deepest of our desires in material pursuits alone, that we miss the mark. We sin, create idols, seeking apparent goods, that block our access to the very union we seek. God even acts in our everyday events of life, but we may limit the experience to saying that happening was just a coincidence.

The saints and the mystics are those who have found this treasure of God’s love. They have encountered the living God in the midst of everyday and given all to be immersed in his communion. They “are amplifiers of every person’s more hidden life of faith, hope, and love. Their lives help us to hear the interior whispers and see the faint flickers of divine truth and love in ourselves and others. The Christian mystics point the way to fully authentic human life by illustrating what it means to be a human being, what life means: eternal union (which begins here) with the God of love” (Egan, ix-xx).

Today, make some time to be still to hear God’s whisperings. May we open our hearts and minds to recognize his presence, the faint flickers, present in those we encounter and the experiences we have today. May we continue to seek Christ by reading and meditating on his Word. I also invite you to read the lives of the mystics and the saints who are our mentors: St Francis of Assisi, St Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, St Ignatius of Loyola, or St Therese of Lisieux; so many leading us to that rich encounter and experience of the loving God of Jesus Christ.

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Mass Readings for today, Wednesday, August 2, 2017:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/080217.cfm

Egan, Harvey D. An Anthology of Christian Mysticism, Second Edition. Introduction ix-xx. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1996.

“Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.” (Mt 13:36-39).

In this parable of the wheat and the weeds, Jesus is addressing the ancient question of why does God allow evil and how are we to deal with it? Why do bad things happen to good people? As a starting point, we need to recognize that God is God and we are not; meaning we are not capable of reading the mind of God. Any answer to justify how and why God allows suffering then will be insufficient. A second reality is that the Devil exists, though he is a created being. An angelic being, yes, but not in an equal genus with God. Ultimately, there is no genus of God, because God is not a being, at best we can say he is Infinite Act of Existence. He is. “I Am,” as he said to Moses. God did not create evil, he only created good. The Devil, Satan, the one who opposes, was created good, the high arch angel, Lucifer, yet he chose to turn away from the will of God, those angels who followed him are demons. God is greater than the Devil, and good is greater than evil.

Evil is not so much a created thing, but a deprivation, or distortion of the good. Because we cannot understand the reasons why God allows or permits evil or suffering is not a sufficient reason to say that God does not exist. This is especially true if we are seeking to grasp spiritual realities and truths from purely physical and rational means alone. We are indeed rational beings, who seek to know and understand, but we are so much more. As human beings, we are physical and spiritual, so need not limit ourselves to the merely sensate and empirical realm.

Our hearts and minds need to be open to the will of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are called to be people of prayer. As we mature spiritually and deepen our relationship with God we will come to the same posture as Job: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful to me, which I cannot know” (Job 42: 2-3). In essence, Job acknowledged that God was in control and he was not.

How do we deal with evil? We need to surrender our pride and control to God and acknowledge that he is in control and knows best. Choose to put God first. Our fundamental option, our telos, our end goal, is to be above all a striving to be in relationship with him. To recognize that as we put God first and focus on him, no matter what arises, we will be able to trust that he is present with us in the midst of our suffering, he is stronger than any pain or evil and he will give us what we need to endure.

If we want to understand suffering and evil we need to enter into the Mystery of the Passion of Jesus. Jesus, the pure and innocent one, beaten and crucified, understands our pain and suffering, our cry for the horrors of injustice, and he understands the presence of evil. Jesus himself, asked not to be crucified, though he relinquished in saying, “Not my will but your will Father.” In that acknowledgement, Jesus faced utter evil, horror, and the injustice of his crucifixion. Jesus made the Resurrection possible. He conquered suffering, evil, and death forever. The Father has the last word over sin, suffering and death.

We deal with suffering and evil through prayer and that prayer must be honest. We will find Jesus when we call on him in the face of our suffering and pain, not when we run from it. We need to trust in him in the midst of our storms, and hold on tight to our faith in him knowing that he, the one who rose from the dead has the final word. “Suffering is never the last word. Life is stronger than death, love is stronger that hatred, hope is stronger than despair, nothing is impossible with God” (Martin).

If you are struggling today, take your suffering to Jesus on the Cross. The strength of our faith is that we can trust in knowing that he does not leave us alone, and that he is present in the midst of our suffering, because he understands our pain. Our hope is assured in that Jesus has already won the battle and he will give us the strength to endure. His love is a light that shines in the darkness and no darkness can or will overcome it. Jesus has the last word on the matter. Let us face whatever rises before us with confidence, as Jesus did, when he set his face toward Jerusalem. Hand in hand with Jesus, we shall overcome.

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Mass Readings for today, Tuesday, August 1, 2017:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/080117.cfm

Martin, S.J., James. You Tube video On Pilgrimage With James Martin SJ Fordham University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVtA_d7NwKE&t=5s His talk on dealing with suffering begins around 1:30:00.

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.” (Mt 13:31-32).

God can do so much with so little. This is so because even the smallest detail is important to God. Just think of the immensity, not only of our solar system and galaxy, but the whole universe. Despite the grandiosity and massive expanse of all creation, not even a sparrow can fall to the ground without the notice of God. Even all the hairs of our head can be counted (cf Mt 10:29-30). Our life, who we are, and who we are becoming matters to God.

God sows his seeds of divine grace, a movement of his love, reaching out to us in a joyful way. He watches us, his children, and shares his life with us. We can accept or reject this Love that falls afresh upon us. Our first step is to accept the reality that God loves us as we are. Then we are in a position to receive his love and share his love.

Our smallest thought, word or deed makes a difference, because they reflect our yes or no to the invitation of God. May we think, speak and act today as children of our loving God and Father. A smile, a word of encouragement, a hug, or attentive presence with someone today, no matter how small a sharing of God’s love with another, can do more than we can ever imagine.

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Mass Readings for today, Monday, July 31, 2017:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/073117.cfm

“When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. ” (Mt 13:46).

The cost of discipleship is high, indeed costing us all that we have. Jesus wants to be part of all of our life; not just attendance at church on Sunday, not just during time of prayer, but also in our work, in our recreation, in our struggles, and in our joys, in our interactions with others and in our solitary pursuits.

The merchant recognized the great value before him and was willing to give all that he had to be able to attain that pearl, and his investment was beyond the ultimate worth of what he risked. Jesus is inviting us to encounter him in every moment so that we may enter deeper into an intimate relationship and communion with his Father so to experience the Love between them, the Holy Spirit; the peace and joy of which we can begin to experience in this life.

To be clear, this precious gift of eternal life is not bought or earned, but received as a free gift. Our reception is marked by following the will of God. This “is no grim, grey, agonizing thing; it is a lovely thing. Beyond the discipline, beyond the sacrifice, beyond the self-denial, beyond the cross, there lies the supreme loveliness which is nowhere else” (Barclay, 87). Our return of our time, talent and treasure is eternal life, infinite intimacy and communion with the one who made us for himself.

Do we recognize the value of what Jesus offers us? Then we, like the merchant, have a decision to make today!

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Mass Readings for today, Sunday, July 30, 2017:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/073017.cfm

Barclay, William. “The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2.” In The Daily Study Bible Series, Revised Edition, 87. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975.

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Lk 10:41-42).

In this statement, Jesus is continuing his message of growth and evolution. Jesus met people in their present wounded condition, and invited them to healing, greater awareness, and ultimately a more authentic and intimate relationship with him, his Father and each other. Jesus recognized, and lived, the standard teachings, social constructs and laws to be a faithful Jew, but he also revealed the deeper meanings of those social and religious constructs.

Jesus is doing the same in this encounter with Martha. Martha is fulfilling the important role of hospitality, and yet, is clearly frustrated.

Luke’s choice of the Greek merimnao for anxiety and thorubazomai for worried, shows that Jesus understands Martha’s inner turmoil. Merimnao, as found in other New Testament writings, is used to express entanglements of life in the world. Martha is clearly anxious that she has much to do, but more so that Mary is breaking the social norm of sitting with the men! The fact that only men are to sit with the teacher as proper etiquette is probably causing even more anxiety for Martha than Mary not helping her. When Jesus stated that Martha was worried, thorubazomai, he is saying that she is putting herself in an uproar, she is twisting herself into knots (Johnson, 174)!

Jesus was not condemning Martha, he was holding up a mirror to her, helping Martha to see that the most important part of hospitality is attending, being present, to the guest and in doing so, also challenging the social convention that she, as Mary had chosen, was not separate but invited to sit with Mary, equally with the men, not to be separated but included.

St Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo, offers an even deeper insight. What Jesus is offering Martha is a foretaste of heaven: “No, there will be none of these tasks there. What you will find there is what Mary chose. There we shall not feed others, we ourselves shall be fed. Thus, what Mary chose in this life will be realized there in its fulness; she was gathering fragments from that rich banquet, the Word of God” (Augustine, 1561).

In essence, Jesus was echoing his message to the Pharisees, which was, “I desire mercy not sacrifice” (Mt 9:13; Hosea 6:6). Jesus was inviting Martha to sit with her sister Mary. I believe Martha received a healing in that moment and she did just that. Martha sat with her sister.

What is important to God the Father, what Jesus taught, what he inspires us to do, is to respect the dignity of the person in all that we do. To be aware of what the true need of the person is in that moment. That includes respecting and recognizing the needs and woundedness within ourselves. What are those inner anxieties and worries that keep us from deeper intimacy with Jesus and one another? We need to reflect on and identify them and bring them to Jesus for our healing.

What is paramount to living as a disciple of Jesus is being present to one another, including one another, supporting and empowering one another. We are called to be people of mercy. We are invited to join Mary and Martha and sit at the feet of Jesus, so we too can find rest, we too can be healed, we too can speak with the boldness of Martha: “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world” (Jn 11:27).

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Mass Readings for today, Saturday, July 29, 2017:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072917.cfm

Johnson, Luke Timothy. “The Gospel of Luke, vol. 3.” In Sacra Pagina, edited by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., 174. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1991.

St. Augustine. Catholic Church. The Liturgy of the Hours: According to the Roman Rite, vol. 3. 1561. NY: Catholic Book Publishing, 1975.

In the Gospel today, Jesus explains his parable to those who have had eyes to see and ears to hear. They have encountered Jesus, and their heart, mind and soul is open to know him more. If you are reading this blog, then you are like many believers. Jesus has taken root in you, your faith has not been stolen away. You have resisted a hyper sense of cynicism, scientism, secularism, or relativism. You have also endured some times of stress and trial and your faith has not diminished but endured. Most of us would fall into the third category: “The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit” (Mt 13:22).

We have accepted Jesus in our life, we are maturing and growing in our faith, but it is limited because we may look to the world and riches to be our security and support. As Pope Francis questioned in his apostolic exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel: “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality” (53). The top voting issue in the last election was concern about the economy. If we are placing our hope and focus in political and economic stability we are going to be anxious and stressed. Our faith is going to be choked, and worse our politics will be shaping the Gospel instead of the Gospel shaping our politics.

Even if we do put God first above all else and seek to strive to live a life of faith, anxiety arises as we seek to live out our faith. Taking the risk to be who God is calling us to be in a world where: “The process of secularization tends to reduce the faith and the Church to the sphere of the private and personal” (Francis, 64), is a challenge.

I understand that anxiety. I have wrestled with it all my life. But the Holy Spirit, family and friends, continue to provide support and encouragement and I continue to move forward despite the fear and anxiety that arises at times. Making time daily to enter into reading the Word, making the effort and seeking resources to better understand his word, praying and meditating to hear his word and guidance, and sharing with others the trials and successes of my journey, has made a tremendous difference. Has the fear gone away? Absolutely not. In fact, yesterday I was sharing a homily at our daily Mass at St Peter, sharing the same message I posted yesterday, yet, my heart was pounding and my leg shaking. But I was not paralyzed, I was able to share the message God asked me to share. That is the difference.

We need to trust in Jesus’ invitation. He is calling all of us to deepen our relationship with him and to invite others to do the same. The road ahead, and the trials we will face will not be easy. But as we face them, with Jesus and one another, we become stronger. We begin to bear fruit when we allow Jesus to be our constant source, he is the vine and we are the branches. Sustained by his power we can then act with courage and put into practice what we learn. When we are choked by anxiety and fear we also need to remember that we are not alone and we need to reach out for help to cut away those weeds that attempt to choke us. In all these ways, our soil becomes richer, our life view becomes more human, our hearts, minds, and souls become more open to building a relationship of communion with our loving God and Father and each other.

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Link for Mass readings for today, Friday, July 28, 2017 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072817.cfm

Pope Francis. Joy of the Gospel. Link:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html

“The disciples approached Jesus and said, ‘Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?’
He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (Mt 13:10-13).

This is a challenging statement because Jesus appears to be saying that the kingdom of heaven is only open to a select few.

The context is important. Jesus is speaking to address the reality that there were people who rejected him in his own time. Matthew reflects this, as well as the reality within his own community at the end of the first century, which was made up of Jewish Christians, Gentile Christians, and those Jews who rejected Jesus. The tension then was how to address this reality. Do you think the rejection of Jesus and his message is still an issue today? If so, why do you think people would reject Jesus?

One way Jesus addresses this tension is through parables. Each of the parables deals with the Kingdom of heaven. Just think of the parable from yesterday, the sowing of the seeds. God is the sower and Jesus is the seed. The only seeds that bear fruit are those that have found fertile, rich soil. The ones on the hardened path, within rocks, or among thorns do not bear fruit, and in most cases wither and die. Closed minds and hearts, fear, anxiety and worry or Satan come in the way of the seed’s germination. The ones who hear and understand the message of Jesus do so because they are willing to let go of that which keeps them bound from his invitation and they are willing to persevere and endure the trials they face. They enter into relationship with Jesus and come to know the Father. The parables of Jesus offer not so much a concrete answer, but draw us to think deeper, to surrender our control and preconceived notions. Many of us moderns do not like this approach. We want to know what is or isn’t and why or why not this is so, and we want to know it right now. We often do not want to think, we just want the answer. We want to be in control.

The key that Jesus is giving to us then is for us in come to know God, we need to understand that the Mystery of God is not a problem to be solved, we cannot conform him to our will and control, but God is a relationship that we are invited to enter into and embrace. We can see this when Jesus says: “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.” It has been granted to those who allowed and today allow themselves to experience Jesus, those who were and are willing to walk with him, and develop a relationship with him. Heaven is not so much a place as it is the reality of entering into full communion with God the Father. This is what his Son came to do, to show us the way to the Father by revealing him to us through himself.

As Jesus told Philip, “If you have seen me, Philip, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). We will never fully comprehend the Mystery of God, but we will come to know him through experiencing him, and to do that fully means letting go of our ego, control, fears, prejudices, and anything that we are attached or addicted to. We do so through surrendering our self to Jesus and being about the hard work of developing a relationship with him and one another. This happens both on a physical as well as a spiritual level. If we only seek to understand the Kingdom of heaven through reason alone, it will not be granted to us. We enter the Mystery of God through our faith and reason, through our hearts, minds and souls.

You may be thinking right now, this is too much (this blog post today is too long), I am not sure how to begin, I don’t really even know how to pray. St Paul offers some guidance. In writing to the Romans, he states:

“But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance. In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches the hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will” (Romans 8:25-27).

The Kingdom of heaven is for everyone. Jesus wants none excluded. The point about the mystery of his Kingdom is that there is no problem to solve; there is just a relationship to enter into and embrace. Let us open our hearts, minds, and souls to God, trusting with endurance, that what Jesus says is true, that the Holy Spirit will guide us, pray in and through us, and let God the Father happen.

Mass Readings for today, Thursday, July 27, 2017:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072717.cfm

“On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore.” (Mt 13:1).

Jesus sits and the people gather. Jesus is the focal point, the teacher, to those who come to hear him speak, but as they come, there are so many that Jesus enters the boat so more would have a clearer view of him and because sound travels better on water, more could hear him. The deeper meaning of the large crowds is that Jesus is speaking to the whole world.

Again, as we heard a few Sundays ago, Jesus shares the parable of the sower and the seed. God is the sower and Jesus is the seed. Not everyone of the many who hear his word receive it in such a sufficient way that bears fruit. Some are distracted, some allow Satan to take the seed sown, while others allow the worries and anxieties to choke out any new growth. We are invited to prepare ourselves to receive the Word of God, to prepare rich soil by hearing and understanding the Word of God, Jesus the Christ, in the depths of our souls. There we are to nurture the seed of his life within us, be conformed to him, and bear fruit by, birthing Jesus; proclaiming his message to others, yielding a bounty harvest of thirty, sixty, a hundred fold!

Over twelve years ago, JoAnn and I were invited to hear a speaker who was offering a program that would help supplement our income. I don’t remember the program at all, but what struck me that evening as the gentlemen walked the stage was, wouldn’t it be great if this guy was talking about Jesus! God, in that moment, planted a seed that I heard and understood. What followed, I will offer the short version, was that I was led to return to Catholicism and start to attend St Peter Catholic Church. I was led to teach no longer at a public school, but a Catholic school – Rosarian Academy. While there I entered the formation program for the permanent diaconate, was ordained in 2013, and in a few weeks I will begin my fourth year of teaching Theology and assisting in campus ministry at Cardinal Newman High School, preaching,  and now writing this blog. My hope is that the Holy Spirit has and continues to work through me in helping others to prepare rich soil and to receive Jesus in their hearts, minds and souls.

This summer I have felt the Lord leading me to step in the boat with him to share to a larger crowd. Knowing nothing of social media, I took Jesus’ hand and he has led me to start this blog. Not knowing where to start, I felt guided to share reflections on the Gospel of the Day because it is in the Gospels we can read about Jesus, get to know him and his teachings. I want to share him with others, sow the seeds of his life and words, and to invite others to get to know him, to get up on that stage and talk about Jesus!

God has been and will continue to sow seeds in your life. He is calling you as well to prepare rich soil to receive his Son and guiding you in ways to nurture his growth in your life so you too can sow the seeds of his word and life in your realm of influence near and far. Resist those temptations of the mind that say, I have nothing to say, nothing I can do, I am too young, I am too old, too busy. I do not know how God has or is inviting you, but he is. Be not afraid! Read this Gospel passage, meditate, and imagine yourself as part of the crowd listening to Jesus in the boat. What is his invitation to you? Return to this meditation often this week. Spend time in his word, read about the lives of the saints, look for God working in the daily experiences of your life, and spend quiet time in prayer to discuss with Jesus his will and above all listen and seek to understand. You are not alone.

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Mass readings for today, Wednesday, July 26, 2017:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072617.cfm

Resource for reading the lives of the Saints. Today the feast of Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary, the grandparents of Jesus. Good saints to being with!:

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/source/saint-of-the-day/