Mary’s Son will forgive us and fill us with joy!

“Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste” (Lk 1:39). Why? Because she was filled with joy. She had just experienced an incredible encounter with the angel Gabriel telling her that she was to bear the “holy, Son of God” (Lk 1:35). She also learned that her relative Elizabeth, who had been barren, was six months pregnant. Who better to understand and appreciate what she had gone through than Elizabeth? When we hear good news we want to share it with someone, especially when we believe another will fully appreciate our experience.

Is there a time when you felt overjoyed about something that you felt like you were going to burst and you couldn’t wait to share your experience? A memory may have already started forming in your mind, a smile and glow may already be radiating from your eyes as you re-experience that moment.

One such graced encounter I had was when I was in my early twenties and dealing with a heavy personal issue. I was living in Sharon, Connecticut at the time and had an opportunity to go to the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts to participate in a penance service. I walked up hesitantly to a kind-looking, elderly, polish Marian priest. His name alludes me now, but not his face. He radiated invitation and mercy. After a few stammering words, I let loose and shared what I had been dealing with. When he offered absolution, I felt the burden physically lift, I felt almost like levitating. Then a surge of joy welled up in me that lasted for days.

There is a great gift in sharing a burden with a trusted friend or family member, being heard and supported, and/or receiving absolution from a priest. We need to resist the temptation of turning within ourselves, trusting in the lie that we can handle our conflicts, challenges, and trials all on our own. There is a pearl of great price, God’s healing grace, that is available to us when we share our experiences. In this way, we come to realize concretely that we do not have to go through our pain and suffering alone!

Many of us are struggling with a lot, and sometimes we are not at our best, nor do we make our best decisions. We react instead of act, we get caught in the momentum of behavior that we know is not acceptable, and we continue to slide. The key is not to beat ourselves up and walk around feeling guilty. There are enough people who would be happy to sign up to do that. Instead, we will be better off to choose to practice a healthy sense of guilt, examine our conscience, be mindful, and admit when we have done something inappropriate, sinful, or wrong.

The key to reconciliation is to embrace in humility and admit our sin, be contrite – sorry for what we have done, not upset, defensive or rationalize away our behavior, and to follow the counsel of James and “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Having experienced the joy of forgiveness, while still experiencing the grace of our reconciliation, may we be like Mary who is full of grace, and go in haste to share with others the wonderful gift we have received!

Photo: Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, December 12, 2024

Each day it is good to take time to rest and renew with Jesus.

Verses that we read, such as: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28) really hit the spot, they arrive at the right time. I am sure that if you are reading these words you may also welcome Jesus’ invitation. Yet what is the labor and burden that we need to rest from? Teachers, administrators and students, of which I was a part for decades are coming into crunch time now as the end of the quarter or term is coming. Those in other occupations also work long hours, and sometimes, two or three jobs, just to get by.

Many also who oversee and care for their home, others with children, elder parents, family members, and dealing with family issues that can be enormous, especially at this time of year. Add to the above Christmas preparations: decorating, putting up lights, shopping, buying presents, cooking, baking, writing and mailing Christmas cards crushing can also add to feeling weighed down.

Unfortunately, there are way too many who are not so much burdened by work but the lack of access to gainful or meaningful employment. They are burdened with keeping the bills paid and a roof over their heads as the temperatures fall. Some have no home or family, they are burdened with getting from day to day, seeking ways to get food, clean clothes, a place to wash and relieve themselves. Christmas cards are a distant thought. Many others are burdened and living in fear that they or their family member or members may be deported.

Speaking of fear, how many of us are burdened by fear, anxiety, stress, and strain from a myriad of swirling reasons? Concerns about our family, community, country, and the world are a burden that can also weigh heavily. Advent and Christmas, even when life is more stable, are still times in which many buttons can be pressed and many stressors can be triggered. What is the adage that is offered when family and friends gather? Resist talking about politics, religion, and… we all can add a few others.

If you are feeling weary and worn as we draw close to the midway point of this Advent Season, it is a good opportunity to make some time to just stop and take a slow, deliberate breath. Notice your shoulders coming out of your ears. Embrace the invitation of Jesus and rest in him. Allow the burdens to come to mind, then visualize yourself giving them to Jesus, open yourself to his guidance, ask for his help for the day to day challenges, and seek who may be best able to assist you in any particular situation. Slowing down may help us to become more aware of any sins that we feel burdened by. This is a good time to rest and trust in the forgiveness of Jesus and confess to him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus will forgive you and bring you a lightness and fresh start!

Our God “does not faint or grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound” (Isaiah 40:28-29). We do not have to deal with anything alone. We have help and support. My friend, Pastor Jerry Scott, taught me years ago a life lesson which I still return to, more often in my fifties than in my twenties. When a person is chopping down a tree, exerting a lot of energy and effort, but finding the results insufficient, he or she needs to realize that they need to step back, take a breath, and sharpen their ax. With a little rest, renewal, and a sharpened blade, the job can be accomplished in half the time.

Let’s figuratively do the same daily with each of our endeavors. Let’s resist just putting our heads down and plowing through with blinders on and instead take some time to stop and assess from time to time what we need, where we need help, and yoke ourselves to Jesus for his guidance and strength. As Jesus carries the burden with us, as we follow his will, we can work smarter instead of harder. In developing a pattern and place of trust and hope in him, seeking his guidance and direction this Advent, we will renew our strength and soar as with eagle’s wings; we will run and not grow weary, we walk and not grow faint (cf. Isaiah 40:31)!

Photo: From 30 Day silent retreat I did in July 2023. Still seek each day some time to plant a few seeds of silence.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, December 11, 2024

No matter how lost we may think we are, God remains close.

“What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray” (Mt 18:12)?

Many of those Jesus asked and us reading or hearing this Gospel today might share our opinion that the man leaving the ninety-nine to find the one would not be a wise choice. Jesus again appears to be turning the normal order of things upside down in painting a word picture of God’s folly. This parable clearly shows the abundant and extravagant love of his Father for each and every one of us. The act of this shepherd can appear not only unreasonable but unbelievable.

Yet, this is not the feeling to the sheep or the one who is lost. This extravagant love is a relief. It is the love that we can only experience if we are willing to resist slipping into judgment and pride, as did the elder son who was not willing to forgive his brother who was lost but found. The father loved the elder son with the same love as the son that was found, but he was closed off from receiving it for years, not realizing that he was just as lost as his younger brother.

God gives us a choice to reject or accept him because of his extravagant love for us. His greatest joy for us is that we experience being be fully alive. He also knows what will make us so, yet he won’t impose even what is best for us, on us. God is willing to risk us going astray such that we can come to realize the emptiness in any pursuit that ultimately does not bring us closer to him. God does not wish for any one of us to be lost.

God constantly coaxes, invites, and urges us to fulfill who he created us to be. He guides us along as a parent urging his child to walk. Yet, though he lovingly implores us along, we can be distracted, turn, crawl away, and go in a different direction.

During Advent, we are invited to slow down a bit, to breathe and examine where we have taken our eyes off and turned away from our Father, where we have crawled away from his invitation to walk with him. No matter how far we think we have gone astray, no matter how lost we may think we are, God always remains close, following, watching, ready for us to turn back to him. When we do turn back, we will find him there waiting for us, urging us to run back into his open arms and to experience his loving embrace.

God is eternally present. He is not in the regrets of the past nor the anxieties and insecurities that blur the promise of our freedom in the future. God loves us more than we can ever mess up and he loves us more than we can ever imagine. God not only refuses to define us by our worst choices and moments, but when we trust in him, when we ask for his help, he will lead us a few steps at a time forward to complete the good work he has already begun in us.

Photo: God’s light leads us when we are willing to follow.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, December 10, 2024

“The knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary.”

And coming to her, he said, “Hail full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28).

With these words from the angel Gabriel, we can begin to understand the special and unique gift of grace that God bestowed upon Mary such that we are blessed each year to celebrate this magnificent Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary was conceived without sin and she remained not only a virgin all her life, but also sinless and “full of grace” all her life.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (492), echoes our second reading from St. Paul: “The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person ‘in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’ and chose her ‘in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love’” (cf. Ephesians 1:3-4).

This special grace was bestowed upon Mary such that she could undo the sin of another who was created sinless: Eve. As we saw in our first reading from Genesis, Adam and Eve were created good, without sin, but both fell by disobeying God and bringing sin, suffering, and death into the world. The Church fathers and doctors saw in Mary, the new Eve. As St. Irenaeus of Lyons, (130-202 A.D.) wrote in his great work, Adversus Haereses, “the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary.”

Mary’s, “yes”: “May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38), and her continued “yes” to God’s will for the rest of her life, kept her full of the grace that God bestowed upon her from the moment of her conception. Adam and Eve fell when their trust in God was shaken by Satan’s temptation. Mary trusted God with Gabriel’s invitation even though she did not understand what was being asked of her. Her question to Gabriel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man” (Lk 1:34) was not a demand for proof, but a sincere seeking to understand what was being asked of her.

Mary embodied faith seeking understanding, though while she pondered, as St. Bernard of Clairvaux put it: “Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you… Abraham begs it, David begs it… this is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet… Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal word.”

When Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38), a weary world wounded by the sin of her first parents, exhaled with relief, for the long-awaited savior would now be conceived, born, and come to redeem what had been lost. Mary, in her obedience, loosed the knot of the Sin of Origin committed by Adam and Eve in their disobedience. Mary inmaculatus, Immaculate Mary, was blameless, conceived without sin, for this very moment in time so that of her free will she could say, “yes” and become the new Eve and her Son the new Adam.

Mary, help us to ponder your “yes”, that we may be willing to say “yes” and follow the will of God in all we think, say, and do. Help us to be obedient, to resist a knee jerk reaction to reject outright what we do not understand and choose instead to be open to the possibilities you make available to us that are beyond the realm of our senses and limitations alone. Help us to place our trust in God, Jesus, his Son, and the love of the Holy Spirit in all situations.

——–

Photo: Mary, side altar at the Mission Dolores Cathedral, San Francisco, October 7, 2019.

Quote of St. Bernard of Clairvaux from volume 1, Liturgy of the Hours, p. 345.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, December 9, 2024

Jesus is coming, let us prepare.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee… (Lk 3:1).

This may be an odd verse to focus on in Advent, or anytime when sharing a reflection, but there is a point to this historical tidbit of information offered by Luke. Jesus, the Son of God, born of the virgin Mary, was born in time, and in a place. The gospels are not myths, they are not fairy tales, nor are they works of historical fiction. Luke’s account would fall better into the genre of Greco-Roman history, although, the gospels have their own unique expression as a genre. The gospel writers were interested in the historical Jesus, but they were more than mere biographies. Their primary focus was to present theological insights that help us to understand who Jesus is and his teachings that we can put into practice, but not that, but to also come to know him in our time and place, and be transformed by him and his love for us.

The Son of God was obedient to his Father and was willing to be sent to become a human being conceived in the womb of Mary. This truth has relevance to us because it means that Jesus experienced what we experience as human beings. From the moment of his conception and moving forward, through his birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and continuing today, he experienced and experiences what we experience as humans, even temptation although he never sinned.

In Luke’s presentation and setting the stage for Jesus’ birth, he shared a shady cast of characters: Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Annas, and Caiaphas to name a few. Although lost on most of us today, these political and religious leaders were not known for their virtuous living. Yet those in the time of Luke’s writing would have recognized that they were examples of human depravity. Jesus was born in a time and a place of darkness. He was and continues to be the Light of God who has come into the darkness of the fallen human condition.

To prepare the people for this coming, Luke presents the preaching of John the Baptist. Though the son of the priest, Zechariah, John rejected the political and religious status quo. He did not preach in Jerusalem nor the Temple, but in the wilderness. His message to “Prepare the way of the Lord” was a call in unison with Baruch from our first reading.

Baruch, the secretary of the prophet Jeremiah, shared God’s promise in which Jerusalem was invited to, “stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God” (Baruch 5:5). The children who are to rejoice were those scattered children of Israel. The northern ten tribes of Israel who were first exiled by the army of Assyria in 722 BC, and the greater majority who never would return. Also, in 587 BC, the remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin were defeated and their majority exiled to Babylon. Jerusalem and the Temple was destroyed. Baruch’s promise offered hope for that time when the twelve tribes that were exiled and scattered would be reunited and return from the east and the west.

John the Baptist came to announce that time. The messiah was at hand. The ancestors of those who returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, were waiting for the coming of the fulfillment of the promise of the prophets, and John the Baptist was telling them that this long awaited time was upon them. John was telling them to get ready, to “Prepare the way of the Lord.” Jesus is coming.

This is the first coming of Jesus we prepare to celebrate at Christmas. Each Advent is a time for us to prepare not only to celebrate Christmas, to remember Emmanuel, God with us, but to prepare for his second coming or our personal judgment when our time on this earth this side of heaven is coming to an end. Whichever comes first, either reality is time, not for sorrow, but instead for joy.

This is the joy that St. Paul encourages the Philippians to experience and we can as well. “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete if until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6). May we rest in the same confidence, that as we repent, trust in God, and put into practice his teachings that we will be ready to experience Jesus coming into our lives each day and he will work through us to bring about our salvation and those he calls us to serve.

Luke invites us to look back on this time when a world in darkness waited with bated breath for the Light to come to set things right. To bring proper order back to the political and religious state of affairs. Luke offers us, through the words of John the opportunity to ponder the meaning of what it means for us to “Prepare the way of the Lord”. We make a way for the Lord, when we open our minds and hearts to him, so that we might believe more and more each day, not only that Jesus came to us as our savior, but that he is with us and we can receive his love with each breath we take, and we will be prepared for when he comes again, each day, at the end of time, and when it is our time to go home.

Photo: Rosary walk back in mid October.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, December 8, 2024

We can experience joy even when faced with challenges, because “we are infinitely loved.”

Photo:

Jesus sent out these twelve (Mt 10:5).

Jesus sent out his Apostles to minister in his name and share the Gospel as he did, declaring that the “Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Our faith tradition is one of evangelizing, sharing the Good News. That means that first and foremost we need to be people of joy. We may share the most wonderful words about our faith, but if they are not backed up by a life of radiating joy, then our words will have little if any impact.

This does not mean that we are happy and buoyant every second of the day, it does not mean that we will not experience hardship, sorrow, and loss. What it does mean is that we are not defined by our suffering, the trials we face, nor the wide range of our emotions. God also calls us to face tough realities when it might be easier to remain in our comfort zone. In the midst of each of these and other challenges, we can experience hope because God is with us. He seeks to comfort us in our weeping, provide for our needs, guide us in the right way we are to walk, and give us the strength to do so with each step we take.

What defines us is God’s love for us and the joy of knowing that we are not alone in our trials. Jesus experienced the fullness of our human condition, from his conception, birth in a cave, having lived a life of hardship and poverty which led all the way into the depths of betrayal, injustice, and God forsakenness on the cross. He did not just suffer on the cross but also experienced death. Yet, through the binding force of the Holy Spirit, the love shared between Jesus and his Father, he was drawn back to life and conquered death not only for himself but for us all.

This is good news to share. How we live our lives each day and interact with others may be the only Bible that someone else will ever read. May we share the joy of our relationship with Jesus for: “Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.” – Pope Francis from his apostolic exhortation, Joy of the Gospel, line 6.

Photo: When we experience the love of God we will feel joy to overflowing!

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, December 7, 2024

This Advent, let us trust more in Jesus and step free from the gloom and darkness and into his light and love.

St. Augustine taught that the New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament and the Old is revealed in the New. We see this presented in our readings for today. Isaiah presents how “the deaf shall hear” and “out of the gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind will see” (Isaiah 29:18).

Jesus heals the blind men who call out to him believing that he is indeed the Son of David, the messiah, the anointed one. Jesus recognizes their faith that has healed them but he also points out that they are still in need of healing. They see, but they, like the apostles and others who are seeking the coming of the messiah, a messiah that is like David, a political and military leader that will lead a revolution to overthrow the occupying power of Rome.

Jesus told them clearly not to tell anyone what had happened, because he was not about to promote a cult of personality and nor have them portray him in a false way. Yet, share they did, their encounter with Jesus with great joy.

Though we may have eyes to see and ears to hear, are we too are also spiritually blind to who Jesus truly is. Jesus came into the world just over two thousand years ago as the visible reality of the embodiment of God who is love. Jesus calls us to be conformed to this same love. No easy task, for we are called to humility, repentance, and transformation.

The apostles and saints were those who followed Jesus and were willing to be transformed by the fire of his love. They encountered Jesus, had faith in him and believed. They then went out to share with all they met about their encounter. Will we follow the same path? Do we believe that Jesus is truly who he said he is, the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, who became one with us so that we can become one with him and his Father to experience the love of the Holy Spirit?

Let us pray together:

Jesus, this Advent, help me to choose to walk out from the gloom and darkness of anxiety, fear, and insecurity, and place my trust in your revealing light that I may walk with confidence on your path of love. Free me from any distractions and diversions such that I may experience the closeness you know with your Father. Please help me to place my trust in you, and heal my blindness so that I can see more clearly and reject the lies that lead me astray.

——————————–

Photo: Rosary walk back home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, December 6, 2024

When we receive and put into practice Jesus’ teachings we reflect his light and love to others.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21).

I have written quite often, quoting and paraphrasing one of my favorite quotes from St. Irenaeus, that Jesus came to be one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity. In his becoming one with us in our humanity he invites everyone, no one is excluded, to participate in his divinity. Yet if everyone is invited, how can Jesus say that not everyone will enter the Kingdom of heaven?

The answer to that question is in the line that follows. The one who will enter heaven is, “the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” If this verse does not help, then it might be helpful to understand a little about heaven, as best as we can, as the mere mortal, finite beings that we are.

Heaven is not so much a place but a state of being in relation to God, in which we are privileged to share communion and a deeper intimacy with God for all eternity. We will still not know everything about God because God is infinite and we will still be finite even in heaven. God is without limit, we are limited. We will never exhaust our relationship, never get bored with God.

Maybe a more three dimensional, an earthly example may be of help. If we were invited to play a sport, an instrument, or to act in a play, with the end goal being that we would play in the upcoming game, concert, or performance, we might feel pretty excited about the offer. We tell the coach, conductor, or director “That’s great news!” Yet, in the days that follow, we do not attend any of the practices, we do not practice the skills required to play the position, instrument, or role and we don’t return any of the follow-up invitations by phone, email, or text. The day of the big game, concert, or performance comes, we gather our self together and head on over to the arena or hall. We arrive to see the coach, conductor, or director but are denied entrance. We might say, “I don’t understand, you invited us to play!” The reply is, “Not everyone who says to me coach, coach (conductor, conductor, or director, director) is ready and prepared.”

Jesus invites us to play a part in God’s theodrama, everyone. Some say yes and some say no. Some say yes, and then don’t do anything, some say yes and do some things, some say yes and dive in. Most of us take a few steps forward and a step or two back. Just like preparing to play in a big game or perform in a big concert, or play, we need to be committed, disciplined, and persistent. Unlike a missed opportunity to participate in a game or performance, that we can correct and make another attempt down the road, we don’t want to miss the opportunity to spend eternity with Jesus in heaven.

The above analogy does not imply in any way that we earn our way into heaven, or we can do so on our own effort and will power. The bottom line is that Jesus gave his life for all of us and through his grace, we have been saved. Our salvation is a gift freely given. Yet, we have to be willing to receive and open the gift. Our time here on earth is the time we are given to: open the gift we have received, work out our salvation, not just hear but to also put into practice Jesus’ teachings, and be about building our relationship with him. As we do so, we will be transformed by and conformed to Jesus, so that we can come to know his Father as he does, and then we can reflect the light and love we have received to others.

If we want to know God’s will, we need to come to know God. Advent is a time of preparation, a time of getting to know God who is already with us and inviting us to let him into our lives. Jesus helps us to recognize and see what our lives are with and without God. He helps us to see and recognize when we are off track. Then we can better decide who we choose to follow.

When we are aware and humble enough to acknowledge that we are walking away instead of toward God, we just need to reorient ourselves, and turn back to him. God never tires of forgiving us. Let us not ever tire of asking for forgiveness. Each time we seek and receive forgiveness, our minds and hearts are expanded and we will experience more of his love. The forgiveness and love that we receive, we are then to also share.

——————————————————————————

Photo: We each reflect the light of Jesus in our own unique way.

Link for the Mass reading for Thursday, December 5, 2024

May we have compassion on others and be moved to help as Jesus did.

“Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them” (Mt 15:29-30).

There is a key yet subtle point before Jesus began to heal that might be missed. Before great crowds came to him, Jesus “went up on the mountain, and sat down there.” This is no insignificant sentence. The posture of sitting on the mountain would have been recognized right away by the people of Jesus’ time. This was the posture of the teacher and sitting on the mountain a reference to Moses. Prior to the healing in this setting, as he did throughout the Gospels, Jesus taught about the reign of God. In fact, time and again, Jesus’ “works of healing took place in this context of his preaching of the kingdom of God” (Lohfink 2014, 58).

A great multitude of people came to Jesus to hear his message and also brought with them a wide range of needs. Jesus made himself available, restored, and healed those who were brought to him. He encountered them as they were in their present condition. There is no record in this Gospel account that Jesus asked for any identification, that he discussed their belief system before healing them, nor did he ask if they were Jewish or Gentile, and nowhere in this account did Jesus deny anyone who came to him. The response of those to being healed and restored was that “they glorified the God of Israel”. This is because, “where God is master, there is salvation and healing” (Lohfink 2014, 62).

The recorded accounts of mass healings in today’s Gospel are but a foretaste of the heavenly realm of eternal communion with the Father, where death will be destroyed forever. Jesus is the kingdom of heaven at hand, for as St Irenaeus wrote, “Jesus opened up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed.” Jesus came to show humanity what life with the Father is so that we could have a clear choice of what living with him is like and what living apart from his is like. Living with Jesus and following his teachings provides healing and life.

For three days, Jesus served the people who came to him, and as people were getting ready to leave, Jesus showed compassion yet again. He sought the assistance of the disciples because he did not want to send the people away hungry.

The disciples, of course, were taken aback because of the reality of the undertaking Jesus proposed. Jesus asked what they had with them and they shared just some bread and fish. Jesus took “the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full” (Mt 15:36-37).

This Advent let us make an extra effort to surrender our will to God. May we pray with and meditate upon the Gospels such that they become a living word that takes root in our hearts, may his teachings become relevant in our lives, and may they move us to also have compassion on those around us. May we resist the temptation to withhold our service because of someone’s religion, race, gender, creed, or political affiliation.

What matters is that we are willing to see in each person before us a human being with dignity and worth. Even if we feel we have little to give and that is not limited to material means, let us give as God guides us. As the disciples gave the seven loaves and fish, no where near enough to feed the thousands, Jesus multiplied what they gave him. Jesus will do the same through us. We just need to be willing to follow his lead and like Jesus be willing to feel compassion and love for others and let God happen.

—————————————————————————

Painting: The Multiplication of the Loaves by Giovanni Lanfranco between 1620-1623

Lohfink, Gerhard. No Irrelevant Jesus: On Jesus and the Church Today. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Quiet time with God in his creation helps us to be still, to grow closer to God and each other.

“All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Lk 10:22).

God the Father knows God the Son and God the Son knows God the Father. They do not just know about each other, they know each other with such a deep, infinite intimacy that is far beyond our human comprehension. Contemplating this reality can fill us with hope especially when we come to realize that Jesus is the Son of God who has come into our lives so that we can participate in the trinitarian communion of the Father and the Son and the love shared between them, the Holy Spirit!

Jesus has come as an agent of reconciliation, to restore our relationship with God, to undo the effects of the sin of separation that has so ruptured and wounded our relationship with him, each other, and his creation. Our hope this Advent is that we can come not just to a better understanding of God, but to more intimately know and restore our relationship with God through our participation in the life of his Son.

May the Advent season not get away from us before it even starts because of the material, commercial, and busyness that threatens. A good practice to help us to slow our pace is to spend some time in the gift of God’s creation, to enter into its natural rhythm, and bask in the wonder and vast expanse of it all.

One of the activities that I enjoyed most with JoAnn, was our evening walks. I have continued this practice most evenings since her death as well. During my time at seminary, my spiritual director invited me to pray the Rosary during these walks, which I did and have enjoyed very much. Each night walking around the lake at the seminary and looking up and around, praying, walking, and breathing was a wonderful and peaceful experience.

As I drew closer to ordination, one of my concerns regarding possible placement was whether or not I would be assigned to an area in which I could continue my evening Rosary walks and have access to the wonderful vistas that the seminary afforded. I have been blessed by our bishop that he assigned me to Holy Cross. Not only have I been blessed with even more wonderful natural views, I have been blessed with an incredible family and community here. With each step and interaction, I continue to be blessed and drawn deeper into intimacy with God and feel more of his peace and joy.

All of creation echoes the wonder and adoration of the gift that the season of Advent offers: Jesus invites us to participate in a deeper walk with his Father, the creator of heaven and earth, the one who knit us together in our mother’s womb, and who knows us better than we know ourselves! With each breath and step we take, each prayer that we pray, each willingness to engage lovingly with another, will lead us into deeper intimacy with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and each other.

———————————————————————————–

Photo: Although darker on these December Rosary walks, still many interesting views. “A light has shined in the darkness and has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, December 3, 2019