To be forgiven and to forgive is a powerful healing remedy.
“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 one of the foundational principles of our faith tradition as Christians. If we question or struggle with the degree of forgiveness we engage in, we are in good company with Peter. Thinking he was being generous, Peter asked Jesus how many times should he forgive, seven times? Jesus responded, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times” (cf. Mt 18:21-22).
Luke records the exchange of the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray. He taught them the Our Father or Lord’s Prayer. While reciting this prayer often each day or multiple times each day, we say, “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).
One of the barometers of being a faithful disciple of Jesus is that we are people who practice the sacred art of forgiveness. To forgive does not mean in any way that we condone or justify the offense or even necessarily forget about it. We are to hold people accountable, as Jesus said, we are to “rebuke them” in the hope that they will repent and come to a greater appreciation and respect of our dignity and the dignity of others.
Holding on to grudges, seeking revenge, being unwilling to forgive, can be incapacitating, debilitating, and can lead to a premature as well as eternal death. What can be of help is if we can choose to be more mindful of our thoughts and actions. At the moment we experience discomfort from what someone says or does, instead of giving in to the temptation to react or to let our mind run with the offense, it is very helpful to take some deep breaths and relax our shoulders. As the negative thoughts attempt to rise again, don’t fight or feed the thoughts, just return to being aware of our breath and ask Jesus to help us be more understanding and forgiving. This will also help our body to discharge the stress and experience God’s peace.
We may struggle with being forgiving because we may not have sought or received much forgiveness ourselves. Advent is coming. It is a season to prepare to celebrate the coming of Jesus into our lives. This season provides a wonderful opportunity to prepare and participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Forgiveness is a healing gift of God’s grace. Once we have felt the healing balm of forgiveness, we might be more willing to forgive others.
A good practice to engage in is to go to a place of quiet and ask God to help you to forgive someone or a few people. Even if your prayer begins, “God, I cannot forgive, I hurt too much, but help me to let go, please help me to forgive, (insert name).” Return each day until you can bring yourself to say, “I forgive, (insert name).” Visualize yourself saying that you forgive the person face to face and imagine a healing between each of you. If the opportunity presents itself you may want to say that you forgive the person directly, send an email, or write a letter – even if you do not press send or mail it.
With the intent to forgive and asking for the help of Jesus, who has forgiven us, even if in the beginning we are unwilling, with time, reconciliation is possible. Depending on the hurt that has been inflicted, you may not reach out to the other person as it may be healthier to stay apart. Forgiveness will help you to heal and not allow the person who has hurt you to continue to do so. In our willingness to forgive, there is freedom. Let us remember: “Forgive and you will be forgiven”.
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Photo: An oak that had been toppled by Milton, reset in place and anchored in to heal. Much like us when we are willing to forgive.
Link for the Mass readings for Monday, November 11, 2024
Can we trust God so as to also give as extravagantly, as generously, as radically?
Last week Jesus challenged us with the great commandment which is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Our readings this week give us two radical examples of how to do just that. We begin by trusting in God.
We are to trust as did the widow of Zarephath from our first reading and the poor widow giving her last two coins to the temple treasury in the Gospel,“…she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood” (Mk 12:44). Each of these women were practicing a spiritual physics and being generous that defied what appeared to be the reality before them. Each had barely anything, one her last meal and the other her last two coins, yet they gave all they had, trusting that God would provide for them. They trusted in God’s providential care.
Each of us, the baptized, are the Church, and as we gather together each week to worship, we receive encouragement, seek to learn and grow deeper our faith, become transformed by the Body and Blood of Jesus made present again in the Eucharist, and pray for the needs of our world. This is a good way to build a foundation of loving God, self, and neighbor.
As people of faith we are to aspire to care for one another and creation, to resist the temptation to divide, demean, and define people as other and instead see each other as God sees us, as brothers and sisters. Elijah and the widow of Zarephath saw each other as human beings not people of different ethnicity or faith traditions. Each were in need, trusted in God, and supported one another.
St. Mother Teresa often recounted a story in which she brought a cup of rice to a Hindu woman because she knew how hungry her and her children were. As soon as the woman received the rice, she poured half into another container and left. When she came back Mother asked her where she went. The woman said, “They are hungry too.” “They”, were her Muslim neighbors.
Are we willing to have the kind of trust as these three women did? Do we have the courage to give not out of our excess but out of our need? On our own, most likely not. That is why God invites us to pray and spend time with him in our communal worship so we experience Jesus’ radical gift of himself in his word proclaimed and Body and Blood shared for us. He was willing to give himself, all of himself, holding nothing back.
Jesus gave his life for each one of us, what are we willing to give in return? Often we hedge our answer to this question because we are placing our trust not in God but in something else. For where our treasure is, there our heart lies. We would do well to meditate upon the accounts of the widow of Zarephath, the woman with two coins, and the Hindu woman this week. Meditating upon how each were willing to give the little they had, each expressing extravagant generosity, each trusting in God may help us to open our hearts and minds to the extravagance and generosity of God’s love for us so that we can trust him more and give as he invites us to give.
Painting credit: The Widow’s Mite by James Christensen
Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, November 10, 2024
May we allow ourselves to be transformed by the truth and love of Jesus.
When I taught religion and theology, I have asked my students if Jesus ever sinned. Inevitably, someone referenced the account from today’s Gospel. In these verses, we read how Jesus, “made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area” (Jn 2:15). Jesus is not sinning here, rather, he is acting in line with prophetic tradition. Jesus is making a bold spectacle to drive home the point that the temple is not a marketplace but it is to be a place of worship and right praise to his Father.
Greater still than the temple, is the people of God. Further down in the text, when those present ask for a sign to justify this act, Jesus said: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19). Clearly, he was pointing to his body as the temple of God and referring to his Resurrection to come.
The temple, the house of God, believed to be the corporal presence, the very seat of God among his people, Israel, was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. This left a tremendous spiritual, political, and social vacuum. Two groups that were intimately tied to the sacrificial cult of the temple, the Sadducees and the Essenes, very soon after the destruction, ceased 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 different expressions of Judaism today. Another sect would also arise as the followers of the new way of Jesus which became the Church, the Body of Christ.
Each of us has a unique part to play in the Church. We are called to bear witness and practice, in our own unique way, our faith in our everyday experiences. We may be the only Bible someone ever reads. This call to put our faith into action is not an invitation to be overwhelmed by nor an excuse to assume a posture of elitism. We are no better than anyone else.
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” (Costello 2013, 14). We are to seek and follow Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and allow his truth and his love to shape and transform our lives. When we are willing to encounter and walk together, we learn and grow from one another. We are also less apt to keep others at a distance and become more willing to draw close.
We need to resist all that contributes in any way to the dehumanization, hate, and violence by rooting ourselves in Jesus, the living Temple. In doing so, we will become aware that we ourselves are temples of the Holy Spirit. In spending consistent time in silence, prayer, meditation, study, worship, and service, we not only purify our temple, we better know God’s will, and will be conformed to and empowered by the love of Christ to be instruments of peace, contemplatives in action, and advocates for healing and reconciliation in a wounded and weary church, politics, country, and world.
Photo: Rosary walk during on of my final evenings back at the St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary mid June.
Costello, Gwen. Walking With Pope Francis: Thirty Days with the Encyclical The Light of Faith. New London, CT: Twenty Third Publications, 2013.
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, November 9, 2024
Like with the saints, God calls us to pass on our faith in our unique way and in our unique time.
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 indebted to his master. Most likely he was giving up his own profits in settling these debts, much like a real estate agent or car salesman today would forego their commission to make a sale.
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 original squandering that landed him in this predicament in the first place.
Jesus commenting on this parable also acknowledged those who were clever in worldly ways, thinking and acting with prudence. Being shrewd and having the foresight to navigate potential conflicts to acquire the desired goal is admirable. 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. As we spread the Gospel, we do so, not in a one size fits all approach. We are to be present and adjust to each person’s uniqueness.
Many in the Church have gone before us aware of the needs of those people in their midst and coming up with creative ways to minister to them. Often they too, utilized the model of the steward’s prudence in today’s Gospel, giving up their opportunity for 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 the social elite. Then as his transformation began to take hold, he began to sell off his father’s cloth and gave it 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 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 of 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 needs do we see in our midst? In what ways can we be more prudent? Each of us is 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, please deepen our faith and help us to put it into practice in the unique way you call us to serve.
Photo: Image of St. Francis I have had with me since my time with the Franciscans in the early ’90’s.
Walking With Pope Francis: Thirty Days with the Encyclical The Light of Faith. New London, CT., Twenty Third Publications, 2013
Link for the Mass readings for Friday, November 8, 2024
Jesus never tires of forgiving and loving us.
Luke records Jesus being critiqued for eating with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus responds to the criticism from the Pharisees and the scribes by sharing three parables, two of which we read today, and the third, the Prodigal Son, which is often reserved for reading on Sunday during this liturgical cycle of readings.
The two parables we are given today display the love that God the Father has for his children. Though we may not find being compared to a sheep or a coin endearing, the imagery of the shepherd going to find the one lost sheep and the woman searching all over her house for the one lost coin is a message well worth meditating upon.
Someone hearing this parable might say, “Why bother looking for the one sheep when you have ninety-nine other sheep or why bother looking for one insignificant coin when you have nine other ones?” But if we reflect upon this parable for a bit we might recall a time or feel right now that we may be lost or insignificant. What Jesus is telling us is that we matter. That God loves us more than we can ever imagine, and he is constantly seeking us out. God is the creator of the vast expanse of the cosmos while at the same time he cares for each and every one of us. He cares for you as if you were the only person in the world.
We do not need to look for God so much as we need to just stop, be still, and notice he is already waiting for us. If we feel a bit worn, misunderstood, lost, lonely or underappreciated, rest assured. God cares. God is present, yes, even in the midst of any conflicts, challenges, trials and/or tribulations that we may be going through. Even if we have separated ourselves from him through our sin, Jesus loves us more than we can ever mess up and he is the shepherd that watches over us and seeks us out even when we walk away from him. Return to him and allow yourself to experience the healing balm of his forgiveness.
As we return, we can let go, breathe, and allow ourselves to experience the loving embrace of Jesus and allow ourselves to be loved, to be filled up, and so have more to share with someone we encounter who may also need to know that they matter, they have dignity, are not alone, and that they too are loved.
Photo: One of my favorite pencil drawings by Kathryn J. Brown, 1982
Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, November 7, 2024
Jesus took up his cross and invites us to do the same.
I can visualize the opening scene of today’s Gospel in my mind’s eye. Jesus striding along with a gathering of people walking, talking, and moving about, and then 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. Those closest have their eyes locked on his, while those further back are craning their necks, moving left and right to get a better look, while still others are cupping their ears to catch the sound of Jesus’ voice.
These crowds most likely consisted of some disciples, while the greater majority were those on the periphery gathering because of curiosity, intrigue, and maybe even wonder. Jesus then begins to speak, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife or children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life,…” and then, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me…” and then he 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).
Those who may be hearing these words second hand, as they were further away from the point of direct hearing, may not believe that the message was transmitted to them correctly. These words cut to the quick, just as surely as when Jesus shared about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and when he told another follower, who wanted to bury his father to let the dead bury their dead. Luke does not say, but I am sure that many of those gathered around him were just as shocked and began to walk away.
The familial bond for ancient peoples was strong. Though the invitation of salvation that Jesus offers is for all to be saved, he is not going to dumb down or sugar coat his message just to get numbers. Jesus presents, time and again, that the way to live a life of fullness and wholeness, to restore that which has been lost, is to put God first in our lives. God must be the primary focus, the primary relationship in our life, nothing else can have priority of place before him. When we do so, everyone and all other things will fall into their proper place.
Do we want to be an onlooker, just someone looking at Jesus from a distance, or a disciple, willing to be his servant sent forth to share the Gospel and invite others into relationship with him? Are we attached to any possessions, false substitutes, even members of our family, such that we place them before our relationship with God? Idols are anything that we put before God and will distract and divert us from the very flow of his life force that fuels our existence. If we are willing to walk the path of discipleship, we must be willing to surrender our will to God, place him first in our lives, take up our cross, and be open to being transformed by his love.
Jesus is the interpretive key that opens our understanding. All that which is material and finite in our lives find meaning in relation to him. Only when we are able to let go of the attachments to the things of this world will we then truly begin to be free. St. Francis embodied this in a radical way. One of his foundational prayers, which he sometimes would pray for hours was, “My God and my all!” And that is the life he lived and which Jesus invites us to live.
Photo: The crucifix hanging above our altar in our temporary place of worship in our hall, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, FL.
Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Jesus lights the path for us to come together in community.
One of those at table with Jesus said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.” He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready'” (Lk 14:15-17)
Today or if you are reading this evening, tomorrow, will be the final chance to vote. We seem to be cut right down the middle and unity and striving to form a more perfect union seems to getting further apart.
Judaism was far from unified during Jesus’ time as well. The Sadducees, Pharisees and scribes, Samaritans, Zealots, and Essenes all felt they were the authentic expression of Israel. Jesus not only addressed this division by sitting down to break bread with as diverse a population as possible but he also shared parables around the same idea of the invitation to share in the celebration of a feast, as we read today.
Each encounter that we are blessed to partake in is an invitation to experience communion. We have the opportunity to interact in person, face to face, or through the myriad of social media outlets. With each opportunity, we can choose to demean, degrade, dehumanize, gossip, and defame or we can embrace the opportunity to treat each other with dignity, respect, kindness, and understanding, yes, even when we disagree.
We all have wounds. Each of us have suffered or are suffering, and we have or are experiencing pain in some form or fashion. We all seek to belong, to be a part of, and to be accepted. We need each other. When we acknowledge this reality we can begin to heal and be more understanding toward others. Yet, as Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ, writes, “If you’re a stranger to your own wound, then you’re going to be tempted to despise the wounded.”
Jesus provides a mirror for us to notice our own suffering as well as a light to reveal the path to our own healing. Being willing to see our own wounds and to be open to healing, we can be more present. When others are not respectful, we can choose instead to be patient and understanding. When someone is shares harsh words, we can resist the defensive response and instead ask if there is any way we can help. Let us strive to be a conduit of love, to will each other’s good, and to be a healing presence in our interactions with one another. Everything is now ready. Jesus invites us to the feast of community and sharing, are we willing to attend?
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Photo: Rosary walk through Riverside Park, Vero Beach.
Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Let’s vote and then be about the work of healing, reconciling, and loving one another.
When all the votes are in and counted, may each of us be ready, willing, and able to read and ponder today’s words from St. Paul. At least in the Church, may we commit again to seek God first. May we be “of the same mind” believing in Our Father who art in heaven and that his named is hallowed. May we recognize each other as his beloved children, brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ.
May we let go of the temptation to demonize and dehumanize one another and instead be willing to greet each other “with the same love” and be “united in heart, thinking one thing.”To love, is to will the good of the other. If we can start there with a willingness to, instead of seeking the worst, respect one other as human beings, seek the best for, speak and listen to, and spend time with one another, we might grow again to like one another.
Instead of placing ourselves first and foremost before God and everyone else, let’s place God first, seek to follow his will, and see each other from his eyes. Instead of tearing each other down, may we make a commitment to respect and be more understanding. We can accomplish this when we are willing to: “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;” and “rather, humbly regard others as more important than ourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others” (Philippians 2:2-4).
No matter who is elected, may we: be willing to work together to promote the common good, seek healing and reconciliation, respect the dignity of each person from he moment of conception until natural death, love each other by willing each other’s good, so we can help God’s kingdom to come, and his will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Photo: E pluribus unum, out of many one.
Link for the Mass readings for Monday, November 4, 2024
Spiritual Stepping Stones 