JoAnn, five years ago today, I stayed with you and held your hand until the attendants from the funeral home took your body away. About an hour later I started to cook breakfast for Jack and Christy, and I felt a warmth in my chest envelop my heart and felt your words say, “It is ok to be sad and grieve but don’t stay there. I will be closest to you when you are doing what makes you happy.”

At my ordination Mass concelebrating with Bishop Barbarito, I felt that same feeling of warmth in my chest, and how close you were. At each Mass, how thin the veil between heaven and earth is thanks to Jesus made present again in his Body and Blood.

In about an hour, I will be celebrating Mass. Doing so each day has made me happier than I could have ever imagined. I have struggled sometimes experiencing being happy since your death, feeling somehow in doing so, that I was betraying you. I realized yesterday that has been a lie. I am not happy that you are gone. I am happy that I am following God’s will. I honor you best by sharing the love of Jesus and our love with others. You were right, you are closest, and I feel your love when I do that which makes me happy. Onto Mass!!!

Photo: JoAnn and I visiting Jack and Christy in CA, during spring break in 2019, just before we received her diagnosis.

“They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away” (Lk 4:29-30).

“They” were those from Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. They could not accept that he was anything but a carpenter’s son. How does he not only try to teach them but also imply that God was showing favor to the Gentiles in the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian. What followed next is our humanity at its worst when it rises to a mob mentality of mind. They moved as one to lead him out of town and hurl him headlong down the side of a hill.

In praying with this verse, I imagined myself with Jesus in his synagogue in Nazareth, listening to him teaching the people. I watched how the people were first listening to every letter of his message mesmerized and moved by them. But was then astonished as their disposition changed and their eyes of wonder then clouded over like a once clear, blue sky, was filled by an approaching storm cloud.

The voices of rebuke reached a fever pitch after Jesus shared how God blessed the widow and Naaman, then their bodies rose as one, and they moved in on Jesus. My and Jesus’ eyes met and he mouthed for me to stay close to him. I attempted to do so as the crowd grasped at Jesus and pushed him toward the exit.

I squirmed through he swarming bodies to get outside quickly, and then slipped outside of the crowd so I could keep an eye on Jesus while also not wanting to be trampled. The energy of the crowd was electrified as if a lightning strike was about to unleash. Outside, the bodies did not spread further apart but instead closed into a tighter unit. It was harder for me to see Jesus, I quickened my pace and ran to the right of the converging crowd which now hummed and looked more like a swarm of angry bees as they drew closer to the brow of the hill.

A roar then erupted from the front as arms were raised. The raising of voices and arms moved then like a wave from the front nearest to the brow to the back. To my right I spied a man walking away at a steady pace. I dashed to the hill side in time to see three or four bodies tumbling down the hill. I looked again to the back of the man who had now put a good distance between us. Jesus.

I ran not down the hill but toward him. As I caught up, I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the crowd was looking down the hill and toward us. More shouts echoed but no one followed us. I turned back and realized I had fallen behind. I jogged to catch up.

As I did so, I glanced at Jesus walking with his head down. Then I saw his face. He radiated a smile of joy. Jesus kept his pace but turned to meet my look of wonder. His smile only increased when I imagined he saw my look of amazement.

“Jesus, the people of your own hometown just rose up to toss you out on your head. How can you be smiling?”

Jesus breathed deeply, and although I slowed to listen, he kept his steady pace. I caught up to him again and he said, “I am not happy that their hearts were so closed, their hearts so hardened, but I feel joy in knowing that I did my Father’s will. Even though my own rejected me, even though they had no faith in me, I was faithful to what my Father sent me to do.”

I stumbled then, tripped, and feel to my knees. I rolled to sit up. Jesus, stopped and turned to look at me. “The same will be so, when I am raised up on the Cross.”

Our eyes met and we held each other’s gaze. He then smiled again and reached out his hand. I looked at it for a moment and held my breath. I looked up at him again. There was no judgment on his face, but there was a clear, unspoken invitation. I then took a deep breath and placed my hand in his. Without hesitation his strong, calloused hand grasped mine and he lifted me up like a feather.

Jesus faced his suffering with joy, because even when his own did not understand him, rejected him, and even betrayed him, he knew without a hesitation or doubt that he was doing his Father’s will and his Father loved him. Jesus was like the eye of a storm in the hurricane of his experiences because he was anchored by the bond of love that was unbreakable between him and his Father. That love was iron clad because he always said, “Yes”, without hesitation to his Father’s will. Even to the Cross.

Jesus invites us today to take his hand and allow him to lift us up beyond any anxiety, fear, darkness, sin, distraction, or diversion. He is inviting us to let go of anything that is not of his Father’s will and to take one step in faith with him. Are we worthy to do so? No. Are we capable? No. Are we willing? If yes, Jesus will provide the rest! Let us place our hand in his, allow him to lift us up, and take one step with Jesus today, just one, and allow God through the love of the Holy Spirit to happen!!!

Photo: One step closer to morning Mass, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, FL.

Link to the Mass readings for Monday, September 2, 2024

“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live…” (Deut. 4:1).

That you may live! God has created us out of love to receive and share his love. God our loving Father is the true and eternal source of our lives, and he wants us to live in freedom and not in mere survival but to the full. To help us in our pursuit of experiencing the freedom and fullness of our lives he has given us his law which is to be written on our hearts.

In our first reading from Deuteronomy, Moses is preparing the people to go into the holy land. The first generation that left Egypt has died. The next generation will continue the journey. Moses wants to set this next generation up for success as he attempted to do with the first, in the hope that they will resist the temptations that led their fathers astray. He is giving them the “statutes and decrees” that they may put them into practice so that they may not separate themselves from God but remain and grow in relationship with him.

Moses guides his people to “observe” Torah, the law or teachings, “carefully” such that they may not only hear but also put them into practice and fulfill all that God has created them to be. This they are to do for the purpose of being a light to the surrounding nations of this new land. As they faithfully observe the law they will “give evidence of [their] wisdom and intelligence to the nations” (Deut. 4:6).

This affirms the goal of the psalmist: “The one who does justice will live in the presence of the LORD” (cf. Psalm 15). When the people follow the law of God, meditate upon it day and night, and put it into practice, they will be strengthened to resist the diversions, distractions, and temptations of the world. They are not doing so because they are serving a tyrannical god, but so that they will experience the loving care and relationship with the creator of heaven and earth and know and choose God before all other options.

“In Deuteronomy, it is clearly set forth, for the first time in human history, that love is the heart of the moral law: ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might’ (Deut 6:5)” (Bergsma, p. 374). God is not seeking dumb subservience, he is seeking a transformation of his children’s hearts. This will be a reality if his children are willing to choose to place God first in their lives and allow God to write his law on their hearts.

This “heart”, in the Jewish context of the time is the very core and center of the person, their very self, “the deepest center of who we are, that place from which our thoughts and actions arise. God wants to penetrate that heart, so that he becomes the center of our souls” (Barron, 214).

This is the invitation that God offers to us as well. We are invited by God to receive him in the depths of our souls, the core and foundation of our beings. Following St. James: “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only… care for orphans and widows…” (James 1:21-22).

There is a two-fold dance required to participate in our relationship with God. We are to hear and choose to receive his word and share what we have received. As with the God’s chosen people, we are to be a light to the nations. We are to receive the teaching of God and put it into action such that the love we have received radiates out through our practical expressions he calls us to share in concrete expressions of service in our daily lives.

Jesus, in calling out the Pharisees, warns us of the dark side of the law. Fulfilling the law by obligation alone is not the goal. The law is provided such that we can examine our lives, see where we fall short of the precepts, and transform our hearts with God’s help. The Pharisees added provisions to the law, like the external ritual washing before eating, which in and of itself was not a bad thing, but in only maintaining the appearance of fulfilling the law externally, they are not allowing their hearts to be transformed by God’s love. As Jesus said, “… their hearts are far from me… You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition… the things that come out from within are what defile…” (Mk 7: 6, 8, 15).

Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill and show that the core principle of the law is to love God with all our hearts, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This in no way is a watering down of the law. In fact, it is raising the bar even higher. It is much easier to observe ritual purity instead of accepting the invitation to allow Jesus to transform the darkness of our own hearts, where, “All these evils come from within and they defile” (Mk 7:23).

Jesus is the law incarnate. He does not lower the bar of the law so people can follow it. He meets us where we are, and when we are willing to receive his help, he will strengthen us and empower us, step by step to be transformed and conformed to himself that we will come to hear, understand, know, and practice God’s teachings. Jesus not only models for us the way to the Father by fulfilling the truth of the law and the prophets, he will empower us to do so. We cannot fulfill the precepts of the law on our own, we absolutely need his help.

Our time of worship, personal prayer, and living a moral life will be so much more intimate when we move beyond seeking merely to fulfill obligations. Obligation is important in the beginning, but we will not grow until we accept the invitation of Jesus to encounter the living God who loves us more than we can imagine. When we prepare and collect ourselves before our time of worship, prayer, and making a decision of what actions we are going to take, we are to do so knowing that we are encountering God in all we think, say, and do. In recognizing that God matters first and foremost, we will encounter him and experience his infinite love.

We move out of a life of darkness and sin when there is something better, when the truth is better than the lie, and the true good is better than the apparent good. We are empowered to resist temptations, distractions, and diversions from all that seeks to lead us astray when we experience the infinite love of the One who we long for in the depths of our soul. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life who leads us to experience the true, the good, and the beautiful. The law of God leads us to fulfillment and freedom that we may experience the life we were born for.

“It is not ritual actions that make us pure. Purity and impurity arise within man’s heart and depend on the condition of his heart… In place of ritual purity, what we have now is not merely morality, but the gift of encounter with God in Jesus Christ… It is the incarnate God who makes us truly pure and draws creation into unity with God” (Pope Benedict XVI).

Photo: Encountered dolphins during my Rosary walk Friday night and enjoyed a time of unity with God and his creation for an additional twenty minutes. “You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord” (Daniel 3:79).

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, August 31, 2024

Barron, Robert in The Word on Fire Bible. Park Ridge, IL: Word On Fire Catholic Ministries, 2020.

Bergsma, John. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year B. Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Road Publishing, 2021.

“Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back'” (Mt 25: 24-25).

When I first began the journey of reading and seeking to put the teachings of Jesus into practice in my later teens and early twenties, I struggled with this verse of Jesus’ Parable of the Talents, not because I didn’t relate to it, but instead because I did! I sided with the servant who buried his talent in the ground and did not understand what he did wrong.

What the servant did made sense to me, he kept his master’s talent safe and returned what he had been given. Historically, burying was considered a safe and acceptable practice in ancient Palestine when protecting someone else’s money. Even in reading carefully back to the beginning of the parable, I could see no reference to investing the talents. Though in the Gospel of Luke, there is an explicit demand to “trade with these until I come” (Lk 19:13). What is Jesus saying?

Jesus offers a microcosm of salvation history, the thread of which has been woven through all Sacred Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. God, through his sovereign will, has consistently called, calls today, and will continue to call into the future a people to himself. This is echoed in today’s first reading where Paul writes three times, “God chose”. He chose the foolish, the weak, the lowly and despised of the world such that what is shared coming from each of this is to be seen clearly as a gift coming from God and not man. This is so that neither of them could boast in their own effort, but in God alone.

In each age, God has bestowed upon humanity the generous gift of his grace, inviting us to receive and share in his very life, which is what we have been created for. This is a free gift, to be freely accepted or rejected. Once received though – no matter how little we choose to receive, we are directed to share what we have been given. Through a life lived of accepting, receiving, giving back to God and to one another, we are given even “greater responsibilities”.

In receiving the gift of God, himself, and sharing what he has given, ultimately his love, for God is love (1 John 4:16), we not only mirror on earth, albeit dimly, but share in the divine communion of the love between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To reject this gift outright, or to receive some of the benefits and not to share, we cut ourselves off from the very life force and source of our being.

We can see this pattern emerge in this parable. The master gives his servants talents. All accept what they have been given, five, two, and one. Two received and multiplied their talents. The third refused and kept it to himself. The master returns, commends and rewards the two, then berates and even takes the little the one had been given and gives it to the one who had more.

The message of The Parable of the Talents is as clear as it is challenging. John P. Meier summarizes that “Jesus is insistent; along with sovereign grace, serious demand, and superabundant reward comes the possibility of being condemned for refusing the demand contained in the gift. Indeed, one might argue that no aspect of Jesus’ teaching is more pervasive in the many different streams of the Gospel tradition, and no aspect is more passed over in silence today” (Meier 2016, 309).

God has created us and all of creation from the abundant outpouring of his love. Will we reject the gift of his love and invitation of communion? Will we receive, yet not actualize who we are called to be for our self and others because we would rather merely just exist, willing to be lured and entrapped by the temptations of anxiety, fear, apparent goods, and half-truths? Will we give in to the fear, too afraid to risk, to go out from ourselves to serve others? Or, will we appreciate the gift of our life and say thank you for the breath that we breathe and then be willing to expand the love we have received? Will we embrace who God calls us to be, to love in kind, to will the good of others in the unique way God calls us to serve, whoever they may be?

I have lived the life of the wicked servant who buried his talent out of fear. I have embraced the sin of sloth and resisted opportunities to share what God has given me to invest. This was no path to fulfillment, but an experience of separation from the fullness of the One who wants so much more. To live a day to day existence adrift and dulled, is certainly not the way I hope to spend another day.

I was faced with a choice about two and a half years ago. To finish out the school year at Cardinal Newman HS and take a year off to collapse and rest or to pursue the priesthood. I asked God what he wanted me to do. I heard in the silence of my heart, “Priesthood”. It was a gentle but clear affirmation. My shoulders sank, but the embers of my soul were set alight!

I chose not to turn away from God’s call, I chose not to bury his gift in the sand. I chose instead to trust in Jesus and invest the talents he gave me and once given the green light entered seminary. The talents I invested in that time are already reaping incredibly as I have been serving as a priest these past two months. I experience and share the love I receive from God daily in celebrating Mass, preparing and sharing homilies, writing and uploading these reflections, entering the lives of families to share the sacraments of the anointing of the sick, funeral Masses, confessions, spiritual direction, counseling, and dinners.

A big part of why I am where I am today is because of my wife, JoAnn. She supported me and encouraged me every step of the way to come out of my shell, to learn to trust, to take risks, and she constantly challenged me to break out of my comfort zone. She modeled for me the act of giving of herself to others, especially our children. But not even just those closest to her.

She often would complement something someone was wearing in her everyday encounters, she loved to give little gifts, wrote simple notes of affirmation, and the embodiment of her selfless giving was in her final week of life when she made sure that the Hospice nurses caring for her had something to eat, to drink, and that they were warm enough because we had to keep the AC cool because of her spikes in temperature. She even insisted that one of the nurses wore one of her sweaters. I am confident that when JoAnn began her journey from this life to the next, God welcomed her with the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

That support continued during my time in the seminary. I was blessed with guidance, spiritual direction, support, acceptance, and love, along with the studies, deeper time of prayer, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and healing beyond anything I imagined possible when I first drove my truck through the open gates of St. Vincent de Paul Seminary. Resisting to bury my talent but again to invest for all it was worth has made all the difference.

We need not fear. Jesus does not expect too much of us. He invites, gives, and yes is demanding, but at the same time empowers and provides the support and energy we need to invest the talents given and to bring about a greater return. Our response is to allow the light of Jesus to shine through us as a prism in our own unique way that we may dispel any darkness and division in our realm of influence. As anxiety and fear may arise and seek to derail what God is calling us to do, may we embrace, breathe, rest, receive, and abide in God’s love and love God and each other. In the words of Jesus and St John Paul II who echoed them as he began his pontificate: “Be not afraid” (Mt 14:27). Let us use the time we have been given to invest our talents well.

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Photo: The talents Jesus gave me as I entered the gates of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary as a seminarian June 8, 2022, I invested and are being multiplied now. Prayers continuing for my SVDP family as they are revving up to start another year!!!

Meier, John P. A Marginal Jew: Probing the Authenticity of the Parables. Vol. 5. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, August 31, 2024

“The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves'” (Mt 25: 8-9).

Jesus is doing more here in this parable than introducing prudent discipleship. The wise and foolish virgins are representative of those invited to participate in the wedding feast, those invited to participate in the kingdom of heaven. They who have their lamps burning brightly do so because they are living their faith in practice and reflecting the light of Jesus as they witness their faith to others. They cannot give their oil though. Each person must receive the invitation of Jesus and decide to live their faith and put it into practice in their own lives.

No one can do this for them. The foolish virgins are those that are not prepared or ready because they lack the commitment, the discipline, and the actual living out of their life of faith. This is shown starkly when the foolish virgins come to the locked door. They are not allowed in to participate in the wedding feast because the groom, Jesus, does not know them. They are members of the community in name only, not by putting their faith into practice through prayer, worship, and good works.

We gain some insight that the wise and foolish for Jesus has a different connotation than what the world deems to be wise and foolish. St. Paul in his letter to the Church at Corinth wrote that “the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (I Cor. 1:18). The cross was not only a horrific symbol of oppression, it was a sign of the finality of death. To the world the cross showed that Jesus could not be the messiah, for he could not even save himself.

The imagery of the cross was still raw for the first few centuries and was depicted rarely in early Christian art. And yet, in one of the earliest accounts of the New Testament we have Paul not just discussing but proclaiming victory in the cross: “We proclaim Christ crucified” (I Cor. 1:22). A foolish and absurd statement in the view of the world, yet one of foundational wisdom to the disciple and apostles of Christ.

This was and continues to be the banner call of the Christian. Jesus died, and yet conquered death and rose again. This is a statement of faith that we can only make an ascent to through our belief and experience of, trust in, and deepening our relationship with, the one who died, conquered death and rose again. St. John Chrysostom (349-407) wrote that: “For the Apostles themselves came in not by wisdom, but by faith, and surpassed the heathen wisemen in wisdom and loftiness, and that so much the more, as to raise disputes is less than to receive by faith the things so far” (p. 249, The Word on Fire Bible).

Our faith is not a blind faith that we dumbly believe and follow along like lemmings. It is our reason seeking understanding and allowing God’s grace to build on our nature. Our faith grows as did the Apostles, through our encounter and lived experience with Jesus. Just like any other relationship, we build our relationship with Jesus through time spent with him. If we want to know Jesus more intimately, we need to  make consistent time to spend with him in prayer, in the Mass and sacraments, and in serving one another as our starting points.

Jesus was clear that we do not know the time or hour of his return, but if we are faithful and trust in him in everything, when he does return, we, like the wise virgins, will know him and be allowed to enter the wedding feast.

Photo: The crucifix, our sign of victory – St. Peter Catholic Church, May 4, 2024.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, August 30, 2024

Word on Fire Bible: Acts, Letters, and Revelation. Park Ridge, IL: Word on Fire Ministries, 2022.

Herodias’ own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests (Mk 6:22).

Mark paints a word picture of a family: Herod, Herodias, and their daughter: ancient manuscripts differ as to whether she was Herod’s or Herodias’ daughter. Also, two times, in Mk 6:22 and 6:28, she is referred to in the Greek as korasion, meaning a young woman, as young as twelve years old (Donahue 2002, 198). The setting is the banquet hall of Herod, the tetrarch or prince of Galilee. His high officials, military commanders, and the elites of Galilee were all gathered to celebrate Herod’s birthday. This is a royal, opulent family.

The daughter comes out to dance for Herod. Her dance delights Herod and he grants her anything she wants, even up to half his kingdom. Following the counsel of Herodias, she asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The reason for this request was because Herodias held a grudge toward John because he stated to Herod that it “is illegal for you to be married to your brother’s wife” (Mk 6:18). Herod was distressed at the daughter’s request but granted John’s death sentence to save face before his honored guests. The execution was swift, the head of John was brought on a platter, given to the girl, who then brought it to her mother.

This is not the ideal image of the family that we hopefully aspire to. John’s upbringing as we learn from Luke had a different experience. His mother, Elizabeth, and father, Zechariah, were devout Jews. They raised their son as a person of integrity, and we can see from today’s reading of Mark the extent to which he was willing out his prophetic role in speaking truth even if it would mean his death. John was willing to give his life, rather than compromise his principles. This stands in stark contrast to Herod Antipas who, with little contemplation about what he was doing, acted quickly in giving the order to end the life of John in such a brutal fashion.

Could there be any two starker images of family life than in today’s Gospel? One family as corrupt, conniving, and malicious as can hardly be imagined and another as faithful, pure, and holy as can be hoped for. Families are not perfect, and life together is a bit messy. May we support and love one another the best we can. Hopefully, most of our families fall somewhere in between, and hopefully closer to John’s family than to the Herod’s.

Even when life goes well, familial relationships can be difficult and challenging. We are at our best when we strive to accept, support, and see each other as God sees each of us: as a unique and unrepeatable gift. Even though sometimes we would like to return the gift to sender, we need to consistently pray for one another and pray together when possible, commit to be present and encourage, forgive, keep the lines of communication open, (which means listening as well as speaking), and even when we disagree, respect one another, and give each other space as needed.

No matter how bumpy the road of life gets or how high the waves of trials and tribulations toss us about, may we follow the lead of St John the Baptist and strive to be faithful to God and his will for our lives. May we stand up for each other, those in our families by blood as well as those relationships God has given to us by his grace. Even in our imperfections, may we commit to accompany, love, and be there. Remaining steadfast in our trust in God, we will grow closer to him as well as each other.

For all families, and especially those who are struggling with their own unique challenges right now, in any and all forms, we ask St. John the Baptist on this his feast day to pray for us and our families.

Photo: Icon of St. John of the Baptist, Monastery Icons.

Donahue SJ, John R. and Daniel J. Harrington SJ. The Gospel of Matthew, in Sacra Pagina Series, vol. 1. Ed. Daniel J. Harrington. Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2002.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, August 29, 2024 

“May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you” (2 Thessalonians 3:16).

“Peace at all times” – is what Paul praying for the Church of Thessalonica and us reading these words today possible? It actually is. When we are connected to the source of this peace. When are separated, no.

St. Peter walked on the water when he held the gaze of Jesus with his. Once he took his eyes of Jesus and looked to the storm, then he began to sink. When he then called out to Jesus, Jesus’ hand was there to lift him up. But for that moment, Peter walked on the water. For brief moments, we may not have experienced walking on water, but hopefully, we have been able to experience some of the peace of the Lord that Paul wants to impart upon us.

To move toward always experiencing our Father’s peace, that means we need to be in God’s presence at all times. The good news is that God has been, is, and will always be with us. He is the ground of our very being. He is not in competition with us but is the source of our very being. The more of his presence and love that we receive, we become more of who he is calling us to be.

We actually can see God and experience his peace in all things because he is the ground of everything that exists. Even evil? Yes, because evil is not a thing. Evil is a deprivation of the good, like a cavity that corrupts the good of the tooth. The key is resisting all the diversions, distractions, and temptations that pull our attention away from keeping our focus on God first and foremost and growing in our relationship with him.

Even when we are going through challenges or difficulties, we can experience peace when we seek Jesus in the midst of the storm and keep our eyes on him. As we do so, even if the healing does not come, the trial does not cease, or the situation does not correct itself instantly, we can trust that Jesus is with us and will see us through. In placing our trust in Jesus no matter what, in continuing to turn to him, there lies the source of our peace and our strength to endure.

This is a peace that surpasses all understanding because God’s grace builds on our nature. He meets us where we are and lifts us up beyond anything we can imagine possible. In trusting in God, stress will still arise, we will still be concerned, but the key is that we don’t add onto it by continuing to churn over in our minds worst case scenarios that may or may not even happen.

For this moment, let us take a few breaths, place our trust and focus on Jesus, and build from there. Peace and all God’s good be with you this day!

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Photo: Rosary walk view from Veteran’s Memorial Island, Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, August 27, 2024

Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing” (Mt 23:27-28).

How many of us spend an inordinate amount of time regarding physical externals? Washing, makeup, the right clothes, the correct scents, teeth whitening, plucking, nipping, and tucking. How about time spent exercising through gym memberships, home exercise equipment, physical trainers, sports, stretching, running, or cycling. How about time spent towards a career through education, updating, professional learning, seminars, webinars, and networking. There are other categories that I can add, and the point is that there is not anything necessarily wrong with any of the above in moderation and each in balance are healthy practices.

Though if external activities are all we are investing our time and energy in, then Jesus has a point. We may “appear beautiful on the outside” with great looks, a body that doesn’t quit, and a career to die for, but what is going on inside? Are we empty, unfulfilled, achieving goal after goal, yet feeling adrift or hollowed out? Do we have all the right social skills and etiquette down, know the right things to say in public, we have friends in the hundreds on our social media accounts, yet we feel alone and not a part of anything meaningful?

Worse yet, do we go to Church, say the right prayers, are active in ministry, tithe, are members of boards, involved in the community, and doing some great works of charity, but when the door is closed, and no one is looking… what kind of “hypocrisy and evil doing” are we up to? It is easy to stay focused on Jesus chewing out the Pharisees, yet, Jesus is calling us to more. He shines his light on the imperfections and shadow sides of us as well.

We can spend our time whitewashing the outside, projecting a perfect image, while chasing the finite and material pursuits alone, which will more than likely leave us feeling anxious, restless, unsatisfied, and tired. Maintaining and protecting a false image on any level is exhausting. Instead, let us take a good look at the time we invest, where we focus our energies, examine our conscience, and assess the health of our relationship with God, family, friendships, our vocation instead of occupation, and our service to those within and beyond our intimate circle.

Making time for prayer, meditation, study, worship, exercising, eating healthy, discerning, and giving of ourselves in service helps to build a firmer foundation for developing the inside, who we truly are, and how God sees us. Making time to rest, renew, and reflect on the core of who we are in the depths of our soul will help us to face those areas we may be hiding from, those areas in need of healing or repentance.

Instead of attempting to project a perfect persona, we will do better to be in touch with our weaknesses, our faults, sins, wounds, and prejudices so that we may no longer defend, rationalize, and or compensate for them but in humility seek truth, healing, and reconciliation. By doing so, we can become free from those unresolved and most likely unconscious hurts and traumas that we may be denying, covering over or up for. We can then feel safer and more comfortable in our own skin.

It feels much better to be free to be who God has seen us to be from our very beginning. To be able to receive God’s love as his beloved daughter or son as we are and rest there is a great place to abide. Yet, it is not easy and takes courage to be able to not only invite Jesus to shine the light in our own darkness, but to also be able to let go, ask for help when needed, confess as necessary, and experience the pain we may have been holding onto and even maybe have defined ourselves by for years.

The light that Jesus shines is soft and his invitation to transformation is gentle. He will lead us only as fast as we are willing to go. Then with each baby step of our journey of healing, we will become more accepting, patient, understanding, and forgiving of ourselves and others because we will come to realize that we are not perfect, we don’t have all the answers, we really are not in control of anything, and that the world does not revolve around us. When we accept this truth and we are set free!

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Photo: Quiet time on Riomar Beach, Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, August 27, 2024

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men” (Mt 23: 13).

Context, in the Gospels, or any scriptural text, is important, but certainly with today’s reading. Our country is already experiencing enough division, polarization, and racial unrest. These comments have too often been used to fuel anti-Semitic rhetoric. We need to remember that Jesus is Jewish. “The criticisms are leveled with those of power and/or influence as in the prophetic denunciations, not against the whole people of Israel. The aberrations denounced by Jesus were also denounced by other Jewish teachers in the rabbinic tradition. The goal of the denunciations is to highlight the error, to preserve others from it, and perhaps to bring those who err to the way of righteousness” (Harrington 2007, 327).

Those who would use these verses to denounce people of the Jewish faith tradition and for being ethnically Jewish, would be acting in the same way as those for whom Jesus was convicting. Jesus spoke to specific actions of specific leaders he had encountered who were using their power and influence for their own means and agendas. The hypocritical behavior that Jesus brought to light unfortunately still exists. It is why so many people are disillusioned with our religious and civic institutions and leaders.

We seek truth, authenticity, and transparency because these qualities are foundational for building trust and relationships. St. Augustine, whose feast we celebrate this coming Wednesday, wrote in his Introduction to his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and we are restless until we rest in you.” He experienced a life without God and with him. He regretted the days he had resisted God’s invitation. It is unfortunate how many today have not come to embrace the words of Augustine, because of their experiences with those, who in the name of Christ, have “locked the kingdom of heaven” before them.

It is easy to point fingers at others and how hypocritical they are, but Jesus is also speaking directly to each one of us. How and where have we erred and been hypocritical? In what areas of our lives have we allowed past hurts and wounds, anxieties and fears, prejudicial and judgmental attitudes, to limit us from living a more authentic life aligned with Jesus’ life and teachings? We all fall short in living the “Way, the Truth, and the Life” (cf Jn 14:6), but the good news is that when we have the humility to be contrite, to recognize and to be sorry for the hurt we have caused, to admit when we have been wrong, we have a loving Father with arms wide open to embrace, comfort, lead us to reconciliation, and offer us forgiveness and healing.

When we allow Jesus to show us our faults, sins, and shortsightedness, confess them, and practice penance, he will forgive and transform our lives. We will then have more credibility when we speak up, out, and against any act that diminishes or denounces the dignity of another. While at the same time we need to resist the temptation to do so in a way that diminishes those who inflict division and hate.  Jesus invites us to convict others and hold them accountable as he and the prophets did, while at the same time:

We need to be careful that when we convict we don’t condemn, we hold ourselves accountable as we convict others with the intent of winning back our brother or our sister. Our goal is not to humiliate, degrade, and/or shame, but to lead them to a place of contrition and reconciliation, such that we all will strive to be people of integrity, transparency, and holiness. By doing so, we will not lock the doors of heaven with our hypocrisy but will open them with the keys of our authenticity, faith, humility, and the love that Jesus has given us.

Photo: View above St. Peter Catholic Church, as I was getting ready to head home after JoAnn’s funeral Mass, internment, and reception.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, August 26, 2024

Harrington, S.J., Daniel J. The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1, in Sacra Pagina, Ed. Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2007.

All the readings for today’s Mass demand a choice.

Joshua has led the Israelites through the Jordan River as Moses had led the people through the Red Sea. God had cleared the way such that the people were getting ready to settle in the new land. It was not by the might of their military that they prevailed. To thrive in this new land, they needed to fulfill the promise of Abraham, God would make of Abram a great nation if he and his descendants would be faithful to him alone.

Joshua, now nearing his death, called the people to decide. Who were they going to worship and dedicate their lives to? The gods that the true God defeated to win their freedom and the idols they were still holding onto from their time of enslavement in Egypt, were they going to serve the gods of the new land they were now going to inhabit, or were they going to follow Joshua and his household and “serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

The people chose to serve the LORD and Joshua established a covenant with God and the people. Although, their faithfulness would not last as the following accounts in the book of Judges attests.

In our second reading, Paul outlines to the Church of Ephesus the ideal covenant of marriage. Unfortunately, the phrase that often puts a screeching halt to this reading is: “wives are to subordinate to their husbands” What is missed is the line before in which Paul writes, “Brothers and sisters: be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.” And the words after “wives are to be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.” And, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over to her to sanctify her” (cf. Eph. 5:21-32).

The language and ideals that Paul presents are about the self-sacrificial nature that a man and woman are to approach the sacrament of marriage. A better translation of the original Greek for hypotasso, is surrender or to entrust oneself to. They are to surrender, trust each other, and serve one another with their whole selves holding nothing back. They are to love one another unconditionally as Christ loves his Church, and this union of self-gift to one another can then result in the beautiful gift from their union which is a third person, a child.

This intimacy and union of love is a communion of persons that mirrors the trinitarian communion of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Where this breaks down is our fallen nature. The knee-jerk reaction to “wives are to be subordinate to their husband in all things” is because of the horrific abuses in the time of Paul writing this letter up to and including our present day. Paul is not talking about a power differential regarding who is to be first, who is to be the boss. He is reminding husbands that they are to love their wives as they are to love Christ and their very selves, and reminding wives that they are to respect their husbands as they respect Jesus and themselves. Also, women are not to be submissive to men generically, but to their husband specifically with the responsibility and communion that entails in their mutual self-surrender.

Do the first and second readings then have anything to do then with our final installment of the Bread of Life Discourse we have been journeying through these past four weeks? Very much so! First and foremost, in our lives, every day and every moment, we need to decide, who are we going to serve. Are we going to serve the enemy, who seeks to enslave and kill us? Are we going to serve our unassisted, fallen nature, where we decide to walk this journey alone apart from God? Or will we decide with Joshua and his household to serve the LORD?

Will we lower the bar of marriage and define it by our weaknesses, our failings, our fallen nature, or give our lives to Jesus, make a covenant with him, enter into a sacramental bond so that he becomes the center of our marriages. Do we recognize that each of us as members of the Church are the bride of Christ? Jesus meets us in our imperfections and sin, he empowers us to be faithful, so that we give of ourselves fully, holding nothing back in self-sacrificial love, to allow his grace to build upon our fallen nature, and to raise us to the height of the beauty, fullness, and wonder of what God created marriage to be as Church and when a husband and wife give themselves to Jesus and each other in the Sacrament of Matrimony.

As with the Israelites that Joshua gathered around him, as Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus, the crowd that has been “grumbling” and “disputing” among themselves about the teaching that Jesus has been presenting, have now come to the point in which they too need to make a choice.

The opening line of today’s reading does not bode well. “This teaching is difficult, who can accept it”(Jn 6:60)?

The teaching that they are talking about was the doubled down version of Jesus saying he was not just the bread of life come down from heaven, but that if the people wanted eternal life, the life we have all been created for, they had to believe in the words of Jesus we heard proclaimed last week, which is worth repeating in full:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me, and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate, and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:54-58).

With each stage of his presentation, Jesus increases the vigor of his teaching. There is one last chance for those who might be hoping that Jesus is just speaking metaphorically. As Jesus explains further, he says, “It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.” Is this then just a spiritual matter, so not really are they to eat the flesh after all? Before they could even ask, Jesus closes that last door. “The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life” (Jn 6:63).

What words? “Those who ate my flesh and drink my blood abide in me.” The flesh he is referring to here, as is also seen elsewhere in this gospel and in the writings of St. Paul is referring to “the unassisted, fallen human nature” (Bergsma). The flesh, our fallen human nature is useless. Even at our best, we are finite and limited. We cannot grasp the things of the spirit with our intellect and senses alone. That is why so many here are struggling. They are not opening themselves up to the spiritual truth that Jesus is sharing. Referring to the flesh, humanity’s fallen nature, is different from when Jesus says that they will my flesh, and my blood.

When Peter, Bartholomew, and Martha say that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They got it, not because they were the best and brightest of the bunch. The light bulb went on because they had been in a relationship with Jesus, not just bystanders looking for miracles and signs. Like any good marriage and solid relationship, they trusted Jesus, even when they didn’t fully understand, and they were open to the move of the Holy Spirit speaking to them.

Jesus finished his discourse. This was no metaphor or figurative language. His message was clear, and the crowd understood exactly what he was saying. Now decision time. “Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him” (Jn 6:66).

The teaching was too hard, they could not make that leap of faith, or they could not trust Jesus even though they could not conceive of what he was talking about. The majority, like the rich man who was unwilling to sell all he had to follow Jesus, walked away. Jesus then turned to the twelve.

“Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn 6:67-69).

Peter was not responding with any great insight. He nor the others who stayed did so not because they understood any better than those who had left what Jesus meant by eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The difference was that they had been through a lot with Jesus, they had developed a relationship with, and they trusted him. They decided to stick with and follow Jesus.

Now Jesus and the twelve turn to us. What will be our decision? Do we trust that God spoke creation into being out of the outpouring of his love? Do we believe that through Mary’s yes and the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit the Father sent his Son to take on flesh in the womb of Mary? Do we believe that Jesus is the Son of God who became human, who lived, taught, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven so that through the power of the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ words spoken in the first person by the priest he will again be present on the altar at each Mass?

Do we believe that the bread and wine become substantially, really and truly, the Body and Blood of Christ? Will we too walk away or will we, like Peter and the Apostles, trust in Jesus and continue this amazing journey by giving our lives to Jesus who gave his life for us, so that he could continue to nourish and transform us in his Body and Blood?

Photo: First time as a priest sharing the Body and Blood of Christ who is present in each consecrated host: First Mass of Thanksgiving, May 4, 2024, St. Peter Catholic Church, Jupiter, FL.

John Bergsma quote from The Word of the Lord episode for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time. St. Paul Center digital library, stpaulcenter.com .

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, August 25, 2024