Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Mt 5:17). Jesus was a devout Jew, he grew up practicing and understanding the law and the prophetic tradition. We see evidence of that when, at twelve, he is found by his parents among the teachers and scholars discussing the law with understanding and wisdom. Jesus in his public ministry very much speaks with authority, as he is the Son of God, calling the people of Israel back to the law, both those who have turned away from God as well as those who used the law as a bludgeon and for placing barriers to keep others out.

Jesus shows time and again that being true to Torah, the law or the teachings, is about building relationships with God and others. He extends his hand, person to person, as a bridge for people to come to God, and he calls out the religious leaders who have utilized the law to build walls, to keep people out. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, Jesus forgave sins, Jesus touched lepers and he ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners, those on the peripheries, not because he was being willy-nilly with the law, but because he was showing by his lived example that the greatest commandment of the law was and is to love God with all his mind, heart, and strength and to love his neighbor as himself.

This practice goes right to the foundation of who God created us to be. All of humanity has been created in God’s image and likeness. Each of us is endowed with dignity by the very fact that we exist as a son and daughter of God. In Jesus, we see that the highest observance of the law of God is to love. Jesus met each person where they were and accompanied them. That also meant calling out those who misused the law by keeping others at arm’s length. Jesus did the opposite. As the Son of God, Jesus became one with us in our humanity, so that we could become one with him in his divinity. Jesus offered others his arms extended outward, inviting others to enter into his loving embrace. He would show this fully on the cross, where he opened his arms wide to embrace all peoples of every race, ethnicity, and gender.

Jesus built on the law and the prophets, because he was the fulfillment of them, and in doing so, he gave the law its greater context. The foundation of the law and the prophets were founded in love, meaning its highest expression, which is to will the good of the other as other. This means that the law is not like a stagnant pool, where we grasp onto it for its own sake, but the divine law of God is rather like a running stream, it is always fresh and being renewed by the Holy Spirit.

What Jesus ushered in was the reign of God, which was possible through the foundations laid by those who had gone before him: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the judges and prophets, David, and those unnamed who answered the call of God to serve in his name. From a person, Abraham, to a clan, a loose gathering of twelve tribes and then a nation, Israel, God called a people to himself to shine the light of his will to others. Then at the appointed time, he sent his Son, to be one with the people he called to draw all nations to himself so that all created in his image and likeness were invited to come to be one with him, the God of all creation.

Our joy and fulfillment takes shape as we are transformed by the love of God. As we build on the traditions of our faith that give us a solid foundation, we must resist holding on to them so tightly that they strangle us and suck the life out of us. That which leads us to encounter and renew our relationship with Jesus in love is what we are to embrace and share. That which has become stagnant and no longer is an avenue for affirming life must be pruned.

The love and mercy of God extended by the presence of Jesus among us is not a watering down of the law and the prophets. I would suggest that it is not only the fulfillment of them, but also that they are harder to put into practice and demand a closer walk with Jesus. This is so because we cannot fulfill a life of love and mercy on our own. We can only fulfill Jesus’ invitation to love and be able to enter into the chaos of another if we are transformed by his love and continue to allow Jesus to be present to others and love them through us.

God’s love invites us out of the darkness of our own sin and withdrawing into our own false sense of self-control and protects us from becoming over zealous moralizers. We become healed when we are humble enough to trust the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives, are willing to confess how we put our own self-interests, fears, and prejudices first and become contrite – ackowledging the sorrow for the hurt we have caused others, and become less drawn to making excuses and protecting the false self of the ego. Through participating in the life that Jesus invites us, we drink from the living stream of his love, we grow into the freedom of being true to ourselves and who God calls us to be, while at the same time, we are to be a light and support for others as we accompany each other on our journey through this life together.

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Painting: by Melody Owens – The original painting is 11″x14″ gouache.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, June 8, 2022

We have returned to the season of Ordinary Time. The focal point of this season expressed in the readings chosen from the Gospels will be on the life and teachings of Jesus. Our series of readings for the next few weeks will be a return to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In today’s account, Jesus encourages his disciples to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” (cf. Mt 5:13-16).

We too are called to be “salt” and “light”. Salt has two major properties, preservation and flavor. Jesus emphasizes the aspect of salt being seasoning that one puts on food, which enhances its flavor. Light allows those to see in the darkness. How then can we be salt and light?

We begin by remembering that we are an Alleluia people, meaning that we are a people grounded in hope and joy because we who die with Christ will rise with him. Also, our faith is not just for us alone, we are to go out and share it with others, we are to bring Jesus to others. Pope Francis, in the very first line of his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, writes: “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, emptiness, and loneliness.”

The Pope is not saying that when we accept Jesus into our lives and develop a relationship with him that all will go our way, there will no longer be conflict or pain and that our life will now be perfect. What he means is that Jesus is the very embodiment of love and the light that leads us away from the darkness of our sin. Jesus is present and accompanies us in our pain and sorrow, and assures us that we are not alone. Jesus is the one who fulfills the longing of our heart’s deepest desire, he reveals to us our meaning and vocation in life. Jesus brings us hope and offers his hand to lead us through our darkest nights of despair and trauma.

We who have experienced the healing balm of of Jesus, have grasped his hand for strength, have leaned on his shoulder to cry on, and experienced the joy of our encounter with him, are to be present to others in the same way. We are to be salt by bringing the joy of Jesus to all those we encounter. Too many who claim to be Christian, walk with a cloud of gloom around them, they have become salt that has lost its flavor. Instead of drawing others to the gospel, they have withdrawn within themselves and push people away.

I am not the most extroverted of people and was more introverted in my youth. In my freshman or sophomore year of college, I heard a talk on cassette given by St Mother Theresa. She mentioned reaching out to others with a smile. I still remember the first time of risking to smile at someone after hearing Mother’s encouraging words. I was walking up the sidewalk toward the parking garage on campus. I do not remember if the person I smiled at returned the smile, yet I do remember that day as a key moment in my faith journey. Having heard of how to share the light of God’s love with another, and then to follow through with the courage to do so, filled me with joy, and it continues to make a difference in my life and hopefully, the lives of others.

How can we be salt and light in our everyday experiences? I would recommend beginning by offering a smile to those that we encounter. This act of kindness need not only be limited to those we feel comfortable with or that we like either. We can share a smile with those we may have had conflicts with and even those for whom we may feel a bias or prejudice toward. This is only a small beginning, but it draws us out from our own self-centered focus and directs our attention toward willing the good of another.

A simple, yet genuine smile can work wonders for someone who begins to believe that no one cares about them or is willing to give them the time of day. This is true for the recipient as well as the giver. If you have felt like you have lost some of your flavor, if you feel a bit down, if you are not sure of how to be a light for others, then the next time you catch the eye of another, please smile.

In this small act, we say to the person on the receiving end of our smile that we care enough to notice them, that they are loved just for being present in that moment. They have worth and dignity just for who they are. A simple, sincere smile can bring a little flavor to someone in a sour mood, as well as a little light to someone in a very dark place. These days we can certainly use a few more smiles. Even behind a mask, the eyes still smile.

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Photo: I think these two are catching on 🙂

Mass readings for Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Today’s memorial, Mary the Mother of the Church, began with the decree released on February 11, 2018, by Cardinal Robert Sarah while he was still the head of the Congregation of Divine Worship. Pope Francis called for the Church to celebrate this memorial on the Monday after Pentecost. Not only is Mary the Mother of Jesus, but since we as the People of God participate in the life of Jesus as members of the Body of Christ, she is our mother too.

The New Testament records time and again how Mary reveals by word and action that she is the model of discipleship.

Mary answered Gabriel’s request to conceive and bear Jesus, with her response, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Mary then went with haste to share the good news with Elizabeth and to assist her in her pregnancy of John the Baptist. Mary, after the birth of Jesus, is visited by the shepherds and upon hearing their news from the angelic host, she “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). Mary and Joseph care for, protect, and guide Jesus in the Jewish faith as he matures and grows into a young man.

Mary was also present at the beginning of his ministry when she says to the servants at the wedding at Cana, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Mary was present at the crucifixion, as recorded in today’s reading from the Gospel of John: When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home (Jn 19:26-27). Mary was pierced with sorrow when the lance was thrust through the side of Jesus, her son, as blood and water flowed. Mary was then present as the Church was birthed at Pentecost at the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).

Mary is the mother of Jesus, the Mother of the Church, and so she is also our mother. We do not worship Mary but seek her intercession and guidance as we would our own earthly mothers. We also look to her as a model for living as disciples of Jesus as outlined in the examples above. We too are to ponder the wonders and mysteries of God working in our lives. May we resist the temptation of living in denial, running from our humanity and suffering, but instead face and embrace the sorrow and pain experienced in this fallen world so as to receive her Son, Jesus, whose arms are wide open to receive us in the midst of our pain, so that he may bestow upon us his consolation and healing.

But may we not stop there. May we open ourselves to the love and empowerment of the Holy Spirit such that we may say yes to bearing Christ and going with haste to share the Good News of his life with others. May we resist the temptation of indifference and uncaring and instead help and support those we come into contact with who are in need. May we follow the last words of Mary recorded in Scripture and do whatever Jesus tells us to do to make his Church relevant and vibrant in our time, to speak out and stand up to hatred, injustice, racism, sexism, and violence in all its forms. As we honor Mary, may we also learn to honor and respect the women in our lives.

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us now and at the hour of our death!

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Photo: Statue of Jesus and Mary outside Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, Oceanside, CA, Christmas 2017

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, June 6, 2022

There is a list of seven deadly or capital sins. They are pride, lust, greed, envy, wrath, gluttony and sloth or acedia. Acedia may be the least recognized on the list but it is the most dangerous, because it is the most subtle. If it is recognized at all, it is often compared to laziness, but that does not quite grasp the depth of it. The word, from its literal meaning, means a lack of care. This can manifest in our life as cynicism, finding no meaning, a minimalist approach, a resistance to discipline, a disengagement with the world around us, and ultimately a “lack of care given to one’s own spiritual life, a lack of concern for one’s own salvation” (Nault 2015, 28).

Marc Cardinal Ouellet, in his foreword to Jean-Charles Nault’s, The Noonday Devil, describes the affects of acedia on us today this way: “Left to his own devices, man ultimately despairs of ever being able to find a meaning for his existence and runs the risk of sinking into mediocrity that is just the symptom of his rejection of his own greatness as an adopted son [and daughter] of God” (Nault, 2015, 11).

Many of us struggle with just getting by, feeling tired, worn down and worn out, seeing on some far horizon the possibility for our potential but wondering if we can ever fully achieve it. We deny the very gift of our humanity, we retreat into a stance that accepts the unthinkable, as long as it does not directly affect us. We grow in our indifference toward the needs of others we consider not like us. This happens when we listen to the father of lies instead of our Father in heaven.

Today we celebrate the antidote to acedia as well as all those temptations that grasp at our throat to choke out the divine life from growing within us. Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the Apostles to empower them with divine Love.

From our Gospel reading today we read how: The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21). Jesus, who embraced our humanity, took upon himself our sin on the Cross, then conquered death, rose again, and freed us from our slavery to sin. The Risen One comes to us as he came to his disciples in the locked room and invites us to participate in his divine life, to share in the love he shares with the Father, who is the Holy Spirit. So when the temptations of sin arise in our mind and heart, we are to, in the words of St Benedict of Nursia, “dash them against Christ immediately” (Nault, 2015, 41).

We are able through the prompting of the Holy Spirit through prayers, songs, and words of Scripture to counteract the lies and temptations that seek to lure us away from the truth of our relationship with Jesus, ourselves, and each other. One simple but powerful prayer to use is reciting the words from Psalm 70:2 “God, come to my assistance. Lord make haste to help me.” Another is “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth.” Just saying, Veni, Sancte Spiritus, or its English equivalent, Come, Holy Spirit, reciting the Jesus Prayer or simply the words, Come, Lord Jesus, and/or spontaneous words are all ways to immediately turn away from the temptations that arise and draw on the infinite power and love of God.

We are like diamonds in the ruff. We are unique and special gifts to this world, though wounded and marred by our own sin. We may feel adrift, without direction; we may feel cynical and without hope; we may feel beaten, worn out and worn down; we may feel anxious and afraid, but let us not despair or lose our ability to care, let us realize that we are not overcome or outdone. We may be wounded by indifference and complacency, but we are not defined or set in stone.

Today, on the Solemnity of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, let us call on the same Holy Spirit that empowered Mary and the Apostles to give us the guidance and strength from our God and Father who loves us and desires for us the full actualization of who we are and who he calls us to be.

God does not want us to settle for a life of mediocrity that is bogged down by apathy, but instead he urges us to call on the name of his Son, Jesus, who will break the bonds of our enslavement to sin, and through our participation in his life become empowered by the Holy Spirit so as to be free to live the life we have been created for; a life of meaning, fulfillment, joy, love, and unity with God and one another.

Holy Spirit, please set us aflame with the fire of your love and burn off the dross of our sin so that we may be precious stones radiating your light and love in such a way that we keep our tongues from evil and our lips from speaking deceit, that we turn aside from evil and do good, that we seek and strive after the peace of God, that peace that surpasses all understanding. Guide us to know the will of the Father, so as to experience his love and become more present, understanding and supportive of others.

Veni Sancte Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit!

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Photo: accessed from catholicforlife.com

Nault, O.S.B., Jean-Charles. The Noonday Devil: Acedia Unnamed Evil of Our Times. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2015. If you are looking for a transformative book for summer reading, I highly recommend it!

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, June 5, 2022

How many times have we looked to others instead of staying focused on what we need to do or be doing? How many times do we compare ourselves to others, assessing what we or others have or don’t have, how others are more or less confident, more or less better looking, more or less intelligent, and even, how our faith life is worse or better?

We get a taste of these questions and what our response ought to be from Jesus in today’s Gospel. The background of today’s reading is a continuation from yesterday’s, in which the author described how Jesus forgave Peter for denying him by asking him not only if Peter loved him, but how he was to put that love into action by feeding his lambs, taking care of and feeding his sheep. Jesus also had just let Peter know that Peter was going to die in his service to him.

Today we read that upon hearing the news of his eventual death, that Peter shifts the direction away from himself.  When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me” (Jn 21:21-22). Jesus does not definitively say what is or is not going to happen to the beloved disciple. Jesus is clear with Peter that his focus is not to be on what is going to happen to the beloved or any other disciple, but to direct his attention to following him and his will.

Our orientation as disciples of Jesus is to be focused on his will for our lives and to expend our energy in such a way that promotes his will toward building up the kingdom of Heaven on earth. This means we are to spend less time comparing ourselves to others. This temptation is a very slippery slope that can easily lead us to the devastating sins of gossip, jealousy, pride, and envy. If we are to compare ourselves to anyone, let it be to Jesus.

Jesus calls us to be perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect, which is an impossible task if we seek to go it alone. Yet, we can become perfected through our participation in the life of Jesus the Christ. We begin when we decide to ask for Jesus to help us make a commitment to resist the temptation to compare ourselves to others. Then when the first instant of a comparative thought arises, we are to replace it with a prayer of blessing directed toward another.

Moment by moment, we then just need to remember that we are not alone, that we walk with Jesus. Together, one thought, one action, one interaction at a time, we are called to surrender our will to the love of God. By taking these steps to counter the influences of self first as well as comparative and/or the cult of personality, we can begin to shift the momentum away from the increasing divisiveness, polarity and growing tide of rampant violence, and instead strive toward embracing the gift of our mutual uniqueness and diversity in which we commit to supporting, encouraging, and uplifting one another.

Let us combine our prayer with action in our realm of influence so as to build bridges of communication, conflict resolution, and dialogue. In so doing, we can help to begin to lessen the intensity of fear, prejudice, and violence.

We need to be willing to see each other as human beings again, to resist seeing people as others, and be more willing to respect the dignity of each and every human life. This can begin to happen when we resist comparing ourselves to others and are willing to see each other through God’s eyes.

Photo: Working together to lift one another up!

Link for the Mass reading for Saturday, June 4, 2022

When we spend time reading the Gospels, we will encounter in them that the God of Jesus Christ is a God of justice, yes, but a justice that is tempered with mercy and love, a restorative justice, not a punitive justice. God invites us to be in communion with him and one another, and to answer that call requires a transformation, a change of heart and mind. Jesus meets people where they are, accepts them as they are, while at the same time holding a mirror up to them to show how what they are doing is keeping them from the very reality of communion with his Father that they seek.

One example can be seen when Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well and he asked her for a drink. What followed from that simple, while at the same time profound request, led to her humble confession that she did not have a husband to which Jesus responded: “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” Jesus spoke to a woman and a Samaritan in public, two things that were not done in his time as it was against societal norms.

Jesus recognized the distinction, but saw instead and foremost, a human being created in the image and likeness of God. He saw a woman isolated, close to the point of being ostracized from her community, for who else would come by themselves to fetch water in the full heat of the day? What he shared with her was acceptance, as he spoke to her as a person. Because of her honesty, humility, and courage, what transpired over the course of the conversation was not only her transformation but the redemption of her whole community. This transpired because, with joy and courage, she proclaimed the Good News even to those that kept her at arm’s leg, and on the margins (cf. Jn 4:1-12).

Another encounter happened with Saul who was present and oversaw the stoning of St Stephen and continued his zealous persecution of the followers of Jesus. On the road to Damascus, Saul encountered the risen Jesus, who met him with the words: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me” (Acts 9:4)? Again, as with the woman at the well, Jesus greeted Saul with a simple but profound question which had a tremendous effect on him. Saul was transformed from a persecutor of the Way to a follower of the Word. He would not only change his name to Paul and proclaim the Gospel to a community but to the Mediterranean world.

In today’s Gospel, Peter, who had betrayed Jesus three times, encountered Jesus who also posed a question, but this time asking it three times: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (cf. Jn 21:15-19). With these simple questions and Peter’s affirmative responses of yes, Jesus forgave Peter for betraying him. Peter went forward to proclaim boldly the life of Jesus at the feast of Pentecost, and three thousand were moved by his words and sought to become part of the Way of Jesus.

In each encounter that Jesus experienced with the Samaritan woman, Paul, and Peter, he met each of them, not with condemnation or judgment, but with love and mercy. He met them on their level and then offered them a look in the mirror by asking a simple question. Jesus sought to draw them out of their own false senses of self and sin, and into the love of God. Each person answered with truth and humility, and willingly looked at their life, turned away from their self centered posture and accepted the invitation of Jesus to lead them to a change of heart and mind.

The justice of God is not about the punitive measure, about rubbing our noses in our own mistakes and misjudgments. Yet, if we choose our own sin over the love of God’s healing transformation, it may feel punitive, because God will allow us to feel the effects of our decisions. God gives us another choice. He has sent his Son to show us the path of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Jesus echoes Hosea 6:6 when he is recorded as saying, “‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mt 9:13). Jesus comes to us, as he came to the Samaritan woman, Paul, and Peter, who were able to receive the healing of Jesus because they acknowledged they had turned away from the will of God.

When we make some time for prayer and spend some time in silence today, let us allow ourselves to see Jesus approaching us or sitting with us. What simple, yet transformative question does he ask that reveals to us our sin, how we are keeping ourselves at a distance from God? In what way do we need to change our hearts and minds? When we choose to leave behind our false self, our pride and our ego, and instead respond with humility and contrition, true sorrow for our sins, as did the Samaritan woman, Paul, and Peter, we will be healed, transformed, and empowered to go forth to share the Good News of the love and mercy we have experienced with God.

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Photo: Close up of Heinrich Hoffman’s Christ and the Rich Young Ruler, 1889

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, June 3, 2022

Jesus bestowed his love and his grace upon his Apostles as a gift. The fundamental option, our ultimate end goal, that which we seek from the very depths and core of our being, is to experience the same love that the Apostles experienced. The Creator of all that exists, who so transcends our comprehension, who is so beyond our ability to comprehend fully, has come close to us, become one with us in the person of his Son, and loves us more than we can ever imagine.

This reality, the core of the deposit of faith that they received, was not to be hoarded, buried away, or to be shared with a select few. This living gift of grace was to be shared by the Apostles, the ones who Jesus called by name, who he hand-picked to receive his message and then sent them forth to proclaim his word. They were to protect it for the purpose of transmitting it accurately to their successors so that it would then be passed on to each successive generation who would then receive and make it relevant for their own time.

Jesus said to his Father in his farewell discourse, as recorded by John that: “I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them” (Jn 17:26). Through our participation in the love of Christ, we are perfected and conformed by his will such that we too can experience and share in the love of the Father.

The Trinity is at the heart of the Gospel, the Good News. The Trinity is a divine communion of three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We have been created with a burning hunger and desire to experience this same communion. Yet why don’t we say yes to this joyous invitation? St Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae, or Summa, outlines four substitutes or temptations that we may put in place of our highest hope and good; these are wealth, honor, pleasure, and power. In and of themselves, these are not unhealthy desires, as long as God is first and we orient ourselves to them from God’s perspective.

When we assume the posture of pride, believing that we are the center of our lives and we seek wealth, power, pleasure, and/or honor for our own sake and self-aggrandizement, each will be distorted and leave us empty, or worse lead us into the crippling slavery of addiction because in and of themselves they are finite pursuits. How many times have there been reports of someone who has amassed most or all of these four, and then come to a place of such despair and emptiness that they had taken their own life?

Through a properly ordered sense of power grounded in love, defined by St Thomas, as willing the good of the other those in positions of power and privilege are called to be a voice for those for whom otherwise would not have a voice. Those with access to wealth, are to recognize that this is a gift from God, and they are to be good stewards of what they have received to help and support others, not only in the limited stance of a hand-out but as a primary means to provide a hand up. To accompany and shepherd those who do not have access such that they can arrive at the point where they can be provided with access, skills, and means to participate in the dignity of meaningful work and gainful employment.

The ultimate goal of pleasure is to embrace the Beautiful, the gift that God provides in which we can have access and enjoy the wonders of his creation. At the same time, we can be participants in the expression of creativity through the arts as well as our everyday actions by finding joy in our interactions with one another and engaging in our vocations. If honor, fame, and glory arise in the faithful, they arise not for their own sake or as to heighten the focus on self. This attention comes with the responsibility to further radiate the light and love of God so as to evangelize and draw others to the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, as did Peter when he preached and three thousand came to accept the love of Christ.

When Pope Francis visited the United States the news for a week was filled with joy and hope. When St Mother Teresa accepted the Nobel Peace Prize she began her speech by saying, “As we have gathered here together to thank God for the Nobel Peace Prize” and ended with the words, “God bless you!”, Mother began and ended not with the focus on her self but on God. Each are examples of God being the source and focus to bring about the proper alignment and use of wealth, power, pleasure, and fame.

Jesus has and continues to reveal and share the love with which his Father has bestowed upon him. He invites each and every one of us to receive and live in the love that he shares with his Father such that we may experience the very presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. May wealth, power, pleasure, and honor, not be distractions or diversions to our embracing the love of God, but a means to radiate his light and to provide greater opportunities and access to others who otherwise would not have any.

God is to be our fundamental option such that we strive to open our hearts and minds daily to be filled with and experience his joy and love so as to radiate his presence to others. In this way, we are sent out to accompany others, to share with those who are in need of hope, his presence, and his healing. In serving as well as respecting, standing up for and speaking on behalf of the dignity of each person God places before us we will also experience and help others to encounter the love of the Holy Spirit and make our corner of the world a little bit better today than it was yesterday.

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Photo: 2022 graduates radiating the love of Christ, one smile at a time, one person at a time

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, June 2, 2022

“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one” (Jn 17:11).

Jesus is well aware of the temptations of the world and recognizes that the disciples will need the protection of his intercession and that they will remain faithful only if they remain in his love and in relationship with him. The unity that the Father and Son share is an eternal communion. Jesus, as the Son of God, continued to be one with his Father, while fully experiencing his humanity. As a human being, Jesus faced the same temptations present in this world that we face. The difference is that with each choice that he made, as a human being with a free human will, he chose to say yes to his Father at each and every opportunity, and so his unity remained intact and deepened.

Jesus sought the same unity that he shares with his Father for his disciples and he seeks the same for us today, that we may be one as he and the Father are one. Yet, he is not going to pull us out of the world for that to happen. “I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One” (Jn 17:15). The disciples then and us today, are to do as Jesus did. We are to develop a relationship with God, come to know his will, and share it with those we encounter in our realm of influence. We are not to be transformed by the world, but we are to allow God to transform us by the renewal of our mind and heart. As we do so, we can bring light into the darkness as God works through us one person at a time.

Following the will of God is not easy to do. Many distractions, diversions, and temptations pull at us and attempt to draw us away from being faithful and true to God, ourselves, and who God calls us to be. Many times these distractions not only appear to be, but are good things. The challenge is not that we are being good or doing good, but are we doing what God is calling us to do?

I have pursued many interests in many areas throughout my life. I worked my way through college as a nurse’s aide, lived, ran with, and taught about wolves and the environment at the Sharon Audubon Center, spent a summer on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations, spent a year and a half with the Franciscans of Holy Name Province, fell in love, married the woman of my dreams, JoAnn, and helped her to raise her children, all the while teaching in both public and Catholic schools, I have spent the past few years mourning the loss of JoAnn and learning how to live again, have been healing from Covid and pneumonia, and in a few days, I will become a seminarian.

With each of these steps, my relationship with Jesus and his Father has grown. The Holy Spirit has revealed just enough light for me to see a few steps ahead, as St. John Henry Cardinal Newman would say. The Holy Spirit does the same with all of us. He invites us to take a few steps closer to God. If any fear or anxiety arises about what we are invited to do and how better we are to serve, be not afraid. God will provide the means and support. We are not meant to do what he calls us to do alone.

I won’t say that my path has been smooth, but God has been with me each step of the way and I believe God has and will be there for you as well. God will place the people and the means, help us to recognize the temptations and pitfalls, and impart in us the persistence and dedication to accomplish the task that we have been given. We just need to be willing to change, to be transformed, to grow, and to extend ourselves beyond our comfort zones. When we risk doing so, it will be worth it because as we follow the will of God and trust his support, we will find meaning and fulfillment in our lives and ultimately, through the love of the Holy Spirit, we will grow in our oneness with Jesus, the Father, and each other. Starting to get excited for the next few steps.

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Photo: wolf runner, summer of 1987.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Mary “traveled to the hill country in haste” (Lk 1:39) and as she drew close and called out to announce her arrival: Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, [and] the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:41-42). This is an encounter of joy. Elizabeth’s response is a confirmation to Mary’s yes to the angel Gabriel, that she has indeed conceived in her womb the Son of God who was taking on flesh and becoming one of us, a human being, as she traveled to the hill country. Elizabeth’s son recognized him, and in leaping with joy, helped to get the celebration started!

The encounter and interaction between Mary and Elizabeth, Jesus and John, at the Visitation is a model of discipleship. Touched by the Holy Spirit we are to go out to share the Good News that God our Father loved us so much that he sent his Son to be one with us. He was willing to enter into our humanity. Some of the earliest heresies in the Church, which are still perpetuated today, were birthed because of an unwillingness to accept this gift, that God entered into and embraced our humanity, that God would become human was and is still for too many inconceivable.

Yes, we have been wounded by sin, but we have not been destroyed. The coming of the Son of God as one of us is an opportunity to be healed, to be born again from above, and this can happen through the same love of the Holy Spirit that inspired John to leap and Elizabeth to rejoice.

Resist the mind noise from within, and without from other people who tell us overtly and/or covertly that we are worthless or nothing. Not true! Through our very being, we are created in the image and likeness of God, we have been created by Love, to receive and to share love. We are a living craving hunger and desire to be in communion with God and one another. This is true for the atheist and the believer alike. We are called to will the good of the other as other as they are, unconditionally. If we have fallen short, a little or a lot, in the way we have been treating ourselves or others lately, today is a new day to take Jesus’ hand and begin anew. Let us celebrate with Jesus, Mary, Elizabeth and John.

We are celebrating that Jesus was born for us, he lived that we might not only be shown a better way, but know that he is the Way. Jesus became vulnerable for us, a key ingredient in unconditional love: to be willing to risk being authentic to who God called him to be, even to being willing to be rejected, even if that meant that all might walk away from him. May we be willing to be vulnerable, to risk, to share with others who we are, free of masks and pretense. May we be present, walk with, and accompany one another. Being there for our family and friends is important, and if we take our Christianity seriously, we must come to acknowledge, in concrete ways, person to person, that we are all brothers and sisters, that in Christ we are all related.

Just as the sun shines on the good and the bad alike, Jesus died for each and every human being, all of us. After his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit, the Love shared between the Father and the Son, to empower us to live as he did, in communion with his Father, so as to better actualize our communion with one another.

An invitation for the transformation of all humanity and creation happened at the Galilean hill side when two simple women said yes to God and embraced with joy. They came to embrace not only each other, but their vocation. May we join them in saying yes to God, follow his will with joy as Mary and Elizabeth did and with them, celebrate the gift of life, because as each of these mothers would experience all too soon, life can be taken quicker than they could or we can ever imagine.

Let us resist the temptation to take any moment that we have been given, for granted. The life we have may not be perfect, many suffer, many grieve, and many are in pain. Our life is fragile but it is a precious gift. That is why we have much work to do to help to provide better care and access to so many who are in need. Each of us have a unique way to do so. We can begin with the guidance of J.R.R. Tolkien who put these words into the mouth of his character Gandalf, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

We do not know the time or the hour, so let us like Mary go in haste to tell those we care about that we love them. Let us make that call, send that card, email, or text, and/or invite that person for a walk, to sit down and visit. Especially amidst the divisive and polarizing darkness and violence, may we be a light to all we encounter. Empowered by the love and joy of Jesus, may we encourage, empower, and lift one another up so as to treat each other with dignity, respect, kindness and understanding. The easiest way to start is when you catch the eye of another, smile. In that simple gesture, we say to the other person that we care enough about them to make the time for them, to acknowledge their dignity, worth, and to let them know that they exist and have meaning.

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Photo: Three graduates who often shared their kindness, caring, and understanding.

Link for today’s Mass reading for Tuesday, May 31, 2022

The disciples are beginning to have a better understanding that Jesus is who he says he is, that “he came from God.” Jesus does not rest on or savor this insight and affirmation, but shares with them how, they still do not fully comprehend. He predicts that each will leave him alone in his most desperate hour and they will do just that. When Jesus asks them to watch and pray with him in the Garden of Gethsemane, they will instead fall asleep. When Jesus hears he will be sent again, sent to do the Father’s will by giving his life on the Cross for them, they again fall asleep. When the guards come to arrest Jesus, led by Judas, the disciples would flee. Peter will then betray him three times.

What is interesting is that just as Jesus shares with them, that even though they, his most intimate followers, his closest friends would betray him, he says: “I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” 

These are words of comfort and hope for us today! No matter if we betray or are betrayed ourselves, we let others down or are let down, we see and experience the devastating effects of our fallen world and fallen human nature, from without and within; no matter what conflict, challenges, or tribulations rise up before us, we do not need to succumb to cynicism, hopelessness, and despair. What helps is having the humility to acknowledge where we have caused harm in any form and seek forgiveness and reconciliation as well as be understanding and willing to forgive.

We also need to remember that in those times when we feel misunderstood, betrayed, or are facing the unbearable in life, we are not alone! Jesus reveals to us the way to his Father because Jesus is the Way! Seeking affirmation from the culture or the world is not the way. Our priority instead ought to be to build our relationship with Jesus, who will lead us to the Father so as to experience the Love of the Holy Spirit! When we acknowledge the presence of Jesus in our lives and when we turn to him for help and support, there is joy, there is peace, and all things are possible.

Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, and he will not be overcome by it, for he has conquered death, and overcome the world. We are an Alleluia people because through our participation in the life of Jesus the Christ we will overcome as well. As an Alleluia people, we are not to be shaped by the culture and the world but are to instead shape it by authentically living the Gospel, by being and sharing the light, joy, peace, and love of Christ in every aspect of our lives and interactions with one another.

Photo: Class of 2020, still as juniors, putting their love into action by creating and gathering surprise Mother’s Day gifts for JoAnn when they found out she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I am still touched by their kindness.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, May 30, 2022