“Do you want to be well?”
Were you ever picked last for the team, whether on the playground, P.E., or gym class? I remember being on both sides, being picked last, and picking others to join and having to pick someone last. I much more preferred being chosen last than having to be in the situation to choose a classmate last because someone had to be in that position at some point, and it was often an agonizing situation. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus comes upon a man who has experienced an even worse situation.
This person has been in need of healing for thirty-eight years. Apparently, there was a limited time to get into the waters of the pool to experience the healing properties that it afforded, for each time the water stirred, while the man moved to get closer to and enter the water, “someone else gets down there before” him. This is worse than getting picked last, as he doesn’t in a sense even make the team!
But with Jesus, the last shall become first. Key ingredients are belief, faith, and a willingness to be healed. Jesus does not impose, even in the case of healing, Jesus invites. He asks the sick man, “Do you want to be well?” When the man in need of healing explains the limitations he has experienced in the past regarding getting to the pool, Jesus does not hesitate. Jesus commands him to rise, pick up his mat and walk. The man is no longer the one picked over, the one ignored, the one unseen. The sick man encounters Jesus and is healed by his word and restored.
Jesus approaches us in the same way that he encountered the sick man by the pool of Bethesda in today’s Gospel. Jesus meets us in our need, where we are, no matter our station in life. He does not leave us on the outside looking in, he does not leave us wondering if we are loved or if we belong. He does not only come to encounter us but if we are willing, to empower us to be about the mission given to us by his Father. Jesus gives meaning and purpose to our lives. Each and every one of us is a gift from God and has been graced with something to contribute to others, something unique to help make the kingdom of God a reality.
I invite you to enter a place of silence and stillness, without and within. Settle into a place with no or little distractions, breathe in deep and exhale a few times, then close your eyes. See your self as you are in your present seated position, breathing, experiencing your shoulders relaxing, and just being still. Then notice Jesus walking toward you as he did with the man at the pool of Bethesda. Does Jesus remain standing, does he sit beside you, or kneel before you? As he assumes whatever posture, allow your thoughts to reflect on what you need. As you are pondering, does Jesus ask you a question? What does he ask or what does he say?
Jesus is present, right here and right now, for you. There are no boundaries, no limitations, only those you impose on your self. Share with Jesus your need. You are no longer misunderstood, left out, or picked last. Jesus is present. Embrace the moment of knowing you are loved, heard, and that not only do you belong but you have a significant part to play in the kingdom of God.
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Painting: Head of Christ by Rembrandt
Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, March 29, 2022
“You are invited then to look always to the east; it is there that the sun of righteousness rises for you” – Origen.
We hear often in the Gospels how those who believed in Jesus received healings, exorcisms, and were forgiven of their sins. We have also read accounts such as from the Gospel of Matthew that he “did not work many mighty deeds” in Nazareth “because of their lack of faith” (Mt 13:58).
In today’s Gospel account from John, Jesus speaks to a royal official whose son is close to death. Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and left (Jn 4:50). Returning home to his son the man is met by the slaves from his household and they told him that his son would live and when they compared notes, they realized the healing occurred at the moment Jesus spoke and the man believed.
What do faith and belief have to do with Jesus being active in our lives? The way of the Gospel, the good news, is all about invitation and acceptance. Jesus enters our world, our reality, gently and humbly. He came as a poor infant, completely dependent on Mary and Joseph for his very survival. He would live the majority of his life in the obscure village of Nazareth most likely working as a day laborer. When he begins his public ministry he does so by inviting people to be a part of his life, to enter into a relationship with him and his Father. People are free to say no or to say yes to that invitation.
Faith is trusting that what Jesus says is true and that he is who he says he is. Belief is the act of our will that aligns with our faith, our trust in him. The man had faith in Jesus, and that is why he some him out. Jesus invited the man to believe that his son was healed and the man believed and walked away with full confidence that his son would be. Belief is followed by an affirmative act of the will. I can believe my car will run, but unless I get in it and turn the key, I am not going anywhere.
Just as the sun rose this morning, Jesus is present to each and every one of us. Just as Jesus invited Zacchaeus to come down out of the tree because he wanted to have dinner with him in his home, Jesus is offering his invitation to us to be a part of our lives. Just as Jesus invited Andrew and Peter, James and John to follow him, Jesus invites us to follow him as well.
If your schedule affords you the opportunity to wake up with the sun or early in the morning while the sun is still rising this week, I invite you to do so. Find a quiet place inside or outside, call to mind anything that you are grateful for, ponder your hopes and dreams, allow any struggles, confusion, sinful patterns, needs for healing and/or forgiveness for yourselves or others to arise. As the light of the sun pierces the darkness, allow it to be an icon of Jesus’ invitation to enter into any of the darker areas in your life.
“From the east comes the one whose name is Dayspring, he who is mediator between God and men. You are invited then to look always to the east: it is there that the sun of righteousness rises for you, it is there that the light is always being born for you… So that you may always enjoy the light of knowledge, keep always in the daylight of faith, hold fast always to the light of love and peace” (Excerpt from a homily on Leviticus by Church father, Origen, 184-253).
Embrace and be grateful for the light of Christ who comes to you today to guide you through your struggles and confusion, to hear the deepest prayers of your heart, to offer you the confidence that you can believe in his power to heal you and those you love, to invite you to embrace the gift of repentance, and be forgiven. As the warmth of the sun touches your face, breath in deep the mercy and grace of Jesus, believe Jesus is the Son of the Living God and have faith, trusting that he will be with you today in all you do. When you are ready, arise to face the day and walk on in the confidence and assurance, with the faith and belief that you are loved more than you can ever imagine and more than you can ever mess up, and that God will be with you every step of the way today.
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Photo: Catching the sun rising a few years ago.
Link for the Mass readings for Monday, March 26, 2022
Will we refuse or receive our Father’s embrace?
In today’s Gospel from Luke we encounter the well known parable of the Prodigal Son. With the parables it is important not to skip over who Jesus is addressing, just so we can dive into the parable itself. Jesus is speaking to tax collectors and sinners. They are drawn to him. The Pharisees and scribes are also present. They are drawn to him also, but are complaining.
With these two groups now focused on Jesus, he shares his parable. Three main characters are present in the telling, the younger son, the father, and the older son. The younger son represents the tax collectors and sinners. They have embraced the sin of Adam and Eve in taking for themselves that which God would have freely given to them. They have squandered their inheritance and separated themselves from the relationship and love of God. Yet, as the son realized, the tax collectors and sinners are coming to see, that all that the material life offers is limited, and it does not fully satisfy. They, like the younger son who returned from the “distant country”, are prepared to come home.
The wonderful light and joy of the parable is that: “While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.” The father then did the unthinkable as: “He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him” (Lk 15:20). The father never held a grudge, but also never gave up or stopped looking for a sign that his son would return. His racing to meet his son showed the outpouring of love and mercy that this father had for his son. This uncharacteristic action would also certainly draw attention to himself, to ease any ridicule that might be directed toward his son.
In covering the son with a robe and placing a ring on his finger, the father shows his forgiveness, and restored the bond and covenant that was broken. The party that began was a celebration of this fact. As the festivities begin, the parable turns to the older son, and again, the father goes out to meet him. The elder son meets his father with anger, filled with not only self righteousness, but also revealing that even though he remained with the father he did so with no joy. He too was looking for more from the father than the greatest gift he offered him, which was his relationship, his love.
The parable of the Prodigal Son ends with an invitation to all those who had gathered around Jesus to listen to him. The tax collectors and sinners were invited to come home to their Father, to turn away from their pursuit of the empty and false substitutes of wealth, power, pleasure, and honor. They were invited to be born again from their life of death, to be embraced as the children of God that they were, and restore their relationship and covenant with the Father.
The Pharisees and scribes also were invited as was the elder son. They were invited to turn away from judging and instead celebrate the return of those who were seeking to come home, those who had been lost, but now had been found. In doing so, they would realize that they too were lost because they serving the law alone instead of opening their hearts to a loving relationship with God.
We are invited today as well. Who do we identify with in this parable? Are we willing to recognize that the God of Jesus Christ has always been watching for us, always reaching out for us, ready to run out to meet us where we are, welcoming us as we are, and urging us to come home to be with him? God is running to meet us and embrace us. Will we run away or run to him and fall into his loving embrace?
Painting: The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt – 1661-1169
The Mass readings for Sunday, March 27, 2022
Jesus, please shine your light into our darkness.
It is much easier to find fault with others, and in some cases, the act of doing so has become entertainment in the private as well as the public sector. Gossip has a seductive allure and can be consuming. Judging others is also a way to justify and or project our own inappropriate behavior onto others. We may even place ourselves in a false sense of exalted pride. Have we ever, not just stated, but, thought or prayed something along the same lines as the Pharisee in today’s Gospel? “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income” (Lk 18:11-12).
To pray any part of this prayer stunts the growth in our spiritual life because we are focused on ourselves instead of emptying ourselves before God. Anytime we rationalize, cover over, or deny our sinful behavior we create and support habits of selfishness. Left unchecked, we can become enslaved to them. Lent is a time for healing and transformation. To be able to heal from sinful attitudes and actions that have become habits, we must first be able to acknowledge and identify them.
Over time, reading more and more lives of the saints, I have come to understand that their recognition and their confession of their sinfulness was not just pious platitudes, but true expressions that they were growing closer in their relationship with Jesus. A simple example can help express where they are coming from.
When we drive our car while it is dark we don’t give much thought to the cleanliness of our windshield because we can see fine. Yet as the headlights from an oncoming car illuminate cascade on the smears, smudges, and grime, we actually realize how dirty our windshield actually is. This can be evident in our spiritual life as well. The more we remain in our own darkness of denial, we feel we are fine, all is right with the world. The closer we grow in our relationship with Jesus, the more his light shines in our darkness, and the more of our sin is revealed.
Jesus invites us to resist the prayer of the Pharisee who prays comparing himself to someone else, refusing to see or acknowledge his own sinful actions, and instead emphasizes that we are to follow the honest humility of the tax collector, who did “not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner’” (Lk 18:13). Now, Jesus is not saying this is the only way we pray. We have the opportunity to worship and praise the Lord joyfully, we can seek his help in praying for others through intercessory prayer or for ourselves in petitionary prayer, we can also sit in quiet meditation during adoration or out among God’s wonder of creation. Each prayer has its time and place and each type of experience of prayer helps us to grow and deepen our relationship with Jesus and each other. The focus in all prayer is God.
True humility is brought about by seeing who we are from God’s point of view. If we are to set a standard to live up to and if we are to compare ourselves to anyone, let it be Jesus. A daily examination of conscience is a healthy practice and discipline in which we invite Jesus to shine his light of love into the inner places of our darkness. When we do, we can embrace our vulnerability, confess our sins, and experience the sorrow for the hurt we have caused. Willing to seek atonement, we will receive God’s forgiveness, healing, love, and mercy.
One prayer I have found helpful over the past few years is the Jesus Prayer. It is very simple. Sit in a comfortable space, take a few deep breaths in and out, then as you inhale recite, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,” and as you exhale say, “Have mercy on me a sinner.” Breathe in the light of Christ and breathe out the darkness of sin.
This practice has been passed down to us from the Eastern Orthodox tradition. The prayer ropes are made of wool, usually black, and the one I have has twenty-five wool knots separated by four wooden beads. The bottom also has a woven cross and a fringe representing the mercy of God present to wipe away our tears of contrition. If you have neither a rosary nor a prayer rope, you have your fingers. Start with a set of ten Jesus Prayer recitations each day and invite the light of Jesus to dispel the darkness of your sin, confess it, be forgiven, and begin to experience God’s healing love!
Photo by Adrien Olichon from Pexels
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, March 26, 2022
Are we willing to say yes to God as Mary did?
Why celebrate the Annunciation at the beginning of the third week of Lent? Simple math. If we celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25, it is logical to celebrate his conception nine months earlier on March 25.
Gabriel, an angel, a messenger of God, a spiritual being, interacts with a human being; though Mary is not the first one to experience such an encounter. There are personal encounters with God and his messengers throughout the Bible. This is how the God of Israel, the God of Jesus Christ acts, person to person, through invitation, either directly himself or indirectly through one of his angels.
We can read such encounters going back to Genesis. God invited Abraham to be the father of a people that God would call to be his own. This reality would come to be with the birth of Isaac, while Sarah was well past child-bearing years. Jacob would wrestle all night with an angel and become the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, during the time of the Judges the mother of Sampson and Hannah, the mother of Samuel, both barren women would encounter angels bearing the message that each would give birth to those who would grow to lead the people Israel in their time of need. Moses, the judges, David, and the prophets all would hear and answer God’s invitation. Zechariah had an encounter in the temple and his wife Elizabeth, also barren and older, would give birth to John the Baptist. God has communicated and reached out to his created beings in history, in time, and in specific places.
With Mary, this announcement and encounter was different, for, at this appointed time, the Son of God himself would become, while remaining fully divine, a human being in the womb of Mary. The God who is. Period. Full stop. He is not a being, not a human, or even a supreme being. Infinite Act of Existence, the Sheer Act of to Be, who took on flesh and dwelt among his created beings. This is the message that Mary receives, and we can understand why she might be “troubled”. Yet Mary, the model of discipleship, pondered what this might mean as Gabriel said to her:
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Lk 1:30).
Mary, who knew the arch of salvation history as briefly sketched above, knew of the encounters God had with his people, her ancestors, knew of the promised coming of the Messiah, would now be the bridge between heaven and earth, the bridge between the old and the new covenant, the bridge between a people lost and a people found. Mary in her fiat, her yes, would become Theotokos, the God-bearer.
This is why we celebrate this feast each year: The Son of God has been born to us because Mary said yes. Yet, her yes is not in isolation. It is made possible by so many who had gone before her. Joachim and Anna, Mary’s parents who provided care and guidance, as well as the many named above and not named throughout the Biblical tradition who said yes to God and played a part in making this moment possible. Mary is not alone in the Annunciation, not alone in this definitive moment. This is the distinctive feature of Judaism and Christianity: We cannot save ourselves. We are not God. Our very life as created beings is a gift from God and we are in need of constant help and support from God and one another (cf. Lohfink, 254).
God invites us, not just today as we celebrate the feast day of the Annunciation, but every day. Each day is a day to ponder, to wonder, to be still, to be in awe. The Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, loved us so much more than we can ever imagine, more than we can ever even begin to conceive, that he became one with us so that we can become one with him. Us, you reading this, me writing this, and each unique person taking a breath on this earth.
No matter how much we have messed up, no matter how distant we feel we may be from God, no matter how confused, overwhelmed, disillusioned, Jesus, the Son of Mary, the Son of God, is present for and with us. The question is not whether or not we are worthy, for none of us are worthy, the question is, “Are we willing?”
We are invited to play our part in the ongoing drama of salvation history. Mary’s answer to this invitation was: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). This is her definitive yes. We too are called. What will our response be?
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Painting: Henry Oswana Tanner, The Annunciation, 1898
Lohfink, Gerhard. No Irrelevant Jesus: On Jesus and the Church Today. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014.
Link for today’s readings for Friday, March 25, 2022
Birds and people are so much more than our surface identification.
In the Gospel reading today, Jesus is accused of being an agent of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, because he was exorcising a demon from a man that was mute. Jesus addressed the critique and showed the polarizing nature of the onlookers who were unwilling to see the healing before them for what it was. Jesus then stated the obvious: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house” (Lk 11:17).
If Jesus was an agent of the prince of demons, he was not a very good one. Satan seeks to sow discord and division. Jesus seeks to bring about unity. Now it is true, that five verses later in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is recorded as saying: “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Lk 12:51). Anyone feeling a bit confused? Welcome to the wonderful world of the Bible!
To understand Scripture, we need to understand the context of the whole of Scripture, not just isolated verses. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, he seeks the unity that all may be one as he and the Father are one (cf. John 17:21), yet he has consistently experienced those that rejected his message and healings as witnessed in today’s Gospel account.
Jesus demands a choice, we need to decide if we are either going to be for him or against him (cf. Lk 11:23). The division Jesus is talking about results from those who choose not to recognize that Jesus is who he says he is and reject him and those who accept him for who he is. This choice continues to cause division within households, families, and friends even today.
The greater take away from this verse and Jesus’ teachings as a whole, is that when we are unified, embracing the gift of our diversity, we are stronger than when we are divided by limiting ourselves to mere labels. In our modern context, labels, such as liberal and conservative are not helpful, whether they are being used in a political or religious context. Life is not as black and white as many would like it to be. It is certainly easier to cast labels, but interactions with people and developing relationships are much more nuanced. We are not mere cardboard cut outs, or caricatures.
To better understand the essence of who we are as human beings demands greater time and experience of each other than an outward appearance or isolated statement may portray. Many more of us, if we shake off any label for a moment, could honestly admit to believing in and supporting issues that are important to us from both sides of the so called left or right.
Many times, once we have cast a label, we believe that we have “defined” the person. They are classified in their box and tied up in a neat and pretty bow, and woe to the person who resists being boxed and bowed. I remember reading from one of the books from the tracker, Tom Brown, Jr., in which he described how many people when seeing a bird, such as a blue jay, robin, or crow, are often satisfied with the label, the naming of it, and move on from that sighting self-satisfied. They think that in that simple identification they now have come to understand all that there is to know about that particular species of bird. So much of the essence of one of God’s amazing creatures is missed by such a simplistic and limiting classification!
Unfortunately, we do the same with each other. We often prejudge a person or group because of a word, statement, stance on a particular issue, wound, or particular belief. We then falsely assert that we know everything there is to know about that person or group. This is a very limiting and divisive approach. Jesus invites us to encounter the person, to accompany, spend time, and break bread with people. In spending time with one another and being open to dialogue, the caricatures can be filled in with some substance and we can come to know a little better the person beyond the prejudgment.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it may very well be a duck, but it is also so much more than its classification. This is so much truer for us as human beings as well.
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Photo: A hawk drying herself off after a summer rain.
Link for the Mass reading for Thursday, March 24, 2022
No matter what, Jesus walks with us each step of the way along our journey.
Jesus not only tells his disciples that he has not come to abolish but to fulfill the law. Jesus also constantly teaches how this is true, models how to put his teachings into practice, and empowers them to do so. In his Sermon on the Mount and Sermon on the Plain alone, we can see the development of his teaching and building on the foundation of the Torah. With his Beatitudes, such as, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”, and his Six Antithesis including, “You have heard that it was said ‘an eye for an eye,’ but I say to you offer no resistance to one who is evil”, we can see the further development of Jewish teaching on full display.
If we seriously take the time to read through Jesus’ teachings, we will see quickly how challenging they are to put into practice. Jesus is not lowering the bar of discipline for his followers, but in fact, raising it. At the same time, Jesus is not putting heavy burdens on us for burden’s sake, he seeks to make us whole, to make us holy. He himself lives what he preaches, but Jesus is no ordinary teacher or mentor. The principles that he teaches, forgiving seventy-seven times as we heard yesterday, loving our enemy, giving up all to follow him, these seemed impossible to his disciples then and to many us today as well.
At face value, we may think that many of Jesus’ teachings are not possible to put into practice or very practical in our day and age. Attempting to do so with our willpower alone may lead to coming up short each time, and feeling more frustrated. Jesus does not expect nor desire us to accomplish living as his followers on our own efforts. That’s actually the point. We cannot accomplish them on our own. We are to yolk ourselves with Jesus and be open to the transforming power and love of the Holy Spirit acting through us. This happens when we daily invite Jesus into our lives and are humble enough to follow his lead.
We become a disciple of Jesus when we are willing to study his life, learn and put his teachings into practice, and surrender ourselves to his will through prayer, discipline, worship, service, and participation in the sacraments. Ultimately though, it is nothing we do, other than opening our hearts and minds to and allowing Jesus to live his life in and through us. In this way, we are transformed by his love and conformed to his life such that we can say with Paul, it is no longer I who live but Jesus who lives in me (cf. Galatians 2:20).
The path of faith is not a sprint or a one-time event, but a marathon, a journey. Each one of us can be assured that Jesus is with us for the long haul, every step of the way. What we continue to experience with the unpredictability of the Covid and its variants can certainly tempt us to still be anxious and fearful. But when we resist these temptations and refuse to make decisions from a fearful or reactive state, but instead access our ability to reason and lean into Jesus and rely on each other, we will not only make healthier decisions, we will make it through each day together.
These past few years have given us an opportunity to experience the vulnerability of those among us who have been in need. We have also been provided a chance to reassess what is truly important in our own lives. Not knowing what tomorrow brings may help us to realize we never really did know. We can take comfort in trusting more in and being led by the one who does know what tomorrow will bring.
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Photo: Torrey Pines State Park, La Jolla, CA 2014
Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, March 23, 2022
“This is the pure Gospel.”
Forgiveness is a wonderful gift of grace and mercy. If we asked many people if they would like to receive forgiveness most would say yes. The number would most likely be less if we were to ask them how many would be willing to forgive others. If we were asked to forgive someone seven times, that number would shrink significantly, and if we were invited to forgive someone seventy-seven times, is there any among us who would say yes, any among us willing to consider doing so?
Why is forgiveness so hard for most of us? I do say most because there are those who have an openness to being forgiving. One reason could be that we have few role models. I would imagine those that are more forgiving have not only experienced positive role models but have received forgiveness themselves.
How often do we seek forgiveness from others when we have done something wrong, inappropriate, or made a mistake? We often seek to explain first, make excuses, justify, or ignore our behavior altogether. When we resist being humble, confronting our offenses, and do not seek reconciliation, we do not experience the healing balm of forgiveness. We are then less likely to be willing to offer forgiveness and more likely to hold a grudge or to seek revenge.
Yet, even if we receive the gifts of mercy and forgiveness, as the servant did in today’s parable (Mt 18:21-35), we may still choose to be unforgiving toward others. We may resist forgiveness because we have already created patterns of distancing ourselves, making someone else as other, somehow justifying the hurt and pain we feel. We think that by holding a grudge or offering another the cold shoulder, we are giving them just what they deserve.
Unfortunately, patterns of not seeking forgiveness for ourselves, not willing to forgive others, allowing ourselves to bear grudges, to distance ourselves, or project negative feelings on others to cover up our own inadequacies, not only perpetuates a climate of isolation and divisiveness, but continues to multiply mistrust and further distance, that when continuing unchecked metastasizes into division, hatred and violence. Even in a case where someone has truly wronged us in some way, we are still invited to forgive, to make an attempt to understand why someone might act in such a way, and to shift the momentum away from the perpetual cycle of hurt and to seek to bring about healing and reconciliation.
Jesus is very clear that if we are not willing to forgive we will not be forgiven. This is true because when we are unwilling to forgive, we cut ourselves off from the love of God. We choose the hurt and pain inflicted upon us over the healing touch that God offers. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a gift of healing, and a pattern of regular confession helps us to receive the healing and forgiveness of our loving God and Father. As we develop a regular practice of examining our conscience, experiencing contrition: true sorrow for our sins, confession, are absolved, and forgiven, we will experience God’s healing and love. Hopefully, we will then also come to the realization that we need to put God first, instead of ourselves. As God shares his love with us, we are to share his love with others.
From this change of mind, we can encounter one another with more understanding and more of a willingness to forgive. Jesus invites us to resist the temptation of withholding forgiveness. This attitude further divides and separates by keeping others at a distance. We are to forgive, yes even seventy-seven times and yes, even our enemies. Even if we feel this to be impossible, we can do so by asking Jesus to forgive through us. In doing so, we will be builders of bridges of forgiveness like Doha Sabah Abdallah. Doha lost her son during the bombing of her city in 2014. Doha shared her story with Pope Francis while he visited Iraq last year, and she said: “By imitating him [Jesus] in our sufferings, we testify that love is stronger than everything,”
Pope Francis shared how touched he was by Doha’s story of forgiveness. On his return plane trip, Pope Francis shared, “I forgive. This is a word we have lost. We know how to insult big time. We know how to condemn in a big way… But to forgive, to forgive one’s enemies. This is the pure Gospel. This hit me in Qaraqosh.” May we take up the mantle that Jesus holds out to us today and be willing to cloak each other in a loving embrace of forgiveness.
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Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Pope Francis meeting together last year in Najaf, Iraq. Photo credit: Vatican Media/AP
Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, March 22. 2022
Link for CNA article about Pope Francis reflection on Iraq trip
Spiritual Stepping Stones 