Reflections on the Gospel Reading for the Day

We are not to jettison the traditions of the Church but “continually clarify, renew, and deepen them.”

“At that time Jesus exclaimed: ‘I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike’” (Mt 11:25).

Why did many of the wise and the learned, referring to the Sadducees, Pharisees and scribes, reject Jesus? One possibility is that Jesus challenged their idol of tradition. Even though Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (cf. Mt 5:17), the invitation to go deeper was and continues to be challenging. This is certainly highlighted in the six antitheses that Jesus shared during his Sermon on the Mount. Here is one such example: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil” (Mt 5: 28). Offer no resistance to one who is evil? Not only hard to swallow for people of Jesus’ time, but for us today as well.

Jesus offered then and continues to offer us today an invitation to experience the intimacy of the Trinitarian Love of God shared between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To be fully alive, to share in his Love, we need to resist being governed by our fears, insecurities, and holding blindly on to tradition for its own sake. Instead, we need to be open to growth, change, and renewal. Gerhard Lohfink, in his book, No Irrelevant Jesus, quotes the Polish philosopher Leszak Kolakowski: “A society in which tradition becomes a cult is condemned to stagnation; a society that tries to live entirely through revolt against tradition condemns itself to destruction” (Lohfink 2014, 2).

We are called to live in the tension of both/and. Many have left the Church because they feel we are too steeped in tradition, rules, and laws, but in their throwing the baby out with the bathwater, they have no secure ground or foundation, no anchor in their life. Others remain hunkered down entrenched in a bunker of tradition fearing the secular tide, holding on to tradition. Both tendencies weaken us because we are choosing our self over accepting Jesus’ invitation to let go and enter into the living stream of the communal Love of the Trinity which we can then share.

Jesus sees our potential as well as our wounds, insecurities, and fears. He meets us where we are, in our present condition, and from that starting point, he invites us to crawl, then to take some baby steps, to walk, run, and eventually to fly – to experience and share his unconditional love. We need to resist the extremes of rejecting tradition altogether or idolizing tradition alone, but instead build on the foundation we have been given; Jesus Christ: “The Way, the Truth and the Life” (cf Jn 14:6). Within the life of the Church, “we must not do away with its traditions, but at the same time it must continually clarify, renew, and deepen them” (Lohfink 2014, 2).

Hans Urs von Balthasar offers a wonderful balance. He proposed archetypes of the church that when each are properly ordered to God and work in collaboration enrich the Church. These archetypes are “Mary (Christ’s mother), Peter, James, John, and Paul. St. Peter is associated with paternal care and governance; St. John with love, typical of those with contemplative vocations; St. James with knowledge and defense of the tradition, typical of scholars; and St. Paul with the universal mission of the Church and her adaptation to changing social conditions, typical of the new ecclesial movements” (Rowland, 91).

The balancing of each one of these archetypes helps to perpetuate the deposit of faith Jesus that shared. Those who are faithful in each successive generation to the true, the good, and beautiful that Jesus has handed on may continue to participate in his love, forgiveness, healing, and wholeness. As we trust in Jesus, he reveals to and offers us an intimate participation in the love shared between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
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Photo: St. Charles Church, Grand Coteau, Louisiana founded in 1819, present church built in 1879.

Lohfink, Gehrhard. No Irrelevant Jesus: On Jesus and the Church Today. Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2014.

Rowland, Tracey. Introducing Communio Theology. Elk Grove Village, IL: Word on Fire Academic, 2025.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, July 5, 2026

Jesus invites us to be purified and healed by receiving his love and the light of his truth.

“Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved” (Mt 9:17).

Mark, Matthew, and Luke all record the reference of pouring new wine into fresh wineskins. What Matthew adds is, “and both are preserved.” Luke adds: “[And] no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

The Gospel authors offer this teaching of Jesus in the context of the tensions between those who would reject Jesus and those who would follow him and his new way. The new wine represents the acceptance of the Gospel, the Good News of the kingdom of God in their midst. The cost of receiving this new wine though means to change one’s mind and heart. “The tension, and often incompatibility, between the old and the new is part of every religious tradition and attends every change within that tradition. Matthew and Luke wrestled with it and adapted it to their community situation. Contemporary Christians have no less a challenge” (The Gospel of Mark, Donahue, SJ, p. 109). Matthew shared with his community that Jesus is the new Temple, the old had been destroyed in 70 AD.

Following Jesus meant that both the old and new covenants would be preserved. Jesus did not come to abolish the law and prophets, but he fulfilled the Old and in the New brought a greater depth of understanding and practice to a higher level only possible through participating in his life.

We are invited to wrestle as well. The Church is called to change, to be transformed by the Living God. Many say the Church needs to change this and that, not realizing that we are the Church, the People of God, the Body of Christ. If the Church is to mature and grow each of us is to embrace transformation, being made anew through the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit. This invitation is a call to let go of those habits, lifestyles, behaviors, mindsets, attachments, and addictions that are weighing us down or worse holding us in bondage and slavery to our sin, and ultimately keeping us separated from God.

Much of the material and finite things we hold onto prevents us from receiving the new life God wants to pour into us. Jesus is offering us something better than the merely material. He is offering us the love of the Holy Spirit that we were created to receive. In breathing, receiving, resting and abiding in God’s love, we find peace and rest that brings healing and renewal.

Jesus has come to set us free from our enslavement to sin by inviting us to try some new wine which consists of meditating and praying with, contemplating upon, and living the message of his teachings and actions as recorded in the Gospels. We do not have to be afraid of the change and transformation Jesus is calling us to experience. As St Irenaeus, the second-century bishop of Lyons is attributed to have written: “The Glory of God is man fully alive!” Jesus is inviting us to live our lives and live them to the full!

To become new wineskins then, we are called to identify and let go of those selfish and sinful inclinations that keep us constricted, rigid, and curved in upon ourselves. We are to let go of our fears so that we can be healed from them. We also must let go of what appears to be good, but in truth is not the good that God offers. We let go when we are still and allow ourselves to be loved by God. As we experience more of his love, we can see better the false truths, apparent goods, and disordered affections.

We grasp for these substitutes for God because we feel alone and empty. When we instead seek God instead of the substitutes, instead of distractions, we will feel the loneliness, true, but now we can invite God to love us there. That which is not true, good, and beautiful will be poured out. We are emptied of the false so to be filled more with the grace and love of God. We become new, fresh wineskins, capable of receiving a continual pouring in of God’s love.

The more love we allow ourselves to receive, the more purified we become from our creature comforts and the apparent safety and security of this world which is so fragile. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote in his encyclical, Spe Salve, line 42: “His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation ‘as through fire.’ But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God.”

Photo: Enjoying a quiet early evening walk, breathing, receiving, resting and abiding in God’s love, Grand Coteau, Louisianna.

Donahue, John R. S.J., and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. The Gospel of Mark. Vol. 2 of Sacra Pagina, edited by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2002.

Parallel Scriptural accounts: See Mark 2:22, Matthew 9:16-17 and Luke 5:37-39

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, July 4, 2025

“Do not be unbelieving, but believe.”

Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:27-28)!

Thomas’ acclamation “My Lord and my God!” came from his seeing the risen Jesus and his wounds. Jesus rose from the dead, conquered death, and yet he still bore the wounds of his Passion. This is a profound message to the Apostles, those Jesus sent to proclaim his Gospel, and for us who have been called to follow him today.

The Body of Christ continues to be wounded by the sin and division of our fallen nature that Jesus experienced the fullness of on the Cross. Many people doubt and do not believe today in God because they question, “How can a loving God allow such suffering and pain, especially of the innocent?” A valid question. Many examples may come to our minds, from indirect or direct experience. Pondering this question can then lead to a series of others, “Why God? Where were you? Do you care?”

Some suffering we can bring upon ourselves by removing ourselves from God’s protection, our own selfish choices can lead to pain that God allows us to experience. We can turn away from him because of suffering that has happened in our lives. We can choose disordered affections and false goods seeking to fill the deep loneliness that we feel. There is evil in the world and selfish acts that ripples our and affects us. The enemy of God seeks to divide, destroy, and kill.

Through it all, God is present, God cares, though again we are limited in what we can see and understand. God allows suffering which can reveal our weaknesses, our attachments and our sins. He allows us to see our lives without him and what the promise if of our life with him. Choosing to turn to him and receive his love, may not change a particular suffering we may be experiencing but we will feel his presence and consolation, and receive the strength to endure and overcome.

Even in the case of death, God reveals a deeper truth that death does not have the final answer. His Son does. That is what Jesus showed Thomas in bringing him close to touch his wounded side. Jesus rose from the dead and conquered it, but the scarring of his wounds remained. Jesus calls us to draw close and to touch his wounds so we can embrace our own, those we can and cannot see. As we allow Jesus to come close to those areas we have not wanted anyone else to see, those sins we never thought would be forgiven, and when we trust and open our hearts and minds to Jesus, we experience his healing.

Though the temptation is strong to deny, rationalize, or flee from the conflict, challenges, hurt, and pain that we and others experience, we must resist. If we don’t embrace our or another’s trials we will not come to the root cause of them. Jesus understands the suffering of the innocent, for he himself was innocent and sinless and was crucified on the Cross. Fair? No. He was willing to do so to free us from our sin, to be present now in this particular time and moment to show us a way out of our darkness, pain, and suffering.

We can be easily overwhelmed with the suffering in our country, our world, or the personal challenges right before us. Denial or indifference is not the answer. There is an act of balancing that Jesus calls us to participate in as we allow ourselves to be loved by and learn to love God, love others, and love our neighbors as ourselves. The answer is found when we are willing to encounter Jesus, grow in our relationship with him, and follow his lead.

We do not know where Thomas was when the Apostles first encountered Jesus after the Resurrection, but we do know he was not with Jesus. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing, yet with Jesus, the one who conquered death, all things are possible! When we feel overwhelmed, helpless, or indecisive, return to Jesus and acclaim with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” and begin again with him.

Jesus is present, just as he was with Thomas and the other apostles. He invites us to be engaged in the unique way he calls us to make our corner of the world a little better. As Jesus enters the chaos of our lives, he prompts us to enter into the chaos of another’s, to hear their story, their experience, be present, and allow the Holy Spirit to happen.

St. Thomas, pray for us!

Painting from Caravaggio: Incredulity of St Thomas, 1601-1602

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, July 3, 2026

Let us not demean but embrace our humanity as well as those in need.

And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven”(Mt 9:2).

Matthew’s account of this scene is much simpler than Mark and Luke’s, but the point is the same. The person paralyzed received healing because some people were willing to bear his weight and creatively bring him to Jesus. In neither of the three Gospel accounts do we know who the people are that bring this man to Jesus for healing. Were they family, friends, or neighbors, combination? It does not matter. They were aware of someone in need, they believed Jesus could heal him, and they put forth the effort to bring this man to Jesus.

Are we like the people in today’s Gospel; are we aware, do we care? St. Mother Teresa often said that people are “not only hungry for bread – but hungry for love, naked not only for clothing – but naked for human dignity and respect, homeless not only for want of home and bricks, – but homeless because of rejection.” If we are living our faith, indifference to the needs of others is not an option. Rationalizing why we ought not to care, or worse giving in to our fears and prejudices so as to dehumanize and reject others in need are counter to the call of Jesus.

When we may be closed off to helping others, a bit impatient or short, less than forgiving or merciful, it could be that we have been curving in upon ourselves and not allowing God to love us in areas we may not feel all that lovable. Yet, it is exactly there that Jesus yearns to enter. He seeks to love us in our most wounded places and where we feel shame. All sin is a curving in upon ourselves and away from God. Doing so also distorts reality and keeps us distant from the antidote. When we allow Jesus into our poverty, sin, and shame, we can be loved, forgiven, and consoled. Then we can embrace a disposition that is more open to sharing mercy, forgiveness, love, and care for others.

How is God speaking to and moving our hearts? There are so many who are hurting and suffering. May we not see people as interruptions but invitations to experience God’s grace. We just need to be honest about where God is leading us and act as the four in our Gospel reading did. When we are aware, willing to come close to those in need, access our personal gifts of creativity, and collaborate with Jesus, miracles can and still do happen. Structures of inhumanity and injustice can be turned around when we are willing to be loved by God and love others in return.

Pope Francis has been consistent and clear about the dignity of all life. He tweeted (do we still say tweet?) back in 2013: “It is God who gives life. Let us respect and love human life, especially vulnerable life in a mother’s womb.” During Mass on Sunday, January 14, 2018 he shared: “Migrants and refugees don’t represent just a problem to be solved, but are brothers and sisters to be welcomed, respected and loved.” On June 3, 2020, Pope Francis said, “My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life”.

Painting: The Lord hears the cry of not just a select few but all of us in need. Are we willing to share our need, receive God’s love and so help others?

See also Mark 2:1-12, Matthew 9:1-8 and Luke 5:17-26

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, June 30, 2022

Even when there appears no hope, Jesus provides a way.

Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district (Mt 8:34).

After hearing of the healing of the demoniacs and the herd of swine rushing into the water, the townsfolk came out and begged Jesus to leave. This is also attested to in the Gospel of Mark 5:17. Luke adds that the people asked Jesus to leave because: “they were seized with great fear” (Lk 8:37). Jesus healed two demoniacs in Matthew’s account, one in the Mark and Luke accounts, and the people asked him to leave in all the accounts. Hearing of Jesus’ healing power to expel demons, that the swine ran into the seas, and hearing about his act of mercy and grace, would we too ask Jesus to leave?

Before answering, “No, of course not!” too quickly, how many times have our own judgments, prejudices, and self-centeredness, our own lack of understanding for the bigger picture, our own fears, our wounds, been chosen or has been clouding our choice to live the Gospel in our own lives? Are our lives shaped by the Gospel message of Jesus? Do we wrestle with the challenge of how we are to love our enemies, to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, to turn the other cheek, and to answer in practical, concrete ways, “What you do to the least of these: you do it to me?” Or, if we read or listen to the Gospels at all, do we seek to adjust Jesus’ message, to conform God to our will, to fit the message to our lifestyle, what works for us? Is the radiance of Jesus’ mercy, love and grace too bright for us such that we wince in pain, that we feel it is too much to bear, and we too say, “Go away!”?

In these slower summer days, may we make some time to read, slowly and prayerfully, each of the accounts of the healing of the Gadarene demoniacs in Matthew’s Gospel and the one demoniac in the Mark and Luke accounts. We will also notice with Mark and Luke that after the demoniac who was possessed with demons was healed, the man followed Jesus and asked to follow him. Jesus said to the man: “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). The one who was so bound up by possession that he was out of his mind, still had some glimmer of hope that he could be healed and ran up to and prostrated himself before Jesus, was healed, and freed. He then proclaimed the Gospel to the whole city.

In our reading and prayer, may we enter into this powerful account and allow our imagination to come alive and encounter Jesus. What still enslaves and binds us such that we continue to be separated from God and others? Will we give in to our fear and beg Jesus to leave us, or open our mind, heart, and soul to his healing word and touch? May we, as the man possessed did prostrate ourselves before Jesus, surrender to him, and when doing so, experience his healing mercy, love, and forgiveness that we too may be free.

As hard as it is to face our wounds, and some cut deep. As hard as some addictions and disordered affections seem beyond our means to be free, there is hope. Everyone else including the demoniacs themselves, gave up! But in that encounter with Jesus, there was still a glimmer of hope, even if Jesus was the only one who say it. The demoniacs did not run away, they held their ground. Jesus had power over the evil that possessed them and the demons knew they had lost. Even with only a glimmer of hope, may we trust that Jesus will provide a way where there appears no way, a healing that will lead us to freedom, so that we might find the peace that we so much seek.

Let us pray for each other that Jesus may forgive and free us as he freed the two demoniacs. May he free us from our fears, prejudices, tendencies to gossip, belittle, and dehumanize. May he heal us from our attachments, addictions, and disordered affections. Jesus comes to us to forgive, heal, and restore us to our right minds. Our country may appear to be coming apart at the seams and getting darker each day, and we can be a part of the healing and reconciliation, but it starts with us trusting in Jesus.

Jesus called the demoniacs who, once healed, wanted to follow him, to go home to their family and friends. We are sent to do the same, to share the love and mercy of Jesus, and be his agents of change and reconciliation in our own unique ways, with our thoughts, words, and deeds, and with each person we meet, starting with our family and friends, but not stopping there.

Photo: Jesus drove out the demons that plagued the pair of demoniacs and then they reflected the light of his love. Are we ready to reflect the light of his love too?

Parallel accounts of today’s Gospel see: Mark 5:1-20, Matthew 8:28-34, Luke 8:26-39

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, July 1, 2026

When the storms come, Jesus is present to calm the storm or to help us ride it out.

As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep (Mt 8:23-24).

Noah’s ark, as well as the boat in today’s Gospel pericope, has often been a symbol for the Church. The storms may rage without, but those who remain in the boat will be secure. The image of Jesus sleeping can also be a sign of the storms within the boat, within the Church – where it may appear that Jesus is absent or that he doesn’t care about our problems.

We are human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, we are good, but we are also fallible and wounded. We are wounded by the very gift of the free will we have been given. God loves us so much he is willing to risk that we will choose to place other people, places, and things before him. We may often pursue the promises of wealth, fame, honor, and pleasure as substitutes instead of our true and abiding happiness which can only come from God. God does not cause our suffering. He will allow us to reap the consequences of our choices as well as allow the enemy to tempt us where we are at our weakest.

He is not being cruel, he is allowing us to see what our lives are like without him and what our lives are like when we place him first and as a priority. Also, when we are willing to identify those weaknesses, and then when we come to realize that we can’t overcome them on our own and reach out for God’s help, we grow closer in relationship with him. Also, those areas of weakness are shored up by God’s love and strength. Temptations when they arise and we turn to God become now invitations to experience God’s grace.

Hopefully, we will learn from our mistakes and grow to realize that we need to remember that God is to be first in all we think, say, and do. Even in our darkest moments, even in the darkest moments of the Church, we need to remember that God has not abandoned us. When we are experiencing the storms in our lives that come from without caused by others or the enemy, or the storms from within caused by our own sinful choices, or the anxieties, worries, and fears that we feed, Jesus may appear to be distant, he may seem not to care, and may seem to not even exist. Yet, just as Jesus was calmly sleeping in the boat with the disciples, he was present with them and he is present with us. Once the disciples turned to Jesus and implored his help, Jesus calmed the stormy sea.

Our focus on Jesus through the good times and the bad is the key. Our faith in Jesus grows as our trust and relationship in him grow. We just need to remember to turn to him in all our circumstances in life, to be thankful when all is going well and to seek his assistance when we need his help. This is what St Paul meant by praying unceasingly. Turning to God consistently is to be a regular practice in our daily lives and then when we are in need, we will know he is there.

This is to be true regarding our own mental storms of anxiety, whether we are dealing with conflict in a relationship, with some crisis physically, economically, or spiritually, or even while experiencing challenges that go far beyond just ourselves. Just ten minutes of news will show a wide array of examples of issues way beyond our control.

We need not even fear death because Jesus has conquered death. Jesus chided his disciples, who feared the worst, as they were tossed about in the boat on the raging sea, for having little faith. He knew they could have stilled the wind as he had done or that God would have helped them to ride the storm out. They just needed to place their focus on God instead of their fear.

In all of these areas and more, even when Jesus may appear to be asleep, or absent, even when he doesn’t answer our questions of, “Why?”, we just need to realize that he is present in our midst. He hears every prayer and he cares. When we trust him, even while the waves of our trials and tribulation toss us about, we will be able to experience his peace, that peace that surpasses all understanding. As we deepen our relationship and continue to experience his peace we can then be a healing balm for those around us who struggle and help those close to us to realize they have a choice and someone to turn to who will help.

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Photo: When we turn to Jesus in every situation and will realize that we have never been alone.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Peter and Paul acknowledged Jesus as the Christ the Son of the living God, do we?

Jesus said to his Apostles, “But who do you say that I am” (Mt 16:15)?

Have we answered the same question that Jesus posed to his apostles for ourselves? Too often we move from this to that, one situation to another, putting out fires and moving from one crisis to another, distracted and diverted, or we are just seeking to make it through another day. Have you ever felt like you are walking in a fog, you began the day with a list and then half the day has gone by and you wondered what happened to the time?

To be a Christian is not a call to stop living our lives, but it is an invitation to live our lives in, with, and for Jesus. We have been described as a People of the Book, along with Jews and Muslims. This is true, yet, more so for us as Christians, we are a people of encounter; we encounter the Living Word, the Son of God, Jesus the Christ.

Peter and Paul encountered Jesus in their lives and were changed forever. We can encounter the same Jesus when we slow down enough to pray and meditate with the Word proclaimed in the Liturgy of the Mass or read in personal prayer. We will find our lives drifting less if we have something, someone we are anchored to.

As a very simple example: except for the first Office of the day, in praying the Liturgy of the Hours, the opening prayer is, “God come to my assistance, Lord make haste to help me.” To embrace the depth of these words and resist the temptation to mindlessly state them, to not take in the request that I am asking, will help us to begin the day with more intention. Also, how many times do we make the Sign of the Cross without being attentive to the profound act we have just engaged ourselves in?

Through invoking a prayer of asking for God’s assistance and making the sacramental gesture of the Sign of the Cross, we are acknowledging that the Creator of all that exists is a part of our lives. While at the same time, as St. Augustine taught, closer to us than we are to ourselves. We may lean on both prayers when tempted, stressed, or anxious. Each one is an affirmation of a commitment to resist giving in to a mindset of minimalism and self-centeredness. All things are possible when we intentionally choose to align ourselves with Jesus, participate in the communion of the Holy Trinity, and welcome the invitation to love others as God loves us.

Peter and Paul both answered the question that Jesus posed. Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16), and Paul “proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20)! They were willing to give their lives intentionally and totally to Jesus and his mission. They allowed themselves to be steadily conformed to the life of Jesus, holding nothing back even in their willingness to be martyred in Rome.

I invite you to read today’s Gospel account from Matthew a few times. Imagine being present in the scene, and then as Jesus approaches and asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Take a moment to think, pray, and then answer. How we answer this question makes a difference. The next question to entertain is, are we willing to follow Jesus with each thought, word, and deed each moment of the day?

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us!

Icon of St. Peter and St. Paul recently given to me by one of my OCIA students.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, June 29, 2026

God first, helps us to experience his love and healing that we can share.

Uncertainty, upheaval, and unrest in our country and world appear to be the water we are all swimming in right now. Our readings give us some guideposts for hope and light to help us to see through the haze to what and who truly matters.

In our first reading from the Second Book of Kings, we are introduced to the Shunammite woman and the prophet Elisha. Upon their first meeting, the Shunammite woman invites Elisha to have dinner with her. There is no evidence that they knew each other at that point. She recognized his need after traveling and offered him hospitality. Their time together must have been positive because Elisha continued to visit with this woman and her husband each time he came through the area. Their friendship grew to such a point that she was even willing to have a room built for him to stay. What began with a simple gesture of empathy and hospitality would be blessed with new life.

There is an echo here of the Genesis account where three men come to visit Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18:1-15). Abraham immediately invites the men to stay with them and appeals to Sarah to make bread and he would go and he would fetch a calf. Their welcome and hospitality are met with the praise that when they return the following year, Sarah would be with child.

We may not have the opportunity to invite a three Persons of the Trinity or a prophet to dine or live with us in our homes, but we can start with some smaller acts of interaction. When our kids, no longer kids anymore but adults, returned home from California to visit on holidays, my wife, JoAnn, would take them to Publix to stock up on food for their stay. They were constantly amazed at how many of the workers there knew their mom.

The reason was that JoAnn took small moments during each visit to interact with them. Initially, she would say hello and ask how they were doing, then slowly on subsequent visits got to know a little more about their families and their lives. Instead of rushing through the store and taking the presence of the workers for granted, JoAnn saw real people with real lives and built real relationships through small gestures of empathy.

In our Gospel reading, Matthew records Jesus saying to his apostles: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10:37). This may seem the exact opposite of the hospitality that we just encountered! These words would have been abhorrent to the people of his time. Family ties meant everything. Jesus is sounding more like a gang leader than a messiah. They need to be loyal to him first and foremost even before their own parents or children.

Jesus was making two key points. First, he is restating the Ten Commandments in that our most important relationship, even more than our family, is to be with God. You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, your mind, and your strength. We are to put God first before all things and all people, even family. Second, and even more startling, Jesus is equating himself with God which is the only way this statement makes any sense. Jesus is no mere rabbi, teacher, or prophet. Jesus is the Son of God incarnate. As we deepen our relationship with Jesus and follow him first before all, we will not only grow closer to God, our relationships, our activities, our very thoughts, words, and actions will be more properly ordered.

To enter the diaconate program, the wife of the applicant must sign that she is in agreement with the process and that goes right up until the day of ordination. If she is not on board, she can pull the plug at any time. Initially, JoAnn was not fully behind the idea. With the challenges to my time already high because of the demands of my teaching schedule, formation would add more challenges. I was taking a risk even presenting the idea to JoAnn. Yet, I believed Jesus was calling me forward. We both trusted that this was God’s will and we followed through with formation, to ordination, and beyond.

There were indeed challenges and tensions because of this decision and we learned to lean on Jesus through each ebb and flow. God first in our lives, meant changes and sacrifices made for each other, and fortunately, we didn’t grow apart but together. And growing not only closer to God and each other but we grew closer in our relationships at our parish of St Peter and Cardinal Newman HS where I taught then as well.

Not to be left in the lectionary gathering dust, in our second reading, St Paul helps us to understand that our relationships even transcend death. For those of us who have been “baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death” (Romans 6:3). Jesus has conquered death and he has risen and will die no more. This he promises for us as well. Those who have died with Christ shall rise with him. Death does not have the final say, Jesus does.

In three months, it will be seven years since JoAnn died. We shared twenty-three wonderful years together. She taught me how to be less selfish, less contemptuous and judgmental, she taught me how to come out of myself and how to love. In the first few months after her passing, I was having trouble recalling memories of our time together and began to fear that I would forget her. Over those first months and first two years, I realized that the sorrow and grief of loss was strong and I had been holding on too tightly to who I lost.

The past five years has been a time of healing and letting go of my grip. I have started not only to experience some spontaneous memories like her laugh while doing the dishes one night, her presence when I made time for walks, and activity we did almost nightly, but even more wonderful, feeling brief moments of her being close in unexpected moments, especially during Mass. 

JoAnn had often tried to think of a business idea that we could all do as a family. Our youngest daughter, Christy, came up with a creative business idea a few years back and shared it with me. I was still living in our home then, and after our discussion went out to mow. As I was thinking about Christy’s idea, and after a few circles around the lawn, I felt this deep feeling of joy and warmth in my chest, and tears welled up in my eyes. I knew it was JoAnn’s joy that Christy was adopting JoAnn’s entrepreneurial spirit. 

So yes, we are continuing to experience times of uncertainty, upheaval, and unrest. What has helped me is to not focus on what is beyond my control but what is in my sphere of influence. What has helped me tremendously has been setting non-negotiable practices to spend with God throughout the day. I am just as busy now if not more than I have ever been, but find myself less defined by my external circumstances. I feel much less anxious and stressed, even when the external wave of activity and demands become overwhelming.

What was true during the time of our biblical readings is still true for us today. God must be first in our lives, he calls us to be in a relationship with him and each other, and the more we attend to both, the better we will weather the storms, even death, and the more joyful we will be even as we go through trials together. 

We can’t change the country and the world, but we can change ourselves. We can reach out to others in our realm of influence. Wherever and whenever we interact, we can make an extra effort to be understanding, kind, respectful, and hospitable. We can resist taking each other for granted and be more present and listen to one another and our stories. We can choose to resist reacting to and instead see each other as God sees us. 

Then as we begin to change, and those around us change that can begin to ripple out to begin to bring healing and reconciliation to the many who need to experience it. Life is short, even in the best of circumstances. God loves us more than we can ever imagine with a love that even transcends death. When we experience God’s love, we will seek him more. Let us make a deeper commitment today to love God first so to better love ourselves and one another as God loves us. 

Photo: Taking up our cross as Jesus did will help us to keep our eyes fixed on him, who is our light through the darkness.

Mass readings for Sunday, June 28, 2026

“I will come and cure”.

The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed” (Mt 8:8).

After Jesus finishes his Sermon on the Mount, he comes down from the mountain. In the opening of chapter eight, we see two hearts open to God, a leper and a centurion. The centurion may or may not have been a Roman but he certainly was a Gentile. He, a member of an occupying army, was aware of the animosity many Jews felt toward him. Yet he, like the leper, approached Jesus.

Unlike the leper, the centurion came for another. He did not seek to come because of his family members or his soldiers was suffering, he came for his servant. He, like the leper, showed boldness and faith. He might have even a few days before thought this Jewish man was beneath him, and yet, he approached Jesus because he believed that he could heal his servant. It is also curious that the centurion who is used to giving orders does not order Jesus to heal his servant, he doesn’t even ask him to heal his servant. He just states the fact that his servant is suffering, which shows even more trust that Jesus will do something about it, but Jesus’ terms not the centurion’s own terms.

“I will come and cure him.” Jesus’ response is a little lost in the translation. “Jesus acknowledges the boldness of the centurion’s request in his response, which is better translated as an exclamatory question: ‘Shall I come and cure him?’ With the emphatic ‘I,’ it is as if Jesus is saying, ‘Shall I, a Jew, come to your home?'” (Mitch and Sri, 126). The centurion acknowledges then his unworthiness to have Jesus enter his home. He who has been used to ordering others has the humility to say that he is not even worthy to have Jesus come, he can just speak and he believed that his servant would be healed.

Jesus saw in the leper, not revulsion, and in the centurion, not an enemy, but first and foremost, human beings in need, two persons with boldness, belief, and deep faith. Jesus also healed the mother-in-law of Peter, who did not ask to be healed. He saw her need, her illness, and again was willing to come close to touch her. Many who were possessed also came and Jesus reached out to them with a simple touch of his hand or authority in his words. The kingdom of his Father is open to all who have faith and believe.

We, like the leper, are wounded and in need of the healing words and touch of Jesus in our lives. Jesus draws close to us as well and is only waiting for us to ask to be healed and transformed by his love and mercy. We, like the centurion, can approach Jesus on behalf of others in need of healing. We can even assume the posture of Peter’s mother-in-law and be open with our hearts and minds to receive Jesus’ healing invitation.

Jesus has come to remind us of the truth of who we are – daughters and sons of our Father, and our inheritance is to receive the love of the Holy Spirit. From a new posture of abiding in God’s love we will better resist the temptation to judge anyone as unworthy to receive the same grace, love, and mercy we have received. We are all unworthy of God’s love which he offers as a gift. God loves us not by anything we do but because we are his children. This is why we state the words of the centurion just before we receive Jesus in the gift of his true presence in the Eucharist. As we acknowledge our unworthiness, Jesus comes close to us in such an intimate way, to be consumed, so that we will be healed.

Drawing: Rembrandt’s The Healing of the Mother-in-Law of Saint Peter

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, June 27, 2026

Jesus has come close not to fix us or solve our problems but to love us.

“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it.  Be made clean” (Mt 8:2-3).

Jesus could have healed the man with a word from a distance. Instead, he chose to come close, to reach out, and touch the leper. In doing so, he risked contamination, risked being deemed ritually unclean. Jesus came close anyway and touched the man. Jesus was not contaminated nor did he become unclean, the man was healed. The Son of God, consubstantial with his Father, beyond all space and time, was sent by his Father in a certain time and place, to come close. While remaining fully divine, he took on flesh in the womb of Mary and became fully human. He became one with us in our humanity so we could and can become one with him in his divinity.

God did not make us machines nor are we mathematical formulas. God created us to be human beings with emotions, senses, dreams, desires, and souls. He created us physical and spiritual. So when life gets bumpy and we suffer, we want an answer. We have to be careful where we seek though. We are not machines to be fixed, nor problems to be solved. We are human beings created in God’s image to be loved. The healing that Jesus offers the leper is not a fixing or a solving, but a loving of his brother. He was willing to come close, touch the man, love him. Do we seek only a physical solution or a deeper communion?

Much of our suffering in our world today is a result of our not willing to come or allow another to come close. By keeping others away, we keep Jesus away. We may not say it in the same words, but aren’t there those we consider unclean and so deemed to be kept at arm’s length? When we do so, we cut others and ourselves off from intimacy with one another AND God. We then believe the stirring negative thoughts swirling around in our minds about the other person or persons. Instead of getting to know some-one, a human person, with their imperfections yes, but also their gifts, we judge. We keep others as other, at a distance and in doing so reduce people to two dimensional caricatures.

Getting to know someone beyond first appearances or prejudgements happens when we spend time together. There is a lot more to who we are than the caricatures we may have had imposed upon us or we have imposed upon others. This is also true regarding our relationship with God. We so often attempt to reduce God to what we can understand, to attempt to understand him as a problem to be solved. God is not going to be solved and is not about limitation but expansion. He comes close to us in his Son so through Jesus we can get to know the love of the Holy Spirit shared between them and once we have experienced this love we can begin to heal and expand beyond our finite limitations.

Jesus continues to come close, to touch and heal us as he did the leper in today’s Gospel. If we are willing, he seeks to be intimately a part of every aspect of our lives. He seeks to accompany us in our fears, struggles, suffering, and pain. He also celebrates with us when we overcome, repent, experience joy, and especially when we love one another. When we close the gap and draw close, willing to be a conduit of accompaniment and reconciliation, we will begin to see healing in ourselves, our families, communities, and beyond our bubble wrap of comfort. The question is: Are we, like the leper, willing to allow Jesus to come close and like Jesus, willing to draw near?

Photo: “Jesus has to enter into the drama of human existence, for that belongs to the core of his mission; he has to penetrate it completely, down to its uttermost depths, in order to find the ‘lost sheep,’ to bear it on his shoulders, and to bring it home” (Pope Benedict XVI, p. 26).

Ratzinger, Joseph: Pope Benedict XVI. Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration. New York: Double Day, 2007.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, June 26, 2026