In today’s Gospel, we have available to us the parallel to The Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25:14-30, which is the Parable of the Ten Gold Coins from Luke 19:11-28. There are some differences. A key opening point is that in Matthew’s account, we do not know why or where the master goes after he entrusted three of his servants with talents; five, two, and one respectively. In Luke’s account the man is a noble and he “went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return” (Lk 19:12). He called ten servants to invest a gold coin he gave each of them. The theme that is similar in both accounts is that when the man returns, two of the servants invested well and brought about a greater return on their investment, and one hid what he was given out of fear of his lord.

Another added feature in Luke’s account was the fellow citizens of the nobleman that did not want him to be king and openly opposed him. The nobleman after attaining his kingship and returning successfully, dealt harshly, to say the least, with those who opposed him, having them slain. Those listening to Jesus tell the parable would understand this outcome, as it was not uncommon in the ancient Near East for a ruler to slay those who would oppose his rise.

The readings over this week continue in this vein of eschatological talk, references to the second coming of Jesus, and final judgment because we are in the final two weeks of the liturgical year. The readings present us with the reality that there will be a judgment by God, but what Jesus makes clear is that we are not the judge and jury, though many appropriate this role for themselves. We are only accountable for the talent or gold coin we have been entrusted with.

There is a unique gift that God has given each of us, and we are called by him to put this gift into action to be a part of building up the kingdom of God. We need to resist burying this gift or wrapping it in a handkerchief and hiding it away. Doubts, fears, and anxieties will arise in our hearts and minds. We may say to ourselves, “I don’t even know where to begin.” One place to begin is to pray with the one who calls us to participate in his work.

How we respond will be different for each one of us. Our starting point though will be the same. We are to trust in God guidance regarding how best we can serve and open ourselves to the love of the Holy Spirit such that in the words of Pope Francis we may: “Have the courage to go against the tide of this culture of efficiency, this culture of waste. Encountering and welcoming everyone, [building] solidarity – a word that is being hidden by this culture, as if it were a bad word – solidarity and fraternity: these are what make our society truly human” (Pope Francis 2014, 61).

We are to share the love that God gives us with one another, but we are not mere social workers. We are to be contemplatives in action. We are invited to begin each day in prayer, receiving the Eucharist whenever and as often as possible, and ask God for guidance regarding how we are to put into action the gift of his love that he has given us. We can trust that Jesus will be with us each step of the way. He will sustain, guide, and give us the strength to accomplish the task before us.

Photo: An icon of prayer for discernment in solidarity and fraternity

Francis, Pope. The Church of Mercy: A Vision For the Church. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2014.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Yet again, as in the Gospel from yesterday, the crowd gets in the way of someone seeking access to Jesus. The wall of people does not appear to be overtly keeping Zacchaeus from seeing Jesus, as they may be so focused on seeing him themselves that they are not aware. There is also the possibility that the people were aware of that this man was trying to get through. They knew Zacchaeus, and many judged him to be the sinner of sinners. He was the chief tax collector of the area and that meant he was most likely reviled by most in his community. Each time Zacchaeus nudged by to get through a gap to get a better look, the individuals may have time and again closed each gap such that he could not get through.

Zacchaeus was not thwarted. He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree. From his perch he was not only able to see Jesus, Jesus saw him and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house” (Lk 19:5). Jesus did not see a tax collector or a sinner, he saw a seeker. One who was also willing to humble himself by climbing a tree, much like a child.

Jesus does not see the 99% nor the 1%. Jesus sees people in need of compassion and mercy. Jesus did not meet Zacchaeus with judgment but with love and compassion, and that made all the difference for conversion.

Jesus acknowledged the one who so many despised, and by inviting himself to dine with Zacchaeus in his own home, Zacchaeus must have felt overwhelmed with emotion. Maybe for the first time in his life, he felt like a person with dignity. He then repented on the spot as a response to the love he had received, with the words: “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over” (LK 19:8).

The encounter of Jesus and Zacchaeus offers us an inspiring model to start seeing each other as human beings. One way to do so is to resist the temptation to “grumble”, to gossip, to pre-judge, and/or to dehumanize one another. Jesus invites us instead to see beyond the exterior and to be willing to go deeper to the heart and character of the person. To do that, we need to be willing to encounter one another with a posture of understanding and a willingness to spend time with one another.

When we do so, we will move from being people who seek to define and limit ourselves by our identity, and instead open ourselves up to being people of integrity. This means resisting the temptation of building walls that protect ourselves from others and instead building bridges of dialogue to embrace the wonderful gift of our God-given diversity.

Integrity means that we will be more present and aware, we will stand with and stand up for someone who is ignored, belittled, dehumanized, harassed, discriminated against, ridiculed, abused, objectified, persecuted, segregated, and prevented access no matter their gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, income level, class, political party, religion or none.

Life is hard enough, so let’s stop grumbling and start healing. Let’s stop preventing access and start opening up opportunities, and let’s stop closing ourselves off and begin to open our arms wide to embrace and accompany one another as we allow Jesus to love others through us. Not only will they be loved and healed, but so will we in the process.

Photo by Belle Co from Pexels.com

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, November 16, 2021

He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me” (Lk 18:38-39)!

The difference between the blind man who shouted to Jesus and the people walking in front of Jesus was that the man knew he was blind. Those preventing access to Jesus were not aware of their spiritual blindness. Luke does not say why the people were preventing access to Jesus, just as Jesus in his parable of the Good Samaritan did not say why the priest or the Levite did not help the man dying on the road to Jericho.

Why would the people prevent the man from having access to Jesus? Especially since he was asking for pity or mercy. One practical reason could be time. They were on the way to Jericho, their mind was set to get there, and stay on the schedule they would. Another could be that the man was a beggar. He was not seen to have dignity and worth, so they attempted to quiet him so he could go back to being invisible. The Jericho road was a dangerous road, maybe this was just a setup, a way to lure Jesus into an ambush.

Ultimately, we do not know why they attempted to prevent the man access. The more important question is how often do we prevent others from accessing Jesus for similar reasons? We do not have the time, they are other, we may not see their dignity and worth as human beings, and/or we are afraid of difference so we keep others at arm’s length. Could it be we are just indifferent to the suffering of others?

Jesus responded differently to the call of the beggar in today’s Gospel account. He stopped and had the blind man brought to him. He made the time, saw him as a fellow brother with dignity and worth, and he took the risk to reach out to someone in need, and healed him. As Pope Francis has said, “[Jesus] understands human sufferings, he has shown the face of God’s mercy, and he has bent down to heal body and soul. This is Jesus. This is his heart” (Francis 2014, opening page).

This is to be our response as well. Even if we do not understand the suffering of another, Jesus does. We are invited to stop, to be present, to enter the chaos of another, and trust that Jesus will be present through us to provide mercy. Are we willing to resist indifference and fear and instead see each person we encounter, not as other, but as a fellow human being? We do this best by making the time and being present. Are we willing to ask Jesus to heal our blindness that we may be willing to see the dignity and worth of each person that we meet so that those we encounter see in us the face of God’s mercy?

Photo: Healing the Blind Man by Yongsu Kim

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, November, 15, 2021

There are only two weeks left of the liturgical year and so our readings are focused on the eschatological or end times. These writings are also called apocalyptic because they unveil or reveal hope to a people in dark times of oppression. They are addressing the issue of where is God in the midst of our suffering. Their focus is not that we are to know the exact time and hour of the end, as Jesus revealed in the Gospel: “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mk 13:32).

The focus instead is, as recorded in our first reading from Daniel: whose name is written in the book (Daniel 12:1)? and in Hebrews10:12, that Jesus took his seat at the right hand of God forever.

What our readings reveal for us today is that what is important is relationship. We are not written in the book of life by some predestined oracle such that we are merely pawns on God’s chessboard. We are written in the book of life because we have been saying yes to the invitation of building our relationship with Jesus and his Father through the love of the Holy Spirt.

Today, we, as have those in the times of the Bible and throughout every generation of human history, are experiencing division, polarization, abuse, and violence, such that it appears like our church, society, and government are coming apart at the seams. This reality is not an invitation for indifference, cynicism, despair, or to retaliate with more hatred or violence. We need to remember our first love. We need to deepen our relationship with Jesus who conquered death and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. We need to be open to building relationships with each other.

Viktor Frankl in his book Man’s Search for Meaning wrote:

“We who lived in the concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in numbers but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: The last of his freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.’

An answer to the growing division and polarization is not to curve in upon oneself, to hide in our shell, and/or to put our head in the sand.

Jesus built the Church one person, one relationship at a time. We are to do the same. At our parish of St Peter we have been inviting our parishioners to gather weekly in small groups. This practice has provided opportunities to come together to learn more about our faith and share our journey. One of the strengths of the small group JoAnn and I joined is that we respect the diversity of each of our viewpoints. We each see issues from our unique perspectives and often do not agree with each other but we afford one another the opportunity to share our viewpoints freely and openly, listen to each other, while respecting and loving each other in the process.

Even on the nights when we were too tired to attend, JoAnn and I felt blessed when we went. We grew closer over the years, so much so, that each person in our small group played a significant part in JoAnn’s funeral Mass. Even through this time of pandemic we continue to meet together through ZOOM, although I have only recently returned as I continue to recover from pneumonia. The latest blessing came on September 25, when I was able to bless Katie and Michael’s daughter Marcella!

Differences do not have to mean division. By engaging in authentic and respectful dialogue, we can vent, listen, encourage, provide support, share advice, and lean on each other with each of the struggles that we face and the joys we experience. As we do so, we can dismantle walls of division and dehumanization and instead build bridges of encounter by broadening our experiences and perspectives so to be more willing to listen to, care for, and serve one another.

Photo: Marcella, one of the newest members of St. Peter Catholic Church!

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, November 14, 2021

Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary (Lk 18:1).

Persistence in prayer is not changing God. We are not wearing him down like the woman did with the judge. God does not need us. God is completely and totally self-sufficient. We are the ones who need him. Our persistence, our daily habit of prayer, changes us, helps us to develop our relationship by interacting with him more consistently. Things happening in our lives help us to see that we are fragile and vulnerable and in need of help. Our persistence in prayer, especially when we are in need, helps us to become more patient and to become more aware that, sometimes, what we believe is a crisis is not that much of one when some time passes. Also, when we are dealing with a crisis or very real trauma, our persistence and faithfulness in prayer will help us to experience the closeness of Jesus in our midst as he accompanies us through our suffering.

In fact, the practice of stopping everything and praying for five minutes when a crisis arises, often helps us to resist slipping into a fight or flight mode, helps us to resist reacting, and consciously breathing while praying helps us to act more prudently than impulsively. We may also come to see that what we thought was a crisis, was more of a problem to be solved rather than something catastrophic. Our instant reactions to perceived crises can often escalate an issue rather than de-escalate one.

In the greater scheme of things, God answers all prayers of petition or intercession by saying yes, no, or not yet! Most seem to fall in the not yet or not the way we originally intended category. Remaining patient and faithful can help us to move away from seeking to conform God to our will and instead allowing him to expand our hearts and minds to his will. Through this expansion, we can come to see the situation from a broader perspective. Our persistence in prayer also helps us to move away from seeking instant gratification to trusting more in God’s will and timing. Sometimes we become grateful for what appears to be unanswered prayers because with time, hindsight, and some distance, we find our original request was more an apparent than an actual good.

Persistence in prayer is also a discipline that deepens the roots of our relationship with God. Ready access through our modern technology, higher internet speeds, one-click access, and overnight shipping, can offer plusses, but we have to be careful that this mindset does not shape our mental, psychological, and spiritual growth. Physical fitness, wisdom, or spiritual maturity does not happen in an instant. More importantly, development as human beings and our relationships take time, experience, discipline, prayer, and trust in God’s plan.

Patience, persistence in prayer, freeing ourselves from attachment, developing an authentic relationship with God and one another are all worth the effort. We need to take some time to breathe deeply, slow down our pace, discipline ourselves to resist even small acts of instant gratification each day. No matter how busy we are, it is important to slow down, and the busier we are the more we need to slow down. Even if we stop to pray and feel like nothing has happened and that it was a waste of time, something has happened. But to see the effects we must be patient and persistent. God has our back, we can trust in that.

Photo: A quiet moment of prayer after school a few days ago.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, November 13, 2021

This was actually to be posted yesterday and yesterday’s was supposed to be for today. Still not a 100% as you can see!

Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you” (Lk 17:20-21).

Many of the Pharisees were scrutinizing Jesus’ every word and action, unfortunately, with a hard heart. They were closed to the reality present before them because they were looking for ways to accuse him, to catch him, to have cause to show him to be a fraud. They were closed to the actual events happening around Jesus that the blind saw, the deaf heard, the lame walked, lepers, were healed, the dead had arisen, and the poor had the good news proclaimed to them (cf. Matthew 11:5).

They missed the very reality that the Kingdom of God was in their midst. We see this very much today through the mental posturing of “scientism”, the belief that the only reality is that which can be measured empirically, through the five senses. Scientists have brought about many advances and innovations that we enjoy today, yet there is a reality beyond the physical. This is the spiritual, which transcends the three-dimensional reality that we experience and are aware of through our senses. We understand the world around us better when we embrace both science and theology, the physical and the spiritual, as well as embrace the gifts of our reason and our faith.

If our mind is closed to an idea, a reality, and/or a belief we will not only resist believing, we will also seek rationalizations to explain it away as did some of the Pharisees. From a hypersensitivity to accept only the physical, we can brush off acts of synchronicity as mere coincidence. Yet, if we are open to the spiritual reality of interconnectedness beyond that which we can measure finitely, these incidences can be termed, God-incidences.

We cannot solve or prove God like a problem because God is not in the genus of being, he is not an animal, a human, an angelic, spiritual, or even a supreme being. There are no words to adequately describe God. This is why pronouns are woefully inadequate as well, for God is neither male nor female. We can say more about what God is not than what or who God is! The best attempts we have are that God is an Infinite Act of Existence or to use the phrasing of St Thomas Aquinas, Ipsum Esse Subsistens – The sheer act of ‘to be’ itself, or as God said to Moses, “I am, who am” (Exodus 3:14). God is completely transcendent, beyond categories, beyond the genus, beyond the grasp of our finite minds, yet we can experience him because God is closer to us than we are to ourselves.

We will not encounter God by forcing God to come to us on our own terms, by attempting to force-fit God into our finite conceptions. God meets us where we are and as we are, on his terms. As we open ourselves to his presence, accept his invitation, he then helps us to expand, to experience more broadly, who we, others, and our world are. We experience this best when we truly love, when we go out from our own self-centered stance to will the good of another, to love. We become more when we follow what truly brings us joy and fulfills us. We encounter God through embracing the wonders of his creation!

As Jesus said to Philip, “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). The Kingdom of God is among us because Jesus is who he said he is. Jesus is fully God and fully man in our midst. By his very presence, he shows us that there is no opposition or competition but a union between heaven and earth. We will never fully comprehend God, but we can come to know and understand God, ourselves, and the world around us better when we breathe with both lungs of faith and reason, embrace our intellect as well as our spirit. As St. John Paul II stated, “Faith without reason is superstition” and as attributed to Albert Einstein, “Reason without faith is boring.”

Photo: Georges Lemaître, priest and astrophysicist, father of the Big Bang theory. 

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, November 11. 2021

In today’s Gospel account, Jesus continues to answer the Pharisees’ question about “when the kingdom of God would come” (Lk 17:20). Jesus reminds them about how during the time of Noah and during the time of Lot many were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, buying, selling, planting, building (cf. Lk 17:26-29). In effect, other than Noah and Lot, and those few listening to them, no one else had any clue about the impending calamity or wanted to know. They were so absorbed in their own pursuits and desires they did not heed the warnings of Noah and Lot.

Another focal point was on those who were attached to only material and finite things. When the final hour came, people on the rooftop or in the field were directed not to go back and get their possessions. Jesus pointed out succinctly, “Remember the wife of Lot” (Lk 17:32). Lot left Sodom with his wife, she did so physically, though she could not resist looking back, she was too tied to what she was leaving behind, and so she lost herself to her attachments.

Spending time speculating when the end will come is a pointless pursuit. What is more important is being aware of the kingdom of God in our midst, developing a relationship with God now. Matthew shared in his gospel account that Jesus stated only the Father knows the time or the hour as to when the end will come (cf. Mt 24:36). If we are only going to prepare at the final hour, we may be too late.

Asking, “When will the kingdom of God come?” also misses the point of what Jesus is teaching us. There is an intrinsic value in developing a relationship with God and one another, now, growing and maturing as a disciple, now, instead of fulfilling our own self-centered-interests. Jesus shared this truth in the first words of his public ministry, that the kingdom of God is at hand (cf. Mk 1:15). All we need to do is reach right out and grasp his extended hand of invitation and walk with him.

For many of the Pharisees, this meant letting go of their own power and prestige and participating instead in the living reality of God in their midst. So many of us are caught up in the day to day affairs of existing that we are barely living. We can also be distracted by false lures and attractions of security and gratification, wealth, power, pleasure, and honor, that we miss what is for our highest hope and good. Jesus is inviting us to wake up, to breathe deep, to slow down, and to be aware that he walks among us. Jesus calls us, as Lot called his wife, to keep our focus on God and the things of heaven.

Lord Jesus, help us to recognize when we are caught up in distractions and diversions, when we are choosing to put our self first, and where we are attached and bound up to empty pursuits. Guide us, such that we, in the words of Pope Francis, “understand what faith means when we open ourselves to the immense love of God that changes us inwardly and enables us to see our lives with new eyes” (Costello 2013, 12). Eyes that see the kingdom of God in our midst and the promise of which is our eternal home.

Photo: JoAnn, Jack, and Christy hiking ahead of me during our California visit in December 2015. Little did any of us know then that we would be back in 2019 for JoAnn’s walk with Jesus going ahead of us into the eternal Kingdom of God.

Costello, Gwen. Walking With Pope Francis: Thirty Days with the Encyclical The Light of Faith. New London, CT: Twenty Third Publications, 2013.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, November 11, 2021

Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you” (Lk 17:17-19).

Bloodline doesn’t matter, gender doesn’t matter, nation doesn’t matter, ethnicity or race doesn’t matter. Ask Mary the mother of Jesus, ask Mary Magdalene, ask the woman who suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years, ask the Roman centurion whose slave was dying, ask the Samaritan leper what matters. Each of them will share with us that what matters is our faith in Jesus the Christ.

The lifeblood of Christianity is our belief in and developing of our relationship with Jesus, the Son of God, who made his dwelling among us. St Irenaeus of Lyons (born in Smyrna about 135-140 AD and died about 202-203 AD) in his work Against the Heresies wrote: “The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did through His transcendent love, become what we are, that he might bring us to be even what He is himself.”

That Jesus became one with us in our humanity so that we can be one with him in his divinity is something to be thankful for! Many times when we are feeling down, maybe it is because we are focusing on what we do not have or who is not in our life instead of being thankful for who or what we do have. A way to adjust our perspective is to think about three things we are grateful for.

The leper from today’s Gospel helps us to take the next step. Once we become aware of what we are thankful for, we are to reach out and thank the one who made what we have possible. Our time on earth is too short to allow the temptations of indifference and complacency to take hold. May we be more aware and take action to reach out to those who are important in our lives and tell them how thankful we are that they are in it, how much they mean to us, and how much we love them. Make some time to thank God today for his constant presence, the wonderful gift of the invitation of Jesus to share in his divinity, and the Holy Spirit who leads us to love one another as he loves us.

Photo: I am thankful for the best day of my life, our wedding day and grateful for the twenty-three years we had together!

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, November 10, 2021

When I ask my students if Jesus ever sinned, inevitably, someone references the account from today’s Gospel. In these verses, we read how Jesus, “made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area” (Jn 2:15). Jesus is not sinning here, rather, he is acting in line with the prophetic tradition. Jesus is making a bold spectacle to drive home the point that the temple is not a marketplace but is to be a place of worship and right praise to his Father.

Greater still than the temple, is the people of God. Further down in the text, when those present ask for a sign to justify this act, Jesus said: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19). Clearly, he was pointing to his body as the temple of God and referring to his Resurrection to come.

The temple, the house of God, believed to be the corporal presence, the very seat of God among his people, Israel, was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. This left a tremendous spiritual vacuum. Two groups that were intimately tied to the sacrificial cult of the temple, the Sadducees and the Essenes, very soon after the destruction, ceased to exist as a sect within Judaism. The Pharisees, who already were moving to a practice of home worship that mirrored the worship in the temple, would survive and be the ancestral root of Judaism today. Another sect would also arise as the followers of the new way of Jesus which became the Church, the Body of Christ.

Each of us has a unique part to play in the Church. We are called to bear witness and practice, in our own unique way, our faith in our everyday experiences. We may be the only Bible someone ever reads. This call to put our faith into action is not an invitation to be overwhelmed by nor an excuse to assume a posture of elitism. We are no better than anyone else.

Pope Francis wrote: “Believers should not be presumptuous; rather, truth leads to humility. We know it is not ourselves possessing truth, it is truth that embraces and possesses us” (Costello 2013, 14). We are to seek and follow Jesus, the Truth, and allow his truth to shape our lives. We need to resist being defensive and rigid. Instead, we are called to be flexible and open to dialogue, sharing our stories and experiences, and inviting others to do the same. When we are willing to encounter and walk together, we learn and grow from one another. In this way, we become less other and more human to one another.

We need to resist all that contributes in any way to the dehumanization, hate, and violence that is rampant in our country and the world by rooting ourselves in Jesus, the living Temple. We all fall short of the glory of God and on our own, we are limited in how far we can go. We need to be willing to be conformed to God’s will through spending consistent time in silence, prayer, meditation, study, worship, and service to be empowered by the love of Christ to be instruments of peace, contemplatives in action, and advocates for healing and reconciliation in a wounded and weary church, politics, country, and world.

Photo: Exiting Mass from Mission del Rey, Oceanside, CA. One of the ways we are dismissed after Mass is to “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by our life.”

Costello, Gwen. Walking With Pope Francis: Thirty Days with the Encyclical The Light of Faith. New London, CT: Twenty Third Publications, 2013.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, November 9, 2021

“If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him” (Lk 17:3-4).

Forgiveness is one of the foundational principles of our faith tradition as Christians. If we question or struggle with the degree of forgiveness we engage in, we are in good company with Peter. Thinking he was being generous, Peter asked Jesus how many times should he forgive, seven times? Jesus responded, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times” (cf. Mt 18:21-22).

Luke records the exchange of the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray. He taught them the Our Father or Lord’s Prayer. While reciting this prayer often each day or multiple times each day, we say, “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” or “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Mt 6:11-12).

One of the barometers of being a faithful disciple of Jesus is that we are people who practice the sacred act of forgiveness. To forgive does not mean in any way that we justify the offense or even necessarily forget. We are to hold people accountable and lead them to respect our dignity and the dignity of others.

Holding on to grudges, seeking revenge, being unwilling to forgive, can be incapacitating, debilitating, and can lead to a premature as well as eternal death. What can be of help is if we can choose to be more mindful of our thoughts and actions. At the moment we experience discomfort from what someone says or does, instead of giving in to the temptation to react or to let our mind run with the offense, we need to take some deep breaths and relax our shoulders. As the negative thoughts attempt to rise again, don’t fight or feed the thoughts, just return to being aware of our breath and ask Jesus to help us be more understanding and forgiving.

Often we project onto others our own stuff, but we also rarely know what another is going through or dealing with. This is not a justification for the harm done, but a way to see a different perspective than our own limited point of view, and possibly bring us a few steps closer to being more understanding and supportive instead of defensive. In this way, we can provide an opportunity of healing for the one who has inflicted us.

We may struggle with being forgiving because we may not have sought forgiveness ourselves. Advent is coming. It is a season to prepare to celebrate the coming of Jesus into our lives. This season provides a wonderful opportunity to participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Forgiveness is a healing gift of God’s grace. Once we have felt the healing balm of forgiveness, we might be more willing to forgive others.

A good practice to engage in is to go to a place of quiet, ask God to help you to forgive, even if your prayer begins, “God, I cannot forgive, I hurt too much, but help me to let go, please help me to forgive, (insert name).” Return each day until you can bring yourself to say, “I forgive, (insert name).” Visualize yourself saying that you forgive the person face to face and imagine a healing between each of you. If the opportunity presents itself you may want to say that you forgive the person directly, send an email, or write a letter – even if you do not press send or mail it.

With the intent to forgive and asking for the help of Jesus who has forgiven us, even if in the beginning we are unwilling, with time, reconciliation is possible. Depending on the hurt that has been inflicted you may not reach out to the other person as it may be healthier to stay apart. Forgiveness will help you to heal and not allow the person who has hurt you to continue to do so. In our willingness to forgive, there is freedom. Let us remember: “Forgive and you will be forgiven”.

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The quiet of the morning is a good time to seek forgiveness and begin the day renewed. Photo from retreat a few weeks back at Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, November 8, 2021