For many of us, judging one another is almost as automatic as breathing. As we encounter someone we have instant internal judgments. We judge looks, clothes, actions, inactions, homes, cars, and material items. We judge our family, spouses, friends, colleagues, classmates, leaders, enemies, celebrities, as well as those different from us and those on the peripheries. Much of what gets our attention when we take the time to think about it is what Jesus is addressing in today’s Gospel, negative judgments.

Jesus said to his disciples: “How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye” (Mt 7:4-5).

There are positive judgments that bring about effective change for the good. In a court case, our hope is that the judge is learned in the law and guides the lawyers and jury in ways of sound judgment such that justice with mercy is served. For us to do likewise in our everyday interactions with one another, Jesus shares that we need to remove the wooden beam from our eye first before we are able to remove the splinter in another’s.

Jesus is leading us to experience transformation. He is inviting us to change our hearts such that they are no longer hardened by negative judgments of others based on our biases and prejudices, but softened, such that they are open to the mercy and love of Jesus. This does not mean that we accept any and all behaviors, actions, and inactions from ourselves and others. Jesus does not do this. Jesus accepts ALL people as we are and where we are, with mercy. He is willing to enter our chaos, to embrace any and ALL of us who will receive the invitation of his healing embrace, and through his love Jesus accompanies and walks with us, leading us from our slavery of sin to that which is True, Good, and Beautiful.

We participate in the life of Jesus when we allow him to heal us from our own limitations of self-centered perceptions, from the denial and suppression of our anxieties and fears that lead to the developing of our biases and prejudices. Then we will begin to see others as God sees them, as human beings endowed with dignity because ALL people have been created in the image and likeness of God.

We participate in making our realm of influence a better place when we allow God to love and to bestow his mercy upon others through us. We participate in Jesus’ work of redemption when our judgments toward ourselves and others are not condemnations but convictions that help to empower, build, and lift up our brothers and sisters.

We participate in taking the log out of our own eye and assisting to remove the splinter in another’s eye when we are willing to admit to our shortcomings, weaknesses, and failures, and then learning and growing from those experiences. We are then in a better position to be able to accompany others in their own chaos, to journey side by side, willing to help each other to be transformed into who God is calling us to be.

These steps will begin when we first are willing to lay down our gavels of judgment, biases, and prejudices and instead, with open hearts on fire with the love and mercy of the Holy Spirit, offer our hands to one another with an invitation to walk hand in hand, arm in arm, so to be about building each other up.

Photo: One of the best altar server teams of over one hundred altar servers that I was blessed to train and serve with at Holy Cross Parish in the Bronx, NY, around 1991.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, June 21, 2021

One element on display in this recounting of the calming of the storm at sea is the humanity of Jesus. He has finally succumbed to the exhaustion from being pulled and touched, challenged and accused, the constant interaction through his service of teaching, healing, forgiving, and exorcising, that he not only fell asleep on the boat but was in such a deep sleep that he was as if dead, even through the height of the storm tossed the boat. Also, we see his divinity expressed when his disciples wake him and he calmed the storm immediately with just his word: “Quiet! Be Still” (Mk 4:39)!

The disciples have grasped his uniqueness and have accepted him as their rabbi, their teacher, but they are still having trouble comprehending that he is also the Son of God. The disciples will continue to experience his miracles, but it will not be until after the resurrection and ascension, that their faith will find the maturity to participate in the fullness of the ministry Jesus was grooming them for. When the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost, they were tried and true.

Storms arise in our lives, sometimes just as unannounced and as quickly as the squall in today’s Gospel. A health issue, an injury, an economic shift, a conflict in a relationship, the effects of a mistake in judgment or a sinful choice… All can arise at a moment’s notice just as we have been experiencing with this pandemic. We, like the disciples, can sometimes only hold on so as not to be tossed into the sea, or bail out water so we don’t sink. Sooner or later though we may just want to turn to Jesus to seek his aid. A helpful point to keep in mind is one that I learned from one of our past retreat directors, Fr. RB when he offered in one of his homilies: “Sometimes the Lord calms the storm, and sometimes the Lord lets the storm rage on and calms his child.”

I have taken great comfort in those words as well as the words of Pope Francis who has said time and time again, especially during the height of the pandemic in April of 2020, that Jesus cares. No matter the severity of the storm, we can trust that Jesus does care and that he is just as present with us, as he was with his disciples in the boat. Even if we brought the storm upon ourselves, Jesus will not abandon us.

Having experienced a storm or two with Jesus then, we are better able to guide others. We can be like Mary and bear Christ to others, allowing him to be present through us for those who are in need. We can embody the words of Jesus, “Quite be still”, when we are willing to remain during another’s storms, to let another know we care with a hug of support, an active listening ear, a heart open with understanding, and our ongoing and enduring presence.

We can trust that Jesus will calm whatever tempest that rages or our minds to guide us through.

Photo: Afternoon storm clouds

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, June 20, 2021

In today’s Gospel from Matthew, Jesus draws a direct correlation between our level of worry and our faith. Having faith is a common theme throughout Jesus’ teaching. How many times have we read or heard, “O you of little faith” (Mt 6:30). At its core faith is that we trust what Jesus says is true. If we are feeling anxious or worried our focus may be on dwelling on the past, rehashing something we did or did not do, not sure if we made the right decision, or we could be anxious about the future for our minds plague us often with the worst case scenarios of what might be or what could happen. We also may react to another’s actions or words, not fully understanding the context or source of the hurt or struggle they may be going through that caused those words or actions. When we stay focused and become fixated on our own reaction, and/or stay stuck in our emotions of the situation, instead of seeking to understand the other person, our insides can churn.

In each of these occasions we are not focusing on God, we are not trusting in him, we are exercising little faith because our focus is on our self. Jesus is telling us that, “No one can serve two masters” (Mt 6:24). Either we place our self first or we place God first. Jesus is guiding us to put God first in our lives and to trust in him.

Anxiety, worry, and fear, can be debilitating and paralyzing and that downward spiral inward, that curving in upon one self creates expressions of the worst of our humanity. Native Americans, African Americans, Irish, Germans, Catholics, Japanese, and now Latinos have over the years been demeaned, dehumanized, abused and killed, instead of accompanied, heard and encountered. Difference and diversity, terrorists, increased violence, job loss, out right self interests, prejudice and racism have fed and continue to feed the dark side of our fallen nature.,

Jesus’ life, words and actions provide a starting point for shifting the momentum of the cycle of enslavement to our anxieties, worries, fears, and prejudices. In each of our individual circumstances and situations, we need to be aware of, identify, and embrace them and instead, “seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides” (Mt 6:33).

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Photo: First Communion prep class, Bronx, NY early 90’s.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, June 19, 2021

During this time of year, my mind often turns to house and yard upkeep and repair. Time indeed goes quickly. It felt like only a few years ago that we were moving into our Florida home which was newly built in 1999. Over the past twenty-two years, how much updating our house needed and is still in need of! Before we found out that JoAnn was sick we were planning to move to California to be closer to our adult children, so we stepped up our efforts a notch and tore up the original rugs, sealed leaks and filled cracks in the floor, dusted, spackled, sanded, and painted, put in new flooring and kitchen counter tops. At the same time, as we had to move items around, we realized how much we have been weighed down with that which we gathered, saved, and held on to, more than was necessary and so in addition to the above improvements we began to purge, sell, and give away items.

Since we have been here in our home, our three Golden Retrievers are no longer with us, JoAnn’s mother and all of her aunts, and all of my grandparents have also died and a year and a half ago JoAnn also died. Though we did move temporarily to Los Angeles to be closer to our “kids” for the final months of JoAnn’s life, I returned our Florida home in December of 2019.

These opening thoughts are a sketch of the practical reality expressed in my life that highlights the words of Jesus from the first section of our Gospel from Matthew this morning: Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Mt 6:19-21). Jesus is helping his disciples then and us today to be aware of the reality of our world. All that exists is finite and material. Each thing, each being, has a beginning and an end. We need to resist the temptation to be attached to anything, even to our family and friends, because in this life nothing lasts forever.

Adopting an attitude of non-attachment to material things can be freeing as long as we do not embrace the opposite extreme of placing no value in created things, thinking that we can destroy and abuse the environment, exploit each other, because neither will not last. We can also be tempted to see all things not spiritual as corrupt and bad, even our material reality as human beings, such that our soul is imprisoned until we die. This extreme will not bring us happiness, joy, or fulfillment either.

Living a life directed by the Gospel is to embrace a more balanced life of recognizing that much of what is material and finite is good, yet each has a time and a season. We have the opportunity and invitation to be participants in God’s eternal plan of salvation, and we can embrace and enjoy the wonders and gifts of his creation when we don’t hold onto the things of this world too tightly.

We need to resist grasping at and clutching anything material and finite. In this way, we can be freer to embrace the steady movement of the Holy Spirit, which is ever fresh and new. The Holy Spirit seeks to lead us to deepen and to grow in our relationship with our loving God and Father and one another, so to store up our true treasures which are in heaven.

When we embrace the reality that our time here on earth is limited, we might not take it for granted as much, we might realize how precious this life is, and we may give up the urge to belittle, demean, and dehumanize one another. Instead, let us show greater appreciation for each other, strive to be present and accompany one another, seek to be kinder, more supportive, and patient with one another. We need to let the petty things go and embrace the love that Jesus inspires us to live, so to be there for one another through thick and thin.

What helped JoAnn and me during her last months was accepting the gift of knowing that her time was short. We appreciated each moment together more. We had the time to get our affairs in order in this life, so JoAnn could be free to prepare for the next. Death is not easy when we have time to prepare nor when it comes unexpectedly in a flash. Trusting that death does not have the final answer but Jesus does helps. As we all continue our journey together, may we enjoy the goodness of this life while at the same time “store up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal” (Mt 6:20).

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Final weeks in LA. We leaned on each other and Jesus each step of the way! Photo credit: Giovanna Christian

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, June, 18, 2021

Prayer is not so much about bending God’s will to our will, but it is about our transformation and conformation, freeing our sole focus from ourselves as the center of the universe. The world actually does not revolve around us. We are invited to build a relationship with the One who is the creator and sustainer of all that exists.

Jesus guides his disciples on this point when he teaches them how to pray. Jesus said to his disciples: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6:7-8). Jesus is sharing that words matter and have meaning in everyday life as well as in prayer. The words that we speak are to be honest and transformative, not just mindlessly evoked or invoked. Formulaic expressions and the mere volume of words mean very little compared to a few words said with clear intent, focus, and in a mindful and heart filled way.

Jesus is helping us to understand that the form prayer takes or the actual words used do not so much matter as understanding why we pray. We pray to deepen and develop our relationship with the Trinitarian communion of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The very desire to pray is a prayer in itself because we are hearing the invitation of God to be one with him. The first step is to acknowledge this invitation and then to turn our hearts and minds to God. Thomas Dubay, in his book, Fire Within, paraphrases St. Teresa of Avila, the 16th-century doctor of the Church, in saying that “one vocal prayer, even so little as one petition of the Our Father, if well said, is better than many recited thoughtlessly or hurriedly” (Dubay 1989, 76).

Reciting the Our Father, or Lord’s Prayer, that Jesus shares with his disciples in today’s Gospel of Matthew, can be a struggle, because the biggest challenge to a life of prayer is taming, what some Buddhists call, the “monkey mind”. Our thoughts can be actively engaged, random, distracting, and even anxiety inducing within one minute. To overcome the challenge of an unsettled mind we can return to St Teresa again. When we begin to pray, St. Teresa of Avila suggests that we begin “with self-examination and the sign of the Cross” (Dubay 1989, 77).

In this way, we can bring to awareness some issues, struggles, temptations, and sins that we have been dealing with. We can settle into them, instead of run away from them and seek God’s help to be healed and reconciled. In making the sign of the Cross, we bring our self, as we are, into the presence of the Trinity. We receive and experience the love, acceptance, and mercy of God and recognize that we are loved as we are and that we are not alone because we belong and are a part of this infinite community of love. In this simple gesture, we are also uniting our body, mind, and soul with the One who will lead us in our prayer.

The next step is to imagine that Jesus is with us to guide and lead us in our prayer. “Imagine that this Lord Himself is at your side and see how lovingly and how humbly he is teaching you” (Dubay 1989, 77). By mindfully engaging with our breath and our body, we slow down and allow ourselves to become more still.

Finally, we can imagine Jesus teaching us the Our Father as if for the first time, as he did his disciples. Going slowly, one word, one verse at a time, allow Jesus to not only share his words with us, but we can also pause and add our own words. By doing so, we begin to discipline the focus of our mind and can enter into a dialogue with God and receive the blessing of his mercy and love. “Focusing on the indwelling presence, says Teresa, is for wandering minds ‘one of the best ways of concentrating the mind’ in prayer” (Dubay 1989, 77).

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Photo: James Tissot, The Lord’s Prayer by Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum

Dubay, S.M., Thomas. Fire Within: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Gospel on Prayer. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1989.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, June 16, 2021

In the Gospel from Matthew, we hear Jesus continuing his Sermon on the Mount. The teachings of the Beatitudes as well as the six antitheses are powerful lessons that can transform our lives when we put them into action. Today, Jesus presents common practices of living a life of faith. The key point he is making though has again to do with our end goal. As discussed yesterday, as his disciples we are called to be “perfect just as [our] heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). Again perfection here is that our end goal is to be one with God. We are striving to become holy, to be saints, for the purpose of deepening our bond and relationship with God and each other.

Our being perfected in Jesus is a process whereby we become less and Jesus becomes more. What decreases is our focus on self, especially the ego-self, our sense of self-centeredness. Jesus provides for us three ways in which we can practice drawing closer into communion with God and one another. We are to give alms, pray, and fast. We may remember these as being the three pillars of Lent that we put extra emphasis on during that penitential season.

Jesus informs us that when we give alms, pray, and fast, our intent must be properly ordered. If we give alms with the intention to “win the praise of others” (Mt 6:2), pray in a public display “so that others may see” us (Mt 6:5), and in our fasting “look gloomy” and “neglect [our] appearance, so [we] may appear to others to be fasting” (Mt 6:16), then we are seeking to do so in such a way that the focal point is to be on us. We think to ourselves, how holy and pious we are. Instead, we are hypocrites because, in each of these actions, we are not seeking to improve our relationship with God, nor to build up his kingdom. The intent is to build up our own pride and ego by seeking to direct the focus is on ourselves.

Jesus calls us to be holy. What that means is that we are to give ourselves to others, to serve out of love, so that others may be healed, empowered, strengthened, and fulfilled. We are to seek Jesus in prayer with the intent of receiving the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit that we may be purged from that which feeds our false selves so that we can be freed of the dross of our accumulated sin, selfishness, and that which we are attached. In our time of prayer and examination of conscience, Jesus wants to reveal to us those apparent goods that lead us away from what will truly fulfill us. It is to these areas that we can fast. In these conscious acts of the will, we are to freely choose God over self and continue to mature into who he calls us to be.

In our prayer today, let us ask Jesus to reveal to us one way that we are putting ourselves before God, for him to reveal to us a pattern or habit of sin that keeps us bound to our own pride and prejudice, and/or something that we are attached to that we can fast from. And then one way we can reach out and give ourselves to someone else. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are not only for Lent. There are many people that are in need of God’s support and help right now. We become the hands and feet of Jesus when we are willing to allow him to lead us to serve others with the love of the Holy Spirit and simply allow God to happen in our encounters.

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Photo: A young friend saying hello. Time experiencing God’s creation is prayer and a wonderful way God can help to expand our hearts.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, June 16, 2021

The sixth antithesis may be the most challenging of them all. “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father” (Mt 5:43-45). The parable of the Good Samaritan provides a nice parallel to this verse. It can be found in Luke 10:25-37. For in that parable Jesus shows our enemy and our neighbor to be one and the same.

A good examination of conscience would be to read the above verse, ponder who would come up for us as an enemy, and then read the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Whenever the word Samaritan comes up, we drop the word Samaritan and insert the person or persons who came up for us. When we have finished this exercise, then, may we pray for the person or persons defined by us as our enemy, for if we only love those who love us, what makes us any different than anyone else? If we are to be disciples of Jesus, if we are to be children of our heavenly Father, we are not only to love those who love us, but we are to also love our enemies. We are to love those for whom there is little chance of being loved in return.

Jesus offers us the way to be able to accomplish this seemingly impossible feat: “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). We are able to love our enemy as ourselves by being perfect. This is not much help unless we understand that the English word used here is translated from the Greek word telios, which means complete, whole, to reach one’s goal or purpose in life. As a Christian, our end goal, our purpose, our fundamental option, is to be in full communion with God our Father, who is Love. God the Father is not just loving, not just a lover, but the Love. God is Love.

God as Love, “makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45). We strive in our life to attain the end goal of being perfected by Jesus the Christ, when we, through an act of our will, allow ourselves to become transformed into becoming agents of his love. The most challenging of enemies is facing the enemy within. To love as God loves, we are to follow the words and actions of Jesus and the prophets.

Each day we are given a choice. We can choose to deny our fear, seek revenge, dig in our heels, embrace our ego, react in kind to negativity, and/or remain indifferent to the suffering in our midst. We may refuse to love our enemies, we may withdraw our love, but know that when we do so, we contribute to the condition of separation, polarization, violence, and dehumanization that plagues our communities, nation, and our world.

We can choose instead to live out our inheritance as children of God and assist Jesus in the ushering in of the reign of our Father’s kingdom. This means speaking truth to power, using our access and means to advocate for the voiceless, or comforting the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable. This begins by calling out hatred within ourselves, so as not to meet hate with hate, for in doing so we will only contribute to more hate.

We are at our best when we are willing to be perfected by Jesus, brought into alignment with his Father’s will, and collaborate with the love of the Holy Spirit so as to be agents and models of love, mercy, forgiveness, and justice in our realm of influence. By loving our enemies, we will help to diffuse the power of hate.

As we embrace instead of denying our fear it can become a valuable ally, like purifying fire that can be channeled and directed for healing ourselves and others. By continuing to be open to being healed and transformed, we can disarm by willing the good of and praying for those who contemplate, participate in, and perpetuate division, hatred, racism, and violence in all its forms. By following this path, our enemies can become our brothers and sisters.

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Photo: Pope St. John Paul II met, prayed with, and forgave Mehmet Ali Agca at Rebibbia prison on December 27, 1983, for shooting and attempting to kill him on May 13, 1981. ARTURO MARI/AFP/Getty Images

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, June 15, 2021 

Today we receive the fifth antithesis, in which, Jesus said to his disciples: “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” (Mk 5:38-39). The Mosaic law, an eye for an eye, that Jesus first addressed was originally an attempt to curb the emotive response of revenge. If someone had killed a clan or tribal member, there would have been those who would choose to retaliate by inflicting as much carnage as possible to the people responsible, even up to and including the death of the whole clan or tribe, even the women and children. The rationale behind this was that there would then be no one to come back for revenge. The idea of seeking instead an eye for an eye was to temper the retribution to a more measured response.

Jesus though is saying that “an eye for an eye” does not go far enough, and raises the challenge of being his disciple to a higher level, being that even the thought of revenge is not to be considered. Jesus is not just seeking to lessen the cycle of violence, he is giving us the means to end it. Forgiveness is the cornerstone of the teachings of Jesus. Instead of seeking revenge, Jesus is commanding that we seek to forgive those who have harmed us. We who pray the Our Father or the Lord’s prayer, are to take to heart and be mindful of the words we pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.“

The urge for revenge is powerful and primal. Revenge is wired into our survival instinct to protect ourselves. Jesus invites us to grow beyond our mere instinctual responses and survival instincts. He is calling us to be a people who do not merely survive, but thrive. Jesus is seeking to infuse us with his divine life so that we will be transformed. This is true not only for ourselves but for those who would seek to do us harm. Instead of striking back with revenge, we are to be flexible and adept enough to instead appeal to their conscience. We are to take all that others throw at us, and meet them with the courage to stand and receive their worst, and disarm them with the blinding light of the love and forgiveness of Jesus.

This is no easy task, especially when we experience ongoing injustice and needless loss of life. To put into practice such teachings as the turning of the other cheek, we need to start small. We need to resist the immediate thoughts of revenge that arise for the smallest of offenses. When someone makes a snide remark, and/or offers demeaning or dehumanizing comments directed at us or others, we are to resist retaliating in kind. Although, we are to hold them accountable by reminding the person of our dignity and/or the dignity of the person they seek to demean. By not adding more fuel to the fire, our hope is to lead them away from the perception of another person as being somehow other, to one of being a brother or sister.

To be a disciple of Jesus means we need to be contemplatives in action especially in today’s current climate of division. We need to ground ourselves in prayer, return to these challenging teachings of the Beatitudes and antitheses often, believe in them, meditate on them, keep them at the forefront of our mind and, with the courage and guidance of the Holy Spirit, put them into practice. We will best be able to do so when we resist reactionary responses and see people, not as cardboard cutouts but in their complexity. In seeking to understand and being willing to engage in dialogue we might be better able to move together in a way to bring about accountability, reconciliation, and structural change.

Some would say this is naive and impossible. It is true that we will not be able to resist thoughts and acts of revenge and walk the path of forgiveness on our willpower alone. We need to surrender our ego and pride to Jesus, who as the Son of God became one with us so that we can be one with him. As we do so, he will begin to transform us as he forgives and loves in and through us.

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Photo: A peaceful moment on the grounds of St Peter

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, June 14, 2021

Today we return to the Gospel of Mark and his recording of the two parables dealing with seeds sown and the planting of a mustard seed. The purpose of each of these parables is that Jesus is showing us how God works within our lives. A lot of the initial work of God is unnoticed, like the planting of a seed in the ground. Over time, with nourishment and water the seed will germinate and sprout but still none of this is seen.

This can be compared to our prayer life. Often times people give up praying because after they make some initial attempts they do not experience any emotional reactions, have any mystical encounters, do not see any tangible results, nor do they feel any closer to God than when they began to pray in the first place. With so many demands on their time, they may then feel that prayer is a waste of time and they give up, or are distracted by other more alluring pursuits.

When someone has prepared the soil, planted the seed, waters as directed, but then sees no immediate results, and then is distracted by other activities, forgets to water, there is still the process of germination, there may even be some sprouting, but without the water, the development will be stifled and could indeed die.

Our desire to pray is already a response to God’s planting of the seed of his kingdom in us, but just as in the analogy of the seed, we need to be consistent and persistent in our life of prayer. Even though there may be no sensation or evidence that anything is happening, whenever we turn to God in prayer, something is happening. When we have responded to God’s invitation, he will bring to fruition our response. This is also true when we are praying for others. We are living in a time of instant gratification and unfortunately are not as patient as we need to be. The ways of God’s kingdom works on God’s timing, not our own.

Each of us have distinct personalities and interests, so there are many ways to pray that will suit our uniqueness. Another reason that we may feel prayer is not working for us is that we may be praying in a way that is not conducive to our personality. Instead of ceasing to pray altogether, put into practice a different technique until the right fit is attained.

What has personally worked for me is the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours, the Rosary, reciting the names of persons and the intentions for those whom I am aware have needs, quiet times of meditation and contemplation, reading Scripture, and writing this blog each day. I have also slowly begun to walk again in the evenings. Though I do not necessarily notice any profound insights or luminous encounters day to day, I have had a few but what I have noticed over the past ten years of more daily commitment to prayer is that there has been a transformation in my life for the better.

If a daily commitment of prayer has been a struggle, my invitation is to choose a comfortable place that is as free of distractions as possible, and commit to spending five to ten minutes in that same place each day. If you are more visual, add a candle, the crucifix, an icon, or religious statue. If you feel more of a connection to God’s creation, a place outside might work well too. Then choose a prayer practice that appeals to you, schedule that time to be spent in your sacred space each day, and let God happen.

Whether sitting or walking. Once you determine you are beginning to pray, I have found taking some slow deep breaths is a good way to begin. This small act lets us know we are leaving our fast pace and slowing ourselves down. Then as you sit or walk in silence just be still, ask God to guide you and listen. After a minute or two of silence, you may remain silent or if drawn to: read a passage of scripture and meditate upon in, review your day or the prior day, pray slowly with beads in hand the mysteries of the rosary, the chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Jesus Prayer, pray for others, share your intentions, struggles, questions, hopes, and dreams, and if outside just be open to the wonder of creation. When you come to a close, end as you started, returning to your breath, be still, be open, and be thankful for this time.

Just as a seed is planted and watered, it will soon germinate, and sprout, followed by the “first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come” (Mk 24: 28-29). We just need to be consistent and persistent with our prayer life as we would taking care of a plant and trust that the invitation Jesus offers us, the seed he has planted in us, in God’s time, will sprout and grow.

Photo: Quiet time porch view Saturday evening. Please feel free to share a prayer practice that has been helpful for you.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, June 13, 2021

There are two points that struck me in today’s Gospel from Luke. The first is what Jesus was doing when Mary and Joseph found him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers (Lk 2:46-47). Other than his infancy, this is the only other account we have of Jesus in his youth. Jesus was listening to his teachers and asking them questions.

One of the greatest joys that I experience is when I am teaching. There are times when I actually feel like I step out of my body and I am watching the exchange along with the students. These are times when the students are asking questions, they are listening and engaged, and I believe that in that exchange the Holy Spirit is present.

The second point was Mary’s response. After three days of anxiety trying to find Jesus, then his response that they ought to have known where he was, that he was about his Father’s business, and then their lack of understanding of what Jesus said, all did not lead to Mary giving Jesus a slap to the back of the head, instead she “kept all these things in her heart” (Lk 2:51). Mary did the same with the news from Gabriel and with the news of the shepherds at the birth of Jesus. Mary’s response was to ponder.

We learn best when we enter into an exchange of dialogue where we listen to each other and ask each other questions. We commit an egregious sin when we stifle questions, inquiry, critical thought, and dialogue and slip into monologue and demagoguery. We are encouraged not to talk about faith, politics, and the social hot button issues, but if we don’t talk about these issues, which are the core and foundation of a healthy society, we will never be able to improve or make effective and healthy change.

We are wired for the practice of wondering from a very young age. If you have been around a three or four-year-old for any length of time, the question of, “Why?” will come up more than once. Unfortunately, this natural curiosity is often tamped down, because answering questions takes time. Questions can challenge our own beliefs, they also help us to recognize what we know and do not know. It is one thing to think we understand something, and it is another to articulate it.

In our present climate of polarization, we may find that we do not understand certain issues or perspectives and are afraid to ask to better understand, we also may not know what to do when our ideas or beliefs are challenged, we may feel uncomfortable to pose a different perspective, and we may be presented with a response that we did not expect or agree with. How are we to respond? A good beginning step could be to resist the temptation to react and lash out, or the opposite, to resist remaining silent. Instead we can assume the posture of Mary and be more willing to ponder.

We can also resist defensiveness and instead seek to understand, to open our hearts and minds and listen to the question or the statement, and ask questions  as to why someone believes what they believe. Taking a few slow breaths, praying for some guidance, and coming from a place of empathy instead of being so quick to impose our view, may help to provide fertile ground for mutual understanding.

In taking these initial steps, we can then honestly engage in the discussion from what we know and feel, as well as having the humility to express what we don’t know, and what we are struggling to understand. Our part to play is to educate ourselves, to be open to wonder, to meditate and ponder about what we believe, and engage in respectful dialogue allowing others to do the same and then be willing to journey together to seek that which is true, good, and beautiful. Then we will be in a better position to begin to work to bring about change and reform that will be more lasting and fruitful in our realm of influence.

Painting: “The Black Madonna with Dove”, by Sue Ellen Parkinson – Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Readings for the Mass for June 12, 2021