In today’s Gospel, Jesus is followed by two blind men asking him to heal them. They continued to follow even after Jesus entered the house. When they had done so, Jesus turned and said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this” (Mt 9:28)? The pair said in unison that they did. Jesus touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith” ((Mt 9:29). Both men were healed.

Though the pair were blind physically, they had faith that Jesus was the Son of David. This term was a title for the Messiah. The two blind men believed that Jesus was who he said he was and then collaborated in their healing, for as Jesus touched their eyes, they had faith and believed that Jesus could heal them and they were healed.

Though we may have eyes to see and ears to hear, do we see and hear with the faith of the two blind men in today’s Gospel? Jesus came into the world just over two thousand years ago as the visible reality of the embodiment of God’s Love. Jesus calls us to be conformed to this same love. No easy task, for more often than not, we are blind and deaf to this gift.

The saints are those who followed through the narrow gate as did the two blind men. They encountered Jesus, had faith in him and believed. Will we follow the same path? Do we believe that Jesus is truly who he said he is, the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity who became one with us so that we can become one with him? Let us pray together:

Jesus, this Advent, I choose to walk on your path of love. Free me from my blindness such that I may experience the grace of your Father, so to know the safety and security of your presence. I believe and have faith that you will provide for my every need and will be present through my pain and struggles, the everyday moments, as well as my joys and successes. Expand my heart and mind that I may more fully experience your love so as to have the courage to surrender the false self of my ego, my fears, prejudices, pride, and indifference. Help me to begin anew in small ways to love others as you love me, recognizing that your Love is not a feeling or an emotion, but a conscious act of the will. As I participate in your life and love, please help me to be more present to those people I encounter and give me the courage to will their good, without conditions and without counting the cost.

Photo from pexels.com

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, December 6, 2019

Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21).

I have written quite often, quoting and paraphrasing one of my favorite quotes from St. Irenaeus, that Jesus came to be one with us so that we can be one with him. In his becoming one with us in our humanity he invites everyone, no one is excluded, to participate in his divinity. Yet if everyone is invited, how can Jesus say that not everyone will enter the Kingdom of heaven?”

The answer to that question is in the line that follows. The one who will enter heaven is, “the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” If this verse does not help, then it might be helpful to understand a little about heaven, as best as we can, as the mere mortal, finite beings that we are.

Heaven is not so much a place but a state of being in relation to God. Heaven is the state of being in which we are privileged to share communion and a deeper intimacy with God for all eternity. We will still not know everything about God because God is infinite and we will still be finite in heaven. God is without limit, we are limited. We will never exhaust our relationship, never get bored with God.

Maybe a more three dimensional, an earthly example may be of help. If we were invited to play a sport, an instrument, or to act in a play, with the end goal being that we would play in the upcoming game, concert, or performance, we might feel pretty excited about the offer. We tell the coach, conductor, or director “That’s great news!” Yet, in the days that follow, we do not attend any of the practices, we do not practice the skills required to play the position, instrument, or role and we don’t return any of the follow-up invitations by phone, email, or text. The day of the big game, concert, or performance comes, we gather our self together and head on over to the arena or hall. We arrive to see the coach, conductor, or director but are denied entrance. We might say, “I don’t understand, you invited us to play!” The reply is, “Not everyone who says to me coach, coach (conductor, conductor, or director, director) is ready and prepared.”

Jesus indeed invites us to play a part in God’s theodrama, everyone. Some say yes and some say no. Some say yes, and then don’t do anything, some say yes and do some things, some say yes and dive in. Most of us take a few steps forward and a step or two back. Just like preparing to play in the big game or perform in the big concert, or play, we need to be committed, disciplined, and persistent with our faith life. Unlike a missed opportunity to participate in a game or performance, that we can correct and make another attempt down the road, we don’t want to miss the opportunity to spend eternity with Jesus in heaven.

The above analogy does not imply in any way that we earn our way into heaven, or we can do so on our own effort and will power. The bottom line is that Jesus gave his life for all of us and through his grace, we have been saved. This is a free gift. Yet, we have to be willing to receive and open the gift. Our time here on earth is the time we are given to work out our salvation, to put into practice his teachings, and be about building a relationship with Jesus, being conformed to him, so that we can come to know his Father as he does and help others to open their gift as well and invite them to play their part.

If we want to know God’s will, we need to come to know God. Advent is a time of preparation, to place ourselves in a position before God so we can come to know him and his will. Jesus helps us to recognize when we are off the target in our attempt to conform God’s will to our small reality. Instead, we need to reorient ourselves such that we allow our minds and hearts to be expanded by his love.

This happens when we are quiet and still, through prayer, spending time in his word, spending time in worship and fellowship, and in doing so we will be more open to be led by the Holy Spirit to step out of our comfort zone and reach out to others in an act of service for another’s sake and not just our own. For we are here not only to actualize the grace we have been given for our salvation, but we are also here to help others to do the same.

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Photo: Tapestry hanging in the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, CA. Some of the saints who practiced their part in God’s theodrama and are now with God in heaven.

Link for the Mass reading for Thursday, December 5, 2019

“Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them” (Mt 15:29-30).

There is a key yet subtle point before Jesus began to heal that might be missed. Before great crowds came to him, Jesus “went up on the mountain, and sat down there.” This is no insignificant sentence. The posture of sitting on the mountain would have been recognized right away by the people of Jesus’ time. This was the posture of the teacher and sitting on the mountain a reference to Moses. Prior to the healing in this setting, as he did throughout the Gospels, Jesus most likely taught about the reign of God. In fact, time and again, Jesus’ “works of healing took place in this context of his preaching of the kingdom of God” (Lohfink 2014, 58).

A great multitude of people came to Jesus to hear his message and also brought with them a plethora of needs. Jesus made himself available, restored, and healed those who were brought to him. He encountered them as they were in their present condition. There is no record in this Gospel account that Jesus asked for any identification, that he discussed their belief system before healing them, nor did he ask if they were Jewish or Gentile, and nowhere in this account did Jesus deny anyone who came to him. The response of those to being healed and restored was that “they glorified the God of Israel“. This is because, “where God is master, there is salvation and healing” (Lohfink 2014, 62).

The recorded accounts of mass healings in today’s Gospel are but a foretaste of the heavenly realm of eternal communion with the Father. Jesus is the kingdom of heaven at hand, for as St Irenaeus wrote, “Jesus opened up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed.” Jesus though was not done. The whole process took some time, which is an understatement, and as people were getting ready to leave, Jesus showed compassion yet again. He sought the assistance of the disciples because he did not want to send the people away hungry.

The disciples, of course, are taken aback because of the reality of the undertaking Jesus proposed. Jesus asked what they had with them and they shared just some bread and fish. Jesus took “the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full” (Mt 15:36-37).

This Advent let us make an extra effort to surrender our will to God. May we pray with and meditate on the Gospels such that they become a living teaching that is relevant in our lives, that moves us to serve those in need as Jesus did. Identification, religion, race, gender, creed, or political affiliation does not matter. What matters is that we are willing to see in each person before us a human being with dignity and worth.

Neither are we to be dismayed with how little we believe we might have to give. We offer what we do have to Jesus in solidarity for his purpose, as did the disciples with the seven loaves and fish, and in so doing, the Holy Spirit will work through us to provide those we serve with an abundance of grace, mercy, love, and healing.

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Painting: The Multiplication of the Loaves by Giovanni Lanfranco between 1620-1623

Lohfink, Gerhard. No Irrelevant Jesus: On Jesus and the Church Today. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014.

Mass readings for Wednesday, December 4, 2018

“All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Lk 10:22).

God the Father knows God the Son and God the Son knows God the Father. They do not just know about each other, they know each other with a deep intimacy that is far beyond our human comprehension. Contemplating this reality can fill us with hope especially when we come to realize that Jesus is the Son of God who has come into our lives so that we can participate in the trinitarian communion of the Father and the Son and the love shared between them, the Holy Spirit!

Jesus has come as an agent of reconciliation, to restore our relationship with God, to undo the effects of the sin of separation that has so ruptured and wounded our relationship with him, each other, and his creation. Our hope this Advent is that we can come not just to a better understanding of God, but to intimately know and restore our relationship with God through our participation in the life of his Son.

May the Advent season not get away from us before it even starts because of the material, commercial, and busyness that threatens to take over. A good practice is to be still and spend some time in his gift of creation, to enter into its natural rhythm, and bask in the wonder and vast expanse of it all.

Last night I returned home from six months in Los Angeles, California. After my father dropped me off, I spent some time outside and looked up at the beautiful array of stars arranged across the heavens. Rising up in the East was, in Lakota, Tayamni Cankahu, the ribs of the animal or the buffalo (better known as the belt of Orion). A site sorely missed, for the LA lights seriously obscured my view of the stars in the night sky.

All of creation echoes the wonder and adoration of the gift that the season of Advent offers: Jesus, who became one with us so we can become one with him, invites us to participate in a deeper walk with his Father, the creator of heaven and earth, the one who knit us together in our mother’s womb, and who knows us better than we know ourselves!

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Photo of buffalo I took while driving in South Dakota in between Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations around 1990 – a moment of quiet wonder, God’s creation on full display as the buffalo appeared to be walking right out of the sun.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, December 3, 2019

“Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 8:10-13).

The one to whom Jesus is referring to is a Roman centurion who approached Jesus seeking healing for his servant. I imagine that Jesus was not only amazed by the man’s humility, in recognizing his sinfulness and that he believed that Jesus could heal from a distance with simply his word, but also that he was aware of the need and suffering of his slave and willingness to do something about it. This Roman centurion, an occupying presence in Israel, clearly embodied the teachings of Jesus! It is from the centurion’s words that we get the words that we speak before receiving Jesus in the Eucharist during each Mass: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”

God chose the people of Israel not for themselves alone, but that they would be a light to all peoples. As Isaiah said, all nations shall stream toward mount Zion and “from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (see Isaiah 2:1-5). Jesus echoes Isaiah’s prophetic words as is recorded in today’s Gospel: “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 8:11). The centurion’s act of faith is the beginning movement, like a drop of water that is the beginning of a majestic waterfall.

The first point we can learn from the centurion is that he was aware that his slave was in need. A slave held no dignity, and yet, he was not invisible to the centurion. Nor was the centurion indifferent to his suffering and pain. We also need to be aware of those in our midst who are in need. We need to resist the temptation to walk around, over, or by others and be willing to embrace the gift of our diversity.

Second, like the centurion, we need to embrace humility and acknowledge our own sinfulness, and when we do so, we are better able to see the needs of others. None of us are perfect. No one person is above any other. We all have gifts as well as shortcomings. We need each other because we complement one another and we are stronger together than apart.

Third, we cannot stand on our own. The centurion recognized his limitations. He acknowledged that he needed help. He needed Jesus. As do we. We cannot accomplish our salvation on our own merit or will power. We need a savior, for apart from Jesus, who we prepare to encounter this Advent season, we can do nothing, but with Jesus all things are possible.

Jesus is the Truth and the Fulfillment that we seek. He has sent out a universal invitation of communion for all, to Israel first and then to those from east and west, north and south. The Roman centurion modeled our response to Jesus’ presence when he recognized his own sinfulness and acknowledged it before Jesus. He was also aware of and sought healing for his slave. The centurion had faith and hope that Jesus could and would provide healing with just his word.

May we follow his example this Advent as we take time to examine our conscience, have the humility to confess our sins, to acknowledge that we need help from Jesus and others. May we be willing to seek forgiveness and be willing to forgive. May we be willing to resist the temptation to embrace fear and close ourselves off and be indifferent to the plight and needs of others, but instead assume a posture of openness to the gift of the rich diversity of our humanity.

We have so much to offer one another when we are willing to work together instead of apart from or against one another. May we who have received the forgiveness and grace of Jesus and felt the embrace of his love, reach out to provide hope and to empower those who have been dehumanized, kept apart, or labeled as “other.”

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Painting: Sebastiano Ricci – Christ Heals the Centurion’s Servant, 1726-1729

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, December 2, 2019

The ground, foundation, and source of creation and our very being is the outpouring of the Trinitarian Love expressed between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This internal, wonderful, and infinite dance is played out externally in creation as the earth turned again one more time on its axis last night, and as the shadows began to fall, night slowly crept over each part of our planet.

Our sacred text, our sacred word, is not only written in the Bible, but the finger of God has traced his word across all of the earth, the galaxy, the universe, the whole of the created order, for God continues to write his love song. At our perception of the setting sun, the vigil began and so with it the new liturgical year and the season of Advent. We heard or will hear again today the words of Jesus to his disciples in today’s Gospel for the first Sunday of Advent: Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. (Mt 24:42).

Traditionally, the readings of the first two weeks of Advent focus on our watching for the second coming of Jesus. We are able to stay awake, to be aware when we watch and pray. As the daily cycle of day to night and night to day repeats itself, so are we called to enter into a daily rhythm of watching and praying so that we can be more aware and more alert for the signs of his coming, like a watchman standing guard over the city.

During Advent, we also prepare in the final two weeks to remember again the first humble coming of Jesus, the Incarnation, in which the infinite Son of God took on flesh at his miraculous conception in the womb of Mary and became a man. Fully God and fully man, Jesus experienced our human condition in the most vulnerable of settings. We are a people of memory, though we often forget. That is why we hear the story again and again of the simple birth of our Savior, who many rejected even then, saying there was no room for him in the inn.

The third way we prepare for the coming of Jesus during Advent is in our everyday experiences. We who have much in the way of material comfort need to remember, how God heard the cry of the poor and saved his people by sending Moses to free them from their bondage in Egypt, how he sent them judges and kings to guide them, and he sent his Son to free us from our bondage to the sin of our pride, seeking of fame and celebrity, greed, lust, sloth or acedia, gluttony, despair, and wrath.

May we remember this Advent who we are, whose we are, and who we are called to be: Pope Francis teaches that the Church of Jesus Christ, “is the people of God, and the people of God welcome, love, forgive, and encourage others by how they live” (McCann, 5). As we prepare for Jesus’ second coming and to remember his birth, may we also remember to watch for him in our encounters with those we meet each day, and to spend time in the rhythm of his creation.

We have been created by Love to love. As gently as the night gave way to the morning rays of the sun, may we live and move more gently upon this earth. May our thoughts, actions, and words be filled to overflowing with kindness, compassion, understanding, thanksgiving, and mercy toward those we encounter. May we remember the forgotten, the invisible, the lonely, and dehumanized, may we see Jesus as St. Mother Teresa saw him in the distressing disguise of the poor: the materially poor as well as the spiritually poor, all those who are in need of a savior this Christmas.

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Photo: Morning meditation on the rooftop of Mia’s apartment on Thanksgiving morning.

McCann, Deborah. 30 Days of Reflections and Prayers: What Pope Francis Says About Mercy. New London, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 2015.

Link to the Mass readings for Sunday, December 1, 2019

He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4:19).

Today’s Gospel account recalls Jesus’ call of Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John. An interesting contextual point is that Jesus was the one doing the calling. Spiritual teachers were common during the time of Jesus within and without Judaism. What was more common in those accounts was that the disciples came to the master. It was a rarer case that the master would search out and call his followers.

Another interesting point is that Jesus met the brothers in the midst of their everyday activities of fishing, in the midst of their work. The encounter with Jesus was not on some isolated mountain top, it was not at a revival, nor at the temple or synagogue. Jesus met them in the midst of Simon and Andrew casting their nets and James and John mending their father’s nets.

The third point from this short account is that Jesus immediately followed his invitation to Simon and Andrew with the insistence that they will be fishers of people. They are not entering their new apprenticeship with Jesus having any false notion that they will wait for others to come to them. They will travel out of their comfort zones. They would leave their current way of life, financial security, and trust in Jesus as they learn about and share the Good News that the kingdom of God is at hand.

The three points above apply directly to us as well. Jesus invites us. We just need to be open to receiving the invitation and saying yes as Simon, Andrew, James, and John had done. Jesus meets us in our everyday moments. He encounters us in our workplace, among our interactions with family and friends, in our class and dorm rooms, as well as in our activities and leisure, and in our conflicts, struggles, suffering, as well as our joys, success, and wonders. Jesus also meets us during our unpreparedness for interruptions, in our times of prayer, and worship. The very desire to pray is the beginning of our awareness of Jesus’ call to follow him. When we take the time to pray we slow down and become more aware of his presence so that when we leave our times of prayer and worship, we will be more able to see him in the midst of our daily activities.

Finally, Jesus calls us to share what we have experienced and learned from our encounter with him. No matter how small. We will make mistakes, we will not be perfect, but if we are humble, we will learn and grow as his disciples. Remember who he called? Peter, Andrew, James, and John. There are four Gospels full of accounts of their false starts, gaffes, and “Oops”. We grow and learn by doing. As we crawl, we will soon learn to walk, as we walk we will soon learn to run, and as we run, we will soon learn to fly!

Jesus calls us to participate in his life. May we be thankful for this gift and may we be open to opportunities to share our faith by accompanying those in our realm of influence through the normal means of interaction we engage in, remembering first and foremost to do so in a way that respects the dignity of each person we encounter. We are to resist any desire to impose and instead live our practice and engage in dialogue.

Two years ago the cause for the canonization was promoted for Nicholas Black Elk (ca. 1866-1950), an Oglala Lakota, holy man, best known from John Neihardt’s work, Black Elk Speaks. A key reason was that he, like St Andrew whose feast we celebrate today, said yes to the invitation to follow Jesus. Black Elk was baptized in 1904, on the feast day of St. Nicholas, taking his name. He continued to practice his Lakota ways while also becoming an effective catechist. Under his invitation and guidance, over 400 people came to believe in Jesus.

Let us say yes to Jesus’ invitation to come and follow him, and become fishers of people! St Andrew, pray for us. Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk, pray for us.

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Photo: Source Marquette University Catholic Mission Archives. Nicholas Black Elk catechizing with the “Two Roads Map” the children of Broken Nose.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, November 30, 2019

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Lk 21:33).

All that we know will pass away eventually because all things are finite, they are limited and material. The readings of this week repeat the same theme that we are not to place our hope and trust ultimately in the things of this world. The longer we live, the more we will experience loss, even the death of those closest to us.

The words of Jesus will not pass away because Jesus is who he proclaimed himself to be, God. He is the Logos, the Word, the very reality of God. Hearing his word is not enough though. We need to put his word into action in our lives. Once we begin to do this we will begin to bear fruit. We will become like the fig trees when their buds burst open.

Accepting the reality of death and contemplating death is not a morbid exercise when we enter this pondering with the end goal in mind that we will be one day be with God for all eternity. Also, those who contemplate their deaths more regularly live more fully now. By doing so, we don’t take our life for granted because we come to see the fragile nature of our human condition. We also come to realize that we do not know the time or hour when others or we ourselves will die.

What is and who is really important to us in our life? Dr. Leo Buscaglia, a professor at USC would give an assignment to his students. They were to really contemplate the reality that they had one week to live, and they were to come up with a list of what they would want to do for that week and who they would want to spend it with. After they turned in their assignments, Dr. Buscaglia then asked his students, “Why not live this way now? Why do you have to wait until you are dying to start living your life more fully?”

The less we push uncomfortable situations away to avoid them and the less we cling to wonderful experiences once they are gone, the more we will be able to fully experience life in the moment. Jesus helps us to be able to live in this way because he lives in the eternal present. We are going to die someday, so let us begin to start living now.

Jesus, help us to appreciate and experience each moment as it comes. Help us to face conflicts and deal with them instead of denying or pushing them away. Help us to be thankful for the enjoyable experiences we have had, but also help us to resist clinging to them and to the past so we can be free to experience other even more wonderful expressions of life you have planned for us. Help us to bloom where you have planted us and live our life to the full.

Photo: Enjoying the moment of Thanksgiving together as a family.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, November 29, 2019

Thank you for joining me on this journey along the Stepping Stones of the Gospel this year. May God bless you and may you have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Peace and all God’s good,

Deacon Serge

As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him (Lk 17:14-15). Ten were healed from their leprosy and only one, a Samaritan, after realizing he was healed, returned to thank Jesus.

It is a good practice to spend some time each day to reflect on what we are thankful for, to see where God has entered our lives and provided assistance, and to appreciate those who have been there for us not just in large but in small ways. At times when we feel a bit down and out, or in a bit of a funk, often the reason may be that we are focusing on what we do not have instead of on what we do have. There is a quote, I am not sure of the source, that goes: “I cried because I had no shoes, and then I came upon a man with no feet.” We can be so bombarded by the mass appeal to the material, that we forget the truly important realities of this life that we have been given.

Times of family coming together can be wonderful and can also get a bit messy. There is all the cleaning, setting up and the prep for the big dinner, the travel, the unresolved issues of life, and there are the wonderful gifts of diverse personalities and points of view. If we can periodically stop, take a breath and be thankful for the fact that we have families and friends to be messy and grumble with, we might appreciate each other a bit more this day.

As Jesus reminds us, we do not know the time or the hour. Life is fragile even in the best of scenarios, life is also finite. We will not be here forever. November is a time in the Church when we remember those who have joined the communion of saints. I know many that have lost family members unexpectedly, and this year I personally join them. May they be now home with God and may we remember them through pictures and stories shared on this day when we stop to give thanks.

Jesus, help us to remember that life is a gift. Help us to appreciate and be thankful for our life and the lives of those near and far we are blessed to call family and friends. Help us to also remember and pray for those who may be alone, struggling, or without food and home this day.

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Photo: Our last Thanksgiving together last year.

Link for the Thanksgiving Mass readings for Thursday, November 28, 2019