Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God (Lk 6:12).

Jesus spent the whole night in prayer to God. What is prayer? All of us as human beings seek meaning and to belong. We desire security and stability, as well as direction and adventure. We want to be accepted, to love and to be loved and to experience meaningful relationships. These primary yearnings are present within us. Often though we confuse what we truly desire and succumb to the temptations that ultimately leave us unsatisfied and more important ignore what will truly fulfill us: developing a relationship with God through prayer.

If you want to pray, you have already begun. The desire in and of itself to pray is prayer. The danger of reading about prayer is that we think we are praying. In the turning of the page or completion of the chapter, we feel as if we are accomplishing something, but we are only imagining how prayer can be. Peter Kreeft wrote: “It is tempting to remain in the comfortable theater of the imagination instead of the real world, to fall in love with the idea of becoming a saint and loving God and neighbor instead of doing the actual work, because the idea makes no demands on you” (Prayer for Beginners, 12).

There is a myriad of ways to pray and each practice will match each of our unique personalities. The key to prayer is to make a commitment to a time and a place to pray each day. Start with a timeframe, such as five minutes that you know you can do. Depending on the discipline of prayer you practice, your family, school, work, and/or ministerial demands will be indicators going forward as to how much you might be able to increase the time you pray once you have built a firmer habit.

The amount of time that we dedicate to prayer is not important. What is important is the commitment to pray each day. For me, attending Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours has been a consistent anchor since studying for the diaconate. The daily Mass readings, writing a reflection each day on them, and then sharing both with JoAnn was a practice we shared together each evening. Beginning mid-September, I started meditating in the morning and the evenings. Before bed, I end the day praying and meditating with the mysteries of the Rosary.

JoAnn was less contemplative and more active in her prayer. She would speak to God as if speaking to a friend, we attended Mass together, and she experienced God in her daily activities and encounters with people. I too have found that seeing Jesus in those we encounter is a sign of our maturation in prayer. For the person is no longer other or one to be kept at arm’s length, but a human being with dignity created in the image and likeness of God. This becomes more apparent when we spend time with one another.

St Therese of Lisieux offers us a good approach to prayer: “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy” (CCC, 2559). No matter how we pray, our goal is that we allow our lives to be conformed to Jesus, that we encounter and build a relationship with him and each other, such that our experience of prayer matches St Augustine’s: “True, whole prayer is nothing but love” (Foster, 1).

Photo: Taking a hike or walking with JoAnn was one of my favorite forms of prayer!

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, October 28, 2019

Foster, Richard J. Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. NY: HarperCollins, 1992.

Kreeft, Peter. Prayer for Beginners. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000.

“…whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk 18:14).

From the Christian perspective, humility is not false modesty. Where someone thanks us for doing something and we say something like, “Oh, it was nothing.” This response is often a conditioned response that, consciously or unconsciously, is given to elicit more praise and to keep the focus on ourselves and what we have done. “Sure it was something, you did all that work…” The more appropriate response would be, “You are welcome.” Then the topic of conversation can move on to other matters.

Humility has to do with our primary focus. Are we focused first and foremost on ourselves and placing the focus and energy in boosting our ego, jockeying for a position that is front and center? Or are we focused first and foremost on establishing that God is the core and foundation of our every thought, word, and deed and we are thankful to him for each breath we take?

We are nothing without God. Without him, we would cease to exist. We may bristle at such statements because our cultural influences often promote that what we have and achieved has come because of our own hard work and merit. There is some truth to the effort and energy we may have expended to achieve what we have, but if we think back, many others also had a part to play in where we are today, including God.

From a heightened sense of self-exaltation, we also tend to have less empathy or mercy for those who may have less or are struggling financially, emotionally, psychologically, morally, or spiritually. We might look down our nose at others thinking or saying outright, “What is wrong with them and why don’t they get their act together?”

Where in point of fact, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Situations in life, whether we are up or down, can change quickly. The point Jesus is making clear in today’s Gospel is that we are far from how perfect we may think we are. We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. Coming to a place of recognition regarding this reality is a good place to be, as Jesus points out.

The contrite tax collector “went home justified” because he came to terms with his sinfulness and confessed it so he could be healed and restored by God. The Pharisee who felt he needed no help because he “was not like the rest of humanity” closed himself off to the healing balm and reconciliation that he truly needed.

We can make the tax collector’s prayer, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner”, our own. We can recite it and ask Jesus to reveal to us what we have done or have failed to do regarding God’s will in our lives. Next, we can be still and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us those areas in our lives where we have fallen short. Then, in confessing those sins, we are forgiven and reconciled with our Father. From experiencing God’s healing forgiveness, we can then go forward into our day thankful for the gift of our life. Instead of judging others, we can instead seek opportunities to share our joy and be ambassadors of God’s mercy.

Photo credit: Mia Bird – Embracing some time to ponder during sunset while visiting Mia in San Francisco a few weeks ago.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, October 27, 2019

In today’s Gospel, we read about two accounts of horrific deaths. The first is at the hands of Pontius Pilate, who has not only ordered the execution of Jesus’ fellow Galileans but had their blood mixed with “the blood of their sacrifices.” In the second incident, Jesus brought up the tragic accident in which eighteen people died “when the tower of Siloam fell on them.” 

In both cases, Jesus rejected the common notion of the time that these incidents were caused by God’s punishment and focused instead on the importance of repentance. Jesus stated quite emphatically, that, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did” (cf. Lk 13:1-5)!

Jesus was emphatic about helping his followers understand the purpose of his coming. Jesus provided meaning and fulfillment in this life as well as being the way to the truth of eternal life in the next. Yet, to receive the gift of his invitation, people needed to repent from their focus on self, misunderstandings of God, and the false substitutions that the world offered and instead, repent, have a change of mind, and turn back to God, the very source of their being. This is just as true for us today.

Jesus accompanies us through our trials, pain, and desolation, just as he is present in the midst of our achievements, joys, and consolations. To repent and surrender to him is not some submissive posture to a tyrant, but acceptance of the aid offered by the divine gardener. Our repentance gives permission to Jesus to cultivate our ground to rid us of that which sickens us and fertilize us in such a way that we are renewed by his care. Jesus tends to our growth such that we can be more aligned with the will of his Father and the love of the Holy Spirit. In these ways, we are healed and mature so that we will bear fruit that will last. We will become more patient, kind, loving, understanding, forgiving, present, and joyful in our encounters with one another.

We live in uncertain times as did those of the first century. We still live in a fallen world. We do not know the time or the hour, and sometimes we do not understand the rhyme or the reason that someone’s life here ends. This has become much clearer to me in these past months. JoAnn was proactive and took good care of herself, such that except for pancreatic cancer she was in perfect health. What made our last months together in this world more bearable was our daily turning over our lives to God’s will and the many people who were praying for us. The months together then seemed like forever and today looking back it seems like the blink of the eye.

We often do not want to think about our death, yet, we need to ponder it from time to time. By doing so we just might live the one life we have been given a little bit better. Each day we wake up is a gift from God. Please don’t take it for granted. Repent, turn back to the God who loves us more than we can ever imagine or mess up. The time to appreciate our life and the lives of others is now.

Photo: Each day with JoAnn was a gift.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, October 26, 2019

“You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time” (Lk 12:56).

Reading this verse brought two memories from my childhood. The first one is from when my friend Steve and I as kids were interested in reading the natural signs and weather patterns, and we enjoyed watching our local weatherman, Hilton Kaderli forecasting the weather each night. Another memory was with my cousin Danny. We were at my Uncle Pierre and Aunt Claudette’s house one afternoon and we saw a storm rising. We headed to the road and started running as fast as we could in the opposite direction to see how far we could get before the storm caught us, and when it did we walked home, sucking in air, being pelted by the rain, and enjoyed a good soaking. Steve, Danny, and I read the signs of the earth and the sky, but we didn’t pay all that much attention to the things of the spirit at that time.

Not only through his teachings, but also through his public actions, Jesus revealed some powerful signs that God was in their midst. Jesus taught and preached on his own authority, he cast out demons, forgave sins, healed people, met and ate with sinners and women. These were amazing signs that the Messiah came to dwell among them, yet some did not or would not see, rationalized away that he could not be who he said he was.

Some did see and believe and some two thousand years later because of their faithfulness, Jesus speaks to us again today. The stories and encounters of Jesus have been preserved, passed on generation after generation. They are not just a dead letter but an invitation to be aware to look for how Jesus still works in our lives today.

Do we see coincidences or God-incidents? Do we see his presence working in our lives? If not could it be because our lives are so busy and fast-paced? If so, we need to schedule some time each day to stop and reflect, to take some deep breaths, and ask God to help us review the past twenty-four hours with the intent being to notice how he has been involved and engaged in our life.

It is often by reflecting and looking back over the course of a day that we will recall some God-incidents no matter how small. And when we become aware of them, we can be thankful and ask for the continued presence of Jesus to be with us the following day. As we repeat this process regularly, we will grow in our awareness of how much he has been accompanying us all along in our daily experiences.

For those times that we have refused or failed to recognize this closeness to Jesus, especially in his presence coming to us through others seeking our help, we can ask for forgiveness and for him to assist us in being more aware and more intentional in following the stirring of the Holy Spirit going forward. Opening our hearts and minds to God will help us to better read the signs that the kingdom of heaven is indeed at hand, in our very midst.

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Photo credit: Jack McKee – a moment of rest, enjoying family time and God’s creation, Christmas 2010

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, October 25, 2019

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing” (Lk 12:49)!

What has been burned does not remain the same. What fire touches, it transforms. Jesus wants us to be consumed so as to be transformed by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Encountering Jesus effects a change in us. When we are open to allow the Holy Spirit to breathe on the embers in the depths of our souls they are fanned like tinder and ignite. We continue to fuel the fire by getting in touch with what God has called us to do in our place and in our time.

We are not to be a Christian in name alone but in thought, word, and deed. Pope Francis, in his exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, wrote: “THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept this offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness” (Francis 2013, 9). Joy is a gift, a holy flame, that is given to us by the Holy Spirit and it wells up within. It is different than pleasure which arises when the stimulation of the senses is aroused but fades once the external stimulus has ended.

Happiness is also external and fleeting. It lasts longer than passion in that the memory of the experience will linger on, but it too will also dissipate. Joy wells up from within, as it is imparted to us by God and can be present even when the external experiences are stressful or chaotic. I experienced this when I was still teaching 5th and 6th Grade Religion and acting as the dean of students at Rosarian Academy. At the same time, I was also immersed in family and parish life, as well as my studies and formation activities for the permanent diaconate.

One particular morning I woke up exhausted. When the alarm went off my first response was to skip my morning prayer and hit the snooze button to get an extra twenty minutes before getting up to go to school. Instead, I literally crawled to my small chapel area, lit the candles, and opened my breviary. When I read the words in Psalm 42: “Hope in God; I will praise him still, my savior and my God”, something ignited within the depths of my being. I felt an energy well up within me that I cannot to this day describe. I felt an inexpressible joy. Not only did the experience carry me into the day, but lasted throughout the whole week.

God comes to us and seeks to transform us with the fire of his Love, and even when we are at our lowest as if we were just cooling embers, we need to resist the temptations of indifference and complacency and remember to turn to Jesus. We will encounter him in being thankful for that which he has given us instead of brooding over that which we don’t have. We will experience him in his Word, in prayer and worship, and in serving one another. We just need to keep showing up, even if sometimes we have to crawl to get there and allow God to happen.

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Photo by Jens Mahnke from Pexels

Pope Francis. Evangelii Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel. Frederick, MD: The Word Among Us Press, 2013.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, October 24, 2019

“That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely” (Lk 12:47).

Jesus, as did the prophets, spoke in ways that can be jarring. The purpose was to shake his listeners out of a dull stupor and to make clear his point. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus addressed Peter’s question: “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone” (Lk 12:41)? Jesus was most likely speaking to Peter and the Twelve. They are the ones he entrusted with continuing his mission. And just as he had been clear to point out those Pharisees who had abused their positions, he was being clear with Peter and the apostles. Jesus wanted to make sure that his successors were not to continue on with business as usual. What Jesus required of them was not just for themselves, but those whose care they had been entrusted with and beyond them to all the nations. His parable was for both/and, the Twelve first and foremost and then to everyone.

Unfortunately, we have witnessed those in Church leadership who have in effect, “beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk” (Lk 12:45) on their own power. Those who have: abused children, covered abuse, skimmed off the top of the donations of the blood, sweat, and tears of their parishioners’ donations, limited access to positions within the leadership of the Church to only male or clergy, been unmerciful confessors, held up the sin of one group or groups while turning a blind eye to others. These and other forms of hypocrisy do irreparable damage.

The world has been darkened by sin and so has the Church. All of us have been wounded but not destroyed by it. The Son of God entered into the condition of our fallen nature, became one of us and overcame the darkness of sin. Even when those in his name have participated in and perpetuated that which Jesus warned his Apostles against, we are not to lose heart nor hope. I agree with Bishop Robert Barron that we are called out of “the realm of hatred, racism, sexism, violence, oppression, imperialism, what Augustine termed the libido dominandi (the lust to dominate).”

We are called out of this darkness to be children of the light. There have been many throughout the ages and up to and including our present time who have done just that. They have embraced the light of Christ allowing it to reveal to them their sins. With humility and contrition, they confessed their weaknesses and failures and from this place of surrender, they were healed and transformed by the love of Jesus. They were then able to reflect and share the light of Christ with those in their everyday experiences. We too are to be his heralds of the Good News in the same way and be open to opportunities to share the purifying light and healing salve of the Father’s Love that we have received with those we meet today and each day.

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Photo: Crucifix front entrance of Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center

Barron, Robert. Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith. NY: Image, 2011.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks” (Lk 12: 35-36).

As disciples, we need to be ready for the coming of Jesus. Yes for when he comes again at the end of time, but more importantly, to be prepared for his coming each day in the midst of our lives. If we do not prepare to encounter him daily, the likelihood of us being prepared for his coming again will be slimmer, and only the Father knows the time or the hour.

To plan something means that we outline all that needs to be done down to the last detail. This can be an advantage especially when we are dealing with blueprints for a home or building. By having detailed plans we can be sure we have the proper materials and tools, an estimated budget, and hire the help needed to accomplish the goal. There are many areas in our life where planning has its advantages. Planning our spiritual life is important, deciding when and how we are to pray, meditate, study, engage in Bible and spiritual reading and/or which service we are going to attend, establishing a routine of spiritual direction, time for fellowship and small groups. These are all plusses for planning.

The challenge with planning pops up when we become too attached to the plan and we leave no room for the Holy Spirit, no awareness for the knock at the door because we are so focused on finishing the plan. Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners are on the horizon. How many times have we experienced planning a dinner with guests, gotten stressed when things did not go exactly as planned and spent more time adhering to the plan and its execution that we missed engaging with those we are working so hard to provide hospitality for?

Preparing is akin to planning, in that we get ready but are more flexible to other options not governed by our mind and control alone. Jesus calls us to be prepared to receive him at any moment. Are we prepared to encounter and be present to a classmate, colleague, family member, or neighbor who asks for help at an inopportune time, the homeless person in need, the undocumented immigrant, migrant, or refugee looking for safety and security, the unborn striving to actualize his or her potential, the coworker that has not been the most pleasant, the person that we perceive as somehow different from us – who we keep at arm’s length?

How about planning and preparing for those traumatic events in life that appear all of a sudden? When we heard of JoAnn’s diagnosis we went into planning mode, and anyone who has spent any time with JoAnn knows that she is in her element when there is something to plan for. There were many items we could plan out and for the most part, they came together as JoAnn planned. There were other experiences where we needed to be flexible and adjust the plans sometimes on minimal notice. Since we were open to the guidance and leading of God, as well as his help, support, and prayers coming through family and friends, we were blessed during a tremendously challenging time.

JoAnn often said that life if hard. She saw many people suffering and couldn’t understand why people couldn’t be kinder to one another. St. Oscar Romero wrote, “It would be beautiful if people saw that their flourishing and the attainment of their highest ideals are based on their ability to give themselves to others.” Can we better prepare ourselves to be more open to those closest to us, even in the most challenging of times, as well as being present to whomever we meet today as human beings, as brothers and sisters, created in the image and likeness of God? Are we willing to see and serve Jesus, who is present in each person we encounter, for: “whatever you did for one of these least brothers [or sisters] of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40).

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Photo: JoAnn and I this past spring break in CA.

Rothrock, Brad. 30 Days with Oscar Romero. New London, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 2016

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, October 22, 2019

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions” (LK 12:15).

Jesus wisely warns us to be careful to resist the temptation of greed, which can be defined as an intense, selfish desire for something. Here Jesus addresses the greed of material wealth, but we can also have unhealthy selfish desires for anything. Jesus also stated that “one’s life does not consist of possessions.” Material goods are finite and will not ultimately fulfill us but they can be good when used for the purpose they were intended for and in moderation.

God provides for our needs. Fostering an attitude of thanksgiving for that which we have received and then being good stewards helps us to resist the temptation of greed. St Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) wrote: “How could we do good to our neighbor if none of us possessed anything.” God does bless us, and from what we have been given we are to assist those in need. The problem comes when we interfere with the flow of receiving by hoarding what we have received and rationalizing our unwillingness to share. Also, when we look to our wealth as our safety net, instead of God’s providence, we begin to cling to what we have and develop an unhealthy attachment. We need to remember that the material and finite of below will not satisfy and will not last, we need to set our heart and mind to God above.

Acts of charity, willing the good of and support for one another in need will help us to resist the temptation of greed and help us to be open conduits of God’s mercy. Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903 AD) wrote that “Once the demands of necessity and propriety have been met, the rest of your money belongs to the poor.” How many of us are willing to put that quote on our bathroom mirror? More so, put it into practice? How about posting this quote from John Chrysostom (349-407 AD) over our closet and reading it before we enter: “The man who has two shirts in his closet, one belongs to him; the other belongs to the man who has no shirt.”

God has given us the gift of his Son, Jesus. In so doing he has given us the free gift of our salvation which is a reason to rejoice! He loved us and creation into being and is loving us into eternity. We are invited to participate in the love experienced by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We do this best when we resist clinging to the material and finite and instead be thankful for the gift of life and invitation to be in relationship with his Son. May we share that which we have received from God, our infinite source and spring of eternal Love. We will be fulfilled and joyful, not by how much we have saved up in our bank account, but by how much love we invest in serving each other.

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Photo from cathopic.com

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, October 21, 2019

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

Jesus did not mean that we are to be kneeling in prayer 24/7, but that we are to be persistent and disciplined in our approach to prayer, just as we would be in any other activity that we seek to have the freedom to perform with fluency. I have many people share with me that they can’t pray. I can’t speak French.

In my early twenties, my father’s mother, Alice, invited me to live with her and my aunt, Mary-Paul, for a year in Quebec and go to university. The purpose would have been to be immersed in French for one year so that I could speak the language fluently. I regret now not taking her up on the offer. Not only would I have been able to learn a new language, but I would also have been able to develop a deeper relationship with my family in Canada.

Many of us who have entertained learning another language have not done so most likely because we have not been persistent and disciplined enough. Many of us do not have a deeper prayer life for the same reason. If our only prayer is an occasional request, well then how fluent will we be in prayer?

Prayer is like learning a new language that takes dedicated time and energy. Just as if I had spent the time living daily with mamémère et matante, I would have not only learned more than this phrase, I would have known them in a more intimate way.

Our very desire to pray is already an invitation from God to learn his language, and as we open our hearts and minds to his invitation and spend time together, our intimacy with him will grow as well. Schedule some one on one time with God this week, five to ten minutes a day so to start to develop a persistent pattern of being together and allow God to happen.

Photo: Three of my aunts, Nicky, Michele, and Marie-Paul last year celebrating Michele’s birthday (Wanted to post a picture with Mamémère, but all my pictures are in Florida! Post if anyone has one 🙂

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, October 20, 2019

“Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” (Luke 12:10).

This verse is often referred to as the “unforgivable sin” and it can be difficult to understand. Also, if you have been reading this blog regularly you may have read more than once my writing that God forgives us more than we can ever mess up, so, how is it that we can’t we be forgiven for blaspheming the Holy Spirit?

A story and follow up may help. When I was a junior or senior in high school, one of my teachers commented that if we thought Stephen King wrote amazing tales, then we might find reading the book of Revelation from the Bible interesting. This was a public school mind you. As a big fan of Stephen King, that phrase stayed with me, and a few weeks later, I purchased a King James Bible from our local bookstore, Waldens, which I am not sure exists anymore. I don’t remember if I read it at all, I must have thumbed through it a time or two, but then placed in on a shelf, presumably with my a copy of The Stand.

A month or two passed and I remember being at a party and not having much fun, so I left. When I arrived home I had the urge to open my newly purchased Bible and when I did my eyes found not the words from the author of Revelation but Luke. He shared: “Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows” (Lk 12:7). After reading the section leading up to this verse, I felt God saying to me that I would not ever win the lottery, but like the sparrows, he would take care of me providing me the opportunity and the ability to work. He has continued to be true to his word through all the ups and downs through my fifty-four years so far. These beginning stepping stones have led to others that would ultimately pave the way to me typing these words to you today. Because of each successive yes to the invitation and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and confessing those times that I did not, I placed myself in a better position each time to recognize and hear the word of God.

Now, that experience could have taken a different turn. I could have resisted the initial curiosity that welled up within me from my teacher’s discussion and instead of going out to purchase a Bible, I could have stayed home that day and opened up my copy of The Stand and given it a second read. Thus denying that invitation of the Holy Spirit, I would not have had a Bible when I went to that party. I could have followed through on the first urging to purchase a Bible, but then resisted the second to leave the party. Choosing to ignore either or both promptings would have led to a higher probability of my not hearing God’s voice that night. Say each step did happen up to and including hearing God’s voice, but then I denied that I heard God, instead attributing the experience to some bad pepperoni pizza from the party. Each one is an example of how I could have closed myself off to God’s communications.

God invites us to share in his life in a myriad of ways. With each invitation, no matter how small, we can say yes, or we can dismiss these “encounters” as mere “coincidences.” With each denial, we further limit ourselves to the possibility of acknowledging an encounter with God, even begin to doubt and/or come to a place of denying that he even exists. We could then develop “a mentality which obstinately sets the mind against the Spirit of God, and as long as that obstinate mindset perdures, God’s forgiveness cannot be accorded to such a person” (Fitzmeyer 1985, 964).

God loves us more than we can ever mess up, so much so, that he gives us the freedom to reject him. He does not impose his will upon us. John the Baptist and Jesus got this, and this is why their emphasis on repentance was so preeminent in their preaching. If we turn to God with humility and contrition, true sorrow for our sins, God will forgive us and we will receive his healing touch.

The danger of a consistent and obstinate disposition is that like a muscle that is not used, it will atrophy, and so will our ability to see God working in our lives. We will become less and less able to notice his gentle stirrings and invitations. We will become spiritually blind, and our hearts will become hardened. Now that does not mean God stops communicating. He continues to reach out to us in an infinite number of ways, but we are less and less able to receive the forgiveness he so thirsts to give us when we close off ourselves to even the mere possibility of him doing so.

Jesus, in becoming one with us so that we can become one with him, opened up the opportunity for us to experience the Holy Spirit, who is the Love that is shared between himself and God. The more we say yes to his guidance and leading, the more we will experience him, the more we will begin to recognize his voice, and the more we will participate in his forgiveness and love. I don’t believe in coincidences, but God-incidences!
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Photo: The dome in the apse of St Ignatius Church in San Francisco. “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.”

Fitzmeyer, Joseph A. The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV in the Anchor Bible. NY: Double Day, 1985.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, October 19, 2019