Reflections on the Gospel Reading for the Day

We can experience Jesus’ peace even in our greatest challenges.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you” (Jn 14:27). The peace that Jesus is talking about, the peace that he gives us is a peace the surpasses all understanding, because it does not come from this world but from the love of the Trinity. This peace Jesus can give because he has received this peace from the relationship that he has with his Father. “It is a supernatural peace that arises from a total love for the Father” (Martin and Wright, 252).

God is an infinite communion of Love. There are three Persons, yet one God, because of their infinite nature. There is a complete, perfect, and infinite giving and receiving between the Father and the Son and the love that is shared between them who is the Holy Spirit. We experience this peace because of Jesus, in his becoming one with us in our humanity, we become one with him in his divinity. Because of our union with Jesus, we too then share in the love of the Holy Spirit and experience also the peace of the Holy Spirit. This peace is not just an absence of stress, anxiety, violence, and war, but a receiving, resting, abiding, and sharing in his trinitarian communion of love. Jesus seeks to share the love and peace he has received from his Father with each of us.

Jesus does not promise with the bestowal of his peace a life of perfection and peace. We still live in a wounded, dark, and fallen world and there will be challenges, trials, tribulations, and tragedy, yet through all matter of what we encounter, we can tap into the infinite well spring of the love of the Holy Spirit. He is present and accompanies us in the midst of any and every situation we invite him into. There may be chaos all around, but as we turn to Jesus and trust in him, we will experience his peace.

Today, would have been JoAnn and my 29th anniversary. I can still remember the day we received the news of JoAnn’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer during the Wednesday of Holy Week. From that moment, our life entered a non-stop whirlwind and flurry of activity. There was so much we had to prepare and plan for even beyond dealing with the diagnosis. Despite everything, there was a peace that was consistently present for both of us. Jesus sustained us through every step leading up to her death, the time of grieving and mourning that followed, and learning how to live again without her.

Nothing this side of heaven is permanent. At best, all God has created is good, but finite. The one constant we can place our hope and trust in is Jesus’ love and support for each one of us. This is why we are an alleluia people because even death does not have the final say, Jesus does. The veil between heaven and earth is so thin at Mass because Jesus is present with us in his word proclaimed, in his Body and Blood, in each of us who gather on earth as the angels and saints gather in heaven. Jesus seeks to enter our lives and to share with us his love and peace in every situation, are we willing to open the door and let him in?

Photo: Thanks for 23 blessed years and for your help and intercession these past five and a half years. Happy 29th my heart and my love!

Martin, Francis and Wright IV, William M. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, May 25, 2025

May we pray that we will be more willing to help “one another to walk in love and truth.”

When Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first”, Jesus was not proposing an-us-verses them mentality, for he had just spoken to them about loving others as he loves them. Falling into an-us-verses mentality for those suffering from persecution is an understandable posture. It is just not the stance that Jesus proposes for us to take. We are to love our enemies, we are to love those who hate us and persecute us. Impossible? On our own will power alone, yes, for apart from Jesus we can do nothing, but with him all things are possible, even loving our enemies, haters, and persecutors.

Jesus is making it plain to his disciples that they need to be prepared, that they will face the same that he did. They will be persecuted, mocked, imprisoned, and many will give their lives just as Jesus did. The gospel message is a challenge. We are challenged to have a change of mind and heart and not to think in the ways of the fallen world. Our minds are instead to be transformed by and conformed to the love of Jesus the Christ. This means that our focus must shift away from being self first and foremost to putting God first. God is to have the primary place in our lives.

We know we are putting God first instead of our fallen nature when we react less and love more. Reactions are based in fear, defensive, and slipping into an-us-verses them mentality. “They”: are responsible for the state I am in, are taking my jobs, are not allowing me to worship or speak in the way I want to, it is all their fault, they made me do it. These are all reactive thoughts that lead to uglier statements and actions. Jesus invites us to assume the disposition resisting the temptation of reaction and instead choosing intentional action grounded in God’s love for us and making our decisions from God’s guidance and not our reactions.

The way we can be more intentional and less reactive is to spend more time making friends with silence, being more still to pray and meditate with God’s word in the Bible and also in his word of creation. Much of our reaction comes from our harried pace, keeping us from being in touch with our deep-seated wounds, fears, and prejudices. We run from the mirror Jesus holds up to us. It is important to stop and pray regularly. When we do and we are willing to face the sin in our hearts, we can identify them and let them go. We can bring our struggles, pain, and areas in need of healing to Jesus for healing. A way to begin to turn away is by taking some deep breaths and ask Jesus to shine the light of his love in our hearts so that we can see what lies hidden in those dark corners. Then we can identify those sins, renounce, let it go, be forgiven of them, and set free.

Embracing the humility to confess our sins and to die to our sinful ways helps in our healing. We are not only forgiven, Jesus gives us the grace to grow in our relationship with him and each other and we are strengthened to resist temptations. We become more patient, understanding, and truer to who Jesus calls us to be, which is people who love. We will each other’s good by treating each other as brothers and sisters. We are better able to accept that we are all imperfect, make mistakes, experience loneliness, and just want to belong, and be loved.

Pope Leo encouraged us in his Regina Caeli address on May 11 to, “ask our Heavenly Father to assist us in living in service to one another, each according to his or her state of life, shepherds after his own heart, (cf. Jer 3:15) capable of helping one another to walk in love and truth.”

Jesus and Pope Leo show us the way to the Father is to ask him for help. Let us ask God, our Heavenly Father to help us to live more consciously and pray to renew and conform our lives to the Jesus who gave his life that we might be free from the grip of our own sins, prejudices, and darkness. May we allow the love of the Holy Spirit to guide and flow through us, so as to dissolve attitudes of hate and division, and instead soften our hearts that they would be more open to dialogue and healing.

May we no longer turn away from the temptation of revenge and fueling contempt, hate, and dehumanization, and instead choose to pause, breathe, receive, rest, and abide often in Jesus’ love for us. Empowered and embodied by his love, obeying God’s will and his commandments, we will be empowered to resist the easy and impulsive reaction so as to not retaliate in kind, but instead choose to intentionally respond in ways that are understanding, compassionate, and loving. In this way, we can heal and help others to heal and to “walk in truth and love.”

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Photo: Pope Leo offering his first Regina Caeli address on May 11, 2025. Vatican News photo credit.

Link for Regina Caeli Pope Leo

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, May 24, 2025

“Love one another as I love you.”

Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you” (Jn 15:12). This verse is foundational to our faith as we seek to live as disciples of Jesus. Love is what Jesus lived, modeled, taught, and commanded, but even more so, love is who, as the second person of the Trinity Jesus is. Jesus is love because: “God is love” (I John 4:8). By becoming human, as one of us, and embracing the Paschal Mystery: his suffering, crucifixion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension into Heaven, the Son of God opened up the reality for us that we can also participate in the very same love he shares with his Father.

We are capable of loving others because Jesus has loved us first. How did he love us? Jesus gave his life for you and me, each and every person, for those who believe in him and those who don’t, he gave his life for the good and the bad alike. Jesus was willing to suffer the scourging, agony of his carrying the cross, crucifixion, and death. He was not just going through the motions, his divine Person was not somehow hovering over his body. Jesus felt the rejection, the betrayal, the physical torment of the nails, because, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).

Some of us may have heard this verse so many times that we do not fully appreciate the impact of it. The gift of the liturgical seasons is that the readings of Scripture are offered again and again so we can experience their telling again and again. We just need to slow down and ponder the significance of this reading, breathe in the reality of this passage, so that it becomes the living Word of God, not just a dead letter. As we do so, we will be less apt to take our lives for granted, the life we have been given at such great cost. In coming to realize the gift that Jesus gave for us, and meditating on that reality, hopefully, we can see others in our lives who we may have taken for granted. Those who have loved us, have been there for us, have been there when maybe when no one else has been.

What is our response to the love of Jesus that we have been blessed with? Jesus answers: “This I command you: love one another” (Jn 15:17). Jesus ends today’s Gospel as recorded by John where he began at the beginning, he invites us to love. Jesus loves us more than our worst mistakes or our most grievous of sins; he loves us more than we can ever hope or imagine. This is important to not only hear but to allow the reality of this grace to fill us to overflowing, such that we seek to love others as well in the same fashion.

In embracing the love of Jesus, his invitation of friendship, and with a heart full of gratitude, maybe just maybe, we too will love others a little more today than we did yesterday, and a little more tomorrow than today. Love is not a willingness to love each other only when everything is going well. Love is being willing to do so one conflict at a time, one interruption at a time, one inconvenience at a time, one heartbreak, and even one betrayal at a time. We are able to truly love when we are willing to see each other as Jesus sees us, as friends: as human beings endowed with dignity. When we are willing to do so, we are ready to love, one encounter, one moment, one person at a time.

Photo: A quiet moment to breathe, receive, rest, and abide in God’s love.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, May 23, 2025

We love well when we are willing to dialogue well.

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you” (Jn 15:12).

God created us from the abundance and outpouring of his trinitarian love to be loved, and to love him in return. The love that Jesus is talking about is unconditional and not just relegated to those closest to us, although, hopefully, in our families and friendships is where we first experienced being loved and learned to love in return.

The love that Jesus commands that we are to participate in as his followers, is a going out from, a giving of ourselves to, and a willingness to sacrifice for one another. We are not to seek in return, but are to empty and give ourselves away. The return we get is from experiencing the infinite wellspring and source of the Holy Spirit that rises up within us. The more we hold back, the less we receive, the more we give, the more we experience. We are to resist withdrawing our love and assuming a selfish posture that leads to us becoming more like a stagnant pool. Instead, we are to remain open so as to allow the living stream of God’s infinite love to flow through us.

The love Jesus commands cannot be done on the fly. Love is accepting the interruption and choosing to be present. Love means stopping, setting aside our agendas, and accompanying another. Love is also not coercion and manipulation, it is accepting another as they are and where they are. Love is sharing the journey of life together. St Thomas Aquinas has written it best: Love is to will the good of the other as other. This is more than mere emotion, feeling, or sentiment but actually wanting the best for someone else and rejoicing in their becoming fully alive. Nor does this mean that we become doormats or enablers of dysfunctional or abusive behavior. We hold people accountable – for to love is also to be clear about respecting our’s and another’s dignity.

This practice of love is also not exclusive but universal. Yes, we are to love those in our family, community, place of worship, tribe, political party, and nation, while at the same time we must be willing to go out from our comfort zones and protected bubbles to risk opening ourselves up to those who we feel are different, those who do not see the world as we see it, and even those we consider our enemies. This does not mean we have to agree or even like someone else. Jesus commands us to love, to respect the dignity of the person as our starting point. This is the love he offers us and calls us to do the same.

A dialogue grounded in love is a wonderful way to grow in relationship. Speaking and listening with a heart and mind open to the love of God is also a good way to participate in the divine communion of love that is shared between the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Authentic communication happens when we state clearly our beliefs, our thoughts, and dreams, and also allow others to do the same. Even though we may differ in our points of view, we can still grow together in love for one another.

When we talk at and over one another, demean, belittle, and/or are condescending, we dehumanize each other. Pope Leo has invited us to be “a Church that builds bridges and encourages dialogue, a Church ever open to welcoming”.  We welcome and build such bridges of such dialogue when we are willing to resist staying at a distance and are more willing to come close, to love, and respect one another. From that starting point we are better able to encounter the person and free ourselves from prejudicial caricatures and labels that hopefully will dissolve through our interaction and respectfully engaging with one another.

Instead of keeping each other at arm’s length, when we are willing to love as Jesus loves us, we will better be able to listen with patience and understanding. We will learn to embrace and grow from one another. From a place of mutual, loving dialogue, we can recognize and remember again who we are, beloved daughters and sons of God our Father, friends, brothers and sisters together on this journey we call life.

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Photo: Making some time to be in quiet conversation with Jesus, to receive his love and love him in return. Giving ourselves time to experience loving dialogue with Jesus helps us to better enter into loving dialogue with each other.

Pope Leo XIV quote from his May 8 Ubi et Orbi message

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, May 22, 2025

“Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit”.

In today’s Gospel reading, we experience the imagery of the vine and the branches. As the branch of the vine matures, it begins to look more like the vine itself. As it remains connected, is sustained by the nourishment provided, and protected by the vine grower, the branches become more and more conformed to the vine. This is also true in the event that a branch not originally attached to the vine is grafted to it. Over time, the branches are almost indistinguishable from the vine itself. The blessing of the vine does not stop there. A healthy and mature branch will also bear fruit.

Our hope, as disciples of Jesus, no matter what our background, culture, gender, ethnicity, or race will be the same. We are to be one as the Son and the Father are one. As St Paul has written to the Churches in Galatia and Collosse: “In Christ there is neither Jew or Greek, circumcision or uncircumcision, male or female, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free because we are all one in Christ” (cf. Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11).

Being a disciple of Jesus is not being a mindless follower, quite the opposite. The more we are conformed to Jesus, the more we come to know him and also experience the unique gift of ourselves. We begin to let go of the pressures to conform to the pressures of the world, that which stunts our growth, and begin to embrace the freedom and truth of who we are. That freedom that just wants to burst out is allowed to be free when we die to our false selves and live in the love of Christ.

We will experience the freedom of being fully alive when we accept the invitation of Jesus to enter the divine communion of love between himself and his Father. We remain connected to him as the vine when we also “obey Jesus and love one another with God’s radical, self-giving love” (Martin and Wright, 254). Focusing solely and turning in upon ourselves disconnects us from the vine, from the very source of our lives. Just as the body will suffer without water and food, so our soul will suffer if we are separated from the living spring of our sustenance. Remaining attached to Jesus, the vine, means that we will mature and live our life to the full, with joy that expands out beyond ourselves to engage in supporting the needs of others.

We will mature and bear fruit as we remain in Jesus and allow Jesus to remain in us. A good measure of our ripe harvest is when we: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful” (Colossians 3:12-15).

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Photo: Accessed from Coravin Wine

Martin, Francis and Wright, IV, William M. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, May 21, 2025

“Peace be with you all!”

Why so much violence? So many countries are and have been consistently embroiled by the ravages of war. Many countries, including our own, were founded on the taking of lands by force and oppression of aboriginal peoples. Too many of our youth and citizens die from gun violence and mass murders. So many examples of road rage, domestic abuse, human trafficking, terrorism – foreign and domestic, and the myriad of random acts of violence that continue daily.

We may hear goodwill speeches shared after each atrocity, participate in the petitions and intercessions ringing from our ambos and pulpits in our places of worship, and pray personally and in prayer groups, participate and/or witness demonstrations, marches, and votes for change. All the while, there are those working in the trenches of communities throughout the world, putting their own lives at risk, matching their words and prayers with their deeds. And yet, do any of these efforts make a difference?

There is a constant temptation of cynicism and despair biting at our heels, but let us never give in. There is a light the shines in the darkness of our fallen world, and there is hope that we can pray with and rest in from  Jesus’ Gospel from John: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27).

This peace that Jesus promises to leave with his apostles is a peace that is not of this world, a peace that surpasses all understanding (cf. Philippians 4:7), and this peace has been and continues to be offered to us as a gift. Many have indeed said, “If there is a God, well then, why doesn’t he do anything?” He did and he has. God sent his Son the King of kings and the Prince of Peace. The peace that God shares through his Son and the love of the Holy Spirit is offered to one person at a time. This is why when Jesus resurrected he only appeared to those he chose and not the whole world.

Jesus is to be encountered and his relationship is built one person at a time in each generation. Each of us have the invitation to accept or reject his invitation to believe in him, but so much more. Jesus invites us to be his disciples. Learning from and putting into practice his teachings, as did the original apostles and saints who in each generation have done just that, is the way we are to follow. We do this best when we surrender our minds and hearts and the very depths of our souls to the love and peace that Jesus offers and teaches.

Pope Leo XIV chose to do continue to offer our war worn and weary world Jesus’ peace with his first words as Pope: “Peace be with you all!” This “is the peace of the risen Christ. A peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering. A peace that comes from God, the God who loves us all, unconditionally.”

This peace of God that the risen Jesus offers is not some abstract formula and the command to love is not some pie in the sky universal love for all. The teachings and acts of peace and love that Jesus shares throughout the Gospels are very concrete, individual, and personal. Jesus interacts with people as people, not as numbers. He engages and directs us to do the same, by encountering, accompanying, and loving a person. The real question is not why isn’t God doing anything? The real question is why have we left the gift of God’s peace offered to us unwrapped?

If we want peace in our world or even our corner of the world, our hearts and minds must be open to receive God’s love. We must be still and receive, savor, and embrace the love he wants for give and then share with others what we have received and as he directs us to give. To receive and embrace the peace of Jesus, we must be willing to let go of our own weapons of hate, prejudice, cynicism, racism, division, selfishness, and the like. God created us as beings who are interconnected, which means that what one does affects all, for the sun rises and sets on the good and the bad alike.

If we want peace, as I believe all of us really do, we need to be more aware of and choose more intentionally our thoughts, words, actions, and even the expressions of our faces. The thoughts that we feed are the ones that bear fruit in our words and deeds. Figuratively and literally, we need to be willing to “beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks” (cf. Isaiah 2:4).

This verse becomes real in our lives when we choose to resist the temptation to react and choose instead to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In the concrete, we can choose to disagree with someone without being  disagreeable or disrespectful. When we make a mistake and resist beating ourselves up over the process and instead learn from our misstep, and begin again. We also do so when we are willing to seek and offer forgiveness, acknowledge we need to be healed, are willing to be more patient and understanding and we can do none of these alone. We need a Savior, to heal us, save us, and lead us from our own darkness into his light.

Can we really bring about world peace? In some abstract form, for all people, for all time, no. What we can do is make a daily commitment to spending time with Jesus to receive his love, study, pray, meditate with and learn from him. Then we can begin to put into practice what we have learned and received. We can share the love and peace of Jesus with each other one person at a time.

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Photo: Pope Leo XVI’s first appearance praying for the Church and the world that we may receive and share the peace of the risen Christ. Credit: Dylan Martinez from Reuters 

Quotes of Pope Leo from full Urbi et Orbi message.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, May 20, 2025

“Brothers and sisters, this is the hour to love!”

“Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me” (John 14:21).

Especially in our modern western mind set, the idea of commandments and love are bristled at. Mostly this is because of abuse of power, abuse in relationships, and a weakening of trust in secular and religious institutions is still present for many.

Jesus though is clearly bringing commandments and love together, as he is sharing with his apostles in these beginning stages of his farewell discourse before his crucifixion, what he feels is most important to leave. His testament that he not only wants to share, but these final words he wants to impart upon them in such a way that they continue to learn and receive his teachings, put them into practice, and perpetuate them.

As commandment can lead one to bristle, love has many more superficial meanings than what Jesus means. One reason is that, even though the English language has a plethora of words to utilize and choose from, there is only one word for love and it is interpreted in many ways. In Ancient Greek, there are four words that are used to connote love. There is eros, which has to do with attraction. It is the beginning stage of love because we are drawn out of ourselves as we are attracted to another. The next word for love is philia, which aligns with friendship, a wanting to be together, to share between friends. If our love matures it moves from attraction or infatuation to friendship. The third word, storge, is the deeper love shared with family members which can be through blood or a deepening of friendship. The fourth word is agape, which is unconditional love, a sacrificial love.

When Jesus shares that we are to follow the commandments, he is not demanding that we do so as a tyrant would. He is providing the boundaries and parameters for us to grow and mature as people who love, who, in the words of St Thomas Aquinas, will the good of the other as other. As humans, we are social beings. We want to belong, to be accepted, and to be a part of. We seek meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in our lives. This is best done through cooperation and collaboration with God and with one another, striving to love unconditionally, agape.

As a good son of St. Augustine, Pope Leo XIV quoted Augustine in his inaugural Mass as Pope Sunday: “Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you (Confessions, I: 1,1).” We are made by God to be loved and to love in return. Nothing we seek of this world will satisfy this deepest hunger that we all have in our soul besides the love God has for us. Unfortunately, we succumb to many disordered affections in pursuit of the love we seek. We are led astray by apparent goods that leave us hungry, thirsty, and wanting for more.

If we operate from a self-centered posture in which we are only turned in upon our self, and we only seek to manipulate and get from others, instead of working for consensus and sharing a common vision with others, we will ultimately be empty with the exchange on any level, because even in our relationships as with material things, we will be left wanting more. This is true because once the immediacy of the stimulation, whether material, personal, or sensual, ends, so does the experience of the feeling. Some happiness may linger from the effect, but we will never be filled or satisfied with that which is finite. We will continue to seek more and more until the pursuit of instant and constant gratification ensnares us and we are entangled in a web of addiction.

God’s commandments, grounded in love, are meant to provide boundaries for us, training wheels, and to keep us free from enslavement to sin, while at the same time help us to mature as persons moving away from being self-centered to becoming other-centered. Discipline in this way is meant to be a means of freedom for excellence such that we can become who God calls us to be and who we truly desire to be. God is not in competition with us. He is our biggest fan. As St Irenaeus wrote, the glory of God is the human being fully alive!

Commandments and morality imposed indiscriminately, without reason or an end goal is a bludgeon. Love and mercy without accountability and justice can be enabling. Jesus’ invites us to receive and observe his commandments so that we may be freed from disordered affections and so properly order and discipline our affections and passions to be free to love. Jesus knows what will truly fulfill and give us deeper meaning. May we trust in and learn from the deposit of faith passed on from Jesus to the Apostles, to each successive generation, as well as the ongoing guidance of the Holy Spirit who the Father sent in his name (John 14:26).

Pope Leo XIV continued to carry on Jesus’ teachings yesterday: “Brothers and sisters, this is the hour for love! The heart of the gospel is the love of God that makes us brothers and sisters.” We are brothers and sisters, disciples of Jesus, when we receive, rest, and abide in the love that Jesus offers us and come to realize that we do not do walk alone. As we receive and put into practice Jesus’s commandments, we love him and his Father, are given the discernment to reveal the lies of the enemy, we grow, and mature in our spiritual lives.

Let us allow the tender chords of the Holy Spirit’s love to draw us deeper into intimacy with him so that we can be transformed by his love, healed by his love, and freed from the false lures and promises that seek to divert us from being the beloved daughters and sons of God our Father that we have been created to be. As we allow ourselves to be loved, we, are “called to offer God’s love to everyone, in order to achieve that unity which does not cancel out differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious cultures of every people” (Pope Leo XIV).

Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP accessed from Catholic Herald

Quotes above from Pope Leo XIV from: Transcript of Pope Leo XIV’s Inauguration Mass

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, May 19, 2025

Jesus commands us to love. We can begin to do so by being a little more patient and kind with one another.

“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (Jn 13:34).

All of creation is an expression and an outpouring of the divine love and communion of the Trinitarian love. Love, if it is true, goes out from the self to be there for the other. St. Paul wrote that love is patient and kind (1 Cor 13:4). These are virtues that flow out of our willing the good of the other as other.

When we act with patience, we love because we resist the temptation to react and strike out. We do not seek to protect our ego, but seek to understand and be present to the person. We are willing to see beyond their brokenness, we resist fueling and feeding their frustrations by not giving in to our own impatient responses, and thereby help to dissipate any growing negativity. We love when we make an act of our will to allow Jesus to love the person through us. A helpful way to do so practically is when we first feel any sense of reaction, we breathe. We slow down. We listen and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us on how best to respond.

When we are kind, we do so because we resist returning hurtful acts with acts of love, seeking nothing in return. We are kind because this is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. We are not kind in the hope that people are kind in return. We are kind because that is the foundation of who God has created us to be.

So often we do not know what another is going through. When someone cuts us off in the course of our travel, we do not have to react in frustration, anger, or rage, but can choose instead to send a blessing, that the driver may find peace of mind, slow down, and have a safe trip. We can pray that all those driving may drive mindfully so all may be safe on the road.

When someone is short or curt with us, instead of reacting by being sharp or snarky in return, we can take a breath, and ask Jesus in that moment to be present in us and minister through us to the person in our midst. We can choose to be open to loving the person as Jesus loves us, accepting them as they are in that moment, and being willing to allow the Holy Spirit to be present in our encounter with them.

Some good beginning steps to love another is to be patient and kind in the moment, to smile, and offer a hand in greeting, and be available to listen. These very simple acts do have a cost in that our ego and focus on self becomes less, but what we gain in return is that Jesus becomes more and we see each other as human beings. In these simple acts we say to the other, even before we have said anything with our words, that they are important to us, they have worth and dignity, because we are willing to make the time to acknowledge and respect their presence, not reacting to and defining them by their weakness and brokenness in that moment.

“This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). Let us make a commitment for today to love one another as Jesus has loved us.

Photo: Came upon this mosaic on a walk after the first few days that I arrived here at Holy Cross. Blessed to have continually been welcomed by so many kind people here this past year!

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, May 18, 2025

Jesus has come to show us his Father and ourselves.

Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:8-9).

Philip was one of the first of the apostles called by Jesus in Galilee (see John 1:43), and so had been with Jesus from the very beginning of his public ministry. He lived, learned, and traveled with Jesus. He experienced the power of his teaching with authority, the exorcisms, healings, and ways that Jesus interacted with him, the apostles, and others. Yet, he still had much to learn, as do we all about the core reality of who Jesus is.

Jesus, fully human, is also at the same time, fully divine. The struggle to understand this truth is on full display throughout the gospels. Those who believe in Jesus and have followed him, like Andrew and Philip, as well as the other disciples, are seeking to understand, but as we see with Philip in today’s account, they still fall short of the height of the truth regarding who Jesus really is. Which is understandable, because to understand that Jesus is who he says he is, “I and the Father are one” (See John 10:30), is beyond our rational comprehension.

This is why so many within the leadership of the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Sanhedrin (The Jewish High Council) are so vehement about crushing the rise of Jesus and his popularity. They understand Jesus very clearly, that by his very words and actions, he is declaring himself to be God. To them, that a human being could be God is blasphemous. So they seek to crush this heresy.

like the apostles, there are others who saw Jesus differently. They expressed faith and trust in Jesus. Their hearts and minds were open that there was something about Jesus. They did not feel threatened, but something in the depths of their souls was moved to follow and stay close. Peter and Martha remained close and in time experienced deeper, spiritual insights. Peter, when Jesus asked the apostles, “Who do you say that I am?” replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (see Mt. 16:15). During the exchange between Martha and Jesus regarding her brother Lazarus’ death, when Jesus asked her if she believed that he was “the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live… Do you believe this?” Martha said, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God” (see John 11:17-27).

Even with these insights, Peter and Martha, still did not comprehend the fullness of who Jesus taught and revealed himself to be. As the apostles and other disciples would trust and grow in their understanding of Jesus so would the Church in the succeeding generations seek to understand and develop the truth of who Jesus is as well. From the Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381) we received this line about the identity of Jesus in the Creed that each one of us affirms each Sunday: “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God form true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father”.

This statement clearly affirms Jesus’ teaching that he and the Father are one. One God, while at the same time distinct in person and operation as Father and Son. Who Jesus is in relation to his human nature also was further understood as the hypostatic union. This is the dogmatic teaching that Jesus is one divine person, while experiencing two natures, fully human and fully divine. The incarnation is that historical event in which through the full ascent of Mary’s, “Yes,” the Son of God through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, entered the womb of Mary and took on flesh. The Son of God became human.

The Council of Chalcedon (451) helped to clarify this point of the two natures of Jesus subsisting in one divine person. Jesus has “two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation – the difference of the natures being by no means taken away because of the union, but rather the distinctive character of each nature being preserved, and [each] combining in one person and hyspostasis – not divided or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and only begotten God, Logos, Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets of old and the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us about him, and the symbol of the fathers has handed down to us” (Pelikan, 264).

Jesus’ characteristics and natures of the divine and human are distinct. There is no co-mingling, no mixing of the divine and human. Jesus is not a stew or smoothie of the divine and the human. Nor are there two distinct persons in Jesus. Jesus is one divine person. He remained the Son, fully divine at the moment he took on flesh, and in that moment became fully human. As St. Irenaeus wrote, “The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did through His transcendent love, become what we are, that he might bring us to be even what He is himself” (Against the Heresies).

What God the Father did in time and space, as an outpouring of his love for us, was to send his Son to become one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity. Jesus, fully human and divine, showed the face of his Father to Philip, the apostles, and all those who met him. He still does so with us today. In instituting the sacraments, especially in his Body and Blood, present in the Eucharist, he gave us a way to grow in greater intimacy with himself and his Father so that we can also experience the love they share between them, the Holy Spirit.

This truth, to be affirmed in each of us will not come about through just an intellectual pursuit or exercise. We come to know Jesus as one divine Person subsisting in two natures, the human and divine, not by memorizing this fact. We come to know the fullness and truth of who Jesus is by knowing him. A simple way we can begin, is to begin each day, before doing anything else, by being still and breathing, slowly and deeply. We listen and become a friend with silence for God speaks in the silence of our hearts.

Then think back over the last 24 and recall at least three people or things we are grateful for, no matter how small. Then make an intentional act to dedicate this day to Jesus by asking for his guidance to improve upon one thing in our lives as well as one way that we can help someone in a simple and concrete way. These simple choices of slowing down to be silent, pondering who and by what we have been blessed, and opening ourselves up to Jesus’ guidance and will, will help us to know Jesus a little more today than we did yesterday and our relationship will not only grow with him but as well, with those in our lives.

Painting: “Christ Divine” by Jorge Cocco accessed from Altus Fine Art blog.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, May 17, 2025

Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600). Chicago and London: University of Chicago, 1971.

Accepting Jesus’ invitation to slow down can help us to grow in our relationship with him and experience more peace.

Our days are so full of activities, conflicts, health issues, technological stimulation, 24/7 news cycles, social media interaction, challenges, polarization, as well as good and healthy activities, pursuits, interaction, and engagements which can all contribute to our emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual weariness. If we do not have the proper foundation and orientation, we can feel stretched, hollow, and/or fatigued at best. One day can seem to blend into another, and another, and another. The image of being on a hamster wheel or an unending treadmill can fall afresh in our mind’s eye when we actually do take a minute to breathe. Anxiety, worry, stress, fear, prescriptions, and addictions all appear to be on the rise and swirling out of control.

Is there an answer to this hyper pace or are we doomed to just keep going until the wheels fall off? The opening verse in today’s reading provides an antidote when we are feeling any or all of the above.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me” (Jn 14:1).

Jesus was speaking specifically to his disciples after he had talked to him about leaving them. He was going back to the Father through the way of the cross. No matter the challenges that we face, even death, our own or a loved ones, we are invited to place our trust in God through his Son, Jesus. By putting God first does not mean that the externals to our life will immediately take an abrupt turn for the better. What establishing a foundational relationship with Jesus does mean is that we will have support and divine assistance. We are not alone in our struggles. The disciples found this out when in the midst of a sudden sea squall. Their boat was taking on water as the waves grew higher such that they were terrified and so, called to a sleeping Jesus. Jesus awoke and with a word, he calmed the sea (cf. Mk 4:35-41).

Jesus may or may not calm the sea of our trials and tribulations, but what he will do is be present with us through our storms in life and we can trust in him that he will guide us through. As we grow more confident in our trust in Jesus, we will be assured that no matter who or what comes at us, he will be there to assist us. We will experience a peace that surpasses all understanding and calm within ourselves. The ultimate assurance that Jesus provides is that when we surrender our life to him, we belong to him, we are not alone or orphaned. He gave his life for us, to redeem and save us so that we can be assured of our home for eternity. “I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be” (John 14:3).

Jesus promised he will come back for us at the hour of our death. He is preparing a place for us in the heavenly kingdom. We do not have to just wait for him to come back though. By growing in our relationship with him now, we enter into and participate in the loving relationship Jesus shares with his Father and experience the love of the Holy Spirit.

If we are struggling at any level and are seeking to build our trust and faith in Jesus, it is important to proceed patiently. God works slowly and this goes against our seeking of instant gratification. God is building a foundation in us which is meant to last not only in this life but in the next. When we make time to sit at the feet of  Jesus, slow down and breathe, ask for his help, seek his discernment about where we can make changes in our life, he will lead us. We just need to trust him and be willing to follow his lead.

This time does not need to be lengthy, three to five minutes a day to start can do wonders. On the surface level, by stopping for five minutes to pray and breathe more deeply and consciously, we get off the wheel, we step out of survival and reaction mode, so that we can then make more intentional and insightful decisions, and we can come to see that we truly have options, but more importantly, we begin to develop a relationship and intimacy with Jesus so to begin to recognize his voice in our stillness and in our activity. When we show up, God will happen.

The Liturgy of the Hours, and the daily readings of the Mass, meditating, praying, and contemplating the word of God have been foundational for me and my transformation, healing, and growth. Over my two years at the seminary, I was also introduced to practicing a holy hour of prayer, often before the Blessed Sacrament daily. Each of these practices have become foundational and non-negotiable anchors in my day. Setting the time aside with my busy daily schedule has been a challenge over my first year of priesthood, but doing so has helped me to better prioritize my time and seek the guidance of Jesus to guide me.

Having set times to stop to meditate and pray throughout the day has been helpful, especially on those days when my schedule is full to overflowing. Author Wanda E. Brunstetter, wrote, “If you are too busy to pray, you are busier than God wants you to be.” There is a lot of truth in her statement. I have had busy days, weeks and months, where I have wondered if taking the time to pray and meditate was really the most sensible choice. Time and again doing so has made an incredible difference and has now been helping me better reevaluate what I schedule into each day. 

The Rosary is another great way to get into God’s word by meditating on the mysteries of the life of Jesus and Mary. If you are not able to pray the whole Rosary in one sitting, start with one decade a day. Read for a few minutes from the Bible once in the morning and then return to meditate on the same verse or verses that touch or challenge you throughout the day. You can also read the daily Mass readings and place your self in the scene and allow the account to open up before you as if were actually there.

Each of these practices offer us a few of the many ways to stop the madness, to slow down, simplify, and connect with the power, the love, and the grace that Jesus yearns to share with us such that no matter the external or internal upheaval, we may experience his peace, that peace that surpasses all understanding (cf. Philippians 4:7).

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Photo: Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) . Let us trust him, take his hand, and follow his lead.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, May 16, 2025