Beginning with the miracle of the multiplication of the fish and the loaves in our first week, to Jesus then saying to the crowd that he is the bread of life, and that all who come to him will never hunger, and whoever will believe in him will never thirst, in the second, and as our journey continued last week, Jesus left off with the cliff hanger of saying that he is the bread that he will give and that his flesh is to be given for the life of the world. With each layer of Jesus’ presentation, he invited the people to follow, and yet, they have increasingly become more uncomfortable. The resistance to his message has increased.

All that Jesus has been building up to is now coming to a climax. Any silent shock of disbelief or quiet murmuring has now escalated to those who quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat” (Jn 6:52)? Jesus hears the growing concern and disbelief. If he was speaking in a figurative or symbolic way, this would be the moment to clarify his point.

Jesus continues and yet, he does not walk back or qualify his comments. Instead, Jesus doubles down: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (Jn 6:53). Jesus does not only repeat that his followers are to eat his flesh, but he also insists also that they are to drink his blood. Drinking or even eating meat with the blood of an animal was inconceivable for devout Jews. Also, the Greek used here in John’s Gospel for eat is trogein, or trogo, which is used to describe how an animal eats, by gnawing, munching, or tearing at the flesh.

The exposition that Jesus is using here is more graphic than the customary use of phagein, which would be used for chewing, as a human would chew their food. This was no attempt to assure the crowd that he was just speaking figuratively or metaphorically. With this recent insertion, he had absolutely repulsed his listeners sensibilities.

Jesus continues to make his point that whoever does eat his flesh and drinks his blood, will not only remain in him, but also Jesus will remain in them, and they will have eternal life. A wonderful end goal, but would any be able to make the leap of faith to get there?

Jesus said that he is “the living bread that came down from heaven”. In doing so he was equating himself with God the Father as his Son. He is saying in no uncertain terms that he is God – blasphemy to devout Jews to say that one is God. On top of that, Jesus is now stating that as the Son of God, he is to give his flesh to be eaten and his blood to be drunk, and this will give his listeners eternal life? Really?

Yes. John will record Jesus saying in just a few more chapters: “Before Abraham came to be, I AM” (John 8:58). These are the words God spoke to Abraham at the burning bush when Moses asked God his name. This language demands a choice. Either Jesus is who he says he is, and they are to give their lives to him and worship him for he is God, or he has now reached the height of blasphemy or insanity, in which the penalty is death. Next week we will come to the end of our journey of the bread of life discourse, and we will see who will leave and who if any will remain with Jesus.

The last lines we hear proclaimed for this week are: “This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Jesus is inviting the crowd to receive that which is their deepest longing, eternal life. This has been the choice since the creation of man. We are given the choice to eat of the tree of knowledge that will bring death or the tree of life that will bring, life.

Before us today at this altar, we will be presented with the same invitation. We will be offered the Bread of Life that will come down from heaven, the bread and wine that will become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. We will be invited to participate again in the source and summit of our faith.

Lady Wisdom, from our first reading from Proverbs, has invited us to a feast, “she has spread her table.” And we are invited to eat of her food, and drink of her wine. When we eat of her banquet we receive the gift of wisdom, which is to know the difference between the apparent good and the true good, we come to understand the difference between the lie and the truth, and we come to see what leads to death and what leads to life.

Lady Wisdom’s banquet is a type, a foretaste of the eternal meal we share at the Eucharistic banquet. What is hidden in the Old Testament is revealed in the New. Jesus is the Good, the Truth, and the Life. And yet:

That we are to eat the Flesh and Blood of Jesus may sound just as bizarre as it did to Jesus’ followers. The term we have for this miraculous transformation of bread and wine that takes place during the Mass is transubstantiation. What happens at the calling down of the Holy Spirit and the words of institution invoked by the priest is that the substance, the reality, of the bread and wine is transfigured into the Body and Blood of Jesus, while the accidental form or appearance remains the same. We consume Jesus’ unbloody, acceptable sacrifice.

Jesus is giving all of who he is corporally, fully, holding nothing back of himself so we can receive all of him. In consuming Jesus, we become divinized as he permeates our whole being. We are then sent, as the Father sent his Son to be one with us in our humanity so that we can become with him in his divinity, at the end of the Mass to go out. We are sent like Mary, to bring Jesus to others. We are to love others as Jesus has loved us.

He loves us by having given his life on the Cross, so that he can give us his life again and again in the miracle of the Eucharist at each Mass. As we receive him, we are to love, sacrifice, and serve those he sends us to serve, and so experience Jesus in each other. For what we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to him (cf. Mt 25:40).

We are sent forth to bring the Good, the True, and the Life we have received into our corner of the world, person by person, and then return to receive the Body and Blood of Christ to be nourished and renewed and sent out again and again.

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Photo: Celebrating my first Mass of Thanksgiving with Dcn. Stephen at St. Peter Catholic Church, Jupiter, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, August 18, 2024

“Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Mt 19:14).

Again, we see the disciples refusing access to Jesus. The scriptures are not clear why they consistently act this way. We see them doing so with the blind man Bartimaeus, the tax collector Zacchaeus, and the Canaanite woman. In today’s reading, they are refusing access to children being brought to Jesus such that he might lay his hands on them and pray. A common characteristic of each of those being refused is that they are considered to be on the periphery of Jewish society.

Children, paidia in Greek, especially so. Paidia could represent a child from infancy to twelve years of age. In ancient Palestine, children were particularly vulnerable, had no status and were completely dependent on their families for survival. Luke goes even further than Mark and Matthew by using, brephē, meaning infant, to describe the children. It is to these children and infants that Jesus states the Kingdom of heaven belongs.

Just as consistent as the disciples are in turning away those in need, Jesus is just as consistent in his ministry of paying particular interest to each individual person in their particular need. He welcomes the children and blesses each one of them. Jesus continually acknowledges and affirms the dignity of each person he meets, especially those neglected and ignored. Those who have been on the other side of the glass looking in, Jesus gives admittance. Jesus bridges the divide of separation through his presence and healing touch.

To enter the Kingdom of heaven, we must be willing to trust and place, as children, even more so, as infants, our total dependence on God alone, instead of relying on our own initiative or effort. There is nothing we can do to earn our way into heaven. The entrance into the Kingdom of heaven is a free gift of God’s grace. This gift is not about our worthiness, for all of us fall short. It is about our willingness to acknowledge our utter dependence on our loving God and Father and accept the invitation he offers all of us to be in relationship with him. As we do so, we are to resist the temptation to prevent others from having access to this wonderful gift, but instead share the same invitation we have received.

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Photo: A stained glass image of Jesus with children at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, Los Angeles, CA.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, August 17, 2024.

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever” (Mt 19:3)?

The question about divorce came from an already existing debate within Jewish circles of interpretation and schools of thought. Testing Jesus arose from time to time to better understand who he would side with. Regarding the issue of divorce, there was a range of interpretations. On one end of the spectrum, there was the School of Shammai, which permitted divorce only in the event of some sexual misconduct. At the other end, was the School of Hillel, which would allow a man to divorce his wife if she cooked a bad meal (cf. Harrington 2007, 275).

The Pharisees sought to understand the perspective of Jesus in this debate. Jesus responded: “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'” (Mt 19:4-5)? This response negated both schools as well as rejected the precept that Moses set for allowing divorce, explaining that, “from the beginning it was not so” (Mt 19:8). Jesus’ defense went back to God’s original intent recorded in the Book of Genesis, which allowed no provision for divorce.

In God’s plan, marriage is a covenantal relationship, as is the relationship between God and his people as was vividly outlined in the first reading from the prophet Ezekiel. A covenant is a sacred bond that is not to be broken. In the Sacrament of Matrimony, a man and a woman who give themselves freely to one another and are open to children as the fruit of their union mirror the Trinitarian communion of the Father and the Son and the eternal love between them, the Holy Spirit.

The goal is clear, yet we live in a fallen world, and we do not often live up to what God has planned. For many reasons, there are times where a marriage does not work as intended or that it was not a marriage in the first place, but that does not mean we are to give up on marriage. Even though Jesus holds the standard high, he remains with us when we are wounded and suffer from our fallibility. He reminds us: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mk 2:17).

We are to resist the temptation to settle for anything less than what God has in store for us, which is a covenant relationship with himself and each other. Relationships are not easy, and they take commitment, hard work, and a willingness to sacrifice for one another through everything. But we don’t often know what we are supposed to do.

We need to learn how to communicate, to listen, to forgive and to be patient and understanding with one another. As we do so, our relationships will grow stronger and then we will be in a better position to help those not only preparing for marriage but also continue to mentor and guide them during their marriage. And when a relationship breaks down, we need to be present to and walk with those who suffer through the pain of such a rupture. We are not to abandon one another, for Jesus does not abandon us but instead he bestows his mercy upon us, which is his willingness to enter into the chaos of our lives.

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Photo: JoAnn and my hand on my breviary, taken five years ago yesterday. We dedicated our lives to God and each other. On the inside of each of our rings is etched the word eternally.

Harrington, S.J., Daniel J. The Gospel of Matthew in Sacra Pagina, vol. 1. Edited by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2007.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, August 16, 2024

There was no one on this earth closer to Jesus than Mary. She bore him, nursed him, raised him, initiated his public ministry, held him in her arms at the beginning of his life at his birth and at what appeared to be the end as he was taken down from the cross. Even more so, she was closest to Jesus because she consistently followed God’s will. When her time came to leave this life, who better than Mary to have experienced the “singular participation in her Son’s resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1997, 966)?

Today we celebrate the official dogmatic constitution issued by Pope Pius XII in 1950, the Assumption of Mary, acknowledging what the Church has recognized from the beginning, the special grace she received from her Son. Jesus is the promise and Mary is the hope that we will live eternally with our heavenly Father, for Mary is now where we will one day be, body and soul.

Jesus and Mary have undone the sin of Adam and Eve. They, in their continual faithful life of saying yes to the will of God, opened up heaven for us. In our darkest trials, when the storm clouds of sin, division, injustice, inhumanity, hatred, and violence gather, when a situation or conflict does not appear to be getting any better, when death may be imminent, and/or when a loved one has died, none of these situations nor even death has the last word. Jesus does for us who place our trust in him.

As St. Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth, Jesus “has been raised from the dead”. He is the first born of the new creation. We are invited to join Jesus in participating in his new Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, preparing ourselves in this life for eternity in the next. How? By doing what Jesus and Mary did. We are to open our heart and mind to God, hear and observe his word, and put into practice what we receive.

Mary was blessed not so much because she gave birth to the Son of God but because she heard the Word of God, pondered it in her heart, acted upon, and put it into practice. This is why the Church calls Mary the model of discipleship. Just as the moon does not radiate because of its own light but reflects the light from the sun, so Mary is like the moon because she reflects the light of her Son.

Mary radiated the light of Jesus in her thoughts, words, and actions, all her life and so shared in the resurrection of her Son as she was assumed body and soul into heaven. She is our hope that we too may follow her as she did Jesus into a deeper communion with God for eternity. May our actions and all we do reflect Jesus such that people no longer see us but the love of Jesus radiating from us. How do we radiate Christ to others?

We follow Mary’s lead by making time each day to ponder and be still. To stop, slow down, take some deep breaths, and open our hearts and minds to the will of God. Then allow this simple practice to be a regular part of the day in all that we are and do. Such that we become contemplatives in action. Receiving and sharing the love of God with others.

This practice takes time to develop. We need to be patient with God and ourselves. God begins small, gently, and slowly. If you have never spent any time sitting still or quiet, your first few times, even for five or ten minutes might feel like agony. Continue to show up each day and spend some time with God and you will, like Mary, come to know him more deeply and intimately and experience the joy of encountering Jesus in deeper and more profound ways. Prayer may begin with conversation, but it orders us to our transformation and deeper communion with God.

Photo: Stain glass of the Assumption of Mary, Holy Cross Church, Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, August 15, 2024

Gossip is a seductive and enticing poison. Many of us fall for its lure and its intoxication. We may think we feel better about ourselves by putting someone else down, we may be jealous of what another has, envious because we wish someone ill, maybe someone just rubs us the wrong way, or the intent may not be hurtful, but we just get caught up in discussing the happenings of others. We may feel justified in choosing to gossip when someone has hurt, offended, or wronged us in some way. Even in that instance, we observe Jesus offering a different approach in today’s Gospel.

Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone” (Mt 18:15). Jesus is drawing on his Jewish heritage. Leviticus 19:17 warns against holding hate in your heart and instead encourages seeking to reason with your brother. Jesus is redirecting us from adding fuel to the fire by seeking revenge, stewing in our own hurt, and/or defacing others which will build resentment and hate. Instead, he is inviting us to seek reconciliation.

Pope Francis, in his General Audience back in September 9, 2016, was very clear: “[G]ossip is a ‘terrorist’ who throws a grenade – chatter – in order to destroy,” he added. “Please, fight against division, because it is one of the weapons that the devil uses to destroy the local Church and the universal Church.” Let us refuse to be a weapon of the devil in his plot to divide us with our thoughts or our words, but instead, seek to be a disciple of Jesus by advocating for forgiveness and reconciliation.

Jesus commands us to be more discerning with our tongue. With our words, we can cut, wound, and destroy, or we can convict, reconcile, and heal. St. Paul encourages us to let no evil talk pass our lips but to instead only say the good things that people need to hear. We have the choice before we speak of what words we let loose. We can choose words that tear down or choose words to lift up and empower. It is easier to grumble about someone with others in the shadows, rather than to approach them in love, hold them accountable with constructive criticism, forgive, and pursue the harder work of reconciliation.

If we are not quite ready for that, Pope Francis invites us to “bite our tongue” instead or we can choose to pray about the situation with someone we trust: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18-20). When we turn to Jesus and support from one another, instead of giving into the temptation to gossip or seek revenge, he will give us the strength not only to resist the temptation of furthering hurt and division but heal and guide us so that we can seek to win back a brother or sister.

Photo credit: Rosary walk under the Spanish moss last Saturday evening through Riverside Park, Vero Beach.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, August 14, 2024

“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me (Mt 18:3-5).

The above response Jesus gave was to the disciple’s question regarding who is the greatest in heaven. Jesus offers an unexpected response, as children had no esteem, honor, or greatness in his society. Jesus was not pointing out so much the innocence of children, but emphasizing that children were completely dependent on others for their very survival.

If we are to embark or stay on the journey that will lead us to the Kingdom of heaven, we need to do the same. We need to give our control and apparent, self-sufficiency over to God and place our total dependence on him alone. We need to depend on God as does an infant or young child who depends absolutely on their parents.

Very young children have not developed a defensive filter and they say what is on their mind, often with precise insights! How often do we do the opposite by automatically responding in a defensive manner, thinking about how we will be received or fearing an ulterior motive from the question? Jesus has taught us that our yes is to be yes, and our no is to be no, and anything more is from the evil one (cf. Mt 5:37). As his disciples, Jesus calls us to be humble, to admit to our sins, our mistakes, to confess, correct, and learn from them.

We grow in humility when we take responsibility for our actions, repent from and let go of that which we place before God, and renounce that which can lead us away from God. We also do so when we resist the allures of material, apparent goods, and our own self-centered postures, which so often can lead us astray. We can avoid many of these pitfalls when we follow the instruction of Jesus to “become like children” by surrendering our control and placing our total trust in God first.

We live in a fallen world and there is a temptation to buy into the idea that “might makes right” and “the prize belongs to the survival of the fittest”. This attitude supports a belief in separateness and diminishes the reality of our interconnectedness. We are all wounded, a bit beaten up by life, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, and in need of God’s healing touch. Instead of assuming a defensive posture or contributing to the growing division and darkness, may we instead align ourselves with God and ask him to love others through us, even those who may not appear to be so loveable. We could all use a little more empathy, kindness, support, and understanding. Let us be a healing balm to each other that is so needed.

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Photo: When, like children, we depend on, trust in, and follow the light of God he will lead us through any darkness to experience to Good, the True, and the Beautiful in this life. Riverside Park, Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mt 16:24).

Jesus invites us to deny our self-centered default position which places I, me, and mine (As George Harrison sang) at the center of each of our decisions. We can deny ourselves when we resist making excuses for our sins and come to a genuine place of sorrow for the pain we have caused God, ourselves, and others. By acknowledging our sins and confessing them, we die to our selfish ways, and then we rise again through the power of Christ. Empowered by our humility and the strength of Jesus, especially in the grace we receive in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we are better equipped to resist those temptations when they rise again.

We are also in a better position to then take up our cross, which is to follow the will of God. Jesus showed us the proper orientation of surrender when he said at Gethsemane: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done” (Lk 22:42). Jesus followed his Father’s will to the cross and endured horrific suffering, excruciating pain, humiliation, and abandonment, to death and into new life!

Many a mother I have talked with has shared the struggles of labor, but also expressed the joy of giving birth; many students I have taught have been exasperated by the time and effort expended for an examination, a sporting event, art show, musical or theatrical performance and yet experienced the joy from the feat they accomplished; and how many times have we faced a challenge, trial, or cleared some obstacle and felt the exhilaration of overcoming the hurdle?

Taking up our cross and following the will of God means accepting a disciplined approach to our lives. When we follow God’s will, as opposed to our own solely, apart from and isolated from God, the difference is that we are not alone in our persistent effort. Inviting God to be a part of our decision-making process and trials for our everyday physical as well as spiritual pursuits is the key.

In my mid-twenties, I entered the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province to study for the priesthood. In the year and a half of discernment, from time to time I would imagine my ordination day. To my surprise, I did not feel intense joy. I enjoyed every aspect of my experience with the friars and the ministries but there was something or as I soon came to realize, someone missing. I took a leave of absence and about a year and a half later, I realized what was missing was a family.

About two years later I met JoAnn, and her three children, Mia, Jack, and Christy. Six months after that we were married and seventeen years later, I was ordained to the permanent diaconate. This is the short version of the story. There were bumpy moments as we learned to grow together by being willing to see each other’s point of view, some perspectives took a little longer than others, and we were at our best when we were willing to sacrifice for and serve one another.

The journey took its roughest lurch in the summer of 2019 when JoAnn was experiencing her final weeks with us on this side of heaven. From the beginning of JoAnn’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, we both prayed, not that our will but God’s will be done. This cross was the heaviest to bear, yet Jesus shouldered it with us and blessed us richly in our surrender. I am truly grateful for those final months that we had together.

Grief and sorrow have their own time frame and their expression is just as unique as each individual. One thing I miss the most is holding JoAnn’s hand. In my new home of Holy Cross, I am able to shake and hold many hands. The hands of my “new bride”, the parishioners of Holy Cross.

Sometimes we who mourn, believe falsely that feeling joy again, living our lives again, is somehow a betrayal to those we have lost. There were times that I allowed that lie to settle a little too long. I finally was able to believe what JoAnn had told me, which was, “I know you will be sad but don’t stay there. I will be closest to you when you are doing things that make you happy.” The veil between heaven and earth is very thin at Mass!

Serving as a priest at Holy Cross this past month has been an incredible gift and joy. It has been one of the happiest periods of my life. That does not lessen the gift of my twenty-three years with JoAnn but is an affirmation that our years together prepared me for this time. The best way I can honor her and our love is by being a priest with a heart willing to share that love with those whom God calls me to serve at Holy Cross and beyond.

Denying ourselves and taking up our cross each day, is a grace to let go of the lies that attempt to divert and distract us from who we have been created to be and how we are called to serve best. Each day is a new opportunity to begin again, to live life anew, to the full, with peace, joy, and love to overflowing!

Photo: Strengthened and nourished by another of God’s paintings during my evening Rosary walk.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, August 9, 2024