The light of the moon glistened like tiny crystals across the frost covered ground. Then the sound of a Christmas carol in German danced in the air. As the last notes settled on the ground among the frost crystals another carol took flight in French. This dance continued until all joined together singing “O Come, All ye Faithful” in Latin.

This chorus took place on Christmas Eve, 2014 on the Western Front during World War I. For a brief span in time, there was a cease fire. Most of the German, Belgian, British, and French soldiers laid down their arms and let down their guard to touch that deepest part of our humanity that seeks peace.

When we are willing to see each other as brothers and sisters, as neighbors, as human beings created in the image and likeness of God, we do better. There can be healing, transformation, and reconciliation. Unfortunately, this cease fire at best lasted but a week and would rage on for another seven years.

Over a hundred years later we are still a world at war. Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Hamas, Southern Sudan and Nigeria in Africa to name just a few. Another mass shooting in Maine. Our country is deeply divided, and we even feel this division growing in our Church.

We just might want to join the scholar of the law today and ask Jesus a few questions of our own.

Jesus why so much violence? Why so much division? Why can’t we get along? Do you care? You may have some of your own personal questions to add. Take a moment and call a few to mind. Imagine yourself standing in this scene and ask Jesus your question.

No matter the question. Jesus faces you, holds you with his penetrating eyes, and listens more intently than you have ever experienced before. If you are willing to hold his gaze, you will see that he is with you, is listening, and hears you. He not only understands, he loves you. In the quiet of your heart, listen for his answer.

The answer Jesus gives to the scholar regarding what is the greatest commandment is that “you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).

This law is foundational to our lives as human beings. When we make the relationship with God our foundation, no matter how crazy life gets, he will be our anchor. In the fox hole of the first World War, someone felt God close and sang a simple Christmas carol. And for a moment in time, some humanity and dignity replaced the atrocities of war.

Still the fighting and wars and violence continue. There may appear to be no end in sight for the particular problem you brought to Jesus. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and ask, “Where can we begin?” We begin by staying true to who and whose we are. We pray every day. We continue to trust no matter what that God has not abandoned us.

God is with us. He is not seeking some abstract, universal peace. As Pope Francis said, wars will not end by human means alone. God works with us one person at a time. We need to be willing to be transformed, to be humble enough to recognize where we need to change. What are the thoughts, words, and actions we entertain that are not kind or loving? In what ways do we see some people as other instead of our brothers and sisters? What factions are at war within ourselves as St. Paul experienced when he realized that we do the evil we don’t want to do instead of the good we want to do?

Are we willing to be still to receive and savor the love of God? Are we willing to allow his love to shine in our darkness so as to reveal that which needs to pass away in the grace of his perfection? Are we willing to be healed of our hurts and pain, and willing to forgive? If yes, we begin to grow in our love for God and each other, we will grow closer in relationship with one another and remain steadfast in seeing each other as brothers and sisters.

Jesus has come close in his incarnation, life, and Passion, to help us to experience the love of his Father. He comes closer still to us in the Eucharist. We are most transformed and experience the depth of his love when we receive his Body and Blood at each Mass. Do we fully realize who we are receiving the moment we receive Jesus in our hand or on our tongue? Do we realize the Son of God is organically becoming one with us in our humanity so that we are transformed and become one with him in his divinity? Do we realize that peace is not just an absence of war but a transformation of our hearts and minds by the love of God?

When we are willing to love God with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, we will be transformed by his love and better love our neighbors that we have kept at arm’s length or considered an enemy when we truly remember who and whose we are. We are the beloved daughters and sons of God the Father. Then, like a pebble thrown in a pond, the ripples of God’s love will radiate out from us to transform our worn and weary world.

Photo: Rosary walk last night. St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, October 29, 2023

Life isn’t perfect, it does not go the way would like or plan sometimes. Life can also be hard. Sometimes this is so because of decisions we have made, mistakes or misjudgments, and sometimes because of circumstances beyond our control. Life can also be a joy and a wonder. What really becomes a blessing is when we can experience that joy and wonder during our challenges, trials, and/or tribulations.

How can we do that? The repeated verse from today’s responsorial psalm gives us a clue: “Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.”

Hope does not mean we have achieved our goal, overcame our challenge, or have been healed. We don’t hope for what we have or see because the outcome is still undetermined. We can feel secure in placing our hope in Jesus, even when we do not always see or experience him, he is always with us. We are not alone. We have someone who is not only willing to accompany us but has the battle scars to understand and empathize what we are going through.

The hardest thing I have experienced in my life was JoAnn’s death. I remember sitting in the doctor’s office when we got the diagnosis and saying, “Here we are again God.” I was referring to turning to God for help when I overheard my parents deciding to get a divorce and that didn’t work out so well.

The difference was that back then I did not place my hope in the Lord. I walked away from him. I now know, even when I turned my back on God, he, nor Jesus or Mary turned their back on me. This time I placed my trust in him. We hoped for a cure early on and we did not get one. But what I received was an incredible blessing: time. Uninterrupted, devoted time for JoAnn and me to spend together.

I took a leave of absence from the first week of June and until the morning of September 2, 2019, when JoAnn passed from this life to the next, we were together. And for the last month I barely slept, more blessed time together. As hard as those days were, I can honestly say there was more joy because the grace of Jesus was with us. We both placed our hope in him, and he gave us precious time together.

We are blessed when we don’t take the time we have or each other for granted.

Photo: Precious time together in LA.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, October 26, 2023

(Originally shared this past Tuesday, October 24.)

Today we celebrate the 29^th anniversary of the establishment of our Diocese of Palm Beach. Since the beginning, we have taken Mary, Queen of the Apostles as the patron saint of our diocese. Who better to oversee, model for, and guide us than the mother of God. Mary is not only the mother of Jesus, but we are blessed to have her as our mother as well.

Mary does not appear often in the Bible but when she does, she is a powerful witness to the faithfulness and trust in God that we can all aspire to. At the annunciation, Mary trusted Gabriel’s message and she was willing, though she did not fully comprehend, the gravity of her yes. In that moment, she showed us the gift of humility. She placed her whole trust in God.

In today’s gospel, Mary is present again, this time not at the birth of Jesus, but at his agonizing death which she experiences with him. In the midst of such pain and suffering, Jesus offers these words of hope. “Woman, behold, your son,” and then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother.”

I invite you to hear those words again. “Behold your mother.”

Mary is our mother as well. She cares for us, watches over and intercedes for us. Each night after supper, I experience a great sense of peace and rest as I pray the Rosary and walk around the lake on our seminary campus. I begin and end the reciting of the Rosary at a beautiful statue of Our Lady.

I will also reach out with my thoughts and prayers in thanksgiving as well as when I need some extra strength as I have needed this past weekend in preparing for two midterm exams and a presentation which I finished last night. (One of the reasons this and other postings have been a bit off schedule!) Jesus and Mary are the last ones I say goodnight to before I go to bed each night.

Mary is not just a person from the past. She is very much in our present.

May each of you turn to Mary and Jesus as well this week in the Rosary or speaking from your heart. Know she has been and will continue to be with you to guide you, to pray with you as she did with the apostles when the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost, and she will accompany you through your days and evenings, through your sorrows and your joys, and your challenges and overcoming of them all the while leading you to experience the love of her Son.

Continue to trust in Mary, trust in Jesus, and may we follow Mary’s invitation to do whatever Jesus tells us!

Photo: Beginning of Rosary walk this week. St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

“Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

I know, not exactly the cheeriest topic for a Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. Also, a topic if someone is listening to the readings at Mass will pull at their ears. I have heard more than once people ask, “How come we must suffer because of the sin of Adam?”

That is how God made us. He made us not only for communion and unity, but we are also interconnected. He created us out of the outpouring of his love. For love to be authentic there needs to be available the freedom to reject the love that is offered. What one person does for good or for ill affects us all.

Sin is a free and conscious choice to go against the will of God, to reject God and his love for us, to put ourselves, anyone, or anything before God. Instead of seeking God’s invitation of an expansive unity, sin is the caving in upon oneself. We all sin and fall short of the glory that God seeks for us.

The good news is that the opening verse of today’s first reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans does not have the final say. Paul continues: “For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

Jesus is the one who through his obedience to the Father, will help us to make us righteous, will set all things right, will heal what has been wounded, and restore what has been lost. Let us continue to trust in Jesus and the greater good that he is bringing about through any of the struggles or challenges that we may be facing. Continue to resist reacting in kind or being dragged into the mud when there are those who do not respect or challenge us, and instead ask Jesus for the clarity to discern, the strength to endure, and the will to continue to persevere in prayer.

Photo: Jesus shines in our darkness and reveals to us our sin. Central courtyard, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, October 24, 2023

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

Jesus, with these words, is reminding us to be aware of what is truly important in our lives. There is a false premise, reality, or promise that pervades our culture that says if we are comfortable, attain pleasure, power, fame, and/or wealth, we will be happy and fulfilled.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with any of the above, but if we seek to have any or all as first and foremost, front and center in our lives then we are setting ourselves up for a fall. With God first in our lives, each of these can then be properly ordered, because we are not attached to them or seek to grasp or cling at them, and we can better enjoy their benefits and promote them for God’s glory.

The greater blessing is that even when we have none of the above but instead have developed a deep and intimate relationship with God, we will find fulfillment, joy, and meaning in our lives no matter what the external circumstances and our internal responses will be more at peace.

It is good to assess what is truly important in our lives. What grounds us and helps us to be whole and stable. When our first answer is our willingness to receive the love of God and love him and each other in return, then we are off to a good start to this day and this week.

Photo: View from Sunday night, priceless gift from God. St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, October 23, 2023

A good practice before we listen to or read the Bible is to pray to the Holy Spirit to reveal to us what he would like us to receive that will help us to grow, to mature, be healed, and/or transformed by his love. The goal of each reading is not only to be moved to live more like Jesus but to be transformed by his love for us.

In today’s Gospel from Matthew, we see that Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees and the Herodians. The Herodians are those politically tied to Herod the Great’s dynasty which have been perpetuated through his three sons. Herod Antipas, one of the three and the ruler over Galilee, was in league with the Roman occupation so they could maintain their power. Many of the Pharisees and especially the Zealots were not happy about the Roman occupation of their homeland and did not recognize Caesar but God as their leader. Neither of these groups were fans of each other but are shown to unite against Jesus.

The question they pose to Jesus “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not” (Matthew 22:17), is chosen to create conflict and to gather support for making an accusation against Jesus.

The hope was that he would say either it was or it wasn’t. If he chose yes, pay the tax to Caesar, he would alienate those Pharisees and Zealots that were opposed to the Roman occupation and if he said no, he would rile up those Herodians in support of paying the tax because they benefited from Rome. Jesus turns the question into a powerful teaching.

In asking for a Roman coin, Jesus said, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Mt. 22:22). Jesus is saying to give back to Caesar what already belongs to him, his coinage, but more importantly, to pay back to God what belongs to God.

That which is most foundational and substantial belongs to God, our very life and being. We have seen Jesus repeatedly walk through these traps set by many of these groups because he knows the will of God and acts upon his will free from concern of either their affirmation or consternation. Jesus is more interested in professing the truth as his Father reveals it to him. He does so because he knows his Father and his Father knows him.

This is a lesson we would do well to learn. It is more than willpower or persistence though. We come to know the will of God by knowing God. Relationship is the key to knowing his voice, being willing to hear and then acknowledge his voice, and then being willing to act, to put into practice what Jesus has shared with us.

Our relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit grows as we gather to worship, hear his word proclaimed, receive Jesus in his Body and Blood, praise his name in song. It grows as we savor the love he shares with us in our community of worship as well as in our personal times of prayer, meditation, and contemplation. We also grow in our relationship by inviting God into every moment of our lives and are willing to be led to love others as he loves us.

Knowing God then, being loved by God, we will know better how to render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God in each situation that arises in our lives.

Photo: May we open our heart to the light of Christ, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the love of the Father. Saturday afternoon walk and quiet time with God, St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, October 22, 2023

God is the creator of all that exists, all that God has made is good, and all that God made depends on him. Angels and humans God created good as well, and he loved them so much that he was willing to risk that they would reject him. His love is unconditional and free. In actuality, all that exists comes into being because of the outpouring of the trinitarian love shared between the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  

The psalmist echoes the reality of God the Father’s love for us in today’s responsorial psalm: “The Lord remembers his covenant forever” (see Psalm 105).

A covenant is more than a contract, it is a sacred bond, a union. God has always been true and faithful to the covenants that he has established. If we look at the covenants of the past, with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David, they are initiated by God. They are a sign of his wanting to come close to be in relationship with each one of us, and not just in some abstract way. He made these covenants with individuals.

God wants to be in an intimate relationship with each and every person, so much so that he has sent his Son to be one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity. God’s covenant is a promise to restore what has been lost because of sin – a rejecting of God’s love and relationship.  

We have all sinned, fallen short, made mistakes, chosen our ways over his. Doesn’t matter. Jesus’ arms are wide open, ready to welcome us to rest in his loving embrace. He was sent to forgive us, to renew our strength, and to restore us to our original glory. At this moment, imagine yourself walking into his open arms to receive his loving embrace, allow his love to heal, and restore you.

Hear Jesus tell you how true and faithful his Father’s love is. That he will never let us down. Hear his invitation to open our hearts and minds to his Father’s love, the love that is constant and unbreakable on his part. Let us be still, breathe in deeply and receive God’s love, rest, trust, and abide in his love and know without a doubt that we are loved more than we can imagine.

Photo: Jesus comes especially close to share his love with us by giving himself in the Eucharist. Friends of the Seminary Mass last evening, St. Vincent De Paul Chapel, St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link to the Mass readings for Saturday, October 21, 2023

“I turn to you, Lord, in times of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation” (from responsorial psalm, Psalm 32).

There have been times when I have been really tired. When I was in my last semester of student teaching in college, I would teach all day and then work second shift in the nursing home. There were times while going through seminary for the permanent deaconate, working full-time, working on my three classes and being present for JoAnn, Jack, and Christy.

There have certainly been times of trouble, the biggest when receiving JoAnn’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and then accompanying her through her journey through to the end of this life and then the following two years of wondering how to begin again.

Even when life goes well, life can be hard. Challenges, trouble, and tribulations arise. I have fared the best, time and again, when I remember to turn to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Over the past year, Mary and James the Apostle have been powerful intercessors and supporters in my corner as well.

With each challenge, I seek to focus on Jesus more than the issue at hand. Even something as simple as when I am feeling tired. Instead of saying, even silently, how tired I feel, I do my best to resist and instead ask Jesus to give me strength and the discernment when it is also time to rest, and get some sleep.

Each time I reach out for their help, more and more I experience the “joy of salvation” that the psalmist presents in today’s responsorial psalm. No matter what we are facing, we are not facing it alone. Jesus, his Father, and the Holy Spirit are with us. When we remember to place our hope and trust in them, the finite limitations and fallen nature of this world dims compared to their love for us who as Jesus said that we are “worth more than many sparrows.” We don’t have to be defined by our emotions or external circumstances. Instead let us be defined by God’s love for us.

We are precious children in God’s eyes. Trust in him and his love. Jesus loves, will guide, support, protect, heal, and empower us. Let us offer him our thanks and ask him to help us with any of our troubles or challenges. My prayer is that you too may feel and experience his joy, love, and peace welling up within you today!

Photo: Evening Rosary walk, St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, October 20, 2023

I remember sometimes eating a meal when I was a kid and feeling like it was too much, and I was never going to be able to finish it. And the rule was, we did not get up until our meal was finished. When I just focused then on smaller sections instead of looking at the full plate, it made it a bit easier.

Today’s readings can feel overbearing in the same way. There is a lot of good and healthy food here, but looking at the whole is way too much!

So let me offer you a few smaller bites to chew on.

Righteous or righteousness, which appears at least five times in the first reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans, is a legal term used in the Jewish lawcourt. Injustice brings about a break in the social fabric. The goal of the lawcourt is to restore that which has been broken, to make it righteous. The judge is righteous when they uphold the law, pronounce judgment, and above all are to be impartial, especially giving an equal hearing to widows and orphans. When the defendant who has been accused is acquitted, they are considered righteous, and all is restored that may have been lost. When this works well then reconciliation is restored to the community.

The ultimate judge is God. God is seeking to bring about the restoration of his creation from the effects of injustice, brought about by sinful and evil acts committed generation after generation. God sought to reestablish the proper order of his creation through establishing covenants throughout salvation history with his chosen people, through Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, and ultimately sending his Son to fulfill the law and the prophets by establishing the new and eternal covenant that is to be written on or hearts.

The ultimate goal then for God is to bring about universal justice. That all may be one as he and his Son through the love of the Holy Spirit are one. “We have all sinned and are deprived of the Glory of God”, yet through the death and resurrection of Jesus we are made new again.

By his Blood, by his unjust death, Jesus proves his righteousness. He restores that which has been lost by taking upon himself the sin and evil of the world, each of our sins. He enters death and conquers it, such that we who die with him in baptism will rise with him. We who place our faith, we who trust in Jesus, are made righteous through our participation in his life. We are restored to our proper ordering as daughters and sons of our loving God and Father.

Photo: Crucifix in the sanctuary of St. Vincent De Paul Chapel, St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, October 19, 2023

There are times when it feels like life is too hard, we are let down, or even feel betrayed as Paul shared in today’s first reading when he wrote: “At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf, but everyone deserted me” (2 Timothy 4:16). And then in today’s gospel, Jesus sent seventy-two of his disciples off “like lambs among wolves.” He gave them nothing to take with them, “no money bag, no sack, no sandals” (Luke 10:4).  

Both Paul and the disciples experienced the limitations of our fallen and finite world. Paul through having no one there for him in his time of need and the disciples by Jesus’ direction. In both situations, there was the opportunity offered to recognize that the only one we can place our firm foundation on is God. Nothing or no one else can be there for us like him.

When we find ourselves in challenging moments, we need to remember that we are not alone. We need to draw on the same strength and source that Paul did, and we too will experience the Lord standing by us and giving us his strength because Jesus is already there. It can feel hard to believe that sometimes, especially in situations that are chronic and ongoing.

We need to remember to breathe, to pray those prayers we know and spontaneously from the depths of our hearts. The hardest part then is to let go and continue to trust. As we surrender, we are not giving up, we are waiting on the Lord to lead us. If all is going well, let us continue to do the same by offering prayers of thanksgiving for what he has given us and pray for those who are in need of help today, especially those in war torn regions of the world such as the most recent outbreak in Gaza.

Let us place our hope and trust in Jesus today. I pray that you may feel and experience his peace, that peace that surpasses all understanding and share that peace with those close and far.

Photo: Even when the clouds cover the sky, the sun is still there, and no matter the darkest trial, Jesus is right by our side. 

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 18, 2023