Reflections on the Gospel Reading for the Day
Are we willing to say yes to God as Mary did?
Why celebrate the Annunciation at the beginning of the third week of Lent? Simple math. If we celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25, it is logical to celebrate his conception nine months earlier on March 25.
Gabriel, an angel, a messenger of God, a spiritual being, interacts with a human being; though Mary is not the first one to experience such an encounter. There are personal encounters with God and his messengers throughout the Bible. This is how the God of Israel, the God of Jesus Christ acts, person to person, through invitation, either directly himself or indirectly through one of his angels.
We can read such encounters going back to Genesis. God invited Abraham to be the father of a people that God would call to be his own. This reality would come to be with the birth of Isaac, while Sarah was well past child-bearing years. Jacob would wrestle all night with an angel and become the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, during the time of the Judges the mother of Sampson and Hannah, the mother of Samuel, both barren women would encounter angels bearing the message that each would give birth to those who would grow to lead the people Israel in their time of need. Moses, the judges, David, and the prophets all would hear and answer God’s invitation. Zechariah had an encounter in the temple and his wife Elizabeth, also barren and older, would give birth to John the Baptist. God has communicated and reached out to his created beings in history, in time, and in specific places.
With Mary, this announcement and encounter was different, for, at this appointed time, the Son of God himself would become, while remaining fully divine, a human being in the womb of Mary. The God who is. Period. Full stop. He is not a being, not a human, or even a supreme being. Infinite Act of Existence, the Sheer Act of to Be, who took on flesh and dwelt among his created beings. This is the message that Mary receives, and we can understand why she might be “troubled”. Yet Mary, the model of discipleship, pondered what this might mean as Gabriel said to her:
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Lk 1:30).
Mary, who knew the arch of salvation history as briefly sketched above, knew of the encounters God had with his people, her ancestors, knew of the promised coming of the Messiah, would now be the bridge between heaven and earth, the bridge between the old and the new covenant, the bridge between a people lost and a people found. Mary in her fiat, her yes, would become Theotokos, the God-bearer.
This is why we celebrate this feast each year: The Son of God has been born to us because Mary said yes. Yet, her yes is not in isolation. It is made possible by so many who had gone before her. Joachim and Anna, Mary’s parents who provided care and guidance, as well as the many named above and not named throughout the Biblical tradition who said yes to God and played a part in making this moment possible. Mary is not alone in the Annunciation, not alone in this definitive moment. This is the distinctive feature of Judaism and Christianity: We cannot save ourselves. We are not God. Our very life as created beings is a gift from God and we are in need of constant help and support from God and one another (cf. Lohfink, 254).
God invites us, not just today as we celebrate the feast day of the Annunciation, but every day. Each day is a day to ponder, to wonder, to be still, to be in awe. The Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, loved us so much more than we can ever imagine, more than we can ever even begin to conceive, that he became one with us so that we can become one with him. Us, you reading this, me writing this, and each unique person taking a breath on this earth.
No matter how much we have messed up, no matter how distant we feel we may be from God, no matter how confused, overwhelmed, disillusioned, Jesus, the Son of Mary, the Son of God, is present for and with us. The question is not whether or not we are worthy, for none of us are worthy, the question is, “Are we willing?”
We are invited to play our part in the ongoing drama of salvation history. Mary’s answer to this invitation was: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). This is her definitive yes. We too are called. What will our response be?
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Painting: Henry Oswana Tanner, The Annunciation, 1898
Lohfink, Gerhard. No Irrelevant Jesus: On Jesus and the Church Today. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014.
Link for today’s readings for Friday, March 25, 2022
Birds and people are so much more than our surface identification.
In the Gospel reading today, Jesus is accused of being an agent of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, because he was exorcising a demon from a man that was mute. Jesus addressed the critique and showed the polarizing nature of the onlookers who were unwilling to see the healing before them for what it was. Jesus then stated the obvious: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house” (Lk 11:17).
If Jesus was an agent of the prince of demons, he was not a very good one. Satan seeks to sow discord and division. Jesus seeks to bring about unity. Now it is true, that five verses later in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is recorded as saying: “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Lk 12:51). Anyone feeling a bit confused? Welcome to the wonderful world of the Bible!
To understand Scripture, we need to understand the context of the whole of Scripture, not just isolated verses. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, he seeks the unity that all may be one as he and the Father are one (cf. John 17:21), yet he has consistently experienced those that rejected his message and healings as witnessed in today’s Gospel account.
Jesus demands a choice, we need to decide if we are either going to be for him or against him (cf. Lk 11:23). The division Jesus is talking about results from those who choose not to recognize that Jesus is who he says he is and reject him and those who accept him for who he is. This choice continues to cause division within households, families, and friends even today.
The greater take away from this verse and Jesus’ teachings as a whole, is that when we are unified, embracing the gift of our diversity, we are stronger than when we are divided by limiting ourselves to mere labels. In our modern context, labels, such as liberal and conservative are not helpful, whether they are being used in a political or religious context. Life is not as black and white as many would like it to be. It is certainly easier to cast labels, but interactions with people and developing relationships are much more nuanced. We are not mere cardboard cut outs, or caricatures.
To better understand the essence of who we are as human beings demands greater time and experience of each other than an outward appearance or isolated statement may portray. Many more of us, if we shake off any label for a moment, could honestly admit to believing in and supporting issues that are important to us from both sides of the so called left or right.
Many times, once we have cast a label, we believe that we have “defined” the person. They are classified in their box and tied up in a neat and pretty bow, and woe to the person who resists being boxed and bowed. I remember reading from one of the books from the tracker, Tom Brown, Jr., in which he described how many people when seeing a bird, such as a blue jay, robin, or crow, are often satisfied with the label, the naming of it, and move on from that sighting self-satisfied. They think that in that simple identification they now have come to understand all that there is to know about that particular species of bird. So much of the essence of one of God’s amazing creatures is missed by such a simplistic and limiting classification!
Unfortunately, we do the same with each other. We often prejudge a person or group because of a word, statement, stance on a particular issue, wound, or particular belief. We then falsely assert that we know everything there is to know about that person or group. This is a very limiting and divisive approach. Jesus invites us to encounter the person, to accompany, spend time, and break bread with people. In spending time with one another and being open to dialogue, the caricatures can be filled in with some substance and we can come to know a little better the person beyond the prejudgment.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it may very well be a duck, but it is also so much more than its classification. This is so much truer for us as human beings as well.
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Photo: A hawk drying herself off after a summer rain.
Link for the Mass reading for Thursday, March 24, 2022
No matter what, Jesus walks with us each step of the way along our journey.
Jesus not only tells his disciples that he has not come to abolish but to fulfill the law. Jesus also constantly teaches how this is true, models how to put his teachings into practice, and empowers them to do so. In his Sermon on the Mount and Sermon on the Plain alone, we can see the development of his teaching and building on the foundation of the Torah. With his Beatitudes, such as, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”, and his Six Antithesis including, “You have heard that it was said ‘an eye for an eye,’ but I say to you offer no resistance to one who is evil”, we can see the further development of Jewish teaching on full display.
If we seriously take the time to read through Jesus’ teachings, we will see quickly how challenging they are to put into practice. Jesus is not lowering the bar of discipline for his followers, but in fact, raising it. At the same time, Jesus is not putting heavy burdens on us for burden’s sake, he seeks to make us whole, to make us holy. He himself lives what he preaches, but Jesus is no ordinary teacher or mentor. The principles that he teaches, forgiving seventy-seven times as we heard yesterday, loving our enemy, giving up all to follow him, these seemed impossible to his disciples then and to many us today as well.
At face value, we may think that many of Jesus’ teachings are not possible to put into practice or very practical in our day and age. Attempting to do so with our willpower alone may lead to coming up short each time, and feeling more frustrated. Jesus does not expect nor desire us to accomplish living as his followers on our own efforts. That’s actually the point. We cannot accomplish them on our own. We are to yolk ourselves with Jesus and be open to the transforming power and love of the Holy Spirit acting through us. This happens when we daily invite Jesus into our lives and are humble enough to follow his lead.
We become a disciple of Jesus when we are willing to study his life, learn and put his teachings into practice, and surrender ourselves to his will through prayer, discipline, worship, service, and participation in the sacraments. Ultimately though, it is nothing we do, other than opening our hearts and minds to and allowing Jesus to live his life in and through us. In this way, we are transformed by his love and conformed to his life such that we can say with Paul, it is no longer I who live but Jesus who lives in me (cf. Galatians 2:20).
The path of faith is not a sprint or a one-time event, but a marathon, a journey. Each one of us can be assured that Jesus is with us for the long haul, every step of the way. What we continue to experience with the unpredictability of the Covid and its variants can certainly tempt us to still be anxious and fearful. But when we resist these temptations and refuse to make decisions from a fearful or reactive state, but instead access our ability to reason and lean into Jesus and rely on each other, we will not only make healthier decisions, we will make it through each day together.
These past few years have given us an opportunity to experience the vulnerability of those among us who have been in need. We have also been provided a chance to reassess what is truly important in our own lives. Not knowing what tomorrow brings may help us to realize we never really did know. We can take comfort in trusting more in and being led by the one who does know what tomorrow will bring.
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Photo: Torrey Pines State Park, La Jolla, CA 2014
Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, March 23, 2022
“This is the pure Gospel.”
Forgiveness is a wonderful gift of grace and mercy. If we asked many people if they would like to receive forgiveness most would say yes. The number would most likely be less if we were to ask them how many would be willing to forgive others. If we were asked to forgive someone seven times, that number would shrink significantly, and if we were invited to forgive someone seventy-seven times, is there any among us who would say yes, any among us willing to consider doing so?
Why is forgiveness so hard for most of us? I do say most because there are those who have an openness to being forgiving. One reason could be that we have few role models. I would imagine those that are more forgiving have not only experienced positive role models but have received forgiveness themselves.
How often do we seek forgiveness from others when we have done something wrong, inappropriate, or made a mistake? We often seek to explain first, make excuses, justify, or ignore our behavior altogether. When we resist being humble, confronting our offenses, and do not seek reconciliation, we do not experience the healing balm of forgiveness. We are then less likely to be willing to offer forgiveness and more likely to hold a grudge or to seek revenge.
Yet, even if we receive the gifts of mercy and forgiveness, as the servant did in today’s parable (Mt 18:21-35), we may still choose to be unforgiving toward others. We may resist forgiveness because we have already created patterns of distancing ourselves, making someone else as other, somehow justifying the hurt and pain we feel. We think that by holding a grudge or offering another the cold shoulder, we are giving them just what they deserve.
Unfortunately, patterns of not seeking forgiveness for ourselves, not willing to forgive others, allowing ourselves to bear grudges, to distance ourselves, or project negative feelings on others to cover up our own inadequacies, not only perpetuates a climate of isolation and divisiveness, but continues to multiply mistrust and further distance, that when continuing unchecked metastasizes into division, hatred and violence. Even in a case where someone has truly wronged us in some way, we are still invited to forgive, to make an attempt to understand why someone might act in such a way, and to shift the momentum away from the perpetual cycle of hurt and to seek to bring about healing and reconciliation.
Jesus is very clear that if we are not willing to forgive we will not be forgiven. This is true because when we are unwilling to forgive, we cut ourselves off from the love of God. We choose the hurt and pain inflicted upon us over the healing touch that God offers. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a gift of healing, and a pattern of regular confession helps us to receive the healing and forgiveness of our loving God and Father. As we develop a regular practice of examining our conscience, experiencing contrition: true sorrow for our sins, confession, are absolved, and forgiven, we will experience God’s healing and love. Hopefully, we will then also come to the realization that we need to put God first, instead of ourselves. As God shares his love with us, we are to share his love with others.
From this change of mind, we can encounter one another with more understanding and more of a willingness to forgive. Jesus invites us to resist the temptation of withholding forgiveness. This attitude further divides and separates by keeping others at a distance. We are to forgive, yes even seventy-seven times and yes, even our enemies. Even if we feel this to be impossible, we can do so by asking Jesus to forgive through us. In doing so, we will be builders of bridges of forgiveness like Doha Sabah Abdallah. Doha lost her son during the bombing of her city in 2014. Doha shared her story with Pope Francis while he visited Iraq last year, and she said: “By imitating him [Jesus] in our sufferings, we testify that love is stronger than everything,”
Pope Francis shared how touched he was by Doha’s story of forgiveness. On his return plane trip, Pope Francis shared, “I forgive. This is a word we have lost. We know how to insult big time. We know how to condemn in a big way… But to forgive, to forgive one’s enemies. This is the pure Gospel. This hit me in Qaraqosh.” May we take up the mantle that Jesus holds out to us today and be willing to cloak each other in a loving embrace of forgiveness.
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Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Pope Francis meeting together last year in Najaf, Iraq. Photo credit: Vatican Media/AP
Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, March 22. 2022
Link for CNA article about Pope Francis reflection on Iraq trip
Jesus has come to heal not just a few, but all of us.
The people in Jesus’ hometown synagogue in Nazareth are incensed, rise up to drive him out of town, “and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong” (Lk 4:29). What got Jesus’ hometown crowd so twisted and contorted? Not only did he stand up earlier in this account of Luke and proclaim that he, the carpenter, was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, but it was to the widow of Zarephath that Elijah came and Naaman the Syrian that Elisha healed.
All three of these points may be a big ho-hum to us, but they were a big deal to his people. Being a carpenter, more likely a simple day laborer, was not high on the social status ladder even in a poor town like Nazareth. The gospel writers even show the sensitivity of this. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is mentioned in this scene as “the carpenter” (6:3), in Matthew, “the carpenter’s son” (13:39), and in today’s Gospel of Luke, “Joseph’s son” (4:22). By the time we get to Luke’s account, Jesus is not even associated with the trade of carpenter, how could someone of such simple and humble means assert the mantle of Messiah?
Jesus does not go quietly in the night as the people’s wonder at his words turn to doubt and consternation. Jesus instead gives two seemingly obscure examples of people who receive God’s blessings. There were many widows and lepers in Israel, but it was to the widow of Zarephath that Elijah came and from Elisha that Naaman the Syrian received healing. The significance of these two people was that they were Gentiles, they were other, they were not part of the chosen people. Jesus is aligning himself in the prophetic tradition and the universalism of God’s salvation. Jesus is invoking a choice that will consistently ripple throughout the remainder of his public ministry. People will either embrace his universal ministry or they will oppose it.
Jesus said to his own people, from his hometown, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place” (Lk 4:24). We may look and wonder why Jesus would say such a thing and why after speaking of the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian that these same people were “filled with fury” and sought to throw him headlong out of town.
Yet if we resist domesticating Jesus and allow ourselves to hear his words echoed today from our podiums and ambos, we might feel some of the same angst the people of Nazareth felt. Jesus speaking today would most likely not bring up the widow or Naaman to us, but instead, those considered as other in our society, the oppressed of today that he might mention could be Dreamers, immigrants, refugees from Syria or from south of our border, as well as the homeless, hungry, and addicted in our own communities. Jesus might come to proclaim liberty to those in our jails, prisons, on death row, as well as those detained by I.C.E officials.
Jesus might come to bring healing, to accompany, and be present to recover the sight of those blinded by prejudice, bigotry, paternalism, misogyny, racism, violence, arrogance, elitism, and nationalism. Jesus could come to return dignity to the unborn, the LGTBQ community, those impoverished in our urban, rural, and reservation communities. He could shine his light on the darkness of human trafficking, domestic violence, molestation, child abuse, pornography, war, terrorism, hatred, and violence in all its forms.
As we imagine ourselves sitting and receiving the message of Jesus, to whom might we bristle at Jesus reaching out his healing hand to? Are we willing to embrace his message or begin to cross our arms and seeth? Would we too want to rise up and reject Jesus outright or worse do our own thing in Jesus’ name which has nothing to do with Jesus in actuality? If we are humble this Lent, we can walk up to Jesus and ask him to heal us of our own prejudices and biases, we can come to realize what gifts he has given us, and ask him to show us in what ways we can be engaged in bringing glad tidings of his universal message to those in the realm of our influence.
We can even go deeper and ask Jesus to reveal to us what areas of our lives are in need of healing and ask him to please help us to see where to start and begin the process of ongoing restoration and wholeness. From a place of being able to admit that we need healing we can see that we are not perfect. We also then might have more compassion and understanding for others in need of help. The choice is ours to make. Will we refuse his healing, be an obstacle to Jesus’ healing of others, or be open to receive the same Spirit that fills Jesus to overflowing and bear Christ to one another?
Photo: Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth from Jesus of Nazareth, Franco Zeffirelli film, 1977
Link for the Mass reading for Monday, March 21, 2022
Jesus, thanks for not giving up on us.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus presented the importance of repentance, of changing our mind and heart. This means we need to acknowledge anything that we put before God. Anything that keeps us from allowing God into any part of our lives will prevent us the sufficient sustenance to grow, mature, and bear fruit.
Jesus offers the parable of a man who has some concern about one of his fig trees that did not bear fruit for three years. The owner of the orchard debates with the gardener about whether this tree ought to be uprooted and another one planted in its place. The gardener responds: “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down” (Lk 13:8-9).
The gardener sees the potential of the fig tree and that it needs some care. Jesus, as he did with his disciples, sees the same potential in us. Jesus does not give up on us nor define us by our worst mistakes. At the same time, he also recognizes that we cannot just go along and do whatever we want on our own terms. Jesus has come that we may be one with him and his Father and that we can live a life of meaning and fulfillment in this life and the next. Jesus meets us where we are, loves us as we are, and then cares for and empowers us to become who we are called to be. Are we willing to receive his love, his nourishment, as well as his pruning?
Jesus is not only willing to prune those aspects which separate us from God, but he will also cultivate the soil of our soul and fertilize us with his divine life. Jesus will not leave us alone in our growing and maturation, but we need to repent from our self centered reality. We need to surrender our control, and trust totally in Jesus to allow him to shape and conform our will to his. When we do so, the divine life grows within us.
Jesus, please help us to recognize that your grace is sufficient and builds upon our nature. Help us to trust in you as our Divine Gardener to: prune our pride, that we may bear the fruit of love; our despair, that we may bear the fruit of joy; our anger, that we may bear the fruit of peace; our impatience, that we may bear the fruit of patience; our cruelty, that we may bear the fruit of kindness; our meanness, that we may bear the fruit of goodness; our contempt, that we may bear the fruit of understanding; and our impulsiveness, that we may bear the fruit of self control.
Photo: I and my trees are in need of some pruning!
Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, March 20, 2022
In our times of discernment, may we follow the lead of Joseph.
Who do we want to be? It is so easy to get caught up in being busy, taking care of children, the home, school assignments, work, as well as a myriad of other activities that each of us, experiencing our own unique station in life, can add to the list. These can all be good things, but we can lose ourselves in our busyness and responsibilities such that we slip into a state of survival mode or merely existing. One day can move into one week, into one month, into one year, and then we wake up one morning and wonder where the last ten years went!
We can fall into the trap of being defined by what we do instead of who we are and who God is calling us to be. God has a plan for us with the end result being eternal communion with him in heaven. Living a life of holiness and becoming saints is our call. We need to remind ourselves of this from time to time, more often rather than less actually, by assessing where we are now and listening to the guidance of God.
Our Gospel account from Matthew today gives us an opportunity to see this practice in action. Joseph has become aware that Mary, his betrothed, is with child and he is not the Father. We can forget about the humanity of the moment, reading now from so many years removed. I am sure there is some serious anguish that Joseph death with even as we read that he is “a righteous man” who follows the law, but is “unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly” (Mt 1:19). Joseph’s life of righteousness pulls him to follow the law, yet he shows that discernment in matters of the dignity of the person is just as important. Joseph not only was unwilling to make Mary into a public spectacle but was also unwilling to allow the possibility of her to be stoned to death.
Joseph pondered the idea of divorcing her quietly and again no mention of the mental maelstrom, intestinal upheaval, or emotional roller coaster as he pondered. Yet, a very good piece of guidance are fortunate to glean from this account. Before he made his final decision, Joseph slept on the matter, which is often a good course of action when weighing such a heavy issue. How many times do we rush into decisions only to regret them later? Because Joseph is willing to wait a bit, he receives God’s direction through the angel of the Lord in a dream.
When Joseph arose that morning, he did not dig in his heels feeling he knew best and then return to his original decision, he did not let fear or anxiety or whatever emotions he may have experienced about the possible scenarios that played out in his mind sway him, nor did the very possible and reality of the difficulties he could envision deter him. Joseph trusted God. With the confidence and assurance of who he was and who God called him to do, Joseph acted on the guidance he had received.
This is why St. Joseph is a model for us. When faced with decisions, we need to remember who we are, whose we are, and who we are called to be. We are children of God. That means we belong to God, a God who loves and cares for us. He has a plan for each of our lives. Every decision and action is a step in fulfilling that plan.
When we are discerning, no matter how large or small, we are invited to gather information, look at the reasonable options available, all the while, continuing to seek God’s guidance. God will guide and accompany us through many means and ways such as a thought, a family member or friend sharing an insight at an opportune time, experiences, through our dreams, as well as many other ways. God granted Joseph not only the guidance he sought but the support to fulfill the commission he received. We can be assured that God will do the same as we discern his direction as well.
St. Joseph, pray for us!
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Painting: “The Dream of St Joseph” by Anton Raphael Mengs about 1774
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, March 19, 2022
Good prayer leads to good stewardship.
A foundational quality of a good leader, whether he or she be a political or religious leader, would be that they are seeking the best interest of those they serve. They also seek to be good stewards. Unfortunately, self-interest is a tremendous temptation. For how long are they willing to approach the position as one who is willing to serve instead of being served? Another important attribute in a leader is their openness to critique and guidance when they are in need to hear it.
Jesus in today’s parable presents a landowner who turns his vineyard over to tenant farmers. They are to oversee the crops to bring about a productive yield of grapes come harvest time. Unfortunately: “When vintage time drew near, he [the owner] sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned” (Mt 21:34-35). Eventually, the owner sends his own son, and the tenants kill him.
Jesus offered this parable as a mirror to the tenants of his time, the chief priests and Pharisees, of Israel. The vineyard is an image used to represent Israel. Clearly, the owner is God, and the tenant farmers are those in leadership positions overseeing the care of Israel. We do not know which leaders hearing this parable took it to heart and changed their minds and repented from their self-centered focus. We do know that there were those who carried out exactly what Jesus laid out in the parable. There were those, who following political and religious leaders of the past, persecuted, beat, and killed the prophets, and would do the same to Jesus.
Jesus called for the people of Israel in his time to rise up and actualize the potential of their covenantal relationship with and faithfulness in serving God. He still does so today. We who bear the name of Christian are part of this heritage or “spiritual Semites” as Pope St. Paul VI has stated. We ought to have a close relationship with our brothers and sisters in Judaism and we too are also given the responsibility of being good stewards.
Pope Francis offers us a prescription that we can aspire to that comes from one of our brothers in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Bartholomew, the Patriarch of Constantinople: “He [Bartholomew] asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism which ‘entails learning to give, and not simply to give up. It is a way of loving, of moving gradually away from what I want to what God’s world needs. It is liberation from fear, greed, and compulsion'” (Laudato Si, 9).
This is a way we are to follow and to model. All of us on this earth are stewards awaiting the return of the Son of the Land Owner, whether people of faith or no faith, and we need to resist the temptation of the tenants from today’s parable who sought to grasp at what was not theirs and embraced the deadly sin of envy and greed. Instead, may we be more open to receiving what we have been entrusted with and care for the gift of the earth, all humanity, and life upon it.
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Photo: View from Griffith Observatory, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA a few years ago.
Link for the Mass readings for Friday, March 18, 2022
Spiritual Stepping Stones 