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“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Really.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Mt 7:7). If taken in a purely secular, non-religious, or non-biblical sense, and out of context, this teaching of Jesus from his Sermon on the Mount may not ring true. Some people have also left their faith behind because they have asked something of God and from their perspective, they did not receive what they asked for.

To understand this verse we need to understand a few key points. One is that God is God and we are not. That means that we do not have the full scope and sequence of God’s infinite viewpoint. We can only see from our limited and often times wounded perspective. Our God, who is Good, will only give us that which is good for us. What we are asking for may appear to be good, but may not, in fact, be truly good, and/or in our best interest beyond the moment. If someone wants to say, well, I ought to be able to decide that! That means they have missed the first point, God is God and we are not. God not only seeks to give us what is good, he knows what will truly make us happy and fulfilled even when we don’t.

Another point that I have learned from Bishop Robert Barron is that “Your life is not about you.” We are created by God for a reason and a specific purpose. Our life is about fulfilling our role in God’s theodrama. The context of this verse is best understood by reading in conjunction with when Jesus stated, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). As we seek first his kingdom and our place and part to play our collaborative role with him, we can be assured he will answer us, we will find our place, and the door of the kingdom will be opened for us.

We are not the director in the great play of life, God is, but we do have a unique and significant part to play! Meaning, joy, and fulfillment are experienced when we understand that God does not need us but desires us to share in his work of salvation history. This a wonderful truth we would do well to ponder. If this is a bit intimidating, we can be confident that what God requires of us, he will give us the means and support necessary to fulfill the work he invites us to partake in. The last line of today’s gospel, expressing the Golden Rule, is no throw away line. The words express why God calls us and it echoes Jesus’ greatest commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

C.S. Lewis can also help us to understand our posture of prayer: “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.” When we pray with the intent to bend God’s will toward ours we will find frustration each time. We pray because we are answering God’s invitation to spend time with him.

We are transformed by God’s love and his grace builds on our nature when we begin our prayer with the truth that God is God and we are not, that our life is not about us, but instead about coming to understand and know how to better follow God’s will, and acknowledging that our prayer will not change God. When we are open to God’s will, God will change us. When we approach prayer seeking not our’s but our Father’s will, we can be confident that we will grow in our relationship with him and that what we ask of God will be given to us, what we seek we will find, and when we knock, the door will be open.

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Photo:  Even a moment to take some deep breaths, to pray, and to look up and out, helps!!!

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, March 13, 2025

Jesus offers us something greater than what we are experiencing right now.

There is something greater here! Something greater than the wisdom of Solomon and something greater than the preaching of Jonah. Someone greater than the kings and the prophets who went before. Jesus.

Following the way of Jesus is a faith we are called to live daily. This is not a part-time vocation. We all have a unique gift in the dignity we have been conceived and been born with. We have a unique way to express and live out our dignity as well. We have been created in the image of God, but through sin, we have lost our likeness to him. We are tempted, misdirected, distracted, and diverted from experiencing God’s love for us and plan for our lives and this can lead us away from God and our likeness to him. Jesus calls us back to spend time with God so we can be forgiven, healed, and begin to restore our likeness as we rekindle our relationship. This is the path to holiness that we are all called back to and will experience when we allow ourselves to be still and rest with the Lord and in his word daily.

As Jesus taught, often in his parables, the kingdom of Heaven on earth starts small, like a mustard seed, like yeast, and develops slowly when nurtured. Lent is a good time to slow down, step back, take a retreat even while in the midst of our everyday activities. We just need to insert some intentional and dedicated time to spend with God and God alone each day. In doing so, we will better come to know him, his word, and guidance.

One of the reasons we may feel a bit restless is that we are engaged in activities in our lives that miss the mark of who we were created for. We are missing the relationship with God that he is inviting us to participate in because we are allowing ourselves to be distracted and too busy to see where we have been led astray. The sign of Jonah that Jesus offers us is repentance. The whole of Nineveh repented even though Jonah was hoping that they would not and be punished by God! Jesus seeks our repentance, our willingness to turn back to see the open arms of God and Father wide open ready to receive us, to lead us back to the truth of who we are as his beloved daughter or son.

If you are feeling a bit restless, on edge, or out of sync, I invite you to make some time to be still and breathe, this can be while in the shower, when you have some breakfast, a morning walk, or taking a sip of coffee or tea. During this time ask God for some guidance. We can ask him to help us see those areas that we need to repent from and let go of, those thoughts, words, and actions that keep us distracted, redirected, and off-kilter as to who God is calling us to be. We can then confess to him and receive his forgiveness and reconciliation.

God invites us to come to the silence to also be able to sit with our wounds and traumas. Many times we do not want to be still or quiet because there may be unresolved issues, hurts, and/or pain that we would rather not face. We may even believe in the lie that if we actually allow ourselves to feel what is deep down there, that we will become completely undone. God is present and waiting, inviting us to come to experience acceptance and love as we are, to feel safe to be vulnerable and honest and from this place of truth, begin with simple steps to walk the path to our freedom.

Jesus said in today’s Gospel that, “There is something greater here.” Christianity is not a secret sect. We are called to share the joy, the forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation we experience from God with others, even with, as Jonah found out, our enemies. We are to look for opportunities to offer a smile, an encouraging word, to reach out to someone we have been meaning to connect with for a while, in person or far away, and/or someone that we may sense just needs a listening ear. We can also can ask for God’s patience so that we may react less and become more understanding. Just as we are hurting, so are so many others.

Lent can be a joyful time when we enter into the season with the intent to deepen our walk with the One who is wiser than Solomon and preached repentance and reconciliation. With our hearts and minds turned back and open to God, Lent will not so much be a drudgery to endure, but a joyful embrace of the opportunity for experiencing a change of mind such that we are more open to dialogue, forgiveness, healing, sharing the joy, reconciliation, and contributing to building up the kingdom of God one healing at a time! Hurt people can hurt people, and hurt people can also experience the healing of Jesus and help to be an advocate of healing for others.

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Photo: May Jesus help to ignite that fire within us that can help us to return to who we are and are called to be as God’s beloved.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Praying the Our Father – priceless!

Jesus begins his teaching on prayer by stating that prayer is not babbling. When we pray we are to resist just saying empty words that have no meaning or worse just praying in words that we think God wants us to hear. We are to pray from our heart. We are to share honestly what we truly think and feel in the moment that we turn our hearts and minds up to God.

Prayer, first and foremost, is a response to the Holy Spirit moving within us, urging us to pray, “for we do not know how to pray as we ought” (cf. Romans 8:26). It is helpful to trust that invitation and allow ourselves to be in his presence in the chaos was well as the joys in our lives. If we are upset with God, it is important to get in touch with that feeling and share that emotion with him. As we do so and get it all out, it is also just as important to be still and listen for God’s response. To vent and walk away or tune God out is not helpful or giving him the opportunity to provide healing.

Even if we do walk away from him, our Father will not walk away from us. He will be there ready and willing to accompany us when we are ready to return, share again and are willing to be still and listen. A good example of this type of open and honest prayer from the heart will be found in reading the psalms. They cover the full range of our human emotions as well as expressions of prayers of blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise. We will even come across a reading like Psalm 88, which may not appeal to us at the moment, as it is such a psalm of despair, yet someone, somewhere, might be feeling that prayer. If we read it and find as we do so that we don’t relate to it, we can pray it for others you may be experiencing those emotions.

In our Gospel today, we read Matthew’s familiar version of the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father. It presents two ways to pray. First, it is a rote prayer that we memorize word for word. The blessing of a rote prayer is that we can pray it in communion with others, as we all know the same words. Another important gift of rote prayers is that we can pray them when we are physically in pain or emotionally distraught when we feel we can’t pray.

Jesus taught his disciples this prayer and it has been prayed daily since then up to and including this moment. That is amazing reality, that we can pray today the same prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. It is a prayer we can lean on to give us strength through the storms of our lives. Praying the Our Father gives us the words to speak when we have none to begin with, and by loosening our tongues, we can come to a place where we can speak more freely with God, who as Jesus shares is our Father, and experience the peace of his presence.

The Lord’s Prayer is also a model of prayer such that each word or phrase can be a starting point to enter into a deeper and loving dialogue. There are seven petitions throughout and as with the ten commandments have a similar pattern in that the first three petitions are directed toward our relationship with God. The next four have to do with our relationship with others. As an example, we begin with the words, “Our Father.” This is a reminder that God is the Father of us all and the beginning of all prayer. His sun shines on the good and the bad alike. Our prayer begins by putting our self in his presence and recognizing that we are all interconnected.

God, our Father, is with us even when we experience fear, feel forgotten, misunderstood, or alone. God loves us more than we can ever imagine, and our every desire to pray is already a prayer because we are responding to his invitation to spend time exclusively with him. Calling on his name is a reminder that he is always present and he hasn’t forsaken us. He provides our daily bread and forgives us as we forgive others. The flip side is that God also rejoices with us, for the joy of God is the human being fully alive!

I invite you to carve out some time today to pray the Our Father s-l-o-w-l-y. Take some slow and deliberate breaths, five seconds in and five out. Allow whatever is going on in your life to enter into the recitation and remember that the best dialogue allows each party involved to spend some time listening to the other. As St Mother Teresa taught, “God speaks in the silence of our hearts.” By making some time to pause, to be still, and not rush through the prayer, to listen silently to God, we might just be able to come into the rest of our day better able to listen to each other a little better as well.

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Photo: Stained glass image of John the apostle here at Holy Cross. Praying the Our Father worked out pretty well for him, may we follow his lead!

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Give somebody a Gospel Five today!

Our readings today help us with one of the pillars of Lent. Almsgiving. We can give alms monetarily as well as through our thoughts, words, and actions. How we treat each other matters. How we speak to each other or about each other matters. Even how we think about each other matters. Not only do our actions come from our thoughts but we also project them out to others whether we are aware or not that we are doing so. When we are able to be more intentional regarding how we think, we can be more aware of our actions. We really do not have to immediately react in situations independently or with others. We can first take a few deep breaths, think, and seek some guidance from the Holy Spirit before we act. We can discern how what we are about to do will affect ourselves and others around us.

One way to put this into practice is to follow the psychologist, Dr. John Gottman’s 5:1 principle. When you think a negative thought about someone and before you share that thought, think and write down five affirming thoughts about that person. Many times we will find that by the time that we get to the fifth compliment we will have forgotten the negative quip that sought the light of day.

Jesus is very clear in today’s Gospel from Matthew, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:45). All of us are interconnected. What we do to one another affects everyone. Jesus is very clear that what we do or do not do to each other we do to Jesus. It would be very helpful for us then to get to know Jesus. One way is to continue to read the daily Gospel offered to us each day or read them at our own pace. The Gospels reveal to us Jesus’ words, teachings, life, ministry, and actions. A daily, prayerful and meditative reading helps us to not just know about but to know him.

In meditating on today’s gospel account, Jesus helps us also to know that we will come to know him better in serving one another. For as we do or do not, we will come to know or not know Jesus better. When we throw a stone into the middle of a pond, the ripples of the water circle out to touch the bank and go even beyond. When we think a thought, offer or withhold an action, speak or not speak, this same ripple effect happens.

When we refuse to engage, to give into cynicism, apathy, or disinterest regarding the needs of another, we are cutting ourselves off from Jesus. These ripples of inaction do have a negative effect that ripples out. When we are moved by the Holy Spirit to reach out to help someone in need, to be more understanding, kind, and willing to move beyond our insecurities, prejudices, and biases; when we do listen, risk, and move out toward another in love by willing another’s good, and put Jesus’ teachings into practice, we begin the healing of our relationship with God, ourselves, and each other. We will then love our neighbor as ourselves as we received from Leviticus 19:18 in the first reading. We can certainly experience a few more of these ripples!

St. Mother Teresa loved her neighbors radically well by putting into practice what she called her Five Finger Gospel, which is a summary of Matthew 25:31-46. She taught each person in her order and anyone she had the opportunity to pass it on to that each finger on her hand represented the words: “You – did – it – to – me.” When we entertain a thought today, are about to form a word, and are about to follow through on an action, may we first take a breath, ask Jesus to guide us, and then look at the five fingers of our hand before following through. Would we continue to think the thought, say the word, or follow through on the action if Jesus was in front of us? Because he is. For what we do to each other, we do to Jesus.

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Photo: Photo in my office that I took of Mother Teresa walking by me in New Bedford Mass in 1995 as she was leaving Mass from St. Lawrence of the Martyr Church.

Dr. John Gottman’s 5:1 principle I learned from Dr. Arthur Brooks’s discussion with Bishop Robert Barron through the Word on Fire Institute. To watch Dr. Brooks talk on loving our enemies and to consider becoming a member of the Institute: wordonfire.institute/bishop-barron-presents-nov-2019/

Link for St Mother Teresa sharing her five finger gospel starts about 30 seconds in:

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, March 10, 2025

Jesus never sinned because he never doubted who he is and we can get there too!

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil (Luke 4:1-2).

He did so for the same reason he was baptized and crucified. Jesus experienced the temptations of Satan, the one who tempted Adam and Eve, to undo the effects of their original fall. Diabolos, translated as devil in English, means “slanderer” in Greek. Ha satan in Hebrew means accuser or adversary. Satan is the fallen angels, seeped in pride, who seeks divide, brings disorder to all that is good, and ultimately seeks death. We dismiss the reality of his presence at great risk. On the other hand we often give him more power than he deserves. Jesus is tempted, but unlike Adam and Eve, as well as the Hebrews following Moses in the desert, he does not give in. Jesus remains grounded in the will of his Father and so Satan has no power over him.

Jesus knows who he is and whose he is. Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, who willingly was sent by his Father to conquer the effects of sin and death by taking upon himself the sin of fallen humanity. Jesus was willing to become a sin offering on our behalf.

Jesus could have dismissed Satan, yet he endured his temptation to teach us “how to triumph over temptation” (St Augustine 1976, 87). Jesus not only teaches us how, but empowers us to overcome Satan. The weakest Christian is more powerful than Satan himself, because we can call on the name of Jesus. This is not some magic incantation, but when we call on the name of Jesus, he, in the fullness of his humanity and his divinity, is present with us. God has given Jesus the name above every other name, so that as his word is spoken, every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth (cf. Philippians 2:9-10). Just as a floodlight shines in the darkness, the darkness gives way to the light. This is even more true with Jesus. Where Jesus is present there is love, such that no fear or evil can remain.

I had a dream some time ago, I am not sure how long now, but it is still just as vivid. I was sitting on a couch in the first floor of a house. The scene shifted so that I was seeing myself sitting on the couch from above and then my view was redirected to the attic. I witnessed a misshapen, dark figure rummaging through old boxes and newspapers. He embodied pure evil. I was then back in my body, and knew this creature was moving out of the attic and coming down the stairs to the room I was sitting in. My heart was pounding and I felt petrified as I heard his steps drawing closer. I was frozen in fear. In a few more moments, he came into view. What I saw was not the figure in the attic, but a handsome man, but I knew it was him. As he continued closer my fear increased, fearing that he would touch me, then a hymn came to mind. He stopped the moment I began to sing, my fear began to dissipate and I woke up.

Evil tends to present itself at first as an apparent good, as attractive, as normal, otherwise we would reject it outright. Satan and his demons are active through whispers and nudges, they look for our weaknesses and through the same tactics as peer pressure, seek to inject their poison and manipulate our actions. I am not talking about possession here, I am just talking about their divisive influence and seeking to present disorder into God’s plan of order. The most dangerous evil is the one masked in faith. Someone who can speak the verses of a Bible and quote chapter and verse does not a Christian make.

Satan himself quoted from Psalm 91 to Jesus, tempting him to throw himself off from the parapet such that the angels would protect him, catch him, and bring him down safely lest he “dash his foot against a stone.” Jesus in today’s account from Luke deftly countered each of Satan attacks with the sword of the Word of God. Even the subtle attacks of seeking to sew doubt into the reality and truth of who he was by stating, “If you are the Son of God…” Jesus did not flinch or doubt. He grounded himself in the love he had experienced from his Father, from the faith he, as fully human, learned from and experienced with Mary and Joseph, and he stood his ground until Satan left him.

Jesus’ encounter with Satan in the desert is one for us to pray with and meditate upon often because Jesus shows us how to counter his attacks. It is not with the weapons of this world but by placing our trust in God our Father and remembering, no matter how hard the father of lies tries to convince us otherwise, we too must ground ourself in the truth that we are God’s children and he loves us and seeks our best. As we trust in him with each temptation and with every aspect of our lives, our relationship and trust in him will grow.

We will no longer rationalize what we know to be unacceptable in ourselves as well as others. We leave less room for the allurements and see the lies of Satan more clearly when we keep ourselves grounded: in the truth of who we are as the Father’s beloved daughters and sons, in Jesus’ word, and in our growing relationship with the Holy Spirit.

It is important to assess our thoughts, actions, and words with honesty and humility each day, thank God where we have said yes to his will and followed through on acting where he has led us, where we have loved, and ask for forgiveness for when we have forgotten who we are and have been led astray by the father of lies. Also, it is important to ground ourselves in the Scriptures and allow the Word of God to become a daily nourishment. Reading, meditating, and praying with a few sections slowly each day will be transforming. We can start with the reading from Luke from today and with each reading, as with Jesus, the words will become as much as part of us as the air we breathe.

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Photo: Jesus, though tempted, remained a light in the darkness so we can follow!

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, March 9, 2025

We too are called and we too can be forgiven as Levi was.

Think about how good we feel after coming to be on the other side of healing from a bad cold or the flu, recovering from a twisted ankle, a broken collar bone, or other health conditions. If you have ever experienced an asthma attack or had the breath knocked out of you, it is such a relief to able to breathe fully again. We experience a feeling of wholeness that was missing during the midst of our suffering where we may have pondered a time or two whether or not we would ever get better.

The same can be said for estranged relationships. There is a distance of separation that can be agonizing, an inner gut-wrenching experience that gnaws away at us. We wonder if there can ever be a coming back together. When there is reconciliation, forgiveness, and amending of the brokenness of relationships, we can experience such a relief, lightness and joy that we never imagined possible while in the midst of the conflict, the silence, and the separation.

Sin our relationship with God and one another, and unchecked and unbridled sin can rupture those relationships. The Pharisees and the scribes questioned why Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners, and Jesus replied: “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners” (Lk 5:32).

Jesus is a light in the darkness. For Levi and his friends, who were following a path into darkness. Jesus shone his light in their darkness and they realized they could walk another path and they did. A great celebration of fellowship ensued in Levi’s home because these men and women, who had been outcasts, who were separated from the greater community were forgiven, welcomed, and embraced. They were loved by Jesus as they were. They did not have to change first for Jesus to call Levi and gather with them.

They were welcomed into the kingdom and reign of God. Their ticket to reconciliation and healing was accepting the invitation of Jesus, to receive and experience his love and welcome. Levi and the other sinners did not run from the light of Jesus, but were willing to recognize their need for healing, were willing to repent, to turn away from their prior ways of life and so were reborn!

They were divinized because of their willingness to participate in the life of Jesus. Levi chose not to just be a repentant sinner, but continued to follow Jesus. He gave his whole life to him and allowed himself to be transformed. He chose not to walk along the path of darkness anymore, but once seeing the light of Jesus continued to follow the Way. He continued to follow Jesus such that it was no longer he who lived, as Paul had experienced, but Christ who lived in him (cf. Galatians 2:20)!

Jesus invites us each day, as he invited Levi in today’s Gospel, to follow him. We are given the same invitation and opportunity for healing, discipleship, and transformation. Will we resist rationalizing and justifying our sinful thoughts, actions, and habits, welcome the light of Jesus that reveals our venial and mortal sins, and admit that we are in need of healing, and repent so to be forgiven and released from all the energy we have expended in protecting and hiding from ourselves and our God who loves us more than we can ever mess up?

Quietly spending time daily, especially in the evening and recalling our day, by asking Jesus to reveal to us those ways in which we have not lived according to his will is a wonderful practice. Jesus does not reveal our sins to us to condemn or shame us, he does so in the hope that we will identify, renounce, and confess them. Then he will forgive us. Even when uncovering deeply rooted and mortal sins, through the intimate encounter with Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation we will be forgiven and freed from these as well.

Jesus loves us as we are. Yet holding on to our sin, keeps us at a distance from experiencing the greater breadth and depth of his love. We only need to be willing to be contrite, to embrace sorrow for the harm we have inflicted with our personal sins, and go to the Divine Physician in our time of prayer and/or Reconciliation. Once absolved, the heavy weight is lifted and we are healed, we are better able to engage in penance to atone for our sins committed, better able to forgive others as we have been forgiven, and to love as we have been loved!

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Photo: Jesus is the light that will light a path to lead us out of our own darkness.

Link to the Mass readings for Saturday, March 8, 2025

May we slow down our pace so that our hearts beat in tune with “the vibrant heart of Jesus.”

In the Gospel of Matthew, we read today about the account of Jesus comparing himself to a bridegroom: “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Mt 9:15). In a sense, the bridegroom has been taken from us, in another sense, he is closer to us now than he was when he was with his disciples and walked the earth. The fullness of his reign though will not be consummated until Jesus comes again, but while we wait, when we are willing to set aside other distractions and be still, we can hear and feel the beating of his Sacred Heart.

We need food for our survival, but we don’t need as much as we think we do! Fasting from food is not the only focus of our Lenten fast. The discipline of fasting provides an opportunity to keep our passions in check. By resisting the impulse of instant gratification, we are able to better discern between apparent goods and the actual Good in our lives. When we are able to navigate through the maze of distractions, diversions, temptations, and allurements on a physical level, we can begin to go deeper into the spiritual reality to begin to expose some of the demons that we feed, such as “distrust, apathy, and resignation”.

Pope Francis mentioned that these three demons “deaden and paralyze the soul of a believing people.” He continued by stating that: “Lent is the ideal time to unmask these and other temptations, to allow our hearts to beat once more in tune with the vibrant heart of Jesus.”

When we are willing to discipline our impulsiveness, to slow down, to take time to recollect even with a few deep breaths, we can begin to see more clearly God’s will for our lives. We can then be more open to God’s invitation to grow relationship with him and each other. We can then better assume the posture of John the Apostle by resting our head on the chest of Jesus (cf John 13:25), such that our hearts will beat in the same rhythm as his Sacred Heart.

This is the gift of contemplation that drives us to service. This is the same rhythm that beat in the prophet Isaiah who reminds us in today’s first reading what true fasting is all about:  “releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own” (Isaiah 58:6-7).

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Photo: Some quiet time in prayer last week after Mass while still at St Clement Catholic Church in Santa Monica, CA.

Link for Pope Francis homily:

Pope Francis offers a “worksheet” for Lent: Check it out!

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, March 7, 2025

Placing Jesus first will help us to detach from the attachments in this world.

Jesus continued build on his teaching about the entrance into the kingdom of God as the rich man walked away sad by stating, “Children how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mk 10:24-25). The disciples are stymied, primarily because present Jewish belief held that those who had amassed wealth and riches did so because they were blessed by God. If someone who had followed the commandments of God, appeared to be blessed by God, would he or she not be a part of God’s kingdom, if not then, what was one to do?

Yesterday’s reading ended with Jesus responding to the disciples astonishment. First by stating that “For human beings it is impossible.” Jesus said this because there is nothing that we can do to earn or buy our way into heaven. It is not through perseverance, dogged determination, or will power that we are saved. Our security also is not to be placed in the things of this world, our happiness and fulfillment is not to be placed in the apparent goods and glitter of the finite things that offer comfort and pleasure. For if we place our hope in the things of this world, in our own belief that we can control our own destiny, we will be building our foundation on sand. Jesus continued, “For human beings, it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God” (Mk 10:27).

There is only one way to enter the kingdom of God. A person is to say yes to his invitation. The rich man refused the invitation to come and follow Jesus. He chose his possessions over the kingdom. The disciples of Jesus chose differently. The opening line of today’s Gospel reading is given by Peter, speaking up for those, who like him, did what the rich man did not do, when he said “We have given up everything and followed you” (Mk 10:28). Jesus affirmed Peter and the other disciple’s acceptance of the invitation to come and follow him, as well as to assure those who would willingly sacrifice and voluntarily give up, house, family, or land, to follow him. He insisted that they would receive back “a hundred times more in this present age… and eternal life to come” (Mk 10:30).

Jesus, in today nor yesterday’s Gospel accounts, is not a preaching a kind of prosperity gospel or free reigning capitalism, nor is he a proponent of socialism or communism. Each of these are human socio-political, economic constructs. Jesus instead is painting a picture of the reign of God as a new family. One that exists, not of the world’s making, but of God’s design. A kingdom not of this world, though still present in it, and the good news is that all are invited to be a part of it. The apostles were on the way. They had indeed given up the material and familial to follow Jesus, but they, who argued among themselves regarding who was to be the greatest in God’s kingdom, still had their mental attachments and preconceived notions to let go of.

Those who are a part of the kingdom of God are not connected through bloodline, tribe, political party, or nation, but are united through a transformation of their hearts and minds. The followers of Jesus become brothers and sisters. They care for one another, provide hospitality, charity, support, access, means, and encouragement for one another. Together, they meet the challenges and persecutions that come from those who oppose the kingdom.

Jesus offers us the same invitation that he offered the rich man and his disciples; to follow him by letting go of that which distracts us and binds us from giving our life more fully over to him and building up his kingdom. It is helpful to assess our lives, to determine where we can let go, be less attached, and resist looking to material goods for our security and pleasure. Our true and solid foundation we will find in developing our relationship with Jesus, his Father, and the love of the Holy Spirit.

Photo: Encountering Jesus in his Word and the Eucharist at St. Clement Church, Santa Monica, CA.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, March 4, 2025

“You are lacking one thing…”

A man approached Jesus seeking to know what he must, “do to inherit eternal life” (Mk 10:17). Jesus shared that following the commandments, such as: do not kill, commit adultery, steal or bear false witness; do not defraud, but do honor his father and mother (cf. Mk 10:19), would be a good place to start. The man affirmed that he had followed them all. I can imagine the eyebrows of Jesus raise and his mouth curl into a smile as he realized the sincerity of the man kneeling before him. The disciples recognized that look and held their breath.

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me” (Mk 10:21).

The man, instead of overjoyed, was crushed. He had followed the prescriptions of Torah all his life, he was blessed by God with the gift of having many material goods, but in the end it was those possessions that enslaved him. He genuinely came seeking eternal life, and Jesus gave him just what he sought, and more. As Jesus called the twelve, he made the same offer to this man when he said, “come and follow me.”

The commandments are a good first step for properly ordering our lives toward God and one another. Jesus quotes overtly from the Ten Commandments as well as adds another one from Deuteronomy 24:24 in asking him not to defraud. These commandments are from the second tablet of seven regarding how we are to relate to one another. Jesus then calling him to sell what he had and to give the proceeds to the poor and follow him, was a covert invitation to put into practice the first tablet of loving God first and foremost before anyone and anything.

The Ten Commandments are the foundational stones that we are to build our discipleship on if we want to be faithful to God and to be freed from that which enslaves us. We are to put God first and when we do so all of our thoughts, words, actions, and relationships will then be properly ordered. This is what we all have been created for, as St. Augustine came to realize and expressed in the introduction of his Confessions: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you”.

The man in today’s Gospel account knew what he needed to do, but was too attached to his wealth and material things to let them go. He walked away sad, because he clung to the false substitute of wealth that would not ultimately satisfy him. He placed his security and trust in wealth not in God as he had thought he had done. He like Peter saw the promise in Jesus, but unlike Peter, turned away from the One who offered him eternal life. Jesus invited him to become one of his disciples and to walk with him on the path of love, to give, share, and serve along side him, but he could not bring himself to do it. How about us?

Return to this scene in Mark 10:17-31, make the Sign of the Cross, then breathe slowly in for the count of five and out for the count of five, once for the Father, once for the Son, and once for the Holy Spirit. Read each of the words of this passage slowly, two or three times. Then set your Bible aside. Next, visualize each of the details of this account of Jesus and the rich man and place yourself in this scene. As the narrative comes to an end, and as the rich man walks away with his head bowed, see the disciples turn to face you.

You receive their looks of curiosity. Your head turns and you meet the gaze of Jesus. You feel his invitation without a word spoken between you. Like the man, you ask, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus holds your eyes in his. He loves you as he speaks, “You are lacking one thing…” What does Jesus say next? Allow the love and light of Jesus to touch your mind, heart, and soul. Allow him to reveal to you that which you are holding onto too tightly, that which you are attached to and need to renounce and/or release, to be healed from. What is preventing you from giving yourself completely to Jesus? You may not have an answer now. This may be a meditation that you would like to carry with you into Lent. In this moment, are you willing to resist walking away? Will you instead trust in Jesus and walk with him one step at a time and see what happens next?
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Painting: “Christ and the Rich Young Ruler”, 1889, by Heinrich Hofmann

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, March 3, 2025

May the light of Jesus help to heal us from our blindness.

As Christians we are often called, along with Jews and Muslims, the people of the Book. This is in reference to our sacred texts, the Torah, the Qu’ran, and the Bible. In actuality, Christians are not a people of the Book, nor is Christianity merely an idea, philosophy, even a theology, or series of practices. Christianity and being a Christian is about an encounter with a person. That person is Jesus the Christ.

If we do not know Jesus, then the words of our Bible just become dead letters, our philosophy and theology are just intellectual exercises, and our religious observances provide little meaning or relevance for our lives. Our presence in Mass or Church can just be something we do or motions we go through.

This could be why for every one person who joins the Catholic Church today six to eight people are leaving. People leave for their own reasons, but the underlying cause could be that in their experience of Church they are not encountering Jesus, they are not feeling welcomed or a part of a community that cares about them, and/or maybe in their daily lives they are not building, nor are they aware of how to build and sustain a relationship with Jesus.

Each of us hunger and thirst to experience and know the living God. Each and every one of us seek meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in our lives. We have been created to be loved and to love, we have been created to belong, to be a part of, and to be in relationship. We live, crave, and desire to be in relationship with God and one another, and this is true for the atheist and the mystic alike.

In our Gospel reading from Luke today, Jesus is speaking to his disciples, those who have encountered him and said yes to following him. They have witnessed his exorcisms, healings, and teachings beyond the realm of comprehension. Jesus continues to guide them and believe in them even when they come up short time and again. Jesus is finishing up his Sermon on the Plain and doing so with parables that are more like proverbs.

What we heard or read today is that a blind person cannot lead a blind person, otherwise both will fall into the pit (cf. Luke 6:39-40). Jesus is speaking about more than physical sight, but spiritual sight. We all have some level of spiritual blindness. We are blind to have blind spots when we are unwilling or not able to see those thoughts, behaviors, and desires within ourselves that keep us from deepening our relationship with Jesus. Jesus invites us to experience his love, to receive his healing touch, to bask in the light of his grace so that we might see the sins he seeks to reveal to us.

Jesus meets us where we are and loves us as we are. When we receive his love, we experience that he loves us, as we are, with all of our faults, mistakes, sins, wounds, and insecurities. We can feel safe and trust in Jesus, and as we do we will experience an unconditional love beyond anything we ever thought possible. We can then welcome his healing touch, let our guard down, and lower our defenses. As we heal, we can see our sinful actions more clearly and realize the habitual vices we have allowed to develop that were fed by apparent goods, wounds, empty promises, and unhealthy attachments. We can let go of the shame.

As we experience the love of Jesus, we can then confess and allow the knots of our sins to be loosed, and feel more comfortable to let God into all the areas of our life. When this begins to happen our lives begin to change, we are transformed from the place of only focusing on our selves, our fears, and our own needs, and begin to be aware of the needs of others. We can then realize that we do have a choice, we don’t have to continue being led by the false promises, insecurities, and fears that we have reacted to. We can choose to be disciples, led back into the land of the living led by our Teacher and Lord, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God.

How then do we come to know, build, and sustain a relationship with this Teacher, this Jesus?

We do so by spending time each day reading, meditating, praying with, and contemplating God’s word. I remember reading from the Gospel of Luke 12:22 when I was about seventeen. The passage talked about not worrying about your life. I then felt God speak to me. He said that I would never win the lotto, but he would always provide work for me. My wife, JoAnn, and I used to read the daily readings of the Mass each evening together and then I would read a reflection such as this one. In this way, this living word of God became alive for us. Through this daily practice, JoAnn and I drew closer to God and each other.

As we step closer to Lent, we have the opportunity to allow the light of Jesus to shine even more brightly in our lives. We can do so by spending five to ten minutes a day in quiet prayer, meditating on a Gospel reading, asking Jesus to guide us, to help to see the relevance in his teachings, healings, and exorcisms for our lives. We can speak with him as the disciples did, thank him for our blessings, and just be still and breathe, opening up our hearts and minds so to be led by him. We can ask Jesus to reveal to us our sins, we can ask him to help us to remove the log in our own eye, so that we can see more clearly to help another to remove the splinter in their eye.

We encounter Jesus by learning about our faith through reading and praying with the Bible, studying the Catechism, and reading the lives of the saints, as well as other spiritual reading, videos, podcasts and the like. Examining our consciences daily with the Ten Commandments as well as well as a list of the seven capital sins can help us to better identify, renounce, and confess our sins. Praying reflectively and slowly, the Our Father or pondering with Mary the mysteries or one mystery of the Rosary can also be practices that slow us down so we can spend more time with Jesus.

When temptations arise along with the dance of negative thoughts, we can bring them to Jesus also. When a judgmental thought, urge to gossip, to say something that is negative arises, we can stop and take a few slow, deep breaths, seek Jesus in that first moment as the poison arises. By slowing down and asking for Jesus’ help we can side step our automatic reaction response and better choose instead to think and say the good things that people need to hear, things that will be instructive, empowering, and hopeful. Convicting if need be, but resisting condemnation. Our temptations will also have less power because we can more clearly see their false allure by choosing to stand out from the shadows and in the light of Jesus.

We can encounter Jesus by allowing our hearts and minds to be open to respond when he moves us to reach out to be present to someone with our thoughts, words, and actions, even in simple ways such as sharing a smile, making the time to listen, or offering support or assistance in the moment of another’s need, even when it is not convenient, or the best time for an interruption.

We can encounter Jesus in the sacraments, especially the Mass, through the word proclaimed, the music, in our fellowship together, and especially, in the Eucharist, Jesus’ Body and Blood that we will receive. This is a sacred moment of encounter with Jesus and his Mystical Body coming together as one.

Each of these examples are small, practical ways that we all can encounter Jesus in our daily lives. Jesus is already reaching out to us, inviting us to be in relationship with him and his Father. This encounter and building our relationship with him is not only for ourselves but as we come to experience, develop and deepen our relationship with Jesus, as we experience his love and mercy and how his grace builds on our nature, we heal, we are less lured by temptations, we realize that sin and death no longer have the hold they had on us.

If we have some trouble coming to Jesus, let us reach out to his mother who reflects the light and love of her Son. She will lead us gently so we can experience him and his love for us. Jesus will then become more present in our lives, heal us from our blindness and we can begin to see and share, that which is truly good, true, and beautiful. As we are willing to see our sins, renounce and confess them, and through our participation in the life of Jesus, we will be forgiven, healed, and can breathe more freely. We will be able to then remove the log from our own eyes and better be able to get closer to help others to remove the splinter from their eyes.

Mary, help us to pray for each other, support and be present to one another in our everyday experiences, wrap your mantle around us with your loving embrace so that we can feel safe and open our hearts and minds to receive the loving embrace of God our Father. Help us to trust in, listen, and follow the guidance of your Son. May we then be willing to allow the flame of the Holy Spirit to catch fire and rise within each of us such that we may go forth and set the world aflame with God’s love.

Photo: Mary reflects the light of Jesus and we are invited to be healed and do the same. Great to be back in our church to worship this weekend!

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, March 2, 2025