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As we allow Jesus to heal us of our pain, we can love and help others.

Jesus asked his disciples about who people said that he was and Peter, through the revelation of God answered, “the Christ of God” (Lk 9:20). Jesus then responded that “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised” (Lk 9:22).

If you might be thinking that these verses sound familiar, it is because we heard proclaimed or read the parallel account found in Mark 8:27-35 two Sundays ago on September 15. This point never gets old. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus, we come to a deeper understanding of Peter’s words.

Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Yet, that meant many things to many people who were awaiting the coming of the Messiah. For most, they were hoping for a military leader to come to lead them and overthrow their Roman occupiers. As soon as Peter made his statement, Jesus clarified what kind of Messiah that he would be, a suffering servant.

As our first reading from Ecclesiastes offered, “there is an appointed time for everything” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Even a time for suffering. Peter had trouble with understanding this and he represents us as well. One of the points of faith many of us struggle with is the same as Peter, why did Jesus have to suffer?

Jesus was willing to be sent by his Father to become human and to experience all of humanity, even the suffering of our humanity, because only that which Jesus assumed could he redeem. Also, in Jesus experiencing our suffering, even unto death, we can know without hesitation or doubt that Jesus understands our struggles and anguish. And that means we are never alone in our suffering.

The reality is that the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, is Jesus. He is the suffering servant, the One willing to give his life on the Cross for all of humanity and creation. Jesus did not do this in some abstract way. He died for each and every human being that has lived, is now living, now reading these words, or ever will live. He died for you because he loves you.

To be a disciple of Jesus, we are invited to love in return. This means being willing to suffer and sacrifice for one another. Our discipleship will be ultimately expressed in love, in our willing the good of each other. We must be willing to let our hearts be moved with compassion and as St. Mother Teresa taught by, “Giving until it hurts.”

To give until it hurts means that we are willing to allow our hearts to be open to love. For our hearts to be open to the pain of another means that we must be willing to be healed. We are invited to allow the Divine Physician to remove our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh. This divine surgery happens at the Cross when we are willing to bring our suffering to Jesus whose arms are wide open and ready to embrace us.

The Suffering Servant understands our pain, experiences our pain, and can help us to experience instead of run from our pain. There is no way to cover up, go around, sidestep, and/or deny, our suffering. We must face it and experience it head on. But we don’t have to do so alone, nor can we. For what Jesus has assumed he can and will redeem. When we are ready and at the pace, we are willing to go, Jesus will heal us. For “there is an appointed time for everything.” Including our healing.

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Photo: Feast day of St Vincent de Paul, who allowed Jesus to remove his heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh, pray for us. St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, September 27, 2024

Curiosity from a distance, like Herod, or intimate, Lord and Savior, like Teresa?

‘Who then is this about whom I hear such things?'” And he kept trying to see him” (Lk 9:9).

Herod Antipas, the ruler over Galilee and Perea, heard stories about Jesus. The range of his thoughts, expressed by Luke, is confusion to curiosity. Herod may have started to feel concern over the possibility of a growing revolt, some guilt for his execution of John the Baptist, or just curiosity to see what this man was all about. Could this Jesus accomplish even half of the things Herod had heard about him? One question that did not seem to cross Herod’s mind was, did he have any interest in changing his life and becoming a follower of Jesus?

Herod was not the only one in Luke’s Gospel who asked questions about who this man, Jesus, was. Nor did the asking of those questions die with Jesus on the cross. They continued after his resurrection and ascension, they continued into the first centuries of the Church, which led to the calling of the first ecumenical councils which dealt directly with who Jesus was, and they continued in each following century and continue today. There are even at present in some academic circles, the question arising as to whether Jesus even existed at all.

One could ask why this question about Jesus persists? One answer is that we are finite beings seeking to understand an infinite Mystery. The full comprehension of the reality of Jesus existing as fully human and fully divine, dying on the cross, conquering death through his resurrection and ascending to the Father transcends even the wonderful intellect and ability to reason that we have been blessed with. Also, Jesus’ invitation is a universal but personal one. Each individual person has to encounter Jesus for her or himself.

Jesus called the Twelve, one by one as well as Mary Magdalene, St. Irenaeus, St Thomas Aquinas, St Francis and Clare of Assisi, St Catherine of Siena, St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross, St Ignatius, St Mother Teresa, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and he calls each one of us as well. He did not call us to just merely embrace a new philosophy, a new ethical way of life, or even a new religion. Jesus called and calls us to be a part of his Body, the Mystical Body of Christ.

Who is Jesus, Herod asks in today’s Gospel? It is a good question for us to ask as well. For me, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who became incarnate, becoming one with us in our humanity so that we could become one with him in his divinity. This same Jesus who called others through the ages invites us to follow him today as well and he continues to walk this journey with us whether we say yes or no to his invitation. We are just aware of and receive more of his help when we say yes!

Life with Jesus isn’t perfect, and we will at times echo St. Teresa of Avila, who stated after she was thrown from a carriage into a mud puddle, “If you treat your friends this way, it is no wonder you have so few.” But we will, as did Teresa, also experience moments of inexpressible joy, of wonder and exhilaration, and feel blessed when Jesus works and loves through us.

St. Teresa of Avila had a deep and intimate relationship with Jesus and knew him as her closest friend because she heard him knocking and let Jesus in. She spent determined and intentional time consistently with him. She spent an hour before and an hour after Mass each day. She set aside specific, daily anchor times of personal prayer, meditation, and contemplation which allowed her times of closeness that she could then experience Jesus as well in her daily activities. She was able to share with him her joys and frustrations because Jesus was that close to her.

Let Jesus not be just a passing curiosity as he was with Herod Antipas. Jesus is standing, knocking, (cf. Revelation 3:20) inviting us to open the door and let him in. Jesus is inviting us as he did with Zacchaeus to come down from the tree and take him to his home (cf. 19:5). Jesus is calling us to come and follow him as we read with Matthew just a few days ago (cf. Matthew 9:9-13). Jesus is not just some person from history. True, he died at a specific point in time and yet also was resurrected at a specific point in time, and he is alive and well, and inviting us to follow him today. All Jesus waits for is our, “Yes.” and a few steps. Jesus will take care of the rest!

Photo: Spending some quiet time with Jesus before heading to the land of dreams.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, September 26, 2024

Jesus calls us to participate in his Father’s plan.

“Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority” (Lk 9:1).

Jesus summons us as he did the Twelve and empowers us for mission in his name. The expression of our service is unique to each of us. We might resist exploring or entering into a deeper commitment of our faith though because we might feel anxious or afraid that God may call us to do something that we would never want to do, or that we couldn’t conceive of being capable of. There also may be some trepidation even when we are clear of the direction God wants us to move in which may arise from our hesitancy to change and move out from our comfort zone. Ultimately, God wants for us what we want for ourselves deep down. We may not even know what that is, but God does.

God knows what will give us and with whom we will experience meaning, fulfillment, and joy in our lives. The challenge for us is to come to know this for ourselves as well. The work of discipleship begins by accepting the invitation of God to walk with him and trust that he knows what he is doing and where he is leading! No matter what our age, we are never too young or too old to begin or recommit to the journey along the path of discipleship. One good practice is to reflect on our dreams and desires, bring them to God in prayer, and imagine ourselves embracing what we desire.

When I first joined the Franciscans to study for the priesthood in the early ’90s, I imagined from time to time my ordination day, especially in our second year as we were thinking about taking temporary vows. When I did so, a puzzling result consistently arose. I did not imagine feeling any excitement or joy. So, a year and a half into formation, I decided to take a leave of absence. I had asked to take off a year, but the minimum time for a leave of absence was two.

Though I balked at first about the two-year time frame required, I came to see the wisdom of my formation director. I would have come back after a year. About a year and a half out then it was that I realized that my vocational path was leading me to the Sacrament of Matrimony and not Holy Orders. Eighteen months after I came to that realization, I met JoAnn. As our relationship grew and we began to talk about marriage, whenever I envisioned our wedding day, I felt excitement and joy. Each year that we had together built on the one before. We grew closer to God and each other right up until the day of her death.

God led me to the Franciscans in my mid-twenties, he then led me out, and then he led me to JoAnn. Almost three years after JoAnn’s death, he led me to seminary to be formed as a diocesan priest. Periodically when I imagined my ordination day, even though the schedule was more intense this time around, unlike during my novitiate year with the Franciscans, this time I felt excited. Now just about four months serving as a priest, it is more amazing than I could have ever imagined!

God loves us more than we can ever imagine, he has a plan for each and every one of us, and he knows what will fulfill us. When we ponder our dreams and desires, and as we investigate, research, explore potential opportunities and continue to pray and discern each step, we will come to see that as we align ourselves with God’s will that makes all the difference. We are not alone in this process, and we have a God who can see the full picture, where we see only a small part.

There will be fits and starts, missteps and slips, doubts as well as confirmations, and desolations as well as consolations. The key through it all, is to remain faithful, to continue to trust in Jesus who called us. He will continue to accompany us along the way. As he did with the Apostles, he will give us the resources and strength we need, and he will send the Holy Spirit to empower and transform our lives. The process of discerning God’s will for our lives is not just for ourselves alone. Jesus is preparing us for mission. We are transformed by the gift of God’s love to go out and share the invitation we said yes to with others!

Photo: Good to take some quiet time each day to be still and listen for God to speak to us in the silence of our hearts. Doing so a few days ago while home visiting my family and friends in CT.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, September 25, 2024

We are one with the Holy Family when we “hear the word of God and act on it”!

He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it” (Luke 8:21).

There are many popular genetic testing kits that are advertised on TV and through the internet. People have asked me is it possible to be a blood relation to Jesus. Jesus’ reply today can help you to save some money. Asking if we are a blood relation with Jesus is missing the point of Jesus’ life and ministry. What is important are “those who hear the word of God and act upon it.” God is to be first, even before family. We may experience a subtle shudder from this statement but to those of Jesus’ time, it would have been apoplectic. Family meant everything in the Ancient Near East.

Jesus is not making the point that we disregard family, he is instead teaching us that if we are to be authentically present to our family this will come about best by following the will of his Father. As we deepen our relationship with Jesus and put his teachings into action, we begin to bear the relational fruits of the Spirit. Would not our familial relationships be much better if we were more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle and practiced self-control? Jesus taught and showed from his own life that the path to fulfilling and intimate relationships flourish best when we put God first because as we grow closer in relationship with him, we also do so with those around us.

Another point we can glean from Jesus’ response in today’s Gospel is that our “family” is to transcend bloodline, tribe, and nation. Any one of “those who hear the word of God and act upon it” is spiritually akin to Jesus the Christ. The point is not that we have a genetic, lineal relation with Jesus, but that when we live and act according to his Father’s will, we are part of the universal family of God’s grace and mercy and our relationship with him and one another grows as we continue to bear the fruit of the Spirit.

As brothers and sisters in Christ, we will act with more caring and kindness, seek common ground through dialogue, be more willing to walk and accompany one another and seek to understand instead of judge. The bottom line is that we are to love one another as Jesus loves us! When we do so our lives are transformed.

To hear the word of God, we must have our hearts, minds, and souls open to hearing it proclaimed during Mass. We are also invited to read his word in our own daily time of prayer. In both situations, God’s word comes alive as he shares something of himself with us, to nourish, and give us his life. As we then receive, at times struggle with, seek to understand, and put into practice God’s word, we come to know the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the saints, and our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are one family in the Body of Christ when we “hear the word of God and act on it.” Just imagine what our parishes and communities would look like if we all did this.

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Photo: Praying with the Holy Family in the sacristy of St. Philips Catholic Church, East Windsor, CT. The church where I received my first communion and concelebrated Mass as a priest there for the first time this past Sunday.

The Mass readings for Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Let us not conceal but reveal the light of Christ!

Jesus said to the crowd: “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light” (Luke 8:16).

God blesses us freely without cost and invites us, mere human beings, tiny specks on specks in the universe, to be in relationship with him. He has given us our lives, sustains us, and he is the source of our fulfillment, meaning, and joy! We do not earn nor is there anything that we can do to gain God’s grace. God loves us as we are. We are to but receive and share his love. We lose the gift of his grace and love either by refusing what has been offered, or once accepting and receiving, not doing anything with what we have received. If we are people of faith in name only, but do not follow in action, we are concealing the light we have been given.

January of 2021 was an interesting time for me. It had been just over a year since JoAnn had died and I was not only diagnosed with Covid, but it had done a number on my lungs, full blown pneumonia, as well as compromised many of my other vital organs. Fortunately, after five days on the Covid wing of the hospital and a few months then home on oxygen, I slowly recovered. As with JoAnn’s diagnosis, I accepted what was happening and trusted God and felt his peace through both of those challenges.

JoAnn was not healed in the way that I had sought but hopefully has now received the fullness of the healing that Jesus came to bring all of us, eternal life with him and his Father through the love of the Holy Spirit. My time to leave this life and head on to the next did not come in January of 2021. Through my time of recovery, I prayed and took comfort in the gift of his word each day and continued to share these reflections.

Some have certainly been better than others, but each one has been a reflection of the journey into the Mass readings of the day as well as seeing their relevance in my life, and upon returning, writing what I felt I received from God to share. These posts have hopefully been a way to reflect the light of Jesus, to light my lamp and place it on a lampstand.

My hope is that these words can also be an invitation to those of you who are reading them to take your own walk about through the God’s living word revealed in the Bible. God has been a tremendous support and companion in my daily walks with him and my prayer is that you may experience his closeness as well when you stroll through the pages of the Bible prayerfully each day. As you do so, God will soon hand you your lamp, ask you to light it, and place it on the lampstand to let it shine brightly so it may be an inspiration for others.

Photo: Home altar passed on from my great grandfather, to my grandmother, to my mother, to me. Just as we pass on sacramentals and family traditions, may we also pass on our faith.

Link for the Mass readings from Monday, September 23, 2024

We have been made for more.

James, from our second reading today, asks a question that unfortunately needs to be asked in every generation.

Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from?

James gives us a place to start:

Beloved: Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.

Conflict and division come from the disordering of our thoughts, desires, passions, words, and actions. There is something a bit off kilter with us. This disorder or dis-orientation is caused when we choose our self over God. Turning in upon ourselves, saying we are the center of the universe and all is to revolve around us comes from the condition of Original Sin which weakens and wounds our human nature. This condition is made worse by the belief that we can save ourselves.

We seek the truth, to be happy, and to be fulfilled but we follow false promises, substitutes, and apparent goods that appeal to our egotism, our pride, and our fear. St Thomas Aquinas, the thirteenth century Dominican doctor of the Church, categorizes four substitutes or temptations that lead us astray from our proper orientation to God:

Pleasure, Wealth, Power and Honor

In and of themselves there is nothing wrong with any of these, but when we make any or all of them into an idol, our primary focus, when we pursue them to provide our stability, satisfaction and fulfillment, we will be led astray.

Pleasure feels good and it brings us instant gratification. The problem is that once the external agent or stimulus of the pleasure ends, so does the experience, and it leaves us empty and wanting more.

Wealth promises us that if we just have enough money, we can get whatever we want, do whatever we want, we believe that we can also be safe and secure. But again, we will still experience that deep hunger within us that cannot be fed by that which is finite or material.

Power offers the promise of access, of controlling the unpredictability of life’s challenges, yet, as the Catholic historian and moralist, Lord Acton, wrote: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Honor, closely linked with power, we see played out in our present day through the cult of celebrity that is sown into the very fabric of our society. So many seek their fifteen minutes of fame, too many not caring how they can get it.

We witness the Apostles in today’s Gospel, the closest to Jesus and his teaching, falling for the temptations of power and honor as they argue among themselves who is to be the greatest among them. The deeper sadness of their debate is that they are engaged in it just after Jesus has explained to them that he will be handed over and killed. The Apostles are so ensnared in the hierarchical structure of the society of their time that they fail to have the empathy and compassion to be present to Jesus as he shares with them his horrific fate.

We witness time and again, from the ancient times to today, the effects of Original Sin. The English convert to Catholicism, GK Chesterton, wrote that, “original sin… is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved” (Orthodoxy). We can see it in the streets, we in the news, as well as looking back at us in the mirror, for we too fall into indifference, lack of empathy, and resist slowing down enough to be present and accompany others.

We perpetuate the condition of Original Sin when we choose to put ourselves in the center where God belongs. We must resist its lure and acknowledge that we cannot save ourselves, we cannot find happiness, security, joy and/or fulfillment in any finite or material pursuit. While at the same time, we can also acknowledge that even though Original Sin is real, even though we have been wounded and battered by its effects, we have not been overcome, we are not totally corrupt or destroyed by it.

We have been created good by God, and the embers of that goodness remain in each and every one of us. Even if the embers are only a smolder, they are just awaiting to be stoked and set ablaze. God has created us as a living, craving, hunger and desire to be one with God and each other and this is true for the atheist and the mystic alike.

The antidote to the poison of Original Sin is Jesus the Christ. He, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, became one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity. In our Baptism, we are cleansed from this condition of Original Sin and are indelibly marked, we are conformed to the very being of Jesus. We become part of his Body.

Yet, while freed from the bondage of Original Sin by our Baptism, we are still tempted to return to the place of our slavery, like the Hebrew slaves yearning for Egypt, like Lot’s wife looking back to Sodom and Gomorrah. We need to keep our eyes focused on looking ahead, to that which is above. Jesus shares with his Apostles in today’s Gospel that we are to turn the pursuit of pleasure, wealth, power, and honor on its head when he states that: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Only a relationship with God will bring us happiness and fulfillment.

We begin our path of walking as disciples by becoming like the small child that Jesus brought into their midst. The child in ancient Palestine was nothing. He had no status, no significance, no wealth, power, or honor. Each child was completely dependent on their parents. This is to be our starting point in being a disciple. We need to reject the notion outright that we can heal ourselves and admit that we need Jesus to restore us to our relationship with our Father and place our sole dependence in him for everything. God, not self, is to be our end goal.

As James wrote, “the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.”

May we receive and live by this wisdom from God and accompany one another as we seek to deepen our journey with Jesus. May we be willing to serve, to give of our time, talent and treasure to build up God’s Kingdom here on earth. May we be willing to seek out and invite others to share in our journey, so that we can feel support and encouragement and realize that we do not have to walk alone. May we be open to pray to the one who created us, read the Bible and ponder on the living word of God, and experience the lives of those who have walked before us in their encounters with God, and read the lives of the saints, those who are now where we seek to one day be! May we participate regularly in the sacraments, our deepest encounters with Jesus this side of heaven.

We are one Body in Christ. All of us seek happiness, fulfillment, and meaning in our lives, to belong and to be a part of something greater than ourselves. This is who God has created us to be. St Augustine realized this when he wrote: “You have made us for yourself, O God, and we are restless until we rest in you.” It is never too late to come to realize that God loves us more than we can ever mess up and more than we can ever imagine. God is our hope, our ultimate goal, and the answer to our deepest desire.

Let us renounce all jealousy, fear, pride, and selfish ambition, and instead surrender our hearts, minds and souls to Jesus in our time of meditation, prayer, service, in his very real presence in the Eucharist celebrated today at Mass, so to be forgiven, healed, renewed, reconnected, and in so doing, find the fulfillment we have been created for.

Once we receive and experience God’s unconditional love, may the embers of our soul ignite with the flame of his love such that we can recognize and distinguish between the voice and enticement of the enemy who seeks to destroy us and the voice of the Good Shepherd who seeks to give us life and life to the full. For in experiencing the life of Jesus, we experience the infinite we have been created for.

Photo: Sometimes taking the time to get outside and look up and beyond helps us to get in touch with the reality that we are physical as well as spiritual beings, not either/or but both/and.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, September 22, 2024

Jesus calls us too.

“While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples” (MT 9:10).

We as the Church, followers of Jesus, still have much to learn from Jesus. Today’s reading provides another wonderful example. Once Jesus begins his public ministry he is constantly on the go. Going where? Meeting people in the midst of their daily lives as he did with Matthew. And what is the response to Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, and then partaking in table fellowship with other tax collectors and sinners?

Matthew accepts his invitation to follow. The Pharisees question the disciples about his practice and curious onlookers follow at a distance. But to those who have, maybe for the first time in their lives, been respected as fellow human beings, their response is hope. A hope that there actually may be a path leading in from the peripheries. A hope that they no longer have to be on the outside looking in. A hope that they, for the first time in their lives might finally belong.

Jesus is shown time and again encountering the person as they are in their present circumstances and the chaos of their lives. He welcomes, is present, and embraces each person as they are. Yet he doesn’t want them to stay where they are. He invites people to be part of something greater than their self-absorbed posture, their self-imposed and externally imposed limitations and instead to actualize their potential and embrace a life of meaning and purpose. The only requirement is that they are willing to: repent, be forgiven, be healed, be loved, be human, be free, and once experiencing this encounter with Jesus, share what they have received with others.

When we are willing to follow Jesus and become his disciples as Matthew did, then we can experience the same hope for a new beginning. To follow we must have the humility to recognize our sinfulness, repent, recognize our dependence on God and our need for him and his love more than anyone or anything else. As we do so, we can begin to heal and let go of the apparent goods that we thought would bring us happiness which have instead led us astray, and renounce those false hopes that we have placed our security in.

We will find that, only in God alone will we find our fulfillment, hope, and security. Jesus invites us to experience: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). This is the promise and fulfillment that no other pursuit or person can bring. God is the foundation and source of all, and at the same time he knows each and every one us better than we know ourselves. He invites us to grow in our relationship with him so we can know him too.

We do this best as we get to know his Son, Jesus whom he sent, not to condemn us, but to save us. Jesus draws close to us as he did with Matthew so that he can experience the chaos of our lives. He loves us in the midst of the best and the worst and invites us to experience something better. Called and willing to be healed, forgiven, and transformed like Matthew, we too, can experience God’s mercy. Jesus will then send us as well to be beacons of the light, hope, and love for those who are in need of God’s healing and peace.

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Painting: The Calling of St. Matthew, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1600. We may be as surprised as Matthew, but Jesus does call us as well!

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, September 21, 2024

Humility, contrition, and confession are the pillars for forgiveness, love, and peace.

Logistically, to our modern minds, the setting of this verse may appear confusing. How could this “sinful” woman be standing behind Jesus such that her tears would fall on his feet? When we think of someone sitting and eating, we imagine them doing so by sitting in a chair. Thus, the feet would be toward the front of the person.

During the time period Jesus lived, the customary practice when eating was not to sit at all but to recline. Thus, the woman was standing behind the feet of Jesus as he reclined, and her tears fell on his feet. She then knelt down, dried his feet with her hair, and then anointed Jesus’ feet with the ointment she brought for him.

She did not rationalize, deny, ignore, or come grudgingly nor wait for Jesus to call her out, she came not asking for healing but with true contrition for her sins. Being in the presence of Jesus, when we are open to his love and experience his compassion, we are pierced to the heart with our own sorrow for the hurt we have caused others through our sinful actions.

Those quick to point the finger at other’s sins, like Simon who judged this woman, are less apt to be aware of the depth of their own sin and thus “the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little” (Lk 7:47). We are not forgiven less because God is not willing to forgive but because God will not go against our free will. If we are unaware or unwilling to bring our sins forward in a contrite manner, we are cutting ourselves off from the healing forgiveness God wants so much to share with us. But if we, like the woman in today’s Gospel account, are willing to bear our soul with humility and sorrow we will not only be forgiven but experience a deeper outpouring of God’s love. The one who confesses truthfully, fully, and contritely is forgiven more and thus will love more.

We are offered the same gift of grace and forgiveness as she received. What if instead of hiding from, being in denial of, rationalizing, or justifying our sins, we acknowledged them and sought the healing forgiveness of Jesus as she did? In opening our hearts and minds to the forgiving and purifying love of the Holy Spirit there is pain, as there is in any healing, but there is also freedom. When we trust Jesus as she did with our deepest and darkest sins, we too can be forgiven, healed, and freed of the shackles that bind us and experience his love.

Don’t believe the lies of the enemy. God loves us more than our worst mistakes and sins. When we trust him, are contrite, confess, and willing to atone for our sins, the truth will set us free, and we will experience God’s love more fully and his peace more deeply.

Photo: Good to be still, quiet, breathe, and examine our lives from time to time.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, September 19, 2024 

 

When it is time to mourn, we weep, and when time to celebrate, we dance!

“To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep'” (Lk 7:31-32).

Jesus convicted those who held a narrow view of who was a true follower of God by sharing the image of a flute being played and no one was dancing, thus in times of joy, there was no celebration, and when the funeral dirge was sung, they did not weep, they did not mourn. Jesus then tied the analogy to his present condition where there were those who did not accept the ascetical practices of fasting and the call to repentance from John the Baptist, nor did they accept the inclusive table fellowship of Jesus.

In our own time, we have encountered those that are not pleased beyond their own narrow focus and who suffer from tunnel vision. Anything that hints at even a slight variation of change sends tremors of discontent. If we are honest, we all have some resistance to change, but if we are to authentically live the Gospel, St. John Henry Cardinal Newman’s quote is an apt barometer: “To live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

JoAnn embraced change much more easily than I. She consistently helped me, even when I didn’t feel it was helpful, to resist getting too comfortable. She did so again in “changing her address” five years ago to a heavenly zip code. Working through the reality of her death and the new adventure of two years of seminary were two big changes that I embraced with a lot of help, which has prepared me well for my first few months of priesthood.

It would have been easier to seek an early retirement and live a quieter life, but that was not a part of God’s plan. When most my age are thinking of or beginning an early retirement, I decided to embrace the invitation to change again and embark on a new adventure. I am very happy that I did.

The Church, at her best, is a balance between the rock foundation of our core beliefs, such as is outlined in the Nicene Creed, which provides stability, assuredness, and identity, while at the same time we need to be open to the life-giving inspiration of change from the Holy Spirit. Each of us in each generation must make the Gospel relevant. We must enter into the tension of remaining true to what we believe while being flexible to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. In this way, we can avoid molding the Church into our image, and instead be conformed into the image and likeness of Jesus, who is the embodiment of Love, the Trinitarian communion of which we profess in the Creed.

We can live a life of joy when we resist the temptation to hold on too tightly. Nothing and no one in this world lasts because all is finite. When it is time to mourn, let us weep, and if we do so well, when it is time to embrace life we can do so with joy and we can dance again. What lasts as St. Paul says is love. God is love and God created us out of an abundance of his love. When we are willing to surrender our will to the Father, our heart and mind to the Son, and allow our soul to be led by the Holy Spirit, we can better embrace change and better live our life to the full!

Photo: On my first day in the sanctuary of Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, beginning my new journey with some quiet time with Jesus, Mary, and JoAnn.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Let us share the compassion we have received from Jesus.

When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise” (Lk 7:13-14).

Jesus’ immediate response to this woman was pity or compassion. The original Greek word used was splanchnizomai, meaning that Jesus was moved from the very depths of his bowels. The emotional depths to which Jesus was moved to reach out and help the widow of Nain, shows us his humanity. Jesus’ healing of the widow’s son, bringing him back from the dead, shows us his divinity. The entire event shows us the best of who we ought to aspire to be as his followers.

Instead of fear, judgment, prejudice, or indifference, may we instead follow the lead of Jesus and seek to understand, to place ourselves in the shoes of the vulnerable, misunderstood, and on the margins. May we start with those we interact with everyday in our families, our school and workplaces, our communities and places of worship. May our hearts, not be hearts of stone, but hearts of flesh so to be moved from the very depths with the same compassion of Jesus toward those, who, like the widow, are vulnerable, at-risk, and on the peripheries.

We as the Church, the Body of Christ, need to be more welcoming, hospitable, willing to walk with others and to share in their journeys. We can do this simply in our day-to-day interactions with one another. Whenever we encounter another, may we resist any judgment, prejudice, or indifference and instead be willing to be moved by compassion and concern and be present.

Listening and hearing each other’s stories, needs, and engaging in conversation are helpful in opening up relationships. Taking the time to smile, to listen, to respect one another even when disagree and being willing to work through conflicts helps us to build and strengthen relationships.

Jesus looked upon those he interacted with as family. This widow who was weeping as she looked upon the dead body of her son was not a stranger to Jesus, but a sister in pain. Jesus was moved with compassion and immediately came close to help. He met and engaged with each person and treated everyone he came in contact with in the same way, as human beings.

He loved and showed them compassion and invited them to be free of that which bound them to their slavery to sin. He came to remind all of us of who and whose we are as his Father’s beloved children. “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister and mother” (Mt 12:50).

JoAnn often prayed for God to reveal to her one person that she could help each day. When we ask, God will guide us and grant us greater awareness of those we can help, and he will give us the means to be present and to assist. We are not called to raise the dead, while we can lift each other’s spirits, but we are called to have compassion for one another and see each other as brothers and sisters, not as somehow less or other, but with dignity.

May we allow the love of the Holy Spirit to stretch us beyond our comfort zones, beyond our limitations, so that we may experience a softening of our hearts and be willing to be moved by compassion. May we regularly and with more intention breathe and be more patient, understanding, and kind. May we be willing to love more, to will each other’s good with each person we engage with so that each of us are better for having met.

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Painting: “The Resurrection of the Widow’s Son at Nain” by James Tissot, 1890, online collection from the Brooklyn Museum

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, September 17, 2024