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God reaches out to us in so many ways, to let us know that he cares and we are not alone.

Just as Jesus came among Cleopas and the other disciple on their journey toward Emmaus, Jesus does so again as the pair was recounting their encounter with the risen Jesus. What Jesus does differently in this interaction is that he clarifies that he is not a ghost, “Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have” (Lk 24:39). He then asked for something to eat. They gave him fish and he ate, something a ghost or spirit would not do. He talked with his disciples as he had done during their time together before his crucifixion.

We have heard about the resurrection of Jesus, maybe for years, but it is important not to get complacent with the amazing miracle that this is, who Jesus was, and continues to be: a hypostatic union, meaning that Jesus is one divine person, subsisting in two natures, the human and divine.

The humanity of Jesus through his resurrection was fully actualized and transcended the limitations of the three-dimensional realm that he had experienced in his humanity before his death and resurrection. This is how he could disappear after making himself known in the breaking of the bread and how he will come through a locked door to interact with his disciples.

The relevance of the bodily resurrection of Jesus for us is that he, in dying and conquering death, is now the reality of who we will one day be. We will be fully actualized as God has created us to be. The good news is that we do not have to wait to go to heaven for this process to begin! The path of becoming redeemed and whole begins in this life, now, as we accept Jesus as our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer. Jesus in his encounter with his disciples from today’s reading from Luke continues the message he began at the beginning of his ministry, which is one of repentance and forgiveness.

When we were baptized, we were born again as an integral part of the new creation given to us by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Through this grace, our humanity has been redeemed. Each day we are to live in humility, calling to mind our sins and repenting daily. As we do so, Jesus will forgive us, and as we receive his mercy and forgiveness, we will not only be more and more conformed to him, we are also to offer the same to others. Jesus suffered and died for each and every one of us, and he also seeks to live through us. Jesus is the foundation and source of our life and salvation. Jesus has come to show us that we are not in competition with God, but that his Father, our Father, seeks to be in solidarity with us.

There have been times when I have felt pretty wiped out physically, working second shift full time while student teaching in my last year of college; the balance of family life, teaching full time, and five years studying for the permanent deaconate; taking care of JoAnn in her final months; recovering from pneumonia; and over these past two years studying for the priesthood. Through each of these episodes and the regular day in and day out in between each of these more intense moments, I have found peace and renewal, and even more importantly, a deepening of my intimacy in my relationship with Jesus. This has grown as I have been more consistent in the daily anchor practices of praying with the liturgy of the hours and the daily Mass readings, participating in Mass, meditation and contemplation during my holy hour, the Rosary, and Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

Most recently, in the days before taking my Cura Animarum, our final, oral exams, I headed out for my Rosary walk and saw a unique rainbow to the west (the picture of which I posted a few weeks ago), then the next day during my holy hour I was drawn to Jeremiah 1:7-9 in which God was encouraging me to have no fear and that he would place his words in my mouth, and then the day before the exam as I was genuflecting before Jesus present in the tabernacle, I surrendered all of myself to him and felt this overwhelming sense of closeness. Jesus was affirming not only that I would pass my oral exams, which I did, thank God, I felt he was affirming again my vocational path to the priesthood.

Since my late teens, God has revealed himself in these small ways. No mere coincidences have they been but God-incidences. These are moments where God says hello and lets us know that he walks with us and that we are not alone. Even in the midst of our trials and tribulations, when weary and worn, we can experience joy! God is reaching out to us in so many ways, all the time. We just need to take a moment, take a breath, and look up, listen, and be willing to feel. The more we do so, not only in our trials but in every situation, the more we will experience God-incidents – Alleluia!!!

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Photo: While praying the glorious mysteries, came upon this glorious bloom! – St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass reading for Thursday, April 4, 2024

“Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us?”

Our Gospel reading for today begins with a feeling of despair. The hope of Jesus being the Messiah, the promised one who came to redeem and deliver his people Israel died a brutal death. Even though Jesus sought to prepare his followers for this reality, they could not conceive or believe that the promised Messiah could die.

Cleopas and his companion are in mourning as they walk along the road to Emmaus. They have left Jerusalem and are commiserating among themselves about their dashed hopes. They were so sure that Jesus was who he said he was, now what were they to do? Jesus met them where they were and wove his way into the conversation and their journey.

When the time for them to part arrived, Jesus motioned to them that he was continuing on. The pair of disciples urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over” (Lk 24:29). Jesus did just that and he revealed himself to them “in the breaking of the bread”(Lk 24:35).

The account of the road to Emmaus has significant relevance for our own spiritual journeys. How many times have we had an inaccurate understanding of Jesus in such a way that we felt let down? Have we domesticated Jesus, or limited who he is, seeing only one aspect of his totality, attempted to shape or conform him into our image and likeness? Have we prayed for something and then that petition or intention was not fulfilled in the way we had hoped? Have we sought Jesus and felt that he wasn’t there for us in our time of struggle or during those times that we felt that we needed guidance?

We need to remember that Jesus meets us where we are, accepts us as we are, walks with us even when we are walking in the wrong direction. While at the same time, he reveals to us the truth. We then need to decide to continue on the path leading away from the love of God or to turn back and into his open arms waiting for our return.

Following the truth that Jesus sets out before us means that we will be stretched beyond our comfort zones, urged to let go of our safety nets and training wheels, called to repent from our sinful ways by resisting the temptation to curve in upon and isolate ourselves. Instead we need to be willing to risk, to be loved, and to love in return. Through our relationship with him, Jesus invites us to nothing less than experiencing the transfiguring flames of Trinitarian Love.

Spending time reading and meditating upon the wonderful, daily readings from the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels available to us right now will set our hearts aflame as happened with Cleopas and his companion. As this pair returned to the community of Jerusalem, may we gather each Lord’s Day, to hear his word proclaimed and to experience him revealed in the breaking of the bread.

As we put into practice what we hear and receive, we too then will begin to: see Jesus more active in the midst of our everyday activities, recognize him in our daily events and even in interruptions, be more inspired to share the sacrificial love we have received from Jesus with those around us, and come to realize that Jesus is more present and closer to us than we are to ourselves. We just need to invite him to walk with us on our journeys, even and especially when we are heading the wrong way!!!

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Photo: While praying with the mysteries of the Rosary, not only my heart, but the sky was burning!

Link for the Mass reading for Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Stolen or Resurrection?

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were bewildered from their encounter with the angel and the empty tomb. As they ran to get the news to the disciples, they were also dealing with mixed emotions, feeling both “fearful yet overjoyed” (Mt 28:8). Then in the midst of their travel they were greeted by Jesus, he assured them and then sent them to tell his“brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (Mt 28:10). Off the pair went to share the message: Jesus had risen!

At the same time, some of the guards who witnessed the event at the tomb took a different way and headed into the city to meet with the chief priests. They relayed the incident about the earthquake and the angel appearing to them and the two women. After deliberating, the chief priests and the elders paid the guards a large sum to perpetuate the tale that his disciples took Jesus away.

Who would be believed, the two women or the guards? Apparently both! Mary Magdalene and the other Mary fulfilled their first apostolic role and passed on Jesus’ message to his disciples for them to meet him in Galilee. Galilee was where the public ministry of Jesus began. They would all go back to the beginning. The tale spread by the guards would also be believed, because by the time of the writing of the Gospel of Matthew, the community, to which he wrote, were aware that, “this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day” (Mt 28:15).

Did Jesus really rise again from the dead as the angel, Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary claim or was this an elaborate plot by the disciples of Jesus to stage his resurrection, as the guards portrayed? How we answer these questions ought to make a difference in our lives. If we say that we believe in Jesus and that he rose again, do we live our lives any differently than those who say they don’t believe?

We, who follow Jesus who rose again, are to be like the angel and each Mary. We are to be an Alleluia people, allowing the risen Christ to proclaim through us to those facing death – the promise of hope and life; to those living in the darkness of sin and addiction – the inviting light of a new direction; to those who are weak and indifferent – our presence and accompaniment. Each day of this Octave and during this Easter Season, may we become less, so that the risen Jesus, who is our Way, our Truth, and our Life, becomes more.

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Photo: Sanctuary of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Palm Beach Gardens, FL before the Easter Vigil this past Saturday night. Ready to celebrate the Resurrection!!!

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, April 1, 2024

Our lives are “measured by love.”

A key focal point of the last supper narrative in the Gospel of John is Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Washing feet was a custom in the ancient Near East because either people walked barefoot or wore sandals. In either event, people’s feet became quite sore and dirty getting from here to there. Washing of the feet was a hospitable way to welcome guests into one’s home, though this action was the most menial of tasks and often performed by the lowest of slaves or servants.

After washing his disciples’ feet and sitting down, Jesus said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:13-14). Jesus is sharing with those who will carry on his message and ministry that they are not to feel so high and mighty in their being called to follow him. The Apostles, those who are sent by Jesus, are to look at their ministry as seeking how best to serve others, not seeking to be served themselves.

In many parishes, this evening at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, some members of the parish will have a foot washed by the priest or priests, following the model set by Jesus. This would remind all of us, as members of the Church that we are all an integral part of the Body of Christ and we are at our best when we are willing to serve, support, and lift one another up. This is true when all is well and good in addition to when conflict and challenges arise in the messiness of our daily lives.

Pope Francis, in his homily given on April 5, 2020 highlighted this same point: “Dear brothers and sisters, what can we do in comparison with God, who served us even to the point of being betrayed and abandoned? We can refuse to betray him for whom we were created, and not abandon what really matters in our lives. We were put in this world to love him and our neighbors. Everything else passes away, only this remains. The tragedy we are experiencing summons us to take seriously the things that are serious, and not to be caught up in those that matter less; to rediscover that life is of no use if not used to serve others. For life is measured by love.”

We best exemplify Jesus’ washing of the feet when we resist the allure and temptation of pride. Our life is not about us. We are not the center of the universe. We need to walk away from the table that offers a buffet of false substitutes for God. Nor are we to curve in upon ourselves and get down on ourselves when we realize our shortcomings and sins because then the focus is still on ourselves.

Let us instead seek to be aware, attentive, discern wisely and even when we fall, be thankful, repent, and begin again. Jesus has not nor will he ever abandon us, and he never tires of loving, forgiving, and serving us. We, as were the apostles, are called to and will be measured by our willingness to wash each other’s feet: to love, to forgive, and to serve one another.

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Photo: Painting of Jesus hanging in the monastery here at Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center, North Palm Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Holy Thursday, Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, March 28, 2024

Which path will we follow? Judas’s or Peter’s?

The Gospel reading for today from John is painful on two fronts. First, Jesus said to Judas, “What you are going to do, do quickly” (Jn 13:27). Did their eyes meet at that moment, was there an unspoken appeal from Jesus to Judas, or had that already been settled in Jesus’ full surrender in the Garden of Gethsemane? Judas aligned himself with Satan and set his course, and removed himself from Jesus and his companions and it was night.

The second front appears at the end of today’s reading. Despite Peter’s apparent full endorsement of Jesus and promise to even lay his life down for him, Jesus predicted that “the cock will not crow until” Peter will deny him “three times” (Jn 13:38). The momentum of utter betrayal builds. Judas will agree to turn Jesus over for thirty pieces of silver. He will betray the Son of God, yet in so doing, Judas will play his part in salvation history.

Judas will set in motion Jesus’ arrest that will culminate in his crucifixion. Peter will come to deny Jesus three times as Jesus predicted. I cannot think of any experience worse than the pain of betrayal. And yet, if we read these passages closely, they ought to convict us to the heart. How have we betrayed Jesus? This is an important question to ask, and what is even more important is that we not only answer it honestly but seek forgiveness and resist the temptation of isolating ourselves in our sin and pride when we come to admit where we fall short.

Judas separated himself, cut himself off from Jesus and his companions. He came to realize his sin, though he did not seek forgiveness, but isolated himself further and in his despair took his life. Peter, also regretted his sin, his cowardice, he wept when he heard the cock crow, but he also trusted, and later affirmed his love for Jesus three times, atoning for his three denials and was forgiven.

This Holy Week we can choose to walk the path of Judas or Peter. With each humble step, may we come to see how our spirits are often willing but our bodies are weak, that we have been wounded by others and acted in kind. We have also fallen short of who God has called us to be in what we have done and what we have failed to do.

Awareness of our unworthiness is a good thing. We must resist isolating and beating ourselves up though. The confessional is not a place of condemnation but a place of healing. With each confession, we don’t go back to the beginning and start all over, the grace of each confession builds on the past one, and strengthens us to resist temptations going forward.

Jesus has not come for those who are worthy, he has not come to call the righteous, but he has come to call us sinners to repentance (cf. Luke 5:32), and this is good news! Jesus will receive us when we are humble enough to admit our sins and willing to be forgiven and so healed. In this way, we can learn from Peter. Even if we have betrayed Jesus and each other, Jesus is willing to forgive us too so that we will become wounded healers as well!

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Painting: I have experienced many blessings these past two years, one being walking down this ramp each evening for a Rosary walk! St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass reading for Tuesday, March 26, 2024

We are to give all like Mary, without counting the cost.

“Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil” (Jn 12:3). This is indeed some gift that Mary shares with Jesus, though Judas’ critical response showed that he missed the point of her offering, which went well beyond the material cost of the perfume. Mary even exceeded the gesture of hospitality by going beyond washing Jesus’ feet and anointing them as well. This act of caring could have been a bestowal of appreciation and gratefulness toward Jesus who brought Lazarus, her brother, back to life, but it was even more than that.

In Jesus’ correction of Judas, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial” (Jn 12:7), he shows us that Mary comprehended better than the Apostles that Jesus’ death was imminent. Mary’s washing the feet of Jesus, anointing them, and drying them with her hair was a gift of love, of giving herself in service to the Son of God. This exchange mirrors the communion between God the Father, God the Son, and the love shared between them, God the Holy Spirit. Mary follows the will of the Father and plays her part in salvation history.

We do not know how Mary came to possess this precious oil, but what we do know is much more important. She did not grasp or cling to the oil, she did not count the cost and just pour out a little bit. When she felt moved to pour the costly nard and anoint the feet of Jesus, she freely poured all the perfume out in an act of love to serve the need of Jesus by anointing him for his death and burial.

What is something that we may hold as precious that God may be calling us to give up, not just for the sake of doing so, but in service to Jesus? The path to holiness is coming to a place in our lives in which we can surrender all to Jesus, so to clearly hear the will of God, know what is required of us, and give freely in love and service without counting the cost, without holding anything back, to be as St. Mother Teresa has said, just a pencil in God’s hand.

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Picture: The gift God continues to give, the beauty of his creation! SVDP Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass reading for Monday, March 25, 2024

Holy Week invitation, unplug for a bit and be still with God.

In yesterday’s reading, Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin plot to bring about the death of Jesus. The results of their planning will be on full display today in the Gospel account of Mark. Though long, these verses are well worth the time and effort to read (cf. Mark 11:1-10, 14:1-15:47).

The scene from the Passion account that I would like to reflect upon is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mk 14:32-42). Jesus invited Peter, James, and John, the same three apostles that witnessed the raising of Jairus’ daughter and the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mt. Tabor to be with him again, this time in his hour of dire need. As Jesus entered the garden, he expressed to them that he felt “sorrowful even unto death”, reflecting the full weight of what was about to take place. Jesus asked the closest of his inner circle to watch and pray while he went off at a distance. Through Mark’s account we are given a glimpse of Jesus’ humanity and divinity.

The most primal of our human instincts is the preservation of our life. Jesus, faced with his imminent death, acknowledged this primal urge by requesting, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me”. The agony is palpable. Jesus has done all that the Father has asked of him, he has preached, taught, healed, exorcised demons, followed his Father’s will, and now finds himself on death’s door. He can probably sense Judas and the Temple guards drawing close. He will be turned over to those who have turned their back on his Father. All appeared to be hopeless.

Yet, Jesus was not done, he continued, “but not what I will but what you will.” These are not words of despair. In Jesus’ surrender of his human will to the Father, he surrenders in hope. The same hope that we see in Psalms 42 and 43: “Hope in God, I will praise him still, my savior and my God.” Even faced with his imminent and brutal death, Jesus accepted the will of his Father, his Abba. He trusted that there would be a greater good to transpire through his death, through the giving of his life.

With those words, Jesus surrendered his human will to that of his divine will. With each and every yes to his Father’s will through his life, his human nature was more and more conformed to his divine nature. In this account, we see that Jesus is one divine person, the Son of God, while at the same time having two natures and two wills, the human and divine.

As Jesus arose, he came to Peter, James, and John and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Jesus returned to prayer and returned two more times to find his three closest disciples asleep each time. Jesus was ready to face the cross even if they were not. As with the apostles, Jesus commands us to watch and pray this Holy Week. How will we do?

Often, this Lent we may have felt the desire to pray, but the business of life has worn us down – “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” In the evenings, we just want to be numb and zone out. Sometimes this is necessary to recharge. What we choose to do during our winding down time though may not be renewing or restful, but even more draining. Scrolling through social media, surfing through TV channels can lead to 20 – 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Passive activities like these can also affect our attentiveness and bleed into the decisions we make each day and can create a rhythm and pattern of tiredness and fatigue that continues and is perpetuated. We may find ourselves creating a cycle that we have less energy to exercise, to pray, and to take care of our basic needs.

We are invited this next week to follow Jesus. He who certainly did not want to die, was willing to let go of his life to follow his Father’s will. He also did so for each of us. May we be willing to take the same approach. With each choice we make this Holy Week, may we take a moment to breathe and say, “Not my will but yours, Father.” And then wait a moment for a response. Maybe we can fast a little more this Holy Week, from food and diversions that we know are not healthy. When we feel the pangs of hunger and diversions calling and tempting, let us pray for someone we know is in need. Instead of an automatic reaching for the remote or the phone, find a quiet spot and be still, breathe, and review the day in quiet and call to mind what and who we are grateful for. Read a few verses from one of the gospels and see what God might be saying to us. Then ask Jesus how best you might spend the rest of your evening.

Sometimes, just taking five minutes to unplug, stop, breathe and be sit still or to go for a quiet walk with Jesus can be renewing and life changing. We can feel better about ourselves, closer to God, and better able to be present for others.

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Photo: Some quiet time during our 40 Hours of Devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament last week, SVDP chapel, SVDP Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass reading for Sunday, March 24, 2024

The sun is setting on Lent as we begin Holy Week.

A core group within the leadership of Israel has decided. They will not deny themselves their power, prestige, and their place. They will not take up their cross and follow Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. They will not allow the teaching and momentum of the growing number of those following Jesus to continue unchecked. As Passover drew nearer, thousands of people were coming up to Jerusalem to purify themselves for the great feast.

This meant the Romans would have many more centurions in place to keep the peace. The division and commotion that Jesus was causing could cause conflict and unrest and then swift and violent retribution from the Roman presence. The Sanhedrin, the Jewish High Council, followed the lead of the high priest, Caiaphas, who said, “You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish” (Jn 11:49-50). With these words, they began to plan how to put to death the carpenter of Nazareth.

With the words of Caiaphas, the sun began to set on the life of Jesus. These words affect us even today as they usher in the sunset of our Lenten observance. The gift of our liturgical readings allows us to relive the story of our faith. Lent has given us a time to reflect and to meditate upon who Jesus is. Is he just a carpenter, another teacher, a holy man from the past, or is he each of these, but someone so much more. Is he the Son of God who became one with us in his humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity?

Do we see his teachings and life as a threat as did the Sanhedrin? Do we like our life the way it is, such that we do not want Jesus to come into our home and start turning over the tables and disrupting our order and comfort? Or do the Gospels cut us to the heart and inspire us to shake off our complacency, our indifference, our cynicism, our comfort, our routine.

Jesus evades the centurions, because his hour is not yet, but when his Father willed it, Jesus was willing to give his life, not just in an abstract way, but very personally: for each and every one of us. Does that mean anything? Jesus gave everything for us. Does this truth spark a desire to acknowledge our sins, to repent, and to begin anew? Are we willing to open our hearts and minds to his love that transforms, are we willing to spend some time in quiet and allow Jesus to speak in the silence of our hearts, are we willing to be encouraged to fast, to pray, meditate, and to be moved with compassion to help those in need?

As Holy Week begins with the Vigil Mass for Passion Sunday may we meditate on the words of Caiaphas, “consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish” (Jn 11:49-50). Caiaphas did not know that what he proclaimed would be so true, that the One, Jesus, would die, not only so the nation would not perish, but that all humanity could be saved.

Jesus died for each and every one of us that we might have life and have it to the full. As the sun sets this Saturday evening, may it not be just another rotation of the earth on its axis, but an opportunity to commit once again to die to our false selves, our egos, our self-centered postures, to be forgiven, and healed, and take up our cross and follow Jesus into Holy Week.
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Photo: From Rosary walk last fall, SVDP Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, March 23, 2022

Jesus, blasphemer or human and divine?

Two groups of Jews emerged in today’s Gospel account. There were those about to stone Jesus for blasphemy and those who began to believe. The first group did not recognize the good works that Jesus did as coming from God, nor his reasoning that “even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (Jn 10:38). They listened to the claim that Jesus was making but they refused to accept the fulfillment of the assertion: Jesus did the works of his Father because he was then and still is today the Son of God.

The more that Jesus sought to help them to understand that he was who he says he is, the more they dug in their heels. They left the stones on the ground but then moved to have him arrested. Jesus evaded their grasp and moved on to the region across the Jordan where John first baptized. John did not preach in the Temple precincts either, even though he was the son of a priest. John followed the lead of God to prepare the way for Jesus and his eternal priesthood. The Temple had not been the seat of God for some time. Jesus would become the new and living Temple.

Jesus returned to the place of his baptism, where he joined in solidarity with sinful humanity. This visible image of consecration revealed what happened silently in his conception and birth: the Son of God took on flesh and paraphrasing St. Irenaeus, became man to open up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed. As people came to John in the Jordanian wilderness, so too, people came to Jesus. Not all rejected his message. Many came to him and said, “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” And many there began to believe in him (Jn 10:41-42).

The question that arises for us as our steps take us closer to Palm Sunday and Holy Week is, will we label Jesus as a blasphemer or accept that Jesus is the Son of God? Today’s scriptural account does not reveal indifference as an option. There is no room for Jesus being only human; a good teacher, a wise man, or a revolutionary radical.

We either accept Jesus is fully human and fully divine or we don’t. If he isn’t who he claimed to be: God, then Christianity is just another philosophical, theological pursuit and in the words of St. Paul, our faith is in vain. Yet, when we accept that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, then our lives are to be aligned with his. Our thoughts, words, actions, and even our faces need to reflect that truth. This does not mean we, or our lives are going to be perfect. We and our lives aren’t, but as we surrender our lives to Jesus, repent when we fall, seek his guidance, and invite him to be at the core and center of our lives, we will be perfected, slowly and surely by his love.

A good way to begin each day is affirming this fact by stating with an attitude of prayer, “Jesus I believe in you, you are my God and my all, and I need you.” Ask him what works of the Father he would have us offer in his name this day. In what ways can we be of help and support to another? May we have the openness of mind and heart to hear his words and the courage to act upon his guidance, so to be the precious, living stones we are, reflecting the light from our source, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

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Photo: As the moon reflects the light from the sun, so are we to reflect the light of Jesus.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, March 22, 2024

Jesus is the Son of God? Yeap.

Jesus’ listeners “picked up stones to throw at him” (Jn 8:59). Though less violent, this interaction has some similarities found in Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse (cf. John chapter 6), where Jesus made the statement, that, “I am the bread of life” (Jn 6:48). In both cases, the people do not understand what Jesus is sharing and yet Jesus resists softening his approach and instead doubles down.

In John 6, Jesus holds firm to the truth that his followers will consume him and in today’s Gospel Jesus does not equate himself as being just a representative of God, a prophet or a rabbi, but that he is, in fact, God when he states: “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM” (Jn 8:58). With these words, Jesus has just done the unthinkable, the unimaginable for the people of his time. He not only has spoken God’s sacred name, which is not to be uttered because it is considered to holy to do so, he equates this sacred name, “I AM”, with himself. Jesus is making his point very clear. Jesus is God. During the Bread of Life discourse, people walked away from him because they were repulsed and most likely considered him mad, here they may also think he is mad, but the issue is that to them he is speaking blasphemy. The reactions would be appropriate in both cases, unless of course, Jesus is who he said he is.

As his listeners then, we too have a choice to disbelieve or believe in the words of Jesus. One option that is off the table, if we give the Gospel accounts any rational reading, is that Jesus presented himself as just another teacher, philosopher, or prophet. Jesus, during his public ministry, is consistently embroiled in conflict, which is evident in all four Gospels because Jesus presents himself as God incarnate. Jesus heals on the Sabbath because he is the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus is the Bread of Life, Jesus is: “I AM.”

The Apostles struggled time and again to make sense of the words and actions of Jesus and we may also struggle as well. We may have doubts, concerns, and unanswered prayers and/or questions. To walk the path of discipleship is not to walk with constant assurance, for we walk by faith and not by sight (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:7). Walking by faith though does not mean that we just throw up our hands, toss out all reason, and believe blindly. Dr. Holly Ordway defined faith as, “trust based on a reasoned knowledge of the evidence.” We trust that Jesus is who he claimed himself to be based on the scriptural evidence, our own experiences with the truth based on these claims, and our encounters with him in our everyday interactions and times of prayer.

We are to follow the apostles in that, even though we don’t fully understand, when Jesus calls, we also trust him and follow where he leads. He does not give us the full picture all at once, but as we step out with each faithful step, he will reveal a little more light and truth. He will be present with and work through us as we continue to turn our life over to him and one another more and more each day.

When doubts arise, we can lean on Peter’s claim, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (Jn 6:68). Peter made this claim based on his experience and trust in his relationship with Jesus. Our relationship and belief in Jesus will also grow more deeply and intimately, moment by moment, with each yes to the invitation of Jesus, the Holy One of God.

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Photo: Rembrandt’s Christ With Arm’s Folded

Holly Ordway’s quote comes from Lesson 2: Bridging the Meaning Gap in her course: Imaginative Apologetics which can be accessed by registering for the Word on Fire Institute, the home page of which can be accessed: https://wordonfire.institute/

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, March 21, 2024