blessing

As the sun offers us warmth, God seeks to bless us.

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 seem possible. Someone might think can I really ask for anything and God will give it to me? Too many people have thought just that had their faith has weakened or left behind because they 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. God sees the very depths of the truth of our deepest desires, we often do not and often times are seeking things in the attempt to receive what we think we want, when in fact, the very seeking of the apparent good(s) we are seeking are keeping us from he very thing that will fulfill us.

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. That is good news! 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. The other side of the coin for those of us who may not be seeking finite pursuits, but God’s will… this may seem a bit intimidating. We can be confident though 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 pray not because God is dependent on us to do so, but because we are dependent on him for everything.

We are transformed by God’s love and his grace builds upon our nature when we begin our prayer with the truth that God is God and we are not and that our life is not about us. We will know God better, not as a philosophical idea, but instead as a person. In knowing God better, we grow in our love for him and want to follow his will and serve him. When we know, love, and serve God, we will change. Such change may sometimes not appear to be in our best interest. We like stability and safety, which is good. Where we want to place our safety and security though is not in the things of this world, but in God and the things of heaven.

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. “The Father wants to give all who will ask, seek, and knock the blessings that will enable his will to be realized on earth as it is in heaven” (Mitch and Sri, 117). We are invited to be agents to share in the promise of this wonderful gift of participating in the emergence of a new heaven and a new earth.

—————————————————————–

Photo: Receiving the light of Jesus during prayer before morning Mass.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, February 26, 2026

May the saints help us to arise from our slumber.

“Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt 5:4).

Mourning here can certainly mean the grief one experiences at the death of a loved one. It can also mean mourning for the evil and unfaithfulness in the world. Another word for blessed is happy. How are we to feel blessed, or happy in reference to the death of those close to our hearts? Blessed or happy for the injustice, violence, warfare that plagues our word? From a theological sense, one interpretation can be that Jesus spoke from the perspective of the eschatological event, his second coming at the end of time and that we can rely on the hope that Jesus died for us all and we will rise with him on the last day. We will be not only freed from the atrocities of this life, but also freed from death.

This is our hope and this is true, but also Jesus may also have been speaking about our day to day experiences as well. Jesus said, as is recorded in Mark 1:15, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus, is the kingdom at hand, just an outstretched arm away. Those of us who mourn and suffering will be blessed, will find comfort when we resist running away, or denying the agony and pain that threatens to overwhelm us and instead allow ourselves to experience the grief and the suffering of our loss and our fallen world. It is in the very embracing of our pain and suffering that we encounter Jesus waiting for us there with his arms wide open.

When we turn to Jesus, and with him face the sorrow, grieve and mourn for those who have died, as well as for the injustice, violence, and sin of our world, he will help us to release the unbearable weight we have been carrying. Jesus, who suffered the agony, loss, pain, and hurt in his passion and death on the cross, understands what we are feeling. His presence and closeness will be the strength we need to guide us through the many ups and downs, fits and starts, of our emotional roller coaster and also be able to offer help.

Today, we celebrate the gift of the Communion of Saints on this All Saints Day. The saints understood and lived the message and truth of the Gospel that Jesus has risen. They dedicated their lives to the call that Jesus extended to them and have gone before us to the true land of promise, our heavenly home, and from there they cheer us on, encourage, and intercede for us. They remind us that we will be blessed when we resist being attached to the things of this world and instead follow the will of God.

Jesus suffered and persevered the agonizing pain of the cross, then experienced, and conquered death. He lights the way and leads us back to the Father. We need not fear the fallen world nor death because through our life in Jesus, neither has any power over us. St Paul of the Cross, taught: “The world lives unmindful of the sufferings of Jesus which are the miracle of miracles of the love of God. We must arouse the world from its slumber.” When we turn to God with everything, we will experience God’s comfort, peace, and healing to rise from our slumber, and reflect the light of Christ to help others to rise from their slumbers.

Photo: Tapestry of saints hanging in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.

The source for the quote is from St Paul of the Cross

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, November 1, 2025

“The Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

“Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Mt 19:14).

Again we see the disciples refusing access to Jesus. The scriptures are not clear why they consistently act this way. We see them doing so with the blind man Bartimaeus, the tax collector Zacchaeus, and the Canaanite woman. In today’s reading, they are refusing access to children. The characteristic of each of those being refused is that they are considered to be on the periphery of Jewish society.

Children, paidia in Greek, especially so. Paidia could represent a child from infancy to twelve years of age. In ancient Palestine, children were particularly vulnerable, had no status and were completely dependent on their families for survival. Luke goes even further than Mark and Matthew by using, brephē, meaning infant, to describe the children. It is to these children and infants that Jesus states the Kingdom of heaven belongs.

Just as consistent as the disciples are in turning away those in need, Jesus is just as consistent in his ministry of paying particular interest to the individual person in their particular need. He welcomes the children and blesses each one of them. Jesus continually acknowledges and affirms the dignity of each person he meets, especially those neglected and ignored. Those who have been on the other side of the glass looking in, Jesus grants admittance. Jesus bridges the divide of separation through his presence and healing touch.

To enter the Kingdom of heaven, we must be willing to trust and place, as children, even more so, as infants, our total dependence on God alone, instead of relying on our own initiative or effort. There is nothing we can do to earn our way into heaven. The entrance into the Kingdom of heaven is a free gift of God’s grace. This gift is not about our worthiness, for all of us fall short. It is about our willingness to acknowledge our utter dependence on our loving God and Father and accept the invitation he offers all of us to be in relationship with him. As we do so, we are to resist the temptation to prevent others from having access to this wonderful gift, but instead we are to share the same invitation we have received with others.

Photo: A stained glass image of Jesus with children at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, Los Angeles, CA.

Link for the readings for the Mass for Saturday, August 16, 2025