catholicism

May we allow ourselves to be ablaze with the transforming love of God.

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing” (Lk 12:49)!

What has been burned does not remain the same. What fire touches, it transforms. Jesus wants us to be consumed so as to be transformed by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Encountering Jesus affects a change in us. When we are open to allow the Holy Spirit to breathe on the embers in the depths of our souls they are fanned like tinder and ignite. We continue to fuel the fire by getting in touch with what God has called us to do in our place and in our time.

We are not to be a Christian in name alone but in thought, word, and deed. Pope Francis, in his exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, wrote: “THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept this offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness” (Francis 2013, 9). Joy is a gift, a holy flame, that is given to us by the Holy Spirit, it wells up within, and rises up and out to be shared with others. It is different than pleasure which has its source in the stimulation of the senses being aroused but fades once the external stimulus has ended.

Happiness is also external and fleeting. It lasts longer than pleasure in that the memory of the experience will linger but it too will fade away. Joy wells up from within, as it is imparted to us by God and can be present even when the external experiences are stressful or chaotic. I experienced this when I was still teaching 5th and 6th Grade Religion and acting as the dean of students at Rosarian Academy. At the same time, I was also immersed in family and parish life, as well as my studies and formation activities for the permanent diaconate.

One particular morning I woke up exhausted. When the alarm went off my first response was to skip my morning prayer and hit the snooze button to get an extra twenty minutes before rising. Instead, I literally crawled to my small chapel area, lit the candles, and opened my breviary. When I read the words in Psalm 42: “Hope in God; I will praise him still, my savior and my God”, something ignited within. I felt an energy well up within me that I cannot to this day describe. I felt an inexpressible joy. Not only did the experience carry me into the day but lasted throughout the whole week.

God is the foundation of our lives and our Father seeks to transform us with the fire of his love. Even when we are at our lowest, with only the smoldering embers of our faith, we need to resist the temptation to feed indifference, desolation, and/or despair. When we turn to and trust in Jesus, he offers a way when there seems no way. Begin with a breath, be thankful for what we do have, even if it isn’t much. We can be thankful for God’s love and presence even when we don’t feel it. Keep showing up to pray, even if sometimes we have to crawl to get there, and the Holy Spirit will fan the embers within our soul to set us ablaze.

May we, “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). To know the love of Jesus is more than knowing about him. We don’t read and study the Bible as we study a history text. We meditate, ponder, and pray with Sacred Scripture daily, to encounter a Person, Jesus Christ the Son of the living God. In doing so, the Holy Spirit will also enkindle in us the fire of his love and moments of consolation that we can experience regardless of our external or internal struggles.

Nothing else in this world can satisfy us as much as experiencing and being transformed by the love of our Father! When we seek God first, the attachments to finite things will begin to loosen. When we trust Jesus and align our will with his, we will come to know him and experience his love and that can be enough. We will no longer seek substitutes to place before God and can begin to let go of anything that is not of his will. When the fire the Holy Spirit burns only that which is pure will remain.

Photo: “Holiness is standing in the fire of self knowledge and letting it burn.” – Fr. Wayne Sattler

Pope Francis. Evangelii Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel. Frederick, MD: The Word Among Us Press, 2013.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, October 23, 2025

The saints reflected the light of Jesus in the darkness, we are to do the same!

“That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely” (Lk 12:47).

Jesus, as did the prophets, spoke in ways that can be jarring. The purpose was to shake his listeners out of a dull stupor and to make clear his point. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus addressed Peter’s question: “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone” (Lk 12:41)? Jesus was most likely speaking to Peter and the Twelve. They are the ones he entrusted with continuing his mission. And just as he had been clear to point out those Pharisees who had abused their positions, he was being just as clear with Peter and the apostles.

Jesus wanted to make sure that his successors were not to continue on with business as usual and going through the motions as those entrusted with the deposit of faith he had given them. What Jesus required of them was not just for themselves, but those whose care they had been entrusted with and beyond them to all the nations. His parable was for both the Twelve first and foremost, and then to their successors and all who would choose to be his followers.

Unfortunately, we have witnessed those in Church leadership who have in effect, “beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk” (Lk 12:45) on their own power. Those who have: abused children, covered abuse, skimmed off the top of the donations from the blood, sweat, and tears of their parishioners’ donations, limited access to positions within the leadership of the Church to only male or clergy, been unmerciful confessors, held up the sin of one group or groups while turning a blind eye to others. These and other forms of hypocrisy do irreparable damage.

The world has been darkened by sin and it has crept into the Church. Even though all of us have been wounded we have not been destroyed by sin. The Son of God entered into the condition of our fallen nature, became one of us, one with us, in all things except sin. Yet he received our sin and the sin of the world upon himself, and was crushed by it on the Cross, and he died. Jesus experienced the consequences of our sin which led to his death. Because he did not sin, and was willing to give his life for us, giving us all of himself and holding nothing back, not even his life, throught the power of the Holy Spirit, he conquered sin and death.

Even when those in his name have participated in and perpetuated in that which Jesus warned his Apostles against, we are not to lose heart nor hope. I agree with Bishop Robert Barron that we are called out of “the realm of hatred, racism, sexism, violence, oppression, imperialism, what Augustine termed the libido dominandi (the lust to dominate).”

We are called out of darkness to be children of the light. We do so by following Mary’s directive to do whatever Jesus tells us to do and reject anything that is not of his love. This is just what the saints have done. They were purified in the crucible of the love of the Holy Spirit and became a radiating light in the darkness. They reflected the light of Jesus in their time and place. We will be like them when we are willing to, in the words of St. John Paul II, “be taken over by the light of Christ, and spread that light wherever” we “are.”

Photo: Reflecting the light of Jesus in the darkness as the moon reflects the sun is our call.

Barron, Robert. Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith. NY: Image, 2014

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 22, 2025

We are better prepared for the unexpected when our relationship with Jesus grows daily.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks” (Lk 12: 35-36).

As disciples, we need to be ready for the coming of Jesus. Yes, for when he comes again at the end of time, but just as importantly, to be prepared for his coming each day in the midst of our lives. If we do not prepare to encounter him daily, the likelihood of us being prepared for his coming again will be slimmer, and only the Father knows the time or the hour.

To plan something means that we outline all that needs to be done down to the last detail. This can be an advantage especially when we are dealing with blueprints for a home or building. By having detailed plans we can be sure that we have the proper materials and tools, an estimated budget, and hire the help needed to accomplish the goal. I have been blessed to experience this process as we have been overseeing the rebuilding and renovation of our church which was damaged a year ago.

There are many areas in our life where planning has its advantages. Planning our spiritual life is important, deciding when and how we are to pray, meditate, study, engage in Bible and spiritual reading and/or which service we are going to attend, establishing a routine of spiritual direction, time for fellowship and small groups, and how, when and where we can serve others. These are all plusses for planning.

The challenge with planning pops up when we become too attached to the plan and we leave no room for the Holy Spirit, no awareness for the knock at the door because we are so focused on sticking to the plan. Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners are on the horizon. How many times have we experienced planning a dinner with guests, gotten stressed when things did not go exactly as planned and spent more time adhering to the plan and its execution such that we missed engaging with those we were working so hard to provide hospitality for? Martha learned this lesson.

Preparing is akin to planning, in that we get ready for an endeavor but we are more flexible to other options not governed by our fixed mind and our sense of being in control. Jesus calls us to be prepared to receive him at any moment. Are we prepared to encounter and be present to a classmate, colleague, family member, or neighbor who asks for help at an inopportune time, the homeless person in need, the undocumented immigrant, migrant, or refugee looking for safety and security, the unborn striving to actualize his or her potential, the coworker that has not been the most pleasant, the person that we perceive as somehow different from us – who we keep at arm’s length?

The complementarity of planning and preparing shows best when unexpected events in life arise. When we heard of JoAnn’s diagnosis we went into planning mode, and as anyone who has spent any time with JoAnn knows, she was in her element when there was some planning to be done. There were many things in those final months we planned for and for the most part, they came together. There were also interruptions and blocks to the plan where we needed to adjust, sometimes without notice. Preparing helped us to be flexible and so open to following the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Even before JoAnn’s diagnosis, she often said that life was hard. She saw many people suffering and couldn’t understand why people couldn’t be kinder to one another. St. Oscar Romero wrote, “It would be beautiful if people saw that their flourishing and the attainment of their highest ideals are based on their ability to give themselves to others.” In her suffering, JoAnn focused less on her condition and became more compassionate and empathetic.

We can better give ourselves to others when we focus less on ourselves, and resist following the voices of our fears, wounds, and insecurities. We are much better prepared when we invite Jesus into our poverty so that we will instead experience courage, healing, and security grounded in his love for us. When we daily trust and follow Jesus in each situation, ground ourselves in his love, we will experience life more fully, handle challenges more gracefully, and our hearts will expand and be more compassionate toward others.

Photo: Beautiful stained glass of those trusting in Jesus from our neighbors at St. John of the Cross.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, October 21, 2025

As did the Apostles and the saints in each age, let us trust in Jesus.

There are times when it feels like life is too hard, we are let down, or even feel betrayed as Paul shared in today’s first reading when he wrote: “At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf, but everyone deserted me” (2 Timothy 4:16). And then in today’s gospel, Jesus sent seventy-two of his disciples off “like lambs among wolves.” He gave them nothing to take with them, “no money bag, no sack, no sandals” (Luke 10:4).

Paul, the Apostles, and disciples through the ages have experienced the limitations of our fallen and finite world. The Saints have not only experienced the poverty of our human condition, they realized that only in childlike dependence on God as Father could they be fulfilled. In reading the Bible and the lives of the saints we are offered the sound truth that we are to place our firm foundation on God and him alone. Nothing or no one else can be there for us like him. Why, because all else is finite. Only God is infinite.

When we find ourselves in challenging moments or seasons, we are not alone. In those moments we have the opportunity to draw on the same strength and source that Paul and the saints did. We too will experience the Lord standing by us and giving us his strength because Jesus is already there! It can feel hard to believe that sometimes, especially in situations that are chronic and ongoing.

In moments of trial, temptation, and/or tribulation, when we remember to breathe, to pray those prayers we know, as well as pray spontaneously from the depths of our hearts, not just the words but directing them to a Person, we have a better chance of experiencing God’s presence. Once we have shared, then let us trust and listen, be still and wait on the Lord. God cares, he never abandons us. Trust in Jesus and be not afraid.

Photo: Jesus walks with us each step of the way.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, October 18, 2025

“Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.”

“Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God. Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows” (Lk 12:6-7).

Some thirty-five plus years ago I was in high school and either in my junior or senior sociology or psychology class, my teacher mentioned that if we thought Stephen King told amazing tales, we ought to definitely read the Bible. He keyed in especially on the imagery expressed in the Book of Revelation. My teacher’s comment piqued my interest because at the time I enjoyed reading Stephen King, though I had not spent any time reading the Bible.

My teacher’s words stayed with me beyond that class period. A few weeks or months later I remember going to Waldens, a bookstore, at the Enfield Mall in the next town over from where I grew up in East Windsor, Connecticut. I purchased a King James Bible. I don’t remember reading it right away, but shortly sometime after, I do remember leaving a party. I don’t remember anything about the party or why I left, but when I arrived home, I remember going up to my room and for some reason grasping my new Bible. I then opened it at random and began reading. The verse above was what I read, and it was the first time I can remember experiencing God speaking to me.

It was not a booming voice emanating from the burning bush that was directed to Moses, the room didn’t shake, nor did the lights flicker. Yet, in that quiet and still moment, I heard in my mind, “You will not ever win the lottery, but like the sparrows, I will take care of you. I will always give you the ability and means to work.” God has proven true to his word. I have not won the Mega Millions, Lotto, or the Power Ball here in Florida. It is also true that you can’t win if you don’t play and I haven’t. I won’t because God has provided me with the opportunity to have regular, gainful employment and even though experiencing some tight financial times through the years, God has provided beyond work through the kindness of friends, families, as well as some amazing assistance outside of the norm at times.

Does God still speak to us as he spoke to the people in the Bible? Absolutely! God speaks to us directly, through his written word in our personal reading, in our time of communal worship, and when we listen to homilies. He also speaks to us through the sacraments, music, art, movies, through others, through our serving each other, through his creation, and a myriad of other infinite possibilities.

The question is not so much, does God still speak to us? The question is why don’t we hear him? One way is to ask God to help us to recognize his voice. So we can be like the sheep that come to learn the shepherd’s voice. Another way is to stop and be still for set periods of time each day. Doing so gives us the opportunity for reflection, to ask God to reveal times in the past where he has spoken and we were not aware. When we examine and reflect on our day, with God’s help, we can look back and see where God has been with us and reached out to us.

Not only do we need to make a consistent time each day to pray but we need to stay long enough to listen! Some reasons we may not hear God is because we feel we are too busy to pray, and if we do pray, we are doing or talking, not listening, and not allowing God to do. We also may not make the time to be still long enough to hear. God’s silence is also a profound answer and silence is often his language. Just like learning any new language we only become fluent the more we immerse ourselves in the language. Are we willing to be open and believe that God speaks to us? Are we willing to spend time daily in silence and learn God’s language?

St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta was, and she learned from her own experience that: “In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.”

God knows us better than we know ourselves and loves us more than we can ever imagine. We can trust God and believe that any time spent with him will be to our benefit. Our Loving God and Father cares for and provides for us as he does the sparrows. Are we willing to answer his invitation to spend time with him and to listen for his word or his silence? God is not telling us to get up and do something. He is inviting us to be still and let him do something!

Photo: St. Mother Teresa at prayer in Kolkata, 1995, taken by Raghu Rai.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, October 17, 2025

Are we willing to receive the “key of knowledge.”

Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter” (Lk 11:52).

We all yearn to be loved, to belong, to be accepted, and fulfilled. God knows the depth of our yearning because as St. Augustine taught, God knows us better than we know ourselves. For God sees past the apparent goods that we cling to and cloud our vision, and he invites us to take steps into his light that we might see the truth of his love and our fulfillment that can only be fulfilled in him. From that core communion all else in our lives can be properly ordered.

To willingly prevent access to those who seek, as did those “scholars of the law” for whom Jesus convicts in today’s Gospel, is an egregious offense. Especially in the way that Jesus describes. They themselves have the key to enter, do not avail themselves of the gift they have received, and worse, prevent others from going in! I remember a time in eighth grade where I had wanted to ask a girl out to the school dance. I confided this hope with someone but of course, the word got out. A few days later at the beginning of math class, our teacher announced to the whole class that I was the first one he had ever heard of being rejected before I could even ask someone out. I wanted to melt into the floor.

The scholars of the law, as well as the scribes and the Pharisees were charged to teach and lead people to God. Instead they were making it harder by laying heavy burdens upon them and not raising a finger to help them. Jesus fulfilled the Law. His teachings further built on the Torah and challenged the people even further. The difference was that he invited his listeners to align themselves to him, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Jesus strengthens and transforms us when we trust in him and seek his strength.

Jesus is the “key of knowledge”. He offered himself to the scholars but they refused to receive him or his message. Jesus came to open up heaven for all in the humanity he assumed. In his conviction of the Pharisees, scribes, and scholars of the Law he hoped that they would repent and also enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Unfortunately, many hardened their hearts further, and “began to act with hostility toward him”.

Jesus offers us the same invitation today to repent and believe in the Gospel. We are to love and support one another, even when some express their hunger in unpleasant of ways. Here it is even more important that we resist reacting in kind. Instead, let us be patient, give another the benefit of the doubt, and be willing to listen with our spirit instead of our ego for what their need truly may be. May we receive the “key of knowledge” not to lock but to open the door to the healing love and teachings of Jesus.

As Pope Francis said: “Each one of us is called to be an artisan of peace, by uniting and not dividing, by extinguishing hatred and not holding on to it, by opening paths to dialogue and not by constructing new walls! Let us dialogue and meet one another in order to establish a culture of dialogue in the world, a culture of encounter.”

Photo: As the vines can’t keep the light from shining, the scholars of the law could not stop Jesus.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, October 16, 2025

When we align our will with God’s, we experience freedom.

Jesus continues to call out those Pharisees who follow their own will and put themselves in places of honor instead of God, and then one of the scholars of the law interjects: “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.”

Jesus did not soften his words or hold back. He went right at the scholar and convicted him as well, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them” (Lk 11;45-46).

Jesus is clear about his mission, about what the kingdom of God is not and what it is. Jesus is shining a light on the practices of those Pharisees and the scholars of the law that are not fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. I believe that there were those who were. Yet, for those he challenged, he did so in the hope that they would see the darkness that was blinding them. Unfortunately, unlike Bartimaeus (see Mk 10:46-52) who knew that he was blind and wanted to see, this was not true for many whom Jesus confronted.

How about us? Are we aware of our blind spots? Are we willing to allow Jesus to shine his light and love in our direction? Will we cover our eyes because the light is too bright and withdraw further into the shadows, or will we remain still and allow our eyes time to adjust so that the brightness of the Mystery of God will reveal to us that which has kept us bound? Will we justify or rationalize our behavior or will we be transparent, repent, believe in the Gospel, and walk further into the light and the embrace of Jesus? Will we stand in the brilliance of God’s love and truth and let the fire of his love burn away all that is not of him?

Let us resist the path of those Pharisees and scholars of the Law who imposed heavy burdens without being willing to help others along the way. It is important for us to know the Catechism, the Bible, Canon Law, participate in the sacraments, and be people of prayer and service. The purpose of each of these pursuits are not for themselves along though. We do so that we will come to know Jesus and the love he shares with the Father who is the Holy Spirit. We have been created for nothing less than to participate in the very love of God, to become divine through our participation in the life of Jesus. This love and relationship with God increases when we confess our sins, are forgiven, and then having received God’s mercy, share what we have received with others.

Jesus did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them. In fact, his interpretation and expansion of the law was much more demanding than the Pharisees or the scribes. The difference was and continues to be, that, Jesus meets us where we are and loves us where we are. He does not lower the bar but raises it. He wants us to realize that we can only follow God’s law with him. Without Jesus we won’t be able to even come close. Apart from Jesus we can do nothing, but with him, all things are possible.

In admitting our weakness and revealing to Jesus our poverty, he then gives us the strength mature, for he is our “rock and salvation” (Psalm 62:2-23). He is the solid foundation upon which we can stand and build. “The whole aim of any person who is beginning prayer – and don’t forget this because it’s very important – should be that he work and prepare himself with determination and every possible effort to bring his will in conformity to God’s will” (St. Teresa of Avila).

In aligning our will with Jesus, we are empowered to fulfill the prescriptions and practices that God has commanded, not for God’s sake but for ours! God’s prescriptions that we receive in the Old and the New Testaments are not to restrict but to free us from our slavery to sin.

In identifying and renouncing our sins, we will experience freedom from the false truths, diversions, distractions, and attachments that the enemy has been poisoning us with. Through daily reading, meditating, and praying upon God’s law and putting them into practice we become like a tree planted near a fresh running stream that will never wither and fade. Our roots will run deep and continue to receive nourishment and sustenance we were created for: the eternal spring of the Holy Spirit which purifies and heals us.

Jesus beckons us to come out from the shadows and into the radiance of his light. As we experience his love and mercy, he encourages us to continue to move out of our comfort zones, attachments, and slavery which is paralyzing us. Jesus calls us to experience freedom. When we trust him and walk with him, our souls will experience the rest that it is starving for, the peace that we yearn for, and the love we have been created for.

Photo: As each sun sets, may we repent from our sins and die to our false selves, so that we may rise the next day with the light of Jesus in our hearts!

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 15, 2025

The antidote for our hypocrisy is to accept our poverty.

The Lord said to him, “Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools” (Lk 11:39).

Jesus’ harshest critiques were for acts of hypocrisy. He did so to show, in no uncertain terms, how dangerous this was, especially for religious leaders. These men were entrusted with the care of God’s people. They may have observed the proper rituals, spoke, and dressed to match the part but this all meant nothing if their hearts were hardened such that they were closed to the love and will of God. This situation was more perilous when they themselves became obstacles and stumbling blocks to those who sought God. Jesus indicting them as fools meant that they were bereft of the wisdom of God they projected to have.

In the depths of our very being, we seek and yearn for the transcendent, the infinite. We are spiritual seekers. We seek God while at the same time we experience suffering, injustice, and hypocrisy at the hands of the very ones who are our leaders in both the religious and political sphere. This is why Jesus convicted those who abused their positions because he knew the significant damage that they could inflict.

No one is perfect, our leaders nor ourselves. We all fall short of the glory of God, even those of us who seek and aspire to live by the Gospel. If we put anyone up on a pedestal, they, sooner or later, are going to fall, and the higher up they go, the greater the fall. God is to hold priority of place. We are to seek God first. God is to be our foundation, the light shining on the hill, our guide, and source.

One way we can sidestep the trap of hubris is by resisting the urge to project all is well and good, that we are fine when we are not. None of us are super men or women. If we think we can go it alone, on our own power and persistence, we will fall sooner or later. A hyper sense of self-reliance means we seek God and each other less for help and support.

When we turn to Jesus to reveal our weakness and our sin, we can experience his transformative and healing power in our lives. To be vulnerable, to allow Jesus to shine his light into our inner darkness takes courage, but when we open all of our lives to him, we will identify and be able to release our own “plunder and evil”. The Holy Spirit can also help us to trust one another with our weaknesses, faults, and shortcomings.

We are healthier and stronger when we accept our own spiritual poverty, where we need help, and reach out to ask for assistance. We are better when we entrust ourselves to Jesus and a core group of people we trust, firmly ground ourselves in the love of God and one another. We grow stronger when we support the unique gifts of each other while at the same time hold each other accountable. Isolated and in the darkness, our sin festers and grows. When brought into the light, sin starves and withers away.

Jesus challenges us to resist projecting an image of perfection when all is not well on the inside. When willing to reveal our weaknesses, sins, suffering, and pain, we can receive help, heal, and let go of carrying the weight of seeking an internal perfectionism. Healed and transformed from being the center of the universe, which we never were or never can be, we can let go of having to project an image of perfection. We can instead be free to be ourselves as God calls us to be and radiate his love as we receive his love. Instead of driving people to the nearest exit, we can begin to welcome people back home to be forgiven, healed, loved, and transformed.

Photo: Not a cloud in the sky. Would that we can say, no sin on our soul! We can get closer by seeking the cleansing healing from sin when we are willing to confess regularly and often.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Turn away from seeking signs or wisdom. Seek Jesus instead.

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah” (Lk 11:29).

To understand what Jesus means, we need to understand the sign of Jonah. Jonah was sent by God to go to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, to call them to repent from their wicked ways. The Jews not only considered Nineveh to be a place of decadence, wickedness, and godlessness, but the heart, the capital city of Assyria. Its military which had invaded Israel and conquered the northern kingdom around 721 BC.

We can understand Jonah’s initial refusal to follow God’s lead. Not only did he not want to go to Nineveh, but Jonah also did not want them to receive mercy. He wanted God to punish and destroy the nation who he considered an enemy. Those who have read the Book of Jonah, know that Jonah finally acquiesced, and within hours of his proclamation to the citizens, including the king, they repented and God showed them mercy.

Jesus draws a parallel between the people of Nineveh and his listeners. The people of Nineveh heard and repented to a reluctant messenger. The Ninevites, Gentiles, the sworn enemies of Israel, received God’s mercy when they repented. Now, in their midst was one greater than Jonah, the Son of God, and they were demanding of him a sign. The sign of Jonah was repentance. Jesus, from the beginning of his public ministry, preached the same: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15).

Many did not listen to Jesus. We would do well to listen to Jesus’ message. Repentance is a foundational spiritual discipline. We are called to consistently and daily examine our conscience and to come to accept that we live in a fallen world. This is not a pessimistic view. This is an awareness of the reality of our present condition.

By accepting that we live in a fallen world, that there is only so much that we can do by ourselves, we will begin to recognize that we need a savior. The next step that we can make is to acknowledge that we need to repent, to identify and turn away from our sins, and turn back to him who can save us. For apart from him, we can do nothing, yet with God, all things are possible.

St Mother Teresa recognized the need for Jesus and stressed this when she taught her novices that she was not interested in numbers and she was not interested in having a branch of social workers. She and those who followed Jesus were to be missionaries of God’s charity. They were to serve Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor. To do so they participated in daily Mass for an hour so they could bring Jesus and see Jesus to those they encountered each day. After returning from their time of service they participated in adoration for an hour. Empowered and renewed by Jesus, blessed by his mercy and love, they could serve Jesus in those they met in the harshest of conditions.

Jesus calls us, as he did his listeners, to resist seeking signs as did the Jews and wisdom as did the Greeks, but repent and give our lives to him. By emptying ourselves of our preconceived notions and opening our hearts and minds to follow his lead and be conformed to his life, we can be about doing God’s work. As long as we stay connected to him, he will guide and give us the means to accomplish that which he sends us to do.

We stay connected to Jesus by allowing his light to shine in our hearts and minds so that we can better identify our sins. Not to be condemned, but convicted of them so that we, like the Ninevites, will repent and turn our focus back to God. Our goal is to enter a daily rhythm of resisting temptations and when we fall repenting from them as soon as possible.

Slowly our selfish and disordered pursuits will cease to be our priority, we will no longer put our own interests at the center. Instead, we will accept Jesus as the core of our lives, that he may be the guiding light of our thoughts, words, and actions. For we are “called for freedom,” to be freed from our sins so that we can “use this freedom” to “serve one another through love” (Galatians 5:13 ).

Photo: Jesus calls us to repent from anything that separates us from him and his Father so that we can experience the love of the Holy Spirit. Are we willing to repent?

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, October 13, 2025

“Your faith has saved you.”

“Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine” (Lk 17:17)?

Jesus makes this statement to the Samaritan who fell at his feet praising God and thanking him for his healing. The other nine received the same physical healing. Some of them may have seen this man turn back and go to Jesus, yet each one of them continued on their way to see the priests as Jesus had directed them. The purpose of this was so that they could be pronounced clean, and so re-enter the life of communal worship and living among their people. I am sure they were ecstatic to do so.

Jesus healed all ten of their leprosy without even saying a word of healing. The catalyst to receive this miraculous healing was their obedience to Jesus’ command to show themselves to the priest. They did so without hesitation and as they walked they all experienced healing. Yet, one of them sensed something deeper still.

Could the others have experienced something similar? If so, many were probably so excited about the healing that they did sense anything beyond the healing. Others may have sensed something but dismissed it, and a few, may have noticed the Samaritan turn back to Jesus, but could not or would not change course to return to say thank you.

The Samaritan that comes to Jesus in gratitude experienced something deeper than his physical healing. He recognized God’s activity in his life and so praised God at Jesus’ feet. He then also praises Jesus, placing Jesus on the same level as God and opening himself to a relationship and communion with him. Jesus acknowledged this step of faith. This man heard an invitation from within, in the quiet of his heart, and resisted any distraction that may have tried to dissuade him. Jesus then said, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you” (Luke 17:19).

In following the gratitude that welled up from within, this man received more than just physical healing that day, he received salvation, “your faith has saved you.” This means not just that his body was restored and made whole again, but that the separation from his relationship with God had been reconciled.

God invites us in so many gentle and small ways in the silence of our hearts to be more engaged: in a relationship with him, in our own lives, and the lives of others. We too can crowd out the invitation by keeping ourselves busy, distracted, and/or diverted. We can hear the whisper but discount it outright for many selfish reasons, we can also be led astray by the cacophony of mind noises that is fed by our fears, prejudgments, or apprehensions. Yet, we can also be like this Samaritan. We can hear and experience the invitation of God, act on his lead, surrender to Jesus, and be saved.

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Painting: “Jesus With the One Leper Who Returned to Give Thanks” by William Brassey Hole

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, October 12, 2025