christianity

Forgiveness is possible and if we want to heal, necessary.

As was shared in today’s first reading, the very shelter that David and his men were hiding in, was the same cave that Saul happened to walk into by himself. David’s men encouraged David to take Saul’s life, after all they were there because they were hiding from Saul and his army. They could have easily overpowered him and taken his life. The threat would be put to an end and David would assume his rightful place as king.

And yet, David, refused. He chose not to give into revenge, to forgive, to trust in God’s justice instead of taking it into his own hands. After Saul exited the cave, David emerged and said: “I decided, ‘I will not raise a hand against my master, for he is the LORD’s anointed’” (I Samuel 24:11).

He could have easily justified Saul’s death as an act of self-defense but did not. He chose to surrender not to Saul but to God and trust in God’s justice. How many times do we do the opposite? We often react first and think later. We often don’t do forgiveness well, but God does. Forgiveness, is not easy, but it is possible if we ask God to help us to do so.

When we have been hurt or harmed by another, continuing to hold onto the hurt and pain only keeps it festering. Forgiveness is not condoning, justifying, or saying in any way that the action was acceptable. Forgiveness is the making of a choice to no longer accept or allow the pain inflicted to continue. Forgiveness is a choice to not participate in the cycle of violence, but to remove oneself from it, and not choose to act in kind.

I invite you to pray the Our Father this morning or sometime today, slowly, and with intention and attention to the words. When you get to: “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…” Stop and breathe. Bring to mind any areas that you may be harboring some unforgiveness and ask Jesus to help you to forgive in this moment.

It is ok if you find it difficult or are not ready. The first step is to be aware and to identify where the unforgiveness lies. You can then ask God to forgive for you until you are able to forgive. Jesus will lead you each day until you can come to a place of healing where you will be able to forgive. Jesus sought help as well on the Cross when he said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).

May we learn from David’s example today, may we share with Jesus our pain, and experience his healing and his love. And may we seek to and ask Jesus to help us to forgive so we can also be forgiven.

Photo: Rosary walk Thursday night, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL. The love and light of Jesus will shine through the clouds of our unforgiveness if we are willing.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, January 19, 2024

May we bring some of the sabbath into today.

“May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that we may know what is the hope that belongs to our call” (Ephesians 1:17-18).

When we seek God first in all we think, say and do we will experience more peace in our lives. Taking time to begin our days by opening our heart and mind to God, receiving, resting, and abiding in his love helps us to have eyes to see a little more clearly than if we get up at the last minute and rush into the day at breakneck speed.

We see the importance of this in today’s Gospel. The Pharisees are following Jesus and his disciples to catch him breaking the law so they can bring charges against him. Jesus and his disciples are walking on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a key identifying feature for the Jewish people.

The Sabbath is a day of rest in which the people are to remember his saving act of freeing them from their slavery in Egypt, honor God and his covenant with his people, and it is also a remembrance that God is the creator who rested on the seventh day and so made this day holy in which no work was to be done. The sabbath rest is one way to help the people to remember who they are as human beings created in God’s image and likeness.

Unfortunately, these Pharisees are seeking to subvert the law for their own agenda. Instead of having the eyes of faith to see God in their midst, on the Sabbath they are seeking to find a way to trap the One who is seeking to heal and save them from their scrupulosity. Jesus does not disregard the gift of the sabbath but seeks to restore it to its proper order as he heals on the Sabbath and allows his disciples to feed themselves when they are hungry. In Jesus saying, “the Son of Man is the lord even of the sabbath” (Mark 2:28) he is harkening back to the dignity of humanity who has been created very good.

We have been created very good. We are God’s beloved daughters and sons. May we give ourselves some time to begin this day in stillness and be grateful for the gift of this day, the gift that we have a God that loves us and wants the best for us, and return throughout the day no matter our schedule to give ourselves moments of rest and renewal, to spend time in God’s presence to be still, to be loved, and to be a light to others that we meet.

Photo: Looking up to the heavens and taking some deep, slow breaths is a good way to rest and reset!

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, January 16, 2024

The Holy Spirit is the new wine that will grow within us if we are willing to change.

God is not a tyrant. God is not checking his list and checking it twice to see who’s naughty or nice. God is not teeing up the football to pull it up at the last second as we are running up to kick it. God does not ask us to walk onto a rug and pull it out from under us.

Anything that God requires of us, asks of us, and the boundaries he establishes for us are done out of love for us. God wills our good and wants the best for us. God knows what will make each and every one of us in our own unique way fulfilled, to have meaning, joy, and experience freedom, love, and wholeness in our lives. God has a purpose for our lives that aligns with his will for the unity of all of humanity and creation.

It is from this context that we can understand our readings and the Bible as well. Saul is being corrected by Samuel because he was not obedient to God’s command. You cannot be partially obedient, as Saul was attempting to justify when he said that he obeyed the LORD and fulfilled the mission. Samuel showed that Saul had not done so (See I Samuel 50:8-23).

In the Gospel, Jesus gives the imagery of changing the old wine skins to new ones otherwise the old ones will burst as the wine ferments and expands. Newer and flexible skins are necessary (Mark 2:18-22). The new wine we are to receive is the life of the Holy Spirit within us, that can only breath and expand when we are willing to be flexible, to change and to grow. We can only change and grow when we are obedient to God.

Unfortunately, when many of us hear the words change, obedience, or discipline, we cringe or constrict. Yet, even in the natural, material world, there are many examples of the positive effects of a willingness to change, establish boundaries, order, discipline, and obedience. Resistance happens when we are operating under a false belief or apparent good that distorts our freedom. Freedom is not doing what we want, when we want, how and whenever we want. Those are examples of a freedom of indifference that leads us down the path of attachment, addiction, and slavery to sin.

God today is inviting us to experience a freedom for excellence. To have the freedom to play any instrument fluently, we need to be obedient to the teacher, discipline ourselves to practice, and be open to correction. Partial obedience, not being diligent with our times of practice, resisting guidance and correction, will limit our freedom to play. This is true in so many other areas of the arts, sports, occupation, relationships, family, and our spiritual life.

I still have the same guitar my father gave me when I was about seven. I still can’t play any music because I was not willing to discipline myself to play it and so I do not have the freedom to play any music. I have been obedient and put in the time and energy, discipline and sacrifice necessary to be ordained a deacon and blessed to have been serving as a deacon for these past ten years.

The bottom line is, do we trust the one who is guiding us? In this case, do we trust God that he has our best interest in mind? If we do, then we will be more likely to be obedient to his will, trust in his guidance, make the sacrifices necessary, and follow where he is leading us. That is what Jesus and Mary did, what the saints did, and what we can do, one step, one yes at a time. Easy? No. With his Son, Mary, the saints, still doing and willing to help us, as well as each other accompanying and supporting us, possible? Yes.

Photo: Rosary walk last night, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, January 15, 2024

Are we willing to follow Jesus as well?

Jesus said to him, “Follow me” (Mark 2:14).

Jesus said this to Levi also known as Matthew. As with Peter, James, John, and Andrew, there was no convincing, no preambles, or lengthy arguments, just “Come and see”, “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”, or as with today, “Follow me.” Each of these men did just that, they followed Jesus’ call and remained with him for the next three years and also were willing to give their lives for Jesus.

They did not start perfect, sin free, and ready to go. They were imperfect, were sinners, were not the best and the brightest, nor were they worthy. What all four had in common was that they heard the command of Jesus, and they were willing to follow him.

Jesus was criticized for calling Matthew and for eating with him and his friends. In doing so, Jesus was not condoning their sinful behavior, he respected them as human beings with dignity and worth first and foremost. He saw them as beloved children of his loving Father who needed help, redirection, forgiveness, and healing. His response to his critics was: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

Matthew and the other apostles did not answer their call just once. Each day they had to make a decision to walk away or to continue to follow Jesus. In their daily commitment, persistence, and trusting Jesus even when they did not understand him, they grew in their relationship with Jesus and were transformed. We receive the same call this morning. Jesus is saying to each of us, “Follow me.” As with Matthew and the Apostles, so with us, this is a unique call to be loved by him first and foremost. We are invited to breathe, rest, receive, and abide in his love.

This is an incredible invitation to start every day. To allow the loving gaze of the Divine Physician to rest upon us, the same eyes that looked upon Matthew, look at us. This can be as we first open our eyes, over a cup of coffee, or sitting in a quiet place we have created for ourselves. Jesus calls us in this moment and invites us to receive his love. As this becomes a part of our daily rhythm, as we begin to experience and rest in his love, we will begin to feel safe and secure in a way that nothing material can provide and nothing else but him can fill. As this foundation of love begins to grow within us, then we can begin to heal, acknowledge and confess our sins, and begin to distinguish between the voice of the enemy who wishes us ill or the voice of Jesus who seeks our freedom.

The liar asks us, “Are you worthy?” Our savior asks us, “Are we willing?”

Painting: Caravaggio’s The calling of St. Matthew

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, January 13, 2024

Spend some time with Jesus.

In our gospel readings, over the past few days we have experienced Jesus’ initial encounters with who will become his apostles. Andrew encountered Jesus and was moved by his experience during their time together and then went to tell his brother Peter about Jesus.

Today, Philip is found by Jesus, and Jesus asks Philip to follow him. Apparently, he does, and something happens because in the next scene Philip has found Nathaniel and shared with him: “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

Nathanael hesitates as he first hears this news. What pulls him up short, even though Philip has just shared with him that Jesus is the one who is to fulfill the promise of Moses, is where Jesus is from as revealed when he asks, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

The Pharisees also resisted believing in Jesus because of where he was from. Despite Nathanael’s hesitancy, he trusted Philip enough to “come and see.” Unlike many of the Pharisees, when Nathanael heard Jesus say that he had already seen him under the fig tree before they met, Nathanael let go of his prejudgment and believed.

Through the Apostles who came, saw, and believed, Jesus began his Church. As they came to know Jesus, like Nathanael, each had to let go of preconceptions that limited their understandings of Jesus. Also, their limitations as finite human beings held them back. Through their trust and belief, and commitment, they deepened their relationship with Jesus, and they were transformed, made new.

Jesus met them where they were in those first encounters, and slowly but surely, with fits and starts, missteps and misunderstandings, they grew and matured. Jesus has found and calls us as well.

Like his Apostles and those who continued and continue to follow Jesus through each generation since then, we too can come and see. We can see and experience him in his word alive in Sacred Scripture, personally in our time of daily prayer and meditation, as well as proclaimed during the Mass. We can encounter him intimately and are transformed by him in the Eucharist and the sacraments. We encounter him in our serving and love of one another and in our sharing of the experiences we had with him as Andrew and Philip did.

Jesus has come to be with you right now in this moment. He has found you just as he found Philip. I invite you to read today’s gospel passage slowly (John 1:43-51). You can read once or a few times, and then slow and deepen your breath, close your eyes, and allow yourself to enter the scene you just read.

Allow yourself to enter Jesus’ memory, invite him to lead you as you walk up to stand by Philip and Nathanael. Spend some time in silence with Jesus now. See Jesus turn his face from them and look to you. Is there anything or any thoughts that may be causing you to hesitate as did Nathanael? What does Jesus say to you? How do you respond? What happens next? Do you stay with Philip and Nathanael, or does Jesus lead you off to the side to talk? This time is for you and him to spend together, to get to know one another better. These questions are only guides to get you going. You can use some or all, or disregard some or all. Trust in Jesus, he will lead you. Enjoy!

Photo: Last night’s Rosary walk, Egret Landing, Jupiter, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, January 5, 2023

Behold the Lamb of God and follow him.

John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:29).

John confessed earlier when asked if he was the messiah that he wasn’t. John knew who he was in the plan of God’s salvation. He did not claim to be more than he was but accepted his position as the one who would prepare the way for the messiah. Here he is doing just that with two of his disciples. Not seeking to hold on to them so that they would follow him but pointing to Jesus as the one to follow and give their lives to.

Andrew, one of the two of John’s disciples, would have picked up on the reference regarding the lamb of God right away. This is the lamb that would be sacrificed at the Passover meal each year. How that referred to Jesus, Andrew, Peter’s brother, and who would become one of the Twelve Apostles, would come to understand later as he experienced Jesus’ passion, death, resurrection, and ascension.

Jesus gave his life for us, not just so that we could exist, not to race through life at breakneck speed, but to live a life of meaning, purpose, fulfillment, service, in balance, and abiding in God’s love. This is not to mean that we won’t suffer. It means that as we surrender our lives to Jesus and his timetable, even when challenges arise, we can experience his peace in the midst of what we are going through.

Often, we miss John’s invitation to, “Behold the Lamb of God” because we are not paying attention, we are distracted or diverted, we are “anxious and troubled about many things.” We need to catch our breath and slow down more often than we allow ourselves to.

I have shared a lot in these morning texts about the importance of slowing down – breathing, resting, receiving, abiding in God’s love, and only a few days ago, thinking I was writing that too much. I need the reminder, as I believe we all do. Life goes too fast and so many of us hop on board the train of life that whizzes by and we are barely hanging on with one hand. That is not how God intended or wanted us to live.

One reason we may not to slow down is we aren’t ready, willing, or able to face the pain of our past nor surrender our will to Jesus and invite him to reveal to us what we need to let go of. Slowing down is not easy but with the love of God our Father is possible. We will not be crushed by what we fear to see. We will be loved, forgiven, and healed.

Berating ourselves for not slowing down does not help. We need to give ourselves permission to be kind and patient with ourselves. The thing about slowing down, is we need to slow down to slow down and that takes consistency and time of repeatedly doing so. The good news is that you have already begun the process of doing so.

A good place to ground our efforts, is to set up a sacred space in our homes that we can go to everyday, ideally the same time and same place each day. It doesn’t have to be amazing or perfect, it can and ought to be simple. Some place comfortable to sit and something to focus on like a statue, picture, candle, a view outside… The point is that you have a place to go where you can be still, focus, breath, and pray.

Best to start small and build from there. 5-10 minutes is good. A simple prayer you can start with is, “Jesus, please help me to slow down.” You can also follow John’s invitation, “Behold the lamb of God.” Behold Jesus in your imagination as Andrew did in person and follow his lead. Then just sit with Jesus and breathe. And bring either of these prayers back up when your mind drifts away. You can also start simply and slowly and stay with the sign of the Cross or the Our Father. The point is not to seek a mystical experience, not to grasp at anything. The point is to be still with Jesus. As Mary shared with me, when you show up each day, God will happen! That is true whether you experience something or not!

Creating for ourselves a sacred space and showing up there daily is a good anchor point to start with each day, and from there, we have made an intention to slow down as the first decision and action of our day. We have invited Jesus to help us, and then we can carry that intention and Jesus with us through the rest of the day and return anytime we need with a simple closing of your eyes, slowing down of our breathe, and calling on his name or short passage from Scripture. Jesus will help us to put the pieces of a balanced lifestyle together.

Remember, Jesus loves us as we are right in this moment. Nothing needs to be changed before he helps us other than inviting him to be with us and be still enough to experience him in the moment and then, one breath at a time, allow him to happen in our lives, and he will lead us step by gentle step, as Andrew and the other disciple of John did. They spent an afternoon with Jesus and their lives were transformed. Ours can be too!

Behold, trust, and spend some time with the Lamb of God!

Photo: Quiet Rosary evening walk last Monday night.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, January 4, 2024

Unconditional love is possible when we allow God to bestow his love on us.

“See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are” (I John 3:1).

Sometimes, or too many times, this truth that John is sharing with his community and with us this morning is hard to receive but these words are true. God bestows on us his love as we are right now in the moment. He is not waiting for us to do anything right, to be perfect, and/or to say the perfect prayer. Our Father just wants to love us as we are right now as we are in this moment. He loves us more than we can mess up, he loves us when we sin and even in the act of our committing sin, and he loves us more than we can imagine.

God also loves us uniquely in the way we are in most need. The key is that he loves us on his terms not ours. He knows what we need, the deepest desires of our hearts and souls. He loves us unconditionally and infinitely.

The challenge is, that our concept of what love is, has been distorted by influences of the enemy and the fallen world around us. So as the country singer, Johnny Lee, sang in 1980, we are, “Lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.” We are looking because God made us to be loved and to love in return, that is our deepest yearning and hunger: to be loved, to belong, to be seen, to be heard, and to be understood.

Time and again though, we fall because we grasp like Adam and Eve did. We want to determine love on our terms, on our conditions, believing that if we can be in control, we can be safe and won’t be hurt. The problem is that authentic love is to be received and it is just not about feelings, emotions, sentiments, comfort, or security. All of those come from the reality of love, but the foundation must be grounded in the unconditional love of God.

Authentic love is about being vulnerable to another. It is not about grasping but about receiving. It is not a presenting of ourselves in a false way that we believe another wants us to be but a willingness to be ourselves and risk that we will be rejected or accepted as we are, with our imperfections as well as our positive attributes. Love is also about sacrifice, our willingness to give ourselves to another, to be there for them. As St. Thomas Aquinas taught, “Love is to will the good of the other as other.”

Even if we have a correct understanding of love, we are still finite and have a limited point of view. Unconditional love is a love that we cannot learn on our own. We must experience God’s love to transcend our finite understanding of love. May we make time consistently to be still and allow God to bestow his infinite love upon us. Then we will remember who we are, his beloved children. And as we remember, may we see each other as God sees us, with his infinite love.

Photo: Sanctuary at St Gabriel Catholic Church, Windsor, CT

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, December 3, 2023

Let us abide in the love of God today and all year!

“Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father” (I John 2:24).

John is writing these words to encourage his community who has been wounded by a split in the community with those who walked away from the truth of the faith. The major point at issue appears to have been the identity of Jesus. Those who walked away were those who refused to believe that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God. 

Both factions believed in and were followers of Jesus but the ones that opposed the truth were those that could not bring themselves to believe that he was fully human and fully divine. For them how could the divinity of God enter humanity? They could not believe that the Son became human, that he only appeared to be, or his body was just like a glove to be cast off. 

Yet, that is exactly the opposite of what we have been celebrating this past week, which has been the incarnation, the reality that the Son of God was conceived in and born of the Virgin Mary. This is why we also celebrated yesterday that Mary is the Mother of God. Jesus truly is fully divine and fully human. 

John is encouraging those who did not leave to remain in the truth that they have been taught, so that what they “heard from the beginning” would remain with them. What they heard from the beginning was to remain in the love of Jesus. As Jesus taught: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:23). John would echo this teaching just a few verses later: “For this is the message you had heard from the beginning: we should love one another” (I John 3:11).

In I John 2:24 that we read today, the word, remain, appears three times. Remain comes from the Greek word menō. It can also be translated as stay, reside, or abide. I like abide. If we want to know the truth about Jesus, we need to know Jesus and abide in him and his love. The prayers we pray, the words we read in the Bible, the Masses we participate in are not to be just motions we go through like spiritual calisthenics. They are opportunities for growing in our relationship with Jesus and his Father. 

This is just as true with our relationships with one another. If we do not pay attention to one another, listen but do not hear, are not there for each other, a distance grows, doubt creeps in, and trust weakens. When we are actively engaged in each other’s lives, hear as well as listen, communicate, support each other in our ups and downs, we grow closer, confidence grows, and trust strengthens. 

We resist the lies and receive the truth when we slow down enough to receive and abide in the one who loves us more than we can imagine. The one who knows every hair on our head and who has carved us in the palm of his hand: Our loving God and Father. 

To grow as disciples of Jesus in this new year, to grow in our relationships, we are invited again and again to breathe and slow down, to receive and ponder his word, to receive his Body and Blood, to see and serve him in one another, and to rest and abide in his word, his presence, and the love of his Father that he has shared with us. It is very easy to get diverted, distracted, to rev up and get busy, but our primary goal of this day and this year is to breathe, rest, receive, and abide in the love of Jesus who is fully God and fully man, his love that he so much wants to share with us.

When we make time to do that each day, we will abide in the love of the Son, and so abide in the Father, as we experience the love between them, the Holy Spirit. Every thought, decision, action, and word will then flow from the love of our Father who created us. As we are purified and transformed by his love, we will continue to heal and so will our relationships with one another.

Photo: Saturday evening after Mass at St. Peter Catholic Church, Jupiter, FL

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, January 2, 2023