christianity

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

“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

While Jesus was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” (Luke 11:27-28).

Jesus is not discounting his mother nor putting her down in any way by his response. Especially because Mary is the exemplar of not just someone who, but one who other than he, consistently heard the word of God and observed it. Probably even before but the earliest record of this we have is Mary saying, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your will” (cf. Luke 1:38). She was instrumental in collaborating with God’s will to bring about the salvation of the world in her willingness to bear his only Son.

The wonderful gift of what Jesus said is also an invitation to all of us. If we ever felt at some point that we never fit in somewhere, if we did not quite belong, or we didn’t measure up to someone’s or our own expectations, we need no longer feel that way. Jesus is inviting us to have a seat at the table. And the good news is that there is unlimited seating! If we feel anxious or out of sorts, are discerning a heavy decision and feel paralyzed, dealing with a relational conflict and not sure how to respond, the Holy Spirit provides a way.

All we have to do is hear the word of God and observe it. Simple as that. And yet there is so much keeping us busy, distracted, and diverted from spending time reading, meditating, and praying with God’s word. We might look at the Bible as just another book because there is so much that is more enticing, inviting, and engaging. What God has made us for though is not merely finite but infinite pursuits, to seek the things of heaven. 

The Bible, initially in his youth, did not offer much to St. Augustine. After many years though seeking and indulging in the things of the world, even the pursuit of truth, and still feeling empty, he found great solace in reading the Bible which only increased when he “transcended the literal sense.” The literal sense being that which he read and understood with his mind and reason. In allowing himself time to ponder, the Holy Spirit touched him in the depth of his soul and “enabled him to find at last the answer to his deep inner restlessness and his thirst for truth” (Pope Benedict, General Audience, January 9, 2008).

We too are restless and tired existing in a world that entices us with so many other voices and attractions. Yet, the daily discipline of reading and praying with the Bible provides peace and rest for our souls like nothing else can. Slowly and gently our intimacy with God grows when open up our Bible each day. When we not only read the words, but also meditate and pray with them, we transcend the literal and experience God’s living stream flowing in our veins. We are refreshed and renewed. 

Photo:  One of my joys each day is to spend time in God’s word, and share from my own pondering. Picture of today’s Gospel reading from The Word on Fire: The Gospels.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, October 11, 2025

 

For Jesus or against, to not decided is to decide.

In today’s gospel account, Jesus is accused of collaborating with Satan because he has cast out a demon. Jesus quickly counters the absurdity of the claim by stating that, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house” (Luke 11:17).

If there is one thing that Satan, the one who accuses, the father of lies, and his demons are unified on, it is to promote disunity, isolation, and chaos. They will seek any way to break through our defenses, our weaknesses, tempt, and mislead, to get us to even doubt the truth. They also seek to isolate us from one another. Here Jesus is healing a person from being possessed and it is made to look like he is in league with the devil.

Jesus reveals the error and builds on it with the truth, “But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20). The kingdom of God reveals and casts out demons, uncovers lies, and reconciles division. Jesus in his perfection comes to purify, cleanse, and to restore the true Father’s original purpose of harmony, oneness, and unity.

The closer that Jesus gets to Jerusalem, the opposition to him appears to be growing. Jesus offers those listening a choice: Recognize him as the Son of God who acts in the name of the Father and join with him, or reject him and side with the enemy. Jesus’ does not leave a middle ground. If one does not decide, “the last condition will be worst than the first” (Luke 11:26). Even those healed by Jesus, if  they do not commit their lives to him and fill themselves with the love of God, there is room for evil to creep back in.

We are given the same choice with each choice we make. Do we take a moment before deciding to ask is this the will of God? Are our thoughts, words, and actions, divisive, hurtful, unkind, or are they unifying, empowering, and loving? If we can admit any ways in which we have turned away from God or chosen any from the list in the first category, the good news is that we can repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is important to recognize our need for healing, which helps us to be more prudent, and ask Jesus for forgiveness and help to begin again.

For those choices that land in the second category, let us thank Jesus for working through us. In both ways, we recognize the truth, and we continue to build on the love that Jesus offers. When we trust him, we grow in relationship with him, and can better share the love he offers us with others.

We are free to choose and receive the consequences of our choices. Let us choose to turn away from anything not of God and follow Jesus today. Let us choose to be loved and to love in return.

Photo: Stained glass window in St. Joseph Catholic Church, Poquonock, CT.

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

Let us choose the better part, slow down to receive, and reflect the light of Jesus.

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Lk 10:41-42).

My wife, JoAnn, and I used to have more than a few spirited discussions on this Gospel passage each time that it arose because, at first reading, it appears that Jesus does not show any empathy or regard for Martha’s gift of hospitality nor for all the work that she is doing. All the men are sitting around listening to Jesus, and Mary… she is doing the same, and who is left to do all the work? Martha.

Blessed to serve as a permanent deacon for ten years, I saw my own, as well as other deacon’s wives, carry extra weight and burdens in support on the home front to allow their husbands the time to serve, many of us who also still held full time jobs. Not only deacon’s wives, this reality is also true for many wives who are full-time homemakers, run in-home businesses, or carry a job outside the home, as well as care for the children, overseeing the bills, the day to day grind, and so find themselves at times, feeling under-appreciated, undervalued, and not respected for all they do.

Husbands can do a better job of being present, more patient, respectful, and attentive to their wives and be more of an equal partner on the journey. For those married as well as single, the point Jesus is making, that he makes throughout the Gospels is to put God first, then family, work, and our unique vocation. The expression of that is going to be different for each station in life. There will be more time constraints for parents of infants. No matter how little time we may have, we must pray daily, we must be still and sit at the feet of Jesus. As we do so, we will find that the time we did not think we have, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit will be properly ordered.

This prelude acknowledges the reality of how much we juggle in every age. There is much to do and much to be done. Jesus was not disregarding Martha’s hospitality. Especially in the Gospel of Luke, there are many instances in which Jesus empowers women so far beyond the cultural reality of his time. We read this as we do any biblical account from our twenty-first-century mindset. Contextually, the men sitting at the teacher’s feet in a different room, the women cooking, and most times eating separately were commonplace for those in the ancient near east of the first century AD. Mary was the only person out of step with the times.

The interpretive key to understanding this account is what Jesus said. He pointed out that Martha was “anxious and worried about many things.” Mary could have been one of those worries, and not so much that Mary wasn’t helping in the kitchen, but because she was breaking the social norm of sitting with the men. When Martha calls Jesus to redirect Mary, she probably expects him to support her plea. Yet, Jesus acknowledges that: “There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:42).

Mary, sitting and having her primary focus on Jesus was the posture of a disciple. Jesus was not only allowing her to do so, he was commending her for doing so. I can visualize Martha being taken aback at first, but then slowly feeling the muscles in her face relax as the lightbulb went on. We don’t know, but could she in that moment have experienced that peace, that peace that surpasses all understanding, and the anxiety and worry left her? Feeling the peace, instead fear in approaching Jesus as Mary had done, did Martha then take her apron off, throw it to the side, and sit down next to her sister and also become his disciple?

There is biblical evidence that beyond the Twelve, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, were Jesus’ friends. When Jesus came four days after the death of Lazarus, as soon as Martha heard Jesus was outside, she, not Mary, came immediately out to Jesus, and in that exchange, it was Martha who made the claim that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God (cf Jn 11:27). Would she have had this insight, the same as Peter, if she was still holding a grudge from this encounter?

Our modern reaction and push back to this Martha and Mary account in Luke may not so much be a reflection on Jesus but how poorly men have treated women over the generations and how poorly women continue to be treated even today. No matter their ages, young, old, and everywhere in between, women are human beings created in the image and likeness of God. No one has the right to abuse, demean, disparage, devalue, or exploit any woman. Women are to be appreciated, heard, respected, cherished, and valued.

God has given each of us gifts to participate in his Father’s plan. May we resist the temptation to fear coming close to Jesus and taking time out to sit at his feet, to engage in mental maelstroms, to be “anxious and worried about many things.” Instead, when we experience the beginning tremors of any stress or strain, instead, be still and rest in Jesus’ presence as Mary, and hopefully Martha, did.

In this way, any anxiety will begin to dissipate as we experience feeling safe in his presence and experience Jesus’ love. Doing so will help us to better know Jesus, his voice, and his teaching, know and follow his will, love others as he loves us, and live our lives respecting, encouraging, and supporting one another with the gifts and guidance that God has given us.

One woman who may have learned the Martha and Mary account well was Lydia. Luke and Paul encounter her and some other women in the city of Philippi. When Paul preached, Lydia, “listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.” She then asked to be baptized with her household, and then invited them into her home (cf Acts 16:11-15). She listened and pondered God first, then acted.

When we choose the better part of sitting at Jesus’ feet before making a decision, we can experience less chaos and more of his peace and guidance. Instead of living in a perpetual state of chronic stress and anxiety, we can instead choose to breathe, rest, receive and abide in God’s love. Then from that place of stillness, like Mary and Lydia, and I believe Martha, instead of reacting, we can make a choice based on God’s guidance.

Photo: Mary, Jesus’ mother, was the premier disciple for she “pondered” the mysteries she experienced with Jesus “in her heart” (Luke 2:19) and “heard the word of God and observed it” (Luke 11:28). She also chose the better part and so like the moon that reflects the light of the sun, Mary reflects the light of her Son. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Are we willing to do likewise, and show mercy as the Good Samaritan did?

It is interesting that the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and here in today’s Gospel account, a scholar of the law, instead of genuinely seeking to learn the truth from Jesus, they all “test” Jesus. They seek to prove him wrong, trip him up, or attempt to present him in a compromising light.

The scholar indeed knows the law well. He knows the foundation of the law which Jesus himself calls the greatest commandment in Mark and Matthew. In combining Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, the scholar answers his own question that one can “inherit eternal life” by loving “the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).

Jesus commends his answer and acknowledges his understanding. Jesus then shares an important point to any law or teaching: “Do this and you will live” (Luke 10:28). It is not enough to know, we must put what we know into practice. Otherwise, there is no fruit. What we “know” will atrophy, it will whither away and die if we do nothing with what we have learned.

Not only does the scholar miss the point, he continues on his course to press Jesus further, seeking to “justify himself” by asking who is his neighbor. Jesus without missing a beat, sings the song of the Good Samaritan. In it Jesus presents who ought to be the heroes, the priest and the Levite, two law abiding Jews. Each know the law but each are unwilling to take the risk of breaking the law of ritual impurity by touching a dying man. Or they do not want to risk their own safety and refuse to fulfill the deepest root of the law, loving their neighbor as themselves. So they walk on. Jesus does not give the reason for their refusal to help.

The one who is willing to come close, the one who fulfills the letter of the law is not a scholar, a Pharisee, one of the high council, or even a common Jewish man or woman, but a Samaritan. Samaritans were considered enemies for different reasons. They were not pure-bloods. They were of the northern tribes of Israel and many of the Jews that survived the Assyrian occupation intermarried with the Gentiles. They also worshipped, not on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, but on Mount Gerizim. Sprinkling in some violent interactions and you have a recipe ripe for division and distrust.

Yet, it is this Samaritan who lives out the fullness of the law of God by loving his neighbor who is in need. He not only comes close to check on him, he provides aide, brings him to an inn where he can rest, heal, and all on his dime. Did the scholar go and do likewise? We do not know. Just as when the rich young man walked away sad after Jesus invited him to sell all he had and follow him, we don’t know if he ever came back. Are we willing to treat each other with mercy as did the Good Samaritan?

We can know the Catechism inside and out, know the Bible chapter and verse, we can attend daily Mass, but it does not mean that much if we do not allow what we have learned to shape and soften our hearts and our minds such that we come to know Jesus, his Father and the love shared between them, the Holy Spirit. Our faith is about experiencing God’s love and loving one another as he loves us.

To grow in our relationship and experience of God’s presence we need to slow down, slip away from the fast pace and the instant gratification mill. What we receive in our time of reading, studying, meditation, prayer, and worship, we need to ponder and sit with, put into practice, and share with one another as God leads. “God works in depth, in the slow time of trust” (Pope Leo XIV).

We are not perfect. We all fall short of the glory of God. The enemy seeks to distract, divert, trip, beat us down, and leave us for dead, just as we read about the man on the Jericho road. The good news is that in our times of desperation, when we find ourselves down and almost out, the Good Samaritan is Jesus. He is not only willing to come close, if we are willing to allow him, he will lift us up, restore us to health, save, redeem, and give us new life.

As Jesus does for us, let us go and do likewise for each other.

Painting: “The Good Samaritan” by Dan Burr

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, October 6, 2025

Are we willing to be a pencil in God’s hand?

So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do’” (Lk  17:10).

This ending verse from today’s Gospel account from Luke flies in the face of the ideals of fame and honor that many in our culture believe we ought to be striving for. After all, everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame, don’t they?

The point Jesus is making with his disciples is one of perspective. We need to constantly remember that God is the Creator and we are his created beings, God is God and we are not. Our life is completely dependent on him and whether we like the analogy or the reality that we are servants, that is not only how we were created, but what will, in the end, bring us the most meaning and fulfillment in our lives is serving God without hesitation.

This is no dictatorial or tyrannical power play by God through his crown prince Jesus. Jesus himself consistently served his Father and would do so in the fullness of giving himself on the Cross. This is best summarized by Paul in his Letter to the Philippians, when he echoes one of the most ancient Christian hymns: “Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped. Rather he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men.”

Jesus, the divine Son of God, entered into our human condition because he was serving the will of his Father. We are to do the same. God is the director of his epic drama and each of us has a part to play. Our faith grows as we empty ourselves from our own grasping nature of seeking control, of being in charge, and seeking to be the director of our own life.

One of the reasons many of us have trouble with this type of imagery and language is because we consistently see so much abuse of power for selfish gain. This is not God’s goal. God does not need us, he is fully self-sufficient without our worship or service. It is we who need him and through the opening of our mind and heart to his direction, by acting on every word that comes from him, we do not become diminished, we actually expand and become more!

We truly become ourselves, we are fully alive, and we will experience more peace, when we resist living in the past or anticipating the worst case scenarios about the future. A wonderful image that St. Mother Teresa used often that I find helpful is being a pencil in God’s hand. When we have faith in and trust God, we can rest in his loving guidance and act as he directs. This is the beating heart of our faith, to place ourselves in a posture to hear the will of God, and act upon it in our willingness to serve him without hesitation. In doing so, we lose our life, and in so doing we find joy because we become fully alive.

—————————————————

Photo: St. Mother Teresa could be a pencil in God’s hand because she gave herself to him in prayer and service daily.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, October 5, 2025

God cares more than we think.

In the Gospel, Jesus receives the seventy-two he had commissioned to heal and exorcize demons in his name. They returned rejoicing at the wonders that they experienced in their service and Jesus invited them to see that what was more amazing was not so much that “the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).

What is amazing about what Jesus is sharing is that much more than what we do, even in doing God’s will, is who we are in relationship with God. That are names are written in heaven means, we know God. God cares about us personally and intimately. God knows each of us by name and knows us better than we know ourselves. Even though God does not need us, God yearns for relationship with us and has planted that very desire to be in relationship with him in the very depths of our minds, hearts, and souls. God also wants us to participate in his plan of salvation history and has a particular part for us to play.

When we give ourselves some time to take this in, to rest and stop, to breathe, really take some deep and slow breaths, and ponder not only how much God loves us, but actually give ourselves time to rest in and receive his love. Wow! You’ll never breathe or see the world in the same way again. When we receive something negative or harmful we are able to process and receive that in three seconds. To receive something good or to hear someone say we are loved, can take from 30 – 90 seconds to process.

We might hesitate or question whether God cares because we might believe that he allowed something to happen or not to happen, or because we are unwittingly welcoming the negative influence and lies of the enemy, such as: we may not care about having our name written in heaven; for what’s the point of having an eternal relationship with someone who doesn’t care enough to listen. Lies such as these keep God at a distance. But God hears all our prayers even while they are still thoughts in our mind.

He knows our deepest needs, hurts, and desires more than we do. To experience God’s love though, to know that he hears our prayers, we need to slow down and be still. God speaks in the silence of our hearts and we can hear his voice of love when we remain still long enough to hear, receive, and rest in his word.

Just taking a moment to be still, and to bring our questions to God is a good first step. For God is the best one to answer them. We just need to be prepared that he may answer our question with more questions. As long as we enter into the conversation, God will happen. It is not so much that we need to get up and do something, as much as instead, we need to sit and allow God to do something in us, and to remain still long enough to hear, receive, and rest in the gift of God’s love that he wants to share with us. Then, once have received what he has given and guided us to share, we do so.

Photo: “Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, October 4, 2025

May we not reject but welcome the light of Jesus.

“Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me” (Lk 10:16).

On the surface, today’s Gospel as well as the first reading and the psalm may sound like a Debbie Downer of a message, but it is actually the road map, the passage that will lead us from the darkness of slavery steeped in our own sin to the light of truth and freedom found in dedicating our life to Christ. Jesus is continuing to prepare the 72 that are about to go out to proclaim his message of repentance. This echoes Mark’s recording of Jesus’ mission statement: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15).

A sin is any actively contemplated thought, word, or action that we knowingly know goes against the will of God and we freely choose to act upon it anyway. This is why many of us prefer the darkness to the light because we do not have to see and name our sins. We hold on to apparent goods or substitutes that we believe will make us happy and fulfill us, otherwise we would not hold on to them. Yet, they are empty promises. After experiencing the lack of satisfaction, once the emotion or passion of the moment or experience wanes, we either seek more to fill the void or hopefully, recognize the false lure and begin to seek something else to fill the void.

If we choose to seek more or seek within the material and world of finite creation apart from God, we continue along a slippery slope that may lead to our ensnarement or addiction. When we instead heed Jesus’ call and repent, allow the light and truth of Jesus into our darkness, trust that he truly wills our good, we can begin to see our sin, name it, repent from it, let it go, be forgiven, be healed, and fulfilled by receiving the true good, the love that God seeks to give and deepen our relationship with him for whom we have been created.

As servants of the Lord, we are invited to repent, to realign ourselves and our lives in such a way that we are saying yes to building a relationship with God. This is a daily, moment by moment, lifetime task of examining our conscience, asking God to reveal to us our sins, and willingness to embrace the humility to see and confess. This process is not just for ourselves.

Having experienced God’s love and forgiveness, we are called to bring the light of truth we have received to those we meet. This does not mean we are perfect. Through the awareness and confession of our sins, we are incrementally more open to receiving more of the love and light of Jesus within us than before, such that he can shine his light through us into another’s darkness and gently guide them to come out of the shadows.

We need to resist though the temptation to go forth and wag our finger of judgment. For then we are only a darker storm cloud approaching those needing a healing balm. This approach can either cause people to slip deeper into their own shell or come out fighting, seeking to dispel us from their midst. Jesus sends us out like the 72 to encounter one another with understanding, mercy, patience, and love. In the beginning, our light needs to be soft, like the morning dawn, so as not to blind those we seek to offer an invitation.

Jesus, this day and each day going forward, please dwell within us. Help us to be open to those you place near us that we may be present to them with your warmth, welcome, and joy. May we respect each person we encounter and be present, so that they may know that they are not alone, that they, in fact, do exist, that they matter, that they are loved as you love us. May we be like the light of the dawn to help awaken those in the darkness of their pain, suffering, and sin. May we be a lamp unto their feet and a light unto their path, that leads to an encounter and embrace with you; our Truth, our Way, and our Life. Amen.

———————————————————

Image: When we allow the light of Jesus to shine in our hearts and minds, he will lead us to freedom from that which and those who hold us captive.

Link of the Mass readings for Friday, October 3, 2025

Want to be great? Reject self sufficiency and depend on God like a little child.

“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me” (Mt 18:4-5).

Children during the time of Jesus were seen, if there were acknowledged at all, to have little worth. They were vulnerable, had little if any status in society. They were often nothings, nobodies, and completely dependent on their parents for survival. Jesus invites a child to come to him, identifying himself with the child, as a response to the disciples’ question as to who would be considered the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.

Jesus taught his disciples, and us today that we need to be completely dependent on God our Father, just as a small child is totally dependent on his or her parents. What leads us to greatness in the Kingdom of heaven is our turning away from the temptation to curve in upon ourselves, resisting the urge to feed our ego, place ourselves first, and as St Thomas Aquinas taught, resisting the cultural lures and substitutes for God: power, pleasure, honor, and wealth.

We are also to reject the image of the Übermensch, the super man, popularized by Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th century German philosopher. Nietzsche wrote that God was dead and promoted the idea that humanity needed to create a world that would create new values based on the power of their will alone. Supermen and women striving for complete autonomy and self-sufficiency. Jesus teaches the exact opposite. We need to place our complete dependency and trust in and on God and rely on him for everything.

Participating in the reign of God is not one of lordship over another. Instead we are to assume the humility to accompany, walk along with, and serve each other along our journey in this life. Jesus embodied this reality. He, as the Son of God, entered into our human condition. He did not grasp at his divinity but instead surrendered it to his humanity. While remaining fully divine, he became fully human when through the power of the Holy Spirit was conceived in the womb of Mary. In such vulnerability and weakness, he developed through his period of gestation, and was born into our world. As an infant and child, he was completely dependent on Mary, Joseph, and God his Father.

As Jesus continued to grow as a young child, he experienced the fullness of the human condition. He laughed, he cried, he got sick, he was tempted, he felt pain, he experienced heartache and joy. Throughout his life, and especially during his public ministry, he experienced human suffering up close and personal. He understood the suffering of his neighbor and experienced his own human and finite limitations. He loved and wept as we saw in his encounters with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.

Jesus invites us to relate to God as our Father often in the Gospels, in the best sense of that intimacy of dependence. St Thérèse of Lisieux, whose memorial we celebrated yesterday got this. “Jesus has chosen to show me the only way which leads to the Divine Furnace of love; it is the way of childlike self-surrender, the way of a child who sleeps, afraid of nothing, in its father’s arms.”

Accepting Thérèse’s image is an acknowledgment that we are just as dependent on God and others, that we are not self-sufficient, that we are not capable of living radically independent lives, nor are we supposed to. God created us to be loved and to love, to be in community, to care for, empower, and support one another.

Our guardian angels, whose memorial we celebrate today, are at the ready awaiting our call. When we have the humility to ask for their help, we will realize that we are not alone. When we experience some supernatural support, from God, his angels and the saints, we might just be willing to seek help from and support each other. We can offer a shoulder to lean on, a smile, a hug, a voice that speaks for the voiceless, a soul open to pray with and for others, an ear to hear, and we can embody the courage to serve and stand up for the dignity of each other.

St Mother Teresa was willing to come close and pick up that first dying man in the street. She did not ask his religion, was not concerned if he was of a different race or nationality, was not afraid to risk illness or injury by attending to him. She knelt down and was present in his time of dire need. We are at our best when we follow Jesus, St. Thérèse, St Mother Teresa, the saints, and our guardian angels, and surrender to, and place our dependency and complete trust in God and support each other by doing little things with great love.

To be loved and to love in return is why we are here at this time. Photo credit François Le Diascorn

Mass readings for Thursday, October 2, 2025

We are fit for the kingdom of God when Jesus is first before all and everyone else.

And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God” (9:61-62).

This is one of the three challenges that Jesus offers to potential followers of his in today’s account. As Jesus is continuing on to Jerusalem, to the ultimate gift he will give to humanity, himself on the cross, Jesus invites those who are still with him to embrace the radical call of the Gospel. God is to be first before anyone and everything else. Even the security of home and family are not to hold one back from following Jesus. His listener’s would don’t have missed the biblical allusion Jesus is countering. When Elijah called Elisha to follow him, Elijah allowed Elisha to say goodbye to his family and settle his estate, so to speak, before they left together (cf 1 Kings 19:19-21).

Jesus is showing in his request, not just the demands of being a follower of his but also why. Jesus is God and if that is true, those seeking to follow him are not to do so with any naïveté nor false presumptions. They are to be willing to give all without holding anything back in following him. Demanding? Yes. But Jesus is about to do the same thing that he asks in giving all he has, his very life on the cross.

These three invitations offered by Jesus are not responded to by those he invites. This is most likely on purpose because the invitation is not only for them but for all who hear this invitation or read it today. We are invited to participate in the life of Jesus and build up the Church. The important foundational point is that we understand what Jesus means by the Church. The original Greek term that we have in the earliest manuscripts was ekklēsia. This is more than just a gathering or an assembly of like minds. Ekklēsia means to be called out from.

Jesus reveals to us anything or anyone that we have placed before God, and he calls us to a new way of living. He calls us to participate more intimately in his life and the life of the Trinity. We will do so when we let go of our grasp of the false substitutes that really don’t bring true happiness and fulfillment. Pleasure, power, honor, and wealth when properly ordered can be goods in and of themselves, but placed first and foremost in our lives, they will not fulfill, provide stability, nor will they give us control over our lives that we seek.

Jesus is revealing in today’s message that home and family also cannot be first. By accepting the invitation of Jesus to place him first and follow him, then our lives in this world will be properly ordered. Nothing else will satisfy, nothing and no one. In fact, we put unrealistic expectations on each other when God is not first because no one can live up to our deepest desires of intimacy and communion. Nothing can fully satisfy us because all is finite and we will only seek more. Only God can satisfy our deepest longing.

Once we reorient our life, put God before all else, grow in our relationship with him, then the other matters and material realities of our lives will fall into place. Our relationships with one another will be more realistic and we will be more understanding when those we are in relationships make mistakes and let us down. We will be more loving and forgiving toward one another when God is the foundation of our lives. God will provide all that we need and he loves us more than we can imagine. When we are confident in God as our refuge and our strength, we can appreciate the material things of creation more and being free of the unrealistic expectations we place on family and friends, we can love each other more.

Photo: When we make daily time to spend with God, we experience so much more wonder even in the simplest of moments.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 1, 2025