disciple

When we pray, we are loved by God, and the love of God casts out our fear.

“Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back'” (Mt 25: 24-25).

I used to struggle with this verse of Jesus’ Parable of the Talents, not because I didn’t relate to it, but because I did. The problem was that I sided with the servant who buried his talent in the ground. What the servant did made sense to me, he kept his master’s talent safe and returned what he had been given. Historically, burying was considered a safe and acceptable practice in ancient Palestine when protecting someone else’s money. Even in reading carefully back to the beginning of the parable, I could see no reference to investing the talents. Though in the Gospel of Luke, there is an explicit demand to “trade with these until I come” (Lk 19:13). What is Jesus saying?

Actually, Jesus in this parable offers a microcosm of salvation history, the thread of which has been woven through all of Sacred Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. God, through his sovereign will, has consistently called, calls today, and will continue to call into the future a people to himself. In each age, God has bestowed upon humanity the generous gift of his grace, inviting us to receive and share in his very life, which is what we have been created for. This is a free gift, to be freely accepted or rejected. Once received though – no matter how little we choose to receive, five, two or one talent, we are directed to share what we have been given. Through a life lived of accepting, receiving, giving back to God and to one another, we are given even “greater responsibilities”.

In receiving the gift of God, himself, and sharing what he has given, ultimately his love, for God is Love, we not only mirror on earth, albeit dimly, but share in the divine communion of the love between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To reject this gift outright, or to receive some of the benefits and not to share, we cut ourselves off from the very life force and source of our being.

The message of The Parable of the Talents is as clear as it is challenging. John P. Meier summarizes that “Jesus is insistent; along with sovereign grace, serious demand, and superabundant reward comes the possibility of being condemned for refusing the demand contained in the gift. Indeed, one might argue that no aspect of Jesus’ teaching is more pervasive in the many different streams of the Gospel tradition, and no aspect is more passed over in silence today” (Meier 2016, 309).

God has created us and all of creation from the abundant outpouring of his love. Will we reject the gift of his love and invitation of communion? Will we receive, yet not actualize who we are called to be for our self and others because we would rather merely just exist, willing to be lured and entrapped by the temptations of anxiety, fear, apparent goods, and half-truths? Will we give in to the fear, too afraid to risk, to go out from ourselves to serve others? Or, will we appreciate the gift of our life and say thank you for the breath that we breathe? Are we willing to expand the love we have received by being willing to share, to multiply our talents, to embrace who God calls us to be, to love in kind, to will the good of others in the unique way God calls us to serve, whoever they may be?

I have lived the life of the wicked servant who buried his talent out of fear. I have embraced the sin of sloth by overworking and thinking I was doing good, but was it really the good God wanted me to do? As I have recognized the importance of placing prayer front and center, so that I have grown in my relationship with God, my life has become more properly ordered. I do better when I reach out and seek the hand of Jesus and accept to be led by him. I have risked and fallen, made mistakes and duffed up time and again, but have learned and persevered.

When we learn who the enemy is, are able to identify his lies, renounce and turn away from them and back to God; when we slow down instead of run from what we are afraid of and invite the Lord into these areas we will be purified, we will heal; and when we realize that the most important thing that we can do each day is pray, then we will come to know in our core, that we are not human-doings, we are human beings. God loves us as we are. As we are loved, we will then act from being loved and share the love we have received.

We are not alone. What Jesus invites, gives, and yes, demands of us, he will at the same time provide the courage, guidance, support and strength we need to carry out the task given and to bring it to fulfillment. God has a talent or two to invest. We need not fear to invest what God has given. This morning, let us breathe deep and entrust ourselves to the words of Jesus and St John Paul II who echoed them as he began his pontificate:

“Be not afraid” (Mt 14:27).

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Photo credit: dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP accessed from Aleteia

Meier, John P. A Marginal Jew: Probing the Authenticity of the Parables. Vol. 5. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, August 28, 2021

Resist the temptation to compare, trust and follow Jesus instead.

How many times have we looked to others instead of staying focused on what we need to do or be doing? How many times do we compare ourselves to others, assessing what we or others have or don’t have, how others are more or less confident, more or less better looking, more or less intelligent, and even, how our faith life is worse or better?

We get a taste of these questions and what our response ought to be from Jesus in today’s Gospel. The background of today’s reading is a continuation from yesterday’s, in which the author described how Jesus forgave Peter for denying him by asking him not only if Peter loved him, but how he was to put that love into action by feeding his lambs, taking care of and feeding his sheep. Jesus also had just let Peter know that Peter was going to die in his service to him.

Today, we read that upon hearing the news of his eventual death, that Peter shifts the direction away from himself.  When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me” (Jn 21:21-22). Jesus does not definitively say what is or is not going to happen to the beloved disciple. Jesus is clear with Peter that his focus is not to be on what is going to happen to the beloved or any other disciple, but to direct his attention to following him and his will.

Our orientation as disciples of Jesus is to follow Jesus, to focus on his will for our lives and to expend our energy in such a way that promotes his will. We are to spend less time comparing ourselves to others. This is very good advice because the temptation to compare is a very slippery slope that can easily lead us to the devastating sins of gossip, pride, and envy. If we are to compare ourselves to anyone, let it be to Jesus.

Jesus calls us to be perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect, which is an impossible task if we seek to go it alone. Yet, we can become perfected through our participation in the life of Jesus the Christ. We begin when we decide to ask for Jesus to help us make a commitment to resist the temptation to compare ourselves to others. Then when the first instant of a comparative thought arises, we can replace it with a prayer of blessing directed toward another.

Moment by moment, we just need to remember that we are not alone, that we walk with Jesus. One thought, one action, one interaction at a time, we are called to surrender our will to the love of God. By taking these steps to counter the influences of a focus on self first as well as resist the comparative and/or seeking to follow a cult of personality, we can begin to shift the momentum away from increasing divisiveness, polarity and mistrust, and instead strive toward supporting, encouraging, and uplifting one another.

As we place our trust in and follow Jesus, our thoughts, prayers, and actions will change. We will become more understanding, patient, willing to engage in conflict resolution, and dialogue. To love as Jesus loves us will help us to begin to lessen the intensity of fear, prejudice, biases, and chronic stress. As we are able to then experience his peace, let our shoulders come out of our ears, then we might be willing to see each other as human beings and through God’s eyes, as beloved daughters and sons with whom he is well pleased.

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Photo: Follow Jesus where he leads and all will be well. Back home for a quiet walk a few weeks ago.

Link for the Mass reading for Saturday, June 7, 2025

Jesus never sinned because he never doubted who he is and we can get there too!

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil (Luke 4:1-2).

He did so for the same reason he was baptized and crucified. Jesus experienced the temptations of Satan, the one who tempted Adam and Eve, to undo the effects of their original fall. Diabolos, translated as devil in English, means “slanderer” in Greek. Ha satan in Hebrew means accuser or adversary. Satan is the fallen angels, seeped in pride, who seeks divide, brings disorder to all that is good, and ultimately seeks death. We dismiss the reality of his presence at great risk. On the other hand we often give him more power than he deserves. Jesus is tempted, but unlike Adam and Eve, as well as the Hebrews following Moses in the desert, he does not give in. Jesus remains grounded in the will of his Father and so Satan has no power over him.

Jesus knows who he is and whose he is. Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, who willingly was sent by his Father to conquer the effects of sin and death by taking upon himself the sin of fallen humanity. Jesus was willing to become a sin offering on our behalf.

Jesus could have dismissed Satan, yet he endured his temptation to teach us “how to triumph over temptation” (St Augustine 1976, 87). Jesus not only teaches us how, but empowers us to overcome Satan. The weakest Christian is more powerful than Satan himself, because we can call on the name of Jesus. This is not some magic incantation, but when we call on the name of Jesus, he, in the fullness of his humanity and his divinity, is present with us. God has given Jesus the name above every other name, so that as his word is spoken, every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth (cf. Philippians 2:9-10). Just as a floodlight shines in the darkness, the darkness gives way to the light. This is even more true with Jesus. Where Jesus is present there is love, such that no fear or evil can remain.

I had a dream some time ago, I am not sure how long now, but it is still just as vivid. I was sitting on a couch in the first floor of a house. The scene shifted so that I was seeing myself sitting on the couch from above and then my view was redirected to the attic. I witnessed a misshapen, dark figure rummaging through old boxes and newspapers. He embodied pure evil. I was then back in my body, and knew this creature was moving out of the attic and coming down the stairs to the room I was sitting in. My heart was pounding and I felt petrified as I heard his steps drawing closer. I was frozen in fear. In a few more moments, he came into view. What I saw was not the figure in the attic, but a handsome man, but I knew it was him. As he continued closer my fear increased, fearing that he would touch me, then a hymn came to mind. He stopped the moment I began to sing, my fear began to dissipate and I woke up.

Evil tends to present itself at first as an apparent good, as attractive, as normal, otherwise we would reject it outright. Satan and his demons are active through whispers and nudges, they look for our weaknesses and through the same tactics as peer pressure, seek to inject their poison and manipulate our actions. I am not talking about possession here, I am just talking about their divisive influence and seeking to present disorder into God’s plan of order. The most dangerous evil is the one masked in faith. Someone who can speak the verses of a Bible and quote chapter and verse does not a Christian make.

Satan himself quoted from Psalm 91 to Jesus, tempting him to throw himself off from the parapet such that the angels would protect him, catch him, and bring him down safely lest he “dash his foot against a stone.” Jesus in today’s account from Luke deftly countered each of Satan attacks with the sword of the Word of God. Even the subtle attacks of seeking to sew doubt into the reality and truth of who he was by stating, “If you are the Son of God…” Jesus did not flinch or doubt. He grounded himself in the love he had experienced from his Father, from the faith he, as fully human, learned from and experienced with Mary and Joseph, and he stood his ground until Satan left him.

Jesus’ encounter with Satan in the desert is one for us to pray with and meditate upon often because Jesus shows us how to counter his attacks. It is not with the weapons of this world but by placing our trust in God our Father and remembering, no matter how hard the father of lies tries to convince us otherwise, we too must ground ourself in the truth that we are God’s children and he loves us and seeks our best. As we trust in him with each temptation and with every aspect of our lives, our relationship and trust in him will grow.

We will no longer rationalize what we know to be unacceptable in ourselves as well as others. We leave less room for the allurements and see the lies of Satan more clearly when we keep ourselves grounded: in the truth of who we are as the Father’s beloved daughters and sons, in Jesus’ word, and in our growing relationship with the Holy Spirit.

It is important to assess our thoughts, actions, and words with honesty and humility each day, thank God where we have said yes to his will and followed through on acting where he has led us, where we have loved, and ask for forgiveness for when we have forgotten who we are and have been led astray by the father of lies. Also, it is important to ground ourselves in the Scriptures and allow the Word of God to become a daily nourishment. Reading, meditating, and praying with a few sections slowly each day will be transforming. We can start with the reading from Luke from today and with each reading, as with Jesus, the words will become as much as part of us as the air we breathe.

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Photo: Jesus, though tempted, remained a light in the darkness so we can follow!

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, March 9, 2025

ICTHYS!

In today’s gospel account, chosen because of the feast of St Paul’s conversion, we read:

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15).

The Eleven, and Paul who would encounter Jesus after his Resurrection (cf. Acts 9:1-9), are commissioned with carrying the Gospel to the whole world. What did they preach? How are we do follow in their footsteps?

The earliest kerygmas, Greek for “to preach”, and in this case to preach the Gospel, were very simple but effective mnemonic devices. Each disciple was taught what was needed to be covered in sharing the Good News. One such “blueprint” was the symbol of the fish. In Greek, fish is written as ichthus. Each of the characters of ichthys represented the keywords that needed to be covered as follows:

Iésous – Jesus
Christos – Messiah or Anointed One
Theos – God
Hyíos – Son
Soter – Savior.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God our Savior.

The dynamic truth of these five words is profoundly transformative if we truly believe them. What we need to ask ourselves is, do we believe this statement to be true? If we do, how can we stop ourselves from smiling, from dancing, from sharing that Jesus is truly who he said he is!

Jesus is fully God and fully man and he became one of us so that we can become one with him. Through the Son of God’s Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, we are called, as were the first disciples, to share in the divinity of Jesus. We become deified, meaning we participate in the life of God through our participation in the life of Jesus. The foundation of our faith has to do with our encounter with Jesus the Christ.

Jesus invites us and encounters us in our own unique way. No one can save another. We can only propose, invite, and present the Good News that Jesus Christ is the Son of God our Savior, and share our own experiences of this reality. Our encounter with Jesus does not need to be as brilliant as happened with Paul. More often, Jesus invites us in more quiet and subtle ways. We are to share the Gospel with joy and accompany each other on our journey by providing support, encouragement, and guidance, and let God be who he is and work through us as he will.

The Apostles and Paul, Mary the Mother of God, Mary Magdalene and the many who have continued to answer yes to his invitation through the ages up until and including our day were willing to be shaped and conformed by the love of Jesus and sent on mission. Each of us, have a part to play in salvation history, and so are invited to have our own unique experience of Jesus. As Bishop Robert Barron says often, “Our faith will grow as we give it away.” We too are called. When we say, “yes” to Jesus, we too will be shaped, conformed, and sent on mission to proclaim the Gospel, to give our faith away!
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Picture: The mosaic of Jesus Christ the Pantocrator, Ruler of the Universe, at Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, Turkey. What does he ask of you today?

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, January 25, 2025

We can become like Jesus.

Ordinary time in the Church calendar year is anything but ordinary. It is during this season, that the primary focus of the readings chosen from the Gospels are on Jesus’ life and teachings. By making time to read, pray, and meditate upon his word, and then putting what we have learned into practice we become his disciples.

We get the word disciple from the Greek, mathētḗs, and Latin, discipulus, which both mean pupil. A pupil is one who learns from the teacher. And as we heard in today’s Gospel, Jesus is teaching his disciples that:“No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40).

Who wouldn’t want to be more like Jesus? There are many ways to answer that question. Some possibilities come down what people’s experience of Christians have been, what their concept of Jesus is, and what they think about and decide to do with his teachings.

When we spend any time reading his teachings, we will come across some that are challenging. Just as when those who heard that Jesus is the true bread from heaven and that those who followed him would eat his flesh and drink his blood walked away. They had enough. Multiplying five loaves and two fish were one thing, but eating his flesh and blood was quite another. But the twelve stayed, for when Jesus asked them if they would leave also, Peter said, “Where else are we to go, you have the words of eternal life.”

That is the answer of a disciple of Jesus. Even when we may not understand, disagree, or don’t feel we are capable of putting into practice some of Jesus’ teachings, we can trust that what he is saying is the truth. They are not unreasonable and not impossible. We may not understand or be able to do them because we are incapable of understanding without insight from the Holy Spirit and cannot put them into practice on our own power apart from Jesus. Jesus is the Word, he is our life and the source of our strength and with him all things are possible.

Jesus has challenged us in our most recent daily readings to love our enemies and those who hate us, outlined how we will be happy by living out the beatitudes even though they may seem counterintuitive, and as he has shared today, that we are not to judge others. If we do not agree, do not feel we can, then we bring our struggle to Jesus. We ask him to help us understand how we can love our enemy, how we can forgive, and not judge. And bring to him those specific persons we call to mind.

When we trust in Jesus, are honest with him, and share where we are struggling with his teachings, while trusting in him as Peter and the other Apostles did, we will come to understand, be transformed, and grow in our relationship with him. Seeking out guidance from those who are living those teachings is also helpful. Even when we feel like we can’t love or forgive someone, as long as we are willing to invite Jesus to help us to resist judging, to love and forgive, he will do so through us, and we will make progress. We will learn from our teacher, be empowered by him, and become like him.

Painting: Christ Taking Leave of the Apostles by Duccio Buoninsegna

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, September 13, 2024

Jesus is calling and sending us as he did his Apostles.

“I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and dresser of sycamores. The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel” (Amos 7:14-15).

Amos is pushing back against Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, who told him to no longer preach in Israel. He was saying basically, if you want to preach, go back to where you came from, to Judah and preach to your people there. Amos wasn’t going anywhere. He was not there for profit nor did come through the company or guild of prophets or was he the son of a prophet. This was no profession for him, he came to Israel to share God’s message of repentance because God sent him to do so.

The Gospel message from Mark shows Jesus doing the same. He, the Son of God, who was sent by his Father, was now sending the Twelve who he had called and taught. They too, like Amos, were to rely solely on the providence of God, to trust him to give them what they needed for their ministry of going out, to evangelize; to share the good and what may be for some, the bad news.

They were to share the goodness of God the Father’s mercy, grace, forgiveness and love, while at the same time challenge the people to reform and change their lives, to repent from that which they were doing that was going against God’s will. The beauty of this both/and is outlined in Psalm 85: “Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven” (Psalm 85:11-12).

Too many times we can fall into an overemphasis on one or the other creating an either/or. A heavy-handed emphasis on justice and forgetting the tender compassion of mercy, or an overemphasis on mercy at the expense of justice. Jesus is the incarnate expression of the balance of both justice and mercy as presented in Psalm 85.

St. Paul outlines the richness of this balance in Jesus to the Church at Ephesus. For he writes, it is in Christ that we receive our blessing, in him: we receive our redemption and are forgiven, we hear the truth of his will, and we are chosen by God in Christ – before time began! We have been chosen to be holy, set apart by God for a unique purpose. We can reject or accept this offer for God loves us so much that he is willing to risk our, “No.”

Amos seemed to be saying to Amaziah that he was quite satisfied being “a shepherd and dresser of sycamores.” Yet, he assented to God’s call and went north. I understand. I was content in my teaching position and contemplating an earlier retirement, but when I asked God what he wanted me to do, he had another idea. I, like Amos, said, “Yes.”

The Apostles said, “Yes” as well and Jesus sent them out two by two. He was sending them out of their comfort zones and without the security of the material support. He was not sending them out unprepared, even though they were not to taking anything on their journey but the tunic they wore, their sandals, and a walking stick. Jesus sent them out with his authority and the commission, to preach repentance, cast out demons, anoint and cure the sick.

They were to trust and completely depend on God’s mercy and providence as they went out to evangelize. To evangelize, Jesus did not mean to advertise and convince. They were sent to share the Gospel and not worry about whether it was to be accepted or rejected. If accepted, they would stay with those who were hospitable and not leave if a better offer of lodging came along. If they were rejected, they were to “shake the dust off their feet.” They would move on. As St. Mother Teresa likewise taught her sisters, they were not sent by Jesus to be successful, they were sent to be faithful to what Jesus was sending them to say and do.

Jesus is calling us as well to repentance, so we can receive more of God’s love, be drawn closer into relationship with him, so that we can know and fulfill our own unique role in his plan of salvation history. This is a call that will stretch us beyond our comfort zones, it is a call to let go of the security in anything material and to rely and depend instead upon God first and foremost. We will face rejection and ridicule or worse, and yet, we will experience fulfillment, meaning, joy, and a love beyond anything we can ever imagine. Each day is a new opportunity to say yes to the invitation Jesus shares with us and he will provide what we need to follow him as we walk upon the path of our journey of discipleship one step at a time.

Photo: Spending some time with Jesus and the Apostles during my holy hour in our adoration chapel yesterday afternoon before celebrating the 4:30 Mass at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, July 14, 2024

Any willingness to share, Jesus will multiply.

As Christians we are called to be disciples of Jesus, to learn his teachings, and follow his ways. We are also called to be apostles in that we are to go out, proclaim, and share that he is who he said he is, and how he has affected our lives. Often when we are reminded of this message though, we may feel inadequate. We may question what it is that we can even possibly offer to help build up the kingdom of God. We may feel we have nothing to share, nothing to give, nothing to say, or that what the Lord asks of us, we do not know how to accomplish.

The disciples express similar feelings today for the latter point. Jesus shows concern for the thousands who had just listened to him for three days and are readying to depart. He is concerned that they are hungry and that some may collapse on their way home. The disciples look about bewildered as to how they could possibly feed the vast crowd. Then Jesus asked, “How many loaves do you have” (Mk 8:5)? They responded that they had seven loaves and two fish. Jesus would go on to feed, not only the whole multitude gathered, but when all ate their fill, seven baskets of bread fragments were left over.

We may not know how to take active steps to live our faith out in our daily lives, we may not even be aware of how to begin. On the other hand, we may have actually been engaged in service, but have started to coast, gotten complacent. If we are not moving ahead in the spiritual life, we are moving behind.

Each day is a new opportunity to begin again, and a good way to do so is to place ourselves in the presence of Jesus. We can sit before a statue, a picture, or an icon of him, we can look out a window, sit on a porch, or go outside. Any place that we can just be still and close our eyes will work. Then take some deep breaths, be silent and return to today’s Gospel account. The need of the people that were with Jesus for three days was hunger. As you reflect, what is your need? What needs might there be in your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, or classmates? What needs in your community?

As you ponder these questions, resist any temptation to self-censor. Allow any need or needs to arise. Once you identify a concern, listen to the same words Jesus asked, “What do you have, what can you offer?”

You may not have an immediate answer. Stay with the question for a period of time, take it with you throughout the day if need be. Resist looking for the big response, a grand plan. Ask yourself what you can offer, no matter how small. Your willingness to share and to help, Jesus can multiply and bring about amazing results.

The disciples only gave seven loaves and two fish, which seemed insignificant to feed the thousands, and yet, Jesus multiplied that meager amount to feed all present with seven baskets left over. Jesus provides, Jesus works through us. The question we need to answer is not are we worthy, wise, or strong enough? The question we need to answer is, “Are we willing?”

Photo: St. Vincent De Paul, our patron saint at the seminary, was willing to help and Jesus touched many through him. Entry to St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, February 10, 2024