discipleship

Even though Jesus was hated and persecuted, he chose to love and so can we.

When Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first”, Jesus was not proposing an-us-verses them mentality. It can be easily taken that way and certainly has been lived out in many ways in our society and world. Yet, an-us-verses them mentality is usually a defensive posture assumed by those who often feel or are actuality being persecuted. It is an understandable posture. It is just not the stance that Jesus proposes us to take. We are to love our enemies, we are to love those who hate us. Impossible? Yes, on our own will power alone, for apart from Jesus we can do nothing, but with him all things are possible.

Jesus makes it plain to his apostles. They need to be prepared, for the same persecution that has been happening to him will happen to them. They will be persecuted, mocked, imprisoned, and give their lives just as Jesus did. The gospel message is a challenge. We are challenged to have a change of mind and heart, to be conformed to the love of Jesus the Christ. This means that our focus must shift from that of self-focused, self-first and foremost, as well as I – me – mine. Instead of curving in upon ourselves and constricting, we are to look up and out beyond ourselves and put God first. With God holding priority of place in our lives we will expand and heal.

We know that we are putting God first instead of our fallen nature when we react less and love more. Reactions are based on survival instincts, which can be exacerbated with an-us-verses them mentality. “They” are responsible for the state I am in, it is all “their” fault, “they” made me do it… These are all reactive thoughts that can lead to more divisive and uglier statements and actions. Jesus invites us to assume the disposition of mindful action not reaction.

To resist reacting, we need to be willing to slow down and pay attention to our interior voices. We can slow down when we experience an emotional reaction, by breathing into the emotion, feel it instead of reacting or denying it, and then see if we can hear the thought or thoughts that are feeding the emotion(s). Spending time to recollect, just to breathe and allow our minds to settle, helps us to get in touch with our emotions and thoughts. Then bringing them to Jesus, he can help us to identify them and instead of reaction being our default position, we can begin to choose if we want to react or not. Instead of reacting, we can choose how Jesus is inviting us to respond. 

Much of our reactions comes from our harried pace, keeping us from being in touch with our deep-seated anxieties, suffering, and fears. Instead of running from the mirror Jesus holds up to us, may we stop and pray with him regularly. In this way, we can see our wounds, not just our sins and unhealthy choices, but the reasons why we are choosing to do what we don’t want to do instead of what we want to do. Healing begins when we allow ourselves to take some deep breaths, ask Jesus to be present with us in daily quiet moments and receive the light of his love. We can then see those hidden places that we have not wanted to face, those areas that rumble when a trigger is tripped, when our impatience starts to swirl, and/or our reaction begins to form. 

Since we are not machines to be fixed, we only need to allow ourselves to be loved by Jesus in the places that we have been afraid to let anyone see for fear of being rejected or abandoned. As we daily begin to breathe, receive, rest, and abide in Jesus’ love, we will become more patient, understanding, truer to who he calls us to be: People of love, willing the other’s good, accepting and encountering each other as fellow brothers and sisters on our journey together. In seeking to understand someone instead of reacting, we can then choose to listen and love as our first response, and come to recognize that the common denominator for each of us is that we are all wounded, imperfect, experience loneliness, and that we just want to belong and be loved.

May we allow the love of the Holy Spirit to guide and flow through us, so as to dissolve walls of hate and division, and instead build bridges of dialogue and healing. Instead of a tit for tat approach to contempt, hate, and dehumanization, we can choose instead to pause, breath, and turn again and again to Jesus for the strength to resist the easy and impulsive reaction so as to not act in kind but instead respond with acts of understanding, empowerment, and love.

Please let us take good care of ourselves and each other today.

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Photo: Wanting to learn how to slow down? Stop and look up and breathe slow. Doing just that in Woodstock, GA this evening.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, May 9, 2026

Remaining attached to the vine, Jesus, our source, we will bear rich fruit.

As the branch of the vine matures, it begins to look more like the vine itself. As the branch remains connected to the vine, as it is sustained by the nourishment provided, and protected by the vine grower, the branches become more and more conformed to the vine. This is also true in the event that a branch not originally attached to the vine is grafted to it. Over time, the branches are almost indistinguishable from the vine itself. The blessing of the vine does not stop there. A healthy and mature branch will also bear fruit.

Our hope, as disciples of Jesus, no matter what our background, culture, gender, ethnicity, or race will be the same. We are to be one as the Son and the Father are one. As St Paul has written to the Churches in Galatia and Collosse: “In Christ there is neither Jew or Greek, circumcision or uncircumcision, male or female, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free because we are all one in Christ” (cf. Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11).

Being a disciple of Jesus is not being a mindless follower of his. Quite the opposite! The more we are conformed to Jesus, the more we come to know him and also come to experience the unique gift of ourselves. We begin to let go of the pressures to conform to the pressures of the world, that which stunts our growth, and begin to embrace the freedom and truth of who we are. That freedom that just wants to burst out is allowed to be free when we die to our false selves and live in the love of Christ.

We will experience the freedom of being fully alive when we accept the invitation of Jesus to enter the divine communion of love between himself and his Father. We remain connected to him as the vine when we also “obey Jesus and love one another with God’s radical, self-giving love” (Martin and Wright, 254). Focusing solely and turning in upon ourselves disconnects us from the vine, from the very source of our lives. Just as the body will suffer without water and food, so our soul will suffer if we are separated from the living spring of our sustenance. Remaining attached to Jesus, the vine, means that we will mature and bear the fruit of joy that expands out beyond ourselves to engage others.

A good measure of our ripe harvest is when we: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful” (Colossians 3:12-15).

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Photo: Accessed from Coravin Wine

Martin, Francis and Wright, IV, William M. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, May 6, 2025

The commandments of Jesus do not constrict but expand our freedom to be loved and to love.

“Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me” (John 14:21).

Especially in our modern, western mind set, the idea or mere mention of following commandments may cause a bristling. Mostly this is because of the witnessing weakness of our fallen nature expressed in egregious ways through the abuse of power, abuse in relationships, and a weakening of trust in secular and religious institutions.

Jesus though is offering more of a challenge as he draws the following of commandments and love together. He is sharing with his apostles in the beginning stages of his farewell discourse, and before his crucifixion, what he feels is most important to share. His testament that he not only wants to give, but these final words he wants to impart upon them in such a way that they continue to learn and receive his teachings, put them into practice, allow themselves to be transformed by and so perpetuate them.

Just as commandments can lead one to bristle, love has many more superficial meanings than what Jesus means. One reason is that, even though the English language has a plethora of words to utilize and choose from, there is only one word for love and it is interpreted and used in many ways. In Ancient Greek, there are four words that are used to connote love. There is eros, which has to do with attraction. It is the beginning stage of love because we are drawn out of ourselves as we are attracted to another. The next word for love is philia, which aligns with friendship, a wanting to be together, to share between friends. If our love matures it moves from attraction or infatuation to friendship. The third word, storge, is the deeper love shared with family members which can be through blood or a deepening of friendship. The fourth word is agape, which is unconditional love, a sacrificial love.

When Jesus shares that we are to follow the commandments, he is not demanding that we do so as a tyrant would. He is providing boundaries, guard rail, parameters for us to grow and mature as people who love, who, in the words of St Thomas Aquinas, will the good of the other as other. As humans, we are social beings. We want to belong, to be accepted, and to be a part of. We seek meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in our lives. This is best done through cooperation and collaboration with God and with one another, striving to love unconditionally, agape. We desire to belong, to be loved, and to love in return. Yet, we need to ground our love in God first or our pursuit of love and belonging will be disordered.

As a good son of St. Augustine, Pope Leo XIV quoted Augustine in his inaugural Mass as Pope last year: “Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you (Confessions, I: 1,1).” We are made by God to be loved and to love in return. Nothing we seek in this world will satisfy this deepest hunger that we all have in our soul besides the love God has for us. Unfortunately, we succumb to many disordered affections in pursuit of the love we seek. We are led astray by apparent goods that leave us hungry, thirsty, and wanting for more.

If we operate from a self-centered posture in which we are only turned in upon our self, and we only seek to manipulate and get from others, or worse, objectify others. Instead of working for consensus and sharing a common vision, we will ultimately be empty with the exchange on any level, because even in our relationships as with material things, we will be left wanting more. This is true because once the immediacy of the stimulation, whether material, emotional, or sensual, ends, so does the experience of the feeling. Some happiness may linger from the effect, but we will never be filled or satisfied with that which is finite. We will continue to seek more and more until the pursuit of instant and constant gratification ensnares us and we are entangled in a web of addiction.

God’s commandments, grounded in love, are meant to provide boundaries for us, training wheels, and to keep us free from enslavement to sin. The commandments point us to that which is not apparently but truly good for a wholesome and whole life. At the same time God’s commandments and the teachings of Jesus help us to mature as persons moving away from a posture of being self-centered to becoming disciples that love as Jesus loves.

Discipline in this way is meant to be a means of freedom for excellence such that we can become who God calls us to be and who we truly desire to be. God is not in competition with us. He is our biggest fan. As St Irenaeus wrote, the glory of God is the human being fully alive! When we can rest in the truth that God loves us as we are, even in our sin, when we can stop, breathe, receive, rest, and abide in his love, we can begin to settle and feel safe. Our restlessness can slow, the grasping can release, and we can just be, be loved, be ourselves, and experience peace.

Commandments and morality imposed indiscriminately, without reason or an end goal is a bludgeon. Love and mercy without accountability and justice can be enabling. Jesus’ invites us to receive and observe his commandments so that we may be freed from disordered affections and so properly order and discipline our desires and passions to be free to love authentically. Jesus knows what will truly fulfill and give us deeper meaning. May we trust in and learn from the deposit of faith passed on from Jesus to the Apostles, to each successive generation, as well as the ongoing guidance of the Holy Spirit, our Advocate that the Father sent in his name (John 14:26).

Pope Leo XIV, the vicar of Christ, implored us about a year ago: “Brothers and sisters, this is the hour for love! The heart of the gospel is the love of God that makes us brothers and sisters.” We are brothers and sisters, disciples of Jesus, when we receive and put into practice Jesus’s commandments, when we love him and his Father, we are given the discernment to reveal the lies of the enemy, we grow, and mature in our spiritual lives. The “heart of the gospel” Pope Leo preached in his inaugural address echoed again in his Sunday Regina Caeli address, May 3, 2026.

Having faith in God and Jesus “frees our hearts from the anxiety of possessing and acquiring, and from the illusion that we must pursue a position of prestige to have worth. Each person already has infinite worth in the mystery of God, which is the true reality. By loving one another as Jesus has loved us, we impart this awareness to one another… through love, amidst a multitude of brothers and sisters, each one discovers that they are uniquely made.”

Let us allow and continue to allow the tender chords of the Holy Spirit’s love to draw us deeper into intimacy with Jesus so that we can be transformed, forgiven, and healed by his love, and so freed from the false lures and promises that seek to divert us from being the beloved daughters and sons of God our Father that he has uniquely created us to be.

Photo: Pope Leo Regina Caeli address (Vatican Media)

Quotes above from Pope Leo XIV Inauguration Mass, May 18, 2025: Transcript of Pope Leo XIV’s Homily

Pope Leo XIV Regina Caeli, Sunday May 3

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, May 4, 2026

Jesus does not ration his gift of the Spirit.

The question that arises and is foremost regarding Christianity above all else is, “Who is Jesus?” How this is answered has a lot to do with what we believe. Biblical scholars debate whether today’s passage, John 3:31-36 is a continuation of John the Baptist talking with his disciples or these are an insertion by John the author. No matter who is the source of these points of concern, the goal is coming to understand and to believe that Jesus is the one who “comes from above” and the one who “comes from heaven is above all”; he “testifies to what he has seen and heard” and he is sent by God to speak “the words of God”; he is also generous in that he “does not ration the gift of the Spirit”; and the Son is loved by the Father and God “has given everything over to him”.
Each of these phrases are revealing the truth that Jesus is the Son of God who has come from above to reveal the truth about his Father and that he is able to do so because he has seen and has an infinite relationship with his Father. Jesus preaches the Gospel, the Good News, that God loves us, that he seeks and has always sought, to be in communion with us, his created beings. Jesus has come to reveal the love of the Father and that his love is unlimited.
The proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah, is not just revealed in the Gospel of John, but each of the three other Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as well as the other epistles of the New Testament. Jesus, as the Son of God, is also the key to unlocking the Hebrew Scriptures, and we can see how the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings all point to Jesus as well. Jesus shared this outline of salvation history with Cleopas and the other disciple on the road to Emmaus, such that their hearts were burning within them while Jesus opened the scriptures to them (cf. Lk 24:32).
John the Baptist got it and the Apostle John and the other apostles eventually got it. They came to understand that Jesus is the Son of the Living God and that he offers a model for us to follow, but more than that, Jesus empowers us with his very life. This was a key point of surrender for John the Baptist when he shared with his disciples, the truth that, he, they and we are all called to ascribe to if we are to grow in our faith: “He must increase; I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). May we spend some time in quiet reflection today by pondering the phrases offered to us regarding who Jesus is. Which one, two, or do all of them call to you?
“The one who comes from above is above all.”
“The one who comes from heaven is above all.”
“He testifies to what he has seen and heard.”
“For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.”
“He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.”
“The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him.”
When we have finished, what is our response? Do we disobey or discount that Jesus is who he says he is or do we “accept his testimony” and “certify that God is trustworthy”? If we “accept his testimony”, are we willing to decrease, such that he will increase his influence in our lives? Do we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God?
Reading, meditating, praying with and listening to the Gospel readings, helps us to encounter, sit at the feet of, and be in the presence of Jesus who teaches us in our time as he did with each generation of believers from the time of the apostles to our present age. Are we willing to be still, listen, and come to him daily? If yes, then in the words of Pope Benedict XVI, we will meet the Risen Christ and “know him intimately by the power of the Holy Spirit…” and have “actually touched him” so that we “can witness to him” (Martin and Wright, 79).
Let us not follow the lead of the rich man who walked away sad from his encounter with Jesus. May we instead follow the lead of the Apostles, Mary Magdalene, the woman at the well, Cleopas and his companion, surrender our lives to him, and so be loved, forgiven, healed, transformed, that we may be witnesses of Jesus’ joy.
Photo: Jesus did not ration his love, he gave all of himself, holding nothing back, not even his life, so that we may know him and his Father intimately and so experience the outpouring of their love shared between them, the Holy Spirit.
Pope Benedict XVI, “Homily,” May 7, 2005 found in: Martin, Francis and Wright IV, William M. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015.
Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, April 16, 2026

“By means of baptism, we are born into communion with Jesus and the Father through the Holy Spirit”.

Nicodemus came to Jesus in the night. He was a Pharisee, showing that not all Pharisees refused to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Most likely, Nicodemus was not there alone as he shared, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God”. Although, Nicodemus did not reject Jesus outright, he did not understand the fullness of who he was either. His heart and mind was open to what Jesus was teaching and he recognized that Jesus was sent by God. His coming at night most likely showed he was also not yet willing to support Jesus publicly and also on the spiritual level conveyed his lack of understanding regarding the message of Jesus.
He was not alone. For throughout the gospels, it is rare that anyone gets Jesus’ teaching on the first presentation, or second or third, if they are willing to stay with him that long. Nor do they get his deeper meanings if they do have some comprehension. Jesus though recognizes the opening that Nicodemus offers and he approaches Nicodemus as he did with his disciples. Where they are willing and open to learn, Jesus met them where were are and sought to stretch and expand there understanding to move from the things of the finite and below to lift them to spiritual insight and the things from above.
Jesus offers the image of being “born from above” to Nicodemus to help him to exercise his spiritual sight and muscles. Nicodemus takes Jesus words on the literal level and asks how someone can be born again and go back into their mother’s womb. Jesus taught Nicodemus that we as human beings are in need of receiving a new life, a life “born of the Spirit.” When we are born from above we are born again a second time. Jesus is speaking of baptism. We are given our life the first time through our parents, being born from below, and through the water and the Spirit are born again and made new. We are baptized into the death of Jesus and born again in the newness of his resurrection.
“This second birth from heaven is baptism. which is an action of the Holy Spirit. Through the water rite, the believer is joined to Jesus’ death and resurrection (Rom 6:4-5) and receives the indwelling Holy Spirit. If the kingdom of God is Jesus himself, then to enter the kingdom is to be given a share in Jesus’ own life. By means of baptism, we are born into communion with Jesus and the Father through the Holy Spirit” (Martin and Wright, 71).
What Jesus has begun to convey to Nicodemus, he will continue. He has done the same with his Apostles, other disciples, as well as anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear. His teachings have continued because there are those who have stuck with even while struggling with his teachings, have been willing to be transformed by them through the Holy Spirit and so have passed Jesus teachings, such as, the life of being born from above through baptism and the other sacraments, on. This continued for generations and in each age up to us our present day.
Christianity is not like Gnosticism, some secret sect of knowledge that is shared with a select, elite few. Neither is Christianity a form of dualism or Manicheism such that our body and all that is material are bad and we need to shed the physical as soon as possible to attain the fullness of our potential through the absolute embrace of the spiritual only. Nor is Christianity Pelagianism, where we just need the proper discipline, will power, and persistence to follow the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus offers us a universal invitation for all to “be born from above”, which means to be baptized in his name, to follow him into his death, to die to our our false sense of self, to our sin, our pride, that attitude and disposition that strives to set apart, diminish, devalue, dehumanize, divide, and polarize, and to rise with him. In being “born from above”, we receive the offer to participate in his divinity through the purifying fire and love of the Holy Spirit and so, instead of rejecting our humanity, embrace the fullness of our humanity, as we are being perfected by our participation in the life of Jesus.
The grace of God builds on our nature, the goodness of the creation he has made and formed into existence through an outpouring of his love. We accomplish this the same way his mother Mary, the Apostles, Mary Magdalene, the disciples, and Nicodemus did. We answer the call to holiness and sanctity. We say, “Yes” to Jesus and give him all we are and recognize all that we have is a gift from God the Father.
Day by day we need to be willing to be lead by the hand of Jesus, the firstborn of the new creation, he will lead us to our healing and guide us to offer our hand to others. May we resist the temptation to put up barriers, to keep others at arm’s length. We are all, every one of us, invited to become saints through our participation in the life of Jesus.
I agree with Pope Francis who in his exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate (“Rejoice and Be Glad”), wrote that we cannot “claim to say where God is not, because God is mysteriously present in the life of every person, in a way that he himself chooses, and we cannot exclude this by our presumed certainties. Even when someone’s life appears completely wrecked, even when we see it devastated by vices or addictions, God is present there. If we let ourselves be guided by the Spirit rather than our own preconceptions, we can and must try to find the Lord in every human life.”
God is present to us in each of our lives. For those of us who have been, may we embrace the gift of our baptism, so to better understand what Jesus was teaching Nicodemus, that we have been “born from above”. Through our dying and rising in Christ, we have better access and a share in the breath and life of the Holy Spirit. In this way, we are transformed and made new by the Holy Spirit when we believe and follow his guidance. We are invited to share and draw deeply from this spring of living water and lead others to the same source.
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Photo: My baptism, July 18, 1965 and my journey to the priesthood begins.
Martin, Francis and William M. Wright IV. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015.
Link for the Pope Francis article on “Rejoice and Be Glad”
Link for the Mass readings for Monday, April 13, 2026

When we encounter Jesus for ourselves, we too will have some good news to share!

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark, 16:9-16, is commonly called, “The Longer Ending.” Most ancient manuscripts of Mark end at 16:8. Whether this Gospel ended there or the original ending was lost is not definitively known. Many biblical scholars also recognize in these verses a different writing style, so attribute this longer ending to a different author. This ending recounts that Mary Magdalene and two disciples, presumably the same on the road to Emmaus as recorded in Luke, met the risen Jesus. When both Mary and the this pair share their experiences with the eleven, they are not believed, and then, “later, as the eleven were at table, he [Jesus] appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart”

How many times had Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for being hard of heart? Now he is saying the same to the eleven for not believing the accounts of Mary and the two disciples. We do not have a reason for their unbelief and maybe that is well and good because that gives us the opportunity to ponder for ourselves when has someone brought us a message from Jesus and we responded to them with hard hearts and were unbelieving? Are there certain people we would not believe no matter what good news they had to share with us? Have we brought the good news of our encounter with Jesus and it was met with coldness or even disdain?

Mary a woman and a woman that has had seven demons exorcized from her would not have been considered a credible witness in the ancient near East. And yet, Jesus chose her to appear to first and to bring the message of his resurrection to the Apostles. And that such an “unreliable” source, Mary’s witness, has been retained in all four gospels has something to also say – Mary encountered Jesus, believed, and shared what she saw and experienced and although initially not believe, her testimony was preserved.

Jesus does not belabor the point. His conviction helped them to see that as his followers their hearts needed to be open to him working through others, as he told John when someone was casting out demons in Jesus’ name, “whoever is not against us is for us” (cf. Mk 9:40). He was also preparing them for those who would believe their testimonies.

Christianity is not a secret sect, it is a universal call and proclamation to be shared with all. We are celebrating in this Easter Octave, as we continue to do so each year, the fullness of the Paschal Mystery. Not only did the Son of God became incarnate and live the fullness of a human existence, he suffered, died, conquered death, and rose again, for all of humanity and creation.

This was no mere resuscitation like Lazarus who would die again. Jesus conquered death and became the firstborn of the new creation and he invites us to participate in his reign. He invites us to share in his divinity. The resurrection is the Good News he wanted his eleven to proclaim when he said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15).

Do we believe the apostolic claim that was first shared by Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles, and has been passed on generation after generation? Will we, like those who have gone before us, receive, abide in, and share the love of God? Jesus is calling us to do so not for a select few in our pew, but for all in our realm of influence. We are to build relationships by bringing the light, joy, and love of Jesus to each individual that we meet, person to person. Let us also be open to God working through others and receive his message from them as well! Alleluia!!!Alleluia!!!

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Photo: Elizabeth Tabish, playing Mary Magdalene in the series The Chosen.

Link for the Mass readings for April 11, 2025

Jesus will open the Scriptures to us when we make the time to spend with him.

Just as we read yesterday, Jesus came among Cleopas and the other disciple on their road to Emmaus, Jesus does so again as the pair was recounting their encounter with the risen Jesus to the apostles. To assuage the fear brought on by his sudden appearance he said and to assure that he was no ghost, “Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have” (Lk 24:39). He then requested some fish and he ate and talked with his disciples as he had done in their times together before his death and resurrection.

We have heard about the resurrection of Jesus, maybe for years, but it is important not to get complacent with the amazing miracle that this is. Also, we need to resist the temptation to diminish in any way the significance of the transfiguration of Jesus. Jesus was and continues to be a hypostatic union, meaning Jesus is one divine person subsisting in two natures, the human and divine.

The humanity of Jesus through his resurrection was fully actualized and transcended the limitations of the three-dimensional realm that he had experienced in his humanity before. This is how he could disappear after making himself known in the breaking of the bread and how he just came through a locked door to interact with his disciples.

The relevance of the bodily resurrection of Jesus for us is that he, in dying and conquering death, is now the reality of who we will one day be. We will be perfected in Jesus to be as God has created us to be. The good news is that we do not have to wait to go to heaven for this process to begin! The path of becoming fulfilled and whole begins in this life, now, as we accept Jesus as our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer. Jesus in his encounter with his disciples from today’s reading from Luke continues the message he began at the beginning of his ministry, which is one of repentance and forgiveness.

When we were baptized we were born again as an integral part of the new creation given to us by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Through this grace, our humanity has been redeemed. Each day we are to live in humility, calling to mind our sins and repenting daily. God loves us as we are as his beloved daughters and sons, but he does not want us to stay where we are. Jesus will help us to identify that which stunts our growth and healing, that which leads us astray and diverts us from growing in closer relationship with him. Jesus suffered and died for each and every one of us, and he also seeks to live through us. Jesus is the foundation and source of our lives and he is our means to salvation. Jesus has come to show us that we are not in competition with God, but that his Father, our Father, seeks to be in communion and solidarity with us.

One of the best ways to grow in our relationship with God is to rest and renew in God’s word. We are blessed that the Church gives us daily readings at Mass that we can read, meditate, and pray with each day. We can also certainly work through one of the Gospels or any book of the Bible at our own pace. God has a word to communicate with each of us when we make the time to be still, breathe, read, and pray.

Jesus opened up the minds of Clopas, his companion, and the Apostles. Jesus will open our minds as well, help us to understand the Scriptures, and reveal himself to us when we are willing to slow down long enough and are committed to doing so daily. Even when we feel tired, let us resist scrolling through social media or surfing channels, which actually don’t help us renew, but instead continue to overstimulate our nervous system and can get us hyped up on dopamine.

May we instead rest and abide in God’s word which will help our minds to come to rest, renew, and discern better how to resist frittering away the precious time that God gives us each day. In reading the words of the Bible, in meditating and praying with them as well as just resting in God’s presence, we will slow down enough to remember who and whose we are. When we can rest in that truth, healing continues, and wholeness is possible.

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Photo: Where I end that majority of my evenings now. Breathing, reading, meditating and praying with the Bible.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, April 9, 2026

We too ought to wash one another’s feet.

A key focal point of the last supper narrative in the Gospel of John is Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Washing feet was certainly a custom in the ancient Near East, for either people walked barefoot or wore sandals. In either event, people’s feet became quite sore and dirty getting from here to there. What accumulated on a person’s feet was also substantial. Washing of the feet was a hospitable way to welcome guests into one’s home. This action though was the most menial of tasks and often performed by slaves or the lowest of servants.

After washing his disciples’ feet and sitting down, Jesus said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:13-14). Jesus shared with those who were to carry on his message and ministry that they were not to feel so high and mighty in this appointment. The Apostles, those sent by Jesus, were to look at their ministry as seeking how best to serve others, not seeking to be served themselves.

The ultimate service will be displayed in only a few more days. Jesus’ washing of his disciples feet was a foreshadowing of the ultimate act of humility and service that Jesus would show in giving his life for them on the cross. The most degrading, humiliating, and painful of deaths. Jesus gave his life on the cross as did Peter: “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me” (John 13:8). Peter did not grasp what Jesus was talking about. He followed Jesus on the literal level of the feet washing and much as he did when Jesus told him that he must die, Peter did not understand then either.

Traditionally, this evening at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, select members of the parish will come to have a foot washed by the priests, following the model set by Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. This would remind all of us, as members of the Church, that we are all an integral part of the Body of Christ. Reenacting the actions of Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel, brings the vivid reality of Jesus’ invitation. We are at our best when we are willing to serve, support, and lift one another up. This is to be true when all is well and rosy, in addition to when conflict and challenges arise in the messiness of our daily lives.

Pope Francis, in his homily on April 5, 2020 highlighted this same point: “Dear brothers and sisters, what can we do in comparison with God, who served us even to the point of being betrayed and abandoned? We can refuse to betray him for whom we were created, and not abandon what really matters in our lives. We were put in this world to love him and our neighbors. Everything else passes away, only this remains. The tragedy we are experiencing summons us to take seriously the things that are serious, and not to be caught up in those that matter less; to rediscover that life is of no use if not used to serve others. For life is measured by love.”

We best exemplify Jesus’ washing of the feet when we resist the allure and temptation of pride because our life is not about us. We are not the center of the universe. Jesus shows us a better way and invites us to walk away from the table presenting a buffet of false substitutes for God: pleasure, wealth, fame and power. We are not to curve in upon ourselves either, afraid that our sins are not forgivable. Jesus has not abandoned us and he never tires of loving, forgiving, and serving us. Jesus gave his life for us, and is with us every step of our journey. As we receive and experience his love and forgiveness, may we be more willing to love and serve one another.

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Painting: “Jesus Washing Peter’s Feet” by Ford Madox Brown

Link for the Mass reading for Holy Thursday Evening

When we remember Jesus is with us and for us, we can always change, we can always change course.

As Jesus and his companions shared the Passover, Jesus offered this morsel, “One of you will betray me” (Mt 26:21). I am sure that this bitter herb shifted the mood of the meal and fellowship. Each apostle asked if they were the one to betray him. There is no recorded response, though the assumption is that Jesus says no to each, except for one.

A unique feature about this exchange was that each of the disciples in asking Jesus if they would betray him prefaced their request by calling him, Lord. In doing so, they acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah. When Judas addressed Jesus he called him, Rabbi. He did not acknowledge Jesus as his Lord. Could this be a tell regarding why Judas was willing to turn Jesus over because he did not believe Jesus to be the Messiah, that he too believed Jesus to be a blasphemer?

Jesus’ response to Judas was an affirmation of truth: “You have said so” (Mt 26:25).

Jesus offered this affirmative response two other times, confirming each time the truth presented to him by another. When Caiaphas asked if he was the Messiah and then later with Pilate when he asked Jesus if he was the king of the Jews. In answering in the affirmative to Judas, was Jesus giving him the opportunity to look at himself in the mirror? Jesus knew that Judas would betray him, he did not have to make this point known. Judas could have remained silent, yet he asked, as did the others who went before him. Could he have been contemplating shifting his prior determination of betrayal? Was Jesus inviting Judas to acknowledge what he had agreed to do, confess, change course, and ask for forgiveness?

Judas chose his course of action to betray Jesus, and unfortunately, even with Jesus’ intervention, Judas was not able or willing to stop or change course. Judas fulfilled his agreement with the chief priests to turn Jesus over. Often we set a similar course of action and even when Jesus makes an attempt to intercede on our behalf, we do not slow down enough to hear.

God speaks to us in the silence of our hearts but too often we are focused on or diverted by other things and we do not hear. We can instead allow fear, anxiety, pride, prejudice, a grudge, or anger to be our guide. We can be too blind to see or too determined to do it our own way, regardless of the consequences. Habitual reactions can also be a big challenge. We can also buy into the lie that the momentum is already too strong to turn around. That it is too late to change course.

We need to know in the depth of our being, that it is never too late to change course, to make amends, to repent, and to turn back to God. The first step is being willing to be still or aware enough to hear or see his guidance. The second step is to be willing to look in the mirror and see what Jesus presents to us, accept what we see, and then seek his forgiveness and repent. Yet, sometimes we feel we are digging ourselves into a hole that we can’t escape from. The answer is that we need to just stop digging and put the shovel down. Jesus will meet us in the deepest of the holes we have dug for ourselves and when we are willing to stop, he will but us on his shoulders and lift us out!

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Photo: One way to remember Jesus is with us, is to breathe, slow down, and look up.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Will we choose to remain in the darkness or come into the light?

The Gospel reading for today from John is painful on two fronts. First, Jesus said to Judas, “What you are going to do, do quickly” (Jn 13:27). Did their eyes meet at that moment, was there an unspoken appeal from Jesus to Judas, or had that already been settled? Judas aligned himself with Satan and set his course. Worse, he removed himself from Jesus and his companions and it was night.

Reference to night in the Bible is typically not a good sign. This is not only the time of day, it is also the spiritual absence of the light in which Judas has now entered. This night has also begun its descent upon Peter as well, although he is not yet fully conscious of the darkness creeping upon him as well.

The second front appears at the end of today’s reading. Despite Peter’s apparent full endorsement of Jesus and promise to even lay his life down for him, Jesus predicted that “the cock will not crow until” Peter will deny him “three times” (Jn 13:38). The momentum of utter betrayal builds. Judas will agree to turn Jesus over for thirty pieces of silver. He will betray the Son of God, yet in so doing, Judas will play his part in salvation history.

Judas will set in motion Jesus’ arrest that will culminate in his crucifixion. Peter will come to deny Jesus three times as Jesus predicted. I cannot think of any experience worse than the pain of betrayal. Yet, how is it that we betray Jesus each day? Remember what he taught us, “What you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me” (Mt 25:45). Who and how have we betrayed Jesus in our lives? This is an important question to ask, and what is even more important is that we not only answer it honestly but seek forgiveness and resist the temptation of isolating ourselves in our sin and pride.

Judas separated himself, cut himself off from Jesus and his companions. As we read or heard this past Sunday, Judas realized his sin, though he did not seek forgiveness. He chose to isolate himself further and in his despair took his life. Peter, also regretted his sin, his cowardice, he wept when he heard the cock crow, but he also trusted, and later affirmed his love for Jesus three times, atoning for his three denials and was forgiven.

This Holy Week we can choose to walk the path of Judas or Peter. With each humble step may we come to see how our spirits are often willing but our bodies are weak, that we have been wounded by others and acted in kind, so falling short of who God has called us to be in what we have done and what we have failed to do.

Through our awareness of our unworthiness though, we must resist isolating and beating ourselves up, but instead recognize that Jesus has come not to call the righteous but sinners. That is Good News! Jesus has come to save us, free us from our sin. We can begin this Holy Week by repenting and seeking forgiveness, and walk out of the darkness, resist the temptation of isolation, and walk into the light. Confessing our sins, we will be forgiven, we will receive the love of Jesus, so that we can rest and abide there, and continue our journey of healing so that we will become wounded healers like Peter and the apostles!

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Photo: Looking up and to the things of heaven. A good practice for Holy Week and a good way to breathe deep and allow ourselves to be loved by God and experience some healing.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, March 31, 2026