discipleship

Slowing down will help us to be one as Jesus and his Father are one.

“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one” (Jn 17:11).

Jesus is well aware of the temptations of the world, recognizes that the disciples will need the protection of his intercession, that they will remain faithful only if they remain in his love and in relationship with him. The unity that the Father and Son share is an eternal and infinite communion. Jesus, as the Son of God, continued to be one with his Father, while fully experiencing his humanity. As a human being, Jesus faced the same temptations present in this world that we face. The difference is that with each choice that he made, as a human being with a free human will, he chose to be faithful to his Father at each and every opportunity, and so his unity of his humanity remained intact and deepened.

Jesus sought the same unity that he shares with his Father for his disciples and he seeks the same for us today. His hope is that we may be one as he and the Father are one. Yet, he is not going to pull us out of the world for that to happen. “I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One” (Jn 17:15). The disciples then and us today, are to do as Jesus did. We are to welcome the invitation to be in a relationship with God, come to know his will, and share it with those we encounter in our realm of influence. We are not to be transformed by the world, but we are to allow God to transform us by the renewal of our minds and hearts. As we do so, we can also bring Jesus’ light into the darkness as God works through us one person at a time.

Following the will of God is not easy. Many distractions, diversions, and temptations pull at us and attempt to draw us away from being faithful and true to God, ourselves, and who God calls us to be. Many times these distractions not only appear to be, but are good. The challenge is not whether we are good or evil, we are being good or doing good, but are we doing God’s will, are we doing what God is calling us to do?

Being able to stop, be still, quiet our mind, and just breathe for a sustained period of time can help us to learn to recollect. Often when we attempt to spend time in prayer, we finish at the moment we are really just getting ready to begin and wonder why nothing is happening! Making time to recollect grants us the opportunity to transition from the busy to making friends with silence.

We can deepen our relationship with Jesus and his Father when we slow down our pace, become still within, because we are better able to hear his voice. We are also in a better place to receive the gifts that the Holy Spirit seeks to impart, his guidance to discern his direction, as well as the courage to follow his will. If any fear or anxiety arises, we just need to remind ourselves to trust that God will provide the means and support we need, for we are not meant to do what he calls us to do on our own.

St. Mother Teresa taught that, “in the silence of the heart, God speaks.” We are better able to recognize God’s voice and the people he places in our lives to help us when we embrace consistent moments of stillness. We are better able to identify the temptations and pitfalls along path when we go slower. We grow in discipline, persistence, and dedication when we allow ourselves to be nourished by God’s love and encouragement. When we are willing to change, to be transformed, to grow, and take the risk to trust in Jesus, we, like the disciples, will experience the love and oneness Jesus and his Father seek to share with us.

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Photo: Meditating on the Glorious Mysteries (back in April before the newest renovations).

Link for the Mass for Wednesday, June 4, 2025

“Love one another as I love you.”

Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you” (Jn 15:12). This verse is foundational to our faith as we seek to live as disciples of Jesus. Love is what Jesus lived, modeled, taught, and commanded, but even more so, love is who, as the second person of the Trinity Jesus is. Jesus is love because: “God is love” (I John 4:8). By becoming human, as one of us, and embracing the Paschal Mystery: his suffering, crucifixion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension into Heaven, the Son of God opened up the reality for us that we can also participate in the very same love he shares with his Father.

We are capable of loving others because Jesus has loved us first. How did he love us? Jesus gave his life for you and me, each and every person, for those who believe in him and those who don’t, he gave his life for the good and the bad alike. Jesus was willing to suffer the scourging, agony of his carrying the cross, crucifixion, and death. He was not just going through the motions, his divine Person was not somehow hovering over his body. Jesus felt the rejection, the betrayal, the physical torment of the nails, because, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).

Some of us may have heard this verse so many times that we do not fully appreciate the impact of it. The gift of the liturgical seasons is that the readings of Scripture are offered again and again so we can experience their telling again and again. We just need to slow down and ponder the significance of this reading, breathe in the reality of this passage, so that it becomes the living Word of God, not just a dead letter. As we do so, we will be less apt to take our lives for granted, the life we have been given at such great cost. In coming to realize the gift that Jesus gave for us, and meditating on that reality, hopefully, we can see others in our lives who we may have taken for granted. Those who have loved us, have been there for us, have been there when maybe when no one else has been.

What is our response to the love of Jesus that we have been blessed with? Jesus answers: “This I command you: love one another” (Jn 15:17). Jesus ends today’s Gospel as recorded by John where he began at the beginning, he invites us to love. Jesus loves us more than our worst mistakes or our most grievous of sins; he loves us more than we can ever hope or imagine. This is important to not only hear but to allow the reality of this grace to fill us to overflowing, such that we seek to love others as well in the same fashion.

In embracing the love of Jesus, his invitation of friendship, and with a heart full of gratitude, maybe just maybe, we too will love others a little more today than we did yesterday, and a little more tomorrow than today. Love is not a willingness to love each other only when everything is going well. Love is being willing to do so one conflict at a time, one interruption at a time, one inconvenience at a time, one heartbreak, and even one betrayal at a time. We are able to truly love when we are willing to see each other as Jesus sees us, as friends: as human beings endowed with dignity. When we are willing to do so, we are ready to love, one encounter, one moment, one person at a time.

Photo: A quiet moment to breathe, receive, rest, and abide in God’s love.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, May 23, 2025

“Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit”.

In today’s Gospel reading, we experience the imagery of the vine and the branches. As the branch of the vine matures, it begins to look more like the vine itself. As it remains connected, 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, quite the opposite. The more we are conformed to Jesus, the more we come to know him and also 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 live our life to the full, with joy that expands out beyond ourselves to engage in supporting the needs of others.

We will mature and bear fruit as we remain in Jesus and allow Jesus to remain in us. 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 21, 2025

“I will not reject anyone who comes to me.”

“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me” (Jn 6:37-38).

Jesus does not reject us when we seek him out and when we come to him. He accepts us because he knows that we come because we have on some level listened to his Father and allowed our hearts and minds to be moved by his love. Jesus has come to do his Father’s will which is to lead us all to salvation, to be redeemed and restored to the proper order of freedom from our enslavement to sin. Even when we turn away, are diverted by distractions, misled by our sin, or misunderstandings, Jesus will seek us out. In the depths of our souls, we all seek the love of God that we have been created for.

This is why Jesus met Cleopas and the other disciple on the road to Emmaus. Even though they were walking the wrong way, Jesus did not tell them that. He came upon them, walked among them, and opened up the Scriptures to them. In doing so, the fire that had been dimmed by the despair of Jesus’ death, was rekindled in Jesus’ breaking open the word for them, in sharing salvation history for them, such that when Jesus moved to continue on, they invited him to stay with them. Then, in the breaking of the bread, they recognized Jesus who they thought they lost. They experienced in their presence and were nourished by “the bread of life” (John 6:35).

It was through sharing a meal with them that they recognized him. How many meals had they shared together before his death? A close reading of Sacred Scripture shows how important table fellowship is for Jesus and his followers before his death and after his Resurrection. True, Jesus eating with his disciples after his Resurrection shows that he is no ghost, he is human, but also he is reestablishing the cornerstone of his ministry, table fellowship.

Not only are the basic needs of sustenance met, but also in sharing his time and conversation with anyone willing to eat with him, no matter their level of ritual purity, they were touched at the deepest hunger within their hearts, which is to belong, to be accepted for who we are. The majority of the crowd that Jesus spoke to has continued to come to him because he fed them with only a few loaves and some fish. In the miraculous multiplication, Jesus provided for their bodily nourishment, but also was also inviting them to experience the deeper spiritual nourishment of the soul which can only be nourished by his Body and Blood.

Jesus loves us, he wills the best for us. Many resist this truth for different reasons. It could be the callouses, scars, and growing cynicism as a result of wounds inflicted by others, those who did not fulfill expectations, betrayal. Each of us could have experience the same and have also been let down by those we have looked up to and trusted. If we are involved in a relationship long enough, we will experience disappointment or worse. This is because sooner or later, when we draw close the masks will come down and who we truly are, the fullness of our wounds and our gifts will come to the fore. Conflicts will arise because we are finite and imperfect, human beings. We are still a work in progress.

None of us are perfect. We are all on a journey. On our own, we will consistently fall short of our goal. That is why we need a savior. We need someone that we can trust that will be there for us when we are let down and when we fall down face-first into the mud. Someone who, when that happens, will lay down in the mud with us, look us in the eye, and smile.

Even if we are not able to look past the predicament, or smile in return, we might just be able to catch his eyes looking at us and then we will see him offer us his hand. We can then rise together, and stand again. That is how Jesus shows his mercy and love for us. He enters into our chaos and meets us in the midst of the muck and mire of our mistakes, wounds, and sins. He loves us there, and when we are ready to accept his offer of love, he invites us to get up, and begin to walk again.

As our relationship grows and deepens and as our trust strengthens, we begin to believe that we belong and have dignity. We begin to heal and realize that we are a part of something greater than ourselves. Then with wobbly steps, begin to offer attempts of the same mercy, forgiveness, and unconditional love to others that we have received. This is the path of discipleship. This is the road we are on, together. This is not a hundred-yard dash but a long and winding road. Let us be willing to: persist, be led, love, be there for, and accompany one another as we take the hand of Jesus and allow him to lead us on the Way. Jesus will not reject any of us who walk with him. May we help others as Jesus helps us when we fall to rise up and begin again.

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Painting: Figure of Christ by Heinrich Hofmann

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, May 7, 2025

We accomplish the work of God by trusting and believing “in the one he sent.”

One of the best ways to celebrate the Easter Season is to continue to conform our lives to the one who gave his life for us that we may experience and be engaged in our life to the full. We can accomplish this better by putting into practice what we read in the Gospels as well as being open to encountering God in our daily experiences and one another.

Today’s Gospel reading continues after Jesus not only fed the 5,000 but also after he had walked across the Sea of Galilee and guided his disciples safely to the shore. Those who had eaten as a result of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, got in their own boats to follow Jesus to Capernaum as well.

When the crowd found and gathered around Jesus, he continued to teach them, guiding them to “not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” The people asked him what they could, “do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent” (cf: Jn 6:27-29).

To believe in the one he sent. The response of Jesus may not appear to fit the request of how to accomplish the works of God. But to believe is not passive. Belief is to be followed by action. If we say that we believe in Jesus, we are invited to pray with him, worship him in communion with fellow believers, sing songs praising him, give to and serve one another by practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Believing in the one God the Father sent, believing in his Son, also means that we allow Jesus into our minds and hearts, we allow his light to shine in our places where there is darkness and pain, where we are in need of confessing and healing. When we believe in Jesus, we are willing to submit our will to his will. The good news is that Jesus knows what is the best for us, what will truly fulfill us and give our lives meaning. The challenge is, are we willing to trust Jesus with the direction and path of our lives?

To accomplish the work of God, we must believe in the one whom he sent. To believe in Jesus, we need to trust him. As we spend time reading, meditating upon and praying with the recorded accounts of Jesus in the gospels, are lives become transformed when we then put what he has taught us into practice. We will accomplish the work of God by trusting, learning from, and following his Son, Jesus, who the Father sent to be one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity.

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Photo: Blessed to be following Jesus and serving him each day as his priest for the past year!

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, May 5, 2025

Do you love me?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus forgives Peter for denying him three times by asking him three times if Peter loves him. Again, Peter does not quite grasp the teaching, for after the third request of “Do you love me?” Peter is distressed, and with an impatient tone said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” (Jn 21:17).

Jesus’ forgiveness of Peter is not just about the repentance of Peter’s denial but the true nature of discipleship. To be disciples of Jesus is to love one another as Jesus loves us. Peter is called to repentance not just for himself but to grow in his love of others, to serve others. After each affirmation of love by Peter Jesus responds with: “Feed my lambs.” “Tend my sheep.” “Feed my sheep.”

Love is well defined by St Thomas Aquinas as willing the good of the other as other. This is expressed vividly in Jesus’ imagery to Peter. If we say we love Jesus like Peter did, we will feed and tend the lambs and sheep of his flock. We will forgive, take care of, nourish, empower, support, guide and accompany one another. This means we will also love those who hate us, those who seek to persecute us, and love our enemies as ourselves.

Jesus loves us and invites us to share and give away this love, person to person, expecting nothing in return. We do not love to get, but love to freely give without cost. The expression of our love will be different for each of us because Jesus commissions each of us to serve his lambs and sheep in different ways.

Ultimately, what Jesus sends us to do is to enter into and build relationships. To do so, it is important that we deepen our relationship with Jesus first. We cannot give what we don’t have. For the love of Jesus to flow through us, we must breathe, receive, rest and abide in his love daily and often each day. From abiding in God’s peace and love, we will be less reactive, more patient and understanding. We will be able to will to good of the person as they are and where they are, just as Jesus has done with us.

Jesus does not define us by our worst mistakes, Jesus loves us more than we can ever mess up, and Jesus loves us more than we can ever imagine and his grace is more powerful than our sins. He leads with love and mercy. Now, he also doesn’t want us to stay in our sins. He loves us there so that we might feel safe, begin to trust, and choose to allow Jesus to lead us out of our darkness and into the light of his love.

Are we ready to go into this week, day by day, encounter by encounter, online and in person, willing to do the same? Willing to feed Jesus’ lambs, willing to tend his sheep, and willing to feed his sheep? To do so as Pope Francis said, we must be willing to smell like the sheep. Which means we need to spend time with God and one another, to receive and share the love the Father and the Son share, who is the Holy Spirit.

Painting: Closeup of “Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler” by Heinrich Hofmann

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, May 4, 2025

We experience the wonder of life when we embrace our faith and reason.

The feeding of the five thousand that we encounter in today’s Gospel from John is reported in each of the four Gospels. This point is relevant because biblical scholars look to the multiple attestation theory as one means as to whether an account in the Gospel record is more or less plausible. Having the same account present in each of the four is strong evidence in support for that event happening.

From a different perspective, there are those that embrace scientism meaning that they will not believe in anything that can not be measured, experimented upon, or proven within the realm of the five senses. For those ascribing to this strict interpretation, religion and accounts of miracles are often dismissed as superstition, that if something indeed did happen, there is a scientific explanation to dismiss the miraculous. Even some believers may discount the record of the feeding of the five thousand as more of a symbolic representation of the generosity and service encouraged by Jesus such that everyone gave their small share and there was enough for all, not that he actually was able to multiply the bread and fish.

These perspectives of downplaying the miracle of multiplication seek to reduce or limit Jesus to just his humanity, but he is so much more. Jesus is human, fully human, yes, even more so after his resurrection, but he is also fully divine. Coming to understand the wonder of the unity of the divinity and humanity of Jesus can help us better understand the reality of our world and the whole of the cosmos.

One of the core aspects of who we are as human beings is that we are people of wonder. The physical sciences are tools that we have in our toolbox that we can access to help us to understand our physical realm, while at the same time we also have spiritual tools that help us to receive insights from both physical and spiritual realities. The physical sciences actually emerge precisely because of our spiritual pursuit to understand the wonders of God’s creation. In accessing both faith and reason, we come to have a broader picture, more pieces of the puzzle in which to put together and better experience our world.

When we limit or explain away the miracles of Jesus we rob ourselves of a more accurate picture of the reality of creation. One concrete example of this is when our third president, Thomas Jefferson, took a sharp object and painstakingly cut out verses from the Bible and pasted them to blank pages. He did so in columns of Latin and Greek on one side of the paper and French and English on the other. This eighty-four-page tome is commonly called the Jefferson Bible, but the president titled it: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. This text offers a human portrayal of Jesus that dismisses anything divine.

If we remove ourselves from the divine, and 99.9% of our life, experience, interests, and thought is spent in the finite material realm, we will miss a deeper expression of who we are as human beings and much of the joy and gift of life. It stands to reason then why we would find it hard to believe in miracles, the mystical, and the spiritual. The miracles are not a self-aggrandizing move on Jesus’ part, but a move of love and empathy. Jesus is moved, time and again, to reach out in love, to care for and support those who are in need. They are also a foretaste of heaven. Jesus entered into our human condition, fully divine to become fully human. In doing so, he opened up heaven for us.

We need to resist the temptation to write off too quickly the miracles of Jesus. May we also not dismiss the gift and value of the sciences. By approaching our world with a both/and approach, we will get a better understanding of and appreciation for not only the gift and wonder of creation but also who we are as human beings. God has imparted within us the ability to access and develop both our faith and reason, to think critically, and to pray and meditate deeply.

Jesus as the firstborn of the new creation embodies the reality of the fullness of who we are called by God and in the depths of our souls, aspire to be, human and divine. Jesus is still present to us today, knocking on the doors of our hearts, minds, and souls. If we only follow the moral and social teachings of Jesus, as did Thomas Jefferson, we will experience some benefit but we will limit ourselves by cutting out the very life force that sustains those virtues we hope to aspire to. We will access the fullness of all that God the Father offers us when we open the door to his Son this Easter Season. Let us invite the Holy Spirit in, offer the little we have, and watch how much he will multiply our simple gifts.

Let us continue our journey, to read and pray together the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. May we resist rejecting outright what we do not understand or comprehend, and instead be willing to ponder the wonders that God seeks to unfold for us, the gift of God’s grace building on nature, the reality of God-incidences all around us, and embrace the eternal foundation and ground of our being which is the Trinitarian Love of God.

Photo: Mosaic of fish and basket with bread present at the foot of the altar in the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes, at Tabgha, Galilee, Israel.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, May 2, 2025

When we read and pray with the Bible, we encounter Jesus.

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 John the Baptist talking with his disciples or these are an insertion by John the author. Either way, the points of concern 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 him. 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 epistles. 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 gets it, the Apostle John and the other apostles will eventually get it that Jesus is the Son of the Living God and he offers a model for us to follow when the Baptist shared with his disciples, the truth that we 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 few 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 life. Do we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God?

Spending time reading, meditating, and listening for God’s guidance in his word, especially the Gospels, helps us to encounter, sit at the feet, and be in the presence of Jesus. Jesus can teach us in our time and space as he has done with each generation of believers from the time of the apostles to our present age. We just need to be willing to be still and listen. We need, in the words of Pope Benedict XVI, to meet the Risen Christ and to “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).

Too many today follow the lead of the rich man who walked away sad from his encounter with Jesus. May we follow the lead of the Apostles, Mary Magdalene, the woman at the well, Cleopas and his companion, and surrender our lives to him and so be loved, forgiven, healed, transformed, that we may be witnesses of joy.

Painting: “Supper at Emmaus,” by Matthias Stom —- Will we disobey the invitation of the Son and refuse to believe or obey, choose to believe, and receive eternal live?

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, May 1, 2025

Apart from Jesus we can do nothing, but with him all things are possible.

There are a handful of incidents in today’s Gospel reading from John that refer back to encounters Jesus had with his Apostles before his death and resurrection. Jesus waits on the shore as seven of his disciples; Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John, and two others, return from a night of fishing. This is reminiscent of when Jesus first came to Andrew and Simon, James and John as they were casting and mending nets and he invited them to follow him.

The disciples are on their way back to shore with their nets empty, and Jesus suggests that they cast their net over the right side and they quickly find that they “were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish.” Peter had this experience in one of his first encounters with Jesus when he had been fishing all night and Jesus encouraged him to put out into the deep water, and that time also they were able to fill two boats with fish.

After their great catch “of one hundred fifty-three large fish,” John told Peter that the Lord was the one who had instructed them. Just as when Jesus approached his disciples that night walking on the stormy waters, Peter jumped out of the boat and walked on water until he took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink. Peter again “jumped into the sea.” When Peter and the disciples came to shore “they saw a charcoal fire.” The most recent event with another charcoal fire was outside the gate where Jesus was led for his judgment. To keep warm Peter joined the servants and slaves huddled around a charcoal fire. It was at that charcoal fire that Peter denied Jesus. The final scene in today’s account was when Jesus offered cooked fish and bread to his disciples, this is reminiscent of Jesus feeding the five thousand with two loaves and a few fish and also an echo of the Last Supper and the road to Emmaus account we just read a few days ago in which Jesus was made known in the breaking of the bread.

Throughout our lives, we will have encounters with people and experience incidents that we have experienced before. We may not have been as present as we have wanted to be when attempting to comfort someone, we may have been involved in some task and made a mistake, may have given in to temptation or fear that we regretted, just as Peter had denied Jesus three times at that first charcoal fire. Peter wept when he heard the cock crow. The sound brought back Jesus’ prediction, brought to light Peter’s own denial and cowardice. How many times must he have berated himself, as we have done when we have sinned, fallen short of our goals, or made mistakes?

Making mistakes and taking risks, are necessary for learning and growing in any endeavor in life. Jesus does not want us to beat ourselves up when we fall short or fail. What is required for maturation is an honest assessment of the situation, an acknowledgment of our mistakes and sins, and then a movement to correct and learn from them. Often we overcompensate in the beginning, but as we remain persistent we reach a healthy balance. Jesus does not seek to condemn or shame us. He shines his light that we might see to identify where we have missed the mark so we can identify and confess our sins.

Jesus returns to his disciples after his Resurrection, he meets them in very similar settings as he had before his when he had first called them. All of his disciples failed him, yet Jesus did not condemn or shame them. Jesus helped to show them how far they had come since he first called them, while at the same time helping them to see how far they still have to go to actualize their potential. Jesus is not only their teacher but the divine source of their own transformation. Apart from Jesus they and we can do nothing. In fishing all night on their own nothing happened, but as soon as they did what Jesus called them to do, they caught fish to bursting.

Jesus guides and empowers us with his love and encouragement. He reminds us we can’t nor ought we to go it alone. When we are with Jesus, grow in our relationship with and trust him as the disciples did, we will be a little more present to someone the next time we are in a position to provide comfort or understanding, have greater resolve when tempted, and be able to identify our sins and mistakes as well as learn from them.

Jesus has risen, appeared to his disciples to guide, encourage, and empower them to be who God has called them to be. Jesus offers us the same teaching, guidance, and power shared from the wellspring of his humanity and divinity so that we will be able to participate in his life. Our repentance and Jesus’ forgiveness go beyond helping us to become better people. Through the love of Jesus, our minds, hearts, and souls change, we are transfigured, and conformed to Jesus and his life of resurrection. This is good news to share not only in word but in deed. Alleluia!!!

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Photo by Emerson Peters on Unsplash from “The Charcoal Fire” by Grace Abruzo.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, April 25, 2025

We need to be willing to see each other beyond surface judgments.

In the Gospel reading today, Jesus is accused of being an agent of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, because he was exorcising a demon from a man that was mute. Jesus addressed the critique and showed the polarizing nature of the onlookers who were unwilling to see the healing before them for what it was. Jesus then stated the obvious: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house” (Lk 11:17).

If Jesus was an agent of the prince of demons, he was not a very good one. Satan seeks to sow discord and division. Jesus seeks to bring about unity. Now it is true, that five verses later in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is recorded as saying: “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Lk 12:51). Anyone feeling a bit confused? Welcome to the wonderful world of the Bible!

To understand Scripture, we need to understand the context of the whole of Scripture, not just isolated verses. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, he seeks the unity that all may be one as he and the Father are one (cf. John 17:21), yet he has consistently experienced those that rejected his message and healings as witnessed in today’s Gospel account. Because of their hardness of heart, they are unwilling to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God and so there must be a reason for how he performs exorcisms and miracles.

The reason is that Jesus drives out demons, “by the finger of God” (Luke 11:20). His listeners would have picked up on this referential term, for the Pharaoh’s magicians and sorcerers made this same statement when they could no longer produce the effects of Moses and Aaron’s plagues after their infesting the land with gnats (Exodus 8:19). So just as Moses and Aaron were operating through the will, the finger of God, so too was Jesus.

In so doing, Jesus demands a choice. Then and now. We need to decide if we are either going to be for him or against him (cf. Lk 11:23). The division Jesus is talking about results from those who choose not to recognize that Jesus is who he says he is and reject him and those who accept him for who he is and follow him. This choice continues to cause division within households, families, and friends even today.

The greater take away from this verse and Jesus’ teachings as a whole, is that when we are unified, embracing the gift of our diversity, we are stronger than when we are divided by limiting ourselves to mere labels. In our modern context, labels, such as liberal and conservative are not helpful, whether they are being used in a political or religious context. Life is not as black and white as many would like it to be. It is certainly easier to cast labels, but interactions with people and developing relationships are much more nuanced. We are not mere cardboard cut outs, or caricatures.

To better understand the essence of who we are as human beings demands greater time and experience of each other than an outward appearance or isolated statement may portray. Many more of us, if we shake off any label for a moment, could honestly admit to believing in and supporting issues that are important to us from both sides of the so called left or right.

Many times, once we have cast a label, we believe that we have “defined” the person. They are classified in their box and tied up in a neat and pretty bow, and woe to the person who resists being boxed and bowed. I remember reading from one of the books from the tracker, Tom Brown, Jr., in which he described how many people when seeing a bird, such as a blue jay, robin, or crow, are often satisfied with the label, the naming of it, and move on from that sighting self-satisfied. They think that in that simple identification they now have come to understand all that there is to know about that particular species of bird. So much of the essence of one of God’s amazing creatures is missed by such a simplistic and limiting classification!

Unfortunately, we do the same with each other. We can prejudge others, as did some of the crowd who said that Jesus cast out this demon because he was in league with Beelzebub instead of through the power of God. We can also falsely believe we know everything there is to know about a person or group we prejudge. This is a very limiting and divisive approach. Jesus invites us to encounter people, to spend time, get to know one another, and break bread with each other just as Jesus did. In spending time with one another and being open to dialogue, the caricatures can be filled in with some substance and we can come to know a little better the person beyond the prejudgment.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it may very well be a duck, but the duck is also so much more than its classification. This is much truer for us as human beings as well.