discipleship

What or who do we place our trust in?

“Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over…” (Lk 21:12).

The followers of Jesus have faced and continue to face persecution from the moment of Jesus’ Passion and death by crucifixion, continuing on with his Apostles, and the disciples in each generation thereafter up to and including the present day. There are estimates that there have been more Christian martyrs in the last century than in the whole history of the Church. Persecution was also true for the prophets before the time of Jesus. By entering Jerusalem, Jesus knew that his own persecution and death was imminent.

With today’s readings, we receive the last words from Luke for Sundays. Next week will be the last week in Ordinary Time as we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King and the following Sunday, we will begin Advent. So, as we end the liturgical year, our readings reflect not only the time of tribulation but also the end of time and the second coming of Jesus.

Why tribulation and this animosity to those who spoke for God before the time of, during the life of Jesus, and continuing on after with his followers? One reason is that to live by the will of God challenges not only those attempting to do so, it challenges those they interact with. Followers of Jesus who authentically practice the teachings of Jesus become a mirror. The disciples of Jesus have accepted where and how they fall short of the glory of God and welcome the opportunity to be freed from their ego and sin. Others may not be ready and are challenged by the idea of doing so.

The more entrenched into our ego and self-centered view we are, the greater the threat the Gospel is. The more we want to determine our own path and rationalize for ourselves our own truth, to define our own morality, and determine who is with us or against us, the more we distance ourselves from and set ourselves apart from the guidance of God. A clash has and continues to arise.

Jesus seized on the opportunity to present this reality when some of his disciples expressed their wonder with the Temple, and in its time, it truly was a wonder. Yet, Jesus said, “All that you see here – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down” (Luke 21:6). In his discourse, Jesus echoed the Prophet Jeremiah who said in his own time, “Do not put your trust in these deceptive words, ‘The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! the temple of the Lord” (Jeremiah 7:4).

Jeremiah was calling his people to repent from their wicked and disobedient ways (cf. Jeremiah 7:1-15). They chose not to repent and in 587 the Babylonians destroyed the temple that the people placed their trust in. They missed the point that Jeremiah consistently sought to make. What was most important was their faithfulness to God, and that he alone would protect them. Living their lives any way they wanted and apart from God and believing that the temple would protect them was idolatry. Solomon’s Temple fell and as Jesus, stood from the Mount of Olive looking at the second temple that was rebuilt and was still being completed, offered the same judgment. Might and arms would not overthrow the Roman occupiers. It would only happen by trusting in God, allowing him to fight for them, that they would overcome times of persecution to come.

After Jesus’ death a movement of Zealots mounted a military strike against the Roman occupiers and for four years Rome would lay siege against Jerusalem. In 70 AD, Jesus words would be fulfilled. The Romans crushed the rebellion, killing up to a million Jews and destroyed the temple not leaving a “stone upon a stone.” All that was left and what remains to this day are the remnants of the western retaining wall securing the temple mount, better known as the wailing wall.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today as we come to the end of another liturgical year? Who and what are we placing our trust in? There is nothing and no one in the physical world that will save us nor will be our stronghold other than God. We do not know the time or the hour of the final judgment to come, but for each of us, our time on this earth is limited. This thought, well pondered, is not morbid, but can be joyous, because in contemplating our end, we will be less tempted to take the time we do have for granted.

It is important to reflect upon how we have lived our lives daily and how we want to live each day going forward. Do we live only for ourselves and our own pursuits, or do we seek to align our wills with the will of God? Most of us fall somewhere in the middle. Do we feel pressured to compartmentalize and/or privatize our faith or are we willing to stand up for what we believe, not in a belligerent and in your face manner, but with calm assurance and steadfast?

In reading the lives of the saints and reflecting on how they dedicated their lives, even those willing to die as Jesus did, we will see that all were authentic and courageous witnesses. They lived their lives dedicated to the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus with each thought, word, and action. They were not born saints but each encountered Jesus, and at some point decided to follow his lead, and became who he called them to be. We each have a unique role to play in God’s plan and we begin one breath, one prayer, and one act at a time.

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Photo: Jesus was willing to give his life for us, are we willing to live for him?

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, November 16, 2025

Forgiveness helps us to walk the path that leads to our healing.

“If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him” (Lk 17:3-4).

Forgiveness is one of the foundational principles of our faith tradition as Christians. If we question or struggle with the degree of forgiveness we engage in, we are in good company with Peter. Thinking he was being generous, Peter asked Jesus how many times should he forgive, seven times? Jesus responded, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times” (cf. Mt 18:21-22).

Luke records the exchange of the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray. He taught them the Our Father or Lord’s Prayer. While reciting this prayer often each day or multiple times each day, we say, “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” or “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Mt 6:11-12).

One of the barometers of being a faithful disciple of Jesus is that we are people who practice the sacred art of forgiveness. To forgive does not mean in any way that we condone or justify the offense or even necessarily forget about it. We are to hold people accountable, as Jesus said, we are to “rebuke them” in the hope that they will repent and come to a greater appreciation and respect of our dignity and the dignity of others. When they do repent, we are to then forgive them.

Holding on to grudges, seeking revenge, being unwilling to forgive, can be incapacitating, debilitating, and can lead to a premature as well as eternal death. What can be of help is if we can choose to be more mindful of our thoughts and actions. At the moment we experience discomfort from what someone says or does, instead of giving in to the temptation to react or to let our mind run with the offense, it is very helpful to take some deep breaths, relax our shoulders, and/or loosen our grip. As the negative thoughts attempt to rise again, don’t fight or feed the thoughts, just return to being aware of our breath and ask Jesus to help us be more understanding and forgiving. This will also help our body to discharge the stress and experience God’s peace.

We may struggle with being forgiving because we may not have sought or received much forgiveness ourselves. Advent is coming. It is a season to prepare to celebrate the coming of Jesus into our lives. This season provides a wonderful opportunity to prepare and participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Forgiveness is a healing gift of God’s grace. Once we have felt the healing balm of forgiveness, we might be more willing to forgive others.

A good practice to engage in is to go to a place of quiet and ask God to help you to forgive someone or a few people. Even if your prayer begins, “God, I cannot forgive, I hurt too much, but help me to let go, please help me to forgive, (insert name).” Return each day until you can bring yourself to say, “I forgive, (insert name).” Visualize yourself saying that you forgive the person face to face and imagine a healing between each of you. If the opportunity presents itself you may want to say that you forgive the person directly, send an email, or write a letter – even if you do not press send or mail it.

With the intent to forgive and asking for the help of Jesus, who has forgiven us, even if in the beginning we are unwilling, with time, reconciliation is possible. Depending on the hurt that has been inflicted, you may not reach out to the other person as it may be healthier to stay apart. Forgiveness will help you to heal and not allow the person who has hurt you to continue to do so. Forgiveness is an act of love, for to love is to will the good of the other. In our willingness to forgive, there is freedom. Let us remember: “Forgive and you will be forgiven”.

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Photo: Our willingness to love will help us to walk the path of forgiveness.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, November 10. 2025

Our lives will be much better when we realize we are temples of the Holy Spirit.

When I was still teaching, I would ask my students if Jesus ever sinned. Inevitably, someone referenced the account from today’s Gospel. In these verses, we read how Jesus, “made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area” (Jn 2:15). Jesus is not sinning here, rather, he is acting in line with prophetic tradition. Jesus is making a bold spectacle to drive home the point that the temple is not a “marketplace” or a “den of thieves” but it is to be a place of worship and right praise to his Father.

We can see prophetic echoes from Zechariah 14:21 where he prophesied that there would be a time when there would no longer be “merchants in the house of the LORD of hosts” and Jeremiah 7:11 where Jeremiah asked, “Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? I have seen it for myself!” Jesus not only places himself in the line of prophets and professes their words from God, he acts like them in make such bold statements. There is a difference though.

Greater still than the temple, is the people of God. Further down in the text, when those present ask for a sign to justify this act, Jesus said: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19). John makes the point clear that Jesus was pointing to his body as the temple of God and referring to his Resurrection to come. Jesus is the new temple and he is establishing a new covenant.

The temple, the house of God, believed to be the corporal presence, the very seat of God among his people, Israel, was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. This left a tremendous spiritual, political, and social vacuum. Two groups that were intimately tied to the sacrificial cult of the temple, the Sadducees and the Essenes, very soon after the destruction, ceased to exist as a sect within Judaism. The Pharisees, who already were moving to a practice of home worship that mirrored the worship in the temple, would survive and be the ancestral root of different expressions of Judaism today. Another sect would also arise as the followers of the new way of Jesus which became the Church, “God’s building” and “the temple of God”.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, his rising after the third day, Jesus becomes the first born of the new creation. Those who are baptized do not just gather in a church, they are the Church, the temple of God.

Each one of us has a unique part to play in the Church. We are called to bear witness and practice, in our own unique way, our faith in our everyday experiences. We may be the only church someone ever enters and the only Bible someone ever reads. This call to put our faith into action is not an invitation to be overwhelmed by nor an excuse to assume a posture of elitism. We are no better than anyone else.

Pope Leo recently said to students participating in the Jubilee of the World of Education: “How wonderful it would be if one day your generation were remembered as the ‘generation plus,’ remembered for the extra drive you brought to the Church and the world.” May we all hear these words, seek and follow Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and allow his truth and his love to shape and transform our lives. When we are willing to encounter and walk together, we learn and grow from one another. We are also less apt to keep other at a distance and become more willing to draw close.

We need to resist all that contributes in any way to the dehumanization, division, hate, and violence by rooting ourselves in Jesus, the living Temple. In doing so, we will become aware that we ourselves are temples of the Holy Spirit. In spending consistent time in silence, prayer, meditation, study, worship, and service, we not only purify our temple, we better know God and his will, become conformed to and empowered by the love of Christ to be instruments of peace, contemplatives in action, and advocates for healing and reconciliation in a wounded and weary church, politics, country, and world.

Photo: God speaks to us in many ways when we give ourselves time to be still, breathe, and look up.

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

We are to love Jesus more than anyone or anything.

This is a scene that I enjoy imagining and praying with. Jesus striding along with a gathering of people walking, talking, and moving about, and then he just stops and turns. Those closest to Jesus pull up to a stop, others continue right past, while at the same time others bump into and trip over those who had stopped before them. The subtle hum of random conversation then slowly comes to a halt, a stillness ripples through the crowd, and then there is silence. The dust begins to settle. Those closest to Jesus have their eyes locked on his, while those further back are craning their necks, moving left and right to get a better look, while still others are cupping their ears to catch the sound of Jesus’ voice.

These crowds most likely consisted of some disciples, while the greater majority were those on the periphery gathering because of curiosity, intrigue, maybe even wonder, as well as hope. Jesus then speaks, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife or children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life,…” and then, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me…” and then he finishes with  “In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple” (cf. Lk 14:25-33).

Those who may be hearing these words second hand, as they were further away from the point of direct hearing, may not believe that the message was transmitted to them correctly. These words cut to the quick, just as surely as when Jesus shared about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and when he told another follower, who wanted to bury his father to let the dead bury their dead. Luke does not say, but I am sure that many of those gathered around him were just as shocked and began to walk away.

The familial bond for ancient peoples was strong. Though the invitation of salvation that Jesus offers is for all to be saved, he is not going to dumb down or sugar coat his message just to get numbers. Jesus presents, time and again, that the way to live a life of wholeness, to restore that which has been lost, is to put God first. God must be the primary focus, the primary relationship, for nothing else can have priority of place before him. When we do so, everyone and everything will fall into their proper order and place.

Do we want to be an onlooker, just someone looking at Jesus from a distance, or a disciple? An onlooker does not have to make a commitment, a disciple does. The cost of that commitment is to let go of anything and anyone that we have put before God and will distract and divert us from the very flow of his life force that fuels our existence. If we are willing to walk the path of discipleship, we must be willing to surrender our will to God, place him first in our lives, take up our cross, and be transformed by his love.

Jesus is the interpretive key that opens our understanding. All that which is material and finite in our lives find meaning in relation to him. Only when we are able to detach from the things of this world will we then truly be free. St. Francis embodied this in a radical way. One of his foundational prayers, which he sometimes would pray for hours was, “My God and my all!” And that is the life he lived and which Jesus invites us to live.

Photo: Jesus showed his love for us in holding nothing back, giving all he had, himself, of the cross. We are called to love just as radically, a little more today than yesterday, a little more tomorrow than today.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, November 5, 2025

May the saints help us to arise from our slumber.

“Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt 5:4).

Mourning here can certainly mean the grief one experiences at the death of a loved one. It can also mean mourning for the evil and unfaithfulness in the world. Another word for blessed is happy. How are we to feel blessed, or happy in reference to the death of those close to our hearts? Blessed or happy for the injustice, violence, warfare that plagues our word? From a theological sense, one interpretation can be that Jesus spoke from the perspective of the eschatological event, his second coming at the end of time and that we can rely on the hope that Jesus died for us all and we will rise with him on the last day. We will be not only freed from the atrocities of this life, but also freed from death.

This is our hope and this is true, but also Jesus may also have been speaking about our day to day experiences as well. Jesus said, as is recorded in Mark 1:15, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus, is the kingdom at hand, just an outstretched arm away. Those of us who mourn and suffering will be blessed, will find comfort when we resist running away, or denying the agony and pain that threatens to overwhelm us and instead allow ourselves to experience the grief and the suffering of our loss and our fallen world. It is in the very embracing of our pain and suffering that we encounter Jesus waiting for us there with his arms wide open.

When we turn to Jesus, and with him face the sorrow, grieve and mourn for those who have died, as well as for the injustice, violence, and sin of our world, he will help us to release the unbearable weight we have been carrying. Jesus, who suffered the agony, loss, pain, and hurt in his passion and death on the cross, understands what we are feeling. His presence and closeness will be the strength we need to guide us through the many ups and downs, fits and starts, of our emotional roller coaster and also be able to offer help.

Today, we celebrate the gift of the Communion of Saints on this All Saints Day. The saints understood and lived the message and truth of the Gospel that Jesus has risen. They dedicated their lives to the call that Jesus extended to them and have gone before us to the true land of promise, our heavenly home, and from there they cheer us on, encourage, and intercede for us. They remind us that we will be blessed when we resist being attached to the things of this world and instead follow the will of God.

Jesus suffered and persevered the agonizing pain of the cross, then experienced, and conquered death. He lights the way and leads us back to the Father. We need not fear the fallen world nor death because through our life in Jesus, neither has any power over us. St Paul of the Cross, taught: “The world lives unmindful of the sufferings of Jesus which are the miracle of miracles of the love of God. We must arouse the world from its slumber.” When we turn to God with everything, we will experience God’s comfort, peace, and healing to rise from our slumber, and reflect the light of Christ to help others to rise from their slumbers.

Photo: Tapestry of saints hanging in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.

The source for the quote is from St Paul of the Cross

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, November 1, 2025

We enter the narrow gate by growing in love.

He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough” (Lk 13:24).

Jesus offered this answer to the person who asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” Jesus’ parables about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven (cf Mt 19:24) and the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31) also reveal to us that what we say and do in our lives regarding the welfare of others matter. Are we building walls or bridges regarding our relationship with God and one another, are we including or excluding?

There are many distractions, diversions, and temptations that pull at us. When we give in to them, we can strain or even break our relationships. Jesus said many will not be strong enough, and on our own he is right. St Paul also realized this, for he wrote, “I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil that I do not want” (Romans 7:19). How many of us could say the same?

Relationships are not easy in the best of circumstances, this is true on the human level as well as the spiritual. St Teresa of Avila, the 16th-century Spanish saint and doctor of the Church, shared openly and honestly with Jesus once after being thrown from a carriage into a mud puddle, “If you treat your friends so poorly, it is no wonder that you have so few!” I relate to the honesty of this quote. My maternal grandparents had the same kind of open, unfiltered relationship with each other. To an outsider looking in, they would have missed the depth of love they had developed for one another for over sixty years and which continued to grow into their last days.

Authentic relationships demand that we go through the narrow gate of love. Love is more than mere sentiments, emotions, or feelings. We must grow in our willingness to sacrifice, be committed, understanding and forgiving, to be present, patient, willing to risk being vulnerable, honest, respect boundaries, and share who we truly are with one another, free of any pretense or masks. On our own, we are not strong enough to persevere, often our insecurities seek to keep us unbalanced, but with God, we will remain faithful and grounded.

Regarding marriage, my grandmother told me to take the time we needed to get to know each other, but once we knew, not to wait too long. We didn’t. JoAnn and I were married six months after we started dating. Each of us brought our own baggage, wounds, and made plenty of mistakes, into our relationship, yet each year was better than the one before because we remained committed to God and to each other. We became more patient and understanding, we empowered and were there for each other. Each of the crossroads that arose over our twenty-three years, we chose the narrow gate. We loved Jesus and each other and that made all the difference.

Jesus is the relationship we need to develop first and foremost. That means other people and things will not be able to remain. This is good news, because that which will not remain is not for our good. Growing in our relationship with Jesus takes time and commitment, and doing so will help us to properly order our other relationships as well as all aspects of our lives. Our Father is our foundation and strength and the Holy Spirit is our guide. God continually invites us with his tender chords of love to draw closer into relationship with him and so to better grow closer in relationship with one another.

Photo: Because our relationship and commitment with Jesus grew, so did our relationship and commitment with one other.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Are we willing to receive the “key of knowledge.”

Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter” (Lk 11:52).

We all yearn to be loved, to belong, to be accepted, and fulfilled. God knows the depth of our yearning because as St. Augustine taught, God knows us better than we know ourselves. For God sees past the apparent goods that we cling to and cloud our vision, and he invites us to take steps into his light that we might see the truth of his love and our fulfillment that can only be fulfilled in him. From that core communion all else in our lives can be properly ordered.

To willingly prevent access to those who seek, as did those “scholars of the law” for whom Jesus convicts in today’s Gospel, is an egregious offense. Especially in the way that Jesus describes. They themselves have the key to enter, do not avail themselves of the gift they have received, and worse, prevent others from going in! I remember a time in eighth grade where I had wanted to ask a girl out to the school dance. I confided this hope with someone but of course, the word got out. A few days later at the beginning of math class, our teacher announced to the whole class that I was the first one he had ever heard of being rejected before I could even ask someone out. I wanted to melt into the floor.

The scholars of the law, as well as the scribes and the Pharisees were charged to teach and lead people to God. Instead they were making it harder by laying heavy burdens upon them and not raising a finger to help them. Jesus fulfilled the Law. His teachings further built on the Torah and challenged the people even further. The difference was that he invited his listeners to align themselves to him, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Jesus strengthens and transforms us when we trust in him and seek his strength.

Jesus is the “key of knowledge”. He offered himself to the scholars but they refused to receive him or his message. Jesus came to open up heaven for all in the humanity he assumed. In his conviction of the Pharisees, scribes, and scholars of the Law he hoped that they would repent and also enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Unfortunately, many hardened their hearts further, and “began to act with hostility toward him”.

Jesus offers us the same invitation today to repent and believe in the Gospel. We are to love and support one another, even when some express their hunger in unpleasant of ways. Here it is even more important that we resist reacting in kind. Instead, let us be patient, give another the benefit of the doubt, and be willing to listen with our spirit instead of our ego for what their need truly may be. May we receive the “key of knowledge” not to lock but to open the door to the healing love and teachings of Jesus.

As Pope Francis said: “Each one of us is called to be an artisan of peace, by uniting and not dividing, by extinguishing hatred and not holding on to it, by opening paths to dialogue and not by constructing new walls! Let us dialogue and meet one another in order to establish a culture of dialogue in the world, a culture of encounter.”

Photo: As the vines can’t keep the light from shining, the scholars of the law could not stop Jesus.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, October 16, 2025

The antidote for our hypocrisy is to accept our poverty.

The Lord said to him, “Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools” (Lk 11:39).

Jesus’ harshest critiques were for acts of hypocrisy. He did so to show, in no uncertain terms, how dangerous this was, especially for religious leaders. These men were entrusted with the care of God’s people. They may have observed the proper rituals, spoke, and dressed to match the part but this all meant nothing if their hearts were hardened such that they were closed to the love and will of God. This situation was more perilous when they themselves became obstacles and stumbling blocks to those who sought God. Jesus indicting them as fools meant that they were bereft of the wisdom of God they projected to have.

In the depths of our very being, we seek and yearn for the transcendent, the infinite. We are spiritual seekers. We seek God while at the same time we experience suffering, injustice, and hypocrisy at the hands of the very ones who are our leaders in both the religious and political sphere. This is why Jesus convicted those who abused their positions because he knew the significant damage that they could inflict.

No one is perfect, our leaders nor ourselves. We all fall short of the glory of God, even those of us who seek and aspire to live by the Gospel. If we put anyone up on a pedestal, they, sooner or later, are going to fall, and the higher up they go, the greater the fall. God is to hold priority of place. We are to seek God first. God is to be our foundation, the light shining on the hill, our guide, and source.

One way we can sidestep the trap of hubris is by resisting the urge to project all is well and good, that we are fine when we are not. None of us are super men or women. If we think we can go it alone, on our own power and persistence, we will fall sooner or later. A hyper sense of self-reliance means we seek God and each other less for help and support.

When we turn to Jesus to reveal our weakness and our sin, we can experience his transformative and healing power in our lives. To be vulnerable, to allow Jesus to shine his light into our inner darkness takes courage, but when we open all of our lives to him, we will identify and be able to release our own “plunder and evil”. The Holy Spirit can also help us to trust one another with our weaknesses, faults, and shortcomings.

We are healthier and stronger when we accept our own spiritual poverty, where we need help, and reach out to ask for assistance. We are better when we entrust ourselves to Jesus and a core group of people we trust, firmly ground ourselves in the love of God and one another. We grow stronger when we support the unique gifts of each other while at the same time hold each other accountable. Isolated and in the darkness, our sin festers and grows. When brought into the light, sin starves and withers away.

Jesus challenges us to resist projecting an image of perfection when all is not well on the inside. When willing to reveal our weaknesses, sins, suffering, and pain, we can receive help, heal, and let go of carrying the weight of seeking an internal perfectionism. Healed and transformed from being the center of the universe, which we never were or never can be, we can let go of having to project an image of perfection. We can instead be free to be ourselves as God calls us to be and radiate his love as we receive his love. Instead of driving people to the nearest exit, we can begin to welcome people back home to be forgiven, healed, loved, and transformed.

Photo: Not a cloud in the sky. Would that we can say, no sin on our soul! We can get closer by seeking the cleansing healing from sin when we are willing to confess regularly and often.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Turn away from seeking signs or wisdom. Seek Jesus instead.

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah” (Lk 11:29).

To understand what Jesus means, we need to understand the sign of Jonah. Jonah was sent by God to go to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, to call them to repent from their wicked ways. The Jews not only considered Nineveh to be a place of decadence, wickedness, and godlessness, but the heart, the capital city of Assyria. Its military which had invaded Israel and conquered the northern kingdom around 721 BC.

We can understand Jonah’s initial refusal to follow God’s lead. Not only did he not want to go to Nineveh, but Jonah also did not want them to receive mercy. He wanted God to punish and destroy the nation who he considered an enemy. Those who have read the Book of Jonah, know that Jonah finally acquiesced, and within hours of his proclamation to the citizens, including the king, they repented and God showed them mercy.

Jesus draws a parallel between the people of Nineveh and his listeners. The people of Nineveh heard and repented to a reluctant messenger. The Ninevites, Gentiles, the sworn enemies of Israel, received God’s mercy when they repented. Now, in their midst was one greater than Jonah, the Son of God, and they were demanding of him a sign. The sign of Jonah was repentance. Jesus, from the beginning of his public ministry, preached the same: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15).

Many did not listen to Jesus. We would do well to listen to Jesus’ message. Repentance is a foundational spiritual discipline. We are called to consistently and daily examine our conscience and to come to accept that we live in a fallen world. This is not a pessimistic view. This is an awareness of the reality of our present condition.

By accepting that we live in a fallen world, that there is only so much that we can do by ourselves, we will begin to recognize that we need a savior. The next step that we can make is to acknowledge that we need to repent, to identify and turn away from our sins, and turn back to him who can save us. For apart from him, we can do nothing, yet with God, all things are possible.

St Mother Teresa recognized the need for Jesus and stressed this when she taught her novices that she was not interested in numbers and she was not interested in having a branch of social workers. She and those who followed Jesus were to be missionaries of God’s charity. They were to serve Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor. To do so they participated in daily Mass for an hour so they could bring Jesus and see Jesus to those they encountered each day. After returning from their time of service they participated in adoration for an hour. Empowered and renewed by Jesus, blessed by his mercy and love, they could serve Jesus in those they met in the harshest of conditions.

Jesus calls us, as he did his listeners, to resist seeking signs as did the Jews and wisdom as did the Greeks, but repent and give our lives to him. By emptying ourselves of our preconceived notions and opening our hearts and minds to follow his lead and be conformed to his life, we can be about doing God’s work. As long as we stay connected to him, he will guide and give us the means to accomplish that which he sends us to do.

We stay connected to Jesus by allowing his light to shine in our hearts and minds so that we can better identify our sins. Not to be condemned, but convicted of them so that we, like the Ninevites, will repent and turn our focus back to God. Our goal is to enter a daily rhythm of resisting temptations and when we fall repenting from them as soon as possible.

Slowly our selfish and disordered pursuits will cease to be our priority, we will no longer put our own interests at the center. Instead, we will accept Jesus as the core of our lives, that he may be the guiding light of our thoughts, words, and actions. For we are “called for freedom,” to be freed from our sins so that we can “use this freedom” to “serve one another through love” (Galatians 5:13 ).

Photo: Jesus calls us to repent from anything that separates us from him and his Father so that we can experience the love of the Holy Spirit. Are we willing to repent?

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, October 13, 2025

When we pray, the “Our Father”, may we lift our hearts and minds to our Father.

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray and he shared with them the prayer we know as the “Our Father” or “The Lord’s Prayer”. This version from Luke is a bit different than the version from Matthew that we are used to. Praying with different words can help us to be more attentive and mindful. We also need to be careful when we pray to resist the temptation to only say words and forget that the words we are praying are directed to a Person, in this case, Our Father.

This very prayer was given to the Apostles, who passed it on, and it has continued to be prayed and passed on generation after generation such that we have received the “Our Father” again in this moment!

God’s word is alive. It touches our hearts and minds, and reaches each of us in our own unique moments of sorrow, challenges, and desolations, as well as our successes, joys, and consolations. Another good point to remember when approaching prayer is to resist the temptation to change God. Instead, let us allow him to transform us by his loving embrace.

I invite you to give yourself some time now to slowly and prayerfully pray this prayer again. Pay attention to each word, meditate upon them, direct them to, and spend some quiet time with our Father.

“Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test” (Luke 11:2-4).

Photo: Some quiet time in prayer before being blessed to celebrate the Sacrament of Matrimony with a special couple at St. John of the Cross Catholic Church this past Saturday.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 8, 2025