faith

“Do not be afraid, just have faith.”

“Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who has touched my clothes'” (Mk 5:30)? The woman could have slipped away, she could have stood still and said nothing, no one knew. His disciples were bewildered that Jesus asked such a question with so many pressing about him. But the woman approached with “fear and trembling” and told him the truth. Jesus did not admonish her for breaking a social taboo but publicly acknowledged her faith and so empowered her with a deeper healing than the merely physical that she sought.

All the while as this scene transpired, Jairus must have been in agony. He knew how close his daughter was to death, and every second counted. Jesus took that limited, precious time and engaged with this woman. Just as they were about to resume their journey, and he began to breathe again, the terrible news came that his daughter had passed away.

What might have flashed through his mind at that moment? The time Jesus took to talk with the woman, could that have made the difference? He was a synagogue official and would have known the taboos she crossed to reach out and touch Jesus in public, he knew that in doing so she would make Jesus unclean, she was a woman considered the lowest of low. She was frail and pallid from her condition, at death’s door herself, yet she had mustered such courage and faith to touch him. She took such a risk. While these or any other thoughts were passing through his mind, Jesus assured him, “Do not be afraid, just have faith” (Mk 5:36).

Jairus had just witnessed such faith with the woman healed from the hemorrhage, probably someone until this very moment for whom he might have shown disdain for. Maybe just maybe, if he could muster the same faith as her. Jesus could bring his daughter back to life just as Jesus had brought this woman, who was death’s door back to life and wholeness. A light shone in the darkness of his despair and the darkness did not overcome it. He would not be let down. Jesus indeed healed his daughter. He took her hand as he had done with Peter’s mother-in-law, and commanding her to rise and walk, she came back to life.

How many of us have ourselves or have ever known someone who has experienced such great needs as did Jairus, whose twelve-year old daughter died, or the woman who had been suffering for twelve years with hemorrhages, with no healing from doctors all this time? In both of these cases Jesus brought about miraculous healings. How many of us have experienced the opposite? No healing that we prayed for. We wondered where Jesus was or why he didn’t bother to help? The truth is Jesus is present, though he may or may not have brought about the outcome we may have sought.

February 2 marked five years and five months since JoAnn died. She was not healed from the pancreatic cancer that ate away at her body, as was the woman with the hemorrhage. Nor did Jesus come to raise JoAnn from the dead, as he did for Jaurus’ daughter, while I laid by her side and held her hand awaiting the funeral home to pick up her body. Does that mean Jesus does not heal anymore or that there is no relevance in the readings of the Gospel of Mark for us today?

No. Quite the opposite. Entering into the daily rhythm of reading, praying with, and meditating upon these accounts helps us to know him not as a historical figure but to encounter him as our Lord and Savior, brother and friend, who is present with us in this and each moment. As we enter into each passage, slowly and prayerfully, we are invited to enter into his memory, receive his direction and guidance. Over these five and a half years, I have healed, become aware of further areas in need of healing, attachments to let go of, and Jesus has helped me each step of the way. No step has been easy, but Jesus has given me the guidance and strength to make each one possible.

Read again prayerfully today’s account. May we pray for the courage and faith to approach Jesus and place all our trust in him for each situation as this woman did. When we struggle, when the ground feels a bit shaky underneath, let us take to heart and believe in the words that Jesus spoke to Jairus, “Do not be afraid, just have faith (Mk 5:36). When we place our trust and faith in Jesus, who is truly with us through it all, the good, the bad, and the ugly, we will experience his love, direction, and strength with each step we take along the way.

Photo: JoAnn received an even greater healing and I believe now that Jesus did come that day. He took JoAnn by the hand, and she like Jairus’ daughter arose to be with him for all eternity. 

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Jesus is stronger than any evil and will free us from anything that binds us.

Jesus and his disciples have entered the Gentile territory of the Gerasenes. As soon as they get out of the boat a man possessed by an unclean spirit rushes up to him. He himself was in a worse state than the storm that Jesus had stilled. He called himself Legion as he was possessed by many demons. He had been living in the tombs, away from society, family, and friends, some of whom had made multiple attempts to restrain him, cure him, bring him back to his right mind, but to no avail. The encounter with Jesus ultimately brought about the result of this man “sitting there clothed and in his right mind” (Mk 5:15). Jesus was able to liberate this man from his desperate state. If you have not done so, I recommend reading the full account (Mk 5:1-20).

Many scoff at the healing power and miracles of Jesus, and they certainly would also discount demonic possession. Though rare, there are still cases today. A strict approach of scientism that only accepts the empirical, only that which can be measured by the five senses, discounts not only the divinity of Jesus and the reality of God but any talk of a spiritual realm. This is unfortunate because this is a limited approach to understanding the fullness of creation. We ourselves are both physical and spiritual. A healthy embrace and experience of both will help us to better appreciate and understand the world around us.

Too many today are in the same need of experiencing the liberating power of Jesus as the Gerasene. Just as chaotic and tumultuous, especially among too many of our youth, are those who are consumed and imprisoned by the vice grip of addiction. Family members and friends reach out desperately to help, to provide aid, and find themselves in the same situation as those who sought to care for this man who had been living in the tombs. Somehow this man caught “sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him” (Mk 5:6). There must have been some ember at the core of who he was that could still move and bring himself to Jesus.

Far too many are suffering, bound, and shackled by a wide range of addictions, obsessions, disordered affections, and oppressions that plague far too many today, as well as the rare cases of possessions. Evil seeks to distort, disfigure, divide, dehumanize, and separate all of us from the goodness and wholeness that God intends. This growing epidemic damages individuals, families, and friends and could benefit from a unified approach of the best that science, psychology, counseling, prayer, the sacraments, spiritual direction, and when needed, exorcisms can offer.

Jesus can reach into even the deepest darkness of our internal entanglements and help to reveal any disordered affections. Yet we must choose, as did the Gerasene demoniac, to surrender to Jesus. May we resist the temptation to flee from him, and instead run into his open arms. Resting in the grip of his loving embrace, we will come to know that we are not alone in our suffering, that our deepest anguish, sin, and wounds can be healed.

Jesus is stronger than any evil that seeks to bind and separate any of us. He shared this in his parable of “tying up the strong man” (Mark 3:27) which is on vivid display as he casts out Legion from the Gerasene man. Let us continue to place our trust in the name of and the power of Jesus and intercede for all those who are suffering from any form of disordered affections, addictions, and/or afflictions emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually. May Jesus lead all of us to experience deliverance and freedom from any affliction no matter how small or large, so that we may experience the right ordering of our minds, hearts, and souls to God’s will, and like the Gerasene man, not only experience the fullness of his healing but also go to share the good news of our experiences to help to bring the invitation of healing to others.

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Photo: Not even the strongest of chains can bind us when we seek the healing power of Jesus to free us.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, February 3, 2025

Jesus came to lead us “out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Simeon, a righteous and devout man of Israel, had received a revelation from the Holy Spirit that before his death he would behold the Messiah, “the Christ of the Lord” (Lk 2:26). We do not know how long Simeon was waiting, we do not know how old he was when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple. How many people had crossed his path, how many times must he have turned his head wondering when a family brought a male child to be presented to the Lord, “Is this the one?”

Today we recall the time when the One indeed did come, the presentation of Jesus in the temple, the day in which Simeon’s waiting, his growing anticipation, comes to fulfillment. “Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people: a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel” (cf. Lk 2:29-32). He can now go to his eternal rest in peace.

In Mary and Joseph presenting Jesus in the Temple, this is more than a pious act. In the presence of this infant, the glory of God had returned to the Temple, just as Malachi foretold in our first reading: “And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek” (Malachi 3:1). What Simeon said and experienced as he held up this baby, is still true for us today. Jesus the Christ has come to us, to lead us “out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9), for, Jesus is the Temple, the embodiment of the Living God, where heaven and earth meet, where the divine and human have been wedded.

May we spend some time in prayer today imagining ourselves holding the infant Jesus in our arms, as did Simeon, looking into his eyes, and allowing his smile and his giggle to fill us with his unconditional love and joy. As we adjust and cradle him in the crook of our arm and reach a hand to him, may we allow him to grasp our finger. In that simple touch, may we experience a warmth that radiates through our entire being melting all anxiety, doubt, and/or fear away.

May this warmth, light, and love of Jesus gently reveal to us anything that separates us from God. As we identify what Jesus invites us to let go of, may we do so, and experience his forgiveness, reconciliation, and freedom. From this moment of experiencing Jesus in our time and place, may we give our life to him all the more so that he may be first in our lives before anyone and anything else. Then we will better be able to radiate his light, love, mercy, and forgiveness to lead others “out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Painting: Simeon holding Jesus by Andrey Shishkin, 2012

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, February 2, 2025

“Quiet! Be still.”

On display in Mark’s recounting of the calming of the storm at sea is the humanity of Jesus. He had finally succumbed to the exhaustion from being pulled and touched, challenged and accused, the constant interaction through his service of teaching, healing, forgiving, and exorcising, such that he not only fell asleep on the boat but was in such a deep state that he was as if dead, even during the height of the storm.

What is also on display is his deep and abiding faith in his Father. For those aboard with Jesus were seasoned fishermen and had experienced sudden storms arise before. This must have been some storm to raise such panic. And yet, Jesus is sound asleep. He only arises because of his disciples insistence: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing” (Mark 4:38)? They unconsciously echo their ancestors in the desert with Moses when they moaned that it would have been better if the Lord had killed them in Egypt instead of their perceived starvation in the wilderness (see Exodus 16:1-3). Even though God had freed them from their slavery, they did not trust he would provide for them in the desert.

Despite the grumbling of the disciples and the fatigue of Jesus, he also reveals a glimpse of his divinity. Jesus arises. He does not invoke God’s aid but commands: “Quiet! Be Still” (Mk 4:39)! Just as Mark recorded that Jesus exorcised demons earlier in his Gospel, Jesus hear rebukes the wind and the waves and all is calm and peaceful.  This does not escape the disciples who are filled with awe.

The disciples have grasped his uniqueness, have accepted him as their rabbi, their teacher, but they are still grappling with the reality that Jesus is at the same time the Son of God. They will continue to experience his miracles, exorcisms, and teachings, but their faith is still small like a mustard seed. Though germinating, the stalks will not break through to maturity until after his resurrection and ascension. It is then that their faith will begin to bear fruit as they participate in the fullness of the ministry that Jesus is about to begin to train them for.

Similar to the disciples, storms arise in our lives, sometimes just as unannounced and as quickly as the squall from today’s Gospel. A health issue, an injury, an economic shift, a conflict, the effects of a mistake in judgment, or a sinful choice, all can arise at a moment’s notice. The most recent and devastating plane crash in DC shows how fragile our lives are and how quick life can change.

We, like the disciples, can sometimes only hold on so as not to be tossed into the sea, or bail out water so we don’t sink. Sooner or later, we need to turn to Jesus to seek his aid. A helpful point to keep in mind that I have learned from one of our past retreat directors, Fr. RB, was: “Sometimes the Lord calms the storm, and sometimes the Lord lets the storm rage on and calms his child.”

No matter the severity of the storm, let us place our trust in Jesus. Let us hold firm to the truth that Jesus remains present, accompanies, and cares for us and what we are going through. In every challenge he remains our anchor. We are never alone. Whether we brought the storms upon ourselves or they arose from another source, Jesus does not leave us to fend for ourselves.

When we remember to call on his name, he will either calm the storm or bring us a sense of peace as he guides us through, and empowers us to ride it out to the other side. With each storm that has arisen over the years, I have felt less fear and insecurity and more peace as I trust in Jesus. My faith has grown because time and again when I have turned to Jesus he has been there. The outcome has not always been the one I sought, but that he has been with me through each storm, I have no doubt.

As we experience Jesus and his love, we come to understand Jesus’ teachings as well as our lives better. The maturity of our faith begins to bear fruit when we are willing to allow Jesus to work through us so to be there for others in their storms. We can be a conduit of calm assurance for those who need Jesus even and especially when they do not know him or are focusing on the anxiety and fear of the storm instead of him. May God grant us the presence of heart and mind to be his peace and stillness for those who invite us into their boats as we ride out their storms with them.

Photo: Thankful all is calm and peaceful this night.

Fr RB Williams home page and link to his homily – http://www.rbwords.com/wttw/date/2018-01-27

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

Just as seeds sown grow into wonderful trees, so does God’s kingdom grow through us.

Two parables are presented by Jesus today in the Gospel of Mark. Both are presenting what the kingdom of God is like. The first presents a man who sows seeds, and the second is a mustard seed that is planted. In both cases, the seeds germinate, sprout, and go through the process of growth, and becoming mature plants. The kingdom of God is like these plants in that God works through the smallest of and many times, unnoticed beginnings. Also, God’s timing is not our timing. In our rapid-paced world of instant access, we would do well to slow down.

God not only begins small, and on his own timetable, but he is often working beyond the realm of our awareness. This is evident in the first parable offered by Jesus: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how” (Mk 4:26-27). This is not to say that God has set everything in motion and is indifferent or despondent to his creation. Quite the opposite. God has a plan and has been and continues to be intimately engaged in guiding his creation and in each of our lives as well. He revealed this truth to Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you” (Jeremiah 1:5). God is present to us, invites us to be in relationship, and seeks our relationship to grow, whether we know it or not. As we get to know him, he quietly invites us to participate in his plan.

The beauty is that even though God has no need for us, he invites us to know him and to participate in the spreading of his kingdom. Just think of someone who you have, for the longest time, wanted to meet. If the opportunity arose to spend time with that person, how excited would you be? How much more then if they also did not want to just meet you but to grow in a relationship with you! We have the opportunity to do so with the Creator of all that exists, and not just today, or tomorrow, but for all of eternity.

God has created us to know, love, and to serve him. He invites us to be in communion with him, and to participate in his work of salvation history in simple and subtle ways. Are we aware of his invitation, are we willing to watch and pray? Are we willing to place ourselves in a posture so better to receive his word as well as his silence? Just as an acorn that is sown matures and grows over time into the mightiest of oak trees, so may our relationship with our Loving God and Father also grow and mature that we become one with him in this life and into the next for eternity.

Photo: Some of the oaks here on our campus of Holy Cross Catholic Church before the storm.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, January 31, 2025

As we grow in our relationship with Jesus, his light will shine more brightly through us.

Jesus said to the crowd: “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light” (Luke 8:16).

God blesses us by giving his Son to us. He has done great things for us and he is the source of our joy! We do not earn nor is there anything that we can do to gain God’s grace. Our God and Father loves us unconditionally and always without hesitation and calls us to deeper and more intimate communion. But we can lose the gift this invitation to relationship that we have been given. This happens either by refusing what has been offered, or once accepting and receiving, not doing anything with our gift. If we are people of faith in name only, but not followed by action, we are concealing the light we have been given.

Prayer is our lifting our hearts and minds to God, to spend time with him and in truly doing so, our lives as with any relationship is changed. If we are not moving forward in the spiritual life, we are moving backwards. If we do not exercise our faith and allow that to happen over longer periods, we will receive signs of spiritual atrophy. To not even acknowledge the presence of God in our life, the free gift of his invitation to be in a relationship with him, we will experience limitations in our lives.

For whether we believe in God or not, we hunger to be in communion with him and one another, so we will be looking for other apparent avenues of happiness that will fall short of fulfilling us. If we do accept that there is a God, yet don’t participate in worship, fellowship, service, meditation and prayer, we are little but not much better off. I can believe that my car will get me to where I want to go, but if I do not put the key in the ignition, turn on the engine, and put the car in drive, press the gas peddle, I will remain stationary.

We are called daily to spend time meditating and praying, reading the Bible, learning about our faith, putting into practice what we believe, and serve God through each other as he leads. These spiritual non-negotiables happen more consistently when we schedule them first before any other activities, while being true to our station in life. A parent with an infant will have different demands than a monk or nun. What we do does not earn God’s love. God loves us no matter what we don’t do or what we do. The difference is that when we are consistently engaged in spending time with God, following his will, and putting into practice what he is guiding us to do, we experience his love more because we experience him more.

We will then be more like Mary and the saints who reflected the light of Jesus. Privatizing our faith as well as getting into another’s face stifles the light of Jesus. Instead, we are to be open to the lead of the Holy Spirit, to be present, caring, understanding, supportive, convicting, and empowering, as we accompany one another in our realm of influence. The relationships we build are those that God brings into our lives.

Jesus has given his life for us, he continues to be present to and through us to others. May we be open to being conformed today and each day by his love. We are better able to do so by resisting and renouncing the temptations, diversions, and distractions that seek to lead us away from God. God sent Jesus to enter the chaos of our lives. May we allow him in to shine his light in our lives so we can identify and purge anything not of him, so that then we may begin to radiate the presence of Christ’s light in simple and concrete ways that allow God to happen through us in each encounter.

Photo: Sanctuary lamp in our temporary sanctuary at Holy Cross reveals the presence of Jesus in the tabernacle. May our actions radiate the light of Jesus to others.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, January 30, 2025

May we grow where we are planted as we hear, accept, and put into practice God’s word.

Each of the elements of the Parable of the Sower is worthy of meditation and reflection. A very good practice would be to take some time to reflect on each aspect and ask what limits the germination and growth of the seeds God has sown in our lives, and also what helps us to bring about successful growth and a successful yield. When did we experience God’s word but have it almost immediately snatched away; when did we gain an insight, experience joy from his word and guidance, but did not in any way put the learning into practice; how many times have trials, hardship, lack of courage, or outright persecution, tempted us from stretching out of our comfort zone, and we instead withdrew, not wanting to risk growth?

Many of us can relate to: “Those sown among thorns are another sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit” (Mk 4:18-19). Distractions and diversions pull at us from within and without, from one second to the next. So much seeks to undo us, tear us down, and drive us into states of anxiety, despondency, cynicism, and depression. So many apparent goods and false truths entice us and feed our desires for power, wealth, fame, and pleasure. Material temptations offer promises of fulfillment but shortly after the purchase leave us feeling empty. All the while, there is so much good that needs to be done and so much work to do. Even if we are willing to look beyond ourselves to be of help, we may not even be sure how to serve or where to begin.

Jesus offers us, with the Parable of the Sower, his promise, that when we prepare our hearts and minds to receive his word it is like tilling rich soil. The seeds that he sows within will then sprout, mature into a plant, and continue grow to bear much fruit. To have this rich soil means we need to break into those areas of hard ground:  the hardness of our hearts, prejudgments, and pride. We also need to be willing to cut away the vines as we face our fears and insecurities.

We often react from a defensive posture or give in to our immediate impulses. These weeds can choke our new growth. When we take a moment to inhale deeply, discern each thought, situation, purchase, and action, pray and seek God’s guidance, rely on trusted family, friends, colleagues, and classmates for guidance, these counter actions are like weeding out our immediate reactions and impulsive thoughts. Pruning happens when we learn from past experiences and resist giving into past habitual choices.

With consistency and discipline over time, as we surrender more to our Father’s will, continue to be nourished by his word, accept and put his guidance into practice, trust in him and not the temptations that entice, distract, divert, and disrupt our growth, we will see sprouts begin to grow, soon mature plants will flourish, and we will “bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold” (Mk 4:20).

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Photo: Saw this first bloom of the season this past Sunday morning on the way to Mass.

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

“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Even a surface reading of the Gospels will offer a glimmer of Jesus making things new. We can read and imagine the scene today. Many are gathered around him. The crowd is large but focused intently on Jesus as he taught. His family, presumably the relatives that only a few verses earlier came to seize him because he was out of his mind (cf. Mk 3:21), had arrived, were standing outside, and sent word. The message passed among the people was: “Your mother and your brothers [and your sisters] are outside asking for you” (Mk 3:32).

Jesus seized on the opportunity for a teachable moment. Most would have expected him to immediately get up and welcome his family. Instead he looked not beyond and past the crowd that encircled him to his family who had sent word, but to those who were nearest to him and said: “Here are my mother and my brothers. [For] whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mk 3:35).

The true measure of the family in the kingdom of God is not a bloodline but faith in and following the will of God. Those who have experienced or still experience the gift of a close, tight-knit, extended family can come close to the dramatic moment of silence that must have followed after this statement. For anyone living in the ancient Near East, familial, clan, and tribal relations were paramount to survival. To say that family bonds were strong is an understatement. Yet, Jesus challenged this societal norm by raising the bar even higher and expanded the bond of family beyond blood or marriage ties.

The relatives of Jesus were not present in this inner circle, they were on the outside. Imagine who might have been sitting in that circle; sinners, the unclean, tax collectors, and possibly even Gentiles – non-Jews, and Jesus said that they were his brother and sister and mother! If his relatives thought he had lost his mind before, I cannot imagine what kind of mental conniption they entered into after these words.

Jesus was not devaluing or delegitimizing family, he was restoring the family to its proper place and extending it out beyond what anyone of his time could have conceived of. As Bishop Robert Barron writes, “when we give the family a disproportionate importance, in short, it becomes dysfunctional” (Barron 2011, 17). We as the baptized are united in a deeper way into the Mystical Body of Christ, which is an even more powerful call to unity here than the blood-line of family, clan, or tribe.

The end goal is that as each person draws closer in their encounter and relationship with God, they also draw closer together. As we are conformed more and more to the life of Christ we begin to bear his fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (cf. Galatians 5:22).

In sharing the fruit of the spirit, in giving this gift away to one another, our relationships will grow and our bonds will become stronger. Our love grows as we give it away, person to person, out beyond our comfort zones, to the peripheries, where there are those who feel set apart, and/or are on the outside looking in. We are even to share with our enemies. Not possible? True, if we enclose ourselves within our own bubble and focus on protecting our ego. Possible, when we deepen our relationship with Jesus and allow him to love through us.

Too many today are choosing to encase themselves in their own protective bubble wrap. Instead of embracing diversity, we are going backward, we are regressing. By choosing to close ourselves off from other viewpoints, talking over each other and at each other, if we are talking at all, and embracing fear instead of love, we are distancing ourselves from God and each other. Our strength as a people, as a nation, and as a world increases when we embrace the human dignity of each person, and the rich diversity bestowed upon us through the unconditional love of God. May we embrace the teaching of Jesus who in his emphasis on following God’s will “was insisting that the in-gathering of the tribes into God’s family is of paramount importance” (Barron 2011, 17).

In today’s Gospel account from Mark 3:31-35, Jesus did not define those gathered around him by race, ethnicity, gender, or any other label. He defined them then, as he still defines his family today, as those who are willing to follow the will of God his Father. Mary his mother being the primary model.

Jesus, please help us to open our hearts and minds to receive the Love of the Holy Spirit so as to will the good of our family and friends, our colleagues, classmates, and neighbors, as well as those we may consider as other, and even our enemies. Help us to resist asking who does or does not belong in your inner circle, but instead be willing to surrender to God, follow his will, and sit at your feet, not only to learn from you but also to be empowered and transformed by you, so to care for one another as brothers and sisters and mothers, sharing the love of our one God and Father.

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Photo: Who better than Mary follows the will of Jesus and our Father?

Barron, Robert. Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of Faith. NY: Image, 2011.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Jesus is our light, love, and salvation.

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons” (Mark 3:22).

The scribes, coming in from Jerusalem, most likely to investigate the happenings of this Jesus they have been hearing about, experience for themselves Jesus exorcising demons. They do not nor seem to want to understand how he is able to cast them out and thus healing those possessed. They judge that he does this feat, not by the power of God, but instead, by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Could their purpose be to delegitimize, or literally demonize, Jesus in such a way that those beginning to follow him will begin to doubt or outright turn away from him? If Jesus is who he says he is, then the scribes are actually the ones serving Satan in aligning with him to sow discord and disunity.

Jesus provides an invitation to build bridges of reconciliation and healing to restore the unity that has been lost by those choosing to sin, to put self first over God. He also meets those on the peripheries, those who have been kept at arm’s length, healing those conditions which have been used to justify their separation. Yet Jesus does not impose, he proposes. Even so, Jesus demands a choice.

Jesus shows over and over again by word and deed not only how he is creating a bridge of connection between the human and the divine, he is in actuality the bridge, the kingdom of God in our midst, and yet, he is not going to drag anyone over against their will. Jesus calls all who encounter him to make a choice, there is no middle ground, we are either for him or against him.

We have witnessed in the Gospel accounts how some of the scribes, Pharisees, and even some of his own relatives reject Jesus. He is able to perform only a few miracles in his own hometown. Those who say no to the invitation cut themselves off, separate themselves from the very source of their life, the very core and sustaining force of their being. Those who say, “yes’ and repent, like those that receive his healing, will be transformed, and are freed from their enslavement to sin.

When they continue to say, “yes”, day by day, decision by decision, they align themselves with the very source and communion they have been created for, God the Father. This is no one revelatory moment but a daily commitment of saying, “yes” to Jesus. Even when we mess up or fall for temptation, let us refuse to stay down but arise, repent, and begin again and again. We must always and everywhere reject the lie that echoes in our minds that we cannot be forgiven. Jesus loves us more than we can ever mess up, he loves us more than our worst choices or mistakes, more than our most grievous sins, and he will forgive us time and again, as long as we are contrite, seek his help to sin no more, and are willing to perform the penance to atone for our sins.

If this is true, then what does Jesus mean when he says, “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an ever lasting sin” (Mk 3:29)? Jesus refers here to our free will to accept or reject the free gift of his grace. We can observe this played out in the choices of Peter and Judas. Peter repented, was forgiven, and transformed. Judas withdrew within himself, cut himself off from Jesus, did not believe that Jesus would forgive him, and took his own life. Jesus would have forgiven Judas as he had Peter, but Judas kept himself at a distance. He refused to accept the love of the Holy Spirit. He cut himself off from the very source of his life and salvation.

We have a choice to make each day. We can let ourselves be defined by our sins and our worst mistakes, believe the father of lies who promotes division and isolation, tempts and seeks to condemn us, separate us from Jesus and one another, with the intent to kill us. We can walk the path of darkness which consists of living defensively, keep others at a distance, demean, belittle, and degrade others, as well as live in the shadows of indifference and cynicism.

Or we can surrender our will to Jesus, accept his guidance and conviction so that we can see our sins and repent from our pride, prejudice, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, sloth, and wrath. We can believe that Jesus is who he said he is, seek his forgiveness, healing, and love, and join in the mission of sharing his gospel.

As we do so, we will take steps forward and steps back, and we stumble and we will fall, but through each experience, the hand of Jesus is still there to help us back up. When we are willing, we will be forgiven again and again, and begin again and again. We are not alone. Mary the Mother of God and all the saints said, “yes” to Jesus’ invitation. They understand what we are going through. They are also cheering us on, guiding us, empowering us, so that one day we too will be where they are, seeing God the Father face to face. Until that time, while we are still here this side of heaven, let us breathe, receive, rest, and abide in God’s love so to radiate his Son’s light and love, in our own unique way.

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Photo: A quiet moment to breathe and receive the love of Jesus.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, January 27, 2025

“Love listens.”

Having been led by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus fasted for forty days and was tempted by the devil. Jesus resisted these temptations and then, in Luke’s account, began his public ministry by preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. After some time, Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth and on the Sabbath, Jesus “went according to his custom into the synagogue” (Lk 4:16).

This time his presence was different. Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah and as Jesus sat, all were silent. Jesus broke the silence with the words, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:18). This was no ordinary reading, this was Luke’s inaugural address for Jesus. Jesus was sent on mission by his Father through the love of the Holy Spirit to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives and return sight to the blind, to free those from oppression and proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Jesus came to restore us to wholeness, to be present with us so that we can experience his closeness, and to lead us to reconciliation with his Father. Jesus calls us, just as he called his disciples to share in this same mission of drawing close. We are also to be present to one another, to love one another, and lead each other out from our imprisonment to sin. Turning in upon ourselves, and away from others keeps the focus on ourselves. Instead, we would do better to open ourselves up to embrace God and one another.

USC professor, Dr. Leo Buscaglia, was devastated when he heard the news that one of his students had committed suicide. He was crushed by the loss of such a young life full of potential and promise, but more so by the fact that none of her classmates were even aware that she was missing or struggling with such pain. Dr. Buscaglia then began his non credit course called Love 1A in 1969. He wanted not so much to teach but to facilitate ways in which his students could be free from the barriers that keep people at arm’s length and at a distance.

Dr. Buscaglia allowed God to work through him to bring about a greater good from the devastating loss of one of his students. His class grew beyond the campus of USC through his books and public speaking where he continued to facilitate for his listeners the vital importance of allowing ourselves to be loved and to love in return.

To continue the mission of Jesus we too need to have ears to hear and eyes to see the ways in which we can say yes to our unique invitation to spread the Gospel. Because of watching a video presentation by Dr. Buscalglia in my Sophomore year of college in a search in education course, I chose to switch my major and seek to become a teacher. He inspired me to want to help others and to help make a difference in their lives. No matter our station in life, we can be more intentional, more aware, and more present to each other through our willingness to care, understand, support, love, and empower those in our realm of influence.

Photo: Dr. Leo Buscaglia, 1924-1988. “Perhaps if we listened to another person, truly listened, we could hear his joy or his cry. Love listens. Love hears.” – from his book Love, p. 180.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, January 26, 2025