faith

May we confess and not allow the sun to set on our sins.

In each of our readings for this Sunday, even the psalm, there is conflict. The reconciliation for this conflict is to accept and understand that God is God, and we are not. We are to place all our trust in him, follow his precepts and teachings and we will be in a much better place. Better because we will come to realize that the interpretive key to experience healing for ourselves and guidance through our conflicts, is to accept the invitation of our loving God and Father to be in relationship with him.

We have been created by an outpouring of God’s love, to receive his love, and to love God, our neighbors, and ourselves as he loves us. When we anchor ourselves in this truth, in putting God first, trusting in him and seeking to deepen our relationship with him, our lives will be more properly ordered and we will realize that not only are we not alone when we experience conflicts but we will have a firm foundation in God for guidance. When we have recognized that we have turned away from God through our sin, may we have the humility to seek forgiveness.

In our first reading then when Joshua complains to Moses because he hears about how Eldad and Medad are prophesying apart from the seventy who had come to receive the spirit God sought to bestow on them, Moses pointed out to Joshua that God can bestow the spirit on whomever he wills and, “Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all” (Numbers 11:29)!

This same theme arises in the Gospel when John also complained to Jesus that someone, not one of the apostles, was driving out demons in Jesus’ name. Jesus tells him not to prevent him from doing so, “For whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40).

Both Moses and Jesus recognize and acknowledge that the power of God is at work among his people, and that this not to be prevented or inhibited in any way. That people are receiving the spirit of God and acting upon God’s guidance is what we are all to do! To give the spirit and love and for all to receive is what God wants for all of us!!! The love we have received is not for us alone, but for us to share.

James points this out clearly in his letter and reveals the danger of wealth when we cling to it and refuse to share. Wealth given by God is a gift and a gift given not for us alone. We are to be good stewards of what we have received and provide freely for those in need. We are not to grasp for wealth on our own terms apart from God’s guidance nor exploit or use others for our own gain.

One of most egregious of sins is withholding wages from workers that are due their pay; the cries of which “have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts” (James 1:4). Withholding wages of day laborers during the time of James could have devastating effects. It could mean the laborer or his family would not eat, he could not make a payment of debt and could be imprisoned, as well as other complications that posed a risk for those living day to day with no social net or means of support.

In the Gospel, Jesus shows vividly and graphically the seriousness of sin. Without mincing words, Jesus showed clearly that sin was not to be taken lightly and doing so has catastrophic effects not only in this life but for all eternity. This was especially true for those who lead others into sin. “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea” (Mark 9:42).

This great millstone or donkey stone was massive. Some biblical scholars state that this stone could have weighed up to a thousand pounds. The donkey was hooked up to the stone, which was in the form of a massive wheel and then led by the donkey in a circle to pulverize wheat and other grains that was placed in a stone trough so to make flour. It is not hard to then imagine what would happen to someone who had this stone attached to his neck and thrown into the sea!

Jesus continued with more imagery by saying that it would be better to cut off a hand or a foot, and to pluck out an eye if any of these members would lead to sin. Jesus used such graphic language to show how destructive sin is in our lives, for each of us as individuals, as well as for families and communities. Sin has horrific consequences because it damages or ruptures our relationship with God and each other. The ultimate devastation would be an eternal life of separation from God.

Better to die a horrific death, than to die in a state of unrepentant mortal sin. Better to die maimed than clinging to a sin that would separate us from God for all eternity. Jesus is not wishing horrific deaths, physical dismemberments, or eternal damnation on anyone. He came not to condemn but to save humanity. His first public statement as he began his public ministry recorded back in Mark 1:15 is: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.”

Jesus came to wake us up, to lead us away from our selfishness, our self-centeredness, and sin, to heal us from our fears and deepest wounds, and to guide us home to the very source of our being, the infinite spring of our sustenance and nourishment, the core of our deepest desire, which is to remember who and whose we are. To call us to repent, to turn back to God, and believe in the gospel, the good news, that we are God’s beloved daughters and sons. And yet, through a free act of our will, we can reject the love of our Father and choose to separate ourselves from the love that God wants to bestow upon us in this life and for all eternity.

We can also choose to make the psalmist’s words our own: “Cleanse me of my hidden faults” (Psalm 19:12). When we hide in the darkness and cling to our sin, we are listening to the father of lies who seeks division and our death. God will forgive us from anything. God never tires of forgiving us. We tire of asking. Let us come confidently into the light, into the confessional, and ask Jesus to reveal to us our sins. When we have the humility to be contrite, confess, and atone for our sins, we will know and experience Jesus’ mercy, forgiveness and love, and be reconciled to our God and one another now, in this life, and for all eternity.

Photo: Rosary walk, Riomar Beach, Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, September 29, 2024

As we allow Jesus to heal us of our pain, we can love and help others.

Jesus asked his disciples about who people said that he was and Peter, through the revelation of God answered, “the Christ of God” (Lk 9:20). Jesus then responded that “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised” (Lk 9:22).

If you might be thinking that these verses sound familiar, it is because we heard proclaimed or read the parallel account found in Mark 8:27-35 two Sundays ago on September 15. This point never gets old. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus, we come to a deeper understanding of Peter’s words.

Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Yet, that meant many things to many people who were awaiting the coming of the Messiah. For most, they were hoping for a military leader to come to lead them and overthrow their Roman occupiers. As soon as Peter made his statement, Jesus clarified what kind of Messiah that he would be, a suffering servant.

As our first reading from Ecclesiastes offered, “there is an appointed time for everything” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Even a time for suffering. Peter had trouble with understanding this and he represents us as well. One of the points of faith many of us struggle with is the same as Peter, why did Jesus have to suffer?

Jesus was willing to be sent by his Father to become human and to experience all of humanity, even the suffering of our humanity, because only that which Jesus assumed could he redeem. Also, in Jesus experiencing our suffering, even unto death, we can know without hesitation or doubt that Jesus understands our struggles and anguish. And that means we are never alone in our suffering.

The reality is that the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, is Jesus. He is the suffering servant, the One willing to give his life on the Cross for all of humanity and creation. Jesus did not do this in some abstract way. He died for each and every human being that has lived, is now living, now reading these words, or ever will live. He died for you because he loves you.

To be a disciple of Jesus, we are invited to love in return. This means being willing to suffer and sacrifice for one another. Our discipleship will be ultimately expressed in love, in our willing the good of each other. We must be willing to let our hearts be moved with compassion and as St. Mother Teresa taught by, “Giving until it hurts.”

To give until it hurts means that we are willing to allow our hearts to be open to love. For our hearts to be open to the pain of another means that we must be willing to be healed. We are invited to allow the Divine Physician to remove our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh. This divine surgery happens at the Cross when we are willing to bring our suffering to Jesus whose arms are wide open and ready to embrace us.

The Suffering Servant understands our pain, experiences our pain, and can help us to experience instead of run from our pain. There is no way to cover up, go around, sidestep, and/or deny, our suffering. We must face it and experience it head on. But we don’t have to do so alone, nor can we. For what Jesus has assumed he can and will redeem. When we are ready and at the pace, we are willing to go, Jesus will heal us. For “there is an appointed time for everything.” Including our healing.

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Photo: Feast day of St Vincent de Paul, who allowed Jesus to remove his heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh, pray for us. St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, September 27, 2024

Jesus calls us to participate in his Father’s plan.

“Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority” (Lk 9:1).

Jesus summons us as he did the Twelve and empowers us for mission in his name. The expression of our service is unique to each of us. We might resist exploring or entering into a deeper commitment of our faith though because we might feel anxious or afraid that God may call us to do something that we would never want to do, or that we couldn’t conceive of being capable of. There also may be some trepidation even when we are clear of the direction God wants us to move in which may arise from our hesitancy to change and move out from our comfort zone. Ultimately, God wants for us what we want for ourselves deep down. We may not even know what that is, but God does.

God knows what will give us and with whom we will experience meaning, fulfillment, and joy in our lives. The challenge for us is to come to know this for ourselves as well. The work of discipleship begins by accepting the invitation of God to walk with him and trust that he knows what he is doing and where he is leading! No matter what our age, we are never too young or too old to begin or recommit to the journey along the path of discipleship. One good practice is to reflect on our dreams and desires, bring them to God in prayer, and imagine ourselves embracing what we desire.

When I first joined the Franciscans to study for the priesthood in the early ’90s, I imagined from time to time my ordination day, especially in our second year as we were thinking about taking temporary vows. When I did so, a puzzling result consistently arose. I did not imagine feeling any excitement or joy. So, a year and a half into formation, I decided to take a leave of absence. I had asked to take off a year, but the minimum time for a leave of absence was two.

Though I balked at first about the two-year time frame required, I came to see the wisdom of my formation director. I would have come back after a year. About a year and a half out then it was that I realized that my vocational path was leading me to the Sacrament of Matrimony and not Holy Orders. Eighteen months after I came to that realization, I met JoAnn. As our relationship grew and we began to talk about marriage, whenever I envisioned our wedding day, I felt excitement and joy. Each year that we had together built on the one before. We grew closer to God and each other right up until the day of her death.

God led me to the Franciscans in my mid-twenties, he then led me out, and then he led me to JoAnn. Almost three years after JoAnn’s death, he led me to seminary to be formed as a diocesan priest. Periodically when I imagined my ordination day, even though the schedule was more intense this time around, unlike during my novitiate year with the Franciscans, this time I felt excited. Now just about four months serving as a priest, it is more amazing than I could have ever imagined!

God loves us more than we can ever imagine, he has a plan for each and every one of us, and he knows what will fulfill us. When we ponder our dreams and desires, and as we investigate, research, explore potential opportunities and continue to pray and discern each step, we will come to see that as we align ourselves with God’s will that makes all the difference. We are not alone in this process, and we have a God who can see the full picture, where we see only a small part.

There will be fits and starts, missteps and slips, doubts as well as confirmations, and desolations as well as consolations. The key through it all, is to remain faithful, to continue to trust in Jesus who called us. He will continue to accompany us along the way. As he did with the Apostles, he will give us the resources and strength we need, and he will send the Holy Spirit to empower and transform our lives. The process of discerning God’s will for our lives is not just for ourselves alone. Jesus is preparing us for mission. We are transformed by the gift of God’s love to go out and share the invitation we said yes to with others!

Photo: Good to take some quiet time each day to be still and listen for God to speak to us in the silence of our hearts. Doing so a few days ago while home visiting my family and friends in CT.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, September 25, 2024

We are one with the Holy Family when we “hear the word of God and act on it”!

He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it” (Luke 8:21).

There are many popular genetic testing kits that are advertised on TV and through the internet. People have asked me is it possible to be a blood relation to Jesus. Jesus’ reply today can help you to save some money. Asking if we are a blood relation with Jesus is missing the point of Jesus’ life and ministry. What is important are “those who hear the word of God and act upon it.” God is to be first, even before family. We may experience a subtle shudder from this statement but to those of Jesus’ time, it would have been apoplectic. Family meant everything in the Ancient Near East.

Jesus is not making the point that we disregard family, he is instead teaching us that if we are to be authentically present to our family this will come about best by following the will of his Father. As we deepen our relationship with Jesus and put his teachings into action, we begin to bear the relational fruits of the Spirit. Would not our familial relationships be much better if we were more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle and practiced self-control? Jesus taught and showed from his own life that the path to fulfilling and intimate relationships flourish best when we put God first because as we grow closer in relationship with him, we also do so with those around us.

Another point we can glean from Jesus’ response in today’s Gospel is that our “family” is to transcend bloodline, tribe, and nation. Any one of “those who hear the word of God and act upon it” is spiritually akin to Jesus the Christ. The point is not that we have a genetic, lineal relation with Jesus, but that when we live and act according to his Father’s will, we are part of the universal family of God’s grace and mercy and our relationship with him and one another grows as we continue to bear the fruit of the Spirit.

As brothers and sisters in Christ, we will act with more caring and kindness, seek common ground through dialogue, be more willing to walk and accompany one another and seek to understand instead of judge. The bottom line is that we are to love one another as Jesus loves us! When we do so our lives are transformed.

To hear the word of God, we must have our hearts, minds, and souls open to hearing it proclaimed during Mass. We are also invited to read his word in our own daily time of prayer. In both situations, God’s word comes alive as he shares something of himself with us, to nourish, and give us his life. As we then receive, at times struggle with, seek to understand, and put into practice God’s word, we come to know the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the saints, and our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are one family in the Body of Christ when we “hear the word of God and act on it.” Just imagine what our parishes and communities would look like if we all did this.

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Photo: Praying with the Holy Family in the sacristy of St. Philips Catholic Church, East Windsor, CT. The church where I received my first communion and concelebrated Mass as a priest there for the first time this past Sunday.

The Mass readings for Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Let us not conceal but reveal the light of Christ!

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 freely without cost and invites us, mere human beings, tiny specks on specks in the universe, to be in relationship with him. He has given us our lives, sustains us, and he is the source of our fulfillment, meaning, and joy! We do not earn nor is there anything that we can do to gain God’s grace. God loves us as we are. We are to but receive and share his love. We lose the gift of his grace and love either by refusing what has been offered, or once accepting and receiving, not doing anything with what we have received. If we are people of faith in name only, but do not follow in action, we are concealing the light we have been given.

January of 2021 was an interesting time for me. It had been just over a year since JoAnn had died and I was not only diagnosed with Covid, but it had done a number on my lungs, full blown pneumonia, as well as compromised many of my other vital organs. Fortunately, after five days on the Covid wing of the hospital and a few months then home on oxygen, I slowly recovered. As with JoAnn’s diagnosis, I accepted what was happening and trusted God and felt his peace through both of those challenges.

JoAnn was not healed in the way that I had sought but hopefully has now received the fullness of the healing that Jesus came to bring all of us, eternal life with him and his Father through the love of the Holy Spirit. My time to leave this life and head on to the next did not come in January of 2021. Through my time of recovery, I prayed and took comfort in the gift of his word each day and continued to share these reflections.

Some have certainly been better than others, but each one has been a reflection of the journey into the Mass readings of the day as well as seeing their relevance in my life, and upon returning, writing what I felt I received from God to share. These posts have hopefully been a way to reflect the light of Jesus, to light my lamp and place it on a lampstand.

My hope is that these words can also be an invitation to those of you who are reading them to take your own walk about through the God’s living word revealed in the Bible. God has been a tremendous support and companion in my daily walks with him and my prayer is that you may experience his closeness as well when you stroll through the pages of the Bible prayerfully each day. As you do so, God will soon hand you your lamp, ask you to light it, and place it on the lampstand to let it shine brightly so it may be an inspiration for others.

Photo: Home altar passed on from my great grandfather, to my grandmother, to my mother, to me. Just as we pass on sacramentals and family traditions, may we also pass on our faith.

Link for the Mass readings from Monday, September 23, 2024

Jesus calls us too.

“While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples” (MT 9:10).

We as the Church, followers of Jesus, still have much to learn from Jesus. Today’s reading provides another wonderful example. Once Jesus begins his public ministry he is constantly on the go. Going where? Meeting people in the midst of their daily lives as he did with Matthew. And what is the response to Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, and then partaking in table fellowship with other tax collectors and sinners?

Matthew accepts his invitation to follow. The Pharisees question the disciples about his practice and curious onlookers follow at a distance. But to those who have, maybe for the first time in their lives, been respected as fellow human beings, their response is hope. A hope that there actually may be a path leading in from the peripheries. A hope that they no longer have to be on the outside looking in. A hope that they, for the first time in their lives might finally belong.

Jesus is shown time and again encountering the person as they are in their present circumstances and the chaos of their lives. He welcomes, is present, and embraces each person as they are. Yet he doesn’t want them to stay where they are. He invites people to be part of something greater than their self-absorbed posture, their self-imposed and externally imposed limitations and instead to actualize their potential and embrace a life of meaning and purpose. The only requirement is that they are willing to: repent, be forgiven, be healed, be loved, be human, be free, and once experiencing this encounter with Jesus, share what they have received with others.

When we are willing to follow Jesus and become his disciples as Matthew did, then we can experience the same hope for a new beginning. To follow we must have the humility to recognize our sinfulness, repent, recognize our dependence on God and our need for him and his love more than anyone or anything else. As we do so, we can begin to heal and let go of the apparent goods that we thought would bring us happiness which have instead led us astray, and renounce those false hopes that we have placed our security in.

We will find that, only in God alone will we find our fulfillment, hope, and security. Jesus invites us to experience: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). This is the promise and fulfillment that no other pursuit or person can bring. God is the foundation and source of all, and at the same time he knows each and every one us better than we know ourselves. He invites us to grow in our relationship with him so we can know him too.

We do this best as we get to know his Son, Jesus whom he sent, not to condemn us, but to save us. Jesus draws close to us as he did with Matthew so that he can experience the chaos of our lives. He loves us in the midst of the best and the worst and invites us to experience something better. Called and willing to be healed, forgiven, and transformed like Matthew, we too, can experience God’s mercy. Jesus will then send us as well to be beacons of the light, hope, and love for those who are in need of God’s healing and peace.

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Painting: The Calling of St. Matthew, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1600. We may be as surprised as Matthew, but Jesus does call us as well!

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, September 21, 2024

God has made us for communion and relationship.

Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women (Lk 8:1-2).

A simple statement but significant regarding how Jesus again is showing us how to live our lives as his followers, his disciples. Jesus is fully human and fully divine. What he has done and continues to do as the Son of God incarnate is to draw close to us in our humanity, as human beings, so that we can enter into a relationship with him and his Father through the love of the Holy Spirit, thus becoming one with him in his divinity.

From the beginning of his public ministry, throughout his time walking this earth, and continuing on after his resurrection and ascension into heaven, he  invites people to participate in his life and the kingdom of Heaven which is at hand in his very presence. Jesus does so by building relationships. This is how Luke can write the verses that Jesus was accompanied by the Twelve and Mary Magdelene, Joanna, and Susanna. These were real people with whom Jesus developed real and intimate bonds.

Christianity is not a Lone Ranger religion, it is not the survival of the fittest, and Jesus did not teach us to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We are created by God to be in communion, to be in a relationship with him and each other, to experience his love and love one another. That means we need to ask for help from God and each other when in need and to come to the aid of, accompany, empower, and support one other.

We are invited to welcome, engage with, and make time for each other by exchanging in the stories of our tragedies and our triumphs. We need to resist the temptation of withdrawing into our own bubbles. Instead, let us take the risk to be vulnerable and trust. Relationships are not perfect, they will be messy, and conflicts will arise. By making a commitment to God and each other, being willing to be honest even when we are tempted by our fears to be otherwise, keeping an open heart and mind, and being willing to be understanding, kind, and forgiving, we can grow closer together.

Jesus chooses each one of us to accompany him and to forge relationships grounded in mutual respect, where no one is last and where no person is left behind. Our prejudices only survive when we keep people at a distance. When we are willing, like Jesus, to come close and spend time with one another, our biases can fade and friendships can grow. Even when it appears sometimes that our country and our world is about to tear apart at the seams, reconciliation and communion is what our faith is all about. This is why we are a joyful people and an alleluia people!

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Photo: After concelebrating Mass at St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Broad Brook, CT. Enjoyed spending time with and getting to know some of the parishioners afterwards.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, September 20, 2024

Humility, contrition, and confession are the pillars for forgiveness, love, and peace.

Logistically, to our modern minds, the setting of this verse may appear confusing. How could this “sinful” woman be standing behind Jesus such that her tears would fall on his feet? When we think of someone sitting and eating, we imagine them doing so by sitting in a chair. Thus, the feet would be toward the front of the person.

During the time period Jesus lived, the customary practice when eating was not to sit at all but to recline. Thus, the woman was standing behind the feet of Jesus as he reclined, and her tears fell on his feet. She then knelt down, dried his feet with her hair, and then anointed Jesus’ feet with the ointment she brought for him.

She did not rationalize, deny, ignore, or come grudgingly nor wait for Jesus to call her out, she came not asking for healing but with true contrition for her sins. Being in the presence of Jesus, when we are open to his love and experience his compassion, we are pierced to the heart with our own sorrow for the hurt we have caused others through our sinful actions.

Those quick to point the finger at other’s sins, like Simon who judged this woman, are less apt to be aware of the depth of their own sin and thus “the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little” (Lk 7:47). We are not forgiven less because God is not willing to forgive but because God will not go against our free will. If we are unaware or unwilling to bring our sins forward in a contrite manner, we are cutting ourselves off from the healing forgiveness God wants so much to share with us. But if we, like the woman in today’s Gospel account, are willing to bear our soul with humility and sorrow we will not only be forgiven but experience a deeper outpouring of God’s love. The one who confesses truthfully, fully, and contritely is forgiven more and thus will love more.

We are offered the same gift of grace and forgiveness as she received. What if instead of hiding from, being in denial of, rationalizing, or justifying our sins, we acknowledged them and sought the healing forgiveness of Jesus as she did? In opening our hearts and minds to the forgiving and purifying love of the Holy Spirit there is pain, as there is in any healing, but there is also freedom. When we trust Jesus as she did with our deepest and darkest sins, we too can be forgiven, healed, and freed of the shackles that bind us and experience his love.

Don’t believe the lies of the enemy. God loves us more than our worst mistakes and sins. When we trust him, are contrite, confess, and willing to atone for our sins, the truth will set us free, and we will experience God’s love more fully and his peace more deeply.

Photo: Good to be still, quiet, breathe, and examine our lives from time to time.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, September 19, 2024 

 

When it is time to mourn, we weep, and when time to celebrate, we dance!

“To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep'” (Lk 7:31-32).

Jesus convicted those who held a narrow view of who was a true follower of God by sharing the image of a flute being played and no one was dancing, thus in times of joy, there was no celebration, and when the funeral dirge was sung, they did not weep, they did not mourn. Jesus then tied the analogy to his present condition where there were those who did not accept the ascetical practices of fasting and the call to repentance from John the Baptist, nor did they accept the inclusive table fellowship of Jesus.

In our own time, we have encountered those that are not pleased beyond their own narrow focus and who suffer from tunnel vision. Anything that hints at even a slight variation of change sends tremors of discontent. If we are honest, we all have some resistance to change, but if we are to authentically live the Gospel, St. John Henry Cardinal Newman’s quote is an apt barometer: “To live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

JoAnn embraced change much more easily than I. She consistently helped me, even when I didn’t feel it was helpful, to resist getting too comfortable. She did so again in “changing her address” five years ago to a heavenly zip code. Working through the reality of her death and the new adventure of two years of seminary were two big changes that I embraced with a lot of help, which has prepared me well for my first few months of priesthood.

It would have been easier to seek an early retirement and live a quieter life, but that was not a part of God’s plan. When most my age are thinking of or beginning an early retirement, I decided to embrace the invitation to change again and embark on a new adventure. I am very happy that I did.

The Church, at her best, is a balance between the rock foundation of our core beliefs, such as is outlined in the Nicene Creed, which provides stability, assuredness, and identity, while at the same time we need to be open to the life-giving inspiration of change from the Holy Spirit. Each of us in each generation must make the Gospel relevant. We must enter into the tension of remaining true to what we believe while being flexible to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. In this way, we can avoid molding the Church into our image, and instead be conformed into the image and likeness of Jesus, who is the embodiment of Love, the Trinitarian communion of which we profess in the Creed.

We can live a life of joy when we resist the temptation to hold on too tightly. Nothing and no one in this world lasts because all is finite. When it is time to mourn, let us weep, and if we do so well, when it is time to embrace life we can do so with joy and we can dance again. What lasts as St. Paul says is love. God is love and God created us out of an abundance of his love. When we are willing to surrender our will to the Father, our heart and mind to the Son, and allow our soul to be led by the Holy Spirit, we can better embrace change and better live our life to the full!

Photo: On my first day in the sanctuary of Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, beginning my new journey with some quiet time with Jesus, Mary, and JoAnn.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Let us share the compassion we have received from Jesus.

When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise” (Lk 7:13-14).

Jesus’ immediate response to this woman was pity or compassion. The original Greek word used was splanchnizomai, meaning that Jesus was moved from the very depths of his bowels. The emotional depths to which Jesus was moved to reach out and help the widow of Nain, shows us his humanity. Jesus’ healing of the widow’s son, bringing him back from the dead, shows us his divinity. The entire event shows us the best of who we ought to aspire to be as his followers.

Instead of fear, judgment, prejudice, or indifference, may we instead follow the lead of Jesus and seek to understand, to place ourselves in the shoes of the vulnerable, misunderstood, and on the margins. May we start with those we interact with everyday in our families, our school and workplaces, our communities and places of worship. May our hearts, not be hearts of stone, but hearts of flesh so to be moved from the very depths with the same compassion of Jesus toward those, who, like the widow, are vulnerable, at-risk, and on the peripheries.

We as the Church, the Body of Christ, need to be more welcoming, hospitable, willing to walk with others and to share in their journeys. We can do this simply in our day-to-day interactions with one another. Whenever we encounter another, may we resist any judgment, prejudice, or indifference and instead be willing to be moved by compassion and concern and be present.

Listening and hearing each other’s stories, needs, and engaging in conversation are helpful in opening up relationships. Taking the time to smile, to listen, to respect one another even when disagree and being willing to work through conflicts helps us to build and strengthen relationships.

Jesus looked upon those he interacted with as family. This widow who was weeping as she looked upon the dead body of her son was not a stranger to Jesus, but a sister in pain. Jesus was moved with compassion and immediately came close to help. He met and engaged with each person and treated everyone he came in contact with in the same way, as human beings.

He loved and showed them compassion and invited them to be free of that which bound them to their slavery to sin. He came to remind all of us of who and whose we are as his Father’s beloved children. “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister and mother” (Mt 12:50).

JoAnn often prayed for God to reveal to her one person that she could help each day. When we ask, God will guide us and grant us greater awareness of those we can help, and he will give us the means to be present and to assist. We are not called to raise the dead, while we can lift each other’s spirits, but we are called to have compassion for one another and see each other as brothers and sisters, not as somehow less or other, but with dignity.

May we allow the love of the Holy Spirit to stretch us beyond our comfort zones, beyond our limitations, so that we may experience a softening of our hearts and be willing to be moved by compassion. May we regularly and with more intention breathe and be more patient, understanding, and kind. May we be willing to love more, to will each other’s good with each person we engage with so that each of us are better for having met.

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Painting: “The Resurrection of the Widow’s Son at Nain” by James Tissot, 1890, online collection from the Brooklyn Museum

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, September 17, 2024