faith
To heal, it is important to reveal our sin and come out of the darkness.
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, and they were closed to the love and will of God. This situation was more perilous when they themselves became obstacles, 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.
A recent Pew study tracing religious affiliation from 2007 to 2014 found that approximately 56 million Americans identify themselves as following no religious affiliation. Some have labeled this group as the “Nones”. The context and nuance of why this trend has been on the rise has many components. One ingredient is the unacceptable levels of hypocrisy which has turned many off to organizations and the societal structures including the Church. Reports of abuse of children, women, and at risk adults over the past few decades further adds fuel to this fire. Although, church leadership has done much to correct those abuses and to put policies and practices in place to protect the flock, the damage has been done, the image has been tainted, and there is still much more work to do.
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. The good news is that the most recent study has shown for the first time that the rise of the “Nones” has plateaued. This is an affirmation that when we experience life without God, we will recognize that something, some One is missing.
No one is perfect, our leaders nor ourselves. We all fall short of the perfection of Christ, 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.
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 assume a posture of humility and openness and reach out for help. We are better when we entrust ourselves to Jesus and a core group of people we can 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 don’t have to project any image. We can 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 loved, healed, and transformed.
Photo: Rosary walk, Riomar Beach, Vero Beach.
“You are lacking one thing…”
A man approached Jesus seeking to know what he must, “do to inherit eternal life” (Mk 10:17). Jesus interestingly shared the commandments of Moses’ second tablet, those of loving neighbor such as: do not kill, commit adultery, steal or bear false witness; do not defraud, but do honor his father and mother (cf. Mk 10:19), not any from the first tablet regarding how to relate to God. The man affirmed that he had followed them all. Jesus did not challenge the man’s response. The disciples, I bet, though perked up and prepared to watch Jesus lead this man deeper.
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me” (Mk 10:21).
Jesus did not admonish or condemn the man. Mark, who most likely got this eyewitness detail from Peter, wrote, “Jesus looking at him, loved him”. Jesus loved him and hoped to help him to see that there was something still lacking in him, still holding him bound. So he lovingly invited him to take the next step to fulfill the deepest desire we all have, which is to be one with God and one another.
Instead of embracing the invitation, the man was crestfallen. That he followed the prescriptions of Torah all his life, and most likely sincerely felt he was blessed by God with the gift of having many material goods, in the end, did he really know God any better by following the precepts of the law alone? In the end, did he worship God or his possessions which still enslaved him.
He may genuinely have come to seek eternal life, but as many misunderstood the kind of messiah Jesus would be, he did not grasp the reality of relationship that God invites us to experience. This man was likely serious, disciplined, well mannered, and virtuous but made the mistake in thinking this all came about by his own doing. He thought the things he received from God was his blessing, not realizing that God wanted to give this man the greatest gift of all, himself.
Jesus invited the man to follow him, and in so doing he was now bringing in the first of Moses’ tablets, the first three of the Ten Commandments, which have to do with our relationship with God. Jesus answered this man’s question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” by saying, “You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me” (Mk 10:21). Interestingly, Jesus did not say, follow God, he said follow me! Jesus is the Son of God, he is God incarnate.
The heart of the commandments invite us to be free from that which enslave us, so that we can put God first and foremost in our lives, so we can experience and receive his love, so we can grow in our relationship with him and one another free of unhealthy attachments. This is what we all have been created for, as St. Augustine himself realized when he wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you” (St Augustine, Confessions).
I invite you to return to this scene from Mark 10:17-31. Recall the image of the disciples and Jesus watching the rich man walk away sad. Become aware of the eyes of Jesus, his gaze now on you. What stirs within you as you receive his gaze and his love?
Allow yourself to take a breath and ask, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Continue to look deeply into Jesus’ eyes as he says, “You are lacking one thing…” How does he fill in the blank for you?
What is your response?
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Painting image based on the Shroud of Turin.
Experiencing God with us in everything is the gift of prayer.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Lk 11:9).
Prayer can become frustrating when we make the time to pray and then we feel or think that nothing is happening or has happened. We may pray for a specific petition for our self, or for a particular intention for another and felt, or thought, that there was not an answer from God. One may pray a sincere, seemingly selfless prayer for a loved one, a child, a spouse, a friend, to be healed and the person still dies. They may be deeply hurt because they did what Jesus said; they asked, they pleaded and begged, but felt they did not receive the healing; that which they sought for, was not given and, instead what they found was nothing but pain and heartache from the loss; they knocked until their knuckles were raw and experienced no one on the other side.
Our attitude and orientation to prayer matters. When we sincerely turn our hearts and minds to God in prayer, something happens between us and God, though it may be beyond our cognitive grasp to understand or our sensory awareness to experience. There may indeed be emotional highs and consolations experienced in prayer, but if seeking those is the primary motivation for prayer we will find ourselves more frustrated than not. There may also be lows in prayer, dryness, even desolations, and even feeling God’s absence. Emotions are fleeting and not a good barometer when measuring the effectiveness of prayer.
Another big misconception is that we pray to God as if he were a gumball machine. It may seem a silly analogy but how many of us really do pray and only pray that way, and when we do not receive the specific thing we asked for, at the time specified, when we wanted and as we wanted, we brood and think God doesn’t care or does not, in fact, even exist. We may even slip into the barter posture. God if you grant me this, I will do that. If we are only open to receive what we want on our terms, again we are setting ourselves up for frustration.
The very desire to pray is the beginning of our awareness of God’s invitation offered to us to join him in prayer. God is the one who reaches out to us first. The answer to what or who we ask, seek, and knock is found at the end of the Gospel reading for today: “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Lk 11:13)?
God knows what is best for us, he sees our potential, he wants us to experience joy and be fulfilled. How can we best live our lives in this world to attain that reality? We do so by receiving the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? The infinite, communal love expressed between God the Father and God the Son. Our goal in prayer is to enter into God’s reality, the infinite communion of Love.
Through building a relationship with God, which we are able to do through our participation and conformation to the life of Jesus, we come to see the truth of empty promises, apparent goods, substitutes to fill our emptiness and faulty defense mechanisms that we have been utilizing as guideposts to merely survive and get through life. When we stay consistent in an authentic life of prayer, we will change, we be aware and be able to let go of that which is false and will begin to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (cf. Galatians 5:22-23)?
We need to resist running away from apparent unanswered prayers, the pain of loss, and accept sometimes not knowing, and to trust that God has not abandoned us. He is with us in everything. Prayer is not primarily what we ask and that we receive. Prayer is a willingness to hear God’s invitation to enter into a deeper and more intimate relationship with him. Accepting this as a starting point will open a doorway leading into the open arms and embrace of his Son, Jesus, who awaits us in the depth of our need, confusion, grief, and pain. Even our loved ones who have died have not come to an end but have experienced a new beginning with our loving God and Father. JoAnn said in her last few weeks that she was just changing her address.
Ultimately, what we ask, what we seek, and what we knock for when we pray is to be loved, to belong, to be a part of someone greater than ourselves. We have been created as a living, craving hunger, and desire to be in relationship with God and each other. This is true for the atheist and the mystic alike. We have been created to be loved and to love. To experience God’s love in our time of prayer, it is important to make time consistently to do so, to then breathe and recollect, to be still and let our thoughts come, go, and settle down. Then we can have a conversation, speak with God and listen to him and experience the Holy Spirit in the silence of our hearts.
The Holy Spirit is the gift of prayer that is open to us all. He is the love shared between the Father and the Son, that we too can experience even during our sorrow, trials, and tribulations, as well as during our times of celebrations, overcoming, and rejoicing. This is why he is the answer to our prayers. Sometimes to be aware of his presence takes perseverance. It may not be that God is not answering, but that we are not patient enough to receive the answer. We may not be silent enough to hear. Prayer is about building a relationship and like any other relationship, we may need more time to heal and/or to build trust, and a willingness to consistently spend time together. Most importantly, we need to learn to communicate and that means learning God’s profound language of silence.
Photo: Damage from tornado taken last night. Compare to picture posted for last Sunday’s reflection. Walking in God’s silence and asking him to help all effected by this storm and us here at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach.
Mass readings for Thursday, October 7, 2021
“Lord, teach us to pray.”
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray and he shared with him the prayer we know as the “Our Father” or “The Lord’s Prayer”. This version from Luke is a bit different than what most of us are used to. Praying with these different words can help us to be more attentive to the words and to Jesus who gave them to us. Imagine, we have been and can continue to pray with the words that Jesus taught his disciples directly, and which have been passed down generation after generation to our reading of them in this moment!
God’s word is alive, it touches our hearts when we are open. God reaches us with his words each in our own unique way, in our own unique moments of sorrows, challenges, needs as well as our successes, joys, and healings. Another good point when approaching prayer is that we are not seeking to change God, but allowing him to transform us by his loving embrace that we can experience when we answer his invitation to pray together. I invite you to do so now, slowly and prayerfully.
“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.”
Photo: And Jesus please keep all those who are in the path of Milton safe, and help to bring about an end to violence and war in all its forms. Stain glass, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, FL.
In times of trouble, Jesus will come close, and bring us to the inn to rest and heal.
It is interesting that the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and here in today’s Gospel account, a scholar of the law, instead of genuinely seeking to learn the truth from Jesus, they all “test” Jesus. They seek to prove him wrong, trip him up, or attempt to present him in a compromising light.
The scholar indeed knows the law well. He knows the foundation of the law which Jesus himself calls the greatest commandment in Mark and Matthew. In combining Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, the scholar answers his own question that one can “inherit eternal life” by loving “the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).
Jesus commends his answer and acknowledges his understanding. Jesus then shares an important point to any law or teaching: “Do this and you will live” (Luke 10:28). It is not enough to know, we must put what we know into practice. Otherwise, there is no fruit. What we “know” with atrophy, it will whither away and die if we do nothing.
Not only does the scholar miss the point, he continues on his course to press Jesus further, seeking to “justify himself” by asking who is his neighbor. Jesus without missing a beat, sings the song of the Good Samaritan. In it Jesus presents who ought to be the heroes, the priest and the Levite, two law abiding Jews. Each know the law but each are unwilling to take the risk of breaking the law of ritual impurity by touching a dying man. Or they do not want to risk their own safety and refuse to fulfill the deepest root of the law, loving their neighbor as themselves. So they walk on.
The one who is willing to come close, the one who fulfills the letter of the law is not a scholar, a Pharisee, or one of the high council, or even a common Jewish man, but a Samaritan. Samaritans were considered enemies and those who corrupted the law, not a neighbor. Yet, it is this Samaritan who lives out the law by loving his neighbor who is in need. He not only comes close to check on him, he provides aide, brings him to an inn where he can rest, heal, and all on his dime. Did the scholar go and do likewise? Are we willing to?
We can know the Catechism inside and out, know chapter and verse of the Bible, we can attend daily Mass, but it means nothing if we do not allow what we have learned to shape and soften our hearts and our minds such that we come to know Jesus, his Father and the love shared between them, the Holy Spirit. Our faith is about experiencing God’s love and loving one another as he loves us.
What we receive in our time of prayer, reading, studying, and worship, we are to meditate upon and put into practice, and share with one another as God leads. We will do this best when we allow ourselves regular time to breathe, rest, receive, and abide in God’s love.
We are not perfect. We all fall short of the glory of God. The enemy seeks to trick us, beat us down, and leave us for dead. The good news is that in our times of desperation, the Good Samaritan is Jesus. He is not only willing to come close, if we are willing to allow him, he will save us, restore us to health, redeem us, and give us new life. He will bring us to the inn to heal, and the inn is the Church.
Let us go and do likewise for each other, as Mary did, whose memorial we celebrate today. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!
Photo: Enjoy this walk to Holy Cross Church each day!
Link for the Mass readings for Monday, October 7, 2024
God cares more than we might think.
Job through all his sufferings, trials, and tribulations was faithful to God and coming to the end of the story, he gets an actual hearing from God himself. God speaks to him “out of the storm” (Job 38:1), though does not answer Job’s questions. God, in two speeches, asks Job questions that deal with the reality that Job is a finite human with the limitations that entails and yet gives Job a vision of the ordering of the whole of the cosmos and our created world.
From this amazing encounter, Job speaks in but a whisper: “I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know” (Job 42:2-3). Job repents, he is willing to accept the gift that God gave him, of seeing how small he really is in the greater scheme of the vast cosmos and even in the ordering of this planet and the created beings upon it. God’s questions cut to the heart of Job’s limited point of view regarding the grand scheme of God’s plan and Job was willing to accept God’s guidance.
In the Gospel, Jesus receives the seventy-two he had commissioned to heal and exorcize demons in his name. They returned rejoicing at the wonders that they experienced in their service and Jesus invited them to see that what was more amazing was not so much that “the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
What is the most amazing of both accounts from Job and the Gospel of Luke today, is that God, even cares about us. God cares about us personally and intimately. God knows each of us by name and knows us better than we know ourselves. Even though God does not need us, God yearns for relationship with us and has planted that very desire to be in relationship with him in the very depths of our minds, hearts, and souls. God also wants us to participate in his plan of salvation history and has a particular part for us to play.
When we give ourselves some time to take this in, to rest and stop, to breathe, really take some deep and slow breaths, and ponder not only how much God loves us, but actually give ourselves time to rest in and receive his love. Wow! You’ll never breathe or see the world in the same way again.
You might hesitate or question whether God cares because he allowed something to happen or not to happen. You may not care about having your name written in heaven, for what’s the point of having an eternal relationship with someone who doesn’t care enough to listen. Even if you may not want to make the time to read about Job’s angst and encounter with God, maybe start with taking a few steps toward trusting God, who really does know what he is doing and knows what is best, even if you don’t believe that yet.
Just taking a moment to be still, and to bring our questions to God is a good first step. For God is the best one to answer them. We just need to be prepared that he may answer our question with more questions. As long as we are willing to enter into the conversation, we are moving in the right direction.
Photo: Rosary walk, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, FL.
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, October 5, 2024
May our presence be a gentle light of invitation.
“Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me” (Lk 10:16).
On the surface, today’s Gospel may sound like a Debbie Downer of a message, but it is actually the road map, the passage that will lead us from the darkness of slavery steeped in our own sin to the light of truth and freedom found in dedicating our life to Christ. Jesus is continuing to prepare the 72 that are about to go out to proclaim his message of repentance. This echoes Mark’s recording of Jesus’ mission statement: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15).
A sin is any actively contemplated thought, word, or action that we knowingly know goes against the will of God and we freely choose to act upon it anyway. This is why many of us prefer the darkness to the light because we do not have to see and name our sins. We hold on to apparent goods or substitutes that we believe will make us happy and fulfill us, otherwise we would not hold on to them. Yet, they are empty promises. After experiencing the lack of satisfaction, once the emotion or passion of the moment or experience wanes, we either seek more to fill the void or hopefully, recognize the false lure.
If we choose to seek more, we continue along a slippery slope that may lead to our ensnarement or addiction. Rather, if we repent, allow the light and truth of Jesus into our darkness, trust that he truly wills our good, we can begin to see our sin, name it, repent from it, let it go, be forgiven, be healed, and fulfilled by receiving the true good, the love of God and deepen our relationship with him for whom we have been created.
As servants of the Lord, we are invited to repent, to realign ourselves in such a way that we are saying yes to building a relationship with God. This is a daily, lifetime task of examining our conscience, asking God to reveal to us our sins, and to have the humility and willingness to see and confess. This process is not just for ourselves.
Having experienced God’s love and forgiveness, we are called to bring the light of truth we have received to those we meet. This does not mean we are perfect. Through the awareness and confession of our sins, we are incrementally more open to receiving more of the love and light of Jesus within us than before, such that he can shine his light through us into another’s darkness and gently guide them to come out of the shadows.
We need to resist though the temptation to go forth and wag our finger of judgment. For then we are only a darker storm cloud approaching those needing a healing balm. This approach can either cause people to slip deeper into their own shell or come out fighting, seeking to dispel us from their midst. Jesus sends us to encounter one another with understanding, mercy, patience, and love. In the beginning, our light needs to be soft, like the morning dawn, so as not to blind those we seek to offer an invitation.
Jesus, this day and each day going forward, please dwell within us. Help us to be open to those you place near us that we may be present to them with your warmth, welcome, and joy. May we respect each person we encounter and be present with them, so that they may know that they are not alone, that they, in fact, do exist, that they matter, that they are loved as you love us. May we be like the light of the dawn to help awaken those in the darkness of their pain, suffering, and sin. May we be a lamp unto their feet and a light unto their path, that leads to an encounter and embrace with you; our Truth, our Way, and our Life. Amen.
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Image: Just as each ripple reflects the light of the sun, so may we, reflect the light and love of Jesus to others.
What might help us to grow closer to God? Some silence.
Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples and said to them, “Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals”(Lk 10:3-4).
The opening of today’s Gospel continues the same theme of the past few days and that is the call of a radical dependence on God. Jesus sent his disciples out with no money, no credit cards, no sack, no luggage, no sandals, no Crocs. They were to rely solely on divine providence. They were taught by Jesus to believe and trust in the Father, and now they would put both to the test.
How well could we fare today? Are we even willing to leave the house or go to the next room without our cell phones?
Jesus meets us and accepts as we are and where we are but calls us to go deeper, to invite us to expand beyond our present understanding and practices. We may say to ourselves that we are not capable of being a great saint like the Apostles, but that would miss the point of who a saint is. A saint is not necessarily one who sought to be great but one who was willing to surrender all to God, and most doing so, step by step. They accepted and put into practice what God invited them to do.
We are given the same invitation that the saints have received but we may still be allowing ourselves to be lured away by distractions, diversions, demands, material enticements, and emotional twists and turns. It is good to assess often, if not daily, where and how we expend our energy and time. How much of what we are thinking about and spending our time doing is aligned with God’s will? The material things we have accumulated, are there things we can let go of? What we have, what we think, and how we spend our time, is good to discern and be more intentional about.
If you might feeling a bit overwhelmed or may be doing ok but feeling like you would like to have some more time with God, St. Mother Teresa offers us some good advice. “God speaks in the silence of the heart.” Making some time for silence is a good place to start. Find a comfortable place to sit, take some deep slow breaths, and then ask God to reveal to you what he would like you to bring into your life and by doing so what you would need to let go of to make the space. Who better to guide us than the one who gave and continues to sustain our life?
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Photo: A quiet moment at the end of my Rosary walk
“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” – Jesus
“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me” (Mt 18:4-5).
Children during the time of Jesus were seen if at all, to have little worth. They were vulnerable, had little if any status in society. They were often nothings, nobodies, and completely dependent on their parents for survival. Jesus invites a child to come to him, identifying himself with the child, as a response to the disciples’ question as to who would be considered the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
Jesus taught his disciples, and us today that we need to be completely dependent on God our Father, just as a small child is totally dependent on his or her parents. What leads us to greatness in the Kingdom of heaven is our turning away from the temptation to curve in upon ourselves, resisting the urge to feed our ego, place ourselves first, and as St Thomas Aquinas taught, resisting the cultural lures and substitutes for God: power, pleasure, honor, and wealth.
We are also to reject the image of the Übermensch, the super man, popularized by Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th century German philosopher. Nietzsche wrote that God was dead and promoted the idea that humanity needed to create a world that would create new values based on the power of their will alone. Supermen and women striving for complete autonomy and self-sufficiency. Jesus teaches the exact opposite. We need to place our complete dependency and trust in God and rely on him for everything.
Participating in the reign of God is not one of lordship over another. Instead we are to assume the humility to accompany, walk along with, and serve each other along our journey in this life. Jesus embodied this reality. He as the Son of God entered into our human condition. He did not grasp at his divinity but instead surrendered it to his humanity. While remaining fully divine, he became human when through the power of the Holy Spirit was conceived in the womb of Mary, developed through his period of gestation, and was born into our world. As an infant and child, he was completely dependent on Mary, Joseph, and God his Father.
As Jesus continued to grow as a young child, he experienced the fullness of the human condition. He laughed, he cried, he got sick, he was tempted, he felt pain, he experienced heartache and joy. Throughout his life, and especially during his public ministry, he experienced human suffering up close and personal. He understood the suffering of his neighbor and experienced his own human and finite limitations. He loved and wept as we saw in his encounters with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.
Jesus invites us to relate to God as our Father often in the Gospels, in the best sense of that intimacy of dependence. St Thérèse of Lisieux got this. “Jesus has chosen to show me the only way which leads to the Divine Furnace of love; it is the way of childlike self-surrender, the way of a child who sleeps, afraid of nothing, in its father’s arms.” Accepting Thérèse’s image is an acknowledgment that we are dependent on God and others, that we are not self-sufficient, that we are not capable of living radically independent lives, nor are we supposed to. God created us to be loved and to love, to be in community, to care for, empower, and support one another.
Our guardian angels, whose memorial we celebrate today, are at the ready awaiting our call. When we have the humility to ask for their help, we will realize that we are not alone. When we experience some supernatural support, from God, his angels and saints, we might just be willing to seek help from and support each other. We can offer a shoulder to lean on, a smile, a hug, a voice that speaks for the voiceless, a soul open to pray with and for others, an ear to hear, and we can embody the courage to serve and stand up for the dignity of others.
St Mother Teresa was willing to come close and pick up that first dying man in the street. She did not ask his religion, was not concerned if he was of a different race or nationality, was not afraid to risk illness or injury by attending to him. She knelt down and was present to him in his time of dire need. We are at our best when we follow Jesus, St. Thérèse and St Mother Teresa, the saints, and our guardian angels, place our dependency and complete trust in God’s hands and accompany each other by doing little things with great love.
Photo: To be loved and love in return is why we are here at this time.
Mass readings for Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Spiritual Stepping Stones 