faith

Out of our mind or following the lead of the Holy Spirit?

Jesus has been on a whirlwind tour since beginning his public ministry, by healing the sick, casting out demons, teaching with authority, and the number of people gathering around him continues to increase. He has just called the Twelve Apostles to himself, and he has gone home for a visit.

He is not exactly welcomed back with a tickertape parade though. Instead, When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind” (Mark 3:21). What exactly causes his family to think that he is out of his mind? Is it that Jesus has called Apostles, is it that people are following him in such great numbers to come to be healed? Both?

There are many speculations about the “hidden years” of Jesus referring to the fact that there is no mention of Jesus in the gospels from the moment he is twelve years old when Joseph and Mary lose him, until he is about thirty and beginning his public ministry. I am sure Mary didn’t tie him to the table all those years so he wouldn’t wander off again. The more I read the Gospel accounts, the more I believe that nothing special happened during that time. Jesus led an ordinary and very simple life and that is why nothing is written.

This could be the reason why his relatives are thinking that he is out of his mind. How can this simple carpenter all of a sudden be getting all of this attention? Who does he think he is? Does he think he is better than us?

It also reveals, as we have been seeing with the scribes and Pharisees, and possibly now with Jesus’ relatives, that when we get stuck in our routines, grind ourselves into a rut, and find our definition and security there, feel safe only in our comfort zones, we are not going to grow. When we are challenged to do so, we can be open to take the risk or dig in our heals. Many of Jesus’ relatives as well as the scribes and Pharisees, unfortunately are doing the latter.

Jesus, as he shared when he offered the image of the new wine skins, is inviting us to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. He challenges us not to settle, but to be open to risk and to move out of our comfort zones. We have not been created to merely survive. God created us to thrive and experience our lives by being fully alive.

I invite you to give yourself some quiet time, breathe slow and deep, and ask Jesus where he might be inviting you to stretch a bit and take a risk, and take a step or two out of your comfort zone. When we follow Jesus, it may get bumpy, but it will be well worth it!

Photo: Over the Thanksgiving break, felt inspired to get back in the saddle. First time in 30 plus years. Very happy I did! What is God inspiring you to do?

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, January 20, 2024

Forgiveness is possible and if we want to heal, necessary.

As was shared in today’s first reading, the very shelter that David and his men were hiding in, was the same cave that Saul happened to walk into by himself. David’s men encouraged David to take Saul’s life, after all they were there because they were hiding from Saul and his army. They could have easily overpowered him and taken his life. The threat would be put to an end and David would assume his rightful place as king.

And yet, David, refused. He chose not to give into revenge, to forgive, to trust in God’s justice instead of taking it into his own hands. After Saul exited the cave, David emerged and said: “I decided, ‘I will not raise a hand against my master, for he is the LORD’s anointed’” (I Samuel 24:11).

He could have easily justified Saul’s death as an act of self-defense but did not. He chose to surrender not to Saul but to God and trust in God’s justice. How many times do we do the opposite? We often react first and think later. We often don’t do forgiveness well, but God does. Forgiveness, is not easy, but it is possible if we ask God to help us to do so.

When we have been hurt or harmed by another, continuing to hold onto the hurt and pain only keeps it festering. Forgiveness is not condoning, justifying, or saying in any way that the action was acceptable. Forgiveness is the making of a choice to no longer accept or allow the pain inflicted to continue. Forgiveness is a choice to not participate in the cycle of violence, but to remove oneself from it, and not choose to act in kind.

I invite you to pray the Our Father this morning or sometime today, slowly, and with intention and attention to the words. When you get to: “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…” Stop and breathe. Bring to mind any areas that you may be harboring some unforgiveness and ask Jesus to help you to forgive in this moment.

It is ok if you find it difficult or are not ready. The first step is to be aware and to identify where the unforgiveness lies. You can then ask God to forgive for you until you are able to forgive. Jesus will lead you each day until you can come to a place of healing where you will be able to forgive. Jesus sought help as well on the Cross when he said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).

May we learn from David’s example today, may we share with Jesus our pain, and experience his healing and his love. And may we seek to and ask Jesus to help us to forgive so we can also be forgiven.

Photo: Rosary walk Thursday night, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL. The love and light of Jesus will shine through the clouds of our unforgiveness if we are willing.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, January 19, 2024

Foretaste of Heaven

The word about what Jesus is doing is getting out. He is a healer, an exorcist, a blasphemer. All of which draw people from the surrounding region. Those gathering around Jesus surpass now the number of those who were coming to see John the Baptist and with the interest and growing need, people are moving in at such a steady number in an effort to touch Jesus that he asked his disciples to get his boat ready. He could then get in it and avoid being crushed by the crowd.

Jesus is meeting the need of the hunger of the people. Who doesn’t want to be free of physical ailments and unclean spirits? Ultimately, the account in today’s Gospel is a foretaste of the heavenly kingdom, for Jesus as he announced at the beginning of his ministry is the “kingdom of God at hand.” He who is united with the Father through the love of the Holy Spirit has become one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity.

Jesus can still meet the deepest needs we yearn for in the depths of our souls of wanting to belong, be seen, heard, healed, and loved. What ushers in this reality for us is the same choice that needed to be made back in Jesus’ time. Do we believe that Jesus is who he said he is? And the answer to this question is not a one and done answer. This needs to be answered and on our mind more often than not if Jesus is going to be relevant in our lives.

Who and what is important to us we make time for. When we make time for Jesus, Jesus will become more real to us. Setting aside time to pray, to participate in Mass, read and meditate upon the gospels, invite him into our decisions, thank him for our daily successes and ask him for help in our struggles, see him in our relationships with others, and being silent and still together, are ways that we will encounter Jesus and grow in our relationship with him so that we too can experience a foretaste of heaven.

Photo: Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Poquonock, CT during my visit back home during our Christmas break. Mass, where heaven and earth are wedded together.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, January 18, 2024

The Holy Spirit is the new wine that will grow within us if we are willing to change.

God is not a tyrant. God is not checking his list and checking it twice to see who’s naughty or nice. God is not teeing up the football to pull it up at the last second as we are running up to kick it. God does not ask us to walk onto a rug and pull it out from under us.

Anything that God requires of us, asks of us, and the boundaries he establishes for us are done out of love for us. God wills our good and wants the best for us. God knows what will make each and every one of us in our own unique way fulfilled, to have meaning, joy, and experience freedom, love, and wholeness in our lives. God has a purpose for our lives that aligns with his will for the unity of all of humanity and creation.

It is from this context that we can understand our readings and the Bible as well. Saul is being corrected by Samuel because he was not obedient to God’s command. You cannot be partially obedient, as Saul was attempting to justify when he said that he obeyed the LORD and fulfilled the mission. Samuel showed that Saul had not done so (See I Samuel 50:8-23).

In the Gospel, Jesus gives the imagery of changing the old wine skins to new ones otherwise the old ones will burst as the wine ferments and expands. Newer and flexible skins are necessary (Mark 2:18-22). The new wine we are to receive is the life of the Holy Spirit within us, that can only breath and expand when we are willing to be flexible, to change and to grow. We can only change and grow when we are obedient to God.

Unfortunately, when many of us hear the words change, obedience, or discipline, we cringe or constrict. Yet, even in the natural, material world, there are many examples of the positive effects of a willingness to change, establish boundaries, order, discipline, and obedience. Resistance happens when we are operating under a false belief or apparent good that distorts our freedom. Freedom is not doing what we want, when we want, how and whenever we want. Those are examples of a freedom of indifference that leads us down the path of attachment, addiction, and slavery to sin.

God today is inviting us to experience a freedom for excellence. To have the freedom to play any instrument fluently, we need to be obedient to the teacher, discipline ourselves to practice, and be open to correction. Partial obedience, not being diligent with our times of practice, resisting guidance and correction, will limit our freedom to play. This is true in so many other areas of the arts, sports, occupation, relationships, family, and our spiritual life.

I still have the same guitar my father gave me when I was about seven. I still can’t play any music because I was not willing to discipline myself to play it and so I do not have the freedom to play any music. I have been obedient and put in the time and energy, discipline and sacrifice necessary to be ordained a deacon and blessed to have been serving as a deacon for these past ten years.

The bottom line is, do we trust the one who is guiding us? In this case, do we trust God that he has our best interest in mind? If we do, then we will be more likely to be obedient to his will, trust in his guidance, make the sacrifices necessary, and follow where he is leading us. That is what Jesus and Mary did, what the saints did, and what we can do, one step, one yes at a time. Easy? No. With his Son, Mary, the saints, still doing and willing to help us, as well as each other accompanying and supporting us, possible? Yes.

Photo: Rosary walk last night, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, January 15, 2024

“Speak, your servant is listening.”

God.

Even if we believe in God, do we make the time to think or ponder about God? Doing so may be difficult because there are so many diversions and distractions and we can be busy, busy, busy, and anxious about so many things that we can even take each other for granted, those who we see in a concrete and tangible way right before us.

We, being finite and so small, how can we even begin to comprehend God? He is transcendent and infinite, meaning he is not just another being among the many beings of creation. He is not even a supreme being. God is the foundation, the creator, the redeemer of all of creation. All that God has created has come to be as an outpouring of his love. Nothing would exist, we would not exist, without God. And even though he seems so far beyond our reach, God is closer to us than we are to ourselves!

Jesus helps us to understand this truth when he gives us the Lord’s Prayer. The first line tells us so much: “Our Father who art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). The words who art, meaning who is, in heaven while we are here on earth, represents the reality that he is so beyond us. God transcends all space and time, and yet… Jesus begins this prayer, that we have been saying generation after generation since he taught his apostles and others, that the One who is in heaven is our Father. We are to address and relate to the infinite God not as some impersonal, random force, but as Father. In a healthy and whole sense, that is an intimate and close relationship.

How do we then relate to “Our Father, who art in Heaven”? The first reading and the gospel can be of help.

The young Samuel who has been dedicated by his mother Hannah to serve in the temple at Shiloh has woken up three times hearing, who he thought was the priest, Eli, call his name. Eli confirmed that it was not he who spoke. He then guided Samuel that if his name was called again, to say, “Speak, for your servant is listening” (I Samuel 3:10). Which Samuel does and God speaks.

God can speak to us directly or as Joseph and Mary experienced through the intercession of angels. This happens most often as with Samuel, Mary, and Joseph in times of quiet. As St. Mother Teresa taught, “God speaks in the silence of the heart.” It is not so much that we have to go looking for God because as the foundation of our being and our loving Father, he is already inviting us to encounter and experience him. Our very desire to seek him is our first awareness of his invitation to enter into a relationship with him. What is needed is that we learn to stop and listen, and then like Samuel, come to know and distinguish his voice.

We can also come to know God through the guidance of others. In our Gospel today, John the Baptist points his disciples to Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:36). There are people in our lives that have experienced the voice of God, developed a relationship with him, and they can guide us as John did.

Some other ways that I have experienced God speak to me in the silence of my heart has been through my own personal reading of the Bible, times of prayer and meditation, hearing his word proclaimed in Mass, through Jesus, present in the Eucharist, through music, in experiencing the beauty of creation, spiritual direction, and experiences with many others who have guided me. None of these experiences have been booming, mystical encounters. Most have been quiet urgings, prods, and invitations.

The other challenge is that we hear so many voices inside and outside of our minds that we need to develop and discern whose voice we are listening to. Understandably, when Samuel first heard his name called, he would think it to be Eli. It took a bit for Eli to also recognize what was happening. Discerning God’s voice in the midst of so many voices in our world today is a challenge.

The enemy and the liar also seek to undo and destroy us. He and his demons will do the opposite of God and the angels. They will entice and tempt us to choose apparent goods that will lead us away from God and what will truly make us happy, then condemn us for doing so and seek to get a hold in our minds to continue to isolate us.

The voice of the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and his angels, convict us when we are doing or choosing something that leads us astray, but the choice is still ours to make as well as receiving the consequences. No matter what, God is right beside us to catch us when we fall, forgives us, and heals us when we are willing to come back to him. As soon as we do, he will embrace us with open arms.

There is no limit to the ways that God communicates to us. He knows us best and he knows what will open our hearts and minds to him most. What we need to do is learn to slow ourselves down, be willing to take some deep breaths, be still, say, “Speak, Lord your servant is listening”, continue to be still, listen in the moment and throughout the day and each day and allow God to happen!

As we more consistently do so, we will begin to discern better the deceptive voices of the enemy, be able to renounce them, and free ourselves from his grasp. We will also recognize God’s voice, experience his forgiveness, healing, and love and will be freer to live lives of meaning, fulfillment, and joy and help others to do the same.

Photo: St. Mary’s Chapel, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL., one of my favorite places to pray and listen for God’s voice.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, January 14, 2023

Are we willing to follow Jesus as well?

Jesus said to him, “Follow me” (Mark 2:14).

Jesus said this to Levi also known as Matthew. As with Peter, James, John, and Andrew, there was no convincing, no preambles, or lengthy arguments, just “Come and see”, “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”, or as with today, “Follow me.” Each of these men did just that, they followed Jesus’ call and remained with him for the next three years and also were willing to give their lives for Jesus.

They did not start perfect, sin free, and ready to go. They were imperfect, were sinners, were not the best and the brightest, nor were they worthy. What all four had in common was that they heard the command of Jesus, and they were willing to follow him.

Jesus was criticized for calling Matthew and for eating with him and his friends. In doing so, Jesus was not condoning their sinful behavior, he respected them as human beings with dignity and worth first and foremost. He saw them as beloved children of his loving Father who needed help, redirection, forgiveness, and healing. His response to his critics was: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

Matthew and the other apostles did not answer their call just once. Each day they had to make a decision to walk away or to continue to follow Jesus. In their daily commitment, persistence, and trusting Jesus even when they did not understand him, they grew in their relationship with Jesus and were transformed. We receive the same call this morning. Jesus is saying to each of us, “Follow me.” As with Matthew and the Apostles, so with us, this is a unique call to be loved by him first and foremost. We are invited to breathe, rest, receive, and abide in his love.

This is an incredible invitation to start every day. To allow the loving gaze of the Divine Physician to rest upon us, the same eyes that looked upon Matthew, look at us. This can be as we first open our eyes, over a cup of coffee, or sitting in a quiet place we have created for ourselves. Jesus calls us in this moment and invites us to receive his love. As this becomes a part of our daily rhythm, as we begin to experience and rest in his love, we will begin to feel safe and secure in a way that nothing material can provide and nothing else but him can fill. As this foundation of love begins to grow within us, then we can begin to heal, acknowledge and confess our sins, and begin to distinguish between the voice of the enemy who wishes us ill or the voice of Jesus who seeks our freedom.

The liar asks us, “Are you worthy?” Our savior asks us, “Are we willing?”

Painting: Caravaggio’s The calling of St. Matthew

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, January 13, 2024

Behold the Lamb of God and follow him.

John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:29).

John confessed earlier when asked if he was the messiah that he wasn’t. John knew who he was in the plan of God’s salvation. He did not claim to be more than he was but accepted his position as the one who would prepare the way for the messiah. Here he is doing just that with two of his disciples. Not seeking to hold on to them so that they would follow him but pointing to Jesus as the one to follow and give their lives to.

Andrew, one of the two of John’s disciples, would have picked up on the reference regarding the lamb of God right away. This is the lamb that would be sacrificed at the Passover meal each year. How that referred to Jesus, Andrew, Peter’s brother, and who would become one of the Twelve Apostles, would come to understand later as he experienced Jesus’ passion, death, resurrection, and ascension.

Jesus gave his life for us, not just so that we could exist, not to race through life at breakneck speed, but to live a life of meaning, purpose, fulfillment, service, in balance, and abiding in God’s love. This is not to mean that we won’t suffer. It means that as we surrender our lives to Jesus and his timetable, even when challenges arise, we can experience his peace in the midst of what we are going through.

Often, we miss John’s invitation to, “Behold the Lamb of God” because we are not paying attention, we are distracted or diverted, we are “anxious and troubled about many things.” We need to catch our breath and slow down more often than we allow ourselves to.

I have shared a lot in these morning texts about the importance of slowing down – breathing, resting, receiving, abiding in God’s love, and only a few days ago, thinking I was writing that too much. I need the reminder, as I believe we all do. Life goes too fast and so many of us hop on board the train of life that whizzes by and we are barely hanging on with one hand. That is not how God intended or wanted us to live.

One reason we may not to slow down is we aren’t ready, willing, or able to face the pain of our past nor surrender our will to Jesus and invite him to reveal to us what we need to let go of. Slowing down is not easy but with the love of God our Father is possible. We will not be crushed by what we fear to see. We will be loved, forgiven, and healed.

Berating ourselves for not slowing down does not help. We need to give ourselves permission to be kind and patient with ourselves. The thing about slowing down, is we need to slow down to slow down and that takes consistency and time of repeatedly doing so. The good news is that you have already begun the process of doing so.

A good place to ground our efforts, is to set up a sacred space in our homes that we can go to everyday, ideally the same time and same place each day. It doesn’t have to be amazing or perfect, it can and ought to be simple. Some place comfortable to sit and something to focus on like a statue, picture, candle, a view outside… The point is that you have a place to go where you can be still, focus, breath, and pray.

Best to start small and build from there. 5-10 minutes is good. A simple prayer you can start with is, “Jesus, please help me to slow down.” You can also follow John’s invitation, “Behold the lamb of God.” Behold Jesus in your imagination as Andrew did in person and follow his lead. Then just sit with Jesus and breathe. And bring either of these prayers back up when your mind drifts away. You can also start simply and slowly and stay with the sign of the Cross or the Our Father. The point is not to seek a mystical experience, not to grasp at anything. The point is to be still with Jesus. As Mary shared with me, when you show up each day, God will happen! That is true whether you experience something or not!

Creating for ourselves a sacred space and showing up there daily is a good anchor point to start with each day, and from there, we have made an intention to slow down as the first decision and action of our day. We have invited Jesus to help us, and then we can carry that intention and Jesus with us through the rest of the day and return anytime we need with a simple closing of your eyes, slowing down of our breathe, and calling on his name or short passage from Scripture. Jesus will help us to put the pieces of a balanced lifestyle together.

Remember, Jesus loves us as we are right in this moment. Nothing needs to be changed before he helps us other than inviting him to be with us and be still enough to experience him in the moment and then, one breath at a time, allow him to happen in our lives, and he will lead us step by gentle step, as Andrew and the other disciple of John did. They spent an afternoon with Jesus and their lives were transformed. Ours can be too!

Behold, trust, and spend some time with the Lamb of God!

Photo: Quiet Rosary evening walk last Monday night.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, January 4, 2024

Unconditional love is possible when we allow God to bestow his love on us.

“See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are” (I John 3:1).

Sometimes, or too many times, this truth that John is sharing with his community and with us this morning is hard to receive but these words are true. God bestows on us his love as we are right now in the moment. He is not waiting for us to do anything right, to be perfect, and/or to say the perfect prayer. Our Father just wants to love us as we are right now as we are in this moment. He loves us more than we can mess up, he loves us when we sin and even in the act of our committing sin, and he loves us more than we can imagine.

God also loves us uniquely in the way we are in most need. The key is that he loves us on his terms not ours. He knows what we need, the deepest desires of our hearts and souls. He loves us unconditionally and infinitely.

The challenge is, that our concept of what love is, has been distorted by influences of the enemy and the fallen world around us. So as the country singer, Johnny Lee, sang in 1980, we are, “Lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.” We are looking because God made us to be loved and to love in return, that is our deepest yearning and hunger: to be loved, to belong, to be seen, to be heard, and to be understood.

Time and again though, we fall because we grasp like Adam and Eve did. We want to determine love on our terms, on our conditions, believing that if we can be in control, we can be safe and won’t be hurt. The problem is that authentic love is to be received and it is just not about feelings, emotions, sentiments, comfort, or security. All of those come from the reality of love, but the foundation must be grounded in the unconditional love of God.

Authentic love is about being vulnerable to another. It is not about grasping but about receiving. It is not a presenting of ourselves in a false way that we believe another wants us to be but a willingness to be ourselves and risk that we will be rejected or accepted as we are, with our imperfections as well as our positive attributes. Love is also about sacrifice, our willingness to give ourselves to another, to be there for them. As St. Thomas Aquinas taught, “Love is to will the good of the other as other.”

Even if we have a correct understanding of love, we are still finite and have a limited point of view. Unconditional love is a love that we cannot learn on our own. We must experience God’s love to transcend our finite understanding of love. May we make time consistently to be still and allow God to bestow his infinite love upon us. Then we will remember who we are, his beloved children. And as we remember, may we see each other as God sees us, with his infinite love.

Photo: Sanctuary at St Gabriel Catholic Church, Windsor, CT

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, December 3, 2023

The Holy Family teaches us to counter violence with compassion.

Just seven days ago, on Christmas Eve, a 14-year-old shot and killed his 23-year-old sister, and his 15-year-old brother shot and wounded him in retaliation. This happened because of an escalating argument over Christmas presents.

This happened not in Israel or Ukraine, but just about 200 hundred miles northwest of Jupiter, FL. There are so many more examples I can give. I will not. I have already shared one too many.

Violence in our world is a reality, it has many forms and infiltrates our homes, families, communities, nation, and our world. This reality is not new, nor is this reality the truth of who God created us to be and our readings today bear witness that there is another way as we celebrate the gift of the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

In another time and place, a baby was born in a cave because no one was willing to allow his parents entry into their homes or even the local inns. This family also fled to Egypt to save the life of their Son. They would return after Herod’s own death, and live in Nazareth in poverty as an occupied people under brutal Roman rule. Despite all of this, and no matter the level of their suffering, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph trusted and were faithful to God. The holy family models for us what God intended for all of humanity from the beginning.

Joseph and Mary were also faithful to the law and brought Jesus to the Temple to dedicate him to God. As we just heard proclaimed Simeon said: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

“My eyes have seen your salvation.” Simeon is calling this child God’s salvation. This child is to be the instrument to save humanity. Jesus’ name means, one who saves. This baby is to be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” Jesus, whose name means, one who saves, came to show us the difference between the selfishness and fallen nature of men and the truth and love of God. Jesus was born for us, to be one with us, to reveal to us the goodness of our humanity, to forgive and heal us, and invite us to the fulfillment of our humanity which will come to through our participation in his divinity.

“Why then,” you may be thinking, “has nothing seemed to have changed in the almost 2,000 years since his birth. Simeon answers this as well: “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).

This is not just a prediction of the pain Mary will suffer at the cross of her newly born infant when a Roman soldier pierces his heart, but Mary also is standing as a representative of Israel and through Israel, all of humanity. Jesus comes close person to person. He invites, he does not impose his will. The dignity that God has given us is foundationally the freedom to choose to reject or accept his love and his relationship. To choose division and separation or to choose unity and communion.

The brothers did not wake up Christmas Eve with the intent of taking up arms instead of opening presents. There were choices and circumstances surrounding their lives long before that led to each of their choices to pull the trigger. Why did they and so many in our world choose violence instead of the peace and the love of Christ?

So many reject the Prince of Peace. And even many that accept him do so in name only. We are blinded by the temptations, influences, and diversions of the world. We need to realize first and foremost that we need a savior. We can’t change this world or ourselves on our own. We need to acknowledge that this child is indeed our savior, we need to accept the invitation to come to know him, to open our hearts and minds to him, and to allow him in to heal and forgive us. When we do so, and our relationship with him grows, we will be transformed. This happens only in our everyday experiences and the choices we make. Each “Yes” to the will of God, our fallen nature will become less, and Jesus will become more. Hopefully, over time we say yes much more than we say no, such that people no longer see us, but they see Jesus in us, and we see Jesus in them.

I had an interesting experience Friday morning. I flew into Ft. Lauderdale on four hours sleep and then took the Tri-Rail up to Boynton Beach. As I got up to leave the train car, my eyes and the door attendant’s eyes met, and she gave me a wonderful smile which I returned as I left. When I completed all I needed to do at the seminary and drove up to Jupiter, it was already early evening, so I picked up an Impossible burger at Burger King on the way home. As the cashier handed me my bag in a rush to get back to the drive-thru, she turned and also offered me a wonderful smile.

I am not going to make anyone’s top one hundred list for most handsome man and I was old enough to be each of these women’s grandfather. There are those moments when kindness and gentleness are exchanged because we see Jesus in one another. I believe that is what happened in both encounters.

It may sound like a small thing, but when we see Jesus in others and they see Jesus in us, there is no more, us and them, there is a brother and a sister in Christ. Ending our tendency toward violence is not an easy fix, but when we surrender our lives to Jesus and we begin to see him in each other, that is a good first step.

St. Paul’s life was transformed by his encounter with and surrender to Jesus. He turned away from a life of persecuting Christians even to the point of death in at least one incident with St. Stephen. He came to see the truth of who God calls us to be in our humanity and shared it in his letter to the Colossians: “Put on, as God’s chosen one, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do” (Colossians 3:12-13).

This is what Christmas is all about. This is how we are to live our lives. We will do so when we come to know this child, spend time in the school of the holy family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. When we make the time to pray with these readings, meditate and contemplate with them, we enter into Jesus’ memory. He lived them and invites us to enter into these accounts each year and to experience them as our own. When we do so, we remember who we are, God’s chosen, his holy and beloved daughters and sons.

When we allow ourselves to be loved and forgiven, healed, and saved, surrender and follow Jesus, our lives will be changed. We will be more compassionate, humbler, kinder, patient, forgiving, and loving. We will see each other as brothers and sisters as the one Body of Christ.

I invite you to come to receive Jesus who came as an infant almost 2,000 years ago and will be made present again on this altar. The Son of God became one with us in our humanity, will be made present for us in the Eucharist, so we can be one with him in his divinity. As we are loved by Jesus and love him and each other in return we counter the violence of our world one person, one smile at a time. Come receive Jesus and share him with all those you encounter today and through this week.

This will be a peaceful way to begin the new year!

Photo: Statue of the Holy Family on the grounds of St. Peter Catholic Church, Jupiter, FL.

Link to the Mass readings for Sunday, December 31, 2023