foundation

The words of Jesus, the Word of God, are a gift when we receive and put them into practice.

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock” (Mt 7:24).

Jesus speaks to us: in the Gospels, in the silence of our hearts, through our conscience, through the words of others, in our daily activities, and through creation which has been loved into existence through collaboration with his Father and the Holy Spirit.

We can be unaware of the words he speaks, we can hear his words but not listen, hear his words but ignore, listen but not act upon them, or we can do with his words as Jesus encourages us to do. We can listen to his words and put them into action. We can experience the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit and follow his lead. When we follow the urgings of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, no matter how small of a nudge it is, that step in alignment with the Father’s will makes all the difference. Each time we follow through on Jesus’ teachings and the Holy Spirit’s guidance we experience more of the love of God our Father.

Jesus became one with us so that we can share in the love of his Father. Not one with us, so that we can know about him. Not one with us, so that we can say that we prophesy, cast out demons, do mighty works, cite Bible chapter and verse to show our knowledge or justify our behavior in his name. One with us so that we can share in the very life of God the Father as the Son and the Spirit does. 

Jesus meets us on our level and when we are willing to follow his lead, he will lead us up to the heights of participating in his divine life. Jesus has been teaching us to do just that in his Sermon on the Mount which we have been reflecting upon these past few weeks. If you are just coming in today or need a refresher, this gathering of teachings began in chapter five of Matthew and takes us up to today with chapter seven. Jesus presented us with the Beatitudes, that we are called to be salt and light, he built on the law and the prophets by giving us the six antitheses (“You have heard it said, but I say to you…” statements), he taught us to pray the Our Father, that we are to depend and place our trust in God and not the things of this world, we are to refrain from judging others, we are not to cast our pearls before swine, we are to do to others as we would have them do to us, we are to seek to enter through the narrow gate, and to be aware of false prophets.

The teachings of Jesus in chapters five, six, and seven of Matthew, his Sermon on the Mount, when we put them into practice will help us to build the foundation of our spiritual houses on solid rock, Jesus. The same rock that Peter built his foundation on, Jesus the Christ the Son of the Living God. May we go back through chapters five, six, and seven of Matthew and see which teaching Jesus is leading us to ponder, meditate upon, practice with, and place our next foundational stone of discipleship down.

If that is a bit much, we can start with St. Irenaeus who learned from St. Polycarp, who learned from the beloved Apostle John who learned from Jesus. St. Irenaeus taught that Jesus became one with us so that we can become one with him. Jesus entered our humanity so that we can participate in his divinity. Jesus invites us to be in relationship with him, to know him, so that we can know his Father and experience the love of the Holy Spirit that he wants to share with us. The goal is that we can be one in relationship with God as Jesus and the Father is one.

Jesus loves us as we are, and for who we are, right now at this very moment. Jesus loves us more than we can ever imagine. Jesus loves us so much, he invites us to repent and turn away from anyone and anything that may be leading us away from God. He invites us to turn back and walk in the direction of our Father’s arms that are wide open to embrace us. When we experience God’s loving embrace, may we rest there, savor, and abide in his love. Filled up with his love to overflowing, we have a wonderful gift to share.

Photo: The road leading to Mass, a daily practice that has helped me to heal and grow closer to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, June 2025

With God all things are possible.

In today’s readings, we resume where we left off before Ash Wednesday interjected into the eight week of Ordinary Time. We return to the Gospel of Mark. Jesus had been teaching about the entrance into the kingdom of God as the rich man walked away sad by stating, “Children how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mk 10:24-25). The disciples were stymied, primarily because present Jewish belief held that those who had amassed wealth and riches did so because they were blessed by God. If someone who had followed the commandments of God, appeared to be blessed by God, would he or she not be a part of God’s kingdom, if not then, what was one to do?

Jesus responded to the disciples astonishment, by stating that “For human beings it is impossible.” Jesus said this because there is nothing that we can do to earn or buy our way into heaven. It is not through perseverance, dogged determination, or will power that we are saved. Our security also is not to be placed in the things of this world, our happiness and fulfillment is not to be placed in the apparent goods and glitter of the finite things that offer comfort and pleasure. For if we place our hope in the things of this world, in our own belief that we can control our own destiny, we will be building our foundation on sand. Self-sufficiency also be a dangerous slope. When we believe we can only rely on ourselves, then we carry the weight of the world on our shoulders which will be too heavy to carry.

“For human beings, it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God” (Mk 10:27).

There is only one way to enter the kingdom of God. Say yes to the invitation of Jesus. The rich man refused the invitation to come and follow Jesus. He chose his possessions over the kingdom. The disciples of Jesus chose differently. Peter summed this up when he spoke up for those, who like him, did what the rich man did not: “We have given up everything and followed you” (Mk 10:28). Jesus affirmed Peter and the other disciple’s acceptance of the invitation to come and follow him, as well as to assure those who would willingly sacrifice and voluntarily give up, house, family, or land, to follow him. He insisted that they would receive back “a hundred times more in this present age… and eternal life to come” (Mk 10:30).

Jesus is not a preaching a kind of prosperity gospel or free reigning capitalism, nor is he a proponent of socialism or communism. Each of these are human socio-political, economic constructs. Jesus instead is painting a picture of the reign of God as a new family. One that exists, not of the world’s making, but of God’s design. A kingdom not of this world, though still present in it, and the good news is that all are invited to be a part. The apostles were on the way. They had indeed given up the material and familial to follow Jesus, but they, who argued among themselves regarding who was to be the greatest in God’s kingdom, still had their mental attachments and preconceived notions to let go of.

Those who are a part of the kingdom of God are not connected through bloodline, tribe, political party, or nation, wealth, honor, pleasure, or power, but are united through a transformation of their hearts and minds. The followers of Jesus become brothers and sisters. They care for one another, provide hospitality, charity, support, access, means, and encouragement. Together, they meet the challenges and persecutions that come from those who oppose the kingdom.

Jesus offers us the same invitation that he offered the rich man and his disciples; to follow him by letting go of that which distracts, diverts, and binds us from giving our life more fully over to him and building up his kingdom. It is helpful to assess our lives. Where are our pursuits disordered from God’s will, how are our minds and spirits distorted, and where does pride and self reliance hold primacy over God? Where can we let go, be less attached, and surrender to and trust in God’s will for our lives? The solid and true foundation we will build is in developing our relationship with Jesus and his Father. Upon this foundation let us stand and allow the love of the Holy Spirit to burn. What is not of God will burn away, what remains is of God.

Photo: Choosing to keep our eyes on Jesus, he will guide us through any storm, external or internal!

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, May 26, 2026

In Jesus, we are grounded and renewed.

“At that time Jesus exclaimed: ‘I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike’” (Mt 11:25).

Why did the wise and the learned, referring to some of the Sadducees, Pharisees and scribes, reject Jesus? One possibility is that Jesus challenged their idol of tradition. Even though Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (cf. Mt 5:17), the invitation to go deeper was and continues to be challenging. This is certainly highlighted in the six antitheses that Jesus shared during his Sermon on the Mount. Here is one such example: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil” (Mt 5: 28). Offer no resistance to one who is evil? Not only hard to swallow for people of Jesus’ time, but for us today as well.

Jesus offered then and continues to offer us today a share in the intimacy of the Trinitarian Love of God shared between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To be fully alive, to share in his Love, we need to resist being governed by holding blindly on to tradition for its own sake. Instead, we need to be open to growth, change, and renewal. Gerhard Lohfink, in his book, No Irrelevant Jesus, quotes the Polish philosopher Leszak Kolakowski: “A society in which tradition becomes a cult is condemned to stagnation; a society that tries to live entirely through revolt against tradition condemns itself to destruction” (Lohfink 2014, 2).

Many have left the Church because they feel we are too steeped in tradition, rules, and laws, and yet in doing so, they have left behind the secure ground or foundation, with no anchor in their life. On the other extreme are those who remain hunkered down, entrenched in a bunker of tradition fearing the secular tide, grasping, white knuckled, to tradition, but this stifles their growth.

Both tendencies are insufficient because at root there is not a trust in Jesus. Jesus helps balance the tension between these two. He invites us to remain anchored in the Truth of the deposit of faith that he has given to us while encouraging us to go deeper in our understanding, practice of our faith and relationship with our God. If we are not moving forward in our spiritual lives, we are moving backward.

We are better when we resist the extremes of rejecting tradition altogether or idolizing tradition alone, and instead build on the foundation of Jesus Christ: “The Way, the Truth and the Life” (cf. Jn 14:6). Within the life of the Church, “we must not do away with its traditions, but at the same time, it must continually clarify, renew, and deepen them” (Lohfink 2014, 2).

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Photo: Rosary walk last night – Riomar Beach, Vero Beach FL. Just like the ebb and flow of the tides we must allow for a rhythm of expansion and contraction in our faith journeys. We are called to be grounded in Jesus and stretched beyond our comfort zones as well!

Lohfink, Gerhard. No Irrelevant Jesus: On Jesus and the Church Today. Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2014

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, July 17, 2024