god

Are we filled with fury or with peace with Jesus’ invitation of repentance for all?

The people in Jesus’ hometown synagogue in Nazareth are incensed, rise up to drive him out of town, “and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong” (Lk 4:29). What got Jesus’ hometown crowd so twisted and contorted? Not only did he stand up earlier in this account of Luke and proclaim that he, the carpenter, was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, but it was to the widow of Zarephath that Elijah came and Naaman the Syrian that Elisha healed.

All three of these points may be a big ho-hum to us, but they were a big deal to his kin. Being a carpenter, more likely a simple day laborer, was not high on the social status ladder even in a poor town like Nazareth. The gospel writers even show the sensitivity of this. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is mentioned in this scene as  “the carpenter” (6:3), in Matthew, “the carpenter’s son” (13:39), and in today’s Gospel of Luke, “Joseph’s son” (4:22). By the time we get to Luke’s account, Jesus is not even associated with the trade of carpenter, how could someone of such simple and humble means assert the mantle of a prophet, let alone the Messiah?

Jesus does not go quietly in the night as the people’s wonder at his words turn to doubt and consternation. Jesus instead gives two seemingly obscure examples of people who receive God’s blessings. There were many widows and lepers in Israel, but it was to the widow of Zarephath that Elijah came and from Elisha that Naaman the Syrian received healing. The significance of these two people was that they were Gentiles, they were other, they were not part of the chosen people. Jesus is aligning himself in the prophetic tradition of Isaiah with the universal promise of God’s salvation that would also go out to the Gentile world. Jesus is invoking a choice that will consistently ripple throughout the remainder of his public ministry. People will either embrace his universal ministry or they will oppose it.

A concrete reason why his people “were all filled with fury” at the message of a universal invitation from Jesus is that Gentiles had been oppressing the Jewish people for generations. Beginning with the slavery they experienced in Egypt, the conquering of the ten northern tribes of Israel by the Assyrians, the Babylonians decimation the remaining southern tribes, their exile, and destruction of the Temple. After their return, they suffered the occupying power of the Greeks, and now during the time of Jesus’ preaching, the Romans. The hope of most Jews was that the Messiah would come to evoke a military uprising and crush their Roman occupiers. They were not seeking the repentance of their oppressors. Instead, much like Jonah, they sought divine vengeance.

Jesus’ hometown crowd was none too happy with Jesus’ universal invitation. We might too quickly judge them, but if we resist domesticating Jesus and allow ourselves to hear his words echoed today from our podiums and ambos, might we feel some of the same angst that the people of Nazareth felt? Who might we not be willing to welcome into the universal invitation of salvation that Jesus is still inviting us to experience in our day?

Would we embrace his message or begin to cross our arms and seethe? Would we too want to rise up and reject Jesus outright? If we are humble this Lent, we can walk up to Jesus and ask him to heal us of our own prejudices and biases, breathe deeply and receive his love and invitation for us to love those who we have not wanted to. The we too can bring glad tidings to those in our families, parishes, and communities. The choice is ours. Will we oppose Jesus’ invitation of repentance and healing or welcome and promote his invitation?

Photo: Jesus has been sent “to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19). May we join in his mission!

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, October, 9 2026

Jesus comes to show and lead us away from that which prevents us from receiving his love.

Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know” (Jn 4:31-32).

The disciples of Jesus had just returned with some food, but Jesus was already filled from his encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Though one of the longest readings we will experience during Mass, save the Passion narrative, it is one of the most powerful.

From the beginning of this retelling, Jesus again does not recognize social taboos. He engages in a dialogue with a woman alone at the well at noon, she, who is also a Samaritan. None of these three details are in any way minor. Devout Jewish men did not speak with women alone in public, and they surely did not engage in discussions with Samaritans male or female. The subtle detail that the woman is by herself at the well around noon, may well be missed by us who do not frequent many wells.

The most common time to gather water would be the early morning or evening when it was cooler. This would also be an opportunity for social interaction with others doing the same. Coming at noon would increase the likelihood that she would be alone.

Jesus picks up on the fact that this woman is alone when he asks her, “Go call your husband and come back” (Jn 4:16). From the beginning of the conversation that Jesus initiates to the time she heads back to her village, Jesus engages her and leads her to a higher level. He does not judge her but loves her. He meets her where she is, engages her as she is, but seeks more. The blessing is that she is willing to follow his lead. By the end of the conversation, she has gone into her town with the courage of any of the earliest martyrs.

This woman, who came to the well at noon to avoid being seen, now left to return to the people of her village to proclaim that she had encountered the Messiah, a Jewish man. Her witness must have been powerful, for the people who most likely had judged her and made certain that she was kept at a distance, listened to her. They came to see Jesus, a Jewish man, because of her testimony, and then they encountered Jesus for themselves and believed.

Jesus entered the Samaritan woman’s life through her door but she went out of his door. That she was living in a state of sin did not prevent Jesus from coming to meet her alone in that very moment. We can see three other encounters of a man and woman meeting at a well in the Old Testament and each encounter ends in marriage: Abraham sent his slave to get his son, Isaac, a wife and he found Rebekah at a spring (Genesis 24), Jacob met Rachel, (Genesis 29:9-14), and Moses met Zipporah (Exodus 2:16-22) at wells.

This betrothal imagery of Jesus alone with the Samaritan woman that John is recording for us reveals the divine wedding of heaven and earth. Jesus is the bridegroom and the Samaritan woman, half Jewish and half Gentile, represents the Church. Jesus came to this woman and met her in her sinfulness, her isolation, and her thirst. He loved her, and led her with his tender chords of love to acknowledge what was preventing her from experiencing the love of God the Father.

Jesus seeks to encounter us in the same way. He doesn’t love us when we become perfect. He loves us as we are right now in our imperfections and sins. The problem with our sin is, not that God does not love us, for he does. The problem is that we are not free to experience his love for us until we, as did this woman, acknowledge where we have fallen short of the glory of God, what and who we are placing before God. When we do that, we open ourselves up to receive the love of the Holy Spirit. Then we, like this woman, can share the love we have received!

Evangelization of the Good News is not about Bible-thumping and condemnation. Proclaiming the Gospel is about engaging in and building relationships, being present, and allowing God to touch others through us. This happens when we too are willing to repent and allow ourselves to be loved by Jesus and allow him to flow through us like a spring of living water. Then we too will be able to experience the satisfaction and fulfillment Jesus experienced with his encounter with the Samaritan woman who was lost but had now been found.

Painting: The sins of the Samaritan woman do not prevent Jesus from loving her, they prevent her from being able to more freely receive and return his love.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, March 8, 2026

God our Father is always looking for us to come home so he can forgive us.

Those who edited the lectionary readings for the day chose to present the parable of the lost son and skip the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. This trilogy of parables is found in Luke chapter 15. Reading the three together allows us to get a better sense of what Jesus is revealing. There is great joy in finding what has been lost, there is great joy in being found! Maybe we can recall something or someone that had been lost and then found, or have experienced a time where we had been lost or separated, and/or a time when we have experienced a time of reconciliation from someone that we have been estranged from?

There were a few times in my marriage to JoAnn that I didn’t have the best judgment, messed up, and she understandably got upset. One memory that comes to mind was when I had been a permanent deacon for a few years and we were still adjusting to the demands of another responsibility that I took on in addition to still teaching full time along with all that went with that obligation. We were out for our anniversary and I was thinking out loud, my first mistake.

We were parishioners of St. Peter Catholic Church and our parish had a good number of deacons, and yet none of us helped out at our one Sunday, Spanish Mass. I mentioned that fact and also that I was thinking of helping out our Hispanic ministry. I didn’t need to speak another word. I saw the change in JoAnn’s face and as she expressed her frustration that she hardly saw me as it was without taking on another responsibility, my chest constricted such that I could barely breathe and I felt like someone just grabbed and started twisting my intestines.

Already operating under an unconscious fear that I would do something to mess up our marriage because of my own unhealed and unconscious insecurities, the next few days were a bit bumpy and internally I was experiencing an emotional maelstrom. We were able to work through not only the poor timing of sharing my thoughts, but the content of them. I would help out with our Spanish Masses once a month. The experience of our reconciliation and that JoAnn indeed loved me more than I messed up, felt like a new lease on life.

In my story as well as each of these parables, there is a great joy for that which or who has been lost and found. How many of us are not even aware of our separation from God or those unconscious mines that we can trip at any time? The son who had squandered every bit of the inheritance he asked of his father before his death, realized not so much that he had really messed up, as I had, but that he was in a dire situation, as I was. He made the right decision to come back home and I admitted the unthoughtful timing of my request. His father never stopped looking for his return, and so saw his son returning “while he was still a long way off” and “filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him” (Lk 15:20).

The father was not seeking his son to bow before him and prove his repentance, his loyalty, and allegiance. The father ran to his son without hesitation. No insignificant act. For an elder to run to a younger family member was unheard of and simply not done. He was breaking this social taboo, most likely to redirect the focus away from his returning son; the one who had betrayed his father, the son who would receive glares and snide remarks. The father rushed out with a reckless abandonment of compassion and love to embrace his son. The jaw-dropping, followed by echoes of gossip surely rose in chorus about the father’s present actions, not his son’s past actions.

God is watching and waiting, seeking opportunities to run to us with compassion and love to welcome us home as the father did in the parable of the prodigal son. God is also like the shepherd who does the absurd in his outpouring act of love, leaving the ninety-nine sheep to go and find the one stray. God seeks each and every one of us just like that shepherd. God is represented by the woman who rejoices over finding one seemingly insignificant coin, for God rejoices in our turning back to him because not one of us is insignificant to him. We are all precious to God, each in our own unique way, and he loves us more than we can ever imagine.

No matter the reason that we have strayed, no matter the temptations and distractions we have fallen for, and/or how far we have wandered away, God loves us more than we can ever mess up. Lent is a season to open our eyes and remember who and whose we are. We are God’s beloved daughters and sons, and that is our truest identity! No matter the separation our choices have caused all we need to do, is turn back to the Father and seek his forgiveness, healing and love. There is great joy in the healing of relationships and reconciliation! Lent is a time to be found, Lent is a time to come home, and Lent is a time to heal and reconcile.

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Painting: “Return of the Prodigal Son” by Rembrandt

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, March 7, 2026

Will we give to God his share? Will we receive his Son when he comes?

A foundational quality of a good leader, political or religious, would be that they seek the best interest of those they serve. Hopefully, they also seek to be good stewards. Unfortunately, self-interest is a tremendous temptation. For how long are they willing to approach the position as one who is willing to serve instead of being served? Another important attribute in a leader is their openness to critique and guidance when they are in need to hear it.

Jesus in today’s parable presents a landowner who turns his vineyard over to tenant farmers. They are to oversee the crops to bring about a productive yield of grapes come harvest time. A mutually decided upon part of the harvest would then be offered to the landowner. Unfortunately: “When vintage time drew near, he [the owner] sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned” (Mt 21:34-35). Eventually, the owner sends his own son, and the tenants kill him.

Jesus offered this parable as a mirror to the “tenants” of his time, the chief priests and elders. The vineyard is an image used to represent Israel. Clearly, the owner is God, and the tenant farmers are those in leadership positions overseeing the care of Israel. We do not know which leaders hearing this parable took it to heart and changed their minds and repented from their self-centered focus. We do know that there were those who carried out exactly what Jesus laid out in the parable. They persecuted, beat, and killed the prophets, and would do the same to Jesus.

Jesus offered this parable hoping to soften the hearts of the leaders who were seeking to arrest him. He was hoping that they would repent, like Isaiah and the prophets had sought to influence the generations before him. Most of the leaders that Jesus shared this parable with unfortunately did not receive Jesus’ message, as was highlighted vividly when Jesus asked what the owner ought to do to with the wicked tenants. The chief priests and the elders did not show any mercy at all but instead, called for the death of the unfaithful tenant farmers. In refusing to repent and condemn those in the parable, they heaped punishment upon themselves.

Jesus said, “the kingdom of God will be taken from you and be given to a people that will produce its fruit.” The parable was not just for the chief priests and the elders, nor just for his disciples then, but also is for us today. All of us are stewards awaiting the return of the Son of the Land Owner. May we have eyes to see and ears to hear so that we may resist the temptation of the unfaithful tenant farmers. Let us not grasp at but instead receive and be grateful for what God has given us, resist the deadly sins of envy and greed, receive with hospitality his Son, and be generous as God is with us.

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Photo: 6th century, Eastern Orthodox icon of Jesus. Grateful for his life, teachings, love, and guidance.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, March 6, 2026

Almsgiving helps us to tap into the source of God’s love and service.

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) is well worth the read. Jesus challenges us through parables such as these. For the people of his time, those who had wealth and status in society did so, it was believed for the most part, because they were blessed by God. And likewise, those who were poor, were so because of God’s punishment. When the rich man and the beggar, Lazarus, die, I am sure Jesus paused to allow his listeners to imagine what would happen to these two men and to give their presumptions some time to ferment. Many would not have predicted what happened next.

Lazarus was taken up “by angels to the bosom of Abraham” (Lk 16:22). The rich man found himself suffering from the torment of flames, such that he was parched, begging just for a drop of water from Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:23-24). Abraham, the model of faith and father of Judaism, was not sitting with the rich man, who must have always been seated at the highest places in his day. Now that seat, at the bosom of Abraham, was offered to Lazarus. There was no hope at this moment for the rich man to cross over because of the wide chasm that separated them. An ironic subtlety was afoot as well in Jesus’ telling of the parable to the Pharisees. Lazarus the poor beggar is named, whereas, the rich man is not. Some biblical scholars, based on the context of this exchange with Jesus and the Pharisees, believe that Jesus was alluding to the rich man to be Herod Antipas and indirectly calling out the Pharisees for their close association with Herod, especially regarding the death of John the Baptist.

This state of suffering and separation for this rich man because of the uncrossable chasm, is a revelation of the life he lived prior to his death. He walked over or by Lazarus day after day not giving him even a second look. Lazarus would have been grateful even for the mere scraps that fell from the rich man’s table, just as the rich man now sought just a drop of water from the finger of Lazarus. The rich man committed the root offense from which sprouts much of our sin; he failed to bother, to care, to love his brother, to will his good. He failed to come close to Lazarus who was in need.

Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, echoes very closely Matthew 25:40, “whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” How we treat each other matters. Failing to care, to reach out to those in need around us is sinful. We, probably like those who first heard this parable, experience time and again, a wicked mind storm that swirls with reasons, rationalizations, and justifications as to why we do not reach out to help. The majority, if any, are not valid. We are invited to give and to love joyfully from a natural, not a hesitant disposition, to provide aid and support.

Almsgiving is one of the three pillars of Lent and the practice helps us to heal our relationship with others. The first step is to be aware of those who are in need. This can be in our own home! Second, when we see someone in need and we feel the wind and the waves of our mind surging with reasons of why not to help, it is important to take a breath and call on Jesus. In that moment of pause, may we allow our eyes to adjust so that we can see the person before us as a human being, as a brother or sister with dignity, value, and worth.

What we are to seek in each moment of encounter is the guidance of Jesus and our willingness to allow him to work through us. May we be willing to be present and allow the Holy Spirit to happen in whatever form or act of kindness we are directed. We can do this best when we are daily entering into God’s word and allowing the Old and New Testament readings, especially these Lenten readings, to shape and transform us. When we trust “in the Lord”, we will be “like a tree planted beside the waters” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

Almsgiving is the sharing of this spring flowing from the love of Jesus and helps us to grow in compassion and generosity. This flow will never run dry as long as we seek to be nourished by God’s word and his laws that teach us how to love one another. If not sure where to begin, we can pause and listen to Mary and do the same as she directed the servants at the wedding feast to: “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5).

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Photo credit: When St. Mother Teresa picked up the first man dying in the street she began to put into action her call within a call to serve the poorest of the poor. How and who is God calling us to serve?

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, March 5, 2026

Making time each day for a breath and a look up, we can reset with Jesus, experience his peace and rest.

Look at me, serve me, I want, are attitudes and dispositions that tempt us. Fame, honor, power, prestige may be another way of making the same point, which is that we often have a hyper-focus on self and self-promotion. Social media offers more of a platform to fuel this temptation. If we think this is something new with the advent of modern technology, we can look at today’s Gospel of Matthew to see that we have been operating from this posture for a very long time.

Jesus, for the third time, was attempting to prepare his disciples for his passion. He said: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day” (Mt 20:18-19).

The response of the mother of James and John (the two brothers make the request themselves in the Gospel of Mark) is actually not that surprising if we spend any time with people. She disregards what Jesus just mentioned about his imminent death and requests that when Jesus assumes his seat of power that her two sons will be number one and number two. The other disciples were quite indignant, and I can imagine what followed was not a pretty sight.

This is a good teachable moment. When we are preoccupied with what we want to say or are thinking about, we do not hear what someone right before us is sharing with us. The mother of James and John appeared not to hear what Jesus had just shared. She is believing that Jesus is the Messiah and that he is going to claim his throne, and wants to be sure that her boys, who have given their life to his cause will be taken cares of. She just missed the point that the throne of Jesus will be the cross. The apostles aren’t any better. They don’t correct her misperception of Jesus’ messiahship, they instead start jockeying for the position that she proposed James and John filled.

Jesus doesn’t condemn the mother’s request, he directs the brothers to the truth of the request and in so doing, brings the point back to where he had started. Jesus heard the mother, James and John, and the other apostles. His response answers the question, returns to the point he is making, and offers them a participation in his passion. To give them a place at his right and left “is for those for whom it has been prepared for by my Father” (Mt 20:23). This statement addresses them all by letting them know that the preeminent place in his kingdom, whoever is to be first, is the one who serves his brother and sister. This message is for all of us.

Jesus encourages us this Lent to take the focus off ourselves and get out of our heads. To let go of I, me, and mine. Even when we let go a little, we will feel more peace. Just a few intentional breaths help so much. We can also experience quieter moments when we get outside, look up, and see the expanse of the sky (Even in the cold of the north!). We’re no longer thinking about ourselves but touching the gift of our eternal nature and call to be one with God. Instead of feeling contraction, we can experience a restful release and sense of expansion.

When we allow ourselves to breathe, we can then let go of stress and the strain and the energy we expend following the distractions, diversions, and temptations that keep us on a treadmill pace. A few breaths can also help us to stop and choose to spend a few moments with Jesus. He will then, as he did today with the apostles, redirect any ways in which our mindset is not aligned with his Father’s will. We can then place God’s priorities for our life first, properly order our own, and/or let go of any that are not of his will.

When we are able to breathe, receive, and abide in God’s love, we experience real rest, discern and make decisions from his guidance, and begin to experience more change and transformation, healing and renewal. We will begin to bear the fruit of the spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). When we let go of the desire to be first or best, to sit at the right or left of Jesus, we will rest in being who we are, God’s beloved daughters and sons. Identifying as such, we will experience more of God’s love, let go of the need to be served, experience more balance, be moved to serve and share the love we have received.

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Photo: Looking up and outward, and breathing deep, experiencing the love of God. May you also do and experience the same!

Link for the Mass readings for March 4, 2024

Let us put into practice Jesus’ teaching, and help one another with each step forward.

The challenge of Jesus’ convicting the hypocrisy of many of the Pharisees may be one for which most hearers and readers would agree with: “For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them” (Mt 23:3-4).

We have an innate sense that alerts us to hypocrisy and when hypocrisy raises its head with religious leadership it can be catastrophic because many, especially our youth, look to our leaders, as representatives of the God they are to be serving. Inexcusable behavior not only affects how we look at our leaders, it also affects the way we look at the institution, as well as God. The Catholic Church is still reeling from not only those clergy who have abused children, but those bishops who have covered up the abuse.

As horrific as these acts are, and even though there have been many improvements that have been made to put practices and protocols in place, the damage is still there and will take time to heal. There also are many other ways that people have been hurt or disillusioned by the hypocritical actions and statements of priests and leaders in the church. It is easy to give up, walk away and say this is not my problem, to point fingers and justify our own acts of hypocrisy by saying well at least I am not that bad. Yet even the human frailty and fallen nature of each of us does not change the truth that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the source of our being and fulfillment.

Even for those who have left the Church, many would say they are still spiritual. This is true because, we all have the inborn desire to be in relationship with the God who has created us. Those of us who are followers of Jesus, are to receive the message as he gave it then directed toward the religious leadership of his time, as well as it was given for his disciples, and each of us who follow him today. The standard that is set and for which we strive after is to live as Jesus lived his life.

Jesus always pointed the way to the Father. We as human beings are finite and we are going to make mistakes and sin. While Jesus is our model, even more, he is the source for our living faithfully to his teachings. Through his forgiveness and love working through us and directed out toward others, we are capable of standing up for the dignity of those entrusted to us within our realm of influence. For we are to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.

If we want to guide someone in the ways of our faith tradition it is not enough to say this is what you need to do and live accordingly. We need to put into practice and live what we are sharing, be willing to accompany, assist, and walk with those we accompany along the way. As a Christian, just giving someone the Bible, saying there you go, that’s all you need, and quoting a couple of scripture passages is not enough. If we are sharing a principle to put into practice and we are not willing to lift a finger to help them, or worse to not put it into practice ourselves, we do more damage than if we said nothing.

Jesus calls us this Lent, and everyday, to resist judging and condemning, to love our enemies, to be forgiving, and merciful. Powerful actions to live up to and even a heavier lift than the laws of the Pharisees. To say that the bar Jesus sets is high is an understatement, and yet, the One who calls us to follow them, lived them out perfectly. We not only learn about the life and teachings of Jesus but even more importantly, when we pray with, meditate upon, contemplate, and then seek to put into action his teachings, Jesus empowers and assists us to live them out. Apart from him we will not be able to carry out one of his commands, with him all things are possible.

Even when our leaders fall, we need to remain in the Church. Nor can we use poor leadership as an excuse not to be willing to see where we sin and seek to improve. When we miss the mark, let us be humble, ask Jesus for forgiveness, and his help to continue forward step by step. From our own experiences of falling down and getting back up, we are better able to help others. The most important guidance we can give anyone is to help them to encounter and experience Jesus for themselves. Even when we fall, they will still have Jesus as their ultimate guide. We can hold each other accountable and help each other as we continue our journey through this life side by side.

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Photo: Mosaic of Jesus the Pantocrator offering his blessing in the cathedral in Cefalu, Sicily, Italy.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, March 3, 2026

The antidote to division and polarization? Jesus commands us to be merciful, forgiving, and giving.

Polarization, division, and finger-pointing appear to continue to be the order of the day on the national level. Unfortunately, it is taking a firmer hold at the community and familial level and has crept into the Church as well. Instead of entering into and embracing the blame game, may we instead look in the mirror and honestly assess how we may contribute to division and isolation. The good news is that we have founding motto that we can aspire to; In the United States of America – E Pluribus Unum – Out of Many One and put into practice the words of Jesus’ prayer request to his Father – “That they may all be one” (John 17:21).

It is important to take a step back, take a breath or two or three, and examine our conscience and honestly acknowledge how we are contributing to the divisiveness and polarization through our own thoughts, words, and actions. Then we will be in a better position to act instead of react. We can disagree and offer different points of view and seek different approaches to solve problems respectfully when we are willing to engage in dialogue and collaboration instead of forcing or seeking to prove our own point.

Let leads us back to the basics of Jesus’ teachings and we are given another good one today:

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36)

Mercy, from the Hebrew word chesed, meaning to show tender compassion, can help us to turn the momentum away from disunity and polarization and toward respecting the gift of our diversity while at the same time embracing our unity.  Fr. James Keenan, S.J. defines mercy as the willingness to enter into the chaos of another. Instead of imposing our point of view, mercy is the willingness to draw close with a posture of seeking to understand someone. Instead of keeping someone at a distance, reducing them to a caricature, seeking to prove someone wrong, and/or prejudging or labeling, we can instead make a concerted effort to understand, to listen, to seek common ground, and to seek the best in each other.

When we aspire to be merciful we lead with listening, asking questions to seek clarification and better understanding. A merciful perspective even seeks to assess thoughtfully the underlying point of what has been said, even when the message conveyed is emotionally charged, derogatory, and/or inflammatory. There may be some truth in the maelstrom of what has been spewed.

This is why Jesus also encourages us to stop judging and condemning. We are limited by our own finite natures as it is. We are limited also by our own wounds, defensive mechanisms, and knee-jerk responses. We are not God and are not capable of fully reading the heart of another person.

In most cases, we do not know another’s struggles, anxieties, fears, traumas, and experiences. When encountering each another and we notice the anxiety, stress, or fear beginning to rise, it is important to resist slipping into a fight or flight response. We do so when we intentionally breathe, invite Jesus to filter our thoughts, breathe more, and listen more. When allowing someone to vent without taking offense, the person has a chance of feeling heard. Instead of escalating the situation, by not reacting, we can help to bring calm and peace. It is also helpful to let go the need to want to fix the problem at hand.

Jesus commands us to forgive. As God forgives us we are also to forgive others, to let go of grudges. Not to do so means allowing the poison injected to spread. The one who has wounded us has walked away and when we are not willing to forgive, we choose to continue to allow the harm that was inflicted to continue to fester. The antidote is forgiveness. When we forgive, we don’t condone the harm done, nor keep ourselves in harm’s way. When we forgive, we heal.

It is much easier to stay in our shell or bubble. We feel protected and safe so no one can hurt us, but that is not the posture Jesus would have us assume. In doing so, we remain focused on our self. Staying in our bubble suffocates us, stunts our growth, and limits our potential as human beings created in the image and likeness of God. Jesus calls us, not to constrict, to cave in upon ourselves, but to expand, to go out from ourselves, to be agents of love and mercy.

Each moment we have a choice. We can withdraw, remain indifferent, judge, and condemn. Each of these choices contributes to isolation, division, and polarization. We can also follow Jesus’ invitation to seek to be merciful, forgiving, and giving. These choices contribute to building relationships, communion, and unity. In our willingness to forgive, we will promote healing and invite others to forgive and heal. Let us choose in this moment to invite the Holy Spirit to expand our hearts and minds that we may become more understanding, forgiving, and merciful just as our heavenly continues to be with us.

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Image: Pope St. John Paul II living Jesus’ teaching of forgiveness in his meeting with the man who shot him, Mehmet Ali Agca – ARTURO MARI/AFP/Getty Images

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, March 2, 2026

“A bright cloud cast a shadow over them…”

Our life can be an experience both of sadness and joy, desolation and consolation, doubt and hope. We can experience an ebb and flow where we suffer from trials and also celebrate triumphs. The key to living a life of faith is to seek God in either experiences. Jesus today provides an opportunity for Peter, James, and John, the inner circle of the Twelve, to experience an expression of his divinity for he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. (Mt 17:2). Jesus revealed his divine nature to his disciples in a powerful display to prepare them for the Passion that he was about to endure. The experience is also a foreshadowing of his Resurrection.

Jesus, in this living word proclaimed or read today, invites us to experience the Transfiguration, the Passion, and the Resurrection in our own lives. We can miss a transfigured moment when we assume a posture of pride, not acknowledging God’s leading by believing we achieved or arrived at our present station in life on our merits alone. We can experience moments of transfiguration when we acknowledge that God breaks into our lives at that moment when we need him most and recognize the assistance he has given us, and/or when he has revealed to us the path and direction we were to take. The natural response is to offer prayers of thanksgiving, recognizing that we don’t go it alone, that God and those he sends to help us are a tremendous support.

Jesus is also present in our desolations. Many of us run from our suffering, we are afraid of the Cross. But it is through the Cross that we come to experience the Resurrection. We may not be aware, but when we run away from our suffering, we are running away from Jesus who awaits us with arms wide open to embrace us; to comfort us, heal us, and transform us. To experience the embrace of Jesus, we need to be willing to face our suffering.

Jesus cares from the deep place of understanding in experiencing his own tremendous suffering. He in the Garden of Gethsemane sought another way than the Cross, he asked for the cup of his death to be taken away, but he chose his Father and his will. He obeyed and set his face firm and accepted the upcoming suffering and death. In doing so, he then was also to experience his Resurrection and Ascension. Jesus now in his glorified body can be there for all of us, to lead us through our sorrows and trials.

The older I get, the crucifix becomes more of a consolation. This icon of Jesus, his body broken, emptied out for us on the cross, represents how he entered the full range of our human condition. He assumed our sin, our anxiety, fear, and selfishness, and transformed the worst of our fallen nature through his love such that we are offered the opportunity to be forgiven and redeemed. The crucifix is not a sign of despair, but of hope and transfiguration, for it reminds us that no matter what we go through, what trial that we may be in the midst of at this very moment, Jesus understands and is present with us.

Looking and meditating upon Jesus on the Cross has provided me moments of transfiguration, granting me the courage that I did not have to face various conflicts, challenges, and trials, which has only increased in my first year and half as a priest. And in facing each challenge for myself as well as those I pray for, Jesus has been by my side. As he looks down from the cross he loves us despite our sins, our weaknesses, and failures and is willing to lead and accompany us through the ups and downs of life, so that we too may be renewed and transformed.

The transfiguration was for Peter, James, and John a preparation for the glory of Jesus’ crucifixion. Their experience strengthened them as they witnessed the horror of their teacher and friend’s death and the struggles they would face in their the ministry. May we spend some time mediating and praying with the words of today’s gospel, experience again the glory that Peter, James, and John did, and savor that gift. May we breathe in deep the radiant light of the Father shining through the clouds and experience the love of the Trinity so that we too may face with Jesus, what rises before us. All is grace, as long as we bring all we experience to Jesus, and follow his guidance.

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Photo: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, March 1, 2026

 

 

“Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” Really? Yeap.

“You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father” (Mt 5:43-45). With these words, Jesus continues to raise the bar of discipleship and outlines what the pursuit of love truly is.

The command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us is challenging today, but we may be a bit removed from the original power of those words. The inference that Jesus was making to his listener’s was that their enemies and those who were persecuting them, were the soldiers of the Roman imperial that were occupying Israel. Though we can still relate, and also be shocked by it and think that this command is impossible. And that is just the point. Apart from Jesus and our relationship and the transformation of our hearts and minds through our discipleship with Jesus, there is no way we are going to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

One reason is that for us our definition of love is limited to the romantic, emotional, sensual, or mere sentimental. It can also be reduced to the mere sublime of loving ketchup or mustard on a hot dog, loving our cat or dog, or even at best getting closer to what Jesus is talking about when we love the members of our families or close friends. But all of these perspectives of love would not make sense in the context of Jesus’ command.

The bond of friendship and family goes beyond mere attraction and is built through shared interests and experiences. Through sharing our lives with others, working through conflicts, trust is built, and relationships will hopefully grow and deepen. Jesus, though, is calling us to mature in our growth of loving even beyond friendship or familial ties. If we love those who willingly love us in return, greet only our brothers and sisters (if we actually get along with them, blessed that I get along with my sister ;)), only those in our clique, group, tribe, or political party, what is the recompense or satisfaction in that? Agape, in Greek, loving without conditions, with little or no chance of mutual exchange, is what Jesus is calling us to strive for.

Many of us could not conceive of loving our enemy or someone who is persecuting us, because we have, minimally only experienced doing no overt harm to others and at best, loved our friends and family. But do we risk going outside of our group, our like-minded safety net? Life is hard enough and it is often safer, we believe, not to take the risk. We continue to operate from a concept of love as an emotion or feeling, because it feels good. We want to be happy and feel good. We avoid suffering at all costs.

Jesus challenged “his disciples to love and pray for the very people who occupy their land, tax them heavily, and treat them with violence and injustice” (Mitch and Sri, 100). How could they love the Roman occupiers? How can we love, those that we feel in some form or fashion in a similar way? St. Thomas Aquinas can be of help. He defined the love that Jesus describes as willing the good of the other as other. We make an act of the will, a free choice to accept the person as they are, to see them, not from our limited finite perspective but as God sees them, as a person with dignity. Can we pray for, seek kinder thoughts and to be more understanding, be more patient, and resist reacting in kind? Can we resist judging and labeling others?

On our own, we may not even conceive of the possibility, loving our enemies, but we can be assured that if Jesus has asked us to strive for this height and depth of love, he will provide the means. We love others unconditionally by allowing Jesus to love us. To breathe, receive, receive, and abide in his love, we experience his love. As we do so daily, we experience more of and are transformed by his love, and begin to allow God to love others through us.

We strive to reach the summit of loving our enemy only with the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus called his disciples and he calls us to “imitate God by being perfect in love… to reflect the Father’s perfect, committed, selfless, merciful love in their own lives… to go beyond external conformity to the requirements of the law and imitate the perfect love of the heavenly Father, who is love himself” (Mitch and Sri, 101).

Even when we fall short, how much better would our families, communities, countries and world be if we sought this goal? To counter divisiveness, fear, and hatred, we need to refuse to react and instead choose to engage in an act of the will to love one another as Jesus loves us. “Jesus summons us to a heavenly way of life; the saints show that it is possible to live this way on earth.” If the saints can love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them, then by following their example, and allowing ourselves to abide in God’s love as they did, then so can we.

Photo: Jesus lived his command of loving his enemies and praying for those who persecuted them most radically when while dying on the cross he asked his Father to “forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, February 28, 2026