jesus

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

Let us abide in the love of God today and all year!

“Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father” (I John 2:24).

John is writing these words to encourage his community who has been wounded by a split in the community with those who walked away from the truth of the faith. The major point at issue appears to have been the identity of Jesus. Those who walked away were those who refused to believe that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God. 

Both factions believed in and were followers of Jesus but the ones that opposed the truth were those that could not bring themselves to believe that he was fully human and fully divine. For them how could the divinity of God enter humanity? They could not believe that the Son became human, that he only appeared to be, or his body was just like a glove to be cast off. 

Yet, that is exactly the opposite of what we have been celebrating this past week, which has been the incarnation, the reality that the Son of God was conceived in and born of the Virgin Mary. This is why we also celebrated yesterday that Mary is the Mother of God. Jesus truly is fully divine and fully human. 

John is encouraging those who did not leave to remain in the truth that they have been taught, so that what they “heard from the beginning” would remain with them. What they heard from the beginning was to remain in the love of Jesus. As Jesus taught: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:23). John would echo this teaching just a few verses later: “For this is the message you had heard from the beginning: we should love one another” (I John 3:11).

In I John 2:24 that we read today, the word, remain, appears three times. Remain comes from the Greek word menō. It can also be translated as stay, reside, or abide. I like abide. If we want to know the truth about Jesus, we need to know Jesus and abide in him and his love. The prayers we pray, the words we read in the Bible, the Masses we participate in are not to be just motions we go through like spiritual calisthenics. They are opportunities for growing in our relationship with Jesus and his Father. 

This is just as true with our relationships with one another. If we do not pay attention to one another, listen but do not hear, are not there for each other, a distance grows, doubt creeps in, and trust weakens. When we are actively engaged in each other’s lives, hear as well as listen, communicate, support each other in our ups and downs, we grow closer, confidence grows, and trust strengthens. 

We resist the lies and receive the truth when we slow down enough to receive and abide in the one who loves us more than we can imagine. The one who knows every hair on our head and who has carved us in the palm of his hand: Our loving God and Father. 

To grow as disciples of Jesus in this new year, to grow in our relationships, we are invited again and again to breathe and slow down, to receive and ponder his word, to receive his Body and Blood, to see and serve him in one another, and to rest and abide in his word, his presence, and the love of his Father that he has shared with us. It is very easy to get diverted, distracted, to rev up and get busy, but our primary goal of this day and this year is to breathe, rest, receive, and abide in the love of Jesus who is fully God and fully man, his love that he so much wants to share with us.

When we make time to do that each day, we will abide in the love of the Son, and so abide in the Father, as we experience the love between them, the Holy Spirit. Every thought, decision, action, and word will then flow from the love of our Father who created us. As we are purified and transformed by his love, we will continue to heal and so will our relationships with one another.

Photo: Saturday evening after Mass at St. Peter Catholic Church, Jupiter, FL

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, January 2, 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