jesus

We are family.

Jesus consistently stretches the norms and social constructs of his time. He does so not just for the sake of stirring things up, but to help the people of his time and us today to see the reality that God has created. He is leading us from our fallen nature to the truth of who God has created us to be and is calling us to be.

Today’s gospel is no different. What seemed to be a very simple and straight forward statement, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you”(Mark 3:32). Jesus turns this on its head when he responds: “Who are my mother and my brothers” (Mark 3:33)? And he is taking a risk here as well because of the deep familial bonds of his culture. What most people then and now would agree on would have been for Jesus to ask those listening to make some room for his family to come in and join them or at the least, let everyone take a ten-minute break while he said hello.

Instead, Jesus is extending the parameters of family. Family is not just bloodline. He is saying that his family members are those who do the will of his Father. Those who do so then are his “mother, brothers, and sisters.” We have been created in his image and likeness and are God’s beloved children. This is the reality Jesus is leading us to return to.

We are invited to be a part of his family. An exciting proposition and no genetic testing needed! We just need to do the will of God. The foundation of God’s will is to allow ourselves to be loved by him and to love him and each other in return. If this is our goal today and each day and we intentionally put this into practice in our own unique ways, our lives would be transformed and so would our world! When we really believe and live this truth, we will treat each other much better as well.

I invite you to read today’s Gospel account for yourself, Mark 3:31-35. It is only five verses. Make the Sign of the Cross, breathe slowly and deeply, read the account a few times slowly, and then ask Jesus to bring you into his memory. Jesus was there and he remembers. Ask him to guide you as you enter into the scene by allowing your senses to come alive.

What do you see, smell, hear, feel, and even taste? What stands out for you? Was there a word or phrase that you were drawn to that you can think more about or visualize? As Jesus teaches, is there anything he shares with you? When he asks, “For whoever does the will of God”, what might that mean to you? Allow Jesus to lead you and let God happen. Enjoy!

Photo: Our Mother Mary. Who followed God’s will better than she? St. Vincent de Paul chapel, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Mary said, “Yes” to life. May we as well.

In casting out more unclean spirits, Jesus is not supported by the scribes but he is instead being accused of doing so by the power of “Beelzebul,” the prince of demons, which may be reference to an ancient Canaanite god. Jesus countered by asking, “How can Satan drive out Satan” (Mark 3:23)?

There are evil forces, principalities, and powers in this world, and they seek to wreak havoc, destruction, and division. Jesus shows from the beginning of his ministry that he has power over Satan and his fallen angels in league with him. The weakest Christian is mightier than Satan himself for he or she can call on the sacred name of Jesus and Satan and his minions will flee.

The power of the enemy is in their subtle attacks of our minds. From the get-go in Eden, Satan sought and continues to seek to distort the good that God has created. He and his demons seek to turn us away from God by whispering to us lies and half-truths, presenting apparent goods, and even using the words of the Bible against us as he did with Jesus in the desert.

Our defense against the enemy is to build our foundation on our relationship with Jesus. We need to daily spend time in prayer and scripture, spiritual reading, discerning God’s will and his voice, being open to be loved by him and loving one another. We are to participate in the Mass and the sacraments, especially Reconciliation often. Many other diversions, distractions, and enticements will lead us away from these pursuits, so we need to be more intentional with our choices.

The simple question we need to ask ourselves is does what we pay attention to bring us closer to God or lead us away. This is true regarding not just in our spiritual pursuits, but also all aspects of our lives. Our diet, exercise, rest, recreation, study, and work, all our daily activities can either lead us away from or closer to our relationship with God and one another.

The greatest gift of choosing God in each of our activities is that we will also be able to discern his voice over that of the enemy. One of the most dangerous lies that the enemy has sewn into the fabric of our world and has unfortunately taken firm root is that the unborn is not a human being.

There are many reasons why someone may choose to have an abortion and each of them are serious and need to be addressed with care, compassion, support, and help, but that does not change the truth that from the moment of conception there is a new being distinct from her or his mother or father with everything physiologically needed as well as a soul imparted by God to continue to develop, not into, but as a human being. The only difference between me writing and you reading is that they are smaller and more vulnerable. All that is needed is protection, care, and the proper support, which we all need as well.

Today is The Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. May we match our prayers with our determination to provide the assistance and needed care for all human beings no matter who they are or what stage of life they are in. The truth that can help us on our way is that Jesus died for each and everyone of us, born and unborn, slave or free, with or without a country, no matter our, race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, or creed, because he respects our dignity as a child of God. We make better decisions for the betterment of our world when we see each other as human beings created in the image and likeness of God.

Photo: Beginning of Rosary walk each night with Mary, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, January 22, 2024

Repentance frees us from death and brings us life.

“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).

God, who is beyond time and space, who is infinite, has a plan and a proper time and place to implement his plan. God invites. He does not impose. God invites us to participate in his plan, but he also gives us the freedom to refuse and walk away.

God called Jonah to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh and Jonah refused because he believed that they would repent, and that God would forgive them. Jonah walked in the opposite direction. That did not go so well. The ship embarked upon was caught in a terrible storm and the people threw him overboard to save themselves. Jonah spent three days in the belly of a great fish. While there, he repented to God, agreed to fulfill his vow to do God’s will. The great fish spit him back out on land and in the direction that God wanted him to go in the first place.

Jonah got the point, did as he was called to do, and the whole city was saved from the impending wrath of God. The people were saved because they repented. They turned back to God and away from their sinful ways. Jonah was not happy about it and God gave him another lesson.

Uncomfortable with the heat of the sun, God “provided a gourd plant” which gave Jonah relief. The next morning a worm ate the plant and Jonah was subjected to the hot east wind and the beating of the sun, so complained to God to take his life. God then asked Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry over the gourd plant” (Jonah 4:9). Jonah said he did and then God pointed out how Jonah was upset over the loss of one gourd plant that came to be in one day and was lost in the next. How much would God mourn the loss of “more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons” (Jonah 4:11)?

God feels the same way about each one of us. He does not want any of us to be lost. He loves us more than we can imagine, more than we can ever mess up or sin, and he does not define us by our worst moments. God also wants us to know that this life that we have is a beautiful gift, but this is not it. All that exists besides God is finite and material and will not last. We are not to hold on too tightly to the things of this world because as St. Paul shared, “For the world in its present form is passing away” (I Corinthians 7:31).

This is not something to be down about because God sent his Son to become the first born of the new creation. He sent him at a particular time a place and Jesus came to let us know that there is something even better awaiting us – eternal life with his Father.

How do we get to share this wonderful gift? We do what Jonah and Saul who became Paul did. We follow the invitation of Jesus that I started this homily with. “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).

This is the time. God dwells in the eternal present. This moment is the time for us to recognize that Jesus is with us. He is the kingdom of God present in our midst, in my typing and your reading these words. We just need to make a choice, are we going to refuse his invitation and walk away or accept his invitation to repent and surrender our lives to him?

To repent means to turn back, to reorient, to realign our lives to the will of God our loving Father. When we do so we are no longer alone. God who has always been present with us is accessible because Jesus gave his life that we might have life and have access to his Father. When we decide to turn back to him, we will experience and receive his help and enter into and continue to develop a relationship with him. Turning back to God does not mean our lives will become perfect or that our struggles, trials, and traumas will just evaporate. Turning back to God does mean that we will have his help, strength, guidance, and support.

Repentance is a lifelong journey of allowing Jesus to reveal to us that which we need to let go of, that we have placed before God, or put first instead of God, and have the humility to begin to let go. As we begin to let go, Jesus will reveal more to let go. Step by step, choice by choice, we will become less, and Jesus will become more in our lives. As we become more consistent in choosing each day and each present moment to say, “Yes,” to the will of God, we will grow closer to him and experience more joy, peace, and love in our lives.

Photo: Step by step, Jesus will guide us through this life and into heaven. My view coming back from my Rosary walk each night, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, January, 21, 2024

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

Any part of our hearts in need of healing?

The hypocrisy scale is over the top in today’s Gospel. Each day this week these particular Pharisees have been not only seeing the glass regarding Jesus, half empty, but in today’s account, they are no longer seeing the glass! There is some validity in keeping the Sabbath day holy as I shared yesterday, but today they have thrown that out as well.

The issue today is that when Jesus entered the synagogue he saw a man “who had a withered hand” (Mark 3:1). Of course, Jesus is going to heal the man and on cue, the Pharisees are crouched to see if he is going to do so as well, on the sabbath. Jesus then asks a revealing question: “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than destroy it” (Mark 3:4). Crickets… not a peep from the Pharisees.

Jesus gave them an opportunity to see not only their hypocrisy but revealed to them the darkness of their own hearts. Jesus is about to heal this man, “to do good on the sabbath” and the Pharisees, not only don’t see the gift of this man’s healing and so allow themselves to find healing from their own hardened hearts, but they leave to plan to destroy Jesus’ life. They choose to do evil on the sabbath and justify it by condemning Jesus for healing a man’s hand.

Why such hardness of heart? We aren’t given that insight. In some way they may be threatened by Jesus as King Herod was when he heard of the announcement of Jesus from the Magi from the east. An encounter with Jesus demands a choice, because he is the truth, he is the light that reveals the darkness. It can be easy to see the darkness in others like the Pharisees today.

The man’s hand is restored, and the Pharisees have just left seething with steam coming out of their ears. Each of us are now are invited to step into the scene. Are we willing to step into the synagogue with Jesus? He is facing you right now. His eyes have softened, they are inviting and loving you right in this moment. Is there a healing that you need? Is there a part of your heart that is hardened or wounded that you are willing to share? Is there any unforgiveness, sadness, anxiety that may be constricting your heart?

If you are willing, take that step, open your heart to your Lord and Savior this morning in your own unique way and trust him to reveal to you where we could use a healing or if you know, ask him.

Photo: My view each morning before as I start my day. I have been blessed with a lot of healing heart to heart time with the Divine Physician over the past year and a half.

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

May we bring some of the sabbath into today.

“May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that we may know what is the hope that belongs to our call” (Ephesians 1:17-18).

When we seek God first in all we think, say and do we will experience more peace in our lives. Taking time to begin our days by opening our heart and mind to God, receiving, resting, and abiding in his love helps us to have eyes to see a little more clearly than if we get up at the last minute and rush into the day at breakneck speed.

We see the importance of this in today’s Gospel. The Pharisees are following Jesus and his disciples to catch him breaking the law so they can bring charges against him. Jesus and his disciples are walking on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a key identifying feature for the Jewish people.

The Sabbath is a day of rest in which the people are to remember his saving act of freeing them from their slavery in Egypt, honor God and his covenant with his people, and it is also a remembrance that God is the creator who rested on the seventh day and so made this day holy in which no work was to be done. The sabbath rest is one way to help the people to remember who they are as human beings created in God’s image and likeness.

Unfortunately, these Pharisees are seeking to subvert the law for their own agenda. Instead of having the eyes of faith to see God in their midst, on the Sabbath they are seeking to find a way to trap the One who is seeking to heal and save them from their scrupulosity. Jesus does not disregard the gift of the sabbath but seeks to restore it to its proper order as he heals on the Sabbath and allows his disciples to feed themselves when they are hungry. In Jesus saying, “the Son of Man is the lord even of the sabbath” (Mark 2:28) he is harkening back to the dignity of humanity who has been created very good.

We have been created very good. We are God’s beloved daughters and sons. May we give ourselves some time to begin this day in stillness and be grateful for the gift of this day, the gift that we have a God that loves us and wants the best for us, and return throughout the day no matter our schedule to give ourselves moments of rest and renewal, to spend time in God’s presence to be still, to be loved, and to be a light to others that we meet.

Photo: Looking up to the heavens and taking some deep, slow breaths is a good way to rest and reset!

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, January 16, 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