love

Who will we serve? Makes a difference.

Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus and said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him.” (Mt 14:1-2).

After the death of Herod the Great (4 BC), one of his sons, Herod Antipas, was given a portion, a fourth, of his father’s kingdom by the Roman Emperor Augustus. Thus, Herod Antipas was the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea from 4 BC to 39 AD. Herod, like, Pontius Pilate, would hold power as long as he was a faithful servant to Rome.

News of the ministry of Jesus got back to Herod and he believed Jesus to be John the Baptist raised from the dead. What followed in today’s Gospel were some reasons why Herod arrested and unjustly beheaded John the Baptist. John was killed for speaking truth to power, as happened often in the long line of prophets before him. Jesus continued John’s ministry of calling for repentance, encouraging those who would listen to turn away from sin and turn back to the will of God. John suffered capital punishment at the hands of Herod Antipas and Jesus at the hands of Pontius Pilate. The Apostles and martyrs of the early Church followed John and Jesus, lived and proclaimed the truth publicly and courageously.

How are we living today? Are we faithful to the Gospel values that Jesus and the Apostles taught and were willing to die for? Do we serve Herod Antipas and Pontius Pilate or Jesus the Christ? Do we assume a defensive posture or open ourselves to love? Most of us are somewhere in between. The hope is that we are moving closer to knowing, loving, and serving God, being people of prayer and practice, allowing God to love us so we can heal, getting in touch with the particular charism and gift that God has given us, and loving one another as he has loved us.

It is important to stop and reflect on questions such as these, to examine our thoughts, words, and actions and determine who it is that we are truly serving. It is not easy living the teachings of Jesus. We will fall short but we must remember that God loves us more than we can ever mess up and it is through his love and power that we will fulfill his will. We just need to remember that we are his children and as his children we need to ask for his help. When we let go of holding onto our self reliance and instead surrender to God our Father, we strengthen the relationship we have been created for.

When we are also humble enough to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us our mistakes, failures, and sins, we will experience his forgiveness and mercy, we will become more open to truly knowing his will and how best to serve him and each other. Embraced by and participating in the Trinitarian Communion of love, let us recommit ourselves today to living as Jesus’ disciples, so we will grow in courage, follow his way, experience healing, so to better think, speak, and live his truth by promoting forgiveness, justice, love, mercy, and reconciliation in and out of season.
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St. Mother Teresa knew who she served – “I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus.” Photo credit: 1979 CNS/KNA and accessed from NCRonline.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, August 1, 2026

We are freed from evil, sin, and death when we allow ourselves to be loved by God.

“Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.” (Mt 13:36-39).

In this parable of the wheat and the weeds, Jesus is addressing the ancient question of why God allows evil and how are we to deal with it. Why do bad things happen to good people? As a starting point, we need to recognize that God is God, and we are not; meaning that we are not capable of reading the mind of God. Any answer to explain how and why God allows suffering will be insufficient. A second reality is that the Devil exists, though he is a created being. An angelic being, yes, but not equal in any way to God.

God is not a being. We can approach but will still fall short by identifying God as Infinite Act of Existence, he is, or as God told Moses, “I am who am” (Exodus 3:14). God, uncreated and has always been, is and always will be, did not create evil, he only created good. “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good” (Genesis 1:31). The Devil, Satan, the one who opposes, was created good also, as a high archangel, Lucifer, yet he chose to turn away from the will of God, and those angels who followed him are demons. God is greater than the Devil and his demons, and the good he sows is greater than the evil they sow.

Evil is not so much a created thing, but a deprivation, or distortion of the good. God does not create evil, but he does allow it, and even though we cannot understand the reasons why God allows or permits evil or suffering, it is not a sufficient reason to say that God does not exist. This is especially true if we are seeking to grasp spiritual realities and truths from purely physical and rational means alone. We are indeed rational beings, who seek to know and to understand that which is good, but we are so much more. As human beings, we are physical AND spiritual, so need not limit ourselves to the merely sensate and empirical realm alone.

To better be guided by God, to hear his voice in the silence of our soul, to be fulfilled, our hearts and minds need to be open to the will of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. We are called to be people of prayer. As we mature spiritually and deepen our relationship with God, we will come to experience God as did Job: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful to me, which I cannot know” (Job 42: 2-3). In essence, Job acknowledged and accepted that God was in control, and he was not, and though he could not grasp everything, he trusted in the will of God for his ultimate good.

How do we deal with evil then? We need to surrender our pride and control over to God and acknowledge that he is in charge and knows what is best for us. We need to choose to put God first above ourselves and everything and everyone else. Our fundamental option, our telos, our end goal, is to embrace the reality that we are striving to be in a relationship with God. From the moment of our conception, we are a living, craving, hunger, and desire to be one with God and each another. This is true for the atheist and the mystic alike, whether we believe it or not. As we embrace this reality, put God first, breathe and allow ourselves to be loved by him, no matter what arises, we will begin to experience his presence in not only our everyday lives but begin to feel his presence with us in the midst of our suffering. We will come to know that he is stronger than any pain or evil, his grace is greater than any of our sins, and he will guide us through and give us what we need to endure.

Our loving God and Father has given us the means to understand suffering and evil especially in sending his Son to enter into our humanity, to suffer with us, even suffering his own unjust death on the cross. Our deepest prayer is when we willingly offer up our suffering and enter into the Mystery of the Passion of Jesus. Jesus, the pure and innocent one, beaten and crucified, understands our pain and agony, our cry for the horrors of injustice, and he understands the presence of evil. Jesus himself, asked not to be crucified, though he relinquished in saying, “Not my will but yours be done” (Lk 22:42).

In that acknowledgment, Jesus faced the utter evil, horror, betrayal, and injustice of humanity: his crucifixion. In taking upon himself the sin of the world on the Cross, he even experienced separation from his and our Father. Through his complete surrender into God forsakenness, into his death, and descent into hell, Jesus made the Resurrection possible. He conquered suffering, evil, and death forever, he brought about a greater good, through the evil of the crucifixion. No matter what trials we face, our Father has the last word over sin, suffering, and even our death.

We may not receive a sufficient answer or justification to suffering but we can experience the challenges we face with our hope intact by trusting that God hears our prayers and is present in our trials and tribulations. We receive help best when honest in our prayer, even when we are angry, afraid, doubtful, or frustrated, it is important to bring all to Jesus. We will not find Jesus when we deny or run from our challenges. We will find him with his arms wide open and waiting for us when we are willing to ask and accept his help, and then enter into, as well as face our suffering and pain.

We are not alone in our suffering. When we resist running from our pain, denying, or trying to distract or divert ourselves, and bring what we are going through to Jesus, he will provide a way and accompany us through every twist and turn. He understands what we are going through because he experienced the worst of human sin; he was betrayed, beaten, crucified, and died. We experience hope because Jesus has already won the battle and he sends us the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to endure.

No darkness can or will overcome the love of the Holy Spirit. Aligned with God we will be victorious even in the face of the greatest evil that confronts us. Let us trust in Jesus and each other, face whatever storm that arises with confidence and courage as did Jesus when he set his face toward Jerusalem.
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Photo: Loved and empowered by the Holy Spirit we shall overcome even the grave.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Experiencing God’s love, we are invited to share in small ways.

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.” (Mt 13:31-32).

God can do so much with so little. This is so because even the smallest detail is important to God. Just think of the immensity, not only of our solar system and galaxy but the whole cosmos. Despite the grandiosity and massive expanse of all creation, not even a sparrow can fall to the ground without the notice of God. Even all the hairs of our head he has counted (cf Mt 10:29-30). Our life, who we are, and who we are becoming matters to God.

This closeness Jeremiah reveals in the first reading, “as close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so had I made the house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 13:11). The idea of a loincloth may be an outdated reference, maybe a pair of skinny jeans or spandex sweats might better make the point.

Jesus has been presenting parables regarding small beginnings such as, seed sown in a field, a mustard seed, and yeast which all allude to how God begins small and often hidden to fulfill his plan of salvation. What God begins, he will bring to fruition. The gathering in of the nations is an Old Testament theme that Ezekiel especially highlights when he shares that God will break off and plant a tender cedar shoot and from this small shoot it will become a, “majestic cedar. Every small bird will nest under it, all kinds of winged birds will dwell in the shade of its branches” (Ezekiel 17:22-23). God has a plan for the unity of all of humanity and creation and Jesus is inviting us to be a part of the collaborative effort.

God builds up his kingdom one person at a time and sows his seeds of divine grace which is a movement of the outpouring of his divine love. He watches over us, his children, and shares his life with us. We can accept or reject this love which falls afresh upon us like the morning dew upon the grass. When we accept, remain still, and abide in the reality that God loves us we, will be saturated by his love. When we say yes to the outpouring of God’s love and abide there, resting in the truth that we are beloved daughters and sons is no mere cliché. As we experience and savor this nourishing gift of God’s love, our identity is secured and nothing and no one can shake that truth.

Abiding and saturated in God’s love, we will come to realize that we receive an unending supply of God’s love to offer others. As we give love, we receive more in return. Our smallest thoughts, words, or deeds, and facial gestures make significant differences to those on the receiving end of God’s love flowing through us. We have an opportunity today to think, speak, and act as bearers of our loving God and Father. We can share a smile, a word of encouragement, a wave, and/or a hug, send a text, and/or just follow through on the the myriad stirrings from the Holy Spirit and offer a simple act of love. No matter how small a sharing, it will mean more than we will ever know or can even imagine to the one who receives.

Photo: Recipient of a small act of love from a surprise dinner visit a few months ago.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, July 27, 2026

James learned, and may we learn, to love, serve and sacrifice for one another.

“The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, ‘What do you wish?’ She answered him, ‘Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom’” (Mt 20:21-22).

The context of this request from the mother of the sons of Zebedee, James and John, comes from reading a few verses before the quote above. Start reading at Matthew 20:17 and you will see that Jesus and his twelve apostles are heading toward Jerusalem. Jesus stops to share with them, for the third time, that he will be condemned and crucified.

The request of James and John, through their mother, in the eyes of the world would seem a reasonable request. To them, Jesus was marching toward Jerusalem to claim his throne as king. To sit on his right and left, was an acknowledgment of their willingness to follow him, and serve as support for and witnesses of his kingship. It was also a preemptive strike before any of the other apostles could make that claim. There is a problem with their understanding though.

Jesus’ third statement of his imminent suffering and death appears to be ignored by or it goes over the heads of James and John, again, as well as their mother. The other ten are indignant, not because of the apparent lack of acknowledging Jesus’ upcoming passion, but because they entered into a free for all for position of which of them would be the greatest!

Any reading this who have or raised children, or experienced grandchildren, remembered growing up with siblings, will understand. It is easy to imagine how chaotic this scene quickly escalated! Saint John Chrysostom offered this insight: “See how imperfect they all are: the two who tried to get ahead of the other ten, and the ten who were jealous of the two” (Chrysostom 1975, 1552)!

This event made an impact for it was recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Mark has James and John speaking for themselves, not their mother, as in Matthew. Luke does not even record the initial request of James and John and instead comes in at the point of the apostle’s dispute. What all record, including the Gospel of John, is how Jesus made it clear that he came to serve, not to be served. To follow Jesus meant, not that James and John would be given positions of honor and power, the sitting at his right or his left, but that they were to serve as he served, to love as he loved.

The right and left that James and John asked for was not Jesus’ to give. That assignment would come directly from the Father. Jesus also said, “You do not know what you are asking” (Matthew 20:22). For if James and John did, they would have thought twice about asking or dissuading their mother from asking. For the ones who would assume the right and left were the two thieves crucified on either side of Jesus while he hung upon the cross.

As disciples of Jesus, we too are called to serve in love, not a sentimental love, but a love willing to sacrifice for one another. Most of us are not accustomed or naturally disposed in this way. A good way to begin is to be truly present which can be done effectively when we actively listen. We learn this best in times set aside to meditate and pray with God. As we are able to quiet our minds, slow our heartbeats, and listen to God, we can begin to do so a little better with one another.

Listening happens when we look up, put the phone, paper, or magazine down, turn away from the computer and/or turn off the tv. Then as we take a few breaths, we can open our hearts and minds to listen, and hear. We love in the moment, even as conflict arises, when we resist the knee jerk reaction. We instead, breathe, listen, and pray before speaking. When we learn to listen to God and one another, we will hear where the needs are, be more understanding, and help to provide bridges of reconciliation. When our hearts are moved not with competition but compassion, we will learn to love by sacrificing and serving one another.

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Painting: “St. James the Greater” by Guido Reni. James learned the art of service and became the first to drink Jesus’ cup. St. James, pray for us!

Chrysostom, St John. Homily. The Liturgy of the Hours: According to the Roman Rite. Vol. 3. NY: Catholic Book Publishing, 1975.

Parallel Gospel passages to review:
Mark 10:35-45; Matthew 20:20-28; Luke 22:24-27 and John 13:12-17

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, July 25, 2026

When we trust in, follow Jesus, and repent, we will experience his Father’s love.

The root of the message offered in today’s Gospel is what is foundational to beginning and continuing as a disciple of Jesus? The foundation is the disposition of our hearts. Are we closed to receiving the message of the Gospel, or are we open to embrace the invitation Jesus shares to become more active in living out our faith in our everyday lives?

The exchange of Jesus with his disciples in today’s reading from Matthew comes after his sharing of the Parable of the Sower (Mt 13:1-9). In this parable, Jesus offers scenarios regarding the conditions of seeds sown. Some fell on a hardened path, some on rocky ground, some fell among thorns, and some fell on the rich soil. The seeds on the hardened path could not even germinate. Those in rocky ground and among thorns germinated and began to even sprout but would not come to full maturity. The seed that was sown in rich soil germinated, sprouted, matured, and bore fruit.

As disciples, we are meant to bear fruit and that means we need to prepare ourselves so that we will have rich soil. We break through the hard ground when we open our hearts and minds. If we have a desire to pray, the hardened soil has given way somewhat. The seed has penetrated, died and has begun to germinate. God is the originator of our prayer. The desire to spend time in prayer is good news. The devil has not stolen that from us.

One of the most important things we can do each day is to breathe, receive, rest, and abide in God’s love. Spending time intentionally breathing slowly and deeply not just into the chest but also activating the diaphragm, slows our heart rate down and sends the message to our brains that we are safe. Our muscles will then release pent up tensions. Three such breaths can make a difference. Then making the Sign of the Cross, we invite each Person of the Trinity to dwell within us. Continuing then to breathe, we can begin to receive and rest in God’s love for us. A few minutes of recollection in the bank, we are now ready to meditate and pray. Doing so with the readings of the day can be very powerful and transformative.

Now if we do not follow through on the inspiration of nor follow the nudging of the Holy Spirit, when we aren’t even able to allow ourselves time to make the Sign of the Cross or take three, deep breaths, means we have some tilling to do. We need to remove some clay and rocks of resistance, distraction, and diversion so that we can get deeper. Satan knows how important it is for us to pray everyday and he will subtly seek to lead us astray in the smallest of ways. If not able to dissuade us, he will attempt to make our time functional and anemic, something we do and check the box. We may begin to pray daily for a time, but without any deeper root or experiencing any living water of the Holy Spirit, we may be led away, skip a day, or two, then a few more, then walk away.

If we commit to showing up each day seeking to experience the love of God, coming to a place that we have created and set aside for ourselves to breathe and be still will help us to begin the work of facing those internal resistances and diversions. We can begin the process of uprooting the thorns of anxiety and worry. We can begin to see where our hearts and minds may have been hardened. By breathing and slowing down, we get in touch with our body and may be surprised by how tense we are. With just a few breathes we may notice that our shoulders come to a more peaceful place of rest. Our neck and our hips can begin to let go.

Richer soil will allow growth. Among good soil grows what has been planted, the seeds of the enemy as well as the seeds of God.

As we continue to return each day and allow God to happen, in reading, meditating, praying with God’s word, or also sitting with God in the same silence and bringing to him our struggles and challenges, as well as our successes and triumphs in thanksgiving, to acknowledge his presence and closeness and just rest with him, we can continue to allow his light to reveal other areas where thorns and other weeds that seek to choke the growth that has begun.

Anxieties, worries, frustration, and reactions all choke out the peace, faith, confidence, and love that God seeks to sow and grow within us. Past unrealized and unhealed wounds may also come to the four in holy tears. Being diligent and disciplined in showing up, allows us to begin to feel safe in the place we have set aside. In encountering God each day, we begin to know him. In this place of stability, we come to know that God is our refuge and strength, and we begin to feel safe. From this place of safety and trusting in the Jesus, we can allow him into places where we seek to be healed and receive his consolation and healing, we can also admit to ourselves where we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and God will forgive us. Where we uncover more habitually hardened and mortal sins, we can go to the priest for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and be forgiven there as well.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God if we are willing to allow the fertilizer of God’s love to penetrate. God helps us to tend the gardens of our souls patiently and gently. Thoughts of condemnation and shame are the poison of the enemy that seek to stunt our healing, growth, and spiritual maturity. The gentle light of Jesus is that light that brings warmth and safety. The conviction he brings is the light that helps us to identify that which needs to be weeded and pruned so that our soil becomes richer and our growth can continue unimpeded. In time and with disciplined attention, daily coming to our places of quiet with the Lord, spending time in his word, we will be forgiven, healed, and freed from that which seeks to stifle our growth and we will continue to mature and begin to bear good fruit, the gifts and charisms that the Holy Spirit has sown within our good soil at Baptism.

Whatever the state of the soil of our soul that we bring to this reading whether it be a hardened and worn path, rocky ground, weeds and thorns, know that there is some soil to work with. Like any garden that is to grow, mature plants that bear good fruit will take time, energy, and work. The most difficult state and the one Jesus addressed in today’s Gospel is the heart of indifference that is closed, the seed falling on the well-trod path, that is hard and packed so nothing gets through. For these people, “they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand” (Mt 13:13). Yet, even this soil can be turned and tilled. Even the hardest heart can be softened if one is willing to stop and be still long enough to experience the loving embrace of God.

Jesus, in his explanation of why he spoke in parables, is an echo of his inaugural message from when he began his ministry: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). Before we may be willing to repent, we may need to first acknowledge the places in our hearts and minds that are closed, those areas that are hardened from real or perceived past pain or trauma, those situations in which we chose to shut down and separate ourselves from receiving the love of God and others.

When we allow Jesus to come close, we can experience his healing touch. When we take the risk to accept his help, we will be willing to turn back to him, to repent, even in small ways at first, and so receive his forgiveness and healing. When we trust Jesus, are willing to take his hand, and follow his lead daily, we will learn from our mistakes, we will turn away from more deeply rooted habitual sins, return to him for confession, our hearts will soften and our minds will open even more.

Jesus wants to help us to turn over the rocks we have been hiding our pain under so that we can experience those deeper wounds. This will only happen when we trust Jesus and feel safe. Spending quiet time each day, surrendering and being docile to the Holy Spirit, helps us to do just that. In time, we will feel safer and more confident to pull up the weeds, turn over those stones, and begin to till the fertile soil underneath. Through experiencing our pain, our emotions, and facing our fears, we help to further cultivate fertile soil, in which the seed of God can thrive, be nourished by his unending love, and in which we will mature to bear good fruit that will last.

Photo: Enjoying a quiet evening walk.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, July 23, 2026

The Lord of the sabbath is the Lord of mercy.

I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.” (Mt 12:6-8).

Jesus continues to rock established regulations and practices. Here he is challenging the understanding of the Sabbath itself when justifying the accusations leveled toward his disciples who were picking and eating grain on the Sabbath, and he does so in a profound way by saying that, “something greater than the temple is here.” Present in the heart of the temple, the area called the Holy of Holies, was the ark of the covenant. Atop the ark was the lid called the mercy seat of God. Jews believed that this was where God sat and when the blood of atonement was offered from sacrifices, God’s mercy was offered to the people. In the temple then, was the mercy seat, the very presence of God.

Jesus’ claim that he is greater than the temple is putting him on the same level as God. A blasphemous statement to say the least, unless of course, he is God. Jesus even doubles down by claiming that he is the Lord of the sabbath; Jesus is God! “As such, he has authority over how the Sabbath law is to be observed” (Mitch and Sri, 165).

In quoting Hosea 6:6: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”, Jesus not only said that he is the something greater, but that his Way is something greater. One of the foundational points of the Way of Jesus is mercy. Through the incarnation, the Son of God dwelt among us and became one with us in our humanity. He provides a way to restore the glory lost at the fall. What Jesus said, in defending his disciples eating from the grains of wheat on the Sabbath, he is saying to us today: “What is owed to every human being on the basis of his or her human dignity is personal respect, personal acceptance, and personal care” (Kasper 2014, 202).

Each one of us strengthens our unity in the Body of Christ when we, with Jesus, bestow works of mercy on our neighbor, which are “are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his [or her] spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. 2447).

Will we judge others without mercy and keep them at arm’s length? Or rather, respect the dignity of each person, interact with and care for people, even when different, journey together, and offer God’s love as he loves us? Reviewing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy above is a good place to start. Praying about and deciding which one(s) to put into practice would be a good next step. We can write a broader and brighter chapter in the coming weeks and months ahead if we are willing to follow Jesus and lead with mercy, which is “the willingness to enter the chaos of another” (Keenan, 2015).

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Photo: We will be more merciful when we allow our heartbeat to beat in time with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Whose heart beat, in the womb of Mary, beat in time with the Immaculate Heart of his mother Mary.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, July 17, 2026

Kasper, Walter. Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life. NY: Paulist Press, 2004.

Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church: Revised in Accordance with the Official Latin Text Promulgated by Pope John Paul II. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997.

Keenan SJ, James. “The Scandal of Mercy Excludes No One.” Thinking Faith. December 4, 2015.

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

Repentance is not punishment, but an invitation to freedom.

“Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented.” (Mt 11:20).

Anyone who encounters Jesus is invited to change. Jesus shines the light of his love and mercy into the darkness of our own fallen nature, where we are wounded, sinful, and misled. He invites us to repentance, healing, and reconciliation. He seeks to help us to understand who we are, the daughters and sons of his Father. A wonderful invitation, but why would we turn away? The darkness may be too dark, or the light may be too bright.

Facing our own darkness and pain is not easy and can be frightening as well as intimidating. We are vulnerable to temptations, distractions, and diversions when we don’t trust Jesus to come into the places where we feel unlovable. He loves us there, because he loves us in our totality. If we don’t allow him in those places of darkness and shame though, we will not experience his love, forgiveness of healing.

Yet the hunger for his intimacy we still seek, so will continue to be tempted by disordered affections to fill the void. We may not be able to sit still and breathe because we want to keep moving so as not to face our fears and the root causes of our suffering, nor let go of our false senses of security, control, and the glitter of apparent goods. The disfunction we know and have become accustomed to, is more comfortable than the promise of new life Jesus offers. We also may not be able to accept the fullness of our goodness, of who God calls us to be, and the realization of who we really are.

Jesus invites us to stop, to breathe, to enter into his stillness and silence where we can hear the word of his Father and experience the love of the Holy Spirit. In this experience of silence, we come to encounter what our lives look like without God and what our lives are with God. The choice to change our hearts and minds becomes clearer when we experience the light and love of Jesus. When we become aware of our sin, our turning in upon ourselves and away from God, Jesus does not condemn us. He inside invites us to repent: to turn away from anything and anyone that is not of God and to turn back and receive his loving embrace and welcome.

God loves us more than we can ever mess up, more than we can ever imagine, and he does not define us by our sins, failings, or worst mistakes. Jesus’ arms are wide open to receive us in the midst of our deepest wounds, fears, pain, sin, and suffering but we must be willing to stop running. We need to be still long enough to experience and feel the pain of our turning away from him. We repent when we allow Jesus to love us in our poverty and pain and then we experience being seen and heard. We are no longer isolated and alone.

The call of Jesus to repent is not a punishment but an invitation to freedom from punishing ourselves in self-criticism and judgment, from the lies that separate from the one who made us to be loved and to love in return. All the saints experienced the freedom for the excellence. The light of Christ revealed their sin, which they renounced, and so saw more clearly their unique charism. Trusting in and following Jesus they were transformed.

With confidence in being seen and loved, they cut the chords and strings that bound them. For a bird tied by even the smallest of strings will not be able to fly until the last string is cut. Let us repent and allow Jesus to reveal the chords and strings that bind us so that he can help us cut them and be set free from the fowler’s snare while there is still time!

Photo: Jesus will let us know what we need to repent from if we are willing to make the time to be still and listen.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, July 14, 2026

“I have come not to bring peace but the sword.”

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword” (Mt 10:34).

Seems to be odd words coming from the King of Peace! The reality of this statement though is the reality of his mission. Jesus entered the lives of individuals. Some said yes to following him and some said no; some saying yes and no within the same family. The image of the sword represents how sharp and stark this choice could and did cut.

During the time of Jesus and for most within the first generation of believers, there was not a lukewarm choice. You were either for Jesus or against Jesus. Being for Jesus also meant possibly dying for him. Jesus was either very dangerous because he was leading people to believe he was God, he was distorting the teaching of the Jewish faithful and leading people astray, he was just crazy, or he was who he said he was. These choices would have divided families and friends. As he continued to speak about those who would follow him, the choice did not become any clearer:“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Jesus spoke clearly that he was sent by God and if received that act would be the same as receiving his Father. Just prior to this statement, he said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…” This also being true for brother, sister, husband or wife. These words would be shattering to those listening to him. What audacity to say follow him before even their own family and clan! Unless… Jesus is not just sent by God, but he is God himself in the flesh. If that be true, we must love him with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. If he is not God then those who opposed him were correct in calling him a blasphemer. The choice between family and friends around the table would be heated at best, unless everyone was in agreement either for or against.

When Jesus said, “I have come to bring not peace but the sword” (Mt 10:34), he meant that he and we as his disciples are not to settle for a false peace, a lethargic appeasement to just get along or to water down the Gospel message in the hope that others will receive it. Jesus demanded a choice. We are to decide whether or not we believe that Jesus is who he says he is. If he is God, then we must follow him and put his teachings into practice, as challenging as they are.

The good news is that Jesus, doing the will of his Father, draws close and gently leads us with his tender chords of love. Following Jesus and putting his teachings into practice, like taking up our cross and following him, is impossible without his help. He is also there to pick us up when we fall, if we are willing to accept his help. In sharing our faith, we do not carry a mallet and bludgeon others with the true, the good, and the beautiful. We share what we believe in the same way we have received it, through love, patience, compassion, and understanding. We put our faith into practice and share with those God brings into our lives, as well as our family and friends already present.

Allowing Jesus, to love us, we enter into the trinitarian communion of love as the Father’s beloved daughter or son. Experiencing his love helps us to detach from unhealthy attachments, disordered affections, and habitual temptations. No one and nothing else can truly feed our insatiable hunger and thirst. The love that we seek will be satiated by God alone. Living our faith in love will result in conflicts when we stand up for what we believe in, even with those closest to us. And yet, if we are to be free and are to have a chance of helping those who disagree, we must trust in and how the Holy Spirit guides us.

Woodcut: St Ignatius of Loyola surrendering his sword to Our Lady of Montserrat and renouncing his disordered affections, identity as a soldier, and courier of the Spanish court. He gave all for the love of Jesus.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, July 13, 2026

Who has helped to plant the seeds of God’s word in your life?

Do you think we are in the end times? Do you think the world is coming to an end? I have heard these or similar questions over the past few years and longer. I have also heard definitively by some that we are in the final days and that the world is indeed coming to an end. The more we spend time watching the endless news cycle, I can understand why people may feel this way. I don’t need to share a list of the hardships we are going through in the world. In addition, many of us also have our own unique struggles that we are wading through, sometimes feeling like we are neck time and some days sinking even deeper.

This same question of the end times even came up with the disciples. They asked Jesus when that day would come and Jesus said that only the Father knows the time or the hour (cf. Mt 24:36). I believe Jesus was saying then, has repeated in every generation, and is saying to us now, that is the wrong question to be asking as a disciple. Spending time speculating about the end of the world is not to be our focus.

St Paul also chimed on this topic when he wrote to the Church in Rome,  “Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing  compared with the glory to be revealed for us” (Rom 8:18). From Paul to this day, each generation has had to face its own trials and tribulations.  There is hope in that this life is not all that there is, but that does not mean we just indifferently endure and trudge through this life until the end. We have other options than mere existence, living in a constant disposition of fight or flight survival of the fittest mode.

There is a powerful scene in the movie, The Lord of the Rings, where one of the main characters, Frodo, a halfling, is speaking with Gandalf, a Christlike figure. Frodo was feeling overwhelmed with the task that he had been entrusted with which was to destroy a great ring of power. He turned to Gandalf and said:  “I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” To which  Gandalf replied,  “So do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

The Lord of the Rings was written by JRR Tolkien who personally witnessed the atrocities of the First World War. If you are looking for a good book or trilogy to read, I would highly recommend it. It is not only a powerful parable of hope, courage, and transformation, it is a deeply Christological parable. Once seeing the size of the trilogy, one might say, “I don’t have the time to read it!” I might then reply, “I invite you to give up the time you spend watching the news and put into reading the tale instead.” Doing so might give us all a little more peace.

Another invitation I could offer is to read the Bible each day, such as the daily readings of the Mass. All of our readings today as well as what I have pointed out so far are interconnected with the principle that God works in small ways to affect and bring about change and a greater good. No matter the time or season, his word does not come back void. This change is not just about some abstract ideal. What God offers each one of us is his love and if we are willing to accept it, personal transformation. This comes forth rather powerfully in the Parable of the Sower.

Do we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear Jesus when he comes close in his word in the Bible, in our seemingly coincidental experiences of each day?

There are happenings or incidences, I like to call them God-incidences, where Jesus is present and active in our lives, where he draws close to us each day. Jesus’ word is constantly being sown into our being through our interactions with one another and our experiences. We are invited to receive him, allow him to take root in our lives, and we are to share the fruit of his love as a result of our growing relationship with him. If we receive the love of God, allow our the resistance to be tilled and turned over, the rocks of sin to be tossed out, the weeds to be uprooted and tossed away, we will have some fertile soil in which to receive the invitation to be loved, forgiven, and healed.

Let me give you a few examples from my own life of seeds sown, of God-incidents, of Jesus drawing close.

Growing up we would often share holidays with my mother’s parents. As we settled in around the table we would continue to visit as the last of the food was placed on the table. My grandmother would sit down, and if the conversation went on a little longer, she would say something along the lines of, “Ok old man, let’s go.” My grandfather would say in a mock, wounded way, “Snucksie, I’m talking.” She would give him “the look” and then he would make the sign of the cross and pray the Our Father. Sometimes he read a short prayer from a little devotional. In times alone with my grandfather, he also encouraged me to take time to be still and quiet and also passed on to me his love of books and reading.

Each of these were seeds that found good soil in my heart and mind. They were impressed upon me because my mind and heart was open to receive them. I was moved deeply and I believe these were times when Jesus drew close and I opened the door and let him in.  If we allow ourselves to recall, we can look back over the years of our lives and see where Jesus has drawn close through the those important people in our lives. The opposite may also be true, and it is important to be honest when and where we have been hurt, for in those places of pain that we are still wounded, we may not trust. Where we curve in upon ourselves and may not be willing to let God love us there.  

There may be a lot on your plate right now. Even so, I learned from my wife, JoAnn, that life is short and we cannot take the time we have for granted. Life is hard and it is, even if long too short. I have spent time keeping God at a distance and I have spent more and more each successive year allowing him to come closer. I choose more and more to spend less time in the promises of what the world offers for safety, security, power, pleasure, fame, and honor, all goods when properly ordered, but like weeds that can choke and strangle our spiritual lives if they are placed first or replace God.

I invite you as my grandfather invited me to spend some time in silence and to be still as you finish reading these words. After some deep, slow breaths, invite God to speak in the silence of your heart. As anxieties, worries, false promises, lures, half-truths, apparent goods and disordered affections arise, allow your heart and mind to soften, breathe into them, identify if there any thoughts that are at the source and then choose to uproot them if not of God. Allow the seed of God’s Word, Jesus, to find root in your life. Allow the Holy Spirit to nourish you with his love.  

Even in troubling times, personally right at home, communally, nationally, or internationally, we are not to be strangled by the growing uncertainties, divisions, and even expressions of inhumanity. Instead, we are to till the soil of our hearts and minds, dig out the stones, and uproot the thorns, thereby preparing rich soil that is open to receiving the seeds of God’s love. As we continue to care for our garden, we will produce the rich fruit of his love, experience forgiveness, healing and wholeness to be shared.  

It is our choice regarding which soil we want to have. As Gandalf said to Frodo, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Photo: My grandfather and me.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, July 12, 2026

Allowing Jesus to love us, we become like him.

Jesus said to his Apostles: “No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master (Mt 10:24-25).

Following the teachings and guidance of Jesus was hard for his apostles and disciples then and it is just as challenging today. To live as disciples, we need to learn from and put Jesus’ teachings into practice. That means more than reading some of his teachings: love God with your whole heart, mind, and soul and your neighbor as yourself, turn the other cheek, and what you do to the least of my brothers, you did it to me, and acknowledging, that, “That is some good stuff!” Then just moving on to the next thing on the to-do list.

Living as a disciple also happens in a public way, which means public scrutiny. One thing we all have in common as human beings is that we want to belong, to fit in, and to be a part of. We risk rejection and ridicule by following Jesus and living as his disciple because we run up against our own fallen nature and the fallen nature of others. Jesus said he would be sending us as sheep among wolves yesterday and in today’s reading, he announces that we are not to be afraid of those who kill the body. Not exactly the kind of encouragement many of us are looking for.

Yet, Jesus affirms consistently that we are not to be afraid. Jesus leads us to the most important relationship that we will ever develop and that is with his Father. God cares for us, just as Jesus said, as his Father cares for the sparrows, but even more. God knows us by name, and we are his, we belong to him. Every hair on our head is counted. Our loving God and Father knows us better than we know ourselves. Never have we been, are we now, nor will we ever be, alone. As we come to know God’s will in small moments and follow the nudges of the Holy Spirit, we will experience, joy, consolation, and a fulfillment that is unmatched.

One of the keys to living the Christian life is understanding that it is more than a philosophy, a set of teachings, or a theology. Being a Christian means allowing ourselves to be known, loved, and to build our relationship with a person. Jesus is that person. Instead of hiding or running, we are invited to trust and turn to him. By admitting and giving him our insecurities, weaknesses and our fears, our anxieties and overthinking, our worries and our sins, we can begin to slow down, breathe, feel safe, and we can begin to reset our brain’s wiring.

Isaiah, recognized he was a man with unclean lips, not worthy to be God’s prophet, he allowed his mouth to receive and be purged by the ember placed by a seraphim. St. Peter recognized in the presence of Jesus that he was a sinful man, followed Jesus anyway, and his impulsiveness became properly ordered. We too, will see our weaknesses, our failures and our shortcomings. Yet Jesus loves us anyway. The light of Christ reveals to us our darkness not to condemn us, but to free us. He gently invites us to bring our sin into the light, so we can be purged, purified, and ultimately deified – become like God through our participation in the life of Jesus.

In turning our weaknesses over to Jesus and admitting our utter dependence on him, then we become strong. Our confidence and strength are not in ourselves but in him. Acknowledging Jesus as our teacher does not mean that we will gain all the answers to life, but it does mean that we will be more aware of his presence during each step of our journey. Take courage, be not afraid, and like Isaiah, the prophets, the Apostles, and Mary let us say, “Yes.” to the will of God and take our next step along the path to our healing and freedom as we are loved by him, every step of the way.
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Photo: Jesus’ Sacred Heart is open to receive us in all aspects and situations of our lives.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, July 11, 2026