mary

Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, will make all things new.

Hospitality was a key virtue for people of the ancient Near East. Martha approached Jesus as he was teaching looking for support from her sister Mary in preparing the meal. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet with the male disciples gathered around him while Martha appeared do be doing all the work. Martha was hoping that Jesus would support her in her request. Jesus not only did not, but said that Mary had chosen the better part and that Martha was “anxious and worried about many things” (cf. Luke 10:38-42).

We don’t know how Martha reacted to Jesus. A subtle key in today’s Gospel account from John may shed light on their last encounter and Martha’s reaction. Martha’s boldness was on display again. As soon as she was aware that Jesus was coming near, she did not wait for him to arrive but “went to meet him” (Jn 11:20). Martha’s brother, Lazarus, had now been dead for four days and Jesus, who had the time to arrive before his death, was not present to help his friend, her brother, Lazarus in his time of need.

How many times have we been in Martha’s position? Feel that Jesus was not there when we needed him most? Why do bad things happen to good people? Part of the answer is that we live in a fallen world of sin and self-centeredness. God does not bring about suffering but he does allow it. God loves us so much that he is willing to give us the free will to reject him. The cost of our freedom to choose means that there are consequences to our choices which can be detrimental or beneficial. We are all interconnected so when we choose to act on our own apart from God’s guidance and the welfare of others, the damage that ensues affects not only those around us but everyone. On the other side of the coin, there is the presence of grace, forgiveness, and love when we choose to draw close to God, especially in challenging times.

When we choose God, we will find out that we are not alone in our suffering, especially, when we do as Martha did and go out to meet Jesus. She most likely did not holding back any of the full range of her hurt and pain. Martha’s words expressed her anguish, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (Jn 11:21). We can only see from our limited point of view, especially with our own experiences of grief. Yet God sees far beyond our finite perspectives and Jesus helps to not only bring about a greater good, though it may take time to come to understand and experience, he accompanies us in each agonizing breath of our suffering.

Jesus came too late to heal his friend, which Martha and Mary could not understand. What he came to do, was beyond their wildest imaginings. Jesus came to restore Lazarus to life, which would also be a foreshadowing of his own Resurrection. The difference being that Jesus would not merely be resuscitated as Lazarus was and die again.

Martha was not holding a grudge from their last exchange. She came directly to him. She knew he could have healed her brother if he had been there, but did not say so accusingly. Martha immediately followed instead with: “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you” (John 11:22). Then even before Jesus called Lazarus back to life, Martha showed her faith. Jesus asked if Martha believed. Martha, as did Peter, made the affirmation of our faith: “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God” (John 11:27).

We have been blessed by the witnesses of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Each show their trust in Jesus in their own unique way and follow his guidance. Those of us who have suffered the loss of a loved one, or more, know something of the pain that Martha and Mary experienced. May we also all trust in Jesus, the Son of God, the “resurrection and the life” who conquered death and became the firstborn of the new creation. We need not fear our time of suffering or death, our own, or for our loved ones as long as we give our lives to him. When we call on Jesus he will give us the strength to endure and overcome, in this life and into the next.

Painting: The Raising of Lazarus – Caravaggio, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus help us to trust and have faith in Jesus as you did. Pray for us!

Link to the Mass readings for Tuesday, July 29, 2025

“Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.”

Today’s memorial, Mary the Mother of the Church, began with the decree released on February 11, 2018, by Cardinal Robert Sarah while he was still the head of the Congregation of Divine Worship. Pope Francis called for the Church to celebrate this memorial on the Monday after Pentecost. Not only is Mary the Mother of Jesus, but since we as the People of God participate in the life of Jesus as members of the Body of Christ, she is our mother too.

The New Testament records time and again how Mary reveals by word and action that she is the model of discipleship.

Mary answered Gabriel’s request to conceive and bear Jesus, with her response, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Mary then went with haste to share the good news with Elizabeth and to assist her in her pregnancy of John the Baptist. Mary, after the birth of Jesus, is visited by the shepherds and upon hearing their news from the angelic host, she “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). Mary and Joseph cared for, protected, and guided Jesus in the Jewish faith as he matured and grew into a young man.

Mary was also present at the beginning of his ministry when she said to the servants at the wedding at Cana, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Mary was also present at the crucifixion, as recorded in today’s reading from the Gospel of John: When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home (Jn 19:26-27). Mary was pierced with sorrow when the centurion’s lance was thrust through the side of Jesus, her son, as blood and water flowed. Mary was then present as the Church was birthed at Pentecost during the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).

Mary is the mother of Jesus, the Mother of the Church, and so she is also our mother. We do not worship Mary but seek her intercession and guidance as we would our own earthly mothers. We also look to her as a model for living as disciples of Jesus. We too are to ponder the wonders and mysteries of God working in our lives. As with Mary at the cross, may we too not run from suffering but embrace it so that we also can then receive her Son, Jesus, whose arms are wide open to receive us in the midst of our pain, so that he may bestow upon us his consolation and healing.

But may we not stop there. May we open ourselves to the love and empowerment of the Holy Spirit such that we may say, “Yes”, to bearing Christ and going with haste to share the Good News of he has transformed our lives. May we resist the temptation of indifference and uncaring and instead help and support those we come into contact with who are in need. May we follow the last words of Mary recorded in Scripture and do whatever Jesus tells us to do to make his Church relevant and vibrant in our time. May we, as did John, receive Jesus’ invitation to receive Mary as our mother and take her into our home.

Mary, Mother of the Church, our mother, pray for us now, and at the hour of our death!

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Photo: Taken while on my canonical retreat for the priesthood December of 2023 at Bethany Center in Lutz, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, June 9, 2025

Life is a fragile and precious gift to be respected and celebrated.

Mary “traveled to the hill country in haste” (Lk 1:39) and as she drew close and called out to announce her arrival: Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, [and] the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:41-42). This is an encounter of joy. Elizabeth’s response is a confirmation to Mary’s, “Yes”, to the angel Gabriel, that she has indeed conceived in her womb the Son of God who was taking on flesh and becoming one of us, a human being, as she traveled to the hill country. Elizabeth’s son recognized him, and in leaping with joy, helped to get the celebration started!

The encounter and interaction between Mary and Elizabeth, Jesus and John, at the Visitation is a model for us of discipleship. Touched by the Holy Spirit we are to go out to share the Good News that God our Father loved us so much that he sent his Son to be one with us. He was willing to enter into our humanity. Some of the earliest heresies in the Church, which are still perpetuated today, were birthed because of an unwillingness to accept this gift, that God entered into and embraced our humanity, that God would become human was and is still for too many, inconceivable.

Yes, we have been wounded by sin, but we have not been destroyed and completely undone. The coming of the Son of God as one of us is an opportunity to be healed, to be born again from above, and this can happen through the same love of the Holy Spirit that inspired John to leap in Elizabeth’s womb and for her to rejoice.

May we resist the mind noise from within, and without from other people who tell us overtly and/or covertly that we are worthless or nothing. Not true! Through our very being, we are created in the image and likeness of God, we have been created by love, to receive and to share love. We are a living craving hunger and desire to be in communion with God and one another. This is true for the atheist and the believer alike. We are called to will the good of the other as other as they are, unconditionally. If we have fallen short, a little or a lot, in the way we have been treating ourselves and/or others lately, today is a new day to take Jesus’ hand and begin anew. Let us celebrate with Jesus, Mary, Elizabeth and John.

We are celebrating that Jesus was born for us, he lived that we might not only be shown a better way, but know that he is the Way. Jesus became vulnerable for us, a key ingredient in unconditional love: to be willing to risk being authentic to who God called him to be, even to being willing to be rejected, even if that meant that all might walk away from him. May we be willing to be vulnerable, to risk, to share with others who we are, free of masks and pretense. May we be present to, and also walk and accompany one another. Being there for our family and friends is important, and if we take our Christianity seriously, we must come to acknowledge, in concrete ways, person to person, that we are all brothers and sisters, that in Christ we are all related.

Just as the sun shines on the good and the bad alike, Jesus died for each and every human being, all of us. After his resurrection and ascension into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit, the love shared between the Father and the Son, to empower us to live as he did, in communion with his Father, so to better actualize our communion with one another.

An invitation for the transformation of all humanity and creation happened at the Galilean hill side when two simple women said yes to God and embraced with joy. They came to embrace not only each other, but their vocation. May we join them in saying, “Yes”, to God, follow his will with joy as Mary and Elizabeth did and with them, celebrate the gift of life, because as each of these mothers would experience all too soon, life can be taken quicker than they could or we can ever imagine.

We do not know the time or the hour, so let us like Mary go in haste to tell those we care about that we love them. Let us make that call, send that card, email, or text, and/or invite that person for a walk, to sit down and visit. Especially amidst the expansion of divisive and polarizing darkness, may we be a light to all we encounter. Empowered by the love and joy of Jesus, may we encourage, empower, and lift one another up so as to treat each other with dignity, respect, kindness, and understanding. The easiest way to start is when you catch the eye of another, smile. In that simple gesture, we say to the other person that we care enough to make the time to acknowledge their dignity, their worth, and to let them know that they exist and have meaning.

On this feast day of the Visitation, may Mary and Elizabeth intercede on our behalf that we may honor all life from the moment of conception, through each stage until natural death. We start simply by appreciating and respecting the dignity of each other a bit more today than we did yesterday. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us” (Gandalf said to Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien). Let our choice be to build a culture of life.

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“The value of the person from the moment of conception is celebrated in the meeting between the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, and between the two children whom they are carrying in the womb” (St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 45, in Gadenz, Pablo T. The Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018). Photo credit: OSV News photo/Giancarlo Giuliani, CPP

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, May 31, 2025

May we, like Mary, give without counting the cost.

“Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil” (Jn 12:3). This is indeed some gift that Mary shares with Jesus, though Judas’ critical response showed that he missed the point of her offering, which went well beyond the material cost of the perfume. Mary even exceeded the gesture of hospitality by going beyond washing Jesus’ feet and anointing them as well. This act of caring could have been a bestowal of appreciation and gratefulness toward Jesus who brought Lazarus, her brother, back to life, but it was even more than that.

In Jesus’ correction of Judas, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial” (Jn 12:7), we may intuit the best source for interpreting Mary’s act. Mary comprehended better than any of the Apostles that Jesus’ death was imminent. Mary’s washing the feet of Jesus, anointing them, and drying them with her hair was a gift of love, of giving herself in service to the Son of God. This exchange mirrors the communion between God the Father, God the Son, and the love shared between them, God the Holy Spirit. Mary follows the will of the Father and plays her part in salvation history.

Martha is again present and seemed to have learned from their last encounter. She is again serving the meal, but this time she is not complaining. Martha was not anxious and worried about many things. Judas was the one corrected this time when Jesus told him to, “Leave her alone.” Mary has shown her spiritual growth as well. She is no longer sitting at Jesus’ feet but anointing them for his imminent death. Her generosity in pouring out such a large amount of perfumed oil which was evident because the fragrance filled the entire house. Mary’s generosity foreshadowed the generosity of Jesus not just in his eventual washing of the feet of his apostles but ultimately, his total self-gift that he will give of himself on the cross.

We do not know how Mary came to possess this precious oil, but what we do know is much more important. She did not grasp or cling to the oil, she did not count the cost and just pour out a little bit. When she felt moved to pour the costly nard and anoint the feet of Jesus she freely poured the perfume out in an act of love to serve the need of Jesus by anointing him for his death and burial.

What is something that we may hold as precious that God may be calling us to give up, to let go of, to pour out, not just for the sake of doing so, but in service to Jesus? The path to holiness and sanctity, is coming to a place in our lives in which we can let go of that which we are attached to, so to hear clearly the will of God, know what is required of us, and give freely in love and service without counting the cost. May we follow the lead of St. Mother Teresa who said that she sought to be just a pencil in God’s hand. May we come to spend time in prayer and quiet meditation and contemplation each day so we may know, hear, and act without hesitation on God’s voice.

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Painting: Mary anointing the feet of Jesus.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, April 14, 2025

Mary, the model of faith, can help us to grow in our faith.

Why celebrate the Annunciation at the beginning of the third week of Lent? Simple math. If we celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25, it is logical to celebrate his conception nine months earlier on March 25.

Gabriel, an angel, a messenger of God, a spiritual being, interacts with a human being; though Mary is not the first one to experience such an encounter. There are personal encounters with God and his messengers throughout the Bible. This is how the God of Israel, the God of Jesus Christ acts, person to person, through invitation, either directly himself or indirectly through one of his angels.

We can read such encounters going back to Genesis. God invited Abraham to be the father of a people that God would call to be his own. This reality would come to be with the birth of Isaac, while Sarah, like Elizabeth, was well past child-bearing years. Jacob would wrestle all night with an angel and become the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, during the time of the Judges the mother of Sampson, and Hannah, the mother of Samuel, both barren women would encounter angels bearing the message that each would give birth to those who would grow to lead the people Israel in their time of need. Moses, the judges, David, and the prophets all would hear and answer God’s invitation. Zechariah had an encounter in the temple and his wife Elizabeth, also barren and older, would give birth to John the Baptist. God has communicated and reached out to his created beings in history, at specific times and in specific places.

With Mary, this announcement and encounter was different, for, at this appointed time, the Son of God himself would become, while remaining fully divine, a human being in the womb of Mary. The God who is. Period. Full stop. He is not a being, not a human, or even a supreme being. Infinite Act of Existence, the Sheer Act of to Be, at the appointed time was sent to take on flesh. This is the message that Mary receives, and we can understand why she might be “troubled”. Mary, the model of discipleship, pondered what this might mean as Gabriel said to her:

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Lk 1:30).

Mary, who knew the arch of salvation history as briefly sketched above, knew of the encounters God had with his people, her ancestors. She knew of the promised coming of the Messiah as she and Joseph were both of the line of David. She would now be the bridge between heaven and earth, the bridge between the old and the new covenant, the bridge between a people lost and a people to be found. Mary in her fiat, her “yes,” would become Theotokos, the God-bearer.

This is a solemnity that we celebrate each year because the Son of God has been born to us because Mary said “yes.” Yet, her yes is not in isolation. It was made possible by so many who had gone before her. Joachim and Anna, Mary’s parents who provided care and guidance, as well as the many named above and not named throughout the Biblical tradition who said, “yes” to God and played a part in making this moment possible. Mary is not alone in the Annunciation, not alone in this definitive moment. This is the distinctive feature of Judaism and Christianity: We cannot save ourselves. We are not God. Our very life as created beings is a gift from God and we are in need of constant help and support from God and one another (cf. Lohfink, 254).

God invites us, not just today as we celebrate the feast day of the Annunciation, but every day. Each day is a day to ponder, to wonder, to be still, to be silent, to be in awe. The Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, loves us so much more than we can ever imagine, more than we can ever even begin to conceive, that he became one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity. Us, you reading this, me writing this, and each unique person taking a breath on this earth.

No matter how much we have messed up, no matter how distant we feel we may be from him, no matter how confused, overwhelmed, disillusioned, Jesus, is present for and with us. The question is not whether we are worthy to play a part in salvation history, for none of us are worthy. The question is, “Are we willing?”

Are we willing to trust as Mary did even when we may not understand God’s will for our lives. Mary’s answer to her invitation was: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). We too are called to participate in God’s invitation. What will our response be?
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Painting: Some quiet time with Mary, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, FL.

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

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, March 25, 2025

“Who and whose are we?”

“Who are you” (Jn 1:19)? John did not claim or pretend to be something that he was not. He was clear who he was, he was clear of his place in serving God, and he was clear about the mission God gave him. He was preparing the way of the Lord. John shared that “there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie” (Jn 1:26-27).

The question also arose about who Jesus was. It was not only a question during his lifetime, but this query was also addressed during the early development of the Church’s Christology and still arises today. The readings of the Christmas Season, that we are still celebrating liturgically, in fact, all four Gospels, address the question of who Jesus is. In fact, the entirety of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation answers this question!

The majority of the heresies that arose in the Church surrounded this question as well. From the Annunciation, we recognize that at his conception in the womb of Mary Jesus remained fully God and became fully human. He did not become the Christ at his baptism as the heresy of Adoptionism would propose. Nor was Jesus a powerful created being as the priest Arius would suggest in the third century. We counter the heresy of Arianism every Sunday when we recite in the Nicene Creed: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him, all things were made.”

Arianism taught that Jesus was a created being, the highest of beings made by God, but created none the less. The Church teaches that Jesus is begotten not made. He was, is, and always will be God, the Second Person of the Trinity. He is God the Son consubstantial, homoousios, which means of one and the same substance with God the Father. The Father and the Son are one in substance, yet distinct in their operation. The Father begets, the Son is begotten.

Adoptionism and Arianism are but two of the various early heresies that arose, of which Arianism gained more of a following. Arianism still rears its head today in practice as it did then because of the unwillingness of those who will not acknowledge that the divine could become human. This goes back to our starting question that was asked about John. “Who are you?”

A good question to answer for us ourselves. We are human beings created in the image and likeness of God, even though our likeness has been dimmed by sin. We are physical beings with a rational soul, we are invited to embrace the reality that we are human and through our participation in the life of Jesus, beginning with our baptism, we are adopted daughters and sons of God. Do we reject our humanity, our created status, trying to determine our own destiny on our own terms, to put ourselves in the place of God, or are we like John the Baptist, and acknowledge the gift of who we are and the mission God invites us to participate in?

As we continue to celebrate this Christmas Season and the new year that has just begun, may we embrace that each and everyone of us is a unique person, never created before nor will we ever be again, with a particular vocation and part to play in building up of the reign of God. We will come to know our purpose and begin to restore our likeness, as we follow the lead of Mary who made time to ponder and align her human will with the divine will of God.

As we collaborate with Jesus in all the decisions we make, the smallest to the biggest, let us pray for a heart, mind, and soul that is open to following the love of the Holy Spirit so that we can know who we are, whose we are, the mission that the Father has given us, and begin to live it each day. We restore our likeness to God by becoming holy and striving to be saints.

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Photo: Spending some quiet time with God is a good way to begin the year, begin and end each day, and to know who we are and that we are loved more than we can imagine.

Link for today’s Mass readings for Thursday, January 2, 2025

With Mary, Theotokos, as our guide, let us ponder more in 2025.

Mary offers us a wonderful gift today as we begin the new year together. “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). Gabriel shares with Mary that she will conceive a child through the power of the Holy Spirit. Her relative Elizabeth, who is past childbearing years, is six months pregnant when Mary and Elizabeth meet. In their encounter, John leaps in the womb of Elizabeth. The shepherds convey the message they received from the angels that Mary’s baby is the long-awaited Messiah. Simeon and Anna offer prophetic confirmation that Jesus is the Messiah.

These are the events we have been hearing again during Advent and this Christmas Octave. May we like Mary also ponder, not to just read or listen and move on. The Church at her best has followed the model of Mary’s reflection, pondering, and meditating upon what these words mean and has come to call this day the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. This title says more about Jesus than it does about Mary. This is the teaching that the Church Fathers confirmed during the council of Ephesus in 431 AD:

Mary is the Mother of God, in Greek – Theotokos – the God-bearer.

As Paul intuits, “God sent forth his Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). Paul did not say, born of man and woman but of woman. The second Person of the Trinity was sent by his Father through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and was conceived in the womb of Mary. Jesus is the Son of God in his divinity and the son of Mary in his humanity. He remained fully divine as the second Person of the Trinity and the Holy Trinity was not diminished in any way as he developed as a human being in the womb and was born of Mary. This truth and reality is the Mystery of the hypostatic union: Jesus is one divine person subsisting in two natures the human and divine.

Theological insights such as Mary being the Mother of God, the hypostatic union of Jesus, are easily missed or worse dismissed if we conform ourselves to the present age of instant gratification, instant access, surfing, swiping, taking in sound bytes from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and amassing information overload. All of these technological avenues can be wonderful if we stop, slow down, and as Mary did, ponder what they offer.

If we still read books, do we do so with pencil and highlighter in hand, take notes and go back to those points underlined, highlighted, and or annotated and ponder the insights we have received, and then put them into practice? Or do we just have a moment of pause and say hmm, interesting, and then move on to the next factoid?

Let us begin the first day of the new year by taking a few deep breaths, slowing down, and pondering. We can reflect on a word, a phrase, or a short statement that we write down and return to it often. The phrase could be as simple as a paraphrase from today’s reading: Mary pondered on these things in her heart. Let us reflect on where God has been calling us to stop and take a deeper look at our lives. It could be one word: Theotokos, expressing that Mary is the God-bearer, the Mother of God, and what that means to us. We can meditate on a picture like the one I posted with this reflection.

If we seek to live a life of joy and fulfillment in 2025, we would do well to follow Mary. That would entail pondering more, slowing down, and reflecting on life, on what is important, what has value, where we are putting our time, energy, and effort, and recognizing where we do not God and where we do welcome God in our lives, where we resit and where we follow his will. Otherwise, we may just float along through another year indecisively or stagnantly with indifference or cynicism, merely reacting to situations that arise, or just plodding along in survival mode or merely bored and listless. Being still can be scary because as we do so, our fears, our past hurts, and our loneliness can come to the surface.

Yet in that willful act of slowing down and even coming to a complete stop, the Holy Spirit can embrace us in these very real emotions with his love, so we can begin to heal and transform beyond merely existing and set a healthier course of being more alive and grateful for the gift of our lives. Hand in hand with Jesus and Mary, we can face and embrace our fears, and heal from our wounds. Surrendering and conforming our lives more to the life and love of Jesus, we will realize that we are not alone, and so can build more authentic and intimate relationships. We can act more decisively and with greater clarity, and experience more fully what we are here for, to bring a little more tenderness, mercy, understanding, forgiveness, and love to the many others around us who are also wounded.

May 2025 be a wonderful new year of healing, joy, and fulfillment, as we, like Mary, come to experience God’s presence in the silence of our hearts, his love that embraces us, so that we may become a people of faith, hope, and love in contemplation and action. Mary Mother of God, pray for us.

Happy New Year! Peace and all God’s good. Take good care of yourselves and those around you.

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Photo: My favorite icon of Jesus and Mary, St. Mary’s Chapel, SVDP Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, where I was blessed to spend many hours pondering and healing.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Spending time with Mary and sharing in her memory will help us in healing ourselves and our relationships.

Our gospel today is relatable to anyone hearing or reading it because each of us have experienced family life in all of the different ways family life can be expressed today. At one point or another we have experienced conflict, misunderstanding, and anxiety.

The Bible is good about not covering over the complexities and challenges of life. If the Holy Family can have difficulty, then that can give us comfort if we have gone, or are going through some challenges right now.

One point that jumps out from the start is that Joseph and Mary are not helicopter parents. After celebrating the Passover, they have left the temple and Jerusalem and are heading back home to Nazareth. Because such a journey was not a safe one, they were traveling in a caravan of extended family, friends, and neighbors. After a day into their trek, they realized that they had not seen Jesus and began a more intense search.

Jesus was nowhere to be found and so they returned to Jerusalem. With each step their concern rose. The ancient near East was not a safe place to travel in nor was it safe to dwell. Children were often kidnapped and sold into slavery. When we don’t understand or are faced with the unknown, we typically conjure up the worst case scenarios and Joseph and Mary were no different. By the time that they found him after their three days of searching, they were filled “with great anxiety.”

Jesus, in typical pre-teen fashion did not seem to appreciate their need for anxiety. He was safe all along among the teachers in the temple. Where else would he be? Neither Joseph nor Mary understood what Jesus was talking about. What happened next is a good response to a lack of understanding.

There was no argument. Jesus was found safe and sound. It was time to go. Jesus was obedient and followed. Joseph was quiet. Mary pondered and “kept all these things in her heart.” We are not given to know the conversation between them on their way back home, but what Luke does share was that, “Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”

Jesus did so because he was obedient to “God and man.” And that made a big difference.

Joseph and Mary reacted in the natural way that parents missing their child would react, with concern and anxiety. What they did not allow to happen was to allow their emotions override their reason. Jesus didn’t see anything wrong with what he did because he was following the direction of his Father. He didn’t seem to pick up on the point that he failed to share that little detail with Mary and instead assumed they would know where he was.

This is a powerful affirmation regarding Joseph and Mary’s faith. They were not only faithful to the annual Passover pilgrimage, but they showed their faithfulness to following God’s lead from the beginning of Jesus’ conception. They more than likely passed on their stalwart faith onto Jesus such that he believed that they would know where he was. Yet when he realized this was not true, he obediently followed his parents back to Nazareth.

The three days searching for Jesus would also be a preparation for turning to God and trusting him during another three days in which Jesus remained on a stone slab lying in a tomb. Mary trusted again during her time of anguish of not knowing. Not knowing if or how Jesus would come back from the dead after his brutal death on the cross.

What spending any time in the school of the Holy Family will teach us, is that we are to place our trust in God first. We are to ponder more and react less. This does not mean we will understand God’s will each time, it does not mean that we will be free of suffering or anxiety, nor will we be free of conflict with those we love. Yet, when we resist placing ourselves front and center and instead remain faithful to and seek God’s will in every situation, when we resist reacting and seek to understand, when we are willing to forgive, there will be a better chance of healing and reconciliation sooner.

In times of conflict and misunderstanding, when our intent is to will each other’s good, even when we see things differently and disagree, we will be better off turning to God and trusting in him. We will do better when we are willing to breathe and listen to the one speaking as well as the Holy Spirit that will give us the words to speak or the pause to be silent. Pondering and seeking to understand the will of God as Mary did is a course of action that will bring about better benefits.

One powerful tool of prayer that helps us to be more patient, understanding, and forgiving one another is to spend time quietly meditating and contemplating the mysteries of the Rosary, like this fifth joyful mystery of Mary and Joseph finding Jesus in the temple. For each of us, Mary “continues to relate her personal account of the Gospel. Mary constantly sets before the faithful the ‘mysteries’ of her Son, with the desire that the contemplation of those mysteries will release all their saving power. In the recitation of the Rosary, the Christian community enters into contact with the memories and the contemplative gaze of Mary” (St. John Paul II, The Rosary of the Virgin Mary).

Photo: Our Lady of Grace on the grounds of Joseph and Mary Retreat House, Mundelein, Il, where I was blessed to spend a 30 day silent retreat. Learned much from Mary’s memory!!!

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, December 29, 2024

“Blessed are you who believe.”

If you attend Mass daily or pray with the daily Mass readings, you may wonder, “Didn’t I just hear or read this account?” You would be correct, as this was the same Gospel reading as Saturday morning’s daily Mass. The difference comes in with the other readings.

The first reading from Micah may seem a bit obscure and we might be moved to question what does this have to do with getting ready for the coming of Jesus? Bethlehem would be our first clue. Bethlehem is the city of the birth of David. Micah shared that, “from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:1). Micah is prophesying that the messiah will be no mere shadow of David, nor a mighty judge like Samson. This one has his origins “from of old”, beyond time. This messiah will be God with us. Both Matthew and Luke pick up on this in their nativity accounts (Matthew 2:1-2 and Luke 2:4-20) that we will read on Christmas.

So what about Ephrathah? Jews from the time of Jacob until those practicing today would pick up the reference to Ephrathah right away as being the burial place of Rachel the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, and beloved wife of Jacob. Though not the birth mother of the twelve sons of Jacob, Rachel was considered the matriarch, the mother of Israel. Jacob’s name, after wrestling with the Lord all night, was changed to Israel.

Echoes of Rachel being the mother of Israel also arose from the prophet Jeremiah when he wrote of her by name as weeping over her the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. And yet, God sends comforting words through the prophet: “There is hope for your future – oracle of the LORD – your children shall return to your own territory” (Jeremiah 31:15-17).

We can see with the early Church Fathers that David was the premier king of Israel while at the same time he was foreshadowing Jesus the one “from of old” as Micah predicted. Rachel is a foreshadowing of Mary, the mother of Jesus, the mother of the Twelve Apostles, the fulfillment of the gathering in of the lost twelve tribes of Israel and the mother of the Church. She, like Rachel, would also suffer at the death of her children, but also be the intercessor for them through her suffering.

Mary is the new Rachel and also the new Eve because Mary’s obedience unties the knots of Eve’s disobedience. As we learned in the second reading to the Hebrews, God has no pleasure in sacrifice but takes pleasure in those doing his will. God delights not sacrifice but obedience. Mary, before becoming the mother of the Messiah, the mother of God, was obedient with her “yes” at the Annunciation. As Jesus said, the one who does the will of his Father was his mother (cf. Matthew 12:46-50). Who followed the will of the Father better than Mary?

Very soon after her “yes”, and the conception of Jesus in her womb, Mary went in haste to see Elizabeth. Each celebrating the gift of new life in each of their wombs. And how is Mary greeted by her elder cousin? With reverence, which was unheard of. The youth revered the elder family members during Jesus’ time. After hearing the words of Mary’s greeting, experiencing her son leaping in her womb, Elizabeth is moved by the Holy Spirit to proclaim blessing upon Mary: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:42). Elizabeth does so with great joy, “crying out in a loud voice.”

May Elizabeth and Mary’s joy reach into the depths of our souls. May we be open to believe.

May we believe that Jesus is the Son of God who became man. That Jesus came into the world not just to be a great rabbi and teacher, not just to perform miracles and cast out demons, nor just to be the messiah, that Jesus came not just to live, but that he came to die, to give his life for us, and in so doing become our savior. This birth we are about to celebrate was just a foreshadowing of his impending death.

As Bishop Fulton Sheen wrote, “He was laid in a stranger’s stable at the beginning, and a stranger’s grave at the end… He was wrapped in swaddling bands in His birthplace, He was again laid in swaddling clothes in His tomb… It was not so much that His Birth cast a shadow on His life, and thus led to his death; it was rather that the Cross was there from the beginning, and cast its shadow backward to his birth…” (The Life of Christ).

Jesus, as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, is inviting us in these final days of Advent to do as he, Mary, and Elizabeth did, to follow the will of his Father. What joy we too will experience when we open ourselves up to the reality of the gift that God has given us, his Son, and so rejoice with Elizabeth and Mary that we too have a part to play in salvation history!

Photo: May these words and picture help you to experience some quiet time to pray and ponder about the connection between the birth and death of Jesus and the life he has called us to live.

Source for Bishop Sheen quote and background information from Dr. Brant Pitre, Mass Readings Explained, The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C, Christmas and the Cross

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, December 22, 2024

Mary’s, “yes” brought joy to the world.

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her (Lk 1:38).

Whether this is the first or thousandth time we have read or heard this verse, the more important question for us is how many times have we said to God, “May it be done to me according to your word”? How would it be for us to begin each day with this prayer and then at the end of the day reflect on how well we have heard and answered yes to God’s will?

Mary’s “yes” changed the course of human history. Her willingness to bear the Son of God allowed him to come close. He entered our wounded, human condition to offer us healing, forgiveness, and to lead us home to communion with his Father and each other. Jesus is the gift that keeps giving – and we receive his gift each time we, as did Mary, say “yes” to him. When we do so, we become less, as he becomes more, and the kingdom of God continues to expand.

Along with Mary, the “yes” that we make is not a one-time, “yes,” but we are to affirm a daily, moment by moment “yes”. As St Paul wrote to the Church of Thessalonica, we are to: “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 16-17). We are able to rejoice always and pray without ceasing when we say, “yes,” to God by developing and sustaining our relationship with him such that even when we experience pain, suffering, and struggles, we are not overcome or overwhelmed. When we allow Jesus to be close, we can even feel joy in the midst of them. He does not abandon us to random fate. He is our source, our refuge, and our strength, present to us in all that we experience.

Our prayers of petition for ourselves and intercession for others are another “yes” to God’s will because they are an “admission of one’s own helplessness” (Lohfink 2014, 240). Prayer is a, “no,” to pride. We cannot get through this life on our own, nor are we meant to for apart from God we can do nothing. We are all interconnected and interdependent and God is the foundation and source of our very being, and with God all things are possible.

Our willingness to ask for help and to help others are also practical ways of saying “yes” to God. There is no such thing as a “Lone Ranger Christian”. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. Two by two, just as Jesus sent his disciples. Prayer is a “yes” to our acknowledgment that we need Jesus to guide and help us, also to save us from ourselves! Service is a “yes” to the love we have received from him and a willingness to share this love with and receive it from others.

We are to rejoice as we are readying to begin this fourth week of Advent because we draw ever closer to celebrating the birth of Jesus who is Emmanuel, God with us. May we have the grace to experience his love in our time of meditation, prayer and serving one another. This reality was made possible by the handmaid of the Lord.

Spiritual Stepping Stones