peace

We can choose reaction and revenge or understanding and forgiveness.

“Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village (Lk 9:54-56).

James and John’s request of Jesus ought to be recognizable to many, if not all of us. How many times when feeling slighted or disrespected do we want to act in kind or offer some retribution to our perceived offender? Many times, we don’t even think, we just react overtly back or we engage in our own tumultuous internal maelstrom.

Jesus rebuked James and John’s request immediately and moved on. He did not allow the rejection of the Samaritans to deter his course for even one second. Jesus had his face firmly set. His time was approaching and to Jerusalem he was headed. Also, he knew there would be a time for the Samaritans to believe. That time was not yet.

Our starting point in putting this gospel into practice is to decide that Jesus has chosen the better course. Seeking revenge is not the way. Not looking left or right, but keeping our eyes fixed on the will of God is the way to proceed. If we can agree with that as our starting point, then we can seek to understand what Jesus can teach us when encountering others.

First, our approach to others extending unkind behavior toward us is to be one of understanding. We are all dealing with a lot, and much of what others are dealing with are unknown to us. If we approach another’s unkind or disrespectful action from a place of understanding instead of seeking revenge, we will have a better chance of not reacting in kind and also possibly being able to help another to get in touch and reveal something they are struggling with. St. Ignatius’ counsel to give the other person the benefit of the doubt is a solid practice.

Often a negative response may come from misunderstandings. In giving the person the benefit of the doubt to explain their understanding of what happened in a given situation, helps to de-escalate the situation instead of adding fuel to the fire . We are not mind-readers and we also are not the best of communicators so resisting jumping to rash conclusions is a better course of action.

Along with being understanding and giving someone the benefit of the doubt, is to receive other’s action with humility. Maybe, we have done something to cause hurt toward another, intentionally or unintentionally. By taking a moment to pause, we can assess if we have done something to instigate the action we are receiving. Taking responsibility for that which we have done and apologizing for it, we create a better bridge for reconciliation.

We are responsible for our thoughts, words, and actions. We cannot dictate or change the behaviors of others nor are we to be doormats for another’s abuse nor take on their stuff either. We are to approach conflicts and obstacles with patience, understanding, a willingness to bring clarity, to give the benefit of the doubt, and humility for acknowledging what we have done and what we have failed to do. If another is not willing to hear reason after multiple attempts or closed, we move on.

We pray for and respect the dignity of the person whether we agree or disagree with the outcome while holding them accountable at the same time. Jesus is very clear that we are to love, meaning that we are to will each other’s good. That means putting the prayer he taught us, the Our Father into practice: We need to be willing to forgive.

None of these steps are easy. Human relationships are difficult in the best of scenarios, but still well worth the effort. None of us are perfect. When we do our best to follow these principles as well as other practices not mentioned to work toward reconciliation and build relationships, our conflicts will become moments of grace. Conflicts will become opportunities that help us to grow closer together rather than further apart. Inviting Jesus into the conflict is the most important step, for he can help us to see others from his infinite perspective instead of our limited perspective.

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Photo: Spending time in quiet and prayer, especially in reading the book of God’s creation, helps us to slow down so that when we return to our interactions with people again, we can begin more peacefully.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, September 30, 2025

When we allow God to love us, we can love as well, even our enemies.

Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28).

If we thought the beatitudes and the woes that we experienced yesterday was a challenge, today, Jesus takes things up a notch higher. The Prince of Peace is inviting us to walk along the path to peace. The peace that Jesus invites us to engage in is not just an absence of violence but a peace that is grounded in mutual respect and unity. No matter where we might look, there are very few examples or models for us to see this Gospel being put into practice. We instead see a consistent engagement in rhetoric, language, and outright hostility that promotes dehumanization, division, contempt, hatred, and vileness. These voices not only rise in our secular and political discourse but also there is a growing din within the Church as well.

Jesus is also leading us away from the temptation to swing the pendulum the other way, such that what we think, say, and do has the substance of milk toast. We become so careful not to offend that we don’t share our ideas or what we truly believe to avoid conflict. Staying away from hot button issues and the taboos of talking religion and politics is not a way to bring about peaceful coexistence nor solve important issues.

Neither an overly aggressive nor a bland tolerance of engagement is what Jesus is presenting in today’s Gospel. Jesus is inviting us to allow ourselves to be healed and transformed from the survival mentality of fight or flight or paralyzed by trauma. To move beyond our primal, reactive instincts, we need to feel safe. By breathing and allowing ourselves to be loved by God through meditation on his word and listening to him and his guidance in silence each day, we can begin to as we started yesterday, to move beyond placing anyone and anything else before God. As we grow in relationship with God, he becomes our rock foundation.

With God as our foundation, we can begin to open up to the reality of what Jesus offers in today’s Gospel. Who of us would agree to love our enemies, those who hate, curse, and mistreat us? Jesus is calling us to love one another as he loves each and every one of us. This love is more than the emotional or sentimental surface level of love we are used to. Jesus calls us to a higher love, to have a sincere intent to will the good of each other, even and especially when we feel or think there is nothing to like about a person. This is how we can love even an enemy, by willing their good, wanting the best for them, which also is best for us.

If we want to see a change in our divisive and polarized time this 9/11, we need to begin with ourselves, receive the message of Jesus, and begin, little by little to put his teachings into practice. We need to encounter one another, one person at a time, sit down, talk, and listen, and love one another. Easy, no, possible, yes, when we allow God to open our hearts and minds to the love God wants to share with each of us. As we breathe, receive, rest, and abide in his love there is a better chance we can love one another.

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Photo: Praying for our country that we can turn away from violence and embrace the love of God.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, September 11, 2025

Spending consistent time alone with God will help us to get to know Him.

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God (Lk 6:12).

In the midst of a busy ministry, Jesus spent time alone with God in prayer. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus often did so before making important decisions, as in today’s reading that recorded the choosing of his Apostles. Prayer is an important, foundational principle to experiencing and knowing God as well as discerning his will for living a fully human life.

The Mystery of God is not a problem to be solved. In our language today, we often use mystery and problem interchangeably, as, “I lost my keys, it is such a mystery.” Strictly speaking, the loss of keys is a problem that can be solved. We can backtrack our steps, and through a process of elimination, the problem becomes smaller until we solve the whereabouts of the missing keys. We cannot solve or prove God exists as if he is a problem to be solved. This is because God is not a being, not even the supreme being. God is a mystery that transcends any finite dimension of reality. We have nothing to measure him by, no point of reference, we cannot prove his existence, nor can we solve him as we would a problem.

God is so beyond our finite minds, and yet, we can come to know God intimately. Even though he is transcendent, beyond our reach and comprehension, Augustine let us know that he is at the same time closer to us than we are to ourselves. We are only capable of knowing God because he created us with the capacity to do so. We come to know God through his invitation, and as we enter into the mystery of his reality through developing a relationship with him, we come to know him.

God does not become smaller because he is infinite, always beyond. His mystery is luminous as if we were in a completely dark room and someone turned on and shined a flashlight into our eyes. We wince from its brightness, yet in time, our eyes adjust and we eventually are able to see what was beyond our ability apart from the light. Jesus wants us to experience and embrace the mystery of the radiance and warmth of his Father’s light and love.

Jesus called each apostle by name. He calls us by name too and invites us to pray with him as he prayed when he walked this earth. Prayer is the most important thing that we can do every day and our prayer begins to mature when we move away from only saying words and directing those words toward a Person. We move away from knowing about God, having an idea, philosophical or theological approach with God, and come to sit with him.

Why not pray everyday and often? One reason is because the devil and his minions know how important and imperative praying is. Praying with God and coming to know him is the last thing the enemy wants us to do and he will distract, divert, tempt, and lead us to do anything but pray. If we resist and make the time for prayer, he will tempt us to keep our time of prayer superficial, speaking words, but not directing them to a Person or quieting our minds and allowing ourselves to be still and listen to God’s voice.

“To know God as the person He really is, it requires being alone with Him frequently. Without actual time spent with God, there is a danger that we will never come to know Him as his own person” (Sattler, 28). St. Mother Teresa also encouraged her sisters in the same way asking, “Do you really know the living Jesus, not through books, but by being with him in your heart” (Sattler, 20)?

Sometimes we resist being still and quiet with God because our minds are so full of everything but God, maybe because we are afraid of aspects of ourselves that we would rather not see or admit. God sees the fullness of who we are and loves us there. He wants to help, but will not do so uninvited. Our relationship with Jesus grows when we invite him into our pain, our sins, and our fears, as well as our aspirations and our dreams.

Be not afraid to make friends with silence. In the silence, we will face our mental maelstroms, yet as we breathe more intentionally and call on Jesus’ name, we will begin to feel safer, slow down, and our minds will begin to quiet. Then we can begin an honest conversation with God, speaking and listening, sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly, and allowing God to love us there. That is when our prayer begins.

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Photo: Evening walk with Jesus

Sattler, Fr. Wayne. Remain in Me and I in You: Relating to God as a Person not an Idea. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute, 2025.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, September 9, 2025

God only wants to love us and give us rest and peace.

“You have searched me and you know me Lord… Where can I go from your spirit? From your presence where can I flee? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I sink to the nether world, you are present there… You have searched me and you know me Lord” (From Responsorial Psalm 139:7-8).

God knows us through and through. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And yet, we hide from him. We seek to do things on our own, even while in the same breath we say we believe in him. For most of us, it is because deep down we are listening to the father of lies and we really don’t trust our loving God and Father. We choose not from freedom as much as from our reactions based in those lies that are fueled by the wounds we have inflicted and received by living in a fallen world.

The path out of the darkness of distraction, diversion, and doubt is lit by the light of Jesus. We are invited to trust him even when our instinct is to resist the light. We judge ourselves and project that judgment on God. We listen the liar who condemns, shames us, and accuses us, and then for a good dose adds, God will not forgive us or I will keep committing the same sins over and over again so why bother? What will God think of me if I reveal this to him?

God loves us to the very depths of our being, more than we can ever imagine. We do not need to be afraid of his reaction to even our most egregious sin, because he already knows! “You have searched me and you know me Lord.” God even loves us in the very act of our committing sin. The issue is, we don’t experience his love when we choose something else over him. We don’t experience his love when we don’t come to him for forgiveness. We don’t experience his love when he forgives us and we don’t forgive ourselves.

We experience his love when we repent. When we turn away from our sin and turn back to God. We may turn away from our sins out of guilt, but turning away or white knuckling with our will power alone is why we continue to fall for the same temptations. We need to turn away from the sin and turn to Jesus and allow ourselves to experience God’s love. Then filled with his love, we can resist the temptations awaiting us.

God has searched us to our very core, he knows the worst about us and loves us anyway. We can stop running and burying ourselves in busyness, distractions, diversions, false promises, and disordered affections, and instead allow ourselves, even if for only a few minutes today, to trust Jesus who is holding out his hand to lead us to a place of peace and rest. A peace and rest nothing in the world can give.

Photo: Moments of quiet, like a sunset walk can help us to slow down enough to experience God’s love for us. (University of St. Mary of the Lake)

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Press pause and breathe for a while.

Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing” (Mt 23:27-28).

How many of us spend an inordinate amount of time regarding physical externals? Washing, makeup, the right clothes, the correct scents, teeth whitening, plucking, nipping, and tucking. How about time spent exercising through gym memberships, home exercise equipment, physical trainers, sports, stretching, running, or cycling. How about time spent towards a career through education, updating, professional learning, seminars, webinars, and networking. There are other categories that I can add, and the point is that there is not anything necessarily wrong with any of the above when they are properly ordered and each is in a healthy balance.

Yet, if external activities are all we are investing our time and energy in, then Jesus has a point. We may “appear beautiful on the outside” with great looks, a body that doesn’t quit, and a career to die for, but what is going on inside? Are we empty, unfulfilled, achieving goal after goal, yet feeling adrift or hollowed out? Do we have all the right social skills and etiquette down, know the right things to say in public, we have friends in the hundreds or thousands on our social media accounts, yet we feel alone and not a part of anything meaningful?

Worse yet, do we go to Church, say the right prayers, are active in ministry, tithe, are members of boards, involved in the community, and doing some great works of charity, but when the door is closed, and no one is looking… what kind of “hypocrisy and evil doing” are we up to? It is easy to rest in a false sense of security while Jesus chews out the Pharisees, right now, yet, do Jesus’ words have an effect on us if we allow his light to shine also on the imperfections and shadow sides of us as well.

We can spend our time whitewashing the outside, projecting a perfect image, while chasing the finite and material pursuits alone, which will more than likely leave us still feeling anxious, restless, unsatisfied, and worn out. Maintaining and protecting a false image on any level is exhausting. Instead, we can take a good look at the time we invest, where we focus our energies, examine our conscience, and assess the health of our relationship with God, family, significant friendships, our vocation instead of occupation, and our service to those within and beyond our intimate circle.

Instead of expending energy maintaining a perfect persona, we will do better to be in touch with our weaknesses, our faults, and wounds, so we can resist defending or rationalizing them and seek healing, reconciliation, and transformation. By doing so, we may be more accepting, patient, understanding, and forgiving of others because we will come to realize that we are not all that perfect and we come to accept that the world does not revolve around us.

The path lit by Jesus will reveal our imperfections and sins and also will help us to distinguish between apparent goods and what is authentic and truly good. When we can step off the treadmill of chronic stress, come to a stop and breathe, and press pause, we will begin to experience the peace and love of God. We can rest in just being, just being ourselves and be ok with that.

Photo: Some quiet time with Jesus.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, August 26, 2025

“Holiness is standing in the fire of self-knowledge and letting it burn” – Fr. William Sattler

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing” (Luke 12:49)!

This fire that Jesus has come to set is the purifying fire of God’s love which will be manifested brilliantly at the feast of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit will come like tongues of fire to land upon and transform the apostles. But before that time, there will be a baptism in fire, the passion, suffering, crucifixion and death of Jesus. As he did in the baptism of water he submitted to with John to join in solidarity with us in our human sinfulness, in the crucifixion, he is baptized with fire. Jesus took upon himself the worst fallen humanity had to offer, betrayal, injustice, violence, indifference, scapegoating, mob rule, indignity, inhumanness, and God forsakenness itself.

Impure metals, like gold and silver are placed in a crucible to be heated. The metals become liquified so that the dross, the impurities, will burn off and the metals are purified. The cleansing waters of baptism and the confirming fire of the Holy Spirit purifies and transforms us as well. Yet that is not enough. It is through our daily lives that this purification will continue. That is why Jesus continues: “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Lk 12:51).

Interesting words offered by the Prince of Peace. He has come to set fire on the earth and to establish division. What Jesus is sharing is that to be his disciples, God must be first in our lives. We are to love God with all our hearts, souls, strength, and minds and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are to love in that order. When we love God first then all our loves will burn away as they are apparent goods, and those that remain will be properly ordered.

Putting God first will cause division because there will be those who are not willing to do so, even within the same family. Others might have different ideas of what it means to put God first. We can learn from Jeremiah and Jesus that putting God first has a cost, even if that meant all would turn on them.

Jeremiah followed God’s call to be a prophet. This did not exactly turn out to be a peaceful vocation. As is presented in our first reading, Jeremiah was persecuted for sharing the word of God with his own people of faith. They refused to repent and return to God and they refused to listen as the impending destructive power of the Babylonian army was storming upon them and about to be unleashed. Surrender was not in their vocabulary, to the Babylonians, and unfortunately, neither to God.

They refused to listen to God through Jeremiah and instead the princes received permission from the king to throw “him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah” (Jeremiah 38:6). Jeremiah was left sinking in the mud, and left for dead. It was only through the compassion of the appeal of the court official, Ebed-melech, that Jeremiah was pulled up to safety before he starved to death.

We can see not only Jeremiah’s faithfulness in the face of extreme opposition, but in this account we can also see a foretaste of Jesus. He was also persecuted by his own people and left for dead. There would be no Ebed-melech to come to his aide. Jesus died a humiliating and horrific death on the cross descended into the realm of the dead. Like Jeremiah, he went down. And like Jeremiah, he would be raised up. Jesus conquered death and rose through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Both Jeremiah and Jesus, in following the will of God, advocated for repentance and transformation, they sought to bring unity and peace, and yet for those who refused to receive their message and follow them, they were signs of division, demoralization, and ruin. Both followed God in the line of prophetic tradition, which announced that before there will be true reconciliation and peace, before the promised return and unification of the scattered Twelve Tribes of Israel, there will be a time of tribulation, a time of cleansing. For Jesus, there could be no resurrection until he went to the Cross.

How can we live our lives with the faithfulness of Jeremiah and Jesus? We can’t, on our own, alone. If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we need to be people of prayer. We need to daily turn our hearts and minds to God in prayer. “There is nothing more important that we will ever do than pray. That is why the devil hates prayer and tries to chase you away from any prayer” (Sattler).

The devil’s greatest weapon against us is distraction. If we are even willing and able to hear the call of the Holy Spirit inviting us to pray, our first response may be, I don’t have the time. And when we do, the next challenge will be resisting the myriad distractions, diversions, and temptations that the enemy will hurl at us to lead us away from even a minute of prayer.

“This restless being wants to pray. Can he do it? Only if he steps out of the stream of restlessness and composes himself… No sooner has he started to pray than, conjured up by his inner unrest, all sorts of other things clamor for attention… prayer seems a sheer waste of time, and he fritters it away with useless activities. To recollect oneself means to overcome this deception which springs from unrest and to become still; to free oneself of everything which is irrelevant, and to hold oneself at the disposal of God, who alone matters now” (Guardini, 12).

The beauty of the temptations of the devil is that he is revealing to us exactly what God wants us to see. Our weakness, wounds, sins, attachments, disordered affections, and anything that is diverting us from keeping our face on Jesus. The same face that Peter held fast to when he walked on the water, and then sank when he allowed the distractions of the wind and the waves to look away. We continue to behold the gaze of Jesus when we are vigilant and consistent with praying daily and growing in our prayer so that we also pray in our activity and our challenges.

“Holiness is standing in the fire of self-knowledge and letting it burn” (Sattler). We are called to be still and identify our wounds, distractions, and temptations so that we can hear more clearly to identify whose voices we are listening to. When we are willing to enter into the crucible of the Holy Spirit and allow ourselves to be purified by the fire of his love, no matter what the devil throws our way, we can stand tall. When we resist running, trust in Jesus’ love for us, and remain, all that is not of God will be burned away.

The peace, stability, and unity that we seek comes by taking up our cross daily and walking with Jesus. When we are tempted in any way, let us turn to Jesus immediately. In this way, temptations and diversions will not lead to moments of sin, but will be invitations to receive God’s grace. When we do fall, we simply repent, turn away from the sin, turn back to God, learn from the experience, pick up our cross, and begin again.

With each step we will find healing, forgiveness, and courage. The fear, anxiety, and insecurities will become less, we will heal, as long as we remain in the presence of God’s purifying love and let him burn. We will slowly come to know God’s will for our lives and that is the meaning and fulfillment we all seek. Jesus has blazed the trail before us. As we remain faithful to prayer, trust and follow him, he will continue to empower and strengthen us that we may continue to walk on as his disciples.

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Photo: Water and fire are powerful signs of the love of the Holy Spirit’s transformative power in the Bible.

Quotes from Fr. William Sattler received from his interview with Matthew Leonard on his podcast, The Art of Catholic on his YouTube channel.

Guardini, Romano. The Art of Praying: The Principles and Methods of Christian Prayer. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 1985.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, August 17, 2025

When we make time to be silent, we will receive the greatest of treasures.

Jesus said to his disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Mt 13:44).

God is hiding in plain sight, in our midst, and present to all of us. God’s kingdom is a wonderful treasure just waiting to be found. God’s eternal love and grace is ever reaching out to us. Our soul hungers, yearns, and seeks for that love, whether we know it or not. It is when we seek satisfaction, filling this deepest of our desires in material and finite pursuits alone, that we miss what is present right before us. When we sin, create idols, seek the allure of apparent goods, we block our access to the very union we seek, then we are not satisfied and our desire increases all the more. We can attempt to keep filling that hunger with more or different apparent and material goods and yet, we will continue to feel empty and unfulfilled. God acts in the everyday events of our lives, but we limit being aware of those experiences by waving them off as mere coincidences. Each time we do so, we miss the opportunity the great treasure Jesus offers.

The saints and the mystics are those who have found this great treasure, they have experienced his love, forgiveness, and mercy. They have encountered the living God in the mundane events of their lives and given all to be immersed in his communion. They “are amplifiers of every person’s more hidden life of faith, hope, and love. Their lives help us to hear the interior whispers and see the faint flickers of divine truth and love in ourselves and others. The Christian mystics point the way to fully authentic human life by illustrating what it means to be a human being, what life means: eternal union (which begins here) with the God of love” (Egan 1996, ix-xx).

Like metal detectors that some people walk the beaches with to find a hidden treasure, the Holy Spirit invites us to enter into silence. It is in silence that we will find our truest gift, God who yearns to speak to us in the silence of our hearts. Setting aside time to be still will help us to hear his whisperings in those moments of silence and when we hear and follow through on his promptings, we will begin to hear him in our daily activities.

Opening our hearts and minds to recognize those faint stirrings will help us to recognize God’s ongoing presence. We can also experience Christ by reading, meditating, praying, and contemplating on his Word, as well as the lives of the saints, who are willing to offer us their treasure maps: St Francis of Assisi, St Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, St Therese of Lisieux, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and St Mother Teresa. Each have experienced and are urging us on to experience the rich encounter of the God of Jesus Christ.

In spending time regularly in silence with the Holy Spirit, we encounter and receive the love of God and come to realize that we are not human doings but human beings. We can let go of the weight of the stress and strain we have been carrying, of having to process anything, and instead be still and rest in God’s loving embrace. St. Theresa of Avila wrote that, “We always hear about what a good thing prayer is; our constitutions oblige us to spend many hours in prayer. Yet, only what we ourselves can do in prayer is explained to us; little is explained about what the Lord does in a soul, I mean about the supernatural” (Sattler, 135). Spend some time today allowing God to do – so that you can be!

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Photo: Came upon this family during an evening Rosary walk on the campus of St. Mary of the Lake.

Egan, Harvey D. An Anthology of Christian Mysticism, Second Edition. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1996.

Sattler, Wayne. And You Will Find Rest. What God Does in Prayer. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute, 2024.

Link for the Mass Readings for, Wednesday, July 28, 2021

“My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:27-28)!

Thomas’ acclamation “My Lord and my God!” came from his seeing the risen Jesus and his wounds. Jesus rose from the dead, had conquered death, and yet he still bore the wounds of his Passion. This is a profound message to the Apostles, those Jesus sent to proclaim his Gospel, and for us who have been called to follow him today.

The Body of Christ continues to be wounded by the sin and division of our fallen nature that put Jesus on the Cross in the first place. Many people doubt and do not believe today in God because they question, “How can a loving God allow such suffering and pain, especially of the innocent?” A valid question as many examples may come to our minds, we can then follow with another Yet the question, “Why God? Where were you and do you care?”

God is present, God cares, though again we are limited in what we can see and understand. Also, death does not have the final answer. That is what Jesus showed Thomas in bringing him close to touch his wounded side. Jesus rose from the dead and conquered it, but the scarring of his wounds remained. Jesus calls us to draw close and to touch his wounds so we can embrace our own, those we can and cannot see. As we experience his healing, Jesus will send us, as he did Thomas and the other apostles, to touch his wounded Body again this time by entering into the pain and suffering of others where God can happen and healing can begin.

Though the temptation is strong to deny, rationalize, or flee from the conflict, challenges, hurt, and pain that we and others are experiencing, we must resist. If we don’t embrace our or another’s trials we will not come to the root cause of them. We touch the wounded Body of Christ, as Thomas did today, when we are willing to draw close, be present, and accompany those who bear his wounds, those who are vulnerable: the unborn, widows, orphans, those with chronic illness, the dying, refugees, immigrants, hungry, homeless, and those without access to clean water; those who suffer from addiction, poverty, depression, disease, oppression, prejudice, discrimination, dehumanization, racism, sexism, misogyny, unjust immigration policies, incarceration, those on death row, unemployment, underemployment, wage theft, human trafficking, domestic violence, slavery, violence, war, terrorism, and natural disasters. For what we do to the least among us, we do it to Jesus.

We can be easily overwhelmed with the suffering in our country, our world, or the personal challenges before us. Denial or indifference is not the answer. There is an act of balancing that Jesus calls us to participate in as we allow ourselves to be loved by and learn to love God, love others, and love our neighbors as ourselves. The answer is found when we are willing to encounter Jesus, grow in our relationship with him, and follow his lead.

We do not know where Thomas was when the Apostles first encountered Jesus after the Resurrection, but we do know he was not with Jesus. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing, yet with Jesus, the one who conquered death, all things are possible! When we feel overwhelmed, helpless, or indecisive, we need to return to Jesus and acclaim with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” and begin again with him.

Jesus is present in our midst, just as he was with Thomas and the other apostles. He invites us to be engaged in the unique way he calls us to serve today to make our corner of the world a little better. We can reach out when Jesus prompts us to enter into the chaos of another’s life, to hear their story, their experience, be present, and allow the Holy Spirit to happen in each encounter.

St. Thomas, pray for us!

Painting from Caravaggio: Incredulity of St Thomas, 1601-1602

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, July 3, 2025

Putting God first will help us to experience his love and peace.

In today’s Gospel from Matthew, Jesus draws a direct correlation between our level of worry and our faith. Having faith is a common theme throughout Jesus’ teaching. How many times have we read or heard, “O you of little faith” (Mt 6:30). Faith is defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as, “man’s response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man, at the same time bringing man a superabundant light as he searches for the ultimate meaning of his life” (CCC, 26.) Jesus came to reveal his Father to us, to show us that he cares for, loves, and wants to provide for us in our need.

When we are feeling anxious or worried, we are most likely not placing our trust or putting God first in our lives. We may be dwelling on the past, rehashing something we did or did not do, what someone did or did not do, fixating on whether or not we made the right decision, or we could be anxious about the future. Our minds plague us often with the worst-case scenarios of what might be or what could happen. We also may react to another’s actions or words, not fully understanding the context or source of the hurt or struggle they may be going through that caused those words or actions. When we seek security first in anything other than God, remain hyper-focused and absorbed on our own reaction(s), and/or stay stuck in our emotions, we become tossed about like a tumble weed and our insides can experience a perpetual churning.

When we focus on what we do not have instead of being grateful for what we do, we will also experience unrest. We exercise little faith or trust in God when we allow ourselves to be hyper preoccupied with anyone or anything apart from and other than God. Jesus is helping us to see that, “No one can serve two masters” (Mt 6:24). Either we place ourselves, someone, or something first, or we place God first. Jesus’ command is to put God first in our lives and to trust in him above all and everyone else.

Anxiety, worry, and fear can be debilitating and paralyzing and can lead toward a downward spiral, a curving in upon ourselves, that leads to an unsettled mental state. From this posture we can become impatient, reactive, and more fearful. Too many of us buy into the enemy’s lies to isolate ourselves, to keep ourselves busy, distracted, and perpetually tired. Even when we seek to find some rest and to wind-down and renew, we may reach for activities that do not bring us the rest we seek but instead continue to keep us in a perpetual state of unrest. Mindless channel surfing, lost hours on social media, or binging on YouTube clips, will not bring rest to our souls. These practices do the opposite; they keep us in a constant state of busy and overstimulation fueled by dopamine hits that contribute to a growing cycle of chronic stress.

One of the reasons we may be drawn to these technological avenues is to escape the anxieties and stresses we experience. They can distract and divert us for the moment, we can enjoy instant gratification, and we may feel satisfied for the moment. It comes at the cost though of further separating us from God and each other. At our core, we are deeply hungering to be loved and to love. “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for” (CCC, 27).

Jesus’ life, words, and actions provide a starting point for shifting the momentum of the cycle of enslavement to our unbridled anxieties, attachments, and emotions. The way out of this inner downward spiral is to, “seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides” (Mt 6:33). God truly knows what we seek and need in the depths of our souls. At the foundation is deepening our relationship with him. When we spend time consistently reading the Bible, praying and meditating, walking in creation, seeking the things of heaven instead of this world and bringing our anxieties, fears, and sources of stress to God, we will experience moments of peace and renewal. We can come to a place of rest where we can breathe again and we can begin to heal.

Intentionally setting aside key anchor times to be with God each day is one way to put God first in our lives. As we offer vocal prayers to God our Father, share with him our needs, our thanks, our hopes and anxieties, we will find rest in knowing that God hears our prayers and will guide us. As we spend time meditating on God’s word, we are nourished, transformed, and recognize we are not alone in our struggles as we engage with the lives of our ancestors in faith. And as we become more consistent with vocal and meditative ways of praying, we can then engage in the deeper gift of contemplative prayer in which we can just be silent with God and rest in his presence. We can be like St. John who rested his head on the sacred heart of Jesus.

Let not our hearts be troubled, let us not be afraid, but have faith and trust in Jesus, his Father, and the love of the Holy Spirit, and put God first in this moment and often with each drawing of our breath throughout the day.

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Photo: Making some time for a silent holy hour, looking at Jesus as he looks at me.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, June 21, 2025

We will experience more peace, even in the face of death, when we follow Jesus and put his teachings into practice.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Mt 6:19-21). Jesus helped his disciples then and is helping us today to be aware of the reality of our world. All that exists is finite and material. Each thing, each being, has a beginning and an end. We need to resist the temptation to be attached to anything, even to our family and friends, because in this life and this side of heaven, nothing and no one lasts forever.

Adopting an attitude of non-attachment to material things can be freeing as long as we do not embrace the opposite extreme of placing no value in created things, thinking that we can destroy and abuse the environment, exploit each other, because neither will not last. We can also be tempted to see all things not spiritual as corrupt and bad, even our material reality as human beings, such that our soul is imprisoned until we die. This extreme will not bring us happiness, joy, or fulfillment either.

Living a life directed by Jesus’ teachings will help us to embrace a more balanced life of recognizing that much of what is material and finite is good, as well as very good, and yet each has a time and a season. We have the opportunity and invitation to be participants in God’s eternal plan of salvation, and we can embrace and enjoy the wonders and gifts of his creation when we don’t hold onto the things of this world too tightly.

We need to resist grasping for and clutching anything material and finite. We will then be freer to embrace and follow the steady movement of the Holy Spirit, which is ever fresh and new. The Holy Spirit invites us to deepen and grow in our relationship with our loving God and Father and one another. Refusing to fill the deepest core of our being with the things of this world will help us to be less distracted and more open to God working in our lives.

When we embrace the reality that our time here on this earth is limited, we will be less apt to take it for granted, and instead realize how precious life is, show greater appreciation, be more present, understanding, kinder, supportive, and patient with one another. We will be freer to let the petty things go and embrace the love that Jesus offers us, so we that will have more love to share with one another through thick and thin.

I don’t mind repeating what helped me and JoAnn in her final months was the gift of knowing that her time was short. We appreciated each moment we had together. What also helped was that even before the news, we had already begun the journey years before of deepening our relationship with Jesus and so each year grew closer to each other. A lot of the material things of this world became less important.

Dealing with death is never easy. Trusting that Jesus opened up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed and that he conquered death in his resurrection, helps. Instead of denying or keeping death at a distance, we will be better off by facing the reality of death. Doing so helps us to define who and what is truly important in this life and helps us to “store up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal” (Mt 6:20).