prayer

“Lord, teach us to pray.”

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray and he shared with him the prayer we know as the “Our Father” or “The Lord’s Prayer”. This version from Luke is a bit different than what most of us are used to. Praying with these different words can help us to be more attentive to the words and to Jesus who gave them to us. Imagine, we have been and can continue to pray with the words that Jesus taught his disciples directly, and which have been passed down generation after generation to our reading of them in this moment!

God’s word is alive, it touches our hearts when we are open. God reaches us with his words each in our own unique way, in our own unique moments of sorrows, challenges, needs as well as our successes, joys, and healings. Another good point when approaching prayer is that we are not seeking to change God, but allowing him to transform us by his loving embrace that we can experience when we answer his invitation to pray together. I invite you to do so now, slowly and prayerfully.

“Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”

Photo: And Jesus please keep all those who are in the path of Milton safe, and help to bring about an end to violence and war in all its forms. Stain glass, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 9, 2024

“When tempted to answer her sharply, I made haste to smile”. – St. Thérèse of Lisieux

“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? Often, we do not even think, we just react 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.

The most helpful response to today’s Gospel is to affirm that Jesus’ response to the Samaritan’s lack of hospitality is a healthier one than that of James and John. If we can agree with resisting to react as our starting point, then we will have a better chance to seek to understand what Jesus can teach us when encountering others.

One approach to others extending unkind behavior is to be 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 possibly being able to help another to get in touch and reveal something they are struggling with.

Often a negative response may come from misunderstandings. Another response can be one of giving the person the benefit of the doubt. We are not mind-readers and we also are not often the best of communicators so resisting jumping to rash conclusions is a better course of action.

A third approach is to receive a critique with humility. Maybe, we have done something to cause hurt toward another, intentionally or unintentionally. By taking responsibility for that which we have done and apologize for it, we create a better bridge for reconciliation.

We are only responsible for our own actions. We cannot dictate or change the behaviors of others nor are we to be doormats for another’s abuse. We will experience healthier interactions when we approach conflicts and obstacles with patience, understanding, and humility for acknowledging what we have done and what we have failed to do. Even with a more understanding approach, sometimes there are those who will not be open to our efforts. St. Thérese of Lisieux found herself annoyed by one of the sisters. Whenever Thérèse saw her she would pray for her and wrote that, “when tempted to answer her sharply, I made haste to smile and change the subject”.

A smile can go a long way as well as praying for and respecting the dignity of each person we feel challenged by. There is a path between aggressive reaction and passive submission. Jesus is very clear that we are to love in all situations. We will each other’s good by clearly communicating our experience of our interaction, are willing to forgive and seek forgiveness, and to love each other through our idiosyncrasies, mistakes, and sins.

Human relationships are difficult in the best of scenarios, but still well worth the effort. Above all, when conflicts arise it is important to take a few deep breathes, pray, seek, and rely on the guidance of Jesus, and when possible seek out those who we trust. In this way, we will be less apt to react, have a healthier outlet for our frustrations, and instead see some options available that will help us to grow and mature in our relationships.

—————————————————

Photo: St. Thérèse of Lisieux pray for us!

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Curiosity from a distance, like Herod, or intimate, Lord and Savior, like Teresa?

‘Who then is this about whom I hear such things?'” And he kept trying to see him” (Lk 9:9).

Herod Antipas, the ruler over Galilee and Perea, heard stories about Jesus. The range of his thoughts, expressed by Luke, is confusion to curiosity. Herod may have started to feel concern over the possibility of a growing revolt, some guilt for his execution of John the Baptist, or just curiosity to see what this man was all about. Could this Jesus accomplish even half of the things Herod had heard about him? One question that did not seem to cross Herod’s mind was, did he have any interest in changing his life and becoming a follower of Jesus?

Herod was not the only one in Luke’s Gospel who asked questions about who this man, Jesus, was. Nor did the asking of those questions die with Jesus on the cross. They continued after his resurrection and ascension, they continued into the first centuries of the Church, which led to the calling of the first ecumenical councils which dealt directly with who Jesus was, and they continued in each following century and continue today. There are even at present in some academic circles, the question arising as to whether Jesus even existed at all.

One could ask why this question about Jesus persists? One answer is that we are finite beings seeking to understand an infinite Mystery. The full comprehension of the reality of Jesus existing as fully human and fully divine, dying on the cross, conquering death through his resurrection and ascending to the Father transcends even the wonderful intellect and ability to reason that we have been blessed with. Also, Jesus’ invitation is a universal but personal one. Each individual person has to encounter Jesus for her or himself.

Jesus called the Twelve, one by one as well as Mary Magdalene, St. Irenaeus, St Thomas Aquinas, St Francis and Clare of Assisi, St Catherine of Siena, St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross, St Ignatius, St Mother Teresa, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and he calls each one of us as well. He did not call us to just merely embrace a new philosophy, a new ethical way of life, or even a new religion. Jesus called and calls us to be a part of his Body, the Mystical Body of Christ.

Who is Jesus, Herod asks in today’s Gospel? It is a good question for us to ask as well. For me, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who became incarnate, becoming one with us in our humanity so that we could become one with him in his divinity. This same Jesus who called others through the ages invites us to follow him today as well and he continues to walk this journey with us whether we say yes or no to his invitation. We are just aware of and receive more of his help when we say yes!

Life with Jesus isn’t perfect, and we will at times echo St. Teresa of Avila, who stated after she was thrown from a carriage into a mud puddle, “If you treat your friends this way, it is no wonder you have so few.” But we will, as did Teresa, also experience moments of inexpressible joy, of wonder and exhilaration, and feel blessed when Jesus works and loves through us.

St. Teresa of Avila had a deep and intimate relationship with Jesus and knew him as her closest friend because she heard him knocking and let Jesus in. She spent determined and intentional time consistently with him. She spent an hour before and an hour after Mass each day. She set aside specific, daily anchor times of personal prayer, meditation, and contemplation which allowed her times of closeness that she could then experience Jesus as well in her daily activities. She was able to share with him her joys and frustrations because Jesus was that close to her.

Let Jesus not be just a passing curiosity as he was with Herod Antipas. Jesus is standing, knocking, (cf. Revelation 3:20) inviting us to open the door and let him in. Jesus is inviting us as he did with Zacchaeus to come down from the tree and take him to his home (cf. 19:5). Jesus is calling us to come and follow him as we read with Matthew just a few days ago (cf. Matthew 9:9-13). Jesus is not just some person from history. True, he died at a specific point in time and yet also was resurrected at a specific point in time, and he is alive and well, and inviting us to follow him today. All Jesus waits for is our, “Yes.” and a few steps. Jesus will take care of the rest!

Photo: Spending some quiet time with Jesus before heading to the land of dreams.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, September 26, 2024

Jesus calls us too.

“While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples” (MT 9:10).

We as the Church, followers of Jesus, still have much to learn from Jesus. Today’s reading provides another wonderful example. Once Jesus begins his public ministry he is constantly on the go. Going where? Meeting people in the midst of their daily lives as he did with Matthew. And what is the response to Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, and then partaking in table fellowship with other tax collectors and sinners?

Matthew accepts his invitation to follow. The Pharisees question the disciples about his practice and curious onlookers follow at a distance. But to those who have, maybe for the first time in their lives, been respected as fellow human beings, their response is hope. A hope that there actually may be a path leading in from the peripheries. A hope that they no longer have to be on the outside looking in. A hope that they, for the first time in their lives might finally belong.

Jesus is shown time and again encountering the person as they are in their present circumstances and the chaos of their lives. He welcomes, is present, and embraces each person as they are. Yet he doesn’t want them to stay where they are. He invites people to be part of something greater than their self-absorbed posture, their self-imposed and externally imposed limitations and instead to actualize their potential and embrace a life of meaning and purpose. The only requirement is that they are willing to: repent, be forgiven, be healed, be loved, be human, be free, and once experiencing this encounter with Jesus, share what they have received with others.

When we are willing to follow Jesus and become his disciples as Matthew did, then we can experience the same hope for a new beginning. To follow we must have the humility to recognize our sinfulness, repent, recognize our dependence on God and our need for him and his love more than anyone or anything else. As we do so, we can begin to heal and let go of the apparent goods that we thought would bring us happiness which have instead led us astray, and renounce those false hopes that we have placed our security in.

We will find that, only in God alone will we find our fulfillment, hope, and security. Jesus invites us to experience: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). This is the promise and fulfillment that no other pursuit or person can bring. God is the foundation and source of all, and at the same time he knows each and every one us better than we know ourselves. He invites us to grow in our relationship with him so we can know him too.

We do this best as we get to know his Son, Jesus whom he sent, not to condemn us, but to save us. Jesus draws close to us as he did with Matthew so that he can experience the chaos of our lives. He loves us in the midst of the best and the worst and invites us to experience something better. Called and willing to be healed, forgiven, and transformed like Matthew, we too, can experience God’s mercy. Jesus will then send us as well to be beacons of the light, hope, and love for those who are in need of God’s healing and peace.

——————————————————

Painting: The Calling of St. Matthew, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1600. We may be as surprised as Matthew, but Jesus does call us as well!

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, September 21, 2024

Praying today

Praying today for those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Praying for those first responders who gave their lives seeking to save others as well as those who lived and are suffering from the physical, emotional, and psychological effects of that day. Praying today for those still grieving and mourning the loss of those they love.

Praying for the people of our country and our leaders at the local, state, and federal levels. Praying that we see each other as human, as fellow citizens that can embrace our differences and diversity, praying that we can work together to welcome the stranger, provide for the various needs of each other in every area of our nation, urban and rural, and seek for ways to empower and lift each other up. Praying that each person is willing to play their part no matter how small so that we can be one nation under God united in a common purpose that respects the dignity of everyone from the moment of conception throughout every step of life until natural death. Praying that each of us may learn to be better, learn to forgive, learn to heal, and learn to breathe, rest, receive, and abide in God’s love and from that space think, speak, and act.

Praying.

Photo: Veteran’s Memorial Island Sanctuary where I will often walk and pray.

As we pray consistently with Jesus, our lives will change.

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, we cannot prove his existence, nor can we solve him as we would a problem.

Yet we can come to know God intimately just as Jesus did. Even though God is transcendent, beyond our reach and comprehension, he is at the same time closer to us than we are to ourselves. We come to know God through his invitation, and as we enter into the mystery of his reality through developing a relationship with him, as we come to know him. He does not become smaller, but vast, always beyond our comprehension and reach. 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. When we accept the call to be a follower of Jesus, when we are baptized, receive our first Holy Communion, and are confirmed, when we participate in the Mass at least weekly and Confession regularly, when we pray, read the Bible, and serve others, our lives will no longer be the same.

We will begin to experience the life of Jesus within us. We will begin to see also what is incompatible. What thoughts and behaviors we may have allowed for ourselves in the past, in the light of Christ, we now see for ourselves that which is no longer acceptable because it separates us from the love of God. We come to see our lives apart from God and with God. We are given the freedom to choose death or life.

Jesus meets us in the chaos of our lives and invites us to something better, a life that is real. Jesus loves us in this moment and does not lower the bar but empowers us to reach the height of his truth and divine law. Jesus is there for us and we remain close to him when we are consistent in prayer, in reading and meditating upon and putting into practice his word. Breathe upon breathe, day after day, we will be drawn ever deeper into the mystery of the Trinity and experience the intimacy of communion and relationship with God that we have been created for.

————————————

Painting: James Tissot – Jesus Goes Up Alone on a Mountain to Pray, 1886-1894

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Focus on God who alone matters now.

“But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” (Mt 13:23).

God loves us. All of creation and each one of us have been created out of an outpouring of his love. God wants to be in relationship with us and like a good Father wants the best for us. He has sent his Son to be one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity. Time and again, generation after generation, since Adam and Eve, there are those who have rejected the Father’s love, rejected his Son, and the stirrings of the Holy Spirit.

In Jesus explaining the Parable of the Sower to his disciples, he is expressing why people may turn away from the generosity of God’s love. In a modern context we can experience hearing a word that touches our heart in Mass during one of the readings, prayers, homily, or verse from one of the hymns, or while in our own personal time of prayer. We are moved or even challenged. The devil can then threaten to take it away, we can meditate upon it for a time and then move onto other things forgetting this graced moment, we may even bring it back to mind for a time, but not apply it or put what we have learned into practice. Instead of taking firm root, maturing, sprouting and bearing fruit we remain spiritually immature.

Those who have “rich soil” to receive Jesus are those who hear his word, ponder it, return to it often, and put it into practice. The discipline of putting into practice what we have received from Jesus is the key for it taking firm root and transforming our lives. We are so focused too many times on completing and moving on to the next thing that, even when moved, touched, or challenged by his word, we can set the wondrous experience aside to move onto the next task.

I have been inspired and challenged recently by the words of Romano Guardini: “This restless being wants to pray. Can he do it? Only if he steps out of the stream of restlessness and composes himself. This means discarding roaming desires and concentrating on that thing alone which, for the time being, is the only one that matters… 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 message imparted by these words is not new, and this is a practice that I have been engaged in for years. Yet, these words engaged me, especially, “hold oneself at the disposal of God, who alone matters now.” They have been like rich compost that has been nourishing my prayer life and daily experiences for the past week. When my mind starts to wander, I bring it back, “God alone matters now.” and then a calming breath follows and I continue.

This is a good practice to begin to prepare rich soil, to return to, and go deeper with! All the invitations, temptations, apparent goods and glitter, pale in comparison to the hunger and desire that we all experience which is for a deeper intimacy with God. No one or nothing else fulfills. When we put all else aside and focus on God alone, he satisfies. Grounded in his infinite love, our relationships improve because we no longer cling out of a fear of losing them. We enjoy the material more because we no longer project onto them what they could never provide. Anxieties and fears lessen because we feel more safe and secure.

Photo: Enjoying a Rosary walk and the oaks of the neighborhood of Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, July 26, 2024

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

Praying the Our Father helps us to stay connected and close to Jesus!

Today we return to Jesus’ teaching that he is the vine, and we are the branches. The key points of this teaching are that apart from Jesus we can do nothing, and all things are possible when we stay connected to him!

The goal for us then as disciples of Jesus is to stay connected to Jesus. One way that can help is the Our Father or Lord’s prayer. This is the prayer that Jesus taught his apostles when they asked him to teach them to pray, and since that day when he taught them, generation after generation, up to and including this moment, this prayer has been prayed!

Rote prayers are powerful, but they can also lose their punch if we are not attentive to what we are saying. One helpful way to revisit the Lord’s Prayer is to do so from the perspective of allowing it to help us to see how these words can come alive in our meditation and help us to grow in our relationship with Jesus and stay connected to him.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…

These first words help us to get in touch with the reality that God is God, and we are not. We are his created beings. God is completely transcendent and beyond us while at the same time intimately close in that we can have a relationship with him. This happens not because of anything we can do, for God is so beyond our comprehension that we will never be able to comprehend him. We can grow our relationship with God because he has made us in his image and likeness, he comes close to us, most especially in the sending of his Son to be human with us so that we can be divine like him. God is so far beyond us as infinite, yet as St. Augustine taught, closer to us than we are to ourselves.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…

We remain close to Jesus and so with our Father and experience the love of the Holy Spirit as we grow in relationship with him, trust him, and follow his guidance. We need to resist the temptation of going it alone, thinking we know better than God, and not including him in our discernment. His kingdom is made more present when we collaborate with him, when we follow his will so that what is practiced in heaven, intimacy with God, will happen on earth. In following the will of God to love as Jesus loves us, we take care of one another, empower and challenge one another, and will each other’s good.

Give us this day our daily bread…

When we trust God, he will not only provide for our needs, but he will also provide himself in the Eucharist. We can get no closer than consuming his Son whom he sent. We are divinized, made like God as we consume the Body and Blood of Jesus. Our regular participation in the Mass transforms us, strengthens us, and unites us. Heaven and earth become one during the celebration of the Mass!

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…

Forgiveness we do not do well, but it is a powerful way to unite, a powerful way to heal and grow in our relationship with God and one another. When we have the humility to seek forgiveness and forgive, we experience healing and maturation. We free ourselves from hate and division because we resist the temptation of curving in upon ourselves and perpetuating the hurt that has been committed. We can choose instead to trust in God and collaborate with him to bring about healing and transformation.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil…

God does not tempt us, but he does allow us to be tempted. He loves us so much that he is willing to risk that we will choose someone or something over him. Our closeness and intimacy with Jesus grow, when we trust and choose to be with him of our own free will. Each yes to Jesus, each moment we devote to him increases the love we receive and experience such that we will better see the lies, the false illusions, and the temptations of the enemy that lead us away from our Father.

The father of lies tempts us and condemns us when we fall. Our Father leads us gently with tender chords of love, forgives us even when we reject him, and never tires of forgiving us. He invites us to turn back to him, time and again, no matter how far we think that we have turned away. When we turn back to him, we will become aware that he is right there with his arms wide open waiting for us, to embrace us and love us more than we can ever imagine!

As we meditate on each part of the Our Father in this way, Jesus will offer each of us our own unique ways of remaining connected to him as a branch is to the vine, and so with trusting in Jesus, all things are possible.

Amen!

Photo: Praying in the adoration chapel of Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, Los Angeles, CA back in 2019.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Slow down, breath, stop, and trust in Jesus.

Our days are so full of activities, conflicts, health issues, technological stimulation, 24/7 news cycles, social media interaction, and the mix of our own personal unique daily challenges. If we do not have the proper foundation and orientation, we can feel stretched, hollow, and/or fatigued at best. One day can seem to blend into another, and another, and another. The image of being on a hamster wheel or an unending treadmill can fall afresh in our mind’s eye when we actually do take a minute to breathe. Anxiety, worry, stress, fear, prescriptions, and addictions all appear to be on the rise and swirling out of control.

Is there an answer to this hyper pace or are we doomed to just keep going until the wheels fall off? The opening verse in today’s reading provides an antidote when we are feeling any or all of the above.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me” (Jn 14:1).

We are invited to place our trust in God through his Son, Jesus. By putting them first does not mean that the externals to our life will take an abrupt turn for the better, but what it does mean is that we will have support and divine assistance. It means that we are not alone in our struggles. The disciples found this out when in the midst of a sudden sea squall. Their boat was taking on water as the waves grew higher they were terrified and so, called to a sleeping Jesus. Jesus awoke and with a word, he calmed the sea (cf. Mk 4:35-41).

Jesus may or may not calm the sea of our trials and tribulations, but what he will do is be present with us through our storms in life and we can trust in him that he will guide us through. As we grow more confident in our trust in Jesus we will come to be assured that no matter who or what comes at us, he will be there to assist us. We will experience more peace and calm within ourselves. The ultimate assurance that Jesus provides is that when we surrender our life to him, we belong to him, we are not alone or orphaned. He gave his life for us, to redeem and save us so that we can be assured of our home for eternity.

If we are struggling at any level and are seeking to build our trust and faith in Jesus, we do need to realize that this takes time. We need to remember to daily ask Jesus for help, seek his discernment about where we can make changes in our life, and make periodic efforts to stop in our day to be still. This time does not need to be lengthy, three to five minutes to start can do wonders. On the surface level, by stopping for five minutes to pray and breathe more deeply and consciously, we get off the wheel, we step out of survival and reaction mode, so we can then make more intentional decisions, and we can come to see that we truly have options, but more importantly, we begin to develop a relationship and intimacy with Jesus so to begin to recognize his voice that is calling out to guide us.

Author Wanda E. Brunstetter, wrote, “If you are too busy to pray, you are busier than God wants you to be.” There is a lot of truth in her statement. I have had busy days, weeks, and months, where I have wondered if taking the time to pray and meditate was really the most sensible choice. Time and again it has been. At the beginning of these two years of seminary when my workload was larger than I anticipated, I barely prayed much for a few days and realized that was a mistake. Making time for consistent prayer each day became my priority and doing so has made a tremendous difference.

Daily Mass, praying with the Liturgy of the Hours, reading and meditating on passages of the Bible, reciting the Rosary are great tried and true practices from our tradition that I find helpful. If any seem too much, especially if you are just starting, begin with Night Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours each night before bed, or a couple of verses each day from the Bible or one decade. One slowly and well said Our Father and some quiet time to listen or just a few minutes of breathing slowly and opening our heart to Jesus can be transformative.

Consistent moments of stopping and being still and intentionally lifting our hearts and minds to God each day is a tremendous gift to help our hearts to learn to rest and trust in Jesus. Each of these practices offer us a few of the many ways to stop the madness, to slow down, simplify, and connect with the power, the love, and the grace that Jesus yearns to share with us such that no matter the external or internal upheaval, and even if life is going pretty well, we will experience his peace and security which is what we all truly long for.

—————————————————–

Photo: Quiet time before the Blessed Sacrament this past Tuesday while on silent retreat at Casa San Carlos, Delray Beach, FL. 

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, April 26, 2024

 

We are invited to be agents of calm and peace.

Some of the context for today’s reading of the Gospel is found in John’s account of the multiplication of the loaves which closes with this verse: “Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone” (Jn 6:15). Both Jesus and the people knew the Torah. In Deuteronomy 18:15-18, Moses shared that he was not the seal or end of prophetic tradition, he, like John the Baptist, pointed to one that would be greater than he.

As the five-thousand ate they talked among themselves, many may have then recalled how God fed the Hebrews in the desert, manna, bread from heaven. The miraculous multiplication mingled with the manna remembrance, comingled with the already growing messianic hope, could make a good case for why the people began to believe that Jesus was the “Prophet, the one who is to come into the world” (Jn 6:14), and then they rose to make him their king.

Recognizing their motivation and lack of understanding of the fullness of the kingship he would indeed assume, Jesus withdrew back higher up the mountain upon which he saw the people coming to him in the first place. The people presumably camped where they had eaten since evening drew near. Separation occurred between Jesus and the people because they moved to make him into something he was not. He refused, as he did during his fast in the desert, to give in to the temptation of power, pride, and honor.

The disciples were also separated from Jesus. They set out on the sea and headed toward Capernaum and would be reunited as they experienced a storm that arose on the sea of Galilee. Already full of anxiety as they were being tossed about by the waves, their fear grew as Jesus came closer to their boat, walking on the water. He calmed them as he said, “It is I. Do not be afraid” (Jn 6: 20).

Those present at the multiplication of the loaves and fish, the disciples, nor us today totally comprehend all of who Jesus is, for he embodies the fullness of humanity and divinity. Nor is he ours to tame. Jesus comes to us, is present to us, loves, and is willing to walk with us through all our trials and tribulations, as well as our joys and exhilarations. Though, what he will not do is be untrue to himself or to who he calls us to be. If we want to be fulfilled in this life, we need to let go of making Jesus in our image and likeness. Instead, with humility, we are invited to be conformed to his will, which, deep down is what we want too. We need to decrease, so that he may increase. We need to die in him, so that he may live in us.

In our willingness to surrender to the will of Jesus, we are able to keep our eyes focused on him. This does not mean our life will be perfect. There will continue to be challenges and conflict. The closer we come to Jesus the clearer we will see the truth and the absence of it within us and without. Conflicts with others will still arise. The difference is that when we experience the closeness of Jesus, while storms may rage on the outside, we will be calm on the inside. We will no longer feel the need react when our buttons are pressed, but can see another person with a wider lens, more  understanding, and love, and discern better how to engage or remain still.

We will grow stronger in our faith and trust in Jesus, and be more able to help others along the way to do the same, when we are willing to follow the guidance of Jesus and collaborate with him. In this free act of our will, we are aligning ourselves with the infinite power and ground of our being. In our participation with Jesus, we have access to his power working in and through us, we become agents of stillness and calm for ourselves and others, even while experiencing the storms of our everyday lives: “Be not afraid!” Trust in Jesus! When we do so, we will experience his peace.

——————————————————————

Photo: Spending some time winding down each day helps too! St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, April 12, 2024