repent

Repentance is not punishment, but an invitation to freedom.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When we remember Jesus is with us and for us, we can always change, we can always change course.

As Jesus and his companions shared the Passover, Jesus offered this morsel, “One of you will betray me” (Mt 26:21). I am sure that this bitter herb shifted the mood of the meal and fellowship. Each apostle asked if they were the one to betray him. There is no recorded response, though the assumption is that Jesus says no to each, except for one.

A unique feature about this exchange was that each of the disciples in asking Jesus if they would betray him prefaced their request by calling him, Lord. In doing so, they acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah. When Judas addressed Jesus he called him, Rabbi. He did not acknowledge Jesus as his Lord. Could this be a tell regarding why Judas was willing to turn Jesus over because he did not believe Jesus to be the Messiah, that he too believed Jesus to be a blasphemer?

Jesus’ response to Judas was an affirmation of truth: “You have said so” (Mt 26:25).

Jesus offered this affirmative response two other times, confirming each time the truth presented to him by another. When Caiaphas asked if he was the Messiah and then later with Pilate when he asked Jesus if he was the king of the Jews. In answering in the affirmative to Judas, was Jesus giving him the opportunity to look at himself in the mirror? Jesus knew that Judas would betray him, he did not have to make this point known. Judas could have remained silent, yet he asked, as did the others who went before him. Could he have been contemplating shifting his prior determination of betrayal? Was Jesus inviting Judas to acknowledge what he had agreed to do, confess, change course, and ask for forgiveness?

Judas chose his course of action to betray Jesus, and unfortunately, even with Jesus’ intervention, Judas was not able or willing to stop or change course. Judas fulfilled his agreement with the chief priests to turn Jesus over. Often we set a similar course of action and even when Jesus makes an attempt to intercede on our behalf, we do not slow down enough to hear.

God speaks to us in the silence of our hearts but too often we are focused on or diverted by other things and we do not hear. We can instead allow fear, anxiety, pride, prejudice, a grudge, or anger to be our guide. We can be too blind to see or too determined to do it our own way, regardless of the consequences. Habitual reactions can also be a big challenge. We can also buy into the lie that the momentum is already too strong to turn around. That it is too late to change course.

We need to know in the depth of our being, that it is never too late to change course, to make amends, to repent, and to turn back to God. The first step is being willing to be still or aware enough to hear or see his guidance. The second step is to be willing to look in the mirror and see what Jesus presents to us, accept what we see, and then seek his forgiveness and repent. Yet, sometimes we feel we are digging ourselves into a hole that we can’t escape from. The answer is that we need to just stop digging and put the shovel down. Jesus will meet us in the deepest of the holes we have dug for ourselves and when we are willing to stop, he will but us on his shoulders and lift us out!

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Photo: One way to remember Jesus is with us, is to breathe, slow down, and look up.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the way to become less so God can be more in our lives.

In our Gospel reading from Matthew today, Jesus presents us with the three pillars of Lent: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. With each pillar, he cautions his disciples to resist the temptation of engaging in these spiritual practices so that the focus is on them. Also, each spiritual practice is to not lead to accolades for their efforts.

We, like Jesus’ disciples then, are to embrace the purpose of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting which is to grow in our relationship with God. That means we are to become less and the Trinity is to become more real and realized in our lives. Humility is the virtue that is the antidote to the capital sin of all capital sins – pride.

“Pride is undue self-esteem or self-love, which seeks attention and honor and sets oneself in competition with God” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Glossary/p. 895). We grow in a healthy sense of self when we rest in the truth that we are God’s children and experience his love. Pride is disordered when we seek to put ourself first before God and stand opposed to God, saying we know better than he does. We can do life on our own, thank you very much. When we set ourselves apart from God and seek to determine our own course we remove ourself from the protection and guidance of God and open ourselves up to the other capital sins such as anger/wrath, sloth, gluttony, lust, greed, and envy.

Each of these sins are considered capital in the tradition of the Church because they are at the root of all sins, all disordered affections that can lead us away from the true, the good, and the beautiful that God wants to share with us in our lives. The three pillars of Lent that Jesus shares with us helps us to identify and uncover these sins from our lives because all three help us to repent, to turn back to God by taking the focus off of ourselves and returning it back to God where it belongs.

When we make the time to pray, to slow down and allow ourselves to be loved by God, we will experience his peace and rest. We may also then get in touch with any unresolved issues, places in need of healing, that when left unidentified and denied, can lead to reactions and unintended outbursts. Prayer helps us to grow in the virtue of patience which counters the sin of anger.

Putting into action each of these pillars will help us to counter sloth which is more than physical laziness although our spiritual apathy can grow from physical laziness. Making a firm resolve to put into practice prayer, fasting, and almsgiving this Lent will help us to shake off the wet blanket of sloth. Fasting is the surest way to counter the sins of gluttony and lust which are both a disordering of our appetites for sensual pleasures. As we fast we will grow in the virtues of temperance and chastity. The practice of giving alms and willing the good of our neighbors counters the selfish grasping of greed and envy. When we practice being generous and kind and trust that God will truly provide for our every need, we will find less temptation to grasp and hold on and seek the downfall of others.

Jesus’ words help us to check in as we begin this Lent. Even if each Lent we have put into practice prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we need to take a deeper look at our motives. We give to others not “to win the praise of others”, not even to receive thanks, but specifically because another is in need. We pray, not “that others may see” us, to puff ourselves up, but to empty ourselves into the arms of our Father, recognizing how dependent on him we really are. We fast not “to look gloomy like the hypocrites”, so to draw attention to ourselves, but we fast to discipline ourselves from any unbridled passions and pleasures. We recognize that our discipline comes from acknowledging that apart from God we can do nothing and only with God that all things are possible.

Today as we receive our ashes, and even if there are those reading who do not (even if you are not Catholic, you may!), we are reminded that from dust we have come and to dust, we will return. We are created, finite beings, that are given a limited time to live our life on this earth. This is important to acknowledge so that we resist the temptation of taking our life, the gift of our time on this earth, for granted. We will enjoy our lives more if we are grateful for each moment, and don’t take ourselves too seriously.

We are also reminded to repent and believe in the Gospel. Jesus, can help us to recognize and be contrite for our sinful thoughts, words, and actions and reveal to us the empty promises of our distractions, diversions, and temptations. Through our participation in almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, we turn back to the source of our lives. We will experience and better identify our restlessness, and seek not satisfaction in the finite, material things that will not last, but come to recognize that our fulfillment comes only when we find our true rest in the One who has made us for himself, our loving God and Father who awaits us with arms wide open.

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Photo: “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” Me we all do so this Lent and come out holier than we enter!

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, February 18, 2026

We are summoned, taught, and sent each day.

The rejection of Jesus by those in his hometown did not slow down his mission. We can imagine that Jesus knew what he was going to do already, but en route wanted to stop by to see if any from his “native land” would like to participate in his public outreach. Apparently, no one, or only a very few, those who were healed by him, did. Jesus, as he does throughout the Gospel of Mark moves on without missing a beat, much like Mary going in haste to bring the good news to Elizabeth. Jesus’ next move was when he, “summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits” (Mk 6:7).

Could the rejection of the people of Nazareth then also have been a preparation for the sending of the Twelve? They had experienced his exorcisms, teaching with authority, forgiveness, healings, the reaction of the crowds, as well as the push back from the religious authorities, as well as many from his hometown. He then sent “them out  two by two.” The implication is that he gave special instruction to each pair as he sent them.

John and Jesus began their public ministries with the preaching of repentance. The Twelve did the same. They brought the light of Christ so their recipients could see the sins, attachments, and idols they needed to turn away from, to turn  back to God, and they invited the people to give their whole hearts and minds to God.

We have been accompanying Jesus and his disciples through each chapter. The word of God is living and alive and Jesus still reaches out and calls us as he called the Twelve. He is teaching us to repent, helping us to see where we are in need of healing, forgiveness, how to meditate and pray, and forgive. Jesus is showing us not only areas where we need growth but also the charisms that God has shared with us.

At the end of each Mass, we are sent, just as the Apostles, to proclaim the Good News! All of us, as the Body of Christ, believers in Jesus the Christ, those of us baptized into his death, are to live as his disciples and bear witness to how he has transformed our lives. This is best done when we have the humility to repent and place God at the center of our lives. Jesus gives us each a unique call of evangelization with a particular charism and gift that the Holy Spirit imparts within us at our Confirmation.

Jesus calls, educates, and empowers us for mission. We are sanctified, made holy – set apart, when we say yes to his invitation, participate in his sacramental life, and follow the will of his Father. Jesus not only teaches with authority, but he also calls and sends us with that same authority. We are to rely on the divine providence of our Father. He prepares us and provides that which we need to accomplish the task he has given, and he will also send the Holy Spirit and others to provide help, aid, guidance, and support. We see this over and over again in the lives of the Apostles and each generation of saints thereafter.

At first sight, we may not agree with God’s choosing. Me, really? Yet, we only need to recall what he accomplished with the Apostles, remembering the imperfections of each apostle and their simple beginnings. Just as mustard seeds, that grew to mighty bushes, the Apostles grew. What wonders they accomplished in Jesus’ name. God does not see as we do, for we are often misled by appearances “or lofty stature” but God sees into the depths of the heart (cf 1 Samuel 16:7).

Ultimately it is not about us after all. It is about our willingness to be open to and led by God and to work arm in arm with those he has invited us to walk with. That makes all the difference. We do not to go forward alone. We are called to be in community as the Body of Christ. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two in the beginning, so that they could provide mutual support, guidance, encouragement, prayer, and accountability. We each begin best each day by making time to be still, to breathe, receive, rest, and abide in God’s love, listen to or read his word and receive his guidance. Then we begin, step by faithful step, walking with our brothers and sisters following the light that Jesus shines before us.

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Photo: Seminarian chapel at Mundelein Seminary. Latin on the left – Nolite Timere: Be not afraid and on the right – Duc In Altum: Into the Deep. As disciples we are not to be afraid and we are to go into the deep just as Peter and the Apostles did.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, February 5, 2026

Let us repent, rise from the darkness and walk into the light of Jesus.

“The people who sit in darkness have see a great light” (Matthew 4:16).

Matthew is quoting the prophet Isaiah and the darkness he is referring to was the fall of Zebulun and Naphtali, the first two of the ten tribes of Israel that were conquered by the Assyrians in around 722 BC. The other eight tribes of Israel would also fall. The two tribes of Judah remained for a time, but then in 587 BC, Jerusalem, the capital city, along with the Temple, were also destroyed. The last two of the original twelve tribes of Israel were also conquered. The promise of an everlasting kingdom from David’s line appeared to be lost.

Not so. A great light would come, the Messiah, one greater than Moses would be sent by God to unite again the twelve tribes of Israel. The Kingdom of David would be re-established, this time – forever. A glimmer of hope arose in 538 BC when Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and freed Judah and sent them back to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. Cyrus was a liberator, but not the promised Messiah.

What Matthew did not share in this part of his Gospel was the next promise that Isaiah made: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:5).

As Christians we believe this child promised to become the Prince of Peace, is Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God. In the gospel today, Matthew records the beginning of his public ministry which began with the arrest of John the Baptist. Jesus has come from the northern region, Galilee to be baptized by John. Now with his arrest, the political climate in Jerusalem seems a bit too hot. Jesus “withdrew to Galilee… in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali” (Mt. 4:12-15).

Wait a minute – Zebulun and Naphtali? Yep. Jesus is going back to the beginning where the fall of the ten tribes of Israel first began. Makes sense since he came to restore and re-establish and re-unify the twelve tribes of Israel. He did not only come to restore but to establish the new Israel. That is what we see in the next verses in which Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James and John, the first of the, wait for it – twelve apostles.

Just as the twelve tribes of Israel began with the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel, the new Jerusalem will begin with the twelve apostles. By our baptism, we are heirs and members of the new Israel, the Body of Christ. Yet, we don’t have to look far to see the seeds of disunity and division still festers like a plague. Just as David unified the twelve tribes, for them only to be divided after one generation, we too suffer division and polarization in our nation, church, families, and friends.

Paul experience this in one the church’s he founded in Corinth. In our second reading, he appeals to them: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose” (I Corinthians 1:10). We are to be united in the love of Christ. Jesus is the light that shines in our darkness of division.

We can easily fall into despair with the disunity and polarization, we can feel like people sitting in darkness and overshadowed by death on every side. Yet, we are not overcome. Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. And his antidote to the darkness? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17).

Jesus’ message is as simple as it is clear. Jesus is the kingdom of heaven that is at hand and he is continuing to establish the new Israel that will be fulfilled in the heavenly kingdom. He is present among us revealing with his gentle light another way, one of harmony and peace. When we allow ourselves to breathe, receive, rest, and abide in the love of Jesus, when we become less so Jesus can become more, we experience his love, consolation, and joy. If we are not, there may be something we need to repent from, reject, something to heal from, and/or something to let go of.

The light of Jesus will guide us through our darkness and when we follow, will lead to our healing, forgiveness, and freedom. We can retreat further into the shadows and feed anxiety, doubt, or fear. We can also choose to repent, leave the darkness, and come into the light. Each thought, word, and action contributes to fostering the present darkness or to the light that will overcome it. Hopefully, with each choice, we trust more in Jesus.

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Photo: When we are willing to see, Jesus shines in our darkness.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, January 25, 2026

 

Jesus invites us to follow him, to repent, and to be healed.

Jesus gives face to the living word of God come down from heaven to transform his people as he continues to teach with authority and offer healing. In today’s account of Mark, Jesus calls his fifth disciple, Levi. The key difference with this call of Levi and the four fisherman is Levi’s occupational hazard.

Tax collectors were disliked, even despised by many in ancient Palestine because they were considered unclean, and categorized along with lepers and sinners. They were cast in this net because the tax collector had a responsibility to pay a fixed amount to the occupying power of Rome. This in itself was bad enough because their own countrymen were colluding with the enemy. What made matters worse was that too many kept as a commission anything collected over and above that fixed amount. The majority of the population, barely getting by, paying a temple tax, and the Roman tax, then finding out their local tax collector was taking more than their fair share, did not make for feelings of endearment.

Jesus surprises all who had come to hear him teach when he not only invites Levi, also known as Matthew, to follow him but then they have dinner together. We are witnessing yet again another healing miracle. Jesus provides an opportunity of bridging divides by inviting someone to his inner circle, to turn away from one way of life to begin anew, to: “Repent and believe in the gospel” (cf. Mk 1:15). The Pharisees question his choice of table fellowship, not to Jesus directly but by seeking an answer from his disciples. The location of both the Pharisees and disciples is not clear. Are they a part of this gathering of the meal or both at a distance, observing?

They could not have been at too great a distance though because Jesus could hear their concerns and responded to them: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mk 2:17). The Pharisees, and possibly some of his disciples, were not a part of the intimacy of this communion because of their own unwillingness to accept those that Jesus invited to share a meal, to accept that they too were sinners also in need of healing.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus forgives and offers mercy to all who are willing to be aware of his invitation to fellowship. In our humility to recognize our sins and repent, we receive healing and transformation, and are like Levi and his friends offered the opportunity to grow in relationship and participate in communion with the one who is ushering in the kingdom of God. This is a foreshadowing of the last supper and the celebration of the Mass.

We too are invited as sinners to join the banquet, to be in fellowship with Jesus. As Levi was called, we are given an opportunity to begin again, to leave behind anything that separates us from God and one another and follow Jesus, who came that we might be forgiven and healed.

As with many Gospel passages, today’s offers a wonderful opportunity to place ourselves in the scene. Mark presents Jesus teaching the people though he again does not tell us anything about what he shared. Knowing what follows, we might think about and ask ourselves, “What might Jesus have taught before going to Levi at the custom’s post?” Could he have been talking, as in his parallel account of Matthew (Levi), about how Amos preached that God desires mercy and not sacrifice (Mt 9:12)?

Let us read this passage slowly a few times (Mark 2:13-17) and meditate upon these words of God that are “living and effective.” Then as Jesus moves to the custom post, follow him, and the others in our imagination. What is our honest reaction to Jesus calling the tax collector, Levi? Are there sins that others commit that we find easy to forgive, others that we find hard to forgive? As the scene shifts to the breaking of the bread at this dinner, do we dive in with this motley crew, stay at a distance, or walk away?

God’s words are living. May we not only read them, but also meditate upon and pray with them so that we may be transformed by them. May we also encounter Jesus in this passage, be willing to listen to him speak to us in the silence of our hearts, and become one of or deepen our commitment as his disciples. This is a wonderful spiritual practice that can bring us much joy, forgiveness, healing, and deeper communion with the Divine Physician and healer of our souls. No RSVP needed, just come, open up your Bible, and join the feast!

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Painting: Jesus’ “mission is not to vindicate those who keep the law, and condemn the rest; rather, it is to offer the healing of which all people are in need” (Healy, 61).

Healy, Mary. The Gospel of Mark. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, January 16, 2025

Jesus is the light that will lead us out of our darkness.

Yesterday, we celebrated the Epiphany, in which the three magi encountered Jesus. They left changed, no longer following a star to find a king, but bearing the light of Christ from their encounter. Next Sunday we will recall the Baptism of Jesus by John. Today the daily readings jump ahead to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. John the Baptist has been arrested. He must decrease as Jesus increases.

Jesus inaugurates his ministry echoing the words of John’s ministry: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17). John prepared the way for the Kingdom to come, Jesus himself, in his person, is the Kingdom of heaven. Heaven is not so much a place but a state of communion with God, and who better to embody the reality of heaven than the Son of God in our midst. He who remained fully divine, in communion with his Father, while becoming human and living among us.

Jesus proclaimed his promise of the Kingdom to his people who were suffering. He is the one who has been promised. Jesus is the fulfillment of their greatest hope. Matthew summarized the ministry of Jesus thus: “He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people” (Mt 4:23).

Jesus provided hope and healing to those who were losing hope, struggling, and in pain. Jesus taught with authority, providing light that if they were willing to follow would lead them out of their darkness. He did so through not only being the Kingdom in their midst, not only being their light to guide their way, but also being the way, the truth, and the life embodied. He empowered and freed them from their slavery to the sin that kept them bound. He helped them to see that they could not be enslaved by anyone or anything. Jesus helped the people to see that what kept them bound was their separation from God.

Jesus did not only come to the people of Galilee two thousand years ago. His message is offered for everyone. Jesus proclaims his message again to us today, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17). There is no better new year’s resolution to begin with than this! Jesus is still present to us, providing hope and healing, providing his presence of love and mercy, providing his teaching which shines a light in our darkness. We too can rise up a follow his light and be freed from our slavery to our own selfishness and sin. As we decrease and allow Jesus to increase, we too like the wise men will be changed. We too can share Christ as we live our lives differently this year.  A life that expresses love, understanding, patience, mercy, and forgiveness.

Photo: Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, IL.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, January 5, 2025

“No. He will be called John.”

Zechariah had not spoken since the time he encountered the angel Gabriel. Gabriel shared with Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth, though barren and past childbearing age, would give birth to a son and his name would be called John. The time for the fulfillment of Gabriel’s prediction had now come to pass, Elizabeth gave birth, and with friends and relatives gathered around on the eighth day for his circumcision and naming. Elizabeth announced that her son will be named John. Those with her balked, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name” (Lk 1:61).

There may also be some hesitancy because John, or יוֹחָנָן, Yôḥanan in Hebrew, means one who is graced by God. Who did Elizabeth think she was naming her son by this sacred name? They then appealed to Zechariah. He supported his wife by writing on a tablet that “John is his name.” Zechariah confirmed Elizabeth’s words and: “Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God” (Lk 1:63-64).

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah spoke what we call today the Benedictus or Canticle of Zechariah, the beginning lines of which read: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; for he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of his servant David” (Lk 1:68-69).

Zechariah did not proclaim that John was the Messiah. As Christians, we believe that Micah prophesied that John was to be the herald of the Messiah. He prepared the way for the coming of the Lord. The Benedictus, like the Magnificat, is a song of great promise. This is why the Church proclaims that they are to be prayed every day in the recitation of the Book of Christian Prayer or the Liturgy of the Hours. We are living in the time of its fulfillment.

The year 2025 A.D. does not stand for after the death of Jesus, it stands for anno domini, in the year of our Lord. We live in the in between times of Jesus’ first coming as we prepare for his next coming. We live in great joy because we can prepare to receive Jesus everyday. This is why St. Paul wrote to the Philippians, we are “to rejoice always.” No matter the external circumstances or internal angst, our Lord Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God is at hand. Jesus has come to forgive, heal, accompany and deliver, give us guidance and strength. Jesus has come to save us!

In the midst of continuing violence, war, polarization, endless forms and acts of dehumanization, fear, and growing anxiety, we will celebrate again this Thursday. We will celebrate Christmas, the reality that the Son of God agreed to draw close to us. To become human, to die, and conquer death so that he can be with us and lead us into eternity. John helped to prepare the way to receive Jesus by calling people to repentance. May we seek his intercession as we prepare well in these final days of Advent so to better remember and celebrate again the reason for the season. Our Savior has come. Sin, suffering, and death no longer have the final answer. Jesus does.

May we heed the call of John and Jesus to repent so that we may be freed from our entanglements with sin, receive God’s forgiveness, and so better experience his grace and love. May we let go of anything that separates us from our relationship with God and resist the temptation to curve in upon ourselves which leads us to death. Let us turn away from our pride and the false promise of self sufficiency and instead depend upon and place our trust in Jesus who offers us eternal life. Each and every day, with the courage of John, let us prepare the way of the Lord and “give people knowledge of salvation” that Jesus is at hand so that God may “guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Photo: St. Elizabeth and John the Baptist by Krysten Brown, The Saints Project

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, December 23, 2025

In choosing God’s will, we will experience more peace and love.

Although the chief priests and elders evaded the question about whether or not John’s baptism was “of heavenly or human origin” (see Mt 21:26) by saying, “We do not know” (Mt. 21:27), Jesus did not let them off the hook. His intent was not to call them out or prove himself right, but to call them to conversion. Jesus, as he does with all he meets, seeks to shine a light on where our hearts and minds are in need of opening and expanding.

And so, in today’s account from Matthew, Jesus offers the Parable of the Wicked Son. The first son says he will not do the will of his father and then changes his mind and does it. The second son said that he would do the work his father asked him to do but did not. “”Which of the two did his father’s will?’ They answered, ‘The first'” (Mt 21:31). Jesus went on to reveal to the priests and elders how those who sinned had indeed gone against his Father’s will, but heard John, came to him for baptism and were willing to repent. They recognized they were off course and made a correction. The priests and elders, saw no need for John’s baptism for themselves, and in also rejecting Jesus, were not only going against God’s will, but his Son.

These men who stood before Jesus and challenged him were likely received the call received by the Pharisees and Sadducees: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath” (Mt 3:7)? For they, like the chief priests and elders, were not interested in repenting, they thought themselves well and good, thank you very much.

Jesus not only compared them to the second son who did not follow the will of God, but he also said that the “tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom” (Mt. 21:31) before they would. If their hearts were hardened before, the grip only tightened. They did not take kindly to Jesus’ invitation to repent.

The call for repentance that John, Jesus, and the Apostles all proclaimed was, and still continues to be, an invitation to experience God’s grace and love. We are good but something has gone terribly wrong and we need to set things right. Jesus is the one to help us to do just that. We just need to be willing to admit there is a problem. We need to come to the awareness that Paul came to, when he wrote: “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate” (Romans 7:15).

If we think we are fine and not in need of any help, let alone that are we in need of a savior, then we are going to  keep coming back to Paul’s anguish as he pulled out what little hair he had left. We can’t white knuckle our way to healing, there is no three point plan that will free us from our sin, breathing deep alone will not help us to experience freedom from anxiety.

We have to place ourselves first, less, and Jesus first, more. The more we make that transition, then we can also say with Paul, and keep a little more hair while doing so, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians, 2:20). When we are willing to repent, to change our mind, and are willing to be transformed, then like the first son, we will follow the will of the Father. Instead of isolation and unrest, we will come to experience more of his communion and love.

Photo: We still have time this Advent to repent and experience our Father who loves and thirsts for us.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Elijah, the prophets, and John prepared the way for Jesus the Way.

The disciples who asked the question, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” (Mt 17:10) were Peter, James, and John, who had just witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. They were walking down from the Mount of Transfiguration, tradition identifying this mountain as Mt. Tabor, and the context of the question had to do with, Moses and Elijah, who they saw with Jesus as he revealed to them his divinity.

As the disciples were attempting to digest this Mystery of the Transfiguration just witnessed, they were drawn back to what they knew. Most likely what they were referring to were the accounts in the Books of Sirach and Malachi. In Sirach 48:10, we too can read that, “You [Elijah] are destined, it is written, in times to come to put an end to the wrath before the day of the Lord, to turn back the hearts of the fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.” In the last chapter of the Book of Malachi, which is incidentally the last lines of the Christian Old Testament ordering of the canon, are the words: “Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I enjoined upon him on Horeb, the Statutes and ordinances for all Israel. Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day” (3:22-23).

Moses in this encounter represents the Torah, the Law or Teachings, and Elijah represents the line of prophets. Elijah also, as we can read in 2 Kings 2:11, was taken up by God into heaven, amid “a flaming chariot and flaming horses… and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind”, and, it was believed, that he was to return again at the appointed time of the Messiah’s coming. Jesus clarified for his disciples that John was indeed the new Elijah. In the revealing of his divinity to Peter, James, and John, Jesus showed that he was the fulfillment of the salvific paths forged by Moses, Elijah, the line of prophets, and John the Baptist.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets as well as our fulfillment. We are invited to prepare the Way of the Lord in our hearts and minds, to become less so that Jesus can become more, as well as to help prepare the way for others. When I began to attend church again in my late teens, I went to the Congregational Church that was about a half-mile walk from our home. At the end of that first service I attended, the interim pastor made an appeal for Sunday School teachers.

One of the things he said was that we do not know who Jesus’ Sunday School teacher was and he referenced that we could be teaching Jesus and not be aware. He was not speaking literally but his point rang true: we have the responsibility to continue to pass on the Greatest Story ever told. Also, his appeal was an avenue for the Holy Spirit to speak through him to me, and although I refused the invitation the first week, I accepted the following week. What might Jesus be inviting you to do this Advent? Trust in him and his invitation.

My trusting in the nudge of the Holy Spirit and “yes”, to teaching Sunday School, not knowing the first thing about what I was doing, thinking I was too young and way too inexperienced, both true, would eventually lead me back home to the Catholic Church, to the Franciscans, then leaving and to marriage, becoming a step-father, school teacher, permanent deacon, and now as I am typing, blessed to  be serving as a priest.

Let us all take heed of the invitation from the prophets and John the Baptist, summed up by Jesus, and carried on by the Apostles: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). My journey has not come to an end and neither has your’s.
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Photo: Blessed to experience an Advent day of reflection and prayer with my brother priests at Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center. We can notice the kingdom of heaven at hand, when we are still and repent.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, December 13, 2025