sacrifice

She gave all.

In the Gospel of Luke, we return to the widow we read about recently. She came to the Temple in Jerusalem as others came to share their offerings. These offerings were placed in the Shofar-chests in the Court of Women near the Temple. Scholars recognize that there were thirteen chests and each one was for a specific offering that ranged from annual dues, sacrificial offerings, and freewill offerings.

As Jesus pointed out, most of those who were giving, gave out of their excess, but this widow, who most likely had no support as her husband had died, gave all that she had in giving her last two coins. What her offering was for or why, we do not know, but in doing so, she showed a radical trust in God. She did not even hold back one of the coins. She instead gave all.

The widow sacrificed all she had, as did another, the widow of Zarephath, who gave her last oil and flour to Elijah (see 1 Kings 17:7-24). Each of them as well as all those who have trusted and been faithful to God throughout the ages followed the commandment of Jesus to love God with their whole heart, mind, soul, and strength and their neighbor as themselves. They resisted the temptations that could have lead them astray and instead placed all their trust and faith in God.

There are many distractions and diversions that can lead us astray, temptations from without and within. A false security in wealth is one Jesus talks about often. Jesus himself would give even more. He gave all of himself, holding nothing back as he gave himself on the cross. Jesus died for us so that we can be free to give.

There are those of his followers that were willing to do the same such as St. Andrew Dung-Lac and 116 others whose memorial we celebrate today because from 1820-1862 they were willing to give their lives in Vietnam. May they and those who have gone before us, the triumphant saints who now reign with Jesus Christ our King, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, intercede for, guide, and empower us. May we allow ourselves to be drawn by the tender chords of the Holy Spirit’s love to grow in trust and be as faithful to God as they were.

Painting: “The Widow’s Mite” by James C. Christensen

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, November 24, 2025

We enter the narrow gate by growing in love.

He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough” (Lk 13:24).

Jesus offered this answer to the person who asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” Jesus’ parables about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven (cf Mt 19:24) and the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31) also reveal to us that what we say and do in our lives regarding the welfare of others matter. Are we building walls or bridges regarding our relationship with God and one another, are we including or excluding?

There are many distractions, diversions, and temptations that pull at us. When we give in to them, we can strain or even break our relationships. Jesus said many will not be strong enough, and on our own he is right. St Paul also realized this, for he wrote, “I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil that I do not want” (Romans 7:19). How many of us could say the same?

Relationships are not easy in the best of circumstances, this is true on the human level as well as the spiritual. St Teresa of Avila, the 16th-century Spanish saint and doctor of the Church, shared openly and honestly with Jesus once after being thrown from a carriage into a mud puddle, “If you treat your friends so poorly, it is no wonder that you have so few!” I relate to the honesty of this quote. My maternal grandparents had the same kind of open, unfiltered relationship with each other. To an outsider looking in, they would have missed the depth of love they had developed for one another for over sixty years and which continued to grow into their last days.

Authentic relationships demand that we go through the narrow gate of love. Love is more than mere sentiments, emotions, or feelings. We must grow in our willingness to sacrifice, be committed, understanding and forgiving, to be present, patient, willing to risk being vulnerable, honest, respect boundaries, and share who we truly are with one another, free of any pretense or masks. On our own, we are not strong enough to persevere, often our insecurities seek to keep us unbalanced, but with God, we will remain faithful and grounded.

Regarding marriage, my grandmother told me to take the time we needed to get to know each other, but once we knew, not to wait too long. We didn’t. JoAnn and I were married six months after we started dating. Each of us brought our own baggage, wounds, and made plenty of mistakes, into our relationship, yet each year was better than the one before because we remained committed to God and to each other. We became more patient and understanding, we empowered and were there for each other. Each of the crossroads that arose over our twenty-three years, we chose the narrow gate. We loved Jesus and each other and that made all the difference.

Jesus is the relationship we need to develop first and foremost. That means other people and things will not be able to remain. This is good news, because that which will not remain is not for our good. Growing in our relationship with Jesus takes time and commitment, and doing so will help us to properly order our other relationships as well as all aspects of our lives. Our Father is our foundation and strength and the Holy Spirit is our guide. God continually invites us with his tender chords of love to draw closer into relationship with him and so to better grow closer in relationship with one another.

Photo: Because our relationship and commitment with Jesus grew, so did our relationship and commitment with one other.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Jesus has entered into and experienced suffering to free us from our own suffering.

Jesus asked his disciples about who people said that he was and Peter, through the revelation of God answered, “the Christ of God” (Lk 9:20). Jesus then responded that “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised” (Lk 9:22).

The point of who Jesus is never gets old. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus, we come to a deeper understanding of Peter’s words.

Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Yet, that meant many things to many people who were awaiting the coming of the Messiah. For most, they were hoping for a military leader to come to lead them and overthrow their Roman occupiers. As soon as Peter made his statement, Jesus clarified what kind of Messiah that he would be, a suffering servant. Peter had trouble with understanding this and he represents us as well. One of the points of faith many of us struggle with is the same as Peter, why did Jesus have to suffer?

Jesus was willing to be sent by his Father to become human and to experience all of humanity, even the suffering of our humanity, because only that which Jesus assumed could he redeem. Also, in experiencing our suffering, even unto death, we can know without hesitation or doubt that Jesus understands our struggles and anguish. And that means we are never alone in our suffering.

The reality is that the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, is Jesus. He is the suffering servant, the One willing to give his life on the Cross for all of humanity and creation. Jesus did not do this in some abstract way. He died for each and every human being that has lived, is now living, now reading these words, or ever will live. He died for you because he loves you.

Jesus “died in body through a love greater than anyone had known” (St. Bernard). Are we not only willing to receive his love but also suffer and sacrifice for one another, some of us even unto death as did St. Cosmas and St. Damian whose memorial we celebrate today? Our discipleship will be ultimately expressed in this radical love, in our willing the good of each other no matter the cost. We must be willing to let our hearts be moved with compassion and as St. Mother Teresa taught by, “Giving until it hurts.”

To give until it hurts means allowing our hearts to be open to love. For our hearts to be open to the pain of another means we need to be healed. The Divine Physician seeks to remove our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh. This divine surgery happens at the Cross when we are willing to bring our suffering to Jesus whose arms are wide open and ready to embrace us.

The Suffering Servant understands and experiences our pain. He can help us to experience instead of run from our pain. There is no way to cover up, go around, sidestep, and/or deny, our suffering. It will remain until we face and experience it head on. But we don’t have to do so alone, nor can we. For what Jesus has assumed he will redeem. When we are ready and at the pace, we are willing to go, Jesus will provide healing. As we are healing, we are then able to experience more empathy and compassion, to suffer with, to love others, and walk with them on their own journey toward healing, toward receiving the love we all have been made for.

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Photo: Just as the sun is present even as clouds gather, Jesus is present in our time of suffering.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, September 26, 2025

“Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” Matthew 20:22

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

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

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

Jesus’ third statement of his imminent suffering and death appears to be ignored by or it goes over the heads of James and John, again, as well as their mother. The other ten are indignant, not because of the apparent lack of acknowledging Jesus’ upcoming passion, but because they entered into a free for all for position of which of them would be the greatest! It is easy to imagine how chaotic this scene quickly escalated! Saint John Chrysostom offered this insight: “See how imperfect they all are: the two who tried to get ahead of the other ten, and the ten who were jealous of the two” (Chrysostom 1975, 1552)!

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

The right and left that James and John asked for, Jesus shared was not his to give. That assignment would come directly from the Father. He also said, “You do not know what you are asking” (Matthew 20:22). For if James and John did, they would have thought twice about asking him. The ones who would assume the right and left were the two thieves on either side of him as Jesus was lifted up on the cross.

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

Listening happens when we look up, put the phone, paper, or magazine down, turn away from the computer and/or turn off the tv. Then as we take a few breaths, we can open our hearts and minds to listen, and hear. When we learn to listen to God and one another, we will hear where the needs are. When we allow our hearts to be moved with compassion, we will be more willing to truly love by sacrificing and serving one another.

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

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

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

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, July 25, 2025

Jesus invites us to share in his divinity.

“Here I am” (Genesis 22:1)!

Abraham said this twice in today’s account from the book of Genesis. The first time was when God called Abraham to offer his son, Isaac, up as a sacrifice and the second time was when God’s angel called out to Abraham asking him to not offer his son as a sacrifice.

Hopefully, we have not become dulled by hearing this story before. This is a horrific act that God is requesting of Abraham. This would not be a natural response from our place of time and experience. Yet, for Abraham, he would have known of those who would have killed their children by offering them to the gods of the people of the land of Canaan. God meets Abraham in his own history of time and place.

God reached out to Abraham in a way that he would understand, but that still did not lessen the sacrifice that Abraham was willing to make. He and his wife Sarah were childless for decades, and God promised to give them a son way beyond child bearing years. God followed through on his promise and now God was asking Abraham to give Isaac back as a “holocaust”, a full burnt offering. Despite the anxiety and trepidation that Abraham must have experienced, he heard God’s call clearly and followed without hesitation. He left the next morning.

Isaac also had a part to play. We do not know his age, most likely a young teenager, but we know he is old and strong enough to carry the wood for the burnt offering on his back. Isaac was carrying the wood upon which he would be offered up. Isaac allowed himself to be bound with no account of his resistance to his binding and placed on the wood where he would give his life. He was clearly strong enough to stop his elder father and get away but accepted that he would be the sacrifice. God, through his angel, stopped Abraham from doing what God himself would do with his own Son.

God sent, his only begotten Son to become human and live the fullness of a human life. Jesus, like Isaac, would carry the wood of his sacrifice, most likely the cross beam of his cross. He also passively submitted to those nailing him to the cross. As St. Paul wrote, “He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all” (Romans 8:32) was no generic or abstract sacrifice. God our Father sent his Son to die as a sacrifice by taking upon himself the full weight of each of our individual sins. Jesus was willing to follow the will of God all the way to his death.

How often have we taken the time to ponder this reality, that God was willing to give his only begotten Son for us and that Jesus was willing to give his life for us? Not in some abstract way, but personally. Jesus died for you and for me. Jesus seeks an intimate relationship with us, just as he did with Peter, James, and John.

In today’s gospel account, Jesus took these three up the mountain and revealed his divine personhood to them. This, as his miracles, was to reveal a foretaste of the fullness of the coming kingdom. The transfiguration was also an opportunity to empower and strengthen Peter, James, and John for the trial to come in which Jesus would willingly, like Isaac, go to be sacrificed. The only difference is that Jesus would not be spared, he would give his life on the Cross for us all. Jesus has given us everything of himself, holding nothing back.

The willingness of Jesus to give his life, expresses the fullness of our theological virtues: faith, hope, and love. He had faith in his Father, he trusted his Father. Even though he did not fully understand in his humanity the fullness of what his death meant, he had faith and so said, not my will but yours. From that faith in his Father, he had hope and could continue with allowing himself to be arrested, beaten, tortured, and crucified. Even on the Cross when he felt the separation between himself and his Father, he still had hope that God would bring about a greater good.

That greater good would become our salvation and the salvation of the world. Jesus gained for us access to the trinitarian communion of Love. God was willing to sacrifice his only Son, his Son was willing to be sacrificed, so that we human beings made in our Father’s image and likeness could be restored to our original glory by the love shared between them, God the Holy Spirit. The glory of the Lord, that Jesus revealed to Peter, James, and John is now available to us because Jesus became one with us in our humanity, to suffer and die for us so that we can experience his divinity.

We participate in the transfiguration of Jesus and enter into the trinitarian communion of love that each of the three persons of the Trinity share when we are willing die to our fallen and selfish nature and choose to love one another as God loves us.

The three pillars of Lent, prayer, fasting, and alms giving, all help us with this process. As we choose to make time to pray, we are putting God first by answering his invitation to do so and spend time with him. When we fast from food and activities, we come to see that there is more to us than just the physical. The physical is good, but without temperance and restraint we can slip into attachment and addiction. Fasting can free us from both. As we give alms, we choose to see other’s needs above our own, and are willing to provide for them. We are also better able to discern between our needs and wants. In doing so, our sacrifice becomes tangible, and we are putting our love into action.

We participate in these three acts of penance so we can better see the temptations and diversions of this world that are leading us away from God and who he calls us to be. As we are able to repent from and remove those obstacles, we can, like Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, better hear the word of our Father and act upon it. Hopefully then, each Lent we grow more in the gifts that God has given us at our Baptism: faith, hope, and love for God, ourselves, and each other. In this way, throughout the year, we will better be able to hear God call us, and we can say without hesitation, “Hear I am!” And then do his will.

Photo: Taste of the transfiguration during evening prayer Saturday evening, St. Vincent de Paul Chapel, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, February, 25, 2024