Reflection for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

Listen, Obey, Witness

“But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Thank you for joining today as we continue our Ordinary Time journey focused on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus.

This is a perfect time of year for the parable Jesus offers us today, the parable of the sower and the seed.

Top level, this is a growth parable. The sower represents God, and the seed is His message. Just as a planted seed starts to grow, the word of God starts to deepen and grow within a person who is open to it, that is the person who is made up of good soil.

Considering growth, let’s think of our own gardens. Some of us have significant fruit and vegetable gardens, others smaller ones. Some have beautiful flower gardens, others a few evergreen bushes put in years ago which haven’t really been addressed since. Maybe we grow a tomato plant or two in a pot on our deck.

Regardless of situation we know the things we face. Maybe, like me, we have very rocky soil – shale about an inch or two under the soil. Maybe we have a proliferation of thorn bushes, thorny weeds, and brambles. Maybe we drop some seed on the driveway or walkway. 

Nearly every person faces situations. It is rare to find a person who meets God with readied good soil. His word is sprinkled over us as we listen and learn in church. We may even pick up scripture references in TV shows and movies. Yet, that word will have no effect, will bring about no bounty, unless we set to work preparing our soil.

Everyone can listen, or at least hear the word, but we must work to gain understanding by reading and studying the word as well as praying it. Almost anyone can receive the word with joy – be ecstatic about it – but we must keep our focus and concentration on it by placing it into action, living Jesus’ gospel. All of us have rocks and thorns and no, our soil will not be good and ready and productive without hard work.

To be the good soil God needs us to be we must first trust in Him and readily accept His grace. We cannot prepare ourselves in a vacuum. We cannot ask God to wait outside while we tidy up. We need His help and the humility of asking is a necessary step.

Then there is the work we must set to. We cannot just cut back the thorns and brambles that choke God out, we must dig down and pull them out by the root, so they never get in the way – that is repentance from our sins. We cannot just shovel topsoil over the rocks and stones in us, because their exitance will block God’s word from taking full root. We need to get rid of obstacles to God by placing Him first, above all other things and events – really.

God’s word is the seed that contains all life and goodness, peace and joy, comfort, gentleness, and love. We are called to diligence in preparing our good soil to receive life and produce good fruit in the kingdom.

Reflection for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

Listen, Obey, Witness

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy, and My burden light.”

Thank you for joining today as we continue our Ordinary Time journey focused on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus.

This statement of Jesus, concerning taking up of a yoke – a weight, an obligation, a means of being controlled – seems odd. Why would Jesus ask us to do that? Didn’t He come to free us and take the weight of sin off our shoulders? And anyway, I’m not going to allow myself to be obligated to anyone.

First, let’s be honest about Jesus’ statement. Yes, He means we are to submit to His will. We are to turn over control of our lives to Him. We are to allow Him to direct us and take us where He will, not where we will. We are to let Him do this through His Word and His Holy Church.

I can hear people say, well forget that. Who does God and His Church think they are. I can make my own decisions.

Yes, we can make our own decisions, and this decision is a key one because unless we accept the yoke of Jesus, we have no hope of entering His rest.

Is this decision easy? No. It is bad enough when we have to allow someone else to drive us around, much less to have completely surrendered control over our lives to another.

What may help us in reaching the right decision is the metaphor Jesus uses, the yoke itself. The yoke is used throughout scripture as a symbol, but unless we liked Westerns (Wagon Train?) or lived near Amish farmers, we have little practical knowledge of what a yoke is.

A yoke is a binding devise for two animals who walk side-by-side. Oxford Dictionary defines yoke as: ‘a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull.’

You see, Jesus is not asking us to pick up His yoke and put it on our necks and do it all ourselves, for His yoke is Him on one side and us on the other. We are bound together when we accept Jesus and decide to walk in His footsteps, side by side doing His work.

We never go it alone with Jesus. He stands with us, sets to work with us, plows God’s field with us. He tells us that His yoke is easy, and light because He is carrying almost all the weight for us.

If we bind ourselves to Jesus, accepting His yoke, we accomplish great things. Lives are saved, sinfulness is ended, the good news is proclaimed, people accept Jesus and they are made new. The joy we encounter in doing Jesus’ work, at His side, makes even the slightest burden lighter.

Let us then listen to Jesus’ call to the yoke, obey Him by taking it up, and walking with Him witnessing the kingdom, and drawing in those who do not know Him to also take up the yoke.

Reflection for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

Listen, Obey, Witness

“Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent me.”

Thank you for joining today as we continue our Ordinary Time journey focused on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus.

Why does Jesus say such difficult things? It is a common question and a very popular question in our day and age. People pick up the tough sayings of Jesus and say: ‘Look at this – how stupid. He doesn’t’ want me or us to be free. God is not worth believing in because He is mean and controlling.’

Indeed, Jesus does ask much of us. He wants us all-in, completely dedicated to listening to His commands and His way (not my way), to obedience (not going my own way), and to witness to His tough call (do I really have to?). He tells us that this priority is first, even before family. 

We cringe, don’t we, when we hear words like obligation, obedience, duty, sacrifice, submission, requirement, restraint, perseverance, follow, and commandment. I am sure you could think of others. But those are the all-in things Jesus asks of us, to put Him and the Kingdom first.

Jesus asks us to put our old selfish selves and self-interest away and allow ourselves to listen to, obey, and witness to Him above all things.

What does it mean to carry out Jesus’ work, to fulfill our obligation for His having saved and reconciled us and for forever ending death so we might have eternal life? It means that we must level-up our faith. We must work hard to overcome the things that are broken in us and the obstacles and enemies in our way with the help of His grace. We must endeavor to be not just different, but different and ever better.

If we were to draw a map from where we were just a few years earlier, and for older folks perhaps decades earlier, would we be on the same level or have we leveled up?

You may remember the picture of Jesus standing outside a door. If you observe closely, He is knocking but cannot enter on His own. The door on the outside has no doorknob. We must open the door for Jesus. That is where we start leveling up, by letting Jesus in. Unfortunately, too many think they are being progressive, by not only refusing to open the door, but by locking it and barring it. Don’t let Jesus in. I’ll stay where I am. It looks like I am moving, but I’m just falling. Waaaaaaaa…

As we set forth into the days and decades ahead let us resolve to level up. Let us level up our faith, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and our love. Let us let Jesus in and accept His grace and His tough sayings which will make us better than we are today.

To those who say: ‘Look at this – how stupid. Jesus doesn’t’ want me or us to be free. God is not worth believing in because He is mean and controlling,’ we can say: ‘God wants me to succeed, to level up, to listen, obey, and witness and to obtain all His glory.’

Reflection for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

Listen, Obey, Witness

“Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

Thank you for joining today as we begin our Ordinary Time journey and place our focus on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus.

Today we begin in Jeremiah. When we hear the phrase ‘the Lamentations of Jeremiah’ we are reminded of the difficult message he had to bring to a people who would not listen, and the cost he faced for bringing that message.

Let’s set this up a little bit. Just before the opening verse “I hear the whisperings of many: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce! let us denounce him!’Jeremiah had been in the public stocks outside the Temple. The Chief of the Temple police, Pashhur (whose name means freedom and peacefulness) had arrested him, whipped him with thirty-nine lashes, and put him in the stocks. He then let Jeremiah out early. Jeremiah immediately called Pashhur a name: Magor-Missabib, literally ‘Terror on Every Side.’  Jeremiah had no intention of moderating or covering over God’s message. He boldly told the priest and chief of police that destruction was sure to come, and they would be at the center of it. They would be ‘terror on every side.’

Now we hear Jeremiah quoting the people. In mockery they call him Magor-Missabib, ‘Terror on Every Side.’ They try to use God’s words against him. They will watch for any misstep and use it as pretext for destroying Jeremiah and as an excuse for ignoring God. Knowing this Jeremiah again proclaims his faithfulness to God’s message and work.

Jesus tells his disciples that their listening to Him, obeying and carrying out the work of witness He has given them will, just like Jeremiah, not be easy. He also reassures them of God’s attention to and protection of their work. They are valued by God for listening, obeying, and witnessing. To drive the point home, he repeats “do not be afraid” three times.

Brothers and sisters, we are called to an incredible and glorious task. We are asked to listen to, obey, and witness to Jesus and His gospel teaching. We are called to the discipline of the Holy Church and her teachings which are the Holy Spirit’s proclamation to us of all He heard the Son teach (cf. John 14:26, 16:13).

We have choices. Listen, obey, and witness are three components in which we must choose to follow God’s way or go our own way. Choosing God in everyday life and daily encounters has consequences and sometimes they are unpleasant. However, choosing our comfort, convenience, our own way has consequences as well. Jesus – God Himself told us: be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. The evil one leads us in our own ways, in a mirage of freedom which is not freedom at all. Let us choose rightly so Jesus acknowledges us before the Father and does not see us as ‘terror on every side.’

Reflection for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Word of God Sunday 2023

Trust!

Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by His life.

Thank you for joining today as we complete this short time wherein we consider the mysteries of God and His action to save us. This includes the Mystery of the Trinity (two Sundays ago), of the Body and Blood of Jesus (from Thursday the 8th through Thursday the 15th), and the power of God’s Word (today).

From June 4th through today each of these topics is put before us, not so we get some academic explanation of them, but so we can learn of God’s awesome love, His desire for us, His self-revelation, and finally His desire that we trust and love Him in return.

Throughout this mini season we have focused on the connection between mystery and trust and how the Christian life must rejoice at God’s revealed mysteries. Trust is key to our relationship with God.

As you well know, our Holy Church has defined the Word of God proclaimed and taught as a sacrament, and our Church sets aside this first Ordinary Sunday after Lent, Passiontide, Easter, Pentecost, and this mini season as Word of God Sunday. We are called as clergy to make extra effort to enshrine and honor God’s word as an expression of what the Word of God means to us.

First, I would like to recommend that you do something special concerning the Word of God at home tonight, whether it is dusting off an unused Bible, or taking up that one you use regularly to share a special verse with the rest of your family. Perhaps you will think of something else beautiful for yourself and your household. Do it.

Beyond that, on this special day, consider the power of God’s Holy Word and how His Word has instructed us, has brought us into intimacy with Himself. That’s what the 12 were sent to proclaim.

The mystery we consider is defined for us in John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We are told that Jesus is God’s Word, existing eternally and focused on interacting with us.

Jesus, the Word, is God’s self-revelation. We know God through Jesus. The unknowable, unsearchable mystery of God’s life becomes our possession and in knowing Him we are invited into union with Him. As St. Paul tells us, the Word came at the Father’s command to reconcile us, to save us, because it was impossible to do anything of ourselves.

Paul says: how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by His life. This is not something Jesus once did and left the room. Rather He has left us His word to continue to teach us, to help us strive for full on gospel lives, and ultimately trust in what He taught, all documented in His Holy Word.

Reflection for Sunday in the Octave of Corpus Christi 2023

Trust!

Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 

Thank you for joining today as we continue this short time wherein we consider the mysteries of God and His action to save us. This includes the Mystery of the Trinity (last week), of the Body and Blood of Jesus (starting this past Thursday and continuing to this Thursday), and the power of God’s Word (next Sunday).

From last Sunday through June 18th each of these topics is put before us, not so we get some academic explanation of them, but so we can learn of God’s awesome love, His desire for us, His self-revelation, and finally His desire that we trust and love Him in return.

Last week we discussed trust and how trust is established in each of us, and also how trust can be broken. Trust is key to our relationship with God.

It is interesting that Western Christian tradition has somehow moved so far from simple trust. This is not just something that has happened in the past couple hundred years. It is far more long term.

Part of the problem is evident in the Jewish crowd’s reaction to Jesus’ words: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” They had seen the signs. Scripture was being fulfilled before their eyes. They heard His witness and testimony. The thousands had just been fed and Jesus was telling them of far more excellent bread, one that would feed them unto life eternal – yet they wouldn’t believe. They could not trust even in the scriptures they claimed as the guide for all they did.

The early, pristine, evangelical Christians believed. Their belief was untainted. They certainly had thinkers, the Fathers, among them and they could answer the academics – but not with just academics, but with faith based on witness.

Through the centuries academic explanations became more important. Overthink something and place labels on it and we lose mystery and trust in God’s provision. ‘Hey, I can explain it – what do I need God for.’

In the past sixty-one years the Roman Church moved away from symbols of respect for the Blessed Sacrament. For them, it became just a thing which needed no care in handling. As a result, almost 70% of RC’s no longer believe the bread and wine are indeed Jesus fully present. It is sad.

We hold unto the mystery, not in academic explanations, but in what we say and do at each Holy Mass. How we act with reverence – like Jesus is really here – because we know and trust He is. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  Because He is God, and we trust in Him.

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2023

Trust!

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him will not be condemned”

Thank you for joining today as we enter this short time wherein we consider the mysteries of God and His action to save us. This includes the Mystery of the Trinity, of the Body and Blood of Jesus, and the power of God’s Word.

From this Sunday through June 18th each of these topics is put before us, not so we get some academic explanation of them, but so we can learn of God’s awesome love, His desire for us, His self-revelation, and finally His desire that we trust and love Him in return.

Consider trust. How is it that children trust their parents? Where does that trust come from?

Scientists evaluating trust relationships like those of a parent and child (and similarly that of husbands and wives) looked to two sources that helped in establishing trust. 

One source is the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin is responsible for bonding. It is released during breastfeeding and during close contact. When a newborn is first held by a parent, that hormone in their systems is present creating a bond.

The other source important in building trust is the fact that children are naturally inclined to believe what they are told. This natural behavior is designed to save the child’s brain from constantly evaluating everything they hear.

We also know that trust can be easily eroded and eventually lost if a child is repeatedly lied to, is subjected to traumas, is not listened to, if promises are repeatedly broken, is disrespected, and fails to see examples of trust lived by the adults around them.

Trust and mystery are complementary. Indeed, our God is unfathomable. He is beyond our understanding. If we were to reflect on just one aspect of His reality, pure love for instance, we could spend our whole lives focused on it.

Consider our gospel today- God gave His only Son to save us, to pay our sin debt, with a love so perfect it sacrifices everything for us. It is a love so perfect that it exists even where unrequited or outright rejected. It exists even amid oppositional hatred.

God loves us so much that He revealed Himself to us. We get to know God and His way of life, His being, His Triune existence through His Son because in the end God wants us to know Him and be like Him.

Bottom line, God does not ask us to know Him in some technical fashion – how can there be three persons, One God? but rather by trusting in His realty of love. If we know Jesus and the way He loved both the Father and Holy Spirit have been revealed to us for it is one perfect love. So let us know Jesus better and in knowing Him live His way of loving.

Reflection for the Solemnity of Pentecost 2023

Lived Victory!

Holy Spirit, our Comforter, grant us a new vision and a new counsel, new wisdom and fresh understanding, the revival of our piety and the renewal of our fortitude, so we may go forth from this place faithful in service and fruitful in deeds. Establish us in the knowledge of God and in the fear of the Lord that we may see the Kingdom of Heaven upon the earth.

Thank you for joining today as we conclude our Easter joy and set out from here proclaiming: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Throughout the week I was considering the age of the disciples who on this very day became the Apostles of Christ’s Holy Church. They were all in one place together. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

I was thinking about their age because in most artistic renderings (except for St. John the Apostle and Evangelist) they all seem so old. You know how they look, long grey hair and beards, a little stooped over. Then I look at myself – uh oh. 

Jesus’ promise and final words to His disciples are fulfilled with the gift of the Holy Spirit. They came from many places. They were fishermen, tax collectors, ordinary working people like us. No one was fancy – plain old folks like us. They had common names like we do. Except for Paul who was called later, they were not scholars of the Law or Torah, only having a basic education in Jewish Law and practice. We know Peter was married and had a mother-in-law. They were all now Apostles.

Though the Bible does not give the exact ages of these Apostles, it is likely they were all between the ages of 13 and 30 at the time they followed Jesus with John likely the youngest and Peter perhaps one of the oldest since he was already married.

This is all in way to illustrate the exact power of the Holy Spirit, to take each one of us and with our willingness and cooperation to make use of us. Like the Apostles and the women in the upper room we are empowered to proclaim the gospel, to live as Jesus lived, to draw many into the kingdom (3,000 were added the day of Pentecost).

St. Paul tells us what was revealed to him: there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, forms of service, workings. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.

The words I quoted at the beginning of this reflection are taken from the closing prayer of today’s Holy Mass and are a prayer request for what we need to do God’s work.

These gifts are not just for our personal benefit, but rather for the benefit of God’s purpose. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” as Jesus said. As we pray through this Octave and give thanks for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, let us take those words from the closing prayer and make them a reality by laying our lives completely before Jesus so He may use us as He wills. If we trust God at that level, then we shall surely be blessed and the Kingdom will grow.

Reflection for the 7th Sunday of Easter 2023

Lived Victory!

“I revealed Your name to those whom You gave Me out of the world. They belonged to You, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they know that everything You gave Me is from You, because the words You gave to Me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from You, and they have believed that You sent Me.”

Thank you for joining today as we continue in our Easter joy. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Over the past few weeks, we moved from Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances in the gospel passage to excerpts from St. John’s Last Supper narrative between Jesus and His disciples.

John’s Last Supper narrative is a very open and honest (what else could Jesus be?) discourse not just about what was to happen in the immediate aftermath of the Last Supper, that is Jesus’ arrest, torture, crucifixion, death, and burial, but out into the future – the forever future – a future of promise.

Jesus lays out a roadmap from His ministry with the disciples, what He taught them, their experiences of His ministry and miracles to His identity in the Father.

In today’s gospel passage He is bringing all this together in a farewell speech and concluding prayer. This prayer has been called the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus or the Arch Priestly Prayer of Jesus. Interestingly, this is specifically mentioned in the Canon of the Bishop Hodur Rite of the Holy Mass.

Jesus in this prayer is consecrating His followers in the Father. Indeed, Jesus’ whole life’s work was about connecting us to His Father, revealing Him, letting us know about His love, mercy, forgiveness, and thorough and complete healing. We learn, through Jesus, that His sacrifice was designed by the Father to save us. He is now blessing them in the Father.

We are heirs to this knowledge, to this revelation, and to its promises because we have, by God’s choice and the work of the Holy Spirit, accepted Jesus by faith in the same way the first disciples did. Therefore, we are possessors of the same glory Jesus has – the Father’s glory. Because we belong to Jesus we belong to the Father and so we are blessed in both the Father and Son. We have abundant eternal life in an ongoing knowing (being in relationship with) the Father and the Son.

Jesus speaks of the glory His Father will give Him and makes a very fine point about our possessing that same glory because of our unity with Jesus, our belief in Him, and in such our unity with God the Father.

Jesus, also being realistic, knows we remain here, unified with Him, but subject to the trials of the worldly and so He prays for them.

For us all this comes down to who we are, what we possess, and where we are going. As a faithful Christian I am in the Father through Jesus. I have the promise of eternal life. I am headed toward heaven – but there is still work I must do here.

Reflection for the 6th Sunday of Easter and Mother’s Day 2023

Lived Victory!

Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear

Thank you for joining today as we continue in our Easter joy. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Scripture tells us of Peter’s mother-in-law, how Jesus healed her, and how she took care of Jesus and His disciples. Certainly, one of the many amazing, devoted women in Holy Scripture. I must imagine that Peter also had an amazing mom considering the letter that he wrote which we are reflecting on: Be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear.

That is a mom statement if I ever heard one. I can hear my mom saying similar things. You know, those occasions when we are upset, feel misunderstood, or are angry and want to run off and do something not quite smart. Maybe the words were slightly different, yet they were the same: ‘Explain yourself clearly. Use your words. Do things with gentleness and reverence. Honor those you encounter. Do not sin. Act with integrity. Just because someone wronged you does not mean you should do wrong. Have a clear conscience.’

Consider some of the other moms of the Bible. Like our moms they were wonderful examples of devotion to God, His people, and their families.

Jochebed was the mother of Moses and would not let the commands of government overcome her love for her son. She refused to allow him to be killed, hid him, and saved him. Not only did she protect Moses, but she reverently placed his fate in the hands of God when she placed him in the basket in the Nile. Our moms have confidently placed us in the hands of God. They taught us to trust in God over all things.

Hannah was in despair because she was unable to have a child. She was deeply loved by her husband Elkanah, but still longed for a child of her own. Every time Hannah went to the Temple, she poured her heart out to God. God heard her, and she bore a son. Out of gratitude to the Lord, she surrendered her son back to God. Hannah gave her child to God because she knew it was the best she could do for him. Releasing control opened the door for God to do amazing things for Samuel, one of the greatest prophets. Our moms have prayed for us and have given us to God in baptism so that He bless us as well.

The Widow of Zarephath gave what little she had to feed the prophet Elijah. Amid famine and desperation, her reverent faith and trust in God was essential to her and her son’s survival. Later when her son died, she went to Elijah for help, and her son was saved. Our moms have had “famine” seasons where things seemed bleak and hopeless. During those times, they taught us that reverent trust and faith in God overcome even when things don’t make sense.

Elizabeth and Mary reverently surrendered themselves to God’s will even though His way seemed impossible from a human perspective. They act as the premier example of moms who allowed God’s will to be done.

If we have learned from our moms and the moms of the Bible, our ears are opened to what Jesus asks and promises: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Let us honor the special women of our lives by our reverence to God and by living His gospel way of life.