Reflection for the 32nd Ordinary Sunday 2024

So also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.

For seven Sundays this summer we journeyed with Jesus and His apostles coming to understand that we receive Him.

Jesus’ journey continued as He moved from Galilee into Judea and on to Jerusalem. He is now there about a week before His arrest and crucifixion. This is Jesus’ ultimate journey to the sacrifice He would offer for our salvation which the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of. Along the way, Jesus has discussed the many ways we are to apply His presence within us.

Today we hear of God’s great provision. We start in First Kings with Elijah’s visit to the widow of Zarephath. Jesus would speak of this visit and God’s provision when He went back to His hometown of Nazareth. Jesus pointed out to the Nazoreans that this woman acted in faith toward the One true God despite her desperate situation – and because of that she was rewarded. It was not because she was Jewish – in fact she wasn’t. The people of Zarephath worshiped various gods and stone columns. Yet she changed, not based on facts or teaching, but rather based on inspiration. The people of Nazareth refused that inspiration and the asked for change in their lives.

Our witness to Jesus’ presence within us is how we changed in our reactions. For us, we must act as the widow – inspired by trust in God’s mighty provision.

In our Gospel lesson, Jesus points to the trust of the poor widow. He is reinforcing the call to trust. The opposite of that, as Jesus points out, is the self-preservation and the building up of the Scribes egos.

Listen carefully to our prayer over the gifts today where we will hear: May we realize that we are truly rich only when we are truly Yours.

Our witness of trust is best exemplified in our ability to give of ourselves beyond measure, beyond respectability and caution, against practicality. The Letter to the Hebrews points out Jesus’ total self-giving and speaks of our call to eagerly await Him.

Over the next two weeks Jesus speaks of the end times and approaches His crucifixion and death. The journey from Nazareth to Galilee to Judea and Jerusalem comes to completion and we are saved.

Now we await Him, His second coming not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him. How we witness to Him in us and await Him counts. Let us, like the widows, do so unburdened and with trust.

Reflection for the 25th Ordinary Sunday 2024

But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question Him.

For seven Sundays this summer we journeyed with Jesus and His apostles coming to understand that we receive Him. For the rest of Ordinary Time and the special Solemnities of our Church, Jesus discusses applying His presence within us. How do we do it?

Jesus and the apostles are back in Capernaum. They had been journeying again, keeping it on the downlow because Jesus had things He needed to tell His closest collaborators. For the second time He discusses His ultimate sacrifice. He also lets them know that His sacrifice will not be an ending, but rather the start of a new life for His mortal body and ours.

The gospel tells us that they didn’t get it. The gospel then goes on to insinuate why that might have been: they weren’t paying attention. They were distracted by their self-centered desires.

It couldn’t be any more ironic. Jesus speaks of total self-giving as they talk about self above all else.

Throughout scripture God calls us to look, act, and exist differently. Jesus takes up the child, not so much as a cutesy and sweet moment as some portray in art, but to drive home a point.

God called Israel, through the prophets, to a total change of heart. The Apostles call us to find strength in weakness. That’s the real point. To count ourselves least of all, as children were, to use care in not overvaluing ourselves, yet to be loved and counted as a blessing as children were.

St. James reminds the early Church (only about five to six years after Jesus’ Ascension) that our attitudes really count. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits.

This comprehensive way of living for the other is to reflect the Jesus within us best.

In Greek there are three words for power or authority. The first two are energy and dynamic. There is a power in energy, in strength, just as there is a power in being dynamic, in having the power to generate energy; but when the Gospels speak of Jesus as “having great power” and as having a power beyond that of other religious figures, they do not use the words energetic or dynamic. They use a third word, exousia, which can be rendered as vulnerability. Jesus’ real power was rooted in an authority from vulnerability based on His trust in the Father, powerless as His child.   

Jesus calls us to live His new life presence within us by a vulnerability that shows our complete trust in Him.

Reflection for the 15th Ordinary Sunday 2024

In all wisdom and insight, He has made known to us the mystery of His will in accord with His favor

Today Jesus sends out His twelve Apostles, who at the time were still disciples (they were learning, not teaching). They were to go to every village and town and proclaim repentance for forgiveness of sins as well as the immanence of the Kingdom which was at hand. They were also empowered to heal.

Indeed, this experience was a learning. Today we would call it on-the-job training. Overall, the disciples learning was concentrated on internal discovery as to whether they would trust in God or not. That is why they were instructed to take nothing, to go forth with courage and determination. That is why they were told to also hold responsible those they encountered.

For ten or so days I have worked with young people who were learners. Certainly, some were open to learning, others were not. We spent our time documenting our gifts, those received, those given, those we have in us, and those that will grow in us as time progresses.

As we covered the gifts yet to grow in us, we discussed how they might be built up. That takes recognizing them and then practicing with them – on the job training. We talked about making our gifts bigger, better, and how we might add unto them. Finally, we spoke about taking those gifts and wrapping them up to make them really beautiful. This is what Jesus did with His disciples. He knew what they had in them, and He wanted it to grow. This is also what Jesus wants from us.

Brothers and sisters, for us it starts with recognizing what Jesus wants from us and the gifts He has instilled in us to make His requirements come to reality. It is no more than this: That we proclaim the Kingdom to those we encounter. 

Our on-the-job training is to find the gift God has given us then grow it and use it. The gifts we have are specifically for building His Kingdom.

Of course, trust is required, but an amazing thing that happened to the disciples and will happen to us is that we will be successful in doing Jesus’ work.

It is simple: Do you know Jesus? I do and He has done remarkable things in my life. Do you have a church? No, then I know a great one where you can get to know Jesus. 

The words and actions and gifts must be our own, the trust must be ours, and the work and learning, the OJT, must be how Jesus intends it to be.

Today and every day I will use my God given gifts to show His Kingdom. Then I will watch and see people entering the Kingdom, also sharing their gifts and rejoice!

Reflection for the 12th Ordinary Sunday 2024

The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

Last week we heard Jesus’ parable of the seed and the grower. We spoke about God’s imperative, that is the thing He has made vitally important and crucial and that He authoritatively commands, i.e., that we grow. We have work to do in this green season. Growth in our likeness to God and in His Kingdom is dependent on us. The seed planted in us must yield fruit.

Today we encounter one of those moments in the disciples’ journey with Jesus that has a lot packed into it. There is of course the display of Jesus’ power and authority over all creation – a teaching moment for the disciples. We see Jesus demonstrating His care for those He loves. There are themes of trust and faith. There is a recalling of the Ark tossed about in the storm, but now with God fully present and buoying the ship. It is no longer the Ark of Noah, but that of God in which we are all contained.

St. Paul goes further to remind us that we are a new creation in Christ Jesus and the way we regard, i.e., how we view and treat each other must be changed. Our way of life together is no longer about what one can do for the other, what one has, or how one looks, but completely about our likenesses to Jesus. We are all in the Ark of God, thus the way we view and treat each other reflects the way we view and treat Jesus.

This event in the boat, or the new Ark, is not a one-off isolated thing. It literally follows what we heard last week, where we ended on Mark 4:34. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything. Mark 4:35 began, as we just heard, On that day. 

Jesus went right from a long discourse about discipleship, being light to the world, and growth to this nighttime journey.

We all have nighttime journeys, maybe in the past, now, or in the future. Let us ask God today for clarity when we encounter those journeys. Let us not just stop at ‘help me Jesus,’ but search deeper.

In my nighttime journeys do I perceive Jesus calmly at rest in the midst of it and from that gain confidence? We should. We should also recognize His power to overcome for us, not just ‘get us out of it,’ but to conquer. 

The storm is a call to growth in more than our own faith and trust, but also in our perception of the Ark we are in and who we are with. Growth requires our vision change. 

Reflection for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

“You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

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

We’ve seen quite a bit over August. In our gospels we experience the Transfiguration, Jesus revealed to Peter, James, and John as the Son of God. Moses and Eli’jah give witness to Him. 

The power of Jesus was further revealed as He walks on the sea, teaches Peter a lesson in faith, and calms the sea. He heals the Canaanite woman’s child after her faith is tested and she perseveres in that faith.

As we discussed last Sunday, the disciples, who would become the Apostles, debated and discussed all this. That discussion was brought to a head in a conclusionary statement by Peter: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

An amazing revelation in the Transfiguration, amazing power at work – power over nature and illness, and then affirmation. Yet today we hear Peter advising Jesus on the future: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

I remember back in my school and early workdays hearing a very wise saying – ‘a little knowledge is dangerous.’ That was often heard when I would venture an opinion that did not take everything into account. I needed to know more before venturing an opinion. Peter fell into that trap.

What should Peter have done? Firstly, Peter should have trusted Jesus, he should have let God be God. Second, he should have realized he did not know it all, gone to humility rather than advice.

Last week Peter followed what Jeremiah spoke about – the need to confess God’s revelation – when He declared Jesus’ identity. He could not keep it shut up within himself – so it shouted out of him.

Certainly, Peter’s statement today was not God revealed, was not worthy of trust nor necessary to say. It was whispered out of him in almost secret – Then Peter took Jesus aside.

Thinking as God does requires that thing Peter fell short of; that is the faith to trust and listen. We must attune ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s call, His revelation. All it takes is that we listen, and when we hear Him it will burn in us. Then we will have a hard time holding it in. Then we must speak and act.

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 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.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Institution 2023

How to Overcome.

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected when received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the invocation of God in prayer.

Thank you for joining as we celebrate this special day in the life of our Church while simultaneously continuing our journey through Lent.

Over the past six weeks (can you believe it has been that long?) we have identified the hot stoves of sin in our lives, those dangers we love to run toward. We have set to work at getting rid of them. Those old, hot, rusty, greasy, ugly things in our lives must go. 

With that in mind, we discussed the tools available to us that help us get rid of those sin problems. They are the same tools Jesus used and exemplified for us: prayer, studying scripture, speaking about the kingdom, fasting, and communing in relationship centered on the Father. 

Seems easy enough until we set to doing them. Once we move toward that way of life, a deeper relationship with God, the Tempter enters., He comes with distractions, easy outs, and an appeal to our baser selves.

If we do stay on track, guess what? We will have the same success Jesus had. But the work toward success will be marked by further challenges, namely the Accuser comes forward with blame, he doesn’t want us to succeed or to understand the goodness and mercy our God provides. It is almost a last-ditch effort to have us abandon hope.

Jesus overcame all things for us, from the dessert to the cross. We were chosen by Him. Because of that, we are on the road to heaven. We can indeed overcome all hardship and opposition from both the Tempter and the Accuser, but we must change our attitudes and perspectives. We must solely focus on Jesus’ grant of hope. It is our guarantee!

One-hundred and twenty-six years ago a group of people facing poverty, prejudice, and every form of human accusation and earthly temptation took a stand and instituted this Holy Church, consistent with the pristine Catholic Church of the first centuries. Their work and effort was not for the purpose of being different in a simply outward manner, but intended to represent a complete change in attitude, and change of view toward the same path the earliest of Christians saw in Jesus’ redemption. They knew to trust, and so we must trust.

St. Paul tells the young bishop Timothy to differentiate rightly. We must, as St. Paul warned, avoid those who would teach falsely, who would urge us to reject God’s good gifts, so that we might clearly perceive and live in them.

Things that are evil, the hot stoves of sin that harm, destroy, hurt, and lessen human dignity cause one to fail in loving God and neighbor (the greatest commandment). Sometimes it can seem obvious, sometimes we just live with sins we have become blind to. 

Let us then focus on what God has created, foremost the salvation given to us in Christ Jesus. Let us focus on being part of Him, grafted onto Him. Let us then focus our efforts, our strengths and even our weaknesses into overcoming sin, our blind spots, and bearing fruit abundantly for God, bringing Him all glory.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds 2023

My heart changed.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 

Thank you for joining as we continue in the celebration of the Christmas Season and in our expectation of the Lord’s return in glory.

This unique Solemnity in our Holy Church dedicates a Sunday in the early Christmas season to the remembrance of those shepherds who first heard of the Lord’s birth from the angels. This Solemnity is so important that it displaces all other Solemnities of the Christmas season excepting the Circumcision, Holy Name of Jesus, and Epiphany should they occur on a Sunday. In most years, this Solemnity occurs on the Sunday after the Nativity. In years like this one with Christmas on a Sunday, this Solemnity is celebrated on the 8th of January.

This Solemnity is wonderful on so many levels for it shows how God interacts with humanity. God sent His angels to the poor workers of the region to announce His salvation, the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament. In fact, He chose the lowest of the low to receive this news.

We can assess their humility from the fact they were not people of pretense. They could not fool anyone about who they were – they even smelled like their work – the sheep, the pastures and woodland.

A lack of pretense is one sign of humility. Oxford notes that humility is: ‘Having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance. Of low social, administrative, or political rank.’

Another sign of humility / humbleness is what the Shepherd’s did with the news. They trusted and went, then having seen told people about it directly and honestly. The Shepherds experienced God and didn’t have to think about it, philosophize, theologize, or seek the local descendent of Aaron, a Levite, or religious leader to interpret for them.

In the Letter of St. James (James 4:10) we hear: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. Good advice! The more like these Shepherds we are the better off we will be because God will be holding us up.

If we are hanging on to any pretense, let’s wash ourselves of it in confession. If we are grasping after the straws the world offers, know they will snap and break, and we will be alone. So, if we are grasping, let us stop and grasp onto Jesus. If we are holding off in talking about Jesus or waiting for the advice of philosophers, theologians, priests, or best sellers, let us stop waiting and get to work. Speak of Him.

Last week we spoke of being changed, having changed hearts and lives. Here we see the practical model of people who are transparent, honest, and humble about what God has done. God sent His Son Jesus to save us. Let us live as saved and humble as those Shepherds who declared the Lord.

Pray too for all present and these future humble shepherds of our Church: Alfonsito, Nick, Sean, David, Jason, Todd, Adam, Zach, Kevin, Zach, James, Nick, Rodryg, and all Deacon candidates.