THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Zephaniah 3:14-18…Philippians 4:47…Luke 3:10-18

Dear Friends,

The rose candle in the Advent wreath is a symbol of rejoicing expressed tin today’s readings. Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil4:4) We are coming close to the coming of the Lord, the day of salvation. Our God will be faithful to his promises. He will deliver us. The true rejoicing in Advent flows from a trust in God’s promises from the time of Abraham to gift of His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.

The readings of today offer us a two-fold task. The first is to move out of our sense of self-independence and to trust in the Word of God proclaimed today in Zephaniah, Paul and Luke. At the same time, there is another message. We have to move away from trusting in our possessions as an expression real security and of our self-sufficiency. This kind of misdirected trust removes God from our lives.

John, and Luke after him, stress that we have to do our part in seeking this great gift of the Advent hope. In the first reading, we have a message of why we should rejoice. Zephaniah says, “The Lord your God is in our midst, a mighty savior; he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love.” (Zeph 3:17) Paul tells us not to worry, to place our trust in God. “Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:7)

In the Gospel, John the Baptist tells us why we should rejoice. “One mightier than I is coming.” (Lk, 3:16) This is the message of Advent. This is why we are filled with hope. This is why our Advent prayer is so powerful and so on target, Come, Lord Jesus!

Our world, and each of us, need salvation. It is easy for Paul to tell us not to worry but we know many things cause us distress. It is sickness or the job, our kids or the family. The streets are an every day, every hour challenge. Then there is the growing divide in our society that threatens our basic unity. Hope is not so easy to find in the darkness of our reality.

This is why we have the rose candle. God has not forsaken us. This is why Zephaniah can say, “The Lord has removed judgment against you. He has turned your enemies away…. the Lord is in your midst.” (Zeph 3:15) Hope is the treasure revealed in our Advent celebration.

However, John the Baptist has a very important message that is especially relevant for our situation today. To the crowds, to the tax collectors and to the soldiers John offers a critical admonition. They were invited to give up blackmail, extortion, gouging and acquisitiveness and to begin sharing with the needy. In that way, they would be enacting their repentance, their return to God. This is a truth that pervades Luke’s Gospel. John tells these groups and all his disciples and us the same message: do not let your possessions and your longing for possessions hinder your search for God and hope in God.

John’s wisdom, which is developed by Luke in many eloquent ways in his Gospel, states that a hunger for wealth and more possessions becomes an obstacle to the hope we are celebrating in this Advent Season. It opens us to a centering on ourselves and locking out God. It leads to the mistreatment, even the de-humanization of our brothers and sisters. Likewise, it contributes to the escalating violation of God’s creation. There is a simple truth that Luke’s Gospel proclaims with an urgent consistency. Our possessions easily become our idols and turn us away from God. Our possessions either draw us to God in loving trust or become a major roadblock on our pilgrimage to God that is the authentic Christian life.

This focus on God is a truly challenging truth about our Advent hope. This hope must be rooted in God and not ourselves. God is the Creator. We are the crenatures. Likewise, it should be the measure of how we celebrate Christmas. We need to ask if the possessions of December 26th are going to bring us closer to God or are they going to burden us down and blind us to love of God and love of neighbor?

St Teresa of Avila captured this spirit of trusting in God and not things in her beautiful and classical Bookmark

Prayer.

Let nothing disturb you.

Let nothing make you afraid.

All things are passing.

God alone never changes.

Patience gains all things.

If you have God you will want for nothing.

God alone suffices.

Lk 3:1-6

Dear Friends, The Advent Season, connecting the end times and the coming of the Lord, addresses the Christian understanding of time. We call it Salvation History.

Today’s Gospel heralds the Good News of Jesus coming at a specific time as Luke delineates the political and religious leaders of the known world in that day. He opens to us a new day and invites us into the saving reality of God’s love as the true destiny of time and our lives. The shackles of hopelessness and blind fate are shattered with the Baptist’s announcement. By these words of the Baptist, all that was, all that is and all that is to come are engulfed in a reality that is pregnant with a gracious, irrevocable sense of hope. God has spoken and love will prevail.

On this Second Sunday of Advent, we are invited to meet this hope-drenched reality in the words of Baruch (5:19), Paul (Phil1:4-6, 8-11) and Luke. We are encouraged to look upon the brokenness and burdens of our life and world with eyes of hope and a longing heart seeking God’s presence that continually bursts through the darkness to reveal the light.

Previous to Biblical times, life was seen as part of a repeating cycle with no discernable beginning and no identifiable end.

Each of today’s readings is rooted in the Salvation History of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian gospel revelation, acknowledging the presence of God in time and in the personal history of our lives. This is a clear vision of time that is linear with a clear sense of direction and a final goal. Advent is an invitation into this Salvation History. Advent is calling each one of us to embrace this divine summons to walk with Jesus toward our true destiny, to be one with God.

Advent’s message of the coming of Jesus, delivers us from the hopeless cycle of the endless repetition of life and death. Without the gospel message, it so easy to feel trapped in a relentless cycle that excludes any meaningful purpose of hope. This leads to a sense of abandonment along with a crippling sense of the inevitable. We are blessed to have the saving gift this Advent. This holy Season gives us a clear goal and call to find direction and purpose in Jesus Christ. The Advent offer of hope is at the heart of today’s celebration.

An important part of today’s Advent festivity calls us to the awareness of the coming of Jesus, the completion of the redemption rooted in the Death and Resurrection. The first part of this season puts the emphasis on the second coming of the Lord. Only after the sixteenth of December do we direct our attention to the Incarnation. This initial focus on the second coming also helps us to see the emergence of God in our daily experience. It helps us to center our lives in the great gift of Salvation History.

Our Advent prayer, Come, Lord Jesus!, captures the need for deliverance fills our life and world. We need salvation. “All flesh will see the salvation of our God.” (Lk 6:6) The One we await offers us the glorious possibility of goodness, justice, peace and truth. To prepare for this advent of the Lord we need to open our hearts to change. We must overcome the valleys of our selfishness, the mountains of our many prejudices, the judgement of others and especially the neglect of the poor. We can, indeed, straighten all these difficult and crooked ways by a life in the footsteps of Jesus. The loving response to our daily responsibilities and relationships will open our hearts. It will lead the way to be ready for the coming of Jesus with a joyful hope and a heart longing for a new day. Come, Lord Jesus!

Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Dear Friends, Advent is not primarily a time to prepare for Christmas. The first part of the holy season, up till December 16th, is about the final coming of the Lord, the end of the human venture in its present historical form. The final nine days seek to guide us in celebrating the Word made flesh.

Our great temptation is to mix the truly marvelous spiritual challenge of Advent with the rich and enticing rituals of the Christmas season proposed by Macy’s, Walmart and all the other commercial interests. It is to their bottom line interest to see Christmas as an ever-repeating cycle of good times and wonderful memories.

In the Advent Season, the Church is inviting us to a totally different celebration. We are called into a new day dawning in Jesus Christ. We are called to embrace a new reality that has given purpose and direction to every human being.

Each Sunday of Advent the community of faith is invited to go beyond the alluring rites of the commercial season. Now we are called to a faith-driven encounter of the twofold coming of Jesus Christ.

Advent has us look backward so we can look forward. Both views call us to live in the present with hope for a new day.

The Old Testament prophets, especially, Isaiah and Jeremiah, have a clear and strong message of hope that we recall at this time of Advent. Today, Jeremiah, calls out from the darkness and despair of the Exile: “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah.” (Jer 33:14)

Luke’s message today and in this time of Advent is based on the fundamental confidence flowing from the Christian message. Christ will return in glory and with him will come the fullness of redemption. A new day is coming. Luke is emphatic: we need to be ready: “And then you will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. (Lk 21:27-28)

This longing for the return of the Lord mirrors the passionate longing expressed in the Prophets. Yet it is incredibly enriched and supported by our gift of the Gospel reality. The second coming is better understood as the completion of the redemption that Christ has already begun. So, we join together in our liturgies and in our lives to proclaim the great Advent yearning: Come Lord Jesus!

In the meanwhile, Jeremiah (Jer 33:14-16), Paul (1 Thes 3”12-4:2) and Luke have a clear and simple message for us. Live today in faithfulness to the Lord. Enter into our reality. We do not know the future but we do know the present. We are called to live the gospel with acts of mercy and forgiveness, with concern for justice and peace, and a passion to care for the gift of God’s creation. In the constant struggle Paul encourages us with these words “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all…at the coming of our Lord Jesus.” (1st Thes 3:12)

Advent challenges us to look at the lost opportunities, the time wasted and misdirected. We all have more than enough to account for. Advent calls us to gather ourselves together and live today, in the grace of the present moment, for tomorrow is in God’s hands. We indeed need to cry out, Come Lord Jesus! But a life seeking to walk with Jesus right now makes our cry all the more real and focused.

God is very capable of keeping the schedule. He will do his job of finishing the program at the appropriate time. It is quite normal for us to use that familiar question of our youth, Are we there yet? God will let us know. In the meanwhile, our task is to be faithful to the gospel message and express the hunger in our heart for a new day with the beautiful Advent prayer, Come Lord Jesus!

In Christ,
Fr. Tracy O’ Sullivan O. Carm

Jn 18:33-37

Dear Friends, Today’s readings on this last Sunday of the Church Year have a clear and powerful message. Besides the celebration of the Jesus beginning the reign of God, we also celebrate the invitation into divine life that Jesus offers so generously.

In the Gospel of John, the story of Jesus and Pilate is one of the most important parts of the Passion narrative. It involves seven different scenes.

One dimension of the story is that Jesus is defined as king in contrast to the earthly leaders. Their position is rooted in status, exclusiveness, rings and robes, expressions of wealth and power, titles and the ability to manipulate everything and everybody to their own advantage. In contrast, Jesus’ kingship is designated by the call to testify to the truth, to serve, to be free in poverty and lack of recognition, to let love prevail in all decisions. In his kingship, everything comes from God and leads to God.

Jesus offers the clearest expression of this kingship before the soldiers at the time of the scourging and mockery. Jesus had said clearly, “My kingdom does not belong to this world.” (Jn 18:36) In his Passion and Death Jesus is pulling together the total message of his ministry and life. He is inviting us to receive all his teachings through the lens of his kingship expressed by the crowning with thorns before the soldiers and the solitary abandonment and death on the cross.

Jesus was testifying to a reign of God that has already begun. All of his life, teachings and actions are concrete expressions of what God’s reign truly looks like in sinful world in need of redemption. His many miracles and exorcisms, his merciful acceptance of sinners and tax collectors, his humble service and message of hope, all express the coming reign of God in our broken sinful world. His life was a witness to God’s power to transform all reality into the reign of love and justice, peace and healing. Jesus’ message was the invitation to this new life. The seemingly hopeless end on the cross was, in reality, the opening to the true the beginning.

This new beginning, this passage out of the darkness of sin and death, is what we are celebrating in our liturgy of Christ the King. These past few weeks we have been pondering the end times. Next week we begin the great season of Advent which is the other side of the end times in the coming of the Lord.

Today’s feast is a bridge for this powerful reflection on the end times and the coming of the Lord. Jesus, as King of the Universe, guides us in confidence and hope to the new day that is described in the Preface of today’s feast:

“By offering himself on the altar of the Cross as a spotless sacrifice to bring peace he might accomplish the mysteries of human redemption and, making all created things subject to his rule, he might present to the immensity of your majesty an eternal and universal kingdom, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.”

Teresa has this powerful and relevant statement in this crisis of “moving on up” from the third dwelling places to the fourth dwelling places. Teresa describes it this way: “With humility present, this state (third dwelling places) is a most excellent one. If humility is lacking, we will remain here our whole life and with a thousand afflictions and miseries. For since we will not have abandoned ourselves, this state will be very laborious and burdensome. We shall be walking while weighed down with this mud of our human misery, which is not so with those who ascend to the remaining rooms.” (Interior Castle: 3.2.9)

The Contemplative Switch

This teaching of Teresa is truly insightful. The Gospels give us a marvelous vision into this struggle of “contemplative switch.” The stories of the rich young man, Peter’s rejection of Jesus and the woman with the twelve-year hemorrhage help us understand the process.

Teresa always connects the third dwelling places to the rich young man. As the Gospel states, “Jesus looked on him with love.” (Mk 10:21) When pushed to choose, “he became sad because he had many possessions.” (Mt 19;21) A fair description of his wealth in the time of Jesus would be two donkeys or a horse if he was truly rich, at least three sets of clothing, servants, land and a fancy outhouse. This incident is the only situation in all the Gospels where an individual directly rejects Jesus’ call.

Contrast that with the story of Peter’s denials. “At that instant while he was still speaking, the cock crew, the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter…and he went out and wept bitterly.” ((Lk 23:60-62) Peter offers a beautiful picture of Teresa’s teaching on humility: the truth of our total dependence on the mercy of God. This is a profound experience of redemption for Peter – moving away from his self-righteousness and control, “even though I have to die with you I will never deny you.” (Mt 26:35), to abandonment to the merciful embrace of a loving God. This is a giant step on the road to contemplation.

A third person who helps us to understand this contemplative switch is the woman plagued with her disease for twelve years. In saying, “If only I can touch his cloak, I will be cured.” (Mt 9:21) The woman saw in Jesus not just hope for her physical healing but the fulfillment of the deepest longing in her heart. Her eyes of faith let her see in Jesus the mystery of love made flesh offering the totality of liberation, redemption and eternal life beginning now in this monumental encounter of love. Jesus said, “Courage daughter, your faith has saved you.” (Mt 9:22) This miracle, like others, is a symbol of the purifying and transforming experience of the new presence of God in contemplation.

These are our choices in the third dwelling places. We can reject the call and hug “our donkey” for security. We can continue the struggle in humility coming face to face with our spiritual poverty. We can “let go and let God” moving on to the deeper life of contemplation. The key for all of us is a life of deep personal prayer. This is the center of a mature spiritual life. Teresa’s program of humility, detachment and love for the brothers and sisters is the great support in this grand venture.

Thirty Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

Mk 13:24-32

Dear Friends, The apocalyptic language that Mark uses in today’s gospel passage lends itself to many interpretations. It is deeply rooted in the many visionary messages of the Old Testament. This language points to Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of God. We know this kingdom is a future and transcendent event. It is God’s will and plan to overcome the consequences of sin at the beginning and all through human history. This divine event is beyond our grasp. So, today’s gospel uses much imaginative language to attempt to describe the kingdom’s final breakthrough into our reality and the end of the world.

As we come to the conclusion of each Church year, we have a message about these fateful events of the end times. It is always dramatically different than the sensationalist message we hear every several months from one crazy group or another. The Gospel message is clear. We do not know and we will not know. Our task is clear: keep vigil. All other speculation and worry is useless. Today’s narrative is best understood as an invitation to vigilance and preparedness in how we live and wait for the coming of the Son of Man.

However, beyond vigilance, there are other messages for us in today’s readings. One is about suffering and injustice. Life’s difficulties are so often arbitrary and rooted in injustice and basic human ugliness.Like Mark’s audience in the earliest days of Christianity, we find suffering so hard to comprehend, especially when it is connected to our faithful commitment to the gospel

Today Mark is proclaiming with power and wisdom. God will have the last word in this sinful world. It will be a word issuing the victory of justice, compassion, reconciliation forgiveness and love. Our hope will be answered and it will wipe out all our worries. Faith and fortitude will give way to the final devastation of fear. We are being challenged to let our trust in God help us to see the world through the prism of anticipation that opens to our destiny in the Crucified and Risen Savior.

However, there is another dimension to today’s Gospel message that fits very well with our human experience. It refers to a common occurrence we all have. There are sudden and dramatic changes in our life that come from sickness, death, failure of personal relations, economic disaster or in our days, the consequences of climate change. When these things happen, it seems as if our world has come an end. We have to face up to a new reality that is frightening and strange. Often, hope seems totally out of reach.

One of the most powerful events of this kind in my experience was a deeply traumatic event of my sister, Mary. She found herself the mother of six children over the span of eight plus years. One morning her husband woke up with severe pain in his stomach. Several weeks later she was a young widow as the ravaging cancer took her husband away. With his death also gone was her world that centered on his love and support.

Mary was totally overwhelmed. For several weeks she could hardly get out of bed. Finally, one day she faced up to the new world. As a woman of deep faith, she took on the task of raising her children. She did a totally fantastic job overcoming all kinds of obstacles including having six teenagers at the same time. Any mother would rejoice to have the young adults that came from that family.

This is a clear example of what the gospel tells us what we need to do when our world seems to be shattered. We need to live life with a loving responsibility and trust in God. This is something that is going to happen to all of us more than a few times in our lifetime.

Today’s gospel says that when you see all these things happening “then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds.” (Mk 13:26) That means when our personal world falls apart, and the bottom drops out of our lives, we will be able to see past the ugliness and to see through the pain to the ultimate reality of things. Despite appearances, God is still in charge, still cares, still has the power to make things right and still intends to do just that -in God’s good time!

Thirty Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Mark 12:38-44

Dear Friends, Today’s gospel places the self-promotion of the Scribes and the heroic generosity of the poor widow in disparity to each other. In the person of the widow, we are offered an example of true piety and faithfulness. On the other hand, we witness the pompous self-righteousness of the Scribes. The poor widow shines out in contrast to the self-grandiosity and holier-than-thou opportunists. Surely, Jesus‘ lesson on true integrity in religious practice is intended to teach the disciples and us today. Religious activity is never without those seeking their own fame and profit in religious matters large and small.

Like all of Jesus’ teachings, the story of the widow’s mite has many levels. At the time of Jesus, the role of the widow was particularly painful and harsh. First of all, she had no rights. The inheritance of the husband in most cases would go to his family. The widow was, in fact, kept from returning to her family if anything was owed on her dowry. There were some instances where the widow was sold into slavery to make payment on the debt of the dowry.

So, for Jesus to highlight the widow was a very specific and thoughtful choice. The contrast to the rich donors and Scribes was extreme.

There is a second point about the widow of the Gospel story and the widow of the first reading feeding Elijah in the Book of Kings. It was not a question of the two desperate women guarding their resources. They were simply dealing with empty pockets or purses. This was closer to the norm in their ordinary lifestyle.

The example of both widows is a clear and powerful example of trust in God. This is the same trust that Jesus has been urging upon his disciples for several chapters now since they acknowledged him as the Messiah. (Mk 8:27) He said that he indeed was he Messiah but his call to fulfillment meant a journey of trust and abandonment on the road to Jerusalem that would end in the Passion, Death and Resurrection. The disciples did not get it but the blind beggar did. (Mk 10:52) The rich man did not get it (Mk 10:22) but the poor widow did.

One level of today’s story contrasting the donation of the rich donors and the poor widow is a call by Jesus to be real, to see with eyes of faith that obliterate the delusion of wealth and possessions that make us think that we are in control. The widow is us. The big difference is that she sees with clarity and deep faith what it means to be a creature. We are all totally and absolutely dependent on God. Each day and each moment is a free gift. The escalating destructive power of the hurricanes and the other consequences of our devastation of the environment make this clearer by the day. The widow understood her dependence. She accepted the total loving control of a gracious God. The rich donors were happy to share a token of their perceived power and control with God. But in reality, they were poor and weak and the widow was powerful and free in her acceptance of her total reliance on God! God has a different way of seeing things. Each Sunday Jesus is inviting us to join him on this path to understand and embrace the true wisdom that will set us free like the poor widow.

Teresa of Avila lays out a map for seeking God in her classic on the spiritual life, The Interior Castle. She describes seven stages or dwelling places. For most of us, the third dwelling places is most relevant to our search.

The movement from the third dwelling places to the fourth dwelling places in the Interior Castle seems irrelevant to our life today. The reality, however, is different. The stagnation in the third dwelling places is the reason we have so much bickering within Christian groups and among loved ones. It is the root of so much tension in staff meetings and at the dinner table. It is the source of many of our problems in personal relations and the division between groups.

The contemplative switch, this movement from the third dwelling places to the fourth dwelling places, occurs when we experience a deep sense of being loved by God. This helps us accept ourselves in both our brokenness and giftedness. We begin to wait and listen to God. We are more open to be taught by God. The desire to control God continues to lessen. Now our prayer is that God will set us free to love with a pure heart.

in describing this path Teresa offers us a profoundly pastoral and practical message. Her teachings open up great vistas of possible new understanding and reconciliation.

The contemplative switch, moving on up to the fourth dwelling places and the beginning of contemplation, is based on these fundamental teachings of Teresa:

1. Having arrived in the third dwelling places the person is in a good place because of a meaningful moral conversion.
2. The strain at this point in the spiritual journey contrasts God’s call to move on with the person’s desire to settle down and enjoy the progress.
3. The great difficulty is that the flagrant egoism of the previous dwelling places has gone underground. Now it surfaces in the cloak of virtue which feeds one’s self-righteousness and hypocrisy in a way that is destructive and divisive at all levels.
4. This newly hidden selfishness is the dominant obstacle to progress. “To let go and let God” is a long, arduous passage. Teresa wavered around this decision for almost two decades in spite of a faithful prayer life.

Teresa’s teaching on this contemplative switch points to three possibilities:

1. rejection of God’s call which leads to division, hostility and conflict;
2. the call to struggle to move ahead which opens up possibilities of growth and reconciliation;
3. surrender to God’s call leading to the seeds of peace, harmony and justice in contemplation.
In his personal testimonial, The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis gives a vivid description of this failure to “move on up”, forsaking the battle to go beyond the third dwelling places:

“Those who have fallen into this worldliness look on from above and afar, they reject the prophecy of their brothers and sisters, they discredit those who raise questions, they constantly point out the mistakes of others and they are obsessed by appearances. …This is a tremendous corruption disguised as a good. We need to avoid it by making the Church constantly go out from herself, keeping her mission focused on Jesus Christ, and her commitment to the poor. God save us from a worldly Church with superficial spiritual and pastoral trappings. This stifling worldliness can only be healed by breathing in the pure air of the Holy Spirit who frees us from self-centeredness cloaked in an outward religiosity bereft of God.” (#97)

Here are a few concrete examples from parish life of the ego operating in the name of virtue which wreak havoc and division. The same principle is operative in family life, at work and in the larger community.

• a Eucharistic minister who insists on distributing the “bread” and not the “cup”;
• an ethnic group celebrating the unity and love of the Eucharist while intensely angry at another ethnic group of the parish selling used clothes outside during the Mass;
• a pastor who is deaf and blind when dealing with the recommendations of the parish council and economic committee;
• parents who are incapable of receiving any criticism of their child from a teacher;
• the chronic blaming of “those people” for the dirty kitchen even though they have no idea of who last used the facility.

These are just the firecrackers of parish life. The more destructive land mines of ethnic division and power struggles are examples of the many hurtful events constantly challenging unity. Clericalism, the abuse of power of some bishops and the Vatican bureaucracy ‘s hunger to control are among many forces driving the Church away from Gospel values. Pope Francis’ call for a “revolution of tenderness” seems a long way off.

Thirty First Sunday of Ordinary Time

Mk 12:28-34 Dear Friends, In his response the scribe’s question, Jesus begins with the phrase, “Hear O Israel! (Mk 12:29) These words hold profound significance in understanding Jesus’ statement on love of God and love of neighbor. First of all, he places his response in the context of Israel’s call in which God has placed everything the initiative of divine love. God loves us first. The second element is the invitation to listen. Listening is the surest way into the mystery of God’s love.

The first part of Jesus’ response was as familiar to the average Jew at the time as the sign of the cross is for today’s Catholic. Jesus, however, adds to that familiarity the call to love your neighbor. Jesus is beckoning us into a community of love. The love which is initiated with God must be returned not only to God but that love needs to to include our neighbor. In this way, we are brought into a community of love.

This brings me to my favorite description of the Bible. It states that the Bible’s message is simple: God is love and Jesus teaches us what love is. In listening to find love and wisdom, our quest draws us to Jesus.

Jesus teaches us who God is and how God loves. In our encounter with Jesus, we experience the compassion and mercy of God. In Jesus, we learn that there are no limit to God’s love, no fences or labels of exclusion. In Jesus, we listen to God and hear the cry of the poor and marginated, all the forgotten who are isolated in ways only the broken human heart can develop to isolate and abandon. In Jesus on the cross, God’s word lays before us a challenge to put everything and everyone in second place so we “love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength… you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mk 12:30-31)

All four of the Gospels are the richest symphony of God’s love song that is Jesus. In the Gospels, we hear the call to respond to our daily reality with a heart that is oopen and healed. We need to be open to life because if we are in touch with Jesus, we will be lured outside the limiting and constricting boundaries of our selfishness. The needs of our neighbor will be set before us in a new clarity and urgency.

This love of God and love of neighbor is what our hearts were made for. However, this is not always what our hearts want. If we are listening to Jesus, we cannot avoid hearing the difficult message. Love means to lose our life to save it. Love means to seek to be the servant not the ruler. Love means to wash the feet of all. Love means to walk with Jesus to Jerusalem. Love means we win by losing.

Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Mark 10: 46-52

Dear Friends,
For two and half chapters (Mk 8:22-10:52), Mark has Jesus challenging the disciples to realize his singular goal is to follow the Father’s will. In this commitment to go to Jerusalem there are clear consequences. He declared these consequences: rejection, suffering, death and the ultimate victory in the resurrection,

The Bartimaeus story concluding this section from Mark seems like a simple miracle story. It is much more than that. It is the story of what is a true disciple. It is a dialogue about faith.

After three predictions of the death on the Cross and the Resurrection, the disciples remain steeped in their confusion, blindness and growing fear.

In the story of Baritmaeus, Mark gives us the characteristics of a true and faithful disciple.

First of all, there is a hunger in the heart that leads one to look to Jesus. Bartimaeus would not let the crowd intimidate him as he continued to cry out until he received the call from Jesus. This rejection of the crowd’s effort to bully him, is simply an expression of Bartimaeus’ faith in Jesus.

Secondly, while Jesus had the same question for him that he had for James and John, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mk 10: 51), the beggar is asking for more than money. Jesus understands. He gives Bartimaeus not only physical sight but the faith to embrace the journey with Jesus as a true disciple. Unlike the shameless ambition of the two brothers, the blind beggar seeks the gift of light from Jesus. This gift is a symbol of wisdom and truth that Jesus has been trying to teach the disciples. Mark’s description of Jesus’ journey is primarily about the question of who Jesus is and what must one do to join him on the road to Jerusalem. Bartimaeus accepts this truth.

Thirdly, when Jesus called, Bartimaeus cast away his cloak. This seemingly simple gesture is a very powerful and profound. The cloak was his only possession. He used it to lay out in front to beg for alms which were his only means of life’s necessities. Likewise, it was his only protection from the cold nights. Unlike the rich man who went away sad at Jesus’ plea to let go of his possessions, Bartimaeus, “threw aside his cloak, sprang up and came to Jesus.” (Mk 10:50)

The first part of blind beggar’s response to Jesus’ call is in stark contrast to the confusion and fear of the disciples. “Immediately, he received his sight and followed him on the way.” (Mk 10:52)

In this section of Mark, focusing on the three passages foretelling the Death and Resurrection, Jesus is teaching us who he is and what it means that he is a Suffering Servant Messiah. This is the deepest revelation of God’s love for us.

The disciples will only share the integrity and clarity of Bartimaeus after the Resurrection. The angel will say to the women at the tomb. “go tell the disciples and Peter ‘He is going before you to Galilee, there you will see him.”” (Mk 16:7)

We can look to Bartimaeus and see what we have to do to be a disciple, one who walks with Jesus. The healing of the physical eyes leads to the opening of the eyes of the heart. Walking with Jesus is always a journey into the depth of the heart and beyond the superficial. The faith journey is always partial and incomplete at the beginning. Bartimaeus was making the way of Jesus his own. Full clarity for the eyes of the heart will demand much more. What counts for Bartimaeus and for us is to begin the journey in trusting faith.

First, we need to recognize the hunger in our heart. We are all blind in many different ways. We all need to go to Jesus to ask for the light that we may see with the determination of Bartimaeus.

Secondly, we need take Jesus on his terms and not impose our ambitions on Jesus as James and John did.

Thirdly, we need to recognize that any true following of Jesus will have a price to pay. We all have many things that are obstacles to following Jesus. Our “cloak” will be found in growing awareness of our attachments and addictions. They come in many different forms for all of us. These obstacles to true discipleship need to be cast away to follow Jesus. We have no choice other than to put our trust in Jesus. Walking with him on the road to Jerusalem is the only option for a true Christian life.

Twenty Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Mk 10:35-45

Dear Friends,Today’s passage from Mark is preceded by the most detailed foretelling of the passion and death. In fact, in Mark’s story, Good Friday was only six days later.

This is Mark’s third episode of Jesus with the disciples on the road to Jerusalem. Each time Jesus announces his Passion and Death, followed by an incident portraying the disciples in a dreadful state of ignorance. This leads to Jesus sharing a truly enlightening element of his gospel message, a new definition of greatens in service.

We are the target population of this literary genius of Mark. By the time Mark was writing, the disciples had not only grasped Jesus’ message but they had lived and died for it in a heroic way.

The mentality expressed by John and James in today’s Gospel passage is difficult to grasp. It is hard-headed, ambitious and self-serving in a manner totally contrary to Jesus’ teachings. The brothers’ mentality, however, was also shared by the other ten.

Considering all the time and investment of Jesus in the disciples, Jesus’ patience with James and John is truly beyond spectacular. He gifts us with same amazing patience. However, there is a time limit on it. We need more than faith and trust in a God who will take care of us and help with our plans for happiness. We need to embrace the gospel message as a growing element in our life.

Mark has a stark challenge for us. We need not only accept Jesus in his passion and death, we need to share in that saving suffering. In the first prediction of the Pasion and Death, Jesus tells us we have to be open to all of life in a way that surely will involve taking up our cross at all times. The second prediction is a call to share with Jesus’ saving death in accepting all of our brothers and sisters with an ever-expanding horizon of inclusion. There is no end to our call to break the barriers of exclusiveness. Finally, in today’s passage, we are called to a life of service, especially in our leadership. This threefold program is the heart of the gospel where the last are first, the least of all are equally important and true power is service to all. This is genuinely sharing in the upside-down world Jesus revealed in his life, passion, death and resurrection. In this world, greatness means being the least of all. Being the leader, the one with power, finds true and authentic meaning only in service.

It is clear that these three foretellings of the Passion were directed to counter the false ambitions of both the disciples and all followers of Christ including us today. Jesus says in (Mk9:45) “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In these words, Jesus lays out the clear and profound meaning of his upcoming death. It is the ultimate expression of leadership that is service. It is the great redemptive act of love in the ransom of all sinful humanity releasing them from the bondage of sin and death.

No doubt, we are all a long way from the depth of this selflessness. Nevertheless, the utter goodness of Jesus constantly is calling us out our world of convenience, comfort and consumption to a richer and more lifegiving world of sacrifice and service. Just like the disciples, we start out in darkness and ignorance. However, this pilgrimage to God with Jesus only asks that we take one step at a time on our road to Jerusalem. We will find that next step in self-sacrificing love and service in our daily responsibilities and relationships. The gospel is always calling us to find meaning and purpose n the lived experience of our daily life.

Part Two

For St. Teresa of Avila, it is the personal encounter in following Jesus that unveils the loving mercy of God. This gift has its privileged communication in deep personal prayer. Prayer is always her top priority. For this Carmelite saint, the prayerful encounter with Jesus constantly stands at the center of our pursuit of God, the final desire of the human heart.

It is right at this juncture that the genius of Teresa can be a great help. She is called the mother of spirituality. She offers us the challenge of addressing a few fundamental steps to grasp the call of personal authenticity that is central to any spirituality. First, we need to grow in self-knowledge that leads to humility. We then accept the consequences of this emerging insight: the interplay of our personal limits and the mercy of God. This is all done in prayer, which she describes as a conversation with someone we know loves us. Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus nurtures this development. This is the story of the disciples. This is our story if we are open to the call.

“Who Do You Say That I Am?”

Few lessons of the gospel are more important than to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Walking with Jesus goes beyond the teachings of the church, beyond reading the Bible, beyond any devotions or other favorite religious expressions. Following Jesus is at the heart of faithful spirituality. Following Jesus turns our lives upside down. Following Jesus is the same today as it was in the day of the disciples. It calls us out of comfortable hiding places and takes us “where you do not want to go” (John 21:18).

We are invited to ponder the wonder of his compassion. We are asked to enter the stories. It helps to see ourselves as the persons who benefit from his many miracles.

In this way, like the disciples, we are led to the critical question: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29). There is no question more crucial in our life. Who is Jesus for us?

For the disciples and us, the consequences this ultimate pursuit come slowly. We are on the road, but our encounter with Jesus is always partial and incomplete. Our relationship with Jesus always comes at a price, and a price that continues to escalate. At the heart of the encounter with Jesus is a transition— moving from our vision for happiness, from our priorities, to the new world of Jesus’ vision and call. This conversion process repeats itself many times as we remain faithful with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. Prayer leads to an ever-expanding awareness of God’s will.

A new and deeper experience of prayer, flowing from these conversions, empowers us to live in a way that is progressively guided by God’s will. Our weakness is exposed dramatically. This struggle gradually reveals that the story of our life is the story of God’s mercy. Eventually it calls us into the lifegiving struggle to say no to all that is not God.

The four Gospels, in all their diversity, finally bring us a picture of Jesus which is a mirror for us. We look at Jesus and see what is most authentic about ourselves. We are children of God, loved and forgiven. In his exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis describes the joy and beauty of discovering our true selves when we respond to Jesus’ call.

“The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step toward Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms. Now is the time to say to Jesus, “Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord. Take me once more into your redeeming embrace.” (The Joy of the Gospel: #3)

The Twenty Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Mark 10:17-30

Dear Friends,
Right after my ordination in 1962, a very good friend, Bob, gave me a challenge. He asked me to talk to his sister and guide her back to the Church. She had become an Evangelical and he was heart-broken about it. I was sure it would be easy after my many years of study in the seminary.

I was a complete failure. Only slowly, over the next several years, did I begin to realize my very clear shortcomings.

Bob’s sister, Margie, found a great attraction in the Evangelical message. It stressed the power of the Scriptures and a personal relationship to Jesus. I was locked into a pre-Vatican II theology that stressed an institutional Church as the source of salvation.

Since Vatican II, we have been invited to see the main task of the Church as evangelization. We need to continually recall that the heart of our faith will always be the same: the God who revealed his immense love in the crucified and risen Christ. All evangelization is about the call to have a personal relationship with Jesus. This comes before, during and after all other catechesis and study. We need a personal encounter with Jesus that touches us at the deepest part of our being.

In today’s Gospel story of the rich man, Jesus is inviting the man to focus his attention not so much on what he has to do, but to realize the goodness and generosity of God. The text has the incredibly beautiful statement, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” (Mk 10:21) The man did not see this love nor did he experience it because he was letting his personal belongings blind him to Jesus invitation to trust in him rather than his personal wealth. “At that statement he went away sad, for he had many possessions.” (Mk 10:22)

What was it that he possessed? Not a car, maybe a donkey or two. If he was really rich, a horse. Two or three robes at best but K-Mart was wildly beyond his wardrobe dreams. No doctor, primitive medicine. Probably he could not read or write, and no TV, movies or newspaper not to mention a cell phone. No electricity or running water. He challenges the imagination to identify the level of poverty compared to our ordinary lifestyle common today. For these pitifully few things that he thought made him rich, he was unable to let go to follow Jesus. It is a good mirror for us. Our possessions are equally feeble compared to what Jesus has to offer us.

This is why we have to start out with a personal relationship with Jesus first and foremost. We need to realize we are loved. Without love, we too will walk away with the illusion of our wealth as our real security. However, if we open our heart to Jesus, we can begin the journey of gradually realizing that all our riches are in Jesus. In the end, all else will pass away, but Jesus’ love will never change.

The disciples were men of their times. They accepted the pervasive belief that wealth was a true sign of God’s blessing. When Jesus offered the radical message that wealth was an obstacle to the kingdom, it was just another shocking and challenging teaching of Jesus for the disciples. It added to the profound confusion that was part of both their growing attraction and steady bewilderment with Jesus. It was just another item on the list that laid out the cost of walking with Jesus.

They witnessed the rich man walking away sad and despondent. He had rejected Jesus’ love. His choice was to find security and life in his possessions.

Deep down, beyond their fear and uncertainty, Jesus’ followers had a hope in his invitation to let go and let God. Their relationship with Jesus, even in the early and fragile stage, let them see their hunger for freedom and happiness as the gift Jesus was calling them to. This was life in the kingdom where they slowly came to see that they were loved. They were beginning to move way beyond the dos and don’ts of their religious obligations.

The disciples were broken men. They shared all the bewilderment, fears and hunger for security as the rich man who had rejected Jesus’ love. There was a simple difference. They let go of their clinging in order to choose Jesus. We are called to grow into this same choice in the midst of our own doubts and fears. It is so much easier to make this choice of Jesus if we realize the wonderous gift of his love for us. He calls each of us by name into the marvel of everlasting life in the kingdom.

Jesus walks into our lives through the Gospels. The Gospels are a privileged part of the word of God. The Gospels give us today, as they have done all through Christian history, an opportunity to discover Jesus just as the first disciples did when they joined him on the dusty roads of Galilee.

The Gospels are structured so that we, like Peter and the others, meet Jesus in the marvels of his ministry. We also must respond to his invitation, “Come and you will see.” (Jn 1:39) We are called to hear his teaching and view his healings. We are challenged to respond to the radical message of forgiveness and inclusion. We are invited to ponder the wonder of his compassion. We are asked to enter into the stories. It is helpful to see ourselves as the blind person who gains sight, the leper who is cleansed, the paralytic who is forgiven and healed.

In our encounter with the gospel message, we need to make sure that the central meaning comes out loud and clear. The heart of the gospel is Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen. He is our savior who delivers us from the bondage of sin. God has taken the initiative in his saving love for us. Our basic call is to accept this love recognizing our need for salvation. If we are truly faithful to this life-giving encounter with Christ, we will grow, most often ever so slowly, in accepting the maturing demands of this love.

In The Joy of the Gospel, Francis puts it this way: “All revealed truths derive from the same divine source and are to be believed with the same faith, yet some of them are more important for giving direct expression to the heart of the gospel. In this basic core, what shines forth is the beauty of the saving love of God manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead.” (The Joy of the Gospel #36)

This developing acceptance of the gospel message invites us, first of all, to see in God’s love for us the demand to go forth from ourselves to seek the good of others. This priority of love for others is the foundation of all moral teaching flowing from the central gospel truth of Jesus Christ.

Road to Jerusalem

The second half of the Gospel of Mark portrays the disciples as a group on the edge of disillusionment. They are dealing with the frightening call to walk with Jesus to Jerusalem and the absolute shattering of their dreams and ambitions.

All the while, Jesus continues calling them into the light, proclaiming the truth and preparing them to be free of the bondage of their self-absorption. The war in their fragmented hearts raged on. They were struggling with new self-knowledge that shattered their illusion of seeing Jesus as their ticket to power, wealth, and privilege.

After their abandonment of Jesus on that fatal weekend, they still clung together in bewilderment and with ever-increasing despair. With seemingly three years wasted, they feared they would be the next victims of the religious leaders. In the midst of this desperation and horror, Jesus appears with the incredibly merciful pronouncement, “Peace be with you” (John 20:21). There was no finger pointing, only unconditional acceptance and encouragement. Now, it was a new day. With this last piece of the puzzle, the resurrection, in their hands, their job was to resolve the mystery of Jesus in their lives. Now the command “follow me”, opened up totally new and welcoming horizons. They were ready to shed the uncertainty and dread and walk with Jesus in spite of the continuing ambiguity of life.

Moving from Religion to Spirituality

The disciples are a good mirror for us. We share their uncertainty and anxiety amid our misconceptions that move us to seek happiness and security in the wrong places. We too, suffer the consequences of a fragmented heart. We try to get by with the minimum for God and the maximum for ourselves. However, this ambivalence exposes an emptiness deep in our being. The “dos and don’ts” of our religion no longer are enough. The question of the rich young man is rooted in the inevitable pull of the heart for something more.

This is where we move from our comfortable and safe approach to God in our religious rituals and practices to a search for something more profound. Spirituality is the process of growth from inauthenticity into a more genuine relationship with God. Spirituality draws us into the struggle where we move away from the shallow and illusionary to bond with God in a more responsible and open way. This is a move from the formality of religion to a deeper spiritual path.

Despite our progress, we will eventually face the incessant challenge of compromise. This is the death-rattle of the ego, its desperate maneuver to preserve control. In spite of our spiritual growth, we are still strongly inclined to seek a space between the demands of the gospel and the comfort of the world. We subtly create our own gospel. We make Jesus over in our image. As with Peter after his triple rejection, Jesus does not give up on us. He is always calling us to life. Each crisis manifests a deeper insight into the depth of our weakness and the grandeur of God’s merciful love revealed in Christ crucified and Christ risen.

Twenty Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

Mk 10:2-16

Dear Friends,The seemingly arbitrary connection between the issue of divorce and the rejection of the children highlights Jesus’ teaching on human relations. Jesus consistently called us beyond the legalistic and limiting formulas of the law. His was a message to embrace life in all relationships: with friend and foe, parent and child, husband and wife. All are included in the kingdom. There is no exclusion as was the case in the patriarchal society of Jesus’ day or in the disciples failure to see in the children “what you did for one of these least ones, you did unto me.” Mt 25:45)

The religious leaders had no real interest in Jesus’ answer about divorce. The status quo of male dominance was 100% in their favor. The women were considered property and had no rights. The religious leaders’ only concern was to draw Jesus into some problematic public statement.

As usual, Jesus cuts through the self-serving propaganda of his foes and focuses on the central truth of authentic relations in light of the coming kingdom of God. This is a deep plunge into reality in contrast to superficial legal niceties of the Scribes and Pharisees.

Jesus’ teaching was truly dealing with the prohibition of divorce. However, there was another component of his message that was earth-shattering and absolutely revolutionary. It was a cultural bombshell. It devastated the accepted dominance of the male and proclaimed the dignity and rights of women. Jesus’ negative declaration, “and if she divorces her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery.” (Mk 1:12) sowed the seeds of “the wheat” against the “the weeds” of the monopoly of male -dominated structures of Jewish society. It is truly difficult to comprehend how radically transformative Jesus’ words were in this statement. In Jesus’ declaration woman is recognized and celebrated in her self-worth. It is a social and political transformation from a piece of property to a person with rights and dignity.

In this context, the prohibition of divorce is not some legal precept. It is an invitation into the ideal of the kingdom. The teaching on divorce is not to be trivialized. Likewise, it is not to be proclaimed with an inhuman rigidity. As early as Matthew and Paul’s first Letter to the Corinthians, the first generation of Christians were seeking a deeper explanation of Jesus’ teaching on divorce in light of our broken human condition.

Divorce was a frightening prospect for women in the time of Jesus. Marriage was absolutely critical for women as a condition of survival. They had no other means of support. Adultery was punishable by death. In addressing this issue, Jesus was also returning to his constant refrain of support and concern for the poor and the marginalized. Jesus was expressing compassion along with condemnation in his teaching on divorce.

The Church today needs to take the total message of Jesus and apply it with his characteristic compassion and sensitivity to the pastoral scene facing us today. The sacredness and singularity of the marriage commitment must pass through the prism of God’s mercy and compassion for his sinful and broken people.

Because Jesus’ reflection on marriage is rooted in his teachings about all human relations in light of the kingdom, Mark adds on the encounter with the children. As is the case so often in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus reprimands the disciples for their insensitivity or ignorance. This time it is the rejection of the children. Again, we are dealing with the issue of equality. Jesus was emphatic in his teaching. The kingdom has no exclusion in its welcome. It is for all. There are no “nobodies” in the kingdom. In fact, the children, in their simplicity and vulnerability, are great examples of the universal nature of the kingdom. The kingdom is for the undeserving, a totally free gift for all. One does not earn the love of God. Children are a model of this gracious generosity of God.

Praying Alone Together

THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Zephaniah 3:14-18…Philippians 4:47…Luke 3:10-18

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Lk 3:1-6

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

CHRIST THE KING

Jn 18:33-37

COMING HOME: THE GIFT OF CONTEMPLATION

The Contemplative Switch

THEN THEY WILL SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING IN THE CLOUDS

Mk 13:24-32

THE ILLUSION OF WEALTH MAKES US THINK WE ARE IN CONTROL

Mark 12:38-44

THE CONTEMPLATIVE SWITCH

YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF

Thirty First Sunday of Ordinary Time

WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO FOR YOU

Mark 10: 46-52

THE SON OF MAN DID NOT COME TO BE SERVED

Mk 10:35-45

KEEPING OUR EYES FOCUSED ON JESUS-2

Part Two

“Who Do You Say That I Am?”

SO YOU WILL HAVE A TREASURE IN HEAVEN

Mark 10:17-30

KEEPING OUR EYES FOCUSED ON JESUS

Road to Jerusalem

Moving from Religion to Spirituality

LET THE CHILDREN COME TO ME

Mk 10:2-16

ABOUT ME

SUBSCRIBE NOW. GOD HAS A MESSAGE FOR YOU!

POPULAR POSTS