Showing posts with label CYCLE-C-2025. Show all posts

PENTECOST

John 20:19-23

Dear Friends, Jesus had just experienced the most profound expression of evil ever in His Passion and Death. He had chosen to participate in all the horrors of violence and hatred in all of human history. This encounter with the consequences of sin and death had terrorized his disciples. They hid in confusion and fear that they would be next. Despair had conquered the most minimal element of hope. Faith and trust had fled with the arrival of the mob in the Garden.

They now huddled together in the naked vulnerability of their humanity. All of a sudden, Jesus is in their midst. His message is not vengeance. Amazingly, He does not even point the finger at their cowardly collapse. His bewildered disciples were too awe-struck to feel the shame. It was a “wow” moment to the thousandth degree.

His message was direct, clear, and simple: “Peace be with you.” (Jn 20:19) This peace is not a wishful hope. It is a divine declaration. This is the peace that had been won in the victory of love over hate, of life over death in the self-sacrificing death on the cross.

In addition to the peace, He renders the power of forgiveness. These two gifts of peace and forgiveness are in the context of His commissioning of the disciples. “‘As the Father has sent me, I send you.’ As He said this He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (Jn20:21-23)

Receiving the Holy Spirit is a symbol of a new creation. Just as God breathed life into Adam in the Garden, so too, Jesus breathed new life into the disciples that makes them holy and leads them to conquer evil. This is made possible by the love expressed in the gifts of peace and forgiveness.

Then follows a second declaration of peace. Jesus assures his gift of peace to the disciples and to us. With this second announcement of peace and the gift of the Spirit, the mandate is clear. The gospel must be proclaimed to all the world. This is a task that has continued in grace and sin, in human heroics and woeful neglect for over two thousand years even to the election of a new Pope from Chicago! In the midst of the weeds and the wheat, the Church has continued to grow. Even to this day, each of us still are called to share in the proclamation of love’s victory over a very broken world. This is some very good news indeed!

After the encounter with the Risen Jesus, the disciples’ story is very different. Fear gave way to courage and commitment. A new conviction led them to confront power with patience and perseverance and the overwhelming wonder of Jesus’ gospel message. The gospel was proclaimed in spite of conflict and confusion. Cultural barriers and native parochial narrowness opened up to a universal community that continues to grow in openness to this very day.

Just as in the Resurrection of Jesus, the transformed disciples, gifted with the Holy Spirit, witnessed to the victory of love over evil and death. The seeds of the new creation began in the renewed hearts of these very weak and pedestrian followers of Christ. They began an ever expanding community of faith that has survived and prospered over these two thousand years. It is our responsibility to continue that task to witness to God’s love in our daily lives.

Paul draws us into the beautiful mystery of how this new creation flows from the Spirit-filled hearts of the recipients of the Holy Spirit. In Galatians Paul writes: “I say live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desires of the flesh…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Gal 5:16, 22-23)

Today, on this feast of Pentecost, we are invited again to receive the gifts of peace and forgiveness. To do so, we need to turn away from sin which is a refusal to love. Like the first disciples, the Spirit beckons us to continually expand the horizons of our love. For most of us, this demands forgiveness with a risk wrapped in courage.

The peace of Christ comes at a price. The patience and gentleness along with the joy and kindness and the other fruits of the Spirit described by Paul are ever so precious gifts. They are possible only in a heart seeking reconciliation that brings the new life of Christ into a world ravaged by sin and death, division and exclusion. This is the call for us on this Pentecost: transform our lives by the gift of Christ’s peace and His call to forgiveness. Slowly, we must understand that for the Spirit there is no limit on forgiveness and the target of inclusiveness is ever expanding and dynamic. The numerous descriptions of “those people” in our heart have to give way a new definition of “us”. In this struggle to move out of our comfortable world, we will find the only way that leads to the prized gift of Christ’s peace.

Lk 24:46-53

Dear Friends,It is hard to count the times over the years the number of individuals, particularly young people, who came to me with the news that the world was coming to an end. They were sort of sure because they heard on TV or read it on the internet. They were coming to me to hedge their bets to find out what to do in case it was true.

In fact, it is true. The Bible tells us so! It is part of revelation. The world is coming to an end. The problem is we just do not know when. Our big concern should not be the question of “when” but the reality of “now”

Today’s first reading (Acts 1: 11-11) tells us how to handle thls truly decisive reality about our lives. The message of Jesus is both consoling and challenging. Jesus tells the disciples on the mountain of his Ascension that it is not our concern about the “when” of the world’s ending. God’s timetable will easily handle the end times. Our task is to use the gift of life and the gift of the present moment to preach the gospel.

Jesus has given us a task. We are to be witnesses to the Good News that Jesus has revealed in his life, his message and his final passage thru death to life. In Jesus, we have come to know God as a loving and merciful savior. Our goal as human beings is to enter into this mystery of love. This is the Good News. We are gifted with time and life to embrace this reward and to share it. We have the Spirit to draw us into this call to accept Jesus’ challenge.

At Jesus’ departure, the first disciples must have felt they had an impossible task ahead of them. Sooner than anyone thought possible, they were in a life and death struggle with the leaders of the Chosen People. Then, they had to face the reality of reaching out to the Gentiles.

The signs of the times and the pull of the Spirit were seemingly impossible tasks. Yet, they persevered. In their openness to the Spirit, they found a way, a way they would never have imagined on that hill where Jesus left the wondering and fearful in their confusion.

With the Spirit as their guide, and the eyes of their heart to open the way, they were set free to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth!

In the first reading from Acts, Jesus responds to the Apostles question about the end of the world in these words: “It is not for you to know the time or the seasons that the Father has established. …You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem…and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8) The angel asks, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking at the sky?” (Acts 1:11) In other words, get on with the task of living and proclaiming the gospel. The message of the feast of the Ascension that we celebrate today is that we share that task.

In the gospel today we read: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Lk 24: 46-48).

The meaning of this beautiful feast of the Ascension is further captured in the words of the preface of the Mass:

Christ, the mediator between God and men

Judge of the world and Lord of all

Has passed beyond our sight

Not to abandon us but to be our hope.

Christ is the beginning, the head of the Church;

Where he is gone, we hope to follow.

The Christian response to the end of the world is not fear and anxiety. It is hope rooted in the reality that Jesus is with us all of the time. We are called to go beyond hopelessness and confusion. We are called to a simple commitment to live with faith and trust in a God who has a better plan. We are called to share the Good News. We called to tear down the barriers and build bridges. We are called to use the gift of time and life to let Jesus’ message of love and hope take flesh in our loving presence to our brothers and sisters.

We pray in the opening prayer of the Mass of the Ascension, “May we follow him into the new creation, for his Ascension is our glory and our hope.”

John 14:23-29

The fifty days of the Easter Season offer us again the opportunity to penetrate the depths of our faith. We are invited to enter more actively into the most profound realities of a Crucified Christ and Risen Christ. The Pascal Mystery, the saving Death and Resurrection of Jesus is set out before us. There is no clearer message of love. We are asked to bring this experience of love into our hearts. In this encounter, we continue to answer the most fundamental question in our lives, who is Jesus for us?

In today’s gospel passage from John, Jesus is talking about his return to the Father and the double gifts of the Paraclete and peace. The teaching of Jesus is reduced to its simplest and most stark terms. It is all about the passionate call of a loving God even in the midst of our sinful brokenness.

The peace Jesus is talking about in not the absence of conflict or struggle with life’s steady encounter with evil. The peace Jesus offers is the presence of God bringing us salvation, a basic harmony within the depth of our being. It gives us the ability to live life to the full no matter the circumstances. Jesus’ peace, so different from the world’s sense of a peace rooted in an illusionary prosperity and indulgence, begins and ends in love. Jesus’ peace, energized by the Spirit, has the potential to create and empower humankind’s greatest good. This is the opening to love God and to love our neighbor. Even in the midst of tension and turmoil, love can pass through the dark valley and, even in the dark valley, bring peace.

Today’s gospel is taken from the message shared in the context of the Last Supper. Jesus is calling the disciples and us to trust in him in spite of the impending horror of the Passion and Death. He is telling us that love will win out. He will reveal the fullness of God’s love, God’s presence and God’s peace in the gift of the Paraclete. This Spirit will help us to both understand and embrace more deeply all that Jesus has taught us.

Through our openness to life, and with the guidance of the Paraclete, the truth of the gospel will unfold in our hearts. Jesus will truly become our way, our life and our truth. All of these gifts of the Spirit are ours for the asking. A commitment to deep personal prayer is the most reliable means to embrace the Spirit’s call to new life in Christ.

As the power of the Resurrection emerges in our hearts, we can take in the daily events of evil and corruption with an awakening sense of hope. Gun violence and denial of climate change, racial and sexual prejudice, the dehumanization of migrants and the isolation and neglect of the poor and ever-present trial of deep conflict with our loved ones will remain the stuff life. The unrelenting faces of evil will not leave the headlines any time soon. However, we have received the gift of God’s peace and the Paraclete. Now we can bring a heart energized by hope to these certainties. We will feel empowered to enter the struggle for a better world, the coming world of God’s kingdom. Our sense of meagerness will give way to an empowerment to take the next step for and for life, no matter how small.

Driven by the Spirit, in the footsteps of Jesus, we can face the challenges of a sinful church and a broken society even as we grow in awareness of or personal self-centeredness. We can indeed be the instruments of peace in the midst of the social upheaval of a broken immigration system, continuing racial change and white privilege, and the shattering of comfortable but often blind definitions of sexuality. We can honor and activate our hunger for justice no matter the depth or complexity of the forces of evil.

God has spoken in Christ Crucified and Christ Risen. Love will prevail! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

John 13:31-35

Dear Friends, The Church gives us thirteen weeks to prepare for and then celebrate, ponder and pray over the reality of the Pascal Mystery, Christ’s Death and Resurrection. This event taps into the most basic human realities, life and death, sin and grace. Our tendency, after the beauty of Holy Week, is to float over this Easter Season and miss the profound message.

In today’s second reading from Revelation (21:1-5) we read this, “Behold God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.” (Rev21:3-4)

This is just one more way of expressing the beauty and the marvel of God’s love in the Pascal Mystery. God has spoken and the last word is not pain and suffering, but healing. The last word is not the injustice, poverty and war that so engulfs our life and world but reconciliation, peace and justice. The last word is not hate and division that surrounds us but love. The Lord has conquered death and called us to eternal life, a glorious state that begins when we love one another.

Today’s Gospel opens with these words of Jesus: “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.” (John 13:31) This glory means the hidden God is revealed. Jesus goes on to state that this glory, this revelation of God, will happen when we love one another as he has loved us. This is his command. We are to love one another.

A perfect example of this new love is to wash the feet of one another which is, in effect, unlimited service and availability to one another. Jesus wants us to simply relate to our brothers and sisters in a spirit of self-sacrifice. In this way, we make Jesus present to the world even in his apparent absence.

Jesus is telling us the great witness of the Church should be the witness of love. The first step toward this witnessing love is be open and humble in the midst of Jesus’ love for us. The definition of a witness is one whose life speaks so loudly and clearly that we cannot hear what he or she is saying. In our day we have been blessed with the witness of Pope Francis.

This call to love and witness is an invitation to contemplate the Pascal Mystey of the Death and Resurrection. There is no greater expression of God’s love than the Crucified and Risen Christ. The Cross tells us that God is love, self-sacrificing love. The depth and breadth of this truth demands reflection, prayer and lived experience of love on our part. This is the only way to enter into the wonder of God’s call to love one another.

This lesson of love that leads to eternal life engulfs the entire Easter message. This is what the passage from the Book of Revelation and Jesus’ command to love one another as he loved us is telling us. We find it so hard to believe when we face the reality of our daily life and our world or just simply read our morning news source. This is why we have to move slowly and steadily into this great event of our faith, this great final expression of God’s love, this final word of life and love and healing. This is what we mean when we proclaim that Christ is risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Last week, we were invited in the Scriptures to embrace the greatest of the gifts of Christ’s victory, eternal life. Today, we are called to realize with new insight and wisdom this profound truth. A life committed to love is eternal life for us right now. When we love as Jesus did, we are living the Pascal Mystery of the Death and Resurrection. When we love as Jesus did, we break loose of the bonds of sin and death. When we love as Jesus did we express the seed of life that is Christ within us. We begin our eternity now when we walk in the way of love with Jesus. “As I have loved you, so should you love one another. (John 13:34)

Jn 10:27-30

Dear Friends. The Easter triumph of love gives us hope no matter where life leads us in its twisting journey. The Easter Season calls us to become an Alleluia People, people immersed in the hope flowing from the Risen Christ. For us, personally and as a faith community, Easter is an encounter with the triumph of love over all that is evil. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the decisive sign that nothing can overcome the love of God.

Today’ gospel displays this hope is in the role of Jesus as our Shepherd. This pastoral theme is in each of the Church’s cycles on the fourth Sunday of Easter. The image of the Shepherd draws us deeper into the Easter mystery.

The Easter message is one we grow into. We do not get it all at once. It is an incremental, step-by-step process. Our life experience is critical to making this great event of the resurrection meaningful for each of us. The Easter Season is a personal invitation to take that next step. We can only move forward from where we are. This is why today’s image of the Shepherd is so beautiful. Jesus is with us to protect and to guide us. In Jesus our Shepherd, we have the assurance of the deepest truth and the most authentic love. This is the call to be people of the Alleluia.

Jesus tells us, “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me…no one can take them out of the Father’s hands.” (Jn 10:27-28) Jesus has our back no matter what the circumstances!

Jesus, as the Shepherd, offers us both security and guidance. This relationship is to one who shelters us and directs us. It touches a deep hunger in our heart. True self-knowledge of our brokenness leads us to long for deliverance. We want to cast off the ambiguity and confusion of our reality. We yearn for safety and clarity. Jesus, as our Shepherd, addresses that ache in our hearts. Jesus the Shepherd invites to know him by walking in his path. His voice sets us free from the crippling ambivalence and fear. He directs us with a caring presence in the midst of the daily wolves of violence, division, ignorance and injustice that are a constant threat to us.

Jesus, as our Shepherd, nurtures our sense of hope in this Easter Season. Jesus has shown us that there is no earthly power, no matter how dominant or seemingly invincible, that can overcome God’s love. This is the Easter message. This love becomes personal for us in the Shepherd. This love generates the Easter reality. It is our passage into eternal life when we are following our Shepherd. “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (Jn 10: 27)

Today’s gospel compels us to receive the protection and accept the direction of our Shepherd. It gives us hope leading to life eternal beginning now when we follow the Shepherd in our daily life.

We need to ask ourselves, are we open to this gift? Do we hear the voice of Jesus in our daily experience and responsibilities? Do we really accept, embrace and celebrate the wonder of the Alleluia which is our invitation into the great event of love that is the Risen Christ? When our yes to the Good Shepherd is true and honest we are on the way to becoming an Alleluia People.

John 21:1-19

Dear Friends in Christ, Today’s selection is the end of John’s Gospel. It is commonly seen as a later addition to the original text. It was written by a disciple of the author who was totally in touch with the special vision that permeates the original Gospel message. Most see it as a balancing effort to the classic teaching in the Gospel’s Prologue.

There are three clear and profound teachings for the early Church and the Church of today. First, there is a declaration of universality. Jesus wants the Church reaching out to call people of all times and places. This is the meaning from the exact number of fish. 153 was the number of different kinds of fish that the world was able to identify at that time. The Gospel makes it clear that God’s loving grace revealed in Jesus knows no limits. It is for all humanity’s incredible number of cultures and nationalities.

Secondly, in the tender scene between Jesus and Peter we have a profound display of the mercy of God. Once again, Peter finds himself next to a charcoal fire. Now, it is not a time of denial and rejection, but a testimony of love. This is the message of the depth and breadth of God’s mercy. It is without limit. It is without condition. It is for Peter and for all. We are all invited into the Kingdom as we respond to Jesus’ question: “Do you love me?” (Jn 21:16) We are invited to cast off our burden of guilt. The Gospel is reminding us that there is no more consequential reality for us than the question: Do we love Jesus? Can we accept his call to mercy, his call to share the Good News that we are forgiven and summoned to a new life? Thirdly, today’s Gospel tells us that there is a price to pay when we proclaim the Good News of Jesus. Jesus tells Peter: “When you grow older, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” (Jn 21:18)

Peter did, indeed, go where he did not want to go. This led to his crucified death in imitation of Jesus. It was the final and definitive answer to Jesus’ question, “Simon Peter. Do you love me?” (Jn 21:16)

We, too, will encounter many a sacrifice if we are faithful to walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

In answering Jesus’ question: “Do you love me?” we are entering into a new world of the Easter message. Death gives way to life when we are faithful to God. As we walk with Jesus, much sooner than later we will hear the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. Our heart will open up to move out of our comfortable world into a life of service and sacrifice for the values of the gospel.

We will move out of the captivity of indifference to injustice and human greed. We will enter into the utter joy of the Easter Alleluia. Our commitment to the gospel will open our heart to all, no matter the color or race, no matter the sexual orientation, no matter the status in society. Filled with joy in the Easter victory, we will embrace the gift of God’s mercy. It will make our sacrifice and struggle a joy as we respond like Peter: “Lord, you know that I love you.” Jn 21:17)

John 20:19-31

It was a truly fatal weekend for the disciples, a devastating seventy-two hours from the washing of the feet on Thursday to the visit of the Risen Christ on Sunday evening. Of course, Peter led the way in the trauma department.

He was a living poster child of the weeds and the wheat, of sin and grace. Wash my feet! Never! Then my hands and face also! I will be willing to die rather than deny you! I do not know the man! Peter “went out and wept bitterly.” (Lk.22:62) “The doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews.” (Jn 20:1) It was a short trip from total arrogance to total devastation.

Fear and pain had shattered their dreams. Slowly, they realized the events of the weekend not only exposed them as losers for wasting three years of their lives chasing what now appeared to be a delusional ambition. At this moment, they were in danger of doing time in prison and maybe even losing their lives. Fear was a very reasonable response to their tormenting and alarming circumstances.

The urgency of crisis management did not give them much time to let the depth of their loss sink in. Likewise, they were unable to see with any clarity the extent of their personal cowardice in their flight and rejection after three years of intimacy at the feet of Jesus. Self knowledge does take a long time!

Then, in the midst of the pain, the fear, the loss and utter darkness and confusion they see Him and hear, “Peace be with you.” (Jn 20:19)

They had a lot of experience with the upside down world of Jesus. However, nothing prepared them for this. In an instant, defeat and failure are now victory and triumph. Darkness is now light. Abandonment leads to embrace. Sin and denial are washed away in love and mercy. Indeed, “Peace be with you.” It would take a long time for the consequences of this overwhelming experience to sink in.

The story continues in Acts to show us this frightful group of very ordinary broken men as transformed and fearless proclaimers of the gospel. Driven by joy and faith, they set the Church on its 2000 plus years of announcing and celebrating the Risen Christ.

No wonder the Church invites us to ponder and pray about this awesome mystery of the Resurrection for the next seven weeks. There is a lot to take in.

If we are willing to dig deep enough, we gradually will see the story of our lives in the vulnerability of the disciples. We will see the dominance and control of our fear and anxieties In the ordinary flaw of human events our fears are many. Personally, we are apprehensive about the fragile love with our closest relationships. Physically, among many threats, we see gun violence creeping ever closer to all of us. Likewise, Mother Nature is usually the leading story on the nightly news. If we are reasonable, we need to fear the ravages of climate change. Fear of aging can be denied for only so long. We are always anxious about the loss of our possessions. Each of us can add to the list.

An important part of the glorious Easter message is, “Be not afraid!” This command is spoken to us over three hundred times in the Scriptures but never more gloriously in the words of the Risen Savior in today’s gospel text.

Indeed, Christ is risen! Alleluia! When we let this glorious mystery seep into the depths of our heart, nothing will ever be the same again.

It is no wonder this is the day we so fittingly celebrate the mercy of God. Like the disciples, we are loved in our brokenness. We are accepted in our weakness and sinfulness. Slowly, we will get a glimmer of the love Jesus has for us. It is without limit or condition. The mercy of God is a treasure we can hardly grasp. No matter how gradually we seize this treasure, the goal of our spiritual journey in life is to let the power and beauty of this merciful love transform us. Just like the disciples, we are called to be a new creation. We are called to be the people of the Alleluia!

Luke 24:1-12

Dear Friends, The resurrection stories are an invitation into the Mystery of Christ Crucified and Christ Risen. They remain challenging for us as they were for the disciples and the special women on that first Easter. The information of the story, its content, has to be embraced not only in the mind but in a heart that is open and searching the deep questions of our life.

It is good for us to look back at the utter bewilderment and sense of hopelessness of the disciples. The story of the women and the empty tomb had to face some harsh realities that engulfed these first followers of Christ. They were immersed in a total and communal sense of loss as they agonized over the devastating events of the weekend. Then, they had to face the mystery of the Suffering Messiah, both in the words of the prophets and in the very concrete experience of Jesus as the Crucified Christ. Add to this confusing challenge, the fact that Jesus had foretold his fate three times. It was no wonder their first reaction to the women’s astounding declaration was to label it as an idle tale.

In today’s story, we have in Peter a man searching for salvation, for deliverance. Just a few short hours earlier, he slept while Jesus agonized about is coming Passion and Death. Then Peter denied the commitment of all his time with Jesus: “I do not know the man!”

As he ran to the tomb, no doubt, Peter’s mind and heart captured the question of the human journey that is part of all of our experience. “Is there a way out of this broken reality we call life?”

The hearing of Jesus’ call and then the commitment to walk with Jesus captured the initial enthusiasm. Then the increasing challenge to believe in the context of life’s growing burden and confusion led to the questioning of Jesus, and finally, the denial. Now, as he ran to the tomb his heart was searching for a new beginning.

In today’s passage, we are given a powerful insight about discipleship, Peter’s and ours: God never gives up on us!

At the Tomb, the messengers of God, dressed in white, tell the women, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” (Lk 24:5-6)

The women carried the message, in all its wonder and all its challenge and all its confusion, to the disciples. Soon enough, the deepest hope was soon to be fulfilled. Not only has Jesus risen, but Peter, as a model for all of us, was to be accepted in all his brokenness in the loving arms of his gracious God.

Jesus has not given up on Peter and the disciples. Their failure to grasp his message, their desertion at the time of the Passion and Death, does not call forth the wrath of a vengeful God. On the contrary, we are presented with a faithful and forgiving and ever so patient God. Indeed, the reality is God did not give up on the disciples and, especially Peter. Nor will God ever give up on us.

In Peter’s running to the tomb, we have an invitation to enter into the Gospel message with new eyes of faith. It is a call for us to truly understand the words of Jesus to take up our cross and follow Him to Jerusalem. It is an invitation to face up to death in all its manifestations, great and small. We need to realize that God has spoken with the ultimate authority about our human reality. The last word is not death but life, not defeat and hopelessness, but victory that unveils graciousness and a sense of hope in all our darkest moments. God has not given up on us!

We need to return to Galilee and encounter God’s word in Jesus with new eyes opened by the reality of the Resurrection. It is, indeed, a long journey to learn that there is victory in defeat and it is better to serve than to be served and that the first shall be last and the last first and to save our life we need to lose it! Alleluia! Christ has risen! Alleluia!

Luke 24:1-12

Jn 8:1-11

Dear Friends, Today’s gospel story pulls us into the depths of our human condition. We are both the accusers and the accused. We need to let the teachings of Jesus help us understand this truth about ourselves. We share the sinful condition of the leaders, the mob and the woman. We carry the burden of religious practice that tends much more to condemn and punish rather than to forgive and call to life.

Jesus offers a better way of dealing with sin. Condemnation and punishment offer an emptiness and void. The gross self-righteousness of the leaders and the crowd is only an invitation into death for all concerned. The wonder of God’s mercy offers glorious new opportunity of life for all.

The Jewish leaders had little interest in the law and less in the woman. For them she was mere chattel, devoid of all dignity and rights. For Jesus, she was a sinful but loved and forgiven child of God.

The leaders target was Jesus. They wanted to trap him in the choice of either rejecting the Law of Moses or upholding his constant message of mercy. In the eyes his accusers, Jesus faced nothing but destructive choices. He had to accept the Jewish faith and condemn the woman. This would put him against the Romans and their control of the death penalty. On the other hand, he had to reject the teachings of the law. The leaders saw no way out for Jesus. They felt excited about their victory and his defeat.

Jesus dabbled on the ground to show his disinterest in their supposed dilemma for him. He presented the real issue. It was a woman caught in the senseless blindness of a mob whose ideological rage and sham would not let them see the absolute terror of the situation. This woman faced the the stark and immediate probability of death by stoning.

Jesus cut through the layers of deception. He presented a choice that made the mob recognize that, in the end, they shared the fate of the woman. This was a condition common to all human beings. We are sinners and we need forgiveness. Without forgiveness, all of us must face a hopeless misery. The woman faced this stark reality in the clearest of terms: life or death. In the end, only mercy opens the possibility of life for all of us as it did for the woman.

Jesus said to the woman, “Neither do I.” (Jn 8:11) The miracle of these words for her and for us was that Jesus put no condition on his declaration of mercy. He accepted her and us as we are. The condition is on us. He simply asked that we continue the struggle to sin no more.

We have the opportunity in today’s gospel passage to recognize and accept our sinfulness. We have the rest of Lent to cherish this gift to move out of the darkness and death to the light and life. This is what Lent is all about: “Repent, and believe in the gospel!”

Today’s episode highlights the reality of misery and mercy that the Lenten journey presents to us. In the end, our story is about the mercy of God. The Lenten message is to cast away the stones of our misery and judgmental attitude. These are the stones of our pride and attachments, the stones of our neglect of prayer and sacrifice and service. We need to free our hands and open our hearts to receive the mercy of God in the awesome words: “Neither do I.” (Jn 8:11)

Then we can cast away all deeper inclinations of our heart: the stones of our accusations and all the many grudges and hurts. This Lent is the time to share the mercy and forgiveness of God with all our brothers and sisters, especially the ones we have not loved as we should.

Lk 15:1-3, 11-32

Dear Friends, Today’s parable enjoys the popular name of the Prodigal Son. This title loses much of the drama and message of the parable. It is definitely about three persons. Each character has much to teach us. Luke’s magnificent parable, by whatever name, continues this Lent’s theme of repentance.

The first son’s story tells of greed and indulgence encountering the harsh limits of the human condition. The way out is repentance leading to an encounter with mercy. His story tells us as sinners that no step toward God, no matter however small or feeble, will go unanswered.

The s second person is the father. Here we have the great insights into the potential of loving human relationships overcoming the power of possessions and prestige. He shows us clearly the importance of people over property. The father’s response deals with the abandonment of both sons. It is hardly possible to have a more simple and profound mirror of the unconditional love and mercy of God.

The father’s love shows us that God’s love is neither earned nor deserved. It is extravagant, uncalculating, absolute and free. God loves the sinner while he is still a sinner. This divine love is there even before the repentance. It is this divine love that makes the change of heart possible for all of us sinners.

In the second son we have the image of interior alienation that has festered like a cancer over the years. The African American community has a rich description of this experience. It is called the pity party. His self-absorption blinded him to the beautiful love right in front of him. Instead, a hidden anger and jealousy blocked out all the blessings of an incredible parent.

The first son found himself lost in the dark pit of total failure and utter despair. The painful conclusion was the degradation of feeding the pigs. He approached his father in fear and trembling with his well prepared plea for minimal acceptance. His last-hope spiel was cut off by the outrageous rush of mercy and forgiveness by the father.

The whole scene is a litany of violations of expected behavior by the father. It was totally uncouth to leave the house, and even worst, to run. The embrace was completely out of character for an older man in this culture. The fattened calf in these circumstances was simply unheard of. Every accepted ritual for an offended father was shattered in a total loss of dignity. All the broken cultural norms gave further force to the father’s overwhelming cry: I love you! I forgive you! I accept you in great joy! You are back and nothing else matters. On with the party!

The same routine, in a more subtle way, was carried out in the case of the second son. The father left the house once again in violation of the demands of his dignity. He gave no credence to the despicable description of him as a horrible and unconcerned father. The hostility and anger was met with his hand reaching out in mercy and understanding. The self-pity was countered with an invitation to give all that he had. The withdrawal was challenged with the invitation to join the celebration.

He did not let the son’s pathetic anger and jealousy obstruct the dialogue. His only response to a sea of negativity was love, patience, encouragement and acceptance.

There is an even deeper message for us that relates to the overall experience of Jesus and his ultimate rejection. He was accepting the sinners and tax collectors while the Pharisees and Scribes stay wrapped up in the rigidity of their self-righteousness. The first son’s story is pure gospel. The lost are found. The sinners are being forgiven. The dead are rising to new life.

In contrast, the second son is clearly a model of the Jewish leaders locked into their resentment and hostility towards Jesus. They consider all the forgiven sinners as thieves of their privileged heritage. They wallow in the self-pity as Jesus forgives and accepts the tax collectors and sinners.

In the father’s actions, Jesus unveils the awesome wonder of the Father’s mercy and unconditional love. Our Lenten call is to recognize ourselves in both sons. We are invited to the party. We are called to let go of our blinding indulgence in the dead-end pursuits of a self-absorbed life. We are asked to forgo our self-pity and jealousy. Most of all, the utter life-robbing power of the long held grudge is laid out in utter simplicity.

The indispensable response on our part is clear. We need to accept ourselves in our broken condition. We are called to share God’s unconditional love with our brothers and sisters. We are asked to give up the feeling of resentment. We are invited to open up the dialogue in spite of all the perceived violations of our rights and dignity. We need to accept God’s ever-present love and mercy on our Lenten journey to the great party of Easter Sunday.

Lk 13:1-9

Dear Friends, We begin Lent each year with a clear message, “Repent and believe in the gospel!” After having measured Jesus’ temptations and his Transfiguration in light of our life experience and struggle, we now journey three weeks in Luke’s Gospel on the theme of repentance.

Today’s gospel selection has a story of two tragedies and a parable of the fig tree.. The two disasters, one the product of human cruelty and the other an accident, are explained by Jesus as a call to repent. Jesus is clear. Any interpretation of these events as punishment from God for the victims is totally off the mark. All people are liable to death. It may come from injustice or the foibles of both nature and human mistakes or even human malice. In fact, it seems that the good are more prone to this fate of unearned suffering. Nevertheless, death is inevitable for all.

We have before us in today’s gospel a clear choice. We need to realize that death and God’s judgement are always close. Whether at worship in a church or standing next to a wall or whatever the circumstances, we know neither the day nor the hour. Our choice is to accept openly the reality of death or to live in a state of denial.

Today’s gospel passage raises the question? Am I with Jesus or against Him? We are confronted with the reality that we do not control the timeline. The moment of death is totally beyond our direction. Jesus is referencing the two tragedies to emphasize the harsh limits of our mortality. In the parable of the fig tree, we also have a message of God’s mercy. We are called to make that decision for Jesus without delay. This is our Lenten task.

Jesus is using these two events, along with the fig tree parable, to invite people to take stock of their lives. The issue is this: are we ready to meet God? It is an unambiguous call to repentance, a time to examine the state of our life in the light of God’s call.

As always, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus is most helpful in understanding the message of today’s gospel. His life is a clear message that bad things happen to good people. Jesus’ life is a clear manifestation that we can live in communion with God no matter what happens. Jesus shows us that life goes on and love prevails over all in the end.

Likewise, it helps to see Jesus as the gardener in the parable. He both is a person of compassion and the promise of the God of “the second chance.”

The Lenten season is a time for us to take stock of our life. The Lenten message invites us into the mystery of our merciful God. It is a time to accept our sinful condition and plunge into the sea of God’s cleansing mercy that awaits us. We are called to produce the fruit of a good life. Through Jesus, God is offering us the ultimate overture of love. This offer of love is wrapped in a mercy that washes away our sins if we only open our heart to receive the gracious call to life, forgiveness and love. The best place to start is to recognize both our sinfulness and God’s mercy.

Today’s gospel is quite clear. Now is the time to act. We have no guarantee for tomorrow! The fig tree is a sign to us that we may well be in our final year to bear fruit. The limits of the human condition are very real!

Lk 9:28-36

Dear Friends, Each Lent, we have the Transfiguration story on the second Sunday. This tantalizing peak at the glorious Christ offers us a challenge to move deeper into the reality of a Suffering Messiah and our own life. We are relentlessly pulled in an opposite direction of the Cross by the values of a consumer society. At first glance, and even third glace, it is hard to figure out how our search for happiness fits the somber message of Lent.

Peter had a hard time with the message of the Suffering Messiah the first time around. He could not connect his idea of the Messiah of God, to Jesus’ declaration to take up your cross and follow me.

Peter’s dilemma was this: Jesus was the Messiah. How could He suffer? Jesus just deepened Peter’s confusion when referring to the disciple’s acknowledgement of him being the Messiah. Jesus “rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.” (Lk 9:21)

No doubt we share Peter’s confusion when we try to equate our belief in an all loving and an all-powerful God and the horror of Japan’s catastrophe at Hiroshima or so many other devastating human catastrophes. Peter’s dilemma is our dilemma. How do we link the divine goodness and suffering on an incomprehensible scale and even the consistent occurrence of affliction in our daily lives? We witness the slaughter in our cities and the total waste of life, both young and old, as a result of the gangs. Much bigger than the problem of immigration is the gross poverty around the world that forces people to leave their homes.

In the Transfiguration, Jesus reaffirms his divinity, a divinity compassionately concerned with all human suffering. However, the Transfiguration takes place on the road to Jerusalem where He will be rejected, suffer and die. The Father says, “This is my Son, the Chosen one. Listen to him.” (Lk 9:35) This is the key to the placement of the Transfiguration story on this second Sunday of our Lenten journey. Here we will find the way out of Peter’s confusion and our confusion.

The message the Father wants the disciples to hear is clear. Jesus is the Suffering Messiah and the disciples need to follow him. “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Lk 9:23)

Jesus makes this message more breathtaking in his conversation with Moses and Elijah. “and He spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.” (Lk 9:31) This was his path to the fullness of the Kingdom through his Passion, Death and Resurrection.

Lent is a time to prepare to celebrate the Death and Resurrection of Jesus the Christ with new joy, stronger faith and growing love. This is the great mystery of our faith and our life. It is a call to conversion, an invitation to the mystery of gospel that celebrates a Crucified Christ. it is a call to move away from the superficial and into the depths of our heart to face our sin and Jesus’ merciful love.

As many times as we have heard the story, it still holds the seeds of light and wisdom, of hope and tenderness. It reminds us how close God is to us and how thin the curtain between the divine and human truly is. We are always on the edge of our human frailty and mortality. Equally, we are on the edge of eternal life and happiness. Whether it is the brokenness of our relationships, the consequences of sin, or the corruption of our world, we need to accept our personal and social valley of tears and “Listen to Him!” (Lk 9:35) He will reveal anew that the last word is not sickness, the dark side of family life, injustice, prejudice, and the foibles of nature’s awesome power or even death. The last word revealed in the Crucified and Risen Christ is life and the victory of love. Once again, our journey to Jerusalem in Lent and, more so in our life, is an invitation to enter into the Mystery. This Mystery joins the Divine and suffering, the suffering and glorious Messiah. It leads to the victory of Easter.

Luke 4:1-12

Dear Friends, We began our Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday with the command, “Repent, and believe in the Good News.” Lent, we need to remember, is a time to enter within, to examine the hidden depths of our heart. As we enter more deeply within, we will find our brokenness but also a real possibility of peace. Even more, we will discover God’s mercy in abundant supply. The challenge of Lent urges us to free our heart, our mind and our life to grapple with the great truth of our faith, Jesus Christ Crucified and Jesus Christ Risen. These six weeks of repentance and reflection need to lead us to celebrate the Pascal Mystery. Lent prepares us for the most solemn holy days of the Triduum at the end of Holy Week.

On this first Sunday of Lent, we have the story of Jesus’ temptations. In the story, we have echoes of the temptation of our parents in the Garden and the rebellious followers of Moses in the desert. Contrary to these earlier victories of Satan, Jesus is the victor this time.

The temptations all come down to what kind of Messiah Jesus was going to be. The devil offered an attractive expression of a leader who would save the world with the values of the world: personal power, military and political might and wonder-working aimed at enthralling the masses. Jesus would achieve personal prestige, wealth, and control in the extreme. Jesus chose a different path, service and love over possessions and celebrity. Jesus elected to simply share our humanity. This exposed him to all the consequences of being faithful to God in a sinful and unfair world. This would lead to a suffering Messiah, a Messiah of humility and selflessness, not power and privilege. Jesus chose his way of leadership and the power of weakness that was revealed in the washing of the feet and all the events of that fateful weekend.

In his rejection of Satan, Jesus reveals to us the truth of our own lives. We are rooted in and called by a gracious God who has a great plan. This divine plan is infinitely better than all the attractions and deceptions of power, pleasure, wealth and control that make up the devil’s trickery.

God shows us in Jesus that his love will win out in the end. We need to use this time of Lent to pray, reflect and enter into ourselves. This demands slowing down to seek opportunities for silence and prayer. The Church offers a treasure for the spirit in the liturgical readings of the daily masses and especially the Sundays masses of Lent. The Church invites us into the Word of God to guide us in the footsteps of Jesus. We are summoned into the “Jesus game” where you win by losing.

This is the choice Jesus reveals in today’s Gospel passage. We need to be reminded that the devil is still playing his destructive games. The devil’s program is always the same. His deceiving action always offers evil wrapped up in the guise of the good and appealing. Yet, it is ultimately the destructive evil which is the only option in his bag of tricks. Jesus offers another choice beyond Satan’s relentless deceptions. It is a choice that leads to the victory of good over evil, of life over death. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus! This is our Lenten task!

Lk 6:39-45

Dear Friends, Today, Luke again addresses the incredibly demanding task of being fair and just with our neighbor. Luke is reminding us of the severe difficulty of honest, healthy and caring relations between human beings. Only with severe difficulty do we really know what is going on inside another person. When it comes to retribution or justice we need divine wisdom. God sees the heart and acts with generosity, understanding and compassion. We are invited, through today’s gospel message, to try to do the same.

Luke is actually offering a summary of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain and its invitations into the upside down world of Jesus. The blind guides he warns us about are those who think they see clearly. The people who admit their limited vision and pocket-sized understanding of God’s ways are the ones who we should trust. They offer the best possible guidance toward the light that helps us to see as Jesus sees.

Last week’s selection ended with the admonition not to judge and condemn our brothers and sisters and everybody else! Today’s first set of examples has two statements that are brilliantly clear about not judging and condemning our neighbor. They are the blind leading the blind and the quite humorous observation about the beam in the eye. Both of these insights surround and enlighten the main message of Luke in this section: “No disciple is superior to his teacher; but when fully trained every disciple will be like his teacher.” (Lk 6:40)

The carpenter-shop example of the beam seems quite appropriate to our common experience. Our awareness of our judging and condemning others most often comes slowly and in small steps. It is not as if we can simply pull the beam out of our blinded eye. We have to do the carpenter thing. We need to shave it down in a small step-by step-process.

An example of this is how we get rid of some of the common destructive forces in our culture: racism, sexism, consumerism and ageism. These realities block us in our relationship with our neighbor. We do not wake up one day and have mindset totally free to embrace racial equality or to cast off the hidden benefits of white privilege. Likewise, we do not move smoothly and painlessly to become enthused about the LBGT agenda. Our heart is seldom free of the desire for the next upgrade on our many possessions. One final observation of this struggle is our reluctance to face the truth of the aging process.

We constantly struggle to enter into Jesus’ gospel reality. So often, it is the blind leading the blind. We see this in the slow and reluctant exposure of the sexual abuse scandal in the Church.

It is the seemingly ever-present beam that hinders our experience of the “other” whether that “other” is our mother-in-law or the illegal immigrant driving the polluting car without the smog sticker.

We move forward removing the beam with the help of our Sunday liturgy, daily deep personal prayer and truly compassionate patience with others. It is all about becoming like our teacher. The sayings in today’s gospel are simply making concrete what Jesus taught us last week: “Be merciful as you Father is merciful.” (Lk 6:36)

The first step in becoming like our teacher is to acknowledge our sinfulness and blindness. This is the easiest way to shave the beam of our egoism and self-grandiosity. This is a steady journey to self-knowledge. It is the gentle but consistent shaving of the blinding beam of self-centeredness.. This frees us to gradually see with eyes of compassion, forgiveness and love. This is keeping our eyes on Jesus.

In the final section of today’s gospel, Jesus makes the clear and obvious point. Our heart is the true source of our commitment. Only a clean heart produces good fruit. The image of the tree and its yield of good fruit demonstrates what is happening when there is authenticity in the person. The words of our lips ultimately only have meaning if they are connected to a wholesome heart. Good fruit happens only when the heart is focused on God’s call to walk with Jesus.

Lk 6:27-38

Dear Friends. Today’s gospel selection offers more of Luke’s challenging message of the Sermon on the Plain. The passage could hardly be more demanding. Turn the other cheek, offer the tunic as well, do not demand the loan to be repaid and respond to a curse with a blessing: all of these commands lead to the most unlikely possibility, to love our enemy. This command is uttered at the beginning and near the end of this passage. In between is a list of particular actions that show concretely how this love may be expressed.

There are two ways of approaching this difficult call of Jesus that totally miss the point. One is for us to not take the teaching seriously as if it were just impossible to do. This is, by far, the most common practice. The second is to take the teaching literally as if we must respond specifically the same way in our life.

The third approach is doable but deeply challenging. Jesus is speaking in prophetic language that is not literal but which addresses the deepest deceptions of our false consciousness. Jesus is insisting on a fundamental attitude that is foolish in comparison to the standards of the world but is a mirror of God’s attitude of unlimited mercy. This sense of direction only makes sense when are goal is clear. We must strive to share God’s attitude toward our enemies. We have the clearest and most beautiful example of Jesus on the cross: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34)

All the examples Jesus gives demand an exorbitant generosity. We are asked not to respond in the face of injury, insult and unreasonable demands. We are to have no claim of revenge no matter how gross the injustice. The practical conclusion of Jesus’ list of particulars is a nonviolent response to our enemies’ many personal expressions of violence and degradation against us. At the heart of Jesus’ program of mercy is this. There is no real life, no true and enriching satisfaction in revenge. Only a forgiving and merciful love can bring us to the most authentic experience of life.

On the surface, the actions Jesus sets out for us make no sense. This is the case whenever Jesus operates from the prophetic manner of speech.

Jesus states this in his words: “You will be children of the Most High, who is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.” (Lk 6:35)

This approach of Jesus is calling us to this attitude of mercy. The specific demands are not rules of behavior. They are aimed at developing a general approach to life that avoids judging others, that is open to forgiveness and that is generous in loving. Jesus is calling us to expand the narrow horizons of our heart so we may be the vessel of mercy and forgiveness to all and, in particular, to our enemies.

We are not able to love our enemies with the same warmth and depth of feeling we have for our loved ones. We can, however, bless them and pray for them. The words of the Our Father about forgiveness tell us a truth so commonly forgotten. Our lack of forgiveness closes our heart to God’s mercy for us.

No matter how our enemies may insult, mistreat or injure us, we are called to seek what is good for them even in the midst of their continuing hostility for us.

In verses 33 to 35 Jesus is asking us to go beyond the ordinary. We are called to take the extra step. The measure of our conduct is a call to outdo our culture and the practical norms of our society. The seeming nonsense of loving our enemies is only possible when we imitate our loving and merciful God. God loves the sinner and the saint. The life and teachings of Jesus are a call for us to enter into this divine universal love. Today Jesus invites us into some very concrete attitudes that we need to take on. “Love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” (Lk 6:34-35)

From Contemplative Prayer to Contemplation:

Many people of goodwill share a common desire to become more contemplative. This generally means a desire for a deeper spirituality. This move to a more profound level is called for by our pastors and religious leaders, by our friends and spouses and, in our day, especially from Pope Francis. The common understanding for this appeal to the contemplative lifestyle has a general meaning. It is an entreaty to slow down, to get out of the rat race and to give more time to reflection, spiritual reading and prayer. While all of this is a truly wholesome and spiritual development, it is not contemplation. As often as not, it is an obstacle to contemplation. This generic approach is not only a cheap substitute, it frequently blinds one to the real cost in self- sacrifice that true contemplation demands.

Today, there is much discussion about contemplation among spiritual theologians. One issue is whether contemplative prayer is contemplation. Like all of theology, this type of intellectual pursuit offers a real contribution to the faith community. However, the issue in the lives of most people is more concrete and immediate. It is not definitions and clarifications, as helpful as they may be, that most people want. They are focused on the experience that will bring one closer to God.

The goal for most tested and mature Christians is authentic spiritual experience leading to the honest pursuit of God. This is possible only by sacrifice and discipline that opens to recollection and prayer. This approach will facilitate being present to God in the midst of the day’s rush. Stillness and silence are great gifts even in small doses during the day. Likewise, this search for God in a contemplative lifestyle includes more extensive times of silence and withdrawal. It will grow to periods of prayer for twenty or more minutes in one’s daily routine.

This style of contemplative prayer is a move away from thinking and imagining. It is a move to listening and loving. It seeks a wordless presence to God. There are numerous styles of contemplative prayer prevalent today that enrich the search for true contemplation. Among the several different Christian options, centering prayer and Christian Meditation are the most common.

Whatever the style of contemplative prayer, the real issue is the authenticity of the experience. Is it bringing us closer to God? Is it opening us to God’s presence in the world? Is it helping us in serving our neighbor? Or, as is often the case, is it a spiritual indulgence looking for a “Make me feel good Jesus”? The Answer is in the Gospel Lifestyle It is easy to find the answer to the question about true contemplation. Does our life model the gospel message of Jesus more generously than before? Are we on the move to genuinely walk with Jesus? Is our heart becoming more inclusive and less judgmental? Is that log in the eye beginning to diminish?

The person who faithfully passes from contemplative prayer to an authentic experience of contemplation has certain characteristics flowing from the extraordinary experience of God. There is a deep, inward attentiveness to God’s movement within self and the world. Stillness, silence, focused awareness and reflective attention to the world, all are manifestations of the true contemplative experience. Genuine contemplatives usually live a life of enriched relationships and expanding responsibilities. They differ from most people in their generous openness to the messiness of life. This flows from their primary commitment to seek God in all things.

This openness to God is driven by a lifestyle that prioritizes prayer and moves away from self and to the other. The conflict between prayer and action melts into a single purpose of seeking God in all things and at all times. This is in contrast to most people who are settled in their spiritual life. Their common priority is action. Prayer plays a much less prominent role.

Contemplation: God’s New Active Presence

Three outstanding consequences of contemplation are purification, enlightenment and transformation These elements take place at a deeper and expanding pace as the contemplative experience grows to be more pervasive and complete in the individual. John of the Cross sees contemplation as the loving knowledge of God infused into the individual. It reveals and purifies the massive self-centeredness that had withstood all previous efforts to eliminate it over many years of real spiritual progress.

Most often, this new awareness is a truly shocking experience. This leads to a new enlightenment allowing the individual to see both the present and past as a time of incredible self-absorption. What had been considered generous service and self-sacrifice now appears to be deeply flawed and wrapped up in a distorted personal agenda. It is a stunning and humbling experience for the person to see one’s life in the light of God’s truth rather than from the platform of self-interest. This opens up to another fundamental insight in the experience of contemplation.

In the personal transformation that evolves from true contemplation, there is a clear and demanding mindfulness of the need for God’s mercy. God is the loving and merciful Creator and we are the sinful but loved and forgiven creature. Likewise, there is a growing intimacy with Christ that is new and consuming. Love for Christ moves from words and phrases to a life-driven force far exceeding any previous experience. Jesus Christ, as the Wisdom of God, grows in one’s consciousness beyond any other spiritual practice.

All of these qualities of personal change and insight are part of moving away from the self as the center of one’s being. In turn, there is an overwhelming revolution of perspective placing God at the center of one’s being. This is only possible with God’s immediate and concrete help in true contemplation. All of this transpires in a journey of love leading to our true destiny of union with God.

Lk 6:17, 20-26

Dear Friends, Luke’s Gospel has a very strong theme of reversal. In his view of salvation, there truly is “Good News” for the poor and marginalized. Likewise, as Mary proclaimed the Magnificat, we read:

“He has shown might with his arm
And dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones
But lifted up the lowly
The hungry he has filled with good things
The rich he has sent way empty. (Lk1:51-53)

There are many startling statements about the poor and rich, the weak and the strong spread throughout the Gospel of Luke. They are expressions of this theme of reversal. This pattern of great change will erupt as part of the coming reign of God that Jesus is preaching.

These bombshells of Jesus are like flashes of lightening that grow into a shocking thunder of surprise and wonder. It starts with the Magnificat of Mary. This great reversal is set out in even deeper clarity in the Beatitudes in today’s gospel reading. Jesus is saying that this proclamation of the Kingdom renders a new experience of reality. This is the great reversal where the poor are blessed and the rich are now the new losers. It takes some deep faith and commitment to grasp this shattering of a common-sense perception of reality. The values of the world are put in total disarray. The onset of the Kingdom introduces an absolutely new way, completely new values. The only harder dimension of this salvation story is to comprehend that the Savior was born in the poverty of swaddling clothes and died in the total abandonment of the cross.

The Bible’s use of the term blessed usually does not define the quality of the person’s moral state. It refers to the benefits that are coming from an action of God. It is like winning God’s lottery. The blessings of the Beatitudes express the values being revealed in the upside-down world of Jesus’ coming salvation. To be poor, hungry, weeping and reviled rather than rich, full, laughing and held in esteem are the new norms. Jesus is explaining the new reality that is the great reversal. Jesus, to be sure, is not denying the pain and loss of the poverty, hunger, personal devastation and rejection. He is declaring a turnaround of what most people hold as rewards and disadvantages. There will be a great upheaval flowing from the coming action of God in the Kingdom.

Jesus is not blessing poverty and deprivation, anguish and misery. He is pointing out two truths: first is that the coming of the Kingdom addresses the condition of suffering and deprivation; secondly, the experience of the newly blessed tends to help the person be more receptive to God’s coming. The new reality will mean the loss of these hurting elements. The action of God in Jesus unveils a new reality and freedom. Wealth, prosperity and the other woes are obstacles to the new norms of God’s Kingdom.

While the economic and social dimension of being “poor” cannot be trivialized by some spiritual interpretation, the biblical tradition includes all the afflicted no matter what the cause of their condition. The poor are those whose bleakness and impoverishment benefit from God’s saving action.

All throughout his Gospel, Luke gives us stories, miracles and teachings and experiences that flesh out this meaning of “poor” in Jesus’ proclamation of the good news of the great reversal. The role of women is a highlight throughout the text. The parables of the good Samaritan, the prodigal son and the widow challenging the unjust judge along with the story of Zacchaeus are concrete examples of the two-fold blessings of the Kingdom: first the simple blessing of the great reversal and secondly the personal integrity of one embracing the great reversal.

Pope Francis has a great insight of what happens when we do not respond to Jesus’ invitation as Zacchaeus did. In The Joy of the Gospel (#54), the Pontiff says, “Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other peoples pain and feeling a need to help them as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own.”

The power of Jesus’ insight on the great reversal of the blessings and the woes was set in motion by his teachings and his actions. Jesus unveiled the presence of the reign of God penetrating the human condition of every person. In the Beatitudes, we find a portrait of Jesus. A true encounter with Jesus invites the disciple to become like him who is the most authentic expression of the Beatitudes. Jesus’ message penetrates and renovates us. Now we are truly blessed with a heart set on the Kingdom. Embracing the great reversal leads to seeing and hearing with new eyes and ears. We begin to see the pervasive injustice and poverty of our world. We begin to hear the cry of the poor. The integrity of our response is our way into the Kingdom.

Luke 5:1-11

Dear Friends, In today’s gospel there is a phrase that Jesus uses that is especially pregnant with meaning. When he tells Peter to try again after a futile night’s work where he failed to catch even a few fish, Jesus tells Peter, “Put out into the deep…” (Lk 5:4)

Peter follows Jesus’ command. A night of disappointment is transformed into a spectacular feast of abundance. Then, there is a total switch in gears. What had been so profoundly desired, the large catch of fish, all of a sudden, is put aside for a deeper and richer reality. “When they brought their boats ashore, they left everything and followed him.” (Lk 5:11)

What is the message for us today in this encounter between Jesus and Peter? The key is “Put out into the deep…” (Lk 5:4)

The large catch of fish is a symbol. It opens up the treasures of life that are available when we pass beyond the superficial, when we go past the cultural demands that feed a self-centered existence. This is an existence defined for us by false values of a consumer-driven society that centers on ourselves and our indulgence.

Deep personal prayer is a call to enter into life at a level that opens into the mystery of God. Deep personal prayer holds the key to God’s call in the midst of the ordinary flow of our life. This kind of prayer is a profound reflection on God’s word and our experience. This prayer seeks God’s will for us at this point in our life.

Jesus was beginning Peter’s transformation by showing him the way of faith, the way of a trusting acceptance of God’s word and will. Deep personal prayer will do the same for us as we ponder God’s word and seek God’s will in the daily experience of our relationships and responsibilities. It directs us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus just as Peter and his companions did.

In today’s gospel scene, Peter is performing his ordinary tasks, his usual responsibilities. He is a fisherman. Jesus transforms this familiar chore by inviting him to enter more deeply into the experience. He is teaching Peter, and us, that the true spirituality is not outside of life, different from our ordinary experience. We will encounter God by being more present to our life situation and all the demands and responsibilities it places on us. Deep personal prayer will bring us in touch with Jesus just as Peter was.

A call to be spiritual, to have a more meaningful experience of God, is not to move outside of life but to re-possess life at the deepest level. “Put out into the deep…” (Lk 5:4)

The Good News is that God is present to life. We are not left to our destructive inclinations and the awful games we often play. Peter recognized his brokenness in this regard. He said, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” (Lk 5:18)

Jesus did not abandon Peter to his sinful ways nor will he abandon us. Grace and new life are always possible, always beckoning us. Deep personal prayer where we ponder God’s word and seek God’s will guide us to the depth of life where God beckons us. Like Peter, we have to “Put out into the deep…” (Lk 5:4) We will encounter a new, gracious reality. We will see that our heart will be free to let go of all the obstacles that keep us from walking with Jesus.

Lk 4:21-30

Dear Friends, Today’s gospel passage offers a dramatic turn of events. It is a look back and a plunge into the future. It is hard to grasp the incredibly rapid transformation from “All spoke highly of him.” (Lk 4:22) to they “led him to the brow of the hill…to hurl him down headlong.” (Lk 4:29)

Their rejection was clear and emphatic. It had been foretold by Simeon in the Temple. “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted.” (Lk 2:34-35)

Looking to the future, the scene of furious and singular rejection will be repeated on a larger scale as Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. At the heart of both the earlier and later rejections, and the continuing rejection in our day, is Jesus’ message of universal love. Jesus presents a God who offers hospitality to all.

This image of God calls for change. A deep conversion must shatter the limited and comfortable religious vision expressed in the statement, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” (Lk 4:22) Isn’t he one of us? Doesn’t he share our sense of privilege and prestige and exclusion as God’s special people? The townsfolk quietly understood, just like the chief priests and scribes later on, that Jesus was a threat to their comfort and control.

They would have gladly made Jesus a local hero if they could set the agenda. They were the first in a long history of Christianity to try to make Jesus over in their image. Their Jesus would fit right in with their prejudices and ignorance, their lack of concern for the “other” in all its many manifestations that still are expressed in today’s headlines.

I recently heard a joke on this issue. They got rid of all the foreigners, immigrants and poor at the Nativity scene so only the donkeys and cows were left. Jesus understood clearly. He faced a choice about the integrity of his message and the reality of the God of universal acceptance and hospitality.

The “Nazareth game” is played out in our churches, parishes, communities and Church even today. We are ever into the Jesus make-over. We definitely are looking for the more comfortable model. “Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.” (Lk a4:30) He did the same with the hostile leaders who thought they were getting rid of him in the crucifixion.

That time Jesus passed through their midst in the resurrection and ascension. He does the same to us. Yet he never forsakes us. He is always calling us, like Peter, to a place we would rather not go.

Walking with Jesus involves a relentless shattering of our horizons. It makes a steady and consistent expansion of our reluctance to accept the “other.” Jesus’ message never lets us rest in the comfortable home of our prejudices and blindness. Jesus is always asking us to share the hospitality of the Father for all.

John 20:19-23

Lk 24:46-53

John 14:23-29

John 13:31-35

John 21:1-19

John 20:19-31

Luke 24:1-12

Luke 24:1-12

Jn 8:1-11

Lk 15:1-3, 11-32

Lk 13:1-9

Lk 9:28-36

Luke 4:1-12

Lk 6:39-45

Lk 6:27-38

From Contemplative Prayer to Contemplation:

Contemplation: God’s New Active Presence

Lk 6:17, 20-26

Luke 5:1-11

Lk 4:21-30

ABOUT ME

SUBSCRIBE NOW. GOD HAS A MESSAGE FOR YOU!

POPULAR POSTS