Goodness Ultimately Will Triumph

Do not be afraid; I am with you always.

Sunday's word of God takes us back to the Wisdom literature attributed to Solomon. Today’s word was written to inspire people undergoing hardships to persevere in fidelity to God’s Covenant. God, the author says, is mighty and powerful, the source of all good, and a patient judge. And for such a mighty and caring and forgiving God, we should be grateful.

Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr captured a nugget of wisdom in his well-known prayer: “God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time...trusting that You, God, will make all things right, if I surrender to Your will.”

St. Paul in his letter to the Christian community at Rome speaks about the Spirit or energy of God dwelling within us. When we pray “Come, Holy Spirit,” for example, we are praying for an increased sense of that presence of God in us. God is present everywhere, yet we do not always sense it. Paul asks us to be aware in our daily lives. We are “living temples of God.” We might pray, as Paul and Barnabas did in the Book of Acts chapter 13, that God will give us the courage to live the “good news” boldly.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the weeds. Good and evil, virtue and vice, live together. God is patient. But we know the harvest will come, when we will be accountable for our attitudes and behavior. In that judgment, we will see clearly our true from our false self. Jesus proclaims loudly that good will triumph.

One big obstacle to faith is the suffering of the innocent. If God loves us, why so much suffering in the world, so much injustice and violence? The Book of Job grappled with this. There are no easy answers. Yet God meets us in the midst of our struggles. People who have gone through great suffering often have strong faith. They testify to the presence of God within.

It is a great blessing to have a system of justice. Ultimately, God will call us to account. In the meantime, we are called to do everything we can to do right.

There are times when we face major challenges to our faith. St. Paul, for example, was shipwrecked. The crisis gave him an opportunity to speak about his faith. He knew that God wanted the best for him, as he does for us.

Whatever challenges we face, let’s put our faith in God, trust that God will be with us in whatever God asks us to do.

We're Born to LIve in a Relationship with the Triune God

Andrei Rublev's Icon of the Trinity

Sunday we celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the feast of the triune God. We begin every liturgy, and are sent forth at the end, with the blessing of “the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Scriptures speak of God as a walking companion, as tender as a mother, a God who wants to share his wisdom, a good shepherd, all balanced with the last judgment: when we see God face to face. All these images cannot capture fully the inexhaustible reality of God.

And no human relationship can completely satisfy us. We were born to live in relationship with God – the triune God – and today’s feast highlights that relationship.

Sunday's word of God takes us back to a key moment in salvation history, the liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt. God calls Moses to Mount Sinai a second time (after the Hebrews had broken their covenant) and reveals He is a merciful, compassionate and faithful God. Moses then begs God to dwell with his people. And God does!

Paul in his farewell letter appeals to the Christian community in Corinth to live a godlike life and then blesses them with that introductory prayer we hear so often at the beginning of liturgy.

The Gospel according to John describes God as the Tremendous Lover who became one of us so that we may have eternal life.

The Holy Trinity – one God yet distinctive in modalities or persons of Father, Son, and Spirit; a God in whom none is “other”; a God who is love – invites us to build on that relationship with God and one another.

Most people are aware of a relationship with God, perhaps more subconscious than conscious. We are forever trying to make better sense out of life, especially in times of crisis. In moments like these, people often ask the fundamental questions of life: What am I here for? Where is my life going? These are religious questions, questions we cannot help but try to answer.

As we go through the cycle of our own human development, we are forever trying to better integrate our lives. We may want to live for something of ultimate meaning. At times, we seem to have accomplished so little. Life seems marred by too many tragedies. Recent news has looked like a “perfect storm.” Pandemic masks, and restrictions at churches. The tragic death of George Floyd. Fiery protests. And hurricane season is here.

But at other moments, experiences lift us up. The joy of friendship, a golden sunset, a good accomplishment. We begin to experience the transcendent dimension of our life. Yes, there must be a gracious God who is responsible for this magnificent universe and for creating our very lives: with the freedom to pursue true happiness.

A gracious God whose presence among us can heal the brokenness of human life. This God became flesh in Jesus and is alive among us by the power of the Spirit. This triune God, the model of self-giving love, empowers us to reach out to one another with compassion, forgiveness, a helping hand. And in that, we become like the triune God.

God is in all of life

Dali's Sacrament of the Last Supper

The theme of love in the Gospel is an invitation to reflect upon our own life.

During these “stay at home” coronavirus times, which we will hopefully get beyond soon, our regular contacts may have been limited to a smaller number of people. This can be a blessing, if we have the right attitude.

Let me illustrate my point with a true story.  Over a century and a half ago, “diamond fever” struck Africa. Some people struck it rich. Others made a long, arduous, disappointing search.

One man sold his farm and began trekking through the continent, never finding diamonds.

Meanwhile, on the land the man had sold, the new owner found a strange-looking stone. A visitor noticed it and shouted excitedly, “This is a diamond! It’s one of the largest I’ve ever seen.”
They discovered that the entire farm was covered with gems.

Some people never take the time to see the “gems” in their own families.  So “stop and smell the roses” in your family. Look at God’s love for them. Any gem, of course, may need polishing. But the gem’s there.

So what does Sunday's Word of God have to say to us?In the beginnings of Christianity, a deacon named Philip is traveling to the back-water city of Samaria, proclaiming the “Good News” that Jesus Christ lives. And because Christ lives, we live.

Philip had such remarkable success that the Jerusalem community dispatched Peter and John to Samaria so that they could fire up the newly baptized with the gifts of the Spirit: wisdom (to recognize what truly matters in life), intelligence (to discern what's true), courage (to stand up for what's right), empathy and compassion (for the needy), good judgment, and wonder and awe.

The letter of Peter urges Christians to be patient, especially in adversity, and to speak with “gentleness and reverence.” Like Jesus, if they have to suffer, he asks them to suffer for doing good rather than for doing evil. Jesus is indeed our model.  Remember: in the tragedy of the cross is the triumph of Easter.

Jesus in the Gospel announces his departure from the disciples: his close friends. They feel isolated, alone. But Jesus promises that he still will be with them through the Spirit. He alludes to the mystery of the triune God: Father, Son and Spirit. The triune God lives within us and we live within the triune God. This is called the mystery of the indwelling of God. His presence is as real to us now as it was to the disciples then. The challenge is to find God in our daily lives.

The temptation is that we may tend to isolate God to “church” or “temple.” But God is in all of life: in moments of great joy, in periods of dark sadness, in the nitty-gritty of work. The Gospel invites us to look beneath and beyond ordinary appearances and see the reality of God all around us.

Theodore Roosevelt – author, conservationist, historian, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and 26th President of the United States (the youngest president ever at 42) – had some sound advice when he stated, “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.”

Roosevelt believed that you found yourself by being involved with everyday life. Like people in the Bible. Yes, let us pray for the grace to find the presence of God everywhere--in ourselves, in other people and in everyday situation-and especially in the nitty-gritty of daily life.

Our Destination: Home with God

Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee

Happy Mother's Day.  My prayer for all mothers is this: May the Lord bless and keep you. May He show his face to you and have mercy upon you. May He turn his countenance to you and give you peace. Kudos to all mothers for all you do.

In Sunday's Gospel, Jesus says we have a dwelling place with God. What precisely will this place be like? We don’t know! In death, we will have to let go of our earth-bound existence, with unconditional trust that God will bear us away within himself forever.

Sunday's word of God in the Book of the Acts takes us back to the beginnings of Christianity. The early Church is beginning to diversify. The challenge then and now is how to stay united as we diversify.

Suddenly in today’s passage, a problem arises: the community is neglecting some people in need. The community solves the problem by ordaining some as deacons. The Greek word diakonia means service. And that is why the Church continues to have so many agencies that do so much good for others, especially the needy.

The letter of Peter evokes the image of a spiritual house, a living temple of God. The living Christ is the cornerstone or center of this community.  And we are the stones.

One of my favorite images of the church, one of the oldest, is a boat. We are on a journey, with
a map and stormy weather, people slipping, survivors being pulled in, mutinies, getting off
course, being attacked. A boat needs a captain. Peter didn't seem ideal, yet what his crew and
subsequent crews managed to do has lasted over two thousand years. Today there are more than 1.2
billion Catholics.

Perhaps we might best describe the Church as a community who believe in God as Triune
and in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the redeemer of humankind, and who shape their lives
according to that belief; a community which remembers that belief ritually in the Eucharist, and
recognizes the Bishop of Rome as the foundation of its unity.

Like many things in life, this global community lives with some messiness and muddles through as best it can. We continually have to strive to do the right thing, to forgive, to let go of feelings of resentment and bitterness and, as the prophet Micah said centuries before Jesus: "do right and love goodness and walk humbly with our God."

We remember and celebrate the awesome presence of the Living Christ, gloriously alive, in our midst. He is our way into eternal life, our true Good News who scatters the “fake news” all around us, and our life who overcomes death. We retell the stories of Jesus;we  celebrate the sacramental presence of the living Christ in liturgical signs. The same Spirit who transformed the disciples from cowards hiding behind closed doors into heroes proclaiming fearlessly that Jesus is alive, that same Spirit lives within our global community, within us, and can fire us up to do wonders for God if we will only let the Spirit do so.

Being Salt and Light

Nathan Greene's  Jesus Light of the Universe

Last Sunday was the Super Bowl. This Sunday brings the Academy Awards. How can we consider these media events in light of Scripture? It often appears our culture is celebrity-driven.

But celebrities are not the only people with talent. Every one of us has gifts or talents that can “build up” other people. We have special gifts by virtue of our baptism. We possess the power to believe, to hope and to love.

The Book of Isaiah notes practices like fasting are useless if we treat people unfairly. It’s better, the author says, to practice works of mercy: feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, and be compassionate.

St. Paul asks us to look for wisdom not just in people of eloquence, but in the Spirit who empowers us to proclaim the good news: God became one of us in Jesus so that we could become like God, see God as God is. That indeed is our purpose in life: to be in relationship with God forever.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus says we are to be “salt of the earth” and “light of the world.” Adding salt to food can bring out the natural flavor. Salt in our bodies enables our muscles to expand and contract, our hearts to beat, our blood to circulate. We are “salt” when we bring out the best in people: bring out the “flavor” of God in everything.

Light can transform a cold night into a warm day. Light enables us to study, to behold the beauty of God’s universe. Luminosity in art can point us to the transcendent. We are “light” when we illuminate the presence of God in our everyday life. There are many splendid callings. Parent, teacher or student, doctor or lawyer, businessperson -- whoever you are, you have a specific vocation, right now: to inspire people to be the best version of themselves, to give their time and talents to others, to have the courage to stand up for what's right and true, to be men and women of integrity.

And what makes us a faithful and effective Christian is the Spirit of God within us. Oh, personality can be a blessing. But the Spirit of God works through us as we are. The Spirit illumines our minds to know the way we should behave and strengthens us to behave in that way. The Spirit gives us “love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and discipline.” What more can we want?

The Spirit of God can make us a means of healing, a channel of grace, an instrument of peace. What a wonderful gift. These gifts or talents we have are not for ourselves but for the common good, for the family in which we live, the profession in which we work, the community in which we find ourselves.

May each of us realize that the purpose of life is to matter, to make a difference for the better by giving the best we have in service to one another. And then we will realize, with God’s grace, the best version of ourself.

The Purpose of my Life

Rublev's Icon of the Trinity

Happy Fathers Day! The word “father” or “dad” evokes various images and traits. I think of qualities my father possessed in abundance (qualities all good fathers possess): Love, commitment, communication, spirituality. We spent time together. And my father had a good sense of humor.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the feast of the triune God, the fundamental and distinctive truth of Christianity. We begin every liturgy “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” and are sent forth at the end with the blessing of the “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

Now when we hear the word “God,” what images do we think of? The Bible gives us many. A walking companion. As loving as a mother. A God who wants to share his wisdom with us. The parables of the good shepherd and the prodigal son are balanced with the parable of the last judgment.

The images cannot capture fully the inexhaustible reality of God.

And no human relationship can completely satisfy us. St. Augustine wrote, “Thou hast made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You.” Yes, we were born to live in relationship with God -- the triune God.

The book of Proverbs personifies wisdom as a woman, as creative energy, as a playful companion of God who witnesses the mighty acts of God. The early Christians saw Jesus in this wisdom image, God’s Word made flesh among us. St. Paul waxes eloquently about the saving work of Jesus Christ. Through him we have a right relationship with God.

In the Gospel, Jesus alludes to the mystery of the triune God: The Spirit that comes through Jesus and the Father will guide us into all truth.

The mystery of the triune God (one yet distinctive in modalities or movements of "persons"--Father, Son, and Spirit--none is the “other”; a God who is love) invites us to reflect upon our relationship with God and one another.

We are forever trying to make better sense out of our lives. Especially in moments of crisis, people often ask fundamental questions: What is the purpose of my life? Where is my life going? Through the cycle of our own human development, at times, we wonder. We accomplished so little, and now it is almost over. What was it all about? Life seems marred by too many tragedies.

We also have awesome experiences. A starry sky, the joy of friendship, the golden rays of a sunrise or sunset, the accomplishment of a goal. Such experiences can take us out of ourselves and into the presence of an awesome power. We begin to experience the transcendent dimension of our lives.
Yes, a purposeful and gracious God is responsible for this magnificent universe and for our very lives. Yes, this God became flesh in Jesus and is alive among us by the power of the Spirit.

This triune God, the model of self-giving love, empowers us to reach out in love to one another with compassion, forgiveness, a ready smile, a kind word, a helping hand.  And in reaching out in love, we become like the triune God in self-giving love.

Pray for the grace today, to quote the musical Godspell, to see God more clearly, love God more dearly and follow God more nearly in our daily lives. Amen.

Prayer: Conversing with God as a Friend

Rembrandt's Stoning of Stephen

This Memorial Day weekend, we remember again the men and women who died in the wars of our country.  The total number slain is staggering: some 1.2 million killed during America’s eleven major conflicts. Let's pause to pray for these brave men and women who gave the last full measure of devotion, per Lincoln's Gettysburg address. May God grant them eternal life.

The word of God takes us back to the beginnings of Christianity. The question then was: do Christian non-Jews have to observe Jewish practices? Paul and Barnabas discussed this with the apostles. Together they came to a compromise to avoid scandal. Yes, Gentile Christians should observe some Jewish practices, but they don’t have to observe all Jewish practices to be disciples of Jesus. Why? Because Jesus alone through his dying and rising renewed our relationship with God. He is our way, our truth, our life.

How do we resolve tensions or conflicts? Like most things we have to work at good relationships.

The Gospel according to John takes us back to the farewell address of Jesus at his Last Supper. Jesus considers how his community will continue after his departure. The disciples should be faithful to his words, especially his new commandment—to love one another. But the community will need guidance. Jesus promises to send the Spirit, who will energize and guide this community of disciples, the Church, into the fullness of God’s kingdom.

The book of Revelation describes a mystical experience, an awesome new vision of reality.

This Easter season, we have met different biblical personalities. Today we introduce Stephen. A Spirit-filled leader, a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian, Stephen worked signs and wonders and proclaimed courageously that Jesus is the fulfillment of the messianic promises made to ancient Israel. Stephen had a visionary experience of the glory of God, outraged Jewish authorities with his claims about Jesus as gloriously alive, and was dragged outside Jerusalem and stoned to death.

Stephen was the proto martyr of Christianity. His death was like that of Jesus, in the sense that he forgave his executioners and cried out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Would that all of us could make that cry at the end of our life.

I believe Stephen had an intense relationship with God, nurtured through prayer. Now, what is prayer? We wake up to clock radios, watch TV at breakfast, listen to the car radio; check Facebook, Instagram, iPhones, e-mail, and so forth, all of which distract us from hearing God’s voice in our lives. There’s so much noise we can’t hear ourselves think.

For Jesus and the heroes and heroines of Christianity, prayer was their top priority. Not only at mass or the Eucharist, but quietly and alone as well. As Mother Teresa put it, “God speaks to us; we listen. We speak to God; He listens.” Prayer is a two-way street.

And does God answer our prayers? Put simply: Yes, but not always as we like.

The Spirit-filled Stephen invites us to pray, to converse with God as we would with a true friend, a friendship based on God's unconditional love for us. May we nurture our friendship with God through daily prayer. Amen.

Seeking Unity in Diversity

Praying for Unity within Diversity: January 18-25

Today we begin Catholic Schools Week.  And we salute our teachers/staff who educate our youngsters for life: excellence in academics and virtue in character.

The word of God takes us back to the fifth century before Jesus. The Jews who returned to the ruins of Jerusalem were rebuilding their lives, much like many of our ancestors did in the aftermath of the 1840s Irish potato famine, the 1870s German kulturkampf, or the two World Wars.

Ezra gathered people together to renew the covenant God had made with them centuries before—a covenant summed up in a moving phrase: “You are my people; and I am your God.” The people who heard Ezra cried out, “Amen. Amen” -- So be it. They will not only be hearers of God’s word but also doers of that word.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Christian community at Corinth in Greece, addressed many problems: squabbles, moral misconduct, personality conflicts, cliques. Paul’s metaphor of the human body describes how different parts—eye, ear, voice, hands, feet—have different functions, yet they all work for the good of the whole body.

Paul championed unity within diversity. We are one with God our Father. God abides in us, and we abide in God within a grace-filled community.

In the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus began his public ministry. He went back to his hometown and walked into the local synagogue on the Sabbath, and from the parchment of scripture—in particular, the book of the prophet Isaiah—he read from the magnificent passage:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me … he has sent me to bring glad tidings ….”

Concluding, Jesus said, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” This was a bold and shocking statement. In a real sense, this was the “inaugural speech” of Jesus, proclaiming freedom from what enslaves us, vision from what blinds us, and healing from what breaks relationships.

Jesus then set about giving hope and purpose to those who had found little or no meaning in life.
And Jesus prayed that his disciples “may all be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you.”

In the week of prayer for Christian unity (January 18-25), we pray that the Spirit will make all of us one, for together we profess that there is only one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.
Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther's call for reform spread like a divisive contagion. Until the 20th century, when Angelo Roncalli was elected Pope John XXIII, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants generally emphasized what divided them. Good Pope John XXIII realized that for people to discuss division, they have to get to know one another. He moved Christians from diatribe to dialog.

The 1964 “Decree on Ecumenism” encourages conversations about what unites us, what divides us, and how we can cooperate as a “united”people with common goals. That courageous task remains for us today.

Don't Live a Life of Regrets

Bernini's Holy Spirit Window, St. Peter's Basilica

The word invites us to pray anew for the seven gifts or energies of the Holy Spirit: wisdom to focus on what truly matters, our relationship with God and one another; understanding and knowledge, to enter deeply into the mysteries of God and the truths of our faith; counsel to make good moral decisions; fortitude or strength of character; piety, giving God, our creator, our praise and worship; and fear of the Lord--the healthy concern never to lose our friendship with God.

The letter of James speaks about people who become so absorbed in earthly things that they forget their ultimate purpose. James challenges us to spend our energies, not on transitory treasures like money and power and status, but on lasting treasures like our relationships with God and one another. When death comes for us, only the good we have done will accompany us.

In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus uses “tough love.” His speech was a Semitic way of speaking graphically, vividly and exaggeratedly, to make a point. Today we might imagine Jesus saying to someone: if job security leads you to compromise your ethics and integrity, quit. Better to be employed elsewhere than be thrown into “Gehenna” with all your benefits. Gehenna, you may know, was a smoldering garbage dump outside Jerusalem which came to symbolize “eternal punishment.”

Jesus dramatically calls us to realize that discipleship means not letting anything – anything! – derail us in our quest for God and the things of God, from our true purpose in life: to be in relationship with God and one another forever by living a God-centered, other-centered life.

Yes, we must have the courage of faith to “let go” and remove from our lives whatever cuts us off from God and family and loved ones.

Throughout history, people have written to us, taught us, about “seizing the day.” A compelling message: don’t live a life of regrets. Do good now. Quietly sit down somewhere and begin to think about your own obituary. What do you want to be remembered for?

Yes, today we might ask the Spirit of God to re-energize us so that we will have our priorities straight, that we will not let anything derail us from our true purpose in life: to be in relationship with God forever, and to try, as best we can, to live a life of doing good.