Hope

Gospel: Mt 9:27-31
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120624.cfm

At mass last Sunday, the priest said that one of the themes of Advent is to imagine what the world was like, particularly for the Jewish people, before the arrival of Jesus. There was the foretelling of the Messiah from the prophets. For those that heard that message and took it to heart, they went through periods of hope, denial, uncertainty, and frustration. The prophets that foretold the coming of Jesus, didn’t actually experience his arrival.

We all have some form of faith that if we take certain actions, we’ll receive a particular response. Like when we say “I love you” to a close family member, we expect that they will respond to us in kind. If they don’t, it can cause us to experience tension and doubt. We, as people of faith, can feel the same way about our faithful practices, such as prayer, service, and sharing our treasures. We can take those actions in hopes for particular outcomes. Sometimes we receive what we seek, other times we don’t. When we set expectations and if they don’t come to be, we are let down and can even question our faith and devotion.

At a higher–level, we can see the world overall in a cause and effect way. A month ago in the US, we had an election. There were a lot of predictions made about the election. Some predicted the candidate that got elected, but most of what was shared was that the other candidate was going to win. Those that put faith in the latter struggled with the outcome and needed to rethink how they saw the world or find answers as to why their prediction didn’t come to be. 

In today’s gospel, the two blind men put their faith in Jesus. I’m sure they had other times in their life too where they sought healing through other means and were let down. I’m sure they had strong moments of doubt and hope as we all do through cycles of doubt and hope. In their encounter with Jesus, their hope overcame their doubt. In this encounter, they received the healing that they sought. Given their struggle and their history, they couldn’t keep quiet and were driven to share it with others. Their faith brought them to Jesus who healed them.They, in turn, were compelled to share that hope with others.

In these winter months, it can be easy for us to get lost in the negative and lose hope on what’s around us. While this season is one of hope, it can just as easily be one of doubt. Some of us may be experiencing more hope at this time and others may experience more doubt. Are you currently experiencing doubt or are you more in a season of hope?

If you are in a season of hope, consider finding ways on how to share that with others. If you’re more in a season of doubt, find time to share with others and seek out activities that will help. Sometimes our moments of struggle can help equip us for others in their moment of need. Regardless of where you currently are, this is a season to connect and share with others. As the two healed men reached out to others, this is a season for us to share with others and come together to help each other in their time of need, celebrate the joy, and bring hope.

All is possible with God. Amen. 

Following the Will of God

Gospel: Mt 7:21, 24-27
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120524.cfm

In today’s gospel, Jesus makes another call for action. To enter the Kingdom of God is to do the will of the God. It goes beyond just calling out to God, but requires you to follow. For us, this may be quite a daunting task. What is the will of God? How do we know we’re doing it? We don’t wake up everyday with directions on what to do to follow the will of God. For a deeply pious person, it can be very difficult to make decisions because it is hard to know which action is truly the right action.

I try to fall back on some specific scriptures to keep myself in check. It’s not always the easiest to do, but they have helped me when reflecting on my choices and actions:

We are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27): At times of personal struggle when I am feeling low about myself or others, I try to remind myself of this. Each of us we created for a purpose and in the image of God. At the core of our being we have something unique to show the world about God and others have unique things to share with us. This does not mean that we are always portraying that image, but there is still God in there trying to work on us.

We are to love God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39): Are our actions loving of God, others, ourselves, and God’s creation? “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him (1 John 4:16).” Are my actions out of love? This love goes beyond merely loving those that are close to us but also those that are challenging for us to love. As we are also called to "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44).”

We will not always be perfect, but God is perfect when it comes to delivering on this. God does not call us to go beyond what God does for us. God is the source that created us in God’s image and God will continue to love us and care for us. God wants us to participate in the multiplication of love and mercy. The kingdom of God requires our participation to make it come to fruition. We are active agents in its progress and we too can actively slow it down. In the end, love will triumph, and God is calling us to make sure it happens for us.

May we increase in love. Amen.

Generosity

Gospel: Mt 15:29-37
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120424.cfm

Advent is a season of giving. As a season of giving, we all have the ability to be generous. It doesn’t require material things but can be the giving of our time and our care. As we live more generously, it inspires generosity in others.

Today’s gospel has been explained to me in different ways. You can read it to show that Jesus has power over the physical world and could make the loaves and fishes into more than in substance. Jesus multiplied them for the crowd. It’s a story of a physical miracle in support of the crowd to both feed the crowd and show Jesus’s divinity through the performance of a miracle. This may be the case, but there is another way to read the story. The generosity and the willingness to share small amounts of bread and fish inspired others to share what they had with the group. The real blessing is not in the offering but in our willingness to share.

When I first heard this second take of the story, I saw it as less of a miracle than the first, but now I see it as more. Giving multiplies giving, Love multiplies love. In us being generous to others, we give them permission to likewise be generous. It is in giving that we receive. The kingdom of God is established by us all living generously and taking care of each other in our times of need without an expectation of something in return. If we expected something in return, it’d be a transaction and not a miracle of multiplication.

Live generously. Amen.

Anticipation & Wonder

Gospel: Lk 10:21-24
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120324.cfm

Take a moment and think about the joy you felt during the Christmas holiday as a child. The anticipation of Christmas morning. The sense of awe and wonder you had with the mystery of you were to receive. Beyond the awe and wonder, it was the anticipation that the tradition provides that makes Christmas morning so special. There was the preparation and the thought behind each gift that made it so special. There was also giving back. Not only did you receive surprises, but you had the desire to share the same. We enjoy having the anticipation built for ourselves and building that anticipation for others.

It does take work to make it all happen, and as we get older, it can become more about all the work and obligations and less about the anticipation, awe, and wonder. The revelation of God exists in our time of anticipation, awe, and wonder. There is a joy in the mystery of the now and not yet. We can easily lose touch with this in time.

Today’s gospel is a reminder of this. For there have been prophets, kings, and wise and educated people have not been able to know what has been revealed to those who have remained childlike. We can try to pin it down and define it with science and philosophy, but there will always be a part of it that remains a mystery. It’s in that mystery and that tension that we find anticipation, awe, and wonder. It is a love that transcends definition and understanding.

May we enjoy the anticipation of this season to be filled with awe and wonder that comes from the love we share. Amen.

Faith is Love in Action

Gospel: Mt 8:5-11
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120224.cfm

Let us celebrate this second date of Advent that we have a God who gives us love and mercy. Jesus’s love and mercy transcends the social norms of his time. While he can be critical of different groups and how they treat others, he still has compassion and care for them. Jesus came to free the oppressed which had him critical of the actions and behaviors of people in positions in power. He was critical of social structures of persecution (religious institutions, money, how the unhealthy were treated).

Centurions had wealth and power. Centurions were active participants in persecution.  This Centurion comes to Jesus in humility. He asks Jesus for healing, not for himself, but for his ailing servant. The Centurion in all his power does not have the ability to ease the suffering of his servant. He comes to Jesus out of compassion and love for another. He steps back from his position of dominance to care for one who has not been so privileged. The Centurion put himself in the position of serving his servant. His action was of service.

In so doing, the Centurion saw the difference of his position, that of Jesus, and that of his servant. He says, “Lord I am not worthy to receive you, only say the words and my servant shall be healed.” He came with a direct request and didn’t find himself worthy given his position of power and participation in institutions of power. He saw that Jesus transcended all of those structures and served something much deeper. Jesus saw equality in the shared humanity where the Centurion could not, but had a desire to. The Centurion’s advocacy went beyond a desire but was an expression of love through action. In seeking the healing of another beyond his own selfish need for them, the Centurion exemplified what it means to “love your neighbor.” 

True faith is acting in love for the needs of another. The Centurion didn’t profess a creed, commit himself to Jesus, or worship Jesus, instead, he approached Jesus with humility and out of love for another.

May we see the needs of others beyond our own need for them. Amen.

Redemption

Gospel: Lk 21:25-28, 34-36
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120124.cfm

Happy first Sunday of Advent! We are on a journey to the coming of our Lord, the fulfillment of our hope for redemption. He will be born into a world surrounded by anxiety and uncertainty. His message will be received by some, but most will pass it by. His legacy will greatly outlive his time in ministry. People will do some of the most amazing things in history in his name and some of the most heinous. While his message is simple, those of us that consider ourselves followers will struggle with it throughout the ages; each of us picking up on the truth it brings while also using it for our own ends. We’ll see the faults of others and overlook the ones in ourselves. He will have predicted and warned us about all of this, and yet, he still comes to us in our shortcomings. He comes not to condemn, but to love and guide. He comes not as a ruler but as a baby in a stable.

Today's gospel is where we start this Advent journey. It’s easy to read such gospels as apocalyptic. We can read it and think that things are going to get bad, and our job is to passively persevere through it until God actively brings us salvation from our suffering.

We can always find signs that things are getting bad or even worse. At times, they will be. At times, it will seem like it is just happening to you and at other times it will seem like it is happening to all of us. At times, we’ll make a habit of experiencing the woes that it will be all that we see. It’s at these times that we must remind ourselves that redemption is at hand, because redemption is always at hand.

This redemption is not outside of us, but is participatory and active. We must go beyond remaining resilient, but must always remain ready to fill the call. We must keep ourselves prepared to act, to welcome God’s redemption within us and to share that redemption with others. It’s for this reason that Jesus says, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy  from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap… be vigilant at all times.”

We may not know when or how we’ll be called, but we can make sure that we are prepared by keeping our minds, our hearts, and our bodies in a state to answer the call. We must push ourselves beyond our anxieties and fear and seek help when needed so we can be there for others in their times of need.

“However, the poor shall not be deprived of the comfort that God sent them while we can avoid it.”
Catherine McAuley, Foundress of the Sisters of Mercy

Be the redemption you seek. Amen.

Perpetual Revelation

Gospel: Jn 20:1-9
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033124.cfm

It’s an amazing experience when you’re working on a problem and all of a sudden “Aha!” it all makes sense and you are able to solve it. I can remember struggling with math in school and how it eventually became easier as my way of thinking about it was expanded. It calls to mind the mass roll-out of common-core math within public schools in the last decade. You’d find parents struggling with their children to figure it out. Some parents would just give up and teach their children the way they were taught. It’s hard for us to think differently about things we’ve taken for granted. Sometimes the process can be just as important as the outcomes, sometimes it isn’t.

Once something becomes commonplace and routine, it can be difficult to change one’s mind. We all have had experiences in life where an epiphany occurs that changes the way we see things. These moments can lead us to make dramatic changes in our lives. While the shifts in thinking are powerful, these changes still require a significant amount of discipline, but once we’ve had the awakening, it is hard to continue our old habits without a sense of guilt or shame. If we decide to maintain the status quo and not change, it takes us time to justify and excuse these behaviors to convince ourselves that our change of mind was just a fleeting thought or an impossibility.

We have a drive within us to both maintain and to change. Different personalities have different degrees of these. Some of us prefer more stability and others prefer unpredictability. As is with nature, we have different drives towards being static and dynamic. These drives vary by person, time of life, and situation. For example, we have traditions that we like to maintain during holidays while we also want to try new things.

Sometimes events change us instantaneously, and other times, we only see their significance upon reflection. We don’t always know the importance of an event when it occurs; iit takes time for us to process or make sense of it. In today’s gospel, we see that Jesus’s resurrection was such a moment for the disciples and those that were close to Jesus. It was truly unbelievable. They didn’t know how to explain it or understand it. It took them time and reflection to start to understand what happened to their friend. I’m not sure any of us even today can make full sense of it. It is part of the divine mystery that continually challenges us to think differently.

With God, we are always challenged to a deeper understanding. We need to keep ourselves open to a deeper revelation by not limiting ourselves to a narrow understanding. We should maintain a perpetual state of striving – always trying to grasp while knowing that we will never fully understand. God is always calling for us to go deeper. God is not waiting for us to arrive at the destination but is with us throughout the journey. The journey is the destination.

Today we celebrate the resurrection. God is full of surprises. Nothing is impossible to God. We can kill God, but God does not abandon us. We can deny and turn our backs on God, and God remains there for our return. Nothing can separate us from God.

Rejoice for God is with us! Happy Easter.

Not a bang, but a whisper

Gospel: Mk 16:1-7
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033024.cfm

The three women that discovered Jesus in the tomb are sometimes referred to as the three myrrhbearers. At the time of Jesus’ death, it was a custom to anoint bodies with oil for three days after death. The three women would have skipped the sabbath (Saturday) in reverence to the day. In the gospel of Mark, these three women are Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. All three women were present at the crucifixion and two of the women were present at the burial. 

Mark’s gospel has none of the disciples mentioned at the crucifixion. It only mentions these three women. We encounter a lot of people in our life, but who is truly there for us in our deepest time of need? I am not saying this to speak ill of those who were not present, but to commemorate those who were. These three stayed with Jesus past the cross. They were there for his death, followed him to burial, and were planning on taking care of his body as his loved ones.

Jesus’ resurrection is not a bold proclamation. After a person in white speaks to the women, they do not react by glorifying God. As verse eight states, “They went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” The experience must have been very confusing and eerie for them. They instinctually responded by fleeing the scene.

Jesus didn’t wait around to be greeted or revered by the miracle that had occurred. Jesus' return was more of a whisper than a loud bang. Instead he begins his journey to Galilee. Later in the chapter, Jesus encounters Mary Magdalene one-on-one and then two disciples before he appears to the 11 remaining disciples. This transformative moment in history was treated simply and humbly by Jesus, and those that knew him did not know how to process it.

We can put a deeper metaphysical meaning to the resurrection and its significance in salvation history, but in this gospel, we are not shown that image. Jesus was a man, loved by many, denied by many, rebuked my many, and crucified. Only a few of his followers remained with him until the end and took care of his body after death. And for those few, they were shocked and bewildered by his return.

The resurrection is not an end but a continuation. Life goes on. Death has no power as life goes on. The Kingdom of God transcends death; the mission continues. And who is to lead that mission? Those that loved yet denied. Those that heard the word but did not trust. Those that cared but were bewildered. In other words, we are all called.

We can look at the struggles of our time and fall into despair, but we should see hope. If God chose to become a human being at that point in history and saw potential in the disciples and  other followers with all of their shortcomings, there is hope for us as well. God trusts us in our untrustworthiness. God depends on us in our un-dependableness. God relies on our care in our mercilessness. The Kingdom of God is in our midst and we are to bring this Kingdom forward. We are not called in perfection, but as we are and as we are continually transformed on this journey.

Hallelujah! Praise God! The mission does not end in death, but continues! It continues alive in us as active participants. Hallelujah! Praise God!

Amen.

Good Friday

Gospel: Jn 18:1-19:42
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032924.cfm 

When we say that Jesus died for our sins, we make it sound like he had an active role in his death, but as we read his passion, he was far from active; he was passive. We need to think of Jesus as having an active role in it to explain his divinity in the very brutal things that happened to him, but he did not put up a fight or try to stop it. Jesus gave those around him free agency. He showed his divinity through healing and feeding not through control or forced servitude. God’s power is not control but redemption.

The gospel writer finds the need to explain how the actions needed to happen just the way they happened to either fulfill scripture or to fulfill words that Jesus spoke, but none of these things happened to fulfill scripture; the scripture was the way it was because that was the way it was going to play out. To say that something was done to fulfill the scripture has God having some agency in what happened, but God did not crucify Jesus, the government did on behalf of religious authority and their people.

Jesus challenged the power dynamics of his religious tradition. He extended God’s presence to outside the temple. He showed that others outside his tribe were God’s people too. He revealed that the true nature of the law was not a set of rules but was simply love of God and neighbor. He chose love and compassion over the customs of his people. He elevated those condemned by society and showed the limits of those in power. He emphasized baptism, fellowship, forgiveness, and repentance over the blood sacrifice of the temple. For these reasons, he was a threat to those who benefited from religious control. This is why they had Jesus killed.

Those religious leaders wanted Jesus crucified and so did their followers, but they did not want his blood on their hands so they handed him over to the government who found no guilt. In the end, Pilate ordered Jesus’ crucifixion for his own self-preservation. Pilate was protecting himself from an uprising. He also had the threat of punished by his leaders for not executing a man who was claiming himself to be king. Jesus was scapegoated to maintain the power dynamics of religious and governmental authority.

Jesus’ message transformed people. When individuals are transformed, it has the potential to transform societies. This will always threaten those who benefit from the status quo. Jesus offered a new way of seeing the world that challenged the cultural paradigms that were in place. Our God came to transform us and was ultimately killed for it.

Before we move to the resurrection at Easter, hold on to this moment and reflect on how we too scapegoat others, cling to our power, and maintain the status quo of our current society at the expense of others. We too are responsible for the death of Jesus in how we treat others today. 

Lord, forgive us for our sins. Give us the strength for true repentance. May your grace drive us to become more loving. Let that love grow in fellowship and communion to bring forth your Kingdom forever. Amen.

Fellowship with friends

Gospel: Jn 13:1-15
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032824-Supper.cfm

Today’s gospel tells a beautiful story about a man and his love for his friends. The writer of John tells the story of a man who knows his time is limited. He knows that he will be returning to the Father and will be away from his friends corporally. Here is where you see the deeper humanity of Jesus – his love and his compassion. It’s not just a universal love, but a specific love. He loved his friends. They journeyed with him for years.

In these last moments, he doesn’t give them a detailed exposition of what to do when he is gone. He doesn’t seek to get his message out to as many people as possible running door to door to share the good news. He doesn’t give his disciples a set of rules or clear direction on what to do next. There are no action plans or performance reviews. Instead, he wants to savor these last moments of his fully human experience by spending time with his friends. They were his direct followers who were going to carry on his mission after him, but he didn’t approach them as an authority. Instead, he approaches them as a caring and loving friend. He shows them his appreciation by washing their feet and bonding with them in communion.

The breaking of the bread and sharing of the wine at the end of his last meal shows his deep desire for friendship and fellowship. He is not concerned about the work that they need to do, he’s focused on spending time with them. He knows what he is about to face and he just wants some time with his friends.

Jesus isn’t seeking dominion over us but fellowship. Jesus isn’t seeking our subservience. Jesus isn’t just seeking our partnership in his mission, he seeks our friendship. In such a friendship, we become fellow stewards of creation and each other. Our God washes our feet and breaks bread with us.

For in God’s last moments of freedom as a human being within the boundary of time, God chose fellowship with friends. God is not just the alpha and omega, but everything in between. God’s truest sacrament is fellowship. Our time together is sacramental when we approach each other in selfless love. It is how our God encountered us and we must seek to encounter each other with the same. We are called to love.

Examination of Conscience

Gospel: Mt 26:14-25
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032724.cfm

There is a Catholic practice called “examination of conscience.” An examination of conscience is spending some time to think more deeply about your thoughts and actions. It’s a good practice to do even if you are not Catholic or even religious for that matter. It helps us to think more deeply about our habits, our thoughts, and our actions. 

Some people will take the time to walk through the Ten Commandments and examine how their thoughts and actions have broken them. An examination of conscience can simply be asking yourself questions such as:

• What have I done recently that has negatively impacted others?

• When have I not wanted the best for someone else?

• When have I recently been jealous of someone else?

• When did I lose my temper recently?

• When have I felt shame recently?

• When have I been overly critical of myself?

• When have I been overly critical of others?

• Were there times when I was not honest with myself?

• Were there times when I was not honest with others?

• Am I truly living a life according to your principles and your actions? 

You can ponder how you’ve loved your neighbor as yourself, and when you didn’t.

Spending time to do this, helps us learn and grow. It helps us become more thoughtful about our actions, and it helps us better align our actions with our values and develop good practices.

In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the disciples that one of them will betray him. The disciples all respond with a question of uncertainty, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” I imagine that they all experienced an examination of conscience at that moment as they pondered if and how it could be them.

An examination of conscience is a type of prayer. It is a way for God to help us align our thoughts and actions with our deepest intentions. It helps us become more loving and merciful to ourselves and others.

Betrayal and Denial

Gospel: Jn 13:21-33, 36-38
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032624.cfm

From Palm Sunday to today’s gospel, things starting to change for Jesus. On Sunday he is being revered by a crowd. Yesterday, he had an intimate moment with some of his friends. While having that special moment, he gets questioned by one of his disciples, Judas, about how the money used for the oil that he was anointed with could have been better used in service to the poor. Now in today’s gospel, Jesus tells Judas that he knows that he is going to betray him.

Once Judas is gone, Jesus explains that he will be going away and that none of them can follow him. Peter speaks up and says that he will always follow him. Jesus then tells Peter that he will deny him three times before the new day starts. Things have changed so quickly for Jesus!

Sometimes, people express an encounter with God as a “born-again” experience. I believe these moments do genuinely happen; people can experience God in such a fashion that they feel that their life is forever changed. That said, these moments are not a complete fulfillment. Our relationship with God is a journey. God isn’t done with us and the revelation for us isn’t over as much as we can feel it or have a sense of it in those moments.

We can respond to these moments like Peter does in today’s gospel. We can feel fully committed and not know that when challenges come, we will quickly run and hide. Life has a way of showing us how fragile and non-committal we are. We can have the best intentions, but those intentions don’t sustain our faith.

With an encounter with the divine, we can also respond like Judas. Judas was very pious. After following Jesus, Judas returns to his beliefs about religious authority, the law, and service. He too was motivated by good intentions. Instead of keeping himself open to a deeper transformation through his relationship with Jesus, he defaults to his old view of what is meant to be good and pious. The betrayal of Jesus was an aspiration to help many and get recognized by religious authorities for doing it. As the story continues, he turns his back on Jesus, someone he loved, for recognition and money to serve.

While his friends had good intentions, Jesus was the one who had to suffer for them. He experienced the betrayal and denial of friends in his greatest time of need. We do this to God too in our encounters with others. We can harm others with our good intentions, and we can justify our actions with our good intentions. 

With God, we are called to more. We all need to be more honest with ourselves about the motivations behind our actions. The transformation we are called to requires work and our participation. It is not just a one-and-done experience but a journey. God is always calling us and leading us to more. As we follow, more is revealed when we are ready to receive it. These encounters are challenging which makes it easy for us to fall back to our comforts as Peter and Judas did, but God wants more for us as he did for Peter and Judas as well. We will falter, but God is there to help us learn and grow from it. God is never done with us.

Generous love and gratitude

Gospel: Jn 12:1-11

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032524.cfm

In today’s gospel, Mary shows her generous love and gratitude for Jesus as she anoints his feet with her hair. We are called like Mary to show generosity and gratitude for others.

What alters the perspective of the story is Judas interjecting that the gratuitous cost of the perfume could have been used to help the poor. The gospel then shows how Judas was selfishly motivated. Jesus responds, "Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

This passage has been debated historically. It has been used to justify lavish churches and to condone behaviors that are not caring for the poor, but I do not believe the gospel should be used in this way. The gospel writer is having Jesus address Judas directly, not make a broad proclamation about the poor among us. For those who take advantage of the fringe of society and those in need, there will always be the poor. Those who take advantage of others will always find an opportunity to limit their generosity in service to others. When you have the mentality that you help others so that you can take your share off the top, you will always find others in need of your help. It is not truly helping when one is self-serving. We are called to generous love and gratitude, not to use others as a means to our own ends.

We too quickly can judge the generosity and actions of others when we don’t fully understand the context. In the situation with Mary, she recently experienced her brother dying and Jesus raising her brother from the dead. Jesus soon too is going to experience the same. Mary is showing gratitude to Jesus during the limited amount of time they have together. She has a new appreciation for treating the time she had with those close to her as sacred.

We too have the same opportunity. We must be generous with our time and treasures with others and that includes those that are closest to us.

Hosanna!

Gospel: Mk 11:1-10 (First Reading)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032424.cfm

We start Jesus’s passion with Palm Sunday. It’s one week before his resurrection, but the disciples and people do not know this. Palm Sunday is Jesus’s last moment of glory with the people before he goes through the struggle of his passion. It shows us how fleeting earthly glory is. Things change very quickly when societal structures find a person guilty. As people praised Jesus on Sunday, people would call for his crucifixion on Friday.

But today, Jesus experiences the glory and people do not know what is about to come. The words they say get recited at every mass, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” 

Hosanna: We say or sing this word, but what does it mean? There are different translations but simply put it means, “Save us, God.” It is a word of praise as it is also a call for salvation. It is a prayer. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Save us, God! The people in the towns surrounding Jerusalem knew Jesus for his healing power both physically and spiritually. He was able to heal the sick and forgive sins. The power that Jesus showed them that he was from God. It was not the kind of power that led to world domination, it was a power that healed individuals, communities, and relationships. God’s presence was made known through the actions of Jesus.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest! Save us, God! When we say these words in mass, we are showing gratitude to God the Father for sending us the Son, we are recognizing the divinity of Jesus, and we praying for our salvation. These are very simple words, but they can be very powerful if we let them resonate with us beyond just being words we’ve habituated. 

Now visualize yourself as being present at the first Palm Sunday and how it must have felt to say those words after having encountered Jesus. Think of the lepper, the lame man, the woman at the well, the tax collectors, Lazarus, the woman caught in adultery, and the other people we’ve learned about over this season on Lent. Ponder what those words meant to each of them. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest!

Now think of the words for yourself. What are some of the ways that you are grateful to God? What are some areas of your life that you feel need salvation? Pray those aloud or in the silence of your heart.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest!

Take this into consideration when you say or sing these words at mass. They should not be something we merely recite, they should be something that connects us intimately with God through expressions of gratitude and need.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest! Save us, God!

Self-preservation

Gospel: Jn 11:45-56
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032324.cfm

We consider it a great leadership quality to provide security and safety to the group you lead. When a person has a sense of security and safety they thrive. Leaders, at times, need to make hard decisions to protect their team. At times, they can harm others, intentionally and unintentionally, to protect their own.

We also have a drive towards this individually. We have an innate desire to protect ourselves, our families, our loved ones, our groups, our community, and our country. This desire is a good thing and is instinctual, but when not kept in check, it can drive us to poor actions. When we see the world as filled with threats, we are prone to be brash and treat others defensively. There are situations where this could be the correct response, but it is also easy for us to let it get out of hand. In the corporate world, you can see people worried about losing their jobs so they focus more on their appearance than doing the right thing. When in this type of defensive mode, people can default to the guidance and direction of their leader without questioning it, even though they may have a moral objection to it. It is easy to excuse one’s behavior when it is addressing a perceived threat.

It is hard to speak truth to power because it has the potential to threaten your way of life. The need for safety and security can impede us from doing the right thing. These behavioral changes don’t happen overnight, but start in little ways and can grow into us doing things that we would otherwise not do. Over time we can start seeing friends, neighbors, and co-workers as threats. In the name of self-preservation, we can shift from an inclusive mindset to an “us versus them” mindset. The longer we are in a toxic environment, an environment where we don’t have a strong sense of security and safety, the more we are prone to seeing others as enemies.

Today’s gospel shows that religious leaders during Jesus’s time had this type of mindset. They saw the world as threatening. There was the threat of the Roman Empire and the internal threat of new ideologies usurping their power. They also had the belief that their power, safety, and security would increase if their people kept the law better and improved on their covenant with God. For these leaders, Jesus was a threat in all of these ways. He showed signs of his connection to God through his miracles while he preached a new ideology that decreased the authority of their religious institution. They perceived his ideology as going against God’s covenant. His preaching also concerned them that it could lead to the Romans exuding additional authority over them and their people. These leaders were stressed and in a very defensive mode. They saw Jesus as expendable for the protection of themselves and their people.

How do we keep our need for self-preservation in check? We need to ask ourselves what the consequences of our actions are. Who is expendable in our decisions? Who are we overlooking or disregarding? Who do we see as our enemies? Jesus calls us to love our enemy and to listen to and be present to those overlooked by society. This is not something that comes easily but requires work. Let’s put in the work.

Actions should speak louder than words

Gospel: Jn 10:31-42

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032224.cfm

Jesus was condemned in today’s gospel by how he spoke, not by how he acted. It amazes me how our words and ideas can be such a point of contention. The world looks different if you strip it of ideas and words and focus on actions. Think of all the lives lost over differences in ideologies and beliefs. We justify all kinds of evil in the name of ideology.

But we always have a choice. We can have a difference in opinion and still break bread together. We can worship differently and still take care of each other. Compassion, love, and mercy are all reflections of God regardless of who they are coming from. None of us are good all the time as none of us are evil all the time either.  How much better would the world be if we endorsed the goodness we find in others regardless of our differences in opinion?

Try to look at actions and less on the words and ideologies when relating to others. What are some beliefs you have that stop you from treating others with compassion and love? Challenge yourself to go beyond those beliefs and choose love.

The Mystery

Gospel: Jn 8:51-59
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032124.cfm

As we approach Holy Week next week, the readings include passages where Jesus reveals and speaks about his divinity. As he speaks about his identity, his audience tends to be offended, rebuke him, and try to kill him.

In today’s gospel, Jesus reveals himself as the tetragrammaton. The tetragrammaton is the term given to YHWH, or the name that God gives Godself in the Old Testament. It is simply translated as “I am,” “I am that I am,” or “I am what I do.” So when Jesus uses the phrase in today’s gospel, “Before Abraham came to be, I AM,” he is directly revealing himself as God.

The gospels show Jesus’s divinity in different ways and at different moments of his mission. For people of faith, it is very difficult to break from thinking of Jesus without considering his dualistic nature, both divine and human, but for Jesus, it was not a duality, it was just who and what he was. For us to make sense of it, we have to break the two apart and create a metaphysics to explain it. How can Jesus be both the creator and the created? How can he be both infinite and finite? The mystery reveals the transcendent nature of God. We can fight to understand it. We can create a metaphysics, a Christology, a theology, but no explanation will fully hold the mystery.

Our understanding of God has continued to evolve throughout human history and God continues to reach out. Where we are in our journey allows us to see different aspects and components of God. We can put labels on it. We can explain it. We can write poems and reflect on them, but in the end, no symbolic or scientific language can encapsulate or explain the divine. Once you think you’ve grasped it, you lose it. If you hold what you have with finitude, you are limiting the infinite.

As we approach Holy Week, consider embracing the mystery more. Welcome in uncertainty and keep yourself open to divine possibility. With our relationship with God, the journey is the destination.

Lenten Psalm

Gospel: Jn 8:31-42

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032024.cfm

I want to remain at the source of all that good,
The source of life, of truth, of all creation,
The word that spoke existence.

For I am with you and you are with me.
In being with you, I am creation’s intention:
I am free, seen, and loved.

Yet, I find safety and security
In chains of shame.
These chains I’ve shackled
To keep me alone.

You do not let me stay here,
You grasp and call out to me,
But I fear your judgment and compassion
I shy away from the reflection you provide.

I am not deserving of such things.
You grasp and call out
As I stay hidden 
Until there is nothing left of me to seek.

Once I finally speak,
My only words are contrived
Echos of my fear, 
Expressions of my desire,
Images of how I wish to be seen.

You are left as an orphan,
Asking where it went,
Grabbing for a remnant of what it was.
This is where I find you
At a place of honesty and truth.

May I return to the source transformed anew!
It is the place where I am known and I know; 
The place where you are known and you know.
Let my actions express my depths
As your actions express yours.
Amen.

Joseph and the Temple

Gospel: Lk 2:41-51a
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031924.cfm

Today is the solemnity of St. Joseph in the Roman Catholic Church. A solemnity is a special feast day. This particular solemnity happens during Lent every year. Two separate readings can be used today to showcase a different story about Joseph.

For today’s reflection, I chose the reading about when Joseph and Mary lost Jesus and found him in the temple. The temple was a core location for Jesus’s Jewish upbringing and a central place for his mission. Several of the gospels this past week are located at the temple in Jerusalem. Last Friday, the reading was about Jesus visiting the temple with his brothers and being questioned. (John 7) On Saturday we learned of a guard who when questioned by a religious leader at the temple said, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” (John 7:46) In yesterday’s reading, Jesus was at the temple when a crowd approached him and he stopped them from stoning a woman. (John 8)

The temple was a central spot for Jesus’s ministry and life. In today’s gospel, Jesus is a12 years old child lost by his parents. Ad a family, they had visited the temple for festivities. Mary and Joseph leave the temple thing that Jesus is in their group. Once they realize he is missing, they go back to the temple and find Jesus interacting with elders. Jesus tells them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49)

While we don’t know a lot about Joseph from the gospels, he was a pivotal person in Jesus’s life. When Jesus was at the temple as an adult, he carried memories of Joseph with him. I imagine that every time Jesus went to the temple, he remembered the experience of his parents taking him there and them being reunited after being separated. They were his loved ones, his family, the ones who taught him about the faith, and the ones who gave him traditions and memories like spending together at the temple.

The temple was a cherished space to him. It was a place he returned to that held memories from earlier times with people he loved and experiences they shared. It is like when we return to the same place year after year for holidays and family traditions.

What are some of these places for you? What types of memories do these places call back for you? Who are the people that made those places special for you? There may not be much said about Joseph in scripture, but does there need to be? No religious solemnity can amount to the slight bittersweet smile that Jesus had when thinking about his dad as he walked around the temple and recalled memories of him. That’s what Joseph is to me; a loved one you carry with you that transcends the need for others to recognize. No story can ever fully capture the love that is shared and the memories that remain from that love.

Reciprocity and Repentance

Gospel: Jn 8:1-11
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031824.cfm

Today’s gospel starts with a foreshadowing of Jesus’s passion as it mentions that Jesus started his day at the Mount of Olives. The Garden of Gethsemane, which is at the base of Mount Olives, is where Jesus will soon be praying with his disciples and get arrested. The temple is also right by all of these locations.

Jesus then spends some time teaching at the temple when a crowd approaches him with a woman that they are planning to stone. Stoning was a form of capital punishment during Jesus’s time, and stoning was the punishment established in the law for a person who has committed adultery. Jesus doesn’t make a scene. Instead, he draws on the ground and says that he who is without sin can cast the first stone. He then returns to drawing and the crowd eventually disperses.

We often can be like the crowd and focus on the sins of others, but if we take a moment and reflect on our behavior, we will find that we too are with sin and have no room to condemn and judge another. This gospel shows us that when we want to condemn others for their sin, we must take some time to examine our conscience.

Once the crowd dispersed, Jesus looks up at the woman and lets her know that he does not condemn her and tells her to “Go and sin no more.” God is always wanting to reconcile with us. God greets us with compassionate love. In return, God asks for repentance. If sin is us separating ourselves from God, repentance is us returning our love to God. God wants us to reciprocate love. 

In our own lives, we can both be the crowd and the woman in today’s gospel. Through mercy, forgiveness, and repentance we can learn to be more like Christ.