Blog RSS Feed

Jesus teaches us some lessons today about handling fear.  There’s probably not one of us here today that, in the midst of the turbulence that we have faced this year, who can boast that they have stood above it all and have not had some sense of fear and trepidation. Maybe we’ve had the illness affect us or a loved one directly. Maybe it got a little scary for us watching news reports of outbreaks including the recent one at Manor Care. Maybe it wasn’t so much the disease itself, but it was the ancillary effects such as a job loss or the stock market taking a sudden nose dive. Like the disciples, we too may have been, or continue to be, terrified.  How is it that we can best handle our fears? 

Have you ever known someone who, no matter how old they were, seemed more like a child than an adult? It’s like they chose to never grow up – sort of like the Tom Hanks character in the movie “Big”, from 1988 (32 years ago). Today’s readings remind us that God wishes for us to be more like children, to have a childlike faith. Having a childlike faith enables us to grow in wisdom.

In order to be transformed as we are called to this Lenten season, Jesus is asking us to be people of action. Stay connected to him by making time to be with him in prayer. Deliberately show our gratitude even in the midst of the storms. Stop playing the comparison game, on social media or wherever we feel inclined to unnecessarily seek the approval of others. And lastly, be cheerful givers. Be generous with our words of praise, and give of our time, our talent and our treasure.

The good news of Lent: God sees each of us. He knows us. He is committed to us. He passionately loves us. No amount of work on our part can increase his love for us. And despite the fact that we may not be able to see his face, hear his voice, or feel his touch, we can trust him.

1) God’s will for our lives is that each of us will bear abundant fruit. 2) God helps us to bear abundant fruit by allowing us, through our interactions with others, to be pruned. Sometimes that pruning is painful. 3) When the hurtful actions of others causes painful pruning, we can take our suffering to the foot of the cross, and through God’s gifts of love and forgiveness, the experience will actually enrich our lives.

If we only dabble in our faith lives, we will only have enough religion to make ourselves miserable. But if we dwell in it, dwell in Him, then we will gain more and more of His presence. If we invest time with Jesus in a lifestyle of worship, and work at our spiritual fitness, we begin to not just know more about Him- we begin, more importantly, to have a deeper relationship... with him. Catholic writer, Matthew Kelly, puts it this way: “Our lives change when our habits change.”

In this Gospel, we celebrate the "initiation rite" that launched Jesus into public ministry. We too (who have been baptized) celebrate our own "initiation rite". Together with the other two Initiation Sacraments of Confirmation and Communion, our Baptism immerses us into the life of Christ and empowers us to live a holy life. We become among his servants that God mentions in the First Reading: those he has chosen, those he is pleased with, and those upon whom he has put his Spirit. The extent to which we have achieved fullness of that spirit that we've been gifted with as Christians, baptized into the ministry of Christ, can be revealed in the way we live our lives. Have we been generous of spirit, living lives that replicate the humility and service of Christ?

There’s probably no more challenging time of year to be present for others than now. We’re hurried by the season. We become slaves to the calendar, our to-do lists, and most commonly, what other people think of us. But patience, patience within our relationships, is always worth the wait

Our Gospel reading today helps us to distinguish between professing our faith and demonstrating our faith in action. Our faith requires more than simply checking off some required boxes, or boasting a title that denotes piety. Jesus makes that clear when he says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."

The Kingdom of God is full of paradoxes: we receive by giving, we receive honor when we are dishonored, and as the Gospel illustrates for us today, we lead others to the kingdom by being in service to them. The Feast of Christ the King is an invitation to all of us to share in the kingship of Jesus, as servant leaders.

Discipleship, our discipleship, entails focusing our love on Christ first, and then what comes as a by-product is a love for others.

Prayer doesn’t change God, but it does change things. It changes us. Prayer changes us. When we come into contact with God, whether that is in meditative prayer, whether that is in silence and prayer, whether it’s through reading his Scripture, reading his word, or being a coworker with him, it changes us.

It’s in the process of actively seeking reconciliation through daily, and thoroughly reflective prayer, and going to confession, that allows us grow in our walk of faith in a way that was demonstrated by Oskar Schindler (of "Schindler's List"), but clearly was not demonstrated by the rich man in the gospel.

There are three distinct characters that play a part in today's Gospel. There is Simon the Pharisee, a religious leader, who in the story, invites Jesus to his home, but is shown to be inhospitable to him. There is the unnamed female guest who could be described as the town harlot, who is very contrite for her past actions and is seeking forgiveness. And then of course there is Jesus. There are lessons to be learned by looking at all three characters but I'd like to focus on Jesus' vantage point, as we see how he responds to this encounter with both this woman and Simon the Pharisee. It tells us a lot about Him and a lot about what He wants every one of us to be.

The gruesome story of the beheading of John the Baptist should inspire us to be relentless in our pursuit of the truth and be courageous enough to act on that truth with conviction, no matter the consequences, even when the consequences can be very dire - as was the case in the passion of John the Baptist.

These scripture readings today provide us with signposts along the road that point us to the narrow gate at the entrance of heaven. Jesus himself, how he lived and how he died, is the sign of how we are to live our lives. As Jesus shows us in the Gospel, our salvation doesn’t primarily depend on external appearances, appearing to be playing the game the right way, but on a friendship with Christ, a friendship that is rooted in our hearts. It’s only through our friendship with Jesus that allows his humble heart to become manifest in our lives.

The first reading tells us that we hold our treasure in earthen vessels. Importantly it follows that up by saying, "that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us." This tells us that we are just flawed containers- God's love is the treasure inside us. I saw one commentary that summarized this reading this way, saying "we're the pots and God is the Power". He makes us, the ordinary vessels... extraordinary.

"Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself, and you will live." This is a lesson that is within everyone's reach to live out. Even secularists, those that leave out the God part, know that a society works better if we treat each other like we like to be treated. We’ve seen signs in some neighborhoods that say, “Drive as if it’s your kids who live here.” The golden rule is still held to the standard to this day. The overall lesson in this gospel summarizes all gospels, the entire meaning of life, and it does so with such eloquent simplicity! That is: …A worthy life is a simple life. Just do the next right thing. What’s that expression – simplicity is complexity resolved? I think that applies here.

Jesus longs for us to move beyond the idea of sacrifice—what we feel obligated to give up to be perceived as religious. He wants us to get our hearts involved, tangled up with other people’s lives, so the word sacrifice drops out of our vocabulary, and that all we know is the passion to love others as he loves us.

The second reading today reminds us of the origins of our freedom. It is, as all things, a gift from God. Paul says, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.” God wants us to live in freedom. Freedom is our calling. God does not want us to live a buttoned-down, constrained life. He wants us to live a full and abundant life.