Not according to categories (Rev. Eston Williams / Pope Francis)

At the end of the day,
I’d rather be excluded for those I include,
than included for those I exclude.

 --Rev. Eston Williams

     God’s great freedom in giving himself to us represents a challenge and an exhortation to modify our behaviours and our relationships. It is the invitation which Jesus addresses to us today. He calls us not to think according to the categories of ‘friend/enemy’, ‘us/them’, ‘those who are in/those who are out’, ‘mine/yours’, but rather to go beyond, to open our heart in order to be able to recognize God’s presence and action, even in unusual and unpredictable environments that are not part of our circle. 

--Pope Francis

Image source: Look carefully at the “tiles” of this mosaic. Each is a picture of a member of a larger group – a very diverse group! https://www.christchurch-southgate.org/home/inclusive-church/
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The pivot point of our faith (Fr. Patrick Michaels)

    The term pivot point is used in basketball: the player grounds one foot in place and then spins, looking around for an opening to throw the ball. But you have to remain grounded, because if you move, it’s a foul, and once you start traveling, it’s all over. 

    The pivot point of our faith is the Jesus Christ came to manifest the love of God for all people. That is the one place we need to keep our foot grounded, because if we don’t, we lose track of what we’re about. We lose sight of who we are and who we’re with. 

    It’s easy to get people off track if they don’t maintain their pivot point, if they don’t maintain their grounding in one thing. Our faith is in the power of the love of God to transform our world. It’s in the fact that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection were effective at bringing salvation and making it available to all people. 

    When we believe this, when we stay focused in this, we cannot in fact then land in our divisions. 

    We are a Church divided, divided because we all think we know who’s right, and yet the one “right” gets lost in it all. Jesus Christ is our focus. Jesus Christ is what unites us. He is the source of our communion. 

    We live in a country divided, because we have forgotten what we have in common, and part of that is because we’ve had to move into a correctness that isn’t allowed to say, United Under God. There was a time when the United States was united under God, and therefore Jews and Muslims and Christians could actually all get along, if they chose to, because they had one grounding. 

    But even if the rest of the world, even if the rest of the Church, doesn’t stay grounded, we need to. For that is when our Eucharist and our worship are effective in our lives and make them something in this world that will help transform it. When we stay focused in that love of Christ, that love of God revealed in him, when that becomes our pivot point, everything doesn’t necessarily make sense, but it all comes into proper focus. 

    What truly does unite us, if we allow it to do so? His infinite love for each of us. This is when we are free to do his will: when we are set free by his love for us. 

--Fr. Patrick Michaels,
Homily, May 21, 2026

Image source: https://brobible.com/sports/article/steph-curry-travel-warriors-mavs-reaction/

We can be the woman who is Ark of the Covenant (Danielle Harrison)

    Mary is the embodiment of what it means to continually say “yes.” And this feast day shows us what is possible for all of us when we can continually say “yes” to God. 

    Right before Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, she had this remarkable moment with the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation. It's her first ‘yes.’ And notice that Mary does not stop and just sit in that. She could have. But instead, she looks out to see where she can have an impact, where she can be of service to someone else. She doesn't wait for Elizabeth to come to see her. She goes and travels to be hospitable, to be caring, to be in community with Elizabeth. And so, we have that great scene where they meet, John leaps in the womb, and Mary and Elizabeth are filled with joy. And then Mary goes into this beautiful song of praise. And I have to think that that song held her throughout her journey, her life journey. Reminding her that: ‘yes, even though this beautiful gift has been given to me, it's not going to be easy. But I know who I am, and I know that God knows who I am.’ 

    My sisters and brothers, we look in the world today and we see… What do we see? We could dwell in the uncertainty and confusion and pain and strife and the negative. Or we can take our ‘yeses’ to what God is calling us to do and go into the marketplace of the world - whether that's the marketplace of our homes, the marketplace in our communities, the marketplace in a global situation - and be that good news. We can go and do those visits. We can go and be hospitable and caring and loving. 

   In essence, we can be the woman who is the Ark of the Covenant, the New Covenant, that we carry Christ within us. And as we carry Christ, we bring Christ in what we say and what we do and how we live and how we be. 

    Let's keep saying “yes.” So that at the end of our journey, we too are assumed. We too are brought close to the One who has always held us close. Amen. 

--Danielle Harrison

Today is the Solemnity of the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

Image source: Salvator Dalí, The Madonna of Port Lligat (1949), about which the artist said: “Modern physics has revealed to us increasingly the dematerialization which exists in all nature and that is the reason why the material body of my Madonna does not exist and why in place of a torso you find a tabernacle 'filled with Heaven.'” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Madonna_of_Port_Lligat#/media/File:The_Madonna_of_Port_Lligat.jpg
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A heart open to universal embrace (Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

Todos, todos, todos... 

--Pope Francis

    We cannot sit at the heavenly banquet table if we are still selective as to whom we can sit down with. If, in the next life, like here in this life, we are selective as to whom we love and embrace, then heaven would be the same as earth, with factions, bitterness, grudges, hurt, and every kind of racism, sexism, nationalism, and religious fundamentalism keeping us all in our separate silos. We can only sit at the heavenly banquet when our hearts are wide enough to embrace everyone else at the table. Heaven demands a heart open to universal embrace. 

--Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI 

Image source: https://parishableitems.com/2023/10/14/gods-invitation/
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 16, 2026: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples...

My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples…
Who are we to set limits on God’s love and mercy? 

    The Scriptures make it clear: God’s salvation is for all. Why is that so hard for us to accept? From the time of the prophet Isaiah to the Incarnation of Jesus, God has made it clear: even the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him, loving the name of the Lord will be brought to God’s holy mountain. All are welcome! My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples, God insists. As the people of Israel return from exile, God wants them to understand that community will be restored and all will be welcome, so long as they are ready to participate in covenant and embrace God’s justice, which is about to be revealed. Psalm 67 reinforces this promise of inclusion: So may your way be known upon earth; among all nations, your salvation. 

    At first glance, Matthew’s account of Jesus’ visit to the region of Tyre and Sidon might seem to belie the promise of inclusion we see in Isaiah. When confronted with a Canaanite woman who persistently seeks to speak to Jesus, his disciples say, Send her away! And Jesus appears to confirm this desire to exclude her: I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he says, not to the Gentiles of Canaan! The scene takes a disturbing turn when Jesus follows this up with, It is not right to take the food of children and throw it to the dogs. But in fact, Jesus wants to make this a lesson to the disciples, and so he recognizes the Canaanite woman in her need: O woman, great is your faith! Stop setting limits on my ministry, he is instructing the disciples. Don’t narrow my scope, for I will go beyond any boundaries you set and provide what you consider beyond the possible. 

    In his Letter to the Romans, Paul identifies himself as the apostle to the Gentiles, but this time, he’s reminding them that God sent Jesus for all: the Jewish people too may now receive mercy, Paul says, because the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. God does not take God’s covenants back. The unity we see is not an easy path, but so long as we don’t attempt to set restrictions on God’s mercy, so long as we embrace God’s all-inclusive promise, Jesus will provide what is beyond the possible… for all! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture Class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Jesus stretches out his hand (Andrew Peterson / Suzanne)

The world is whispering -- listen, child! --

The world is telling a tale.

When the seafoam froths in the water wild

Or the fendril flies in the gale,

When the sky is made with the swirling storm

And thunder shakes the hall,

Child, keep watch for the passing form

Of the One who made it all.

--Armulyn, Royal Bard of the Shining Isle,

in The Wingfeather Saga

by Andrew Peterson

    So often, when we falter, it can be hard to imagine that God wants us back, that God’s infinite love remains available to us, if we are open to it. 

    Look at Peter in the boat: he falters, though perhaps excusably so. When the disciples see Jesus walking toward them on the sea, they are terrified; only Peter is brave enough challenge their fear: Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water… And when Jesus summons him, Peter does stand and leave the boat, walking on water himself! It is ostensibly a brave act, a courageous move. 

    But then Peter falters – why? Because the wind is strong? Because his faith is weak? Because he doubts? Does it matter? 

    Here’s the thing, though: Jesus put the disciples on that boat, to travel alone… Jesus had a plan! It’s almost as if Jesus sets this up so that he has the very opportunity Peter seizes on: the opportunity to call them to himself! 

    I think sometimes we don’t realize quite how close, how often God calls us, and how near God wants us to himself – not just in the intimacy of quiet prayer, but in true and regular contact. Notice that, when Peter begins to sink, Jesus stretches out his hand and catches him. He takes him by the hand! Can you imagine? It’s almost as if Jesus sends them out so that he can say: Take courage! It is I… Do not be afraid! 

    Like Peter, we have all been called by name by the Lord, invited into relationship, and restored, daily, when we fail. That invitation comes not just once in a lifetime, not even just once a day, but every minute, in every choice we make, in every smile we see, in every fear we face, in every voice we hear… 

    Will we falter? Perhaps. But if we do, we can rest assured, Jesus is there, waiting, ready to call us and draw us near... 

--Suzanne T.,
OLMC Communion Service Reflection,
August 2, 2016

Image source: François Boucher, St. Peter Attempts to Walk on Water, Versailles (ca. 1764),  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Pierre_tentant_de_marcher_sur_les_eaux_by_Fran%C3%A7ois_Boucher.jpg
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Our windy, earthquaking, fiery lives (Henri Nouwen)

    I am not saying there is an easy solution to our ambivalent relationship with God. Solitude is not a solution. It is a direction. The direction is pointed to by the prophet Elijah, who did not find Yahweh in the mighty wind, the earthquake, the fire, but in the still, small voice; this direction, too, is indicated by Jesus, who chose solitude as the place to be with his Father. 

    Every time we enter into solitude we withdraw from our windy, earthquaking, fiery lives and open ourselves to the great encounter. The first thing we often discover in solitude is our own restlessness, our drivenness, and compulsiveness, our urge to act quickly, to make an impact, and to have influence; and often we find it very hard to withstand the temptation to return as quickly as possible to the world of “relevance.” 

    But when we persevere with the help of a gentle discipline, we slowly come to hear the still, small voice and to feel the gentle breeze, and so come to know the Lord of our heart, soul, and mind, the Lord who makes us see who we really are. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: https://theconversation.com/being-alone-has-its-benefits-a-psychologist-flips-the-script-on-the-loneliness-epidemic-250742 
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