Where are our blooming deserts? (Fr. James Martin)

    [I]n the future that God promises us, says Isaiah: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.” In God’s reign, everything can grow and everyone can flourish. 

   This is beautiful imagery, but it can feel far from where we are today. All we need do is look around and see the war in Ukraine, poverty in our inner cities and people still suffering and dying from Covid to know that we are far from Isaiah’s vision. How can we keep the faith in the midst of such misery? LGBTQ people also know what it means to live in hope and have their hopes dashed, often by the very church that encourages these hopes. Sometimes it’s hard to find signs of God’s presence among us. 

   That’s why Sunday’s Gospel passage, about John the Baptist, is so extraordinary. From his jail cell, John sends messengers to ask Jesus, “Are you the one?” In response, Jesus invites John to notice what is happening: the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk. 

   So a question for us today is: Where are our blooming deserts? Where are our rejoicing steppes? In other words, where are the signs of God’s presence in our daily lives? Advent is all about desire. Can you desire to notice these things? 

--Fr. James Martin,
Facebook, December 10, 2022

Image source: https://petertchattaway.substack.com/p/the-chosen-season-two-episode-four
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Losing sight of the mystery (St. Pope John Paul II)

The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.

--Isaiah 35:1

    The loss of contact with God's wise design is the deepest root of modern man's confusion; By living "as if God did not exist," man not only loses sight of the mystery of God, but also of the mystery of the world and the mystery of his own being. 

--Pope Saint John Paul II 

Image source: https://bcworldview.org/blossoms-in-the-barren-places/
Quotation source

God speaks through the gritty and the humble (James T. Keane)

    The truth is attractive. John the Baptist speaks the truth, and they come flocking to him. He doesn’t seek glory for himself—in fact, he accepts that he must become less so that Jesus can become more. And he preaches not for his own gain, but to proclaim a future wonder just being born as Jesus begins his ministry. So his vehemence and the force of his message—come forth and confess your sins, because the kingdom is at hand—come through clearly and effectively. Good news about the future and forgiveness while you’re at it… not a bad deal. 

    We see that so often today, both in popular media and on the local level: the slick and clever message that doesn’t stick, doesn’t last; the preachers whom the writer Katelyn Beaty calls “celebrities for Jesus,” who are looking to make a buck and end up hurting Christians—and losing their way completely. 

    But then we look at the events we commemorate in the season in which we are now fully engaged: the Christ Child about to be born to the least likely of people in the most humble of circumstances. There’s no reason to be drawn to that person either, on the surface of it—and yet he attracts shepherds, kings, wise men, angels. And John the Baptist himself, eventually, someone who knew that God speaks most clearly through the gritty and the humble. That’s hot. 

--James T. Keane 

Image source: Mattia Preti (Il Cavaliere Calabrese), John the Baptist Preaching (1665), https://www.famsf.org/artworks/saint-john-the-baptist-preaching
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 14, 2025: Be patient, brothers and sisters...

Be patient, brothers and sisters...
What are you expecting? 

    In this Gaudate Sunday’s reading from Isaiah, the prophet offers those who have remained faithful in exile a portrait of God in his creative wonder, creating things anew, bringing what was lifeless back to life: The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom when your God comes to the earth to save you, bringing everlasting joy. Our limited human vision has a hard time imagining this miraculous renewal; we are afraid to hope, too scared to see our own limitations as possibilities – we can’t see with God’s eyes. We can’t really expect, only hope: hope in the fulfillment of the promise, hope that our own eyes will be opened, hope that our ears will be cleared… 

    Like John the Baptist in this Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew, we have built up so many expectations around the coming of Jesus. Like the Israelites before him, John thinks he knows what to expect: a Messiah who comes in a blaze of wrath, a powerhouse ready to take on the world! But Jesus is quick to point out that John and his followers just need to open their eyes: the prophecies are being filled right in front of them: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. Jesus doesn’t come to meet human expectations: he comes to fulfill God’s promise of salvation, bringing redemption to all who accept God’s invitation to relationship. 

    And what are we to do, as we wait? Trust, as the psalmist does, that God will keep his faith (Psalm 146), sustaining us, protecting us, raising us up, setting us free. Even if we really understood what that meant, it’s not easy to wait; waiting requires patience, as James tells his readers, repeating that word four times in this week’s short passage. Patience, patience, patience… It's not easy. 

    Alas, there is no “What to Expect” book for hearts waiting pregnantly for Jesus to come, and we can’t know what Jesus’s coming will bring to our lives. But we can be patient, trusting that the depth of our love will deepen our ability to wait, hearts firm, as we embody God's love for all, expectantly, with patience.

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

When my body won't hold me anymore (The Avett Brothers)

When my body won't hold me anymore
And it finally lets me free
Will I be ready?
When my feet won't walk another mile
And my lips give their last kiss goodbye
Will my hands be steady when I lay down my fears, my hopes, and my doubts?
The rings on my fingers, and the keys to my house
With no hard feelings 

When the sun hangs low in the west
And the light in my chest won't be kept held at bay any longer
When the jealousy fades away
And it's ash and dust for cash and lust
And it's just hallelujah
And love in thought, love in the words
Love in the songs they sing in the church
And no hard feelings 

Lord knows, they haven't done much good for anyone
Kept me afraid and cold
With so much to have and hold
Mmm, hmm

When my body won't hold me anymore
And it finally lets me free
Where will I go?
Will the trade winds take me south through Georgia grain?
Or tropical rain? Or snow from the heavens?
Will I join with the ocean blue?
Or run into a savior true?
And shake hands laughing
And walk through the night, straight to the light
Holding the love I've known in my life
And no hard feelings 

Lord knows, they haven't done much good for anyone
Kept me afraid and cold
With so much to have and hold
Under the curving sky
I'm finally learning why
It matters for me and you
To say it and mean it too
For life and its loveliness
And all of its ugliness
Good as it's been to me 

I have no enemies
I have no enemies
I have no enemies
I have no enemies

To hear The Avett Brothers sing, “No Hard Feelings,” click on the video below. 

Image source: https://blog.adw.org/2017/12/walking-toward-the-light-in-advent/
Video source.  

Unity in the mind and heart of God (Steve Goodier / Henri Nouwen)

We don’t get harmony when
everybody sings the same note.
Only notes that are different can harmonize.
 The same is true with people.

--Steve Goodier

    If you dare to believe that you are beloved before you are born, you may suddenly realize that your life is very, very special. You become conscious that you were sent here just for a short time, for twenty, forty, or eighty years, to discover and believe that you are a beloved child of God. The length of time doesn’t matter. 

    You are sent into this world to believe in yourself as God’s chosen one and then to help your brothers and sisters know that they are also Beloved Sons and Daughters of God who belong together. You’re sent into this world to be a people of reconciliation. You are sent to heal, to break down the walls between you and your neighbors, locally, nationally, and globally. 

    Before all distinctions, the separations, and the walls built on foundations of fear, there was a unity in the mind and heart of God. Out of that unity, you are sent into this world for a little while to claim that you and every other human being belongs to the same God of Love who lives from eternity to eternity. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night over the Rhône (1888), https://finearttutorials.com/guide/unity-in-art/
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Mary's sacred flesh (St. Hildegard of Bingen)

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which celebrates the belief that Mary was preserved from original sin from birth, making her a uniquely pure vessel to bear Jesus.

The medieval mystic and composer St. Hildegard of Bingen captured the ecstasy of Mary’s response to God's invitation to bear his Son in her beautiful chant, “O virga mediatrix” (12th c.): 

Alleluia!
O virga mediatrix,
sancta viscera tua
mortem superaverunt
et venter tuus omnes creaturas illuminavit
in pulchro flore de suavissima integritate
clausi pudoris tui orto. 

Alleluia!
O branch and mediatrix,
your sacred flesh
has conquered death,
your womb all creatures illumined
in beauty’s bloom from that exquisite purity
of your enclosed modesty sprung forth. 

To hear St. Hildegard of Bingen’s spectacular “O Virgo mediatrix,” presented by Laurie Monahan and Barbara Thornton, click on the video below:

Happy Feast of the Annunciation!

Image source: Ukranian artist Ivanka Demchuk, Annunciation, https://stories.spu.edu/articles/from-the-reader-3
Video source

The green exit sign (Pope Francis / Fr. William Brown)

John the Baptist teaches us… that each of us,
through service, consistency, humility, witness of life
 – and always by God’s grace –
can be a lamp that shines and helps others
find the way on which to meet Jesus.

--Pope Francis

    About thirty years ago , I asked the seventh grade students at St. Pius School in Redwood City about the church, which was a sort of round edifice, like Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I asked the students to tell me, in their own opinion, What are some of the most important things that you see when you come into a church? Some of them said, The altar. Some of them said, The crucifix, or, the tabernacle. They mentioned things that are important to us for our faith. 

    Then one boy raised his hand and he said, For me, the most important thing is the green exit sign. And I thought, What? There was laughter among his fellow students, but he explained: At the end of the Mass, we are sent forth on mission. He didn’t say it exactly like this, but his message was, We hear words of mission and commission: Go and glorify God with your lives. Go in peace; the Mass is ended. Go and spread the Gospel by everything that you say and do. 

    So his words always come to my mind whenever I see a green exit sign in any church. That is what John the Baptist is all about, too. He is a sign pointing toward Jesus. He tells the people who come to him, I am just a voice in the desert. I’m merely a prophet. I’m pointing the way to someone who is much more important than I. He is so great, he is so central, he is so magnificent, that I’m not even worthy to untie the sandals on his feet. So don’t follow me, John the Baptist says, Follow him! 

    And when Jesus comes, when John sees him at the Jordan river, John will utter those words that we use at every Mass: Behold, the Lamb of God! Behold him who takes away the sins of the world. He does! Jesus does take away our sins. Jesus does strengthen us in holiness and comfort us and make us more like him. And then, he sends us out under that exit sign, to be his Body in the world. 

--Fr. William Brown,
OLMC, Homily, June 24, 2025

Image source: OLMC Catholic Church, https://www.facebook.com/mountcarmelmv
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To repent (Sr. Joan Chittister / St. John Climacus)

Silence frees us to learn,
to become, to reflect,
to respond, and to repent.

--Sr. Joan Chittister 

        To repent is not to look downwards at my own shortcomings, but upwards at God’s love. It is not to look backwards with self-reproach, but forward with trustfulness. It is to see not what I have failed to be, but what by the grace of Christ I might yet become. 

–St. John Climacus 

Image source: Courtney Mattison, large scale coral reef sculpture, https://www.tupeloquarterly.com/visual-art/courtney-mattison-what-will-become/
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Become a powerful agent of transformation (John O'Donohue)

   The way you look at things is not simply a private matter. Your outlook actually and concretely affects what goes on. When you give in to helplessness, you collude with despair and add to it. When you take back your power and choose to see the possibilities for healing and transformation, your creativity awakens and flows to become an active force of renewal and encouragement in the world. 

    In this way, even in your own hidden life, you can become a powerful agent of transformation in a broken, darkened world. There is a huge force field that opens when intention focuses and directs itself toward transformation. 

--John O’Donohue,
Benedictus – To Bless the Space Between Us

Image source: Horace Pippin, Holy Mountain III (1945). Look carefully at this remarkable painting. It contains some very unsettling elements. Yet it is God’s holy mountain that the artist chose to foreground. Read more here: https://artandtheology.org/2017/01/16/mlk-pippin-and-the-holy-mountain/
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 7, 2025: There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain!

There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain!
Are we ready for new life? 

    When, in Matthew’s Gospel, John the Baptist preaches in the desert of Judea, he attracts all kinds of interest, even though his message is not an easy one: Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!, he cries. In biblical texts, the desert is often a place of transformation, barren, yet open to new life coming forth, a place where metanoia (conversion) is possible. To repent – as those coming for baptism must learn – is to see with clear vision the sins of the past, to acknowledge the divisions one has created, to mourn them and then rise from them: only then can new life come forth from that which has been barren. 

   This world in which what seemed dead will bear fruit is clear in the beautiful poetry of the prophet Isaiah, who foretells that a shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots, a bud shall blossom -- Jesus, the Son of God. In this description of the Messianic promise, Isaiah describes a remarkable transformation, a new world where justice and faithfulness trump wickedness, and enemies can come together in peace – wolf and lamb, leopard and kid – for there shall be no harm or ruin on this holy mountain, God says. Isaiah’s message of new life is echoed in Psalm 72: Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever. 

    Yet this transformed world is still not ours. Paul tells the Romans that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope, fostering the kind of harmony that Isaiah describes, where all can glorify God with one accord. For harmony refers, musically, to two notes sung at the same time that resonate with one another. Likewise, our reading of the Scriptures teaches us that all we do affects those around us: Welcome one another, then, Paul says, as Christ welcomed you. In our quest for new life, may we strive above all for harmony, remaining open to the transformation to which we are called during this season of Advent, heeding John’s call to repent, turning from sin to love, letting that love circumscribe our existence, and glorifying God as we do. 

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

Answering God's call (Colleen Gibson, SSJ / Sarah Probst Miller DVM)

Witnessing someone embody their true calling is unmistakable.
In a society where commitment is confounding,
answering God’s call to authenticity is an astounding act. 

In an age of uncertainty,
answering such a call is risky.
It requires the courage and vulnerability
to growing relationship with God
so that you can be and become who you are.
When all is said and done,
it means standing with Jesus
when the whole world asks “why?”
and simply and sincerely responding
“How could I not?”

--Colleen Gibson, SSJ 

The Holy Spirit cannot be stopped. 

There are times for holy noes. There are times for holy yesses. 

And I would guess each of you have experienced both where you knew that waking, taking action, and being present--or not—was absolutely, exactly where you were called. 

And you moved into that moment 

with this knowing, with this grace, 

accompanied by the Holy Spirit. 

And entered into a flow 

where you felt yourself a vessel 

through which the Holy Spirit could move and breathe and live. 

Our holy noes, our holy yesses 

equate to a life lived, 

awoken by the Divine. 

--Sarah Probst Miller, DVM

 

   Tomorrow, December 4th, Our Lady of Mount Carmel pastor Fr. Patrick Michaels will celebrate the 43rd anniversary of his Ordination to the Priesthood. As he continues on his well-earned vacation through Europe, his parishioners here in Mill Valley wish to express their profound gratitude for his manifold service to our church, to our community, to the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and to each of us individually. 

   Fr. Pat’s gifts are legendary – from the artistic, musical, and culinary, to his “golden tongue” as a homilist and his extraordinary sense of liturgy – and we are profoundly grateful that, when the Lord called him so many years ago, Fr. Pat gave a resounding Yes! Fr. Pat embodies his true calling, accompanied by the Holy Spirit, daily, giving witness to his profound faith as he reveals God’s love to our world. 

It's already December 4th in Europe, so…
Happy Anniversary, Fr. Pat!
Enjoy your vacation and come home safe and soon!
You are missed, but we know
you are in one of your happiest places on the planet. 

Image source 1: Jorge Cocco Santángelo, The Right Side (2021), available for purchase at: https://jorgecocco.com/product/the-right-side/
Image source 2: OLMC pastor, Fr. Patrick Michaels, on retreat in Assisi, November 2025. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=3105012203014286&set=pcb.3105053069676866
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True encounter with Christ (Thomas Merton)

    True encounter with Christ liberates something in us, a power we did not know we had a hope, a capacity for life, a resilience, encounter an ability to bounce back when we thought we were completely defeated, a capacity to grow and change, a power of creative transformation. 

--Thomas Merton 

Image source: https://www.oursundayvisitor.com/encountering-christ-inclusion-and-conversion/
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God is determined to make room (Natalia Imperatori-Lee)

      In the Incarnation, God, too, makes room. God is determined to make room. Room for light in the darkness. Room for joy in our sadness. Room for triumph in our defeats. Room for peace in our broken, war-torn world. God is determined to make space among the ruins for celebration, to make possible within our vulnerability a sense of safety. God is determined to make room in the darkness that surrounds us for an inextinguishable light. 

     How are we being called to make room in our lives? For forgiveness of ourselves or others? For peace amid our anxious thoughts? For justice for the most excluded among us? Are we determined like God to make room for good in this world filled with suffering? 

--Natalia Imperatori-Lee 

Image source: https://www.jesusnotjesus.org/be-kind/questioning-jesus-what-good-is-a-light-if-its-not-plugged-in
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Christ interferes with your very self (C.S. Lewis)

   Put right out of your head the idea that these are only fancy ways of saying that Christians are to read what Christ said and try to carry it out—as a man may read what Plato or Marx said and try to carry it out. They mean something much more than that. They mean that a real Person, Christ, here and now, in that very room where you are saying your prayers, is doing things to you. It is not a question of a good man who died two thousand years ago. It is a living Man, still as much a man as you, and still as much God as He was when He created the world, really coming and interfering with your very self; killing the old natural self in you and replacing it with the kind of self He has. At first, only for moments. Then for longer periods. Finally, if all goes well, turning you permanently into a different sort of thing; into a new little Christ, a being which, in its own small way, has the same kind of life as God; which shares in His power, joy, knowledge and eternity. 

--C. S. Lewis,
Mere Christianity

Image source: https://thewayoftheworshipper.com/2020/06/17/the-butterfly-effect/
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In the face of tribulations (Fr. James Martin)

    This does not seem like a joyful Advent reading! But in the end, it is definitely good news. Because for those who remain “vigilant” and who do not “become drowsy,” not only from drunkenness and carousing but from the “anxieties of daily life” (a kind of moral stupor), there will be vindication. In other words, for those who remain resolute, the end times or the end of our lives are nothing to fear. Instead, they are a source of joy and redemption. 

    But what enables us, in the face of the “tribulations” we face—whether it’s anxiety over our families, our jobs, our health, our politics or our church—not to grow drowsy? 

    One answer comes from Pope Francis, who has a wonderful insight on this reading. “Prayer is what keeps the lamp of our heart lit. This is especially true when we feel that our enthusiasm has cooled down. Prayer re-lights it because it brings us back to God, the center of things.” 

--Fr. James Martin,
Outreach, November 30-
December 1, 2024

Image source: https://www.globalsistersreport.org/spirituality/comfort-and-joy-engaging-advent-christmas-rush
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I think of the love (Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer)

Again I search the drawer
for my small silver spoon
with the Space Needle
on the handle,
the one my mother bought me
when I was not yet two
and we lived in Seattle.
How I loved that spoon,
bringing it with me everywhere
I’ve moved—to college, grad school,
to the top of a mountain,
to a low river valley. I love
the shape of it, sure,
the way the bowl of the spoon
is pointed and shallow,
perfect for small bites
of vanilla ice cream.
Mostly, what I love
is thinking of how my mother,
who had so little then,
wanted to buy her daughter
a treasure. It’s been years
since the last time I touched it.
It’s disappeared many times,
my own young children as enamored
with the spoon as I, and so
I have found the spoon behind the couch
or beneath their beds or left outside
on the arm of a lawn chair,
sometimes even back in its slot
in the drawer.
So for years, I’ve assumed
the spoon will return.
To this day, I don’t think of it as lost.
How could I, when every time
I eat yogurt or ice cream or oatmeal,
I look in the drawer for the spoon,
which is to say every day I touch the spoon
with my mind, every day I remember
the way a mother bought her daughter
a treasure, I think of the love, and every day,
even when it’s not here, it’s so here. 

—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer,
"What Can't Be Lost,"
July 22, 2025

In November we remember All Souls...

Image source: https://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2013/07/cleaning-silver.html
Poem source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 30, 2025: So it will be at the coming of the Son of Man...

So it will be at the coming of the Son of Man…
 Can we carry on as usual when Jesus is about to enter our lives? 

    If Jesus walked into your home and woke you from a deep sleep, do you suppose life would suddenly be different? And are you prepared for that? In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tries to convince his disciples always to look to the future, to be awake and aware of all of the ways in which upcoming changes in their day-to-day existence are about to radically transform how they understand themselves, their lives, their very identity. Therefore, stay awake, he tells them, for you do not know on which day your Lord will come… and when he does, look out! 

    Advent invites us to contemplate not only the imminent Incarnation of Jesus at Christmas, but also the age to come, a new age that also promises radical change and transformation. As Paul tells the Roman community, the night is advanced, the day is at hand; to be properly prepared, we must put on Christ. We who have come to faith now know who Christ is, and what he came to reveal; we can therefore no longer dwell in darkness of a past age, but must, by baptism, enter into new age with our eyes open. Like the people in Isaiah’s time, we must pay attention to the Word of God, for from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Remaining open to radical transformation, we will be able to walk in the light of the Lord, awake, aware, prepared for Jesus’ coming, joy-filled at the imminent possibility of standing in the presence of the Lord, inviting all with the words of Psalm 122: Let us go rejoicing… 

    For life with Christ is radically different, transformative; once we have let him enter in, we can no longer carry on as usual. The new age to come offers us a new encounter with God, an invitation to be open, and to enter into relationship more fully than ever before; Advent is an opportunity to ponder this mystery. How will it be for you at the coming of the Son of Man? 

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

Gratitude flows (Lionel Hampton / Henri Nouwen)

Gratitude is when memory is stored 

in the heart and not in the mind.

--Lionel Hampton

    Gratitude flows from the recognition that all that is, is a divine gift born out of love and freely given to us so that we may offer thanks and share it with others. 

   The more we touch the intimate love of God which creates, sustains, and guides us, the more we recognize the multitude of fruits that come forth from that love. They are fruits of the Spirit, such as: joy, peace, kindness, goodness, and gentleness. When we encounter any of these fruits, we always experience them as gifts. 

--Henri Nouwen

What are you grateful for today?

Happy Thanksgiving to all
from Our Lady of Mount Carmel!

Image source: https://patch.com/california/redwoodcity-woodside/thanksgiving-means-giving-thanks-moral-corruption-makes-it-hard
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Lord God, we thank you (Melody Beattie / Stuart Wilson-Smith)

Gratitude makes sense of our past,
brings peace for today,
and creates a vision for tomorrow.

--Melody Beattie

   Lord God, we thank you for the gift of this day, the gift of one another, and the gift of this food which you have provided from your bounty. 

   As we prepare to celebrate this Thanksgiving feast, we ask for your blessing upon us and upon all of the gifts that fill our table. 

   Bless also the farmers and laborers who cultivate the land, and provide the meat and vegetables we are so fortunate to enjoy. 

   Bless the grocers and market workers, clerks and store owners. May all those who have labored for this food be treated with the dignity of children of God, and may they be paid a just wage. 

   As we give you thanks, O Lord, we ask that you nourish us, that we might be good stewards of the earth, keepers of one another, and prophets of your coming Kingdom. 

   We ask this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen. 

--Stuart Wilson-Smith, CSP

What will your Thanksgiving prayer include today?

Image source: https://www.crosswalk.com/special-coverage/thanksgiving/blessings-to-say-before-your-thanksgiving-meal.html
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Thank him for everything (St. Josemaría Escrivá)

   Get used to lifting your heart to God, in acts of thanksgiving, many times a day. Because he gives you this and that. Because you have been despised. Because you haven’t what you need or because you have. 

   Because he made his Mother so beautiful, his Mother who is also your Mother.  Because he created the sun and the moon and this animal and that plant.  Because he made that man eloquent and you he left tongue-tied...

   Thank him for everything, because everything is good. 

--St. Josemaría Escrivá 

Join us for Thanksgiving Mass
tomorrow morning @ 7:45am

and lift your heart to the Lord in gratitude! 

Image source: https://www.206tours.com/cms/blog/thanks-be-to-god/
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If our gaze is totally on Christ (Sr. Julia Walsh FSPA)

   The criminal who gets to join Jesus in paradise models this for us all. 

   Unique to Luke’s Gospel, in this criminal we meet a man who is unexpectantly humble and names the truth. He understands that he’s united with Jesus, subject to the same condemnation. He knows he is powerless but Christ is at his side. He encourages another to fear God, to have awe and respect. He understands the limits of his humanity. 

   The criminal next to Christ shows us how the reign of God can be known and experienced if our gaze is totally on Christ, on the power of God--and not on one’s self. 

    From a cross, the criminal gained a new perspective and was able to see the truth. He was free to be authentic, to see the big picture, to know the love of God. 

   Following the criminal’s example, let us also see the kingdom of God around us and live like the saints we were made to be! 

--Julia Walsh, FSPA 

Image source: Gaudenzio Ferrari, Stories of the Life and Passion of Christ (1513), from a fresco in the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Varallo Sesia, Italy, https://tenstringedlyreofthenewisrael.blogspot.com/2019/04/are-you-good-thief-or-bad-thief.html
Quotation source

I am your salvation (Fr. James Martin)

   When you see [St. Peter’s Square], it’s not hard to think of all the important things that go on in the Vatican every day: the decisions taken by the Holy Father that effect Catholics worldwide, the work of so many various dicasteries and offices that help people in need around the world, meetings with heads of state, the canonization of saints, and on and on. As a result, it’s sometimes hard to remember that the center of faith is not the church. 

    But it’s not. The center of our faith is a person. 

    [At the Jesuit Generalate in Rome,] perched on a cliff that overlooks a large garden is a ten-foot statue of that person: Jesus Christ. He stands with his arms outstretched on a concrete base inscribed with the words “Salus Tua Ego Sum,” or “I am your salvation.” 

    I’m a big fan of the Pope. But he is not my king. He is not even a king. And he would be the first to agree. Our king, whom we celebrate today on the Solemnity of Christ the King, is Jesus. 

    Our Gospel reading shows what kind of king he is: not one wrapped in worldly power, not one that dominates, and certainly not one that oppresses anyone. Rather, he is a king who is willing to suffer. It’s always moves me that the Gospel passage chosen for today's feast is not any of the Resurrection stories, as you might imagine, or some dramatic miracle, but Jesus dying on the Cross. Our king comes to us ready to take on all that we are, and willing to bear all that we bring to him. He is “The Crucified God,” to take the title of a book from the German theologian Jürgen Moltmann. 

    It's important to remember that when we think of the Pope, cardinals, bishops and the beautiful church buildings that we all love. I’ve dedicated my life to the church, but I also know that the church did not die on the Cross and rise from the dead: Jesus did. He is my salvation. He is yours too. 

--Fr. James Martin,
Outreach, Nov 19, 2022

Image & quotation source: https://www.facebook.com/FrJamesMartin/photos/what-i-learned-in-rome-salus-tua-ego-sum-or-jesus-is-my-salvation-my-latest-colu/10153272601606496/?_rdr

Total and unmitigated powerlessness (Henri Nouwen)

   God chose to enter into human history in complete weakness. That divine choice forms the center of the Christian faith. In Jesus of Nazareth, the powerless God appeared among us to unmask the illusion of power, to disarm the prince of darkness who rules the world, and to bring the divided human race to a new unity. It is through total and unmitigated powerlessness that God shows us divine mercy… 

   It is very hard—if not impossible—for us to grasp this divine mercy. We keep praying to the “almighty and powerful God.” But all might and power is absent from the One who reveals God to us saying: “When you see me, you see the Father.” If we truly want to love God, we have to look at the man of Nazareth, whose life was wrapped in weakness. And his weakness opens for us the way to the heart of God. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: Crucifix, St. Timothy Catholic Church, Morro Bay, CA, https://sttimothymorrobay.org/
Quotation source

The love of Christ prevails (Sr. Julia Walsh FSPA)

    From the macro of the cosmos to the micro of our hearts: the love of Christ prevails and has authority. 

    Christ’s power is real and transformative. 

    To see this, we are invited to shift our perspective. A step back to see the big mess on the board. To step back and see the little ones gaining might. 

    Entering into the Word of God expands our view as well. 

    What could happen if we lived as if we believed salvation has already been given us? 

    What would we act like if we really believed that the kingdom of God surrounds us? 

    Would we live with more joy and wonder? 

    Would we reverence God and every part of creation we encounter? 

    I imagine that if we believed that we’re already in the kingdom of God, then we’d live more wholeheartedly. We’d be our true selves, free and unafraid of judgements, not worried about fitting in. 

    We’d heed the advice of St. Francis De Sales “be who you are, and be it perfectly well.” 

    We’d show up for others, every day. 

    We’d love wildly and freely---no longer trapped by the limits of what we alone can dream up. 

    We wouldn’t be stuck in a pile of “should” and “shouldn’t.” 

    We’d be celebrating the goodness. 

--Sr. Julia Walsh, FSPA 

Image source 1: Christ the King Window, St. Mary Church, Brecon, Wales, https://www.facebook.com/groups/303462353173920/posts/2658016544385144/
Image source 2: Christ the King Catholic Church, Turners Cross, Cork, Ireland, https://corkandross.org/parishes/turners-cross
Quotation source

I did not lose her (Henri Nouwen)

   To remember my mother does not mean telling her story over and over again to my friends, nor does it mean pictures on the wall or a stone on her grave; it does not even mean constantly thinking about her. No. It means making her a participant in God’s ongoing work of redemption by allowing her to dispel in me a little more of my darkness and lead me a little closer to the light. 

   In these weeks of mourning she died in me more and more every day, making it impossible for me to cling to her as my mother. Yet by letting her go I did not lose her. Rather, I found that she is closer to me than ever. In and through the Spirit of Christ, she indeed is becoming a part of my very being. 

--Henri Nouwen

In November we remember All Souls... 

Image source: Hyatt Moore, Mother Son (2012), https://www.hyattmoore.com/egallery/2012/08/09/seven-shines-of-summer/
Quotation source

Jesus flipped what it meant to be king (Angélica Quiñónez)

   Jesus did not come to be served. He washed the feet of His disciples. Jesus did not come to be wealthy. He tells us to stop holding on to our possessions and to follow Him. Jesus did not come to rule with a heavy hand. He came IN love TO love. 

   The face of Jesus on the cross is mercy. As accessible to you and me as it was to the repentant criminal… if only we see it, if only we grasp it, if only we respond to it. It is easy to call Jesus King, to proclaim his Kingship, to sing hymns of praise to Christ our King, but it might still challenge us to understand that Jesus flipped what it meant to be a King with a kingdom. We are called to build that kingdom of mercy and love. 

    But, until we see the crucified and resurrected face of our King in the faces of those on the margins, we will not and cannot understand the Kingship of Jesus. Are you willing to see Him in the faces of our migrant family at the border? In the faces of the unhoused in our cities? In the faces of those suffering from mental illnes and addiction? In the faces of members of our interfaith, LGBTQIA, and non-believing communities? In the faces of those we disagree with and those who have hurt us or that we have hurt? Will you see Him in the stranger, the prisoner, the wanderer? Will you see him in the struggle to protect our earth? Will you see Him in the ongoing struggle for racial and economic justice? Will you see Him in me? Will you see Him in you? 

   May we become more merciful, more loving, and ready builders of the kingdom here and now. 

--Angélica Quiñónez 

Image source: Bradi Barth, St. Dismas, the Good Thief, https://reason2bcatholic.com/2021/03/25/saints-alive-st-dismas-the-good-thief/
Quotation source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 23, 2025: This is the King of the Jews...

This is the King of the Jews…
How do you understand the power of God? 

    In Luke's Gospel, as Jesus suffers on the cross before the rulers and soldiers of Israel, they mock him because of the inscription above his head; If you are King of the Jews, save yourself, they say. What they fail to understand is that God’s power lies precisely in the apparent weakness, or foolishness, of the cross: the crucifixion is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise of love, and so Jesus dies in the ultimate expression of that love. We have been brought into a kingdom that is not ruled as the world rules, because the world’s definitions do not include the fullness of God, God’s infinite love. We can’t comprehend that love, but we can begin to experience it when we allow the power of the love of God to transform us. One of the thieves hanging on the cross beside Jesus comes to understand this: dying to his own past sin, he is transformed as he acknowledges that Jesus is King: Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. 

    This understanding of strength in conjunction with apparent weakness is present as early as the stories of David told in 2 Samuel, where Israel invites David, already the King of Judah, to be its king as well; David and Israel share bone and flesh, strength and vulnerability. In accepting to be king, David is accepting full responsibility; as shepherd, he must embrace humility as well, so that when he takes his judgment seat, as Psalm 122 reminds us, he will proffer justice grounded in the wisdom and love of God. 

    Thanks to that love, Paul reminds the Colossians, we, too, are fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light. Why? Because Jesus, God’s beloved Son and the firstborn of all creation, has made peace by the blood of his cross. Only through the cross can we come to be transferred to the kingdom, that kingdom of inversion in which the values of power and possession beloved by the world are turned upside down. From a place of humility, then, Let us give thanks to the Father for the gift of this inheritance, an inheritance of love, the true and infinite power of God, and the single most important indicator of God’s kingdom. 

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

Everything is beautiful (Meg Wolitzer / Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer)

We are all here on this earth
for only one go around.
And everyone thinks their purpose
is to just find their passion.
But perhaps our purpose
is to find what other people need.

--Meg Wolitzer

It was the boy at baggage claim who started it.
His elation! Each time a new bag would drop,
he would point at the suitcase and squeal,
then turn to his grandmother with incandescent delight.
His grandmother deepened my joy. How she beamed
at her grandson, praised him in Spanish, her words
a bright blur I interpreted more through hunch
than through certainty. And sooner than you’d think,
I fell in love with every single person at baggage claim sixteen.
Didn’t need to know their stories to know
they were worthy of love. Every one a grandchild.
Every one a light. It was like, how on these midsummer
nights, the late sun shines long though the cities and fields
and everything, everything is beautiful.
Oh, people of Iran. Israel. Palestine. Ukraine.
Russia. Somalia. Yemen. Maine. I will never know you,
yet I honor how you carry inside you your own strange
and beautiful spark. How each of you, too, is a grandchild.
Each of you, too, longs to belong. No matter what our leaders do,
the light is right to see how much, you, too, long to be safe,
to be seen, to be kind, to be loved, to be trusted, to be home. 

—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer,
The Night I Fell in Love with the Whole World

Image source: Toddler sprints into his grandmother’s arms at the airport, https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/humankind/2024/10/04/full-speed-ahead-watch-toddler-sprint-through-airport-to-see-his-grandma/75515681007/
Poem source