In the living presence of the God Incarnate (Elisabeth Stopp)

     Mary went in haste into the hill country to visit her cousin who needed her, not so much for practical help, but for moral support and for a strengthening of her faith in the sitation in which she found herself. But Mary went there carrying Jesus hidden within her, and she took His sanctifying presence to Elizabeth and to her child. The Visitation was therefore a mystery of worship and adoration, expressed in the insight of Elizabeth’s cry of faith, and then immediately offered back to God in the exultation and thanksgiving of the Magnificat. The time these two women spent together was one of prayer in the living presence of the God Incarnate, as well as a time of hidden, mutually rendered service. 

--Elisabeth Stopp,
Madame de Chantal: Portrait of a Saint

Happy Feast of the Visitation!

Image source: Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Visitation (ca. 1491), https://www.oursundayvisitor.com/the-visitation-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/

Mary, a symbol of hope (Sr. Chioma Ahanihu & Br. Mickey McGrath)

   Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, has always been a symbol of hope and a companion for all who are marginalized. From her own family experience of living in another country as a stranger or immigrant, people believe that she works for the unity of the people of God in search of understanding, compassion, peace and human dignity for immigrants who are being kept in the margins of our society. In fact, among all women who ever lived, Mary is singled out as the one who has the most enduring power in the Christian imagination. And so, she alone can bring immigrants and the inhabitants who fear strangers together through her Son Jesus Christ. 

   May Mary remind us of our own Yes to God’s call as consecrated people of God in our different spheres of life. May we be the voice for the voiceless and the less privileged in our society.

--Sr. Chioma Ahanihu, SLW 

If you pray for Mary’s intercession on behalf of our immigrant brothers and sisters, consider praying this prayer, written by Br. Mickey McGrath OSFS: 

As we reflect upon the difficult journey that the Holy Family faced as refugees in Egypt, help us to remember the suffering of all migrant families. Through the intercession of Mary our Mother, and St. Joseph the Worker, her spouse, we pray that all migrants may be reunited with their loved ones and find the meaningful work they seek. 

Open our hearts so that we may provide hospitality for all who come in search of refuge. Give us the courage to welcome every stranger as Christ in our midst. 

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen. 

In May we celebrate Mary...

Image & Prayer source: https://trinitystores.com/collections/our-lady-protector-of-immigrants-mmlpi
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, June 1, 2025: He was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight...

He was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight…
How has your encounter with Christ changed you? 

    Imagine the disciples astonishment at seeing their risen Lord! As we see in the Acts of the Apostles, some of them continued to have misguided questions about Jesus’ ultimate mission on earth, even after he rose from the dead! Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? they ask him. In essence, they are asking, Who are you? How are we to understand who you are? But Jesus’ response is mysterious: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. At least they must understand his final request, as we hear in both Acts and Luke: You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 

    Jesus’ Ascension – as he blessed them he parted from them, and was taken up to heaven – frees the disciples to go and tell the good news; his last moments with them have given them the blessing of an encounter with Christ where change happens, though they might not yet understand its full import. But, as Psalm 47 reminds us, when God’s rule has begun, our job is to proclaim it with praise: God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord! 

    In any period of uncertainty or unknowing, we feel betwixt and between. We want answers but have to wait in the tension until they come. But, as Paul reminds the Ephesians, a Spirit of wisdom and revelation will result in knowledge of Christ, knowledge in the sense of intimacy, knowing him as we know someone we love. Such knowledge will allow us to recognize his love for us and come to share in it. Our ongoing struggle is to see with our hearts rather than our heads; we still want wisdom, and we rely on dogma to define it, but we need to allow it to be revealed as Christ’s invitation to delve more deeply into his love. May the eyes of our hearts be enlightened, filled with light, so that we can truly see his ongoing presence with us, for we are his Body, and are called to be so in all fullness, revealing Christ’s love to our world.

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

The light of God's presence (Pope Francis)

     Am I aware of the immense gift that I carry in me through baptism? Do I recognize in my life the light of God's presence, who sees me as his beloved child, as his beloved daughter? 

     Let us welcome God's presence within us. We can do this with the sign of the cross, which traces in us the memory of the grace of God, who loves us and desires to be with us. The sign of the cross reminds us of this. Let us make it together: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

--Pope Francis,
March 17, 2024

Image source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1012615000903914&set=pb.100064662700877.-2207520000&type=3
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Where God is (Sr. Joan Chittister)

       If you want to know where God is, find the space in your heart that is open to all of humankind. 

--Sr. Joan Chittister 

Image source: https://international.la-croix.com/pray/dilexit-nos-selected-excerpts-from-pope-francis-encyclical-on-the-sacred-heart
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Today, we pray for peace (Prayer for Memorial Day)

   Heavenly Father, we lift up in prayer today our brothers and sisters who have gone before us, sacrificing their own lives for the protection and safety of others. We are grateful for their service. May we honor them by loving and caring for all those they have left behind, and may they inspire us to live selflessly in our own lives, as Christ calls us to do. 

   As we pray for those who lost their lives in conflict throughout our history, we recognize the ongoing war and violence that continues to plague humanity in many places, many forms. Today, we pray for peace, which those we honor today fought valiantly to achieve. 

    In Your name we pray. Amen. 

Blessings on Memorial Day!

Image source: Peace dove bookmark, available at https://www.whiteladybug.net/products/sku-00500-peace-dove-magnetic-bookmark
Prayer source

Jesus dwells within me (Henri Nouwen)

    I have no great new plans, no big new ideas, no vision about the future, I have only the desire to remain close to that place in me where I can hear the voice that calls me “my son, my beloved,” and that will tell me what to do, say, or write when the time for it has come. The quiet grotto, the water from the well, the round sun-like stone [at Lourdes] are signs of hope calling me to remain always open to receive from Jesus the purity, simplicity, and innocence I desire. 

    I am not alone. Jesus dwells within me. Whatever is pure, simple, and innocent in me comes from him. With his love I can love and give myself to others. With his eyes I can see God's face; with his ears I can hear God's voice; with his heart I can speak to God's heart. I know that, alone, I cannot see, hear, or touch God in the world. But God in me, the living Christ in me, can see, hear, and touch God in the world, and all that is Christ's in me is fully my own. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/why-you-should-not-despair-when-god-is-silent.html
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His most holy Mother's heart (St. Francis de Sales)

   Love draws all pains, all torments, travails, sufferings, griefs, the wounds, the passion, the cross and even the death of our Redeemer into his most holy Mother’s heart. Alas, the same nails that crucified the body of this divine Child also crucified the heart of his Mother, the same thorns that pierced his head pierced through the soul of this utterly sweet Mother; she bore the same miseries as her Son through commiseration, the same dolorous experiences through condolence, the same passions through compassion; and, in short, the sword of death that pierced the body of this most beloved Son likewise pierced through the heart of this very loving Mother. She might thus have said that he was a sachet of myrrh between her breasts, that is to say, in her bosom and in the center of her heart. 

--St. Francis de Sales,
Treatise on the Love of God

In May we celebrate Mary...

Image source: Currier & Ives, Mater Dolorosa (n.d.), https://springfieldmuseums.org/collections/item/mater-dolorosa-currier-ives/
Image source 2: Simon Bening, The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin, miniature (c.1500), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Sorrows 

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We cannot love God fully without His help (Fr. Patrick van der Vorst)

    Time and again, the Bible reminds us that love is the greatest virtue we can hold. It is love for our neighbour, our families, our friends, but above all, Jesus declares: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart.” This, He tells us, is the greatest commandment. 

  

   Yet, we cannot love God fully without His help. Within each of us, He has planted a deep longing to love Him, a longing that must be nurtured in order to grow. Just as a musician improves through dedicated practice, and a rower (as in our painting) becomes more skilled with each stroke, so too does our love for God deepen the more we give ourselves to Him. The more we seek Him, the more we will love Him... until our hearts, like the mother’s embrace in this painting, reflect the love that God first poured into us. 

--Fr. Patrick van der Vorst 

Image & quotation source: Mary Cassatt, The Boating Party (1894). https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/mark-12-28b-34-2025/

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 25, 2025: The glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb...

The glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb…
What happens when we embrace’s Jesus’ law of love? 

   Under the leadership of the Apostles and with the help of Paul and Barnabas, the early Church had to make many decisions about what was necessary to live in Christ. In the Acts of the Apostles, one such decision had to do with whether or not Gentiles first had to convert to Judaism before converting to Christianity. At stake were various dietary issues, such as abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols, as well as the question of circumcision. Throughout each difficult conversation, the leaders of the Church needed to remember the one law Jesus left: love. 

   Jesus’ teachings about love, particularly in John’s Gospel, were not always easy to understand, particularly when Jesus spoke of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, which the Father would send, and which would teach them everything and remind them of all that Jesus told them. Jesus needs them to know that once he returns to the Father, to that union of perfect love, they will be able to be with him in that love, in the very center of that love, thanks to the Holy Spirit. It was probably very difficult for Jesus’ disciples to grasp all he was telling them during his Last Supper Discourse, but they must have sensed his invitation, not to a limited space but to a limitless love in him, and embraced it, for they ultimately shared his love with the world. 

   The Book of Revelation reminds us that love in the form of light is to emanate from the New Jerusalem that is the Church: The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb. Likewise, the light of love is to emanate from our lives, with Christ at the core, shining for all the world to see. We are not always transparent. Because we are afraid of vulnerability, we sometimes lose sight of the light within and so we fail to open so that it can shine. But if we are one with Christ through baptism, that light will ultimately shine from within us, so that, as Psalm 67 tells us, God’s way may be known upon the earth, and among all nations, his salvation. How can this happen? If we love Jesus and keep his word, remaining dependent upon God’s grace and upon Christ’s love within us, the glory of God will give us light, light for all the world to see. 

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

What a gift this is (Uli Covarrubias SJ)

   Is there anything more thrilling, more satisfying, more life-giving than love? It is love alone that makes us dream, makes us believe in the transcendent, and sets us free. But for as beautiful as this mighty force is and for as selflessly as we would like to live it out, it is also love that makes us vulnerable and can lead us to question the very core of our being. 

   Whether we put it into words or not, we can find ourselves asking, “Am I loved? Lovable? Worthy of love?” Directly related and perhaps more often unexplored is the question, “Is the love that I have to give any good? Is it worth anything? Am I capable of loving, and loving well?” For we are made not only to receive, but also to give love. 

   Love may seem a daunting task for it involves the infinite mystery of the other, and indeed the infinite mystery of the self. There is so much that we cannot fully understand, fully control. 

   Sometimes the love which flows from the depths of our being does not, cannot reach its desired destination. Sometimes our so much is met with so little, or nothing at all: a quick “hello” when we’d like a whole afternoon, a handshake when we’d like an embrace, a calm indifference when we’d like a passionate interest and reciprocity, an absence when we’d like an abiding presence. 

   Still other times, it may seem that our heart places obstacles in the way of love’s free flow. “I shouldn’t be feeling this way.” we might say, or “I don’t want to deal with the pain.” And other times, frankly, we may not really know what we want from our own desires. “Do I actually want to enter a serious relationship with this person?” Such realities may lead us to question the worthiness of our desire to love. Is it flawed? Is there something wrong with my heart, with me? And this is a heavy burden that can easily lead to despair. 

   True, we can always fine tune the way we receive and give love by respecting its force and its unpredictability, by accepting our desires and those of the other, by keeping in mind our freedom and that of the other. Life can show us. But we must always strive to hold dear our desire and ability to love. Perhaps the best way of keeping hope alive is by keeping our eyes fixed on that original love from which we came and to which we are called, the one which made us from love and for love. 

   We are
   Loved
   Lovable
   Loving
   What a gift this is. 

 --Uli Covarrubias, SJ 

Image source: https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/spiritual-growth/core-christian-beliefs/why-was-jesus-crucified.html
Quotation source

To love with understanding (Fred Rogers / Dorothy Day)

A lot of learning has to do with
learning that we are loved.

--Fred Rogers 

   To love with understanding and without understanding. To love blindly, and to folly. To see only what is loveable. To think only of these things. To see the best in everyone around, their virtues rather than their faults. To see Christ in them! 

--Dorothy Day 

Image source: https://barbaraleeharper.com/tag/how-to-love-like-jesus/
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I love you (St. Mary Euphrasia / J. K. Kennedy)

It is not enough that you love them, 

they must know that you love them.

 

--St. Mary Euphrasia 

I think I say 

I love you 

too much. 

It’s strange how 

sometimes it 

startles people. 

But then I remember, 

that’s why I’m here. 

To love 

and to startle. 

--J. K. Kennedy           

 

Image source 1: https://flyersculpture.en.made-in-china.com/product/wnfpcmQbvAVs/China-New-Hot-Sale-Children-Statue-Best-Friends-Playing-in-The-Garden-Bronze-Statue.html
Image source 2: https://www.hallmark.com/house-and-home/figurines/willow-tree-my-sister-my-friend-friendship-figurine-27095.html
Quotation source 1
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When was the first time you felt loved? (Mariann McCorkle)

   When was the first time you felt loved? What is your earliest memory of being in the presence of love? 

   I felt loved by my mother early on as a child; she delighted in me, and I can close my eyes today and hear her laughter, feel her presence… I know that her love of God enkindled in me a desire for a deeper faith, a hunger for being known and loved by God. 

   My daughter, Olivia, when she was 3 years old, sat with me on the porch swing as a summer thunderstorm moved through the neighborhood. She turned to me and said, "Does God feel the thunder?" I was humbled by her question, saying, "Yes, Olivia, I think God feels everything, because he sent his son, Jesus to be human, to be one like us." 

   By the time this Sunday arrives, Olivia will have given birth to our first grandchild and as we just celebrated Mother's Day, I invite you to reflect on your faith journey. Who accompanied you and made an impact on your spiritual life. Join me in giving thanks for that accompaniment. 

   How then do we embody that love for ourselves and others? 

   I think it is by studying Jesus. By listening to his message. By quieting ourselves before Him. 

   And today, Jesus says, "Love one another as I have loved you." 

--Mariann McCorkle 

Image source: https://cloudatlas.wmo.int/en/thunderstorm.html
Quotation source

Mary as lodestone (Pope Leo XIV / Fr. Patrick Michaels)

Our Mother Mary always wants to walk with us,
to be close, to help us with her intercession and love.

--Pope Leo XIV

    Mary is kind of a lodestone for us – the central focus (after her Son Jesus) around whom everything seems to concentrate. She represents so many different things, it’s hard to get at a human person any more. Yet, she represents for us God’s presence, God present among us. 

    The prophet Zechariah speaks about God coming to dwell in his temple, and yet in the last line of the text it says that God will come forth from his temple; he is no longer contained within its walls. What does God do at the birth of Jesus? He comes to be among us in a new way. He transcends the walls of the temple, transcends the walls of Mary’s womb. He comes to be among us. 

 

--Fr. Patrick Michaels, 

Homily, November 21, 2024

In May we celebrate Mary... 

 

Image source: François Pelletier, Vierge à l’enfant, Royal Collegiate of Melun (2024), https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10231972147039894&set=a.1025618814102
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I will wipe away every tear from your eyes (Henri Nouwen)

   We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could live each day as a day full of promises. Imagine that we could walk through the new year always listening to the voice saying to us: “I have a gift for you and can’t wait for you to see it!” Imagine. 

   Is it possible that our imagination can lead us to the truth of our lives? Yes, it can! The problem is that we allow our past, which becomes longer and longer each year, to say to us: “You know it all; you have seen it all, be realistic; the future will just be a repeat of the past. Try to survive it as best you can.” There are many cunning foxes jumping on our shoulders and whispering in our ears the great lie: “There is nothing new under the sun... don’t let yourself be fooled.” 

   When we listen to these foxes, they eventually prove themselves right: our new year, our new day, our new hour become flat, boring, dull, and without anything new. 

   So what are we to do? First, we must send the foxes back to where they belong: in their foxholes. And then we must open our minds and our hearts to the voice that resounds through the valleys and hills of our life saying: “Let me show you where I live among my people. My name is ‘God-with-you.’ I will wipe all the tears from your eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness. The world of the past has gone” (Revelation 21:2–5). 

--Henri Nouwen 

In Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ, Jesus looks up at his mother, his face dripping with blood from his torture at the hands of the Romans, and says, “See, Mother? I make all things new.” It is a powerful, and powerfully graphic scene (not for the faint of heart), available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpa_D4K8c1c 

Image source: https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-what-is-our-end-goal-as-a-united-methodist
Quotation source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 18, 2025: Love one another as I have loved you...

Love one another as I have loved you…
How is the love of God revealed? 

    It may be hard to get our head around why Jesus had to suffer and die for us. In his Last Supper Discourse in John’s Gospel, Jesus tells the eleven disciples that the moment has come for Jesus to be glorified, and God is glorified in him. Jesus’ death – an act of extraordinary mercy – makes manifest the love of God for God’s people. In Jesus’ death and rising, God is revealed in all his glory and the Son of Man is revealed in God and their union is made clear. All of this is the context for Jesus’ single most important instruction to the disciples: As I have loved you, so you should also love one another. The disciples are to live lives of service, service that is grounded in love for one another. This is how they, following Jesus’ example, will reveal that God is at work in them: by dedicating their life to loving and supporting one another and their world. For that is glory: when love wins. 

    In the Acts of the Apostles, after their long journey preaching the good news throughout Asia Minor, Paul and Barnabas will return to Antioch, where they call the church together and report what God has done with them and how he has opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. Throughout their travels and their trials, God was active in their lives; throughout it all, good or bad (and some of it was very bad, and required undergoing many hardships), God was there with them on their journey. By their witness, Paul and Barnabas reveal God’s goodness. And the church that is growing is cognizant of God dwelling with the human race, as John says in the Book of Revelation. By his death, Christ makes all things new; those who are one with Christ, members of his Body, living their lives in Christ, are creating a new bond, a new access for the world. This is the New Jerusalem, in which all are transformed by the death and rising of Jesus – as we are, today. 

     Consequently, we as Christians are to be united in that love that is greater than us, a love God has had for God’s people from of old. Jesus Christ is revealed in our love of other. We give witness to that love by, as Psalm 145 says, letting all our works give the Lord thanks! We are the manifestation of God’s kindness and generosity and goodness; our lives declare God’s identity. May we live in gratitude for the love he showers upon us, and give witness every day to the power of God’s love in our lives! 

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

My shepherd (Henri Nouwen)

   Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and ask him more directly to give you joy, peace, and a pure heart. Purity of heart means a heart where God is the center of your attention. Take a simple sentence like “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want,” and repeat that quietly during the day until the truth of it enters the center of your being. You will always continue to have feelings of depression, anger, and restlessness, but when God dwells in the center of the storm, the storm is less frightening and you can live with trust that in the midst of all of the darkness you will be led to a place of joy and peace. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: https://www.outsideonline.com/gallery/midwest-storms-fierce-beauty-photo-book/
Quotation source

Washed white as snow (CeCe Winans)

Oh the blood of Jesus

Oh the blood of Jesus

Can you help me sing

Oh the blood of Jesus

It washes white as snow

Come on let's sing it again

Lift your voices and sing

Oh the blood of Jesus

Oh the blood of Jesus

Oh the blood of Jesus

It washes white as snow 

To hear the amazing American gospel singer CeCe Winans sing this song, click on the video below:

Image source: https://discover.hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/Washed-White-in-the-Blood-of-the-Lamb
Video source

Now how did they know his voice? (Fr. James Martin)

   One day, one of the Kenyan women who worked with us came into my office and said, “Kuna kondoo.” My Swahili was decent, but I thought that I had misheard her. Because it means, “There are sheep.” I followed her to the entrance to the shop and looked out and, sure enough, there was a small flock of sheep grazing on our lawn. Standing watch over them was a Maasai boy wearing his red plaid cloth. In the Maasai culture, the youngest boys tend sheep; then, when they get a little older, they tend goats; then as men, cattle—and you would see this in some places on the outskirts of Nairobi. 

   The sheep didn’t bother me so I waved to shepherd and he waved back. In any event, I went back to my office and met with some refugees. About an hour later, to stretch my legs, I went to the front door. The sheep were still there, grazing placidly. The shepherd waved to me and few seconds later he called to the sheep: “Kuja!” he said. “Come!” 

   To my surprise they all looked up at once and instantly started to follow him. I marveled at that. There were plenty of other voices you could hear from passersby in the area, and even some car horns, but they heard him. Suddenly I realized I was seeing today’s Gospel in action: the sheep knew his voice. 

   Now how did they know his voice? The same way that we are to know our shepherd’s voice. To begin with, they had spent time with him. In our own lives, we can spend time with Jesus in the Gospels, in the sacraments and in service to others, and in these places come to know his voice. Now, what does that mean specifically? Well, in the Gospels we hear Jesus’s words to his disciples--and to us. And he speaks constantly about love, mercy and compassion. In the sacraments, we hear him inviting us to participate in the life of the church. And in service to others, we hear him asking us to help the “least of my brothers and sisters.” 

   Especially in prayer, God’s voice often has a recognizable quality: peaceful, uplifting, comforting. In our consciences, God’s voice can gently encourage us to do the right thing. "Go on," it says. "You're on the right path." But if we’re being warned against doing something bad, that same voice, our conscience, can be persistent and loud. Here it says, "What are you doing?" And during times of trouble, it is often the voice of calm. Over time, then, you get to know that voice. 

   But we’re also called to know what God’s voice is not. Just like the sheep were able ignore all the other voices. God’s voice not the voice that makes us fear. Or makes us think we’re mistakes. It’s a voice of love, mercy, compassion and welcome. 

   Our goal in life is to know God’s voice, be attentive to it and respond to it with as much alacrity as those sheep did to their shepherd, forty years ago. 

--Fr. James Martin,
Outreach, April 29 & 30, 2024 

Image source: https://experiencingtheglobe.com/a-glance-into-masai-culture-living-with-the-masai-in-the-bush-in-tanzania/

These women mirror the love of God (Pope Francis / Bishop Robert Barron)

Our mothers, with their hidden care,
with their thoughtfulness,
are often magnificent cathedrals of silence.
They bring us into the world and then 
continue to attend to us, often unnoticed, 
so that we can grow. Let us remember this: 
love never stifles; love makes room for the other.
Love lets us grow. 

 --Pope Francis,
January 1, 2024 

   As we honor and celebrate mothers on this special day, let us offer our heartfelt gratitude and prayers to all those who are living out the vocation of motherhood—biological, adoptive, spiritual, and maternal figures—for their profound influence and unwavering love. 

   May they be blessed for the countless sacrifices they make, the abundant love they pour forth, and the tireless dedication they exhibit toward those in their care. We are especially grateful for those motherly figures who live out the words of the Baptismal Rite as "the first teachers of their child in the ways of faith." 

   Through their selflessness, these women mirror the love of God. 

   On this Mother's Day, let us unite in prayer, asking God to bless all mothers with strength and grace, and to surround them with His infinite love. May they continue to follow the example of the Virgin Mary in saying "yes" to all that God is asking of them and continually pointing us toward Christ. Through these motherly figures in our lives, we encounter a glimpse of the divine love that sustains us all. 

   Happy Mothers' Day! 

--Bishop Robert Barron,
May 14, 2023 

Image source: Helena Vurnik, The Annunciation (1915), https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1598487483873668&set=a.1022453258143763

Mary reminds us to listen (Pope Francis)

    Mary reminds us to listen. The young woman of Nazareth, who holds in her arms the one who came to embrace the whole world, is the Virgin who listened intently to the message of the angel and opened her heart to God’s plan. She reminds us of the first and greatest of the commandments: “Hear, O Israel” (Deut 6:4), because more important than any precept is our need to enter into a relationship with God by accepting the gift of the love that he comes to bring us. Listening, in the Bible, refers to hearing not only with the ears, but also with the heart and one’s entire life. 

--Pope Francis,
December 30, 2023

In May we celebrate Mary...

Image source: Leonardo da Vinci, Annunciation (ca. 1472), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annunciation_%28Leonardo%29.jpg
Quotation source

How open am I to the voice of the shepherd? (Sr. Jennifer Berridge)

    How open am I to the voice of the Shepherd in my life? Am I open to instruction and direction? Am I attentive? How receptive am I to feedback? How reachable am I in the depths of my soul to the leanings of the Shepherd? How teachable am I? How flexible am I? How available are we to the Shepherd? Are we distracted by the many other voices competing for our time, energy, and attention in our lives? I can honestly say that the answer for me varies on any given day. My answer to these questions is also based on how tired I am or how centered I feel. At times, don’t we all feel the tug of too many commitments and voices from others and from ourselves to do more, to be more, to get more? 

    There is a wonderful opportunity here this week to learn from both the sheep and the shepherd. What if the invitation here for all of us is to enter into the fields with the sheep and the shepherd? What if we bowed our heads low? What if we waited? What if we were silent and stood still? What if we postponed our own plans and delayed them in response to a call or a clarity in direction from Jesus? What if we truly listened to our good and gentle shepherd? As we know, as we have seen, as we may have felt, known, or experienced, God is faithful, even when we’re not. There have been times and there will be times in all of our lives when we may feel like sheep without a shepherd. What if in our humanity we were able to enter into the sheep pen more fully? What if we hung out in the fields and stayed there for awhile? What if we listened for the voice of our Shepherd? What if we took all that we learned there and applied it in our own lives? 

 --Jennifer Berridge, CSJ

Image source 1: Sylwia Perczak, Good Shepherd, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10212393429427845&set=a.3082491998301
Image source 2: Parish of St. Peter Hermanus, South Africa, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10227923611102019&set=pcb.2814380545415409 Quotation source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 11, 2025: We are his people, the sheep of his flock...

We are his people, the sheep of his flock…
Why do we trust in the Shepherd? 

    It is perhaps not surprising that Jesus’ authority comes from the union he has with his Father; the Father and I are one, Jesus tells his disciples in John’s Gospel. And it is precisely from this union that Jesus can be the shepherd the people have long awaited: My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me. Because they belong to God, they belong to Jesus; it is his death and rising that gives them eternal life, so that they shall not perish. Like the psalmist and his community in Psalm 100, who recognize the Lord as their leader, the disciples have learned that they are Jesus’ people, the sheep of his flock. Jesus is and will remain the focus of their thanksgiving and the core of their own sense of identity. 

    When, in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas make every effort to spread the good news, even to the Gentiles, they serve as conduits, bringing the touch of their shepherd Jesus to all they meet. When the Word of God touches the hearts of the people who hear Paul and Barnabas speak, many Gentiles come to believe. Although Paul and Barnabas’ Jewish listeners are filled with jealousy, and the two must simply shake the dust from their feet and move on, knowing they are doing what they have been called to do, following their shepherd, filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. 

    The image of Jesus as shepherd is complicated in the Book of Revelation by the fact that, having died and risen, Jesus is now the Lamb who is in the center of the throne who will shepherd the people and lead them to springs of life-giving water. The Lamb who was slain is now the shepherd; because the Lamb now lives, those under persecution for their faith know that they too will live, so long as they hold onto the faith that connects them to the one who leads them to eternal life, for they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They must not lose heart, nor must they lose sight of the Lamb who shepherds them – and neither should we. Jesus has touched our hearts, and we know eternally that we are indeed his people, the sheep of his flock! 

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

A different version of maturity (Henri Nouwen)

   The world says, “When you were young you were dependent and could not go where you wanted, but when you grow old you will be able to make your own decisions, go your own way, and control your own destiny.” 

   But Jesus has a different version of maturity: It is the ability and willingness to be led where you would rather not go. Immediately after Peter has been commissioned to be a leader of his sheep, Jesus confronts him with the hard truth that the servant-leader is the leader who is being led to unknown, undesirable, and painful places. 

   The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross. This might sound morbid and masochistic, but for those who have heard the voice of the first love and said, “yes” to it, the downward-moving way of Jesus is the way to the joy and the peace of God, a joy and peace that is not of this world. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: Raphael, Christ’s Charge to Peter (1515), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_of_Peter
Quotation source

If you understand (St. Augustine / Rainer Maria Rilke)

Si comprehendis, non est Deus.
If you understand, it is not God. 

--St. Augustine 

    I beg you to be patient with everything that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not search for the answers which could not be given to you now because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. And perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer. 

—Rainer Maria Rilke 

Image source: Do you see spirals or circles? https://imgur.com/gallery/what-do-you-see-KZXx0
Quotation source 1
Quotation source 2

Have you caught anything to eat? (Bishop Robert Barron)

    Friends, we must attend to the mystical depth of [Sunday]’s Gospel. At the break of dawn, the disciples spy a mysterious figure on the distant shore who shouts out to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” When they answer in the negative, he instructs them to cast the net over the right side of the ship. When they do, they bring in a huge catch of fish. 

   This fishing expedition is a symbol of the Church (the barque of Peter), across space and time, at its apostolic task of seeking souls. The life and work of the Church, John seems to be telling us, will be a lengthy, twilight struggle, a hard toil that will often seem to bear little or no fruit. But after the long night, the dawn of a new life and a new order will break, the transfigured world inaugurated by Jesus. The catch of fish that he makes possible is the totality of people that Christ will gather to himself; it is the new Israel, the eschatological Church. 

   We know this through a subtle bit of symbolism. When the fish are dragged ashore, John bothers to tell us their exact number, 153—a figure commonly taken in the ancient world to signify the total number of species of fish in the sea. 

--Bishop Robert Barron,
Gospel Reflection, April 9, 2021

Image source: John Reilly, Miraculous Draught of Fishes, John 21: 1-14 (1978), https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/39378
Quotation source

If we believe in a Good Shepherd God (Sharon M. K. Kugler)

   Benedictine nun, Sr. Joan Chittister acknowledges that we “live out the kind of God we believe in.” In other words, if we believe in a vengeful God, then we live a bitter life, cold and hard, suspicious of difference, our hearts empty, no need to care. If we believe in a Good Shepherd God then we are, each one of us, held as we navigate through the shadows of life, as we encounter illness of body or mind in ourselves or others, as we see despair and try to ease it, as we see the absence of justice and respond. These are the things that our God is acutely aware of and is constantly tending. We look to the Good Shepherd God to show us the way and we look to one another each of us, sheep, to follow, to care. 

 

--Sharon M. K. Kugler 

Image source 1: Sadao Watanabe, The Good Shepherd (1968), https://www.sadaohanga.info/home/introduction/the-sadaohanga-catalogue
Image source 2: The Heavenly Jerusalem, San Pietro al Monte, Civate, https://www.flickr.com/photos/27305838@N04/25120946312
Quotation source

Maytime (Karl Rahner)

   We must keep on lighting candles on the Maytime altar of our own souls, and the greeting of the angel and Elizabeth must rise up in our minds perpetually. ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women; and blessed is the fruit of thy womb! And we must also repeatedly say: Our Lady, our intercessor, our advocate, reconcile us to your Son, and show us now and after this life, the blessed fruit of your womb; pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death. Amen. 

--Karl Rahner, Mary, Mother of the Lord 

In May, we celebrate Mary… 

Image source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=857198239778925&set=pb.100064662700877.-2207520000&type=3

A mystery as old / As God (John Piper)

What greater gift, than that God take
    My mind, my heart, and turn
Them to the Son of Man, and make
    Me taste and see, and burn 
        With holy joy that he
        Would show himself to me. 

Clothed with a crimson robe, bound at
     His chest, around his heart
And lungs, the love-gashed habitat
      Of Life. O Christ, impart
          From ’neath this golden sash
          Breath from your boundless cache. 

His hair a woolen glacier, white
      As snow, vast, ageless, cold,
In airless, Himalayan height,
      A mystery as old
          As God, this ice defies
          The bright fire in his eyes. 

But not his feet. Like solid air,
      Translucent bronze, pure heat, 
As from a burning furnace, bare,
     They terrify the street.
          If all beneath is dread, 
          Do I not fear his tread?

His voice, the roar of myriad tons
      Of water, as a wall
Of crystal crashing like the guns
      On battleships that maul
         The beach, and haunt the day
         A hundred miles away. 

And in his hand, the hand that holds
      The universe, and plies 
Omnipotence, he thus unfolds 
      The boundless evening skies,
          And there kindly bestirs
         His cosmic messengers.

And from his mouth a two-edged sword,
      So sharp it severs light
From dark, as if they never warred,
      And pierces, in the fight
           With death, between the bone
           And marrow of a stone.

And then, at last, he comes to me.
      And as I fall, undone,
As if to die from joy, I see:
     His face, the blazing sun,
         Before me one sword-length,
         Is shining in full strength.  

--John Piper,
Seeing the Son of Man:
A Meditation on Revelation 1: 12-16

Image source: Eric Newton, Scenes from the Revelation of St. John, mosaic (1927), Our Lady & St. John Church, Chorlton, England, https://loandbeholdbible.com/2018/11/17/the-revelation-of-st-john-revelation-11-20/
Poem source