God is where the poor are (Henri Nouwen)

I wear the chain I forged in life, replied the Ghost.
I made it link by link, and yard by yard;
I girded it on of my own free will,
and of my own free will I wore it. 
Is its pattern strange to you? 

--Charles Dickens,
A Christmas Carol

    We have hardly thought through the immense implications of the mystery of the incarnation. Where is God? God is where we are weak, vulnerable, small, and dependent. God is where the poor are, the hungry, the handicapped, the mentally ill, the elderly, the powerless. 

    How can we come to know God when our focus is elsewhere, on success, influence, and power? I increasingly believe that our faithfulness will depend on our willingness to go where there is brokenness, loneliness, and human need… Each one of us is very seriously searching to live and grow in this belief, and by friendship we can support each other. 

    I realize that the only way for us to stay well in the midst of the many “worlds” is to stay close to the small, vulnerable child that lives in our hearts and in every other human being. Often we do not know that the Christ child is within us. When we discover him we can truly rejoice. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Source of images: Kelly Lattimore, Holy Family of the Streets and Mother of God, Protectress of the Oppressed, https://faithandleadership.com/kelly-latimore-what-our-church-art
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The difficult, necessary task of religious leadership (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. / Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe)

We need leaders not in love with money
but in love with justice.
Not in love with publicity
but in love with humanity.

 --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

    The authority of leadership surely is ensuring that the conversation of the Church is fruitful, that no one voice dominates and drowns out others. It discerns the hidden harmony. 

   Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, wrote. “In turbulent times, there is an almost overwhelming temptation for religious leaders to be confrontational. Not only must truth be proclaimed but falsehood must be denounced. Choices must be set out as stark divisions. Not to condemn is to condone.” 

   But, he asserts, “a prophet hears not one imperative but two: guidance and compassion, a love of truth and an abiding solidarity with those for whom that truth has become eclipsed. To preserve tradition and at the same time defend those others condemn is the difficult, necessary task of religious leadership in an unreligious age.” 

--Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe,
from his Synod Retreat Meditation
entitled "Authority"

Image & quotation 1 source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxxqnX9Ks_3/
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This parable is about rejection (Fr. James Martin)

    [In the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man,] here is of course a divine reversal, as there often is in Jesus’s Gospels. Now it’s the rich man who is in torment, for his sins. 

     At heart, this parable is about rejection. Jesus uses it to condemn some religious leaders for rejecting certain outcasts, just like the rich man rejected Lazarus. And so, Jesus implies, those who reject will be rejected not only by the people, but by God. Ultimately, some of these leaders will also reject Jesus. And there is of course a connection: rejection of outcasts and rejection of Jesus. 

    Unlike many Gospel parables and images—the mustard seed growing into a tree, the shepherd losing a sheep, the vine and the branches--this one, for most of us, needs very little by way of explanation. There are poor people lying outside our doorways. It’s easy to see what Jesus wants. I don’t need to underline it any further. 

    But, more broadly, we can ask: who are the outcasts today? Who are the rejected? For me, that’s easy to see: in society is the poor, the homeless, the refugee. [On] the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, [we acknowledge] Lazarus at our borders and in refugee camps. In the church, it is LGBTQ people, among others. 

    Jesus’s point is that we should be especially attentive to the needs of those, who like Lazarus, sit both literally and figuratively outside our doors, and outside the doors of our church, waiting for some comfort. And if we don’t we’ll be looking for comfort in the not-too-distant future. 

--Fr. James Martin,
Facebook, September 25, 2022

Image source: Dives and Lazarus, Flemish School, Belgium, adapted from a 1554 engraving by Heinrich Aldegrever (early 17th century, oil on panel), https://feast-and-fast.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/labels/dives-lazarus
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The paradise of the rich (Victor Hugo)

The paradise of the rich
is made out of
the hell of the poor. 

--Victor Hugo,

The Man Who Laughs
(L’Homme qui rit)

Today is the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul!

Perhaps you might consider
making a donation to our chapter today,
in recognition of all the good work they do?

Image source 1: Cosette at the Thénardiers’ Inn, illustration by Emile Bayard on the cover of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, 1886, https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Cosette-sweeping-les-miserables-emile-bayard-1862.jpg
Image source 2: Drawing by Victor Hugo depicting the Casquets’ lighthouse in L’Homme qui rit (1866), https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Homme_qui_rit
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Ignoring the needs of others (Michael Ondaatje / Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

Your story is just one,
and perhaps not the important one.
The self is not the principal thing.

 --Michael Ondaatje,
Warlight

    Everywhere today, we see families, communities, churches, and whole countries focusing more or less exclusively on their own needs without concern for other families, communities, churches, and countries. From the narrowness in our churches, to identity politics, to whole nations setting their needs first, we hear, “Not my concern! I’ll take care of myself. You take care of yourself!” By ignoring the needs of others we eventually corrupt our own wholeness so that we are no longer able to treat ourselves with respect and empathy and, when that happens, we lose respect and empathy for life itself – and for God. 

--Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI 

Image source: La Grande Prostituée / The Whore of Babylon, Apocalypse Tapestry, Musée d’Angers, France. Symbolic female figure found in the Book of Revelation. Here, the figure is depicted as utterly self-focused. The symbol found in the little mandorlas above and to the side of the figure is the bivium, or, crossroads; it is a Pythagorean representation of the antagonism between Good and Evil, and was meant to remind the viewer that they must not stray from the right path. Notice that the reflection of the “beautiful woman” in the tapestry shows her true face, and the scarlet robes and hip belt she wears are signs of her true profession. https://www.facebook.com/groups/436021857719038/posts/1093909415263609/
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, September 28, 2025: Woe to the complacent in Zion!

Woe to the complacent in Zion!
How often do we recognize our need for God? 

   The proud and self-confident leaders of Israel in Amos’s time had come to be so complacent, lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, that they even anoint themselves with the best oils, as if to mark their specialness! In their overconfidence, they don’t believe they need God; they are comfortable just as they are and, worse still, they are blind to the circumstances around them and to those whom they impoverish through their wastefulness. 

   Indeed, they are very much like the rich man in Luke’s Gospel, who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. This nameless man is so caught up in his own comfort that he does not seem even to notice the poor man named Lazarus, covered in sores, lying at his door. And yet when the rich man finds himself in torment in the netherworld, he has the audacity to ask that Lazarus be sent to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool the rich man's tongue! For years, the man did nothing to ease the pain of Lazarus, yet now he wishes to be comforted by him? He did not recognize the needs of the man at his doorstep and his overconfidence in his own self-sufficiency has been his downfall. 

   God, however, keeps faith forever, Psalm 146 reminds us, securing justice for the oppressed, and giving food for the hungry. It is the hymn of an individual who knows that only the Lord offers salvation. Only God is the source of true strength, and his compassion toward those in need is to be praised! Similarly, Paul reminds Timothy that, as a man of God, Timothy too must pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness, for this is how we best confess our faith, embodying all Christ calls us to be, allowing him to work through us to give life to all things. The more profoundly we are drawn into the love of God, the more completely we accept our deep need for his love in our lives, the more actively we can participate in his kingdom, for the good of all, meeting the needs of all, as the Lord desires. 

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

Justice lives through us all (Charles Bukowski & Unknown)

I guess the only time most people
think about injustice
is when it happens to them.

--Charles Bukowski

    The professor enters the lecture hall. He looks around.

    "You there in the 8th row. Can you tell me your name?" he asks a student.
    "My name is Sandra," says a voice.
    The professor responds, "Please leave my lecture hall. I don't want to see you in my lecture."
    Everyone is quiet. The student is irritated, slowly packs her things and stands up.
   "Faster, please," the professor insists.

    She doesn't dare to say anything and leaves the lecture hall.

    The professor keeps looking around. The participants are scared.

    "Why are there laws?" he asks the group.
    All quiet. Everyone looks at the others.
    "What are laws for?" he asks again.
    "Social order" is heard from a row.
    A student says "To protect a person's personal rights."
    Another says "So that you can rely on the state."
    The professor is not satisfied.
    "Justice" calls out a student.

    The professor smiling. She has his attention.

    "Thank you very much. Did I behave unfairly towards your classmate earlier?"
    Everyone nods.
    "Indeed I did. Why didn't anyone protest? Why didn't any of you try to stop me? Why didn't you want to prevent this injustice?" he asks.

    Nobody answers.
    

    "What you just learned you wouldn't have understood in 1,000 hours of lectures if you hadn't lived it. You didn't say anything just because you weren't affected yourself. This attitude speaks against you and against life. You think as long as it doesn't concern you, it's none of your business. I'm telling you, if you don't say anything today and don't bring about justice, then one day you too will experience injustice and no one will stand before you. Justice lives through us all. We have to fight for it." 

    In life and at work, we often live next to each other instead of with each other. We console ourselves that the problems of others are none of our business. We go home and are glad that we were spared. But it's also about standing up for others. Every day an injustice happens in business, in sports or on the tram. Relying on someone to sort it out is not enough. It is our duty to be there for others. Speaking for others when they cannot.

--Author unknown

Image source: McCartan Courtroom, University of Notre Dame, https://law.nd.edu/student-life/learn-here/ 

Image source 2: James Tissot, Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness a never-ending stream: The Prophet Amos (ca. 1896-1902), https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amos_%28prophet%29
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Take stock! (Bishop Robert Barron)

    [In Sunday’s Gospel] Jesus praises a steward who cheats his master. Now, what do we make of this? It seems so peculiar especially in Luke’s Gospel, where Jesus has been teaching the radical message of detachment from worldly goods. But here he is giving his approval to a man who clings to wealth in an immoral way. Well, what gives? 

    Jesus wants us to see that this steward takes a hard look at his situation and decides to do something about it. Now, the Lord is not telling us to imitate his immorality. But what Jesus admires is his resolve. He knows his own weaknesses, he assesses himself honestly, and then he decides to act. 

    The Lord told the parable to urge us to carefully examine our spiritual condition. His desire is that we choose to renew our relationship with him. He wants us to take stock of our weaknesses and make a firm resolution to acquire necessary strengths to fix them. 

    If your prayer life is weak, act to give it new life. If you have not been worshiping fervently at Mass, decide to participate more fully. If you have a broken relationship, repair it. And so on. Decide now, then act. 

--Bishop Robert Barron,
November 10, 2023 

Image source: Quinten Massys, Two Tax Collectors (1550s), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quinten_Masys_workshop_-_Two_Tax_Collectors_or_The_Misers,_sold_Sotheby%27s_December_4,_2014,_Lot_nr._112,_055L14037_7NLFD.jpg
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I will pray for you (Karl Barth / Henri Nouwen)

To clasp the hands in prayer is
the beginning of an uprising
against the disorder of the world.

 --Karl Barth

    When we say to people, “I will pray for you,” we make a very important commitment. The sad thing is that this remark often remains nothing but a well-meant expression of concern. 

     But when we learn to descend with our mind into our heart, then all those who have become part of our lives are led into the healing presence of God and touched by him in the center of our being. We are speaking here about a mystery for which words are inadequate. It is the mystery that the heart, which is the center of our being, is transformed by God into his own heart, a heart large enough to embrace the entire universe. Through prayer we can carry in our heart all human pain and sorrow, all conflicts and agonies, all torture and war, all hunger, loneliness, and misery, not because of some great psychological or emotional capacity, but because God’s heart has become one with ours. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source 1: OLMC parishioners pray the rosary together after daily Mass (Photo credit: J. Bacon).
Image source 2: https://stmichaelsbyzantine.com/prayers-for-ukraine/
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Insure yourself for eternal life (St. Augustine)

   Why did the Lord Jesus Christ present this parable to us? 

   He surely did not approve of that cheat of a servant who cheated his master, stole from him and did not make it up from his own pocket. On top of that, he also did some extra pilfering. He caused his master further loss, in order to prepare a little nest of quiet and security for himself after he lost his job. 

   Why did the Lord set this before us? 

   It is not because that servant cheated but because he exercised foresight for the future. When even a cheat is praised for his ingenuity, Christians who make no such provision blush. I mean, this is what he added, “Behold, the children of this age are more prudent than the children of light.” They perpetrate frauds in order to secure their future. 

   In what life, after all, did that steward insure himself like that? What one was he going to quit when he bowed to his master’s decision? He was insuring himself for a life that was going to end. Would you not insure yourself for eternal life? 

--St. Augustine 

Image source: https://www.thepowertogetwealth.com/the-shrewd-manager/
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Power and privilege, truth and justice (Chris Hedges)

   There are two sets of principles. They are the principles of power and privilege, and the principles of truth and justice. If you run after power and privilege, it will always be at the expense of truth and justice. 

--Chris Hedges

Image source: The ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead depicts a scene in which a deceased person's heart is weighed against the feather of truth, 1250 BCE. An explanation of this image can be found here: https://egypt-museum.com/the-weighing-of-the-heart-papyrus-of-ani/
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The wheels of injustice (Dietrich Bonhoeffer / Pope Francis)

We are not to simply bandage the wounds
of victims beneath the wheels of injustice,
we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.

 --Dietrich Bonhoeffer

    Saint Peter Claver and, more recently, Saint Maria Bernarda Bütler gave their lives for the poorest and the most marginalized, and thus showed the path to real revolution, the evangelical one, not the ideological one, which truly sets people and societies free from the slavery of yesterday, and unfortunately, also of today. In this sense, “taking the first step"... means approaching, bending down, touching the flesh of the wounded and neglected bothers and sisters; and to do so with Christ, the Lord who became a slave for us. Thanks to him, there is hope because he is mercy and peace. 

--Pope Francis,
September 13, 2023

Image source: Pope Francis greets a participant in the World Day of the Poor in Rome, Nov. 16, 2017, https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251539/pope-francis-no-christian-is-exempt-from-aiding-the-poor
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, September 21, 2025: Prepare a full account of your stewardship...

Prepare a full account of your stewardship…
 What does justice look like? 

    In the 8th century BCE, the prophet Amos took the wealthy businessmen of his era to task for their abuses and violations of covenant: Hear this, you who trample on the needy and destroy the poor of the land! The economy the merchants have established is designed to make the rich richer and the poor poorer by dishonest means: we will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating, they say. Such men little value their neighbor except as a means to self-gain. But Amos promises that the Lord has sworn, Never will I forget a thing that they have done! To use one’s neighbors for personal gain is contrary to covenant, in contrast with the Lord himself who, as Psalm 113 reminds us, lifts up the poor. In a truly just world, all are treated equally: from the dunghill, God lifts up the poor to set them with princes. In a truly shared existence, everyone has value in God’s eyes. 

    In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus uses the parable of the dishonest steward not to suggest that the man is praiseworthy – far from it – but to demonstrate the steward’s ability to be just where before he has been dishonest. When called before his master to prepare a full account of his stewardship, the man realizes that he can return his ill-acquired gain to those whom he overcharged in the first place, thereby benefitting them and himself. The steward invests in the good will of his clients, and builds a better world in the process. 

    We may not have the means to invest monetarily in our world, but, if nothing else, we can invest by praying for it. Paul writes to Timothy to remind him that prayer on behalf of everyone is important – even kings – because true prayer connects us. Myopic prayer, prayer that is self-centered, will leave us isolated, but inclusive prayer draws us into the lives of others, giving us a deeper awareness of all that we have in common. Prayer is also good and pleasing to God, who wills everyone to be saved. Salvation for all? That is true justice, God’s justice. Pray, therefore, not for what you can gain, but with an eye to how you can build a better world… a just world, where all can enjoy a level playing field as children of the light and everyone has value, in God’s eyes and in our own. 

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

Look to the cross (St. Teresa of Avila / Henri Nouwen)

Let us look to the cross and be filled with peace,
knowing that Christ has walked this road
and walks it now with us
and with our brothers and sisters.

 --St. Teresa of Avila 

Dear Lord, 

    Help me keep my eyes on you. You are the incarnation of Divine Love, you are the expression of God’s infinite compassion, you are the visible manifestation of the Father’s holiness. You are beauty, goodness, gentleness, forgiveness, and mercy. In you all can be found. Outside of you nothing can be found. Why should I look elsewhere or go elsewhere? You have the words of eternal life, you are food and drink, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You are the light that shines in the darkness, the lamp on the lampstand, the house on the hilltop. You are the perfect Icon of God. In and through you I can see the Heavenly Father, and with you I can find my way to him. 

    O Holy One, Beautiful One, Glorious One, be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Guide, my Consoler, my Comforter, my Hope, my Joy, and my Peace. To you I want to give all that I am. Let me be generous, not stingy or hesitant. Let me give you all—all that I have, think, do, and feel. It is yours, O Lord. Please accept it and make it fully your own. 

Amen.

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco), St. Francis Venerating the Crucifix (ca. 1595), https://www.famsf.org/artworks/saint-francis-venerating-the-crucifix
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Wood of death, tree of life (St. Leo the Great / Pope Francis)

The cross of Christ is the ground
and chief cause of Christian hope.

--St. Leo the Great 

    Dear brothers and sisters, this is how God’s hope germinates. It is born and reborn in the black holes of our disappointed expectations – and hope, true hope, instead, never disappoints. Let us think precisely about the cross: out of the most terrible instrument of torture, God wrought the greatest sign of his love. Having become the tree of life, that wood of death reminds us that God’s beginnings often begin with our ends. Thus, he loves to work wonders. 

    So today, let us look at the tree of the cross so that hope might germinate in us – that everyday virtue, that silent, humble virtue, but also that virtue that keeps us on our feet, that helps us move forward. It is not possible to live without hope. Let us think: Where is my hope? Today, let us look at the tree of the cross so that hope might germinate in us…that we might be healed of our sadness. 

--Pope Francis, April 5, 2023 

Image source 1: Fr. Patrick Michaels, Crucifixion, 1973, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=704549103060620&set=a.704548209727376

Image source 2: Brian Wildsmith, The True Cross (1977), https://www.brianwildsmith.com/the-true-cross 
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The love of God is more powerful (Sr. Norma Pimental)

   Everything that we fear, we see in the cross. We see in the cross pain, suffering, shame, defeat, failure, humiliation. And yet it is also a symbol of victory. The victory of Jesus’ love for us. 

    The love of God is more powerful than anything we fear. 

    In the Gospel of John, we witness the betrayal, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus. Each moment is filled with injustice and suffering, but it is also filled with purpose. We can see in Jesus’ suffering a path to understanding our own struggles. In moments of despair we can find consolation in knowing Jesus is with us, and see our pain as part of our journey toward redemption. 

    We are called to be agents of hope in our world. Just as Christ was our light, let us strive to be a light for those struggling in life today, making the message of Good Friday one of transformative love. 

--Norma Pimentel, MJ

Image source: Mikhail Nesterov, Golgotha (1900), reproduction (restored), https://www.facebook.com/groups/1785622648381496
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The cross is everything (Fr. Patrick Michaels)

     The cross cannot be emptied of its meaning as long as we realize it was God’s initiative, because it was God’s expression of the depth of his love for all of mankind: that his Son would take on flesh and, in that flesh, offer up himself as a sacrifice for the sake of all mankind, to prove the depth of God’s love for us all. 

    When we are open to God’s revelation, when we are willing to live in the context of that revelation, the revelation of God’s love on the cross, then anything can happen and we’ll be able to find the Lord in it. 

    Faith, for us, is not the limit to what we know. Faith is the reassurance that there’s a great deal more than we know, and our ability to move towards it. Do we proclaim the cross of Christ, the depth of God’s love, in who we are as a community, or is there something else that we are proclaiming? 

    The cross is everything. It’s foolishness to many: why would your Son die? But it is God’s Wisdom to us, because we know only love makes that possible. 

--Fr Patrick Michaels,
Homily, August 30, 2024

Image source:  Veneration of the Cross, Good Friday 2025, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mill Valley, https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1116337687198311&type=3

He chose the nails (St. Francis de Sales / Max Lucado)

God has, in his wisdom, foreseen from eternity
the cross that he now presents to you
as a gift from his inmost heart.

 --St. Francis de Sales 

He knew the price of those sins was death.

He knew the source of those sins was you.

And since he couldn’t bear
the thought of eternity without you, 

he chose the nails. 

--Max Lucado

Image source 1: The Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross, St. Thomas More Catholic Church, Bramley, England, https://www.cpcb.org.uk/the-eleventh-station-jesus-is-nailed-to-the-cross/
Image source 2:  The Eleventh Station:  Jesus is Nailed to the Cross, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mill Valley
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Lifting our eyes to our salvation (Reflection, OLMC)

   Do you wear a cross or a crucifix? What does it mean to you? 

   The cross of Christ, in the form of the crucifix, is something we see every time we enter our church. It is a familiar and maybe even beloved representation of our Savior, and of the salvation he came to offer us. But might there be a danger in that familiarity? 

    Christ entered into our humanity for our salvation, he became human for our sake, and then he suffered unspeakable pain, physical and emotional, giving his body for our redemption, a body in which we partake daily, in Eucharist. The cross – whether it be one we wear or one we reverence upon entering this church – is not just a symbol of private devotion, or a badge of membership. It should not be used to impose a particular creed, but to stand as a sign of love, the consummate sign of God’s love, signaling hope and mercy and forgiveness as we lift our eyes to it every day, and as we lift it – the cross itself – in our hearts, exalting this extraordinary gift from a God who loved us enough to die, on a cross, for our sins. 

   May we embrace the cross, his cross and our own, lifting our eyes to our salvation, with deep appreciation for all of God’s action in our lives. 

--Communion Service Reflection,
 Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mill Valley,
 September 14, 2021 

Image source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=421471597914268&set=a.421471351247626

Sunday Gospel Reflection, September 14, 2025: Do not forget the works of the Lord!

Do not forget the works of the Lord!

How often do we acknowledge our need for salvation? 

   After years in the desert following their rescue from slavery in Egypt, the people of Israel seem to have forgotten their dependence on God, and their need for salvation. Indeed, in the Book of Numbers, they complain against God and Moses, “We are disgusted with this wretched food!” God meant for the desert to be a place of intimacy of covenant for them, but also a place of testing and becoming. When the unfaithful are bitten by saraph serpents sent by the Lord in punishment, God ultimately has mercy on them. Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, the Lord says to Moses, and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live. To gaze upon the saraph serpent was to accept their need for punishment, but also their own longing to be saved by the God who loved them. Over and over, the people of Israel must explicitly recognize their need for salvation. Do not forget the works of the Lord! Psalm 27 reminds us. Though the people have not been faithful to his covenant, God forgave their sin and destroyed them not. 

    Like the people of Israel in the desert, we too must acknowledge our need for salvation, a salvation we may unconsciously long for. And we too find salvation as we gaze upon the cross of Jesus as it is lifted before us. As Jesus reminds Nicodemus in John’s Gospel, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Christ emptied himself of divinity, the Philippians hymn reminds us, coming in human likeness and obedient to death, even death on a cross. Jesus’ body on the cross is the very image of our humanity, fragile, sometimes broken, subject to death. Becoming completely human, surrendering to humanity, Christ took our sins to death with him on the cross, so that he could lift humanity up through resurrection. 

    For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life. As we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, may we remember our need and desire for salvation and the only access we have to that salvation – the cross of Christ – and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father! 

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

Participating in the suffering of Jesus (Fr. Patrick Michaels)

    Christianity is something that we have entered into, many by baptism as infants. Did we know what were getting into? Did we know what we signed on for? Did we know that we were entering into the death and rising of Jesus? Did we understand that? How well do we understand it now? 

    If no one was willing to participate in sufferings of Jesus, if no one was willing to enter into the love Jesus revealed on the cross, then it would have no meaning. Only by our entering into his life and into life for one another does Jesus’ sacrifice have meaning. 

    Today we remember people entered into the lives of other people, and, for their sake, lost their own lives. This is the fullness of the death and rising of Jesus: when we participate in his life and in his death and resurrection for others’ sake. That is the fulfillment. That’s what makes us church. 

--Fr. Patrick Michaels,
Homily, September 11, 2023

Image source: A drawing that comforted Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan, who was celebrating Mass in the lower church of St. Teresa in Manhattan when the 9-11 attacks began. You can read his story at: https://www.camdendiocese.org/through-9-11-true-strength-found-in-generosity-sacrifice/

The grand design of God's plan (Greg Henry / Fr. Raymondo Tyohemba)

Humility is not to think less of yourself, 
it's to submit to what you think of yourself
to what God thinks of you.

--Greg Henry

     Life is a magnificent story, and we are its authors. Every moment and decision we make contributes to the pages of our legacy. We have the power to create a story that inspires, motivates, and moves others. While we may not know how the story ends, we know it will end. That's why we must make every moment count, and every decision matter. At the end of the journey, our story will finally make sense, and we will understand the grand design of God's plan. Even in our darkest moments, we must remember that God's divine purpose and providence always prevail. 

    So let's embrace every moment, seize every opportunity, and make every decision count. Our legacy is being written right now, and it's up to us to make it a masterpiece. Let's inspire others with our story and leave a lasting impact on the world. 

--Fr. Raymondo Tyohemba,
Facebook, December 10, 2023

Image source: Endless Wall Trail, New River Gorge National Park, https://lafayetteflats.com/endless-wall-trail/
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Nobody said it would be easy (Phyllis Zagano)

   How has your journey been? How many times have you quit, or at least threatened to? How many times have you thought it is just too hard, too far, too dangerous, to be and to do what God calls you to be and to do? How many times have you tried to ignore the truth of the Cross of Christ, the reality of what it means to be a Christian? 

   Nobody said it would be easy…. 

   When called, the [first disciples] went, and when they got where they were going, they knew (somehow) what they had to do and to say. As days turned into weeks, then months, they understood more deeply what it was all about. 

   It is the same with each of us. At some point we brush away the doubts and fears and understand that where we are is most probably where we ought to be. Then we can rest. We can rest from our labors in the shadow of the Cross. 

--Phyllis Zagano 

Image source: https://titus345.com/2019/04/19/the-rest-of-the-cross-of-jesus-christ/
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Looking into the center (Patriarch Bartholomew / Henri Nouwen)

When spirituality is authentic,
it cannot also be fruitless.
Whoever truly loves God
also loves one’s neighbor everywhere
as well as creation in its entirety.

 --Patriarch Bartholomew

    Contemplative life is a human response to the fundamental fact that the central things in life, although spiritually perceptible, remain invisible in large measure and can very easily be overlooked by the inattentive, busy, distracted person that each of us can so readily become. The contemplative looks not so much around things but through them into their center. Through their center he discovers the world of spiritual beauty that is more real, has more density, more mass, more energy, and greater intensity than physical matter. In effect, the beauty of physical matter is a reflection of its inner content. 

--Henri Nouwen

Image source: https://volkankarabacak.com/sublime-beauty-7964c8cff8a5
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What gets in the way? (Salena Ibrahim)

   A life of discipleship is a life open to allowing God to work through us, even though that sometimes means letting go of good ministries, places, relationships, and personal ambitions. It’s through this holy indifference that God transforms our interior lives in a way that is reflected in how we live. 

   What attachments do you have that are obstacles to cultivating the interior freedom to which God calls you? What gets in the way of your turning back to God and wholeheartedly responding, “Here I am”? Success, recognition, security, imposter syndrome, an unwillingness to engage with different opinions? 

   [Consider] the ways we have not responded to God’s call to discipleship with generosity or freedom. It’s only in cultivating a spirit of interior freedom, of asking God for this grace in our daily activities, that we can offer back to God the gift of our lives. And in this process of letting go of our attachments, knowing the cost of discipleship, and still choosing to be faithful, we can better hear God speak to us of our belovedness, of our common belonging in God. [Today,] let us examine our interior attachments so that we can freely respond, like Abraham, “Here I am,” and allow God to transform our lives. 

--Salena Ibrahim 

Image source: https://bibleacu.com/blog/the-call-of-abraham-faith-in-gods-plan
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Permission to think differently (Malcolm Gladwell / Sr. Joan Chittister)

The visionary starts with
a clean sheet of paper
and reimagines the world.

--Malcolm Gladwell

We have been given
cosmic permission
to think differently.

--Sr. Joan Chittister 

Image source: Photo sent to earth by the Hubble Telescope, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-cosmos-keeps-preaching
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Challenging the great crowds (Jackie Bacon)

     In Luke’s Gospel, we find Jesus almost challenging the great crowds in attendance, most of whom know Jesus as a teacher, not as a Savior. Jesus wants people to understand more fully the cost of discipleship. Jesus understands that discipleship is a very personal journey: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” These are words designed to shock people into thinking, and not blindly go with neighbors as they follow Jesus. 

      Jesus presents the essence of the Truth: In order to have the freedom to love, to respect and to follow Jesus, it is necessary to deconstruct familial obligations and social customs or controls. To be free means to make decisions that might vary from those of your father or your mother. When you give yourself to Jesus, you are changed. 

      Jesus is again blunt: “In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions, cannot be my disciples.” ALL possessions? Possessions are the good-news-bad-news of our lives. We collect possessions, even as they limit us and take resources (time, money) to control or maintain them. How many things does one really need to live? 

     Jesus is also clear with the great crowds as related to his fate....“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Jesus clearly sees the road he and his followers are on. 

--Jackie Bacon,
OLMC, December 14, 2021

Image source: https://bible.art/meaning/luke-14%3A26

Sunday Gospel Reflection, June 18, 2025: Who can know God's counsel?

Who can know God’s counsel?
 Has it ever been easy to embrace the Lord’s radical vision? 

    It has always been clear that human beings do not and cannot know everything. The Book of Wisdom asks, Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends? If we can’t understand our physical world, how can we possibly begin to understand the nature of divinity or things in heaven? Being bound here on earth keeps us from seeing perfectly, as God sees, for the corruptible body burdens the soul. Likewise, Psalm 90 reminds us that God’s vision is not man’s vision: For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday. And so the psalmist prays, Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart, and thus learn to live our lives for God, letting God’s will be what we strive to accomplish, embracing the Lord’s radical vision. 

    The great crowds traveling with Jesus in Luke’s Gospel must have had an equally difficult time understanding his teachings. Jesus exhorts them, If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. It cannot have been an easy lesson to comprehend, or to swallow; a radically new vision is necessary to see that our love for God must come first, before all else. Any human relationships that encumber us must come second, for they can and will be perfected only through God’s love for us. There is a cost to discipleship; we must calculate the cost, that we might understand what discipleship will mean for us: a love without limits, grounded in Jesus and in his cross, the very revelation of the perfect love of God. No longer can we define our love in terms of our own knowledge; we must open ourselves to God’s wisdom and trust that God’s love will transform us, whatever the cost. 

    Paul understood this. In his Letter to Philemon, Paul expresses his hope that Philemon will treat Onesimus no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a brother. The choice is Philemon’s – Onesimus did flee Philemon’s household, so sending him back there is a risk. If Philemon is to be one with Christ, he too must embrace a radical shift in vision, allowing himself to be transformed by the power of Christ’s love. 

    Can we? 

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

Where does God lead us as a people? (Henri Nouwen)

    The discipline of community makes us persons; that is, people who are sounding through to each other (the Latin personare means “sounding through”) a truth, a beauty, and a love that is greater, fuller, and richer than we ourselves can grasp. In true community we are windows constantly offering each other new views on the mystery of God’s presence in our lives. 

    Thus the discipline of community is a true discipline of prayer. It makes us alert to the presence of the Spirit who cries out “Abba,” Father, among us and thus prays from the center of our common life. Community thus is obedience practiced together. The question is not simply “Where does God lead me as an individual person who tried to do his will?” More basic and more significant is the question “Where does God lead us as a people?” 

--Henri Nouwen

Image source 1: Opera singer Stéfane Sénéchal sings for his neighbors from his apartment window in Paris, March 2020, on the tenth day of a strict lockdown in Paris during the Covid pandemic, https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/12/us/gallery/community-during-covid-best-in-us
To hear what he sang, click here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DlwXCoQprA&list=RDEMnSGZVvYDFwk5Dw58L_Bwdg&start_radio=1
Image source 2: Gathering for Mass in person at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mill Valley, during the pandemic, September 27, 2020, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=3493239240737473&set=a.3493244037403660
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