Holy Saturday: Where is Jesus, for you?

 Today is Holy Saturday--a quiet day!  Jesus has been crucified and buried. Everyone has left Calvary: some perplexed, some angry, some depressed, some rejoicing that Jesus has been done away with, as He was perceived by the leaders as a threat to their power and to their very nation continuing to exist and by others as obnoxious, threatening their beliefs and way of living, challenging their unjust and sinful ways. These individuals sighed a sigh of relief when he was arrested and condemned to death! Many of Jesus' disciples were frightened and went into hiding lest they too be arrested, imprisoned and put to death!  With Jesus dead, this was a scary time back then!

What about now?  Do we attempt to bury Jesus? to hide from Jesus? do we keep our faith in Jesus private? Do we ourselves go into hiding? Are we like Peter in the Courtyard who vehemently denied knowing Jesus? Or, worse yet, are we like Judas, selling Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, for a life of licentiousness and narcissistic endeavors, wanting God dead, declaring religion foolishness?  

Recently, there was a message on Facebook that read: "This little girl (around four years of age) has got to go"--the woman's boyfriend or fiancé would have nothing to do with her! Another recent Facebook message was that the groom's daughter around the same age was not to participate in his wedding. Who, in our lives, do we want banned from being a part of the most significant events of our lives?

Jesus was about inclusivity, not exclusion! Jesus came to bring fullness of life to everyone, not just a select few!  Jesus said to those wanting children banned from His presence: "Let the little children come to me. Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven!"

May we learn from Jesus, our Teacher, Master and Savior! Let's not exclude Him from our lives. Let us not bury Him!

Today's Good Friday!

 It is Good Friday and we are living at a time when what happened to Jesus is happening to innocent people, especially in Ukraine. Innocent civilians are being  put to death, thwarted in their efforts to flee to areas that are safe from Russia's invasion and Russian's efforts to destroy this nation and its people. Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy!  Lord, have mercy on us.

May Putin's genocidal efforts be stopped!  May Putin's disregard for human life, and ours in whatever way it shows itself,  be met with the truth of the sacredness of life, including his own and ours!  May the falsehood within him, and within us, be transformed into truth. May the evil within him, and within us, be transformed into goodness!

Lord, have mercy on all of us!  Innocent lives are being destroyed, gunned down, not only in war-torn areas of our world, but in our streets and homes, in the wombs of women who kill their unborn child. Besides the unborn, some of those innocent lives are those of children  who are victims of domestic violence and street violence. Some of these innocent lives are those mistaken to be a criminal at large! Lord have mercy!

Every day, Lord, you are crucified and buried when an infant, a child, an adolescent, an adult is put to death here and now! Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy!  Lord have mercy!

Freedom from Oppression

 In today's first reading, Deuteronomy 26: 4-10, Moses reminds the people that his "father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien.  But there he became a nation great, strong, and numerous. When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw out affliction, our toil, and our oppression. He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders...."

We have similar situations today  throughout the world where people are being oppressed and are crying out to the Lord, our God, seeking to be freed from their oppressors. As with the Israelites, whom God brought out of a nation that was oppressing them, I pray that God  frees the Ukrainians from Russian oppression, that Putin is defeated in his attempts to destroy the Ukrainian nation.  

We also have individuals crying out to the Lord, our God, to be freed of abusers, those who are oppressing them sexually, physically, emotionally, spiritually and psychologically.  May the cry of these afflicted individuals be heard. May the oppressors be brought to justice and never be allowed to repeat their crimes against anyone! I ask this in Jesus' name.

Persons may also be oppressed by mental or physical illnesses. May they also be cured in Jesus' name!

Prayer for Oppressors, Great or Small, Rich or Poor

 In today's first reading, Isaiah 58: 9b-14, the Lord says to us: "If you remove from  your midst oppression, false accusations and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like the midday; then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land."

I pray this prayer, not only for myself, but for those in our world who are oppressing others, who are mouthing false accusations and engaging in malicious speech against other persons and/or other nations. May God forgive these people and grant them the grace of conversion. In the Gospel  acclamation of today the Lord says to us in Ezekiel 33: 11, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion, that he may life."

We may want the wicked of our world to be destroyed by some means--natural or intentional--but that is not the will of our God or theirs, the one true God of us all!  Let us, therefore, pray for the conversion of all men and women, especially those oppressing others persons and/or other nations.

How We Use Our Tongue and How We Spent Some of Our Time

 Today's first reading is from James 3: 1-10. He paints a very negative picture of the tongue, describing it as "restless evil, full of deadly poison."  He goes on to say that "with it we curse men who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth," he says, "come blessing and cursing." And then proclaims: "This need not be so."  What if we spoke positively of the tongue as an instrument given to us by God to proclaim the Word, to give God thanks and praise;  as an instrument  to speak words of love, compassion and forgiveness to one another!  We can  become what we focus on. Let's focus on the good  that we are capable of, while, of course, acknowledging the evil but not become obsessed with our inclination toward  such!

In today's Gospel, Mark 9: 2-13, Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him "up a high mountain apart by themselves. and he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white...Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus...[A] cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, 'This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.' Suddenly looking around, the disciples no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them."

Imagine being Peter, James or John and witnessing the transfiguration, seeing Elijah and Moses talking with the transfigured Lord, as well as hearing a voice say: "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."

May we take time to be alone with Jesus, communicating with Him.  May we also sit in silence or solitude listening for the voice of the Lord speaking to us! It definitely is not a waste of time to go apart to communicate with the Lord and allow God to communicate with us, spreading His banner of love over us. Time with Jesus is time well spent!

Bombarded by the Activities of a Crowded Day

 In today's Gospel, Mark 3: 20-21, Jesus enters a house. The crowd is so great that Jesus isn't even able to eat. Relatives hear of this and come to rescue him, for, as far as they were concerned, "he was out of his mind."  Jesus, the Incarnate God, who became like us in all things but sin is deemed insane, that is, mentally ill!  His relatives see him no longer as being able to take care of himself and make his own decisions concerning his life or ministry. They are determined to take possession of him!

It is difficult enough when total strangers turn against us but it is a totally different story when our family and relatives do so. This is the predicament  in which Jesus finds himself!  He is totally alone. No support but that of His heavenly Father. 

Often, after being bombarded by crowds of people seeking to touch  but the hem of his garment, and not even giving himself time to eat, Jesus goes off to some deserted place to pray to His Father. It is important that you and I, also, set time apart to talk to our Father in heaven. We need to take control of our lives by "carving" out periods of solitude, stepping aside from the crowd and all of the demands put upon us, all of the pressures that descend upon us, for quiet and alone time.  We can get so caught up in the whirlwind of activities that swallow us up hour after hour after hour that we become slaves and lose control of our time and lives--yes, we are, then, "out of our minds."  We are unable to think clearly or at all--our emotions blind us to living rationally!  

May you and I realize that when we are "out of our minds," bombarded by the demands of our jobs/ministries, it is time to step back, breathe in the peace that solitude  brings--the solitude of nature, of our favorite places to calm down to surrender to the Lord, seek the Lord's wisdom and prudence.

Vindication and Victory

In today's first reading for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time,  Isaiah 62: 1-5, the prophet voices his desire  quite strongly, proclaiming as follows:  "For Zion's sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch." Confidently, he then states his belief:  "Nations shall behold your vindication, and all the kings your glory; you shall be called by a new name, pronounced by the mouth of the Lord. You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem held by your God. No more shall people call you 'Forsaken,' or your land 'Desolate,' but you shall be called 'My Delight,' and your land 'Espoused.'"

Isaiah, I believe,  is speaking about those who adhere to God's law, who worship the one true God and follow the way of Christ, living as Jesus lived here on earth.  I hear the prophet Isaiah speaking up for all oppressed peoples and nations  that are denied justice, whose right to have their basic human needs for food, water, shelter met. I hear the prophet Isaiah crying out for justice for those denied a basic education and deprived of opportunities to work for a living wage to provide for their families. Isaiah, I believe, continues to this day to intercede for victims of criminal activities: victims of human trafficking and slave labor; victims of evil, cruel, cheating employers.

Isaiah, God's spokesperson to the poor and oppressed nations and peoples of his time, states strongly his belief that "Nations shall behold your vindication and all kings your glory....No more" Isaiah proclaims, "shall people call you 'Forsaken,' or your land 'Desolate,' but you shall be called [God's]...'Delight,' and your land 'Espoused.'"

What a promised--a promised made to you and me, as well We have been totally vindicated by Jesus' death and resurrection! No longer are we forsaken or desolate. We, too, are God's "Delight." We, too, are espoused to the Lord God! We are God's bride and God the bridegroom!

 

Giving birth to Jesus!

 Today's Gospel, Luke 1: 26-38, presents the Annunciation: The Angel Gabriel was sent  by God to visit Mary.  He greets her, saying: "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."  She is greatly troubled and the angel says to her: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold,  you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus."  How, Mary asks. I have not had a sexual relationship with a man!  And the angel responds:  "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God."

WOW!  Imagine going about your morning's work and you are interrupted by an angel greeting you as he did Mary.  No doubt, like  Mary, you would be very troubled by such a visitation, in the first place, and, secondly, by the angel's greeting.  But do you realize that, by virtue of your baptism, first Communion, and subsequent Communions, and your service of sacrificial love for your spouse, your children, your grandchildren and others you encounter and serve, the Lord is truly with you, that you are full of grace, as  Mary was, and that by your life you, too, give birth to Jesus, make Jesus real for others!  And, in turn, others bring Jesus to you, give birth to Jesus in you, by their love, forgiveness, compassion, understanding and support.  "Angels" clothed in humanity visit you and communicate with you every day!

May your eyes be opened to the presence of "angels" in our midst and of God at work around us and through us every day!

A Caring God Who Walks with Us and Shares Our Pain

 In today's responsorial psalm, we pray as follows: "I will extol you, O my God and King, and I will bless your name forever and ever.  The Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all his works." As you pray these words, who comes to your mind who needs to experience God's compassion because the compassion of one's spouse, child, parent, grandparent or any other relative has,  at this point in time, been denied them: their spouse threatens divorce,  a spouse has left them for what looks "like greener pastures" outside the marriage, a terminally ill child dies or one of their child has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, the breadwinner of the family has lost his/her job because of the pandemic and on and on and on! To top off one's misery, the person who means the most to oneself commits suicide!

How can this possibly be, we exclaim! In all of those scenarios, Jesus, who is one with us, suffers with  us, is crushed with us, is crucified with us, scourged with us, bullied with us, crowned with the thorns of mockery with us! And, yes, it is Jesus who, in the words of the psalmist, "is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness."  

In the opening words of today's first reading, Isaiah 41: 13-30, God reminds us, through the prophet, of who He is, saying:  "I am the Lord, your God, who grasp your right hand."  God does not abandon us or let us walk through this valley of tears alone. He has our back and grasps our hand to keep us safe and protect us from that which could seriously harm us. God reinforces this message by further saying: "It is I who say to you, 'Fear not'...I will help you....your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. I will make of you a threshing sledge, a sharp, new, and doubled-edged. To thresh the mountains and crush them, to make the hills like chaff. When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off and the storm shall scatter them. But you will rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel."  What a promise! And what God promises, God delivers!

"Nothing is Impossible for God!" (Luke 1: 37)

 Today we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In today's Gospel, Luke 1: 26-38, Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel.  he greets  her with the following words: "Hail, full of grace!"  Mary is taken aback. She was "greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be."  Noticing her fright, the angel says to her: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God."

Recall that Mary is a teenager, perhaps 14, 15 or 16 years of age!  Put yourself in Mary's place. Imagine yourself going about your morning chores and all of a sudden, in front of you stands a heavenly visitor such as the angel Gabriel, who says to you: "Hail, full of grace!"  "What?  Who are you? And what does this greeting mean," you wonder out loud! And Gabriel responds: "Do not be afraid, insert your name, for you have found favor with God.  Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. He will be great and will be called son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end." And Mary responds: "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"

Blustered! Confused! Scared!  Any one of these emotions would be an appropriate response to that experience!  We have all been there! God suddenly allows our lives to be turned upside down, so to speak. Our response: "How can this be?" "This can't be happening to us!  This can't be real!"  And, however or in whatever way God entered our lives, we know when it is about God, not about us!  No other explanation is possible! What is happening is happening through God' design! Period!  Because, as the angel Gabriel said to Mary when he told her that her elderly cousin was six month's pregnant: "Nothing is impossible for God."

Wait upon the Lord

 Today's psalm, Psalm 27,  encourages us to seek one thing: to "dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I am asked to pray "that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple."  Believe that you "shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord."

Obviously we are given several choices by the psalmist! First, to "gaze upon the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple."  In all of the circumstances of our lives, we have the choice to gave on God's loveliness and upon  God's temple and the one who dwells there, the Holy Spirit. Our eyes are veiled, however, from that loveliness when we choose to dwell on the difficulties or problems we are facing or have faced:  the pandemic, being quarantined, harsh words by another person, the crimes being committed in our world and so on! 

Second choice: to look for "the bounty of the Lord."  In one of the meal prayers, we pray: Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts which we receive from your bounty..."  The question is: am I looking for God's bountiful gifts or am I focused on losses or on my poverty and the poverty of those around me?

Third choice: to "wait upon the Lord with courage; [to] be stouthearted and wait for the Lord."  How easy it is to fall into the trap of doing it ourselves and forgetting to wait upon the Lord. And we know when we do that! When we wait upon the Lord, He is then there with us, guiding us, strengthening us and enlightening us to do what is right, to say what others need to hear and are able to hear, or we are wise enough to remain silent period!  When we wait jupon the Lord, the outcome is then positive; we walk away feeling blessed and at peace with ourselves.

With the psalmist, I pray: "Lord, you are my light and my salvation!"  Thank you!

Making rightful choices!

 Frequently, a person will say: "God is in charge."  As I reflect upon today's first reading, Isaiah 26: 1-6, that phrase comes to my mind. It is strong because, as  Isaiah reminds us, Yahweh that a "strong city have we; he (Yahweh) sets up walls and ramparts to protect us." The prophets asks us to "[o]pen up the gates to let in a nation that is just, one that keeps faith," faith in the Just One, faith in God, a warrior God, a God who saves.  God, Isaiah continues, sustains peace for a "nation of firm purpose," a nation that puts "its trust" in God.  "Trust in the Lord forever! For the Lord is an eternal Rock,"  says the psalmist.  In whom do I put my trust? To whom do I open myself?  Who/what do I let in?

In the Gospel of today, Mt 7: 21, 24-27, Jesus tells us that a person who listen to His words, "will be like a wise [person] who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse."  The media, if we allow it, will flood our minds with false information, will fill us with despairing thoughts, negative thinking, thoughts of anger, resentments and revenge.  I can protect myself by prayer, holy reading, and solitude, resting in the Lord!  

God's Decrees Are Trustworthy

 In today's first reading, Romans 10: 9-18, St. Paul says to us: "No one who believes in him (Jesus) will be put to shame" and that "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  I call upon your name, O Lord. Save me!  Save me from the snares that Satan sets for me: snares  that lead to imprudence, deceitfulness,  revengefulness, disgracefulness, disrespectfulness, impatience, stinginess,  pride, hatred, sloth, lust, covetousness, and unforgiveness!  Save me by giving me the gifts of prudence, honesty, forgiveness, mercy, respectfulness, patience, generosity, humility, detachment and love!

How often, Lord, do I  not encounter my humanity with its proneness to evil. Have pity on me, Lord. Help me, as Simon helped you to carry your cross to Calvary.  May I carry the cross, be nailed to the cross, suffer death on the cross and rise to new life, as You did on Calvary. Only by experiencing the  effects of sin and  dying to sin do I rise to holiness.  Through physical death I enter eternal life; through spiritual death to sin I enter a state of holiness here on earth!

And so we pray in today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 19:  "The decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart," clothing the heart in holiness; "the command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eye" to what is prudent, honest, generous, forgiving, respectful, loving and merciful!

Gabriel's Message to Mary and to Us

 Tomorrow is the First Sunday of Advent.  Let us enter Advent with Mary's attitude of reverence, humility, and surrender to the will of our God for us. Mary, our Mother who gave the Son of God his humanity, is told in Luke 1: 28 that she has found favor with God and that the Lord is with her.  The angel's message greatly troubles Mary. The angel says to Mary: "Do not be afraid, Mary."  Gabriel then goes on to say that Mary  "is to conceive in her womb and bear a son....[H]e will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."  A bit taken back, no doubt,  Mary asks: "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" And the angel explains that her conception of Jesus will be through the Holy Spirit:  "[T]he power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God."  She is then told that her elderly cousin is six month's pregnant, "for "nothing is impossible for God." Mary's response: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word," and she conceives Jesus, the Son of God, in her womb!

And the waiting period, Advent, begins!  May your Advent, and mine, also begin with Gabriel's visit to us, remind us that we, too, have found favor with God through Jesus Christ!

Consequences of the Choices One Makes

 In today's first reading, 1 Mac 6: 1-13,  King Antiochus'  determination to capture Persia and all its wealth in gold fails.  He ends up a defeated man, a man of sorrows, a dejected person. When all collapses, the king withdraws in sorrow and states of himself: "I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem, when I carried away all the vessels of gold and silver that were in it, and for no cause gave ordered that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed. I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me; and now I am dying , in bitter grief, in a foreign land."

There are consequences to every choice that we make.  Bad choices lead to bad results whereas right choices bring gladness to our hearts. We witness this truth every day in the news of the day. Persons who court evil, who make choices that lead to violence and death to any one person end up facing judges and juries and the anger of persons effected by their poor choices. And even if the outcome of these court hearings acquit a person unjustly, they still need to live with the fact that they got away with murder!    They live chained to the truth even when truth was thwarted in the courts.  

In our heart of hearts, you and I know when we have done evil, when we have wronged another person or persons, when our lives are lives of lies! We may fool ourselves for a while but ultimately we will come face to face with what is our truth, even if that first occurs in the afterlife!  We are who we are before God and no other!  Persons fleeing truth are highly vulnerable to addictive behaviors used to camouflage the truth, to escape reality. Such persons easily become trapped in  addictive behaviors: compulsive spending, gambling, eating, drinking, sexing and so on!  Like King Antiochus, we can become "sick with grief because [our evil] designs [fail] us!"

Lord, may I have the courage, the prudence, and the wisdom to embrace my truth!

Truth and Wisdom

 In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 119, we pray:  "Your word, O Lord, endures forever; it is firm as the heavens. Through all generations your truth endures; you have established the earth, and it stands firm. According to your ordinances they still stand firm: all things serve you." 

What is God's truth that stands firm and through which all things serve God?  One, that all good things come from God and return to God; two, that God's being is in all and all in God; three, that God is for us and with us; and four, that all is made right in God--redeemed, justified and glorified for God and through God.  These truths may be difficult for us at times, especially when things do not turn out as we'd wish, when other people's decisions seem unreasonable or, in fact, are immoral and pose a threat to another's wellbeing. We may be asking ourselves the following questions: Where was God when my child was kidnapped? How could such evil be promulgated if God's will prevailed?  If God is God, why has my child abandoned the right path, gone astray, and/or engaged in behaviors that could easily lead to a treacherous outcomes? Why are gangs thriving and on and on!

How hard it is to live by faith under circumstances alluded to above! Yet, I know, and you know, that good will endure, not evil, that God detests evil and deceitful ways, thwarts the way of the wicked but protects the just! We also know that Wisdom, who is God, "can do all things and renews everything while herself perduring" (today's first reading, Wis 7: 22b-8:1).

Delighting in God's Law or Rejecting It

 In today's responsorial psalm (Psalm 1)  we proclaim: "Blessed are they who hope in the Lord." Underlying our choice to live lives of righteousness, as stated in today's first reading, Romans 6: 19-23, is the hope, I believe,  that we will become citizens of heaven. In Paul's words:  "...now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

Today's responsorial Psalm spells out the details of  an individual who lives righteously, namely a person who:

• Does "not walk in the way of sinners"
• Does "not sit in the company of the insolent"
• "Delights in the law of the Lord"
• "Meditates on [God's] law day and night."

Such a person, the psalmist says,

• "Is like a tree planted near running water that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade.  
• Is successful/prospers in "whatever he does"
• Is watched over by the Lord day and night!

The opposite is true of the wicked who live lives that are the direct opposite of the just. In other words

they:

• Walk the way of sinners
• Sit in the company of the insolent
• Do not delight in the law of the Lord
• Do not meditate on God's law day or night
• Are like vegetation in a desert
• Fail in whatever he does, though his failures might be deemed successes in the minds of those who follow their ways
• The ways of the wicked are scorned by the Lord but the Lord adds days, even years to their lives, hoping for their return to the ways of the Lord!

In which group do I see myself? you, yourself? 

Being Prepared!

 In today's readings, Romans 6: 12-18 and Luke 12: 39-48, we are presented with the challenge to make choices: 1) between sin and grace and/or 2) being prepared or unprepared for when the Lord comes to show us the way He wants us to go or when He comes to terminate our time here on earth. Regarding sin, St. Paul says to us in Romans 6: 12-18, "...sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace."  The law, Paul tells us in another passage, condemns us. Grace, on the other hand, frees us from slavery to laws! Grace is love and love is freedom to follow Christ.  What choices am I making? Am I choosing grace, that is, do I follow the Spirit's lead throughout the day, doing good and rejecting evil, being detached to go with the flow of grace or attached and unprepared to follow the will of God as revealed to me throughout the day? 

In the Gospel, Luke challenges us to be prepared for the Lord when He comes to terminate our time here on earth--to be as prepared as we would be for a break in of a thief! We would not wait until it is too late and the thief  has robbed us of our significant possessions, including the money we would need to take care of our families, and/or, worst still, kill us and our family members to steal from us without any opposition. "Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."

How often, on the nightly news,  have we not heard a person say of a dying family member: "I wish he/she would have gotten vaccinated."  Or the dying person him/herself  expresses regret of not protecting him/herself. It is then too late1 "The "thief" has broken in and the person/s were unprepared!

How am I preparing myself for the unexpected? How am I preparing myself or my family members for the day the Lord comes to take us to Paradise?

Doers of Good or Promoters of Evil? Which Am I?

 In today's first reading, Romans 5: 12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21, St. Paul reminds us our connectedness and the ripple effect of both good and evil, saying: "Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all..., inasmuch as all sinned.  If, [however,]  that one person's transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious  gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many..."   In other words, "how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ."

Jesus Christ shows us how to live life to the full as a human being.  All that we do--good or evil, that which is holy or that which is sinful--touches everyone, has an impact on other people's  lives!  The good we do multiplies grace upon grace! Unfortunately, there are those who teach others to do evil.  And sin, as St. Paul says in today's first reading, brings death to all!

An I one who fills the earth with goodness and teach others to do the same or am I one who propagates evil and teaches others to do the same?

Following the Spirit's Call or the Call of the Gospel

 In today's first reading, Wisdom 7: 7-11, the author prays for prudence and pleaded for the spirit of wisdom.  He says to us:  I preferred her more than power,  and I "deemed riches nothing in comparison to her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire. Beyond health and comeliness, I loved her, and chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep. ...[A]ll good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands."

Would you and I pray for wisdom and prudence beyond all else:  beyond secular wealth, power and prestige? beyond unneeded material things: a yacht, a second house in a popular tourist location, a luxurious vacation or for whatever we lust and do not really need to live a life of loving service, compassionate care, and justice?

In today's Gospel,  Mark 10: 17-30, a man ran up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" After a significant dialogue with the man, Jesus' final answer to was: "'Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will  have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.' At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions."  Further on in the passage, Jesus says to us:  "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in the present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come."

Men and women have left "brothers or sisters or mother or father" in response to the Spirit's call, the call of the Gospel,  to embrace the single lifestyle or to  marry or to enter the priesthood or consecrated religious life or to become deacons. Or, they may have done so against the will of loved ones. Jesus response:  "Amen, I say to you...[you] will...receive a hundred times more now in the present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come."