God Remains with Us Always!

In today's Gospel, John 14: 15-21, Jesus speaks about His returning to heaven. He ascend to His Father and send us the Holy Spirit, "another Advocate to be with [us] always, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees me nor knows him. But," he says to us, "you know him, because he remains with you and will be in you. I will  not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while," he says to  us, "the world will no longer see me, but  you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day,  you will realize  that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you."


What a promise! And how real! All around us and within us new life is emerging every day. We wake up renewed from sleep! Our life has been restored during sleep!  We wake up with new energy, a new zest for life, a new hope, new faith, deeper love because "another Advocate" has been sent to us in the Spirit, a "Spirit of truth" and life whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees the Spirit of God nor know God's Spirit.

How do we grow in knowledge of God's Spirit within us and around us? By spending time in solitude, seeking God's face within and around us and in others and in the events of our lives;  by spending time in prayer and in reflection upon the Scriptures--the Holy Bible--and the Scriptures of our lives and of the events of our lives!  God is in both and in all of life, hidden from the naked eye, from the eyes that simply look at problems and how to solve them without bringing them to God or asking for God's help!

Let us remember that Jesus is in God the Father and you and i are also in the Father, as St. Paul tells us: We live and move and have our being in God. Let us also remember that Jesus dwells in our very being itself and if Jesus dwells there so, too, does God and Father and God the Spirit, as they  are one in love and truth and life!

Faith and Love

In today's first reading,  James 1: 1-11, St. James reminds us that God gives "generously and ungrudgingly."   Therefore, James says to us, "if you lack wisdom, ...ask [and it] will be given [to  you]...[A]sk in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, since he is a [person] of two minds, unstable in all  his ways."

Am I a unstable person, a person "of two minds," one moment believing and the next moment doubting?  Or am I strongly rooted in Christ Jesus, my God and Savior? Knowing who Jesus is, I will stand firm in my faith!

In today's Gospel, Jesus is upset with the Pharisees who begin an argument with Him and want a sign from heaven to test him. "Why," Jesus asks, "does this generation seek a sign?"  Imagine the frustration Jesus is experiencing!  Why a sign? Perhaps we will understand this passage better by likening it to a family situation.  Imagine a family member--spouses and/or children--constantly demanding a sign of love. No matter what the other does or does not do, the demands keep coming! Such demands, such doubts in each other and in God can destroy faith and poison marriage and family relationships!  On the other hand, if I am working at deepening my love for God, others and self--if I am doing all that it takes to deepen love for others, God, and self-- then  I do not need a sign! And for sure, I do not need to test others by arguing with them about who they are, from whence they have come and whether or not their love and intentions are pure, as did the  Pharisees repeatedly challenge Jesus!

The Fullness of God shared with Us

“From his fullness, you have received grace in place of grace” (Jn 1:16).  This reality of receiving from God’s fullness is repeated in other parts of today’s liturgy. In 1 Jn 2: 19,  we are told that we “ have the anointing that comes from the Holy One, and have all received the knowledge.”   John in this first letter is talking about the end times, a time when antichrists surface in many parts of the world.  “Children,” John says, “it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour.”     We know what is and is not of God—that knowledge is given us by the Holy Spirit, the “Holy Anointing” we received when we were born again through the sacrament of baptism and when we also received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of Confirmation.  In today’s Gospel,  John 1: 1-18, the blessings announced in 1 Jn 2: 19 and Jn 1:16 are spoken of in the following ways:   “…[T]o those who did accept him [Jesus] he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.”  

How conscious am I of having received  of God’s fullness or that the people I live and pray  with at every liturgy, those I  encounter throughout the day, have also received “grace in place of grace”?  Would I treat people differently if I were aware that they, like myself,  have been given “power to become children of God”?

Reflecting on John 1:16, 1 John 2:19, and John 1: 1-18, I am not surprised that the angels present at the birth of Jesus, and joining us at every Catholic Mass, shout God’s praises both in the Gloria and in the Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.  What a privilege during Mass to join the angels and saints praising God for sharing His fullness with us.

Jesus' Unconditional Love

Holy Thursday

Imagine Jesus sharing with you what it was like to gather for the Last Supper with His friends. He says to you:

            (Insert your name)            ,  I knew that my hour had come to return to My Father.  I also knew that Judas Iscariot would betray me, turn me over to the authorities who would condemn me to death.  I knew all of this.  My heart was heavy with sorrow as I watched Satan take possession of Judas' heart. To this very day, those times when Satan deceptively, secretively, and cunningly possesses anyone, I am deeply saddened.  I never stop loving anyone to the very end, hoping that each troubled person will turn to me for help.  Judas had no idea tat I loved him unconditionally. I did not will his destruction. 

My greatest happiness that day would have been Judas' repentance. With the other apostles, I washed his feet. I also shared bread and wine with him at the Passover Supper and addressed him as friend in the Garden. I did not sever the friendship bond; he did.  The  same is true of my feelings toward all humankind, male and female. Our friendship--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--is unconditional with every person, with you and your loved ones, with you and any of your enemies, with you in good times and bad, in times of darkness and light, when you walk away from me and when you draw close. I love you always, in every place and in every circumstance of your life. I am Your God and there is no other. If you have strayed from Me and My Ways and My Truth and My Life, please return to me. I am waiting to embrace you with love and I will wait as long as it takes. I love you unconditionally. Nothing you have done or will do will change that fact!

Bye, now, my betrayer has arrived. I must leave you for awhile. Remember that I love you!

God's Infinite, Loving Knowledge of Us

Today’s responsorial psalm, Ps 139, reminds us that God searches us and knows us.  “…You understand my thoughts from afar,”  as He did, for example,  the thoughts of Peter, John and James; Mary of Magdala, his own Mother Mary, the woman who touched the hem of His garment and was healed, the woman he met at the well and told  that her present husband was not her husband.  Yes, God knows you and me intimately.  “Even before a word is on…[our] my tongue[s],” God knows it all. God knows when our thoughts are negative or positive, critical or accepting; yes, even venomous or generously kind and merciful like His own.  God loves us no matter how wayward or holy our thoughts might be.  God guides our thinking to the way God thinks.  God directs us to thoughts that generate positive energy, that deepen our hope and our faith and the hope and faith of others.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Monica. For thirty years she prayed for Augustine, her wayward son, a child living an immoral life, a child who had turned away from Christ.  God knew her agonizing thoughts, saw her weep over her son’s disobedience to God’s Commandments to love God above all (the first three commandments) and to love his neighbor as himself (the other seven commandments).  Through her, Jesus interceded for Augustine.  Her waiting upon the Lord was richly blessed, as her son converted, abandoned a life of sin and consecrated his live to the Lord as His priestly servant.

To what is God calling you and me? In what ways are we in need of conversion in our thoughts and in our actions? And for whom are we praying?

God's Presence Among Us Always

In today’s first reading, Exodus 40: 16-21, 34-38, we are given information of how the Israelites knew God’s will for them.  A “cloud covered the meeting tent and the glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling….Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling, the children of Israel would set out on their journey. But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward; only when it lifted did they go forward.” A cloud was seen during the day and “fire was seen in the cloud at night…by the whole house of Israel in all stages of their journey.”  This was the presence of God in their midst. God also gave them the Ten Commandments and wrote the Law in their memories:  “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (Jer. 31:33).

Reflect for a moment on the fact that the whole house of Israel in all stages of their journey was privy to this reality of God’s direction. That means that children, adolescents, young adults, middle-age adults, adults in their declining years—everyone—sees God at work in their midst and within them, knows God’s Directives and recognizes when  to move forward (even when they refuse to do so).  The  Israelites did not go forward unless the cloud lifted.  Imagine you and I heeding the clouds in our lives as a message from God not to make major decisions at that time, not to go forward when our minds are foggy, when we feel confused, when we really don’t know what to do or what to think.  That is the time to recall Isaiah’s advice:  “By waiting and by calm, you shall be saved; in quiet and in trust your strength lies” (Is. 30: 15).  Also, then, imagine us following the directives of the Lord when “the cloud is lifted,” knowing that it is time to move forward , to implement a decision about which we are clear.

Like the Israelites, God dwells in our midst, in fact, God dwells in the very core of our beings. We are Temples of the Holy Spirit.  God’s law is also written on our hearts and inscribed in our minds.  The Holy Spirit lives within us “to infuse our knowledge with divine grace and guide us with divine creativity and wisdom” so that we, too, are able to stay on the right track on our journey to the Promised Land of Eternal Life with God (See The Word Among Us,  July/August 2013, p. 51).