Our Need to Wake Up to our Dependence upon Jesus!

 In today's Gospel, Mark 4: 35-41, Jesus invites the disciples to go with him to the other side of the sea. As they are  making their way across the sea, a "violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was...filling up" with water. Terrified, they say to Jesus, who had fallen asleep on a cushion: "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"  They are not perishing, of course, but, in Jesus' eyes overreacting and revealing a lack of faith. Jesus wakes up at their bidding and says to the stormy sea: "Quiet! Be still!" Immediately the storm ceases. And then Jesus asks the disciples: "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?"

Jesus is speaking to  you and to me, as well!  How often do our reactions to life's storm indicate a lack of faith in Jesus! How often are we not terrified and believe that we, too,  are perishing!  "Look, Lord," we seem to be saying to Jesus!  "We seem to be sinking in the depths of sin, immorality, injustice, hatred, lustfulness, greediness and unfaithfulness in serving you and in our service of others. We seem to be succumbing to idolatrous ways. We are 'out at sea' in waters that seem to be too turbulent for us to manage. Lord! Wake up and save us!"  And Jesus awakes, so to speak, and quiets the storms within our hearts, minds and spirits!

Fear gives way to awe, as we search for and find God in the Scriptures and at work in our lives in steady and powerful ways: at work in the lives of our partners/spouses, our children and grandchildren, our parents and teachers, our community members, our priests and deacons, our employers and coworkers, our president and vice president, our governors and leaders throughout the world!  As we seek the Lord and pray to the Lord, we discover the promises Jesus made to us when He said:

• "Know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time" (Matthew 28:20).
• "I am sending down to you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city then, until you are clothed with the power from on high" (Luke 24:49).
• ""...[I]t is for your own good that I am going because unless I go, the Advocate will  not come to you; but if I do go, I will send him to you" (John 16:7).
• "When the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth" (John 16:13).
• "I shall see you again, and your hearts will be filled with joy, and that joy no one shall take from you" (John 16 22).

So, on this journey to our eternal home, let us keep our focus on Jesus and know that He is  not asleep but awake, especially when "violent squalls" come upon us! It is those storms that wake us up, not Jesus. He is always awake, waiting for us to depend upon Him.

God's Love for Us Is Eternal; the Bond Cannot be Broken!

"...[G]reat in  [our] midst is the Holy One of Israel," the God who calls us daily out of the place of slavery, the God who teaches us to walk in His ways, the God who carries us in His arms; who draws us to himself "with bands of love"; who fosters us "like one who raise[s] an infant to his cheeks. Yet, though God stoop[s] to feed [us, we do not] know that [God is our] leader."  That lament from Hosea 11: 1, 3-4, 8c-9, is as true about us today as it was for the Israelites to whom Hosea was speaking.  God is a God of love, a God who watches over us as a shepherd guards his sheep!  A God who gave  His life as the Son of Man, who, on the cross, drew all of us to Himself and redeemed us from Satan's forces of evil--the evil spirits--that roam the earth looking for someone to destroy! Jealous of our inheritance of heaven, a gift of being ransomed by Jesus, Satan is tireless in his efforts to keep us our of heaven. He will succeed as, in a baptism, Jesus took  us as His own. His Sacred Heart was pierced on the cross and blood and water poured  forth, filling our baptismal fonts and our chalices with the blood of the New Covenant. We belong to God forever!

God's Transforming Us in the Stillness

 In today's first reading, 2 Cor 3: 15-4:1, 3-6, Paul reminds us that "all [who gaze] with unveiled face[s] on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit."  In Psalm 46, God says to us "Be still and know that I am God." In the stillness, as we gaze upon God in the Scriptures, in nature, in the core of our being, in the heart of our loved ones--spouses, children, babies--God is at work transforming us into other Christs!  

Paul tells us that the "Gospel is veiled...for those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they may not see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."  There is the belief that more and more people do not believe in God, that more and more people have walked away from the Eucharist and that more and more of our churches are empty when religious services are being held, though our priests and our ministers, as Paul reminds us, "do not preach [about themselves] but Jesus Christ as Lord, and [themselves] as slaves for the sake of Jesus. For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in [their] hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ."

Are you, am I, present at religious services? Do you, do I, take being still in the presence of our God, a God who lives within all of creation, who dwells in the core of our hearts, who is present in the Eucharist in every tabernacle in our Catholic Churches. Do you, do I, seek the "light [that] shine[s] out of darkness, [that shines] in our hearts to bring the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ" to our attention and thus to the attention of our children, our spouses and anyone we encounter?  Or are you, am I, "blinded" by the "god[s] of this age," money, material things, pleasure, sex, and other substitutes that we seek to fill the emptiness that only God can fill?          

Growing Stronger in Our Faith

 In today's first reading, Acts 16: 1-10, Paul travels to several place and in one of them is introduced to Timothy, a Greek and a Jew. He is so impressed by this man that he invites him to join him in spreading the good news of Jesus' resurrection.  On the way, the Spirit leads them. Sometimes the "door" is open to a certain place and at others times closed as Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, tells us: the Holy Spirit "prevented [them] from preaching the message" in certain places. Paul and Timothy followed the Spirit's lead each time. As a result, "the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number."

What about you and me? Do we follow the Spirit lead? Do we recognize when "a door" is closed or do we force our way into the heart of another person? On the other hand, do we recognize when "the door" is open and take advantage of the situation? The open or closed "door" might even be our own hearts. Do we recognize that situation, as well, and take the needed steps to become open to the Holy Spirit at work within us?  If not, what do I need to do to soften the soil of my hardened heart? Seek silence? Take a walk in nature? Stop in before the Blessed Sacrament and wait upon the Lord? Speak to a loved one? Play with a child? Complete a responsibility that I have been avoiding?

May we take the time to grow in the faith, that is, to strengthen our faith!

Jesus, Our Good Shepherd!

 Jesus  reveals himself in today's Gospel, John 10:11-18, as our good shepherd, saying: "I  AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD."  He then goes on to describe the qualities of a good shepherd, telling us that a "good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep....I know [my sheep and they] know me, just as the the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep....I lay down my life in order to take it up again." This power, Jesus tells us, he received as a command from His Father.

A good shepherd watches his flock carefully, looking for any danger that may be lurking in the area.  He also carefully watches each sheep, lest it stray from the herd and put itself in danger. So, too, does Jesus do so for us.  Jesus knows when we have strayed off the path that leads to eternal life. He knows when we have put ourselves in dangerous situations. He watches and brings us back to the Way, the Truth and the Life, that He is!  As our Good shepherd, Jesus offered His life for our redemption, pouring forth His blood upon the cross to give us eternal life with Him in heaven.  No greater love than this does anyone have for another except God for each one of us individually!

Sharing My Faith and My Strength with Others

 In today's first reading, Acts 9: 31-42,  Peter is visiting Lydda and comes upon a paralyzed man, Aeneas,  confined to bed for eight years. He says to him:   "'Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!' He got up at once. All the inhabitants of Lydda  and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord."  A similar miracle happens when Peter is invited to Joppa, where a disciple of the Lord named Tabitha, a woman who was "completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving," fell ill and died. When Peter arrives in Joppa he is taken to the place where Tabitha died. He enters her room where her body is and says to her: "Tabitha, rise up" and she "opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up. He gave her his hand and raised her up, and when he called the holy ones and the widows, he presented her alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many came to believe in the Lord."

WOW!  Similar miracles happen, I believe, every day some place in the world. Suddenly, a dying person takes the turn for the better and survives a serious illness because of medical intervention (not unlike Peter's interventions). An aging grandparent or an ill parent or spouse or child recover from an illness that led to long-term hospitalizations or residencies in a nursing home--recoveries made possible by the compassionate care delivered day in and day out by medical personnel and the persistent prayers and love of family members!

Who, today, needs my faith, as Aeneas needed Peter's faith? Who, today, needs my encouragement and faith in Jesus as Tabitha needed Peter to say:  "Tabitha, rise up?" Who, today, needs me to extend a helping hand, as Peter "gave his hand" to Tabitha, raising her up and presenting her to her loved ones?

Lord, Let Your Face Shine on Us! (Psalm 4)

 In today's first reading, Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19, Peter contrasts God's actions with the actions of the people as follows:                                                                   l

The people:

• Ignorant of God's will
• Denied Jesus
• Demanded that Jesus be put to death
• Killed the Author of Life 
• Freed a murderer, that is, one who destroyed life

God:

• Fulfilled the divine will that we be saved from eternal death
• Fulfilled the prophecy that Christ would suffer to restore us to life
• Raised Jesus from the dead
• Glorified Jesus

In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 4, we pray:  "Lord, let your face shine on us!"  Without God's face shining upon us, we will continue to be ignorant of God's will. We will, without grace, continue to deny Jesus! In the psalm prayer, we  beg for mercy, thus heeding the call in today's first reading: "Repent...and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away!"  We say to God through the psalmist: "When I call, answer me, O my just God, you who relieve me when I am in distress; have pity on me, and hear my prayer!" The psalmist, then, says to us: "Know that the Lord does wonders for his faithful one; the Lord will hear [you] when [you] call upon him...[the Lord puts] gladness  into [your] heart. As soon as [you] life down, [you] fall peacefully asleep, for [the...Lord brings] security to[your] dwelling."

What an incredibly humble God! What a merciful God! What a compassionate God! What a loving God! God stoops down to us who have denied Jesus, condemned Jesus, demanding the release of a murdering and shouting to Pilate when he asked what we wanted him to do with our King, the Author of Life, and we responded: "Crucify him, crucify him!"

O God, have mercy on us!  Every day, we continue to crucify you in unjust killings, in homicides committed in the name of self-defense, people murdered out of jealous rage, thousands dying of covid-19 because of refusals to take measures to lessen the spread of this disease; children dying of starvation and so on!  "Lord, let your face shine on us" that we might be saved from eternal death and restored to life!