Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Reflection

“ ‘Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.’ And he said to them, ‘Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ ”

This short dialogue between Jesus and Mary offers a window into the relationship between Jesus and each individual person. Mary’s question, “Son, why have you done this to us?” is one I myself might ask of God countless times throughout the day. With anxiety and bewilderment, I wonder where God is in the midst of turmoil or uncertainty. “I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” Yet, Mary is quieted by her 12-year-old son. “Do you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” In the same way, I might quiet myself in times of trouble, assured that I will always be able to find Jesus in his Father’s house.

God, help me understand that troubles and anxiety will come but that I don’t have to go looking far to find peace, to find Jesus in his Father’s house.

By being present in his Father’s house as a boy, Jesus began to recognize his divine identity through obedience to his parents and to his Father in heaven. God, help me be able to find you today and simply be with you. I know you don’t want me to look for you with anxiety, so I ask the grace to see you through the ordinary trials of the day present with your Son, who asks, “Why are you looking for me?” You know my heart, Lord, and you know why I look for you. Help me find you!

Today a moment might come when I ask, like Mary, why God has done something in a certain way. I don’t need to think too hard about what is happening. In fact, he hasn’t done anything that brings harm or anxiety. The anxiety is in losing faith, not knowing how to find him, or in looking for him in the wrong places. “I must be in my Father’s house.”

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Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Reflection

“And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ ”

I think of the Thomas Wolf novel You Can’t Go Home Again. In early adulthood, you might feel that as you go away to college and come back home, you find that everything seems different. Nothing at home is ever quite the same. That sense seems to grow over the next few years, punctuated by graduation, a first job, marriage, and children. You can’t go home again. Well, maybe. The question is, from the moment of birth until death, has earth really ever been home? When Jesus describes the finding of the lost sheep, he says, “with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors.” What home can Jesus mean except his Father’s kingdom, heaven? Who are the friends and neighbors but the beloved children of God, abiding in heaven? You can’t go home again? Well, yes you can.

God, help me understand that your son takes joy in doing your will and rejoices in returning the lost ones to you. On this solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the manifestation of Jesus’ love is All Heart—not as the world loves but caring for the lost sheep by giving us his body and blood, soul and divinity as the wellspring of all of the sacraments.

In “Birches,” Robert Frost says, “Earth’s the right place for love: / I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.” True enough. Love on this earth is all I’ve ever known. But this has never been home and will never be. I ask as a sinner myself, can returning home be as simple as acknowledging sinfulness and repenting? What is the result of that? He sets me on his shoulders and with great joy brings me home, to his Father’s home, to the only real home I will ever know.

Today, Sacred Heart of Jesus, let me follow you as you seek out the lost sheep and rejoice in finding them. Let me see what you do and I myself seek out and bring back the strayed, handing them over to you because I wouldn’t know on my own what to do with them. Even more, let me be found, and find me where I fall short. In the Gospel acclamation, Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.”

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Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist: Reflection

“He asked for a tablet and wrote, ‘John is his name,’ and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea.”

Zechariah writes the name of his son on a tablet, the same name that Elizabeth chose for him. In doing this, his tongue is freed and “he spoke blessing God.” Breaking from Jewish tradition, Zechariah and Elizabeth both choose a name that frees and opens them to new life in the Spirit. John is the living representation of that new life, the forerunner, of that new life that is about to come into the world.

God, help me understand how you work in the world and apart from it to bring about your will. The first reading from Isaiah proclaims, “I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD, and my God is now my strength!” God is not bound by human custom or tradition but works within it and outside of it, allowing for all to give glory to him.

May God, through the workings of the Holy Spirit, animate me and give me life. Without it, I am, as W. B. Yeats writes in “Sailing to Byzantium,” “a paltry thing, / a tattered coat upon a stick.” Not for my own sake, do this for me, God, but as a way to give you glory. Teach me to hear and do your will.

Today let me be supple and receptive to the Holy Spirit so that my tongue is free to speak God’s name and praise him. When John saw Jesus coming toward him, he recognized his divine identity and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Today let me recognize Jesus coming toward me.

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Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time: Reflection

Jesus said to his disciples: “Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.”

These words of Jesus from today’s Gospel reading are clear enough: goodness comes from what is good and rottenness from what is evil. The section of Matthew’s Gospel this comes from is titled “False Prophets.” The passage begins “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them.” Jesus describes people who appear to proclaim the faith for the glory of God but in truth are deceivers.

God, help me see the false prophets of my time. It is not only money-loving televangelists who deceive but every YouTuber who lures viewers only for the sake of private gain or self-aggrandizement. More than that, swindlers abound and thrive on social media, promulgating a self-enclosing mystique all for the sake of gaining followers and greater profit. God, help me understand whose views to avoid and disregard: “By their fruits you will know them.”

And I can’t discount that the most treacherous prophet I may face today is myself. To the degree that I refuse to let go of the wheel, to be bent on my way only, the claims I make and the demands I place in order to achieve my ends are rotten fruit from a bare, rotten tree. God, teach me to be a supple bough that blows in the wind where your Spirit wills.

As the day passes, let me be aware of the voices of the false prophets, those who would draw me into a fog, into a stupor, when instead there is such simple beauty in nature and in those closest to me—the fruit of God’s creation.

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Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious: Reflection

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.”

These two statements are placed together in a way that leaves me wondering about the connection together. It could be that Jesus said them separately, at different times, but there is a connection between caring for what is good and holy and true and at the same time treating others with love and respect.

Jesus, Son of God, you did not treat the people you met as they deserved but instead gave them the fullness of your Father’s love and mercy. How is it that you gave what is holy to dogs and treated others, even those who hated you, as you would have them treat you?

Even the swine who reject you, God, you leave open a way for them to return. It’s easy to say that others for certain belief, or lack of it, are swine. But I have been the swine, and the one who trampled pearls underfoot. Yet your love for me remained so that I could return to you.

The day is long, and I will forget to treat myself and others as temples of the Holy Spirit. God, help me remember in the moments where I face little love from others to treat them in turn through the Holy Spirit with the love of your Son.

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Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus said to his disciples: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.”

Similar to the Our Father’s “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” Jesus expresses a rule to live by: if you don’t want to be judged by others or by God, stop judging others.

There is plenty every day that trespasses against my idea of what ought to be done and said. God, help me understand that it is so easy to see the faults in others and the urgency of correcting them when my own faults within me require the greatest attention.

God, I know you see the turmoil that I feel lies in the day ahead. I know you want me to be at peace and trust that if I do what I can and leave the rest to you, I will see the goodness in this day and not twist it into something that is not your will.

Today I pray for the grace to see that my judging is brought into the light so that through God’s grace, it is stopped before it spoken or acted out.

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Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time: Reflection

“Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

In the last few words of today’s Gospel reading, Jesus asks directly that others “may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” In the Prayer of Jesus in John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you.”

God, help me understand how Jesus models holiness: the gifts you gave me I have so that I can glorify you by my words and actions. What pleases you? What power do I have to let my light shine before others, not for myself but for others; not for my sake but for your glory?

When I try to quiet down and hear you, God, I feel as if I am a bundle of unpotentiated action. My thoughts of what I might accomplish have the opposite, unintended consequence of dragging me down, holding me back. God, I know you want me to sit with you in peace, not squirming, not wishing to get up and get on with things, but to recharge, to bask in your presence and know your love.

“A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden,” Jesus says. Today I have the opportunity to make my city gleam and give glory to my heavenly Father. It’s so easy to mess up; to make a mountain out of a molehill on any given day. But today I want to recognize and show others the gifts that God gave me for the sake of giving him glory.

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Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church: Reflection

“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.‘ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”

The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes how the Apostles returned to the upper room in Jerusalem after the Ascension with Mary and some women and “devoted themselves with one accord to prayer.” What is described here is a result of what happens in the first Gospel reading, when Jesus says to Mary and John from the cross: “ ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.‘ ”

God, help me be faithful to John’s example by taking Mary into my home. Her gaze, always on her Son, brings Jesus’ spirit into the home of everyone who believes. The Gospel acclamation says: “O blessed mother of the Church, you warm our hearts with the Spirit of your Son Jesus Christ.” Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of your mother to all who praise you—one you gave us from the cross before blood and water flowed out from you. “Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.”

Mary, who brought comfort to Jesus in his earthly life, follows the command of her son to behold her Son John and all other sons and daughters, the children of God. There is no mistake in Jesus’ calling Mary “woman.” In an alternative to the first reading, Eve is described as “woman,” whom the serpent tricked into eating from the tree. From the wood of the cross, Jesus makes Mary the New Eve, whose role in restoring humanity is to be the Mother of the Word Incarnate.

Today let me remember that the Virgin who gave birth to the Lord is present in my home and ready to intercede for me to her Son. The Regina Caeli, a prayer said during Eastertime in the Liturgy of the Hours, brings Jesus and Mary together in the joy of the Resurrection.

Queen of Heaven

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia. 
For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia. 
Has risen, as he said, alleluia. 
Pray for us to God, alleluia.
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia. 
For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray. O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Pentecost Sunday Mass during the Day: Reflection

“Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.”

As if to give the disciples one more assurance that it was he, Jesus shows the disciples his hands and side. And then he says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

God, help me understand that through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus modeled for me the way to live. Yes, there will be pain. From it, there is no escape. But in the midst of that, in the midst of the disciples who hid in fear behind locked doors, Jesus appears and says to them: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

Today when things don’t go my way, or when suffering becomes an inescapable reality, let me remember the peace that Jesus gives to the disciples—not as the world gives. Rather, it is peace that Jesus speaks into existence in my heart and that he gives me the power to extend to others.

Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter Mass in the Morning: Reflection

Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.”

After the Resurrection, Peter asks Jesus whether John will be the one to betray Jesus. The terseness of Jesus’ reply to the man who will become the first leader of the Church seems unwarranted. Where is the tenderness in Jesus’ spiritual formation and care of Peter? The response seems harsh and abrupt.

Even in yesterday’s readings, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him, and Peter affirms Jesus’ divinity by saying, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Peter seems to want to know more about what will happen and who will play what role. God, help me understand that you work through your Son in ways that fail human comprehension. Did Jesus see in Peter a lack of trust in the Divine plan? Did he want to redirect Peter to his role in leading the disciples and spreading the Gospel? Whatever the purpose of this response, Jesus calls attention to the spiritual reality that man’s ways are not God’s ways and that some things and the actions of others are out of our hands. “You follow me,” Jesus says.

God, show me today how to trust in the words of your Son: “What concern is it of yours?” Help me recognize my gifts and be less concerned about others’ shortcomings. I know you want me to see you at work in my small sphere of interaction and in the whole world. I know you want me to be at work today on foundations you lay and not on shifting sand. For this, you will need to stay with me, Lord.

Today let me remember that to face the things I can’t control, I can give back to God and say, “What concern is this of mine?” That’s easy to say at this moment, but in the midst of the day, things get complicated. God, give me the ability throughout the day to call on the gifts you gave me and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to know my part and yours. Your will, not mine.

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