Teaching, Preaching, Curing

3^rd Week Ordinary Time, January 2017

Matthew 4:12-2 ~ When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee… Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”… He called them and they immediately left their boat…and followed him… Jesus went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.

Two brothers were discussing their future goals after Sunday school one day. The first said he wanted to be rich and famous. The second said he wanted to follow Jesus to the fullest. The second went on to reach his goal. His name was David Livingstone, the renowned medical missionary and explorer of Africa. The first went on to be rich, but his fame came from another. His tombstone reads, “Here lies the brother of Doctor David Livingstone.”

Jesus was on a mission to teach us about a God of mercy, love and compassion who happens to be his Father. Jesus, walking along, met Peter and Andrew, James and John after they had just finished their hard days work as professional fishermen. What happened to their nets and boats? What was so compelling about Jesus that they’d leave without concern for the details that had preoccupied their lives and gave them a sense of security?

Clearly there was something magnetic, even contagious about Jesus that caused people to forget the important and unimportant-the boats and the nets—and all the things that distract us everyday to follow him. There was something about Jesus that compelled people to connect with our God who they had heard of, often spoken of and who drew them toward goodness.

We might say it’s no problem connecting with Jesus, he was a healer of both external and internal wounds, he was exemplary, he put his life on the line for his friends. Our problem is more about connecting with God’s people. Maybe that’s because God’s people don’t represent Jesus very well in the world today. God’s people don’t practice what Jesus preached. We need to connect, though, because God’s fullness is not revealed in any one of us; but when we connect with one another we manifest God’s goodness.

“Repent, (metanoia, change course), the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” What John and now Jesus is saying is that repenting or changing course is essential to entering heaven. To follow Jesus is a drastic change of life goals or plans. Before the brothers could teach, preach and heal people, they had to first change course. They had to learn to fish in a different way. It was like learning to drive in one of those countries that drive on the other side of the street. It was like learning to write with the other hand. It was like learning to speak a new language or breaking an addiction or a toxic relationship. It could also be like trying to learn to speak after suffering a stroke. In reality it is all of these. It sounds impossible, but nothing is impossible with God.

Even Simon had to let go of his name and pick up a new name Peter. Once we repent, the hard work begins. So often, people go back to their old ways because the internal emotions are too uncomfortable.

Before we can go out and proclaim the good news or heal the sick, Jesus must first call us. Then we must listen to his teaching. Then and only then does Jesus send us out two by two. An isolated Christian is a dead Christian.

This Gospel passage is from the 4^th chapter of St. Matthew’s account. The Gospel passages we hear in the following five weeks are critical if we wish to reach our goals in life. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 speak of the goodness and expectations of God. This is what he was teaching in the synagogues. This is what Jesus was proclaiming as Good News. This is where his authority to cure every disease and illness comes from.

I am going to go out on a limb and assign some homework this week. It only takes about 5 or 10 minutes to read, but it will probably take you a lifetime to learn. I am still learning! What would it be like to hear Jesus as he went to all the synagogues? Read and pray these chapters out loud a couple times this week if not daily. You will most likely recognize many of the teachings which all boil down to “love God and love neighbor” with no exceptions. However, to apply these teachings will be a true metanoia experience, but don’t be afraid, you are in good company. Mark Twain once said: “Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me, I have always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me the most are those which I do understand.”

It may be important to invoke the Holy Spirit. “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. Enkindle in us the fire of your love… O God who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructs the hearts of your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in your consolation forever.”

Jesus is longing to go to the ends of the world, teaching the mercy of God, preaching the kingdom of heaven, and curing every disease and illness. All he needs is your body, soul and fire… and your change of direction.

Lord, when you came to the seashore
You weren’t looking for the rich nor the wise,
But only asking that I might follow
O Lord, with your eyes set upon me
Gently smiling, you have spoken my name
Close to you, I will find other shores
Lord, you knew what my boat carried
neither money nor weapons for fighting,
but nets for fishing my daily labor

(PESCADOR DES HOMBRES  by Cesareo Gabarain)

We could connect with others and follow Jesus toward God, toward pleasing God, by seeing the Sacred in others. The Holy Spirit unites us with the Divine and offers the only route to Good News in this world.

solitude or loneliness

Jesus with me…always!

Jeff McGowan and I worked together on this homily.

Have a blessed and holy week. Pray and journal about Matthew 5, 6, and 7 and see how Jesus calls your from your boat. You might even walk a few steps on water!

Looking for a Real Christmas

 The Gospel According to Saint Luke 2:1-14

These two branches may look the same from a distance, and in some ways they are alike. But there is also a great difference between them. This is from a real Christmas tree. And this is from an artificial tree. You can see, feel, and smell the differences when you are near the two branches. One branch is wounded and will die. One never had life and came from a box.

It’s easy to tell the difference between a real and artificial Christmas tree, but can you tell the difference between a real and an artificial Christmas?

Maybe you never thought about it, but you can have an artificial Christmas. Just as the artificial tree can serve a purpose, an artificial Christmas can be fun. You can give and receive presents, go to parties, sing songs and still not have a real Christmas.

A real Christmas includes the coming of God’s Son to be a part of life with people on earth. On the first Christmas He came as the Baby at Bethlehem. But the Baby was God, and He came to be the Savior. Jesus still comes to the world as the Savior who gives new life to people who know and believe this.

When Jesus was here the first time, some people wanted to know for sure that He was the real Savior. They did not want an artificial Son of God. Jesus told them to look at what He did. Jesus healed the blind, deaf, and crippled. He brought a dead person back to life. He had a message of love and hope for all people. They could tell that He was real because what He did was real. His actions proved that His words were true.

Just as Jesus pointed to what He did for people to show that He was a real and not an artificial Savior, you can tell if your Christmas is real by seeing what it does for you. Jesus once said, “You will know my real followers by their fruit.” Ask yourself some questions:

Will this Christmas help me feel the presence of God?

Will I realize that God not only came to a manger but also to me?

Will I see again how much God loves me and feel that love in action?

Will I see that God came not only for me, but for all people?

Will I also produce abundant Christmas fruit of love, joy, hope and peace?

Let us celebrate a real Christmas. Recognize that many things that look like Christmas offer only an artificial Christmas. They are not wrong, but don’t use them as a substitute for the real thing.

VIRTUAL and REAL CHRIST-MASS TREE: Gifts of Holy Spirit beneath the Tree of Life… and Fruit of the Holy Spirit in the Branches. Jesus is the Light and Star radiating from the top of the Tree of Life. Jesus is asking us to be living trees of life, where people live off the fruit of the Holy Spirit God sends through us.

Christmas is real when you know Christ comes to you. Christmas is real when we ask ourselves how we fit into the Christmas Story in the living Nativity. Christmas is real when we hold the child like Joseph and accept Jesus as his real son. (Joseph is not an artificial father.) Each of us will have the best and merriest Christmas ever if we receive Jesus as God’s Christmas gift, gratefully, cultivate his love responsibly, share him lovingly with justice, and return Jesus with abundance to God! That is what we do at this Christmas Mass. That’s a real Good News and Merry Christmas!

Forgive them

Do Not Be Afraid ~ 19th Sunday

Jesus said to his disciples: Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.                          St. Luke 12:32-40

Jesus says it over and over, “Do not be afraid.”

Let us ask the question: “What am I afraid of?”

Jesus shares with us that if we open the door immediately when the Master knocks, he will have us recline at table and then wash our feet, and then proceed to wait on us. What could we possibly be afraid of?

God was knocking on Penny’s door. She volunteered to go to Kalighat, a home for the dying run by Mother Teresa’s sisters, for the first time. I suppose she was intrigued by the love of the Missionaries of Charity. It was terribly traumatic for Penny—being a beauty therapist, she was used to everything being all nice and spick-and-span, smelling nice, so it was quite a shock. I am sure many of you can relate to this when you volunteered for mission work in a place like Haiti or Catholic Heart work camp. Or maybe the first time your first child had diarrhea. When I began volunteering as a retreat director for Ministries of Disabilities, the drooling, physical suffering, and people who violated my boundaries raised my anxieties. I had whopping headaches and emotional paralysis.

When one of the sisters asked Penny to wash this woman she just thought, ‘There’s no way. I just couldn’t.’ So the sister said, ‘All right, come with me,’ and she picked up this little bundle of bones, because that’s what this lady was, and took her into the bathroom. Even now it makes her cry—there wasn’t a lot of light in the room and she was absolutely catatonic. Then all of a sudden the whole room just lit up! One minute she was saying ‘I just can’t’ and the next she realized, ‘Of course, I could.’

Throughout our lives, especially those here at Queen of Peace, we have worked among the poorest of poor, people with severe mental and physical disabilities, social injustice, Marines, sailors, soldiers and families torn apart by IED’s and shrapnel to the soul. Whenever we tell God there is something we just can’t do, like shave a man who does not have use of his arms, comfort the grieving, embrace a person with AIDS, tell a person we love them just before they will die, or work with schizophrenics or drug addicts… God seems to knock on the door of our terrified hearts. Then all of a sudden, light floods our darkness. We no longer label people as a diagnosis; we see the whole person light up. One minute we are saying, “I just can’t” and the next we realize, “Of course, we can!”

God doesn’t ask us to do things he isn’t already doing.

God is hoping that we do small things with great love.

God is hoping to find us ready when he knocks.

And then Our Father will welcome us home, wash our feet and invite us to dine with him and Our Family.

When God asks us to step out of our comfort zone and we do it,

we are always better for the experience.

Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

Now that is Good News we can treasure.

 

Mission Statement of Queen of Peace

As Christians we receive God’s gifts gratefully,

cultivate them responsibly,

share them lovingly in justice with others,

and return them with increase to the Lord.

Quiet! Be still!

A Father’s Love

Prophet Job 38:1, 8-11

The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said: …

Thus far shall you come but no farther,

   and here shall your proud waves be stilled!

Gospel According to Mark 4:35-41

“Let us cross to the other side.”

Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.

A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.

Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Jesus woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”

The wind ceased and there was great calm.

“Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

Homily for 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time & Father’s Day

Welcome to hurricane, tornado or flood season. Actually, there are storms throughout the year. But what is the storm that terrifies us into waking Jesus up and asking him,

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

The real storm in each of our lives is anxiety.

What do we fear? What terrifies us?

Cancer in a loved one? Senseless shootings? Security? Enough for retirement? Final exams? Financial Distress? Poverty? Alzheimer’s? Gun Violence?

Let us Cross to the other side.

Where do the waves of anxiety break over our boat that is hopefully sailing toward guaranteed eternal life if we ask?

“Today you will be with me in Paradise!”

When we get to the point of paralyzing fear like the disciples did as their boat was swamping, we wake Jesus up. (Is this why we call the service before the funeral a wake?)

We almost say this with sarcasm if we are honest,

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Jesus does care. Jesus grew up to be like his father on earth and in heaven. Even when our Dads were sleeping, they had protected us to the best of their ability (and probably beyond). But Dad also encouraged us to grow to be the best version of ourselves. We too can be like Our Father in Heaven.

Each of us is called and encouraged to care and love like Our Father.

Sometimes the encouragement comes through the violent storms of our lives.

This is the faith Jesus asks of us.

“Quiet! Be still!”

We indeed have the authority to calm the storms like Jesus does, just as he was, the calm in every storm.

We are God’s sons and daughters. We can call God, “Father,” “Abba,” “Daddy”.

But Jesus asks each of us, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

Hopefully, we will eventually answer, “Jesus, I do believe, help my unbelief!”

Before we know it, we will be walking on the stormy seas more than just a few feet as Peter did.

Jesus won’t have to grasp our hand and say, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

God loves us more than any father could or ever will.

What Good News it is to have faith that we can wake up God, Our Father, especially when we are terrified of the storms.

Happy Father’s Day to all of our Fathers…

…and to You, O Beloved God and Our Father in Heaven and on Earth…

Happy Father’s Day DAD!

Why are you terrified?

Father Jeff’s homily for my Silver Jubilee @ Santa Maria del Mar Church, Flagler Beach

The Ascension of the Lord 2015

Gospel: Mark 16:15-20: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

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Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. Some may remember this feast celebrated as Ascension Thursday; but the Church, recognizing people can’t always get to Mass on a Thursday, and that this feast is important for all of us, moved it to Sunday. We’re also celebrating 25 years of priesthood for Fr. Ron Camarda. You know him well; he has celebrated many Masses here through the years. This 25^th anniversary is a big deal for us priests; just as it is for married couples. But we don’t celebrate with our spouse or our children; we celebrate with you, our brothers and sisters. I am Fr. Jeff McGowan; I am the pastor at Queen of Peace in Gainesville. Fr. Al’s first assignment after his ordination was with me at Queen Of Peace. You won’t be surprised to hear that he was the hardest working, most compassionate and generous priest I’ve been blessed to work with. He was hard to keep up with! I want to thank Fr. Al for welcoming me to give the homily. I pray that no matter what I say, you will leave Mass tonight with the message Jesus wants you to receive. I’d like to acknowledge our most highly regarded Bishop John Snyder who ordained Fr. Ron, Fr Al and me. Fr. Mike Lynch, our classmate from Miami and Fr. John Gillespie, pastor of San Sebastian in St. Augustine. Also, Fr. Ron’s family.

When Jesus said, “I am with you always, even until the end of time,” he meant that literally. Jesus is no longer limited by the human body to a set place or time. He reigns in heaven and he remains with us. This is the image of Jesus, “entering the Sanctuary of heaven, like a priest.” Our priests, then, in the person of Christ, step into the sanctuaries of our churches and intercede for us in Jesus’ Name. And when we “ask the Father, saying ‘Jesus,’” we signal, we refer to our intercessor. All this gives God’s people confidence, gives us courage, gives us strength, gives us understanding, and gives us joy.

Some time ago, I read an article by Carolyn Moran. It was titled, “The Nut That Saved My Marriage.” Carolyn introduces the “nut” by telling us that she was enjoying lunch with her husband and their son, who was a Navy helicopter pilot. During lunch, their son was telling them about the helicopters he flew and said, “You know, as complicated as the helicopter is, its whirling motor is held in place by a single hexagonal nut.” Then, he asked his parents, “And what do you suppose they call the nut that holds it all together?” They had no idea. “I give up,” they said, “what do they call the nut that holds it all together?” Their son smiled and said, “They call it the Jesus nut.” His parents immediately saw the connection between Jesus and the nut. As they thought about it after their son left; Carolyn and her husband agreed that Jesus plays the same role in their marriage. I know that we priests would add, our priesthood as well. Marriages and priesthood are at least as complicated as a helicopter, there’s so much that can go wrong. Jesus holds love in marriage or priesthood together just like the hexagonal nut holds the helicopter together.

The Christian knows how to praise and thank God, as the apostles did when they returned from the mountain after the Ascension of the Lord. Fully confident that Jesus is remaining with us.

Jesus promises us that our “grief will become joy.” Our opening prayer for this feast is, “Gladden us with holy joy, Almighty God.” St. Augustine said, “Sing and walk on!” That’s Christian joy: the Christian sings with joy, and walks on, bearing and sharing this joy.

Joy is the gift of those great souls who are above littleness, above meanness, who don’t get involved in those little petty matters that go on in a community. Joy is the virtue of breathing freely; it’s the virtue of always going ahead, going toward the horizon, unafraid, with open minds and with a spirit full of the Holy Spirit. We believe Jesus is with us and we will fly like an eagle, or, if you will, like a helicopter.

So, Fr. Ron: I am sure that you had no idea what you were in for twenty-five years ago. You served our diocese as a pastor and diocesan scout chaplain; you served the handicapped every year at Camp I Am Special. In your younger days you were well known for your athletic back flips. You served Church and Country in the United States Navy in Puerto Rico, with the Marines in Okinawa, and notably in the second battle for Fallujah, Iraq. I remember you telling me that as the battle raged you stayed in the city so a wounded soldier could have your place on the transport back to the camp. Thank God you got another ride. You put your life on the line for us literally, what more could you do?

You weren’t wounded in battle, but you have been wounded as a priest since your return. I witnessed you shocked and hurt by meanness and duplicity and then you would sing and move on. You have been an example of the Christian who sings and moves on joyfully serving the Lord and all of us. In your counseling ministry, you courageously enter into the wounds of our brothers and sisters in need, those who suffer, who are still carrying the cross and have not yet conquered, as Jesus conquered. You are able to give yourself to all with love and kindness. Isn’t it true? Love always goes that way: giving your life, taking life as it comes not as you’d like it to be. Thank you, Fr. Ron, for your love, your courage, your kindness, and your idiosyncrasies. Thank you for being so human as you enter the sanctuary to intercede for us, proclaiming and preaching Jesus Christ with great joy. Your 25 years of priesthood evidence that Jesus meant it when he said he’d be with us always. And that is Good News!

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Stewards of Blood!

Gospel according to St. Luke: Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.”

 

Spiritual awakening is frequently described as a journey to the top of the mountaintop. At the peak we have transcended all pain. We experience the transfiguration of Jesus and the voice of God, “This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!” The only problem with this mountaintop experience is that we leave all the others behind—our drunken brother, our schizophrenic sister, our tormented animals, friends and Mother Earth. Their suffering continues, unrelieved by our personal escape. Jesus heads back down the mountain before we are ready.

In the process of discovering our compassionate heart, the journey goes down, not up. It’s as if the mountain pointed toward the center of the earth instead of reaching into the sky. Instead of transcending the suffering of all creatures, we move toward the turbulence and doubt. We jump into it. We slide into it. We tiptoe into it. We move toward it however we can. We explore the reality and unpredictability of insecurity and pain, and we try not to push it away. If it takes years, if it takes lifetimes, we let it be as it is. At our own pace, without speed or aggression, we move down and down and down.

Jesus calls out to us amidst the descent, darkness and chaos. “Come and follow!” “Don’t be afraid!” “Put out into the deep waters and lower your nets!” “Get out of the boat and walk on the stormy seas!” “Give them some food yourselves!” “Do not be afraid as we walk into the room where your dead child lies.” “Forgive those who hurt you.” “Today you will be with me in Paradise!”

This parable is for each of us. It helps us to realize our own sin, our neglect of the poor and the suffering. This unloving state we are in can be corrected by going down the mountain and realizing that we are too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg. With us move millions of others, our companions in awakening from fear. At the bottom we discover water, the healing water of the compassionate heart. Right down there in the thick of things, we discover the love that will not die.

Every Sunday we receive a drop of blood from the side of Jesus. Jesus says that unless we eat his body and drink his blood we will have no life… eternal life! I reckon after many years and drops of blood consumed from the side of Jesus, our hearts are more that of Jesus than ourselves.

God has given me a new heart and a new spirit. I hear Jesus say to me, “Ron Moses, don’t focus on the jerk who crushed your sand castle. After all, it is only sand. Enjoy the beach, sky, breath and surf!!”

Atlantic Beach

Jesus goes on to say, “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”

The Hebrew definition of ‘mammon’ is ‘what one trusts in.’  This is interesting because every coin and monetary bill has the motto of our nation, ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’. Jesus knew that Pharisees and the rich trusted in their wealth more than God.  We might be the same. They were slaves to their wealth. And the poor were slaves to them. Scriptures are quite clear that the borrower is slave to the lender. The Lord’s prayer says, Forgive us our debts as we forgive the debt of others.  We are all indebted either emotionally, monetarily or both.  And thus we are all enslaved. Jesus sets us free. The world and godless people keep us enslaved.

If we hear Jesus call us to follow him, we will be with the poor. We will eat with the poor. We will fall in love with the poor. We will actually learn to beg for the poor.

God teaches us to give 10% of our first fruits

…but God is encouraging us to give it all away, 100%

God is more concerned with our 90%,

but God can do nothing until we commit the first 10%.

Much has been given. Much is expected. We are merely stewards.

If God can trust us stewards with 10% (just a little)

Then God can entrust us with much more.

If God cannot trust us with 10%, God will not let us squander more of his love.

We will suffer needlessly in this world if we do not learn how to work with God in all things.

 The great Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, sang before the crucifix every day. He wanted to be a missionary priest more than anything, but God needed his heart and mind to stay in Rome for greater things. God foresaw that one of the Jesuits of his order would one day become Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome.

All Jesuits know this prayer. How about you?

 Take Lord, receive, all I have and possess

My memory, understanding, my entire will

Give me only your love and your grace, that’s enough for me

Your love and your grace, that’s enough for me.

 This is your homework this week. Learn this prayer. Then sing this prayer with all your heart before the crucifix. Sing it every morning before you start your day. Allow it to wash over you like the rising tide or the ocean breeze. Let it sink into your being like rain into the rich soil. Observe how your heart is more like Jesus, more in love with the suffering and the poor.

Jesus seems to indicate that we are all stewards of God’s bountiful gifts. We are all given the position of stewards as the U.S. Catholic Bishops declare in their letter A Disciple’s Response. When each of us dies, and we will all die, God will ask us to prepare a full account of our stewardship, because we can no longer be God’s stewards. What has our Master heard about each of us? How will each of us respond?

The really good news is that God will be pleased if we are found with the suffering, the lowly, the orphans and the poor.

Take Beloved, receive, all I have and possess; my memory, my understanding, my entire will.

Give me only your love and your grace. That’s enough for me.

Your love and your grace are enough for me.

Moonset

(Special thanks to thoughts from When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron 2000)

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 29-30, 2013

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Community

Columbia, Maryland

1^st Reading: 1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21

You shall anoint Elisha…as prophet to succeed you.

Psalm 16

Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body too, abides in confidence because you will not abandon my soul

2^nd Reading: Galatians 5:1, 13-18

Brothers and sisters: For freedom Christ has set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery…For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Gospel: Luke 9:51-62

When the days for Jesus being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem

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The Scriptures today speak of the fact that God will never leave us and calls us to life. God does know that if we follow Jesus, we will also have to suffer greatly and sometimes die. Because God loves us and hates to see us cry, God’s heart breaks in two when we are persecuted for proclaiming the Good News.

The problem is that most of try to follow the rules rather than the love.

Two people were applying for the same job. The first came in to the final interview. The interviewer said, “Before we can offer you the job you are applying for we have to ask you a simple question. Are you ready?”

“Yes!” he said.

“What is two plus two?”

“Four,” he answered.

Then the second applicant came in. She was asked, “Are you ready for the question?”

“Yes!” she answered.

“What is two plus two?”

She answered, “Whatever the boss says it is!”

The second applicant got the job.

 

Which comes first, orthodoxy or truth? We all come from families. We have been trained in our school system to get the right answer on tests and exams that we seldom question the purpose. Many of the people at the time of Jesus could answer the question, “What is the most important commandment?”  This was their 2 plus 2 question. “You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, strength, mind and soul.” It is the right answer for the exam, but Masters level and above professors insist that we explain our answer. This requires critical thinking that many of us balk at.

 

The second applicant gets the job, but does that mean she is better off? I don’t think so. Jesus asks the question, “Who do people say that I am?” Peter gets the right answer and is able to be called the top apostle. However, he does not know how to go deeper and integrate the suffering that will follow. To answer, “Whatever the boss says it is,” is the beginning stage of maturing to be a friend and lover of Jesus. God is calling us to divinity and an heir of eternal life. But we often settle for just squeaking in to heaven as a mere servant or slave. God desires to give us so much more.

Consider this story:  Two brothers—one a bachelor, the other married—owned a farm whose fertile soil yielded an abundance of grain. Half the grain went to one brother and half to the other.

All went well at first. Then, every now and then, the married man began to wake with a start from his sleep at night and think: “This isn’t fair. My brother isn’t married, he’s all alone, and he gets only half the produce of the farm. Here I am with a wife and five kids, so I have all the security I need for my old age. But who will care for my poor brother when he gets old? He needs to same much more for the future than he does at present, so his need is obviously greater than mine.”

With that he would get out of bed, steal over to his brother’s place, and pour a sack full of grain into his brother’s granary.

The bachelor brother too began to get the same attacks. Every once in a while he would wake from his sleep and say to himself, “This simply isn’t fair. My brother has a wife and five kids and he gets only half the produce of the land. Now I have no one except myself to support. So is it just that my poor brother, whose need is obviously greater than mine, should receive as much as I do?” Then he would get out of bed and pour a sack full of grain into his brother’s granary.

One night they got out of bed at the same time and ran into each other, each with a sack of grain on his back!

Many years later, after their death, the story leaked out. So when the townsfolk wanted to build a church, they chose the spot at which the two brothers met, for they could not think of any place in the town that was holier than that one.

The most important question that Jesus asks us about religious distinction. “Is religious distinction more about those who worship and those who do not worship, or about those who love and those who don’t?”

When Jesus says to each and every baptized person, “Follow me!” He calls solely from a deep and compassionate love. Jesus knows that to look back to security or even family means to take our eyes off of God’s light, love, truth and concern for us. Yes, 2 plus 2 equals 4. Yes, 2 plus 2 sometimes equals whatever God says it is. But most importantly, the question “What is my heart plus your heart plus the heart of Jesus equal?”

 

One heart of Love. O my!  

 

Isn’t that Good News?

 

**Both stories are adapted from the late Father Anthony de Mello, S.J., (1988). Taking Flight: A book of story meditations & (1982). The Song of the Bird (1982). Garden City, New York: Image Books.

Middle Spring

Come take a journey with me into the forest.
My wonderful friend died today. Her soul was welcomed into the arms of the Beloved. I believe. I trust.
I almost didn’t recognize the woods today. There was so much life and love.

I heard a homily this past week from my friend’s son. “If our leg is amputated, we are still the same person.” We are not less of a person. We just have to manage past that cross or rock in our path.

Beloved, all of us are loved by God. Our Beloved God will not allow us to be harmed.
All God ever wanted was to hear us say, “I love you!”
Love one another.
What do you have to lose.
Let go of all bitterness.
Love one another.

Flower power!

Delicate

Ready to Spring

Awakening

Web of Life

Go with God
Nothing to fear!

Swing into action

Longing for Color

Broken but beautiful

See Butterfly?

hang in there

Gotta have it!

Be careful!

Loving it!

Can you hear the fern sing?

Unique

Bashful

Smitten by beauty

Ants assist flowers

Trust

My Beloved and My God!

Living

The old

Have faith

Potential

Trust

Pray for us

It will one day bloom!

Love does it all

God needs our help

Anchor

Hospitality

Now what?

We all play our part!

Be part of the solution

Insignificant…Not!

Yes!

Delicious

Love one another

Go with Beloved God Elvira!
I love you!
Ron

Snow Falling on Snow

Water, Cold, Trees, Beauty

O Jesus, where are you?
Snow falling on snow
spring snow that penetrates my bones

Frozen Beauty Melting

So beautiful, and yet so painful
I am restless
agitated in the silence
difficult to breathe in my soul
Falling like the snowflakes descending
on a spring morning
only to melt away…in an hour, day, week at most
Swirling, not dancing…on the cusp of rain drops
panic of life known
short lived
But in the life of a snowflake
Time is only the moment
White and light
Structure architecturally stunning
unnoticed by even other snowflakes
Insignificant…falling…fighting
By myself…even more done into foolish vanity
succumbing to sudden beauty evaporated…
I am a snow flake…only…alone…

Frozen in thought

Insignificant…Not!

He is not here anymore…Alleluia!

Jesus and Father John Lenihan

Beauty of My Sunset

The founding pastor of St. Patrick’s
A soul, a blessing, a man, a friend
What I loved about Johnny was
his unholy holiness
raw love that could be abrasive
He mentored me here and there
Let me vent…
…and sometimes vented along with me!

John assured me of my goodness,
especially when I struggled with how others
believed in my lack of goodness.

Father John is to my left and behind me.

Johnny was fun to be around
A true brother of no nonsense

A soul, a blessing, a man, a friend
Calling me to the same…
A soul, a blessing, a man, a friend
O my!!!

Standing tall

Father John Lenihan died this week. He is a priest of the Diocese of St. Augustine. He was the first pastor of St. Patrick’s in Jacksonville. I was the 7th pastor.