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Get ready

Are you ready for heaven? How confident are you in your preparations? I’ve been thinking greatly about this topic and wondering how much of my human inclinations are getting in the way of my spiritual life.

As Catholics we believe Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, was born a man, gave Himself as sacrifice by dying on a cross, and rose from the dead three days later before ascending back to God the Father. He did this to open up heaven — the dwelling place of God — to mankind. His death paid the punishment for our sins that fracture our relationship with God. However, within the Gospels, Jesus does mention Gehenna, what we call hell, or the tortures associated with it. Why would Jesus do that, if heaven is an open door to all? Let’s look at two parables associated with the ability to enter heaven.

Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew is one example of preparing for heaven. In the parable of the ten virgins (Matt 25:1-13), five virgins are called wise because they each bring a flask of oil for their lamps. What do the lamps represent? I’m sure there are a lot of interpretations, but I’d like to think of the lamps as our desire for God. When we put God first in our lives and try to live holy lives, our prayers and actions serve to feed and maintain our relationship with God, and one can equate them as being a flask of oil, as oil feeds a flame. The wise virgins cannot share their good deeds with the foolish virgins, so they need to find their source of oil elsewhere. The result for the foolish virgins is that the door is shut and they are not able to enter and even after calling out to the bridegroom, they remain outside the locked door.

The other parable is also found in Matthew (22:1-15) about a wedding feast. This parable has a king giving a wedding feast for his son and the invited guests have a variety of excuses for not attending, or worse, killing the servants the king sent to bring them to the feast. The king decides to fill his banquet with whomever will attend by sending his servants to invite those from the streets. But when he sees a man who is not dressed in a wedding garment, he asks “My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?” (Matt 22:12) The only reason the king would ask him that question and would expect him to have a wedding garment, is if the king provided a garment to each before entry. Given the impromptu manner of the invitation, the king would have had to provide what was needed. What I see from this parable is that we can say no to wearing the wedding garment, which is basically saying no to heaven. God will provide what we need to attain heaven, but it is up to us to participate in His will. This parable ends with the king ordering the person to be bound by his hands and feet and casting him out, “where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” (Matt 22:13) Here is the alternative to heavenly wedding feast: hell.

Lourdes Church in Lourdes France

In September I was privileged to be one of the parishioners making a pilgrimage to Marian shrines in Spain and through France to our namesake, Lourdes. I was prepared from a travel perspective, with the clothes I needed and all my incidentals. As someone who sits at a desk all day, what I was not prepared for was how grueling all the walking would be. I thought about preparing myself and saying I needed to start getting up early to walk, and when that didn’t happen, to walk after work. A few attempts were made, but nothing really stuck. Looking back at my time in Spain and France, I feel like I missed the beauty of many places, since my focus was making sure I could keep at least one person from my group in my field of vision as I lagged behind as the last person. It made me think that this is why we need to get ourselves ready for heaven. We will not be able to enjoy the beauty of an unstained place like heaven if we viewing through our sin-filled eyes. Yet how many times to we put off getting ready for “tomorrow”?

Our life is a journey and sometimes we do end up taking steps backwards in sin rather than forwards in holiness and a relationship with God. If we claim we know Jesus, we need to remember that even the foolish virgins claimed they knew Him too. If we are unsure of what He asks of us, then we need to tell Him that we’re confused and pray, with an open heart and mind, to how He directs us, even if it is something outside of our comfort zone. Maybe especially if it is not something we would choose for ourselves. When we choose God’s will, there is a sense of peace that we will receive and we can know we are on the right path, filling our flasks with oil and accepting the wedding garment for heaven.

Mary at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Washington DC

Why Mary?

Recently I was chatting with someone who questioned why there are Marian apparitions. After all, Jesus was God and revealed all, so why does Mary keep showing up?

While it is true that nothing can be added to the deposit of faith, when we look at her appearances, they have a pattern to them. From an outward perspective, Mary picks the poor and uneducated. But Mary is in heaven with God, so perhaps she sees deeper than we can. Maybe she sees that the soul is searching for God. Perhaps she sees the hunger for God is more important to the person than food, since they are used to going without. Or it could be that she can see the soul is open to receiving her and her message as well as dealing with the after effects. We will never know the reason why certain people are chosen, and that mystery does not need to be solved. Nor are we required to believe in any appearance that she makes. Yet Mary continues to show herself, so that all generations call her blessed.

Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to a poor native man in Mexico. Not only did she leave a lasting impression on Juan Diego himself, she left a physical image on his tilma. The image of a virgin mother dressed in native garb spoke volumes to the people more than any missionary could. While the conversion of millions are attributed to Mary, the actual work to baptize and teach the faith still relied on the missionaries. And 500 years later, the tilma survives to call us deeper into our faith.

Bernadette Soubirous saw a Lady in the grotto of Lourdes. Very poor and uneducated, Mary appeared to Bernadette in a number of appearances that attracted people on pilgrimage even as the visions were happening. While the Lady Bernadette saw mostly didn’t speak, she did finally reveal herself as the Immaculate Conception, a dogma pronounced only four years prior, and possibly unknown to Bernadette. She also had Bernadette wash in an unknown stream, which Bernadette needed to dig to find. The healing waters of Lourdes bring millions of pilgrims each year with hope and trust in God.

Mary never seeks fame for herself, but uses her motherly instincts to identify what her children in the Church need. In Mexico, it was conversation to faith in her Son that ended the ancient practices and human sacrifices prevalent in their culture. In Lourdes, it was the hope of healing from special waters, and made evident by the crutches that were left behind. There are other places she is said to have appeared like Fatima, Knock, and Medjugorje. There are also many more shrines built in her honor. Mary was only human, and that makes her a comfort to those seeking God, Creator of All. We can take her hand, by praying the rosary and seeking her intercession, and she will lead us to her Son, Jesus.

Mary knows what we need and she is willing to do God’s will for His Glory. She appears when and where there is the most need, not for her benefit, but for ours: to shine the light of faith into our hearts and souls, calling us back to a relationship with God. Jesus allows His Mother to be our Mother. The appearances of Mary are just a mom thing, coming to help us just when we need it.

All about Jesus

This week has been all about Jesus. While I know He is truly present in the Eucharist, sometimes we need to not only be reminded of that, but also reflect on our disposition in His presence. 

During the Wednesday adoration and evening prayers at my parish, the Deacon gave a short reflection about Jesus. While a number of parishioners from Our Lady of Lourdes are preparing for a pilgrimage to Spain and France — culminating in a visit to Lourdes, all have been encouraged to write down their petitions, which will accompany the pilgrims. It can be misleading to think that traveling on a pilgrimage means going to a place where God is more present or more available, but that’s not the case. Deacon Steven reminded us all that Jesus is just as present during our adoration as He is when the pilgrims celebrate Mass in Lourdes with the Pope. But since a pilgrimage is more than just a person going to a holy site, it is all the people who support them in their travels that also receive a share of the grace from those sacred sites. Family, friends, the dog walker, really anyone who supports the pilgrim may be blessed because their support enabled the pilgrim to go. We don’t go on pilgrimages because Jesus is better somewhere else, we go to take a break from the everyday and immerse ourselves in the beauty, the holiness, and impact of the sacred event. A pilgrimage is the opportunity to open oneself more to the Holy Spirit and to desire to do the will of God. 

An even stronger reminder of Jesus’ presence came as video from a Mass on September 14 — on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross — from Minnesota started to surface in social media. At first it was being captioned as an Eucharistic miracle, but a notice from the celebrant, Fr. Brent Bowman, corrected the initial claims and called it a spiritual experience. Since that Mass was being streamed, it can be watched. There is no smoke, no fire, no spectacle to see, just a priest whose voice begins to waver during the consecration prayer over the wine. At first, he can’t even elevate the chalice, but openly sobs. A few days later, Fr. Bowman posted a message explaining what happened. He talks about the “heaviness of Jesus’s substantial presence in the chalice in my hands.” Upon reflection, he felt he “was given grace to understand more deeply the bittersweetness of Our Lord’s Passion and how much blood Christ shed for the immense weight of all our sins.”

The good news is that Mass is celebrated every day, so we can receive Jesus: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist no matter what day of the week it is, not just on Sundays. The bad news is that when we are exposed so much to Jesus in the accidents of bread and wine, we forget what a miracle this sacrament is. We treat church like it is the family room of our friends as we get ready to watch a football game on TV. While it’s great that you feel comfortable being in God’s presence, there is also a need to reflect what God means to us by showing respect for His presence. We don’t go to Mass to meet up with friends, but to meet up with our Creator, our Savior, and our Sanctifier.

We may never be blessed with seeing the Virgin Mary like Saint Bernadette Soubirous, and we may not ever have a spiritual experience regarding the Eucharist like Fr. Bowman. But that does not mean God is not with us. It only means God’s way of showing His closeness is different for us. It also means we need to, respectfully and reverently, continue to receive Jesus in the sacrifice of the Mass. Jesus is a close to you as the closest tabernacle, and it really is all about Jesus.  

Mary at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Washington DC

United in prayer

I’ve been thinking about the Blessed Virgin Mary frequently recently. I supposed it can’t be helped, as in August we celebrated her Assumption into heaven as well as her Queenship. During this month of September, we celebrated her Nativity. And next month, October, will be dedicated to the rosary. Mary forms an important and integral connection in our spiritual life. 

Many clergy and religious throughout the centuries have advocated praying the rosary. And I do mean centuries. In 1214, St. Dominic received a vision of the rosary from Our Lady and propagated the prayer. That’s 800 years ago; almost a millennium! However it was another Dominic (of Prussia) in the 1400s who developed the Joyful, Glorious, and Sorrowful mysteries, in order to focus on the life of Jesus through Mary, gathering the scriptural references to support the meditations for each decade. According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of the term rosary was in 1547. Yet with each generation, there seems to be at least one herald that embraces the rosary and encourages this devotion.

In 1951, then-Bishop Fulton J. Sheen designed the World Mission Rosary. The idea behind using five colors is to represent regions of the world, so that as we pray that decade, we can lift up the individuals of that location for the grace and blessings of God. On September 24, 2026, Archbishop Sheen will be beatified in St. Lois and those attending will receive a special gift: a world mission rosary created by countless volunteers. It was a big ask for volunteers: 75,000 rosaries! My bible study group took a few weeks break in August to participate in creating a fraction of the requested amount. As someone who loves various crafts, I found this to be particularly enjoyable, but also profoundly meaningful. I was helping to create a tool for another person to use in their spiritual growth towards God and, hopefully, eternity with Him. 

It doesn’t matter if the beads are plastic, wooden, stone, or knots, what matters is what happens when we use the rosary to pray. We meditate on Jesus’ life through the lens of the person who knew Him the best: His Mother. The Joyful mysteries start with the Annunciation and conception of Jesus. God became incarnate — He became flesh and blood human like the rest of us — a mystery that we can only contemplate with our finite minds. But the riches of the rosary don’t just end with meditation of Jesus’ earthly life, rather we praise God the Father for creating the most perfect person ever, Mary. Catholics tend to be sloppy in referring to praying to Mary, when in reality we are praying through Mary. She has been depicted as having the moon beneath her feet, and one interpretation correlates the moon reflecting the sun’s light, and Mary does the same. She reflects the light of Christ to us as well as presenting our prayers and petitions to God on our behalf. Mary always leads us to God.

The Hail Mary prayer is largely composed of Scriptural references. One portion is the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to Mary at the Annunciation. If God’s messenger greeted Mary this way, there should be no reason why we can’t do the same. Another portion is from Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary, acknowledging the special role God has given her as the mother of God. In praying this prayer 50 times for one set of mysteries, we are reminding ourselves that God chose to come among us and chose Mary to participate in making this a reality. This is the core tenant of Christian belief. We round out each decade by praying an Our Father, which is the prayer Jesus taught to the disciples, and the Glory Be, which praises God in His Triune being. 

While the prayers of the rosary underscore the foundation of our faith, the methods and intentions of reciting it vary. The rosary can be prayed silently or vocally, independently or as a group, spoken or sung, using an app on a phone, an actual set of rosary beads, or just counting on your fingers or toes. We all have people and situational intentions that we lift up during a rosary. Even when praying in a group, each person can name their petitions so that all gathered can remember them when praying. It is a universal prayer and praying method that anyone can do.

Through the rosary, Mary unites us in prayer. She welcomes our petitions and presents them to God. She cares for us in a motherly fashion, always seeking what is God’s will for us and drawing us ever closer to her Son, Jesus. All she asks is for us to take the time each day to pray the rosary. 

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Willing participant

I can hear in my head Bishop Barron saying, “Your life is not about you” as he has made that remark a number of times throughout his videos and presentations. Yet when we are in the midst of strife, we can forget our interactions can be a learning experience for others as well as for ourselves.

For the past few months, my life has revolved around the activities of searching for a new job. While I have been hired for a short-term contract, I did end up interviewing with another company, since that was a slightly longer contract position and I had been in contact with them prior to being hired. During my interview, the one manager was using negative language regarding the application that I was being brought on to support. I provided my perspective to the recruiter who assured me the company was completely committed to the application, it’s just that the manager is frustrated at the lack of progress that has been made. But I have seen in previous experience, the negativity from management filters down and compromises the motivation of the team. 

After some exchanges with the recruiter, we all agreed that I was not the right person for the role. While that did sting my ego a bit, I wondered why God had me go through this experience? I was looking at this from my perspective, it was my job search, this was happening to me. But what if this incident was not about me at all? What if this was a way for that company to recognize that the way they communicate matters? Did they learn their lesson? I have no idea, and it’s really not for me know. The important thing is for me to be a willing participant in this learning opportunity. I need to evaluate my words and actions to see if I could have said or did things differently, but not to dwell in the “what ifs” of what can never be. 

How many times have we been puzzled by exchanges we’ve had with others? Sometimes they feel like they don’t make sense at all, but have we ever considered that we were placed in those circumstances for a reason? When things work out for our benefit, we often attribute it to having “good luck” or receiving a blessing. But if we are not the beneficiaries of the outcome, we may just consider it weird and move on with our day. And perhaps, too, we’re not meant to recognize our part, which is why the situations feel odd. In the aftermath of the interview and communications of the job, my prayers for guidance through it feels like I was rewarded with a peek behind the curtain of life, showing me how this situation was not about me, but for the others involved. However, there was also a question as well: will I allow God to use me in the future for a similar effect? This may mean I will find myself feeling like I am out of my comfort zone, being anxious about what I am to say or do, and results without any blessing. Will I embrace all manners of circumstances and ask God to use me for His will to be done? Will I accept physical, mental, emotional, and/or spiritual sufferings for the betterment of others?

We are all called to pursue the will of God to the best of our abilities. As the Bible illustrates, God involves people from various backgrounds and experiences to accomplish salvation and to guide mankind back to a relationship with Him. I like to think that we are all blessed with our life on Earth for a reason, but in reality there are probably countless reasons why God orchestrates the various events on our paths to Him. Let us ask Mary for the confidence to say “Yes!” to do God’s will and to ponder these experiences in our hearts with her help.  

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Who’s got the wheel?

I know I’ve heard the expression, “Jesus, take the wheel,” numerous times. However, I’m not sure that’s really good theology. I think each of us is in the driver’s seat when it comes to our lives. That doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t have a role to play, it’s more about God respecting His gift of free will for us.

While I’m not familiar with the country song Jesus, Take the Wheel, a quick Google search indicates the inspiration was a person who lost control of their car on an icy road and offered up this prayer. In this specific set of circumstances, that prayer totally makes sense to me. However, many hear that phrase and think it can be used as a replacement for other supportive prayers like “God help me.” They are not one in the same. It’s not a surrender to God’s will, but rather asking God to make decisions for us. Driving requires us to make decisions and accept the resulting consequences. When we ask Jesus to take the wheel of our life, essentially we are giving up our free will and asking God to do everything for us. But God did not create us to be mindless slaves.

When life seems totally out of control, asking God to ‘take the wheel” sounds comforting. But even when circumstances are beyond our control, we still make choices. When our health is suffering, we make the choice to visit a doctor. We make a choice to accept the treatment offered or to get a second opinion. It doesn’t change our condition, only how we address it. When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, God did hear their prayers, but He didn’t wipe out the Egyptians and let the Israelites live in that land. Rather, He had them participate in their freedom. If they wanted freedom, they needed to cross the sea, they needed to cross the desert, and they needed to re-conquer the land that was once theirs. They had a choice every step of the way. God was their navigator to get them back to the Promised Land and to teach them how to be His people. Their additional wandering in the desert was due to the poor choices they made. But God didn’t give up on them; He simply recalculated the route so they could learn to trust Him.

Through the Holy Spirit, God provides the same navigational assistance in our daily lives. I remember when I was praying for guidance to decide if I should move to Virginia. That was a huge change for me. Yet the answer wasn’t a straight Yes or No, rather God indicated that I could choose either to stay where I was or move and there would be differences in my life based on what I chose. Other times I have been prompted to do something outside of my comfort zone, like assisting with the youth faith formation, which I volunteered for not because I wanted to do it but because I responded to the request for help. It may sound like youth faith formation would be me in just a teaching capacity, but it’s also learning, not only diving deeper into the material, but also from the children’s perspective as well. When we share the faith, we all grow in faith.

I agree the song title Jesus, Take the Wheel, is much snappier than Jesus, be my navigator, or Jesus, be my guide, but God wants us to participate in our lives with Him. It’s not all on us and not all on Him. We strive to know God and His will for us now, in order to nurture a relationship that will culminate into eternity in heaven with Him. He will show us the way, if we listen and make the decision to respond.

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Made in His image

In the beginning, like in the very first chapter of Genesis, God makes man — or humans — in His image. “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27). So what does it mean to be created in God’s Image? What is it to be human?

Science has classified humans as mammals, aligning us with cats, dogs, horses, giraffes, and dolphins, because of the traits we share like live births and feeding newborns with milk from the mother. Yet God has only indicated that humans are made in His image. Does that mean that the rest of creation lacks a connection with God? Nope, and even Jesus confirms this in Matthew’s Gospel where He indicates that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father knowing it. (Matt 10:29). All of creation is held in God’s hands. Our being comes from Him and our lives depend on Him. So what makes humans so special?

Language is usually one of the first descriptors that people will say differentiate us from the animals. However most, if not all creatures have some sort of communication. If language is different among humans, we need to expect that communicating with other species would be drastically different. My cat may not understand exactly what I’m saying when I tell her “get off the table.” However, her tail usually swishes; a sign that she hears me and recognizes that I’m talking to her. Likewise, I don’t understand the meaning of her meows when she is bringing me her toy mouse that she hunted and harvested, yet she seems to revel in the resulting praise I give her for being such a good huntress. Yet between my two cats, they have a language that I’m not even aware they are communicating. It is through their pheromones, scents that are released, that they talk and usually the little girl encourages the little boy to flee when I’m trying to trim his claws. Each species has their own unique communication, be it verbal or otherwise. There have been reports where primates have learned to communicate with human sign language, but that does not make them equal to humans. 

Working with tools is another observation that will be used to call out the uniqueness of humans. However, other animals do use tools. Sea otters often carry a stone with them that they use to crack open the hard shells of sea creatures they consume. Primates and elephants use sticks and pieces of wood and even ravens will use items in their surroundings to achieve a goal. Using tools does take intellect because you have to figure out how to maneuver the tool to accomplish what you want. I’ve often found it fascinating to watch the shows about zoos and the enrichment items they provide the animals to engage the behaviors they would normally use in the wild. Yet even if animals don’t use tools, they, too, have intelligence in regards to surviving and understanding their environment.

While animals focus on survival, and when in a safe location being content; humans search for more. We search for how and why things happen. We didn’t stop looking to use tools from our surroundings, but sought out how to create better versions. Human language is not just about food and feelings in the present, but we use it to recall past events and convey our hopes for the future. We even devised a way to capture communication so that other people now and in the future can know and understand our thoughts through the written word. Math, biology, chemistry, physics, history, art, music, are all ways humans search for more understanding. How can we begin to know and understand the workings of a single cell with its DNA, unless we are called to do so by the one who created it all? We see and observe, and then try to interpret the meaning of what we saw. Being made in God’s image has given humans the unique ability to investigate and understand our world and our existence. Being made in His likeness means that we have an immortal soul that will live on even after our bodies cease to exist. And in the resurrection of the dead, our souls will be reunited with our bodies for all eternity.   

The superiority God has blessed us with is a gift we need to use to be good stewards of the world across our lifetime. We are not alone on this earth because we are fully self-sufficient, but rather share this planet with millions of other non-human creatures because they can help us, both in our daily lives as well as our spiritual lives, to know, love, and serve God. Let us thank God for all creatures, great and small, as well as the blessing of being made in His image.

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Yield of joy

Pain and joy seem to be opposites. Yet, as Christians we are called to rejoice always. Paul says this in the final chapter in his letters to both the Philippians and the Thessalonians. Can joy be found in the midst of trials and pain?

I was chatting with a friend who is preparing for yet another knee replacement. She grew up with juvenile arthritis, so even though she’s lived a life of pain, her mobility is suffering enough to warrant this major surgery. She does seek God’s healing in her life, even if it comes through the ministry of a surgeon. She believes God can heal her, it’s just a matter of finding the right method. While I knew she suffered from back and knee pain, to see her using a cane to get around in her home hurt my heart. I wish I could have said a prayer over her that would relieve the constant reminder of her various medical issues. We talked about pain and what it does, not just to the body but also to a person’s life. With it being so severe, she is limited to how much she can go out for regular activities like Mass and grocery shopping. This makes her world very small and isolating. I know for myself, when I’m in pain I don’t want to be around anyone, because I’m very moody and irritable and I don’t want others to receive that treatment from me. 

This discussion brought to mind a mailing from a religious society that I received a number of years ago while recuperating from kidney stone treatment. I was frustrated with my circumstances, in pain, and very glad that I was the only one in my house because I could be as grumpy as I wanted to be. But the back of the envelope had a quote from a saint saying that one should always smile and find happiness in everything, since our guardian angel is with us at all times. We talked about this and feelings in general. One of the things I realized is that human feelings can be a good thing to help us understand what is going on in our world and our lives. However, we are not called to dwell in our feelings. How we feel is not the measure of how our day is going to be, yet for many that seems to be how we approach our lives. If we feel misery because of arthritis or a job loss, we shouldn’t dwell upon how miserable we are, because we will only intensify the feeling, not relieve it.

The ending of the parable of the sower popped into my head as I thought about this. “But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” (Matt 13:8) We’re not called to always yield 100 percent of the harvest. Sometimes it will be much less than that, but it’s what we do provide in the harvest of God that matters. If we look at dwelling in joy or misery on a scale of 1 to 10, one may say they feel the pain is a 9 or 10, but they don’t need to focus on that feeling. They can focus on the joy of a friend’s visit, even if on a scale that joy is only a 1 or a 2. Where do you want to spend your time, thinking of the pain or thinking of joy? Can pain distract us from feeling joy? Yes, I’m not going to deny that it does. The pain, trials, and challenges of life provide us the opportunities to choose where we are going to focus how we live our lives: as reflecting the joy of Jesus, no matter how small it is, or wrapped up in what we expect from our lives and how they fall short? 

Each of us has a journey to make during our lifetime and we may never know on this side of heaven why we endure the trials and pains God allows in our lives. Sometimes it may be so that we can be healed by Him through miraculous ways. For others it may be so that others can participate in the healing He provides. And for some it may be a lifelong calling so that they can develop a deeper relationship with Him. Through it all we are called to rejoice in God, so that the harvest at the end of our lives is not a basket with feelings of sorrow and misery, but a basket of joy to place before the Lord. 

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Choose to believe

The rosary app I sometimes use includes scripture passages to reflect upon at the beginning of each mystery. When the first Glorious mystery comes up, I’ve started to notice the passage they use is from John’s Gospel and has made me look at the Resurrection in a new light. 

After attending years of Masses, especially in the Easter season, we’re all familiar with the various Gospel accounts, however they are often small snippets of the whole account. What started me pondering is the verse from John’s Gospel, “Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.” (John 20:8). This is the first time that belief is mentioned in regards to the resurrection. But it’s oddly juxtaposed by the following line, “For they did not yet understand the scripture that He had to rise from the dead.” (John 20:9). So what exactly was John believing? Did he believe that Jesus rose? Or did he believe that somehow, in some way, Jesus was alive again? What about Peter? Did he not believe at that point? Did he have to wait to actually see Jesus before he believed? And then later in that chapter of John’s Gospel, we hear about Thomas who refused to believe unless he actually touched the wounds of Jesus.

If we pull back and view the appearances of Jesus after His resurrection as a whole, we see that belief comes to each disciple differently. For John, whose whole Gospel is very much mystical and contemplative, he was able to see and recognize the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection from what was left in the tomb, and more specifically, how the burial cloths were positioned. He may not have fully understood what had happened, but at the very least he knew Jesus was alive. By including the experience of Thomas, John provides hope to those who struggle to believe Jesus is God and Messiah.

We are all called to the tomb. We see the evidence of 2 millennia of belief from people of all walks of life — the saints and blesseds. Do we see and believe? Or do we wait for a personal encounter with Jesus?  As Christians, we are called to believe that Jesus, the Son of God, was born, lived, preached, suffered, died, and rose from the dead 2,000+ years ago. As Catholics, we are called to believe that Jesus is present to us today in the Real Presence of His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist. We are able to see, talk, and touch Him each time we are at Mass. Do we believe He is with us, or do we suspend our judgement? 

We live in a world of multiple religions where some honor Jesus as a prophet or a great teacher. But that is only a small portion of who Jesus really is. It’s like they accept Jesus’s preaching because that’s what earthly men do, but when it comes to the resurrection, they can’t believe it, because that is something only God can do. We are called to proclaim Jesus as GOD. At each Mass and each opportunity for adoration do we attend with the belief Jesus is God and is present in our lives? This is not just about making an intellectual decision, but rather a life altering one. Either we believe in Jesus and transform our way of life, or we are not believers. To believe is to change from our self-facing desires, to seeking to do God’s will. Again, in this age of self-help books and instant gratification, it’s hard not to choose the comfortable way. “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.’” (Matt 16:24) Jesus is clear that we will each have crosses in our lives, but rather than reject them, we must embrace them and follow where He leads. 

Belief in Jesus and living our lives trying to do God’s will leaves evidence in the world. We become agents of God’s goodness and blessings in both small and big ways. We do it, not for our glory, but for the glory of God, to show others they are loved by God and support them in their journey towards a relationship with God. Each day we make our choice to deny ourselves and believe in Jesus so that God’s will may be done in our little corner of the world. 

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Pray, work, and rest

A few weeks ago the Gospel for one of the weekday Masses was about Jesus being Lord of the Sabbath. That reading made me think of other passages to define what we need to survive: prayer, work, and rest.

Jesus’ disciples were walking along a road and were hungry. They began to pick the heads of grain and munch on them. They weren’t picking it to sell, nor to make any particular dish, just to get a little food in their stomachs. Because it was the Sabbath, the Pharisees quickly passed judgement saying they were unlawfully working on a day of rest. (Matt 12: 1-8) When Father Herman was giving the homily, he identified the disciples’ actions as gleaning. He then referenced that in the book of Leviticus, Jews were specifically instructed not to harvest an entire field, but rather leave some for the poor, the widow, the orphan to glean so that they may survive.

In mandating the Jews refrain from harvesting every single piece of produce, God is giving to the less fortunate the dignity to work for what they consume. Just because they were poor or in reduced circumstances didn’t mean they deserved to be given things on a silver platter. Rather, the poor are to be given the same opportunity to work for what they need, just like those who worked to provide for their families. An example of what this looks like is recorded in the book of Ruth, where Naomi, on behalf of herself and Ruth who are both widows, follow the harvesters in the fields to glean what is left so they can survive. It is Ruth’s compassion for her mother-in-law and her diligence in gathering what she can that she is noticed by Boaz, and becomes not only his wife, but the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor to Jesus.

Many think that work started because of the first sin, however, that is erroneous. “The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.” (Gen 2:15) Adam was called to take care of the garden of Eden. The work was not a chore to be wearied by, but rather a participation with God in the creation of the world. It is only after the fall that God curses the ground so that the work of producing a harvest is a struggle requiring laborious effort.

The book of Genesis includes the day of rest once God completed creation. God is an infinite being but He blesses the day to make it holy, not for Himself but to be a pattern for all who are created in His image and likeness should imitate by resting from the strenuous effort of toiling to bring forth food and shelter. Rest is important for everyone, but not at the cost of damaging your body by starving. In designating a time for rest, God’s blueprint for life shows that it needs to be balanced with work. Like any other good thing — too much rest, too much food, too much sun — can have negative consequences on our bodies.

These eight lines in Matthew’s Gospel illustrate what it means to be a Christian. Our life is a journey with Jesus and He walks with us. Our life of prayer is similar to the disciples walking with Jesus. The road Jesus chose to walk down with his disciples was next to fields. Similarly, Jesus provides us the opportunities to participate in obtaining what we need, both physically and spiritually. As Lord of the Sabbath, He is merciful towards us and allows rest in proportion to our needs.

“But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.” (Matt 6:33) Jesus tells his disciples that first we need to seek God (pray), and what we need will be given to us. What God gives us, are opportunities to participate in obtaining the goods we need to live on earth, which is times of both work and rest. That is how we need to order our days and our lives: Pray, Work, and Rest.