The Will of the Father

Our Scripture readings for today can be found at Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

We hear in our gospel for today Jesus teaching us, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus is teaching us that our actions and our words must coincide. We can say all the right things, but if our lives do not match the words that we are saying, it is meaningless. In chapter 7 of the gospel of Saint Matthew, Jesus is attempting to show his followers how to live a life of faithfulness to God in a way that’s pleasing to Him. Our actions must match our words.

Jesus explicitly states that merely calling Him "Lord, Lord" does not grant entry into the kingdom of heaven. Even outwardly impressive deeds, such as prophesying or casting out demons in His name, are insufficient if a person's life lacks true, loving obedience to the Father's will. 

Let’s be like the wise man the Lord talks about in today’s gospel and build a house on a rock. Let us offer all our prayers to the Lord with sincere love for Him. Let us also love our neighbors as ourselves. Our following Jesus is meant to be both vertical and horizontal. We are to look up towards God with true love and devotion and look towards our neighbors with the love God expects us to have for all those people made in his likeness. It will be then that our relationship with God will be on a rock foundation. 

Pope John Paul II heavily relied on Matthew 7:21-29 to challenge young people and the faithful worldwide. He connected the parable of the "house built on rock" to Jesus Christ as the solid foundation, calling believers to actively live the Gospel rather than simply paying it lip service.

May the Lord fill our hearts with true love for Him and for our neighbor.

St. Barnabas

Scripture readings may be found at Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle | USCCB

Today we celebrate the feast Saint Barnabas, apostle. He was one of the first followers after the ascension of Jesus into heaven. He preached the gospel at Antioch and was a companion of Saint Paul. 

As we hear from in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, many people came to know Jesus through his preaching. It was in Antioch that the early followers were called Christians.

It was during this time the Christians were being persecuted following the death of Saint Stephen, deacon and the first martyr.  So, as a result, it took a great deal of courage for Saint Paul and Barnabas to continue preaching, even though they knew they could face certain death for preaching Jesus Christ. What helped Saint Barnabas, St. Paul and the others was that that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave them strength and courage to continue to preach about Jesus Christ, and the fact that he is Savior and Messiah. In their own ways Barnabas and St. Paul were devoted to the Sacred Heart. It is through them that we have our faith today. We are called in some way to do as Saint Barnabas and Saint Paul did in sharing our faith in Jesus Christ with those in our lives. We may meet with resistance, but we are called to be vigilant in letting others know about Jesus Christ, and our faith in him. Through our baptism and confirmation, we are, too, are filled with Holy Spirit.

In anticipation to celebration Sacred Heart of Jesus tomorrow, let’s pray the words that Padre Pio gave us in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted,
have pity on us miserable sinners
and grant us the grace which we ask of you,
through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary,
your tender Mother and ours.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

 Scripture reading for this reflection can be found at https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060426.cfm

In our Gospel for today, our Lord is teaching us the most central meaning of what it means to be his follower: Love of God and love of neighbor. At first, it sounds easy, but it really isn’t as easy as it sounds. 

Love of God needs to be primary in our lives. In all our daily activities we need to act in ways that clearly show that we are followers of Jesus Christ.  We need to love God with our whole mind, heart and soul. God must be central in all our thoughts and activities. We need to act with love and integrity in all our activities during the day  

The next challenge is to love our neighbors as ourselves. This can be very difficult since many people are challenging to even to like. But we are not called to like them, we are called to love them.

As you go through your day today, try to keep God central in your  thoughts as you do your daily activities. Also, as you deal with people, treat them with love and respect as children of God. In this way we are bringing God’s love to all that we encounter. 

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Fifth Sunday of Easter | USCCB

The gospel for this Fifth Sunday of Easter from John chapter 14, verses 1-12, I think is one of the most comforting parts of Scripture. It's a gospel I read often at both wakes and funerals. Jesus is reassuring us that he will be there for us and is telling us not to be troubled.  Just have faith in God and faith in Him. 

Whenever I read this at a wake, I encourage all the family members to pray for the deceased and to let their hearts not be troubled. I assure the family that the deceased loved one is in the loving embrace of Jesus and is being led to a place prepared for them by the Lord. Jesus promises, "I am going to prepare a place for you." John 14:3. I encourage regular prayer for our deceased loved one to help them during their journey with Jesus towards heaven. 

As we ourselves journey throughout this life here on earth, let us remember that Jesus is walking along side us. In whatever troubles we may face, let us place our troubles into the loving hands of Jesus. He will be present to us in good times and bad times. We just need to trust that He'll be with us every step of the way.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.

 

 The scripture readings for today can be found at Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter | USCCB

In our gospel for today from St. John, we hear of the scene at the Last Supper of Jesus washing the feet of the Disciples. This act of humility was our Lords way of teaching the disciples of service to others in their lives as followers of Him. By this point in the gospel, it is getting close to the Lord being betrayed by Judas and being turned over to the authorities to die on the Cross. The Gospel of St. John doesn’t focus on the institution of the Eucharist but on that of service to others.

What’s interesting in today’s gospel is that it takes place just before Judas betrays the Lord. So, the Lord, in fact, had also washed the feet of Judas, knowing full well that he was about to betray him to the Scribes and Pharisees. This act of love to not only the other disciples, but to Judas, as well, gives us an example of how we are to treat all people, even those that we may have problems with. The Lord loved Judas and was willing to wash his feet even though the Lord knew Judas was about to betray him. This ultimate humility towards Judas teaches us how we are to treat all people in our lives, even those that we may feel betrayed by.

Further in today’s gospel we hear the Lord make it clear that he was not only truly man, but truly God. The Lord says, “From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM.” (John 13:19) These words, “I AM” are the words that God used with Moses when God sent Moses to the people and declared that he is God, using the phase, “I AM WHO AM.” So, this helped make it clear to the disciples of who Jesus truly is: true God and true man.

As we meditate on this scripture, let us truly remember that we are to serve others in our lives, even those that we may have issues with, and also remember that Jesus is true God and true man. Let us always pray to the Lord to ask him to not only have love for God, but to have love for all those people in our lives, even those we may find it difficult to deal with.

I am the bread of life.

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042326.cfm

In our gospel for today we continue with the Bread of Life discourse.  Throughout John chapter 6 Jesus is teaching about how we will be fed on His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. The Lord goes on and teaches that unless we eat of his body and drink of his blood we will have no life in us. Jesus tells us in today’s reading,  “Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.” 

Many of those listening to Jesus had a problem understanding and accepting this teaching, thinking he was talking about cannibalism. We know that Jesus is able to give us His Body and Blood at every Mass. It’s not symbolic, but truly His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. 

Let us be truly grateful for this wonderful gift of the Lord each time we attend Mass. 

"We must obey God rather than men.”

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Thursday of the Second Week of Easter | USCCB

In our first readings from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of the ongoing persecution of the apostles as they continue to proclaim that Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. They faced imprisonment and harassment for proclaiming the Risen Lord.

The apostles persisted in preaching the Risen Lord and so serve as an example of how we are to live out our faith in Jesus Christ. When challenged by the religious leaders (who could not bring themselves to mention Jesus' name), Peter famously says, "We must obey God rather than any human authority" (Acts 5:29). There will always be people in our families and friends that may say to us, “…to stop teaching in that name.” People simply don’t want to hear about Jesus and the fact that he is Lord and Messiah. But we must be persistent in our sharing our faith in Jesus Christ. It doesn’t need to be as dramatic as with the apostles where we may be arrested and thrown in jail. Or we may not be called to stand on the street corner with bible in hand preaching Jesus. But we are called to live out our lives in a way that people will know that we are followers of Jesus Christ. We are called to preach Jesus by loving God and loving our neighbor. Like the apostles, we are to be counter-cultural in living out our Christian Faith, which is contrary to how society sees things.

Frequent attendance at Daily and Sunday mass, regular time for daily prayer and treating people with love and respect is how we are to preach Jesus Christ to a world that may reject who the Lord is. But, like the apostles we are to be persistent in our faith in the Risen Lord. We are to place God first in all our actions.

The Lord has Risen, indeed he has Risen from the Dead.