Become Like Him

Jesus was born into the world as a baby.  As an infant, He was helpless.  As a newborn, He was vulnerable.  Jesus, the King of the Universe, was humbled by being born into the world as a tiny frail human being.  He did such a thing since His ways are not our ways.*  God loves us infinitely, and so Jesus, from His great love for us, obediently submitted to the will of Our Heavenly Father by coming to save us from our sins.  

Jesus was born in a stable.**  He came into the world in stark surroundings.  He came to us in a simple setting.  In how He came among us, He demonstrated that we are to acquiesce to becoming little.  We are to accept how God is calling us to be content with whatever God sends to us.  We can choose to happily and joyously depend on God.  We find a sure footing when we completely trust in God.  If we but totally trust in God, we find that there is much stability in humility.  

If we become like Jesus, we are built on a secure foundation, on solid rock.***  If we become like Jesus, we are loving no matter what happens.  If we become like Jesus, we love God for all He sends us.  If we become like Jesus, we love no matter what the cost.  

* Isaiah 55:8 
** Luke 2:16 
*** Matthew 7:24-25; Luke 6:47-48 

Remember His Love

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.  Some might ask what difference it makes to them in their everyday lives that Our Blessed Mother Mary was immaculately conceived without sin in her.  

In our lives everyday, we face challenges.  When these obstacles in our lives seem so daunting that they feel overwhelming, we can be considerably heartened and strengthened if we ponder the Immaculate Conception.  

In the midst of formidable trials, we can be fortified, and can remain on solid rock, if we consider the Immaculate Conception, for it is a sign of God's great love for us.  Our Blessed Mother Mary had not yet come into being, and so she had not done anything to merit being conceived without sin in her.  She was so conceived purely from the love of God.  

God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to us.*  God sent His Holy Spirit upon Our Blessed Mother Mary; she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.**  God sent the breath of His love into Mary, she conceived by the power of that love, and Jesus, love incarnate, came forth into the world.  God brought love into the world through Jesus, for God is love.***  

We can remember this immense love God has for us when we feel we are being overcome by misfortune.  If we keep in mind this tremendous love God feels for us, we can remain in peace despite intense tribulation.  God gives peace to those who remember His love for them.  Amen.  

* John 3:16 
** Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35 
*** 1 John 4:8,16 

Do Not Doubt

If I say that I am right with God, all I do is prove that I am not right with God.  We are all sinners.  We are all in need of God's mercy.  

Do not doubt; sin we will.  This is not to say that we should abandon our best efforts not to sin; certainly not.  Since God calls us back to Him, God calls us not to sin, for to sin is to choose to turn away from God.  

Despite our best efforts, we will sin.  When we sin, God calls us to repent.  

Do not doubt; God's mercy is greater than our sin.  God is infinite, and so God's mercy is infinite.  The name of God is mercy, as our Holy Father Pope Francis reminds us.  Jesus is love and mercy itself, as He told Saint Faustina.  

Do not doubt; God is love,* and so God is merciful.  If you think that God will not forgive your sin, you forget that God is infinite, and thus that God's love is infinite.  

God's love is greater than anything we think, say or do.  So often what we think, say and do is sinful.  As we come to see how much we sin, we can allow ourselves to be humbled.  If we come to see ourselves as the grains of dust that we are in this vast universe, then we can welcome the humility that can lead us to beg God to forgive our sins.  

God gives grace to the humble.**  By the grace of God, we can come to be who God made us to be, acknowledging that His love and mercy are infinite.  Through the grace of God, we do His will, and take our rightful places in this life, and in the next.  Amen.  

* 1 John 4:8,16 
** 1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6 

Respect Your Dignity

This afternoon a certain homeless woman stopped by here at the Catholic Worker House.  Again here I'll call her "Kimberly."  
Kimberly excitedly told me that she has been invited to start an outpatient rehabilitation program.  When she shared this good news with me, we happily exchanged high fives.  

She explained that the people running the program told her that if she wanted to enter the program, she should not use illicit substances.  Immediately she announced that today is her third day in a row being sober.  Upon declaring this wonderful news, her eyes welled up with tears.  

I rejoice in my soul that my dear friend is taking healthy steps to proclaim her realization of her own self-worth.  She is putting her self-respect into action by not abusing her own body.  

She is being lifted up from the spiritual and emotional morass in which she had been dwelling.  She is being delivered from her sins.  

God has raised high the lowly.*  He has helped her to recognize and to respect her own dignity.  God has filled the starving with good things.**  He has come to her aid, and in her dire hunger, craving true food, He has nourished her with the insight she has needed to value her own self.  

God has come to our help.***  God raises us up, mindful of His faithful love.****  

* Luke 1:52 
** Luke 1:53 
*** Luke 1:54 
**** Luke 1:54 

Lovingly Choose Life

Earlier this week a homeless woman who I'll call "Katarina" told me that a homeless man who I'll call "Zack" had brutalized her.  Soon after she had shared this raw wound with me, again we crossed paths.  Then Katarina told me that Zack had come to her, repentant and regretful.  Zack, a tall, burly, muscular man, had stood before Katarina, his lip quivering with remorse, and had apologized to her for how he had grossly mistreated her.  

God can soften hardened hearts.  God can transform brutality into repentance.  

Just as God can lead us sinners to repent by guiding us through the Holy Spirit to forsake our hurtful behavior, so God can heal our wounded neighbor.  I have already seen how Katarina has been healing, since she has been forgiving Zack.  We heal ourselves and our neighbor when we forgive our neighbor.  

To heal ourselves, also we must forgive ourselves.  To heal ourselves, we must love ourselves.  So that we may be restored to health, sometimes we must recognize that we are not responsible for how others have harmed us.  Some people who have been abused blame themselves.  We are not responsible for others' actions.  However, we are responsible for how we respond to others' actions.  God calls us to love ourselves, such that we do not blame ourselves for what others do to us.  

God calls us not to perpetuate the suffering that others have inflicted on us by abusing ourselves.  God calls us not to cling to our pain.  God calls us to let go of our anguish by not fostering it through inaccurate images of ourselves.  

God calls us not to recreate our torment by continuing to live in our pain.  Some people who have been traumatized choose to relive the harrowing experience by putting themselves back into the same situation with the same person who abused them.  Rather than live in past abuse which binds us to death, God calls us to new life.  Jesus has told us that He came so that we might have new life, and have it to the full.*  

We find life in Jesus, who is The Way to The Life, which is The Truth.**  We find life when we love others as Jesus loves us.***  
God calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves.****  Since God calls us to love others, we must also love ourselves.  We must accord ourselves the same love we bestow upon others.  We owe ourselves a duty to love ourselves.  

If we love ourselves, we choose life.*****  As we love ourselves, we move toward having life to the full.  When we love ourselves, we move toward God.  In loving ourselves, we start to become who God has always meant us to be.  

As we become who God has always intended us to be, at the same time we are praising God and glorifying Him.  When we open our hearts to who God made us to be, we acknowledge His rightful place as our Creator, and thus come to love our Heavenly Father with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength.******  

As we become who God made us to be, we draw back home to God and toward Heaven.  Let us love ourselves, our neighbor, and thus become who God created us to be.  Amen.  

* John 10:10 
** John 14:6 
*** John 13:34; John 15:12 
**** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
***** Deuteronomy 30:19 
****** Deuteronomy 6:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27 

Love With Mercy

Everyday we are presented with chances to love.  We are repeatedly faced with the choice of whether we will stop what we are doing so we can love others.  Thus we are called to love rather than to fear.  When we fall prey to fear, we fall away from love.  We decide to love when we listen to our neighbor.  We choose love when we are willing to learn from our neighbor.  

Today as we celebrate the feast day of Saint Matthew, once again we hear how Jesus calls us to love and to be merciful and thus to open our hearts to our neighbor.  In today's Gospel, we hear that 

Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.  
He said to him, "Follow Me."  
And he got up and followed Him.  
While He was at table in his house, 
many tax collectors and sinners came 
and sat with Jesus and His disciples.  
The Pharisees saw this and said to His disciples, 
"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  
He heard this and said, 
"Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.  
Go and learn the meaning of the words, 
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.  
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."*  

When Jesus told Saint Matthew to follow Him, Saint Matthew got up and followed Jesus.  As a wise person once pointed out to me, Saint Matthew didn't ask Jesus what his invitation entailed.  Saint Matthew simply got up, left everything, and followed Jesus.  Saint Matthew didn't have to discern what he was going to do; it was clear to him that he was going to follow Jesus, so immediately he did so.  

God presents all of us with chances to love.  When God gives us the gift of an opportunity to love, get up and follow Jesus wherever He calls you to go.  We find Jesus in our neighbor, and for however long our neighbor is next to us, we can choose to love our neighbor in every single instant.  Jesus calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves.**  If our neighbor requests love from us, then we are to give that love to Jesus who we find in our neighbor.  When the duty of the present moment requests, then we get up and follow the call of Jesus to love our neighbor.  
When we choose fear over love, we ignore this call from Jesus.  When we succumb to fright, then we are turning away from loving our neighbor.  When we want to run away from what we have to do, then we turn aside from Jesus and from the duty to love our neighbor.  When we run away from our duty, we fail to love ourselves.  

I felt this pull of fear, and I was taught by a friend how to properly respond to such fear months ago.  This friend, who here I'll call "Anna," had done something wrong.  She needed to set it right again.  

She went to set things back in their proper place, and I accompanied her.  When she got to where she needed to restore things, she asked me how she was to do so.  Panicking, I stammered, "Just be done with it, and let's get out of here."  Calmly, she replied that she felt it was more appropriate to speak with the people who she had wronged.  She tried to speak with them, but it turned out that they were not there when she arrived.  She could have just departed, yet she not only left a voice message apologizing to the people she had wronged, but she also left her name.  She did her best to make amends for how she had inappropriately behaved.  

What else can I tell you about Anna?  Anna is a homeless woman who is addicted to methamphetamines.  

It is easy and convenient to declare that the homeless drug addict is the sick one.  Jesus suggests that those who are morally lacking are sick.  I was the morally deficient one in that situation: I was the one who wanted to hurry up and leave so we could avoid an uncomfortable confrontation, rather than see my friend partly spiritually healed through making the appropriate reparations to the people she had wronged.  In demonstrating to me how to begin to responsibly set right one's mistakes, this homeless addict was like a physician to my sick and troubled soul.  

When we see how we can learn from others who we had previously thought were below us, it becomes easy to realize the meaning of the words, "Mercy is what pleases Me, not sacrifice."***  If we realize that we can learn from people who we think are worse off than us, then it becomes easy to be merciful toward them.  

Jesus explained that He came to call not the upright, but sinners.  It is more comfortable for me to think of myself as upright than to realize that I am a sinner.  The truth hurts.  The truth is that I am a sinner.  Yet all is not lost, for Jesus calls me and all of us sinners to repentance and to restoration with God.  
Jesus calls us.  Jesus asks us to get up, leave everything and follow Him.  Jesus asks us to leave our conceptions of ourselves, to realize we are sinners, to give up our sinful ways, to make amends for what we have done wrong, and, having renounced our sinful desires, to follow Him.  Jesus calls us to such renunciation since He wants us to love ourselves and stop destroying ourselves.  He wants us to love ourselves so we can love our neighbor as ourselves.  We are called to love so that we can love each other as Jesus has loved us.****  We are called to show great love, to give up everything, and to follow Jesus.  When we do so, we finally become who God has always meant us to be.  Amen.  

* Matthew 9:9-13 
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
*** Hosea 6:6 
**** John 13:34; John 15:12 

Forgive Through Humility

Earlier this week I saw a particular homeless woman who again I'll call "Anna."  Over the last month, Anna has felt called to change.  

Anna told me that she knows that she has to make amends with a lot of people.  She also said that she has to turn away from sin.

She shared with me that she is aware that God is merciful.  She added that although we don't deserve God's grace, He gives it to us anyway because He is such a gentleman.  

Anna has taken important steps toward the recovery of her true self.  She has realized that regardless of poor choices she has made, she can ask God to forgive her, and that God will forgive her.  

God forgives us our sins as we repent.  A humble, contrite heart, O God, You will not spurn.*  

Forgiven by God, we are shown the love we are to show to others.  Forgiven by God, we see how we are to forgive others.  

If we forgive others, God our Heavenly Father will forgive us, as Jesus taught us.**  Choosing to love, we return home to God, who is love.***  

* Psalm 51:17 
** Sirach 28:2; Matthew 6:15; Mark 11:25 
*** 1 John 4:8,16 

Littleness Can Teach

Usually once a week I take a day of silence.  On such a day, as much as work allows, I aim to speak as little as I can.  In deliberately being quiet on certain days, I aspire then on other days to fall silent more often than I used to be.  

I practice silence to help me discern and say and do what God wills.  I enter into silence to help me be attentive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  

I resort to silence to prevent me from sinning.    My Lord and my God, put a curb on my lips, so that I not sin with my tongue.*  

Last week, on my silent day, at one point I was in the kitchen when one of our current long-term guests entered the room.  She's an eight-year old who lives here at the Catholic Worker House with her mom.  She began making regular conversation with me, perhaps about how my day was going, or what food was on the counter, or something else which naturally came to mind.  After not too long as I continued to respond without words, she asked me why I was not speaking.  In such instances, when I can't respond by nodding or shaking my head, I write my response.  Yet in this particular case, almost immediately she began to think about a possible answer to her own query.  She asked, "Are you quiet so you can listen better to others?"  Frankly, I hadn't been consciously taking silent days as a means to help me to better listen.  Nevertheless, when she so inquired, I pondered her question and realized that through regularly falling silent, I can improve at listening to others, which I wish to do.  I nodded in reply.  

Our neighbor can teach us if we are willing to listen.  We can learn even from little children. If we let little children come to us, we can be led by them to the Kingdom of Heaven, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as them.**  Amen.  

* Psalm 39:1; Psalm 141:3 
** Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:14; Luke 18:16 

Blessed With Faith

To have faith is to be blessed.  You are blessed when you have the gift of faith from God, for you are not relying on yourself.  With faith, you become more than yourself.  If you are moved by faith, you trust in God.  As faith lives in you, God breathes in you and speaks through you.  If you have faith, although God has already tremendously blessed you, God gives still more by using your faith to reshape the world.  

Today as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, we are reminded how God rewards those with faith.  In today's Gospel reading, we hear of such faith and how those with faith are so blessed.  There we hear that 

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."

And Mary said:

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever."

Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.*  

Saint Elizabeth said to Our Blessed Mother Mary, "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."  Our Blessed Mother Mary believed what the angel Gabriel had told her, that through the power of the Holy Spirit she would conceive and bear The Son who would save His people from their sins.**  She had faith that the promise made to her would be fulfilled.  Our Blessed Mother Mary is so blessed because God gave her a gift of great faith.  

And so Saint Elizabeth said to Our Blessed Mother Mary, "Blessed are you among women."  And so Catholics praying the rosary proclaim to Our Blessed Mother, "Blessed are you among women."  

Catholics pray the rosary because Our Blessed Mother is such an effective intercessor.  We have such an effective advocate in Our Blessed Mother because she prays for us with great faith.  Faith is power.  Through faith, we are empowered to do the will of God.  With faith, we can confidently pray, believing that our petitions according to the will of God will be granted.  Our Blessed Mother desired the will of God, so filled with faith she was.  Our Blessed Mother comes so efficiently to our aid, interceding with her Son Jesus because of her abounding faith.  

We can be considerably comforted to remember the power of faith.  When events in the world appear to go awry, and when circumstances in our personal lives seem amiss, through our faith we can call upon great power in our prayer when we might mistakenly believe we are lost.  When Our Blessed Mother Mary appeared to Saint Francisco, Saint Jacinta and Servant of God Lucia at Fatima in Portugal in 1917, she told them to pray the rosary for world peace.  We can achieve peace through prayer.  Faith brings peace in hearts by leading to dependence on God.  Through the power of faith, prayer can bring peace in the world.  

If we recognize that God has given us a gift by giving us faith, it follows that we are to accept this gift and use it well.  In gratitude to God, we can offer this faith to Him through our prayer.  In response to our prayer, God transforms the world.  When we accept the invitation from God to let Him transform the world through us, we are blessed that He uses us as vessels of change.  Like Our Blessed Mother Mary, if we welcome the gift of faith that God seeks to give us, we too can be instruments of the change God seeks to work in the world.  Let us welcome the gift of faith from God, and so allow the world to be transformed.  Amen.  

* Luke 1:39-56 
** Luke 1:31-35

God Is Mercy

Today while I was out and about here in Redwood City, I crossed paths with a certain Hispanic homeless man I'd previously met.  His real name is Jesus.  

As I stood there speaking with him, all of a sudden he started talking about God's promises to us.  He was telling me how he feels that God makes amazing promises to us, and then fulfills them.  

Later in the day, I thought back to how he had said that God remarkably carries out his great promises to us.  As I mused upon these words about God's promises spoken to me by the man named Jesus I had met, I thought of how Jesus Christ explained to us that while some things are impossible for humans, nothing is impossible for God.*  

I have thought that I can forgive my neighbor only because God has given me the grace to do so.  Without the aid of God, I would not be able to forgive my neighbor.  God has mercy on me and gives me the grace to forgive my neighbor.  

And so, thinking of God's great mercy while I stood there speaking with this man named Jesus today, I said to him something like, "We try to do good, but we end up sinning.  But after we die, when we get before God, we can beg God for his mercy.  Since God is love,** God will be merciful and forgive us."  

Jesus looked at me and said, "Yes!  He has to!  It's who He is!"  

God will forgive us our sins, because to forgive is to love, and God is love.  God will be true to His promise, for while we are unfaithful to Him, God cannot be unfaithful to us.  Jesus Christ told us that He is The Way, The Truth and The Life.***  God is Truth, and God is love.  God tells us that He is love, and since He is Truth, He will be true to His Word, and love us: out of His great mercy, He will forgive us if we beg Him for the grace to forgive our neighbor.  

* Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:17,27; Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 1:37; Luke 18:27
** 1 John 4:8,16 
***  John 14:6 

Peace Through Us

Jesus tells us first and foremost to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.  He tells us second to love our neighbor as ourselves.*  

In these two most important commandments, Jesus directs us to love.  We are to let love flow out of us to God and to our neighbor.  God asks us to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, to help us to love Him.**  God asks us to consent to Him loving our neighbor through us.  

To love God, I must also love my neighbor.  Anyone who claims to love God but hates his or her neighbor is a liar.***  

To love my neighbor, I must not judge my neighbor.****  If I am judging my neighbor, there is no room in my heart to love my neighbor.   

We judge persons when we see what we do not like in them.  When I encounter thoughts, words and actions I dislike, I am to despise them in myself.  I am to be outraged at the appalling tendencies I notice in myself.  

I believe that the path to salvation is paved with despising my own horrible tendencies and begging God to forgive me out of His great mercy. We receive the infinite gift of God's immense mercy when we turn to look at ourselves, acknowledge our own sinfulness, and implore His mercy.  

Since I prefer to direct my energies toward how I need to improve, rather than on where other people might need to change, last week I made a choice reflecting this aspiration I have.  As I have previously mentioned, Catholic Workers regularly protest outside the facilities of a manufacturer of armaments here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Last week I was asked to choose the short writings we would read before and after our protest.  

In line with the sentiments I have expressed about trying to focus on how I need to improve, for our brief reading just before the protest, I selected a composition in which the Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote 

Instead of loving what you think is peace, love other men and love God above all.  And instead of hating the people you think are warmakers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war.  If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed--but hate these things in yourself, not in another.  

I strive to love my neighbor, though often I find it challenging, and although often I fail.  We love our neighbor by taking an honest look at ourselves and how we need to improve so we can better love our neighbor.  

Thus I prefer to focus on what I need to do to treat people better than I do.  To help work for peace, we can examine our own thoughts, words and actions.  As Gandhi suggested, "You must be the change you want to see in the world."  

Herein rests the reason why I don't protest more than I do and why I don't write about protesting more than I do.  While I find it important to speak out against injustice, I strongly contend that it is far more appropriate to try to improve myself than it is to point out why others are inappropriately acting. Since I wish to witness to peace, I want God to bring about peace through me.  For God to bring about peace through me, I must open my heart to God so He can transform me and thus create peace in the world, right now, in this very moment.  

Consequently, for our short reading together immediately after the protest, I selected the prayer commonly attributed to Saint Francis, which beseeches God 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.  

We can agree to God's plan to be channels of His peace.  We can consent to God bringing peace to the world through us.  

In every little fragment of time, in the present moment God is always extending His hand to us, inviting us to open our hearts to Him.  He is requesting that we assent to His will and open our hearts to Him, and love Him, so that He may enter into our hearts and love our neighbor through us, and thus bring peace into the world through us.  Let us open our hearts to God so He may abide in us,***** love through us and bring us peace.  Amen.  

* Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
** Romans 5:5 
*** 1 John 4:20 
**** Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37 
***** John 15:7 

Keeping Some Perspective

Today a particular homeless man I know who I'll call "Han" arrived here at the Catholic Worker House with his bicycle.  I asked him how his day was going.  He responded that he had a flat tire.  

I replied, "Oh, man.  Bummer."  

Han noted, "Well, this isn't that bad.  If this is the worst thing that happens to me today, this is a pretty good day."  

Han makes a good point.  When mishaps seem to occur to us, do we keep them in perspective?  

When we suffer setbacks, do we keep in mind that anything other than sin can sanctify us, if we but respond to it in the right way?  Do we remember that anything that is not sinful can bring us closer to God if we merely react in the correct manner?  Do we recall that God works all for the good of those who love Him?*  

As apparent misfortune seems to befall us, do we remain grateful to God, conscious of the abundant blessings in our lives?  Once we realize how good we've got it, it becomes much easier to give thanks to God always.**  

* Romans 8:28 
** 1 Thessalonians 5:18 

Light Has Risen

Light has risen on us; we are no longer in darkness.  When we were in darkness, darkness clouded our vision.  Now, although we are not in darkness, but in light, yet because we mistakenly think we are in darkness, we cannot see.  Due to the darkness we think is around us, we cannot see despite the light which has already risen, which we do not yet recognize.  When we see so narrowly, we cannot see our loved ones when they are not standing before us.  When faith, hope and love permeate our being, then we see our loved ones even when they appear to be gone.  When we have faith, we welcome the Spirit at work in, through and around us, and see the Spirit transform us.  

We hear of these challenges of perception and vision in today's Gospel reading for Easter Sunday.  In this Gospel reading, we hear that 

On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb 
early in the morning,
while it was still dark, 
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter 
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, 
"They have taken the Lord from the tomb, 
and we don't know where they put him."
So Peter and the other disciple went out 
and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter 
and arrived at the tomb first; 
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, 
but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him, 
he went into the tomb 
and saw the burial cloths there, 
and the cloth that had covered his head, 
not with the burial cloths 
but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in, 
the one who had arrived at the tomb first, 
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture 
that he had to rise from the dead.*  

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus so early in the morning that it was still dark.  When we are in darkness, we cannot see.  Jesus had just died.  Mary Magdalene thought she was in the midst of a dark time.  When we think we are in darkness, we cannot see.  

Yet Jesus had already risen from the dead.  Mary Magdalene incorrectly thought she was immersed in a dark hour.  Actually, Jesus had dispelled the darkness.  The light had risen.  Yet since Mary Magdalene was convinced that she was in darkness, she did not realize that the light had risen.  

Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb and saw that the huge stone, which had been blocking the entrance to the tomb, had been rolled away.  She went and told Saint Peter, and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, who was Saint John, and told them that they had taken the Lord Jesus.  She did not know where He had been taken, for she did not see Him.  

When we do not see who we love, we think they have gone.  Those we love live in our hearts.  Those we love live through us, in our thoughts and prayers.  We help those we love to live through the words we speak.  In our actions, we can give love to those we love, and let them live through the love we give.  We can honor the memory of those we love by allowing them to live on through us.  

Even though Saint Peter and Saint John saw the empty tomb, they still did not understand the Scripture passages which said that Jesus had to rise from the dead.  They did not realize that the Holy Spirit had raised Jesus from the dead.  

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us as long as that Spirit dwells in us.**  I can testify to the transformative and healing power of the Holy Spirit.  When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco, I read the entire Bible: day after day I would read a little of the Bible, so that after months had passed, I had read the whole Bible.  As I did so, I was purged of particular sinful tendencies I had had for decades.  After I had left Morocco, I looked back and I marveled, and was amazed and puzzled by how I had been purified of certain sinful inclinations I had had for so long.  When I lived at the hermitage, I related to one of the wise Camaldolese monks there how I had been rid of these sinful habits I had had.  I shared with him how I wondered at how I had been freed from the chains of slavery to sin which had bound me for so many years.  This sagacious monk pointed out to me that I was liberated from these sinful patterns upon reading the Bible.  He explained to me that I had been cleansed by The Word that God had spoken to me.***  

When we welcome the Word of God into our hearts, miracles happen.  We are transformed.  The Spirit of God flows into and through us, and frees us from what has been enslaving us.  

Jesus came to proclaim liberty to the captives.****  If we simply consent, God will set us free.  If we turn to God with all our hearts, if we open our hearts to what God has to say to us, God will loosen the bonds which have been holding us back.  If we want God to help us to come to Him, we must do our part: we must welcome Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.*****  When we do so, God transforms us.  

Jesus came to give sight to the blind.******  If, living in utter simplicity, we uncomplicate our lives and simply assent to God, He will show us The Way which gives us the light we need to see as we journey back home to Him.  

If we acquiesce to being humbled by God, He will exalt us.*******  When we agree to the plan God has for us, God abundantly rewards us.  Upon welcoming what God has in store for us, we feel a deep and profound joy.  Here we dwell in the knowledge of who we are and who God is.  Here we have deep peace, and a joy which no one will take away from us.********  This is Heaven.  Let us, then, in this life now, enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and enter into eternal life.  Amen.  

* John 20:1-9 
** Romans 8:11 
*** John 15:3 
**** Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18 
***** Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27 
****** Luke 4:18 
******* Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14 
******** John 16:22 

Reverence The Truth

Know thyself.  Assert who you are; declare the truth.  Proclaim your identity, no matter how much it costs, for the state of your soul depends on how you express yourself in this way.  Say and show who you really are, and you will feel a joy no one will be able to take from you, no matter what happens.  State the truth, and reverence the truth in how you act, and you respect the deepest recesses of your being.  

We hear the truth honored in these ways in the Gospel reading today, on Good Friday.  In today's Gospel reading, we hear that 

Judas got a band of soldiers and guards 
from the chief priests and the Pharisees 
and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.  
Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, 
went out and said to them, "Whom are you looking for?"  
They answered him, "Jesus the Nazorean."  
He said to them, "I AM."  
Judas his betrayer was also with them.  
When he said to them, "I AM, " 
they turned away and fell to the ground.    

So he again asked them,
"Whom are you looking for?"
They said, "Jesus the Nazorean."
Jesus answered,
"I told you that I AM.
So if you are looking for me, let these men go."
This was to fulfill what he had said, 
"I have not lost any of those you gave me."
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, 
struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear.
The slave's name was Malchus.
Jesus said to Peter,
"Put your sword into its scabbard.
Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?"  

So the band of soldiers, the tribune, 
and the Jewish guards seized Jesus,
bound him, and brought him to Annas first.  
He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, 
who was high priest that year.
It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews 
that it was better that one man should die 
rather than the people.  

Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.
Now the other disciple was known to the high priest, 
and he entered the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus.
But Peter stood at the gate outside.
So the other disciple, the acquaintance of the high priest, 
went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in.
Then the maid who was the gatekeeper said to Peter, 
"You are not one of this man's disciples, are you?"
He said, "I am not."
Now the slaves and the guards 
were standing around a charcoal fire
that they had made, because it was cold, 
and were warming themselves.  
Peter was also standing there keeping warm.  

And they said to him,
"You are not one of his disciples, are you?"
He denied it and said,
"I am not."
One of the slaves of the high priest, 
a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, 
"Didn't I see you in the garden with him?"
Again Peter denied it.
And immediately the cock crowed.  

Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium.
It was morning.
And they themselves did not enter the praetorium, 
in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover.
So Pilate came out to them and said, 
"What charge do you bring against this man?"
They answered and said to him,
"If he were not a criminal, 
we would not have handed him over to you."
At this, Pilate said to them, 
"Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law."
The Jews answered him, 
"We do not have the right to execute anyone, " 
in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled
that he said indicating the kind of death he would die.
So Pilate went back into the praetorium 
and summoned Jesus and said to him, 
"Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered,
"Do you say this on your own 
or have others told you about me?"
Pilate answered,
"I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?"
Jesus answered,
"My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world, 
my attendants would be fighting 
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.  
But as it is, my kingdom is not here."  
So Pilate said to him, 
"Then you are a king?"  
Jesus answered, 
"You say I am a king.  
For this I was born and for this I came into the world, 
to testify to the truth.  
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."  
Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"  

When he had said this, 
he again went out to the Jews and said to them, 
"I find no guilt in him.  
But you have a custom 
that I release one prisoner to you at Passover.  
Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"  
They cried out again, 
"Not this one but Barabbas!"  
Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.  

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.
And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns 
and placed it on his head, 
and clothed him in a purple cloak, 
and they came to him and said,
"Hail, King of the Jews!"
And they struck him repeatedly.
Once more Pilate went out and said to them, 
"Look, I am bringing him out to you, 
so that you may know that I find no guilt in him."
So Jesus came out, 
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak.  
And he said to them, "Behold, the man!"  
When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out, 
"Crucify him, crucify him!"  
Pilate said to them, 
"Take him yourselves and crucify him.  
I find no guilt in him."  
The Jews answered, 
"We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, 
because he made himself the Son of God."
Now when Pilate heard this statement,
he became even more afraid, 
and went back into the praetorium and said to Jesus, 
"Where are you from?"  
Jesus did not answer him.  
So Pilate said to him, 
"Do you not speak to me?  
Do you not know that I have power to release you 
and I have power to crucify you?"  
Jesus answered him, 
"You would have no power over me 
if it had not been given to you from above.  
For this reason the one who handed me over to you
has the greater sin."
Consequently, Pilate tried to release him; 
but the Jews cried out, 
"If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar.  
Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar."  

When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out 
and seated him on the judge's bench 
in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon.
And he said to the Jews,
"Behold, your king!"
They cried out,
"Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!"
Pilate said to them,
"Shall I crucify your king?"
The chief priests answered,
"We have no king but Caesar."
Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.*  

Who are you?  When He was asked, Jesus said who He is.  He did not deny who He is, even with the great price associated with saying who He truly is.  He knew that the price, the sacrifice He was making of Himself through His death, is part of who He is.  Be ready to say who you are, no matter what the cost.  Do not forfeit your own happiness and joy, which comes from the fulfillment that arises from living out your true identity, the identity given to you by God.  

Others worry about the cost to us.  Saint Peter drew his sword to defend Jesus when soldiers came to arrest Him.  Our friends and our family want to save us from peril.  Yet when we embrace the duty of the present moment, as Jean-Pierre de Caussade notes, then we are at peace.  We abide in great calm regardless of what occurs, for then we live well aware of the truth that God ordains everything for the good of those who love Him.**  

Sometimes we might be so concerned with the cost to us and to others that we deny the truth.  When we deny the truth, we deny ourselves.  When we deny the truth, we condemn ourselves to death.  Saint Peter denied three times that he knew Jesus.  Don't deny who you are.  Don't deny who you follow.  Don't deny The Truth.  Yet if you do, God will forgive you if you wholeheartedly repent.  If you turn to God with all your heart, God will forgive you.  As Pope Francis has told us, the name of God is mercy, for God is love,*** and love shows mercy.  

We see love in how Jesus led His life.  In how He ministered to people, by teaching them and healing them, and from how He died for us, He showed that He loves us.  Jesus showed us that God is love.  How do we reply to the gift of love which Jesus has given to us?  Each and every one of us must choose how we respond to Jesus.  

Every human being must decide what they think of Jesus.  All people define themselves by how they relate to The Truth.  Pilate asked Jesus what truth is.  We can pretend that we don't know what the truth is.  Yet The Truth remains the truth.  We cannot escape the truth, nor can we escape the consequences of how we relate to The Truth.  

Pilate declared the truth.  He proclaimed that Jesus had done nothing wrong.  Yet we assert our relation to the truth not only in what we say, but also in what we do.  Although Pilate stated the truth, that Jesus had done nothing wrong, after so stating, then Pilate acted out of step with the truth.  Even though Pilate knew that Jesus had done nothing wrong, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified.  

Show who you are in what you say, and in what you do.  When we fully focus on the duty in the present moment to tell the truth, we are strengthened with serenity and peace.  When we reside utterly in the present duty to witness to the truth, we remain calm in the face of adversity, and courageously proclaim the truth.  When we firmly declare our loyalty to The Truth, we abide in deep peace, since we are embracing Jesus deep within us.  Then we speak from a place of safety and security deep within our being; then we state The Truth in accord with Jesus.  When we remain loyal to The Truth, we turn to God, and our souls are saved.  Amen.  

* John 18:3-18:18; John 18:25-19:16 
** Romans 8:28 
*** 1 John 4:8, 16