In the words of today's gospel Jesus conveys a kind of sadness as he is drawing closer to the serious days that are before him. Perhaps there is also the pain of separation that hangs in the future. No doubt there must have been moments when human emotions captured his heart. He loved being with his disciples.

But he turns from sadness to words of comfort, words of support. Again he reminds his disciples that joy, genuine joy, will be theirs. "Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you." What an extraordinary promise! Yet it seems to many to be a challenging promise. Why? Are we not overwhelmed at times by the realities of our world that add confusion to our lives ... the wants and desires that diminish our relationship with the Lord. Do we fully comprehend what Jesus is teaching us?

Praying for the gift of faith, a strong faith, is not easy. Faith demands much from modern humanity. Are we not terribly challenged by the many different types of crises that weigh heavily upon us at this time in our lives: the seemingly unending war, the economic crises that impact most Americans' wallet or purses. Is there not fear in the hearts of men and women who are struggling to raise families? As a priest, I can only imagine what it would mean to be confronting the realities that face a husband or wife trying to make ends meet for their families today. It must be so easy especially for those who had perhaps teased themselves into believing that there was everything to be had for themselves and their families. It was a land of plenty that pulled so many away from their God.

Reflecting upon the word "elitism" that has become so much a part of the current political circus we are watching, perhaps it is a reality many do not wish to acknowledge publicly but crises so often pull those suffering not necessarily to their guns but certainly to their religion, to more regular Church attendance, to more prayer.

There are more people praying today for relief from the impact of the various economic burdens that are theirs, burdens that were not so difficult and frightening just a few years ago. The words of Jesus mentioned above have more significance today.

Perhaps we might consider that many are now confronting the pains of delivery ... delivering us to a new awareness of a challenging life that we must endure for a time.

Thursday Reflection: May 1, 2008

A new month begins today. We mark, we like to hope, the end of April showers and the gift of many colorful flowers --- even though our city of Washington has been ablaze with bright colors of tulips, azalea bushes and, for a wonderful change, a lengthy bright pink of our world famous cherry blossoms. Now many get serious about planting flower and vegetable plants.

We are truly dealing with change. Any change requires work.

The first reading, a selection from the Book of Genesis, invites us to recall the work of creation --- God's work in creating his earth and all that makes it more than a sphere. The feast the Church celebrates today, rather the Ascension Day in our Archdiocese, celebrates another worker, Joseph. The gospel recalls the work of Jesus as the preacher and teacher.

Work is meant to be a part of each person's life since Adam and Eve lost membership in the Garden of Eden. Today we might reflect upon our own work and how it can lead us to a closer relationship to God. That may be a challenge to some: to see a relationship to God strengthened by work.

Examine your life as a worker. Is that activity, your work, an avenue to the Lord? Do you see in your work the opportunity to use the talents God has given you to serve both your Creator as well as the community that is gifted by your talents?

Wednesday Reflection: April 30, 2008

Sorry for the delay.

The first reading today is a rather unusual presentation in the New Testament. St. Luke points out the FAILURE of St. Paul to have a preaching and coversion impact upon the Athenians. I believe this is one of the few times when such a situation is presneted in NT writings.

What is its importance for you and me, for any reader? Perhaps it might pass over us if someone does not bring it to our attention ... as it was for me.

Paul failed in Athens. However, he did not stop his mission. He did not quit. St. Luke has a very short sentence: He left Athens and went to Corinth!

We know what happened after Athens. Paul became a great preacher, bringing even more converts to the early Church. He allowed God to continue showering his graces in his heart and life. He did not pity himself or turn to some other kind of work.

What it says to us is obvious: all of us at one time or another and in one way or another encounter failure or disappointment in a project or mission ... even how we live our lives. Like Paul, we have to pick ourselves us and move on to our own Corinths!

Tuesday Reflection: April 29, 2008

Today's gospel reading draws our attention to the upcoming celebration of the Ascension. The Risen One prepares the hearts of his followers for the greatest challenge to their infant faith. In just a short time the work "disciple" will take on a new meaning. When Jesus ascends from the surface of the earth, no longer are those followers of Jesus men and women who have the key to their new found faith with them. The man who spoke to them words of support and guidance would no longer walk with them, no longer share meals with them, no longer be strength for them in teaching others the Way that would lead to the Father. Now their spiritual journey would be different.

What does this experience of the Church in its infancy days speak to us in our world? What is there in our lives now that speaks of a similar sense of challenge? How ready were these "founding fathers and mothers of our Church" to proclaim the great "message" without the Teacher present?

The Son of Man has been physically absent from us for almost twenty centuries. But in that time, especially through the gift that never stops giving, the Holy Spirit, Jesus continues to teach us through the writings of saints, the writings and preaching of saints and sinners alike and the teachings of our Church.

Because there is the physical absence of Jesus, Son of God, among us, it is critically important that we maintain a steady diet of a genuine spiritual life through regular prayer as well as the exercise of spiritual reading. We can feed on prayer and spiritual reading without gaining an ounce!

The early challenge put before the first apostles and disciples has not changed. Like our early predecessors, we are challenged to live the message, live the teachings of Jesus. To live the gospel is to reach out, like Jesus, to help others. For our outreach to the needy, the hurting, the confused, the angry is to be a true following in the footsteps of Jesus. While now forever physically absent, Jesus has taught that his absence is actually only a reality when we fail to be with him in prayer, reflection, service and most specially in the Eucharist where is is so present to us.

Sunday Reflection: April 27, 2008

The opening words of the second reading taken from St. Peter's first letter are power packed. Unfortunately few remember them or fully grasp their meaning. Perhaps we don't see the trees for the forest! In a way these words, "Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart," serve as a simple, unadorned sentence putting before us the challenge of a significant spiritual life. These same words can also serve as the voice we might hear if we had a spiritual GPS instrument to guide us on our journey to heaven. So, let's look at what St. Peter is encouraging us to incorporate into our live.

First, Peter asks us to consider using our hearts: "Sanctify ... in your hearts." Yesterday I witnessed the marriage of a niece and her fiance. Throughout the ceremony and reception their faces beaned with genuine happiness. Their hearts spoke volumes through the expressions on their faces. As well the faces and words of their families and friends radiated the joys and hopes that filled their hearts. So, Peter suggests to us that we capture Christ our Lord in our hearts. Peter is aware of the outcomes when our hearts are taken over by someone, a vision or a mission. He is challenging us far beyond just knowing someone of something. Let your heart become smitten by the Christ gift that God the Father has given you.

As well, Peter encourages you to "sanctify Christ the Lord." Peter's heart was, as we know, captured by the Lord Jesus. This became so evident after Peter's several blunders during the days of Jesus' public ministry. It was, we might surmise, Peter's failure to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, as the Son of God, that eventually brought him through humiliations to recognize Jesus as his Lord. We might consider Peter's exhortation to his readers to be the result of his honest awareness of his own weakness in dealing with Jesus.

Today, as we draw closer to the celebration of Ascension and Pentecost, sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. Pull to the side of the road on your spiritual journey and give your heart the opportunity to fully embrace what Jesus has taught during his lifetime among us. Let your heart have the opportunity to be smitten by the Christ whose love for you is beyond imagination. Remember what Jesus said, words taken from today's gospel reading (John 14:24): Whoever holds to my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and reveal myself to him.

Padre Pio -- Already 40 years

The nation of Italy is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the death of their beloved Padre Pio. Just recently his exhumed body was prepared for display in an air-tight display. Already hundreds of thousands have secured tickets to view this stigmatist's body -- about 7200 passing by the holy man's remains. Check the link to Whispers in the Loggia for a read about the event and a little history of the saint.

Photo: Courtesy of Whispers in the Loggia and AFP:Getty

Saturday Reflection: April 26, 2008

Today's gospel offers a genuine challenge to all of us. Jesus' words to the disciples made clear that being a follower would not be easy. Many times following him would mean going against the current.

I recall often a most wonderful small book, First You Have To Row A Little Boat. Author Richard Bode is a great lover of sailing out off of Long Island, NY, as I remember some of the details of the book. He uses sailing as a metaphor to teach his children and his readers about the tides of life.

One review of the writing notes that Bode is attempting to teach lead his children to understand the importance of mastering the simple things of life before ever setting sail into the more complicated aspects of life (Kirkus Reviews).

The book ultimately recounts some of his own times, good and bad, alone out on the waters. He is teaching how strong one must be; how aware of one's own strengths and self-knowledge one must be while sailing. But at the very outset he teaches that to be a good sailor, requires the advice of another person -- in this case an older gentleman who operates a marina.

As a young boy he so wanted to sail. He would go down to a marina when he visited his grandparents. There he encountered a great teacher. Young Bode wanted to buy a sailboat. Like any 12 year old, he thought he had a lot of money! The wise marina owner told him he had to learn to row a boat first. Once in a little dingy, Bode was instructed to row back and forth across the inlet that came into the marina. "Piece of cake" he thought. In very short time he learned how much he didn't know!

The words Jesus is using with his disciples in today's gospel is so reminiscent of the Bode experience. To navigate through the waters of life's journey is no simple task. In sailing it's the use of winds and currents at the same time without any sense of gravity beneath the boat. What Jesus is teaching is that we have to learn to manage the world on which we sail. We have to learn those forces that can lead our boat to rough seas or into a pea-soup fog. We have to be more powerful than the ways of the world.

Jesus has chosen you to be in the world but not of the world. He has called you to know what it means to sail. He is teaching us that first things come first -- learning the spiritual life.

Thursday Reflection: April 24, 2008

The first reading from the liturgy today raises the question "What is a good Christian?" How many times have you asked yourself that question? Preparing a homily for the mother of a very close friend and high school classmate, I knew that I had to convey the virtue that so characterized her life. It is the life of a true Christian. While preparing, I came upon these words: The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to your father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to your self, respect; to all men, charity.

Could there be a better description of a generous person? Isn't this the expectation that we all have for a Christian? These are words from an Indian guru quoted by Dr. Wayne Dyer in The Power of Intention, p 124. Why the picture of the anchor? Think about it in relation to the first question: What is a good Christian?

Wednesday Reflection: April 23, 2008

Today's gospel begins with familiar words: "I am the vine, and my Father is the vine grower." Then a few lines further in the evangelist's writing we encounter even my familiar words: "I am the vine, are you are the branches."

What is the message for our consideration? Jesus invites us to consider that a branch has a unique relationship to a vine. It is our relationship to Jesus, his impact upon each person's life, that will demonstrate to others whether or not we are the voice of God in our world today. We are called to be that voice by our baptism!

Ignatius of Loyola uses an metaphor in his Spiritual Exercises that comes to mind. He invites us to consider that faithful follower's role in relation to the master, in this case, Jesus. The loyalist is presented as the staff that the master relies on. Perhaps in our urbanized experiences staffs are not too frequently used by the general population. We are not out with the herds or in the fields! We might say that the branches that Jesus mentions is very much like the staff. The branches become extensions of the vine.

Pope Benedict's message was a call to renewal of a spiritual life. He endeavored to teach us this message by using a unique theme for the visit: Jesus our hope! We must delve into that message to discover the awe that comes to the one whose life follows the life of Jesus Christ. Those who live with their true selves, who know who they are, become the vibrant branches that give new life, that teach others the gift God gives those who stand firm with the Lord.

Tuesday Reflection: April 22, 2008

"Peace I leave you; my peace I give you....Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid." Hearing these words, wouldn't most realize or imagine that a journey was about to take place, a going away from one point in time and place to another? Furthermore, wouldn't a person ask how these sentiments relate to his/her life? So, might we not ask today what is the reality of this peace that Jesus is offering. To have a clear understanding of Jesus' intentions, we must confront the reality, the intensity, the strength of our relationship to a "loving relationship with a living God" (Mulholland, The Deeper Journey, p. 52).

In these words, this gift, Jesus is both recognizing the challenges that confront every follower as well as promising a share in eternity with him. It is for us who strive to strengthen our loving relationship with Jesus by putting aside any fears we might sense when we recognize those various wants or desires that disrupt the peace we seek in our lives. We have to confront with all honesty the idols we have built up for ourselves, even the possibility that we have created a false image of God to conform to our wants and needs.

Without doubt, the impact of sin in one's life, even if only Original Sin, daily puts before us the temptation to create a "God" the way I want him to be for me. In these particular months we are bombarded by politicians trying to manipulate our perceptions of their worth. They are seeking to make us thing the way they want us to think. Temptations about in our world, our particular culture, that can easily lead us to construct "my God," as I want him to be even though it may not be an honest picture or understanding of who God is.

Jesus tells us not to be troubled or fearful when we are challenged by what is wrong, what is sinful. Peace, the reality of a loving relationship with him, is his gift to us to be able to handle what pulls us away from him, away from any chance for a loving relationship.

This is his gift to us on our journey of faith. Indeed, this is the reality of the theme for Pope Benedict's recent visit to our city, Christ is our hope.