Reflections of a beloved son

When Jesus went to His friend, Lazarus' home his two sisters, Mary and Martha played host.  Martha was busy cleaning the house and preparing foods while Mary was entertaining and keeping Jesus company.  Martha seemingly got a bit annoyed and asked if Jesus was going to tell Mary to help her.  Jesus said "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."  Our Lord validates Martha in what she was doing, but also challenges her to see things a little differently.  It is important to clean the house and prepare the food, but it is also important to be with your guest - the entire reason for the cleaning and cooking.  Jesus wasn't saying to abandon the cleaning and cooking, but maybe to prioritize more accordingly.  I often find myself doing the same thing - tidying up the house, washing the dishes, clearing the table, etc, and no...

If we are to truly love, we must not include some and exclude others.  We also cannot love part time.  To truly love we must love with all of our being.  As the scholar of the law answered Jesus, we must love God with all our heart, being, strength, and mind and love our neighbors as ourselves.  Only then, we are told, will we live.  Loving and living go hand in hand - to truly live, we must love, and in loving, we are able to live meaningful and joyful lives.   Love also does not discriminate.  Love does not recognize political affiliations, skin colors, places of birth, languages, age, religious backgrounds, etc.  Love only recognizes the person .  In the same way, the Good Samaritan did not care whether the man on the side of the road was from Samaria or Judea, Jewish or Gentile.  All he saw was a man hurt and in need of help.  All he saw was a man his God created, a man in which his God breathed His very Spirit.  Love rec...

"I'm gonna get him back!"  "He's gonna pay for this."  "I want him to feel the pain he caused me."  These are some of the sayings people may say when they are angry and feel that they were hurt or treated unfairly or unjustly.  Have you ever felt that way?  Sometimes when someone hurt me or when I felt treated unfairly, I whisper under my breath or in my head "They're gonna get it back.  Wait til they see.  Just let them wait."  I t could have been a true unfair or unjust situation, but the desire to want to get back at them is not the work of the Holy Spirit.   How do I do?  Because the thought, desire, or feeling does not reflect the fruits of the Spirit.  The twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit are: charity (love), joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity (see Galatians 5:22-23).  So, if my thoughts, feelings, and desires do not reflect those fruits, the...

Often we hear of someone being "moved to tears" when they experience something emotional.  But, have you ever heard of someone being moved to drops of blood?  Jesus sweated drops of blood when He prayed in the garden.  The martyrs of the Church were so moved by the love of God that they were willing to have their blood shed.  Are we so moved by our God to drops of blood? The Chinese martyr saints - St. Augustine Zhao Rong and 119 of his companions were canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in October 2000.  They showed genuine faith and unwavering courage even to the point of death.  They rather die - joyfully - than to apostatize, denying that the God whom they have fallen in love with existed.  They were able to make this courageous act because they were consumed by love.  They were in love with Love its very self.  This love enabled them to see that the life they were living then was only a means to get to the life that never ends.  Th...

Have you ever been in a desperate situation?  How did you feel?  How did you respond?  Who did you turn to?  Whenever we are in those situations we tend to cling onto even the tiniest sliver of hope or the thinnest beam of light. We hold onto that tiny sliver and thin beam as if it's our only way out and as if our very life depends on it. In the Gospel, the synagogue official humbled himself and let go of his pride and turned to Jesus when his daughter died.  He said to Jesus, "My daughter has just died, but come, lay your hand on her, and she will live."  What faith!  And, for a Jewish official, too!  This man risked the ridicule of his fellow brothers and perhaps even his status and standing with the faith.  Yet, at that moment, Jesus, he recognized, was the only solution, the only person who could help him in this desperate situation .  This man believed that Jesus had the power to raise his daughter from the dead.  This man cl...

BREAKING NEWS: GOD LISTENS!   He wants to hear from you, all about you.  When God said He would destroy Sodom, Abraham pleads with Him, asking if He would really destroy those who were good and righteous along with the wicked.  Then God and Abraham began to discuss the situation and bargaining took place.  God said that He would spare the city if He were to find 50 innocent people in Sodom.  Then Abraham asked "What if there were only 45?"  God said, "I will not destroy it if there are 45 innocent people."  Abraham proceeded to ask the same question with decreasing numbers - 40? 30? 20? 10?  God said that if He could find 10 innocent people, He would not destroy the city.  God listened to Abraham.  He didn't need to, but He chose to .  Why?  God listened to the pleading of Abraham because God loved him .  God doesn't have to listen to any of us.  He's all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present.  He created the un...