Reflections of a beloved son

Pentecost is known as the birthday of the Church. On that day the Holy Spirit descended upon the people and the barriers that separated them were taken down. The people were all together – the apostles, the disciples, and Mary. They were bound together by the love of God and they were ready and open to receive the Holy Spirit into their hearts. Though the people were from different places and spoke different languages they were able to understand one another because the Gospel is one and the same. The Gospel and the love of God transcends all barriers, even language barriers. The language of the Gospel is the language of love, a language that speaks from the heart to the heart. With the Spirit we will be able to weather the storms of our lives joyfully because Jesus comes to us and says, “Peace be with you.” The world today is filled with violence and unrest because as a people we are divided. The people at Pentecost were united in the love of God, and because they were united together...

After Jesus told Peter what would happen to him, he turned to John and asked Jesus, “ What about him?” Peter was so interested in the affairs of others that Jesus had to remind him to focus on what he had been asked to do. Sometimes in our lives we may get carried away in the affairs of others that we forget what we are supposed to do. In the midst of trying to make sure everyone is doing what they’re supposed to do, we neglect what we’ve been asked to do. Our mission as disciples is not to micromanage and become busybodies but rather to root who we are and what we do in Christ and from there bring others the hope and the joy of the Gospel not merely by our lips but by our actions and example.  After Jesus had reprimanded him, Peter shifted his focus on what the Lord asked him to do – “Feed my sheep.” He kept his eyes on Christ, knowing that only by doing so will he be able to carry out what Jesus instructed him to do. As Christians our focus can sometimes be lost in the world of...

“Do you love me?” Jesus asks Peter this question three times. Each time He gives Peter a command and mission. Jesus was restoring Peter to his place and reminding him of the great task that He has entrusted to him – to be the shepherd of His flock here on earth. For every time Peter denied Him, Jesus gave him the opportunity to reconcile. Afterwards Jesus described to Peter the nature of discipleship – we will sometimes be led to where we rather not go. Then Jesus extends to Peter the invitation, “Follow me.” When we fall short, Jesus asks us, “Do you love me” not to make us feel guilty, but to remind us of how much He loves us. He only seeks to forgive, reconcile, restore, and invite.  Today, Jesus invites us to relationship with Him. He asks us, “Do you love me?” He meets us where we are and walks with us as we journey along. He sees our wounds, pains, brokenness, and says to us “I love you. Just as I show you my wounds so you can show me yours. Our wounds are not something to ...

Aren’t you tired of living in fear and anxiety? Aren’t you tired of feeling incompetent or not good enough? It is time to reject those lies. St. Paul went from persecuting the Christians to dying as one. He encountered the Truth, was moved by it, converted, lived the Truth, and was unafraid doing so. He was not afraid because he heard the Lord say to him time and again, “Take courage. I am here with you.” On our own we cannot cast out those fears that control us but with God we can cast out those lying voices that enslave us. We must not back down. We must go forward in Truth.   We must go forward for God is with us. Pray with me, “ Lord, I reject those lies that keep me from living in the freedom you won for me!   I reject the lie that I am not good enough.   I reject the lie that I am unlovable. I know I am loved. Now, teach me to live in Your truth. You say to me, “take courage,” and so I go forward and won’t back down .”

You were created out of love for love. You are loved not because of what you can do, what you have, or what others say about you. True and genuine love cannot be bought or earned. It can only be received and given. God loves you, but you have to receive it. You cannot really love anyone else, including yourself, if you do not receive love. You can't give what you don't have. The world will tell you that you are loved only to the extent you can perform and that others will love you more or less based on that. That's a lie! You are loved and you have been loved from all eternity. And that is the Truth. We belong to the Truth.  This Truth is so true that God became man for you and me. It's time to receive God's love. Pray with me, "Come into my heart, Lord. I am ready to receive your love."

Eternal life does not only begin when we die. The world preaches a world of immediate pleasures and gratification and a disordered understanding of "living in the present moment." For today's world "living in the present moment" means to take advantage of everything and everyone for our own benefit and pleasure. "You only live once." We all want to live joyful and full lives but living it in a way that pursues selfish pleasure does not lead to it. Jesus tells us that to know Him and the Father is to have eternal life. Eternal life begins now. To live in the present moment and to seize the day is to live eternal life - living life to the full, living life knowing we have been so loved and blessed. So loved and blessed not because we earned it, but because we have a Father who loves us for who we are.

When the world induces worry and anxiety within our hearts, know that those worries and anxieties have already been conquered. Jesus is your strength. In Him alone is your peace and joy. Do not let the lies of the world draw you in. Rather, draw close to the Father and He will draw close to you. You are not alone. God is with You. Let God into your heart and allow Him to cast out all your fears.

When tragedy strikes or when people find themselves in a situation where they feel helpless, they might say, "All we can do now is pray." It is a good thing people turn to prayer, but prayer is not something that should happen just when bad things happen! Prayer is not some meaningless and time-passing activity. Prayer is an ongoing relationship with the Father who fashioned us, created us, and loves us. We can pray wherever and whenever. Every moment of our lives can be prayer.

Though it may sometimes feel this way, we are not alone in this world or in our struggles. It is a common temptation to feel that no one else in this world understands what we may be going through, but there is always someone who does. By sharing our own experiences with one another, others may suddenly see that flicker of light in the darkness. Our experiences may bring someone from despair to hope. Never underestimate the power of one's witness and testimony. When we speak from the heart, it is Christ who speaks and works through us. Heart speaks to heart.

Trials and difficulties in life are inevitable. What we can decide is how we face them. Do we escape and retreat in the face of struggles or do we follow the lead of the Lord in embracing and carrying our crosses? At first we may see our trials and difficulties as annoyances and curses, but if and when we come to embrace them and face them with the Lord they will become blessings. Through our trials, God can give us many graces. We only need to want them and receive them. There will be pain and suffering, yes, but the joys and peace that comes will be greater.

We are called to mission. But before that we first must know who sends us on mission. And to know this person we must have an encounter. The Christian life is a life of encounters - encounter with God and encounters with one another. It is our encounter with God that moves us to encounters with others. Through these rich encounters we cannot but be moved to conversion. And this conversion ultimately propels us into mission - a mission that is journeyed together with Christ by our side as well as Christ as our guide.

Do you sometimes find doing things without really knowing why makes it less interesting? When you do something out of routine does it get boring or even sometimes meaningless? For some of us our faith can unfortunately turn out to be the same thing. If we do not know why we pray or what we are really doing when we pray, we may come to find it boring and quickly find something else more interesting to do. When he saw that the Athenians were praying at an altar to "an Unknown God," St. Paul quickly turned it into a teaching moment. It is for us today too. When we pray we really are not only reciting words and sentences that our ancestors said centuries ago. We are also talking with someone. We are engaging in a relationship - just like our relationships with our family and friends. Prayer is our relationship with God, and our God is a living God, the One, True God, not an unknown or unfamiliar god. Our God is also not a god who lived two thousand years ago or so, but He is a LI...

Sometimes when people feel there is no way out, they turn inward in despair and hopelessness. Like the guard who felt that the world was crumbling before him when the prisoners were released because of the earthquake, people may turn to self-harm out of despair. The guard may have felt that no one in this world would fight for him and that he was already a dead man, but St. Paul acknowledged him and affirmed him. Everything will be okay. Put the sword down. Talk with me. By this affirmation, the guard encountered the Lord and was moved to conversion. The guard traveled out of despair and into hope, from darkness into light, and from death to life. Let us be an affirming voice for one another.

We have been loved from all eternity. The Lord delights in YOU! It does not matter what you've done or where you've been. His love and delight in you is not dependent on any of those things. Receive His love and delight, and allow Him to transform your life. When you finally experience and feel this infinite and unconditional love of God for you, you can not but be filled with gratitude, moving you to conversion. God's delight and love for you is a transformative gift.

We must always be ready to answer the question, "Why do you believe in God?" or "Why are you Christian?" If we are to answer these questions, we must have a relationship with the Father. Our answers to those questions must be the fruit of our experiences, fruit of our conversion. It is our personal, lived experience of God that will move the heart of another. It is the heart that will speak to heart. May our lives communicate to others the peace, joy, and hope that is within us.

Anything that is worth doing will take work, and sometimes it will bring about tears. Following Christ in a world that rejects Him will be difficult if we allow it to be. The world may try to bring us down with their hate speech and subjective contradictions, but we must remain defenders of Objective Truth, the truth that sets us free. The Truth is worth it. Christ is worth it. You are worth it. Those walking in darkness and hopelessness are worth it. Those who persecute us are worth it. We must by our example of perseverance and love bring others to this Truth. If we want peace and joy then we must keep the faith and hope burning within our hearts. This peace and joy is already present and it never leaves us, but we must choose receive it, even in the midst of tribulations.

We are chosen. When the world rejects us, let us never forget that we have already been chosen by a Father who has loved us even before we came into existence. When the world tells you that you are not enough, know that God says to you, "I love you, and I choose you." May we in turn have the courage to say "You and Your grace is enough for me."  

We are called to remain in God’s love. It is only by remaining in God’s love, in the Holy Spirit, that our joy might be complete. Life in the Spirit is what will bring our joy to completion. When we live in the Spirit and in the love of God, we can not but be moved to do all that we can to make God’s love known to others – even at the expense of sacrifice. When we come to realize that our lives are gifts, we will be more willing to give of it and ultimately give it up. Gifts are meant to be given. Our lives are gifts, and so our lives too are meant to be given up, in service of the Gospel and of our brothers and sisters. If you want to experience true joy and peace, live knowing that your life is a gift. Give it a try.

Our lives do not come from ourselves and we do not live on our own. Our life is a gift from the Father. And we know that any life is dependent on so many things, but among them is oxygen as transported by the circulatory system. Our network of blood vessels is so intricate (how can anyone say it just so happened to be that way! It must have been designed by a Creator) and they each are joined together and are grafted onto a source. As Christians, we must be grafted onto a similar source of life, and that source is Christ Himself. Apart from Christ we have no life, and any life that we think we would be living is one that is unfulfilled and is one that we ultimately will feel to be lacking. So, we must graft ourselves onto Christ. Our Lord implores us to remain with Him as He remains in us so that we may truly be one with Him and the Father.

By our experiences, we know there are good times and bad times in life. There are moments when we feel we are on the top of the world, but also moments when we feel we are in the depths of a bottomless pit. Hardships are part of the human life. Hardships and difficulties allow us to enjoy and appreciate the good times all the more. Hardships and struggles instill in us a spirit of gratitude. It is the grace of God that transforms our human hardships and struggles into crosses that we will come to joyfully embrace. We will come to embrace those crosses joyfully because we know why we are carrying them. We carry them because Christ carried His for us. And we know we do not carry them alone. Christ carries them with us, and we must encourage one another for we are all journeying together. Just as His Cross brought about the salvation of the world, our crosses will enable us to share in the glory of the Cross. When we embrace our crosses and invite God to transform them, our crosses will b...

Everything we say and do can be used to bring others to an encounter to the living God. Sometimes it even happens unintentionally (at least on our part!). May all that we say and do (and think) be for the greater glory of God, and the glory of God is man fully alive! Jesus came to give us life to the full, and so let us strive to be living witnesses to this life, who is Christ Himself.

What do we do when we are rejected or excluded? Jesus was rejected, but He knew He was chosen and seen as precious by God. We too are chosen. God calls us His own. When we face rejection and exclusion, may we not allow that to bring us down but rather allow our chosenness by God bring us a peace and joy that no one can take from us.

God wants to hear from you! Prayer is not just the lines and sentences you may have memorized as a child; prayer is your personal relationship with God. Tell Him whatever is on your mind, what you need, and how you feel. Prayer is when you speak from the very depths of your heart and when Jesus speaks to you from the depths of His pierced, sacred heart. Jesus promises to hear you and He even says "I will do it." Trust in Him and know and believe that Jesus means what He says. After you tell the Lord all that is on your mind and in your heart, be still and listen to Him. Prayer is a conversation. Don't forget to listen.

When the storms of life overwhelm you, know that the Lord is right there with you. He may not turn the storm into a sunny day, but he will weather the storm with you. He says to you, "Do not let your hearts be troubled." It is He who is the way, the truth, and the life. He will lead us home when we've lost our way, affirm our goodness when the lies of the world bring us down, and remind us of our dignity and worth when others deny it.

Now is the time to speak up. We must boldly speak Truth in a world that has buried it. The Truth that we have been so loved by the Father who sees us not as our sins or flaws but who loves us as His own children. Now, having been so loved we must speak up and proclaim this Truth and love loudly. It is time to bear witness and bring others to the Father.

We may be living in dark times, whether as a nation during these times of pandemic our within our own personal lives. There is no darkness too dark for Our Lord to illumine. "Those who walk in darkness have seen a great light." If you close your eyes and look closely you will see a light. Allow Our Lord to guide you and walk with you during these difficult times and trying moments of your life. When you see that light, you see Our Lord, and when you see Our Lord, you are seeing the Father Himself. Know that you are loved. Do not remain in the darkness. You belong to the light. Take that step towards the Light.