Reflections of a beloved son

Have you ever held onto something?  A grudge from the past?  Painful memories?  Resentment?  Unresolved anger?  Are you holding onto something right now?  Sometimes we hold on to things - clench them in our fists even - because we are afraid of what may come if we let go.  When our hands are full of holding on to things, we are unable to receive anything else. When we hold onto the past, we cannot really move forward.  We can tell ourselves that we are, but in reality we are just dragging along a heavy piece of baggage going in circles.  Take for example you are rushing and you notice that the train is coming.  You are running up the stairs.  The train arrives, the doors open, people come out, and the passengers board.  You tap your pass on the sensor, and run through the turnstile.  You run straight for the nearest car door.  You make it, but a bag you are holding onto gets stuck.  What do you do?  Do y...

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...