Reflections of a beloved son

Every year we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November.  Families and friends gather together and enjoy one another.  It's a day of conversations, food, entertainment - a day to get away from the busyness of the world and to just be. If we really think about it, there is so much to be thankful for.  Thankful for the gift to see another day.  The gift of our family and friends.  Our blessings.  The gift of forgiveness and reconciliation.  And, yes, even thankful for the gift  of our struggles.  It is easy to see God's hands in the good things and the joys, but sometimes it is hard to see God amidst the difficulties.  However, those are the times when God is closest to us.  Jesus suffered.  He felt alone and abandoned on the Cross. Yet, when He looked up, He must have remembered His Father will never leave Him.  And, when He looked down and saw His Mother, He must have been comfor...

“See that you not be deceived,” Jesus told His disciples.   Our Lord warns the people of the trials and persecutions that should come upon them (Lk. 21:5-19).  Jesus tells of wars, persecutions, false prophets, earthquakes, famines, and plagues.  He even says that those who we love will betray us and hand us over.  But the Lord encourages them and asks them to not be overly worried, “. ..for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist of refute .”  In other words, we can not handle these trials and persecutions on our own.  Only by grace and through and with Our Lord Jesus will we be able to overcome them and endure them.  At the end of the Gospel passage, Jesus tells them, “ By your perseverance you will secure your lives. ”  Wow. Wars, persecutions, natural disasters, and even betrayal by my beloved ones? That does not sound hopeful.  I mean wars and persecutions and natural disas...

The story of the encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus is, in my opinion one that gives hope and strengthens faith.  We are told that Jesus "came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town." But, He stopped when he saw a man who longed to see him so much that he climbed a tree just so that he could see Jesus.  " Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay in your house. "  Now Zacchaeus was a tax a collector, a wealthy man, someone perhaps the people did not like and who they considered a sinner.  But, Jesus chose him among all the others to stay with him.  And, Jesus among all people, decided to stay at a place through which He first only intended to pass.  Jesus stopped for Zacchaeus.  Jesus stops for sinners.  Jesus stops for you. Our Lord stopped for Zacchaeus because He knew it was important for Zacchaeus that He did.  He saw the earnestness and faith of Zacchaeus.  He knew how much Zacchaeus was suffering inside fro...

What comes to mind when you read “remaining faithful?” Maybe thoughts of commitments made or promises broken.   In his second letter to Timothy, St. Paul implores him “Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it…” (3:14).   “Because you know from whom you learned it.”   At the heart of remaining faithful is not really a thing, thought, or idea, but rather a person.   It is someone to whom we promise.   It is somebody to whom we remain faithful. When we vow to uphold a promise it is not really the content to which we feel connected, but rather to the person with whom we made that pact. We do not remain faithful to a set of rules and regulations; rather we remain faithful to a person: Jesus Christ.  We follow those rules and regulations because we know who gave them to us.  We follow them because we know they are good for us and are conducive for our salvation, and we know this because of who...

In this Sunday’s Gospel  (Lk. 17:11-19), we are told of the encounter between Jesus and Ten Lepers.   They begged Jesus to heal them of their leprosy, and Jesus simply told them “ Go show yourselves to the priests .”   While they were on their way, one of the lepers realized he was cured, and so he returned to Jesus and gave glory to God.   Jesus asked where the other 9 lepers were and said to the one Samaritan man who returned, “ Stand up and go; your faith has saved you. ” It was the man’s faith that saved him. What happened with the other nine?   Jesus said that they were cleansed, but why did they not return with the one to give thanks and praise?   Maybe they did not realize they were cleansed.   Maybe they did not have faith that Jesus would cleanse them.   Maybe they were too focused on getting to the priest and on questioning Jesus’ method that they failed to see what was actually taking place.   Maybe they did not even know the...