October 27, 2024: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We rejoice in our God because He brings healing and restoration to our world.

He brought it to His people after they went into exile as punishment for straying from God.

In Jesus, He brought it to a blind man, whom some considered had a disability as punishment for sin. Yet this man sees with faith, and calls out to Jesus as the One Who can save Him, not ceasing when people try to silence Him..

Jesus called Him, and rightly declared that Bartimaeus's faith has saved him, and sends him on his way with sight restored.

Jesus's healing demonstrates how He is a great high priest Who was called by God for the purpose of coming to restore our world. We can join with the people in the Psalm who rejoice in the great things God has done for us, and then follow after Christ in that mission.

October 20, 2024: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

When Christ entered the world, He offered many countercultural ideas, including how to be great.

He came to offer Himself and experienced great suffering, which had great power because His sufferings justified us His people and brought us back to God.

We can truly count on Him for our salvation, because He joined us in our sufferings, made redeemed them so they would have a purpose.

The apostles didn't really latch on to this idea right away, given how Sts. James and John requested important positions of with Christ in His glory, and then the others feuded with them about who was the greatest.

Jesus offers us a model.  Contrary to the world's ideas about gaining power and lording it over others, Jesus says the measure of our greatness is how we serve others.

By serving, rather than being served, we make God's presence known in the world.

Thinking back to my Confirmation 19 years ago this past week, I set myself on a path to being great by being equipped to make Christ known in loving and serving others.  Surely that's why teaching Religious Education has been such an extraordinary experience, because I've discovered who God has made me to be by giving of myself.

October 18, 2024: Feast of St. Luke

When we commit ourselves to Christ, we follow in a way that calls us to uphold the Gospel message and live out the Good News.  This Good News was proclaimed by angels at the start of the Gospel according to St. Luke.  It led to magnificent praises of God that are part of the Church's Liturgy of the Hours.

It travels far and wide as Jesus sends His disciples out to proclaim the news that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

It is such Good News that God brings healing to all people through the power of His mercy.  He raises them to a new sense of life, like the two disciples who were despondent as they journeyed to Emmaus, and then were in awe when they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

The Holy Spirit empowered the Church to proclaim what God has given us, as we see in Acts.

We continue this message today as we hear the Good News proclaimed and go forth in the Holy Spirit for our mission to announce the Good News.

October 13, 2024: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A rich young man approached Jesus and asked what he must do to inherit Eternal Life.

Jesus responded by uttering the commands, and the man affirmed that he had been keeping them.

Then Jesus took it to the next step and told him to build up treasure in Heaven.

Ultimately, following the way of Jesus is about more than just obeying rules.

It is about inner transformation that leads us to grow in relationship with God in response to the gifts of salvation, faith, and grace that He freely gives us.

Part of this inner transformation is when we encounter God in His Word, for that Word penetrates our hearts to discern what is within us.

Knowing that faith is a gift freely given by God, let us respond by opening ourselves to transformation.  Through the gift of Wisdom, we gain everything that is valuable because we understand what has the greatest value, and we are transformed to seek after it above all.

So yes, we might gain something in this life from following Jesus, but ultimately, we gain the greatest gift of Eternal Life, while God is present with us all along the way.

October 6, 2024: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God established a beautiful order for our world, when from the beginning, He created male and female, equal in dignity and bearing His image.

Yet when the world fell into sin, the harmony that brought men and women into marriage was disrupted, and the Law of Moses addressed it through divorce proceedings.

When Jesus, the Word Made Flesh, came, He reminded us of the order that God set from the beginning, that men and women would come together as One Flesh to reflect God's image in our world.  From the marital union comes children, who also reflect God.

Jesus did not simply command us to avoid divorce, but came to identity Himself with our sufferings and redeem them so we could be restored back to right relationship with God and one another.

So we come humbly to God in our neediness and brokenness with faith that He has the power to bring us alive in Him, that the world may know our God.

October 2, 2024: Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

God has been specially looking out for His people, guiding them in the way of salvation through angels, ministering spirits.

Angels guided the Hebrews on their journey to the Promised Land.

They continue aiding us today.

By childlike faith in our God, we come to Him, trusting that He is leading us in the way of salvation, with the angels supporting us through the troubles of this work to encounter God's presence.