February 27, 2022: 8th Sunday in Ordinary (Ordinal) Time

As has happened with the other selections from the Sermon on the Plain in the previous two Sunday's Gospel readings, so Jesus challenges us again this day to live differently than our human inclinations would direct us:  He challenges us to not be so quick to judge others, but rather to think more about ourselves and where we need transformation in our hearts and character.  Ultimately, the heart is what truly counts, because what is there that influences the way we live our lives.

God sent us His Son Jesus to be our Savior, the Gospel truth that attains its full power when it enters in us and transforms our hearts as we repent and turn more closely to God.  In the life of faith, we strive to root ourselves more deeply in God, which is the way to flourishing.

We come to see that God has given us a great purpose in Life because, as the 2nd reading from 1 Corinthians 15 describes, He has conquered sin and death by the Paschal Mystery of Christ.  It's marvelous that we hear this reading proclaimed on the final Sunday before Lent begins, which culminates in the Triduum when we remember and celebrate the events of the Paschal Mystery.

Knowing all that God has done to redeem us in Christ and celebrating God's goodness, we know that the work is worthwhile to repent, opening our hearts to transformation so that we may advance the Kingdom of God in the world by proclaiming Who He is with our lives.

February 22, 2022: Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

God revealed Himself in a special way with great insight to Simon, and when asked by Christ about His identity, Simon made a profound profession of faith, declaring Christ as the Son of God.

Christ then gave Simon the new name Peter, acclaiming his confession of faith so that he could provide a solid foundation on which to build the Church and the authority to safeguard the teachings that lead us to Eternal Life.  As the first Pope, St. Peter was called to be a shepherd, leading the flock into encounters with God.

And so this authority has been handed down to the Pope and the bishops through the centuries so that we, the faithful, can continue encountering God in transformative ways through the same timeless teachings that Christ first gave to His Church. 

February 20, 2022: 7th Sunday in Ordinary (Ordinal) Time

I think many of us would think that David would have been in the right for taking advantage of the opportunity to kill Saul and so vanquish a great threat against him, especially Abishai who claimed God had delivered him into his hands.

Yet David's choice to recognize Saul was still the Lord's anointed and let him live reflects the call in today's Gospel reading.

Picking up on the theme of last week's Beatitudes in Luke, we are called to love our enemies.

It's only natural that we would want to show kindness in return for kindness. God calls us to go beyond just what feels natural to demonstrate the supernatural, His merciful presence among us.

As part of advancing God's Kingdom in this world, we are called to reflect God's ways, the God Who shows love and mercy to all people, even those who don't deserve it.

When we go beyond natural expectations, we will receive a great reward

As difficult as this is, God empowers us through the transformation that is ours because of the Paschal Mystery.  We who are of the Earth will bear the image of the Heavenly One, as St. Paul writes, and that promise is our great hope.  We see it at work now as we encounter God and are transformed to reflect His character of mercy to all.

February 13, 2022: 6th Sunday in Ordinary (Ordinal) Time

God promises us not necessarily an easy life, but a blessed life with the assurance that comes from being grounded in Him.

While the world might indicate that we can get by okay without God, drawing on our own strengths, we're missing out on the great Source.

No matter what kinds of troubles we face, we have reason to rejoice when we grow more deeply in relationship with God, drawing upon Him so that we can live the abundant Life.  Indeed, we shall truly flourish even in difficulties.  By centering ourselves on God, we draw on the great Power of God that enables us to live a meaningful life no matter what hardships we face and be part of advancing the Kingdom by serving those who are in need.  God truly works His great reversal in our lives as we, in our poverty, turn to be filled by Him.

Indeed, this reality of faith is ours because Christ has risen from the dead, which means we, too, shall rise, as we experience now already, living in newness of Life with great purpose.

On this World Marriage Day, we rejoice that God makes Himself known through married couples who live out God's love in their marriage covenants, drawing from the source to live with purpose in blessing others, their children and beyond.

February 6, 2022: 5th Sunday in Ordinary (Ordinal) Time

The call of God isn't so much about how well-equipped we are, but the manner in which God demonstrates His power through us.

Clearly, when Isaiah sees the glory of God in the Temple, he is greatly filled with a sense of his unworthiness because he is among a people of unclean lips.  Yet God has the means to cleanse him so that he can be poised to hear the voice that speaks a call that appears to be directed to no one in particular.  And Isaiah, made ready, answers that call.

St. Peter must have had mixed feelings when Jesus told him to let down the net for a catch.  As a seasoned fishermen, he likely doubted this would do any good, but must have been stirred by Jesus's presence enough to follow the directive.  He was soon struggling to haul in an overwhelming catch, and then with his own unworthiness before the Lord Who could cause such a catch to happen.  Yet Jesus comes to St. Peter in his feelings of unworthiness, and reassures him, so that when they return to shore, St. Peter follows him.  Other fishermen with him do, too, having gone through the same experience.

Even St. Paul writes about his unworthiness to be an apostle and to experience an appearance of the Risen Jesus Christ.  Yet he recognizes that God's grace has works mightily in him, so that he is capable of preaching the reality of the Paschal Mystery, which he states in a stirring capsule summary earlier in the 2nd reading.

The Paschal Mystery is the ultimate way God demonstrates His power at work on our behalf.  So though we may be unworthy, we no longer have to be afraid, because God is able to equip us by His merits so that we can do His work of proclaiming the reality of Who He is and what He has done.  Indeed, He transforms us who believe.

So we can join with the Psalmist to declare that we, too, can sing in the sight of the angels, because we are not worthy so much on our own merits, or lack thereof, but on God's merits and His power.

February 2, 2022: Feast of the Presentation of the Lord/Candlemas

Surely it was a marvelous scene when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem.

They presented Jesus in fulfillment of the commands of the Law, but what was even more profound was that Jesus was presented in the Temple, He Who was the Savior of the World.

As Savior, He was born as a human so that He could purify His people and make their righteous in the sight of God.

Simeon was fully in tune with the movement of the Holy Spirit as He came into the Temple and recognized in the baby Jesus, the Savior of the World.  He then declared Him as the Salvation of all the world, both a Light for the Gentiles and Glory for Israel.

It is truly a marvel that Jesus was a blessing to Israel and the world, as both Simeon and Anna recognized and proclaimed.

On this Feast, when we rekindle the spirit of Christmas at the Nativity of the Lord, may His Light shine in our hearts so that we may shine it forth into all the world, for God has come to dwell among us forever in Christ, forever transforming us.  We, as people of faith, truly rejoice!

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph with candles on display at the altar in Ascension Parish in Oak Park