October 29, 2023: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Throughout Scripture, God demonstrates His care for those in need.  In the Law of the Pentateuch, He constantly reminded the Hebrews to look out for them.

Jesus brought fulfillment to that Law by focusing on the ultimate meaning:  When asked by a religious man, He declared that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love others.

God has given us a great gift in showing us His love, especially in how Jesus saved us from sins so that we could truly be alive, focusing ourselves Heavenward.  

This great gift calls us to respond by acknowledging God, and then recognizing He is present in those around us, and so we show that love to others, even so that furthermore, God may truly be present in how we live our lives.  May it be a sign that God is transforming us in the image of His Son our Savior, so that we can be models for those around us as we advance the Kingdom.

October 22, 2023: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God is a mighty ruler over all the Earth, and He works in ways to display that reality.  As the first reading declares, He even works through rulers who don't acknowledge Him to confirm that there is no one like Him in all the Earth.

God has created us to bear His image and reveal His glory.  The idea of images has a prominent part in the Gospel passage.  When Pharisees and Herodians attempted to trap Jesus with a question about paying taxes, Jesus took the question to a whole new level.  With the coin that bore Caesar's image, He declared that we should give to Caesar what belongs to him to God what belongs to Him.

Furthermore, as is revealed in Redemption, and described in the 2nd reading, God chose us and called us, giving us a title and an anointing.  He does a great work in us to present us the saving message of the Gospel and work it in us and our lives through power, the Holy Spirit, and much conviction.  And with this reality living in us, we're called to live in a way that declares God's presence to the world.

The readings for this weekend have special significance because they were proclaimed at my Confirmation Mass 18 years ago.  At that time, I was called to recognize that I am created to bear God's image and go forth into confirmed life to acclaim God's glory in the world by putting faith into action.

October 22 is also the anniversary of Pope St. John Paul II's installation, and is celebrated as his feast day.  One important aspect of his legacy is Theology of the Body, which helps us better understand what it means for us to bear God's image in our bodies.  He did so much in his capacity as Pope to call the people of the church to live the vocation to love God by serving with their lives.

October 15, 2023: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God is inviting us to a great banquet with the very best food, which is the realization of how He imparts His very Life to us.  We get a foretaste of Eternal Life when we partake of the Eucharist.

Indeed, like St. Paul writes, He provides for us abundantly, and we can lean on Him, knowing, in those powerful words of Philippians 4:13, that Christ strengthens us for everything.

It's an opportunity for us to respond, and partake of these riches of abundance.  The sadness of the parable in the Gospel reading is that so many turn away from the invitation, or even act harshly toward the servants bearing the invitation.  Even today, so many aren't coming to Mass on Sundays, to worship communally at Church.

When we're at this banquet, we're called to embrace a new way of life, to put on Christ and be transformed.

On this day 18 years ago, I responded to the call to live a new way of life in the sacrament of Confirmation, and it has brought me into an abundant banquet as I strive to follow the way of the Holy Spirit to grow deeper in relationship with God that is lived out toward others.

It's also the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, who sought to draw closer to God, and offered a way for others to mystically draw closer to Him.  The St. Teresa of Avila Roman Catholic Student Center at Valparaiso University has helped so many students like me encounter God in a vibrant community, and it gives me lots to celebrate this day.

October 8, 2023: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God has done so much for the people He has chosen throughout the centuries, offering them His life-giving presence and so many blessings, like the owner of the vineyard who tends to it with such care.  No wonder God became so disheartened with the Chosen People when they turned away from Him, not bearing good fruit, but behaving wickedly, like the landowner who wanted to have the vineyard overrun and neglected.

In that same sense, Jesus describes a disheartening scene in the parable in today's Gospel reading, when the tenants of the land mistreat the servants sent to collect the owner's share of the land's produce, and then ultimately even mistreat the owner's son.  The religious leaders, to whom Jesus directs the parable, in responding to what should happen to the tenants, acknowledge what will ultimately happen to them because Israel's people rejected all the prophets up to Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Clearly, things get out of hand for the Chosen People because they reject their relationship with God, Who is the Truth, seeking only for themselves.

God ultimately sends His Son as the fullness of the message the prophets attempted to convey.  He is Truth, and He is our Life, calling us to bear fruit that will build a culture of Life in this world by reflecting Him.  While these parables in today's readings had a focus on ancient Israel, their message continues to call us today.

In the spirit of what St. Paul writes in the 2nd reading, God will grant us peace as we turn to Him in the midst of our struggles.  And He grants us an abundant sense of Life as we turn our minds toward everything that is honorable, pure, lovely, and gracious, which is how we acknowledge that God is present with us.

October 2, 2023: Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

God has sent angels to guide us on our way to salvation, which Hebrews describes.

And God yearns for us to attain salvation in its fullness and reach the fullness of His presence in Heaven.

May we rejoice that God is providing help for us in our journey and know the closeness of His presence as His angels accompany us.

October 1, 2023: 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

There's something about this week's readings that speaks to last week's readings, when we were presented with the idea that God's ways are so vastly different from ours.  Now, we encounter further insight about how to respond to the grace God gives all of us so abundantly.  Ultimately, God is looking for each of us to do what is right in His sight.

While some delay in sinful ways, God values those who come to Him sincerely and live out their faith.  That is the way that leads to life and demonstrates how God's life is at work in us.

He calls us to have the attitude of Christ Jesus, seeking the good of others.  We put aside our differences and, by faith, bind ourselves more closely to each other in edifying one another, following the model of Jesus Christ:  He humbled and emptied Himself so that we could be restored to right relationship with God.  As we join with those in Heaven, on Earth, and under the earth in confessing His name, we answer the call to serve others in His Name that has saved us through abundant grace.

This day is typically the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, whose little way has provided us insight that, by faith, we can draw close to the heart of God Who loves us.  She drew close to God in the midst of her circumstances and helped show others the way.

We also give thanks on this Respect Life Sunday for God's most precious gift, and give ourselves to upholding the sanctity of life, starting from the moment of conception.