August 10, 2025: 19th Sunday in Ordinary TIme

God calls us to be constantly in a state of readiness to meet Him, especially when it's time for our departure from this life.

To make the most of this life, we strive to live by faith, preparing to encounter God at any moment.  We acknowledge God's promises for us, just like the giants of faith in the past.  They didn't see the fullness of the promises, but still strove toward God, confident they were playing a part in a greater plan.

Indeed, we have been entrusted with faith as a great gift.  We make the most of our lives now by stewarding this gift nobly and using it to keep close to God and make His presence known by living love now.  The priest at the Mass I attended at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport, IA, pulled a heart out of a knapsack to illustrate this idea and underscored it when he said that Heaven is when we're united with God.  Living love now is a way to be united with as we wait for complete union with Him after we depart this life.  Yet looking ahead to embrace this reality now by living it brings us purpose and joy indeed.  We, by God's graces, can make the sacrifices necessary to love as we keep ourselves constantly aware of how God is making Himself known to us.

August 6, 2025: Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

God sent Jesus Christ to reveal Himself to the world.

On the mountaintop of Tabor, Jesus revealed a glimpse of His Heavenly glory.  He stated clearly multiple times that He was to follow the way of the Cross, and so would His disciples.  Yet this way would end in glory.

We listen to the Son and follow His way because we, as His disciples, have hope, because we have glimpsed God's glory in Jesus Christ.

August 3, 2025: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

On the surface level, there is a bleak picture of life in today's readings.  Ecclesiastes emphasizes how everything is vanity.

When someone comes to Jesus asking for His arbitration in a dispute, Jesus indicates that a life focused on possessions lacks substance.  The parable He tells shows how fleeting life can be, because possessions aren't as lasting as we think they are.

Yet in Christ, we see that life has great meaning when we focus on Heavenly things, which can transform earthly things into means that lead us to what is worthwhile and everlasting, even Heaven.  As we turn our focus back to the relaity of the Resurrection on Sunday today, a Little Easter, we get to revisit a passage from Easter/Resurrection Sunday Mass in Colossians.  Christ has been raised, and has gone to Heaven.  As people transformed by faith in Him, we can focus our gaze upward, too.

By faith, we can see glimpses of Heaven.  I think about how 9 years ago, my brother and sister-in-law married, a joyful occasion of celebrating their union. And 9 years ago on this 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, I heard these readings proclaimed at a church in Cripple Creek, CO, at nearly 10000 feet above sea level, as I spend a weekend joyfully sharing the company of family while celebrating my Great Aunt Carmen's birthday.  Joyful occasions like these point us to the ultimate joy of Heaven.

Pope Leo XIV said it so well in his homily today at the conclusion of the Jubilee of Youth.  The fullness of our existence isn't about what we possess, but rather "what we joyfully welcome and share".  We can part from attachment to worldly matters, especially sin, and receive the abundance of new Life in Christ.  On our way to Heaven, we experience Heaven now as we find the ultimate of purpose in life realized now, because that purpose points us to what is lasting and most worthwhile.