Tag Archives: jesus

Out on Mission

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Persecution of the Christians at Rome by Nero. Illustration for The Pathway of Life by T Dewitt Talmage (Johnson, 1890).

Dear Folks,
Jesus sends the disciples out on mission, and they are minimally equipped. Sandwiched into the story of the mission of the twelve, between their being sent out (Mark 6:6-16) and
the return (Mark 6:30-33), is the death of John the Baptist. As with the two healings a couple weeks ago (Mark 5:21-43), when one story is sandwiched into another, it is a hint to look at them together.
The mission of the disciples: depending on whatever people would give them, they would heal the sick and drive out demons. That is a pretty challenging assignment, but one that would not make them enemies (except for the demons). However, they would later be sent out when they would encounter persecution of all kinds, even though they were only doing good. The death of John the Baptist is a foreshadowing of what lies ahead.
John had been imprisoned for calling out Herod on his behavior, and Herod’s wife Herodias saw him as a threat, so she conspired to get him killed. Throughout Christian history, standing by the truth can get one in trouble. In the early Church, there were persecutions
in which Christians would be given a choice: either worship the emperor and be set free, or refuse and face horrible, agonizing death. Many faced death. Worshipping the emperor did not require anything elaborate, just putting a pinch of incense on hot coals and saying, “Caesar is Lord.” They didn’t have to mean it, and they could tell all their friends they didn’t mean it. Still, they refused. Why make such a fuss about such a little thing? First, it was witnessing to a lie. Witnessing to the truth is central to being a Christian. Second, and more sinister, it is a form of grooming. Tyrants and predators know that shifting people’s behaviors, their consciousness in tiny, incremental steps, can lead people to all sorts of terrible places before they realize what is happening. We remember the enemy is very clever (Gen 3:1).
These days, if someone refuses to participate in same sex union ceremonies, or uses the pronouns that we were taught in school, there will be people who will try to destroy him. Some say that not going along with certain theories about marriage and gender does great harm to some people. I say, let’s have that conversation. Let’s talk about what the truth really is, and how we can best help people. Many are not willing. Many would shout you down, assault or harass you, destroy your livelihood, in general try to destroy you instead.
I recommend Matt Walsh’s documentary, “What is a Woman.” It shows people acting like the question itself is out of bounds, inappropriate, somehow mean. People cut off the conversation when he pushes the question. When I got my rudimentary studies in science, math, and philosophy in preparation to study theology, I learned the importance of rigorously define key terms. If we are going to help people, it sure would be good to know what
we are talking about.
Jesus sends us forth to be healers, not usually with miraculous powers, but with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). We must remember that we are being “sent forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be as clever as serpents and innocent as doves (Mat 10:16).
Blessings,
Fr. Jim 

The Fullness of Life

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Dear Folks,
Our Scriptures today deal with the forces of life and the forces of death. “Because God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living (Wisdom 1:13; see also Ezekiel
1:23).”
In our Gospel, the story of the woman with the hemorrhage is sandwiched between two halves of the story of raising the daughter of Jairus. In Leviticus 17:11 we see that, “the life of the
flesh is in the blood.” For the Israelites, the blood was the life, so her life was draining away. She was ritually impure, so she could not enter the temple, and no one wanted to touch her because they would become ritually impure themselves. Imagine being isolated from life like that for 12 years. The little girl was 12 years old (another hint that the stories are connected). She had had so little chance to experience life, and now it seemed that she never would. The heartbreak of her family would be incalculable. Jesus brings hope when hope is gone.
Of course, there would be many sick and dying people at that time that did not get cured. Jesus of course, had great concern for all who suffered, but His primary task was not to increase people’s lifespan, but give us eternal life. When He does miracles, He is teaching us something.
In one sense, we are either alive or we are not. A human life is immeasurably sacred and precious, worthy of unique respect. It would be appalling for a society to say that the life of an adult was more sacred than the life of a teenager, that the life of a teenager was more sacred than the life of a toddler, or that the life of a toddler was more sacred than the life of a fetus.
In another sense, we can become more fully alive by how we exercise our humanity. To give in to the forces of chaos, to be enslaved to our primal desires, to think only of ourselves, to let life
happen to us is to be less alive. To give ourselves in love to others, to devote our energies to something greater than ourselves, to be intentional about growing and developing as a person is to be more fully alive.
Living things can grow, organize, often connect with others to form communities that are somewhat like a live organism (1 Corinthians 12). Dead things decompose, return to the earth, and their material disperses. W. C. Fields is quoted as saying, “Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.” Being alive enables us to resist the forces of chaos.
The great obstacle to being fully alive is sin. Remember that “The devil was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).” And in Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God
is eternal life.” Jesus came that we “might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).”
If we are to spread the Gospel, it is for us to show that we are leading an abundant life, one that, while challenging, is joyful, even in difficult times. How do you see your life as more abundant because it belongs to Jesus?
Blessings,
Fr. Jim

Seeds of Change

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Dear Folks,

Today in Mark 4:26-34 we hear the parable of the seed that grows mysteriously without us knowing how (unique to the Gospel of Mark). This points to a major paradox in Christianity: We are called to effort, but it is God who accomplishes things.

We do not bring about the kingdom of God. We are called to work for a better world but God is the One who makes the kingdom happen.

People like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao thought they could build an ideal society by their own wisdom and skill. They wound up doing horribly evil things because they were sure it served this great vision, but they failed to produce the result. Instead, they left the people in misery. If God brings about the kingdom, we know our part is smaller, so we are not important enough to think we can decide that killing millions of innocent people is within our scope. We know if we obey God, great things will happen, even if we don’t live to see them (John 4:37-38).

This also means that in spite of how much of a mess the world is in, and how small our abilities are in comparison, we can face the world boldly We can be bolder in our aspirations and at the same time more humble in how we seek them.

Perhaps the two most influential people I can think of in the last thousand years were St. Francis of Assisi and St. Theresa of Calcutta (Mother Theresa). They dedicated themselves to service, sacrifice, caring for the sick and proclaiming the truth. They had no political

power. They were willing to do the humblest jobs. They both suffered from great inner darkness but saw much joy and beauty in God’s creation. They focused more on their own sins than the sins of others (Matthew 7:4-5). St. Francis saw his order change his rule, and he couldn’t stop them. His order has thousands of people all over the world, and his example has inspired and influenced countless people, including non-Catholics, including nonChristians. Does anyone doubt that the same will be said of Mother Theresa a thousand years from now?

We are called to action, but God will make things happen. We can do small things, but if they are done with love, they can, over time, have great effects. Do not get discouraged by anything.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

A More Peaceful World

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Dear Folks,

This Sunday’s Gospel deals with people that Jesus could not convince.

Mark 3:20-35 Jesus is casting out demons, and His opponents claimed that He was possessed and that he drove out demons “by the power of the prince of demons.” Jesus shows how illogical that is and warned against blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It seems from the context that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is refusing to see. Helen Keller said, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”

Some will not see because they don’t want to and will say or do anything to defend against a new idea. Those who refuse to see cannot be forced to see. If even Jesus couldn’t convince them, we are not going to do better than Jesus.

I continue to be concerned about the state of conversation in society today. There is a lot of interaction, but not a lot of understanding. The chasm between sides seems to be growing

wider, and the hostility between them growing fiercer. I chose not to include examples but ask you to think of some from your experience. I bet you can. I’ve noticed that what we say sounds more convincing to us than it does to the people who

disagree with us. There seem to be many occasions when someone presents his argument and ends with the triumphant equivalent of “checkmate. Case closed” and the other person says, “No, not even close.” Some are not convinced because we didn’t make a case that spoke to their point of view, and if we learn more about their point of view we can try again and maybe succeed. Usually there are some bits of information that support one point of view, and other

bits of information that support the other point of view. We tend to put more weight on what supports our narrative. Some people, it seems hammer the details in their favor and ignore the details against. I can’t tell if they are doing it on purpose.

At some point, we need to realize we aren’t going to make progress and need to give up. Jesus spoke of shaking the dust from our feet and moving on (Matt 10:12; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5

and 10:11). Sometimes it takes a while for a new idea to take root, to mature, and to grow. We can’t generally change the basic architecture of our thinking in a minute; sometimes it takes

years. I’ve caught myself getting angry when I think someone is not trying to understand. I need to check myself. First of all, they may be trying. Second, getting angry is a futile waste of energy at best, and destructive at worst. I just need to accept that I can do what I can do.

I think it is critical to be realistic about what the situation is and how much we can do about it. There is a lot of bad thinking, bad logic, and bad ideas, and it’s going to be that way for the

foreseeable future. We need to resign ourselves to the fact that we can’t fix it, but maybe we can make it a smidge better. If we can get someone to think something they’ve never thought before, ask a question that they’ve never asked before, look at things from a different angle, that moves us forward. If others hurl abuse, call people names, and get nasty while we respond calmly, respectfully,

and persistently, over time those who are open will see where wisdom lies.

One final thought: let us all be carefully on guard against our own human tendency to refuse to see the truth. None of us are immune.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

Fully Praying the Mass

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Dear Folks,
Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. When we talk about the hope that the Catholic Church in America flourishes in the future, how much we flourish will revolve around how we respond to the Eucharist. The Second Vatican council has
given us some principles:
1. We are called to understand: Jesus is uniquely present, and makes present His one sacrifice on the cross (which happened once in history, but whose power is eternal, see Revelation 5). We are called to participate and be incorporated into that sacrifice,
that we can become an offering to God.
2. We are called to participate internally: The faithful are called to offer the Divine Victim not only through the priest, but together with him, and in so doing offer our own lives. We offer our work, our struggles, our suffering, our joys and sorrows, all the
aspects of our walking with God through the week.
3. We are called to participate externally: This expresses and strengthens our internal participation and encourages those around us to participate more fully (we are responsible for supporting each other). We are called to sing or say the words and do the actions that the liturgy gives us to do and do it like we mean it. There is no need to add a bunch of other things that the liturgy does not call us to do; we can focus on doing our part with all our minds and all our hearts. That will be challenge enough.
4. We are called to live out the meaning of what we celebrate in the rest of our lives that week. Think of how a bride and groom give themselves to each other in their marriage vows at their wedding and give themselves to each other is living out those vows
in their lives. The sacrament and the living out the sacrament form one act of selfgiving and each gives meaning and strength to the other.
Having someone who cares for us personally is unlike anything else in reality. I hear people are developing robots with artificial intelligence and the ability to mimic human expressions. They can be programmed to tell us how much they love us and how wonderful we are. Someone might fool themselves for a while with such a toy, but ultimately it is empty. What matters is encountering someone who truly loves us. No one loves us more than the Lord, and this most intimate encounter in the Eucharist is more precious than anything the earth can offer. Many people leave the Church or stop coming to Mass because they forget this or never were taught in the first place. If we realized what a great gift it is, how could we leave? What on earth could make us stop coming?
As I have said before, if we want a better church, if we want a better world, the first step is to fall more deeply in love with Jesus. One thing we can all do is ask: do I respond to the call to the Eucharist like I really believe in it?
Blessings,

The Core Meaning of All Reality

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Dear Folks,
Today is the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, a feast day that should get more acclaim than it does. Fasten your seatbelts; we’re going deep.
Catholics should, at a minimum, know that there is one God who is three divine, coeternal persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, almost all just stop there and never give it another thought.
Folks, this is the core of all reality and makes all the difference.
As we look at the basic questions of existence and consider what to believe, there are some primal questions. Is the ultimate reality personal or impersonal? If we accept the atheist materialist view, then it is impersonal, and personhood is just a blip in the dance of matter- energy in the universe. I experience consciousness, but don’t know why (there is vague talk about a byproduct of electrical activity of the brain, but I don’t think that explains much). I experience good and bad feelings, and I want to maximize good feelings, and that’s about it. In this scenario, when I die, nothing of me is left, and the race will die, and it won’t matter that we existed at all. I don’t find this very inspiring.
If the Christian point of view is correct (and, in case you are wondering, I believe it is), Then personhood is the foundation of all reality. Beyond even the universe. Furthermore, God is the perfect community of love all by Himself. The Father is eternally giving Him- self in love to the Son, who is eternally receiving and returning that love, and the love that passes between them is the Holy Spirit. Though God does not need anything, love by nature is fruitful, and so God created the universe, including us. We are meant to receive His love and give ourselves as gift to Him, and that is the fullness of the meaning of being human and the fullness of joy. Unfortunately, sin inhibits this gift, and we become centered on our own desires (classically: power, pleasure, wealth, and honor). Only by be- coming one with Jesus in His perfect gift of self, which culminated on the cross, can we be saved from it. In Him, we can learn how to give ourselves as gift, and receive the strength to do it. The more we grow in Christ, the more we receive His love and the more we give ourselves in love. In heaven, that flow of love becomes perfect and complete. See John.16:20-24 and John 17: 20-26.
We must be careful about self-deception. In our sinful condition, it can be easy to tell our- selves we are loving God and others when we are actually at our center serving our de- sires. Matthew 6 (the middle chapter of the Sermon on the Mount) is all about that danger. Our scribe and Pharisee friends are the poster children for this.
The big question in life is: are we at our center about serving our own desires, or about giving ourselves in love with our own desires as a side dish? Everything starts from this.
May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Fr. Jim 

Praying for Vocations

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Dear Folks,

Today we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord. Jesus, after His triumphant resurrection, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He left us with homework: “Go make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19),” “Go into the world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).” I suggest a critical question for our time is, do people in church see themselves as customers or coworkers in mission?

We have begun praying a prayer for vocations to the priesthood, deaconate, and religious life. The number of priests and religious have been declining for decades, and God willing, we hope to ordain one priest this year, but next year there will be no one. Meanwhile, the rest of us are getting older.

I read from a couple of authors “Never work harder to help someone than they are willing to work to help themselves.” I have had occasions where someone was demanding that something be done, but were unwilling to put forward any action to help make it happen.

What would God think of such petitions?

When we talk about action, many immediately focus on encouraging young people to consider vocations. I would suggest a much more critical task is giving them reasons to believe that such vocations are not only worth doing, but worth giving their lives to. What do they see when they look at the people of the Church today? What messages do they receive?

One youth minister said, “Never ask people to choose between God and sports, because God will always lose.” One youth minister said that they had asked the confirmation students, “Why do you want to affirm your faith?” One young man said, “You can be Catholic without it affecting your life. If you’re Baptist you can’t drink or dance, but Catholics can do anything they want.” What messages are they getting?

What do young people see in the adults around them (yes, parents play a huge role, but kids see more than their parents) that tells them that God and the Church are important enough to be worth giving their lives to serve? Do they see a people who dearly love the liturgy, and participate like it is the most important thing they do? Do they see people hungry to learn more about their faith and thirsty to grow in holiness? Do they see people zealous for the mission of the Church, and dedicated to helping the Church accomplish great

things?

What if, as we ask God for more vocations, we each examine ourselves? How might we better show in our lives that vocations in the Church are important, worth dedicating one’s whole life?

I believe God has given us what we need to flourish as Church. If we respond well to this

moment in history, I’m convinced we can have a bold future.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

What is Love?

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Dear Folks,

Our first reading this Sunday from Acts 10 shows St. Peter dealing with a major issue in the first century Church: whether righteousness (being in right relationship with God) comes through works of the Law of Moses or through faithfulness to Jesus (spoiler alert: faithfulness).

In our Gospel from John 15, we see a major emphasis on how to be faithful is to love one another. A temptation is to respond with “now I know what I need to know; this is simple.”

Not so fast. In theology, I read a book called “Situation Ethics” by Joseph Fletcher. He insisted that there should be only one law, the law of love, because any other law, any other ethical principle would sooner or later conflict with the law of love. As I kept reading, I realized that he was presuming that anyone who looked at a given situation would know what was the loving thing to do. Studying history and philosophy should show us that what seems obvious to us now was unthinkable in ancient times. Looking at modern discourse we can see that many people have opposite positions and are sure that their position is true, right, and obvious.

“Love” is a word we use so much it is easy to overestimate how well we understand the challenge. There are some major issues we must tackle:

1. What is love? Christianity teaches that it is not a feeling, but a decision to seek the good of others, even at a cost to oneself (the greatest act of love is “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends [John 15:13]).”

2. What is the good? Is it getting what we desire when we desire and how we desire? Or is there a good that is more profound, and that is to be discovered and that we are to grow into seeking? Such a good involve virtues being encouraged and incentivized by a healthy society.

3. How do we achieve it? Lenin, Stalin and Mao murdered tens of millions of people insisting that this would serve the greater good, but they brought about enormous misery instead. If we agree that we want an end to gun violence, we must still ask if a given gun control legislation will make people safer or less safe? Are there other things we can do? If we agree we want to help the environment, we are left with questions: does switching to electric cars help or hurt the environment? Does less drilling for oil in the U.S. help ore hurt? Does the benefit outweigh the harm? In Ann Garrido’s wonderful book “Redeeming Conflict” talks of “undoing the knot of intention.” Good intentions don’t necessarily produce good results.

4. How can we, a sinful people, do better? Christians know that we cannot overcome temptation by our own strength. It is only in our union with Jesus that it becomes possible. With His grace, however, we can do great things. With prayer, sacraments, and penance, we can open ourselves more and more to His presence so we can have

the humility to see where we fall short, and the wisdom and strength to move forward.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

When God Calls

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Dear Folks,

I saw the movie “Irena’s Vow.” It is beyond amazing. It is about Irena Gut Opdyke who sheltered a group of Jews during World War II, and one would never have believed how she did it. The movie showed the terrible evil of the Nazis who were seeking to make Germany “free of Jews.” We remember how the Nazis accused the Jews of all sorts of crimes in an attempt to justify their actions.

This Sunday the Gospel is about Jesus the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18). The Good Shepherd “lays down his life for the sheep.” This is the essence of the Gospel: the Lord, with nothing to gain for Himself, paid the ultimate price for our salvation, and calls us to

receive His gift and give ourselves in love. This is not only the greatest story ever told, but the greatest story that could ever be told. It will never be repeated but has echoed in the lives of many Christians who suffered, sacrificed, and put their lives on the line for the love of God and neighbor.

There are many true stories about people who make heroic, selfless sacrifice to help others. Irena Gut Opdyke is one. Irena Sendler is another (see the movie “The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler.”) I’m also fond of the story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, whose

work is detailed in the movie “The Scarlet and the Black” and was subject of the book “Hugh O’Flaherty: The Irish Priest Who Resisted the Nazis” by Fiorella De Maria.

We remember the terror attack in Israel on October 7 and the horrible cruelty that was committed. We see how Hamas is still holding hostages while trying to maximize civilian casualties. We see people accusing Israel of crimes while dismissing the crimes of the terrorists. There have been rallies in the United States, including Michigan, in which people have shouted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” At a time when hate crimes against Jews is on the rise, at a time when people are getting more and more casual about destroying human lives, we would do well to pay attention.

I notice that at the worst times in history, God raises up great heroes. True stories of heroes remind us what one person can do, and that often these people are the ones you would least expect. We don’t know what God will call us to before we are done. Not all Christians are called to die for the faith, but all Christians are called to be ready to die for the faith, and all are called to service. What would we be willing to do to answer God’s call?

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

Telling the Story

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Dear Folks,

Story telling is one of the most basic human activities. We take tidbits of experience and weave it into a narrative. We don’t see directly into people’s minds, but we see their actions and hear their words, and put them together like puzzle pieces to get a picture of what they are like. We decide some people are our friends and others are not. Sometimes we can be mistaken, and someone who had acted friendly had been trying to take advantage of us.

In detective movies we see events, details and conversations, and in the end, the detective typically calls everyone together, weaves those tidbits into a narrative describing what happened, and reveals the killer. If the movie is well done, we say to ourselves that we remember those things, why didn’t we put them together?

In the Easter readings, we see people’s experience of the risen Jesus. Jesus explained how the Old Testament led up to the Gospel (Luke 24:27, 45-47). Earlier, Jesus suggested to scholars that the Old Testament pointed to His story, but they didn’t get it (John 5:39).

All creation was made through Jesus and for Jesus (Colossians 1:16), so all stories lead to Jesus. It is a matter of putting together the puzzle pieces. We have to start where people are at. We remember that St. Paul told the Gospel story one way to Greek philosophers in Athens (Acts 17:22-34) and another way to the Jews in Jerusalem (Acts 22).

If we want to tell the Gospel story, or a part of it, to someone, it really helps to hear their story first. It would be useful to know what experiences they’ve had with religion in general and Christianity specifically. Were they taught anything? Were they taught so poorly that they couldn’t recognize any goodness, beauty, or truth in it? Did they find it silly or trivial? Were they hurt or disillusioned? What do they believe strongly? What is important to them?

Sharing our knowledge of the Faith and our personal experience in a way that might be meaningful to others is more art than science. Most of us are not practiced in it, but we can learn, and that will be helpful to fulfill Jesus’ mandate to be his witnesses (Luke 24:48; Matthew 28:19-20). We can start by asking ourselves: Why is the faith precious to us? What strikes our hearts most powerfully? How are our lives different because of it? What have been our good experiences? What have been our bad experiences? What

have they taught us?

We are an Easter people. Let us rejoice!

Blessings,

Fr. Jim