Category: Uncategorized

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Romans: 7: 18-25

Brothers and sisters:
I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh.
The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not.
For I do not do the good I want,
but I do the evil I do not want.
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it,
but sin that dwells in me.
So, then, I discover the principle
that when I want to do right, evil is at hand.
For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self,
but I see in my members another principle
at war with the law of my mind,
taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Miserable one that I am!
Who will deliver me from this mortal body?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Word of the Lord.

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I was once a pen pal with a young man serving a prison sentence. In his heart of hearts, he was a good man. I knew him long before he got into trouble. But one thing led to another, and eventually he found himself behind bars.

While there, he started reading the bible and was overcome when he came across Saint Paul’s confession from our first reading, his Letter to the Romans: “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want.”

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Paul, a man we revere as a Saint, was torn between his flesh and his spirit. He knew what was right and wanted to do it always; yet, at times, he failed. He knew what was wrong and longed to avoid it; but, at times, he gave in.

Whatever his struggle was, it haunted him. Paul experienced what we all experience – attraction to and hatred for our sins. 

If knowledge of the truth alone were strong enough to guide our actions, then life would be easy. We’d all be saints! But we need more than knowledge; we also need grace. 

We will only experience true and lasting freedom when Christ has full command of our heart.

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So, where do I experience this tension in my life? When do I do what I “hate”?

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Jesus does not come to judge or condemn us. Rather, he comes to forgive, to heal, to inspire, and to change us.

May we be patient with ourselves – and others – as we merge evermore with Christ. As Paul himself prayed, “May God who has begun this good work within you bring it to fulfillment.” 

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Image credits: (1) Saylorville Church (2) Borivali Assembly (3) FreePik

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Gospel: Luke 12: 49-53

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father,
a mother against her daughter
and a daughter against her mother,
a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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This is one of the more difficult Gospel passages because of what Jesus promises: division. And not the kind of division we’d hope for, such as the separation between evildoers and the righteous, but division at home.

In families; in marriages; in the relationships we often value most.

Yet there is nothing we can experience which Jesus has not already felt. Multiple times in the Gospels, we see this tension between his human and divine family unfolding.

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Consider what happened when Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the Temple after searching frantically for him for three days. An exasperated Mary asked him, “Son, why have you done this to us?”

To which Jesus responded, “Did you not know I must be about my Father’s business?”

Or when he was an adult, and an onlooker notified him that his family was outside waiting to speak with him. He turned and asked them, “Who is my mother? Who are my sisters and brothers? Those who hear the Word of God and observe it.”

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At every turn, Jesus chose his divine family over his human family – as we are also invited to do. This decision can not only create division, but also fear. 

Fear because Christ’s disciples are willing to leave their home – and all dwelling within it – if he calls us.

Fear because his Word runs deeper, and guides our steps more intimately, than even the best family advice.

Fear because there are parts of ourselves that we may share with Him but not with others we love.

Fear because our worldview is not framed by popular opinion, secular culture, or subjectivism, but by unchanging Truth.

Fear because we dedicate our lives to someone whom others, even our own family members, may not believe in or understand.

Fear because the Gospel is not a butter knife but a sword. It can set us free, but it can also divide, “three against two and two against three.” Children against their parents, and spouses against their in-laws. 

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It’s a divisive truth because our human family always comes second to Christ.

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Image credits: (1) Christianity Today (2) X (3) YouTube, Above Inspiration

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Gospel: John 21: 15-17

After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and
eaten breakfast with them, he said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
He then said to Simon Peter a second time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
He said to him the third time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time,
“Do you love me?” and he said to him,
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint John Paul II. Many of us remember where we were when we heard the news that he had died, entering eternal life on April 2, 2005. 

It was my brother’s 21^st birthday.

I was a sophomore at Seton Hall University, just a few months away from becoming Catholic. I remember being inspired by his life and example, especially his mantra: “Do not be afraid.”

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The Lord commands us more than 300 times in the bible to not be afraid. It’s a call John Paul was reminded of throughout his life.

When he experienced the death of his mother at 9 years old, and then his father, and then his brother; when he was left alone without his deepest familial roots, the Lord said to him, “Do not be afraid.”

When the Nazi’s invaded his homeland, closed his university, and forced him to work in a factory, he remembered those words, “Do not be afraid.”

When war broke out and he risked his life entering a clandestine seminary to study for the priesthood, he remembered, “Do not be afraid.”

When he became a professor teaching at the only Catholic university behind the Iron Curtain in Lublin; when he was called to become a bishop for the persecuted flock in Poland; when he was elected pope in 1978, called to feed God’s sheep…

“Do not be afraid.”

And when he breathed his last on April 2, 2005, he must’ve felt those words ring in the deepest chambers of his soul, words which guided him since his youth:

“Do not be afraid.”

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John Paul’s journey is, in a sense, our journey. At certain times in life, we all need to remember these words of the Lord.

May John Paul intercede for us, that God would give us the strength to follow him, free from any fear of the present or the future.

Pope Saint John Paul II, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Redbubble (2) Catholic News Agency (3) X