Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: John 15: 9-17

Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.

“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you
and your joy might be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you:  love one another.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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We find something extraordinary unfolding in our first reading, which is essential to the foundation of our Catholic faith: apostolic succession.

After the betrayal and death of Judas, the Apostles have dropped from twelve to eleven. Given the Lord’s command to, “go out and make disciples of all nations,” the Church needs leaders who bear the authority of Christ.

Two were proposed. One was chosen, Matthias.

Interestingly, Matthias is recorded as accompanying Jesus from the very beginning of his public ministry all the way to his ascension. He saw the works that Jesus performed, and believed.

Tradition tells us that, after being appointed an apostle, Matthias went east, bringing the Good News into often hostile territory, where he preached; debated; converted some; and, at last, was martyred.

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What can his story say to us today?

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Like Matthias, you’ve been appointed to spread the Gospel, even at some personal cost, sometimes to people with skeptical hearts or flimsy faith.

You may find yourself the only Christian in your home; the only one who prays or goes to Mass; the only Catholic at work; the only spiritual person in your circle of friends.

But the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, empowering you to, “go and bear fruit that will remain.” 

Often that fruit isn’t borne out of logical arguments or fire and brimstone style preaching; rather, “love one another,” the Lord says, “as I have loved you.”

That will convert the world.

Or, at least, a good share of it.

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Image credits: (1) Christ Giving the Keys to Saint Peter, Peter Paul Rubens (2) Matthias the Apostle, Peter Paul Rubens (3) Howard Carter

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Gospel: John 16: 29-33

The disciples said to Jesus,
“Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech.
Now we realize that you know everything
and that you do not need to have anyone question you.
Because of this we believe that you came from God.”
Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now?
Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived
when each of you will be scattered to his own home
and you will leave me alone.
But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today we gather, seeking the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima, who is not only Mary of the Gospels, the ever-virgin Mother of God, but also our mother… my mother.

Three of Christ’s final words from the Cross affirm this truth. As he says to the Apostle John, the only one of the Twelve not to abandon him in his hour of need:

“Behold, your mother.”

Then, John “took her into his home,” and into his heart, as we are invited to do today.

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On the heels of Mother’s Day weekend, our Blessed Mother appeared with a three-fold message, saying to us what she said to that trio of shepherd children from Portugal in 1917.

When asked, “Who are you?” She responded not by telling them who she was but where she was from: 

“I am from heaven,” she said. 

Meaning, she is from God and abides in God. Every prayer intention placed in her hands is brought immediately to the attention of Jesus.

Just as no son should deny the request of his mother, so the Lord listens lovingly to each request that comes from his Mother’s Immaculate Heart.

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Secondly, Mary directs the children to pray the rosary daily. “This will bring peace to the world and an end to war.”

Are we not reminded almost daily of the need to pray for peace – in Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, parts of Africa, even in our own hearts?

“Pray the rosary,” she says, for peace.

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Finally, she asked those shepherd children the same question the angel Gabriel once asked her: “Will you offer yourself to God?”

That’s a question each of us must answer – not only in word, but also in deed. Mary did so by offering her body, her marriage, her future, her understanding, essentially each moment of her life to God.

May Our Lady of Fatima intercede for us, that we may do the same.

For such grace today, we pray, Hail Mary…

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Image credits: (1) National Catholic Register (2) Britannica (3) Redbubble

On the Feast of the Ascension.

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Gospel: Mark 16: 15-20

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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A mother with ten children was once interviewed by an aggressive reporter.

He asked the mother, “Doesn’t every child deserve the full love of its mother?”

“Certainly,” she said.

“Is it possible to love TEN children with all of your heart? At some point, wouldn’t you get spread too thin?”

“No,” she said. “I love all of my children with every beat of my heart.”

“No one can love ten children impartially,” the reporter pushed. “You must have a favorite. Which one do you love the most?”

The mother replied, “The one who is sick, until he gets well; the one who is sad, until she is happy; the one who is away, until he comes home.”

While a mother’s love is impartial, she can also be consumed by her child in greatest need.

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Today we celebrate a double-feast – it’s both Mother’s Day and the Feast of the Ascension, the moment when Christ returns in glory to his Father in heaven.

So, what might these two feasts have in common?

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While here on earth, Jesus demonstrated a maternal love for his flock, seeking out the sick, the sad, and the lost until they were found.

The Lord loved his own with every beat of his heart.

Yet, today he departs.

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At first, the Apostles rejoice.

What they see is greater than anything they’ve ever seen before. Christ’s familiar hands – the hands they touched, the hands that healed, blessed, and forgave, the hands that were nailed to the cross – are now raised in a final blessing.

The Lord’s body begins glowing brightly as it once did on Mount Tabor. Only this time, he vanishes into the fog of the cloud, ending what seemed like a long dream – his ministry and time here on earth too good to be true. 

Mark tells us afterward, the disciples, “went forth and preached everywhere.” Luke adds, “They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.”

Perhaps because they thought Jesus was coming back for them tomorrow… or next Tuesday.

But here we are, still waiting.

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We’ve been celebrating Christ’s ascension for nearly 2,000 years. While it marks his victory over death and his return in glory to his Father, what about the rest of us?

Who really wants to celebrate a day marking God’s departure from our world? Haven’t we all felt the effects of his absence?

It’s that eerie silence in prayer, when it feels like we’re simply talking to ourselves; we sense God isn’t listening. It’s the despair born of witnessing endless cycles of violence toppling people’s homes and dreams. 

It’s any form of suffering that leaves us saying, “Lord, where are you? Please, come back!” 

At some point, I’m sure the Apostles felt that life would’ve been much easier if they could’ve just boxed Jesus in, or tethered him to their waist, keeping him from disappearing into the clouds.

All they had to show for the last three years of their lives just vanished from their midst!

We want him back no less than they did.

But isn’t this sense of God’s absence what brings us to church week after week? We come in search of his presence, some tangible way to know He is with us. Often, this was the last place we found him.

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The difficult truth is, God is still present in our world, but not in the way that he once was. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit will rush upon the Apostles, filling them with the gift of the Holy Spirit, making them the Body of Christ on earth.

As Saint Paul says, “You are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.”

Suddenly, the students become like their Master; the followers become the leaders; the listeners become the preachers; the converts become the missionaries: those once broken now do the healing.

This is why the Church is affectionately known as, “Mother Church,” because she bears the hands and heart of Christ, extending his maternal love to all in need.

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So, on this double-feast of the Ascension and Mother’s Day, we ask, “How do we honor both our mothers and the Lord?”

Live as “Mother Church.”

Love the one who is sick until he gets well; the one who is sad until she is happy; the one who is lost until they are found.

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Image credits: (1) The Science Academy STEM Magnet (2) The Ascension of Jesus, John Singleton Copley (3) Geeks for Geeks