Category: Uncategorized

***

Gospel: Mark 4: 21-25

Jesus said to his disciples,
“Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket
or under a bed,
and not to be placed on a lampstand?
For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; 
nothing is secret except to come to light.
Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.”
He also told them, “Take care what you hear.
The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, 
and still more will be given to you.
To the one who has, more will be given; 
from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

Imagine life without light.

If you opened your fridge, you’d struggle to find the milk. If you came to Mass, the church would be dark. If you drove at night, the roads would be hauntingly black.

***

Light is essential to how we live our lives. But different size light bulbs are needed for different purposes.

In your fridge, a 40-watt bulb is perfect. In a church, you need brighter bulbs. At night, you need even larger bulbs to brighten our streets.

While each bulb has a different intensity, they all serve the same purpose: to cast out the darkness in their respective place.

***

In a similar way, God has given each of us a purpose in life – a unique way to shine brightly, to share our faith, our heart, our time, our resources, serving as the face and voice of Christ. 

Priests shine by making Jesus present in the Eucharist, when pouring holy water over a child’s head in baptism, by absolving a heavy burdened soul in the confessional, visiting the sick in the hospital, or celebrating the bond of marriage.

Some of you bring the Eucharist to the homebound; you prepare food for the hungry in our soup kitchen; you serve as a catechist; you are the voice of reconciliation in your family; a prophetic voice in society; or you love and serve your neighbor in the world. 

So, how do we collectively light up the world around us?

***

“No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed,” Jesus says. “Rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.”

Be that light – shine “brightly” – in your spot. Together, we can brighten the world.

***

***

Image credits: (1) Presence and Practice (2) ResearchGate (3) Salt&Light

***

Gospel: Matthew 23: 8-12

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples:
“Do not be called ‘Rabbi.’
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called ‘Master’;
you have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

Perhaps the two most influential thinkers in the history of the Catholic Church are Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas, who lived 800 years apart.

Saint Augustine lived in northern Africa in the 4^th century and is most famous for his memoir, Confessions, in which he documents his storied past, his dramatic conversion, and ultimately his conclusion: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O Lord.”

The Church has preserved these, and over five million other words either written or preached by Augustine, for nearly two-thousand years.

***

Similarly, Saint Thomas Aquinas, whose feast day we celebrate today, was a prolific writer who built upon the writings of Augustine. Incredibly, Thomas wrote more than 100,000 pages of philosophy and theology. His depth and clarity of thought remain unmatched.

Yet, one day while celebrating Mass, Thomas received a vision of heaven that affected him so deeply that he never wrote another word.

“The end of my labors has come,” he said. “All that I have written appears to be as so much straw after the things that have been revealed to me.”

Three months later, Thomas died peacefully.

***

What can the life and example of these towering Saints say to us today?

***

First, make every effort to know, follow, and love Jesus Christ. We will remain restless and unsatisfied until we do.

Secondly, there is no sacrifice we can make for God that outweighs our heavenly reward. Even the compendium of Thomas Aquinas – 100,000 pages of the best writing the Church has ever known – is, in his words, straw compared to the beauty of God.

So, how might we satisfy our restlessness by growing closer to the Lord today?

***

***

Image credits: (1) Dominicana Journal (2) The Gospel Coalition (3) AZ Quotes

***

Gospel: Mark 3:31-35

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
“Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you.”
But he said to them in reply,
“Who are my mother and my brothers?”
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

Immediately following the resurrection of Christ, the Apostles embraced their mission to spread the Good News to the ends of the earth, starting in Jerusalem. As Peter says in the Acts of the Apostles:

“This man, you killed using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up!”

Their message was startling and life-changing.

While large numbers of people converted to Christianity, a significant number of these converts were also martyred for their faith. Mysteriously, their deaths only made the Church grow. 

***

One reason why Christians were martyred was because of their unwillingness to bend their knees to worldly power. As a result, people like the Roman Emperor Nero spread lies and misinformation about them, creating a culture of fear and suspicion.  

For example, Nero labeled Christians as “cannibals,” accusing them of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of their God. While misunderstood, that ancient accusation only affirms the Catholic belief in Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. 

Christians were also called “incestuous,” because they referred to one another as “brothers and sisters,” a practice taught by Christ in today’s Gospel.

“Who are my mother and my brothers?” Jesus asks the crowd. “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

***

Jesus taught his followers that he came to establish a new family, God’s family, the Church – a community whose relationships are not bound by DNA, nor do they dissolve in death. 

Rather, we are equals who treat each other accordingly – never as inferior, as enemies, or as unwelcome rivals, rather as brothers and sisters in Christ. Recently, Pope Leo stretched this teaching, saying we should treat all of humanity with such kindness.

Imagine the people whom you might interact with today – those whom you love and those whom you may struggle to love. Follow the example of the first Christians, treating all of them as a brother or sister. For whatever we do to them, we do to Christ himself.

***

***

Image credits: (1) The Stepmom Project, WordPress (2) Compelling Truth (3) thidolbabbler.com