Reflection for Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

The wicked said among themselves,
thinking not aright:
“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training. 

There is a common saying that says: No good deed goes unpunished!  It is as if human nature has a finite ability to appreciate the goodness of others.  Hardwired in the dark side of the human psyche is its tendency, at times, to look for opportunities to see the flaws and foibles of others, even when others are attempting good. 

At the root of such human darkness invariably lies jealousy.  Rather than rejoicing and empowering goodness in others, our own sense of inadequacy, despises or resents that goodness in others as some sort of a twisted threat to us.  This dynamic is tragically at work in not a few politicians who fail to rise above such destructive pettiness to let the common good flourish. 

The section quoted above from the Book of Wisdom has, within tradition, been applied to Jesus, the ‘prophet rejected’ by his contemporaries. For the religious elite of his time, his ‘good news’ was just too good to be true.  So many viewed what he said and did as a threat to the perceived comfort of their established ways of thinking and doing.   

In time, like so many of the prophets before him, he was rejected and ultimately killed in the foolish belief that his life and message would be forever silenced.  However, God would have the final word and that final word would be witnessed in the empty tomb and his risen son who would conqueror forever the darkness of sin with the sure hope of unending life in his unfailing love.

Reflection for Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent

The LORD said to Moses,
“Go down at once to your people
whom you brought out of the land of Egypt,
for they have become depraved. 

The great sin of the Israelite people was the sin of ‘forgetfulness!’  After all that the Lord had done for them, calling them to be his special and beloved people in covenant and liberating them from the bondage of Egypt and opening the door of freedom for them, they complained that the price to pay was just too much.  They wanted instant gratification and turned to the golden calf, stupidly thinking that a lifeless idol would be better than the God of their ancestors.   

It was to Moses and all the prophets to be the voice of remembrance, calling the people back to their first love.  In many respects, the prophets played the role of the ‘conscience’ of Israel.  When tempted by ‘strange gods’ and lured by the prospect of instant gratification, the prophets called them to remember the loving kindness and unfailing mercy of their God. 

It might be very easy for us to point the finger of blame and judgment on the Israelite people, for their ‘forgetfulness,’ until we realize that at the heart of all sin in our own lives lies the same forgetfulness of the God who loved us into existence and sustains us by his loving kindness and mercy.  We too are tempted to think we might get a ‘better deal’ with the instant gratification of exploitation of our neighbor for our own narcissistic ends, refusing to discipline our senses so that virtue might flourish. 

Lent is the time of great remembrance as we savor again the stories of God’s enduring faithfulness even in the face of our constant wanderings in the deserts of forgetfulness.  For the Lord’s love and mercy endure forever.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Annunciation

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.” 

There are only two days within the penitential season of Lent, when the Church permits a liturgical pause in the otherwise normal liturgical limitations and permits the singing of the Gloria during Mass and the Te Deum during the Office of Readings, and that is, the Solemnity of St. Joseph which we celebrated last week, and the Solemnity of the Annunciation of Mary which we celebrate today. 

The origins of this feast are rooted in divine revelation itself as we hear St. Luke’s narration of this story in the very 1st chapter of his gospel.  The God of surprises sends his messenger to a young Jewish maiden with the astounding invitation to share in God’s great plan for the definitive redemption of the world and entire cosmos.  The question is set before her to be the mother of the eternal Word of the Father.  Trusting completely in God’s will for her and without hesitation, Mary replies, “May it be done to me according to your word.”  

Mary, down through the Christian ages, remains the icon of the perfect Christian.  Ever attentive to the will of the Father and bringing forth the eternal Word to a waiting world, she models for us what being an authentic Christian entails – openness to our Father’s will for us and carrying Jesus to our world by what we say and do.

Reflection for Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. 

One of the most spiritually moving experiences in my life was my pilgrimage to the famous Marian shrine of Lourdes in Southern France.  Thanks to the incredible ministry of the Order of Malta, each year they bring those from around the world who seek healing and strength as they face serious illness, to this shrine made famous over the years for miraculous healings.  On my return, a parishioner, said to me, “Monsignor, we’re so sorry.” I asked somewhat naively, “Sorry for what?” To which they responded, “You didn’t get your miraculous healing in Lourdes!” 

Such a response betrayed a complete misunderstanding of ‘the healings’ of this place of grace and blessings. While physical healings can indeed be an unexpected gift from the God from whom all blessings flow, more often than not, the healings of places like Lourdes are the healing of hearts and minds.  There is an incredible blessing that comes from knowing that one never suffers illness or disability alone.  As members of the Body of Christ, we are in spiritual solidarity with one another in our journey of faith.   

Jesus understood this well and today’s Gospel of the crippled man healed at the pool of Siloam stands as a beautiful and powerful symbol of all those who are broken in body, mind and spirit who are always in the heart of our loving God.

Reflection for the Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Thus says the LORD:
Lo, I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
The things of the past shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness
in what I create; 

One of the most cataclysmic events for the Jewish people remembered in the Hebrew Scriptures was the wrenching experiencing of being driven out of their homeland into exile in Babylon.  For centuries, the Jewish people lived in Babylon, pining away for the day they would ultimately return to their beloved homeland. 

In the beautiful passage in today’s liturgy from the Prophet Isaiah, the Prophet speaks to the hearts of the exiled people, a word of promise and hope from the Lord.  “…I am about to create new heavens and a new earth…”  Isaiah placed before the people of the covenant a living reminder that God would not and could not forget them, for they were the loving works of his hands. 

That day of promise and hope came in 539 BCE when the Persian king, Cyrus the Great permitted the exiled Judeans to return to Judah with their hearts filled with rejoicing. 

All of us, at one time or another, experience homelessness.  For some, that may be a literal reality. Yet, for many it might be a sense of not belonging, being marginalized by society because of ethnic or cultural differences.  For millions of the world’s refugees, homelessness is a constant nightmare.  

To all who experience the dread and emptiness of homelessness, the Lord’s words are spoken to you this day, Lo, I am about to create new heavens, and a new earth; The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create.  Let this promise become a reality.

Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

Not as man sees does God see,
because man sees the appearance
but the LORD looks into the heart. 

Some time ago there was a touching story on the evening news of a young boy who was color blind from birth.  His teacher in middle school was also color blind from birth but was outfitted with an amazing new set of glasses that permitted him to see color for the very first time.  With all his classmates surrounding him, the teacher put these glasses on his student.  The heartwarming and emotional response by the young man was instantaneous.  He gazed around the room and then on the faces of his friends and then he broke down and wept with joy.  For, you see, he had never seen before the kaleidoscopic beauty of the world in all its varied color!  As the poet, Gerard Manly Hopkins, so aptly stated, The world is charged with the grandeur of God! 

Gathering in reflection on our continuing Lenten journey, the Gospel stories for last Sunday, this day and next Sunday are all taken from the Gospel of St. John, the final Gospel to be written.  John is sometimes referred to as ‘the theologian’ for his gospel ruminates on the deeper question of the ‘meaning’ of the Christ event for the world rather than merely narrating stories from his life. 

The themes of water, vision and death giving way to life are all highlighted in these three gospel stories.  Last Sunday we heard the story of the woman at the well who thirsted for living water.  Today, in the story of the man born blind, vision is gifted to the man by the Savior, and finally, next Sunday, the Lord’s dear friend, Lazarus, who has died, is raised to new life by Jesus who commands that he be untied and set free from the tomb. 

Faith gives a vision to our lives far beyond the miracle of human sight.  As beautiful and wonderful as our human sight is, to see with the eyes of faith, to believe that life is far broader and richer than what ‘we see’ around us, is indeed an amazing grace. 

Would that we could daily see as the Lord sees.  What a better, more loving, peaceful and more joyous would our lives and world be.   

Reflection for Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ 

Celebrating the Sacrament of Penance has always been a cherished part of priestly ministry for me.  I still vividly remember my very first confession, almost 46 years ago.  It was an elderly man who was nearing the end of his earthly journey.  After that relatively brief encounter, I will never forget the unbelievable peace and serenity that came over his face following that confession.  

An important element of every confession is the ‘act of contrition’ or the act of sorrow that expresses one’s sorrow in missing the ‘moral mark’ in life and forgetting, if only momentarily, the goodness and love of God for us.  While as children we carefully learned by heart the ‘Act of Contrition,’ a prayer that for many is seared into our memories especially when a plane takes off, the simple phrase in today’s gospel is certainly one of the most beautiful and simple Acts of Contrition: O God, be merciful to me a sinner. 

Implied in that simple prayer is the humble recognition that we have sinned – that we have failed to live in everyday practice what it is we believe.  With that recognition of ‘missing the moral mark’ we ask the Lord’s mercy for healing and a new beginning to walk with integrity with him and all our sisters and brothers.  Contrition necessitates reconciliation with the Body of Christ – our sisters and brothers who companion us on our journey to the Father.

Leadership in Times of Crisis

As a responsible citizen in a ‘high risk’ category because of my age and medical condition, I have faithfully been listening to the President’s Coronavirus Task Force briefings each morning. On Monday, there was hope that the coin finally had dropped and the President finally understood the seriousness of this monumental crisis moment in our history. He was surprisingly focused, on message, deferred to the medical experts and to the extent that he is capable, tried to instill confidence in the Federal government’s response to this pandemic crisis.

Unfortunately, it was downhill from there. The remainder of the week witnessed the same arrogant behavior with misguided and reckless comments that could not help but exacerbate the growing anxiety and panic that is understandably sweeping the country. 

This is not the time to once again extoll one’s brilliance, not the time to falsely claim one’s prescience in knowing that ‘it was always a pandemic,’ not the time to once again pick fights with the media and insult reporters who are attempting to ask the hard questions for the American public, and certainly not the time to pick a fight with Dr. Anthony Fauci in setting false hope before the American people who are grasping for anything, by extolling the potential ‘game changer’ of a medication used for malaria in its limited ‘anecdotal’ benefit for folks suffering with covid-19. I was aghast when Trump said that he just had a ‘good feeling’ about this! 

Now is not the time for pedaling false hope. However, it is the time for consistency in telling the inconvenient truths that this moment has tragically occasioned. It is the time for courageous and disciplined leadership, like that of Governor Andrew Cuomo and Governor Newsom. 

This pandemic is going to require what China did by force and what a growing number of States and communities are being asked to do out of their fundamental care, respect and love for their fellow citizens – stay at home, shelter in place, assiduously follow CDC guidelines to limit the spread of this highly contagious virus.

A number of you, I’m sure, heard the comments of youth frolicking on the beaches in Florida on spring break. One after another expressed the foolish invulnerability that sadly can be part of the insouciance of youth. The tragedy of such misguided hubris is that, in this instance, it can kill. It’s as simple as that.

True leadership shines in times of crisis – we need only think of Churchill, Roosevelt, General Eisenhauer on D Day, Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis, George W. Bush on 9/11. In these and countless leaders who have faced crisis moments, the word ‘I’ is rarely used, one coaches the best in others, one exercises pristine and steely calm in the midst of the storm, one humbly defers to the expertise of others, one speaks to build bridges and a sense of solidarity in the face of a common enemy.

As we face a transition in leadership in November, I pray that such a leader will emerge!

Reflection for Friday in the Third Week of Lent

Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength…

One of the most ancient and revered prayers of a pious and observant Jew, is the Shema Yisrael.  It is prayed in the morning and evening service and is the last words that are spoken before sleep and the first words that are taught to a child.  Hear, O Israel!  The Lord our God is Lord alone!  This prayer is a solemn remembrance in the oneness of God which was Israel gift to the world.   

We must never forget that Jesus was a pious Jew for whom the Shema Yisrael was ever on his lips.  Yet, as the eternal Word of the Father, he revealed a radical new understanding of God’s oneness as creator, redeemer and sanctifier.   

In Mark’s gospel today, Jesus joins the ancient Shema with the two-fold radical command that summarizes the teaching of the ‘law and the prophets.’  To love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves captures the essence of the Judeo-Christian ethic.   

We Catholics pride ourselves in a rich theological tradition from the Fathers of the Church to the scholastics to the theologians of our modern age.  Yet, we must never forget that all these volumes that have been written are in reality merely commentary on that two-fold command: to love God with all that we are and have and to love our neighbor as ourselves!

Reflection for the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ. 

Yesterday, I heard an interview with the director of the largest hospital in the northern Italian town of Bergamo, telling of the wrenching decisions that his medical staff have to make determining who will get limited life-saving ventilators and who will not in the midst of this novel coronavirus pandemic.  Inevitably, if the choice is between an 80-year-old or a 40-year-old with a family, the choice is sadly obvious.  He wept when he shared the fact that since visitors are rigidly restricted due to the virulence of contagion, many of the older patients die alone.  Because of the numbers of deaths and limited medical personnel, calls to relatives sadly notifying them of the death of their loved ones, can be delayed days.  

In the midst of this world-wide crisis, the Church pauses in the midst of our Lenten journey, to mark and celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of Mary and foster-father of Jesus.   

We know only the faintest outlines of Joseph’s life from sacred scripture with pious tradition filling in the rest.  St. Joseph has down through the ages been the patron of a ‘happy death.’  Why? Because tradition has it that both Mary and Jesus were there when he died, that is why! 

Because of our belief in being part of the Body of Christ and our solidarity with all those who have gone before us in faith in the communion of saints, no one of us ever truly dies alone.  While we long to be surrounded and companioned physically by our loved ones at the time of death, we are never truly alone in that definitive leave taking.  The holy ones are there to lead us to that fulness of life prepared for us from the foundation of the world, to rejoice forever with Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Reflection for Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 

The great American evangelist, Billy Graham, once said, “If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus Christ.”  At the heart of the good news is the profound belief that in Jesus, the God who lives in unapproachable light, embraced humanity in one like ourselves.  Jesus is the eternal Word of God made flesh. 

One of the early Church Fathers, St. Athanasius, said that “the Son of God became man so that man could become god!”  This beautiful teaching in the theology of the Eastern Church is called ‘divinization.’  The fullness of the law and the prophets that Jesus spoke of in today’s Gospel is precisely to share now and in eternity in the very life of God himself.   

My friends, you and I are made for and destined for transformation and divinization!  Nothing in life is ever truly ordinary because all has been redeemed and made new through the amazing grace of Christ the risen Savior.

Reflection for Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

Do not let us be put to shame,
but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.
Deliver us by your wonders,
and bring glory to your name, O Lord.” 

It has sometimes been said that the God of the Old Testament is a God of judgment and vengeance while the God imaged in the New Testament is one of love and mercy.  Such a caricature of the God of the Hebrew Scriptures could not be further from the truth.  While indeed there are stories that speak of God’s righteous judgment in the narrative of Salvation History, there is one beautiful word in Hebrew that summarizes the Lord’s overriding care for the ‘works of his hands’ in divine revelation as found in the Hebrew Scriptures.  That word is Hesed, often translated as God’s loving kindness toward his people. 

In our reading today from the Book of Daniel, that notion of God’s wondrous loving kindness and mercy cannot but touch our hearts – Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy. 

Sin is ultimately rooted in forgetfulness – our forgetfulness of who has loved us into existence and who sustains us by his loving mercy.  Sin is foolishly thinking that we can somehow ‘get a better deal somewhere else.’  Such moral short-sightedness inevitably leaves us empty and sad.  For as St. Augustine reminded us, “Our hearts are restless, O God, until they rest in you.” 

Lent is the time of great remembrance.  It is the time for us to recall and celebrate the unfailing loving kindness of the God who stands ready to make us new in his great mercy.

Reflection for Monday of the Third Week of Lent

Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. 

The origins of the Lenten Season go back to the earliest days of the Church as a time of proximate spiritual preparation for the transformational moment of Baptism.  Adults who had literally been journeying for years to experience the Sacraments of Initiation into the Body of Christ, saw their long-awaiting goal on the horizon.  The final 40 days, prior to Easter, were a time of intense final spiritual preparation.  Through ancient rites of prayer, invocation of the Holy Spirit for strength and healing, anointings, fasting and prayer, the ‘elect’ were prepared in heart and mind for the singular and life-changing moment of ‘putting on Christ’ through water and the Holy Spirit. 

The scriptures during these 40 days will often focus on baptismal themes of ‘washing’ and ‘cleansing’ to underscore the healing and forgiveness of sin that comes with Christian Baptism. 

The story of Naaman the leper holds for us a two-fold significance.  This gentile, not a member of the covenant household of Israel is granted the unforgettable gift of healing from leprosy from the Lord at the hands of Elisha his prophet.  It was a powerful sign that God’s goodness and mercy is for all peoples.  That universality of the Lord’s goodness is experienced through the waters of baptism for all who wish to experience the fullness of life in Christ.

Reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent

And hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 

As a junior in College Seminary, I was riveted to the 1969 techno-thriller by Michael Crichton, Andromeda Strain.  The harrowing plot tells the story of a team of scientists investigating the outbreak of a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism in Arizona.  It was an unbelievable page-turner that was subsequently made into movie in 1971. 

Sadly, science fiction has given way to reality as we presently find ourselves in the grip of a pandemic with the novel coronavirus that is rapidly spreading throughout the world.  While its immediate impact in China and other parts of the Orient appears to be subsiding due to stringent quarantine measures and social distancing as well as universal testing, it’s impact in the West remain in many respects unknown.  Public health officials warn that the replication of the virus has not peaked and undoubtedly millions will be infected with this new virus.  Sadly, 2 to 3% of those contracting it, particularly the elderly and those with compromised health conditions, will die. 

While we in the United States have blessedly been freed from such pandemics since the devastation of the 1918 “Spanish” flu pandemic that killed over 50,000,000 people worldwide and an estimated 675,000 Americans, the present moment has rightly gripped us with understandable terror and panic.   

As Christians, we never face such moments alone.  St. Paul reminds us that when one part of the Body of Christ suffers, we all suffer and when one part rejoices, we all rejoice.  To be a Christian in the deepest and most profound sense is never to live our lives in lonely isolation but to realize that we are all bound together in the loving solidarity that truly enables us to call one another, brother or sister in Christ. 

With that in mind, how providential that we should hear the comforting and encouraging words of St. Paul, spoken to the early Church in Rome, “hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts…”. For it is precisely in moments of ‘crisis’ that we are challenged to make ‘choices’ that either can build up the Body of Christ or contribute to the fear and terror that grips many of our sisters and brothers. 

My friends, in this moment, more than ever, we are all called to be signs of hope to one another through the attitudes and actions we bring to this moment.  While many in our communities are ransacking stores and hording goods, we have the opportunity of joining those who perhaps can bring food to those among us, the elderly and shut-ins, who fear venturing out into the public.  While taking the necessary precautions to safeguard our own health, telephone calls and social media can be a way of maintaining our compassionate and loving solidarity with our family, neighbors and friends.  We live in hope and are called to be signs of that hope to one another in this moment.  It is through this hope made flesh that the good news can be experienced even when we are surrounded by the challenge of the daily news.  

Reflection for Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours.
But now we must celebrate and rejoice,
because your brother was dead and has come to life again;
he was lost and has been found. 

Good teacher that he was, Jesus knew the power of a good story.  No wonder, then, that we find parables and stories at the heart of so much of the Lord’s teaching in the gospels.   

Of all the stories that have touched the human heart from the heart of Jesus, there is probably no one more familiar and cherished than the one we find in the 15th chapter of St. Luke’s gospel, the Prodigal son from which our Gospel is taken today. 

Prodigal means lavish and extravagant.  The son was called ‘prodigal’ because he was foolishly extravagant and lavish in going through his early inheritance.  In the end, his fair-weather friends abandoned him and he found himself alone and far from home. 

This story could equally be called the Story of the Prodigal Father.  Rather than meeting recrimination on his return shamefacedly, to his Father, he was met with lavish and extravagant love, mercy and forgiveness. In fact, so joyous was the father on his son’s return that he even ordered a party to celebrate his homecoming. 

For all ages, this story has stood as a powerful image of the way that God welcomes sinners.  No sin is ever outside of the boundaries of God’s loving mercy for those who ‘come to their senses’ and are anxious to come home to the Lord’s loving embrace.  That is good news indeed!

Reflection for Friday of the Second Week of Lent

When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons,
they hated him so much that they would not even greet him. 

Jealousy is one of the most destructive and self-corrupting vices that can overwhelm the human heart.  More often than not, it is rooted in one’s blindness to see and accept one’s own inherent goodness and giftedness.  And so, our hearts are in perpetual turmoil at the good fortune of others; the giftedness of others, their successes and even their beauty and goodness. 

Jealousy is like a cancer if left unchecked or healed can metastasize and destroy whatever goodness that remains.  It is this kind of blindness that took control of the brothers of Joseph in the Biblical story of today and led them to sell him into slavery. 

However, in the unfolding of salvation history, God would not let this moment of desolation have the final say in the great saga of his unfailing mercy and love for his people.  God, indeed, writes straight with crooked lines.  The Lord would eventually place Joseph in a prominent place of authority in the court of the Egyptian ruler and when famine gripped the land, he would paradoxically and providentially save his brothers and family.  For, you see, jealousy and revenge would have no part of the heart of Joseph. 

Has jealousy touched our lives?  Have we permitted it to replace our ability to see, accept and celebrate our own unique goodness and giftedness?  If so, let us pray for the grace of conversion that our hearts may root out this cancer and we might bask in the unfailing goodness and mercy of God.

Reflection for Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen
and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man’s table… 

The Gospel of Luke from which the story of the rich man and the poor man named Lazarus is found, has often been called the ‘gospel of the poor,’ ‘the gospel of women’ and the ‘gospel of sinners,’ because the poor, women and sinners play such an important role in Luke’s recollections of the ministry and words of Jesus. 

It is only in the Gospel of Luke that we have recorded the story of the rich man and Lazarus; the story of the Prodigal son, Mary’s exultant hymn of praise, the Magnificat, and the story of the good thief.   

St. Luke was keen on capturing the words and deeds of Jesus that showed his unfailing and extraordinary love and compassion for those who lived on the margins of society.   

The heart of the authentic Christian should always be shaped by the one whom Luke names as merciful and forgiving.  St. Theresa of Calcutta understood well this good news when she said that when the poor and the dying are embraced and cared for, we do that to Jesus himself. 

May our Lenten itinerary of conversion bring us closer to see the face of Jesus in the outcasts and powerless of society each day and in doing so may we reverence the real presence of Jesus in our midst.

Reflection for Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent

Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

One of the most beautiful and ancient titles of the Bishop of Rome and the Universal Pastor of our Church is, servus sevorum Dei – ‘servant of the servants of God.’  Despite the historically scandalizing Popes who have failed to live up to that title and lived lives that were the antithesis of that of the Savior, the truly holy Popes have exemplified this title in their humble and loving service to God’s holy people. 

The notion of ‘servant-leadership’ is the hallmark of a true follower of the Lord. All ministry in the Church is servant leadership.  The very word, ‘ministry’ comes from two Latin words, ‘minus’ and ‘stare’ that mean ‘to stand less.’  Every minister of the Church if they are to truly serve in the name of Christ are to ‘stand less’ and never lord it over those whom they are called to serve. 

Servant-leadership is not only a hallmark of those who minister within the Church but should be a central characteristic of all Christians as they bring the transforming gospel of Christ to the marketplace. 

One who serves the common good in the noble calling of politics is truly effective in that role to the extent that they are willing to ‘stand less’ so that the common good can shine for all.

Reflection for Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” 

One of the most important of all the virtues, next to love itself, is the virtue of humility.  The problem, however, with humility is that it is probably one of the most misunderstood of all the virtues. 

More often than not, when most people think of ‘humility’ or the ‘humble’ person, often the image of the groveling, completely self-facing individual comes to mind.  Of course, such images could not be further from the true definition of humility and the humble person. 

The English word, humility, comes from the Latin word, humus, which means ‘earth’ or ‘ground.’ A person, then, who is humble and practices humility possesses a clear-eyed understanding of their true identity.  As human beings, we are the created and not the creator.  Humility is a profound understanding of our deepest identity as creatures who have been gifted with inestimable value and an eternal destiny.  That is the ‘right order’ of creation. 

It is when we foolishly are deceived into believing that we are ‘not of the earth,’ not the creature but ‘the omnipotent creator’ that such arrogance inevitably leads to heartache and disaster in this life and the next.  For it is when we ‘exalt’ ourselves that we are ‘humbled’ but in ‘humbling’ ourselves, that we are exalted.

Reflection for Monday of the Second Week of Lent

Jesus said to his disciples:“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 

Every Sunday noon in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, the Holy Father leads the thousands of folks who gather from all over the world in the traditional prayer of the Angelus.  Prior to the prayer, he offers a few brief reflections, often on the scriptures of the day.   

Last year, in speaking of the Prodigal son, Pope Francis, said that ‘mercy is the very face of God!”  I found that such a powerful image living in the midst of a world that often seeks to extract revenge and recrimination and where ‘mercy’ is for wimps.   

How true Isaiah prophesied when he said, “God’s ways are not our ways…” The vulnerable human heart often thinks that protecting ourselves through insulating ourselves by being a bully in life is the only path to success.   

The Good Lord, however, invites us to walk another path in life – the very one that His own son walked in showing unfailing mercy, especially for the losers and the wimps in life. 

Forgiving our enemies and showing mercy are the paradoxical keys to the kingdom for those are willing to turn from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.