A reflection for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The readings are Kings 3:5, 7-12; Psalm 119; Romans 8:28-30 and Matthew 13:44-52.
Can you imagine God appearing to you in a dream and telling you to ask for anything – that He would give you anything you want? What would you ask for?
I think I would be the first to ask for enough money to make sure I can pay my mortgage – and enough money to pay for my kids’ university. And if I had a lot of money I could donate it to charity or do something great for the Church. Maybe I’d ask to have someone cured of an illness, or that I wouldn’t be so selfish. And after thinking about what I want, with a tinge of guilt I’d ask for peace between Israel and Hamas; and peace for Christians in Iraq – peace in Ukraine and peace in Venezuela… Isn’t it true that we’d probably tend to think about what we want for ourselves first? And it’s not wrong. It’s not a bad thing for me to pay my mortgage or to put my kids through university. It’s not like I’m asking to be a rock star or to take over the world. I’d like to have a super power, like fire bending… What would you ask for?
I recently heard a talk at a Conference by Fr. Jim Sullivan, OP who told us a story about St. John of the Cross, who was a Carmelite priest and a mystic. Jesus spoke to him and said, “you’ve done well; what would you like as a reward?” And – we shouldn’t respond what St. John responded – St. John of the Cross said, “to suffer and to be despised because of you.” We shouldn’t answer what St. John of the Cross answered; we have to be careful what we ask for, ‘cause we might get it.
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A reflection for the Solemnity of Pentecost. The readings are Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 103; Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 and John 20: 19-23.
Today we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and in the readings we have two completely different versions of the same event. In the book of Acts, Luke describes the event that we all know with the hurricane-like winds, the tongues of fire and the disciples speaking in tongues. John’s version is a bit different, but for me, much more compelling.
Let me describe the scene for you: The apostles are terrified. They feel confused, disheartened, abandoned, let down… everything that they were working towards has been a failure; all their hopes are shattered. That man whom they followed, who they thought was the Son of God, the Messiah, the one who was going to liberate Israel from Roman occupation was arrested, tortured and killed. And who’s next? Who are they coming for next? Who will they kill next? This man’s disciples, probably. So the apostles are behind locked doors, hiding, full of fear… and, who appears in the midst of them? Jesus. And what does He tell them? “Peace.” Jesus gives them peace: “Have peace.” “Do not be afraid.”
A reflection for the 5th Sunday in Easter, Year A. The readings are Acts 6:1-7; Psalm: 33; 1 Peter 2:4-9 and John 14:1-12.
Many of you know that I work for Salt + Light TV. I make documentaries, videos and TV programs to help people connect with the Catholic Faith. Sometimes our work takes us to different cities or countries and when we travel, we often have to hire someone who we call a “fixer” – that’s what they call them in the industry. The fixer is a local person, someone who speaks the language, knows the customs and knows the industry, who helps us with all logistics: transportation, directions, translations and local bureaucracy so that we don’t have to worry about knowing where we’re going or parking or having to pay this person or that person for permission to film somewhere. I love having a fixer, because the fixer shows us the way. And when we travel somewhere where we don’t have a fixer, mostly in North America, I’ll do as much research as possible. We get maps, we do street view on Google maps, we find out where the nearest hospital is, where parking is, where we can eat – if in Canada, where the nearest Tim Horton’s is (all the necessities of life). I need to know as much as possible about where I am going. That’s why I don’t like GPSs. A GPS tells you where you are right now and what the next turn is, but I like to see the whole map. I like to know where I am coming from and where I am going and what all the options are. Maybe some of you are like me. So, you can relate very well to Thomas – realistic and practical Thomas, who won’t believe unless he sees the marks of the nails – who wants to know the details of this journey. “How do we get there if we don’t know the way? Where’s the map? Show us the way!”
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A reflection for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, Year A. The readings are: Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 118; 1 Peter 1:3-9 and John 20:19-31.
I love Easter and I love the Easter Season. That’s the period of 50 days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost. One of the reasons I love the Easter Season is because we get to listen to the readings from my favourite book of the Bible: The Book of Acts. During the rest of the year, the first reading is always from the Old Testament, but during the Easter Season, the first reading is always from the Book of Acts. I love the Acts of the Apostles because it’s our story. This is the story of how a group of people responded to the Resurrection and built a Church. That’s our story. We are the Acts of the Apostles. And I love hearing stories about the early Church. I mean, this is maybe three months after the resurrection and we hear that the believers “devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles… to the prayers and the breaking of the bread.” (Acts 2:42) Two thousand years ago, 90 days after the resurrection, that’s what Christians were doing: learning from the teachings of the apostles; and the apostles taught them from the Hebrew Scriptures and from the life of Jesus and taught them what all that had to do with their lives; they gathered to pray and for the breaking of the bread. Two thousand years later, we’re still doing the same thing: learning from the apostles, praying together and breaking bread! I love that! It makes me feel like we are part of something big!
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