May 2025 Newsletter – Perfect Love

“For God so loved the world…”

In this Easter Season we hear much about God the Father’s character, i.e., what He is all about.

Each of us may see God the Father in different ways. Perhaps some really connect with what Jesus told us, He is our dad, a loving and caring Father. For others, we may see Him as a judge. Some may see in Him the balance of justice and mercy. St. John, the beloved disciple, would later write much about the character and nature of love as found in God: So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. (1 John 4:16-18) The thought of God as love moves John to talk about God’s love “perfected among us.” The Greek word translated “perfected” (teleios) means “reaching a goal”, or “finishing” and “completing” something. It is the word Jesus cried from the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Jesus was telling the world that in His death God’s redeeming work was finished, having reached the Father’s goal.

As much as John speaks of love he speaks of us. He uses words like we, us, and those who abide. God’s perfect love completed the work of salvation in Jesus on the cross, but we who abide here still have much to do. As we accord more and more to the way of Jesus we reach a perfection of love that is like the Father’s. We come into a unity of love as exists between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God’s love takes active action in us reaching love’s goal and causing His Kingdom to grow. We have a goal we are headed toward. So, let us live His love in greater and greater ways, eventually reaching that point where we can truly empty ourselves for love of our brothers and sisters, and can say along with Jesus, we have completed our work.

Welcome to our May 2025 Newsletter. A bit late, but here nonetheless. We continue to celebrate the fifty day Easter Season. We celebrate our moms and our heavenly mother, Mary. We look forward to great summer events – read up on them. All that and more in our May 2025 Newsletter.

Reflection for Good Shepherd Sunday 2025

“My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.”

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The eternal creating God, the just God holds us like this.

Jesus calls out a very key point we sometimes fail to grasp. We may miss it because of images like that of Jesus cradling the lamb. In calling Himself the Good Shepherd, it is natural to focus only on the image of Jesus as Shepherd. Yet, what Jesus calls us to today is focus on His Father in heaven holding us. 

The Father, upon His throne, holds us in His hands. The Father declares that we are His and no one can take us away from Him. 

We could liken this image to that of a father or mother holding their infant in their arms as they rock away in a chair. We, through our experiences, have all seen that image of perfect love and care, of defense and protection. Love when poured out before our eyes, is naturally understood.

Today we are called to see our Heavenly Father doing that for us. His magnificent, overwhelming, and unconditional love is poured out on us as He holds us. 

Some smarty-pants people when talking about our faith, and they are usually ‘insiders,’ make ridiculous statements like love is more important than doctrine. That is because their definition of doctrine is corrupted. In this 1700th year of the Nicaean Creed which we will profess in a few moments we declare a doctrine the tells us who God is.

And this is Who He is: A Father sending His beloved Son into the world and to the Cross for us; A Father with love so great that He spent it all to bring us into His arms.

If we live what we believe we live love. If we are one with the Father and Son in the Spirit, we bear the image of our loving God.

Yesterday, we experienced the ordination of a new shepherd in the model of Jesus. Fr. Sean. Toward the end of the Holy Mass, after pledging his obedience, the Prime Bishop leaned over and gently kissed him on top of his head. The shepherd’s love in the model of the Father exemplified. I cried because God opened my eyes to see that He loves us like that.

Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Easter 2025

“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

There is an amazing amount of material and symbolism contained in today’s gospel message.

Seven of the remaining eleven Apostles have gone back to their former way of life, and their former failures. As when Jesus first called Simon, James, and John their nets were empty.

Jesus tells them to try again – meaning not just the fishing, but the ministry they were called to.

Jesus is not big on going back or backsliding. He wants us to, through the power of His resurrection, move forward, to persevere in the ministry we have been given.

After the catch and their recognition of Jesus, Peter finds himself undressed and quickly covers himself and then swims toward the Lord. Peter takes the first step in recovering himself with grace, putting on not just clothes, but the Lord.

Jesus reasserts His resurrected humanity at the campfire by the lake where He eats with them. During that meal, they are reminded of that supper they shared with the Lord before His death, and they are recalled to the ministry of that supper.

Jesus calls Simon Peter aside to reconcile his betrayals. Jesus questions him about his love. In the original Greek, Simon Peter says he loves Jesus as a ‘brother.’ Jesus is asking him if he loves Him with his whole self – just as Jesus loves us.

Even though Simon’s answer is weak, Jesus still calls him to feed and tend His followers, recalling him to ministry.

Finally, Jesus tells Peter that he will have to forego his sense of self-determination and self-control. Jesus tells him that he will learn to let go, even to the point of sacrificing his life for the life Jesus offers.

Like the Apostles that day let us hear Jesus’ call and offer Him all our love. Allow Him to take control of our lives.

Reflection for Low Sunday 2025

Many signs and wonders were done among the people at the hands of the apostles.

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

We all may have heard of the term ‘shock and awe.’ That term first emerged as a military strategy based on the use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force to paralyze the enemy’s perception of the battlefield and destroy their will to fight. While as a concept, the term and strategy had been around for some time, it came into the public lexicon during the Gulf Wars against Iraq. 

We might perceive the day of the resurrection and its following week as a time of shock and awe. The overwhelming power of God was fully on display as the resurrected Jesus appeared to His followers over and over. God’s might was spectacularly displayed.

We would all like to think that if we were there we would get it, understand. But, that’s unlikely.

In the first hours after the resurrection Mary Magdalene understood. John the Apostle got it. The disciples on the road to Emmaus had their eyes opened and Simon Peter finally understood. The rest, well, it took them time.

As we proceed through this season of joy, we will arrive at that moment when Jesus is taken up into heaven, the Ascension. Even there, some of the Apostles did not believe. Scripture records in Matthew 28:17: When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

Jesus had appeared over and over, He ate and drank with them, built a campfire, helped them with their catch, and repeatedly offered them peace.

My brothers and sisters, it is ok to be like Thomas, like the others who  still doubted. The problem comes when we persist in doubt and when doubt turns sour.

Jesus’ direction is very clear. It starts with the peace He gives us, a peace beyond the absence of conflict. It is a grace of peace that allows us to stand in the midst of conflict and still be at peace – because we have Jesus. So let us take Jesus’ command to heart: do not be unbelieving, but believe.”

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Resurrection 2025

He saw and believed.

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Today we encounter the greatest image ever, the empty tomb.

That image is the one, beyond the cross, that God wants us to remember most.

God envisioned that empty tomb for us. It is our hope, it is our comfort. Most importantly it is our assurance, the vision God has for us resurrected and with Him forever.

On that Easter morning, Jesus encounters His faithful in varieties of ways. He greets Mary Magdalene as the Gardener. He walks with the disciples on the Road to Emmaus. He enters the upper room. In each encounter we see God’s image of how life should be, lived with Jesus’ resurrected reality and in the family of faith. There is truly nothing better than to be loved to the extent God loves us.

We concluded on Palm Sunday by remembering the totality of God’s gift of love, great grace, restoration, and His amazing promise. Today we see the reality of that fulfilled promise at the empty tomb. As the Apostle John did,  let us see and believe it.

Reflection for the 4th Sunday in Lent 2025

While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.

God uses imagery so we might clearly understand His intent for us, the picture He envisions for us. May God’s imagery help us to achieve the vision He has for us and help us to arrive at Easter as light.

This week God’s set of images call us to reliance on His mercy. I, for one, can barely get through the proclamation of this gospel without breaking down because I see the image of God’s infinite mercy as He welcomes me back over and over, embraces me again and again despite my failures.

The richness of God’s imagery in this parable of the Prodigal makes it a sort of movie. We can see what is happening, how each person acts and reacts. Despite the things that are pretty evident, God as the perfect artist has inserted some less obvious images.

In movies and games this is often referred to as an Easter Egg. The term was first coined around 1979 by Steve Wright at Atari Computers to describe a hidden message in a video game. Since then, creators, like our Creator, have inserted things we must search for in their creations.

Let’s look at some Easter Eggs in the Parable of the Prodigal.

The younger son is unwilling to wait for his inheritance. He exhibits selfishness. Once he has wasted everything the Parable tells us he went to care for the swine. The slightly hidden thing is that the swine owner was probably a Gentile. If he were a Jew, he would have let his servants take a portion of the feed for themselves (a commandment in the Law), but here he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. The son’s selfishness is confronted by the owner’s.

As the son returns, he has no need to search for his father. The father is shown waiting. Imagine that, from the moment the son left the father stood in the road waiting for his return. Prodigal means extravagant – and the father’s love was indeed extravagant.

Finally, the older son is upset. It is not just the father’s extravagance. It is the fact that all that remains of the estate is his, yet he feels unable to enjoy it.

We are called to confront those areas where we are selfish, to seek the less than obvious ways God shows us where we fall short thus taking the lesson to heart. When we turn around and return, let us recognize God’s extravagant love and accept His embrace. Finally, let us enjoy God’s Kingdom here on earth and spend time rejoicing with all who find their way home. In all things let us seek Him so never giving up we may find Him.

Reflection for the 3rd Sunday in Lent 2025

‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’

As we have discussed, God uses imagery so we might clearly understand His intent for us, the picture He envisions for us. We will continue this study of God’s imagery throughout the Great Lent. 

May God’s imagery help us to achieve the vision He has for us and help us to arrive at Easter no longer ash, but light.

In last week’s reflection we concluded by praying that our Lenten disciplines strengthen us for the work we must do in the chaos, bringing light to overcome darkness.

This week God’s set of images call us to the charge of overcoming barrenness.

Jesus begins by issuing a set of very stark warnings, and the warning slightly hidden in the parable of the fig tree.

These kinds of warnings concerning consequences are the subject of vast theological and philosophical dances. We might regularly hear pastors saying – Well, Jesus didn’t really mean that, He was actually saying…

People tend to shy away from the idea of consequences, from the idea that they have to lie in the bed they made, that we can set aside God’s justice and take His mercy for granted. It is the very reason the word sin and the concept of hell are rarely if ever brought up – especially in churches.

In Jesus’ parable, the owner of the fig grove is God. He arrives expecting results and when He finds the tree that produces nothing, He orders it cut down – literally cut off from life.

The picture of barrenness is a stark one. Today’s image of the barren fig tree is not the only occasion for Jesus addressing a tree’s failure to produce. In Mark, Chapter 11 we see Jesus cursing a fig tree for failing to bear fruit even though it was out-of-season.

God expects us to bear fruit and to do so both in and out of season, to always be at the top of our game, in the action.

The other message we receive today is the assurance of help in the process. The owner, God, has waited for fruit for three years. He agrees to wait yet another year. The gardener, Jesus, will provide the tree with His grace by tending it, cultivating it, and fertilizing it. But there too we must take care not to take that grace and time for granted. Jesus’ tending, cultivation, and fertilization must be taken into ourselves so we may reach the result He wants.

The image of barrenness and death is juxtaposed with God’s image of life and fruitfulness. Which image we reflect is up to us.

Reflection for the 2nd Sunday in Lent 2025

Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.

As we have discussed, God uses imagery so we might clearly understand His intent for us, the picture He envisions for us. We will continue this study of God’s imagery throughout the Great Lent. 

May God’s imagery help us to achieve the vision He has for us and help us to arrive at Easter no longer ash, but light.

Last week we encountered the tremendous set of images where we saw with the eyes of our heart the fasting Jesus, tired and hungry in the dessert. There He was put to the test by Satan. We saw the rocks – would they be turned to bread, the mountain top with a supernatural view of all the kingdoms of the world, and the parapet of the Temple high above Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

Today, the eyes of our heart are taken to another mountaintop, Mount Tabor, where Jesus is Transfigured, appearing in all His glory, and standing between Moses and Elijah. The Patriarchs and Prophets give testimony to God’s Son come among us.

The three Apostles overwhelmed seek to react. We might have the same thoughts they did – what can we do and how will we do it.

Wait, let’s build three dwellings right here, then we can stay here with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Indeed, it is good that we are here. I will leave everything else behind just to remain.

The linchpin in the Gospel is the statement: they spoke of his exodus. Jesus’ path is made very clear. He is going to Jerusalem where He will be arrested, tortured, and killed, and on the third day rise.

The apostles wanted none of that bad stuff. How much better to stay on this mountain then to descend into the coming chaos.

Brothers and sisters, in this place, in this church, we ascend the mountain, and we commune with Christ Jesus. We experience His glory and are safe from the chaos out there. How lovely it would be, and I often picture this, to remain here, to rest here, to be in the Lord’s presence continually. Lovely yes, but not God’s will for us.

St. Paul, as he always does, makes it real for us. We must go out into the chaos filled with the grace we have received here and be those who thus conduct themselves according to the model [we] have in Jesus and His Apostles.

Through our Lenten disciplines let us strengthen ourselves for the work we must do in the chaos, bringing light to overcome darkness.

Reflection for the 1st Sunday in Lent 2025

When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.

This past Wednesday we entered the Great Lent. I pray that the Pre-Lenten season has prepared each of you for this journey we are now on together.

As we have discussed, God uses imagery so we might clearly understand His intent for us, the picture He envisions for us. We will continue this study of God’s imagery throughout the Great Lent. 

May God’s imagery help us to achieve the vision He has for us and help us to arrive at Easter no longer ash, but light.

We see a tremendous set of images in today’s Gospel. Jesus, having fasted for forty days and nights is put to the test by Satan. You see, all Jesus must do is give in just a little to gain bread for His hunger, power in the world, and ultimately provide a show for Satan by throwing Himself off the parapet of the Temple.

In resisting Satan, Jesus quotes Scriptures, “One does not live on bread alone.” and “You shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him alone shall you serve.”

In the third temptation, Satan quotes back two consecutive verses of Psalm 91, verses 11 and 12. In resisting Satan, Jesus recalls the next verse of that Psalm, verse 13: ‘You can tread upon the asp and the viper, trample the lion and the dragon.’ By resisting, by not giving in just a little, Jesus is victorious over Satan’s temptations. As the Gospel tells us, Satan will wait for another day.

Temptation is very real, and it gets redoubled during this holy season of the Great Lent. 

Think of the many small compromises we may be tempted to make. Consider still more how we might use Holy Scripture to justify our compromises and forego our disciplines.

Lent calls us to an enhanced level of care in our lives.

In our first reading from Deuteronomy, Moses speaks about the obligation of the Israelites to worship, to bring the first fruits of the soil, recognizing that they were given to them by the Lord, and to literally recite out loud the history of salvation. This wasn’t a mere exercise. It kept before the people of Israel the true center of their lives – God and His saving power.

The power of evil in this world calls us to forget God, to give in, to backslide, justify, and place God on the back back back burner – out of sight.

This Great Lent calls us to overcome all that. We are, like Jesus, to resist and persevere. Ultimately, Psalm 91:14 gives us assurance. If we cling to God, if we resist giving in just a little, we will be delivered, we will be set on high with Jesus.

Reflection for Sexagesima Sunday 2025

“Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

Welcome to the second week of this Pre-Lenten season.

The Holy Church gives us this season so we might not jump into the Great Lent unprepared, but ready for a spiritual journey of transformation. What we are at the end of Lent needs be quite different from what we are now.

This season is akin to the stretching exercises an athlete does before they head out onto the track. This season of stretching ourselves helps in preventing spiritual injury – regrets and disappointments – because we were unprepared for our Lenten walk.

Last Sunday I noted that God uses imagery so we might clearly understand His intent for us, the picture He envisions for us.

In our first reading we see David presented with an opportunity to get rid of Saul who wanted David dead. Saul and his army was in search of David for that very reason. Saul’s anger was motivated by jealousy. Yet, despite what would have been expedient, David did the faithful thing, refusing to kill Saul. 

David trusted that God would save him. David didn’t need to take matters into his own hands. We see a picture of faithful David on a bluff above the army holding Saul’s water jug and spear which made the point better than any other solution.

Which do we want for our self-vision? Will we be Saul, acting on negativity, assembling an army to do damage to another, or is our self-vision one of faithfulness and doing right even if the wrong is easier and speedier? How do we want God to see us as He looks at us?  Who do we want to present before God on the day we meet Him?

Jesus paints a strong picture of the people He wants with Him, the people He will welcome into eternity. He wants loving, forgiving, tolerant, and faithful followers. He wants the Church to be those who walk the long walk, take the hard road, and because they do are outstanding examples of what it means to be God’s children.

If we take this Pre-Lenten opportunity for reflection and for a re-evaluation of our self-vision, we take the first steps toward being true children of the Most High Who is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, Who is merciful to all.

Jesus came to show us the road to life, and to remind us of what God desires we pursue. So let us set to work in meeting His vision for us and reap a full measure of blessings.