Pentecost_B - Since the Beginning of Time_051924

Image Credit: 26120210_hand_holding_earth: elements-furnished-by-nasa_on_123rf_com

Deacon Tom Writes, 

Since the Beginning of Time

The Feast of Pentecost, Year B

Mass During the Day

Christ’s gift of the Holy Spirit to his disciples that we celebrate in today’s Feast of Pentecost completes Christ’s Paschal Mystery. The Trinity is completely revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus’ ascension into heaven that we celebrated last week marks the completion of Jesus ministry here on earth. With Pentecost we celebrate the dawning of a new era as the Church is born and receives the Holy Spirit to guide and testify to all the truth Jesus taught during his ministry.

The Holy Spirit began his mission within the church on that first Pentecost, but it is not as if the Spirit of God has been sitting on the sidelines with nothing to do up until then. Since the beginning of time the Holy Spirit has been busy at work in our world. The invisible hand, so to speak, continuing the work of creation and the guiding wisdom moving the cosmos to its fulfillment in Christ.

In the opening words of the Book of Genesis we find a “Mighty Wind”, that is, the Holy Spirit, sweeping over the formless wasteland, bringing order out of chaos, generating the creative process that formed the universe and filled our world with life.

In Genesis 1:26 the Spirit gives life to the dust from which we are all made and shares his very divine image with us as is written, “Let us make man in our image and likeness”.

In the Book of Wisdom, the Holy Spirit is personified as wisdom itself. In Wisdom 9:9 we read, “Now with you is Wisdom, who knows your works and was present when you made the world; Who understands what is pleasing in your eyes and what is conformable with your commands”. Verse 11continues… “For she (Wisdom) knows and understands all things, and will guide me discreetly in my affairs and safeguard me by her glory”.

The Holy Spirit is the Wisdom of God that is evident in all creation. We know from all of our teachings that God is faithful to his promises, and he has promised to send his Spirit to all who ask him to do so. And so, we wait for the Holy Spirit to continue the work Jesus told us the Spirit of God would do when he arrives... "But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming" (John 16:13). And so, on this Pentecost, at this time when people around our world are in such dire straits and in such need of God's Truth, it is fitting to raise our minds and hearts and voices to invite the Holy Spirit into our lives to guide and protect us and to give us, and those who rule over us, the Wisdom of God by praying:

Come Holy Spirit,

Fill the Hearts of your faithful

And kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit

And they shall be created

And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit

Did instruct the hearts of the faithful,

Grant that by the same Holy Spirit

We may be made truly wise

And rejoice in his consolation

Through Christ, Our Lord,

Amen

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com and listen in as the three deacs engage in a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer to those thinking of coming into or leaving it.

 

OTHER RESOURCE

 

Recommended Reading: Here and Now by Henri J.M. Nouwen is not a faint memory, but happening right here and now, spiritual living takes place in the present; the Spirit meets us in the ordinary. These inspirational reflections by Henri Nouwen succeed in convincing us that God’s presence is reliable.

 

 

Recommended YouTube Video: Living in the Presence of God - part 1b with Fr. Thomas Keating who discusses the practice of Centering Prayer.

 

Ascenstion Thursday - Seventh Sunday of Easter_B - Go, Make Disciples / Sharing in Christ's Joy_050924 - 051224

This weekend’s Liturgy is quite unique. Most dioceses in the U.S. have transferred the Feast of the Ascension to this coming weekend, May 15-16. Other dioceses, mostly in Northeast, will celebrate the Liturgy for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, having celebrated Ascension Thursday several days ago. To accommodate readers in both areas, I have prepared a reflection on the readings for each of these liturgies beginning with the Ascension of the Lord followed by one for the Seventh Sunday of Easter.

Photo Credit: www.123rf.com/photo_31942799_ascension-of-christ

Deacon Tom Writes

Go, Make Disciples

The Ascension of the Lord, Year B

Today St. Luke shares his account of the post-resurrection experience of Jesus Christ. Luke tells us that Jesus “presented himself” to his apostles, “giving (them) instructions though the Holy Spirit”. The he departed leaving his hand-picked understudies to spread the Good News throughout the world. What an awesome task! Insightful too is that the Jesus left his disciples under the wings of the inspirational Holy Spirit to guide them as the built the kingdom of God on earth. Looking back over these 2000 years since, while not without its dark moments, the church Christ had entrusted to Peter has been very successful in following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Peter et al, the first messengers, did “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature”. This Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent and the Apostles received was the guiding Principal leading the church through its formative days and continues to do so today.

This effort to spread the Gospel message to all the nations was also intended, I believe, to bring about the “unity” Christ prayed for at the Last Supper... “Father, that they may be one, as you are one in me and I in you”. As St. Paul says elsewhere in his letter to the Ephesians, “There is one body and one spirit”. EPH 4:4

As I reflect upon these readings for Ascension Thursday in light of the state of the world around us, I ask “What chance do we have today of being .... “of one body and one spirit” as Christ intended us to be? It seems that every aspect of our lives is a source of division... one’s race, religion, ethnicity, culture, national origin, political affiliation, social class, etc., each serves as a distinction that more than ever is a source of friction or even conflict with others. How could we ever expect to “be of one mind” on anything let alone agree on the teaching of Jesus? What do you think would happen if a corporate CEO presented his executives, with a Business Plan he wanted them to implement and they failed to achieve it. It wouldn’t be good for the management team is my experience.

Yet, when it comes to the practice of our faith, it is not just the leadership that fails. It is we the community of believers that has a large share in failing to achieve what Christ has asked his disciples. Why is that? Well, in reality Christ’s teachings are quite clear. We are to love one another, forgive one another, not judge one another; we are to count all peoples as our neighbor; we are to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, bury the dead, counsel the ignorant. We are not to judge others, or gossip... “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up”. EPH 4:29. Yes, we know the teaching of Jesus. The difficulty is that we are not following them the way he taught them. We have decided who our neighbor is; we have made the decision who is worthy of our charity; we have used our speech to tear down and revile those who disagree with us. We have cast aside the teachings of Christ and are acting in accord with our lesser nature by choosing to Christ’s call to be one in him. The consequences of our choice, I believe, is visible in the disorder and chaos we see around us.

If we are to be faithful to Jesus’ call to unity, we must decide to choose to follow his teaching and see the world as he sees it: a world redeemed by his death and renewed by his resurrection; we need to do our part to build up the kingdom for which Jesus laid the foundation; we must persevere in doing what is right and listen to the Voice of Truth. If we are to be disciples worthy of the name “Christian” we must do as Christ taught us by putting aside all that divides us through our “dying to self”, through our “picking up our cross” and by our “following him”, choosing to be one with all our brothers and sisters in his Mystical Body.

Enjoy the Day!
Deacon Tom

 

Image Credit:www123rf.com/photo_38788883_joy-written-in-the-sand

Deacon Tom Writes,

Sharing In Christ’s Joy

Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year B

We read in today’s gospel that Jesus wants to share His joy with us “Completely.” The joy that He wants to share with us has its source in the words the Father gave Him. But living those words, Jesus tells us, puts us at odds with the world, “I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world.” Jesus leaves little doubt about where our loyalties lie for His disciples. 

It is natural for us to want to have as much joy in this life as we can get. How we find that “joy” is the essence of our spiritual journey. How often we confuse happiness with joy! Happiness depends upon our circumstances and the events that happen to us. I am happy when something good happens to me such as making a new friend, winning the lottery, or getting that new car or job, just as I may be sad when I have a reversal of good fortune. Happiness doesn’t last. We always need something else each tomorrow to renew our happiness. If we don’t find that special something new to enthrall us, very often we end up down in the dumps. Here in America, it seems that happiness is available for a price. At least that’s what Madison Avenue would have us believe. Isn’t that the message that advertisers are selling…You will be happy if you drive this kind of car, or if you wear this suit or go on this vacation…if you buy this or that?

Joy is something else completely. It is an interior state of being. Being joyful has nothing to do with my circumstances or what is happening in my life. Joy has REAL staying power. As a matter of fact, one can be full of joy while experiencing extreme hardships in life. The Perfect Joy of St. Francis was in serving God completely by renouncing all but the necessities of life. Most of us wouldn’t find the joy in that! I have encounter people with true joy in soup kitchens, lying in a hospice bed, mourning the loss of a loved one…The Anawim, God’s lowly, disenfranchised, poor, humble people who had nothing of this world’s treasures or comforts seemed to have found the secret to the perfect joy Christ intends for his disciples. Their joy rests completely in the awareness that God loves them. 

Today we are invited to share Christ’s joy completely by listening to the “Word” and letting it take root in our hearts, elevating our love and service to one another. Let us grow deeper in our relationship with Christ so we can choose to live in that complete joy that only He can give and which lasts forever over the happiness of the world that never satisfies and always leaves us wanting for more. 

God's blessings and a very happy Mothers’ Day to all the mom, grandmas,great grandmas and those “grands” whom we have been blessed with many so many years.

Enjoy the Day!

Deacon Tom 

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com and listen in as the three deacons engage in a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer.

OTHER RESOURCE

 

Recommended Reading: The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation. One of the founders of the Centering Prayer movement, Thomas Keating offers a reflection on contemplative prayer, the human search for happiness and our need to explore the inner world. The spiritual search for God, he says, is also the search for ourselves.

 

Recommended YouTube Video: Living in the Presence of God Fr. Thomas Keating discusses the title topic and the practice of Centering Prayer.

 

Sixth Sunday of Easter_B - First Round Draft Choice_050524

Deacon Tom Writes,

First Round Draft Pick

 

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B

 

Being chosen for a special assignment can do wonders for our self image. In today’s gospel we hear Christ tell us that “...I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit…”. God’s way of doing things is a little different than the way things work in this world. Take Major League football or baseball draft choices. All the teams are vying for the best players to augment their teams. They need to have backup players who can step in and fill the position when a player gets injured or is having a bad game. That’s good strategy and essential for major league sports. It’s just not the way that God does things.

You see, in God’s plan every person has a role to play, specific work that is unique to us, something that only that person can do. If we don’t do it, if we are not up to the task, that work doesn’t get done. God doesn’t have a backup player ready to take our place to carry out the life-long work he has assigned specifically to us. When we are out of the game, so to speak, that good work we were given to do, doesn’t get done. That act of kindness that would have flowed through us to another, doesn’t get done. That righting of a social or moral wrong doesn’t get done. The same goes for that injustice that doesn’t get made just.

One important point to this thought is that our failure to act as God’s chosen ones does not in any way thwart God’s plan. His will will be done in his mysterious way. But we would have sat on the sidelines ignoring the field of play where the game of life is won or lost.

Understanding that we all have a role to play in bringing about God’s plan helps us to realize just how much God loves us and lets us see that he is there every step of the way to help us succeed. We are in every sense of the word God’s, “friends” because he shares his plans with us and gives us the resources we need to accomplish the mission he calls us to do. The secret for our success is “to remain in my love” he reminds us.

The Feast of Easter which lasts from Easter Sunday to Pentecost, a period of fifty days or seven weeks, is a time to renew our hearts and minds and fine tune our lives so that we can experience that “complete joy” that only God can give to us. The joy that comes from God is a joy that is also unique to us and to our circumstances, tailor made for us, just as the mission that comes from God is strictly ours. May these last couple of weeks of Easter help us to know what God is asking of us and may we experience the joy that comes with doing all that we can on our part to becoming his “First Round Draft Pick”.

Easter Alleluia!!
Deacon Tom

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com for a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer.

 

OTHER RESOURCE

 

Recommended Reading: Beginning to Pray by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom of Sourozh was a prominent writer and broadcaster on prayer and the Christian life, as well as the founder and leader of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh. His classic book on prayer leads us into a deeper experience of the one we seek.

 

Recommended YouTube Video:  Beginning to Pray - Listen in to hear the wisdom of Bishop Bloom as he guides us on how to have a richer prayer life that draws us closer to God.

 

Fifth Sunday of Easter_B - Simple Abundance_042824

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Simple Abundance”

 

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B

In the gospel we hear the story of the “Vine and the Branches” that, not surprisingly, contains a message quite suited for us today. That message is this: if we live our lives trying to discern God’s Will for us and see ourselves connected with and dependent upon one another, a life of simple abundance awaits us. Not an abundance entirely of the material “stuff” this age of consumerism has spawned upon us, but rather, an abundance of those necessities that matter most for our overall “well-being”: mental, physical, spiritual, emotional and yes, even some of the material blessings that surround us!

We begin our journey to pursue the rich abundance the gospel speaks of in earnest when we realize that it is lacking in our lives. Simple abundance is a matter of choosing to live well-balanced lives that contribute and enhance the “well-being” of others. It is what Jesus taught His disciples to do when He said they must put others first and be the servants of all. This is the hardest challenge Christians face and, make no mistake about it, it is in actuality a… “dying to self”.

For most of us this doesn’t describe the current state of our spiritual journey. John’s gospel today reminds us that God calls us to “bear much fruit”, but we settle for so much less. Think about it!!! Would our God, who through Christ promised to raise us from the dead and share eternal life with us not also want us to experience some simple joy and happiness during this life that has more than its share of sadness and sorrows? I am sure that God wants us to share in the blessings this world has to offer, but we often settle for the glitter and trinkets, far lesser “stuff” while foregoing the spiritual riches we should be the focus of our lives.

God has truly set a banquet before us. It starts in this life and comes to completion, perfection in the next. We know that we can do nothing without Him, nor should we want to. For God desires to be a part of our life’s journey so He can fill us with His joy and peace, fruits that matter. And, He waits for us until that day comes when He, the harvest master, gathers to Himself the rich harvest of the fruit of our lives.

May our harvest be abundant and may the harvest master welcome us into His kingdom as His good and faithful servants at the end of the harvest.

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com for a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer.

OTHER RESOURCE

Recommended Reading: A Big Heart Open to God - A Conversation with Pope Francis (Interviewed by Antonio Spadaro, S.J.). In this historic interview, Pope Francis's vision for the church and humanity itself is delivered through a warm and intimate conversation, and he shows us all how to have a big heart open to God.

Recommended YouTube Video: Praying With the English Mystics

Fourth Sunday of Easter_B - Wait, There's More?_042124

Deacon Tom Writes,

“But Wait! There’s More!”

Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year B

If you watch any television at all, you are probably familiar with those nagging commercials that bark the mantra… “Wait, there’s more!” The announcer then chimes in, “If you call now, we will double your order…That’s right, there’s more!” I’m sure they must sell a lot of their gadgets; otherwise, they wouldn’t be spending all that money on advertising. One technique that makes them so successful, I suspect, is that they are savvy marketer appealing to the consumer’s appetite for getting something for nothing… that is, “for free”. It seems that St. John had a touch of that Madison Avenue mindset too by the approach he takes in today’s Second Reading. John is promoting “God’s love for us”. He tells us that God’s love enables us to think of ourselves, “as children of God. But wait, he seems to say, not only are we children of God now, but wait, there’s even more…. “What we shall be has not yet been revealed”…..but when it is, “we shall be like him”.

Over and over again in John’s writings we discover this theme of God’s love for us and that God’s love transforms our very being, our very essence, our very identity. As John says today, we are God’s children now! And what we shall become later on, although not known now, is even greater in that “we shall be like him”. God continues to mold us into His likeness.

As I read this passage, I recalled being in Amsterdam at the Rembrandt Museum. On exhibit were many of his paintings along with some self-portraits. This passage from John is beautiful imagery that expresses God, the master artisan, doing a self-portrait on the canvas that is our lives. We are made in God’s image and likeness and God, who John tell us “is” love, is always bringing out the best in us so that we reflect the Divine Love that is His gift to us.

If we could just begin to understand the gift of love we have been given, we would realize that it is something that we cannot keep to ourselves. We are God’s self-portrait. We are images, reflections of the artist. We cannot hoard or squander the outpouring of the divine essence we have been given; we can only reflect that love to those in need... the lonely, the brokenhearted, the fearful, the forgotten. God’s very presence is with us, forming and shaping our world and filling it today with His love. And that is sufficient reason for us to be grateful today and to give thanks to God… But wait…. there’s more to come……!!!

May the Risen Lord continue to bless us with His peace and Joy so that we may enjoy the many blessings that He freely bestows upon us.

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com for a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer.

 

OTHER RESOURCE

 

Recommended Reading: Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton addresses the pleasure of a solitary life, as well as the necessity for quiet reflection in an age when so little is private.

 

Recommended YouTube Video:  Sit back and enjoy Thomas Merton feed your soul on YouTube - Thoughts in Solitude.

 

 

Third Sunday of Easter, _B - We Are Witnesses Too!_041424

Image Credit: Supper at Emmaus by Matthias Stom (fl. 1615 - 1649)

Deacon Tom Writes,

We Are Witnesses Too!

Third Sunday of Easter, Year B

Today’s readings remind us how incredulous the resurrection is to the logical mind. That’s perhaps why both the first reading and the gospel mention that there were eyewitnesses to Christ’s death and resurrection. There were people who saw Jesus die a horrific death on Friday and then saw Him in the flesh walking along the shores of Galilee and with His disciples on the road to Emmaus soon afterward. So alive, in fact, that in the gospel today Jesus is asking His disciples, “Have you anything here to eat?”

Hearing the personal narratives of eyewitnesses to history is powerful. Recall some of the stories you may have heard first hand from people who landed on the beaches of Normandy or were at or near the World Trade Center on September 11th. So many perspectives, so many details, that when we encounter people with rich experiences, we tend to capture these memories and save them for future generations.

Our readings today do just that. For 2000 years believers have benefited from hearing the story of Christ’s death and resurrection directly from eyewitness accounts detailed in the scriptures. Does the eyewitness testimony we read in the gospels carry the same weight for us today as it did for those first believers? No matter how strong our faith, we tend to have a little Thomas within us; we tend to believe and yet there remains some doubt echoing in our mind. Who wouldn’t like a little sign from above; who wouldn’t like as sign from above, an answer to a heartfelt prayer that brings about reconciliation to a bad relationship or perhaps a healing to a chronic illness for a loved one or just a moment of peace in the troubled waters of our lives. In different ways we carry that same doubt that Thomas experienced when he made it known to Jesus’ other hand-picked disciples, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe”. After all, “Seeing is believing” as the saying goes, and wouldn’t we all like to see, that is, to comprehend this mystery for ourselves!!!

We all face this struggle. If we are honest with ourselves, we all struggle with real belief in the mysteries of our faith. St. Paul tried to teach the Corinthians that the real nature of our faith is summed up by the statement, “We walk by faith, not by sight”.

While we today have no personal eyewitness experience of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are witnesses to the death and resurrection He brings about in us, the death to self, and His raising us to new life in every difficulty and struggle we face over the course of our lives. These trials and triumphs represent our eyewitness testimonies, those stories of our living faith and how Christ has remained present to us and has continued working in our lives. These are the eyewitness accounts that we bequeath to the generations to come. All who embrace the faith continue to believe in what our faith professes now as it has over these past 2000 years: Christ has died! Christ is Risen! And they believe Christ will do the same for them.”

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com for a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer.

 

OTHER RESOURCE

 

Recommended Reading: The Seeing Eye by C.S. Lewis presents an eloquent and colorful defense of Christianity for both devotees and critics... in a collection of essays composed over the last twenty years of his life.

 

Recommended YouTube Video:  Listen to C.S. Lewis’ The Seeing Eye on YouTube Video.

 

 

Second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy Sunday, Year B - In the Beginning_040724

Image Credit: 123RF.com Hands in a heart #17810429

Deacon Tom Writes,

“In The Beginning”

 Second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy Sunday, Year B

The Acts of the Apostles chronicles the early days of the church as it came to understand its purpose and mission. It describes individuals coming together and struggling to understand the profound mystery they had recently witnessed. Today’s first reading from the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles says that, “…the community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common”. It appears that the death and resurrection of Christ touched their lives profoundly and so they made a conscious choice to live their lives according to the spirit of Jesus’ teaching… and to care for one another… “so that there was no needy person among them”.

What’s happened over the centuries? Has the mandate Jesus given us to “love one another” changed? Has it been enhanced or modified or made conditional so that we…love others only IF they love us in return, or IF they hold the same ideological position as we do, or IF they are the same color, ethnicity, or culture as us! God forbid that we define “neighbor” as used in the Golden Rule as only those who are just like us. Jesus had a much wider interpretation in mind as to who is our neighbor.

It seems that on the most basic level Jesus loves the victim, no matter what side of the fence they are on. The Risen Jesus is not concerned about nationalism, borders...ethnicity, etc. He is with the suffering of every race and creed. He is an outcast with all those who are disenfranchised; He mourns with all the broken-hearted no matter the color of their skin…He is shunned along with all those people we run and hide from...that we are afraid of…that we can't look in the eye, perhaps because we helped contribute to the way they are. Christ suffers want, rejection, isolation, poverty and humiliation with all who experience those pitiful states of existence.

We hear the rhetoric: we can’t afford to pay for everyone to have health insurance… or let them work like the rest of us and become “self-made individuals” – whatever that means - or send them home where they belong! And so, Jesus wanders the streets today, sick and uncared for. He sits in an ICE detention center waiting to be sent back "home". He’s chronically unemployed, under educated, invisible, losing hope, forgotten, a victim of hate crimes, discrimination, exploitation. He is despised and rejected to this day.

Didn’t Jesus have something to say about these things? How we have twisted and distorted His words to make them to our liking? I guess the Romans weren't as brutal as history or we might judge them to be. Sure, they beat Jesus...They tortured him…They made him drag the instrument of his death across town...They nailed His hands and His feet to the cross so He couldn't move. And, they even stuck a lance in His side to make sure He was dead. BUT, they never did silence Him! No, they never did shut Him up! We do that!!!We silence Jesus when we choose to ignore what He taught us…about love, about being servants, about what it will cost to follow His lead.

In these joy filled days following His Resurrection, let us pray to be filled with the Spirit of Christ so we may follow His example and His teachings as those early followers of his did in the beginning, when all the community “was of one heart and mind”.

Enjoy the day and the Blessing that is now!
Deacon Tom

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com for a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer.

 

OTHER RESOURCE

 

Recommended Reading: Back to Virtue by Peter Kreeft who explains that being virtuous is not a means to and end of pleasure, comfort and happiness but rather a way to experience life to the fullest by having the moral character to make right choices along the way.

 

Recommended YouTube Video:  Cardinal Virtues - Peter Kreeft Ph.