Because we are made in God's image and likeness, we seek to be a community of love, healing, and reconciliaiton

A fundamental spiritual truth is that all of life comes from God. We are made in God’s image and likeness. That being so we need to pay attention to the fundamental truth that God is a community of Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each with their own characteristics but at the same time in mutual interdependency. Being excessively independent is not God-like.

At times we see ourselves and make our choices as autonomous individuals, accountable to no one else, all by ourselves. But isn’t it true that this attitude many times causes us trouble? Examine your life and see whether or not the “going it alone” approach has generally speaking led you into unhappiness and pain.

Living in interdependency with others isn’t something we have easily acquired. When we were little children we had learn to put aside words like “my,” “me,” and “mine.” In our teen years we struggled with self-centeredness while at the same time seeking to belong. Then we had to figure out to whom we wanted to belong. Some people have never adequately answered that question even on into their adult lives. Who am I? How do others see me? Am I popular? Am I attractive? Do others like to be around me?

And what about criticism, especially when I am the person being criticized. For some of us, any criticism is devastating. Actually, if we want to excel, we should seek out people whom we respect and ask them evaluate, to criticize and mentor us. The sad truth is that many of us never really figure out who we really are, where and with whom we belong, and what our lives are really all about.

Criticism is important for our growth, criticism however that is motivated out of care and concern. Coaches criticize their athletes. Teachers, good teachers, criticize their students. All who want to excel and grow actually welcome and even seek out criticism. This is something those who “go it alone” miss. They don’t grow. They don’t excel. Receiving loving criticism is one of the great benefits we receive when we belong to others in mutual, shared living. God’s blessings come to us in that way.

Criticism that is harsh, negative, and belittling defeats the very purpose of Christian living. It is damaging not only to the one criticized but also undermines what Jesus is all about. He seeks growth, not diminishment. He wants to build us up, not put us down. How sad it is to see one Christian group belittling or condemning other Christian groups. How sad it is to see one Christian spouse belittling or condemning his or her wife or husband. Tearing down is not building up the Christian family. Why would anyone who is thinking about becoming a Christian want to join us if they are seeing that in how we relate to others?

It is never easy to admit our wrongdoing.  It is even harder when someone else points out our faults.  Nevertheless, the love we share as believers in Jesus compels us to care enough for one another that we are willing to take that risk.  Today, Matthew tells us how to go about this often painful process.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus said:  “If your brother sins against you, go and tell his fault between you and him alone.  If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.  If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church.”

In the Gospel the community has worked out a process whereby those who sinned might be made aware of their sin, then seek forgiveness and be reconciled to God and to their brothers and sisters in Christ.

What is crucial in understanding today’s Gospel is the process seeks not to exclude the offending party but to reconcile and restore this person to the community.  It is all about healing, forgiving and reconciling.

The community of Rochester needs the grace for a healing and reconciling process.  With the tragic shooting death of the Rochester police officer, Darryl Piersons, we are shocked by the violent death of one who has given his life to protect and serve the citizens of Rochester.  He was a husband, a father of two young children, and an outstanding police officer.  This hits close to home for me as I have two nephews who are Rochester police officers.  Each is married and each has four young children along with their wives.

How do we deal with such violence on the streets?  To answer with more violence is not a Gospel way of living.

As we pay attention to our inner journey, we become aware that the spirit of God’s love and healing dwells deep in our hearts.  When we hear with the ears of our heart, we desire to share forgiveness and reconciliation and healing with all people.  When we hear with the ears of our heart, there is no place for pettiness, judgments, ill-will, prejudice, and hatred among us.

St. John, The Apostle of Love, famously put it this way:

 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:17).

You are sent in Jesus’ name to do just that.

How to deal with the tragic death of Police Officer Daryl Pierson?

Daryl Pierson is a hero.  He is a husband, a dad, and a brave police officer whose commitment was to save and protect lives?

How are we to make sense of this senseless shooting that took his life?  While we are all in a state  of shock, to answer this act of violence with more violence is not a Gospel way of living.  The community of Rochester needs a sense of solidarity that we are a community of people who care about one another.  We need the grace that comes from God for healing and reconciliation.

May we all pray for the inner strength to know the spirit of God's love and healing dwells deep in our hearts.  When we can hear with the ears of our hearts, we desire to share forgiveness and reconciliation and healing with all people.

May we as a community rally around the family and friends of Daryl Pierson.  May we show our loving support to his family in this time of grieving.  May w also commit ourselves to pray for an end of the violence and conflict on the streets of our beloved city.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

From last Sunday’s Gospel, Peter had just confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God.  In response, Jesus said to Peter:  “You are rock, and on this rock I will build my Church.  And I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”  Peter’s leadership in the early Church was clearly established.  Peter voiced the Church’s foundational faith.

In the next very important step of discipleship, Jesus confides to his disciples what he means to be the Messiah.  Jesus’ explanation of discipleship did not compute with Peter.  He was clearly looking for a “no-pain” version of Christianity.  Peter strongly objected to Jesus’ prediction of his passion.  Jesus contradicts Peter’s no-pain version of Christianity not only with “Get behind me, Satan!” but also with the oft-quoted statement “Those who wish to come after me must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.”  For Peter in his discipleship, it is not enough to talk the talk in declaring Jesus to be the Son of God.  He must also walk the walk in following Jesus to his passion and death.

The cross was central to who Jesus is as our Messiah and Lord.  This is what Peter must learn.  And likewise, this is what we too must learn in our path of discipleship.

How are we like Peter and prefer a ‘no-pain’ version of Christianity.  What happens when you or a member of your family is given the test results that indicate cancer?  What happens when life doesn’t seem to be fair?  Why me?  I didn’t deserve this.  Why did God allow this to happen to me?

All of us, have we not, asked the question “why” when the results have not been what we wanted.   Why do bad things happen to good people?

None of us get a free pass from the cross in life.

Today’s First Reading catches the prophet Jeremiah in a moment of weakness.  His intimate lament contains some of the strongest language of doubt found in the Bible.  “You duped me O Lord, and I let myself be duped…All the day I am the object of laughter; everyone mocks me.”  Preaching God’s Word has brought him only derision and reproach.

Jeremiah felt that God was not standing by him.  There was a side to Jeremiah that was not willing to deal with the cost of discipleship.  This is similar to Peter’s objection to Jesus’ prediction of his passion

God does not deceive – and Jeremiah at his core knows this.   God tests the just and disciplines His children through sufferings and trials.

What Jeremiah learns, Jesus states explicitly in today’s Gospel.  To follow Him is to take up a cross, deny yourself – your priorities, preferences, and comforts.

 In our time of suffering, may we discover the inner strength that comes from God who is within us to trust that God’s love for us is unending.  Yes, in your life and in mine, stuff happens that we don’t like -- illness, death of one we love, relationships that have gone wrong, life is unfair at times.

How does this affect our spiritual journey?  This is the question of Jeremiah, the apostle Paul, and Peter in the Gospel.  This is the question of a mom and a dad in dealing with their child’s serious illness.   This is the question we face when a family member dies much too young.  This happens when our chosen career path doesn’t work out. 

We experience suffering personally, and we experience the suffering that happens to us globally as well.  Half a world away, women are kidnapped and sold as sex slaves by shadowy militias.  Christian teenagers are crucified by ISIS.  Uncomfortably closer to him, there are flares of racial conflict in Ferguson, Missouri.

Peter echoes our sentiments when he says:  “God forbid, Lord!  No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

God forbid that the Church has to deal with people with people that don’t have time to come to Sunday Eucharist.  God forbid that clergy in the exercise of religious leadership are not kind and compassionate with the disciples of Jesus.  God forbid that any members of your family do not believe in the same way you do.  God forbid that I wrestle with greed, excess, control of people, and sexual self-interest.

Yes the Church still is suffering.  Jesus wants us to judge as God and not as humans do.  God desires a Church that is forgiving.   The prayerful Gospel question is:  what is the cost of discipleship for me to be a follower of Christ?  As did Peter we have to learn that the cross was central to our discipleship of the Lord Jesus.  Our spiritual path is to be a disciple of the crucified Lord.  In walking the walk of discipleship, we must be willing to embrace the cost of discipleship.

In your spiritual journey, how do you talk to the Lord in facing illness, death, relationships that have fallen apart, in dealing with depression and loneliness?  Do you experience frustration, anger, and abandonment from a God who is supposed to be taking care of you?

Can you experience a God who accompanies you in moments of darkness as well as moments of light? Can you experience a God whose love for you is unending even amidst the trials of life?  This was the question Jeremiah, Paul, and Peter experienced in today’s Scripture reading.  Paul prays that we will be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God.

Jesus accepted suffering personally.  He did not passively submit to it.  And we know, Christ’s love was infinitely meaningful.

True discipleship happens only after we hear and accept this challenge:  “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

God is good…all the time.

Do the struggles in life lead us to Jesus as the source of our true inner strength?

Jesus asked his disciples:  “Who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah…And so, I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church…I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”

Peter got it right, and this correct statement of faith constitutes his blessedness.   Jesus then shifts the focus from himself to Peter.   Peter has seen and acknowledged the identity and mission of Jesus, and now Jesus is unfolding the identity and mission of Peter.  The two are intimately linked together.

Simon Peter is a paradoxical leader of the Church in that he exhibits both strength and weakness in his faith journey.  In next Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus is saying to Peter:  “Get behind me, Satan!  You are an obstacle to me.  You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

And yet, Peter was chosen to be the first pope not by accident, but rather by divine design.  His very failure somehow became his credential to be the foremost preacher of God’s limitless mercy.  The lack of faith that had broken him to the core had made room for an equal measure of grace.  From being a stumbling block for others to becoming the cornerstone of the Church, Simon Peter had lived the Gospel he would announce to others.  This is why Jesus had appointed him leader.  They would see in his face the look of one who knows the giving and forgiving God.   Peter could speak from his own experience:  Do not be afraid.  God’s love has pursued you even in your sin, found you and given you new life.

Today I invite you to reflect on your own faith journey and see if you can identify with the faith journey of Peter – yes, the inconsistency and sinfulness of Peter’s spiritual  journey.  I know the great Saint Augustine could identify with Peter when he said:  “I believe; help my unbelief.”

I know for myself that conversion has happened when I’m not in control of the situation, when I’m nervous or anxious or feeling vulnerable about where we’re going, when I’m misunderstood or when I misunderstand another, when I’m not in my comfort zone,  these life situations remind me of the truth of my life.  I stand in need of the grace of God from moment to moment, day to day.  Ultimately those situations of failure in my life that make me more aware of my need for Jesus are really blessings for my life.

St Paul says:  “When I am weak, I am strong.”  His weakness enabled to know that the source of real strength in his life was his trust in Jesus.

How does it go for you in your spiritual journey?  How have you experienced the conversion moment when you realize it all depends upon God’s limitless mercy and love?  As the glass shines brightest when it is broken, so too, our faith is strongest when we, in the midst of our own vulnerability, recognize that it our trust in Jesus that is the source of our spiritual identity.  Can your experience of dealing with a divorce or an addiction or a relationship that has gone South or unemployment or downsizing or some disillusionment from a person you had previously trusted – can this experience --make you more aware of the truth of your life that Jesus is your rock and your salvation.

The movement in the spiritual life of each one of us is that as we become aware of God’s limitless mercy and love for ourselves, we are then missioned to witness to the love of Jesus for others.  We are to share what we have been given.

Jesus said to Peter:  “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”  The first and most important power that was given to Peter and his successors was the forgiveness of sins.  Pope Francis has made a hallmark of his papal ministry a tireless call for all of us sinners to embrace and celebrate God’s boundless mercy and untiring forgiveness.  What was true in the mystery of the Church in the days of Peter is equally true in the mystery of the Church in our day.

St Peter is the gate keeper.  However, his role is not just the afterlife security officer who hears and judges our pleas for entrance.  Peter’s keys are to throw open wide the kingdom’s gate, to welcome all to join the community of us sinners who celebrate God’s forgiveness and love for each and every one of us.  A great grace of Holy Spirit parish is our practice of celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  That is a grace of our parish, and may even more in our parish community celebrate this sacrament of God’s forgiveness in our lives.

 Part of the take home message of today’s Gospel is that certain keys have been entrusted to each of us.  They are not just given to the Pope or the pastor; they are given to all the baptized.  This is what it means to be Church.  We are all the Rock upon which the Divine Builder wishes to build His Church.  I invite you in your prayer today to respond to the question:  What keys has the Lord entrusted to you that serve for the building of the Church of Jesus?  How have you listened prayerfully to the call of God in your life?  As a parent, as a son or a daughter, as a neighbor, as a parishioner?

May we use the keys that have been given to us to open rather than close the way to Jesus.  We should welcome more people than we turn away and serve more people than we refuse.

May the struggles of our life lead us to trust in Jesus as the source of our inner strength.  May all of us commit ourselves to do what the Lord asks of us in the building of the Church.

A story of faith and a story of welcome!

In today’s Gospel, at first Jesus does not answer the Canaanite woman.   Then he tells her that he has come only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  Finally he says:  “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to dogs.”

Wow!  That is a harsh reply spoken by Jesus – so uncharacteristic of Jesus.  Usually Jesus is the one challenging the status quo.  What gives here?

Let’s see:  why might this Canaanite woman not belong?  Three reasons:  She’s a woman.  She’s a Canaanite or a Gentile.  Also, she’s annoying because “she keeps calling out after us.”  How does this apply to us:  While only half of us are women; most of us are Gentiles (non-Israelites); and, if we are honest, most of us are annoying at least some of the time.  Do we belong in the kingdom of God?

By all accounts, this is an unusual Scriptural event.  Does Jesus really intend to shun her?  What was he trying to teach his disciples who clearly want her out of the picture?  Does this sound like the Jesus who said:  “Come to me all who labor are burdened  and I will give you rest.”

For me, the take-home message is twofold:

First, this is a wonderful story of faith.  This Canaanite woman is driven by faith from beginning to end.  Because of this faith in who Jesus is and what he can do, she will not be put aside by anyone.  Remember, she is not fighting for herself; she is fighting for the life of her daughter.  She is a woman; she is a Gentile; and she is a mother who would not be denied. 

The power of her faith makes her willing to risk insult, encourages her boldness, gives her a sense of empowerment, and ultimately brings about the transformation she seeks.  Her faith gives her this incredible boldness in the presence of the disciples and in the presence of Jesus.  Does your faith, does my faith give me this kind of confidence in the healing Lord? 

Faith can clearly bring power to the powerless.  She would not take “no” for an answer.   As a result of the mother’s faith and persistence, Jesus declared her daughter healed.  So too for us, those who persist in believing and trusting God will find themselves rewarded with inner peace and an assurance of ultimate well-being.  I had the privilege of anointing an older woman this week who had just entered a home hospice program.  Even though cancer had weakened her considerably, together with her daughter and grandson, her faith empowered her to exhibit such an inner peace and gratitude for the blessings of her life.  Her faith was a source of inspiration for all of us.

Second take-home message:  Everyone belongs.

Reflecting on the disciples’ encounter with the Canaanite woman,  who do we attempt to exclude from God’s presence today?

Let’s face it:  the inclusive work of the Church is hard work, and it goes against the way the world is organized, the way our worldly hearts want to behave.  We would rather hang out with people like us  -- people who speak our language, vote for our political  party, share our skin color, live in our zip codes.  But that is not the way of God, and, please God, not the way of the Church.  We see in our Gospel story for today, where Jesus met a Gentile woman, who begged him to heal her daughter.  This posed a problem for Jesus, not because he did not care for this woman and her daughter, but because the plan of God was to begin the spread of Christianity from the center of Israel.    Jesus wanted to honor God’s chosen people, the Israelites.  Yet, human need and this woman’s great faith “converts” (in parenthesis) Jesus to reveal more fully that everyone is welcome, everyone belongs in the kingdom of God.

The Canaaanite woman becomes a sign of the Gospel universality.  No one belongs under the table, much less away from it.  As we come to the table of the Lord to celebrate Eucharist at the Lord’s altar table, is it not true in the plan of God that no one belongs under the Eucharistic table, no one is to be excluded.  All are welcome.

A way of looking at the welcome of Jesus is to ask ourselves:  if Jesus will welcome even us, who are we to issue restrictions?  In the words of Pope Francis:  “Who am I to judge?”  May we never lose touch with our own craziness, our own messiness, our own sinfulness and yet know, at the same time, we are God’s beloved.  As God issues no restrictions on the love he has for us, so too, may we issue no restrictions on God’s love for all of His people.

Today’s Gospel story is about an expanding circle of grace.  That circle had to be learned by the early Church and by ourselves as well.  We often heart the phrase “to think outside the box.”  It describes the capacity to expand our concepts beyond the familiar, comfortable and even our orthodox patterns that define our reality.  Religious beliefs are even harder to change because they come to us in absolute terms. 

What convinces Jesus that the Spirit is at work in the Canaanite woman is her deep love for her daughter and her persistent faith in his power to heal the child.  Jesus encounters deep faith and love in religious outsiders like the Canaanite woman or the Roman centurion, but also in religious outcasts within Israel – lepers, sinners and the poor who neither know nor keep the Law.

The Gospel challenge for us today is to ask ourselves do we withhold love for people we decide are outside of God’s grace because they are different from us.  Our place at God’s table may put us next to someone we never thought would be as cherished by God as we ourselves want to be.  With this comes the challenge to love them as God loves them.

"Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid."

As we engage today’s Gospel of the disciples on the Sea of Galilee, we’re in the midst of an angry sea, in a boat that seems fragile and there are howling winds and enormous waves that threaten to capsize the disciples.

At some point in time, the storminess on the Sea of Galilee may describe anyone’s life – one’s parish or school; one’s business or neighborhood or family; one’s personal life as our employer tells us that our job is downsized or outsourced, or our doctor explains our test results.

This has been the life of the community of the Church many times since Jesus walked on water, and it is what today’s Gospel account is all about.

When we focus on the power of the winds and the depths of the waves and how wet and cold we are, then we panic and grasp and clutch and…sink.  When we give our life over to Jesus, we save our life.

This message is straightforward and easy to understand but so hard to live out when we are gripped by our fears.    The grace we seek from today’s Scriptures is to cultivate faith in Jesus that is greater than our fears.  The words of Jesus that are spoken to us again and again are:  “It is I; do not be afraid.”

There is a remarkable similarity between the situation Elijah found himself in today’s first Scripture reading and the disciples’ predicament in today’s Gospel.

Elijah had incurred the wrath of Jezebel, wife of Ahab, the King of Israel, and, as a result, the prophet had to flee into the desert and to the mountaintop.   There, he began to despair.  Although he felt alone and helpless, he was soon to learn that the God for whom he had fearlessly prophesied had not abandoned him.  God was near, providing food for the journey and an experience of God’s presence in his life.

Like Elijah, the disciples of Jesus found themselves in peril, as wind and waves tossed them about.  Their anxiety increased when they did not recognize Jesus and thought that it was a ghost that was approaching.  Jesus insisted they have courage.  He said:  “Do not be afraid.”

 When in your life do you experience the turbulence of the sea and your fears and anxiety get the best of you?  Are there times when you panic there is too much to do and not enough time to do it?  As a parent or grandparent, what happens when you do not approve of the choices your children are making?  As a teen or young adult, what happens when your heart is broken from a relationship that falls apart?  How is it for you when you are disillusioned by those in authority – in the government, in the Church, or in your place of business?  Personally when loneliness or depression gets the best of you, where do you turn?

There is a take-home message from the experience Elijah and the experience of the disciples on the Sea of Galilee.

The Lord said to Elijah:  “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will be passing by.”  As Elijah waited, the Lord was not to be found in the wind, or the earthquake or the fire.  After the fire, there was a tiny whispering sound, this is where Elijah experienced God’s presence.  And so we ask the question, where do we experience the Lord in our lives?  What is our tiny whispering sound?  Where is our sheer silence that speaks of God’s presence in our life?  God is to be found in the small gestures, in the gentle breezes of life, in the sound of sheer silence.  You never know how deeply a small gesture touches someone.  Last week I had the opportunity of spending some time with three grand nephews and my grand-niece.  They are ages 7, 5, 3, and less than a year old.  Simply holding Keara Grace in my arms touched me deeply with the mystery of God’s love.  She was a tiny whispering sound of God’s love in my life.  To read a bed-time story to my grand-nephews was also a gentle breeze of God’s presence.  Holding a one-year old in your arms or reading bed-time stories to young boys is not earth shattering by any means, but I can tell these were privileged opportunities for me to experience God in the gentle breezes of my life.

In the Gospel account of the storm of Sea of Galilee, the evangelist Matthew tells us that Jesus came to the disciples during the fourth watch of the night.  That is 3:00 am.

If you are awake at 3:00 am, often it is a sign of something wrong.  If you are unable to sleep tossing and turning, if you are waiting for someone to come home at 3:00 am, if the phone rings or there’s a knock on the door, if people are out on the streets at 3:00 am, it often is not a very good sign.

For some people, it’s 3:00 am emotionally.  Whatever problems we experience, whatever hurt or guilt or grief, it’s always worse in the middle of the night.  In the life of the Church, we may think it is 3:00 am if the numbers in our parish community are dwindling.

Despite the fears and struggles of our life that make it seem like it is 3:00 am no matter what time it is.  Exactly when it seems that things couldn’t get any worse, Jesus comes to us walking on the sea of our sadness and discontent.  With love and assurance, Jesus says:  “Take courage.  It is I.  Do not be afraid.”  Then like Elijah and like the disciples, we will draw courage from His presence – so much courage that like Peter; we dare to venture out into the deep.

As we pray over today’s Scripture readings, the grace that was given to the prophet Elijah was to recognize God in the “tiny whispering sounds” in life – in the silence and the gentle breezes.  May we seek the awareness of discovering God’s presence in the ordinary events of our day – even holding a child in your arms.   As the disciples did on the Sea of Galilee,  may we also recognize God’s presence in the storminess of our life.   The Lord is speaking to us:  “Take courage. It is I.  Do not be afraid.”

What is your spiritual risk tolerance?

What is your risk tolerance?  Do you know this expression  “risk tolerance?’  Your financial advisor before charting your investment strategy will ask your “risk tolerance.”  Conventional wisdom has it that the older we get, we should get more conservative with our finances and protect our assets.  Certainly with the finances of the Church, we have a low risk tolerance.  Financially we are conservative.

Does the same logic apply to our spiritual life?  What is your spiritual risk tolerance?  There is a side of us that wishes to be very conservative.  We wish to preserve the great tradition that has been given to us as Roman Catholics.  We are a Church that is apostolic -- that is say, we are a Church built upon the apostles’ faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

We also need to look at our spiritual risk tolerance in the light of today’s Scripture readings – the parables of Jesus.    “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.  When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”  That does not sound like a conservative strategy when one finds the pearl of great price.    It is more like a riverboat gambler willing to risk everything in the process of acquiring this pearl of great price. 

In the spiritual life, my hunch is that you don’t see yourself as that much of a risk taker.  What is Jesus’ message to us in this parable?  It sounds like the message Jesus gave the first apostles.  “Leave everything behind;  come follow me.”  Jesus is looking for more than part-time discipleship.  We are very, very generous when we tithe 10% of our time, talent, and treasure.  But the thing of it is, Jesus is looking for the other 90% as well.

In your faith life, what is your pearl of great price, and what are you willing  to sacrifice in order to acquire this pearl of great price?  I know that I need to pause a bit in reflecting on the meaning of this parable in my life?  Is my pearl of great price when I was appointed the pastor of this beautiful faith community?  Was it the day I was ordained a priest 46 years ago by Bishop Sheen at Sacred Heart Cathedral?  Was it the day I was baptized at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church and received for the first time the life of Christ Jesus within my spirit and became God’s beloved son.

I suggest for all of us the day of our baptism was the day we received this pearl of great price.  We became God’s beloved sons and God’s beloved daughters.  The sacrifice we are to make is a daily sacrifice in which Jesus calls us each day to aware of who we are – God’s beloved – and each and every day we are called to witness to His love in the way we live our lives.

How today are we willing to sell everything we have to deepen the life of Christ Jesus that is within us?  St Paul in the second Scripture reading in his letter to the Romans says something rather dramatic:  “Brothers and sisters:  we know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”  Nothing happens by accident.  When we see with the eyes of faith, all that happened in your life, both the peaks and valleys, work together in fashioning your salvation story, fashions the working of God in your life.  Both the crosses and the joys of life are part of God’s plan in calling you to Himself.  As we sell everything to acquire the pearl of great price, we pray for the grace to recognize the presence of God in all of life.  There is no part of your life that God is not present.  For example, in coming to terms with illness, the death of one you have loved deeply, in coming to terms with a relationship in your life that is a challenge, we seek the grace of knowing God is present to you and you always and everywhere are God’s beloved.