Daily Reflections with Fr. John

Lift High the Cross

I belong to the Lord. My time, my choices, my words, my relationships, even the wounds I carry, all of them must be placed under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

What fruit is my life producing? And is there one teaching of Jesus that I have heard many times but still need to put into practice?

How do you come to make the decisions in your life?

What does it actually mean to love an enemy?

Today we celebrate Saint Peter Claver. He was born in Spain and became a Jesuit priest. He did not come to the United States. He served as a missionary in Cartagena, in what is now Colombia.

The people have arrived. The church is filling. Someone may be greeting a friend. A family is settling children into the pew. Another person has come alone. Someone is joyful. Someone else is exhausted, grieving, anxious, distracted, or unsure why he or she came. Then the bell rings, the music begins, and the procession starts.

On this Labor Day, we remember these three truths: through our work, we participate in God’s creation; through our work, we serve others and the common good; and through our work, we learn to trust God rather than living in constant anxiety.

Saint Paul tells us what a transformed Christian life looks like in practice.

The Sabbath was God’s gift to his people. It was meant to provide rest, restore their relationship with God, and remind them that their lives belonged to him.