Brief Audio Reflection "In Our Midst" Luke 24:13-35; The Third Sunday of Easter, Year A.

They weren’t looking for Jesus. They were sure he was lost forever. And then he was there with them… walking and talking, explaining scripture, opening doors to spirituality. He moved with them so easily, so unobtrusively that they did not recognize the risen Savior until he revealed himself in the breaking of the bread.

What are we doing today to look for him, to see him, to recognize him… to welcome him? For many, these are the questions that define our lives. They are built reflexively into our day. For others they are unfamiliar, awkward, uncomfortable. But for all of us, there is one simple constant: Jesus is in our midst. What are we going to do about it? True to the Father and true to the promises he has made, we need only to look for him. We need only engage. He is in our midst… in love, in peace, in power… only a prayer away.

Brief Audio Reflection "Beyond Belief" on John 20:19-31; The Second Sunday after Easter, Year A.

Thomas wants proof. And who can blame him. Things had been going so well. Just a short while ago Jesus had triumphantly entered Jerusalem. Thomas found himself in the entourage of a super-star. Then suddenly his whole world collapsed. Jesus was arrested and stuck up on a cross. Scared out of their minds, the disciples were on the run. Thomas was certain that he and his friends would be next on the hit list. So he’s hardly in the mood for all this happy talk about Jesus returning from the dead. Unless he gets rock solid evidence that he can see and feel, he’s not going to get swept up in some fantasy. And then the risen Jesus delivers proof beyond all doubt.

For us the Resurrection cannot be some abstraction, only peripheral to our real lives. As Christians, the Resurrection gives us meaning and direction. It necessarily shapes our thoughts and actions. Thomas Merton captured this centrality when he wrote that Christianity gives us the power to confidently face the inevitability of suffering and death “… because the Resurrection of Jesus has robbed them of meaning.” In the risen Christ, death is not a destination. It is a passage. Beyond belief in the Resurrection lies actively living and sharing the joy of the Resurrection… both now and in eternity. And that’s as good as life ever gets. Alleluia!

Brief Audio Reflection "The Passion Play" (Matthew 26:14-27:66), Liturgy of the Passion; Palm Sunday: Year A

This week’s gospel is a drama played out in multiple acts of betrayal against one grand, overarching act of love. It is a tragedy transformed into triumph by the greatest curtain call that ever was or ever will be. It is Matthew’s epic account of the Passion of Jesus in which we are not just spectators, but participants and beneficiaries of the greatest story ever told.

Thank you, Jesus. By your life, death and Resurrection, you have set us free.

Brief Audio Reflection "Big Deal" on John 11: 1-45; The Fifth Sunday in Lent; Year A.

From the perspective of two millennia, the fact that some guy named Lazarus gets to walk around Bethany an extra twenty or thirty years is no big deal. But the fact that Jesus has conquered death for all eternity is a very big deal… the biggest deal that ever was or ever will be.

Jesus is telling us: You want signs that I’m the Messiah? How about the blind see; the deaf hear; lepers are cleansed and devils are cast out? But I’m saving the best for last. Jesus doesn’t rush to Lazarus’ bedside to cure him. He waits until Lazarus is four days in the tomb to call him forth. He could have saved Martha and Mary a lot of grief with a quick, pop-in cure. But, as always, Jesus has a bigger point to make. And it doesn’t get bigger than: "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die."

Brief Audio Reflection "Blindness and Vision" on John 9: 1-41; The Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A

How is your vision? When was the last time you had a checkup? Sure the input hitting your optic nerve may be 20/20… but what do you see? Do you see people in need as a nuisance? Or do you even see them at all? Is your day filled with opportunities to praise God and serve your neighbor? Or is it a blur… full of fuzzy intentions you’ll get to later?

Jesus has a cure for all our vision problems. He doesn’t want to give us glasses. He knows we’re careless. He knows we’ll take them off and forget where we left them. Jesus wants to give us a transplant. He wants us to see the world through his eyes… and what a vision it is. Through the eyes of Jesus there are no strangers. We are all beloved brothers and sisters. Through the eyes of Jesus we have a whole new perspective on routine frustrations and rude surprises. They become opportunities to give glory to God. Through the eyes of Jesus we see the big picture. We are not distracted and confused by petty details. We do not focus on temptation. Through the eyes of Jesus we see purpose and direction in our lives.

As long as we have the will to see, we will never be blind. In anger and resentment, in depression and despair… or in just plain lazy self-indulgence and boredom, Jesus offers us a far better vision of what life can be. He offers love and joy. He offers serenity and fullfilment. He offers eternal life. It’s all there for us to see. Just keep your eyes open. And keep looking towards the light.

Brief Audio Reflection “The Game Changer” (John 3: 1-17; The Second Sunday in Lent: Year A).

Nicodemos was a man of the law. That’s what it meant to be a Pharisee. Not that you were a lawyer, but that your sole purpose was to serve God by ever more scrupulous observation of intricate regulations governing every aspect of behavior, of thought, speech, diet, hygiene, relationships, work, leisure and worship. The Chosen People lived by Mosaic Law, but that wasn’t good enough for the Pharisees. They sought God in ritual perfection. Then Jesus comes along and changes the game. He preaches that love… not law… is how God keeps score. Forgiveness… not retribution… is his passion. And for God’s people, from now on, things are going to be different...

Jesus lays it out straight for Nicodemos, his wannabe disciple, and for us, his easily distracted people: Keep doing what you’re doing and you’re going nowhere. Come follow me. Be born again of water and the Holy Spirit and it’s all yours… the forgiveness of the penitent, the serenity of grace, the joy of the beloved, the eternal life of the saved.

Jesus has changed the game. And God is waving us home.

Brief Reflection "Deliver us from Evil" on Matthew 4:1-11; First Sunday in Lent, Year A

Knowing the divine nature of Jesus, I’ve always felt that Christ was just toying with Satan before he told him to get lost. Up against Jesus, Satan never had a chance. He gave it his best shot… bribery, flattery, trickery … and he came up empty. In reading this week’s gospel, we may be tempted to see Satan as a pushover. And that would suit him just fine.

So what to do? Like Jesus, fill your life with goodness. Leave no room for evil. Give the earliest sign of temptation to God. He knows how to handle it. He will bless you for it. Like Jesus, be humble but resolute in the face of evil. Run and hide in the Lord. Make your life an active, ongoing conversation with God. Be assured that evil will come, many times in many guises. And when it does, make sure you’re not fumbling to find God’s number in some forgotten address book. Stay close to him. And he’ll be right there with you, ready to deliver us from evil!

#AshWednesday #Pride #LoveofGod #Grace #JesusChrist

Brief Audio Reflection "As Good as it Gets" on Matthew 5:38-48. The Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, Year A

Pavarotti soaring in Nessun Dorma… magnificent; Astaire and Rogers floating through Cole Porter’s Night and Day… breathe taking; Olivier’s menacing Richard III… brilliant; but for pure soul stirring impact, Jesus of Nazareth’s Sermon on the Mount is as good as it gets. But in a media age, if the images don’t move and the mood isn’t captured by music, if the thought takes more than 140 characters to convey, that means we need to think, we need to dig into the text, we need to work to take in the full impact of the words on the page. And sadly, that is an endangered activity. This is our fourth consecutive Sunday of working our way, word by word, through all 48 verses of the fifth chapter of Matthew. And every minute of it pays-off in inspiration. The depth, the breadth, the language, the passion are all unparalleled. But it is the content, not the presentation, that is the most remarkable aspect of Christ’s mountain-side message.

Jesus is telling us that when it comes to real-life, everyday decisions, that marginal moral behavior is not acceptable. It’s not why the Father made us. It’s not why the Son died for us. Hoping to squeak by with a minimum of effort and inconvenience is a formula for failure. And more than anything, Jesus wants us to succeed. So he calls us to be perfect, even though he knows we are flawed. He loves us in our sins and calls us to rise above them… always aiming higher...

Reflection for Tuesday, February 11: “Raising the Bar” (Matthew 5:21-37; Epiphany 6; Year A

Even simple common sense laws seem to have a way of exploding into a morass of regulations. The Federal Register of Regulations is quickly closing in on a million pages. But it’s not a new phenomenon. In Exodus God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. But that was followed by 27 chapters of do’s and don’ts in Leviticus and 34 chapters more in Deuteronomy, which then morphed into 6,200 pages of Talmudic law covering every aspect of beliefs, behaviors, diet, customs, ethics and attitudes. In this week’s gospel, Jesus tells us there is another way… a better, simpler way… to be in harmony with the will of God.

In this gospel, Christ has raised the bar for moral behavior. But in his love, he raises us up so very much higher… well over the bar and safely all the way home.