From the moment the month of June started, it’s been everywhere.  It’s been shared on social media and on the news along with other forms of media/entertainment.  Organizations have made statements and updated logos.  Companies that create different products, whether it’s candy, cereal or clothing to name a few, have updated their packaging/designs.  Flags have been put up.  If you haven’t figured out what I’m talking about yet, I’m referring to the endless amount of rainbows that have been plastered everywhere.  As the secular world celebrates Pride Month, we constantly hear the motto “love is love” while being bombarded with phrases and messages about LGBT Pride.  As Catholics, we cannot support the culture, events, activities, and behaviors that this movement celebrates and promotes.  We must, however, respect and love the people who partake in Pride Month events and offer compassion and empathy for all who experience same-sex attraction.  Instead of celebrating pride, we should all pray to grow in the virtue of humility.  Rather than identifying ourselves by our temptations, weaknesses, and sin, we should allow ourselves to be defined by the love God has for us.  What better way to do these things than by diving deep into the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a devotion that the Catholic Church celebrates during the month of June.

If you dare defend the Church’s teaching on marriage, you’re usually called a “homophobic, bigoted, hateful jerk” or something along those lines.  What the Church teaches is full of truth, beauty, and goodness.  Whether we are talking about marriage or love aside from marriage, our society does not understand love and often has a distorted view of what it means to love.  However, when we look upon Jesus and His Sacred Heart, it is only then that we can begin to  understand what it means to love others and be loved.

The culture promotes love as something that is selfish and asks questions like “what’s in it for me?” or “how can I get what I want?”.  The Sacred Heart bursts forth with a flame, pierced and bleeding, and crowned with thorns, thus revealing to us His deep, infinite, unconditional love for all of humanity.  The love of Jesus is more powerful and transformative than anything else in this world.  The heart of Jesus is filled with love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness and all that is missing from our culture’s ideas of love.

We can only truly love others when we open ourselves up to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Receiving His love fills us with love for those around us.  We are all called to learn from the heart of Jesus and imitate His love and humility.  It’s not easy but with prayer, dedication, and discipline, we can grow more like Him each day and learn how to love like Him.

Contrary to what the world might say, people are not defined by their attractions, temptations, or weaknesses.  While Catholics cannot celebrate Pride month and the behaviors and activities that it promotes, we must recognize the dignity and worth of every single person, regardless of what they struggle with.  Take time to lean into the Sacred Heart and know that Jesus pours out his love and mercy on each and every one of us.  That is something worth celebrating during the month of June and every month after!

“Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like yours.”

A few days ago, a supervisor from my job in college passed away at the age of 41, after some health problems.  When I learned of this news, I was deeply saddened.  She positively impacted so many students, myself included, and staff at the university.  If I were to describe her with one word, it would be ‘bold.’  I think her boldness is one reason I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her and how grateful I am to have known her.  Her boldness is a trait I admired.  As Catholics and Christians, we are all called to be bold in our faith.

Boldness might not be naturally part of all of our personalities but it is something we need to choose and strive for each day.  Otherwise, how can we expect to hold onto our faith and stand up for what we believe in a world that is actively working against us?  It is easy to sit back and go along with the flow for fear of offending people or being insulted.  Hiding our beliefs or remaining indifferent can lead to adopting the viewpoints of our society and it sends the message that our faith and its teachings really aren’t that important.  When it comes to our faith, we cannot hold back!

If we are truly disciples of Jesus, we should be sharing our faith with others.  This means sharing the Gospel message, the teachings of the church, and letting others know how Jesus has and continues to work in our lives.  It doesn’t have to be in front of a crowd or in big ways.  It can be in the conversations with coworkers, family, and friends and in various everyday situations.  These opportunities arise all of the time but we just need to be open to them.  It should be in the words we say, the things we do, and the overall way we live our lives.  We need to be sharing our faith, no matter what people might say or what they might think of us.  In this weekend’s Gospel, we heard Jesus telling his disciples to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19).  This applies to us today too.

What if we lived without hesitation and fear?  What if we shared our faith like it was more important than anything else in our lives?  What if we chose to be bold?  Our country needs Jesus and needs the message of our faith, especially now more than ever.  May we all rise up as disciples of Jesus and choose boldness.

At my job, aside from one or two people who are close to 40, all of my coworkers are at least twice my age.  This means one thing.  Every day, I can guarantee that I will be called into someone’s office to help them with a computer/technology issue or answer a question about how to do something in Microsoft Office or Outlook email.  On the other hand, working with people who are a bit older than me means that there is a lot I can learn.  Having coworkers who are middle-aged means they have more life experience.  They offer advice, career tips, and wisdom on work and life in general.  We are all connected and all have different things to offer and provide to our place of work in order to fulfill the mission of the organization and complete the job.  It is no different in our faith and in the Church.

Every year at my church, there is a retreat called Christian Experience Weekend, also known as CEW.  It is a retreat for anyone 18 and older.  However, once I turned 18, I didn’t immediately jump aboard and sign up.  The way I looked at it, even though it was open to those at least 18, it was a retreat that a bunch of moms and middle-aged or older people attended.  I had rarely heard of any “young” people attending except for usually an occasional one or two per retreat.  How could I connect to a bunch of women who had kids, and enjoyed things like baking and gardening for fun??  For two years, several different people invited me personally to attend the retreat, some even offering to pay the small retreat fee for me.  After coming up with a reason I couldn’t go or saying I would think about it, I finally gave in when I was 20.  And I’m glad I did.  All of the people on the retreat were at different points in their lives.  We all had different experiences, thoughts to share, and gifts to bring.  It didn’t matter that we were all different ages.  What mattered is that we were all connected by Christ and through our faith.  We were all a part of the body of Christ.  That is the beautiful thing. 

We can all learn from each other.  We can be inspired, encouraged and given wisdom and knowledge about faith from one another.  Furthermore, we need each other.  We all have different ideas, thoughts, experiences, and gifts.  God works in our lives in different ways and fills our hearts differently.  As we heard in this weekend’s second reading “there are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit….As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:4, 12).  We each have a role and are each called to participate alongside each other within the Body of Christ.  While we are all unique individuals with different experiences, we are only truly whole when we are part of the Body, united as a community and to Christ.

Sometimes, it might seem easier for us to live inside our own little bubbles; for young people to stray from those who are older and for those who are older to dismiss younger people.  The Church needs all of us right now, at this exact moment.  Not just a little later and not in the future.  We are all tasked with sharing Christ’s love and the Church’s teachings and to help each other along the way no matter what age we are.  May we all see each other as important parts of the Body of Christ and always realize the bond we have through Him.

This weekend I did a half-marathon.  The in-person Cellcom event was cancelled and moved to a virtual format, which meant we had to do the race on our own.  Not being able to do the event in person, there were several things we missed out on.  There were no spectators/people to cheer, no water stations, and no post-race food, just to name a few things.  While we got t-shirts and medals, being able to run the event on the actual course, in the normal format would have been the full experience.  We can run on our own, at our own time and on our own routes but signing up to do road- races is a much different experience that offers so much more.  On a larger scale and in a more important way, it is like this in our faith.  In regard to going to mass, we often hear people say things like, “I can just pray at home.”  Of course we can pray at home.  It is good and important to pray at home, and anywhere we may be.  However, as Catholics, mass is the ultimate experience of our faith that we need.

God is the giver of all good things in our lives.  Going to mass allows us to show our gratitude for everything we have and praise Him for all of the blessings in our lives.  We can always thank God on our own time and in our own prayers.  However, we are asked to show up, once a week at a minimum, to give thanks and praise to God.  It’s the least we can do.

Going to mass allows us to pray as a community.  It is vital to pray as a community through the mass.  While we need to pray on our own and develop a strong personal prayer life, we also need a community.  If we want a strong prayer life, we need to start with the mass.  The mass fills us up and pours countless graces into our lives.  This allows us to live out our faith and grow closer to God in our daily lives.

There is no other place we can go to be closer to God than at mass.  Jesus is with us in nature, in our living rooms, and at our sporting events.  However, it is only at the mass that He is present- body, blood, soul, and divinity.  Receiving the Eucharist is as close as we can get to Christ on this side of heaven.  It is the best gift we have been given and people pass up on it as if they have more important things to do and places to be.  This is the central part of our faith.

As Catholics, it is important to pray on our own and practice our faith every day.  However, we also need to attend mass weekly, as long as we are healthy and physically able.  We are able to experience the fullness of our faith when we go to mass.  It is an experience we cannot have anywhere else.  Pray often that Catholics everywhere would make going to mass a priority and see the importance and value of worshipping God weekly.

On Friday I texted my sibling group chat to see what we were getting our mom for Mother’s Day and then for her birthday a week later.  Of course, they had all decided on their own gifts, abandoning the idea of all going in on a gift together.  This left me trying to come up with what to get and required some last minute shopping Friday after work.  What do you get for the person who gave life to you?  What can you give to the person who has raised you, supported you, and given you everything?  You and I both know there’s no gift or material item that compares to what a mother gives and has given.  This led me to reflect on who Jesus is and all He has given us.  What do we give to the one who has given His life for us?  What can we give to the one who guides us, leads us, and walks with us each day?  Love.  The answer is our love.

God doesn’t need us.  He doesn’t need anything from us either.  The amazing thing is that while He doesn’t need anything from us, He wants us to love Him and have a personal relationship with Him.  He created us for a purpose.  As we heard in this weekend’s Gospel, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain…” (John 15:16).  We all have a mission and purpose for our lives.  While our paths may all be different, we are all called to love and serve God and share His love with others.  God has chosen each one of us; not because He needs us, but because He wants us.  How awesome is that?!?  The all-knowing, all-powerful God who created heaven and earth and everything in between gives us everything and all He really wants from us is our love.

When we choose to fully love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls, we are inviting Him to remain within us and transform our lives.  When we allow God to transform our lives, others will notice and may come to know Him and His love for them.  And this is what God wants; to be known and loved by each and every single one of us.  May you never forget that God, who has given you everything, will never need anything from you but will always want you to love Him.

When it comes to driving and navigating, I have no sense of direction and I get lost easily.  One time in high school, I was leaving a meeting at night and needed to follow someone to find my way back from a church that is ten minutes from my house.  Needless to say, my directional skills are lacking and there have been many times when I was unsure of the way to go.  Thinking about direction in a bigger way, we are reminded in today’s (Monday 5/3) gospel that Jesus is our ultimate guide.  “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).  Without Jesus, we would be lost.

Looking around, it is easy to see many who are lost and lacking direction.  Turn on the news or open up social media to see acts of violence, attacks against certain opinions, and constant negativity.  Take notice of a lot of the music, TV shows, and movies that are popular.  Many of these forms of media mock Christianity and people of faith, glorify and normalize sin, and use inappropriate and degrading language.  These kinds of things have been accepted by many, even among those who identify as Christians.  This is not the way that Jesus offers us.

Apart from Jesus, the road is dark, confusing, and dangerous.  He knows what we need and leads us to the Father.  When we follow Jesus and truly believe that He is the only way, we will know truth and have life that is full.  Everything that we are seeking can be found in Him. 

There are many people who have not discovered who Jesus is and who He wants to be for them.  Others have walked away from Him.  Some have never taken time to develop a relationship with Him.  Our world is lost with no direction.  To put it simply, our world needs Jesus.

Spend some time praying that all who are lost and searching would find Jesus and let Him guide them.  Pray that we would let Him be everything for us; the way, the truth, and the life.

There are a lot of different names for Jesus and many different ways we can picture him.  Good Shepherd is one of my favorite titles for who Jesus is.  Just as a shepherd gathers his sheep and protects them, Jesus gathers us up as his flock and protects us.  He calls out to us as shepherds call out to their sheep.  “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).  When we hear Jesus, do we recognize him and follow him?  Do we allow him to guide us?

The world is loud and filled with many different voices.  We can be pulled into many different directions from the people around us, social media, and anyone or anything else we interact with on a daily basis.  It may be easy to be tempted to do whatever everyone else is doing or believe what everyone else believes.  However, this is not the way of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.  He calls us to more.  He allows us “to have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).  When we abandon the ways of the world and choose to instead follow him, our lives will be filled with greater faith and love than we could ever imagine.

Without Jesus as our shepherd, we are just a bunch of lost sheep.  We may think we know everything or believe that we can do it on our own.  When we fall into these mindsets, we get distracted and wander off the path to the gate.  Jesus knows each and every one of us on a deep, personal level.  The fact that thousands of other people choose to follow him does not matter.  He wants you and me to follow him too because he loves each one of us individually.

​There is no one who knows us better or loves us more than Jesus.  Why would we not listen to and follow the one who knows us best and loves us most?  Let him protect you, guide you, and love you.  You are a part of his flock.  A sheep without a shepherd is lost.  In the same way, a person without Christ is lost.  Don’t be a lost sheep.  Be a sheep who hears the Good Shepherd and trusts that following Him is the best thing you could ever do.

Reading through the Gospel for today (Monday 4/19), there is one part that stands out to me.  “Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.  Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” (John 6:26-27).  The crowd of people went looking for Jesus because they were fed by the loaves of bread and knew He could fulfill their physical hunger.  They were concerned with the temporary.  This scripture passage is a good opportunity to reflect on the hunger in our lives.

Throughout the seemingly ordinary days of our lives, we go to work so that we can provide earthly necessities such as food, clothing, housing, and other expenses we have and comforts we want to be able to enjoy.  These things allow us to fulfill our physical hunger and maintain our overall health and wellbeing.  What about our spiritual health?  Are we working for eternal life and allowing Jesus to satisfy the hunger that only He can?

We can eat all the food that we want until the point of being stuffed full.  We can buy all the material items we could ever want.  We can make all the money in the world.  After we fill up on these things, we will still be empty unless we seek Jesus and the truth of who He is.  When we experience hunger for things that can satisfy the body, we are able to easily meet that need by making a meal or going to the grocery store.  When it comes to satisfying our hearts and souls, the deepest parts of ourselves, we cannot do this on our own.  It is God alone who fulfills this spiritual hunger we have- the hunger for love and truth.

​Jesus offers us everything we need to have life within us.  When we go to Him, the deepest longing and hunger in our hearts are satisfied.  He nourishes and strengthens us in a way that nothing else can.  While we are filled by the food of this world temporarily, the food that He offers endures forever.  May every person come to know that Jesus is the bread of life that will sustain us always.

On Friday I was writing a talk that I had to give at a retreat the next day.  I was asked to give a reflection for Saturday’s retreat back in February.  Why did I wait until the last minute to write the talk?  There is no real reason I can think of besides the busyness of daily life (and procrastination.)  It is exactly this reason that retreats are so important.  I believe that all Catholics should take time to attend retreats.  They are the perfect way to get away from hectic and often full schedules to rest, be inspired, discuss our faith with others, and find peace. 

Retreats are often experiences that we do not really realize how much we need until we are there in the middle of them or once they are over.  It had been over a year since the last retreat I had been on.  Being able to go to the TEC Rejoice retreat was a true gift.  Being able to be in the presence of other Catholics, discussing faith, hearing reflections, praying together, and escaping the world, even if only for a day, was a time of refreshment and a time to recharge.  This is what we all need, especially now more than ever.

I believe retreats are vital for our spiritual health and faith.  They are a time of nourishment and a way to dive deeper into our relationship with Jesus.  Scripture often talks about the importance of rest.  In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”  Retreats are an opportunity to just be in the presence of Jesus and let Him refresh your soul.  Unlike the expectations the world places on us in our daily lives, being at retreats, there are no real expectations but to just be still and rest.  Through dedicated time for prayer, reflection, and small-group discussions, we can more clearly hear God.

Of course, we can encounter Christ outside of retreats.  However, we are called to set aside time for prayer and contemplation so we can be renewed and strengthened.  Even Jesus took time to step away from the world at times.  In addition, retreats provide an opportunity to build community with others who care about their faith.  Finding time to be around people who share our faith is so important.  We need a faith community to pray with and for us, and encourage and help us along the way.  It is these relationships that are centered on Christ that are life-changing.  The graces that come from retreats are countless.

​For many Catholics, their retreat participation starts and ends with their Confirmation retreat.  While we cannot force people to go on a retreat, we can be persistent in inviting others.  We can help people seek out different opportunities.  My prayer is that all Catholics would open up their hearts and consider attending a retreat.  If you are reading this, know that God has so much to offer you and going on a retreat might just be exactly what you need to receive what He wants to give you.

“What joy we have, For the stone is rolled away And the tomb holds nothing now. No sting of death, No power over sin or grave…”  As Christians, this is what Easter is about!  Nothing can keep us from the joy of Jesus’ resurrection and nothing can steal that joy away.  The amazing thing about this joy is that it is not just reserved for one day of the year.  The joy that we experience Easter Sunday is the joy that we should be sharing every day with all those around us.

Having joy is something that is transformative.  Encountering the risen Christ changes us.  The same power that rose Jesus from the dead can work in us.  His resurrection does not change the fact that we will face losses and challenges along the way.  However, the resurrection gives us hope which inspires us to live in pursuit of heaven, joyfully proclaiming that Jesus has defeated death.  Evil and sin do not win.

Real joy is something that can only come from Jesus.  If it came from anywhere else, the world would be able to strip it away.  At times, we can be tempted to let the darkness of the world bring us down.  There is a lot we can become weighed down by.  When this happens, we need to refocus.  Clinging to the hope that the resurrection brings allows us to be overflowing with joy.  When we have this joy, we have a deep desire to share Jesus and His love with others.  Looking to the victory of Jesus and all that He overcame, how could we not have joy?

​The joy we have is not superficial or shallow.  It comes only from having deep faith in Christ and allowing Him into our lives.  Take some time to reflect on the reality of the resurrection.  See the power and glory, and carry the joy with you wherever you go!