Today is the feast day of St. John Paul II.  Throughout his life and time as pope, he shared countless profound and beautiful words that give us a lot to reflect on.  One of my favorite quotes from him is, “The most beautiful and stirring adventure that can happen to you is the personal meeting with Jesus, who is the only one who gives real meaning to our lives.”  Once you have had an encounter with Jesus, everything changes.  You no longer allow your life to be defined by what the world tells us matters.

At the beginning of last year, the organization I work at went through a restructuring.  Everyone changed roles to better align with the mission.  The role I went from to the role I moved into was sort of a promotion.  I remember telling someone about this transition as they asked me about my job.  As soon as I explained about the change, the first thing this person asked was, “is there an opportunity for you to move up again?”  She was immediately wondering about more promotion opportunities.  I responded that maybe there was, but in my head I was thinking, “I just want to stay in this role and do the job well.  I’m not interested in climbing the ladder.”  I think this person’s question is indicative of the society we live in.  So many people find meaning in advancing their careers and being at the top, so they can make as much money as possible.  To be clear, there is nothing wrong with advancing in your job and being at the top of the organization.  But the problem comes when this is what defines your life and where you find the meaning of your life.  And this is just one example of many in our culture where people seek their meaning.

Our relationship with Jesus should occupy more space in our minds and hearts than any other worldly pursuit.  The sad reality is that there are countless people among us, including other Catholics/Christians who have not had an encounter with Jesus.  They have not met Him in a way that has changed their lives.  We must invite people to take part in various opportunities and continue to share with them how Jesus has impacted our lives.
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When we have had a personal encounter with Christ, it changes everything.  It takes us down a path we would have not chosen to walk down otherwise.  My prayer for each person reading this is that you would remember the meaning that your life has because of Jesus and that you would share that with the people around you who have not met Him yet.  

Yesterday, I read a book called Loved as I Am: An Invitation to Conversion, Healing, and Freedom through Jesus, by Sister Miriam James Heidland.  While it was a quick and easy read, she shared so many profound statements to reflect on as she shared her story.  In one of the statements I was struck by, she says, “When was the last time you were mistaken for Jesus? As our lives are redeemed and joined to the life of Jesus, the world around us changes because the face of Christ is made manifest” (Heidland 19).  This is a powerful thought for us to all reflect on. 

“When was the last time you were mistaken for Jesus?”  Obviously, this is not meant in a literal sense, but what if we lived our lives each day in a way that was Christ-like enough that others could see Him in us?  What if our friends, family members, co-workers, and neighbors were inspired by us because of our words and actions?  What if people who’ve left the church returned to the faith because of the way we lived?  What if people who did not know Christ had a desire to learn who He is because of the way we made Him present by our personal witness?

When people see us or interact with us, do they see Jesus in us?  One of the best ways to become more like Him is to seek out the sacraments, receiving the Eucharist as often as possible and going to confession.  Another way is to read scripture regularly, letting His word permeate our hearts and minds.  When we fail to present Jesus to the world around us, which we will often do, we can begin again, asking Jesus to help us become more like Him.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila.  She is known for saying, “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”  These beautiful words she is attributed with are fitting with this question from Sr. Miriam, “When was the last time you were mistaken for Jesus?”  As St. Teresa of Avila says, we are called to be Christ in the world.  Can people see Him through us?
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As we go throughout our week, may we let Jesus work in and through us, showing and reminding others who He is.  We will fail often, but we can always begin again.  My prayer is that we would be able to change our corner of the world around us, letting Christ be known and helping people see Him in us.

In today’s (10/8) gospel, we read the story of Martha and Mary.  Martha is busy serving and completing tasks while her sister Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and listens.  When we hear this gospel passage, we are often asked to reflect on who we are in the story: are we more of a Martha or Mary?  And oftentimes, Martha gets criticized in this story.  But I think we are called to be both Martha and Mary.

In the passage, Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part…” (Luke 10:41-42).  When we read this line we often believe that it must be true that Mary is doing what is more important and Martha’s worried about doing the wrong things and too busy serving.  But I don’t think Jesus is condemning her actions.  At the beginning of the passage, it says, “he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him” (Luke 10:38).  He was welcomed by her and surely must have appreciated her hospitality and service.  And Jesus calls her by name, gently drawing her attention to Him.

There is a right time and place for both Mary and Martha.  We need to work and serve, but if our service is not done with a focus on Jesus, it is in vain.  Jesus gently calls Martha back to Him, reminding her of what is important, and He does the same for us.  To sit in prayer with Jesus is what gives us the love, peace, and joy that we need in our work and in order to make our faith a way of life, to serve and work for Him.
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Today, instead of asking yourself if you’re a Mary or Martha, ask yourself if your priorities are properly ordered.  Ask yourself, are you taking time to be Mary, sitting with Jesus and being filled by His presence, so that you can go out and serve with love and joy, glorifying Him in your tasks?

Yesterday night as I was packing to go on vacation this week, I thought for a moment about how I am a fairly light packer. There are two types of people in the world- those who pack light and those who overpack. Neither method is necessarily better than the other. In our lives, we can easily tend to overpack, carrying extra stuff that we don’t need to carry. And when it comes to how we pack our luggage, thankfully, whichever camp we find ourselves in, overpacker or under packer, is not an indication of our ability to trust Jesus and let go of the things we don’t need to carry.

Overpacking leads us to have a heavier load to carry because we have more than we need. And in the spiritual life, it is easy to find ourselves weighed down with a heavy load to carry. We often try to either carry things on our own or carry things that we need to hand over, to let go of. Maybe we allow the lies of the world and Satan to fill our hearts and minds. Maybe we let sin build up and weigh us down, instead of seeking out confession right away. Maybe we try to carry our crosses on our own, not seeking help from others and from Jesus.

All of these things we carry on our own or unnecessarily with us on the journey are the things that hinder us from a stronger relationship with God. They drag us down, slowing our progress in our spiritual lives, and ultimately weaken our trust in God. But he wants us to hand everything to Him and put our complete trust in Him, knowing that He walks with us every step of the way, helping us carry only what we need and handing Him the rest.

Is anything weighing you down lately? Take time to reflect on what you need to release completely or what you need to give to Jesus. May you open up your suitcase and remove those things you don’t need, lightening your load and letting Jesus take it from you.

When I was in college, there was a campus department/organization called Healthy Choices Task Force.  This was a group made up of faculty, staff, and students.  And contrary to their name, they promoted many ideas, programs, and activities that were anything but healthy.  One event they were planning on holding was called, “Healthy Pornography.”  (These words do not belong together!)  Working in the campus reservations office, I learned about this event several weeks before it was set to take place due to my supervisor, who also happened to be Catholic, drawing it to my attention in our reservation booking system and sharing his disgust and disappointment in this awful event that was being planned.  I decided to investigate it a little bit so I reached out to get a summary from the event planners on what the purpose and summary of the event was.  It turned out that their intent and goal for the event was to discuss and talk to students about how to view pornography in its different forms and it was going to be discussed in a positive light.  I could not believe that any sane adult would think it was a good idea to promote this.  As Catholics, when we come across evil, immoral, events, activities, or ideas that go against everything we believe we can either stay quiet and do nothing, or we can stand up and speak out.

Thankfully, my supervisor, who shared my faith, encouraged me to do something.  That weekend after mass on campus, I brought it to the attention of our campus minister Sr. Laura, and our priest, Fr. Scott.  We discussed the issue and prayed for the people involved with the event, that they might see the harm in it.  A few days later, a group of us from the Phoenix Catholic student org got together to write a letter to send to the Vice-Chancellor, Dean of Students Office, and the event organizers to express our concerns, letting them know it went against our beliefs and morality.  In the response we got from the vice chancellor, he indicated that while the University would not be making a definitive moral statement on the subject, they were rethinking the event and canceled it.  We probably didn’t convert anyone or change their minds in this whole ordeal, but we planted a seed and made an effort to make Christ known in a small way.  We made our voices heard.

I share this story because we all see these types of things all around us on a regular basis.  We live in a country that seems to have no moral compass.  Whether it’s in the media, forms of entertainment, different groups/organizations, or just other people or situations we encounter, immorality and wickedness are all around us.  Satan and the evil spirits truly “prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls”, as we pray in the St. Michael Prayer.

In these situations, we must make the choice to stand by Christ and our faith, even when it is hard, uncomfortable, and it seems like the whole world is against us.  The way we confront evil around us is not only through our words, but also through our actions and the way we live our lives.  And we should not be surprised when people who don’t profess faith in God and spaces that do not welcome Him have let the evil one seep in, resulting in behaviors and actions that are contrary to faith in God.  We must pray and continue our work that we have been given as disciples of Jesus, to share the Gospel and make Him known.
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When we choose to go against the ways of the world, holding firm to our faith and rejecting immorality and evil, people will take notice.  While we will likely not change people’s minds or make them change their ways, we may be planting a seed, or causing them to think about what makes us live differently, wondering why we so strongly believe what we believe.  When faced with two choices- to do nothing or to stand up, may we always choose to stand up for our faith, sharing a glimpse of Jesus with the world!

Last Friday, I went to eucharistic adoration at my church.  When I got there, there were four other people plus the priest.  After almost an hour passed and I was close to leaving, our priest was the only person there.  As I left, I hoped that more people would stop in within the last remaining hour.  Right before I left, I was thinking about how often Jesus in the Eucharist sits on altars exposed in the monstrance and in tabernacles, waiting for us to come sit with Him, and how often we don’t.

As I reflected during my time at the church, a line from a book that I read in college came to mind.  In the book Consoling the Heart of Jesus, by Fr. Michael Gaitley, the author is talking about Jesus’ Sacred Heart and says, “Behold this Heart which loves so much yet is so little loved” (Gaitley 92).  This line is repeated several times throughout the book and has stuck with me as a powerful thought to reflect on throughout the years since I’ve read it.  As Jesus was exposed for adoration Friday night, I thought about how Jesus was there, in a largely empty church.  He loves so much but is often loved very little or not at all in return.

It made me reflect on the times when I fail to love Jesus above all else, the times where I put Him below many other things.  Most of us probably struggle with this at times.  But when we take time for prayer and spend time deepening our relationship with Jesus, it is a step in the right direction, a step closer to where we ought to be.  And I think that is what Jesus wants from us, to keep trying, to keep showing up, and to spend time with Him, so that we can become more like the people He created us to be.

Jesus wants to pour out His love on us.  And as I sat in church on Friday, it made me sad to think of all of the people from the community who have maybe never experienced this love that is found in adoration and in the mass.  A community of people that can fill the pews and pack the church on Ash Wednesday and other certain days of the year, but with many of them not going to weekly mass or taking time to go to adoration.
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We are all busy and we all have a lot of stuff going on in our lives.  But taking time to sit with Jesus is time where we are loving Him, who loves so much.  It reorders our priorities and helps us to return a fraction of the love that He has for us.  This week, reflect on the ways that you can love Jesus and how you will show Him that love.

Yesterday I was listening to an episode from the Poco a Poco podcast where they were talking about life being a pilgrimage.  If you’ve ever been on a pilgrimage before, you know that there are challenges and discomforts along the way, and when you reach the final destination/site, there is a lot of excitement and joy because you’ve finally made it.  Pilgrimages that we go on can be a reflection of our lives as a whole, because our whole lives are a pilgrimage, as we walk towards the ultimate goal- eternal life with God.

One part of the podcast, one of the hosts mentioned that during a pilgrimage, unlike a vacation, we can’t just stop and check into a hotel and says, “Jesus doesn’t teach us to check into the hotel or take it easy” (Fr, Isaiah, CFR, 2024).  When we get tired or want to stop moving, Jesus helps us to continue on.  Our lives are like this too.

The spiritual life is one that must keep moving forward.  If we are not moving forward, we are either staying still or going backwards, meaning that we aren’t deepening our faith or growing in our relationship with Jesus.  We are never going to make it to our destination by staying still, by being stagnant in our faith.  When we are sore, tired, and weak, we keep going.

Sometimes, it seems like having little or no faith would be easier.  To be complacent and not care means that we wouldn’t have to put in the effort.  Not knowing or caring would allow us to live as the world lives, carefree and as if nothing really matters.  While it may seem like it would be easier, our lives would be a lot lonelier, a lot emptier, and a lot more seemingly meaningless.  Even though this pilgrimage we are on is hard, it is completely worth it.  And Jesus walks with us every step of the way.

During a pilgrimage, we are able to encounter Jesus along the way, especially in the trying moments where there is discomfort and suffering.  These moments allow us to lean on Jesus to carry us through.  And just like the pilgrimages to different places we can make, our lives are one long pilgrimage.  As you continue on this week, keep in mind the purpose and where you are trying to go, asking Jesus to be with you,  with the hope that one day we will make it to the final pilgrimage destination.

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Fr. Isaiah, CFR, host. “Life and Mystery”. The Poco a Poco Podcast with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, episode 221, 17 July 2024, https://www.franciscanfriars.com/pocoap

Saturday night of the National Eucharistic Congress, one of the keynote speakers Jonathan Roumie, the actor who portrays Jesus in the series, The Chosen, was reading John Chapter 6, known as the Bread of Life Discourse.  This is a passage from scripture we’re read and heard hundreds of times.  But as he read this passage, one line in particular jumped out at me.  “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him” (John 6:66).  And then on Sunday during the closing mass, Cardinal Luis Tagle quoted this specific line in his homily.  So many people have walked this same path as those disciples did.

Whether it’s family members, friends, co-workers, classmates, or others from our community, we all know people who have left the Catholic Church and strayed from their faith.  We all know people who have returned to their former way of life and stopped accompanying Jesus.  One group I have seen this with is many people from high school who were really involved in their faith and participated in youth ministry.  They were at one point excited about their faith and active in the Church, and now don’t claim the same faith and belief in the same teachings they did at one time in their lives.  Maybe you have seen this happen with other people in your lives who were raised Catholic and were involved in their faith at some point only to have since walked away.  And then there are others who were never really invested in their faith in the first place who have left.

There are a lot of different situations and circumstances where we have seen people leaving the Church and for a variety of reasons.  Maybe they let the world convince them that their faith was in vain, or that it didn’t make sense, or that it was false.  Whatever the reasons for leaving, they let the world convince them that what it could offer them was greater than Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church.

Jesus has given Himself to us in the Eucharist.  And I firmly believe that if people knew and believed in His real presence, or had some sort of encounter or experience with Him, they could never walk away.
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So many people around us have left Jesus and His Church, walking away from the truth.  Jesus wants each and every single one of us to accompany Him and to stay close to Him.  But many have returned to their former ways of life.  This is where we have the task of sharing our faith and the truth of His teachings.  May we all share our faith experiences with others, giving witness to who Jesus is, what He has done in our lives, and how the power of the Eucharist has transformed us so that one day, all those disciples who left may return home and accompany Jesus again.

Saturday night of the National Eucharistic Congress, at the end of adoration as the priest processed out of the stadium with the monstrance, Matt Maher sang “Because He Lives.”  As he sang the words, “I’m alive because He lives”, I was reminded that Jesus in the Eucharist is life-giving.  We are not just physically alive because of Him, but we have life- life that is full and abundant and that cannot be found outside of Him.

In this weekend’s Gospel, we heard, “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life: whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:35).  Jesus tells us that He is the bread of life.  He gives us life, nourishes us, and sustains us.

The world around us offers us nothing good- temptation, sin, boredom to name a few things.  Life apart from Jesus is dull and meaningless, filled with endless activity that really has no purpose.  But Jesus gives us life so that we can go out and share that life with others; the joy, love, and peace that comes from a life in Him.

When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, or sit before Him in eucharistic adoration, the longing and hunger in our hearts are satisfied.  And if we have faith and live how He commands us to, we will hopefully one day experience an everlasting fulfillment that we were made for, in eternal life.
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Jesus, fully present in the eucharist changes our lives, if we have faith and allow Him to.  And when we experience the power of His real presence, we will be filled with life.  May we all remember that Jesus is the bread that sustains us and we are truly alive because He lives. 

Every single one of us has a deep need for Jesus.  We are all in need of his mercy, forgiveness, and love, and nothing or no one else can take His place.  There were a few moments at the National Eucharistic Congress that reminded me of this reality.

During the Friday night Revival Session, during adoration, Fr. Boniface Hicks led us in a Litany of Healing and Repentance in the Eucharist.  A powerful and beautifully written litany, it moved my own heart and I’m sure the hearts of thousands of others.  As we were about to begin to pray this litany, Fr. Boniface asked us to close our eyes.  As we prayed the responses, I could clearly hear the voices of the two people kneeling to the right and left of me, in addition to my own.  And for some reason, this was really profound and stood out to me.  I think it is because it was a reminder that they too, along with everyone else, need Jesus, that I am not alone, that we’re all in this together.

Saturday night, as the priest processed in with Jesus in the monstrance, Matt Maher who provided music for the night led us in singing his song, “Lord, I Need You.”  To hear a stadium full of people singing this song, acknowledging their need for Jesus “every hour” was so powerful.  Imagine if the whole world came to admit their need for Jesus, to recognize that they cannot do anything alone.

These moments at the Eucharistic congress were reminders that Jesus really is the answer to everything for everyone.  Whether we are young, old or somewhere in between, we need Jesus.  Whether we are at the top of the ladder, in an entry level role, or somewhere in between at work, we need Jesus.  Whether we think we have life figured out or we are still learning, we need Jesus.

​The world desperately needs to know who Jesus is, so that they too might one day acknowledge their great need for Him.  May we all continue to share who He is, always proclaiming, “Lord, I need you.” 

Here is the Litany of Healing and Repentance in the Eucharist, written by Fr. Boniface Hicks: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1duL1QgV73GCCxq8YJ-Ak75K7QR4Kua1V/view