The Visitation

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” -Luke 1:42

 

For those of us who may have come later in life to understand the unique and powerful beauty of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mere thought of her now brings us such excitement that we too want to run to the hill country to share that which is growing deep within us. The prophetic leaps within us! What better time to consider this than when the Church celebrates the end of the month of May; a month dedicated to Mary by considering her visitation to Elizabeth.

 

In this brief reflection I want to consider the movement of the Holy Spirit from the presence of Christ within us, which calls us to move outside of ourselves to share Christ with joy. So, the movement from presence to sharing in action and word.

 

Mary carries deep within herself the presence of Christ’s very self. He is in a process of gestation within her. Christ is alive in her. Christ is growing in her.

 

Christian spirituality requires one being attentive to the presence of God within us; the action that God is working out in us. This by natural extension has an impact on our exterior way of being. Therefore, a healthy exterior expression of Christian spirituality is the cultivation of a way of being consistent with the presence of Christ growing within us. This is the process of representing Christ; of re-presenting Christ. In some sense, we become living tabernacles of Christ. Christ dwells in us as we live and move and have our being.

 

This is the seat of our action and anything that we speak. Our actions and our words must be grounded in the presence of Christ in us. Let me use different words to explain this: Our mission is first and foremost grounded in Christ’s presence within us. We must “magnify the Lord” rather than magnify ourselves, “For he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.”

 

Mary was the first to bear Christ, but this is our calling too. To be bearers of Christ in a real way thanks to the grace of the Holy Spirit.

 

The presence of Christ in Mary causes John the Baptist, in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth to leap with joy.

 

As the month of May ends, let us remind ourselves that devotion to Mary has a purpose. Its purpose is to cultivate the divine life that is growing in each of us. That’s our starting point for mission. The hill country we may run to could be modeling this presence of Christ in our families, our places of work or serving in a ministry of the church. The external possibilities are endless but they start by cultivating the divine life within ourselves. 

 

Each evening the Church prays the words we read in the Gospel today – the Magnificat. This evening, may I suggest re-reading this Gospel and be especially attentive to the movement of the Holy Spirit throughout. Then, be attentive to the movement of the Holy Spirit within yourself. May the prophetic within you leap with joy. 

It is well with my soul...

As we continue our Covid journey, this beautiful song came to mind. Why not sit back and allow these beautiful lyrics to fall over you soul:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY5o9mP22V0

And this is a link to the pain-filled yet grace-filled story behind the man who penned the lyrics: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Is_Well_with_My_Soul

May it be well with your soul.

Evangelism & Saint Philip Neri

“But whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” 

-Mark 10:44

 

The lure of power and prestige that James and John ask for in today’s Gospel reading is one that speaks to a well-worn tendency in the human spirit. Our ego has an insatiable desire to use power and offices of influence to feed itself. The Church is not immune from this human tendency, of course, for the Church is comprised of human beings. That is not intended to make an excuse, it is intended to call out the insidious magnitude of the problem and to re-orient the human desire around the source and purpose of power Jesus taught.

 

Saint Philip Neri who the Church remembers today, is a provocative witness to the Christ-like use of power. From noble estate and very well educated, his conversion led him to Rome in a time similar to our own in that the Church was in a state of seemingly catastrophic decline. As a lay person, his humble desire to teach the Gospel led him to form what has become known as the Congregation of the Oratory. I would suggest his methodology is based around the three transcendentals of truth, beauty and goodness. He emphasized personal conversations with people where specific questions about the faith could be asked and explained so each person was given an opportunity to have a personal encounter with the truth of the faith. Each person was then given an opportunity to serve the poor, where the radical beauty and goodness of the Gospel could be lived out in their own city.

 

Saint Philip Neri emphasized teaching, music and the Sacrament of Reconciliation as the roadmap to lead people to the great feast of the Eucharist.

 

How can the example of Saint Philip Neri help us evangelize our fallen away culture today? 

 

What hymn or song elevates your soul and causes you to consider the majesty of God? I suggest you re-read the Gospel for today, Mark 10:32-45, sit in silence with it for a couple minutes and see what resonates with you. Then, play your favourite hymn or song and see how God may use that time of prayer stir something deep inside you that He wants you to use for the Good. And don't forget the poor!

Mary, Mother of the Church

Today we remember Mary in her role as Mother of the Church.

 

Importantly for us to understand the Christian life, just yesterday the Church celebrated the great solemnity of Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit – and today we consider Mary. Mary whose “yes” to the Holy Spirit consented to the seed of the church taking life within her. “Let it be to me according to your word.” 

 

And God’s word is Good.

 

In the Gospel today we are brought to the foot of the cross. Jesus looks to his mother and says, “Woman, behold your son,” and then to the beloved disciple, “Behold your mother.” And the disciple took her into his home.

 

Likewise, in the reading from Acts, the disciples were, “devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus…”

 

The Church gathers with Mary, because we stand in awe of her “yes” to the Holy Spirit. We stand in awe of this new mode of being in the world, one that is totally dependant on God, who is with us through all of life’s ups and downs. And God gives us assurances along the way to help us to grow spiritually and to be filled with the love of God: The redemption of the Cross, the memorial of the Eucharist and the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

 

Let us invite Mary into our homes today as we consider our “yes” to the Holy Spirit.

Let us remember the gift of the Eucharist, especially in times of pandemic lockdown when we are unable to gather in person.

Let us give thanks to God for redeeming us through Christ.

Come Holy Spirit. I give you my 'yes' to come and take hold of me, grown in me, bear the fruit in my life you wish to see. I surrender to you.

Pentecost 2021 - Healing Wounds

It’s a quite an easy task to be critical of the Catholic Church.

 

It doesn’t take much intellectual rigor to see the sins of this mammoth, lumbering, universal institution. But today we celebrate the Church’s birthday and I am overjoyed to celebrate another year of God’s grace and to be part of this big, old, broken refuge of sinners. 

 

I wish she wasn’t as broken as she is.

 

To tear down can only be considered progress if it’s true motivation is oriented toward beauty, goodness and truth. 

 

In light of all the human project claims to know today, I suggest we take stock of the truth she contains, and there we might cautiously re-discover rather than emotionally destroy.

 

I admit that I am sad her doors are often locked in recent years out of fear of vandalism, even though she has been welcoming the poor since her beginning.

 

I am sad her doors are locked now due to a microscopic virus ravaging our world, even though she has a long history of tending to the sick and the outcast.

 

There are times it seems she is afraid to step out into the world, yet there has never been a time in her history when there have been so many people martyred for simply trying to follow Jesus.

 

There are times all I can see are her wounds.

 

There are times when all I know is her peace.

 

I wish she wasn’t as broken as she is.

 

I wish I wasn’t as broken as I am.

 

“[Jesus] breathed on them and said, ‘receive the Holy Spirit.’”

 

I wish I wasn’t as broken as I am.

 

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

 

Not me, surely not me. I am too broken, too shy, too young, too old, too poor, too rich, too wounded, too wealthy, too secure, too middle class, too sophisticated, too educated, too rejected, too self-loathing, too arrogant, too insecure, too addicted, too know-it-all to be sent.

 

Sent? Me?

 

Why send me?

I didn’t see his wounds.

I didn’t touch his wounds. 

 

But I know mine.

 

Yes, I know my own wounds and I know that he saw my wounds and it was he who actually touched my wounds and healed them.

 

He touched my wounds.

 

He breathed on me. 

The breath of his calling is unmistakable.

 

I now see the wounds in His body here on earth.

It causes Him great pain.

 

He asks us to touch his wounds.

 

I am afraid. Who am I? I would rather stay in this locked room, at least it’s a fear that I know.

I can’t go out there. People will laugh at me, mock me. It would be more comfortable sitting in my rocking chair and telling stories of the sea.

 

But His breath sends me.

 

His breath sends me to say “peace be with you.”

 

Peace. Not a validation of my comfortable, complacent way of life but the peace that comes from his wounds.

 

Peace. Peace is not fitting-in but putting out into the deep.

 

Peace. Spoken to a rag-tag group of men and women hiding in their shame, in a room, transformed from the inside-out.

 

Transformed from cowardly followers to missionary heralds of peace.

 

Sent to proclaim his terrible wounds.

Sent to proclaim his glorious wounds.

 

Unlock the door.

 

Peace be with you.

 

The same Holy Spirit that breathed into the dirt in the garden now breaths into the dust of our lives, the dust of this old building and the dust of this tired old routine.

 

I wish she wasn’t as broken as she is.

 

I wish I wasn’t as broken as I am.

 

Yes, send me.

 

I have seen your wounds. They healed mine.

 

Send me.

 

What does this mean, send me?

 

Each one of us has a unique calling; a calling discerned and discovered in community – in communion with one another. 

 

In order for the Church to be healed, each of us needs to be healed. One by one, little by little, Jesus wants to complete this healing work in you. He can and He will do it. 

 

Saint Brother Andre of Montreal said he met lots of people who desired healing but few who desired humility or the spirit of faith. Maybe, just maybe, admitting that we are not perfect and be open to be touched by the Holy Spirit in this need may begin a small work of change in us that will blossom. We might become better father’s, better mother’s, better friends, better at our work and better at relaxing and basking in the grace of all that God has given to us.

 

What are your wounds?

What area in your life does Jesus need to touch?

Invite him into this wound. 

 

It’s quite an easy task to be critical of the Catholic Church.

I wish the church wasn’t as broken as she is.

It pains Jesus far more than it pains us.

 

Will you invite the Holy Spirit to touch your wound?

 

It’s the first step in healing the church, of which you are not just a member, but a beloved child of God.

 

Jesus says to us: As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

 

Receive the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unity and Trust

Unity is a relationship of mutual trust.

 

Yesterday, when I spoke about unity, I mentioned that unity is not based on sameness but using our very different gifts differently but with the same purpose of giving glory to God, who is love through and through, by loving one another.

 

This unity in love is built on relationships of trust. This is the inner life of the Trinity, self-giving love based on trust. This is why the Church refers to the family as the ‘domestic church’. A family is totally dependent on relationships of trust for the loving dependence on one another to flourish so each member of the family can be free to be the full expression of themselves as beloved children of God.

 

In these days of pandemic, the love that flows from trusted relationships is all the more important as we struggle with upset routines and isolation from friends. We cannot go to the church building to worship, so we watch online. But what are we watching when we watch the Mass?

 

We are watching the re-presentation of the loving trust between the Father and the Son who reveals to us the gift of the Holy Spirit who calls us to participate in this same love. 

 

We are watching a relationship of divine love that beckons us to participate in it.

 

We are watching a relationship of divine love that calls us into earthly fellowship of mutual love, trust and forgiveness.

 

In the midst of pandemic may we know the consolation of this love. When we are able to return to worship in person, may we come with hearts full of gratitude, as we bear witness to the love of God as revealed through Jesus Christ. Or, as the words of Jesus are written today, “So that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

 

During this time of ongoing lockdown, please check in on one another. 

It’s an expression of unity. 

It’s an expression of love.

It’s an expression of relationship.

It’s an expression of the divine life that is moving in our community.

 

Unity is a relationship of mutual trust. Let us work on building that trust, even in the midst of a global pandemic.

Jesus is Praying for You

How does it feel knowing that Jesus is praying for you?

 

Here’s the first line from this prayer Jesus prays for us again:

 

“Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.” -John 17:11

 

In the gospel reading today we get to hear Jesus intercede for us and there is substantial grace to be received by listening to, and internalizing the words Jesus prays. There is a purpose in this prayer, which is, “that they may be one as we are one.”

 

Oneness is not sameness. We all have different gifts to be used for the building up of the church. We are not called to be cookie cutter versions of one another. But, in the midst of our differences and different gifts, we are called to a deep sense of oneness that models the love shared between the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.

 

We are called to overcome the forces that divide us within our parish. Those forces span everything from socio-economic factors, education levels, age, race, the amount of time you have spent in the parish, and the church community you have traditionally been part of, to mention just a few.

 

Jesus is praying that “we may be one.” I would say that, in his providence, Jesus is forcing our hand to help us understand just how seriously he takes unity or ‘oneness.’ Disunity is a direct threat to our flourishing because it is contrary to Jesus’ desire for us.

 

It’s a difficult process, becoming one, but we must be open to faith in Jesus and his protection throughout this process if we are to become a community where the thirsty come to drink living waters and encounter our risen Lord Jesus Christ.

 

This is Jesus’ desire for us, that we become one, as He is one with the Father.

 

What can you do today to help your parish grown in unity? Pray about it and see what comes to mind. Don’t be shy to offer your opinion on how we can grow in unity as one parish.

A Tender, True Friend

“I have said this to you, so that you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage, I have conquered the world.” – John 16:32-33

 

Our lives have deadlines, things to do, people to see, stressors and, on top of it all, a global pandemic.  In today’s gospel reading, in the midst of fear, persecution and hardship, as Jesus prepares for his own death, he reminds his disciples that they can find peace in him, even while in this world. No matter how hostile the world may seem at times, peace and still be found in Christ.

 

Jesus bore witness to the intimacy of his relationship with this Father through prayer. The Gospels bear witness to Jesus often going off alone to pray. Jesus modeled for us that prayer is where we go to deepen in our relationship with God, to deepen in our spiritual journeys.

 

This is where we can find the grace in the midst of pandemic. We are currently in the midst of a public health lockdown, so may we take this opportunity deepen in our prayer lives, for prayer is the expression of relationship with a gentle, saviour. In the Office of Readings today, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem wrote, “The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, to console.” -St Cyril of Jerusalem

 

As we read from Acts today, Paul asked if the people in Ephesus if they had received the Holy Spirit. Here are the words from the ancient prayer for the coming of the Holy Spirit:

 

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.

 

Have you received the Holy Spirit?

Ask Jesus to send the Holy Spirit into your life.

Our Lady of Fatima

Given that today is May 13th, I thought I would make a second post today simply to make the recommendation that you watch the 2020 movie, "Our Lady of Fatima".

It gives a beautiful and moving account of that miraculous series of events.

 Here's a link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fp-1yEaf5w

Your Pain will turn to Joy

“When Jesus knew that his hour had come…”

Have you ever journeyed with someone in the weeks, days and hours before they die? I think we should approach such encounters with a disposition of receiving profoundly important teachings about life and love.

 

In today’s Gospel Jesus confuses the disciples. They don’t fully understand what Jesus is teaching, but how could they? The man they have come to know as the son of man is about to die. How can this be true, for Jesus taught the Kingdom of God is at hand? How can it be extinguished by death? Jesus assures them that the pain of what he is about to endure – the pain they too are about to endure - will turn into joy.

 

Let us receive this teaching from Jesus in his last days. Joy awaits. It’s very difficult to understand at the moment. As the disciples said, “We do not know what he is talking about.”

 

Trust him. Jesus knows the way. Bring your empty hands and simply receive the joy Jesus has to offer.

 

In the church of my youth there was an inscription that said, “Here bring your wounded heart.” It’s from a hymn written by Thomas Moore, an Irish poet (1779-1852) which ends with, “Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.”

 

Here’s a link to the hymn: https://youtu.be/mNqzhfB4y1I

 

“Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn to joy.” -John 16:20

 

Can you bear to hear it now?

“I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now.” -John 16:12

 

If, when I was 25 years of age, if it was told to me how desperately I depend on God every day, I might have acknowledged it as a pithy moralism, but not something that I would have taken too seriously. But the years have shown me that people telling me something is far different than being shown them and having to work them in my own life.

 

When I was 25, if someone had told me that I would become a Catholic priest I would have laughed them out of the room. So, it is true, if someone had told me that I would work with prisoners...no, that I would be capable of showing compassion to prisoners who committed heinous crimes, I would not have believed it.

 

We can be told things that are hard to hear. Jesus said many things to us, go back and read the Beatitudes and put them into practice, as only one example. When we hold the teachings of Jesus up against the truth of our human experience, do we not see the true nature of our need. And this need is both revealed and worked out through the Holy Spirit who will guide us in all truth.

 

What is the truth that you cannot bear to admit right now?

 

Bring it before God and ask for the truth about it to be revealed to you, and the Holy Spirit will guide you through it one day at a time.

"Come, stay at my home"

"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf." -John 15:26

John’s writings today are part of a rather extended text known as the farewell discourse. These are teachings by Jesus as he prepares his followers for a time when he would no longer be with them. Jesus promises them the Advocate, given by the Father, sent through the Son, with the spirit of truth about the person of Jesus.

 

The context for this, as I have said before, is that the Jesus followers were Jews. There were many sects of Jews who gathered in the Temple. But these Jesus followers were ultimately kicked out of the Temple and persecuted.

 

Jesus is preparing his disciples for the tough times ahead.

 

John’s community was one such early Christian group that was under persecution, kicked out of the temple and living out of a spirit of hope that entirely rested on the truth about Jesus.

 

What is your hope based on today?

 

Christian hope is based on the truth about Jesus Christ who, through the Holy Spirit, is with us in the midst of all the trials and tribulations of life. 

 

As we enter into another week of Covid lockdown, know that God is still with you. Things are a bit of a mess right now, but the Holy Spirit is among us, speaking the love of Christ into our lives. 

 

As Lydia spoke to Paul, “Come and stay at my home.” May we too, who abide in Christ, invite the Holy Spirit to come and stay in our home.

Jesus' Command

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” -John 15:12

 

It is my hope, and our mission, that people will know us by our love.

 

That is enough to pray with today. If your life has anything in common with mine, you have come to know deeply that God loved us when we didn’t think we deserved it, but God simply loves us because that is the very nature of God – love. Love restores.

 

How can I help our parish be known for its love? How can I come alongside someone who doesn't know they are loved?

Our Good, Good Shepherd

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.” -John 10:14

 

A few verses before our gospel reading began today, Jesus described himself by saying, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (John 10:9) Clearly, a gate is a very inanimate description of function, but just a few verses later Jesus uses another I AM statement to describe himself as the good shepherd. The inanimate function takes on the image of a pastoral person. It is the person whose voice is recognized by the sheep, who come and go safely through the gate, from the safety of the sheepfold to living in the ‘world’ where there are dangers.

 

This shepherd is good. The shepherd’s goodness is described as both knowing the sheep and being known by the sheep, in contrast to the hired hands who merely provide a function without the true dimensions of care that are expressed by knowing and being known. The hired hands ultimately only care about themselves.

 

How many worldly influencers – hired hands – speak into our lives but ultimately only care about themselves? How much marketing wants us to simply buy their product so they can make a profit or have us understanding ourselves based on an image they are trying to get us to buy into? What other hired hands do we put our trust into – corporations, governments and celebrities?

 

Many of these things have a function, and they are not all bad, but they should not be elevated to the level of shepherd in our lives. Jesus has our needs in mind, but we ask ourselves, especially in times of pandemic and isolation, where are you now, good shepherd? I admit I don’t know what to make of this particular period of history we are navigating, but I know history is replete with much brokenness and devastation. I also know Jesus never promised life was going to be easy; he did promise the peace of knowing his presence.

 

So, I settle into the stillness of his presence and bring it all to him, knowing that I am fully known. And, in the stillness, I know the voice of the one who knows me. And, as Saint Paul writes, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, no rulers, nor things present, not things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38)

 

Jesus never promised life was going to be easy. Jesus did promise us salvation through him and the gift of peace in the midst of it all.

 

Have you ever experienced the saving, liberating love of God? Have you ever experienced being known and cared for by Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd?

 

Jesus gave his life for you that you may know the gate of salvation and the beauty and freedom of knowing his voice. He will give you rest.

Abide

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” -John 15:5

Self-satisfaction is death for the spiritual life.

 

The opposite of self-satisfaction is not self-deprecation. The opposite of self-satisfaction is knowing you depend on the beauty of abiding in Christ. Unity in Christ. We, the branches, depend on being connected to the vine for everything. Everything.

 

I had a conversation yesterday with a parishioner that deeply moved me. This person spoke of being away from the church for decades and then he said that since rediscovering his faith in recent years it is as if God saved the best wine for the last phase of his life. This person had no fear of death. He is somewhat isolated but not alone. He has no fear of politics or the many concerns that can occupy our minds; no fear of priests being moved, only a deep sense of unity in Christ. His joy was found in simply abiding in Christ.

 

This is the fruit of abiding in Christ. This is the seat of the mission of the Church – abiding in Christ. This is why our pastor speaks about encounter with Christ as the key to everything in the spiritual life. It is foundational. Jesus is the vine; the branches need the vine. We are the branches; Jesus is the vine.

 

Now comes the difficult part of this teaching of Jesus. The process of pruning removes not only the lifeless branches but some of the living branches. Some of places where there is still life, but inhibiting the overall production of fruit for the whole vine. This is indeed a difficult teaching and also a difficult challenge for those of us in church leadership. 

 

We must abide in Christ. It’s the only way through this period of parish transition. It is the only way through life. We should expect to be pruned, it’s a necessary process of abundance.

 

Don’t slip into self-deprecation because you are being pruned. There’s no health in self-loathing. Likewise, don’t slip into self-satisfaction when the fruit begins to appear in abundance. Stay connected to the vine. Abide in Christ. 

 

“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” -John 15:8

Teach Us and Remind Us

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” – John 14:26

 

The appointed Gospel today begins at verse 27, and is immediately preceded by the quoted verse above. This is one of the key teachings of the Christian faith, not simply because of its Trinitarian theological implications, but for us every day of the week. Confusion often accompanies talk about the Holy Spirit (remember when we used the name Holy Ghost), because the mystical nature of our faith can sometime seem like a thick fog of misunderstanding.

 

The Holy Spirit is God. 

The Holy Spirit wants us to know Jesus.

The Holy Spirit will remind of all that Jesus taught.

 

Your life has an important purpose and it involves illuminating the world in some small way by participating in the divine life, even in the midst of difficult circumstances, like Covid, sickness and isolation. The Holy Spirit will help guide you to understand the beauty of your life and the great gift it is to share in the divine life of self-giving love. An inner serenity that is made known by acts of Christ-like love.

 

Don’t be discouraged. The peace Jesus offers us is unlike anything the world has to offer. 

 

Take a moment today to speak a truth into your life that Jesus speaks into you. This is how the Holy Spirit works in us and through us, by teaching us, reminding us, of things that Jesus taught.

 

“Rise and let us be on our way” for, as it is written in Acts today (19:20) “But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city.” Like Paul, who was badly beaten up, we can sometimes feel beaten up and worn out. Maybe as disciples we should surround one another in that healing hope of community grounded in the love of God.

I will be satisfied...

“Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” -John 14:8

When this wretched virus is done, I will be content.

 

If I made five dollars more per hour, I will be satisfied.

 

If my illness is healed, I will be strong.

 

“Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” -John 14:8

 

In my time of prayer this morning, the above verse came to mind, I think, because of the insatiable desire of the human heart. There is something in our very nature that our nature cannot fully satiate. It seems we are always looking for more.

 

The word ‘satisfied’ is from the Greek word arkeo, which means, “to be possessed with unfailing strength; to be strong; to be content; to be satisfied.”

 

This word is only used twice in John’s Gospel. In the verse we are discussing and in chapter 6 verse 7, during the feeding of the five thousand, when Philip recognizes the minuscule amount of fish and bread is not sufficient to satisfy the needs of the five thousand. But, as we know, God provides in overflowing abundance and everyone was satisfied.

 

Let’s be honest, when COVID-19 is done we will be happy that it’s done. That’s good and sensible. It’s been a long 14 months. Here in Nova Scotia we are in the thick of things unlike anything we have experienced throughout this pandemic.  It's deeply unsettling. It's frightening. So, of course we will be happy when Covid is done. Throw a party if you want; invite your friends over; have a grand time. This is good.

 

But let’s not kid ourselves. Within a period of time – an astonishingly short period of time – we will likely fall back in the same old routine and the same old sources of malcontent that we dealt with before the pandemic. We will not be truly satisfied.

 

Jesus knows this human tendency, of course, and he wants to show us how to break the cycle. He wants to show us how to be truly satisfied. We can search for God in a myriad of ways in the outside world to find contentment and satisfaction but we must confront the reality that the otherness of God comes with a deep personal interiority. God is with us. God is within us.

 

The Good News is that Jesus came to satiate our otherwise insatiable desires. But how do we do that? Jesus points to himself.

 

To help us deepen in this truth, I want to suggest one idea. Each day throughout the month of May, make note of a word or a phase that comes to mind. It could be from the daily mass readings or from the mass itself. Write the word down. That evening, before you go to bed, just sit with that word and think about it, pray with it. Ask God to help you understand why that word came to mind. Do the same thing the next day, it could be a new word or you may not be done with the previous one. At the end of the month, review the words for the month. What does this reveal about how God is working to satiate you deepest longings?

Remember, God is with you. God is within you. 

 

It’s not so much, when this wretched virus is done I will be content, so much as it is finding contentment in the midst of this wretched virus. Ask God for this grace of being satisfied. Ask God for this grace of contentment.

 

Come unto me all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)