April 5, 2020
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
 
Human beings are united in their suffering. When we find ourselves in a painful moment, our first reaction is “why me?” as if we are the only person on earth who ever encountered this challenge. Going through life with a “why me” attitude only finds us wallowing in the mire of self-pity and never seizing opportunities or graces. We walk in solidarity with every human being in the experience of suffering. Believing that the goal of life is the elimination or avoidance of suffering is simply an illusion that keeps us entrenched in a collective myth. This myth distorts us and limits us.
 
There are living witnesses among us showing how courage and determination can overcome any degree of hardship, pain, loss, or tragedy. Folks finding the normalcy of their lives suddenly torn asunder are faced with options: opportunity or despair, stay or leave. Jesus stands before us as the prime example of endurance and perseverance. He is the One who showed humility through both the triumphs of life (by learning to be humble) and the tragedies and injustices (by learning how to be obedient). To secular ears, this may be perceived as nonsense. But to those with the eyes of faith, they are pearls of great price.
 
True humility tempers the temptation we have to become complacent and prevents an excessive relishing of life’s successes and affirmations. Learning obedience keeps us faithful to our relationship with God so that we can find the courage to endure any depth of hardship, disappointment, betrayal, or agony. While we may want our cup of suffering to be taken away, it simply cannot be. Somehow and somewhere in the seemingly opposing experiences life can deal us, God is present with His reassuring, compassionate, empowering, and persevering love. To be true to who we are and who God is, we must take up the cross of suffering, even when it’s the hardest and most apparently senseless thing to do.
 
Only our soul can understand these things, but our minds cannot, so they continue to run to secular ideas and solutions to pain and hardship. It goes without saying that we need to do all we can to eliminate as much senseless, unjust suffering as possible. Hunger, violence, abuse, exploitation, rejection, prejudice, homelessness, disrespect for life, and a whole host of other sins all result in suffering that is within our control. Then, when we face the uncontrollable kind of suffering or find ourselves the victim of injustice, what do we do?
 
©LPi

March 29^th, 2020
5th Sunday of Lent
 
Even though we say that we believe, there is a part of us that doesn’t. There are many times in our lives when we experience death, whether it be the physical death of someone we love, a failed relationship, the loss of a job, or a broken dream. As we are going through these death experiences, we can easily find ourselves reaching out to God to make it better and fix it! We think that the proper order of life is to maintain the things of this world, especially those things that are essential to our sense of well-being and security. We do not like change. The grieving that comes from our death experiences can keep us stuck and in despair. If we have lost something or someone of great value, the very meaning and essence of life is lost with them. We need gentle companions to lift us from despair and that is precisely who God desires to be in our life as well.
 
God calls us out of our tombs, where we have been closed up in fear and despair, and shouts, “Come out!” He desperately wants to show us the path to hope and the new life that is possible after loss and death. But our faith can be weak, and we still prefer to cling to the memory of what we had rather than the joyful possibilities of tomorrow. We sometimes live as if God is not real and that the transformative power of His resurrected presence is a story found in the Bible rather than a narrative unfolding in our lives.
 
God is the God of surprises, not our demise. God opens new possibilities, begins new chapters, creates new verses, and brings us to new heights! We spend so much time and energy ruminating over what we left behind yesterday that we are far too tired to see what can unfold tomorrow. Loving someone new doesn’t negate our past loves. Embracing the love of a person, God, or life itself tomorrow doesn’t diminish the love of yesterday. Each of our loves is different, and one cannot be replaced by another. They don’t cancel each other out. God truly has tended to every detail of our lives, and if we listen to each detail, we find that they all lead us back to Him. Jesus wants us to come out of our closed-up tombs. Are we going to listen this time?
 
©LPi

March 22^nd, 2020
4^th Sunday of Lent
 
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?” Jesus wants to motivate each one of us to see the truth. After developing a relationship with Jesus, the blind man “sees” as someone very special. The Pharisees, due to the blindness caused by their ignorance, prejudice, and need for self-preservation, still remain blind. Presuppositions, prejudices, assumptions, and our needs can easily blind us to truth. We see what we want or need to see and not what is really there. In addition, our stubbornness continues to convince us that we are right and that our vision is perfect. Only God can complete the picture.
 
Look around at our world. So much of what is happening today is due to the reluctance of folks to allow themselves to be stretched and brought to see what is really there. Many react to what life presents to them more with the lenses of ignorance than lenses of clarity. The Gospel carries great transformative value. With it, God corrects our vision and replaces our limited sight with the fullness of his sight. God opens our eyes so that we can see that it is not about preserving what we have created but of living in the immensity and wonder of God’s kingdom.
 
Through a simple, loving relationship with God, we can break through the tethers of prejudice, eradicate fear, dispel the darkness of hatred and sin, discover freedom, live in peace, work for justice, be effective stewards of creation, assist the migrant and the immigrant, and safeguard our economic systems and policies so that they truly serve all of God’s children. What we see is often an artificial lie. Our truth is much bigger than what our limited sight believes it to be. Allow God to work in and through you. Do not be afraid. Be open and be humble enough to know that you need help. Many human beings are living with severe cataracts that produce sight that is at best blurred. Are you one of them?
 
©LPi

March 15^th, 2020
3^rd Sunday of Lent
 
We give the definition of ourselves over to so many things. We allow our society, friends, family, work, social groups, ethnicity, and even institutions define, classify, and color how we perceive ourselves. When we listen predominantly to the voices of others, we lose touch with what is happening within our own inner voice. If we listen carefully within, we can easily discover that we are in want and need. We know our incompleteness and also know that loneliness, sadness, and self-images can propel us outward in attempts to fill those gaps. We can become not only victims of our own prejudices but can find ourselves overly self-indulgent in things that can only satisfy for a short time, if at all.
 
It is no wonder that money and power are things that are so fervently sought after. As long as we can keep a steady supply going, the illusion of fulfillment and satisfaction can falsely persuade us as craftily as a master magician’s act. We live with illusions not truth. It is no wonder, then, that some of the wealthiest folks are also really the unhappiest. Whether we admit it, the lies we live and pursue will ultimately expose our superficiality. We all have to wrestle with who we are and what gives our lives purpose and meaning. Learn to listen more deeply, not to what others are saying about you, but to what God is echoing in your heart.
 
We can easily get confused and misunderstand, not only about who we are but who God is. Even the disciples and the Samaritan woman at the well missed the point Jesus was trying to make. There is only one Person who can satisfy the deepest yearnings and longings of our hearts — Jesus the Messiah. It is not the work of corporate America that will lead us to happiness or greatness but the work of the soul. We continue to resist acknowledging this and are happier in our world of misunderstanding and illusion. The life-giving water we truly need doesn’t come from the source of a well but from the Source of Life. Only God can reveal the truth of our sinfulness, the superficiality of our pursuits, and the illusions we hold so dear. Only Jesus can save us from ourselves and give us what we really need. If only our heads can catch up with where our hearts know they need to be, then will we find real contentment and life!
 
©LPi

March 8^th, 2020
2nd Sunday of Lent
 
Psychology has taught us a great deal about family dynamics and how we have come to be the person we find ourselves to be. We are comprised of such a mixed bag of blessings and obstacles with their graced moments and sinful ones. Think back on the journey of your life and how the many different and varied choices that you made influenced the direction your life. If you didn’t go on that first date with your spouse, who would be beside you today? If you chose to be in one place rather than another, what would have happened to the course your life has taken? We are on such a wonderful, exciting journey. What is most incredible and awesome is that we are not alone! God is with us. He inspires, heals, opens doors, and calls us every moment of our lives. The very life we have is due only to Him.
 
We can all sit down and list adjectives describing who we are. One may find him or herself more artistic than another or quicker with wit. We have unique gifts and talents and have the great gift of free will, which we treasure. Our histories come with more baggage for some and less hurdles for others, but we all have to find our way through the path we are on. However, have you ever given much thought to who you really are? That question has more merit than may at first appear.
 
We know ourselves as we live out our earthly journey. But do we know our heavenly self? What we know here is only one small part of who God has made us to be. The disciples really thought they knew Jesus until they went up the mountain. We also may think we know our true selves, too. We know that in eternal life we shall not only see God, but become like Him. Who will you be? What surprise do you think God has for you?
 
©LPi