“Remain in my love,” and, “I call you friends,” are powerful words that are found in John’s Gospel. Most of us probably have them committed to memory or have at least heard them proclaimed dozens of times. They are words that can easily become trite and quickly glossed over without fully pondering and digesting their profound beauty. When we take the time to immerse ourselves in them, they can radically change our lives and our relationships. They can open up new doors of adventure and hold countless possibilities for meaning. The essence of love and friendship are things that can easily be taken for granted. They have always been there and are a significant part of our lives. Many would say that they could not live without love and friendship, and they put a great deal of care into preserving, deepening and sustaining them. Love and friendship share a mutual relationship with each other that deserves more reflection.

Where does love come from? We can consider relationships that have not succeeded and conclude that they were somehow due to our “failures in love.” In doing so, we assume that human beings are the ones responsible for love, its success and also its failure. While our weakness, emotional composition and sinfulness can easily impact our ability to love, its origin is not human. God is love. God is love’s author and origin. When we love, it is God who loves in and through us. It is because of this divine closeness that Jesus is able to call us friends! It is not because of anything we have done but simply because of who we are. Realizing and contemplating this awesome reality becomes a game changer across the board. It gives us reason to clear the table of anything that can adversely affect the way we love so that we can open the door for its author to shine forth.

Coming upon this truth is what leads folks like St. Francis of Assisi to leave that which is comfortable and worldly and live a radical life. They relate with the love of God that radiates in and through all living things and appreciate their sacredness. It was having an intimate experience of God’s love and friendship that propelled St. Francis and others to embrace simplicity, act nonviolently, pursue humility, love enemies, care for the earth and open up avenues for true justice. Understanding this profound truth will also help us find peaceful solutions to world’s problems, restore relationships with our sisters and brothers, bring the grace of loving stewardship to creation and heal many wounds. Once we begin to see how wonderfully holy all of life really is, we discover joy. We lose our need for fear, develop a fierce fortitude, act prudently and seek justice. There is great power in love because it comes from God. It will never fail. It also enjoys the company of two other friends who are eager to become our friends as well: faith and hope. These are just as important to have and to share.

©LPi

“Spiraling out of control,” is a phrase that can easily describe the current display of human existence. In addition to the violence, unrest, uneasiness and turmoil that are common elements of our daily news, other essential pieces are misplaced or missing. Many lack an objective center around which to order and structure their lives or a clear set of definable goals or mores to act as guideposts and life directives. It appears that “feelings” have become a “new god” and traditional structures and ideals set aside. It is almost as if history only shows that we got this whole thing wrong and many are determined to finally set things right. The real truth, however, is that while wrongs and errors are certainly a part of our often-checkered past, it is hardly the case that all was wrong. It is not our task to rewrite the history of our lives, but to learn from mistakes that were made, and preserve the perennial wisdom at the root of our successes. Learning is an essential part of being human.

The question becomes, however, from whom do we learn? Some have such a hard time placing God in that position, but that is precisely where God needs to be. God is the Master Teacher from whom all of humanity learns and gets its cues. It is in and through this relationship with the Gardener of Life that we are fashioned and pruned into the people we are intended to be and can be. It is only in God that we are able to find our best selves. Sadly, many think that religion too, as well as history in general, has also gotten all this wrong. Yet, our resurrection faith tells us differently. We are reminded, today especially, that we are meant to remain in Christ as Christ remains in us. We are also reminded that Jesus, the Incarnate God, is the vine upon which we grow, the branches that flow from the source of God’s life.

Giving up our will to God’s can be a painful endeavor. It is not easy to set our own desires and wants aside and allow God to step in and direct and guide our growth. But this is the only way to prevent deadly weeds from overtaking us and bringing us to a place of self-destruction. God’s commandments are the very guideposts and benchmarks we need, yet many seek to remove them from all public view because they appear to limit self-expression and suppress what is considered by many to be “human freedom.” They are the only way we can find freedom, however. And, until we learn this fundamental lesson, we will continue to spiral out of control, never really knowing who we are, what our potential can be or how life really can be lived. We will not know peace.

©LPi

Any builder worth his or her salt knows the value and importance of a cornerstone. Properly laying and securing this primary unit determines how the rest of the project unfolds and its success. Cornerstones are necessary elements not only of buildings but of lives as well. Many human beings conduct the business of their lives paying little attention to a grounding reference or starting point. Hence, what unfolds is a tapestry of relativism, with few anchors or guideposts and many impulsive choices. Some consider love to be their cornerstone. While this may sound attractive and useful, the pursuit of love without a simultaneous pursuit of its source can be shallow and self-focused. Just because a person chooses to do no harm and love others does not mean that they are living in truth and properly anchored to the real cornerstone.

Jesus is the true and authentic cornerstone and shepherd. It is only in following the Risen One as the way, the truth, and the life that we can move from being well grounded ethical people to properly focused moral ones. Proper conduct, a true sense of justice, wisdom, virtue, moral principles, faith, hope, and love will be difficult to find unless we listen to the right Voice. It is when we learn to listen to the voice of God that we begin our journey on the road to salvation. It is only the Good Shepherd, the authentic and solid cornerstone, who can guide us through life’s questions and challenges and bring us to the safe and proper pasture.

A person’s life only has meaning when the cornerstone is properly selected and set. Understanding themselves only as random acts of creation, existing without intent or purpose, will color their choices and influence their decisions. The foundation of their lives will be simply a matter of preference and choice, leaving benchmarks of growth and higher ideals optional to pursue. Whereas people who believe that they are fashioned and loved into existence by a God who purposely made them, have this incredible unconditional relationship at their source which has tremendous significance. Their allegiance is not to themselves but to their Creator. Life, then, is an adventure in search of this Creator God and a journey of self-discovery that seeks to unite their will to His. There is a cost. We have to give up our life in order to gain our life. As ironic as that sounds, it is true. It is only when we finally figure this out that the true cornerstone of our lives will be properly laid and we can, with God’s help, get about the business of properly constructing a temple that endures.

©LPi

 

We often act out of ignorance. Armed with the best of intentions, we think we are seeing clearly and correctly, but we are not. We don’t always understand the full meaning of things and only perceive part of the truth. Hence, our judgments and actions can be impaired by myopic, incomplete or erroneous perceptions. The meaning of life, understanding of human experience, and negotiating life’s challenges can all become skewed without proper understanding and vision. The resurrection of Christ is the corrective to our incomplete and limited view of life. Looking at things with the eyes of faith brings a depth of clarity and understanding to how we see God, ourselves, others, and the world.

Even the disciples struggled with their limited understanding and ignorant perceptions. It was only when Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures that their eyes were opened. It was their “aha” moment when everything clicked. We all want the substance of our lives to come together, make sense, and have meaning. This is easier to achieve when things are going positively, and life is good. It is when suffering, disappointment, death, hardship, and injustice enter the picture that things can become unsettled and disoriented. Our faith in the goodness and love of God is tested. We tend to shift our focus on these difficult and challenging moments and do not see them within the greater picture of how God intends life to unfold. We can gain, from the passion and resurrection of Christ, the clear vision we need in order to move away from ignorance to enlightenment.

We need our “aha” moment when everything comes together and clicks. It can come in a fleeting instant when we feel totally connected with God, where we find ourselves, others and all of creation. It is a moment when all is right and good, regardless of how difficult our journey. Our “aha” moment assures us that God is here, right with us, in us and around us bringing us a gift and blessing we can receive nowhere else: peace. In those brief sacramental encounters when we are lifted up out of ourselves and centered, we can hear God say, “peace be with you,” and we feel secure. It’s all okay. The resurrected Christ has the power to bring this gift to us.  Some people, as they are facing their deaths, remark about this peace. When looking into the window of eternity, they experience a depth of joy and are amazed at God’s goodness and closeness. We are called to be witnesses to this Good News.

©LPi

What a wonderful joy fills us today as we ponder the inexhaustible mercy of God. “Mercy is the heart of God,” Pope Francis tells us. The image of a heart has been used to point to the very life source of a person as it is the organ that allows life to flow through our veins and sustain us.  Mercy is the heart of God. Imagine this dynamic, powerful, compassionate, piercing, embracing, loving, propelling, penetrating, absorbing, and enveloping, transforming presence of God flowing into the very depth of our souls. It is God’s mercy that allows blood to flow through our veins. It is God’s mercy that forms every atom of our being and leads us to what is true. God’s mercy reveals all superficiality and falsehood, and lays bare all distortions, empty promises, weakness, and sin.

“Mercy is the force that reawakens us to new life and instills in us the courage to look to the future with hope,” Pope Francis continues. God’s all forgiving, compassionate love is with us. When we finally believe and accept that Christ’s resurrected transfigured presence resides with us, we then find within us a strong confidence to accept life’s imperfections and disappointments and move on. Every day is a new adventure in new life. God leaves the past behind and opens doors to the future. It doesn’t matter how many mistakes we made yesterday. All that matters is what we do tomorrow and what we learn along the way. It is so easy to remain tethered and mired in the past, but there is no need to do so. God is all about tomorrow and the work God has yet to do in our lives.

Mercy gives birth to hope. Hope for the greatest of sinners and hope for the worst of disasters. There is nothing God cannot do and nothing God cannot fashion. After all, everything we know and treasure was once nothing, and look what God did with the nothing God had! The resurrected Christ stands before us with nail marks in his wrists and wounds on his body as a testament that not even injustice, suffering and death can trample over and destroy God’s mercy. What have we to fear? Why do we keep ourselves from peace? Our lack of faith prevents us from going forward and fully receiving the holiness God desires to breathe upon us. Breathe in God’s mercy, allow the wind of God’s presence to kiss all of your sins and caress all of your fears. Exhale peace.

©LPi

Who are you? This question was most assuredly asked of Jesus on the day of resurrection and it is a question asked of each of us. Our identities can be described in so many ways. We can start with our gifts and our talents, expertise and unique personality expressions. We can describe things we like and things we prefer to set aside. As descriptive and captivating as these can be, none come close to our essence, our real and true self. While accurate in their own right, the self who lives and interacts with the world is the self we want others to see, the one we project. But there is much more to us just as there is much more to Jesus.

Jesus could describe himself based on all of the same criteria we use for ourselves. After all, Jesus is totally human. With all that people witnessed and all that Jesus knew about his physical human self, his divinity also shined forth. There was so much more to know about him. Whereas once Jesus was transfigured on top of a mountain before his disciples’ eyes, so today he is transfigured before our eyes as he reveals his resurrected self as the Christ. Alleluia, Christ is risen! His glorified presence stands before us showing us that we are all much more than we see ourselves to be and show to others. We have a depth, purpose, and essence that go way beyond the superficial treasures of our existence to the very core of who we are.

Within each one of us is a spark of Divine Love where creature and Creator meet, and we are known uniquely by the name God whispers to us. It is not the earthly name that was given to us but the one that flows from Divine Power and claims us as one who is special and chosen in God’s eyes. This is the self that will rise one day with the eternal Christ of God and live eternally as God provides. This is the self that when free from all superficial constraints layered upon it in this life can discover and know freedom in a way never possible before. This is love lifting us up and transforming us into who we really are, not who we want or need ourselves to be. Who are you? A special, unique child of God who has been fashioned in God’s image, sustained by the power of God’s love and kept eternally with the Blessed Trinity in heaven. Get to know this deeper, truer self as it is who you really are.

©LPi