Being the Reason for your Hope:

 

                          

The Sixth Sunday of Easter 2026 

May 10, 2026

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Acts 8:5-17; Psalm 66; 1 Peter 3:15-18; John 14:15-21

 

The readings let us know of the coming and power of the Holy Spirit. It is easy for us to dismiss the significance of the conversion of the Samaritans. This was a major event for they were a people at odds with the Jews from earliest days. Philip showed great courage to go to a hostile land to bring the message of Jesus, and it was astonishing that they said “yes.” We have to realize the Holy Spirit is at work in places that we do not see. This is one reason Popes Francis and Leo asked Jesuits to go to the frontiers.

 

In the second reading, Saint Peter tells people to “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for the reason for your hope…” Let us keep in mind an important subtlety. It is in your being. It is in the way you live your life. It is not what you say but how you are that invites people to ask this question of you. In other words, they are asking, "Why are you happy? How can I trust in God like you do?" “What is it that you see and know because I want what you have.”

 

It is important for us to realize that the answer is not in what we say. It is not what we assert as our ideas and opinions. It is the way you encourage trust and give people space to be natural around you. Your way of being tells people that they are heard in your presence, even before they speak. 

 

The Church today is evolving its style of being. Priests, pastors, and laypeople must be able to receive the questions, struggles, tensions and objectives of others. They have to be able to receive each other with gentleness and reverence. We sometimes see differences in parish styles. Some pastors create an atmosphere of collaboration and stewardship while others create a version of worship and liturgy that represents their particular belief system. To an observer, one way seems open and the other closed.

 

The Church's adopted style is one of listening. The proclamation of the Gospel cannot be done without hearing. Real dialogue is not being silent and waiting until it is your turn to speak; Real dialogue allows you to be changed by what you hear. To become a church known for gentleness and reverence, as Peter suggests, means showing real strength. Some see gentleness as meekness or being weak. It is a power whose strength is realized at a later time. Being gentle suggests restraints where a person holds back the impulse to correct, to fix, or to win. Being reverent suggests seeing the person in front of you as a saint and a holy person of dignity. We are able to see each person's story as unique, interesting, and surprising even with one's suffering and wounds. We cannot be Church unless we approach each other without gentleness and reverence because we may be in a position to speak about Christ without knowing who he is. Our role is to reflect the Christ who is within me to another person. 

 

What if we approached one another with curiosity, discovery, and adventure. We then do not start from a position of defense, but one of engagements. We say: Tell me about yourself. Help me understand who you are and what you have experienced. This is a type of listening that strengthens faith and gives is credibility.

 

The Church gives reasons for hope not only by speaking authoritatively, but by listening deeply. When we listen with gentleness and reverence, we make space for Christ—who is always already in dialogue with every human heart, desiring to explore more deeply, and longing to rejoice in what God is doing with your soul.

 

A Courageous Mother . . .

 

‘If I Had My Life to Live Over’ by Erma Bombeck

(Written after she found out she was dying from cancer)

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained or the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the ‘good’ living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day

because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, “Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.”

There would have been more “I love you’s.” More “I’m sorry’s.”

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute, look at it and really see it, live it and never give it back.

Erma Bombeck (1927-1996)

 

 

The Secret Recipe

 

(In honor of Mother’s Day – U.S.A)

When God created mothers, it was well into overtime on the sixth day. An angel dropped by and commented, ‘God, you are taking your time over this creature!’

God replied, ‘You should see the special requirements in the specification! She has to be easy to maintain, but not made of plastic or have any artificial components. She has one hundred and sixty movable parts, and nerves of steel, with a lap big enough for ten children to sit on it at once, but she herself has to be able to fit into a kiddies’ chair. She has to have a back that can carry everything that is loaded onto it. She has to be able to mend everything, from a grazed knee to a broken heart. And she’s supposed to have six pairs of hands’

The angel shook her head. ‘Six pairs of hands? No way!’ ‘The hands are easy,’ God said. ‘But I’m still working on the three pairs of eyes that she needs.’ ‘Is this the standard model?’ the angel asked.

God nodded: ‘Oh, yes. One pair to look through closed doors, while she asks, “What are you doing?” even though she already knows the answer. A second pair at the back of her head, to see what she’s not meant to see, but needs to know about. And, of course, the pair at the front that can look at her child, let him know that he is misbehaving and had better change his ways, while at the same time letting him see how much she loves and understands him.’

‘I think you should go to bed now, God, and get some sleep,’ said the angel. ‘I can’t do that,’ said God. ‘I’m almost there. I have nearly created a being who heals herself when she’s ill, who can delight thirty children with one little birthday cake, who can persuade a three-year-old to use his feet to walk and not to kick.’

The angel walked slowly around the prototype Mother. ‘It’s too soft,’ she said. ‘But tough,’ God retorted. ‘You wouldn't believe the wear and tear this Mother will tolerate.’

‘Can she think?’ asked the angel. ‘Not only think, but reach wise judgments and essential compromises,’ said God. ‘And she can do more than that. She can forget!’

Finally, the angel ran her finger across the model’s cheek. ‘There’s a leak,’ she said. ‘I warned you that you were trying to get too much into her.’

‘That’s not a leak,’ said God. ‘That’s a tear.’ ‘What’s that for?’ asked the angel. ‘It flows whenever she feels joy or grief, disappointment or pride, pain or loneliness, or the depths of love.’

‘You’re a genius,’ said the angel. God looked again at this work of art, with pleasure and pride. ‘The tear,’ God said, ‘is her overflow valve.’                            (Source Unknown)

The God of Spacious Hospitality:

 

The Fifth Sunday of Easter 2026 

May 3, 2026

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Acts 6:1-7; Psalm 33; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12

 

The comforting Gospel passage is one used for many funerals because it reminds us that we each have a place in God’s world. We can retain our full human identity and still be known to God and others in the expansive world that is to come. The passage tells us: We belong. We are a child of God and known to God. It also reminds us that even if we do not think we know the way, God remembers us and gives us spacious hospitality.

 

The idea of being with God with many dwelling places serves as an example of the hospitality we are to extend to one another here on Earth. We have a really big God and we have to grow into this larger image of God. Much of our prayer language has focused upon the Christ who ‘was,’ that is Jesus of Nazareth. We return to ancient Scripture for understanding and guidance, and we can lose sight of the Christ who ‘is’ – the Christ who ‘is’ today and the Christ who is ‘up ahead of us.’ The cosmic ‘Body of Christ,’ of which you are a part, has been evolving in size and consciousness for over 2,000 years. 

 

When we realize we are part of this large community of faith, our mindset shifts from one that is restrictive to one that his more open and inclusive. Even if we have a small faith, we have a big God. Through our partaking of the Eucharist, we are moved to see this God of airy hospitality. Together, we move toward a broader and more comprehensive way of thinking and perceiving. Our capacity for compassion and empathy increases. 

 

Our prayer life can no longer be about self-improvement or of a ‘Jesus and me’ experience. I can no longer be self-focused or self-enclosed because, as a community, we develop a collective spiritual life. Our spiritual life is always based on being part of a community. We think and feel and move as the “Body of Christ.” We begin to see ourselves no longer as individuals living separate lives. Through the Resurrection, we are new creations and part of something much greater. 

 

As part of our Eucharist and our life of faith, we are called to take on a higher way of thinking. We hear this on Easter Sunday in Colossians 3 when Paul exhorts us with these words, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” Our work in this life is to realize that our inhibitions, indoctrinations, and habits prevent us from recognizing God’s presence among us. This awareness of what holds us back is crucial for taking down those formidable barriers, for those deeply entrenched illusions. Our transformation leads to an evolution to a more complex structure, to a higher way of thinking, to a reality in which there are more dwelling places that we imagine possible.

 

This passage is certainly comfortable for funerals, but it means so much more. It is meant for ‘now.’ It is meant that we may experience the fullness of life today. What is salvation but the permission to “enjoy the fullness of life” during life on earth as it will continue to grow consciously forever with God in heaven, in those many dwelling places. This is a God who gives us such space to pass onto others what we receive – a generous hospitality where all are welcome, where all belong, because this big God says, “Todos, Todos, Todos,” 

 

 

Feast of Joseph the Worker . . .

 

Feast of St. Joseph the Worker . . .

Prayer: 

Blessed are you, Creator God, who enhances our lives with work
For the gift of work, we are grateful.
We are thankful for the dignity 
and creative challenge of our unique tasks. 

Blessed are you, Creator God, who enhances our lives with work
For the work that ennobles us, that lifts up our spirits, we are grateful.
By means of these labors, 
we are able to give flesh to our spiritual dreams
and to work out the salvation of the earth.

Blessed are you, Creator God, who enhances our lives with work
Help us, Creator God, to use the work of this day –
to perform it with mindfulness and attention, 
with care and devotion –
that it will be holy and healing
for us and for all the earth.

Blessed are you, Creator God, who enhances our lives with work. 
‍ ‍Prayers for the Domestic Church, Edward Hayes,

The Crossing Place . . .

 

TRASNA

The pilgrims paused on the ancient stones
In the mountain gap.

Behind them stretched the roadway they had travelled.
Ahead, mist hid the track.

Unspoken the question hovered:
Why go on? Is life not short enough?

Why seek to pierce its mystery?
Why venture further on strange paths, risking all?

Surely that is a gamble for fools - or lovers.
Why not return quietly to the known road?

Why be a pilgrim still?
A voice they knew called to them, saying:

This is Trasna, the crossing place.
Choose! Go back if you must,

You will find your way easily by yesterday's fires,
there may be life in the embers yet.

If that is not your deep desire,
Stand still. Lay down your load.

Take your life firmly in your two hands,
(Gently... you are trusted with something precious)

While you search your heart's yearnings:
What am I seeking? What is my quest?

When your star rises deep within,
Trust yourself to its leading.

You will have the light for first steps.
This is Trasna, the crossing place.

Choose!
This is Trasna, the crossing place

Come !

Raphael Consedine, PBVM

 

Life's Thresholds. . .

 

“Like Spring secretly at work within the heart of Winter,
below the surface of our lives
huge changes are in fermentation.
We never suspect a thing.

Then when the grip of some
long-enduring winter mentality
begins to loosen,
we find ourselves
vulnerable
to
a
flourish
of
possibility
and we are suddenly negotiating
the challenges
of
a threshold…

At any time you can ask yourself:
At which threshold am I now standing?
At this time in my life, what am I leaving?
Where am I about to enter?

A threshold is not a simple boundary;
it is a frontier
that divides two different territories,
rhythms, and atmospheres.
Indeed, it is a lovely testimony
to the fullness and integrity
of an experience or a stage of life
that it intensifies toward the end
into a real frontier
that cannot be crossed
without
the heart being passionately
engaged
and
woken up.

At this threshold
a great complexity of emotion
comes alive:
confusion,
fear,
excitement,
sadness,
hope.
 
This is one of the reasons
such vital crossings
were always clothed in ritual.
It is wise in your own life
to be able to recognize and acknowledge
the key thresholds;
to take your time;
to feel all the varieties of presence
that accrue there;
to listen inward
with complete attention
until you hear
the inner voice
calling you
forward:
The time has come
to cross.”

John O’Donohue
From: To Bless the Space Between Us

April 29, Catherine of Siena Feast Day!

 

April 29, the feast day of St Catherine of Siena, a lay Dominican,
Doctor and Reformer of the Church

 St. Catherine of Siena was the 25th child of a wool dyer in northern Italy.
She started having mystical experiences when she was only 6, seeing guardian angels as clearly as the people they protected. She became a Dominican tertiary when she was 16, and continued to have visions of Christ, Mary, and the saints.

St. Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, although she never had any formal education. . Her spiritual director was Blessed Raymond of Capua. St, Catherine's letters, and a treatise called "a dialogue" are considered among the most brilliant writings in the history of the Catholic Church. She died when she was only 33, and her body was found incorrupt in 1430.

ARISE! by Doris Klein, CSA

Catherine’s Prayers:
• You, God, are a fire that always burns without consuming. You are a fire consuming in its heat every compartment of the soul’s self-absorbed love. You are a fire lifting all chill and giving all light. In Your light You show me Your truth. You’re the Light that outshines every Light. You, God, give the mind’s eye Your divine light so completely and excellently. You bring lucidity even to the light of faith. In that faith, I see my soul has life, and in that light, I receive You who are Light itself.

• God is a bright ocean that distills and reveals hidden truths so that my soul has a better understanding of how to trust Love, and the water is a mirror in which You, Eternal Trinity, give me knowledge.

• I want you to be a tree of love, grafted into the Word who is love, Christ crucified – a tree with its roots in deep humility. If you are a tree of love, sweetly rooted, you’ll find the fruit of patience and strength at the tips of your branches, and crowned perseverance nesting within you. You’ll find peace and quiet and consolation in suffering when you see yourself conformed with Christ crucified. And so, by enduring with Christ crucified, you’ll come with joy from much war into much peace. Peace! Peace!

The One Who Asks Us to Receive:

           

The Fourth Sunday of Easter 2026 

April 26, 2026

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Acts 2:36-41; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:20-25; John 10:1-10

 

When Peter tells the Israelites that they put Jesus to death, they realized what they had done and asked, “What should we do to remedy our error?” In the second reading, Peter tells us that those who went astray returned to their guardian and shepherd. The Gospel passage tells us that Jesus is the one to be trusted because his care is genuine. He will care for those who want to receive his voice. He knows there are other voices who speak as a shepherd and they repeatedly show they do not have the shepherd’s heart. Jesus offers us life abundant life in its fullness.

 

How do we receive the offer that Jesus makes to us? We are trained in our spiritual life that it is far better to give than to receive. So, we do things like serving, sacrificing, and fitting morally good activities into our schedules. We feel comfortable in this realm, but there is a tension we have to face. Receiving can be much harder than giving and that makes us uncomfortable. We have great and subtle tensions around gift giving as well. When we pray, we ask for grace, which is a gift, and sometimes we are not comfortable receiving the gifts God offers. 

 

Resistance rises for different reasons. Some people say, “I don’t need help. I can do it on my own.” Pride stops us from receiving the fullness of the gift. Or, receiving the gift (or grace) puts us in a position of dependence, and our control issues arise. We are taught self-sufficiency. A primary resistance is a sense of unworthiness where we feel we have not done anything or enough to warrant a gift. Or, perhaps we wonder about the unknown, unforeseen strings that may be attached. Why would God offer me this gift? What further thing will God demand of me? Think about our personal history of receiving compliments. How well do you simply receive the goodwill someone offers?

 

Christ offers us salvation. God offers us new life. We need to see that Christianity is not something that we do, but something that we receive. Why me? Forget about the question and learn to accept the gift. Think about those events in our life where we are offered grace, mercy, or forgiveness. These are all gifts that are undeserved, and none of them are earned. We have to ask ourselves: Do I really want what I ask in prayer? We can also turn to Peter who resisted getting his feet washed. He wanted to be the one who gives, but Jesus insisted that the relationship demanded that Peter received what Jesus offered. Unless you let me serve you, you cannot share in me. The moral of the story is: refusing the gift actually blocks the relationship.

 

Receiving makes us uncomfortable because it makes us vulnerable. A part of our core self is exposed when we are vulnerable, which makes receiving love, forgiveness, or genuine care so difficult, but this is where intimacy begins, and Jesus calls us into deeper friendship, deeper intimacy. We want it and we resist. We have a problem. God does not operate on our time. God does not wait until we are ready or deserving. God is a persistent giver. God will also offer these gifts before we are ready, and we have to ask, “Are we willing to accept what God is freely offering?”

 

The Good Shepherd is offering us new life. We have nothing to prove. There is nothing we can earn. How willing am I to let go of my resistances so I may receive in abundance these gifts that are generously offered even before we ask for them?

 

And God waits . . .

 

 

 

 

There was once a very religious man.  One day he heard the voice of God in his prayer inviting him to come to a certain mountain where he would be able to see the face of the Divine and experience God’s loving embrace.

The man came out of his prayer and could not contain himself. He thought of this day when he would see God face-to-face, and he just could not wait. But then he thought to himself, I have to offer God something in return for such a wonderful gift and to commemorate this once-in-a-lifetime occasion.  

He thought of gold, silver, precious stones – but nothing in the material world seemed to suffice. Finally, he decided to fill a jar with tiny pebbles. Each one of these pebbles would represent one of his prayers, sacrifices, or good works. When the jar was finally full of his little pebbles, he ran up the mountain. He got to the top and his heart was ready to explode in anticipation. But to his surprise, he could not see or feel anything divine.

He began to think that he was deluded, a victim of a divine prank. Holding his jar, he broke down and began to weep. Just then, he heard God’s voice once again, saying, “I am waiting to show myself to you and wanting so much to take you into my loving arms, but you have put an obstacle between us. If you want to see my divine face and experience my love, break that jar!”

Author Unknown

Earth Day ~ Everyday!

 

 
Let the rain come and wash away
the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds
held and nurtured over generations.
Let the rain wash away the memory
of the hurt, the neglect.

Then let the sun come out and
fill the sky with rainbows.
Let the warmth of the sun heal us
wherever we are broken.
Let it burn away the fog so that
we can see each other clearly.
So that we can see beyond labels,
beyond accents, gender or skin color.

Let the warmth and brightness
of the sun melt our selfishness.
So that we can share the joys and
feel the sorrows of our neighbors.
And let the light of the sun
be so strong that we will see all
people as our neighbors.
Let the earth, nourished by rain,
bring forth flowers
to surround us with beauty.
And let the mountains teach our hearts
to reach upward to heaven.
Amen.
a prayer for the world - rabbi harold kushner - 2003
 

Earth Day Prayer . . .

 

BEGIN AND END YOUR DAYS WITH PRAYER

The Earth is always a good teacher — and especially in spring.  Begin and  End your days this season with this prayer from the Native American tradition.

Earth teach me stillness
       as the grasses are stilled with light.
Earth teach me suffering
       as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
       as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring
       as the mother who secures her young.
Earth teach me courage
       as the tree which stands all alone.
Earth teach me limitation
       as the ant which crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom
       as the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me resignation
       as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration
       as the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself
as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness
as dry fields weep with rain.
— Ute prayer

Anniversary . . .

Tuesday -  First Anniversary of the Death of Pope Francis . . .

Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!

We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain.

Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: "Never again war!"; "With war everything is lost". Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.

Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness.

Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words "division", "hatred" and "war" be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be "brother", and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!

Amen.

Prayer authored by Pope Francis . . .

The God who is Before Us:

(Artist: Caravaggio)

The God who is Before Us:

Third Sunday of Easter 2026 

April 19, 2026

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Acts 2:14-33; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35

 

The story about the two who are their way to Emmaus reveal something fundamental about God. God is always before us. God is always in the future leading us forward. The Psalmist echoes it by telling us that God will show us the path to life. It is something that will happen in the future. Even Peter in the first reading speaks about God’s foreknowledge of the events of human cruelty. In the second reading, Peter says, “God was known before the world’s foundation but revealed in the final time for you.”

 The Emmaus walk reminds us that we are on a journey through life, one that is to be shared with others. We learn a great deal when we listen meaningfully and break bread with one another. The Gospel tells us, “their minds were opened,” they experienced a raising of consciousnesses, and it is a model that we are to follow. This disposition of openness is a key to a fulfilling life of meaning and trust.   

We see many instances in Scripture where God is ahead of the people to lead them forward. God leads the Hebrews from slavery into the Promised Land; God leads Israel as a pillar of cloud of fire. Jesus calls people to follow him, and as the Good Shepherd, he always goes before the sheep. Notice that God does not push us forward from the back; God invites us from the front. It does not mean that we know where we are going. We simply take one more step onward.  

What does this mean for our relationship with Christ? Our traditional prayers focus upon the Christ of the past, the Jesus of Nazareth who has been raised. The new focus upon the Christ who is still ahead of us, the Christ who is still becoming, shows that he is growing toward his fulfillment at the end of time. Christ is presently both with us and up ahead of us, beckoning us forward, inviting us to grow in love, as an individual and as a collective Body of Christ. 

 When we break bread with one another, we open ourselves to a grander way of thinking and feeling. As we listen to and share stories, our hearts are converted to the stories of other people, just like the Disciples on the way to Emmaus. We begin to shift our thinking, through the Eucharist, from a restrictive mindset to one that is more open and inclusive. Therefore, our spirituality can no longer be self-focused or self-enclosed. As a community of faith, we develop a collective spiritual life in which we turn outside of ourselves to the needs of others. We begin to see ourselves as new creations and no longer as individuals who want to develop one’s own prayer life. We see that we are part of a greater Body, to a new life connected with the Risen Christ. We pay attention to the divine project that God through Jesus has begun in the Resurrection. As Christ was raised to new life, we were raised with him.

 We now need to learn to act and think in a new way. It is not I who lives but the Christ within me. We need to act as members of Christ, the Christ who is calling us to evolve and to love as one body. The Christ who is to come is calling us toward him. We are invited to walk with him and to work with each other and with Christ to transform the earth. This forward movement to the God who is ahead impels us forward to a greater love, to a world that is still becoming, to a world that is striving to reach its fullest potential. Let’s walk on this journey with the Christ who is to come so we can make possible a transformed future for our world. When we break bread with one another, may we come to this moment in which our eyes are opened and we see the Christ in each of us called forth as one as brother and sister and friend. 

 

 

"Knot in Your Life"

 

"Knot in your life"!

The Knots Prayer

 

O God,
please untie the knots
that are in my mind,
my heart, and my life.

 

Remove the have nots,
the can nots and the do nots
that I have in my mind.

 

Erase the will nots,
may nots, might nots
that find a home in my heart.

 

Release me from the could nots,
would nots, and should nots
that obstruct my life.

 

And most of all, God,
I ask that you remove from my mind
my heart and my life all of the ‘am nots'
that I have allowed to hold me back,
especially the thought
that I am not good enough. Amen.

Author Unknown . . .

To Dare or Not To Dare . . .

 

Dare to declare
who you are. 
It isn’t far from
the shores  of silence
to the boundaries of speech.
The road is not long
but the way is deep.
And you must not
only walk there.
You must be prepared
to leap.

Composer, Mystic: St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179)