1. The Savior must have been

    A docile Gentleman—

    To come so far so cold a Day

    For little Fellowmen—


    The Road to Bethlehem 
    Since He and I were Boys 
    Was leveled, but for that 'twould be
    A rugged Billion Miles—

    by Emily Dickson, "The Saviour must have been a docile Gentleman"


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  2. A Line an Advent Day to Ponder on....
    Read the line. Savour its good news. Sit with it in silence for a bit. Then, share your thoughts and feelings about it with the Lord and listen to what the Lord wishes to share with you this Advent day.

    Monday, 24 December
    "In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace." (From Morning Prayer / Luke 1.78-79)

    Sunday, 23 December
    "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." (From the day's Gospel reading / Luke 1.45)





    photo: love by emily weaver brown


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  3. Year C / 4th Sunday / Advent
    Readings: Micah 5.1-4a / Ps 80 (R/v 4) / Hebrew 10.5-10 / Luke 1.39-45

    Lord, make us turn to you,
    Let us see you face and we shall be saved.
    These are the words of our response to today’s Psalm.

    They might also express our deepest desire
    as we stand at the threshold of Christmas.

    They may do so because it can be hard (isn’t it?),
    now and again, to see God’s face amidst
    -- the same struggles and temptations we repeatedly face,
    -- the pressing concerns our families have,
    -- the continuing troubles in our neighborhood,
    -- and, of late, the horror of the tragedy in Newton, Connecticut.

    In these moments, 
    we might have cried out,
    "God, where are you?"

    And yet, here we are, 
    turned towards God,
    believing as we do that Christmas 
    proclaims God’s coming into our world.
    We will see again 
    in the gurgling, smiling face 
    of baby Jesus, in the crib,
    God come to save us,
    and we will confess God is truly Emmanuel, 
    God-with-us.

    In today’s gospel reading, Luke invites us to mediate
    on the Visitation, 
    on a pregnant Mary, traveling with urgent haste, 
    and probably some amount of discomfort,
    to visit Elizabeth and to care and console her 
    in her unexpected pregnancy.
    In their greeting and comforting each other,
    Luke also invites us to ponder on their embrace.

    Visitation and embrace:
    These are two images 
    of care and concern,
    of compassion and love.
    These are images 
    that can help us contemplate, 
    on this 4th Sunday of Advent,
    God’s coming to be present in our midst.

    The Visitation is a story of two women 
    making sense of God’s surprising actions 
    in the midst of what cannot be, 
    their unexpected pregnancies.
    In caring for each other,
    they find God’s consolation amidst their confusion.
    In comforting one another,
    they better understand God’s plan for the world.
    And in welcoming Jesus, Godself in human form,
    they embrace the promised joy of God’s coming salvation.

    Perhaps, this is why the visit of another into our lives 
    is like this Visitation: 
    in a friend who repeatedly assures us with faith in our loneliness,
    in a parent or a sibling who cradles us with love 
    into life again in our sadness,
    in a stranger whose words offers hope 
    that enlightens us in our confusion, 
    we find ourselves visited by no other than God.

    God visits us
    because God always remembers us, 
    counts us worthy 
    and loves us beyond all telling,
    to be with us.

    This is the message of the Visitation:
    God is always present, always laboring for our good.

    This is more so the joy of Christmas 
    today’s gospel reading directs our advent yearning towards.
    It is joy because God reaches out to visit us;
    and it is truly joyous because God visits to stay with us.
    God stays and lives with us, in no other place 
    but here in our earthly space, 
    so often soiled, broken and messy. 
    Yet, in this very same space, 
    God loves us into the fullness of life 
    as God’s own.

    God’s love however is not abstract, theoretical or heady.
    It is not a long ago event 
    we sentimentally remember at Christmas,
    nor a future promised second coming 
    we can only pray for.
    No, God’s love has concrete form; 
    it can be felt and known in the present. 

    No experience of this is more palpable I believe than
    when we embrace each other, like Mary and Elizabeth did.
    In this deed, more than words, God’s love is real.

    If there is a deep longing we all pine for as human beings,
    it is to be touched, to be held, to be embraced. 

    We yearn for this from another whom we love, 
    because this makes their love and concern, their friendship 
    real for us and alive in our lives. 

    This is why a mother cuddling her baby girl warms our hearts,
    why a man cradling his dying brother moves us to tears,
    why a couple’s forgiving embrace makes us smile,
    and why the hearty hug of friends and strangers at the sign of peace warms our hearts.

    In each of these embraces, we experience something of God:
    of God giving birth to us and caring for us, 
    of God forgiving us and laughing with us, 
    of God loving us to no end.

    In these moments, God’s love is 
    far more manifest, far more true, 
    than any homily, catechism or song can convey.



    What we truly desire most 
    in another’s embrace, then,
    is not satisfaction of a physical want 
    or gratification of an emotional longing. 

    No, what each one of us seeks deep within ourselves
    is an experience of God’s love through another’s embrace.

    This is why Mary and Elizabeth’s embrace
    cannot speak of anything less 
    than the surprising, gratuitous gift 
    of God visiting us 
    by embracing human form.
    In Jesus who lived amongst us, 
    loving us as we are,
    we see the face of our God who saves.
    And in Jesus, we can turn towards God
    gratefully embracing God back 
    in a loving return of ourselves.

    Indeed, in Jesus 
    -- who Mary bears to Elizabeth
    and whom Elizabeth welcomes in the Visitation --
    we can hope
    because in him
    heaven and earth do embrace. 
    And, we can hope, more so, 
    because in him 
    is the Christmas truth
    that we are created 
    to be in touch with God,
    with God who only desires 
    to love us into the fullness of who we are, 
    God’s beloved.


    preached at Blessed Mother Teresa Parish, Dorchester, Boston
    painting: the visitation by jacopo da pontormo (1558-29)

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  4. A Line an Advent Day to Ponder on....
    Read the line. Savour its good news. Sit with it in silence for a bit. Then, share your thoughts and feelings about it with the Lord and listen to what the Lord wishes to share with you this Advent day.

    Saturday, 22 December
    Mary said: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked upon his lowly servant." (From the day's Gospel reading / Luke 1.46)

    Friday, 21 December
    "Our soul waits for the Lord, who is our help and our shield, for in him our hearts rejoice; in his holy name we trust." (From the day's responsorial psalm / Ps 33.20-21)

    Thursday, 20 December
    "Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel." (From the day's first reading / Isaiah 7.14)

    Wednesday, 19 December
    "O God, you have taught me from my youth, and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds." (From the day's Responsorial Psalm / Ps 71.17)

    Tuesday, 18 December
    "Behold the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel." (From the Gospel reading of the day / Matthew 1.23) 

    Monday, 17 December
    "Rejoice, O heavens, and exult, O earth, for our Lord will come to show mercy to his poor." (From the entrance antiphon for the day's Mass / Isaiah 49.13)

    Sunday, 16 December
    "The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, he will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings at festivals." (From the day's first reading/ Zephaniah 3.17-18a)







    photo: joy by emily weaver brown



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  5. A Line an Advent Day to Ponder on.....
    Read the line. Savour its good news. Sit with it in silence for a bit. Then, share your thoughts and feelings about it with the Lord and listen to what the Lord wishes to share with you this Advent day.

    Saturday, 15 December
    "Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved." (From the day's responsorial psalm / Psalm 80.4)

    Friday, 14 December
    "Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the Lord, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go." (From the day's first reading / Isaiah 48.17)

    Thursday, 13 December
    "The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness." (From the day's responsorial psalm / Psalm 145.8)

    Wednesday, 12 December
    "See I am coming to dwell among you, says the Lord" (From the day's first reading / Zechariah 2.14)

    Tuesday, 11 December
    "Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care." (From the day's first reading / Isaiah 40.11)

    Monday, 10 December
    "I will hear what God proclaims; the Lord--for he proclaims peace to his people." (from the day's Responsorial Psalm / Psalm 85.1)

    Sunday, 9 December / Second Sunday of Advent
    "The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Gospel reading / Luke 3.5b-6)





    photo: peace by emily weaver brown
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  6. A Line an Advent Day to Ponder on.....
    Read the line. Savour its good news. Sit with it in silence for a bit. Then, share your thoughts and feelings about it with the Lord and listen to what the Lord wishes to share with you this Advent day.

    Saturday, 8 December

    "And coming to Mary, the Angel Gabriel said, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you." (Gospel reading / Luke 1.28)

    Friday, 7 December
    "Then Jesus touched the eyes of the blind men and said, 'Let it be done according to your faith.'" (From the day's Gospel reading / Matthew 9.29)

    Thursday, 6 December
    "You, O Lord, are close, and all your ways are truth." (From the Entrance Antiphon to today's Mass / Ps 119.151)

    Wednesday, 5 December
    "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines." (From the day's first reading / Isaiah 25.6)

    Tuesday, 4 December
    "Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever." (From the response of the day's responsorial psalm / 72.7)

    Monday, 3 December
    "In days to come, the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills." (From the day's first reading / Isaiah 2.2)

    Sunday, 2 December / First Sunday of Advent
    "..stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand" (From the day's Gospel reading / Luke 21.28)







    photo: hope by emily weaver brown


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  7. Year C / 1st Sunday / Advent
    Readings: Jeremiah 33.14-16 / Ps 25 (R/1b) / Thessalonians 3.12-4.2 Luke 21.25-28, 34-36.


    Your redemption is at hand.
    We hear Jesus say this to his disciples and to us 
    in today’s gospel reading.

    And isn’t it fitting 
    that he says this as we begin Advent?

    In our gospel reading 
    that speaks of the end of the world,
    of a time when the heavens will be shaken
    and the nations on earth will be in dismay,
    we hear about the promised coming of the Son of Man. 

    A coming in power and great glory
    of he who first came to us, 
    poor and lowly, vulnerable and human,
    as Mary’s boy child, Jesus
    whose birth we look towards again 
    -- if you like me, with cheerful glee--at Christmas.

    This future coming fulfills what Jesus’ first coming
    two thousand years ago 
    announced to us as our salvation:
    the reign of God in our midst;
    the reign of God we are called to help build for one another;
    the reign of God that is our rightful inheritance 
    of being eternally one with God
    -- no matter our successes or failures;
    -- no matter what we have done or what we have failed to do.

    Indeed, this reign of God has began;
    We live and move and have our being in its midst:
    -- where an NYPD policeman 
    buys boots for a poor, shoeless streetperson;
    -- where countless people feed, clothe and shelter 
    those who’ve lost everything because of Tropical Storm Sandy;
    --  where warring countries stop their wars and begin to talk.

    In these instances 
    of justice and compassion, 
    of love and concern, of reconciliation and peace,
    we glimpse, we experience, we may even partake of
    the reign of God in our lives,
    in our ordinary everydayness 
    as well as in the extraordinary milestones of our life.
    In these times, redemption is at hand.

    The Church is right then to invite us in Advent 
    to look back gratefully to the one
    -- our First Reading speaks of--
    the one who will do what is right and just in the land,
    the one from David’s line, 
    the one called Emmanuel, God-with-us: Jesus.

    He has indeed come and saved us, 
    given us his Risen Spirit,
    made us God’s new creation
    to live fully in love with God and with neighbor.

    But this story of salvation
    God began in Jesus is not complete; 
    it awaits its fulfillment as today’s gospel reading reminds us
    and as it also calls you and I to equally prepare for.

    We are to be vigilant, to pray, 
    not to be drowsy from carousing and drunkenness.
    We are to prepare ourselves 
    to stand before the Son of Man
    who will come to judge us.

    Blessed are we 
    that he who comes to judge
    is not only God 
    but also one like us in 
    one who knows what and how it is to be human.
    One who is truly concerned about us 
    as only a human being can be
    loving what is human in each of us 
    and hating inhumanity.

    How hopeful it is then
    --this hope that Christmas directs our gaze towards-- 
    that when we will be judged
    it will be by one who will question us about our lives
    with the sympathy of having lived 
    amongst us and with us.

    This judgment to come 
    is why the Church also rightly calls us 
    to Advent preparation.

    In these next four weeks,
    we will busy ourselves
    shopping for presents, 
    baking our cookies and sweets,
    trimming the Christmas tree with friends and family,
    even charitably bringing Christmas cheer 
    to the lesser among us.

    But these weeks are 
    also a graced time of conversion and renewal.
    The Church invites you and me 
    in this time 
    to make right the wrongs in our lives,
    to make room within each of us, and between ourselves,
    to welcome Jesus again at Christmas time
    but, more so, to prepare ourselves
    to stand before him at judgment time.

    And, I believe, 
    we can stand before Jesus, 
    before his face in which we will shall 
    one day read our judgment,
    because he will have first gazed upon us
    from every human face
    -- the face of an innocent babe gurgling at us
    -- the weary, anxious faces of the poor thanking us for our help
    -- the tear-streaked faces of sinners we’ve embraced
    -- even the surprised faces of enemies we’ve forgiven
    from each and every face, loving us.

    And from his countenance, 
    we shall see all these faces,
    whom we have been good and kind and gracious to,
    looking back at us,
    and loving us too.

    Then we will hear him say,
    “you did this and this and all that is good
    for the least of my sisters and my brothers.”

    This, his voice,
    coming from a face like yours and mine
    will not fade away. 
    It will fill our very being 
    from here to eternity.

    How can we, then, 
    not lift up our faces this Advent 
    -- with the confidence of the forgiven and the living --
    towards that face of the Son of Man, Jesus, 
    this beloved Son of God in whom
    our redemption is indeed always at hand.





    preached at Blessed Mother Teresa Parish, Dorchester, Boston
    photo: dusk at advent time  by adsj (st joseph's trappist monastery; spencer, massachusetts, december 2010)


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  8. Year B / 33rd Sunday / Ordinary Time
    Readings: Daniel 12.1-3 / Psalm 16 (R/1) / Hebrews 10.11-14,18 / Mark: 13.24-32


    I don’t know about you
    but reading in our scriptural texts today
    about distress and tribulation,
    about the dead rising, about the darkened sun and moon,
    and stars falling from the sky
    frightens me.

    These frighten me
    because they speak about the end of the world
    and about the inescapable reality
    that I--and those I love--will die.
    That death will come no matter how much we try
    to keep death at bay by exercising,
    by eating right, by getting regular checkups.

    They frighten me a little more
    because they remind me
    that my life will be judged at this end time.
    That I will stand before God
    who will weigh
    my acts of selfishly loving myself
    and of loving charitably God and neighbor.

    Today’s readings are indeed sobering.
    Some of us may hear in them an invitation to take stock
    of how we’ve lived this past year
    and of new resolutions we should make for a better new year.
    For others, like myself, they disturb us enough to ask
     “So, what’s the good news today?”

    Mark does remind us that the good news is this:
    Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man,
    will come at our end times.
    He will come to gather us, who he has already saved,
    into fullness of life with God the Father.

    But Mark also narrates Jesus teaching his disciples
    this hopeful truth in the face of these end times:
    God is already present, among and with them,
    laboring for them and for their happiness.

    Jesus teaches them to see and know
    this truth by learning from the fig tree.
    To observe its branches becoming tender;
    to note its leaves sprouting.

    These are signs of summer coming and winter left far behind.
    These are signs of life, not death.
    These are signs in the small details of life.

    “When you see these things happening,“ Jesus says,
    “know he is near, at the gates”
    And who is he who is near
    but the One who says,
    "I will be with you always."

    If God is to be found, then, in the small details of life,
    It will be in such small, even insignificant, details, as
    -- the ordinariness of a stranger who charitably
    gives up his seat for a pregnant woman on the train;
    -- the everydayness of your wife or your mother whose love
    feeds you a home cooked meal;
    -- the simplicity of a friend whose concern
    assures another in pain with her embrace.

    What Jesus is teaching his disciples, and you and I today,
    is that when we really pay attention to the details of our lives,
    there we can find and learn and know
    that God, who has saved us in Jesus,
    is nowhere else but with us.

    A couple of years ago,
    I walked with an elderly widower in spiritual direction.
    His wife had just died.
    He sought to find God
    who seem far away and absent in his loss.

    One Saturday afternoon, 
    he was preparing a fruit salad
    for a neighborhood luncheon.
    He cut up watermelon and cantaloupe.
    He threw them into his favourite blue glass bowl.
    He added strawberries and blueberries, 
    some pineapple and mandarins.
    As he sprinkled some sugar and nutmeg
    and tossed the fruit in a dash of Kahlua,
    he sensed God standing next to him.
    Very real; very present.
    The moment was surprising yet assuring.
    He looked up; the room was suffused with mid-day light.
    Life suddenly felt good and bright.
    He paused and smiled. 
    Then, he continued living, tossing the fruit. 

    His is a story of God in the small details of our lives.

    Think of similar details
    you’ve experienced,
    when your world seemed to have crashed  and burned
    and God visited you, saved you,
    labored for your wellbeing and happiness.
    Perhaps, this was when
    -- your spouse said, “It’s ok, honey, I love you still.”
    -- a colleague held your hand and whispered, “All will be well.”
    -- your doctor said, “your checkup's fine; you’re in good shape.”

    Indeed, paying attention to such details
    can help us recognize that God
    who is faithful to us in small things
    will always be faithful in the big things
    of our lives.

    I’d like to believe, then, that when we pay attention
    to God in the details of our living,
    we will become wise, as we heard in our first reading.
    Wise about God’s ways to live life well
    and to face the future confidently.
    And wise enough also to lead others to justice.

    Then, even as the world darkens
    and everything we know seems to fall apart,
    we can go forth confidently,
    shinning brightly like the stars,
    shinning for others
    and revealing to them the  good news
    that our God is indeed a God-who-is-with-us always,
    loving us into fullness of life.



    preached at Blessed Mother Teresa Parish, Dorchester, Boston
    photo: staircase at bellarmine house (cohasset,massachusetts, oct 2011) by adsj

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  9. Year B / 31st Sunday / Ordinary Time
    Readings: Deuteronomy  6.2-6 / Psalm 18 (R/2) / Hebrews 7.23-28 / Mark: 12.28b-34 


    When I hear or see the word ‘economy’
    I think of money and investments, of taxes and tax cuts,
    of budget surpluses and budget deficits.
    I feel too for people who have lost their jobs 
    and are worrying about putting food on the table.
    I also feel for the newly re-employed 
    and their hopes that life is improving.
    Perhaps, you do or are dealing with these challenges too.

    Like you, I am overwhelmed  by election news, advertisements 
    and campaign speeches about the economy:
    about sustained job creation and persistent unemployment;
    about the roles of government and business;
    about two ways of improving the American economy.

    Perhaps it is providential that our Gospel reading this evening
    can invite us to re-consider the word ‘economy’.

    ‘Economy’ comes from the Greek word oikonomia.
    It is made up of two Greek words:
    oikos meaning household
    and nomos meaning law or management.
    Economy then is about managing the household.

    Whose household should we be concern about as Christians? 
    Do we have a part to play in this household? 
    And if we do, how are we to manage it?

    Our Gospel reading sheds some light.

    When Jesus answers the scribe’s question, 
    telling him that the first law is to love God alone, 
    with all one’s heart, one’s soul, with all one’s mind and strength,
    and the second law is to love one’s neighbor as oneself,
    Jesus tells him and us today, 
    that in this world we live in,
    this world where God is with you and me, 
    each of us with one another,
    we together make up a household.
    You and I and God are its occupants

    In this household, 
    God shares nothing less than God’s own life with us.
    We experience this as the reality of being saved, of being loved, 
    of being one with God and each other.

    Early Christians experienced this
    as the Spirit of the Risen Jesus in their communal life.
    Our neighbors would have experienced this 
    through another’s neighborly care and concern.
    And you and I experience this 
    when the ones we hurt forgive us with Christ-like love.

    By reminding the scribe that 
    to love God alone and to love neighbor as oneself 
    are commandments greater than all others,
    Jesus teaches that to love is a responsibility.
    It is our responsibility because we part of God’s household.

    To share life in this household with God
    is also to embrace and to participate in how God manages it:
    by loving selflessly and giving life fully.
    This is God’s management style.

    Jesus embodies this style in his life and ministry. 
    In eating with the sinful, in healing the sick, 
    in feeding the hungry, in standing with the poor, 
    Jesus selflessly lived out his love for God 
    by loving and serving others into the fullness of their lives.

    What Jesus models for us is 
    the way to live responsibly in God’s household.
    This involves being in right relationship with one another
    as the way to be in right relationship with God.

    In Jesus, we learn how to manage God’s household 
    according to God’s plan of loving, saving and giving life.

    As we try to make sense of the economy around us 
    and find ways to improve it, or work within it
    Jesus today calls us as members of God’s household
    -- to be compassionate to those in poverty and financial need;
    -- to lift up those without any safety nets, those discriminated, those cast aside;
    -- to encourage those who are working and trying to make ends meet;
    -- to fill those hungering for food, work, and dignity with hope for a better life.

    By reminding us to love God totally 
    and to love our neighbors generously,
    Jesus insists that this is indeed the way to manage God’s household. 
    We see this when he says to the scribe 
    (who acknowledges the importance of these commandments)
    that he is very near to the Kingdom of God.

    This then is what God’s economy is about:
    to do what is just and merciful, what is right and proper, 
    to do what is of the greater good so that all peoples, 
    regardless of class and ethnicity, of education and creed, 
    of republican or democratic stripe,
    will not simply live better but have life to the full in all its richness.
                                                                                    
    The scandal of managing God’s household in this fashion
    is that it will ask you and me 
    to put aside what we want so that another can have,
    to lay down our lives so that another can live.

    This is difficult for me,
    perhaps for you too,
    but it is precisely when we dare to do this, to follow Jesus,
    to live in his Christ-like ways that we can truly grow
    into the family resemblance of God
    that living in God’s household with one another promises.
    Managing God’s economy in this way makes possible then
    Moses’ invitation to the Israelites in first reading 
    to grow, to prosper and to live a long and good life 
    by following God’s ways.

    Maybe this is not a faraway hope after all,
    as it is the hope we are experiencing here in God’s house,
    gathered for the Eucharist as we are, 
    so different in so many ways,
    yet sharing our common family resemblance 
    as the one body of Christ
    now celebrating together the life we share in God’s economy.




    preached at Blessed Mother Teresa Parish, Dorchester, Boston
    photo: washington post



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  10. Year B / 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
    Readings: Isaiah 53.10-11 / Psalm 33 (R/22) / Hebrews 4.14-16 / Mark: 10.35-45


    Do you have a special place,
    a place where you go to find yourself, to be at peace, to be happy in?

    For some, it could be the sun-lit kitchen in the morning
    or a beach to walk on at sunset. 
    For others, a prayer space to rest quietly in God 
    or downtown for some shopping therapy.

    And going to this place, who do you invite to be with you?
    Perhaps, your wife to that restaurant where you both had your first date.
    Or, your closest friends to hike with you 
    through the woods ablaze with autumn hues and shades.
    May be, even your neighbor to sit with you 
    on your favorite bench in the park as watch your grandchildren play.

    I think our Gospel today invites you and me to consider such a place. 
    A place where we can be together with Jesus; 
    where we and Jesus can enjoy each other’s good company.

    In our Gospel reading today, 
    we read of James and John wanting to be with Jesus,
    wanting to be with him in his glory. 
    They want to sit on his right and on his left.
    And so continue enjoying being in his presence, being his friends.

    What James and John want is no different from what we all want.
    We want to be with the people we like, we love; 
    with family and friends: to be beside them always 
    and to be in their good company.
    Why?  Because we know that with them we are better, more contented.
    They draw out the best in us to live the good and happy life 
    with and for one another.

    James and John remind us of our own friendship with Jesus.
    We too want to be with Jesus; to be beside him; 
    and to grow in friendship with him.

    No matter how limited our human efforts are of being Jesus’ friend, 
    we keep trying to do this well, don't we?
    -- By living as faithfully as we can before God, who is our Father as he is Jesus’ father.
    -- By being as charitable and prayerful like Jesus was.
    -- By trying as best as we can to live and move and have our being in his Spirit.

    Today’s Good News is that there is indeed such a place 
    where we can be beside Jesus and live more fully in his good company.

    As Jesus tells James and John, the other disciples and us,
    this is not a place of honour, privilege or position, 
    like that of sitting at the head of a table and being seen to be great.

    Rather, it is to be at the foot of the table, 
    or, more honestly, in that place that was a non-place 
    for tax collectors, prostitutes and the unclean in Jesus’ day
    and still is a non-place 
    for illegal immigrants, marginalized minorities and persecuted poor today.

    The name of this place is “service”.

    Indeed, we can find Jesus 
    and be with him, on his right and on his left, 
    when we serve another in need,
    when we care, we help and we love others selflessly.

    When we 
    -- feed the hungry veteran on the street begging,
    -- console the despairing elderly widow mourning, 
    -- protect the helpless teenage gang member fearing,
    we meet no other than Jesus who says to us
     “in so far that you did this to the least of my friends, you did it to me” (Mt 25.40b).

    What is so radical about today’s Good News 
    is that Jesus does indeed call us to greatness 
    but it is greatness that involves being like him:
    he who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life for others.

    That Jesus calls us to do likewise 
    is his reminder that you and I were created to serve; 
    created for others; created to give them life.

    It is with and through those in need of our service,
    the suffering, the poor, the marginalized, 
    indeed for each and everyone wanting to be healed, 
    to be saved and to be whole,
    that we will truly find Jesus in glory,
    the glory of God saving all peoples.

    This is the glory our Christian lives can truly hope for:
    To be with God.

    And this is the glory of God we can make real,
    when we, with Jesus beside us,
    live a life of service for the many who reach out to us in hope. 

    I'd like to believe that living this kind of life offers you and me
    the promise of becoming much more human and a little bit more divine.

    Now, isn’t service, then, a good and proper place to be with Jesus?




    preached at Blessed Mother Teresa Parish, Dorchester, Boston
    photo: spring in cambridge by adsj (cambridge, boston; may 2010)

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"Bukas Palad"
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Fall in Love, Stay in Love
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"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute way final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything."

Pedro Arrupe, sj, Superior General, 1965 - 1983

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is a 50something Catholic who resides in Singapore and works for the Church. He is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.
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