Behold, Your Mother

“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’
Then he said to the disciple,
‘Behold, your mother.’”

John 19:26-27

One of the very last words Jesus spoke from the Cross before He handed over His spirit, breathing life into the world by His death was spoken to John and by extension to all of us today, “Behold, your mother.” As a faithful son, Jesus made sure Mary will be taken care of in His absence but He also makes provisions for His disciples. Jesus entrusted John and all of us to Mary. In Christ, we have a mother, a mother who loves us, prays for us, and leads us to Her Son.

Mary plays a special role in the lives of Catholics, but really, Mary should also play a role in the lives of all who call themselves Christian. Mary is not someone who was merely chosen by God to be used in His plan of salvation, but someone who exemplifies and personifies the great mystery that is the Church. A few years ago Pope Francis promulgated that the Monday after Pentecost Sunday would be celebrated as the “Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.” Think about this. Mary was there at the foot of the Cross, watching her Son take His very last breaths, and by doing so, He was really breathing life into the people, into the Church. Weeks later, Mary was with the disciples in the upper room when the Holy Spirit descended upon all those present — she was present at the moment the Church was birthed. Mary was there (for obvious reasons!) when the the Word was made flesh, when Jesus entered into the world — the head of the body that is the Church, and she was there at the gestation, if you will, of the Church, and she was there when the Church — the body, was born at the descent of the Holy Spirit. Mary is the only one who was there at every moment of the Church’s development, from the Head to the body. How fitting and true it is then that we celebrate Mary as the Mother of the Church.

At the Cross, blood and water flowed from the pierced side of Christ, the blood and water that gave rise to the Church (just as our bodies are physically blood and water, so too the Church), flowed from Christ, and this blood and water first came from Mary in whose womb Our Lord was carried and nurtured. Truly, Mary is the Mother of the Church, Our Mother, through whom we have the source of our salvation — Jesus Christ, Our Lord. How can any Christian, anyone who is a follower of Christ, deny this special woman and the importance she has in the life of the Church? Today, Our Lord looks intently at us once again, and directing our gaze to Mary and says, “Behold, your Mother.”

Receive the Spirit

Here is a Pentecost Sunday homily I wrote and delivered as part of the homiletics program at the seminary

Happy birthday, brothers and sisters! Today we celebrate Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, the “birthday of the Church.”  Because on that day something amazing happened. Something that encouraged the early followers of Christ so that they no longer hid in fear but instead proclaimed boldly the Good News of Christ so that all who would listen could be saved.

We hear in the Gospel today that after His Resurrection, Jesus stood in the midst of the Apostles who were hiding from the Jews behind locked doors. There Jesus said to the Apostles, “Peace be with you.” Not words of disappointment or questions about why they ran and left when He was arrested, but simply “Peace be with you.” Not only this but He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” and sends them forth just as Jesus Himself was sent by the Father. Peace and Holy Spirit are what Jesus gave to the Apostles, and that is what Jesus seeks to fill our hearts with today.

In the first reading we can see what this Holy Spirit does. We hear in the Acts of the Apostles how tongues of fire descended upon the disciples and that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, causing something very interesting to happen. There were people present from many different places and who spoke different languages, yet they understood one another. The Holy Spirit brings down all barriers and heals all divisions, and He enables people to go and proclaim boldly the Gospel message.

Have you ever been to another country and went to Mass? Maybe you didn’t understand exactly what was said or what the homily was about, but you knew what was happening, right? It was the Mass. It was the same Jesus. The same Holy Spirit. And the language of this Spirit is something that goes beyond our grammar and syntax, it’s a language of love, a language that speaks to the heart. A language that speaks to where we most need healing, peace, comfort, and rest. It is the language that says “I love you.” It is the language between God and His children. St. Paul reminds us that we have received the Spirit of adoption, and we call God, “Abba, Father.”

Brothers and sisters, we are so loved by God. It was not enough for Jesus to suffer and die on the Cross where He gave up his life and spirit for us on Good Friday. It was also not enough for Jesus to rise from the dead on Easter Sunday. He loved us so much that even after ascending into heaven, 10 days ago, He sends us His Spirit as He has promised so that we might no longer live in fear or doubt or shame or guilt, but rather live in the freedom of the children of God, which we have been made. There is nothing more that can keep us from God. Jesus descended into hell, and broke through the gates of hell triumphantly, and the Holy Spirit broke down the language barriers and the gates that kept our hearts locked. Let us live in the Spirit, let us live in God’s love. Brothers and sisters, Jesus gave us His Spirit so that we might know that we are forever loved and held in the hands of His Almighty Father. Today Jesus says to us, “Peace be with you! Receive my spirit!” Will we be open to and allow the transformative power of God’s love to work within our hearts to cast out all the worries and anxieties that may be weighing on our hearts today? He wants to. Let us let Him. What are those things, brothers and sisters that are heavy on our hearts today? Let us take a moment to bring them to the Father now.

In a short while, the same Jesus who asked the Father to send down His Spirit upon the Apostles on that first Pentecost Sunday will once again be made present to us on this very altar, so that all who chooses to receive may be filled with the peace and the love the Jesus brings.

So indeed, Happy Birthday, brothers and sisters, for today, the Spirit of God has come down upon us, renewing us, strengthening us, inviting us to a new life once again, a life that never ends, a life that is in Christ Jesus, Our Risen Lord.    

You Follow Me

“When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus,

‘Lord, what about him?’
Jesus said to him,

‘What if I want him to remain until I come?
What concern is it of yours?
You follow me.’”

John 21:21-22

At the end of their conversation by the sea, after Jesus tells Peter what will happen to him (dressed by another and led to where he do not want to do), he asks Jesus what will happen to John. The answer Jesus gives to Peter is similar to what parents say to one child after he or she is told to do something and then he or she asks, “Well, what about Tommy?!” Mind your own business. Do what you’re asked to do. Do not worry about what Tommy is going to do. I can almost hear Jesus say, “Peter, don’t worry about what will happen to John. I just entrusted my entire flock to your care, worry about that!”

Jesus’s “worry about yourself” answer is not one that should inspire indifference, but rather one that should stir up within us a deep sense of charity. What Jesus is really saying is “Peter, you have been entrusted with a special mission that only you can carry out, and likewise with John. You have your own cross to carry and so does John. If you worry too much about John’s cross and mission you will come to neglect your own. And, if you neglect your own cross and mission, the people of God will suffer.” Hence, Jesus says to Peter, “You follow me.” By living out the call with which one has been entrusted, one is living out the virtue of charity. By doing what one has been called to do, one is doing good for the other. Each one of us has been entrusted with a unique mission that only we can carry out, and each mission helps builds up the Kingdom. How amazing is that?

Brothers and sisters, it can be challenging sometimes to discern what God is calling each one of us to do, and that is why prayer is so important. By immersing ourselves in prayer, nurturing our relationship with God, we will come to learn to hear God’s voice more clearly, hearing Him call us His beloved and say to us what it is that we are to do. And when He does, He will also tell each one of us what Jesus told Peter, “Follow me.”

None of the Apostles were given a step-by-step manual on what to do, how to do, or where to go. They were simply told to follow Jesus. They followed Him for three years and after Jesus ascended into heaven, they continued to follow Him. They remembered all that Jesus had taught them, all that they had seen Jesus do, and they did likewise. They followed Jesus in word and in action, and we are asked to do the same. Follow me. But we know that the Apostles were not alone even after Jesus went back to the Father. Tomorrow we will celebrate Pentecost Sunday, the day the Father sends the Holy Spirit so that all who would come to believe would have life.

When Jesus says to us today, tomorrow, and the day after, “Follow me,” He is not simply saying “Follow the example that I left you,” rather He is saying to us, “I am truly present. I am here. I am with you always, right here, right now. Do not be afraid. Follow me.”