Being Called and Chosen

 

Deacon Dave · Being Called & Chosen

Homily for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 14, 2026. Gospel of St.Matthew 9:36-10:8. Theme: Being Called and Chosen 

 Have you ever wondered why out of the billions of people who inhabit planet Earth, you and I have been freely gifted with the Christian Faith? How is it that we are among the mere 30% of the world’s population that has received this grace? It’s certainly not as if any one of us has done something spectacular to grab God’s attention. And it’s not like we stand head and shoulders above the rest of humanity as more worthy or less sinful. It’s a great mystery to be called by God, to be chosen, to become part of a people uniquely His own. Yet this is what today’s readings are all about. 

 God calls and chooses whomever He wishes and He seems to have a special delight for those who by worldly standards are considered to be rather ordinary and unimportant. The Twelve Apostles who were all just ordinary guys with ordinary families working in various ordinary occupations. But then Jesus called and chose them, sending them out as missionary disciples of the Kingdom of God and made them the foundation of the Church. 

 This mystery of God’s manner of calling and choosing is exemplified for me in a powerful experience from my childhood that is still quite vivid and meaningful. If you were like me, growing up in a small town, then you might recall how the neighborhood kids (and there were tons of us back then) would often gather in a local field for a game of ball. The older guys, typically the jocks of the neighborhood, were of course always the captains. The rest of us wannabes lined up for the ritual of choosing sides where your talents and abilities (or lack thereof) were publicly acknowledged. Now, I could hit the ball pretty well but I just couldn’t run to save my life. While my typical at bat could send the ball far into the outfield, I’d be lucky to pull a single out of what most guys could turn into a double. And so, I dreaded those line-ups before my peers for I knew well where I stood in the neighborhood rankings. 

 But there was this one guy named Charles, who even at our young age stood head and shoulders above the rest of us. No one dared to question his choices or doubt his selections. But whenever I saw Charles take up a captain’s spot my fear of humiliation diminished and I would get a kinda smile on my face. Because you see, I knew that whenever Charles was captain I was safe from total and utter embarrassment before my peers. No, he wouldn’t pick me in the first couple rounds because he was after all a jock and wanted to win! But I also knew that with Charles I wouldn’t be left standing there as the last choice of the day. Why did he pick me so often? And why did he potentially risk the game by choosing me? Since I really had no extraordinary talent that would merit my selection the only answer I could come up with was that he was just that kind of guy. Within his towering athletic frame was a tender heart as big as his muscles. His action was and remains a mystery to me. But it also has become a reflection of Christ who also had a big tender heart and who also chose those who didn’t seem to have a lot to offer for the making of a “winning team”. 

 It seems that like Charles, Jesus has a “soft spot” for the underdog. I think this is how the Twelve Apostles must have felt when Jesus selected them to become his daily companions and share in his ministry as we hear in today's Gospel. They were a real mixed group of everyday guys who must have been amazed that the Messiah had called and chosen them! There was nothing special or outstanding about any one of them. Simon-Peter, was a shrewd impetuous fisherman; the brothers James and John were so emotionally explosive that Jesus nicknamed them the “sons of thunder”; Simon the Zealot was a vengeful guerilla freedom-fighter. We surely can’t forget Matthew the greedy turncoat tax-collector. And of course there was the infamous traitor, Judas Iscariot. But as unlikely as any of them were to become companions of Christ and sharers in his ministry, they were each called and chosen on no merit of their own. And even more amazingly, Jesus shared some of His divine power with these ragtag men! They were sent out by Christ on a mission in which they had spiritual authority to drive demons out of the possessed and gifted with the supernatural ability to cure the sick and heal the lame! 

 I have grown and changed in so many ways since those days of neighborhood games, but I’ve never outgrown the memory of Charles. I have never forgotten his mysterious graciousness in calling and choosing. And for me this experience from childhood throws some light on the mystery of Christ’s calling and choosing. Just as Charles’ kindness helped to boost me up and feel a bit less unworthy, so being called and chosen by God tells us that the Lord sees more about us than we can see or imagine about ourselves. So we no longer have to wonder if we are lovable or fixable. We no longer need to doubt as to if we have some value and mission in this world. God’s gracious and mysterious selection of each one of us has proven our worth! So let’s thank God for calling us and let’s praise him for counting us among the Chosen!

We Can’t Really Live Without Him!

 

Deacon Dave · We Can’t Really Live Without Him!

Homily for Corpus Christi Sunday, June 7, 2026. Gospel of St. John 6: 51-58 Theme: We Can’t Really Live Without Him! 

 Jesus’ words in today's Gospel are among the most startling words He ever spoke. They were so shocking that His listeners could hardly believe what they were hearing when He said, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you." This was the breaking point for many of Christ’s disciples so they stopped following Him. But notice that Jesus didn’t back away from what He said. To the contrary, He repeated Himself again and again. He went on to emphasize in no uncertain terms that His flesh was indeed to be true food and blood true drink. 

 And then, as if that wasn't already enough for his disciples to absorb and take in, He added, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." Notice that Jesus didn’t say, "Whoever admires me," or "Whoever remembers me." Rather, He said “lives in Me” which speaks about an up close and personal relationship with each one of us. A union that is so intimate that He actually becomes part of us we actually become part of Him. The Risen Lord lives in us and we live in Him. His thoughts become our thoughts, His compassion becomes our compassion, and His life becomes our life pulsating through our spiritual veins, so to speak. This is why, as His Church, we are called what we truly become through the Eucharist: the Mystical Body of Christ. 

 To better understand this teaching, let’s think for a moment about ordinary food. In the natural order of things, what we eat becomes part of us. It nourishes us and sustains our life. But when it comes to the Food and Drink of the Eucharist, something totally different and more wonderful happens. That natural process is reversed and becomes a supernatural process. Christ takes us into Himself and we become part of him, we become what we eat! The more we mindfully partake of Holy Communion, the more we grow and become strong in the spiritual life because Christ lives in us! 

 But you know, the opposite is also true. We can stop having Christ live in us which will lead to spiritual death. How so? Because without regular feeding on the Flesh and Blood of the Eucharist, our faith weakens, our moral choices get blurry-eyed and we grow tired of following Jesus. If we deprive ourselves of this supernatural nourishment for too long a time, spiritual life is drained out of us and we will eventually find that we have fallen away from following Christ. I am sure that many of us have sadly seen the reality of this downhill dynamic happening among our own family and friends. 

 To keep us spiritually strong and united with Jesus is why the Eucharist stands at the center of our Catholic Faith. This is why the reception of Holy Communion is so very vital for us. This is why every single one of the saints without exception cherished the Eucharist so deeply. However, Holy Communion isn't something reserved only for those who are living a totally ideal Christian life! As the late Pope Francis never tired of reminding us, the Eucharist is not a reward for the perfect nor a gold star for good behavior. It's medicine for the spiritually sick and a remedy for sinners. It’s strength for the weak and healing balm for the wounded. And so, if we ever are tempted to think that we are not good enough to receive Jesus, then all we need to do is remember that accusations were heaped upon Him by “respectable and devout” people because He shared meals with tax collectors and prostitutes. They insulted Him by calling Him the “friend of sinners.” Well, we can find hope in the fact that it is still that very same Jesus who delights to come to us sinners in the Eucharist today! 

 As we approach the altar to receive Holy Communion on this feast of Corpus Christi, let us ask for three graces. First, a deeper faith in the Real Presence of the Lord in this Sacrament. Second, for a greater hunger and thirst for the Supernatural Food and Drink of the Eucharist. And third, that we open our hearts to conversion and be transformed by the One Whom we receive. And may the "Amen" that we say upon receiving the Consecrated Host be much more than just an habitual ritual response. May it be a heartfelt profession of faith by which we mean: "Lord, I believe. Remain in me, and help me to always remain in you."

Reaching Out and Spilling Over!

 

Deacon Dave · Reaching Out and Spilling Over!

Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, May 31, 2026. Gospel of St. John 3:16-18. Theme: Reaching Out and Spilling Over! 

 Today is Trinity Sunday and there’s something a bit unusual about our readings for this Mass. You see, usually for special feast days we have Scriptures that deal directly with the theme of the celebration. For example on Christmas we hear all about the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem and then on Easter we’re retold the story of the Resurrection. But today as we honor one of the most important central mysteries of our Faith, all we get is a very brief mention of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the closing line of our Second Reading. 

 But this silence of the Scriptures really shouldn’t surprise us because no matter how much time we spend searching through the pages of the Bible, we’ll never find any explanation whatsoever as to HOW God can be a Trinity of Persons. But what we will find is a hint or a clue as to WHY this can be true. And it's found in one of the shortest but most powerful verses of the entire Bible but which, for some strange reason, isn’t included in today's Liturgy. And it consists of only 3 words:, “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) The reason for these three words being a clue to the Trinity is because love, by its very nature, is relational, so it can only exist within a communion or fellowship of persons. It can never ever be just a solo affair. And so inquiring minds in the past figured that since God has eternally existed before there was anyone or anything else to love, such as angels or human beings, there must be more than one Divine Person. 

 And so this short three-word verse of Scripture became a starting point in the early Church for trying to grasp and explain the concept of the Blessed Trinity. As a matter of fact it gave rise to about 300 years of popes, bishops and theologians in the early Church discussing and debating this deep divine mystery. And they had to start from scratch, so to speak, because until the year 200, the word “Trinity” wasn’t even in our Catholic vocabulary. It just didn't exist. Of course, they believed in it because Jesus himself had said so, but they had no word to use to describe this mystery of the One True God existing equally and distinctly as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, they eventually composed an official statement of faith about the Father and the Son in the year 325 AD at the Council of Nicea in Turkey and it was further tweaked and refined to include the Holy Spirit in the year 381 at the Council of Constantinople. And here we are almost 2,000 years later, about to stand and recite the very words of that Creed that they composed. 

 But what the Creed is trying to tell us in precise theological and sometimes hard to understand language is more simply expressed in the opening line of our Gospel today which says, “God so loved the world that He sent His only Son…”. You see, the Persons of the Trinity could not just keep this love between themselves because the very nature of love is to go out of itself and spill onto others. And so, God’s superabundant love moved Him to reach out to the human race even though we had turned our collective back on Him through sin. However, rather than condemning us, the overflowing, pouring out and spilling over love of the Trinity moved the Father to give up His only beloved Son who became man through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

 Then once this Son came into the world He also began reaching out to us, even to the point of spilling out His love as blood upon the wood of the cross. And then, as if all of this wasn’t already enough, the Father and the Son reached out even further to us by sending the Holy Spirit to draw us into their relationship of love. Through this indwelling of the Spirit, who is first poured into us at Baptism and deepened at Confirmation, we actually and amazingly share by grace in the divine life of the Blessed Trinity. 

 And so hopefully we can see that because of God’s reaching out and spilling over of His love, today’s Liturgy calls us to rejoice in the wonderful truth that God binds Himself to us in an interpersonal relationship as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And in doing so the Trinity becomes for us, not so much a doctrine to be believed (which it is) or a Creed to be recited every Sunday (important as that is), but an experience of God to be lived every day. For it reminds us that we are truly the sons and daughters of God the Father, whose providence in our lives provides for all that we need and who sustains our every heartbeat. It proclaims that we have become brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who has loved us to the point of even dying for us and then rising from the dead so that we could live forever. And it fills us with the joy of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us as our Bond of Connection with the Trinity, as well as being our Counselor, Comforter and Companion throughout the ups and downs of daily life. 

 To no other religion that now exists or has ever existed on planet Earth has God extended such an awesome invitation and experience to human beings. This is the great gift and unique blessing of Christianity. This is the treasure of Faith that has been handed on to us. This is really what it means for us to stand and say that we believe in God the Father almighty, that we believe in Jesus Christ His only Son and that we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life.

This Promise is For You!

 

Deacon Dave · This Promise is For You!

Homily for the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2026. Reading: Acts 2:1-11. Theme: This Promise is For You! 

 Pentecost was such a significant turning point in the story of Jesus and His disciples that it’s called the “Birthday of the Catholic Church”. To clarify, the Church did indeed exist beforehand with Jesus gathering disciples as carried out His ministry. But it existed in a kind of hidden way, very much like an unborn child living and growing quietly in the womb of its mother. However, with the dramatic outpouring of the Holy Spirit this Church-in-the-womb burst forth into the world, kicking and screaming like a newborn baby! Our first reading informs us that the disciples made a lot of noise in Jerusalem on that Pentecost day, boldly proclaiming the Risen Christ and baptizing 3,000 people! And throughout the rest of the Book of Acts we see outpourings of the Holy Spirit happening over and over again along with the same kinds of marvelous events and conversions as at Pentecost. 

 So, what happened to those amazing manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the lives of ordinary everyday Christians such as we see in the New Testament? Their apparent decline was definitely not due to the fault of the Holy Spirit. Rather, we can trace it back to the lack of a dynamic expectant faith among Christians. You see, in the early Church people made a life-changing commitment to Jesus as Lord and received the Holy Spirit with a sense of personal conviction and deep faith, even at risk to their own lives during times of fierce persecution. But then once Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire its practice gradually lost some of its steam as it became an expected social norm. Becoming a Christian was seen by many as a way of climbing the social ladder and enhancing one’s status. In addition, the Faith was often forced upon conquered peoples as Christian kings expanded their territories throughout Europe. 

 In other words, being Christian became the status quo and thus the vital element of a personal conviction of faith in Christ as Savior was missing. For large numbers of people the Mass and Sacraments became just routine rituals. Confirmation, which was supposed to be a kind of sacramental extension of Pentecost, devolved into a religious rite of passage, which often meant passage right out of the doors of the church with the newly confirmed never (or rarely) to return. And not surprisingly, along with all of this came a negligent attitude towards the Holy Spirit and thus also of His gifts. However, there were still devout Christians here and there who did have the right attitude and who were filled with the Spirit and exercised His powerful gifts. Their ongoing presence throughout history reminds us that the spark of the Spirit can never be extinguished and that it can even be re-lit in those who truly desire it. 

 This re-kindling of the flame of Confirmation within us is an example of what the New Testament calls ‘Baptism in the Holy Spirit”. It has also been described as a “conversion experience” or a “spiritual awakening” that enlivens our faith and makes Jesus become so much more real and meaningful in our lives! Now, how this spiritual experience might happen and what it might look like will be different for different people because God deals with us as individuals. For some it can begin with a sensational and unforgettable personal religious revival. For others it makes itself known gradually as they begin to sense within themselves a growing desire for prayer or a deepening interest in the faith. They might experience a new appreciation for the Eucharist or find themselves more drawn to reading Scripture than they were before. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit is not something reserved for the “spiritually elite” but is a grace that God offers to all believers for as St. Paul says in our second reading, we have ALL been given the One Spirit to drink. 

 Both the Bible and the Church teach that this Pentecost experience of the Holy Spirit was never intended by God to be just a one-day event for the benefit of the disciples of Jerusalem. Quite the contrary! Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the giving of various gifts for the service of others, was meant for every believer in every generation. And this makes a lot of sense when you stop and think about it. Because we are today the same Church as the Church in the New Testament. And the Holy Spirit today is the same Holy Spirit who was poured out on those first Christians. So why shouldn’t the Spirit’s gifts that He distributed then also still be distributed today for the glory of God and the salvation of souls? 

 Well, the good news is that this on-going extension of Pentecost IS still happening today in places where the faith is not treated simply as “status-quo”. Africa, South America and parts of Asia have all exploded with this outpouring of the Spirit. And in a more sporadic way it is even happening right here in our own nation among believers who have enthusiastically re-embraced the faith and re-kindled that spark of the Spirit within them. There are parishes and gatherings where believers invoke the Spirit’s grace and mighty power and thus miraculous healings and beautiful conversions of life take place. This shouldn’t surprise us because the New Testament assures us that God has indeed promised to do such great things for those who turn to Him with confidence and trust. So, if faith seems a bit dormant in your life or if religion feels a bit routine or if you just want something more in your relationship with God, then take heart and have hope because there is no expiration date on God’s promise and His promise is for you!

A New Way of Being With Jesus

 

Deacon Dave · A New Way of Being With Jesus

Homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, May 17, 2026. Gospel of St. Matthew 28:16-20. Theme: A New Way of Being With Jesus 

 Compared to Easter, the Ascension of Christ into Heaven can seem anti-climatic. What I mean is, we spent 40 days of Lent getting ready for Easter. And then we had a marathon of liturgies throughout Holy Week which led us into the 50-day long Easter Season. So, by the time we arrive at the celebration of the Ascension of the Lord, it can seem almost like an afterthought. But in reality this is far from the truth! However, before getting into why the Ascension is such an important event, let’s first deal with what most people get focused on about it: Jesus shooting up into the sky like a rocket! Many wonder why Jesus didn’t just disappear into thin air after saying His goodbyes instead of staging the dramatic event that we read about in the Gospels. Well, the reason for this is twofold. 

 First, in the 40 days after Easter Christ did indeed appear and disappear before the eyes of his disciples several times. It was what they came to expect from Him. It became a case of “now you see Him, now you don’t”…but always with the assurance that He would return. If Jesus had simply vanished from their sight on that Ascension Day, they would have been expecting to see him again real soon. And so he had to convey to His disciples that this time it was going to be very different. 

 And second, we need to remember that God always deals with people where they are at and according to what they understand or know. And so Jesus needed to express the significance of His Ascension in a way that delivered a definite message to first-century Jewish minds. You see, back then they thought that Heaven (as an actual territorial place) was just above the atmosphere, beyond the sun, moon and stars. They also called God the “cloud-rider” (see Psalms 68 and 104). And so as our first reading informs us, the ascending Lord shot up into the sky and rode a cloud into Heaven. So, in this way they were shown visually and unmistakably that this time His going away would be different and final. It would be the end of the era of life with Jesus on planet Earth and the beginning of a new one with Christ as Lord of Heaven. 

 Ok, so now that we’ve dealt with the symbolic mechanics of the Ascension, let’s go back to why it is such an important event. As I once heard a priest say, “The Ascension takes the training wheels off of Easter and lets us ride the Christian life at full speed.” What he meant was that today’s Solemnity is the icing on the cake of Easter, so to speak, because it takes up where the Resurrection left off and expands its significance for us in three ways. 

 First of all, it enabled Jesus to carry out His mission as the Universal Savior who is available to all people of all time and in every place. When He lived His physical life on Earth, Jesus of Nazareth was very much tied to a particular group of people (the Hebrews) and limited to a very localized section of the planet (the Mediterranean Middle-East). His movements were constrained by time and space as well as by geography and politics within the Roman Empire. However, the Ascension has freed Him from all those restrictions! He no longer belongs to any one country but is King of All Nations. He is no longer simply the Messiah of Israel but is Savior of All Peoples. He is no longer bound to communicate in any one language or owned by any one culture. He can now speak to every human heart and be present in every village, city and nation. His healing embrace now encompasses all the world and every single person in it. 

 Second, the Ascension transforms Christ’s way of being with us from the physical to the spiritual, from the visible to the invisible. In His farewell speech at the Ascension, which we hear in today’s Gospel, Jesus promised that He would remain with us always, even until the end of the world. How so? Well, at the Last Supper He said that He would abide within us through our obedient love for Him. In addition, He promised to give us the Indwelling Holy Spirit as our Bond of Connection with Him. And of course there is His ever-abiding Presence in the Holy Eucharist, which is real but invisible, for what our eyes continue to see is still bread and wine even though the reality of it has changed. These modes of invisible but real presence only became possible once He left the physical realm and re-entered into the heavenly. 

 Thirdly, the Ascension foretells that what happened to Jesus will also happen to us. It assures us that there is a real and eternal life awaiting us beyond the grave. The Ascension shows us that this new life will be one that is experienced in both body and soul, and that where Jesus has gone, we His disciples, will also follow. This is why Jesus said at the Last Supper, “I am going to prepare a place for you, that where I am you also may be.” The Scriptures teach us that being ascended into the glory-life of Heaven is not something reserved for just Christ alone but that it is also our destiny as Christians. St. Paul emphasizes the truth of this teaching often in his many letters. 

 So hopefully, we can see that the Ascension is an important part of the Easter Season and is, in reality, its crowning jewel. It assures us that though the Risen Lord is gone from our sight, He is definitely not gone from our lives. He is more present to us now than He ever could have been before, because He is now able to dwell within us instead of just walking beside us, as He was living on planet Earth. This new form of an intimate personal relationship with Christ is made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, which is why the Ascension always points us to Pentecost, which we will be celebrating next Sunday. Jesus Himself pointed to Pentecost at the time of His Ascension, telling the disciples to go back to Jerusalem and pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So, let’s follow the Lord’s instructions and spend the coming week in prayer for a renewed outburst of the Holy Spirit within each one of us!

Getting to Know Our Divine Defense Attorney

 

Deacon Dave · Getting to Know Our Divine Defense Attorney

Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter, May 10, 2026. Gospel of St. John 14:15-21. Theme: Getting to Know Our Divine Defense Attorney

In today's Gospel, John brings us into the Cenacle, which is the name given to the upper room in a Jerusalem house where Jesus and His Apostles held the Last Supper. He shares with us some of his memories of the Lord’s farewell speech given to him and his eleven companions on that unforgettable night. You can sense a tone of deep love and concern in the words of Jesus, as He speaks to them about a future without Him physically present in it. But He sought to console and uplift them by speaking of several ways in which their relationship with Him would continue and actually deepen. Chief among these was the promise of the Holy Spirit. 

 Jesus called the Spirit a “Parakletos” which our Liturgy translates into English as “Advocate”. I find this extremely interesting because a “parakletos” was a Greek lawyer, a legal counselor, and more specifically a defense attorney. A paraclete stood next to his client, whispering into his ear what he was to say and how he was to act in the presence of a judge. Now, that makes me wonder …why in the world did Jesus think that we, His disciples, would need the services of a D.A. (which in this case stands for a Divine Advocate)? Well, it was because He knew that the world would treat us no better than it treated Him. He knew that those who worship the world’s “trinity” of power, money and fame would harass those of us who speak out for the persecuted, the poor and the vulnerable. He wanted us to know that when we are called to stand before the court of public opinion the Advocate would be right by our side, inspiring and enabling us to speak the truths that the world needs to hear. 

 And the most important truths that people today need to hear is that they are immensely and personally loved by God. Each and every one of them! As St. Peter tells us in our Second Reading, we need to share with them the story of Jesus Christ, who is the very reason for the hope that is within us. Because the sad reality is that so many of them have never heard this and do not know Him! They have no clue as to how precious they are in the eyes and heart of God. They have been misled by the world to believe that their worth and value is found in what they look like or in their social status or by how much money they have. And so it’s up to us to share the truth with them so that they, too, can begin to have joy in their hearts and hope for their future. 

 This is a big responsibility and an urgent task that we have been given for nearly half of the world’s population has never heard of the Good News of and about Jesus. But we can rise up to the task because we have been given an Advocate, the Spirit of Truth who dwells within us. He will empower us to speak and act. He will provide us with counsel and direction giving us the right words to say in every particular circumstance and to each particular person. However, our sensitivity to the Spirit’s inner voice will depend upon how well we have trained ourselves to listen to and follow His inspirations and directions. You see, this sensitivity can only develop within us to the extent that we devote time to the practice of daily personal prayer from the heart. To really hear our Paraclete we have to make room for solitude in our day and set aside time for prayer and meditation. 

 And this is why I think it's very appropriate that we are hearing this Gospel in the month of May which is dedicated to our Blessed Mother Mary. No other disciple of Christ was as open to the Spirit of Truth or as obedient to the counsels of the Advocate as she was. Her relationship with Him was so intimate, so total and so personal, that she has been called by analogy the “Spouse of the Holy Spirit”. One of the titles we Christians have given to her over the centuries is Our Lady of Solitude, which highlights her devotion to prayer and listening. We would do well to turn to Mary in our prayers this month asking for the grace to find space for this solitude in our own lives so that we can hear the Spirit more clearly and become better bearers of Christ to those who do not yet know Him.

Living With Trust Not Trouble

 

Deacon Dave · Living With Trust Not Toruble

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter, May 3, 2026. Gospel of St. John 14:1-12. Theme: Living With Trust Not Trouble 

 There’s a heck of a lot in today’s Gospel that could provide us with countless hours of reflection but I am going to limit myself to Jesus’ opening words that begin with, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Notice the timing of when He said this. It was at the Last Supper when He was well aware that He was about to undergo His cruel Passion. And He knew the terrible havoc this would wreak on his companions. On their part, the disciples saw the seriousness on the Lord’s face and heard it in His voice. They sensed that something terribly upsetting was coming their way. It’s important to realize that it was within this setting that Jesus was inviting them to focus on faith and keep their hearts untroubled. 

 I think what He was counseling was to not let the stress and worry that so easily fill our minds descend into our inner selves where it can rob us of peace. He knows we obviously can’t control what goes on around us so He is telling us to take charge of what happens within us. The many external disturbances of life can only settle in our hearts if we stubbornly hold onto the idea that we are in control of everything. In other words, the stress in our heads becomes stress in our hearts when we persist in the idea that we can fix any situation and solve any problem based on our own merits. And the reason this stresses us out is because deep down in the very recesses of our being we know that this isn’t true! A simple reality check should remind us that there are things we struggle with that are not of our own doing and so they also cannot be of our own undoing. We may be powerless in the face of these sufferings but we are definitely not helpless. 

 And this brings us to Jesus' next few words in today’s Gospel, “Have faith in God; have faith also in me.” Here is where we find the help we need to prevent head-stress from becoming heart-stress. He is inviting us to trust in God (He means the Father) and to likewise trust in Him (because, as we say, “like Father, like Son”). In the Bible, the word “faith” can also be translated as “trust” because the original Greek word means both things. In our American slang we have the same double-meaning for these words. When we tell someone “I believe in you” we are saying in effect, “I trust in your ability”. And so we turn to Jesus and tell Him, “I believe in You…I trust in your ability to help me.” This attitude isn’t a kind of placebo to get through a tough time; nor is it a kind of mind-game to help us transcend the issue at hand. Quite the opposite, faith means dealing with our reality head-on, but confident that God will enable us to face it and get through it in a constructive positive way. The first step in embarking upon this challenge of faith is to mindfully and intentionally surrender ourselves to the power and the care of God. In other words, to trust in Him. 

 But we need to be patient and realize that learning to trust isn’t something that happens overnight or without effort. We know that this is true from our own everyday human experiences. The people in our lives whom we have learned to trust have earned that level of confidence from us not simply by their words, but by their actions. They have shown us in times of difficulty and vulnerability that they were trustworthy by being with us, being there for us and loving us no matter what. Jesus was (and still is) exactly like that. He freely gave up the glory of Heaven and became a man precisely to be with us, to share the kind of life we live with its joys as well as its struggles, and then even more so to die for us. And beyond that, He has promised to remain with us until the end of time and to send the Holy Spirit, whom He called “power from on high”, to dwell within us so that we would never feel helpless and abandoned by God! What more could He do to earn our trust? 

 Upon hearing all this we might be tempted to respond, "easier said than done!” And we’d be right because learning to let go and trust in God IS easier said than done. But the fact is that it CAN be done. But it’s not going to happen overnight. We also say, “anything worth having is worth working for” and this is surely true about a vibrant trust-based relationship with Jesus Christ. We need to work on deepening our personal relationship with Him through daily prayer from the heart, through becoming familiar with His word and deeds in the Gospels, and through the Eucharist in which He comes to abide within us. And as we work on this relationship we will gradually see that we ARE becoming more trustful, we ARE becoming more calm, and we ARE becoming more peaceful inside. We will grow in our experience of that “power from on high” which strengthens us to deal with all these many ups and downs of daily life. 

 But the thing to remember in all this is that Christ never ever pushes Himself into our lives against our will. He desires a relationship that is rooted in love and love demands freedom. So He waits to be freely asked and then once we invite Him in, His care and concern for even the smallest things in our lives become manifest in clearly discernible ways. This doesn’t mean that our issues and struggles will suddenly just disappear. Nor does it mean that our health or financial situation will change for the better overnight. But it does mean that God will see to it that our needs are met in one way or another because, believe it or not, He wants nothing more than to see us happy, both in this world and in the next.