Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them!!! What an accusation leveled against Jesus …tax collectors…they worked for the “oppressors”…they worked for Caesar and as if it wasn't enough that they worked for “the Empire”….on top of that, they cheated their own people, collecting more tax than was required by Caesar who was squeezing the very life blood out of their own people. Let’s be clear, the accusation was not wrong…the people Jesus was in fact welcoming and eating with were sinners…that was not a misrepresentation or a twisting of the facts. This is the context of the story of the “Prodigal Son” or perhaps better name the story of the “Lavish Parent”...it is about the magnanimous and unrestrained nature of God’s forgiveness!

And to be honest, it’s all a bit absurd! Who could seriously be convinced to forgive those who have abused them, cheated them and caused them more misery than anyone else could imagine? But there it is! That is precisely what Jesus is suggesting! Jesus is claiming that no matter how great our sin…no matter how far we have strayed from goodness and kindness we are all redeemable, all forgivable and all loved by God. But, make no mistake about it, it is in no way giving us “a pass” on reprehensible and sinful behavior! It is really speaking of the possibility of transformation and redemption through the power of forgiveness!

We've seen it in South Africa… we've seen it in Kosovo…and we've seen it in the lives of thousands of nameless victims who have chosen to forgive their perpetrators of unspeakable atrocities and crimes! How is it possible to forgive those who have raped, murdered and destroyed the lives of innocent people? Forgiveness does not in any way imply a lack of guilt…but rather it is about refusing to allow the perpetrator to continue to inflict pain and suffering upon those they have abused. As long as our anger and rage control our emotions we are not free of our bondage to them! The violent need to be brought to “justice” and to pay for their sins, but true justice is not revenge! Forgiveness ultimately frees the victim from the clutches of the perpetrator…it in no way says “it didn't happen”…it in no way says “it didn't matter”…it in no ways says “they are not guilty”.

So what does this all mean for us as disciples of Jesus Christ? Jesus was so kind and forgiving…but how are we to forgive those who are guilty of unspeakable sin? How do we forgive those who wound us and hurt us and the ones we love? Jesus clearly states that it is “Godly” to forgive. But that in no way means that we do not stand up against violence! It does not mean that we fall silent in the face of violence nor turn our back on seeking justice in the wake of violence…not vengeance but justice. How do we forgive those who are guilty of violence, especially when it impacts us personally…when it is done in our name or in the name of our church, or in the name of our country?

As you can see, it is not so easy…do we really believe in the transformative reality of forgiveness? Who am I called to forgive? How do I deal with forgiveness for those guilty of truly atrocious crimes? What do I personally, and we as a nation, need to be forgiven for? How do we forgive and demand “justice” at the same time?

Lenten Blessings,
Fr Tim

Each year the Lenten season calls us to take a good long look at our lives. The point Jesus is trying to make in the parable in today’s Gospel is that sometimes our Christian lives are like that tree that doesn't bear fruit. The tree is clearly alive but yet it fails to bear fruit. The owner wants it cut down. The man responsible for the tree asks the owner to give it one more year…he will fertilize it and cultivate the ground around it and then if it still bears no fruit, it can be cut down.

Lent is a time for us to cultivate and fertilize our lives so that we will bear more fruit! Lent calls us to do more than “just hang in there”…to do more than just resist being mean or selfish or nasty… more than to just resist sin! Lent calls us to open up our hearts to God… to be transformed by God’s unconditional love and thus to bear amazing fruit. Lent calls us to new growth…to grow into a more loving person… more loving of God and neighbor. This is the fruit that God desires us to bear! All of our almsgiving, fasting and prayer ultimately are meant to help us in our transformation. Ideally through these Lenten practices we become more aware of how we are living in the world and how we are living our discipleship of Jesus Christ.

Are we empathetic to the pain and suffering of others and do we reach out to help them in some way? Lent offers us an opportunity to slow down and reflect on how we live our lives on a daily basis in light of how the Gospel calls us to live. It provides us time to ask ourselves: Is there anything I need to change or to do differently in my life so it might bear more fruit? What are the” fruits” of my life? How does the way I live my life impact others…both positively and negatively? How could my impact be greater? How do I “fertilize and cultivate” the lives of others so they too may bear more fruit?

Lenten Blessings,
Fr Tim

This Sunday we hear Luke’s account of the Transfiguration of Jesus…right before the eyes of three of the disciples, Jesus’ true identity bursts forth and in one brief luminous moment , Peter, James and John are themselves forever changed….”transfigured” with a growing awareness of who Jesus really is! I believe that each one of us have our own “moments of transfiguration” ….moments in which we see or feel the very presence of God. They are moments when, deep inside” we come to know with certainty that God is present….that God is real.

These moments of awareness hold the potential to transform our lives into something new…something wonderful. The challenge is to learn “to live out of” these moments… keeping these moments alive in our hearts and minds allowing them to continually transfigure us more and more into the image and likeness of God. Each one of us carries within us experiences of the tenderness, mercy and love of God. So often it is the chaos of our lives that “dim” the luminous moments of encounters with our God…we forget we ever had them in the midst of the rush and busyness of our daily lives.

Not all of these “transfiguration” moments are happy or joyful, some of them come in the midst of great sadness, even in the midst of tragedy and death. I have had such “transfiguration” moments with people as they were dying, luminous in-breakings of Grace that transfigured the dying person, and me as well! These transfiguration moments exist all around us, even in the midst of the political turmoil in which we find ourselves, in encounters with the poor and the marginalized, with the immigrant and refugee, with the one whom we see as “other”… there is God, waiting, wanting us to reach out and take “the other’s” hand and be transfigured.

Lent is a wonderful opportunity to look for transfiguration moments as well as to step back and recall those moments of grace when the fullness of God bursts into our lives…when we realized that we were not alone…that there was something more to life…more than what we can see or touch…more than we can imagine… “God moments”!

When was my last “God moment”? How was I transfigured by that moment? What does that “God moment” call me to do, to be? Whose hand am I being called to reach out and grasp?


Lenten Blessings,
Fr Tim

In this Sunday’s Gospel we encounter Jesus being tempted by the devil with temptations to power, fame and pride. Some Scripture scholars have argued that it was through his experience of forty days of fasting and prayer in the desert that Jesus came to a deeper understanding of his true identity and his mission.

As we begin Lent it is appropriate for us to reflect a bit on our own lives, our own desert experiences and our own temptations. Most all of us, as humans, are tempted by pride, arrogance, selfishness, anger and greed…the real question is whether or not we give in to those temptations. For some, who give in, they are led to disgraceful acts of greed and ego with catastrophic results. All we need to do is to read the headlines in the newspapers or listen to the nightly news…we know who they are and are able to judge the seriousness of their acts.

For most of us, sins are somewhat more contained…a white lie here and there…a small theft once in a while…a few carelessly chosen harsh words that wound. Most of us are basically good people, trying to live as God has called us to live. In the recesses of our hearts we know we’ve been tempted…we’ve stood on the precipice of surrender to our baser desires…enticed by money, recognition, or power to take advantage of situations or people, neglect of our responsibilities towards others, or treat ourselves or others with disregard and disrespect.

As we reflect on our own personal sins let us not forget the structural sins of our society…greed, arrogance, pride, violation of human rights,vengeance and war feebly masked as “just war”, turning a blind eye to the tens of millions of displaced persons, refusal to aid those in the midst of famine and the list goes on. As Jesus came forth from the wilderness of the desert proclaiming the coming of the Reign of God bursting forth in the world through the preaching of the Gospel, he forever linked the “Gospel imperatives” to theReign of God. To the extent that we live out the imperatives of Jesus...to love one another as he has loved us, to love our enemies, to actively seek to alleviate the suffering of the poor and the marginalized…to that same extent we participate in the building up of the Reign of God.

Lent is meant to be a time of reflection and of action! We are called to a conversion of heart…to turn away from self-centeredness and sin and all that gets in the way of our living as true disciples of Jesus Christ. What can I do, or stop doing, in order to become a better disciple of Jesus Christ? What acts of almsgiving, prayer and fasting can I commit to this Lent that will help build up the Reign of God, to be a living sign of hope in the midst of a suffering and wounded world?

Blessings,
Fr Tim

In today’s Gospel Jesus seems to be questioning or challenging his disciples to be more aware of their own behavior before they go about judging the behavior of others. The image of having a log in one’s eye and attempting to remove a splinter from the eye of another person is quite ridiculous but clearly makes Jesus’ case to his followers. It appears that Jesus is condemning his disciples of being too quick to judge others while remaining blind to their own shortcomings and missteps. They have missed Jesus’ example of being quick to forgive rather than to judge. Even though they have been the recipients of the lavishness of Jesus’ mercy they themselves evidently have failed to in turn act as Jesus has acted. In this they have failed as students, for the teacher has taught the lesson but they missed the meaning.

He then goes on to instruct them that what is inside will be manifested on the outside…”a good person out of the goodness in their heart produces good…just as a rotten tree produces rotten fruit and a good tree produces good fruit. Jesus instructs them that the goodness or the rot of the heart will show forth in a person’s speech.

It seems that in our age we do not value truth in speech, we find it hard to trust the words of political leaders, church leaders, our newscasters; they often say one thing but do another. Most of the time we are able to spot dishonesty and the lack of integrity in someone’s words and none of us likes to be deceived. Just as Jesus called his disciples to reflect on how quick they are to judge others so we too have the opportunity to remove the log from our eye in order that we might be able to remove the splinter from our neighbor’s eye.

And as we prepare for the season of Lent we can begin to reflect on what is the fruit that our lives bear? How quick am I to show mercy and forgiveness to those who have wronged me or hurt me?

Blessings,
Fr Tim