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June 26, 2022

6/25/2022

We hear seemingly harsh words from Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus, like Elijah before him asked his followers to leave behind everything and follow him. No words of compassion for the one whose father had just died! No time to say goodbye to friends and family...not even time to bury the dead!

We might wonder what is going on with Jesus?... earlier in the Gospel of Luke Jesus’ compassion is readily visible, curing the sick and lame, raising a little girl from the dead, curing the lepers...what has happened?

Surely the people following Jesus were surprised by these hard-hitting words, or were they...they would have been used to hyperbole as it was quite commonly used by storytellers and speech -makers.

But still, Jesus is making a point about the urgency and the demands of discipleship...it cannot be left until tomorrow, and it will not be easy! Jesus knows that he is heading to certain death in Jerusalem and his followers will need to be “all in” in order to survive the ordeal of that “awful” first Good Friday that Jesus sees on the horizon. Jesus wants to be sure that those who seek to be his disciples understand that the road ahead will be difficult and the cost of discipleship is great.

It almost seems like too great of a demand...but we do not travel the road of discipleship alone, Jesus is at our side...and that makes all the difference. And remember we are filled with the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us as we live out our discipleship.

What am I willing to give up to be a disciple of Jesus? What does my discipleship call me to do this week? What choices am I being called to make as a disciple of Jesus in light of the current social and political realities here in the United States and around the world?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

June 19, 2022

6/17/2022

On this day when we celebrate the awesome gift of the Eucharist one would think that the Gospel of this wonderful feast day would be about “the Last Supper” but instead it is the Gospel of the feeding of the 5000.

When the disciples come to Jesus and complain that the people are hungry, Jesus says in response “give them some food yourselves”! The story of the “feeding of the five thousand” is about Jesus’ acknowledgement of human hunger...hunger for food... hunger for justice... hunger for God!

As we celebrate the gift of Jesus giving himself to us in the Eucharist let us take seriously his command to “do this in memory of me”. Of course the question is, what is the “this”? For sure it is the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup. But, is it more? Perhaps the “this” of “do this in memory of me” includes all that Jesus had done and what he was about to do, the next day!

As Roman Catholics we believe that the bread and wine become the real body and blood of Jesus Christ poured out for the life of the world. And that when we receive the real presence of Christ we are changed, transformed more and more into the Body of Christ. This transformation though is not just for our sake but for the sake of the world. We are called to take the real presence of Christ out into the world and feed all those who hunger....those who hunger for food...those who hunger for justice...those who hunger for peace...those who hunger for God!

So how do I fulfill Jesus’ call to feed those who hunger for food...those who hunger for justice... those who hunger for peace...those who hunger for God? How do I share the “real presence” within me with others? How does participating in the celebration of the Eucharist affect the way I live my life on a daily basis?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

June 12, 2022

6/10/2022

As we celebrate the Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity my mind always returns to an 8th grade classroom and a tall red haired nun, in full habit, named Sister Mary Janelle. I recall her patiently helping my classmates and myself as we wrestled with the concept of the Trinity -- three Persons who were at the same time separate, but one. As she went through theological gymnastics trying to help us understand, ultimately she conceded that it was a mystery...mystery with a capital “M”!

At the time my classmates and I felt it was a bit of a “cop-out” on her part. But, now almost 50 years later I have come to see her wisdom, and have come to be comfortable with and truly enjoy the concept of mystery.

We live in a society that demands to know all things; to have concrete explanations for everything. Everything is “googleable”! But the reality is that ultimately God is beyond our understanding...beyond even Google!

Today I realize that I am part of a religious tradition that has passed on a faith -- a faith filled with mystery and awe in our God.

There is a consensus of our ancestors that harbors “revealed truths” that are essentials of our faith that will always lie just beyond our capacity to fully understand.

The Holy Spirit has been sent into our hearts to lead us headlong into “The Mystery”...to live out in concrete terms what we say we believe even though we may not fully understand.

Our lack of understanding has no impact on The Mystery itself... The Mystery desires us and loves us just as we are...conflicted and wrestling with our faith.

The principle of unshakeable human dignity is grounded in the faith conviction that we are made in the image and likeness of God. If we are made in the image of God, this means the Trinity, our personhood and consequently our dignity may be more than we imagine it to be. In the Trinity, three Persons engage in a mutual and self-giving activity that is so complete it makes them a dynamic unity. This activity has been characterized as a relational dance. If we are made like this, as persons we are essentially plural, there is an ongoing interrelating, an interpersonal flow of energy. We are essentially social beings, in relationship to others, in relationship to The Mystery by the very essence of who we are!

One of the most important realities is that we remain engaged... wrestling with our faith...engaged with God...wrestling with the Holy Trinity!

But when all is said and done what is most important is that we remain engaged in the struggle for understanding...and we open our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit, the bringer of wisdom.

And what wisdom and understanding is the Holy Spirit trying to bring us today in the midst of the light that is being shined on the darkness, of the SIN of the systemic racism and bigotry that is woven into the very fabric of our nation? What wisdom is being brought to us about the heart-breaking gun violence in our society and what we should be doing about it?

How comfortable am I with the concept of “mystery” of not fully understanding? How am I engaged in living out my faith? What am I wrestling with at this point in my faith journey?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

June 5, 2022

6/4/2022

Happy birthday to the Church, to this parish community of Our Lady Queen of Peace and to the Spiritan Community. We are thankful for the Holy Spirit’s coming upon Mary the other disciples on that amazing and shocking Pentecost so many centuries ago. An event that unleashed a religious revolution that has, down through the centuries, in one way or another impacted the whole world.

We are thankful for our courageous Black Catholic sisters and brothers who, filled with the Holy Spirit, went to Richmond to meet with the bishop and ask for a parish of their own where they could worship in dignity and be treated with love and respect. And we are thankful for the Spiritan Congregation who responded to the call from the Bishop of Richmond to come to Arlington and working with the first thirteen Black Catholic Families to start a new Black Catholic Church community. We are thankful to all my brother Spiritans who have shepherded this parish community for 77 years. We offer a prayer of gratitude for all the parishioners and clergy who have gone before us, filled with the Holy Spirit and labored to create this wonderful parish community. Happy 77th anniversary to Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish Community!

St. Augustine said that the Spirit blows where the Spirit wills...not exactly comforting if you are someone who likes things neat and orderly or if you prefer to have life all figured out and neatly packaged. Most of us would prefer to see life’s decisions as right or wrong, good or bad...as if everything in life were black and white. The problem with life is that most of the time we are living in the grey, everything is not black and white! This is where the Holy Spirit offers counsel, the challenge is to be open to the Spirit’s counsel! The Holy Spirit blows where it wills and inspires and guides whomever it chooses, whenever and wherever it chooses.

Most of us get use to a particular routine and we find comfort in doing things in particular ways and we find discomfort when our routine gets changed by outside influences or when we are forced to do things in a different or new way. It is no different in the church, we all get comfortable in the way we worship, in the way we pray, in the way we sing, in what we sing, and then when change comes we suddenly are set off center and we feel “off balance” at the change or new ways.
This reality has probably never been clearer or truer than during this COVID pandemic. First closing all masses to the public and then reopening but with restrictions on how many could come back and how we would reassemble! All this without any certainty on when we will be able to return to something that looks like it used to look and feel.

But what we do know is we will all return, when it is safe for everyone, and we can once more raise our voices in full song without masks and we can once again greet our sisters and brothers with a sign of the peace of Christ! And we can all come forward to the Table of the Lord!

It has been said that, there is one constant in life and that is change. We recognize how difficult all the changes, due to COVID-19, have been for all us, from the youngest to the oldest of not just our parish community but for people around the entire world.

I am sure that many in the church today see the Pope’s challenge to live a radically gospel centered life as a change from what they were used to, a change in what they thought it meant to be a Catholic.

In answering the Gospel’s call, Pope Francis has called us out of the church building and into the streets to be a “field hospital” where binding up the wounds of the poor and brokenhearted is a priority.

The Pope is following the call of Christ, who calls us to be a welcoming presence to immigrants and refugees, to seek out the lost and forsaken and to “be” the word of peace in the presence of war, to “be” the word of love spoken to the lonely and marginalized of the world, to “be” the word of justice and equality spoken in the midst of racial injustice and exclusion.
As well, we are called to be care takers of creation, to take responsibility for the way we live on the planet; personally, communally, nationally and internationally.

While all of this can all seem overwhelming, we need to remember that we are not called to do all this by ourselves but rather as a community filled with, and guided by, the Holy Spirit. It is in and through the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit within us and around us that we are able to do all good things! As we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost let each of us ask ourselves to where and to what is the Holy Spirit calling me in my life?

Happy 77th anniversary Our Lady Queen of Peace!

Pentecost Blessings,
Fr. Tim

May 29, 2022

5/27/2022

As we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, I cannot help but reflect on the many ideas and concepts that swirl around this feast...some with unintended consequences! The word “ascension” itself congers up images of Jesus rising up into the clouds to join the Father and the Holy Spirit somewhere “up there”...far, far away. The problem with this image is it can lead us to believe that heaven is “up there” and we are “down here” and that God is far off and distant from us and distant from our lives.

This is in stark contrast to the heart and soul of the meaning and significance of the incarnation. The truth of our God having become “incarnate” (in the flesh) in Jesus means that God is with us...not some remote, disinterested deity watching us from afar.

We need to recall Jesus’ promise “I am with you until the end”! These simple words are most profound...there is no need for us to stand gawking skyward with our jaws hanging open. While the physical presence of Jesus Christ as a singular human and divine presence no longer walks the earth...Christ is here, as close to us as our own breath, keeping us alive to be his presence in our world. We need to recall last Sunday’s Gospel in which Jesus told the disciples that when we keep his word God makes us his dwelling place!

As we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus let us celebrate the presence of the Risen One in our midst! Before his ascension Jesus gave a clear command and mission to his disciples...to us. We are charged with preaching the “Good News” of Jesus Christ and to be that healing, loving and welcoming presence in a world filled with sickness, hatred, violence and exclusion.
Filled with the “real presence” we are sent forth to stand up and be the voice of the voiceless, to speak out on behalf of those who are silenced or ignored, to make sure that hatred, racism, bigotry and misogyny are not left unchecked.

Filled with the Holy Spirit we speak the truth of the Gospel to power, weather convenient or inconvenient, weather garnering us friends or marginalizing us, it is our call as disciples of Jesus Christ!

And in the midst of all of the mass shootings, surely we are called to raise our voices and speak to power and work together for common sense gun control laws that will help to bring an end to all these senseless evil acts by which so many children and adults have been murdered...who would not have been, had the shooter not had such easy access to weapons meant for mass destruction.

While we are surely called to hold in our prayers all of the children and adults who have been killed along with their families and loved ones, we must work together to build the political will to put in place the needed laws and protections to keep this from happening over and over again.

”How might I be a “healing, loving and welcoming presence” in my interactions with others? How can I “stand up” for the Gospel, in the public arena and in my personal life, possibly in connection to gun violence? How do I experience the real presence of God in my daily life?

Easter Blessings,
Fr. Tim

May 22, 2022

5/21/2022

Pretty much everyone has felt lonely, abandoned by friends or loved ones at some point in their lives. Most of us have felt fearful; wondering how we will make it through rough times with our children or parents, siblings or friends. Or, for African Americans and people of color -- they worry if they and their loved ones will make it through the violence spawned by racism and white supremacy that plagues our country, and our world.

Or, like the residents of Buffalo NY, who have suffered such horrible personal loss, wondering, how will they carry on?

Or we may have suffered or be suffering a terrible illness and wonder if we will be able to make it through it.

Today’s Gospel tells us that in the very midst of our “lost- ness”...suffering...fear or sense of abandon that we are never truly alone, we are not abandoned, we are not orphans....for the Risen Christ remains with us.

When I was little I used to think that Christ was with me....but only when I was doing something good or only when I was in holy or sacred places.

Oh, how wrong I was! Jesus proclaims to the disciples that no matter what they “feel,” not matter where they go, he will be with them. And, even more -- the Holy Spirit will be given to them and find a resting place within them.

We are the inheritors of this same promise. We are never alone; never abandoned! Our God is with us always...even when we can’t feel that presence or sense it, God is with us. Even in the midst of our worst moments, our most selfish actions, even in the midst of our greatest sin...God is present and loving us through that dark moment -- whether I acknowledge or embrace that presence or not! The “Presence” is still there! And each moment is charged with the possibility of different outcomes, precisely because of that “Presence”. But, only if I am open and present to it!

When I embrace that presence of that Divinity that dwells within me, then new and different possibilities abound for my life. Embracing that Divine Presence within me and embracing it in “the other” is how I can work to overcome the sins of racism and white supremacy. When I acknowledge and embrace God’s very presence in “the other” then I will truly see them as “God bearers”, they themselves, dwellings of God!

This message of the “Divine indwelling” is a critical part of the core message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, along with Christ’s great command, to “love one another as I have loved you”. These truths leave NO space for racism and white supremacy! None!

Let us continue to hold in prayer the victims and families, friends and residents of Buffalo New York in the midst of their sorrow and grief. But also let us work to find meaningful ways to fight systemic racism and white supremacy in our nation and in the world around us.

How do I respond to being loved so deeply and passionately by God? How do I share God’s amazing love for each person, with others who are different from me? When was the last time I heard the Holy Spirit calling me to something...or away from something, what was or will my response be?

Easter Blessings,
Fr. Tim

May 8, 2022

5/7/2022

The image of Jesus as the good shepherd is one of the oldest images in Christianity. I remember seeing it in the catacombs of Rome...painted on the walls of ancient caverns by a people from long ago. What is it about this image that has captivated the minds and hearts of Christians for centuries?

Surely for the post modern mostly urban culture of the West, this image may well seem a bit arcane and less accessible than it was to our ancestors. Jesus is depicted, through the use of this image, as a shepherd, who was, in that time and in that culture, a relatively unimportant and certainly not powerful figure.

The disciples and all those who followed Jesus around experienced Jesus as kind and gentle, like the “good” shepherd who watches over the sheep with great care and concern and even risks his/her own safety for the sake of the sheep.

This image of a kind and gentle god was somewhat unique, but then so was the idea of a god who would be willing to suffer and die for us.

I believe that this image of the Good Shepherd has endured precisely because of its radical departure of a more common image of a distant and disinterested and sometimes even vengeful god. One to whom you made sacrifices to appease his/her anger and rage for any possible slights or missteps against them you may have made, and thus survive for another day.

This image of “the good shepherd” tells us that our God loves us and cares for us and journeys with us as we travel through the valleys and hills of our lives. Our God, holds us in his hands!

But too, it may well speak to us of what we are called to be...in Christ’s image...”good shepherds” of the lost and vulnerable, the poor and the forsaken.

As disciples of Christ we are called to reach out to the poor, to reach out to the marginalized and the ones society dismisses or demeans.

And as we have just recently celebrated Earth Day, we recognize that truly “good shepherds” also recognize the importance of all of creation and our environment, for our sheep depend on a healthy ecosystem. So as “good shepherds” we are also called to care for creation, to be aware of how our lives impact the earth and the lives of others.

And so we ask ourselves: how am I being called to be a “good shepherd” in my family, in my school or place of work, in my community, in my nation, in the wider world? What am I willing to risk “as a good shepherd” for the sake of the flock... for the sake of creation...for building up of the Reign of God?

Easter Blessings,
Fr. Tim

May 1, 2022

4/30/2022

In the readings this Sunday, the spiritual dynamic seems to be three- fold: God draws near, sensing our own unworthiness, we protest; grace overcomes our weaknesses, failings, and fear, resulting in abundance far beyond our imagining...and our nets overflow with God’s love for us!

In today’s Gospel, I am sure Peter remembers well, the cock crowed three times, and the other disciples know well they had abandoned Jesus in his last hours. But each one eventually opens their heart and responds to God’s call.

I always have to smile at Peter’s response to Jesus revealing himself to the disciples, yet another time...“Let’s go fishing”....the truth is, the disciples, dazed and confused return to that which they knew best... fishing! However, even the one thing that they thought they knew how to do, doesn’t work anymore!

Everything has changed...and then there are these appearances of Jesus, raised from the dead! He appeared to them and breathed on them and gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit, he gave them a mission and sent them out, just as he had been sent by God....and then they went fishing!

And so Jesus follows them and tries again to help them understand what their mission is and to what it is that he is sending them to do...he makes another attempt to guide them on their way.

Jesus tells Peter explicitly that he is to shepherd his flock...and for each time he denied he knew Jesus, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him.

And Peter eventually accepts this new role but with the knowledge that it will ultimately take him to a similar death as Jesus, who is asking Peter to take up “his” cross and follow him. The disciples are often presented as not fully understanding Jesus’ message and to what it is that Christ is calling them...but he is patient and calls them again and again...just as Christ calls us.

Over and over again, no matter how many times we find our nets empty and think all the fish are gone, Jesus comes to us and tells us to “try the other side”. Regardless of how many times we deny Jesus or refuse to throw our nets on the other side, Jesus is patient and will lovingly ask us again....with God there is always another chance! Where is God calling me to cast my nets? Imagine for a moment how they must have felt.

I think that we all know how Peter and the other fishermen felt. After a long and fruitless night they’re tired and disappointed...and they are confused about what has happened to Jesus, dawn arrives and the nets are empty. We’ve all invested time and energy into things that simply did not pan out; we’ve known failure in one guise or another.

In the midst of the daybreak of their disappointment, with empty nets in hand, Jesus called Peter to go back out there and lower their nets again. Disciples trust, even when their nets are empty, that there are fish out there to be caught. Jesus calls the disciples to action, to show their faith in him.

Even though Peter three times denied he knew Jesus, he was given the opportunity to three times proclaim his love for Jesus! We are called to measure our fruitfulness, not by individual success, but by our faithfulness to our call...our call to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Our trust remains not because of what we can do, but rather, in what God can do through us.

What is God calling me to in my life? When I hear God’s call how do I move from protest to grace? Am I willing to follow Jesus’ directive to “launch out into the deep”?

Fr. Tim

April 24, 2022

4/22/2022

Doubt is a perennial reality of the Christian life and in today’s Gospel we see that it has been so since the very beginning. My grandmother used to say that “a little doubt is good for the soul”.When I experience doubt, it means that I am really engaging in and wrestling with the Christian mystery.

I think that Thomas gets a bit of a bad rap because we forget that Thomas is one of the very first human beings to ever hear of the resurrection of Christ. Imagine what it must have been like for the disciples. They had pinned all of their hopes on this man Jesus and then they saw him executed by the Romans. All their hopes hung on that cross and seemed to die with him. Then, in the midst of their trembling and fear, Jesus appears to them and imparts to them “his peace” -- the peace of the Risen Christ!

And then he breaths on them and gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit. This gift was to embolden them as he sent them out into the world to proclaim the Good News that death had been defeated, our sins were forgiven and even though our bodies die, we will live forever!

The peace of Christ is at the center of Christian life and of the Easter story. This peace is like no other peace. It is Christ’s peace. It is a transformative peace that flows forth from the Risen One...directly from God to us.

In this Easter season let us open our hearts and minds to the presence of the Holy Spirit who is calling us and emboldening us to proclaim the peace of Christ to all the world. And let us pray, may this “peace of the Risen Christ” settle upon Ukraine and all places of war and suffering.

Have I accepted Christ’s peace in my own life? How can I show forth Christ’s peace in my daily life...how can I share it with the world around me?

May the peace of the Risen One be with you always,
Fr. Tim

April 17, 2022

4/15/2022

On that first day of the week, while it was still dark... Mary went to the tomb only to discover it empty... then she ran to Simon Peter and the other disciples.

Mary ran off in a hurry to share what she had found; and in her sharing, the disciples began the journey that would eventually lead to an encounter with “The Christ”... “The Risen One”.

Though we know well the Easter story, do we ever fully grasp its meaning? The stone has been rolled away...the tomb is empty for the resurrected One cannot be contained!

Like the first believers, we so often must continue to live even with our dashed hopes, our suffering, and our misunderstanding of God’s mysterious power.

Like the first believers, we come to the tomb and expect to find death, but instead we find signs of a new life that we cannot even begin to comprehend.

Like the first believers, we do not realize that all of history has been broken open and is now filled with the life-giving presence of the Risen One!

This is the day the Lord has made...let us rejoice and be glad!!! Like the disciples, let us actively seek the risen One in our midst...in the ordinariness of our daily lives.

For as surely as Christ appeared to the disciples, Christ now appears to us in our lives -- even in the midst of death, sorrow and pain, Christ is present, and this is what heals us and helps us carry on!

Let us keep our eyes, ears and hearts open to the presence of the Risen One. Let us, like Mary, run forth to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all the world!

I pray you all,
the Risen Christ’s most abundant Easter Blessings.
Fr. Tim

...Christ is present,
and this is what heals us
and helps us carry on!

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