“With your rod and your staff that give me courage.” (Psalm 23: 4). In the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (RSV-CE) translation the verse reads: “…your rod and your staff comfort me.”

Courage and comfort…

I guess the image of a rod giving courage or comfort does not come to mind easily. It is used by the Shepherd to prod and nudge sheep that stray. Not necessarily an image of courage.

Think of it as assurance. Walking with the assurance of someone watching over you gives you the courage to carry on; to do what your God is calling you to do or be.

As for comfort, I imagine that as long as I can see the tip of the rod when I am at a distance would be comforting, knowing that I am not too far off.

It takes courage to come back to Church after being away for so long. But take comfort in knowing that the desire you feel in your heart comes from our watchful and loving Shepherd.

“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:19-31)

This was St. Thomas’ reaction when he was told about the risen Lord’s first appearance to the disciples. Think about it for a moment. Thomas was one of the most trusted men in His inner circle, one who walked with Jesus in His public ministry. And yes, one of the many who abandoned Him when He was arrested, tortured and put to death.

Just imagine, after all those promises, after all those miracles, after all the things he learned from Jesus, all ended in the Cross. Thomas must have been crushed. I think I would have reacted just the same if I was told that He had resurrected.

The Risen Christ in his infinite compassion came back to where the Apostles were gathered – hiding – in fear of the authorities, and showed His precious wounds to Thomas. Rather than chastising him for his unbelief He offered Himself to Thomas’ examination.

We don’t know if Thomas did put his fingers in Jesus’ wounds but we know what his reaction was: “My Lord and my God.”

We are all doubting Thomases. It is our nature to want proof. While faith is a gift from God our willingness to respond is not easy. It requires an act of our will.

If you have read this far, and have been away from your Church – our Church – is because something brought you here… Someone brought you here. You may not recognize it as such but Someone is stirring your heart. Perhaps this is a good time to give into His call. Don’t worry. He will not chastise you either. He will welcome you with open arms.

“And when He entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, ‘Who is this?'”

“The crowds replied, ‘This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth of Galilee.'”

An so it begins… The holiests of weeks is upon us. The Catholic church int its entirety – ordained, consecrated, lay – enters into the mistery that is Jesus’ Passion and Resurection. This time next week we will be joyfully celebrating His resurection from the dead thus revealing God’s plan for His most precious creation.

This is a week full of traditions; traditions remembered; traditions celebrated; traditions passed down. Parents prepare easter baskets for their kids who look forward to the egg hunts.

Perhaps it is also the time when our hearts yearn for something else. We can choose to remember those precious moments of our years past, or the ones that we lived with our children. Or we can choose to open our hearts again to let this “prophed from Nazareth of Galilee.” If you do, don’t be surprised if you find yourself shaken and asking “Who Is This?”

Maybe the right thing to do is to ask Him yourself: “Who are You?” Don’t you think it is time to rekindle your relationship with the King of Kings?

The parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Mt 20: 1-16) tells the story of a landowner who hires workers at different times of the day to work on his vineyard. When the day is over he pays everyone the usual daily wage. As you can imagine the ones hired earlier in the day felt cheated; their pay was the same as that of the ones that started much later.

Jesus had a more important message to get across: God – the Landowner – is free to impart graces as He wishes. It doesn’t matter if you are a latecomer. God is not going to impart less graces on you. In fact, you are the person He is eagerly waiting for.

Anthony Falbo www.falboart.com

It took me a while to realize that no matter where I was or had been He is also there with me.

The thought of returning after all these years was a bit uncomfortable. I thought I had to reach a certain level of ‘goodness’ before I could go back to God and the Church He established.

This Sunday’s gospel passage (John 21: 1-19) drove the message home: Jesus always meets me where I am.

At this point in the Resurection events Jesus asks Peter – you know, the one that thrice deined him – “Do you love me?” He asks the question 3 times and every time Peter affirms his love for Jesus.

It is easy to think this was the Jesus gave Peter the chance to make up for his triple denial. But in the original text of the gospel of John, written in Greek, Jesus and Peter use different words for “love.” The word Jesus used the first two times He asks Peter is “agape” which refers to an intense, complete, devoted, sacrificial love. In response Peter uses the word “phileo” which refers to love as in friendship.

You can imagine Jesus realizing that Peter wasn’t quite getting the question. On his third attempt Jesus then uses the word “phileo” at which point, the gospel points out, Peter became distressed that Jesus had asked him three times the same question. Keep in mind as well that even though Peter didn’t seem to get it Jesus asked him to feed His lambs and tend His sheep; in other words, He placed His own herd in Peter’s hands.

Yes, this is the same way Jesus engages with us as well; He meets us where we are. All we have to do is turn to Him.

Don’t let your past or present situation, the years you have been away from the Catholic Church to keep you from turning back to Jesus. He will meet you where you are and keep you company on your way back to the Mass.

“I am the bread of life.” (John 6: 35)

This is the begining of The Bread of Life discourse where Jesus tells His disciples that He is the bread that comes down from heaven; and that in order to have life in us we must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Kinda hard to take isn’t it? So it was to many who heard Him at the time and just left Him.

You would imagine that if He didn’t mean it that way that He would have said so. “Wait! I mean it figuratively. It is just a symbol.” But He did not. He turned to His Apostles and asked them if they were going to leave Him as well.

But the point here is not whether it was meant to be a symbol or not as many Catholics – unfortunately – believe. The point is that He feeds us. He nourishes us with life-giving bread that nourishes us and gives us life.

It is in the Eucharist that Christ continues to give us this life-giving nourishment; nourishment that we need to confront whatever we run into in our day-to-day.

Lord, I want,
actually I need,
for this to be a good Lent…
and I need your help to do that…

“Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He answered them, “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.” Soldiers also asked him, “And what is it that we should do?” He told them, “Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages.”” (LK 3: 12-14)

Tax collectors and soldiers were being baptized by John the Baptist. Their response to his admonition to repent was to ask “What should we do?”.

Two things strike me. First, Luke chose to use tax collectors and soldiers as main characters in this story. Both groups were perhaps the most hated groups in Israel at the time. The soldiers could not be Israeli. At that time Israel was occupied by Rome so it is safe to assume that these were Roman soldiers (i.e. the oppressors). Tax collectors were also representatives of Rome. Their job was to collect taxes from the people of Israel.

But the first thing that strikes me is that John did not say “stop collecting taxes” to the tax collector or “stop being a soldier” to the Roman soldier. What he said to them was to continue doing their jobs but with honesty.

Second, John did not say “just be baptized and believe”. His answer, rather, was a call to action, to do (or rather stop doing) something.

When God calls he is asking us to live a life radically different than the one we live, but similar in many ways. Responding to His call requires a change of heart, a heart that has Him as its center. The result is a radically different way of doing what we do, a different way of being of who we are.

It is time to give God a chance. Let Him feed you in your journey.

He is always attentive to our needs, no matter what we ask for (MK 10: 35-45). This was the question he asked when the sons of Zebedee told Him they wanted Him to give them what they were about to ask for.

Do not be afraid to ask God to help with your unbelief.

I think that it is our human nature to focus on our own shortcomings rather than taking the time to look at the bigger picture. This thought certainly came to mind yesterday as I listened to that part of Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus summons his closest friends to instruct them on sharing the Good News.

In this particular passage we hear the names of the Twelve Apostles: Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collect; James the on of Alpheus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus.

If you are like me you probably have not thought much about the Apostles. But at a closer look you will see the sort of lot that Jesus called upon.

Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen. Philip was sort of a socialite. People approached him when they wanted to meet and speak with Jesus. Jesus consulted Philip about what to do with the crowds that followed them and were then hungry. Finally, Philip spoke for the rest of the bunch during the last supper when he asked Jesus to show them the Father.

Thomas seems to me to have been the more pessimistic. In one account, after Jesus revealed to His friends that He intended to go to Jerusalem, Thomas is the one who extorts the rest of the Apostles telling them that they should go die with Him. In another more familiar account Thomas is the one who would not believe the news about Jesus’ resurrection until he stuck his fingers in Jesus’ wounds.

Matthew worked for the Romans as a tax collector. Tax collectors were not well regarded among the Jews since they represented the oppressors. They were also known to collect more than required so they could skim some money for themselves.

Simon the Canaanite was a Zealot. The Zealots were a more radical group in the Jewish community that did not find the Roman occupation of Israel compatible with their beliefs. They staged a number of uprisings, one of which culminated in Rome’s unleashing of their worst oppression towards the end of the first century.

Matthew and Simon the Canaanite together. Sounds like having a US General working alongside with an ISIS commander…

Judas Iscariot… well, we know him because he betrayed Jesus. He was also the one Jesus entrusted with the finances of the group.

Fishermen, a doubter, a tax collector (Roman collaborator), a Zealot and a traitor. These and the rest of the bunch are the ones Jesus sent not before telling them: “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'”

So… we should not think for one minute that we are not worthy of God’s call. In fact, it is in you and me that he is counting on today to make that same proclamation to today’s “lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Are you ready to come back? God’s Kingdom depends on you and me.