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Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 9, 2026

A Quiet Presence in the Storm

Droughts, fires, floods, famines, plagues, wars, discord among communities and families – so many, many difficult and destructive things happening all at once these days. It’s hard to know how to respond in ways that are constructive and supportive of all the best in humanity.

Hard as it is to be hopeful sometimes, we do well to remember that living together in peace has never been a hallmark of the human experience. We generally do better at being good to each other within our local communities, but we don’t always succeed even there. Some folks always seem to get left out for one reason or another. Anyone outside our local community is suspect. We don’t trust those folks, assuming we even credit them with being human.

- What if they want our food?
- What if they take our homes?
- What will they do to our sons and daughters?
- Are they even human? Probably not! They do things so differently than we do…
- And so it goes. Again and again in human history.

So much for the history of human interaction. What about the craziness and unpredictability of the weather?

- Will the rain come in time for the crops?
- Will the migrating animals we need for food, clothing, and shelter come through our area again this year?
- Will it ever stop raining? It just keeps coming and the creek is rising. It’ll be coming in the front door soon! I
- It’s so darned hot – even the sun-loving crops are dying in the fields!
- The forest and the grasslands are burning out of control. The skies are black and the sun is orange!

Who is causing all this chaos? It must be an angry god! This was the explanation proposed for thousands of years to these very real challenges which we still face today.

When the prophet Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal, he got in so much trouble with the wife of the king that he had to flee. He went off by himself, expecting simply to die alone somewhere. But the Lord sent a messenger with food for him and told him to go Mount Horeb, otherwise known as Mount Sinai, the Lord’s mountain where Moses received the Law. There he was to wait for the coming of the Lord.

Elijah obeyed and arriving at the mountain, he went into a cave for shelter. The Lord told him to go stand on the mountain, outside the cave. There the Lord would pass by in his sight.

Elijah obeyed and went to the mouth of the cave. As he waited there, just inside the cave, the wind blew wildly, and the earth shook, breaking rocks as if they were dry bread. Then fire came, blowing over the side of the mountain and consuming everything in its path. But the Lord was not in the fire.

Finally, there was a very quiet stillness and just a hint of a whisper. This was the moment in which the Lord was passing in front of Elijah. Elijah used his cloak to cover his face and went to stand at the foot of the cave, as the Lord had instructed him to do.

The Lord was not present in the fire and wind and earthquake. All of those can do great harm. Yet they were not signs of the Lord’s presence. The Lord was present in the quiet whisper of what might have been a gentle breeze. (1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a)

A quiet peace also marked Jesus’ response to the challenges of a great storm.

Once he had fed the crowd of over 5,000 people who had come to hear him teach and heal the sick in the countryside across the lake, Jesus went off by himself to pray. He often did this. He had sent his disciples off in the boat to go home too. He could walk home the next day. It wasn’t that far.

But a storm came up on the lake that night. The boat was being tossed around and the wind was blowing it in the wrong direction. Jesus saw it happening and began walking across the water to them.

Think about it. A man whom you consider to be a teacher and healer is now walking on the water of a stormy sea! Since that is clearly impossible for a human to do, it must be a spirit of some sort – a ghost! It’s a terrifying thought for most people and the disciples were no exception.

Jesus saw their fear and called out to them not to be afraid. Peter wanted to be sure. “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” Jesus responded. And Peter, ever brash Peter, hopped out of the boat and began walking toward Jesus. Then he came to his senses and panicked. As he began sinking, he cried out to Jesus to save him and Jesus responded immediately, taking him by the hand and getting him back to the boat.

“Why did you doubt,” Jesus asked Peter. He asks us the same thing today. Why do you doubt? Why do you not trust me?

St. Matthew tells us the disciples paid him homage – “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Mt 14:22-33)

Do we really believe his words too? When he says we are to feed the hungry, clothe those who have no clothing, find homes for those without them, welcome and help those who come from other lands, care for the sick, visit those in prison or are otherwise isolated from the community, why do we doubt that he really meant it?

In our own lives, how do we pay him homage? Do we lock ourselves away and build walls to keep people out? Do we stop people who don’t look like us and toss them out of the country? Do we refuse to help parents who can’t earn enough to buy food and provide homes for their children? How do we pay him homage?

He has already told us. We are called to find the Lord present in the storm, quietly calling each of us to be bearers of peace and help within our world. We begin with our families and communities, but we must also reach out and welcome others who come to our communities needing help and support to work and contribute to the well-being of all. We are called to live the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, come to share our lives and lead us into a better way to be humans and communities of life and love.

Not all in our families or communities will agree with how this is to happen or with what urgency. St. Paul felt a great pain and frustration that his religious and national community did not quickly recognize Jesus and become followers of the way. (Rom 9:1-5) We who deal with these kinds of conflicting visions within our nations and families experience some of the same pain.

Yet we are still called to follow the call we hear from the Lord. Only in the continued witness of our lives of service and outreach can Love quietly continue to reach out and transform hearts and lives. Our refusal to break engagement with families and friends in violent or in negative interactions will be essential for the rebuilding of those relationships and building the kind of open, loving communities across our local communities, nations, and the entire world that are characteristic of the Kingdom of God. When the needs of those least able to fend for themselves are being addressed, all benefit as their gifts and talents shine forth for the good of all.

A quiet presence in the storm – the one who brings gentle kindness and healing to all who will accept it, in union with our sisters and brothers around the world.

As we move through our lives this week, may we remember to watch for those who need help, to be kind to those we meet, to speak up for those whose needs are being denied, and to trust that the Lord will be present in those quiet moments of fellowship and service as we work to build a better world community for all.

Peace be with you on the journey.

Readings for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 2, 2026

Come to the Water – Abundant Gifts of Love

I think I was in late high school when I first really heard Isaiah’s prophecy of the generous abundance of the Lord’s gifts to all who come to receive them. It was a silent retreat and the retreat master assigned me this reading. I remember feeling totally blown away by it.

“All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat, come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!”

Like most Americans, I had grown up with the notion that success and the good things of life are the fruit of an individual’s hard work and commitment. I had no sense of the tremendous advantages I had received from the educational levels of my parents and the social connections and stability I had always taken for granted.

“Come to the water.” “Come, without paying and without cost!” What an amazing thing.

And yet, that is the promise. The Lord of all, creator of heaven and earth, wants to give us all we need. “Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.”

Listen. “I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.” (Is 55:1-3)

The covenant is a two-way agreement. It includes the expectation that those in need will find help and those from other lands will be treated fairly and welcomed to their new home. It includes sharing what we have, our abundance, with those who for whatever reason are not able to earn enough to afford the basics for themselves and their children.

It’s not necessarily an easy thing for those of us who have been blessed with safety and security in our lives. Yet it is essential as far as the Lord is concerned.

Jesus himself gave us an example of this kind of giving. His cousin John had been arrested by King Herod and was being held without trial. John had been a prophet, known for baptizing people in the Jordan River and announcing the coming of the Anointed One. He had spoken out against one of Herod’s acts and was imprisoned.

When word arrived that John had been executed, Jesus wanted to be alone for a bit, to process the loss of his cousin and probably also to deal with the growing understanding that his own preaching and activities could just as easily get him into trouble with the authorities. It was time to go and pray a bit – without all the crowds of people.

But that wasn’t to be. The crowds followed him out into “a deserted place” where there were no villages or other services. He had crossed the lake to get there. They had seen where he was going and started walking. They arrived about the same time he did.

Jesus’ response to this unexpected gathering tells us a lot about how the Father is likely to react to us too. “His heart was moved with pity for them and he cured their sick.” He didn’t get huffy. He didn’t send them away. He didn’t yell at anyone. He simply began healing those who came to him.

As the day got later, and the crowds continued to press closely, the disciples advised him to send the people away, so they could get to a village and buy food. But Jesus rejected that advice. “Give them some food yourselves.”

They didn’t have much to share themselves – just five loaves of bread and two fish. Enough for the small group of disciples to share, but just barely. Certainly not enough to feed such a large crowd. But that didn’t deter Jesus. “Bring them here to me.”

Then Jesus showed us firsthand what the Kingdom is about. He told the people to sit down and they did. Thousands of people on the grassy field. Just as he would later with the bread and wine at his last supper with his friends, he offered a blessing, broke the loaves and fish and gave them to the disciples to pass out among the people.

The disciples moved through the crowd, sharing the food. The people passed food among themselves. In a great wave of blessing, all in the crowd received plenty to eat. “All were satisfied,” we are told. In fact, there was so much food at the end that when the scraps were picked up they filled twelve baskets! Twelve – the number of the tribes of Israel. Food for all. (Mt 14:13-21)

The abundance of the love of the Lord and of the gifts he has for each of us is unimaginable. It’s not because we work hard or live good lives. It’s because he loves us. He loved us into being and he keeps on loving us as we bumble along and keep learning how to love too.

“Come to the water.” “Come, without paying and without cost!”

And when we do, we find as St Paul declares, that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:35, 37-39)

We who live as part of the community, the Eucharistic community in which we still bless, break, and share the body of the Lord, are called to serve each other with the same abundant love and care as Jesus did. Welcome the stranger. Feed the hungry. Heal the sick. Teach the children. Find homes for those who have none and clothes for those who need them.

It’s not always popular. It’s often seen as impractical and foolish. Many think it rewards laziness. But in my experience, there’s a lot we don’t know about others, their life experiences, their limitations, the physical, neurological, and emotional challenges they face. And as we reach out and offer even a smile and a kind word, healing occurs. Hearts warm. Hope flickers into life again.

“Come to the water.” “You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat.” “Listen that you may have life.”

It’s not always easy, but as we remember that we too are called and equally in need of this food and love, we find we too are blessed in the encounter. We too receive the water of life and bread of hope. We receive life.

Peace.

Readings for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

Here’s a beautiful rendition of John Foley’s composition, Come to the Water.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jul 25, 2026

Nineteen Years – God in Everyday Life!

Original Theologika Logo

Nineteen years ago, my husband and I had a bright idea. What if there were a website devoted to finding God present in everyday life? Lots of sites at the time presented visions of spiritual life and vocation that often seemed far from the realities of life in a family, with children, careers, and all the challenges and joys of day-to-day life. But for folks caught up in the details of getting the family up, clothed, fed, and out the door to work and school, where might there be even an instant to stop and pray formally? Was it necessary to live in a community where such times were scheduled if one wanted a closer relationship with God? Could there be a way to live as ordinary folks raising ordinary kids, doing ordinary work in a small city or town?

And where might the institutional Church fit into such a life? Was it only through Sunday Mass and religious education classes? Sure, grace before dinner is great, but is it necessary to bring the whole family together to pray the rosary to raise children of faith?

We were children during the Vatican Council that instituted the reforms of liturgy and practice which we celebrate today. We remembered the days when folks came to Mass and sat in silence, praying from their own prayer books as the priest offered Mass. We remembered how few people received Communion and how many refrained because they hadn’t been to Confession on Saturday afternoon. Our families had welcomed the reforms and embraced them for us and with us.

How could we share the delights of living in faith and finding God even in the middle of preparing dinner or washing up the dishes afterwards?

A friend suggested a website and offered to help set it up and host it. He had friends who could make it happen. And so, we started. (Thanks, Paul and Rajesh!)

Randy Pozos and I began to write our blog posts and publish them on our very own site, www.Theologika.net. The first post was published July 25, 2007 – nineteen years ago, Welcome to Theologika – A Space for All Things Theological.

I began writing a few days later with a description of the encounter of a child with a stuffed animal at the fabric store. I called it Love at the Fabric Store. It’s still one of my favorites of the over 500 posts I have written and shared in these past nineteen years.

We have lived a very full life along the way. Our children are raised and living fascinating lives of their own. We have grandchildren with whom we are blessed to share once again all the joys of childhood and of growing in wisdom and love through the daily challenges of life. And along the way we have been blessed to share what we have seen and learned with our readers.

Theologika is much more than a blog now. We have a library of works that are well worth reading and a Boutique where you can find them through Amazon. We have added a section we call Digest that brings together works from many authors and sources on specific topics. For each Digest issue, I created a puzzle that readers can try. The answers are found in the articles of the Digest. For many, there is also a PDF version than can be downloaded and shared with others.

Another section is Ask Theologika. In this one we answer questions on topics friends have suggested.

One of my favorite sections is OFS – Other Fun Stuff. How do we make a life of faith fun for our children? We have suggestions, recipes, and activities to share with families and friends.

We are still getting bright ideas and adding content. Webinars are among the newest – just getting started with those.

Thank you for sharing these past nineteen years with us. There’s a lot of content – just use the search bar and see what’s there – reflections on the readings for all three cycles of the liturgical year, lives of saints, experiences of God’s presence in daily activities, surprising things that happen along the way, and much, much more.

A big thank you to Randy, who along the way became a deacon and shared that learning and journey with me. Thank you also to family and friends who have shared their thoughts and insights as guest bloggers on the site. This was never intended to be only a forum for our voices alone.

We look forward to continuing to share our observations, joys, and hopes with others. We hope you, our readers, enjoy reading our work and share it with others.

On this feast of St. James the Apostle, may you be blessed with joy and hope in each day of your life. Remember always, you are loved, deeply and personally by the One who is Love. We are all blessed.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jun 28, 2026

Priorities in Loving – Parents, Family, Other?

In recent years, we have seen enormous chasms open among families as various members voice political and social opinions that differ radically from those of others in the family. In some cases, people stop talking with each other entirely. In others, ways are found to keep interactions polite and to help each other with ordinary activities despite their serious differences of opinion. Respect for each other and determination to maintain loving relationships are fundamental in these situations and times.

The words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as written by St. Matthew ring loudly in the Gospel today, if perhaps not understood completely in the context in which Jesus spoke them. Most of us have heard them and many times we write them off as extreme or irrelevant in our lives. And yet, there they are.

“Whosoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” (Mt 10:37-42)

What about the requirement to love each other unconditionally? Isn’t it normal for members of a family to grow up and have families of their own? Where does responsibility to one’s birth family fit in terms of responsibility for the family a couple builds once they are married adults? Is this what Jesus is talking about?

Actually, there’s far more to these statements than we normally realize. In fact, the whole notion of family and the responsibility of each member of the family to each other was completely different in Jesus’ time and culture than it is in much of society today, particularly societies based on Western cultures and expectations.

In most Western societies, families are considered to be relatively independent units of two adults and their children. In Anthropology we call these nuclear families. We still have our parents and grandparents, but when we grow up and start our own families, we are expected to manage mostly on our own, with little responsibility for support of our children or our choices on the part of prior generations. If we choose to do things differently than our parents did, that’s OK. There may be some ‘Tut-tutting” about it, but the family reputation does not rise or fall based on the choices of individual members. Another facet of this is that if the children do not conform to the traditions and expectations of earlier generations of the family, it’s not generally going to have serious social and economic repercussions against the grandparental generation! The family reputation may not continue to be as high, but the understanding is that older generations are not responsible for the choices of members of the younger ones. Therefore, the reputation of the elders is not as seriously damaged as that of the younger ones who have chosen different paths.

In ancient civilizations and in many cultures even today, the idea of family was different. The head of the family, whether a man in patrilineal societies or a woman in matrilineal ones, is responsible for his or her children, their spouses, and their children. This applies to their daily home lives as well as their broader social lives. If someone in another family has insulted or harmed someone in mine, that person becomes my enemy. If a person from my family breaks a social rule, such as having a child out of wedlock or running away to marry a person of whom the family does not approve, it is considered a disgrace to the entire family, beginning with the head of the family. We call this the corporate family model. In Jesus’ time, the corporate model was the only one he and others had ever known. To go publicly against the will of the head of the family was a very serious thing. Yet the social conventions of the time assumed as they largely do today that those who have higher economic resources and status are entitled to them because of something in their close family or ancestry.

Jesus insisted that our relationship with himself is more important than our relationships with family, friends, or society at large. As the one who has come to renew the bond between the Father and humanity, loyalty to him and to his teaching must come first. If he says we must love our neighbors as ourselves and welcome and help newcomers, then that must take first place in our lives, regardless of the decrees of our families or leaders.

As we reflect on this teaching today, it’s important to broaden our sense of what the words of Jesus mean in our nuclear-family-based societies today. Who are the people and groups with whom we may or may not identify? Who do we want to please in our choice of what we support or do? How do we look at people we see on the street or in our country as a whole? Who are we told are our enemies? Do we believe what we are being told?

Political parties, social classes, school friends, church communities, professional networks – all play a role in our self-identities.

Since these other social groups have become so important to each of us, we must increasingly be aware of their power to influence our opinions and behavior. If my friends all believe those who need food assistance are just lazy and not willing to work, will I believe that too? Or will I help out at a food pantry and get to know the people who come for help and hear their stories? Will I believe sensational news stories that claim entire groups of immigrants are stealing from the communities in which they live or will I listen to the voices of the authorities and social services programs in those communities who testify to their honesty and hard work? Will I cheer for the closing of borders and refusal to give refuge to people fleeing violence or will I remember our history of offering help to those who had nowhere else to go and came hoping to become members of a community in which they could live and work in peace and safety?

If Jesus were speaking to us today, our family relationships might not be the primary focus of his admonition. Instead, he might say something like, “Whoever cares more about their social standing in the community, or their chances for making a lot of money from a big, politically well-connected company than me is not worthy of me. Whoever tries to buy influence or please their political party is not worthy of me. Whoever smugly assumes that they have gotten all the blessings of security and comfort in their lives because of their own exclusive actions and so others must do the same, is not worthy of me.”

It’s not easy to go against the opinions and beliefs of family, friends, business associates, government policies, and others who exercise powerful roles in one’s country. But that’s where the second half of Jesus’ teaching still holds. “Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Losing one’s life does not necessarily mean literally dying. There are many small deaths we experience in life, when friends don’t understand what we are doing, when activities are misunderstood or scorned, when doors slam shut because of positions we have taken. These are all forms of the cross.

Yet Jesus also promises, “whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple – amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

This coming week, let us be open to hear the Lord’s voice in the voices of the “little ones” in our world. The ones whose experiences are often never seen or heard. The ones who have been told so many times that they don’t know anything and are no good that they may have despaired and begun to believe those lies.

Let us share what we have, welcome those we meet, smile at people as we walk down the street, and generally treat others as we hope to be treated ourselves – with love, respect, and patient understanding.

In this, the Kingdom of God can continue to take root and grow in our lives and the world.

Peace be with you.

Readings for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jun 7, 2026

Heavenly Food and Earthly Food – Corpus Christi

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) – the name of today’s feast is, in itself, a real mouthful! We celebrate the gift of the Eucharist on this feast, a gift that makes no sense whatsoever in our logic-based world. How can bread and wine be the body and blood of a person, even a divine person? Beginning with the first disciples, the followers of Jesus have struggled to understand this concept.

The very notion of eating the flesh of another person is not acceptable in most cultures, though in the course of human history, the practice is found in a variety of cultures and given a variety of meanings. Sometimes, it is a form of honoring the courage or strength of the person (often an enemy) whose life has ended in defeat. But the honor might also be towards someone who has given much to their community and died as a result. But we are still talking about eating obviously physical flesh. That was not what Jesus offered to his disciples at the Last Supper and through the centuries that have followed!

Long before the final meal, Jesus told his followers and a large crowd of people who had gathered to see him in town after the miraculous feeding of five thousand men and their families on a mountain in Galilee that he himself was living bread come down from heaven to nourish and give life to all who would eat it. His life would be given for the life of the world. His flesh and blood would nourish all, just as his own life came to be because of the Father who sent him. In the same way, those who ate his flesh and drank his blood would have eternal life. (Jn 6:51-58)

Jesus reminded those listening of the days hundreds of years earlier, when the Father sent manna in the desert to sustain the people as they traveled there for forty years after leaving Egypt. The Father gave food, but that food did not give eternal life. It sustained their earthly lives. It was earthly food, though provided in an unexpected way and not in a form any had seen before that time. In contrast, the flesh and blood of Jesus, through whom the Father’s life was flowing, would give eternal life.

Even in the desert, Moses reminded the people that although their lives had been saved by the manna which fell from the sky to feed them, the critical thing they must always remember is that bread alone is not enough to sustain life. The Lord’s people are sustained in life by His word. As they entered into the land across the Jordan, the Lord’s word would be the source of their lives as individuals and as a people. (Deut 8:2-3, 14b-16a)

Jesus did not back down when the authorities and the crowds argued against what he was claiming and walked away. Only a few remained, including his closest friends. As Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

When his last meal with his friends came, Jesus kept his promise. He took the bread of the Passover feast, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his friends, telling them to eat it because it was his body. He took the last cup of wine of the traditional meal and did the same, giving it to his friends to drink because it was his blood. Then he told them to do it later themselves in remembrance of him.

After his death and resurrection, when he met some disciples on the road to Emmaus and sat to share a meal with them, he again blessed the bread, broke it, and passed it to them to share. At that, they recognized him and he disappeared from their sight. They hurried back to Jerusalem to tell the others and found he had appeared to them as well.

From that time on, the community continued to share in the bread and wine, blessed, broken, and shared by all, believing his words that these ordinary foods were transformed by his promise into the life-giving flesh and blood of his sacrifice. They came to understand that sharing in this food nourishes and builds the community, the Body of Christ here on Earth. (1 Cor 10:16-17)

And so, shortly after we celebrate Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, we celebrate the great gift of the food we need to sustain us in our lives as part of the Body of Christ. Looking and tasting like ordinary bread and wine, but being so very much more, we gather once again to share in this great gift.

This week, may we be deeply aware of our sharing in the life of Christ, of our part as members of his Body here and now, and of our calling to continue his mission of proclaiming the great good news of God’s unequivocal, undying love for all of us through our service and care for our fellow human beings, rich and poor, citizens and non-citizens, of all colors, all genders, all the marvelous diversity of humanity. We are the Body of Christ here and now. We eat his flesh and drink his blood and go forth nourished by this heavenly food to give us strength for carrying out our mission of loving service.

Peace be with you.

Readings for the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ – Corpus Christi – Cycle A

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on May 24, 2026

Many Different Gifts from the Same Spirit

On the Feast of Pentecost, we pray, “Come Holy Spirit, come! And from your celestial home, shed a ray of light divine!”

Many words have been written, including by yours truly, about Pentecost and all that happened on that day so many years ago. (Acts 2:1-11) Today I want to focus on the gifts which the Holy Spirit pours out into the world through each and every one of us.

None of us has received exactly the same gift. None of us will ever be in exactly the same situation as someone else is or has ever been. For each person, the experience of life is unique – our family histories, the experiences we had as children, teens, or adults, our reactions to those experiences, what we have learned, what hopes we have, what fears we have. Each of us is unique.

Because each of us is unique, our relationship with what is sometimes called in anthropology the “Transnatural” and in more common terms, “the divine,” is also unique. We each bring unique gifts to those with whom we share this journey of human life, gifted to us by God. And this God? Not a towering, vengeful, angry, demanding tyrant. Love. Total, unconditional love. Neither male nor female. Moving freely among all beings. Touching each with the breath of life.

This Holy Spirit, this Holy Breath of Life, comes to each one. At Pentecost, we celebrate the pouring out of this Breath into our lives, into our community, into our world. The Wisdom of God, this holy breath, is seen as feminine in Hebrew scripture. It is the gift requested by King Solomon when the Lord offered him any gift he might request as he became King of Israel.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit, as named by the prophet Isaiah in speaking of the coming of the Messiah, are Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel (right judgement), Fortitude (courage), Knowledge, Reverence, and Wonder and Awe for God. Each of these gifts enables us to hear and share the other gifts we receive. Some of those other gifts include leadership, healing, prophecy, discernment, teaching, and interpretation of meanings. In the early church, speaking in tongues and interpreting those words were a more common gift. While not as common today, they are still sometimes received.

One of the key things to understand about the gifts of the Spirit is that they are not received or perceived in exactly the same way for each person. Just as some are good at organizing groups and projects and others are good at telling stories, the gifts of leadership or teaching take different forms with each person who receives them. We all have something to offer, whether originally from the community in which we find ourselves or from somewhere else. Those who come from other parts of the world bring perspectives and experiences that enrich the communities into which they move.

St. Paul reminds us that each of us is part of Christ’s body, so no one is more important or less important than any other one of us. (1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13) With the Spirit’s gifts in our hearts, the fruit of that presence becomes visible in our lives. Peace, joy, kindness, love, gentleness, faithfulness, patience, goodness, and self-control all characterize those who remain in the Spirit as they walk through life. These fruits of the Spirit make their witness more powerful and subtle at the same time. It’s not necessary to speak words to share the Gospel. Our lives of loving, kind, and patient care for others we meet in our daily lives speak of the presence and love of God.

This is all fine and good within Church communities, but how could it possibly have anything to do with life in the world today? How might the gift of reverence, for example, have any relevance in ordinary life? How would the gift of tongues or interpretation of tongues show up today?

There are many ways in which the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit can come into play in our interpersonal interactions, as well as in our interactions with other nations in the world. For example, reverence for the unique experience of another person might show up as respectful attention to what that person is saying and withholding judgement regarding their intentions until they have a chance to explain their point of view. A gift of tongues might include sensitivity to the non-verbal cues we all present to the world in which we move. Those of our own cultural or community group are more likely to interpret them correctly, but some will also be more able to understand the subtle cues from those of another culture or community. This gift is to be shared, so understanding and mutual respect can take root and grow.

When we look at national and international questions and conflicts, openness to the gifts of the Spirit expressed in other people and their customs can and will enrich all of us. When we slam shut doors of communication and interchange, we slam shut our hearts to the workings of the Spirit in all their richness.

Today, as we deal with questions of fairness, justice, human rights, access to the basics needed for human dignity, health care affordability, immigration policy, national defense, and responsibility to care for each other as we would care for Our Lord if we saw him suffering here today, the gifts of the Spirit are the source of our strength and ability to reach out, see the need, and do our part to help alleviate it.

Most of us will never be in a position to change what is happening on the international stage. Most will not have a voice beyond our votes and letters to our elected representatives to change national policy. Nevertheless, we do have the opportunity to make a difference in the communities in which we live. We exercise most of the gifts we receive right here and now in our families, schools, workplaces, and the places where we rest and celebrate together.

As we move through our days, we are called and gifted in many different ways to be part of Christ’s Body, sharing freely in the loving service he gave and wants to continue to offer to all people.

A beautiful hymn in Spanish says it well, “Cristo te necesita para amar” – “Christ needs you to love.” In order to love or simply to love? The word para carries a rather complex meaning here. The English translation is not so literal, it changes the wording a bit to “Jesus needs you to give the world your love.” The hymn goes on to insist that neither race nor skin color are of any importance, love everyone as brothers and sisters and do the right thing. Love the one who suffers, the one who is sad, the one who lives next door and the one who comes from far away. Love those who speak another language and those who think differently than you do, your close friend and the one who doesn’t ever speak to you. It doesn’t matter what their race or the color of their skin, love all as brothers and sisters and do good. As his Body, this is what he needs us, calls us, to do.

This is our call, in easy times and in hard. The Holy Spirit is still working among us, bringing many gifts and sharing them with each of them for our own unique role as part of the kingdom of love, the Body of Christ in our world.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the Earth.

“Cristo Te Necesita Para Amar” – words and music by Cesáreo Gabaráin – in Flor y Canto

Readings for Pentecost – Cycle A

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on May 17, 2026

Why Are You Standing There Looking At The Sky?

Have you ever been to a fair or festival that ended with fireworks soaring into the night sky? All who are present typically stop what they are doing and gaze upwards to see the bright lights and the amazing patterns created in the darkness. The lights shine brightly for a moment, then disappear. All who are watching continue to focus on the dark sky, wondering what will come next. Eventually the last one comes – often with multiple different bursts of patterns and colors. Everyone continues to watch for a bit longer, wondering if there will be another one to come. Finally, it becomes clear the show is over, the fair has ended, and it’s time to pack up and go home.

Something similar happened when Jesus appeared to his friends the last time, though only St. Luke describes it in any detail.

If we take time to look at the end of the four Gospels at the same time, we notice something interesting. None of them ends exactly the same way. St. Matthew doesn’t mention the appearances to the eleven in the upper room, or on the road to Emmaus. He jumps from the bribing of the guards to report that the body of Jesus had been stolen to the disciples seeing Jesus in Galilee on the mountain, presumably the one on which he had preached what we call the Sermon on the Mount. On the mountain, he gave them their instructions to go out and tell the world of his coming and to baptize all nations, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” He promises to be with them to the end of the age. (Mt 28:16-20)

St. Mark has the commissioning occur at the table in Jerusalem after the two disciples had returned from Emmaus. Then Mark says, Jesus was taken up into heaven and seated at the right hand of God. The disciples went out and preached everywhere and their words were confirmed by the signs the Lord worked through them.

St. Luke explains that after Jesus appeared to the disciples at the table in Jerusalem, he took them out to Bethany, raised his hands in blessing, and was taken up into heaven. They returned to Jerusalem joyfully and spent their time in the temple praising God.

St. John is the only one who gives us much information about the time in Galilee. His are the stories of Peter and the others once again on the seashore with a huge catch of fish after a fruitless night of fishing. John doesn’t mention the Ascension at all. He simply ends by telling his readers that these were by far not the only deeds of Jesus, but the entire world would not be able to contain all the books that would have to be written to tell of them!

How then, do we know more about the Ascension and what happened with the disciples afterwards? St. Luke wrote a second book, the Acts of the Apostles, that begins with the Ascension in more detail and continues the story through the first couple of decades of the history of the Christian community.

Jesus appeared to his friends over a period of 40 days after the Resurrection. During that time, he taught them many more things, including an on-going promise that he would send an Advocate for them from the Father who would make everything more clear, especially those things that seemed impossible to believe based on their own experience up to that time. He told them to remain in Jerusalem and wait for “the promise of the Father,” that they would be baptized with the holy Spirit.

They had many questions, including whether the time had come for the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. Jesus must have shaken his head sadly at that question. They still didn’t comprehend that his mission was not to restore a worldly kingdom for any group of people. So, he told them clearly, it’s not your privilege to know the Father’s plans! But … something more important was coming, the holy Spirit would come and give them the ability to be witnesses for Jesus in Judea, Samaria, and to the rest of the world.

Then he was taken from their sight, hidden in a cloud. They stood there, mouths open in surprise! What had just happened? They were sort of used to him showing up and then leaving/disappearing. But this? Into or on a cloud?

They stood looking up to the sky, wondering what would happen next. Was that the end of the show for the day, sort of like the end of a fireworks show? When would he show up again and how?

And then there were two men beside them, dressed in white clothing. (Wearing white clothing was something rare enough that the color is mentioned.) The men asked, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” Jesus would return the way he had just left, they explained, but no more details were given than that. (Acts 1:1-11)

At that point, there was nothing left but to return to Jerusalem from the mountain where they had last seen the Lord. It was close to Jerusalem, just a sabbath day’s journey away.

Forty days after the Resurrection actually happens to be a Thursday, but in order for us to be able to celebrate it more easily, the bishops moved its observation to the Sunday before Pentecost.

This is a time for prayer and reflection on the Good News we have received and our mission to share it in our world. A time of hope for the coming of the Holy Spirit again into our lives, with strength and wisdom to help us witness through service and faithfulness to the teachings of our Lord. (Eph 1:17-23)

We stand looking up, hoping for miracles. Yet our witness and actions are still very much needed in our world today. Jesus is here among us yet, within us, reaching out to bring peace, justice, and healing to all peoples. He has not left us. Our war-like behavior will not bring him back on the clouds in glory. He is still here. The glory that is to come will be seen when the basic needs of all people are being addressed. When food, clothing, shelter, health care, education, a way to have and support a family, and to live with the dignity of being a human person are not the rights of just a few but are the rights of all, and obtainable by all.

This day, this week, this month, this year – we are called to act, to speak, to live as if Jesus is truly alive and we are truly his Body.

Do we believe it? Do we act on that belief? Will we close our astonished mouths, look around us, see the Lord present among all those we meet and get to work to make the Good News of God’s unconditional love for all people and all of creation known through our lives and actions?

Christ is Risen. Christ has ascended to the Father. Christ lives in us now.

Peace be with you.

Readings for The Ascension of the Lord – Cycle A

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Apr 26, 2026

Shoe-d Away or Welcomed In?

We always had dogs when I was a girl and there were many individual quirks that distinguished each of them. One did not like my Grandmother. Another disliked my Aunt. We knew what had caused the issue with Grammy, but none of us was ever sure what my Aunt might have done to make the dog believe she was an enemy. Regardless of the reason, he was absolutely convinced.

She lived in another town several hours away, so he didn’t see her often, but he always barked ferociously when he saw her and moved to guard the door of the house to prevent her entry. As a result, she usually simply came in through the front door rather than the back. It was just easier on the dog and the rest of us that way.

One day, she was in town for a gathering at the home of another family member. She had traveled several hours that day to get there and was tired, so she left earlier than the rest of us did. When we stopped to think, we realized she didn’t have a key to the house, so how was she going to get in?

We hurried home and found the lights on inside the house and the dog loose in the backyard. He had been locked in the kennel when we left, so he wouldn’t go over the fence and take an unsanctioned walk for a bit before we returned. (He had no hesitation about going over the fence when it seemed urgent to him. He also knew how to open the latch on the gate, but that’s another story.)

We went into the house and asked my Aunt how she had gotten in past the dog. The key, after all, was kept inside the locked kennel. She laughed and said, “I shoed him out!”

We all heard shoo-d (past tense of shoo) and were confused. What would shooing a barking, angry dog do that would allow her to get past, retrieve the key, and get safely into the house? But that wasn’t the word she used. It was shoed, but not in the sense one would use to describe putting a shoe on a horse. She explained that she simply picked up the tennis shoe that he loved to chase and retrieve in a game of fetch and tossed it to the far corner of the yard. She stepped into the kennel, got the key, and went into the house before he returned and realized what had just happened. We all had a good laugh at that. She had shoe-d the dog.

I find myself remembering this story as I reflect on Jesus’ description of himself as both shepherd of a flock that is protected in a locked, gated sheepfold and as the gate himself. He reminded his listeners that the shepherd enters and leaves the enclosure through a gate, opened by a gatekeeper. The sheepfold has sheep from many flocks, but his sheep recognize his voice and, reassured by his presence, follow him out the gate and into the pasture for the day. Each sheep has a name and is known to the shepherd, who uses the name to call the sheep to come along. Anyone who doesn’t have the key or the gatekeeper’s permission to enter must find another way in. Thieves come in over the fence, not through the gate. The sheep do not voluntarily come to the thieves and follow them.

A bit later, Jesus adds another layer to the image. “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.” “Amen, amen…” We might phrase it as, “Listen up, guys, this is important!” Jesus is not only the shepherd. Jesus tells us he is the gate through which those who follow his call will enter and leave the sheepfold to go out to the pasture for the day, before returning to its safety for the night. (Jn 10:1-10)

As a good shepherd, he comes to bring abundant life to his sheep, unlike the thieves who steal them in order to kill and eat them.

Our challenge is to hear and recognize the call of this Good Shepherd in our lives. We hear so very many voices, many of which sound very rational and reasonable. Nations and peoples are described as enemies who can never be trusted. Former allies are criticized and insulted. Bombs are dropped and children are killed. It seems like the world has gone mad, made to dance like a puppet in the hands of a mad puppeteer.

Which voices are we to trust? Which people are the dangerous Aunt who must not get past us in our role as guard dogs? Are they really dangerous? Do they throw a shoe for us to chase, so we forget we don’t like or trust them? Or do others who want to fool us throw the shoe, so we won’t notice what they are doing? Are they trying to “shoe” us?

As we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday, let’s keep our eyes and ears open to hear the voice of the Lord, our Shepherd, calling us to be kind and gentle with those we meet, and to be careful not to judge or jump to conclusions about the intentions of other people, especially those whose ways are different than our own. Let’s be hopeful, knowing that we and the rest of our human brothers and sisters are also loved by God and called to relationship with each other and with our divine Father, our brother Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath of God, our sister Wisdom. Let’s not get distracted by that “shoe,” whatever it is.

In the Kingdom of God today, here and now as well as in the future, will we be shoe-d away or welcomed in as we welcome others to come with us? Which will we choose?

Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Easter – Cycle A

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Apr 19, 2026

Breaking the Bread of Peace

The story of the disciples on the way to Emmaus is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. The disciples are shattered. Their messiah has been killed. A stranger accompanies them and opens the scriptures to them, showing them why the Master had to suffer and die. They feel better and are consoled but they are joyous when they recognize him in the breaking of the bread. (Lk 24:13-35)

This is how we as disciples encounter the Risen Christ. The disciples didn’t recognize who the stranger was. Many of Jesus’ other disciples did not recognize Him after his Resurrection. Mary of Magdala thought that he was the gardener and asked him where they had taken the body of Jesus. Later, Peter and the apostles saw a man on the beach when they were fishing. He had started a fire and was grilling some fish for them. Only then did Peter recognize him.

The Risen Christ is seen only through Faith in his death and Resurrection. We find him in the scriptures even when our lives have fallen apart. We know that Christ identifies with us in our suffering and the difficulties of everyday life. God was supposed to save us from this suffering, we thought, and we lose heart. However, in the scriptures we see how the Christ had to suffer and die and come into the glory of his resurrection. But we still don’t see Him.

The Emmaus story gives us the outline of our own journey to the Risen Christ. It is the Mass, the Eucharist. We hear God’s word and we respond by inviting him into our homes, into our hearts. As we enter the Mystery of the breaking of the bread we are overcome with peace. It is the Lord’s Easter greeting. “Peace be with you.” When we hear the word of God in our hearts, a peace overcomes us if this is what we want. We cannot recognize him in the Breaking of the Bread unless we have united with each other and say the prayer that He himself gave us. “Our Father who art in heaven.” We celebrate that oneness, that unity, by being in a state of peace and sharing that with each other.

“Lord Jesus Christ, who said to Your Apostles: Peace, I leave you, my peace I give you; look not on our sins, but on the faith of Your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with Your will. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.”

Let us now give each other the sign of peace. Now our hearts and souls are ready to recognize him. We cannot have peace without faith and without faith we cannot see the Risen Christ. We often think that peace is something that is personal. And so, it is. We often think that peace is for those of us gathered around the Lord’s table. And so, it is.

Yet, Christ did not just die for us or those at Mass, but for all of humanity. So, peace is just not an ideal or a feeling. We find peace when we embody it and when we base our social systems on it.

Pope Leo and other Popes and theologians throughout history have had the same teaching on peace as being something that is real and tangible. It is a holiness within us. Whether we are involved in family disputes such as divorce and child custody, backstabbing at work, or discrimination, we can embody a peaceful grace-filled presence in our thoughts, in our words, and in our deeds. In our community and nation, we stand in the peace-filled presence of the Risen Christ. Our goal is dialog and reconciliation. It is not more fighting, slogan throwing, or name calling.

Recently, Pope Leo XIV restated the message of Popes throughout the centuries, “Peace cannot be reduced to a slogan: it must be embodied in a way of life that renounces all forms of violence, both personally and institutionally.”

In our lives, peace is an action word, and we make it a daily practice to foster justice and dialog. Whether it is free or low-cost housing, health insurance for all, or programs that provide help for mothers and children and for those at risk, for those who live by the side of the road and at the margins of society. Justice is always the first step to peace in our hearts, in our streets, and in our world.

Currently, a few men have great power in the world and can wage war on a massive scale at the press of a button. On a more regional level there are war lords, drug lords, and those who traffic in drugs and human lives who bring about great harm and evil.

This week Pope Leo has been visiting four countries in Africa in which conflict is currently raging or has recently come to an end. During this tour, he declared: “The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters!”

Most of us are aware of negative comments President Trump and Vice President Vance have made about the Pope’s position on the Israel-Iranian war as an unjust preemptive strike against a country that posed no immediate threat. St. Pope John Paul II admonished President Bush not to pre-emptively attack Iraq. Similar papal statements about Afghanistan were ignored.

Pope Leo had previously called Mr. Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable,” and encouraged people to “contact the authorities — political leaders, congressmen — to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war, always.”

The challenge for those of us who are privileged to live in a democratic society is to use our votes and our voices to embody justice. Much has been said about our moral ability to wage a just war. In a few words, this teaching states that a defensive war is only a last resort when all other efforts have failed. Pre-emptive/preventive wars are never allowed under the Church’s just war teaching.

Vice President Vance admonished the Pope earlier this week that he should be careful about making theological pronouncements. The US Catholic Conference of Bishops, in response, admonished the Vice President, who has been a Catholic for six years:

“When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ.”

Moral teaching is not an issue of politics in the sense of advocating the right, left, or center. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is amazingly pacifist. His teachings and actions show the power of good over evil, of justice over oppression, and the power of life over death, even when life is crucified. Lest we think that working for peace is just wearing sandals and singing guitar songs, there was a moment when a peacemaker saved the world from nuclear annihilation.

In one of our most dangerous moments as a country and as a planet, St. Pope John XXIII played a key role in preventing nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis. From October 16 to 28 in 1962, the United States and The Soviet Union threatened to use nuclear weapons over the placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The United States had escalated the threat to its highest-level, Def Con 3.

At the time, there was no red phone. There was no direct communication between Kennedy and Kruschev. Convoluted cables and diplomatic protocols meant that it could take 12 hours for both leaders to communicate. To improve communication, the United States made back-channel connections to the Soviet Union through St. Pope John XXIII. Using the phone, he became the intermediary and was able to convince both leaders to de-escalate the crisis and to come to an acceptable settlement.

Pope Paul VI also spoke of peace and the absolute imperative to end war as a solution to conflicting perspectives and goals on the international stage when he visited the United Nations and addressed the representatives of the nations assembled there. “No more war. Never again war!” He repeated this admonition frequently during his time as Pope.

St. Pope John Paul II, talking about the Iraq War, declared “No to War!” War is “never inevitable” and is “always a defeat for humanity.” That defeat is not inevitable and can be avoided by “international law, honest dialogue, solidarity between States, the noble exercise of diplomacy.”

At the same time, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, added his voice. He said that these circumstances (of a just war) were not met with Iraq, in part because preemptive war is not a justification for war. Cardinal Ratzinger explained that supporters of the war would find that “the concept of preventive war does not appear in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.” The Vatican’s response was clear. “No to War” included preventive war precisely because preventive war is not just. An example of a defensive just war would be World War II. Attacking another country because we think that they will do something is not justified.

In Pope Leo’s homily for the Mass for Peace in Bamenda, Cameroon, prepared two weeks before his trip began, he declared,

“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”

Let us, then, draw near to the table of the Lord in justice and peace. Through faith let us see Him in the breaking of the bread.

“Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of Your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Readings for the Third Sunday of Easter – Cycle A

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Apr 12, 2026

One Wave at a Time – Love Flows

I stood on a cliff beside Monterey Bay one afternoon and watched the waves coming ashore. It was a relatively calm day, the big storms were a day and a half away yet and the ocean was peaceful. Wave after wave came ashore, washing up over the rocks at the base of the cliff and the seawall built a few years earlier when waves from a very strong storm had washed away much of the cliff and threatened to take the road along its edge too. Now it was all peaceful.

The waves came in, broke gently on the rocks, and retreated back into the Bay. Another set came in gently, broke on the rocks, and retreated once again. The process continued long after I walked on along the path. The waves came in, broke on the rocks, and returned to the deeper water.

Was it the same drop or molecule of water each time? Not any easy way to know the answer to that one. Any particular molecule of water might come in and out innumerable times and I would never be able to see any difference in the picture of the waves coming and going. Yet there is no reason to assume that every drop of water might not eventually have a chance to come in and kiss the rocks at the shore. The ocean has been here for a very long time! And so has the shore, though it changes more frequently.

And there’s the lesson for us who have such short lifespans in comparison to the water and shore. Each time the water comes to the shore, its kiss softens the rock against which it meets with a bump. Some bumps are soft and gentle. Others are fierce and strong, tearing at the very foundation of the cliff. Either kind of wave contributes to the change in shape of the shoreline. Even the very gently touching waves change the shape of the shore by softening and washing away a tiny bit of the rock each time they touch. Just so, each time we act with kindness and gentleness, the rock of pain and suffering born by another person is touched and softened. It’s rarely a dramatic event, but over time, change happens.

On the Second Sunday of Easter, we celebrate Divine Mercy. The merciful love of God might be compared to the ocean. It is, of course, even bigger than the ocean or anything else we can imagine, but stick with me and the image anyway for a moment.

God chose to become one of us in Jesus of Nazareth, to share everything we humans experience, including betrayal at the hand of his friends and a painful death. The wave of divine love washed up on the shore with a kiss of gentle love and healing for those whom Jesus met in his life. Then it washed back out to the great sea, finding strength and perseverance through times spent in prayer. Even in the garden the night before he died, Jesus stepped back to find the strength to continue to move forward, sharing and witnessing to the love of the Father. He died trusting in the Father’s love as his mission was finished.

But God wasn’t finished yet. Just as the ocean keeps sending waves to wash up on the shore, God didn’t stop. Death could not destroy the one who is Love any more than the shore can stop or hold the waves. Jesus rose from death and returned to continue his mission through his friends.

On the evening of that first Easter, Jesus’ friends were locked away, hiding from the authorities, afraid they might be the next ones to face death for having been his friends. They were also embarrassed about having denied or deserted him when he was arrested.

Without warning, he was there among them. The first words he said were, “Peace be with you.” He didn’t scold them or make them feel bad about having failed. He spoke words of healing and love – “Peace be with you.” And then, St. John tells us, he passed his commission from the Father on to his friends. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And to give them the strength and ability to carry the mission forward, he breathed on them, sharing the Holy Spirit with them and giving them the authority to forgive sin. (Jn 20:19-31)

The unlimited ocean of Divine Love would now continue to touch the shores of human worries, fears, pain, and failure with the joy and peace of forgiveness and healing. More little waves would begin to wash up against the rocks of anger, fear, pain, and loss in their communities, softening the hardness to allow them to float in a love that wants to surround and carry them forward.

The community of believers grew as the word was shared and their lives attracted others who would share in the work of caring for each other and those in need. (Acts 2:42-47) The example of their lives and service would speak louder than words through the centuries. Sometimes people forgot the importance of living in humble service and tried to impose their ways on others. In the long term, that never works well. The example of those who instead trusted the presence of that great ocean of Love as they washed up against the hardened rocks and hearts are long remembered as we see the fruits of their labor within our communities and world.

As we move through these weeks of Easter, may we remain open to being a small part of that ocean of love that fills and sustains our lives and our world. May we be willing to be gentle rather than violent, hopeful rather than despairing, sharing rather than scrabbling greedily for the riches of the world, healing rather than wounding.

Each of us has multiple opportunities to be the face, voice, and hands of the Lord each day. I pray that we hang onto this calling as it seems the world around us grows colder and crazier each day. The ocean sometimes rages, but the raging of the ocean of Divine Love, the Lord, is an even stronger experience of love and healing than what we know in ordinary life. It is not destructive. It builds up stores of hope and joy that are stronger than anger or fear. These moments of encounter with the power of Love, sharing in the experience of Jesus’ friends on the first Easter, give us the strength and courage to become part of the little waves that will change our lives and our world.

Let’s keep our eyes, ears, and heart open to become a part of this marvelous adventure.

Easter peace and joy be yours.

Readings for the Second Sunday of Easter – Divine Mercy Sunday – Cycle A

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Apr 8, 2026

The Sun was Overcome

The sun was overcome at 3:00 in the afternoon

And the land convulsed

And the soldiers, the torturers also shook

And blood and water spilled from the divine cup

The sun of our lives went dark

And the darkness flowed everywhere

And even overtaking more than the earth

And invading even the human heart of hope.

The sun darkened for the suffering

And for the prisoners

And for the hungry

And those stumbling with drugs.

The sun of the lost darkened

And the wandering soul in search of love

And the boys and the girls orphaned by war

And the political prisoners, the disappeared.

The light in the darkness paled

And hope fails in a moment

And in a moment the Lord of power and might cries out

And He feels abandoned like the millions.

The very horizons of faith are dimmed

And in a moment, we ask why

And in a moment, we share the blindness of the world

And we are beyond consolation by the torture and death of the Lord.

Our vision becomes dark

And we feel blind

And we do not know why

And in a moment, we feel the darkness at midday.

The sun hides itself; the heavens darken; we see the Virgin Mother

And the women full of faith, full of courage

And St. John

And in our hearts and through hers a light, a flame

Beyond the darkness of the light, our Lady of Sorrows contemplates the mystery

And the sword foretold pierces her heart

And the Angel Gabriel comforts her who said yes

And the celestial choirs are anguished by the sobs of the one without sin.

Our souls are darkened by problems, anguish, and tragedy

And we take refuge in the darkness of midday in bitterness, violence, and rebellion

And we ask why

And the dark clouds ignore us.

The darkness becomes even deeper when the body is lowered from the cross

And in the lap of Our Mother

And she who hugged the little one celebrated by the heavenly choir

And she hugs him for the last time; the choirs of heaven stricken and mute only rain down tears.

The spirit of today’s disciples, our spirit, darkens

And Joseph of Arimathea gives his tomb to the Poor One

And Nicodemus weighed down with expensive ointments

And anoints the Master’s beautiful body shredded with wounds

The news darkens our hearts

And we see the young smashed by war

And we are shocked by the waves of refugees despised and feared

And we see drug addicts in the street, once babies nursing at the breast.

Rescued by first light, we will never suffer the darkness again

And we wait in hope for the dawn of the open tomb

And the women running with the unbelievable news

And Mary of Magdala asking the gardener finds her love

The darkness dissipates away

And in the light of the Paschal Candle

And in the light of the church awash in points of light

And never again the darkness of night at midday.

Our lives are never darkened again

And the shadow is powerless

And grief is changed into joy

And tears are dry and senseless.

The day awakens

Christ Risen is not obscured

Light from Light

True God from True God

Amen

Se Oscureció el Sol -Translation by Dcn Randolfo Pozos

Notes on translation. Throughout my years of study of classical languages and Spanish, I have been taught and experienced the fact that one of the more difficult things to convey in another language is poetry. Google Translate and other AI tools can do a reasonable job of transliterating, but they have more trouble translating at times. “Se oscurece,” which is the scaffolding for this poem, has diverse meanings and allusions that can be translated many ways. Among others, it can mean to darken, to shadow, to block, to obscure, to hide and to lose from sight. Metaphorically, it came mean to be lost, to be depressed, to not perceive. I have used the impersonal form. It darkens, it is obscured, is neither passive nor active in our use of English while it is very common in Spanish and conveys the middle voice of classical Greek. Using “and” while correct is too literal. Ending with “d” closes off the rhythm as opposed to launching it. I have tried to convey these nuances in the translation, but the results are unsatisfying. – Dcn Randolfo Pozos

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Apr 3, 2026

Se Oscureció el Sol

Se oscureció el sol a las tres de la tarde

Y conmovida tembló la tierra

Y temblaban los soldados los verdugos

Y salió del cáliz divino sangre y agua.

Se oscureció el sol de la vida

Y la oscuridad invadía todas partes

Y más invadía no solo la tierra

Y además invadía la esperanza del corazón humano.

Se oscureció el sol de los sufriendo

Y de los presos

Y de los hambrientos

Y de los tropezando por las drogas.

Se oscureció el sol de los perdidos

Y el alma errante buscando el amor

Y el niño y la niña huérfanos de la guerra

Y de los presos políticos, los desaparecidos.

Se oscureció la luz en las tinieblas

Y por momento se falle la esperanza

Y por momento grita el Señor de los ejércitos

Y como millones se siente abandonado.

Se oscurecieron los horizontes de la fe

Y por momento preguntamos por qué

Y por momento compartimos con el mundo la ceguedad

Y por el suplicio y la muerte del Señor nos quedamos desconsolados.

Se oscureció nuestra visión

Y sentimos ciegos

Y no sabemos por qué

Y por momento tememos la oscuridad al medio día.

Se oscureció el cielo y vemos la Virgen Madre

Y las mujeres fieles y valiosas

Y San Juan

Y en nuestros corazones por ella se brilla una luz, una llama.

Se oscureció no tanto la luz; La Virgen de los Dolores contempla los misterios

Y una espada precedida atravesando su corazón

Y el ángel Gabriel confortando la que dijo sí

Y se angustian los coros celestiales los llantos de la sin mancha.

Se oscurecen nuestros corazones en dificultades, angustias, tragedias

Y en la oscuridad de pleno día nos refugiamos en amargura, violencia, y rebelión

Y preguntamos por qué

Y las nubes oscuras nos ignoran.

Se oscurecen aún más en la bajada del cuerpo santo de la cruz

Y se pone en el seno de nuestra madre

Y ella que abrazaba al niño festejado por el coro celestial

Y lo abraza por última vez y el coro angélico, atónito, y mudo llueve lágrimas.

Se oscurece el ánimo de nosotros los discípulos de hoy

Y José de Arimatea su sepulcro le da al pobre

Y Nicodemo cargado de ungüentos costosos

Y unge el lindo cuerpo del maestro arrastrado de heridas.

Se oscurecen nuestros corazones las noticias

Y vemos los jóvenes atropellados por las guerras

Y vemos asustados las olas de refugiados despreciados y temidos

Y vemos los drogadictos en la calle una vez bebés mamando.

No se oscurecen nosotros jamás, aliviados por la aurora

Y esperamos la madrugada de la tumba abierta

Y las mujeres corriendo con las noticias increíbles

Y María de Magdala hace pregunta del jardinero y encuentra a su amado.

Se dispersa la oscuridad

Y en la luz del cirio

Y en la luz de la iglesia iluminada

Y jamás la noche oscura in pleno día.

Se oscurecen jamás nuestras vidas

Y la sombra ya inútil

Y llantos convertidos en gozo

Y lágrimas secas e inválidas.

El día se amanece.

No se oscurece Cristo Resucitado.

Luz de luz

Dios Verdadero de Dios Verdadero.

Amen.

Traducción al inglés

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Mar 22, 2026

The Raising of Lazarus

Jesus had close friends beyond his inner circle of the apostles. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were friends who lived in Bethany not far from Jerusalem.

We know of an earlier time when Jesus had come to visit, and Mary was intently paying attention to Jesus while Martha was trying to get things ready for dinner and needed her sister’s help. I think that we can all relate to having company over for dinner and having family members duck out, leaving you with the whole project. Most of us can remember times when we were young and a brother or sister ran out to play instead of helping with the dishes.

At the time of Jesus, and even today, women are supposed to take care of the men and to be seen but not heard, as if they were children. This continues to be the pattern in the Middle East and most parts of the world. Even in the United States, women are often told to be submissive to their husbands, referring to St. Paul’s letters to the Ephesians (5:22-24) and to the Colossians (3:18). These passages also tell us that men should willing die for their wives. However, this has never been popular with men. As men, we usually ignore it. St. Paul’s message is that husbands and wives are equal in status. They should be submissive to each other and show mutual respect.

So, here is Mary who wants to be with Jesus, and she is breaking two rules. She is not helping her sister, and she is sitting at the foot of the Master with the men. When Martha complains, Jesus does not tell Mary to be a good “little lady” and return to the kitchen. He tells Martha that Mary is doing the better thing. He is implying that breaking these social norms and living on the teachings of the Master are greater nourishment than the food that is being prepared.

Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were his friends and he loved them deeply. It isn’t particularly obvious how deeply until Lazarus dies. Jesus knows that his friend is sick. He knows that the time is limited. His disciple Thomas, whom we know as the doubting Thomas, is as rational and practical as ever. Giving voice to what everyone is thinking, he says that it is suicidal to leave Galilee and return to Judea. All too recently, they had to flee when their lives were threatened. But if the Master is going to go back to Judea, particularly to Bethany, which is so close to Jerusalem, Thomas shows his loyalty and says that they should all go with him to die.

We see the pictures, the statues, and the stained-glass windows and we forget that Jesus and his friends were real people. Yes, he was their teacher, their Rabbi, but he was not lecturing to students in a class called Salvation 101. They were his followers, but he was willing to die for them and for us. They all said that they would die for him, but they disappeared when he was arrested. They did give their lives later, but not when he was the one arrested.

We worship a God who is not a distant powerful entity. We enjoy a special and deep friendship. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. This incredible friendship is something we celebrate when we enter a complete communion, when we receive the Holy Eucharist.

Lazarus is dying but Jesus does not get on the next plane. He doesn’t get in his truck and drive through the night. He waits for two days and tells his disciples that the glory of God will be revealed so that others might come to believe and to see Jesus for who he is. He says something about being able to walk in the day and to stumble at night. The light of God’s glory will banish the night and show the way to salvation. But what does that mean in practice?

Still, Jesus is upset. He is grieving. If he knows that he will raise Lazarus, why is he upset? He knows his friend is dead and that fact swallows him just as it swallows us and throws us into sadness and tears. He says that this is all for a purpose. That there is a reason. He trusts in His Father and knows that His Father will give him anything that he asks for. But his walk into the danger of Judea is not a happy one.

Martha comes out to meet him and does not criticize him. She utters a deep act of faith. “Lord, if you had been here, he would not have died.” When Jesus says that Lazarus will rise again, Martha agrees, saying that Lazarus will be raised on the last day. But that is not today!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Now we would think that the mood should change. Yet despite Martha’s profession of faith, they stand there in their grief. Mary comes out to join them. She repeats her sister’s lament. “If you had been here my brother would not have died.” Everyone is in tears and Jesus asks Mary

“Where have you laid him?” As he follows her and the mourners, he is overcome with grief and he cries. It is so obvious that people remark, “See how he loved him.”

Jesus’s friend had died. When they get to the tomb, he wants them to roll the stone away, but Martha objects, seeing it as the act of a grieving friend. She warns him that the body has already started to decompose after four days. But on his command, they roll the stone away and Jesus at the top of his voice tells his friend to come out.

And the glory of God is revealed. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. But the glory of God is revealed in the suffering and grief of friends. Tears run down the face of the Master as they approach the tomb. It is not a confident triumphant procession to the tomb.

Jesus suffers with us in our deep losses – losses of our parents, our spouses, or the unbelievable pain of losing a child. As we get old, the news comes more often. A friend, a relative, a co-worker has died. We go to more funerals than weddings and anniversaries.

Jesus does not stand aloof at a safe distance. We are his friends and he weeps for us and with us in a deep communion. We do not walk this road alone. We have our close friend and companion even in the worst of times right there beside us. (Jn 11:1-45)

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Do we believe?

Readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent – Cycle A

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Mar 7, 2026

Water – Gentle or Wild?

Living beside the ocean for over 35 years, I have seen water’s gentleness and fury. Sometimes the surface of the ocean is flat – barely a wave to be seen. Not many surfers seen either on those days! Other times, the ocean wildly rages – waves crashing against the cliffs and roaring as they hit. Large sections of the mudstone rock of the cliffs fall into the water, as if sliced by a great knife. No surfers those days. It’s just too dangerous.

A few years ago, we had one of those long winter storms. Major areas of the cliffs were washed into the ocean. One in particular was impressive. The slice fell off from a section of cliff that jutted out into the ocean beside a beach. The rocks sat there as if wondering what to do. But by the next day, they too had been washed away. Only the sand remained.

Sand is washed away and beaches become much smaller in the stormy winter months. Then the more gentle waves of spring bring back the sand and the beaches grow larger again.

Most of the time, the ocean waves are not too high and not too low. However, the ocean is never to be trusted. Sneaker waves have caught more than one person who turned their back to the ocean, sometimes with disastrous results, others with rather funny ones. A person I heard speaking at a conference once told of the time he had turned his back on the ocean, gotten caught by a wave, and emerged without his swim trunks. He didn’t make that mistake again!

Swimmers caught in a rip tide are all too frequently found a few days later as their bodies wash up on shore somewhere else along the coast. Coast Guard helicopters fly back and forth over the water. Fire department surf rescue teams go out to try to find them. But the water is simply too cold for them to survive very long and they are gone.

These thoughts come to mind as we ponder the images of water and the Lord’s gift of protection and life in the readings for this Third Sunday of Lent. The water in question in the readings was not found in oceans but rather was hidden behind walls of rock or deep below the surface of the land. Much less easily accessible and more controlled, but even more precious because it could be consumed and used to sustain life there. Ocean water is too salty for drinking and watering crops.

Water in the desert

Water is essential for life as we know it. Wandering in the desert, far from the lives they had known in Egypt, the Hebrew people felt how tenuous life could be. Where would food be found? Where was water? It was so very, very dry. At least in Egypt, though they weren’t free, at least they had food and water! Whose fault could it be that things were in such a difficult state now? They hadn’t asked to be led into the desert. Well, maybe they had asked the Lord to deliver them, but through the desert? That hadn’t been part of the plan. Why not an arrangement to be free again in Egypt as once they had been?

And so, as humans do, they grumbled and complained. “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?”

Poor Moses. What could he do about it himself? He hadn’t counted on that either, though he had experienced traveling through dry, desert lands when he left Egypt as a young man.

Wisely, he turned to the Lord he had first met in a burning bush when he was a shepherd. “What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!”

The Lord, ever faithful and caring, instructed him to go to the front of the people and strike the stone wall there with the same rod he had used at the parting of the Red Sea as they fled Pharoah’s army when leaving Egypt. Water flowed forth from the stone, to the amazement of all.

The event was memorialized through the name given the place at the time – Massah and Meribah. The names refer to legal accusations and a trial and testing. This was the time and place at which the Israelites argued with and tested the Lord. The answer to their question, “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” was a resounding Yes! (Ex 17:3-7)

Psalm 95 is just one of the songs and references to this event in Hebrew scripture. “Oh, that today you would hear his voice; ‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert.’” They had seen his work and still doubted – something all too commonly done to this day among even those who call him Lord. (Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9)

So at at Meribah and Massah, we see regular water provided in an unconventional way. More commonly, we see things that happen around wells, springs, lakes, or cisterns in more populated regions. One of those occurred as Jesus and his disciples were traveling through Samaria one day.

A new understanding of water from an unexpected visitor

Jews and Samaritans were not on friendly terms, to say the least. There was a solid disdain and even hatred between the two communities. Jews often traveled many extra miles to go around Samaria rather than through it when traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem. But for some reason, Jesus decided to go directly through Samaria.

It was around noon, St. John tells us, and they stopped in Sychar to find food. This town was very near the land Joseph had inherited from his father Jacob. Jacob’s well was there. This was an historic town as a result.

Jesus waited by the well while his disciples went into town to buy food. A woman approached to draw water. The fact that she came at noon rather than in the morning with the other women is important to note. This meant she was not a person of good reputation. Likely, she was shunned by everyone else in town.

Yet Jesus spoke to her. Jews didn’t speak to Samaritans casually or in a friendly manner. Men didn’t speak to women they didn’t know. And a Jew would never think to ask a favor or help from a Samaritan. But Jesus ignored all that and asked, “Give me a drink.”

She was shocked. This was unheard of. “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”

Jesus calmly responded that rather than be shocked, she should be asking for “living water” from him. That phrase, living water, referred at face value to running water. So, she was puzzled what he might mean by that. There was no running water anywhere near and he had no bucket with which to collect it!

Jesus explained that the water he came to give to people was different – it would become “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” She was a practical woman and responded, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

At this, Jesus asked her to bring her husband. Turns out, she was not currently married, had been married five times and was now living with another man. This was a shock for her to hear. There was no way he could have known that about her. “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.”

A discussion of where people should worship followed and Jesus told her the time was coming when neither the temple in Jerusalem nor the mountain in Samaria would be the place to worship. “Salvation is from the Jews.” Yet the time had come when all that would change and worship would now occur “in Spirit and truth.” All this would happen because “God is Spirit and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”

The narration continues for a while, with the return of the disciples and the return of people from the village to meet Jesus, based on the testimony of the woman of Samaria. He stayed there in the town for several days and many came to believe in him. (Jn 4:5-42)

We must choose – Rage or Gentleness?

So, what does this all have to do with water? How does water in its gentle or wilder forms fit into the picture?

As humans, we all too often think that only a strong, forceful response to opposition, oppression, or wrong-doing will bring about a change of heart in the one who acts that way. We believe that war or other forms of aggression are justified as a way to make others behave the way we see as correct and just. We see the cost in innocent lives as something that can’t be avoided. And yet, when the ocean waves crashing on the shore cause the cliff to collapse, it doesn’t get restored. It simply washes away. There is no possibility of change or “redemption” that keep the destruction from being permanent. The cliff is diminished, and with enough storms, it will eventually be gone completely.

The Lord does not call us to use violence or anger in addressing injustice or oppression. Those only create more anger and a desire for vengeance. The cycle becomes unending – like a feud between two families that continues generation after generation. There can be no end until someone decides to forgive and find a way to work together.

That is our call as followers of Jesus. We are to be the peacemakers who work to find common ground. We are to work together to find and demonstrate the reality that the Good is not limited. There can be enough of existing resources to go around. No one needs to be left out. It’s just that no one can or should have an excess of those resources either.

It’s absolutely the case that some political systems, some governments, some organizations, are not committed to working towards the common good of their people, to say nothing of all humanity. It’s very easy to want to keep a lavish lifestyle or power over others. All too often that can be phrased in religious language or the language of tradition – “that’s just the way it is!” But violence does not bring about positive change any more than the crashing of the waves against it makes the cliff stronger.

The quiet water of love, reconciliation, respectful communication, good-will in conversation, and solution-seeking is what the Lord offers as a spring that wells up inside us and leads to peace among all humans. Bombs will never change hearts. Drone operators can hit where other weapons cannot reach. Security will never come from violence. Those things only provoke anger and a desire for revenge.

Jesus didn’t come with armies. He came with a promise of living water and its power to change our lives, our traditions, our stories and histories. We haven’t always been good at following his lead. But we are called again and again to remember that Jesus didn’t come with armies to force change. He came and offered himself and his life to reopen our relationship with the Father. The Son through whom God proved his love for us, though we were still sinners who kept trying to do it our own way and failing miserably, proved his love with his life, death, and resurrection. (Rom 5:1-2, 5-8)

We are called to the same on this day as we remember both the water at Meribah and Massah and the living water offered to a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.

Readings for the Third Sunday of Lent – Cycle A

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Feb 21, 2026

Apples in the Garden – Do We Eat?

I sat today beside a fountain in the middle of a college campus. It was a beautiful sunny day after a week of torrential rain. More rain is expected again soon. But this day had been gorgeous. Children were playing with sticks in the pool around the fountain. The water, blown by the wind, was sprinkling those of us standing or sitting nearby. School is in session, so families and students were going through the plaza. A group of musicians entertained all who were present, whether sitting attentively listening or hurrying past on the way to somewhere else.

Usually, Saturday is a busy day, filled with activities at home and left-over ones from the work week that urgently call my attention. But today, I was with a grandchild and mother, savoring some time away and seeing the world through the eyes of an almost three-year-old. What a wonder it is! Water splashes. Sticks are laying around on the ground just waiting to be used to stir the water. People are smiling. All is well in the world, in at least some very fortunate places. And we happened to be in one of them.

We are entering into the season of Lent, a season of waiting and of turning away from the busyness and worries and habits of thinking of ourselves first and only secondarily of the needs of others. “Repent and believe in the Gospel” “Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” “Turn from sin and believe the Gospel.” All are words we may have heard on Ash Wednesday as this season began.

We hear in the second story of creation that the Lord God created humans from the clay of the earth, blowing his breath of life into them. He placed them in a beautiful garden in the land between two great rivers. Everything they could ever need was provided there for them. Only the fruit of two trees was to be left untouched – The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and The Tree of Life.

One day, a cunning tempter suggested that the Lord God might not have been totally truthful about the consequences of eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Surely, death would not be the result. Maybe the creator just wanted to keep it all for himself! It would taste really good…

The woman decided to try it for herself and tasted the fruit. It tasted good, so she gave some to her husband to try as well. Immediately, they knew more than they had ever suspected – good and evil. Everything in the garden had been good. Now everything had become more complex. There were things to worry about. Things that were to be feared. They found themselves ashamed of their very bodies! So, they hid when the Lord came to enjoy the evening with them in the Garden.

The Lord was very disappointed, made clothes for them, and escorted them out of the garden into a world that was much more difficult and complicated than they had ever imagined. Now they would make their clothes, grow their food, build their homes. All would be different. There was a barrier now between them and the joy of the Lord in the Garden. (Gen 2:7-9; 3:1-7)

I thought about this story as I sat by the fountain. It would be so easy to fret about the time lost when I should be cleaning the house, returning calls to clients, writing posts to share, preparing dinner, planning next week’s activities, and so much more. But here I was, sitting by the fountain. And … I set aside the worries. Decided I might or might not write a post this week. I simply enjoyed the time in the sunshine, with a child delighting in the world and time to rest.

Jesus had a life-altering experience in his baptism in the Jordan River. He went into the desert afterwards to be by himself and pray for 40 days. He fasted and prayed for understanding of what it all meant. What could it mean to be the Beloved Son of the Lord God? What could he possibly have to share with others that they should be told to listen to him?

Three suggestions came to him. Idea number one: change stones into bread. You can eat and feel better. Imagine what people will think about you when you give them bread from stones! His reaction: No.

Idea number two: how about throwing yourself off the top of the Temple. If you’re really God’s son, he will send angels to rescue you. His reaction: NO.

Idea three: Look at all the kingdoms of the world. Just worship me and they will all be yours! His answer: Absolutely not – Only God is to be worshipped.

Then the Lord sent his angels to minister to Jesus. He found peace. (Mt 4:1-11)

In many ways, we too face these same questions and challenges. We leave our Gardens of Eden as we grow from early childhood into more mature stages of life. We begin to learn how to care for ourselves and our families. We learn the ways of our societies and cultures. We experience joys and sorrows.

But sometimes, we need to step back, sit in a plaza by a fountain, being sprinkled by the water blown by the breeze. We step back from the craziness of daily life. We set aside the worries about the conflicts in the world. We rest in the love of the Lord who made such a beautiful world for us to enjoy for a time before we travel on to live with Him.

Today, as we move into Lent, let’s resolve to take the time to rest in the Lord. Take the time to watch the beauty of the world around us. See the innocent joy of the very young children and rejoice in it.

Forty days. A journey begun anew each year. A time for renewal.

Which apples do we choose? Those of peace or those of stress and worry.

Choose carefully. I will pray for you. Please pray for me too, that we all may grow in joy and peace during this season of Lent.

Readings for the First Sunday of Lent – Cycle A

« Older Entries

Come to the Water – Abundant Gifts of Love

Nineteen Years – God in Everyday Life!

Priorities in Loving – Parents, Family, Other?

Heavenly Food and Earthly Food – Corpus Christi

Many Different Gifts from the Same Spirit

Why Are You Standing There Looking At The Sky?

Shoe-d Away or Welcomed In?

Breaking the Bread of Peace

One Wave at a Time – Love Flows

The Sun was Overcome

Se Oscureció el Sol

The Raising of Lazarus

Water – Gentle or Wild?

Water in the desert

A new understanding of water from an unexpected visitor

We must choose – Rage or Gentleness?

Apples in the Garden – Do We Eat?

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