“May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment.” These words are spoken by a bishop as he ordains a man to the diaconate or the priesthood.

At one point in the ceremony, each man being ordained kneels before the bishop. He places his folded hands into the hands of the bishop and promises him and his successors respect and obedience.

The bishop then says, “May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment.” The bishop prays that the one being ordained will be true to his vocation and continue to grow in his relationship with Christ and in his service to the Church.

The words spoken by the bishop are based on this Sunday’s Second Reading (Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11). In his letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul says, “Brothers and sisters…I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Paul then prays that God who blessed the Philippians with the gift of faith will continue to work in their lives so they will grow in love, discern what is of value, and be filled with righteousness.

The words of Paul addressed to the Philippians and used in the rite of ordination also apply to us, for God has begun a good work in us.

This work began at our baptism when God brought us into a relationship with him and made us part of his Church. That work of God continued as we received the sacraments, listened to his saving word, and joined with our fellow Christians in giving him praise and worship and in living the Gospel.

God has worked in our lives and wishes to continue his work. For that to happen, we need to let God work in us. As Pope Francis recently said, “We must allow ourselves to be transformed by the power of God’s love, which is greater than us and makes us capable of loving even beyond what we thought we were capable of.” (November 14, 2024 audience organized by the Dicastery for the Cause of Saints)

We are Christians because of what God has done in our lives. As Paul reminds us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

May we truly allow God’s grace to influence our lives so that God who has begun the good work in us will bring it to fulfillment.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Sunday, December 1, 2024 and Wednesday, January 1, 2025 have something in common: both deal with predictions about the future.

On January 1, New Years Day, the media focuses our attention on what may happen in the coming year. We hear predictions about the economy, politics, world affairs, technology, sports, religion, medicine, climate, cultural and demographic changes, etc.

We are all interested in predictions about the future, especially those that deal with our lives.

This Sunday, December 1, also focuses our attention on the future. The readings for this first day of Advent and this first day of the new liturgical year of 2025 look to the future.

In our First Reading (Jeremiah 33:14-16), we hear the prediction made by the Prophet Jeremiah that in a time to come God will restore the line of David by raising up “a just shoot…who shall do what is right and just in the land.”

In our Second Reading (1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2), Paul urges the Christians at Thessalonica to be ready for the future coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and to make a greater effort to conduct themselves in a way pleasing to God.

In our Gospel (Luke 21:25-28, 34-36), Jesus predicts the events that will announce his second coming in glory. He says, “there will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay…People will die in fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world.”

These words of Jesus seem particularly relevant since our world seems to be falling apart. There is war in Ukraine and in the Holy Land, and violence and terrorism in Nigeria, Sudan, and Haiti. There is increasing polarization among people, the continuing breakdown of the family, and a decline in moral values that were generally accepted just a generation or two ago. There is hunger and disease in a world that is yet to recover from the effects of the recent pandemic. God and religion are being pushed aside and societal structures are weakening.

Of course, such dire predictions have been made before. We hear them at the beginning of every Advent Season. Thankfully, they have not yet come to pass. If Jesus had come 100 years ago, the world would have ended, the kingdom of God would have come, and we would never have been created.

But we are here. And we continue to wait in hope for these Advent predictions to be fulfilled when Jesus returns in glory at the end of time or when he comes to us at the conclusion of our personal lives.

As we wait, Jesus tells us, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life….Be vigilant at all times that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand firm before the Son of Man.”

This December 1 and January 1 we will listen to predictions about the future. The ones we will hear on New Year’s Day may or may not come to pass. But the predictions we hear this Sunday, December 1, come with a Divine Guarantee: The Lord Jesus will return in glory. In fact, if we look with the eyes of faith, we can see signs of his presence even today in Word and Sacrament and in his Church.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Every four years, the citizens of the United States elect the person who will be president for the next four years.

Every two years, voters in each congressional district choose the person they want to serve in the House of Representatives. In addition, the voters of certain states pick the person who will fill a six-year term in the US Senate.

Besides these elections to choose people for national office, there are also yearly elections to choose state and local leaders such as governors, county executives, mayors, town council members, etc.

Every year, voters must choose the men and women who will serve on a national, state, or local level. In a democracy, citizens elect their leaders.

But there is an election that takes place far more often than once a year and is not confined to the month of November. This election takes place every day, and often several times during the same day.

That election is for the person who will govern our spiritual and moral lives and inform and guide our decisions.

We are reminded of who that person should be as we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

In our First Reading (Daniel 7:13-14), we hear of one who “received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion.”

In our Second Reading (Revelation 1:5-8), Jesus Christ is described as “the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.”

In our Gospel (John 18:33b-37), as he speaks to Pilate, Jesus does not deny he is a king, but says, “My kingdom does not belong to his world.”

These readings, as well as Sunday’s feast, proclaim that Jesus is the king who frees humanity from the power of sin, reveals the meaning and purpose of life, proclaims the truth in a world filled with lies, and frees humanity from the power of sin and death.

Jesus Christ is the one who came so he might be our Savior and Lord. But for him to have that role in our personal lives, we have to “elect” him. We have “vote” for him to be our king. We do this each and every day by the decisions we make, the actions we take, and the words we say.

Unlike national, state, and local elections that happen each year, the “election” of Jesus Christ to be our leader, guide, and ruler in our lives is something that is always happening. Each day we decide whether or not we will cast our vote for Christ the King.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Are you a prepper?

If we were asked that question, we might assume that someone wanted to know if we had graduated from a prep school.

However, the question may have nothing to do with education.

Prepper, as the term is frequently used today, refers to a person who has taken steps to prepare for natural disasters, extreme weather events, supply chain disruptions, communication failures, the collapse of the power grid, food shortages, civil unrest, and other emergencies or catastrophes.

Preppers stockpile non-perishable food, water, medicine, hygienic supplies, etc. They make sure they have blankets, flashlights, battery powered radios, matches, communication devices, extra clothing, and some basic tools.

Preppers ready themselves to deal with life-threatening situations. They want to be prepared to care for themselves and their families if normal life gets turned upside down. They do not want to just depend on government agencies to come to their rescue.

Our readings for this Sunday are about events that may happen in our lifetime or in the future.

In our First Reading (Daniel 12:1-3), we hear of “a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began.” At this time, “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.”

Those who lived good and holy lives, whose names are “found written in the book” shall escape.

That same message is found in Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 13:24-32). There Jesus speaks of a future time of tribulation when “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”

When that happens “the Son of Man ….  will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.”

When that will happen, no one knows. But as Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew, “you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come” (Matthew 24:44).

As this liturgical year is coming to an end, the scripture readings focus our attention on the Lord’s return at the end of time and on his coming to us at the end of our lives.

The readings remind us we need to be prepared for the Lord’s coming. We do that by striving to be faithful Christians who “stockpile” acts of mercy, love, forgiveness, generosity, compassion, and kindness, particularly to the poor and the suffering.

Preppers prepare for the unexpected in this life. We need to be “spiritual preppers” who are ready for the Lord’s return so that we might be among the elect gathered into eternal life.

Are you a prepper?

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

This Sunday, our scripture readings tell us about two widows, each of whom was in a terrible situation. One widow was on the threshold of starvation, and the other on the verge of absolute poverty.

In our First Reading (1 Kings 17:10-16), we learn about a widow who lived in the city of Zarephath. The land was in the grip of a severe drought, food was scarce, and hunger was everywhere. That widow and her son were in a hopeless situation. They had only enough food for a final meal, after which they would wait for hunger to take their lives.

In our Gospel (Mark 12:38-44), we hear of a poor, lonely widow who came to the Temple in Jerusalem. There she deposited her last two coins into the Temple treasury. Without money, and without family, that widow would become just another beggar on the streets of Jerusalem.

The first widow experienced a radical change in her situation when she encountered the Prophet Elijah. He asked her for water to drink and then requested that she bake him a little cake with her remaining flour and oil before she made something for herself and her son.

Elijah told her that God had promised that her supply of food would last until the famine was over. Amazingly that widow, her son, and Elijah were able to eat for an entire year for “the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry.”

However, we might wonder what happened to the second widow. We are told that Jesus had been observing “how the crowd put money into the treasury” when he noticed the widow.

Jesus must have been aware of her financial situation for he told his disciples, "This poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."

Knowing that, Jesus must have acted. The one who gave sight to the blind, opened the ears of the deaf, enabled the lame to walk, drove out demons, fed the hungry crowds, forgave sinners, healed the sick, welcomed the outcast, raised the dead, and proclaimed the coming of God’s Kingdom, would not simply have used that poor widow as an object lesson and watched as she blended back into the crowd, penniless and alone.

Perhaps, Jesus went over to her and invited that widow to join the group of women who were among his followers. Perhaps, he instructed one of his disciples to provide for her from their common purse. Perhaps, he hoped that one of his disciples would invite that widow into his or her family circle. After all, that was something that Jesus would later ask John to do for another widow, namely, Mary, his mother.

This Sunday, we meet two widows in terrible situations who are not unnoticed by the Lord. For as we are told in our Responsorial Psalm, “the fatherless and the widow he sustains, but the way of the wicked he thwarts.”

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

On Tuesday, November 5, this election season will finally end. Voters will have their last opportunity to cast their ballot.

During the past months, those seeking elective office have been making speeches, holding campaign rallies, participating in debates, sitting for interviews with the press, and running ads on television, radio, and social media. They have been appearing on talk shows and in TikTok videos, plastering their messages on banners, billboards, and lawn signs, and doing everything possible to persuade their fellow citizens to vote for them.

In their election campaigns, all the candidates, no matter their party, have had the same basic message.

They have been telling us all the good things they will do for us if they are elected: they will improve our lives, strengthen our economy, increase our national security, ensure our freedoms, and lead our families to a better tomorrow.

At the same time, these candidates have been warning us that if those running against them are elected, they will do just the opposite: they will damage our society, weaken our economy, limit our freedoms, and take our nation in the wrong direction.

It’s interesting that the Gospel for the Sunday before Election Day does not focus our attention on the good things or the bad things that persons running for political office may or may not do.

Instead, the Gospel (Mark 12:28b-34) is about us. In it, Jesus highlights the expectations that God has for those he has elected and chosen to be part of his Church.

We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Such love of God and love of neighbor is not a matter of warm feelings but rather a matter of letting the Word of God, the example of Jesus, and the needs of our neighbor determine our decisions and actions and how we share the blessings God has given us.

Imagine if the candidates who are running for office embraced the message of this Gospel. Imagine if they told us that if elected, they would make every effort to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love their neighbor as themselves.

Making and keeping such a campaign promise would truly bring about all the good things that candidates continually promise but fail to deliver.

Such a promise would be surprising coming from a candidate, but it is something we have often pledged to do as Christians. May we truly strive to love God and our neighbor. May the great commandment in Sunday’s Gospel be more than just another unfulfilled “campaign promise.”

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Jesus asks a question in this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 10:46-52) that may sound familiar since we heard the same question last Sunday.

In last week’s Gospel, James and John came to Jesus and asked him to do something. Jesus responded, “What do you wish me to do for you?” James and John replied, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, cries out, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus responds that he wants to see.

Jesus asks the same question in each Gospel, but his response is different.

Jesus refuses the request of James and John. He tells them that greatness in his kingdom comes not through holding positions of power, but rather through being of service to others.

However, Jesus grants the request of Bartimaeus. Jesus tells him, “Go your way, your faith has saved you.” Immediately, the eyes of Bartimaeus are opened.

The question that Jesus asked James, John, and Bartimaeus is one that we might imagine the Lord asking us each time we pray: “What do you want me to do for you?”

When we pray, we lift our hearts to the Lord, and we give him thanks for our blessings. But if we are honest, we often spend more time telling the Lord what we want him to do for us.

For example, we may ask the Lord to bless us with happiness, to show us the purpose and meaning of our life, to heal us of a certain disease, to guide us in dealing with family issues, to watch over our relatives and friends.

We may ask the Lord to advance our careers, to bless us with financial success, to help us overcome a particular addiction or sinful habit, to protect us from harm, to show us mercy, to grant us and our loved ones eternal life—our list of requests is endless.

We are more than ready to tell the Lord what we would like him to do for us.

As we know, sometimes the Lord answers our requests as he did in the case of Bartimaeus. But sometimes, the Lord seems to refuse to do what we ask, as happened with James and John.

But there is one request that we can make with the assurance that the Lord will do as we ask. It is the request made by Bartimaeus: “Master, I want to see.” Jesus not only gave Bartimaeus physical sight, more importantly he gave Bartimaeus spiritual sight.

Bartimaeus was able to see the face of Jesus and able to recognize him as his Savior and Lord. That is why we are told that after his eyes were opened, Bartimaeus began to follow Jesus “on the way.” He became a disciple, a follower of the Lord.

We make many requests of the Lord, but perhaps the most important thing that we can ask Jesus to do for us is to open the eyes of our mind and heart. Then like Bartimaeus, we will be able to recognize Jesus as the Holy One in whom we discover the meaning and purpose of life and the way to eternal life.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

If we were asked to make a list of adjectives that could apply to Jesus, we might mention the following: good, obedient, generous, prayerful, thoughtful, understanding, merciful, courageous, self-aware, concerned, creative, smart, decisive, inspiring, and influential.

There is another adjective that we might mention after listening to this Sunday’s Second Reading (Hebrews 4:14-16): “Sympathetic.”

In that reading, we are told that in Jesus “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.”

Though he was the Divine Son of God, Jesus can sympathize with us because he was also fully human. As such, Jesus can sympathize with the challenges we experience as we live our lives.

Jesus can relate to our moments of temptation, for he was tempted by Satan during his time in the desert after his baptism.

Jesus can understand the injustice we suffer when we endure false accusations or slander. He healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, and made the deaf hear, and then was falsely accused of being in league with the devil.

Jesus knows the heartbreak we feel when we are betrayed by people we trusted. In his Passion, he was handed over by Judas, abandoned by his disciples, and denied by Peter.

Jesus recognizes how our faith can be tested when God seems deaf to our prayers and blind to our suffering. On the Cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus can relate to the sorrow, grief, and tears that overwhelm us when we lose a loved one to death. Jesus experienced such pain when he wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus.

The God in whom we have placed our faith is not a distant spectator, who dispassionately watches over the people he created. Rather, God took on flesh in Jesus Christ and came among his creatures.

As Saint Paul tells us, “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, can sympathize with us, for he experienced the joys, the pain, the sorrow, and the challenges that come with being human and that test our faith.

As result, we have a God who can sympathize with our human condition, and in turn, we have a God to whom we can relate.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

As Americans, we live in a nation where people have the freedom to make choices. Sometimes these choices are contrary to our Catholic Faith.

For example: People can believe in God, or they can deny his existence. They can seek to live according to the commandments, or they can ignore them.

People can be faithful to their promises and commitments, or they can break them. They can express their political opinions and ideas, or they can decide to say nothing.

People can accept that they were created male or female, or they can choose to deny that reality. They can welcome the child that results from an act of sexual intimacy, or they can choose to end that child’s development in the womb. They can care for the body God gave them, or they can abuse that body with alcohol, drugs, or risky behavior.

In short, people can make choices. The freedom to choose comes with being an American, but more importantly it comes from God. God did not program the humans he created to act only in certain way. God gave us free will.

The first people to use that free will made a choice that negatively affected them and all their descendants. Adam and Eve chose to disobey the command of God. Their original sin started humanity off in the wrong direction.

If we are to use our free will to make choices that benefit us and our world, we need the gift of wisdom! That was the gift that King Solomon prayed for in this Sunday’s First Reading (Wisdom 7:7-11). “I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her.”

Solomon realized that with the gift of wisdom he would be able to make choices that would benefit him and his kingdom more than power or riches.

The wisdom that Solomon desired has also been granted to us. It is among the gifts given to us at Baptism and given more fully at Confirmation. As the bishop prayed at our Confirmation, “Send upon them, O Lord, the Holy Spirit…give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding.”

We come to realize the correct choices to make by reading the scriptures, praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and by looking at the life of Jesus, the one who embodies the very Word and Wisdom of God. As St. Paul told us, “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).

If we look at the problems affecting our lives and our society, we will realize they all began with people making bad choices motivated by greed, self-interest, ambition, a thirst for power and control, a wish for revenge, lust, hate, and other evil desires.

If we are to make good choices, we need to seek the wisdom of God. The wise choices we make will help us to grow as God’s holy people, increase our freedom, and help the kingdom of God to come into our world.

We need the gift of wisdom to make choices that will be Pro-Good and Pro-God!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.

The man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

What God has joined together, no human being must separate.

Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them.

These words of Jesus in this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 10:2-26) are in sharp contrast to the ideas and beliefs that are current in society.

Our society promotes the idea that individuals can be “re-created” and transition from one sex to another. Those who are created men can become women, and those who are created women can become men.

Our society no longer limits marriage to a male and female being joined together. Two men or two women can now be joined in “marriage.”

Our society readily accepts divorce. Rather than being viewed as something that lasts until death, marriage is viewed more like a lease that can be broken easily. After all, relationships can weaken, people can outgrow one another, needs and expectations can change, and marriage vows are increasingly difficult to keep as life spans grow longer.

Our society no longer views children as a blessing that brings fulfillment and joy to a marriage. Rather children are seen by many as an inconvenience, a financial burden, a hindrance to one’s plans, a negative to be prevented or even eliminated in the womb.

Some might say that what Jesus preaches in Sunday’s Gospel is harsh, rigid, out of step with today’s world, and insensitive to the various circumstances in which people may find themselves.

Even the apostles seemed shocked when they heard the words of Jesus about divorce. For when Jesus and the apostles were in private, “the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.”

In response, Jesus simply repeated what he said earlier, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

Jesus reiterated God’s original plan for marriage that was built into creation itself. In the Book of Genesis, quoted in this Sunday’s First Reading (Genesis 2:18-24), we are told man and woman were created by God to share a partnership of love and community.

Today’s increasingly secular society has its views about the institution of marriage, the availability of divorce, the permeance of sexual identity, and the value of children. However, its views and ideas often contradict what God had in mind from the start of creation. That is very clear as we listen to what Jesus tells us in this Sunday’s Gospel.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

If we want to be in good health, we know there are certain things we should do.

We need to exercise. We have to stop sitting for hours as we surf the internet or binge watch the latest series streaming on Netflix.

We need to eat a nourishing diet. We need to stop relying on highly processed foods or fast-food restaurants to satisfy our hunger.

We need to get sufficient sleep. We need to turn off our cellphone and text notifications at night. Our bodies and minds require time to unwind and “reboot.”

We need to quit smoking and stop relying on alcohol or drugs to get us through the day. We need to find positive ways to cope with the stresses of daily life, and we need to strengthen relationships that lift our spirits.

Medical professionals have been giving us such advice for years. But as we know, there is a big difference between knowing what we should do for our health, and actually doing it.

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark  9:38-43, 45, 47-48), Jesus tells us that if we want to be spiritually healthy, there are things we need to do. That begins with getting rid of those things that lead us into sin.

Jesus tells us, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off….If your foot causes you to sin, cut if off….If you eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” Jesus was not telling people to disfigure their bodies to grow in holiness. After all, the human body was created by God and found to be very good.

Rather, in dramatic fashion, Jesus is telling us to take a close look at what we are doing with our hands, our feet, and our eyes.

We are to make sure we are using our hands to do good, to assist our neighbor, and to build up God’s kingdom on earth. Hands were not made to do evil, to hurt others, or to grasp as much money and possessions as possible during our days on earth.

We are to make certain our feet are taking us to places where we can join our fellow Christians in prayer and grow in faith. We are not to frequent places where temptations abound, where Christian values are mocked, or sinful behavior is extolled.

We are to make sure that our eyes are focused on Jesus, on the teaching of the Gospel, on our obligations to our families, and on the promises that we have made to God. We are not to allow our eyes to be captured by all the enticing objects and lurid images that society sets before us to distract us and to pull us away from the Lord.

If we want to be physically healthy, there are certainly things we need to do and certain behaviors we need to avoid.

That is equally true when it comes to our spiritual health. There are things we need to do, and certain behaviors we need to cut out of our lives. If we fail to do so, we not only damage our spiritual health, we also run the risk, as Jesus tells us, of being “thrown into Gehenna where…the fire is not quenched.” 

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Christians have been persecuted from the moment they began to obey the final command of Jesus: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). 

Beginning with Saint Stephen, there has been a procession of martyrs down through the centuries who gave their lives for the sake of the Gospel. In addition, millions of Christians have suffered torture, ridicule, discrimination, violence, imprisonment, financial hardship, and other forms of persecution because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

Such persecution continues to this very day. Vatican News reported that according to Open Doors, a respected organization that tracks Christian persecution, more than 360 million Christians currently suffer high levels of persecution. That means 1 in 7 of our fellow Christians are at risk because of their faith. Such persecution can be obvious as in North Korea or China, or more subtle as in many western nations where Christians are often labelled as bigots and viewed with suspicion.

Yet, Christians would seem to be the type of people who would be welcomed in any society rather than persecuted. Christians are commanded to love God and their neighbor, forgive their enemies, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and humble themselves in service to others. Christians are to work for peace and justice, turn from sin, share their blessings with the poor and the powerless, and follow the example of Jesus Christ, a man recognized even by non-believers as loving and worthy of imitation.

A possible reason for persecuting Christians might be found in this Sunday’s First Reading (Wisdom 2:12, 17-20). There we are told, “The wicked say: Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law.”

Individuals who are living contrary to the law of God do not want to be made uncomfortable by the preaching of Christians or by their way of life. Those accustomed to the darkness do not want the light of truth to expose their sin and selfishness. It is easier for such people to try and dim the light than to acknowledge their need for repentance.

That certainly happened in the case of Jesus. As Jesus himself said, “The light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil” (John 3:19).

The words in our First Reading were fulfilled in the passion and death of Jesus, “With revilement and torture let us put the just one to the test….Let us condemn him to a shameful death.”

Christians are persecuted because like Jesus, their words and actions indict those who are evil. In fact, the higher the level of evil in the world, the greater the persecution of Christians.

Paraphrasing the First Reading, we might conclude that the wicked have decided to persecute Christians, because Christians are obnoxious to them; Christians set themselves against their doings and reproach them for their transgressions of the law.

Christian persecution is an indication that we are living as faithful followers of Christ in this darkened world.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

“You are the Christ.” In Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 8:27-35), this was Peter’s response when Jesus asked his disciples, "But who do you say that I am?"

The disciples had just told Jesus that people were saying he was John the Baptist, others thought he was Elijah, and still others imagined he might be one of the other prophets.

When Peter gave the right answer, Jesus warned him and the other disciples not to share that information with anyone.

It may seem strange that Jesus would not want his disciples to reveal his identity. Jesus ordered his disciples not to announce that he was the Christ because people had a wrong understanding of what that title meant. For them, the Christ, the Messiah, would be a military and political leader who would free them from the power of Rome and restore the Kingdom of David.

Since this belief fit Peter’s understanding, he was upset when Jesus began to tell his disciples that the Christ “must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.”

In fact, Peter was so disturbed by what Jesus said, that he took Jesus “aside and began to rebuke him.” Peter was thinking of the Christ, thinking of the Messiah, in terms of worldly power and glory. As Jesus told Peter, “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

It was only after the Resurrection of Jesus that Peter and the other disciples came to truly understand what it meant for Jesus to be the Christ: it meant suffering and the cross.

The mistake that Peter made in understanding Jesus is an error that is still made today. Many people view Jesus in terms of their own expectations and try to fit Jesus into their pre-conceived notions.

Some people view Jesus Christ as an ethical teacher or philosopher who offers advice for moral living.

Others view him as a glorified “life coach” who reveals the way to personal fulfillment and even financial success.

Some people consider Jesus to be an activist for social change, who attacks unjust systems and advocates for the poor, the lowly, and downtrodden.

Others make Jesus into a supporter of a particular cause or issue of the moment. For example, while most Christians depict Jesus as resolutely pro-life, some claim he would be pro-choice.

Some people quote only the words of Jesus that speak of acceptance, mercy, and understanding, and like Peter, want to silence Jesus when he speaks of suffering, judgement, and the cross.

This Sunday’s Gospel gives us an important part of the answer to Jesus’ question, "Who do you say that I am?". Jesus is the Christ who tells us, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it."

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

“Here is your God… he comes to save you… Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.” These words from this Sunday’s First Reading (Isaiah 35:4-7a) speak of the wondrous things that will happen when God comes to save his people.

In our Gospel reading (Mark 7:31-37), we see Jesus, the Savior, fulfilling that prophecy. The people bring a deaf man with a speech impediment to Jesus and beg him “to lay his hand on him.”

Jesus touches the man’s ears and tongue, looks up to heaven and says “Ephphatha”/“Be opened.” The man is cured. The prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled.

That prophecy continues to come true, for what the man in the Gospel experienced is something that we also experience in our lives.

The Lord Jesus opens our ears.

After the First and the Second Reading are proclaimed at Mass, the lector says, “The word of the Lord.” Then we respond, “Thanks be to God,” in acknowledgement that we have just heard God speak to us.

As the Gospel reading concludes, we acclaim, “Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.” We profess that we have just listened as Jesus, our Lord and God, spoke with us.

We live in a world where the ears and hearts of many people are closed to the message of God. Yet we are able hear and recognize God’s voice for the Lord Jesus has touched our ears and said, “Be opened.”

The Lord Jesus also loosens our tongues.

Inspired by the Spirit that he has sent into our lives, we can speak words of praise and worship. We can lift up our hearts to the Lord and give him thanks and praise. We can speak words that profess our faith in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and in all that God has revealed in the scriptures and through his Church.

By our “Amen,” we can acknowledge that the consecrated bread and wine we receive are the very Body and Blood of Christ. By our words of sorrow in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we can be freed of our sins and be given a new start in life.

We live in a society where words are used to curse, malign, cheat, manipulate, mislead, lie, and destroy. However, the same tongue that forms hateful speech can produce words of goodness and light when it is touched by the Lord.

This Sunday we are reminded that the Lord Jesus who opened the ears and mouth of the man in the Gospel has touched our ears and mouth as well. If he had not done so, we would be deaf to God’s word and unable to profess our faith.

We can praise the Lord that the prayer offered at our baptism has been heard: “May the Lord Jesus, who made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak, grant that you may soon receive his word with your ears and profess the faith with your lips, to the glory and praise of God the Father. Amen.”

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

What part of the human body is most associated with Christianity?

If we were asked that question, we might respond the “heart.” The heart often symbolizes love, and Christianity is certainly focused on love. As Jesus told his disciples, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37, 39).

The association of the heart with our faith is seen dramatically in the image of the Sacred Heart found in our churches and in the many parishes named in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The heart is associated with feelings of love, care, and tenderness not only in Christianity but throughout society. That is certainly evident on Valentine’s Day and in the heart emoji used in text messages and emails.

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23), Jesus speaks of the heart. He criticizes the Pharisees and scribes for their lack of love. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, he says of them, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

Then Jesus tells his hearers that what defiles people is not anything that comes from outside but rather from what comes from their hearts, namely, “evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.”

However, to fully understand the words of Jesus about what comes from the human heart, we need to appreciate how the people Jesus was addressing viewed the “heart.”

For them, the heart was not simply associated with love—it was the place where decisions and choices were made. The heart was the organ of human will and intellect.

We have an indication of that understanding in the Sermon on the Mount. There Jesus says, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). He tells us that those with a clean conscience, those whose decisions and choices are made in accord with the will of God find a place in his kingdom. For us, such decisions happen not in the heart but in the human mind.

The essence of our faith is not a matter of emotions and feelings but deciding to accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord and making our choices in life based on his words and example.

If we understand that what we attribute to the human mind, the Jewish people attributed to the heart, then the words of Jesus in Sunday’s Gospel take on a new meaning.

The evil thoughts and actions that Jesus condemns come not from our hearts but are the result of the sinful decisions and choices we make.

Those Jesus criticizes for honoring God only with their lips are those who say the right words but fail to make choices and decisions in accord with God’s law. Their “hearts” are not in the right place.

The heart may be associated with Christianity, but we need to remember the heart symbolizes more than loving feelings. It also means making good choices and decisions. The heart and mind go together!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

"This saying is hard; who can accept it?" These words, found in this Sunday’s Gospel (John 6:60-69), were the response of many disciples to what Jesus said in last Sunday’s Gospel. There he had proclaimed, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you."

This dramatic assertion by Jesus does not elicit the same negative response from us. We readily accept that the consecrated bread and wine we share at Mass are the very body and blood of Christ. We declare “Amen” to that belief each time we receive Holy Communion.

However, there are words in Sunday’s Second Reading (Ephesians 5:21-32) that may cause some Catholics to respond, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"

In that reading, Saint Paul says, “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.” That statement can “trigger” a negative reaction, especially from women who may have suffered domestic abuse. Since this is the case, the Church allows pastors to choose an abbreviated version of that second reading that omits that line and those that follow.

However, if we look at the longer version, we see that Paul begins by saying. “Brothers and sisters: Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Immersed in the patriarchal culture of his day, Paul began by writing about wives being subordinate to their husbands. But he went on from there to speak about the role of husbands. They were to love their wives “even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her.”

Serving others, putting others before ourselves, is something all Christians are called to do. The Son of God taught us that when he put aside his divine status, humbled himself to be born among us, and suffered the humiliation of the Cross.

Jesus gave us a striking example of such “subordination” when he lowered himself, took on the role of a slave, and washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. He then told us, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

In a culture where people tend to be very focused on themselves and their status in society, Saint Paul tells wives and husbands, and all Christians, “Brothers and sisters: Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

This saying is hard; but we are called to accept it.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Some 50 years ago, if we wanted to stay in contact with relatives or friends who lived at a distance, we had a limited number of options. We could arrange to visit them, invite them to our home, or meet them at a particular location. We could call them on our corded phone, conscious that the further the distance, the more expensive the toll call. We could write them letters or mail them cards to mark special occasions. We might also send them a gift, aware that it would take several weeks for the package to arrive.

Today all that has changed. We can easily stay in contact with people no matter the miles between us. We can call them on our cell phones or send them text messages, photos, or videos. We can contact them by email or stay in touch through Facebook, Instagram, X, Zoom, and countless other social media and communication platforms. We can have gifts delivered to them the next or the same day. We can still send them a letter or a greeting card, if we have not forgotten how to properly address an envelope. And we can visit them.

It is curious that despite all the ways we can stay in touch, people today seem to be lonelier, more disconnected, and isolated. Perhaps that is because personal interaction has increasingly been replaced by digital and virtual communication. In fact, many young people are so accustomed to looking down at a screen, they find it uncomfortable to look into the eyes of the person sitting or standing next to them.

However, the God who made man and woman in his image and likeness decided to connect with his creatures in very physical ways.

God made himself known to them in the amazing beauty of creation. God spoke to them through the mouths of his prophets. God wrote about himself in the inspired words found on the pages of the scriptures. And amazingly God visited them when the Son of God took on flesh and blood and walked this earth. In Jesus Christ, God sat across from his people and looked them in the eye.

That personal, physical way that God visited his people 2,000 years ago is something that continues today. God desires to remain connected to us in an actual way.

Just as no virtual or digital connection can equal a personal visit with an individual to whom we have given our heart, we might say the same is true for God. God not only wants a spiritual connection with us—God also wants an actual, physical encounter with you and me. That happens each time we receive Holy Communion at Mass.

As Jesus tells us in this Sunday’s Gospel (John 6:51-58), “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

Each time we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, the Lord pays us a visit!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Balance of Nature, Super Beets, Field of Greens, Prevagen, and Focus Factor are heavily advertised supplements. We are told that these products, and others like them, can better our physical well-being, sharpen our memory, increase our energy, enhance our immune system, aid our digestion, optimize our cardiovascular health, etc. Take the right pill, swallow the right capsule, and you are on your way to better health.

There is always a danger that we can see the Eucharist as simply a type of “spiritual supplement.” It is something to nourish our soul and improve our spiritual well-being. Sunday Mass is simply the required ritual that allows us to come forward and receive this aid to our spiritual life.

Just as the Jewish people were given manna to nourish them on their way through the desert to the Promised Land, we may think of the Eucharist as the “manna” that we are given to strengthen us for our journey through life.

However, the Eucharist is not something that we are given to fortify our souls, rather the Eucharist is someone. The Eucharist is our personal encounter with the Risen Lord who is truly present—body, blood, soul and divinity—in the consecrated bread and wine that we are privileged to receive.

As Jesus tells us in this Sunday’s Gospel (John 6:41-51), “I am the living bread that comes down from heaven….the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

When we receive Communion, we encounter the same Risen Lord who appeared to his startled disciples that first Easter, who broke bread with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, who showed Thomas his wounded hands and side, who prepared breakfast for his disciples beside the Sea of Galilee, and who commissioned his followers to go forth and make disciples of all nations.

As we receive Holy Communion, the Risen Lord stands before us and says, “Take and eat this is my body, take and drink this is my blood.” As we do, we become a “holy communion with him.”

We know what makes the greatest improvement in our everyday lives is not the supplements we take, but rather the people who generously give us their love, tenderness, and compassion. The same is true in our spiritual lives. When we receive the Eucharist, the Lord does not give us something to take, he gives us Himself!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Recently there have been “mass baptisms” in various parts of the country. For example, it was reported that this past May, some 6,000 people were baptized over two days at Huntington State Beach in California.

During such baptisms, powerful messages are preached by Christian evangelists. People join in emotional worship, praise, and song. Dynamic testimonies of faith are delivered, and a strong sense of community is created. Those in the audience are then invited to publicly acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Those who do so are immediately baptized. Such baptisms take place on ocean beaches, in lakes and rivers, swimming pools, and other places prepared for the occasion.

Such events are no doubt moments of conversion and revival. But putting one’s faith in Jesus Christ requires more than simply acknowledging the Lordship of Jesus and being washed in the waters of baptism.

In this Sunday’s Gospel (John 6:24-35), when the crowd asks Jesus what work they must do to gain eternal life, he responds, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."

Jesus expressed that same idea earlier in the Gospel of John when he said, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Certainly, baptism is a public declaration of belief in Jesus Christ, but it is only the start of such belief. Believing in Jesus requires living like him. It means letting the will of God guide our decisions and actions as Jesus did. As he said, “I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me” (John 6:38).

In our Second Reading (Ephesians 4:17, 20-24), Saint Paul stresses that believing in Jesus means acting according to the truth revealed in him. It means putting aside “the old self of your former way of life” and putting on “the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.”

Being baptized as an adult or witnessing the baptism of a child is a joyful and emotional moment during which the presence of God is particularly powerful. But that moment must be followed by a lifetime of moments during which we work to truly live out our belief in the Lord Jesus.

As Catholics we are strengthened to do that at every Sunday Mass. At that weekly “mass” gathering, we are fed with the Eucharist, “the true bread from heaven” that empowers us to continue our journey of faith begun in baptism.

The baptism of a mass of people, like any baptism, is only the start of something. We might say that a person’s baptism is just the first day of work. "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

We live in a time when government agencies, corporations, the military, academic institutions, and other private and public entities highlight the diversity of those who are part of their organizations.

They advertise how their members differ in terms of race, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual orientation, religion, age, etc. Such diversity is seen as a positive quality and something that adds to the strength of an organization. There are even administrators charged with the responsibility of ensuring diversity in hiring, staffing, and leadership.

Catholic parishes often follow the example of secular institutions. They stress the diversity of their congregation and emphasize the different types of people who are part of their parish community. Diversity is seen as a virtue to extol and an indication of the vibrancy and welcoming spirit of a parish.

However, this Sunday’s Second Reading (Ephesians 4:1-6) may lead us to question if parishes might be over-emphasizing diversity and undervaluing another quality, namely, unity.

In that reading, Saint Paul urges Christians to live in unity and peace. He tells them that they are “one body and one Spirit.” They share “one hope…one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

In his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul uses the analogy of the human body to illustrate the unity among Christians. Just as the body is one, though composed of many parts, so is the Church, the body of Christ. For Paul, oneness among believers was more important than their differences.

Jesus himself showed his desire that his disciples be united as one. In the words of prayer that Jesus addressed to the Father at the Last Supper, he said, “I pray …. that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (John 17:20-21).

That unity for which Jesus prayed and about which Paul preached becomes a reality at Mass. There, like the large crowd mentioned in Sunday’s Gospel (John 6:1-15), we share the common experience of listening to the Lord’s saving words. Then we are fed, not with miraculously multiplied bread and fish, but with food even more wonderful. We share the bread and wine of the Eucharist that draws us into a “holy communion” with Jesus Christ and one another.

As the Church prays in the Third Eucharistic Prayer, “Grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.”

In our fractured and polarized society that highlights the differences among people, Christians need to be an example of unity. For we are “one body and one Spirit” and we share “one hope…one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

The Knights of Columbus, the Elks Club, the Local Ambulance Squad, the Volunteer Fire Department, the Little League, the Red Cross, Parish Ministries and Societies, Food Pantries, and other charitable and civic organizations all have something in common. They find it increasingly difficult to recruit volunteers. People seem less willing to step forward and share their time and talent.

As difficult as it is for clubs and organizations to recruit members, it is even more difficult for them to find people willing to assume leadership positions. People hesitate to take on such roles because these require a greater commitment of time, energy, and effort. But perhaps a greater drawback is the knowledge that once a person becomes a leader, that individual becomes a target for complaints, criticism, protests, gossip, and sometimes even violence.

Perhaps that is the reason that political parties find it an increasing challenge to recruit people willing to run for office. Candidates are attacked by their opponents, criticized on social media, and their past, and even that of their relatives, is scrutinized for any imperfection.

That hesitancy to assume a leadership role is true even in the Church. It is said that 30% of priests who are asked to become a bishop refuse, and some priests even decline to become a pastor.

This Sunday’s scripture readings might be seen as supporting such a refusal to accept a role of leadership.

In our First Reading (Jeremiah 23:1-6), the leaders of God’s people are criticized for being unworthy shepherds. “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.”

Certainly, we are aware that some bishops and pastors have been unworthy shepherds. They have abused or failed to protect the members of their flock, not taken proper care of the treasure entrusted to them or been sources of division and scandal. Such failures might make any man hesitate to step into a role where he might be tainted by what others have done in the past.

Then in our Gospel (Mark 6:30-34), we read how the demands that the people made on Jesus and his apostles never stopped. It was difficult for them to even have an opportunity to eat. When they tried to get some rest, the people came looking for them.

The same is true today. The expectations people have for their priests remain the same, but the number of the ordained continues to decrease: the “sheep” keep coming to a diminishing number of “shepherds.”

At a time when people are increasingly hesitant to give of their time and talent and are reluctant to become leaders, whether in the secular or religious world, we need to encourage, support, and pray for those who do step forward to serve. We also might frequently show them our gratitude and less frequently express our criticism.

We need to realize that there is only one leader, only one Good Shepherd who never disappoints and who is there when we call. As we pray in this Sunday’s Responsorial Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.”

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

“The Chosen” is the widely acclaimed series based on the life of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels. Four seasons of the program, consisting of 28 episodes, are currently available on various streaming services. The fifth season, which will focus on the events of Holy Week, is scheduled for release in 2025.

“The Chosen” has been referred to in homilies, discussed during scripture sharing sessions, spoken about in faith formation classes, and attracted the attention of the secular media.

The series has affirmed the faith of Christians and helped them to visualize the events recorded in the Gospels. It also has introduced a wide audience of non-believers to Jesus Christ.

Those who created the series did not give it a title that immediately indicated its subject. They did not call it, for example, “Meeting the Savior,” “Encountering the Holy One,” or “The Man from Nazareth.” Instead, they gave it a title that could be understood in various ways.

“The Chosen” could be taken to refer to the Chosen People since most of the main characters in the series, as in the Gospels, are Jewish. The program might be seen as illustrating how the Jewish people, the Chosen, reacted to the ministry of the long-awaited Messiah.

The title might be seen as referring to Jesus himself. Quoting the Prophet Isaiah, Saint Matthew speaks of Jesus as being chosen: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight.” (Matthew 12:18). Jesus was the one chosen to heal humanity’s broken relationship with God.

The title, “The Chosen,” might have been given to the series to highlight the Twelve Apostles and the other disciples portrayed in the episodes. They were the ones chosen by Jesus to have a special relationship with him. As the episodes unfold, we see how their lives, their personalities, and their interactions with one another are changed as they grow in their relationship with Jesus.

But the title “The Chosen” may refer to another group of people. It may refer to us, and to all people blessed with the faith to recognize Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

In Sunday’s Second Reading (Ephesians 1:3-14), Saint Paul speaks of our being chosen. He writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish.”

Later in that same passage, Paul again stresses that idea of our being chosen. He says, “In him (Jesus Christ), we were also chosen….so that we might exist for the praise of his glory.”

God has chosen us to know Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and chosen us to continue his mission of proclaiming the coming of God’s kingdom, confronting the forces of evil, and bringing light to those in the darkness.

As the seasons of “The Chosen” draw us into the dramatic story of Jesus and his disciples, we might remember that title could also refer to us—for we too are the chosen!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Politicians and entertainers have something in common: They know the importance of playing to an audience.

If a candidate for public office receives applause and nods of approval as he highlights his support for a particular proposal, he will continue to stress his position. But if voters remain silent or murmur in disapproval, that politician will nuance his words and quickly move on to another issue.

Entertainers do the same thing. A singer with dozens of hits may decide to avoid these songs at her concert. Instead, she may start performing songs by other artists. The lack of response from her audience will lead her to realize her fans had other expectations. She will quickly adjust her set of songs for the concert.

Politicians and entertainers are attuned to the reaction of their audiences.

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 6:1-6), we hear of someone who definitely did not play to his audience. Jesus came home to Nazareth. “When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue.” At first, many in the hometown audience were “astonished.”

But as he spoke, that initial surprise morphed into criticism “and they took offense at him.” Who was he to be teaching them? He was just “the carpenter, the son of Mary.”

But as the audience turned on him, Jesus did not attempt to win them back by altering his words. Disapproving looks, cruel comments, and the clenched fists of his audience would not keep Jesus from delivering his saving message and proclaiming the truth of the Gospel.

Jesus did not seek the approval of his audience in Nazareth or in any other venue. He was concerned with the approval of just one audience: his Father in heaven, the Holy One who at his baptism had told Jesus, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). That divine approval was confirmed again at the Transfiguration. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5).

Today’s society is sorely in need of Christians who, like Jesus, do not “play to the audience.” Unfortunately, there are many Christians who alter their words and ideas to suit popular opinion. Their stances on issues of life, healthcare, poverty, race, sexual morality, gender identity, migration, refugees, financial inequality, housing, drug use, etc. are based not on the sound foundation of the Gospel and the teaching of the Church, but rather on the shifting sands of societal opinion and social approval.

Like Jesus, Christians are not to be concerned about winning over any human audience. We are to work at gaining the approval of an audience of One: the Holy One who will be the ultimate judge of our performance in life.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Imagine a sculptor chiseling a block of marble into a stunning statue, then seeing it damaged by a hammer.

Visualize a painter using his palette of colors to depict a vibrant landscape, then finding a hole cut into the completed canvas.

Envision an architect creating an innovative, award-winning structure, then discovering that a contractor had altered its most acclaimed features.

Those who give birth to works of beauty want their creations to endure. They do all they can to protect and conserve what they have made.

That is equally true for God, the Divine Artist, who created the universe and then made man and woman to be the summit of his creative work. God fashioned them in his very image and likeness. Though they had a beginning, they were designed to last forever.

As we read in our First Reading (Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24), “For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him.”

However, the beauty of these humans was damaged. Certainly not by God, who like any artist would not harm his own work, but rather by the devil who led humanity astray. For as we are told, “But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who belong to his company experience it.”

The humanity that God had created and judged to be very good (Genesis 1:31), was no longer so good. The work of the Divine Artist was damaged, and sin, death, and disorder became part of the human experience.

We might imagine that if humanity had not gone astray and the work of the Divine Artist had not been damaged, people today would be living according to God’s will. If that were the case, what we pray for in the Our Father would be a reality. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

However, God, the Divine Artist, did not leave humanity in its damaged state. God sent his Son to repair the harm caused by humanity’s yielding to the temptations of the devil.

We see the Son of God doing just that in Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 5:21-43). There, Jesus cured a woman who had seen her life slowly bleed away for 12 years. He also restored life to a young girl who had died suddenly.

Jesus Christ became the source of healing for them, and through his life, passion, death, and resurrection, he has become the source of healing for all those damaged by sin.

As we hear his Word, celebrate the Sacraments, encounter him in his Church, and as we receive his life-giving Body and Blood in the Eucharist, the beauty that is ours as creations of God is being restored.

Any artist would make every effort to bring his or her damaged work back to its original beauty. This is equally true of God, the Divine Artist.

“God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living…For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him.”

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

It was an “act of God.” We may assume these words refer to a dramatic deed of God in human history. For example, in the Old Testament, the Jewish people were brought out of slavery in Egypt and led into the Promised Land by a mighty act of God.

In the New Testament, we learn of the ultimate act of God made present in the life and ministry of Jesus, particularly, in his Passion, Death and Resurrection.  

But an “act of God” has more than a religious significance; it is also a term used in the insurance industry.

An “act of God” refers to an unavoidable catastrophe that is beyond human control. An earthquake, a hurricane, a tornado, a flood, or some other severe weather event or natural disaster might be described as an “act of God.”

Standard insurance policies do not usually provide coverage for such calamities. Only specialized, expensive policies provide some limited coverage for such disastrous “acts of God.”

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 4:35-41), the disciples of Jesus encounter an “act of God” as they attempt to sail across the Sea of Galilee. As their boat is making its way across the water, “a violent squall” comes up and threatens to sink their boat. In fear of their lives, they call upon Jesus who is asleep in the boat: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  

Jesus commands the storm to cease. All becomes calm and the disciples are left wondering, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

We can approach Sunday’s Gospel in a figurative way. We can see it as a dramatic reminder that Jesus is with us when “violent squalls,” such as the death of a family member, the loss of a job, a diagnosis of cancer, an unjust accusation, or malicious gossip, disrupt our lives and threaten to plunge us into a sea of despair.

But perhaps that Gospel reading, might be taken in a more literal way. It might have something to say about the “acts of God” referenced by insurance companies. Recently, there seems to be an increasing number of such “acts of God.” We continually hear reports of destructive tornados, floods, blizzards, hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, heat waves, droughts, pandemics, etc.

Of course, we do not believe that God is the reason for such disasters. If God were the cause, Jesus would not have gone against the will of God by calming the storm on the sea.

However, such so called “acts of God” can bring to mind realities we may often forget.

“Acts of God” remind us that we are powerless before the forces of nature. We are not in control.

They remind us that human life needs to be cherished since life is fragile and can end unexpectedly.  

They remind us that physical possessions can be destroyed in a matter of moments, but spiritual possessions like faith, hope, and love can endure.

They remind us that in our need, we, like the disciples, can call upon the Lord, who can ultimately bring us safely to shore.

“Acts of God” remind us of the power and majesty of Almighty God and our dependence upon the Lord!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

The highly traveled Garden State Parkway runs the length of the state of New Jersey. Along most of the parkway, there are trees and plants on both sides of the road. With that greenery, the engineers hoped to create the impression of “a country road.”

The trees that border the highway look lifeless in the winter. As spring approaches, drivers may notice a slight reddish tint on these trees as their buds come to life. As the days pass, that color changes to green as the buds begin to blossom. Slowly the trees come into leaf and the country-like road envisioned by its designers comes to life.

That gradual change along the Garden State Parkway is like the slow process Jesus speaks about in this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 4:26-34).

There Jesus tells a parable about a man who scatters seeds. As the man goes about his days, the seeds sprout and grow, “he knows not how.” Eventually the green plants bring forth a harvest of grain.

Jesus then speaks of a tiny mustard seed that “is the smallest of all the seeds of the earth.” But it grows to become the largest of plants “so that birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”

Jesus relates those parables to tell us about the kingdom of God. We may think of that kingdom of God as a place that will blossom forth in this world or in the next. Yet the kingdom of God is not a place but rather an attitude or disposition that grows within human hearts. As Jesus tells us, “For behold, the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:20).

The kingdom comes when people live according to the will of God just as Jesus did. As we pray in the Our Father, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”

But living according to the will of God is not something that happens in a moment. It is a gradual process. It begins by our discovering God’s will for us as we grow in our understanding of the life and ministry of Jesus and the message of the Gospel.

It continues as we come to the realization that true freedom, happiness, and fulfillment are not found by doing what we want, but rather by doing what God wants.  No person was ever freer than Jesus, and no person more perfectly fulfilled God’s will. As Jesus told us, “I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me” (John 6:38).

As this process of growth and conversion takes place in our lives, we come to life like the scattered seed and the tiny mustard seed of Sunday’s Gospel.

Or to put it another way, we change like the trees along the Garden State Parkway whose lifeless branches slowly take on a reddish tint, begin to bud, and then burst forth into a canopy of green.

When such things happen in us and in our fellow Christians, the kingdom of God becomes present. Or as Jesus tells us in Sunday’s Gospel, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God.”

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Self-discipline, perseverance, and personal responsibility are the positive virtues highlighted in the recent book, War on Virtue, by Bill Donohue.

People with self-discipline can control their impulses, feelings, and behavior. They are not swayed by outside forces.

People with perseverance continue to work at something despite difficulty or opposition. They are persistent.

People with a sense of personal responsibility hold themselves accountable. They do not blame others for their actions.

In this Sunday’s First Reading (Genesis 3:9-15), we see how Adam and Eve failed to live according to these vital virtues.

When confronted by the temptation to become like God, Adam and Eve showed no self-control. They allowed themselves to be swayed by the evil forces embodied in the serpent.

When God came looking for them in the Garden, they hid. Adam and Eve were no longer comfortable in God’s presence since they had not persevered in being faithful, obedient children of God.

When God confronted them with their disobedience, Adam and Eve took no personal responsibility. Adam blamed his wife, and she blamed the serpent.

But God rejected their excuses, held them accountable for their actions, and banished them from the garden of Eden.

The virtues that Adam and Eve found difficult to keep are also a challenge for us.

Today, there seems to be an absence of self-discipline. People often allow themselves to be negatively influenced by social media and a self-centered culture. They engage in behaviors that harm their physical or mental health and destroy their relationships.

There appears to be a shortage of perseverance. If people encounter anything that requires effort or sacrifice, they quickly give up. They look for immediate gratification and avoid any long-term commitment of time or energy.

And there is an evident refusal to accept personal responsibility. Individuals blame others for their bad actions and make excuses for their sins and failures. They view themselves as victims of the “-isms” of society.

We might conclude that the inability of Adam and Eve to act with self-discipline, perseverance, and personal responsibility has been passed down to us. We might call it an effect of their original sin.

However, we are not bound to follow their example. In the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, the Lord has given us the power to live virtuous and holy lives. The Lord has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit offers us the knowledge to recognize what is in keeping with God’s will and what choices may lead us away from the Lord.

The Holy Spirit blesses us with the fortitude to remain strong in our desire to do what is right, to follow the Gospel, and to resist temptation.

The Holy Spirit gives us the wisdom and understanding to know ourselves and to appreciate that the mercy of God is always there, no matter our failures.

We live in a society that seems to disvalue self-discipline, perseverance, and personal responsibility. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can be victorious in this seeming “War on Virtue.”

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

When Jesus speaks, things happen. His words have power and authority.

Jesus shouts, “Quiet! Come out of him!” and a demon releases a possessed man (Mark 1:25).

He yells, “Quiet! Be still!” and a raging sea suddenly becomes calm (Mark 4:39).

He says, “Be made clean” and a man covered with leprosy is immediately cured (Luke 5:13).

He orders, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk” and a crippled man does just that (John 5:8).

He commands, “Lazarus, come out” and a dead man walks out of a tomb (John 11:43).

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 14:12-16, 22-26), we hear other powerful words of Jesus that make things happen.

At the Last Supper Jesus takes bread and says to his apostles, "Take it; this is my body." He then takes a cup of wine and says, "This is my blood.” As Jesus speaks these words, bread and wine become his flesh and blood.

Today, these words of Jesus retain their power. When they are spoken by a priest during the celebration of Mass, bread becomes the Body of Christ, and wine becomes the Blood of Christ.

As we share that sacred food, we are drawn into a “holy communion” with him and our fellow Catholics. At the same time our covenant, our new relationship with God in Jesus, is renewed and strengthened.

Of course, it takes faith to recognize the presence of Jesus Christ in ordinary bread and wine. Likewise, it takes faith to recognize the presence of the Word made flesh in the child born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, and then in the man who went forth to preach the Gospel, was crucified in Jerusalem, and was proclaimed as risen and alive.

Today, some Catholics find it difficult to believe that Jesus Christ is truly present—body, blood, soul, and divinity—in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.

However, if we accept the effectiveness of the words spoken by Jesus in the Gospels, then we will be led to acknowledge the power of his words that have echoed down through the ages and are spoken today at every Mass: “This is my body … this is my blood.”

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

 Imagine starting a new job and meeting your fellow employees. At lunchtime, a coworker comes over to you and engages you in conversation.

After asking you how your first day is going, that person starts telling you about himself. He tells you where he lives and where he grew up. He tells you about his wife and children and then shows you their pictures. He shares his plans for his next career move. As the conversation ends, he invites you to join him for drinks after work and mentions you should come to his house for dinner the following week.

When you returned to your desk, you would likely think “too much, too soon,” and you would invent an excuse to avoid meeting that person after work. You would feel uncomfortable with someone who so quickly revealed so much personal information.

Most people gradually tell others about themselves over the course of time as relationships deepen.

God follows the same process when it comes to us. Over the course of time, God has disclosed himself to his people.

God first revealed himself as the Creator, the Holy One who simply by his words brought the universe into existence.

God then revealed himself as the God of Israel who cared for his Chosen People. As Moses asked the people in our First Reading (Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40), “Did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation … which the LORD, your God, did for you in Egypt?”

God’s self-revelation continued as the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, took on flesh and came among us. In him, we came to know the mercy and compassion of God. He taught us to call God “Our Father” and to recognize ourselves as his children. He showed us the amazing depth of God’s love as he hung upon the Cross.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, came down upon the Church so that we might continue the work of Jesus. As he told us in our Gospel (Matthew 28:16-20), “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.”

Over time, the One God revealed himself to be a Trinity of Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Our understanding of that Divine Mystery is something the Church has continued to grasp with the help of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus told us, “When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth” (John 16:13).

God did not begin his relationship with humanity by immediately telling us everything about himself. As in any relationship, God gradually told us about himself until we finally came to know the one God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Our personal appreciation of that Divine Relationship increases during our lives as we spend time with the Lord and as we grow in our faith.

People do not reveal themselves all at once, and neither did Almighty God!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Every professional sport has a team that comes out on top at the end of the season.

In baseball, it’s the team that wins the World Series.

In football, it’s the team that prevails at the Super Bowl.

In ice hockey, it’s the team that is awarded the Stanley Cup.

These championship teams have extremely talented players. In fact, teams employ scouts whose job it is to discover and recruit skilled athletes.

Besides outstanding athletes, winning teams have something else. They have great coaches. Without such coaches, a group of talented players will not become a winning team.

Coaches help players develop their natural abilities, overcome their flaws, and show them how to work together as a unit.

Coaches motivate, encourage, teach, and promote team spirit. They help teams to learn from losses, appreciate their victories, and keep focused on the prize.

Championship teams all have outstanding coaches.

This Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, the final day of this Easter Season, the Church focuses our attention on another kind of coach.

In our First Reading (Acts 2:1-11), we are told that the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles as a strong driving wind and in the form of tongues of fire. Inspired by the Spirit, the disciples began to boldly speak in various languages of the mighty acts of God made present in Jesus, the Risen Lord.

In our Second Reading (1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13), we are told that the Holy Spirit enables people to profess “Jesus is Lord,” unites believers as the Body of Christ, and gives them gifts for the benefit of the Church.

In the Gospel (John 15:26-27, 16:12-15), Jesus described the Holy Spirit as the source of truth who testifies to him and his message and guides the Church.

The Holy Spirit is described as wind and fire and as the source of unity and truth. But the Holy Spirit can also be described in a way related to the sports imagery that began this reflection. The Holy Spirit might be seen as the coach that Jesus has given to the Church.

Like a good coach, the Holy Spirit helps Christians to recognize and develop the gifts they have been given to build up the Church—to build up the “team.”

Like a good coach, the Holy Spirit motivates Christians to work together to overcome the forces of sin and evil that are arrayed against them.

Like a good coach, the Holy Spirit keeps us fired up. The Holy Spirit inspires Christians to keep striving and never give up despite the world’s seeming indifference to the Gospel.

Like a good coach, the Holy Spirit sends us onto the playing field of life, convinced that despite every setback, we will win. Ultimately, God’s kingdom will come!

This Pentecost Sunday, we rejoice that the Lord Jesus has given his Church, his team of disciples, the best of all coaches: He has given us the Holy Spirit!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

If someone wanted to write the story of your life, that person would gather information about your childhood, your family, the schools you attended, the jobs you held, your successes, your failures, and significant moments in your life.

The writer would then arrange that material in some logical order, likely according to when and where important events occurred.

The Gospel writers took that same approach as they recounted the life of Jesus.

For example, Luke tells us Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the time of Caesar Augustus. He tells us that Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord and then to Nazareth where he “grew and became strong.”

Luke recounts that at the age of 12, Jesus was “lost” in the temple for three days. When he was 30, Jesus was baptized at the Jordan River and began his public ministry. He preached the Gospel, healed the sick, and drove out demons as he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.

Jesus was given a triumphant welcome when he came to Jerusalem. There he cleared the Temple of buyers and sellers.

Matthew tells us that in Jerusalem, Jesus shared his final meal with his disciples, was arrested, questioned by the Sanhedrin, and condemned to death by Pilate.

Matthew recounts how Jesus was crucified on a Friday in a place called Golgotha. His body was laid in a tomb and three days later that tomb was found to be empty.

In his Gospel, John tells us that later that Sunday morning, the Risen Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene. In the afternoon, according to Luke, two disciples encountered him on the road to Emmaus.

John reports that evening the Risen Lord appeared to his disciples gathered behind locked doors in Jerusalem. The following Sunday, he appeared again and challenged Thomas to believe.

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 16:15- 20), Mark tells us that after commissioning his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to every creature, the Risen Lord “was taken into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God.”

With the Ascension, a person might think that reports of when and where Jesus acted would come to an end. But that is not the case. For as Jesus promised, “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

The Church tells us that the Risen Lord is still active today. He is with us when we gather for the celebration of Mass. We encounter his “real presence” when we receive Holy Communion and pray before the tabernacle.

We experience his healing touch in sacraments. We hear him speak when the scriptures are proclaimed in the assembly. He is with us in moments of private and communal prayer, for as he told us, “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

The Gospel writers recounted when and where Jesus was present during his 33 years on earth. The feast of the Ascension reminds us that the Risen Lord who is at the right hand of the Father is also with us right here, right now!  

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

One of the greatest gifts in life is a faithful friend.

Such a friend is more than an acquaintance, a neighbor, a co-worker, a classmate, colleague, fellow sports fan, or individual with whom we share a common interest.

A faithful friend is someone who loves and cares about you, thinks the best of you, encourages your efforts, celebrates your successes, lifts you up when you fail, helps you whenever needed, never forgets important occasions, brings you joy, and stands by your side.

As we read in the scriptures, “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure. Faithful friends are beyond price, no amount can balance their worth” (Sirach 6:14-15).

We can think of Jesus as the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Light of the World, the Word made flesh, the Savior, the Redeemer, and the Lord. But we also can think of Jesus as that perfect, faithful friend who always stands by us. He is the friend who even lays down his life so that we might be freed from sin and death and brought into an everlasting relationship with God.

But Jesus can also think of us in the same way we think of him, namely, as his friends. We learn that in this Sunday’s Gospel (John 15:9-17).

In that Gospel, Jesus says the people who are his friends are those who love others in the same way that he loved. He tells us, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you…You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

Jesus says the people he considers his friends are those to whom he has addressed the words that the God the Father sent him to proclaim. “I have called you friends because I have told you everything that I heard from my Father.”

You and I think of ourselves as Christians, as followers of Christ—and we are. We recognize him as our Savior and Lord who speaks to us in the Scriptures and who touches us with his life-giving presence in the Sacraments.

But Sunday’s Gospel reminds us that the Lord thinks of us not just as his followers but also as his friends. We are the friends of Jesus Christ, and the Church is the place where his friends come together to grow closer to him and closer to one another.

What a friend we have in Jesus, and what friends Jesus has in us!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Our world recently experienced the COVID pandemic whose debilitating effects are still being felt.

But there is a new epidemic spreading in our country, one for which there is no vaccine. There is an epidemic of loneliness.

Last year, the US Surgeon General stated, “In recent years, about one-in-two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness…Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.” (The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community 2023)

As humans, we need to be connected with other people; it is part of our DNA. In the first pages of the Bible, we are told that God looked at the man he created and said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

We were made to be connected to other people. That is why we marry, make friends, join clubs and organizations, participate in group sports, interact through social media, etc.

But we were also made to be connected to God. That is why God made man in his image and likeness. That is why God walked in the Garden with the man and woman he had created (Genesis 3:8). That is why God sent his Son to invite humanity to have an everlasting relationship with him.

Jesus emphasizes that connection in this Sunday’s Gospel (John 15:1-8). There Jesus speaks of himself as “the true vine” that the Father planted in this world. To be spiritually alive, we need to be connected to that vine.

As Jesus says, “Remain in me…I am the vine, you are the branches.” Without a connection to him, our spirits begin to shrivel. As Jesus warns us, “Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither.”

We remain in Jesus by participating in Mass and receiving Holy Communion. As Jesus tells us, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (John 6:56).

We remain in Jesus by taking his word to heart and following his commandments. As he tells us, “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love” (John 15:10).

We remain in Jesus by being part of the Church, the living Body of Christ. As Paul tells us, “We, though many, are one body in Christ” (Romans 12:5).

When we remain connected to Jesus in these ways, our lives “bear much fruit.” Fruit that Saint Paul describes as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23).

Perhaps today’s epidemic of social loneliness is more severe and damaging than ever since it comes at a time when so many people are spiritually lonely and disconnected from Jesus, the true vine.

We need to be connected to one another and connected to the Lord.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

During this never-ending election season, candidates have one top priority: They want to win.

That priority drives candidates to publish position papers, make speeches, run television and radio ads, establish a social media presence, interact with voters, engage in debates, etc. Candidates are driven to expend all their time, energy, and resources to succeed.

But it is not only political candidates that are driven by their top priority. We all are. Whatever we make our top priority, that priority guides our decisions, affects how we live, influences our relationships, and determines where we allot our time, attention, and money.

Jesus also had a central priority that influenced his life and ministry—it was to carry out the will of his heavenly Father. As Jesus said, “I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me” (John 6:38).

Doing the will of the Father led Jesus to proclaim the kingdom of God, to preach the Gospel, to forgive sinners, to heal the sick, to embrace the outcast, and to call people to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind and to love their neighbor.

That priority motivated Jesus to be concerned for all the people he was sent to serve. For as he said, “This is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me” (John 6:39).

In Sunday’s Gospel (John 10:11-18), Jesus chose the image of the “good shepherd” to describe himself—the good shepherd concerned for all the sheep that the Father had placed in his care.

Jesus was the shepherd who was willing to lay down his life for the sake of his sheep. He was not like “a hired man, who … sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away … because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.”

On the cross, Jesus demonstrated his absolute concern for his sheep. He laid down his life so they might be saved from the “wolf” of sin and death that had been attacking humanity from the time of Adam.

This Sunday, the Gospel presents us with the beautiful image of Jesus as the good shepherd who watches over his sheep and whose love for them is so great that he laid down his life to save them.

But Sunday’s Gospel suggests another image: we are the sheep whose eternal welfare is the priority of the Good Shepherd.

As we watch political candidates making every effort to win election, we can be reminded of the efforts that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, made and continues to make through his Church to win our salvation. We are his priority.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

What is eternal life? What is it like?

These two questions can bring a variety of responses.

Some people think the questions are foolish since they do not believe in eternal life.

Other people suppose that eternal life is some kind of ghostly existence.

Still others think that eternal life is where the good are rewarded and the evil are punished.

Other people see eternal life as a place of blissful reunion where the dead are reunited with their deceased loved ones.

Still others picture eternal life as joining the heavenly hosts in endlessly proclaiming God’s praises.

No one can be certain what eternal life is like. But at each Sunday Mass, we profess our belief in eternal life as we say, “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come” (Nicene Creed).

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 24:35-48), we are given some understanding of eternal life. We are told that on the first Easter Sunday evening, the Risen Lord appeared to his startled disciples. At first “they thought they were seeing a ghost.” But he invited them to touch him and see he was no apparition, for “a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” He then offered them further proof of his bodily nature as he ate a piece of baked fish.

But the Risen Lord was more than just a body restored to life. He was able to mysteriously appear to his gathered disciples. Earlier in the day, two disciples had spoken with him on the road to Emmaus. His words touched their hearts, but they did not realize it was him until he broke bread with them. Then “he vanished from their sight.”

In his Resurrection, the Lord could be recognized by his disciples, but he could remain hidden if he wished. The body he had when he walked the earth was the body that he still had in his resurrection, but it had been wonderfully transformed in some way.

This Sunday’s Gospel, and the others of this Easter Season, testify to the Resurrection of Jesus and they give us some indication of what awaits those judged worthy of eternal life.

In that life, we will not be disembodied souls, but like the Risen Lord we will be body and soul, changed and glorified. After all, when God created human beings, God made them body and soul and found that creation very good. Why would God now find that human body, which he himself took on in the Incarnation, something to discard?

In eternal life, we will be recognizable to those we knew on earth just as Jesus was recognized by his disciples. The loving relationship that he had with them was not ended by death—it was intensified. The Risen Lord sought them out, wished them peace, blessed them with his spirit, and entrusted them with his mission.

No one knows for certain what eternal life is like. But Sunday’s Gospel indicates that it is where loving relationships are deepened, and life marvelously continues body and soul.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Actors in a play relate to one another in a world defined by the back and two side walls of a stage. There is an imaginary fourth wall that separates the world onstage from the audience. The audience can see through that fourth wall, but it is assumed that the actors cannot.

On a rare occasion, actors may break through that imaginary fourth wall and speak directly to the audience. In that moment, actors step out of the world created onstage and acknowledge the presence of the audience.

The same thing can happen in a work of literature. As we read a novel, we may unexpectedly encounter a comment that is not directly related to the story, but rather addressed to us. When that happens, our attention is drawn away from what we are reading. The author breaks through the imagery fourth wall that exists between us and the story.

The breaking of an imaginary fourth wall occurs in this Sunday’s Gospel (John 20:19-31).

In that passage, Saint John relates the dramatic events of the first Easter Sunday evening. He tells us how the Risen Lord passed through locked doors and appeared before his startled disciples. The Lord wished them peace, showed them his wounded hands and side, blessed them with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then empowered them to forgive sin.

John then goes on to relate what happened the following Sunday evening when the Risen Lord returned and challenged Thomas to move beyond his doubts and to believe. Thomas responded by making a profound profession of faith: “My Lord and my God."

John, the author of those Gospel stories, then breaks through the fourth wall and speaks directly to us. He says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”

John tells us he has not been writing an account of events for historians, but one designed to bring us to have faith in the Risen Lord so that like Thomas we can say of Jesus, “My Lord and my God.”

What John did is what we are challenged to do. We are not simply to tell people about Jesus in a dispassionate way. We are to step forward and tell them we want to speak to them about Jesus so that they may have a relationship with him and “may have life in his name.”

Like John, we have to take the risk and break down that “fourth wall” that keeps us from speaking directly to people about Jesus, the one who has brought joy and meaning to our lives.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

May you deeply experience the Peace and Presence of the Risen Lord

during this Easter Season!

“Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ Evening came, and morning followed—the first day” (Genesis 1:3-5).

It may seem odd that a reflection for Easter Sunday begins with a passage from the Book of Genesis. We would expect verses from this Sunday’s Gospel (John 20:1-9) that recount how Mary Magdalene discovered that the stone that had closed the tomb of Jesus was removed. She reported that news to Peter and John who ran to investigate. When they entered the tomb, they found only the burial cloths that had covered the body of the now Risen Lord.

But what happened that first Easter Sunday mirrors what happened at the start of creation.

On the first day of creation, the first Sunday, God created light. That light broke the darkness of chaos and nothingness. From there, God continued to create day by day until he made all things including human beings. “God looked at everything he had made and found it very good” (Genesis 1:31).

After those six days of creation, God rested on the seventh day, the first Sabbath, the first Saturday.

But as we know, things did not remain “very good.” The first humans chose to ignore God and sin entered the world, bringing with it the gloom of evil and the darkness of death.

But God did not leave mankind in the enveloping darkness. God reached out to his people again and again, calling them to live in the light of his love. God’s efforts are chronicled throughout the Old Testament.

Eventually, God decided to come among his people. Through Jesus, the love and mercy of God was made flesh. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Just as those first persons created in the image and likeness of God rejected him, so did their descendants. They rejected God’s Son. Jesus was scorned, rebuffed, killed, and thrown into the darkness of a tomb that first Good Friday.

Three days later on a Sunday, the start of a new week, Jesus was raised to life. In the Resurrection, Jesus conquered the darkness of sin and death.

God, who had created light on the first day of creation, raised up the Light of the World on the first Easter Sunday to begin a “new creation.” The world was born again!

As followers of the Risen Lord, we are part of that new creation. As Saint Paul tells us in Easter Sunday’s Second Reading (Colossians 3:1-4), “Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”

We are people raised to new life in Christ!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

May you deeply experience the Peace and Presence of the Risen Lord

during this Easter Season!

Compassionate, loving, humble, holy, prayerful, generous, caring, faithful, trusting, forgiving, obedient, virtuous, innocent. These are some of the adjectives that can be used to describe Jesus.

In light of the Passion of our Lord that is proclaimed this Sunday (Mark 14:1-15:47), there is another adjective that can be added to that list: courageous. The courage of Jesus is apparent throughout Mark’s account of the Lord’s suffering and death.

During his Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus permitted Judas to remain at the table even though he knew what Judas was about to do. Jesus had the courage to allow that disciple’s act of treachery to advance.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that “the hour might pass him by” and he might escape what was coming. But Jesus added that he was ready to endure whatever was in accord with God’s will. He then courageously confronted the armed mob that came to arrest him. Jesus did not run away in fear as did his disciples.

When he was questioned by the chief priest and members of the Sanhedrin, Jesus unflinchingly remained silent as they hurled their false accusations against him. When directly asked, “Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed One?” Jesus courageously responded, “I am,” even though he knew those words would lead to his being accused of blasphemy.

When Jesus was brought before Pilate, the one with the power to execute him or set him free, Jesus demonstrated that same courage and boldness. When Pilate asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “You say so,” even though that reply made him a threat to the power of Rome.

When Jesus was mocked as “King of the Jews” by the soldiers of Pilate, Jesus courageously endured their taunts and derision.

When he was brought to the place of crucifixion, Jesus refused the wine drugged with myrrh given him by the soldiers. He bravely suffered the pain of crucifixion without his senses being dulled.

As his life drained away on the wood of the cross, Jesus was reviled and mocked by his executioners, the chief priests, the scribes, the spectators, and even by those crucified along with him. In his final moments, Jesus endured the pain of feeling abandoned by God. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

The courage shown by Jesus during his last moments led the Roman centurion supervising the crucifixion to say, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

The courage displayed by Jesus during his passion was the result of his absolute faith and trust in God. Jesus knew that God the Father was with him even in the midst of his suffering and pain.

We need to grow in our relationship with God so that with faith and trust in him, we can imitate that courage of Jesus.

Courageous Christians are especially needed in our day, for we live in a society that is increasingly hostile to the message of Gospel, dismisses the relevance of Jesus, and labels believers as misguided bigots.

The courage shown by Jesus during his Passion challenges us to be courageous in living out our faith.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

May this coming Holy Week inspire you to grow in holiness!

To appreciate a great painting, you cannot simply glance at it as you walk through an art gallery. You need to stop and notice its composition, the use of colors, the interplay of light and shadow, and the technique of the artist.

To appreciate a celebrated novel, you need to do more than quickly skim through its pages. You need to spend time with the text and pay attention to the movement of the plot, the development of the characters, and the skill of the author.

To appreciate a famous piece of music, you cannot just have it playing in the background as you concentrate on something else. You need to carefully listen to the melody, the rhythm, the lyrics, and the instrumentation, and notice the way the piece affects you emotionally.

To truly appreciate something, you need to spend time with it. This also applies to the scripture readings proclaimed at Sunday Mass. To appreciate these readings, we need to do more than just listen to them as they are read. We need to spend time with them.

The readings this Sunday contain words that may be particularly worth our time and attention.

In the Gospel (John 12:20-33), Jesus tells Philip and Andrew, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”

With these words Jesus refers to his coming passion and death that would lead to his resurrection and our salvation. His death would bear fruit.

If we spend time with these words, we may come to understand they may also refer to our need to die to sin so that we might produce the fruit of holiness.

A further appreciation can bring us to recognize ourselves as the fruit to which Jesus refers: We are the fruit that has blossomed from the wood of the cross that, in the resurrection of Jesus, became the tree of life.

If we spend time reflecting on our First Reading (Jeremiah 31:33-34), we may come to appreciate that through Jesus, we are the people of that new covenant that God promised to make with his people. As we are reminded at every Mass during the consecration, “This is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant.”

That reading also speaks of God’s promise to place his law in the hearts of his people. God has done just that through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who directs us in the ways of holiness. As Jesus tells us, “When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth” (John 16:13).

The more we spend time with the scripture readings, the more we appreciate their message, the more we appreciate what the Lord has done for us, and the more we appreciate the dignity that is ours as children of God.

It takes time to truly appreciate the Word of God!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Shark Tank is a very popular television program. During each episode, aspiring entrepreneurs enter the “tank” to stand before a panel of famous, financially successful investors referred to as “sharks”.

The entrepreneurs tell the sharks about a product or service they have developed. They then offer the sharks an opportunity to invest a certain amount of money for a share in the company they formed to market that product or service.

The sharks evaluate the potential of each entrepreneur’s company to become a financial success. They then decide to accept, modify, or reject the proposed offer.

Entrepreneurs who succeed in getting one or more of the sharks to invest receive financial backing and validation of the product or service they have created.

Those budding capitalists also gain something else: they receive affirmation from highly successful people that they merit an investment.

This Sunday’s readings are about people whom God finds deserving of an investment.

In our First Reading (2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23), we hear about the Chosen People who had turned away from God. Their sinfulness had led to the destruction of Jerusalem and their being sent into exile in Babylon. But in his mercy, God did not abandon them. Instead, God continued to invest in them, he continued to show them love and mercy. God prompted King Cyrus to allow the Jewish people to return home and to rebuild the Temple.

Then in our Gospel (John 3:14-21), we hear of the greatest investment that God ever made in the people he created.

As Saint John tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

God’s love led him to invest his Son in us so that we might be saved from sin and brought into a new and everlasting relationship with him.

Then in our Second Reading (Ephesians 2:4-10), Saint Paul emphasizes the action of God on our behalf. Paul tells us that we are freed from the hold of sin not through our efforts but because of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. As Paul says, “by grace you have been saved …. and this is not from you, it is the gift of God.”

Obviously, God sees our potential to become good and holy people. If he did not, why would God have invested his mercy, his love, and his Son in us?

As we know from watching Shark Tank, investors only put their resources where they see a good opportunity for success.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Do you want to be a better person?

All of us would answer yes. Each of us wants to improve certain aspects of our lives.

We might want to be a better husband or wife, father or mother, son or daughter, friend, or a more successful member of society.

We might want to be more patient, understanding, forgiving, creative, or more willing to try new things.

We might want to be healthier, more centered and at peace, and more in control of our lives.

We all want to make improvements to be better people.  

This desire has given birth to an entire industry devoted to self-improvement. There are books, videos, seminars, podcasts, and courses designed to show us what we can do to reach our goals. There are self-proclaimed experts ready and willing to show us the way to self-improvement.

This season of Lent is also focused on improvement. It is about becoming a better Christian and growing in our relationship with God. However, such spiritual improvement does not come about because of what we do. Rather it comes about because of what the Lord does. We learn that from this Sunday’s Gospel (John 2:13-25).

In that reading, we are told that Jesus came to the temple in Jerusalem. There he saw vendors selling sheep and oxen certified as acceptable for sacrifice. He witnessed persons exchanging money minted with images into coinage approved for use in the temple.

Profit was being made. A sacred place dedicated to God was being used by merchants as a marketplace. Angered by what he saw, Jesus “made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area.”

The temple was cleansed because of what Jesus did. There would never have been any “self-improvement” in the temple: The vendors would not have stopped selling and the money changers would not have ceased their operation on their own. Things were made better because of what Jesus did.

The same is true in our spiritual lives. When Jesus comes into our “temples,” into our lives, we begin to grow in holiness and turn from sin. That happens not because of what we do but rather because of what Jesus does.

We see examples of Jesus cleansing human temples throughout the scriptures. He drives out demons from those who are possessed. He offers mercy to those lost in sin. He opens the eyes of those who are blind to the value of their lives and reveals they are beloved children of God. He softens those whose hearts have been hardened by the false values of society. He announces the coming of God’s kingdom to those who see nothing beyond the grave.

If we hope to improve spiritually and become the holy people God wants us to be, then we need Jesus to come into our lives.

That happens when we speak to him in prayer, listen to his words in the scriptures, experience his presence in the Church, become one with him in the Eucharist, and meet him in the poor and suffering.

We become holy not because of what we do, but because of what the Lord does.

Lent is not about increasing our efforts at self-improvement but about asking the Lord to come more fully into our lives and to drive out all that is sinful.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

What is your favorite color?

What is your favorite food?

What is your favorite song?

Questions like these are often used as conversation starters or “icebreakers” when a group of strangers gathers for a meeting.

Such non-threatening questions get people talking and help them to become more comfortable with one another.

Imagine if the question was, “What is your favorite word?” That question would prompt a variety of answers.

Some people might respond with a word that sparks a warm, emotional feeling, such as love, hope, mom, dad, son, or daughter.

Others might respond by saying their first name or perhaps their nickname. Most people like hearing their name, it means that they are known and recognized.

Other individuals might pick a word that sounds funny to them or that they enjoy saying such as persnickety, mellifluous, or discombobulated.

Imagine if God were asked, “What is your favorite word?”

There is no way of being certain how God would reply, but God’s favorite word might be yes.

That was the response that God wanted from Adam and Eve when he instructed them to avoid eating from a certain tree in the Garden. Rather than obeying and saying yes, those first humans ate from the tree. With their no, sin entered the world and succeeding generations followed their example.

In Sunday’s First Reading (Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18), we learn about a person who utters a dramatic yes to God. Abraham is instructed by God to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, the one through whom God’s promises were to be fulfilled.

Unsure, uncertain, but trusting God, Abraham was ready to say yes to what God asked of him. With that yes, Abraham passed God’s test and was told “because you acted as you did…I will bless you abundantly…all this because you obeyed my command."

Unfortunately, the descendants of Abraham did not imitate his yes to God. They repeatedly answered no to God and sin flourished.

In response, God sent his Son, who spoke the perfect yes that God had hoped to hear from those he had created in his image and likeness. As Jesus explained, “I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me” (John 6:38). Jesus said yes to all that God the Father asked of him.

Saint Paul highlighted that yes of Jesus when he wrote, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, Silvanus and Timothy and me, was not “yes” and “no,” but “yes” has been in him” (2 Corinthians 1:19).

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 9:2-10), we are told to imitate that yes of Jesus. In the reading, Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John. Jesus shone with divine glory and the voice of God proclaimed his identity: "This is my beloved Son.”

The voice from the heavens then told the apostles, “Listen to him.” They were to listen to the yes that Jesus communicated by fulfilling the Father’s will. They were to listen and learn from the words and actions of Jesus.

This season of Lent is the time for us to ask ourselves if we are listening to Jesus and imitating his yes to God.

Yes is the word that God wants to hear from us. It may be God’s favorite word!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

We are now seven weeks into the year 2024. At the beginning of the year, many of us made New Year’s resolutions. We might have resolved to better our physical health, strengthen our relationships, work on developing a particular skill, lessen our time on social media, or do something else that would improve our lives and the lives of others.

Such resolutions are easy to make but hard to keep. How many of us may have already broken the resolutions we made in January? In fact, some of us make the same resolutions every year because those resolutions never move beyond good intentions.

The individuals who succeed in keeping their resolutions are those who make it a point to recall them each day. Perhaps the most successful are those who tell a friend about their resolutions and ask that friend to check on them, to encourage them, and to hold them to account.

The start of Lent is a time for Christians to make resolutions. On Ash Wednesday, we were marked with ashes and told, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” We hear those same words in this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark1:12-15). After his baptism and time of testing in the desert, Jesus began his public ministry by proclaiming, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."

In response to that call to “repent,” we are encouraged to resolve to do something specific during Lent to help us move away from sin and grow in our spiritual life.

Those Lenten resolutions can include allocating a certain amount of time each day to prayer or scripture reading, attending an extra Mass or two each week, spending more quality time with our family, becoming involved in some charitable activity, making an effort to overcome a particular sin or negative habit, being more patient and forgiving, avoiding a favorite food or activity as a sacrifice for our sins, etc.

We will likely keep our Lenten resolutions during the first weeks of Lent but by the fourth or fifth week of Lent we may find those resolutions being forgotten just like those we made in January.

If we want to remain faithful to our Lenten resolutions, we should follow the example of those who succeed in keeping their New Year’s promises.

We should write out what we have resolved to do for Lent and put that paper in a place that will catch our attention each day. We might make reading that paper part of our daily prayer. We might even recall our resolutions during the Penitential Rite at Mass as we thank God for our successes and seek his mercy for “what I have failed to do.”

Most importantly, we might tell a family member, friend, or even our parish priest what we have resolved to do for Lent and ask that person to check on our progress. We all do better when we are held to account.

Finally, we should ask God’s help in keeping our Lenten promises. In Sunday’s Gospel, we hear that during the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert “the angels ministered to him.” We might ask the Lord to “minister” to us during these 40 days of Lent as we seek to “repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

Like the start of a new year, the start of Lent is a time for making resolutions, but even more importantly, Lent is a time for keeping those resolutions and growing in holiness.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

“Unclean, unclean.” According to this Sunday’s First Reading (Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46), these are the words that individuals afflicted with skin diseases had to cry out when people were nearby.

Those diseases, often referred to in the scriptures with the term “leprosy,” were seen not only as contagious physical ailments but also indications that the afflicted person was in the grip of sin and evil.

Those judged to be “lepers” had to warn the public of their presence, for if others came too close they too would become unclean and unable to participate in the community’s life and worship.

“Lepers” were shunned and avoided. Requiring them to shout “unclean” not only announced their presence, it was also a constant reminder to them that they were no longer a father or mother, a son or daughter, a neighbor or friend. They were simply the “unclean.”

Thankfully, we do not live in a society where people with certain diseases are required to announce their ailments. There are privacy laws that prohibit the disclosure of an individual’s medical condition. Those who are ill must give explicit permission for information about their health to be shared with others, even family members.

While our society does not demand that people with certain diseases cry out “unclean, unclean,” it has no problem declaring that certain persons are “unclean.”

At the time of Jesus, it was the Jewish priests who determined which individuals had to announce they were unclean.

In our day, it is the influencers of the moment, the anointed celebrities of social media, the cultural trend setters, and the politically powerful who decide which people are unclean.

The unclean are those persons whom they judge to be “infected” with beliefs, opinions, morals, and convictions that do not fit the prevailing culture and values of the day. The unclean are to be pushed aside, ignored, and shunned as were the lepers at the time of Jesus.

Those judged as unclean in our day can include persons who:

- believe in the existence of God and recognize people as creations of God subject to his commandments;

- recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God and as the one who reveals the truth and the way to everlasting life;

- appreciate human life as a precious gift to be safeguarded from the moment of conception to the moment of  

   natural death;

- believe in the sanctity of marriage and see its basis in the Book of Genesis, “a man leaves his father and mother and

   clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body”;

- profess that individuals are endowed with unalienable rights that come from God and not from the state;

- base their opinions on the Word of God and not on the politically correct belief of the moment; and recognize they

   are ultimately answerable to God and not to themselves or the culture.

We live in a society that is more than ready to call such persons, such Christians, “unclean” and willing to do all it can to silence and isolate them as dangerous “lepers.”

If we remember that, like the leper of Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 1:40-45), God has touched us with his grace made present in Jesus, then society’s shouts of “unclean” will mean nothing.

If fact, we might say the label and shouts indicate that we are doing what Paul advises in Sunday’s Second Reading (1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1), “Do everything for the glory of God…be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Most churches have outdoor signs that display the Mass schedule and sometimes include a biblical quotation.

Imagine seeing a church sign that displays the following scripture quote: “Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?” Or seeing another sign with the words “I have been assigned months of misery.” Or noticing a third outdoor sign with the quotation “I shall not see happiness again.”

We might wonder why a parish would choose to put such words on its signage. Yet those are among the words chosen by the Church to be proclaimed at Mass this weekend.

These quotations are from Sunday’s First Reading from the Book of Job (Job 7:1-4, 6-7). There Job expresses how he feels after enduring unbearable sufferings. Despite his righteousness and fidelity to God, everything went wrong in Job’s life.

His children died. He lost all his wealth, property, and social status. He was afflicted with horrible physical ailments. He was scorned by his wife and thought a sinner by his friends since such evils had come upon him.

For Job, life had become a drudgery, a series of months filled with misery, hopelessness, and troubled nights. He felt abandoned by God who seemed to ignore his prayers and pleadings.

Though we will not endure all the suffering that came upon Job, our lives do have their periods of drudgery, sickness, worry, and anxiety.

We may endure the loss of employment, the end of a relationship, or the death of loved ones. We have moments when happiness and God seem far away. In addition, we live in a world filled with misery, war, violence, suffering, turmoil, polarization, and distrust. We can feel beaten down like Job.

Despite his pain, suffering, and humiliation, Job did not lose faith in God. In the end, Job was healed and rewarded for his faithfulness. God eventually made all things right. “Thus the Lord blessed the later days of Job more than his earlier ones” (Job 42:12).

Certainly, Job would have preferred that God acted immediately as happened in this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 1: 29-39). In that reading, when Jesus entered the home of Peter and Andrew, he was told that Peter’s mother-in-law was suffering from a fever, and Jesus immediately responded. “He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her.” God acts when and how God chooses.

We might not be attracted by church signs with biblical citations about drudgery, misery, and unhappiness. But as we learn from the story of Job and from human experience, suffering is part of life. It comes, at one time or another, to everyone, even the innocent. Certainly, the cross of Jesus is proof of that.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Police officers, military leaders, government officials, judges, employers, and parents all have something in common. They all have authority and can require people to act in certain ways.

For example, a police officer can compel a driver to pull over, an employer can order an employee to complete a job by a deadline, and a mother can tell her children to turn off the TV and do their homework.

Doctors, professors, lawyers, and scientists also have authority. Their authority comes from having a recognized level of knowledge and expertise beyond that of most people. For example, when we are looking for information concerning cancer treatment, we seek advice from an authority in the field of oncology and do not rely on medical websites.

Overall, people with authority are individuals with knowledge or power.

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 1:21-28), we see Jesus exercising authority.

On a sabbath day, he comes into the synagogue at Capernaum and there he teaches the people. Jesus does not imitate the scribes who based their sermons on what had been taught by experts who had come before them. Jesus teaches on his own authority.

We are told, “the people were astonished…for he taught as one having authority and not as the scribes.” Jesus was the light of the world. He did not need others to verify his words and endorse his teaching.

The authority of Jesus was even acknowledged by the unclean spirit that was possessing a man in the synagogue. The demon recognized Jesus to be “the Holy One of God” with power over him. Simply by his words, Jesus drove out that demon and left the people amazed. “What is this? A new teaching with authority: he commands even unclean spirits and they obey him.”

What the people came to understand in that synagogue 2,000 years ago is something we need to remember. We live in a society filled with all kinds of people offering their vision of life, proclaiming their understanding of the truth, selling their personal philosophies, promoting their codes of morality, and endorsing ever-stranger ideas. In such a world, it is easy to become confused, lost, and uncertain of how to live and what to believe. Like the people in the synagogue at Capernaum, we need to recognize the authority of Jesus.

His words and his teachings reveal the truth and have the power to free us from the “unclean spirits” that seek to possess us.

That authority of Jesus is even recognized by a society that is increasingly hostile to Christianity. If our society did not recognize the authority of Jesus, it would not be fighting so hard to silence his words and negate his influence.

The people in the synagogue recognized the amazing authority of Jesus. Today, we might ask ourselves if Jesus truly is the authority we look to and recognize in our lives.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

SPECIAL NOTICE

Father Iwanowski has co-authored a new book of Lenten Reflections called

OPEN OUR HEARTS, published by Renew International.

It is available at   https://store.renewintl.org/

Where is the kingdom of God?

That question could inspire the following responses:

The kingdom of God is in heaven, the place that awaits all those who live according to the commandments of God.

The kingdom of God is the society that comes about when all people obey the will of God and turn from sin. As we pray in the Our Father, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”

The kingdom of God is the world that will blossom forth when Jesus Christ returns in glory at the end of time.  

The kingdom of God is the “peaceable kingdom” illustrated on Christmas cards and sung about by choirs, where all people live together in love, justice, and peace.

However, this Sunday’s Gospel (Mark 1:14-20) may lead us to think of the kingdom of God in another way. In that Gospel Jesus does not speak of the kingdom of God as something that we wait for, work for, wish for, or hope for. Instead, Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God as a present reality.

Saint Mark tells us that after the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus began proclaiming, "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.”

Jesus could say that the kingdom of God was at hand because he was the kingdom of God made visible in the world. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote in his book, Jesus of Nazareth, “There is a growing tendency to hold that Christ uses these words to refer to Himself: He, who is in our midst is the Kingdom of God…Through Jesus’ presence and action, God has here and now entered actively into history in a wholly new way.” (page 60)

The presence of the kingdom in our world that began when Jesus took flesh and came among us continues today. We encounter Jesus Christ in his Church, in the reception of Holy Communion, in the celebration of the Sacraments, in the proclamation of the Word, and in the action of the Holy Spirit.

In Jesus Christ, we come in contact with God and are invited to have a relationship with him and are drawn into his kingdom.

In Sunday’s Gospel, we learn that after proclaiming the presence of the kingdom, Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to join him. They immediately left their nets and followed him. How could they refuse an invitation from the One who embodied the kingdom and was the very presence of God?

We can view the kingdom of God as something yet to come and something to be hoped for, or we can view it as a present reality made visible in Jesus. As he himself tells us, "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.”

Like Peter, Andrew, James, and John, may we recognize the presence of Jesus and follow him. In doing so, we will find the pearl of great price, we will find the treasure in the field, we will find the kingdom of God!

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

SPECIAL NOTICE

Father Iwanowski has co-authored a new book of Lenten Reflections called

OPEN OUR HEARTS, published by Renew International. 

It is available at   https://store.renewintl.org/

If a woman wants to terminate her pregnancy at any time, she should be able to obtain an abortion. “My body, my choice.”

If people want to “rent out” their bodies to satisfy the sexual desires of others, they should be free to do so. “My body, my choice.”

If a boy comes to believe that he is really a girl, or a girl concludes that she is a boy, they should be able to alter their bodies to match their thinking. “My body, my choice.”

If people want to use heroin, fentanyl, marijuana, or any other chemical substance, they should be allowed to take such drugs without legal jeopardy. “My body, my choice.”

If individuals are overwhelmed with problems, no longer find meaning in their lives, or suffer from physical or psychological pain, they should have the liberty to bring their lives to an end. “My body, my choice.”

Such attitudes are prevalent in our society that increasingly denies the existence of God, elevates egoism, deifies choice, and views the human body as simply a personal possession to be used as desired. “My body, my choice.”

However, Saint Paul would reject such thinking. He would refute the idea that the human body is ours to use as we please.

This is certainly apparent from his words in this Sunday’s Second Reading (1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20). There Paul tells us, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”

In the waters of baptism, we not only became children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ, we were also made dwelling places of the Holy Spirit. As Christians we have a moral responsibility to care for our bodies, our “physical temples.”

Furthermore, our bodies not only house the Spirit, they are also the way we give glory and praise to God and demonstrate our love for him and our neighbor. As Paul reminds us, “Glorify God in your body.”

Our bodies are also the way we make Christ present in our world. “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” As members of the Church, as part of the living Body of Christ, we are to take care not to weaken the body of Christ by behavior not in keeping with the Gospel. “Avoid immorality.”

In Sunday’s Responsorial Psalm, we will proclaim, “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.” One way we do the will of the Lord is by using the body that God has given us in accord with God’s law.

“My body, my choice” may be the cry of today’s society but those words are a lie. Our bodies are not our creations to treat as we choose. Our bodies are gifts given us by God to use to glorify him and to become the good and holy people God made us to be.

As Saint Paul told the Corinthians, and as he tells us, “The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord … Therefore glorify God in your body.”

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

SPECIAL NOTICE

Father Iwanowski has co-authored a new book of Lenten Reflections called

OPEN OUR HEARTS, published by Renew International. 

It is available at   https://store.renewintl.org/

During this Christmas Season, almost every Catholic parish has a nativity scene on display inside its church and sometimes outside the building as well.

The scene was set up sometime in Advent and remains in place throughout the Christmas Season that concludes with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

The nativity display contains the figures associated with the Gospels of Christmas. Following tradition, the figure of the Christ Child was most likely put in place during the first Mass of Christmas Eve.

Often the figures of the magi are not added to the creche until the Epiphany of the Lord that is observed this coming Sunday. The Gospel for that day (Matthew 2:1-12) describes how magi from the east were led by a star to Jerusalem. From there they were directed to Bethlehem where they found “the newborn king of the Jews.”

Some parishes place the figures of the magi in the church from the start, but they are located at a distance from the creche. The figures are gradually moved toward the nativity scene a little each day until the magi are finally placed before the statue of the Christ Child on the Epiphany of the Lord. This movement symbolizes the quest of the magi to find the one whose birth was announced by a shining star.

Even though the actual figures of the magi may not be added to the nativity scene until this Sunday, the “magi” really were there from the moment the display was placed in the church—because we are those magi. 

The magi spoken about in Matthew’s Gospel were Gentiles, non-Jews, who were led by the heavens to Bethlehem. Their eyes were opened, and they recognized that the child with Mary and Joseph was not just another infant. They were given the same insight that the Jewish shepherds received that first Christmas night when they were told by angels that “in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.”

The gifts that the magi offered to the infant showed they knew who the child was. Incense implied his divinity, gold indicated his royalty, and myrrh hinted at his future sacrificial death.

Like those magi, we know who Jesus is, for God has blessed us with the gift of faith and revealed him as our Savior and Lord.

As we look at the manger scene, we need to realize that there are not just Gentile magi and Jewish shepherds gazing upon the Christ Child. We are also looking upon the Lord who revealed himself to us in the Sacrament of Baptism and who continues to reveal himself to us as his Word is proclaimed, his Sacraments are celebrated, and his Church gathers at his Altar.

The Epiphany of the Lord continues as Jesus Christ continues to reveal himself to us, the “magi” of today.

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

May God Bless You in This New Year!

May You Spread the Love, Mercy, and Peace of the Lord!

Facial recognition software is one of the newest methods used to identify people. It maps facial features from an image, video, or in real time, and then compares the information with a database of known faces to find a match. Just as we have fingerprints, we now have faceprints.

Facial recognition software is used by businesses, schools, police departments, security firms, and government agencies to confirm a person’s identity. It is also used by individuals to unlock their smartphones or other digital devices.

However, facial recognition is not new. Humans have been using it since people began to populate the earth. We can look at a large crowd and we can identify the faces of our relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and people we have met.

We may not remember the names of all the people we have encountered, but we usually remember their faces. 

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 2:22-40), we hear how Simeon and Anna recognized that there was something special about a certain couple who came to the Temple to present their child to the Lord.

When Mary and Joseph carried the infant Jesus into the Temple, Simeon recognized God had fulfilled his promise “that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.”

We might say the Holy Spirit had given Simeon the data needed to identify the face of the one who would be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”

The prophetess Anna, who after she had become a widow “never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer,” was also given the grace to recognize the child Jesus. When she saw him, “she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Simeon and Anna recognized the Holy Family from among all the families who came into the Temple that day and all the days and years before that moment.

They saw the faces of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph radiant with the presence of God. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, they identified who this family was.

The ability to identify holy people is not limited to individuals like Simeon and Anna. We all recognize holy people. Their faces convey peace, gentleness, and kindness. Their eyes shine with an inner light and their lips give praise and thanks to God and speak words that build others up rather than pull them down. We also see such people pass on their faith to their children, just as Mary and Joseph did.

This Sunday’s Feast of the Holy Family would be a perfect time to identify the holy families we know.

Like Simeon and Anna, we can praise God for them and perhaps like Simeon and Anna, we can let those families know that we appreciate the goodness we see in them.

Just as facial recognition helps us identify who people are, holiness recognition helps us to identify people striving to do what Paul advises in Sunday’s Second Reading (Colossians 3:12-17): “Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.”

© 2023 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Best Wishes for Happy and Holy Christmas Season,

Filled with the Peace and Presence of Christ the Lord.

Paul Harvey was a well-known radio personality who had a popular program that was on the air for about 30 years. During each broadcast, he would tell a short story that revealed surprising but largely unknown facts about famous contemporary or historical figures.

During one program, he spoke about the Virgin Mary. He told the story of the annunciation that is found in the Gospel for this coming Fourth Sunday of Advent (Luke 1:26-38).

He mentioned how the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced she had been chosen to give birth to Jesus. This would happen through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Mary responded to this amazing announcement by saying, “May it be done to me according to your word.”

Paul Harvey ended his commentary by asking, “I wonder how many women God asked to give birth to his Son before one finally said YES.”

For us Catholics, that question would make no sense. God never sent the angel Gabriel to ask other women to give birth to the Savior.

Mary had been chosen to give birth to the Messiah even before she was born. We celebrated that belief on December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

On that day the Church prayed, “Almighty and eternal God … you preserved the most Blessed Virgin Mary from all stain of original sin, so that in her, endowed with the rich fullness of your grace, you might prepare a worthy Mother for your Son” (Preface for the Immaculate Conception).

That is why the angel Gabriel could call Mary “full of grace” and say she had “found favor with God.” With such grace and favor, Mary responded without hesitation to what God asked of her and the incarnation took place. God was born among us. We will celebrate this event on Christmas Eve just hours after this Gospel is proclaimed on the morning of the Fourth Sunday of Advent.

The question asked by Paul Harvey was not theologically correct, but it does raise an interesting question, not about Mary, but about us.

How do we respond to what God asks of us?

God asks his people to live as his faithful children and to follow the example of his Son. We are to make God’s kingdom visible in our world by working for justice and peace, caring for the hungry and the hurting, and acknowledging all we have is a gift from God.

God asks some people to live in a particular way by serving him as priests, deacons, religious, and lay ministers in his Church.

Yet how many of us ignore those divine challenges and invitations that come to us not through messages delivered by angels but through what we may hear at Mass, by inspirations that cross our minds in prayerful moments, by what we may hear or see in the media, or by an unexpected comment from a friend or even a stranger.

How many times do we respond NO to God, or perhaps ignore the question, or think that someone else will step forward. This may explain the current vocation crisis in our Church. God is still asking, but individuals are saying NO.

When we were baptized, God favored us with his grace so that we might be strengthened to live as his people and to say YES to what he asks of us.

Today, a Paul Harvey might ask, “I wonder how many people God has to keep asking to live as his faithful children before enough finally say YES, and God’s kingdom comes into this world?”

© 2023 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Best Wishes for Happy and Holy Christmas Season,

Filled with the Peace and Presence of Christ the Lord.

Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? Many people would have difficulty answering these questions.

They find little purpose or meaning in their lives. They think their existence on earth makes no difference to anyone.

In this Sunday’s readings, we meet people who did find and realize their purpose in life.

In our First Reading (Isaiah 6:1-2a, 10-11), we learn that the Prophet Isaiah knew the reason he was on this earth. He says, “The Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord.”

Isaiah was aware that God had commissioned him to proclaim a message of hope and salvation to the people of Israel. 

In fact, Jesus quoted those very words of Isaiah when he spoke in the synagogue at Nazareth. Then Jesus added, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). With those words, Jesus explained his purpose and mission in life.

In Sunday’s Gospel Reading (John 1:6-8, 19-28), John the Baptist tells the priests and Levites who questioned his identity that he was not the Christ, or Elijah, or the Prophet. He was “the voice of one crying out in the desert. Make straight the way of the Lord.” John knew his purpose.

John the Gospel writer highlighted that mission of John the Baptist by saying that he came “to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.”

Isaiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus would have no difficulty answering, Why am I here? What is my purpose in life?

In light of our readings, this Third Sunday of Advent might be a good time to ask ourselves those two questions.

A good answer might be found in the Baltimore Catechism, a well-known catechetical text that many older Catholics might remember.

That Catechism contained a series of questions and answers. One of the first questions was, “Why did God make me?” The answer was, “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.”

Those few words tell us that our existence is no accident. We were created for a purpose.

God made us so that we might know him, not as a distant, impersonal force, but rather as a merciful and loving Father who desires a personal relationship with the people he formed in his image and likeness.

God made us so that we might love him, so that we might invite him into our hearts. We do that when we speak to him in prayer, listen as he speaks to us in the scriptures and through the Church, and when we share his life-giving Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

God made us so that we might serve him in this world. We do that by following the example of his Son, by caring for those in need, and by striving to make God’s kingdom of love, justice, and peace present in our world.

God made us so that by knowing, loving, and serving him we might find purpose in our lives today, and find joy and happiness in the eternity of tomorrows.

QUESTION Why am I here? What is my purpose in life?

ANSWER God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.

© 2023 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

Some people are careful planners; other people are wildly spontaneous.

When planners arrange a party, nothing is left to chance. The date is chosen well in advance so as not to conflict with other events. The guest list is carefully considered. A comfortable and impressive venue is booked. The menu items are selected in light of the occasion and the diet restrictions that guests may have. Planners even contemplate unforeseen circumstances they might face.

Spontaneous people are very different. They suddenly think that it would be great to have a party. So, they text their friends and tell them to meet at a certain location that evening. They tell those invited to come with their favorite drinks and to feel free to bring other people. They arrange for food to be delivered. They hang up a few decorations, set up a Bose Sound Machine, and the party is on!

The world is made of planners and spontaneous people. Thankfully, the planners are the ones usually in positions of authority. We would not want spontaneous people making decisions without forethought and consideration of possible consequences.

This Advent Season reminds us that God is a planner. God’s actions to save us from the power of sin and death and to bring us into a loving relationship with him were divinely planned. We see that illustrated in the scripture readings for this Sunday.

In the First Reading (Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11), the prophet Isaiah speaks of the deliverance God arranged for his chosen people. The God who had led his people out of slavery in Egypt would bring them out of exile in Babylon and back to Jerusalem. As Isaiah proclaimed, “Here comes with power the Lord God… Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”

In the Gospel (Mark 1:1-8), Mark begins his account of “Jesus Christ, the Son of God” by introducing John the Baptist, the one sent by God to proclaim “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” and to announce “one mightier than I is coming after me.” John was to ready the way for the arrival of Jesus, whose coming had been planned and foretold.

In our Second Reading (2 Peter 3:8-14), Peter tells us not to lose hope as we cope with this sinful world for in the future “there will be new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” But that will happen according to God’s plan and timetable, for as Peter reminds us, “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.”

These readings, and the ones we will hear on the Third and Fourth Sundays of Advent, show God’s plan of salvation being worked out. God did not suddenly decide to send his Son into this world. God had a plan in mind that included Isaiah, John the Baptist, Peter, and all who would follow after them – that includes each one of us. We are not the result of a spontaneous decision; we are part of God’s plan of salvation.

© 2023 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski