“To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness."

“God places no obstacles in the way of those who seek him with a contrite heart, because he goes out to meet everyone like a father. I have received many testimonies of joy from those who encountered the Lord once more in the sacrament of Confession. Let us not miss the opportunity to live our faith also as an experience of reconciliation.” – Pope Francis

Gospel Text: (LK 19:1-10)

At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
"Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house."
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying,
"He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner."
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
"Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over."
And Jesus said to him,
"Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost."

Once again, we see the example of Jesus treating all people, even those labeled as sinners, with such love and respect.

Do we do the same?

“Far better it is for you to say: "I am a sinner," than to say: "I have no need of religion." The empty can be filled, but the self-intoxicated have no room for God.”

“Two classes of people make up the world: those who have found God, and those who are looking for Him - thirsting, hungering, seeking! And the great sinners came closer to Him than the proud intellectuals! Pride swells and inflates the ego; gross sinners are depressed, deflated and empty. They, therefore, have room for God. God prefers a loving sinner to a loveless 'saint'. Love can be trained; pride cannot. The man who thinks that he knows will rarely find truth; the man who knows he is a miserable, unhappy sinner, like the woman at the well, is closer to peace, joy and salvation than he knows.” ― Fulton J. Sheen, Life of Christ

Gospel Text: (LK 18:35-43)

As Jesus approached Jericho
a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging,
and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening.
They told him,
"Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"
The people walking in front rebuked him,
telling him to be silent,
but he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me!"
Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him;
and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
"What do you want me to do for you?"
He replied, "Lord, please let me see."
Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you."
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

First the blind man saw his need. Do we see our need? As the bystanders told him “Jesus is passing by” he boldly spoke out to Jesus. This is a good example of how great opportunities pass in front of us in our daily lives. Do we reach out to our Savior? The blind man was ridiculed and rebuked but persisted. Are we affected by those knowingly or not inhibiting our spiritual progress?

None of us have ever seen Jesus with our own physical sight and thus we in fact are blind to until we come to him. Despite our ‘blindness’ Jesus is still able to hear our voice among the cacophony of the world—indeed he is listening for our voice and will respond to us. Our faith is the foundation (as it was for the blind man) for us to receive mercy and healing from God. However, faith is not just believing -- the belief must motivate an action.

The lesson of the blind man for us is that during confusion, despair, insecurity and illness our faith shall compel us to the action of crying out to the Lord—and in faith we shall be healed.

“I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whomever follows me will have the light of life.”

“The greatest lesson you might ever learn in this life is this: It is not about you.”

“In this period of crisis today, it is important not to turn in on ourselves, burying our own talent, our spiritual, intellectual, and material riches, everything that the Lord has given us; but, rather to open ourselves, to be supportive, to be attentive to others.  Set your stakes on great ideals, the ideals that enlarge the heart, the ideals of service that make your talents fruitful.  Life is not given to us to be jealously guarded for ourselves, but is given to us so that we may give it in turn.” - Pope Francis, to an audience on April 24, 2013

Gospel Text: (MT 25:14-30)

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
"A man going on a journey
called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.
To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one--
to each according to his ability.
Then he went away.
Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them,
and made another five.
Likewise, the one who received two made another two.
But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground
and buried his master's money.

After a long time
the master of those servants came back
and settled accounts with them.
The one who had received five talents came forward
bringing the additional five.
He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents.
See, I have made five more.'
His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master's joy.'
Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said,
'Master, you gave me two talents.
See, I have made two more.'
His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master's joy.'
Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said,
'Master, I knew you were a demanding person,
harvesting where you did not plant
and gathering where you did not scatter;
so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.
Here it is back.'
His master said to him in reply, 'You wicked, lazy servant!
So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant
and gather where I did not scatter?
Should you not then have put my money in the bank
so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?
Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten.
For to everyone who has,
more will be given and he will grow rich;
but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.
And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'"

In 2013 Pope Francis tweeted, "Being with Jesus demands that we go out from ourselves, and from living a tired and habitual faith."

It is so easy to live a "status quo" faith, especially if we live in reasonable comfort. We happily continue on "maintenance mode," and do what we have always done, as we have always done: Sunday Mass, some family prayer, occasional charity contributions, perhaps even some participation in the parish.

There is nothing wrong with this, except that the Lord expects something more from us. He demands that we see how gifted we are, not just with material resources and laudable talents but also with dreams to do better before and for God.

None of us can say that we are exempted from somehow bringing and sharing God's Good News to others: that was promised for us at our baptism. Each one of us should realize that, as God's servants and stewards, we are obliged to do well in small matters in order to somehow dream of accomplishing great things for the Lord.

Today, each one of us, in our own unique way and with our unique talents, is called to be bold and daring for the Lord. What more can we do for the Lord? How do we set the world and our friends ablaze with God's love and mercy? How do we radiate Christ to our friends?

Let us be courageous and take heart that we can do more.

“It's better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.”

Flying by the seat of your pants precedes crashing by the seat of your pants.” – Bill Walsh: (1931 – 2007: was an American football coach)

Gospel Text: (LK 17:26-37)

Jesus said to his disciples:
"As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be in the days of the Son of Man;
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage up to the day
that Noah entered the ark,
and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot:
they were eating, drinking, buying,
selling, planting, building;
on the day when Lot left Sodom,
fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all.
So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day, someone who is on the housetop
and whose belongings are in the house
must not go down to get them,
and likewise one in the field
must not return to what was left behind.
Remember the wife of Lot.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses it will save it.
I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed;
one will be taken, the other left.
And there will be two women grinding meal together;
one will be taken, the other left."
They said to him in reply, "Where, Lord?"
He said to them, "Where the body is,
there also the vultures will gather."

Perhaps the only way to be ready for the coming of the Lord is to seek him everyday in the world around us. After all, in a truly sacramental world the Lord isn’t about to come, he is with us every moment of our lives.

“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming."

“When you expect the world to end at any moment, you know there is no need to hurry. You take your time, you do your work well.” ― Thomas Merton: (1915 – 1968: was an American Catholic writer, theologian and Trappist monk)

Gospel Text: (LK 17:20-25)

Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come,
Jesus said in reply,
"The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed,
and no one will announce, 'Look, here it is,' or, 'There it is.'
For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you."

Then he said to his disciples,
"The days will come when you will long to see
one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.
There will be those who will say to you,
'Look, there he is,' or 'Look, here he is.'
Do not go off, do not run in pursuit.
For just as lightning flashes
and lights up the sky from one side to the other,
so will the Son of Man be in his day.
But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation."

The Kingdom of God is already within us. It is in every person who believes in the Lord, in his Church and its sacraments and in the world. God reveals himself to us in countless ways. The Kingdom is where God and his values are. The Kingdom of God is in all the good people in the world.

To bring about the Kingdom of God the Son of God came into the world as man, suffered and died for all. Through God's call and grace, his followers are tasked to continue his mission of bringing God's love and mercy to the world. At the same time we all await the coming and fulfillment of the Kingdom of God when Our Lord appears at his second coming at the end of time.

Let us seek the Kingdom of God, making it grow within us and throughout the world until its final realization at the end of time.

No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.

In all created things discern the providence and wisdom of God, and in all things give Him thanks.- St. Teresa of Avila: (1515 –1582), was  Carmelite nun and author during the Counter Reformation)

Gospel Text: (LK 17:11-19)

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying,
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you."

We like to think of ourselves as doers and achievers but the basic fact of life is that we are primarily receivers and transmitters not achievers. We all started out as zero, zip, nada. We did not ask to be. We did nothing to get here. My very existence is a gift of God. What am I anyway but a conglomeration of the gifts of God? What do I have that I have not received?

Our most basic relationship with God therefore should be one of gratitude.

“At a certain point, I just felt, you know, God is not looking for alms, God is looking for action."

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. - Mahatma Gandhi: (1869 – 1948: was the leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule.) 

Gospel Text: (LK 17:7-10)

Jesus said to the Apostles:
"Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
'Come here immediately and take your place at table'?
Would he not rather say to him,
'Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished'?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded, say,
'We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'"

We really do not deserve anything from God: everything is a gift from him: we cannot make demands from God.