People are sometimes a bit surprised when I say this, but did you know that as a baptized Catholic, you are also a priest? Each of us through the grace of Baptism, is part of the common priesthood. What is more, with participation in that common priesthood, comes responsibility.

Each of us is called to truly love those around us. This is the first and foremost responsibility in participating in God’s plan, as being part of this priesthood. The thing is, this can be more difficult than it sounds. We are called to truly love, at the highest level, self-sacrificing love – Agape’. This is the love with which Christ loved each of us, and for which He sacrificed himself for us. If we are to call ourselves followers of Christ, then this is our call as well. We must be willing to die to self each day as part of our taking up our own crosses, and to focus on our brothers and sisters instead. This means not only giving up much of our own self-interest, but also being willing to step outside our comfort zone to be messengers of God’s truth so that our brothers and sisters can benefit from hearing His word. It means being willing to have hard conversations when necessary, and to do so in a wholly loving way.

Every one of God’s prophets and priests, has had to heed this call. Ezekiel heard it very directly – “You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel”. Saint Paul demonstrated this in his profession of the commands that God had conveyed. Our Lord himself, who is Priest, Prophet, and King tells us that when we see our brothers or sisters’ sin, we must help them. We must approach them lovingly, we must be honest with them, and we must pray for them.

The truth is not always an easy thing to convey, it requires commitment and fortitude that can only come from asking God’s help in carrying out His command. We CANNOT do this ourselves; we must always humbly approach Him and ask for help in fulfilling this responsibility. We need the courage, wisdom, and patience that only He can provide us at the needed moment, and in the proper form and proportion so that the words that we speak in His name will have the efficacy that is needed. We do this to show our love for His other creations, and in doing so, our love for Him. His gift then to us, is our own salvation, as servants who have been faithful to their master’s call, and carried out what He has tasked each of us with. It is a timeless calling and is both as needed and as relevant today as it was in all ages.        

In our readings this week, we hear much of conscious choice to yield our own desires to those of God. This is not always an easy thing to do. We are used to pursuing our own plans and designs, but there comes a time when we need to gain perspective about where those plans and designs really fall in the grand scheme of things, and do they in any way impede us from following God’s call to serve Him?

The prophet Jeremiah was reluctant indeed to continue to speak Gods word to the people because of all the mockery he endured, and even speaks of being duped or tricked by the Lord into doing so. Yet he knows there is no backing away from speaking what he knows to be right because it is the word that comes from God and as he describes it, burns within him. He simply cannot hold back.

Saint Paul also speaks to us of sacrifice, and of living our lives in such a way that is pleasing to God. He tells us that we must not conform ourselves to this age, but rather look at what is timeless in its wisdom and value. To pursue Gods call, even when the world tries to constantly drag us in the opposite direction by trying to convince us that God is an outdated concept. To renew ourselves in such a way that we dismiss what is of human value, and instead cling to what is value to God. In every age, there have been forces that tried to draw Gods people away from Him, I sometimes wonder what Saint Paul would have to say if he saw how much that effort seems to have increased in our world today.

In our Gospel today, the call to think as God does, and not as humans do, is once again echoed. This time it is the words of our Lord himself in his rebuke to Peter when He tells him of what is to come. Peters’ reaction is a very human one, he does not wish any harm to come to Jesus whom he loves and has grown ever closer to over the years they and the other disciples have spent traveling and living together. I can honestly understand his feelings of wanting to be protective of someone he cares so deeply about. Yet, this is still a human response, and one that is in direct opposition to what Jesus knows needs to be accomplished, and so His rebuke is sharp. It is not to be unkind but rather to give Peter a sense of perspective in how human desires, not matter how seemingly caring and right, do not always align with Gods plan, or with the truths that need to be expressed. He tells Peter, and us, that our lives and cares in this world are completely secondary to the plan that is known only to God, and that each of us must come to realize how subservient our designs and cares must be in relation to Gods plan. This can be tremendously hard to keep in mind sometimes because much of what we feel is important seems so justifiable to us. Yet we must always be vigilantly humble enough to trust not in ourselves, but in His timeless word and plan.

In our Gospel today we hear the ultimate question, both for those who were there when it was asked, and for us all these centuries later – “Who do you say that I am?”. This question is one that we have all grappled with as we have yearned to grow in faith and is the single most important declaration we can make once we have come to terms with our answer. When we affirm, like Peter, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, everything changes because we are no longer under the weight of the law and have a savior who lifts us up so that our burden is taken upon His own shoulders.

When Peter affirmed that Jesus was the Christ, he became the rock upon which God would build His Church in this world. He would lead, and be the first Pope, and have the power to make decisions that would be bound or loosed both on earth and in heaven. This was an awesome responsibility for a simple fisherman from Galilea, but one that was possible because Jesus chose and empowered him to do so. It was not through Peters force of will, or personal attributes that this could be accomplished, it was because of Peters professed faith and reliance upon Him who can do all things. What is more, this did not end with Peter, it is very clear from the writings of the early Church that his successors were accepted by the people because they understood our Lords intent – to not leave them without a shepherd here on earth, and it is still the case today.

For each of us who call Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, and freely profess that He is God, we echo the fulfillment of belief that our Lord heard from Peter. We may not be perfect, but we are indeed saved in the sense that our Lord finds us to be His followers. Human beings, including Popes, are not perfect people, we struggle, we sometimes fail, but we have faith in the one who gave up His life for us, and so we have reason to rejoice that we are loved despite our imperfections. No matter where we go, not matter who else in our lives may ignore, reject, or otherwise cause us pain, we can count on the one who took all our pains upon Himself and loves us always.

We hear in today’s Gospel about Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman, a woman from the Syrophoenician region, who was not of Jewish descent. When this woman asks our Lord for help with her daughter who is suffering, His response seems uncharacteristically terse. He seems to initially refuse her request, yet when she makes plain that she has deep faith in him, He grants her request because of this. The takeaway is simply this – He did come to save the children of Israel, but He also finds acceptable all who come to Him in faith. The message of acceptance, of all people being acceptable to God, is good news for most of us, since by and large we do not have direct roots to Israel as part of our lineage. We can still have hope though, if we come to our Lord in faith and like the Canaanite woman ask Him to find us worthy of His love and help.

There is a second lesson to be taken from all of this though, and one that often escapes notice when talking about this encounter. That lesson is one of acceptance that we ourselves need to apply to all of our dealings with others. It is clear from this Gospel that our Lord finds acceptable all peoples, and we are called to do the same. I think this is especially important to understand today, because I do not recall in all my years on this earth a time when people were more sharply divided than today. We seem to find fault in nearly every definable characteristic of those we encounter.

If our Lord accepts all of us, and desires that each of us come to Him and find salvation, no matter who we are, what we look like, or what we have done in the past – who then are we to find so much fault with others that our first instinct is to reject their company? Jesus came to us, to save us, not because of our perfection as individuals, but because we are all riddled with imperfections and problems, baggage and sins that should by all rights find us guilty of condemnation, and yet that is exactly what He did not come to do. He did not come to condemn but to save. He expects us to do likewise because we are called to walk in His footsteps. This is not an easy calling, but it is the only one that leads to life – it is the narrow gate that so few can pass through. Only those who eventually let go of all the garbage that encumbers us, like prejudice, judgmental attitudes, self-aggrandizing, and hate will make it through. We sometimes hear people speak of their lack of acceptance of others who are part of some grouping that does not on the surface seem to follow Christs teaching to the letter, as though such judgement was some kind of badge of honor – or who seemingly take pride in writing off those they deem to be less pious than themselves. They are totally oblivious to the fact that there is only one fit to judge, and NONE of us is Him. Our job is much simpler – we are here to be a help to all, to try to guide those on the wrong track lovingly toward a better understanding of Gods message – and if they don’t seem to get it at first, to not give up or write them off – EVER. To be patient, to be kind, to be shepherds who are always willing to help His sheep along is our call, and in doing so to show our own true understanding of His teaching.     

In our Gospel today, we hear something that can cause us a bit of consternation – we are told that we must be careful about things that we can be drawn into loving more than God. This statement is very similar to what we hear in John 12:25 where we hear that if we do not hate our very lives, then we will lose them. In each case, the message is that we must put love of Jesus Christ first, and all else should be frankly trivial in comparison.

This can sometimes be a difficult thing to put into practice, even if we understand this intellectually, it can present challenges to be put into practice. Why – you may ask? Well to put it simply, it is difficult to truly love someone with that kind of intensity and priority, when we do not really have a solid connection with them. We see, or perhaps talk with those whom we have close relationships with, such as parents, children, friends, etc. rather frequently, but if we are not doing the same with our Lord, then having even that degree of intimacy is difficult, to say nothing of having the even greater degree that we are called to. 

This should illustrate for us the necessity of frequent time spent with our Lord. We can spend time in prayer, and in going to Church, and in reading our bibles, but I am talking about something that can be even greater in closeness and bonding. To truly spend time with our Lord as we would with someone to whom we share the greatest intimacy. To establish time quietly spent seeking His heart and listening for His quiet voice that comes to us through His Spirit to discern His will for each of us. To immerse ourselves and seek His influence and guidance so that it permeates every aspect of the lives that He has given us. This is the call.

Our Lord does not seek to control us, He has given us the precious gift of free will, what He seeks is a desire on our part because of the intimacy, understanding, and trust that we share to draw close to Him. To lose ourselves, our very lives, so that immersed in Him we WANT to live our lives in a manner that reflects His teachings – there is a drastic difference between the two. It is out of love and concern for His children that He seeks to guide us to what is good.

Make no mistake, there is a war raging each and every day, just as it has been since the time of Creation. The battle is waged for either the corruption or the preservation of the souls of those whom God has created. The tactics used are often subtle, and the battle is sometimes not readily evident to those who are not attuned to their spiritual selves. Yet the conflict is very real, spiritual warfare and the toll that it has taken, and continues to take upon humanity is very real, and either loss or victory is for the greatest stakes imaginable.

We are confronted each day with choices about how we will conduct ourselves, and what that conduct will convey to others about our beliefs. It may be a situation where we must choose between what we know to be wrong or right, it may be a conversation where we must choose to either stand up for what we believe or allow others to run roughshod over us without saying a word, or it may simply be choosing to remain in the presence of influences that we know to be morally detrimental to us. All of these situations have the potential to either affirm or deny our beliefs in our own sight, the way we are viewed by others, and in what is witnessed by almighty God. There is no mortal that we need ever fear in these conflicts. It is true that others could seek to do us harm when our beliefs conflict with their desires and agendas. Over the life of the Church many have become martyrs because they clung to what they believed, yet even in those instances of human cruelty and death, there was still victory. We do not like to think of physical death, it can be a fearful thing if we let ourselves forget that Christ has already overcome that for us. Yet that is what He did, and in so doing gave us every reason to believe and be fearless in our approach to the struggles and battles of this life. It is God’s judgement alone that we must fear, because of the pure truth that we will one day be confronted with. There is nothing on that day that will not be revealed. This is not a matter of fearing God because of the human obsession with guilt that sometimes comes about, we need to be concerned with an encounter with a purity of truth that we have never yet experienced, and so should strive to be prepared as best we can for the judgement that will follow. That is not to say we should expect perfection, most of us can pretty much put that one to rest because we are all sinners. Yet, we should still strive, just like children who seek to please their parent because they do not wish to disappoint them, knowing that they are still loved in spite of their imperfections. This is the love that God seeks from each of us, and that we need to pursue each and every day.

We are each of us special in God’s eyes, and He values each of us enough to have made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Not a hair on our heads is not accounted for by Him, not a struggle endured for love of Him is ever forgotten, and no one who has sacrificed for Him in emulating His sacrifice for us will ever go unacknowledged. Others will disappoint us in this life, they will cause us pain at times, and will perhaps cause us to grieve, that is the nature of humanity. None of that matters when we are focused on Him.

How often in our lives do we feel like we are going through the motions but are perhaps lacking true direction, like sheep with no one to guide them. This can be something we experience in dealing with the day-to-day challenges of life, but it can certainly also manifest in our spiritual lives as well. In either case, our first thought should be to turn to Christ for the guidance and help that we seek.

When we turn to Jesus Christ, and we approach him with our needs, we can confidently do so in the plainest of language, and the utmost honesty about what we are dealing with. There is no need to “polish” our prayers, our Lord knows all that is going on in our lives anyway. What He seeks from us is simply sincerity and honesty, the things that are part of any relationship with true intimacy. He is not a distant or unapproachable god, He is rather the one who deigned to come to us in our own humble form, because He loves us so much that it was worth it to take on such a lowly state, the better to allow us to understand Him on a whole new level.

There is also another gift that our Lord provided us with, like any good shepherd, He knows the tendencies of His flock, and he put the needed resources in place to help guide them and to care for them. These resources are the laborers that the Master of the Harvest still employs among us to this very day. They help us in healing, in spiritual guidance, in providing counsel, or perhaps just a helping hand. These are the extension of The Twelve that He commissioned and gave authority to, for the care of His flock. We encounter them as those in religious life, as well as those who simply live their lives with Jesus Christ as their focus, and so draw others close to Him as well. We know them by the fruits of their actions, and through that quiet voice within that guides each of us if we will listen.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. The body and blood of our Lord being our nourishment to strengthen us and imbue us with our Lords very self, is the most central tenet of our faith. The Eucharist and its nature can be both a grace our Lord gave us, but also a stumbling block of belief if we do not accept the words our Lord spoke.

There is perhaps no passage in the New Testament that has caused more controversy, and at the same time provided more hope than those found in John 6. At the time that our Lord spoke this discourse, He had well over a hundred followers that had been with him wherever He went. Yet at the close of what He taught that day, He was left with only the twelve disciples. You see the very words that tell us the path to nourishing our spirits so that we can gain the strength we need to persevere were simply too much for many of those gathered there at the time, just as many find them difficult to accept today. Our Lord knew the audience He was addressing at that time, and that many would not be able to accept the idea of consuming His body and blood, because like most of the Jewish people, they believed that the teachings they had always heard warning them against the consumption of blood sacrifice still applied there. What they could not grasp was that those things which apply to the actions of men, did not apply to God, and so many left Him. Our Lord knew this would happen, and He did not mince words in what He described, and He did so for a reason – the people needed to eventually understand His sacrifice that was to come, and that it would require His body and blood, as the new Paschal Lamb to bring them to salvation. That He would shed all of this on their behalf, and that they needed to partake of His gift in order that they might live. This accepting of His words and partaking of His body and blood is an ultimate act of faith, and that is what our Lord requires of all who profess to believe in Him.

What we receive in the Eucharist is truly His body and blood. Yes, it looks like bread and wine through human sight, but when we look with the eyes of the soul, we see far more clearly what has been placed before us. When our Lord healed, it was always with the soul as His primary focus through forgiving sins, the healings of the physical body were secondary. Just so, when He nourishes us, it is with our true bodies, our spiritual selves in mind, that He is nourishing and strengthening so that we can live with Him eternally.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the uniquely Christian core belief, that God is at the same time one God, but also three distinct persons. Other faiths acknowledge God, but only Christians acknowledge his trinitarian nature – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God our Father we know as creator and founder of all reality as we know it. He is perhaps our most immediately thought of incarnation of God. Yet, we also know and follow the Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth and shared our human form while still fully God. He lived among us, taught us, healed us, and ultimately died for us, so that we might have hope in His resurrection, and in a resurrected relationship with the Father. Jesus, as the Son who saved us, is our Mediator and High Priest before the Father, and is our Judge because He existed as one of us and experienced all of our conditions except sin. When He ascended back to Heaven, He did not leave us alone, but left us with the Holy Spirit to guide us. The Holy Spirit is often described as the love that exists between the Father and the Son and completes the trinitarian circle and nature of God as a whole. It is the Holy Spirit who guides us and comes to us as that quiet voice that is God revealing himself to us in our daily lives.

The nature of God, we acknowledge as a mystery. Three, and yet one. Each distinct, and yet all the one true God. As human beings confined to a physical reality, this is a difficult thing to grasp and understand, yet we must think beyond this reality, and allow ourselves to acknowledge that the One who existed before the fabric or time and space was even created is not constrained in the manner that we are, and so can exist in whole form that is both singular and trinitarian without conflict to either logic or faith. God is perfect, and His perfection comes to us in love, in all of the persons of the Trinity.

As we celebrate this Pentecost Sunday, we hear of the action of the Holy Spirit, as it descended upon the Disciples. How they began to speak, and how the crowd gathered from all over the known world, could hear and understand them through the Spirits grace. When we hear this, we often think simply of a difference in languages that was overcome through this grace, but there is more.

Each one of us, when we receive the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments is imbued with the Spirit and with the gifts that are part of that. The gifts themselves are many, and varied depending upon our needs, what our Lord sees as the help we require to do His will, and where we are with our relationship with Him. You see it is not just languages that can be stumbling blocks for those who are trying to listen for the message our Lord wants to convey, whether it be through others guided by the Spirit, or from what we experience directly. For all of us, our hearts and minds must be open to the Holy Spirits message and gifts, at least as much as our spiritual ears.

The message to each of us is completely unique, just as we are unique parts of the Body of Christ. There is no greater or lesser gift or gifts, it is simply what we as unique creations of our Lord require to do His will. They will come when He knows we are ready for them, and in the exact proportion required. The gifts and the way they come to us are perfection, it is then up to us to use them to the best of our ability, and even beyond that through the action and grace of the Spirit. 

When our Lord came to his Disciples, and breathed upon them, they received His peace, and His authority to forgive or bind sins, because of the common mission they had been called to. This mission continues today, but it is not the only one. Be open to God’s place for you in His plan, to the unique mission that He has in mind for you to perform in His service. To sit idly by and simply watch as those around us are in need, is the only incorrect course of action. No matter who we are or where we are in life, we are still here because He has things for us to accomplish, and we in turn need to submit humbly in loving service to those tasks. There is no greater peace or fulfillment than when we serve in Gods plan.