I don’t think that too many people would argue, especially after the events of the last month or so, that we live in a world that can prove challenging to people of faith. Our readings today are incredibly apropos in that respect.

When we hear of acts of senseless violence and the manifest frustration and hatred that spawns them, we can be tempted to cry out, just as the prophet Habakkuk did, and complain to God about the violence of our world. We can ask the usual questions that inevitably are brought out when people are needlessly killed or violated – How God, can you allow this? Why do you not intervene? Why are we subjected to this misery and fear? All around us things seem to be falling apart, and what we are ultimately asking is – do you care?

It is that last question that is ultimately so unfair of us when we are faced with the evil that is sometimes present in this world. God does care. He cares greatly, just as any father would. What we need to understand, and to keep in mind though, is that He cares enough about us overall, to not program things, or be some sort of puppet master to us, and to instead imbue us with the dignity of free will. What we choose to with that free will, is the real question, and the one that needs to levelled at us, not at God. Our Lord told us plainly on many occasions we would have trouble in this life, He did not hide this, or even try to sugar coat the matter. He instead gave us what we needed to deal with it as children of God. We have an intellect, we have learned of what it means to combat evil with love through God’s own words, and we have FAITH.

It is faith that ultimately will give us the buttress that will shield us when things become overwhelming, if we allow it. The same God who told us we would have trouble, also told us to believe in Him when we are faced with such things. To trust, and to understand through His words that while these things will inevitably happen, there are two fundamental truths that we need to embrace. The first is that we are charged with working toward making a better world – us, the ones to whom God gave this world as a place to live. We need to effect change, we need to manifest love and caring, we need to guide others who have so little hope that they lash out like children and do unspeakable evil in the process. We need to teach them of God’s truth, we need to give them a reason to believe that they do not need to resort to evil, just to be recognized. The second is, we need to be brave enough, held up by our faith in God’s plan to do these things, and so to preserve others. We need to let the faith we profess each Sunday permeate us to the point that we are willing to put ourselves out there to reach others before it is too late. This does not mean that there will still not be evil. That is something we will always battle, both within, and without. What it does mean is that we will stay focused on God’s promises, and trust in His love, and remember that no matter how grotesque things may seem in this world at times, while on the cross, He has already endured and triumphed over a far greater evil.

In our society of “acceptance” the concept of discipline is not a popular one. The word itself seems to draw immediate loathing from many who seem to think it is an outdated concept, and one that reeks of actual commitment to an ideal or position. The more comfortable path, the wider path most often chosen, is to commit to nothing at all. To live a life of accepting anything that anyone else says, so as to avoid any possibility of offending their sensibilities. The trouble is, there are some seriously misguided folks out there, and the ideas they purvey as new “truths” are fit more for spreading in your garden, than being spoken to anyone else, except perhaps in jest. To show commitment, or to discipline oneself to speaking the truth no matter how unpopular it might be at times, is now looked upon as being hurtful, hateful, or somehow motivated by some deliberate bias against some group of individuals.

The reality is that if you have any intellect at all, and especially if you are committed as part of your intellectual and moral stance to a set of standards which guide your behavior, you are now seen as a target of ignorant contempt by the masses who would rather exist in comfortable, vacuous lives that require no courage whatsoever to live out. Yet as followers of Christ, we are called to hold to His teachings. We are called to live our lives in this way, and to absolutely not do so in convenient silence, but rather to proclaim our stance to others in such a way that there can be no mistaking our position. This does not ever mean doing so out of any sort of malice or self-aggrandizing motivation, but rather to humbly, yet persistently cling to our beliefs. To share them in such a way that any view of our actions cannot be misinterpreted except by the most polarized of individuals who adhere to morally corruptive stances only believed by a super-minority of humanity. To do this, is to live and walk toward the narrow gate as our path and goal. This requires both fortitude and discipline to see us through situations that will inevitably arise as a result. Make no mistake, we are incapable of doing any of this on our own. The fortitude and discipline of which I spoke can only come in sufficient intensity from a source outside ourselves, and will require prayer to ask for these graces. To ask to be strong enough to endure the initial pains that come from this kind of living, and to hold out until we have matured enough to reinterpret these manifestations as a joyful event, because we then know that God is truly with us and guiding us, and loving us in our efforts. We are then blessed, not with comfort, but with strength to endure. We are no longer lame in our walk through life. We have chosen to be recognized by God, so that when the day comes for each of us, He will not tell us to depart and say “I do not know where you are from”. Rather, we will be counted among the prophets who will be gathered together in His flock.

When we think of Jesus, division and conflict are not usually the first things that come to mind. Rather, we think more of a message of peace, love, and healing to all of us who are so much in need because of our brokenness. Yet, in todays Gospel the message sounds very different, and for good reason, because our Lord seeks to guard us from the dangers of a lack of commitment, and a “lukewarm” faith which can so easily occur when we don’t have a firm commitment to Christ.

Whenever I hear this Gospel, the first thing that springs to mind is the sacrifice and conflict that so many of the people who come to our OCIA classes experience because they want to truly embrace Jesus’ message through the fullness of truth found in the Catholic Church. They come from many different backgrounds – some Protestant, some from other faiths, some from environments where they were never part of any faith oriented beliefs at all. Yet in all of these instances, they risk not just a new way of thinking for themselves that they must come to terms with, but also the possible lack of acceptance, if not outright rejection that sometimes can come  from friends and family members. They risk so much, all in the name of drawing closer to Jesus. Yet, this is exactly what Jesus is talking about in todays Gospel, it is in fact what we are all called to do, especially as Catholics. We are called to fully embrace His teaching, and to still proclaim His message to those who will sometimes reject it and potentially reject us as well.

It’s not an easy thing to say the truth, and yet that was Jesus’ purpose, to open the eyes of ALL to the truth. He did this in His teaching, in the way He lived, and ultimately in the way He suffered, and died for our sake. There was a fire within Him that consumed all things that would distract Him from this purpose, and He wills the same fire to be within each of us. The prophet Jeremiah experienced this same fire and endured being lowered into the cistern by those who could not bear to hear his words. Saint Paul in his letter to the Hebrews calls them, and us, to rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us (meaning all the things that distract us from Christ, because those are true burdens to us).

The reality is simply this, if our Lord was willing to endure his passion and death for our sake, all of which came about because of the adherence to the truth which He lived out, then He has every right to expect the same of us. We are not called to be comfortable, we are in fact called to set fire to those comforts that distract us, let them burn to ash, and then sweep them from our minds and hearts. Only then can we fully embrace our mission and live out and evangelize Christs message of truth. The cost is steep, but the rewards are beyond our imagining. Strike the spark and let it begin.

I don’t think that the significance of his being asked three times by our Lord – “Do you love me?” was lost on Simon Peter. He knew full well the number of times that he stumbled in denying to be one of Jesus’ followers as our Lord had predicted – “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times”. This might in part explain some of Peters agitation at being asked like this. Yet it was important to have this discourse, because also contained within it was our Lords command that Peter (and in turn his successors) tend and feed His flock. This has been the responsibility of the Pope(s) since that time. It’s a bit ironic, that as I began writing this, I had just learned of the passing of Pope Francis, and I could not help but think of the way that in his papacy, he spent so much of his time focusing on drawing all of Jesus’ flock to His Church so that they could be cared for. This need is as important now as it was in Peters time when there were also many who were castoff members of society, but our Lord made it clear He wanted them all, and would sort out any issues himself.

The tending and feeding of God’s flock is something that can only begin with the inclusion of every soul we can possibly draw in. It does not matter what other ideologies they subscribe to, it doesn’t matter if they yet fully understand Catholic teaching, or have had a religious upbringing, or of what kind. It does not matter what they look like, where they came from, or how they sound. It does not matter to whom they feel they are attracted or how they see themselves. What DOES matter is that we do not hinder their ability to come to the Catholic (remember that means universal) Church so that they can learn and ponder God’s message and receive healing from the Sacraments like all the rest of us who are likely just as broken in one respect or another.

Jesus revealed himself to Peter, Thomas, and Nathaniel on the beach that morning after a night of unsuccessful fishing, and then causing so many fish to fill their nets after they lowered them at His command, it was reminiscent of how He had called Peter to himself initially. He repeated the call so that Peter, like the rest of us, could see how much He wanted to draw him back to himself regardless of his having stumbled, just as he still wants all of us even when we stumble. Peter learned in a vision that all were seen as acceptable to be redeemed by God, and the message and understanding is just as important for all who call themselves His followers today. May we prayerfully ponder, and never forget to make His Church a place of mercy and hope, where everyone is welcomed, loved, and forgiven.

I’ve always found it difficult not to empathize with Thomas when I hear this Gospel. I also tend to go looking for proof before drawing any conclusions. That’s always been my way, and it certainly applies to my job which involves collecting facts and troubleshooting based on that information. Yet although this is an innate tendency, I have also learned over the years that it cannot quantify everything, and that in particular matters of faith are completely beyond this kind of thinking, hence the name “faith”. This does not mean that we accept things blindly, it simply means that the tools and practices we normally use to discern our physical world are simply inadequate to ponder our belief in matters of our spirit.

When Jesus revealed himself to His Apostles without Thomas present, they are overjoyed to see him after the initial shock, and in particular once he had shown himself to them more closely and demonstrated that they were not seeing a ghost (Luke 24:36-49). We sometimes tend to gloss over this, but it’s really the same response as Thomas’, simply on a smaller scale and without discussion. The reality is that as human beings we are saddled with a tendency to doubt until we see some semblance of relatable facts to satisfy the physically oriented side of our nature. This was still part of the thinking of Jesus’ disciples despite the fact that their hearts longed for what they were seeing to be true. This is the conflict within each one of us. Our hearts long for closeness with Jesus, but our physical nature often proves to be stumbling block.

When we are younger, I think most of us found it easier to accept things we did not, or could not completely quantify. As we grow older, we develop a mindset that does not allow that. The world tells us that this is wisdom, the reality is that it is simply baggage we acquire and that weighs us down. This is the conflict between worldly wisdom and the true wisdom that resides within us from the moment we are born as children of God.

True wisdom seems to be re-revealed as we acquire life experiences that are outside our ability to quantify on a human level, and that forces us to acknowledge and embrace our innate spiritual awareness. As we ponder our Lords resurrection and His promise kept, that He would rise and come back to us, let’s use both of our natures to ponder this. Jesus words are true and trustworthy always, we simply need to be open to them.

Every time I hear the Gospel narrative of the prodigal son, I am struck by the nearness of both of the sons behaviors. I can see in myself the tendency to be sometimes callous if I am not careful, and to focus only on myself without realizing the impact to others. I can also see in myself the tendency toward vain self-righteous indignation sometimes when I am feeling sorry for myself. Both of these are two of humanities most common foibles, and both of the sons in this narrative display these things brilliantly.

The youngest son, who we always seem to focus on most, perhaps because his actions are so overtly self-centered and immoral demonstrates very clearly just how callous we can be. He asks for his share of his inheritance, which in the culture of the time was like saying to his father that he didn’t want to have to wait any longer for him to die, so just cough up the money now. I can’t even imagine how his father must have felt. Yet he complies with his sons wishes and gives him what he asks for – fathers do that, including our Father in Heaven. They give to us in the hope that we will be happy, and that perhaps we will be productive. Yet this is not always the case, sometimes, like the younger son in our narrative we squander their gifts to us, and go far astray from what they have taught us.

Yet, there is always hope in any fathers heart that his child will come back to him and be reconciled. He is always ready to greet them and welcome them home when they make even the slightest effort. He simply wants his child back and to bring him home. This is not predicated on judgement, because the humbling act of their returning is sufficient for the moment. The lessons to be imparted will come in time.

The other side of the coin to this is observed in the older son, who feels he has been cheated because he has seen how his brother the more overt transgressor has been greeted with compassion and merciful love. He thinks this compassionate response somehow cheapens what he has with his father. That he is somehow more deserving of reward. Yet he does not realize that the reward is already there, he has been in unity with his father that whole time and their love remains strong, which should be reward enough for anyone. The consistent closeness is the reward.

When we sin, and separate ourselves from our Father in Heaven, his desire and hope is that we come back to him, no matter what we have done. If we approach in humility and with true repentance, then we have learned, and He will welcome us home joyfully. If we are fortunate enough that we have never left His company, we should rejoice ourselves each and every day. Yet we should do this in such a way that we are careful not be too self-congratulating, but with humility and always with a vigilant eye toward any vanity on our part.

In this Lenten season, we have much to consider in our own self-examination so that we too can either rejoice in being able to return to the love of our Father, or be grateful that we have been able to remain with Him.