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Pope St. John Paul II consistently used the expression “Culture of Life”. His hope was that if people came to appreciate how sacred every life is, we would be able to diminish the effects of the “Culture of Death”. If he were still alive today and were to reflect on what is happening within the church in the United States as well as our country in general, I think he would coin the words “Culture of Fear.” This culture is evident in the significant divisions that exist across our society. The antidote to this crippling aspect of current living would be a “Culture of Love.” Could it be that a vast majority of people have difficulty believing that we are all the handiwork who is created in the image of God, the image of love that knows no limits? To be continued. If anyone has comments or questions or wishes to propose any topics for this section, please let me know. ~ Fr. Roman

Our second reading for this Sunday states that "we are always courageous." That certainly is our hope. But in many situations, we are anything but courageous. Sometimes, we even feel that we have been discounted as others state their convictions with such force and with an ideological twist that is so different from our own. Without judging one another, at times it seems that some people just want to create an argument that we realize quickly will get nowhere but be a waste of time and energy. At other times, we might simply be lost as to how to respond. In the coming weeks, I want to explore this type of interaction and try to understand why people act this way and what we can do about it. If anyone has questions or suggestion about this topic, please let me know.

This Sunday’s Psalm includes a precious question. “How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good He has done for me?” We notice how God takes the initiative in blessing us. Our part in this very blessed situation is to renew our commitment to be God’s servant following the example of Jesus. Our fulfillment comes as we continue to dedicate our energies to being people who accept the love of God and find everyway possible to make that love real in our relationships. Just as God is generous without limit or condition, so we imitate Jesus by loving God, self and one another.

This weekend’s Psalm is a morale booster. We are assured that God’s Word made all that exists, and that God’s breath is an intricate part of what keeps us alive. We are reminded that everything God does is a sign of God’s trustworthiness. Reflecting on this glorious reality, we do our best to make God’s kindness known as we do all we can to bring about justice and right. We allow God’s kindness to energize us to do what we can to see to the needs of one another, especially those who depend on us for the basics of life.

Our first reading for this weekend describes how the first followers of Jesus realized that the Holy Spirit was very much present within and among them. The reading refers to a noise like a strong driving wind. It states that tongues as of fire parted and came to rest on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues. How do we put into words or what images do we use to express similar experiences of the Holy Spirit? What would it be like for us to find others with whom we can share such sacred moments? Some of us might feel serenity. Others of us might first react with fear because we are not sure what is taking place, or, because of the sacredness of the moment, might wonder what is being expected of us, given such a wondrous event. To someone who overhears us who is not familiar with these kinds of situations, it might seem as if we are speaking different languages. More than likely, the different languages will involve sharing new found wisdom, a renewed sense of our identity as God’s beloved, and how we will share the good news for others’ benefit.

Our second reading for this weekend includes a reminder that God first loved us. Sometimes we are inclined to think that we are the ones who began the relationship we have with God and/or with Jesus. The first chapter of our Bible makes clear that we are created in God’s image, the image of creative love. We pray that we would continue to develop the habit to thank God for the marvelous and wonderful ways God provides all we need to love God in return and to love ourselves and one another as indicators that we truly believe that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

This weekend’s second reading includes the words “we have confidence in God and receive from Him whatever we ask.” Jesus makes a similar statement in this weekend’s Gospel. How many of us have misunderstand Jesus’ unique sense of humor? He trusts us to be attentive to the Holy Spirit’s guiding us to realize that we don’t need to ask for anything. As is stated elsewhere in the Gospels, if God takes care of the flowers who are not capable of asking God for anything, God certainly knows what we need and what will benefit us. All we need and some of what we want is readily available. All we are to do is allow the Holy Spirit to help us to trust that God’s love sees to all of what will help us become the best possible version God created us to be.

Our first reading for this weekend begins with the words, “The community of believers was of one heart and mind.” Many would comment that this is exaggerating the positive state of the community. Another view is that is this is a very accurate description. Remembering that the community was relatively small by our standards, it is likely that the people, when they gathered, were intently and consciously focused on talking about Jesus. People engaged in this type of sharing would have been very vulnerable with each other. Sharing faith experiences involves risk and trust. The more people develop those virtues, the more likely they would be bonded ever more fully as people whose lives and values emanated from the type of sharing and celebrating that took place. Any group of people is capable of this type of bonding.

The second reading for this Easter Sunday, from 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8, speaks about the activity of yeast. A small amount can affect all the dough. I remember my mother preparing bread dough and how she would let the dough rise to a certain point and knead it so that it had the consistency she wanted. This can be a good image for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We don’t actually see the Spirit anymore than we actually see the yeast at work. When left to do what the Spirit wants, we, too, can rise to new levels of how we experience personally the love of God in our lives. At times, we realize, too, that the Holy Spirit may need to knead us so that we can respond as effectively as possible in being instruments of transformation for one another and for our world.

One scene included early in the Passion Account we will share this Sunday from the Gospel of Mark relates how a woman broke an alabaster jar of perfumed oil and poured it on the head of Jesus. When others became infuriated with the woman for what they thought was a wasteful action, Jesus quickly told those making this judgment to let the woman alone. He said, “she has done a good thing for me.” How delightful that Jesus appreciated this woman for her caring act. While we think of Jesus as serving and suffering, it is important to reflect on His accepting and relishing this moment of kindness. It is important for us as we focus on being servants that we also allow ourselves to experience moments when we can relax, be refreshed, and allow others to do acts of kindness for us.

Our second reading for this weekend includes the words that Jesus “learned obedience from what He suffered.” We hear in the Gospel that Jesus prayed to the Father, wondering if He should ask to be spared from the pain, suffering and death that He was going to endure if He continued to reveal the love of God for all people. The Father reminds Jesus that He has been and will be glorified. If Jesus continues to accept that He is the Father’s beloved Son, and chooses to continue the mission of the Father, all will be well. Therefore, the words from our second reading mean that the more Jesus listened to the Father reminding Him of His identity, the more Jesus became for us the source of eternal life. The more we let the Father remind us of our identity as God’s beloved, the more we will be able to live out the mission God has for us, which is the same mission the Father gave Jesus.

Our second reading for this Sunday includes the words "by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works." Some of us were formed to think differently than this statement. We pray that we continue to believe that all life is a gift; our lives reflect our gratitude to God for all of God's blessings by doing our best to take loving care of all God has entrusted to us. We pray that we can help one another, especially in these uncertain times, to reflect on how the love that Jesus revealed is what brings us healing and salvation. We believe that this love is stronger than sin and stronger than death. We allow this love to transform us continually so that we can become the fullest version of ourselves as God intended us to be. Then, at the end of our lives, we present to God the gift of a life well lived in imitation of Jesus.

Our second reading includes these words: “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified.” What the Jews and Greeks failed to recognize was that in Jesus was present the clearest sign of God’s love for all people. The love that Jesus revealed was what brought Him to the cross, and in the cross we realize that Jesus lived that message of love up to His last breath. This same love raised Jesus from the dead. That same gift of love is how we experience the forgiveness of our sins, and, in the process, we experience new life.

This weekend’s second reading asks the question, “if God is for us…?” There is much going on in our world and in our lives that might cause us to ask where God is in all of it, what parts of our troubles we can blame on God, and wonder when God will decide to intervene. In his book, Night, Elie Wiesel reflects on a scene when he was in one of the German concentration camps. An emaciated boy was hung, but his body wasn’t heavy enough to choke him. So he just swung with the wind. Someone near Elie asked where God was, and Elie said that God was in the boy. What is it like to see God in our troubles, and to embrace His Presence so that we can experience God with us in our sufferings?

Our first reading for this Sunday uses the word “covenant” five times. It can be one of those words that we might have some sense of what it means. A more clear word is relationship. God created us out of love and fondly desires to have a loving relationship with everyone. Sadly, some of us in our formative years heard a lot about a God who could get angry, was inclined to judge us and would not restrain Himself from punishing us. This Lent is a great opportunity for us to spend some special times sitting with God and letting God say to us over and over that we are God’s beloved.

Some of us find a very good friend in Job, as he talks about himself in this weekend’s first reading (Job 7:1-4, 6-7). Typically, the first reading is selected because of its thematic tie-in with the Gospel. Given the oppressive religious atmosphere and the even more oppressive demands of the Roman Empire, all the people who came to or were brought to Jesus in the Gospel felt a lot like Job. We pray that, like Jesus, we can listen attentively to another’s pain without offering any solution or advice. Like Jesus, we do our best to let the love present within us be what energizes us to care as He did.

Our second reading for this Sunday begins with St. Paul stating, “I should like you to be free of anxieties.” He then speaks of how unmarried people are anxious “about the things of the Lord.” Married people are “anxious about the things of the world.” Confusing? Maybe. My guess is that the word “anxious” has a different flavor, depending on the context. What I think is more helpful is to acknowledge when we are anxious. We ask what is most likely the cause of feeling anxious. If there is something practical we can do about it, we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us to take action. If there is nothing we can do about it, we allow God to remind us that despite our anxiety we continue to be loved.

Our Psalm response for this weekend is “teach me your ways, O Lord.” How helpful this can be given that we have any number of serious concerns these days. We pray that we allow God to guide us in God’s truth, not what we at times think is truth. We pray that we can develop our humility; we remind ourselves that to be humble does mean we demean ourselves. It means that we accept that we are not God; therefore, we need to let God shows us how to bring about true justice in our world. We pray that people can easily observe that our lives are marked by goodness, kindness and compassion.

Our Responsorial Psalm for this weekend reminds us of how to achieve peace in our lives, relationships and world. It comes about by choosing to do the will of God. The more we align our lives to do God’s will, the greater the delight we will experience. The more we are attentive to the voice of truth, the more we are attentive to what the Holy Spirit says from the depths of our being, the more God will put a new song into our mouth. We will praise God best as we listen attentively to the voice of God speaking to us in all of our experiences. We are called not to restrain our lips when God calls us to announce and bring about justice for the world.