These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

FRIDAY, WEEK XXVIII, ORDINARY TIME—Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, October 16

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
From heaven the LORD looks down;
he sees all mankind.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
(Psalm 23)

As the Letter to the Ephesians states so clearly, we have been chosen in Christ. Why do we have such a hard time believing it? Most of us think that God puts conditions—God will love us if only we do this or that, God will love us if only we weren’t this way or that way. The truth is that we were baptized too . . . and that means God has chosen us, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Today is the feast of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. She was chosen by God to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.