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.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
"All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."
(Mt 28:16-20)
Our experience of God as a community of persons, yet one only God, is a mystery that invites us to delight in what we cannot fully comprehend but that we know to be true.
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 19)
R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
Sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.
Sweeter than honey from the comb . . . what a description of the Lord’s commands!
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I chose you from the world, to go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord. (Jn 15:16)
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Hopefully, we do bear lasting fruit and don’t end up like the poor fig tree that Jesus cursed.
Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.”
Jesus told him, ‘Go your way; your faith has saved you.”
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.
(Mk 10:46-52)
Blind Bartimaeus is a wonderful story of crying out in faith and subsequent healing . . . but the key is that Bartimaeus “followed him on the way.”
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
They said to him, ‘We can.”
Jesus said to them, “The chalice that I drink, you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
(Mk 10:32-45)
Presumption is always a temptation—even for the Twelve. Of course, the other Ten were furious with James and John . . . because they hadn’t thought to ask for the seats of honor. Christian ambition is in us all. But when the Lord responds to the two brothers: “You will drink the chalice that I drink, you will be baptized with my baptism” we begin to understand that they are clueless about what they have asked for. I remember when I showed a list of the popes to a non-Catholic lady who was inquiring about the church. The lady asked me, “What’s that capital M after their names?” I answered, “That means the person was martyred.” And you know, that list of the first popes . . . almost all of them have a capital M after their names—that’s what it meant to be the shepherd of the flock . . . as Jesus says, “the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Saint Philip Neri was known for his compassion and ministry to the poor and is called the “apostle of Rome.”
