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.
When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. (Lk 2:41-51)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062522.cfm
Yesterday we celebrated the Sacred Heart of Jesus, today the Immaculate Heart of Mary—two hearts joined in life, two hearts joined for all eternity in God’s love, two hearts that beat as one.
I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal . . . shepherding them rightly. (Ez 34:11-16)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062422.cfm
Devotion to the Heart of Christ invites us to contemplate the humanity of the Good Shepherd and so enter into the very heart of God. And so the church teaches us to pray: O Sacred Heart of Jesus, make our hearts like unto yours.
Alleluia (Lk 1:76)
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You, child, will be called prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062322-day.cfm
The birth of a child invites us all to reflect on what this child will become. The birth of John the Baptist is no different. To prepare the way of the Lord is a good description of the portrayal of the ministry of John the Baptist in the Scriptures. To prepare the way of the Lord is a good description of the work we are called to and of the work of disciples in every age.
The high priest Hilkiah informed the scribe Shaphan, “I have found the book of the law in the temple of the LORD.” (2 Kgs 22:8-13; 23:1-3)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062222.cfm
Israel was divided into two kingdoms, north and south, since the time of Solomon. When the northern kingdom fell (722 BC), which was described in Monday’s reading, refugees flooded the southern kingdom, Judah and its capital, Jerusalem. The Book of the Law (the Book of Deuteronomy) was most likely brought by the refugees when they fled. Its “discovery” in the Temple in Jerusalem filled the southern kingdom with hope and renewed faith. Of course, the southern kingdom itself will fall some 136 years later in 586 BC.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” (Mt 7:6,12-14)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062122.cfm
Saint Aloysius found that the way to life led him to care for others—not very popular thing to do in a time of plague. And, of course, he died of plague at the age of 23. The church has always admired apostolic zeal especially in the young. Saint Aloysius is one of the patron saints of those living with AIDS and of those who care for them.
