Advent Reflection #7 6 December 2025 Memorial of St. Nicholas Finding the point of light in following God’s invitation to serve. God call us by name. Do we know the voice of God?
Advent Reflection #6 5 December 2025 Hope in Mission: God does not walk away: He renews, He instructs, He waits in patiently St. Lawrence Dual Language Catholic School Saint Lawrence the Martyr Catholic Parish and School
Advent Reflections 4 December 2025 #5 Memorial of St. John Damascene and St. Barbara: Silence is such and important part of the Spiritual life. Do we know the person of Jesus Christ…To slow down to see, know and experience the person of Jesus is difficult in our fast paced world, to find Jesus in the beauty of the world.
Advent Reflections 3 December 2025 Memorial of St. Francis Xavier SJ, When is enough–enough. We are asked to bring more than we have? In other words…we are asked to bring others to Christ…to bring others to an encounter with Him….We are asked to share who we are and how Jesus brings new life…
Advent Reflections: 2 December 2025 #3 Seeing with Eyes of Wonder
In baptism we become a new creation. Seeing with eyes of wonder God reveals the joy, the trust and love. To experience the little moments with child-like wonder again and again.
Advent Reflection #2 Monday Week 1 in Advent 1 December 2025
Advent Reflection #1 First Sunday in Advent 30 November 2025
One of the great invitations of God is that of unity. In the Most Holy Trinity we see the perfect model of the unity of love in which all people are called to participate. This unity is especially important to the Church in our call to discipleship. A call that isn’t a unity of sameness or uniformity, but rather where our differences and uniqueness are joined together to serve the greater good in the God given gifts and talents we have received and are called to nurture. Pope St. John XXIII wrote in the Encyclical Ad Petri Cathedram On Truth, Unity and Peace in a Spirit of Charity: “All men, then, should turn their attention away from those things that divide and separate us, and should consider how they may be joined in mutual and just regard for one another’s opinions and possessions.” (#29) St. John XXIII did not write this document for priests specifically, but as part of the body, that serves the Church in a very specific way we can see the unity of life and love expressed as a call within a call. Jesus prays for us in this way, “That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21) Unity in the Church, the family and within the priesthood are desired by God. This is the reality of humbleness in the sacrificial love and service of one to another. We can often find ourselves demanding “what is ours” in conversation, actions or insidious thought destroying unity, love and peace. As a priest the constant temptation to compare, to be better than or to degrade the blessing of brothers is a reality to be battled in seeking out priestly fraternity. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”(Mark 14:38) As priests, we promise to pray the Prayer of the Church in The Liturgy of the Hours each day for the glory of God. It is a act of humble obedience and the greatest gift at the same time. The promise is to be in unity with Christ and His Church, the reality is the exposing of our heart daily to God, where the Psalms and Canticles of Sacred Scripture (the majority of the prayers) become the daily breath we take and bring to the Eucharistic celebration. Once more St. John XXIII writes, “Let us embrace that humility of soul which elevates us to great heights, that charity which unites us with God; let us have a genuine faith in revealed mysteries. (#82) Unity is found in common prayer and common purpose. In families it is modeled as husband and wife are, in sacramental marriage, promise as one to serve and share the life now bound together through as shared understanding of each other…not as perfect but…as graced filled vessels to be blessed by and given in love.
“Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift all of you” like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32) We are all sinners where unity seems impossible with so many people whose we disagree with on religious, political and moral matters. The unity in charity, seeing the best in one another is vital. Jesus reminds St. Peter, Satan will try to divide and conquer, but we are called to the embrace of love. To seek the best in one another and to not to avoid, but to hear the brokenness and hurt in those turn away from. St. John XXIII desire for unity comes in the love of neighbor, even the one with the barking dog, is seeking to join in a common desire: he in the companionship of the pet and you is the peace and quiet. Knowing the compromise and the decisions will be made in good will in not in setting up ever higher fences but in building a bridge of understanding. “Avoid division, shun discord, . . . encourage charity toward one another. Heed the words of Christ: ‘By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’”(#83) Living and loving within our home, the Word of God, the Church , in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, is strange only when we do not know who laid the foundation, who has constructed the frame and who continues to prepare a place for us. Unity is a daily conversation of love, prayer and serve of spouse who knows us better than we know ourselves. The spouse who made us, formed us and called us to life. “When We fondly call you to the unity of the Church, please observe that We are not inviting you to a strange home, but to your own, to the abode of your forefathers. Permit Us, then, to long for you all “in the heart of Christ Jesus,”[35] and to exhort you all to be mindful of your forefathers who “preached God’s word to you; contemplate the happy issue of the life they lived, and imitate their faith.””(#84)
“First, prayer; then, atonement; in the third place, very much ‘in the third place’, action.” (St. Josemaría Escrivá) The great tragedy of a school shooting has once more entered our lives. This time it feels a little closer to home as it took place at a Catholic School and almost unbelievably as the students, faculty and community had gathered for the celebration of the Mass. As brothers and sisters in Christ we are called to pray for the families and community that has suffered so great a loss that is unimaginable to so many of us. But we do pray to God and ask the bigger questions. I emphasize “prayer” because so many times after any tragedy, but especially one of senseless violence, we are told prayer is not enough. And that is true. But as I have written before, it must be where we begin. I was actually going to write about prayer in a different context before this event because of a conversation I had with several young people about prayer. I was going to write about how our prayer often feels empty and as one of the students commented during the conversation, “I think I’m praying wrong.” So while much of the context may be changing in the post, the “praying wrong” or the how we look at prayer will fill both buckets.
When I asked the teen why they thought they were praying wrong and asked them to describe their prayers, they shared a very anodyne description of prayer. In our continued discussion their anger and hurt became apparent and finally “I’m so angry with God!” blurted out of their mouth. As we continued to talk and pray together, we talked about how we share our feeling with family, friends, teachers and others…so why don’t we share our ugly feelings, like anger, with God. I reminded them that throughout Sacred Scripture many people get angry with God. Just look at Moses in the exodus or the Prophet Jeremiah or the story of Job. You can hear the frustration and anger in St. Paul’s letters. And most importantly, we look to our Lord to see his life of prayer informed by his human emotions. It is okay to share even our difficult emotions with God…but then as we heal in the wounds of Jesus, we must listen and act, to live out our faith in hope and love. When I read about the shooting, there was great sadness in my heart. When I began to understand and see how it had occurred there was frustration and anger. When I talked about it with coworkers and others at the parish there was confusion, hurt and sorrow. The same hard emotions that I had talked about just a few days earlier with this group of teens I was now called to share with God in prayer. “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at this disposition, and listening to his voice in the depths of our hearts.” (St. Mother Theresa) I had asked them just a few days earlier this questions, “In caring for the poorest of the poor, do you think Mother Theresa of Calcutta never turned to God in hurt and anger? Do you think she never look to God and screamed in prayer “Why?” Like all saints, and as God asks of us, she gave her whole life, she gave everything to God, including her doubts, fears and anger. She gave her life not to recieve rewards and “fixes” from God, she gave her life to God to love those those who are hurt, sick, and those who would die in her arms. She chose this life of prayer because she knew how God shares his whole self, in Jesus Christ, we are invited to do the same.
If we don’t have this understanding and do not practice it, then it becomes understandable when people scream at us and demand that “prayer is not enough.” We know that prayer is the beginning. A life of prayer helps us to move forward to seek a more just and peaceful world in and through Jesus Christ. Even as I write this short note, the emotions and tears flow through me as I think of the families in Minnesota and the families at our parish. It allows me to be with and to be for those who come with the hurts of life, both large and small, and listen knowing that I am not the solutions but God’s instrument to be used in love. So, let us pray and may our prayer become our life and may our life become God’s presence in each and every moment of the day. “’We should to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly the spirit of God.” (St. Vincent de Paul)
The courage of Moses and the Chosen People in the Desert.
Courage has been on my mind a lot lately. I don’t know why, but there it is. A few weeks ago on Wednesday at daily Mass, (19th week in Ordinary time Deuteronomy 34:1-12) we ended the story of Moses with his death and the preparation for the people of Israel to enter into the Promised Land…it is promised in the reality that it was give to Abraham and his decedents forever (Gen 12:1-3). We remember how Moses and the first generation who in the exodus from slavery in Egypt has been forbidden to enter the promised land (Num 20:8-12) for there lack of trust in God’s power and in many other passages in the Book of Numbers we hear of the other offenses denying this generation entry into the land. (there is a link below that will explain this in much more detail) We know Moses had great courage in confronting Pharaoh, and leading the people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea and to the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. That would take tremendous courage. But I believe the greater courage happened during the next forty years in the desert. Especially once he heard the news that he could not complete the journey. I can only imagine how hard that would have been…you have been given the heavy task of leading the people but you would need to hand it off to bring it to fruition.
Even more difficult would be slowly watching the generation die; you sister, your brother, and friends, his generation slipping into history. Added to all of this, think about the many struggles, the betrayals, the people wanting to take the easier roads, people turning away from God and the painful path of forgiveness and reconciliation and finally you know you are near, and yet the last step will never be taken. I think of the courage, the faithful courage not just of Moses but of the entire generation as they knew their fate and yet with trust, even in their failings, passed on and prepared the next generation for the work of faith, the hope of faith, the joy of faith. The strength and the courage to live their faith in the midst of temptation and sin of the surrounding peoples. Preparing their sons and daughters for the failure of sin and living the example of God’s mercy and forgiveness. This is often the journey of every generation. We know our homeland and destination, but unlike Moses, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been granted entry. But like the Israelite’s on their desert journey we are challenged to follow the commandments of our God and pass them on to the next generation. We can often despair for the next generation receiving the faith and living it to its fullness, but like the faithful courage of Moses, we shouldn’t falter but live and teach over and over again, even when we fail. Returning to the desert road to the promise of the true kingdom of Jesus Christ. I know by faith that our Father has placed in the spirit of love this word of courage in my heart. I may not know the answer today, but in faith I am called to walk my desert road in the love and mercy of God. God bless Fr. Mark
The courage to follow Christ…the courage to be a disciple
As we celebrated the Feast of St. Lawrence the Martyr a few days ago, I reflected in my homily about the faithfulness and courage demonstrated by the Deacon Lawrence in the face of persecution and the demands of the government to give away his faith. One of the great blessings in reflecting upon this heroic act is the stained glass window depicting this moment that is above the altar in our parish church. Praying with this image while sitting in the church, you see St. Lawrence and the many people who are following him into this encounter with the authorities. Most of the time we can focus on the commanding figure of the Deacon Lawrence, but from time to time I look at the faces and figures of those behind him. I wonder who they were? Why they chose to follow Lawrence that day? What happened to them following Lawrence’s torture and death in martyrdom?
I can’t imagine that St. Lawrence as he gathered them and asked them to come with him would not have told them what he was going to do in confronting the authorities. We hear in history the brutality that was often inflicted upon the poor of Rome. As they followed the saint, they surely knew the danger they would face in anger at what Lawrence would offer the Emperor as treasure and the possible actions that would be taken against those whom Lawrence would offer. I wonder, how many were Christian? How many followed, who did not believe, but knew Jesus through the holy actions, compassion of work of charity of the Christian community in Rome and Lawrence how this reflected the mission of Jesus Christ? This makes me think: What would I do? How would I react in the situation Lawrence faced as well as those who followed him on that glorious day? We may never face the choice St. Lawrence had that day after watching his Pope and brother deacons being martyred just a few days earlier. But there are small acts of sacrifice and service that help to prepare us for those smaller deaths we must face each day. At the recent Jubilee of Youth in Rome, Pope Leo XIV shared these insightful works that help us too understand how to make ready our lives for these small sacrifices, “Through all this, you can grasp an important point: the fullness of our existence does not depend on what we store up or, as we heard in the Gospel, on what we possess (cf. Lk 12:13-21). Rather, fullness has to do with what we joyfully welcome and share (cf. Mt 10:8-10; Jn 6:1-13). Buying, hoarding and consuming are not enough. We need to lift our eyes, to look upwards, to the “things that are above” (Col 3:2), to realize that everything in the world has meaning only insofar as it serves to unite us to God and to our brothers and sisters in charity, helping us to grow in “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience” (Col 3:12), forgiveness (cf. ibid., v. 13) and peace (cf. Jn 14:27), all in imitation of Christ (cf. Phil 2:5). And in this way we will grow in an ever deeper understanding of what it means that hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (cf. Rom 5:5).” (Homily 8-3-25) We are called to greatness, to be saints. What small deaths to sin and gifts of sacrifice can we offer to God today? Lord Jesus, help me to follow you as St. Lawrence followed you. Amen St. Lawrence the Martyr…pray for us.
“Señor Jesús, te pido que me ayudes a seguirte hasta la cruz.”
“Lord Jesus, I ask you to help me follow you to the cross.”
The proposition becomes simply this: if I wish to follow the Cross of Jesus Christ, I must be filled with mercy! We must choose to be with those who carry their cross and offer mercy. What does this mercy look like? Well, I think (for me) it must be in relationship with others. It must be listening and responding not just with words and actions, but with my very self. The self that is inadequate, broken and stumbling along. It is the self that is afraid, troubled and wondering “why” to so many things. It is the self that gets tired and frustrated, that is worried. And this is where hope, joy and trust is cultivated. I ask to follow Christ. The invasion of Jesus to follow doesn’t come with whips and chains of force but rather the intimate words of “I love you”, the words of blessing, “I forgive you” and the promise of “I am with you always.” Where even in suffering we know His presence in love. It is explained beautifully in the quote below, “God will not coerce you; He will not change you against your will. But as a Christian, you freely ask God to give you the strength to follow Jesus, to follow the life that he lived – – a life devoted to seeing others through suffering and and to loving them sacrificially.” (171) In the three deaths of my Father, my brother Mitch and sister Mary Cay I began to understand this invitation to suffering with others. The hurt, anger, bitterness towards God and the world at my father’s death in my early twenties…I turned away even as I knew God was there. I would confront God with prayers that were more shouts of anger than gentle words of love. But God waited patiently, no coercion, just waiting for the storm to pass, but always there waiting for me to simply embrace and follow, not taking away the pain, sorrow and anguish but to be with and in his love. With my little brother and sister the reality of sorrow and pain, the anger and grief, the hurt of loss was not absent. The “why” was ever present.
As a priest, I find myself at times taking death and the feelings that surround death for granted and begin to dismiss them because they’re messy and not controllable. When I do this, I don’t ask the question above. “Lord Jesus, I ask you to help me follow you to the cross.” I deny the love that comes from the vulnerability and unity of relationship and miss the God moments. Missing the transformation demanded a disciple, a follower of Jesus. “(Because) when God begins to transform what’s within us, this begins to transform our experience of the whole world outside of us as well. Suffering remains, but now it is experienced in the context of a relationship with a God is stronger than the suffering.” (171).
God Bless
Why Suffering: Finding Meaning and Comfort When Life doesn’t Make Sense By Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale
For man cannot attain that true happiness for which he yearns with all the strength of his spirit, unless he keeps the laws which the Most High God has engraved in his very nature. (Pope St. Paul VI from Humanae Vitae #31)
When I look back on my twenty years of priesthood one sustaining aspect of my journey is the virtue of hope. It is hope that I find rooted in the vow of obedience I offered and accepted from the Church on June 4, 2005. Placing my hands in Bishop Patrick’s hands I offered my obedience as she offered me an obedience based on the truth. An obedience of a firm foundation holding fast against the fads and trends of the world. It has been in this struggle of hope when obedience has and continues to be tested that some of my greatest struggles have been the insidious temptation I wrote about earlier “Truth and Love” (July 2025)
One of the greatest struggles with truth and obedience was the propagation of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae by Pope St. Paul VI. It through the Catholic Church in disarray as the saintly Pope stood firm on the teachings on family and the transition of life. If you haven’t read this prophetic work, I would invite you to take a look. It isn’t a long document and has many surprising truths that may open your eyes. Getting back to hope, Both Pope Paul VI and our late Holy Father Pope Francis remind us that hope is based on obedience to love, obedience found in both the vows of priesthood and in the marriage of man and woman in sacramental love. In His Papal Bull Spes non confundit Pope Francis reminded us, “This interplay of hope and patience makes us see clearly that the Christian life is a journey calling for moments of greater intensity to encourage and sustain hope as the constant companion that guides our steps towards the goal of our encounter with the Lord Jesus.” (#5) Patience in the hope for something greater means that we must enjoy obedience, not because it is easier, not because it offers simple answers, but because it places us on the firm foundation of truth in our faith in the Word of God. One of the clearest examples of this in my priesthood is our journey through our current pastoral plan. In this long journey, there are many hard decisions being made, there will be change, there is doubt and fear, and yes, there is dissension in the process. But there is hope! The foundation is built on the reality of the spiritual renewal of our Diocese of San Jose. Based on prayer, and hope, we are called to be obedient, even in the obscurity of our sin filled world believing and knowing the guidance of the Holy Spirt we will find our true destination…it may take more time than we thing, it may feel we are stumbling along, it may even feel like we are going in a million different directions…but if we live in true hope, in obedience to the truth of God divine providence, they we will find our way to him who is our truth, our light and our hope. Amen
I have had apples on my mind. The last few weeks scripture and life has made me think a lot about fruit…abundance and blessing that comes from fruit but also the rottenness that can slip into our fruit and the fruitfulness we are called to live. First, a few years ago (many) I read an article about the renascence of the apple industry. If I remember correctly, the article was focused on how the local farmer markets were feeding a boom in the varieties of apples. How unlike the large super markets with just a few varieties of apples, many of the small and local varieties were making a comeback because of the “farmer market.” So, this week i search the internet with a simple question, How many varieties of apples are in the world. The answer: more than 7,500 varieties. What a great blessing.
2009 St. Catherine in Morgan Hill
And then I thought about how even in the more than, there were even a more than because of the natural; where were they grow, how much rain and when it came, the sun, the wind, the chill of night and heat of day, the altitude and soil, all producing a difference. Then the man made: the pruning, the irrigation, the fertilizer and the other ways trees are cared for, including the genetic selection and engineering, producing again variation in variations. I think you get the point. Each tree, each apple from the tree produces a fruit that will taste different…but it is still an apple. Can the tree produce bad fruit. Yes. Lack of care, natural environmental problems and disease or other issues can cause a tree to produce bad tasting and rotten or inedible fruit. And if the conditions persist, it may mean the destruction of tree…but not always. This is where God’s grace is important. We as the tree called to produce good and abundant fruit can at times fall short. We can allow the contagion of sin begin to poison the fruit of life we are called to be to others and if we persist in the sin we will die. But in God’s grace we can be healed and nurtured back to the fruitful tree of abundance where the blessing we share give life to others as we grow as one family together.
What is important to remember is while we are all called to produce abundant of good fruit, each of us, whether apples or pears, oranges or kiwis, the varieties of gifts is more than is imaginable is the blessing of God’s abundance and mercy. God Bless Fr. Mark.
So long as I still have life breath in me, the breath of God in my nostrils, My lips shall not speak falsehood, nor my tongue utter deceit! (Job 27:3-4)
Reflecting on the truth and reading this little reflection this morning, I thought: How many times do I fall into the “little white lie” and what would it look like if you could read my soul? The thoughts of my heart? To stand transparent in faith is analogous to standing naked in life. It is allowing everyone to see you as you are, with wrinkles, scares, fate and muscle, the tattoos, the youth, the aging and burdens placed for complete inspection. We may ask ourselves; how often do I look in the mirror and give thanks for the gift of my body? As a priest in the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement for the past 15 years one of the best and most difficult parts of the apostolate of the Catholic Church is sharing my feelings and thereby exposing/being transparent about parts of my life, the allowing another into the messy, joyful, wounded and gratitude filled life I and everyone experiences. And it is hard! Why? Because of ego, embarrassment, lack of trust to name a few. The quote from Job above reminds us of the ultimate goal…to be open and transparent with our words and actions to God and to our neighbor. In our relationships with others, this means that just like standing before the mirror and giving thanks to God for our body, we must be able to ultimately stand before the mirror of the Holy Spirit and give thanks for our soul even with the scars we have placed on it because of disobedience and sin. It is in this action of gratitude and thankfulness that the Sacraments can begin their works in the grace of God’s mercy. This vulnerability of opening our heart to another is seen in the sacramental union of husband and wife in a particular way. The union becomes in a especially transparent way the two becoming one flesh. The intimate union of God’s creative goodness fulfilling the vulnerability of our Lord Jesus in the manger and on the cross of life. When this begins to occur the vulnerability and transparency becomes the choice of loving…to share the life and to receive the life given in the equality of dignity… God Bless Fr. Mark.
The Spirit is a Spirit of truth. We cannot afford to tell half truths or “little white lies,” let alone larger more serious lies. The goal is to be so transparent that if people could read the secret thoughts of our hearts, we would not be embarrassed by what they might see. May my every thought and my every word be righteous and loving. (Daily Meditations With The Holy Spirit by Rev. Jude Winkler, OFM Conv. for June 22)
Discovering the Joy of Christ in embracing and pondering the crucifix. Recently during confession, my confessor asked me to remind myself that the joy of the priesthood was found in the cross we have been given and choose to share in Jesus Christ. In this case he asked me to look especially at a certain painting, in this case El Greco’s “Christ on the Cross” When I went home that night I looked around and discovered dozens of Crosses around my rooms, my office and the whole rectory. I went into our Church building to again be surrounded by images of the Cross including the great crucifix placed above the altar in the sanctuary. But did I see joy? Then I remembered years ago when I was do a catechism series using Bishop (then Father) Robert Barron’s Catholicism Series for a group of women. We came to one point where Bishop Barron was discussing the saving power of the cross and pointing out the joy of God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in this very agonizing painting of Jesus on the cross. As we sought for ways to understand this in our lives, one of the women, a mother described it in this way. She said she would gladly suffer anything to know that her children were safe and would live. She would accept all the pain, abuse and torture to know they would live. And if she had to die for them, she would be alive in joy. “But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Gal 6:14)
I believe this is the joy my confessor asked me to contemplate and embrace in the reality of the cross in my life. Making it very clear, the suffering and pain are real and in many cases necessary in the faith we embrace, as we embrace the cross. One of my greatest temptations is to take God for granted and allowing the noise of the world to enter into the silence of God’s glory. This happens in prayer, is serving and in sharing time with others. It is the falling into the trap of allowing the smart phone to dictate the day rather than the relationships as we let drift by. It is choosing to run your life on a calendar/agenda rather than hearing the silent blessing of life and the joy of knowing another in the care and comfort of his embrace and our embrace of him in the insignificant worldly acts that become the life blood of joy filled moments. It is just spending time hearing Jesus from the cross, where he whispers once more. “come and follow me!” God bless
