My friends, we are at the mid-way point in our Lenten journey, and with this Sunday’s readings, we are called in all three selections to, “come back to our loving God, especially if we have “been away,” or to once again, refocus our thoughts and actions on more closely following the path laid out for us by our brother Jesus.

   Our God, who is Creator and Savior/Revealer makes it easy for us by always being one who “chases after us all the days of our lives,” as it is so beautifully phrased in the 23^rd Psalm of the Scripture version, The Message.  Our God is forever giving us a second chance to return, trying once again to be our best, because after all, that is what our brother Jesus calls us to, not only during Lent, but throughout each day of our lives. 

   Let’s look a bit deeper at today’s readings to see how this is actually true.   The 1^st reading from Joshua is simply telling the Israelite people that God no longer “disapproves” of them for their actions—they are free now from their trials in Egypt, and God, who has always “walked with them,” awaiting the day when they would return, and strive again to be who God called them to be.  And even though, their actions called for punishment, our God showed them only mercy. 

   In the 2^nd reading from 2 Corinthians, Paul says that we have been “reconciled” to God through Jesus.  This statement is reflective with the “old theology” we all learned about, “Jesus dying for our sins,” which basically is quite a “black and white,” surface view of what Paul is actually saying.  A better way to look at his words, many would say, is that our God simply wants us, “to strive to be our best,” as that will better serve ourselves and others. 

   And then we have the beautiful story of the Prodigal in Luke’s gospel selection.  This story completes the theme expressed in all three readings today, of a God who will always give us another chance—of one who wants us close, and will always be on the journey towards us even before we have decided to “come home.”

   In my mind, the story of the Prodigal is one of the most beautiful that our brother Jesus has gifted us with.  Let’s take a closer look.  The story we just read says, “the father caught sight of his son and was deeply moved.  The father went out to meet him—hugged and kissed him…”  We must not miss the emotion here as expressed by this father. 

   At the beginning of this story, we read, “this one welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  Unfortunately, this reminds me of the response that our parish received from our local bishop to several invitations we offered him, to meet, perhaps to share a meal, to talk, only to be told, we needed to “recant” before that could happen.  I believe that his actions do not reflect those of our brother Jesus, who Scripture clearly tells us, was willing to meet with anyone.

   This beautiful story of the Prodigal is beautiful and true to our own call to a life of love in many ways.  On the surface of the story, we witness the excessive wastefulness of the son, of the gift of his inheritance, showing disrespect for his father’s love for him.  And we see as well the “prodigal,” wastefulness of the father pouring out, “over-the-top” love for his errant child when he finally comes home, willing to try again. 

   Love, real love can be a tough thing, to continue to give, overtime, especially when it is not reciprocated.  Any of you who have parented children, guided students, or counseled friends know this to be true.  On a purely human level, we can at times look rather judgmentally at friends and relatives who may have hurt us along the way, who we have tried to love, think the best of, and rather cynically in the end say, “you made your bed, now lie in it!” I will change when you do, or something similar.

   We see this reaction today in the older son, who has been faithful, doing all that was asked of him.  He is bewildered, blind-sided we might even say, by his father’s “wasteful” love poured out on his seemingly “worthless” brother. “You certainly can’t mean this,” we can almost hear him say—and he is down-right angry! 

   The story then drags us back to the loving parent who simply can’t respond in any other way…he “pleads” with his faithful son, who he likewise loves dearly, “can’t you see, he was lost, and now is found, we had to celebrate that!” And again, there may be some of you who have been in this situation.

   The conclusion of this story though often leaves many struggling to accept this over-the-top reaction from the father.  But we must go the next step and realize that the mercy shown will call the wayward child to repent and strive again toward becoming their best self—toward showing their gratitude by loving in a likewise fashion. 

   Earlier I stated that this gospel story is true of our own lives as well.  The life of Jesus, our brother constantly calls us over and above our human tendencies to look cynically on life with an “eye for an eye” mentality, and instead, love wastefully.  Our response may not be, “over-the-top,” but in the face of much that just seems, “not right” in our present day, we must continue to be our best—when models of this kind of love and mercy in Church and State don’t seem to be there, we must do our part. If not us, who?

   So, in conclusion my friends, a few final thoughts that may be meaningful this next week of our Lenten journey—which really at day’s end is all about, being better “lovers” of all created life. 

• Do I grow more like Jesus every day? (concentrating on his message should be our main focus).
• Sister Joan Chittister on prayer: “Prayer is meant to bring us to see the world as God [does] – it is meant to expand our vision, not trap us in a world that is only ourselves.
• Our decisions in our day-to-day life should bring us peace; otherwise, they are probably not of God or what may be the best action for us to take, (my personal experience).
• Does my speech reflect a deep caring and respect for myself and others in the ways that God has first loved me?
• Do I live with a sense of justice that is due each person, coupled with an attempt to understand what each walks with in life, rather than the tendency to judge what I see on the surface?
• Do I make an attempt to share my wealth with those less fortunate, through tithing, contributions to the local food shelf, community-sponsored meals, and shelters for the homeless?

   We humans lose sight of our purpose at times—on our trip, we saw many German and French cathedrals—Catholic and Lutheran, each striving to be bigger, on a higher hill, to in effect say, “we are the best!”  We Catholics must never forget that we are also Christians—followers of Jesus of Nazareth, remembering that our God is always, always calling us to be our best and if we grow a bit closer to that image during this Lent, then I would say, we did good.  Finally, I like to think about our God as “always up for a party” to celebrate our efforts! Amen? Amen!

My friends, Lent is upon us once again, and for some, that may be a negative thing, while others may feel more positive about these 40 days.  Robert usually remembers each year his childhood and of having to pray the rosary each night and of the long church services, especially during Holy Week, and also, the joy he felt when on Good Friday, everyone would get up to venerate the cross—a little movement to get a break in the “endless” prayers, that for a child were hard to take. 

   So, today, I’d like to look a bit then through the chosen readings at just what our humanity calls us to during these 40 days, and perhaps in a more positive way.  The gospel today from Luke shows us the devil tempting our brother Jesus directly through his humanity—in the ways that we are all, at times, tempted.  Jesus has gone into the hills to be alone and prepare for the start of his public ministry through prayer and fasting.  Thus, the devil tempts him with physical food.  Next Jesus is tempted with power – to control everything – to be in charge if only he will bow down before the devil.  And finally, when neither of these work on Jesus – the devil’s temptation hits at his divinity – his indestructibleness. 

   With each temptation – Jesus goes to Scripture to justify his response to the devil.  “Not on bread alone will we live.”  “You will do homage to God alone.”  “You will not put the Most High to the test.”  We should not miss my friends, Jesus’ actions in each of these three temptations – he goes to Scripture to find his way forward.  The lesson for us is to always, “follow in Jesus’ footsteps.”

   Additionally, I think we do well to “study” how Jesus lives out his humanity, to then respond in like manner.  In other words, we need to let Jesus “be human” – otherwise we will miss the great gift that our God gave us in “risking,” as John Shea says in his beautiful Creed that we use here at All Are One, that the Godself would become human.

   Now, some might say that the Godself is perfect, so how then can he/she be capable of “risking?” Without knowing what the theologian/storyteller, John Shea might have been thinking, I can only surmise that he wants us to get away from the merely, “black and white” images that we may have been living with to understand in a greater way just how much we are loved by the Godself, to use Shea’s term for God.

   Just think my friends, that our God loved us enough to for a time dispense with the powers of divinity (all perfect-ness – no flaws) “risking” Jesus, begotten of God to come among us, completely human with all that it implies. 

   Paul’s 2^nd chapter of the letter to the Philippians, that we will use later in Lent, speaks so well to this idea: “His state was divine, yet he did not cling to it, but became human…and was humbled” …as we are.

   I believe we have all experienced a time in our lives, when we loved someone fully with our hearts and minds, and this could be with a mate, a sibling, or a friend, and that love wasn’t returned, or perhaps not in the same way.  We “risked” loving another, became vulnerable before that love – only to not have it be returned, or perhaps abused. 

   Unless we can allow Jesus to be completely human and risk loving all of us, even if rejected by some, then I submit, he can’t really be of much help to us in our journeys to God.  I think this may be what Shea is saying in his Creed, and again, not knowing for sure.

   Before Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time, Scripture tells us that he “wept over” [the city] – a purely human act from a human/God who “risked” everything, only to be misunderstood in the end.  We can each turn to our human brother Jesus with all that troubles us in our human journeys because he lived it too, and knows the pain of loss, rejection, of not being good enough for some, of being misunderstood and taken for granted.

   I have spent time today, my friends, during this homily lifting up with you the possibility of God “risking” in sending Jesus because over the years, using this Creed, some have found the word, “risking” both interesting and for some, unbelievable.  I believe if we can allow God to so, be, one-with-us, and believe that God would fully immerse into humanity, right down to our weakness, then our God becomes so much more interesting, full, and thus, loveable.  To me, it is in the act of “risking” that I can see how truly God’s love is over-the-top!

   Now we might wonder why for so many, many years of Church history, we were taught that Jesus came to save us from our sins, instead of, as John Shea seems to suggest in his beautiful Creed, that it was really because of love for us, to show us how to navigate the ups and downs of being human, to be completely human as we are, in order to show us how to do it ourselves. I think our Church history gives us such an unloving view of our good God, because they just couldn’t believe that God would love us that much. 

   So, during Lent, my friends, I would invite each of us to take this, perhaps new concept, that of God “risking” in Jesus, “to the basement of our hearts” and see what we might discover there.  I have shared in the past a piece by Hospice chaplain, Janet Harney, entitled The Basement of my Heart, and have left some copies on the back table for your reflection.  As you know, I often suggest taking things to our hearts when trying to decide the best way to go.  Besides looking at new concepts, we might find, as the article suggests, there are other things that can be addressed, “in the basement of our hearts” with our God who is waiting there for us, and that Lent is a good time to do this.  As Moses suggests in the 1^st reading from Deuteronomy to the People of God, a good response to this God of ours, for always being there for us, is, “gratitude.” 

   In conclusion then my friends, from the time we may choose to spend, “in the basement of our hearts,” we may find a “renewed faith” as Paul speaks of it to the Romans in today’s 2^nd reading, which will give us the strength to move forward in our world that so needs true followers of Jesus to respond, “with justice toward all.  And also, let us be fortified that all we do for good in our world, we do not do alone — as we sang the beautiful psalmist’s words today, “Be with me God when I am in trouble,” and we know that God is indeed there. Amen? Amen!

   My friends, today is the last Sunday in Ordinary Time that we will celebrate until after the Lenten and Easter seasons.  This next Wednesday we begin the holy season of Lent, a time of 40 days that basically, in the most positive sense, invites us to look into our hearts to see what we find there and strive to become perhaps, a better version of ourselves.  These 40 days can be seen as an opportunity to be better, if we look at them through the eyes of faith, hope and love, rather than a time to punish ourselves for our failings.

   All the readings for this Sunday can prepare us well for our journey through Lent as I suggested above.  The 1^st reading from Sirach does a lovely job I feel of comparing our speech— “our talk,” that is, “to the sifting of grain, a kiln, and the pottery within, and an orchard, and the fruit that grows there.  Each example, Sirach suggests will be as good as the farmer, the potter, and “the keeper of the fruit” is good—doing their work to the best of their ability.  Our speech likewise will demonstrate, what is in our hearts—whether good or bad.  As Jesus says in today’s gospel: “All people speak from their heart’s abundance.” 

   Perhaps a bit of clarification: In my understanding of the function of our hearts in determining our actions, it seems that if we are “engaging” our hearts in any action that we do, then the result will be good, as our hearts are the “well” of where love resides.  When any of us do what we would consider “evil,” it would seem that we did not first lay that action on our hearts.

   The psalm choice today, 92, would seem to give us assurance for the good that we attempt to do in life: “The just flourish like a palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon, [even into] old age.”  Simply put then, it would seem that the 1^st reading and the psalm response are all about developing and demonstrating, “good character” within and for us, and as well for and toward others.

   Paul, in the 2^nd reading to the Corinthians encourages them [to be] “fully engaged in the work of Jesus.”  We must ask then—just what does that mean?  It’s all about love, I would suggest—taking whatever you are dealing with on any given day and laying it on your heart.  To me, it seems that, “engaging our hearts” will always give us a good outcome.  We may not be living within a stated law at times, but we will be doing, in a higher sense, the right thing.

   In these times in which we are living, when it seems too many in positions of power over others are choosing to live, not from their hearts, wherein they could see and hear the injustices that many are being asked to live with, but from their own selfish and greedy desires, the Scriptures are calling all believers to something bigger than themselves, to balance. 

   When we have balance in our lives, we can experience “righteous anger” over injustices in the lives of others, and work through words and actions to make a difference.  This past Thursday, over 25 people gathered at the Blue Heron Coffeehouse and wrote 300 postcards to Congress –both sides of the aisle suggesting and imploring them to work from their hearts for the betterment of all. 

    Jesus’ familiar words in today’s gospel from Luke of “removing the log from our own eyes, before seeing the speck in another’s eye” is a powerful piece to consider when we attempt to follow in Jesus’ footsteps.  “Righteous anger” can easily shift to “self-righteousness” and something to always be aware of.  I am sure that Jesus, being totally human as well as totally divine, was aware of this tendency within himself. 

   Another human tendency for each of us to remember is that of wanting to be accepted—appreciated, even loved by our peers, which in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, but this tendency can sometimes get in the way of us being our best selves. 

   Scripture scholar, Diane Bergant speaks to this issue when she says, “we only have one chance to make a good first impression.”  The trouble with “good impressions” is the criteria used to determine what in fact is “good,” she says.  Our culture tends to look too much at externals to judge this, the clothes we wear, the shape of our bodies, gender, color of our skin, and so on—how unfortunate if we look no further or deeper.  Sirach and Jesus’ examples point to this—only a good tree produces good fruit—the product of the kiln shows the craft of the potter.  And only in living and through experience do we acquire the wisdom to truly know what others are made of –what we ourselves are made of. 

   I can speak to this tendency of putting great store in externals having grown up in a home that uplifted the importance of “what others will think.”  All my life since I broke free of that kind of measuring, I have had to struggle to beat down such thinking—that people are more than 1^st impressions might show us. 

   A bit more on the speck versus the log—self-righteousness and all. Robert Barron, Winona/Rochester bishop recently gave an interview to the Rochester Post Bulletin wherein he discouraged the viewing of the new film, CONCLAVE which many of you know looks at the inside story of electing a new pope at the death of the previous one.  Our bishop’s reason for “not viewing it” was, because the film, in his mind, uplifts the entire “woke agenda,” which he feels is all wrong. I for one would challenge the bishop to look at Jesus’ agenda and see how similar it is to the woke agenda. 

   Paul’s statement caught my attention today in that regard—“sin gets its power from the law.”  I humbly submit that one could only make such a request, as has our bishop regarding CONCLAVE if indeed they were operating out of the law alone, instead of the heart, or more directly, out of love. 

   Additionally, regarding our parish, All Are One, it would seem that a leader who would refuse to sit down and talk with a group who asked him to, could be said to be acting out of the law, disregarding love.  My read of Scripture lets me know that Jesus spoke with everyone who asked, availing himself, to even go to their homes—not demanding first that they abide by “the law” before he would come. 

   My friends, walking in Jesus’ footsteps is always about love and if it is about law, then that law must always, in the end, be about the law to love.  Amen? Amen!

My friends, I speak often here about us humans striving to be our best for ourselves and for others during our one, wonderful life, which is such a gift, when looked at as our brother Jesus did.  All our readings for this 7^th Sunday in Ordinary Time speak to this issue “of being our best,” so let’s take a deeper look. 

   With this notion in mind then, David would seem, using a familiar movie line from Raiders of the Lost Ark films,“to have chosen wisely.”  He could have easily slain his opponent Saul but chose the “higher road” and let him live.  It may be good for all of us to consider that the world of nations in which we live often chooses the lowest common denominator that we humans are capable of, war, to solve disagreements. 

   Some of you may be familiar with the group, Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service, and its daily, The Nonviolent Life publication of inspirational quotes on peace.  This past Friday’s offering, and I paraphrase George Saunder’s words in part—just because we keep doing something in the same way, doesn’t mean we should stop regretting it…again and again we hear all the “sober, pragmatic arguments that war is sometimes necessary,” [we must realize that] “war is large-scale murder,” us at our worst.” We have evidence of this in the on-going wars in Europe and Africa. It would behoove us all, and especially any in this world in positions of power over others, who also claim to be “Christian” to remember David’s words to Saul’s general in that 1^st reading, that he basically couldn’t harm someone who was “anointed” by God.  And friends, in the greater world picture, we should consider how we all “are anointed” by our God and “precious” in God’s sight.

    If we can have such a mindset as individuals and nations, of the psalmist today in # 103 that, on the one hand, “Humans last no longer than grass,” and on the other that, “God never treats us as our [failings] deserve,” because “our God is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and forgiving, tender and most compassionate, most loving,” then we would have made great strides in our spiritual journey, to protect the People of God in our world. 

   And friends, we always must remember that for us “People of God,” loved and cherished, each of us, by God, there is the expectation that we will attempt to do the same in our lives as God has done for us.  Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians today gets at this, basically making the point that, “we are human in following Adam, and spiritual in following Jesus.  And you all know how we must struggle our whole lives between the “human” and the “spiritual” in becoming our best selves.  Indeed, we must look for balance.

   In Luke’s gospel today, we are confronted with some of Jesus’ most compelling words—this gospel is basically the “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” scripture.  And along with these compelling words, we see our brother Jesus spelling out how, in many ways that this can be done; “turning the other cheek to have it slapped too, give not only your coat, but your shirt as well—give to anyone who asks.”  And on a bad day, we may find ourselves saying, “really Jesus, I have to give that much!”

   Scripture scholar, Diane Bergant addresses Jesus’ call for over-the-top giving by saying that Jesus “always goes to the extreme” because he knows the human tendency, “to give less, or at best, just enough.”  She thinks it striking that in the 1^st reading, we find David doing exactly what Jesus asks of us today, that we treat others as we would like to be treated. 

   She goes on to say that what has come to be known as the “golden rule” of “doing unto others as we would have them do unto us” has in present day taken a turn where some folks look at this rule, translating it to say, “doing unto others, before they do unto you.”  The Pace e Bene quote earlier speaks to this tendency.  Without being political, I would say that much coming out of Washington these days speaks “to this turn.”

   And our brother Jesus, in my read of Scripture would say, “I made you are better than this—I ask much of you because I know you are capable of it.”  Luke continues sharing Jesus’ words, “Give, and it will be given to you…in full measure…the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.”  And to these words of our brother Jesus, I would add that in a society and world that still expects so much more service from its women than it does from its men, with little, if not less than, or no pay, we must look for that balance and remember to care for our personal selves. 

   I am presently reading Hillary Rodham Clinton’s new book, Something Lost, Something Gained wherein reflecting on our country’s exist from Afghanistan, she and a group of educated, compassionate women worked tirelessly, and around the clock to see that Afghan women would be equally air-lifted along with men before the takeover, once again of the Taliban who seemingly have no time for women who speak their minds and hearts for the betterment of all. 

   Hillary and her group of advocates were told early in the evacuation process that everyone’s “pet project” would not be able to be met.  Hillary’s comment that this “male ideology” in Washington that would eliminate “half the population” (women) was very telling of the world in which we live, so she and her friends found other ways to get some of the women out.  Jesus said, “the amount you measure out…”

   So my friends, in these times when it feels like such a “hard slug” to get us humans “to be kind,” I want to lift up just a few things that came to my attention, or that I was apart of this week that gives me hope for our continued journey of following Jesus. 

• The local newspaper, Winona Daily News, ran a story about a Lacrosse, WI group, WINN (What I Need Now) that is comprised of an area woman, Sue Graf, and a former homeless man, Bryan Holiday who traverse the area in a yellow van with food and other necessities which they give out to homeless folks that they find.  Additionally, they help people get connected to other groups in the city and surroundings that may give them assistance finding housing.
• Some of you may read, Asking Eric, a daily column in the Winona Daily News—he took the place of Amy and before her, Abby and Ann.  Someone wrote in this past week complaining about a friend who “constantly talks about how bad it is that so many people are homeless.” Now this same person has two homes that are completely paid for and doesn’t seem to realize that if she sold one of them, she could perhaps help some of the homeless.”

• Just before Valentines’ Day last week, I heard a public radio presentation on the amount of cut flowers coming to our country from developing countries to satisfy North Americans desire to give beautiful bouquets to loved ones.  The piece went on to interview people living in these flower-producing countries asking us to remember that the rain forests are annually being depleted to grow flowers—something for us Christians to indeed think about—and the juxtaposition seems to be that the sale of flowers does indeed help those who grow them…balance…
• Robert and I had the privilege of joining the postcard writing group at the Blue Heron Coffee Shop this past Thursday to write senators, representatives, and others, basically asking them to respect the oaths they took when elected to serve all the people, and especially, if they claim to be Christian, the least among us. 
• This past week also saw our national group of Catholic male bishops taking a stand against the meanness coming out of Washington—good to finally see this!

   Thus, my friends, when we act not only out of our humanity, but out of our spiritual selves too, we can come closer to imaging our brother Jesus. Let us keep trying, hoping, showing up, and striving to be our best.  Amen? Amen!

My friends,  I found myself coming at this homily from several different avenues…On the one hand all the readings for this week are about hope and trust and our God’s great love for each of us.  Those ideas are then butted up against the selfishness that we humans are capable of as we are seeing so much that is good in our country and world upended with the stated purpose of making it all better.  Now while that may be true in part, I see so much more that seems to be about making those “with means,” becoming more so, and those without, as well, becoming more so. 

   Our first reading from the prophet Jeremiah today finds him dealing with the people in his time over apparently the same kinds of behavior—the lowest of what we humans are capable of … Jeremiah says, “do not rely “on the things of the flesh,” basically turning from God.  When you do this, “you are like the bush in the desert with no hope.”  But, he continues, blessed are those who “hope” in God—they are like a tree planted by the river—you will have no worries during a drought—you will never cease, “to bear fruit.”  And apparently our “trust” will not be misplaced when we place it in our God, as Jeremiah continues, “God probes the heart and mind of women and men and knows what we need…”

   So friends, we have the examples of past and present before our eyes, of we humans caring for ourselves, without the balance of caring for others as well, juxtaposed to our country and many areas in the world celebrating Valentines’ Day this past week. 

   Most of us no doubt have at least one person that we shared love and affection for on this traditional “love” day.  Valentines’ Day has somewhat of a sordid past if you go with the pagan stories of how it may have started, but for our purposes here, I choose to uplift the more Christian tradition of remembering St. Valentine, a priest who was executed in the 3^rd Century Roman world for secretly performing marriages for soldiers who were forbidden to marry. 

   There is another story that I somewhat like about a priest named Valentine who was imprisoned and subsequently fell in love with a female visitor, and before he was executed sent her a note which said, “Love from your Valentine,” and I guess, as they say, “the rest is history.” 

   So, what does this all have to do with today’s Scriptures, you may ask…perhaps nothing if we simply stay on the surface “of the story” which as you know, I always advise against.  By “breaking open” the Word, and going “to our hearts,” we Christians have a much greater chance of truly “walking in Jesus’ footsteps.”

   Continuing then to look at today’s readings, we see Paul in his letter to the people of Corinth saying that, “in Jesus, [the] Christ, we [should] place our hope.” And remember that this comes from someone who never met Jesus in his life; but whatever happened on that fateful day when he was “knocked off his horse,” turned him from a “killer” of Christians, into someone who spent the rest of his life attempting to bring people to Jesus.

    In Luke’s gospel for today, reality comes through Jesus’ words to his faithful followers, and this includes us, “this loving” that I am asking you to do will not always be easy—and in fact, you will “suffer in my name,” for attempting to care for the least among you, for “speaking the truth “ to those who don’t want to hear it—but in the suffering, our brother Jesus says, “you will be blessed.”  Jesus has equally strong words for those who are unwilling “to play nice” in this world—“woe to you who enjoy fame and power now”—[you have had your reward!]

   This reminds me of one of our own, Bob Kierlin, philanthropist, founder and CEO of Fastenal Company for many years, who died this past week.  Now while I probably didn’t agree with all his personal values, much of what he did believe and practice in his business life, I do agree with:  treat everyone as your equal, stay out of the spotlight, share the rewards, see the unique humanness in all people, develop empathy, suppress your ego, let people learn, and remember how little you know.  Too bad that all who claim to be “great businessmen” don’t believe the same!

   So my friends, as we think on the Beatitudes today, and all that makes us “blessed,” I lift up another of our own, Michael Maher, who three years ago we were praying for as he lay in a comma from an accident while caring for others—he unfortunately had to leave us, but his memory of goodness toward others lives on. 

   Earlier I mentioned that we as Jesus’ followers must, “break open the Scriptures” to get to the true message Jesus intended for us. Once we have that message, we must then lay it upon our hearts in order that they may be “broken open” too, because that is what “true love” is about—breaking open our hearts for others.  When Jesus was with us, he spoke about the need of us having “hearts of flesh, not stone.”  And when our hearts are open, it is much easier to see the world and its people as “holy” and treat all life with great respect. 

   And yet, “love” can be illusive—how do we ever really know if “what we are about” is love, and not something else?  For myself, if my actions, for the most part, bring good and not bad, then I have more assurance that I am on the right track. 

   But because we all love a good story, I raise up for us that of Tevye and Golda in The Fiddler on the Roof, as a way to explainthis thing we call, “love.”  Tevye has a burning question for his wife of 25 years—“Golda, do you love me?”  And Golda thinks her husband is probably “disturbed,” and rather than answering directly, she ticks off the tasks she has done over those 25 years; cleaning, cooking, giving him children, and so on… But he persists, because he wants to hear her say the words—“but Golda, do you love me?” –to which she finally answers—“after all that I’ve done, I guess I do!”

   And in conclusion friends, Jesus’ time among us was about having us, “get it,” that what we are here for, “is to love”—we know that because he told us so in many simple, yet profound stories, those of The Prodigal, the Good Shepherd, the Good Samaritan, and others—all stories ultimately about love.  His whole personal life was about, “breaking his heart open” for us, and we, in return, must do the same.  Amen? Amen!