Nowhere is this more clear than in last Sunday’s Gospel passage (Luke 7:36—8:3). Jesus is criticized for showing mercy to a woman who was “known to be a sinner.” People in the town saw only her sin. Jesus saw beyond the sin to a potential for healing and redemption. Simon the Pharisee, in whose house this display took place, was shocked, dismayed, and disapproving. He saw only what he wanted to see. He didn’t see his own failure to provide basic hospitality to his guest. He didn’t see how much he was reserving judgment on Jesus until he was sure he was backing the right man. That kind of caution is not always a virtue.

For Holy Thursday this year, newly elected Pope Francis celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in a juvenile correctional facility, where he washed the feet of twelve young offenders: male and female, black and white, Christian and Muslim. He emphasized that this action was a sign of humility and service, a reminder of Christ’s example. Above all, he wanted to convey to these young people (and through his actions, to us) the importance of mercy and of hope. Many people were shocked by this departure from tradition by the pope. Some went so far as to call it a bad example for a pope to set. Others were delighted at the pope’s willingness to reach beyond categories and expectations. His behavior certainly wasn’t without precedent.

Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone sins. There’s no real shame in that. Jesus came to show us that not having the courage to admit our mistakes and move on is the greater fault, as is the failure to show mercy to others. His example, held up to us again by Pope Francis, challenges us to move beyond the boundaries of decorum to the wonder of unbounded grace.

Photo: CNS/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters

Flowers to remember killed pizza parlor owner.

The news was added to the Weekend Gun Report. Read through all of them to find Rich Evans’ killing.

The editorial in St. Anthony Messenger magazine this month reminds me that the gun control issue needs to be solved. No matter how I look at the situation, gun control is a life issue that concerns this Catholic. Why? Because a business owner, husband and father of three young children was killed by a man with easy access to a gun. Five lives are forever changed by gun violence. No, six. Mine.

(For those who are interested, a fund has been set up for the family here.)

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Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

But when Francis mounted his horse again and looked all around, he could not see the leper anywhere. It dawned on him that it was Jesus whom he had just kissed.

What St. Francis Learned

In his Testament, Francis wrote, “When I was in sin, the sight of lepers nauseated me beyond measure; but then God himself led me into their company, and I had pity on them. When I became acquainted with them, what had previously nauseated me became the source of spiritual and physical consolation for me.”

Francis Did More Than Meet the Leper

Francis’ embrace of the leper was not an isolated instance. No, his ministry to lepers would only expand. Francis would go down to the colony of lepers two miles below Assisi, outside the city walls. Francis and other friars continued to minister to the lepers, feeding them, while also caring for and kissing their wounds. This became an ongoing ministry for Francis and the friars.

Reaching Out to Others

There are many ways today that we can assist those whom society rejects—those with mental illness or those who just don’t fit in because of lifestyle, orientation, or religion. In the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, we can kiss and wash their wounds. We can offer them comfort or compassion. Or we can add to this list people who are seriously ill at home or in a hospital.

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Painting by Larry Zink

The greatest gift any dad can receive is the knowledge that his children are living well. That gift is not given one special day in June, but every day. Every time my kids share in worship at church, every time I hear of their successes or failures—and the lessons learned for the future—I receive that gift.

What Scott Hahn says in our audiobook A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God’s Covenant Love in Scripture can help all dads show love for their childen. Popular writer and presenter Matthew Kelly was interviewed by Christopher Heffron regarding “On Faith and Fatherhood.”

The greatest gift any child can give to a father is evidence of life lived well. Not perfectly, mind you, but simply a life lived in a generous spirit, with faith and with love: building a life filled with hope and promise. That’s what I look forward to waking up to this Father’s Day.

Happy Father’s Day to all! Send a Father’s Day e-greeting or check out our Father’s Day seasonal features page by clicking here.

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Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Today’s guest blogger, Joe McHugh, is a spiritual director, retreat leader, teacher, and writer based in the Twin Cities. He contributes regularly to the National Catholic Reporter. His book, Startled by God: Wisdom from Unexpected Places, will be published by Franciscan Media in September 2013. He can be contacted at jjmch1300@gmail.com

Much of what I know about mourning and loss—breakups, deaths, lost jobs, friendships gone south, disillusionment, and even depression—I learned watching National Geographic Wild on TV. Google “Leopard Queen” to see what I mean.

The film documents the life of Manana, an African leopard, from her birth until she disappears 17 years later. Halfway through the film she discovers her single cub is missing, and she tracks down the snake that swallowed it whole and harasses it until it spits up the dead cub’s remains.

She carries it back to her den, cleans it, and eats it. Then she sits in a nearby tree for days, calling night and day for the cub she knows is dead. When she can call no longer, she walks away to find a new den.

There’s something instructive in the visceral simplicity of her ritual that connects us with the unavoidable rhythms of life and death: panic, searching, finding, feeding, mourning, and moving on. Too many of my own losses, I hate to admit, could stand more internalizing and less avoidance, less muted expression and more extroverted wailing against the wounding violation loss brings us.

That’s what Manana did when she lost her cub: she took her loss into her body to make it her own, and cried out until her pain started to lose its choking grip.

If we trust the same instincts in us, our pain has a chance of turning into suffering. And our suffering, when joined with the sufferings of Jesus, can be transformed into hope.

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Photo: Wikimedia Commons

As I drove through the small towns, it struck me that every town had many churches of many Christian faiths. And yet there were very few grocery stores in each town. Interesting, don’t you think?

In a time when it is common to hear that churches are closing, there are still many that are open and inviting you to be a part of their community. Think about it: there are more churches in most towns than grocery stores! It occurred to me that people want to feed their souls more than feed their bodies.

I have been home for a couple of weeks, and in that time I’ve heard of almost 50 parishes closing or being merged. If you have been thinking that maybe you should start attending church to support your faith and grow spiritually, I would encourage you to do so. Get involved with a parish community.

Your parish is a place to call home—home for spiritual guidance, support of one another, and most importantly, Christian love. 

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Image: freedigitalphotos.net/phanlop88

The whole psalm could be used for a meditation on Jesus’s suffering and death on the cross. With the psalmist, Jesus could plead, “Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am in distress;/ with grief my eyes are wasted,/ my soul and body spent./ My life is worn out by sorrow, my years by sighing.”

With the psalmist, Jesus also expresses his confidence in God, not only in verse 6, but also throughout the psalm. God is his “rock of refuge,” “a stronghold,” “a fortress.” “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted,/ saves those whose spirit is crushed.”

Especially in difficult times, we, as individuals and as Church, can make this psalm our own. In fact, the Church prays part of this psalm at night prayer on Wednesday. It is at such time we not only go to rest, but also might think of death.

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Image: freedigitalphotos.net/franky242

Our hearts truly are restless until they rest in God. And our lives are a perpetual search for God and for the peace that comes with knowing God.

Earlier this year, I heard a talk with Father Ron Rolheiser, who addressed that restlessness as he spoke about spirituality. The crux of Father Rolheiser’s presentation was that all human beings have a spirituality, whether they realize it or not. So the question isn’t if you’re a spiritual creature; the issue is in what way your spirituality manifests itself.

As Father Rolheiser put it, a healthy spirituality is about fire and glue. If you have too much fire, you burn out. If you have too much glue, your spiritual life stagnates. Either way, the lack of balance leads to a sort of death.

The pull of the divine

Our restlessness, Father Rolheiser said, is our very spirituality. It’s a sign of our constant striving to come closer to the divine by knowing all things, doing all things. It’s not, he emphasized, a negative—it’s simply what it means to be human.

We are made in God’s image, and so we are hard-wired to want to be like God. To us, that means we want all the knowledge and experience we can attain. And whether or not it’s the right response to our holy intuition, it is the best response we flawed humans can muster.

A comforting thought

Father Rolheiser’s message provided me with endless food for thought and immeasurable comfort. To know my wandering, searching, and stumbling are all a natural symptom of being a spiritual creature…what a relief!

The important thing is to be sure our spiritual lives, imperfect though they might be, maintain sustainable proportions of fire and glue. We need the fire to keep us warm and energized, moving toward God. And we need the glue to keep us rooted in what we know is true and right, so we may cling to God even as we seek God.

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Image: freedigitalphotos.net/Danilo Rizzuti

LIFTING MIND AND HEART
Recently when I’m in the car, at home, or in my office, I’ve been listening to Christian contemporary music stations. As things in my life became more challenging in the past few years, I recognized the need for something to help me retain my focus on what really matters and to keep my mind on the positive. I’ve found that “something” in the songs of Christian radio.

Christian music provides an uplifting background to my everyday. It’s usually a contemporary Christian song that’s running through my mind as I wake in the morning and move through my day. This “positive and encouraging” music helps bump up my score on the positive-mindset meter and helps me remain hopeful when situations are out of my control or not going as I judge they should. These songs keep my feet firmly planted on my foundation of faith, confident of God’s love, forgiveness, and faithfulness. It helps me get a bit closer to being the joyful Christian I seek to become.

WHY NOT YOU?
Do you listen to inspirational music—on the radio, an mp3 player, or CD? Who are your favorite recording artists? What songs are most meaningful to you? Do you know of a Christian radio station in your area? I listen to both Star 93.3 FM in Cincinnati and K-Love, which is broadcast on hundreds of stations across the US. I’m going to download K-Love’s mobile app so it will be easy to find my music when traveling this summer. I invite you to join me—not on my travels, but as a Christian music listener! Give it a try. I hope it does for you what it does for me!

photo credit: photoxpress.com / Barbara Helgason

Suddenly I find myself with more questions than answers, more doubts than certainties, and a growing panic that I’m not ready to make a commitment. I know this is part of the next year of formation before profession. But I’m having all I can do not to turn and run the other way.

I didn’t have a choice when I was baptized. My parents made that decision for me. I made my own choices to return to the church in my 20s, to get a job in Catholic publishing. But those choices were gradual and somewhat informal. This feels different. This is a conscious, formal choice to follow the Franciscan way of living the Gospel in today’s world.

I’ve spent much of the past 25 years living with and writing about the Scriptures, so I’m familiar with the challenges of living the Gospel. I’ve been learning a lot about Francis and find him compelling and charismatic (although Bonaventure’s story of the snow family leaves me cold!). With so many others, I watched with great excitement as the new pope turned out to be someone who not only took the name of Francis but in so many ways emulates that great saint.

The struggle—as is the case in any lifetime commitment—is with the day-to-day reality, the distance that creeps in between the ideal and the real, the difficult and often unsatisfactory choices that need to be made again and again. The months ahead will be less learning about Francis than discovering how to live authentically in the midst of my own and everyone else’s inevitable failures. What does poverty really mean? What about forgiveness? How is the cross going to surprise me every day? What will keep me grounded?

“Most high, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart.”