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 Jacob awoke from his sleep, he exclaimed, "Truly, the LORD is in this spot, although I did not know it!" In solemn wonder he cried out: "How awesome is this shrine! This is nothing else but an abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven!" He called the site Bethel. (Gen 28:10-22a)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070725.cfm
Janua Caeli (Gate of Heaven) was carved over the backdoor of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile, Alabama, that led into the sacristy. In that church I became a Catholic. https://youtu.be/_tsWAL-LFyo?si=pAY3RUh3oCtZhXXW
May I never 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 6:14-18)
At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. (Lk 10:1-12, 17-20)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070625.cfm
The life of a missionary is very difficult. I remember my friend, Father Ted Hochstatter (1949-2022). I attended his ordination and first Mass of Thanksgiving, and I knew then that God would use Fr Ted for a great work. God’s call came to him through Mother Teresa. Father Ted became a missionary priest who worked with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Africa. Father Ted spent over 20 years working with the poorest of the poor in Kenya. We might not be called to go to the ends of the earth to spread the gospel, but we can certainly gossip the gospel right where we are.
People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. (Mt 9:14-17)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070525.cfm
New wine/fresh wineskins. Perhaps we need to give up our old prejudices and hatreds and acquire a new way of thinking and acting if we want to receive the newness of grace that God wishes to pour into us. The Virgin Mary, who was full of grace, reminds us to treasure all these things and reflect on them in our heart. The Virgin of the Grapes is by Pierre Mignard (1612-1695) and is located in the Louvre, Paris.
While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" He heard this and said, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." (Mt 9:9-13)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070425.cfm
In a world where mercy and compassion are ridiculed and cruelty is being celebrated, that Jesus sits at table with those everyone else would reject calls us to accountability. The Declaration of Independence (1776) makes the daring statement that all men (and women) “are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” As the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor proudly proclaims: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Perhaps, we’ve lost something.
Then Jesus said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." (Jn 20:24-29).
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070325.cfm
Church artists have always portrayed Thomas as touching the Wounds of the Risen Lord. But the gospel never says that he did. Rather Thomas gives us the highest confession of Jesus in all the Scriptures: “My Lord and my God.”
