Our culture seems to be obsessed with the living dead. We are bombarded with media that include sparkling vampires, lovable ogres, and even battles with the “Walking Dead.” (Click the link to read more)

June 30, 2017

Lectionary: 375

GN 17:1, 9-10, 15-22

PS 128:1-2, 3, 4-5

MT 8:1-4

Our culture seems to be obsessed with the living dead.  We are bombarded with media that include sparkling vampires, lovable ogres, and even battles with the “Walking Dead.”   I can’t help but wonder if part of the inspiration for the idea of a zombie came from that horrible and misunderstood disease of biblical notoriety: leprosy.  These men and women were often treated as if they were the worst of sinners as if their soul was as dark as night itself.   So filled with pestilence and hatred that it somehow had boiled over and seeped out their skin into the world itself.   Not understanding the microscopic world of hygiene that we now have the privilege of entertaining, these unfortunate souls were pushed out of town and into the worst of conditions to live in seclusion.

Saint Francis of Assisi had an almost uncontrollable revulsion from the leper.  When he saw someone suffering from this affliction he would go the other way or avoid them on the other side of the path.   One day as he meditated on the Scriptures he came face to face with a man in need.  Seeing the image of the suffering Jesus before him, Francis dismounted and approached the leper, kissing him on the cheek.   His revulsion gave way to love and mercy.   He clothed the man in his own rich clothing and went on his way happy and whistling.   Both Francis and the leper had received a gift that had freed them of the social stigmas of their time and brought immense joy into the lives of both.

That’s the beautiful thing about the image of Jesus healing the leper in the gospel today.  We often forget in our world of overly sexualised imagery where intimacy is broken down into simple acts of gratification, just how powerful the touch of another human can be.   To those of us who experience handshakes daily and hugs from our families, we often fall into a rut of habit.  Those gestures become “old hat” and we do them without emotion or feeling.  To those who have been ostracized by society these simple gestures become amazing moments of connection.   In the movie the Martian, we see the breakdown of the astronaut as he is reunited with his comrades.   That moment when they touch, the first human touch he has had in years, breaks my heart every time.

That’s why it is important to realize that Jesus performed a much greater miracle than just the curing of a disease.   Yes, curing a disease is amazing!  It’s miraculous!   It doesn't compare to the true mercy of God that not only heals but also unites.   Not only breaks down physical barriers but mental ones as well.   It freed this man from the constraints of a society that had turned its back on him.   A society that tried to strip of his dignity to which the King of the Universe gave an emphatic no.   You can’t take dignity from the other, it comes from God.  He is waiting for each of us to reach out with our faith.   Yes, some of us need physical healing, and God can do that.   I think all of us are the victims of many spiritual and cultural stigmas that separate us from one another.   

Are you feeling like your dignity has been stolen?   Or is someone trying to cover it up with lies, abuse or neglect?   Jesus is the answer.   He can take all your broken pieces, and not only put them back together, but in the process reveal the masterpiece of who you truly are.   All you have to do is give Him the chance.  He is there for you in the Sacraments, in the Scriptures, and in the silence of your heart.   Do you take the time to encounter Him?  To learn about Him?  Receive Him frequently and reverently?   You can be freed from all that holds you back, all you need is to be like Abraham and have faith.

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14 

The saying goes: “Hindsight is 20/20.” We cannot see the future as well as we can the past. Abraham here is going on trust alone as God Himself passes through the animals which have been torn asunder. (Click the Link/Image to read more)

2017-06-28
Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr
Lectionary: 373
GN 15:1-12, 17-18
PS 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
MT 7:15-20

The saying goes: “Hindsight is 20/20.”  We cannot see the future as well as we can the past.   Abraham here is going on trust alone as God Himself passes through the animals which have been torn asunder.   The symbolism of this primitive ritual is rife with imagery but I think most telling is that God is the only one involved in the Covenant at this point.   It is not because Abraham has performed anything other than believing.   It is his faith that is credited to him as righteousness.   The covenant is a free gift given to mankind by a God who loved them so much that He would rather be torn asunder, like the sacrificed animals, before going back on His word.   That is because God is the truth.   He cannot go back on His word any more than light itself can be darkness or warmth can be cold.

Abraham’s faith was on God’s words but without the ability to see the future.   Unlike God, who is outside of time itself, we cannot see tomorrow or the next day.   We can only guess and hope that the things we imagine will come to fruition.   That doesn’t mean that we can simply go through life not working for those things which we want to achieve.   We must become the change we want to see in the world.  Like Abraham, we must not only rest in God’s presence as God does the work but also set out on the journey as God directs.   It is in the journey that we come to know not only ourselves but see glimpses of God in creation in each other.

How then do we know who to listen to?   Who has the right “message”?   Which person has the Gospel that is the truth?  By their words and their works.   Many will tell you that you do not need to “do anything” to be a Christian.   Jesus reminds us time and again that yes, we are saved by Grace and Grace alone, but we must work!  “Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except by faith. We cannot, therefore, rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved. However, according to the Lord's words "Thus you will know them by their fruits."  (CCC 2005)

That is how we know those who speak the truth, by how they exhibit it in their lives.   That doesn’t mean we have to be perfect, though we should be striving to be better day by day.  What it does mean is how we respond to our failures.   Do we respond by being despondent and depressed?  Or coming to Christ in the Sacraments and offering our lives back to Him again and again?   Conversion can mean a mountain top moment.   You know, those moments when your life turns inside out and change happens because of some spiritual awakening from God’s grace.   The thing is Conversion is not just a one-time thing, but something we must do every single second of every single day.

I saw someone who was offended the other day when someone: said “I’ll pray for your conversion.”  I would be happy if each of you would pray for mine, continually.    I don’t want to stop being more like Christ, because I have not arrived.   I need to grow each and every day, using the means of grace that He established through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the authority He set upon His Church.   It is precisely because I cannot see that future, and often have not learned enough from the past, that I need prayers.   It is only through His grace that I can ever give the kind of fruit that I need to give in order that others will know me as one of His.

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

Sometimes our own minds can be a prison so secure that no one else can free us. In today’s reading, we see Peter bound not just once but with doubled chains to hold him in bondage. (click the link to read more)

June 29th, 2017
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
Mass during the Day
Lectionary: 591
ACTS 12:1-11
PS 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
2 TM 4:6-8, 17-18
MT 16:13-19

Sometimes our own minds can be a prison so secure that no one else can free us.   In today’s reading, we see Peter bound not just once but with doubled chains to hold him in bondage.    Here we have the unclothed man bound between two guards.   Even in the physical realm of things, this seems hopeless and full of despair.   How can this man without his garments slip away when the guards are right at his side?   Not just a singular chain to bind him but double the subjugation of that which held him in place.   Then the angel appears and frees him, clothes him again, and leads him safely through the dangers that lurk in the night.

This reminder to us of the spiritual battle at hand is one that I think even more apropos in today’s society.   There are many who would keep you bound and in darkness, unable to express your joy or happiness.   If you do not conform to the norms of what others decree to be acceptable, and instead adhere to what God has given you as revealed truth, then you will be pushed away and relegated to a corner.   The enemy wants to bind you in your doubts and fears, trying to make you feel naked and alone in the darkness of your mental cell.   This is what we face each day if we allow it to happen.

God reminds us that He will deliver us from any darkness, from any prison.  To pick up our cloak of dignity, a dignity that comes from being made in the image of God and is not earned, and to place that cloak proudly upon your shoulders and march out of that inner turmoil.   He equips us with the Gospel of Peace to shod your feet that we might be sure in our calling and joyful in our lives.  What does this look like?   Just take the example of Peter.   This man who had failed so miserably, left alone in a prison, was delivered from his bondage.   He who had denied Christ three times was declared the “Prime Minister” of the Church and given the keys of authority and great responsibility of feeding His sheep.  By the standards of the world, Peter should have been rejected and held as least.  By the standards of God, He who lowered himself in humility would be raised to the highest of places.

That is His plan for you as well.   All you need to do is let Go and let God.   Like Peter and Paul, God uses those the world would find least likely to succeed to be examples of His Glory and His love.   Don’t let Satan put you in darkness and bind you with falsehoods and lies.   You are loved!

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

Abraham was given a promise and set off in search of that promise in trust. Lot went with him and in the process, they began to bicker as all families do. (click the link to read more)

2017-06-27
Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 372
GN 13:2, 5-18
PS 15:2-3A, 3BC-4AB, 5
MT 7:6, 12-14

Abraham was given a promise and set off in search of that promise in trust.  Lot went with him and in the process, they began to bicker as all families do.   When the time came that might have come to blows, Abraham put his ego beneath him and allowed Lot to choose which land he wanted to have.  Abraham had the right to tell Lot all of this is mine, you take what I give you.   Instead, he lowered himself and allowed the younger man to choose.   Lot looked around and saw a land filled with everything the heart could desire.   Not only was it fertile and gorgeous, but it also had bustling cities and people living progressive, modern lives.  In the end, Lot ends up in danger and loses most of what he has been given, while Abraham is blessed and prospers.

That seems to be what happens to all of us when we set out with our passions, desires, and wants in charge instead of God.   Things change.   Society changes.   Those in charge shift.  It can be daunting and painful, but change isn’t bad.   The main thing is for us to keep God in charge.   To trust.   To lower ourselves with a servant's heart as Jesus did at the last supper and help those changes grow into something beautiful and holy.  What the world has to offer isn’t always something we want, even though we think we do.   Our self-worth doesn’t come from changing who we are, reinventing ourselves, or even a complete makeover.  Our worth is inherent from God and no one can take away that dignity, even if they try.

Another danger that Jesus warns us about today is getting involved with those who want to trample that dignity under the ground.  Sometimes in the role of the servant we want to take whatever someone gives us, and even reject that we are worth more than anything else.  God doesn’t want you to live in a world filled with emotional or physical abuse.   That’s not what being a servant is about.   He doesn’t want you to continually argue with those who have no interest in hearing your words, or to continually let someone smear your name and berate you every single day.  You are the pearl.   You are the treasure that Jesus sold everything, gave His life to purchase.   Don’t let anyone trample you in the mud.  Our Traditions, our faith, they are all pointing to one thing: God loves you.   Don’t take them lightly.   They don’t deserve to be thrown away because a culture doesn’t like them.   They deserve to be cherished, loved, and only offered to those who are sincerely searching for answers.

Have a servant's heart, meek and mild.  Yet, never forget that you are royalty, a child of the King.

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

Leave this place. With those simple words, the journey of Abraham began and humanity was changed forever. (click the link to read more)

2017-06-26
Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 371
GN 12:1-9
PS 33:12-13, 18-19, 20 AND 22
MT 7:1-5

Leave this place.   With those simple words, the journey of Abraham began and humanity was changed forever.   There is a great deal of courage involved when one uproots from where they are and journeys into the unknown.   The waters of life are often murky and difficult to traverse.  The beautiful thing about the Sacred Scriptures is that it speaks to us on multiple levels.    While this story can be read as a simple historical account of the journey of a man and his family out of their home and into a new land, we today as Christians see it as an example of our spiritual lives.   We are called every day to “leave this place” spiritually and to build an Altar in the land we are journeying into.

Just watching the news or spending a few minutes on Facebook remind us just how backward the world has become.   Freedom of sexual expression has become the sacred cow of our age.  Politics has become less about making the world a better place for all and more about ‘winning’ against the other party.   Famous men and women make jokes about killing prominent actors in the Washington Saga and unhinged fanatics take those thoughts and run with them.  The sacred space of the Church is often besmirched by men and women who want change at any cost.  All of this requires us to journey.   To follow Christ in our actions, to abide by the teachings of the Church, and above all to have a deep, meaningful change interiorly are all steps to “leave this place.”   To leave the sinful person we have become and journey back to who we were made to be.  To build a Temple in our Hearts, that Christ may be constantly Present there through frequent reception of the Sacraments and Pious living.

The problem is that we often become so ‘pious’ that we go to the other extreme and judge each and every person harshly.  I’m not excusing sin.  Sin is real and it is definitely a problem.   The Church teaches it this way: Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another's statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.   (CCC 2478)  I think that often we get so caught up in all the activity of the Devil in the world that we forget to keep our eyes on Jesus.   We forget to judge with mercy and love.   We don’t take the time to have a favorable interpretation, nor even to speak to them to see if they understand it.   We rush to judge.   Jesus reminds us simply we too are sinners.   Did we understand when we were there?  I didn’t.   How then do I turn around and judge them so harshly for what I’ve done as well?

That’s what evangelization is supposed to be.   Reaching out to another hurting soul and saying “I know someone who can make us both better.”  Are you reaching out?  Or crossing your arms?  What kind of example of “leaving this place” are you setting for those who may never see any other Bible than your life?

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

What does it mean to deny Christ? There is, of course, an outright, direct denial of Christ in those who claim God does not exist or that Jesus was just a man, but there is more to it I think. (Click the link to read more)

2017-06-25
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 94
JER 20:10-13
PS 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35
ROM 5:12-15
MT 10:26-33

What does it mean to deny Christ?  There is, of course, an outright, direct denial of Christ in those who claim God does not exist or that Jesus was just a man, but there is more to it I think.  Jesus often taught that the law was so much more than just the surface.   To just not commit adultery wasn’t enough, one had to work on purifying his mind and not even to lust after someone.  To just not commit murder wasn’t enough, one had to work on becoming a person who did not even get angry enough to yell or call someone a name.  I think that’s important to take into mind when we talk about ‘denying Christ.’

Jesus tells clearly in the gospel that if we deny Him, He will deny us in front of the Father.   That is something all of us should be in awe of.   The Father is life itself.   Not to be a part of that life means not to have eternal life.  Heaven.   Peace.  Nirvana.   Whatever one calls it or visualizes it, to be told that if we deny knowing Christ we will not be a part of that!   That’s a scary thought.  That word in Greek,  ὁμολογήσει (homologēsei), means to confess.   Jesus will confess, declare, avow that we belong there before the Father.   I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we have a sacrament called Confession.

A confession is a testimony.   It’s an admittance of something we have done or something we know.   It’s where we are, where we have been, who we have been with, and what we have done.  I really think that last part is very important when we talk about denying Christ.  Simply saying “I am a Christian” or “I believe in Jesus” is just scratching the surface of what it means.   What do you believe?   That’s what is at stake here.  Do you believe Jesus is the third person of the Trinity?  Fully present in the Sacraments?  That He died for your sins?   That He is still here now in a special way, and fully present body, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist?   Do your words thoughts and actions reveal that you believe that?

I believe that every time our actions betray what we believe we are in essence denying Christ.  When I lie to someone, no matter for what reason, I am denying the truth.  Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life.    When I don’t trust others to the point of anger and fear, do I truly believe that God is providing?   Those moments in which I think thoughts that I know I should not be I not offending the purity of God himself?  When before the world I act like the rest of the world, am I not denying my Christian faith?   To deny the faith, the Church, the teachings of the Apostles… all of these are in essence denying Christ.

Jesus told us that He would send His Holy Spirit to guide us in our ways and remind us of all things that He taught us.   If we were to truly take that gift seriously we would be asking God before every action, every choice, no matter how insignificant it might seem.   More often than not we take even the most serious life decisions into our own hands, asking every person we know what to do, but never consulting God.  Is that not also a denial of Christ?   How can we pretend to be keeping His commandments if we don’t even begin to speak to Him on a regular and frequent basis?

Another way I think that we can deny Christ is by not allowing Him into the world through us.  When we have the opportunity to perform one of those works of mercy listed in Matthew 25 but we refuse for any reason, we have prevented ourselves from being Christ to someone in need.  It is in our inaction that we, the body of Christ, prevent Christ from doing that which that person needs most.   When we do not be the hands, feet, or mouth of Christ, in a world that so needs his touch and healing, it is in that moment that we truly deny Christ.  In that moment that God could have interacted with those He loves, we were the one who blocked His presence and grace.

One more way that I think we can deny Christ, one that I struggle with maybe most of all, is by not allowing ourselves to be the one Christ reaches out to.   It’s easy enough to think that God is calling you to be the one who gives out the dollar to the man in need, the food to the starving, the clothes to the naked, and is called to wash the feet of other.   What if you are called to be the man in need and to go ask for money?  What if your stomach is empty and Christ asks you to humble yourself and receive from your neighbor?  Do you wander spiritually naked in this world without seeking those who can guide you back to His arms?   It is when we refuse the help of others that we also prevent Christ from coming through them into the world to us.

That is a hard thing for me to think about.  I was raised in a place where a man’s worth was directly tied to his ability to provide for his family.   Those who were on welfare or food stamps were looked down upon as lazy or no good.   I spent years working as hard as I could just trying to buy the newest computer or game, all the while making sure I never had to ask for food from anyone.  My mother and father would feed me if I asked them, and often I did eat dinner at their house.  I do remember being so hungry and so cold at one point that I stood in the basement of my home, with no power or water, cooking beans in a can on a wood stove.  I refused to go look for food from someone else.  I wasn’t starving, but I was hungry.  

Now here I am dependent on others for my food, for my home.   My wife works hard and travels when needed to put food on our table.  It took me awhile to get that chip off my shoulder and to realize that my worth doesn’t come from what I can provide.   It comes simply from being made in the image of God.  My wife loves me.  That never ceases to amaze me.   In her actions and words, she brings Christ into this world in the purest way possible.  In her eyes and touch, I feel that love, a love that isn’t conditional.  One that loves me as I am, broken spine and all.  It is a love that encourages me to go out into this world with whatever skills I have to be both ones who offers Christ and accepts Christ in the other.

I think that is the true message here.   That sometimes we are an offering of Christ to the other, and other times we are the one that is being offered Christ through them.  If we take a moment to truly encounter each other on more than a superficial level we will realize that we are both at all moments.   Just as Christ was fully God and fully human, He was both the sacrifice and the one offering the Sacrifice on that wood altar of the Cross.  That is what it means to confess Christ.   To become living examples of the Cross in each and every moment.  Realizing that even in our weakness we can be Christ to someone else, and in the smallest and most truthful ways our own road to Calvary can be offered as a blessing to the world.  It allows the Simons of Cyrene to come out and help carry the load.  By being receptive to God’s provenance we allow the Veronicas of our environment to run out and offer us water and wipe our fast.  Maybe even most powerfully, by dying well (not a popular concept these days), we offer those gathered around us a glimpse of Christ on the Cross that they too might experience conversion similar to that of the Roman Soldier who watched Christ take his last breath.

Are you ready for that awesome responsibility?    Christian discipleship is so much more than just a confession with the lips, it’s a mirror image of the life of Christ, being projected through our lives and into the world that still needs his message more than ever.   Do you hear John asking you today, “Are you the one we are looking for, or should we look for another?”  Like Samuel, when we hear the Lord calling our name in the silence of the night, are we able to say “Speak Lord, your servant is listening”?

His servant and yours,

Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

Just a few days ago my wife and I were sitting in the garage enjoying the evening air as the sun was beginning to set. We started listening to the Divine Office Evening Prayer on one of the apps on my phone and were reciting the responses along with it. (click the link to read more.)

June 23, 2017
Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Lectionary: 170
DT 7:6-11
PS 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 10
1 JN 4:7-16
MT 11:25-30

Just a few days ago my wife and I were sitting in the garage enjoying the evening air as the sun was beginning to set.   We started listening to the Divine Office Evening Prayer on one of the apps on my phone and were reciting the responses along with it.  I believe both of us were reclined in the warm, moist air with our eyes closed just enjoying this moment of prayer together outside the hustle and bustle of life.   The door to the kitchen opened and out walked one of our daughters.   She realized what we were doing and sat down on a skateboard and just listened.  It was at this point that the Magnificat began to be recited.   My wife and I simply began to say it with the group of monks and nuns.    My daughter was impressed I think and mouthed “How do you know the words?”  I scrolled the phone down to where they were and handed it to her.   She finished Evening Prayer with us and we had a very powerful moment.

After our devotions were over I explained to her that we knew the words because we have been praying the Office for the most part since 2010, when we did Awakening Faith at our Parish.   A visiting Deacon was praying it when I arrived one day and I struck up a conversation.  Praying the Scripture?   That makes sense to me.   So I got a little copy of “Shorter Christian Prayer” and began.   I didn’t do it every day.  It did become a part of my life though.  The one thing it taught me about God is that to know Him, to truly know His love, and who He has made us to be requires a relationship.   It requires spending time with Him.   It requires knowing the stories and people of the Old and New Testament.  It’s very powerful to realize that the Evening Prayer recites the words of Mary, her song of thanksgiving when she was visiting Elizabeth.   That’s called the Magnificat.  

The one thing about today’s solemnity is that it focuses on the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.  It’s all about God’s love.  His mercy, His plan to redeem us, and His death and resurrection for our sins.  It is a story about how special we are to Him.   I think to understand how special we are we have to stop thinking of ourselves as insignificant worms, made of dust and worth nothing.    Yes compared to divinity itself?   We aren’t much.   Yet, He died for us.   If it were just to save one single soul, He would have done it.   We believe that God made each of us special, unique and with a plan for our lives.  Every time I see someone say that Mary was just a box, a vessel, nothing special, I get a little upset.  If she was nothing?   Then so am I.   So are you.   Yet the Scriptures are clear: “From this day all generations will call me blessed.”   Is “you are just a worthless person” blessing her?   Do you think Jesus did not die on the cross for her as well?  Was she just discarded?  Especially in our age of enlightenment when we try to encourage people to see women as equal to men, why then do we take the mother of God and run her through the mud as just another box?

That’s not love.   My wife was not just a box for my children.   She was someone special that I chose out of all the possibilities and who also had a choice and chose me.   Mary is the flesh that the Sacred Heart of Jesus came from.   We don’t worship her, but we do honor her.   We honor her for the role she played.   The choice she freely made.   The pain and suffering she went through that the Sacred Heart even came into existence.  So no, if Mary had said no it wouldn’t have been the same with just another person… any more than if I went back in time and never met Julie that I’d have the same kid with just another person… No.  That’s not how things work.  God had a plan for her before He made her, just like He had one for us.  Just like with Israel, He chose Her because He loved her.   That’s what the Sacred Heart is about.   It’s about reminding us that God loves each and every one of us completely and fully.   That the heart of Jesus still beats in Heaven and in the Tabernacle for us.  It aches for our completion, for our own hearts and souls to cry out with Mary “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”  Are you ready to give in and realize how much He loves you?  Are you ready to choose love?   To remain in love that Love might remain in you?

It is when we let go of the burdens of this world, close our eyes in the rapture of the moment, and simply rest in the knowledge of this truth that we take on the yoke of Christ.   That does not mean that things have magically gotten better at the moment.  It doesn’t mean that life won’t be hard when we stop resting in His arms and walk back to whatever task that we have at hand.  The relationships that were broken seconds ago are not magically restored.  Our soul though is filled with Him and He remains with us.   That’s what the Sacraments are about.   That’s what prayer is about.  You are special.  God chose you because He loves you and wants to be a part of your life.  He gave you a spiritual family of Saints and Angels to help you get through this world and a Church to open channels of grace into your life that you could better resist those things that harm you and pull you away from Him.  Then He died on the cross because that was the price of our failures.  Let God take up those burdens that are weighing you down, and begin to follow His lead and keep His commandments.  Take it one moment at a time, one step at a time, and realize it’s when you are weakest that He carries you.

His servant and yours,

Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

I like buffets. My all time high weight of almost 400 lbs really showed that on the outside. For years when my family would ask where I wanted to eat, my main requirement was that there be a lot of food. (click the the link to read more)

June 22, 2017
Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 368
2 COR 11:1-11
PS 111:1B-2, 3-4, 7-8
MT 6:7-15

I like buffets.  My all time high weight of almost 400 lbs really showed that on the outside.   For years when my family would ask where I wanted to eat, my main requirement was that there be a lot of food.   The beautiful thing about a buffet is that everyone can find what they want.   At a place like Golden Corral, I can find some decent vegan food, even fruits and vegetables, and my kids can have pizza or whatever else their heart desires.   An entire family can eat different entrees, as much as they like, and all be satisfied.  The problem with buffets is that we both don’t know when to stop and we often avoid those things which are healthiest for us.  I’ve rarely seen my kids come back from a buffet trip with steamed broccoli, a baked potato, and salad. I also would rarely see myself doing that either.

In America, the idea of a buffet has invaded all of our cultures, and in the mind of some, it has even invaded their religious practice.  Many take what they love about the Church's teaching and hold on to that, but the parts they disagree with they push to the side or never even put on their plate.   Like the steamed vegetables that are very healthy for them, they never take them off the buffet because the taste isn’t as pleasing as the other things in their life that it would require them to walk away from.   Paul reminds us of the danger of picking and choosing, or of following a newer Gospel, a more pleasing one to the ears.   In another scripture verse, he declares even if an Angel of the Lord were to appear with a different message we should cling fast to the original Gospel.

If we look back historically to the first Christians we find them unapologetically Catholic.  The faith of “Our Fathers” is one that has been spoken of well before Constantine and though it has developed over time, can even be seen in the writings of Justin Martyr, who would likely recognize the Mass if he were to walk into a Catholic Church today.   That faith is built on the rock of the Founder, Jesus Christ, who established a teaching authority in the Church.  That authority has handed on for centuries now beautiful prayers, like the Our Father given to us by Christ himself, as guides and rules to show us how to get to the table.   It doesn’t mean that we don’t have it all!   You can have your cake and eat it too.  But at some point, you also have to have your steamed vegetables!  That key line, “Thy will be done,” is one of the ones left on the serving line all too often.  Are you ready to make that deep a commitment to Christ?  Every household has rules.  When people look at you do they know you are part of the family?

His servant and yours,

Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

Growing up I was taught that “tradition” was a bad thing. In fact, one of the Churches I went too prided itself on the fact it never did the worship service in the same way. (click the link hear more)

June 21, 2017
Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious
Lectionary: 367
2 COR 9:6-11
PS 112:1BC-2, 3-4, 9
MT 6:1-6, 16-18

Growing up I was taught that “tradition” was a bad thing.   In fact, one of the Churches I went too prided itself on the fact it never did the worship service in the same way.   One day they’d preach first, sing some music, then have an altar call.   The next day they’d altar call first, sing some music, preach, and then maybe even sing again!  At the time I didn’t realize that in and of itself was a tradition.  Tradition can be beautiful!   We humans seem to thrive on structure even though we often don’t realize it.   Having habits can be both good and bad.   Good habits increase our lives, bad ones send us spiraling down.

In both the readings today we are reminded that what we do not only has an effect on what comes back to us in this life and the next, but it also affects those around us.   Jesus in His message today isn’t condemning public prayer or worship.   He isn’t telling us that there isn’t a proper place to have the tradition or that we should just get rid of ‘religion’ altogether.   In another place, He tells us “Those on the seat of Moses are hypocrites, but do what they teach you not following their example.”  Clearly, He didn’t mean for us to stop having a relationship with God that showed the world we were different, holy and set apart.   What He did mean is that hollow religion, actions done for the wrong reason, are worthless.

That’s why it is so important that we actually believe what the Church teaches and understand why.   So many homes are broken and divorce has become something of a standard practice these days.   Don’t get me wrong, there are times when it’s necessary for sanity and health.   I myself am a divorced man who received an annulment and am remarried in the Catholic church.  I don’t expect anyone to stay in an abusive relationship, neither physical, emotional or spiritual.   What I do realize, especially as a stepdad, is that those broken relationships don’t just hurt the couple who split up…  They harm society itself.   The children are in direct line of the shrapnel from the explosion, and all their friends are impacted as well.  Our faith shouldn’t be hidden for the sake of hiding it.   It should impact every part of our lives and show a lasting change.   It’s not enough to say I believe all of these things and then be an impatient curmudgeon when the world encounters me... And believe me, I can be just that.

That’s what we can learn from Saints like the one from today.   This man knew his faults and would continue to stand with his eyes on the ground anytime a woman would be around him.  Not because he was shy, but because he didn’t even want to take a chance at having a lustful or improper thought.   He went on to die in the service of others, contracting the plague in a hospital while trying to help the sick and infirm.  His actions were all the public prayer he needed.   When we pray the rosary or the divine office in public, we must make sure we are doing it for the right reasons… not to be noticed, but to show our love for God.   In all instances though, we are to be at service to those around us.   Some think they should build a prayer space or a hidden closet in their home, and that’s commendable.  I have a few spaces set up in my own home for that purpose.   That shouldn’t be our only prayer.   Rather we should have a space set up in our own hearts, building a hidden room where all of our actions are lifted up to God with contrition and love.   That way our life can become a pleasing sacrifice, united with the Work of Christ on the Cross, and Our Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

If you turn on the news today, you’ll find many young men and women who have everything they could ever want materially.... The money they have achieved, the fame, the drugs and the lifestyle haven’t brought them to some magical nirvana, but seem to have instead left them empty and broken. (click the link to read more)

June 20th, 2017
Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 366
2 COR 8:1-9
PS 146:2, 5-6AB, 6C- 7, 8-9A
MT 5:43-48

If you turn on the news today, you’ll find many young men and women who have everything they could ever want materially.   Through their natural, God-given skills they have created careers that have lined their coffers and even those of their friends, families, and agents.  There seems to be a pervading darkness there that lies under the surface though.  From Miley to Katy Perry, we find that these men and women aren’t happy.   The money they have achieved, the fame, the drugs and the lifestyle haven’t brought them to some magical nirvana, but seem to have instead left them empty and broken.   Suicide is rampant among the rich and famous, as is drug use, pedophilia, and various other dark deeds that aren’t spoken of in polite company.  All of these things are a search for something to make them happy, something to give them hope.

Why then is it so hard for us to let go of the very thing that we know doesn’t make us happy?  It seems like every time I turn on the radio someone is asking for money.   The Church has a yearly fund drive, the Pastoral Council wants to build another house, the guy at the train station wants another handout, and my kids need this or that.  God has gifted me with what little money I have to make a difference in the world.  To care for my family and friends.   The simple act of being asked to give up some of that abundance that He has so generously given me is almost a litmus test to my commitment to the Church and to the Kingdom.   Do I have enough faith to let go of the providence I have already received in the belief that it will come to me again?   Do I believe God will follow through on His promise to always take care of me?

Paul has spoken the need of a monetary commitment to the community but Jesus, as He always does, gets to the root of the problem.  Do we truly love?  It’s not the ones who show us love that test our faith and our conversion.   The person who gets on our nerves, the one who we don’t know, the one who squanders their own blessings and then expects mine.   That’s when our faith is tested.   That’s part of what giving to the Church is about.   When we find ourselves saying things like “I’ve given them for every project, I’m not doing it anymore!”, we are stepping into that same trap.  We are holding to the money that will never bring us happiness, instead of giving and trusting in God to provide.   That doesn’t mean one shouldn’t ever consider where their money is going, or do their research to find out that it’s actually going where it says it is.   What it does mean though, is that the true stress test of whether or not you are a Christian is: do I believe the promises that Christ has given me?  Or am I just going through the motions?

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

One of the hardest lessons to learn is that in order for things to change one person in a conflict has to be the adult and stop the cycle. (Click the Link to Read More)

June 19, 2017
Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 365
2 COR 6:1-10
PS 98:1, 2B, 3AB, 3CD-4
MT 5:38-42

One of the hardest lessons to learn is that in order for things to change one person in a conflict has to be the adult and stop the cycle.  Paul today talks about the kind of things that happen to people in this world.  Paul had suffered so many things at the hand of others.   Thrown into prison, beaten during riots, even left for dead after stoning at one point.   Paul shows us that while these things are intended to silence us, they don’t obscure the image of Christ in us but further reveal it.   It is our response to persecution that shows who we truly are.   I need to learn this lesson as much as anyone else.  I often pray the prayer attributed to Saint Francis that says “May I not seek so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.”    Then on the same day, I’ll get annoyed if someone doesn’t pay attention to me or if they seem thoughtless or narcissistic.  

The funny thing is we often makes things self-centered, even when I worry about the vanity of others, it is me that I am thinking of.   When we read the Bible we often have that in our heads too.   We try to read it based on what we already know, what we believe, what we feel.  God wouldn’t do that because I wouldn’t!   The same with Jesus today when He speaks about the Old Testament rule of an “eye for an eye.”   Many today read this in light of popular politics and socioeconomic standards as some sort of endorsement for revenge.   What we have to do is look at the standards of the time in which they were written.   The people of that time were warring, tribal nations that were violent and explosive.  An eye for an eye was not a rule to allow revenge, but one to cap violence at a standard.   If you took my tooth, it wasn’t permission for me to take your tooth, but a prohibition for me that I couldn’t knock out all your teeth or kill you.   Its intent was to show love, to reform a world of violence and revenge.

Jesus takes this further.   He shows that the intent of the law wasn’t just to lower violence or cap it at a certain level but to seek reconciliation between God and man.   It was forgiveness.  Jesus reminds us that true change begins inside.   It isn’t in spending all our time looking at what someone else is doing.   Rather, we are to be spending time with Jesus in the Sacraments and in our personal prayer life that we might grow to be the kind of person that forgive slights so powerfully that He would hang on a cross naked while others gambled over His earthly possessions.   That’s where the power of God shows forth from us.   The Spirit we received in Baptism is most powerfully displayed when love and forgiveness emanate from us as we carry our own cross toward our own Cavalry.  The world may try to hide that Spirit you have been infused with but it’s still there, it’s up to us to make our life Christocentric (Christ at the center) rather than anthropocentric (man at the center, self, ego).

His servant and yours,

Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

Growing up I didn’t know about the Eucharist. What I did know is that Jesus had promised that greater miracles were coming and that if we asked we would receive it. (click the link to read more)

June 18, 2017
Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
Lectionary: 167
DT 8:2-3, 14B-16A
PS 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
1 COR 10:16-17
JN 6:51-58

Growing up I didn’t know about the Eucharist.  What I did know is that Jesus had promised that greater miracles were coming and that if we asked we would receive it.   I started out in the Baptist church, as many know.   I remember the particular brand of Baptist that my grandfather was being very strict and rigid morally.  As I walked the journey toward the Church I wandered through various other religions.   The one I settled into for many years was in a very Pentecostal/Holiness style of worship.   The one thing that can be said of those men and women is that they truly believed in Jesus promises.   We didn’t speak about communion much.   I don’t remember ever saying the Lord’s prayer.   What I do remember is preachers so passionate about what they were saying that if you sat in the front row you might have to wipe some spittle off your face.

I also remember one woman in particular who had a bad knee.   She had a really structured brace placed from her ankle to her thigh.    During a particularly intense session of a revival, she stood up and declared herself healed.  She ripped off that brace and began to stomp her foot, dance, and shout about God’s glory.   It was a moving thing to witness.  Later in the week, she would go on to have surgery for the damage that had been done in that moment.   One could say she was silly, or stupid for doing it.   I say she had faith.  Had a miracle occurred?  Maybe.  How do I know that at that moment her knee wasn’t healed?   Or that God had used that moment to draw someone closer to Him?  Maybe even to draw me in?   It definitely increased my faith for years to come.

That wasn’t the only thing I witnessed in those years of wondering.   I attended communities that worshiped with music alone, others that had no structure but just let the Spirit move them, and even some with some sort of liturgy.   I went to Churches where men drank poison and lifted up vipers.  Where women fell out in the aisle unconscious and babbling.   Prayer services that lasted for days.   Speaking in tongues was prized and touted as a true sign of a believer.  All of these signs were things I truly believed in.   Why?  Because Jesus said it.   If Jesus said it?  It must be true.

Over the years that hasn’t changed about me.  I still believe in miracles.  I am certain that happen every day in ways that many of us just miss or don’t even have the ability to understand.  I don’t conceive of a God who is so transcendent that He has in some way forgotten us and left us on our own.  I believe in a personal God who wants us to be in a personal, albeit communal, relationship with Him and His Body.   I believe in a God so humble and generous that the Son emptied Himself of all that and became a man that I too might be able to meet God and understand Him.

The past few weeks have really pointed to this day.   The Ascension, Pentecost, the Holy Trinity, and now Corpus Christi.   Each of these points to a reality that is beyond what we understood on our own, but something that was revealed to us in the person of Christ.   That is, that Jesus Christ is fully man and fully God.   He is a part of the divine Godhead.   All of his life, death, and especially resurrection point to that simple, yet complex truth.   Jesus is God.  Let that settle in for a moment.   2000 years after this event that changed the history of humanity we often gloss over that.   All of the power in the universe, the very essence of what it means to exist, became a man that we could live for all of eternity.

That which was most powerful became defenseless in the body of a child.   He who had created humanity now depended on a family to take care of every need.  Who once molded and hung the stars now flailed with limbs out of control in search of comfort from the world He had to learn to understand.   In doing so He went from being the penultimate of all of the universe to one of the weakest and most vulnerable of His creations.  Laying in a manger, the feed trough of the brutish animals, was the bread that sustains all of creation and gives life to all things.

Yet somehow people refuse to believe that the same God who did all of these things to prove His love, was somehow limited in His ability to turn bread and wine into His Body and Blood.  How could I believe that men in a small rural church in Virginia could lay hands on one another and receive healing, but that somehow the Apostolic line had lost its authority and power?  A huge percentage of the Christian world reject this miracle or explain it away as a symbol, superstition or something that the first Church never intended.  Yet, Paul in his writings is clear.   “Isn’t this bread we partake the body of Christ?  Isn’t this wine His blood?”  The answer to both is yes.   That’s why Paul also warns in another place that anyone who receives this gift unworthily is guilty of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  

Genesis begins with the statement that God spoke and the universe came into existence.   “Let there be light.”   We do not doubt the power of this statement.   We also watch as God changes people and their names.   As He commands the sea to part, the earth quakes and hills jump like yearling sheep.   All of this we believe because He is God.   When He speaks it is truth which is the very basis of our relationship with Him.   He formed a covenant with us based on His word, an unbreakable bond that created reality as He spoke it.  How then do we doubt that when Jesus, fully God, said: “This is my body” that somehow His word returns void?  

That is why I am Catholic.   All of the other things the Church has to offer are found elsewhere.   I could go to a concert any day of the week and get my fill of good and pleasing music.  I could read the Bible on my own or tune into preachers on the Television or Radio who are often more animated and enjoyable to hear than some of the homilies that challenge me or cause me to squirm in discomfort.  A hundred different fraternities, clubs, sports teams, and organizations are vying for my attention and time.   No one else can offer the Eucharist.   Some churches even offer some of the Sacraments, Baptism and Marriage being two of the more common ones.  Some Churches even offer Confession though they don’t speak of it much.  The Eucharist?  That’s Catholic.   Only the Catholic Church believes in transubstantiation, that the substance of the bread and wine is truly transformed literally into the Body and Blood of Christ though the accidents remain the same.

Why does it matter?  Because of the very discourse that is our Gospel reading for today.  Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, you have no life in you.   When some of His followers challenged this and said this is a hard saying, surely you don’t mean literally?   Jesus said no, I mean it.   So much so that the verb He used to say “eat” was the one we would use to describe a starving dog ripping into a corpse.   Many walked away.   Even today people are walking away from this challenge.  Less than 40% of Catholics today believe the teaching of the Church and that Jesus is truly present.  Do you?

The Church teaches that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith and with good reason!   If it is truly Jesus present in a substantial and powerful way, then where else would you want to be?   If the Eucharist is truly God, choosing an even more defenseless form, in order to come closer to you and unite with you that you might have life?  Then who wouldn’t be running to Mass?  That’s what our “Sunday Obligation” is about… if Jesus is there present fully, asking to become one with you, to unite with you in a way that brings you joy and eternal life?   Why would you want to be anywhere else?  Definitely something to be meditating upon this Corpus Christi.

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins


"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

Someone made a comment the other day about not needing to bring a sacrifice to the altar, and in a way that’s entirely true. Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. Everything we receive from that work of His and His alone is through grace and not any merit we have of our own. (Click the link to read more)

June 16, 2017
Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 363
2 COR 4:7-15
PS 116:10-11, 15-16, 17-18
MT 5:27-32

Someone made a comment the other day about not needing to bring a sacrifice to the altar, and in a way that’s entirely true.   Jesus Christ died on the cross for us.   Everything we receive from that work of His and His alone is through grace and not any merit we have of our own.   However, we do have to offer a sacrifice at the altar.   Ourselves.   We come to the altar unworthy with a sacrifice that is blemished by our own failures and sins.  That sacrifice is united with the only sacrifice worthy of God’s love, Jesus Christ himself.   That’s the sacrifice we must bring to the Mass… a complete giving of ourselves to God through His Son.

St. Paul reminds us today what that looks like.   It’s not simply getting ready at Mass, our work begins much earlier.   It begins the moment we walk out at the sending from the Last Mass we attended.  Our work begins by dying to ourselves every moment of every day that Christ might live in us.   That same God who died on the cross now resides in our mortal bodies as though in a Temple created just for Him.   All the power of the universe, the life force that animates all life, and sustains the universe itself has been received by us in the Eucharist and if we allow our own frailty, thoughts, and desires to die away can change us into the men and women that we were created to be.

Sometimes we think our thoughts and fancies are harmless.   Who do they hurt?   Especially for the married people, they hurt not just ourselves but they sap away the strength of our resolve.   They weaken our love for the other and embolden our own selfish desires.   They undermine our dedication to a single person and drain the very love and devotion we have toward our spouse, our neighbor, and our God.   That’s why Jesus reminds us that it’s not just our actions that we must work on, but our thoughts towards others.   Our cross is not always just an external situation that is difficult to walk through but is also the nails of our own wants desires, and appetites.   In offering those to God, in allowing the things we want that will hurt us to die in ourselves, we can journey with Christ toward Calvary in an even more powerful way… by accepting the cup that God has given us, regardless of what we want in our own lives.

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

There is beauty and a depth to the Sacred Scripture that is often missed by those who read it casually. For many, it is because they read it as if it were dictated by God as a set of rules (click the link to read more)

Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 362
2 COR 3:15—4:1, 3-6
PS 85:9AB AND 10, 11-12, 13-14
MT 5:20-26

There is beauty and a depth to the Sacred Scripture that is often missed by those who read it casually.  For many, it is because they read it as if it were dictated by God as a set of rules, instead of inspired by God and recorded by those who were learning who God was with their own limited human faculties.  Some see the God of the Old Testament as being angry, violent, and rigid; while at the same time believing the God of the New Testament as being different: loving, kind, generous, and forgiving.   God doesn’t change.   The Sacred Scriptures grow in understanding, just as those who lived out their relationship with God grew in understanding.   The problem is our own minds often veil us from the true Spiritual realities of what it means to be in a relationship with God.  Sometimes the very use of words themselves often limits the reality of who God is and what He asks of us.

Saint Paul in his letter to the Corinthians describes it as a veil over the mind that prevents us from seeing clearly through to the purpose of the law.   When one reads the Old Testament on a superficial level, on a level that does not use Christ as the key to understanding it, they can confuse it with simply a list of dos and don’ts.   That was one of the major mistakes of the Pharisees and is still a common error today.   The law was not given to us to simply give us 613 rules to follow that God might separate us based on our ability to conform to them.   It was given to change us on the inside.   To make us into the kind of people who could live out the two great commandments as Christ simplified the law: Love God and your neighbor.

That is the line of thought that Jesus gives us in this section of the Sermon on the Mount.   It’s not enough to simply follow the “rules.”   We have to work on the things that make us break those rules.   Not simply to not murder, but to root out the evil thoughts and anger that make us want to do such things.   We can’t simply actively avoid committing adultery.  We must also stop thinking thoughts of lust and the viewing of pornography. We must always avoid desiring someone in a way that removes their human dignity and turns them into an object for our own pleasure.    Why?   Because these thoughts and actions offend the purity of God.  How can we claim to be in a relationship with Him if we do not act in a way that allows us to draw close to Him?  If our actions push Him away from us and hurt Him constantly?   Our relationship with God is still growing in understanding.  We still have a long way to go on human dignity when it comes to our relationship with the LGBT community, the refugee, the alien, and those who cannot speak or protect themselves.   The key though will always be Christ and internal change, not just outside rules and regulations.   That’s what the Church is for.  To help guide us through this world and give us guidelines that help us not just do external works, but to change who we are… that we might become more like Christ and more fully who God created us to be.

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

Today is June 14th. That means it's my 40th birthday. It's also Flag Day. One of the least noticed holidays in our country. (Click the link to read more)

June 14, 2017: Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 361

2 COR 3:4-11

PS 99:5, 6, 7, 8, 9

MT 5:17-19

Today is June 14th.   That means it's my 40th birthday.  It's also Flag Day.   One of the least noticed holidays in our country.   If we just look at the flag as a symbol of the current state of American politics in which someone shoots another for just being in a different party, it doesn't seem like such a great thing to celebrate.   The flag though is much more than that.   It was adopted as a symbol of freedom from tyranny.   A new country being born into this world in which all men would be created equal and the dignity given to man by God would be declared immutable by the government, or any of mankind for that matter.   The flag doesn't just stand for those of us who are American now, but for all those who have fought and died for our freedom and our right to pursue justice, truth, and happiness in this world.

That's one of the things that we humans have a bad habit of trying to do.   Just like with Moses who just experiencing the presence of God, we sometimes mistake the glory due to Him for something we have earned.  The Israelites were so enamored and enthralled by this glowing of Moses face that he had to start wearing a veil that they wouldn't forget what they were going to speak to him about.   The flag also has a glory attached to it, a glory that is given by those who have earned it.  Those who have bled, who have died, and who have labored to make this country what it is.  There is this sense of entitlement among many Americans today that somehow the gift we have received in being born here means we deserve to be treated a certain way or deserve certain things from others.   When in fact, what Paul reminds us is that the only glory any of us have comes from God.   The glory of the flag comes from what it stands for.   As the declaration says: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 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.  (emphasis mine)  

Those rights mean nothing if they only come from the government or from the common consensus of society.  It's only when we realize that the true glory of the American ideal is when we acknowledge there is Something outside of us that makes humanity worth loving.   Something outside of us that gives us the rights we have and that no human can take them away.  Our worth does not come from our own actions, the amount of money we have, nor even where we were born.   All men, including those in other countries and other faiths, are created equal.  We have all been given the chance to love one another.  The chance to be redeemed through the work of Christ on the Cross.   He came to fulfill a law that we couldn't live, that we could live a life that we don't deserve.  That puts a great duty on the shoulders of all of us who claim to be Christian.   Are we living up to the commands that Christ gave us?   The beatitudes?  The Ten Commandments?   The law of Love and Freedom?  Or are we binding ourselves with sin and anger, lowering ourselves to a place that involves us treating others as if they don't deserve the same rights we have because they are them?  The other?  The stranger, the widow, the orphan?  

His servant and yours,

Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

I try to avoid watching the news as much these days. Our national media machine seems to simply be aiming for shock, awe, and fear; rather than truth and dissemination of information. (click the link to read more)

Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest, and Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 360
2 COR 1:18-22
PS 119:129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135
MT 5:13-16

I try to avoid watching the news as much these days.  Our national media machine seems to simply be aiming for shock, awe, and fear; rather than truth and dissemination of information.  Occasionally though I’ll tune it to find some senator or politician speaking.   I am constantly amazed at how some of these individuals can speak for several minutes without ever actually saying anything.   A question will be put forth that is clearly a yes or no question, and the skillful orator that they are, they speak rapidly in circles without ever actually addressing the question and often just hitting their campaign or party platform bullet points on the way.

Paul seems to be suffering from this in his relationship with the Corinthians.  They are accusing him somehow of speaking out both sides of his mouth.   Saying different things to the same question.   It’s almost as if someone has been going around accusing Paul of being a modern day politician.   Giving a different answer based on where he is, and who he is talking to.   Paul is clear in his rebuttal of this.   He not only declares that his answers are clear and concise but they are as trustworthy as Christ himself.   As Jesus taught simply, let your Yes be Yes and your No be No.   Everything we say should be the truth.

That’s what it means to be Christian, right?   Jesus in the Gospel calls us the salt of the earth.   People have spoken much more eloquently about this amazingly deep image than I could ever do.   What it brings to my mind though are two simple things.   First, that we are the first “bible” that most people see.   It doesn’t do much good to claim to be Christian and have your life look just like everyone else’s.   To follow Christ means to be different.  If we listen to the same music, watch the same shows, wear the same clothes, and act the same way… how do we change them?  Or even ourselves?   Our actions must point to the love of God and shower it on all we meet.

 Secondly, the powerful thing about salt is that it enhances the flavors that we already have.  It doesn’t destroy that which is enjoyable, it makes it taste even better.  Our lives shouldn’t become dour and taciturn, devoid of joy and happiness… but filled with a joy that is set in its proper place.  Watching movies with your family is good, but choose movies that glorify God.   The same with music, dancing, going out to dinner, and anything else you do… in all things give glory to God.  That way the salt of our faith can enhance the beauty of this world and point to a greater thing than ourselves.

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

Why do things have to be hard? I was speaking to someone on the phone just yesterday about life. That was the question she posed to me. Why can’t some things just be easy? (click the link to read more)

June 12, 2017: Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 359
2 COR1:1-7
PS 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
MT 5:1-12

Why do things have to be hard?  I was speaking to someone on the phone just yesterday about life.   That was the question she posed to me.   Why can’t some things just be easy?  Some things are easy but when everything is going wrong it all seems to gather and grow like an out of control snowball rolling down a mountainside.  It’s easy to get stuck in that mindset as well.  The thing is God never promised us a life without pain or sorrow.  His own Son suffered and died a horrible death after being tormented, abused, and ridiculed.    Somehow we think that Christ on the cross meant we wouldn’t have to suffer.  Christ, though, continually reminded us to take up our own crosses and follow Him.    Where is He leading?  To Calvary.   To our own deaths, our own suffering, our own difficulties for the sake of God’s kingdom.

Saint Paul reminds us in the first reading that we aren’t to simply suffer in silence or alone.   We are to share with one another not just the suffering but the blessings and fruit that comes from it.   Our attitude can be one of gratitude and growth, or sorrow and stagnation.   We can choose to come through our suffering or live in our suffering with joy.  How difficult that can be at times.   We don’t just roll over and accept our suffering without prayer, yearning, and effort.     We also don’t reject our suffering as some fault of our own sin but rather we can offer it up for the sake of the body of Christ.   That’s a beautiful Catholic teaching there, that I can continue to suffer as a prayer.   For some reason, I missed that as a Protestant all those years.   I believed completely in the statement of “Pray at all times without ceasing.”   Yet, would I have prayed and been filled with joy at suffering because it was a prayer as well?

Jesus reminds us in the beatitudes of the simple notion that our vulnerability, our weakness, is where God can meet us and strengthen us.   When we have it all together, what need have we of anyone else?  It’s in our sorrow, in our meek attitudes, in our poverty that we have need of a savior.   By submitting ourselves to His Holy Will, which is love and mercy itself, we open ourselves to His Spirit to change us.  When my stomach is full I don’t notice the food that lays around the house.   When I have been fasting for 23 or 24 hours it’s all I seem to notice.  The same with all pleasures of a sensate nature.   How then can we expect God to fill our lives with His presence if we are constantly filling them with our own hedonistic pleasures?  In a land of plenty, it’s easy to forget discipline.   To forget that in the sermon on the mount Jesus reminds us that true obedience to God, true adoption as Children of God, means being like Christ himself.  Meek, poor, humble, empty of our own wants and desires and filled instead with a heart to follow God’s will for us and the world.  Lord help me to have the strength to do just that.

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

It’s difficult for some people to wrap their mind around the love that God has for us because of the image of the parent. For those whose parents are good, loving, and kind; the idea of a God who loves them unconditionally comes quickly and easily. How about those whose parents abused them? (Click the link to read more)

June 11th, 2017: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Lectionary: 164
EX 34:4B-6, 8-9
DN 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 5
2 COR 13:11-13
JN 3:16-18

It’s difficult for some people to wrap their mind around the love that God has for us because of the image of the parent.  For those whose parents are good, loving, and kind; the idea of a God who loves them unconditionally comes quickly and easily.  How about those whose parents abused them?  Neglected them?  Or even twisted them against their other parent because of a bitter divorce or anger?  How can we reconcile the love of the Father with the father who does not love?  In the inner cities of America alone we have twenty million families living without fathers in the home.  Many of these men have walked away from the responsibility of being a dad and left their children to wonder if they loved them?  Some even wondering who their dad is.  Others angry and hurt because their dads did not love them.

My grandfather was a hard man.   I remember clearly some of the things that at the time I did not understand.   The prohibition of poker cards in his house.   The fact that some of our textbooks had to stay on the porch.   The times he would tell us we weren’t allowed to continue the conversation we were having because it was sinful.   Yet, this man also gave me my first bible.   He spoke to me of the love of God.   Back then I thought if God had a thing against biology and games, if God disliked having fun, why would I want to be a part of that?  These days I understand what my grandfather was trying to show us.   I still don’t agree with his methodology, but I know in his own way he was trying to protect us from things he had seen lead people down the wrong road.

My own father is also sometimes a hard man.  He is quick to anger and slow to forgive.  Growing up we knew that he worked night shift and I can remember learning to walk softly upstairs and that if we were to make too much noise his voice would thunder throughout the house.  He provided for us well.   He worked hard as long as his body would hold out.   He did everything he could to make sure we had what we needed.  The rules were the rules though.   When my brother and I decided at one point to teach dad a lesson, it was he who taught us.  I don’t remember exactly how but my 5’7” father left me upside down in the corner and my brother didn’t fare much better.

These were the images of dads that I had growing up.  So when the preachers in the various churches spoke of God the Father and Jesus the Son, I already had an image of what that was supposed to look like.  Dad makes the rules, and the Son follows them.   When He doesn't dad thunders and the house shakes, and someone has to pay for breaking the rules.  If you don’t get rid of the things that he tells you to, they will either be taken from you forcefully or you get thrown out.  That became sort of an image of God for me for years.   The thundering, stamping angry man in Heaven just looking for a reason to erase my name from the Lamb’s book of Life, yet again.  That’s not to say that either of those men in my life weren’t good men or loving men.  They were.  They were examples of men doing the best they could with what they had, with the education they had been given, and the understanding of what God expected of them that they had received.

They fell short though, just as I fall short, of displaying the love of God in the world.  Today’s Gospel is from John and is one of the best known Gospel verses in the world.  John 3:16 has been quoted by people in every venue, and even used for a popular wrestler at one point.  The thing is this verse shows us the truth about two things.  The depth, breadth, width, and height of God’s love for us; and the sacrifice the Son made and what it truly meant.  As a father now myself, I understand even more the fear that my father and grandfather had about the things of this world.   The moment I saw my daughter born into this world I knew there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her, even to die if I had to in order to protect her.  I feel that way about all four of our girls.  This verse though says that God gave His Son for us, that we too might be saved.  To give the life of your child for those who do not appreciate you?  For those who do not appreciate the child either?  For those who won’t even accept the gift?

I’d be hard pressed to let my child even get her feelings hurt for someone else.  To choose for her to die that others might live?   I don’t know that I have that in me.   God did.   That’s the love of God for us.   A love so pure, so powerful, so complete… that it formed a third divine person.   The Holy Spirit is the living personification, the embodiment of the love of God sent into the world.  That’s because the mystery of God is so deep, so powerful, so complex and profound that God becomes family.   Father and Son love each other so much that the Holy Spirit proceeds forth from them, showering their love to the four corners of the universe.    The gift of the Paraclete is a gift of love!   That’s something we forget so often.

It also shows us how we should interact as a family.  The scriptures today remind us to meditate deeply on this mystery.  On the Father who is “merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.”   The Holy Spirit who unites us in peace, joy, and fellowship; guiding us to love one another as a family born out of the sacrifice of the Son.   The Son who is obedient to His Father, accepting even death, death on a cross.  With all of this mystery comes the simple truth that we Christians can count on… that it is in belief and obedience to the life and teachings of Christ that we can find our way to eternal life.  Not because we deserve it.  Not because we have learned to walk quietly to avoid the Father’s anger, but because we have a mediator, an intercessor who stands between us, who died in our place that we too might be a part of that eternal family.

Do you think about that when you think about the Holy Spirit?   The Holy Spirit is the love that flows between the Father and the Son.   Much like the love in our homes makes us family, that it reminds us that even when we aren’t getting along, that we are a unit.   That choice we make to support one another even when we don’t understand one another.   Something more than just a feeling, something more about action and submission, giving and taking.   That the perfected version of that love, the third person of the Holy Spirit, now chooses to reside in us as His Temple?   That love… that pure, unadulterated love… is in us and flows from us to the Father and back, making us a family of God himself?

There are no words to explain how powerful and immense a gift that is, one that was purchased with the blood of a child, a brother, a friend.   A gift that should overwhelm us with joy and gratitude, but is often left dusty on the shelf like the Scriptures themselves.  True love is right here.   It’s among us inspiring us, reminding us of His words, guiding our Church and if we let it, our families.  As I said above, I fail often.  Sometimes my dad comes out of my mouth and my children hear me roar, especially if I’m napping and they stampede through the roof of my room.  Then at other times, my grandfather comes out and I demand this or that be removed from the house.   Yet, God reminds me to love.   To choose the better part.  To be like the father of the prodigal son, ready to run out and embrace them with open arms before they ever get to where I want them to be.   Better yet, to walk with them toward the Father himself and ask His love to continue to flow in our lives, that both of us can experience a glimpse through the veil, past the cloud of unknowing, into the realm of God himself where words no longer have meaning and all that exists is love and mercy itself.

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins.


"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14