Pastor's Reflection

Jesus talks about fear in the Gospel. He tells us to “Fear no one,” because “Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known” (Mt. 10:28).

When we first hear Jesus speaking about something “concealed” or “secret,” we can think He is speaking of something concealed that is negative or a secret that is bad. But what if Jesus is speaking about something concealed that is beautiful and something secret that is fascinating?

As we go through day-to-day life, we can easily feel like we are negotiating the same things day in and day out, week in and week out. Life is busy, but we seem to keep moving into the same obligations, tasks for which it takes more and more. And then the conflicts arise, the turf wars and tug-of-wars with relatives, neighbors, or co-workers.

And we can easily feel drained. And we can sense that fear has more of a hold on our hearts than we ever expected. Jesus wants to reveal what He has concealed. He wants to make known His great secret. He wants to reveal to our hearts the expansiveness of His love.

The love of Christ is not magic. It does not suddenly make our neighbors see things our way, our family all agree, or co-workers all be on the same wavelength. His love is far more absorbing and alluring than what we can measure.

This summer, step closer to His love. Come to Mass, celebrate the Sacrament of Confession, read the Bible, take time in adoration here in the chapel. Step into the momentum of the Lord so that He can begin to whisper to your heart the secret of His love and His mercy. As He does, fear loses its grip, and the heart goes free.

God bless,

Msgr. Bransfield

He could tell just by looking at them.

In the Gospel, Jesus hasn’t said a word yet. He looks at the crowd that is following Him:

“At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them 
because they were troubled and abandoned …” (Mt. 9:36).

The Scripture text is inspired by the Holy Spirit. No word, syllable, or part of a word in the Bible is incidental.

The Holy Spirit chose these words through Saint Matthew. The Gospel text was originally written in Greek.

So the Greek root word can clue us in to the deeper meaning at work.

The word “troubled” comes from the Greek root word eklyō. This word means what Jesus saw “came from out of what was broken in them, what had been enfeebled, what was bound up in them.”

But, not only is the crowd broken inside. They are also “abandoned.” The Greek word there is rhiptō. This means they are also “scattered” because they have been “hit by a sudden motion,” and that hit has “deposited a heavy load” on them and “thrown them down.”

I bet if you asked the people in the crowd how they were doing, they would’ve responded, “fine.” And therein is part of the heaviest wound: the common trap to pretend and act tough as if we have no wounds.

The people in the crowd lied to themselves. Not deliberately. They acted as though they had no wounds. It was part of the part they felt they had to play: to look good, perfect, like they had “it” all together. And that made the wounds all the more painful. Disguise always does.

What does Jesus see when He looks at you and me? What is broken inside of us? What is bound in us? When have we been hit by that sudden motion of hurt, the wound, the heavy load?

Right there, in that place, Jesus’s heart is moved with compassion for us. His Sacred Heart moves when He sees that we are broken, bound up, and scattered.

The question is, “When we see our wound, does our heart move as well?”

God bless,

Msgr. Bransfield

So often in our life we face hardship. We don’t often talk about our hardship – but our hardship talks to us a lot. It can tell us things like: “You’re not gonna make it. Others are going to let you down. You’ve got to fix this thing over here. Things would be better if you had only…”

Our hardships probably won’t quiet down. They gain power from tricking us into thinking we can fix them if only we had more power and control. Even though they will probably rattle on, it is important that we don’t let our hardships, hurts, and losses have the last word or even the loudest word in our day.

Hardships don’t exclude love. Love always comes in the shape of the Cross.

When we think of the Cross of Jesus, these words stand out above all others: “Take this all of you and eat of it. This is my body which will be given up for you.” …  “Take this all of you and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.”

These are the words of consecration of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus spoke the words of consecration just as He was about to face the Cross. This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi: the Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus gave us the Sacrament of his Body and Blood, the Eucharist, so that we might always draw close to Him in our trials. That way, His word of life triumphs over the old slogans that our brain learned when we went through pain and suffering. The Eucharist teaches us to de-memorize the old slogans.

There will be no shortage of difficulties that get in the way in life. It is important to realize we are not alone. We unite all we do to Jesus and His offering on the Cross. That’s why coming to Holy Mass and going to Eucharistic Adoration is so important.

Because in those places we hear as we do nowhere else the life-giving voice of Jesus Christ.

God bless,

Msgr. Bransfield