Let's begin today's meditation with a little game of word association. Ready? I want you to pay attention to the first thing that comes to your mind when I say: 

Recycling. 

Do you have it?

I'm guessing that for many of you this was the little recycling symbol - you know, the three arrows forming a circle. It's a brilliant piece of marketing which, I just learned in a quick Google search, traces its origins back to Earth Day in 1970. We all get the concept of recycling, and largely we get it because this symbol gives us such a good image: instead of throwing things away, let them be reused, made into new products, and then reused again as needed. Easy enough. 

Why am I talking about recycling? 

I don't want so much for our prayer time to focus on recycling. In fact I don't want that at all. No, I want to think about the image, the process. A thing is used, recycled, created into something new, used, and then recycled again. This process happens over, and over, and over, and over, etc. For you and I, I think our readings today give us a good picture of a similar process in the Christian life:

Encounter Christ --> Become a follower --> Share Him with others --> Return to His promises and a renewed encounter --> ...

All of those steps are immensely more complicated than those words above portrayed, but the reality is simple: we encounter Jesus, go forward in His love, share Him with others, and constantly find ourselves back in the arms of our Loving Father to repeat it all again. The Second Reading today is so abundantly clear: in Christ Jesus and the presence of the Spirit you and I know our identity as sons and daughters, we live in that identity, we share that identity, and we remain close to Him through it all. It's a process of continually sharing, growing, and renewing, all happening over and over in our lives until ultimately we are transformed more and more into Christ. 

Our Lord's promises are true and good, you and I simply must be faithful to Him as He is faithful to us. Seek Him. Be renewed in Him. Find comfort in Him. Share Him with others. In the end, it is Him who is all in all, who makes our lives and the whole process make sense and brings it to its ultimate end: relationship with the Father for all eternity.

How would you best explain the "process" of your own journey with the Lord? Where are you currently in that process?

In what ways is God calling you to let Him in and allow Him to be closer than ever before?

How can you share God and what He has done in your life with others today or this week?

"Jesus, I trust in You."

"You are good." 

"You are my hope and my reward."

Share what God has done in your life with someone today, and then find time shortly after to return to the Lord in prayer and thank Him for that chance, no matter how it went.

​“Therefore, confess your sins to one another
and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

James likes to shoot it straight, and today’s first reading is no exception. Besides this verse being a confirmation of our individual need for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and a straightforward one at that, I think there is also a deep foundational truth about human nature embedded in this passage: we need each other. There is something human and essential in “confessing your sins to another” and “praying for another.” It may seem like the most terrifying thing in the world to bring my own weaknesses and limitations out of the darkness into the light for another to see, but in fact it is the most freeing thing in the world when we do. And it may seem equally as terrifying to ask somebody if you can pray with them or if they can pray with you - even (or especially) if it’s a close friend - it can be easy to joke around and talk about everyday superficial things, but inviting time for prayer together seems to cross a boundary of vulnerability that is uncrossable. Yet when we do, our friendship is deepened and strengthened and becomes abundantly life - the friendship is transformed in a way that only prayer can transform. James knew this, and this is why he encouraged us to just do the thing, whether we want to or not.

Speaking of which, it’s not about whether we want to do it or if we “feel” like it. I especially love how blunt and straightforward James is about this. He doesn’t mince his words. He commands that we do it. It’s not an option. If we want to take this Christian life seriously, or rather if we want to take life seriously at all, we need to do this. And sometimes we don’t always want to do what’s best for us (i.e. training for a sport or learning an instrument or studying for school), but we do it anyways because we know it’s going to help us reach our long term goals. So if our long term goal is being free and happy and sharing deep and meaningful friendships, then perhaps we should take James’ advice. So, who is one friend who you can go to today (not tomorrow, but today) and talk with about some area of weakness or limitation in your life or who you can ask to pray with (or perhaps both). Take some time and ask God who He is perhaps inviting you to take that next step in relationship with for your happiness and their happiness, and then just go do the thing.

Are there people in your life you can be this close to right now? 

What are some things you are hiding that you know you need to share with someone?

Who might God be calling you to be more open with or pray with? How can you make that happen?

"Jesus, I trust in You."

"Come Holy Spirit."

"St. Philip Neri, pray for me."

Ask the Lord who He wants you to be vulnerable with and pray with, and actually do it.

​The moment I got ordained a priest I knew that my life was no longer my own, yet it was God’s and the peoples’. I knew that for the rest of my life I had to live by the promises that I made at my ordination to be a man of prayer, a man obedient to my bishop, and a celibate chaste man who offers his entire self to the mission of Jesus Christ.

This ‘Yes’ to God was one that I had been preparing for during my 6 years of seminary and a ‘Yes’ that I was so excited to vocalize as I lay down with my nose touching the marble floor hearing the choir sing invoking the prayers of the saints in heaven.

Each day I wake up and I must remind myself that my life is not about me and that each of my ‘yeses’ at ordination were meant for the salvation of souls and that I must live those ‘yeses’ each day.

The question for each one of us is, “What things is God calling us to say ‘yes’ to?” What are the ways in which He wants us to recognize that each day we are on mission to say yes to living and dying for others? For we must live like Christ and this is what God is asking of us. So today say ‘yes’ to this beautiful task and let you ‘yes’ mean ‘yes!’

Do I trust the Lord enough to let my 'yes' mean 'yes'? Or do I say 'yes' for a moment and then take it back when it gets a little hard?

Am I willing to go "all in" to my faith? 

​What things is God calling me to say 'yes' to today?

"I trust you with my life."

"I trust you with my 'yes' Lord."

"I trust you."

Take a moment to reflect today on a time when you said "Yes, but..." to the Lord, when your yes was conditional. Give that to Him again, trust Him with your whole self.

As I write this post, the internet is losing its mind of the Met Gala this year. Because in our society it’s likely that when you read this post in two weeks society will have moved on, let me remind you. The Met Gala celebrates a new exhibit at the Met in New York each year. The theme of this year’s exhibit and gala was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”. There’s many people that are much smarter than I am debating about whether that was appropriate or sacrilegious. That’s not what I want to reflect on. What struck me this year about the gala (and every year) is its opulence. It is over the top. It is an excuse for people to wear more gold, more jewels, or to show off their bodies more and for everyone to party harder. It is a modern day example of today’s first reading. (If you have never heard of the Met Gala instead picture the capital in the hunger games.) 

Our first reading is all about wealth and opulence and glamour. There’s so many things in this passage that we are all striving for. However, this reading is not just about comfort, but it is about an over indulgence in all the worldly comforts. 

Yet, these pleasures don’t bring the people of the first reading into greater happiness. It instead leads to their despair. The reading says, “Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire.”

All they had striven for was gone. They had turned their back on the righteous one. James is very clear; they have abandoned Jesus in search of worldly possessions. 

How often do we do this? Are you more concerned about your wealth here than being in Heaven with our Lord? Where are you putting not just your money, but your time and your energy? Are you showing God that He is important or are you just trying to do enough to get by? 

Wealth and riches and power is tempting. They look so good to us. They look comfortable and easy. It is not easy to follow the Lord and we might not always understand the value in it. But there is so much more waiting for us with Jesus. 

“The world calls you to comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” -Pope Benedict XVI

What comfort are you searching for? Where is Christ in your search? 

How much of your time and energy is spent on growing in holiness, on growing closer to Christ? How much is spent on seeking comfort?

Are you striving for greatness? What is holding you back?

"Help me to seek You."

"I need You."

​"I love You."

Give up some kind of comfort today. Sacrifice some luxury as a way of putting Christ before  comfort, complacency, or opulence. Let your heart focus on Jesus today and put Him first in all things.