God asks a rhetorical and slightly sarcastic question to Samuel, the prophet: “How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel?” Like us, Samuel is depressed that the old king failed. It’s painful to admit that the old regime is done. But God won’t let us wallow our pity-party forever. “I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem,”announces the Lord, “for I have chosen my king from among his sons.” Samuel finally goes and anoints the young David as the new king. And his kingdom is glorious; it’s the golden age of Israel’s earthly history.
How discouraging to see that my own selfish ego is no longer in charge! How long will I grieve that money, power, pleasure, and reputation have been rejected as the ruler of my life? How wonderful that God has a new future in store for you and me. He is sending us to Bethlehem to anoint the new David as our king. His kingdom won’t fail us. He’ll slay our goliaths, unite our dispersed energies, and build a Temple where God himself will dwell.
My childhood best friend was Xander Price. He was the fastest runner in school, an excellent baseball player and Jewish. Though his family wasn’t intensely religious, I felt totally at home with them despite our religious differences. Everything about their Judaism seemed to under-gird and strengthen my own experience of being a Catholic. I knew they didn’t believe in Jesus like my family did, but I intuited somehow that Jesus was “hiding” in their religion. Like a cat moving under a blanket, ready to emerge at any moment, the Lord was hidden there in a special way.
In the Gospel for this third Sunday of Lent, Jesus says, “For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me” (John 5:46). Stunning words, those. Moses wrote about Jesus. The way therefore that we come to know and believe in Jesus is to discover him lurking in Moses’ writings. The Hebrew Scripture is the wonderful womb in which Jesus gestates within a host of images: Adam, Isaac, David, Melchizedek, the Temple, sacrificed lambs, prophets and so on. Right now, in your parish’s OCIA program, soon-to-be baptized people are carefully studying where Jesus is in the writings of Moses, so that they may believe in him. This works for all of us, too, who wish to deepen our knowledge and love of Jesus.
Lenten challenge: Take some time to prayerfully study one of the images of Jesus listed above in the Old Testament. Identify which one you find compelling and consider why this is so. If you don’t know where to start, begin with the prophet Jeremiah as an image of Jesus
Father John Muir
March 16, 2025 Deacon Ken’s Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent
When Abram was about 75 years old, God told him to pack up everything he owned, gather his family and move a great distance. So, Abram packed up and moved into the land God gave him. When Abram was 90 years old years old, he was concerned because he had no children. For Abram, this meant that the steward of his household would be his heir. God’s plan was to give Abram and Sarah a child, and Abram’s descendants became as many as the stars above. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”Abram fulfills the definition of faith.
When Abram was about 75 years old, God told him to pack up everything he owned, gather his family and move a great distance. So, Abram packed up and moved into the land God gave him. When Abram was 90 years old years old, he was concerned because he had no children. For Abram, this meant that the steward of his household would be his heir. God’s plan was to give Abram and Sarah a child, and Abram’s descendants became as many as the stars above. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Abram fulfills the definition of faith.
Much of what are expected to believe and profess as Catholics are certainly a mystery. For instance, the Eucharist as an example. How does bread become the Body of Christ? How does wine become the Blood of Christ? How does eating that little piece of bread and drinking that sip of wine save us? Proof can be found in scripture and in the writings of those who have gone before us, especially the first Christians. Jesus gives all His authority to His apostles. Jesus gives them the Deposit of Faith, which is the truth of the Catholic Faith. The apostles lay hands on their disciples and pass Jesus’ authority to the disciples who in turn become Bishops of geographical areas. Bishops lay hands on others who become priests in cities and towns. Priests then teach the Deposit of Faith through Preaching and Faith Formation. How do we know what we are being taught is true? We can look to those who taught the faith, especially the early Christians.
For example, Saint Justin Martyr taught: “We call this food Eucharist, … For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food that has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus.” – First Apology, 66 Saint Ignatius wrote: “I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasure of this life. I desire the Bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was the seed of David, and for Drink, His Blood, which is love incorruptible.”
The words of these saints were written between the years 100 and 107. They were disciples of the apostles. Their faith was passed through time to us. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles and those that followed formed their faith. By the same Holy Spirit, our faith is formed.
Faith always comes with reward. Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, because God is truth. By faith we commit ourselves to God, and we seek to know and do God’s will. In addition to a faith that believes, we know that our faith calls us to respond, because Faith without works is dead. Saint James said, “Show me your faith without works, and I, by my works will show you, my faith.” Our faith shows when we respond to the pleas of the orphans. We emulate Christ when we care for the destitute. Imagine how much better the world could be if all who professed to be Christians, acted like Christians. What couldn’t we accomplish!
Jesus took Peter, James and John up Mount Tabor and was transfigured before them. Jesus’ face and clothes became dazzling white, and he was seen conversing with Moses and Elijah. They were talking about the great feats of salvation Jesus was about to undertake in Jerusalem. For many, the question is “What’s the big deal about the transfiguration?” The transfiguration strengthened the apostles for what was to occur in Jesus’ life, and in their own lives. Hard times were coming for Jesus and his apostles. Jesus allowed the apostles to get a glimpse of what heaven will be like. The apostles were able to hear the voice of God telling them to listen to his Son. Strengthened in faith by visions and the words of God, the apostles would be able to endure anything the world could throw at them.
If we try, we can think of things in our lives where we know for certain that God’s hand was in the middle of it all. For instance, when a particular scripture speaks directly to us, or when the homily seems to answer the very question, we have been contemplating, we feel God working in our lives. When these instances of grace appear, our faith is strengthened, just as the apostle’s faith was strengthened.
Today, we are thankful that we are children of God, and heirs of God. We remember that to get to glory we may have to suffer just a little while. As we make our way up the mountains and through the valleys of life, may our prayer always be “It is good that we are here Lord”, in your presence, with your people, in your Church.
Deacon Ken Stewart
March 16, 2025 Second Sunday of Lent (Luke 9:28b-36)
St. Thomas Aquinas said that friends share three things: time, possessions and secrets. For example, how do I know if you’re my friend? Well, let’s say we’ve been to Mexico together, you’ve tried my shaky attempts at pasta carbonara, and you know what ridiculous costume I wore in a music video I filmed in my early twenties. We, dear reader, are definitely friends. We’ve shared time, possessions and secrets.
How does friendship with Jesus develop? The same way. Jesus lives and eats with his disciples. Then he takes Peter, James and John to Mount Tabor and there reveals to them his deepest secret: his glorious, divine Sonship. The majesty of God shines from within his humanity in a way that goes beyond description. God the Father confirms this “secret,” saying, “This is my chosen Son, listen to him”(Luke 9:35). It’s all so precious that “they fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone.”Do we take time to be alone with Christ, to allow him to mystically share this “secret” with us as his dear friends?
Lenten challenge: This week, identify one time when you experienced an awareness of some specific aspect of Jesus — perhaps on a retreat, at Mass, in prayer or in an act of service. Spend ten minutes consciously reliving that experience in your heart. If you can’t recall one, set aside at least two hours this Lent as a mini retreat, either alone in nature or in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Focus on him and ask him to share the secrets of his heart with you. He will. Then, as his friend, share the secrets in your heart.
— Father John Muir
March 9, 2025 First Sunday of Lent (Luke 4:1-13)
One of the most fascinating moments in American history is when George Washington could have become the king of the newly liberated United States and didn’t. At the height of his power and fame, on Dec. 23, 1783, he resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief and went home. The astonished King of England remarked that in doing so, Washington was “the greatest man in the world.”Greatness is often defined by what we could do but don’t. Greatness is measured by the temptations we overcome.
Jesus’ greatness is revealed in his victory over temptations, too. The three offered him by the devil contain, we might say, all potential possible temptations: food, power and fame. They correspond to the triple human needs of body, soul and spirit. In overcoming these three, he says “no” in essence to every and even the greatest temptation. We see that every desire of his humanity — body, soul and spirit — is perfectly united to God, to love. This is a power available to each member of his body. It is the path to true greatness. How can we, who so easily fall into even small temptations, find the power to overcome large ones? By entering into the great dynamics of Jesus’ temptations.
Lenten challenge: This first week of Lent, list some concrete ways you can overcome temptations that correspond with your desires. For example, you may give up snacks between meals, choose not to participate in an activity of which you are an expert, and decide to reduce social media posting by 50%. It may not seem like much, but by saying “no” to the tyranny of food, power, and fame (in this example), you’ll discover true greatness.
Deacon Ken’s Homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Times
I’ve got to tell you, this whole week I have been wrestling with the word “Trust” from the Prophet Jeremiah, and the word “Faith” from the Gospel of Luke. I was perplexed why Jeremiah would use the words “Trust in the Lord” and why Luke would use the words “Have faith in God”. I wondered if trust and faith then, were synonymous? While trying to come up with an example to use about trust, the only thing that came to mind was Charlie Brown, Lucy, and a football. I thought to myself, “I can’t use a Charlie Brown comic in my homily”.
So anyway, you recall that Charlie Brown wants to kick a “field Goal” style kick. Lucy always promises to hold the ball for Charlie Brown and as Charlie Brown approaches the ball, at a high rate of speed, Lucy pulls the ball away at the last minute and Charlie Brown falls flat on his back. Lucy is not trustworthy, and Charlie Brown should never put his trust in her.
Jeremiah was a prophet during the time when the Assyrians were being chased out of the Holy land by the Babylonians. It was a time when some Assyrian men were marrying Israelite women and, some Israelite men were marrying Assyrian women. The problem is that those Israelites were being drawn to the religion of the Assyrians and turning away from the God of the Israelites. They were worshiping the God’s and the statues of the Assyrians. Jeremiah is giving those Israelites a stern warning that God will not save them who are worshiping Gods who have lips, but cannot speak, have ears, but cannot hear, and eyes that cannot see.
What Does It Mean to Trust God? Trusting God means that we believe He is reliable and will do what He says he will do. We trust that his word is truth and trustworthy. In this trust we come to believe that if Jesus was resurrected from the dead, that on our death, resurrection will come to us. The book of Proverbs tells us: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Trusting in the Lord will not automatically make our ways easy, but it will make our path to Him bearable as we submit to Him.
The Bible contains a clear definition of faith. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”Simply put, the biblical definition of faith is “trusting in something you cannot explicitly prove.”(Hebrews 11:1) I like the Catechism of the Catholic Churches definition. Faith is: “both a gift of God and a human act by which the believer gives personal adherence to God who invites his response and freely assents to the whole truth that God has revealed. It is this revelation of God which the Church proposes for our belief, and which we profess in the Creed, and celebrate in the sacraments, and live by right conduct”.
I’ve discovered that the Gospel from Saint Luke has two names. The first name is the “Sermon on the Plain”,because of it’s location. The second name is the upside-down Gospel, because in the kingdom, the blessed and the woeful will be reversed from those here on earth. Saint Luke’s focus is on how folks in his day were living the teachings of Jesus. Were they focused on the needs of the poor and marginalized? Are the real social and economic issues of their time being addressed? Saint Luke warns them that failing to care for the needs of others will not only displease God but will bode badly for them in the afterlife. The Lord grieves for the rich because they find solace in their abundance of goods and ignore his teachings about love for one another.
Each of us, no matter our current station in life has the obligation to help others. God indeed has a special place in his heart for the poor. Blessed are you who are poor; the kingdom of God is yours. Woe to you who are rich, but blessed are you who share your riches with the poor. Blessed are you who mourn, but woe to you when you fail to comfort another. When we act on these obligations, we help to make present the Kingdom of God to others.
God calls each of us to be like ripples in a pond seeking to help one, then reaching out for another, and then another. Acting on our obligations makes present the Kingdom of God to us. It draws us into that loving relationship with each other and the relationship that God desires to have with us. On that day we will leap for joy knowing that our reward in heaven will be great. That in God’s eyes not only have we blessed, but we have been blessed. On that day our lives will not have been as an empty waste, but our lives will have borne good fruit.
Trusting in the Lord will get you to the finish line, Faith in God by way of the sacraments will get you over the finish line to resurrection.
Deacon Ken Stewart
February 16,2025 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
I craved four things as a teenager: success in sports, food, fun and the attention of popular people. However, I noticed that as I acquired them, I was more unsatisfied than before. So, I’d strive even more energetically, achieve more, and the sense of emptiness was greater still. These four things started to feel like burdens or even curses. Soon after, I encountered Christ in my high school youth group. Experiencing his love was totally different than anything those four things previously produced. It produced a lasting happiness.
Jesus utters a kind of four-fold curse in this week’s Gospel of Saint Luke’s “woes”: “Woe to you who are rich…who are filled now…who laugh now…who are well-spoken of” (cf. Luke 6:24-26). How marvelous that these correspond perfectly to the four things that obsessed my soul: riches, food, laughter and good reputation. The “woes” the Lord speaks are warnings: when those things are the purpose of your life, you’ll be miserable. He is saying, “You’ll be happy, or blessed, in the measure that these things do not determine the shape of our lives, and the kingdom of God does.”
To some degree, we’re all spiritual teenagers, addicted to one or more of those four “woes.” How splendid that the Lord wants his to bless us — that is, to satisfy us, make us laugh with joy, and in the kingdom of God, offer us what will truly satisfy us. But first let’s admit what is causing our“woes.”
February 2,2025 Presentation of the Lord (Luke 2:22-40)
What is the secret to sharing in God’s power to overcome our difficulties? Mary teaches us this in the prophecy of her pierced heart. This Sunday, the old man Simeon prophecies that when her son faces opposition, Mary’s soul will be pierced by a sword. The seemingly pointless agony of a mother helplessly watching her son be mocked, tortured, killed and then cruelly desecrated in death by a spear — somehow this piercing of her heart releases a power by which “the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed”(Luke 2:35). What to make of this?
Whatever problems we currently face, the deepest threat is finally that evil thoughts are hidden in the human heart: hatred, envy, pride, lust, greed and so on. Behind every tyrant’s injustice, for example, is a heart unpierced by love. Evil hides in our hearts. Mary’s pierced heart, and its suffering love for her son, reveals and scatters these evil thoughts, and replaces them with love, forgiveness, generosity and peace.
This week, I invite us to ponder Mary’s pierced heart. Her heart is quietly at work for us in the Church and world, exposing our evil thoughts and making a path for her son’s divine love. This is how she gently cooperates in our salvation. Closed hearts are our biggest problem; love-pierced hearts are the ultimate power to overcome every difficulty.
January 19. 2025 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time John 2:1-12
A friend invited me to an invitation-only wine-tasting event. There were over two hundred varieties of wine. Having no idea how to approach such a massive selection, I wandered aimlessly among the tables, sipping this and that. At the end of the evening my friend asked if I had tried some of the exceptionally expensive wines. I hadn’t. “The really good stuff disappears first,” he said. “My man, you missed out on some amazing vino.” I was so disappointed. I wasted my chance for amazing once-in-a-lifetime wine. The wine I tasted was, well, blah.
Don’t we often feel a similar disappointment in life? I missed this or that opportunity. If only I had known. Optimism sputters and fades. The glory days are gone. The chances, it seems, for the really great things in life come and go so quickly. Then they are gone forever. The good stuff goes first. Then life is just blah.
Not so with the Lord Jesus. In Jesus’ miracle at the wedding at Cana, the steward of the feast says, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then…an inferior one”(John 2:10). That’s the natural downward progression of life. The good stuff disappears quickly. But he says of the groom (who symbolizes Jesus), “But you have kept the good wine until now.” This is the ever-improving trajectory of the realm of God’s grace. With Jesus, the “good wine” of divine love, hope and peace gets better as our journey of faith progresses. Where are your greatest disappointments? Don’t give in to the lie that the really good stuff is gone. Tell Jesus you’ve run out. Then learn how to taste that amazingly good wine, because he saves the best until now
In my second year of theology studies, I went o confession to a priest visiting the seminary for a three-day retreat. My heart wasn’t in it. I was going through the motions. I confessed my sins and waited for his response. The priest said, “For your penance, I’d like you to go into the chapel and repeat the words ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased’(Luke 3:22) until they mean something to you.”
Easy penance, I thought. But to my surprise, I struggled to say those words. I sensed a strong interior resistance blocking them. How could God be well-pleased with me? He couldn’t be, I thought. A battle within me ensued. Two hours later, the resistance vanished, and I found myself able to speak, and claim as my own, those marvelous lords. I emerged from the chapel with a new, deep, peaceful conviction that I was indeed God’s beloved son.
Those words are a precious gift from heaven to all of us. Jesus’ baptism, which we celebrate this week, offers them to us. Are we willing to receive these words anew? Many things can block this deepening of our baptismal identity: failings, sins, appointments, traumas, problems, and so on. Yet God’s love is always greater. This week I challenge you to prayerfully repeat these words over yourself — or perhaps over someone you’re struggling to love — until those words find a home in your heart.
December 29, 2024 Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
The Holy Family
As a first-time pastor in a parish, I received a phone call one afternoon from a young married couple, “Father, our 2-year-old son drowned in our pool this morning. We are at the hospital. Please help us.” I sped over. The little boy was gone, his body cold, slightly blue, laid out on a bed. His parents were distraught and in shock. For the next few years, I walked with the couple along their difficult and painful road. They openly shared with me how they were often tempted to blame and accuse each other for the loss. And yet, by God’s grace, their love for each grew stronger and deeper as the years went by.
The Holy Family was not without its pain and loss, either. Luke tells us, after losing their twelve-year-old son, Joseph and Mary “after three days found him in the temple area, sitting among the teachers…” (Luke 2:46). We don’t know specifically what those three days were like for them except for what Mary says: “Your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” The three days of his absence foreshadow his death and burial. His finding in the temple is a kind of resurrection for his family. They had to learn, again and again, that their family was becoming a place where death and resurrection was not only accepted but welcomed and celebrated. But surely, they deeply felt the dangerous agony of their loss — just like every couple who has lost a child.
What losses in your experience of family still cause you anxiety? In what ways has God’s presence seemingly vanished in your family? Will you keep searching for Jesus? Remember, he will rise and be found. Your family may be suffering, but when he is found, it will be stronger than ever before.
— Father John Muir
December 22, 2024 4th Sunday of Advent
The Blessed Virgin teaches us the secret to being blessed, happy, and full of joy. When Elizabeth, her cousin, greets her, she calls Mary “blessed” for two reasons, her motherhood of Jesus, and Our Lady’s belief that “there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord”(Luke 1:45). Mary is “blessed” entirely because of her relationship to the Incarnation of God in Jesus, and for no other. This of course makes perfect sense, because as the Lord, as God-in-the-flesh, her son is the source of all blessedness, life, and joy. Mary is blessed because of her contact with Jesus, and by her faith in him.
So, it is with us, too. We become blessed by our “motherly” contact with Christ in our souls through baptism. He lives in us and grows to maturity within us. We bear him to the world. This requires unshakeable faith that his promises to us will be fulfilled, despite all the problems and difficulties that plague us. We become blessed, happy, and joyful in the measure that we are in contact with Jesus and trust in him.
Advent challenges:(1.) This week go to someone who has borne the love of Jesus to you and tell her or him how they have been a blessing to you. (2.) Name someone in your life now to whom God has sent you to bring Jesus’ presence. Pray: “Lord, thank you for the blessing of sending me to bring your presence to this person. Help me bear you faithfully to him/her.”
— Father John Muir
December 15, 2024 3rd Sunday of Advent
On a bright Spring morning, a passerby once saw St. Francis of Assisi hoeing a row of beans and asked him, “What would you be doing right now if you knew this was the last day of your earthly life?” The Saint responded, “I’d keep hoeing this row of beans.” Preparing for this world to end — whether by our death or by Jesus’ glorious coming — invites us to live not in the past or the present, but deeply in the present moment.
This same point is on display in the simple advice given by the wild and eccentric John the Baptist. He speaks of the one who is to come who will baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire”(Luke 3:16). Despite the bizarre awesomeness of this announcement, he tells his listeners to engage in the present moment with simple acts of justice and love as their preparation for Jesus’ coming, sharing their clothes and food, eliminating greedy and underhanded practices, being content with their wages. It’s so undramatic. But how many actually did it? We don’t know. How many of us will commit ourselves to these types of humble and demanding practices in our lives? That’s what we should be doing now in our present moment, not worrying about the future.
Advent challenge: Name one way you are doing the bare minimum towards others in your daily life. Or name something you are doing because you are not content with your financial situation. Pray: “Jesus, if it is your will, help me to stop doing these things this week. Help me prepare for your coming.” Then make the appropriate changes.
— Father John Muir
December 8, 2024 2nd Sunday of Advent
In the year 1995, in the seventeenth year of my life, when Fife Symington was governor of Arizona, Bill Clinton was president of the United States, Chuck Keiffer was pastor of St. Theresa parish in Phoenix, Arizona, and Ron and Mary were my parents, the word of God came to my youth minister Eric and through him I started to see the salvation of God. Soon, Christ came into my life never to leave. I’m thankful beyond words.
Why am I being so specific, you ask? Because in the Gospel this week we hear the specific names of people holding civic and religious authority in first century Palestine when “the word of God came to John the Baptist:”Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias, Annas, Caiaphas, and Zechariah. All this is meant to help us see that God breaks into our history, into real human events. Jesus is no mere myth. He is the Word-which-breaks-in, in concrete moments, you might say. And now we anticipate his coming once again in our specific situations.
Advent challenge: Name as many civic and religious leaders who are in authority currently in your life. Now, name who the potential John the Baptists may be. A spouse? A friend? A podcaster? A work colleague who brings God’s word to you? Spend a moment considering that this comprises the concrete, historical setting into which Christ wishes to come. Then, with these specifics in mind, pray: “Come, Lord Jesus. Come.”
— Father John Muir
December 1, 2024 1st Sunday of Advent
When I was a young priest, about one year after ordination, I was called to the hospital to anoint a dying mother of three young children. She had a painful, terminal cancer. After celebrating Last Rites with her, I said, “Don’t be afraid.” She looked me square in the eye from her hospital bed and said, “Oh Father, I am in a lot of pain, but I am not afraid. Something wonderful is about to happen.” A few days later she died.
Christians face the ending of our personal various “worlds” in a totally unique way. This first Sunday of Advent, Jesus says that when people see their world falling apart, they find themselves “fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world” (Luke 21:26). In our fear, our natural response is to check out, to hide our heads in drunkenness, distraction, and false securities. But Jesus commands us to “look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” He then compares what’s coming to a lovely summer in full bloom. That’s what the cross and resurrection empower us to do, as strange as it may seem.
Advent challenge: What world in your life is collapsing? A relationship, a dream, a work opportunity? Maybe you’re troubled by a crumbling world in the political or economic sphere. Or maybe someone you love is seriously ill or dying. Name that world or worlds. Then pray: “Lord, help me to not faint with fear. Help me to raise my head and see your redemption coming.”
— Father John Muir
November 24, 2024 Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
When I was a young boy in Burlington, Vermont, my dad had a good friend named Phil who owned a sporting goods store. I loved sports, so meandering the treasure-filled aisles was an unmitigated joy. One afternoon, we were shopping for a baseball glove. Dad said to me, “Hey Johnny, see that man who just walked into the store? That’s Phil.” I remember being fascinated and a little terrified. I recall thinking, “That man right there is in charge of everything in this store!” He reigned over every ball, Sneaker, jersey, and sweatsuit. Phil became a family friend. And he was a good owner. The store flourished, and I found myself even more at peace every time I went there. I felt a new hope and even responsibility for the store to flourish.
To say that Christ is the King of the Universe means that Jesus has absolute authority over everything in it. It should fill us with awe and fascination. He is in charge. The world and everything in it are finally his. Knowing that he knows and loves us should make us also feel a deep peace at being a part of his universe. This leads us to want his kingdom to flourish, to play some responsible role in it.
We advance his kingdom by promoting the truth. “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice,” Christ the King proclaims. In Phil’s store, it was about the truth of athletics. In our world, it’s all about the truth of all creation, especially the dignity of the human person, made by and for our loving God. Let’s rejoice that we know the true king and commit to the flourishing of his kingdom.
