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An Unseen Kingdom?

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Every time we pray the Our Father, we make the petition, “Thy Kingdom come.” In just a few weeks, we will celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. We know that Jesus is King, but when will His Kingdom finally be established?

In today’s Gospel, this is the question the Pharisees asked. The Jews were living in expectation that, after generations under the yoke of powers that opposed them and their beliefs, the Messiah would come and free them – politically. They awaited the freedom to worship without fear, and to live in the joyous prosperity of the Kingdom promised them. And if Jesus was some kind of wise rabbi stirring trouble, he surely should have some kind of timeline.

Jesus says something that must have surprised most of those present: “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is….’. Behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” Wait… It can’t be seen or announced? It’s already here? What?
Everyone on earth knows that conquerors are obvious, and that their conquering is observable, and that the establishment of a Kingdom is announced with great fanfare. What kind of Kingdom is Jesus talking about if it is not visible or proclaimed? What kind of Kingdom is already present but invisible?

The Kingdom, as we know, is Jesus Himself, present among His people. One of the ways He made this clear was to be crowned (with thorns), clothed in royal garments and handed a reed for a scepter, and finally to take His place on the throne (of the Cross). Rather than taking everything to Himself with violence and power, Jesus submitted Himself completely to the false powers of this world, submitted Himself to their violence, pouring Himself out utterly for love of each of us. Unlike worldly kings, this King conquers one heart at a time, not by subduing it with violence, but by submitting Himself to it in love.

And He remains present with us in our prayer and our love and, in a sacramental way, in the Eucharist. In Eucharistic Communion, the King of the Universe draws all of us together, and all of us to Himself, in the love of His own heart. The King of Love offers Himself completely to us in love, offers all that has been given to Him by the Father to us, in exchange for our offering ourselves to Him in love.

So the Kingdom is already among us wherever Christ is present, whenever we acknowledge Christ as King and ask Him to reign in our hearts, our homes, and our lives. It cannot be seen because it has no borders. It cannot be announced because it will not be completely established until the end of time. It began with the presence of Christ on this earth in Bethlehem, and it continues with the presence of Christ on this earth in our hearts and our tabernacles.

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Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including newly ordained Father Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.

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Jesus Is Not A Magic Genie

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Is Jesus a benevolent giver who wants to give you good things? Does He intend to pave your way and keep things running smoothly? Does He want everyone to be happy and get along?

Well, yes and no.

Jesus is not like a genie in a bottle, giving us the gifts we wish for. Jesus IS the Gift and the One Who wants to give us EVERYTHING. He sees all and knows all and has a plan for our lives that is far more awesome than our small imaginations can envision. He wants us to love and serve one another and to live in communion so that others are drawn by our loving faith.

But this all requires something on our part. In fact, receiving everything requires that we surrender EVERYTHING. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us we have to hate our own family and our own life, that we have to carry our cross and give up all our possessions in order to follow Him as His disciples.

We naturally recoil from this kind of demand: How can we surrender everything, hate our own lives, carry our cross, and still be happy?

It’s really just a matter of priorities. What do we value more than our relationship with Christ? We might say “nothing,” but we all hold onto things that are not Christ. We all hold back, out of selfishness or woundedness or fear. For example, do we faithfully keep our Sunday obligation? Or are vacations and ballgames allowed to displace our Sunday Mass?

Do we share and witness our faith to our family and friends? Or do we keep our faith on the “down low” in front of other people because we fear being ridiculed?

Do we give generously to the Church and to others in the name of Christ? Or do we hold back on our giving because we want something for ourselves?

We are not called to actually hate anyone or ourselves, or to give away all our worldly possessions. What we ARE called to do is put Christ first, and be willing to let go of any relationships, habits, activities, and selfishness that we are holding onto. And sometimes, we don’t know what we are holding onto until God asks us to let go of it.

God wants to give us everything, but if our hands are full – if we are not willing to let go of what is not Christ – we cannot open our hands (and hearts) to receive the gifts He longs to pour into us.

Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:30) What parts of our lives do not feel easy? What cross in our lives feels too heavy to bear? And how can we yoke ourselves to Christ so that we bear these things with Him, and learn that through them how He intends to give us every good thing?

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Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including newly ordained Father Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.

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God’s Will For Me Is Right Here

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“Lord, what am I supposed to be doing?”

Have you ever wondered or asked the Lord why you are alive, or what He wants you to do? Have you ever thought that this is almost impossible to know without some “writing on the wall”? Well, it’s usually clearer than that.

Today’s Gospel reminds us of the call to be faithful stewards of God’s gifts. We all, deep down, want to do this. We mean it when we make our resolutions, when we dedicate ourselves to a good cause, when we make a promise. But what gets in the way of our ability to fulfill our resolutions, maintain our energy for a good cause, or keep a promise?

These are the questions we should ask ourselves as we hear about the Master returning to demand an accounting. Because each of us is entrusted with a task, each of us has a vocation, each has been entrusted with a mission. What is keeping us our fulfilling our God-given mission?

In many cases, it is simply our inability to recognize our God-given mission.

Once, on a long camping trip with my husband and seven small children, I was trying to prepare myself for morning Mass by recollecting myself somewhat. But the kids were rambunctious and someone spilled something and another started crying and my heart achingly (and somewhat foolishly) asked: Lord, how can I focus on You with all this? And He spoke to my heart clearly: “I am right here, IN all this.” My God-given mission in that moment was to attend to this beautiful rabble.

God’s will for us is usually revealed to us in the duties and interruptions of the present moment. We are entrusted with taking care of the people and things that are our natural duty to take care of (usually parents, spouses, children, our home, job, etc.). We are called to attend to the people and situations that present themselves before us as a matter of course. The things that “cross our path” today are God’s task for us. God’s will is usually right here, not elsewhere.

On a wider scale, our calling is usually revealed in the gifts and charisms we possess from God. These charisms, in turn, are often revealed to us in the subjects we enjoy or excel in, or in the talents others see in us. My husband appreciated the logic of electricity and switches; he became an electrician. My teachers consistently praised my writing; now I write. My son found a deep joy in sharing the faith; now he is a priest.

So what are we supposed to be doing? Probably what we are doing right now. And if we do it as well as we can, as wholeheartedly as we can, leaning into the Lord and not merely our own resources, we are doing our part to advance the Kingdom in some way and contribute to the fruitfulness of the Body of Christ. And when the Master returns, He will not be disappointed.

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Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including newly ordained Father Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.

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Give Us This Day Our Daily Meditation

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We all know that prayer is the way we converse with God, but we often feel a bit lost about how to pray. Reciting prayers is one thing; truly praying is another. Maybe you’ve seen someone at prayer and been struck by how they seem to be able to converse with One they know loves them! The disciples must have been struck in a similar way when they saw Jesus pray, so they asked Him to teach them how to pray like that. And Jesus gave them – and us – the words we pray together so often in the “Our Father.”

This is the only “prayer” Jesus gave us. Yet we too often rattle off the words as if we were in a hurry to get to something else! Long ago, I realized that the words Jesus gave us must be meditated on so that they sink into the fibers of my being and become part of my DNA, as it were. So I decided on a method I’d like to share with you:

Each day of the week, I focus on one phrase of the prayer. It becomes the “background music” to all my other prayers and meditations of the day, and the prayer phrase I repeat throughout the day.

SUNDAY: “Our Father, who art in heaven.” Jesus always prayed and acted in the fullness of His divine Sonship, acknowledging his Father as ALL. We can spend this day thinking about our own adoption as children of God and heirs with Christ, gathered together as one Body in Christ to worship the Father Who is Love.

MONDAY: “Hallowed be Thy Name.” The Name of the Lord is thrice-holy, and to be reverenced and glorified by us. We can think also of the many “names” of God: Creator, Sanctifier, Savior, Father, Son, Spirit, Love, Mercy, etc. We can also make some act of reparation for those who do not reverence the Names of God.

TUESDAY: “Thy Kingdom come.” God willed that His Kingdom be established on earth, so that all creation might fulfill its purpose. His kingdom is established one heart at a time, as each one surrenders fully to the reign of love and peace. But there is a battle that has been waged from the beginning against this Kingdom on earth, and the Enemy is never asleep. What can we do to allow Christ to reign fully in us?

WEDNESDAY: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” How is God’s will done in Heaven? Promptly, perfectly, lovingly, joyfully, trustingly, peacefully. Also, effortlessly, but we will have to wait until we are also in Heaven to act effortlessly. While we are here on earth, we can focus on asking often throughout the day: What do You want in this situation, Lord? How can I be Your instrument of love in the world? I want to do YOUR work, YOUR way; YOUR will for YOUR glory.

THURSDAY: “Give us this day our daily bread.” I love the fact that when you line up the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer with the days of the week, the petition for our “supersubstantial bread” comes on the day when we traditionally honor the Eucharist because of Its institution at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. We ask the Lord to give us this day our daily bread; give us today what we need for today; give us this moment what we need for this moment. We entrust tomorrow to the Lord’s Providence.

FRIDAY: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Again, is it a God-incidence that the petitions line up so that on Friday, traditionally a day of penance, we beg forgiveness for our sins? The words for today remind us that we are forgiven AS WE FORGIVE, and is a call to let go of any resentments or grudges that obstruct for us the wide horizon of God’s love.

SATURDAY: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Finally, we ask the Lord to guide us on our way so that we might walk along paths that will lead to Him and not to confusions, questions, danger, and sin. It is a way of asking that God’s mercy and love accompany and lead us toward Himself.

These are only springboards to your own meditations, and I pray that all of us receive the grace to continually dive more deeply into the words Jesus gave us as a guide to prayer!

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Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including newly ordained Father Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.

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Sudden Freedom

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On this Feast of St. Matthew, we acknowledge all the Apostles – those specially chosen by Christ to lead the Church he came to establish for the salvation of all! In a particular way, of course, we look at St. Matthew himself, and the Gospel he wrote records his own calling.

We only know the details provided, which are few, so we are prompted to ask:

Could Matthew have been following him at a distance for some time or was this the first time Jesus ever saw Matthew the tax collector? If so, what did Jesus see in Matthew that prompted him to say, simply, “Follow me.”? What was moved in Matthew that prompted him to simply get up and follow?

We know that tax collectors did not have the esteem of the people, as the demands on them forced them to put demands on others! Perhaps there had been already a slow, gnawing discomfort in Matthew already, in which the counting of coins had lost its luster. Or perhaps that direct encounter with the Lord of Life shone so suddenly and startlingly and brightly in his heart that the coinage that made up his life was suddenly seen as nothing. In either case, it seems he left it all behind in that moment and then held a banquet to celebrate his new freedom in Christ.

This banquet – in which Christ was eating with “tax collectors and sinners” – outraged the Pharisees, who would have seen such persons as a contamination of their purity. Jesus, always rising above the fray, points out that he has come to heal the sick, to call sinners, not the righteous. The implication is that we must first recognize and acknowledge our own need for healing before we can avail ourselves of the medicine of mercy and grace.

How do you identify with this Gospel? With Matthew, who left everything immediately when he was called? With the Pharisees, who cannot yet see how love bends down to those in need? With other sinners at the banquet who are somewhere in between, benefitting from mercy but not sure they are ready to follow this controversial rabbi?

Wherever we are, let us allow the Lord’s words to resonate through our lives and shed their light on every situation: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

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Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including newly ordained Father Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.

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Staying out of the Ditches

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What’s with the Pharisees? Haven’t they learned by now that they couldn’t win an argument with this wandering rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth? Still, they continue to challenge him and to demand that he explain himself.

In this short Gospel, we see the preoccupation of the Pharisees with the observation of the many rules (over 600!) that had been formulated to ensure that the Ten Commandments given to Moses could be followed meticulously. Some of these Pharisees pose a question, trying (of course) to catch him in a breach of the rules: “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

What the disciples were doing was not morally wrong, but it was against one of the elaborate rules about how to “keep holy the Sabbath.” There were forty categories of activities that were defined as work, which was forbidden on the Sabbath. These many rules placed a heavy burden on a day that God intended to be full of joyful worship, rest, delight, and recreation.

Jesus “calls them out” for seemingly forgetting their own history: “Have you not read what David did?” Of course they knew this story well; but rather than engage in a complicated argument about the absurdity of the rule in this instance or even of the many rules in general, Jesus uses the story to point out that the rules are not even the supreme thing – since human rules/laws are the work of human reason for the common good, when the observance of a law is harmful to the community, that law can be dispensed.

This truth was lost in the many rules surrounding the Mosaic Law. Jesus is reminding them of the correct understanding of “Sabbath rest” and indirectly pointing to their own lack of virtue – Pharisees saw themselves as the most pious of Jews, following each rule meticulously and then parading their “virtue” before others, which is no virtue at all.
Having addressed their question, Jesus then changes the playing field by stating a startling truth: “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” As it was God Himself who gave this precept to the Chosen People, Jesus is revealing his identity as God Himself. While this certainly alarmed and angered the Pharisees, they seemed to have no argument to counter that claim.

Wherever there are spiritual rules, there will be a tendency toward a kind of “Pharisaism” that thinks meticulous observance of the rules equals true holiness. The rules are to be obeyed, but our “obedience” can easily become a kind of “Checklist of Goodness” on the one hand, or a “Badge of Pride” on the other. In reality, the rules are more like guardrails to keep us on the right road and out of the ditches.

God intends for us to travel this road in freedom, filled with the joy that comes from trusting that He Himself will provide all we need to reach our final destination: the very Heart of God.

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Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including newly ordained Father Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.

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We Are Made For Heaven

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Today’s official liturgical celebration is “The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” This is significant if we understand that there are three categories of celebrations throughout the year: Solemnities, Feasts, and Memorials.

“Solemnities” are the highest degree of Catholic celebration and so we are obliged to participate in Mass on these days – Sundays, Easter, Christmas, Pentecost, and other Holy Days of Obligation are solemn celebrations of the most important mysteries of our faith.

These are higher than “Feast Days,” which are not days of obligation, but are set apart as days to honor special saints and events of salvation history, such as the Apostles, the Archangels, the Visitation, the Presentation, and the Baptism of the Lord.

The final level of importance on the liturgical calendar, and the one we encounter most often, are “Memorials,” which usually honor the saints, though there are Marian Memorials as well, such as Our Lady of Fatima (May 13) and the Queenship of Mary (August 22).

With that little liturgical lesson done, it is worth asking: Why do we rank the Assumption – a dogma that was not “official” until 1950 – as a solemnity, along with Christmas and Easter?

Pius XII, in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, stated: “By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

Mary’s Assumption into heaven, body and soul, means that the resurrection is not limited to Jesus alone; where the Head has gone, we are called to follow, body and soul. Knowing with the certainty of the Church’s infallible teaching that Mary’s whole being, body and soul, was taken into heaven, we have the certainty of knowing that there is a place for our glorified bodies as well.

So, onthis Solemnity, we are called to participate togetherinthe Eucharist and look to Mary ina particular way: as one like us (a creature, thougha sinless one) who exists to bring Jesus to us andto bring us to Jesus, andwho is alreadyfullyin heaven.

There are two human bodies in heaven and they are our BROTHER and our MOTHER, whose two Hearts beat as one with love for us! In our participation in the Eucharist we are joined already to those in heaven and to the Body of Christ on earth, and we are reminded that our destiny is beyond what we see and touch right here and now, that we are called to an eternity of love and belonging and peace beyond all understanding.

And that is a solemn celebration indeed.

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Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including newly ordained Father Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.

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Bad Fish

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What could be worse than bad fish? Not much and Jesus tells us in the parable in today’s Gospel that bad fish are thrown away, and “thus it will be at the end of the age.” The “bad fish” will be thrown into the fiery furnace.

The moral of the story: Don’t be a bad fish.

But there is more here: Jesus begins this parable by saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a wide net, that collects “fish of every kind,” gathering in whatever it can reach (which is everything) and whomever it can encompass (which is everyone). The Kingdom includes ALL GOOD THINGS and EVERYONE who doesn’t refuse it, and even those who refuse it are gathered in to receive the place to which their choices have led them.

We become “good fish” or “bad fish” according to what we choose and why we choose it. Not by the judgment of an arbitrary opinion, not by ROI or outcomes, not by our achievements or recognitions, not by what others think of us, not even by what we think of ourselves, but by what we choose and why we choose it, which God sees clearly.

In the Old Testament reading from Exodus at Mass today, we read several times that Moses did as the Lord commanded him, even to the details of the Dwelling built for the Ark. And because of this, “the glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling.” We could say Moses was a “good fish,” not because he knew everything or did everything perfectly, but because he chose to follow the Lord, even when it seemed difficult or unreasonable or even impossible.

And that is the beauty of the Kingdom: If we resolve to choose always to do as the Lord commands us, the Lord will fill us and dwell with us, just as He filled the Dwelling built by Moses. And those in whom the Lord dwells are not bad fish.

Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including Deacon Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.

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Sheep Amidst Wolves

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Today’s Gospel may make us think twice about being disciples of Jesus! He has called the Twelve and begun to give them instructions about their mission in the world, and he is very straightforward about what it will look like. It is not all sunshine and roses.

On the contrary, he sending them “like sheep in the midst of wolves” where they will be handed over to the courts and scourged because they will be “hated by all.” Hm. We might anticipate that they would run from a task with this kind of job description. Why don’t they?

They remain with Jesus for the same reason WE remain with Jesus: because Jesus really is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the image of the invisible God, the One who loves us to the end, giving himself over to death, even death on a cross, so that we can be with him for all eternity in the House of the Father!

Jesus is not trying to scare them away with this reality check. Rather, he is helping to free them of their mistaken notion that they will reign on thrones in this world, and giving them instructions for how they should respond to the persecution that will come: they must be “shrewd as serpents,” not oblivious to what is happening against them, but also “simple as doves” in their singlemindedness about their mission; they must not worry about how they are to speak, but focus on remaining open to the Holy Spirit, Who will speak through them.

Why must they suffer these things? “As a witness before them.” Persecution – even the little persecutions we undergo in everyday life – are always an opportunity to witness to the truth, in love. When we respond with love, when we remain steadfast in the truth, when we do not let the opinions of others keep us from doing what is right, we are witnessing to the truth that Jesus Christ really is Lord of our hearts. When this is difficult (and let’s face it: even something as simple as stating the truth about the sanctity of human life or making the Sign of the Cross in a restaurant can be difficult, and can be looked down upon even by fellow Catholics!), we can either be conquered by our need for human approval, or we can conquer the subtleties of the opposition by doing the right thing. Will we be conquered or will we conquer?

Jesus gives his disciples the way to conquer: be aware, but do not worry; trust in the Spirit to guide our words and actions; above all, persevere. He does not say those who make great speeches will be saved, or those whose lives are marked with dramatic witness, or those who glow in the dark because of their holiness! He says, simply: “Whoever endures to the end will be saved.”

We must steadfastly persevere in doing what is right and growing in relationship with Jesus, so that we can do what we are called to do. So let us all pray for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially fortitude, and receive the fruit of faithfulness, no matter what kind of opposition we face today.

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Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including Deacon Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.

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Following Wherever

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Shorter Gospel readings may seem easy – a point or two, quickly understood. But they always intrigue me and prompt a question: Why did the Church choose just these five verses? What should I learn here?

Two men make different comments to Jesus, and we are always invited to “put ourselves in their shoes” and examine our own attitudes when we read about how others encounter Jesus. The first is a scribe, and it is helpful to understand that in the Jewish community at this time, a scribe was one who had studied the Scriptures so long and intensely that he had an intimate knowledge of God’s revelation. To be a scribe was like having a Ph. D. in revelation, with the right to gather disciples and teach them and to sit in the “Jewish tribunal” (the Sanhedrin). A scribe was part of the religious “elite,” to whom others would submit.

And yet this scribe, learned and well-established, must have listened to Jesus speak and teach, and decided to submit himself entirely to Jesus, saying to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Though Jesus has not studied the Torah in the kind of school that the scribe has and he has no comparable credentials, the scribe calls him “teacher.” Though Jesus has nothing and has not laid out a plan for traveling, teaching, or establishing a way of worship, the scribe says he will follow him “wherever” he goes. He has no expectations of glory. He cannot know where this unpredictable teacher and healer will go or what he will do, and yet he is willing to follow him, essentially forsaking his social class and his intellectual efforts.

Why? The scribe must have recognized, as others had, that Jesus “taught as one having authority and not like their scribes” (Mt 7:28-29). He must have seen that Jesus “interprets” the Scriptures in a new way – by his life and actions. He must have seen beyond the written Scriptures he understood so well to recognize Jesus as the living Word. He must have seen that it is better to follow this living and mysterious Truth than to remain “stuck” in his deeply learned process of studying to uncover some truth. Only if he saw Jesus as the embodiment of Truth would it make sense for him to step away from his current status and lifestyle and submit himself wholly to remaining with Jesus, wherever he goes, wherever he leads.

How about us? Are we “stuck” in ways of understanding that we are called to forsake in order to embrace the unknown Way of the Lord?  Do we trust enough to abandon ourselves wholly to the living and true Word, “wherever” he leads?

Studying the Gospel is one way to prepare our hearts and minds for this trusting surrender, and I highly recommend a book of meditations on St. Matthew’s Gospel called Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word by Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, which opened up this Gospel for me!

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Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including Deacon Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.

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What Makes for Greatness? Who is the Greatest?

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These are questions people ask all the time because there is in each of us the desire to matter. We want to know that what we do and who we are is important and meaningful. Our deepest sorrows come from a sense of meaninglessness. We feel alone and despondent when we feel that we do not matter to anyone.

The truth is that we are made for communion, we are made for love, we are made for greatness. But because we forget that we come from God, we are returning to God, and God is rescuing us every step of the way, we often seek purpose and meaningfulness in the wrong places. Rather than seeking our true identity and purpose in God’s Kingdom, we seek to make ourselves great in the eyes of this world, among our acquaintances, on social media; sometimes, we make ourselves seem greater by making sure others seem smaller. And then we find ourselves feeling unfulfilled and un-great.

So who is truly great? In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us who will be called the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven: “whoever obeys and teaches (the) commandments.” Wait. What?

In a world that sorely undervalues obedience because it overvalues independence and personal expression, these words of Jesus are easily passed over. Obedience seems to be in opposition to the freedom and individualism we value so highly. Obedience seems to be a virtue only in children. We want children to do what they are told. We can decide for ourselves.

We need to differentiate between blind, uninformed obedience (in which a person is expected to respond in robotic fashion to every order without thinking) and mature, intentional obedience (in which we consent with our free will to follow the authority of another). The first is the obedience that puppies learn in “obedience school.” The second is the full flowering of virtue in the soul that has learned TRUST.

Like a child who trusts completely in her parents, the person who has learned to submit all in loving trust to the Father, accepting His commands as the guardrails His loving will has placed in our lives, obeys the commandments and encourages others to live within their horizons. This is not a superficial conforming of our outward actions to “fit the mold.” On the contrary, this kind of obedience goes right to the heart, to the subtle movements of our desires and motivations, as Jesus will go on to tell his disciples in the next verses of Matthew’s Gospel.

This can be a point of examination for our conscience: Do I trust the Father enough to accept His commandments fully and obey them completely? Where am I “holding back” on submitting to Him wholly? When I pause to pray, is there any part of me that I am not yet holding up to His light?

Our greatness comes from glorifying God with our lives, by living according to the Truth: that we are God’s children, and we love Him in our obedience to His Will.

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Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including Deacon Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.

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Whatever We Ask?

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Jesus says something amazing in today’s Gospel, something we may think is unbelievable: “Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” Really? Our experience of prayer and petition seems to tell us that the Father does not actually give us whatever we ask for, even if our request ends with the words “in Jesus’ Name” or “through Christ our Lord.” So. Was Jesus just using some dramatic hyperbole or devotional language?

No. Jesus says what he means. Jesus IS the Truth, so every word he speaks is true. And these words, spoken at the Last Supper before he gave himself as a sacrificial offering, were a kind of “last will and testament” to his disciples. They were sitting near him, eating with him, aware of the tone of his voice and the sincerity of all he said. These words are surely true, and he surely meant them. How can we understand them?

Jesus was guiding them into the understanding that things were about to change, but for the better: “The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures… Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” Gradually, they would come to see Jesus as the Bridge, re-establishing communion between God and His people; because Jesus is also human and we are part of his Mystical Body, all our prayer is joined to his own prayer before the Father, and shares in the efficacy of his prayer.

But does that mean that we will actually receive “whatever we ask for”? Yes, on one condition: that what we ask for is TRULY for our good and God’s glory.

We’ve all heard the expression: “Be careful what you ask for.” We always ask for what we THINK will make us happy (no one asks for something that will make them miserable!), but we have to admit that we don’t always know the full picture, we certainly can’t see the future, and so we don’t always know that what we are requesting will really bring us happiness. But God does.

The presupposition is that we are walking in God’s commandments, seeking his perfect will, and therefore that our prayer is in conformity with His will.

God hears every single prayer. But we don’t always hear His answer clearly. I like to say that God has three ways to answer our prayers:

  • Yes.
  • Not yet.
  • Actually, I have a better idea.

Let’s pray for the grace to appreciate the great gift we have been given in Christ, to seek God’s will for our own good and His glory, and to accept that His Plan for our lives is designed to bring us every good, deep peace, and eternal joy. Then we can pray in complete trust, knowing that the Father will, indeed, give us whatever we ask for in Jesus’ name.

Contact the author

Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including Deacon Rob and seminarian Luke ;-), and two grandchildren. She is a Secular Discalced Carmelite and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 25 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE. Currently, she serves the Church as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio, by publishing and speaking, and by collaborating with the diocesan Office of Catechesis, various parishes, and other ministries to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is https://www.kathryntherese.com/.