Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, who is greater than our hearts, exposes us to our true selves, not for judgment and condemnation, but for understanding and compassion.
The Holy Spirit helps us not to run away from our weaknesses but to look at them as opportunities of grace.
The Holy Spirit helps us to rejoice for the good that is in us and for the good that we accomplish, seeing in them our participation in God, who is "the Only good" and from whom all good things come.

Lost without a shepherd

I imagine Jesus looking at the world right now with the same sentiments he had two thousand years ago! We are like sheep without a shepherd.
Many of those who are supposed to take care of the sheep are like mercenaries who take advantage of the sheep and use them for their own gain.
The sheep are scattered, each one fighting for its own survival and look at the others as rivals. Without a point of communion, the law of the jungle prevails, the survival of the fittest!
What is the way out? Awareness, and for awareness to arise, we must have the courage to let things 'hang in there' for a while, that is, not have the hurry to resolve everything; rather, take time off to sort of 'regroup' and get in touch with the deepest truths in our hearts. The only ones that will matter to us at the end of our life.
To take time off is necessary for the salvation of our soul, otherwise, we become gobbled by the chaos within and outside of us.

True leader

Seduced by a dance

Today's Gospel narrating the circumstances of John the Baptist's death reminds us of a truth all of us share. Without a strong center, it is easy to be seduced: by power, by beauty, by money, by short-term success, by practicality and convenience.
Herodias' daughter's dance played to the basest instincts of Herod - human respect, the desire to show-off one's power.
Without a firm and more stable center, it is easy to vacillate and to be seduced even by a dance.
Every day we are faced with decisions to make. Whatever our choice may be, they show what we hold dear in our life.
But there are bigger moments when our decision is a matter of life or death. What or who is the center that will eventually decide the life and death of our soul?

To preach and to heal

Jesus sends His disciples two by two, to preach and to heal. Jesus sends them out with the barest of the essentials. But a part of the essential is being sent in the company of someone, that is, the community dimension. Community is support in our mission. Community is also a message that we bring. The Good News is for all, and it unites us all in God's family.