Author: Gerry Palermo

Greetings on this the Memorial of Saint John Vianney, Priest
Readings: Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22; Psalm 102:16-18, 19-21, 29, 22-23; Matthew 14:22-36

Summary

You shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Yesterday the gospel portion was paired with the story of The Two Yokes. Today the same gospel portion was paired with the Promise of Restoration. The reflections bear the same distinction.

• Yesterday: Why do you doubt? The rush to conclusion by the Prophet Hananiah (breaking the wooden yoke off of Jeremiah) brought more difficulty much like our doubts.
• Today: The Ask(s). The divine action of Restoration in a most spectacular way – immediate and promised. Immediate and in a surprising way where the Medo-Persian Empire displacing the Babylonians. And a promise of the eventual restoration of the Davidic kingdom – which the Church interprets as the coming of the Christ.

Reflection

The Ask(s)

• They cried out in fear – At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
• Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” – He said, “Come.”
• (Sinking) He cried out, “Lord, save me!” – Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him.

My People, My God

• Restoration to courage in faith.
• Restoration to constructive life – a meaningful life.
• Restoration to safety in the Lord’s hands.

We do not need promises manufactured to calm us. We need Jesus.

Ask for courage of faith, a meaningful life and the safe touch of the Lord’s hand holding your hand.

An old song carries the invitation well:

Personal Reflection

Do you remember holding your dad’s or mom’s hand when you were little? May the Lord bless you with the memory of holding hands.

Heeding the plea of the lowly, not scorning their prayer.

Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.” (Ps 102:18, 19-21)

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080426.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jeremiah 28:1-17; Psalm 119:29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102; Matthew 14:22-36

Summary

The boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.

Jesus sends us on mission near and far and there are always storms – resistance, difficulty, scarcity.
But the first storm is always what contradictions we are stuck in.

Ghosts – Fear can make the presence of Christ appear to us as another threat.
Test – Peter’s faith is real enough to leave the boat, but still dependent upon extraordinary confirmation. Nascent faith.
Strong Winds – This is the natural world. There are always storms in life.
Sinking – It is fair to relate this to the fear of death and death itself.

So if I were thinking to answer Why did you doubt? It would be:

1. We hold onto the ghosts – the myths – the unimportant – the tangental – rather than the weightier things.
2. Test – We test the Spirit of God – sometimes correctly (clarification, uncertainty) but usually from basic passive resistance and/or the seeking of novelty or vain attention.
3. Strong winds – let’s face it problems multiply like rabbits. Life is sometimes a game of Whack-a-Mole. And that is the point. The many waves make excellent distractions from holiness.
4. Death or near death – it gets our attention. As well it should. But it can become an obsession, irrational exaggeration/imminence and object of desire. Death is part of our journey, but it is not our final destination.

Reflection

Their doubt does not cancel the mission. Jesus brings them through the storm and into a place of healing.

After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret.
When the men of that place recognized him,
they sent word to all the surrounding country.
People brought to him all those who were sick
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak,
and as many as touched it were healed.

Personal Reflection

I hope this doesn’t sound too weird. I love being home during storms. My bedroom has a Lanai attached. So the storm rages yet I am safely tucked in bed or reading a book in a chair and I can watch the storm not in anticipation of harm but in wonder of its power. That’s how I feel when I am with Jesus. The storms of life remain powerful and can even wound us, but they are subordinate of the safety of the Lord’s presence.

At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.”
Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.

Doubt is not always refusal to believe. Sometimes it is faith struggling to interpret Christ correctly while the wind is louder than his voice.

This is where I want the story to end/start. He beckons, I come to him, we walk together rain or shine.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080326.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Eighteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time
Readings: Isaiah 55:1-3; Psalm 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18; Romans 8:35, 37-39; Matthew 14:13-21

Summary

God works through relationship rather than coercion and He works through divine-human cooperation as His preferred operating mode.

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.

Jesus did not choose confrontation but a certain isolation that invites us out of our towns to him: alone, undistracted, specific in purpose.

The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.

[He] saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.

Then he made divine-human cooperation central to his response.

Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.”

1. It is the Lord who performs the miracles of healing and the multiplication of the loaves.
2. He invites us to present our meager resources as gifts.
3. He brings them into fullness by the power of his love (in this case described as pity – sympathy and sorrow for those suffering).
4. The miracle is super-abundant food enough for all to be satisfied and, symbolically, for the whole of Israel (12 baskets for the twelve tribes).

Isaiah invites the thirsty to come freely to the water; Jesus later reveals himself as the giver of water welling up to eternal life.

All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, buy grain and eat. But whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (Isa 55:1; Jn 4:14).

Reflection on Divine-human cooperation

For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building (1 Cor 3:9).

The second reading (Letter to the Romans) makes clear that our little contribution is enough in the hands of a loving God. God’s plans will not be thwarted. Said another way, it grounds our cooperation in confidence that divine love sustains us despite our weakness, trials, and tribulations.

What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.

So the question isn’t, “Does God love us?” or “Does God have enough?”
The question is “What am I willing to offer?”

Personal Reflection

The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs (Ps 145:16).

Lord, help me participate in feeding, healing, and sharing the divine life.

All I got is five loaves and two fish. Not much of anything at all.
You have the words of everlasting life! Take what I have and make it enough.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080226.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Readings: Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24; Psalm 69:15-16, 30-31, 33-34; Matthew 14:1-12

Summary

Regarding the Prophet Jeremiah

• This man deserves death; he has prophesied against this city.
• Then the princes and all the people said:… This man does not deserve death; it is in the name of the LORD, our God, that he speaks to us.

Two opposing judgments of Jeremiah emerge. After the public dispute, Ahikam, son of Shaphan, intervenes to protect him.

But the hand of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, protected Jeremiah, so they did not hand him over to the people to be put to death.

Now I could go on to talk about Uriah in the same chapter – a prophet like Jeremiah whose fate was like John the Baptist. But it complicates and lengthens the reflection.

Instead, I am only contrasting Jeremiah to John – and us to the others of the stories.

Regarding John the Baptist

Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison… although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. On account of Herodias… and… the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much… he swore to give her whatever she might ask for (John’s head on a platter). His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.

No one protested of the guests. Nobody else was invited to speak.

The crisis is not simply that bad leaders oppose good people or good leaders opposing bad people. Rather, the entire covenant community is fractured. None of those groups is portrayed as uniformly righteous or uniformly wicked. The division runs through every institution. Even “the people” are divided against themselves. And the court of Herod is an echo chamber of obligation.

Reflection

We are operating in a bubble.
So much so that even Scripture and reflection can be bent into support for whatever opinion we already hold today—even knowing that tomorrow’s opinion may be different.
A bubble is not merely a place where we cannot hear others; it is a place where our own choices begin to sound inevitable.

We are as trapped as King Herod. Trapped by power. Trapped by association. Trapped by desire. Trapped by feigned ignorance.

To which we cry: Lord, in your great love, answer me (Ps 69:14c)!

Personal Reflection

The greatest miracle God seeks today is not to change the world around us, but to soften the heart within us. Once we recognize our need for Him, we are finally able to hear what He has been saying all along. I am not merely diagnosing Herod today. I am asking to be rescued from becoming him.

Rescue me out of the mire; may I not sink!
may I be rescued from my foes,
and from the watery depths.
Let not the flood-waters overwhelm me,
nor the abyss swallow me up,
nor the pit close its mouth over me.

But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your saving help, O God, protect me.
I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving.

“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.”

(Psalm 69:15-16, 30-31, 33-34)

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080126

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
Readings: Jeremiah 26:1-9; Psalm 69:5, 8-10, 14; Matthew 13:54-58

Summary

Today both Jeremiah and Jesus speak the truth among people who believe they already know enough not to listen. We resist the prophet because his message is unwelcome, and we resist the Messiah because he is too familiar.

In our first reading today, all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD who spoke with neither eloquent speech nor flattering words. He came at the Lord’s command to Stand in the court of the house of the LORD…whatever I command you, tell them, and omit nothing. Perhaps they will listen and turn back, each from his evil way. It was to help them correct their behavior from self-destructive to fruitful worship and service.

It didn’t go well at first. The priests and prophets laid hold of him, crying, “You must be put to death!” In tomorrow’s reading we continue the story. For now we rest on the ending line: all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. Jeremiah is called the “weeping prophet” because his vocation was to proclaim an unwelcome message faithfully despite almost universal opposition. He was a prophet of symbolic actions and the herald of the New Covenant to come.

Now in our gospel portion today, we have Jesus returning to Nazareth.

Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?

Jesus performed many miracles and signs and teachings prior to returning to Nazareth. They were aware of all that he had done.

Didn’t matter.

The grievance list:

• Is he not the carpenter’s son?
• Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?
• Are not his sisters all with us?
• Where did this man get all this?

They knew his résumé, so they assumed they knew him.

Whether it is the one who proclaims the promise of the New Covenant or the one who is the person of the New Covenant, we seem to not get it. The turning point I noted a few days ago, is upon us. Matthew gives us the harsh reality of our resistance. The Lord responds with even greater healings, miracles, teachings, and self-sacrifice.

The movement now accelerates in Matthew’s narrative: Book V of the Gospel of Matthew – JESUS, THE KINGDOM, AND THE CHURCH

• Friday – The Rejection at Nazareth.
• Saturday – The Death of John the Baptist.
• Sunday – The Return of the Twelve and the Feeding of the Five Thousand.

Reflection

We should weep too. And also pray as the psalmist prayed. The parables aren’t a waste of time. They are a waking up.

But I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help (Ps 69:14).

Personal Reflection

I think my prayer today is like this.

Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:24).

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/073126.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jeremiah 18:1-6; Psalm 146:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6ab; Matthew 13:47-53

Summary

Open our heart, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son (Acts 16:14).

Reflection

In our Gospel portion today, we hear the third of Matthew 13’s triplet of parables: the buried treasure, the pearl of great price, and the net of fish.

Not to put a too fine a point to it but:

• Not everyone searches for treasure
• Not everyone searches for pearls
• But everyone gets caught in the Net of the End Times.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects (every) fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away (MT 13:47-48).

It doesn’t matter if you do or do not have a burning need to answer the big questions:

• Who am I?
• Why am I?
• What is my final end?

The good news is the Lord doesn’t stop trying to communicate with us and help us form our questions and seek our answers.

Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel (Jer 18:6b). Whether clay in the potter’s hand or fish in the sea, our freedom exists within a life that belongs finally to God.

Eventually, life presses each of us toward the same question: who shouldn’t I trust?

Put not your trust in princes,
in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.
When his spirit departs he returns to his earth;
on that day his plans perish (PS 146:3-4).

So whom shall we trust?

Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God.
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them (PS 146:5-6ab).

Personal Reflection

So I’m a fish in this parable. I am free to swim in schools and go anywhere the ocean waters go.
It’s a great life. We can go anywhere and do anything that fish can do – even fishy things (doh! – still a fish in this sentence).

But in all the going and doing let us not fail to search for the treasure and the pearl – relationship with the Lord.
The net will find everyone; wisdom is allowing the treasure to find us first.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/073026.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
Readings: 1 John 4:7-16; Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11; John 11:19-27

Summary

In using the lectionary, Wednesdays can often be referred to as Hinge Day. Hinge as in Turning Point. In this case, our daily reading focus shifts from parables to the end goals (Love, Life Now, and Life Forever).

Love

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God (1 Jn 4:7).

The NABRE commentary on the First Letter of John says: Love as we share in it testifies to the nature of God and to his presence in our lives. One who loves shows that one is a child of God and knows God, for God’s very being is love; one without love is without God. The revelation of the nature of God’s love is found in the free gift of his Son to us, so that we may share life with God and be delivered from our sins. The love we have for one another must be of the same sort: authentic, merciful; this unique Christian love is our proof that we know God and can “see” the invisible God. (See https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1john/4?7=#70004007)

Life Now

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” (In the larger story) And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice,* “Lazarus, come out!” (Jn 11:21-22, 43).

Noting that for Martha everything is refactored (life, grief, hope).

Life Forever

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

Reflection

The parables help us think differently. The turning point is encountering the big questions and listening carefully to the Lord’s response to them.

• Love is the only rational way to live.
• We will die.
• We have hope for the quality of our life now and for the beauty of our life after this life.

I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.
This hinge changes everything.

Martha and Mary encounter the questions in one big event, Lazarus’ ‘untimely’ death (probably a young guy). For most of us these things happen over an extended period of time but still – same!

Personal Reflection

I was helping someone with investment goals yesterday and again today. It’s an involved process.

So many questions!

• What do you have?
• What are your goals and needs?
• How much time do you have?
• What can you use to prepare for the future?

Not to mix these things together (finance and spirituality) but to use it to help us make the turning point.

• We have love that is from God.
• We have a life worthy of honest living.
• We have the promise of the Resurrection.

Every investment reveals what future we believe is worth preparing for.
So how do I invest my life?

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/0729-memorial-martha.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jeremiah 14:17-22; Psalm 79:8, 9, 11 and 13; Matthew 13:36-43

Summary

The Great Drought.

The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: Judah mourns. Let my eyes stream with tears day and night, without rest. Is it not you, LORD, our God, to whom we look? You alone do all these things. (Jer 14:1-2a, 17, 22).

Although this OT scripture passage is slightly larger than today’s reading it frames the Old Testament reading with the gospel portion.

The Explanation of the Parable of the Weeds.

He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. So will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear (MT 13:37-38a, 40b-41, 43).

The Earth is the Lord’s and all it contains (PS 24:1).

How broad the meaning of that Scripture truly is!

Calamity will come, to be sure:

• Natural phenomena such as storms.
• Man-made miseries such as war.
• Personal mistakes and errors, both sinful and coincidental.

But in all of this the Lord is patiently present and helping every day, all day, 24/7/365. Sometimes we can see his answer and sometimes he just helps us one step at a time.

Matthew answers Jeremiah’s anguish indirectly: The wounded field is not a forgotten field.

Jeremiah asks, in effect:

• Has God rejected us completely?
• Is there no healing?
• Can the heavens give rain?

Jesus’ explanation answers:

• The field still belongs to the Son of Man.
• The good seed remains his.
• Evil has not become indistinguishable from good.
• Judgment is delayed, not denied.
• The harvest still belongs to God.

Reflection

Premature Judgment

In the first reading the people may be falling into the ‘all is lost’ mindset. God has abandoned us, there is no hope. In the gospel portion, in the parable itself, and later, the disciples are falling into the ‘we can fix this on our own’ mindset. Man rushing the conclusion by pulling the weeds.

The drought brings the question as to whether the field has been abandoned.
The parable answers: No—the field still belongs to the Son of Man.

Personal Reflection

We often interpret suffering as proof that God has withdrawn, or we attempt to remove evil with such force that we damage the good. Jeremiah teaches us to confess and plead. Jesus teaches us to wait without surrendering moral clarity. The psalmist combines the supplications help in misfortune and help in our sinfulness.

For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us (PS 79:9 compressed)

Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name's sake (PS 79:9).

Waiting is not abandonment. As Habakkuk reminds us:

If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late (Hab 2:3b).

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072826.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jeremiah 13:1-11; Deuteronomy 32:18-19, 20, 21; Matthew 13:31-35

Summary

What does the Lord want? For us to understand that we are to be his people, his renown, his praise, his beauty.

I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.

Do you remember the first time you heard the words: I love you?

Go far enough back and you may remember Mom and Dad.
Or perhaps the first time you heard it from your first love—even puppy love.
Or the enduring love promised and witnessed in holy matrimony.

And all of them carry the blessed words: I love you.
From the first time you heard them to the most recent, they still gladden the heart.

Reflection

Love is like the mustard seed – once planted – grows to be comfort for all in its vicinity.
Love is like the yeast – silently spreading, expressing and maturing – to become nourishment for everyone.

Even when we are disconnected and radically apart from one another, love continues to seek, remember, and claim us: https://www.diocesepb.org/news/news-and-notes.html/article/2025/01/11/no-one-is-forgotten

Personal Reflection

The Lord loves us and claims us in love, to be his people, my renown, my praise, my beauty.
I love you and name you in fraternal embrace.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072726.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12; Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52

Summary

The reflections these past days often start and end with a question. The titles of these reflections were:

• What do you wish?
• Why?
• What do you want to say?
• Who Are You Today?

Today our gospel ends with a question: Do you understand all these things?

The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” Solomon answered:… Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?

Solomon answered the Lord’s question with a question.

The perfect dialog. A dialog of understanding. A dialog of earnest communication. The Divine understanding a man. A man understanding the Divine.

Reflection

In our gospel portion today, Jesus is preparing the disciples to continue the quest of Solomon on the broadest possible scale – the human family.

I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act.
I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen,
a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted.

So God said to him:
“Because you have asked for this—… understanding so that you may know what is right—I do as you requested.

I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you.

This wisdom is fulfilled perfectly in Jesus and entrusted through his disciples to the Church.

The journey turns next week toward deeper understanding, deeper mission, and deeper commitment—the offering of the very self.

Personal Reflection

So today I invite you to enter into the journey anew.

Do you want to understand? Yes, Lord, I do.
What do you wish? – To love and serve you.
Why? – Because you have the words of everlasting life.
What do you want to say? – Be my Shepherd.
Who Are You Today? – Let your seed grow in me.

It’s a dialog.
Yes. The answer brings us back to today’s Gospel. To understand the Kingdom is not merely to comprehend Jesus’ parables, but to allow them to question and reorder the whole self.

• a treasure buried in a field – ready for you to take ownership.
• a pearl of great price – ready for you to possess it and be possessed by it.
• a net thrown into the sea -give me wisdom to distinguish what leads to life from what draws me away from you.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072626.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry