Our Way of Full Life

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to review our application of the “Way” in which we proclaim Truth and Life for all in our world.

Shepherd of Full Life

The Reading from the Book of Exodus presents the Arrival at Sinai of the Israelites.

* [19:2] Apparently from a different source (P) than v. 1, which notes the date, v. 2 from the J source includes a second notice of the arrival in the wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites now will be camped at Sinai from this point on all the way to Nm 10:10. This is a striking indication of the centrality and importance of the Sinai narrative in the overall composition of the Pentateuch.

* [19:5] Covenant: while covenants between individuals and between nations are ubiquitous in the ancient Near East, the adaptation of this concept to express the relationship that will henceforth characterize God’s relationship to Israel represents an important innovation of biblical faith. Other gods might “choose” nations to fulfill a special destiny or role in the world; but only Israel’s God is bound to a people by covenant. Thereby Israel’s identity as a people is put upon a foundation that does not depend upon the vicissitudes of Israelite statehood or the normal trappings of national existence. Israel will be a covenant people.

* [19:6] Kingdom of priests: inasmuch as this phrase is parallel to “holy nation,” it most likely means that the whole Israelite nation is set apart from other nations and so consecrated to God, or holy, in the way priests are among the people (cf. Is 61:6; 1 Pt 2:5, 9). (Exodus, CHAPTER 19 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 100 invites the people to enter the Temple courts with thank offerings.

* [Psalm 100] A hymn inviting the people to enter the Temple courts with thank offerings for the God who created them.

* [100:3] Although the people call on all the nations of the world to join in their hymn, they are conscious of being the chosen people of God. (Psalms, CHAPTER 100 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans proclaims Christian Faith, Hope, and Love.

* [5:1–11] Popular piety frequently construed reverses and troubles as punishment for sin; cf. Jn 9:2. Paul therefore assures believers that God’s justifying action in Jesus Christ is a declaration of peace. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ displays God’s initiative in certifying humanity for unimpeded access into the divine presence. Reconciliation is God’s gift of pardon to the entire human race. Through faith one benefits personally from this pardon or, in Paul’s term, is justified. The ultimate aim of God is to liberate believers from the pre-Christian self as described in Rom 1–3. Since this liberation will first find completion in the believer’s resurrection, salvation is described as future in Rom 5:10. Because this fullness of salvation belongs to the future it is called the Christian hope. Paul’s Greek term for hope does not, however, suggest a note of uncertainty, to the effect: “I wonder whether God really means it.” Rather, God’s promise in the gospel fills believers with expectation and anticipation for the climactic gift of unalloyed commitment in the holy Spirit to the performance of the will of God. The persecutions that attend Christian commitment are to teach believers patience and to strengthen this hope, which will not disappoint them because the holy Spirit dwells in their hearts and imbues them with God’s love (Rom 5:5).

* [5:1] We have peace: a number of manuscripts, versions, and church Fathers read “Let us have peace”; cf. Rom 14:19.

* [5:7] In the world of Paul’s time the good person is especially one who is magnanimous to others. (Romans, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Matthew declares the Mission of the Twelve and Commissioning of the Twelve.

* [9:36] See Mk 6:34; Nm 27:17; 1 Kgs 22:17.

* [9:37–38] This Q saying (see Lk 10:2) is only imperfectly related to this context. It presupposes that only God (the master of the harvest) can take the initiative in sending out preachers of the gospel, whereas in Matthew’s setting it leads into Mt 10 where Jesus does so.

* [10:1] His twelve disciples: although, unlike Mark (Mk 3:13–14) and Luke (Lk 6:12–16), Matthew has no story of Jesus’ choosing the Twelve, he assumes that the group is known to the reader. The earliest New Testament text to speak of it is 1 Cor 15:5. The number probably is meant to recall the twelve tribes of Israel and implies Jesus’ authority to call all Israel into the kingdom. While Luke (Lk 6:13) and probably Mark (Mk 4:10, 34) distinguish between the Twelve and a larger group also termed disciples, Matthew tends to identify the disciples and the Twelve. Authority…every illness: activities the same as those of Jesus; see Mt 4:23; Mt 9:35; 10:8. The Twelve also share in his proclamation of the kingdom (Mt 10:7). But although he teaches (Mt 4:23; 7:28; 9:35), they do not. Their commission to teach comes only after Jesus’ resurrection, after they have been fully instructed by him (Mt 28:20). (Matthew, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)

* [10:2–4] Here, for the only time in Matthew, the Twelve are designated apostles. The word “apostle” means “one who is sent,” and therefore fits the situation here described. In the Pauline letters, the place where the term occurs most frequently in the New Testament, it means primarily one who has seen the risen Lord and has been commissioned to proclaim the resurrection. With slight variants in Luke and Acts, the names of those who belong to this group are the same in the four lists given in the New Testament (see note on Mt 9:9). Cananean: this represents an Aramaic word meaning “zealot.” The meaning of that designation is unclear (see note on Lk 6:15).

* [10:5–6] Like Jesus (Mt 15:24), the Twelve are sent only to Israel. This saying may reflect an original Jewish Christian refusal of the mission to the Gentiles, but for Matthew it expresses rather the limitation that Jesus himself observed during his ministry. (Matthew, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB, n.d.)

Eileen Wirth comments that for years Catholics have focused on the need for more priests. But this is too narrow. Jesus is calling ALL women and men to participate in the Church’s mission and ministry in significant ways including leadership. In Elise Allen’s inspiring new biography of Pope Leo, she describes how he has long embraced this idea. In Peru, he appointed lay people including numerous women to positions of authority. In his parishes and diocese. Will this become his model for the whole Church? Let’s hope so for the good of the Church.

Leadership studies have shown that organizations do best with a mixture of male and female administrators and that surely includes the Church. At St. John’s, I’ve seen the positive impact that our female pastoral minister has made. By the time Pope Leo’s successor is elected, will lay women and men be running numerous departments in the Vatican and dioceses worldwide? There are no theological barriers to this.

Today when we “ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for the harvest,” we need to ask God to inspire “laborers” of all states of life to give their best talents to the Church and for ordained “laborers” to maximize the use of those gifts. (Wirth, 2026)

Don Schwager quotes “Jesus empowers his disciples to act in his name,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).

"If the Spirit had not yet been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified, how then did the disciples cast out the unclean spirits? They did this by his own command, by the Son's authority.2 Note the careful timing of their mission. They were not sent out at the beginning of their walk with him. They were not sent out until they had sufficiently benefited by following him daily. It was only after they had seen the dead raised, the sea rebuked, devils expelled, the legs of a paralytic brought to life, sins remitted, lepers cleansed, and had received a sufficient proof of his power both by deeds and words - only then did he send them out. And he did not send them out unprepared to do dangerous deeds, for as yet there was no danger in Palestine. They had only to stand against verbal abuse. However, Jesus still warned them of larger perils to come, preparing them for what was future." (excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 32.3) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Romans 5:6-11 comments that Paul goes on to describe the confidence this love can give us. And he does it by stacking one rhetorical question on top of another: if Jesus has rescued us by his death, how much more will he protect us from “the wrath” that sin produces in the world (Romans 5:9)? How much more “will we be saved” from every evil in this world (5:10)? How much more indeed! There’s no limit to his love.

So every time you catch yourself wondering whether you are “good enough” for Jesus to love you, remember those three words: how much more! Remember the cross. Remember the love that moved him to give himself up to death—for you. Gaze upon the cross and let Jesus tell you how valuable and how precious you are to him. Then stand tall and joyfully “boast” to yourself about the love that God has for you. (Romans 5:11). Rejoice in the love that redeems and reconciles and saves and heals. The love that does so much more.

“Jesus, I am amazed by your love for me!” (Meditation on Romans 5:6-11, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that, in Exodus, the Lord speaks and reminds the Israelites of their exodus out of Egypt and slavery. He wants to make a kingdom of the rag tag group and have them aspire to be what God has for them.  Paul proclaims that while we were sinners, the just suffered for the unjust. Jesus died for us, we are justified by His death and we appreciate the tremendous glory to which we are called. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus presents the people as sheep without shepherds who the priests and kings have failed. The twelve are commissioned to proclaim the love of God in word and action. In The Kingdom, people will surrender to the love and law of God. Friar Jude comments that Matthew, writing for Jewish Christians, focuses on the mission to the Nation of Israel.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, reflects on the origin of the Christian church as “the Way”.

Christianity first emerged not as a new religion, but as a reform and sect of Judaism within Judea and the Mediterranean. Wherever Paul, Peter, and other early missionaries traveled, they formed small communities of believers in “the Way,” a movement that emphasized Jesus’s teachings, death, and resurrection as the path to transformation. Gradually the movement grew and took on a life of its own, welcoming non-Jews as well as Jews, becoming more inclusive and grace-oriented, until it eventually called itself “catholic” or universal. By 80 CE, there were Christians as far away as India and France. 

Historian Diana Butler Bass writes, “For all the complexity of primitive Christianity, a startling idea runs through early records of faith: Christianity seems to have succeeded because it transformed the lives of people in a chaotic world.” [1] During this time, Christianity was not so much about doctrines or eternal salvation, but about how to live a better life here and now, within the “reign of God.”

Much of what Jesus taught seems to have been followed closely during the first several hundred years after his death and resurrection. As long as Jesus’s followers were on the bottom and the edge of empire, as long as they shared the rejected and betrayed status of Jesus, they could grasp his teaching more readily. Values like nonparticipation in war, simple living, inclusivity, and love of enemies could be more easily understood when Christians were gathering secretly in the catacombs.

Several writings illustrate this early commitment to Jesus’s teachings on simplicity and generosity. For example, the Didache, compiled around 90 CE, says: “Share all things with your brother, and do not say that they are your own. For if you are sharers in what is imperishable, how much more in things which perish!” [3] At the time, Christianity was still pure, simple, and loving, relatively untouched by empire, rationalization, and compromise. [4] (Rohr, n.d.)

We celebrate the inspiration of the Spirit that fills the hearts of the faithful and enkindles in us the fire of love as we are commissioned to renew the face of the earth.

References

Exodus, CHAPTER 19 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Retrieved June 14, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/exodus/19?2 

Matthew, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 14, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/10? 

Matthew, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 14, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/9? 

Meditation on Romans 5:6-11. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved June 14, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/06/14/1591735/ 

Psalms, CHAPTER 100 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Retrieved June 14, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/100?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). A New Way of Living. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 14, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-new-way-of-living/ 

Romans, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 14, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/5?6 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Jesus Gives His Disciples  to Heal and Set Free. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 14, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Wirth, E. (2026, June 13). Daily Reflection June 14, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved June 14, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-june-14-2026 

Mission of Reform

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, challenge us to contemplate how the response of St. Catherine and Paul and Barnabas to the mission they received from Christ might guide our efforts to be signs of peace and love in our communities.

St Catherine of Siena Church

The Reading from the Acts of the Apostles presents the First Mission that Begins in Cyprus.

* [12:25] They returned to Jerusalem: many manuscripts read “from Jerusalem,” since Acts 11:30 implies that Paul and Barnabas are already in Jerusalem. This present verse could refer to a return visit or subsequent relief mission. (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 12 | USCCB, n.d.)

* [13:1–3] The impulse for the first missionary effort in Asia Minor is ascribed to the prophets of the Antiochene community, under the inspiration of the holy Spirit. Just as the Jerusalem community had earlier been the center of missionary activity, so too Antioch becomes the center from which the missionaries Barnabas and Saul are sent out.

* [13:4–14:27] The key event in Luke’s account of the first missionary journey is the experience of Paul and Barnabas at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:14–52). The Christian kerygma proclaimed by Paul in the synagogue was favorably received. Some Jews and “God-fearers” (see note on Acts 8:26–40) became interested and invited the missionaries to speak again on the following sabbath (Acts 13:42). By that time, however, the appearance of a large number of Gentiles from the city had so disconcerted the Jews that they became hostile toward the apostles (Acts 13:44–50). This hostility of theirs appears in all three accounts of Paul’s missionary journeys in Acts, the Jews of Iconium (Acts 14:1–2) and Beroea (Acts 17:11) being notable exceptions.

* [13:5] John: that is, John Mark (see Acts 12:12, 25). (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 13 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 67 is a petition for a bountiful harvest.

* [Psalm 67] A petition for a bountiful harvest (Ps 67:7), made in the awareness that Israel’s prosperity will persuade the nations to worship its God.

* [67:2] May God be gracious to us: the people’s petition echoes the blessing pronounced upon them by the priests, cf. Nm 6:22–27. (Psalms, PSALM 67 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of John presents a Recapitulation of His Teaching

j. [12:44] 13:20; 14:1.

k. [12:45] 14:7–9.

l. [12:46] 1:9; 8:12.

m. [12:47] 3:17.

n. [12:48] Lk 10:16; Heb 4:12.

o. [12:49] 14:10, 31; Dt 18:18–19.

Sara Schulte-Bukowinski comments that Catherine of Siena is perhaps best known for her efforts to bring an end to the Avignon Papacy, her extreme penitential practices, reception of the stigmata, and for being named a Doctor of the Church.

She was an ascetic, but placed her reliance more on virtue than penance (The Dialogue, 17). She was a person who lived in the tensions.

Amidst those tensions Catherine entered deeply into the spiritual life, experiencing incredible insights from her intimate relationship with the Divine. She found the most stable cloister cell was an interior place, not dependent on physical location. In this inner cell she began to understand that her reverence for God is bound up with knowledge of herself. To know one’s self is ultimately to know God who “is,” because the self “is not” without God. She advances the basic Biblical proposition that we are made in the image of God, and goes so far as to say that “it is, indeed, through the effect of love, that the soul becomes another Himself…the soul unites herself with God by the affection of love” (The Dialogue, 1-2). Catherine’s language is that of relationship, not of obligation. (Schulte-Bukowinski, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes Whoever sees Jesus sees the Father, by Cyril of Alexandria, 375-444 A.D.

"[Our Lord] gradually accustoms their minds to penetrate the depth of the mysteries concerning himself, [leading them] not to the human person but to that which was of the divine essence. He does this inasmuch as the Godhead is apprehended completely in the person of God the Father, for he has in himself the Son and the Spirit. With exceeding wisdom he carries them onward, ... for he does not exclude himself from being believed on by us because he is God by nature and has shone forth from God the Father. But skillfully (as has been said) he handles the mind of the weak to mold them to godliness in order that you might understand him to say something like this: 'When you believe on me - I who, for your sakes, am a man like yourselves, but who also am God by reason of my own nature and because of the Father from whom I exist - do not suppose that it is on a man you are setting your faith. For I am by nature God, notwithstanding that I appear like one of yourselves, and I have within myself him who begat me. Forasmuch therefore as I am consubstantial with him that has begotten me, your faith will assuredly pass on also to the Father himself.' As we said therefore, the Lord, gradually trains them to something better and profitably interweaves the human with what is God-befitting." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 8.7) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on John 12:44-50 comments that Jesus makes it clear that he came to rescue us from the “darkness” of our sin (John 12:46).

He came, not to “condemn” us, but to “save” us (12:47). He has spoken about condemnation and salvation throughout the Gospel of John (3:17-18; 5:24, 29; 8:10-11). Now he announces one more time that everyone who believes in his words, which come from his Father, will be saved from the “darkness” and be brought into the “light” (12:46). These words of his will be our final judge: did we treasure them and strive to follow them?

Jesus never minces words. He wants us to be clear-eyed about our sins and about our need for his salvation. But he also wants us to be clear about the mercy that he extends to everyone who places his words at the center of their hearts and actions. There is not a single soul who is beyond the reach of his love. There is not a single unredeemable person. He promised that whoever believes in him can be saved. Whoever believes in him can have eternal life. Whoever believes in him “will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24).

“Jesus, thank you for your great gift of salvation!” (Meditation on John 12:44-50, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that in Acts we hear the Barbabas and Paul take John Mark to Antioch. Barnabas and Saul are set aside by laying on of hands to implore the Spirit to lead to them to the synagogues of Cyprus The message is brought first to the Jews then to the Gentiles. If you see Christ, you see the Father who has sent Him to reveal life and love. If we accept we are saved, if we reject we are lost. We have to embrace salvation. God can’t force us to Love Him. Friar Jude comments that living in non love and evil is our condemnation and it is brought upon ourselves.

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Author Diana Butler Bass, who recounts how fear continued to accompany the disciples well after the resurrection. Butler Bass acknowledges that fear is a biological response and universal experience, but that Jesus’s assurance is also true. 

“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you….’ When he had said this, he breathed on them…”

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

The door opens toward love—the love of God, the love of neighbor.

I can’t explain it. All I know is that it is right. And I feel it. When I’m scared, I breathe. My breath. Sacred breath. Spirit breath. The in, out, in, out, in, out of life. My heart slows and opens, making room for the other, giving space to love. In, out, in, out. Breathe in peace. Breathe out love.

Peace, love. Peace, love.

Fear abates.

Perfect love casts out fear.

I think of the first words of scripture, how “in the beginning” there was nothing but chaos. Then, God breathed. Chaos was transformed by that breath into a world of beauty and sustenance.

Easter began in confusion and terror behind a locked door. Now, it comes to a quiet conclusion in the breathing … the promise and possibility of new creation. Peace, love.

Perhaps that’s what is meant by resurrection. Being raised from the deadened weight of fear to love. (Rohr, n.d.)

We seek the Spirit to inspire our transformation from fear of rejection and ridicule to being witness to the peace and love that Jesus calls us to present to the world.

References

Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 12 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 29, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/12?24 

Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 13 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved April 29, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/13 

Meditation on John 12:44-50. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved April 26, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/04/29/1552558/ 

Psalms, PSALM 67 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 29, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/67? 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved April 29, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/breathing-in-love-breathing-out-fear/ 

Schulte-Bukowinski, S. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved April 29, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-april-29-2026 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Believe in Me - That You May Not Remain in Darkness. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 29, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/