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With today being the Feast of Saint Thomas, the Apostle, we read from the Gospel of John, regarding Jesus’ appearance to the Apostles, post His resurrection. It is Easter Sunday evening, and the Apostles tell Thomas, (who had not been present) that Jesus appeared to them. Thomas tells them in oh, so many words, “you’re nuts.” He refuses to believe their audacious comment. Fast forward one week later, when all the Apostles were present behind locked doors, and Jesus appears to them. Revelation I find this Gospel passage quite revealing of God’s omnipresence. One week earlier, when Saint Thomas heard the audacious comments from his fellow Apostles, he responded to them, “ Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into his side, I will not believe ” (John 20:25). When Saint Thomas made this comment, Jesus was not physically present. There had been no interaction between the Apostles and Jesus since Easter Sunday night, for any of the other Apostles to infor

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Do you sometimes act, without considering the consequences? Or might you sometimes say something offensive, without thinking of the other person’s feelings? Do you rush to complete tasks, just to get them done, with little thought to how well they get done? I think we could all answer “yes” to these questions, if not consistently, then at a minimum, at least occasionally.  When we act, or say something, inappropriate, when we don’t care about an outcome, we exhibit carelessness. The antidote: Embrace diligence! Embrace Diligence With diligence, we think before we act. We evaluate the consequences and determine the best course of action. We seek a positive outcome that will be beneficial to all parties. Why? Because we care about the other person involved. When we embrace diligence, we take care to think before we speak. I wish I had known about this virtue back when I worked in banking. I remember being at a meeting where a question was asked of the team, and I did not think

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Call of the Sons of Zebedee , Marco Basaiti  [ Web Gallery of Art ] The Sons of Zebedee were James and John, mentioned in today's gospel. Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel  Luke 9:51-62 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)     When the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.  And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him;  but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem.  When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’   But he turned and rebuked them.  Then they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I wi

Join me for this thought-provoking reflection on what it means to work within a church environment versus how we serve God in ordinary ways in our daily life.   In this episode of Cassidy Comments I talk about a musician I met who works with youth in a “pop-up” church, consider what Jesus had to say about acting from a rock solid foundation, and finally, I offer the words of St. Theresa of Avila as evidence that disciples are needed today to do the work of Christ.   God Bless, Janet Cassidy johnseven38@yahoo.com janetcassidy.blubrry.net

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As a mother of a large family, struggling to wash, dry, and fold three or four loads of laundry every day, I secretly wondered if there was an obscure saint, with little to do, who could fill in as my patron saint of missing socks. Little did I know, God was using the dilemma of unpaired socks to purify me because I was trying too hard to be the perfect mother and housekeeper. read more

The quality of your deeds determines the goodness of the fruit that you produce for Christ. In today’s Gospel from Matt 7:15-20, we hear Jesus ask a tongue-in-cheek question. “Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles” (Matt 7:16)? With this question, Jesus is warning us to be on watch for false prophets. How might we identify false prophets? We will know by their deeds, because good fruit cannot be borne from bad acts. Good fruit can only come from a good source. That is why grapes do not come from thornbushes. They come from the vine. Figs, associated with prosperity, well being and security (all good things) come from a fig tree; not a thistle. Both grape vines and fig trees require care, time and attention, as do our souls.  If we are to produce good fruit, as true prophets of Christ, then our words and deeds must be good. Jesus Asks if You are True Prophets of Christ If Jesus stood in front of you today and asked you if you produced good fruit, and thus

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Our four year old grandson came over the other day.   He collected all of our wooden coasters and decided to “hide” them around the house.   As you might suspect, a four year olds’ idea of hiding something is to pretty much leave them in plain sight. Once all of the coasters were “hidden” the game continued with the only logical rule—he would go and find them himself!   Interestingly he only collected six of the seven coasters, overlooking the last one.   His little two year old sister saved the day by finding the last one hidden in another room. Kids are so funny. Whenever we get a big rainstorm, he comes over to help my husband collect all of the branches that have fallen in the yard.   It’s a thing.   An important thing that they do together.   But, again, because he’s four, when that job eventually becomes uninteresting to him, he resorts to sitting on a corner rail of our deck playing dinosaurs. If you have ever seen a kid and his dinosaurs, you will know of what

The discourse within our society has reached a level of vitriol that I have not seen in my 60+ years on this planet. We hear the barbs on the nightly news. We read the foul language on social media. And then there is the face-to-face disagreements. Everywhere we turn, we come up against rude behavior.  When we cannot be civil with each other and thus, resort to name-calling, cursing and arguments, we have lost our way. It’s time that we take that unwanted rude behavior and change our ways to seek Courtesy. Courtesy is polite and respectful behavior towards others. Courtesy requires us to be considerate of others in both word and deed. It all comes down to following the Golden Rule: “ Do unto others as you would have them do unto you ” (Matt 7:12). If you do not want to be on the receiving end of rude behavior, then first and foremost, don’t dish it out! That’s one way to make the world a better place. Secondly, if someone is rude to you, don’t ... Read more...

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I am living in a fantastical delusion when I see myself as the centre of the universe, viewing everything as it circles around me. As believers, we sing and recite prayers that proclaim that God is the centre of all but our psychological make-up screams the exact opposite. I view people, events, history and yes even God through my eyes, judging what is right, trusting my thoughts and my feelings as the final judge of what is real. Most of us live in delusion. Even when we become aware of our narrow world view, it is almost impossible to let go of our deeply rooted assumptions and see reality. Actually, we can only see reality when we live in, with and through God. continue reading

Pope Benedict elevating the Body of Christ at Mass   [ Wikipedia ] But when, holding the Eucharist, I say 'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world', I feel His strength in me. When I hold the Host in my hands, it is really He who is holding me and all of us, challenging the terrorists and keeping us united in His boundless love (Fr Ragheed Ganni, Iraqi martyr). Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   Luke 9:11b-17 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)     Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured. The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a