May 15, 2025

God loves the world, and loves every creature in it. The human beings God created, and all the animals, plants, bacteria, protozoa, fungi. All of these are gifts to all the others, because we are all interrelated and we all need each other.  If we treat the other creatures given by God with love, that is in harmony with the Holy Spirit. But if we mistreat each other and the environment, this goes contrary to God’s way.

For each of us, we are called to enjoy God’s gifts of nature and the immense, inventive, creative diversity of humanity. Through appreciation, we can live in harmony with each other and with nature. It will then be natural to care for and protect the vulnerable human beings, creatures, and the earth. Rest in that. Amen.

John 13:16-20

This reading is about the Last Supper, in which Jesus washes the feet of the disciples, modeling and demonstrating how to serve others humbly.  He connects the links of a chain, an enduring spiritual chain, in which Jesus is connected to God the Father, the disciples are connected to Jesus, and all of us who connect with the disciples are thereby connected to Jesus and God the Father.  He says, “Whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

The practice of Christian mysticism, prayer, Eucharist, and community all rest on this, the miracle and spiritual gift of God in which he sent Jesus to form that chain to reach each of us out of love for his creation.  Amen.