Connect. Share Life. Grow in Faith.

“In the family, faith is handed on together with life, generation after generation. It is shared like food at the family table and like the love in our hearts. In this way, families become privileged places in which to encounter Jesus, who loves us and desires our good, always.” – Pope Leo XIV, homily on June 1, 2025.

Through two years of ministry as a parish priest I have come to notice several things that seem consistent in my schedule when I am having a good week, and conversely when I am not. If I can look back at a week and see that I have shared at least one meal with a family, I can typically say that I did not have a bad week. 

One of the reasons I love being a Diocesan priest is that a significant part of my life involves responding to God’s call to serve families. As a celibate man I do not have biological children but the Lord has gifted me and those in the celibate state with a great freedom to love and serve and live life with persons young and old. 

In a particular way, there exists what I deem a certain complementarity between the celibate and married person which allows something unique to be spoken to each other and to the world about God’s love. What God speaks to us all is a message of love from all eternity and I am continually in awe of how he speaks that same message differently through the unique mediums of the secondary vocations (priesthood, marriage, religious life, consecrated single life) in the Church. What a gift!

This Tuesday I was reminded of that fundamental human need to just share a meal and hang out as I joined eight families of our parish at one of our monthly Haven gatherings. Haven is a newer community in our parish for young married couples and families with children under five, that gather to connect, share life, and grow in faith together. 

Connect. Share Life. Grow in Faith. In other words, friendship. This is one of the important things we are reminded about in our Gospel reading this weekend. Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, had friends. Isn’t that wild? Our Blessed Lord made many choices in his time of earthly ministry – most importantly dying to save us from sin and death – and among these was the choice to enter and foster real human friendships.

It is easy for us to hear this Gospel passage and immediately discuss whether we are like Martha or like Mary. Sure, good discussion. But perhaps another helpful reflection for us in these summer days of unstructured time is to ponder just how special it is that Jesus chose to hang out with Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus. That’s a reminder for me that I am also called to friendship with Christ. So are you.

Gracias a Dios.