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In this week’s gospel, Jesus is teaching his disciples about their mission. He warns them of the persecutions and trials that they will face. Just as he, Jesus, faced opposition and rejection; so, will they. So too did the prophets, including Jeremiah, of whom we read in the first reading. Jesus seems to be thinking, to outline a little more clearly and a little more forcefully, just what it means to become his follower. The bottom-line message he tries to get across is that being his disciples is going to cost something—in fact, it’s going to cost a lot. He tries to offer some reassurance: “ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows..” There are bound to be disruptions, maybe even ruptures, in their lives and relationships—even the closest ones, like among family members—if they choose to keep following him. Essentially, he is saying, “Look, if you are going to follow me, you need to understand something: this is not a part-time thing, it is not a convenient thing, it is not an easy thing. It is going to cost you something. The most well-known modern-day work on the costs of discipleship is by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the 20th-century German theologian and pastor who resisted the rise of the Nazis in his country, ultimately paying for those efforts with his life. He wrote a book called The Cost of Discipleship, in which he tries to define what is required of all who claim the name of Christian. Bonhoeffer is repulsed by Christians who make the Christian faith cheaper and easier, rather than embracing the true cost and personal sacrifice of following Jesus. And he famously writes in that book, in a moment of heartbreaking foreshadowing, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” If you choose to follow Jesus, that commitment needs to reorient all your attachments to become your fundamental identity. Everything else answers to and builds on that. You don’t go ahead and sort out your life—what you like and what you care about and what you believe in—and then see how you might fit the Christian story into that. No, it needs to be the other way around: Your commitment to Jesus Christ—what he stood for and how he operated—needs to be primary. You build your life on that. If we really commit to following Jesus, then some things about us are going to need to change. Some parts of how we live, what we think, what we are attached to, are going to have to die. This is what it means to “take up our cross” and follow Jesus. This is what it means when Jesus says, “those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” In following Jesus, our lives, our souls, our selves become more full, expansive, and wondrous. This opening up of our souls not only connects us more deeply with the One, Holy, and Living God, it also brings us into deeper connection with the created order and our fellow human beings. And this naturally brings forth from us more good things in us—compassion, mercy, and love. When we choose to follow Jesus, it makes us more like Jesus, which in turn makes the world more like the one Jesus called us to create. Can we relinquish some of our self-serving control over our lives in order to bring about that expansiveness, that connectedness, that beauty? This is essentially the conclusion Bonhoeffer reaches at the end of The Cost of Discipleship. After laying out the costs and challenges of discipleship, he knows he must explain what would make such sacrifice and strain worth it. He writes this: If we surrender ourselves utterly to [Christ] we cannot help bearing his image ourselves…[we] become a reflection of him…That reflection of his glory will shine forth in us even in this life, even as we share his agony and bear his cross…Our life will then be a progress from knowledge to knowledge, from glory to glory, to an ever closer conformity to the image of the Son of God…[and through this] fellowship and communion with the incarnate Lord we [will] recover our true humanity, and retrieve our solidarity with the whole human race. That is what it happens when we follow Jesus.

The best pain relief is chipped ice. It doesn't cost much, either. But you do have to keep a cup of ice handy all the time.

I am pretty sure I need a root canal. Prayers please for the pain while I am getting in to get it done.

I think people merge early this because they don't want to be the a-hole who drives to the end and gets to "skip the line." I've seen some state-wide PSAs about this but people still merge early and then there's the one guy in a truck zipping to the end and merging ahead of everyone else. Until everyone starts doing it, it gives off a bad vibe.

News from two Trappist monasteries: 1. On June 13, 2026, Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Sister Marie Madeleine Beverly made solemn profession at the Mississippi Abbey (USA) in Iowa. 2. On June 13, 2026, Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Brother Kenneth Hessemer made solemn profession at the monastery of Spencer (United States) in Massachusetts.

Great to hear from you! In Alberta, grade 6 is actually the last year of elementary, and that's exactly what I like about it. They're developing the teenager attitude, but it's not fully formed yet. Developing mature personalities, and they still have a bit of the childhood innocence. It's a good balance for me. I may move to older grades later, but I'm not in a rush right now. I'm looking at the program offered by the University of Saskatchewan. https://grad.usask.ca/programs/scholarship-of-teaching-and-learning.php It's run entirely online, and from what I've heard and spoken to people about, they support your research really thoroughly.

I don't mind, it's my actual name so I will see if I can send it by DM! I've heard of that series, it seems to be a popular pick. Do you like it? Currently I'm reading through the Reese's Book Club picks, I've read all the way back to her 2022 picks and am about to start Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? I kinda steered off the list and just finished The Magician's trilogy, I wasn't a huge fan of the first book yet found it engrossing and I liked the second one better and the third one even more. I used to read almost exclusively nonfiction and then back in college I got back into fiction and read nonfiction occasionally. One nonfiction pick I want to read is How to Not Know, it's a secular book but I think overlaps with Divine Providence and trust.

Wow congrats on being a sponsor and your daughter's first communion!! And on starting a book! What do you like better about teaching 6th than elementary grades? I used to teach six and fifth but now teach a combined 3rd/4th classroom and love it. What university are you thinking of applying to?

I just noticed it's been two years since I posted last. I check the forum occasionally. Hello again, friends! I'm finishing up my third year teaching now. I taught grade 6 back in 23/24 when I posted last, then like I mentioned, I went to grade 4 for 24/25, and I was back to grade 6 (my preference at this point) for this school year. We did strike back in the fall. I was out of work for three weeks, and it was terrible. The strike itself was very unsuccessful, because the government used some very heavy-handed tactics to force us back to work (and formally remove some of our Charter rights), however public opinion has remained on our side, and we are slowly getting some of the things we were asking for. Next year I'm going to apply to start a master's degree. I'm really interested in doing a Master's of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (M.SoTL) - looks like a really neat program. Interdisciplinary, combining quality research and classroom practice at all levels. There are lots of good programs around, but that one is interesting me most at the moment. One of my students asked me to be her sponsor for confirmation this year. It was the proudest moment of my career so far. My oldest daughter had her First Communion just before Christmas, and my son is starting kindergarten next year. I also started writing a novel last spring. It is a horror novel for an older middle grade audience, around ten to thirteen. It's very slow going, as I usually have no energy left at the end of the day, but if I stick to a good schedule I might be able to finish the first draft this summer. No idea if it will be publishable when I finish, but it's a fun process regardless.

Banned for not hydrating the system.

Nice! What's your username on there (if you don't giving it out of course!)? I'm planning on making an account next time I have a day off work 😊 My home computer has my old Goodreads file on it. So, I can import it into my new account. What are you reading at the moment? :) a month or so ago I started reading an abridged edition of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (the modern library edition) and I only have a hundred pages left 🥳

I use is pretty regularly! Gives me an outlet to share my thoughts on books and see what others think. StoryGraph is a competitor which some people prefer, if you want options, but Goodreads has more users.

Redwoods monastery is a small community - maybe 10 or 11 nuns - in northern California. They received a new novice in February, Sr. Angela Jonah. The link has pictures and several paragraphs by Sr. Angela. https://www.redwoodsabbey.org/news/welcome-sr-angela-jonah/

In the Gospel we are able to identify some key aspects of Christian discipleship. As Jesus travelled around Palestine, he was moved by the need for hope and healing among those who thronged to him, those Matthew calls, “harassed” and “helpless.” In Hebrew and Aramaic, the two languages familiar to Jesus, the word for compassion was found in the term for ‘womb.’ This means compassion for Jesus (and his Jewish contemporaries) was not felt in one’s head but in one’s heart. It is with this concern that he called his disciples and sent them out to proclaim that God’s reign was near, to heal, restore, cleanse, and liberate those to whom they were sent. He also reminded them that they would face and endure hatred, betrayal, opposition, and arrest, and yet endure all this with the help of God. What does this mission offered by Jesus mean for us today? To begin with, we are able to see that discipleship is a calling. Just as Jesus chose his twelve disciples in the gospel passage, Christ has called us and we follow him. It is only because God in Christ felt compassion according to the Gospels toward us that we have been called as the Church, the Greek word for Church – “ecclesia” – is composed of the words “ek,” meaning “out,” and “kaleo,” meaning “called.” We can say that discipleship is an outcome of God reaching out to make us his own. As disciples, we only respond to his calling and continue the work of Christ, always with his help. The words of Jesus to his first disciples, “Follow me,” continues to echo in and through the Church throughout history. However, the call to be a disciple is never about the disciples themselves. Christian discipleship is always about engaging with and living for others. The chosen disciples are sent out to proclaim the Good News of the kingdom and share God’s healing and liberation with others. This is why the Church, as the community of disciples, is also sent out into the world. A former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple wisely noted, the Church always exists for its non-members. The Church, while it should certainly be a mutually comforting and loving fellowship of God’s children, cannot become self-centred or inward facing. The Church is a proclaiming community of disciples, in word and deed, to make a difference in the world. Discipleship and mission go hand in hand. Without mission, the Church loses its meaning and purpose of existence. Disciples go out to make more disciples – not for the sake of increasing numbers in the pews – but because God’s compassion moves within us. We may ask here: Is discipleship always a life of reaching out to others? Do we always have to keep proclaiming and sharing God’s gifts with others? Jesus gently reminds his disciples that they should also be willing to receive. They should be humble to receive help and support from others. Elsewhere, in Mark’s gospel, Jesus instructs his disciples to eat what is offered to them and stay where they are received. There is mutual care and compassion as disciples engage in mission. Connecting this with Christian discipleship, we may say that one cannot give without being open and humble to receive. When we engage with others in mission, Christ encourages us to receive as well. In other words, disciples are to be open to listening and learning from those to whom they are sent. Making disciples is not about patronizing. Rather, it is leading a life of humility, openness, receiving, and genuine dialogue. Finally, we can be proud of our calling as disciples, but we cannot forget that it is always a risk-taking business. Those who follow Jesus, because they strive for peace and justice, often find themselves in trouble with the powers of the world. Yet, we are never alone. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is with us and speaks through us. No matter who we may face or what our circumstances might be, we know that the Holy Spirit works through us. After all, it is God who has called and sent us in the first place. May we, as the Church whose head is Christ Jesus, continue to be mindful that we have been called as his disciples by the grace of God. May we remember that we are sent, filled with compassion, to “go out and make disciples,” boldly proclaiming the Good News of God’s kingdom in a broken world.

St. Gregory's Abbey in Shawnee, OK posted the following announcement on their Facebook page on 12 June. Highlights are mine: "Abbot Lawrence clothed Postulant Chien Ngo as a novice today, Friday, June 12, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. The clothing ceremony took place in the presence of the monastic community in the monastery Chapter Room. In keeping with ancient tradition, Abbot Lawrence conferred a new name as sign of the new way of life one assumes in the novitiate. Postulant Chien now is known as Brother Novice John Cassian. Born in Vietnam, Br. Nov. Cassian immigrated to the United States with his family when he was around ten years old. The family settled in the Dallas – Ft. Worth area, where he was living until beginning his time as a postulant at St. Gregorys. He holds a bachelors degree in Business Administration and for a time was a seminarian for the Diocese of Austin. The novitiate lasts one year. Novices experience an intense period of formation during the year, including courses on monastic spirituality, scripture, community history and personal development. They also engage in the daily liturgical prayer of the community, manual labor and other aspects of the fraternal life of the monastery. Br. Nov, Cassian joins Br. Nov. Sebastian and Br. Novice Isaac who are scheduled to complete their novitiate year at the beginning of September." This community had struggled with a lack of vocations and an aging group of monks. But then about fifteen years ago, they started getting a new monk just every now and then. Now, with the two novices about to profess first vows and the new novice, they have eight younger monks in a community of nineteen. So - praise God! - the community seems to be renewing itself.

I don't know how long ago she posted this blog, but here's Jen Fulwiler's take on the the event. https://www.facebook.com/reel/975534228658186

L2.6 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entre toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

Banned for feeding the system!

Most excellent! Let us know if there's anything we can do. Perhaps offer him a FREE subscription to Phatmass, where he can ask questions and get definitive answers from our excellent panel of experts!

supposedly he will start class in September and be Catholic at Easter.

Banned for taking 3 months to reply to the last ban.

Banned for thinking too little!

L2.5 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen (pour les ames au purgatoire: y inclus Troy)