Fr. Bob Keller, OP

This Friday reflection celebrates the Queenship of Mary, which falls one week after the Assumption, exploring how Mary represents the completion of Christ's mystery fulfilled in humanity. Fr. Bob begins with a brief sung prayer to the "Holy Queen" before explaining how Mary, as the most perfect one who offered herself completely to God's invitation, becomes the sign of completeness - as Mother of God, she is Queen of Heaven since Christ is King. The reflection then connects to the Gospel's question about the greatest commandment, noting how Jesus chose Deuteronomy 6 ("Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul") over the more obvious first commandment from Exodus. The speaker emphasizes a profound insight: what we are truly devoted to, what we genuinely love and believe in, is what we obey - love becomes the non-negotiable of our lives.

Today we hear the troubling story of Jephthah's vow from the Book of Judges and Jesus's parable of the wedding banquet, exploring our tendency to make bargains with God rather than seeking true conversion. Speaking from St. Catherine of Siena House in Grand Rapids on the memorial of Pope St. Pius X, Father Keller examines how Jephthah's tragic sacrifice of his daughter reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what God desires - God never wants human sacrifice but seeks our heart's conversion. The Gospel's wedding banquet parable reinforces this theme, showing how people reject God's invitation by prioritizing worldly concerns, and how even those who attend the banquet can be spiritually unprepared (symbolized by the man without a wedding garment). Father Keller warns that even faithful churchgoers can fall into the trap of trusting in their own works or worldly things rather than centering their lives in God.

God provided manna for the Israelites in the desert. What feeds our souls?

Today we celebrate the Feast of Mary Magdalen, who was the first to encounter the Risen Christ, and the first to preach his resurrection. Mary was searching for his corpse, but found him resurrected, transformed, and glorified, and she believed. Are we ready to let the Glorified Christ define himself for us, or do we hold on to our version of the earthly Jesus?

God called Abram and Sarai and gave them new names and a new land, so that they could become a blessing for all the communities on earth. This is our call as well. Do we have a blessing to offer others? Perhaps forgiveness?

When Paul related Jesus' words instituting the Eucharist, it was to remind a fractious community that this Sacrament calls us to come together as one Body in Christ. Do we still feel united by the Body and Blood of Christ? Do we care for one another, both physically and spiritually? May Jesus draw us into a closer unity.