I am just a simple country deacon.
My thoughts are simple.
My faith… is simple.
In prayer… and in reflection… I think about God.
I think about Him at the kitchen table—
with a cup of coffee in my hand.
I think about Him while working in the yard…
while tilling the garden…
while watching the seasons turn.
I think about Him as I carry the Eucharist into the nursing home…
and into the quiet rooms of the elderly who can no longer come to Mass.
Being a simple soul… is seeing God in all things.
And I want to find Christ in all that I do.
I wish I could do more—
but I trust that even the smallest act, done in love,
is seen by Him.
Faith does not have to be complicated.
We don’t have to solve the great mysteries of the universe.
We don’t have to untangle every question of theology.
We can begin with the simple mysteries—
the ones we come upon every day.
The mystery of a sunrise.
The mystery of a shared meal.
The mystery of a hand held in prayer.
No matter how deep our experience of God is,
we are always just beginning to know the Lord.
Thinking about God is fascinating.
It can draw us into conversation with prophets and poets…
saints and seekers…
voices from across centuries and cultures.
But it also reveals—and exposes—the false gods of every age:
money… power… fame… pleasure…
even the worship of self.
And here’s the danger:
the god we construct in our own minds
is often only a reflection of ourselves.
We create gods… in our own image.
That is why I choose faith—
not in a god of my own making—
but in the God revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Faith is not the end of thinking—
it is the beginning of seeing.
It is the lens through which meaning comes into focus…
and the wellspring from which love flows into action.
Jesus, unlike the philosophers, left no written treatise.
His life was His teaching.
And His disciples—ordinary men and women—
simply told His story.
Saint Paul warns Timothy:
*We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.*
The love of money… the hunger for status…
these are traps that pierce the soul.
Instead—pursue righteousness… devotion… faith… love… patience… gentleness.
This is the race worth running.
This is the treasure that cannot be lost.
The psalmist sings: *Blessed the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs.*
Not the self-sufficient… not the self-made…
but the ones who know their need for God—
who travel light… because they are carried by grace.
And in the Gospel, we see Jesus on the road—
proclaiming the Kingdom—
surrounded not only by the Twelve,
but by women whose lives He had healed:
Mary Magdalene… Joanna… Susanna…
disciples who gave from their own resources to make His mission possible.
The Kingdom advances not through wealth or power…
but through lives poured out in love.
PRAY
Lord Jesus Christ…
keep my faith simple.
Help me to see You in the small things.
Form in me the mind of Christ.
Let my life—not just my words—tell Your story.
And when the race is done…
may I be found holding fast to the only treasure worth keeping—
Your eternal life… given for the world.
Amen.
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