Real Life Christianity with Deacon John Lozano

In this Sunday Homily Deacon John looks at vulnerability, God's enjoyment, and the highest expression of Love. Let's first consider how often we attach a "But" to love... "I love you BUT"... "He/She loves me BUT". From this consideration we can begin to see the gulf between conditional love and unconditional love.   

How do we encounter the risen Jesus today? The story on the road to Emmaus unlocks three ways. 

"Checking out" or "Stepping back" How strong and often is the desire to do this with following God? Especially when you do not feel God's presence?

Jesus loved Judas, in doing so he allowed his heart to suffer because he allowed himself to love. The suffering of the human heart is the deepest of all sufferings.

A reading to the early Christians who faced deadly persecution. This community, with God in them, found themselves doing infinitely more than they or we could imagine.       

Deacon John gives us a practical guide to gaining spiritual sight. 

Jesus is not always nice. Some portraits of Jesus have him with fair skin, shampooed hair and an emotionless expression. But in the gospels at times he is insulting, particularly against religious leaders. 

There are healthy and unhealthy expectations. The Christian life calls us to a healthy and practical expectation of things that are coming to us all whether we want them to or not.  Good things and challenging things come to us. God's love and grace comes to us. It is best to be found awake, rather than asleep, when it all comes. 

In this story, religious scholars test Jesus, try to out think him, trap him and play mind games with him.  

God waits, chooses, and calls people to himself. Often, unremarkable people are chosen. These people are the actual building materials of his kingdom. Who are they? 

Join Lou Tilley as we get a personal look at Deacon John's faith and life.

A day in the life of Jesus... The people try to "keep" Jesus and why this can not work. 

Look with the eyes that want to see him. Deacon John shares a personal story about one of his earliest encounters with the Holy Spirit.  

Sometimes we feel inadequate, that we don't have enough for what is asked of us. The practical response is to send off these requests of ourselves. After all, we actually ARE inadequate to give sometimes.  What and how does God gives to us and what does God want to gives through us?  

Join Lou Tilley as we get another personal look at Deacon John's faith and life.

Grace is not controlled by us but we can walk and wait upon it. We receive in a variety of ways, sometimes, dramatically. 

How do we literally exist before anyone knows? 

The bible's primacy of grace. When is it we or God who pursues and seeks?  Is it possible that the best prayer is when we're not doing the praying?

An acquaintance of Deacon John was sentenced to a long prison term for a terrible crime. In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 25 Jesus tells us where to find him, in the distressing disguise of the poor. In this story, Deacon John goes to his most distressing setting for ministry... prison. 

In this passage in the gospel of Luke, Jesus is asked how to pray. Deacon John walks us through an exercise that uses our imagination to put us in this Gospel scene. 

Explore the dual nature of what is coming. How we are to receive it and how bad it is to miss it.  

Making sense of the greatest commandment  

Jesus is for one thing: ALL IN. 

"This is getting the best of me" ...This is a common statement Deacon John has encountered in 2020.  In 2020, how is God revealed to us as that which does not change nor is contingent on the times or any other being? Rather, God is revealed as being itself.  St Teresa of Avila, "Let nothing disturb you, let nothing make you afraid, all things are passing. God alone never changes. Patience gains al...

"Life is ______" How would you answer this question? The true story of a child's honest answer demands that we find a solution to one of life's fundamental challenges.