In Japan, it’s still common for parents to send their preschool age kids out into the world to run errands. Not only does it teach the younger generation how to be responsible and how to navigate the world, but it also teaches the community to be mindful of the most vulnerable among them.

As you will see in today’s reading, Jesus sends the Twelve on a similar type of errand. Although they took no money. And no note. They had something special that Jesus gave them to help them with their mission. Here's the story according to Matthew 10:1-8

You may not have caught this small but important shift that just happened here. In one sentence, the Twelve go from being called “disciples” to “apostles.”

You might be thinking, these are interchangeable names, right? Not really. One means “student.” And the other means “sent.” 

That’s to say a disciple is someone who is learning the disciplines of their craft, while an Apostle is someone who is sent to practice what they’ve learned.

We don’t know the exact number of people who are following Jesus, but these Twelve that Matthew names are singled out for a specific mission. They are the ones who have been with him the longest, and who’ve observed firsthand how the gospel comes alive. So, it makes sense that Jesus would choose to send these guys out on a test run.

Before they go, Jesus passes on some of his power so that they can heal people, cure every disease, and overcome any evil. This tells me that Jesus doubted their ability. And probably for good reason.

We sometimes forget these guys didn’t start out as spiritual gurus. They were just like you and me – full of faults and foibles. They had bad days and bad attitudes, lapses of faith, and bitter failures. They were ordinary, everyday people like you and me, who made mistakes and misstatements.

Jesus could have chosen the best and brightest from the rabbinical schools. Instead, he selected a group of slow learners who were untested and often spiritually dense.

Most of them were young and inexperienced. Some were unexceptional fishermen. One a fanatical Jewish Nationalist. Another, a despised tax collector. And yet, “With all their faults and character flaws,” writes John MacArthur, “they carried on Jesus’ ministry, leaving an indelible impact on the world.”

God bet the whole enchilada on these Twelve ordinary people. “There were no second string, or backup players. There was no Plan B if they failed.” God took a chance with them; revealing just how much faith God has in human beings. Talk about a risky endeavor.

During my interview for seminary, I was asked what my greatest fear was. I confessed it was my lack of biblical and doctrinal knowledge. The woman interviewing me smiled and said, “Perfect. You’ll have less garbage to deconstruct.” 

Four years later, before I had mastered anything, I was handed a diploma. The very next day, on Father’s Day, I was ordained and sent out to share the gospel.

I am here today because of this Holy Spirit Jesus first gave to these twelve ordinary people who didn’t have the luxury of seminary. Or time for that matter.

From his baptism to his resurrection, Jesus’ entire ministry was roughly three years. The disciples training was barely half of that.

In less than 18 months, Jesus taught and trained these ordinary men for the monumental task of ushering in the kingdom of heaven. With nothing more than the Holy Spirit, Jesus sent them to proclaim the gospel by being the living examples of it. (MacArthur)

Matthew’s passage assures us that one doesn’t need a seminary degree, or to have extensive knowledge in church history, doctrines, or creeds to be useful to God.

You just have to be willing to follow Christ. Which means you have to be willing to be sent by the Christ to live out the gospel like he did.

So here’s the thing, if Discipleship is about learning God’s divine love, Apostleship is how we express that love in all the ways we engage and serve the other.

The Twelve weren’t saints, or scholars, or even religious sages. They are merely a perfect example of what God can accomplish in any one of us.

So, we can’t forget it’s not our power or ability that does anything. It’s all God.

Jesus left us the Holy Spirit to be here among us and in us, working and loving others through us. God does all the heavy lifting. We just have to be willing to go where God’s love and mercy is needed.

By following the way of Christ, we can make a difference in the world. We can help heal a broken people, and renounce evil as we know it, if we are willing to go.

As kids we’re sent to school and summer camp (or the liquor store). When we grow up, we’re sent to college, to work, which for some of us could mean getting sent to new cities and new communities.

We are always being sent somewhere between this space and that one. This tells me we’re always given opportunities to proclaim the good news - the kingdom of heaven has come near.

Anamesa is that space in this heavenly kingdom that space between where you are now and where you are going where real needs are met. Jesus sends us there because he knows that’s where God needs us to bear the good fruit of the Spirit.

Jesus sends us there because he knows there will always be someone who is hungry and thirsty – be it physical or spiritual.

Jesus sends us there because he knows there will always be someone who is suffering from injustice or hurting from inequality.

Jesus sends us because there are those who are poor, and marginalized and ostracized.

Jesus sends us into Anamesa to love those who have none; to forgive those who need our forgiveness; to show mercy and grace to anyone who asks. This is what it means to follow him. To be like him.

We might see ourselves as disciples, as students learning about the kingdom of heaven. But Jesus is calling us to be Apostles, to go and proclaim the good news by being visible agents of God’s love through works of charity and mercy. 

Love is our purpose. Love is our mission. Love is the bridge between heaven and earth that connects us to God. And God to us. Christ sends us to continue his mission of love. How long that takes isn’t the point.

Love is a day-by-day job that starts now. And then starts over again tomorrow. And the next day and so on.

So let us go, boldly and confidently, into Anamesa proclaiming the good news of God’s redemptive love by being the good news, sharing God’s love everywhere we go. 



Work Cited
Adopted from A Dirty Dozen of Sorts from June 14, 2020.
Bartlett, David L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word Year A, Vol. 3 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011).
MacArthur, John. Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples For Greatness And What He Want To Do With You. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2002).
Samuel, Joshua. Discipleship and Mission. June 12, 2023 (accessed on June 18, 2023).

We’ve been amazed to see how people are engaging, forming friendships organically online. Without any prompting from us, people who once strangers began sharing their hearts; connecting in the text streams and praying and supporting one another beyond church service.
 
This is how the Holy Spirit works to make the gospel come alive; transcending time and space to bring us closer to God. And God closer to us. Which tells me if you want to get close to God, a good place to start is by getting closer with each other.
 
Jesus was notorious for getting up close and personal with people. He always looked for the divine image in everyone; especially those society overlooked, rejected, or ignored. The gospels are full of stories about Jesus hanging out with the “wrong kind of people.” Like we’ll see in Matthew 9:9-13, he often does so in the most intimate of ways. 

Jesus spent a lot of time practicing and participating in table fellowship. That is, he sat around the dinner table talking about the kingdom of God and showing us how to make it come alive.
 
Now, dinner parties were different back then. People didn’t sit on chairs around a long table. They reclined on the floor, close together on big pillows. There weren't tablecloths, fine china, or silverware. People simply ate with their fingers from bowls that were being passed around.
 
It was an intimate affair to say the least. One where elbows touched, and backs leaned into one another. Because of your proximity, who you sat next to was important. For example, a wine merchant would want to sit next to someone who owned a vineyard or a fleet of boats so they could talk shop, make secret deals, and so on.
 
For a religious leader like Jesus, you certainly wouldn’t sit next to someone like Matthew, a tax collector because in those days houses were open air, meaning anyone walking by could see in.

​Like the Pharisees, who where looking in and judging the situation. They knew no Jew worth his salt would be caught dead sharing a meal with a group like this one.
 
And yet, this is where we find Jesus.

By eating with those considered outcasts or morally compromised, Jesus brings God within reach; making God’s love available to all, regardless of their social status or perceived sin.

​By this public gesture Jesus makes his ministry know - that he came to bring salvation to all. No matter who you are, or what you’ve done, no one is beyond the reach of God's love, grace and redemption.
 
But the Pharisees don’t like that idea. They, much like the Religious Right, wanted to keep God exclusively to themselves. In what will become a frequent question, they ask his disciples why their teacher eats with sinners.
 
Hearing this, Jesus responds with scripture, something the Pharisees would have known well. Quoting from the prophet Hosea, Jesus answers them, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” In other words, what matters most to God is how you treat one another and not the rituals you keep. It’s about offering mercy and compassion rather than judgment. ​

 
As followers of Jesus, we are challenged to embrace a spirit of inclusivity. One that honors and accepts the inherent value of every human being. After all, if scripture is to be trusted, we are all made in the image of God. Which tells me God is as close to us as we are to one another.
 
If we want to know God, or feel God’s presence, then we need to get to know one another a little better.
 
A few years ago, I was looking for something to help me get out of a rut I was in. So, I challenged myself to meet 30 strangers in 30 days. I called it KNOWvember. Since I began that journey, I’ve met hundreds of people from all over the world. And I’ve discovered we have more in common with each other than not.
 
We’re all hurting in one form or another. We’re all looking for community and a place to belong. We’d like to see more peace and kindness, have less stress and more time to be with the people we love. We are all different. And yet, we are all the same. From unconditional love God made us all.
 
Jesus knows that getting close to people is not only the way to find the divine in all situations, but it is also the way to real transformation, of individuals and communities. There is great power in being close to God and others.
 
In his book, Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson writes about the transformative power of proximity. Working with a man on death row, Stevenson discovered, “If you are willing to get closer to people who are suffering, you will find the power to change the world.”  
 
When we share proximity, we begin to understand each other’s complexity. As Stevenson learned firsthand, the closer we are to the other, the harder it gets to ignore their pain or the systems of injustice that have caused it.

This is exactly how Jesus began to transform the people who came to him. He got up close and personal with their lives. He made their story his own.
 
By eating with folks who have been judged and written off as “no good,” Jesus makes the kingdom of God come to life in real time.

As Jazzy Bostock writes, “by hanging out with the marginalized, Jesus shows us where the gospel is most alive – where God is most needed.”Like Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, right?”
 
When we see people who are different than us we must remember that in Jesus, God comes right up next to us…just to be in relationship with us. And it’s “from a place of relationship, we are made into the new creation that God wishes for us – changed into something more closely resembling true love.”
 
To know God’s love requires a certain closeness to God. A distance that can be measured by the proximity of the person next to you, in front of you or behind you.
 
It doesn’t matter if we do church in person or online. The gospel isn’t lived out in a box, with rituals or traditions. It’s lived out in the world, in all the ways we offer love, mercy, and compassion to one another, just as Jesus did.
 
When we can get up close and personal with to those who think, vote, worship, or look different from us, judgment falls away, and healing and reconciling and transformation begin to take shape. 
 
When we see the image of God in all people, we are less incline to harm them; peace can prevail.
 
When we live into our own divine image, like Jesus did, then others can come to know the glory of God’s redeeming love.
 
So, as we leave here today, remember that Jesus taught us to look beyond superficial labels and stereotypes, and to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of every human being, no matter what.
 
This might mean we have to confront hard truths about ourselves and our communities. It might mean feeling deeply uncomfortable; going to places we haven’t been to before. It might require us to be a community that challenge the social norms by welcoming everyone.
 
To follow Jesus, as Matthew did, is to be filled with his compassion and his mercy – a power more compelling than some external sacrifice, or adherence to some empty religious ritual. Compassion begins within us, but it’s not meant to stay here with us.
 
We must “always seek to be in relationship with others,” writes Richard Rohr, “finding little ways to love and serve others, especially those who are sick or poor and cannot pay anything back. Our hearts have been given to us so that they may be handed on. This is how we will begin to know ourselves inside this mystery called Love.”
 
So, let me say it one last time. If you want to get close to God, a great place to start is right here, with one another.
 

 
 
Work Cited
Bostock, Jazzy. Proximate. June 5, 2023 (accessed on June 9, 2023).
Rohr, Richard. A Spring within Us: A Book of Daily Meditations (Albuquerque, NM: CAC Publishing, 2016).
Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2014).
​Whitley, Katerina Katsarka. The Lectionary Today. June 8, 2008 (accessed on June 9, 2023).

I ran into a friend in the park the other day. While our dogs did dog things, she and I enjoyed some wonderful conversation. This friend, who I will call B because that’s the letter her name starts with, always has interesting questions and topics to discuss.
 
This day, B tells me, “I’ve been talking to God again.” Intrigued, I asked, “About what?” 
 
She told me her conversations covered “a lot of everything.” But before I could dig out any one thing in particular, B looked beyond me and the dogs, and just sort of whispered into the wind, “I told God, not yet. I don’t know if I am ready to trust you.”  
 
Her confession hung in space for a moment before she shifted her focus back to me, hoping I had the answer. But how do you convince someone to trust God? All I could say was, “God isn’t forcing you to decide. God is just standing here, vulnerable like we are, waiting for us to say ‘Yes.’”
 
I can see why B was nervous. Look what happened to Noah when he said yes to God. Same thing with Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and Mary. God used them in ways they never thought possible about themselves. Same is true when Rev. Dawn, Rev. Bob, Pastor Carol, and I said all said “Yes” to God.
 
Yet, it wasn’t our yes that got us to where we are today, but God who first said yes to us.  “As surely as God is faithful, our word to you is not “Yes and No.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, was not “Yes and No,” but … in him every one of God’s promises is a “Yes…”  (1 Cor. 1:18-20)
 
Trusting God begins first by agreeing to trust. And a simple yes, is all it takes to begin your spiritual journey.

Theologian Elizabeth Johnson (born 1941) explores what each person in the Trinity offers to us in our experience of the world and why it matters. This is an excerpt from a daily devotional from the Center For Action and Contemplation on June 8, 2023.

God is God as Spirit-Sophia, the mobile, pure, people-loving Spirit who pervades every wretched corner, wailing at the waste, releasing power that enables fresh starts. Her energy quickens the earth to life, her beauty shines in the stars, her strength breaks forth in every fragment of shalom and renewal…. From generation to generation she enters into holy souls, and not so holy ones, to make them friends of God and prophets, thereby making human beings allies of God’s redeeming purpose. What we can say is this: Sophia-God dwells in the world at its center and at its edges, an active vitality crying out in labor, birthing the new creation. Fire, wind, water, and the color purple are her signs.

God is God again as Jesus Christ, Sophia’s child and prophet, and yes, Sophia herself personally pitching her tent in the flesh of humanity to teach the paths of justice. The shape of the historical life of this crucified prophet, risen from the dead, reveals the shape of Holy Wisdom’s love for the world. It is a love that enters in and takes part, that revels at the feasting of outcasts in inclusive table community…. What we can say is this: Sophia-God is irreversibly connected with the joy and anguish of human history, in the flesh; in the power of Spirit-Sophia Jesus now takes on a new communal identity as the risen Christ, the body of all those women and men who share in the transformation of the world through compassionate, delighting, and suffering love. In solidarity with his memory and empowered by the same Spirit, the little flock is configured into a sacrament of the world’s salvation, empowered to shape communities of freedom and solidarity.

God is God again as unimaginable abyss of livingness…. Without this still-point of the turning world there would be no dance, and there is only the dance; without this silence there would be no music or word, which is where she can be heard; without this eclipse the rays of her fiery spirit would consume the world. What we can say is this: Holy Wisdom is a hidden God, absolute holy mystery. And this is an absolutely holy mystery of love, bent on the world’s healing and liberation through all of history’s reversals and defeats.


Work Cited:
Elizabeth A. Johnson, She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse, 10th anniv. ed. (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2002), 213–214.

Theologian Elizabeth Johnson (born 1941) explores what each person in the Trinity offers to us in our experience of the world and why it matters. This is from a daily devotional from the Center of Action and Contemplation on June 8, 2023.

she writes:
God is God as Spirit-Sophia, the mobile, pure, people-loving Spirit who pervades every wretched corner, wailing at the waste, releasing power that enables fresh starts. Her energy quickens the earth to life, her beauty shines in the stars, her strength breaks forth in every fragment of shalom and renewal…. From generation to generation she enters into holy souls, and not so holy ones, to make them friends of God and prophets, thereby making human beings allies of God’s redeeming purpose. What we can say is this: Sophia-God dwells in the world at its center and at its edges, an active vitality crying out in labor, birthing the new creation. Fire, wind, water, and the color purple are her signs.

God is God again as Jesus Christ, Sophia’s child and prophet, and yes, Sophia herself personally pitching her tent in the flesh of humanity to teach the paths of justice. The shape of the historical life of this crucified prophet, risen from the dead, reveals the shape of Holy Wisdom’s love for the world. It is a love that enters in and takes part, that revels at the feasting of outcasts in inclusive table community…. What we can say is this: Sophia-God is irreversibly connected with the joy and anguish of human history, in the flesh; in the power of Spirit-Sophia Jesus now takes on a new communal identity as the risen Christ, the body of all those women and men who share in the transformation of the world through compassionate, delighting, and suffering love. In solidarity with his memory and empowered by the same Spirit, the little flock is configured into a sacrament of the world’s salvation, empowered to shape communities of freedom and solidarity.
​
God is God again as unimaginable abyss of livingness…. Without this still-point of the turning world there would be no dance, and there is only the dance; without this silence there would be no music or word, which is where she can be heard; without this eclipse the rays of her fiery spirit would consume the world. What we can say is this: Holy Wisdom is a hidden God, absolute holy mystery. And this is an absolutely holy mystery of love, bent on the world’s healing and liberation through all of history’s reversals and defeats.




Elizabeth A. Johnson, She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse, 10th anniv. ed. (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2002), 213–214.

I still believe in the incarnation, because that makes sense. As Richard Rohr put it, "God loves things by becoming them." I get that. As for the rest...I fear we might be overblowing it a bit in order to explain things that aren't really a part of the whole God loving and becoming one with us.

Love is a gift. But it's a gift that is both given and received. We can give it just as much as we can receive it. They are one in the same. God gave us a great gift, eternal and steadfast love that is both unconditional and freely given. We can accept it if we want it. Or not. But if we do accept it, then we have to share it in all the ways we show love to one another.  Part of that is serving others. We do not do this to appease God. We do this to please others so that they will receive the gift of love and pay it forward. 

Like the greatest Muhammad Ali is quoted as saying, "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." I would challenge you to give at least one hour a week of service to a local food pantry or shelter, perhaps a non-profit charity or a local religious organization. But to do so anonymously. Like Jesus told his students, "Don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing." 

As church began, there was a feeling in my gut that was telling me to go be with my family. But of course, I ignored that holy prompt to be with my church family. Which, apparently, was the wrong decision. The Holy Spirit, who does not do subtle hints very well, just straight up shut off my phone and sent me back to the ICU.
 
It became clear to me that I was being sent to be the church by my father’s bedside instead of “playing church” in my father’s car in the parking lot. This is what the Holy Spirit does - she awakens us, empowers us, and moves us into place. Throughout Eastertide, we studied some of the different ways this went down with the Apostles in the book of Acts.
 
But today, as we move into the season of Pentecost, we meet the Holy Spirit who comes to us in the most ordinary and everyday way.​

“To span the infinite gap between Divine and human, God plants a little bit of God—the Holy Spirit—right inside us.” As we see here in John’s gospel, that same little bit of God implanted in Jesus, is now a part of his followers all because Jesus breathed on them. (Rohr)
 
Last week I prepared this really cool illustration for Pentecost to demonstrate how the Holy Spirit breathed life into what we now call the Church.

In hindsight, I understand why that did not happen. This illustration works better with today’s reading. Again, that’s how the Holy Spirit works. To quote U2, “She moves in mysterious ways.”

God's Spirit is always a few steps ahead of us, always guiding us to where to go.
 
This is a balloon. But without air it’s really nothing more than a floppy, lifeless piece of rubber. Much like how life was with the disciples before Jesus came and inflated their weary souls with the Holy Spirit. They had been completely deflated by fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

They felt hopeless, lifeless, and isolated. And they locked themselves away, hiding in a house too afraid to be seen in public. Then a very resurrected Jesus comes in and breathes into them. It’s not just any breath, it’s God’s Breath. The breath of life.
 
(Blowing up balloon) When I fill the balloon up with air, notice what it does. It takes on a new shape and expands in all directions. It quickly becomes what it was created to be - something that brings joy and elation into the world.
 
Something similar happens with the disciples when Jesus filled their emptiness with divine power. They are inflated, stretched, and lifted to new heights. Like the balloon, the disciples become what they were meant to be: inheritors of Jesus’ breath.
 
But here’s the difference. Unlike a balloon, we humans can’t hold our breath forever. Eventually we have to let it out. Just as we breath in the Spirit of God, so too must we breathe it out.

Jesus comes and breathes the Holy Spirit in them as if to say, “Here. Take the life and power that was given to me and use it to do what I have done to you.”
 
Although John’s Pentecost story seems to be different than the ones we read in Acts last week, the message is still the same. God comes to us, breathes life into us, and sends us out to live the gospel.

This is what happened on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit rushed through the house like a holy hurricane. Those who inhaled God’s Spirit, immediately went out to share the good news.
 
The same thing happened to Jesus when the Spirit descended upon him like a dove at his baptism. First, he was sent into the wilderness, and then sent to the people of Israel.

​The Holy Spirit is constantly on the move, always taking us along for the ride. Having accepted the Spirit from Jesus, the disciples take a part of him out into the world to love God, love others and serve both.

Since the very beginning of creation “God has been trying to give away God. Jesus shows us that the gift is free and totally available, as available as our breath.” (Rohr)
 
Whatever you’re facing today, the struggles of life, or the pain of being human you are just a breath away from the healing power of Jesus. That’s how close we are to God, whose Spirit is in us, moving throughout the spaces between us.
 
The same Spirit that hovered over the dark in Genesis and breathed God’s love into creation is the same Spirit that continues to hover and moves around all of life; breathing love into every living thing. Including you and me!
 
We are made out of God’s Holy Love. It’s our divine DNA! But don’t take my word for it. In his letter to the Roman churches, Paul boldly declared, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).

We did not buy it, or download it, or steal it. It is given freely to us simply because God loves us. We are made from love, for love. It’s who we are. And what we are to be.

We take our first breath when we enter this world and give up our last one when we leave it. But what matters most in this life, is what we do with all the other breaths we’re given. How will we live into who God made us to be in the space between those two life markers?
 
Anamesa is that sacred and holy space between you and me where we are given an endless number of chances to make God’s love grow in us and through us and all around us.

​I think this is why Jesus taught us not to worry about our past or future. He always directs our focus on the present, the here and now. Jesus knows this is where our love and attention is needed because this is where trouble is happening in real time.
 
Every day, and every breath we breathe is a chance to bear the good fruits of God’s Spirit. According to Paul, those fruits are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
 
It should not surprise us that Paul puts love first. Because, as Leonardo Boff points out, “nothing shows the presence of the spirit in human life as well as love does.”  

This is what being a church is all about. Our purpose, our mission and ministry in life, is to make God’s unconditional, life-giving, love our greatest priority. There is no better way to proclaim the gospel than to be a people who make love a thing that’s as common as breathing.
 
With the Spirit of God’s love, ordinary people like you and me can do extraordinary things - like forgive those who hurt us, be kind to those who hate us, or simply cross the road and tend to the wounds of those who need us.

Each breath we take is a reminder that God has invited us to partake in this Divine life, right here, right now.
 
God has entrusted us to honor and share the Spirit of love so peace, justice and equality can become a visible and tangible reality for all. We can use our holy breath to share the fruits of kindness and gentleness. But we can’t use it to produce hate. That is not God.
 
We can allow the spirit to move through us, to build communities where all people are accepted and honored. Or we can ignore the Spirit and put ourselves first. But when we ignore or reject God’s Spirit, we also ignore and reject God’s Son.
 
Pentecost is our reminder that we are not simply called to know Jesus or merely study his words; we are sent out into the world to live and breathe the Spirit of Jesus, the very power within us that moves us to live out his Way of Love. For it’s in the many ways we love one another, that the world will know we belong to him (John 13:35).
 
As a part of his divine body, we are also his holy breath, his sacred heart, his open hands. Like the balloon filled with the divine presence of God, may the divine love of Jesus expand in you.

May he fill you and help you rise above your limitations, and may he forever empower you to carry the life-giving breath of Christ into every space you find yourself in.



 
WORK CITED:
Boff, Leonardo. Come Holy Spirit: Inner Fire, Giver of Life, and Comforter of the Poor, trans. Margaret Wilde (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2015).
Rohr, Richard. “Pentecost Sunday: The Divine Sparkplug,” homily, May 15, 2016.  
Rohr, Richard.  Essential Teachings on Love, selected by Joelle Chase and Judy Traeger (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2018)