Saturday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
I have the privilege of caring for my grandchildren on a regular basis. They know that whether they come to me with a drawing or run to me with a skinned knee, I will offer them love and support. We are called to turn and trust in God with the same childlike trust. As children of God, God provides us the grace to become a source of healing and goodness for the world.
Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels
Angel of God, My guardian dear,
To whom God’s love, Commits me here.
Ever this day, Be at my side
To light & guard, To rule & guide, Amen.
Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
I will never forget the first evening I spent with my first husband’s parents. I knew very well going into that evening that I was not even close to the sort of woman they hoped their son would marry.
My first husband was raised among some of the most conservative Mennonites in Ohio. To be more clear, these Mennonites were among those who worked hard to hold onto tradition rather than readily adopt more worldly ways. When other Mennonites built church infrastructures like conferences with paid conference ministers, these folks said no. They weren’t going to have conferences. They weren’t going to have conference ministers. They were going to stay focused on the local congregation. I am pretty sure that, like the Amish, they didn’t pay their local pastors. They dressed very plainly. For those unschooled in the intricacies of plain dress, it would be easy to confuse them with the Amish. Their children attended a two-room school house. None of my first husband’s cousins went to school beyond the eighth grade. My first husband did go to high school. But it was a high school held in the basement of a Holiness church. He graduated with 10 other students, if memory serves.
Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church
In 1976, a new Broadway musical debuted, based on the Gospel of Matthew, and entitled, Your Arms Too Short to Box with God: A Soaring Celebration in Song and Dance. The title of this production hearkens back to a story recounted by James Weldon Johnson (author and civil rights activist) in his novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Johnson tells of a fiery preacher named John Brown who thundered in one of his sermons, “Young man, yo’ arm's too short to box wid God!” This blunt and provocative statement must have rung a deep bass note for Johnson, as he uses it again in his poem “The Prodigal Son,” published as part of a collection in 1927. This exclamation vividly describes our smallness in the light of God’s indescribable vastness. We are too infinitesimal to comprehend God’s greatness. Not only are our arms too short, we cannot even come close to conceiving of this God who is so transcendently other! I think this phrase from Pastor Brown offers a fitting synopsis of our first reading from Job. It’s an invitation to fall prostrate before our great God in an attitude of abject humility. It’s an opportunity to practice coming before the Holy Trinity in awe and wonder, fear and reverence.
Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels
Scripture Readings
Perhaps no part of our Christian faith today is so extracted from its original Christian context as angels. Angels! We see them as statues, on stationery, and in books. Those who do very little to practice Christianity are often drawn to the cute little cherubs. Those who do practice Christianity often take very little notice of angels, other than accepting this sentimentalized and sanitized version of winged figures flitting about doing good.
Monday of the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I'm not sure if you noticed but a lot more can happen on social media than cute cat photos and silly memes. It can be a pretty hostile place. And that hostility can be supercharged because the entire nature of our communication on social media is performative. Our "in" crowd is on there and watching and we, consciously or unconsciously, are longing for their approval when we engage on social media. Part of me wants to chalk all of this up to being social media's problem. But it isn't. I concede the rules of the game have changed DRAMATICALLY because of social media's permanence, scope, performative nature, and propensity to fuel misinformation and conflict. However, a puddle of gas, no matter how great its potential for explosion, will remain inert until the spark is brought near it. Today's Gospel is a good reminder that we are carrying that spark.
Saturday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
The cooler temperatures and the slight hint of red in the trees indicate that fall is arriving. These changes remind me that the cold gray days of winter are not far away. The scripture readings today remind us that our lives transition through youth, to old age, and then to death- similar to the changes we see in the seasons. Although these transitions can be a source of fear and sorrow, Jesus shows us how to find refuge in God throughout our life, and to find resurrection even in death.
Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
With the Autumnal Equinox earlier this week, Fall is officially upon us in the Midwest. This change of seasons seems fitting with today’s reading from Ecclesiastes (3:1-11), “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every thing under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant….” Autumn is probably my favorite season, but it is tinged with a little sadness as I know we are leaving behind the long days and warmth of summer and heading into the sometimes harsh reality of winter, once again.
Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Herod was still curious about Jesus and kept trying to see him. God was knocking at his door again, but he does not see Jesus until he was brought before him for trial. He was hoping to finally witness one of his miracles. However, in this moment Jesus says nothing in response to Herod's questions. Herod has his troops mock Jesus and then sends him back to Pilate. He ultimately rejects God’s offering of grace.
Memorial of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest
God purposely created each of us; God desires that we each would live purposefully within the divine design. God created us toward a defined end – that we would offer our lives in praise of God’s glory, that we would love God with our whole being and love neighbor as ourselves, and that we would model our lives after Christ, preferring nothing to him. While none of us fully or perfectly attain this goal during our earthly lives, an authentic desire to live holy lives propels us toward this end. Self-absorption and earthly affections so easily get in the way. Today’s first reading from the Book of Proverbs stimulated my reflection on this topic and reminded me of the teaching of St Ignatius of Loyola and others around holy indifference. I pray that the wisdom of these saints might inspire us to live lives of balance and purpose.
Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
When I was a child, my dad gave me a small treat if I read one chapter of the book of Proverbs each day, for a month. Since it has 31 chapters, and since most are simply a collection of one-line proverbs like in today’s reading, this seemed pretty easy to me. I sometimes wonder at the huge effect of such a small action. While some proverbs are culturally conditioned and don’t make a lot of sense to us today, the great majority still ring true, because humanity is still the same fallen race we were nearly 3000 years ago when these were written. My dad recognized them for what they are; short, simple teaching tools about how people, relationships, and the world work. Recognizing them as true, we can live a life in greater peace with ourselves and others.
Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
I recently came across a little line on the internet that said one of Superman's most underappreciated powers is his ability to control his superhuman strength so as not to inadvertently harm those he interacts with. This strikes me as similar to the admonition St. Paul offers today. We need to have Superman-like restraint.
Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
“I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep everyone’s expectations.” These are the words that end a Calvin & Hobbes strip as Calvin gloats about the C his school work earned. His classmate, who earned an A, is understandably perplexed. As usual, the author of Calvin & Hobbes, Bill Watterson, uses this devious 6-year-old and his stuffed tiger to make us think. This particular statement brings to mind the burden of carrying other’s expectations. The flipside of this is expressed when we lower our own expectations in order to avoid the displeasure of disappointment. Both of these realities fly in the face of our first reading today.
Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Matt Maher wrote a song titled Christ is Risen and it is one of my favorites. And not just because it’s a great tune and I have an obsession with his music; I love the song because of the power of the lyrics. The entirety of our faith hinges on the resurrection of Jesus. We live our lives in the hope of the resurrection. The chorus reads:
Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
I didn’t know it at the time, but (at 14) I was attending a fundamentalist youth ministry. In keeping with the design of the ministry, I was focused on the various team competitions, upbeat rock Christian music, and self-help style messages. But all the while I was getting another message—unless you adhere to all of our rules (which trickled out slowly over time) you are not worthy of God’s love.
Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
If you’ve been to a wedding recently, our first scripture reading may sound very familiar. For Catholics and non-Catholic Christians, this text is a popular one for brides and grooms. While it does indeed serve as a great reminder for the newly married, we dare not let this scripture become romanticized or reduced to a sentimental reading on marital love. No, this passage functions as a powerful call to ground every Christ follower in the only thing that matters, love. At the close of this passage, St Paul maintains, “faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” St Thomas Aquinas would later describe this trinity of virtues as the Theological Virtues. Like the Corinthians, sometimes we wrongly prioritize our charisms, good works, prayer, or other religious pursuits above the core Theological Virtues, the most important of which is love/charity. Today, as we read the scriptures, let us allow God’s word to read us, to read our lives, as we invite the Holy Spirit to shine the light of revelation into our hearts and minds this day that we might grow in love.
Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
Over a decade ago, I lived in Scranton, Pennsylvania. On every Good Friday, the bishop would give the homily at the cathedral. He would always begin by saying (in a rather severe tone), “Today is the saddest day of the year.” There was something about that line that never sat well with me. I grew up praying the rosary—including the Sorrowful mysteries—as well as the Stations of the Cross and I never thought that I should be miserable doing so. I was, after all, praying with the Church, which exists precisely because of Christ’s resurrection. These prayers and liturgical actions only make sense in the context of the entire story of Jesus—we enter into His death knowing that He is risen! We die with Him, knowing that we too will rise with Him.
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Today is the Exaltation of the Cross. We're far from Good Friday and there are historical reasons for that, but it is also just good to be reminded of what Jesus accomplished on the wood of the Cross and that message permeates every part of today's liturgy.
Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
This year has been an unusual year for me (and many others I suspect) when it comes to gardening. Since I have been at home all summer, I have had greater opportunities to put more effort into tending my garden. This year because of the pandemic and our quarantine, I have been able to water daily, pull weeds regularly and do the other little things that support a healthy garden. Today’s scripture readings remind us that God creates us and calls us forth to bear good fruit, but we need to make choices that allow our faith to flourish and bring forth those fruits. We are also called to put down deep roots that develop from our trust of God. Without God’s presence to stabilize our lives, the trials and tribulations of this world will wash us away.
Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
One of the “occupational hazards” of my work and ministry is the risk of being a hypocrite. I also think it’s one of the blessings in disguise. As a counselor and spiritual director I have to be so aware, so careful of, in the words of today’s gospel parable, “noticing the splinter in my brother’s (or sister’s) eye,” while not perceiving the “wooden beam” in my own eye. The challenging thing is that without reflection we’re usually not aware of the wooden beam in our own eye. I once had a client who lived in a poverty-stricken area rife with crime and addiction ask me if I knew what it was like to walk from her front door, that probably wouldn’t even close properly, down to the street where her car was parked, that may or may not start when she needed it to. I was starkly reminded of the caution not to judge someone unless you’ve walked at least a mile in their shoes.