Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
I have become more interested in birds and birdwatching over the past several years. In fact, a favorite gift from my husband last year was a pair of birdwatching binoculars. In addition to keeping our bird feeder full, and maintaining flowering plants that attract hummingbirds in the summer, we are fortunate to have many trees in and near our yard that bring a variety of birds. As you can imagine, it's most exciting when we spot or hear a less common bird. Our gospel reading today, however, refers to a fairly common bird - the sparrow.
Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
In both readings today, the wisdom of God is mentioned. God’s wisdom is unlike human wisdom, since God does not grow in wisdom, but God’s wisdom emanates from infinite love and mercy. God desires to share this wisdom with us, and reveals the fullness of this wisdom through Jesus. How can we seek and find God’s wisdom in our lives?
Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
We are made in the image and likeness of God; our whole being is made in God’s image - the clay/earthiness of our flesh and spirit in unity (Gen 1:27). God’s ruah, breath or spirit, breathes us into life (Gen 2:7). And we know, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). When we celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation, we remember that we are made in the image and likeness of God, breathed into life by the very breath of God, and that God became human that we become more like the One in whose image we are made. The life of discipleship is a life following Christ, learning and practicing once again to breathe with the Spirit of God, letting the Spirit of God animate our whole self, spirit and flesh, that we might become more Christlike.
Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Before I met my husband and married him, I remember my mom worrying that I was trying too hard to make people like me. "Love has to just flow," she'd tell me. And in trying too hard, I'd try to be someone I wasn't - and the potential suitor would be pushed away by my inauthenticity. It happened a couple times before I realized I really did have to "be myself". (Harder to do than it is to say!)
Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
The image Jesus offers today is the sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29). He tells the crowds, “It is an easy and adulterous generation that demands a sign” (Luke 11:29), and then warns that the only sign he will give is the sign of Jonah.
Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
It has been a standing joke in our family that when someone asks what I want for my birthday, I respond by saying, ”I just want everyone to get along and be happy.” Everyone usually just laughs at my response, since this seems like an implausible goal. I think that this desire for peace and unity comes from deep within. God has created all and draws all to be one in Christ as St. Paul mentions in his letter to the Galatians. The readings today offer some insights on the ways we might begin to move towards this remarkable experience of harmony and peace.
Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today is the feast of one of our newer saints, John Henry Newman, canonized in 2019 by Pope Francis. Even more recently—on November 1 of last year—he was named a Doctor (Teacher) of the Church by Pope Leo. So what can we learn from our newly designated Teacher?
Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
The plea from the disciples today, “Lord, teach us to pray,” is a plea that continues through desert mothers and fathers, the medieval mystics, through today. As we near the feast of the spiritual master, St. Teresa of Avila, doctor of the Church, on Oct 15, let’s contemplate how her words and wisdom illuminate Jesus' teaching on prayer.
Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
What a passage! What drove Paul to call the Galatians “stupid,” not once but twice? These are hard words given the importance of this letter and the Churches that made up the Galatian province. It was the Magna Carta of the early Jesus believers and Martin Luther’s favorite — masthead of the Reformation, of which Luther said, “This epistle is my epistle. To it I was, as it were, wedlocked.” It may be the oldest writing in the New Testament, although that is debated, and possibly the only letter written by Paul’s own hand. So why “stupid?”
Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Gospel story of Jesus visiting his dear friends Martha and Mary poses several age-old challenges in relationship dynamics and showing hospitality. How much energy do we give to providing for the physical wellbeing of another - through our welcome and providing a welcoming ambiance, food and drink? Alternatively, when is it most important to express our love and care by simply ‘being with’ the other by listening, fully being present and responding in conversation? Of course, good hospitality and friendship requires both. The challenge is to do either of the roles portrayed by Martha and Mary with kindness, graciousness and presence. Both are important ways of showing our love. In my experiences of living in community, being part of a family and working on teams, I can so identify with Martha’s frustration when she wasn’t feeling supported in the work she saw needed to be done. And I too sometimes make the mistake of complaining to a third person to address what I see as a problem, rather than directly inviting someone to help, or adjusting my expectations to focus on what is most important for the group at the moment. How I serve is as important as getting the tasks done. Jesus reminds Martha and each of us, that the quality of our listening and presence is vital. The image of Mary listening so attentively to Jesus, is a model for our prayer. The busier Jesus was, the more he took time out in a lonely place to pray and listen to his Father. We too are invited to a prayer of the heart - one of deep listening presence. We can be assured this time spent with Jesus will refresh and re-energize us for accomplishing the active work of our minds and hands that God sees as the priority. The beautiful Psalm 139 text of today reminds us of our God who loves and cares intimately for us through it all. We can be sure of God’s guiding presence with us.
-Sr. Leanne M Jablonski, FMI
Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
“I am amazed that you have so quickly forsaken the one who called you by the grace of Christ for a different Gospel” (Galatians 1:6).
So Paul writes to his foundling community in Galatia. Truths divergent from the ones Paul preached reared their ugly heads among neophyte believers there. This confused and unsettled those new converts. Paul’s concern in the early 50s can be applicable to many false gospels making the scene over two millennia since. One such is today’s abhorrent “prosperity gospel.” Another, and a far more common one, is a more divergent gospel than the prosperity travesty, as we will see.
Saturday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
All week we have been hearing the familiar story of Job—the one who loses everything and calls upon God for answers. God’s answer to Job is a three chapter long assertion of His power over everything, which illustrates how God’s ways are not the ways of humans. In today’s first reading we see Job’s response to God’s speech. Let us note the profound humility with which Job responds to God. Confronted with the utter majesty of God, Job realizes that he does not know and cannot do all that God knows and does, therefore he respectfully withdraws his challenges to God (Jb 42:2-6). Job recognizes his ultimate dependence upon God for everything, even his very being.
Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels
There are many references to angels in the Bible: some as messengers, some as guides, others as guardians and protectors. In some cases, the person encountering the angel knows it is an angel, while in other cases the angel appears as a human being and is not recognized for what they really are. You may recall the verse from Hebrews (13:2), “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.” Or the more popular translation, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
I recently had the privilege of participating in the synod that our archdiocese is sponsoring. It was a wonderful morning sharing with people from various parishes about how the Spirit is moving within our community. The importance of community, desiring a deepening of our faith, being patient with the slow process of change, and taking our faith into the world were all aspects of our discussion that are confirmed in today’s reading.
Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church
My dad is a farmer who really values straight rows. The window in my parents' bedroom in our old farmhouse overlooked his brother’s field and some seasons, his brother’s crooked rows taunted my dad! In the gospel today, Jesus invites us to straight rows in our plowing and presumably in our planting the seeds of the Kingdom of God.
Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels
Today’s readings include mentions of angels, but they are generic references. A number of years ago, I happened to be on an 8-day silent retreat at a Jesuit Retreat House on this feast. That gave me plenty of time to explore all the bible passages and stories of these three Holy Ones. It was a wonderful exploration, that I comment to you as well. As a Marianist, I am more familiar with the most famous appearances of Gabriel (“God is my strength”), in the Gospel of Luke (Chap. 1) first to Zechariah and then to Mary. To Zechariah, the Angel says “I am Gabriel… and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news.” To Mary, his first word is “Rejoice!” and tells her she is favored in God’s sight. Would that we would listen for this voice and gain strength to follow our call in the assurance that God also favors us and sends us messages of Good News! Michael (“Who is like God?”) appears in a vision of Daniel’s call and again in the book of Revelation as the one who “comes to the assistance” of those who are in need. In Revelation, he comes to defend the Woman who has given birth in the face of the dragon who wanted to devour her child (Rev. 12). We often pray to St. Michael “to be our protection,” recognizing that we can get caught in the troubles and even the evil of the world around us. Raphael (God heals) is presented to us in the Book of Tobit, who, in disguise, guides Tobit’s son Tobias on a long and sometimes perilous journey to find his wife Sarah and to learn ways of healing that allow Tobias to return and heal his father’s blindness. Only afterwards, when Tobit and Tobias are trying to express profound thanks to the Guide and wondering how to repay him, does Raphael reveal his true nature saying, “My presence was by the will of God and God is the one whom you must bless as long as you live.” So too for us, the challenge to recognize the guides and healers that God send into our lives, to praise God for this accompaniment and then to proclaim what God has done for us.
-Sr. Laura M. Leming, FMI, PhD.
Monday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Good King Wenseslaus looked out, on the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even.
Brightley shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gath’ring winter fuel.
Today is the memorial of Saint Wenceslaus, king and saint (903-935 CE). He is more popularly known as “Good King Wenceslaus” in one of our most cherished Christmas carols. He was a beloved Bohemian prince and the patron saint of the Czech Republic. Despite being remembered most during the Christmas season, the church keeps his memorial today, September 28.
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
Prepare the meal, eat the meal, clean up from the meal. Make the beds, strip the beds, wash the linens, make the beds again. Saturday is laundry day, Sunday is church day. Monday, Hump Day, TGIF. The rhythms of ordinary life. That’s what Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) is celebrating in the lovely poem that begins today’s readings. There is beauty and comfort in those rhythms. They’re familiar, even if they are a mix of positives and negatives. Familiarity means we feel we can enjoy the good times while we have them, and we can anticipate and deal with the bad times.
Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Who is the wisest person you’ve ever met?
Qoheleth is the wise man supreme featured in the Book of Ecclesiastes, written 300 years before Christ. “Qoheleth” translates to “the Preacher," a sage addressing the assembly of the faithful. This Wisdom book was essential in the autumn’s Festival of Tabernacles or Succoth. Its tone is thanksgiving for the produce of the land (of Israel).