Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
If I ever meet someone who claims to be an angel of the Lord coming to give me an impossible-sounding mission, my first thought will probably be, “either I’m crazy, or this guy is…” So, we can hardly blame Gideon for wondering if the person standing before him was really an angel. After all, Gideon was from the biggest loser in a family of losers: “My family is the lowliest in Manasseh, and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house.” How could such a wimp take care of the biggest problem in the whole Kingdom of Israel at the time, the Midianites?
Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
If you have not experienced the delight of reading some of the ‘sayings’ of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, try surfing the internet and they are easily found; it is time well spent. Here is a little story for you from a book called The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection by Benedicta Ward:
“Abbot Lot went to see Abbot Joseph and said, ‘Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule,
and my little fast, my prayer, meditation, and contemplative silence; and as according as I am able
I strive to cleanse my heart of bad thoughts: now what more should I do?’ The elder rose up in reply
and stretched out his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like lamps of fire. He said, ‘Why not
become all flame?’”
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We move to the fourth week of our reflection on the ‘bread of life discourse.’ We began with the multiplication of loaves three weeks back and for the last two weeks we have been reflecting on the meaning of “the bread that came down from heaven.’ Today, the emphasis is on the real of presence of Christ in the bread and wine. We must remember that by the time John wrote the gospel, the Eucharist had already been established in the early Christian community. However, there were serious objections to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Gnostics, especially, emphasized the indwelling presence of Christ rather than his physical presence. Hence John statement in today’s gospel, “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
Solemnity Of The Assumption Of The Blessed Virgin Mary
My wife watches our nephews twice a week. They are wonderful little guys, full of energy and, of course, curiosity. The older of the two, like many 3-year-olds, loves to ask, “Why?” After he has asked this question more times than the Verizon man asks, “Can you hear me now?” you just offer an exasperated, “Because that is just how it is.” But as we all know, you are immediately met by the innocent and curious, “But why?” As testing as that can be, it should also be reassuring. Our nephew asks Bess and me questions because he gives us the benefit of the doubt. He assumes that we understand something he doesn’t. Today, as we celebrate the Assumption of Mary, I want us to imitate him, because for many of us it is strange that Mary’s Assumption is dogma. The Trinity, the assertion that Christ is fully human and fully God, His real presence in the Eucharist; these are all dogmatic beliefs and it makes sense that they are so important. However, when it comes to Mary’s Assumption into Heaven, a truth definitively and dogmatically affirmed by our faith, many of us ask “Why?”
Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr
Both of today's lessons depict very clearly that our lives, even the good parts, are not wholly up to us. In the first lesson (Joshua 24:1-13), Joshua is telling the people their story, from all the way back to Genesis, with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, right down to their present day, where they live in lands they did not till, and eat from vineyards they had not planted. How would you feel as one of the Israelites, knowing this? Everything becomes a gift to receive and take care of. We realize that all of life is a gift that is not ultimately up to us.
Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
We have been following the journey of the Hebrew people under the leadership of Moses throughout these last several weeks. Today, our attention shifts to the next hero of the people, namely, Joshua. Our first reading for today comes from the book of Joshua. It is Joshua, not Moses, who leads the Hebrew people to the promised land.
Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
God’s ways are not our ways, however there is usually a deeper process unfolding that is seemingly unrecognizable to us. In today’s first reading, we a get view of the end of Moses’ life in the closing chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy. We have traveled with the Children of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land. God’s promise to Moses and Israel is now fulfilled and indeed Moses gets a complete glimpse of the whole of the Promised Land. It is a foretaste which Moses will not enjoy himself as this view is his last. In many ways Moses worked his whole life for this moment and God gives Him some closure by allowing him to see it. Ironically, Moses does enter the Promised Land during the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Memorial of Saint Claire, Virgin
Today’s readings represent great lessons in humility. Perhaps this is fitting, given that today is the memorial of Saint Claire, who is often relegated to being something of Saint Francis’ sidekick! Even her sainthood is an act of humility, one that bears witness to the great selflessness of her life on earth.
Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr
I enjoy being out in nature, and during the summer in particular, I enjoy working in my garden. Jesus often uses nature to help his disciples understand difficult concepts about life and faith. In today’s reading, Jesus uses the concept of planting seeds and growing to help us understand the concept of death and dying. Death and dying are such difficult topics for us to grasp because there is so much fear related to these ideas. Jesus helps us to recognize that dying is a necessary process that allows all things to be transformed into new creations. Just like the seeds, we must be able to allow ourselves to die to who we are and what we want if we want to become the person God calls us to be. It is only with His grace that we can have the faith to trust and let go. By surrendering ourselves to God and His will, we allow Him to change us so we can grow and bear much fruit for the world.
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
This is the real story of a 16 year old teenager in Dublin named Jamie Harrington. Recently, Jamie Harrington was on his way to an American sweetshop, when he saw a man in his 30’s sitting on the ledge of a bridge. “Wow...” Jamie said to himself. And then he walked up to man and simply said three words, “Are you okay?” Even though the man said that he was, Jamie knew from the tears in his eyes that he was not. So he sat and talked to the man for 45 minutes and then finally convinced him to call an ambulance. That day, Jaime saved the life of a man who was ready to jump into the river. Three months later, Jaime got a phone call. It was the man whose life he had saved. His wife was pregnant and they have decided to name their child Jaime. “Are you okay?” It took only three words to give hope to somebody.
Memorial of Saint Dominic, Priest
Today’s gospel passage caught me off guard. I found myself wondering, “Who is this grumpy and snippy Jesus?” This poor guy wanted his son healed and Jesus seemed like someone spit in His wine. However, after I spent some more time with it, I realized this passage might be deeper than I first suspected. It might be easier to reconcile the “I’ll be with you always” side of Jesus with this “How long will I endure you?” side of Jesus then I first anticipated. There are two phrases from Jesus that I want to consider as we look this passage. Matthew records Jesus telling the disciples that they have little faith and he spoke these words, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you?”
Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
I love today's first reading (Deuteronomy 4:32-40) because it comes just before the passage where God gives the Ten Commandments,and it is a description of why God hopes the people will follow the Ten Commandments and take them to heart. Usually we see the Ten Commandments listed on a wall or on the back of a prayer card, without their context, as though God simply gave them with no explanation or rationale.
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
Last week my family took a few days of vacation in the Hocking Hills area where we rented a cabin and explored the beautiful state park, hiking and enjoying Old Man’s Cave, Ash Cave and Cedar Falls. You may already know what a beautiful place it is with amazing rock formations and recesses that have created cave-like areas and waterfalls with moss-covered rocks and cool streams. It was one of those experiences that fills me with a sense of awe and takes me out of my ordinary daily life and rejuvenates my spirit. Maybe you have had such an experience in nature or otherwise in which you are aware of God’s presence in a significant way and would like to remain in it. As in today’s gospel reading on the Feast of the Transfiguration, Peter is so excited and overwhelmed with the goodness of the experience on that mountain that he wants them to set up three tents and stay awhile!
Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Have you ever wanted something so bad, that you did all you could to make your wish come true? You did everything in your power to make the reality you desired to be true. Everything from petitioning God, to overemphasizing one reality so that another would become what was real. Wishes can create false dilemmas in us or they can help us find a hope that will lead us to faith and truth.
Memorial of Saint John Vianney, Priest
What draws you away from being the person God made you to be?
In our first reading, we see Aaron and Miriam drawn away by jealousy. ‘Does God only speak to our brother Moses?’ they say! So they make up a reason to talk badly about him- that terribly wife of his! They go around talking badly about him until God decides to defend Moses, because the meek man won’t defend himself.
Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
I have been blessed in my life. I have never worried about where my next meal was coming from nor worried about how my children would be fed or clothed or educated. This is not the case for too many people—even in my own community and parish. Ask any person who volunteers in our food pantry every week and they will tell you how desperate the need in our community. And despite access to daily news informing us of the most intimate details about individuals and families suffering close to us, not to mention those in far flung places around the globe, human beings just like us continue to suffer from a poverty that causes them to live with this struggle each and every day of their lives; their children suffer and even die as a result of a lack of food or basic health care. We are inundated with pleas for money and other resources to pitch in and help eliminate the hunger and the poverty and the suffering. Even while we make an effort to fight against it, we can feel helpless; the fact is the challenge is overwhelming and even if we when we do our part there is so much more to be done. Sometimes it is tempting to wonder where God is and how God is working in all of this.
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
For the next three weeks our gospel reading will be taken from chapter six of John’s gospel. Most of this chapter is the “bread of life” discourse. It began last week with the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and will end with many disciples ceasing to follow Jesus because his teachings were too hard. Gospel readings stretched out over three weekends give us the opportunity to explore its meaning in depth. So pardon me if I delve right into my three practical implications. Let me also caution you that my three practical implications raise more questions that answer them.
Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Today's gospel from Matthew’s starts with these words, “Herod the tetrarch…” This title given to Herod might sound odd to our ears. We are familiar with king, senator, president, duke, etc, but not tetrarch. While it is unfamiliar to us, it would have conveyed specific meaning to Matthew’s original audience. Here is what the Encyclopedia Britannica says about the title: “… In Greco-Roman antiquity, … ‘tetrarch’ became familiar as the title of certain Hellenized rulers of petty dynasties in Syria and Palestine, whom the Romans allowed a measure of independent sovereignty. In this usage it … meant only the ruler of a divided kingdom or of a district too minor to justify a higher title.” By adding Herod’s title, tetrarch, Matthew foreshadows the rest of the passage and sets Herod in contrast to Jesus and John.
Friday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
I found myself laughing in the middle of today's gospel story (Matthew 13:54-48) at the people who "were astonished" at Jesus. They've known him forever, watched him grow up, maybe know some embarrassing childhood stories, saw him working with Joseph in the workshop - and now here he is, doing "mighty deeds." They're incredulous, to say the least. Perhaps more than one of them is thinking, "So now this guy is coming in and pretending to be all high and mighty? Whatever."
Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s first reading continues the story of the exodus, under the leadership of Moses. Having received the Ten Commandments, Moses is instructed to build a “Dwelling” for the commandments, which he had placed in an ark. But of course, we notice that it is not merely stone tablets in this Dwelling; rather, the LORD actually dwells in the ark. The LORD accompanies the Israelites on their journey, and the people know that God is with them as they travel.