Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
As our scout troop was setting up our campsite this week, we were working ahead of schedule and all was going well until it started to get dark. Upon asking the scout in charge if we were going to put up any lanterns he shared with me that one of the lights was broken and two others needed batteries. Fortunately, we had some extra batteries and with extras from the scouts, we did just fine. It also helped that most of the scouts had their own flashlights, so we were covered.
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings are quite challenging. Both are prophetic criticisms of misunderstood faith and practice. Each, in their fashion, describe the desire to domesticate the love and glory of God in human structures (otherwise known as idolatry). In both cases, this idolatry is perceived as faithfulness to the God of Israel. In both cases, even these well intended structure becomes an obstacle to God. Ultimately, these readings challenge us to reflect on the ways that we often confuse our frail and finite edifices for God’s enduring and eternal holiness.
Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Last weekend I had the opportunity to spend an extended period of time with my niece’s two year old daughter, Brynn. It was so much fun for me as I do not get the opportunity to be around toddlers very often. They are certainly a busy lot! I noticed how determined she was to do everything by herself. She would try and open a juice box or do something else all by herself and when she found she couldn’t do it she would get frustrated and impatient. Eventually her mom or dad would say, “Say ‘help please’”. So she would blurt out ‘help, please!” And then everything would work out fine. I was so struck by how I can identify with this 2 year old! I do not like asking for help. I like to think I can do everything by myself and I don’t like asking for help from anyone. But what my niece and her husband were teaching this precious baby was that it is okay to ask for help from other people. And not only that, but when we feel helpless and are humble enough to ask for help, things get accomplished that would never happen when we insist on doing it alone.
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I was on my way to St. Helen for mass on Thursday. I had just crossed Linden Ave on Woodman Drive. This segment, all the way up to the Wright Patterson air force base, is a target speed enforcement zone. When I go for mass in the morning is also peak traffic hour. On Thursday, as soon as I crossed the lights, I noticed a red truck behind me. He was driving too close to me for my comfort. Obviously, he could not change lanes because of the heavy traffic on the left lane. I put my right turn signal early enough for the driver to know that I will be right turning into St. Helens. Like all people do, I slowed down close to the drive ti turn. And as I did in the rear view mirror I saw the driver flip me off. Did he do that simply because I had slowed him down? Did he do that because I drove the speed limit? Did he do it because he was impatient? I have no idea. I only know this – that this is a learnt behavior.
Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
I might be the only one, but have you ever questioned why you should go to confession? Maybe the idea didn’t even come from you. Maybe you were having a conversation with someone that went a little like this (we’ll call the other person Siegfried):
Siegfried: Hey, do you want to come over on Sunday.
You: Actually, I can’t I have to go to church.
Siegfried: Oh, ok. So are you Christian?
You: Yeah, I am; I’m Catholic.
Siegfried: Don’t you have to go to a priest or something when you do something wrong?
You: Well, I mean, kind of…
Siegfried: Why?
You: …
Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle
Today’s Gospel reading is a familiar story to many of us – in it we hear how Thomas did not believe until he touched the wounds and put his hands in the side of the Lord. He had doubt – serious, strong, faith-shaking doubt. This is not unusual for us. I think that most of us have gone through times in our lives where our faith did not make sense to us, and we prayed as Thomas did, to have concrete, tangible evidence of the Lord. Often times these moments make our faith even stronger once we come out of them.
Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
"Hate evil and love good." (Amos 5:15) Most everyone believes this conventional wisdom. When we hear such words we often nod our heads in agreement. We agree so instinctively to this that these words often wash over us like a swiftly flowing stream. Yet, do the waters soak in below the surface? If we all really lived our belief in living for good, would not our homes, workplaces and communities be more peaceful places.
Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The prophet Amos offers us a scathing account of God’s power in today’s first reading. The major plotline of the Old Testament is that Israel is called by God, sometimes obeys and often disobeys. Many of the stories are about Israel’s failures. The reading from Amos is a prophecy about God’s response to those failures. It begins with a reminder that God has called Israel as a special people from among all the peoples of the earth. God has a special relationship with Israel, marked by the covenant and sustained by the Law. Even in the midst of great trial, the Israelites still did not return to God. They are elsewhere described as a “stiff-necked people” for this recurring theme!
Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
When I was growing up, I spent a great deal of time longing for “someday”. I was looking forward to the day when I would have what I thought would make me happy- a husband, family, job etc. As I have grown older, (and hopefully wiser), I recognize that living your life in the “someday” mode detracts a great deal from all that God wants to share with me in the here and now. I also recognize that I am a person who loves routine and not venturing beyond my comfortable boundaries. Again, I am beginning to learn that God wants me to look beyond the security of what I know and where I feel at home to live out my faith. Today’s gospel reading remind us that Jesus calls each of us to follow Him in the here and now as we are on the go in all parts of our lives. When we live out our faith in the present and accept His challenge to follow Him wherever He calls us to go, then we can begin to understand what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
I want to share two stories with you. When I was at home last month was also the time when Pope Francis was also returning from his trip to the Middle East. On the flight he gave an interview to reporters and one of the topics that came up was clerical celibacy. The media in India reported the Pope’s response widely. When I came down for breakfast that morning, my father said to me, “Pope Francis says that priests can get married.” I was very measured in my response lest my father think that I have a secret girlfriend in distant America. I learnt later that the Pope had said, “It [celibacy] is a rule of life that I appreciate very much, and I think it is a gift for the church, but since it is not a dogma, the door is always open." The Pope was merely reiterating the well-known Catholic position that clerical celibacy is not divine law. It was promulgated after the 10th Century and Church could change that law if that is where she discerned the Holy Spirit was guiding her. If she wants to do that she has the depth of history, theology and tradition to make a sound decision.
Here is my second story.
Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today’s gospel reminded me of our prayer life. So, I want to take a little pilgrimage through the Gospel and our hearts to take a look at our prayer lives.
Often we can mislead ourselves into believing that prayer is a primarily human endeavor. It isn’t though, prayer is the action of both God and humanity. “Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him” (CCC 2560). In forgetting this we can erroneously “view prayer as a simple psychological activity … an effort of concentration to reach a mental void … [or] reduce prayer to ritual words and postures” (CCC 2726). When we have these false perceptions of prayer we can leave God behind in the disillusion that we are in charge. We can leave Jesus behind in Jerusalem despite His desire to stay there with us. God invites us to pray in accord with His will, but we can lose that through our distractions.
Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
The last time my family and I were vacationing at the beach, I watched my son build structures in the sand that would later be washed away as the tide came in. Sometimes my husband would help, but even when they built the walls higher and thicker, the water would eventually wash over and it would collapse.
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Recently, I was sitting in a room at a hospital and the person who brought the food in knocked on the door, asked permission to enter, set the food up, helped get it just the right place for the patient and when they were ready to leave the room they said I hope you feel better soon. They also said God bless you to the patient, perhaps because there was a faith conversation going on in the room. I was struck in this Catholic hospital how all the employees I had encountered were mission focused in the way they spoke and acted. Imagine this whole group of hundreds of people working together united by a mission founded on faith. They were united by the mission even though there are from diverse faiths.
Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
“He must increase, I must decrease.” John: 3:30
Today we observe the birth of St. John the Baptist, who according to tradition was the cousin of Jesus and herald to his ministry. It is no accident that our observation of John the Baptist traditionally coincides with the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. Just as John the Baptist announced of himself, in anticipation of Christ, the days from this point begin to decrease. On the other side, we traditionally celebrate the birth of Jesus around the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Thus, the days begin to increase. I find this to be one of the most beautiful examples of how scripture informs the liturgical calendar. Even time and the seasons are redeemed. The rhythms of everyday life elevated by the Gospel.
Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
There is a Disney movie made in the 1960’s based on a book by Eleanor H. Porter named Pollyanna. The story is about a young orphan girl who is reluctantly taken in and mistreated by her aunt. Pollyanna’s favorite thing to do is to play the ‘glad game’ which basically consists of finding the silver lining in everything and the good in everyone. Eventually her infectious optimism changes the attitude of the all the people in whole town, including her pernicious aunt. One of the best lines from the movie is, “When you look for the bad, expecting it, you will get it. When you know you will find the good—you will get that…” I remembered this while reading today’s Gospel and thought about how different things are when I live my life looking only for the good in others.
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
A grandmother was talking to me about her grandchildren whom she loves very dearly and lavishes them with gifts. She would do anything for them. She has only one regret. Some of her young grandchildren who now have jobs, own homes and live with their girl-friends say to her, “Why do ask us to go to church and pray grandma? We have everything we need. It was not God who gave them to us. We have worked hard for it. We do not need God.” I know these young people. They were baptized. They made their first communion in this very church. They made their confirmation too.
If they could talk to you, what would you say to them?
Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious
Today’s gospel reminded me of William Butler Yeats’ poem, The Second Coming. As I read through this climatic part of the Sermon on the Mount, I was reminded of the lines, “Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ the falcon cannot hear the falconer” (The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 8th Ed. Vol. 2, 2036). This image fits perfectly into the warning that Christ is giving us and to illustrate this I want to present three parallels.