Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus
Amidst the discussion buzzing around our Pope Francis, it seems there are a couple of things that can be said, with confidence, about his vision for our Church. First, he wishes for us, his flock, to proclaim the Gospel in both word and deed. Second, he wishes for us to welcome any and all who would be embraced by the Church. Reflecting on today’s passages, I was struck by how profoundly they resonate with this simple but also challenging vision.
Feast of Saint Luke, Evangelist
Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church
One of my favorite books is an obscure collection of writings by the desert fathers called The Philokalia. In this collection of writings, one common piece of advice given by the fathers is “pay attention to yourself”. Today’s Scripture readings reminded me of this piece of advice. The passage from the Gospel of Luke has not one, but two instances—back to back—of the disciples clearly not paying attention to their own behavior. They seem so caught up in comparing themselves with one another and competing with persons they consider outside of their own group that they neglect to see the bigger picture. I can certainly identify with them! How often have I found myself so concerned with the actions of other people that I fail to see the real problem is me?
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I used this anecdote sometime back, so pardon me if this is a repetition for you. I often read the daily cartoon Pearls before Swine. The main characters in this cartoon are the rat, the pig, the goat and crocodiles. In one of the clips the goat asks the pig, “Do you have any religious beliefs? …Things you know in your heart are true?” The pig answered, “Just Nachofication.” The goat asks, “What is Nachofication?” The pig replies, “The belief that everything tastes better with melted cheese.” The goat looks disgusted as he turns around and exclaims, “I was hoping for something deeper than the church of cheese.” Our life is more than food, sports, and the daily drudgery of life, is it not? Meaning, purpose, character, a vision and goal in life, faith, relationship… these are the things that add flavor to life, is it not?
Saturday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
As I read today's gospel my eyes were drawn to the phrase at the very end, “they were afraid to ask him about this saying.” I think this one phrase captures an often overlooked part of our journey to faith and our journey in faith; fear. I think the word fear deserves a little attention and I think from this passage we can reflect on the beauty we can appreciate and the errors we should avoid.
Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest
Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today, being the feast of ten different martyrs who gave their lives defending their faith in Jesus, makes me think about my life. Martyrdom makes me ponder this question - if my faith was put to the ultimate test of life or death, which choice would I make. I pray that I would choose Christ again and again, but I cannot be certain. While God may not be calling us all to this same type of martyrdom, He is asking us each to choose Christ as our motivation, no matter the situation.
Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Sixteen years ago I got some news that changed my life forever. It was great news. The news was so good that I could not believe it. You dream of things that you want to happen and when they do the gravity of the reality is powerful, that you are completely humbled. Our first born would arrive in a few short months and I was completely overwhelmed. With a deep sense of awe and humility my prayers dealt with the feeling of being confounded by this new reality.
Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s first reading invites us into the world of ancient Judaism. We have a passage from Ezra that describes the rebuilding of the Temple, the very place where the God of Israel dwells. It had been destroyed and the Israelites had been taken into exile. Now returned, they rebuild the Temple and offer a great sacrifice at its completion. And what a sacrifice it was: “For the dedication of this house of God, they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs, together with twelve he-goats as a sin-offering for all Israel, in keeping with the number of the tribes of Israel.”
Memorial of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest
I have been reading a book entitled “Forming Intentional Disciples” by Sherry Weddell. I have found it to be very enlightening. One topic she discusses is charisms. A charism is “a gift of grace” or as the author states, “Charisms are supernaturally empowered ways in which God’s mercy, love, healing, truth, beauty, and provision will reach others through us.” She goes on to say that “a charism is a “favor” given to a member of the body of Christ to empower him or her to build up the Church and to witness Christ to the world.” These charisms are given to us to be used in the service of others, not to better ourselves. These gifts may include evangelism, encouragement, teaching, wisdom, healing, intercessory prayer, hospitality, leadership, mercy and giving to name only a few. I think that today’s readings remind us that as disciples we are called to use our gifts (our charisms) to help build the church (Body of Christ.) Today’s scripture also reminds us that we must remain grounded in Christ, since it is His grace that provides us with the gifts that we have. When we use our gifts, we allow Christ to work in us and through us, so it is His light that shines on the world around us.
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
News media both secular and Catholic have been abuzz with news about Pope Francis’s recent interview. The Jesuit editor of the America magazine published this interview and Father Matt Malone suggests that Pope Francis personally reviewed the article and approved its publication. To say the least, both the Catholic and secular world are still trying to comprehend implications of his statements. The statements that got most attention were: "We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods.” “The church's pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently." "We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”
Live in a Manner Worthy of the Call You have Received
Scripture Readings
Today is the Feast of St. Matthew, an apostle of Jesus and the author of the gospel of Matthew. On this feast day we reflect on the “call” each Christian has. In today’s first reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul calls himself “a prisoner for the Lord.” Rather than being prisoners to sin, we all are prisoners to the Lord. Of course, unlike prisoners in a prison, we have far more freedoms. The point is that we ought to choose to follow the Lord’s will in our freedom, unlike a prisoner who is forced to do another’s bidding because of his lack of freedom.
Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs
Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Imagine for a moment that you are Simon, the Pharisee in today’s gospel (Luke 7: 36-50) who invited Jesus to his house for dinner. You have made sure that a fine meal is cooked and everything is prepared for your guests, including Jesus. Then, as Jesus is reclined at the table (the manner in which meals were eaten), a woman from the city who is known to be sinful (perhaps a prostitute) enters uninvited and proceeds to bathe Jesus’ feet with her tears, wipe them with her hair and kiss them. She then pours oil on his feet, anointing them.
Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
There was a young man who was at home when a friend ran by and said, “there is a flood, run and escape with me.” The young man unmoved said, “God will save me” and went back inside his house. Another friend came by in a rowboat and invited his friend get into his boat. The man once again stated, “Do not worry God will save me.” Finally a helicopter came by and tried to rescue this young man off the roof of his house. Again the young man refused saying, “God will save me.” Then the young man passed on and went to heaven. In heaven he asked God, “Why did you not save me?” God responded, “I sent a friend, a row boat and a helicopter. What more do you want?”
Tuesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's gospel (Luke 7:11-17) offers us a miracle story: Jesus raises a man from the dead, and the crowd stands amazed. This miracle made the onlookers (and hopefully we ourselves) ponder the sheer mystery of Jesus, the God who has come to earth to be among us. But what I am focused on especially is the reason why Jesus is moved to perform this miracle: he is responding to the mother's deep grief. How amazing and mysterious it is that The Lord of all creation focuses on this particular mother and makes himself part of her life.
Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
My maternal grandmother lived to the age of 103. She was the daughter of German immigrants and grew up on a farm in St. Henry, Ohio in the early years of the 20th century. Grandma Mary was a devout Catholic her entire life. During last couple of years of her life, despite experiencing many days of confusion and disorientation, she continued to pray the rosary everyday and would take Communion as often as possible. One of the things I remember is that no matter whether she was attending Mass or receiving Communion from her bed, she always said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, only say the word and I shall be healed.” Even through all those years before the Liturgy was changed, she continued to say these words. She was not protesting or ignoring the changes in the Mass. It was just that she was used to saying this and she meant every last word from the deepest part of her heart. So it is not surprising that today’s Gospel passage reminded me of her. My Grandmother was a woman of great faith and devotion. Of course she had her moments of being “frisky” and she had no trouble sticking up for herself, but when it came to prayers and Mass and her devotions, she was completely serious. When it came to her faith and her spiritual life she knew who she was in the sight of God and her faith was based securely in that knowledge.
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Let me begin this homily where the gospel reading begins: “Tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to listen to Jesus but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain….” Because we have three parables that immediately get our attention, we tend to often ignore the setting for these parables. I myself have often glanced over the context. As I read just this line again and again, my eyes began to fill up. God, who is all holy and all good walked the face of the earth in the person of Jesus. Against all our natural instinct about who would be in Jesus’ inner circle Luke tells us the tax collectors and sinners were drawn to Jesus.
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
One of the most important concepts in marketing is visibility. The same is true in the realm of commercial real estate. Location, location, location. The things that are valuable to us and the things that we desire are the things that are exposed to us; they are the things that we see. In our discipleship, it is no different. As disciples, we are attracted to the invisible love that has been made visible to us on the cross.
Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Every week is filled with several moments when I think to myself, "Man, if I were trying to be just a bit more like a disciple of Jesus, I think I wouldn't have done _____." This week, one of those moments was a morning when we were trying to get out the door, and I yelled at the kids, to try to hurry them. The response was immediate: my two and a half year old burst into tears because I was yelling; my five year old burst into tears because her sister was crying. So far from making it out the door faster, my yelling actually slowed us down and it wasn't a good atmosphere for the kids. And I just knew: I hadn't been a good disciple in that moment.