Memorial of the Guardian Angels
Jesus' words in today's gospel (Matthew 18:1-5, 10) - "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven" - have been on my mind a lot over the past couple years. I think that's partly because I'm a mother of two young children, and partly because I am a catechist for 3-6 year olds here at Immaculate Conception.
Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church
Today begins the first of six days in which the Church will be reading from the Old Testament book of Job. Describing the trials of the protagonist, Job, a pious and upright man, this book faces the mystery of human suffering. Despite significant loss, suffering, and personal anguish, Job retains his humility and trust in God. In today’s first reading, in what seems to be an instant, Job loses his oxen, his sheep, his camels, nearly all of herdsmen and shepherds, and his sons and daughters. Holding fast to his faith, Job responds by saying, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” As disciples, how do we respond to suffering?
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last week Hospice of Dayton called me called to give the last sacraments to someone from out of State. I rushed there to find this very small frail man lying in a fetal position. Throughout our conversation this man never opened his eyes. I spent much time just sitting by his bed and comforting him. At one point I said to him that it will be all alright. And he said to me, “I do not know, Father.” And then he said to me, “I have been a very bad man, Father… very bad.” I did not ask for any details but I let him know how God’s love is greater than our sins and how Christ came to save us. “We are all sinners,” I said. “But you don’t know me, Father.” It was almost a protest, a disbelief that God could save him after all that he had done. And I said to him, “Yes, I do not know you, but God knows everything.” Then I asked him if I could pray with him, give him absolution and bid him a Christian farewell. He reluctantly agreed and I think it was because he was still wondering how he could get away with his sinful life so easily. I did not see any visible signs of relief when I left him because his eyes were still closed.
Feast of Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel and Saint Raphael, archangels
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.
Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Living in society today we often expect our lives to follow a particular timeline. We expect ourselves to achieve certain life goals by a certain age: marriage, children, job promotion, retirement, etc. It is easy to fall into this way of thinking. Yet it is a mistake to think that everything has to be wrapped up and neatly decided by a particular time. The scriptures for today emphasize the idea that we often need to wait on the Lord and that God often works more slowly than we might expect or even desire. Nevertheless God does have a plan, and we need to trust in it even if we do not completely understand what it means for us at the time.
Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, priest
Sometimes I feel like a hamster in a hamster wheel going around and around and not really getting anywhere. Some days and weeks feel like the same chores, the same work being done just to have to do them all again: meals to be made, dishes to be done, school lunches to be packed, laundry to be washed, homework to be supervised, lessons to be driven to; grocery shopping, cleaning, paying bills, scheduling appointments, running errands, ‘round and ‘round and ‘round life goes.
Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
There are times as the weather changes and we find the rainy season upon us, that I become nervous. This nervousness arises out of the fact that the foundation of my house leaks when we have torrential rain. The leak has sometimes been a trickle, but more recently it has forced the family to take dramatic action to protect what we value.
Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
In our parish year of "Being the Church at Home, and Home at Church," scriptures like today's gospel passage (Luke 8:19-21) become really good places to focus our attention. A statement like the one Jesus makes here ("My mother and brothers are those who hear the word and act on it.") would have seemed rather shocking in his day and culture, because of the centrality family had. As we've seen in many scriptures, family is important to peoples' livelihood, especially for women. One of the reasons why Paul tells Christians over and over to care for widows and orphans is because those are the most vulnerable, the ones most cut off from good sources of income. And here, Jesus even seems to be callous: he won't even bother to say hello to his mother? He seems to dismiss her out of hand, perhaps even implying that she is not a disciple???
Monday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
A very precious friend of mine passed away this week. He was a true “light” to everyone who met him. People could not help but be attracted to the gentleness, compassion, and joy that flowed in his presence. I called this friend my “surrogate” father after my own wonderful father passed away seven years ago. We met hundreds of times for breakfast and talked about the struggles and joys of life and family. Invariably the conversation ended up centering around how living as a Christian deeply affects all aspects of our everyday life—no matter how big or small.
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
An Egyptian-Coptic Christian makes an anti-Islamic movie, social media websites allow its video cast, four Americans are killed as are many protestors in Islamic countries and the world moved further away from sanity. Newly trained Afghan recruits kill their Western trainers, the Chinese in Japan and Japanese in China fear for their lives because of a dispute over islands in the East China Sea, the contenders for the presidential elections in the United States continue their vitriolic attack on each other and hundreds of government and rebel forces continue to die in Libya. These are just some of the headlines that dominated the news over the last week. Is there any compelling and credible voice that is calling for peace? If there is, it is not heard.
Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Did you ever wonder why it is that in the Apostles’ Creed that we confess belief in the resurrection of the body? Isn’t it enough to say that there is resurrection? Why is “of the body” so important that it is part of the oldest baptismal formula that we have, used in first-century Rome? There are at least three ways in which this prepositional phrase, “of the body,” makes a huge difference for Christians.
Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist
Paul’s theme in the first reading for today, from Ephesians, is unity in diversity. Each of us Christians has our own strengths and weaknesses. We come from all walks of life and from every country and culture on the earth. Paul makes it clear that despite our differences, all Christians are united in Christ. As Paul says, we are united by virtue of the fact that we are all baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection and that we are thereby united in him. Our common faith in one and the same God unites us all no matter what individual differences exist between us.
Memorial of Saint Andrew Kim Taegŏn, priest and martyr and Saint Paul Chŏng Hasang, martyr, and their companions, martyrs
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
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated.” (1 Cor. 13:4) This is scripture is known and loved by many. It is often chosen for Weddings because Paul’s words describe an ideal understanding of love. What few seem to realize is why Paul includes these words at the end of these two chapters of guidance on the proper use of spiritual gifts.
Tuesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
I wonder how many people are feeling kind of dead, these days. Obviously, I don't mean the kind of death that requires a funeral mass, but I do mean the kind of "death" of feeling isolated. Isolation often means feeling empty, purposeless, and insignificant. In these days of continued high unemployment or underemployment it is easy to feel unimportant - and unemployment (or even sometimes a good retirement!) cuts us off from co-workers and people we know, so that we feel isolated. Illness and old age similarly isolate people.
Monday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
The celebration of the Eucharist is a central practice to our Catholic faith. For me, receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus at communion is the high point of the liturgy. When I receive the bread and wine from the Eucharistic Minister, I make it a point to look them in the eyes when I say “Amen.” I think this is such a grace filled moment. Here are two disciples, sharing Christ with one another. By the giving and receiving of the bread and wine- His Body and Blood-we become united into His Body as one people. When I say “Amen”, I am proclaiming my faith not only in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, but to His presence in everyone in the community. The readings today remind us that it is through the Eucharist that we become one body, and we are all called to a deeper faith in the power and presence of Christ.
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Over that last few weeks the second reading has been from the letter of St James. Because of our emphasis on the parish retreat and the related themes in the gospel, I chose not to comment on the readings from James. In the process we have sidelined some very practical and important ethical teachings from scripture. Briefly, let me recall a few important statements from these readings. I have to insert a caveat here. Some of James’ writings are all too direct and difficult to digest at first. He writes: “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.” Last week we heard him say, “For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Sit here, please," while you say to the poor one, "Stand there, " or "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs? Today we heard James say, “So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
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
I have an old cookbook in my pantry that discusses ways of observing special feast days. For today's feast, the suggestion is to bake a cake - any cake will do - and then decorate the cake with crosses made from various forms of candy. Of course, for young kids, this will seem especially awesome: an excuse to have more sugar!
Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor of the Church
Today’s readings are particularly countercultural. In the first reading (1 Corinthians 8: 1b-7, 11-13) we have Paul’s letter to the believers in Corinth emphasizing the importance of setting aside the need to always “be right” in order to avoid being a “stumbling block” to the weak. He is explaining that although it is okay for them to eat meat (that may have been sacrificed to idols before it came to the market place and homes), if their eating the meat causes a “weaker” person to stumble because that person doesn’t have the knowledge of their being only one true God and not numerous other gods to which the meat is sacrificed, then the believer is sinning by causing the weaker person to sin.