Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
There was a time in my life (my teenage years) when I was "sure" I would not get married, for a variety of reasons. Marriage seemed too scary because of its long-term commitment; marriage meant I would have to think about another person besides myself and that seemed difficult; marriage seemed too "adult." When I eventually meet someone and decide to marry, I remember having a conversation with a friend about a week before the wedding. I told my friend it was still difficult to imagine being married - the largeness and longevity of the expectations of marriage seemed overwhelming. To this day, I remember her answer word for word: "But Jana, you can imagine being married to Joel, right?" In that instant, all my fears went away and I felt at peace. My perception of marriage changed. Marriage, as an abstract institution, was indeed scary. But marriage to a specific person, the specific person that I knew and loved - that I could see.
Memorial of Saint Scholastica, virgin
With today’s first reading selection from Genesis, we continue to hear the familiar stories from the very beginning of the Bible. This day, the man created by God comes to an important realization, namely, none of God’s creatures are suitable for him as a partner. God, of course, knows that none of the animals will satisfy the man’s need for companionship, but nevertheless God presents the man with these animals in order to help him understand the value of her who God will create for him. And indeed, the man seems to appreciate the utter uniqueness of the woman. He recognizes in her a similarity, that they are the two variations of the one humanity. The passage for today ends with what the author sees as the implication or message of this story, namely, that this is why a man clings to his wife. In other words, the appreciation of the opposite sex in a unique person is the reason for marriage. The very last line of the excerpt notes that the man and woman felt no shame at their nakedness.
Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Truly we are all blessed. Many of us got an extra reminder of that after our power was restored. The power for some people was off for five cold winter days. While many people went to the warm houses of family and friends nearby, not everyone was able to do so. At my house the temperature stayed at 51 degrees with the help of a fireplace and candles in every room. One of my friends described it this way, “There was chaos in my house while the power was off, and then like magic the return of power restored calm.” Sometimes it takes divergent circumstances to bring awareness to our blessings. Yet was power necessary for there to be peace?
Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
I sometimes find myself getting caught up in what I need to do. With tasks constantly multiplying on ‘to do’ lists, long days, and seemingly never-ending agendas it is often difficult to perceive that God loves me unconditionally. The first reading for today reminds me that the reason for this lies in the fact that God created me and that what he created he called ‘good’.
Monday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary
In this 5th Week of Ordinary Time, we begin reading the book of Genesis. This book is the first in the Bible, and it contains many of the most familiar stories from the Old Testament. Today we hear the very beginning of Genesis, namely, the first four days of creation. Two aspects should stand out to us in this reading. First, God’s creating is done easily and intentionally with a repeated spoken formula, “Let there be…” Secondly, after every act of creation, God sees that his creation is good.
Sunday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
It is just a week back that I met 3 year old David. He is unusually friendly and outgoing. So when I went for the School open house last Sunday, David had a very specific question for me. He said to me, “Are you God?” I have had kids who think I am Jesus because of my long hair. But this is the first that someone asked me about being God. I was so flabbergasted that I do not ever remember my response.
Memorial of Saint Agatha, virgin and martyr
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while,” Jesus says to his apostles in today’s gospel reading (Mk 6:31). The apostles, we are told, have returned from healing the sick, expelling demons, and preaching the kingdom of God. Further, they have all, presumably, just heard the news of John the Baptist’s beheading by Herod. This is a lot!
Friday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
A year ago or so, there was a little fad on the internet to display photographs of the celebrity we most resembled. It seems everyone resembles some celebrity though to varying degrees. Friends claimed that I resembled Sandra Bullock, which I found hilarious. The whole fad reminded me of when I was a kid. My family was eating at a McDonald's and someone came up to my dad and asked for his signature, because he really bears a striking resemblance to Ted Turner. My mother was indignant: "Do you think we'd be eating at McDonald's if he were Ted Turner?" she demanded. Mistaken identities are not usually perceived as a problem, more an opportunity for a funny story like this one, or maybe a minor inconvenience. (That was not the first time my dad was mistaken as Ted Turner and sometimes people can be quite insistent on asking for autographs!)
Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s first reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews and the gospel passage from Mark serve as an intriguing pair. At first glance, the Hebrews reading is very otherworldly, focused on heaven, while the passage from Mark is very down-to-earth. In the gospel, we sense Jesus’ humanity, and the mission of those who followed him. This mission involved such commonplace things as walking, sandals, clothes, dust, and preaching. We can almost picture this man Jesus providing his disciples with simple instructions and sending them on their way.
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Have you ever tried to place yourself in someone else shoes? Depending on the situation, it can be difficult. However, the act of trying to see a situation from another person’s point of view can help us gain a perspective or understanding which seems beyond our usual grasp. Sometimes, what I glean teaches me a truth that I would rather not face. It gives a glimpse into a world that I did not even know existed. This tool helps when reflecting upon a scripture whose depth seems beyond the reach of my imagination.
Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
I have been thinking lately about what it means to believe in Jesus and to affirm that I am a Christian, so as I reflected on today’s readings I was reminded of the fact that it is not enough to have the kind of faith that simply acknowledges that God is there or that Jesus is Lord. We are also called to act in response to the recognition of these articles of faith; however, it is so easy not to do so. Our failure to act in response to them can demonstrate a lack of belief that it is really worth taking them seriously.
Memorial of Saint John Bosco, priest
It can be easy to become discouraged when we look around our world today. People, even children, are dying from war, poverty, and starvation. Our environment is abused and taken for granted. And to many that we pass on the streets or in the stores, life is an apparently meaningless series of events that simply precede death. But, as our readings remind us, such a bleak picture is not the Christian view. Rather, we are meant to embody faith, hope and love, despite the challenges and difficulties and even failures we witness each day.
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
How many of us think of ourselves as “serious Christians?” If you are one of the people who put your hand up, here is a second question: What is the standard against which you evaluate your being a “serious Christian?” Are there criteria by which you judge yourself? For example, for some it is never missing mass on Sunday. For others, it is being pro-life, or reading the Bible each day, or saying morning or evening prayer. For yet other people it is about being good to other people and being in church regularly. But today is about you. Do you think of yourself as a serious follower of Jesus?
Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
“Who has faith?” is perhaps the driving question of Mark’s gospel. In today’s reading, the disciples prove themselves deficient. At first read, their fear of the oncoming storm seems quite reasonable – they’re afraid because their little boat is already filling up with water! (Mk 4: 37). Yet, Mark concludes the Parable of the Mustard Seed, which immediately precedes this story, by telling us that Jesus explained everything to his disciples in private without the use of parables (Mk 4:34). With this set up we expect the disciples to understand the scope of Jesus’ power, but they don’t. Even after the miracle, the disciples question who He is (Mk 4:41).
Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church
People recognized St. Thomas as an extraordinary mind in his own day, but I am not sure anyone would have predicted that he would become THE theologian for the 20th and 21st centuries too. He lived and died in the 13th century and he wrote about questions of God that occurred to people then. His method was usually to start small: with a seemingly insignificant or obvious question like, "Is it necessary, after all, to think about 'sacred doctrine'?" Most people would readily answer "yes" or "no" without hesitation - but Thomas takes his time thinking through all the implications, problems and benefits of thinking about God and God's doctrines.
Thursday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
(Sorry that this reflection was posted by mistake last Monday)
“Is a lamp to be placed in a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?” asks Jesus in today’s gospel passage from Mark (Mk. 4:21). The answer to this is quite obvious; a light is not made to be hidden or secret. One way of interpreting this passage is in relation to our lives as Christians. We are not called to live our Christianity in secret, consigning it to the private areas of our lives. Rather, we are called to witness to God’s love in each action of our lives, bearing testimony to the multitude of blessings God has given us.
Memorial of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus, bishops
Have you ever tried to plant a seed or a seedling? Which one of us just throws a seed on the ground and hopes for the best? Not many and perhaps not any. Instead most of us work the soil first. We prepare it by adding fresh dirt or even manure, and then we plant the seed. All of this work is then followed by the wait. Occasionally we water or pull a weed, however if we have done our preparation well, we wait. And waiting can be difficult especially if we have invested ourselves into the seed’s growth.
Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the apostle
Conversion means "to turn about" and that's what Paul's conversion in Damascus (Acts 22:3-16; Acts 9:1-22) reminds me of - he did a very quick turnabout from being a hater of Christians to being their apostle! If anyone was astonished by Paul's turning, it must have been the original apostles who knew Paul to be a persecutor and no friend. The shorter second version says exactly that the people were "confounded" by Paul. Paul himself was confounded, too, the scriptures make clear.
Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church
“Is a lamp to be placed in a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?” asks Jesus in today’s gospel passage from Mark (Mk. 4:21). The answer to this is quite obvious; a light is not made to be hidden or secret. One way of interpreting this passage is in relation to our lives as Christians. We are not called to live our Christianity in secret, consigning it to the private areas of our lives. Rather, we are called to witness to God’s love in each action of our lives, bearing testimony to the multitude of blessings God has given us.
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
The theme that binds today’s first reading and the gospel together is the names of two rather insignificant towns – Zebulun and Naphtali. The first reading from the book of Isaiah reads:
“First the Lord degraded the land of Zebulun
and the land of Naphtali;
but in the end he has glorified the seaward road,
the land west of the Jordan,
the district of the Gentiles. (Is 8:23)
Then in the gospel reading, Matthew says that Jesus begin his ministry in the “region of Zebulun and Naphtali (Mt 4:13).