September 9, 2018

 September 9, 2018 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time B Isaiah 35: 4-7; James 2: 1-5; Mark 7: 31-37 How do I react when I am in the presence of someone ‘famous’? Do I feel more important? How do I feel when people give me a compliment? How do I feel in crowds? How do I feel in a crowded church? How do I feel when I am surrounded by people who are trying to get my attention? How do I treat the people that come into my life each day? Do I find myself treating people differently according to my preferences? How would I react if I was in the presence of Jesus in one of His scriptural scenes? Would I try to get to the front of the crowd? What would I do if He spoke to me? What would I do if someone famous spoke to me? Am I open to all people who come into my presence each day? Do I ever reflect on how God views them? If Jesus followed me through a ‘normal’ day would He spend time with the same people I did? Would He be conscious of those who were hurting? Am I conscious of those who are hurting? Faith and Action…my faith must be seen. I can say that I love God, but what does that mean if the people in my life do not see my love? We feel that there is a tension between faith and action yet truly living as Jesus is living love. Am I doing this? Isaiah’s reading today comes before the final years of the kingdom of Judah. The people had refused to listen to God and to follow the Covenant by not living the Commandments. The prophets had been urgently reminding the people to grow stronger in their faith. Why should they…they are enjoying their life…it is so easy to satisfy one’s wants and desires. The kingdom was about to collapse and its people exiled to Babylon. Hearing Isaiah, they are frightened. It is too late. But already Isaiah reminds the people that God does not abandon them. He never has, never will. The closing verses today portray even a greater deliverance than the Exodus from Egypt. The frightened hearers have nothing to fear for God comes as savior of His people. Will they listen and follow His ways…His Covenant…His Commandments? So I ask myself what is my motivation? Am I concerned with myself or living out the commandments? St. James is responding to the pervasive social system that he is facing in first century Israel. It is just as valuable to each one of us. James is usually called “brother of the Lord”. He was the leader of the Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem and Acts of the Apostles states that he is the authorized spokesman for the Jewish Christian position in the early Church. He was stoned to death in 62 AD. He forcefully and beautifully states that Jesus lived and taught that all people are loved by God. There should be no preferential treatment for the wealthy over the poor. If the community is to reflect God’s vision, it must do away with any and all divisions. God’s love is for all and His plan is for all. Membership in the Christian community should not reflect favorites or caste systems. James states it firmly in his opening and closing lines: “…show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ….Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He promised to those who love Him?” Jesus made it very clear that God desires all creation to be in heaven and He came to heal, free and reconcile all creation. Am I a healing person? Am I making peace in love? Is it about God’s plan for creation or mine? Am I afraid to love? Isaiah promised today that God would heal the deaf and the blind and that people would proclaim His goodness and love. God’s vision is very clear. We are all part of His plan and we are to share God’s total, unconditional love. In the Gospel, Jesus performed a miracle making a deaf person hear and also be able to speak but there is much more happening. His actions are those that are promised in Isaiah and are now coming true. God is restoring the world. Jesus is showing this and living this. This restoration goes beyond the Jewish nation and includes the Gentiles, meaning all people. We are all part of God’s vision and God’s plan. We see this in the Gospel today. Mark starts out by telling us Jesus’ itinerary. He had just left the district of Tyre and was going through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the district of the Decapolis, the ten cities around the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is not welcome in the Jewish areas so He tends to make His way to places where the gentiles lived. How terribly strange: the Jews rejected Jesus…they felt they knew scripture and would naturally know all about the Messiah and where and when He would come. So they didn’t accept Jesus. The Gentiles did accept Jesus and today bring a man suffering from deafness and some kind of speech impediment. They, the Gentiles, believed that Jesus could heal this man. The Jews wouldn’t bother. Now to the people, miracle working was always understood to be about power. One who could perform miracles had this power. Yet not all power was good. A number of times, those opposed to Jesus accused Him of healing through the power of Satan. Those who believed in Jesus knew that His power was from God. There is a reason why Jesus includes special details in today’s miracle. Jesus knows the ritual procedure and follows it carefully. The result is that the man is totally healed of both his deafness and his speech impediment. Then Jesus tells the people not to tell anyone, yet they all saw the miracle. He does not want miracle working to be His fundamental identity. Scholars refer to this as the Messianic secret. Who really is this Jesus? This will not be revealed until after His death and resurrection. He will then be revealed as the Messiah, the Son of God ‘who does all things well.’ So I reflect on: • What experiences have opened my ears to hear God speaking to me? • What experiences have opened my eyes to let me know God is present to me in a special way? • How have I ‘loosened my tongue’ to proclaim my faith in glory and praise? • What are the hallmarks of a genuine Christian community? • Am I a part of bringing God to my community? • Do I find myself ministering to the physical needs of those in the community or do I leave this to others to do? Why? • How can I help someone who is completely wrapped up in their possessions, to the neglect of their faith life? Sacred Space 2018 states: “Jesus heals this man in private, whereas in other encounters His work is quite public. Why did He take this man aside? What needs did the man have that others may not have noticed? I pray to grow in my ability to be attentive to others, especially those I’m trying to help. ‘He has done everything well.’ This recalls the Genesis creation story, in which God ‘does all things well.’ Now the new creation is dawning in Jesus, and I am one who is being restored. If this does not bring me joy, what will?”

September 16, 2018

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time B Isaiah 50: 5-9; James 2: 14-18; Mark 8: 27 -35 So if I was one of the disciples or maybe a relative just tagging along and I listened to Jesus’ question to His followers, how would I answer it? Would I try to hide, like students who don’t want to be embarrassed in front of their teachers by giving a wrong answer? Would I be eager to answer this question? Who do I really believe that Jesus is to me today? After following Jesus all this time and witnessing His healings and listening to His preaching and how He treated people, I would be anxious to hear Jesus tell me who He is. And He does…am I listening? Do I know the implications for me? Am I living accordingly? All Christians should ask themselves regularly: Is Jesus the Lord of my life? Is Jesus the most important person to me? Do I worship, praise, adore and honor Him accordingly? Each day we live we should accept the Lordship of Jesus more and see our own inflated self-importance diminish. Do I? We all have different positions of authority and are the ‘in-charge’ person in a few or many areas. Does this ‘go to my head’? How often do I live this way and then ‘my balloon bursts’? At these times do I recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit leading me closer to who God is in my life? He constantly does this! Throughout the Gospel of Mark, the evangelist is very careful not to reveal Jesus’ true identity. Often those who were healed were commanded by Jesus not to tell anyone. Scripture scholars call this ‘the Messianic Secret’. Another question is trying to trace how and when Jesus became conscious of His Messianic status. But Jesus commanded people He had healed to be silent about it , certainly an impossibility and we see that they disobeyed this request. It really was impossible for anyone to accept Jesus as Messiah until after the Resurrection. Often the people referred to Jesus as a prophet. His disciples viewed Him as the Messiah: a Davidic king, a warrior, an Apocalyptic figure (Daniel 7: 13-14). Jesus explains exactly what kind of Messiah He is: Like the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, Jesus is the Son of Man who will suffer and be rejected, killed, and raised after three days. Peter for one didn’t like or approve of this kind of Messiah. Jesus’ response, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does but as human beings do.” Jesus will repeat His passion prediction two more times in Mark (Mark 9: 31 and 10: 33-34). But still the apostles only understood this after the Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them. I made reference to the Suffering Servant in Isaiah. Isaiah introduces four oracles about this individual. (Isaiah 42: 1-4…49: 1-7…50: 4-11 and 52: 13 - 53: 12) In each the servant’s hardship increases, until in the last one, he is killed (Isaiah 53:8). Sr. Mary M. McGlone a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet and a historical theologian shares this about Isaiah’s selection today. “In today’s passage, the third of the servant songs, Isaiah depicts a servant - disciple, a prophet and more. As a disciple, his every day begins with obedient listening; he is in intimate communion with God, sharing God’s own heart. Because he is a prophet, the rest of his day is spent in spreading God’s word to the weary, or as Isaiah says in another place, giving hope to those who walk in the shadow of death. More than any other prophet, Isaiah’s servant submits to suffering, accepting it without complaint.” James is telling us that it is important to value the gift of faith given us by God. But more importantly what am I doing about it? Do I share my faith or is it just between ‘me and God’? If I’m concerned only with myself, this can make me deaf to the presence of God. It can easily isolate me from God’s compassion in the midst of conflict and anger and in the midst of brokenness and hurt. Do I listen to others with empathy…listening to them from their perspective? Do I realize that seeking the real meaning of happiness is experienced in seeing fulfillment in other’s lives? We can talk a good ballgame but we have to play the game. My faith must be seen in my actions, the way I live my life. I must constantly be making choices on how is the best way I can live as Jesus today. Jesus is expressing this today when He tells every one of His disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after Me just deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for My sake and that of the gospel will save it.” How do I do this? Every day I have sorrows and laughs, I have rewards and disappointments, I see love and hurt and I am commanded by Jesus to bring these with me as I love those God places in my life each day. I am asked to put aside my own importance, needs and dreams to help that ‘other person.’ I am asked to bring dignity, comfort and hope to another, just as I have received. If they don’t see Jesus in me, where will they see Jesus? When I bring forth and affirm the gifts of others and ask for forgiveness, I am the ‘servant’ who gains my life by losing it for the ‘sake of the Kingdom.’ Jesus is the suffering servant…am I putting myself in His shoes and being a servant to others? Living the Word, Scripture Reflections and Commentaries for Sundays and Holy Days shares these words about today’s Gospel. “Peter was identifying Jesus as the Christ. He did not want to hear that Jesus would be rejected and killed. Jesus makes clear that suffering and taking up one’s cross are part of life as His disciple. Whoever wishes to save one’s life will lose it, but whoever loses one’s life for Jesus’ and the gospel’s sake will save it. St. Francis de Sales advised us not to go looking for suffering. No, simply accept the crosses that are part of being alive or being faithful to the gospel. Opposition need not stop us. Suffering is the pits, but healing, wholeness and new life come from forging ahead with God, who is our help.” So I reflect on: • How do I handle that suffering that is part of life? • What crosses have helped me to find healing, wholeness and new life? • Who are the ‘children of God’ to me? Does it include Christian and non-Christian alike? • Earlier in Mark’s gospel, we are told to set our gifts down and go make peace with our brothers and sisters before we make an offering to God. Is this realistic? Do I avoid this statement? • When I say, ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,’ do I really mean it? • What is the importance to me for the sacrament of reconciliation? Am I afraid of being honest? Can this sacrament lead me to change? Am I afraid of changing? Sacred Space 2018 shares: “This is a painful scene: first Peter rebukes Jesus, then Jesus rebukes Peter. We can sympathize with Peter, because which of us can bear the thought of our best friend being tortured and killed? But Jesus tells Peter that God’s plans are so much bigger than he imagines. Someone has said that God’s dreams come to us several sizes too large! It takes us time to grow into them. What about my inner growth; have I stopped growing at some point, so that God cannot do more creative work with me?”

September 2, 2018

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time B Deuteronomy 4: 1-2, 6-8; James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27; Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23 When we look at our past life, it is good to remember the times that we had conflicts between our faith and our actions. Sometimes these might have led to a great deal of tension. It could have been possible that we ‘turned off’ or ‘tuned out’ the Catholic Religion. These conflicts could have kept us away from Church and the sacraments. Did we blame God for these ‘tensions’? Did we think that God could have or should have been ‘God’ when these conflicts arose and restored normalcy? Were these times that we were upset with the ‘rules’ we ‘had’ to follow? Did it seem that we were torn between matters of the heart and somehow being trapped by an excessive observance of the law? Could it be that we were just ‘reacting’ as we did when our parents told us to do something we really didn’t want to do so we ‘pouted’? Do these conflicts and tensions have to do with the ‘letter of the law’ versus the ‘spirit of the law’? Where is God in these matters? Do I want to know or do I like being a ‘rebel’ or ‘reactionary’ or even a ‘hippie’ as some of us might have been labeled? The bottom line is that Jesus went to the ‘heart of the matter’. He was not concerned with the ‘small stuff.’ He showed us constantly that God is concerned about His relationship with each person…a relationship that is a total reflection of the love of the Trinity to each other. Do I want to be loved by God? Do I really know that I am loved by God? Is this where, perhaps, my fear comes in? Today’s readings really demand that we examine our lives lest we fall into the trap of trivial worries that border on scrupulosity that definitely and negatively affect our relationship with others. Deuteronomy starts today when the tribes of Israel were all lined up ready to be lead into the Promised Land. Moses has real concerns. He knows of the abundance of gifts and richness present — Deuteronomy 26: 8-9, “He brought us out of Egypt with His strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders; and bringing us into this country, He gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.” Will all these ‘good things’ from the Lord distract the people away from gratitude and dependence on God? Will they still realize that the Covenant meant that they had duties and obligations corresponding to God’s lavish love? Do we realize this? It is incumbent on them to live their love responses to God which will be a testimony to the surrounding peoples and nations that God is a God of love for all? Do I realize this by the way that I live and love? These laws are not unreasonable, they are important, encouraging respect for each other and protecting a close relationship with a loving God. Do I view the Ten Commandments in this way? Do I follow the ones I like or are most convenient for me? James in his letter today is written for those who misinterpreted Romans 4:5-6, which stated that FAITH ALONE was necessary. So I don’t have to DO anything, just BELIEVE in God. I do not have to live love, just know that I am loved. Moses must have been from Missouri, the ‘Show Me State’. Moses wanted the people to SHOW HIM the depth of their relationship by LIVING their faith and caring for the orphans and widows. James says, “Be doers of the word ad not hearers only deluding yourselves. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself sustained by the word.” It is not about me, but about God’s total love for me and LIVING that love so that others KNOW they are loved and then will be able to love. The Gospel continues with a controversy between Jesus and the Pharisees and Scribes. It centered on ‘The Tradition of the Elders’ which was a collection of Jewish practices that had been ‘practiced’ down through time that WERE NOT found in Scripture but had been lived AS IF they were from Scripture. By Jesus’ time these ‘practices’ were a real burden to understand and even to follow. The Pharisees were totally absorbed in following these ‘practices’ to the LETTER. They were furious that Jesus did not require His disciples to strictly follow these: the ritual purity laws about hand washing and cleansing of cooking utensils and the like. These had become ‘laws unto themselves.’ Jesus quotes Isaiah 13: “The Lord said: Since this people draws near with word only and honors Me with there lips alone, though their hearts are far from Me, and their reverence of Me has become routine observance of the precepts of men…” They are hypocrites, two-faced. The teaching and practice of Jesus is totally founded on the commandments of God while the Pharisees and scribes cling to the traditions from the past which have NOTHING to do with God. Jesus is saying to be His FAITHFUL follower means having a pure heart, a heart concerned with love, care, compassion, forgiveness and mercy. NOTE: It is unfortunate that verses 9 - 13 are omitted from Mark’s seventh chapter today. I feel they bring out the richness of Jesus’ teaching. “He went on to say, ‘How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor you father and mother’ and ‘whoever curses father mother shall die.’ Yet you say, If a person says to father or mother, ‘any support you might from me is ‘gorban’ meaning dedicated to God. You allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the Word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.” Pope Francis in his 2017 Palm Sunday homily called each of us to live as Jesus did every day or our lives saying, “He is present in our many brothers and sisters who today endure sufferings like His own: they suffer from slave labor from family tragedies, from diseases…from wars and terrorism, from interests that are armed and ready to strike. Women and men who are cheated, violated their dignity, discarded…Jesus is in them, in each of them, and, with marred features and broken voice, He asks to be looked in the eye, to be acknowledged, to be loved.” Am I doing that? Do I want to do that? Do I realize I am called to do that each day? So I reflect on: • Make a list of concrete ways in my life NOW that I show Jesus in my words and actions. • Am I living daily my life as Jesus would? What would He say at the end of the day as I examine my activities with others? • How do I want to be regarded by others? • Am I welcoming to those who can’t repay me? • Do I love when I have to? When convenient? When I have time? Or do I love as Jesus loves? Sacred Space 2018 says: “Jesus often impresses upon us the need to act upon His word. It is not enough to Honor Him with our lips. One can argue with words, but deeds speak for themselves. Jesus’ word is planted deep in me, and I pray, inspired by the message from the letter of the Apostle James: Let me be a doer of the word, and not a forgetful hearer. If I am a doer that acts, I shall be blessed in my doing.”