Bulletin July 28, 2013 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

As I read and reflected on these three readings the thoughts came to my mind: how good do I feel about myself right now as I face God? I would be very nice to say: ‘I feel fine?’ But am I as I look at the sinful me? This could put me in a situation where I beat myself up because no matter what I do, I still sin. Then this could lead me to some sort of depression and I realistically wonder if I can ever get to heaven. So I go along in more of a negative mood but then Jesus tells me that I should be rejoicing and grateful that the Lord is with me every single second of my life. Not only is He present but He sent the Holy Spirit to lead me minute by minute closer to Himself. Then the ‘head game’ begins and I wonder if this will really happen. Am I looking for the ‘pot of gold’ at the end of the rainbow, when I probably will be thrown out ‘with the garbage’?
So I look at the readings to see more clearly this God who is ‘crazy in love with me’ and who is working each day to bring this ‘unique sinful me’ to be with Him forever in eternity. Moses tells of the wonderful and fearful dialogue between God and Abraham: God is ready to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah describing the problem and nature of Divine Justice. These cities were sinful, no doubt about it, it was a precarious situation. Abraham has listened and followed the path of the Lord but he worries if God would be blind in His justice and destroy innocent people. So he barters with God. But the bottom line is that there are less than ten innocent people in these cities. In the end, God does rescue Lot, Lot’s wife and their two daughters (another tragic story comes from this) and I’m sure that God’s mercy really exceeded Abraham’s expectations. So I look at the sinfulness within me and say ‘Am I looking and asking for God’s mercy; or am I giving up and not thinking that God is merciful like the devil wants me to think? God is best at His mercy…this is repeated throughout the Old Testament and reiterated over and over by Jesus. Why do I not reflect often and deeply on God’s mercy?…it is a wonderful meditation and very rewarding how the Sprit leads me closer to God in this reflection.
It takes time to sort out Paul’s message to the Colossians. I went back to the translation by J.B. Phillips whom Msgr. Chet Michael says gives us a very down deep understanding of Paul’s letters. Rev. Phillips says, “…just as in baptism you shared in His death, and in Him shared the rising again to life—and all this because you have faith in the tremendous power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You, who were spiritually dead because of yours sins and your uncircumcision, God has now made to share in the very life of Christ! He has forgiven you all your sins: He has utterly wiped out the written evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross. (And verse 15) And then having drawn the sting of all the powers and authorities ranged against us, He exposed them, shattered, empty and defeated, in His own triumphant victory!” It’s about God and not about me. It’s what God has done for me and every single person, who like me is a sinner and sins: God has freed us, redeemed us and just plain loves us. Christ’s death has taken away our sins!!!! Amen…alleluia!!!

Now Jesus brings this lesson to completion by sharing how God is all loving…and God is all caring…God never leaves anyone alone but is always present and active in His love and mercy…and in His mercy and forgiveness and love He teaches each person how to care for each person He places in our lives. Living the Word gives these insights: “Jesus urges His disciples to persist in prayer to God, after teaching His prayer to them. This great prayer is the basis for our approaching God with persistence. We are told to call God Father, and then to make two prayers of praise and three petitions to God. Those praying move from blessing and praising God’s name and sovereignty to asking for our most basic needs: bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil. Jesus follows the gift of His prayer with advice and encouragement.

His advice is to persist; His encouragement is to remember that God is a father who loves His children. God will not refuse the gift of the Spirit to those who have been buried with Christ and have already been raised with Him in baptism. As the author of the Letter to the Colossians reminds us, God brought you to life along with Christ even when you were dead in sin. How could God refuse us anything that was truly good for us?”

This passage is concluded in such a wonderful way and the answer to all my questions, doubts and fears that I started this reflection. After telling His disciples to ask the Father, and never cease, He says the Father delights in giving the Holy Spirit to those who ask. And I look at what the Holy Spirit is all about: the most precious gift that God gives; the one who gives all the blessings of the Lord’s Prayer. The Holy Spirit reveals the glory, majesty and the love of Jesus. The Spirit gives each person in so many different ways knowledge of the things of God and opens eyes to truths in Scripture. The Spirit aids each person in their prayers and a deeper reverence to things of God. The Spirit gifts each person with love, so that person can love. The Spirit lets me know how crazy in love God is with me and how He is present to me so I do not ever have to doubt or be afraid. Praise God! So I reflect on:

• Do I have confidence that God hears every single one of my prayers? He does…what stops me from believing this?
  
• Do I ask the Holy Spirit to help me in my praying? Do I ask the Spirit to keep my pride in the background so I can ask this?
  
• What are the hardest things that I ask God for in my prayer…is it prayers for me…I suspect it is…I’m so busy praying for others I don’t think I’m that important. I am that important; do I ask the Spirit for help in this?
  
• Jesus says those who ask, receive; those who seek, find…I t seems that my ‘unanswered prayers’ blind me to what I am receiving from God…like His intimacy and love?
  
• How can I develop comfortability in simply talking and listening to God as Abraham did? One director said to use more senses: talk out loud and write on paper…it’s amazing what happened.
  
• How open am I to try a form of prayer that I have never experienced? What is there to be afraid of?
  

Today’s response is: “Lord, on the day I called for help, You answered me.”

Bulletin July 21, 2013 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Bulletin July 21, 2013 16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Genesis 18:1-10; Colossians 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42
The three readings today have a unique similarity: they direct their attention to the question, ‘where do I look for God?’
It seems that Abraham was among the first people in the Bible to have seen God clearly. And why was this so…because he seemed to be always looking for God. Today he was sitting by the oak trees near Mamre, an ancient sacred place, enjoying his noon siesta. Three visitors appeared to him; he didn’t recognize them but proceeded to share hospitality. This was not the first time that Abram (now Abraham) had encountered God. In the 12^th chapter of Genesis, the Lord told him to leave his father’s house and go to the land that He would show them because He was going to make of him a great nation and this when he was seventy-five. Then after a short time in Egypt, he went to the Negeb where he became “very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold”. The Lord led him to Mamre where in a vision He promised to make of Abraham a great nation. And Abraham wondered how this would be since his wife Sarah was old and childless. And in chapter 17, “When he was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared and said to him, ‘I am God almighty; walk before me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” It seems that in all these ‘events’ Abraham did not doubt that he was in the presence of God, he just knew. And because he recognized God, he also trusted him. And because of this familiarity
he wasn’t afraid to haggle with God over the details even when God asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac. So in listening to the Abraham story I wonder how much I am even looking to see God in the events of my day.
Brother Lawrence, a 17^th century French monk, learned to practice the presence of God at every moment in his life and his one desire was for spiritual union with God. He practiced love in all things and in each moment of each day; when he worked in the kitchen, his prayer echoes this, “Lord of all pots and pans and things…Make me a saint by getting meals and washing up the plates.” And he would say, “The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament.”
Paul takes a different approach; he sees how tough life it is for him to live as Jesus. It seems that a combination of Jewish ritual practices and some unusual ideas and practices revolving around placating spirits has been threatening the church at Colossae. So what really is important? Paul shares that true Christian asceticism consists in conquering each one’s personal sins and practicing love of neighbor. He’s saying that if we know who Christ is then we know how we must live. Paul is writing this from prison saying that each person has to live through the sufferings of their own life, coupled with the example of Jesus’ suffering to keep us on the journey to heaven. It’s not about my unworthiness but God’s love for me and this awareness that keeps me open to seeing God.
Now the Martha, Mary story has a bad rap: people say, ‘well I’m just being Martha again’; keeping up with the household duties, someone has to do it. We have the doers and the dreamers…but both are showing ‘service.’ Mary is sitting at the feet of the master, the customary place of a disciple. Martha is totally involved and even overwhelmed with the responsibilities of hospitality. Jesus surprised visit is taxing, but both show me how to be alert to God’s presence: in listening to God’s word and in performing service. Also when Martha says that Mary is not where she belongs, helping her in the kitchen, the ‘female space’; Jesus shows the richness of His call to every person. Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus, only a disciple of a teacher could do this and only a man could be a disciple, the male place. Jesus has changed the boundaries, the priorities…it is all about God. Where is my need for God? God is present exactly where my need is? Am I aware of this? Do I realize that only this God who is crazy in love with me just the way that I am now and totally aware of exactly of what I need to live in His presence. I am ‘busy about many things’ is so true.

What am I to do to be aware of God? I heard a lecture by a monk who offered an interesting challenge, “Life is too complicated? You never have a moment for yourself? Then stop doing half the things you do now and quit pretending that you are so important!” Did that hit home!!!! Psychologists have said for years that most Americans are thinking about the next thing that they have to do while they are doing a task. Life then becomes a list of tasks to get done instead of a series of events happening that could make me somehow aware of this God who is crazy in love with me.

So I reflect on:

• Did Mary realize that she was in the presence of the Son of God?
  
• Did Martha realize that she was in the presence of the Son of God?
  
• Jesus wants to have a close relationship with me and each person. He wishes to be as intimate with me as the most intimacy I share with the person closest to me. Am I open to this? Can I only do this when I’m ready and not busy with all the busy things of my life?
  
• I look at the most wonderful welcoming I’ve received recently…it involved smiles…a hug…and love…it was God. Was I thankful? Was I reluctant in returning love? Did this change me?
  
• The slogan for Motel 6 is, “We’ll leave the light on for you.” Isn’t this God at every moment of my life?
  

Sacred Space 2013 concludes in this way, “Being able to give generously and receive graciously are two sides of the same coin. I ask God to help me to keep my life in balance: humbly asking, graciously receiving, generously giving.”

“Jesus, we welcome you into our hearts. Abide with us and teach your presence so that we too can see Your glory and be raised to new life in You.”      

Bulletin July 14, 2013 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Bulletin July 14, 2013 15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Deuteronomy 30: 10-14; Colossians 1: 15-20; Luke 10:25-37
The first words of Moses today says it all, “If only you would heed the voice of the Lord…and keep His commandments…” and He continues, “For this command that I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you.” Today the expression would be, ‘It’s not rocket science’. I wonder why so many people, myself included want an explanation of something that is so clear it needs no explanation. This happens so much with regard to God and the things of God. Someone told me recently of a conversation they were having with a person who was having difficulty facing the problems in his life. They told the person to ‘Bring it to God in prayer.’ The response was: ‘I use to be a Seven Day Adventist but now I’m an agnostic. I don’t know how to bring it to God.’
The scholar of the law in the Gospel wanted “to test Jesus”. Why did he want to do that? Did he want to prove Jesus wrong? Did he want to show the people that Jesus was a phony and couldn’t be the Messiah? Did he want to prove his own superiority? Did he do this to impress the intelligentsia in the crowd? And Jesus surprised this lawyer by giving a ‘test’ from the Covenant Law given to Moses. The man gave a wonderful rendition of the law and Jesus congratulated him and told him that if he wanted to get to heaven this was what he had to do. The lawyer again wanted to make an impression; he still was in the ‘I’ mode of superiority and not willing to listen to what Jesus said; not willing to hear from God truth. So he challenged Jesus with the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. When I was young there was a radio program on Sunday afternoon called, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ and I remember hearing this story so many years ago. It just seemed to me to be so clear and so kind and so obvious of what it means to be a person of love as Jesus was.
Jesus said, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, ‘The one who treated him with mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’” Isn’t this obvious? Well the lawyer, as the Jewish people, felt that ‘neighbor meant those who ‘live near’ and they interpreted this as those who were God’s people, a fellow Israelite. They felt that they had no obligation to love their enemies. And who were their enemies: all non Jews, all Samaritans and everyone else. The Dictionary of the Bible says, “In the NT Samaritans is the name given to the inhabitants of the district of Samaria; but the name has deep religious overtones. To the Jews, the Samaritans were a heretical and schismatic group of spurious worshipers of the God of Israel, who were detested even more than pagans. “ So how could this Samaritan be someone that he could love? How could a just God ask him to love this Samaritan? The requirement of the law commanded that one love one’s neighbor as oneself. Jesus is saying, so obviously, that each person, every person is neighbor. Do I live this? Do I have a ‘hierarchy’ of loving people? If they are good to me I’ll be good to them, is this a part of my life? Am I listening to what Jesus is teaching me today?
Jesus is saying that anyone in need is a person Jesus asks me to respond to. It means setting aside any barrier that society or I set up. It is the removal of selfishness and realizing that each person is a gift created by God. Each person is the image of God who created them. Jesus is saying to be a neighbor was to treat another with love and mercy.
Living the Word says this about the readings today: “When Moses said God’s law was ‘something very near, already in your mouths, and in your hearts,’ he was presenting God as a true neighbor, as near as our heartbeat. When Paul said Jesus was both the image of the invisible God and the head of His body, the Church, would any image better capture the nearness of Christ and His church? St. Teresa of Avila echoed this when she said, ‘Christ has no body now but yours, no hands or feet on earth but yours. Yours are the yes through which Christ’s compassion looks upon the world.’”
So these readings make me pause and ask all sorts of questions: primarily who is it in my life that I find particularly hard to deal with? Is it a teacher who doesn’t like me, a friend who doesn’t appreciate me, a boss who is arrogant, a relative who is always right self-righteous, is it that neighbor who is rude and overbearing? When I’m honest with myself I have to say ‘YES’ these are the ones that I don’t want to view as neighbor. Now when I do, if I am really honest, it means that I am setting limits on the people who receive my love. I could ‘love’ these people if it was convenient or ‘politically correct’ and I could get something out of it. But is this loving neighbor? Isn’t Jesus saying today what He has said repeatedly that ‘in heaven’ our neighbors will be all that He has called: coarse fishermen, greedy tax collectors, prostitutes, a criminal hanging next to Him who was condemned to death? So I have so much to reflect on:

• To love my ‘neighbor’ means that I have to abolish all boundaries, divisions. Am I doing this?
  
• To love my ‘neighbor’ means seeing things from that person’s point of view and responding to that without regard to outward appearances. How am I doing on this?
  
• The Samaritan stopped to help a man who had been robbed, stripped and beaten because HE SAW THE MAN’S NEED…and was moved by that consideration. Do I put other factors in the consideration?
  
• God is continually testing each person. Some in little ways some in big ways. These tests reveal the kind of person I am: an unselfish or a selfish person; am I working on this?
  

Sacred Space 2013 in commentating on today’s reading from Deuteronomy says: “Before I ask of anything else from God in prayer, I give thanks to God for what I have already received. The Word of God is already in my mouth and in my heart.

God does not ask of me anything that is too difficult, but asks me to begin from where I am right now at this time. I pray that I may grow in appreciation of how God ‘prospers’ me.”

“Jesus was calling for something far greater than we can accomplish on our own. Only in Christ can we truly love others, or wholeheartedly love God. And that is as incredible as a Samaritan fulfilling the law.” (From Luke, A devotional Commentary)

Bulletin July 7, 2013 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Bulletin July 7, 2013 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Isaiah 66:10-14; Galatians 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

I read this very fascinating ‘parable’ from “Once Upon a Time in Africa: Stories of Wisdom and Joy” “A true Story: An African king had conquered the territory of the Kasena, a powerful and shrewd tribe. Each year the king extracted tribute from the Kasena and would send a messenger to collect it.

One year the king made the mistake of sending his son, his heir apparent, to collect the tribute. When the Kasena saw the prince and his small entourage, they overpowered them and took the prince hostage.

They stripped the prince of his fine robes. He was given one meal a day and sent to work in the fields each morning. The sight of the royal heir digging in the field make him the object of derision among the Kasena.

But the prince made no protest. He did not try to escape. In fact, as he worked, he sang. He sang loudly and happily as his back bent to the hoe from sunup to sundown. His soft hands soon blistered and bled from the hard work; he lost weight and staggered with exhaustion.

But he continued to sing.

The elders of the Kasena were troubled by his singing and disconcerted by his attitude. ‘How can he possibly sing? We make him sleep on the ground. We give him very little food. We force him to do back-breaking work that he has never done before. Our wives and children mock him. Yet he sings!’

The elders finally summoned the prince. He stood in his loin cloth, straight and proud, before the council. The chief elder asked the prince, ‘Why do you sing!’

The prince answered, ‘Yes, you have taken away my fine clothes. You force me to work long and hard days, you give me very little to eat, and you make me sleep on the hard ground. You have taken away my pride and all my earthly possessions. You have brought me to shame. But I can sing. I can sing because you cannot take away who I am. I sing because I am the son of the king. Despite your treatment of me, my dignity remains. And so I sing. I sing with gratitude. I sing with joy. I sing with hope.’”
The thought came to me that this is what it means to be a follower of Jesus: to be filled with joy at the great gift of faith that God has blessed me and so many others with. The presence of the Holy Spirit is constantly gifting me and so many others to live the life of Jesus in whatever circumstances He places us. How many times do I reflect on this great gift from God? How many ‘songs of praise’ do I lift up to God for choosing me? How many opportunities do I have to grow in God but I view these as inconveniences and even annoyances because I had ‘other things planned.’ I do not realize that these could be those special moments that I could ‘bring peace’ and ‘cure the sick’ and be a part of ‘witnessing that the kingdom of God is at hand?’ And do I reflect that this is the way God has chosen for me to get to heaven?
In the Gospel, Jesus sent 72 disciples? Who were these people? Seventy-two is a lot of people. Luke doesn’t specify who they were so I think it is safe to assume that they were men, women and children old enough to be witnesses. Their mission isn’t about position or importance; it was about bringing God’s peace. They were sent, not to lecture or preach but to be present, to heal and to lift up those who were down. They were to be humble, realizing that they have received a gift, and are to be generous in sharing their gifts. They were to go about their ‘mission’ with humility and joy. They were to be Jesus in healing. Jesus promised them, that their lives and ours would make a difference to those they serve and to themselves.
They came back filled with excitement and stories of accomplishment and probably a little too much ‘pride’. Jesus put their mission in perspective when He said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold I have given you the power to ‘tread upon serpents’ and scorpion and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
Luke consistently places a significant amount of emphasis on what it means to be a disciple and the cost this will entail. Basically speaking, he tells me and each person that when we set out to follow Jesus, we have no idea of what will happen or what we are getting ourselves into. How true that has been in my life. There are times that I feel I am in the middle of a fierce battleground. Yet these times have assured me that God was present and it was the Spirit with phenomenal grace that makes all ‘right with God.’ Every time I say ‘Yes’ to be an instrument I realize the constant care of the Holy Spirit. There are times that this call has been costly, but the rewards are so comforting and great. As one holy person said, “Just consider the privilege of leading a person away from sin…and consider the joy in heaven when a person turns and gets closer to Jesus.” And not only is God working though each of His disciples but He is re-forming each disciple into the people that will be with Him forever in heaven. All I have to do each day is to say, ‘yes’. To say that I am just your servant, please have mercy and help me.
So I reflect on:

• When I pray for vocations, do I just include priesthood or religious life or do I include vocations of being married, single, and widowed?
  
• Do I include in my prayer the prayer for each believer to be ‘an instrument of God?’
  
• Do I realize that it is God’s power that accomplishes all, and not me?
  

Sacred Space 2013 shares, “Jesus sent the disciples out without resources; the first place they were to go was to the people near them. My first mission is to those around me, to help them to realize that the reign of God is within reach.

I am sent as a lamb among wolves. Sometimes I prefer to fit in and be comfortable. I pray that I may learn how to be distinctive---while remaining alive!”

And I pray with St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.