October 27, 2013

Bulletin October 27, 2013
30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Sirach 35: 12-14, 16-18; 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 16-18; Luke 18: 9-14
So what does the Lord think of me? I’ve been asked this question numerous times over the years; I’ve asked it of myself too. When I hear this I ask, ‘How do you feel about yourself?’ For the most part the response is ‘Not so good.’ And my hunch is that the person, I too, want the Lord to agree with the way that I feel about myself. Yet I say so often, ‘The Lord is absolutely crazy about you every single moment.’ How hard it is for me to say that the Lord is crazy in love with me every single moment.’ The readings today help me so much to see how God sees me and each individual.
The Book of Sirach was formerly called Ecclesiasticus which was a title reflecting its popularity as a source of practical wisdom for people wanting to advance in the spiritual life. The present title is the name of the author who wrote this book in Hebrew in the early part of the second century BC. A grandson of the author translated the work into Greek. What they both maintained was that “the law which Moses commanded us” (the Ten Commandments) was the best summary of wisdom, of advancing in the spiritual life. It tells how God thinks of me and each person: God is not influenced by earthly standards. God shows no partiality at all; God judges each person by ‘his or her character as a loyal servant of heaven.’ The author says that God has no favorites, as I do, as everyone has, but treats each person the same...the author doesn’t include love in this...but it certainly is very strongly implied. So I reduce the passage in my words to this: God just plain loves me and asks, ‘How are you keeping MY commandments?’ He says that God hears every one of my prayers but am I allowing God to change my heart in prayer? Am I listening to God leading me each day to be more a person of love and care for all? I celebrate Mass very often, it is a deep privilege, but do I come out the same way I went in? Am I living what God is gently filling me with: His love and concern for each person or is my life dominated by myself?
Paul shares how his conversion or change of heart brought him to see that God cared for him as God cares for each person, and that God is changing us to be His people. There will be sufferings but these can partner each person in the suffering of Christ that brought salvation to Paul and me and every person of all time. Am I allowing God to be God in me?
Luke gives us Jesus’ wonderful example of two people at prayer. Both came into the temple and left the temple and looked the same to anyone watching. But which one allowed God to change them? The tax collector realized God is the God of love, mercy and justice; the Pharisee did not. The Pharisee directed his prayer at himself and his accomplishments rather than his awe and humility and gratitude in being in the presence of God and acknowledging His care for him. I remember listening in rapt attention to Fr. Raymond Brown, an eminent Scripture scholar, who said that ‘if no change occurs as a result of prayer, then one has not really prayed.’ I have reflected on this often and still need to do so.
Everything the Pharisee said in his prayer was true: he fasted twice a week, yet one only had to fast once a year on the Day of Atonement. He did tithe on everything he owned, yet the law required that he only had to tithe on the products of crops and flocks. Yet this Pharisee never addressed how God has led him; how God has been present to him and how belief and love of God had made him a better person. He stands in prayer before God in gratitude but shifts pretty quickly to “I”...he was the one who did it all...God did nothing. And Jesus responds to this: “I tell you, the latter (the tax collector) went home justified, not the former (Pharisee); for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Living the Word states: “To be justified is to be in right relationship with God; it is a gift of God. Asking that God be merciful puts us in a right relationship with God.”
So how does God judge me? It comes down to ‘how am I showing love?’ In the gospel I see the proud and demanding face of the Pharisee and the humble, grateful face of the tax collector. I can so easily have both those faces unless I take time to reflect on how I am doing in loving God, others and myself. I can easily wear a mask and hide who I am and what I should be; I can avoid using my talents and gifts and tell people all about ‘me’. I can easily ‘look away’ at the needs of those around me which puts me in a ‘class ahead’ or over them. Jay Cormier in Connections gives this challenging assessment of the Gospel message: “In our own time and place, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is played out not so much as a lack of humility before God but as a lack of awareness of the needs, hopes and cries for help of those around us whom we have dismissed as ‘lesser’ creatures because they do not meet some dubious standard that society or culture has deemed critical to one’s success or status. Worse, perhaps, we sometimes patronize others as objects of charity, vehicles for making us feel good about ourselves; we fail to realize that they are our brothers and sisters who deserve our help for no other reason that they are, like us, children of God. That is Gospel humility: to realize that all the blessings we have received are the result of the depth of God’s love and not because of anything we have done to deserve it. Faced with such a realization, all we can do is to try and return that love to those around us, to care for this world we all share and for one another as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same loving God.” So I reflect on:

• Does God really want me bowing my head and beating my breast?
  
• Where is the line in me between self-acceptance, self-esteem and self absorption?
  
• Can humility be learned? Or has God already shown me this and I have not listened?
  
• How are humility and forgiveness related?
  
• There is a great phrase, “Live simply so others my simply live.” Is this a part of my life?
  

Sacred Space 2013 sums up, “I allow my prayer to be, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ I identify myself without excuses, and I address myself to God, confident of being met with love and mercy.

Jesus cautions me against anything that elevates me or sets me apart from others. I ask God to help me to be aware of any attitudes or words that demean other people.”

October 20, 2013

Bulletin October 20, 2013
29^th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Exodus 17: 8-13; 2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:2; Luke 18:1-8
I do not know when God will respond to my prayers, my pleas, my urgent petitions, my normal and continual prayers so I must continue forever, if it takes that long. So why am I upset that God doesn’t answer me immediately? Jesus responded by giving this parable to His disciples, those who already believed in Him and He told them to “pray always without becoming weary.”
It is interesting that Luke tells the point of the parable before he tells the parable. He does this not to give the story away but to reiterate the importance of the message. The story brings out what can be called the irresistible force meeting the immovable object and who will win...the bottom line is that God does hear me, loves me and constantly is helping me, but am I listening and am I seeing what God is doing for me? And this is true of every single person.
Now the people listening to Jesus were mostly ‘country folk’...farmers, fishermen and the like. They knew the stories about cities. They are “impersonal places where hard and cynical people take advantage of the weak.” So enters the story of the judge who doesn’t care about people...would he care about me...absolutely not, no matter what my plight was. It seems that God isn’t in his life since he “doesn’t fear God” nor does he respect people for their accomplishments, hard work or their sufferings. He cares about himself and ‘he is the boss.’ He certainly is the immovable object and it certainly seems that he prides himself in this. No one can do anything to change his mind. Now enters the irresistible force, this poor widow who was a member of one of the most oppressed classes in Israelite society. She needs help and it is urgent. No member of her family is there to help; her friends have no means to help and she is reduced to begging at best. Help! She does have one thing in her favor and that is she is asking for justice; she is in the right and the judge certainly would be the one to help her. But her odds are not good. Incidentally the Hebrew word for widow means ‘one who has no voice.’ Yet that’s all she has and she keeps on coming. She is not shy nor can she be put off.
John Shea in Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels for Christian Preachers and Teachers says this, “The justice that should be given because he is a judge is only given because the widow is relentless. However, more than sheer nagging may be at work. Scholars say ‘wear me out’ is literally translated, ‘give me a black eye,’ ‘Giving a black eye’ is an image for tarnishing a reputation. A judge is supposed to give justice and he does not want to be known for not giving justice. This woman’s persistence will show him up as an unjust judge. He does not want this. He wants the pretense of justice on the outside even though he is not committed to justice on the inside. He wants to be known as just. This hypocrisy is a key piece of information.”
Now Jesus steps in and compares God not to the ‘judge’ who does not want to listen to the ‘just’ concerns of the widow making him an “dishonest judge” but to the God of love and care and concern. Jesus describes God “Will not God then secure the rights of His chosen ones who call out to Him day and night? Will He be slow to answer them? I tell you, He will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.” God brings the justice and love and compassion that the world does not give. So the question is why does it seem that God sometimes takes such a long time? And Jesus asks, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” So He wants me to check out my faith in God: how deep is my faith...does my faith depend on ‘speed’...does my faith depend on ‘having it my way’...does my faith mean ‘me, me, and me’ or is it about ‘not my way but God’s way’?
Msgr. Eugene Lauer, my teacher at Notre Dame Sabbatical gives an interesting approach to this by way of a riddle: “At what point does every prayer go unanswered?” I had to really think about this. The fact is that every prayer goes unanswered when I decide to stop praying. If I decided that I gave God enough time and evidentially He doesn’t care or is not concerned about me and my concern, then ‘forget it’. But if I continue to pray then my prayers will never go unanswered. The bigger question is: why do I give up? Do I feel that God doesn’t care? Do I feel that He is punishing me because I’m not the person I should be? Does He play favorites and I’m certainly not one? Msgr. Lauer concludes in this way, “In a sophisticated modern society there is a tendency to call people who never give up, who keep on struggling even when there seems to be no reasonable hope of success, fools. ‘Be realistic. Why waste your time and energy that way?’ Many fine people in the racial justice movement, the women’s movement, the Third World liberation movement, seem to be ‘foolish’ in this way. Perhaps they are fools, ‘fools for the sake of the kingdom of God.’ And they know the answer to the riddle.”
I say it is about faith and I ask how deep my faith is. I look at the struggles I had just to get where I am today...God did this...it is His grace and love. So many, many people have inspired me because they continued and each ‘tough step’ made their commitment and its dream idyllic and an inspiration. So it is with our ‘journey of faith’, God tests us to purify us and bring us to the ‘end of our journey’...heaven. And I need these tests to be stronger and more faith filled and definitely more loving. Looking at it in this way, persistence in prayer is the only way, or the way to realize God’s closeness and love. So I reflect on:

• What areas of injustice do I see in the world...in my world? Am I doing anything about it with the gifts I have been given?
  
• Do I pray that God’s justice, meaning the grace to be in right relationship with God, others, oneself, and my world, more a part of my prayer life?
  
• How do I discern what needs I should take to God in prayer, and which needs are unhealthy or selfish or not good for me?
  
• Do I continually reflect on my needs and which of these are really important and bring them to God?
  

Sacred Space 2013 asks me “As I pray, listen for the deeper note that may underlie what I say and hear how God responds to me. Jesus tells the parable so we may not lose heart. I listen for the voice of Jesus.” speaking to me, urging me to persist.”

October 13, 2013

Bulletin: October 13, 2013
28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
2 Kings 5: 14-17; 2 Timothy 2: 8-13; Luke 17: 11-19
It seems that every year the Gospel reading a month or so before Thanksgiving is an account of the ten lepers that Jesus healed and one, the Samaritan, the only one that returned and thanked Jesus. Why does the Church give us the same gospel on Thanksgiving Day? For myself, I can never be reminded enough of my need to say ‘Thanks’ to God. If I said thank you every minute of every day from now till the day I die, I would still never have said ‘thank you’ enough for God’s gifts and love in my life. So I need to hear these gospels and need to pass on some reflections on them.
I love the story of the cure of Naaman, but we only hear three verses of the story, the whole version is the whole fifth chapter of 2 Kings, verses 1-27...I need to read the whole story over and over. Please read the whole story...it is filled with gratitude, but also filled with the power of God’s word to heal...and a surprising end when one tries to ‘take advantage’ of God’s goodness. I do not think that the ‘rest of the story’ of Naaman is ever read in the Sunday or daily readings. It’s better to read this, my own interpretation would limp. Another point I love about the story of Naaman is the role of the ‘little ones’, the unimportant people, insignificant people, who delivered the message of healing. It was the servants who convinced Naaman to listen to Elisha and stop being so huffy about washing in the Jordan instead of the beautiful rivers back home. Who am I to be the determinant of the person God ‘really sends’ with His message...do I feel it has to be this person, from this social strata or importance? Then I ‘program’ God and make Him the God that I want Him to be...how bold can I be? How bold the devil wants me to be. This creeps into my prayer when I ask God to ‘help this person’ or myself and ‘tell Him, now this is the way I want You to do this.’ Msgr. Chet Michael says, “Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude....If I’m not grateful pride sets in.” Another constant reminder I need in front of me every day; .Lord help me with this.
In the Gospel is the cure of leprosy. This was a disease that completely alienated the person from society. The Dictionary of the Bible describes it in this way: “The disease now called leprosy, the scourge of medieval Europe and still common in hot, humid climates, is always fatal unless it is treated. It is a bacterial disease, distinguished according to its prevailing symptom into nodular, anesthetic, and mixed. There is a long period of incubation, perhaps some years. In nodular leprosy the patient exhibits eruptions which develop into nodules which in turn become ulcerated. Anesthetic leprosy exhibits a degeneration of the nerves, loss of sensation and muscular movement, and progressive paralysis with loss of extremities. The mixed type exhibits both sets of symptoms.” Yet in the OT and NT leprosy may designate a wide variety of mild skin infections but all were isolated from the community.
But the disease can also be a reflection for me on alienation. What alienates me from God?...certainly my sins. I feel, more accurately, the devil wants me to feel, that I am unloved, that God can’t possibly love me the way that I am. I beat myself up so much that I cannot hear the call of God’s love: ‘Come, let me love you in your hurt...let Me bring My healing to you...let Me show you how important, special and valuable you are to Me in My plan of salvation.’ The devil never wants me to hear these gentle words of God. As Living the Word states, “Leprosy is a stand-in for the condition of sin that alienates us from God and each other. God’s greatest desire is that we know divine, saving grace, a desire often brought home to us by the surprising messengers God sends us—including the prophet from Nazareth who continues to surprise us after two thousand years. So be on the lookout for how God is working to draw you closer and deepen your faith.”
I needed to be reminded that gratitude isn’t just nice, but it’s a necessity. I need to be reminded that gratitude needs to be a part of every moment of every day. I need to be reminded that God has given His life to me for no other reason than love so that my only fitting response is to stand before God in humble gratitude. And I have to then love. Too often I let my worries and fears of life get in the way; too often I let the hurts and disappointments bring me away from gratitude. God’s gifts far outnumber the sum total of my struggles. God’s constant and consistent love given from so many sources and through so many different people have breathed so much life into me and have enabled me to be a bit of the person God needs me to be. And I am grateful...now when I reflect on it...but what about the times I just don’t say ‘thanks’?
So gratitude, gratitude, gratitude...Fr. Anthony Kadavil in Teaching and Preaching Resources helps me with these words, “I don’t mean to suggest that we should minimize the problems we face, or disregard them, or not work toward solutions to those which are in our control. No, I’m not saying that at all. But I believe that part of the ‘solution’ to our problems (if I can use that word) is to open ourselves up to real healing on the inside by realizing just how good our God has been to us and continues to be. When we are able to do that, when we are able to see life as something that doesn’t just have to be endured, when we can still have grateful hearts even though there may be much pain, sorrow, or disappointment in our lives, so much will change --- our pessimism will turn into hope, our fears will turn into trust, and our sorrow may begin to turn into joy --- a joy that comes not from having the externals in our lives work out as we would like, but which comes from us knowing on the inside that God loves us, understand us what we are going through, and continues to bless us each and every day. Now that’s something to be thankful for.” So I reflect on:

• Can I think of the ‘surprising’ messengers God has sent to ‘get through’ to me? Have I ever thanked God for them? Do I pray for them?
  
• The lepers ‘kept their distance’ from Jesus...is there anything that keeps me away from Jesus? Don’t I need His love? What am I afraid of?
  
• Do I give thanks to Jesus for what He did for me through His death and resurrection?
  
• The lepers considered themselves outcasts; yet if they not been lepers they might never have had an encounter with Jesus. Is there a message in this for me?
  

Sacred Space 2013 says:

“Something is missing when it does not involve a humble return to Jesus to give thanks. We come back to Jesus, not just to give thanks, but ready to receive our mission. Jesus’ healing is a gift in itself, but it may be given to us for others. We listen in prayer to hear His plans for us.”

October 6, 2013

Bulletin October 6, 2013
27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; 2 I Timothy 1: 6-8, 13-14; Luke 17: 5-10
It seems that today’s readings are beautifully fit together for me when I’m upset with what is going on around me especially with the condition of the larger picture, whether that be the parish, the state, the world or the church. So often things are fine, I seem to be able to ‘go along with the flow’ and to be in relative peace. But then there are the shocking catastrophes that come up: they start on the TV news programs or in the newspaper. Special editions come out or special programs examine in detail the horribleness of the event in question. So many questions arise within myself and are asked by others: ‘Why is God allowing this to happen?’...’where is God in all of this?’...’are people ever going to listen to Jesus’ teachings and God’s love for every single person?’ Why, why, why; and it seems with each ‘why’, more discouragement shows itself and I wonder what am I to do? I go and spend time with the Lord and go to His word in Scripture and especially to the Gospels. Today’s readings help me immensely.
A little background on Habakkuk: he is one of the twelve “Minor Prophets”; this doesn’t mean that his prophesies were unimportant but that they were very short. In fact the prophecies of these twelve were once recorded on one scroll. His concern, most likely, was the great empire of Babylon. The king of Babylon had completely destroyed Jerusalem and forced its citizens into years of exile as he ‘raped’ the country. The country was in dire straits coupled within political intrigue and idolatry. The first two chapters are a dialogue between the prophet and the Lord. What is interesting about this is that it may be the first time in Israelite literature, that a person questions the ways of God. Habakkuk calls God to ‘account for His actions’ and is filled with questions. He wants to know how long God is going to ignore his pleas for help. He wonders why he is witnessing so much misery among God’s people. He seems to fear that God has abandoned His people entirely. I’ve wondered the same down through the years many times.
God doesn’t answer Habakkuk but he tells him to write down the vision he sees from God. God doesn’t say how long this will last but the vision instructs him that the righteous wait in faith. This vision inspires Habakkuk to utter a prayer of great confidence and includes a vivid description of God’s saving power. His final words proclaim that one day, in spite of all the negativity, he will rejoice in Gods’ life-giving powers. God is in control; I need to know this. Can I understand God’s plan for me, for the world...no. But can I ask God to help me in my faith...yes. Paul and Luke help me with this.
In the second reading, Paul is telling Timothy to be courageous: just continue to do what you are doing...continue to be the person that you are gifted to be...continue to share that God is love and loves each person and wants each one with Him forever. With this in mind, there will be pain and suffering in life...accept it...get over it...How can I expect to live always in ‘a bed of roses’ and look at the cross of Jesus? He suffered and died for me and to show me the way of the cross, which He fills with His presence. Have faith in His love.
This is the message of Jesus in Luke’s gospel passage. The apostles wanted their faith in Jesus and God to be stronger. Jesus avoids answering and shifts the topic. Jesus is concerned with what I am doing with what I have been given. He is not concerned about quantity, but about quality. Living the Word says it this way: “Using the image of a household staff, He insists that though it is relatively small, it is still expected to perform several tasks—plowing, tending sheep preparing food, and serving at table. The householder might appear unreasonable, but the story is not about being considerate. This is a teaching about the obligations of the one serving not of the one being served.” I am the server, God is the giver. Jesus is asking if I want to increase my faith what I am doing about it. Faith is not sitting down and reflecting; faith is showing that I have faith. Faith is showing that I believe in Jesus by living as Jesus showed me and told me. Faith is taking care of the world I live in by making it a better place. I do this by sharing my gifts, my faith, my hope, my love. Faith without works is no faith. I can give love but people have to see my love; that shows my faith that God is in control and that I am of God.
The Psalm response today puts it all together for me, “If today you hear His voice, harden no your hearts.” It means that God is present every single moment to me and He is leading me to be Jesus, do I listen or do I pout and wish that God would do something. If this is the case, then why did He place me here? This leads me to ask all sorts of questions:

• “What do we do when we are I need?
  
• How do we handle it when things happen that are beyond our control?
  
• Do we tend to cling to Jesus?
  
• Or do we shy away from Him and close ourselves off from His graces?
  
• Am I softening my heart to hear God?”
  

With this in mind I can reflect on so much more:

• How do I come to know God’s will for me? It has to do with gifts and love, am I paying attention?
  
• How much effort do I put into trying to live God’s will?
  
• Why does ‘society’ find it so easy to turn away from God and justify such things as violence, greed, disregarding the poor and needy, not paying attention to the mentally ill?
  
• Can following the will of God for me result in changes in my world? How and why?
  

Sacred Space 2013...sets the tone for my progress:
“Jesus warns us against seeking credit for our good deeds. Saying ‘I have done only what I ought to have done’ tests our humility.



As I spend time in prayer, God draws my attention to my life and hopes, and my faith becomes stronger as I learn to trust in God and in myself.”