July 27, 2014

17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

1 Kings 3: 5, 7-12; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52
Today’s Gospel continues the theme of Jesus on the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God…reign of God…from last week. It’s good to start with a question…what is of most importance to me, right now? It is not the same question as…if my house was on fire what would I save? Sometimes I want to look at it in that way. Maybe it’s better to view this reading by asking myself, ‘What is the good that God sees in me?’ ‘Where is God so proud of me?’ ‘What has happened recently in my life that God just wants to give me a big thanks and hug? I think most people would shy away from these questions…I want to. Yet God placed each person in this life, at a specific time with love and has ‘love missions’ for that person to accomplish. When we do, how could God be anything less than totally grateful?
So in looking at these questions I have to look at today’s passages in a different light. If God is calling me for these ‘love missions’ then He is also gifting me with the necessary ‘tools’ so that I can accomplish these missions. The purpose of all these missions is to bring people closer to God and the place in heaven God has prepared for each one. If I realize this, I have to at the same time look at this ‘goal’ that is heaven and ask myself, ‘What is the Kingdom of Heaven worth to me? What is the Kingdom of God worth to me?

I like the way Living the Word explains this today. “Throughout our lives we engage usually subconsciously, in cost-benefit analyses, trying to balance cost and risk on the one hand with the potential gains on the others. This might seem a somewhat cold-hearted approach to take toward faith, but Jesus’ parables in today’s Gospel seem to imply that if we reflect on the matter we ought to see that gaining the kingdom of heaven is worth any cost, worth any risk.

The great seventeenth-century mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal is famous for his ‘wager’ regarding religious faith. He said that if we weigh the potential benefit of faith (gaining eternal life) against the cost (a life of religious devotion) and the risk (being wrong and there being no eternal life), it seem perfectly reasonable to have faith. This is not, of course, meant to be any sort of proof of the truth of religious faith. Rather, Pascal’s point is the same one made in today’s parables: the kingdom of heaven is something of such surpassing good that even the slightest chance of it being real should make us willing to surrender everything we have in order to gain it. Faith in an uncertainty is a small price to pay for the promise of eternal life.

But even we who are believers, who have made the risky choice for faith, sometimes undervalue the gift of God’s kingdom. Unlike Solomon in our first reading, we seek a long life or wealth or power over others rather than the pearl of great price, which is the wisdom of God’s kingdom. Reflecting, as Pascal did, on the infinite value of what God offers us in the kingdom ought to lead us to live wholeheartedly for God.”
It’s good to look at the 1^st & 2^nd Book of Kings which give the accounts of the rise and fall of kingship among God’s people. In today’s reading, Solomon is presented as the model for what a good king is to be. God invites him to ask for anything he wants. What an invitation…what would I ask for under similar circumstances. I would consider what I would need more than anything else…naturally it would be something I already don’t have…or have in a very small amount. So what would I ask God for? Initially I would be a little worried, I wouldn’t want to offend God. This brings in my fear and has nothing to do with the ‘love missions’ God entrusts to each person. So what would I ask for…I have to reflect deep and long on this and then reread today’s first reading? Solomon starts off by outlining the blessings and gifts he has already received. Now God gave Solomon the throne of his father David. He wasn’t the oldest son nor the most experienced. The kingdom is composed of a vast number of people scattered all over. Solomon therefore asks for the one thing that will help him hold onto the kingdom and to rule the people…he asked for an understanding heart so as to distinguish right from wrong. Would I ask for the same thing? Would I be that unselfish in my asking? This is a good reflection for me.
Paul is sharing that God has a plan for the whole process of salvation. God knew forever that He would send Jesus to show the way and to restore the true image of God in those who believe. Jesus lived and showed love and this love implies a definite foretaste of future glory. God is constantly loving and Paul says that those who love God are filled with the Holy Spirit and His gifts which enable each to have a new outlook and mind-set on life. So I trust in God and God’s way, not in what the world ‘pleases’ me with. I was made for heaven and it is a journey of love and pain in arriving at my destination. To attain that goal, God is making me over and each person over to be like Christ. In doing this I realize that is what I was created to be. I discover this the more I discover love and experience God’s daily love.
This must be my constant reflection and challenge to engage my focus on God and why I am here. Connections says it this way, The parables Jesus tells in today’s Gospel challenges us in the same way to engage our attention on the things of God and not be caught up with the lesser, ephemeral things of the world. The ‘treasures’ and ‘pearls’ of God are not found in the things of the earth but in the values of heaven: love, justice, mercy, peace. True wisdom begins with tirelessly seeking such treasures that our lives maybe enriched by the things of God.”
So I reflect on:

• If I was offered wisdom or money right now, which would I take? Why?
  
• What would my life be like today if I had more wisdom or more money?
  
• So I look at the things that I value most? What am I willing to risk in order to have those things? Do the possession of them enable me to be more gifted for my ‘love missions?’
  
• Where is God in my priorities, in my life today?
  
• Am I a constant reader and believer in God’s word in Scripture? Do I let God be God to me?
  
• Does God look at me and see all the treasures He has blessed me with and wonder when I’m going to discover them?
  

The opening passage for the week in Sacred Space 2014 is special: “Building God’s Family, Some years ago, a Dublin family decided to bring a child home from the local orphanage for Christmas day. When the father arrived, a small girl was waiting for him. ‘Are you all set?’ he asked. “No,’ she said fiercely, ‘I won’t come without my little brother!’ So he negotiated that, and the siblings had a great day. The family loved them so much that they adopted both.

Ruth Burrows uses the image of an orphanage to highlight the relationship that exists between God and us. A couple might run an orphanage, she says, and devote themselves daily to their charges. Perhaps they spare themselves nothing in their love and care. Yet, when each day is done, the couple retires to their private family life with their own children, delegating the orphans to the good care of someone else. The orphans get to know where they live and the fun they have together, their holidays, their friends, their birthday celebrations. But from this private life they are excluded.

Not so with God, Ruth Burrows insists. God has no hidden private life to which we have no access. We are brought into God’s family circle; we are His beloved children. God shares everything with us. Hence Jesus’ promise: ‘I will not leave you orphans’ and His request: ‘Father, I want those you have given me to be where I am.’ We are family! We are God’s family!

July 20, 2014

16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19; Romans 8: 26-27; Matthew 13: 24-43
For the next two bulletins I will be concentrating on an expression of Jesus that Matthew uses in both gospels: “The Kingdom of God.” What does this expression mean? Added to the confusion is that different translators use different expressions for ‘The Kingdom of God” that seem like they change the meaning: “The reign of God…the rule of God…the kingdom of heaven…the kingdom of Christ…’ Do these mean the same? The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives a nice workable description for “Kingdom of God (of Heaven): The reign or rule of God: ‘the kingdom of God is…righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit’ (Rom 14:17). The Kingdom of God draws near in the coming of the Incarnate Word; it is announced in the Gospel; it is the messianic Kingdom, present in the person of Jesus, the Messiah; it remains in our midst in the Eucharist. Christ gave to His Apostles the work of proclaiming the kingdom and through the Holy Spirit forms His people into a priestly kingdom, the Church, in which the kingdom of God is mysteriously present, for she is the seed and beginning of the Kingdom on earth. In the Lord’s Prayer (‘Thy Kingdom come’) we pray for its final glorious appearance, when Christ will hand over the Kingdom to His Father.”
Scholars say that the word kingdom means ‘reign,’ not ‘realm’ or domain.’ Unfortunately there are a number of times when ‘reign’ is awkward. The basic meaning is the reign of God, but this so easily slides into realm or kingdom. What is clear is that the kingdom is both taking place now and it is also a future event, which comes in our personal union with Christ in heaven. Fr. John McKenzie’s The Dictionary of the Bible gives clarification and help, “Jesus tells His disciples to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness; the text is somewhat parallel to the definition of the kingdom as righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17), a state which is achieved by present submission to the rule of God. When Jesus is aksed the time of the coming of the kingdom, He answers in an obscure phrase that it is ‘in your midst’ (Luke 17:20f). This phrase is best understood as signifying the kingdom is a present but unrecognized reality, and most probably identifies the kingdom with Jesus Himself, in whom the establishment of the reign of God is being accomplished. Admission to the kingdom demands that one become as a child, that one exhibit righteousness, do the will of the Father, abandon one’s wealth….The texts do not define the kingdom purely as a moral ideal but show that the reign of God is in complete opposition to merely human values and to sinful desires. The accomplishment of the reign of God demands a moral revolution in those who submit themselves to the reign and is itself the means by which the moral revolution is achieved.”
So what does all this mean…what can I take away from the message of Jesus today? How am I living the life Jesus commanded me to live? My life, as each persons, is filled with sin and suffering. This will be a constant until the day I die. Paul calls this ‘weakness’ as living in the flesh and not in the Spirit. I know I’m a sinner; I know and believe that I am a loved sinner; I know and believe that I am a redeemed sinner. Until I come to share in the glories to come, I cannot escape the trials and tribulations of this life I live. This is not discouraging because I live in trustful hope of what Jesus taught.
Jesus’ parable of the weeds and wheat helps me so much in this. The fields are loaded with weeds snuck in and planted by the devil; the wheat planted by God. The servants are concerned that the weeds will kill off the wheat. Yet if they pull out the weeds, much wheat will be harmed. The master tells his servants to let both grow until harvest time, to get the perfect yield of crops. This is like my daily growth in the spiritual life: I advance, I go back many steps…I beat myself up, yet know that I am loved…I want to never sin again, but I sin. I want to be perfect, but I fail. The sin of perfectionism in the spiritual life is loaded with temptations. Faith Catholic uses the example of perfectionism to clarify Jesus’ parable.
In today’s gospel parable, the servants want to remove all that is not perfect. In my spiritual life, I can be so over-zealous in removing what I consider impurities that I cut out people from my life. St. Paul tells me to avoid sin but tolerate people…when I become overly zealous I also become self-righteous felling that ‘I am right and therefore better’ and thus others who do not agree with me are not right…are wrong…are not good. Jesus teaches that God is best at His mercy, am I living that mercy? Am I being merciful?
Another temptation in the spiritual life is when I ignore the weeds in my life and pretend that I’m OK, I’m not really a big sinner, just a little one. Like, it’s not a lie, it’s only a ‘white lie’….Shakespeare said that a rose is a rose is a rose…a lie is a lie is a lie. Or I can say that God already knows me and knows I’m sorry so I don’t have to do any more…I don’t have to receive the sacrament of His forgiveness, Reconciliation. I’m the one who is deciding that I am Ok and thus don’t really need God’s help.
Another temptation is to wait before I turn to God. I’ll just wait to the end or pray when I have some beautiful words to say to God. I’ll practice my faith when I become more perfect or when I have my life in order. I forget that Jesus said that He came to call sinners, to show sinners they are loved, to redeem sinners.
God loves me just the way I am now…am I too much in love with me that I don’t need God? Is my God the God that I am comfortable with or is it the God Jesus taught? If God loves me just the way that I am now then I come with all my warts, and moles and pimples and scars…I come with all my worries and insecurities along with my hurts and pains and being rejected and unloved. I come with all my sins. This is the ‘me’ God wants to shower with His gifts of mercy and forgiveness, of love and hugs, of peace and comfort; why am I not letting God be God to me?
So I reflect on:

• Living the Word asks: “Are there people whom I think the church would be better off without? How does my attitude toward them measure up against God’s mercy?
• Can we make judgments about the rightness or wrongness of people’s actions without passing judgment on the people themselves?”
  
• I look at times in my faith journey when I seem to be at a low point…what do I do? Do I continue to pray and ask for help? It is so easy to give up.
  
• Do I avoid retreats, or days of prayer or spiritual talks because I feel I don’t need these?
  

Sacred Space 2014 shares:

“The idea that good and bad might coexist troubles the tidy mind. Jesus does not encourage a simplistic approach but calls us to humility and patience as we allow God to work in our lives.

There are ‘weeds’ in my life for sure, but they are the measure of the harvest that God values in me. I ask for help that my habits and choices may give growth to what is good and true.”

July 13, 2014

15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Isaiah 55: 10-11; Romans 8: 18-23; Matthew 13:1-23
God constantly teaches me and each person; do I listen? Why am I reluctant to listen to God? Is it because I don’t want to change my lifestyle, I like what I am doing and its ‘nice’ living this way? What am I afraid will happen if I listen to what God teaches? Is it that I will not be comfortable in the life God asks of me?
I look at my years spent in learning and the great teachers that I had; certainly not all of them I would classify as ‘great’. But I looked forward to coming to class to hear these ‘great’ teachers who showed a love for their area of expertise. I look at the qualities they possessed: certainly a deep knowledge of their subject; a love for their field and a search to discover more knowledge; and certainly a love for imparting this knowledge to their students showing a great love and respect for each of us ‘learners’. Classes were not boring, in fact they ‘zoomed by’. I did not find the subject matter hard when it came to tests because these teachers had made it so interesting. These teachers had the unique gift of challenging me and helping my developing mind so that I could get deeper knowledge and understanding. I could not apply the term boring to their classes.
I find this important to consider when I look at Jesus and His teaching method. I find it so interesting the Gospel writers often give lengthy accounts of His ‘sermons’. But we do not have the entire sermon. They do tell us however that Jesus spoke to crowds and they were ‘so fascinated’ that they stayed hours and even a few times, ‘they were hungry because they had stayed so long. I’m not sure that I have missed too many meals by listening to such a captivating preacher. Jesus used examples to help in His explanations. In all the teachings from Isaiah, Paul and Jesus’ today they are not complicated…their message is evident…but am I listening?
Isaiah is saying that God’s word is spoken only to accomplish the end for which it is sent. He is constantly trying to awaken the people to the power of God’s word that brings life. He is instructing all that the bond with God has never been shattered. God has called each person; people fail; what God is best at is His mercy. He uses the example of the power of water…the rain soaks the ground and fills the rivers as does the melting snow from the north. Fields turn green, crops grow and can be harvested and the people are the recipients of God’s bounty. Isaiah tells them and me that just as the crops sustain life, God’s word gives life to the inner person. As Alice Camille says in Exploring the Sunday Readings “Just as water is on a mission to make things wet, Isaiah says, so the word of God is on a mission to make the divine will effective. God doesn’t speak into a void as we often do, muttering to ourselves about the way things ought to be. God’s word brought light out of original darkness and brings life to the dead. When God speaks, no empty words fill the air. God’s word becomes flesh and lives in our midst.”
Paul shares that it is the Spirit who helps each person in discovering and loving God. So often the sufferings that accompany each person in life distract from God’s plan which is to bring each person to the glory of heaven. JB Phillips in The New Testament in Modern English translates the first sentences of today’s passage, “In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has in store for us. The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own.” What excitement awaits each person…to be forever with the divine love of God! I have a role in this redeeming process…as Alice Camille asks, “If creation is to be redeemed, what implications does that have for our stewardship of the planet?” Am I listening to the importance and value of my life and application of my gifts in being witnesses to God’s glory and love?
In a sense the Gospel calls each person to be a farmer or a gardener. Jesus asks me and each person to spend time reflecting on the gifts (seeds) they have been blessed with. Nurture these gifts; fall in love with these gifts; share these gifts; let others be blessed with these gifts. The message is not to hoard these gifts or to disregard them…they are from God and have are an important part of God’s plan for my world that I live in and interact in each day. This is a ‘nice’ message but it takes time and patience. Gerard Manley Hopkins began a poem with the words, “Patience, hard thing!” I don’t remember the rest of the poem, these first words are important enough for me. It’s even more interesting to see that the word ‘patience’ is from the Latin word ‘passio’ which means suffering. As Living the Word says, “The hardest thing about patience is that it requires that we loosen our grip on our situation and let what will come arrive in its own time. Patience means surrendering all attempts to force a solution; it means letting time take over so situations may run their course.” This leads to all sorts of questions and reflections.

• God blesses each person with life and gifts each person for where they are and what God needs them to do in this life.
  
• God asks that each person rely on God in the ‘scattering’ of these gifts as well as being teachers and witnesses to these gifts.
  
• The goal of each of these gifts in each person is to lead another and others to a knowledge of this God of love.
  
• This is going to be easy at times, teaching is, but it’s going to be difficult because of all sorts of anxiety, suffering, hurts and far too many distractions that come to play in living.
  
• During this time of waiting, patience must be cultivated.
  
• The end product is that if we have faith we will someday share in the glorious freedom of the children of God, because we trust that God’s words will achieve the end for which God has sent it. DO I TRUST GOD?
  

SO WITH THIS IN MIND

• It is important to ask what talents/gifts do I have that I feel are special for me?
  
• Do I use these talents/gifts in my work? Do I use them in my free time? Do I use these in my family?
  
• Do I use them to help without expecting anything in return?
  
• How often do I spend time in prayer and in reading Scripture, especially the Gospels, to dwell on God speaking directly to me because He loves me and He needs me?
  

Walk with me daily Lord, so I come to understand the joy of doing Your will. Amen.

July 6, 1914

14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Zechariah 9: 9-10; Romans 8: 9, 11-13; Matthew 11:25-30
There are times when I read the Sunday newspaper review of the news of the week throughout the world, that I am discouraged. I wonder when the violence and hatred, the abuse and disregard for the marginal people, the sins of hurting and non-caring will end. When will people stop and listen to the call of the Gospel that is proven and time-tested and shows that each person is special and loved by God and therefore to be treated special by me? When will people stop and see that Jesus addresses His words to each person and shows the true way to happiness and peace? Today’s readings give many approaches to this peace.
The coming reign of a ‘just king’ is what the writings in the Old Testament fixed all their hopes on: the prophets foretold the just king’s coming; the people prayed and prayed and the Israelites even in their persecutions and sufferings longed for a messiah king. Zechariah today foretells amazingly how this king will come into Jerusalem: not on a mounted horse, symbolizing a warrior king, but on an ass, a beast used for farming and the transport of goods. And this messiah king will banish all the ‘war animals from the city’ because there has been too much warfare. The kingdom of the messiah will extend ‘from sea to sea’…finally the nations of the world will be united by peace rather than by force of arms.
So often, we just don’t get it...Jesus came telling all people that they are brothers and sisters in God. Why do I want to exercise my silly devotion to power, prestige and possessions? Why do I insist on getting what I want, because I want it? Why do I spend so much time filling the desires of my imagination and dreams? Why am I refusing to see that my brother and sister humans are to be the objects of receiving my gifts? Why do I want to avoid the ethic of Jesus and concentrate on me…me and not gratitude and sharing?
Paul begins his 8^th Chapter to the Roman’s in this way: “The truth is that no condemnation now hangs over the head of those who are ‘in’ Christ Jesus. For the new spiritual principle of life ‘in’ Christ Jesus lifts me out of the old vicious circle of sin and death…God sent his own Son to live in sinful human nature like ours. And, while Christ was dealing with sin, God condemned that sinful nature. Therefore we are able to meet the Law’s requirements, for we are living no longer by the dictates of our sinful nature, but in obedience to the promptings of the Spirit.” (JB Phillips translation, The New Testament in Modern English). So how am I living; Paul says it all depends on “if the Spirit…dwells in you.” Nothing is automatic…I have been called…I have been chosen…I have been blessed and filled with gifts of the Spirit, and life-gifts for the sharing and helping of all. So that means what I am obligated to do according to Paul is to ‘affirm the Spirit’s presence, and so shun living according to the flesh’…which means living the way I want to do…the self in me that does not want to admit that my gifts are given by God to help…share…care.
Now it’s good to reflect on the beautiful gospel words of Jesus. Jesus was known throughout Galilee as ‘the carpenter’s son.’ The commentaries of the Scripture strongly suggests that the young Jesus learned the carpenter trade from Joseph in the shop at Nazareth. I’m sure He was taught how to build ‘yokes’. A yoke consisted of a heavy wooden bar which was put on the shoulders of the oxen or asses. They were attached by pins and thongs which passed around and under the animal’s throat. Because of this yokes were individually made and sized. So Jesus words in the gospel today were from his carpenter’s experience. Before today’s verses, Jesus had cursed the obstinate residents of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum who refused to repent in spite of witnessing His miracles. Matthew follows these harsh words showing Jesus at prayer with His Father giving thanks for hiding things from the wise and revealing them to children. Families often request this passage for the funeral liturgy of a loved one… “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy, and My burden light.”

Sunday Homily Helps gives this interpretation, “Jesus now extends an invitation to all who are burdened by the law as it has been interpreted by the scribes and Pharisees. The invitation contains a promise of rest, but this would not be understood as inactivity. Those invited are encouraged to become yoke-mates with Jesus. A yoke is an instrument that allows heavy burdens to be carried or pulled without serious chafing.

This yoke is really Jesus’ own interpretation of the law, which promises to be less burdensome. Jesus is not promising less accountability. He is promising help so that one can more easily bear one’s responsibility in following God’s will. Notice that the way those invited are to accomplish this by learning from Jesus Himself. He, too, bears a yoke and the invitation is to share that yoke and thus learn from Him. Here the key to bearing one’s yoke is a close imitation of Jesus’ gentleness and His being humble of heart.

All this will allow two things to happen. First, a heavy burden can still be managed. Second, that burden will seem much lighter because Jesus Himself is providing assistance. As yoke-mates with Jesus, we can say with Him that our yoke is easy and our burden light.”
So I look at what is disturbing my peace right now: am I letting Jesus help me in carrying these ‘crosses’. I can never find peace on my own, it is only in Jesus that I find true peace. What do I need to do to let go of my own self and let Jesus be God to me...the Spirit to be God to me...the Father to be God to me?
So I reflect on:

• What internal burdens do I carry around with me? Is there a reason that I do not ask God to help me?
  
• What external burdens weigh me down? Do I actively bring these concerns in prayer to God?
  
• Looking back over my spiritual journey, what are the different ways I have perceived the Messiah? When have I experienced Jesus as gentle?
  

Sacred Space 2014 shares:

“I approach the scriptures not only with my mind, trying to figure out and understand. The Word of God is spoken to my heart and comes to life when I respect the insights that God gives to me in simple ways.’

I know it is easy to feel weighted down when I struggle on my own. I consider what it is like to carry my burdens with Jesus’ help. He promises that His attitudes of humility and gentleness will make a difference.”

I am called to be Jesus…I love the famous saying of the late Archbishop Helder Camara of Brazil. “When I gave food to the poor they called me a saint. When I asked why the poor were hungry, they called me a communist.”