March 26, 2017

4th Sunday of Lent 1 Samuel 16: 1, 6-7, 10-13; Ephesians 5: 8-14; John 9: 1-41 How well do I see? Do I use glasses or contacts to correct my sight? Do I draw immediate conclusions from what I see? Am I able to see the hand of God at work in the world? Do I witness this just in nature or do I see God's work in people? Am I grateful to God for showing me insights into His mysteries of life? Today's readings ask me to enter into God's world. They ask me to discover God's work in the world. They give helpful suggestions to see as God sees and thus to live as God is leading us to live. Am I listening? Do I see as God sees? A king's role in Israel was one of service to God. King Saul had failed this many, many times. His main concern was taking care of himself and what he wanted. In today's reading God sends the prophet Samuel to Bethlehem where Jesse lived to find a replacement for Saul. Then began the parade of seven of his sons before Samuel but none were acceptable to God. Some of them based on appearance and temperament seemed to be perfect but were rejected by God. Saul also 'looked kingly' but his heart wasn't dedicated to the Lord. But there was one more son, David, who was shepherding the sheep. He was sent for and was the one chosen by God.. Samuel anointed him and "from that day on, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David." God does what God does. In this case God chose David because "Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart." How difficult it is to see as God sees. Even Jesse did not recognize the worth of David. He thought that Elian would be the best king because he was tall and strong. How could a shepherd boy be trained to be a king? Yet David became the the greatest of Israel's kings. Most of us continue to judge by one's outward appearances. Why? Because we see faces...and it's amazing how plastic surgeons make huge fortunes from making 'faces' pleasing. We wear masks so people can see what WE want them to see. But God sees me and loves me just as I am and helps me, just the way I am to receive all His graces which lead me to the Lord and to heaven. Do I cooperate? Paul's letter to the Ephesians follows the theme of light and darkness which is in today's Gospel of the man born blind. We hide in darkness. We think no one can see us. As a youngster I thought that if I hid in the closet, no one could see me...not even God. I felt that in this darkness I could even hide things from God. And I really didn't want to be found...unless it was dinner or treat time. Mom's fresh made cookies always drew me 'back to reality.' Why do I want to hide from God? Is it my fear of being punished? Is it my fear of being discovered, just like Adam and Eve were? The fear of being punished is a huge left-over from our youth. The punishment somehow deprived me of something I wanted. Don't I want to be with God? Don't I want to continue to bask in His love each day? Paul is telling us that when we are committed to Christ we walk in His light and put away our selfish ways and our shameful living. When we live like this we feel totally 'alive'. When we live and let sin dominate our lives, we hide, not wanting anyone to see our good, the good in ourselves or that we are 'no-good'. Is this the way we want to be viewed? In the Gospel...Jesus herald the man born blind. This miracle is unique because the man never asked to be healed by Jesus. Jesus is the assertive one who didn't even speak to the blind man before He healed him. The healed man referred throughout the passage to 'the man called Jesus....He is a prophet...He is the son of man." The story does not focus on the healing but on his parents, the neighbors, the Pharisees, the Sabbath violation and the investigation into the man who had actually been born blind. The leaders try to focus on the blindness of these 'witnesses' while avoiding their own blindness. So where am I blind? Why do I try to analyze people or their behaviors? Why do I have the need to be right in my opinions? We can continue along these lines: the disciples were convincing that the blindness was caused by God for some sin that was present either in the man or in his parents and this was the reason for his blindness. The religious leaders saw this miracle as a threat to their power, authority and prestige with the people. They were the leaders and didn't want this taken away from them. Even the man's parents were willing to disown him rather than getting in trouble with the authorities. So I look at what are my priorities? What makes me anxious? What am I afraid of? Why do I seem so often to be negative rather than seeing the good in others? In a nutshell: how am I blind to God? In the passage, Jesus is opening the eyes of those around Him to see God's constant presence in everyone's life. Sometimes we are so obsessed with trying to find where God is at and why isn't He acting the way that I want Him to act that I miss where He actually is. God can't possible like those poor people...or those type of politicians...or those type of people...because I don't. God just has to agree with me in way that I think and live...Right! Or Right? Or why do I want God to agree with me? It's always easier for things to be this way because then I am always right...just like God. Yet if we see like God, we see beyond our stereotypes and prejudices...we see beyond our failings. We see truth. We see God. Do I really want to see God? The base line of the Gospel is that we can see ourselves in the blind man, not knowing what is happening around him and where he is going to go now? WE see ourselves as the Pharisees continue in their own ways and refusing to be open to the 'ways' of God. WE can see ourselves as the man's parents did by distancing themselves from this special healing by not wanting to be involved in any way. But in hiding, we miss out on the truth which can set us free. In the Gospel, John masterfully shows us how God is involved in our lives. He doesn't want us to live in our fears, our greed, or our prejudices. So I reflect on: ~ As I look at my pass, where has my blindness kept me in the dark and unable to see God working in my life? Do this come when I am preoccupied? Or when I am set in my ways? Or when I was living in my 'convenient' sin I didn't want to give up? ~ When I disagree with a person or a class of people and feel that they are 'absolutely wrong' or 'bad' or whatever, does that mean that I don't have to pray for them anymore? OR do I feel I have to pray more often for them? How would I win these souls for Christ? ~ Does God cause the suffering I have? Or do I cause some of my own suffering? Do I blame God for my suffering? ~ Does sharing my hurts and concern with others help to lessen my pain? ~ Do I pray for all people who are hurting or just those 'select' few that I like? Sacred Space 2017 says: "The opening question of the disciples was, 'Who is to blame?' This is a common question in the media today; perhaps it is part of my own vocabulary. Jesus reminds us that sometimes no one is to blame but that difficult situations present an opportunity for us to be drawn in to God's presence. Lord there were times I was lost and found, was blind and then could see. Thank You. The man's blindness is cured, but the blindness of those who won't believe in Jesus remains. I think of how I grope, stumble, and am unsure of my direction unless I can rely on Jesus, the light of the world

March 19, 2017

3rd Sunday of Lent A Exodus 17: 3-7; Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8; John 4: 5-42 Do I get in my own way trying to get closer to the Lord? In trying to realize the Lord’s closeness, do I come with my own set prejudices of who I feel God is and how He will respond to me? Do I sometimes ‘program God’ in that ‘this is the way that He does things’ and thus ‘this is the way I expect to Him to respond to me?’ Do I ‘know’ how God will present Himself to me? Am I open to any and all the ways He shows Himself? Or am I set in my ways because my ways are right? God is God. I am not God. Does God cross this chasm? Yes, He leads us to the truth of God. Is it hard for me to sort this out? Yes, so very often I am so set in my ways, imagining that I am right, that I can’t hear the gentle, loving, instructing and caring voice of God leading me. To understand today’s very lengthy passage in John’s Gospel, it is good for us to set the scene. In the last chapter, Nicodemus a Pharisee and most likely a member of the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, came to Jesus ‘at night’ to try to understand His teaching. Jesus tells him, “What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. You must be born from above.” Nicodemus doesn’t understand this. Jesus is talking about the spiritual life. None of the Pharisees, scribes chief priests, Sadducees or elders understood this. They were experts in the Mosaic Law and the Scriptures. They fasted twice a week, prayed publicly and wore special religious garb to show others they were teachers of Israel. Yet they missed the whole point. The Spirit is a spirit of love, mercy, justice, peace, forgiveness and much more. Nicodemus couldn’t understand this; he was an expert on the law but love is a different reality. We need to plumb the depths of love as Jesus taught. The Spirit constantly helps us in this. Am I listening? Jesus says, “If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, who will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” Jesus gives specific guidelines for living His life. He commands us to love one another, show compassion, feed the hungry, create justice for the poor, forgive one another, love our enemies and make peace with one another. Jesus summarizes this in the Sermon on the Mount with the Golden Rule: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.” The next section shows Jesus baptizing and people were coming to Him. But a dispute arose between John the Baptist’s disciples who seemingly were jealous as to why Jesus was taking over the baptism ministry. They didn’t understand. So Jesus left and returned to Galilee going through Samaria. What is the import here? Then we come to today’s passage of the Samaritan woman which is one of the longest most Spirit-filled conversations in the gospels. The Samaritans were the hated remnant of the ancient northern kingdom and were despised as ‘hybrid Jews’ and had excluded themselves from Jewish orthodoxy. They were regarded as worse than the Gentiles. Now a Jewish man wasn’t to greet any woman in the street, even his wife or daughter. In his morning prayer, a Jewish man blessed God ‘who hath not made me a gentile, a slave, or a woman.’ AND Jesus went against all that. He regularly associated himself with women. Today Jesus is facing a woman with a bad reputation. Because of the heat of the day, women usually came for water in the coolness at dawn or in the evening. But to avoid encounters, this Samaritan woman came at noon, certainly showing that she wanted to be avoided. She was in need, Jesus responded. She was afraid, Jesus didn’t ask her to do anything making her look inferior but asked if she could do Him a favor by giving Him a drink of water on this hot day. That would make her feel good by doing something special for someone as favors do for each of us. And Jesus taught her about His grace. She was asking in her need where she could find God. He answered that she didn’t have to go anywhere special to find God: He’s everywhere and with each person all the time. She went and told everyone that she had found a person who was perhaps the Messiah. This scorned, lonely, frustrated woman had found that God cares for her just the way she was. Jesus just doesn’t leave it like this, He comes and enables her to feel that she is important and valued. God bypasses all the prejudicial rules and regulations to let each person know that He is with them. Do I allow God to be God to me? Sr. Verna Holyhead in Building on Rock has some special questions for us. “The woman announces to her Samaritan village what she experienced with Jesus, but until they have experienced Him personally they cannot believe. Only then can He be named ‘Savior of the world.” This is the faith that calls us to a scrutiny of what quenches our deepest ‘thirsts’, what nourishes our spirits as well as our bodies. • Do pleasure, power, exclusiveness satisfy us? With what ‘enemy’ are we unwilling to sit and talk, to eat and drink? • How tolerant are we of those who belong to other religions or cultural traditions? • Do we believe in the value of creative conversion, even when exhausted, even with our own young people who may have questions—sometimes abrasive, often welling up from deep longings within them? • Can we move out of our comfort zones, leave our old ‘water jars’ behind and welcome the gifts of God that are being offered to us, especially in this privileged season of Lent? I continue my reflections: • Have I ever encountered Jesus and only later realized it? What brought me to recognize His presence? • What suffering is part of my life? What helps me deal with it? Do I ever bring it to God? • What would I ask the Lord if we were to meet face to face this week? • Have I ever had an encounter with the Lord where I was ‘burned with His love?’ • Do you think that Jesus knows everything there is to know about you? Do you sometimes act as if your life is secret from Him? • Are you ever afraid that if others knew you as well as you know yourself that they might not like you? • Lent is about our encountering the Lord’s constant presence and love. How real is God for you? Are you prepared to turn your life completely over to God? Why or why not? This woman was touched by love. Jewish law said that she should be shunned. Jesus asked Nicodemus, • “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?” • We are Christians who listen and worship yet do we understand what Jesus meant by loving, forgiving, and witnessing? Sacred Space 2017 says: “Jesus begins with His own physical thirst and ends up talking about the woman’s soul thirst. What can I learn from this conversation about sharing the good news? In speaking with a woman to whom he was not related, and to a Samaritan, who was considered apostate by the Jewish community, Jesus crossed two cultural boundaries. What boundaries do I face in a normal day?

March 12, 2017

 2nd Sunday of Lent A Genesis 12: 1-4; 2 Timothy 1: 8-10; Matthew 17: 1-9 It seems that all of us are very well acquainted with traveling. We have experienced packing our suitcases and we try to bring everything we need for our journey whether it is long or short. Today on this second week in Lent the theme is to go deeper in understanding our journey of faith. When traveling we want to make sure that we have the proper clothes, meds, toiletries and the odds and ends necessary. We pack, and like many, I pack too much. What do we need during these holy weeks leading to Easter to continue to get closer to the Lord and most especially allowing God to be closer to us? In the first reading we hear about our Father in Faith, Abraham. He plays a prominent role of faith in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. A good starting point is to reflect on the legacy of Abraham: what did he do and how is he leading us closer to the Lord? In other words what were his attributes. James 2:23 says: “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God.” Why? God regarded Abraham as His friend because he was faithful to God and always submitted his will to God’s. Do I listen to God? Do I pay attention to and live God’s ways? In my life, unfortunately there is still too much of myself present. Nearly every action in Abraham’s life shows his great faith in God. He left his country and people never to return. He believed the promise of a son though such a birth was naturally impossible. He cast out a son, Ismael, when both Sarah and God commanded it. He was even willing to offer Isaac when God demanded it. He was obedient doing whatever God wanted him to do. He obeyed God without question. Not only was he obedient but he influenced others, especially those in his own household, to do the same. He was peaceable. He seemed to be able to defuse situations when bitter disagreements occurred. We can classify him as a peacemaker because he regarded others better than himself. On my daily journey to the Lord, I am called to be God’s friend and show it. I am called to trust and have faith in God as well as always being obedient to His way and showing this to others. Overall, I am called to be a person of peace, to be a person of love. Isn’t it amazing that God calls each of His followers in the same way. He tells us to leave all the earthly things behind and go on a path of faith were He is leading us. He tells us not to worry about where it is. When we get there, He’ll be with us. Trust in God, as Jesus says, “I call you My Friends.” Paul is now in the Roman prison as his death approaches. You would imagine that he is lonely and asking all the ‘What If’ questions. This is not the case as we can see in today’s writing to Timothy, his faithful assistant. Paul reminds him that God will give him the strength he needs to face all the challenges of preaching the Gospel and being a person of faith and love. Jesus won the test of faith on the cross, bringing to completion God’s plan. So we can totally trust in God’s plan of salvation leading each of us to eternal life and salvation. Why am I hesitant to believe? We come to the amazing account of the Transfiguration. Jewish rabbis maintain that to understand the meaning of a passage of Scripture, one should read what comes immediately before and after. In Matthew 16: 21-28 Jesus has told his disciples that He is to be a suffering Messiah. He will be handed over to the elders, chief priest and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. Who would ever want this to happen to their leader? Peter is the spokesman for the others and tells Jesus that this is a ridiculous idea. Jesus says it is not. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” After coming down from the mountain they encountered a man who asked Jesus, “Lord have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Jesus cures the boy. After this the disciples asked Jesus in private, why they couldn’t drive the evil spirit out? Jesus told them it was, “Because of your little faith. Amen , I say to you, if you nave faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Do I have the faith Jesus is describing? It’s all about faith. The Transfiguration scene ties together the need we all have to see Jesus as our Friend and to see that He is leading us to be with the Trinity forever in heaven. Moses, Elijah appeared with Jesus on this mountain; Moses representing the Law and Elijah the prophets. Both of these men had experienced suffering and glory in their leadership of God’s people. Both had gone to Sinai Mountain to seek the wisdom that they needed. Peter wanted to stay on the mountain. He wanted to build memorials there but he was silenced by the voice from the cloud: “This is My Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him. This is a great focal point for our reflection today. How much do I listen to the Lord? How much do I reflect on what Jesus tells me to do? Am I loving God by being obedient, peaceful, loving and showing others this by my example? Am I loving the people in my life, with no exception. It is fairly easy to love family most of the time and friends, fellow workers and students. But what about the others that I don’t know or listen to tales about them that could be so untrue? I am to love myself because I am loved. Do I love the part of me that continually commits the same sins? Do I ask God for the grace to leave this sin behind or is there a part of me that enjoys this sin especially when I’m feeling down or unloved? Am I trusting God and the direction He is leading me? Am I living His life? Am I loving like Jesus? So I reflect on: • Abraham was willing to go into the unknown, realizing that God was always with him. Am I willing to trust God in the unknown and known future areas of my life? Do I bring my worries to God and listen? • How am I like God in my kindness to family, friends, fellow workers, classmates, and we add telemarketers, people from different cultures, religions, races. Do I trust that God gives me the grace to deal with all or do I still hold on to my prejudicial security blankets? • Do I really want to be holy? Am I tempted to think that I (and not God) am the designer of my holiness? • We need safety and our security: good examples that show the power and glory of God are hurricanes and thunderstorms and they are also frightening. Do I trust in God’s plan and love? Sacred Space 2017 says: “The disciples were privileged to see Jesus in glory, to recognize that their friend could be fully present to them and to God. Jesus saw that the experience was too much for them and told them to keep it in their hearts as they headed back toward the everyday. I thank God for the inspiration and encouragement I discover in my prayer and ask that I may know how best to carry it into everyday life. A listening heart is a heart warmed by the love of God and taught by His words. Prayer is better described as listening than speaking. Spend some time echoing His words, or just listening to the mood of love and peace in prater

March 5, 2017

1st Sunday of Lent A Genesis 2: 7-9; 3: 1-7; Romans 5: 12-19; Matthew 4: 1-11 Today we begin the season of Lent, a preparation period leading us to the great feast of Easter. The readings during this season focus on two reflective questions for each of us: Why do we need salvation? And Who is this Jesus who has come to save us? The first and second readings spend time answering the first question and the second question the Gospel details Jesus’ life. It is good for us to focus on who is Jesus to me? Why did He come to tell me about the Trinity and continually leading me to their life in heaven? God loves us…Jesus continually shares His love, the Father’s love and the Spirit’s love. This is how the book of Genesis starts out with the themes of God’s love for all of humanity. In the first words from the Book of Genesis Moses shows how God. “Formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.” Then God planted a garden in Eden and put man there. God made the garden beautiful with the trees and food and all. So often when we read these words we pass over them because we know them so well. Imagine being an artist, like a potter, or a poet, or a musician, or a writer and you used your specific gift to develop a masterpiece. You spend time…it is not a quick decision. You labor to find the right words or the beautiful melody or the perfect shape so that your masterpiece can be displayed for all to see and be valued. This is how Moses is describing the very beginnings. He takes time to see how God’s love is present and deeply involved in every aspect of man’s creation and the surroundings that will make him and each person realize God’s love. Take time to reflect on the circumstances of your birth, the people who surrounded you and how you were taught love. God is totally present in each one of His masterpieces. Then the devil, the master of deceit, the perpetual liar comes in to manipulate people into feeling that God just didn’t give them enough…the sin of pride. Paul’s letter to the Romans, I feel is one of his masterpieces, especially Chapter 8 where he describes what it means to be a Christian. Today’s passage presents numerous challenges. It is complex and difficult to read yet it is very rich and is at the center of Paul’s theology. Here Paul is drawing a comparison between Adam and Christ, they are polar opposites. Adam through his one act of disobedience was the leading ancestor of sin and death. Jesus became the leading ancestor of a history of grace and life through His obedience to the Father. Basically Paul is explaining the presence of evil in the world and how necessary it is for each of us be in solidarity with the ‘new Adam’Jesus versus the ‘old Adam’. The pain is that every day we must choose to live one way or the other. We live like the ‘old Adam’ when we feel that I am the most important…that the world revolves around me, making me the center of the universe. When I do this I forget the one who gave life. God who loves us…created us…cares and protects us and is leading each one of us daily to Himself and our ultimate goal—Life with Him. When we live life with God as our source, we naturally share how we’ve been touched, how we’ve been lead to be grateful for God’s love and by sharing this love so all get to realize and live in God. Frank J. Matera, a leading Pauline scholar from Catholic University in his book, Preaching Romans, Proclaiming God’s Saving Grace shares these great thoughts, “To be sure, believers are already in solidarity with Christ inasmuch as they have been baptized into His saving death. But even though believers are already justified, they are not yet finally saved. Consequently, in this period between present justification and final salvation (which will occur at the general resurrection of the dead), they must continually reaffirm their solidarity with Christ rather than with Adam.” I live with God in me! Next in Matthew’s gospel we begin with the temptations of Jesus. It is so interesting that the devil begins the first two with “…If you are the Son of God…” Now the devil does not believe that Jesus is the son of God. The devil does not have any faith which is required to believe that Jesus is who He says He is. The first temptation is to turn stones into bread but Jesus brings God’s Word which is the necessary nourishment for life. In the second temptation, the devil wants Jesus to put his life on the line…Jesus does this on the cross, not the devil’s way. The third temptation has to do with power, prestige, wealth and domination all totally opposite of a life of service. The devil loses each time, God wins. It is so interesting to view the scene of the readings today. In Genesis we have the beautiful Garden. We all want to live in beauty. We want to live in enjoyment of our surroundings and the people in our lives. Everything that God has created is beautiful. Yet when we look around at our world we can see much that isn’t beauty. We see how many are after a false beauty that involves one’s own living with possessions, power, pleasure, prestige as the goal. This always manifests itself in rejecting of the beauty of another person, or class of people maintaining that I am the ‘be all and end all’. God is, I’m not. And Jesus is tempted in the desert, the arid, hot and dry areas where the sun burns down and makes everything uncomfortable. This is really what sin does to each one of us. It pulls us to feeling to ‘take care of yourself…go ahead…you need to look out for you not to God’. It’s the same temptation that Adam and Eve encountered. We are pulled to the illusionary things the devil makes us feel are important rather than to trust in God. We choose the glitter of appearances, and lust for small and greater power rather than realize it’s about God’s love of and bringing each of us to Him. So I reflect on: • Where do I place trust in people, things or other directions rather than God? • When I admit my sins, I begin the path of realizing the truth of love and how this frees me and changes my life. So why do I fall backward? • Do I ever fall into the devil’s trap and act as a tempter to someone else? Why do I do this? • When do I feel that I am most easily tempted…when I’m anxious, bitter, lonely, etc.? • What helps me to say no to temptations? • When I choose sin, what am I usually seeking: Power or prestige? Comfort? Wealth? Possessions? Pleasure? Sacred Space 2017 states: “Our real hungers are fed by the meaning and the love of the word of God. One form of prayer is to allow ourselves to be addressed in the heart by the word of God. Let a phrase or word from this passage of Scripture echo in you mind today. That Jesus was tempted meant that He truly desired what the devil offered Him. Of course He was hungry. His body desired what it needed. In what ways might the devil use my legitimate, real desires to lead me astray? Open my eyes, Lord, so that I can recognize temptation when it comes.”