Sunday, December 20, 2009


MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL


There will no blog next week....taking a vacation.

We will be back on Jan.8

Sending the weekly blog has been a lot of fun. I do hope you all enjoyed it as much as I have....God bless


THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS



Christmas comes too slowly and goes too quickly. The time for preparation never quite seems to be enough, last minute to do things pile up, some never to be done. The day comes. Gifts are exchanged. Meals are eaten. The things of Christmas are ac­complished. At night we, hopefully, look back over a happy day but are aware that for most tomorrow will mean going back to the ordinary things of life. Christmas becomes a happy memory to be clouded as the days of the new year pass by.
The" twelve days of Christmas", from Dec. 25 to Jan. 7 is the liturgical way of deepening Christmas so that it does not re­cede into some not often used part of our memory banks. Please dc not take exception to the use of the singular "is". This was dont quite deliberately because the "twelve days" should be looked at a; a unit. Because of the transfer of the Feast of Epiphany to thi nearest Sunday "the twelve days" is often made shorter. In the yea 2000 we only have eight days. The readings from the feast of th Epiphany, Jan 2, to the feast of the Baptism of the Lord take on little different focus.
As we go through the days we will find many teaching: The one which surprises us is the almost daily appearance of the Cross in one form or another. It appears either explicitly or ; times hidden , but it is always present, a paradox, certainly. The joy of Christmas seems to be mixed with the sadness of Good Friday. Are we being told not to celebrate too much because the story is not over? Should our celebration of Dec. 25 be tempered I what the future holds?
There certainly may be that reaction. However, the liturgy is telling us something different. Instead of toning down the cel bration it is asking us to celebrate more jubilantly. By entering into the mystery we find that the peace, joy all the promises of Christmas are brought about by the mystery of the Cross. Perhaps I could state it this way: Christmas is the day of promise, both promised fulfilled and promise made, and the Paschal Mystery, His death and resurrection are the fulfillment of this promise.
Therefore, as in so many other aspects of our faith, we must always look for the absolutely amazing reversals that take place.

Dec. 26...the second day of Christmas...the joy of Christ­mas is over, in sharp contrast to the time after Easter during which the liturgy rings out with the joy of the day...the time after Christ­mas is pervaded with the Cross. The joyful prophecies of the Old Testament are done... they give way to fulfillment but fulfillment in a most surprising way. Christmas is fulfilled in Easter as a mat­ter of fact they may even be looked at as one feast. We are re­minded that the wood of the manger points to the wood of the Cross.

Dec. 27, THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH.

Dec. 28, The Feast of the Holy Innocents...there is some­thing within us that cries out when we see a child subjected to suf­fering...innocence is defiled, the trust which children have towards those who are older is betrayed, the defenseless are attacked. The world is filled with the holy innocents...they can be found in the train stations of Calcutta, the barrios of South America, the streets of New York and in the wombs of mothers contemplating abor­tion. The holy innocents are found in the sweatshops of Mexico, China, and Thailand....the gift of youth is stolen in many ways...

Dec. 29...the fifth day of Christmas...light and darkness are so much a part of our lives. There is a flow that is unavoidable...it goes from the joy which Simeon sung out at first to the darknes "your heart a sword shall pierce"...the mixture of joy and sadr of moments of great light and times of darkness...are we put in position of being afraid to be happy because we are afraid of sadness to come, are we fearful of those moments of great light cause the noon day sun will give way to the twilight of half 1 and half night.
This flow of light and dark is not just a series of event our lives, disconnected from one another but really find their fying force in the one true light who covers all the moments of lives. It is the light of Christ which permits us to see in those ti of joy His joy and in the times of darkness His cross.

Dec. 30....thanks giving, praise permeate the Gospel., fulfillment of the promise... she can not contain herse fulfillments are so evasive...we set conditions and miss the • God answers because His conditions are not ours...she could se the unexpected the promise fulfilled, she could put aside her c ditions and be surprised by the workings of God...perhaps the c was not what she expected but the child was the way God had c sen to answer...surprise brings forth thanks and joy...surprise plodes into a spontaneous reaction to the wonders of God...wit? surprise the tenure of life looses so much excitement....

Dec. 31....the absolutely amazing fact that God bee; flesh is once again brought to our attention...this time with a 1 different emphasis...it is not simply the proclamation of the b but it is also the reminder that He is with us...has been with us will be with us...it is an invitation to accept that other coming Jesus the one of faith...it lies as a bridge between the having cc and the will come...it is an announcement that we are to live having come looking forward to the will come...it is the announcement that the light of Christmas never goes out...

Jan. 1 Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God...she was chosen from all eternity to be Mother and in time, on a certain day, in given place she said yes...she had been prepared for this great mo­ment; the "highly favored daughter" placed herself in eternity, forgetting her own plans, desires and for a brief time saw who she was at the deepest recesses of her heart...her dignity and the dig­nity of all is found in that part of who we are that says we are all part of God's plan for the salvation of the world. Mary said yes and became mother before she became the physical mother...she brought the Lord into the world through her saying " yes" more than the physical birth...she brought the Lord into the world by saying yes to the will of God...we do not celebrate physical moth­erhood as much as we do that spiritual motherhood...we celebrate also the amazing fact that we through our living the will of God bring Jesus into the world and in that sense we share in the moth­erhood of Mary.

Jan.3 The Feast of Epiphany

The Weekdays Between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord...

Jan..4 (Mt.4:12-17,23,25)...The kingdom is one of compassion. It acknowledges the most basic of human needs, hunger. So often Gospel has been disassociated from daily life. It's preaching so important that people have been lost sight of. Today's Gospel teaches us a very important lesson: it is often times in paying attention to the ordinary things of life that the Gospel is really preached.

Jan.5 (Mt 6:34-44) ... The ordinary things have within them mysteries which we should be sensitive to. The multiplication the loaves looked beyond that time and place. It looked to death and resurrection. It looked to the time when His body would be transformed and no longer limited by physical laws. In taking:care of the ordinary things He was pointing to the extra-ordinary; things . In the extra ordinary physical he was announcing the ex ordinary supernatural. They were surprised because they did not understand what He was trying to teach them. They were surprised; because they were still so materialistic that they could not see i symbols, which He worked.

Jan.6 (Mrk.6:45-52)…. this scene seems so friendly. It will soon turn to rejection. Why is it that good things are so hard to accept. We can build up conditions on how God is to act. This was a m who grew up in their midst, He was the boy who would come the same synagogue to take his lessons. They knew His mot! and father. Perhaps some of them even had business dealings w him. It could not be him. The anointed one had to come from a place they did not know, had to be someone exceptional. They forgot that the way God works is not the way we work. The people we meet sometimes are the messengers of God for us Just because we know them does not mean that they do not have a place in God's plan for us. Sensitivity is such an important virtue It is so easy to become jaded. We must always keep people fresh so that we can hear the messages of God, which they may have for us.

Saturday, December 12, 2009


THIS WEEK


Advent is not only a time it is also a way of life. Advent is looking forward to the coming of the Lord, a time, hopefully, that many use in spiritual preparation. Extra time in prayer, reading the scripture meditations, doing some act of service in other words living our Christian lives in a more intense manner. It becomes a way of life when we preparefor the Second Coming of the Lord. We try in our own small ways to make the world ready for His coming.
HEALTH REFORM.....click on: www.usccb.org/news/ gives a very comprehensive view of the Bishops position. The abortion component is very important at the same time the Bishops are concerned over other areas e.g. immigrants, working poor. Good way to be informed on this very important legislation.

THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT


MONDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT (Matt.21-23-27) "the comfort zone" was severely challenged. They wanted it both ways, and were apparently getting it until they were challenged. The Lord asked a question, which forced them to answer. Their silence indicted them. Living contradictions is such an easy mode in which to enter. It is often not done deliberately, nor with malice. Most of the time it becomes a way of acting that we have adopted. We say one thing, do another. We take a set of values but make decisions according to a contradictory set. The Lord is- asking us to decide. The split, which seems to exist within us, is something He wants to heal. He wants the contradictions to be healed, so that we may truly become one person.

TUESDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT (Matt.21: 28-32) The call to conversion comes again. How often we have been invited to change, and just as often have not seen or responded to the invitation. People who should be attentive to the call seem to miss it while those whom one would not expect hear it. There seems to be a complacency, which sets into the lives of "good people." Things are alright, why change. The others feel the pangs of incompleteness. Their hunger pushes them on. This could be the message: are we so afraid to be hungry that we fill ourselves up with other things without searching for the one thing, God.

WEDNESDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT (Luke 7:18-23) The answer is the same today as it was two thousand years ago. Works of justice proclaim that the Lord has come. Announcing the Gospel makes Him present to the age. It will always be the Church's mission to stand against the world and answer: Look what we do; this is the proof that the Lord has come. This is a big responsibility, one under which we sometimes fall. They were looking for the Messiah, so is the world. Unfortunately, they answer the question with money, power, and prestige. We are constantly being asked to hear the correct voice; to break through the static of the other voices, and to follow the Lord.

THURSDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT(Luke 7:24-30) God has a dream for us. We are reminded negatively of this in the last words of today's Gospel: they defeated God's plan in their regard. The dream, which God has, is really quite simple: that we live in His love and that we follow the Lord. To live this dream means that we have to let go of things and to grab onto new things. This takes courage. A false sense of security can stop us. This was probably the fault of the Pharisees and lawyers, they did not want to, or, perhaps, they could not see, the need for letting go. There was nothing beyond what they already had. They were simply afraid to dream with God.

FRIDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT (Jn.5:33-36) Advent is a time for us to check our spiritual eyeglasses. The words of the Lord in the Gospel: these very works, which I perform, testify on my behalf... .remind us of how important it i see. St. Paul reminds us that faith and sight are synonymous, cause we believe we can see the things of God, we are given eyeglasses. Sometimes they get cloudy. The dust of everyday prevents us from seeing the way we should. As scripture says: see but really do not see. Advent is such a great time to clean glasses off so that we come into contact with the wonderful we of the Lord.

WEEKDAYS OF ADVENT DECEMBER 17 TO DECEMBER 24
Advent is coming to a close. The readings from December 17 to December 24 will focus on the Birth of Jesus. The readings asking us to reflect deeply on who Jesus is.

DECEMBER 17 (Matt. 1:1-17) The genealogy of Jesus as gi> by Matthew may be boring to listen. There is a beauty hidden 1 neath the long list of names. Its beauty lies in placing Jesus firn inside the human race. He has a human history. Like all of us I history is filled with people. Some of these people were not e actly models of virtue. It is encouraging to realize that Jesus h skeletons in his closet.
There is a reminder, very subtle, that indeed God did become o like us. He did not simply "drop out of the sky" but can be p pointed in our history. His history is also a fulfillment history. T genealogy reminds us also that in Jesus all the promises of the 0 Testament have been fulfilled.

DECEMBER 18 (Matt.l: 18-24) The place of humans in the pi; of God can never be forgotten. Joseph gives us an example < color="#660000">

DECEMBER 19 (Luke 1:5-25) The circle has to be closed. The new and the old have to meet, and in meeting the new begins. John the Baptizer is the last of the old and the first of the new. He is the bridge. He will announce the Lord, he will prepare the way in the desert, he will call people to look to God.
John is also a symbol, a reminder. He reminds us that we all come into contact with people who will announce, prepare and call us to the Lord. All those people whom we have met along the path of life who have brought us a deeper awareness of God, teachers, parents, people who we have just casually met, make John present to us. The voice of the one crying in the desert still resounds in the desert of our hearts. As we approach the celebration of the Nativity it would be good for us to remember in a special way all those who were instruments in bringing the Lord alive in us.

DECEMBER 20 (Luke 1:26-38) Mary makes her appearance in the drama. She will take a prominent role and through her we will be able to come to a deeper understanding of who her Son is. In the Annunciation that she will be the Mother of the Messiah, and in her " Behold the handmaid of the Lord" Mary accepts her place in the divine plan of our salvation.
She knew it was the decisive moment. She knew that everyone in some way had a place in the salvation of the world. She grasped the fact that our lives are not just a certain number of years, but have place in the plan of God. Perhaps this is the real dignity of being human. Perhaps inside the Christmas message this is the truth that Mary's "yes" wants to say to us. Life is important. Its importance lies in its intimate connection with the salvation of people.

DECEMBER 21(Luke 1:39-45) The beginning and the end had to meet. The announcer and the announced had to come together. It was the time of fulfillment. These two women, blessed by God and trusting in His promises to them, are brought together to praise the wonders of God in their lives. The entire scene resounds with joy. Elizabeth overcome with the fact that the Mother of the Lord should come to her, John leaping in the womb, an Old Testament symbol. Mary joyful in bringing her Baby to her cousin. The basis for the joy is recognition. Elizabeth recognizes Mary as the Mother, John recognizes Jesus has his Lord, Mary recognizes the importance of her role. We can recognize things on various levels. To recognize events on the level of faith brings us the meeting with the Lord.

DECEMBER 22(Luke 1:46-56) Mary as the pray-er of the Church. Her beautiful prayer rings throughout the centuries. It is the model of prayer. We see in it hope, thanksgiving, praise. The Magnificat is that glorious hymn to God, which will never stop. Mary prays it not only as herself, but as the entire people of God. All the verses of the Old Testament, which go to make up this beautiful prayer, tell us of the people who trusted in God, who had nothing else but God. She incorporates all of these so that she becomes the virgin made Church. She is the poor people of God constantly standing before the throne of her Son praising, thanking and being ever hopeful.

DECEMBER 23 (Luke 1:57-66) Joy continues in the readings. It is the Gospel bursting forth in joy. The merciful acts of God in the lives of people in the face of human impossibility demands a response of joy. This could perhaps be the fundamental reason for Christmas joy, in human terms it should never have happened. God should not have become man, a virgin should not have conceived, an old woman should not have conceived a child in her old age. We are confronted with the overpowering marvelous, surprising mercy of God. We are stripped of all the things the world says should make us happy and are left with this. The loving mercy of God not because of anything we did to deserve it but simply because He loved us.

DECEMBER 24 (morning Mass; Luke 1:67-79) The themes of Christmas ring throughout this prayer of Zechariah. Perhaps there is one motif of Christmas, which escapes us. Amazement. This could possibly be one of the great virtues and at the same time one of which we are afraid. Amazement means that something happens beyond the ordinary limits of experience. But it also means that we have to have the courage to be amazed. To be amazed at the wonderful things God does means that all the safe, predictable categories are done away with. To be amazed means that we stand in the presence of God speechless, with our mouths agape. To be amazed means that we are not in control and have placed ourselves in the realm of God. Perhaps we become jaded overpowered with material things to such an extent that we can no longer feel the joy of being amazed.



Sunday, December 6, 2009

THIS WEEK

Our Advent journey continues. Hopefully you are making a little time to reflect on the coming of the Lord. So many distractions, conflict of priorities, so many things to get done. It seems that we should stop every now and then and ask ourselves the very simple question: why?
A good way of stopping is to read the little meditations at the end. It only takes a minute, even less.
We have been showing some of the ministries of Holy Name Province. this week we feature St. Francis Urban Outreach Center. To get to the Urban Center click here: http://stfrancisinn.org then go to ministries. Below are the two links I gave you last week. well worth reviewing.
lClick here: http://www.franciscanvolunteerministry.org/ and: http://www.vocation.org/

SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT.....IMAGES OF CHRIST

Who do you same I am? A very important question posed by Christ to His disciples. The same question comes down through the centuries addressed to all people. It is a question which everyone, in one way or another, has answered. The gospels for the second week speek very powerfully to me as to an answer to this question. There is no particular order in which these images come. Nor are they a complete portrait of the Lord. They are ways in which He relates to His Father and to us.

Mon.2nd Week of Advent (Luke 5:17-26)....Why did Jesus come? To confront and overcome the power of evil in the world. He usually demonstrates this mission by the working of miracles. Today’s Gospel bring us to a vivid picture of this mission. He tells us that the physical miracles are only signs of the greater miracle which He performs, the forgiveness of our sins. Christ is the one who stands before all the power of sin, and says:you have been defeated. He stands before sin itself and says to the sinner: you are forgive, He stands before the effects of sin, sickness,death and says: you are healed.
He brings together in Himself the two meanings of the “Son of Man”...the meaning of one who is the sufferer under the weight of human nature(Ezech.2) the other the one who comes in glory(Dan.7)
We have in this name which only Jesus applies to Himself and summation of the mission of the Lord. He is the suffering servant, the one who will take our sins upon Himself, but at the same time He is the glorious one. As Jesus walked the earth they both were part of His being...the death-life cycle. Our identification with the Lord also brings us into contact with this term “Son of Man”. We all feel the sinfulness of our human nature..the weakness of who we are. At the same, though, we have to remember that other person within us..the one who is to be born from this suffering, the Son of Man of Daniel.
The image of Christ as the suffering one and at the same time the glorious one reminds us who we are...in suffering we come to life..in dying we find that new person within us.

Tues,2nd Week of Advent (Matt.18:12-14)....What is the love of Christ for us? If we say that love is seeing the other, than perfect love is perfectly seeing the other. In today’s Gospel, we see an example of Jesus seeing the lost sheep. The question which arises for me is what is the relationship between the one and the ninety-nine? It is easy to focus so much on the lost sheep that we forget about the others. I would offer as a possibility in thinking of the love of Christ, that the one which he goes after is a symbol of the other ninety-nine . How much he cares, how much he “sees”. The lost sheep is a parable in a sense not of the one but of the many. Christ is telling us that he never sees the forest (the ninety-nine) but only the individual trees (the one). This is love. In one sense, then, the center of this story is the relationship which Jesus has to all of us .
However, we must also remember that it is a call to conversion. The ninety-nine in looking at the one are reminded of all the times they have strayed away. They see Jesus carrying the lamb back to the fold and recall all the times they have been carried. They see the warm tender concern of Jesus and remember the times the same tenderness was felt in their lives. They see the lamb coming back and feel within themselves the invitation to a deeper “coming back”, conversion within themselves.
We see the heart of Christ full of love, He sees us perfectly, and calls us always back to Himself.

(Feast of the Immaculate Conception..Gospel:Luke 1:29-38)
Wed.2nd Week Advent (Matt.11:28-30)… the Sermon on the Mount, especially the first few beatitudes ring out in today’s Gospel. “I am gentle and humble of heart” are the same words we find in the first and third Beatitudes. Jesus is identifying Himself with the poor, with the people of the Beatitudes. Perhaps it is not too much of a leap to say that in the Beatitudes Jesus is not giving commands but rather telling us how He relates to the Father and in this passage He invites us “come to me” to relate in the same way. Our points of identification with Jesus are increased. Increased to such an extent that He asks us to share that same love relationship with the Father which He has.
“Come to me” for me implies this life sharing. In sharing this life we are lifted to a new level of being, a new definition of who we are comes into play. I do not think, quite obviously, that “coming to the lord” is in some way going to take the cares and burdens of life off our shoulders...sometimes the very opposite is the case. The closer we get to the Lord the more, it seems, we are asked to share in the totality of who He is, both the Son of Man of Ezechiel and of Daniel. But what this refreshment does mean is that we see in living life a living of the beatitudes and that the things of life instead of drying up the zest to live are looked at as the very way we do live . Once again we are faced with the great paradox of Christianity..life-death, sadness-joy, burdens-freedom,dryness-refreshment.....this Gospel has always reminded me of the Jesus who has the greatest knack in the world for turning things upside down and inside out .

Thurs.2nd Week Advent (Matt.11:11-15)....The finger which points to a beautiful flower is important. Without it ,possibly, we would never have noticed the flower. But once we see the flower while being thankful for it having been pointed out to us the finger is soon forgotten...we are caught up in the beauty of flower. John the Baptist is the finger , the Lord is the flower. We are born into the Lord who is the kingdom incarnated. Once we are in Christ, just like when we see the flower, we get caught up in that to which the finger pointed us.
Christ is telling us that He and the message which is an explanation of who He is is the central thing.
Violence makes an appearance. How strange to run into “violence” at such a point in the gospel story. Yet so important. We live in a very violent world. The newspapers are filled with stories of violence. What does Jesus mean, The Prince of Peace talking about violence.
There seem to be two meanings in the Gospel. the first has to do with those who would destroy the kingdom..”the kingdom has suffered violence” persecution. But this violence is met with another type...the violence of patient endurance. It is not the violence of arms, quite the contrary. It is the violence of looking within ourselves and seeing the enemy within who would take the Kingdom from us...our own weakness. To attack this weakness with force and not to just sit back. To take the kingdom by force means the ongoing process of conversion...this patient endurance of growing in the Lord. It is not the violence of hurting people but it is the violence we have to do to ourselves. It consists in the dying to self . It also means the active searching for the Kingdom no matter where it leads us. sometimes this road is not easy, sometimes it is violent.

Fri.2nd Week of Advent (Matt.11:16-19)… Christ the obedient servant of His Father.....How could I extract this image of Jesus from today’s Gospel? The example which Jesus gives us is the clue. The children playing were not listening to their leaders....When I read this Gospel I am reminded of is a child ng in the middle of the room just saying “no” to anything and everything which his parents say. Every request made implied some sort of a change: eat this!No(change from not wanting) do this!No(something else I want to do).....today’s Gospel is about a willingness to change and this willingness is the center of obedience. The ordinary way we speak about people:not obedient. We usually use that term in reference to children but when we analyze it the same syndrome is operative in adults. Because we do not want to change we do not listen....and listening, in the responsive way, is what obedience is all about.
I compared those children to Jesus. He listened to his father, He was willing to change. Just think of the change He made, from the one sitting on the throne as the Alpha and Omega, and He changed into the servant. How many of us would be willing to change to that degree. I often wondered whether Jesus was thinking of His own relationship to the Father when He used this example.
In pointing out their unbelief was he comparing it to His obedience, in showing their lack of commitment and willingness to change to something higher was He reminding us of how much He changed because He loves us ?

Sat.2ndWeek (Matt.17:10-13)….”Son of Man” anchors the week. Jesus compares the death of John to His own death. He will be treated in the same way as His precursor was. If they could not accept John,the Elijah, they will not be able to accept him. If John was looked upon as a “bother” to the conscience of people so to would He be a “bother” and undergo the same treatment. He draws such a vivid connection between Himself and John that their fates become the same.
Who are the Baptists that I have killed in my own life and as a result have is a spiritual sense killed the Christ who wanted to be born within me. Bothersome little things which I cast aside as unimportant or just too busy to do....ideas which flit across the periphery of my mind which are not captured or pondered upon.
Many years ago a priest I know was taking an after lunch walk when he met a couple of parishioner . They chatted for a while. As they were about to say their good byes one of the parishioners said that she had seen some homeless people in a neighborhood park and wondered if the Church could do anything about helping them.
My friend, as he related to me later, answered “yes” without thinking.Once committed he went about getting things organized.....within a short period of time from that chance(?) encounter the Church was feeding over 300 people a day. He told me later that if had to think about it he never would have done it...just to much bother. I learned from that the bothersome things are not really that bad at all and the birth of Jesus which they bring about is certainly worth it. The Son of Man still sends His Elijahs into our lives and asks us to listen .


Saturday, November 28, 2009


THIS WEEK

FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT


Happy New Year!! A little early for the civil greeting but as you all know the Church's year begins with the Advent season. I have entitled the scripture reflections An Advent Cathechism simply because the scripture for this season is precisely that. They talk about the meaning of Faith and Hope, give us images of the Lord, remind us of the basics of our belief. It is such a beautiful spiritual season that sometimes gets lost in the business shopping, cards and all those other things whcih go to make the Christmas season so special. The readings only take a minute and give you something, hopefully, to hang your hat on for the day.

I am giving you two new links. One has to do with the Franciscan Volunteer Ministry and the other with Holy Name Province of the Franciscan Order. The web pages are beautifully done.


AN ADVENT CATECHISM

Monday of the First Week of Advent (Matt.8:5-11) Conversations are such an integral part of ordinary life. We meet someone, find that there is a lot we share...a friendship begins. To meet, to share, and finally to accept the other. Faith is very much like a conversation. Through grace Christ appears in our life. He begins the dialogue...tells us who He is and shares His dream with us. Finally, He asks us to accept this friendship which He has offered us. Faith is not merely an intellectual assent. No more than a conversation can be, if it is truly a conversation, can be simply “intellectual”. The entire person is involved....there exists the mutuality of giving and response. Faith is entering into this conversation with the Lord. It is His voice breaking through the noise of life. It is being in the crowded room of life, with people talking, with many distractions and having someone come up behind you and say:Hello! I would like you to be my friend. The noise continues, the distractions persist but the voice of this new Friend pierces them. Faith, continuing this simple example, is the Lord coming to us so that we may go to Him.

Tues.1stWeek of Advent (Luke 10:21-24) The song of praise and thanksgiving which Our Lord sings reminds us that faith brings us into the very community of God. It is a family affair. The family of the Trinity invites us to share their life. Reading these words of the Lord we are impressed with another fact: the activity is all on the part of God. It is the Holy Spirit who inspires Jesus to sing, it is the Father and the Son who reveal..the impression of a working God is very vivid. It is not so much then that we are trying, that we want to be members of the Family but rather that we are open to receive the invitation which is extended to us. The theme comes back that faith is the gift which God gives us so we can go to Him. It is God coming to us first. It is God working within us before we do anything..it is only because God is working that we can do anything....In some mystical way through faith we are joined with this community we call the Trinity. At the very core of who we are we live with God...at the center of the “I” the life of God is ours.
Faith is that gift which while respecting each personality also creates inside of that personality a new relationship in life sharing with God.

Wed.1stWeek of Advent (Matt.15:29-37) Faith leads us from the human to the divine. Human expectations and human needs seem to be so very often the material from which we are led to an introduction into the Divine. Today’s Gospel is a perfect example. Hunger is one of the most basic of human experiences. To satisfy hunger is one of the most basic of human needs. Jesus in satisfying the hunger of the crowd leads those with faith to a higher plane. There is an awakening to further possibilities in life. Stopping at the human is for those without faith...to look at the human experiences and to see how the Lord has entered into them is the invitation of today’s Gospel.
Faith is that gift which is constantly “pulling” towards greater horizons A young college student comes to the Church for the first time. She has no interest in Christianity her only concern is to learn English. A human need. In teaching English the priest brings in some Christian concepts...that there is a God, that there is such a thing as love....the college student begins responding to these more than to the English. The spark of faith is ignited and she is led to a higher level. A man with seven children who thinks that he is entering a more quite phase of life, is looking forward to the quiet with the children leaving home for school....discovers that number eight is on the way. His first reaction is anger...he, as he expressed it to me, “does not handle it very well”.....the baby is born and becomes the joy of his life. God looked down and said what you are expecting now is not enough to make you happy, I will make your joy full.
Faith is that gift which helps us to look forward. When things come into our lives and little differently than we had planned, the baby, or when new possibilities make themselves known, the student learning English, faith lets us look at the human and see the divine.

Thurs.1stWeek of Advent (Matt.7:21,24-27)....”You never listen to me” how often have we either heard or used these words. How often have we applied them to ourselves: I guess I should have listened to you.
Quite obviously to listen is more than just the physical act of hearing. Listening at its deepest means to respond to the wish of another. The word “respond” comes from a Latin word which means to “answer a hope”(respondere)...
To listen to the Lord means to try to enter into the very mystery of who He is , to try to come to some understanding of who He is, and what His dream is for us and to answer it. To listen to the word of God is to get so involved with the Lord that our lives become this responsive act of love. There are many people who can quote the words of the Lord, who “know” their scripture, but whose lives do not seem to match up with their utterances. To build the house of our lives on this response to the love of God is the to build it on rock.
Many years ago I attended a wedding reception. A co-worker of the groom, as a matter of fact he was a boss, got up and told the brand new bride of two hours that she should never ask the question if her husband loves her more than he loves the company for which he works. She was informed, rather bluntly, that she is expected to be a nice quiet wife and not to cause her husband any trouble. The bride, thank God, was a little smarter than the man giving the speech. She knew exactly what she wanted and was going to fight for it.
Shortly after the wedding the company went bankrupt. The man who pontificated so nicely committed suicide and the young groom who listened to the speech as if it was the way things ought to be went into a complete depression. His young bride was the only one on whom he could turn for strength. His life had collapsed but hers even though it was difficult seemed to be still standing.
There are many voices trying to tell us “what to do”..there are many voices asking us to “listen to me” there is a lot of static and sometimes we do hear the wrong voice...sometimes we do answer a false hope...but the Lord does not give up. He keeps speaking to us helping us to respond to the dream He has for us.

Fri.1stWeek of Advent (Matt.9:27-31) Faith looks confidently to the future with the hope of being able to see. In the writings of St.Paul sight is equivalent to faith. To be able to see beyond what we see now. For a person of faith there is this desire to see the hand of God but sometimes it is so difficult. The human weakness under which we all have to struggle blinds us...all the things that were learned many years ago about original sin, weakens the will, darkens the intellect and sets emotions out of control, make us blind to the working of God.
Faith in the Lord is the assurance that we can be healed and made to see. It may take time. The process may not be and probably will not be as rapid as today’s Gospel....but there will come a time when sight will return. What does this mean: to be able to see. It means that something in life will be able to be looked at no longer in the light of just personal interests but will be able to be seen from the viewpoint of God. Maybe there is a suffering in life which seems to have captured us, we do not know which way to turn...prayer rather than being the freeing experience it should be only seems to make the problem worse. No matter how hard one tries prayer instead of being God focused seems to keep coming back to oneself. Then all of a sudden the weight is taken off our shoulders.
The gift of sight will not change the real world. The problem will still be there. What we see will be different. There will be a dimension, the God dimension, which we missed before.
Faith is that gift which permits us to see and at the same time gives us the hope to know that even if at a particular time in life we may be “blind” that someday the healing hand of the Lord will touch us. In this light faith is that gift which allows us to thank God not only for yesterday’s salvation but for tomorrow’s.

Sat.1stWeek of Advent....(Matt.9:35-10,1,6-8)....Faith mean to share in the ministry of the Lord. This sharing in the ministry is more than just “working for the Lord”. Through faith and Baptism we are identified with Christ, His sign is on our souls. Baptism immerses us into the mystery of who He is so much that as one of the Fathers of the Church said: anything that is said of Christ may in some way be said of those who believe in Him. Christ is Saviour, the light of the world, life, Christ is the Son of God, and the Son of Man, all of these appellations belong to Jesus by nature and to us by our adoption in and through Him.
The ministry to which we are called, each in their own way according to their particular state in life, is a living of this identity. The Gospel command is Jesus telling His disciples to preach in exactly the same way He does...by words and signs. Why? It is a way of telling them that they share in His life and rather than simply being a command what it is is Jesus telling them who they are. He is bringing out in a part of what it means to believe in Him....that they are called to share in His mission of preaching the Good News.
Our image of Christ when it comes to His sending forth has to be looked at again. So often they are looked at as “things Jesus tells us to do” rather than a giving to birth of that part of our personality which touches on the identity with Christ. In sending forth we preache Christ. Preached not only because He told us to but rather because it is whom He has made us.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Thirty Fourth Week of the Year


THIRTY-FOURTH OR LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR


MONDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:1-4) This week is full of hope. The widows mite begins our meditation on hope. What did Jesus see when He saw the widow give her last or next to last pennies? His heart must have been a little heavy after confronting the obdurancy of the religious leaders. They were not listening to him. He was calling them to be among the poor of God but they chose not to follow. He was inviting them to be among the "just" but all they insisted on doing was fighting the message.
Then he see the widow. How His heart must have jumped for joy. The money she gave symbolized something far deeper...trust in God, a looking to God. She was one of the poor. When Jesus saw her He knew there was something to look forward to, even though the leaders did not listen. This woman who perhaps never heard the Master was in her little offering summarizing all He had been preaching.
He also saw in this act of sacrifice the sacrifice which He would be called upon to make...the money was all she had. His life would be the final giving. The money for the widow was a symbol of her faithful walking with God. His death would be the sign of His obedience to the will of His Father. Christ saw in the giving, the light that in a world which was not listening to him, which seemed to be turning from Him there were people faithful.
To be able to see the signs of hope in our life. When a sense of failure overwhelms us, when isolation or a feeling of having been betrayed comes into our hearts...to go within ourselves and find that person faithful to the Lord...to find that person who gives the last and in finding that person we find the hope which Our Lord gives us.

TUESDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:5-11) "the time is at hand"...time and hope at times seem like enemies. In order to attain what we want (the hope) we have to go through time.
Why can't we get what we want right now? Why do we have to go through this measurement of change called "time'? Perhaps it is because we have to grow into our hope. Perhaps it is because we do not see that the hope is already achieved.
In this sense, hope is the what we see with the sight of faith .
We see salvation in our lives...we see the "time" which Jesus talks about because we hope for it, look forward to it, expect it. Hope is that virtue which opens us up to what God wants to give so that we can receive the gift given. The "time" is not the future but it is right now with the working of the Lord within us. Hope for a Christian is a paradox: we hope for (the saving power of the Lord within us) what we already posses( the time is at hand ).
We must remember that we live on a couple of different levels of existence. We do have natural hopes...to see children grow up into good human beings…to experience an ever deepening love between spouses...for a promotion...all good hopes. Where is the "time" of the Lord when all we meet with is disappointment of his level of our being? The heartbreak which is experienced in these disappointments may be opportunities of grace to remind us who we really are and that our hope is not in what we may have thought but how the Lord is going to work. These "crosses" which we may have to carry are not a denial of hope but rather the "time" of the Lord in our lives.

WEDNESDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:12-19) Hope is that virtue which is courageous. Living the life of a disciple at times is not that easy. There are many difficulties which face the one trying to follow the Lord. Misunderstandings, hatred, fear are just some of the attitudes which may come into the life of a disciple. Being manhandled and brought to prison , although still alive in the world, will not be our lot at the same time figuratively we are called before the court of the world many times. Many times we are asked to defend our faith, and the words see so inadequate.
Hope is the virtue which gives us the courage to overcome these "persecutions". I think of the early martyrs and ask myself the question: why did they die what was it inside of them that kept them faithful? Of course the foundation was faith, but it was a faith with a vision and that vision we call hope. Even though they were the captives of their persecutors they were not captives of time. That is, they could see beyond the present pain. They knew that even though they had to walk through the valley of death, the death had meaning.
Without hope there can be no real courage. The reason being very simple: why go on if there is nothing to look forward to? Why try to wend our way through the many "valleys of death" which may come into our lives if there is not the dream of life at the other end. Someone once said: show me a brave man and there you will have an example of hope.
It is the virtue acting courageously which is based on the firm conviction that as we walk the "way" it is not by ourselves. We do not have to have all the answers, all the explanations. God has the answers and explanations and will share these with us when we need them. How often in trying to explain the faith to someone have words come which even surprised you. Words, ideas which make you stand back and ask: where did that come from? God giving us "words of hope"

THURSDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:20-28). Hope assures us that Christ will come again. The second coming of Christ is at one and he same time one of the most important parts of our faith and one which most people spend little time thinking of. Every time we attend the Eucharist we proclaim our faith that the Lord will come again. Every time we say the "Our Father" there is an act of faith that the Lord will come. We let the words pass too quickly without reflection. It is an old promise, we have been waiting for 2000yrs. Perhaps for some it is like the promise of a friend that he will do a particular favor for us but never quite gets around to it. He keeps telling us that he will but words pass us by.
Christ is always faithful, to renew the hope that He indeed will come again, to keep that hope alive, takes us from a state of secular humanism to one of Christian humanism. Secular humanism is looking at the world, people events without a God-vision. It is one-dimensional, there is nothing beyond the "here and now".
Christian humanism on the other hand looks at people, events as part of the journey back to the Lord. They are stones in the mosaic which at some point the Lord will come and complete. It is difficult to see personal history and world history in the context of the glory of the Lord. But the glory of the Son of Man is precisely this, that all the imperfection and brokenness which we see now will be healed. The glory of the Lord lies in his saving acts fully at the end of time but now inside each and everyone of us.
To use a rather simple simile: there is a great parade taking place. The participants are all people who every lived with all their actions, good and bad, This parade is comprised also of all human events, wars, peace, floods etc. and this parade is heading to the Lord. The work of a disciple is to try to make sure that the music is good and that everyone and everything is in step.


FRIDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:29-33)Hope, another view of courage. There is no tree of Palestine which seems so dead during the winter as the fig tree. It is absolutely barren . One would think that it would never come to life again. But every year with the return of the new sap running through its twigs the tree springs to life. The winter is over.
In our life with the Lord there is a winter which we must pass through. At times this winter is communal. Persecution seems to have won the day. Churches are closed, decrees are issued about the death of God, all the powers of the world are lined up against the message. There is pain, suffering, even death. Christianity seems to be loosing, the tree is so bare. Then something happens, a political change takes place. That which was thought to be dead is not. The closed Churches are filled, the sap of new life runs through the community.
This cycle is also personal. Our growth in the relationship with the Lord has as its theme this death-life cycle. Something inside of us, a negative attitude, a tendency towards a particular sin, a broken relationship which still bears the scars of unforgiveness, all of these demand a dying. They ask to enter into the winter so that new life may come forth. As a matter of fact they are the winter when the tree of our relationship with the Lord seems so barren.
Hope is that virtue which gives us the courage to go through the long winter months with the assurance that summer will come again. This is the promise of the Lord, we call it salvation. We look forward to being saved, and this hope is not in vain. We see God in this new life.
Once winter is over it is the new sun coming into our lives enlightening everything. Then we pass through winter again, but this time with the courage which only God gives. Winter is no longer a time of barrenness, it is the time of great expectation wondering how God will do His great things within us.

SATURDAY OF THE LAST WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 21:34-36)These verses close the public ministry of Jesus in Luke's Gospel. The journey is finished. He assures them that He will come again but that this coming will not be soon. To be watchful at all times for the "comings" which He does consistently in our lives. He asks for prayer, to be always turned to God so that the "God of light" give us the wisdom to see. He reminds us of the great mystery of life, that our actions all have a meaning which we do not see right away. As He looks forward to his suffering He gives those who believe in Him the courage the vision to know that not all is over. New life will come. He stands before all people with His arms outstretched telling them that He will not forget and that someday will return to claim that which is His. The end of the journey has come and with the end a new beginning for all. He has taught us the pilgrim way this is the journey which He invites us to walk.



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Saturday, November 14, 2009


This Week
We are getting close to the end of the Church Year. We have only two weeks and it will be Advent again. It is a beautiful time of the year, a time to renew ourselves in that great gift God has given us, hope.
It is about time to get busy on the pod cast. That is my Advent resolution, to post a sermon every week. God gave us these beautiful tools why not use them for something good.
This week in our social justice component we will feature Project Create. It is a ministry to people who have addicitions living in Harlem. Fr.Ben Taylor has been doing it for over 40 yrs.. Well worth the time. The address is: http://www.createinc.org/

Thirty Third Week of the Year

THIRTY-THIRD WEEK OF THE YEAR

MONDAY OF THE THIRTY-THIRD WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 18:35-43) A few years ago a young man received the gift of faith. It was a long hard road that the Lord had picked for him to walk but he walked it and was finally Baptized. Shortly after his Baptism he shared with us a very touching part of his relationship with God. Before he believed in the loving God he looked at the evil in the world and said to himself that this is the way things are. Suffering was one of those things which went to make up life. Then he came into contact with the infinite love of God. He shared with us that it was when he started to believe that suffering became a problem.
I do not want to get into the problem of evil but what is interesting about this story is that the young man started to see things differently. He believed this was the new sight which the Lord gave him. This sight however brought a new situation into his life...he had to reconcile the two things which he now saw...the love of God and suffering.
Our lives of faith should be this bringing together of what we see in the world(the joys and hopes as well as the sadness) with seeing the All Good God.
Faith is the light which brightens the room of our hearts, it is the eyes of a heart which has been allowed to enter into the very mystery of God...faith is the eyeglasses which God gives us to see properly the world in which we live.
The young man saw something new. It was not very pleasant for him.Before faith the "no problem" situation was much more comfortable....perhaps we will be called to see things which we might just as soon not see. It is in seeing with the eyes of faith, no matter how difficult, that we are led to the truth of God.

TUESDAY OF THE THIRTY-THIRD WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 19:1-10)) Zacchaeus was a strong man. He must have taken an awful lot of abuse "you are a sinner what right do you have to be with the master".Some people probably thought he was very presumptuous, some might of even thought that he was bragging when he told of how much he gave away. Zacchaeus stood his ground. He saw Jesus and the opinions of people were not about to take him away from the Lord.
He knew the Lord liked him, he knew the Lord had called him, he knew that he was going to share the table with the Lord. These gave him the strength to continue. This is something the disciple, just as Zacchaeus did, always has to remember. Otherwise we may start listening to wrong voices.
There are people who do not want us to walk with the Lord. Most of the time they do not express it exactly that way, a lot more subtle. The meaning is the same. We climb the tree, we see the Lord and hear his call. Then all of sudden the world starts closing in on us. We find that our life of faith is at times a battle...a battle with the world and what it wants to do to us.
The thing which these forces want to take away is the conviction that the Lord has truly called us and wants us to be with Him. With all the talk about "affirmation" there are so many currents in the world which want to deny real affirmation and to affirm us in a way that is comfortable to them. Zaccheaus made people uncomfortable because he did not fit into the mold which they wanted him to climb into. Jesus made people uncomfortable because he affirmed people in strange and marvelous ways. Zaccheaus had the courage to walk with the way Jesus said He was.

WEDNESDAY OF THE THRITY-THIRD WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 19:11-28) The nobleman goes, leaves his property to others, is rejected, comes back and demands an accounting....sound familiar. It does to me. In this simple story about stewardship we also have the place of the Church in the world . We are in the "waiting " period and that means we are being asked to remember who we are waiting for. The story of today is often times left as a moral story of responsibility. This of course is good. But the stewardship has to be kept in the broad scope of not only personal but personal inside the history of the Church.
We are reminded that our acts are ecclesial acts.The stewardship we exercise over our talents is not to be looked at outside of our relationship to the Body.
In a real sense my actions determine what the Church is...not essentially but certainly the way it is in the world.
If I perform acts of justice than the Church is just, to the extent that I do not do what I am supposed to do, to that extent the Church is not what it is supposed to be.
The talents which we reminded of I think are twofold. On the one side I have the personal talents with which God has blessed me...on the other side these personal gifts have the communal sense of being inside of and for the Church. All gifts all talents are for the community.
Thinking along these lines I often recall my favorite composer, Beethoven. Can you imagine Beethoven having finished his 9thSympony and putting it in the top drawer of his desk. Of course not. How much joy is in the world because he did not do that. His talent has touched the lives of so many people.
We write our own symphonies by using what God has given us.

THURSDAY OF THE THIRTY-THIRD WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 19:41-44) I hesitate to write words about this scene. There is a fear that anything I put down on paper will take the power from the scene of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem.
Human words might destroy what Our Lord wants to say…a shared dream denied.
Jerusalem turns its back on the dream of God for it...this is what makes Jesus sad. Not rejection, but rather that they have chosen the lesser path.
The view of Jerusalem from the traditional sight of this scene is beautiful...it is panoramic. One could from this spot half way up the Mt.Olives stretch out his arms and embrace the entire city. From this spot, half way between the Garden of Gethseme and the Church of the Ascension, He must have seen the people going into the Temple, he saw other people going about the ordinary things of life. He must have seen the children playing in the streets. How sad that the dream was not heard.

FRIDAY OF THE THIRTY-THIRD WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 19:45-48)"they were hanging on his words"....an intensity comes out of these words...a silence...a sense of being fed...hope...love....all these are what the word of the Lord gives us. To "hang on" what a wonderful expression to describe the way we should receive the word of God.
We read scripture everyday. As I re-read the words "hanging on" I had to look at the way the words of scripture, which are truly His words, pass through my mind and heart. They are read and instead of being hung onto, all too often are forgotten very shortly after being read. They are the light which brighten my path. They are the food upon which I should live. They are the "rain" which is sent from heaven to moisten my heart. So often they are forgotten. The faith that Jesus is speaking to me is forgotten.
The words I read are expressions of the Lord giving himself to me. They are the life sharing words of His life coming into me. Often they pass like a summer cloud or if at first received so often my heart changes like an autumn sky.
Many conversations take place within us. So many voices...our own, the world's...inside the noise of our hearts to pick out the word which the Lord has given us.
How to do this? One point which may help is that when we read scripture to get ourselves into a frame of mind in which we are not "reading" but "listening"...the Lord is standing in front of us speaking. As we listen we must be patient because what He says on a particular day may not be part of our lives. Not every word He speaks is relevant at every time. They are always true but may not hit us. When I am happy ,for example, reading the passages about "taking up ones cross" although I accept it does not really enter my life. In this sense, I have to always be patient because the Word which He speaks will at sometime be part of my life.

SATURDAY OF THE THIRTY-THIRD WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 20:27-40) Jesus is always asking us to look beyond. Today's Gospel is another example of this....the Sadducees were on one level and Jesus said: No, there is more to the story than this.
This Gospel passage asks us to make sure we are not looking at life through the one-dimensional outlook of the Sadducees. They looked at the things of this world as though they were the complete story, the end of the book. Jesus is saying that the final chapter has not been written yet. To look at life as chapters filling out the story which God wants to and is writing. We have to wait . We have the assurance of the Lord that it will end happily. The things which go to make life up are not the "end of the story".

Friday, November 6, 2009


THIS WEEK


First of all I am sorry that there was no posting last week. I was out of town. It is better to get the posting out early than not at all. This accounts for the Friday posting.

The health reform bill is coming to a vote this weekend, as you all know. There are certain aspects of the bill which really are not very acceptable. Personally helping to fund something which I find morally objectionable, abortion, is an assualt on my freedom of conscience. The Bishops have written a insert for parish bulletins that you can find www.usccb.org/healthcare.

the health reform legislation is one of the most important pieces of legislation in years. It will become part of our culture for years. We have to make sure it is right.

Two weeks ago I placed a web site for friends of the poor. I have received word that the web was down. Here goes again http://www.francisfriendofthepoor.org/
THIRTY-SECOND WEEK OF THE YEAR

MONDAY OF THE THRITY SECOND WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 17:1-6) A group of people are having coffee...their conversation is about the ordinary things of life. All of a sudden the name of a person comes up. One of the people in the group mentions something not very pleasing about the person…like a match put to oil, the fire of gossiping about the person begins. The person who originally mentioned the name may feel sorry, as most of us do, for talking about the person....does the person feel sorry for leading others down the path of gossip?
We are time and time again called upon to remember that our actions effect other people either for the good or bad. We have in our hands the rather terrifying power to help people do good or to lead them in directions which are not too good. We used to use expressions such as "good example" and "bad example"...these are still valid.
We can help people to be who they are supposed to be or we can deny who they are.
Getting back to the example...some of the people in the group will eventually feel sorry that they took someone "over the coals'"...they will realize that not only were they unjust and just plain "not nice" but they did not live up to the expectations which they had of themselves. They will, of course, have to take responsibility for their actions but on the other hand if the person who made the original "not very nice" remark had kept silent the occasion for self denial would not have been there.
We all have a responsibility not only for my own actions but what those actions will do to other people. If we are faithful to who we are than, to quote Shakespeare, "it must follow as night the day" that those with whom we come into contact will see a light to be faithful to who they are.

TUESDAY OF THE THIRTY-SECOND WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 17:7-10) Wouldn't it have be nice if I had been born in the 12th Cent. rather than the 20th? The relationship between the Lord of the manor and the servant was so clear cut, so simple...it was an exchange of lives. The servant was expected to serve unconditionally; not to ask for rewards just to do what was expected. The lord of the manor in return for this service promised to take care of, to protect the servant. This was the mutual promise. They entered into a covenant of mutual trust and respect. The lives of the servant and master were so interwined that interdependence took place.
The harshness of the master's words must be tempered in the light of this special relationship that we of the 20th cent. have a difficult time seeing.
We must live the Gospel today, it has to be interpreted in the light of the signs of the times but it also must remain true to the words of the Master. The sacred compact inside of which we live our lives with God is one of complete mutuality...He is our God we are His people. There is a bond of love which exists that goes beyond merely human interpretation. The Lord is constantly giving himself as the master of the manor. We are asked to return that love as the loving servants.
What are the works expected of us? We can be busy about many things doing many things, many projects bringing many people to the Lord, all of these are good. The one "work" which we are never completely finished with is growing in faith. We are the faithful servants not by "doing" but by “being" who the Lord wants us to be...with this work we are never finished.

WEDNESDAY OF THE THIRTY-SECOND WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 17:11-19) A beautiful lesson on some very basic principles of prayer. One of the most frustrating things is to want to thank someone but to be unsure as to whom to thank. I have received throughout the course of the yeas gifts with just "from a friend" written on the card. In my heart I thanked who ever it was but it would have been nice to have a face attached to the thanks. There was a blank that I would have liked to have filled.
So many people when they are first called to the faith have a sense of having that blank filled in. They look at their lives and realize that they should be thankful to someone beyond, but were never quite able to figure out who it was. Faith comes. God becomes alive in their lives. They know to whom to give thanks...this is a great joy. A joy that we who have been born with the faith take for granted. We have to keep constantly reminding ourselves that the package of life signed "from a friend" is God . He is the friend. No longer unknown, no longer faceless, but alive in our lives.
Faith is that great gift which takes care of the very human need of being able to say thank you.
It is the gift which permits us to run to the Lord with our arms outstretched, rejoicing in the all the good things He has given us. It is the gift which gives us the hope to look at the future and thank Him not only for yesterday but also for tomorrow.
Faith is the gift which gives us rather weak broken people the power not only to think about God but also to speak and listen to Him. We call this prayer.

THURSDAY OF THE THIRTY-SECOND WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 17:20-25) History is such a fascinating study. Histories of families can be absolutely entertaining. One of the fondest memories I have of my childhood is listening to my grandfather tell about the "old days" in the family. He would tell about his father and how hard they had it when they first came to America. He would tell of how he met my grandmother...all the happenings, both happy and sad, that took place. I would sit there with my mouth wide open . Of course I was to young to realize it then, but my grandfather in telling me these stories was telling me who I am.
We all have histories. The natural history of date of birth, all the paths which we have walked throughout the course of the years...the people with whom we have shared life...we all have the unfinished mosaic of our lives before us waiting to be filled out. We also in this "natural" history have a God history. My father would tell me how he met my mother, of their courtship etc....I look back on life and try to see those moments when I met God. Those special moments when a new direction was given to life. I look back and see the stones which have gone to make the mosaic of my life and looking at them I see the hand of God.
Why did I do this and not that? The decision which seems so "common sense" now was not made and because of that life is different. A decision was made which seemed to be against common sense and joy was the result. History is full of these "accidents" and so they are with our history( translate=story with God)...He comes into our lives like the summer lightening...unexpectedly. So unexpected that we often do not know who it is and mistake Him for someone else. Something happens that starts us thinking in a way we have never thought before. The sun comes out after a cloudy time in life. A joy takes us by surprise...all part of our history with God.
Just as my grandfather would tell about the "old days" just as my father would tell of the days of his youth ..so God is constantly telling us of the story He has with us.

FRIDAY OF THE THIRTY SECOND WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke17:26-37) The story is told that on the eve of the beginning of the World War in 1939 the League of Nations was discussing which language should be used in some section of France. They missed the important things, the things they should have been talking about.
We can be busy in many ways...all to some degree important, all capable of being justified in our use of time. Most times the course of daily life will determine what we have to do, reflection on what is important is not necessary. The demands of the day determine this. This often times is the problem. The language which the members of the League of Nations was attempting to determine was in a sense something which had to be decided...but was it balanced off against the really necessary things of life.
A high school s student was faced with a dilemma. His friend needed help. It was something which could not wait. At the same time he had a lot of homework to do. He could not help his friend and do his homework, one of these would have to be sacrificed. Two important options faced him. He chose to help his friend. The next day at school he told his teacher what he had done. He got the usual sermon about helping people is good but homework is more important. Fortunately the boy could see that if this was taken to its ultimate the only time we would help people is when it is convenient for us.
Quite obviously we are not faced with these decisions twenty-four hours a day ...life would indeed become burdensome. There are times when we have to make difficult decisions and say: this is important. More importantly we have to have some silence in our lives so that the Voice may break through the noise of life and say: do this.

SATURDAY OF THE THIRTY-SECOND WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 18:1-8) Patience is necessary in life. Without it life can become a very uncomfortable thing both for us and for those around us. Waiting is just part of life. It seems as though God's watch and the human watch are completely out of touch with each other. We say: now. God answers: yes, now. He always answers “now” it is just that His “now” and ours are not the same. For us tomorrow is tomorrow; it is future. For God tomorrow does not exist it is “now”. This is the time frame we are asked to enter for the exercise of patience: the eternal “now” of God. Perhaps it is a simplification but isn't patience a function of looking at a watch or calendar. If we look at God's calendar and his watch perhaps waiting would be if not a joyful at least a positive time.
A friend of mine suffered for many years with a crippling case of arthritis. His life was for 25yrs. a life of pain with no hope of it getting better just worse. I saw the progression of this disease. At the beginning the pain limited what he could do but he was quite able to do many things. Slowly it progressed...walking became a task. Each step meant pain...his hands became immovable...getting in and out of bed was just another painful experience to look forward to. Yet in all this he gave the impression of patience. He was waiting and he knew what he was waiting for would come and all he had to do was to look at his life as the journey. The pain did not take away his smile...it did not take away his concern for other people...as he was patient he grew in these things. Life could have closed his heart but instead he chose the path "least traveled"....
To be patient, I discovered in living with my friend, is not just some sort of passive waiting...but a time of growth and of challenge......to be patient is to enter into the great mystery of the "time of God".....

Friday, October 23, 2009

THIS WEEK

We are going to start a new series this week It will focus on the various social outreaches of Holy Name Province of the Franciscan Order. You have already been introduced to St. Francis Inn in Philadelpia. this week we bring you FrienSt.Francis Friend of the Poor. This ministry started in 1980 and has as its mission giving shelter to the chronically homeless. At present their are four residences in mid-town Manhattan. The web site is a graphic presentation of the ministry. To get to the site click here
THIRTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR

MONDAY OF THE THIRTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 13:10-17)
The desire to be in control is one that is very deep within us. The dangerous aspect of this desire for people who are trying to live good lives is that it is often masked with the desire to do good. For good people the blatant, greedy and cold control of another is very seldom something to be contended with. What does happen, however, is the more subtle almost unconscious desire to control.
In today's gospel we have the Pharisees trying to control. The law was there "power base"...as long as they could rely on the Law they were in control. The law was good but all of a sudden it became the means to protect themselves. Jesus knew what He was doing when He cured the woman. He was being who He was, He was being true to Himself and not worrying about the controls which others would place on Him. I do not think He worked the miracle to prove who He was rather He worked the miracle because He was who He was.
To be controlled is not to be true to oneself, to control is to deny a person the right to be who they should be.


TUESDAY OF THE THIRTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 13:18-21)
What is the Kingdom of God? Jesus uses something like twenty parables in an attempt to explain its meaning. Anytime that many examples have to be used we know that we are not in an easy subject. The Kingdom is wide. It is so wide that even Jesus' imagination was stretched to explain it.. One good definition of what it is a deep loving relationship with the Father. This is what Jesus came to proclaim and to invite us to enter...this love relationship with the Trinity.
This relationship is alive....and because it is alive it grows.
The image of the fig tree comes to mind. It is an image of the Church which is the kingdom on earth but at the same time because we all possess the kingdom it is an image of who we are.
The birds coming to nest. Nice, soft image but at the same time do we feel within ourselves the potential to be places of rest for other people. To put into a logical syllogism: We are the kingdom made present to the world
The Kingdom is a place of rest, of comfort
Are we places of rest for people

WEDNESDAY OF THE THIRTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 13:22-30)
Conversion is an ongoing process. Today's gospel reminds us of one thing very powerfully: just as the people in the Gospel were physically near the Lord they were far from Him. The language which is used, eating and drinking together, is language of intimacy and yet something was missing. For us, it comes down to not how often we eat and drink with the Lord , which may be all the external acts of the faith which we do...but are they leading to a deeper relationship with Him, conversion.
The people in today's Gospel were quite satisfied with the nice friendly Jesus...they missed His message completely. They were so busy talking while they were in His company that they could not listen...the harshness of the Lord's words: I do not know where you come from...tell us how important a priority He places on this turning to Him. It is what binds us to Him.
The new heart which He wants to create within us is the point of identification with Him. When He says: I do not know where you come from ...He is saying that they do not know where He comes from.

THURSDAY OF THE THIRTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 13:31-35)
How sad Christ must have been when he said these words? Looking down over Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives he saw the city which should have received Him the most...but He was refused. The thing which impresses me though is the prayer is focused not on Himself but on Jerusalem..
.His sadness is not self-centered, they refused me therefore I am sad, no His sadness is directed at the fact that Jerusalem did not accept the good which was offered her. If we define sadness as the lack of a perceived good then the absence of the good than was not inside of Jesus but what was lacking in Jerusalem. He was sad not because of personal rejection, but rather because people were not being all they could or should be.
As I read this I had to ask myself the question: what makes me sad? I have expectations on how other people should treat me, this is the good thing I want. When it is not forthcoming do I "get down"....am I sad when a desired dream is lost. once
again I become the reason for sadness. I came to the conclusion that by knowing what makes me sad I come to an understanding of how selfish I really am.

FRIDAY OF THE THIRTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 14:1-6)
.A very important function of being a disciple is to make sure that we are asking people questions. A while back I received a very nice coffee mug from a friend. The inscription is a motto for us all: keep smiling, it makes the other guy wonder what you have been up to. Hidden behind these words is the fact that by smiling a question is raised, as one of my friends use to say: part of being a disciple is to ask questions that knock the socks off of people.
The real clue is that it is our way of life which has to force people to ask questions. It was the lives of martyrs which forced people to wonder "what they were up to" and people of good faith looked for an answer and were drawn to the Lord.
Jesus did something good, and he asked the question....the Pharisees could not answer....goodness confounded them. If nothing else they were forced to see life in a different way or that someone else was seeing life in a different way. Doing good always makes people wonder, sometimes friendly sometimes not so friendly.
A few years ago a group of people started to feed the homeless living on the streets of Tokyo. This was a good thing but it caused so many people to wonder. It had never been done before .....it was not supposed to be done...by doing it in the face of a lot of misunderstanding and at times antagonism eventually the awareness that there was a problem seeped into the mentality..now a lot of people are doing things. A good was done, it raised a question.....our good deeds do not go to waste. We may not see the result but God does...isn't that all that matters.

SATURDAY OF THE THIRTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 14:1.7-11)
My thought on this passage is very brief.....Our Lord wants His disciples to be polite. So obvious yet look around the world and see how impolite people are....lack of "thank yous" and "pleases"....how everyone is so anxious to get served first...how many times conversations are unnecessarily interrupted.....just the way people speak to one another....maybe Jesus is just reminding us of the simple ordinary polite things which go to make life so much nicer.

Monday, October 19, 2009

THIS WEEK

In the social justice area I have printed a prayer for social justice. This prayer along with the Peace Prayer give us a good spiritual foundation for involvement.
One of the themes of this week's scriptural reflections is greed. Over the last year we have all been exposed to it.
VOX POPULI...would appreciate comments from our readers. Something like letters to the editor. May cover timely subjects i.e. health care or a personal experience. Please keep the remarks to one paragraph...
+Social Justice Prayer+Almighty and eternal God, may your grace enkindle in all of us a love for the many unfortunate people whom poverty and misery reduce to a condition of life unworthy of human beings.Arouse in the hearts of those who call you Father a hunger and thirst for social justice and for fraternal charity in deeds and in truth.Grant, O Lord, peace to souls, peace to families, peace to our country and peace among nations. Amen
TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR

MONDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 12: 13-21)
Greed takes on many forms and the Lord reminds us to beware of each and everyone of them. One form of greed is the one with which we usually associate it. A person always seeking more and more. The person who looks at life and asks the question: what can I get out of it?... the person who is constantly living to make more and to have more.
Another type of greed....one who is always fighting for his or her rights. Today's gospel is a good example of this. The man who asked Jesus to intercede apparently had a right to the inheritance. Jesus takes this as an opportunity to speak of greed...as much as to tell us that demanding what is owed one may be a type of greed. He is telling us that at times we have to surrender even what is due us in justice or we stand the danger of having our judgment clouded and our hearts closed.
Another type of greed is what I call the greed of "wanting". Someone once told me that greed is not measured so much by what a person has as by what a person wants. These "wants " take on all the different shades that our personalities have. They can be merely physical wants, they may be emotional or they may even be spiritual. In all cases what distinguishes greed from others is that we forget the spiritual side of our existence. The real sin in greed is that it causes a blindness.
We become blind to God, to others and even to ourselves. The possessions, the things we want capture our hearts and we become incapable of seeing beyond the boundaries of our own little world.
Blindness in scripture is the same as having no faith. Our Lord's command to beware of greed is a warning that faith can be covered over and even suffocated by material possessions and the desire for them. He warns us many times about the desire that we all have for riches of one sort or another and how dangerous it is if we really want to live in His kingdom.

TUESDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 12:35-38)
Quite obviously the master, in today's Gospel, is the Lord and we are the servants. As I read this Gospel the question which kept coming to mind was: what does the Lord want? or more precisely: how does He want me to wait? Waiting seems to imply that we lack something and are waiting for it to happen. It seems to me that by very definition to wait means there is an incompleteness. A hope not yet attained, a dream still in the future, a pain not over.
So much of our time is spent waiting...we have to wait on line to buy food, to see the doctor, to get on an airplane. We wait for the big day when we shall see an old friend again, we wait for the baby to be born, and there comes a time in life when we wait for death....
Is it wasted time? Do we look at it as just a necessary evil before we get what we want? Our Lord gives us an important lesson about waiting.
It is a time of activity(make sure there is oil) it is a time of responsibility(cinctures)it is a time a joyful anticipation, not just sitting. Waiting is not simply to keep an eye on the future (when will the line end) but to enjoy the moments before. Strange and marvelous things happen as we wait.

WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY- NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 12:39-48) Common sense and the living of the Gospel. All Jesus is doing is giving a brief lesson in common sense. The good servant because he sits back and thinks acts in accord with the reality of the situation (the master shall return)the bad servant does not reflect, reacts to the present and consequently acts not in accord with reality.
This "common sense" however must be faith motivated. We as human beings are too prone to make mistakes. The bad servant would, as he was acting, probably say that he was acting according to common sense. The master was late so why not make the best of it. The good servant, on the other hand, trusted in the master's returning. When we act according to common sense the trust in the Lord must be the foundation. His word should be the light before us .
Christian "common sense" goes beyond the purely pragmatic. The pragmatic "common sense" does not take into consideration the master's return. That is, it does not take into consideration the place of God. Christian, on the other hand, will always take the totality of the situation into mind, that means bringing God into the equation of life. This faith filled common sense leads to great things. Anyone reading the Gospel for today would see Our Lord's message quite clearly. The Gospel is just simple God inspired common sense.

THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 12:49-53)
The Gospel rings with a sense of immediacy... " how I wish" " what anguish I feel till it is over"....there is a sense that the Lord wants things to happen right now. Then He speaks of peace...at first these words seem so harsh...can you imagine going into a room a saying: I have come to start an argument. That is bad enough but to say it shortly after having proclaimed peace would make it even worse. This is what Jesus did. How do we resolve the paradox?
Is Christ the King of Peace? Yes. His mission is to establish peace. The peace he wants to establish, however, is the unity between God and creation. He wants to and is working in the world to, bring about the order which should exist between God and creation and between all the different parts of creation. To do this He must face up to a peace which is really not peace. Complacency, comfort with the way things are...a spiritual sleepiness which dulls the conscience. We all like to be comfortable within ourselves...the unfortunate thing is that many times this comfort is not based on good values but on any value which would do away with an internal conflict. This is the peace which Our Lord has come to disrupt.
In a real sense to be really comfortable and at peace within ourselves we have to go through the sometimes painful process of letting the sword of the word of God penetrate our hearts. It will cause some discomfort because no one likes to surrender that which gives them peace...that is until something better has been offered . One of the problems of today is that in so many cases people have attained this comfort, this peace, and have closed themselves off to the peace which only the Lord can give.

FRIDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 12:54-59)
The presence of the Holy Spirit in the world. It seems to me that in many cases our thinking stops short of where we are supposed to be going. Perhaps, in today's Gospel Our Lord is simply inviting us to ask all the questions we are supposed to. St. Thomas More said: always ask one more question. We have to ask: how is the Spirit moving in the world today? In all the world situations which are against the Gospel; war, genocide, abortion , greed....does this mean that the Spirit is not present there. One of the most difficult things for me to do is to look at a situation where man's inhumanity to man is apparent and say that in some way the Spirit of God is working there. Sometimes , as a matter of fact most of the time, I do not know the answer. I do not know the "how" but I do know that God ignores nothing and that in some way all things will be brought together to fulfill His plan.

SATURDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR(Luke 13:1-9)
Commitment tempered by compassion is the message for today. Our Lord is not wishy-washy, nor does he expect His disciples to be wishy-washy. He certainly does not His disciples to be blown about by every wind that comes into the world. He expects them to know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, and to make judgments accordingly. He wants them to be convinced. At the same time He realizes that this commitment exists in a vessel of clay. They will make mistakes. Sometimes the vision will become cloudy. They may loose their way. It is at this time that the compassion of the Lord shine forth. He understands weakness.
Compassion demands that follower of the Lord begins again. Compassion is healing, it heals the weight of humanity. Being healed it encourages us to grow, and never to become complacent.




TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR

MONDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 12: 13-21)
Greed takes on many forms and the Lord reminds us to beware of each and everyone of them. One form of greed is the one with which we usually associate it. A person always seeking more and more. The person who looks at life and asks the question: what can I get out of it?... the person who is constantly living to make more and to have more.
Another type of greed....one who is always fighting for his or her rights. Today's gospel is a good example of this. The man who asked Jesus to intercede apparently had a right to the inheritance. Jesus takes this as an opportunity to speak of greed...as much as to tell us that demanding what is owed one may be a type of greed. He is telling us that at times we have to surrender even what is due us in justice or we stand the danger of having our judgment clouded and our hearts closed.
Another type of greed is what I call the greed of "wanting". Someone once told me that greed is not measured so much by what a person has as by what a person wants. These "wants " take on all the different shades that our personalities have. They can be merely physical wants, they may be emotional or they may even be spiritual. In all cases what distinguishes greed from others is that we forget the spiritual side of our existence. The real sin in greed is that it causes a blindness.
We become blind to God, to others and even to ourselves. The possessions, the things we want capture our hearts and we become incapable of seeing beyond the boundaries of our own little world.
Blindness in scripture is the same as having no faith. Our Lord's command to beware of greed is a warning that faith can be covered over and even suffocated by material possessions and the desire for them. He warns us many times about the desire that we all have for riches of one sort or another and how dangerous it is if we really want to live in His kingdom.

TUESDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 12:35-38)
Quite obviously the master, in today's Gospel, is the Lord and we are the servants. As I read this Gospel the question which kept coming to mind was: what does the Lord want? or more precisely: how does He want me to wait? Waiting seems to imply that we lack something and are waiting for it to happen. It seems to me that by very definition to wait means there is an incompleteness. A hope not yet attained, a dream still in the future, a pain not over.
So much of our time is spent waiting...we have to wait on line to buy food, to see the doctor, to get on an airplane. We wait for the big day when we shall see an old friend again, we wait for the baby to be born, and there comes a time in life when we wait for death....
Is it wasted time? Do we look at it as just a necessary evil before we get what we want? Our Lord gives us an important lesson about waiting.
It is a time of activity(make sure there is oil) it is a time of responsibility(cinctures)it is a time a joyful anticipation, not just sitting. Waiting is not simply to keep an eye on the future (when will the line end) but to enjoy the moments before. Strange and marvelous things happen as we wait.

WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY- NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 12:39-48) Common sense and the living of the Gospel. All Jesus is doing is giving a brief lesson in common sense. The good servant because he sits back and thinks acts in accord with the reality of the situation (the master shall return)the bad servant does not reflect, reacts to the present and consequently acts not in accord with reality.
This "common sense" however must be faith motivated. We as human beings are too prone to make mistakes. The bad servant would, as he was acting, probably say that he was acting according to common sense. The master was late so why not make the best of it. The good servant, on the other hand, trusted in the master's returning. When we act according to common sense the trust in the Lord must be the foundation. His word should be the light before us .
Christian "common sense" goes beyond the purely pragmatic. The pragmatic "common sense" does not take into consideration the master's return. That is, it does not take into consideration the place of God. Christian, on the other hand, will always take the totality of the situation into mind, that means bringing God into the equation of life. This faith filled common sense leads to great things. Anyone reading the Gospel for today would see Our Lord's message quite clearly. The Gospel is just simple God inspired common sense.

THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 12:49-53)
The Gospel rings with a sense of immediacy... " how I wish" " what anguish I feel till it is over"....there is a sense that the Lord wants things to happen right now. Then He speaks of peace...at first these words seem so harsh...can you imagine going into a room a saying: I have come to start an argument. That is bad enough but to say it shortly after having proclaimed peace would make it even worse. This is what Jesus did. How do we resolve the paradox?
Is Christ the King of Peace? Yes. His mission is to establish peace. The peace he wants to establish, however, is the unity between God and creation. He wants to and is working in the world to, bring about the order which should exist between God and creation and between all the different parts of creation. To do this He must face up to a peace which is really not peace. Complacency, comfort with the way things are...a spiritual sleepiness which dulls the conscience. We all like to be comfortable within ourselves...the unfortunate thing is that many times this comfort is not based on good values but on any value which would do away with an internal conflict. This is the peace which Our Lord has come to disrupt.
In a real sense to be really comfortable and at peace within ourselves we have to go through the sometimes painful process of letting the sword of the word of God penetrate our hearts. It will cause some discomfort because no one likes to surrender that which gives them peace...that is until something better has been offered . One of the problems of today is that in so many cases people have attained this comfort, this peace, and have closed themselves off to the peace which only the Lord can give.

FRIDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 12:54-59)
The presence of the Holy Spirit in the world. It seems to me that in many cases our thinking stops short of where we are supposed to be going. Perhaps, in today's Gospel Our Lord is simply inviting us to ask all the questions we are supposed to. St. Thomas More said: always ask one more question. We have to ask: how is the Spirit moving in the world today? In all the world situations which are against the Gospel; war, genocide, abortion , greed....does this mean that the Spirit is not present there. One of the most difficult things for me to do is to look at a situation where man's inhumanity to man is apparent and say that in some way the Spirit of God is working there. Sometimes , as a matter of fact most of the time, I do not know the answer. I do not know the "how" but I do know that God ignores nothing and that in some way all things will be brought together to fulfill His plan.

SATURDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK OF THE YEAR(Luke 13:1-9)
Commitment tempered by compassion is the message for today. Our Lord is not wishy-washy, nor does he expect His disciples to be wishy-washy. He certainly does not His disciples to be blown about by every wind that comes into the world. He expects them to know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, and to make judgments accordingly. He wants them to be convinced. At the same time He realizes that this commitment exists in a vessel of clay. They will make mistakes. Sometimes the vision will become cloudy. They may loose their way. It is at this time that the compassion of the Lord shine forth. He understands weakness.
Compassion demands that follower of the Lord begins again. Compassion is healing, it heals the weight of humanity. Being healed it encourages us to grow, and never to become complacent.