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Posted by on Nov 5, 2023

Covenants and Family

Covenants and Family

The time spent nursing a child is some of the most precious time ever in the lives of mothers and children. Not all children nurse easily from the beginning of their lives, but once they and their mothers figure out how they can do it, the time together and the sharing become unforgettable – a deep, pre-verbal connection is formed that can last for decades. As a mother myself, who was nursed as a child and watched my siblings nursing as well, I was delighted to have the chance to do so too. Those years with my children were very special, filled with funny happenings, some frustrating times, and many simply peaceful, routine times.

St. Paul speaks of his time with the community in Thessalonika as one in which he and his companions were “gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children.” (1 Thes 2: 7b-9, 13) They shared the amazing, wonderfully good news of God’s coming among us and loving each of us as parents love their children. The response of the people among whom they toiled was a source of great joy to them. He speaks of his gratitude to God for their openness and acceptance of the teaching, which shows forth in their lives. Though Paul doesn’t say it in so many words, in their lives they are examples of the contentment of the weaned child on it’s mother’s lap, happily experiencing the presence of a parent’s love and protection in life of which the Psalmist speaks. (Ps 131: 1, 2, 3)

Both the prophet Malachi and Jesus speak of family ties too when addressing the challenges of their times.

Malachi speaks at a time after the Babylonian Exile. (Mal 1:14b-2:2b-8, 10) He proclaims that the Lord is a great King, with power feared among the nations. Yet the priests who are responsible to lead the people in worship have not lived up to their calling. They have turned away from the covenant, the agreement God made with Levi, their ancestor. Malachi cries out, “Have we not all the one father? Has not the one God created us?” The covenant of the ancient fathers of the community with their God has been broken. This is a great tragedy. Israel is a family, the children of God, yet the priests have not lived up to their part in the relationship. As a result, their family connection as a community with God has been broken and so has their relationship as sisters and brothers in one family. When this happens, community strength is lost and mutual respect is gone.

How and when will the covenant be renewed? Only when the people turn again to God, their father, the one father of all.

Jesus spoke of the Pharisees, who were students and teachers of the Law, and the Scribes, who were advisors, leaders, and teachers entrusted with reading and writing the traditions and teachings that guided the community. He criticized them because they did not live what they taught. To follow all the details of the Law as they taught it was very difficult. They themselves did not follow the rules they made for ordinary people to follow. Yet Jesus did not tell people to ignore the teachings. Instead, he told people to follow the Law, but not to follow the examples of these teachers who were more interested in being seen and honored for their pretended observance of the Law than in actually living according to the Law. The fundamentals of living humbly, serving others, and recognizing all others as brothers and sisters of the one Father in heaven are the critical, essential actions. (Mt 23:1-12)

In a community and culture in which corporate families were the norm, one statement in particular is striking: “Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.” In corporate families, the leadership of the family is vested in one parent. In Israel of that time, the parent was the father of the extended family. Children and grandchildren and their families were all under the leadership and authority of that one parent. Individual families did not really exist in the sense we experience them. Family identity passes through the male or female line in corporate families. In patriarchal Israel, the line went through the males – from father to son. Women married into the family, leaving their own family behind. The “Father” in this large extended family made the decisions about who would do what and who would marry whom. Jesus says, only God is the Father. The earthly parents of each person are not the ultimate authority.

The bottom line for Jesus was the importance of humble service. “The greatest among you must be your servant.” Only those who serve humbly will ultimately be recognized for their greatness.

The nursing mother, the humble servant, the God who is Father. The ones who make life easier and better for others, especially the others who are poor, or of lower social status, or strangers/newcomers in the land, or who suffer illness or injury are the ones who will be exalted. These are the ones pleasing to the Father. It was thus in the time of Malachi. It was thus in the time of Jesus. It was thus in the time of St. Paul. Nothing has changed. It is still thus in our days.

May we this week be aware of the needs of others and quietly offer a hand where needed. Maybe we pick up a bit of litter in a parking lot. Maybe we smile at a neighbor. Maybe we are patient in line at the grocery store. Maybe we read a story for the umpteenth time to a small child. Maybe we sit down with a nursing child and simply allow the child to eat and rest, basking in our love. Whatever we do, when we do it in love, we do it for and with our Father in Heaven. And the Father is pleased…

Readings for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

 

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Posted by on Aug 20, 2023

Mercy that Excludes No One

Mercy that Excludes No One

Did you ever think about whether Jesus knew that his mission was not limited to the Jewish people? I had not really thought much about it, having grown up as a member of the Church. Then one day, I read the story of what happened when Jesus went across the border into an area which was not historically nor actually at that time a part of the kingdom of Israel. The area in question was around the cities of Tyre and Sidon, on the Mediterranean Sea north of Israel.

Jesus’ reputation as a healer preceded him. A woman from that area came to where he was. She was a Canaanite, one of the traditional enemies of the Israelites. She came to ask him to heal her daughter, who was being tormented by a demon. Today we would say she had a mental illness.

Jesus simply ignored her. He did not even respond negatively. Just silence. As if she didn’t even exist. She was a woman and a foreigner. No concern of his.

His disciples were irritated with her. She kept calling after them, requesting healing for her child. They asked him to send her away. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” was his response.

But she was persistent. She bowed before him and begged, “Lord, help me.”

We often think of Jesus as a kind, patient, polite man, but this time he was just plain rude. “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs!” Pretty clear who was being compared to a dog.

This mother did not let that insult stop her. She was desperate for healing for her child. “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”

This brought an insight to Jesus. Healing could be for those who had faith. It is not limited to any religious or ethnic group. “O, woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” The child was healed and Jesus learned an important lesson about God’s mercy and his mission. No one is to be excluded who comes in faith. (Mt 15:21-28)

This was not actually a new idea in Judaism. Isaiah spoke of a similar idea to the folks who had returned from exile in Babylon. Their temple had been rebuilt and now it was possible to offer sacrifice there again. But what about all the time away and the time before the temple was rebuilt? How had it been possible to keep the sabbath holy and to maintain the covenant with the Lord if temple sacrifice could not be offered?

The Lord, through his prophet, told them to take notice of what is right and just. Watch and see how the Lord’s justice is revealed. It is revealed as foreigners join themselves to the Lord and become his servants. All who keep the sabbath and hold on to the covenant will be welcomed to the holy mountain of the Lord. Their sacrifices offered on the altar will be as valid as those of the original community. The Lord’s house is “a house of prayer for all peoples.” No one will be excluded from his mercy. (Is 56:1, 6-7)

St. Paul expresses the community’s understanding of the Lord’s call in his letter to the Romans. He speaks of himself as “the apostle to the Gentiles.” He has been sent to spread the message of God’s love and mercy beyond the Jewish community into the entire world. If the people of Israel had welcomed Jesus with open arms and become his followers, it’s quite possible that the faith would not have expanded out to include everyone. Paul says that in their refusal to believe, their disobedience, his own people had made it possible for Gentiles, all the other peoples of the world, to receive the Lord’s mercy and love. No one is to be excluded. (Rom 11:13-15, 29-32)

As our communities divide into camps with opposing ideas these days, I believe we are again called to ask ourselves if we are truly willing to accept each other and wish each other well. Are we sisters and brothers in the Lord? Are we sisters and brothers, children of one creator. Are we equally loved and forgiven for our small mindedness and smug self-confidence. Too often we say, “I know what is right and you are totally wrong!”

In religious circles, it is especially important to be patient and loving with each other. We may not agree on all topics. Some will be more open to changes in social standards and structures than others. Some may interpret Scripture more literally than others. Some will distrust the findings of social or physical sciences. However, all are children of the same Father, who calls all to mercy and mutual forgiveness.

How do we keep from being a community that turns in on itself when confronted with others who have different experiences of God’s presence and love? How do we remain open and welcoming? Is it by condemning those whose ways are different from ours? Or by setting up rules and regulations to restrict access to the Eucharist and sacraments? Or do we recognize that God is bigger than all of our rules and categories. God loves all of creation and especially all people. He did, after all, according to our very ancient tradition, create us in his own image and likeness,. If that is truly the case, then we are called, like Jesus himself, to be open to those whose ways are different from our own. We are called to offer healing and reconciliation in and between communities. We are called to let the power and unrestricted love of our Father flow out through us to heal those who are suffering, physically, socially, mentally, spiritually.

God’s mercy excludes no one. So we must not exclude others either. Instead, we come together in prayer and Eucharistic thanksgiving to remember and be nourished. Then we go forth into our world and share the graces and blessings received as we allow the love of God to flow out in healing mercy through us.

This week, let’s focus on seeing the goodness and mercy of God in our families, our neighbors, our communities, and our world. All are welcomed in the Kingdom of God and all receive the merciful love of our Father.

Readings for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

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Posted by on Jul 30, 2023

Wisdom – Thinking with the Heart

Wisdom – Thinking with the Heart

“Use your head!” “Don’t be a fool!” “Don’t waste what you’ve got, use it carefully!” “They wouldn’t be in this position if they’d just been more sensible!”

How many times have we all heard these kinds of statements, sometimes addressed directly to us? It’s a common understanding in Western culture that decision making is best done with the mind, a.k.a. the head. We think of the heart as the center of emotions, and emotions are not regarded as the best sources of good decisions.

In ancient Israel, the heart was seen as both the center for emotions and the center for decision-making. When the Lord came to King Solomon in a dream at night and asked what gift Solomon would like to receive, Solomon gave an unusual answer. He had become king at a young age and had to defeat many enemies, including one of his brothers, to establish control over the kingdom. Once that was settled, still a young man, he began to build his own palace and a Temple for worship of the Lord. Up to that point, the tablets of the Law had been kept in the Ark of the Covenant. Now it was time for a permanent home for them and a center for worship and sacrificial offerings.

Solomon recognized his inexperience and the challenges ahead of him in governing a large group of people. So, he asked for “an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.” (1 Kings 3:5, 7-12)

This pleased the Lord, who had expected a request for the usual kinds of things people wanted – long life, riches, conquest of enemies and so forth. But Solomon had asked for an understanding heart. The Lord’s response was heartfelt: “I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now…”

Solomon is known to this day as Solomon the Wise. His reputation for wisdom spread throughout the ancient world and people traveled long distances to meet with him. As long as his decisions were based on the wisdom that came from thinking and listening with his heart, they bore good fruit. Later in life, when he forgot some of his earlier experience with the Lord and good decision-making, things didn’t always go so well. But the reputation from his earlier years remains. Solomon the Wise.

St. Paul spoke of something similar in his letter to the Romans. (Rom 8: 28-30) “All things work for good for those who love God.” Paul used a term in his letter that is often misunderstood today. Predestined.

We tend to think the word predestined means that everything is set up firmly and unchangeably ahead of time. Nothing anyone can do will change it. Some will succeed. Some will fail. It’s like a sports activity in which the winner is determined before the match begins and the competitor who may be better will deliberately compete more poorly, to meet the predetermined setup. On the big picture, spiritual side of things, some will go to a heavenly reward and some will go to eternal damnation. This can lead to a belief that we can tell who is going to be rewarded in heaven by how monetarily successful they are here on earth! Entire cultural systems have been set up based on this premise. We do our best and if we are pleasing to God, we will prosper. If we aren’t pleasing, then nothing we can do will help and no matter how hard we are working, we will be eternally punished.

What a terrible way to go through life! Who would want a God who would treat people that way? And yet, if that’s all we’ve ever heard, that’s likely to underlie much of our understanding of life.

Fortunately for all of us, predestined in the sense used by Paul doesn’t mean the same as what we expect. Predestined in this context means that God has decided to call us and help us become like Christ, ready to be in a positive, loving relationship with God both now and into eternity. Paul assures us all that God has chosen us from all eternity to become like his Son, the one firstborn of the many humans who will join together as sisters and brothers in the family of God. This is something worth celebrating and allowing to be a foundation of our lives.

So, what is this family of God, the Kingdom of God to be like? Jesus spent a lot of time trying to explain what the kingdom is. (Mt 13:44-52) “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field.” The kingdom of heaven is like “a pearl of great price.” Those who find the treasure or the pearl put it back where they found it in Jesus’ parables. Then they go and sell everything they have in order to buy the field (and the treasure) or the pearl. They don’t set up a spreadsheet and compare their assets and liabilities and determine whether this new asset will be more beneficial than sticking with their existing plans. No, they simply drop everything and choose the greater prize, the one they have marvelously come upon.

Jesus tells stories of wheat growing alongside weeds and fish, good and bad, swimming in the sea. Life is not set up with only good things happening to the good people and bad things happening to the bad people. There’s a share of good and bad for all. The trick is, how do we respond? And how do we respond to others whose situation may be more difficult than the one in which we find ourselves? Do we use our heads and try to protect what we already have at all cost? Or do we sometimes go out on a limb and saw madly behind us, hoping to help someone who is struggling or in need of a hand?

Wisdom is thinking with our hearts. As our hearts are soft, or softened, they become more pliable, more ready to love as our Lord has loved.

As we move through this week, let’s pray that areas of our hearts that are hardened will be softened, so that we can hear and think with the freedom and abundance of our God.

Readings for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

 

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Posted by on Jul 23, 2023

To Weed or Not to Weed

To Weed or Not to Weed

When I was a girl, we had a big vegetable garden. The largest crop by far was the green beans. We all liked to eat them and we were a good-size family. Mom liked one particular variety of bush beans. She didn’t like pole beans, so we never grew them. The challenge with growing the beans was that there was a fungus in the soil that killed the beans if it got on the leaves. So, every year, when the soil was ready, we planted the seeds and watched the beans grow. As the beans sprouted, so did the weeds. Every year, just the same. As the bushes grew bigger and the beans began to grow, the weeds kept pace with them. That part of the garden looked a fright! But we never pulled the weeds as the beans were growing.

When the beans got big enough to harvest, we picked the first batch. It filled several washtubs and we all sat around the tubs of them on hot summer afternoons, cutting them to put into the jars for canning. We would eat those beans for the entire next year. A week or so later, a second picking would be ready and we again filled the washtubs with them for canning.  The difference was that after the second picking, we pulled out both the weeds and the bean bushes. There would not be another picking. By that time of the summer, the bushes were becoming infected and were going to die anyway.

I thought of this when I read the story Jesus told about the farmer who planted good wheat seed in his field and went home to a well-deserved rest. During the night, an enemy came and scattered weed seed in the field too. The scenario was not seen as outrageously improbable to Jesus’ audience. Family feuds were a part of life and such things would and could happen. With a grain crop, it can take a while before it becomes obvious that not everything growing in the field is the grain that was planted. An enemy who can ruin the crop would dishonor the farmer in the eyes of his peers. “How could he have planted weeds along with his wheat? Didn’t he know better? He must not be as good as we thought he was!”

When the treachery was discovered, the stalks of wheat and the stalks of the weeds were completely intermixed. The farmer would have had every right to take action against his enemy and the family of his enemy. At the very least, those who worked his fields expected that he would want them to pull the weeds out, so no one would see that they were growing among the good plants.

But the farmer took a different approach. Like Mom with the beans, he let the weeds continue to grow. Pulling them would have damaged the crop, because the stalks of the wheat would be trampled in the process of getting all the weeds out. Instead, he waited until the grain was ripe. Then the weeds could be pulled and destroyed. The wheat could be gathered and stored in the barn for use during the year.

Jesus explained to his disciples later that he himself, the Son of Man, was the farmer. The field is the world and the good seed represents the children of the kingdom. Those children of the kingdom can be led astray by others who are not of the kingdom, who deceive them and lead them to do evil. At the end of time, the children of the kingdom who have remained faithful “will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The others will be like the weeds, destroyed as worthless instruments of hatred as were the weed seeds sowed by the farmer’s enemy.

This can be a rather frightening teaching. Would God really judge people so harshly and condemn the wrongdoer? What hope is there for any of us if that’s the way it is?

We get a hint of the answer in the book of Wisdom. This book was written sometime during the last hundred years before Christ. The author was probably Jewish, but Greek-speaking and possibly from Alexandria, Egypt. Alexandria was a great center of power and learning in the ancient world.

The author points out that God does not have to justify to anyone else actions He takes, because there are no other, or superior, gods. God’s own power is the source of justice. But that justice is not harsh. God’s mastery over everything leads to lenience to all. God teaches His people through mercy that they are to be kind and merciful themselves. “You taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind…”

Those who choose to turn away from God and refuse to turn back and accept forgiveness, will remain separated, because God has given freedom to each person to choose how to respond. But God is merciful, and at the slightest turn toward the good, God will be waiting with open arms to welcome the one returning.

God is willing to wait, like the farmer with a field full of weeds, until each person, aided by the Spirit, turns to the Father of all, becoming part of the good harvest.

There’s a lesson for each of us here as well. When we are hurt or disappointed or embarrassed by someone else, we too have to decide whether to pull the weeds or patiently wait and hope that the situation will improve with time. Sometimes, things get better on their own. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes, for our own safety, we have to pull the weeds – moving out of dangerous relationships or situations. But other times, we simply need to wait for someone to grow up or to realize that a change is needed. At that point, it’s better not to pull the weed and cut off the possibility of reconciliation.

Let’s pray this week for wisdom to know when to weed and when to wait as we deal with the good times and the challenging times of our lives.

Readings for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

 

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Posted by on Jul 16, 2023

Rain, Seed, Harvest – the Word of God

Rain, Seed, Harvest – the Word of God

“My word shall not return to me void.”

One of the great mysteries of life is the way everything grows from a tiny beginning. Even single cell creatures must start somehow. Division of a single cell into two is a common mode of birth for such beings. But they are not fully grown at the time they pop into being. Both the old and new cells are smaller than the original one had become at the time of the division.

For larger creatures, dividing and forming an exact copy of an older one is not an option. The pattern we see is of a very small cell with genetic material that somehow guides it as it grows and changes into increasingly more complex states. Eventually, the organism gets large enough and developed enough to survive on its own and even reproduce.

The prophet Isaiah reminds the people of his time (and all of us) that the rain and snow which fall on the earth are essential for the growth of the plants on which we all depend. They come from the heavens and return only after fulfilling their role on earth. The Lord, through his prophet, says that his word is the same in this regard. The Lord’s word goes forth from heaven and does not return until its purpose has been attained.

Jesus speaks of this same reality and the conditions that affect the way the process unfolds. “A sower went out to sow.” Those who are not close to the land may never have experienced the scenario Jesus presents. Seeds are very small. Traditionally, they were scattered by hand out onto the fields. Later, machines were invented to throw the seeds out in a pattern onto the fields. Today, there are even more precise machines that poke the seeds into the soil one-by-one and add a bit of fertilizer to help the seed grow. There is much more accuracy to today’s planting methods, and presumably, better yields at harvest time. The newer method also allows farmers to care for the soil more effectively, not having to plow under the remaining short stalks and roots of the prior year’s crop and risk having the soil blown away in a windstorm or washed away in the rain.

But when Jesus was speaking, and even today for farmers around the world, seeds were tossed out across the land by the farmers. Fields are not typically surrounded by solid walls. They are bordered by roads or paths. The soil on the path or road is hard. Seeds may sprout, but only with difficulty. Lots of them become food for the birds or other small animals. Then there are the areas where there are lots of rocks. Not a lot of soil to cuddle around the roots of the plants there either. Again, they don’t survive in large numbers. They are easy to pull and dry out quickly. And then the thorns. Have you ever tried to grow a lawn or garden beside a berry patch? The berry plants send out roots far into the area around them. Anything growing inside the berry patch is not going to produce well. The berries pull the nutrients for their own fruit. It’s a continual battle to beat back the berries and let the grass grow. The same goes for wheat and other grain crops growing beside thorny plants.

Fortunately, there are large expanses of land which are not filled with rocks or thorns onto which the seeds also can fall. In a good year, with adequate rain and dry weather as the grain matures and harvest time nears, a good crop will be harvested.

I grew up in a family in which some members were and still are farmers. In Eastern Washington, farmers often grow winter wheat. It is planted in the fall and sprouts before everything gets too cold. Then the snow comes and covers the land. Growth stops, but the plants are protected from the extreme cold that would kill them if they weren’t small and insulated. As the snow melts, the ground is watered and growth resumes. By June, the crop is growing beautifully, forming heads of seeds for the next season. The plants don’t know it, but they are also growing to be food for humans and animals. As the season moves on to August, we all hold our breath. Will the weather hold until the grain can be harvested? Will the storms that inevitably come through go around the family farms?

Lives can be and have been changed dramatically by the luck of the weather. Two harvests-hailed-out in a row sent my grandparents from Montana to Spokane, Washington, where Grandpa worked as a brake mechanic for the city bus lines for the rest of his career. Other relatives had better luck. The harvests were good enough to keep going another year. It’s not surprising that farmers take pictures of their fields as the grain is growing. It’s so beautiful. And then they take pictures of the harvest too!

For Jesus, there was a lesson to be learned from the sowing and harvesting. The word comes forth from the Father. It lands in different ways among the people who hear it. Some simply don’t understand what they are hearing and are easily convinced that it means nothing for them. Some receive it happily, but when opposition arises, they don’t hold on to it. Some hear it and want to grow, but they get worried about the future and how they’ll get along, and they can’t keep going. But there are some who hear the word and it takes deep root within them. These are the ones whose faith sustains them, allows them to share with others, and carries the Father’s word forward in the world. The community grows as the word is shared and lived.

Sometimes we can get to thinking in very abstract ways about questions of faith. How does God do this or that? Who or what is God? Why does God let bad things happen? Why can’t God do bad things? Or can he? Many, many questions and concerns. But the very basic reality is that God is both practical and optimistic. God sends out a word to bring forth all of creation. God’s word is like a tiny seed, that grows and bears fruit, including seeds to continue the cycle. Each time, more are created.

St. Paul tells us that creation itself is waiting, groaning in labor pains, for the triumph of the harvest of the freedom of the children of God. The word of the sower grows in all of creation and in human society, as we learn to care for each other and this home we have in common, our Earth. When we accept the love and forgiveness of God, and become God’s children, the word is fulfilled and returns to the Father.

As we move through this coming week, may we be alert to the ways in which the word has been sown in our lives. Are we open to growing in love? Are we sharing a smile? Are we patiently helping a family member or friend who simply needs a hand now and again? Where are the seeds sown in our lives taking us? Are we ready and willing to go?

Readings for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

 

Many thanks for this photo to my “cousin” Scott whose uncle and my aunt were married. Scott took this photo of one of his fields a few years ago.

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Posted by on Jul 9, 2023

Easy Yokes and Light Burdens

Easy Yokes and Light Burdens

What do you expect of a ruler? Someone strong and decisive? Someone confident and willing to make decisions? Or someone who asks questions and listens carefully to the answers that come even from the lowest social and economic tier of workers?

Zechariah speaks in prophetic form of the ruler who will come to Jerusalem. “Thus says the Lord …” lets all know that these are not the thoughts or dreams of the one who speaks. They are words received in prophecy, oracles that shed light on the thoughts and plans of the divine.

And what does the oracle foretell? “Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!” Why should Zion shout for joy? Because a king is coming who will not be a warrior. A ruler who is just and humble, so humble, in fact, that he will ride a young donkey into town. Kings typically arrived with a great retinue of folks – trumpeters, chariots, archers, foot soldiers, and finally, the carriage in which the ruler rode. Servants and courtiers also traveled with the ruler, to make a luxurious camp or set up housekeeping in the home of a local noble. Rulers didn’t ride donkeys, especially not very young donkeys. They rode majestic horses or in fabulous chariots or carriages.

But this ruler foreseen by Zecharia is to come proclaiming peace to the nations. This one will rule over all the land, not just the land of Israel. All the ends of the earth. When Jesus chose to enter the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey, he was absolutely aware of this oracle and what it would mean to the people of his community. This was a claim to being the one who was to come, the king who would rule the entire world. The people who witnessed his arrival understood clearly what he was saying. So did the rulers of Jerusalem.

What kind of ruler would he be and who would recognize and accept him? Jesus had thought about who would be open to recognizing this long-awaited king. It would not be the wise and learned, the teachers and priests of the temple or the most educated people in each little town. It would be the ordinary folks, the “little ones” who must depend totally on God’s care and help to get by in their lives. These would recognize the Father’s presence in the Son’s love and teaching.

What kind of ruler? That’s the big question. Would this one who knows the Father personally throw his weight around and demand great works of daring and costly sacrifice to elevate his stature?

Jesus answers clearly. “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” I’m not going to demand that you keep working so hard before I love you. I don’t expect you to give me rich gifts and build up my ego. “I will give you rest.” I am humble and will serve gently those who come to me. “My yoke is easy, and my burden light.” I don’t ask for costly sacrifices, or long, unhappy, pressured hours of work. I will be there helping to make our time together pleasant and to share the carrying of life’s burdens.

As we move through this coming week, let us remember and rejoice with Daughter Zion that the Lord has come. The yoke of servitude has been replaced with a shared journey through life. No one is alone. The Lord is always with us, our partner in the yoke, helping us handle the challenges life throws our way and reminding us to reach out to each other in love and trust, so no one is left with an unbearable burden.

“My yoke is easy and my burden light.”

Readings for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

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Posted by on Jun 18, 2023

Without Cost You Have Received

Without Cost You Have Received

“Money can’t buy love.” God’s interaction with humanity might be summed up in this simple phrase.  It seems self-evident and we assume our interactions with family, friends, and strangers will start with this premise. However, all too often we forget. We start worrying if the person we are will be attractive enough, if the clothes we wear are of the “right” style, if the things we like to do are “cool” enough, if our economic or social situation will work against us. So many things to burden our hearts and minds.

For better or for worse, God doesn’t work that way. God met Moses on the mountain and reminded him of the way He had treated the Egyptians when He led the Israelites out of slavery. The Lord promises to love and care for this specific people above all others. In return, the Lord asks only that they live in covenant with Him. (Ex 19:2-6a)

Jesus too, in looking around at the people among whom he was living, teaching, and ministering, took pity on them because “they were troubled and abandoned,” like sheep without a shepherd. He envisioned an abundant harvest of hearts waiting for love, but not enough people willing to reach out and work in the harvest. He sent his followers to proclaim the coming of the kingdom by healing the sick, driving out demons, raising the dead. All this was and is to be done without charge, because all has been freely given to them. (Mt 9:36-10:8)

Jesus himself gave everything, including his life, as a free gift of reconciliation between humanity and the Father. The shepherd laid down his life for the sheep. It cost the sheep nothing. (Rom 5:6-11)

Today we too are called to love freely and share love with all we meet. We don’t typically cure illnesses or raise the dead to life again literally. However, a smile, a kind word, a patient willingness to wait our turn in line even when someone else is moving slowly ahead of us, all are gifts of healing we can bring.

The other day, an older man at the grocery store was trying to complete a purchase. At first, he couldn’t find his wallet, so he walked away from the checkout stand. The checker knew him and simply put the goods aside, ready to start on my purchases. Then the man called out the checker’s name and returned in great joy. He had found the wallet, in a different pocket than where he usually kept it. I told the checker I would wait for the man to complete his purchase. It should have been very simple, but it wasn’t. When the final total was reached, the man tried to use his debit card to make the payment. He tried two different PINs, neither of which worked. He didn’t want to try too many times and lock the card, but decided to try one more time. Very carefully, he entered the number, and it worked! He was amazed and delighted. I smiled at him and said simply. “See, third time was a charm,” echoing what he had said just before trying the third PIN. He had been feeling upset and ashamed that it had taken so long to do a simple task, but now his spirits were lifted and his embarrassment ended. As he picked up his purchase to leave, he tipped his hat and bowed to me, with a happy smile. I responded in kind and he went on his way, with a spring in his step. For a short while anyway, something within him was healed.

We are all called to serve our world, our sisters and brothers, in simple, everyday, ordinary ways. When we do, the Kingdom of God is here. We have received without cost. Now we give freely of what we have received.

Readings for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

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Posted by on May 21, 2023

Transition Times – Ascension

Transition Times – Ascension

A consistent rule in life and time is the reality that things change. Transitions invariably occur. People are born. People grow up. People die. Even mountains, valleys, continents, planets, and solar systems change over time.

As humans, we typically use words to describe the variety of stages in which each part of creation is found at any given moment. The development of awareness of self and other is a huge part of growth for infants. When the first smiles come, when the first smile at the baby in the mirror appears, when awareness of strangers pops up, when the first “Mama” or “Dada” is voiced – all are moments of joy for parents and family to witness. Each milestone is a transition on the way to full sharing in the human experience. Each of us has passed through these transitions and more. We rejoice in witnessing and celebrating them.

For Jesus and the disciples, transitions were also characteristic events in life. Jesus went a step farther in the transitions of his life. He rose from death to new life. And he came back to bring the news to his friends… Death is not the end of life. Death is a transition. The Son has returned to the Father. His sisters and brothers will share in this transition too, returning to the Father.

But did the story end there? The Savior has come, died, risen, and appears among us once in a while and that is the end of the story? No, not by a long shot. God had other plans.

Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection were just the beginning. Now it was time to share this Good News of reconciliation between humanity and Creator. Time to let even more people know how loved they are and how gifted they are to share in God’s life (a.k.a. grace). God had not yet finished the project. And God needed/wanted more folks to share in it.

This is what we celebrate with the Feast of the Ascension. Jesus has come, shared the Good News with his friends, died, and risen. He has met with them again and explained more of what has happened. They are beginning to get a sense of the wonder and reality of it. But they are still afraid to say much about it. Who would ever believe it? They know what happens to prophets.

Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus met his friends again on a mountain top – the traditional place of encounter with God. He told them to remain in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Spirit who would come from the Father. They would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. (To be baptized means to be plunged into something and emerge transformed.) Through this baptism, they would receive power to become witnesses, first in Jerusalem, then branching out to Judea and Samaria and ultimately “to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:1-11)

A transition. No longer silent, fearful witnesses. Now they are to become bold witnesses, filled with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation who know God personally. The eyes of their hearts will be enlightened and hope based on being part of those called to new life will fill their lives. They will share what they have seen. (Eph 1:17-23)

But on this day, Jesus had been taken from their sight. Two men dressed in white appeared and reassured them that he would return in the same way one day. That’s all they knew.

They returned to Jerusalem as instructed, to wait for his return. Down through the centuries even to our days, Jesus has not yet returned in glory on the clouds in judgement over all the earth. (God’s time is very different than human time.)  Nevertheless, in Jerusalem those many years ago, something very important was about to happen. The Holy Spirit was coming. It was time to wait and pray. Whenever the Spirit comes upon humans, amazing things happen. But the disciples didn’t know that yet.

This week we wait with them. We pray for the coming of the Spirit in our lives and times as well.

Sometimes folks have been told that the Spirit doesn’t come upon people today in the same way. “Don’t expect anything special to happen in your life with God today.” But that is not actually true. The Spirit is still active. The Spirit still guides the Church, the People of God. The Spirit still is teaching us better ways to love and serve each other as faithful children of God, sisters and brothers of the Lord. Keep your eyes, ears, and heart open. Transition times are here once more. Wondrous things are afoot!

Readings for The Ascension of the Lord – Cycle A

Image is from the Rabbula Gospels, a Syriac manuscript completed in 586 at Monastery of St. John of Zagba.

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Posted by on Apr 23, 2023

Walking Together on the Road to Emmaus

Walking Together on the Road to Emmaus

The morning after… Most of our lives are passed with relatively few surprises or major transitions happening on any given day. Each day follows the one before it in a predictable way and we don’t spend a lot of time going over it in our minds or talking about it with family and friends. But once in a while, something major happens. There is a transition and nothing is the same. It is the morning after and everything is different.

In Anthropology, we speak of these times as liminal times, from the Latin word for threshold. The term comes from the experience we commonly have of passing through a doorway, over a threshold between two different places. On one side of the door, for example, we experience the warmth of the kitchen and home. On the other side, we are in the stormy weather of winter. Passing through the door is a liminal experience of a very ordinary sort.

Rites of passage, in which an individual moves from one social status (child) to another (adult) for example, were some of the first transitions identified and studied as liminal experiences. They may take place over a period of days. Once the ritual begins, the persons who are transitioning are neither who they were originally, nor who they will be at the end. They are inside the threshold.

Many kinds of transitions today are recognized as liminal, including times of political and social transitions. The days and weeks following the birth of a child or the death of a family member or friend are examples of liminal times. Nothing is quite the same as it was before. Everything gets experienced in a new way and everyday ordinary things no longer feel quite the same.

The time between Jesus’ death and Pentecost were in many ways a time of liminality for his friends as well. Their friend/teacher/master had been executed. They had hoped he was the one who would bring freedom from domination by a foreign power and new hope for the nation. But he had been executed and buried. Now some women were saying he was alive again! How foolish could a person be! They must be hysterical. But still, a few of the men had gone to the tomb to check out the women’s story and they didn’t find his body there either. They didn’t see him, though a woman said she had seen him in the garden. What were they to believe? It couldn’t possibly be true. Best just go home and face the music from family and friends who had said all along that they were fools to go tramping around the country following a “prophet.”

As they walked along, talking about all of this, a stranger joined them. He asked what they were discussing. When they told him, the stranger began to explain the events from the perspective of their own religious history and traditions. So many things began to make sense.

It was getting late and time to stop for the night. The stranger agreed to stop too and they ordered dinner. When the food arrived, the stranger offered the blessing, but in a way that opened their eyes. He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, just as Jesus had done at the Last Supper. In that instant they knew who he was and he vanished from their sight. They recognized him in the breaking of the bread.

They didn’t waste any time. They got up and returned to Jerusalem to tell the others. Upon their arrival, they were greeted with “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon.” (Lk 24:13-35)

Fifty days after the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit blew into town, igniting a whole new time in their lives and the world. No longer frightened and hiding away from the authorities, they went out into the world and spoke boldly of what they had seen of God’s actions through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. They proclaimed their belief that God had raised Jesus to life again and poured the Holy Spirit forth into his followers and the world. It was a new day, a new world, a new reality for all. (Acts 2:14,22-33)

Did the period of liminality end then? In one respect, yes. The initial phase of it did anyway. The disciples headed out into the world, telling everyone what they had seen and learned of God’s love for humanity. There were many controversies along the way. Much to learn and sort out about living this new way as a community of faith.

We have letters from some of the original leaders and teachers that give us a peek at what was going on in those early days. Some were written by the individuals whose name is on the letter. Others were written by people who learned from the one to whom the letter is attributed. The letters continually remind the community of the great love of God in sending Jesus, like a spotless lamb, to restore the relationship between humanity and the creator.

For a pastoral people whose history included centuries of offering lambs in sacrifice to God and whose very survival and exodus from Egypt involved the sacrifice of a lamb and the placing of its blood on the door frame, the image of Jesus as a lamb offered in sacrifice to restore the relationship with God made perfect sense. We see it again and again in the letters. Peter reminds us all that we are to behave with reverence while we live, remembering that we have been saved from the old behavioral traps and set free to love because of the sacrifice of “the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb.” (1 Pet 1:17-21)

Nevertheless, the time of liminality is not yet over and done. The final days have not yet arrived. The community of followers of Jesus continues to share the good news with those among whom they live. Controversies continue to arise. We need to be reminded to speak the truth we hear boldly, and to listen equally deeply to others as they speak of what they have known and experienced. We live and learn. We share our hopes and dreams. We listen to the hopes and dreams of our sisters and brothers around the world. We ask the Holy Spirit to move among us today and in the days to come as well, that we too be energized and empowered to speak of God’s great love to all those we meet and to share it in concrete ways of service.

As we move through our days, we find ourselves meeting the Lord in unexpected times and places. He is present in the stranger who is kind to us when we are in a new town, or the friend who calls with a word of encouragement when times are hard, or the child who smiles at us while we wait in line at the grocery store. He is also in the un-housed person begging for spare change whom we pass on the street or the clerk at the local store who works the late shift and hopes the children at home are all right. We all walk on the road to Emmaus each day. When and where will we meet the Lord? When and how will we share the Lord’s love with our sisters and brothers?

“Were our hearts not burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” May these be our words too, as we watch for and listen to the Lord whom we meet in our daily travels along the way of life.

Readings for the Third Sunday of Easter

 

 

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Posted by on Mar 19, 2023

Not as Humans See

Not as Humans See

Sight is an amazing gift. A new baby’s eyes open and immediately floods of new sensations pour into existence for the child. It would all be overwhelmingly overpowering if the baby could see everything going on around it. Fortunately, at first babies don’t see things far away clearly.

The face of mother or father are among the first to be seen – that’s a good distance for starters. Baby studies them carefully and begins to associate experiences with what is being perceived visually. Gradually, the distance increases and more wonders come into view. Experiences begin to be associated with what the eyes are reporting.

Baby reflects:
I cry and the tall folks around me pick me up and give me something to eat! I’m sitting in my car seat and I’m feeling pretty peaceful, but there’s one of those tall beings who pick me up when I cry. Oh boy, I’ll just cry and get picked up! No? Well then, I’ll complain some more. Oh. Now I can’t see them. Oh well, I guess I’ll just sit here quietly and see what comes next…

For the man born blind, the story of whose encounter with Jesus we hear in John’s Gospel, these experiences didn’t happen. He had to figure out the world in different ways. With much help from family and friends, he grew up, but the only way he had to support himself as an adult was to beg for alms from passers-by. A far cry from the experience of those who are blind in developed societies. (Jn 9:1-41)

In Jesus’ time, people believed that the light residing within people was what made it possible for them to see. If a person was born unable to see, there must not be any light within them. If there’s no light, then it’s only reasonable to assume that only darkness is there. Darkness is the realm of evil, so someone must have sinned in order for the child to be filled with darkness. For this reason, people asked Jesus, who had been the sinner whose actions resulted in the birth of a blind child: the parents or the child before birth? Jesus responded firmly, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.”

Jesus didn’t wait around to see what would happen to the man as life continued. He acted. “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Then he spat on the clay ground and made some mud, which he smeared on the man’s eyes. He then told the man to go to a pool called Siloam (Sent) and wash off the mud. This pool was known to be a place where people were sometimes healed, so the man went. He washed off the mud and he gained the gift of sight, not the gradually expanding sight of an infant, but the sight of a person who could function in society.

The rest of the story tells of the consequences of this new experience in the man’s life. People were astonished. He was led to testify before the religious authorities about what had happened. (It was on a Sabbath that Jesus acted – how could he be from God if he broke the Sabbath by working?) Who was this Jesus after all? What did the man think of him? The man didn’t change his evaluation of the experience: the man who healed me must be from God because he “opened my eyes.”

Jesus went to find the man after he had been tossed out of his religious community by the authorities. He asked the man if he believed in the Son of Man, a title for the savior who was to come from God. The man became a follower of Jesus when he learned that Jesus was the one who had transformed his life.

This theme of sight and of light runs through the readings from the book of Samuel (16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a) and the letter to the Ephesians (5:8-14) as well.

When the Hebrew people decided they needed to have a king rather than be led by strong, wise men and women in times of danger or attack. God acquiesced to their request and Saul was anointed king. However, Saul didn’t turn out to be entirely faithful to God’s instructional leadership. God had someone else in mind to be the next king. The challenge was that kingship so commonly passes from father to son. Saul’s sons were not the ones God had in mind either!

The Lord sent the prophet Samuel to the village of Bethlehem, to a man named Jesse. One of Jesse’s sons would be the one he should anoint the one to be the next king. Jesse had eight sons. Any one of them might be the one, so one by one they were presented to Samuel. Each time Samuel thought, surely this would be the one. But none of the seven older sons was the one. Finally, they called David in from tending the sheep. David was still quite young. No one would have expected him to be the choice, yet this young man was the one chosen. Samuel anointed him in the presence of his family and the elders of the community. The spirit of the Lord, the holy breath of God, rushed upon him and remained with him.

As the Lord told Samuel, “Not as man (humankind) sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.”

As members of the Followers of the Way, the early Christians in Ephesus were learning new ways to live. Many things that were acceptable behavior in their society were not “pleasing to the Lord.” Paul encouraged them: “You were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light…” He advised them to act always with the assumption that what they were doing must be worthy of being seen – done in the light. Everything done in the light can be seen and everything that can be seen is light. He concludes, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

Light and sight are the keys. God sees in different ways than we do. Our human vision and understanding can go only just so far. Like the new baby, as we grow, we see more deeply and more clearly. As we grow in the experience of God’s love and life, our ability increases to perceive how far and deeply love extends and actually forms the substance of all life.

As we continue the journey to Holy Week and Easter, let’s ask the Lord to open our eyes too. To help us to see the face of Love all around us – in the people, the plants and animals, the environment, and the universe. To help us to value the unseen goodness of all of creation and treat it with reverence. To trust that all will be well, as long as we keep our eyes open in trust to the Lord, our God. And finally, to let that light be reflected into the world around us, letting the Light of Christ pour through us into our world.

Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Lent – Cycle A

Open My Eyes – Jesse Manibusan

 Liturgy – Resurrection Catholic Community

 

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Posted by on Mar 5, 2023

Light Shining Forth

Light Shining Forth

Abram was a shepherd, from Ur of the Chaldees (in contemporary Iraq). Jesus was a carpenter from Nazareth in the Galilee. Paul was a tent maker from Tarsus, a city in Cilicia to the north of Syria who had become a student and teacher of the Law in Jerusalem. Each heard God’s call and responded in faith.

Abram had already left his homeland with his flocks and family and was living in Haran, an area that is now part of Türkiye. He heard the Lord’s call to move south to Shechem in the land of Canaan. (Gn 12:1-4a) This was a big deal. Gods were believed to be local to a geographic area. Yet his God was telling him to go to a new area, where the people worshiped other gods. God promised that a great nation would grow from this man who had no children at the time. Abram took God at his word and moved his family south. Much to his relief, I imagine, God was present in the new land too.

Just as God had promised, Abram became the father of not one but two great peoples, the Arabs and the Jews. And through his obedience to the call, blessings have come to all the communities of the earth.

Jesus too listened to God’s voice calling him at his baptism in the Jordan River. When he returned from his forty-day retreat in the desert, he began proclaiming the good news that the kingdom of God was at hand. The time had come in which the people’s relationship with God would be mended. The signs of this new kingdom would include the poor hearing good news, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, those who were crippled being healed. It was a different kind of kingdom than the one expected by his contemporaries. But many people followed him. It wasn’t every day that one could see a healer at work or hear new teachings.

Jesus had some very close friends with whom he shared the last three years of his life. He took three of them up on a mountain one day. (Mt 17:1-9) Mountains in Scripture are often places where God meets people. This was no exception. On this day, both Moses (representing the Law) and Elijah (representing the Prophets) appeared and spoke with Jesus about what was coming. His friends were astounded. Jesus’ face was shining like the sun and his clothing was blazing white. They rightly understood that God was present in that moment, his light shining through Jesus. Peter suggested that three tents could be set up, so Moses, Elijah, and Jesus would have a comfortable place to stay. Then they heard God’s voice telling them that this was his beloved son, to whom they should listen. This confirmed God’s presence there and they were afraid. They fell to the ground in worship.

The moment passed. Jesus touched them. Instructed them to get up. And as they went back down the mountain, he told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after he had risen from the dead. Of course, they had no idea what that meant, but we’ve all been told about it now – after the Resurrection.

Paul too had an encounter with the Risen Jesus. Another brilliant light experience. He was blinded for a few days afterwards. Then he got busy and devoted the rest of his life to telling what he had learned and experienced of God’s love and presence. He traveled through much of the ancient world between Jerusalem and Greece, all the way to Rome. His letters tell us today what he learned of God’s call and support for each of us in living the new way of love and service. (2 Tim 1:8b-10) He reminds us that God is the one who called us and will support us through any and all hardships that come our way as a result of following Jesus.

When I was in grade school, some of my teachers told us that we shouldn’t expect great or outstanding things to happen to us as followers of Christ. The miracles pretty much had all happened long ago.

For the most part, we do go through our lives with few surprise interventions from the divine world. At least, we don’t notice them most days. The sun rising, the moon and stars at night, the smiles of those we love, the people with whom we interact – all seem very normal. Nothing special there, folks.

Yet I believe we sell ourselves and our lives short when we say it’s all just ordinary. Amazing things still happen. God touches people directly and indirectly even today. We don’t talk about it much, but it happens.

There is a light shining just below the surface of the world around us. We don’t see it most of the time. But there are moments when it breaks through. A child races down the sidewalk to give us a hug. A friend calls just to say hello. The clouds pick up the sun’s rays at just the right moment to paint the sky with shades of rose. A bird greets us when we walk out the door in the morning, then picks up the treat it has just found and hides it in a neighbor’s gutter, planning to come back and enjoy more of it later. (No kidding. I watched a crow do just that a couple of weeks ago!)

Remember the words of the song, “You light up my life…” Remember the times you have seen someone’s face light up with delight. We speak of lighted faces. God is shining through those faces, smiling at each of us. May we each day be open and transparent enough in our interactions with others that God’s smile shines through us as well.

Abram, Jesus, and Paul were not the only ones whom God has called to go forth and bring blessing to the world through our lives. He calls ordinary people in all ages, including each of us too. The light continues to shine forth. Not as brightly as it did through Jesus at the Transfiguration, but enough that it can be noticed as a calming, reassuring, and powerful sign of love.

Here’s to the light!

Readings for the Second Sunday of Lent – Cycle A

 

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Posted by on Feb 12, 2023

Going Deeper with The Law

Going Deeper with The Law

In the Sermon on the Mount in St Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says several times, “You have heard that it was said … But I say to you…” (Mt 5:17-37) Each of the things Jesus says takes the requirement farther than the original teaching from Mosaic Law seemed to go. It’s not enough to refrain from murdering someone, even getting angry and holding on to the anger is too much. It’s not enough not to be unfaithful to a spouse. Even harboring unfaithful thoughts is too much. It’s not enough not to swear a false oath. Don’t swear oaths at all. You really have no way to back it up.

We so often are tempted to split hairs. Well, she didn’t really say I couldn’t stop for ice cream on the way home, she just said to come home! Well, it’s only a little untruthful, what difference will that make? What right does he have to tell me what to do anyway? It won’t hurt anything to do it my way instead! And so we justify what we want to do, regardless of what is asked of us.

But Jesus wants us to look at the underlying meaning of the commandments. How do we live out the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law. It’s in the spirit of the law that we learn the wisdom of God and choose life. He was very clear on this. He didn’t come to overturn the Law. He came to fulfill it.

Does that mean that we have to take everything we hear in scripture at face value, even if our culture is very different from Jesus’ culture? No. But we need to understand what the reasoning was for his teachings. For example, when he speaks of divorce, it is about a different social reality than we know today in our Western culture. In his time and culture, a man could divorce a woman, but a woman could not divorce a man. Beyond that, once a woman was married, she was the responsibility of her husband’s family. Her family was no longer responsible to support her in any way. If her husband divorced her, there was no one to look out for her. She had no income, no home, no support. That’s why Jesus spoke of such women as having to commit adultery. It was the only way a lot of them could survive, but their survival method put them in violation of the letter and spirit of the law.

How about that business of gouging out an eye or cutting off a hand that causes us to sin? Not to be taken literally at all. But we need to act definitively sometimes to cut out the things from our lives that lead us to make the wrong choice or to go down the wrong road. If watching TV in the evening leads me to get angry with the baby who interrupts my watching, it’s not the baby’s fault. I need to cut out the TV watching. If having the computer in my bedroom leads me to watch YouTube rather than do my homework, maybe I need to keep and use the computer only in a public area of my home. If being around people who are smoking or drinking makes me want to do it too, or if I can’t resist their offers to join in, maybe I need to hang out with other people.

Sirach (15:15-20), long ago, presented a series of choices the Lord offers that ring true today. Fire or water? Life or death? Hang on to anger and revenge – you’ve chosen a fire that will eat at you and eventually destroy you. Choose water and you can be washed clean of the anger and other negative emotions – you are choosing life. Wisdom comes as we choose the path of life again and again over time. And sometimes, it comes as a result of having to turn from the wrong choices and the messes that have resulted when we made them. Turning from death to life.

God doesn’t force us to do anything we don’t want to do. That is a key reality of love. Freedom to choose. But God also doesn’t shield us from the consequences of our choices. God is simply there to help us pick up the pieces when we realize our mistake and make better choices the next time around. Then God gives us a big hug to let us know how much we are loved, even when we mess things up royally.

So, as we listen to the readings from Sirach, St. Paul (1 Cor 2:6-10), and the Gospel today, with all of these more demanding instructions, let’s remember that we are called to hear a deeper meaning to the rules. We’re to hear the meaning that seeks to call us to be our best selves and choose the path of life and love rather than sinking more deeply into the morass of anger, selfishness, deceit, and all that goes with them, all the while thinking we are keeping the rules as they are literally formulated. We are called to go deeper.

Readings for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

 

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Posted by on Jan 22, 2023

A Voice Calls to You – Do you hear?

A Voice Calls to You – Do you hear?

Have you ever received a phone call, a text, or a letter inviting you to an event or an activity that you would never have considered attending? It might even be an invitation to something that you didn’t know existed, something so totally out of character for you that you are surprised anyone would ever associate you with that!

My initial reaction in these moments is to decline. “No, I can’t possibly do that.” “I don’t have time.” Usually I don’t say, “Are you crazy? Why would you think I would ever be associated with something like that?” I may be thinking that, but I try to be polite as my mother taught me.

Nevertheless, there have been times when I didn’t say no to the invitation. Invariably, I have learned something important in the process.

I was never into rock and much of the contemporary music of my day as a teen and young adult. As a result, the thought of attending a Grateful Dead concert never entered my mind. Yet as an adult in the late 70s and early 80s, I was working with a group, the Seva Foundation, that was trying to combat preventable blindness in Nepal. (I discovered I was not good at fundraising in the process, but that’s another story.)

One of the folks with whom I was working knew someone from the Grateful Dead and was able to instigate the planning of a benefit concert that included some members of the Dead, along with many other folk and rock artists who were well-known musicians and activists. We were invited to attend as well.

That night, as we stood in line at the will-call ticket booth, a young woman ahead of us, clearly rather “spaced-out,” approached the booth. She went up to the window and warmly greeted Jahanara, who was handing out the tickets. Jahanara smiled and greeted her in return. It was clear the young woman was not there to pick up tickets, but it didn’t matter to Jahanara. There was a warm smile and a wish for a happy evening. Then the young woman walked away peacefully.

I have often reflected on that encounter. I don’t know that I would have had the grace that Jahanara exhibited that night. I might instead have been irritated that the young woman had wasted my time and that of the folks in line. But I think Jahanara’s response was the way Jesus would have responded. I have never forgotten that moment of grace.

Liturgically, we are in a time of hearing about the events in Jesus’ life that led to its climax with his passion, death, and resurrection. We have heard about John the Baptist’s testimony. Today we hear about what happened after John had been arrested by Herod but before his execution. (Mt 4:12-23) Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum and began his journey of preaching: “Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand.”

Capernaum is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It’s a very big lake and many folks made their living as fishermen. As he walked along the lake, he saw Andrew and Simon throwing their nets into the lake. He called to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” That seems a crazy thing to say and they responded in an even crazier way. They left their nets right there and walked on with him. Then they saw two other brothers, James and John, in the boat with their father Zebedee. Jesus called them as well. They left their father and went off with him.

These were absolutely outrageous things to do. Totally irresponsible and unheard of. Yet because they heard the invitation and responded, they became witnesses to the greatest event of salvation history – the reconciliation of humanity with God.

Most of the time our own encounters with strangers don’t seem to have cosmic implications. Most of the people we meet on the street or in the grocery store are pretty ordinary folks, with ordinary lives and hopes. But I think we make a great mistake if we assume that because they seem ordinary, there is nothing special about them. Each of us is here for a reason. We mostly have no clue what that reason is, but God has a reason for each of us to be here. There is someone we are to greet. Someone with whom we are to share a smile. Someone who just needs to be seen by another person and treasured as one of God’s special ones.

When Jesus comes into our lives, it’s not generally going to be with trumpet blasts and fanfare. Very likely it will come in the form of an invitation to do or try something that we would not ordinarily do. Who would ever have thought the I would go to a concert and enjoy the music of the Grateful Dead? But I did and it was a wonderful experience. And in the process, I saw the Lord reaching out in kindness to a young woman who needed to hear a gentle word that night.

Jesus continues to walk among us, mostly unseen. He is present in each one of us and wants us to reach out to each other and to those we meet, sharing the great love the Father has for each of his children. We too are called to leave our ordinary “nets” and follow along with him. He will make us fishers of men, women, and children too.

A voice is calling. Do you hear him?

Readings for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Posted by on Jan 15, 2023

I did not know him …

I did not know him …

John the Baptist spoke these words about Jesus, “I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.”

The context for these words is not crystal clear when we hear them read at Mass. We are used to the stories in the first three Gospels, the Synoptics, that tell of John baptizing Jesus. We also have heard that the mothers of Jesus and John are cousins, so we expect that the boys would have known each other while they were growing up. But these assumptions aren’t necessarily correct. They come from our perspective as people from a culture in which kinship is established through the lines of both our fathers and our mothers. This was not the case in Jesus’ culture. One’s mother had to be Jewish for a child to be born a Jew, but kinship was established through the father’s line. Also, one child grew up near Jerusalem while the other grew up in Nazareth, several days’ journey to the north.

John the Evangelist, in his Gospel, also tells us about Jesus and John the Baptist, but this story has a different focus. (Jn 1:29-34) In the section of the Gospel that comes just before John identifies Jesus to his own disciples as the Lamb of God, John has been speaking with those who came out from Jerusalem to find out what the heck he was doing and to ask who was he to be doing it! That is one of the readings we typically hear in Advent liturgies. As we enter into Ordinary Time (that is to say, Counted Time), we hear the rest of the story.

John breaks his account of Jesus’ life into two books: The Book of Signs and The Book of Glory. Just before the Book of Signs, we find the Prologue, with its famous line, “In the beginning was the Word.” This is a new beginning of the history of the relationship between God and creation.  Just as in Genesis, “In the beginning …” The Prologue summarizes the themes of the entire Gospel and notes that John came ahead to testify to the light so that others might believe when his identity became known.

The Book of Signs presents key events in the life of Jesus that point to his divine origin. Thus, the Book of Signs picks up the story with John’s testimony to those from Jerusalem: “There is one among you whom you do not recognize – the one who is to come after me..” The very next day, as Jesus came towards him, John suddenly exclaimed to those around him: “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! … I did not know him …”

In the Synoptic Gospels, written by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we are told that John baptized Jesus. In Matthew’s account, John demurs, but Jesus insists that they do it that way. Immediately afterwards, the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove and the words, “This is my beloved son” are heard coming from the heavens. John the Evangelist also speaks of this event, but with a different focus and in more detail. In his account, John the Baptist declares a second time, “I did not know him.” It was only when “the one who sent me to baptize with water told me” that the descent of the Spirit like a dove from heaven would be the sign of the chosen Servant or Son of God that he was able to recognize Jesus as the one.

John the Baptist immediately testified to what he had seen, telling his disciples that this man was the one, the long-awaited Lamb of God.

Isaiah also spoke of one or ones who would be Servants (or Sons) of God. (Is 49:3, 5-6) The terms were used interchangeably. These were ones called by God from among the people to be faithful to the covenant and lead their nation back to a right relationship with God as their nation was rebuilt. The rulers were not necessarily going to be the ones who would do it right. Yet God would call people from among the community and through them Jerusalem and her people would become a light to the nations and salvation would reach to the ends of the earth.

Paul too makes it clear in his greeting to the people of Corinth (1 Cor 1:1-3) among whom he had lived for over a year, that all of them, Jews and Gentiles alike, had been called to holiness in Jesus. To them and to us comes his greeting: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Today, I invite you to pray with me for the grace to see God’s servants among those I meet each day. In seeing ordinary folks who are living witnesses to love and grace and forgiveness in their lives, we begin to see the face of the Son of God among us as well. We don’t always recognize him. It’s way too easy to get focused on our tasks and responsibilities, our concerns and our worries. Yet he is there among us, day to day, in the middle of it all. At the grocery store. At school. At the office. Walking along the beach. Playing in a puddle. Helping someone shovel water out of a flooded home.  All the many activities of our lives.

“I did not know him…” With God’s help and prompting, may we say with John, “Now I have seen and testified …” The Son of God is here with us now.

Readings for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

 

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Posted by on Dec 23, 2022

Sometimes things don’t go as expected.

Sometimes things don’t go as expected.

Have you ever had one of those days when you get up in the morning with all sorts of plans and almost immediately they start getting derailed? I think they happen to all of us from time to time. Sometimes the plans can be picked up again the next day. Other times they are simply gone and we have to move on to the next step.

This kind of experience is not unique to people of our time. Ahaz in the eighth century BC was king of Judah. The Assyrians were moving south, conquering any nation that wasn’t willing to be one of their territories. Ahaz had to decide whether to ally his kingdom with that of Israel to the north, which was planning to resist Assyria, or whether to trust God to help and protect his kingdom and its people. The Lord told Ahaz to ask for a sign, anything at all, to indicate that the Lord would be with Judah in the days to come. Ahaz refused to ask for a sign and Isaiah spoke a prophecy of what would be the sign. “The virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.”

Many generations later, a young woman was visited by an angel and agreed to become the mother of a child. The challenge was that she was only engaged, not yet married. The man to whom she was engaged cared about her enough that he didn’t want to denounce her to the authorities as having been unfaithful before she was even married. He decided to end the engagement quietly, so she could go away, have the child, and continue to live. The penalty otherwise could have been stoning.

Joseph went to sleep after making that decision and was visited in a dream by an angel, a messenger of God. The angel reassured him that Mary had not been unfaithful. The child had been conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. The angel told him the name he was to give the child. It was the same name given to Mary for her child when Gabriel visited her with God’s request. Jesus. The angel quotes the prophecy from Isaiah in which the child is called Emmanuel. The name Emmanuel means “God is with us.”

Joseph believed the words of the angel. He took Mary into his home as his wife. This descendant of David became the father of Jesus by choosing to accept him as his son. The ancient promise made to David that the Messiah would come from among his descendants was to be fulfilled. The sign given to Ahaz was also fulfilled.

Like Ahaz, Joseph, and Mary, we don’t always know what will come of the unexpected in our lives. We can only trust that somehow, God is in charge and will make things right.

Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle A

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