Liturgical year | blog.theologika.net

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 25, 2024

Go Forward, Go Backward, or Stay Put

A train set can provide hours of entertainment for children and adults alike. A basic set allows the train to go around and around in circles or ovals. With a few specialty pieces, it’s possible to set up multiple paths. With enough of these specialty pieces, the trains can go straight ahead, turn around and go backwards, or just go in small little circles, never actually getting anywhere else.

As children grow older, and more parts are added to the set, the sky is the limit (as well as the floor space) regarding how complex the creation can become. There are tunnels, overpasses, buildings, passengers, even animals that can be in the pastures or villages through which the train passes. As the child’s vision expands, hours are spent dreaming and creating the countryside through which the train passes.

As adults, most of us don’t design transportation systems, or bridges, or buildings, or spacecraft. But that does not mean we have no reason or opportunity to dream and create a future for ourselves and our families.

Decision times come in various disguises.

Transitional Times for a People

What do we do in times of transition? Where do we send our trains? Do we go forward into new dreams and possibilities? Do we look longingly at the way things used to be – what some call “the Good Old Days?” Do we simply try to keep things just the way they are, with no major changes?

These are questions that people have had to answer for themselves for thousands of years.

The Book of Joshua was written long after the events which it describes. Most scholars agree that there is no good way to say when they occurred or even if they did in the way described. Yet the story is told to describe a relationship between God and the Hebrew people after they left Egypt and as they moved into the land of Palestine.

It was a bloody history of conquest, as were most such events in the ancient world. Peoples moved into lands occupied by others and killed off most of the original inhabitants. Genocide is not a new phenomenon in the world.

Following the death of Moses, Joshua led the people across the Jordan River and into the land of Caanan. One by one, the tribal peoples living there were conquered and their lands assigned to the twelve tribes of Israel. As long as the people lived in compliance with the Covenant, all went well with the conquest and settlement of the land. When they did not, things went badly.

As Joshua neared the end of his life, he called the leaders of all the tribes together at Shechem. He set out the possible options for them going forward once he had reached the end of his life and leadership time.

“If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve.” This was the first option, though phrased in a negative format. Option 1 = Move forward with the Lord.

“… the gods your fathers served beyond the River…” – those from the days before Abraham moved from Ur in Mesopotamia in response to the Lord’s call. Option 2 = Go back to the very beginning.

“… or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling.” Option 3 = Stay put and don’t upset things as they are!

Joshua then added his own decision for his family: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” His decision was to move forward.

Blessedly for the rest of us who are part of the tradition of the three great Abrahamic religions, the leaders of the people agreed that they and their communities would also serve the Lord, “for he is our God.” (Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b)

Relationships in New Perspectives

St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians about the relationship of Christ and the church, the community of believers. In his time, women were not treated as equals to the men in their families. They were part of their father’s family until they were married, at which time they became part of their husband’s family. They did not have any independence or freedom to make their own decisions about most things. Their ability to move about freely was highly limited and their survival depended on the good will of the men.

Within the Christian community, however, women received more respect and had more freedom. The women who traveled with Jesus were respected by the community of disciples. A woman was the first to testify to having seen Jesus after the resurrection. Women were worthy of respect.

Paul spoke of the relationship of Christ and the church in terms of marriage. Christ is head of the church and its savior. Christ loves the church and gave himself to make us holy. The relationship between Christ and the church is like that of a husband and wife. Each is to love the other. He speaks of women as subordinate to their husbands, but that is not to be understood as mandatory in any way for today’s relationships. He balanced his statement about women with the totally revolutionary statement that men are to love their wives and care for them as they do their own bodies. This was absolutely new and unexpected. (Eph 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32)

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the notion of subordination of women is totally absent.

“Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: “It is not good that the man should be alone.” The woman, “flesh of his flesh,” his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a “helpmate”; she thus represents God from whom comes our help.” (CCC 1605)

So, go forward – Men and women as equals and helpers to each other?
Go backward – Men as the ones who decide everything for women and control their activities?
Stay put – Recognize that women have rights, but limit those rights and opportunities to what they have now?

Deepening Relationships in Faith

Jesus didn’t leave his claims about his body being real food and his blood real drink as optional statements intended to get folks talking about him or following him. He was absolutely serious about what he was saying. He knew the idea was deeply troubling to many, so he took the question to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” He clarified his statements, noting that “It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail,” but the notion of life after death was not universally accepted in the Jewish community of his day. His statements seemed like those of a madman, unless he truly was the person he was claiming to be: Son of the Lord God, the One who was to come.

Most of the people who had come to see him, hoping for more healings or meals, left him after these statements. It was just too much to accept. We don’t eat human flesh and we don’t drink or eat blood at all, would be their reaction. Eating the blood of an animal was forbidden by the law of Moses. Meat was always treated to remove blood before it was pure enough to consume.

Blessedly for us, when Jesus asked Peter and the others if they too would leave, Peter gave his statement of faith that we share: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe … that you are the Holy One of God.” (Jn 6:60-69)

Only two options this time. Walk away – this is all too much and not possibly true – Go back!

Remain and move forward in faith that this man is really the Holy One of God who gives his flesh and blood as food for the life of the world – Go forward!

Decisions today

As so often happens, we come to times of decision in our lives today too.

Will we retreat in fear from those we don’t know or understand? Will we put up walls of silence or mockery, or restricted access to the necessities of life, or bricks? Will we demonize those whose ways we don’t understand?

Will we close our eyes and just wish it would all go away already? What if we just sit this one out? Nothing ever changes, why bother?

Or will we choose to move forward, following our Lord in service to the poor, to refugees, to the lonely, the sick, the dying, the little ones of God? Giving of ourselves and sharing the gifts we have? Trusting that all will work out all right if we all work and share together?

Just as in the days of Joshua, Paul, and Jesus, we have decisions to make for ourselves, our families, and our world. Will we be like children who send the trains in circles around and around? Or will we be like those who send them cycling back again and again to other simpler areas of the world they have created with their tracks? Or will we be like those who lay the tracks so that the trains can go forward in many ways, taking direct routes or “scenic” routes along the way to their destination?

My Great-grandmother was known to remark that “the good old days weren’t so good!” It’s a perspective worth remembering as we move through the days and weeks to come. She grew up in a time of travel by horses and carts, lived through two World Wars, as well as Korea and Vietnam, saw the moon landing, and watched her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren grow up in a world far different from the one into which she was born. “The Good Old Days weren’t so good,” was her advice.

Time goes forward. So do we. How will we lay out the tracks for our journey now?

Readings for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 18, 2024

The Living Bread from Heaven

One morning, a very hungry toddler sat down to eat her breakfast. One of her favorite foods was applesauce, home-made from wonderfully sweet apples. She was proud of her growing skill with a spoon and ate most of the applesauce using her spoon. But then the bottom of the bowl appeared. It became more and more difficult to scoop out the applesauce with her spoon, but there was more left to enjoy. Not one to waste a bite of something as wonderful as that applesauce, she held her spoon in one hand and lifted the bowl to her mouth with the other, happily slurping down the remainder of her applesauce.

We humans eat lots of different kinds of food. Some are special treats. Others are things we have been told are “good for us,” though we may not particularly like them. Most things we don’t really think much about at all. They are simply part of our everyday lives. We eat because we are hungry. We eat because we enjoy the food. We eat because those around us are eating and we enjoy the social nature of the experience. We eat because if we didn’t, we would not survive. For most of us, the latter is not our primary reason for eating.

The foods we eat are transformed by our bodies into the elements needed for us to grow and to live our lives. We must have the basic building blocks in order to continue. Energy needed for life comes from the food we eat. Without it, we would die. Even with food, the time comes in each person’s life in which we die. Food as we know it is not sufficient to maintain life forever. And after we die, our bodies return to the earth and recycle back to basic elements that can be reused by another organism.

Our toddler is part of a long-standing cycle of food and its uses.

Given the centrality of food in human life, and its social nature as well, it’s not surprising that when folks think about an afterlife, or a supernatural (or transnatural) world, they often include imagery of eating. Banquets are part of the mythologies of peoples around the world. The ancient Hebrews and Christians were no exceptions.

Wisdom’s banquet

Wisdom, a highly valued quality and indicator of maturity, is personified in the Hebrew scriptures. Wisdom was with God from the beginning, present at the creation of the world. Wisdom continues to act in the world and in our lives to the present day. Wisdom is perceived as feminine. For Christians, the Holy Spirit is identified as the Spirit of Wisdom, an integral aspect of the ever-dancing, swirling Trinity of Love, our God.

In the book of Proverbs, we find Wisdom hosting a banquet at the home she has built. Proverbs presents many sayings and examples of what is required of those preparing for service in government – those who will serve in the King’s court. Manners, codes of behavior, rules of civility – all are spelled out in this book. By the ninth chapter, those ready to serve, those who have matured sufficiently, are invited to Wisdom’s banquet. However, not only those who have met the expectations of their society are invited. She invites those who lack understanding, those who might not be seen as clever: “Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed!” Those who accept the invitation, will live and grow in understanding. This food is not physical food. It has a different purpose and leads to a different conclusion. It leads to maturity in thought and action. (Prv 9:1-6)

Physical food for a Spiritual outcome

The crowds around Jesus after he had fed so many in the wilderness were totally uncomprehending when he explained that he had not come into the world to provide miraculous quantities of fish and bread for them. On the contrary, he himself was actually living bread from heaven. His own flesh would be the food that would bring life to the world.

The claim was not well-received. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

But Jesus didn’t back down. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”

Then Jesus shifted the conversation quite dramatically. He linked the eating of his body and blood to eternal life. “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”

How? Why? What?

“Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”

We have moved into an entirely new realm. This is not normal food. The life about which he is speaking is not the normal human life here on Earth that we all experience. This is something totally different. Because the life of the Father flows through Jesus, a share in his body and blood is a sharing in the life of the Father. The body and blood of which he speaks are not the human, physical body we typically recognize as we interact with each other, rub the sleep out of our eyes in the morning, and enjoy our morning applesauce!

It was not until Jesus’ final supper with his friends before his death that it became clear what form that food and drink which are his body and blood actually would take. When he blessed and shared the final loaf of unleavened bread at his last Seder and the cup of wine after the meal has been eaten, the Cup of Thanksgiving, then gave them to his disciples, and explained that these were the food of the New Covenant, his body the bread broken and shared and the wine his blood, that of the sacrificial lamb, that his earlier words began to make sense. Until then, few who heard his words believed him anything more than a madman.

Because the life of the Father is shared with the Son, and we are invited to share in that life as we eat the bread and drink the wine that have been blessed and changed – his body and blood – we can share in their eternal life. This food leads and strengthens us for the journey of transformation and growth in maturity to the eternal table of the Lord. (Jn 6:51-58)

A New Way of Living

Living as children of God, sisters and brothers of Jesus and of each other, Followers of the Way, proved to be challenging, especially as the Good News broke down the barriers between the Jewish people and the Gentiles (all the rest of us). How does one live as a wise person rather than a foolish one? How does one know what the will of the Lord is? What traditions are to be followed? What new ways will enter our everyday activities?

St. Paul cautioned the people of Ephesus that there are many ways in which people can stray from the will of the Lord, many ways to act foolishly. The behavior which is not foolish is that which is filled with the Spirit. Lady Wisdom’s banquet hall, though not mentioned by St. Paul, welcomes those who seek her, with prayer, hymns, singing to the Lord, and giving thanks at all times.

The giving of thanks is not to be limited to times when things are going well. Paul says, “giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.” Things don’t always go well, in terms of our human evaluation of them, but God brings good out of all things. Our sharing in divine life did not and does not exclude all suffering. We share in the whole life of Jesus in our communities and our everyday activities.

As we go through our days this week, enjoying our applesauce eaten by spoon or slurped out of our bowls, spending time at work and school, finding companionship with our families and friends, and sharing in the Bread of Life, the Body and Blood of our Lord, may we give thanks for all we have received and for the Spirit of Wisdom who shares in and rejoices in our lives.

Readings for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 11, 2024

Be Imitators of God and Live in Love

“Live in love.”

Three simple words, but such a challenge they offer.

We live in families, communities, regions, and nations that are not always in complete agreement about what is important in life. In fact, there are huge and seemingly irreconcilable differences among them. Even within families we have differences. How are people to behave? Are there different standards of behavior for men compared with women? What about people who are non-binary – how do we understand and deal with this kind of diversity? Where do children fit into the picture? What do we expect of them and how do we treat them? What are our responsibilities to each other and to our environment? How do we share the land? What do we eat? How do we learn what we need to know as adults? How do we make a living? How do we choose our leaders? What happens after we die?

So many essential and fundamental questions that must be addressed if people are to live without conflict.

One of the foundational rules (and jokes) in Anthropology is NEVER to use words such as never or always to describe human behavior. Experienced anthropologists joke that when they get together socially or professionally and one among them declares that people all over the world always do X, Y, or Z, someone will respond, “But among the people of (insert name of culture) whom I studied, they do W.”

One universal, so far as I know, is that people need nourishment of some sort in order to live. That nourishment comes in many different forms, but it is essential.

Elijah received bread and water

The prophet Elijah was fleeing for his life. The king was absolutely furious with him for having killed the prophets of Ba’al who had been leading the Hebrew people in worship of this god of another people. Elijah was ready to give up and die. He asked the Lord for death, lay down, and went to sleep. An angel, a messenger from the Lord, woke him up and ordered him to eat and drink. A simple loaf of bread (a hearth cake) and a jug of water were there by his head. He ate the bread and drank the water, then went back to sleep. But the Lord wasn’t finished with him. The angel came again and ordered him to get up and eat. The journey would be too long if he didn’t eat first! Elijah obeyed, the began walking again, clear to the mountain of God, Horeb (aka Mt. Sinai). (1 Kgs 19:4-8)

As an aside, a friend who is a Deacon and young enough to have grown up with Pop Tarts as a breakfast treat, noted that in our day, the angel might have come with a Pop Tart for Elijah to eat. (Nice image, Deacon Joe!)

Whether a hearth cake or a Pop Tart, the Lord provided food for Elijah’s journey. The Lord had work for him to do and knew he would need support in the form of food.

Jesus offered himself

Jesus too knew that we who follow him will need food. He fed the crowd with a few loaves and fish. People flocked to him for more. But they were uncomfortable with what he was telling them about himself. He’s Joseph and Mary’s son. We know him. What does he mean saying, “I have come down from heaven!” We all know that’s not possible.

But Jesus wasn’t deterred. “Stop murmuring among yourselves.” The Father is the one in charge. The Father teaches all and those who listen will find Jesus, the one who can show them the Father. Belief results in eternal life. What sustains that life? The bread of life, the bread given by God, Jesus himself who is that bread.

Jesus moved the conversation and the call from the practical, pragmatic question of physical strength and survival to a much broader form of life. This broader life, a life as a child of God in this earthly world, requires a different type of food than a simple hearth cake or Pop Tart. It is not as obvious as going to the market to buy food for the day for oneself and one’s family. It is not food that we can get for ourselves. In the desert the people received manna from heaven. We too need something more than ordinary food, even tasty treats. We need strength and nourishment for living life on a spiritual level too. Regular food is important, but more is needed. (Jn 6:41-51)

Food for living in love

St. Paul spoke of the challenge of living in the new spiritual realm of which Jesus spoke. Through baptism, Christians have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, chosen for redemption through Christ’s sacrifice. This new life requires setting aside behaviors such as “bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling” others. There is no room for these. They are not food for imitators of God, sharers in the life of Christ. Christians must be kind, compassionate, and forgiving. Through our imitation of God, as beloved children of God, we live in love. In this, we share in Christ’s life and sacrifice. He becomes our food. (Eph 4:30-5:2)

Is this limited to any particular culture? Is it bound by any human rules? Not really. Jesus comes and offers himself as food for all of us. We receive this food and are strengthened to be imitators of God and live in love as God’s children. Nourishment offered and received, given to all freely.

As we move into this coming week, let’s be aware of the gifts we all receive from our Father and the many ways we are nourished by those gifts. Let’s set side anger, judgements, jumping to conclusions, belittling others and all those things that make life miserable for ourselves and others. Let’s instead look with compassion on others who might not have the same opportunities we have had. Let’s forgive those who have offended us. Let’s work together to build a better life for all.

We have received the gift of the bread of life, living bread, available to all who seek it. May it always be the food for our journey as imitators of God, living in love.

Readings for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Aug 3, 2024

Food that Endures for Eternal Life

Food. A simple word, but oh how many forms the reality it names can take!

All living things require something to nourish them and keep them alive, making it possible for them to reproduce and pass life on to the next generation. Simple single-celled beings still must grow and divide. Their genetic material is duplicated and passed on to the next generation. As life grew more complex, and the original single-celled creatures transformed into multi-celled ones, nourishment continued to be needed. Some things were able to produce their own food. Some had to get nourishment by consuming others. Some, such as the cells which became mitochondria, found ways to live and reproduce by becoming permanent residents of others, playing central roles in their ability to live and reproduce. Many, many variations eventually resulted in the wonders of the world we experience today.

Among humans, a time comes in the life of each infant in which the mother’s milk, or its substitute, is no longer deemed sufficient by the child. Babies notice that others are eating. They see the companionship of family at mealtimes. They experience the peace and happiness of their families as they share a meal, laughing and talking as they eat. And then one day, sitting in the lap of a parent or other family member, they reach out for the food that is being eaten. They draw the hand holding the food towards themselves and the food into their mouths. They make a fuss if they are not being fed. They want to be part of the community, one of those sharing in the meal. They still need and want the milk that sustained them from birth, but that is no longer enough. They are ready for the next step, for the nourishment that comes with eating together in community, in family.

Where is food to be found?

For people who must travel, the question of where food will be found on the journey must always be addressed. Some areas are rich with food, both plant and animal in origin. Others are places of scarcity, deserts. Food is difficult to find and not always obvious to those new to the area.

Not long after the Hebrew people left Egypt in the Exodus, they discovered that traveling through a desert was not a picnic! It had been scary and exciting and an adventure during the first week or so, as they were chased by Pharoah’s army, crossed the sea on dry land, and then continued on into the land ahead of them. But soon any food they had was gone and food became scarce. They couldn’t return to Egypt, but they had always had food there. True, they had been badly treated and forced to work as slaves, but at least they had food… Egypt had plenty of food for all.

Complaints began to arise among the people. “Do you remember how good the bread was?” “Who could have guessed what was happening as we ate that last meal of lamb, unleavened bread, and herbs!” “Will we ever have enough to eat again?” “Why did we ever think Moses and Aaron knew what they were talking about?” “We should go back to Egypt!” Moses, Aaron, “… you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!”

The Lord heard their complaints and acted. “I will now rain down bread from heaven for you… In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the Lord, am your God.”

Quail appeared every evening for the people to eat. In the morning, flakes fell from the sky. They had no idea what those were and called them “what’s-the-stuff,” (manna). This was the bread from heaven they were to eat. The quail and manna sustained them on their long journey through the desert. A gift from God, bread to eat. (Ex 16:2-4, 12-15)

Centuries later, Jesus fed a very large crowd who had come out to a deserted area to hear him teach. He had just a few small loaves of bread and a few fish. He blessed them, broke them, and shared them with the people there. All were fed and twelve baskets of left-overs were collected. The people wanted to make him a king. He and his friends slipped away in the evening. The next day, people found him again in Capernaum. “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Now he was called Rabbi, a term of honor.

Jesus was not fooled. “You are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” Jesus had something better in mind. “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life.” And what food is this? The food that endures is that “which the Son of Man will give you.” Why? Because God is giving it to us through Jesus. The bread of God is the source of life for the world. Who is the bread of God? Jesus himself. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” (Jn 6:24-35)

More than ordinary food

Food for eternal life. A life different from the everyday ordinary lives of men and women in the world before the coming of Jesus. A life in which we move from looking out for ourselves first and others later. A life in which we live in God’s way, as a community caring for each other. New people, new life, new future. (Eph 4:17, 20-24)

In many ways, moving into the life of God’s family is a lot like a baby reaching out for food with the family. There’s something more to be experienced, something more to share, something more to grow into. God’s food is so much more than the ordinary. Food for eternal life, food that brings goodness into everyday life. A food that feeds rich and poor, young and old, men and women, citizens and non-citizens, all of God’s creatures, large and small.

The love of God, shared with us through Jesus, food that endures for eternal life. Ready for all of us to share.

Readings for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jul 28, 2024

Just In Time With God

The family baby was around three when a flea infestation took over the house. Her mother vacuumed the entire house at least twice a day in an effort to get the fleas under control. But every time the little girl walked through the house, her sleepers were quickly covered with fleas again.

This had been going on for many days when one morning, the 20+ year-old vacuum wheezed its last. Funds were scarce that month and the family still had a hand vacuum. The woman was about to get it out and start in on the rug, on hands and knees, when a relatively new friend knocked on the door and let himself in. His first words astounded her, “You all don’t know anyone who needs a new vacuum, do you?” Totally unexpectedly, as the result of some sad events in his life, he was no longer going to need his nearly new water vacuum.

It was such an incredible gift and the timing could not have been more perfect. Within a few days, the flea problem was under control. That vacuum was truly a gift both from their friend and from God. An early example of what I’ve come to call, God’s Just-In-Time Financing!

In both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, we hear stories of the ways God provides for the people in unexpected and seemingly impossible ways. A large crowd had gathered out in the countryside, away from the markets and inns of the small local towns. The prophet had been speaking and people listened to the Lord’s words which he spoke to them, entranced with the message. As time went slipping by, mealtime approached. A man approached the prophet with twenty barley loaves and “fresh grain in the ear.” The prophet told his servant to give this food to the people to eat. It was nowhere nearly enough to feed the one hundred or so people in the crowd, but the prophet insisted. The food was distributed and all ate their fill. There was even food left over!

Who was the prophet? Elisha. Hundreds of years before the coming of Jesus, Elisha trusted that God would provide for the people – and it happened. He didn’t claim that he had miraculously created enough food. He gave the credit to God. It didn’t matter how the Lord managed such a feat. There was precedent. Food falling from the sky as the manna did in the desert. Birds appearing where they could be caught and eaten. Or people sharing what they had so all might eat. The How of it didn’t matter. It was the When of it that did. Just in time. (2 Kgs 4:42-44)

Many years later, when Jesus and the disciples sailed across the Sea of Galilee to get a break from ministry, the people traveled by land and got there ahead of them. All four Evangelists tell us about the events of that afternoon.

The time passed quickly and it was getting to be time for all to eat. Jesus asked his disciples what they would do to feed the people. All they could offer was to send the people home or to the local towns to buy their own meals. Then, as mealtime approached, a child offered his own meal of five barley loaves and two fish to share. The disciples scoffed when Jesus accepted the gift offered by the child. But Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in the grassy field and distribute the food to them. There were 5,000 men present – not counting the women and children. It was a huge group!

This day was something of a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. He had been teaching and healing, but the number of people healed was small in comparison with the number touched by the sharing of food that afternoon. Now a large number of people at once were touched by the gift he brought – trust in God and a willingness to share the power of love with all. Food was not expected, but God provided, just in time that day, through Jesus. Now they wondered, when would Jesus do it again? Was he the prophet who was to come? (Jn 6:1-15)

St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians about the way they were called to live with each other in trust of God. Humility, gentleness, and patience are to be hallmarks and the keys to maintaining unity. The community is to remain one in spirit, just as God is One. All share in the one faith, one baptism, and one Lord. (Eph 4:1-6)

We never know when the Lord’s Just-in-time will appear. Sometimes what we need appears. Sometimes it’s something else that shows up, rather than what we thought we really needed. But “the hand of the Lord” is active and present each day of our lives. Our job is to open our eyes to see it and remember to ask sincerely, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

This week, may we keep our eyes open to all the ways God provides for us. And may we be part of God’s team of helpers who reach out to provide kindness and support to those in special need of the Just-in-time touch of the Lord.

Readings for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jul 21, 2024

Peek-a-boo, I See you!

The young baby boy lay on his back in the playpen. A variety of toys hung from the rods that crossed over the play mat and he generally enjoyed reaching for them and playing with them. But this evening, he had another activity on his mind. There was a multi-colored flat cloth sea star in the playpen with him. He reached over for it and pulled it closer. Then he pulled it up over his face and lay there quietly, breathing more loudly than normal. When his caregiver heard his breathing and called out “Peek-a-boo,” he pulled the cloth off his face and, giggling with delight, smiled widely as she continued, “I see you!” Then he crumpled up the cloth again and placed it over his face, wiggling with excitement. Again, at her prompt, he uncovered his face with joy. The game continued for a long time. He would play with another toy for a few minutes, then back to Peek-a-boo.

Sometimes it seems like finding a time and place to spend a little time alone with God, resting, chatting, listening, or whatever, can be a bit like a game of peek-a-boo. Except in this case, we really want to keep the cloth over our faces a bit longer, just to have a few minutes alone with the one who loves us. But then someone notices and our time alone is over.

When Jesus’ disciples returned from their very first missionary journey, they shared stories and experiences. He explained some of the things they had not understood about the venture and encouraged them to trust the Father. It had been an exhilarating and tiring time. Jesus knew from personal experience the importance of getting away from everyone for a while – to rest, to pray, and to process what had been experienced with the help of the Father. So, he suggested they go for a boat ride. And not just any boat ride. They would go across the lake to a place where nobody lived. That way they could just enjoy each other, rest together, pray, and prepare for the next visit to a town where there would be people coming to hear Jesus and receive healing. Anyone who spends much time in the public eye would sympathize and encourage this kind of retreat.

They all piled into the boat and headed out across the water. Folks on shore watched them go, probably with some disappointment. “I didn’t get a chance to ask for healing!” “He left already?” “Do you suppose he’ll be back sometime soon?”

Then a keen observer noticed where the boat was heading. It wasn’t going clear across the lake! It was heading for a place up the coast where people didn’t generally go very often. It was within walking distance. Maybe we can get there ahead of him and be up close to hear his words and see his healing for ourselves! And off they went. “Peek-a-boo!”

When the boat arrived, the crowds had already gathered. “I see you!”

Rather than be irritated or getting back on the boat and leaving in a huff, Jesus felt pity for the people. They had no caregiver who would be there for them. They were like sheep without a shepherd, the imagery familiar to a pastoral people who had started out as traveling shepherds. He and the disciples remained there that afternoon, teaching and healing the people who had followed them around the shore. “I see you too,” he said to them through his actions. (Mk 6:30-34)

Centuries earlier, the prophet Jeremiah expressed God’s anger and frustration with the rulers of the kingdom of Judah, the southern part of the land of Palestine in which the people had settled after leaving Egypt in the Exodus. The kings of Judah had not been faithful to the covenant. Rather than care for the people and help them to live in harmony, they had cared only for themselves. They seemed to believe those over whom they ruled had been created just to support the leaders’ wishes and high-living. The Lord was not amused, to say the least. Through Jeremiah, he rebuked the rulers. “You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds. I myself will gather the remnant of my flock …”

Jeremiah tells all that the Lord will raise up a righteous ruler from the line of King David to “do what is just and right in the land.” This ruler will be called, “The Lord our justice.”

In this case, through Jeremiah’s message to the unjust rulers, it seems the “I see you” is not necessarily one we would want to hear ourselves. But for the ordinary folks of the land, and for those scattered into exile when their rulers were defeated and their cities destroyed, the Lord’s “I see you” was a promise of hope. All is not lost. The Lord truly is our justice. (Jer 23:1-6)

With the coming of Jesus and his death and resurrection, the scope of blessing, of “I see you,” was extended far beyond the original Hebrew community. Now those “who were once far off have become near by the blood of Christ.” Paul and the early Christian community marveled as they realized just how broad the Lord’s vision was. Those who had always been seen as unclean and unworthy of sharing in the life of the Lord’s people were now to be sisters and brothers of equal standing and privilege. “Peek-a-boo,” says the Lord. “I see all of you. Come, share in my life, my peace, my Spirit. I love you all.” (Eph 2:13-18)

Peek-a-boo is a two-way game. It takes at least two people to play it. One goes into hiding. Another must find the one hidden.

This week, may we be alert to the presence of the Lord in those we meet. May we also find time to hide ourselves from all the hustle and bustle of the world around us and let the Lord find us. A few minutes here, a few minutes there. Sing a song of praise while doing the dishes, making the bed, caring for a child, walking the dog. Out loud or noiselessly. Either will work. Turn off social media for a few minutes and read or pray a psalm. Say “Thank you” as the sun goes down in a blaze of glory. Greet the rising sun with a “Good morning, thank you, Lord.” There are so many ways and places that we can meet the Lord.

Peek-a-boo, I see you!

Readings for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jul 14, 2024

Two by Two – Preaching Through Actions

“The Buddy System” is the term used to describe a practice in Scouting in which individuals must always have another Scout with them when going hiking, camping, boating, swimming, or just about anything else. When working on a merit badge, for example, the Scout must have a buddy or a parent present during meetings with the counselor who will sign off on the badge, signifying the Scout has completed the requirements. Two adults must always be present when adults are working with the Scouts.

The system works well both to protect Scouts and to help them learn the importance of teamwork in accomplishing their goals. It provides an extra layer of safety in case of trouble or unexpected emergency as well. There’s a second adult present to help deal with the problem or get assistance.

I don’t think Jesus particularly thought about his instructions to his followers as The Buddy System, but when it came time for them to go out and begin to share what they had learned from him, he sent them out two by two, each had a buddy with whom to share the venture.

Jesus sent his disciples to call those they met to repentance, to change their way of living so it would more closely match the ways of loving care and acceptance of the Kingdom. He gave them “authority over unclean spirits,” those voices that tormented people or led them to make wrong choices in their actions. They were to take nothing but a walking stick with them and they were allowed to wear sandals, but only take one set of clothing. No suitcases or pack animals for them! They were to depend on the hospitality of others. Some would reject them. Others would welcome them.

Most critically, they were to teach and share what they had seen. In their journey, they anointed the sick and healed many people. They drove out some demons. Others proved too strong, a detail we learn from other writers of the Gospels. They traveled and taught together, as teams. They shared their beliefs and understanding of Jesus’ message. Their teaching included practical actions. Healing and bringing relief to the suffering were the signs their teaching was valid. (Mk 6:7-13)

After their brief time traveling in pairs, they rejoined Jesus and shared their experiences and questions. It was an important time of learning for all. After the Resurrection, as they began to go out to preach and teach, they often continued to go in pairs. Paul and Barnabas, Peter and Mark, for example, were some of the early teams who took the Good News out into the world.

Faith is a communal experience. We are called as individuals, but in that call we enter a community who travel and dream and work together to make a difference here and now. Far more important than theological treatises or long sermons, the loving care, the kindness, the compassion, and the passion with which we work to make the world a better, fairer, more just place for all people is the preaching which will soften hearts and open ears to hear of God’s love.

As we live our lives, we too are called to work together and share in the care of the Earth and of all its inhabitants. Those who have fewer opportunities or face more challenges are no less loved than those whose lives are filled with comfort. As St. Paul reminded the people of Ephesus, God has shared spiritual blessings with all and chosen to bring all of us into union with himself through Jesus. He has shared wisdom with us and leads us to share in the mission of his Son. All of which brings praise for the wonder of his love. (Eph 1:3-14)

When we remember that we are loved and speak out on behalf of others who are unable to speak for themselves, we play a role like that of the shepherd Amos, who traveled from his home in the southern kingdom of Judah to the northern one of Israel, bringing the Lord’s word to the rulers of the north. Amos had experienced firsthand the heavy taxes and oppressive rules imposed on the people of the south by the northern kingdom. He knew the suffering of the people and called for compassion and a lifting of the burden. His words were not welcomed by the authorities, but he spoke them and did not back down. The Lord had called him and sent him to be a prophet, to speak on behalf of the oppressed in the name, the authority and power, of the Lord God. (Am 7:12-15)

The most powerful witnesses are those who work for justice, sharing their vision with others, building communities of practical support and new ways of doing things. They find buddies along the way, to share the vision and double the strength of the effort. Where one person meets a brick wall, another may have the map showing a way through the maze. With the strength of a compassionate community, little by little, the world is changed for the better. Opposition may arise, but ultimately, the change will begin.

As we enter this new week, may we find companions in our journey of faith and step forward with courage and hope. Through our daily lives and activities, may the love of the Lord shine forth into our world.

Readings for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jul 7, 2024

Unexpected Bearers of God’s Word

A child is born and worlds of possibility open within a family. Totally helpless and dependent on other people, the child is still a unique individual. Each comes from the womb with their own personality. One will want to nurse immediately. Another will be a bit tired and need time to begin to accept the breast. One may find it hard to nurse. Another will find it easy.

As they grow, they learn to know their family. They begin to smile and “chat” with those who care for them. They notice patterns and recognize the movements of their own hands and feet in comparison to the movements of others. Some are determined to get across the floor to reach something interesting much earlier than others. Some are happy to roll or crawl for a long time. Others want to walk, thank you very much!

We watch the children grow and rejoice in their progress. We laugh at their antics as they explore the world. We comfort them when their exploration goes awry and they get hurt. We set limits so they are protected from danger and learn the ways of their family and culture.

Generally speaking, we tend to think we know them! But I think most parents, at least, will discover at some point that there are aspects of our children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews that are surprising to us. They have their own thoughts and experiences. They wonder about things we may never have considered. They learn in ways that are different from the ways we learn. They have talents that are not the same as ours, or they have similar ones but use them in different ways.

These children who have been entrusted to us as individuals and as a community will also hear the Lord’s voice in their own way and in a time that is right for them. We share our beliefs and experiences with them, but they must develop their own relationships – with each other, with their community, and with their God. We are there to support and guide them, but the journey is their own.

Sometimes it surprises us!

Ezekiel did not expect to become a prophet. Granted, he was a priest in exile in Babylon, but the role of a priest is very different from the role of the prophet. The priest leads the community in prayer. The priest offers the sacrifices. The priest keeps things going according to the traditions and rules of the community.

The prophet, on the other hand, is called to speak out and call for change. Prophets remind people of the Lord’s desire for care of the poor. They call for changes in the social order so that justice and mercy are available to all. They demand that the hungry be fed and those in need be clothed and housed. They remind the community of their responsibilities to God and each other.

Ezekiel the priest heard the Lord’s voice and felt the spirit enter into him, setting him on his feet. He was being sent to speak to the people, reminding them of the Lord’s rules and the covenant. The Lord told him, “You shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God!” He was called to be a prophet! (Ez 2:2-5)

Did anyone who knew him as a child expect that? Probably not. But that didn’t stop the call when the time was right and so we proclaim and remember his words to this day.

Jesus was a carpenter. He had learned the trade from his father in the town where he grew up. People liked him. He was a nice guy and had a good reputation before he went off to see that guy John, his cousin, who was baptizing people at the Jordan River. After that, he was a changed man! He didn’t come back to work in the shop. No more working on commissions in nearby towns. His mother didn’t have his income to support her anymore. Other family members stepped in to help.

Then to top it off, stories started coming back about things he had said about God, calling him Daddy! Teaching as if he were one of the rabbis. And healing people! How could an ordinary fellow heal people blind from birth or with crippled legs or arms? Was it all a bunch of tricks? “We know him, for heaven’s sake! Where would all of this come from?”

And then he came to town. He joined the community at the synagogue and as was the custom, he rose to share in the teaching. Those who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands?” It was all too much. This was the son of Mary and Joseph. They knew him. He grew up in their community. He had been their childhood friend. He had played with the other children. He had learned to respect and honor the adults. And now he was teaching them and healing people in other towns! Why not here? How can we believe what he is saying and doing? We know him!

And because they knew him, or at least believed they knew everything about him, they were not able to receive the gifts he was bringing. He was only able to cure a few people. They were unable to accept him as a bearer of messages and acts of love and healing from God. (Mk 6:1-6)

Saul of Tarsus was a well-educated, highly respected teacher of the Law, a Pharisee. He had everything going for him. A good career. The respect of all. Influence in the council of leaders in the faith. Everything.

Then he went on a trip to Damascus to arrest the followers of Jesus there. On the road, he met Jesus! And everything changed. He became Paul and one of the most well-known preachers and teachers of the early Christian movement.

We read the letters of Paul to the communities that formed when he visited their towns all over the Middle East and even traveled to Rome. Yet Paul was not one who was always welcomed. He met much resistance at all stages of his life as an Apostle. He was not easily accepted by the community in Jerusalem. He was rejected by his former colleagues in Jerusalem. He was driven out of many towns where he preached. Eventually he was sent to Rome for trial and execution. Yet he always remembered the encounter with Jesus on the road and the wonder of it.

Paul suffered from some “thorn in the flesh” that he really wished would go away. We never learn what it was, but it was hard for him to bear. Yet the Lord assured him that “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Whatever it was, the fact that he suffered with it allowed the Lord’s power and love to shine through even more brightly to the communities he visited. In weakness there is strength. God’s ways are not our ways. (2 Cor 12:7-10)

A child is born. A world of possibilities opens. In the weakness of each person, in the uniqueness of each person, in the many experiences and gifts of each person, a world of ways opens in which the Lord touches the person and through them touches each of us. We all bring the gifts of the Lord to others. It may be in a smile. It may be in a word. It may be in encouragement to step out and try again after something goes wrong. Each one of us shares in the wonder of the unexpected. Sometimes that unexpected is even a word of love spoken to us personally from the Lord. Listen.

This week, may we keep our eyes and ears open to hear the Lord’s voice in those around us. And may we share the love we receive with all we meet along the way.

Readings for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jun 30, 2024

Justice is Undying

We hear a lot about the notion of justice, especially when someone innocent is hurt or killed. Voices are rightly raised demanding that those who harmed the victim be punished for having done so. In this idea of justice, punishment for the wrong-doing balances out the injury to the victim and the scales are balanced once again. So, in this mode of reasoning, if a person is killed, then the killer should be killed or at the very least imprisoned for life. If other members of the community see the punishment, they will be less likely to commit the same offense.

Of course, it’s not quite as simple as all that. Identification of the guilty party is not always simple or accurate. An entire genre of literature, for example, is based on the idea that it’s not easy to identify the culprit when someone in a community turns up dead! If the penalty is death, then innocent people will die when they are falsely accused and convicted. Even life imprisonment for those who are actually innocent is a terrible injustice. And taking away a second life doesn’t bring back the original victim…

What then does it mean when we hear in the Book of Wisdom, “Justice is undying?” Does this mean that God is a judge who is always watching and ready to punish every mistake or smallest failing? That is certainly the image some folks have had of God. But is it really an accurate picture? Who would want a God like that?

When reading scripture, it’s important to remember that the writings were originally composed in a different language, in a far-past era, by members of a different culture than ours. Many of the same issues we face in terms of interpersonal relationships are similar, but many aspects of our lives and our understanding of reality, including cause and effect, are different. Even the meaning of a word as seemingly obvious as justice can be different.

The Book of Wisdom was written in Greek by an anonymous Jewish scholar in Alexandria, Egypt, sometime between 200 BCE and 100 CE. Its purpose was to encourage fellow Jews who were living outside Palestine to be faithful to the Covenant. It is written in verse, following the patterns of Hebrew poetry, and includes references to the Exodus, the wisdom of King Solomon, God’s mercy, and the foolishness of worshipping idols.

In the very first chapter, our narrator calls all to justice because justice is the key to life. Justice is the characteristic of living in right relationship with God. “God did not make death,” our narrator proclaims, “he fashioned all things that they might have being.” It is only through the envy of the deceiver, the devil, that death came into our world. (Wis 1:13-15, 2:23-24)

What does it mean to live in right relationship with God? Does it mean to walk around with our hands raised in prayer, looking down on those who don’t share our beliefs exactly? Does it mean hoping to be part of some small “faithful” remnant of God’s chosen ones when the last day of judgement comes? Does it mean hiding away in the mountains or in the desert, so we won’t be tempted by worldly pleasures?

For most of us, these are not ideal options, nor are they the way God wants us to live in justice. We are called to care for each other. To be kind to those who are treated as inferior. To reach out and share what we have with our neighbors. To speak a word of support for those whose rights are being trampled. To welcome those who flee violence in other areas and help them begin a new life in safety in our communities. To help the child who struggles with reading or arithmetic, reassuring them that they are not stupid, just that they learn in different ways. To forgive the person who has hurt us. To ask forgiveness from the person we have hurt. So many, many ways we are called to life in justice, in right relationship with the God who created all of us for imperishable life.

Jesus healed the sick, including when he wasn’t aware that healing was needed. When a woman in a crowd recognized him and touched his cloak as he passed by, she was healed of a condition that had made her an outcast for twelve years. Jesus did not consciously heal her. He noticed her touch in the crowd because he felt the healing power go through himself to her. But he did not react with anger at being touched by a woman, by someone who was ritually impure, whose very touch defiled him as well. He spoke kindly and reassured her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”

At the home of Jairus, he prayed over a twelve-year-old girl who had been ill and just died. Her father had come to Jesus to ask him to visit their home and heal his daughter. Jairus was an official of the local synagogue. Yet he reached out to this traveling preacher and asked for help. Jesus sent all out of the room except for the child’s parents and family. He took her hand and called her back, “Little girl, I say to you arise!” And she got up and walked around. (Mk 5:21-43)

Did Jesus do these kinds of things so people would say good things about him or follow him around praising him? No. He typically told the people he healed not to tell others about it. Did they keep quiet? Some might have, but I think mostly they didn’t. Can you imagine having a great source of suffering healed and it not be noticed by family and friends? Then how could one not tell of the wonder and the healer who had given that great gift?

The Christian community in Jerusalem had many hard years of struggle. They were outcasts in their own city and country because they followed The Way of Jesus. Often members of Christian communities outside of Israel sent gifts of money and supplies to Jerusalem to help the members of that first community. St. Paul urges the community in Corinth to send gifts from their abundance to help supply the needs of those in Jerusalem. He cites the example of Jesus, who became a human in order to share our lives and bring us to the richness of divine life in the Kingdom. He reminds them that God provides for all, as long as we share, just as during the Exodus, manna fell in the wilderness and was enough for all to share. We too share as we walk in justice with our God. (2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15)

As we move through this week, may we be alert to the needs of others and offer a smile, a hand, a word of encouragement, forgiveness, and even a share in the riches we have, however great or small. Together we are on a journey with the Lord, whose justice is undying, a journey of solidarity and right-relationship with each other and our God.

Readings for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jun 23, 2024

Power Over the Storms

Two winters ago, we had a series of atmospheric rivers on the West Coast. They began in November and continued well into March. Storms are normal at that time of year, but these were far more powerful and destructive than regular winter storms.

Living just a block from the ocean, we are used to hearing two days in advance when a big storm is coming. The waves crash on the beach, water splashes up over the cliffs, and we can hear them from our home. We don’t hear the waves except in winter.

That year, the winds howled, the waves crashed, trees fell across paths in the state park across the street from our home. In fact, the park was closed after a falling tree killed a man walking through one afternoon. The road along the cliffs above the water washed away a few blocks from our home. Fences along the sidewalk by the field were toppled and seaweed landed across the street, clear over to the field on the other side. Two parts of the cliffs, in areas where people are warned to stay away, slid off the rest of the cliff. One slid into the ocean. One slid down onto the beach. To my amazement, a day later, all of that rock from the cliffs had been washed away into the sea.

As it happened, in mid-March I needed to go to a nearby city to help care for a baby. The family lives near the bottom of a hill, one house removed from the road to the top. Electric buses go up and down the hill day and night. There is a distinctive whine from the engines as they go up the hill. More than once during the time I was there, I woke with a start in the night as I heard the bus go up the hill. It sounded very much like the whine of the wind as the storms blew from the ocean, across the field, and over our home.

It used to be that when I read the story of the calming of a storm on the Sea of Galilee, I thought of a storm with lots of waves and some wind. I’ve seen waves in lakes and on rivers. I’ve seen storms blowing in from the ocean. But after that winter, I have an entirely different comprehension of what the stakes can be and how powerful the winds and waves really are. It’s no wonder peoples all around the world have believed that their gods are responsible for storms. Only a very powerful force could possibly cause so much uproar or still it so quickly. The storm stops. The sun comes out from behind the clouds. The birds begin to sing again. And all is right with the world.

Jesus had been teaching in Galilee for a while on the day he decided to leave behind the crowds and go to the other side of the lake by boat. Hundreds of people had followed him around the side of the lake to hear him teach and heal the sick. He needed a rest and some time to pray. Going just a bit up the coast was not going to be enough. At evening, people would not follow him around to the other side of the lake.

He lay down in the boat to rest and he slept deeply. He didn’t notice the beginning of the storm. His friends did their best to handle it on their own, keeping the boat afloat and heading in the right direction. But eventually the waves got so big they were crashing over the top of the boat. There was real danger they would all die in the storm. That’s when they woke Jesus.

To their amazement, he didn’t seem at all worried, just puzzled that they were so frightened. “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

Although they had been traveling with him, hearing the stories he told about the Kingdom of God, learning the deeper meanings of the stories, and seeing the miracles of healing bodies and minds, they still saw him as a prophet or a wise teacher. But now he can calm a storm? That is mind-blowing. “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” (Mk 4:35-41)

Job also had an encounter with God. He knew he was dealing with the Lord God, but he had not had a happy experience in the process. His entire family had died, his business and wealth were gone, his friends had abandoned him or tried to convince him he must be a great sinner to be so severely punished by God. Job believed in the depth of his being that all of this had happened unjustly. So, he confronted God and stated the reasons why he believed God had acted unjustly.

God responded to Job’s accusations and a conversation developed. God spoke to him from out of a storm, “Who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb…?” God pointed out the clouds he had made, the darkness at night, the shoreline that kept the sea from sweeping over all the land. If he could do all of that, who was Job to complain of injustice?

Their conversation continued. Eventually, having proved Job’s faithfulness in the face of tragedy, God restored his fortunes. Nevertheless, the lost family could never be restored, only replaced with a new family. And hopefully, the suffering he endured could only help him become more compassionate. (Jb 38:1, 8-11)

So how do we understand storms, figuratively in stories and in the hard times of our lives and/or literally and physically in the world around us? Why does suffering come? Who is in control of the forces of nature? Who controls our behavior to and with each other? Where does Christ come into the story?

In our Christian tradition, we return to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. He was a man, an ordinary guy as far as anyone knew, who had a role and an origin no one suspected and we can’t really explain logically. Truly human and truly divine. One in being with the Father. Yet he lived an ordinary human life, followed the call he received at his baptism, shared the truths he had come to understand about the Kingdom of Love, the Kingdom of God, and eventually died because he would not deny who he was and what he had come to understand of God’s love and plan for all of us. He was raised from the dead and we all have a very special life because of him.

St. Paul reminded the folks in Corinth that all changed once Jesus died and was raised again from death to life. Those who live believing in him no longer live for themselves. Those who live in Christ are “a new creation: the old things have passed away … new things have come.” (2 Cor 5:14-17)

The storms of life come and go. Sometimes they blow very strongly and we wonder if we will survive. They may come upon us quickly, like a storm that blows up suddenly at sea. Other times we see them coming from a distance and have time to prepare.

Storms never last forever. The sun comes out again. New life sprouts. It’s not that God causes storms to punish folks. Rain comes with storms and waters the earth. Crops grow, the land blooms, and life moves forward.

Like the people of Corinth, the disciples in the boat, and even Job so many years ago, we don’t always understand what is happening. But we live in Christ. We are a new creation. We have a well-founded hope and confidence that new things have come. All will be well.

This week, may we all keep our eyes open to see the Lord’s presence in the events of our daily lives: the people we meet, the challenges we face, the joys we experience, the surprises that cross our paths. The Lord is there with us in the boat. We never need to be afraid, even when the winds blow wildly, or the whining engine of the electric bus wakes us in the night!

Readings for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jun 16, 2024

New Shoots and Unending Hope

The branch had been cut off the tree and set to the side of the yard to dry out and become firewood. It was a pretty long branch, probably one that had branched off from the trunk years ago. It sat in the sun and didn’t know it was supposed to be dead and drying out. Spring came as usual, and new shoots sprouted from the branch. They began to grow just as if they were still on the mother tree.

I don’t know how long the new growth will be sustained, but many trees have grown from the trunks, stumps, or branches of other, older trees, which have fallen in the forest or been cut down and used for firewood or building useful things such as homes. I was reminded of the song from the St. Louis Jesuits, “Wood Hath Hope,” as I saw that branch, sitting up in the air with only non-living things supporting it, and new shoots sprouting hopefully in the sun and rain of a mid-June day.

Centuries ago, when the Jewish people were in exile in Babylon, Ezekiel spoke of a tender shoot torn from the top of a cedar. (Ezek 17:22-24) In this case, the reference to the shoot came after a series of reflections on the social and political destruction of the city of Jerusalem which led to the exile. The city was destroyed in 586 BCE. Yet as a member of the community of survivors in exile in the country responsible for the destruction of their own, Ezekiel could speak of hope and new birth.

The small bit of the mighty cedar from which the Lord God plucked it will now be planted on a tall, tall mountain in the highlands of Israel. As such shoots do, this one will grow and itself become a mighty tree in which birds can build their nests. Ezekiel tells us that all the trees of the field will learn from this that the Lord is working among them, building up the low trees and bringing down the high ones.

Like all prophecies, the story has a deeper meaning. The Lord cares for the lowly, protects and supports the lowly. In contrast, those who are strong and powerful, who don’t think they need the Lord’s protection and help, will fall.

For Ezekiel and those in exile with him, this prophecy gave hope that one day they would return home to Israel and Jerusalem might once again be restored. In time, that did indeed happen. Persia conquered Babylon and Cyrus, king of Persia, sent the Jewish people back to their land.

Jesus also spoke of small things becoming bigger. (Mk 4:26-34) He described a farmer who went out into a field and scattered his seeds. As the days passed, the seeds grew and eventually became ripe for harvest. Many grains grew from the seeds scattered on the field. The harvest was rich and more grain was available for sale or use by the farmer and also for planting the next year.

Another story described a tiny seed as comparable to the kingdom of God, a mustard seed. These tiny seeds were among the smallest we see, but they grew large enough to be like trees, sheltering and feeding birds and other small animals. I wrote about mustard seeds three years ago and invite you to read about them again today.

Jesus used stories to teach the people he met along the way each day. He took time to explain the stories to his closest friends, so they would know what he meant by them and not draw the wrong conclusion about the points he was trying to make. However, he knew that as humans, we remember stories better than long, drawn-out explanations. A story is nearly always a good place to start.

After we have spent a while pondering the stories and doing our best to live according to the lessons we have heard, we reach a point of trying to explain why we keep going and what it all means for us. St. Paul was no exception. He took time to explain to the community at Corinth what it had all come to mean for him and would ultimately mean for them. (2 Cor 5:6-10) He spoke of being at home in the body and at home with the Lord. We have two homes, he explained. The body is the reality of how we live here as humans, from infancy through the end of our lives. Being at home with the Lord is a way of saying we have ended our bodily life here with families, friends, and the realities of eating, drinking, working, playing, sleeping, and so forth. We now experience family, friends, and those who have come before us in a totally new and amazing way. We are with the Lord, the source of all life, true unending and limitless love.

To the extent we are really honest with ourselves and others, daily life is not always a garden of roses! There are hard things we have to experience and learn. There are wonderful times as well. With any luck at all, the wonderful times will be remembered clearly. However, all too often, we remember the hard times more quickly. We tend to forget that the everyday, ordinary things are far more common. Because they are so ordinary – is that why we forget them?

Paul reminds us that our lives here will come to an end. When that day comes, and we meet the Lord in person in our new home, we will remember much that has happened that we may prefer be forgotten. With the Lord’s help, may we also remember the many joys and blessings of the times we may have forgotten in which we really did meet the task set out for us from the beginning – to grow like a sprout on the branch of a tree, or a seed in a field, or a bird in a nest on a great mustard plant that grew from a tiny seed, easily overlooked as insignificant.

This is our challenge today. Where are we planted? What kind of plant are we meant to be? How will we grow and blossom to produce the fruit or grain needed by the One who tossed out the seed or plucked us from a different tree and planted us here? At best, we will simply move through our days, offering a smile, a gentle word, a greeting, a hand, a moment of silent companionship for those whose journey also continues alongside our own. And when the day comes that we go home to the Lord, may we all see the wonder of the tapestry of life that our times together have created.

Readings for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Jun 9, 2024

How Do We Explain What We Experience?

Many years ago, I went with a Girl Scout troop to Disneyland. It was a rather unusual trip, because there were only two girls left in the troop and both were graduating Seniors. One girl’s father had passed away and her mother had no one with whom to leave her other child, so the girl’s brother came along too. The other girl’s young nephew came along because her mother, the Scout Leader/Grandmother, was caring for the child.

After a busy and enjoyable day in which the girls and other family enjoyed the more exciting rides and toddler and Grandmother enjoyed the more sedate ones, all joined for dinner. After dinner, there was the usual performance that closes the evening. The toddler played happily as the show unfolded. Music blared over the surrounding area. As the story became more complex, the music became pensive, excited, threatening, suspenseful, foreboding, and so forth. Each time the storyline took a different twist or turn, the music clued in the audience about how they were to feel and what was going on in the narrative.

The only one who clearly was unaffected was the toddler. He simply played happily, climbing up the fence rails, running up and down the sidewalk and otherwise enjoying the world in which he found himself. The music told him nothing. There was no nonverbal explanation of the story for him to experience, because he didn’t have words to put with the music that would tell the meaning without saying them. A frightening story evoked no fear in him. Similarly, when the story’s ending proved to be happy, that also produced no reaction of happy satisfaction for him.

How we explain what we experience depends on our family and cultural stories of how things came to be. The same essential phenomenon may be explained in many different ways. Each culture has its stories to explain “the whys and wherefores” of the world as experienced day to day. We hear those stories and they become our worldview and fundamental explanatory system as we grow from infancy into adulthood.

The Hebrew scriptures begin with stories of how everything came to be the way they are. Two separate stories are told, because there are different questions requiring answers. In the first story, we hear how God created the heavens and the earth and found them all good. In that story, humans were created and given stewardship over creation. Men and women were created as equals and all was pronounced good.

In the second story, humans are formed from the clay of the earth and placed in a beautiful Garden. Again, men and women are created to be equals. The garden is filled with everything the people might want and they are free to explore and take advantage of it all. The only restriction is that they may not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil or of the Tree of Life. There is an opponent of the Lord God in this story, the Deceiver (aka Satan). This Deceiver enters the garden and starts talking with the woman who becomes mother of all humans, Eve. He asks her about the Lord’s prohibition on eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, then convinces her to taste the fruit. Once she tastes it, she encourages her husband, Adam, to taste as well. Once they taste the fruit, they become aware of their difference from the rest of the beings in the garden. They hide from the Lord when He comes to walk with them in the beauty of the evening, noting that they are naked. The Lord realizes that they have taken/received knowledge they previously had never even suspected existed. They had been like the toddler at Disneyland, unaware and gloriously untouched by the pain and suffering of separation from the One who loved and created them. Now they hide from him.

In the Hebrew story, the man and his wife must bear the consequences of their action. The serpent (Satan) also had to experience consequences as he was condemned to travel on his belly for the rest of time. He and humans would become enemies. But for humans, a different kind of consequence resulted. They were escorted out of the Garden in which they had been created and in which they lived closely with the Lord. They could not return there – no turning back time. Now they would live by their work. They would experience hardship and conflict. They would die eventually. (Gen 3:9-15)

Sometimes we hear these stories and think about the consequences as punishment. What would life here have been like if we humans and our ancestors had never disobeyed the Lord by tasting and receiving knowledge of Good and Evil? Would they/we have remained as innocent as young children forever? When a child doesn’t grow past the innocence of early childhood, we protect and care for them, knowing that something is seriously different about their experience of life and the world. Such children may grow in age, but they don’t grow in the way a normal child will mature into adulthood.

An important insight from this second story of creation is that the evil and the conflicts we see and experience in our world are not the result of a creation that is itself a rivalry or duality between forces of good and forces of evil. In this Hebrew explanation of the source of evil in the world, we see human free will as the source of the conflict. Humans can choose how to react to the call of the Lord. They can hear and obey (listen deeply) or they can hear and choose not to live by the rules of the Lord.

Yet, who can know what the world would ever be if humans had remained in the Garden of Eden? Would we be truly human? We certainly would be different. Nowhere nearly as attuned to discord. But would we appreciate beauty and cooperation as well if we had never experienced their absence?

The story of the closing of Eden to humans continues with a brief statement that the Lord made clothing for Adam and Eve and helped them learn how to live on the land and provide for themselves and others. In essence, they now got to learn how to find or grow and prepare food. They got to make clothing and learn how to stay warm and dry at night or on rainy days. They got to have children, not painlessly, but with the promise of others with whom to share love, discovery, and companionship. They became adults, with all the joys and struggles of adulthood. They also still had a great Love underlying this process and supporting them in it.

This theme of responsibility for actions and of the trickery of the Deceiver flows through the Scriptures, both Hebrew and Christian. Jesus is accused of driving out demons by using the power of a demon. He notes that such a reality would be ridiculous and points out that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives, helping us to see the difference between good and evil and to choose the good. Our relationships are broader than just our biological and social families. Our families are those with whom we share a common love and faithful obedience to the Lord’s call of us to holiness, to choose the good now that we have seen the contrast between good and evil. (Mk 3:20-35)

St. Paul talks about the spirit of faith that leads us to speak of what we have seen and experienced of the love of the Lord. Opposition will come, but that will pass. It is transitory, not at all comparable with the glory of eternity that will be open to those who, having grown up and tasted the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil now choose the good. Those who follow the wisdom of that tree can be confident that they will live in God’s kingdom when all is said and done. (2 Cor 4:13-5:1)

These early stories are not intended to be scientific explanations of how everything came to be or why things happen the way they do. They are poetic images, music in the night, that help us understand what is going on and where we fit into the picture. They offer hope for us today and into the future. Life is not easy. It’s not always an Eden. But the Lord God didn’t stay in Eden after locking the door as humans moved into the world. The Lord God came with them and remains with all of us as we too make our way through the challenges of life, choosing goodness and accepting the results of our choice to follow.

As we move through our week, may we be open to learn new ways of living from our God. Where will we find him present? What music of life will we hear that tells us we are moving from danger into safety in our stories? What choices will we make this week that lead those who are alone or afraid into a place of acceptance and courage?

The Lord God is with us. May we be always aware of his presence and open to love.

Readings for the Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on May 19, 2024

Covenants Renewed and Transformed

The feast of Pentecost began as a harvest festival in Israel. By the time of Jesus’ life, it had become a festival celebrating the gift of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, when Moses went up the mountain to meet the Lord and returned with the tablets of the Law. It was a festival celebrating and renewing the covenant between the Lord and the Jewish people.

Fifty days after the Resurrection, and after Jesus had been taken from their sight at the Ascension, the apostles and close followers of Jesus were gathered in a room in Jerusalem to pray, as Jesus had instructed them to do. This day was the feast of Pentecost. A loud noise began in the room, like a mighty wind on a mountain top, and flames that looked like tongues of fire appeared over the heads of those gathered there. On Mt. Sinai, there had been a loud wind, flames, and a loud voice signaling the presence of the Lord. Now these were being experienced in a room in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit swept into each person in that room and they were transformed. No longer frightened and hiding in fear for their lives, they began to praise the Lord boldly and speak of what they had seen and heard, using languages they had never before spoken.

Folks outside noticed the uproar and wondered what was happening. Jews from all over the world were there for the feast and noticed that what they were hearing was in the languages of all the surrounding countries, including Rome. More surprising, what they heard was the disciples telling of “the mighty acts of God.”

The reading from Acts of the Apostles for this feast of Pentecost stops at this point, but the actual story goes on. Peter went out and spoke to the crowd, telling them about the Resurrection and the new covenant that God was establishing with all who would believe and follow the Lord Jesus. Large numbers of people believed and the growth of the community began in earnest on that day.

This day of Pentecost was the fulfillment of a promise Jesus made before his death. St. John speaks of the promised Advocate who would come and testify to the disciples of the truth that Jesus had taught them. They in turn were to go out to the world and testify to what they had heard. Since so much of what Jesus had taught them was still hard to comprehend, the Advocate, the Spirit of truth, would come and guide them to understand it. In this, the Advocate would make clear the meaning of what Jesus had received from the Father and shared with them.

This process of understanding all they had heard was only beginning at the first Pentecost. Many controversies, many changes, many years of discussing and coming to new understandings awaited the community. When folks with one set of ideas came to town and began to teach ideas different than those initially presented by Paul or the other apostles, it became necessary for these leaders to remind members of the communities that were in turmoil what the fundamental teaching was. One major conflict revolved around how much of the ancient Jewish Law was to be required of new members of the community, particularly those who were Gentiles. Did they need to become Jews? What did it mean to live by the Spirit? Did that mean by the ancient Law or something else?

St. Paul devoted many of his letters to dealing with these questions. How do we recognize life in the Spirit? Paul explained that living by the spirit meant denying many kinds of actions we commonly see among humans – actions that have negative effects on life in community or family. Instead, living in the Spirit would result in what he called “the fruit of the Spirit … love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” These things are all signs of the presence of the Spirit in our lives. We receive the gifts we need to serve the Lord in the ways He calls us to serve the community. And together we become one body of Christ.

All of this brings us to some important questions. What does it mean to live in the Spirit today? Has that changed from what it was in the past? Was it all set in stone nearly two thousand years ago? Or are there new understandings that can come to us today?

How does our covenant with God become renewed and transformed through the centuries. At the time of the Apostles and early Christians, there was an expectation that Jesus would return in glory within at most a hundred years or so, maybe even sooner. But that didn’t happen.

As our community of faith has continued and grown through the centuries, many men and women have pondered these questions. Many wise ones have written their thoughts, observations, insights into living in the Spirit. The teachings have been organized, categorized, shaped into traditions and ways of doing things (laws). They have grown and developed along with the growth of knowledge in science, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, literature, and all the many areas of human inquiry.

As we today deal with new questions that arise from the realities of our lives, as well as some very old challenges dating from the dawn of human history, how do we know what the Spirit is guiding us to do? What do we bless? What do we reject? What do we seek to transform? How do we determine which is the option to which the Spirit is calling us?

We can go back to a fundamental insight from Paul – when we are under the Spirit, we are not bound by old laws that do not lead to the blossoming and development of the fruit of the Spirit. If it’s not loving, joyful, peaceful, and so forth, then it may not be of the Spirit. But if it is, and if it includes more people and opens the gates to loving patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, kindness, and self-control, then we know the Spirit is present.

God’s time is not our own. The gifts of the Spirit and their fruits are ever new in our lives. The covenant is continually being renewed and transformed. We open our eyes to the insights of our contemporary world. We recognize that many things we humans believed in the past might not have been totally accurate. We admit that we don’t yet know everything. And we keep our ears and eyes open to see where the Spirit will lead us now.

It’s Pentecost. We rejoice this week that the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, is here among us – teaching, guiding, laughing, playing, and bringing joy and peace to our hearts.

Alleluia.

Readings for the Feast of Pentecost – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on May 11, 2024

Transitions: Waiting, Praying, Growing

What can be done with a broken plate, or cup, or bowl? A beautiful keepsake crashes to the floor and is, as the saying goes, smashed to smithereens! An everyday cup slips out of a child’s hands and meets the same fate. Things break, both literally and figuratively. Sometimes they can be mended. Sometimes they can’t. And sometimes they can be reused rather than being sent to the trash heap.

In our own lives, we also experience times of transition. Something exciting and wonderful comes to an end and we mourn its passing. Something difficult begins to improve and we rejoice, hoping the improvement will continue. Sometimes it’s a bit of both and the something new is born slowly and quietly. Sometimes there’s a sudden change and that also requires time for adjustment.

In these times of transition, when broken pieces wait for realignment and transformation into something beautiful again, we don’t always know what to do. These are times for waiting, praying, and growing into newer, deeper, more human persons.

After the Resurrection, the disciples were visited many times by the Risen Lord. They came to believe that he had indeed risen from the dead. Many still thought he might now lead armies in battle to “restore the kingdom to Israel.”

The last time Jesus met with his friends, he instructed them to remain in Jerusalem and wait “for the promise of the Father” of which both he and his cousin John had spoken, the baptism with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:1-11)

Baptism is a word that means to plunge into something. Baptism with water involves having water poured over the person being baptized or their being submerged into water. Baptism with the Holy Spirit is not a physical thing. In the sacrament of Confirmation, the Bishop anoints the person with chrism and lays hands on the person’s head, while together we pray with him for the Holy Spirit to enter into their hearts in a new and deeper, transformative way. Not everyone experiences a sense of something being different in their lives after Confirmation, but there is a difference and some do notice it. Sometimes, the difference is dramatic. In the early Church and at various times in the following centuries, the coming of the Spirit has been seen in the community with signs and wonders – speaking in tongues, prophesy, healings, and other wonderful things.

At any rate, whether with dramatic signs or simply with a quiet sense of peace, Jesus promised the disciples would be baptized, plunged into, the life of the Holy Spirit. How that would happen or what it would mean was not explained before he was taken up and away from their sight. Two men, dressed in white, reminded them that they were to return to Jerusalem to wait and pray for the fulfillment of the promise. And so they did. The men also promised that Jesus would return one day. How or when this would happen was for the Father alone to know, he assured them.

St. Mark also spoke of Jesus’ final words before being taken up into heaven. He told them to “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel, the good news, to every creature.” Signs and wonders would accompany their preaching. We can get very literal in understanding the words in the Gospel, but I suggest it’s important to seek understanding in terms of what we have learned in two thousand years about humans and our interactions with each other. People would be healed, new words and ways of speaking would be used, dangerous things would not hurt them. All would see the goodness of God in their lives and actions. (Mk 16:15-20)

St. Paul instructed the community at Ephesus regarding the gift of living their lives as Christians, followers of the Lord. The eyes of their hearts will be opened to see and understand the great hope and power of the inheritance they have received through the Holy Spirit’s anointing. They are to live with humility, gentleness, patience, preserving the unity of the community with peace. They are one body and share in the one Spirit, received through their baptism. Some are to go out publicly and teach and preach. Others will live more quietly in their communities, doing the regular things expected of those with their calling – parents, homemakers, tradesmen, teachers, healers, software engineers, doctors, lawyers, scientists, astronauts, poets, musicians, and so many, many more vocations that have opened through the centuries. (Two reading options – Eph 1:17-23 or Eph 4:1-13)

We are all called to be preachers of the Good News. We are not all called to do it on the street corners or pulpits of our communities. We do it in the everyday way we live our lives. Forgiving when we have been hurt. Helping those to heal who have been wounded, whether physically or emotionally. Finding ways to make living as Christians fun for our families, and preparing each member to be able to hold on to the hope and joy of the Good News while dealing with the opposition they will meet outside the community.

As a community, we are like a great big mosaic that is being created by our Father. He takes each of the broken pieces of our lives, places each in a very specific place in the design he envisions, and creates something beautiful and unexpected. Meanwhile, we wait, pray, and grow, becoming the pieces he needs for the mosaic.

As we wait and pray this week for the coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives once again at Pentecost, may we have the courage to request the grace of being open to the ways the Father will shape and mold us into the pieces he needs for his mosaic. It may take a bit of sanding, nipping off a corner here or there, or being turned around or upside down several times, but eventually, we will fit into the picture just the way we need to fit.

Readings for The Ascension of the Lord – Cycle B

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on May 5, 2024

Who Gets to Go First?

A group of children get together to play. After some discussion, they decide on a game. It may be a group game or it may be a one-on-one game. If a group game, captains of teams are selected and the group is divided into teams. With a one-on-one game, it’s somewhat easier, as long as the two players have already been selected. If not, then the group must decide which two will play.

Finally, the preliminaries are completed and then the most critical question is asked. Who gets to go first? Is it the player with the red markers or the black markers in checkers? Which team is “up” first in baseball? Who serves first in volleyball? What about chess? Or Chutes and Ladders? Or Candyland? Even games for very young children require addressing this question. Who gets to go first? How is the decision made in a fair way? Sometimes it seems like the team or player who goes first will have the advantage in the entire game. That’s not necessarily the case, but it can feel that way.

In God’s relations with humans, we often think that we are the ones who make the decision about whether God will be part of our lives or not. It’s my decision whether I will pray, or go to church, or have my child baptized, or, or, or. So many possible times that I must make a decision regarding my relationship with what one of my professors, Dr. David Mandelbaum, called “The Transnatural.”

The Transnatural refers to experiences, forces, unexplainable realities that are experienced by peoples around the world. They are often called gods or spirits or demons or other titles, depending on whether they are perceived as positive or negative in their relationship with human life and community. They are beyond our everyday, ordinary understanding of the natural world. Commonly, the term supernatural is assigned to them. However, Professor Mandelbaum suggested that transnatural as a descriptive term takes away the value-laden pre-conceptions with which we look at such experiences when we call them supernatural.

As groups, we also tend to think that our understandings and rules for membership in our community are exclusively ours to determine. But that is not necessarily the case.

Blessedly, whether we are loved and welcomed into God’s family is not determined by our worthiness, our ethnic or racial background, our wealth, our education, our family connections … God is the one who decides, who takes the initiative, who welcomes all.

St. John reports that Jesus told his disciples, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.” How does one remain in his love? By keeping his commandments. He doesn’t say by keeping the Law dating from the time of Moses. He says, “my commandment.” And what is that commandment? “Love one another as I love you.” (Jn 15:9-17)

This love is not one of master and servants or slaves. This love includes self-sacrifice on the part of Jesus, the first lover. He calls his followers friends, – trusted friends, friends with whom he shares his deepest thoughts and even fears. He also shares all he brings from his Father.

Who chose whom in the relationship? “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you…” And because we have been chosen and sent to bear fruit, we may ask the Father for what is needed and we will receive it.

Will it always be what we expect? No, most certainly not. But not because Jesus lies or because the Father doesn’t keep promises. Not everything we think we need or want will be good for us or others in the long run. And God is in it for the long run with us.

Who gets the first move? God does and did. That first move sets things in motion and God is still a player, a companion in the game, with arguably a better view of the final outcome.

St Peter discovered this reality relatively early after the Resurrection. He was traveling and stopped to rest and have lunch. While he waited, he had a vision and in this vision, a large cloth filled with animals was lowered from the sky. A voice ordered him to eat them. But they included ritually unclean animals. He couldn’t eat them. He would become unclean himself. The cloth with the animals went up and down from the heavens three times. Each time the voice from heaven told him, “What God has purified you are not to call unclean.”

As the visions ended, messengers arrived from Caesarea with a request from Cornelius, a centurion in the Roman cohort there. Cornelius had been told in a vision to send a messenger to Peter and ask him to come visit. Cornelius was known to be a good man, God-fearing and respected by the Jewish community. Peter agreed to visit him.

The next day, they went to the home of Cornelius, who welcomed them warmly. He explained that he too had received a vision, instructing him to invite Peter and listen to his words. At that Peter began to tell him about Jesus and all that had happened. While he was speaking, the Holy Spirit swept through the room, descending on Cornelius and his family, who began to speak in tongues and glorify God. Usually, the Holy Spirit’s presence was seen after new believers had been baptized and hands laid upon them invoking the Spirit. When this happened outside the usual order and without any human intervention, Peter realized that non-Jews could also become believers. God had called them too and loved them equally. Cornelius and his family were baptized then and there and entered the community of believers. (Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48)

Once again, God made the first move.

Many years later, reflecting on all he had seen and experienced, John wrote a letter to some of the communities who were struggling with disagreements about the teachings of the apostles and Christian beliefs. John, in this letter, stressed repeatedly that love originates in God. In fact, “God is love.” So we must love each other. Only in love can we know God and only through love does life come to each of us. We can love because we are loved. We have life because we are loved. God loved us first. God got the first turn in the game and dance we all share. The dance and game of life and love itself. (1Jn 4:7-10)

This week, let’s remember how much we are loved and how Love does not exclude anyone. Some folks may be harder to love than others, but love doesn’t mean ‘like’ or ‘do just as others do.’ Love means to care and wish the best for all. Love means to smile and be patient while waiting in line or for someone else to finish before we get our own turn. Love means opening to the beauty of the day, even as the rain pours down and winds blow. Beauty and love surround us and are the very air we breathe and the atmosphere through which we move. God has the first move. Now we get our turn. It’s a wonderful adventure.

Readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter – Cycle B