12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time:

1. Job 38: 2, 8-11
2. Psalms 107: 23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31
3. 2nd Corinthians 5: 14-17
4. Mark 4: 35-41

1. Learning from Creation
• How active do you think God was in creation?
• Did He just set everything up, all the laws of Physics, the constants (like Newton's gravitational constant) and then let it run?
• Do you think that He's still involved in the unfolding of creation?
• What role might we have in that ongoing unfolding of creation?
2. God's rescue
• Think of a time when you can say that God rescued you in some way.
• Is there any way to predict what God will save us from and what He might allow?
• What does that tell you about God?
3. New Purpose
• How can the average person live for God, and yet do practical things like put a roof over their family's heads, put food on the table, clothes on their backs?
• What then does it really mean for someone to live for God?
• How would you be able to tell such a person from the outside?
4. What were we supposed to do?
• What do you think Jesus expected the disciples to do in the boat rather than interrupt His nap?
• How would you distinguish between faith and trust?
• Does faith lead to trust, or the other way around?
• Is your faith and/or trust increasing over the years?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. When was the last time that I asked God where He was calling me?
2. Do I pray to find my place in God's creation, or do I pray for things to turn out my way?
3. What difference does it make that I've given my life to Jesus?
4. How has God been forming me through my life experiences of late?

That sinking feeling

Sometimes, I feel pulled in so many directions at once,
That it's hard to tell where life is taking me,
Or whether there's any real direction at all.

And I wonder just when it was that life became so cluttered,
And I realize that I've added all of these things,
One at a time, until the aggregate was just too much.

I wonder whether there was a magic moment,
When, like a box entirely full,
I would have taken something out before putting something new in.

Or whether there is some organizing principal,
Some lodestone to guide where I put my energies,
To show what requires my energy and no one else's.

Lord,
Give me the strength and wisdom to say "no"
With care and consideration.

That, bit by bit, I carve for myself
A ministry out of the myriad opportunities
Clamoring for my attention.
Shalom!