18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15
2. Psalms 78: 3-4, 23-24, 25, 54
3. Ephesians 4: 17, 20-24
4. John 6: 24-35

1. What is it?
• In the Exodus passage 16: 5-11 we read that the Israelites were not to store up any manna from one day to the next, that the manna was literally to be "their daily bread".  Do you think that God gave that to them daily because no one had invented 401K plans yet?
• These days, we have so many ways to hedge ourselves financially with various sorts of insurance.  Some would argue that insurance is intrinsically just gambling dressed up.  What do you think?
• Is there any limit to the trust that we are to put in God?
• How is that trust expressed?
2. Why is it?
• Did God send the Israelites manna in the desert because He was afraid for his servant Moses?
• Maybe it was to teach the Israelites to trust (too bad that everyone who ate the manna in the desert died out there)?
• He didn't want them distracted from the lessons that He wanted to teach them by their want.
• God's just naturally generous.
• What do you think?
3. Renewal
• A renewal is a re founding, a returning to something lost.  Often, that return is not to the same state that had been left behind, but a case of finding new expression for something old and forgotten.  What would you like to renew about your faith personally?
• Do you feel that your family could use some renewal?
• How about our parish?
• Where do we start?
4. The work of God
• One definition of work is "generative activity that builds, constructs, creates new things by combining existing ingredients in new ways for a stated purpose."  What are you working on these days?
• I'm sure I've used this story before, but here goes: "A visitor to Rome once noticed a building under construction.  Being new to the city, he walked up to one of the workers and asked them what they were doing.  The worker proudly said that he was chiseling fine granite blocks that would fit together perfectly to form the walls.  Informed, but unsatisfied, the visitor saw another worker, with drawings spread out in front of him.  This person was directing workers and was obviously in a position of authority.  The visitor put the same question to him.  The worker said that he was a foreman, directing the construction of an building that would stand for centuries, and be a silent witness to the genius of the architect, and the hard work of the builders.  More informed, and more frustrated, the visitor was just about to leave when he saw an old woman sweeping up the scraps of stone left over from the chiseling, and clearing away the dust from the construction.  He asked her what she was doing, and she slowly straightened up from her labors, got a far off look in her haggard face, and said 'I am building a cathedral.'"  Which of them knew best what they were working on?
• Some occupations are easy to see the hand of God in - certainly priests and religious, social workers, teachers, what about your profession?
• How did you get into the work that you're doing today?
• Is that a good enough reason to stay?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What am I grumbling about today?
2. How has God provided for me in the past?
3. How do I keep my desires into their proper place, prevent them from becoming disordered?
4. Am I willing to receive abundance from God on God's terms, or mine?

This is no Picnic for me Either

Lord, me again.
Pretty much everything is done for the day.
The flocks have been brought in, camp is pitched, everyone is in their tent.
I thought it would be good for you and me to have a talk.

When I said that I wanted to help your children,
I don't remember getting any say in how that was going to pan out.
If you had bothered to ask, I might have told you that I'm a really good accountant.
There in Pharaoh's court they taught me how to keep track of resources, coming and going.

Instead, you asked me to get out of my comfort zone,
Get out in front of the mighty Pharaoh
And then, lead this cranky group of whiners through the desert,
To what?  My GPS is shot out here, I have no idea where we're going.

Just once,
I'd like to walk into a situation and feel as though I'm bringing something to the table.
Some part of my past, my makeup that will actually be of use.
Instead, you keep putting me into situations where I feel lost and adrift.

If this is some sort of punishment, I have to say you're being really thorough.
How will I know when you're done?
On the other hand, if you're trying to form me into someone else,
Would you mind telling me what that new Moses will look like, so I recognize him?

Thanks for the breeze just now, that is refreshing.
The stars look so close I feel as though I could touch them.
And, every once in awhile, I see families helping each other
As we make our way through this wasteland.

Help me to be more grateful,
Give me greater trust,
Help me to see everything that you give us, large and small,
And help me find fulfillment in this crazy job that you've given me.

Goodnight God.  Tomorrow's going to be a busy day, I can feel it.

Shalom!

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. 2nd Kings 4: 42-44
2. Psalms 145: 10-11, 15-16, 17-18
3. Ephesians 4: 1-6
4. John 6: 1-15

1. God cares about the small stuff too
• In John 2: 1-11 Jesus turns the water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana.  You have to smile when you think about the Son of God worrying over something that homey.  Of course, he might have just needed a drop or two himself, and was in a generous mood ...
• What of our needs do you think God really cares about?
• How do you distinguish between a need and a mere want?
• How do you find your deepest needs?
2. God's hand in our midst
• During his long journey to eternity, my father got to a place where he didn't speak but rarely.  We never knew if it was that he just didn't think that much needed to be said, or if his mental process was not capable of forming words and sentences by that point, or what the change in his behavior really indicated.  But one day, as his care giver and my mother were tending to him, he smiled and observed "I'm well taken care of."
• Do you feel that God is providing for you well?
• Has that sense of being well provided for been a sure thing in your life, or have there been rocky patches in the past?
• What do those rocky patches tell you about:
• The times that seemed more abundant
• What your future might hold
• God Himself
3. The secret of living together
• Living in community is not for sissies.  Most of us look our best from a distance.  What are some communities that you have lived in?
• What are some of the dimensions of the unity that you shared?  Were you all about the same age, from similar circumstances, with common goals, common beliefs ...?
• What did you do to nurture that community, strengthen that unity?
• Do you think that such techniques would scale to the parish level, or even world wide?
• How would that transform our world?
4. Delegation
• Do you ever wonder if Jesus wasn't being a bit unfair with the disciples?
• At a recent catechetical formation session I was in, they told us not to be talked out of recruiting someone to catechetical ministry because that other person doesn't feel that they have the background or skills, that a calling will emerge as we give of ourselves, and if we make a mistake, it will become evident and we simply move on to another ministry.
• Do you think that the Church can afford to have ministers that are not truly called to what they are doing?
• How do you think that the average person can reliably discern their calling?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Do I trust God?
2. Am I able to see God's provision for me, even if that provision isn't what I expected?
3. Am I generous to those around me who are closest?  Do I give them the benefit of the doubt?  Am I willing to be vulnerable to them, again?
4. Am I willing to unlock miracles in my life?

You Raise Me Up

The danger of mere survival is that it's so seductive.
The threat of outright extinction galvanizes, even energizes the weary,
Knowing that their next move is all in, make or break, do or die.
The threat staring you in the face, fanning you with its hot breath.

But survival, that clever siren beckons with mere adequacy,
Promising more energy, more life tomorrow,
Or at the very least the next day.
Always just one day away from true living.

Hope trumpets a clear battle cry
Cutting through the fog and forest
Even if it is at great distance,
Calling us to rise, confront, conquer.

Hope reminds of our true nature,
Speaks to our true destiny,
Reminding us of where we hail from,
And how we got here.

Be still my heart, hearken to the still small voice,
Find your passion, unleash your potential,
Give generously, even if it's just a few barley loaves,
Because you never know how many will get fed today.

Shalom!

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Jeremiah 23: 1-6
2. Psalms 23: 1-3, 3-4, 5, 6
3. Ephesians 2: 13-18
4. Mark 6: 30-34

1. The sheep have been fleeced
• I'm taking a catechetical formation class which has quite a diversity of ages amongst the students.  One 16 year old told me that he looked to me as a spiritual grandfather after the class had been meeting for a few weeks.  Do you think that you might be a leader/shepherd to someone and not even know it?
• If so, how are we responsible to such people?
• To what extent do they need to know our inner struggles so that they know the "real us"?
• How would we even convey that transparency to a community that we're not even aware of?
• Do you think Jesus might be a blogger if He were alive today?
2. What about this is verdant?
• Do you feel that you have needs that are not getting met?
• Does that mean that maybe God isn't your shepherd, or there are parts of your life that are not as well shepherded as others?
• Or, does that speak to the nature of your needs?
• How do you tell what you really need at a given moment anyway?
3. You've been named in the will
• One retreat exercise that I participated in with the Confirmation kids was that we had a prayer table with candles on it, and everyone was asked to sit in the room close to the prayer table if you felt that you were pretty close to Jesus, and out at the fringes of the room if you felt that your relationship with Jesus was distant in some way or another.  What they didn't tell us was to ignore where everyone else was sitting.
• Do you think that getting close to Jesus automatically means getting closer to everyone else who's close to Jesus?
• What does it mean if two people, both ostensibly ardent disciples of Christ, disagree on some point, maybe how to handle a social injustice, what color to paint the inside of the church, or how to respond to the recent supreme court ruling on gay marriage?
4. If you want to make God laugh, tell Him you have plans
• I'm always fascinated by this passage because, for all the world, it looks as though Jesus was caught by surprise.  You can almost hear Him say to his assistant "Uh oh, looks like we're going to have to cancel that spa appointment for today, too many needy people on the horizon."
• How important is your prayer life to your overall well-being and balance?
• There's literally no end to people in need, no matter where you go, so how do you know when to let someone else take over?
• Do you think that there is a work/life balance needed in our spiritual lives?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to hold the shepherds, at whatever level, accountable for the way that they lead us?
2. How strong is my trust in Jesus to meet my needs?
3. Am I a peacemaker?
4. How flexible am I with regards to how I serve God day to day?

I don't know my hands anymore

Watching the Master lay His hands on others was always awe inspiring.
He always knew just what to say, when to say it, what to do.
People always left Him better than they were before,
Sometimes better in ways they had never anticipated.

We always wondered how He did it, and in the backs of our minds,
We wondered what was going to happen when He inevitably left us,
And we had to carry on without Him.  But that was a long ways off.
Or so we kept telling ourselves.

Once, I tried to imagine what that would be like,
All of us trying to remember.  It might sound something like:
Andrew, you're not doing it right,
I'm sure that He always healed with his right hand.

Or, maybe each of us would have a particular specialty,
One of us would handle the demoniac, another the lame,
Someone else would specialize in those with wounded hearts,
After all, only God can do everything that Jesus did.

But then He sent us out, just two of us together,
And we had to handle all of the needs that shambled toward us.
I look at my hands, and see the roughened flesh
From hauling lines, and mending nets,

I used to know what I was capable of, what my calling was,
It was written large in these familiar hands of mine.
But now I stare at them as a strangers,
And I no longer know what I'm capable of.

Shalom!

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Amos 7: 12-15
2. Psalms 85: 9-10, 11-12, 13-14
3. Ephesians 1: 3-14
4. Mark 6: 7-13

1. I yam what I yam
• Have you ever felt called to a position, role, ministry, only to be told "no"?
• How did you respond to that?
• Did that refusal make you doubt your initial calling?
• How did you work through that?
2. Justice and Peace
• Pope John Paul II was quoted once saying "if you want peace, pray for justice."  Do you think that's reasonable?
• Given the disparity between the resources consumed in the developed world versus the developing world, do we have anything to fear from justice?
• Where do you think more justice is needed close at hand?
• What can we do about that?
3. Passing the baton
• How well do you think that we're doing at forming the next generation of disciples in our families/parishes/as a Church?
• Does that say more about the message, the messengers, or the audience?
• What can we do about that?
• How responsible are we for the ultimate success of the spread of the Gospel?
4. Ite, missa est
• Do you think that our function as individuals in spreading the Gospel changes over time?
• How would you know when such a time of change has come?
• What might be some symptoms of someone who missed God's call into a new/different ministry?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How much am I willing to stake so that I can do God's will in my life?
2. How sensitive am I to violence and injustice in all of their forms?
3. When was the last time that I made a decision based on God's destiny for me?
4. How is my life "good news" to anyone?

Self Esteem Issues

Wow, that last town was a tough crowd.
We really need a better advance team.
Someone who will book us where,
Somewhere we'll be appreciated.

It's just so frustrating to work so hard in a a sleepy village,
Pour your heart and soul into the community,
Only to meet growing resistance, even anger,
Until finally they tell you you'd better leave before "something happens".

Jesus completely changed my life.
Gave me purpose where there was none,
Helped me see my whole life
Whole, in a whole new way.

I know I'm no spellbinding orator, no inspiring preacher,
But we put it all on the line back there, no holding back,
Totally honest, from deep within our hearts,
And and they were afraid of us.  That anger was fear.

But at least that was better,
Better by far than indifference.
The yawns, the indulgent smiles,
As if to say "I've heard it all before."

Win, lose, or draw, it must be important that we've been here,
Or the Master would not have sent us.
But I struggle to see what we've left behind besides a cloud of dust
That is quickly going to settle and be gone.

Shalom!