27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Genesis 2: 18-24
2. Psalms 128: 1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
3. Hebrews 2: 9-11
4. Mark 10: 2-16

1. Boning up on marriage
• One day, in the Garden of Eden, Eve looked at Adam and asked "dear, do you still love me?"  To which Adam replied "who else?"
• Do you think that God cares who we marry?
• If He/She cares, how is it that God guides us to that perfect someone?
• What do you think we're supposed to learn from this story of how Eve came to be, distinct from all of the other creatures, even Adam?
2. Justice for all
• In your life, do you feel that you've been able to enjoy the fruits of your labor?
• Do you think that you've enjoyed all of the fruits of your labor, or have you been only able to enjoy some of those fruits?
• Do you think that justice and fairness are one in the same?
• Why or why not?
3. Cosmos, the sequel
• Do you think that creation is over and done with, or is it still unfolding?
• What do you think God's role is in that continued unfolding?
• What do you think our role is?
• Does that make us co-creators with God? 
4. Getting institutionalized
• Do you think that marriage is a sacrament, an institution, or both and?
• What would that "and" be?
• Do you think that people who are not married benefit at all from marriage?
• What sort of responsibilities does that lay on those of us who are married?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I grateful to God for all His gifts, even the ones that I've had for decades?
2. What am I doing to help others be fruitful in their lives?
3. Do I really trust that I am on God's mind all the time?
4. How am I supporting the health of the sacred relationships around me?

I Married Up

People ask me what I attribute 35 years of marriage to.
If I'm feeling flippant, I'll say: "marry early"
And, of course the corollary: "don't either of you die young."

In a more meditative mood, I might be heard to say:
"I married up and I know that."
Equally important is the fact that she hasn't figured that out yet.

Maybe it's because I've learned that she's always right,
And the only thing that differs from one time to the next,
Is how long it takes me to realize that she's right yet again.

Maybe it's just a matter of experience.
She knows that no matter how stressed I am by pressures on me,
I'll eventually find equilibrium, and my own humanity.

Maybe it's the sure knowledge that I'm my best around her,
And that she gives me courage to be my best
Even when it hurts.

Then again, maybe it's the grown realization
When we look deep into each other's eyes
We don't see the person that we married 35 years ago

But eternity emerging right before us.

Shalom!

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Numbers 11: 25-29
2. Psalms 19: 8, 10, 12-13, 14
3. James 5: 1-6
4. Mark 9: 38-43

1. Are you with us?
• Have you ever been on retreat, been to a particularly moving prayer service or some other "peak moment" and tried to share that with someone who had not been there?
• How can we include others who have not had the same experiences as we have?
• What place should shared lived events have in what makes us one?
2. Cleanse me
• Do you ever feel as though you'd like a full catalog of every sin, so that you could avoid all of them?
• No, or would you prefer that someone gave you a catalog of your every fault so that you knew what about needs to be worked on?
• Without those sorts of helps, how do you assess how your relationship with God is doing day by day?
3. What's important?
• One technique recommended by St. Ignatius for making a decision is to ask yourself how you would have wanted to make the pending decision when you look back on it from your deathbed.  The intent is to give you some objectivity, some distance from the immediate situation and review it from a broader context.
• The hard part is, once you step back into the day to day, you still have to face the immediate implications.
• So, how do you make decisions that will stand the test of time, and get you through today?
• Are you getting better at that process?
4. Being accountable
• Do you see yourself as a leader in any capacity?
• Can you think of anyone who looks to you as an example in one regard or another?
• What sort of responsibilities do you think that brings with it?
• What if you didn't ask for, and don't want those responsibilities of leadership?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What am I doing to bring up the next generation of ministers to replace me?
2. Am I truly present to God in my prayer life?
3. Do I really know what's important in my life?
4. Can I find freedom in being a servant of others?

Mission Sunday

The missionary priest obviously loved the people whom he was serving back home.
His stories of them were earthy, intimate, warm and loving.

He didn't just want to share these stories with us, he wanted to share the people:
His friends, family, the fulfillment of his dreams, the reason that he is here.

And he wanted to share us with them as well.  Show that we cared, that we felt,
And that we could be generous even over thousands of miles of separation.

And I thought to myself how lucky we were to have someone like this
Out there showing the face of Christ to His flock.

And I wondered how he received his call, by what measured stages
He had made the trek to this tiny way station of humanity.

His influence is easy to pick out, the villagers who rely on him to speak truth to them
Easy to spot in a crowd, easy to reach out to and touch.

But for me, I wondered.
Who is looking at me for the face of Christ, who are they seeing?

Is the Christ that that I am showing kind and merciful,
Full of grace and generous with grace?

Or do they see a Christ of borders and boundaries,
A Christ of requirements and restrictions?

I hope to hear from them before Christ Himself lets me know.

Shalom!

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Wisdom 2: 12, 17-20
2. Psalms Psalms 54: 3-4, 5, 6-8
3. James 3: 15-4:3
4. Mark 9: 30-37

1. Taking care of things
• In Semitic cultures, shame is a prime motivator.  And it's not just fear of shame for one's own self, but the family, the entire village's name is at stake when one contemplates a shameful act, or a shameful outcome.
• I'm going to hazard a guess that perhaps the closest modern analog is success.  The more open minded of us are willing to define "success" in broader, more generous terms, but we still cling to a desire to succeed by some measure.
• My father grew up (during the depression) with the goal to own a brick house, be married, have two kids, a dog, and a Buick, not necessarily in that order.  What's your definition of success in life?
• What would you consider to be an abject failure in your life?
• If you no longer feared failure, how might you live differently?
• Would you be bolder, braver, holier?
2. God's name
• What are you happy about these days?
• How much of that would you credit to God's unfailing love for you?
• Do you think that God would appreciate some gratitude?
3. More than a passion fancy
• What are you passionate about?
• Do you think those strong feelings could be from God?
• To what extent are those passions evident in your life?
• If someone (like Matthew Kelly for instance) were to tell you that God delights in fulfilling your dreams because He gave you those dreams, what difference would that make? 
4. Receiving the marginalized
• John Flaherty used to try to comfort me by telling me that I'm a better liturgist and musician than he is an engineer.  I never had the heart to tell him that I'm an Information Technology guy, not really an engineer.  Sometimes differences like that just aren't the point.
• I think, in his own pithy way, John was trying to tell me to celebrate my own genius, my own talents, and not try to compare myself to others.
• And beyond that, move beyond the need for comparison with others to a place where one thing alone matters: drawing closer to God.
• Do you think that anything that really matters is not found in God?
• What do you think it takes before we really believe that in our hearts?
• How might we live differently if we really believed that?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to trust God to tell me what makes for success?
2. Do I recognize God's help and support every time that God gives that support?
3. Have I thanked God for my passions lately?
4. Do I desire true humility?

Finding Myself

The problem with dreams is two fold: they may be too small, or they may be inauthentic.

Too small a dream, too small a departure from the day to day, and you find yourself settling

For something that seemed like the ultimate, the very best that you could be, could manage.

The inauthentic dream, the dream that someone else has given you, will rot you from within

Because it takes too much courage to admit that you sold everything for an empty field

With no pearl of great price in it after all.  It's not the investment that hurts, its the embarrassment.

But the greatest fear is that pursuing your dreams, and falling short leave you with the question:

If I'm not a poet, a teacher, a prophet among my own, a ... then what, who am I?  What now?

And so we don't risk exposing our dreams to the light.  Better to brood on them, and risk nothing.

A coward dies a thousand deaths

A brave man dies but once

Freedom from fear is freedom indeed.

Leaving fear of freedom itself

As the last great frontier between who I am today

And who I was born to be.

Shalom!

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 50: 4c-9a
2. Psalms 116: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
3. James 2: 14-18
4. Mark 8: 27-35

1. Disgrace is only skin deep
• In Semitic cultures, a man's beard is a deeply personal metaphor for his vitality, his strength, his very manhood.  To pluck it is not only painful, but a direct attack on his essence.
• What are some things in your life that you hold very personally?
• Your job,
• Your home,
• Your family?
• To what extent would you be able to trust those to God?
2. God is here, whether we see Him or not
• What are some sources of pain in your life:
• Insecurity
• People who don't/won't understand and appreciate you
• Stresses from more demands on you than you can easily meet?
• Why do you think that we experience such things?
• Are they all from God?
• How can we feel, really feel, God's presence in spite of such trials?
3. Mercy inoculations
• If we have a "Faith and Justice" committee at the parish, a group to feed the homeless, is that enough?  What more can God want of me?
• If I gave to the mission last year, what more can God want of me?
• If I took my Confirmation class to feed the homeless downtown, what more can God want of me?
4. Looking for success in all the wrong places
• Every mother wants to be proud of her son.  Do you think that Mary was proud of Jesus during His passion?
• I can see her at the hair-dressers getting ready for Ascension Thursday.  One of the other patrons says "So Mary, I hear that your son got killed by the Romans.  Such a pity.  It's happening all over.  My cousin Rachel's boy was a zealot and they made quick work of him, let me tell you, oy vey."
• Can you see Mary saying "my son, my boy, was scourged, half dragged, half prodded through town like some sorry freak show up to the place of execution where so many of our sons have died before him.  He was hung from a tree between two common criminals.  That hill, that hill was so lonely.  All of his disciples, all of them had disappeared, but John, me, and some of the women of his company.  His once beautiful face distorted by ripples of agony screaming through his body as he hung there, that face looked at me, and I knew that he was there for me, for us, for all of us, and I knew deep agony, and a deeper peace all at once.  And yes, I am proud, proud of my beautiful boy, the joy of my heart.  I mourn for Rachel's son, for all men and women chained unjustly, their dignity stripped from their flayed shoulders, their humanity drowned in pain and shame, and I pray that you will do the same.
• Mary probably had a tough time getting an appointment after that.
• So what is success, what does it look like?  Our world has all sorts of indicators, trappings of success.  What does a Christ-like success look like?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to trust God to tell me what makes for success?
2. Do I see myself as one of God's little ones, needing His protection, His support?
3. Is my community more just today than it was a year ago because of me?
4. How humble am I willing to be?

Shalom!