30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Jeremiah 31: 7-9
2. Psalms 126: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
3. Hebrews 5: 1-6
4. Mark 10: 46-52

1. God, I wish that I could trust you
• Do you ever have trouble trusting God for good things?
• Is it that you're not sure whether God will deliver?
• Or is it that you're not sure that God's idea of "good" is going to match your own?
• What are the stories in your life that give you trust, or make it hard for you to trust God?
• Have you ever shared those with anyone?
2. God is good, all the time
• At Youth Day every year, some squad of youth will start a chant "God is good", and another bank of youth will sing out in reply "all the time!"
• The Jews had a strong sense of a connection to their ancestors in God's salvation history.  Who are your ancestors in salvation history?
• Do their stories inspire you today?
• Do you tell those stories aloud anymore?
• Why or why not?
3. Humility, so necessary, so difficult
• Why do you think that humility is so essential to service?
• Eric reminded us this morning that our first objective as ministers is hospitality.  How does humility make us more hospitable?
• When have you felt welcomed, treasured?
• What can we do to be more welcoming?
4. The big reveal
• We use this reading during the Scrutinies in Lent for the RCIA folks.  But there it's much longer, and covers the gradual conversion of Bartemaeus and the hardening of the hearts of the Pharisees who would not believe that Jesus had performed this healing on a Sabbath.
• Do you identify most with Bartemaeus, the crowd trying to shush him, Jesus Himself?
• Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem for the last time.  Why do you think He would stop to help a simple blind man when He know the importance of what He was about to do?
• Can others in need ever be a distraction for us?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Have I talked to God about what I'll trust Him for and what I cannot?
2. Do I have the courage to hope for God's help?
3. What situations am I in that call for patience?
4. How sensitive to God's promptings about my plans am I?

That Cloak Has to be Here Somewhere

I wonder whatever happened to Bartimaeus' cloak.
I don't suppose that he went back to where he had been begging,
Looking around for it.  I can just see him at the Jericho lost and found:

"What does it look like sir?"
"I don't know.  I've never seen my cloak".
"I see, so you have no idea how we'll identify it."

Maybe someone picked it up as a keepsake.
Someone with vision, who realized how important this event was.
Someone planning to open a gift shop somewhere down the road.

Bartimaeus reminds me of Peter when Jesus walked on the water to them.
Both Bartimaeus and Peter were so impetuous,
They left the safety, the comfort, to be with Jesus.

I can identify with Peter, he lost focus on Jesus
And quickly got reminded of his circumstances.
Bartimaeus never lost sight of Jesus, never faltered.

Some would see Bartimaeus as a distraction for Jesus.
Jesus was on his way to His Passion.
He probably had His course all mapped out.

But He never lost track that He was here to heal to broken,
Bring peace to those estranged and far off.
Bartimeaus wasn't a distraction, he was Jesus' mission.

I pray for distractions like Jesus'
Focus like Bartemaeus'
Courage, even for a moment, like Peter's.

Shalom!