5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 6: 1-2a, 3-8
2. Psalm 71: 138: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8
3. 1 Corinthians 15: 3-8, 11
4. Luke 5: 1-11

1. Here I am ...
• Those of us who are hard-working and motivated are all about proper preparation for a task.  How do you think God feels about that?
• If you feel called into something, a ministry, a job, parenthood, marriage, and feel totally unprepared, does that mean that you don't have a calling into that role?
• When you've ventured out of your comfort zone to follow a leading, 
• Did you find that you were more prepared than you thought?
• That the new venture required less of you than you thought?
• That you got a lot of "on job training" along the way?
• All of the above?
• None of the above?
2. Witness talks
• When someone else gives a "witness talk" about how God intervened in their life and helped them out, how does that make you feel?
• Inspired and hopeful
• Envious
• Happy for them but still doubtful that this could ever happen to you
3. All on the same page
• How do you explain the diversity between well meaning Christ groups on such things as ordaining women to the priesthood, papal infallibility, and other dogmas?
• How can you tell which beliefs are fundamental, that is to say they form the foundation of our relationship to God, versus beliefs that are less pivotal, less a requirement for God's graces?
• How can we be sure that we're accurately passing along not just the truths of our faith that can be articulate in words, but what it is like to be in relationship with Jesus?
4. Do not be afraid
• What fears are you dealing with in your life most frequently?
• Imagine Jesus telling you that you have nothing to fear from that.  What do you think might be the reason(s) that He's telling you not to fear because:
• It's all going to work out in the end.
• What you're afraid of is nothing to compared to what you ought to be afraid of.
• Your life is about to change in ways that you could never have imagined, and your present fears are about to be set in a whole new context.
• What you fear is going to happen, but Jesus is going to be there with you.
• Some combination of the above.
• What do you find comforting about following Jesus?
• What do you find scary about following Jesus?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to let God tell me what I'm ready for and what I'm not ready for?
2. Am I willing to let God find strength in me in places I didn't know of or want to know of?
3. Am I willing to pass along all of my faith, not just that part which can be put into words?
4. Am I willing to set aside my worries?

I Hate it When You're Right

There used to be this series on TV called Kung Fu about a young man

Rescued and raised by monks in a monastery.

The master had a simple test to tell when the young boy was ready

All he had to do was to snatch a pebble from the blind master's hand.

Would that life were so simple for the rest of us.

Leaving our comfort zone because it's gotten too small for us is never easy.

But what often makes it even harder is the gnawing feeling that we're not ready for the outside

Or that the outside is not quite ready for us.

That "outside", that next frontier may seem coldly indifferent to our passage.

But we have the power to fashion our horizons as we go,

If only we are able to venture into them at the proper time,

In the proper direction, with the proper attitude.

Oddly, the first sign that it may be time to move is the sense that the present is too comfortable,

When the limits of our questing gaze begin to implode.

The hard part is to be always in a state of readiness for the next thing,

To mentally have your bags packed, say all the things that need saying, no regrets holding you back.

It's hard to snatch that pebble if you don't see a need for it to begin with.

Shalom!

4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Jeremiah 1: 4-5, 17-19
2. Psalm 71: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15, 17
3. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-13
4. Luke 4: 21-30

1. Ready or not ...
• God doesn't wait for us to be ready, just willing.
• When are some times that, looking back now, you can see that God moved in your life before you really felt ready for that change, that movement?
• How did you manage to get out of your comfort zone?
• What were the rewards?
2. You rock!
• If someone were to tell you that you are a rock in their life, what would you think that they mean?
• Do you think that God sends others into our life to be that rock for us?
• If someone did tell you that you are a rock for them, how would that change things for you?
• Shouldn't you live that way all of the time anyway?
3. Hope and endurance meet
• Thinking back on the tough times in your life, were they all about just putting your head down and plowing through, or was there something else animating your passage through those seasons?
• Do you feel that there is always hope?
• What would that hope be in, or for?
• As you've matured, has your hope grown stronger?
• Why is that?
4. Claiming your identity
• You've just stepped into an elevator and there's only one other person there.  They turn to you and ask "who are you?" totally out of context.  How are you going to answer them in the next 10 floors on that elevator?
• Now let's say that you are at a religious education conference.  Same scenario.  What would you say then?
• Change the scene again, you find yourself standing next to someone at a funeral.  You don't know this other person, but they turn to you and ask the same question.  How would you answer them?
• Why are the answers different?  What is the same about them?  What does that say about who we are from one situation to another, what face of Christ we are revealing?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to pray to be indifferent to my present circumstances, be willing to pick up and venture into unknown territory for God?
2. Am I really bearing the responsibility for those who are counting on me, both the ones that I'm aware of and the ones that I am not?
3. Am I willing to follow God even if I feel utterly lost?
4. Am I willing to be bold in my ministry? 

Shalom!

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the ThirdSunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
2. Psalm 19: 8, 9, 10, 15
3. 1 Corinthians 12: 12-14, 27
4. Luke 1: 1-4, 4: 14-21

1. Celebrating the Liturgy of the Word
• Too bad that no one thought to write down the commentary that Ezra gave on the Book of the Law when he read and interpreted it to the people.  What background do you think Ezra had that equipped him to interpret the law to the people?
• Do you think that God's word needs interpretation?
• Is that interpretation something that we can/should do strictly alone, in a faith sharing setting, or both?
• Where do you get your faith sharing?
2. You are what you think
• Each week we seek forgiveness and God's mercy for since of thought, word, and deed.  How do your thoughts influence your actions?
• How can our words influence our actions?
• If you know in your mind that your beliefs need to change, but your heart is not in it, is it possible to gradually change your heart merely by verbalizing something that your mind assents to?
• If that is the case, does reciting the Creed each week make us better people?
3. You are only as healthy as your sickest member
• Unity seems in short supply Christians these days.  What sort of priority do you think that should have among all of the things that we collectively and individually are dealing with in these times?
• Is achieving wholeness within God's people something that is only a concern to the leaders of our various groups?
• What can we do to help?
4. Standing your ground
• It's helpful to ask yourself from time to time why the Lectionary readings are organized the way that they are.  This week's Gospel is something of a cliff hanger.  Jesus makes what must have seemed an astounding declaration, and then we pause in the narrative for a week-long commercial break.  Don't miss out next week for the stirring conclusion.
• Do you think that you have an anointing?
• Do you think that you need to broadcast that anointing to those around you?
• When was the last time that you told someone that you felt called of God into some ministry, some change in your career, some decision in your life?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How am I growing in God's word today, this week, this year?
2. Am I willing to be convinced of the truth of something, even if it takes me out of my comfort zone into uncharted waters?
3. Am I willing to grow closer to God by dialog with others who many not hold my views?
4. Am I willing to be bold in my ministry?

Gifted and Anonymous

We've all found ourselves in a room full of strangers.
Standing awkwardly, libation in hand, wondering
Wondering how long before the social torture ends
And you can go home, curl up with a good book,
And enjoy the company of someone who understands.

You decide to make the best of it, and try to strike up
Strike up a conversation with the person next to you.
You consider the usual openers, like "what do you do?"
Or, "whereabouts are you from?" to start things off.
Instead, unbidden, you utter "who are you, really?"

And that other person gazes long into your eyes
Looking to see if you really meant the question.
They come to a decision, and they begin:
"I'm a pilgrim, a priest, a poet, a philosopher.
I don't earn a dime for any of those roles, but they define me.

My pilgrimage lies in how I get there, not where I'm going.
My priesthood is founded on offering myself to others.
The poetry of my life is recited in my actions.
And my questions frame the philosophy of my existence.
I try my best to remain true to myself in obedience."

Then your partner in this strange endeavor sighs, and asks:
"What are you most afraid of, what keeps you up at night?"
And suddenly you see yourself, with all your foibles,
And you are suddenly very fond of the who of you
And the answer to that frightening question comes:

"I don't fear failure, or poverty, or even indifference.
I fear meaninglessness, my own cowardice and laziness,
I so want to do things that matter, to matter myself.
To rise above my fears, extend myself, transcend myself
So that I can make a difference."

Give it a try next time you're in a social setting,
One that needs a little stirring up.
I guarantee at least someone will know that you were there.
Which could be all that it takes to start both of you
On a pilgrimage of discovery.

Shalom!

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 62: 1-5
2. Psalm 96: 1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
3. 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11
4. John 2: 1-11

1. Pet names
• Some of us give those close to us a nick name or a pet name.  It's a reminder of some shared event, something meaningful to the two of them.  Sometimes that name is something that no one else knows about.
• If Jesus were here physically today, and he called you to be one of His personal disciples, and He wanted to give you a new name, what would you want for him to give you?
• What would you do differently in your life to live up to that name?
2. Salvation day by day
• What has God saved you from lately?
• As part and parcel of that salvation, what has He saved you to?  In other words, now that you're free of what bound you, what are you doing with the freedom?
• What makes you think that's God's will for what he wanted to see in your life?
3. For the benefit of all
• If you define a faith community as a group of folks who gather regularly to share their story in the context of God's unfolding salvation history, what faith communities do you find yourself in?
• Do you think that you bring the same gifts to each of them, or is it the same gifts that simply get expressed differently in each of those contexts?
• What are you doing to actively develop those gifts so that you can be of greater service in the years ahead?
• Do you feel appreciated?
• Does it matter?
4. The look of abundance
• You have to figure that schlepping somewhere near 150 gallons of water from the nearest well to fill those stone water jars was not a welcome task, yet the servants did it.  What would have happened if they had tried to get away with less water than those jars could have held?
• Do you think that we generally have to have a hand in miracles?
• How can we be just as abundant in our participation as God is in His?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What is God expecting of me today?
2. Am I able to share of my salvation history with others, in terms that they will understand?
3. How is God using my gifts today?
4. As I share of myself, am I striving to live a balanced life?

This Might be Enough

I watched the Master as He fearlessly distributed the loaves and fishes
To a countless hoard of hungry folks on the hillsides of Judea.
Thinking to myself, worrying actually, whether there would be enough.

And I remember back to the days in Cana when He made wine from water,
Water with sediment and a faint smell that none of us could identify,
Drawn from the village well on a hot summer's afternoon.

And I ask myself why, again, why He is asking for some elements to work with
Something to transform, some dust from the ground to breath new life into.
Why not just conjure up the final result from nothing and let it go at that?

Our fathers, on the far side of the Jordan river as they entered the Promised Land
Saw that river raging in its flood season.  The waters did not abate
Until the priest's sandals touched the water's edge, and then God bared His holy arm.

And now, I see the widows and orphans gathered for their daily distribution
And I wonder how long we can go on feeding and clothing them.
And I've stopped wondering why God doesn't make all this need go away,

Instead, I wonder at the way He's able to take the simplest things
And renew them to meet needs scarce known, hardly spoken
And I wonder what He's going to do next with this poor offering: me.

Shalom!

Baptism of the Lord

Our readings for Baptism of the Lord Sunday are:

1. Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11
2. Psalm 104:1b-4,24-25,27-30
3. Psalm Titus 2: 11-14, 3:4-7
4. Luke 3:15-16,21-22

1. Something to shout about
• All of history is on a story arc.  Is ours ultimate destruction, or transformation?
• Is there any aspect of our existence, our reality, our universe that is maturing, unfolding, getting better?
• How can we further that maturing?
• If it's all going to vaporize at the second coming, what does it matter?
2. Creature comforts
• How active do you think that God is in your life?
• Did He merely set up the whole DNA infrastructure, and sat back to see how it would turn out?
• Did He influence the development of each and every hillside, rock, tree and animal to culminate in what we see to day?
• Does He continue to create, even as we are speaking?
• If God forgot about you, would you still exist?
• What role do you think that we have in creation?  How are we like the animals of the forest, the sky above and the rivers, and how are we different?
• How should that relationship to God and His creation change, transform, illuminate our prayer life?
3. Embracing the stranger
• Thinking about RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults), how would you explain that to someone?
• It's a vetting process to make sure that we don't get any of "those people" in our midst.
• It's the start of a lifelong dialog between a person and God in the context of the Catholic Church.
• It's a way for someone new to Catholicism  figure out whether they want to learn more.
• It's a way for someone new to Catholicism to learn all that they will ever need to know about our faith.
• It's a clever way to recruit people who didn't realize what they were getting into when they married a Catholic.
• Is a formal initiation process the only time and place that someone can join us?
• What is the pivotal event/rite at which a person is fully initiated?
• In what ways, at the personal level, do our relationships to someone change at the various steps along the way as they are initiated?
4. Being a blessing
• In his book Sacred Fire Ronald Rolheiser speaks of being a blessing to others in a radical way.  The blessing that God gives Jesus in this Gospel reading transcends merely the verbal, it's an investment in Jesus, a passing of the torch to him.  Henceforth, the ultimate, the only revelation of God is going to be this Jesus, this Son of His.  God is betting the farm on Jesus, there's no going back, no plan "B".
• As you have gone through life, have you had epochal moments, big transitions, watershed events where you have handed some part of yourself over to another?
• How did you go about doing that?
• Was it well received?
• If that hand off was not well received, did it happen anyway?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Do I find the thought of Christ's Second Coming a comfort or an anxiety?
2. Do I properly discern God's presence in Creation?
3. What is the way that I'm living preparing me for?
4. Am I in the business of launching ministries, or jealously trying to hang on?

The Big Cheese

The hard part about ministry is to remember that all of us are just bit players
In a drama that is unfolding on sets all around the world, through all of time.

We and the other cast members see each other, interact, even call to each other
To bring forth the faithfulness to the original call deep within all of us.

But it's so easy to forget who made that call on us, brought each of us forth
Individually to serve right here, right now as His servants to His flock.

Maybe I can hang a pair of sandals in my office as a reminder
That my life is just walking in Jesus' shoes, trying to follow His footsteps.

So that I'll learn the hard lesson of humility,
Or at least not have to be reminded so often.

Shalom!