18th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23
2. Psalms 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17
3. Colossians 3: 1-5, 9-11
4. Luke 12: 13-21

• Let it go

• We've all said to ourselves "if I knew then what I know now, ...".  When were some times that you would have done things differently, or done different things, had you known how it was all going to turn out in the end?
• How do you really know if/whether something that you put your time and energy into is a waste of time?
• Do you think that we are always going to know the full extent of the impact of our actions and words?

• Counting the days - Philip James Bailey perhaps says it best:

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest:
Lives in one hour more than in years do some
Whose fat blood sleeps as it slips along their veins.
Life’s but a means unto an end; that end,
Beginning, mean, and end to all things—God.
The dead have all the glory of the world.

• By what yardstick do you measure your accomplishments in this life, by what means do you judge yourself?
• What makes for a successful existence in your view of life?

• So what's so bad about passion

• What are some things that you are decidedly passionate about?
• Where do you think that those passions came from?
• Do you think that God can use those passions to guide us?

• One man's riches are another man's rags

• Do you consider yourself rich in one way or another?
• To what degree do you think that you can share those riches with others?
• Would those riches be diminished, or multiplied in the sharing?
• Do you think that, at some level, God calls each of us to be rich in the same way, or is it the case that we each have a different destiny, and different path that defines us?
• Does that have to be an either/or?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to let go of the outcomes of my life?
2. Even though I may have dedicated my life to God, am I still listening for that still small voice?
3. Have I listened to my passions lately?
4. Am I willing to simplify my life to get closer to God?

At Your Service

I'm told that Itzhak Perlman, the great violinist, lives a simple life.
Each day he gets up pretty much at the same time.
Has a light breakfast.
Gets some exercise.
Then settles in for a day of practice.

Everything is at the service of his art, his craft, his destiny.
When contemplating whether to go with the cheesecake or the cobbler,
His first question is "how will this make me a better violinist?"
He exercises because he knows that his craft is best served by a fit body.
And he knows that the world is a better place because he practices.

Call it what you will, your life lodestone, your muse, Dharma or destiny,
Each of us has a center, a genius, a calling.
It is better to fail colossally at our own calling
Than to succeed miserably at someone else's.
The cardinal virtue then becomes integrity to that calling.

As a practicing Catholic, just what is it that you practice?
Are any of us better at living today than we were twenty years ago?
Today, as we arise, do we meet life with twenty more years of experience?
Or one year of experience repeated twenty times?
Were we to meet ourselves from twenty years ago, would they be excited or disappointed?

Shalom!

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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

1. Genesis 18: 1-10a
2. Psalms 15: 2-3, 3-4, 5
3. Colossians 1: 24-28
4. Luke 10: 38-42

1. The art of being flexible
• How do you tell whether some unplanned for event/person/thing is God breaking into your life, or just another distraction?
• Do you think that you are getting better at telling the difference?
• How can we cultivate that sort of humility?
2. Disturbing trends
• As we grow older, the world around us changes, it seems that things make less and less sense, and it's easy to miss the good that is going on.
• Jesus offered His disciples peace.  How can we be at peace in light of all that is going on around us?
• Do you think that peace comes of writing this age off as hopelessly corrupt?
• Or maybe peace comes of disengaging from this life, this world and turning off the 6:00 news altogether?
• What then might peace be built on?
3. Sharing in the suffering
• It has been said that the last great gift that we can give the world is our own death.
• How can we transform that process into a means of grace?
• How can we prepare for that eventual process?
• When does it start?
4. The one thing
• The Gospel speaks of focus.  Do you think that your life is focused, that everything that you do is in service to that "one thing?"
• How do you find the "one thing" that God is calling you to in your life?
• Does that "one thing" shift over the decades?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Are my plans more important to me than God's grace coming into my life?
2. What have I done this week to be more peaceful?
3. Am I willing to let God be transformative in my life, to make good from the bad?
4. Am I willing to simplify my life to get closer to God?

The meaning of meaning

"So, how did that work out for you?" seems an innocent enough question.
Behind it lurks the attitude that good results betoken good efforts.
Which, in turn, implies that it is a waste of time to start on something
Something that is not likely to end well.

I wonder what people would say if the answer to that question came out:
"Wonderful.  The in the end, I learned humility,
I learned trust
I gained freedom."

At which point the follow up question might be:
"freedom from what?"
And our newly aware disciple might get a distant look in their eye and say:
"Freedom from the need for success."

Shalom!

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

1. Deuteronomy 30: 10-14
2. Psalms 69: 14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37
3. Colossians 1: 15-20
4. Luke 10: 25-37

1. You know what you are to do
• Have you ever had a point in life when you were desperately seeking guidance, feeling trapped by circumstances, and looking for a way out?
• At that time, what sort of help did you receive?
• Did someone tell you flat out what the solution was, or did you have to puzzle it out for yourself to one extent or another?
• Why do you think that is?
2. Yielding it to God
• When you pray to God about some trying situation, what immediately changes as far as how you are relating to that problem?
• Do you ever have trouble trusting God for a solution?
• How do you get back on track when there is a crisis of faith?
• How do you think that makes God feel?
3. Peace, perfect peace
• How would you define peace?
• Do you think that Jesus always had peace in His life?
• How about more recent folks like Mother Theresa, Dorothy Day, Archbishop Ramiro?
• How do you think that they achieved that peace?
• What's the hardest part about achieving peace in life?
• Is peace worth it?
• Why?
4. Owning the need
• Needy people come in all shapes and sizes.  It was something of a mental adjustment for me to realize that the Confirmation students at St. Cyprian came from good homes, were raised with all of the benefits of a middle-class lifestyle, yet were, often, desperately needing guidance, and assurance that there was more to life than what they could see and touch.
• What are some of the other urgent needs around you today?
• How are those going to get met?
• What is your responsibility here?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I listening to what God has already revealed to me?
2. How am I growing in trust of God?
3. How much am I willing to sacrifice for real peace?
4. Am I willing to be healing to someone that I've not even met yet?

Pay It Forward

They told me the roads weren't safe for a lone peddler at this time of day.
But I knew that if I didn't get moving, I would miss out in Jericho.

So I set out, making the best speed that I could, hoping the bandits would be gone
And I make my way safely without a hitch.

A rustle before me, cries behind me, steep hillsides to the right and the left
And I know that the trap has snapped shut, with me and my poor donkey in its jaws.

I cried as they stripped away all my goods, everything that I had saved for.
Killed my beloved Sophia and then, as if that were not enough, turned on me.

Soon the blows stopped hurting, I hoped that I had no unfinished business.
Then the darkness came over me and I lay there, all but dead.

I dimly saw the others go by, too week to cry for help, the sun blazing down on me.
Until a kind stranger saw me, gasped in surprise, and tended my wounds most carefully.

Somehow he got me to an inn, and the innkeeper himself tended me.
I tried to pay him, and all that he would say was that it was all covered.

Eventually, I was back on my feet.  I never met the one who saved my life.
The innkeeper told me that he had been a Samaritan, and I wondered what he saw in me.

He must have been able to tell me for a Jew, my clothes would have given me away.
Yet he touched me, not knowing how or why I had been beaten, not knowing what he was getting into.

I was desperate to thank him properly, resolve my debt, and then I realized.
There was no way to "settle" such a debt, but the best that I could do was to do the same.

I heard of a handful of saints living among the lepers, tending their wounds.
At first I was frightened at the prospect, but I met with them anyway.

They told me this work was not for everyone, that few thought it necessary.
But I felt such a peace in their presence, and felt so at home, that I knew.

I wanted to thank that Samaritan for saving my life from death.
Now I want to thank him for saving my life for giving.

The lepers that I serve have dignity knowing that someone cares for them, about them.
I have dignity in the humility of having found what I was born to do.

All it took was coming within a hair's breath of death,
And being pulled back by someone I never knew.
Shalom!