28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 25: 6-10a
2. Psalms 23: 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
3. Philippians 4: 12-14
4. Matthew 22: 1-14

• Needs unmet
• Heaven is often described in terms of a feast, of great abundance, that never ends.  What do you conclude about heaven, about God, about us, from those descriptions?
• Why do we not all dwell in abundance now?
• Who's fault is that?

• Fearing evil
• What fears rattle you most frequently?
• Where do those come from?
• Do you bring them up to God in prayer?
• Do you fear no evil because you don't think it will ever happen in your life, or because you think that you'll be able to handle it, or because you know that you can count on God to be there with you, or ...?

• Whatever
• Ignatian indifference is an attitude of putting ourselves at God's disposal by intentionally seeking a perspective that seeks to fulfill God's will, and nothing else.
• When you have really wanted something, how have you "stilled your heart" to listen to God?
• Is it possible to pray effectively even if you have raging wants and needs in a given situation?
• How does God meet us in such circumstances?

• By invitation only
• What has Jesus been inviting you to lately in your life?
• Do you feel that invitation as a fairly focused, well defined direction, a gentle nudge, or just a vague sense that there must be more for you in life?
• How do you vett those invitations?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How am I being the abundance of God to those around me?
2. Am I willing to give up my fears?
3. What are the people, institutions, things that I trust in?
4. What am I doing with Jesus' invitations?

Trading My Sorrows

Sometimes, sorrow, neglect, anger, are all that we have left in life,

Clutching those bundles of rags to our breast like gold we shuffle

From injury to injury, scarcely seeing the world around us anymore.

Freedom is calling, sometimes faintly, but that abundance, that light

Is so unfamiliar that I scarce recognize it for what it truly is ...

Home.

Lord open my heart to healing.

That I might learn to lean on you more each day

Finding strength in wholeness rather than outrage and injury, however justified.

Shalom!