27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 27th Sunday of 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

• Why we need a partner
• Somewhere along the line, every couple comes face to face with the harsh reality that they are married to somebody else.  That this miraculous person that they have committed to has their own desires, their own dreams, their own aspirations, their own way of looking at things.  It's all very disturbing.
• Would you say that you support your spouse?
• What form does that support take?
• Do you feel supported by your spouse?
• Do you think that it's possible that support could require courage on your part?
• Why or why not?

• Reaping what you sow
• It's a foundational element of the American ethic that we get to enjoy the benefits of our hard work.  No one's going to ride into town and take all of our supplies and make off with them.
• Oddly, it's not as much a bedrock value that we get to suffer the consequences of our poor choices.
• Have you ever had a loved one suffer because of poor choices that they made and were making?
• How did you support them in that time in their life?
• What do you think "tough love" really means?
• Do you think that God practices "tough love"? 

• The benefits of suffering
• How do you think that Jesus suffered in His life?
• How did that suffering change Him?
• How do you think that He managed to work through that suffering without becoming embittered by it?
• Do you think that Jesus was ever afraid?
• How can we be more like Jesus in our approach to suffering?

• Vocations anyone?
• Mary & I were at a Loyola Institute of Spirituality Christmas party once and someone asked one of the Jesuit priests how long he had been ordained.  He told us, then he turned it around and asked those of us celebrating the sacrament of marriage how long we had been in our vocation.
• What are some vocations, and participants in those vocations that have changed your life?
• Who are some sacraments in your life that inspire you?
• Picture yourself at your own funeral, someone is giving your eulogy.  Who is that someone, and what would you want them to say about you?
• What are you doing to make that happen?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What relationships can I strengthen this week?
2. What seeds am I planting in my life today?
3. How are my sufferings making me better?
4. Who am I inspiring?

Shalom!

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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

1. Numbers 11: 25-39
2. Psalms 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14
3. James 5: 1-6
4. Mark 9: 38-43, 45, 47-48

• Membership criteria
• Confirmation retreats are often a time of bonding teenagers into community.  But the question is, is it the music that they share that weekend, the experiences, the talks, their common community at Church, their commonality of culture and age, ... that made them a community?
• Think of some of the communities that you belong to.  What single thing do you all have in common that really binds you together, really makes a cohesive whole out of you?
• Do you think that everyone in the community has that same thing in mind?
• What do you thing should bind you together as a community?

• Curing my blind spots
• Each of us has a blind spot or two in our lives, particularly about ourselves.
• How have you become aware of some of those blind spots?
• How was your life changed by that new knowledge?
• How can we be more objective about ourselves? 

• Prophetic in humility
• Gandhi stands as as the 21st century's emblem of non-violent protest, and the power that can have to make changes happen in our world.  No one would ever accuse Gandhi of weakness or cowardice.
• Most likely, none of us feels that we have much influence over others, but we do have some "pull" with some people, sometimes more than we know.
• Is there anyone in your life who need someone to stand up for them, someone to help them through something in life.
• Why aren't you that someone?

• How big is your tent?
• A joke that I heard once is here.  I think that it's worth a read.
• What things have to be true about someone before they can show you something of Jesus?
• When was the last time that you experienced God from an unexpected source?
• How was it that you knew God was there?
• Why did you not expect to find Him there?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What have I done to build community this week?
2. Do I humbly seek God's insight into my life, my motivations, my limitations, or would I just as soon not hear about that in my prayer life?
3. Who in my life am I willing to go to bat for?
4. Who am I excluding from those that God can use to minister to me?

Shalom!

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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

1. Wisdom 2: 12, 17-20
2. Psalms 54: 3-4, 5, 6-8
3. James 3: 16-4: 3
4. Mark 9: 30-37

• Embracing humility
• In Daniel 6 we read of Daniel's deliverance from the plot of envious government officials to have him killed.  Sounds like a good outcome for anyone who fearlessly follows God.
• Jesus wasn't so lucky, yet no one in history has followed God more closely.  Since His death, Jesus has been joined by countless disciples who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of God, and far more who have lost fortunes, been exiled, ostracized and persecuted for their faith.
• Were all of these men and women of faith delivered in any way?
• If so, delivered from what, exactly?
• Is such deliverance enough, or would you like God to be a little more generous?

• God has a thing for the weak
• Few of us have the experience of outright persecution from anyone for our faith.  But even given that, there are times when your faith has constrained you.  Maybe you were not able to take advantage of some insider trading opportunity, or you don't stay late at work because you know that your family needs you more.
• What was the reward that you expected from that behavior?
• Did that work out?
• Did it matter whether it worked out that way or not?
• Why? 

• Prayer changes things
• When I was a child, a popular slogan was "Prayer changes things!" which I have since come to believe fosters a superstitious attitude toward prayer.  I'd rather that such a bumper sticker read "prayer changes us!".
• Have you ever started praying, perhaps desperately, for one thing, and, over time, that changed to another prayer altogether?
• Why do you think that happened?
• How can we make ourselves more open to that process?

• The margins
• In Jesus' day, children were very much at the margins of society, without anyone but their parents to look after them.  There was nothing more destitute than an orphan.
• Who are some of those that you have served, benefited, who will never be able to repay you?
• Why did you perform those services?
• How did that service bring you closer to Jesus?
• How did that service make you more like Jesus?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What do I want to be delivered from?  What/who do I want to be delivered to?
2. What/who threatens me?  Have I brought that to God?
3. Am I open to God changing my mind about things as I pray over them?
4. Where will my discipleship to God take me this week?

Shalom!

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 24th Sunday of 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

• Embracing humility
• No one likes to be misunderstood or misrepresented.  And yet that was Jesus' lot during his entire public ministry.
• Do you think that Jesus felt lonely or isolated by that treatment?
• If you had been there during those final weeks of His ministry, what might you have done to comfort and support Him?
• Do you think that Jesus could use some comfort and support today?
• How might you minister to Him in your life?

• God has a thing for the weak
• How has God delivered you during your life?
• What were some of the things that He delivered you from?  Were they things like a sense of entitlement, unreasonable expectations on someone else, an attachment to success, were they more tangible like deliverance from a financial problem, ...?
• How did that make you feel about your life, about God?
• Do you ever think back on those times and give thanks? 

• Faith in action
• Work for justice often comes in two categories: addressing the immediate need, and looking "upstream" to find why the need arises and address the causes of injustice.
• Do you think that some of us are called to one type of justice work and not the other?
• Do you think that such a call can change over time?
• Do you think that someone who is prophetic, who speaks to the injustice of our day, can really make a difference?
• Who are some prophets of our time that you admire?

• Astonishment
• How do you think Peter should have reacted to the news that Jesus was going to be rejected and suffer?
• How do you think we can learn to think more like God in our lives?
• Do you think that the slogan "what would Jesus do?" is a good place to start answering that question?
• Is there anyone in your life that you feel that you can go to when you want to find the mind of God?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Of the characters in the stations of the Cross, which do I identify with most, and why?
2. What am I grateful for especially this week?  Maybe not things that have happened this week, but things that have come to mind this week.
3. How is my faith changing my actions?
4. What is God calling me to understand from His perspective?

Shalom!

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 23nd Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 35: 4-7a
2. Psalms 146: 6-7, 8-9, 9-10
3. James 2: 1-5
4. Mark 7: 31-37

• Abundance in unexpected places
• How has God been abundant beyond reason in your life?  Given you more than you ever would have asked for, ever expected?
• How would you define "more" in your life?  How do you quantify that?
• Why do you think that God is so abundant?
• Is that abundance always easily visible?
• Why is that?

• God has a thing for the weak
• Who are the oppressed in our midst these days?
• What do you think that God desires for them?
• How do you think that God will make that happen?
• What is our role in bringing His kingdom? 

• The source of all generosity
• What would you consider to be the true riches of our faith?
• Is it the concepts, the beliefs that we hold?
• The sacred art and sacred music that has been inspired through the ages?
• The incredible generosity that has poured out from God's people to those in need?
• ...?
• Given that, how ought we to treat those riches?

• Astonishment
• Richard Rohr draws a distinction between astonishment that seems to be the stock response in Mark's Gospel, versus pondering, that is the response that Mary seems to have throughout the Gospel.  Astonishment is a knee-jerk reaction to what God/Jesus does, pondering is a meditation on those same actions.
• Do you think that Mary ever completely "figured it out"?
• Have you ever tried to "ponder" some event, some gift in your life to find its meaning?
• How did you know that you were done in that process?
• Does that pondering actually have to arrive at a conclusion?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What are my expectations of God in prayer lately?  How much do I trust Him for?
2. How am I bringing about God's kingdom this week?
3. What am I doing to add to God's riches?
4. What is God calling me to ponder this week?

Shalom!