1st Sunday of Advent

Our readings for the First Sunday of Advent are:

1. Jeremiah 33: 14-16
2. Psalms 25: 4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
3. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
4. Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36

• Waiting for justice can be so hard
• One school of thought says that the 2nd coming is just around the corner, so there is no real point to making things much better this side of eternity.
• What are you waiting for at this season in your life?
• How are you preparing for the coming of Jesus this Christmas, today in that person at the office that you cannot stand, your family, your Church?
• We always assume that Jesus will come with a lot of fanfare, so He will be hard to miss.  What should we be doing to be sure that we do not miss Him when He comes?

• Teach me your ways
• Think of a time when you had to learn something new, something "out of your wheelhouse".
• Did you learn that new skill by studying someone else while they did the work, or were there manuals that you read, or ...?
• How can we learn God's ways in our lives?
• Who might you be teaching, without even knowing it?

• Pleasing God
• A couple truly in love tries to find what will please the other, because each of them finds fulfillment in making the other happy.
• Have you ever felt in your life that you succeeded in pleasing God?
• Does that say more about God, you, or your image of God?
• What do you think that it would take in you to please God consistently?

• Driven to distraction
• "Situational awareness" describes a quality about someone who is aware of the bigger picture.  Someone with situational awareness understands and appreciates the details of what might be in front of them at the moment, but they don't lose the bigger picture.
• How big is your picture?  Do you have any awareness of what's going on outside of your parish, your country?
• Do you care?
• How might a broader situational awareness be a benefit?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Who do I want to become through this Advent season?
2. What is God trying to teach me through what I'm going through right now?
3. How important to me is God's opinion of me?
4. Where am I letting myself get distracted/distraught by the small stuff?

Shalom!

Christ the King Sunday

Our readings for Christ the King Sunday are:

1. Daniel 7:13-14
2. Psalms 93: 1, 1-2, 5
3. Revelation 1: 5-8
4. John 18:33b-37

• What sort of King do you want?
• There's a bumper sticker that I used to see that read "Jesus is coming back and boy is He pissed!"  That sort of casts the Parousia in a different light.
• When you think of the Second Coming, what would you want to see happen before then?  Perhaps some friend or relative come to Christ, peace in the Middle East, cancer get cured, ...?
• Once Jesus establishes the Kingdom of God, how will that differ from what you are in now?
• What is the best way for us to prepare for that Kingdom as a family, a community, a Church?

• To what end majesty?
• What makes someone majestic?
• Which of those qualities really apply to God?
• What does that tell you about majesty in general?
• What does that tell you about God?

• A priestly people
• In its most general form, what is a priesthood?
• Why do you think that we most need priesthood here on Earth?
• Will those functions be needed in the Kingdom of God?
• Why or why not?

• King indeed
• It's ironic that Jesus finally owns up to His kingship before Pilate, the oppressor of the Jews, while Jesus is on trial for his life?
• Do you think that Jesus was trying to hide His true nature?
• What purpose did that serve?
• Or do you think that the revelation of a servant king, one who is vulnerable, even weak, is somehow an essential part of God's nature and revelation to us?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How am I better prepared to meet Jesus today than I was this time last year?
2. What do I expect of God when He comes to set things right?  What role do I have in that?
3. How am I being priestly?
4. How can I identify more with Jesus in His humility?

Shalom!

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Daniel 12: 1-3
2. Psalms 16: 5, 8, 9-10, 11
3. Hebrews 10: 11-14, 18
4. Mark 13: 24-32

• Trust in the face of change
• Think back to the last time that you went through a big change.  Maybe that was a marriage, breaking up with someone, getting a new job, you name it.
• To make that change, you had to leave something behind, say goodbye to something.  What was that something?
• Was the sacrifice worth it?
• What made you decide that the sacrifice was worth it?
• Where was God in all of that?

• Finding the joy of the Lord
• How would you define the joy of the Lord?
• What/where is the source of that joy?
• How is it like the joy that all of us feel at things like the birth of a new baby, or graduating with a College degree?
• How is the joy of the Lord unlike those joys?
• Which sort of joy is more durable?

• All roads lead to Jesus
• Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets.
• Does that mean that all of those centuries of Jewish worship and philosophy were a waste?
• What is something in your life that you had to let go if to make room for something even better.
• Did you resent making that shift at that time?
• Why is it that we cannot "have it all?"

• Cultivating detachment
• It's always been easy to get confused between those things in our lives that are eternal, enduring, and those that are ephemeral, that are here for a time and then we mature beyond them.
• How do you tell the difference?
• Is it important that we know the difference?
• Which is more important, the fine workmanship of the chalice, or the contents of the chalice, or the community of the gathered faithful sharing in that meal?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How am I becoming wiser in the ways of God?
2. What is my joy based on?
3. How am I waiting creatively?
4. How am I setting my priorities?

Shalom!

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. 1 Kings 17: 10-16
2. Psalms 146: 7, 8-9, 9-10
3. Hebrews 9: 24-28
4. Mark 12: 38-44

• Trust me on this one
• Think of a time when you had to take a leap of faith, to invest yourself where you thought there was no hope for a good outcome.
• What made you decide to do that ridiculous act?
• Did it turn out as you had hoped?
• If things turned out differently from what you had hoped, was that OK?
• Why or why not?

• Option for the poor
• God clearly has a soft spot in His heart for those who seem to have little going for them in this world.
• Clearly, the lost, the lonely, the afraid, the abused, ... all need a Gospel, a good news in their life.  What is the essence of that good news?  God loves you, you're not alone, things will get better, ...?
• How can we be that good news to others?
• How can we be better at being that good news?

• Missing the forest for the trees
• All of the rituals, the smells and bells, the church building, ... are there merely as pointers to the true faith that God has come, is come among us, to live with us and guide us.
• How do you tell the transcendent, that which comes from God's own self, from pale reminders of who He is?
• Why do you think that we need these pointers, these signposts to Eternity?
• Could we be just as close to God with fewer of them?

• Cultivating detachment
• Youngsters sometimes end an argument with the word "whatever".  In its twisted way, that one word speaks volumes.  "Have it your way, I really no longer care, clearly my opinion does not matter here, just leave me alone" all get rolled up into one word.
• What is the difference between surrender to God, and "whatever"?
• When was the last time that you surrendered to God in anything?
• How did that turn out?
• What did that tell you about God then?
• What does that tell you about God now?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I ever guilty of reckless generosity?
2. How am I reaching out to the forgotten in my life?
3. How am I pointing the way to God through my life?
4. Where is God calling me to give today?  Where is God not calling me to give?

Shalom!