24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Exodus 32: 7-11, 13-14
2. Psalms 51: 3-4, 12-13, 17, 19
3. 1 Timothy 1: 12-17
4. Luke 15: 1-32

• Giving them what they want
• Pity poor Aaron.  In Exodus 32: 1-6 the children of Israel come to him looking for leadership in Moses' absence.  They have despaired of ever seeing Moses again after he disappeared on Mount Sinai.  Cell phone coverage was atrocious, and there was no way to contact Moses to even tell if he was alive.
• The people needed a sense of purpose while they waited for Moses to return and lead them from that place.  In a way, we are all waiting as well.  Waiting for our own salvation to emerge, waiting for the 2nd coming, waiting to see where God will lead us next.
• How do you find the time and energy to make sure that you are ready for all of those things?
• Do you ever get tired of such waiting?
• How can we help each other in this time of waiting?

• He's all that
• I'm not sure where that expression came from, but my kid's generation will say derisively "he think's he's all that" of someone who is a "legend in their own mind."
• Can you ever have too much true humility?
• How do we grow in this virtue?
• What is the benefit of authentic humility?
• Think of anyone that you have known who was truly humble.  Were you drawn to them?
• Why is that?

• Sins of the fathers
• As Westerners, I think that we tend to emphasize individual sin because sins of a culture, nation, race seem too distant, and hence unreal.
• But such group sin is very real to those who have been oppressed by such sin.
• How can the wounds from such sin be healed?
• What are our responsibilities for bringing that healing about?
• How do you think God will help in that healing?

• Finding what's important
• The parable of the two sons would have shocked Jesus original listeners for many reasons.  One of them being that the father did not write off the younger son.
• The parable depicts the father watching for his son to return, scanning the horizon daily, hoping against hope that he will return, having no way to tell when, if ever, his beloved boy will ever find his way back.
• Have you ever become distant with a friend or relative over some wound between the two of you?
• If you helped bring about healing, how did you do that?
• What was different about the relationship after that event?
• Is such healing an event, or a process?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How am I increasing my hope in God today?
2. Where do I insist on my own way, my own schedule, my own path instead of God's?
3. How has God been merciful to me in my life?
4. Where is God calling me to show mercy?

Ode of the Older Brother

There goes father again, off to keep watch for that worthless son of his.
Meanwhile, the rest of the village laughs at his patience, counting it foolishness.

They look with pity on me in the market.  I hear them talk, if only in my own head:
"There goes poor Raphael, the responsible one, the one who stayed home."

"Look at what he got for being faithful.  Half his inheritance gone.
No girl in the village will even look at him because of the shame of his brother."

My father seems oblivious to it all.  Barely going through the motions day by day.
The light gone from his eyes, the spring gone from his step.

I try to keep it all together, keep the vineyards and flocks prospering.
As much from stubbornness as anything, to prove the rest of them wrong.

For we all know that God favors His beloved children with prosperity.
I try to prosper to prove that God has love for this family, in spite of everything.

I will never forgive my thoughtless brother for bringing this upon us.
Selfish he is, without concern for anyone else.

In the dark watches of the night I try to forgive my father for his devotion
To this son of his who deserves nothing but death.

I do not know what sustains my father.  Is it stubbornness, or love?
What kind of love can bring such despair?

As for me, I will stay here, in the village, with my father
Until death finally releases him from his grief.

After that, I have no idea.

Shalom!