31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Wisdom 11:22-12:2
2. Psalms 145: 1-2, 8-9,10-11, 13, 14
3. 2 Thessalonians 1: 11-22
4. Luke 19: 1-10

• Kindness and mercy
• Think of a time when you felt led to correct someone else.  Maybe they did the right thing, but went about it in the wrong way, or they were not seeing the bigger picture, or they lost their patience and were unnecessarily harsh.
• How did you prepare for that encounter?
• Were you more interested in how you would be received, or whether you would be able to make that other a better person?
• How could you have been more like God in that situation?  Perhaps more humble, more patient, more courageous, ...?

• The bowed down
• There is a telling scene in The Green Book about a successful black pianist during the early 60s on tour in the deep south.  This pianist is a refined gentleman, accomplished, one of the first music PhDs, and yet discriminated against.  He and his driver end up stopping next to a farm field, and there in the field are a number of black farm workers, doing much the same labor that their ancestors had done, probably in that very field, likely under very similar conditions.
• We think of the "bowed down" in literal terms, someone overwhelmed by the pressures of life, barely able to make ends meet, falling exhausted into bed night after night with barely enough energy to turn off the lights.
• Who in your life would you consider "bowed down"?
• How do you think God should lift them up?
• Whose hands will do that lifting?
• When do you think those hands will arrive?

• Glory in the Lord
• We equate glory with eternity.  Some among us consciously look forward to joining God in His glory at the end of our journey in this life.
• What is glory?
• Do you think that any of that glory could come our way in this life?
• Should it?

• Saving that which was lost
• Loss is hard to bear.  It speaks of something, someone that was with us, and now is gone.  Sometimes, maybe if we're lucky, we can get that lost thing or person back, but if we are honest with ourselves, life is never the same again.
• But another sense of "lost" speaks about losing our way.  Maybe we take a wrong turn, or we stopped paying attention at a critical turn off and now we're not where we thought we were, or, more profoundly, we have lost sight of our final objective, and no longer have a direction at all.
• Do you think that our Church overall needs a strategy, something that gets published every 5 years or so, and is carefully considered?
• Do you think that some sort of strategy at the parish level would make sense?
• What about in your family?  No one thinks twice about starting a college fund for babies, given the high cost of an education.  Why don't we ever ask ourselves where we want to be as a family community in the years ahead?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Who in my life needs kindness from me?
2. Where do I need to be the hands of God today?
3. Where might God be calling me to glory?
4. What in my life is God helping me to let go of?

He's Out of His Tree

Zaccaeus, I see you in that tree, scanning the crowd looking for me.
But what you really want to find is hope.
Hope that somehow you can find your way back
Back to family, to friends, to the peaceful village you once knew.

But today, I have a gift for you, a surprise.
I'm going to show you how to build community
In the midst of the ruins that you think cannot be repaired.
I'm going to show you how to show mercy.

I'm going to get so close to you, that your shame will become mine.
Others will not want to be seen with me because I am seen with you.
Others will doubt my wisdom because they have never known mercy.
But you, you are going to see what healing compassion can bring.

You are going to become my disciple in ways you could not imagine.
Spreading my Love to the unloved, restoring dignity to the oppressed,
Sharing the compassion of today for the rest of your life.
In losing your defenses around your heart, you will gain everything.

So, let's get down out of that sycamore and change the world together.

Shalom!