27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 5: 1-7
2. Psalms 80: 9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20
3. Philippians 4: 6-9
4. Matthew 21: 33-43

• We are called ...
• We don't often think or even hear about God's emotions.  One entry into prayer is to ponder how your life, the way that you live it, your response to what comes your way, impacts God.
• Picture God gazing on you now.  What sort of expression is He wearing?
• Tell Him about your day, the ups, the downs, and especially where, maybe now for the first time, you felt closest to Him, and farthest away.
• Has that expression on God's face changed at all?
• Why do you suppose that is?

• Family therapy on a grand scale
• Imagine that God gently suggests to you that your relationship with Him needs some help, and that the two of you should see a therapist together to bring some healing to that relationship.  You're in the therapist's office for the first time.
• What things would you bring up?  Maybe it would be some times that you felt betrayed by God, times when you felt that God had not been faithful to you, or times that you felt that God was capricious or not steady.  Remember, you can tell this therapist anything, they are very professional.
• What do you think that God might say in such a meeting?
• Most of us are not trained in this sort of counseling, but what sorts of homework do you think the therapist might assign the two of you?

• Ask, and ask again ...
• I'm finding that prayer is transformative for us.  We start in prayer with one set of issues, one set of desires, and as we pray, we see things from a different perspective, and our prayer changes.  That cycle might happen several times over before we're done.  Maybe it never really finishes.
• What are some of the things that are going on in your life lately that you have not prayed about?
• Why not?  Were they too minor an issue, you didn't want to bother God with it, you didn't really care about the outcome that much, you were too busy, ...?
• What might have happened if you had prayed about that matter?

• To whom much has been given ...
• God's biggest miracle in circumstances of real tragedy is that He's able to transform a hardship into a growth opportunity if we're willing.  In those cases, what looked like a disaster has in it seeds for new life.  In a way, if we are willing to accept them as such, every event in our lives is a chance for growth.
• What are some of the tough times in your life where God was able to tend you, make you stronger, more empathetic, draw you closer to Him?
• What did it take for you to find those growth opportunities?
• Can you think of another way that would have been easier, less traumatic that you could have achieved that same growth?
• Why do you think that other, easer, path did not happen?

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. When have I taken the chance lately to gaze on God and He on me?
2. How healthy is my relationship with God, and what am I doing about that?
3. What is one difficult aspect of my life that might bring growth?
4. Where is God calling me to be generous with what he has nurtured within me?

Shalom!

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

1. Ezekiel 18: 25-28
2. Psalms 25: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
3. Philippians 2: 1-11
4. Matthew 21: 28-32

• Getting what's coming to you
• It's hard to watch injustice go unpunished.  One cold comfort is to tell yourself that the oppressors will get theirs in the next life.  All we have to do is wait.
• Think of someone who hurt you in some way.  Maybe it was a single action or word on their part, or maybe it was a consistent pattern of behavior that they exhibited towards you.  How do you think of them today?
• If you met this person by chance today, what would be your first impulse?
• If you knew that just one kind word from you would completely change their life around, and make them a better person, would you do it?
• Maybe it's more than just one kind word, how much might you be willing to do for that person to see them truly happy?
• How much does any of us truly deserve happiness?

• Wisdom and humility, the dynamic duo
• Many of us look back on our younger years and wonder a) how anyone was able to put up with us b) what were we thinking when we said/did those things, and c) am I really all that different now?
• What are some of the hardest lessons that you have had to learn in life?
• What made those so difficult?
• What had gone on in your life to prepare you to learn those things?
• Do you think that things you're going through now are preparing you for anything?
• What might that be?

• Being open to humility
• The hard part about putting others first is being authentic about it.  We've all met personalities who take on hardship because they have a "martyr complex" rather then a motivation of true generosity.
• Who are some of the people in your life that you routinely put ahead of your own desires?
• How did you get to that point?
• If you had an intimate knowledge of God's desires, if you had a crystal clear understanding of what God wants, how would that change your life?
• Are you willing to make any of those changes with just a fuzzy idea of what God wants?

• By their fruits you shall know them
• I'm sure that John the Baptist looked like just another nut case in a long string of such prophets to the established religious leaders of his day.  Jesus' condemnation of those leaders was that they chose to cling to what they knew, had handed down to them, rather than see the consolation that John brought, and take that to heart.
• What are some things that you are especially attached to?  Lately, we've had to give up our sanctuaries, the church music, in-person meetings of any sort, and the list goes on and on.  The question is, is any of that essential?
• In your life, how to you separate the critical, the essential from the accidental, the cosmetic aspects of your life?
• How then should you treat those non-essentials?

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. Where is God inviting me to show greater mercy?
2. Where is God inviting me into greater humility?
3. Where do I need to give something up in my life, in order to draw closer to God?
4. Where is God calling me to be generous?

Training Camp

Giving generously isn't easy to do.

First there's the fear.

What I give away, I don't have for myself, my family.

Then there's motivation.

Looking at your giving as an investment.

That will yield interest in the sweet bye & bye.

Or giving as a way to wield influence.

I'll give of myself to you,

But I have a few suggestions on how you can do better.

Or using giving as a way to advance socially.

The truly generous among us occupy a stratospheric level of life,

And to be ushered into their ranks for your generosity is an amazingly affirmative experience.

But giving because it's the right thing to do.

Because it's the only thing to do.

Because it's the godly thing to do.

That's hard.

No one will hold a parade in your honor.

No one will invite you to the speaking circuit.

No plaques in the lobby to remember you.

Just consolation for the hopeless,

Just a voice for the abandoned,

Just an answer to prayer for someone who needs you.

Holy Spirit,

Grace me with trust, humility, and open hands.

That I might touch your children with your love, and not notice it.

Shalom!

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

1. Sirach 27: 30-28:7
2. Psalms 103: 1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
3. Romans 14: 7-9
4. Matthew 18: 21-35

• The power of giving it away
• Injustice suffered has a way of making the oppressed feel powerless.  Certainly restorative justice repairs the harm done by the perpetrator, but the oppressed has a power that no one can take away from them, no one else can exercise: to forgive.
• What calls for more strength, to forgive, or to hold a grudge?
• What calls for more courage, to forgive, or to hold a grudge?
• What gives you more power, to forgive, or to hold a grudge?
• Why?

• Kindness and mercy chillin' together
• Oftentimes, inspiration comes to us from unexpected places.  Someone who seems to have nothing in this life, is still able to be kind to someone less fortunate.  Or someone who has suffered a great wrong is still able to show mercy.
• Can you be kind without mercy?
• Can you be merciful, without being kind?
• Have you ever consciously shown someone mercy?
• What prompted you to do that?

• What are you living for?
• A preacher with an unfortunate turn of phrase once said "I get paid to be good, the rest of you have to be good for nothing" yet retirement often feels that way.  The retiree's efforts no longer get weighed in the balance, valued, and paid for, so does that work still have value?
• Who finally establishes the worth of what it is that we do?
• How do you find out that ultimate valuation?
• If you knew just what the value of your labor was, and what was most valuable about it, how would that change you?

• Gratitude changes everything
• Often we miss the chance to be godly because we don't pay close enough attention to God's example of godly behavior in our own lives.  We miss the generosity, the abundance, the awe inspiring courage and incredible sense of timing that God exhibits.
• What of God's blessings in your life are you most grateful for?
• When was the last time that you thought about those blessings?
• What do they tell you about God?
• What is the best way that you can show your gratitude for those blessings?

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. Where can I find greater freedom in life by forgiving?
2. Where is God inviting me to celebrate His kindness in another's life?
3. In the final analysis, what is my life good for?
4. Where is God calling me to be generous?

Footprints in Hearts

Sometimes, the best results of our lives

Are largely unnoticed

Often not celebrated.

That doesn't make them less worthy

Or smaller in importance,

Just less visible.

The kindness of a moment can live forever,

In the heart of someone who really needed it.

The bridge to hope from an act of mercy,

Can last for an eternity.

Look for the collateral beauty

The chance to show kindness and mercy.

Look for it in the unexpected, the brief, the fleeting.

And so savor the moments of life as they pass through your fingers,

Like the sand at the beach.

Shalom!