Weekly Readings Reflections: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

Sometimes the best that we can do with something in our lives is to manage it. Sometimes, we get lucky and there's a solution for the problem. Other times, God calls us to embrace it like Paul's mysterious "thorn in the flesh" in 2 Corinthians 12: 6-7.
Have you ever doubted God's presence with you during a time of loss, grief, stress?
Did you ever figure out whether God sent that into your life?
Does it matter whether God sent that into your life?
Do you think that God can get some benefit out of anything that comes our way?

When calamity strikes, it is easy to feel isolated from God, from others, even yourself. You begin to wonder what happened to that happier you that you are having a hard time recalling.
The last time that you prayed really really hard to God, what did you pray for? Faithfulness on your part, God's presence in your life, courage to keep on keeping on, perseverance, relief, ...?
What did God give you in response to those heartfelt prayers?
What did you learn about God in that experience?
What did you learn about you?

As part of Confirmation prep, we require a certain number of service hours from each young person. Hopefully that exposure will help them see themselves in a larger context, help them realize that serving others is sacramental, help them realize that living out their faith is more than just an intellectual exercise. But I often wonder.
If we had the resources, what sort of service projects would you think would make good Confirmation sacramental preparation fodder?
How could sacramental prep be transformed so that the focus shifts entirely from weekly teaching and fellowship with a sprinkling of service to a two year service project with supporting theology sprinkled in to help them see their service in the bigger context?
So, these kids get confirmed, they are now adults. Then what? How is the rest of the parish going to be ready to receive them?

Taking up your cross is easy to mess up. Particularly when we identify someone else as our cross to bear. Even more so when we let them know that they are our cross to bear, and we are very grateful to God for giving us that cross.
What/who are some of the crosses in your life?
How are you taking those up?
How do you pray about/for those crosses?
Are you getting any better at bearing them?

Nostalgia

There once lived a little girl born with an old soul.

Tucking her into bed one night, her father heard her ask
"Daddy, do you miss the toddler me? I think I do sometimes."

Her father, being something of a philosopher pulled up a chair.

He knew the start of a long conversation when he heard it.

"Well dear," he said, "yes and no."

Your mother and I enjoy the you that you are today.

Your toddler self will always be with us in treasured memory.

We know that we had to give up the old you for the new."

"But what if I was a better person as a toddler. What then?"

"Then ", he said "the rest of us would be here to help you

Grow into the best version of you that you can be."

"But how do you know that's going to be better?

No one knows what lies ahead, how I'll grow

Whether I'll ever get the right of whatever's next."

Her father leaned back in his chair, stared at the ceiling.

His daughter held her peace, having learned this was thinking time for her dad.

Eventually he came back to her room from his wanderings and said:

"Remember that crab that we saw molting at the aquarium?

If that crab never got out of its old shell, and grew a new, bigger one

It would die because it could not grow into its new horizons.

You & I, we are like that crab. We have to leave our old selves behind

To embark on new, wider, bigger journeys,

Or we die."

"I understand. But I'm still afraid."

"So am I, so am I.

But never forget that neither of us is ever alone in this process."

Shalom!

Weekly Readings Reflections