8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Sirach 27: 4-7
2. Psalms 92: 2-3, 13-14, 15-16
3. 1 Corinthians 15: 54-58
4. Luke 6: 39-45

• Revelation -
• All of us have had the experience of discovering something of ourselves in the course of expressing ourselves.  Somehow, speaking something out loud to someone who really cares about us gives us a different perspective on what we are saying, what we are going through.  God is, perhaps, the best listener in the cosmos.
• Do you feel that you can be honest with God in your prayer?
• Do you ever worry that you might offend God with your prayer?
• Do you ever feel that you have to be formal with God?
• How do you think that God feels about all of that? 

• Finding your gratitude
• I don't know about you, but any time I hear a sentence start with "Well, at least ..." because I know the speaker is going to try to lift my spirits by telling me how glad I should be that things are not even worse.  But there are legitimate ways to change our attitude.
• Think of something that has been a challenge for you. Maybe a colleague at work who is difficult to work with, maybe someone in your own home who is hard to live with, a circumstance that you know could be better.
• Now, pray to God and ask Him to help you be grateful for that.
• And pray that prayer of thanks out loud.
• Does that change your attitude?

• Triumph over indifference
• Most of us want to triumph over sin, at least the sin in our lives.  I've lowered my expectations.  I would be happy just to be less indifferent to my sin.  Hopefully, once I see it, Jesus & I can triumph over it.
• Do you ever get a chance to take inventory of what you have been through over the past day, and discern where God was in your life, and where you may have missed God's presence and leading?
• How do you think a practice like that would change you if you did it regularly?

• Finding your fruits
• All of us want to leave a legacy.
• If you were to die tonight in your sleep, aside from the dirty laundry and the dishes in the sink, what would your legacy be?
• If you were to write a spiritual resume for yourself, what would you cite as your spiritual experience to date?
• What do you think that experience has equipped you for?
• What would you like for your legacy to be by the time you die?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What does God want me to be honest with Him about?
2. Where is God challenging my gratitude?
3. Where is God offering me greater humility?
4. What fruit is God growing in me today?

Shalom!

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. 1 Samuel 26: 2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23
2. Psalms 103: 1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13
3. 1 Corinthians 15: 45-49
4. Luke 6: 27-38

• Timing is everything
• Teilhard de Cardin was an extraordinary Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, philosopher, theologian, and teacher.  In a letter of his to one of many who sought his advice, he counsels patience with the gradual unfolding of God's creation in each of us.  His advice/prayer to this person can be found here.
• Think of some of the really big changes in your life.  Maybe getting married, that first job, your first child, losing your parents, ... were you ready for those experiences?
• How would you know if you are ever truly ready for a change in your life?
• In those cases that you were just thinking about, what would you have done differently to be more prepared?
• How long would that have taken?
• How do you usually tell when it's time to step into the promise that God has set before you?
• In general, do you see yourself as a victim of circumstances, riding the chaos wave, or resolutely forging your future for yourself?
• Which of those do you think God wants for you?

• Are you a disappointment?
• I believe that all of us want to make our parents proud.  Those of us who are lucky have parents who unabashedly want what's best for us, regardless of where that might take us, no matter how different that might be from the expected path for our lives.
• Do you think that God is proud of you?
• Imagine yourself the last time that you blew it big time.  Maybe you said something that you should not have, maybe you said something that was perfectly true, but somehow it came out hurtful or blaming, maybe you had a crisis of courage and took the easy way out rather than do what you knew was right.  Imagine that right after you do that, you look up, and there's Jesus, just standing and watching.
• What do you see in Jesus's eyes?  Is it sorrow, disappointment, anger, judgment, ...?
• He begins speaking to you.  What does He have to say?
• How does His touch in your life at that moment change you?

• Embracing your dust
• I think it's common to somehow feel that we are of no account because we were formed from the dust.  Consider this.  That dust that God gathered in the garden of Eden was from the Earth, which cosmologists think started out as a fragment from our sun, which is but one tiny star in a vast galaxy, part of a much vaster universe.  We are, all of us, made of stardust, lovingly gathered, bearing God's breath gifted us individually, so that we might take our place in and through the cosmos.  We are dust indeed.  All of us.
• Where/what/who are you from?  If you were to describe your most important parts and features to someone that you had just met, what would you say?
• How much of that origin has been helpful to you, how much of it has made you the person that you are today?
• How much of that origin do you think that God can transform into something that can heal others, transform those around you, show God's glory?
• Where can you start?

• Getting your generous on
• St. Ignatius of Loyola had a manifesto that you can read here.  It's very simple, yet profoundly challenging.  Everything in this life is just a means to an end.
• Where are you giving yourself away these days?
• Is it possible to be generous in your career?  After all, you're getting paid for that, so where is there any room for generosity on your part?
• Do you think that it's better to die with plenty of "gas left in your tank", or go to your grave, completely "used up"?
• What would you like to give away during the rest of your life?
• Do you think you have the time?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God getting me ready for the next big thing?
2. Where is God showing me mercy?
3. Where is God performing a miracle in my life?
4. Where might God be calling me to more radical giving?

Shalom!

6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Jeremiah 17: 5-8
2. Psalms 1: 1-2, 3, 4, 6
3. 1 Corinthians 15: 12, 16-20
4. Luke 6: 17, 20-26

• Deep resources
• Maybe the greatest thing about athletic endeavors is that they make visible what all of us aspire to do in our daily lives: dig deep, find the resources needed, pour it all into the race in front of us, do the impossible.
• What are the resources that you rely on in your life?  Maybe they include a supportive spouse, or the joy you receive from your children, grandchildren, ..., or maybe it's a lifetime of prayer and meditation, or an early education that has supported you ever since.
• Where/how is God present in these resources?
• How much can you count on them being there when you need them?
• How much can you count on God being there when you need Him?

• Swimming upstream
• All of us crave acceptance, belonging, even when that sometimes comes at the price of our own integrity.  Sometimes, merely being silent can be a tacit form of agreement when we really should speak up and be counted.
• When was the last time that you risked being rejected, not understood, considered a bit off for something that you felt had to be said/done?
• What made you decide to be so bold?
• How did you feel at the time?
• Where was God in that?

• Following Jesus
• I'm by nature a concept man.  I like to get the idea, the philosophy down first, then apply it.  My students, being the ultimate pragmatists, like examples.  To them, learning is about seeing an example, finding the commonalities to a problem that they are trying to solve, then using the example as guidance.  Jesus is just such an example.
• Do you think that Jesus was at all happy while He was on earth?
• In what sense do you think that his disciples were friends for Him?
• How do you think those friendships supported His ministry?
• How can you be more like Jesus?
• Why bother?

• Finding true humility
• Personally, I used to find ministering to the truly needy to be difficult because I thought that they were very different from me.  Later in life, I think I find it difficult to minister to them because I realize how much we are alike.
• Do you have marginalized people in your life?  Maybe they do not have steady work that they can count on, or they are chronically ill and have little financial support, or they are elderly and lonely.  What is their name?
• When you minister to them, in whatever capacity that might be, what needs of theirs are you filling?
• Do you wish that you could do more?
• What would you have to do differently to be able to offer that "more" to them?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God in my deepest resources?
2. Where is God calling me to be a voice for the voiceless?
3. Where is God calling me to be happy/holy?
4. Where can I find the face of Christ in those around me?

Shalom!