Pentecost Sunday

Our readings for Pentecost Sunday are:

1. Acts 2: 1-11
   
2. Psalms 104: 1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
   
3. Romans 8: 8-17
   
4. John 20: 19-23
   

• Getting over your comfort zone
  
• Language divides, but it also unites.  Hearing others of your ilk speaking in familiar accents of familiar things is a comfort.  But God always has bigger plans than we do.
• Who are some of the people or types of people that make you feel most uncomfortable?
• What is it about them that puts you on edge in their presence?
• In your imagination, can you see Jesus reaching out to such folks, ministering to them in some way, bringing healing and wholeness to them?
• Can you see yourself doing the same?
  

• Renewed by the Spirit
  
• We speak of renewal in many contexts.  A couple can renew their wedding vows, you can renew your driver's license, an institution or community can undergo renewal to find new ways to celebrate their essential charism.
• What in your life craves renewal?
• What would be different for you once that element of your life has been renewed?
• What role would/could God and the Holy Spirit take in such a renewal?
  

• Hanging with Jesus
  
• Jesus must have had some good times with His friends.  But those don't ever rate mention in the Gospels.  The only meals that we read about are contentious affairs in which someone is trying to challenge Him about some of His teachings.  You never hear about Jesus having a good day in the temple aside from when he was 12.  So what was it like being His disciple?
• Why do you think that Jesus' suffering was such a part of His ministry?
• Do you think that He could have saved us without suffering?
• Since He suffered so much in His life, what is the point of us suffering in our lives?
  

• Healing love
  
• The juxtaposition of Jesus showing His wounds with the commissioning of His disciples is phenomenal.  Some of us, perhaps many of us, in Jesus' position would harbor thoughts of revenge against those who had treated Him so badly.  Instead, he sends his disciples out to heal and reconcile.
• Where is interpersonal healing needed in your life, family, community, parish?
• In an ideal world, who would be the one who brings such healing about?
• Is there any way, no matter how small, that you might be an agent to support such healing?
• What's stopping you?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. How can I break free of my comfort zone?
2. Where is God renewing me that I might not have noticed yet?
3. Where is God inviting me to suffer with Jesus?
4. Where can I bring healing?

Shalom and a blessed Easter to you!

7th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 7th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 7: 55-60
   
2. Psalms 97: 1-2, 6-7, 9
   
3. Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20
   
4. John 17: 20-26
   

• Consolation in time of need
  
• All of us feel that good things come to those who do good.  In fact, we also believe the opposite, that if bad things are coming your way, you must be doing something wrong.  Yet the Christian martyrs tell us otherwise.
• Has there ever been a time in your life when your work seemed to be an utter failure, yet you knew that God was with you?
• How do you define failure?
• How do you define success?
• Do you think that God ever "sets us up" for failure?
• Is God obliged to share His grand plan with us?
  

• God of great and small
• Our God is not confined to any one place, time, circumstance or people.  It's a relief to know that He's that interested, but a challenge to use to never regard someone or some situation as "beneath us".
• When you see a situation that needs remedying, how do you decide whether to get involved, or just "leave well enough alone"?
• Where does prayer factor into that decision?
• If you had more courage, what would you do with it?
  

• Living Water
  
• Maybe water figures so prominently in Scripture because the Chosen were desert people.  God calls us to the waters of rebirth, the Living Water, baptism.
• In your ongoing celebration of your baptism, what have you given up lately so that you can receive something else from God?  Maybe that death was loss of control, or coming to forgive someone who's wronged you, maybe that new life was finding greater trust, greater peace.
• Was that an event or a process?
• How did you get started on that journey?
• What kept you going?
  

• School of love
  
• Loving others is the most important thing that we can do, yet there is no certificate or degree program in loving.
• Are you better at loving than you used to be?
• How?
• How did that change come about in your life?
• What's next?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. Where is God refining me with adversity?
2. Where is God calling me to use courage that I already have?
3. Where/what/how is God resurrecting me this Easter season?
4. Where can I love more powerfully?

Shalom and a blessed Easter to you!

6th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 6th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 15: 1-2, 22-29
   
2. Psalms 67: 2-3, 5, 6, 8
   
3. Revelation 21: 10-14, 22-23
   
4. John 14: 23-29
   

• How do I love you?
  
• Spiritual direction is boils down to helping the other person see where God is moving in their lives, and how they can participate more fully in what God is already about.  Perhaps this model describes some aspect of a loving response that we should have to each other at all levels within the Church.
• Looking back over the past few years, do you see any patterns to what God is doing in your life, any broad themes.  These might be "teaching me humility", or "teaching me to trust more", or "teaching me to be more generous."
• What can you do to help God help you in that/those area(s)?
• Why is it so hard to see such trends in our lives?
• Do you think that such assessments are an important part of our discipleship?
  

• Speaking your language
  
• When I was a young, Wycliffe Bible Translators were held up as a place where missionary zeal, linguistic technology, and opportunity met.  Rather than the old model of forcing a people to learn a European language so that they could read the Bible, Wycliffe Bible Translators would study the people's native language, and translate the Bible into their language so that they could read God's Word in their native language.
• How well do you think you are really understood and appreciated as an individual within the Church?  That understanding might include your position as a parent, son or daughter to an ailing parent, divorced, unemployed, or any other dimension to your state in life.
• How would you like to hear the Gospel Message preached to your state in life?
• How do you think that might happen?
  

• Who needs the sun when you are here?
  
• Lesson 13 of the Baltimore Catechism is on the sacraments, and it starts off with a definition of sacraments: "An outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace."  Joseph Martos calls sacraments "doors to the sacred."  At bottom, every sacrament is brokered by means of some material element, the matter of the sacrament, be it the water of baptism, the oils of Confirmation, bread and wine, ...
• Why do you think that God insists on the sacraments having a material manifestation?
• Why do you think that God insists that sacraments are administered by human hands?  Why not just watch a video, say some words, read a passage?
• Who are the ministers of the marriage sacrament?  Careful here, the answer might surprise you.
• What do the sacraments teach you about the physical world around us?
• What do they teach you about us?
  

• Freedom lies in the memory
  
• I fantasize about photographic memory from time to time.  To be able to effortlessly recall everything I've ever learned, heard, read, it would be glorious I think to myself.  Maybe my memory is a gift, a way to teach me humility.  Jesus promised His disciples that the Holy Spirit would help them to remember.
• Do you think that it would have been better if those first disciples included a reporter, someone who knew how important Jesus' words were, and write them all down verbatim as they came from Jesus' lips?
• How much better would it be today if they had a videographer there to record everything?
• Would we still have disagreements among us today about doctrine, theology, practice?
• Why is that?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. Where is God making bold moves in my life?
2. Where is God calling me to be more understanding of others?
3. How can I be more sacramental in the lives of those around me?
4. When was the last time that I took some time to remember what/how God has been good to me?

Shalom and a blessed Easter to you!

5th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 5th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 13: 14, 21-27
   
2. Psalms 145: 8-9
   
3. Revelation 21: 1-5a
   
4. John 13: 31-33a, 34-35
   

• A company of leaders
  
• Large corporations tend to communicate in pithy slogans because management hopes that subliminal messages are more effective than overt ones.  McDonnell Douglas had one: "MDC, a company of leaders."  Meaning that all of us were called, even obliged to lead, just not all in the same way.
• Who are some of the real leaders in your communities?
• How did they get that way?
• Did they seek those positions/ministries?
• How would you like to lead?
• What are you doing about that?
  

• Enduring kingdom
  
• Looking back over the centuries of human history, it seems as though nothing in our existence has much staying power.  Mighty empires come and go, leaving barely a whisper of their former glory.  Yet God endures through all generations.
• How does that make you feel about the importance of what you worked on today?
• Do you think that your were building up the Kingdom along the way?
• Do you think that you have to know whether you were building up the Kingdom, in order for you to be building up the Kingdom?
• What would you be willing to do to put your effort into something of truly eternal value?
  

• Tabernacle
  
• The reserved host is kept secure in the tabernacle, both as a means of acknowledging its transcendent nature, but also as a way of allowing Christ to be present to His people.
• How else is Christ physically present to His people?
• Have you been that presence lately?
• Who has been that Presence of God to you in your life?
• Was that part of some organized ministry or ceremony?
• What does that tell you about those ministries and ceremonies?
  

• Tough love
  
• We often hear of "tough love" to describe hard decisions that parents have to make regarding their children, decisions that the children will probably not like nor appreciate, even rebel against.
• Is our love of one another as adults ever "tough"?
• Think of a time that you decided that you needed to get "tough" with someone that you loved.
• How did you come to that decision?
• Did that other person eventually thank you?
• Do you still feel that "getting tough" was the best answer?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. Where can I be a better leader?
2. Am I putting my energy into anything that will endure?
3. How can I be a better beacon of God's presence?
4. Where is God calling me to love outside of my comfort zone?

Shalom and a blessed Easter to you!

4th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 4th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 13: 14, 43-52
   
2. Psalms 100: 1-2, 3, 5
   
3. Revelation 7: 9, 14b-17
   
4. John 10: 27-30
   

• What success looks like
  
• We all want to be successful at what we do.  If we are not at least somewhat successful, we begin to wonder whether we are in the right place at the right time after all.  Without success to encourage us to move forward, we wonder whether we are wasting our time.
• Do you consider yourself successful?
• Think of a few examples where you have been a success at something.  Maybe it's a project at work, or raising your children, or your marriage.
• How do you know what you were successful at those things?
• Who told you what made for a success in that endeavor?
• Do you think that it is possible to fail if you are right where God wants you?
• How do you think God defines success?
  

• Faith of generations
  
• Wealthy families with old money pass vast fortunes from one generation to the next, hoping that this money will give the next generation the start that it needs to provide for the generation to follow, and so forth.  Our God calls upon us to believe that He is the ultimate source of security for those coming after us.
• What do you think is the most precious aspect of your faith that you would want to hand on to your descendants, either your literal children or those who look up to you?
• What are you doing to pass that along?
• What do you think are your chances of success at that?
• Do you have any regrets about passing along that legacy?
  

• Keeping on
  
• Why are you a Catholic?  What keeps you going?  Is it gratitude, fear, hope, joy, love, ...?
• Do you think that you have what it takes to stay close to God, no matter what might come your way?
• Why do you think that?
• How has God strengthened you when you needed it most in the past?
• If you had known that those trials were coming, how might you have prepared better?
• How might you prepare better now?
  

• The voice of God
  
• What is your process for making decisions?
• When does God come into that practice?
• When should God come into that practice?
• Have you gotten better at discerning God's well?
• Why or why not?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. Where is God succeeding in me despite my expectations?
2. What am I passing along to those who will come after me?
3. Where is God trying to strengthen me?
4. Where is God inviting me to step outside of my comfort zone?

Shalom and a blessed Easter to you!