Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God

Our readings for Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God are:

1. Numbers 6: 22-27
   
2. Psalms 67: 2-3, 5, 6, 8
   
3. Galatians 4: 4-7
   
4. Luke 2: 16-21
   

• The face of God
  
• In our post-COVID 19 world, we crave now more than ever for face to face conversation.  We yearn for dialog that is honest, dynamic, intimate, and above all, authentic.  How honest are you in your prayers to God?
• Think of a time when you were pretty sure that you were not feeling what you should be feeling.
• How did that affect your prayer?
• Have you ever been afraid to tell God what you really think because you're afraid of offending Him?
• Or maybe you don't tell Him how you really feel because you are sure that you will eventually mature beyond that?
• What do you think God wants from you/us in such situations?
  

• God's name is mercy
  
• We have a merciful God, one who could punish us, but who chooses not to out of the essence of who He is.
• Think of something that really challenged you in your faith.  Maybe it was the death of a loved one, a business deal gone totally bad, a betrayal.
• Where was God's mercy in that?
• Do you think that God could ever redeem that in your life?
• Do you think that God might be redeeming that in your life right now?
  

• Can you call God Abba?
  
• Sadly, there are plenty of seemingly accidental fathers, men who became parents with little in the way of preparation or character to help them, maybe even less motivation to be a good parent.  They give fathers a bad name.
• What sort of presence was your father in your life?
• How do you think that God the father resembles your father?
• Do you ever talk to God about that image that you have of Him?
• If we are truly made in the image and likeness of God, how does that make you feel about your image of God?
  

• What are you pondering lately?
  
• Life seems to move at supersonic speeds.  We never seem to have the time to ponder what happens to us, deep down we suspect that we could learn a great deal from our experiences if we would only let them teach us.
• What have you pondered lately?
• Is pondering a process, or an event?
• If you were organized enough to keep a list of all of the things that you'd like to ponder, what are some of the things that you'd have on that list?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where might I be hiding my face from God?
   
2. How might I be missing God's mercy in my life?
3. Where is God waiting to break through/beyond the image that I have of Him?
   
4. Where might God be speaking to me in the events, people, emotions of my life?
   

Smelling of Sheep

The stars look so close, I feel as though I could reach up and touch them.
The quiet is peaceful, inviting me into prayer.

The day's work is done, my flock is safe in its fold, I sit at the entrance
Looking into the distance, seeing beyond sight.

Thanking God for His hand in my life, for the abundance of life
For the beauty of the hills and valleys, rocks and streams.

All of them sustain and support me and my flock.
All of them delight and remind me of God's permeating Presence.

That hallowed Presence speaks to me, tells me that Presence has a face,
Bone and sinew, feet and hands all here, now, beside all of us.

I always knew that the world was shot through with the Light of God.
But now, now my eyes are opened, I see His messengers excited beyond all telling.

Telling us on this isolated hillside, that God is here for us, for us.
His cosmos, always charged with love and peace, has a heartbeat, and breaths.

A heartbeat, breath pulsing through His lungs, just like mine.
Just like me, that Presence is all but overlooked, all but missed.

And I see the Light of Life shining around me, and suddenly I realize
That I, we, everyone of us, are all part of this incarnation, this revelation.

All of us, now and always, but especially now are light-bearers,
The skin and bone and sinew of God Himself, consummated in this crowning arrival.

We gather to see this miracle with our own eyes,
And know each other as shepherds in the smell of our flocks.

And see this incarnation among sheep and goats, pigs and chickens,
Peasants and shepherds, and we know that He has come for us for us.

He has come to show us how to touch the Light to others,
How to reveal the heavenly Shepherd by how we shepherd.

I will never look at my sheep, the hills and valleys, the streams made sacred the same.
All of them made sacred by this arrival, this quiet, joyful miracle in, and through our midst.

Shalom!

Christmas Day

Our readings for Christmas Day are:

1. Isaiah 52: 7-10
   
2. Psalms 98: 1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6
   
3. Hebrews 1: 1-6
   
4. John 1: 1-18
   

• Your God is king!
  
• Whenever a lot of chaos is in evidence, the first question to come up is "who's in charge here" be it a crime scene or a commercial loading dock.  We want to know whether there's a plan in place, whether all of this frenzied activity has any direction.
• What are some events in your life that make you think that God is in charge in your life?
• What was your role in those events?
• How might you have been more open to God at that time?
• What did you learn?
  

• What are you praising God for lately?
  
• Organized praise is a tricky matter.  On the one hand, you don't want to be so structured that it becomes nothing more than a formality.  On the other hand, (at least for those of us in the OCD ranks) too much freedom in a large group can lead to liturgical mayhem.
• What would you like to praise God for in a large gathering?
• How would you go about expressing that praise?
• Do you think that it matters to God whether you express that privately or in a large setting?
• Do you think anyone else is interested in hearing why you think that God is great?
  

• The physicality of sacrament
  
• Presence comes to us in many ways.  A warm hug, a sunrise that takes your breath away, the sight of a soaring hawk, the baptism of a close friend, that close friend themselves.
• What are some ways that Jesus is present to you?
• How are they the same?
• How are they different?
• Why do you think that God comes to us in so many ways?
• What do we lose if we miss one or more of those Presences?
  

• Have you incarnated today?
  
• The incarnation is not an event, it's a process.  Bringing God's Presence to the earth is not limited to Jesus.  How could it be?  He told us to follow Him.
• How have you been that Presence to others in your life?
• How has that gift that you give changed you?
• How do you know when you have given enough?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where might God be looking for my participation in His kingship?
   
2. How might I express my appreciation for/to God more deeply?
3. Where is God Present to me that I may not have noticed?
   
4. Where might God be calling me to give of myself in new ways?  What might he want me to leave behind?
   

Arrival

I can't hear the angels singing anymore.

At least not the way that I used to.

But I hear the sound

Of my mother's blood

Washing back and forth

In a responsorial chorus to her great heart.

I feel my heart too.

Different it is, from hers.

The to and fro, not as stately.

The rhythms not as slow.

Separate, yet not alone here.

Her blood keeps gentle company with mine.

While we wait together

For the day when we will part.

I belong.

Here, with her, right now.

Finding my way in the world through her.

Shaking with her laughter, mourning in her tears.

All is arrival, all is sacrament.

This season of togetherness and oneness.

Makes all birth holy, all blood sacred.

All water a baptism, a doorway.

My hands feel each other in the dark.

My fingers interlock.

Separate, yet one none the less.

I stretch out my hand and feel -

Feel the walls of my new home.

Feel the tidal rhythm of my mother's breathing.

Know our oneness, and separateness

In our flesh, shared, yet distinct.

This place I tabernacle in is holy.

Holy as it has been since the beginning.

This embrace of flesh surrounding

Surrounding and sustaining.

This flesh is not a wall, but a door to an ancient love.

An old old love with a new expression.

An intimacy unimaginable,

Yet one imagined so long ago.

Rhythmic spasms pulse through us,

My limbs are squeezed through the narrow door.

My lungs emptied of the familiar fluid.

My eyes open for the first time.

I get my first glimpse of creation through these eyes.

I smell the warm moistness of the cattle, sheep, chickens,

I feel the rough cloth upon my tender skin,

And I am comforted by the sound of angels singing once again.

Shalom!

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Our readings for the Fourth Sunday in Advent are:

1. Isaiah 7: 10-14
   
2. Psalms 24: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
   
3. Romans 1: 1-7
   
4. Matthew 1: 18-24
   

• God, are you there?
  
• Trusting in God can be a tricky matter.  There is always the question whether what we think is God's will really is God's will.  Particularly when the stakes are high.  Think of a time when you felt the call of God to go outside of your comfort zone.
  
• How did you tell whether or not this was God's leading?
• How did you find the courage to follow that leading?
• How did that turn out?
• Do you still think that was God's voice?
  

• Standing in a holy place
  
• Holy places are all around us.  Certainly there are shrines aplenty, but I believe that any place where love is found soon becomes holy, the love practiced there seeps into the fabric of that place, making it a doorway to the sacred.
• Where is a place that you find holy, where you go to find God?
• How did that place become holy for you?
• Is it possible to make your home, your place of work at all holy?
• What could you do to bring that about today?
  

• Set apart, but for what?
  
• It's a sacrilege to use something for anything other than it's divine purpose.  In a small way, washing your car with the priest's alb would be a sacrilege.  In a similar way, using our lives for anything other than God's purpose for us is a sacrilege.
• What is God's purpose in your life right now?
• How did you find that purpose?
• Do you think that it's ever going to change?
• Where would you like for your life to go next?
• Do you think God cares what you want (careful, this is a trick question)?
  

• What makes a family holy
  
• Joseph and Mary were doubtless both trained from their youth up in what made for good parenting, what the responsibilities they were going to shoulder as adults, and how that would look.  Only some of the training prepared them for what lay ahead.
• All of us are in a family in some role or another, many of us play several roles.  I am still son to my mother (I get reminders from time to time) and still father to my children (fortunately, I don't seem to need to remind them), husband to my wife.  Which of your family roles brings you the most joy?
• Was that joy always there, or did you have to grow into that?
• How has being in your family changed you through the years?
• How would you like for it to change you?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where might God be calling me out of my comfort zone?
   
2. Where can I bring some holiness today?
3. Am I at all sacrilegious in how I spend my time, talent, and treasure?
   
4. Where is God inviting me closer to Him with, in, and through the crazy messy gaggle of folks that I call family?

Casting out Fear

Some of my fears are old friends that are so familiar, they all but define me.

Fear of failing, of being a failure, of being seen as a failure.

Fear of going to my grave without a commendable list of accomplishments.

Fear of not seeing where God has worked through me until I am gone.

Fear of being paralyzed by my own fears, sidelining myself,

Until the last play is over, and the lights go out on the stadium of my life.

I used to strive to slay my fears.

Wrestle with them, beat them into submission.

Banish them for good, score a solid triumph.

Then I realized that they were a lot more resilient than I was,

For they kept coming back like stray dogs that I had once fed.

Just as strong as ever.

 

I tried giving them up to God.

I wasn't sure quite how to do that, 

My prayer was one of "here, I don't need this, you take it"

And I was disappointed in God that he didn't take me up on my offer.

And I began to fear failing at dealing with my fears.

Getting on some fear treadmill.

Then I learned, slowly, 

That my fears were going to be my companions for good,

And I needed to let them be my companions for good, and not evil.

Acknowledge them, pray about them,

Listen carefully to the various voices in my life,

And find that one still small voice that called forth the best in me.

It's not easy, or quick.

I have need of a lot more humility and trust.

But somehow, I feel that the process, messy though it is,

Is a form of devotion in its own right.

And I look forward to hearing less and less from my fears,

As all of those voices within learn what's truly important.

Shalom!

Third Sunday of Advent

Our readings for the Third Sunday in Advent are:

1. Isaiah 35: 1-6a, 10
   
2. Psalms 146: 67, 8-9, 9-10
   
3. James 5: 7-10
   
4. Matthew 11: 2-11
   

• Be strong, fear not!
  
• It appears that, as we get older, we fear more and more things.  Some of them are understandably physiological in nature, such as who will care for me when I cannot care for myself, will others still treat me with respect even when I am feeble?  Other fears center around all of the changes that we have witnessed in the world around us, and the certain sense that those changes will only grow more frequent and intense with the passage of time.
• What do you fear?
• If you pray about those things, how do you pray about them?
• Do you think God will guide you around those things that you fear, or through them?
• To what extent do you feel protected by God from those fears?
  

• Lord come and save us
  
• As Christians, we often think of the word salvation in connection with salvation from our sins.  But there are so many things that we can cry out to God for salvation.
• What would you like to be saved from?  Maybe you find it hard to trust God, or you have a feeling of hopelessness, or you feel stuck in some soul-sucking job.
• How are you praying about that today?
• What do you expect God to do for you in that situation?
• What do you feel God is calling you to do in that situation?
  

• Patience in the face of need
  
•  God's timing often is very different from ours, and that is hard for us to understand.
• When have you had to have patience with God in your life?
• How was that patience rewarded?
• What is the difference between being patient, waiting in hope, and just giving up?
• How did you keep that hope alive?
  

• Working through your offense
  
• We used to have a priest celebrate Mass with us named Fr. Al Scott.  Fr. Al always seemed to be asking two simple questions: "what are you doing for the poor" and "what are you doing to actively draw closer to God in your own life".  You never walked away from one of his homilies without being challenged.  Some took offense at him and his message.
• Have you ever been offended by a word from God?
• How did you get past that offense on your part?
• Do you think that God was patient with you?
• How has that experience continued to change you in the years since?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where might God be waiting on me to transform my fear?
   
2. Where is God calling me to participate in my own salvation?
3. Where might God be offering me hope, maybe in unexpected places?
   
4. Where is God inviting me to go deeper with Him?

Water me oh God

With the dew of your mercy that I might shower it on others.
Especially when they demand more of me than I know how to give,
When they seek what I scarce can find, even in myself.

Give me your hope in you, that I will rely on your saving help
For all my challenges large and small, day in, and day out.
Instead of trying to go it alone, and growing bitter in the attempt.

Help me to appreciate the gift that you have been in my life.
The faithfulness that you have shown me all of my days.
So that your life in my life can feed my faith, and my faith feed me.

Open my eyes that I may see your angels ever around me.
In the form of family, friends, loved ones, even the annoying ones.
That I may receive Your presence with open arms and heart.

Shalom!