29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 45: 1, 4-6
   
2. Psalm 96: 1, 4-5, 7-8, 9, 10
   
3. I Thessalonians 1: 1-5b
   
4. Matthew 22: 15-21
   

• Finding meaning
  
• Life can be hard to understand at times.  Events can be cruel, even twisted.  Tragedy strikes for no apparent reason, leaving us feeling vulnerable, and shaken.  Things like a terminal disease in a young child, the death of a person before their time, war in the Middle East all strain our ability to cope, strain our faith.
• Think of something that's happened to you that really challenged your faith.
• Do you have any idea why God allowed that to happen to you?
• Do you feel that God was with you through that tragedy?
• What was your prayer through that trial?
• What was God's answer?
• Does God always owe us an answer in such times of trouble?
  

• Our God is an awesome God
  
• A Michael Smith rendition of Awesome God can be found here.  It is quite stirring for a number of reasons, among them the talent and raw power of the performance.
• What are some events/seasons in your life that showed God to be awesome?
• What character traits of God shone through in those events?
• How did that experience change your image of God?
• How did that experience change your image of yourself?
• For those of us who attended Greg's funeral, did any of you find any awesomeness there?
  

• Labor of love
  
• Paul speaks of "work produced by faith, labor prompted by love".  I wanted to know why he distinguished between work and labor.  According to some, labor seems to me to be an expression of the Spirit.  Something that we can prepare for, be open to, but never really control.
• What is an event, passage in your life, decision that you made, that was an inspiration?
• What had gone on in your life that prepared you for that?
• How was it that you were open to that inspiration?
• Did you think at the time that you really could answer such a call?
  

• Coin of the realm
  
• St. Ignatius published the First Principle and Foundation as part of his Spiritual Exercises.  In those few paragraphs, St. Ignatius rather starkly sets the context for our lives on this earth, and the purpose of everything around us: to serve and glorify God.
• What are things in your life that make it hard to stay focused on God?
• Why are they important to you?
• What might life be like without them?
• How do you decide whether let something now into your life?
• How do you decide when to let something go?

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is God inviting me to appreciate His blessings?
   
2. How am I celebrating the community of believers that I find myself in?
3. Where is God calling me to find His contentment in my life?
   
4. Where is God calling me to enjoy His abundance?

Full Time Poet

My editor sent me to a little village to interview a local poet.
Upon entering the quaint hamlet, I asked where he might be.
"Hard to say for sure" said a grizzled villager.
"He frequents several spots.  They are all by the river.
He likes to sit, ponder the passing water,
And God only knows what else."

So I made my way to the river, looking for likely places to sit.
Finally coming upon a lone figure at ease on a fallen log.
Back straight, head up, his hair flowing gently in the morning breeze.
So very still, as though he were a statue, so profound was his rest.
I felt a sympathetic hush from the forest that he and I were in.
As though creation was meditating with him, each finding themselves in the other.

I broke the silence without intent, a twig breaking beneath me.
Without looking, he said "welcome stranger, come sit awhile."

"How do you know that I'm a stranger?" I asked timidly.

"No one from these parts comes looking for me anymore.

The passing animals are more stealthy than any human.

So I knew you to be neither beast, nor local man."

"What do you do here, in this solitude of yours?" I asked.

"Write poetry.  Seek meaning.  Talk to God in all things."

I looked around.  There was no pen, no papers, no Samsung tablet.

In fact, the poet had nothing but the clothes on his back a floppy hat, and a canteen.

"Do you memorize your poems as you think of them?"

I asked, subconsciously trying to find his methods.

"What I do here is labor.  It comes unbidden, like a deer or fox.

I do not control the timing, the content, or the depth of inspiration.

I just know that I need to be open to it a good part of each day.

Then, at the end of the day, when the sky folds in on itself,

The stars come out of hiding, and the forest night shift commences,

I go back to my cabin and see what of today craves recording on paper.

Sometimes, I go for weeks at a time without ever putting anything down.

Sometimes, the words come in a torrent from some bottomless well.

I only know that I need to be ready to pass along what I have first received.

Be faithful to who I am as a writer.

Be generous to myself and those whom I serve with, in, and through my writing.

And this brings me contentment and peace."

Trying to to decide whether he was compensated fairly for his work, I asked:

"And how much do you think you bring in in a year?"

"Don't try to measure the unfathomable."  He said.

"But you work hard at this, I've seen your work, you deserve notoriety, security, ..."

He slowly answered as if from a great distance: "Work is what I do to sustain this body.

What I do here, and at my desk at home are labor.  Freely received, freely given.

I have just one question for you.

What is your labor?"

Shalom!