Epiphany Sunday

Our readings for Epiphany Sunday are:

1. Isaiah 60: 1-5
   
2. Psalm 72: 1-2, 708, 10-11, 12-13
   
3. Ephesians 3: 2-3a, 5-6
   
4. Matthew 2: 1-12
   

• Finding the glory
  
• In evangelical circles, the notion of God's people being a beacon to those around us is very strong.  I don't get that same vibe in most Catholic settings.
• How do you think your parish and family could be a more powerful message to the surrounding community?
• Do you think that maybe that outreach to those around you might be better done by someone else?  Are all of us called to reflect the glory of God?
• Can you think of anyone in your life that would benefit from having an epiphany by looking at the way that you live your life?
  

• Rescuing the poor
  
• I have read that Jesus came to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.  Friends of ours decided that they were too comfortable, that comfort was not God's call in their lives, and they started fostering at risk children even though they had a family of their own, and a full time job to hold down.
• In what way(s) do you identify with the afflicted?
• In what way(s) do you identify with the comfortable?
• Is it bad to be comfortable?
• Is it necessarily good to be afflicted?
• What can we do to be more sensitive to those around us in need?
  

• Bearers of Promise
  
• Hospitality is hard.  Receiving new people into our lives is always a risk, a challenge to our comfort zone, our held beliefs, the way that we have lived until now.
• Think of someone whose entry into your life rocked your world.
• Did you become a better person for that experience?
• How do you think you rocked their world?
• Where was God in all of that?
  

• Letting go
  
• I feel for Herod.  He worked hard to get where he was, and then his intelligence network tells him that some upstart king is threatening all of his hard work as a politician.  No doubt Herod had a vast network of friends and family who benefited from his power and influence.
• Have you ever tried to cling to something in your life when God was trying to get you to let it go?
• How did you finally realize that it really was time to let that go?
• How did that experience change you?
• Is that experience still changing you?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is God calling me to be a light to those around me?
   
2. Am I comforting the afflicted at all in my life?
3. Where might God be calling me to greater hospitality?
   
4. Where is God teaching me more trust today?

It's the Thought That Counts

Gift-giving is a delicate art.

The gift is more than just a transfer of ownership.

It's a form of communication between the giver and the receiver.

A thoughtful gift tells the receiver "I hear you, I respect your needs, your deepest desires."

A gift well-received says "I appreciate your insights into who I am, I accept this token of your love."

When I and my travel companions first spied the newborn king, we were distracted.

His parents were clearly of peasant stock.

His father's hands roughened by hours of manual labor.

His mother's plain but open features spoke of trust and peace, not power or wealth.

No attendants swarmed near him, no courtiers thronged the room.

The local magistrate seemed totally ignorant of His arrival.

As though this newborn king deliberately arrived in secret.

Far away from the halls of power and influence.

Hidden in plain sight.

Where none would ever think to look for Him.

At first, our gifts seemed out of place.

Perhaps it would have been merciful to bring other offerings:

Meat, bread, warm clothing, better lodgings.

I feared that our fine offerings would be a mockery of this family's rude circumstances.

But the gifts, and we, were received with wonder, awe, fear and uncertainty.

The new king's mother seemed to divine His future in these gifts.

Seeing the destiny of her son that they pointed to.

Knowing that kingship brings authority -

And authority brings responsibility -

And responsibility brings heartache when the gift of kingship is not received by his people.

So we left our gifts in their care.

Not knowing how they would benefit the newborn king.

But knowing that we had done our part in celebrating His arrival.

We went our way, knowing that we had been party to something new, unheard of, 

Maybe even glorious.

 

Shalom!

Holy Family

Our readings for Holy Family Jesus, Mary & Joseph are:

1. Genesis 15: 1-6, 21: 1-3
   
2. Psalm 105: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
   
3. Hebrews 11: 8, 11-12, 17-19
   
4. Luke 2: 22-40
   

• Frankly God ...
  
• I sometimes wonder what Abraham might have been like in person.  To the point, no pulled punches, no hesitation to speak his mind, probably not someone that you would take to a social gathering.  He'd quickly antagonize most of the people there.
• When you pray, does God ever tell you something preposterous?
• What makes some of those things that God has told you hard to own, to believe?
• How did you let God know about your feelings?
• How did God respond to that honesty on your part?
  

• Forever faithful
  
• In our Western culture, especially here in the USA, we have a very short memory.  It's all about "what have you done for me lately?"  The Eastern mindset that the Hebrews spring from sees history in terms of millennia.  By the time that Jesus arrived, thoughtful Jews were despairing of the greatness that God had foretold because it was so long coming.  Hope endures forever because He whom we hope in is forever.
• How has God shown His faithfulness to you in your life?
• How often do you get the chance to share that experience with others?
• How does that experience shape your hope for the future?
• How should it?
  

• Don't overthink this
  
• Thinking is something that I find enjoyable.  When someone tries to tell me not to overthink something, I have a hard time with that.  I'm learning that my intellect is a fragile thing, and given family history, is quite likely to desert me years before I die.  So I want to savor it while I still can.  Abraham had a thorny problem to solve.  God asked Him to sacrifice his son Isaac, but clearly this son of promise was how God was going to fulfill His promises to Abraham.
• Clearly God gave you many gifts: heart, soul, body, mind, voice, deep intuition, and many more.  No one of those will equip you for the call that God has on your life.  How do your head and heart work together to bring you closer to God?
  

• Active waiting
  
• Waiting involves creative tension.  On the one hand, waiting calls for faith that the passage of time is accomplishing something, that forces unseen and unknown are at work, just over the horizon.  At the same time, waiting calls for readiness, diligence, discipline that brings peace rather than stress.  Peace that comes because of purpose and expectation, rather than stress that is restless with no clear goal or objective.  In a way, we are all Adventing throughout life.
• What is some time in your life when you had to wait for something to come to fruition from God?
• When that wait came to an end, how did you know?
• What was accomplished in, and through that waiting?
• How did you find the faith for that wait?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Could I be more honest with God?
   
2. Do I trust God as deeply as I might?
   
3. Am I using all of the gifts that God has given me?
   
4. Where is God teaching me more trust today?

Let Your Servant Go in Peace

I have been lonely for a long long time now.
All of my childhood friends are long dead.
Most of the people my children's ages are dead or dying.

I have struggled to make new friends
Even while missing and morning the old ones.
Because I didn't want to find myself totally cut off.

Keeping watch for the Messiah.

Holding fast to the urgency of His coming.

Fanning the all but gone flames of expectation.

Serving as the light of longing 

To God's sleeping chosen.

Mired down in the tar of "just getting by".

And now I see Him before me.

The one to carry the torch after me.

The fulfillment of the promise -

The font of our hope of renewal.

I only hope that there are still those

Who are looking, longing, thirsting ...

For God to ignite their lives with His Presence.

Give them the courage to hope.

Power to heal.

 

Shalom!

4th Sunday of Advent

Our readings for the 4th Sunday of Advent are:

1. 2 Samuel 7: 1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16
   
2. Psalm 89: 2-3, 4-5, 27, 29
   
3. Romans 16: 25-27
   
4. Luke 1: 26-39
   

• Wrong place at the wrong time
  
• Sometimes, the hardest part about finding God's will in your life is deciding not to do a good thing.
• If some action is good, such as building a hospital, providing relief funds to refugees, working a local soup kitchen, can such an action be bad for you?
• When trying to decide between investing yourself in one good thing or some other good thing, how do you choose?
• Do you think that God cares?
  

• Finding the faithfulness of God
  
• To one extent or another, we all believe that God will never leave us nor forsake us.  Sometimes though, that belief can be hard to hang onto.
• Have you ever felt forsaken, as though there was no one who really knew what it was like to be you, no one who cared enough to make a difference in your life?
• Where was God at that moment?
• If you ever get into a situation like that again, what will be different about your attitude the next time around?
• What might help you to have a really deep down trust in God to be faithful?
  

• Finding strength to do the right thing
  
• One definition of integrity is "what you do when you know no one else is looking".  There you are, just you, all of your experiences up until that moment, a decision before you, and God.
• When you found yourself in those pivotal moments, did God seem right there with you, supporting you, or distant, obscure, maybe even absent?
• What do you pray in such situations?
• How do you know when it's time to move forward, to commit yourself, even though you still don't feel strong enough?
• How has that turned out for you?
  

• Boot camp
  
• Often God calls us in unexpected ways into unexpected ministries, and we wonder why He didn't do a more thorough job preparing us.  After all, He knew this calling was going to come our way, you would think that He could be more organized about the preparation.
• Think of a calling from God in your life that caught you by surprise, and gave you little time to prepare yourself.
• Did you find that you were better prepared than you thought that you were?
• How did you find the trust necessary to step into that new chapter in your life?
• Do you trust God any more deeply now than you did then?
• If you were able to go back in time to your younger self when you were contemplating that next step, what would you say to yourself?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where might I be trying to pack too much into my life?
   
2. Do I trust God as deeply as I might?
   
3. Where is God inviting me to deeper humility, deeper integrity in His service?
   
4. Where is God teaching me more trust today?

Letting Go

I don't think that plans are bad.

God is not some anarchist set on disrupting our carefully built expectations.

In fact, I think God teaches us how to rely on Him

Each time that we make a decision with the intent to draw closer to His side.

The danger comes when we become attached to those plans,

Let them define us, provide our identity.

Soon, nothing makes sense anymore without those plans coming to fruition.

And we lose sight of why we made them in the first place.

Planning is all about the journey.

It's part of the journey.

And just as any journey can lead to unseen places along unfamiliar pathways,

A plan that was precious and holy may have to be given up for even more trust, more holiness.

The grace and mercy of God is not -

Not in letting us walk in the way that we have charted.

No matter how much prayer went into that course of action.

Rather God's mercy lies in His intimate presence and guidance.

We are only as alone as we make ourselves.

God is only as far away as we move ourselves.

No matter how dark the passage ahead might be.

The Light of Life is there before us.

Sometimes we just have to close our eyes to see it.

Shalom!

3rd Sunday of Advent (Gaudete)

Our readings for the 3rd Sunday of Advent are:

1. Isaiah 61: 1-2a, 10-11
   
2. Psalm Luke 1: 46-48, 49-50, 53-54
   
3. 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24
   
4. John 1: 6-8, 19-28
   

• Liberty to the captives
  
• We can be captive to all sorts of things in this life. 
  
• Think of something in your life that you just cannot seem to shake.
• What do you think victory over that resentment, addiction, trauma, co dependency, ... might look like?
• How can Jesus help you get there?
• How can you start that process this Advent?
  

• We are not so different after all
  
• All of us need mercy.  Those who have achieved much, who have fame, fortune, appreciation in abundance may think that they do not need mercy, but they do.  Our common need for God's mercy binds us together as His people, whether we know it or not.
• Where/when has God been there for you when you least expected to find Him?
• How did you get into that position to need His help?
• How did you get outside of yourself enough to seek God's help?
• How did that Divine Intervention change you?
  

• Finding strength in humility
  
• One way to look at the virtue of humility is to see ourselves, the world around us, and most especially God in a light that is certain and true.  Humility brings trust.  Trust brings resilience in the face of change because trust knows that control is an illusion.
• What are some times when you have had to learn humility?
• How has humility made life easier, richer, fuller?
• Why do you think that those lessons in humility were so hard?
• Has it gotten any easier through the years?
• Why?
  

• One you do not recognize
  
• All of us have personal heroes in our lives who have made an impact on us, who were there just when we needed them, who were the presence of God in our lives in some way big or small.
• Think of one of those personal heroes in your life.
• How did they come into your life?
• How were they the Presence of God for you?
• Have you ever thanked them for their influence?
• Do you ever get a chance to tell others about how God touched you through them?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where might God be calling me to greater freedom?
   
2. Where is God inviting me to greater mercy?
   
3. Where is God inviting me to deeper humility, deeper walking by His side?
   
4. Where is God incarnating in my life today?

Who Are You?

When we meet new people for the first time -

We try to establish our identity in terms of other things.

 

As though what we do, or did, what we have, establishes who we are -

Establishes how this new person should regard us.

 

But what might happen if instead we introduced ourselves:

I am the spouse of my beloved, parent to our children, son of my parents.

 

I am a member of my parish community -

Finding God in serving God's children with, in, and through that parish family.

 

I am seeking to find God in the ordinary, the every day.

I strive to build virtue with everything that I do and say.

 

In my service to God, I am helping to bring His kingdom to earth.

That justice and wisdom may blossom in just one more heart.

I am a sacrament of God's own Presence on earth.

A beacon to the lost who are seeking their true destiny.

And in the midst of all of that, the thing that I strive for most

Is humility.

 

Give that a try, and tell me how it turns out.

Shalom!

2nd Sunday of Advent

Our readings for the 2nd Sunday of Advent are:

1. Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11
   
2. Psalm 85: 9-10, 11-12, 13-14
   
3. 2 Peter 3: 8-14
   
4. Mark 1: 1-8
   

• Leading with care
  
• My father-in-law was in the hospital recovering from a heart valve replacement.  They were trying to get him to walk and he was reluctant.  Mark, his son, positioned himself a few feet away and said "Dad, you just have to get to me, that's all."  His father started slowly moving towards Mark.  Meanwhile, Mark cleverly starting walking backwards.
• How has God led you in times past in your life?
• How is God's leadership of His people similar to some of the really great leaders that we have, or have had in our midst?
• How is God's leadership different?
• Do you think that all leadership should be godly?
  

• Too many voices
  
• Our culture tells us that if you are doing just one thing at a time, you are wasting your time.  Far more efficient to multi-task.  Single mindedness is for sissies.
• What are some of the voices in your life?  They could be articulate: the news, your friends, family, things that you read.  Those voices could be memories that you have growing up, values and virtues that you have learned.  Those voices could be instincts that you might not even know where they came from.
• Do you give equal weight to all of those voices?
• Which one/ones of them can God speak through?
• How do you focus on God in all of the chatter of your life?
• When do you focus on God?
  

• Spiritual beings having a physical experience
  
• I love the original Karate Kid just because the master, Mr. Miyagi, teaches his pupil in the most mundane and repetitive tasks.  If we're open to it, there is always more going on than meets the eye.
• What do you think that you are learning, how are you growing, from some of the experiences that you are going through right now?
• Do you think that you would grow as well if you were not facing those challenges?
• What do you think God is going to do with those new virtues that He is building in you?
• Does it matter what use He's going to make of those virtues, of you?
  

• New beginnings
  
• Everything is so abrupt in Mark.  "John appeared in the desert" makes it sound as though the space was empty, and then suddenly, John was there.
• Do you think that God's revelation is still ongoing?
• Do you think that renewal, reform, transformation within the Church is going on to this day?
• What do you think God is asking of us in that ongoing renewal?
• How can we be more ready for that ongoing renewal?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where might God be calling me to lead?
   
2. Where is God speaking that I'm not hearing?
   
3. Where has God offering me graces today?
   
4. Where is God gently leading us today as a family, community, Church?

Now What?

There was a certain fiery majesty about John.

Utterly focused on the message he was proclaiming.

Utterly sure of the transformations that lay ahead.

Utterly confident that God was on the move.

Each of us and all of us there that day

Felt as though John was speaking to them especially.

No matter who you were, John had a word for you.

Soldiers, Scribes, wheelwrights, it didn't matter.

All of us had room to reform, all of us need to repent.

Our collective sin made a sorry community of us.

Each of us looking at each other with new eyes.

Realizing that we have all fallen short.

This baptism of John's was meant to be crossing the Red Sea.

Leaving certain slavery behind -

Along with predictable meals and shelter -

And embarking on a journey full of uncertainty and freedom.

I look upon the family farm that I inherited differently now.

I know that we are feeding the hungry, giving hope to the hopeless.

Our hired hands are God's children just as much as my family.

The very land a daily gift from God to be nurtured, not raped.

And I am afraid.

Afraid that I will not live up to the calling that I heard so clearly that day.

Afraid that life will, bit by bit, erode into just getting by again.

Afraid that all that I will have is jagged memories and regrets.

You can only cross the Red Sea once in life.

John's baptism is not a gate that you can go through time and again.

This change in me, these new eyes, these transformed hands -

Demand faithfulness, perseverance, resilience of me and my family.

And I don't know where we're going to find it.

John told us that he was making the way for this Jesus.

I just have to hang on to those desert dreams and passions until Jesus arrives.

I just hope that I recognize Him when He comes.

 

Shalom!