12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Job 38: 1, 8-11
   
2. Psalms 107: 23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31
   
3. 2 Corinthians 5: 14-17
   
4. Mark 4: 35-41
   

• Part of God's revelation
  
• Every one of our experiences can reveal God to us, if we let it.  Sometimes, we don't get the answer that we want from our questions and our prayers because we are asking the wrong question.  Rather than ask "when will this trial be over?" the better question is "how can I use this experience to draw me closer to God?"
• Think of a trying time in your life, particularly one that you thought was more than you could handle.
• What was your prayer at that time?
• Did your prayer change as you moved through that experience?
• Why did your prayer change?
• If you went through something that difficult today, would you be any different in how you responded?
  

• The storm within
  
• Chaos around you, loss of control, nothing is predictable, plans lie in rubble at your feet, all seems senseless and hope begins to flicker.  The storm outside of us: our circumstances often threaten our peace within.  It is that peace within that must be tended, even in the most dire of moments.
• Have you ever lost your faith in God?
• Was it God God's self that you were losing faith in, or your faith that God would come through for you, or your faith that God really cared, or your faith that you really mattered to God, or your faith that any of it really matters, or ...?
• Do you feel that God failed you at that moment?
• Did you feel that way at the time?
• What's changed?
• Why?
  

• Paradigm shift
  
• Your paradigm is an organizing principle, the lens through which you view the world.  Fr. Peter would often term this your theology.  If we truly embrace the paradigm that the highest  everything in life is to bring about the Kingdom of God, it changes everything.
• Think of some people who have made a profound impact in your life.
• What sort of relationship did you have with them?
• How did that relationship enable them to be so influential in your life?
• How are they (even if they are gone from our midst) still blessing you today?
• When was the last time that you thanked God for them?
  

• At least panic with me!
  
• God can seem distant if we let ourselves get distracted.  It's easy to believe the lie that He has no skin in the game.  That God is somehow above our petty disasters, our minuscule mishaps, even our moments of deeply dire prospects.
• Think of a time that you saw no way out, that looked as though certain ruin was going to come your way.
• Where did you look for counsel, comfort, advice, support?
• Did you feel lonely in that moment, that you had been abandoned?
• Were you?
• How do you know?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. What are the things in my life that threaten to bring me to despair?
   
2. Where might God be showing me how to trust?
   
3. Is God calling me to be His Presence to another?
   
4. Where can I be more open to God's presence in my life?

Just in Case

My father always told me that the bad mistakes were the ones we didn't learn from.

So Jesus, next time we're in a boat with you,

The waves keep crashing over us with no end in sight.

The water keeps rising no matter how fast we bail.

Just what are we supposed to do?

Waking you up doesn't seem to have been the thing to do.

It seems as though you expected us to somehow respond?

Were we supposed to:

Let the waves overwhelm us and send us to the bottom?

Keep bailing until we can do so no longer,

Hoping for a lessening of the storm?

Scream louder, hoping that God will hear us?

 

Smiling, he shook his head at each question.

Finally I ran out of questions.

He gently asked "are you ready to listen now?"

I mutely nodded. Exhausted.

There is no single answer to your question.

What's called for from you might be very different in the next storm.

Every catastrophe ahead of you has its own lesson to impart,

Its own blessing to bestow.

The virtue required by calamity is peace and trust.

Peace is not the absence of chaos.

Rather peace springs from deep commitment,

Discernment of our Father in all things.

 

Peace is the fruit of connection.

It is watered by seeing the world through my Father's eyes.

Feeling His touch in all that is.

Celebrating His longing intimacy in every touch.

 

Trust affirms that peace.

Gives it strength, courage, perseverance.

So that, in the stillness at your center,

You don't shut out the loud clamor around you.

 

You hear our Father whispering to you through all that is coming at you.

And when you get there, you will know what to do.

So begin now, by celebrating our Father in all things.

So that you are ready to see him clearly at all times.

 

Shalom!