18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15
   
2. Psalms 78: 3-4, 23-24, 25, 54
   
3. Ephesians 4: 17, 20-24
   
4. John 6: 24-35
   

• Distractions
  
• "Missing the forest for the trees" can happen to any of us.  The forest stands for anything that's bigger, perhaps more important, larger in scope and context than the distraction.  That's not to say that the distraction is bad, just that it's getting in the way of something even bigger.  God was trying to teach the Israelites that He was with them.  All they got out of it was breakfast.
  
• A parable is a story, often short, that teaches one or more lessons.  Often, a parable is successful because the story draws us in, captures our attention, and makes us wonder what the lesson of that story might be.  Think of events of your life as a parable from God.
• Try to pretend that someone is telling you one of your own stories from your life.  Pretend that you are hearing this story for the first time.  What strikes you about this story?  What surprises you?  What moves you?
• What did you learn from this story that you've just told yourself?
• Do you think this story will make a difference in how you will live your life going forward?
  

• What God has done
  
• Many years ago my friend Mike heard that the nuns in the local convent needed a handyman.  Being a generous soul, he gathered up his tools one Saturday and went over there to see what he could do.  He did this for several weeks until that old convent was in top running condition.  At which points, the grateful nuns offered a heartfelt prayer of thanks, to God.
• Think of something that you have done in response to the leading of the Lord.
• God wasn't swinging the hammer, placing the nails, or mudding the drywall in that project.  Yet God was involved.  How was God involved?
• How did you come to be involved?
• Did you try to get anyone else to join you in that project?
  

• Abundance
  
• Our God is a God of abundance.  There is nothing thrifty about the blessings that He showers upon us.
• When is a time that God gave you far more than you really needed at the time, and far more than you deserved?
• What does that tell you about God?
• What does that tell you about yourself?
• How could you use that story to encourage others?
  

• Beyond the bread to the life it brings
  
• The dialog between Jesus and the crowds sounds much like his encounter with the woman at the well (John 4: 1-45).  Except the crowds do not seem to have ever actually come to belief in Him.  Perhaps the request for a sign was just a diversionary tactic on their parts.
• Why do you believe what you believe about God?
• Why do you believe that God cares at all?
• Why do you believe that God exists at all?
• Has the source of that belief changed through the years?
• Do you think that the source of your belief will continue to change?
• Is that a good thing?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where is God calling me in the experiences that He has given me?
• How is God moving, bringing things together, breathing His spirit into your life today?
  
• Is there anywhere in my life that I'm failing to appreciate the true abundance of God?
  
• Where is my relationship with God going?

Shalom!

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. 2 Kings 4: 42-44
   
2. Psalms 145: 10-11, 15-16, 17-18
   
3. Ephesians 4: 1-6
   
4. John 6: 1-15
   

• God is good
  
• It's easy to come to look upon God as a cosmic vending machine that responds to prayer.  If we treated a friend that way, the relationship would not be ultimately satisfying for either party.  Prayer, at its best, is all about relationship.
• What are your deepest needs?  The basics like food, shelter, physical safety doubtless come to mind.  Further consideration might yield things like the need to be needed, purpose in life, meaningful work ...
• Do you feel as though God has always provided your deepest needs?
• What have you had to do in satisfying those needs?
• How have you helped others help God to satisfy their deepest needs?
  

• Calling upon Him in truth
  
• Prayer should change us.  An old Jesuit brother once told me that as he ages, his prayer gets simpler and simpler as he and God draw closer and closer.
• Do you think that God resents us when we pray for the wrong things?
• Do you think that if you ever did pray for something that God knew was not life-giving for you that God would somehow let you know?
• Has that ever happened to you?
• How did you come to change your prayer over time?
• How did that change you?
  

• Freedom in chains
  
• The apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote Ephesians.  He had no way to tell when, if ever, he would be released.  Yet he felt free.  An old Jesuit of my acquaintance once said "as I age, I am less and less mobile, and yet more free to serve the Lord."
• If you had just one freedom, what would that be?  Freedom to live where you want, work at what you want, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, ...?
• Most of us might say "freedom of religion" after some thought.  But what does that really mean?  Is it all about weekly Church services, the ability to attend meetings, celebrate sacraments, or is there something deeper?
• If you had complete freedom of that deeper sort, what would you be able to do?
• What would such freedom ask of you?
• What's stopping you?
  

• Saving my barley loaves
  
• Jesus could have conjured fish and bread from thin air.  But He started with the barley and fish that God had already given to us, and the labor that someone had already put into backing that bread, catching and cleaning the fish, and used that as the starting point.
• Have you ever had a time in life when you felt torn between the need, the desire to do something to improve the situation, to bring about the Kingdom of God, and yet you feared that giving of yourself to that cause would make no difference, and still cost you?
• How did you get past that fear?
• What was the result?
• Why do you think God worked in that way?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where is God calling me to speak and act boldly?
• How can I help God bring about the Kingdom in the life of someone that I know?
  
• Where do I have freedom that I'm not stepping into yet?
  
• Where is God calling me to give it away?

Market Economy

My family had hastily thrown together provisions for the journey.

We knew that Jesus was going to be near, and we had to hear Him again.

His words put everything into perspective, showed what was important.

I had started out with so many questions seeking answers.

But gradually, steadily, I had come to desire just to be in His company.

 

When we arrived at the meadow where He was, 

It was already crowded, and boisterous.

Families from the surrounding villages greeting kin and friends.

Sharing stories of their encounters with Jesus.

How He had changed our lives.

Some of us had journeyed from a distance to be here.

Most had not thought to prepare the way that my family had.

There was talk among some of them that they would soon leave.

In order to make their way home again for sustenance -

Before Jesus had even begun to sustain us with His word.

My mother prodded me, pointing out our cousins from the next village.

They had no food of their own, and young children among them.

She told me to go share some of our food with them.

So that we could stay here, together, as family with Jesus.

I looked at all of those cousins and knew that we were going to go a little hungry.

As I walked toward them, I looked at the little knots of people there.

Simple folk, just like us.  Some I knew, many I did not.

Most of them unprepared to stay for long.

Most of them already wondering why they had come.

Unsure what to do next.

I could see Jesus and His closest followers up on a low hill in the distance.

And I turned in their direction, without immediately knowing why.

But as I got closer, it came to me that I could not keep this sustenance

Just for my family, near and far.

So I approached one of His disciples.

 

They were clearly anxious about something.

The disciple asked me what I wanted.

I gave him our provisions, and said:

"I want to make a difference.

Please give this to the Master, and see what He can make of it."

Shalom!

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Jeremiah 23: 1-6
   
2. Psalms 23: 1-3, 3-4, 5, 6
   
3. Ephesians 2: 13-18
   
4. Mark 6: 30-34
   

• Being a good shepherd
  
• Authentic evangelism takes time, patience, and most of all, love.  When Jesus sent His disciples out on their missionary journey, He told them to partake of the hospitality offered them in each place.  Live among the people that they served.  Get to know them.  Earn their trust.
• Who are individuals that you can think of in your life that need the Good News?
• What specifically do they most need to hear, feel, experience to bring them closer to God?
• Who do you think might be the best one or ones to offer that to them?
• How did you get to know them so well?
• What's next for you in your relationship to that person?
• How is that next step in your relationship a shepherding episode?
  

• Praying into peace
  
• Having a good friend with you makes all of the difference in the world.  At the very least, you know that you can talk to them about the experience later, and get their perspective on it.  Maybe see things differently than you would have otherwise.  Our God is always with us.
• In prayer, do you ever ask God what He thought about anything that you've gone through?
• How do you think that He would respond if you did ask Him?
• If you started such a prayer practice today, do you think that you might get batter at it in time?
• What's stopping you?
• What's the worst that can happen?
  

• Peace to those near and far
  
• "They" are those who are different from us in some important way.  "They" see things differently, act differently, you suspect that some of the problems that they encounter are self-inflicted.  If they would just see things the way that we see them, they would be far better off.
• Who are some people that you have ministered to who were "edgy".  That is, they were not like you, did not have the same values and worldview.  In short, they were a little hard to predict.
• How/what did you offer them in your ministry?
• To what extent do you feel as though you built the Kingdom in that service?
• How might you have done better?
  

• Carrying on
• Jesus took His disciples on retreat, not just because they were physically exhausted (I'm sure that they were!) but also to give them time to reflect on what they had experienced, and get the most out of that mission journey that they could.  In Ignatian circles, such a prayer practice is called repetition: entering God's presence once again in an experience in order to get the most from it, to ponder as Mary did during her life.
• This week, each day, pick an experience that you had of God in your life from the past few days.
• Thank God for His presence in that moment.
• Ask Him to be with you in that moment once again as you bring that experience to mind so that you might draw closer to God.
• Imagine Him by your side in that moment, and bring back the images, sounds, smells, feelings of that experience with Jesus by your side.
• Does it at all feel different, perhaps deeper than it did the first time?
• How do you think you will experience Jesus in the future, knowing that you can, and will, come back to that experience again, later?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where is God calling me to speak and act boldly?
• How can I be a force for peace in the world around me?
  
• Where might God be calling me to leave behind my comfort zone?
  
• How can I be more like Jesus' mother Mary in my prayer life?

Getting Out of the Hurry

This life that we're given is too short to hurry through.

Certainly learning to savor the moments of each day -

To sip at the tea of life rather than gulp it down -

To stop thinking about what's next long enough -

Just long enough to truly experience the eternal now,

That is a rare accomplishment in our world.

Beyond diving deep into the moment in the now -

There is revisiting those moments in prayer.

Asking God to reveal anything in addition

That I might have missed the first time through.

To ponder life and find the hidden gleams of glory -

That escaped attention in the heat of the moment.

 

And once that pondering becomes well worn habit -

Experience grows more measured, deeper, prayerful.

Knowing that I will likely come this way again in prayer -

I am schooled in looking for the hand of God.

In each moment, through each touch -

Both in the moment and in the reflection.

 

Until experience and reflection -

Become two sides of the same coin.

And I truly learn how to pray without ceasing.

 

Shalom!

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Amos 7: 12-15
   
2. Psalms 85: 9-10, 11-12, 13-14
   
3. Ephesians 1: 3-14
   
4. Mark 6: 7-13
   

• By whose authority?
  
• It's easy to become enamored of authority.  To be recognized as "an authority" on a topic is high praise.  To be in authority over others is a huge responsibility.  But our God is a god of humility.  He comes among us as a peasant, not a prince.
• Who is someone who speaks with real authority in your life.  Someone whom you look up to, that you admire, that you feel is a guiding light in your life?
• What do you think would be their reaction if you told them that?
• How did they get to have that much influence in your life?
• Do you feel that they are humble?
• Does that humility make them more, or less influential for you?
  

• Justice and peace shall kiss
  
• Peace and justice are closely related.  I suspect that one cannot thrive for long in the absence of the other.  A short commentary on how these two relate to each other can be found here.
• When you are at peace, how does that benefit you, your family, your community?
• Do you think that there is anything that any of us can do to bring peace to someone else?
• Is justice strictly a concern of our civic leaders?
  

• Achieving holiness
  
• Holiness seems inaccessible, something beyond our reach, at least in this life.  But God wants each of us to be holy, and all of us to be holy - that is, to find our holiness with, in, and through each other.
• Who are some holy people that you know, past or present?
• How did they achieve that holiness?
• Did/do they look happy to you?
• Do you think that you can learn from their example?
• Do you think that would bring you happiness?
  

• Carrying on
• Jesus was wise to give His disciples some practice in missionary work before He left.  I'm pretty sure that His disciples had lots of questions for Him when they got back.  Lots of comparing notes between each other.  Lots of lessons learned.  Yet the Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, and Luke never tell us about those conversations.  I suspect that God wanted us to figure some of these things out for ourselves.
• How do you see the Church being a healing presence in our world today?
• Do you see a healing going on in any/all of the ministries that you are involved in?
• Can we/should we be doing more healing?
• Does that healing have to begin at home?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where is God calling me to speak and act boldly?
• How can I be a force for peace in the world around me?
  
• What would my life look like if I were more holy?
  
• Where can I be a healing presence in someone else's life?

Faith Healers

Ezra, I've never been to this part of the Galilee before. 
How much further to the next village?
My feet are killing me.
And I'm so hungry I think my navel just collided with my spine.

Isaac, I know, I know.
I think I would cheerfully trade my tunic for a bed and a map.
The bed where I can rest and count my blisters.
The map to give us a better idea of what lies ahead.

At first, I was worried that we would not have much to share with the others.
That we would look as though we lacked proper faith, perseverance, or love.
Then I worried that you and I would have little with which to encourage them.
But now, now I worry that the Master is coming behind us, and I want all to be ready for Him.

This all seemed so easy when He first commissioned us.
Preach the Gospel, tell them I'm coming, call them to repentance.
Heal the sick when you find them.
Show them My love in all that you do.

Then I started to worry about food, warmth, shelter.
Then I realized that God would provide, and I started to worry -
Worry that we would not know how to minister.
Now, I worry that we will know what we are called to, but lack the courage.

Look, now that the sun is going down, the lights of that village ahead shine brightly.
Somewhere ahead are children of God, waiting to be called into freedom.
Children of God who have forgotten their birthright.
Children of God who have forgotten how to hope.

Isaac, take my hand and pray with me.
Loving Father, you have sent your son Jesus.
He has sent us.
Fill us with the love and humility that so fills Him.

That we might be a fit window to the heart of Your Son.
That we might see the needs in front of us -
As a gift, a door to your sacred arrival among us.
And minister Your love according to Your will.

Shalom!

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Ezekiel 2: 2-5
   
2. Psalms 123: 1-2, 2, 3-4
   
3. 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10
   
4. Mark 6: 1-6
   

• Go, you are sent
  
• A few ballots ago, our son Justin was on the phone to me.  He was wrestling with some of the ballot measures, trying to find reliable commentary on them.  In frustration, he asked "how do we ever really know that anything is true?"  My answer was pretty lame.  Still is.  I think that a prophet is like a watchman at the the city gates - Looking for threats to the citizenry from without and within, and calling those threats out so that no one is caught by surprise.
• Where do you wish we had more prophetic voices, someone to tell the rest of us the truth about what is going on?
• Whom would you trust to tell you the truth in those areas?
• How do you think such people become trustworthy prophets?
• If a prophet knows for a fact that they will be ignored, why would they speak anyway?
  

• My problem is I don't see any problem
  
• Pity has gotten a bad name of late.  No one wants to be pitied by another.  Pity is often seen as useless sentiment that needs to be replaced with action.  If you define pity as "feeling sorrow and compassion for the misfortunes of others" then -
  
• Have you ever needed pity for a dark place in your life?
• Did you receive that pity?
• Who gave you that pity: God, friend/family, both ...?
• Was that pity at all comforting?
• Did that pity open up the door in your life to anything else?
  

• Wisdom inexplicable
  
• The wise are those able to synthesize all that has come to them in life, find the meaning, and celebrate the hand of their Creator in the gifts and blessings of their life.  I'm sure that Mary learned wisdom from pondering all that happened in her life, rather than simply reacting to it.
  
• Where do you go to find wisdom?
• Is humility important to wisdom?
• Is wisdom important to humility?
• Do we all need to be wise?
• How are you growing in wisdom?
  

• Keeping it real
  
• Jesus cannot win.  God seemed inapproachable, so He came to Earth as a lowly peasant.  But because Jesus was humble, no one could believe that God had sent Him.  His fellow villagers lacked faith that God had visited them in the form of Jesus.  And they doubted that boy Jesus that they all remembered could have matured into the man that they had been hearing of.
• How have you matured over the years?
• How was that made possible?
• Do you think that friends/family that saw you growing up would recognize you today?
• Is that a good thing?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where is God calling me to speak and act boldly?
• Do I need to accept some pity from God and/or others?
  
• What am I doing to grow in wisdom?
  
• Where has God helped me grow in my life?
  

Shalom!