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!