22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time:

1. Sirach 3: 17-18, 20, 28-29
2. Psalms 68: 4-5, 6-7, 10-11
3. Hebrews 12: 18-19, 22-24a
4. Luke 14: 1, 7-14

• Is ambition a bad thing?
• My father use to counsel me that in my career I needed to always look ahead, always ask myself what I can be doing to qualify myself for that next promotion, that next assignment, push myself to greater ability and responsibility.  I don't know that that's necessarily bad advice, but maybe there's a point where ambition becomes toxic and we start to look like Shakespeare's Macbeth all over again.
• Have you ever had to say "no" to an offer of more responsibility, bigger scope to your function, maybe even a pay raise?
• What made you back away from that offer?
• How did you turn that down?
• How did you feel after that?
• How did you pray through that experience? 

• A home for the poor
• I have never in my life been food or shelter insecure, I've never felt threatened by any form of oppression or prejudice.  So finding solidarity with the poor is something that I have to work on.
• What exactly makes someone poor?  Is it just about money, or does it include the esteem of your peers, your security, your relationships, your education, ...?
• How do you help the poor?
• How did you get involved in those efforts?
• How do you know that what you're doing is enough? 

• The blood of Abel
• Cain and Abel remind us of the depths to which we can fall when we lose sight of God's love in our lives, and instead try to grab what we want, rather then ask ourselves where we have parted ways with God.
• How can you tell when your relationship with God is getting strained?
• When it happens, how do you find the source, the root of that strain?
• Do you think that you're getting better at that process as you get older?
• Why? 

• The danger of false humility
• Perhaps the most insidious of vices is false humility.  A person with false humility may use their appearance of humility as a way to manipulate others, or gain control of a situation, or gain validation of themselves.  But perhaps the worst liability is that the person afflicted with false humility can eventually fool themselves.
• What are some benefits of true humility?
• Does true humility have any down side?
• Is true humility about actions, motivation, both, neither?
• How do you guard against false humility?
• How has genuine humility brought you closer to God and others? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• How is God calling me to greater trust?
• How might I find greater solidarity with the poor around me? 
• How might I become more sensitive to how my relationship with God is going?
• Am I truly humble before God and those around me?

After You

True humility finds:

Joy in giving,

Courage in honesty,

Meaning in serving.

 

When giving, honesty, or serving become a burden,

The coward's way out is to ignore that seismic shift in perspective.

Try not to answer the really deep questions about what's changed.

And desperately hope that no one notices.

 

But doing the right things for the wrong reasons is a poison,

That infects everything that it touches.

Sowing seeds of confusion and doubt.

All because I was afraid to look within.

 

Look within and find when 

When the light within me died.

The lamp of my love and passion winked out.

Leaving just an empty shell of a man where once I stood.

 

Maybe it was burnout from too much giving.

Maybe it was disappointment in the tangible results.

Maybe it was just time to move on, and I refused.

Maybe it was the sad, sad thought that I never belonged here at all.

 

Whatever the cause, I need to find it.

Pray for healing and consolation.

Admit to those that I serve that I am empty.

And maybe find solidarity with them in that emptiness.

 

Shalom!

21st Sunday in Ordinary TIme

Our readings for 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time:

1. Isaiah 66: 18-21
2. Psalms 117: 1, 2
3. Hebrews 12: 5-7, 11-13
4. Luke 13: 22-30

• Radical inclusion
• God wants us all, and He wants all of each of us.  Yet it's sometimes difficult to accept others into our midst when they hail from a different culture, denomination, political perspective, you name it.
• Think of a time when someone new came into your life.  Maybe they were a soon to be in-law, maybe they were a new colleague at work, or someone looking into joining a ministry group that you had been a part of.
• Were you personally welcoming to them?
• If so, what did you actually say/do to help them feel welcome?
• If not, what lessons did you learn about hospitality from that?

• Telling the good news
• We have received "the Good News."  But what does that really mean?
• Do you have friends, family even, who you know would be much happier, more blessed if they could just see & appreciate God the way that you do?
• Do you think that they know that?
• What would have to happen before you might be tempted to share your faith with them?
• What scares you most about starting that dialogue?
• What scares you most about not starting that dialogue? 

• Forged in discipline
• Matthew Kelly has a chilling quote "you're only as good as your worst habits."
• What are some habits that you've accumulated through the years?  If you don't think that you have any, ask a close friend or spouse.
• Which of those habits bring you closer to God in some way?
• Why do you still have the rest of your habits?
• What is one habit that you wished that you had?  This could be something simple, like "the habit of being grateful for everything that comes my way", or "finding the best in other people, no matter what the circumstances. 

• State of grace
• It's too easy to judge others.  Not so easy to really take a hard look at ourselves.  Ignatius (and others) offer us the examen prayer to meditate fruitfully on our place in time and space, and see how best to move forward.
• Where has God been evident in the past 24 hours for you?
• What are you thankful for today?
•  What were the decisions that you made today?
• Were your motives always pure, did you take the appropriate time to pray through those decisions, were you listening to/for the voice of God?
• How can you do better tomorrow? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• How is God calling me to greater trust?
• How is my life drawing others to God? 
• What are my worst habits?
• How is God calling me to greater self-awareness?

Is it OK to Pray Here?

My wife and I were on our way home from Mass.
People were already streaming into the parking lot for the next Mass.

A gentleman, on foot, looking lost in the parking lot approached me.
"Is it OK if I pray here?  I'm not Catholic, but my friend was."

He went on: "I thought that if I prayed for them in a Catholic Church, God might hear me."
I wanted to get home, start the rest of my day.  So I just said "sure thing, the door's over there."

So many better responses have come to mind since then.
I could have told him "God loves to hear from His beloved, no matter where they are."

Better yet, "let me show you to the door and get you seated."
Better yet, "when you're done, I'd love to hear about your friend so that we can pray for them too."

Better yet, "who told you that you're not Catholic.  How do you know?
I am sure that your friend is very grateful that you're praying for them.  And God is too."

Perhaps best of all would have been "remember that you're always welcome to come back."
I pray to God that He'll help me remember this the next time he sends someone across my path.

Shalom!

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time:

1. Wisdom 18: 6-9
2. Psalms 33: 1, 12, 18-19, 20-22
3. Hebrews 11: 1-2, 8-19
4. Luke 12: 32-48

• At the ready
• The children of Israel had to be ready.  Ready to leave all that they knew, most of their possessions, their homes and take off into an unknown future.  I imagine the young children asking why they cannot afford to bring along treasured possessions, why they have to leave at all, and why this night, among all others.  I would not want to be their parents.
• What are some things that you are particularly attached to?  That might be a place, a job, a position within your company, a daily routine that you love.
• If God told you that He had something that was even better that He was offering you in exchange for that treasured item, would you be able to let go?
• How would you even make such a decision?
• Have you ever been faced with such a discernment in your past?
• Why do you think that is? 

• Stoking your hope
• Hope sustains us through the worst of times.  But hope is not always easy to find.
• At bottom, what do you hope for most?  Is it to be the next powerball winner, to get that coveted promotion at work, that your mother-in-law would finally stop nagging at you, ...?
• Does that hope help bring you closer to God?
• What sort of hope would draw you closer to God?
• What would be the foundation, the root of such a hope?
• How do you think that you might strengthen that hope starting today? 

• Living in between
• A liminal space is a transition, a doorway into something new.  I expect that most of us want to get to the other side of such chapters in our lives as quickly as possible so that we can once more "settle in" to a new routine, get past that awkward stage of caught leaving one state behind in favor of another, and not having a clear picture of what the future holds.
• What are some of the transitions that you are undergoing right now?  That might be mourning the loss of a loved one, your children moving out of the house, graduating from an education into something new, creating a new relationship with someone else, ...
• Why did you embark on this transition in the first place?
• How much of that decision was the fruit of prayer for you?
• How much of the way in which you navigate this season in your life the fruit of prayer?
• If you could go back to the fork in the road that led you to this place, would you make the same decision, knowing then what you know now?
• Do you think that we ever get to a place of just resting in life? 

• Where is your heart?
• Balance is hard.  Renouncing all possessions and earthly ties is tough, but trying to "live in the world and not be of the world" is perhaps even tougher.  Somehow, we are called to love people, not use them, and use the things of this world for God's glory, but not love them.
• How do you make sure that nothing in your life gets to be too important to you?
• If you find that you have developed an unhealthy attachment to someone/something/some place/some experience, ... how to you get free of that?
• Why do you think that process of achieving freedom can be so painful? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where might God be calling me from my comfort zone? 
• What can I do to get closer to what I hope for in my life in God? 
• Is there anywhere in my life where I might be rushing to get through something that might be an invitation to draw closer to God?
• How is God calling me to greater trust?

Shalom!