27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time:

1. Habakkuk 1: 2-3, 2: 2-4
2. Psalms 95: 1-2, 6-7, 8-9
3. II Timothy 1: 6-8, 13-14
4. Luke 17: 5-10

• Finding vision
• Some of us don't expect much of this life.  We know that heaven will be glorious, and look at this life as little more than a proving ground that we have to endure on our way to our reunion with God and our loved ones.  At the same time, we know better than to equate discipleship with prosperity.
• What do you hope for in this life?  Where do you think that you'll be in five years?
• What about your family as a whole?
• Your parish/congregation?
• Our Church at large?
• Where did you get that notion of what to hope for? 

• Could you spell that out for me?
• The children of Israel had had enough and they were not going to take it any longer.  They began to doubt Moses' skill in leading them, and maybe even God's intentions.  Maybe things would have gone better all of the way around if God had just told them (through Moses of course) that He was toughening them up for the battles ahead, that they were learning obedience and many other things.  In essence, give some meaning to their suffering.
• What are some things that you have suffered in life?
• Did you ever find any meaning to that suffering?
• Does all suffering have to have meaning?
• If it has meaning, do we have to know what that is? 

• Ashamed of God's ministers
• Diversity within Christian circles is at an all time high. Different beliefs lead to divisions among believers in ways large and small, and it seems that unity is all but impossible.  I remember a friend years ago who had a strong Franciscan background telling me that "when we spoke of ecumenism, we meant the Jesuits."
• How important is unity among/between us?
• If you find that you disagree with something that you hear from the pulpit or that your child hears in Confirmation class, what should you do?
• How do you tell whether a disagreement is something that you can live with, or signals a deep need for you to speak up or just move on to some other community that better agrees with your values? 

• Increase our faith
• Just ahead of this week's Gospel Jesus tells His disciples that even if a brother sins against you seven times in a day, and they repent each time you are to forgive them.  That's what inspired them to ask Jesus to increase their faith.
• Who are some of the people that you have had the toughest time forgiving?
• Before you forgave them, what did that do to you?
• How did you find the strength/courage to forgive?
• How did you know that you had been successful in forgiving them?
• How did that forgiveness change you? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where might I pray in greater hope?
• Am I willing to let God lead me through suffering?
• Where can I find more common ground with other of God's children?
• Where am I still on a forgiveness journey?

 Clutching my Hurts

Forgiveness can be a lengthy journey.

Sometimes with setbacks and detours.

Always requiring courage and faith.

 

Courage that the unexplored parts 

Of my heart where forgiveness goes

Will prove to be healing in the end.

 

Faith that God

An unseen, and often unfelt Presence

Is always there along the way at each step.

 

And that letting go of the ashes of my anger

Is more about healing than losing.

More about love than vindication.

 

True forgiveness takes practice.

I forgive you if, or when, or because

All put strings on what must be a free gift.

 

No holds barred love.

That brings us closer to God.

By helping us to act more like He does.

 

Shalom!

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time:

1. Amos 6: 1a, 4-7
2. Psalms 146: 7, 8-9, 9-10
3. 1 Timothy 6: 11-16
4. Luke 16: 19-31

• The collapse of Joseph
• There are many these days who raise the lament that we as a culture, maybe even a civilization, are no longer able to discourse, to hear each other out, to really listen to each other and get out of our familiar comfort zone out of fear.
• Do you think that what we're seeing today is materially worse than past generations, even past years?
• How do we, as individuals, foster hope for a better tomorrow?
• How can we, as God's children here on Earth, start to build a better tomorrow?
• How can we move through and out of despair? 

• Finding the oppressed
• Oppression and privilege seem to be everywhere these days.  If you enjoy any privileges, then it must be because  you oppressing someone else.  And if you don't have everything that you wanted out of life, it's because you are oppressed.
• Do you agree with the above assessment?
• Do you think that the only way for someone to become wealthy is to take wealth from others?
• If so, what do you offer someone who feels that they have been oppressed?  

• Learning by enduring
• One famous bit of advice is that the race is as much mental as it is physical.  Seems as though applies to so much in life. 
• What are you enduring these days?
• How do you make it from one day to the next?
• Is it getting any easier?
• What do you think God's point in making you go through that?
• Does God have to have a point? 

• Seeing the flowers and the flower peddler
• I wonder whether the rich man (notice he has no name) asks that warning be sent to his brothers.  I wonder whether the rich man wanted to warn them that indifference has serious consequences, or to warn them that the indifference itself was killing them.
• I have to confess, when I see someone by the side of the road selling flowers, fruit, or just looking for money, I try to become invisible.  I don't want to make eye contact.
• How have you found ways to connect to the needy that cross your path?
• How do you know that you must be the one to help?
• How do you know when you've given enough?
• How do you avoid "fig leaf" giving?  That's giving just enough to assuage your conscience, but not enough to really make a difference. 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where might I pray in greater hope??
• Where do I need to show more mercy? 
• How could God transform something that I'm enduring into blessing??
• Where can I be a better steward of God's gifts?

 The Eyes of Jesus

 My students have all sorts of hopes, dreams, aspirations.

Some just want that six-figure income that they are sure is out there for them.

Others envision a dream job building the next wonder video game.

 

The more thoughtful ones want to find themselves.

Find where they fit, where they are needed, where they find purpose.

So that they can matter, even if just a little.

 

I used to despair of telling some of them that they are in the wrong place -

Marooned in a vain search for a career where there is none for them,

Try something else, anything else I sometimes wanted to scream.

 

Then I asked myself whether a career is the only brass ring in College.

Or whether there might be other/additional benefits to being here.

And I wondered how I might more effectively usher them into their true purpose.

 

But I don't have the insight nor the training for anything that lofty.

And lately, its come to me that maybe my best gift that I have to offer

Is to tell them that they already matter.

 

Right here, right now, to me if to no one else.

That sometimes the journey is the destination,

And that no salary will ever make them worth more than they are worth right now. 

Shalom!

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time:

1. Amos 8: 4-7
2. Psalms 113: 1-2, 4-6, 7-8
3. 1 Timothy 2: 1-8
4. Luke 6: 1-13

• How far does injustice extend?
• At CSULB there are those who want CALPERS to divest from any and all fossil fuel corporations as a means toward ecological justice.  Regardless of your views on climate change, this presents a complex scenario.
• How deep should we go when looking at the sources for what we purchase/consume/give to others?
• If your favorite clothing line is manufactured with underage slave labor in Indonesia, does that make you a bad person?
• Or should we just charge them a higher tariff? 

• Lifting up the poor
• Fr. Al Scott has dedicated his life to lifting up the poor.  He stands as a challenge to all of us to find where/how God is calling each of us to lift up the poor.
• What makes a person "poor".  Is it just a matter of money, or mental/physical health, community, culture even?
• How can we tell that we are doing enough?
• How can we detect selfishness on our part?

• Praying for our leaders
• When did life get so complicated?  It seems as though there are no easy answers these days.  It's hard to tell who the "black hats" and the "white hats" are anymore.  Finding common ground from which to pursue peaceful solutions to problems that we have in common seems all but impossible.
• When you pray for our local, state, and national leaders, how do you pray for them?
• What do you think God wants to see for and from these servants of the people?
• Do you think any of God's desires are realistic?
• What action(s) do you think your prayer might lead you to? 

• Proper use of God's wealth
• A steward manages his master's wealth.  I would presume that the master would specify some parameters, such as invest in sustainable enterprises, support the marginalized and downtrodden, and do all of that while still growing the master's net worth.  If we are stewards of all that God has given us, what are our parameters?
•  Time is not like money.  We cannot make more time.  But we do invest our time.  How do you insure that you invest the time that God has given you wisely?
• Time and energy invested in our talents increase our abilities.  Think of some of your talents that you have invested in.  How have your talents made the world a better place?
• How do you decide where/when/how to invest the treasure that God has given you stewardship of?  How do you tell whether a cause is good or not? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where might I be unjust and not know it?
• Where do I need to show more mercy? 
• What is God's heart for our political leaders?
• Where can I be a better steward of God's gifts?

 The Widow's Mite

I used to like to sit in the Temple courtyard

Watching the faithful deposit their offerings into the treasury.

So many different motivations for their generosity.

 

Some felt it a singular part of their worship, acknowledging that all is God's.

Some did it just for the show.  Making sure everyone saw their generosity.

Others, because they felt a kinship with the downtrodden.

 

I never trusted myself to give that way.

I made my contributions directly to a priest friend of the family.

All but anonymous, and much more personal.

 

But I'll never forget one day when a poor widow came.

Barely able to walk or stand.  Clothes shabby and torn.  Hair awry.

Shuffling slowly towards the treasury in stark contrast to the rest of us.

 

One hand clutching her walking stick, the other lightly holding two small coins.

She waited humbly for the prima donna givers to have their day.

Then she let loose of her offering into the treasury with barely a sound.

 

I ran to catch up with her, and asked breathlessly

"That's all all that you have, isn't it?

"Yes" was all that she would say.

 

"But what of tomorrow, what will you do then?"

"God will provide.  He always has.  He will stop when I no longer need anything.

I have been His servant lo these many years.  He won't abandon me now."

 

"It seems as though God could be more generous to you don't you think?" I said.

"God has been generous to me.  He has given me freedom to follow Him without question."

"Let me pray for you" she said.  "What is it that you desire from our Lord?"

 

"Humility" I said.  Scarce believing that I said that.

"Then you shall learn humility.  Probably in places you never dreamed of.

Our God is generous with that gift to those with the courage to receive it." 

 

Shalom!

Exaltation of the Holy Cross Sunday

Our readings for Exaltation of the Holy Cross Sunday:

1. Numbers 21: 4b-9
2. Psalms 78: 1-2, 34-35, 36-37
3. Philippians 2: 6-11
4. John 3: 13-17

• Where are the serpents?
• I find it interesting that when the children of Israel repented of their rebellion, that there was no mention of God removing the serpents.  That's what the people prayed for, but it's not what they got.  Instead, God instructed Moses to craft a bronze serpent and mount it for all to see.
• Have you ever had a "thorn in your side" that was a real challenge for you, and yet, it never really went away?
• Has your attitude/relationship to that thorn (whatever/whoever it might be) changed over time?
• Would you say that, in any way, that thorn has become something of a blessing?
• How did that transformation come about?
• Did you see that coming? 

• Second chances
• All of us need a second change at one point or another in life.  But it can be hard to give someone else a second chance, particularly if this is their third or fourth "second chance".
• How would you define "mercy"?
• When is a particularly meaningful point in your life when God showed mercy to you?
• How do you think God decides whether or not to show mercy to His children?
• Given that, how often, under what circumstances, should you show mercy to others?
• How can we balance mercy with protecting ourselves? 

• Finding freedom
• It's easy to become attached to things in life.  That could be a job, a role, a place, a ministry.  All of that may well be gift from God.  But sometimes, the best way to show appreciation for what we have been given is to give it away.
• What are some things that you've given away in your life?  Maybe it's time, talent(s) that you have (no matter how modest those talents might be), or other resources.
• How did you come to being so generous?
• How did that giving away affect the recipient(s)?
• How did it affect you? 

• Finding my sins
• When Moses elevated the bronze serpent for the children of Israel, he reminded them of their sins, and the punishment for them.  It can be hard to really come to terms with our own sin, and the consequences of that sin.
• How do you tell when you have sinned?
• Does that realization usually come to you right after you commit the sin?
• Do you have a practice that you follow to help you see your sins for what they are?
• How successful is that practice?
• How might you make your self-reflection practice better? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Where is God blessing me in unexpected ways lately?
• Where do I need to show more mercy? 
• What do I need to give away/give away more?
• How can I better form my conscience before God?

 

Shalom!

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time:

1. Wisdom 9: 13-18b
2. Psalms 90: 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17
3. Philemon 9-10, 12-17
4. Luke 14: 25-33

• Figuring God out
• My marriage has improved my prayer life immensely.  In the course of 45 years of marriage, I've come to realize that my wife is not me.  She has her own way of doing things, her own desires, dreams, and loves, and I'm still learning to appreciate all of that diversity after all this time.  God is not me either.
• If someone were to ask you who God is, what His essential character is, what would you tell them?
• With all of that knowledge and experience of God, is He still a mystery to you?
• What is the nature of that mystery of God?
• Do you think that that mystery is a good thing?
• To what extent do you feel that you can predict how God will react/respond in a situation? 

• It's all gift
• The play Godspell includes the song All Good Gifts.  I have always found the lyrics and the orchestration to be inspiring because it speaks to the faithfulness of God in our lives, and just as importantly, our role in the ongoing unfolding of creation as we work with God to bring about His kingdom.
• What are some of the greatest gifts in your life?
• How are you giving those gifts away to others?  My wife Mary & I do volunteer work for Guide Dogs of America.  I have to admit, Mary is the one who does most of the work there, but I support as I can, encourage her every chance that I get, and let her know as often possible that I support her work.  And yes, I do clean up after the dog.  I like to feel that I'm helping her to be generous. 
• How do you decide when/how to give those gifts away?
• How has that giving changed you through the years? 

• Receiving again, receiving anew
• In Genesis, Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac, the child of promise.  God spared Isaac, and I'm sure that the relationship between Abraham and his son was never the same again.  In Philemon, we see someone who had Onesimus as a slave, and Paul was offering Onesimus back to Philemon as a brother.
• Can you think of anyone, anything that your attitude toward them was changed radically?
• What brought that change about in your life?
• Was that change necessarily something that you would have sought?
• What was different about your relationship afterwards?
• What was the same? 

• Finding their place
• If we are lucky, we have a small handful of relationships that truly define us.  They help us know who we are, what our meaning is in life, give us strength to carry on even in times of trouble.  The temptation is to look to those people for support and strength that only God can provide, and forget who it is who ultimately sustains us, regardless of who He works through.
• Who are the people whom you look to when you are down?
• What is their charism in your life?  What is it that you know that you can count on them to provide you?
• When you are thankful for their presence in your life, whom do you thank?  God, them, both, ...?
• How did God bring them into your life?
• Do you think that God might one day ask you to leave one or another of them behind for something, someone even better? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Who is God to me lately?
• Is it time that I become generous in new ways? 
• How might I be clinging to something/place/person rather than the freedom God wants for me?
• Where might God be calling me into more trust with my relationships?

All Good Gifts

I thank you God for the gift of wonder.

That I can wonder about the little things,

Like why it is that I have to have everything in exactly its place.

That I can wonder about the big things,

Like why it is that you have blessed me so thoroughly with, in, and through the love of my life.

 

I thank you God for the gift of time.

For it reminds me that each moment is a choice.

Once time is spent, there is no getting it back.

How I give myself away means something.

And that generosity requires trust as much as it requires love.

 

I thank you God for the gift of my body.

For it, too, reminds me of the passage of time.

That all too soon these limbs, this heart, my mind,

Will noticeably begin to return to you,

As I make my uncertain journey to eternity.

 

I thank you God for the gift of friends.

Their generosity inspires and challenges me.

Their needs invite me to humility.

Their faithfulness reminds me of Your presence in my life.

Their joys, sorrows, fears, and triumphs remind me that we are all in this great journey together.

 

I thank you God for the gift of gratitude.

That turns my gaze beyond myself -

To your holy, yet broken body among us.

Your ongoing passion and death in our midst.

As you continue to pour Yourself out in our midst.

 

Help me to desire to follow you so closely -

That I am able to give beyond my fears,

Offer what you have first given me.

That I may fully and finally appreciate the Gift

That is you, the gift that you invite me into. 

 

Shalom!