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!