16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

1. Wisdom 12: 13, 16-19
2. Psalms 85: 5-6, 9-10, 15-16
3. Romans 8: 26-27
4. Matthew 13: 1-24-43

• The God of second chances
• Addictions of any sort have a ripple effect.  It's not just the addict who suffers, its all of the people that they love and who love them who suffer betrayal after betrayal as the addict tries over and over again to reform their life.  Any sin that we fall into habitually, in spite of the manifest harm that it does to ourselves and others, can be treated as an addiction.
• Have you ever had an addict in your life?
• How did you cope with that?
• Who/what was the biggest influence in their life towards recovery?
• Is their recovery through?
• How will you know? 

•  God's trust in us?
• When we repent of a sin, there is an expectation that we will not fall into/fall for that temptation the next time.  But what if we do?
• How many times can we fall into the same sin before God concludes that we are not being authentic in our repentance?
• How many times can we fall into the same sine before we stop trusting ourselves?
• What then? 

• Knowing what we ought to pray for
• Sometimes, the biggest challenge is to know what to ask God for.  It's always important to be specific in our prayers.  Otherwise, we won't know whether God answered our prayers or not.  If we're not specific, we'll never know whether God is calling us to pray in a different way.
• Have you ever felt a need so strongly that you were unsure what God wanted to give you?
• How did you pray at that moment?
• Over time, did your prayer change any?
• What difference did that make for you in your heart as your prayer evolved? 

• Spreading the word
• Spreading the Good News an happen even if we are unconscious of it going on in our lives.  Which sounds wonderful until you stop to think of all of the bad messages that you might be broadcasting in your life as well.
• Who are some of the folks who were truly instrumental in sharing the Good News with you?
• Was Good News that something that you could easily put into words at the time, or even now?
•  Was the most important part of that Good News shared with you in words?
• What sort of Good News do you think that you are spreading lately? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• What are my addictions?
•  Is there hope for me to break free of my addictions?
• What might God be calling me to change how I'm praying for something specific??
• What message is my life proclaiming? 

 Lifelong Parable

 

I've taken to finishing each lecture with a simple question: what did we learn today?

Doing that right after a time of sharing and exploring transforms the lesson.

Instead of merely being passive or even indifferent, my students are looking for a nugget or two.

Something that they can share with the class when we're done for the day.

 

Maybe, I should expand that technique and ask similar questions:

What did we learn yesterday?

Last week?

This semester?

 

Even more profound might be the question "what did you think you learned -

But turned out to be only a partial understanding, or even flat wrong?

How did you find that out?

What did you do about that misunderstanding or that partial understanding?

 

In life, the seeds that you sow today in your heart might still be yielding a harvest years from now.

You may not at all be aware of the slow unfolding of wisdom in your heart.

Growing from the fertile soil of many years ago.

Feeding on the words of friends and family now many miles or years away.

 

The way to water those seeds is with gratitude first for those life experiences - good and bad.

At the same time, taking the time to examine the feelings behind your words and actions.

Asking yourself whether you still believe the things that drive you today.

Or whether its finally time to do some mental molting and move on. 

 

Shalom!