23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 23nd Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 35: 4-7a
2. Psalms 146: 6-7, 8-9, 9-10
3. James 2: 1-5
4. Mark 7: 31-37

• Abundance in unexpected places
• How has God been abundant beyond reason in your life?  Given you more than you ever would have asked for, ever expected?
• How would you define "more" in your life?  How do you quantify that?
• Why do you think that God is so abundant?
• Is that abundance always easily visible?
• Why is that?

• God has a thing for the weak
• Who are the oppressed in our midst these days?
• What do you think that God desires for them?
• How do you think that God will make that happen?
• What is our role in bringing His kingdom? 

• The source of all generosity
• What would you consider to be the true riches of our faith?
• Is it the concepts, the beliefs that we hold?
• The sacred art and sacred music that has been inspired through the ages?
• The incredible generosity that has poured out from God's people to those in need?
• ...?
• Given that, how ought we to treat those riches?

• Astonishment
• Richard Rohr draws a distinction between astonishment that seems to be the stock response in Mark's Gospel, versus pondering, that is the response that Mary seems to have throughout the Gospel.  Astonishment is a knee-jerk reaction to what God/Jesus does, pondering is a meditation on those same actions.
• Do you think that Mary ever completely "figured it out"?
• Have you ever tried to "ponder" some event, some gift in your life to find its meaning?
• How did you know that you were done in that process?
• Does that pondering actually have to arrive at a conclusion?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What are my expectations of God in prayer lately?  How much do I trust Him for?
2. How am I bringing about God's kingdom this week?
3. What am I doing to add to God's riches?
4. What is God calling me to ponder this week?

Shalom!

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Deuteronomy 4: 1-2, 6-8
2. Psalms 15: 2-3, 3-4, 4-5
3. James 1: 17-18 21b-22, 27
4. Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

• Foundation for reform
• In fairness to the Jews, many of those admonitions and rules were put into place to help protect the law by making it difficult for someone to unintentionally even come close to breaking the law.
• Is the answer to legalism in religion to strip all of the regulations back to their essence?
• If so, how far back do you go?
• How do you know that you're done removing the "extra" prohibitions, beliefs, devotions?
• And what of someone who imposes safeguards on themselves?  For instance an alcoholic who will not even enter a bar for fear of having a relapse, are they being legalistic?

• Who decides what is just?
• We can all think of things that are unjust.  Things such as a person not being able to enjoy the fruits of their labor, or a family constantly afraid of deportation simply because of their ethnicity, or someone cheating on their income taxes.
• Is there something that ties these, and all injustices together?
• If someone wanted to put a situation in front of you and ask whether that was just, would you feel comfortable rendering a judgement?
• How do we find God's perspectives on issues of justice?

• The source of all generosity
• Selfless philanthropists are looked up to for their generosity.  Those that give away large sums even put in their time and talent along with the money to help in the administration.
• If you won the lottery, how would you spend it?
• Where would you go for guidance in such a venture?
• How long would it take for you to "get back to normal" after winning all of those millions?

• Purification
• Truly pure motives are hard to find.  We often set out with the best intentions, only to find half way through a venture that we are not as pure as we thought.
• Does that mean that we should never take on a venture until we have totally pure motives?
• Is doing the right thing for the wrong reason always totally wrong?
• Is doing the wrong thing for the right reason always totally right?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How does my relationship with Jesus modify my behavior?
2. When was the last time that I spoke out against an injustice?
3. How can I be generous and yet be true to my needs, my passions, who God has created me?
4. How can I be more honest about my motives?

Shalom!

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Proverbs 9: 1-6
2. Psalms 34: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7
3. Ephesians 5: 15-20
4. John 6: 51-58

• Food for the journey
• Who in your life would you say has an abundance of wisdom?
• Do you ever go to them for answers to specific issues, or wisdom in general?
• How do we achieve wisdom?
• How does one pass that along to others?
• Should we all be wise, or is wisdom something that you can just "Google up"?

• Tasting or savoring?
• Why do you believe that God is good?
• What does that really mean?  How could God be bad?
• Does God's goodness require that He always be good to all of us all of the time?
• How are you good to God?

• No regrets
• Looking back over your life, are there times or seasons that you wished that you had savored more?
• What kept you from really appreciating those times as you went through them?
• Do you think that you are getting the most out of today?
• How do you think that you might become more aware of God's daily gift to/in/and through you?

• Manna
• The bread from heaven for the Jews would immediately make them think of the manna in the desert, one sign that God was with them during their time in the Sinai desert, a sign that they were God's people, a community in His care.
• How does the Eucharist make a community of us?
• Does that community just include those partaking of the Body and Blood that particular Mass, or does it include those who receive from that table by way of extraordinary Eucharistic ministers?
• Does that community extend to the other communities, celebrating different Masses that day?
• Does it include all Catholics celebrating Eucharist anywhere any time?
• Or is that community, does God's love extend even farther?
• What does this sort of community really mean?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What journey is God's wisdom taking me on today?
2. What do I need to be more grateful for?
3. How have I not been as present as I could be to those around me?
4. How can I more deeply celebrate the whole community that God has called me into?

Shalom!

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. 1 Kings 19: 4-8
2. Psalms 34: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
3. Ephesians 4: 30-5:2
4. John 6: 41-51

• Food for the journey
• We don't see whether God told Elijah what he would find there at Horeb, God just equipped him and sent him.
• What are some of the things that you participate in regularly that nourish and equip you?
• Where do you feel that God is sending you lately?
• What do you expect to find when you "arrive" there?

• We have nothing to fear but fear itself
• What are some of the things that you fear in particular.  When you make this list, be as specific as you can.  Don't just say "I worry about my family".  Rather, something specific such as "I fear that my son is making career choices that he will regret later."
• Where is God in that circumstance?
• What do you expect God to do?
• What would you like for God to do?
• If there is a difference between those two, why is that?
• If you see no difference between those two, why is that?

• It's hard being vulnerable
• What really happens to the other person when you forgive them?
• What happens to you?
• Do you feel that forgiving others makes you more vulnerable?
• How can the person that you forgive take advantage of that forgiveness?
• How can the person that you forgive take advantage of you?

• One bread or another
• The sacraments are described as doorways to the sacred, a means for us to touch that which is holy and sublime, even while we are here in the physical world.
• Why do you think that Jesus fed the people those barley loaves first, then preached to them this bread of life discourse?
• When our parishioners are going hungry physically, is our Eucharistic celebration complete and authentic?
• How can we more fully be bread for the poor, no matter what makes them poor?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to turn my back on what is comfortable and familiar in favor of a fuller life?
2. What will it take for me to give up a fear (pick one) to God?
3. Who do I need to forgive, in order for me to achieve wholeness?
4. How can I be more deeply generous in my life?

Shalom!

18th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15
2. Psalms 78: 3-4, 23-24, 25, 54
3. Ephesians 4: 17, 20-24
4. John 6: 24-35

• Food anxiety is never easy
• Poor Moses didn't have a good lawyer on his staff at the time, or else he would have had the children of Israel all sign a waiver to the effect that they forfeit all rights to anything that they were familiar and comfortable with, in exchange for their freedom.
• Do you think that God categorically has an issue with us being comfortable in life?
• If not, when do you think that God does take issue with comfort?
• How do you tell when your comforts are holding you back from God?

• There's a time and a place for everything
• We like to know how everything will work out before we venture into anything new, but that does not seem to be the way of things in God's service.
• When was the last time that you took a new beginning, without knowing how all of your needs would be met.
• Why did you take that risk?
• How did it turn out?
• Did you end up needing everything that you thought that you would need?
• How did that experience of uncertainty change you?

• Discerning desires
• Are all of our desires necessarily bad?
• Where do those desires come from?
• Do you think that God is interested in meeting any of them?
• How/where can our desires lead us astray?
• How/where can they lead us toward God?

• God is everywhere
• Jesus fed those folks for any number of reasons, but one reason certainly was to show them the Father's compassion and generosity, another to show them that God stood ready to meet all of their needs, physical and not.
• Do you think that ministry to the needy has to address all of their needs, no matter how diverse those needs are?
• Typically in a homeless shelter, the homeless get treated to a sermon first, then food.  Many of the homeless take the opportunity to grab a quick nap before eating.
• Is there anything wrong with that picture?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to turn my back on what is comfortable and familiar in favor of a fuller life?
2. How do I see God providing for me in the context of my service to Him?
3. What desires of my heart do I need to bring to God in prayer?
4. What generosity does God look for from me this week?

Shalom!

17th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 76th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. 2 Kings 4: 42-44
2. Psalms 145: 10-11, 15-16, 17-18
3. Ephesians 4: 1-6
4. John 6: 1-15

• All are welcome, all are fed
• In my wife's family, the longstanding tradition is that the host/hostess never goes it along, everyone brings something to share, even if they are told not to.
• Of course, nothing compares to what God offers us at Eucharist, but each of us brings something to share at the feast.  What are some of the things that you share at Mass?
• What would you like to share differently/more/better?
• Be honest, what do you wish was shared differently/more/better by others at Mass?

• Needs versus wants
• Do you think that God has any interest in meeting your wants?
• Where do you think your wants come from?
• How do you tell the difference between wants and needs?

• Finding peace
• How would you define peace?
• Where do you go to find that peace?
• Does anyone else in your life help to bring you peace?
• Why/how or why not?
• Do you think that it's escapism to go "somewhere else" for peace?

• Loafing through it all
• Sometimes, it can be instructive to ask what would have happened in a Gospel story if things had been just a bit different.  In this case, if the boy had decided that he wasn't going to share his lunch, how do you think that might have gone?
• Have you ever tried to meet a need that was hopelessly too big for your resources?
• What did you bring to the table?
• Was it enough?
• Did it matter?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to welcome even those that I have no idea how to serve?
2. Do I trust God with my wants as well as my needs?
3. How can I be peace for others?
4. Do I let fear of inadequacy paralyze me?

Shalom!

16th Sunday in Ordinary TIme

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

1. Jeremiah 23: 1-6
2. Psalms 23: 1-3, 3-4, 5, 6
3. Ephesians 2: 13-18
4. Mark 6: 30-34

• Defense from error
• Once upon a time, there was a parish where the Confirmation sacramental preparation was done by volunteers, mostly parents.  The teens were divided up into groups that met in homes, much like the early church.  Then along came a teacher who felt that these parents were often uninformed, mistaken, or just sloppy about their teaching, so he took all of those teenagers, had them meet in one large room each week, and he taught them himself to make sure that there was no error in the teaching.
• We often speak of the distinction between faith formation, and information.  What would you say is the difference between the two?
• Is one or the other more important?
• At what point and in which way(s) do we become adults, and have to start taking responsibility for our own formation?
• Do you think that someone could be influencing/forming/teaching another without knowing it?
• How do we keep each other honest?

• Who wants to be a sheep?
• As Westerners, and certainly as males, we are conditioned to appreciate and praise those who push the boundaries, who succeed in spite of the odds, who have the courage to go beyond their comfort zone.  Hardly an ethic that you associate with sheep.
• Do you think that there are things in this life that are just out and out impossible for you?
• Would it make your life any better to try those things?
• If you don't think that anything is impossible to you, then think about flapping your arms and flying, or being able to compose a truly great sonata, or finding the cure to cancer.
• If not these things, then what are your strengths?
• Do you think that you might have strengths that you've not stumbled into?
• How have you found your strengths, your genius, your calling in life?
• Do you think that was just luck, or something else?
• How can you be more open to that "something else"?

• Chasing the Prodigal
• In the parable of the prodigal son, what I like to call the prodigal father, the father waits patiently, longingly, for the son to come back.  He's the first to see that weary, beaten son come over the horizon from distant lands, and he runs toward that young man as though his very life depended on that reunion.
• Who are some of those in your life who have "gone prodigal" and left, be it a violent rending of relationships, or an inexorable corrosion?
• Is anyone looking for them?
• What do they have to do before anyone is willing/able to receive them back?
• What will they have to do if they ever came back, before anyone would trust them again?
• Who decided that anyway?

• Life is what happens along the way
• Sanctuary is a place, time, space where we go to recuperate.  For the introvert, such sanctuary can be very tangible.  They prefer quiet, a spell where they can center themselves, recover from the demands of people all around them, and rediscover their inner compass.  Other folks crave time with nature, time in their gardens, time on the phone with their best friend, an hour spent in front of the reserved Eucharist, you name it.
• Where is your sanctuary?
• Do you go there regularly?
• Do you bring an agenda with you when you go there?
• How much of your sanctuary do you bring back with you when you rejoin humanity?
• What is the difference between sanctuary and trying to escape?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where/what am I teaching God's people?
2. Where might God be calling me outside my comfort zone?
3. Who am I waiting for to come home?  Do they know that?
4. What am I doing to strengthen my prayer-life?

Shalom!