30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Jeremiah 31: 7-9
2. Psalms 126: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
3. Hebrews 5: 1-6
4. Mark 10: 46-52

• Welcome home
• Define "home".
• What people/places/activities/things make you feel "at home"?
• Given the itinerant nature of His ministry, what do you think that Jesus needed to feel "at home" somewhere?
• How can we be more like Him?

• Coming back
• It is probably a rare thing for someone to honestly "hit bottom".  If you look hard enough, things could nearly always be worse.
• Think of a time when you felt that life was far from "good".  How did you get through that?
• What sort of an outcome were you looking for?
• How did you expect for that outcome to happen?
• Where was God in all of that?

• One of us
• At the presentation of gifts, those who bring up the gifts come from among the gathered assembly.  The Lector climbs into the ambo from a seat in the gathered assembly.  Oftentimes, for the offertory at Thanksgiving, we process to the altar rail to put our offerings into the baskets.  The children come from the gathered assembly to offer canned food on behalf of their families.  At communion, the extraordinary Eucharistic ministers arrive at the altar from among the gathered assembly.
• What do these liturgical movements tell us about the place of the gathered assembly?
• What do they speak about our individual participation in the Mass, in ministry, in the bringing of Christ's kingdom to earth?
• Who are we as we go our separate ways after dismissal?

• Putting it all on the line
• Bartimaeus threw aside his cloak, perhaps his only possession, to answer Jesus' call.
• What do you think Bartimaeus was hoping for at that moment?
• Where do you think that event took him in later life?
• Where do you think Bartimaeus showed courage?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How am I helping others to find home?
2. What are the desires of my heart that I have not shared with Jesus?
3. How can I be a better witness to God's Presence?
4. Where is fear holding me back from God?

Shalom!

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 53: 10-11
2. Psalms 33: 4-5, 18-19, 20, 22
3. Hebrews 4: 14-16
4. Mark 10: 35-45

• Greatness is in what you give away
• There was a horrible bumper sticker that enjoyed some popularity.  It read "He who dies with the most toys wins."
• What do you think Jesus would have to say to that?
• If that sentiment is not true, write a bumper-sticker worthy statement of your own that is true.
• Is your bumper-sticker worth copyrighting?
• Why or why not?

• No regrets
• Archbishop Oscar Romero was canonized today, in part for his courage to the point of martyrdom.
• Do you think that true faith is always going to have its costs?
• How do you tell when calamities in your life are a result of you following your faith, or other, less noble reasons?
• How is God kind to us through all of that?

• Finding grace
• How would you define grace?
• How have you been graced in your life?
• How do we go about receiving grace in our lives?
• What can we do to be more open to that grace?

• I remember him when ...
• It's a common scenario.  Someone you never expected makes it big and all that you can do is to tell your friends "I remember him when he was just a punk ..." hoping that your familiarity with the new celebrity will somehow rub off on you.
• How would you define or characterize the humility of Jesus?
• Do you think that Jesus had it easier than we do, or harder, to be that humble?
• What sort of humility do you think that we are called to?
• What can we learn from Jesus' humility?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What do I truly desire?  What am I willing to give up for that?
2. Are there times and places in my life where I have tried to avoid the cost of my faith?
3. What graces do I most want in my life?
4. Where am I trying to grab the attention or credit?  Is that of God?

Shalom!

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Wisdom 7: 7-11
2. Psalms 90: 12-13, 14-15, 16-17
3. Hebrews 4: 12-13
4. Mark 10: 17-30

• What is it that you desire
• Indecision is a terrible thing.  Sometimes, the pain of it is enough to make us do something rash just to get the decision process over with.
• How do you think that Jesus made decisions?
• Do you think that he had a process?
• Do you have anyone in your life that you can go to for better perspective on your decisions?
• How do such people supplement your prayer life?

• No regrets
• None of us wants to die with regrets.  We want to check off every item on our "bucket list" before we go.
• What do you think contributes to a "regret free" life?
• Have you ever learned to be thankful for a decision that you once regretted, or something that was hard to bear at the time?
• How did that process happen?
• Is it possible to help that process along?

• Looking at life from both sides
• It's almost universal that we wish that we had a better memory for things, but be careful what you wish for.  I believe that at judgement day we will have perfect recall of our entire life.
• We are never going to know everything about the decisions that we make, so how do you know when you have thought about something long enough?
• How do you know when your own desires are helping you, or hindering you from making a good decision?
• What really makes a good decision anyway?

• Disordered attachments
• In Ignatian spirituality, we are told to avoid getting so attached to anything that it begins to distract us from our primary mission in life.
• What are you attached to?
• How do you tell when that attachment has become too strong?
• How would you go about breaking that attachment?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What do I truly desire?  What am I willing to give up for that?
2. What am I thankful for this year that I could not have been thankful for earlier in my life?
3. How am I learning to follow Jesus more closely?
4. What in my life am I incapable of giving up?

Shalom!

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Genesis 2: 18-24
2. Psalms 128: 1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
3. Hebrews 2: 9-11
4. Mark 10: 2-16

• Why we need a partner
• Somewhere along the line, every couple comes face to face with the harsh reality that they are married to somebody else.  That this miraculous person that they have committed to has their own desires, their own dreams, their own aspirations, their own way of looking at things.  It's all very disturbing.
• Would you say that you support your spouse?
• What form does that support take?
• Do you feel supported by your spouse?
• Do you think that it's possible that support could require courage on your part?
• Why or why not?

• Reaping what you sow
• It's a foundational element of the American ethic that we get to enjoy the benefits of our hard work.  No one's going to ride into town and take all of our supplies and make off with them.
• Oddly, it's not as much a bedrock value that we get to suffer the consequences of our poor choices.
• Have you ever had a loved one suffer because of poor choices that they made and were making?
• How did you support them in that time in their life?
• What do you think "tough love" really means?
• Do you think that God practices "tough love"? 

• The benefits of suffering
• How do you think that Jesus suffered in His life?
• How did that suffering change Him?
• How do you think that He managed to work through that suffering without becoming embittered by it?
• Do you think that Jesus was ever afraid?
• How can we be more like Jesus in our approach to suffering?

• Vocations anyone?
• Mary & I were at a Loyola Institute of Spirituality Christmas party once and someone asked one of the Jesuit priests how long he had been ordained.  He told us, then he turned it around and asked those of us celebrating the sacrament of marriage how long we had been in our vocation.
• What are some vocations, and participants in those vocations that have changed your life?
• Who are some sacraments in your life that inspire you?
• Picture yourself at your own funeral, someone is giving your eulogy.  Who is that someone, and what would you want them to say about you?
• What are you doing to make that happen?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What relationships can I strengthen this week?
2. What seeds am I planting in my life today?
3. How are my sufferings making me better?
4. Who am I inspiring?

Shalom!

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Numbers 11: 25-39
2. Psalms 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14
3. James 5: 1-6
4. Mark 9: 38-43, 45, 47-48

• Membership criteria
• Confirmation retreats are often a time of bonding teenagers into community.  But the question is, is it the music that they share that weekend, the experiences, the talks, their common community at Church, their commonality of culture and age, ... that made them a community?
• Think of some of the communities that you belong to.  What single thing do you all have in common that really binds you together, really makes a cohesive whole out of you?
• Do you think that everyone in the community has that same thing in mind?
• What do you thing should bind you together as a community?

• Curing my blind spots
• Each of us has a blind spot or two in our lives, particularly about ourselves.
• How have you become aware of some of those blind spots?
• How was your life changed by that new knowledge?
• How can we be more objective about ourselves? 

• Prophetic in humility
• Gandhi stands as as the 21st century's emblem of non-violent protest, and the power that can have to make changes happen in our world.  No one would ever accuse Gandhi of weakness or cowardice.
• Most likely, none of us feels that we have much influence over others, but we do have some "pull" with some people, sometimes more than we know.
• Is there anyone in your life who need someone to stand up for them, someone to help them through something in life.
• Why aren't you that someone?

• How big is your tent?
• A joke that I heard once is here.  I think that it's worth a read.
• What things have to be true about someone before they can show you something of Jesus?
• When was the last time that you experienced God from an unexpected source?
• How was it that you knew God was there?
• Why did you not expect to find Him there?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What have I done to build community this week?
2. Do I humbly seek God's insight into my life, my motivations, my limitations, or would I just as soon not hear about that in my prayer life?
3. Who in my life am I willing to go to bat for?
4. Who am I excluding from those that God can use to minister to me?

Shalom!

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Wisdom 2: 12, 17-20
2. Psalms 54: 3-4, 5, 6-8
3. James 3: 16-4: 3
4. Mark 9: 30-37

• Embracing humility
• In Daniel 6 we read of Daniel's deliverance from the plot of envious government officials to have him killed.  Sounds like a good outcome for anyone who fearlessly follows God.
• Jesus wasn't so lucky, yet no one in history has followed God more closely.  Since His death, Jesus has been joined by countless disciples who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of God, and far more who have lost fortunes, been exiled, ostracized and persecuted for their faith.
• Were all of these men and women of faith delivered in any way?
• If so, delivered from what, exactly?
• Is such deliverance enough, or would you like God to be a little more generous?

• God has a thing for the weak
• Few of us have the experience of outright persecution from anyone for our faith.  But even given that, there are times when your faith has constrained you.  Maybe you were not able to take advantage of some insider trading opportunity, or you don't stay late at work because you know that your family needs you more.
• What was the reward that you expected from that behavior?
• Did that work out?
• Did it matter whether it worked out that way or not?
• Why? 

• Prayer changes things
• When I was a child, a popular slogan was "Prayer changes things!" which I have since come to believe fosters a superstitious attitude toward prayer.  I'd rather that such a bumper sticker read "prayer changes us!".
• Have you ever started praying, perhaps desperately, for one thing, and, over time, that changed to another prayer altogether?
• Why do you think that happened?
• How can we make ourselves more open to that process?

• The margins
• In Jesus' day, children were very much at the margins of society, without anyone but their parents to look after them.  There was nothing more destitute than an orphan.
• Who are some of those that you have served, benefited, who will never be able to repay you?
• Why did you perform those services?
• How did that service bring you closer to Jesus?
• How did that service make you more like Jesus?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What do I want to be delivered from?  What/who do I want to be delivered to?
2. What/who threatens me?  Have I brought that to God?
3. Am I open to God changing my mind about things as I pray over them?
4. Where will my discipleship to God take me this week?

Shalom!

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 50: 4c-9a
2. Psalms 116: 1-2, 3-4 5-6, 8-9
3. James 2: 14-18
4. Mark 8: 27-35

• Embracing humility
• No one likes to be misunderstood or misrepresented.  And yet that was Jesus' lot during his entire public ministry.
• Do you think that Jesus felt lonely or isolated by that treatment?
• If you had been there during those final weeks of His ministry, what might you have done to comfort and support Him?
• Do you think that Jesus could use some comfort and support today?
• How might you minister to Him in your life?

• God has a thing for the weak
• How has God delivered you during your life?
• What were some of the things that He delivered you from?  Were they things like a sense of entitlement, unreasonable expectations on someone else, an attachment to success, were they more tangible like deliverance from a financial problem, ...?
• How did that make you feel about your life, about God?
• Do you ever think back on those times and give thanks? 

• Faith in action
• Work for justice often comes in two categories: addressing the immediate need, and looking "upstream" to find why the need arises and address the causes of injustice.
• Do you think that some of us are called to one type of justice work and not the other?
• Do you think that such a call can change over time?
• Do you think that someone who is prophetic, who speaks to the injustice of our day, can really make a difference?
• Who are some prophets of our time that you admire?

• Astonishment
• How do you think Peter should have reacted to the news that Jesus was going to be rejected and suffer?
• How do you think we can learn to think more like God in our lives?
• Do you think that the slogan "what would Jesus do?" is a good place to start answering that question?
• Is there anyone in your life that you feel that you can go to when you want to find the mind of God?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Of the characters in the stations of the Cross, which do I identify with most, and why?
2. What am I grateful for especially this week?  Maybe not things that have happened this week, but things that have come to mind this week.
3. How is my faith changing my actions?
4. What is God calling me to understand from His perspective?

Shalom!