Corpus Christi

Our readings for Corpus Christi Sunday are:

1. Genesis 14: 18-20
2. Psalms 110: 1, 2, 3, 4
3. 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26
4. Luke 9: 11b-17

• Separation of Church and State
• The US founding fathers came from a generation fraught with nations that had a state religion, that permitted no deviation from that official, accepted religion, and they wanted none of that.
• We pledge our allegiance to "one nation under God".  What does that mean?
• Do you think that we in the US have all but abandoned the original intent of those words?
• What would "one nation under God" really look like if we got it right?
• How far would religious tolerance extend in "one nation under God"?
• Why would it matter?

• Source of all power
• All of us have power of one sort or another, but the key lies in how we use it.  As parents we have a certain power over our children.  As managers, we have a certain power over our subordinates, as friends, we are able to influence those close to us.  We maybe shy away from thinking of relationships in that way, but there is a power there, however muted.
• Do you think that all power ultimately comes from God?
• If someone, say a malign dictator, however small, misuses that power to oppress others, what ultimately happens to such people?
• How would you define oppression?
• Would oppression include trying to influence someone to life a life that they were never meant to live?  For instance, go to a college that God never intended for them, marry the wrong person, ...?

• If every Eucharist is a meal, is every meal a Eucharist?
• We claim that Eucharist is a meal, an exchange of gifts, a feasting on the Body and Blood, but what does that mean?
• Why do you observe a Eucharistic fast?
• Are we really being true to God's intent if anyone is excluded from that feast because of skin color, culture, imprisonment, divorce, ...?
• To what extent is true communion possible if we do not truly celebrate Jesus' original intent?

• You have to be kidding
• On the job training (OJT as we called it) has three steps: you watch me do it, I watch you do it, you do it all by yourself.
• Jesus honestly seems to think that the disciples were ready to feed all of those people.  Was He delusional?
• How has Jesus prepared you for the various ways that you serve others?
• If you had it to do all over again, how might you have preferred to have been trained to do what you are doing?
• How are your current ministries preparing you for what is coming? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God calling me to be more prophetic in local governance?
2. Where is God teaching me mercy?
3. How can the meals that I share with friends and family be more Eucharistic?
4. How can I be more open to what God is preparing me for?

Make me a Blessing

God, make me compassionate, like you.
Help me to be a blessing to those around me.
An answer to prayer that they may not know yet.

Help me to see with your eyes of mercy.
To see your children rather than needs.
To see opportunities rather than burdens.

That I might learn true humility
From the master of all humbleness
And walk the path of the true disciple.

Shalom!

Most Holy Trinity Sunday

Our readings for Most Holy Trinity Sunday are:

1. Proverbs 8: 22-31
2. Psalms 8: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
3. Romans 5: 1-5
4. John 16: 12-15

• Work/life balance
• We make a sharp distinction between play "to have fun" and work "to build something from smaller, less complex constituents."  But Wisdom seems to have done both at the same time during the creation of the cosmos.
• Do you think that God has "fun" at any time?
• When we say that we do something "just for fun" we usually mean that the activity has no meaning, no benefit aside from enjoyment.  Do you think God regards "fun" that way?
• If God found it fun to make all of creation, do you think that He still finds it very good?
• If God is disappointed in how things turned out, why does He not just start over?

• Has anyone seen my glory?  I seem to have lost track of it.
• In Ricky Menalo's piece Ang Katawan Ni Kristo the song builds to the climax: "behold the glory of God, we are the body of Christ."
• To the extent that we are the body of Christ, how does that show the glory of God?
• Where are we less than our full potential as families, parishes, the Church at large?
• How can we live that glory better?

• I would have hoped that hope is easier to come by
• Virtue has been defined as the ability to make it easy to do the right thing.  That only comes with steady practice, constant attention, and humility.  And that virtue is what gives us hope.  Not because we feel entitled, but because God has proven Himself over and over again.
• Think of someone in your life and think of a few of their virtues.
• How do you think that they got that way?
• What are some of the benefits that they enjoy because of those virtues?
• What would you be willing to go through to attain those virtues yourself?

• All truth is beautiful
• Today the church of St. Cyprian Long Beach celebrated the ordination of Michael and Mary Rutz to the permanent diaconate.  The service has breath-takingly beautiful in so many ways.  Much truth was expressed there, much beauty shared.
• Do you think that all truth can be captured in words?
• What role does music, art, sculpture, poetry, ... have in bringing about the Kingdom of God?
• Can the Church ever have too many artists?
• Clearly God has given different ones of us different amounts of talent.  What of us who have modest talents?  What is our role in this outpouring of truth and beauty? 

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God calling me to have more fun?
2. Where is God calling me to glory today?
3. Where are my virtues getting tested and strengthened?
4. Where is God calling me to be beautiful today?

Quiet Time

We seem shackled to our agendas.
Consumed with questions and entreaties.
God, give me this, make that happen, tell me what to do.

And I think that God knows and appreciates the frenzy.
He knows the origin of the worries.
I'm sure that He just wishes that we be quiet long enough to hear the answers.

In brief moments of peace,
I imagine myself on a hillside overlooking the ocean,
Seated on the grass with Jesus next to me.

The sun is setting over the waves out to the west.
A great molten egg gently resting on the water.
As a crazy busy day draws to a close.

Neither of us is in a hurry to move on.
Time is passing, we both know this time will end.
Yet we can enjoy each passing now as it comes and goes.

Neither of us says anything.
Knowing that just being there is all that either of us needs.
Secure in the knowledge that we will be back here again tomorrow.

Sadly, I have a hard time finding that quiet hillside in my heart.
The demands of the day crowding out such "unproductive" time.
My inner restlessness deaf to the whispers of peace offered me.

Jesus, fan the embers of my love for you.
Help me to seek what alone satisfies.
Do not let me settle for less,

Than wasting time with you.

Shalom!

Pentecost Sunday

Our readings for Pentecost Sunday are:

1. Acts 2: 1-11
2. Psalms 104: 1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
3. Revelations 8: 8-17
4. John 20: 19-23

• Does this robe make me look fat?
• Stage fright generally has many components.  You could worry that you'll forget what it is that you want to say, or that that particularly critical member of the audience will find issues with what you deliver, or that you really are not worthy of making such a presentation, or that you have really not prepared enough, or that you forgot to lock the front door when you left the house or ...  But the early disciples seemed to be more focused than that.
• When you give yourself away to others, in lectoring, visiting the sick, singing in the choir, helping someone with a DIY project, how important is preparation?
• How do you know that you have prepared enough, that you are truly ready?
• How has God prepared you for the ministries that you have today?
• What might He be preparing you for tomorrow?
• Why do you want to know that?

• Renewal on tap
• Throughout history there have been renewal movements that sought to bring new life to an established order.  Some have been wildly successful, others not so successful.
• What needs renewing in your life?  What has gone stale or lifeless?
• Is that renewal likely going to be a matter of throwing out the old and starting over, finding new purpose and meaning in what you are already doing, returning to the past when things were simpler, more pure, more focused, or ...?
• How can your renewal serve the larger purpose of renewing your family, community, parish, the earth?

• The only thing that we have to fear is fear itself
• The lyrics to a song Fear is a Liar are here.  I think that the composer has a lot to say about fear and its hold on us.
• What are your recurring fears?
• What are you doing about them?
• Are all of them real?

• I once was blind but now I see
• Jesus' post resurrection appearances read as though He was very selective about who He manifested Himself to.  Perhaps He had had his fill of crowds before the crucifixion and decided more intimate gatherings were called for.
• When do you feel closest to the presence of God?
• How have those times changed you?
• Do you think that you could get that same sort of intimacy in other contexts, other phases of your life?
• Why or why not?
• What does that say about the "rest" of your life?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What am I doing to prepare for what God has for me tomorrow?
2. How am I bringing new life to those around me?
3. Which fears are holding me back?
4. Where can I be more present to Jesus and He more present to me in my life?

Those Wounds

The scar tissue felt rough to my fingers.
The pain that they bore witness to
Still burned in my memory.

Yet Jesus stood there, radiant.
Full of life, laughing with us,
Celebrating a life that could not be quenched.

He tells us that we have a share in that life.
That we have all that we need.
Easy for Him to say.

These wounds speak to me
Of desire stronger than death
Of a life so much larger than me.

These wounds call me into a horizon
Larger than any I have ever known.
And I dare not hold back.

Even though the future is uncertain,
The path ahead far from clear.
I now know that the secret to life

Is to give it all away,
Fearlessly,
Recklessly.

Shalom!

The Ascension of the Lord

Our readings for the solemnity of the Ascension are:

1. Acts 1: 1-11
2. Psalms 47: 2-3, 6-7, 8-9
3. Ephesians 1: 17-23
4. Luke 24: 46-53

• Looking for love in all the wrong places
• In Luke 24: 1-8 we see two unnamed women looking for Jesus in the tomb.  Now His disciples are staring after Jesus in the sky and again they are told by angels to look for Him elsewhere.
• Where do you look for Jesus in your life?  That could be a job where you feel particularly blessed, a friendship that has nurtured you for years, a ministry that you have been in for years, ...
• Are you still finding Him there?
• Do you think that He's maybe moved on?

• Who is running this show
• The world is full of people who tell you that life has no meaning beyond the immediate, the right here and right now.
• You know otherwise.  Why is that?
• What events, observations support your conclusions?
• Why is it so hard to prove that God rules the earth?

• One Bread one Body
• If we are all one body of Christ, why is Christianity split into so many factions?
• What makes for unity?  Is it all of us under one earthly leader, all of us subscribing to one theology, all of us doing everything exactly alike?
• What can we, as individuals, families, parishes do to achieve more unity?

• Finding power
• Jesus told his disciples to "hang tight" until He clothed them with power from above.
• Where is Jesus moving with power today?
• How can we prepare ourselves better to participate in those actions of Jesus'?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is Jesus moving in and through me today?
2. How does my faith give meaning to my life?
3. How am I reaching out and building bridges?
4. Where can God work through me more powerfully?

Hanging On

It's just too much.
We started off just fine.
Minding our own business,
making our way through life.

Then Jesus comes along
Turns it all upside down.
That old life no longer works.
And they kill him.

Just as we get the hang of grief
He comes back, even more than ever.
We do a little fishing.  Share some cold ones,
And now He's gone again.

Now He tells us that He's giving us power from above.
The problem is -
I don't know how that power from above
Will stand up to the power down here below.

When does this ever end?
Are we always going to be left behind?
Just one abandonment after another?
Or do things ever settle down?

And this power from above,
What do we do with it?
Start a new religion,
Declare a new country?

Overthrow the Romans?
Usher in some Golden Age?
None of us has ever led anything.
What makes Jesus think that we can do it now?

It was hard enough when we thought Him dead.
When we doubted Him.
Now it's even worse.
We're doubting ourselves.

Shalom!

6th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 6th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 15: 1-2, 22-29
2. Psalms 67: 2-3, 4, 6, 8
3. Revelation 21: 10-14, 22-23
4. John 14: 23-29

• Keep it simple
• Circumcision was a sign of God's covenant with His people, a sacramental if you will.  It set them apart from those around them, reminded the People that they were His.
• Thinking of your family, community, parish, what is there that distinguishes you from those around you?
• Do you think those differences should be obvious?
• Do those differences define who you are?
• Should they?

• You make the world a better place
• I'm lucky in that I have a handful of people in my life who have inspired me, given me hope, and challenged me.
• In what ways do you as a person, member of a community, member of your family, member of your parish, inspire those that you meet?
• Do you feel that all of us should be inspiring?
• Can you envision leading a life that inspires others to greatness?
• Why is that?

• Standing in the Temple
• We set aside income as an offering to God, we set aside time to serve and worship God, we give away our talents in God's service.  All of that serves to remind us that all of it is His, all is gift.
• How do you separate the sacred from the profane in your life?  Do you have special times, places, actions that are dedicated to God's service?
• What does that say about the rest of your life?
• How could you bring those two halves of your life into better harmony, integration?

• Finding the love
• Every couple has a story arc: how they met, got to know each other, fell in love, decided to commit to each other, became a blessing to their community.  Maybe not always in that order.
• How did you & Jesus meet?
• Why do you love Him?
• How do you express that love?
• How has that relationship deepened over time?
• How do you want for it to deepen?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How can I, and my community, be more welcoming today?
2. Am I a blessing to those around me?
3. How is God finding residence in me?
4. Where is my love for God growing deeper?

Pondering

We have all seen the old men and women in our midst.
Gazing off into the distance, eyes focused on the invisible.

We who scurry from demand to demand look on in wonder.
Trying to figure out what it is like to have that much time.

Maybe that soft gaze into the middle distance
Betokens a process, a processing, of life lived.

Finding the sense, the meaning, the greater rhythm of it all.
Visiting the memories, not as an escape, but a deeper living.

Which makes me wonder why we so often wait so long to ponder
To truly dwell in the life that we've been given.

Instead we unconsciously fill our days to the brim.
Always fearing missing out, not accomplishing enough.

When there needs to be an ebb and flow to our days,
Equal energy given to action and contemplation.

Action informing our contemplation,
Contemplation giving the action its meaning and purpose.

Such discipline could eventually transform all of life -
Into one long prayer.

Shalom!

5th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 5th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 13: 14, 21-27
2. Psalms 145: 8-9, 10-11, 12-13
3. Revelation 21: 1-5a
4. John 13: 31-33a,34-35

• The chosen
• The capacity for the early apostles to delegate seems almost surreal to us today.  The message of Jesus was entrusted to the new disciples almost before the ink dried on their confirmation certificates.  Yet there are surprisingly few accounts of leaders gone bad.
• Who have been real leaders in your life, men and women who inspired others, brought the best out in them, led by example?
• Were those leaders formally recognized?  Did they have a title?
• Did they need one?
• How do true leaders emerge?
• What makes you so sure that you're not one of them?

• You are not alone
• Great need, great suffering, great sorry tends to isolate us.  No one else has a good sense of what it is like to be you when you are suffering, and it is painful to explain over and over again.
• Our God is a God of compassion.  If we choose to follow Him, we too must have God-like compassion.
• Who in your community needs a hand to hold, someone to journey with them?
• How can you show them that you are there for them?

• Behold
• The temple of the wandering Jews in the Sinai desert was a sacrament of Presence.  Just as God's people wandered the harsh land, no permanent home, no idea what tomorrow would bring, no comfortable cities to rest in, so too did God journey with them in a tent.
• As those nomads made their way from one camp to the next, did they carry their God with them, or did God carry them?
• How is God present in your life?  Maybe cherished memories of divine consolation, friends who courageously call forth the best that is within you, maybe work that fills you with joy and builds God's kingdom ...
• How do you bring all of that to worship with you?
• How does your worship and the rest of your prayer life nourish the Presence of God in the rest of your life?

• I love you, tell me how
• Following Jesus' example is terrifyingly simple, yet enigmatic.
• If someone asked you "how does Jesus love today" what would you say?
• If that same someone asked you "and how do you love" what would you say?
• Are those two loves sprung from the same well?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God calling me to lead today?
2. Where can I be mighty in empathy?
3. Where is God in my life today, this week, the past month?
4. How can my love of Jesus find more authentic expression?

The Metronome

The monitor beeps softly, keeping time like a metronome.
Reassuring me that he is still home to a heartbeat.

The small bones of his hand are so pronounced.
The flesh barely covering them.

Cheeks sunken in,
Skull barely clothed.

His needs are simple now.
He just needs a hand in his.

I've forgotten what my plans were for the day.
This watch I mount eclipses less important tasks.

In a rush I see myself,
Midwifing him into eternity from this side.

And a host of angels ready to receive him.
I am but a small part of a vast throng.

The air around me thick with Presence.
That Presence thick with love.

I came here wanting to do something
Something meaningful, and important.

When I leave this sacred space.
I hope that I will have been meaningful.

That I have learned a little
How to join my melody

To the great swelling chorus of all life
All holiness.

Shalom!

4th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 4th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 13: 14, 43-52
2. Psalms 100: 1-2, 3, 5
3. Revelation 7: 9, 14b-15
4. John 10: 27-30

• The chosen
• Being part of the chosen fills us with a sense of destiny, of purpose, of meaning.
• Are you chosen?
• To what purpose?
• Is there anyone who is not chosen?

• Same song, second pasture
• The life of a sheep sounds restful, peaceful, serene.
• What does a peaceful existence offer you.  What would you do if live were peaceful?
• What would that sort of peace cost you?
• Why do you think that you don't have that peace yet?

• I will survive
• In October 1978 Gloria Gaynor hit the charts with a roundly defiant ode to feminine resourcefulness and toughness called I will Survive.  The lyrics describe a woman finding strength in the face of a devastating breakup, and a new found freedom and independence.  All of us, men and women alike, can find some inspiration for the hard work involved in true freedom.
• What are some things that you have had to free yourself of in life?
• What caused you to go through that in the first place?
• Did you know how hard it would be when you started?
• If you had it to do all over again, would you?
• Where was God in that struggle?

• I am known, and I can live with that
• One of the beauties of a long marriage is that the members of that union get to know each other so well, and stay together anyway.  Each knows the other's weaknesses, foibles, follies and yet, if they are both diligent and lucky, their love just grows deeper.
• Imagine yourself at dinner with Jesus.  It's early evening, you're on the patio together, there's a light breeze coming in off of the water, bringing with it the sounds of birds and the scent of flowering jasmine.  The two of you have all of the time in the world at this moment.  You look into Jesus' eyes and you say "you know everything about me, and yet you love me.  Why is that?"  In reply, He reaches out to you and clasps your hand.
• What do you think He would say?
• Would that answer be different today than it was five years ago?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What am I doing today to fulfill my destiny in Christ?
2. How can I grow in my trust for God?
3. What in my life holds me back from walking closer to Jesus?
4. How is Jesus' love of me changing me?

The Great Throng

There are no small gatherings in Revelation, no intimate settings.
Everyone seems to show up for everything in heaven.
It sort of makes you wonder where introverts go when they die.

For my part, I need time to process, to savor, to ponder.
Otherwise I feel rushed, exhausted, pushed by life.
I wonder how long a time out takes in Eternity.

Fr. likes to remind us of where we are in the Liturgical calendar.
Inspiring a sense of urgency of a different sort.
Reminding us of the passage of time on a different plane.

It makes me feel as though I'm not getting everything done.
That Pentecost will come, I won't be ready, some ship will sail,
And I'll be left on the shore because I wasn't paying attention.

I think I'm going to start a new observance for the Easter season.
Giving up something for Easter, sort of like Lent.
This time around, it's going to be giving up being rushed.

Taking time each day to find God at my center.
And find my center in God.
And remind myself why I'm here.

Shalom!