7th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 7th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 1: 12 - 14
2. Psalms 27: 1, 4, 7-8
3. 1 Peter 4: 13-16
4. John 17: 1 - 11a

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• Prayer list
• No one likes a meeting without an agenda.  Without clear goals a group of folks can conversationally wander the Sinai Peninsula for a long time and accomplish nothing.  We used to term that "death by meeting."
• But sometimes, agendas fall short.  When you pray, do you always have an agenda, a list of things to pray about?
• Does your prayer ever change along the way?
• Do you ever change in the course of prayer?

• House of belonging
• All of us want to have a sense of belonging, a sure knowledge that we are exactly where we can do the most good, be the most fulfilled, in short, find holiness.
• Where do you belong?  Is that a place, a community, an activity, a time?
• How did you find that house of belonging?
• How are you helping others to belong there as well?

• Clean suffering
• In a way, Jesus was an ambitious activist.  Rather than try to bring about justice through reform in social structures, governments, even culture, He went to the heart of things, our hearts.  He suffered, not so much because others didn't understand Him, but because they didn't have the courage to see the growth opportunities that Jesus offered.
• What are the great causes in your life?  Where are you trying to make a difference?
• How have those causes challenged, and changed you?

• Time for a change
• The context for this prayer of Jesus' is set just before His betrayal.  He knows that His time here is just about over.  Perhaps Jesus knows that His passion is the only way to complete His work.
• When have you had to leave something behind for something else?
• How did you find that the time had come for that transition?  Maybe it was getting married, or moving to a new city, taking on a new ministry and leaving an old, familiar one behind.
• If you could have had it all, that is you could somehow step into that new opportunity as well as hang on to the old and familiar, would you?
• Why?

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. What are you praying for today?
2. What does my faith have to offer anyone else?
3. Where is God calling me to change the world around me?
4. What grace do I wish from God?

Shalom!

6th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 6th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 8: 5-8, 14-17
2. Psalms 66: 1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20
3. 1 Peter 3: 15-18
4. John 14: 15-21

• Great joy
• When have you felt a tangible joy?
• What caused that?
• Why did that event, revelation, feeling bring you joy?
• How long did that joy last?
• How did it change you?
• Do you think that joy came from God?
• Why do you think that He gave that to you?

• My God is better than your god
• Monotheism was an aberration at one time.  Sensible people believed that the world was thick with gods, large and small, each with specific roles and functions.  To assert that there is just one God would bring the question: "what makes you think that your God is so much better?"
• How would you answer that question if the one asking was incredibly wealthy, or famous, or much loved, all without any religion, no worship in their lives?
• Do you think that your argument would be very persuasive?
• Why is that?

• Canned response
• Religious apologetics attempts to provide reasoned response to questions on matters of faith.  Through the centuries, Christians have struggled to provide good arguments to support our beliefs.
• When all is said and done, just what is the relationship between the intellect and faith?
• What does it take to have strong faith?
• What is a person of strong faith really capable of?
• What are you doing to build your own faith?

• Spirit of Truth
• In the 2003 Jim Carey movie Bruce Almighty, Jim Carey's character get's to take on God's responsibilities for a small stretch of lower Manhattan so that he get's to know what God deals with day in, day out.
• If there was one quality of God that you could have for the asking, what would that be?
• How would that change your life?
• Why would you want that?

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. What/who brings me the most joy?
2. What does my faith have to offer anyone else?
3. How important to me is my faith?
4. What blessing do I wish from God?

God Gave me Empathy

I was praying one day.

Exhausted from all of the demands on my time and energy.

Trying to decide what to do with the slowly emerging certainty,

That there was more need in the world around me

Than I could ever fill.

I could have prayed that God take some of the burden away.

Or that He give me more help to get it done.

Or more wisdom that I could discern where to plunge, and where withdraw.

Or even that God would somehow take care of some of this Himself.

Instead, I asked that He make me more like Himself.

Crazy thing to pray.

And I'm no saint, but I should have known better than to ask something open-ended like that.

God has a funny way of answering prayers without borders.

But I asked, and waited.

And God surprised me with empathy.

I went to the battered woman's shelter.

Their lives were still the products of bad decisions, and worse coping mechanisms.

Their children just as unruly, and plentiful.

But now, when I looked in their eyes, 

I saw the desperation, and yet the sense that maybe they were not going to drown,

The hope that the love and consideration that they received here,

Was not just some fairy tale, or silly aberration,

But a living, breathing, enfleshed sign

That God's love was everywhere.

And that they were worthy of that love, no matter what people told them.

I helped a friend with a Mass at the juvenile detention center

And those kids, those children of God were still criminals,

But I saw the awful conviction that so many felt,

That they had been abandoned, and their end was certain, 

Just a matter of time.  And I wondered how to tell them otherwise.

Everywhere I looked, God gazed back at me

Through the eyes of His children.

Not accusing me, or asking for more help than I could give.

What God needed from me was tenderness

Toward others and toward myself.

Not so that I could be some superstar.

Solve every evil that I chance upon.

Or heal every heart that crossed my path.

But to get past the fear of inadequacy.

And let His empathy be my discernment.

Peace isn't the absence of stress.

It isn't even the absence of doubt.

Peace is the certainty that we're not alone in this.

That we're part of something far greater and more durable

Than any tragedy that we'll ever encounter.

Shalom!

5th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 5th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 6: 1-7
2. Psalms 33: 1-2, 4-5, 18-19
3. 1 Peter 2: 4-9
4. John 14: 1-12

• Won't power
• Discernment - the practice of making decisions and taking action at the Spirit's prompting, is both challenging and rewarding.  One of the biggest challenges of discernment is choosing not to do something, in order to have room in your life for something else.
• Has there ever been a point in time, or even a season in your life when you wanted to be in two places at once, or wanted to somehow get more time?
• Were both (all) of those demands on your time and energy equally good, at least by some measure?
• How did you decide on one over the other?
• Did that decision bring you any peace?
• What role did prayer have in that experience?

• The eye of God
• Hate is not the opposite of love, indifference is.
• Have you ever tried to reach out to someone in deep need?  Maybe they were going through a health crisis, lost their job, suffered violence or hatred of some sort.
• What was the hardest thing about that encounter?
• Why do you think that was so painful?
• Do you think that God, with His intimate awareness of us, feels pain, empathy, sorrow for us?
• Do you think that we can share that burden of God's in any way?

• Indwelling
• Perhaps the most radical theology of the Trinity is its inclusiveness.  God is not content with us merely gazing in wonder at the Trinity, He wants for us to join in that eternal dance between/among the Trinity.
• Sports figures, entertainers, motivational speakers all have their definition of "in the zone", a state in which you are able to utterly focus on the matter at hand, and leave aside any distracting influences.  Do you think that God calls us to be "in the zone" in life?
• When was the last time that you felt totally at peace in what you were doing at the moment, totally alive, and totally "in the zone".
• Was God there in any way?
• Do you think Jesus was "in the zone" while He was here on earth?
• What does it take to get there?

• Show us the Father
• It's hard to tell what was going through Phillip's mind when he asked Jesus to show them the Father, but perhaps he wanted, in seeing God, to finally understand the place of things in the grand picture of life, where it all fit, what it all meant, and what it all was worth.
• If you had to furnish your room in heaven, what/who would you put there?
• Assume that, in heaven, we get all of our memories back, so we might not need so much memorabilia to remind us of favorite people, times, events.
• Does that change how would furnish your room?

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. What blessings to I need to set aside to make room for even greater blessings?
2. When was the last time that I prayed for God's provision?
3. Is my faith strong enough for me to accept condemnation from others?
4. What in my life today is important enough to take in Eternity??

Shalom!

4th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 4th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 2: 14a, 36-41
2. Psalms 21: 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
3. 1 Peter 2: 20b-25
4. John 10: 1-10

• Salvation's appearance
• Oddly, Peter doesn't promise prosperity or security to his listeners, only forgiveness.
• Think of a time that you have asked someone for forgiveness.  Did you actually use that word, or did you simply say "I apologize", or "I'm sorry"?
• Why is "forgiveness" such a hard thing for us to ask for?
• Does it seem easier to ask God for forgiveness than it is to ask other people?
• Why do you suppose that is?

• Fear of want
• In one poignant scene from A Christmas Carol when the ghost of Christmas past shows Scrooge his past with a young woman who very much wanted to wed him.  Scrooge could not bring himself to make that commitment because he felt that he was not well enough established, and fear of poverty caused him to keep putting her off.
• How would you convince someone else that God is faithful?
• When someone piously says "the Lord will provide", what is the first thought that comes to your mind?
• What do you think we can categorically count on God to provide us as His children?
• Does he look out for His own any more than He does for unbelievers?
• Does that seem right?

• Fools for Christ
• By most counts, Jesus' life was an abject failure.  See One Solitary Life for a poem that most of you have read at least a time or two.
• Since Jesus clearly went through the worst possible humiliation and death on our behalf, you'd think that would be enough.  After that sacrifice, what more can we add by going through anything similar?
• Has Jesus ever called you to put your dignity, your name, even your honor on the line for Him?
• How did you respond?
• How did that turn out? 

• True leadership
• God created each of us with insatiable genius, and profound greatness.  A truly powerful leader is one who helps others to ignite their genius, and to stop being afraid of their greatness.  Ironically, it is only the humble among us who can authentically help us touch the very best in ourselves, to truly celebrate who we were created to be.
• Think of three people in your life who have looked to you for leadership, no matter how small.  They could be your family, a friend in distress looking for advice, peers at work, ...
• Were you able to be there for them in a way that empowered them when they needed it the most?
• How was that possible?
• What are you doing today to prepare yourself for the next challenge that comes your way?

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. What do my closest friends and family need saving from?
2. When was the last time that I prayed for God's provision?
3. Do I trust God to protect me from what I fear, or to give me the courage that I need?
4. Where is God calling me to lead today?

A Covid 19 Blessing

May this time of confinement give you room to pray.
May your hours at home with your family be filled with gratitude.
May you find it in your heart to lend a hand to another.
May you find new ways to say "I love you" that surprise you.

Easter is upon us, but there is much of Lent still in our lives.
May this season teach you what is important.
May the lessons you have learned during these days stay with you forever.

Shalom!

3rd Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 3rd Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 2: 14, 22-33
2. Psalms 16: 1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
3. 1 Peter 1: 17-21
4. Luke 24: 13-35

• My flesh will dwell in hope
• The three cardinal virtues are faith, hope, and love.  Hope has two faces: expectation that God offers us union with Him, and the longing for that union.  We believe that our spirits are destined for eternity.  In contrast, the long term outlook for our mortal bodies is rather bleak, or is it?
• Think of times when someone or some community has really touched you, communicated something of the transcendent love of God to you?
• What role did your flesh play in that exchange of gifts?
• What did you offer as your response to that gift?
• How do you think such exchanges will occur in heaven?

• Fear of abandonment
• The fear that others will leave you, leave you helpless, leave you alone afflicts many who were not properly cared for early in life.  They grow up too fast, learn to be self-sufficient in a hurtful, suspicious way, and give up on the rest of humanity.
• One could argue that the cynic who concludes that none of us can every really count on anyone else will not be disappointed because their expectations are so low.  How much help do you count on in this life?
• Where do you think the most reliable sources for help are in your life?
• If some calamity occurred in your life, and there seemed to be no help coming, would you be disappointed in your family and friends, or in God?
• If God offered you the option to gain the strength and courage for a hard time, or just make the hardship go away, which would you choose?
• How do you think that would make you a better person?

• You gotta have faith
• Based on your faith, what are some things that God would never do?
• How would you know that was God behind that calamity?
• How would you respond if something like that actually happened?
• How do you think God feels about that?

• Conversion
• As an instructor, I gain my greatest sense of fulfillment when a student suddenly gets that last piece of the puzzle and everything fits for them.  We call those "aha" moments.  You have to prepare for them though, with plenty of instruction and hands on experience.
• Have you ever suddenly seen things in a whole new light?  The experiences, memory and knowledge remain the same, but suddenly, the meaning is transformed, a resurrection of your heart occurs.
• How did you prepare for that epiphany?
• How did it change you?
• How do you benefit from that visitation today?

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. What do I hope for?
2. Who or what am I counting on for protection?
3. What do I count on God for?
4. Where is God trying to change my heart and mind today?

Too Tired to Hope

We had heard about poor Judas.
He was always the practical one, looking after the things the rest of us did not.
Looking back now, we realized that he feared, more than the rest of us,
That Jesus would pass quietly into obscurity,
And disappear from the landscape of history.

Judas felt that Jesus, with his message of quiet hope,
Would never inspire, never utter the desperately needed battle cry,
Never unite our people, make us one again, heal our nation,
And most of all, by some miracle, bring our nation back to life
Like the old prophecies in Ezekiel.

Then, when Judas saw his betrayal of Jesus in another light,
Judas lost hope,
Never realizing that Jesus was the God of Mercy,
And this second loss of hope was far worse than the first
And Judas could not face a life without hope.

These last days have been brutal.
Watching Him die, our hopes with Him.
Friends and family looking at us with pity and contempt.
Staying close to the old disciples for want of anything else to to.
We finally tired of stasis and left for Emmaus.

Hearts and minds in a fog of misery
Too tired to ask "what's next" or
"How will we continue?"
Because the answers were just too painful
And just too obvious.

At least the walking gives us a purpose, a direction.
Something to do with our feet, our aching hearts.
Meditation, prayer, even speech
Is too painful, too useless.
And then a clueless stranger joined us.

No matter how heavy our hearts,
We still have to eat.
Still remembering the last Passover,
And with it all of the Passovers before,
Each a breaking of bread, each a celebration of then and now.

Bread in His hands, offered us in generosity.
Suddenly all the prayers, the laughter, the songs,
The pilgrimages to Jerusalem,
The smoke of sacrifices, the perfume of incense
Made sense in a whole new way.

And He vanished.
Leaving in His wake, purpose, determination, life.
Through the gathering gloom of the end of day,
Our joy sprinted back to Jerusalem,
To share the unfathomable with our brothers and sisters.

Shalom!

2nd Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 1st Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 2: 42-47
2. Psalms 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24
3. 1 Peter 1: 3-9
4. John 20: 19-39

• In it for the long haul
• The early Christians believed that the 2nd coming was immanent.  Some of them believed that it was so close, that it was pointless to work to earn a living, that the only activity that made sense was evangelizing to save as many people as possible.
• How/why does your Christian faith affect your priorities in your daily life?
• If you were told that Jesus was coming again in ten years, would you change anything?
• How about 5?
• Why is that?

• The good guys finish last?
• My father in law followed local and national news pretty closely, but it never made sense to him.  All of the signposts that he grew up with seemed to have vanished, or at least were no longer paid attention to.
• For those of you who have to remember back a little to their childhood, did life make more sense, did it have more of a sense of purpose when you were young?
• Do you feel that there was a stronger sense of family and community when you were growing up?
• Why do you think that is?
• How can we strengthen our communal lives in these new and interesting times?
• How does God's mercy relate to our communal lives?

• The joy of the Lord
• Happiness is a funny thing.  My mother-in-law talked about her happiness a great deal.  Years after Mary & I married, I heard that our marriage made her very happy.  Always good for a man to know.  Baptisms in the family, wedding anniversaries, someone in the family getting a better job, all of these things made her happy.
• What makes you happy?
• Area any of those things with you day in, day out, or do they come and go with time?
• How has what brings you happiness changed through the years?
• What place does Jesus have in your happiness picture?

• Divine Mercy
• I like St. Thomas so much I took his name as my Confirmation name.  He gets a bad rap, but he's practical.  Thomas immediately realized that if Jesus really had raised from the dead, that was going to be a total game-changer.  There was no waffling on this; Thomas wanted to be absolutely sure of this, because he was going to be "all in" if it was true.
• Why do you believe in Jesus' resurrection?
• What evidence of that has come into your life lately?
• Does your conviction bring you peace?
• When is that peace hard to find in your life?
• What are you doing about that?

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. How am I living the Resurrection in my life today?
2. How am I supporting the various communities that I'm a member of?
3. Where am I looking for happiness in my life?
4. What am I doing to bring more peace to my life?

The Master's Touch

I missed Him so much.  His deep rumbling chuckle when He laughed,
His warm embrace when He would give us a hug.
The sparkle in His eye whenever He spoke of His Father.

His death had been so cruel, so unnecessary, so improbable,
That the order of the heavens seemed upended on that day,
All hope torn from my breast in the space of a heartbeat.

I could not bear so much bitter disappointment again,
My heart would not be able to take it.
Better to live in the twilight of despondency

Than hope, only to have hope dashed again.

We had gathered again, to share memories, encourage each other.
I, there more for habit and a dull aching friendship than anything.
When suddenly, He was there in our midst, more Present than ever.

I had envisioned those mortal wounds so often of late.
Tried to understand how they would feel.
What it will be like to ebb out the last of life.

But that was no preparation for holding His hands,
Touching His feet, plumbing the spear thrust in His side.
Roaring, stabbing pain assailed my heart as I touched Him.

Certainty that there was no way out but through death
Filled me with sorrow and wonder.
That this Jesus had borne all of his for me.

Suddenly, all pain, all suffering, all grief, all despair
Joined in my heart with His consummate passion,
And I was healed.  Not of the pain of those moments,

But from the fear of being alone in that pain, of losing all in the pain.

I looked into His eyes, 
And I saw the shores of Eternity there.
And I knew that He would never leave me, us, any of us, again.

He is alive!

Shalom!

Easter Sunday

Our readings for Easter Sunday are:

1. Acts 10: 34a, 37-43
2. Psalms 118: 1-2, 16-17, 22-23
3. Colossians 3: 1-4
4. John 20: 1-9

• The role of witnesses
• The post resurrection accounts are not very exact about the time, or even date of Jesus' appearances, so we cannot tell for sure from the Gospel accounts whether He made it a habit to be in more than one place at once.  But all in all, He appeared to a relatively select bunch of His followers, relying on them to spread the Word.
• What advantage does God get from involving us in spreading the Good News?
• If someone were to ask you "given all of the struggles that the Church has gone through over the centuries, the scandals, the corruption, the indifference to suffering at various times and places, why are you still Christian?" what would you say?
• How has the answer to that question changed for you through the years?
• What do you hope the answer to that question will be at the moment that you die?

• Sense of purpose/What's the sense of it all?
• COVID-19 is fast shaping up to be the defining mark of this generation.  As we wake to a new day, don our face masks before exiting the safety of our homes, it's tempting to ask where God is in all of this.
• What inner strength has recent events called for from you that you didn't know that you had?
• When this is "all over", whatever "this" might be for you, what will be different in your life?
• How have recent events been like a Lent for you?  Maybe called for some examination of your conscience, maybe some more time for prayer, maybe just a fresh realization of how dependent all of us are on God?

• We remember
• One frightening prospect of growing older is "losing it".  That process may start with your car keys, and end with you not remembering your own children.  This gradual loss of memory, and hence our very selves seems so desperately mean spirited of God.
• What are some memories that you most cherish, that you would like to hang on to no matter what?
• Are those memories necessarily happy ones, maybe challenges that you had to face and overcome, points in your life when you found courage in unexpected places?
• Where was God in those times?
• Do you think that God remembers those episodes in your life?
• What do you think that God will do with those memories in the Resurrection?

• Negative apparition
• If you think about it, it's interesting that we concentrate today on a non appearance of Jesus.  Maybe if the Resurrection happened today, Jesus would wear blue suede shoes, grab a microphone as He made His exit, and say "thank you, thank you very much" followed by a disembodied voice announcing "ladies and gentlemen, Jesus has left the tomb."
• When have you looked for Jesus in an event, a new job, some person, and Jesus failed to appear for you?
• Why do you think that you didn't find Him there?
• What did you learn from that?
• Where was He?

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. What of my life with Jesus needs to be shared?  To whom?
2. Who needs my presence?
3. Where is God revealing Himself to me today?
4. Where is God in my memories?
5. Where am I looking for Jesus in the wrong places?

Memory Lane

The old monk sat in his dimly lit cell, eyes focused on some distant shore beyond the walls.
They told me that I would find him here, and that he would not mind me interrupting him.

So I knocked tentatively.  Seeing no reaction, I knocked again, not wanting to disturb him.
Finally, I cleared my throat, hoping to get his attention as gently as possible.

He looked up, smiled, and asked "I appreciate your deference.
Just what did you think you were interrupting?"

I was afraid that you were meditating, communing with God, maybe praying for all of us.
"And so I was, and so I am.  It's just that the meditating, communing, and praying is different now."

Different, how?  How can you commune with God and talk with me at the same time?
"The spirit of God dwells within all of us and each of us.

Done properly, in the right spirit, talking with you is a form of prayer.
Listening to what you have to say is communal.

You bring needs, wants, fears, all of these will make their way into my prayers."
Why did you not respond right away when I arrived?  Were you that deep in prayer?

"Actually no, I wanted to see whether you were that deep in your own agenda,
Or if you would take the better portion, find a seat here with me, and join me.

The world can never have too many mystics you know."
How do I begin?

"Learn to find God in your memories, your life up until now.  Think back, and ask yourself
Where God was most powerfully, and when He seemed most absent.

Thank Him for both, and ask Him to show you where/when you missed His gentle touch,
And ask Him to heal you of that wound, and seek to find where He's leading you now."

How far back do I need to go?
"Start with today, and see where those memories take you.  I cannot tell where that is."

Sounds ambitious.
"Think of this mystic journey like a piece of furniture from IKEA.

God supplies all the pieces and tools you need.
Some assembly required.  And it's in the assembly that you find fulfillment."

Shalom!