27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 27th Sunday in 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

1. Boning up on marriage
• One day, in the Garden of Eden, Eve looked at Adam and asked "dear, do you still love me?"  To which Adam replied "who else?"
• Do you think that God cares who we marry?
• If He/She cares, how is it that God guides us to that perfect someone?
• What do you think we're supposed to learn from this story of how Eve came to be, distinct from all of the other creatures, even Adam?
2. Justice for all
• In your life, do you feel that you've been able to enjoy the fruits of your labor?
• Do you think that you've enjoyed all of the fruits of your labor, or have you been only able to enjoy some of those fruits?
• Do you think that justice and fairness are one in the same?
• Why or why not?
3. Cosmos, the sequel
• Do you think that creation is over and done with, or is it still unfolding?
• What do you think God's role is in that continued unfolding?
• What do you think our role is?
• Does that make us co-creators with God? 
4. Getting institutionalized
• Do you think that marriage is a sacrament, an institution, or both and?
• What would that "and" be?
• Do you think that people who are not married benefit at all from marriage?
• What sort of responsibilities does that lay on those of us who are married?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I grateful to God for all His gifts, even the ones that I've had for decades?
2. What am I doing to help others be fruitful in their lives?
3. Do I really trust that I am on God's mind all the time?
4. How am I supporting the health of the sacred relationships around me?

I Married Up

People ask me what I attribute 35 years of marriage to.
If I'm feeling flippant, I'll say: "marry early"
And, of course the corollary: "don't either of you die young."

In a more meditative mood, I might be heard to say:
"I married up and I know that."
Equally important is the fact that she hasn't figured that out yet.

Maybe it's because I've learned that she's always right,
And the only thing that differs from one time to the next,
Is how long it takes me to realize that she's right yet again.

Maybe it's just a matter of experience.
She knows that no matter how stressed I am by pressures on me,
I'll eventually find equilibrium, and my own humanity.

Maybe it's the sure knowledge that I'm my best around her,
And that she gives me courage to be my best
Even when it hurts.

Then again, maybe it's the grown realization
When we look deep into each other's eyes
We don't see the person that we married 35 years ago

But eternity emerging right before us.

Shalom!

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

1. Numbers 11: 25-29
2. Psalms 19: 8, 10, 12-13, 14
3. James 5: 1-6
4. Mark 9: 38-43

1. Are you with us?
• Have you ever been on retreat, been to a particularly moving prayer service or some other "peak moment" and tried to share that with someone who had not been there?
• How can we include others who have not had the same experiences as we have?
• What place should shared lived events have in what makes us one?
2. Cleanse me
• Do you ever feel as though you'd like a full catalog of every sin, so that you could avoid all of them?
• No, or would you prefer that someone gave you a catalog of your every fault so that you knew what about needs to be worked on?
• Without those sorts of helps, how do you assess how your relationship with God is doing day by day?
3. What's important?
• One technique recommended by St. Ignatius for making a decision is to ask yourself how you would have wanted to make the pending decision when you look back on it from your deathbed.  The intent is to give you some objectivity, some distance from the immediate situation and review it from a broader context.
• The hard part is, once you step back into the day to day, you still have to face the immediate implications.
• So, how do you make decisions that will stand the test of time, and get you through today?
• Are you getting better at that process?
4. Being accountable
• Do you see yourself as a leader in any capacity?
• Can you think of anyone who looks to you as an example in one regard or another?
• What sort of responsibilities do you think that brings with it?
• What if you didn't ask for, and don't want those responsibilities of leadership?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What am I doing to bring up the next generation of ministers to replace me?
2. Am I truly present to God in my prayer life?
3. Do I really know what's important in my life?
4. Can I find freedom in being a servant of others?

Mission Sunday

The missionary priest obviously loved the people whom he was serving back home.
His stories of them were earthy, intimate, warm and loving.

He didn't just want to share these stories with us, he wanted to share the people:
His friends, family, the fulfillment of his dreams, the reason that he is here.

And he wanted to share us with them as well.  Show that we cared, that we felt,
And that we could be generous even over thousands of miles of separation.

And I thought to myself how lucky we were to have someone like this
Out there showing the face of Christ to His flock.

And I wondered how he received his call, by what measured stages
He had made the trek to this tiny way station of humanity.

His influence is easy to pick out, the villagers who rely on him to speak truth to them
Easy to spot in a crowd, easy to reach out to and touch.

But for me, I wondered.
Who is looking at me for the face of Christ, who are they seeing?

Is the Christ that that I am showing kind and merciful,
Full of grace and generous with grace?

Or do they see a Christ of borders and boundaries,
A Christ of requirements and restrictions?

I hope to hear from them before Christ Himself lets me know.

Shalom!

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

1. Wisdom 2: 12, 17-20
2. Psalms Psalms 54: 3-4, 5, 6-8
3. James 3: 15-4:3
4. Mark 9: 30-37

1. Taking care of things
• In Semitic cultures, shame is a prime motivator.  And it's not just fear of shame for one's own self, but the family, the entire village's name is at stake when one contemplates a shameful act, or a shameful outcome.
• I'm going to hazard a guess that perhaps the closest modern analog is success.  The more open minded of us are willing to define "success" in broader, more generous terms, but we still cling to a desire to succeed by some measure.
• My father grew up (during the depression) with the goal to own a brick house, be married, have two kids, a dog, and a Buick, not necessarily in that order.  What's your definition of success in life?
• What would you consider to be an abject failure in your life?
• If you no longer feared failure, how might you live differently?
• Would you be bolder, braver, holier?
2. God's name
• What are you happy about these days?
• How much of that would you credit to God's unfailing love for you?
• Do you think that God would appreciate some gratitude?
3. More than a passion fancy
• What are you passionate about?
• Do you think those strong feelings could be from God?
• To what extent are those passions evident in your life?
• If someone (like Matthew Kelly for instance) were to tell you that God delights in fulfilling your dreams because He gave you those dreams, what difference would that make? 
4. Receiving the marginalized
• John Flaherty used to try to comfort me by telling me that I'm a better liturgist and musician than he is an engineer.  I never had the heart to tell him that I'm an Information Technology guy, not really an engineer.  Sometimes differences like that just aren't the point.
• I think, in his own pithy way, John was trying to tell me to celebrate my own genius, my own talents, and not try to compare myself to others.
• And beyond that, move beyond the need for comparison with others to a place where one thing alone matters: drawing closer to God.
• Do you think that anything that really matters is not found in God?
• What do you think it takes before we really believe that in our hearts?
• How might we live differently if we really believed that?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to trust God to tell me what makes for success?
2. Do I recognize God's help and support every time that God gives that support?
3. Have I thanked God for my passions lately?
4. Do I desire true humility?

Finding Myself

The problem with dreams is two fold: they may be too small, or they may be inauthentic.

Too small a dream, too small a departure from the day to day, and you find yourself settling

For something that seemed like the ultimate, the very best that you could be, could manage.

The inauthentic dream, the dream that someone else has given you, will rot you from within

Because it takes too much courage to admit that you sold everything for an empty field

With no pearl of great price in it after all.  It's not the investment that hurts, its the embarrassment.

But the greatest fear is that pursuing your dreams, and falling short leave you with the question:

If I'm not a poet, a teacher, a prophet among my own, a ... then what, who am I?  What now?

And so we don't risk exposing our dreams to the light.  Better to brood on them, and risk nothing.

A coward dies a thousand deaths

A brave man dies but once

Freedom from fear is freedom indeed.

Leaving fear of freedom itself

As the last great frontier between who I am today

And who I was born to be.

Shalom!

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 24th Sunday in 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

1. Disgrace is only skin deep
• In Semitic cultures, a man's beard is a deeply personal metaphor for his vitality, his strength, his very manhood.  To pluck it is not only painful, but a direct attack on his essence.
• What are some things in your life that you hold very personally?
• Your job,
• Your home,
• Your family?
• To what extent would you be able to trust those to God?
2. God is here, whether we see Him or not
• What are some sources of pain in your life:
• Insecurity
• People who don't/won't understand and appreciate you
• Stresses from more demands on you than you can easily meet?
• Why do you think that we experience such things?
• Are they all from God?
• How can we feel, really feel, God's presence in spite of such trials?
3. Mercy inoculations
• If we have a "Faith and Justice" committee at the parish, a group to feed the homeless, is that enough?  What more can God want of me?
• If I gave to the mission last year, what more can God want of me?
• If I took my Confirmation class to feed the homeless downtown, what more can God want of me?
4. Looking for success in all the wrong places
• Every mother wants to be proud of her son.  Do you think that Mary was proud of Jesus during His passion?
• I can see her at the hair-dressers getting ready for Ascension Thursday.  One of the other patrons says "So Mary, I hear that your son got killed by the Romans.  Such a pity.  It's happening all over.  My cousin Rachel's boy was a zealot and they made quick work of him, let me tell you, oy vey."
• Can you see Mary saying "my son, my boy, was scourged, half dragged, half prodded through town like some sorry freak show up to the place of execution where so many of our sons have died before him.  He was hung from a tree between two common criminals.  That hill, that hill was so lonely.  All of his disciples, all of them had disappeared, but John, me, and some of the women of his company.  His once beautiful face distorted by ripples of agony screaming through his body as he hung there, that face looked at me, and I knew that he was there for me, for us, for all of us, and I knew deep agony, and a deeper peace all at once.  And yes, I am proud, proud of my beautiful boy, the joy of my heart.  I mourn for Rachel's son, for all men and women chained unjustly, their dignity stripped from their flayed shoulders, their humanity drowned in pain and shame, and I pray that you will do the same.
• Mary probably had a tough time getting an appointment after that.
• So what is success, what does it look like?  Our world has all sorts of indicators, trappings of success.  What does a Christ-like success look like?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to trust God to tell me what makes for success?
2. Do I see myself as one of God's little ones, needing His protection, His support?
3. Is my community more just today than it was a year ago because of me?
4. How humble am I willing to be?

Shalom!

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

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

1. God arriving yet already here
• What do you need saving from in your life today?
• What sort of answers to your prayers has God given you?
• Has your prayer brought you any greater peace?
• Has your attitude regarding your circumstances changed?
• Has your heart quickened with new possibilities about how to respond?
• What sort of answers are you looking for?
• Is God cooperating?
2. Keeping faith
• What sort of a track record has God gotten in your life?
• Would you say that He's pretty dependable?  If so, what can you depend on Him for?
• How has that changed your attitude toward God over the years?
3. Having a heart for the down and out
• We instinctively feel drawn to the successful, healthy, self assured, but somehow Jesus always find Himself in the midst of the needy.
• Do you think it's because Jesus had more resources to give to others than we do?
• Or is it maybe that Jesus was intrinsically generous by nature?
• How can we become more generous?
• What are some of the dangers of that sort of generosity?
4. Bringing folks to Jesus
• When was the last time that you invited anyone to a Church gathering with you?
• Is it maybe because there isn't much there that would speak directly to felt needs of that person?
• Or maybe you're not sure of what sort of reception they would receive?
• Or maybe it's just hard to see yourself sharing that part of your life with them?
• What would have to change before you were more likely to bring others to Jesus?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What am I doing to encourage the weak of heart in my circle of friends?
2. Is there anyone in my life that I could/should be comforting?
3. Am I willing to embrace those parts of myself that are not stunningly successful, rich in the ways of this world, or just unhealthy?
4. Am I willing to reach out to the voiceless?

I'm Sorry, We're Just Not That Group

I think that God scandalizes us for the entertainment value.

Years ago, when I was a youth,
We had a weekly prayer meeting.

Part of the program was testimony.
A chance for folks to share.

Once, two young men came
With smiles as big as all of outdoors

They prayed and sang with the best of them
And when testimony time came

Well, they both lit up
And told the greatness of God.

Drugs had a grip on them
Both of them feared for their lives.

But God had rescued them
Brought them back, healed their relationships

And now they were spreading the word
And looking for anyone who needed encouragement.

We all looked at each other
Wondering what to make of these folks.

Our typical concerns were of a different nature:
Which college am I going to go to,

Should I take that position in another state,
Or stay here where the potential seems less?

Life and death struggles seemed so distant to us,
Hitting bottom was only something we heard about.

Or maybe we had more in common
Than any of us really knew.

All I know is that we thanked them kindly,
And hoped that we would not be so disturbed again.

As to how that impacted our little group?
I think after that we screened new people better.

Shalom!

22nd week in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 22nd Sunday in 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

1. What makes greatness?
• For those of you who don't know me, I'm late (emphasize that late) baby boomer generation.  My cultural heritage from my parents is that the U.S. is a great nation because it's the land of opportunity.  Moses was calling the Israelites to greatness of another sort.  How would you describe that greatness?
• Is a community able to achieve greatness if all of its members are merely "so so"?
• What would it take to make our parish community truly great, really unleash all of our potential, achieve true freedom and use that freedom well?
2. Fruits of justice
• How would you define corruption?
• Do you see any corruption around you?
• If we don't speak up about such things, most often because we're pretty sure that merely speaking up will get us nowhere, is that justice?
• Should we leave that "watch dog" role to the professionals, say the media or other groups who hold others accountable as part of their job description?
3. Being accountable
• No one likes a hypocrite.  In fact, it seems pretty evident that Jesus wasn't too fond of such folks either.  How do we avoid being hypocritical?
• Is there anyone in your life that you can think of who would have the courage to tell you that your actions don't match your words?
• Do you have the courage to do that for yourself?
• If you did have that sort of conversation with yourself, when in your day, week, month might there be time for that?
4. Immanent vs. transcendent
• How do you tell whether some belief or practice is truly of God, or just something that we, as a community have "fallen into"?
• Whose job is it to police that sort of thing anyway?
• Do you think that reform movements should occur in periodic spurts, or do you think that reformation needs to be an ongoing practice within a community?
• How would we foster that sort of mindset?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Would my definition of success in life match up with Jesus'?
2. When I encounter someone who's "down and out", is my first impulse to find a way to help them, or ask where are the people who should be helping them?
3. When was the last time that I took inventory of my actions versus my values?
4. Do my actions spring from fear of missing something or an emerging freedom in Christ?

You can never be too careful

God, in His great mercy, has given us many things.
The patriarchs who inspire, our land to feed and clothe us,
Our great history to show us just who He is.
But most gracious of all, He has loved us through the Law.

Without the Law, we would be forever wondering what to do,
How to go about our lives, how to make sense of things.
To dishonor the Law, and hence God himself
By being inattentive in our obedience is a sacrilege against life itself.

But who can keep all of these instructions in front of them
Day in, day out, always remembering, always following.
So, rabbis through the years have built a fence around the Law,
To protect us from venturing too close to disobedience.

You start with something simple: Honor the Sabbath.
That means no work should occur on that holy day.
"What is work?" you ask.  Plowing a field is work,
But you have to be careful to not accidentally plow.

So, in deference to the greatness of God, and the Sabbath,
We are careful on the Sabbath not to push a stick before us,
Lest we leave behind a furrow that could be planted,
And thus we work on a holy day, and miss our rest.

You may say to me, but if there was no intention of work
Is it still a sin?  And I ask you, who can tell a man's heart?
Are we often not so devious that we delude even ourselves?
So, you tell me your intentions were pure.  Maybe yes, maybe no.

Better to not take chances with intangibles like intentions,
And stick instead to what we can see, hear, taste, touch and smell
And make sure that none of those actions strays toward disobedience
Lest we skirt ever closer to outright lawlessness.

This Jesus of yours claims to give you freedom
Tell me then, freedom from what, and freedom to what?
How has your freedom given you comfort when death draws near?
How has your freedom given you the resolve to do heroic things?

Tell me the answer to those questions
And I will tell you how we are different from one another.

Shalom!

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Joshua 24: 1-2a, 15-17, 18b
2. Psalms 34: 2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21
3. Ephesians 5: 21-32
4. John 6: 60-69

1. Quo vadis?
• Why is it that you're following God?  Is it because you just don't know where else to go, or maybe you don't want to disappoint some saintly relative, force of habit, ...?
• Has that motivation for following God changed through the years?
• If you really think about it, are you following a person, or a set of guidelines, dogmas, prescriptions?
• Does it matter?
2. Taste and see (again)
• What is so good about God?  Is He sort of like the Wizard of Oz, characterized by the wonderful things he does, or is there something deeper?
• When was the last time that you started a conversation with "God has been so wonderful to me ..." or even "I'm so thankful to God for ...".
• Does that say more about the sort of people that you spend your time talking to, or your attitude towards God?
3. A new model of authority
• We are all pretty familiar with the notion of being in and under authority.  That model permeates just about every aspect of our lives.  Normally it's a hierarchy, or at worst (and believe me, matrix management can get rough) a network of sorts.  But what does it mean to be subordinate to each other?
• What if the other person is just completely wrong in their opinion of how things ought to be done?
• How does that square with the manifestly hierarchical nature of the leadership that we see in the Church today?
4. Jesus, you're killing me
• I'm willing to bet that Jesus had to pull on all of his Toastmaster's training to deliver this "bread of life" discourse that we've been reading the past few weeks in John.  No one knows whether it was really all one long speech, or whether John pulled it together from various teachings of Jesus, but regardless, Jesus had to have had butterflies in his stomach as He delivered these messages.
• Why do you think that Jesus had to tell the crowds this?  He could have just had a private chat with his disciples and let them try to help everyone else with the concept after He was gone.  Probably a good thing God never asked me to be the savior of the world, now that I think on it.
• Jesus comes across as harsh and demanding in this chapter.  My experience has always been that God is very gentle in His leading, always drawing me to that next step just outside my comfort zone.  How about you?
• What does that say to you about God and the way He leads us?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. When was the last time that I made a decision one way or the other because I'm a follower of Jesus?
2. When I think about my life in God, is there joy there?
3. Do I trust God to really work through the others in my life?
4. What am I looking for in my relationship to God?

Street Corner Preacher

You don't see them too often anymore,
But I remember as a child growing up,
The occasional street corner preacher,
Cradling their Bible in one hand,
While they tried to rouse passers by.

The message was pretty much the same.
Death, judgement, Hell to you all,
Unless you pay attention to God's love.
Repent now, while there's still time,
Trust in God to take care of you.

True words all, but spoken in a way
That misshapes the message,
Paints an angry, judgmental picture,
Of a God who ultimately wants
Wants a loving relationship with us.

Of course, trying to get people's attention
While preaching that message is a tough sell.
"Turn aside from the grasping, acquiring
That consumes you.  Let me tell you
About what really satisfies!"

Or maybe, our mythical preacher would say:
"I know you think that you know
Know the meaning of life.  But there's more.
Infinitely more.  Become indifferent to all this,
Then you can come and find what you've missed."

"All of this, all of it, was designed
To point beyond this world, this life, this universe
Show us the glory of the star maker,
Bedazzle us with the painter of butterflys.
But we've been led astray, come home."

Maybe I'll try that message from the local street corner.
And see how many stop to ask for a pamphlet.
But then, where would they go?
Where is the community to foster these seekers?
Where indeed.

Shalom!