3rd Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the Third Sunday of Lent Cycle A are:

1. Exodus 17: 3-7
2. Psalm 95: 1-2, 6-7, 8-9
3. Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8
4. John 4: 5-42

1. I never promised you a rose garden
• Slavery is not so much how hard you work but why you do it.  Someone will willingly perform heroic amounts of work if it achieves something that is important to them.  Oppression is not so much about hardship as it is about why you are enduring it.  The hardship of the early settlers of the United States seems mind-boggling to us to day, but to them, it was the price you paid for opportunity.
• What do you want to be free of?
• What are you willing to pay to achieve that freedom?
• Do you think that you'll be a better person when you're free of those shackles?
• Do you think that there might be things that are binding you that you are unaware of?
2. Don't temp me
• What sorts of emotions do you think that God has?
• What sorts of things do you think make Him angry with us, disappointed, just sad?
• If you could see God's face, know how your actions affect Him, would that change you in any way?
3. Living in the Presence
• A popular Catholic devotion is to pray in the presence of the Presence on a first Friday.
• If you could go somewhere, and in that place and time, know just exactly how God feels about you at that very moment, would you go there?
• How often?
• How would that encounter change you?
4. Gently, gently
• Jesus brought the woman at the well to faith in stages, gently leading her, stretching her perceptions just a bit at a time.  Do you feel that's a fairly typical pattern with God?
• When was the last time that God gently led you past your comfort level to a place that you didn't know existed?
• As we try to show God to others, how can we be gradual, kind, merciful?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to listen to God and let that listening carry me to new places?
2. Am I willing to give up my ideas, my plans in order to draw closer to God?
3. What am I willing to give up for true peace?
4. When was the last time that I had a prayer experience that I was excited to share with someone else?

Tabernacle of the Forgotten Water Jar

Local legend has it that this is the water jar left by the woman at the well.
One little boy in the tour group asked "Why would she leave her jar?"
"Well now," said the tour guide, "she had met Jesus, and she was excited."
"But He knows everything.  He know that jar was important to her, why didn't He remind her?"

The old tour guide chewed on that question for a long while.
No one had ever put it to him quite like that before.
"I recon that sometimes, when you love someone a great deal,
You can tell when they have turned a corner, crested a hill in their lives,

And you know that nothing is ever going to be the same for them.
You know that everything that they had up until that point has served its purpose,
And it's just not that important anymore because everything is new.
I guess this little shrine is a monument to transformation."

"It's like growing up.  One day, you look at something precious,
And you realize that it's time to give it away to someone who will appreciate it.
You hope that the fact that it's been in your hands all this time,
Will somehow be a benefit to the next person, and you just give it away."

The little boy was clutching a favorite bear of his, and he looked at it a long time.
"Mister, does it hurt to grow up?" he asked.
"Son, the only thing more painful, is the little deaths you die
When you don't grow up and it's time."

"How do you know when it's time?" came the question.
"Your heart just tells you, and you know."
"When do you stop growing up?" came the question.
"I think when you die, but don't quote me on that one, 'cause I'm not 100% sure."

The boy turned to go as the tour group started toward their next stop.
He turned to the guide again and asked "I want to come back.  Will you be here?"
The old guide looked deep into his eyes and said:
"I'll be here, but hopefully a better version of me.  You'll be back, but the boy in you will be gone forever."

Shalom!

2nd Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the Second Sunday of Lent are:

1. Genesis 15: 5-12, 17-18
2. Psalm 27: 1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14
3. Philippians 3: 17-4:1
4. Luke 9: 28-36

1. Name it and claim it
• Believing is more than mental assent to some statement, it's living a life based on that.  Abram was able to accept that God was going to give his heirs an inheritance, that Abram's line was going to continue, that he was going to leave a legacy, and live a life that reflected that profound faith.
• When you choose to believe a promise of God, how do you move the experience of that promise from your head to your heart?
• Do you think that the heart can "know" things that our minds are unable to fathom?
• How can we live our lives such that the head and the heart support and illuminate each other?
2. I'm here for you ...
• When going through tough times, it's a great comfort to have company.  But in some ways, we always travel this life alone, or do we?
• Why is it hard to relate to someone in real pain, regardless of the reason for their pain?
• Short of simply making that pain go away, how can any of us really support someone in great need?
• How does God support us in our need?
• Aren't we always in need in one way or another?
3. Choose wisely
• Matthew Kelly makes a great emphasis on choosing your heroes carefully, and then getting the most possible from their example: study their lives, find out what makes them so good at what they do best, and above all, practice what they do so that you too might enjoy success.
• Who are your heroes?
• What have you done to become more like them?
• Would you wish that your son or daughter had the same heroes?
4. Let's do that again!
• I'm going to bet that, as they got older, the disciples got more and more thoughtful, spent more and more time remembering, and trying to get more and more meaning from those many experiences that they shared with Jesus.
• Do you have any pivotal experiences that changed you, changed the way that you look at things, changed your attitude?
• What was so profound about those experiences?
• How are you being faithful to what was shown you in those events?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What am I believing in God for today?
2. How am I actively making myself available to/for others?
3. Who is helping me become more Christlike by their example?
4. What am I doing to learn the most from what I experience?

Sacred Memory

They're all gone now, some longer than others.
The original company of Jesus, dead and gone,
Their ashes scattered across the land and beyond.

I, I alone, here on the island of Patmos remember
The bite of the night air when Jesus came to us
Came across the water against all odds.

I'm the only one who remembers the tang of the air
Wafting out of Lazarus' tomb when we moved the stone,
And the sweetness that warned of resurrection emerging.

I remember the taste of the fish that he had cooking for us
That wonderful morning after He had raised from the dead,
And our hearts were still in the deepest grave of hopelessness.

The crackle of the fire that He had made among the rocks,
The aroma of the cooking fish, and the sound of His voice.
That always reminded us that there was more than met the eye.

I tried to share the earthiness of those memories,
Their bitter sweet texture that only comes first hand,
But this generation mistakes knowledge for understanding

And looses the essence of His life in looking to understand
Something that never really can be understood.
That He was real -- flesh -- and blood right in our midst.

And with a well-worn wonder, I look at my haggard hands,
And realize that He's still here today, as long as we keep sharing
What and where He's moving in our midst.

Shalom!

1st Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the first Sunday of Lent are:

1. Deuteronomy 26: 4-10
2. Psalm 91: 1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15
3. Romans 10: 8-13
4. Luke 4: 1-13

1. All good gifts ...
• What do you thank God for most?
• What do you thank God for the most often?
• Do you ever congratulate yourself?  For instance you might think that you're unusually fit for a person your age, and you congratulate yourself on all of the healthy habits you adhere to, no matter how tempting the occasional lapse might be.
• What do you think God thinks about those self-congratulatory moments?
• How can we become more humble?
2. Leading a sheltered life
• Things could always be worse, always get worse.  Given that, do you feel that you've led a sheltered life, do you feel that you've managed to get along without suffering any or all of the consequences of your mistakes?
• Have you ever asked God for shelter?
• How did you try to convince Him that he should shelter you?
• What, ultimately, do you want shelter from?
3. We believe
• If you were going to build a new religion, where would you start?
• What would you try to fix about the faith tradition that you have?
• How exclusive would that new religion be?  What would be the entry requirements?
• Do you think that Jesus would be that careful about who He let in?
4. One does not live on bread alone ... but a little now and again would be nice
• More and more it seems to me that temptation boils down to an offer of something that is good in its own time and place, but just not right now, not right here.
• How do you think that we can come to resist such temptations to try to shortcut God's will?
• Where do you find the strength to persevere in the face of the same temptation that comes up over and over?
• How many times do you think that Jesus faced various temptations?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. When was the last time that I thanked God for something that I had never thought to thank Him for?
2. Am I willing to trust God to take care of me, no matter what?
3. Who is there in my life that I care about so much, that I'd be willing to talk with them about my faith?
4. Am I defined by what I worry about?

What Tempts You

The sure thing is the hardest to resist.
On the one hand, we like to live as though there's no tomorrow,
No reason to hold back, no cause to wait.

And at the same time, we act as though this life that we're in
Is going to last forever, that health will always be there,
That we'll always have the strength and vitality to do whatever we want.

Oddly, both are wrong.

A life well lived is one of waiting on the Lord
Always prepared for His time and circumstances to ripen fully
Knowing that when it comes, we'll be told.

At the same time, change is always in the wind.
This very moment is sacred, and to be savored,
Because we will never pass this way again.

Fear is blinding.

Fear of missing out, of blinking at just the wrong moment,
Makes me want to take what I think is coming before it arrives,
Just to make sure that I don't miss out.

At the same time, fear of change makes me want to cling
To all that is comfortable, safe and warm,
And miss out on that still small voice urging me onward.

Pray for me, for all of us -

That our eyes will be opened to the miracle of now.
And never miss a chance to inhale deeply
And smell the richness of right here.

And yet, and yet, eyeing the horizon for that next step
That can change everything,
Even if it all looks the same.

Shalom!

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 6: 1-2a, 3-8
2. Psalm 71: 138: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8
3. 1 Corinthians 15: 3-8, 11
4. Luke 5: 1-11

1. Here I am ...
• Those of us who are hard-working and motivated are all about proper preparation for a task.  How do you think God feels about that?
• If you feel called into something, a ministry, a job, parenthood, marriage, and feel totally unprepared, does that mean that you don't have a calling into that role?
• When you've ventured out of your comfort zone to follow a leading, 
• Did you find that you were more prepared than you thought?
• That the new venture required less of you than you thought?
• That you got a lot of "on job training" along the way?
• All of the above?
• None of the above?
2. Witness talks
• When someone else gives a "witness talk" about how God intervened in their life and helped them out, how does that make you feel?
• Inspired and hopeful
• Envious
• Happy for them but still doubtful that this could ever happen to you
3. All on the same page
• How do you explain the diversity between well meaning Christ groups on such things as ordaining women to the priesthood, papal infallibility, and other dogmas?
• How can you tell which beliefs are fundamental, that is to say they form the foundation of our relationship to God, versus beliefs that are less pivotal, less a requirement for God's graces?
• How can we be sure that we're accurately passing along not just the truths of our faith that can be articulate in words, but what it is like to be in relationship with Jesus?
4. Do not be afraid
• What fears are you dealing with in your life most frequently?
• Imagine Jesus telling you that you have nothing to fear from that.  What do you think might be the reason(s) that He's telling you not to fear because:
• It's all going to work out in the end.
• What you're afraid of is nothing to compared to what you ought to be afraid of.
• Your life is about to change in ways that you could never have imagined, and your present fears are about to be set in a whole new context.
• What you fear is going to happen, but Jesus is going to be there with you.
• Some combination of the above.
• What do you find comforting about following Jesus?
• What do you find scary about following Jesus?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to let God tell me what I'm ready for and what I'm not ready for?
2. Am I willing to let God find strength in me in places I didn't know of or want to know of?
3. Am I willing to pass along all of my faith, not just that part which can be put into words?
4. Am I willing to set aside my worries?

I Hate it When You're Right

There used to be this series on TV called Kung Fu about a young man

Rescued and raised by monks in a monastery.

The master had a simple test to tell when the young boy was ready

All he had to do was to snatch a pebble from the blind master's hand.

Would that life were so simple for the rest of us.

Leaving our comfort zone because it's gotten too small for us is never easy.

But what often makes it even harder is the gnawing feeling that we're not ready for the outside

Or that the outside is not quite ready for us.

That "outside", that next frontier may seem coldly indifferent to our passage.

But we have the power to fashion our horizons as we go,

If only we are able to venture into them at the proper time,

In the proper direction, with the proper attitude.

Oddly, the first sign that it may be time to move is the sense that the present is too comfortable,

When the limits of our questing gaze begin to implode.

The hard part is to be always in a state of readiness for the next thing,

To mentally have your bags packed, say all the things that need saying, no regrets holding you back.

It's hard to snatch that pebble if you don't see a need for it to begin with.

Shalom!

4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Jeremiah 1: 4-5, 17-19
2. Psalm 71: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15, 17
3. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-13
4. Luke 4: 21-30

1. Ready or not ...
• God doesn't wait for us to be ready, just willing.
• When are some times that, looking back now, you can see that God moved in your life before you really felt ready for that change, that movement?
• How did you manage to get out of your comfort zone?
• What were the rewards?
2. You rock!
• If someone were to tell you that you are a rock in their life, what would you think that they mean?
• Do you think that God sends others into our life to be that rock for us?
• If someone did tell you that you are a rock for them, how would that change things for you?
• Shouldn't you live that way all of the time anyway?
3. Hope and endurance meet
• Thinking back on the tough times in your life, were they all about just putting your head down and plowing through, or was there something else animating your passage through those seasons?
• Do you feel that there is always hope?
• What would that hope be in, or for?
• As you've matured, has your hope grown stronger?
• Why is that?
4. Claiming your identity
• You've just stepped into an elevator and there's only one other person there.  They turn to you and ask "who are you?" totally out of context.  How are you going to answer them in the next 10 floors on that elevator?
• Now let's say that you are at a religious education conference.  Same scenario.  What would you say then?
• Change the scene again, you find yourself standing next to someone at a funeral.  You don't know this other person, but they turn to you and ask the same question.  How would you answer them?
• Why are the answers different?  What is the same about them?  What does that say about who we are from one situation to another, what face of Christ we are revealing?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I willing to pray to be indifferent to my present circumstances, be willing to pick up and venture into unknown territory for God?
2. Am I really bearing the responsibility for those who are counting on me, both the ones that I'm aware of and the ones that I am not?
3. Am I willing to follow God even if I feel utterly lost?
4. Am I willing to be bold in my ministry? 

Shalom!

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the ThirdSunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
2. Psalm 19: 8, 9, 10, 15
3. 1 Corinthians 12: 12-14, 27
4. Luke 1: 1-4, 4: 14-21

1. Celebrating the Liturgy of the Word
• Too bad that no one thought to write down the commentary that Ezra gave on the Book of the Law when he read and interpreted it to the people.  What background do you think Ezra had that equipped him to interpret the law to the people?
• Do you think that God's word needs interpretation?
• Is that interpretation something that we can/should do strictly alone, in a faith sharing setting, or both?
• Where do you get your faith sharing?
2. You are what you think
• Each week we seek forgiveness and God's mercy for since of thought, word, and deed.  How do your thoughts influence your actions?
• How can our words influence our actions?
• If you know in your mind that your beliefs need to change, but your heart is not in it, is it possible to gradually change your heart merely by verbalizing something that your mind assents to?
• If that is the case, does reciting the Creed each week make us better people?
3. You are only as healthy as your sickest member
• Unity seems in short supply Christians these days.  What sort of priority do you think that should have among all of the things that we collectively and individually are dealing with in these times?
• Is achieving wholeness within God's people something that is only a concern to the leaders of our various groups?
• What can we do to help?
4. Standing your ground
• It's helpful to ask yourself from time to time why the Lectionary readings are organized the way that they are.  This week's Gospel is something of a cliff hanger.  Jesus makes what must have seemed an astounding declaration, and then we pause in the narrative for a week-long commercial break.  Don't miss out next week for the stirring conclusion.
• Do you think that you have an anointing?
• Do you think that you need to broadcast that anointing to those around you?
• When was the last time that you told someone that you felt called of God into some ministry, some change in your career, some decision in your life?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How am I growing in God's word today, this week, this year?
2. Am I willing to be convinced of the truth of something, even if it takes me out of my comfort zone into uncharted waters?
3. Am I willing to grow closer to God by dialog with others who many not hold my views?
4. Am I willing to be bold in my ministry?

Gifted and Anonymous

We've all found ourselves in a room full of strangers.
Standing awkwardly, libation in hand, wondering
Wondering how long before the social torture ends
And you can go home, curl up with a good book,
And enjoy the company of someone who understands.

You decide to make the best of it, and try to strike up
Strike up a conversation with the person next to you.
You consider the usual openers, like "what do you do?"
Or, "whereabouts are you from?" to start things off.
Instead, unbidden, you utter "who are you, really?"

And that other person gazes long into your eyes
Looking to see if you really meant the question.
They come to a decision, and they begin:
"I'm a pilgrim, a priest, a poet, a philosopher.
I don't earn a dime for any of those roles, but they define me.

My pilgrimage lies in how I get there, not where I'm going.
My priesthood is founded on offering myself to others.
The poetry of my life is recited in my actions.
And my questions frame the philosophy of my existence.
I try my best to remain true to myself in obedience."

Then your partner in this strange endeavor sighs, and asks:
"What are you most afraid of, what keeps you up at night?"
And suddenly you see yourself, with all your foibles,
And you are suddenly very fond of the who of you
And the answer to that frightening question comes:

"I don't fear failure, or poverty, or even indifference.
I fear meaninglessness, my own cowardice and laziness,
I so want to do things that matter, to matter myself.
To rise above my fears, extend myself, transcend myself
So that I can make a difference."

Give it a try next time you're in a social setting,
One that needs a little stirring up.
I guarantee at least someone will know that you were there.
Which could be all that it takes to start both of you
On a pilgrimage of discovery.

Shalom!

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 62: 1-5
2. Psalm 96: 1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
3. 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11
4. John 2: 1-11

1. Pet names
• Some of us give those close to us a nick name or a pet name.  It's a reminder of some shared event, something meaningful to the two of them.  Sometimes that name is something that no one else knows about.
• If Jesus were here physically today, and he called you to be one of His personal disciples, and He wanted to give you a new name, what would you want for him to give you?
• What would you do differently in your life to live up to that name?
2. Salvation day by day
• What has God saved you from lately?
• As part and parcel of that salvation, what has He saved you to?  In other words, now that you're free of what bound you, what are you doing with the freedom?
• What makes you think that's God's will for what he wanted to see in your life?
3. For the benefit of all
• If you define a faith community as a group of folks who gather regularly to share their story in the context of God's unfolding salvation history, what faith communities do you find yourself in?
• Do you think that you bring the same gifts to each of them, or is it the same gifts that simply get expressed differently in each of those contexts?
• What are you doing to actively develop those gifts so that you can be of greater service in the years ahead?
• Do you feel appreciated?
• Does it matter?
4. The look of abundance
• You have to figure that schlepping somewhere near 150 gallons of water from the nearest well to fill those stone water jars was not a welcome task, yet the servants did it.  What would have happened if they had tried to get away with less water than those jars could have held?
• Do you think that we generally have to have a hand in miracles?
• How can we be just as abundant in our participation as God is in His?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What is God expecting of me today?
2. Am I able to share of my salvation history with others, in terms that they will understand?
3. How is God using my gifts today?
4. As I share of myself, am I striving to live a balanced life?

This Might be Enough

I watched the Master as He fearlessly distributed the loaves and fishes
To a countless hoard of hungry folks on the hillsides of Judea.
Thinking to myself, worrying actually, whether there would be enough.

And I remember back to the days in Cana when He made wine from water,
Water with sediment and a faint smell that none of us could identify,
Drawn from the village well on a hot summer's afternoon.

And I ask myself why, again, why He is asking for some elements to work with
Something to transform, some dust from the ground to breath new life into.
Why not just conjure up the final result from nothing and let it go at that?

Our fathers, on the far side of the Jordan river as they entered the Promised Land
Saw that river raging in its flood season.  The waters did not abate
Until the priest's sandals touched the water's edge, and then God bared His holy arm.

And now, I see the widows and orphans gathered for their daily distribution
And I wonder how long we can go on feeding and clothing them.
And I've stopped wondering why God doesn't make all this need go away,

Instead, I wonder at the way He's able to take the simplest things
And renew them to meet needs scarce known, hardly spoken
And I wonder what He's going to do next with this poor offering: me.

Shalom!